Italy: Birthplace of Mafia. Still the tapered side of Italy is governed hugely by mafia inteference. The president is an epitome of societal turbulance. When I was having a discussion with Dr. Antonio Guezzati, who was a professor at University of Bocconi (Milan), now running a consulting firm based out of Washnigton DC he told that the bugger (the president) controls everything. How did it happen? He openly asks ambassadors to invite sexy girls. Even at the age of 72 when the country looks towards him for leading the nation he is involved in fulfilling his sensual needs? It reflects the kind of society our Italy may be. People involved in just fulfilling their sensual needs and not moving up in the need hierarchy of Maslov.
Views on life and other things
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Leadership in the context of present environment: A reflection about the socities we live in
Italy: Birthplace of Mafia. Still the tapered side of Italy is governed hugely by mafia inteference. The president is an epitome of societal turbulance. When I was having a discussion with Dr. Antonio Guezzati, who was a professor at University of Bocconi (Milan), now running a consulting firm based out of Washnigton DC he told that the bugger (the president) controls everything. How did it happen? He openly asks ambassadors to invite sexy girls. Even at the age of 72 when the country looks towards him for leading the nation he is involved in fulfilling his sensual needs? It reflects the kind of society our Italy may be. People involved in just fulfilling their sensual needs and not moving up in the need hierarchy of Maslov.
Maslov’s hierarchy of needs: Revisited in context of development of human beings
Where are the Platos, Joan of Arcs, Socarates, Nostradamus, Newtons, Einstiens etc. of the present time .......
Are we different?
Humans | Animals (Dogs) | |
Food | We all enjoy decent food | They also get to have nice meals |
Shelter | One of the prime needs | ‘Well off’ dogs have it |
Social life (friend group) | We have our friend circle | They also tend to be in groups |
Faithfulness | We find very few | Dogs are considered to be the best friend of human beings and the most faithful (some dog may take it as an offence if he/ she sees being compared to human beings) |
Pleasure | Majority of us (city dwellers, European/ US peers etc) enjoy life with liquor, sex, few with food etc. | They don’t have access to liquor but do lot of sex and also enjoy food. Now a day they have special foods prepared. |
Family life | Most of our peers in western countries/ large cities in Asia tend to get involved in short relations and move ahead. Many relations get developed over liquor overnight and having mutiple ‘associations’ is considered cool!! Having a family seems to be an unsustainable affair! | Well they don’t seem to have families. Females will have multiple partners, males will have multiple affairs. Females are left to bring up the children. If they would have a voice they would have also, may be, expressed it as cool! Some dog might say damn! Humans are catching us so fast…. |
Health | Indians are a lazy set of guys. Our western peers beat Asians by mile. Some do so to stay in shape so that they could have great sex (well some set of guys and girls gave that answer). | Dogs keep on running so the healthier ones enjoy same things as humans with as many as they can manage. |
Education | Most of us get (but do we utilize it?). Now a day teachers are having pleasurable activities, around the globe, with students rather than giving them life’s lessons. Who to trust? | They don’t have it (at least formally). |
Individualism | Many in western nations and majority of Asian cities vehemently try to protect it (least realizing that for any activity, starting from birth to death, we are dependent on each other!!). | They are all for it. They try to protect it fierecly. They mark their regions and any violation of ‘personal space’ results in fights! |
Having so many similarities are we different? Some say human beings posses superior intelligence. What is that intelligence? Why are we afraid to utilize our brains? Why do we take status quo as it is, even if deep inside we feel there is something amiss? May be you get to see lots of animals on the roads in our Asian cities people get to have some feedback about difference between a human being’s behavior and that of an animal (not so in the case of our western nations).
