INSPIRING THOUGHTS.

• What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other. (George Eliot).
• I have a simple philosophy: Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. Scratch where it itches. (Alice Roosevelt Longworth).
• Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it. (Ernest Holmes).
• I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. (Henry David Thoreau). 
• The purpose of our lives is to be happy. (Dalai Lama).
• Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding. (Albert Einstein).
• Sleep is the best meditation. (The XIV Dalai Lama).
• Every experience in life has something to teach us, if only we are ready to understand its importance. (Sreeram Manoj Kumar).
• Liberty and Equality are incompatible with each other. Liberty leads to competitive individualism, and therefore breeds inequality. (Mah Kumar). 
• Liberty , Equality and Fraternity is an ideal set out by all evolved and noble souls, but common mortals have to work at it. How much we actually achieve depends on how much sincerity and honesty go into our efforts. (Prem Lal).
• Ancient wisdom proclaims, 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' or the whole world is one big family. What happened to this dream? (Vidya Babla).
• It is true that the world is based on brotherhood. But brotherhood needs sacrifice, and thoughts of doing good for others, unconditionally and selflessly. Brotherhood brings peace and harmony in society and is of a divine nature. (Sanjay Teotia).
• Without a community, we cannot go very far. (Thich Nhat Hanh).
• A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his neighbour's. (Richard Whately).
• Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. (Kahlil Gibran).
• I like it when a flower or a tuft of grass grows through a crack in the concrete. It's so heroic. (George Carlin).
• Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one. (Marcus Aurelius).
• Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened. (Anatole France).
• Open your thoughts to the probability that you are more intuitive than you realise. (Sylvia Clare).
• Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you are living? (Bob Marley).
• Yesterday is a cancelled cheque. Today is cash on line. Tomorrow is a promisory note. (Hank Stream).
• Mothers love their children, but after marriage when the son starts caring for his wife, the mother does not relish the idea. This is when her true love turns into attachment. The wife loves her husband, but when the husband seemingly cares more for his mother, the wife becomes agitated. This is love turning into possessiveness. Pure love does not have any hint of possessiveness, attachment or jealousy and is without expectation. (Krishnan).
• Love for the Self and love for God is the only thing in this world which will not make you weak at any time. (Sandhya Singh).
• everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. (Carl Jung).
• It is impossible to persuade a man who does not disagree, but smiles. (Muriel Spark).
• Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact. (William James).
• Instead of loving your enemies, treat your friends a little better. (E.W. Howe).
• There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way. (Christopher Morley).
• You make mistakes. Mistakes don't make you. (Maxwell Maltz).
• The first rule of education, in all lands is never to say anything offensive to anyone. (Voltaire).
• The first step to knowledge is to know that we are ignorant. (Richard Cecil).
• Education is a progressive discovery of our ignorance. (Will Durant).
• Knowledge is not given but earned, and character is not granted but cultivated. (Swami Vivekananda).
• Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is beginning of love. (Mother Teresa).
• Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. (Martin Luther King, Jr.).
• Yesterday is but today's memory, and tomorrow is today's dream. (Kahlil Gibran).
• It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. (Aristotle).
• Time is what we want most, but what we use worst. (William Penn).
• Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact. (William James).
• Tears of joy are like the summer raindrops pierced by sunbeams. (Hosea Ballou).
• Time you enjoyed wasting was not wasted. (John Lennon). 
• Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. (Albert Einstein).
• A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love. (Max Muller).
• What is right to be done cannot be done too soon. (Jane Austen).
• He whose head is in heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave. (Matthew Henry).
• I think cinema, movies and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians...A movie is really like a question and when you make it, you get the answer. (Francis Coppola). 
• Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. (Leo Tolstoy).
• If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of. (Bruce Lee).
• The more people that meet each other, the better it is for all of them. (Fletcher Pratt).
• The first recipe for happiness: avoid too lengthy meditation on the past. (Andre Maurois).
• Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light. (Norman B. Rice).
• I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. (John Muir).
• Relax your body, and the rest of you will lighten up. (Haruki Murakami).
• In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded. (Terry Pratchet).
• The real problem is not whether machines think, but whether men do. (B.F. Skinner).
• We live with three thought processes: blind faith, devotion and spirituality. (Siddharth Chandra).
• I am confused when people say, God is everywhere; is omnipresent. I wonder then why we do have to go to temples, mosques, churches and Gurdwaras. (Ved Guliani).
• There is nothing more beautiful than a person whose heart is broken, but still believes in love. (Priya Kumari).
• The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. (Aristotle).
• You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough. (William Blake).
• As the web issues out of the spider and is withdrawn; as hair grows from the body - even so, the sages say, this universe springs from the deathless Self, the source of life. (Mundaka Upanishad). 
• The natural world is the larger sacred community to which we belong. To be alienated from this community is to become destitute in all that makes us human. To damage this community is to diminish our own existence. (Father Thomas Berry, eco-theologian). 
• Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. (Kahlil Gibran).
• If you don't believe that the world has a heart, then you won't hear it beating, you won't think it's alive and you won't consider what you are doing to it. (Charles de Lint).  
• Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. (George Bernard Shaw).
• There is more to life than increasing its speed. (Gandhiji).
• We do not remember days, we remember moments. (Cesare Pavese).
