Will I qualify for the title of Academic Terrorist bestowed upon me long ago?

Life is a unprofitable episode that disturbs an otherwise blessed state of nonexistence:

Who said this?... Nietzsche or perhaps Schopenhauer

I am not sure,my memory is weak

Be that as it may,

In the interlude I would like to remain as an

Academic Rebel and be helpful to the downtrodden

by voicing their cumulative frustration with the 

Corrupt insensitive rulers for ages

The incompetent rulers who are not even worth

a plateful of cabbages

Being faithful to my profession and the world of 

Academics, the right ones who championed the 

Cause of the weak and the poor and 

helpful to all protest movements 

I will qualify for the title

Academic Terrorist on the campus.

Keynes and Marx, Thiruvalluvar and Thirumoolar

Will give  strength and purpose to my existence

And make my life meaningful....

(This was written on 15-5-2018, at 3 am...

At Adelaide I  again wrote about the woes and the heartbeat of 

Agitating farmers... today I am happy that their collective will has made the aggressive ruler to kneel down.A nonviolent struggle will have Focus and also purpose.

By quirk of fate I found out the old poem today)

Prof D Sambandhan

Corruption has been talked about more not to root it out, but to ride on power in the post truth world of today.

Like the inexorable process of globalization, the age old institution of prostitution,  the word corruption too has always merited attention , not to stampout the cult of deeply entrenched cancer of corruption but to talk about it sensationalise and dramaize it to capture power and undermine the opposition as if  the aspirant is pure gold and has nothing to do with it.The fact  of the matter is that the substantial segment of the society comprising of the administrative machinery judiciary, police and the rent seeking corporate companies.The newly launched electoral bonds with no transperancy and promising unfair advantage to the prospective winners has legaised corruption.

Corruption is not merely an abstract concept or moral or legal issue, but a hydra headed monster which has  threatened and demolished the very survival of the foundation of the democratic fibre of our society. While the nature, content and degree of corruption and unfair tade practices in politics which itself has emerged as prime business activity like real estate and the like  are more cancerous and toxic in countries like India ,it is something which is tolerable in matured advanced economies where for normal and legally permissible privilege one need not shell out money.

The famous Bush Language of US and Them,has entered into our political lañdscape now.The ruling party say X , could easily threaten the crooks and criminals to support it lest the Enforcement agencies would  make their life miserable.Those sectors where black money and black wealth generation are rampant meekly yield and submit to the establishment and also sing the glory of the government no matter how anti-people,  it's policies are.

Goverment indulgent towards corruption in high places are well known, but selective raids take place?

This means, politicians make more noise deploring corruption ,but allow the container lorries,filled with tonnes and tonnes of currency notes to disappear and vanish into thin air after detaing it fr a while.

Under any regime, the tendency to harass and sideline anri corruption crusaders is visible and the action of politicians belie their words.

Expectations of the tribe of politicians to root out  corruption is like asking for the Moon? The law seems to bend backyard to protect the guilty and greedy and reckless ly rich getting richer by evading taxes.

Unless honest men in public life, including the Bureaucracy emerge , the nation is doomed to degeñerate into chaos .,

When fence is eating the crop, and the creator takes time  by imagining, His law will take its own course like the slow price adjustments in classical macro model, we shall be spectators of the familiar drama enacted every five years.

Do I understand my importance and also my importance in my subject

Good work is not done by humble men.It is one of the first duties of a professor, for example in any subject, to exaggerate a little both the importance of the subject and  his own importance in it.A man who is always asking,

"If what I do worthwhile? andAm I am the right person to do it" ? will always be ineffective himself and discouragement to others.Je must shut his eyes a little and think a little more of his subject and himself than they deserve.

I exactly fit into this quote by G H Hardy and despite my sense of diffidence I have never questioned or underestimated my love and potential for my subject and my role in it, as  I am still in it at seventy plus.

To be honest my subject Economics has given me more than I deserve.

Post retirement wife's death, visit to Adelaide twice and post Adelaide stay at my home town I have remained active reading and writing .

It's not an exaggeration to say that I have captured the spirit of my Mahe stay, my first appointment as Assistant Professor and HOD, being a one man department.

The subject is making me hungry while it has adequately satisfied my hunger...

The pleasantest feeling is that the academic greed is refusing to die  and I pray that it will persist, albeit in modest doses, till I breathe last and help execute multiple projects I started long ago.

A few on line lectures are waiting in the wings and I hope God will enable me to fly with my academic wings in the arena of international finance..

(From my post Adelaide Pondicherry Diary)

The silent soliloquy on campus politics:The Trailer

For ages and centuries my autobiographical musing fused with fictional poetic prose , the project which began when I was gang-raped by illiterates in academic corridor has been in a state of suspended animation and I am now compiling the notes.

To remain silent when the heart is brimming over with protest because it is prudent; and to speak only when the moment seems opportune- that is not my way, a statement by some one adequately captures my spirit and soul.

The monograph under preparation is a collection of poems written under mild recession of mind to depict the predicament of simple barely politicised individuals with breathtaking concision and humanity.

Being disgusted with frustrating experience on the campus he decides to write a slew of poems before he meets the Director of enforcement at the destined hour.

It is a moving tale of humble lives lived under frugal life eating beans , caught up in the vortex of inimical social forces entrenched in academic backwardness in the pleasant company a stupid boss who can only utter paradigm like a parrot.

The protoganist confronts the chasm between the two warring groups and nobody desrved his love , he ruminate s.There is no neat narrative structure or any kind of sensational subtle or startling shift in story line, but only a wet sense of humour pervades all through to enjoy belly laughter.

He is surprisingly happy to note that while writing in English he experiences a kind of floating sensation of freedom and flexibility  which he normally  experiences in his native language Tamil...

How is it that the Bad drives away the good and foul becomes Fair

Looking around we see, there are many mean creatures

Soaked in dirt, filth, criminality and venality,and 

That their  scant intelligence and capabilities

bear no correlation with their high profile life,

enjoying the best of everything by all the 

Fradulent means under the sun and neatly

Networked relationship in politics and business.

How can you explain these special tribes flourishing

And getting all the riches and recognition,

Being catapulted to power, wealth and extraordinary heights in exalted offices,

A kind of From rags to riches story..

Does fortune favour the crooks and wicked ,

Breaking through the roof by karmic effects

Or manipulation of the lever of power

Oh God ,why is that the brutally honest and good

Endowed with intelligence and hard work get

Beaten mercilessly, deprived of all the 

Simplest pleasures of life ,

Luck not smiling on them,

Invisible forces not helping them

God is bewildered and bemused to answer this

Question, mother of all questions.

He says:

Sorry, honestly I do not know, my dear

They need to be researced seriously and 

Thoroughly investigated and also thought of.

Will it be a new beginning or and an ending: On Farmer's agitation

At long last the farmers could assemble

Mustering strength ,rolled up the gate and shouted

 To echo beyond the walls separating between

The people and the government.

People mills around the streets in important cities

But it was the capital city and the neighborhood

Which got frightend but pretended to ignore to

Redress their grievancs in a pandemic situation.

Under rain and sun they had protested

And many have lost their lives andnothing moved

The insensitive and irresponsible government?

. For the last  six month's the farmers have been on the roads in a state of protest and the State

Has remained passive spectator and indifferent actor.

