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by Kollengode S. Venkataraman, Written in October 2004

It is hard for me to realize that The Pittsburgh Patrika is entering its 10th year. And it is going strong. In a city which has churches over 200 years old, companies making profits for over 100 years, and with The Pittsburgh Courier, one of the oldest African-American newspapers in the country, and even with Indian temples and gurudwaras into their third decade, The Patrika’s trajectory may not seem a big deal. But consider this: The Pittsburgh Patrika has no political, social, or religious affiliation; and has not sought grants and other resources from any public or private organization, endowments, and foundations.

I say this only as a statement of fact. In a way, we wanted it like this simply because it is one sure way to have editorial independence in publishing this magazine in our spare hours. Of course, having a full-time job in Corporate America to bring food on the table also greatly helps!

And we’ve mailed the magazine all these nine years for free — at least till now — every three months. And mailed on time, whether it rained, shined, or snowed, even in Pittsburgh’s blinding blizzards.

Over the years, The Patrika’s writers have freely commented on many social, economic, political, and even religious (Hindu, Christian, and Islamic) topics of interest. Our readers have felt that some of our writings were uncomplimentary to some segments of our society, or even to Mainstream America. Some of the articles were quite frank, even blunt, and we’ve always welcomed reader feedback.

Through all this, our advertisers — large and small — continue to use The Patrika to reach their potential customers with their goods and services.

We are thankful to our advertisers for their trust.

We say this for this simple reason: In the absence of subscriptions, advertisers are the only reason we exist. Today we reach over 2000 homes, from the mere 400 people in our database when we started in 1995. With escalating costs and a growing mailing list, we are wondering if we can continue to mail the magazine for free.

At this juncture, I look back at what we said in our first issue. Here are the excerpts from the leading article under the caption, “Why This Newsletter?”:

“The Pittsburgh Patrika is an experimental newsletter… … for airing and sharing your views, ideas, and even frustrations on any matter of topical and not-so-topical interest…… People from the Indian subcontinent here have quite a diversified background, and yet, are so very alike…

We have opinions — strong opinions, we admit — on war and peace, societal issues, spousal abuse, dealing with recalcitrant children and old-fashioned parents, intercaste, interrace, interfaith marriages, (and with prenuptial agreements becoming common, we may also add no-faith marriages as well), divorce, reproductive rights, religion, spirituality and religiosity… … The Patrika’s intention is to entertain and inform people ……on all these topics”

On Indian Performing Arts: “Our rich artistic heritage is diverse, Hindustani and Karnatik music, Odissi, Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, and Kathakali dance traditions…… The panorama is fascinating… Artistes from India routinely entertain us [here]. Who can remain unmoved after listening to a brilliant music concert …… or after watching a scintillating dance recital? And one may parenthetically add, who can remain without groaning after suffering through pitiful performances of artistes promoted in exuberant terms in glossy multicolor pamphlets?”

We went on to say there is a need for a platform for discussing these and many other issues:

“The objective of The Patrika is to fulfil some of these motivations. It also wants to be a reasonably well-written and tightly edited newsletter.

In short, this newsletter is for expressing and critiquing ourselves. Obviously, it will last only as long as ……it serves some of these purposes.

The Patrika looks forward to an exciting time in interacting with the Indian Diaspora. It will greet you four times a year… …”

These excerpts are from the first issue in October 1995. Taking stock of what we declared and what we delivered in the last nine years, we are pleased.

The first issue had only twelve pages, including the cover page, and we did not even staple the pages to save cost. And it had no advertisements.

In the last nine years, it was an exciting journey for The Patrika, and for me personally. Honestly, I harbored the lurking doubt that this magazine would suffer infant mortality (maybe one or two years), if not a neonatal death (after the first issue).

Personally, I never knew that I had the temperament to run a micro-business seeking advertisements, working with writers, editing/finalizing stories, learning the rudiments of accounting, designing, and maintaining a database. And simultaneously learning several software — layout, creating artwork for advertisements, learning to incorporate graphics — for putting together this magazine. And working with printers (for whom we werea a small job), and learning bulk-mailing protocols following USPS guidelines. Most humbling for me was working with small businesses to fulfil their advertisement needs.

A few of you even gave us small contributions though we did not solicit them, to encourage us. This indicated to us that we were doing something right. Thank you very much for your encouragement.

The Patrika is entering its tenth year only because of its advertisers, contributing writers, well-wishers, and readers. We look forward to more exciting times in the years ahead..END

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By Kollengode S Venkataraman Written in 2003

Throughout its unrecorded and recorded history, India has given a long lineage of teachers who injected refreshing ideas whenever society got bogged down in excesses in rituals and dogma. History bears this out even though many among us axiomatically believe in the opposite.

The Upanishad teachers broke away from agamas that bound people with endless propitiatory and compensatory rituals and showed the way for people to realize their spiritual identities by intuition and effort.

Vardhamana Mahavir and Gautama the Buddha (5th and 6th century CE) rejected the authority of the Vedas and the priests who thought they “owned” the Vedas, and developed their systems based on karma and self-effort.

The early Tamil Bhakti poets in sixth century AD and later were the first among the “vernacular” poets of India who rose against the Sanskrit/Brahminical orthodoxy of their times, and made Godhead within the grasp of all across the entire caste spectrum.

Shankara (eighth century AD) rejected the emphasis on rituals and arcane dogma as seen in his Viveka Choodamani (Crest Jewel of Discernment). Though he formalized the idea of a personal deity (Saguna Brahman), he recognized that personal deities are only tangible manifestations of the Nirguna Brahman (the Divine Being beyond attributes).

Basaveshwara (11th century) in the Karnataka-Andhra area spoke against ritualism and caste stratifications that afflicted people. His idea of God, represented by the abstract image of Linga, transcends all man-made attributes and comes close to Shankara’s Nirguna Brahman.

Centuries later, Guru Nanak (15th century) spoke in a similar vein in Punjab using the idiom of his language and the social, historical, and political context and conflicts of his time.

Ramanuja (11th century) was another Free Spirit along this line as we see in the following story confirmed from many sources:

After his great-grandfather Alavandar’s demise, Ramanuja became a sannyasi (monk). To complete his studies, Ramanuja went to Tirukkottiyur Nambi, who initially refused to accept him. Ramanuja went to Nambi several times again with the same purpose. But Nambi turned him away each time. Finally, seeing Ramanuja’s persistence, Nambi relented and took him as his disciple.

At the end of the teaching, Nambi taught Ramanuja a sacred mantra and told him, “You can transmit this mantra only to the most distinguished among your disciples, and not to others.

“Swamy, what is the benefit of this mantra?’

“By mentally reciting the mantra daily, you can realize moksha (release from the bondages of life).”

“But if I reveal it to others, what will happen?”

“Misfortune would strike you.”

Next day, Ramanuja climbed to the top of a gopuram (tower) of the temple in Tirukkottiyur and gathered the villagers under the tower. Then he loudly recited the secret and sacred mantra for all to hear!

Ramanuja’s guru Nambi chided him for revealing the mantra to all.

Ramanuja replied, “Swamy, I only wanted the whole world to benefit from this mantra, so that you become their benefactor, even if I am going to face misfortunes in life.”

Ramanuja went on to live a full life, established his school based on devotion and surrender, and passed away when he was 120 years old.  Similar stories abound in Hinduism and Sikhism — for that matter, in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as well. Jesus and Mohammed are rebels by the standards of their time — even by today’s standards.

But the irony is, no matter what reformers at different epochs come and tell us, eventually mankind gets mired in rituals and dogma again and again. How does this happen? We can only speculate:

People of extraordinary intellect, courage, and insight into human predicaments have appeared in all societies throughout history.

They spend a great deal of time searching for the abiding ideas that sustain mankind. These Seekers of Truth, after their long, lonely struggles (Gautama struggled for over two decades before becoming the Buddha) get deeper insights into our conditions. They articulate their ideas using the idioms and imagery of their times that resonate well with people who found institutions around their masters’ teachings.

After the time of these great masters — the Buddha, Mahavir, Jesus, Mohammed, Shankara, Ramanuja, Nanak, Vivekananda, or Gandhi — people who succeed them are no match for their masters’ intellect, insight, courage, or even charisma. Lacking substance, they cling to their masters’ forms in the honest belief that adhering to forms would eventually lead them to their substance. But it rarely happens.

With the passing of the organizational mantle further down the generational line, religious organizations inevitably get more disengaged from the spirit of the teachings of their original masters. One effective way to continue to influence their now-expanded numbers of followers is to build dogma and theology around the teachings of their founders; better still is to build myths around them, who, by now, have been deified already, as we see in every religion, Christianity included.

Once we reach this stage, religious organizations become unresponsive to changes in society. They become “traditional,” or “orthodox,” without realizing that their original masters were all rebels in their times. This is one of the great ironies in the history of religions.

Luckily for Man, another Free Spirit comes along, and the cycle repeats all over again. Yada yada hi dharmasya……… (Whenever injustice rises in society, I make myself appear again to restore justice and order – the Gita). END

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By Kollengode S Venkataraman  Written 2003

When Bill Gates of Microsoft, the software behemoth, was in India European heads of state don’t get. Only the other Bill – Bill Clinton – in November on a four-day trip, he got media coverage that even many seemed to have received more coverage in Indian media. Look at the captions of some of the news items in the Times of India:

Titles of relevant stories:

• Bill Gates begins high-powered Indian visit
• Gates meets PM; briefs on AIDS prevention initiatives
• $100m just a drop, says Bill Gates (on the enormity of the AIDS epidemic in India and his $100 million contribution.
• India to be world’s tech hub, says Bill Gates
• Gates says personal fortune will go to philanthropy

Titles of trivial Stories:

• Bill Gates impressed with Jubilee Hall [of Hyderabad, India]
• Bill floors developers; (Software developers, and not the real estate types)
• Will Bill’s visit benefit Hyderabad?
• Gates to be accorded state guest status
• Making Bill Gates feel at home
• Catch him live, Bill’s at your Gates.

The Absurd Ones:

• Catering to Bill Gates’ tastes
• Is Bill Gates cute and sexy?
• Blame Bill Gates’ largesse on Leo, an astrologer’s interpretation of Gates’ interest in charities, and how India got Bill’s largest chunk.

Talk about ingratiating!

Bill had one-on-one meetings with the Indian president Abdul Kalam, prime minister Vajpayee, and several members of his cabinet, and he also addressed India’s power elite.

Bill got the coverage for a good reason. In the five decades after independence, India was saddled with Nehru’s controlled economy for solving India’s problems, which, in reality, drained India’s national treasury and stifled people’s enterprise.

In this background, the birth of India’s software industry without any support from anyone twenty years ago was God-sent. It was primed by young Indians from ordinary middle- and lower-middle-class families that, in the Indian social context, are not known for their entrepreneurial instincts. The software industry gave India the desperately needed stimulus that irreversibly changed the paradigms of Indian enterprise.

