Rising above माया

Rising above माया was what श्री कृष्ण always preached... And he walked the talk too...

That never meant that he would not love his children or his wife or his friends... I only now understood that it meant that he was talking about "principle centered" way of life... To not be bogged down by the symptomatic problems or be elated by the temporary happiness - the माया - but to be above it... To rely on the pervasive - always... That is, to understand the principles that govern each and every one of us and be aware of them and align with them...

That is the only way to find मोक्ष - to be eternally happy and in bliss...

Surrender

A child surrenders to the way its parents take care of it... Considering God to be the parent of human beings, a child teaches complete surrender to God...

Should a Delhiite dump his/her car and switch to public transport

The Times of India had thrown open a blog to record what people wanted to say about the possibility of people dumping their cars in favor of public transport on the BRT corridor. I felt that smart people would definitely prefer the switch... Here is why :-)
--------------------
I think Delhi people are smart...

The success of Delhi Metro in converting people from car travellers to users of public transport can be replicated..If we look at reasons why people switched from private cars to public transport, we notice a few pertinent things:

1. Petrol and fuel prices are sky-rocketing... People want to cut down their cost of living in times of such inflation... They are looking for alternatives

2. Driving on Delhi roads is a night-mare... If you drive to office and take about 1 hr in one side commute (quite normal), then by the time you reach office, you are tired enough to not be able to contribute fruitfully for at least another 30-45 minutes... And if by chance you meet an accident on the way (again scratches are quite commong), forget about making good use of about 1-2 hrs...

3. Delhi Metro offered fast travel... Speed of buses in BRT will be very good (since as newspapers report, the BRT corridor is almost vacant).. This means, that commute time through buses would also reduce...

4. Delhi Metro offered predictable travel time... This was significant gain when compared to traffic-jams ridden road travel... With the advent of BRT, we do not expect to see traffic jams in that corridor... So the public travel will become more predictable than private transport... So, DTC can come up with time-tables of their buses - when a bus would reach a particular stop etc (just like done by BEST in Mumbai and public transport fleets in other countries)... Natural logic would mean, people would switch..

5. Delhi Metro - even if crowded - is comfortable because of A/C coaches... People don't mind standing in A/C coaches for fast travel... If A/C buses are introduced on the corridor, it would make the travel much more convenient... The low-floor DTC buses are also comfortable, but AC buses would increase the comfort... The travel in such buses would also be pollution free and therefore healthier...

6. Delhi Metro is preferred mode of transport because it connects the most congested parts of the city... BRT should be implemented in the congested regions of the city and its utility will become more than evident...

7. Delhi Metro has been expanded to mesh around the city... Similar exercise should be done for BRT... If public transport across the city is fast, people would not mind changing buses to reach destination because they will get end-to-end fast connectivity...

Delhi Metro is a good example to prove that people switch from private transport to public transport... I personally have very high hopes with BRT... This despite the fact that there are some teething troubles at the moment

The BRT Corridor and TOI

This is the letter that I sent to the reporters and editor of The Times of India to moderate their reporting with views of bus commuters. In response to the letter, they opened a blog on www.mytimesmyvoice.com asking if people will dump their cars to use public transport.. Check out the responses on that blog also.
---------------------------------
I am a regular reader of The Times of India... TOI has built a brand for itself in the urban middle class... It is now a power to reckon with... The way media shapes public opinion is to be learnt from the various success stories led by TOI...
However, this also puts a big burden of responsibility on the shoulders of journalists working with the esteemed newspaper. I found the coverage of the BRT a bit deficient in a few aspects. I might be completely wrong, but I still wanted to share my thoughts with you so that if you find any merit in them, you can help in shaping the public opinion to achieve a better society and a brighter tomorrow.

1. Your coverage looses sight of the fact that every bus carries at least 40 passengers (in fact, the way public buses in Delhi are overcrowded, this number can touch 80-100 at times). In contrast, a private vehicle in Delhi usually carries about 1 passenger. On an average, it would carry less than 2 passengers.

- Pollution per passenger in a bus is about 1-tenth of the pollution by the most fuel-efficient (hence, less polluting) car on Delhi roads.

- fuel consumed by the buses in Delhi is much cleaner (CNG) than the fuel of an average private car (petrol). These add to public health benefits and saves the burden on govt health facilities (that they are not in good shape is another matter altogether and a different point of discussion).

- higher fuel consumption in private cars is actually a drain on India's forex reserves

- According to Delhi govt statistics 70-80% of road users are pedestrians, cyclists and bus travellers.