They have been not fooled by empty slogans of doubling

Farmer's income and the merits of  corportization

Of agriculture.

Many rounds of talks, no reasoned response

When the crowd got increasingly restless and 

Frustratingly irritated,

A slect Few farmers  with all pain in their hearts

Deployed sense of humour

Swapping jokes about the clownish rulers and their

Inadequacy in governance.

In the face of arrogance and indifference

Farmer's spirit only went up and they got the support

From all over the globe

For nearly  six years  the country has been on the edge

Of chaos and lack of proper direction in steering th economy and of late in not forseeing the second wave of corana .

Pandemic situation was exploited for throttling democracy

And stoking the fire of hatred and channeling energy in fighting elections by manipulating the opposition..

Well informed, the affected and those afflicted with health issues, the artists and scientists, the elite and the good 

 See the true colours and make lies that envelop the all frame ,now bearded to look like Tagore?

The donkey has appeared as horse for  a  while 

And the vested interests and well crafted propaganda

Machine backed it up  .

Everyone feels the chaos the haeavy price that the country

Has paid for past few years , the lost years in terms of 

Life, livelihood ,death and destruction of informal economy

And small and medium industries....

Will there be a new beginning or is it the end of 

Our freedom and democracy?

Will there be any benovolent intervention from nature 

To collar the culprits and the corrupt criminals sweeping

Across the country enjoying free ride

Autumn was on song

After several weeks I moved away from my unit

And set out for a long walk, and 

drenched myself in the afternoon sun

The chill breeze was subduing the heat,

The body was craving for the warmth of the sun,

And the life force within me ,the real I

Was enchanted by the gentle chill breeze

The optimal chill-hot combine was

In between too little and too much

I was mesmerized by the Nature play.

The green leaves on the trees ,

Turning into golden brown,

Glittered under the sun.

The entire range of the long stretch of green grass

Which divided the two roads in between

Was under the full command of autumn, glowing.

The smell and sound of the grass clothed by

Both Sun and the wind ,hijacked me to an 

Another world of bliss,

Enriching my life force.

(My Adelaide Diary 2020)

our stay is brief and let us make it sweet and bright like bees and flowers

Flowers live only for a short while,

Be that as it may, their greatness is ,

They  live fully, forcefully, and feverishly

During their brief stay, holding sway

Over our minds, by radiating fragrance,

Displaying multi colours of rainbow .

They do not complain, the audience is not

Stationed there to celebrate them and appreciate

Their beauty and fragrance,

their very glorious existnce though

For a short while.

Their greatness is ,like "trembling happiness"

Long after they are fallen from trees,

And crushed under the feet of human

They do not experience any pain of death

Nor do they have any fear of it as they

Have lived a full life 

And the scent they have left behind, lingers

For ever in the cosmos.

Flowers showcase to the world how 

The so-called humans, the advanced specie

Must live ...

The bees and flowers live not for  themselves

They live well and hence they also know

How to die with peace and quiet,

Before returning back to earth.

From my Adelaide Diary ( 2020)

This is dedicated to Ilayaraja the artist  and Na Muthu Kumar ,the poet who died young in recent times .

We shall shun those hate viruses and live with nature

and generate more harmony

A line from Nicholas Sparks complements what I contemplated

A girl is the wonderful creation of Nature/God

An incarnation into wife and mother  and later 

Grand mother living different lives in one life

She is the fulcrum or the centre around whom

The family finds peace and pleasure..

Both the housewife  ,sorry house maker and the farmer

Make the world rotate without friction and it rains 

Because of their self less hardwork and grace

In a marital relationship,what matters most is more intimacy, more laughter, more together ness and 

More friendship and mural respect and love 

With all freedom and sense of unforced  humour

Holding hands and going for walk

Talking   every little thing, to know each other 

And so on.....

Finding this woman and finally understanding her 

And being and becoming of couple later is really

A heaven here right on earth.

This was on my Adelaide Diary

While typing and concluding one line from

Nicholas novel, The Choice,

Comes to my mind to sum up my fantasy:

"If conversation (with my girl, I add for understanding)

was the lyrics, laughter was the music,

 making time spent  together,a melody 

 that could be replayed over and over 

without getting stale ."

Everyone wants love and desires to be loved

Everyone wants love and desires to be loved 

And adored, admired and respected,

"Seeing through the world through a veil of love".

Not everyone gets that chance  or that bliss;

Is there any safety of being loved, profusely?

And also married happily thereafter

Will it help the couple to find happiness and 

those moments of bliss to get

aligned perfectly with nature and work

Without dissolving their identity and independence

With all the interdependent nature of the family economy,

Calling for compromise and adjustments.

Digression on Adelaide Diary 2020

I am a machine created for devouring books,

Said Marx once

I am  starved of good books and away from 

My collections at home  in my French town.

I have not had the habit of exercising or  regular

Walking schedule and that makes me weak

Lacking adequate quality sleep day becomes night 

All through my life I was in reading for teaching

With all passion and involvement...

I hardly spent my quality time with family...

When old age catches up and gently whisper

My falling and failing, my burnt out academic life

Recklessly lived , without any  balancing act

I understand that I can't amend my past..

I rest and relax most of the time , watching movies

And sleep unconsciously and it's more bliss

That sound sleep is not a good compensation

But welcome one as it's very sound .

Will God give me more focus and purpose

Will frozen shoulder and tired knees

Allow  me to do what I want to do ,change

For the better walk a little and stretch a little 

Do some reading and writing for my

Existence..

Peace and quiet, joy and happiness

I must buy with all my disorderly behaviour

Enjoying the Adelaide weather.

( From my Adelaide diary 2020 )

Demonetization earlier and corana now did choke the nation becuse of just one man's folly mostly,and his citical inability to listen to scientific and economic reasoning

During his first innings there was !ore pomp and show, lip service to governance and development and Harmony, just ketters written on water? Taxpayers money was dissipated on travel ,extensively travel abroad, which contributed very little for improvement of our relationship with our neighborhood or elsewhere not to speak of costly costumes adoring the emperor, changed many times a day to impress his image more strongly in the minds.

A sample: After visiting India Chinese Premier shook hands here and annexed  a great deal of our territory at the border and the leader told nothing of that sort had taken place.Such is the efficacy of the foreign travel in defusing tension

The entire solar system knows that the greatest economic disaster was demonetization which choked the economic lungs of the nation , combined with the hasty and crude implementation of GST Policy.

This was sheer  self aggrandisment of power ,the unbridled power , one man's show which continues till date.The leader who is hailed by the loyalists and the corrupt segment which has embraced the RSS party, as the most decisive  leader  had all the madness in his methods and virtually no application of mind  while launching the most unwarranted policy of  demonetization. I have already documented all the devastating consequences in three volumes.

For a long time this measure wrecked ruin and destruction to the economy. Growth was arrested and unemployment escalated and reached an all time high in the recorded history. Along with savage GST it proved to be a dangerous cocktail killing the small and medium enterprises.

The  Hindutva elements were jubilant when Kashmir was destabilized and disintegrated into union territories.Many futile laws anti people legislation were framed to polarise and terrorize the population especially the Muslim and also divert people's attention from its non-performance on economic fronts.

It is sad and to a great extent a mystery despite its anti-national and anti people polices and there was nothing on the economic feont to crow about the leader got the second innings given the spineless opposition and lack of unity and coherence among the opposition..