Till the Indian software industry came into being, Indian industry was, and mostly still is, in the vice-like grip of traditional mercantile families. In India, even today, in publicly traded Indian companies, as in politics and even in performing arts, succession in leadership continues to be endemically hereditary. Given this background, the software industry brought refreshing changes in the Indian corporate culture.

Besides, the Indian software industry was born in the wild without the government acting like a midwife. In the early days, the Indian politicians and bureaucrats had no idea of this new industry that required no huge capital, was very labor-intensive — a different kind of labor, though — and yet was very profitable. Not knowing anything about the industry, the netas (leaders) and their babus (bureaucrats), thank God, did not even know how to screw it up.

With Indian software export earnings nearing $10 billion (with India’s total exports over $50 billion, it was 20% of its exports), no wonder the Indian elite and the middle class see software as the vardaan (boon) from the Gods.

So, it is understandable Bill Gates got the attention he did during his 4-day Indian Digvijayam. That Bill is an object of derision among software developers here in the US and elsewhere was irrelevant to his adoring Indians.

But the Indian media went overboard in the way it fawned all over Bill, often behaving as if they were Bill’s PR arm.

During his stay in India, the Indian media gave wide coverage to Bill’s 100 million dollar donation to fight the scourge of AIDS in India that focuses on women taking preventive steps independent of their partners. In India, over four million people are HIV positive, and over a million people have full-blown AIDS.

I agree one should not see a gift horse in its mouth. But what got under my skin was a story in The Times of India (November 12, 02). The title of the story by Kalpana Jain blared: Gates Gives India More than Africa for AIDS. The story praised the Gates Foundation’s $100 million donation as the single largest grant given to any country so far:

“The grant for the AIDS program in Africa, which has the highest rates of infection, is $50 million, half of that announced for India. The only other grants that are over $100 million have been for global funds such as the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and the UN-initiated global fund to fight AIDS, malaria, and TB. The $100 million grant comes in addition to the $41 million in grants given earlier to India.”

So, as if India got a contract against stiff global competition, Kalpana Jain says that India clinched the largest grant from the richest individual for fighting a disease. That democratically elected Indian governments belonging to parties of all shades of ideology and its all-powerful bureaucracy should have done more to fight AIDS is the unmentioned subtext.

Kalpana, let me first begin by telling you that Africa is a continent, and India is a political nation-state. Without appearing supercilious and condescending, I can say that comparing Africa and India is preposterous. Africa’s problem is horrendous as a consequence of centuries of political exploitation by Europeans and Arabs; economic exploitation by Europeans, Arabs, and people from the Indian subcontinent; and spiritual exploitation by missionaries and the mullahs. And to this add Africans’ endemic internecine warfare. Besides, unlike any country in Africa, India

• stakes its claim for membership in the UN Security Council,
• has nuclear capabilities for both military and nonmilitary applications,
• has a standing army of over one million soldiers on active duty,
• has developed unmanned military spy planes,
• sends satellites into orbit for military and meteorological applications,
• has indigenously developed nuclear-tipped ballistic and surface-to-air missiles,
• brags that Indian healthcare professionals are now the backbone of the healthcare system in the US, UK, and Canada,
• boasts that its IT professionals are software gurus worldwide, has produced Nobel laureates in the sciences, and so on.

Yet India is incapable of addressing the basic pani-roti-langoti-dawa (water-food-basic healthcare) issues of her citizens.

While India is justifiably proud of its hoary past going back over five millennia, in the fifty years after independence, it did not fulfil its obligations to all its citizens, namely, providing them with skills and enabling them to live with dignity.

We can even make a case that all of India’s social and economic problems, including the explosion of AIDS, stem from the neglect of the basic duties and obligations of the state.

So, Kalpana Jain, it is a matter of great shame that India received more from Gates for fighting AIDS than what the entire continent of Africa got from Bill Gates for AIDS.

End Note: Gates, father of three sons, told this to his elite Indian audience about his foundation (New York Times, Nov. 11, 02): “I realialized about 10 years ago that my wealth [estimated at over 40 billion  even after the collapse of Wall Street] has to go back to society. The fortune, the size of which is hard to imagine, is best not passed on to one’s children. It is not constructive for them.”

Will the Indian industrial tycoons and political heavy weights falling head over heels to have a darshan of Gates try to put this idea into practice? Don’t bet on that. The Indian power elite routinely fall at the feet of sannyasis, swamis, pirs and lamas — Mother Teresa is the latest addition here — seeking their blessings. After politely listening what these swamis say on how they should conduct their temporal affairs, this power elite nonchalantly walks away going about its business as usual. END

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By Kollengode S Venkataraman (October 30, 2001)

Living our busy lives, we want to reduce complex issues to a manageable size. The media condenses this for us into blurbs, 15-or 30-second news segments, or neat 12″x3″ bumper stickers, whether it is issues relating to abortion, fetal tissues, nuclear umbrella, WTO, or terrorism. That we set aside countless hours to watch the gladiatorial sports of our choice and temple fights is beside the point.

We also live in a society built on individual responsibility; so, we want people to be accountable. No matter how complex the issues are, we pillory people for failures or deify them for successes, often ignoring other factors/players contributing to the unfolding of events.

Take sports talk shows. Listeners and the hosts alike berate individual players for the failures of their teams, or shower confetti on them for successes. I pity Michael Jordan’s basketball teammates. In spite of their high-caliber talents, they all go unnoticed.

The corporate world is no different. Chrysler’s Lee Iacocca was, and GE’s John Welch is, deified as demigods. The other Michael Jordan of Westinghouse, under whose regime the mighty Westinghouse Corporation was reduced to a tombstone along the parkway, is vilified. How many people know that a series of missteps by Jordan’s predecessors led to the company’s slow, but inevitable death.

In politics too, the story is the same. President Reagan was glorified for destroying the Soviet “Evil Empire.” But the USSR had already deteriorated from within because of the Marxist theology that unsuccessfully tried to refashion society defying human psychology. As they say in India, as the crow perched on the tree, the overripe fruits just fell. The crow had nothing to do with the fruits’ ripening.

Mao Tse Tung, Ho Chi Minh, Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gadhafi were demonized by the media as incarnations of evil. Eliminate them, and we’ll have peace. The latest in this list is Osama bin Laden.

But Osama and the Taliban are partly America’s creation. So much in context are drowned in public discourse. These voices try to say Osama is only a figurehead for a network of people maniacally committed to their irrational beliefs. One has to be patient to understand the issues these voice raise. Bumper stickers and glitzy graphics-laden war stories oversimplify — even trivialize — the issues.  

To counter terrorism, the Bush administration has invoked two extraordinary egal powers: The first one allows the Justice Department to tape, under clearly defined conditions, conversations between attorneys and their clients accused in certain criminal cases. The parties would be informed that their conversation would be taped, and the information thus gathered cannot be used against the accused (but can be used in prosecuting others). The second seeks powers to institute military tribunals to prosecute terrorists as in wars. These have ignited a heated debate among lawyers, even among traditional conservatives.

US seeking these extraordinary powers has ominous forebodings for those risking their lives fighting for democracy in repressive regimes that are now allied with US against terrorism.

During the Cold War, the US was hell-bent on defeating Communists all over the place. Using the litmus test of anticommunism, the US forged political alliances and rewarded certain governments with economic goodies and military cover.

Many despotic regimes used their anticommunist bogey to get L support during the Cold War. Examples: The regimes of South Korea, South Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Argentina… …  These countries’ despots never hesitated to use their anticommunist planks and the accompanying US support to quell all legitimate internal dissent. The rulers brutalized their citizenry for decades and continue to do so.

Now, in the post-9-11 world, the US has declared a global war on terrorism that may well go into the next decade. In the altered new world order, President Bush has asked countries to decide “whether you’re with us, or with the terrorists.” In this eerie this-or-that-but-nothing-in-between world reminiscent of the Cold War, totalitarian countries-Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Cold War enemies China, and Russia (!) for example-have joined the US’s anti-terrorism coalition.

These repressive nations can, and will, use their antiterrorism bogey freely to scuttle legitimate internal dissent. These societies are feudal to begin with, and the absence of a long tradition of civil liberties in these countries makes it even easier for their rulers. Now, they would also say, “Look, even the US is doing this.” They would foist “terrorist” labels on their domestic dissenters to summarily execute them, the same way repressive Cold War allies dealt with dissenters by foisting “Communist” labels on them.

If this happens, as is likely, it would be deja vu all over again. END

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By Kollengode S Venkataraman, written in 2001

The darker side of economic boom times in the US — the 18^th century California Gold Rush, and the growth of the steel industry in Western Pennsylvania, for example — is well documented in US history.   If we do not know about similar stories in countries like India, it is not because it was all milk and honey. It is only because either it was not recorded at all; or if it was documented, we don’t have the stomach to know about the unsettling details. Living in ignorance is blissful.

The IT boom is no different, and the darker side of the Silicon Rush is as vicious. We hear anecdotally from friends about Indian software workers willingly falling victim to unscrupulous recruiters in India and employers in the US, many of them Desis themselves. Recently, Georgetown University Institute for the Study of International Migration’s Lindsay Lowell studied the problems with the H-1B visas, using which nearly 300,000 IT workers have entered the US since 1992.

Taking it further, San Jose Mercury, the daily from the software boom town, focused on India and published investigative pieces [New legislation eases worker shortage, but does not fix underlying problems by Pete Carey*; and Middlemen thriving in lucrative industry while foreign workers complain of abuse by Sarah Lubman, Nov 19, 2000] on the many darker sides of the IT boom. Highlights from their articles:

* The H1-B visa boom hit the IT industry in the 1990s, with US companies driving towards outsourcing parts of their operations to reduce costs. Software pros from China, Russia, South Africa, and India started pouring in.

* Proud of their contribution to the Hi-Tech boom and to the strength of the US economy, H-1B workers are a fixture in many Silicon Valley companies. Many have gone on to found IT-based companies. A Congressional study finds that nearly 75% of the systems analysts holding H1-B visas are Indians.

* Nearly 100,000 IT workers are in the Bay Area, putting in long hours in the hectic working environment. Nearly 420,000 H-1B workers are in the US now, of which nearly 50% are in IT.

* Some middlemen who hire these H1-B visa holders and lend them as temps to larger companies withhold up to half of the workers’ promised prevailing wages. H1-B visa holders derisively call these companies “body shops,” and “blacklist” them among themselves.

* The contractors say they are defending themselves against the HI-B visa holders, who otherwise jump ship for better opportunities. Many workers have signed contracts that force them to pay $10,000 to $30,000 for leaving before a stipulated time.

* Many US companies now rely on H1-B as a way to assure a pool of available, flexible, and often cheaper IT workforce.

* Outright fraud with H-1 B visas is not uncommon, ranging from academic degrees faked overseas to phony job offers in the US.

* IT professionals from India in the Bay Area have formed their own organization Immigration Support Network (founder: Murali Krishna Devarakonda), to highlight their plight.

* Recent changes in issuing H1-B visas enacted by Congress, while doubling their number from 115,000/year to 190,000/year, did nothing to address the fraud and abuse that plague the program and often leave the workers in limbo.

