Satvik

The world is made of five elements and so is all matter and life that exists in the various permutations and combinations of these elements.
Whilst the origins and the basic construct remains the same, each species differs from each other and also the experiences and quality of existence within a species vary so differently. The evolution also varies quite dramatically.
Why is one human happy, other not, why is one good, other not!! Why are we happy one minute and despondent the next minute. Why is it that we fail to succeed in what we wish to do or regret what we do with all our zest and conviction.
As I believe nature has all answers. So we seek what happens when the elements of nature face different scenarios and the outcomes. The laws of nature are the ultimate truth and no amount of power or wisdom or disbelief can make us escape the rewards or penalties of this law of nature. Yet we exist in debelief and our pompous ego that "Iam" different so my outcome will also be different irrespectivw of what has happened in the past.
Law of Nature humbles all. The best way to be happy and blissful is to recognise and abide by the laws of nature and bask in its bounties and splendour rather than deny the supremacy of the very source that brings us into existence.
So we look at few examples. What happens when the wind blows over garbage and what happens when it blows over flowers. Well wind will stink in the first case and smell wonderful in the second case. So if wind is wind why does it change in these two scenarios! Why does it have to carry the good and bad. Well that is the vaery intrinsic nature of wind, isn't it? So why would it not behave in accordance with its intrinsic nature.
What happens when we put a stone in fire and what happens when we put some wood in fire. Well fire burns and it will burn both, stone a lot and make it very veey hot, perhaps turn it black or into dust or make it crack. The wood would be totally burnt and reduced to ashes. So fire has intrinsic nature to burn. The severity may be different for stone and wood, but superficially, fire does harm them and they both burn.
What happens if we walk through water, do we believe that we will remain dry. What happens to crystal clear water when one puts a drop of ink in it. We do get wet, we cannot remain dry. The color of wtaer changes with a drop of ink permeating through it. Water cannot remain unaffected from color that taints it. Water will flow and reach far and wide and make waves and make everything that it comes in contact with wet.
When we plant a seed in bad soil and one seed in good soil, both the seeds will become plants and give fruits. Which tree will yield better fruit!! Well the tree cannot escape the qualities of the soil it is planted in.
The state of mind, joy, happiness, sorrow and all our feelings, failures and success depend entirely what environment we create for our body, mind and soul. The wind, fire, earth, water in us will be impacted and remain impacted by the environment we provide them.
Also we will find bliss which also means harmony and equilibrium of mind and soul and body once we understand the intrinsic value of these elements and use their values constructively. Like water to quench thirst and wood to cook and air to breathe.
So we can damage oursleves with anger but channelise the anger by recognising the intrinsic value and convert that into energy and drive.
We can learn to manage our behaviours, our interactions, our desires, our environment, our thoughts and our fears by understanding what satsang and what satvik means. These terms do not mean sanyas. It one chooses not to indulge it does not mean the person has become a sanyasi. If one learns to understand the difference between joy and happiness, one will be able to see clearly that momentary joy can cause cravings and indulgence and anguish. True happiness comes from equilibrium in the constitutent elements and this is achieved by not stretching these elements to bring out their damaging traits.
Satsang illuminates our environment. Company of good positive people creates positive aura around us. Negative persons can impact our environment and therefore cause ripples in our harmony and impact our thinking and therefore actions. If someone has many bad habits, and influences our environment it is not possible that we can remain unaffected. The degree and timing may vary but impact will occur. In our culture and heritage that is why it has always been highlighted to avoid surroundings that can cause harm. However today it is fashionable to visit pubs, discs and other means of recreation as a source of joy. Normal sources of joy such as good music, good literature, fine arts, sports etc are no longer treated as sufficient or fulfiling. Today TV programs are considered bad but are watched by many as there is nothing better to watch. So we make the choices. If we don't have satsang we settle for something less without understanding the impact on us.
Satvik is what keeps the system manageable. If we have too much tamsik food, it will cause disharmony in elements which causes health problems, craving and mental stress, addictions etc. But abstenance from tamsik is seen as not having fun in life albeit at expense of bliss and harmony. So the learned propounded what is satvik. Satvik food is also fabolous and full of variety and balance to even satisfy the palate but it is human nature to push to extremes and not to try and remain in harmony with nature and hence the suffering. Satvik therefore includes all that which does not impact harmony.
Law of nature is dharma or dhamma which means that nothing is permanent and everything changes. It says only change is constant. Our life is the experiences we go through during these constant changes and the way we react to these changes. If change is given, the truth is not having any aversion or cravings as the very source of these reactions will not remain permanent. Hence these reactions are unwarranted.
The disharmony affects the mind which then reacts and all the physio chemical reactions convert the mind into matter and impact the body. The harmony and strength of mind therefore comes from discipline or a trained mind which is supported by satsang and satvik which in turn are again supported by disciplined mind. If the chain breaks the harmony is lost.
Make choices to achieve balance and harmony in the elements. Don't make choices with ego and foolish impressions that mind is strong and one can avoid cravingss or hatred with ease. That is not the case. Law of nature will prevail. One can learn from one's mistakes but cannot take a view that I will make mistakes now but Iam strong enough to get out of these mistakes at free will. It is almost impossible to change deep rooted behaviour pattern inherited and or acquired in secondary school. A liar is a liar. Today will tell a lie for some small matter and tomorow that attribute will take gigantic proportions and become habit pattern and it will be behaviour to lie compulsively. Short term success or ease of convenience will add fuel to fire and will push a person to lie one more time, lie on bigger things and then make the person a liar by nature. Compulsive lying will impact satsang, will impact satvik and will impact discipline and it will then only be a matter of time before ot causes grief. Bad company or bad sang will impact discipline, cause temptations or confusion in mind, tamsik will cause loss of control and impact discipline. Result disharmony and unhappiness.
Open all avenues of life by understanding simple laws of nature while there is time yet!