The leader watched the nation die without any sense of remorse or regrets

Last year when the corana triggered  first wave lock down was announced without any preparation he did not have any conscience to prick  him when millions were dislocated and highways became their homes..Let people crash or fly sink or swim and their livelihood sink in dust the authorities no longer heard about the cries of migrant labourers.

Covid 19 a great watershed in current history.It is time to document to listen to well informed as it reflects our standpoint too.

It would be obvious and apparent that covid dreadful virus is not just a natural disaster but man made catastrophe and the rightist leader's indifference and arrogance have played a no less important  role  in aggravating the crisis.

It has raisd more issues not just the health related one  but also many political and social underpinning. As if anticipating my concern and anguished anger  the former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has summed up the nature and content of the crisis thus:

"Be it demonetization or vaccine policy, we were unprepared because expert advice was not taken or heeded.This is the failure of our  system.centralisation, ignoring experts and shutting down criticism.why does our system succumb to authoritarian populism."

All the well informed research articles as also common sense criticism point the accusing finger to one gentleman the so called leader of the country who does full time politics even now under the pandemic situation and shamelessly building palace for PM about  which no one should speak as it is of national importance.

Somebody must shout from the house top why this strong and decisive leader is still not coming forward for universal immunization from the people's money ,taxpayers money. Is it not important for the vast population ?We shall make reference to Indian government's schizophrenia which led to corana virus proliferation and misery of the informal economy.

We will attempt to highlight  a few issues mostly through economic lens and the concern of the federal India.

The multidimensional aspects of the major health crisis descenting into hell right before us

While ruminating and reflecting on the continuing covid 19 health crisis, the major financial and currency crisis of 2007-08 appears  to be  less grave in terms of lost life and livelihood for many .That was the major economic catrostorphe originating from the US and the entire globe was tossed into a tailspin of the longest recession and the US was the earliest to get out .The subsequent European soveeign Debt crisis did upset the economic and social equilibrium of the world economy...There were SARS kind of virus earlier too.

But the on-going corana pandemic is one of the worst economic Tsunami enveloping the world causing differential dislocation and deprivation depending upon the sensitivity and competence of the leadership as also the existence of health infrastructure in the nations.

Nearer home we documented how the lack of leadership and over confidence and the trust deficits between the centre and the states especially the opposition ruled states  compounded the chaos and aggravated the health crisis.

Lack of transparency about all aspects of dealing with the virus and absence of any coherent and meaning ful strategy  created an existential crisis.A lot of misinformation and distorted fake news added fuel to  the fire .

At a time when free flow of information is needed and optimal polices and right leadership required the elected autocrats  had their own whims and fancies, prejudices and misplaced priorities in decision making.For a long time there was neither any serious  self introspection nor tangible conscious action in combating the multi dimensional health emergency. 

Under the new reality of the authoritarian regime ,the democratic fabric became visibly  fragile and more vulnerable.The intervening electoral battle became an arena for the fascist forces to test their political muscle with enhanced  money power to usurp political power by hook or crook and thank god in three important key states democracy won and responsive and responsible governments have taken charge .

who cannot live in harmony with the world / Though learned, are fools indeed (kural 140)

Criticism against any government by the well informed and good intentioned ones are not sin and they are necessary like organic manure for nursing and nurturing democracy.

A fascist leader with the arrogance of power will not entertain it for fear of losing power.

Modi's India  was accused of censorship for blocking social media criticism amidst covid surge , wrote Wall Street Journal from the US.

Going into the root of the problem The Straits Times Singapore underlined that  the unfolding health disaster  is a hybrid of  natural  disaster compounded by complecency, misgovernance and power play.

This complacency has turned  a seeming success story  into one of the world's worst hit places , said Newyork Times from the US.

Yes..Modi told the world economic Forum : india had  defeated the virus.Arrogance and hyper nationalism have created the crisis with the crowd loving PM basking while citizens suffocate, to quote The Australian newspaper.

The Guardian from UK and Global Times China also reiterate that India dropped their guard because of the leader's overconfidence.

I have strained to give the details that the world is watching us and Modi can't play gimmicks and  fool the  people that everything is well and he has delivered while he completes seven long years without any substantial achievement to his credit.

Manipulating and distorting data with regard to covid deaths  is a great disgrace to the departed.Because ours is a civilization that treats death and dying with the same veneraion as the living.

self glorification and celebration and insensitivity and incompetence going hand in hand

The nation has been struggling to breathe .Death is visiting and snatching away the young and the old  just like that .

It's intimidating and paralysing our limbs and mind.As BJP stalwart opined ,corana virus has got its own right to live as we live ..perhaps he does not know it is only  a semi life virus  and gets  life only after entering into human body.

It tests our immune and makes inroads and chokes us to death..To keep pace with its capacity we also need to enhance our capabilities and immune capacity in the long run and in the immediate Keynesian short run vaccinations and state intervention matter most .Here the Modi's government has miserably failed and it has become a problem not only to its population but also to the entire world, as we live in an interdependent economy.As Washington Post rightly observed ,"India is not a far away problem.In pandemic  time  and distance  every place is nearby."

To strengthen this view consider the following from BBC , UK: "The higher the number of covid cases  a country has , the more likely it is that new variants will emerge .The situation in India is a bleak reminder that  none of us will be safe  until eveyone  is safe".

In the face of this scientific truth if multiple variants of the virus  and some  prefer to call it as Indian variant  we need not react with anger as if our presige and image has been lost.Instead it should make us  to have self introspection into ourseves  over our lapse and failures and I doubt whether the arrogant leader will have elementary wisdom to understand it .

It is   unfortunate that  no mainstream media is willing to question the " Modi made disaster".None of them is naming the PM  who is still to hold a single press conference, as was oberved by Democracy Now, USA.

In the same vein Le Monde from France emphatically argues :" More  inclined to self celebration than to protect population, Modi only aggravated the situation." 

politicking in the Driver's seat ,and preparedness for the second wave was not in the back seat?

There is consensus among the neutral observers and international media that  the complacency, lack of foresight, inadequate or virtually nil preparation to negotiate the second wave proved to be more determintal and suicidal as later events have shown.

It is strange that a government which used to derive a sadistic satisfaction on surgical strike  and did not bother at  all about the military expenditure on bombing Pakistan was at ease and quiet peace with itself basking in self glory when it came to strengthening the health spending on war footing.This caused unease and discomfort to begin with and later unleashed more death and destruction.During the turbulent stage of human trivial the leader did more politicking especially in WB.

It's more painful to revisit the terrifying epic crisis when people were dying on the street and people feverishly moving from pillar to the post to get oxygen bed and much worse the place to cremate..With spriling death toll bodies were  thrown in Ganga and it took some time for the authorities to do police surveillance and monitor and also announce that five thousand would be given to those who could not aford the cremation expenses.

There was no time to do mourning and dignity could not be guaranteed to human bodies.Many independent agencies and people's net work cutting across religion and political ideology came forward to help....but the health infrastructure was fractured and fragmented  for the majority of population.Just imagine the rich guy unable to get bed in Gujarat takes his jet and carries his family to Chennai to get admitted.It was a man made and self inflicted disaster like demonetization , the chaos being much worse and far reaching in terms of death and destruction.