* Some US labor contractors (many of them Indians themselves) intimidate and underpay H1-B workers, yet the Department of Labor lacks the teeth to go after them.

* With US companies’ drive to outsource important parts of their business activities, several intermediary companies have formed a chain, each outsourcing the work to smaller companies down the line.

* According to the US State Department, in 1999 nearly 20% of the H1-B visa applications received in India contained fraudulent information. This year, this has reduced to 11%.

* Many companies charge the H1-B visa holders exorbitant fees to bring them to the US and leave them stranded. With no jobs.

* US labor leaders say some companies use H1-B, a Specialty Worker Visa, to bring run-of-the-mill programmers who will work for less than fair wages. Peggy Taylor of AFL-CIO’s Washington DC office says, “Most of them have less than a master’s degree.

* In a field in which today’s techno wonder is tomorrow’s garbage heap – “half of what you know becomes obsolete in 36 months!” _ many companies prefer to hire up-to-date temps from overseas rather than having an ongoing retraining program in-house.

* INS estimates that half of HIB visa holders — 160,000, would apply for permanent residence. The annual limit of green cards available for ALL temporary workers — MBAs, MDs, engineers and scientists, PhDs of other disciplines – is only 140,000.

Understandably, in the San Jose Mercury stories, none of the H1-B visa holders who candidly spoke to San Jose Mercy News’ Carey and Lubman wanted to be quoted by name.

In this wired world, sharp business practices draw closer media scrutiny when the stakes are high. Reflexively, we can say these are sophisticated ethnic bashing and choose to live in denial. But investigative journalism does not discriminate: Ask any US executive or politician who has come under media scrutiny. Mature businesses will react nondefensively to fix the underlying problems. The question is: Do the Indian IT business and the Indian media see the problem?

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By Premlata Venkataraman, Written October 2001

Note: Premlata has volunteered at the S. V. Temple for many activities, including talking to visitors from schools, universities, and churches about Hinduism and the temple.

The Hindu religion is at least 4000 years old, and many of its famous temples, both in India and outside, date back 1500 years. It was over a hundred years ago that the self-confident monk Vivekananda introduced the essence of Hindu thought to his eclectic multi-religious audience in Chicago. (He also had the courage to tell his countrymen how far the practices of their faith had degenerated over the millennia.) So, many Vedanta societies came into being all over the US long before we arrived. The early Sikh settlers organized a Gurudwara in California in 1900s.

In this backdrop, Hindu places of worship in North America completing twenty-five years may seem a small milestone. Yet, for Pittsburgh’s Indian community and the larger Indian community in North America, Sri Venkateswara Temple in Penn Hills and Ganesha Temple in New York completing 25 years is significant.

In the 1960s, the early Indian immigrants in Pittsburgh, mostly professionals, yearned for a place of worship. With so few Indians around then, people coming from all parts of India idealistically tried to come under one roof. But soon the reality of theological, liturgical, regional, and language differences arose acrimoniously. Those coming from southern India broke away to build their own temple, which grew into Sri Venkateswara Temple in Penn Hills. Those staying in the original group built the Hindu-Jain Temple ten years later.

The people who built the S. V. Temple — almost all of them are alive today — never would have dreamed that one day the temple would be a pilgrimage center for visitors from all over North America.

And as immigrants from South Asia settled all over the continent, the S.V. Temple and the New York temple became prototypes for organizing Hindu temples in their communities. With its democratically elected officials, it gave a system for volunteers to become involved in temple activities and provide organizational support. But its journey was smooth.

After a divisive fight in the 1980s  over control, the S.V. Temple developed membership rules, bylaws, and elections, and organized the temple along the lines of mainstream Protestant churches. So, even as the Temple transplanted an “authentic” mode of worship ten time zones away, it also assimilated the Protestant tradition of self-governance. Whoever heard about memberships and bylaws in temples in India?!

Over the years, the S. V. Temple has organized several religious functions and staged programs in Indian performing arts, as in temples in India do. With the idea of transmitting the cultural heritage to the next generation, the temple provides facilities for dance classes and organizes music classes in summer. It also schedules dance recitals and music concerts. With these and similar programs by other organizations in our area, our youngsters are well aware of the sophistication of India’s dance and music traditions. What the S. V. Temple and the Ganesha Temple in New York started became templates for other temples in the US.

As the S. V. Temple tries to maintain its “authentic” traditions, it continues to rely exclusively on immigrants from India for running the place. Second-generation young men and women are not coming forward to take part in the inner workings of the temple. With the focus of the temple on ritual and propitiatory worship in Sanskrit that they don’t understand, many youngsters and adults alike stand disengaged. As our youngsters struggle to balance their American, Indian, and Hindu identities, not educating them on the evolution of the systems of Hindu beliefs through the millennia only makes it worse. This dilemma is at the heart of all Hindus and Hindu temples in the US and other Christian-majority countries.

Also, as the number of new immigrants swelled, fueled partly by the software explosion, the newer arrivals neatly fit into the larger subgroups formed on language, regional, and other criteria. In recent years, this has resulted in cliques based on regionalism, languages, and liturgies within S. V. Temple’s mostly South Indian membership.

With democracy came representative governance. The need for balance has resulted in a system based on quotas. This is changing into entitlements under which groups root for their region- or language-based programs and styles of worship. People seeing the irrelevance of these divisions to their life in the US or falling outside the language-based groups are left out both by design and indifference.

These aside, this is an important occasion to rejoice at how far the temple has come in twenty-five years; build on its strengths; strengthen it where it is weak, if possible; and proactively prepare where necessary for the challenges faced by the next generation.

Preparing for the challenges of the future requires that we anticipate future needs just as the temple’s founders did in the 1960s. Our children born and raised here-the future members of our community—are every bit “American” despite their desi veneer. Caste, languages, or religion that define us don’t seem to matter to them when they pick their mates. Divorce among them will be higher than among their parents, and so will be remarriages. And being well-educated, as they seek answers to life’s enduring questions, they will be open and eclectic in their spiritual search.

If temples in the US continue to stress rituals, liturgies, and propitiatory worship, we should not be surprised if our children stay out, walk away, or rebel. This will be unfortunate because the essence of Hinduism is eclectic, liberal, inclusive, and its philosophical foundation is sophisticated, unorthodox, and non-dogmatic.

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By Kollengode S Venkataraman, Written in July 2001

It is that time of the year again, when many of our young, bright, and charming women will have their debut in Indian classical dances in Pittsburgh in Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi for now. In the years ahead, Odissi and Kathak too would be part of this rite-of-passage for most of our girls — and also a few boys, one hopes.

Last year, someone innocuously asked me why The Patrika uses Arangetram in announcements when Rangapravesha and Rangapravesam were the terms used in some of the announcements.

That triggered in me a train of thoughts touching a) Dravidian and Aryan etymology, b) nuances in compounding words in Indian languages, c) phonetic transformation of Indian word clusters because of Panini’s sandhi rules, d) regional modifications in vocalizing words in India, and e) the challenges in transliterating Indian words in Roman alphabets. This list is long enough to make you wonder if I am insane or under some psychedelic drugs. But withhold your judgment, please…

First, take the etymology part. Arangetram is an Aryan-Dravidian compound word. Arangam is a tamil modification of rangam, meaning a stage. Aetram is purely Dravidian; it is a Tamil noun meaning ascension. Its verbal root aeru in Tamil means “to climb. ” Since in those days the stage was always at a higher level than the place where the audience sat, the artiste had to literally climb the steps to get onto the stage. Hence the compound word arangetram, to indicate the first time the dancer climbing on stage to perform in front of a supposedly discerning audience.

Ranga-pravesam is an all-Sanskrit compound word, pravesam literally meaning entrance. For a variety of socio-culturally sensitive reasons, while Kannadigas use ranga-pravesha, people from Andhra prefer ranga-pravesam.

This etymological excursion still does not answer why The Patrika uses arangetram and not rangapravesam or rangapravesha. That explanation is complex, and is likely to touch more raw nerves.

In today’s India, classical dances, which had a distinctly regional identity fifty years ago, have become truly pan-Indian, even as we recognize and celebrate these art forms’ regional roots. Now youngsters from all parts of India living anywhere globally learn any of the Indian classical dance forms they like without any regional hang-ups. This is a refreshing trend in post-Independent India.

Understandably, this dance debut is a big event for dance teachers and the taught as it brings to fruition several years of their painstaking collaborative work. For parents, the debut gala also heralds their arrival Rangaprash)a(m)? socially, culturally, and also economically, ready to cough up several thousand dollars for an evening event.

On another matter, as Hindustanis, it is our inalienable right to morph original Sanskrit terms to suit local vocalization traditions. For example, the Sanskrit Ramayanam becomes Ramayana and Ramayan; and Kamala, Vimala, Praveen, Dharmendra, Tyagamurti morph into Kamla, Vimla (or Bimla), Parveen, Dharmender, and Thiagamoorthy.

Naturally, parents spending thousands of dollars to have their kids’ dance debut would want to spell it the “right” way they’re used to “back home.” The Patrika, having to cater to a diverse demographic group even within the 10,000-plus desis here — 12-plus languages, one hundred or more castes, eight major religions — should be sensitive enough to consider a whole slew of options to satisfy regional variations in spellings. Any spelling different from their regional variations is fraught with censure.

As it is, folks from Andhra only want rangapravesam, and Kannadigas want nothing but rangapravesha. Unfortunately, in the phonetically perfect Sanskrit, it is neither “sa” nor “sha” in praves(h)a(m) but something in between phonetically, which can only be written using a diacritical mark as “śa,” as in rangapraveśam. But from temple publications, we know that diacritical marks in transliterating Sanskrit into Roman script have a soporific effect on us.

Then, Maharashtra purists would demand we use ranga-pravesh, while people from the Original Gandhi country would insist on using only ranga-praves for their dance debut. Those tracing their heritage to Rajasthan/Haryana would want rang-praves, while people from the Hindi belt would demand rang-pravesh, nothing else. Or else…

And people from the Five-River area in northwestern India would stipulate that their children would have nothing other than rang-parves, while people from Eastern India would want ranga-prabesh.

If you also take into consideration the Lukhnowis’ and Hyderabadis’ penchant to make words sound Persian, you may have to consider also rang-parvez and rung-parvaiz (!)

So, in order to avoid the confusion in spelling the word in all these possibilities, The Patrika decided to use the Aryan-Dravidian compound word arangetram, at least for Bharatanatyam/Kuchipudi debut, in the hope that this term nobody could mutilate.

Then again, you never know. Keralites and Sri Lankans may object to arangetram, preferring the Kerala and Sri Lankan style arangettam!

And Kathak and Odissi teachers may come up with their own terms for their debut for subtly telling us that their art form is quite different, even as ALL Indian dances, including the folksy Yakshagana, trace their roots to the ubiquitous Bharata’s 2000-year-old Natya Shastra.

