choic is yours

CHOICE IS YOURS

Limiting desires rather than fulfilling them leads to happiness and salvation - Gautama Buddha

For the last 23 years, 26^th August is special and memorable to us. It is the birthday of my two daughters- Pratyusha and Anusha. Though born two years apart on the same day in 1992 and 1994, they also look similar. Many people wonder whether they are twins. We enjoy celebrating their birthday on that day. But for the last seven years, either one of them, or sometimes both of them are not with us as they are studying or working away from home.



But I am really pained to hear questions from some people whether it was planned to have their birthdays on the same day and any surgery was carried out so that the birthday remains the same. I really thank Dr. Srimathi of Hyderabad, not to yield to our pressure. Our pressure was not for the birthday sake, but we were unable to see the pains suffered by my wife for more than 36 hours. But the very experienced doctor was confident and ruthless that delivery would be normal and in that condition she never performs surgery. This brings into my mind a lot of questions.





I am proud of India, not because it has ancient culture, vedas are born here and lot of epics and religions has roots here,but because it is the largest democracy in the world. It had proved many skeptics wrong by remaining a democratic country even with its wide diversity, illiteracy and poverty. Amartya Sen-Nobel Laurette writes in his book-Arguementative Indian that democracy is not new to India.Here is a country where Caravaka's athiest arguments also were respected and from this country Buddha's highlighting of good behaviour rather than good prayer were spread across the world. No Galileo was ever killed in this country for proposing a theory against the then existing beliefs and practices. So freedom and choice were enjoyed by Indians from time immemorial.





However, is it right to have your own choice all the time? Especially opting for surgery for some mere enjoyment of same birthday, for the children or to have a baby born on an auspicious day or for a better horoscope. While I was working at Ramagundam, I came to know that Karimnagar district recorded one of the highest number of surgeries related to delivery and most of them are carried out in private nursing homes. Greed of Gyneacologists was suspected to be the major reason for majority of them.Is it not inhuman? Mahatma Gandhi writes sorrowfully in his autobiography about five legged cows of Benaras. In his childhood he used to see and enjoy them.But when he came to understand later that they were not natural, but the result of artificial transplantation of a leg of a calf after killing, he was very upset. But this was being done by poor people,whereas unnecessary surgeries are carried out by greedy people.





When I distributed sweets at the time of my second daughter's birth, my boss at that time, a very intellectual and effluent by Indian standards remarked- in his own words: '' you are the second person to distribute sweets on daughter's birth,I being the first''. This shows his feeling towards daughters. So it is not surprising that female foeticide, gender identification and declining sex ratios are the major problems in financially developed states like Punjab and Haryana.There is a saying in Telugu  "An illiterate washerman is better than a learned scholar”.





Alvin Toffler predicts in his popular book Future Shock that designer babies will be a reality, if not already existing. Restrictions on Human cloning research in many countries may be putting brakes temporarily, but cannot prevent it much longer.Then , is it right to have one's choice in this or can we have a right choice? All may opt for boys in India and girls have to be imported. Many may opt for IITs, IIMs, IASs, and etc.and there will be dearth of people of other professions.So having your own choice is sometimes catastrophic.





While writing this I came across another fact in newspapers to ponder over. Breast Feeding rate in India is only 44%, the least among the South Asian Nations. Given the choice babies will think twice for taking birth in India.





My daughter passed her 10^th class examination in CBSE stream with a grade of 9.8. I was not surprised when she innocently asked me whether she would be having any choice of studying further without opting for physics as a subject. She honestly told me that she was not inclined to study Physics. Almost all her friends opted for either engineering or medical stream. My colleagues and family friends were also curious to know whether she was opting maths or science as her subjects, as if these were only two options. I advised her not to study any course without interest and learning should always be associated with enthusiasm and not fear. She took a wise decision and opted for Commerce Stream. Then many people tried to console her that all children are not equally bright and there are good opportunities for Commerce students also. With this type of attitude the country can produce teachers, lawyers, accountants, writers and economists etc of only mediocre quality to the detriment of nation's future.