- According to Delhi traffic police statistics about 88% of fatalities in road accidents involve the vulnerable 70-80% of road users (mentioned above).

- When buses have to compete for road space, it creates problems. In recent times, we have experienced hundreds of deaths by DTC buses and Blue Lines (remember the recent campaigns - also run by TOI).

- production of a private car wastes at least 10 times more raw material per passenger than a bus. This means more private vehicles are a "much bigger burden" on the planet.

2. Delhi government has in the past many years (except the few very recent ones) promoted private transport at the cost of severly neglecting public transport.

- Flyovers have been built left-right-and-center in various parts of the city... They definitely speed up motor vehicles, but add to the plight of pedestrians and cyclists. In fact, most of the flyovers don't even have mechanisms to allow pedestrians cross the road.

- While thousands of crores were spent on building such new infrastructure, DTC used to get limited budget to upgrade its fleet of buses. This has thankfully seen some change this past year.

- Even in this year's budget, the fly-over projects get more than 4-times the allocation to DTC for fleet upgradation.

- In earlier years, this ratio touched 8-10.

3. BRT is a project that upgrades the traffic sense of Delhi's commuters to safer levels.

- It promotes lane driving

- It offers higher priority to vehicles carrying larger number of passengers

- It offers safe travel opportunity to the people who travel in an eco-friendly way

- It prevents the kind of accidents that buses cause on other Delhi roads because they have to compete for road space.

- It makes roads safer for the huge majority of more vulnerable sections of the society (many of whom can't even afford insurance in case of death or injury)

4. Every such upgradation project - a project that brings about a change - is bound to see resistance from public... Even abolition of Sati saw resistance... It is in such times that The Times of India should take the lead to ensure that such upgradations are accepted more gracefully... You can try interviewing a few bus commuters who benefited from the faster and less rash travel in Blue-lines on that route...

5. Such projects that involve change in the way public behaves are bound to see glitches... I am an engineer... Even we have to tweak our designs after testing it... I believe that when you write a piece of article, you also review it and make changes... I am also a blogger... I remember that when I used to write earlier, I would usually pass my writings through a test audience and then make changes based on their reactions and then post on public forums...

6. In the case of BRT, the government started with a pilot project (did not spend exhorbitantly on it when you compare it with numerous other flyover / construction projects)... It must have definitely made some miscalculations in traffic volumes at the time of deciding the signaling duration etc. and hence landed itself into a mess. I believe that the government is doing its hardest bit to turn things around from the present mess... Such long jams are clearly not desirable even for private vehicles... Please give them some time-space to affect the changes...

7. Top article on front-page of The Sunday Times (27-Apr-2008) harped about the Rs.4 cr additional cost in managing the Rs.60 crore project... This clearly is a 7.5% increase in expenditure. However, to put it in perpective, this cost is almost inconsequential when compared with the cost of other fly-over and road projects operated by the Delhi Govt... In fact, many of those projects - of which the government has so much of experience - also see similar and higher cost escalations... This was the first project of its kind, and if this cost escalation happens, it can be taken as a learning experience... While we should always bring financial impropriety to light and such financial imprudence shouldn't be spared, we should give the government enough leverage in the "first of its kind" initiatives, where they also don't have prior experience...

Looking into the future, I also see DTC introducing A/C and also more comfortable buses on Delhi roads... At such times, such corridors will promote use of public transport and hence reduce pollution, vehicle density, transport time and also curb inflation due to reduced fuel demand... Public transport should definitely be promoted - even if at the cost of inconvenience to private transport... Look at the example of Singapore where public transport (through taxis, buses, MRTS etc.) are the preffered modes of travel... I hope Delhi becomes a world-class city like that...

Also, I am not sure if you noticed, but I am keeping Shobha John in cc of this email... This is to appreciate her for giving so much thought to highlighting the efforts taken up for improving experience of air-travellers. This when air-travel is an option for at most 0.1% of Indian population. I hope that you give due weight to the additional safety and benefit that this corridor offers to the majority of commuters in Delhi. If successful, we can hope to see better road sense prevail in other parts of the city and many other Indian cities... I sincerely hope that we respect the people who respect the environment and public health, as much as they respect their commuting experience and travel time - either due to need or due to their condition...

Again, I might be wrong, but I felt that there was a significant other side of the coin that was not being reported in The Times of India. You can possibly also interview the experts from IIT Delhi who were involved in the project and get more technical data and analytical information about how the project helps the roadscape of Delhi. I think that responsible citizens can also give suggestions to improve the BRT corridor, we can possibly highlight such suggestions in our reports... This will help people to allow phasing-in of the safe road sense more gracefully...

