Ode to Stephen Court

There is still life in the burnt out three floors of Stephen Court, which underwent a test by blazing fire that went on for over 12 hours. There were hundreds of men and women standing a few yards from the building were as helpless as many of the government officials, who seemed to have been maimed by the raging flames. Even as several men and women were charred to death inside the building, the modern generation watching the fire pulled out their cellular phones to catch the moment. There were no room for the bravehearts to venture into the building to salvage the few people who were caught inside. I was one such mute witness to the loss of over 50 persons in the fire.

The remnants of the fire are still to be cleared from the burnt floors, and every day as I pass by the building during my evening walk, I can recollect the fateful day. Whatever be the social status, religion or cultural group of the residents of this old building, one thing was sure: human greed knows no bounds. If only the administrators had paid a little more attention to proper and timely maintenance of the facilities, so many persons would not have been charred to death. The building still stands as a mute witness to human wickedness and greed; is this the way how nature tries to teach the human beings a lesson for life?

I was also able to witness the number of people of the city pouring in to the building and its neighborhood to console and comfort the survivors of the fire. There were many groups who organized prayer meetings and candlelight procession in honor of the people who had lost their lives and their dear ones. There were many posters posted on the entrance to the fateful building, many of which portrayed the sentiments of a cross section of city-zens! We are sorry, we could not save you! I felt this was the pathetic helpless cry of the hundreds of men and women who watched the whole floor burning but could not do anything! There was no lack for empathy for the victims and survivors from the part of the people of the city.

Though the building stood just a few meters from our residence, I never dared to venture into the building, and needless to say, I had no business in that building. But now I feel a close affinity with the building, and I look at it with a lot of sympathy and empathy! Much have been lost, and yet there is life, and life has to go on! For many families, life had come to a standstill, and the stories that I had read in the dailies about the people who were searching for their dear ones day after day, hoping one day they might get them back, they were heart-renting. This was indeed a test for not only for the corporation, but also the human heart! How do we respond to this kind of calamity?

Everyone knows for sure that this is not the end of the era when several persons lost their lives in fire; this will be repeated after a few months, and many more will continue to be charred to death! Stephen Court will get back its lifeline and resume life anew, and the lessons learnt may also be forgotten too soon. I wish Stephen Court had known our language, the human language, so that it could pour out its own pain and agony, of carrying and nurturing so many hundreds of men and women day after day. I wish to pitch my ears to the walls of Stephen Court to listen to the unheard stories of this building, the cry and pathos of its walls, for if only we begin to listen to what our buildings say, what our lifestyle say, we cannot afford to neglect the essentials of life.

Death of a Cockroach

It didn’t occur to me at first, but after killing a creature, suddenly it struck me that I have done something that is bad! The uninvited guest crawled into my room stealthily, and I was not quite prepared to invite him; the insecticide was there at my table, with the nozzle to spray the poison on anyone who would invade my room. It did not even take me one minute to finish off the cockroach which was emerging out of a corner of my room. Probably the innocent creature did not know that I would be so very violent with him/her, and that I had a very strong weapon to kill him/her through a violent death. After killing the creature, I had a guilt feeling for indulging in such cold-blooded murder.

But this is not the first time that I had indulged in such a violent, brutal killing of a creature, which has the same kind of right to live on earth, as myself. It was terrible to see the poor creature wiggle and die, and it took just a few seconds; the poison should have crippled it within seconds, just as cyanide might do to a human person. It was after letting the entire episode to subside that I was asking myself, from where did the human beings get the audacity to wipe out all the other creatures from the face of the earth? The numerous species of animals and plants which have been wiped out of the universe may never ever see the light of day; they are gone forever, and we still have no regret for killing them.

Human life is centered on utilitarianism; everything which is useful to humanity is considered good, and anything which does not benefit humanity is considered bad; but can there be anything bad under God’s divine plan? Are not all creatures, great and small, have a specific role and function in this vast universe? Who are human beings to sit on the seats of judgment and decide which is good and which is bad? What would happen if some other superior creature on the universe were to sit on judgment seat and condemn the human race, and kill them at will, as if we were just perishable insects and pests? It is good for us to realize that we are not the masters of the universe, but merely custodians.

