THE PATH [ PERSONAL EXPERIENCE]

 

                                                              THE PATH

Though every one of us has come through the same steps of life, our paths need not be identical in the sense that our location, local conditions, facilities at every stage of life and the educational institutions we have come through are different. Sometimes even under the same stream of study throughout, we may come under different sets of teachers and friends. The contributory influences are different. Talking of contributions, teachers come to my mind. In recalling those people, inevitably the institutions need also being recalled. Is it any unpleasant to do? No. In my case very many places have to be narrated. I am quite sure many would not have had the funny experience of being a ‘stranger’ all through life. So to say,  I never had the experience of friendship as a school boy until I entered my V form in Boys’ High School, Srirangam. [the then V form is the equivalent of 10^th standard] My VIII, IX and X Stds were in the same school. To locate some friends in a new environment that too in a high school, it takes time. I am used to living in such isolation right from my early childhood. Staying at a distance has been a god-given gift. It also gave me the courage to operate singly during the best part of my later life. Also, I had picked up the nuances of studying persons dispassionately, silently enjoying their foolery / gimmicks without letting them understand how I rate them. Now at this late stage I realize that I have lost nothing though I used to suffer with in myself for that fate of mine moving from place to place in districts and not being able to develop a circle of steady friends. Education in those days was not this much formalized in the sense, during a mid academic year the Head master would admit student[s] to any class if he was satisfied of the academic fitness of the candidate. A hand written letter from the previous school was taken as a sacred record. Those teachers would not indulge in malpractice despite their languishing in abject poverty. Most schools up to the mid level [8^th standard] were handled by 2or 3 teachers levying 2 or 3 Rs as monthly school fee to be given to one of the teachers.

Those teachers would teach all subjects. People of the area gave them freedom to do anything with the children so as to make them learn. The teachers instilled fear in the minds of wards as their parents would show utmost respect to the teachers. The teachers’ poverty was no yardstick for their dignity. The spirit of this philosophy is reflected in the saying in Tamil “Delhi kku Raja aanalum Pallikku  Pillai thaan”. No social status would work in schools and the teachers did a grand job in every tiny hamlet across Tamilnadu. We should be genuinely proud that the best citizens of our country in every sphere have come from the grooming of such obscure teachers in tiny villages and towns. Where are those souls now? Gone for ever. In our very period we see so much deterioration with all the structured rules of administering the schools. People who want to make a livelihood by teaching can not teach. It is a mission of zeal and uncontaminated enthusiasm for values that every teacher has to possess. If not, the scenario will be what it is. Now let me recall my teachers one by one and pay my respects though they may not be in a state of receiving these. Yet, showing respect need not be deterred by such limitations. In those days some basic training was imparted by parents at home for scribing a few Tamil alphabets before putting the child in school.  Admissions were made for I standard at the age of six. English alphabets were taught at 6^th Std.  [I form]. .Instruction was in Tamil up to the school final stages. Yet, English was taught for all its intricacies. Teachers were thorough with their jobs. They would bestow attention to hand writing and tables. Tables were taught from I std. Every day the whole class would recite the tables. To date, rote learning of tables remains the best methodology. Probably we would never have been comfortable with tables had it not been for that approach. So much of foundation has been laid to refer to my path. To continue        K, Ranan

VIRUS - SOME EXPLANATION

 

Virus – some explanation 

   Of late more people of varied societies, ethnicity, regions and all other conceivable geographic-

identity are familiar with this term – ‘the Virus’. However, what we know of this speck is quite baffling. Yes, baffling by every count in terms of its ability to target its host. It means the tiny speck [virus] is not random in host selection. So viruses are host- specific say – humans, cattle or dogs or plants and so on. Thus, there are animal viruses, plant viruses and also bacterial viruses.  Literally every known life form is vulnerable to virus infection. We hear different names like infection, contamination and pollution.                                                                                          Each of them relates to some unwanted or undesirable ‘mixing’. 

   Infection:

   A mixing of different life forms – human / bacteria, human/ virus, human/ other disease causing    

   organisms; cattle or other animals / any of the above varieties , are all instances of “Infection”.

   Contamination:

   Contamination is a state of mixing between consumable materials like water, food and non-               

   consumable material such as dirty water or sewage or similar substances. So contamination involves   

   undesirable mixing of inanimate, but usable substances.