• Life is a song - sing it. Life is a game - play it. Life is a challenge - meet it. Life is a dream - relaise it. Life is a sacrifice - offer it. Life is love - enjoy it. (Sai Baba).
• This life, which had been the tomb of his virtue and of his honour, is but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. (Shakespeare).
• Most people have never learned that one of the main aims in life is to enjoy it. (Samuel Butler).
• You have enemies? Good. That means you have stood up for something, sometime in your life. (Winston Churchill).
• Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. (Lao Tzu).
• A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives. (Jackie Robinson).
• The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters. (Audrey Hepburn).
• Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor. (Sholom Aleichem).
• The truth is you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed. (Eminem).
• Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. (Buddha). 
• Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others'? (Martin Luther King, Jr.).
• Once you bring life into the world, you must protect it. We must protect it by changing the world. (Elie Wiesel).
• Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them. (Dalai Lama).
• One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure. (William Feather).
• Life is really simple; but we insist on making it complicated. (Confucius).
• In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. (Abraham Lincoln).
• Throughout life, people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too. (Will Smith).
• If you live long enough, you will make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you will be a better person. It's how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit. (William J. Clinton).
• I have found that if you love life, life will love you back. (Arthur Rubinstein).
• The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are. (Joseph Campbell).
• The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life. (William Morris).
• The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself. (Anais Nin).
• My life is my message. (Gandhiji).
• You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. (Albert Camus).
• We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing and inclusion. (Max de Pree).
• If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of. (Bruce Lee).
• A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life. (Charles Darwin).
• A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. (G.B. Shaw).
• Life is like dancing. If we have a big floor, many people will dance. Some will get angry when the rhythm changes. But life is changing all the time. (Miguel Angel Ruiz).
• The story of life is quicker than the blink of an eye, the story of love is hello, goodbye. (Jimi Hendrex).
• How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life, you will have been all of these. (George Washington Carver).
• Life isn't a matter of milestones, but of moments. (Rose Kennedy).
• Maybe that's what life is... a wink of the eye and winking stars. (Jack Kerouac).
• Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life that you are living. (Bob Marley).
• You are only here for a short visit. Don't hurry, don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way. (Walter Hagen).
• Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts. (Soren Kierkegaard). 
• Beware the barrenness of a busy life. (Socrates).
• Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. (Soren Kierkegaard).
• What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it - would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have. (Ralph Marston).
• Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale. (Hans Christian Andersen).
• Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less. (Marie Curie).
• When I stand before God at the end of my lie, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me". (Erma Bombeck).
• Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans. (John Lennon).
• Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. (Mark Twain).
• It's all about quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends and family. (Philip Green).
• The only disability in life is a bad attitude. (Scott Hamilton).
• I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. (Rabindranath Tagore).
• Life would be tragic if it weren't funny. (Stephen Hawking).
• Life is a succession of moments, to live each one is to succeed. (Corita Kent).
• I decided, very early on, just to accept life unconditionally; I never expected it to do anything special for me, yet I seemed to accomplish far more than I had ever hoped. Most of the time it just happened to me without my ever seeking it. (Audrey Hepburn).
• There are three constants in life...Change, Choice and Principles. (Stephen Covey).
• It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth - and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, we will then begin to live each day to the fullest, as it was the only one we had. (Elisabeth Kubler - Ross). 
• Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it. (Lou Holtz). 
• The greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity or power, but self-rejection. (Henri Nouwen).
• Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself. (Harvey Fierstein).
• To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often. (John Henry Newman).
• A well-spent day brings happy sleep. (Leonardo da Vinci).
• The true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground. (Gilbert K. Chesterton). 
• Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. (Helen Keller).
• When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'. (Erna Bombeck).
• Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. (Mark Twain).
• Into each life some rain must fall. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).
• Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are travelling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind. (Henri Frederic Amiel).
• The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. (Bertrand Russell).
• Get correct views of life, and learn to see the world in its true light. It will enable you to live pleasantly, to do good, and, when summed away, to leave without regret. (Robert E Lee). 
• A baby is God's opinion that life should go on. (Carl Sandburg).
• Nobody got where they are today by living for tomorrow. (Tom Wilson).
• Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen. (Mark Twain).
• We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. (E.M. Forster).
• He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. (Friedrich Nietzsche).
• May you live all the days of your life. (Jonathan Swift).
• Life is a lot like jazz...it's best when you improvise. (George Gershwin).
• The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions. (Alfred Adler).

