सत्यमेव जयते

झूठ से धन को रंगा,

पाप धोने चले गंगा;

कितना संभालेगी एक नदी,

मेरे पाप तो है अनगिनत लड़ी।

सत्य को क्यों नहीं मैं अपनाता?

क्यों असत्य मे उलझता और उलझाता?

प्यारा है मुझे क्षण-भर का सुख,

चाहे पहुंचे उससे कई दिन का दुख।

है संसार की एक ही रीत,

होती सदेव सत्य की जीत;

सत्य का स्वरूप ही है ऐसा,

निर्बल है उसके आगे भय और पैसा।

कभ समझेगा मन मेरा?

कभ छूटेगा झूठ का बसेरा?

रटा-रटा के थक गया रोहण,

अब तो मान जा मन, समाप्त हो चला यौवन!

मानव कितना विचित्र है तू!

माँ के गर्भ मे रहता तू,

चार दिवारी में उसे रख न पाता तू;

प्रेमिका के लिए तारे तोडता तू,
क्रोध मे उसी रिशते को तोडता तू;

खुशी में भाई को गले से लगाता तू,
लोभ मे खुशी-खुशी उसका गला काटता तू;

सखा को अपना दर्पण मानता तू,
 फिर भी उससे मात्सर्य रखता तू;

भगवान से अपनी कामना पूर्ती करवाता तू,
भगवान कि आज्ञा का पालन नहीं चाहता तू;

मानव कितना विचित्र है तू!

ॐ श्री गणेशाय नमः

In July of this year, I visited Pune and  I had the opportunity to visit the Bhuleshwar Temple (the temple is situated in Yavat, which is near Pune). I had read about the temple on the internet and was briefly aware about it.

The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and also has some sculptures of Lord Ganesha. One of the sculptures of Ganeshji is in the female form. Here are two images:

I was not aware of the female form of Ganeshji. According to Wikipedia, she is called Vinayaki or Ganeshvari or Ganeshyani.

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the mythology of Vinayaki. The internet offers some guidance though. Those curious can pursue those leads. I thought this would be good to share on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi.

Ganpati Bappa Moriya!

Independence Day Swachhta

In Faculty of Law, Delhi University, whenever there is a function or a program or a conference, flowering pots magically appear. These pots are nowhere to be seen on ordinary days. But on these 'special' days, they seem to be everywhere around the venue. Later, I got to know that the University has a Garden Committee and pots can be requisitioned from the University gardens for these 'special' days.

I am sure this is true for other educational institutes. It's even true for our homes. When the guests are about to come, everything is super special.

I live close to Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi. Every year, on/around Independence Day there is a function in the Stadium and the Chief Minister graces the occasion with his presence. Independence Day is just around the corner and like Faculty of Law, ad-hoc preparations are in full swing.

Numerous saplings have been planted in the road dividers that lead upto the stadium.  A wanter tanker comes almost every evening to water these saplings. I don't know which magical saplings they have planted that would yield into beanstalks by the weekend. I am not even sure if monsoon is the best time to plant saplings. Perhaps, the aim is not to sustain the plants, but to only fix them till 15th August. Maybe like the requisitioned pots, they will also go away or worse die an neglected death. The water tankers have come only now, they don't come throughout the year.

Water tanker watering the saplings

The pavements and dividers are being painted. The fact that the pavements are broken and that people urinate on those pavements is conveniently ignored. The charade of cleanliness has to be maintained. If and when, the pavements are ever repaired, the paint job will have to be redone. But hey, the guests are already on their way!

Jurisdictionally speaking, the road on which I live comes within the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department (PWD), which comes under the Government of Delhi.

When the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power, a lot of us thought that change was really here. That this sort of shoddy and ad-hoc work would finally reduce, if not, end. I can't speak for others, but I am surely disappointed. This is a subtle type of VIP culture. Do ordinary citizens not deserve plants? Do they not deserve clean pavements? Sadly, this is the same culture that other political parties perpetuate.

I wonder, when we will get independence from this. Certainly not until the Aam Aadmi remains content with this model.

Holi hai!

For me, Holi has always been a playful affair, even though I have never been a regular Holi player. In my childhood, it would be about water balloons, wasting copious amounts of water and using colours that won't ever come off. I discarded the water balloons as I entered college and eventually the whole festival after I graduated. This year, I broke the streak of non-celebration by celebrating with my family. We used organic/non-chemical/herbal gulaal and barring one bucket of water, it was a dry Holi. Of all my Holis, this one seemed the most sustainable.

Holi was never a religious (or even spiritual) affair for me. Neither was there any puja nor was there any fasting nor was there any temple going. This time things changed. I wanted to make Holi meaningful for myself. Why? While playing Holi is fun in itself, I thought that having an element of the Higher would make the festival even better. It would be better if the primary thought while playing Holi is a deeper philosophical one and not 'let me colour him black and blue!'