Right leadership was lacking, and even Minimum strategy was missing

For nearly 18 months the  corana virus has been  with us .It was not keeping quiet but remained active mutating itself with all militancy and virulence.Indeed the virus found a fertile climate/ ground in the Indian soil to proliferate and multiply effortlessly as shall be explained shortly.

Close on the heels of the first wave  the rest of the world  went into a war mode and  started evolving a manifold strategies to combat the expected second wave  and were preparing themselves for they knew its ramifications-the shocks and disturbances that it would unleash on the people would be severe.

Modi's India lived in a world of illusion and delusion and self congratulating itself  that India had the rescilence and a social system to overcome the crisis and it proclaimed that the game of corana was  over  and it had been stamped out..They were seduced and blinded by the longest lockdown which gave a temporary relief with all its adverse permanent consequences on the livelihood issues.

This further means that the government of India did not bother about evolving any plan, a master plan or any coherent and comprehensive strategy to come to terms with it , tame it and take precautions by way of augmenting the supply of oxygen and other related medical infrastructure in  event of  the second wave arriving.

This time was not mvested to augment and strengthen the health infrastructure but consumed away by its habitual Hindthuva competeive politics of destabilisation of the opposition, altering the federal structure and winning election in fig States

The administrative machinery and particularly the  itinerary of the PM travel diary was more focused on flying and addressing a huge audience collected by money power.The  fire of  the crude and raw hatred  was blown.

To add more insult to the injury a huge gathering of kumbha Mela was allowed to respect and reflect the Hindu sentiments and it was withdrawn only after the damage had been done and the virus had entrenched itself fully and feverishly.It proved to be the super spreader and almost all the international media made a quick reference to it when the virus was causing havoc and creating an existential dilemma for the entire country.It was made known by the CM of a state in the North that the faith of the devotees will overcome the fear of corana.

Modi's government completes seven years in office amidst pandemic situation

When the Modi's government completes seven years of its misrule  amidst the pandemonium of the pandemic, the leader is self congratulating himself that everything is fine and he has delivered more to the people and they are happy.

How could a person who has been virtually chargesheeted by the international media for his bungling in mishandling the corana triggered crisis speak like this , telling lies and adding insult to the injury and wounding the sensibilities of the population facing deaths and destruction.

The level and content ,the degree and the magnitude of the misgovernance and lack of governance on both economic and social front is in naked form for all the people to see.The day of his assuming office was observed with black flag by the faming community in select pockets of India.

Every one including the activists of his party would concede that the day is not for celebration or any kind of jubilation for there's nothing to celebrate or rejoice over.

Even in the context of foreign policy the bungling is visible and China is surging ahead with all masterstrokes to humiliate and undermine us .

This is certainly an occassion for deep self introspection and rumination as  the way in which we have been handling the second wave is much to be desired.

While the loyalists of the brand ,now bearded to look like Tagore there or Periyar here , are still around here and looming large  least bothered about the pain and death faced by many for they are in the comfort zone, well informed critics at home and abroad are unwilling and unable to sing his  glory and be a party to the sin committed by the leader twice , first  while first launching misplaced demonetization and then ,now in not preparing well for the second wave  and more importantly playing politics with the process of  vaccinations.

Forget the performance or non performance,  what strikes more is his indifference to the life and livelihood issues and his inimical attitude to opposition ruled states in allocating relief materials and  more importantly building the city for the emperor violating all  architectural norms and morals is  disgusting and frustratingly irritating..(To be continued..1)

we don't mind if you go (7) as there is governance deficits

With the exception of the RSS loyalists and a few

Upper caste educated criminals living in the comfort zone 

Still glorifying and marketing the brand called Modi

Notwithstanding his cumulative failures on many fronts,

The majority of population is disgusted and disappointed

With his action on demonetization then

 and inaction on the health crisis now.

The level and content of his governance has not matched 

 the magnitude of the pandemic situation, the scale,

the spread and depth of the on going health crisis.

The intervening period between the first and second wave saw him focussed on winning election by hook or crook

With least concentration on the preparation for meeting

the impending disaster and calamity that could befall on

Hapless masses.

Instead of striving hard to draw the road map towards

Universal immunization, raising and augmenting oxygen

And  strengthening the fragile health infrastructure

He was desperate to form unprincipled alliances

By buying, bribing and threatening the strong men with dubious track record on corruption from others..

He was stealing virtually shamelessly

 outsourcing from the opposition as his brand and image 

Had outlived it's utility and no longer the 56 inches

Could lift the wall of distance between people and his party. 

While the rest of the world was busy and committed

to reduce the intensity of the corana virus he was 

Gloating over the massive crowd stage managed,

Therby creating a fertile ground for the virus to invade

Multiply and reincarnate ino different variant and now called as Indian variant causing havoc now and becoming

A threat to the world as a whole.

India's way sorry Modi's way of governance and his critical

incapacity and inability to take a holistic remedy in

Multiple direction to save India has invited ridicule and 

Trenchant criticism from the international media ...

The brand is now downgraded, degraded and devalued

As the devastating consequences of the surge in corana

Are manifest in infinite ways....

Ancient Tamil sacred text  Thirukkural (208) says:

" Destruction follows one who commits evil acts

Like the shadow following one's footsteps."

The nation cries for help and those who seek intervention

for curing their near and dear ones through social media

Are booked for tarnishing the image of the party and government

By the rascalised criminals adoring the seat of power

Especially in the  Hindi heartland ..

We don't mind if you go as your notional presence

And the recent act of shedding tears will be of 

No consequence or significance for the afflicted.

politics is your profession and you do it neatly right from assuming office 6

 politics is your profession and you do it neatly;

you tried all foul means to capture power in WB;

the wise and benovolent destiny saved bengali's from RSS virus.

yourdrama is on at french town pondicherry.

and in lakashadeep island you have started your michief,

harassing the soil sea and the muslim population there.

Amidst pandemonium of pandemic situation you celebrate your 

completion of seven year misrule this way for the entire solar system to see

having caused death and destruction to a massive number across the country 

you still live in self glory and delusion that you have given everything .

what a great joke  adding insult to the injury..

neutral observers,patriots, the true nationalists and the international media 

have assessed the level and magnitude of incompetence  be it post demonetization

or meeting the challenges of cvid 19 inclusive of misguided polices and muddled thinking 

in economics, it is futile to expect any benovolent intervention from the  centre especially 

the oppsition ruled states...

you are not made for governance but to do globe trotting  at the expense of tax payers money

the costy plane you have bought is rusting  and you are impatient to complete the 

emperor's city and enter home without your wife .

since you are afraid of travelling you are unable to change different costumes

and they might be also crying as they remain idle 

what a visionary ambition and concerted action for the nation.

in a pandemic situation without any sense of shame or conscience 

seeing your craziness to put your  photo on the vaccination certificate  the MP from WB

is teasing you, Mr PM  by the same logic will you allow your photo to be affixed on

corana related death certi ficates  too?

people are disappointed and disgusted and they don't mind if you go.

we don't mind if you go (5)

Right from the days of demonetization and 

Hasty implementation of savage GST agenda

And the subsequent bungling in not sharing with

The state governments, their legitimate due,

Their money and asking them shamelessly

To go to market and borrow and to the recnt inaction

In tackling the challenging pandemic situation

You have proved that you are not made for governing

Sensibly and responsibly

But travel merrily globally with multi coloured costumes

Like a circus Clown at as payer's money.

You have behave behaved like a discriminating monopolist.