Boiling and reaching melting point

Pick politics and econmics sections of any international mags, Time, Economist etc and you will find that there is crisis in every possible hemisphere, longitude and latitude. Detailed articles by writers and responses by readers providing deep insights to who is to blame, what is going wrong and what will be 2009 like, mostly statements spelling dooms day if a certain path or course of correction is not followed.

Human survival instinct is quite unique and I am sure with centuries of experience in the DNA system of surviving guilt, insult, war, misery, agony, starvation, thirst, jealousy, etc etc, humans will find a way to survive or live in hope clinging to the smallest possible thread there is to latch on to.

With many globally who may have lost their savings, their retirements plans and pension funds due to global meltdown are very dejected and helpless. Nevertheless hard work and efforts to be gainfaully employed and recreate some of what has been lost will be natural correction plan. As the global situation deteriorates, it may be challenging to be gainfully busy for all and it seems from the estimates that a large portion may also become umemployed across economic sections and geographies. The pundits say it will be very trying times for many who will have to come down many steps in the manner of existence they are used to.

I am quite surprised that there is not much being said about or discussed about the fundamental core matter which is fundamental to all the crisis currently prevailing ie accumulation of wealth and power. The roller coaster rides in the last so many years must have scientifically proven over and over again that wealth and power are always temporary and a mirage which one chases all life. There is not much rethinking of way of living, the very way of human existence, how individual and clusters and group can exist in eco friendly manner so that the roller coaster rides are less harmaful and existence is more peaceful and harmonius.

There are many spiritual books and many recent authors have also dealt with the subject of giving away all they had accumulated by way of wealth and status and realligning themselves to a more humble and simple way of life which brought them, their surroundings better peace and harmony.

There are also many thoughts around education systems being career driven and not geared for making us better humans to exist peacefully with the environment and lead a more contended life. But in today's difficult times and more challenging times ahead, there is likeey to be a forced realisation that the rat race is endless and one needs to find a more simpler equilibrium in the way of living. It is time for greater awakening of the world for the true knowledge of what is good, and what is bad, what is the science of living that will bring better heath of mind and body and lead to better human existence.

