The Cat School and A Crown I Refuse to Give

It was quarter past 7 in the evening. Anne and I  were seated on the veranda chairs for our daily dose of post-dinner conversation. The day had been very warm. A cold moist breeze gently blew in. “It's raining somewhere,” I said. She didn't reply. She put a finger over her lips and then pointed towards the cat on the road.

We live in a gated community. The colony road, at its broadest outside our house, serves as a tiled pad for turning vehicles. The mother cat was there with her kitten. A child in the colony had brought the mother cat into the colony as a kitten. She was smart and grew up to be a beautiful cat. Ever since, tomcats in the neighbourhood viciously vie with each other for her affections. She litters regularly. 

Seated majestically, she had a rat under one of her paws. Her kitten sat curiously watching the rat struggling to escape. Without warning, she let the rat free. What followed was a hunt in slow motion. The rat ran for its life. The kitten seemed lost. Mama chased the rat, caught it, returned to where she was and settled down. Then without warning she released the rat again. The kitten chased the rat  but failed to catch it. Mama wouldn't let the lesson end in failure! The lesson was repeated a few times. The rat also must have got tired of futile attempts to escape. Finally, the kitten got it right and caught its first feast. “Efficient teacher,” remarked my wife. 

Jungle demands survival skills and matriarchs invest a lot in enabling progenies. What about us ? I wondered. 

There are more than one answer to each question in life. They are present around us. But it reveals itself only if one has the eye to see, ear to hear, head to decipher and heart to relate. I had my chance. This issue had come up for post-dinner discussion a few days before the ‘cat’ incident.

A friend of mine had recently ventured into the field of business. An attempt to start something, especially a business, that demands a lot of physical and mental commitment when one is well past sixty, the decision and follow through, the least to say, is incredible. My friend had retired from the army where he held a very senior position. He had a pension and could spend his days pursuing his passion. I was proud of him. “What prompted you to start this?” I asked. “See Jacob; I couldn't have handed over my designation to my son. But in business, I can anoint my children,” he replied. 

Awash with guilt for a moment,  I realised that I had done nothing like that for my girls. All along when they grew up, they were guaranteed only facilitation for their education. They had to be on their own for everything else. They did exactly that. They chose the field they wanted and toiled hard. One a Masters in Business Administration and CS and the other an IITian, they never disappointed me. They roughed it out in the wide open world and found their space.

Did I fail my children? 

Enabling progenies by creating a conducive environment is a parenting responsibility. Empowering them to achieve their goals is a step ahead. They have the authority to decide for themselves. They have the responsibility and therefore the accountability to themselves for what they have become or haven't. Handing over a crown and anointing them was never on my agenda. Did I abdicate my responsibilities?

There was no reason for me to grudge his reasons but his cause was at great variance with my convictions. Right and wrong is a matter of perception, a considered choice of every individual. He  might be right. 

Was his endeavour a pursuit of passions or driven by compulsions? Passions could be compelling but can compulsions become passions? Maybe!

It is said that survival is the toughest in The Savanna. Life and death are in an undetachable embrace there. Every death in Savanna sustains many others' life and every living thing, flora or fauna, is a potential death threat to another. Each mother in the wild Savanna knows that chances of survival of offspring depend solely on their ability to defeat death at every corner and every moment. We comfort ourselves in the belief that such life is confined only to the wild. We call it ‘Law of the Jungle’!

Think again. We could be wrong. They may be better off than we think.  A close look will reveal that odds stacked against human species are far more than that we currently comprehend. According to one study, the entire human population is cramped into less than 1.5 million square kilometers, a mere 1% of the total habitable land on the planet where as the wild animals have about 40 million square kilometers a whopping 38% as Forest. We normally speak about endangering other species by encroaching into their space, but remain silent and criminally oblivious to the unpardonable death and destruction we cause to our own species in the quest for religious, political or economic dominance. In such an environment, shouldn't we be enabling our offspring far better and more seriously than the mothers in the wild?

Unconsciously, it is the same parenting instinct, as in the wild, but greatly skewed that compels us to create tangible assets to be handed over to our offspring in the belief that they will take it forward and hand it over to their offspring. Unfortunately, inadequately enabled and insufficiently empowered, the recipients soon waste out the assets.

“पूत कपूत तो क्यों धन संचे,; पूत सपूत तो क्यों धन संचे" wasn't said in vain.  

Creating assets in pursuit of one's own passion is great, but driven by compulsions to crown the progeny may not always yield intended results. Each Empire and each Kingdom of the past bears testimony to this profound truth.

Pursuit is a personal choice and compulsion a state of helplessness.

I have no crown to handover.

Additional Input

For those interested

The planet can be divided as follows

Land mass -149 Million Square KMs ( 29%).

Oceans   - 361 Million Square Kms (71%).