   Pollution:

Pollution is another form of spoilage involving raw materials like water or air or reservoirs like atmosphere or mineral storehouses  in earth by toxic or unfavourable agents like vapour or chemical residues which destroy the quality of usable substances, making raw  material unfit for human consumption . They can cause disorders or diseases in humans from prolonged use of contaminated matter.

Thus, infection occurs by a ‘coming together’ of different living systems which are unrelated by biological classification. It implies that viruses are living systems. Viruses are not comparable to other systems. [They do not ‘eat’, ‘breathe’, ‘digest’, ‘excrete’ or ‘die’]The lone life character in virus is its nucleic acid [RNA or DNA] WHICH READILY SUBJUGATES THE HOST GENES and multiplies its own viral progeny [billions in number in a few hours] and keeps spreading to new  hosts. Precisely, the Corona virus did it to a telling effect [PANDEMIC] on a global scale, baffling all nations and continents alike. Science, Technology, Medicine and diplomacy were left clueless.

However, humans mustered their skill and experience to offer the best safeguard against the pandemic.  The answer was vaccine and vaccination. Why they did not attempt curatives or medicines? Virus does nothing except to command its host to make multiple copies of its own type to hunt and haunt the hosts.  If virus does any function, one may think of ‘blocking’ that function. So no immediate scope for abating the virus is known as of now.

Our brethren in the pharmaceutical industrial research sector in India, lost no time in evolving a vaccine using a time-tested technology to provide [ through injectible  vaccines]  signal proteins to sensitize and alert our immune responses to combat the real infection.  As a Nation, we can be proud that in any modern race we are among the front runners.       Prof. K. Raman

PLAYING TRUANT

               PLAYING   TRUANT

             Life at large seems to be a game of hide and seek. The major distinction from the child’s play of this game is that, in life we do not know where to hide and what to seek. But, what we seek readily hides no matter how trivial the item is. There does not seem to be any limit to this pursuit. I do not know if this is the way it happens every where or peculiar to India alone. Looking at the whole process of day to day living, what comes to my mind is one of the statements in Murphy’s Law. It says, “If anything can go wrong, it will”. Even if we try to look for serious exceptions to it, the law stays true and valid most of the time. It appears to be the work of destiny that decides your success rate. My calling it a success rate is a calculated expression to convey the idea that even for simple things more than one attempt is required. Look at some of these which would justify the notion of destiny in most things. By a clear plan, we choose a Sunday morning to book for some train accommodation well in time. When you are the fourth on queue, the employee peeps through the small gate to tell that the computer booking has come under a seizure and that further bookings would resume only after rectification, which would be unpredictable in terms of time required. Sadly you cannot hang around the place as you have promised your people of an outing. When you try to retrieve your vehicle from the parking slot, the caretaker is hiding. You need to wait for him as he has already taken your money promising to return the balance when you come after the work. The person takes his time to return, effectively irritating you. If you try shouting at him, he would demand your tendering the exact amount. It would be a bigger exercise running for minor denominations of money. What else but the day’s fate?      You are awaiting an important postal article and have made arrangements to receive it.                                                                             …

            As your luck would have it, the postman of the area is on leave which is a rare occurrence. The new man is unable to locate the address. The usual person has chosen to go on leave now.  The next day you call on the post office for collecting this.  Another common sight:   A one-day Cricket contest falls on a holiday at an ideal time slot. You are fully organized to see the telecast. Only then the power goes off. When the supply is restored your favourite team is in doldrums. Your friends unfailingly narrate the next day, how in the early part of the game, your favorites were performing well. What we can not see is always good.  See this: Your smart child refuses to recite rhymes when the visitors have been briefed of the child’s proficiency. [Even if due, you cannot be proud]. Soon after the guests leave, your kid is back on a full scale. You like a particular candy and ask the shopkeeper for two. He faithfully tells you that he has only one and advises you to come the next day. What we don’t prefer is in plenty. Does candy deserve destiny’s favour? You may differ. But, it is so. Our TV sets develop disorders exactly a day or two after the lapse of warranty time, making us pay for what would have been a free item some 48 hours ago. No one knows the calendar better than the TV. They are always loyal to the manufacturer displaying affection to the parent. In a product, a specific model of a brand, popular for certain features fails to live up to them, when we acquire that.  It is not my desire to portray everything in a dismal form. Is it not true that most of what I have narrated happens to us in our daily life?  I am very clear that it is not for only a few. Most people go through these experiences, only varying in frequency.  No event in life appears to be free from such hindrance. But, we are not tired of our attempts; not an item has been postponed or given up without at least a couple of trials.                      