We, the Giving.

If she drowns, she's a refugee. If she floats, she's an economic migrant. A friend from New York sent me this chilling cartoon and I thought to myself, I could apply as easily to India and our deplorable treatment of migrants / refugees. We have always been shockingly callous towards the plight of our own people. Imagine, then, what our response would behave been if boatloads of Syrians, fleeing tyranny, starvation and death, had arrived on our shores seeking refuge. Look at our indifference to the high number of farmer suicides in Marathwada. Apart from television reporters, and a few print journos / photographers who have taken the trouble to go there themselves, nor offered any relief. Without water or food to last more than a few more weeks, the precarious condition of our farmers is heart-breaking. And here we have fat cat sugar barons from other parts of the state (millionaires many times over) who are sitting pretty, and not lifting a finger to help their brothers. They too have turned a blind eye to the disaster, as has the state government, which should have considered declaring an emergency to rush aid to Maharashtra's farmers, some of whom own just an acre or two of land, and are unable to pay back debts amounting to less than Rs. 1 lakh! 

We continue to ignore the tragedy of a man taking his own life, and leaving behind helpless families to cope with hunger and debt. His story is getting lost in an overcrowded media field far more interested in giving extensive coverage to murder and rapes. It is also being asked how come so many Indians have reacted to that heartbreaking image of the drowned Syrian toddler clicked on a distant shore, and not cared a damn about equally disturbing pictures closer to home. It is a good question which I have been struggling to find answers to, myself. I still can't bear to see that little boy's tiny body washed up on a beach like a dead porpoise. I turned my eyes away, haunted by thoughts of what his father must have gone through as he lost his hold over his wife and kids and helplessly watched them drown. It is this single image that influenced world opinion and led to a major re-think, spearheaded by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. We have equally moving photographs right here - but we have stopped seeing them. We no longer react to our own human crises, possibly because if there is one thing there is no shortage of in India, it is catastrophes. We have multiple catastrophes. There is an overload of catastrophes. Our systems have crashed and nothing registers - not even the heart-rending sight of a poverty-stricken family, sitting on a parched patch of land, bodies reduced to skin and bones, as they wait for deliverance... or death. We see the desperation in their eyes, and do nothing. Well, there are exceptions, of course. People like Nana Patekar whose NGO called "Naam" has launched a simple initiative that involves donations of just Rs. 15,000/- per family of affected farmers. The entire process is painless and smooth, making it convenient for individuals to contribute directly to this worthy cause.