Of the total landmass  (149 Million Square KMs)

106 Million Square KMs (71%) is habitable.

 15 Million Square KMs (10%) is Glacier

28 Million Square KMs (19%) is Barren Land

Of all the habitable land in the world (106 Million Square KMs )

48 Million Square KMs (46%) is used for Agriculture.  

40 Million Square KMs (38%) is Forest

<17 Million Square KMs (14%) is Shrubs

>1 Million Square KMs (1%) is settlement and Infrastructure

>1 Million Square KMs (1%) is Freshwater

Killing the Goose For The Golden Eggs - Where is the Goose?

 Stories for Life

We all love stories and we all grew up hearing stories, countless and each with a message. Each one of us certainly remembers at least a few stories. Few would recall the embedded message. How many amongst us would have internalised those lessons for life?

Two stories that I heard as a child and never forgot growing up were that of the Goose that laid the golden egg and of the greedy dog. The owner of the goose, overcome with greed, tried to rip off everything at one go. Rip off he did, unfortunately of himself. He lost the very source that could easily have been his means of livelihood, sustenance and growth to being rich, surely but slowly. The dog already had something in his secure possession but tried grabbing, a reflection, something well beyond his reach and anyway not his by any claim. In the process he lost forever even what he had. 

While scanning today's newspaper I came across a piece of news that reminded me of both the stories together. Reading through the newspaper, I realised that these stories were timeless. It happens everyday, all around us and in different forms.  We only have to look around. 

Destination Kerala

Kerala has long been marketed as the ultimate tourist destination with the tagline “God’s Own Country”. Blessed with a climate that remains conducive for tourism throughout the year, domestic and foreign tourism can easily fuel a large part of the state's economy. With one of the highest density of allopathy hospitals in the world and as home to countless outlets of traditional Ayurvedic and naturopathy treatment, medical tourism is another area that the government can easily promote to run the local economy. Kerala, if well managed, can give Thailand, Bali and Sri Lanka and other southeast asian tourist destinations a run for their money. Tourism has been a money earner for the state but if indications are to be believed, it is declining.

Mega conferences and melas where ‘Who is Who' of glitterati as brand ambassadors showcase ‘Brand Kerala’ as a sought after tourist destination are not rare. Government proclamations and initiatives are regularly declared to promote each region and locality in the state as a tourist hub. The reality, if the news item is to be believed, seems headed in the opposite direction. It points to a fundamental fault line that has been the bane of Kerala's growth prospects.

 

Whom Should the Tourist Go With?

"Whom should the tourist go with? Apprehension that Cruise liners may give Cochin the go by'', read the caption of an article in the 31st March edition of a widely read Malayalam daily. The details indicated that the taxi unions operating at the port have made it clear that they won't allow coaches of the tour operators to ferry tourists from cruise liners to various local destinations of tourist interest. The tourists, they insist, must use those vehicles affiliated to their union. According to the article, about 52 Cruise Liners come to Kochi and about 200 to 800 tourists come out from each of the liners for sightseeing in and around Kochi. This is the pie being contested for. The news also expressed the apprehension of Cruise Liners avoiding Cochin if the tour operators are not allowed to operate their AC coaches.

Economics

It is common knowledge that each tourist wants to spend the least and have the most. Coaches maintain the integrity of the tourist group,  take on guides, some of them have inbuilt toilets, provide better sightseeing facilities and are far more cheaper than taxis. World across, tour operators rely on coaches to ferry tourists. Bigger coach translates to more tourists, easier to manage, fewer guides and  better economy of volumes. It keeps prices down for the tourist and ensures better margins for the tour operator.

But  taxi operators seem to have nothing to do with the choice of the tourist, his concern for costs or the tour operators' bottom lines. They want coaches to stay away. In the reconciliation meeting, the news item said, they seem to have agreed to split the pie half-half. If their demand is acceded to, tourists will have to forgo the far better and cheaper option. To the tourists it is clearly a rip off. To the practical and cost conscious tourist, it will appear that the union is asking more for the right to rip off than the right to livelihood. Expecting foreign arrivals to abide by the diktats of the local taxi unions is asking too much, especially when equal or better options are not far away.

Economic transactions integral to  tourist activity provide impetus to the local economy. Tourism does not limit itself to being money for drivers. It actually energises a lot of small associated businesses. Keeping it cheap ensures high volume turnovers. If the options are available and costs are right, tentacles of economics spinoff spread to other areas, even remotely linked. Thailand, Sri Lanka and Bali are classic examples. If Cruise Liners sail past Cochin, then not just the taxi drivers but the entire ecosystem related to tourism stands to lose. 

The stand of the union prima facie seems to be “If for anyone, why not for us?”, apparently harmless. But their demand drives up costs and that is detrimental to business interests and therefore the entire community. It is not the first time that Kerala has lost opportunities because of  unreasonable demands by unions.  Claims of a friendly industrial climate in the state notwithstanding, many industrialists and entrepreneurs have flagged bitter experiences as truth. But we are either drowned in delusions of denial or we have started believing in the reflections of the narrative we created for ourselves. A third possibility is that the majority has resigned to afflictions as inevitable. Whichever is the truth, it is counterproductive.