With your misplaced priorities and no action plan in the intervening period between the first and second wave 

You had no vision or listen to experts to foresee

The impending calalmity and not at all committed to

Vaccine equality...

Earlier you were keen to centralise all the powers

 under the sun,appropriating health and education

Under your feet forgetting that they are state subjects

When situation became unmanageable you shifted responsibility to states forgetting the basic fact

Universal immunization is the responsibility of the State

The federal government must act manly and swiftly

Without any partisan politics.

You have shown your corporate face and the hand of 

RSS kind of vengence while unleashing vaccine supply more to the saffron states and also legitimized

 triple pricing for the same vaccine

What happened to your one India and one policy

Why there's no one India and one covid policy

You have presided over the failed state

By suppressing democracy,

Choking the voice of dissent and cry for oxygen

And blocking the free flow of information...

They don't mind if you go for the good of the country.

we don't mind if you go (4)

Politics is thy cup of tea always right from the start

Lies permeate your veins

Politicking has become your way of life

Your own MP a Harward University professor says,

You don't know economics and  shall we say

you  also don't  listen to well informed

People who know right and relevant economics.

Which means you want to grope in darkness and do 

not  bother to know anything like priority or the simple concept called 

Opportunity Cost in economics.

That is why you construct Central vista for 20000 cr

In a pandemic situation without any conscience or application of mind.

Even a chronically mad fellow will not dare to do

What you have been attempting to do

All in the name of nation, when the nation itself dies

Cries for oxygen and other medical facilities,

Without any sense of shame and not at all having

Any moral fibre to cloth your physical frame.

There's no moral dilemma for you

Nor do you bother about the existential dilemma

Of others.

The Hindu Editorial terms your self aggrandisment

Of power manifested in that gandeuor as

Artless and Heartless.

When everything goes well, first wave of corana 

You take credit 

When things go wrong by your inaction or lack of even minimum preparedness you cry with the help of medicine

Exposing thereby your incompetence to goven this

Vast subcontinent.

And the nation cries: we can't breathe for lack of oxygen beds, and the much needed medicine and vaccinations.

You don't mind if the nation stalls or 

the people starve  and fall...

Your spineless government, the authorities

Do not want to hear the people's grievances

Or complaints... They don't mind if you go

we don't mind if you go (3)

Your prime goal in life is power, not by earning it

But by grabbing it  by manipulating politics machine

By disobeying god, recreating and distorting history

Exploiting the innocence and ignorance of the masses steeped ito poverty and malnutrition with no proper

Health care, social and economic security worth mentioning.

I do not remember who gave the title to you

'The Merchant Of Death'   in the wake of Godhra massacre.

Being and becoming the debased and degraded satan

You destroyed the institutions and values and also

Molested the constitution enacted anti people laws

All  in the name of nationalism, restoring culture 

And your brand of Hindthuva religion which has started dividing and polarising the society which lived in 

Communal harmony....

The entire solar system knows your hate religion

Is a negation of true Hinduism which is more

Inclusive and accommodative with other religions

Excepting that it  denies space and freedom to 

the lesser privileged Dalits and the backward.

The Result: 

I quote..." Civility was the first casualty, replaced by communal prejudice and demonstrative religion." 

By exercising power unilaterally without any collective

responsibility and not taking opposition into confidence you have created a polarised society on the basis of 

Religion, creed and colour and pulled down the 

Fastest growing economy into the fastest slowing economy, all in the guise of  misplacd arrogance:

I am the king and I know everything

And anyone who opposes me is a traitor

And  an anti Indian .

Is this the way to govern the country?

In your smart india  digital India , the people especially

The poor, the marginalised, the informal and migrant labour are not the entities at all

You have never bothered at all

Whether they live or die, sink into poverty

Or swim through the muddled economic waters.

Small wonder then they say and 

We also say we don't mind if you go...

They don't mind if you go (2)

What was the trigger ,the proximate  factor for your elevation to the exalted August office of PM

Was it your infamous Gujarat model

Which has become a laughing stock now!?

in a pandemic situation when a moneyed fellow

Takes his private jet flys to Chennai to find a bed for treatment,

OR

LK Advani's ratha Yatra the fruits of which you have reaped,

Post kerseva violence, demolishing the Babri masjid and razing it to the ground ,

The shock and shame of communal riots

Orchestered mass violence and so on

God knows  everything ,we also know.

By molesting true Hinduism and completely distorting it 

And whipping up the passion of uncivilized,the barbarian crowd and also the meaner middle class segment/ the 

So called intellectuals and paid news,

You could effortlessly brainwash the clay heads

Soaked in blind faith over reason in the face of 

Divided, disgruntled, and chaotic opposition crowd

You could win the electoral battle

Not once, but twice  by our sheer karma

By selling stone soup to gullible public.

You could glorify your marketing skill and brand 

That brand ,that image is getting beating now

At home and abroad and for the first time 

We are receiving foreign aid from lesser and ordinary

Countries but they are great with compassion and tenderness , making you look

Small ,really small ,but your ego will hurt

And even now you are worried about your image

And not the agony and anger the nation is undergoing.

People don't mind if you go as you are yet to learn the art of governance with responsibility and sensitivity.

we don't mind if you go(1)

Right from sidelining and humiliating the seniors,

Preventing them from participating in the rat race

And declaring yourself as Prime ministerial candidate

Not withstanding the baggage of Godhra and the related court cases and wriggling out of them,

God alone knows ,how and why you were given this

Exalted status 

When there are more deserving people in the country

As a specialist in lies, naked lies 

 You threw away many promises:

I will bring back the Swiss money and put 

Fifteen lakhs in everyone's bank account

Create two crore jobs every year

Improve liquidity, enhance growth and so on, 

The promises which you were not going to fulfill

In your proposed Ramarajya.

Seven years after the assumption of office by sheer manipulative politics..and successfully thriving,

What remains now is :

The economy is crying for life and livelihood

Your indifference to pain of the people continues.

What worries and wounds the nation is not just 

Your unfulfilled promises but many misguided action

and policies that you have unleashed and 

They are countless and still they continue

You have cheated and disappointed the people 

 and wasted the unique chance, the 

God given opportunity to serve the nation.

 

Many sadistic actions and vindictive  policies

Insensitive attitude, misguided and short-sighted

Approaches,misplaced ego and heightened arrogance

Hurt the nation and now  choke the nation to death and despair..in pandemic times.

You have wrecked ruin on the 

Economy and the people.

We don't mind if you go

I loved a love once, fairest among women

In a few days our 49th marriage anniversary will come and it will go as it did come silently.

I am not willing to wait my dear

Fortunately my Adelaide Notebook presented itself

And invited me to embrace it

It is my treasure as I wrote more about you

When I was in the comforts of Adelaide  home

Chill weather but grandson made it warm

Being here but longing to be there

As all of us think is sheer madness.

My note books have the flavour of Nicholas sparks

Novel Notebook and movie and also the ever  lasting 

Notebook of Srinivas Ramunujam...

Now the poem written in 2020

When the time came for parting,

Did you carry any residual love towards me 

O my dear with all the love , locked into my heart

The lust ful love

I have had all through my life,

I could not convey

The crude reality now is I can never see you

Anymore but the memories,the ashes of memories

Will linger for ever and the fond hope is 

They will float in the molecules of brain

Until I disappear into air and get dissolved

Into cosmos and shake hands with the creator

All that my parents and you gave 

To enrich my life , especially the academic life 

In more than adequate measure

I can never return back in the same measure

In any birth..

