The Islamic State: Are Modern Nation States any Better?

The reader may genuinely wonder whether I am crazy to write an article in defense of an organization that most media, politicians and public describe with the most unpalatable of adjectives. To clarify I am writing about the Islamic state or ISIS. Also I am not in anyway their supporter (I am a through and through Catholic) but rather consider myself as a neutral observer of history. 

  This is not an article to to justify their actions which I find equally abhorrent. My motivation to write this purely on the basis of what I consider the fairness doctrine which in some ways allows you to put yourself in the others shoe and gain a better perspective. Another fact that motivated me was the pathetic show of selfishness and cowardice by United States  when they conducted airstrikes against them in the recent days.

    I start by asking a simple question. What makes ISIS more horrendously evil that the other insurgents/regimes/governments in the middle east or the wider world today? Is the Syrian regime with the blood of nearly a quarter of a million of their own citizen any better. Is Iran any better  aiding, and abetting the destruction of entire societies in Syria, Palestine, and Iraq  just to further their intrests. Is the Iraqi government any better. Are the Gulf countries any better with democracy and human rights.

    Now I want to go back a few decades in history and look the Western world which poses itself as the last bastion of Human rights. Where was it not barbarism when US nuked Japan or carpet bombed Vietnam. Was it not fomenting sectarian strife when Britain split India and turned a blind eye to  Hindu's and Muslims killing each other by the tens of thousands. Was it not ethnic cleansing when Russian uprooted the Tartars and deported them to Central Asia. Was it not religious Intolerance when Catholics were hunted down in Japan, China, Mexico. Was it not blatant territory grab when China invaded and annexed Tibet. 

  I could go on and on about nearly every country in the world.Yet all these countries I listed above have managed to white wash their blood with excuse like 'National Interest, political expediency etc' or what can be better termed as protecting their own thin skin. All of these countries share the world stage and comfortably look the other way at their own blood stained paths.

    Now I ask, how can a neutral observer of History say with conviction that the 'Islamic state' is more evil than other countries based on their actions till now. Looking through their lens they are fledgling state with mortal enemies on all sides who would have their blood and destroy them given the chance to do so. To establish their state they resort to all tactics that intimidate, their enemies as well as raise their own morale. 

  It may sound unbelievable but the fact may be that there is a huge segment of the Muslim population in Syria and Iraq who would find some sort of salvation in the idea of an Islamic state. They may be a sanctuary for destitute Syrian refugee women in Lebanon or a means to get justice for the disenfranchised Sunni tribes.

  Many in the world might be hailing the recent airstrikes by US on the Islamic state forces. But to me it reveals the visceral icon of selfishness that is the US political establishment today. Where were the security council resolutions and air strikes as thousands where killed with Chemical weapons in Syria by the regime. The US strikes are just to earn some moral high ground and safe guard the business investments of US companies.

     I conclude by saying that the actions of the Islamic state (despite their Barbarism) in all fairness does not make them any worse than the other nations existing today.

 

My Journey to US: Part I

   I've been intending to write about all the things I did to come to US for higher studies as soon I reached here. However it is only now, after 2 weeks that I've found the mind to do it. 

  I want to start with a warning to all those who aspire to continue their studies in the US whether for bachelor's, master's or PhD. Think about you decision over and over again with regard to all  aspects. The entire process from taking the tests to finally boarding your flight can take at least 6 months and may even go up to a couple of years. In addition to time the costs involved are also phenomenal. By the time you board your flight you might have been set back a few lakhs of rupees even. Of course the expenses that will occur once you reach there are another matter.

 Comparatively getting into a good Indian institution like an IIT or an NIT is much simpler and less harsher on you and your families pocket. Of course if you have already your bachelors in a good Indian institution then none of this post applies because they are in great demand anyway abroad.

   After deciding to go for higher studies in the US, the first thing I did was to convince my parents about the greatness of going to US and of all the wonderful things I could do over there. Understandably they were not so enthusiastic about it since I already had a master's degree and a good paying job. However I was able to win them over. But now as I look back I wonder how many of the arguments I made stand valid now or would prove valid in the future.