Every time when a creature departs from the face of the earth, the life of the earth is also considerably reduced, even if we say that that is not true. The universe is enriched and ennobled by the countless number of creatures on its face, and whenever any of them bid farewell to the world, then their place is left vacant, and no wonder the world is slowly becoming deserted and it may not be too late before we witness the empty plains and valleys, which are barren and deserted. Even the most poisonous of snakes and animals have their specific role to play in the universe, and it would be wrong for the human persons to decide what that role would be.

I am here at this hour not so much to mourn the death of the cockroach, which it is said, is the only creature which can withstand the worst kind of natural calamity; they may have the physical and mental makeup which may be far superior to the human beings, and we may not be in a position to accept and acknowledge it, but that is a fact. Today as I bring the poor creature before my eyes, I would like to promise that next time when it is my turn to take the life of yet another creature from the earth, I will think twice. Just as I have the right to live on earth peacefully, the others too have the same right, and I would not go outright to endanger their lives.

Haiti and After

Going through accounts about how the earthquake brought down the already poor nation Haiti to the ground, I felt a sense of dismay at what the world has made of this poor nation. If Haiti had been branded as “one of the poorest nations” in the world, then who could be held responsible. If there are over 200,000 people have been killed alive within minutes of the earthquake, everyone on earth is responsible for their lives. It is true that the government was literally defunct, and there were no social structures which were working, and to add fuel to the fire, the natural calamity. I was saddened as I read The Tablet cover story on the aftermath of the quake in Haiti.

The international community rushed in aid and personnel to help the people of Haiti to recover from the loss of lives, of all that they had earned for years, but if one per cent of the population had been enjoying 50 per cent of the national wealth, who is responsible? You and me! We are no longer citizens of our own little worlds; the boundaries of our worlds had been broadened by the advent of modern technology. Within a few minutes after any major calamity in any part of the world, we are able to see the victims and hear the cries, as if they were our next door neighbors. It is the speed of communication to transmit information, which has made our world a global village.

One of the greatest obstacles to justice and equality in the world is the stubbornness of the developed countries, alias the First World, to open the floodgates of their wealth to reach the deserving populations of the world. We now know that the excessive wealth of the developed nations does not belong to them, and if they are honest, they would acknowledge that the wealth was ill-gotten. Doing charity or dolling out a pittance is not going to help the poorer nations to come to the level of self-sustenance; what they require is not charity, but sharing on equal terms. The wealthy nations may feel superior to come to the aid of the poor nations; but it is their responsibility to do so.

It is not at all impossible for the United States to commit itself to rebuild the ravished Haiti, and they have all the resources and technology to do so, and the international community would welcome the US if it had come up with such a stand. But unfortunately there would be too few takers for such bold steps, and they would find a hundred and one reasons why they should never do such a thing. The international community is helping Haiti to come to terms with it, to rebuild their houses from the scratch, and deep down no one can remove the constant fear lurking deep within them, if nature would show her wild face again.

But there is a saving grace; the major natural calamities have brought the nations to come together to rub shoulders, to put their heads together to find amicable solutions. Tsunami was one such moment, and today it is Haiti’s earthquake, and that is not the end. Even as we rebuild Haiti, we know something more drastic may take place soon, and the world has to be prepared to face it. If the rich nations are able to feel deep down their bones that the men and women suffering across the borders are their own brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, then there will not be a need to dole out a pittance as charity to help them, they would keep their doors wide open for the poor to enter in, and make it a better place to live in!