One thing I am sure enough,

I will remember all of you and also the 

Infinite labour of many in turning this clay

Into a reading machine and writing organ 

Effortlessly, aimlessly and foolishly and more feverishly

The blessings which I could hardly receive

In the births to come and hence 

I will be grateful to the Lord with all

My anger and uneasiness towards to him.

Shall I conclude with a few lines from Charles Lamb

Poem, The Old Familiar Faces:

I loved a love once, fairest among women

Closed are her doors on me ,I must not see her-

All, all are gone ,the old familiar faces

................

How some of them have died and and some 

they have left me

And some are taken from me ;all are departed;

All ,all are gone ,the old familiar faces...

Postcript

This write up which began as a personal tribute to remember my better half

Ended up with the current contextual corana situation where many familiar faces are gone and life itself has become more fragile and like flickering in the wind.

She was neither the first nor was going to be the last....

She was neither the first nor going to be the last

Who was   hunted and chased by the vultures,

Crushed,molested and gang raped

Tongue cut, backbone broken, limbs paralysed,

The whole body and mind writhing in pain

Before she was finally massacred and murdered..

Buried in midnight in a forlorn place

By the State in a hurry with police honours?!

Denying the relatives to see her face

For the last time in this birth; 

The victim's relatives were confined at home 

Their mobiles were confiscated,

The entire village barricaded

Opposition leaders arrested, manhandled

And the daring journalists

Prevented from ntering the war zone 

With words of poison poured out by

The Drunken monkeys on the sordid event,

The script was complete...

It read like this :

The girl was not raped and the opposition

and the journalists were fomenting class tension

To tarnish the image of a well governed state

Others were instigating violence against the state.

Foreign hand  too was at work,

To destabilize the government and so on...

The indifference of police and Magistrate

The betryal of the state machinery

Frustrated and dominated by the State,

The silence of majority and distortion of truth

The denial to perform the last rites and mourn the death 

Continuing threats and intimidation of 

Victim's family .....enraged me, pained me 

I wrote to calm me down and prayed to 

The merciless God to rest her soul in peace.

It's the time to understand who we are and also love life as it's before us

While the poor are virtually thrown into vortex of unknown by the lock down and remain clueless and directionless about the future  , the affluent ones also have been afflicted with the fear of death.

With all material possessions and stock of wealth there is so much unhappiness and restlessness.. possessions have become burdens.

True there is destiny for each individual, but now the collective destiny of the nation engulfs both the haves and havenots, and hence this is the time to cultivate the community spirit and be of some help to fellow human.

This is the time to understand that noone  can live in an island and enjoy peace and happiness and it's dependent on the minimum peace and subsistent life to be guaranteed to others.

Poverty and inequality levels have deepened when desperate and dangerous disease has enveloped us like a Tsunami and we need desperate remedies .In the absence of effective government people have to step in.It is gratifying to note that in some pockets government has become more responsive and pro active to provide food  and other help....

The poverty of our country is so deep and it's unlike that of any other country. It has not arisen out of the natural scarcity but  rather accentuated by the misplaced priorities and the corporate centric governance as also the short sighted narrow political agenda.

It's widely acknowledged that the crisis of leadership has contributed to this man made disaster..one man's folly and ego, his blindness to values has made him the prisoner of himself and he is obsessed with only one thing:

Will my prestige be increased and with my own glory be augmented ?

It's time the stupid gaze, which is shallow and mute must give way to some tangible action.But we can't do much to alter his behaviour for he is one for whom everything in the world including central vista project becomes the occasion to serve his lust.The rest is accidental benefits that  the nation can hope to get with foreign aid and eventually it will be the states which will be delivering with all fiscal stress.

It appears the current pressure caused by the Indian variant of covid is unlikely to dissipate and give respite..what shall we do

We live in difficult times, indeed live in a  more turbulent period. Unless the governments act and people obey the laws of the road ,and co-operate with lockdown judiciously ,peace and quiet, job and growth, travel and merry making  will be a long drawn out process and we have to wait for the new new normal to arrive .

For the lesser privileged,for ages uncertainty about job and education ,have been haunting like ghosts and the main feature of life and now every step that they take dims their hope and disturb their determination and especially the migrant labour moves to their Home where there's nothing but love from nature and relations in village .

All of us are weighed down by the fear and just plain worn out unable to do anything.

It is not an easy moment for the economically impoverished  to get the necessary wherewithal.The mysterious disease has driven home that public health care system and universal vaccinations by the Government must be a norm independent of private sector network.

That is Amartya Sen matters and further means not Gujarat model and Jagdish Bhagawati will be just a matter of no consequence or significance.

It also underlines that the nation needs a leader who will not fool and behave like a baffoon but  can lead, set the pace,rectify the mistakes and plan for the rescue operation in both the short and medium run and take people and opposition into confidence .

We have seen the politicians of different shades waving their arm and shouting and more keen in winning election and they are scarcely visible now.

In this hour of crisis people have to help each other and quietly manauvre in learning lessons from survivors and educating fellow humans about the  impending danger of moving like a sheep in a herd mentality..

Let us hope that the semi virus which gets life only after entering into human body so to kill  the host will be cowed down by our tenacity and immunity...As it takes efforts to enhance its strength to cause havoc it goes without saying that  we too must augment our resistence and immune powers .It is a kind of war like situation.

Let us trust that the wheel of time will rotate with the grace of God deeply embodied  and we'll entrenched into health care workers, the frontline warriors and do the miracle and every cog in the administrative machine will  help the weak and the poor with all compassion and care.

Besides having faith  in the supreme ,the role of  science and rational attitude with heightened optimism when allowed  a free role  to play will go a long way in stamping out the cult of the devastating virus..

We can't be complacent and remain philosophical by saying it shall passe....if it is ...well and good .But the crude reality is already there is cry that Indian variant is  becoming strong and as someone wrote yesterday we will be lucky if it does not become Modi variant ..our inaction and bungling and our insensitivity in not taking care of the informal and migrant labour will have a serious consequences for the nation and huge spill over in the rest of the world inviting ridicule and retribution.

While the Director of PG centre Venkatasubramaniam was leaving ... after completing his tenure

Before joining the university I spent nearly a quarter century in the Pondicherry education al service and the newly established PG centre under the dynamic leadership of a chemistry professor imported from Chennai Vivekananda college embraced me in1989.Earlier I was at Bharathidasan from 1984 to 1989 

Those ten years were the golden days as I could operate in a congenial environment and teach.

This following extract is from my academic debris found yesterday, a simple text of the farwell speech to the Director.Usually I give an extempore address.This was an exception.

I stand before this august assembly to express our profound affection and regards to our Director who was chosen by the destiny to guide, nurse and nurture our infant centre  during the crucial formative periods and cement its foundation.Its continued existence and nourishment by the government depends on many its and buts.

When you came over here  as an outsider you had a definite comparitive advantage  in the sense that you could be least influenced by our actions and lobbying.

We were captivated by your scholarship, erudition, and right leadership and to me personally your command over language  and the free flow of thoughts and most important your fine rapport with the faculty.