I discussed last year with some close friends and like minded persons, is it possible that the world could adopt a Science Of Living (SOL) code across the world like one international way of life, similar to many international treaties and resolutions, this is not a religion of a sect or a group, it is a simple way of life. It is not intended to encroach on anyone's freedom. Currently the art of living or the handbook of life is really prescribed by various religious books ie Quran, Bible, Vedas etc etc. They all contain the SOL. Experts who have done deep study of all these valuable scriptures state that the core science of living in these ageold scriptures is qute similar. Unfortunately the leadership around these documents have perhaps not done justice in creating the right awakening and guiding the people they are responsible for to understand, appreciate and live by the values. Rather it appears that there is more of misguidance and mistrust and lack of any appreciation of the basic values that exists in all guidance available on art of living.

Perhaps as the world comes to a boil, there are is an opportunity to benefit from a melting point of ideas and values. With today's science of faster communication and sharing of information and knowledge perhaps there is merit in making available to the young generation the information and analysis of not only the art of living they are born in but also of other arts of living so that they can create a better understanding and have better opportunity to lead a more peaceful life as compared to today's scenario where the world lives like a stone on boil, ready to burn but not to melt.

Historic decade ahead

As the world has entered into difficult times in all key spheres that impact human existence, politics, economics, environment, healthcare and social structures, it will be soon that we will see the climax and real outcome of the fall out on all these issues in the very near future. The curtain is beginning to go up.

Therefore in many ways the decade ahead will be a turning point. I strongly believe that mankind will re-invent itself. It will drop the baggage from the past on many beliefs and notions and aspirations and settle down to a new basis or system for survival and existence. It will be a decade of innovation and discovery, not just technology, but for existence and survival. It will be a decade on changes and dealing with, adapting and learning to cope with changes in the way we think, react and action as individuals and socio-economic groups.

Three ‘C’s will be very relevant, more than ever before, Co-ordination, Creativity and Consumption. The meaning, relevance and importance of these C elements will change dramatically in all spheres mentioned above.

We have made all matters around us fairly complex and ability to maintain continuity and enhance any existing tangible and intangible is becoming extremely challenging. They thinking process will have to undergo significant change to simplify matters, make them more amenable for masses and not classes and improve reach and access to masses. This will mean co-ordination of complex elements and re-organizing the architecture and processes, roles and actions will require new methods and approaches which are simpler and scalable more easily, in implementation and costs. This C element opportunity exists across all spheres of life including birth, death, marriage, education, healthcare, food, travel, holidays, entertainment, communication, etc.

Over the last few decades, generally speaking there has been very little on creativity that has met expectations or the needs of the consumer. There has been more of repackaging what was created a few decades ago, or branding in the push manner to create need for what exists, rather than create to fulfill the real need. The delivery systems changed quite significantly with advent of information technology. Also some more needs were being met with technology becoming cheaper and more widely available. However, the real needs in all spheres of life has changed quite dramatically due to fundamental changes in the way masses think and react to the environment around them. Accordingly all needs at mental and physical level will require a significant response by trade and commerce, society at large, education and healthcare systems, research and discovery and religious beliefs and followings. Better dissemination of information, analysis and views will push the supply side to change the way they treat and service the recipient quite dramatically. Past and current formulae of sales and marketing will gradually lose relevance and a new philosophy backed by actual needs fulfillment will replace existing models.

The C on Consumption will undergo dramatic changes as well. They human tendency will continue to have a consumption driven mindset though there will be changes in underlying philosophy of choices, selection and satisfaction. Consumption will be less driven by needs for luxury, style or demonstration effect but driven more by environment consciousness, individual aspiration for contribution to change, society, new beliefs, health and more importantly what is necessary for improvement of following generations. Consumer will be willing to make sacrifices in expectations of style and satisfaction. Consumer will be willing to accept a higher decimal on total satisfaction i.e. material, social, environmental and intangible rather than give higher significance only to material experience or to intangible experience. This change will manifest across all major needs on education, healthcare, careers, housing, leisure etc.