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Things less talked
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Non Performing Knowledge Assets (NPKAs)
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
East & West: Perspective from Discipline point of view
Friday, January 1, 2010
The girl child in India
Many of us will be aware that ‘the better half of the world’ still doesn’t have proper support system and families in India & elsewhere still feel burdened by their advent in this world. I would like to start with one incident from one of my journeys. I was recently visiting to Gwalior (a former princely & popular place in Madhya Pradesh in India) where my younger brothers stay. Three of us (including one of my brother’ friend) were returning after a dinner [at about 8:00 pm and it was quite dark]. Suddenly we heard a girl screaming and saw a guy forcibly pulling the girl to the nearby main road [I later came to know that there was a vehicle there]. We became quite concerned as this part of the India has high poverty and there have been numerous incidents of girls being forcibly converted to prostitutes. I mustered the courage and held the guys' hand. I asked him to let the girl go. The answer didn’t surprise me much. He told that the girl was his wife and running away from him. He also told that the girl was mentally disturbed but she looked alright to me. The guy smelled of alcohol even though he and the girl were wearing pretty decent cloths. I didn’t let the guy go and insisted that he should let the girl go. He then told that the mother of the girl was waiting at the main road (which was around 500 m from the place where this incident was talking place. I asked him to call her. He started calling the ‘supposed mother’. An old lady with another guy came towards us. I was surprised & bit concerned about what I was doing - was I right or wrong. As the girl was screaming some people from the nearby houses also came. The girl got an opportunity to make herself stable and called police guys on the phone. The girl then started saying that the guy was forcibly taking her to his house. We somehow freed the girl but she didn’t run away! She didn’t refute the claim that the old lady was her mother. Suddenly two police guys appeared on a bike and when I told them of the situation they took the guy with him on the motorcycle. What surprised me at this instant was that the girl then started shouting again and telling the police guys not to take the guy. She started pleading the people to call ‘good cops’. More confusion! The policemen looked quite authentic with all the walkie talkies, uniform etc. Then I was struck by a fleeting statement “Isse phir shaadi kaun karega?” [Who will marry her later?]. When I saw who made the comment I was ‘ashamed’ to see that it was the old lady [I came to know that she was actually the real mother of the girl!]. Most of the people may had missed that statement but it is still resonating in my mind.
We left the place but with conflicting thoughts and several questions in my mind which still bother me.
- Was it right to do what I did?
- Wouldn’t it have been better for the girl to go with the guy as she will be atleast guaranteed a roof and security – even though the husband would have been a drunk? At least she will be protected from the hardships of the society which can’t provide sustenance to a lone woman rather she is subject to all kind of humiliating situations.
- What would have been prompted a mother to take such a harsh decision? I have utmost respect for mothers, irrespective of nationality, and I can very well say it would have been one of the most difficult decisions the mother would have taken. A mother who fed the child from birth, provided food & shelter, took care of the child when it cried, cried and laughed with her, even feeding the child and not eating herself??
- Did I commit a great ‘sin’ by considering myself a better judge of the situation? I was not the mother and had never interacted with the child!! I had not born the child and not known the happiness or sorrows of the life which both had shared? How could I have made the judgement?
I ask these questions more today as one of my cousin sisters is going to get married soon [barely around legal marriage age in India]. When I talked to her she doesn’t want to get married. Her parents have started looking for a suitable bridegroom. When I literally told my father if he has gone crazy to help them in this he explained me the society, the people, the hardships etc. the girl or the family might have to face and I have to say he is quite right. Many of us, who have spend last several years in cities, have less understanding of things happening in smaller cities/ villages. She couldn’t get the academic environment or exposure which I could get so she can’t sustain herself. Even if I come forward to support her she can’t be married at a later stage as Indian society is not so open about it. I feel a sense of impotence. Our society doesn’t have a mechanism to support or recognize the individuality of a girl. We remain aloof from the common populace by the so called ‘fast life’ increasing our needs and hence efforts to meet those ‘needs’. We think ourselves, people from best of the institution in the country, unable in managing our own lives so how can we do that for others.
When I was a kid, with lots of needs, I used to think I will become a very rich guy with s*** load of money and will change the world – mine as well as that of people around me. I now realise that even if I have the whole planets’ wealth I can’t do so. Money is not the solution of everything. ‘Proper’ education is – enabling an individual to be ‘free’ from all kinds of needs & dependencies. I feel now even closer to the goal of 'Sustainable Living'. Sharing with another human being whatever little has been given to us – be it education, money, happy moments, people etc. Sharing others’ sorrow. Learning the true purpose of life. Breaking the impermanent walls which we have built around our hearts us and ‘opening’ to the people of the world.
I ask for all those, who are as confused as me,
“Asato Ma Sad Samaya, Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya”
[From ‘non-existence’ lead us to ‘existence’, From ‘darkness’ lead us to ‘light’]