Within a month I  took my GRE test. Then started a period of finding the right professor and University and emailing them. A few replied positively and negatively. Also I got my recommendations which was surprisingly the easier part. The transcripts took their time but mostly due to my fault. I took my TOEFL in December determined to send my application before the summer deadline.

  Finally in January I sent out a grand total of 2 applications. Why I only sent two still puzzles me but this may have been one of the most foolish mistakes I did. The only good thing was that I could save a few thousand on the application fees. This was small change compared to the fact that I had spent nearly 25000 rupees till then on the expenses related to GRE, TOEFL, application fees, transcript fees etc. This is despite the fact that I did everything by my own or through family without the help of any payed consultants.

  I thought the hardest part would be over once the applications were sent. I was  full of hope and dreaming of all the research I would do. However what followed made me realize that sending applications was the easier part.

The coming Middle East War and its Consequences for Europe

    I am writing this article despite the fact that you might find it crazy and think that I am merely fear mongering. Well I am not afraid of a situation where the events in future prove me wrong, however I am certainly afraid of the consequences should I be proved right.

  What I am writing about has a lot to do with what is happening in the middle east now. No intelligence agency or global think tank had predicted (as far as I know) even as late as 2010 that civil unrest and armed insurrection would engulf the countries of the middle east. However one person who studies eschatology had predicted this a couple of years prior and  this is what makes me confident to write a few words of my own on this.

 It started with Tunisia, spread to Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and now it has fully evolved into what is now the situation  in Syria. What started out as genuine call for freedom has been mutilated and hijacked into a bloody armed struggle to the death.

  However the unfortunate fact is that this may just be the start. The Syrian civil war is in reality a war by proxy with Iran on one side and Saudi Arabia and Gulf states on the other. Russia is providing arms for the former side while the Western Countries fund the latter side. The Syrians (government and rebels) are almost completely dependent on these outside powers. The situation despite its simple barbarity is also very 

complex and the aim of this article is not to delve into that.

  This war now confined more or less within Syria's borders is however spreading beyond it. Unless something dramatic happens within a year or two the entire middle east will be at war. A bloody conflict between the Shiaites and Sunnis. I am not speculating who will win the war but I am speculating what will be its effects.

   The was would leave middle east ruined economically on the one hand and create a thoroughly militarized population. If you look back at history, whenever the above two factors combined they always lead to one thing - Invasion. The warlords who command the militarized population would find that invading Europe would be the most logical thing to do and they would seize the opportunity. 

 I am not speculating on what the outcome of the invasion would be but I fear it will go badly for Europe.

The world grew terrified of a few 2nd rate threats from an obviously spoilt North Korean leader a few weeks back. I was least surprised when they ramped down the rhetoric just as spontaneously as it had started. In fact down the line we may even discover that even North Korea was playing out its part in a game of deception being played by another entity.

   However what is happening in Syria is all too real and it is just the start of a painful period in World History. The west could have done something before (like bomb the Syrian government leadership out of existence when they started mass murdering Syrians), but now it is too late and they will regret it later.

  Well that's it, I have given a warning based on what I've read and deduced. Hopefully I'm wrong for all our sakes.

 

llliteracy: The plague of North India

    It is a well know fact that India has the most number of illiterate people in the world with a literacy rate of  around 74%. Another perhaps little known fact is that  more than 50% of India's illiterates are concentrated in North Indian states. My intention here is not to tarnish north India but rather point out some consequences and reasons for this based on some observations I made during my experience.

 Let me start with what prompted me to write this piece in the first  place. Recently  I got on a cycle rickshaw (a simple vehicle that moves on the pure muscle power of the driver) to go to a friends house. I asked the the driver (a man in his late 30's) to look for a sign with so and so name and number. However to this he replied meekly that he was illiterate and could not read. This came as a shocker and at the same time answered several questions. I have always wondered why anybody would become a cycle rickshaw puller in Delhi since it is probably the worst job a man can get in the transportation industry. Imagine cycling in the midday heat, amidst fumes and dust with  2 or 3 people attached to a carriage behind you. And the worst part is you only get paid a pittance, often less than what other taxi drivers make for the same distance. I have heard that most of these people contract asthma or some other lung disease

   My point in explaining the plight of the rickshaw drivers is that, illiteracy might be one of the driving factors that constrain them to take up such employment in turn be exploited by the literate people like us. There is an old saying in Kerala, "the one who was struck by the lighting was in turn bitten by the snake". I feel the plight of the illiterate rickshaw drivers and so many other illiterates mirror this statement. I do not think it would be farfetched to say that we the literates, have created a class of illiterates to exploit economically. Perhaps we did this unintentionally but certainly not without our knowledge.