Sir to put in my economics language  about your tenure, I would say that Adamsmith' s invisible hand and enlightened laissez-faire doctrine were at work during your regime and scarcely was there any surveillance over us  and we enjoyed the full degree of academic freedom given to us. Sir, may I tell you that we live d up to your expectations and the trust reposed in us.

Being academically strong and vibrant and administratively more demanding you ensured a healthy and competitive environment and you made the institution to grow from strength to strength.

When you leave , you can have a justifiable pride and satisfaction that you have done a neat job.

We will miss you and  pray  that God will shower upon you good health and peace.

A letter to the new Vice chairman of the corporate University seeking solace and comfort.

Dear Professor,

This is purely a personal letter not to be quoted for public consumption and nor  is to seek any kind of redressal of my academic grievances and injuries deeply into the layers of my heart and mind .Many things in life can wait.I am not in a hurry.

I am a faculty in the Pondicherry presidency college turned into a corporate University, a student of Madras presidency college and a product of Prestigious Gokhale institute of politics and Economics (M Phil and PhD,1978 to 1982).

Currently I am on sabbatical leave.

The ambitious target / agenda is to distill the essence of my reading and writing in the last three decades of my academic life .In the face of my stupidity in nt striking a responsible trade off between work and home ,I would like to take atleast first draft before joining my duty and do my teaching which I love most .

I must have written to you when you talked about academic corruption..

I have converted my anguished anger and irritations  with that subject you talked about by writing more than 100 to 150 poems under the title :

The wild Tigers can't be caged ..This publication can also wait

This letter is meant to share my joy over my lecture at RBI Chennai yesterday November 19 on the theme of " managing interest rate,inflation rate and exchange rate to top level RBI officials" from 11 am to 4 15 pm.

Absence of the title Professor was not a handicap.They addressed me as Professor..

Many a time I have had the fortune of enjoying  15 minutes of fame  but this was something special.

I do not want to die now 

Will you please give appoinment to meet you around the end of December.

Thanking you.

Professor Sam Sahayam

The reply did not come 

Sam also did not bother to see him after joining duty

It was a kind of love hate relationship.

Sam withdrew himself into a shell and kept aloof and got alienated from the system...

He is the best friend now to Sam.

Yes my text has been stained with tears

Long ago, not so long ago when my academic modesty was molested, virtually a gang rape by political animals 

Disguised in academic garb ,

Reading and writing came to my rescue

Wrote poems and that slim volume will appear later

Under the title :

A Silent Soliloquy on the Campus Politics:

The wild tigers can't be caged .

The opening para reads like this:

"Never again will a single story

be told as though it's the only one "

Says John Borger on whom

My literature daughter did MPhil dissertation.

Gentlemen of the jury,

There can never be a single story,

There are different ways of seeing,

When I look at the events gone by

It appears as if it's an incredibly a sad tale 

Of academic jealousy over my intensity in 

Teaching and the relevant writing on contemporary

National and international economic events...

The fear that it aroused 

The hatred it kindled

Culminating into the wicked acts of a 

Few stupid Heads at micro and macro level

Soaked in academic misery and drought

I did not commit suicide and instead

Embraced prof Paul Krugmans International economics

And taught with vengence...

My text is inevitably stained with tears.

This opening lines do capture th current crude reality of Modi's india unable to negotiate the covid storm

Transforming the nation into graveyard.

Following is my post Adelaide diary for perusal

By the true Indians to take stock of the situation

As the inept handling has more ramifications

For the future.

"Like tiny birds fallen, too soon from a nest"

The following lines were written when I was sitting in the comfort zone of Adelaide in 2020  freed from the stress of covid 19 but getting worried over the calamity in my home country.i am revisiing them now.

Conditions have become much worse now and life is just withering away just like that and corana is unleashing death in its own mysterious ways.

Samuel Becket comes to my rescue and console me :

One day we were born, one day we shall die,the same day the same second...

Birth astride of a grave, the light gleams as instant then it's night once more

A match flickers, but does not light.

Corana has taught what philosophy has laboured hard to convey:

Life is so fragile that it's merely an instant, it's in the moment right before you and just live .what about those who can't access economic wherewithal and sell their wares as inevitable lock down will put an understandable stress.

If treatment is given early after proper diagnosis and supplemented by doctor's help there is no problem.But the problem is neither the doctor nor the affected ones  do not know the impending dynamics in a world of uncertainty caused by scarcity of oxygen or vaccine or even food.Life has changed . confrontation with death is not at the appointed hour.The unbearable, unjust and unexpected presence of death just stare at us ..what possible sense could be made and what words I could use for their comfort.

Death of brother, classmate' s wife demise and the daily news of departure of known facesis just intimidating and paralysing the mind .

The existential dilemma of not just the poor but also the rich the super rich is real..

In a complicated and crisis situation like this ,corana kind of illness can either bring you together or it can tear you apart.All of us have to be there for each other.

Many do not think about death and assume that they will be here for ever...The isssue is not about living or death, but what kind of life is worth living and how are we going to live at margin...

Albert Einstein says:

There are only two ways to live your life.

One is as though nothing is a miracle

The other is as though everything is 

We shall be grateful for the roof over our head and a job that assures food on the table.

We shall treat everyone with gratitude and render all possible help to those who are in need .

(Adelaide diary2020 revisited)

The Letter to The Hindu written when I was a faculty in the PG center, but not published

Dear Sir

This has reference to your editorial Dispel the suspicion and the centre page article " Dog days for th Congress" 

In the wake of Mr Harshad Mehta's allegations against the PM the Congress party has become more sentimental about its leaders, notwithstanding the growing dissidence.

The party exists to stay in power and they exist to help it.Neither side forgets this for long.

I invoke Churchil to sum up the relationship:

"The loyalists which centers upon number one are enormous.If he trips , he must be sustained. If he makes mistakes they must be covered.if hi sleeps he must be wantonly disturbed.If he is no good , he must be pole-axed."

Mr Rao will be crowned in glory if he wins the ensuing assembly elections in the Northern States hitherto ruled by BJP and despatched with deadly efficiency if he fails

D Sambandhan

Pondicherry

Is life ordained from above and do we have any choice?what makes life meaningful and is there any purpose to life except to serve?

Why are we born?what we do while we are living?Are we making our life meaningful? Will we cease to exist after death? Is there anything in afterlife apart from lingering in t,he thoughts ofrelatives and friends and some known persons for  a while!

Is everything already programmed?Are we puppets in the drama of life? Shall we say there's nothing in life worth complaining or grieving because it's all maya and illusion or everything is there, and life is to enjoy the beauty and it's absurdity, but we hardly notice it...

All these philosophical questions matterto those  who are well placed and well settled and for the majority of the population in the world every day isa hell and every step that they take dims their hope and disturbs their determination while seeking job or getting  health care and shelter?

Why are some people selfish to the core, more greedy, more  mischievous and arrogant, more ambitious and more trecherous in indulging in corrupt and immoral practices, full of hatred and vengeance and more keen in appropriating the power and wealth and  to do all kinds of atrocities by dishonest and foul means and so on..Valluvar says this needs to be researched and investigated..

The important thing is how to live properly and that will help us how to die happily and honourably with dignity

The distance between tragedy and triumphs, between life and death is not distant, it's defined by a narrow distance.Death was there even while we were first conceived.Not all the sperms succeed in penetrating the egg in the uterus of the mother.It is the strongest, healthiest and the fastest one outsmart the equally efficient and qualified ones.There is probability and divine grace at work when this magic of fusion takes place.The fact of the matter is that while others die and give way a solitary , sturdy sperm alone wins the race.