Then I’ll throw up my hands and settle for Indian Dance Debut, or look for a Latin or Greek equivalent to make it sound high-brow. END
 

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By Kollengode S Venkataraman  Written in 2010

There is an axiomatic belief bordering on dogma among conservative Republicans and Libertarians that less governing is better governing, and that a Free Market system is self-correcting.

But the free market has never been free. After all, elected officials pass laws creating the environment in which the supposedly free market can operate. In making laws, elected officials jostle to pick the winners, or at least load the dice to favor interest groups that favor them. That is how hundreds of thousands of lobbyists for every imaginable interest group make their living in cities, state capitals, and in Washington, DC, trying to load the legislative dice in their clients’ favor.

Besides, when the supposedly free-market-driven system in banking, finance, manufacturing, and the energy sectors takes the country to the brink of collapse – and this happens predictably in the US every 15 to 20 years – taxpayers have repeatedly coughed up big-time monies to bail out businesses because they are “too big to fail.” The bailout monies have only become bigger with every new scandal.

Let’s face it. Private enterprises are value-neutral, driven only by their profit motive. What they do to society at large is not their concern as long as they make profits, and they make more profits than their competitors. Along the way, they often have done irreparable damage to land, water, and people’s lives. Just see the abandoned ruins of industrial sites.

– mining in the West, or in the industrial heartland in the US – where the owners simply walked away after exploiting the land and the resources for decades without remedying the land they exploited for profit. And now in the Gulf of Mexico, BP has become a four-letter word. Similarly, the history of occupational diseases and industrial hygiene tells how workers’ health was ruined by the working conditions through the ages. This, we all have come to recognize, is the price for progress.

In explaining the recent shenanigans of the banking and insurance industry that took us to the brink of financial collapse, commentators used casino metaphors. Remember, taxpayer monies in trillions — 1 trillion is 1,000,000,000,000 – were used to bail out these guys for their recklessness. In casinos too, as long as the house gets its money, its operators don’t care what happens to gamblers. But gamblers at least know the odds are heavily against them. In this financial shell game, investors were not told of the heavy odds against the different financial instruments the banks created and sold, even though the banks knew this game would collapse sooner or later. They even betted against these instruments themselves, making huge profits even as their clients lost.

Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein was like a poker player when he testified with a straight face on April 27, 2010, before Congress that he didn’t pay attention to the credit ratings Wall Street uses all the time to peddle financial products to investors. Not surprisingly, New York state’s attorney general Andrew Cuomo is investigating “investment banking companies whether they provided misleading information” to the rating agencies (Standard & Poor’s, Fitch Ratings and Moody’s) “to inflate the grades of mortgage securities.” Among the banks investigated are Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch. Attorneys general do not start expensive investigations unless they see a prima facie case.

When the lives of people are ruined, Wall Street’s high-stakes poker players escape, saying, Caveat Emptor or Buyer Beware. Precisely because buyers — even the sophisticated ones — are not able to comprehend these complex and “synthetic” investment instruments, the strong arm of the State needs to intervene to protect individuals and society at large.

Market-driven economy’s virtue is not that it is the best, but that all other economic systems are far worse. It is the same with elected governments. It is not that elected governments are the best, but that all other systems of governance are far worse. Elected governments have checks and balances they have set for themselves to limit autocratic tendencies among rulers. Even then, there is no guarantee. Similarly, to protect ordinary citizens, it is necessary that governments regulate the supposedly free market system with laws with criminal consequences, much the same way the criminal justice system takes care of crimes.

After all, after economic collapse, the big players, with their huge severance packages, move to their safe havens scattered all over the world, while the presidents, governors, and mayors are left to salvage the physical ruins of the land and the economic ruins of people left behind.  

Coincidentally, in April, British Petroleum’s deep-sea oil well forty miles south of New Orleans ruptured, and the offshore platform Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing eleven workers. Every day, 2.25 million gallons of a mixture of oil and gas have been spewing out of the rupture at 5000 feet below sea level, polluting the American shores in the Gulf of Mexico. The mavens of American finance and manufacturing have been blaming everybody else but themselves for the catastrophes. Is there any wonder why nobody in the US trusts CEOs? END

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By Kollengode S Venkataraman Written in 2000

Sometime back (January 12, 2000) the Times of India published a translation of one of Guru Nanak’s verses:

Let mind be the peasant that does the farming
Hard work be the water; the body, the field.
Let His name be the seed and contentment the cover.
You must don the dress of humility,
Then alone will love be born with His favor.
Such a person is blessed.

Even as I was reading it, I, now 50 years old, recalled a Tamil verse that I later learned was composed by Munaippaadiyaar in the work Aranerich-charam, அறநெறிச்சாரம்,I had memorized for no good reason while attending high school in Chennai. The rhythm and rhyming in the verse were the attraction for me to commit it to memory. 

. இன்சொல் விளைநிலமா ஈதலே வித்தாக
. வன்சொற் களைபறித்து  வாய்மை எருவட்டி
. அன்புநீர் பாய்ச்சி அறக்கதிர் ஈனுமோர்
. பைங்கூழ் சிறுகாலைச் செய்.

Freely translated, the Tamil verse means:

With pleasant words as the soil, charity as the seed,
While removing the weeds of harsh words,
And with Truth as the nutrient, and love as water,
Indulge in farming for a while every day. You’ll harvest Dharma.

The identity, not only in thoughts, but also in the pastoral imagery in articulating them, between the 14^th century Tamil poet and the 15th century Guru Nanak is, indeed, striking.

It is quite unlikely that in the tumultuous time of his life, Guru Nanak would have had the luxury of learning the literary traditions of a language so far removed from both Punjabi and Sanskrit. In fact, in the Tamil verse, not a single word is traceable to Sanskrit.

Then, how do we explain such similarity in thoughts between the Tamil poet Munaippaadiyaar and Nanak Dev? We can only speculate:

Aldous Huxley, in his anthology The Perennial Philosophy, says, enlightened souls separated by thousands of miles and belonging to different cultures, and living several centuries apart, often even unaware of each other’s existence, have shown remarkable identity in expressing themselves spiritually.

The implication here is that the identity in man’s spiritual quest transcends the boundaries of time, space, languages, and cultures.

Academics trying to figure out the missing link may even succeed in explaining how such thoughts and ideas permeated. And theologians, given their penchant for spiritual arrogance, will quarrel forever on who preceded whom. However, for people trying to make some sense out of life’s enigmas, such intellectual exercises are only annoying distractions. END
 

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By Kollengode S Venkataraman   Written October 2000

The large compendium of early Bhakti poetry in Tamil composed between 6th and 10th centuries by the four Saivite and the twelve Vaishnavite savants is well known to the initiated.

But another large body of Tamil literature, generically called the Sangam Literature, predates even this. This corpus of work (actually an anthology) is dated between the third century BC and the third century AD.

The themes of Sangam poetry are secular, with religious motifs staying only in the background. Aga-nanooru (literally internal-400) and Pura-naanooru (literally External-400) are the two important sections. Romance is the central theme of Aga-naanooru, while the poverty of the bards, and the valor, generosity, and even the cruelty of kings are the motifs of Pura-naanooru. In Sangam poetry, Tamil is in its pristine form, with very few Sanskrit words.

About six months back, Alarmel Valli, a talented Bharatanatyam artiste, in her recital at Sri Venkateswara Temple, performed for a poem number 37 taken from Kaliththogai, part of the Sangam works. The secular storyline in this Tamil poem, written as a first-person narration by a young maiden to her bosom friend, is sensuous, gentle, and subtle, which only made it all the more romantic. This is what the maiden says to her friend (my freestyle, nonliterary, nonliteral rendering):

O My Dear friend with eyes like dark lily in a pond,
A man, with a bow on his shoulder, came my way
      as if tracking an elephant’s foot mark
He looked at me. I saw his face, but he went his way.
I was fascinated by him. For many days, I lost sleep,
      and was afflicted with torment thinking about him.
      He’s gentle, and won’t look into my eyes and speak.
When he himself doesn’t speak, how can I, a girl, speak out?
Thinking that this may not go beyond mere gazing,
       my shoulders wasted away [in the anguish of unfulfilled love].
So, one day, gathering my composure, and did a shameless thing. 
You know, we chase away parrots [from eating the millet grains]
while going back and forth on the swing.
When he came near, shamelessly, I asked him,
“Sir, will you push my swing a little?”
Saying, “Fine, girl!” he pushed the swing, standing in front.
[The swing was swaying back and forth.]
Then, pretending to lose my grip, I fell on his chest.
Thinking I really fell from the swing, he rushed to hold me tight.
I was in his embrace, as if I had fainted. I did not open my eyes.
If only I had opened my eyes, he would’ve moved away at once,
    telling me, “Young girl, now you go home.”
He is such a gentleman.

Incidentally, the author of this verse is Kapilar, a man. 

Here is the Tamil original:

கய மலர் உண் கண்ணாய்! காணாய்; ஒருவன்
வய மான் அடித் தேர்வான் போலத், தொடை மாண்ட
கண்ணியன், வில்லன், வரும்; என்னை நோக்குபு,
முன்னத்தின் காட்டுதல் அல்லது, தான் உற்ற
நோய் உரைக்கல்லான் பெயரும்மன், பல் நாளும்!
பாயல் பெறேஎன், படர் கூர்ந்து, அவன் வயின்,
சேயேன்மன் யானும் துயர் உழப்பேன்; ஆயிடைக்
கண் நின்று கூறுதல் ஆற்றான், அவன் ஆயின்;
பெண் அன்று, உரைத்தல் நமக்கு ஆயின்; ‘இன்னதூஉம்
காணான், கழிதலும் உண்டு’ என்று, ஒரு நாள், என்
தோள் நெகிழ்பு உற்ற துயரால் துணிதந்து, ஓர்
நாண் இன்மை செய்தேன், நறு நுதால்! ஏனல்
இனக் கிளி யாம் கடிந்து ஓம்பும் புனத்து அயல்,
ஊசல் ஊர்ந்து ஆட, ஒரு ஞான்று வந்தானை,
ஐய! சிறிது என்னை ஊக்கி’ எனக் கூறத்,
‘தையால்! நன்று’ என்று அவன் ஊக்கக், கை நெகிழ்பு,
பொய்யாக வீழ்ந்தேன், அவன் மார்பில்; வாய்யாச் செத்து,
ஒய்யென ஆங்கே எடுத்தனன்; கொண்டான் மேல்
மெய் அறியாதேன் போல் கிடந்தேன்மன்; ஆயிடை
மெய் அறிந்து ஏற்று எழுவேன் ஆயின், மற்று ஒய்யென,
‘ஒண் குழாய்! செல்க’ எனக் கூறி விடும் பண்பின்
அங்கண் உடையன் அவன்!