The underlying C factor over the historic next decade will therefore be Change, hopefully for the better.

Character of a Nation

It is very interesting to note the character of any Nation and how it evolves slowly over the years. It is also interesting that although there is some evolution, the basic character remains unchanged for centuries. There are interesting challenges each Nation across the world has and at the root lies how will the Nation, its people, their leaders as well as their actions on their internal and global issues impact their own future in times to come.

A lot of the character is reflected in how the people of a country deal with travelers from across the world on a day to day basis ie interaction at the grass root level. Also how the conduct business locally and globally and what is the business ethics and credibility / reliability perception. Character is also reflected in how the country plays its sports and the levels to which it will go to win and play the game. Most interestingly the Nation’s character is reflected by the views and actions it takes on global issues, and the actual helping hand / contributions they make to help others. I do not have too much of research but have populated the thoughts below based on the perceptions and information I have. Please do come up with your suggestions and information which will help us look at these matters more objectively.

The Americans are great sportsmen, very aggressive in winning at any cost, just as if it is matter of life and death and millions!!! Have they developed many new areas of global supremacy in sports or continued to develop and retain favorite areas such as baseball, basketball, athletics, and tennis, amongst a few others. As a Nation they speak and care a lot about freedom and particularly of speech and action. They pride themselves that liberty is above all. They have multiple internal issues, have and have-nots, and also other types of divide within their society and geographies, what they think about the rest of the world - do they largely look down upon the rest of the world and they believe they are superior to rest of the world. Their own survival and lifestyle is above rest of the world and in maintaining and enhancing their lifestyle and capitalist and consumption driven economy, could they have put other parts of the world into long term problems i.e. Middle East for oil and China for mass procurement which has led to a certain labor and human right situation in the world’s largest populated country. Have they allowed their technologies and products on armaments to be available directly and indirectly to both friends and foes both internally and abroad? Are they in any way responsible for mass destruction of human life across the world; can we blame them at all? What have they given to the rest of the world, what is their global contribution, well maybe lots of money to poor nations, security and stability by military interventions!! Have they created artificial barriers for free trade through trade agreements, sanctions, and other forms of negotiations tactics which have been largely to suite their interests etc? Do they believe in survival of the fittest and they believe with all their money and might, they will be the fittest to have global supremacy. Not to mention their immense contributions to global warming and environment deterioration!!

The Europeans (British, French, German, etc) do they still believe deep within that white skin or their race is better than rest of the world? They have for centuries been colonist ever seeking to expand their global territories, amass wealth and enslave workers across the world. To combine this with their internal religious wars between factions and various religious practices followed across their continent. Time and again it is visible that although the Europeans acknowledge that other parts of the world gaining supremacy in their pride sports or businesses and gaining edge over them, do majority Europeans deep within still find it difficult to digest this global change and are sometimes vocal or passive opponents to developing world success. The East and West German combine is historic and if the positive results are made visible to the world, perhaps it will provide an alternative solution to the current global issues geographies which are more divisive and intent on breaking the current maps or realigning rather than considering the benefits of combining.

The erstwhile Soviet Union was impacted by internal divide and regional battles and the maps were redrawn. Their experiment with communism worked or failed is a matter of debate but it has and will impact many generations till they get their governance structures working and creating opportunities for their people. The Russians are great sportsmen, great scientists and also culturally rich society which can achieve a lot. The cold war resulted in many wasted years of espionage and diversion of resources for war and science for weapons, hopefully some of that will change now. Are they looking to restore their lost glory and be a force to reckon with again the global order and how?