 

Killing the Geese! But Who is the Goose?

Kerala and Kerallites must ask themselves as to why services like Ola and Uber are shunning the state. If it is the opportunity to work and earn that people are looking for, then services like ola and uber that effectively operate world over and take first time visitors without problems should have thrived here too. The domestic requirements especially, that of the ever increasing share of  geriatric population in the state, itself should have fuelled growth of such services. It could also have achieved large volumes across the state and provided employment to many locals. The hesitation of most taxi and auto drivers in Kerala to go metered is a well known fact. 

Many aspects of the Malayali society's daily life have an abundance of “paise wise and rupee foolish” (replacing the “penny wise - pound foolish”) acts. The abrupt end of the metro at Alwaye rather than finishing it at the airport, is a classic example of foresight akin to institutional blindness. The taxi unions movement to stop or make it difficult for call-taxi operators to operate at the airport is another example. Even the call-taxi operators have joined hands and have found ways and means to rip off subverting the call taxi app. It will provide short term success and gains but in the long run it deals a very bad hand for the local economy. The rip off attitude is not confined to the tourism sector alone. The malice has spread across every segment of the service industry. People, sooner than later, will adopt means to escape being milked. 

Whether it is the greed to lay hands on all the golden eggs now and all at once or the greed to grab the bone even if it is only a reflection, the end result is the same; loss. Unfortunately malayalees, much touted as the most educated in India, have neither adopted productive ways nor stood up against such counterproductive steps by unions. Has collective bargaining, once a tool for survival, become a means of coercion?

The question remains

Are we killing the Goose that lays the Golden egg? 

And by the way are we not the Geese ourselves ?

“One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest” - Well Almost!

 

Produced and released in 1975, based on the book by the same name, ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest’ is considered one amongst the Greatest films ever made. It finds a place in the American film Institute’s ‘100 years… 100 movies’ list. Call it tragedy, comedy, drama or anything that you may please, it is a thriller that one must find time to watch.

I watched it many years ago. But one question haunts me still. Who was the cuckoo?

Was it the lively Randle McMurphy, a convict and pretender who encouraged other inmates to discover their strength within and turned tables on Milldred Ratched, the head nurse or was it the Native American “Chief” Bromden, the pretender deaf-mute, who smothered a lobotomized McMurphy to death, before escape?

Though there is nothing even remotely linked, I was reminded of the  movie when I read the recent news of a person who went missing from the government nominated 'team of farmers’ from Kerala who went to Israel on a, government sponsored trip to study modern farming trends. Reason for farming declining as an occupation in Kerala, is not a secret that requires visits to Israel, Europe or the USA to discover. Everyone knows it but chooses to pretend otherwise. Kerala is  neither a mental asylum nor are those who go on government sponsored foreign trips, pretenders. Absolutely NOT! Though the individual has returned and sought pardon from the Government of Kerala, a seemingly unfazed government is said to have been left red faced. Going by precedents, the farmer, real, nominated as one or pretending to be one, will have reasons to repent even more, as the might of the party, government or both will lean on him, sooner or later and certainly once the media glares elsewhere.

Pretentious pretenders plenty notwithstanding, do citizens actually leave India for good?

My search on the web didn't yield much either as research articles or as statistics. Either much is NOT available in the open domain or I failed to find the right source. However according to what I stumbled upon, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai is said to have stated in the Lok Sabha during the winter session of the Indian Parliament, that a total of 6,08,162 Indians gave up their citizenship, starting 2017 and ending 10th September 2021. {2017 - 1,33,049, 2018 - 1,34,561, 2019 - 1,44,017, 2020 - 85,248 2021 (Up till Sept 10) -1,11,287}. These are  official figures and do not take into account those taking the illegal route out. Considering the fact that Kerala has a huge share of expatriates, many if not most opting out should logically be Keralites. Figures are NOT readily available.

But, why should anyone leave Kerala?

‘God’s Own country’, after all, has social indices at par or better than many advanced countries in the world! Do government policies, back breaking tax regime, depleting job opportunities, rising number of unemployables, mafia-like trade unionism, rising number of mob-justice cases, a state of denial perpetuated by those in power and a creeping sense of insecurity have anything to do with it? This and many other such questions, our beloved ‘rulers’ must ask themselves. 

If what is seen around me is to be believed, many have already left for good. More are leaving and very many more are in the process of finding ways and means to do it. What was once a trickle is slowly turning into a torrent. Initially those working in the Gulf took off from there and found ways to permanently migrate to the USA, Canada, Australia, UK, New Zealand  and many other countries. Now those residing here too are queuing up for the escape door. Post COVID demand for nurses has helped accelerate the process.