                     Prof. K. Raman                                                                               

ELEGANTLY CONFUSING

 

       SOME   ADVERTISEMENTS

        These are days of wooing the customer or converting a buyer in to a customer by high pressure advertisements.  These keep on coming your way. Except the totally private domains of the house, the advertisements are omnipresent. If you cultivate the attitude of “celibacy” to them, agencies have a technique of hooking you. Standing at vantage points, they serve hand bills lavishly printed on quality paper. People display courtesy to these distributors, receiving the pamphlet with all humility and reverence. After glancing it, they discard it on the way or hand it over to someone else. These bills carry messages that project the product as an embodiment of virtues / technology. Often they tempt the gullible middle class by offering advantages / terms far “out of reach” otherwise. Several hidden spikes may show up after one gets deeply committed to the deal. Even high profile banks resort to these strategies. People at large have come to believe that for selecting a product or offer, the advertisement is helpful. At best, these give us an idea of the range of competing brands. These pieces of publicity occupy all forms of media including the TV channels. They hold the time and most children enjoy them more than anything else. The stranglehold they have over everything has created an atmosphere of casual attitudes. The expressions used to convey the idea are not precise and sometimes even slang appears. Some may dismiss it as a lighter vein effort to catch attention. But, my fear is, slowly these usages may creep into items of seriousness like letters and examination papers.

        The items in print are taken as acceptable / authentic and people take to casual expressions even for formal contexts. Therefore, I express concern for such thing

                                                              

       Why this concern:   I have come across situations where the expression and the          intention do not go together. I shall quote some of them as mere examples without any motive of denigrating the sources or their advertising agencies. 

A reputed 2-wheeler manufacturer had put up a hoarding in praise of their product

‘What a way to be carried away’. Was it a passive indication of truth? I do not know.

Another firm offering Computer education had put up a banner which read as under.

No man is an island. So we build a bridge. I am unable to comprehend the sense behind.

Several advertisements rendered in Tamil are bad both in construction and phraseology. One such item suggests “ KANNA  MOODITTU VANGALAM” கண்ணை மூடிட்டு வாங்கலாம் whose actual translation is You can buy after your eyes are closed [after your death]. Are they marketing coffins? The better form would be “KANNA MOODIKKITTU VANGALAM” கண்ணை மூடிக்கிட்டு வாங்கலாம் as it conveys reposing faith in the honesty of the firm which is perhaps what they intend.   Another washing powder brand suggests “Chlorine bleachai kondirukkavillai” க்ளோரின் ப்ளீச்சை க்கொண்டிருக்கவில்லை meaning - it did not have chlorine bleach. A better version would be ‘Idhil chlorine bleach illai’ இதில் க்ளோரின் ப்ளீச் இல்லை indicating that there is no chlorine. Another new arrival claims “Karaiyai vittu vaippadhillai” கறையை விட்டு வைப்பதில்லை. The honest meaning is, it removes stains. The product is not a washing or a cleaning agent. It is a pain balm.  A better way is “ Karai Padivadhillai” கறை படிவதில்லை meaning that the product does not cause stains on clothes. Another Cosmetic item suggests that it is ideal for men. In haste they have phrased “Thadiththa Aangalin Sarumathirku  Ugandhadhu” தடித்த ஆண்களின் சருமத்திற்கு உகந்தது which literally means ‘Ideal for the skin of heavy men’. Better form is “Aangalin thadiththa sarumarthirku ugandhadhu” ஆண்களின் தடித்த சருமத்திற்கு உகந்தது suggesting ‘Ideal for the rough skin of men’. These suggest hasty phrasing.