The Chinese has been a great society for sports and learning, but appear to have been chained!! So they had many issues across centuries dealing with internal rebellion, regional divide, huge divide between have and have-nots, human rights issues, diseases and healthcare, and a huge army, perhaps the biggest in the region, all other countries put together will be perhaps less than their armed forces!!

Canada and Australia have been more or less satellite countries wanting to be largely left alone from all the global mess. They have got involved in global affairs to the extent necessary and avoiding to muddy their hands beyond a point. They have adopted globalization by way of sports, business, trade and commerce. They have their local challenges in managing the melting pot of various nationalities migrating and settling and perhaps are doing better than a few other nations.

The Middle East appears to be always at war however back one reads into history. The have been wars for wealth, power and religion for centuries and centuries. This region has been a great melting pot for cultures and traditions. The place has never been at peace, there has always been a tension about the neighbors, insecurity for preservation of the religion and a very unique governance structure. It is confusing whether the current structures for managing the Middle East countries will help them come out of their past legacy issues and look at globalization more effectively. Have the masses that have migrated away from their home countries to other parts of the world appear to have done well!!

Pakistan has many internal and regional issues. All the real issues appear to have been clouded with the national passion i.e. liberation or conquest of Kashmir!! and the logic being that as a Nation, perhaps they have concluded that Islamic minorities will always be oppressed wherever they are in the world and they will liberate them and give them the freedom, whether those minorities want them involved or not. Have they used regional issues to their financial and political advantages? Do many nations across the world trust them? What is the image they have build for themselves in the global world?

Further, it is believed that mafia is fairly active in most of the continents, getting organized and wealthy and involved in the most lucrative businesses directly or indirectly, starting with bullion and metals, mining, drugs, construction and real estate, etc. Is the mafia influencing the way a Nation reacts to global issues?

India, there are so many things to say for centuries of culture and heritage, unity in diversity, and the numerous challenges faced by the country and its resilience, the freedom struggle and the effects of democracy, the wars with our neighbors, China and Pakistan, the sanctions by the US post nuclear tests, the global achievements by Indians, the spiritual leadership, etc. And then there is also large number of domestic issues. But the main issue is we are too tolerant? Is the way we will continue or we will learn to solve our problems rather than wish them away? What character we want to change if we have the ability to be a world power in a decade or two from now?

Somewhere India needs to rethink as a Nation whether it will only make a lot of noise globally on current issues and spend years to get global support or also do something and take concrete action which will drive change, will we demonstrate through action that we can take care of ourselves and also make the world a better place. Will we be vocal and state clearly without worrying about sanctions etc as to who our friends and who are foes are? Will we have the courage to firmly deal with internal divisive forces that are trying to separate and break-up the country and seeking autonomy under various pretexts? Do we need stronger leadership who will deal with the current issues as required in today’s global order and not the traditional ways of mere words? As a Nation are we as individual citizens and small groups as geographies, religions or whatever manner of aggregation willing to sacrifice and give ground on some issues that impact us so that National level reforms can be achieved? We have shown the Character as a Nation many times in the past to make sacrifices, not just wealth but sacrifices of a lifetime, so we have the Character. Perhaps what is required that we have the right leadership whom we can trust will deliver effectively so that the sacrifices are not in vain.

We will need a miracle !!!