Interestingly, though more people are getting out, flow of foreign remittances seems to slowly thin out. The most visible sign is that many palatial houses that once were owners’ pride are turning into ghost houses. The economy is feeling the pinch forcing rulers to find ways to extract more. These are tough times and tough times need tough measures! Ironically, a current budget proposal that could soon be approved aims at levying taxes on empty houses. When implemented it will be akin to levying an ‘escape tax’. Having taxed just about everything and splurged most of the earnings on themselves and run out of money, our rulers seem to have come up with this cruel yet innovative option to raise money. 

They have a valid reason. Empty houses, according to  them, are burdens on the environment and therefore must bear a cost. They seem to forget the huge number of jobs it generated when constructed and still continues to generate, the money they paid to unions for doing nothing but gawking, the money they now continue to pay the state as charges for electricity and water without using, the property and land tax without occupying these; all for the terrible sin for wanting to come back once a year to connect to their roots. Killing the Golden Goose  in another form? A down-run in construction activity is on the cards and if one NRI decides to demolish his house, a flurry of demolitions is likely to follow.

Given the current scenario, only Gods can save Kerala’s economy.  But there's a problem. These are times when Gods need goons for protection. in that case, is salvation even remotely possible? With leaders being deified and ascribed with divinity, maybe our refuge might rest there! 

Doubts linger!

Who is the cuckoo here?  Those who fly away to distant shores or the ones left behind, lobotomized into silence?

Who are the pretenders here? Our rulers who declare everything is fine and their devout followers who chant amen or the subjects who willingly or out of fear comply in silence? 

Woods are Lovely Dark and Deep: The Secret of The Woods

Life is intriguing, yet most go through it without casting a second glance. Many amongst us spend a lifetime content enough eking out an existence, dying many a daily death.  Rich or poor, few dare to look beyond livelihoods and wealth accumulation. When one dares to ask questions to oneself about oneself, the quest begins.  Quest  gives meaning to life and questions that arise, on their own slowly reach their answers.

A persistent question, the ‘why’ of people’s behaviour came up in a late evening discussion with two friends, a young couple both achievers, located in San Francisco. The cause and effect notion of life, means with which it gains currency and its short lived utility found home in that discussion.  Weeks later by sheer coincidence, another persistent one ‘purpose of life’ came up for discussion with, a spiritually evolved, material minimalists and unbelievably large hearted couple, our hosts in Tustin, California. It was in one of many such discussions about programming and reprogramming ourselves the ‘secret of the woods’ became clear to me. Let me share that with you.

Most of us are led by narratives fed to us right from our childhood. Slowly, over time as we grow, we absorb these as day-to-day requisites and internalise them as a program that we all become well accustomed to. In effect,  we voluntarily live a life dictated and programmed by others. These countless lines of internal coding that covers almost all areas of our life dictate how we think, perceive and even decide between right and wrong. In fact, it governs everything we do. We seldom dare to deviate.  

The ‘secret of the woods’, I learnt was like that. But something else was revealed that day.  It was not revealed to me during any  meditation session.  It was not passed on to me by any teacher. I just stumbled up on my own version of the secret  in one of these discussions.

A favourite of statesmen like Pt. JL Nehru and Nelson Mandela and very often used for recitation competition, the poem ‘Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening'  by Robert Frost, is a captivating read. The last of the four stanzas, is widely quoted by teachers and elders alike to drill in the need to set goals for life and focus on them as destinations, as we travel forward in life.

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.”

The wise use these four lines to egg us on to ignore the beautiful deep woods in front of us and get on with life’s goals. In this widely accepted taught and propagated explanation, a sense of immorality and guilt, in the act of watching snow fill up the woods that doesn’t belong to you seems to be inherent. Even the horse seems to sense something "queer" with the poet stopping near the woods on the darkest evening to see the beauty of nature. Such explanations make, mutually exclusive binary choices, the norm, compelling readers to denounce one in favour of the other. That is how we have been programmed.

Is that the only explanation? May be there could be others too.

Poets like other artists tend to be driven by the heart more and less by arithmetic equations. Best of poems come out from intense emotions of love,  won or lost, beauty or  passions.

Look at those lines bit more closely. 

Isn’t the poet portraying immense inner conflict between the urge to stay on watching the beautiful woods and the diktats of society asking him to set and pursue goals? Does the Poet say that he ditched the lovely woods for the ‘promises’ that lie miles away? He leaves us at the cross roads to decide! 

Somehow we are programmed to choose the 'miles ahead' dumping the spectacular show nature has put on for us. We also forget that the beauty being unravelled is fleeting.

While falling snow and the beautiful woods , according to many, are mere temptations that distract us from real goals that lay far ahead, isn't the poet telling us that it is such beauties, though fleeting, in life that make the journey beautiful and despite compulsions, one must stop by.