        Greater damage is done by mixing different languages. One example: KIT KAT Thinnudu. கிட் கேட் தின்னுடு . HAY PPY Aayidu ஹேப்பி ஆயிடு. On first sight, I thought one would change into “HAY PPY” from the human form.  Later I learnt that the English term happy has been rendered in Tamil. In the process, such writings inflict damage through wrong phonetics. Certain phonetic forms can not be faithfully scribed in Indian languages.      It may result in an undesirable effect. 

 The young who are in the process of learning, cultivate bad phonetics since they readily absorb what they see first.  Therefore, such terms are better translated to the lingua franca or scribed in the original language. Some other expressions are ‘DHAMAKA’ and ‘HUNGAMA’. It is better that such words are used in the form common for that language, instead of importing words from other regions without making the idea clear.  Better they  are translated right, instead of transliteration. The impact of such practices of planting alien words is rather serious, as people fail to learn appropriate forms of usage in any language including their own. Any activity that ruins the scope of learning must be desisted in the larger interests of apt learning. The word Queue is often written as ‘Q’, more for sheer convenience.  But the chance for passive learning is lost. Another instance is that of spelling the word Superintendent.  Often, ‘Supdt’ is employed. The effect is a denial of chance for imparting the right approach. Starting somewhere, I have digressed into this area. But it is vital to reiterate that passive learning has to be encouraged and provided for. It is a better way of picking up usages in any language. Advertisements appropriately framed can also help people to learn.

          Prof. K.Raman                                                           

 

CRISIS -III

 

CRISIS III

I am reminded of a famous saying in the English language which states “You cannot grow taller by beheading others”. Incompetent individuals suffer from crisis of confidence and stupidly conclude that their gimmicks can rob off the next person’s merit. Ironically the converse works faster. Whoever is denigrated does not suffer in the least because [s]he ably carries out all the work entrusted with. Besides, by systematic effort of labour, [s]he acquires higher skills and dimensions that are far beyond the reach of the ill-equipped denigrators. In the process, what happens is, the denigrator looks small in the esteem of everyone. Besides, the person loses value as an individual. Crisis deepens further with none willing to be a ‘friend’ of the denigrator in the true sense of the term.  If you probe further into their ‘home fronts’ it would be a sad reading that they are not  respected, since they always lend excuses and do not rise to any occasion. For such people it is crisis all over at home, office, society and everywhere; living in silent shame. So inadequacy is bound to destroy the respectability of a person. Bank balance and wealth inherited are of just no avail where capabilities count. Unlike wealth, inadequacy would reveal itself at every instance however trivial the occasion may be.

Way out:

Every crisis has a way out. Ways out do not reveal themselves unless we are truly inclined to get over a crisis. Getting over a crisis sometimes requires wisdom and most of the times only honest efforts. Let us remember that the one in crisis would seldom be able to locate the tunnel to escape. Only others in our ambience can really suggest measures of recovery. This would heavily hinge on “true friends”. When a person known to be a denigrator suffers a visible crisis, others would find the occasion ideal to “enjoy”. The inadequate person provides adequate occasions for others to rejoice over. Undoubtedly it is the bitterest of pills to swallow. Reciprocating a feeling is a human attitude. Therefore, affection or aversion is merely reciprocated and the individual is responsible for what [s]he receives from the ambience. It is not as if anyone can radically alter this reciprocal effect by a new–found show of affection. Any such attempt of displaying affection would readily evoke suspicion, since the person’s attitude has not hitherto been cordial. It may deepen the crisis by making others believe that the person has ‘something up the sleeve’ and ‘let us play it safe’. The real way out is to be, true to self and to others with a uniform disposition always. None relishes being denigrated, more so when they are honest to the duties. When an inadequate person tries playing tricks, the honest are not daunted but certainly feel hurt. If they were to curse the wrong-doer, the latter has to only seek pardon from the Almighty after stopping all the denigrating effort and should resort to diluting the inadequacy of self. Very rarely this happens because such persons have come under the influence of the belief that ‘self image can be enhanced by casual utterances’. Besides, any one who has lived through inadequacy can not hope to revert to the hard ways of honest living that call for rigid practices of equipping self. Literally it is a trap carved out by one’s own incompetence faithfully derived from inadequacy. Strictly speaking, there is no way out except to “keep off” this muddle.