Beauty and Beast

Today the Indian subcontinent witnessed one of the most spectacular diamond rings in the sky, when the annular solar eclipse was sighted from the Southern most tip of the country, and there were a lot of people flocking to Dhanushkodi and to Kanyakumari! One may still remember that these are the very places which had witnessed some years ago one of the worst onslaughts of tsunami! The spectacular show has come as a consoling factor to the tsunami ravaged coastal region of Tamil Nadu, which is still to rise from the harvest festival Pongal slumber. So the wonderful celestial sight was a feast to the star-gazers, if not the coastal fisherfolks, for whom the eclipse was nothing more than a sophistication of a natural event.

But day before yesterday nature showed its ferocious face in Haiti, when an earthquake devoured over 50,000 men and women. Seven richter scale is nothing so low to bring down buildings, and there were people who were buried under the debris, and never to see the light of day. There are more and more natural calamities over which the human beings have too little control. Nature however had its own mechanism to avert major calamities which would cost the earth dearly; but the human intervention has undone these mechanism, to such an extent that it is hard for nature not to be stern. And when nature is hard, the first casualty is the human persons en masse!

If the earthquake has shaken Haiti day before yesterday, our turn may come any time; we are called to be prepared to face the tune of the angry earth. The human race which had mercilessly killed nature’s sap, are to replace them with their own blood, and yet it is doubtful if the earth would tally the accounts and start life anew! But one of the most nagging questions which disturb many of the underdeveloped or developing nations is, why they be held responsible for the destruction of the earth and her resources by the developed nations? Who are the people who have plundered the earth’s resources and filled their pockets? Is it not unfair to make the innocent people held responsible for what they do not know?

The irony of earth’s divine sport is that on the one hand she reveals herself as one of the most charming, beautiful of all created things; and on the other side is her ferocious side! Beauty and beast seem to co-exist, and who else but Lord William Blake can try to reconcile these contradictions. Without contraries is no progression, Blake was to have told, and that is why he brought in Lamb and Tyger (Blake’s spelling), representing innocence and experience. True, the humanity was innocent some centuries ago, and today the experienced men and women would only find ways of exterminating any beauty still left on earth, and it is proper that we see the beastly face of earth!

Humanity is all in praise for the wonders of the earth, and they will make melodies to sing her praises, so long the charm is still there, and she shows her beautiful face, spilling innocence. Humanity is frightened of the other side of the earth, the angry planet, ready to teach humanity a fitting lesson, so that they do not play with fire, which can devour all that is, and is yet to be! As we admire the most spectacular diamond ring of the century, let us not forget the hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti, who are fighting with their lives for no fault of their own, and bring them to our consciousness, so that their cry, pain and anguish may heal our greed and selfishness, so that we may in turn heal the wounds of the earth!

Children of Chance

The weather forecast for these days has been quite right, and the cold wind seemed to dip day after day, and the cloudy weather added to the woes of the common people, who have no big shelter to protect themselves from the cold wind blowing, especially at the early hours of the day. Those who live in high-rise buildings have nothing much to worry, even if the temperature were to dip to zero and even beyond; they have all the comforts set right to protect themselves from any sort of heat and cold; they cannot be touched by any kind of weather! But I would like to imagine the Ultadanga slum-dwellers who had lost their “hutments” at the fire that broke at midday!

It is said that over 500 families lost not only their shelter, but also all their belongings. Some of them were left to stand and stare at the bellowing of flames, slowly eating up all their possessions, however big or small they are. Now that these people are left to wonder what they could do to get back to life, there are politicians ready to play their cards, throw the sympathy trump cards, and get into the good books of the hapless victims of circumstances. There would be theories which may attribute the fire to the deliberate tactics of certain political parties in order to clear the place at one go. Whatever be the theories, one thing is for sure: these people have been left to huddle with open sky over their heads, and warm themselves with the rags salvaged from ashes!

It is hard to think of these poor slum-dwellers to rise up to new life like the proverbial phoenix; there is one saving factor: they are quite used to these kinds of predicaments; they have seen several such fires, and had begun life anew several times. It has become almost a routine affair for them to keep looking at life with bright eyes, and then let the flames devour their dreams at a time they least expect. This is one thing they do not have much control; to prevent such calamities dawn on their dwellings. They seem to be playing a duel with chance, and there are more chances that they lose the battle, with all the other forces supporting the chances!