In the future, I sincerely look forward to campaigns from TOI that bring to fore-front the plight of a pedestrian on Delhi roads... The foot-paths are being sacrificed for motor vehicles sake everywhere... It is no surprise then that pedestrian casualities are on the rise in the city...

Looking forward to hearing from you.

The Gas Problems

Aarushi, our little daughter, was not able to have her bowel movement... She was crying insistently. We really wanted to help her... But couldn't... Anything we did increased her pain... She would not take feed and would simply keep on crying...
Then - in the context of what her doctor had said on the first day - I tried to see what God wanted to show me and out came this blog...
Our ego - like gas in Aarushi's case - bloats our minds - like Aarushi's abdomen... And at such times, God really wants to help us... It causes us all the pain... We cry foul... We reject God's blessings (feed in Aarushi's case)... In fact, all that we need to do is to release the gas and we will start feeling better again... If we leave our egos behind, the pain in our life is gone...
Be it the problem of a peer having got a promotion before us or someone else having said something to us... It hurts our ego... An ego-less person will simply glide through situations - painlessly...

Children and Parents

When our daughter was one day old, her pediatrician told us that children are closest to God and that we should learn from them...

Taking care of Aarushi became a completely new experience after that... Her every action felt potent with God's word...

When we would try to feed her, she would look in all directions... And almost as an accident latch on to take the feed... We were eager to feed her, she would not just look in the right direction - and keep crying... All we wanted was her to face us...

God, I learnt, is always ready to fulfill our requirements... We just forget to face Him... While we cry and houl and feel deserted, He is constantly trying to help us look in the right direction...

We search for success in all directions - but Him... And hence, we fail...

Let us look to Him to help us... We shall surely get the benefits that we seek...

Every day is a sunny day

I have heard it many times. I had always known it. However realization of a truth is what is important. Its just like "taste". "Sweet" - the word will not ring bells, unless one has tasted what sweet is. Truth looses significance if it is not realized. I am lucky to have realized a profound truth. I was flying from Los Angeles to Hong Kong at an altitude of 39000 ft. When the sun rose on the horizon, I spontaneously exclaimed, "Wow! what a bright sunny day". The moment I said this, I realized a profund truth.

• Every day is a bright sunny day. We just need to rise above the clouds of distress and illusions and delusions.
  I continued to bask in the glory of this realization when I was given the opportunity to realize another one. The face of the Earth was covered with clouds - everywhere. It required one to rise above them to see the brightness and glory of the rising sun.
  When we were making a landing, I noticed that there were multiple layers of these clouds. Though rising above even one layer ensures "almost" always "more" brightness, we need to cut across all the many levels of delusions to enjoy the radiance of the ever-present Sun.
• The sun of joy and happiness shines at all times. It is always there. But at times we are unable to see it because of the delusions that cloud our vision. At these times we should keep the faith and elevate our level of consciousness to levels where these clouds of delusion don't marr our vision. We should look forward to such times with the motivation that they are opportunities for us to grow above the clouds of delusion and to finally enter into the ever-joyous blissful state of self-realization.

Time is Unreal

We should always remember that

• Time is a contrivance designed by man to help him in his activities
• The true power of man is not limited by this contrivance
• Man has infinite power. We just need to realize it
• For realizing this infinite source of power within oneself, one needs to first free oneself of the slavery to all contrivances
• The very fact that "Truth is Independent of Time", proves that time is but a delusion - a concept to which all of us have subscribed. We DESERVE, we NEED and we HAVE TO rise above this delusion
• All pain in this world has its roots in this delusion of time. Consider any pain - death, anger... all is caused because we don't realize that the truth will always remain. That what existed before will continue to exist in its true essense.
• It is the worldy delusion of physical presence and attachment/ love for the illusory physical form that causes pain.

Androgenous Gods

A one time meditation doesn't make one a Buddha. One doesn't continue to be in a state of bliss and joy when the "realization" dawns for the first time. The first realization is an awakening. But it requires will-power and determination and a motivation to keep awake in that blissful state.
One needs to remind oneself of the realization and consciously work towards not letting the delusions conquer the mind again.

One has to make a conscious effort to achieve this goal, to maintain this awakening. One has to be a spectator of ones thoughts. One doesn't need to criticize these thoughts - just observe them. Its not easy, but it can be done. It has been done. Everyone has done it at times. One needs to do its consciously.