Obviously, this 2000-year-old Tamil will be difficult to understand even to college-level Tamil graduates, not to speak of today’s Tamils with barely working familiarity with the Tamil language.  Kapilar, Kaliththogai verse no 37

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By Kollengode S. Venkataraman, written in 1998

Economists, sociologists, and politicians of all stripes have recognized that in the US the gap between the rich and the poor has widened considerably in the last two decades in both income and wealth (See “Economic Trends” in Business Week, p. 32 Aug. 27, 97). In this background came last year The Human Development Report 1996 issued by the UN Development Program. The report finds that this widening gap is a global phenomenon having sinister consequences. The essence of the report is that despite improvements in the conditions of people in many parts of the world in the last fifty years, the wealthiest and the poorest people-both between and within countries-are living in an increasingly separate world.

The administrator of the UN program says, “An emerging interconnected global elite, mostly urban, is amassing great wealth and power, while more than half of humanity – that is, more than three billion people — are left out. This two-class world is a breeding ground for hopelessness.”

The end of the millennium witnessed explosions in global communications. This has brought people living geographically far apart, but having access to resources, a lot closer. But while we know what happens in far-off lands (and, if we are curious, also why, we often remain uninformed about the happenings in our own backyard.

Modern technology has thus aided people to choose to remain oblivious to reality outside that is not to their liking. This leads to conflicts because we geographically live in one place, but mentally live in another land, which often exists only in our imagination. If this happens in individuals, we refer them to psychiatrists. When this happens in large numbers, we form support groups.

The UN Report Questions the Basis of GNP and Per Capita Income: The Human Development Report takes the approach that

“Gross National Product or the per capita income,” particularly when expressed in terms of US dollars after converting local currencies, we may add, “are inadequate indicators of how people live.” Considering life expectancy, education, and adjusted real income, the report ranks countries by health, sanitation, treatment of women, child nutrition, and other factors that provide more realistic measures of how people live. On a list of 174 countries, Norway ranks first, our northern neighbor Canada second, and US fourth; Japan 12th China 79th and India, the sixth nuclear weapon state, is 135th. Another finding of the report: In South Asia – dominated by India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh – 29% of the people live in severe poverty when income alone is considered. But over 60% of the people live in conditions that can severely affect their future in a fast-changing world.

According to one expert in the field, “social indicators can no longer be overlooked by any country focused on national economic growth. In developing countries, the prime responsibility for improvements falls on the governments and societies themselves. Nothing much is going to change until countries take steps to invest in people, educate women, and provide basic healthcare while also adopting policies leading to economic growth.” South Asian nations, in spite of assessment by their own experts, have let these problems fester. It is not that these nations don’t understand the need for commitment and sustained hard work for accomplishing anything of value. Look at the recent nuclear blasts by India and Pakistan. These countries have been working on this for decades, covertly and overtly, sometimes using even allegedly stolen technology, as in the case of Pakistan.

Heavy allocation of tax money for fancy weapon systems, either imported or indigenously developed, drains the already scarce national resources and precious time into nonproductive items, and diverts public attention from real issues. In South Asia, interest on debt, cost of running government, and defense spending leave little for improving public health, basic education, and infrastructure. That Pakistan is teetering on the brink of economic collapse is little comfort to India. For, sooner or later, your neighbor’s problems become your problems too.

Mexico’s problems affect us in the US. The Russian collapse affects the Whole of Europe and Asia.

In the final analysis, measures such as infant mortality, school education, mortality of women during pregnancy/childbirth, and the strength of the underlying economy are the yardsticks for assessing national strength. Therefore, encouraging consumer goods may not be the best way to “modernize” societies in Asia and Africa. This requires that societies make careful, often unpopular, nonglamorous, and nonjingoistic choices in resource allocation.

Asian countries — Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, for example – more than a generation ago, started investing in education and basic healthcare for their population and in improving the condition of women. These societies changed significantly for the better when compared to other nations in the region. Even though these “Asian Tigers” have been bitten by the “Asian economic flu,” because of the strength of the basic social indicators in these societies, they might recover sooner than later than what many predict.

Other observations in the United Nations report:

* Worldwide, 360 billionaires control assets greater than the combined incomes of countries having 45% of the world’s population.
* Eighty countries are worse off today than they were a decade or more ago.
* In seventy developing countries, incomes (after considering purchasing power) are lower than they were in the 1960s and the 70s.

The Human Development Report 1996, published by Oxford University Press, is also available in paperback and sold through major bookstores. Price: $18.95 END.

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By Kollengode S Venkataraman Written in January 1997

In the wake of the last issue, we received an anonymous letter that faulted your magazine on several things.  We thank the writer – we refer to him/her as Mr./Ms. Anamik(a) now on we for his/her interest in the magazine and taking time for writing the long letter. Though publications generally ignore anonymous letters, we respond to the letter here to clarify the points raised in the letter.

* On An Indo-American Odyssey, the writer says, “… …[It) was neither new nor humorous… … You are the most confused person on earth.” The writer of the skit did not call it humorous, nor did he claim any universality or originality in it. It was a single man’s odyssey. That the man undertaking the odyssey was confused was clear in the very first paragraph itself. If the skit stung a little, well, it is not entirely surprising.

* Secondly, the writer generically questions the credentials of your reviewers: “What are their titles? Are they journalists?”

Our reviewers have the same privilege for openly doing what Anamik(a) did anonymously in critiquing The Patrika. That aside, we are fortunate to have people among us who have the skills for the task. They are quite knowledgeable about their material (music), and are emotionally detached from the musicians they review. Further, they have the temperament to sit through concerts taking notes and articulate their impressions and opinions, pro or con. Finally, they are confident enough to affix their names to what they write.

For the record, The Patrika received or heard NO negative comments on any of the past reviews. Even Anamik(a), while generically questioning the credentials of reviewers, makes no specific complaints about any of them. Considering that the aficionados of fine arts, as a breed, are punctiliously picky, this fact is a testimony for our reviewers’ understanding of their material. Every one of us — whatever be our educational background and “titles” — is free to hold opinions on subjects affecting us, or on matters of eclectic taste. If these people are ready to articulate them in words, we will publish them on paper.

* On another matter, Anamik(a) finds that “the supposed to be non-profit Patrika is turning to be full of running commercials like yellow pages.”  We only wish that the writer has kept his/her facts straight. For, nowhere did we claim — or even imply — that we are a nonprofit enterprise.

* Too many ads? Early on, we decided that all facing pages should have, on average, at least one page of reading material. After receiving the anonymous letter, we checked random issues of US News & World Report, Business Week, and India Abroad. All these have 55% or more pages of ads. In The Patrika it is under 50%. Also, stories in these magazines have glitzy graphics that reduce the space for text. The Patrika has no graphics – we cannot afford it.

Further, these magazines have paid subscriptions. The Patrika is mailed free. With a magazine mailed free, there is no way anyone can run it without advertisements. Ventures will survive only if they are self-sustaining financially. Even when patrons underwrite initially, enterprises can function only if they generate revenue to meet all expenses.

* Seeking advertisements from small businesspeople — Indian grocers, restaurateurs, and financial planners — has given The Patrika a better insight into our community. It is too precious to squander. The Patrika will build on the confidence of our advertisers.

* The Patrika, while trying to stay afloat by serving as a link between entrepreneurs and their customers through advertisements, offers a forum for readers for airing their views. We thank our advertisers for their confidence in us as a vibrant community and our readers and writers.

The Patrika again thanks Anamik(a) for giving us an opportunity to place these matters before readers. We only wish that (s)he revealed his/her identity. We would have then printed the letter verbatim.

The Patrika welcomes this type of dialogue. But please include in your letter your name, address or telephone number.

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By Kollengode S Venkataraman, Written in 2001

Nowhere in the world does one find as much diversity in restaurants a in the US. New immigrants continue to add their own unique culinary flavor to whet the appetite of US restaurant goers. Even in Pittsburgh, not a touristy city in the US, we have all varieties of Chinese, Indian, Italian, Mexican, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, Middle Eastern, Korean, French, German, Spanish, Greek, and other restaurants. But have you seen a good English restaurant, or any English restaurant for that matter?

I have this theory on how the English colonized the world. Forget the steam engines of James Watt, the spinning gizmos, guns, cannons, and the Industrial Revolution that textbooks say helped the English to colonize the world. One fact that no textbook talks about is that the English were running away from their insipid, unappetizing, tasteless, dull food. They were ready to go anywhere — the Middle East, the Mediterranean, the Indian subcontinent, Africa, China, and even the New World and Australia — looking for anything tasting better than their food. Not surprisingly, wherever they went, whatever they ate was better than what they had at home. Mesmerized by the food they smelled, tasted, and chewed, they stayed put.

Only then Jim Watt, cannons and guns entered the scene.

In the wake of the end of British occupation of India, in the shriveled British empire in which not long ago the sun never set, Indian restaurants are as ordinary as the Chinese ones here. Indian food items and spices in English grocery stores are no more “ethnic.” They are mainstream. So, it was inevitable that university-types would study the effect of spicy food on people’s mood, at least English people’s mood.  

Times of India’s Nabanita Sircar (October 25, 2000) reported that one Prof. Grey of Nottingham Trent University studied the effect of spicy food, in particular the effects of korma, tikka masala, and rougan joosh on English people’s mood. What did he use as a control?

You guessed it, the insipid, unappetizing English Fish & Chips.

What did he find? Here are the excerpts:

* “The heart rates of those consuming fish and chips were raised by 3.2 beats/minute, but those eating tikka masala registered a rate of 4.4 beats, korma showed a rise of 4.9 and rougan joosh led up to 6.7.”  To the spicy Indian dishes, if he had also added the lal or hari mirchi — the Indian versions of Jalapeno and Habanero peppers ­— the heart rates of his subjects would have gone through the roof.

* “Eating a curry gives you a natural high much more powerful than anything you get with traditional British foods. Our bodies physically crave curry in a way they do not seem to with other dishes.” Doesn’t the learned professor know that compared with Fish &Chips, anything edible would give a natural high, albeit a mild one

* “The effect curry has on pain receptors in the tongue is indeed an arousing experience.

After a candlelight dinner in an Indian restaurant, when the English lad lays his date, and she sues him for date rape, the boy now has a new defense similar to our Twinkie defense here: Temporary insanity of passion on account of the spicy Indian korma or the rougan joosh. But isn’t it a biological fact that all acts of insanity on account of passion are temporary?

* “Anticipation of the effect of the spicy food) can be as good as the product itself.”

It is not only with food that anticipation is as good as the product itself. If the professor recalled his own younger days, talked to people in love, or read the romantic poetry from different cultures — India has large compendiums on this — he would recognize that anticipation is sometimes even more satisfying than the acts or events themselves.

Recently, I was on the road for several days on work. Variety being the spice of life, I tried to diversify my daily culinary encounters, trying Chinese, Italian, Thai, Mexican, and even Indian foods to break the monotony, even as I stayed within my vegetarian boundary.

Believe me, after days of my tryst with exotic food, I started craving for my simple sahakari and mildly spicy sambar, rasam, roti, vegetables, dahi, chaval and achar. After pasta, pad thais, baigan bartas, garlic eggplants, and burritos leading me to dyspepsia, simple home meals seemed to me as the ultimate luxury. Thinking of their aroma was as stimulating to me as the rougan joosh was for the Englishmen.