I looked up some of the historical (or mythological?) origins of the festival and added my own brain masala, to find a significance that would relate to me. It might not be the actual significance of the festival, but that is of no concern to me. My significances are meant for me and so long as they don't cause harm to others or are not contrary to basic notions of morality, I am happy with those significances.

So how is Holi spiritually significant for me?

The end product of Holi is filled with colour and mostly so much colour, that people stand transformed at the end of the celebration. Given a large number of people, it would be more difficult to recognise one person from another on the occasion of Holi as opposed to any other day. Holi is also a community affair and sometimes you end up playing with people who you don't usually interact with. So if I were to go to a friends house to play Holi, I would play with my friend, her friends and her family. I may even take some of my friends to her house.

Thus, in action, Holi is a coming together. The difference between one and another is reduced. We come out of our boxes and greet the spring air. We enjoy playing with people we might not necessarily know. We use colours and remove the superficial differences. We hope that with spring, the animosities will be left behind and the new year will start afresh. [We allow for some violation of personal space, but of course, that is not an excuse to harass people or play with those who don't want to play or other rowdy behaviour.]

Then, Holi for me is about seeing the One in everyone and everyone in that One. It is about the disappearance of any difference.

There are several stories that connect Lord Krishna with Holi, be it the blue skin of the Lord or His playful activities with the Gopis or His love for Radha. Thinking of Krishna and Holi, reminds me of the words - Mohe rang de Nand Lal, apne hi rang mai! (Colour me O! Nand Lal!, in Your colour!). I can't recall from where I picked up these words. It could be a bhajan or a Bollywood song or creation of my imagination. Nevertheless, the words have significance for me.

Literally, it means that the devotee wants to be the same shade of blue (or black?) as that of Krishna and is praying to Him for it. Figuratively, it could mean that the devotee is praying to God to make him like God. In that sense, the words encapsulate the entire spiritual journey from being to Brahman.

I am not sure if these words relate to Holi, but I find it fascinating that the colour imagery may possibly relate to a deeper philosophical meaning. I am aware that I might be forcing the connection, but I allow it because I prefer it to at least the literal meaning.

In conclusion, where do I stand now?

To me, Holi is about forgetting differences. It is about the unity of the universe. The essence in you is the essence in me. It is about remembering that deep down, we are all the same energy and that eventually all superficial differences have to go.

That doesn't justify all forms of celebrations of the festival and that is also not my aim. My aim was to find a spiritual significance. Now that I have that, even if I don't celebrate the festival in any shape or form, I could focus on this thought on that day. Or I could find ways to celebrate it in a non-wasteful way, keeping in mind the spiritual significance of the festival [So instead of throwing colours, buying art kits for underprivileged students]. At the end of the day, the modern day celebration is not important. The thought of Oneness accompanied by a right deed is most important.

But in the future, if I do end up celebrating then I hope that when I throw colours, some of my prejudices will also be discarded; expanding my concept of Oneness. And if that were to not happen, then I hope that I am reminded that without the thought of Oneness, I am only playing a game and not celebrating a festival.

Happy Holi! Here's my Holi greeting for everyone:

Mohe rang de Nand Lal, apne hi rang mai!
May the colours of Holi intermix such that we no longer see any differences and instead see that One in everyone and everyone in that One!

Image source : http://www.pitara.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2002/10/happy-holi-630x210.jpg

Republic Day

Disclaimer : I am not a political scientist. Nor a legal expert.

An earlier version of this post appeared in January 2013.

What does a Republic mean?

I remember studying it in school but don't seem to remember much. The current NCERT Class 9 textbook defines a Republic as "The head of the state is an elected person and not a hereditary position."

The concept of a Republic came into inception as an alternative to a monarchy. The business of running a country/nation/territory cannot be vested with a particular individual (or family) and it cannot be passed down from one generation to another.

Some internet pages attribute the following words to Justice Hidayatullah - "A Republic is a State in which the supreme power rests in the final analysis with the people and not with a single individual like a king or the like."

A Republic usually has a Head of State. She is either directly elected or indirectly elected (as in the case of India) and in some cases she is nominated to the post; nevertheless people usually have a say in her appointment and the appointment is not by the virtue of royal blood. The concept of adult suffrage (that is every adult has a right to vote) is complementary to the idea of a Republic.

So how is a Democracy different from a Republic? In a Democracy, the rule of the majority is supreme. Everyone votes for their representative and those representatives collectively decide the law and policy of the land. Thus, the majority can decide to kill a minority or decide to call their nation/country/territory as the nation/country/territory of only a specific community or religion or race.
However, in a Democratic Republic, the elected representatives cannot make any and every law or policy. They must function within the ambit of "Rule of Law." And, this is the most striking feature of a Republic.