We have to realize that we have infinite bliss and power within us. We just need to unearth it and we should also realize that such conscious effort of insistent reminders of each one of us being Gods helps us unearth the ever-present Godliness in us.

Another aspect of realizing the eternal truth is that one is neither a man, nor a woman. The fact is that one is not a body at all. We HAVE to realize this. We NEED to be conscious of this. This according to me is one of the preliminary steps to removing attachment to the body and possibly removing some of our ego. We have to rise above, "This is not the way men do it","This is not the way women behave" and the sort of thinking.

We have been conditioned by our society to believe in huge differences between each other, while there are none in absolute terms and minimal in physical terms.

Loving and caring are attributes of the soul. Strength and persistence are integral to the soul. So all these traits are there within us. We need to realize this and become aware of ALL these attributes in us, irrespective of what is branded as manly or womanly.

We have to be with the truth and we have to be conscious of the truth that we are.
Once we stop differentiating between "man" and "woman", we will start being "just" and "fair".

Soft-drinks, pesticides and the 'banning' drive

The recent revelation by the Stockholm Water Prize 2005 winner, Sunita Narain, that soft-drinks in India exceed the safe dissolved pesticide levels by as much as 50 times has ruffled lots of feathers all around.

It is true... The soft-drinks available in India have "huge" quantities of pesticides. And while other food material also have these pesticides clinging to them, the question finally boils down to - "While other things offer some nutrition, are we also ready to accept "junk" loaded with pesticides?"

But, is it fair to "ban" soft-drinks, just because they have pesticides, when almost everything that most of India drinks/ eats, is laden with (possibly higher quantities of) pesticides. Should it not be left as a choice to the consumer? Also, is banning the solution to the pesticide problem? Why are many non-profit organizations supporting the ban? Are there other issues involved? What are they? But then, can those issues get resolved with a ban? Can there be some solutions to those issues (other than the ban - if banning is a solution)? The note attempts to look into some of these questions - that a common Indian - like you and me - is asking!!!

I think wether a person wants to have pesticide laden food/ drinks or not is a personal choice. That choice exists also in food - in the form of organic food - and obviously in drinks etc - in form of nariyal-paani etc. So, to ban soft-drinks because they have pesticides doesn't at all sound justified. We may take much higher levels of pesticides in our food daily. So, this can not and should not be the reason to ban soft-drinks. This should be left as a choice to the consumer.

And banning soft-drinks is clearly not a solution to the problem of pervasiveness of pesticides. Pesticides are everywhere - in the water that we drink, in the food that we eat, in the fruit peels that we throw away. Wishing away pesticides by banning soft-drinks is to behave like an ostrich - to put one's head in sand and (then since the ostrich can't see anyone) believe that no one can see it. The problem exists, we are just hiding behind ourselves.

But then why are many non-profit organizations supporting the ban vehemently? What profit are these non-profit organizations getting out of it? Does someone have an axe to grind?

While I don't know about others, I personally am happy that the soft-drinks are being criticized and that bans have been imposed on them at different places in the country. I am trying to list down some of the reasons below.