Sadly, most of us are wired such that we easily  immerse ourselves in pursuit of destinations of the journey, given in to compulsions of an uncertain future casting away the beauty of living in the present. Our actions are often investments for  future little realizing that the road ahead ends only at the pyre or in a casket. The most powerful, resourceful, richest and wisest have all had to shed their power, fortunes and intelligence behind as they were carried out on the final journey.

Life, is all about experiences rather than material accruals. Somehow we seem to hold the two mutually exclusive though they can comfortably coexist. We need things to live and comforts too. But dying to get that forgetting to live?

We are on an one way street with no chance to retrace our steps. Not one man has found a way. Every possible scriptures says so, yet believers and non believers alike have drowned themselves in futile pursuit dumping the beautiful present.

To me the secret has been unravelled.

Would you like to take a relook?

 

 

 

 

Falling in Love with a Fall in Boston - Beyond What The Eyes See

I had heard a lot about the Boston fall and the dramatic change in colours from green to hues of yellow and red. I timed my visit to Boston to see the faint footsteps of fall, experience it getting louder and more colourful as it sweeps the entire area awash in colours.

I am enjoying every bit of it.

 'Autumn' and 'Fall’ are used interchangeably to capture the same essence of time bridging summer and winter. Autumn wears an attire of formality whereas fall brings along a poetic and philosophical feel appropriate to the annual event.

In the northern hemisphere fall commences with the autumnal equinox, the day, sun crosses the celestial equator, the imaginary extension of Earth’s equator in space. It normally happens between 21st to 24th September. Fall ends with winter solstice. Also called ‘hibernal solstice’, winter solstice occurs when the poles reach its maximum tilt away from the Sun. Winter solstice, therefore has the shortest day and longest night of the year. Then on, days start creeping upon nights till summer solstice gets revenge with the longest day and shortest night. The cycle, like it ever was, continues. Naturally both hemispheres have separate fall, winter and summer solstice.

The fall is interesting as it signals change in seasons offering us a spectacular feast for the eyes, a foliage that continuously changes colours. All trees do not change colours. Only the deciduous trees take part in this spectacle. For the cursory eyes, it may just be a change in colours, but for nature it is a complex process and for the trees a survival mechanism. In fact, it is the signal that the tree is shutting down its kitchen, the leaves, because it is running short on its fuel, the sunlight. Chlorophyll that gives trees its green and does photosynthesis, the process of converting sunlight into energy, starts breaking down. As chlorophyll breaks down, it exposes the underlying yellow (xanthophylls), orange (carotenes) and red (anthocyanins) pigments within the leaf. The catalyst for the change are primarily temperature and moisture. Since there are countless permutations and combinations of these two variables, no two falls can be alike! As fall progresses, each leaf starts gradually taking new colours, simultaneously weakening at the stem. Then having put on a spectacular show takes a final bow and falls down. The fall is all about swan songs; swan song of each leaf that once started its life journey with the tree as hope and goes on to contribute its might to the tree irrespective of the size of the tree .

The science behind what we see is important to understand why and how it happens. My interests, however in the fall was less for scientific reasons and more for what lessons it can give me.

Accept it or not we are part of nature and are inseparably linked to everything around us. There is so much beyond what eyes can see. Look close; Fall is a great lesson for all of us.

We all have our seasons of springs, summers, autumns and winters. For some of us life could be enviably long springs and summers. Life could be a dream run with neither autumns nor winters. But for many of us life could be very different. 

Barely noticeable springs and inconsequential summers that seem to finish even before it started could be condemned to obscure oblivion by immer challenging falls leading to extremely severe winters that linger till eternity. For reasons known or unknown life could just turn nasty.

 Like it or not; life’s like that.

We all respond to crises differently. Some like the evergreen trees may show no sign of approaching winter. They may easily weather challenging winters in life or even wither without warnings. But most of us show signs like the deciduous. When tough times come calling, signs show up in many ways, however hard we may try.  As life's winter gets closer and harsher, many, who we think will stand by us, fade away into unfriendly shadows or outright give up on us pretending they haven’t seen us in their life time. Worst are those who will confront us with often heard unjustifiable “I told you".

We could lose our greens, turn yellow in loneliness and go red in sorrows and losses. It's then that we should call to play our inner strengths

If we are rooted well in our belief of a better tomorrow, even while we face losses, we can let go of our leaves with dignity and conserve to weather the storm ahead. It’s autumns in life that help us know our true friends and strength.

Every winter however long and severe it may be, will have to end in spring.  Reassuring sunlight will come and with it new opportunities and hope. If the roots are intact, be assured, life will send shoots out, buds will emerge and the tree shall be full of greens once again.

As you enjoy the colours of fall, remember it’s the swan song for leaves but not for the tree. For the tree spring is about to come. Concentrate on sending the roots even further down.