Keeping off:

Getting in to the muddle looks simple, for, to be amongst righteous habits a lot of parameters come into play from early childhood. The most important among these are the “discerning parents”. Unwittingly, they inculcate bad practices of uncultured utterances, casual remarks about neighbours, indulge in vulgar display of wealth and make the child believe that ‘all that is around is permanent and that [sh]he has to be like that’. In the process the child also picks up some of the family traits of denigrating other faiths of religion, spreading communal disharmony and unfounded hatred for quality efforts. Much of this can be traced to the wealth ‘inherited’ or ‘amassed by hook and crook’. Money is an agent of disturbance. It can disturb discipline by enticing deviant attitudes of ‘spending’. The commodity being in easy flow, the elders lack the perception of the need to groom the child. Instead they tend to pamper the child and offer items totally irrelevant. It leads to a wrong conditioning of the mind. Such ambience cannot infuse moralistic traits. Moral fear is the best deterrent against ‘wrong belief of winning by money’. Besides, it is the least expensive methodology of inculcating discipline. Discipline is a part of ‘development’. I imply that it has to get instilled in young age and develop as an attitude as the child grows up. It is like shaping a mud vessel before it is baked. An adult mind is a baked vessel and it cannot be shaped again. At best it can be kept neat and polished. It cannot be outright transformed. Those adults who have witnessed transformation in their lives have had enough qualities of righteousness with them that were murked by certain external manifestations of defiance. Once their conscience rakes them up, they are able to witness transformation. In many such instances the early home ambience had provided them the values of life. The individuals from such ambience may have had occasions of “flexible” life. But their elders would have certainly stuck to principles of honesty and righteousness. Without nemesis, good or bad does not accrue. All our efforts- material or otherwise aim at helping our children and their derivatives. Material left behind may not ensure the intended effect. But if we strive to help our children get equipped, certainly it will help them acquire for their life. Righteousness does not come to anyone who has no divine grace. Divine grace does not accrue to anyone who has not nurtured righteousness. These are the two sides of the same coin. Anyone who fails to take cognizance of the fact that every life has a mission, has no obvious value for life. Any mission calls for uncontaminated honesty. Honesty does not permit defiance of order, disturbing the social values and disobeying the dictates of conscience. How can anyone ignoring the laws of nature ‘succeed’? Success is not what happens today. It is an all-embracing gift of righteous life, being useful to others, carrying a blessed posterity where the whole generation lives in esteem of their heritage never under any want, with Divinity ready to lend a helping hand always. Obviously inadequacy is also a gift to a deserving posterity. Let us remember that by the law of nature, we hand down what our posterity deserves.           

 Prof. K. Raman                                                                           

 

 

 

 

CRISIS-II

 

             CRISIS –II

             In avoiding the scope for crisis some traits or elements are important.

           The elements-essential, but destroyed:    

          As a person grows, a few things should get into the personality of the individual. These include a sense of confidence, the tendency to strive and attain a good ability to communicate and a basic capacity for logical approach to ‘life situations’. These cannot be infused in to children who are pampered; instead they develop a tendency of looking down upon others as individuals who can “ill-afford”. This steadily establishes a mind for comparison on a “materialistic plane”. Once any human mind falls to this trap of assumed superiority, the individual tries to establish his or her supremacy among equals. An imminent outcome from this style of living is forming a group. Invariably, the group leader is the one who is materially affluent. This makes deep inroads in to all the essential characteristics of confidence-building, efforts to attain and strive for logical deductions because the young mind comes under the stranglehold of sycophancy. Apart from the individual getting ruined, many others of the group lose sight of the need for equipping themselves. They apparently feel secure or comfortable in the ‘providing’ company of the pampered leader. Students at the levels of 8^th standard onwards, succumb to such situations. At that age, friendship has to be absolutely free from material considerations of running after the rich who may throw a few chocolates and try to command the not-so –affluent. To keep off temptations, calls for a maturity of sorts. But, a general cautioning at around the age of 7 or 8 while providing the basic facilities for learning, helps the child to analyze.

           Also, if the children are confident of attaining by effort, they will generally escape from traits of sycophancy. The role of parents is quite important at these stages. Money-hunting parents cannot obviously, be aware of the impending dangers to their children, for, they believe that they can ‘control’ everything by money. The first thing they lose control of, is their children as the latter feel that they are in a resourceful ambience and their job is to utilize the resources. That is why, I insist on effort of attaining anything. Children not brought up on right modes of ‘learn, strive, exert and achieve’ cannot be expected to “develop”. At best they may grow biologically.

