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.

Delhi: Capital city or Crony capital

       I have been away from here for a long time. Now I find myself living and working in Delhi, the Capital India. This is an attempt by me to give a few glimpses of the real Delhi I saw with my own eyes. If any Delhiite is reading this let me ask their pardon for what may be some of the offensive things I say about it. But when I see something rotten in front of  myself, I can only call it that. Anyway our central government and the mainstream media has so deviously managed to instill the image of a shining capital for Delhi.

  Where do I start describing the sights in Delhi. Should it be the slums just beside the Highway where children fight for a water, the overcrowded housing colonies with sewage running through the streets, the straydogs who hunt in packs, the people who live on the footpaths(literally) or the street children who beg for an existence in the scorching summers and bone chilling winters. The above things may be there in many cities but never have I seen it take such a form in any other cities (Bombay, Chennai, Pune, Cochin, Bhubhaneswar, or Hyderabad) that I have visited. What is even more unnerving is how cold hearted people can become here to the suffering around them. I have been a witness to Dogs, cows and monkeys getting better treatment than human beings in this city.

  A few days ago an actress who claims to have spend her childhood in Delhi was elaborating to the newspapers how wonderful it was with its wide spaces, and friendly people. Sure the rich here have bungalows and their segregated paths right on the main road. Unfortunately for the poor who are the vast majority even one room comes at a premium price. Sometimes they even lose that when some official decides the road should be wider.

  

  Despite its capital importance I found the Infrastructure here pathetic even when compared to Cochin. It is as if the officials decided that they need only pave the roads and build drainages just a few kilometres around the parliment building which are frequently used by the political class. The common man can use the dirty and broken  streets which also has the additional property of turning into canals when the monsoon deluge hits the city. However I will sing praises for one thing and that is the Delhi metro. It is one piece of infrastructure that Delhi that its planning people can be proud off.

However do the people care? From what I have witnessed the young people are either obsessed with their respective girl/boy friends (couples are one of the most familiar sights in Delhi), their ridiculously oversized shopping malls, their culture destroying rock music concerts by sly foreign bands, excessively extravagant sports reality shows like IPL and now the F1. The older people on the other hand are too busy and exhausted with their buisness of making ends meet which seem to only get harder every day.

  I will sum up by repeating what one of my cousin in law who has lived here for the better part of his adult life as a paramilitary man serving the government said. Delhi has a lot of corrupt and thuggish men and the most notorious of them are right at the top i.e in the parliament, and in the ministerial and other houses of power.

Continuing the current way the current Delhi will only follow the other cities that have fallen into decay and oblivion.

Unjustifying the Income tax

        Government Taxes and tax policies have become a important part of an individual's life in this age of big governments. Of course a government has the right to an income because of the services it provides ie it is only fair and just for governments to demand their dues in the form of taxes.

         But is the government justified in demanding  from the common citizen a portion of his wages/salaries/incomes which he made through his own work. For example tax on land can be easily justifiable by the fact that it is the government which protects the individuals right of ownership (using civil laws and military forces). 

        In case of a persons income what protection does the government offer to its income tax paying citizens. Does the government provide job or income security except in case of the public sector. Also does the government help him find a job when he is unemployed or provide for his family if something were to happen to him. The fact remains that the government does not provide any of these services to the vast majority of its tax paying citizens.

It is a shameful injustice that while hardworking citizens with dependent families are taxed any where from 10 to 50% while the companies and corporations run by the rich and powerful get away with paying meagre amounts. 

One more fact about the income tax is that it is a recent phenomenon starting about 80 years ago. During the many centuries before that, the governments run by kings and despots managed quite comfortably by just taxing land and commerce.