Children should be encouraged to pursue the careers of their own choice and wishes of parents should not be thrust upon. At the same time, it is the duty of every child to satisfy the legitimate aspirations of the parents and understand their limitations, before trying to do any work of their choice. Legitimacy should take precedence over Legality.





Pick and choose is not easy and there is no guarantee that we can choose always in our best interest. Former President Abdul Kalam dreamt of becoming pilot in his college days. After finishing aeronautical engineering from Madras he appeared for Indaian Air Force selection test. He finished tenth and only first nine were selected. Disappointed Kalam not knowing what to do went to Sivananda ashram in Haridwar. After knowing the reason for his unhappiness, Swamiji consoled him with these words. “God might have something big in store for you. That may be the reason for you not getting selected. Who knows, One day you may make aircraft and conquer the space”. Rest is history and known to all of us. He went on to become a space scientist, missile man, scientific adviser,President of India,Bharat Ratna above all a great teacher,mentor,guide,philosopher and a role model for modern India.

SHONE LIKE SUN NOT LIKE MOON……..WISH THEY HAD NO SCARS

 When I was a kid ,like every kid I used to wonder seeing the beauty of full moon. Then my mother was reminding me about the scars on the moon. In those days I used to wish that moon had no scars. Later on, I had learnt that moon is only an astronomical object and it is not even self illuminating but reflecting the sun's rays. But even today I enjoy the beauty of the moon and wish it had no scars.

          Similarly there are some great people who enjoyed or are still enjoying the iconic status in their respective fields during late 20th century and early 21st century, in our times have some scars. Even their great reputations could not erase their misdeeds . Because of them even though they achieved many laurels in their good times, they were not role models in a strict sense. As an ardent admirer of them for their achievements I wish they had no scars. I am sure there are many people  who feel the same.

          Sometime back,I read a news item in the paper. During the trail of insider trading case of Mr Rajat Gupta, an alumni of IIT and Harvard business school with a successful career at McKinsey and Goldman Sachs, highly admired in business circle world wide, co-founder of Indian school of business Hyderabad, when counsel pointed out the philanthropic activities of Mr Gupta , judge commented that “ I am also an admirer of Mr Gupta for his philanthropy. But that cannot be an excuse for not proceeding against him in the present case”. Eventually he was convicted and he is serving a jail term. Being an admirer of a self made man like Rajat Gupta , I still wonder what made him to commit an act like that. But I sincerely wish that persons like him ought not have committed these ignominious acts.

          While I was studying engineering at Kakinada (small town) I was thrilled the moment I heard on radio that Mohd Azharuddin is the first person to score  three centuries in the first three cricket test matches he played. My happiness increased manifold because he is a Hyderabadi and belongs to my own state. He was brought up in a simple middle class family. His wristy play was prised by many great cricketers and commentators and he is one of the most successful captain of Indian cricket. All these accomplishments crumbled in one day when it became known that h was involved in the match fixing scandal and was banned for life. It is just mother example of persons with great caliber who sometimes compromised in their behavior and betrayed their own profession.

          In 2009, on Jan 7th, while we were celebrating my wife's birthday I was shocked to hear on CNBC the confession of Satyam(truth) Ramalingaraju. He confessed that over the years the company is declaring inflated profits, excess income and even paying the taxes more than required and fooled the investors. Indian stock exchange was already closed for that day but stock tumbled to all time low on NASDAQ. Investors all over the world lost billions. Many Satyam employees lost their jobs. But for the efficient manner the crisis was managed by the government confidence in Indian business would have lost forever. One of the persons effected was my brother in law who lost his job. I am disappointed more because I was proud that Ramalinga Raju belongs to our neigbourinig district and a person from a small town of a farming family climbed to the pinnacle of a mountain only to fall down to the depths of the ocean of shame. Children of next generation may not believe that this is the same person along with Narayana Murty of Infosys, Azim Premzi of Wipro and Ratan Tata’s TCS not only changed the Indian software but also changed the image of India as a nation of seeking aid into a country to be liked or hated but can not be ignored. He Is also the architect of many philontropic acts including 108 ambulance service that saved many lives and the scheme was adopted by Government of India for the entire nation demonstrates his visionary qualities. But Satyam Ramalingaraju’s life is a perfect example of the famous saying “One can fool  some people all the time, All the people for some time but not all the people all the time “. Bubble will burst one day with terrible consequences. It also shows that means are more important than ends and character is more important than name and fame. While I was writing this Ramalingaraju was convicted by a special court and sentenced for seven years rigorous imprisonment.