According to "Rule of Law", the law is supreme and no one (including the State) is above it.  The Constitution of India sets out the supreme law of the country. It provides for the separation of powers between the various organs of the State (i.e.: Legislature, Executive & Judiciary) and sets out the limits within which they must act. An act that goes beyond these limits is ultra vires and stands void. Thus, if the legislature enacts a law which it is not competent to make, then such enactment is unconstitutional and will have to go.

There is another ground on which a law (other than a constitutional amendment) can be challenged and that is, if it violates the fundamental rights. Thus, the laws of the legislature and acts of the executive must not violate the fundamental rights of the people; and if they do, then those acts are bad in law and can be challenged. But the remedy isn't limited to the declaration that the law/act is unconstitutional. In appropriate cases, the Courts have awarded compensation for the violation of fundamental rights by the State (See Bhim Singh v. State of J&K).

An additional ground is available when it comes to constitutional amendments. The Parliament is free to amend any portion of the Constitution (including the Preamble). However, any such amendment must not alter the basic structure of the Constitution.  In Keshavananda Bharti v. Union of India, C.J. Sikri remarked that "The true position is that every provision of the Constitution can be amended provided in the result the basic foundation and structure of the Constitution remains the same."

What constitutes as basic structure is a grey area. Over the years, the Supreme Court has held that secularism, independence of judiciary, supremacy of the constitution, federalism, democratic character, separation of powers etc. form the basic structure of the Constitution. Any amendment which alters this structure must go away. Recently, the Supreme Court set aside the 99th Constitutional Amendment regarding the National Judicial Appointments Commission, as according to the Court, the amendment violated the principle of independence of the judiciary.

(I am not sure if a legislative enactment can be challenged on the grounds of basic structure. This idea was rejected in Union of India v. R. Gandhi, however I remember the issue being raised again in the recent NJAC proceedings. I do not know what came of that.)

Thus, the Constitution of India holds the reigns on the Executive & Legislature. It assigns them powers and also limits the exercise of those powers. It provides for a Judiciary to check the actions of the Executive & Legislature.

(What remains to be seen is who checks the actions of the Judiciary? While the Parliament has powers to remove judges, it's rarely exercised. Any action by the Parliament to check the Judiciary maybe politically motivated and maybe seen as violating independence of judiciary. Thus, the check on the Judiciary is only the Constitution, the guardian and interpreter of which is the Judiciary itself.)

But, what about the people? Isn't the Legislature a representation of the will of the people? By setting aside a legislation aren't we setting aside the will of the people?

Yes. Note the following remarks of the Supreme Court in B. R. Kapur v. State of Tamil Nadu:

"In other words, the people of the country, the organs of the Government, legislature, executive and judiciary are all bound by the Constitution which Hon. Justice Bhagwati, J. describes in  Minerva Mills case (1980 (3) Supreme Court Cases, 625) to be  suprema lex or the paramount law of the land  and nobody is above or beyond the Constitution.  When Court has been ascribed the duty of interpreting the Constitution and when Court finds that manifestly there is an unauthorised exercise of power under the Constitution, it would be the solemn duty of the Court to intervene.  The doctrine of legislative supermacy distinguishes the United Kingdom from those countries in which they have a written constitution, like India, which imposes limits upon the legislature and entrust the ordinary courts or a constitutional court with the function of deciding whether the acts of the legislature are in accordance with the Constitution." (J. Pattanaik)

"The Constitution prevails over the will of the people as expressed through the majority party. The will of the people as expressed through the majority party prevails only if it is in accord with the Constitution." (J. Brijesh Kumar)

And that's what it truly means to be a Republic. The Constitution stands supreme. Not the will of the people, not the Government, not the law makers, not the judiciary and not the corporates.

Of course, the implementation of the Constitution is a separate analysis. The Constitutional promises are violated everyday and in that sense, the Constitution is meaningless; no matter how salutary its provisions. We still have a long way to go when it comes to making the provisions of the Constitution a reality.

However, if assigning blame I would not limit it to the State. It would be a chutzpah to say that WE THE PEOPLE OF INDIA gave ourselves this Constitution and then assigned all the responsibility to the State. Surely, we are to blame.

A page from the NCERT textbook ' Democratic Politics - I '

Happy New Year

New Year’s Eve automatically generates a pensive mood. The holidays make me think of the year gone by. In corporate terminology - what went well, what did not and what we can do it better. It’s like my annual official review; the only difference is that I am super lax with respect to the evaluation. I think a lot of the reflection is also caused by a solitary NYE. Existential question have a way of cropping up when you are alone in your room while your peers are partying outside.

My year was quite the roller coaster but I think I came out stronger and happier. I will spare you from the excruciating details and will focus on what I think was the key message of it all. 

We are crappy people expecting others to be angels.