Beware! You Could be Cordyceped

 Mystery Of The Long Horned Ants

The forest hides a lot even from the most prying eyes. Most of what we get to see in it is fleeting; what is not fleeting may just be a snapshot and not the full picture. The truth of the forest, a mystery! Today, let us unravel one; the Mystery of the Long Horned Ants!

Each plant species has perfected the art of propagation. When it is season, flowering plants bloom and the forest becomes awash with pollen clouds, each grain in the cloud hoping to find a suitable recipient. Most, not reaching intended locations dry up and die.

A fungus called Ophiocordyceps also sends out spores. Ants are no strangers to the forest. They come out from their colonies to forage. In millions, they crawl all over. Spores of Ophiocordyceps fall on plants, animals and the forest floor. It could also land on ants or they while crawling around could come in contact with it.  

Harmless incident? No; because they are the intended recipient!

If a carpenter ant (camponotus) and a spore gets together, the game changes. As soon as contact is made, the spores drive roots into the hapless host and takes control over its behaviour. Enslaved by the fungus, the afflicted ant has to find a place that offers the right amount of sunlight, temperature and humidity to help the fungus grow; and then in a bizarre final act, gets into a death bite at that precise location ensuring life for its guest. The spore grows into a fungi from the dead ant’s body to spew out spores, infecting another set of ants. The cycle continues. Colonies of ants could get wiped out like this in one season.

Genus Specific

There are more than 400 different species of Cordyceps, each targeting specific species of ants, dragonflies, cockroach, aphids and beetles etc. The story is all similar; the guest enslaves the host and controls its behaviour and eventually kills it.

The process is characterized by the presence of a parasite or parasitoid, a host willingly or unwillingly promoting its growth and at its cost and peril. Often the infection is genus specific.

If you think that this macabre story is confined only to forests or to species other than human beings, you can’t be more wrong. It is played out in and around us, our homes, places of work and in societies we live in. There are many an agent, targeting individuals, groups, sects and other such identities. Don't believe it?

Afflicted Individuals

When it comes to Homo sapiens, individuals are prone to being afflicted by one or multiple agents. Such afflictions are not race or gender specific. Some could be severely debilitating, adversely affecting our personal behaviour and social skills. Few could be even life threatening.

Many amongst us are corrupt. Degree and type notwithstanding, corruption inflicts personal and social costs. Though corruption has almost become a norm, many remorselessly indulge in it. Yet, there still remains an innate fear of being caught. For a few, ‘fear of being caught’ drives its roots and modifies their behaviour. Like the dictated move and death bite of the carpenter ant, the individual is consumed by suspicion. They see shadows even in bright light. Many of them withdraw into shells to shield themselves from prying eyes and leading questions for fear of being exposed. Some become introverted and become conspicuous by their acts, others compulsive liars and few both.

Behaviour and response to situations of many amongst us are driven by mistrust or distrust[1]. Caution is an existential virtue, but when that is fuelled by distrust it can spiral out badly. Such people over time become social misfits, subjects of scorn and eventually force themselves into their own shells and turn recluses.

It is just not only about the corrupt, timid or compulsive liars. There are many others who are similarly afflicted. Fear, guilt, apprehension, anxiety, insecurity, suspicion, greed, melancholy and so many such others; are just names of different genus that have the potential of commanding our minds and modifying our behaviour once they find space with us to rest and root. The most dangerous of all is being infected with a corrosive ideology.

 

Parasitoid

Unlike the empire of the sub-sapiens, we actually could make our infection look wanted. It could even get us inducted into groups we want. Once infected these people actually go around actively seeking to infect others. They are even willing to consume themselves in the process. Anyone opposed to that ideology is considered a threat and is treated appropriately.   That is when it becomes dangerous to societies. Fanaticism emerge like wise. 

 

Infected groups

The holocaust was the culmination of such a spore, rooting in one individual, spreading into others and then infecting the group prompting them to collectively prey on another group. It was not an isolated incident and not one of the past. Every day, across the world there are clouds of such spores of exclusionism infecting localities and regions.

Like Cordyceps, they need hosts and find ingenious ways to create divisions within a population that was otherwise living peacefully. As intensity of affliction increases, lies and falsehood spread at astronomical speeds. Having reached threshold levels, law of the jungle prevails over civility.  Everything that happens, however detached, gets connected and viewed through the spore’s perspective. A narrative is born! Then it is propagated and allowed to gain momentum. Once it attains the momentum threshold, it then catapults on its own with authenticity that truth commands. Social media plays catalyst. Disaster unfolds, slowly first, surely later.

 

Escape?

Insects, cursed merely by coincidence of presence in the area, have no way of shaking the spore away. It is doomed as soon as it comes in contact with the spore! They just can’t reason it out. What about us?

We are not as helpless. We can prevent the spore form driving in roots. It all depends on how well and how ready we are, as individuals or groups to reason it out.

What happens when a people lose sense of rationality?