          Tarun Tejpal became a national hero in 2001 when Tehelka.Com an online paper run by him, carried a sting operation exposing murky defense deals in India. It ultimately led to the conviction of a President of a national party and resignations of some central ministers. The media praised his exemplary courage and people of the nation felt that more number of such people are needed to change the image of the country. Many people tried to coerce him but he withstood all pressure. It is his publishing company that published Arundhati Roy's Booker prize winning novel God of Small Things. In 2013 it took some time for the nation to digest the news of an e mail sent by him to one of his female colleagues regarding the gross misjudgment for his behavior with his female employee in the lift in Goa. After regretting for his behavior he stepped down from the post of chairman of Tehelka as a punishment. The facts of the case will be known only after thorough investigation and trial. But even the revelations of the e mail are sufficient to tarnish the image.  Not only his behavior with the colleague of his daughter’s age but also the way he treated the complaint are in line with the principles his paper tried to protect. By investigating his own case and deciding his own punishment he crossed all the democratic norms for which he had fought for till that time as a journalist.

          Bill Clinton’s statement on Monica Lewinsky affair did not come a day too soon. It is the culmination of lot of Senate committee hearings,investigation,link with earlier alleged affair with Miss.Paula Johnson case when he was Arkansas governor. Even there were rumors of impeachment. The case created as much sensation as water gate scandal which led to resignation of President Nixon. The difference being by Clinton’s time Television penetrated into more homes across the world  and the affair is known to all people across the globe. Real facts of the case are known to only few people. But from whatever known also the behavior is unbecoming of a leader. Fortunately, the affair did not tarnish the image of president Clinton, probably because the moral values of the world changed over the years or it is considered as only a small mistake by the president of the most powerful nation of a unipolar world. Yet it is a definitely a blot on the character of the most popular president belonging to democratic party after John F Kennedy.

          I am not so sure that Jeffrey Archer exactly fits into this. But his talent as a writer and rise to the level of the deputy chairman of    Conservative party from a low of filing insolvency petition makes him as popular as any character of his popular novels. His alleged notorious acts range from financial irregularities, paid sex,lying and perverting the course of justice. He started his life as a bright student of English literature, became a member of parliament, alleged fraudulent investment to bankruptcy, popular writer, rising again to deputy chairman of conservative party, allegation of paid sex, conviction for perjury and perverting the course of justice. But he is always a popular author of many novels mainly advocating optimism. It can be said that  if he writes his own story, it will be definitely a block buster. But it does not teach anything for future generations to follow.

             Mrs Winnie Mandela's story is pathetic among all others. She is the symbol of courage of the modern world. Living outside alone in an apartheid regime when her illustrious husband Nelson Mandela was in jail for 25 years. The life of Mandelas is a new age real epic . Yet after the release of Mandela, South Africa had been freed from apartheid and Mandela became the president he divorced  Winnie Mandela for her suspicious behavior. Allegations against her include abetting self immolations as a form of protest and involvement in the death of a rugby coach etc. Fortunately still she is very popular though with dented image. I sincerely feel that she would have been the ideal woman of modern world without them.

          All the above examples show that reaching the pinnacle of a mountain is easier compared to staying there. Second part is much more difficult because first part can be achieved by sheer talent or circumstances but second needs character and consistently controlled behavior for the remaining period of life. It is especially difficult because celebrity status is associated with lot of privileges, attractions, temptations and power. Lot of control and self-discipline is required to remain detached.