If the learned British professor who studied the effect of spicy food on Englishmen’s mood checked with his Iranian or Indian associates, or talked with the Indian restaurateurs in London, he would have saved all the grunt work that goes into any research.

For, my Bengali and Kashmiri friends tell me, in Persian joosh literally means a stimulant. And in the poetic Persian, the meaning can be imaginatively stretched to also suggestively mean an aphrodisiac.

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By Kollengode S. Venkataraman Written in 2000

Recently, I received an e-mail chain letter that asked me to send it to others (asking them, in turn, to send to others), and promised good luck in return. The familiar words took me back to my college days … …

Way back in the century, when I was a student preparing for my final exam, I got an anonymous chain letter in the mail. The letter promised success in exams if I sent it to thirty-one people, and threatened me with misfortunes in exams if I didn’t comply.

Remember, in the Indian academic system the final exam is the only thing that counts; your homework and midterms don’t mean a squat.

Therefore, lazing around the whole year, students hit the books pretty hard in the months before the finals. When you ignore difficult subjects such as partial differential equations, complex variables, thermodynamics, anatomy, physiology, and econometrics all through the year, and then try to learn them just before the exam, life becomes unbearably stressful.

So during the exam season we needed all help, all kinds of help. The proverbial midnight oil burned well past midnight, often till dawn; mothers made coffee for us at 4:00 am that took at least 30 minutes. We crowded temples in the evening seeking divine intervention.

I was already a wreck preparing for the exams. The chain letter, when it arrived, only made matters worse. I weighed the option of spending time studying against hand-copying the chain letter thirty-one times, trying to pass the exam. The consequences of noncompliance frightened me.

Then I realized, even Divine Intervention may be inadequate if I go to the exams unprepared. And given my level of unpreparedness, ghoulish curses could not make my situation any worse. So, using this cold logic, I ignored the chain letter and hit the books. That summer vacation, I spent in agonizing anxiety awaiting my exam results.

My mother should have prayed for me, as all mothers do for their children during exams, and her prayers warded off possible misfortunes from my noncompliance with the chain letter. How did I know? I passed.

Then came carbon papers, cyclostyling and xeroxing machines making duplicating not only easy, but also cheap. And now with e-mails, chain letters are no sweat. Click the “Forward” button, add everyone in your e-mail address book to the “To:” box; then click the “Send” button, and it’s done. The only problem is, since everybody is in everybody else’s Rolodex, the letter gets bounced around among the same people.

With no exams to worry about now, courageously almost dragged the e-mail into the trash can. But out of curiosity, I read it. Wow, the message was simply profound, and I thought: Now that I have this magazine that reaches nearly 8000 of you, why don’t I share the noble thoughts in the chain e-mail with you? Even if you remember only a few of these sublime thoughts, it might help you to get through your days with less stress.

Besides, nothing will happen to you if you don’t share this with anyone. But I’m sure you will feel good if you do pass it on to others.

So, here it is. Some of the Nondenominational Instructions for Life from Nepal:

1. Recognize that great love and achievements involve risk
2. Follow the three R’s: Respect for self, Respect for others, and Responsibility for your actions.
3. Remember: Not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
4. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
5. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
6. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, immediately correct it.
7. Spend some time alone.
8. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
9. Remember: Silence is sometimes the best answer.
10. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
11. Share your knowledge. It is one way to immortality.
12. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
13. The best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

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By Kollengode S. Venkataraman, written in 2000

In the last issue, Amitabh Dubey wondered about the incongruity of India developing chess, a game in which exercise of free will is central, and Indians’ widespread belief in fate. Fate, luck, or Gods’ will, when reduced to their abstraction, describe the unpredictability of events unfolding in our lives over which we have no influence. Even though Dubey wrote in a lighter vein, the issue he raises is serious.

Jayakantan, the most prolific contemporary Tamil essayist and novelist, once said that if itihasas and puranas are fruits, it is up to us to extract the juice and discard the grinds. So, what do our ancient texts, some of them in any case, say about fate and free will? Quite a lot, as a matter of fact.

My Tamil teacher in school taught us: muyarchi tiruvinai akkum. Efforts lead to fruition.  This comes closest to the Gita expression siddhir bhavati karmaja — [all] accomplishments are born out of efforts. Not coincidentally, this phrase is the motto of the Chennai IIT. The above aphorism seems to be the essence of several ancient Indian thoughts and ideas.

From Yoga Vaasistham: Swamy Venkatesananda had translated into English Yoga Vaasistham from the Sanskrit original (Vasishtha’s Yoga, State University of New York Press), In this work, structured as a dialogue between Rama and his mentor Vasistha, this is what the mentor tells his disciple with Sage Valmiki interjecting occasionally:

“Rama, in this world whatever is gained is gained only by self-effort… what is called fate is fictitious and is not seen… Self effort is of two categories: That of past and present births. The latter effectively counteracts the former. Fate is nothing other than the self-effort of past lives……

“There is no power greater than right action in the present. Hence one should take recourse to self-effort, and grinding one’s teeth one should counteract fate by … present effort. One who says, ‘Fate is directing me to do this,’ is brainless, and the goddess of fortune abandons him.

“They are fools who are satisfied with the fruits of their past effort (which they call Fate) and do not engage… in self-effort now.

“Rama, sometimes a farmer’s efforts are destroyed by hailstorm; surely, the hailstorm’s power was greater than the farmer’s effort, and the farmer should put greater effort now. He should not grieve over … [his] loss. A wise man should know what is attainable by self-effort, and what is not. It is however ignorance to attribute all this to an outside agency and say that ‘God sends me to heaven or hell, or that ‘an outside agency makes me do this or that.’ Such an ignorance person should be shunned.

“Rama, Fate or divine dispensation is merely a convention which has come to be regarded as truth by being repeatedly declared to be true… In this world, except a corpse, everything is active, and such activity yields its appropriate result.”

Obviously, self-effort includes the exercising of freewill to pursue one course of action to the exclusion of all others using reason.

From Mahabharata: Here are S. Radhakrishnan’s translation of parts of Shanti Parvam, in Mahabharata from his Sourcebook on Indian Philosophy. I did not know the context of this chapter. But Tanya Koduri (Monroeville) and Murti Hari (Wexford) educated me that Shanti Parvam is at the end of the Mahabharata war when the victorious Pandavas are advised on statecraft thus:

“A weapon made by a carpenter is under the control of the person handling it and moves as he moves it. Similarly, the universe is controlled by action done in time, moves as those actions move it… You should always exert with promptitude. Without promptitude of exertion, mere destiny never accomplishes the objects cherished…

“These two, exertion and destiny, are equal in their operation. Of them, regard exertion to be superior, for destiny is ascertained from the results of what is begun as exertion.”

“Learning, penance, vast wealth, indeed, everything, can be earned by exertion. The king should therefore never depend on destiny.”

Whether we are princes, powerful, and rich or not, we are the kings and queens of our lives. Hence, the teachings of Vyasa and Vasishtha are addressed to us as well.

Jaina and Buddhist Ideas on Freewill: Jainism is an atheistic religion, whose 24th Tirthankara, or inspired teacher, is Vardhamana Mahavira. Tirthankara, literally, is the person who motivates you to cross the ocean of life’s misery. According to Ranganath Puligandla (Fundamentals of Indian Philosophy, Abingdon Press, 1975), “When the followers of Jainism pray and worship Tirthankaras, it is neither to seek mercy and nor to indulge in self-deprecation or confession of guilt, as so often is the case with theistic religions. Given the Jaina idea of Karma, each person must attain freedom and perfection by one’s own efforts and cannot expect to be saved by others, not even by the Tirthankaras. That is, each man must work for his own salvation. Meditating on Tirthankaras is to remind ourselves of our own potential for perfection and freedom, thereby inspiring us to tread the path for perfection. “

Buddhism, the agnostic religion native to India founded by Gautama Siddhartha, declares that life is misery (sarvam duhkham), and life is transience (sarvam anityam). But, having declared thus, the Buddha offers hope on how, by self-effort, we can transcend both the misery and transience of life. To come out our misery, the Buddha stresses on right views, right resolves, right speech, right conduct, and right effort, and so on, all explicitly grounded on self-effort.

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras: Patanjali, in under 200 pithy aphorisms, describes the eight limbs of yoga, of which the now-popular pretzel-like asanas are only one of the preparatory limbs. In his work Patanjali only briefly (two aphorisms) talks on people receiving samadhi (the total absorption in the object of meditation) by surrendering oneself to Isvara (God). That is, if one is “fated” to receive samadhi, one would get it simply surrendering to Isvara and waiting for His Grace.

Then, interestingly, in the remaining 180-plus aphorisms, Patanjali instructs those who are not “fated” to receive Samadhi by Divine Grace, on how one can inch towards it by one’s self-effort.

Sikhism, the youngest of Indian religions, with its concept of warrior-saints and emphasis on we earning our living by work, has integrated self-effort into its ethos. More on this in the next issue.

These indian teachings on self-effort are, indeed, responsible, refreshingly enlightened, and modern. And at least 2500 years old! Thus, contrary to the commonly held belief among many of us, and even though many heads of orthodox Hindu religious organizations do not acknowledge it explicitly, our scriptures do not condemn us to Fate. On the contrary, many ancient teachers of India teach that with self-effort we can extricate ourselves from the mess we get into, even if we are “fated” to be in it because of our past actions.

Luckily for us, the lives and teachings of 20th century Indian thinkers — Vivekananda, Tilak, Gandhiji, and Chinmayananda for example – exemplify what we are capable of accomplishing by self-effort.

Therefore, Amitabh, it is only natural that chess, a popular game among princes of ancient India that demands the exercise of free will in every move by two opponents that is complicated by the unpredictable interactions was developed in India.

But do exertion and freewill by themselves always guarantee the outcome we desire? The simple answer is No. But exertion almost always helps us to understand ourselves better and makes us better human beings. Often, exertion and effort lead us to recognize that there is more to life than what we initially set as our goals.

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Kollengode S Venkataraman (Written in October 1999)

In the checkered history of post-colonial South Asia, instances of missed opportunities having disastrous consequences are countless. But nothing comes anywhere close to the way Pakistan squandered the global goodwill it had after the Lahore summit last February between its prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Vajpayee. After the Cold War, only North & South Koreas, and India & Pakistan, which strangely share common languages, culture, and ethos, are still at each other’s throats. Even Israelis, Palestinians & Arabs, and Irish Catholics & Protestants are making a new beginning.

Therefore, when Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee sagaciously shared roti and sipped chilled lassi with Premier Nawaz Sharif in Lahore, and Sharif in turn serenaded Vajpayee, even South Asian cynics became guarded optimists thinking that the wretched there, after all, may get their meager share of the Peace Dividend through decreased hostility, improved trade, and reduced spending on the military. But thanks to Pakistan’s misadventure in Kargil, this was not to be.