I have been watching a lot of discussions, opinions and views being splashed by media, whose-who and celebrities across the country and also other parts of the world on the global terror situation. There is discussion on contribution of constructive ideas and practical suggestions and white papers to be given to the Government so that they can tackle the situation and make the country and the world a better place. I am losing hope that whether this will really cause any tangible change. Three points to be considered are highlighted below.
1 For thousands of years, the world has always been ruled by handful few from the total population although over the years we have moved from monarchy / aristocracy to communism, democracy and other forms of Government which have taken form in more recent years. In today’s times, if we take any country say India, and broad analysis is, the top guys from politics, bureaucrats, corporate majors, institution, media and social activists all put together will constitute barely 5,000 persons (I think I am really overestimating). At the top it is highly likely that these persons biggest objective individually and collectively will be to maintain their top position and retain and grow their supremacy either by making their function indispensable or ensuring that the others are dependant on them for existence and survival. As a result these people tend to feed-off each other and reach a tacit coalition amongst them. There are some ripples once in a while when there are ego clashes or blame game but eventually all settle down to teaming and managing their power bases to ensure that the control over the masses continues. So in reality, and for all practical purposes, the masses including the rich and famous, the poor, the not so poor and the middle class are not in control at all. Let us not fool ourselves to believe that our view counts. For years we have been vocal about our views. This is where it normally ends i.e. at getting satisfaction of having made the noise. What happens next is hardly in our control and ability to cause change. It is only once in one or two centuries that a build up is created like a pent up volcano and if the masses are lucky leadership emerges to cause revolution / change. The change is normally a new set of the 5,000 odd person in control and then things are back to the same ie a small teamed up group is in control again of the masses. The poor are busy in their survival and attempts to make it big, led by a few success stories and the rich are busy amassing wealth and trying to influence the powers that be for more tax relief, benefits, sops, protection, laws, etc all of which will go to enhance their wealth and are busy enjoying the wealth rather than worry about implications of what is happening behind the scenes to cause discontinuities in lives of the masses.
2 The decoy technique has always be used by the ‘rulers’ in the past whether political, whether religious or anyone else who is at the top whenever they are in a difficult situation. One thing they have learnt well is that when any relevant or irrelevant issue is set before masses, they will make them busy evaluating multiple opinions and views and will get busy with analyzing and debating and arguing about the issue. While the focus is taken away from reality and the ‘ruler’ is having the last laugh. All they have to do is either create an artificial problem or in case a problem already exists, give it an angle or find a scapegoat and throw it open for public debate. Is it not obvious that when there are many people involved within a country, or a caste, or a profession or globally discussing on any issue, many views will emerge and lot of debate will happen and by the time those in participation develop a deeper insight and understanding of the real issue, the tide has passed. So masses are and have been moved away from real issue time and again.
3 With the advances in technology globally, satellites, global surveillance networks, global resources ie sources and uses of funds, information on cultures, knowledge, etc better shared and available across the world, it appears almost impossible that if a small group of maybe 25,000 persons being trained for terrorism by approx 50 to 100 big bosses can cause global disruption and concern of this magnitude and continue to survive and remain in existence for over a decade and more. I find it difficult to believe that the world powers are not aware or unable to have definitive information on existence of these disruptive forces and unwilling to weed out a global issue which is threatening the peaceful human existence. Or they willfully are turning a blind eye or doing lip service as this will create another reason for all the other nations’ i.e. Kid nations to run to their parents, and seek help, beg for assistance and intermediation and that will be once again their way or retaining their supremacy. Or is it that the biggies are really not so big and are not really in control of the world and the trillions and trillions they have spend on making this a better world and having the best brains and resources under their control has been used for their own security and retention of supremacy rather than well being of the human civilization at large.

This time around, if things continue the way they are for a few more years, and more and more life becomes difficult at the grass root level, it is very likely that there will be increasing trends of civil disobedience and protests, more divisions within the countries for greater local autonomy from central control. It is possible that either the world map could change dramatically, or instead of true globalization, human race may get divided once again as they will rush to be part of clusters or groups they believe will help their survival.

I still hope that some miracle will make the world a better place than it is.

Terrifying issues on the backburner – will these be part of election agenda in 2009 or get clouded by terror attacks

Having being glued to many channels on television during the past few days, one of the statistics I heard was that there were about 10,000 terror attacks last year across the world, including both major and minor attacks. There were around 22,000 lives lost in these attacks globally last year.

Let us see this in context of some terrifying issues existing in India. Yesterday there was another statistic in the newspapers which said that in India alone there were around 14 suicides every minute and over 122,000 annually, highest being in the state of Maharashtra. Here is the killer is not visible, but obviously behind every suicide there is some reason or circumstances which lead these, and there will be someone who could be responsible for these reasons or circumstances.