We are not a generous nation. On the contrary - we are nauseatingly mean spirited when it comes to helping the needy. Poverty do not move us to the extent they should. May be we take both for granted - as if it's our fate to remain hungry forever. Even the most pathetic stories of dengue deaths in Delhi do not engage us sufficiently. We brush off confronting the abject state of our public hospitals, the neglect of health issues by authorities and the baffling absence of accountability! We shrug away these preventable deaths like it is normal in this day and age for people to die of dengue. No, it is not normal. And we should bloody well be bothered. But at least one positive aspect has emerged during the dengue disaster and that is the increased awareness of our despicably low sanitary standards, combined with the urgent need to clean up filthy neighbourhoods and tackle the problem of stagnant water. It's a small step - but an important one.

Epidemics come and go. We have coped with them in our own clumsy way in the past and moved on. The trouble is, till such time as dengue creeps into your locality and directly affects our lives, it will be considered a Delhi disease - nothing to do with the rest of India! The argumentative India, it would seem, is also an intensely unfeeling Indian. So here we are tut-tutting over the Syrian refugees / immigrants, and saying how magnanimous the German people are to accept so many asylum seekers, and lead the way for other European countries to follow. We have monumental problems of our own to deal with, but what do you think our response would be if we were asked to accommodate a few thousand Syrians (those crazy enough to want to start a new life in India)? I guarantee it will be far from compassionate or positive. Living is expensive in India. But life has always been dirt cheap.

Note: The article has been reproduced from The Times of India dated 20th September, 2015. It has been written by Shoba De. She can be contacted on www.shobhade.blogspot.com.

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C.S. Chakravarthy

H. No. 12-13-301, St. No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,

Satya Classic, Tarnaka,

Secunderabad- 500 017,

Telangana State, India.

e-mail: chakkuresearchscholar13@gmail.com

Cell: 9985732397

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Codes and Conduct

The responsibility of superintendence, direction, control and the conduct of all elections (to Parliament and to the Legislature of every state and the elections to the offices of the President and Vice-President) shall vest in the Election Commission of India. The quoted expression in Article. 324 of the Constitution of India remained just another set of lifeless words from January 1950, when the Constitution came into force, to December 1977, when the Supreme Court infused life into them through the case of Mohinder Singh Gill. Gill's case arose out of election to the Lok Sabha held on 16th March, 1977. Counting took place as scheduled, on 20th March, 1977, in five Assembly segments peacefully. However, the balance of the counting on the next day was halted by violence acts allegedly by the Akali Dal candidate. On a report from the returning officer, the Election Commission of India ordered cancellation of polls in the entire constituency - as was the wish of the Akalis - and directed fresh elections.

Gill, while conceding recount, challenged re-poll before the Punjab High Court and the case eventually landed before a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court. In the course of upholding the decision of the EC, Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, speaking on behalf of the Bench, held: "...situations may arise which enacted law has not provided for. Legislators are not prophets but pragmatists. So it is that the Constitution has made comprehensive provision in Article. 324 to take care of surprise situations. That power itself has to be exercised, not mindlessly nor malafide, not arbitrarily nor with partiality but in keeping with the guidelines of the rule of law and not stultifying the presidential notification nor existing legislation. More is not necessary to specify; less is insufficient to leave unsaid. Article. 324, in our view, operates in areas left unoccupied by legislation and the words 'superintendence, direction and control', as well as 'conduct of all elections', are the broadest terms. Myriad maybes, too mystic to be precisely presaged, may call for prompt action to reach the goal of free and fair election".