Kargil Incursions Are Confidence Shattering: After Pakistan’s betrayal in May soon after the Lahore Summit, India feels as if it choked on the proverbial haddis (bones) while chewing on the spicy kabab. In conversations, Indians refer to historical betrayals since Mohammad Gazni’s time in the 11th century that are stereotypically woven into Indian folklore, precisely when we need to break away from these stereotypes. Pakistanis talk of the diabolical Bania-Brahmin nexus.

Even as Mian Sharif talked eloquently in Lahore about the need for a new beginning in South Asia, Western media reports now say that he was either aware of, or approved, his army’s preparation for a somersault. When the mutilated dead bodies of Indian soldiers arrived in India in May, it was obvious that the Pakistani military’s only mission was to torpedo its own government’s peace overture to India.

No Comfort for India: Even though India was not cowed down in Kargil, it can draw little comfort. If Sharif indeed knew and approved his army’s preparation, Indians legitimately feel betrayed. If Sharif did not know about it, it is more worrisome. How do you negotiate with a prime minister who cannot control his army, or does not even know his army’s preparation for war with its neighbor? Worst of all, what is the guarantee that whatever treaty India signs with the nominal prime minister in Islamabad will be honored by the Pakistani military establishment, which is the real center of power there?

In any case, one can understand for another decade if India thinks that even as one hand reaches out to Pakistan seeking peace, let the other hand be ready to draw the gun, just in case.

Possible Pakistani Rationalization: Nawaz Sharif has a steam-rolling majority in his parliament. He further consolidated power by having his hand-picked men as the Supreme Court chief justice, the chief of the powerful army, and the nation’s president, and then clipping the president’s wings. Vajpayee, having lost his wafer-thin majority in the Lok Sabha, was wobbling as the caretaker prime minister facing elections.

World attention was on Kosovo, where the mighty Christian West was protecting the Muslim Albanians from the Serb Christians. So, the Pakistani Khakis might have thought the West can understand the “oppression” of the Muslim minority by the Hindu majority. But in Kashmir, Muslims are in the majority.

But consider these: Pakistan-supported Islamic militants have unleashed ethnic cleansing in Kashmir by driving out Hindus using murder and rape. Besides, India has more Muslims than the whole of Pakistan. Pakistan has its own versions of ethnic and intra-Islamic religious strife (Punjabis vs. the rest, and Sunnis vs. Shias and the Ahmadias).

A cynical thought: No Pakistani prime minister has survived without military support, and the military always hemmed in its prime ministers. Therefore, did Sharif play a win-win game so that he could discredit his military if the Kargil invasion failed, and yet take credit if it succeeded?

Multinational Jihads: The Indian military establishment was caught off-guard in the early days when the so-called Kashmiri Mujahideen (freedom fighters) succeeded in crossing the Line of Control established in 1971. It is “so-called” because, as the Indian government claimed, and recent Western intelligence concurred, most of the Kashmiri Mujahideen are actually Pakistani military regulars in disguise. Despite this, Pakistan wants the world to believe that it was only providing moral, political, and diplomatic support for the Kashmiri jihadis (Islamic holy warriors). Even Pakistanis find this difficult to believe.

Pakistan also supplies sophisticated weapons to the Jihadis, and by its constant refrain to Jihad and the Islamic ummah (family), it also invokes religion in the conflict. That the ummah is not monolithic is of no relevance to Pakistan. Besides, outside mercenaries — Afghanis, Chinese Muslim Tribals, Palestinians, Jordanians, Saudis, Libyans, Algerians, and Iraqis — were among the dead Mujahideens in Kashmir. In the globalized world, even “freedom” fighting is a multinational enterprise!

But wars have their own strange logic. After the undeclared Kargil war, the wobbly Vajpayee in India has become strong, and the Mian with the mandate in Pakistan looks shaky. We may never know why Sharif cut short his official China visit and met with President Clinton at the Blair House on the red-white-and-blue July 4th, which also was a holy Sunday.

China too Occupies Part of Kashmir: Mercifully, the region has averted one more large-scale war, thanks to Pakistan getting isolated internationally; its failure to garner the support of even its ally China; its inability to build domestic support for an all-out war; and its dismal economy.(With Pakistan’s defense spending over 6% of GDP, interest on loans and military spending alone exceed its tax revenue.) Since China too occupies a part of Kashmir, will Pakistan extend the Kashmiri Jihad to China too?

Pakistani English media harshly commented on their Kargil misadventure along two lines. Many wrote that their Kargil offensive was a disaster because their government did not think through its domestic and global ramifications, given its poor economy. Right wingers were furious that their army’s brilliant tactical military victory was squandered by diplomatic ineptitude and lack of political will to carry through.

Despite the few early hiccups (such as poor military-civilian-political interfaces on intelligence matters), India reacted with a coordinated military, bureaucratic, political, and diplomatic response, while at the same time not letting the situation get out of control. India also took the public into confidence and used the media to report casualties. For a change, its agriculture sector was strong. Its economy, though badly skewed, was vibrant. A strong foreign exchange reserve also helped. After Vajpayee’s politically risky Lahore initiative, world saw India differently.

The Cold War Lessons: Wars are no more won on the battlefields alone. The US won the Cold War without firing a single shot and without losing its men in battle with the USSR. But it waged a 50-year war on the economic and technological fronts, and in one-upmanship in military preparedness. In this war on endurance, the enemy was worn down economically and psychologically, and eventually imploded. The cost in terms of time and dollars was enormous. But the bloodshed was minuscule compared with the millions who died in World Wars I and II.

Military Preparedness Might Avoid Wars: For the time being, Trust is not a word in the Indo-Pakistani diplomatic lexicon. Therefore, though costly, military preparedness to avoid future Kargils, while negotiating with each other is a realistic option for India and Pakistan. This at least will avoid the hysteria of hatred war unleashes. In South Asia, hatred lingers long after the war, often spilling into sports and performing arts.

This may also avoid the killing and maiming of the most able-bodied young men in combat, and ruining the lives of their widows, wives, children, and parents. Remember, the socioeconomically disadvantaged are in disproportionately large numbers among foot-soldiers in all nations.

According to a recent Times of India article, in India, recruitment for jawans (soldiers), usually from traditional “military families” and from vernacular-educated poorer families, are filled easily. But 10,000 officers’ positions — filled by English-educated college graduates from the middle class — remain vacant. Not many from the “nonmilitary” middle class want to take the hardship duty in the military and risk their lives. And the Indian upper crust rarely sends its children to the military.

Where Should South Asia Go? All meaningful indicators of progress – literacy rates, infant mortality, mortality of women during pregnancy and childbirth, potable water, power supply, primary healthcare, the level of government corruption in both India and Pakistan are abysmal.

Therefore, both India and Pakistan must focus on good governance and bring their citizens to the standards of other Asian nations. There is nothing new in this cry. This is stressed ad nauseum by native-born social thinkers in South Asia, the well-known among them being late Prof. Mahbub Ul-Huq of Pakistan, who developed the UN’s Human Development Indicators, and Prof. Amartya Sen.

Towards this, what other option do we have other than reviving, both in letter and spirit, Vajpayee’s Lahore initiative? The alternative, whether an all-out war or continuing cross-border terrorism, bodes ill for the region’s poor. Only the recklessly irresponsible will pursue either of the options.

Nations having better living standards generally avoid wars and settle their disputes by negotiating, or win on other nonmilitary fronts such as trade, technology, industry, where the perceived enemy’s military prowess is made irrelevant. When both sides have a lot to lose, even reckless politicians and adventurous khakis count the cost of their military expeditions. When nations become prosperous, they become confident, and often, their enmity is morphed into competition. END

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Kollengode S Venkataraman  October 1999

As teenagers decades ago, we grandchildren sat around our family. A matriarch snacking on jackfruit and banana chips during a warm, sultry summer full moon night in a Kerala village. She was telling us how the Mahabharata war ended:

As the war progressed in Kurukshetra, Arjuna killed Karna, his own brother. Abhimanyu, Arjuna’s son, is killed. Acharya Bhisma, pierced by his favorite student Arjuna’s arrow, dies on a bed of arrows. Dusshasana and Jarasandha are slain by Bhima. And Duryodhana lies mortally wounded. Aswattama burns several of the Pandava princes by stealth in the dark.

After winning the brutal war, the victorious Pandava Fivesome go and meet King Dhrtarashtra and Queen Gandhari, the parents of the vanquished Kauravas, Grief-stricken with mixed emotions, they half-heartedly try to reconcile.

Then, I distinctly remember, my grandma telling us this:

You know what the Pandavas did afterwards? After destroying the Kauravas in the battle, the Pandavas go to the Ganga, and cremate the dead. And they perform the last rites for the dead warriors, including the Kaurava princes they killed. The Pandavas pour sesame (til) seeds and water during the libation (tarpanam) while invoking the names of their dead cousins as is the custom among us even today.

As a youth, I wondered, “If the Pandavas hated their cousins Kauravas so much to kill them in war, why were they grief-stricken?

And why did they perform the cremation ceremonies and offer til seeds and water after killing them? Patti (nani) was pulling a fast one on us grandkids.”

Later, in my 40s, I got my grandmother’s story confirmed in Rajagopalachari’s and William Buck’s renditions of the Mahabharata. The Pandavas doing the last rites for their sworn enemies after killing them was too much. Mahabharata’s author Vyasa, for dramatizing the scene, went too far in taking literary license, I thought.

Nearly 2500 years later, at the end of the 2-month war between India and Pakistan during May and July in Kargil, the above scene was re-enacted in the changed demography of the area. There was this news, not only in Hindustan Times, Times of India and The Hindu, but also in the venerable New York Times (July 17, Saturday) under the caption “India Buries Soldiers That Pakistan Won’t Claim.” During the Kargil war with India, Pakistan was in the worst possible spot whichever way you consider the misadventure. But in dealing with its war dead, the Pakistani military set the worst possible example.

Pakistan has been saying, not only for domestic consumption, but also for Indian and international consumption, that Pakistan gave only political, economic, and diplomatic support for the Kashmiri Mujahideens.

Militarily, they said, the Mujahideens were on their own.

Further, Pakistan insisted that its military regulars were never part of the Mujahideens. Nobody believed this inside or outside Pakistan. But Pakistani establishment had to live up to its oft-repeated fiction even when the Pakistani army regulars died in the battle.

According to the New York Times story, when Indian military personnel tried to hand over the bodies of Pakistani soldiers killed in action, Pakistan did not accept because doing so would imply that their soldiers were among the Mujahideens. This is the worst that a nation could do to those who have given the most precious of their possessions, their very lives.

Therefore, in the bone-chilling weather on the barren mountains at 15,000-feet altitude, Indian jawans on the Indian side of the Line of Control buried the Pakistani regulars killed in action at the very spots where they found the bodies.

How did they bury them? According to the New York Times story,

“the Indian soldiers covered the dead bodies of Pakistani soldiers in Pakistani flags. A Muslim cleric from the Indian army presided over a respectful, if abbreviated, minute-long funeral service. When he chanted Allahu Akbar (God is Great), six Hindu soldiers around him dutifully answered, Allahu Akbar.”