• I will start with relating an incident. We were organizing a painting competition on World Environment Day (June 5), a few years back. On their way back, we were offering children a can of coke and some other soveniers. One mother abruptly stopped us from giving the can to her child. She revealed that her son really loved soft-drinks and that the doctors have strongly adviced him against it. We asked in unision, "Why?". She asked her son to show his teeth and as soon as he smiled, we knew the answer. The teeth were all gone. She explained that the soft-drinks are highly acidic in nature. They contain phosphoric acid - and it dissolves the bones and teeth of human beings. We were shocked to realize that bones and teeth - which survive the on-slaught of pyre after death - don't stand a chance against the soft-drinks. So, the first reason because of which I support the ban is the fact that they are "unhealthy" and can lead to life-long problems - like osteoporosis or dissolving teeth and bones. Children should be prevented from consuming soft-drinks at all costs. It should not be a matter of choice for them.
• While I considerably reduced my consumption of soft-drinks after the incident, I had still continued drinking them. (Just like, people know that smoking is bad, but still smoke.) It was when I came to know about the plight of farmers due to soft-drinks that I quit drinking them. Soft-drink manufacturers set up (or scale up) bottling plants in areas that are nodal to distribution. The area may be a desert also (like Coke plant in Kala Dera) and it may be luckily lush with greenery and huge water reserves (like the plant in Plachimada). These bottling plants extract "huge" quantities of underground water to make soft-drinks. (This is also the source of pesticides in soft-drinks). Farmers in the surrounding regions are also dependent on the same water. As water level recedes farmers don't get any water and their crops die. The company doesn't suffer, it can always dig a deeper well (when the present one dries up), but the farmer who has to spend Rs.20,000/- to dig a tube-well looses all profitability. However, many farmers still bore deeper wells - hoping that they will at least get some earnings over the coming years (if not this year). The next year even this well is dry and another well is needed. The poor farmer now doesn't have food to eat at home, where will he manage Rs.40,000/- (inflation + increased cost of deeper well) now. So, while the plant got water at Rs.0.50 a litre, the cost of this water was actually borne by the villages surrounding the plant. The profits of these soft-drinks are coming from at the cost of lives and livelihoods of thousands of farmers in surrounding areas. So, when we drink soft-drinks, we are in some way, adding to the plight of those farmers who don't have any means of livelihood left.
• To add to this plight, the sludge generated in the bottling plants was given to farmers under the garb of fertilizer. This sludge actually contained heavy metals and acids. When the farmers applied this so called "fertilizer" on their fields, the standing crop died. The fields became barren. Now, they can't grow anything even after boring a deeper well. Unethical practices like this don't allow me to drink coke.
• What adds on to the irony is also the fact that the purification processes that these bottling plants use, waste about 80-90% of water. So, to make 1 litre of Pepsi or Coke, about 9-10 litres of water is extracted from the underground aquefier. So, even if one drinks 1 litre of Pepsi or Coke, he/she is in fact, hitting the farmers 10 times harder. Drinking soft-drinks also means promoting this inefficient use of the most precious and life-giving resource - water. This is absolutely unacceptable to me.
• In other countries (like Saudi Arabia), bottling plants use desalinated sea-water to make soft-drinks. This water is not only distilled, it also does not adversely impact the surrounding areas. We don't have single such plant (that does not impact underground water levels) in India. Why?
• Why has it been that Coke consignments from India have been rejected by US FDA at least 10 times since January 2005 - on the grounds of poor quality? Doesn't this imply that quality of soft-drinks produced (and therefore sold) in India is not of the same standards as in other countries?
• In addition to all these issues, Coke management has also been 'allegedly' involved in killing of trade union leaders in Columbia. Such allegations were also levelled against Coke in India in March this year. Knowing legal system of India, I don't have high hopes of justice being meted out to the family of the poor trade-union leader.
• And last, but not the least, Coke (and many other soft-drinks) contain caffiene. It is addictive in nature and therefore the idea of getting addicted to something that involves detrimental impact on livelihoods of thousands of farmers and 'alleged' killing of enthusiastic community leaders doesn't gel well with me.

But then is banning the solution? Yes, at least to the problems that I mentioned above, banning will solve almost all of them.

So, lets change the question to - Is banning the only solution? Possibly "No". We can work towards a framework of better regulation and implementation and simultaneous promotion of alternatives. For example,

• While coke may not be ready to share the exact formula of their soft-drinks, they should definitely have some such figures as pH of the drink, amount of acids, and calorific value on each pack of the soft-drink.
• There have to be stringent standards on pH and other parameters which should be strictly adhered to. Absence of any quality standards for the soft-drinks is the first loop-hole that needs to be plugged.
• Soft-drink manufacturers should clearly state in their advertisements/ promotions etc. that drinking soft-drinks is injurious to health of growing children.
• Sale (and consumption) of soft-drinks should be banned in schools, colleges and hospitals.
• We have to regulate consumption of groundwater by bottling plants. All new bottling plants should be "fresh-water-neutral" to the ecology (like using sea water).
• If fresh-water neutrality is not achieved in the local area, then skill-based training should be given to local farmers to take up other occupations and support their families.
• Organic food and sustainable agriculture should be promoted. Presently the government offers subsidies for fertilizer and pesticide manufacture - but no promotional schemes exist for organic farmers. Therefore, organic food looses out to non-organic food in terms of pricing. The subsidy regime should subside (so that pesticide consumption etc. is automatically controlled) and sustainable agriculture techniques should be promoted.

The focus has to be public health and not private profit.

At another level, individuals like you and me should promote alternative / traditional Indian drinks. That will not only offer local employment generation opportunities (like jaljeera, neembu-paani, fruit juice, sharbat etc. used to be sold on thelas earlier). The onset of soft-drinks and packaged drinks have meant dying down of these employment opportunities locally. This will not only ensure that lesser water is extracted by the bottling plants, but also that we enable local livelihood generation activities. Lets pledge to serve one of these traditional and local drinks and not soft-drinks to guests at our homes and make it a matter of personal pride to give up soft-drinks.