Dealing with the objection that this will create a constitutional despot beyond the pale of accountability, a Frankenstein's monster who may manipulate the system into elected despotism, the bench's answer was that the judicial bench, at the appropriate stage, can "call the bluff, quash the action and bring order into the process". Thus, the concept of "free and fair election" was read into Article. 324 - a phrase that became the goal of that Article. And eventually the Article became the fountainhead of the EC's powers to meet the "myriad maybe" situations. The election manual and the official website of the EC contain hundreds of instructions and guidelines, all claiming parentage to Article. 324. The model code of conduct is a unique document in as much as it has evolved with the consensus of political parties themselves. It has no statutory backing and many of its provisions are not legally enforceable. Public opinion is the moral sanction for its enforcement. It was first conceived in 1960 in Kerala - a state that has turned coalition politics into a fine art. The EC issued a revised model code of conduct on 01st January, 1974, which was further modified and the model conduct as is prevalent now was re-issued in January, 1991 - all on the basis of consensus of political parties.

The parties, thus, reached an understanding that they would play the game of elections in accordance with the model code of conduct. The EC is like the umpire in a game of cricket. It has no police force of its own to bodily throw out an offending player - like the umpire, it only signals. So far the code has worked - in the sense that no one has openly defied the EC whenever infraction has been pointed out. The alleged offender has either denied the allegation or offered an explanation. Frequent appeals for LBW verdicts even from a fielder on the mid-wicket boundary are not uncommon. In affidavits furnishing information regarding own criminal antecedents, truth was often a regular casualty. Therefore, the Parliament in 2002 had to amend the 1951 Act and make filing of a false affidavit or concealing the truth of an offence. Demands for inclusion of more of the code in the already bulky statute book have mostly been ignored, and rightly so. However, the experience of post-2002 amendment does not encourage making of more laws. The code comes into force from the date of official announcement of election schedule. It applies only to elections to the lower houses - Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas - where voters directly elect the members. And it comes to an end with the declaration of the results.

It generally prescribes good behaviour for the political parties and candidates, thus making it amply clear that politicians are fully aware of what is good. However, the meat of the code lies in the last part that prescribes "dos and don'ts" for the governments in office. State governments have to obey them only during the general elections and elections to the assembly of that state. However, the Central government has to be watchful not only during the general elections, but also during the elections to one or the other state assemblies, which keep occurring periodically, thus hindering its normal functioning frequently. Once the schedule of elections is announced, the EC is the boss. It can do anything that is not prohibited by any statute - all in the name of free and fair elections. Curbing the influence of black money in the elections is a major concern of the EC. In this regard, there are nearly hundred written instructions from the EC. One such instruction prohibits carrying large amounts of cash. It was under this provision that the former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's son with Rs. 4.6 lakh in cash was questioned. 

Does the Prime Minister offend the code by continuing with his Mann Ki Baat on All India Radio? The EC has answered this question when it said you can speak all that you can at rally. May be, the EC should permit the use of radio for all concerned, without the obligation to supply the audience.

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C.S. Chakravarthy

H. No. 12-13-301, St. No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,

Satya Classic, Tarnaka, 

Secunderabad- 500 017,

Telangana State.

email id: chakkuresearchscholar13@gmail.com

Cell: 9985732397.

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EYES LEFT. EYES RIGHT. DEBATE.

While travelling in the US over a seven week period in 2014, I was amazed by the animosity in their public debates. The so-called 'Left' and 'Right' commentators hold pre-decided positions on most issues. Their job: garner support for their side. Convinced that theirs is the Absolute Truth and the other side is 'pure evil' (I heard such phrases), they do not aim to find common ground. This debating style has, of late, stormed into the Indian media space. Earlier, there was no public acrimony, because the Left dominated academic and communication platforms. Monopolies oftentimes drown out acrimony along with competition! 