The Mahabharata is full of stories that not only exemplify honor, valor, generosity, compassion, loyalty, and love, but also portray the dilemmas, ironies, twists and turns, predicaments, treachery, and intrigues of life. Therefore, pouranikas (traditional storytellers) say whatever is not found in the Mahabharata, can never be.

After reading the story in the New York Times, Vyasa’s depiction of the Mahabharata war’s end, I recognized, was a lot closer to the 20th century reality of Kargil. END

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Kollengode S. Venkataraman Written in 1998

Last year end, December 8 to be exact, I was stuck for several hours in one of the cavernous concourses of Atlanta airport after missing my flight. You can kill only so much time reading papers. So, I watched the CNN Airport News’ disjointed bits of information telecast with slick graphics and voice-overs. The news piece was on sports, on golf in particular. The reporter, with a balmy Southern California golf course as his backdrop, discussed a recent trend among golf courses in the US banning shoes with metal spikes.

Not being familiar with golf—other than deriving a vicarious pleasure when I see on TV a star golfer missing an easy putt, or drives into deep rough, a sand trap, or into water—I didn’t know that golfers wear shoes with metal spikes. Only sprinters, I thought, need spiked shoes. Golfers don’t even jog on golf courses. In fact, they barely walk. Many move around in golf carts a la Presidents Bush and Clinton.

Then why do they need shoes with metal spikes? Golfers, the reporter explained, use spiked shoes for getting better traction so that they cannot blame the ground below when they miss an easy putt.

The reporter continued. On his calculation, each green gets millions of spike marks annually. His creative camera crew showed the consequences of these spike marks on golfing: Veteran golfers missing easy putts in spite of taking into consideration the wind speed and the terrain of the green (assessed by sitting on their toes while leaning on their putter for balance, and pensively looking at the terrain between the ball and the hole. The balls roll over the dimples of the spike marks, get deflected erratically, and miss the hole. Ohhhhhhh!

The reporter then went on to estimate the dollar value for repairing the greens, and for the damage the spike marks do to the flooring inside the building, not to speak of the wooden foot bridges along the walkways. Therefore, an ever-increasing number of golf courses across the USA are banning spiked golf shoes on their golf courses.

Stupefied by boredom, I yawned. I agreed. Very good, indeed.

I had two more hours to kill. I picked up a news magazine lying around. The lead article discussed the Ottawa treaty banning land mines signed by over 120 nations, and why the US refused to sign the treaty.

The contrast between the two news items was cynically stark.

Of course, land mines are primarily a Third World or Fourth World problem exacerbated by the First and the Second Worlds. They are planted along highly populated fertile river deltas as in Vietnam and Kampuchea, and not along the path where their leisurely classes go for their evening stroll. And along mountainous trails in Afghanistan and Africa where poor, uneducated men, women, and children walk barefoot carrying their merchandise on their heads or on their backs to eke out their meager living. And along the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas, where millions of land mines are planted by South Korea with US help giving a protective shield from invasion from the North.

In places like Vietnam, years after the treaty was signed over a champagne toast and the aggressors retreated, poor farmers go back to their land to eke out a living. When they plow, the land mines explode killing them or even worse, maiming them for the rest of their lives. In the mountains, there are no roads because of the rough terrain. Only trails. Since the trails are mined, whole communities either have to live immobilized or take a chance to get killed/maimed.

On explosion, these land mines leave not tiny spike marks, but craters large enough to resemble unmanicured sand pits in expensive golf courses. The damage land mines inflict in terms of misery and pain during hospitalization, and in incapacitating men, women, and children from useful life is incalculable. Since the damage is not amenable to computations, they’re not worth worrying about. Further, even if you can compute them, because of the poor living standards in the Third World and low value of their currencies, in terms of dollars, it is not worth much, anyway.

That is why it is easy for the US golf courses to ban spiked shoes in their manicured golf courses, and convenient for the US for refusing to sign the treaty banning land mines from the face of earth even as it is working hard for selectively containing the proliferation of nuclear weapons and ban weapons of mass destruction in the Third World. END

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By Kollengode S Venkataraman, written in 1997

Comparing the education levels of entrepreneurs and the population in the US is quite revealing. See the table below. Among entrepreneurs, only 3% have not completed high school, while 20% of the general population has not completed high school. Without even a high school diploma it is tough to survive in business. Phenomenal success stories like Wendy’s Dave Thomas are aberrations.

                              US Entrepreneurs                        US population

Postgraduate                     12%                                                7%

4-year college                   38%                                               21%

Some college                     23%                        

High school                        24%

Some High school                3%

In the US, 12% of entrepreneurs have postgraduate degrees, while only 7% of the population has higher degrees. While 50% of entrepreneurs have bachelor’s degrees or better, only 28% of the population has bachelor’s and higher degrees. Fifty-two percent of the US population has high school diplomas, but without college degrees. Among entrepreneurs, this category is 47%. It is worth noting that while 50% of the entrepreneurs have college degrees, the remaining 50% have no college degrees.

A disproportionate fraction of Indian immigrants have higher education, mostly in engineering, medicine, management, and the sciences. If we exclude physicians, lawyers, and CPAs, who find it both lucrative and safe to go on their own, one can unscientifically guess that more than 70% of primary income earners among our families

businesses, even when both husband and wife are professionals.

Indian immigrants from social backgrounds traditionally associated with trade and enterprise have preserved their native enterprising instincts. In this culture that has made free enterprise a mantra, these immigrants have further nurtured their enterprising instincts with their commitment, family participation, and long hours of hard work. With some good luck, many own successful businesses, mostly in the service sector, not only catering to other immigrants, but also the American mainstream. We bid them Godspeed!

Other Indian immigrants are from families having no business background. For many of these professionals, working for large and medium-size corporations gives social identity and instant access to the American middle-class lifestyle, economically, in any case.

This is understandable in our culture where our ZIP codes define us socially and economically. Marketing gurus would make you believe that if you are under 36.6 years of age and own a home (in a desirable ZIP code address) having more than 4.3 BR, 2.2 GRG, 2400 sq. ft living area (bsmt exclded), 4.7 TV sets, 7.7 phone jacks, 3.7 phone lines, 2.6 cars, and a 166 MHz computer or better with Internet access, and have fewer than 2.13 kids, you’ve made it buddy! Wow, your lifestyle is in the top 5th percentile of the US population!

These professionals, partly because of their higher education, often are risk-averse. Further, higher education gives increased mobil-ity, a plus-point in an economic/corporate down turn, at least till one hits middle age. After middle age, it is another story: One has higher odds of getting ” surplussed,” “out-sourced” “downsized,” “readjus-ted,” “rightsized,” “fenced-out,» “reengineered” or simply laid off or fired. Then, one is as disoriented as a domesticated animal that has lost all its innate survival instincts suddenly thrown back into the wild.

Most of our children take for granted many of the creature comforts that we consider trophies. These children, naturally, will aim for things very different – sometimes even nebulous and abstract – in their adult life. They may, one hopes, feel confident to take calculated risks and venture along unchartered waters. END

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Kollengode S Venkataraman, Written in 1996

Things we do not allow a seven-year-old to do on legal, moral, or ethical grounds, or out of simple old-fashioned common sense: Driving cars or motorcycles, drinking alcoholic beverages, handling power tools, smoking cigarettes, staying home by themselves, taking free-fall rides in amusement parks, handling open flames or corrosive chemicals, and using handguns.

And yet, adults-including the parents, teachers, friends, and those in the media—not only encouraged, but also egged on the seven-year-old Jessica Dubroff to fly to her death last April in a plane crash on her maiden cross-continental flight in a Cessna. One can understand, even if one does not agree with, the motives behind the enterprise that led to this entirely avoidable accident. The allure of publicity in prime-time TV, opportunity for commercial endorsements and the accompanying megabucks, are irresistible in a society in which fortune and fame are the only measures for success. We wrap our vanity & greed in lofty expressions such as freedom, courage, choices, and options to make them more palatable.

As recent immigrants to this nation, we seem to have acquired a mutated strain of this attitude, which in some ways is even worse. For example, it is not enough if our children get the best education in the natural course of their maturing into adults. We want them to get their degrees at ever-decreasing younger ages. We want them to become MDs and PhDs in their late teens. Early teens is even better.

If this happens naturally, as it does sometimes, or even with some coaxing, let all of us rejoice in it. However, to accomplish this, parents increasingly seem to drive their children hard, drive them nuts, and rob them of their childhood. The subliminal message to our children in this pursuit is: You may be far above average in your class, but you are still substandard because you are, after all, inside the bell curve.

But no matter how smart we are, other personality traits having nothing to do with our Is are necessary for becoming successful and productive citizens in our vocation, whatever it be.

I have heard (“overheard” is more appropriate) people saying,

“We had her arangetram when she was barely ten. She excellently brought out the shrngara rasam (erotic passion) in rendering Jayadeva’s Ashtapadi.” Isn’t there something intrinsically distasteful in ten-year-old pre-puberty girls bringing out the passions of adults in their abhinayam?

One of the descriptive names for son in Sanskrit is Atmaja, which literally means “born out of oneself.” Parents, probably seeing themselves in their children, stoke their own adult vanity in imagining that they have begotten child prodigies.

Does one have to show in one’s childhood potentials of greater accomplishments to come later in life? And do such early promises guarantee greater accomplishments later in life? The answer to both questions is, “Probably no.” For, history is full of personalities who bloomed naturally at the appropriate age, sometimes, even very late.

Also, countless people who showed great promise early lost their luster later, only to join the rest of us in their adult life. This is simply because several factors outside our genetic makeup mold our personality. And don’t forget a) the social, technological, and political environment determine what opportunities we get, and  b) the events in our personal life that influence how we unfold as adults.  Recognizing this might be helpful to get a sense of proportion and balance in life.

Another sore point: Some of our very middle-aged women -— and down-sized men too —because of unfortunate circumstances, are left in the lurch in awkward stages in their lives. Against tremendous odds, some of these courageous men and women go back to school and acquire marketable skills. They start afresh, becoming productive, tax-paying members of society, full of confidence and verve. These people’s tales of human endeavor are as worthy of our recognition as the brilliance of our kids who are born naturally smart.

Forget about inviting these middle-aged men and women as keynote speakers to address our graduating high-school students in recognition of their overcoming great odds in life. We should be happy if their profiles in courage get mentioned to our children during dinner-time conversation. By the way, in these days of workaholic lifestyle, long commute, and TV addiction, how many of us eat at least one meal a day with our spouse, children, and parents to have dinner conversations in the first place?

Siddhirbhavati karmaja (Fruition is born out of work) may be excellent for a lofty, pithy motto on the insignias of institutions. Such profound expressions, unfortunately, do not satisfy our vanity and conceit. Our behavior appears closer to Siddhirbhavati (mama) garbhaja! (Fruition is born out of [my/ womb). END

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