 

[1] Mistrust and distrust are often considered synonyms but mistrust is a general sense of unease toward someone or something while distrust is usually based on experiences or information. Unfortunately like egg and chicken which manifests first in an individual is hard to decide. Often a learnt behavior both compulsively add to each other

LIFE’S PURPOSE: THE GARDEN BENCH AND FEW REVELATIONS

Background

The cemented garden bench, across my house, with bright golden yellow borders and white cross members, looks perfect a partner for the strange tree painted on the wall next to it. The unnaturally multi coloured leaves, all imprints of hands, make the white wall come alive. I do not know what the artists want to convey. To me, it represents a declaration of the arrival of the new generation, colourful and different. The symbolic leaves, reveal the unmistakable urge for attachment despite the deliberate choice of detached existence, uneasy coexistence of silent symmetry with loud asymmetry and subtle yet visible order in the chaotic riot of colours. 

During day, the bench and the tree on the wall merge into insignificance with the surroundings. But as darkness descends and the caretaker switches the light on, they transform the area into a surreal spectacle, seen to be believed.

Occasionally few, of those ‘palm-print artists’, occupy the garden bench, in a huddle, mostly loud, sometimes in hush-hush mode, but always deliberately unmindful of our existence.

The Trigger

The post-supper conversation between my wife and I sitting, out on our veranda chairs, is a ritual we rarely miss. Our neighbour a septuagenarian widower joins us nowadays. We find something to talk about every day.

It was the first of February and we were half way into to our discussion when I noticed the caretaker of our colony sitting still on the bench.

Appointed for security, he is of minimal security value.  His primary job is to switch on and switch off the water pump that fills our colony’s overhead tank. Very particular in switching it on, which he does many times a day, he often forgets to switch it off. Sensitive to water wastage, I often switch it off. His disarming demeanour makes it difficult for me to scold him, though I do at times. At 72, he is active, always happy and happier after a glass of toddy, which he manages, at least once a day. Resourceful, he easily manages more. Despite the hard life behind him, he carries no grudge.

Sitting motionless on the highlighted bench, he seemed like one who had achieved the ultimate bliss through denouncement. Whether it was toddy induced stupor or age inflicted deafness, I don’t know, he remained oblivious to the sound of water gushing out of the overflow pipe. I shouted out to bring him back to the duty-bound world. He immediately rushed to switch off the motor and came back with the excuse always given and his characteristic smile. Thereafter, he returned to his room to sleep.

As he walked away, I remarked, look at him! He lives for the moment. Neither today nor tomorrow seems to worry him. He has no savings and estate to leave behind with an elaborate will. His daughters are married and wife has a part-time job in the nearby pump. He is not bothered about how his old age will pan out. He lived like that all his life. Content with his state of meagre existence he lives to enjoy the moment.

Think of it, he is a lucky man.

In the hope of making our old age safe and secure, we exhaust ourselves and our lives, struggling to accumulate and hoard things? If that wasn’t enough, we start working to secure the future of our children and even the ‘yet-not-thought-of’ grandchildren. The self-imposed burden of defining their destiny becomes the very purpose of our life and the sole driving force of existence.  Though we know of the uncertainty, today holds and tomorrow brings, we are relentless in our toil in vain.

This realisation compelled me to ask my wife and my neighbour, “What could be the purpose of his life?” “What is the purpose of our lives?”

The Counter

Anniey, my wife is a very intelligent and practical lady. A gold medalist of her times in academics, she is well read and keeps an ear to the ground. “Well,” she said, “He must surely have had some aspirations in the past and some now.” He would have wanted to have a house, wear good clothes, eat good food, travel. Surely every man and woman would want to have all that”.

Yes. Certainly. Everyone in whatever state he or she is born into, would want to become better. Desire to own, improve one’s own state of existence, part take in comfort should be our aim. I believe its our duty to be richer than when we were born.

That is not what is marketed by all sorts of Gurus as ‘purpose of life’. They tend to add halo to our existence and in the process complicate a simple natural process called life.

Life’s Purpose

The ultimate advice gurus give us, is to define the purpose of life. They convince us to connect our present with the future and life beyond, compelling us to do things, normal living things are not supposed to. Most of us are convinced that we Humans are the only ones blessed with possession of Soul.

Even though every one of us know, that there is a definite end to each one of us, we toil today to live tomorrow and even dictate the life after. Many of us want to leave something movable or immovable for posterity. The driving force, accepted or denied, behind such action of ours is the desire to be remembered by our progeny, their progeny and even the society well after we're gone. Most of our actions under the banner of ‘purpose of life’ is undertaken solely with the aim of leaving our footprints, hoping that it lasts for ever[i].

Life's purpose is not a recent discovery. It has been spoken of even in old tests. If we should be driven by a life's purpose now, even those before us would have felt the same!

Examining their life and its outcomes could help us define the purpose of our life and draw up pursuit strategies.