 

 But why is it that despite so many years of independence,so many thousands of crores spent every year by the government for education, and the hundreds of NGO's who work for literacy that India is still many decades away from full literacy.

   Perhaps the reason can be found in the mindsets of the educated, North Indians themselves. I have often noticed a strong reluctance to share information to others, even if they are colleagues or coworkers. They seem to think that they posses a treasure which only they have the right to enjoy. If this is  the attitude of the educated towards their peers, how much more worse will it be towards the underprivileged.   Education is the methodical imparting of knowledge to those who don't have it, but that in itself would be a dead end if the educated does not share it with somebody else who don't have it.

Another interesting fact I have seen among certain lower middle classes is the limited importance they give for educating their children. Educating children is still secondary to marrying them off, or conducting some expensive religious ritual. Most often it's the girls who suffer because the limited family budget for education gets over with the boys. This is in direct contrast to south Indian families.

 The schools of course don't really help either. I have heard first hand accounts of government schools in rural areas where teachers only come twice every term even though the children come for the free food. Apparently all the children are given free passes to the succeeding years without writing exams. The other extreme are the private schools in the Cities, which have turned primary education into a money spinning corporate enterprise. Indeed the cost of a single term for a single student in one of these schools is enough to pay for a 100 or so students in a normal school. These schools cultivate a sense of cut throat competition from day one in the child for them to be successful. But in turn take away many things that could have caused them to care about the less privileged.

   I believe the eminent educationalists and political class of north India have to wake up to plague that eats the less fortunate in their backyard rather than slumber in their high mansions of national glory. No nation can claim any trophy in cultural greatness or set a date for economic might when a good multitude of its people don't know how to read or write. Similarly the educated in North India have to realize that without sharing knowledge, their education means nothing.

The illusion of Delhi

  When I had first imagined Delhi, its poverty was not something I had given much thought to. However over the year I have been in Delhi and North India, I feel it is the the most neglected subject by those like me who are better off. Whether in casual conversations or in formal meetings, it is either considered as a taboo or as a joke. But in the very end the fact remains that a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.

 But when you peel away the glitz and glamor of Delhi's malls and clubs, or the stately prowess of its land marks, all you get is the sordid reality of its poor people living in urban squalor. I can only imagine the misery they endure day in and day out when I watch them from afar as they try to scratch out a living. The one's who pay most dearly are the children who have been denied everything you & I got as a child. The lucky ones have some parents to speak of while the unlucky ones have no one but themselves as they beg and work in the street just for survival. I fear we have much to answer for before God, for these little girls and boys.

 Unfortunately even my feelings for them have now gone numb after the many months I have seen this injustice play out before me and my realization that there is nothing I can do for them. Now I only hope to leave this city at the first opportunity with a promise that I do what I can to stop this urban abomination from taking root in my state and my city.

  However from a practical point of view, I cannot help but point out certain factors which I think contributed to create this appalling level of poverty and which will continue to be the cause of Delhi's demise. The city is built nearly in the middle of the great northern plains and shares boundary with states. Administratively & politically it seems a wise decision, except that most cities don't sustain themselves efficiently on that. They grow & sustain because of having access to geographical features facilitating trade & commerce, natural resources like water or a  year round pleasant climate that in turn fosters capital generating economic activity. Think of all other Indian metros which are on the coasts or other great cities around the world. 

   What features or resources does Delhi have other than becoming a dust bowl in summer and cold snapped in winter. It neither has a port or a navigable body of water (discounting the garbage canal that river Yamuna has become) nor even a source of drinking water. It doesn't even have any strategic military advantages. In short my opinion is that Delhi is an artificially propped up city that tries in vain to ape the other cities which generate capital using its considerable political power. In doing that it has failed to recognize the human tragedy unfolding within its walls. I can only hope the administrators and citizens of Delhi will come out of their illusion of greatness and do an introspection before Delhi suffers the fate of other vain cities that have come and disappeared in history.