I don’t have the details for accidents in India, but broadly recollect that in India, accidents are responsible for maximum deaths. This includes accident rail, crossings, road, drunken driving, lack of safety at construction sites, work places related, illicit liquor consumption, floods, etc. Further, India’s statistic about deaths relating to poverty and lack of medical facilities including childbirth, starvation, malnutrition, cold weather and heavy rains etc etc. India also probably has the maximum number of deaths relating to caste and creed violence and killings.

There have been a lot of efforts by social activists and some authorities to deal with these issues, however, there has never been building of public opinion the way it has build up for terror attacks. This may be probably because it does not affect the day to day life of the elite and urban population and the thinking is that if it does not affect me it is not my problem. After the way in which the last terror strike actually made it more clear to the elite that their day to day life and business will be affected and that it is a national security issue, which it is.

Perhaps, we as Indians have developed this habit of leaving any public opinion of authoritative corrective action too late and tend to accept and get along with life until things come to a stage where we reach stage of total insecurity and helplessness.

While we put national security issues on the top, the media and common Indian should also bring these issues to the forefront as India goes to vote in 2009. The Government has to be made accountable and should demonstrate concrete corrective action and improvement in the above areas. Else it could lead to bigger issues from internal disobedience compared to global terror.

A friend send me a very apt quote: what happens around us is largely outside our control, but the way we chose to react is not.

Mumbai and other metros say “Enough is enough” – what is India’s voice?

Everyone is being put under pressure now, the security agencies, the bureaucrats, the politicians and more. The media has been fairly active in analyzing the issues around the terror attacks in Mumbai, the past attacks and lack of action on part of all those involved.

Citizens want action; some concrete suggestions also have been spelt out. There is a strong opinion building around this, which if well directed will help the country to move forward. Some focus though is required in building an all India consensus on this issue.

We all know that true India is rural India. A vast majority of the population stays in the villages of India in extremely challenging environment. For them the terrorist could include the local mafia supported by the politicians, local moneylender and upper caste landlords and anyone who creates deprivation for the peaceful sustenance, for their women and children and their right to appropriate livelihood for their hard work. Rural migration to metros for search of livelihood has also created strange social issues for the rural families. Will these villages and the poor masses be affected by what is happening from terror attacks in metros!!

The terror attacks in the past have a largely affected metro suburbs, hit trains, buses, temples etc. The so called masses of the cities have been deeply affected. For the first time, these attacks have also affected the central business districts including the rich and famous in a big way along with the masses. The north south divide in Mumbai which has been discussed many times in the past specially when we were hit by floods on 26 July a few years ago and the lack of infrastructure in the suburbs; one wonders what material action has taken place to deal with the issue affecting the masses.

Similarly this time around, a large portion of our patriots, soldiers and politicians still come from rural India, it will be great if rural India can be joined into this movement which is gathering momentum now. Else it will provide another opportunity to certain politicians who will get away by dividing the country yet again on the basis of caste, creed and economic disparity and continue to ‘rule’ whilst the urban intelligentsia can keep shouting from the roof tops.

Corporate India and NGOs should come up with concrete and speedy action on the ground so that rural India can find some support from urban India to rise above their survival issues and join this ‘revolution’ which can help India deal with its system and systemic issues prevailing for over 6 decades.

Social inclusion needs to precede financial inclusion. Social inclusion will include many steps on health, education, housing, electricity, water etc. Without this country could remain divided and susceptible to many forces such as mafia, naxalites and religious groups working on the mindsets of the underprivileged. The politicians and bureaucrats will show some action steps, a new law, a new central agency etc and deal with the present tide on national security and find some time to breathe easy. However, the politician’s bigger failing is and will continue to be the lack of action on social and financial inclusion at rural level which will impair any efforts to keep the country united on national level issues. The current revolution should also make efforts for social inclusion of rural India and this time it has to be driven by urban India.