World’s Greatest

The most powerful student of Aristotle, Alexander III, mostly known as Alexander the Great, in 33 short years of his life, ruled ancient Macedonia for 13 years, most of which was spent in ruthless empire expansion. There is no written word about what his purpose of life was, but whatever it was, he would have done everything, with all the force at his command to fulfil it. If it was the creation of an endless empire, or a way of life he wanted others to follow, everything he created over unimaginable bloodshed and countless mutilated bodies disintegrated soon after he died.

Genghis Khan, who created the world’s largest contiguous empire between 13^th and 14^th centuries, often called the ‘green invader’, killed so many, that huge swathes of inhabited and populated land became depopulated and became forests! What his life’s purpose was, remains a mystery. Whatever it was, it isn’t around!

They are not alone. Ruthless rulers, lying leaders, shrewd businessmen; none of them had any different fate. Each of them devised means to decimate opposition, overcome challenges and create suitable environment for exclusive growth and spent a lifetime attempting to create systems to carry their names till eternity. Addiction, it turns out to be, turns them blind to reality.

But we can see! The same story is being spun in vain even now, across the world in every country, society, business and even at home.

Empires, fiefdoms, institutions and people; they all obey this law. One may find few examples to dispute the hypothesis. The disagreement comes from our inability to see the graph ahead in time. Extension of the graph forward on axis of time eventually proves that the exception is merely a visibility issue.

No exceptions?

Exceptions Prove the Rule

There could be an argument that ideologies could beat this law. Therefore, if the purpose of life of an individual is to create and propagate an ideology, would it last long, if not forever?

Dispassionate dissection of the argument would easily dispel the fallacy. The loftiest of ideals, fervently celebrated, could also find itself being trampled upon, at times by the very same people who use it to usurp power. Contemporary National and international politics is witness enough to the weaknesses of the argument.  Communism has acquired capitalist colour driving equals and more equals further apart; religions have evolved finding better ways to sell salvation and assassin of the ‘Father of The Nation’ is repackaged as freedom fighter. Time can make zeros of heroes can and martyrs out of killers.  Nothing is forever; not even gratitude.

‘Purpose of life’ is fallacy that we have been conditioned to believe in; a collective narcissistic pursuit. Though just one element of a complex interwoven food chain, we fool ourselves us into believing that we are special and ordained to lord over others. Kept alive by the grace of flora and fauna within and feeding on flora and fauna outside and mortally susceptible to even the tiniest bacterium or virus, we are only as good as any other species and definitely bad for others. We exploit the earth at the cost of other species and continually endeavour to exploit even others in our own species. Our cruelty remains unmatched among all species. All that we say about finding purpose of life masks either our selfish or escapist motives.

Crass Pessimism?

Against all lofty teachings?

If not for a purpose, what must we live for?

The Truth

Truth is often unpalatable. Purpose of life, irrespective of the owner, has a shelf life.

The Great Wall of China stretching over 21,196 km, was built by a series of Emperors from different dynasties. Built for the ‘purpose’ of fortifying northern borders of ancient China, it has long outlived its original purpose. China continues to claim real estate far beyond the wall, now primarily a tourist destination!

Shorn of hypocrisy and narcissistic masks our purpose of life is existence. Penned plain and simple, there is nothing to achieve beyond ourselves in this life. Everything else, said about us, binds us in pursuit of a mirage. The primary task is to live and let live with dignity. If a purpose has to be defined, then it is just to be good to oneself and others around. Mutually inclusive thought and action would mitigate almost all problems that the world is facing today.

When humans start considering that other races within our species and other species in the inter-species realms have the same rights of existence, the world could be a better place for living. If inventions and discoveries were deployed only for the good of mankind and not used as exploitative means of socio-economic and political dominance, life could have been different for all of us. It still can be!

It is often said that there is enough and more to satiate everyone’s needs. It is the greed of some, that makes it difficult for others to meet even their basic needs. That remains the bare fact.  The pleasure one gets through cheating and untrustworthiness, little or big acts of smartness, would all be in vain.

Being good to oneself can happen even while being just and good to others. Look at life as an opportunity to be good to people.

Bare Fact

On 2^nd February while coming home from the local barbershop, our caretaker fell by the roadside. Passers-by carried him to the medical college nearby. He passed away on 10^th February.

When I went to pay condolences, I saw him peacefully asleep dressed in the purest of whites. I was one amongst the crowd at the funeral. I watched his mortal remains locked in the coffin being pushed into the burial vault. Along with him locked in his coffin, went the purpose of his life; if any he had. Everybody and everything he loved stayed back.

You and I too would soon be gone and with us all that we believe in. All that we built and plan to build will not.

Paradoxical, but true, each of us, leave ‘footprints on the sands of time’, each one momentary, however impactful and seemingly indelible.

Are you still thinking of a great purpose of life?

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[i] Vehement denial could be the first reaction