The rise of the Right has energised debate; that's the good news. This manthan of points of view will lead to much needed nuance. However, emulating the antagonistic American approach will derail the possibility of a common ground emerging. I propose re-adoption of the principles of debate drawn from many ancient cultures (including our own), whose underlying premise was: nobody can know the Absolute Truth. Modern science gave this esoteric idea, that your values and expectations impact your perception of 'facts', a cool term - observer bias. Even physicists factor it into their conclusions. 

Accepting this can instil humility, thus opening the possibility of listening to another point of view. Approaching even political events in the light of this prism-setting leads to interesting insights. For example, judging by journalists I have encountered, the Western media (New York Times, Economist, etc.) often sees itself as a force for Moral Good, readily pronouncing judgments and marketing 'universal values' in the world at large. However, the unfortunate Arabs in Iraq, Libya and Syria see them differently. Western media predominantly cheered the invasions / bombings of these ill-fated countries, which have led to over one million Arab deaths. Yes, I underline, over one million deaths. An Arab friend remarked that he 'holds Western media too responsible for these lives; it cheered these invasions repeatedly. It's either colossally stupid or pure evil'.

However, one cannot deny that Western media has done some good, at least in their own societies. Perhaps if you accept the reality of observer bias, you may realise that the subtle truth, whatever it may be, lies somewhere in the much ignored middle. Also, it's perhaps wise to be wary of the 'investigative skills' of Western media in non-Western countries. The second suggestion is also based on the ancient world view. Absolute Truth was elusive in all fields, except one: mathematics, also called 'language of the universe'. To make arguments a little more 'truthful', use numbers in support of your proposition. In other words: use data.

Recently, there's been a raging debate on rising intolerance in India, based on a few horrific incidents and some intemperate words. Every single life lost in violence, or in any other unnatural form, is tragic. But does the data reflect that religious violence is high or has ever been high in the last fifty years, compared to other forms of unnatural deaths in India? No. More women are killed in all religious violence cumulatively in the last fifty years. Consider this: if you could stop all female foeticide for just a fortnight, you would have saved more than if you did prevented every single religious rite / violent incident of the last fifty years.

Some more data...more Indian children die of diarrhoea every 45 days and more Indians are killed in road accidents every month than the total number killed in all religious violence cumulatively in the last fifty years. Moreover, the numbers also show that religious violence has reduced considerably from its peak (the peak of post-independence religious violence was from the 1960s to early 1990s). We know where our efforts, even our noise decibels, need to be directed. Data lends perspective. Lastly, I propose we approach serious issues with a calm mind. We should wait for investigations to be completed before passing judgments and conducting media trials. In the matter of the 'church attack incidents' of early 2015, it later emerged that many of them didn't have any religious angle at all. Some were plain robbery, one even attributed to the anger of a jilted non-Hindu lover. 

Also, at the time that four Delhi churches were vandalised, 200 temples, 30 gurudwaras and 15 mosques were also vandalised. This suggests a state of general lawlessness rather than any religious persecution. Even the Christian nun rape case of West Bengal (some in the media instantly held right-wing Hindus responsible) was actually perpetrated by Bangladeshi Muslim illegal immigrants. Before someone imputes any crusade-jihad angle on this case, let me also clarify that investigations blamed a money dispute. I am not suggesting that there are no religious fundamentalists or that there's no religious violence in India. But fortunately, the data reveals, relative to our population, it's in smaller numbers. India cannot be called misogynist. Or uncaring about hygiene or road-traffic rules. If Indians debating in the public square can accept observer bias, develop the ability to listen, use data and most importantly, stay calm, we may just avoid the American spectacle where debates have degenerated to gladiatorial matches rather than an attempt to develop collective thought that is sophisticated, nuanced and productive.

Note: This is an article written by Mr. Amish, a best selling author, published in 'The Tines of India' dated 21st, November, 2015 (Saturday).

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C.S. Chakravarthy

H. No. 12-13-301, St. No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,

Satya Classic Apartments,

Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017,

Telangana State, India.

e-mail id: chakkuresearchscholar13@gmail.com

Cell: 09985732397.

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