I will start by something as simple as lying. I was taught in school that honesty is the best policy (remember the woodcutter story?). Every major religion preaches that one should be honest. I haven’t done any research, but most parents would say that they teach their kids to be honest and truthful. Yet the outcome we see in the world is appalling. Everybody lies.

If one were to analyse the motivations for lying, then they would find that desire lies at the centre. We don’t want to hurt someone, we don’t want them to know about this, we don’t want to tell them that we don’t want to meet them etc. These are all ways of conning ourselves into believing that we lie for others. I disagree. We lie because we don’t want to appear as the bad person. We’d rather create a false image of ourselves than tell the truth.

If that be the case, then why do we feel bad when people lie to our face? If we don’t keep our word then why should anyone else? We expect decency from everyone but ourselves. I have told people I will call them and eventually have not called them; and so I should not be surprised when people don’t turn up at my party after saying that they would be there. I have gate crashed someone’s party and eaten food there; and so I should not be surprised when someone flicks my wallet and takes away my money. Sometimes I have lied to get an extension on a project. Then a politician lying to me regarding his promises and deadlines shouldn’t come as a surprise.

We’ve all heard the national motto of India - Satyamev Jayate i.e.: Truth alone triumphs. Yet, we have zero faith in it. If we did, we wouldn’t lie as indiscriminately as we do right now. I mean, we’ve become so used to lying that it doesn’t bother us at all. The worst is that it no longer feels wrong.

I am not saying this is Karma (or maybe it is). I am saying that - if we don’t uphold any ideal, then despicable behaviour from others should not be a surprise.

Lets take another example. My school motto was Vasudhev Kutumbakum i.e.: the world is a family. That sounds like a dream everyone dreams but a reality no one wants to work towards. We don’t treat our own family as family, let alone treating a stranger as family.

Then why are we surprised when strangers misbehave with us? In India, you don’t have to go very far to find someone you can help. Yet we don’t. We don’t want to give our domestic helps a day off. But we feel incredibly wronged and violated, if our leave application is denied. We rarely help any strangers that ask us for help or those who we see are in need help. How many of us donated towards Nepal earthquake, Chennai floods, warm clothing for the poor or a child’s education? Then why is it any surprise that when we run into an accident, no one comes forward to help. We are dreadful samaritans and we expect saints. We will honk like a maniac at everyone else on the road but when someone honks at us, oh boy, the rage. Where is our empathy?

What are the seeds that we are sowing and what is the harvest that we are expecting? Often, I have remarked that Delhi is dead. In this case, I would amend my statement. My soul is dead. How can I look at tragedy and turn a blind eye? How can my heart be accustomed to poverty & hunger?

Is our time and money so precious that no one other than our small group of 'mutual ego massagers' deserves it?

Finally, a short note about cheating. At some point or the other, we’ve all cheated the system. In exams, in admissions, in government offices etc. Work seems to get done faster when you slip in a few thousand rupees to the clerk. If that doesn’t work, we’ll find some jugaad or some approach.

If that is our behaviour, then it should not bother us when merit/rule of law is blatantly compromised. When someone uses his contacts and gets admission in his desired educational institute. When someone gets a food license for a shop that clearly does not meet food safety standards. When politicians stash away millions of black money in foreign countries.

I mean if we can request the clerk to bump up our attendance, or pay a tout to get our driving license, or ask our accountant to convert black money into white; then why should the freedom of others be compromised?

When we do it, it’s either about efficiency or the government procedure being slow or about our family members future; but when others do it, it’s a crime against society, a failure of legal machinery and the collapse of a system. If we have motivations to take questionable steps, then so do others. At the heart of it, it’s always about personal gain.

What are we living for? Is there anything other than personal profit that we aspire for? Do we have any principles? If not, then we shouldn’t feel bad when we get treated like crap. Because, when we don’t have principles, then people effected by our actions also feel like crap. But that also doesn't mean we should embrace anarchy.

I am not advocating that we give up ideals or that ideals are unreal or that it is okay to break rules so long as you don’t question others who also break rules. Principles are meant to be followed. They are meant to be fought for. These are concepts for which people sacrifice their lives. Don’t sacrifice principles altogether. Instead find some (your svadharma) and follow them. Lead a life that  has some weight in it.

I say this to motivate myself to follow these principles. This new year my resolution is to try and be a more honest person because I would love it if people were honest to me. I hope and pray that it works.

Happy New Year.

Image source : https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcBRN1r7WezqGdhdHY9YEQDBFL8TFIY5JOf6jK42Z_Ci5bKbmuM4BJxz4IndCSLbkZaO_NXpHXnOQqWKTZtlsEQ3SxFeQDgGYtin071C9MSoU07GkPxojjyHjLc3n0dVBUshJ29ClrTY/w350/Happy-New-Year.png