Even as 2500 people of the slum struggle to gather whatever has been left behind by the merciful flames, for most of us, the event has not touched us in any way. Our food for three times is assured; the morning coffee and the evening tea will be there, even if the whole world were to collapse! Unless there is a major natural calamity, we are sure that our building is strong and will stand for another 50 years to say the least. What do we need to worry? Many of these people who have lost all their earnings and belongings, may wonder what they will eat before they go to bed; the parents may have to beg food for their children, and their plight may not touch my life in any way!

It is not that I should now rush to handover the food cooked for me to the hungry people; that would not solve the problem in anyway. It may only seem crocodile tears! How am I to express my solidarity with these people, that would make a difference, if not for the people I symbolically care for, but at least for me! It maybe a social-crime to enjoy a cozy evening inside my room well protected from excessive heat and cold, while there are people who do not have a decent place to lay down their heads tonight. Will it be possible for me to do something for them, which may make a difference? Probably there may not be anything which I can do to make a difference, except that I do not forget the faces of these people even as I go to bed with full-stomach, after having a warm bath! If I carry them in my mind at least for a while during the day, it will have its own impact and repercussion!

Reign of Religions

Religions have caused more harm and destruction to humanity than all the natural calamities down the centuries put together. In fact, it would be quite wrong to attribute a lion's share of violence and bloodshed to "religion" as it is meant to be. But what is originally meant to be religion - a way of life - has become the battleground for political parties and vested interests to parley and display quite unashamedly their show of strength! It is no wonder that ever since fierce battles came to be fought in the name of religion (killing a member of opposite religion assured a seat in heaven!) during the Middle Ages, many sincere men and women of good will have bidden adieu to the cultic, formal religions.

Religion is meant to be the cementing factor between people and the ultimate, and union of hearts and minds among people of all walks of life. No god will ever tolerate if blood is shed in his name - however bloodthirsty he be! What is happening in different parts of the world today is - religion is used as a means by a handful of powerful people in order to wield hegemony over the weak, and the downtrodden. Every religious fight or conflict is in fact an attempt to over power the awakening group - using the time-tested techniques of arousing fear and panic. Most of the major religions had done this, and it is not the time for us to dwell on who's donneit! But to look beyond what history has taught us - to go beyond the narrow confines of religions.

But it is time for us to return to our sources! From the events and incidents that shake and shape our world, it is obvious that most of us believers in organized religions do not read our Holy Scriptures. If at all we do, then we do it mechanically, or do it selectively, harkening only the passages that suit our purpose. Because no religion, worth its salt, can ever teach its followers to shed the blood of the neighbour. Just because the weaker party is not able to retaliate, the mighty and the powerful might continue their reign of terror. They may win over the battle according to worldly standards, but it may not take too long for events to take a 180 degree around.

In many religions we have the custom of branding the people who had died in order to protect the religious faith as martyrs. A crown of glory is given to them, and they are considered revered persons. Today I would like to pause for a while and ask myself - which is more important : to give one's life for the facile, divisive faith or to lay one's life for the welfare of the neighbour. Unfortunately most of the religions have taken the liberty to twist the basic tenets of religions for their own benefit and advantage. Adn therefore I would like to go back to the sources, to the Sacred Scriptures to re-discover God as he/she truly is. Once I begin to recognise His/Her true nature and identity, then my attitude to other faiths too will change.

It is time for me to look at every person I come in contact with as my brother and sister. Unless I drop the labels of religion, caste, creed and nationality, I would be enslaving myself to structures that would distance me far away from my union with the Ultimate, and through him/her to the humanity, each of them reflection of the Maker! Once I encounter the God of my heart in my brother and sister, then the religious layers collapse, and I maybe able to see God as he/she is in every creature around me! Such is the family of gods, living in harmony with one another, and that truly is vasudeiva kutumbakam!