The Corporates and the Street Children

     There is a parable in the Bible told by Jesus about a rich man and a poor man called Lazurus who lived by his gate (Luke 16.19-31). Lazarus survived by eating the scraps falling from the rich man's table and his main company were the stray dogs who licked his sores. Even though nobody cared about Lazarus in his earthly life, God was watching from above and brought him to heaven when he died. The rich man however was condemned to Hell, not for murdering, stealing or being rich but because he did not give any regard to the poor man at his doorstep. In short he was apathetic the plight of his neighbor.

     I relate this story now because I am a sad witness and indirectly part of this story in real life in at my work place in Noida near Delhi. The various sectors of Noida house the offices of some of the biggest and reputable brands in Indian corporate scenario both Indian and foreign. Most young Indian graduates would be proud to work in the companies there with their fat pay cheques and even fatter fringe benefits, not to mention the affluent work environments.However when one steps outside the high rises and look around the scenario changes to one of poverty and squalor. Be  it the desperate cycle rickshaw drivers who implore passerby's to board them, or be it the poor family who sell rotis at the office entrances for a living or the sick and disabled beggars who line the pavement.

   But the fact that is most painful is the plight of street children who beg in the streets from people like me or pick rags. I have witnessed little girls squatting among the rags they picked up on the pavement and sometimes even fighting with each other over a little food. I have seen little boys with a big sacks of refuse on their backs walking without a care in the world. And everyday as I come out of the train station a boy and a girl stand at the entrance holding out their begging bowl.There is nobody to take care of them except themselves from the stray dogs and other manly predators that abound in the streets. I have found that smaller children tend to group around bigger children. Some of them do have families who live on the pavement and tend to use the children as a source of income. In the short visual survey I did during my walk to and from the station to my office I found no less than 15 boys and girls in the age group 5 to 15 living like this in just 3 streets. At this point of time I do not feel much optimism about their futures. Many of these children will probably die young on the streets, a lucky few might get rescued to an orphanage and the rest will probably end up in the hands of evil men who will exploit them inhumanely.

  I have seen beggars, rag pickers both child and adult before but never have I seen so many right at the doorstep of multi million dollar company offices. I know that companies are not charities and they have their own "Corporate social responsibility (CSR)" commitments in save the tiger, plant a tree and educate the girl child campaigns.But companies are still run by people. So I fail to understand how we manage to be blind to the 'Little Lazarus's' at our Gates. From what I have experienced in my own company, I am sure that the money they spend on tissue paper and coffee is probably enough to give a home to one of these street children. 

      I can only write about this insanity and prehaps give a few coins to the child beggars.  At the same time I weep for myself and the all the companies and their employees in Noida for we will most likely have to answer to God one day for what we pretended not to see, just like the rich man in Jesus's parable.

Folly of Premartial Romantic Relationships

    Romantic relationships between between unmarried young men and women are the trend these days in Indian society. Activities like dating, talking for hours on end on phone, couple dancing, and other things that were mostly confined to the movies have moved into real life. Many people young & old have no problem justifying what was considered a shameful thing a few years ago. The media of course highlights it as one of the barometers of "Indian progress". Here are some points that came up when I took a no bars held look at the nature of these relationships in real life. However the reader should note that I do not refer to ordinary and honorable friendships between men and women which may lead to marriage with the full and open consent of their families.

  Majority of the couples involved in premarital romantic relationships have one or more of the following things in common:

a) They did not get the love and care they felt they deserved from their families.

b) They have an overly romanticized view of the world and tend to think in the short term.

c) They tend to be self centered and over confident about their actions.

d) One or more of their friends are involved in these relationships ie they were influenced by their peers.

e) The are easily influenced by messages spewed out by the mainstream media ie they do not have a strong     moral centre.

 I am not saying romantic relationships are completely wrong. They are integral to a happy marriage after the couples take their vows and tie their knots.Trying to live like married couples before they take their solemn vows in front of their God, family, and society is contrary to reason and bound to end up in bitterness.