            Any individual has to develop while still growing. Does our ambience favour it? Many may not agree with me on the plea that children need being taken care of. Yes, to a certain level until they are able to differentiate ‘our own’ and ‘not our own’. Thereafter, the ability to distinguish safe and unsafe courses steadily develops in the mind. From then on, obvious support must be slowly withdrawn, making the child understand that support can be sought only by making the right effort. For every effort the parent has to acknowledge by verbal appreciation. It is the right tonic that builds confidence. Confidence derived from effort helps to strive for more. With such efforts in everyday learning, the child grasps the nuances of learning. Mere completion of home work is not learning. It is but one step towards patient approach to learning. In these efforts, parents must spare time with the child in providing a moral support and get an opportunity to understand the difficulties of the child. These simple parental participatory efforts can ward off the scope for digression and the possibility of ‘mechanical’ home work that hampers the delight in learning. Children unattended to, lose inclination to learn, as they do not readily understand anything, unless properly narrated. This is the critical stage of foundation. Well founded early stages prove an asset in higher stages, since building on foundation is better than clinging on to scaffolding.

           Effort and reward:

           At the outset, let me make it clear that, reward that we conceive essential for human lives may not come forth as an immediate effect. But, certainly it will come not in a form conceived by us, but at a time and stage with such a telling effect that one can recognize the hand of Divinity therein. What I try to suggest is, any genuine effort of labour has to detach itself from immediate materialistic consideration. Study, character building, attitudes of righteousness are never meant to promote material wealth. Together they define the stature of a ‘perfect citizen’. Perfect citizens are those who can upkeep values even on the face of adversity. They will not be swayed by material considerations. To develop skills and stay balanced all through is the richest asset that any blessed soul can aspire for. What the rest of the society deems essential in the form of money power and positions of authority without being genuinely equipped are mere symptoms of the ‘fall –to-be’. These “efforts” of material ascension do not mean any safety in the sense that the very members of the family would indulge in dog fight over who should take possession of what, even as the man is languishing in bed for want of timely attention. Is it not a crisis to possess so much wealth that cannot buy your health? There is a clear bargain over the returns for every ‘service’ rendered by even children and grandchildren. Why all this? Over the years we focus on materialistic efforts and when it boomerangs all Gods delightfully watch your plight: not because Gods are sadistic but they keep “our life” under public gaze for others to take the cue from. But we are a clever lot taking the wrong cue of how to “out- perform” the richest man of our times. This is the thin line of demarcation between the clever and the intelligent. The latter chooses to be self-reliant by acquiring the essential attributes, leaving it to nature to take care of sustaining balance all through. The intelligent know the gap between eternal safety and the ephemeral tinsel.

           Crisis in our work ambience :  

         Bad upbringing has a long-lasting effect and the effect integrates into the very attitudes of the person. A significant impact to the personality is an attitude of hoodwinking. Such persons make use of every occasion to drive a wedge of disharmony among people so that an element of suspicion fills the air. This polluted atmosphere comes in handy to for them keep everyone guessing. Why should a person resort to this strategy? The person recognizes that “I cannot match the requirements of the situation”. If a peaceful atmosphere prevails “I would soon be spotted as incompetent. Let me keep the atmosphere tense so that analysis is kept at bay”. As the next step, the inadequate person indulges in mudslinging and character assassination of more competent persons. This is crisis- self inflicted by the incompetent, instead of improving upon one’s own ability, downsizing the value of others is resorted to.

           To continue                                  Prof. K. Raman

 

CRISIS

CRISIS

 

Everything appears shrouded in mystery if we try to look at what is happening. Is it that we have no solution or salvation? What causes this fear in me is not too clear to me since most things do not appear to be in any order, leaving much to be desired. At times I come under the feeling that, persons of my mental make-up cannot hope to ‘catch’ with the present trends where the priority appears to be for convenience and an attitude that, end can justify the means. It is not as if the society is full of errant ones. But, it looks that, erroneous concepts, diluted values and an uncalled for urgency in life are dominant. What could be the reason? Honestly I have no clues. But, I am able to observe a ‘shift’ in values. I am aware that values are what a person cherishes and that they cannot be imposed on any one. But, there can be no two opinions on the ‘value’ of what is good and what is not. So long as an item of value is widely applicable to the society at large, it enjoys the value of a value.  Considered from this plane, items that condition our general attitudes of safety, controlled pace of systematic approach to ascension, acquiring the right qualities through education, nurturing our traditions have been mostly relegated to insignificance. People go by what popular notions portray, instead of judging the validity of notions. In all acts of daily life there is a ‘jump in to the bandwagon’ approach. On an occasion, I suggested that ‘conditioned thinking’ is a malady. The very process of conditioned thinking arises from the attitude of accepting notions. It is not my contention that all popular views are bad. My suggestion of ‘conditioned thinking’ as a bad trait is more applicable to sudden patronage to products or proposals leading to wealth acquisition through financial deals and strategies of share market deals. My viewpoint at this juncture may appear odd, since the planes from which one reads the ‘value system’ is bound to murk the clarity of issues even to the point of accepting an issue as issue. There is so much of subjectivity in the approach that the risk of the very ‘value system’ looking irrelevant cannot be ruled out. This prospect can not deter our efforts of identifying the problems and the probable solutions thereof. Talking of crisis, it should be pointed out that, several elements need being considered and the reader is requested to consider the merits of the opinion as an effort to identify the lacunae in our general disposition to ways of living. Indeed it would be a tough task of ‘considering’ relevant issues while sustaining the merits of the ‘Value system’.

Hopefully, Divine grace blesses my effort of bringing together complex issues, without fatiguing the recipient.    

What constitutes a crisis?

Often crisis arises from inadequacy of our efforts at any stage. It may be from any event or a step that fails to help us to achieve the intended target by legally valid means leading us towards crisis. One can bring in a variety of items from our daily life to narrate the instances of crises. At the same time, I deem it less important to merely list the items. It would be more sensible to locate the reasons for such happenings. The entire exercise of analysis is complex in the sense that, there is a gap between the target, the effort and our equipping selves for ‘that’ attainment. In a way we are indirectly involved in the onset of a crisis of the type I am trying to portray. Effort and effect always faithfully follow like light and shadow respectively. Any shadow is as intense as the light casting it. The effort has to match the requirements of any desire, lest we should face a crisis. We do not bestow right attention on to ‘achieve’ what we desire, but, we nurture desire, irrespective of our abilities of ‘living up to’ requirements.

Zones of crises:

Literally every item of significance in our life can turn out to be a potential situation for a crisis. As hinted earlier, desire without the adequate skill or effort is the root cause for a failure. Failure generally fails to evoke logical introspection. It rather promotes a feeling of being ‘let down’ by others. Very rarely, ‘others’ can modify the course of events to bring about a shift in our fortunes. This attitude of looking for convenient excuses starts from early childhood. Pampering the child for trivial things must stop at around the age of 6 for a child. It is but natural that a child looks for ‘care, comfort and protection’ from parents. All parents desire all that is good for the child. In their eagerness to keep the child happy, they lose sight of the most fundamental requirement – the ability. That is why I suggest that pampering should stop around 6 years of age, to make the child recognize the need to acquire competence. Pampering spoils the mind leading to the belief that ‘support’ from home front can ‘work to our advantage’. At best this can help in ‘buying’ things like dress, eatables and small facilities like cycle or scooter. Extending this logic to higher levels, children and parents try to buy seats in profession study.

The student fails to recognize the need for ‘effort’ from self, because all through, his or her life has been built on some scaffolding and not on a foundation. Such lives are bound to crumble at the slightest jerk. Parents do have the moral responsibility of upbringing the child. Upbringing is a process where all steps must be attended to with the idea that future is being shaped for the child. Future does not stop with profession education. Instead of professionalizing the approaches to learning from school level, people set their eyes on professional courses. I began saying that crisis begins when efforts do not match the requirements for a target. That is evident from the way these boys and girls struggle to clear examinations at higher levels. Pampering is actually tampering the character and the mindset necessary for genuine achievement. The Darwinian principles of ‘struggle for existence and ‘survival of the fittest’ are guidelines fit to keep in mind always.       

To continue                                Prof. K. Raman