The egg sperm fusion leading to the formation of the baby is a great wonder and  a lot of science and mathematics must have been incorporated along with other finer details.

Right from landing on earth with a welcome cry, till we go into the earth,back to the pavilion,every day every minute and every Nano seconds the old cells die and new cells are formed like autumn trees shed the leaves and spring back to life

If we know how to live properly and more meaningfully then it is easy to learn how to die more more honourably with dignity as and when it arrives, accepting the pain of reality.

If easiest death occurs at the ripe age like a candle melts and get dissolved it is bliss and best. One does not know both the timings and the mode of the arrival of death.This is a mystery. Saint valluvar was blunt in telling the plain fact that the person who was here yesterday has ceased to  exist today and he is no more and such is the greatness of the world...we shall live each moment enjoying the beauty and mystery of this life and death calculus.That will impart more sanity to our life.we shall measure our steps with all humility as our days are numbered. 

what we know is little! but we pretend as if we are jack of all trades and fool ourseves and the society

All through my academic life inclusive of my retirement period during which the academic greed has only increased,I knew that I did not know much, but constantly thinking how to improve my knowledge and update my self in teaching.with humility and a sense  Pride   I would say that amost of the things that I taught were learnt after getting the degree.Indeed most of us qualify for the degree only after getting it as my. Professor S P Viswanathan used to say at presidency college..He was my neighbour in the fourth or fifth floor at Bhashya Sadhanam lodge 49 Nallathambi street Triplicane.He and S P Palanisamy another professor who stayed with me on the same floor, were my mentors and guides who shaped me we'll both on the academic and personal sides.

When I came across the sentence,"we can only know that we  knew nothing.And that is the highest degree of human wisdom" in Leo Tolstoy ( war and peace) i was pleasantly surprised that I had already internalised that spirit of Tolstoy.

When I am in the sunset stage of my life I feel that I have forgotten my silken touch with my subject and I remain fully ignorant of what is happening around me as most of the news is fabricated..But with the four decades of teaching as the collateral I do have a semblance of some wisdom which must reside in some parts of molecules of the brain...At best I can be a good discussant than the main player....but given the compelling environment ,I have the mental stamina to wade through international economics.I can't escape from my discipline..That is not only my merit but also a disadvantage for I  will not be able to read other books...

Understanding the fact that I do not know and that I will not know much in future  and hence I should study as much as possible and as fast as possible is a sign of wisdom.

Tamil literature will merit  more attention than economics and I need them to survive as the ageing process is making me to feel sleepy cutting my active hours every day day and also açeleratea my sleep drought which is not healthy at this age ....I need to read   and write for my existence although  no one  is waiting in the queue....This gives an extra freedom and bonus to write what we feel.Nature will decide which one must survive.If it makes sense the internet will carry for a while and then the nature will take care of our residual as it has taken care of me this far .

Loving children and respecting them by listening to them is the greatest gift we shall ever bestow upon them

The other day I was re reading the famous write up by the poet Kahlil Gibran on children...I had already written it  in my diary...A few observations and comment from memory:

Children are not your children.True, they came through you, they are with you,they are like consumer goods when they are young and they enrich your life with their love, innocence and intelligence.They make you remember your own younger days, the forgotten golden days of your life.And yet they do not belong to you.They are not possessions like property..yes in a sense,they are more like investments,giving protective economic umbrella to parents especially when they do not have any post retirement benefits..There are countries now which impose conditions that grown up children should take care of the aged parents.

Children belong to the future.Their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow.They are the symbol of Power and beauty,adding more colours and festivity.Without them the house will not be home and the marriage boat is sometimes anchored well and does not get tossed or turned by stormy weather in their presence and fragrance.

So dear fellow parents,you can't behave like boss in the office and make a mess of their life by injecting your thought process into their mind and make them to live  a life which you desired but failed to do because it was beyond your reach.

You behave sensibily and more responsibly and try your level best to be an ideal role model.If they are convinced  with  your approach and atitude will be a good guidance they will emulate by seeing without any goading from your  side.

As argumentative humans, children should become anti authority and anti establishment and must merge as crusaders for change.

I love the children of the world..Many are deprived, without food on the table,and the tables are not also there because there is no shelter for them.without job and income their parents are unable to give them education and food and make their life free from misery...

Governments have a role to play to take care of them by  fine tuning policies from the corporate friendly concerns and  show a demonstrable evidence that they will be people centric in a typical Marxist perspective.

Flowers have a short lived life but the scent it leaves behind in its trail is everlasting

The green grass  while carpeting the earth silently

does not seek any recognition or any attention

But we do appreciate and rejoice over its beauty

When buds blossom into flowers

There's no one to celebrate its birth

But  they live fully and feverishly and more forcefully

Their existence is brief but bright and glorious

Radiating fragrance and flaunting multi colour

Again no audience is stationed there to applaud..

Long after they are fallen from the trees

And crushed under the feet of humans,

They do not experience any fear or pain

What's the secret behind this glorious existence

It's all the secent that they release while being crushed

While breathing with Stoic smile on their death bed.

The secent lingers for a long time,

Even after they are gone.

They are nameless and faceless,

Homeless and do not crow about their nationality.

I want to live like this flower

Thank God ,from the centre stage,

And all limelight I am now a spectator

Observing events as they unfold..

Before I get folded  up into mother earth

Returning back to the only place from where

I came,let me evolve as a man of good deeds

And leave behind the scent...

It was corruption then to place him on the pedestal, now corana has fully exposed his real colour and political charactor inviting ridicule and foreign aid from many countries in the world

Corruption has become an all pervasive  and all encompassing phenomenon and defies solution because no serious or sincere attempt has been made so far . This single term was played upon to dethrone the previous government.

The government which came to power by tinkering with this term by giving tall promises  to battle corruption, stamp out the Swiss black money deposit 15   lakhs in each account ,provide liquidity, stimulate growth and create 2 crore jobs per year , and so on has become a laughing stock.

Under the impact of the cumulative onslaught of the twins ,note ban and GST at high rates , growth not only faltered but also became  uneven and distorted and all the key variables which govern the growth process  became  anemic  ;it will take more time to return back to the old normal of high growth and the new normal will be  insignificant not worth mentioning.

Even when growth rate used to be very high ,there was a complaint that it was jobless growth .Imagine then what will be the employment secenorio now  four years after demo-when the twins have just devastated the economic fabric,and corana has intervened and contributed it's lion's share in deepening the employment crisis.

it  remains at 45 years high;Investment is at15 years low .bank lending has remarkably declined .For small and medium industries both finance and demand remain as problem.Rise in NPAs and corporate frauds and  selective concessions and loan write off in the current regime signals a massive redistribution of factor in favour of the capital.

The corporate friendly govrernment continues to be  indifferent to farmers problem and rural distress.The economy has suffered and there is no will to make amends for the cumulative policy errors.

 The so called   money channelld through the digital technology  in a more transparent way,the claim often made, is again doubtful and to what extent  the intended or targeted beneficiaries  have been benefitted.

In 2014 the launching pad was coruption,Ram temple , polarising india by denying economic and political space...

Today it is caught by the virus which has become more militant and virulent and its variant has spread to 44 countries and becoming a mnatter of global concern.who was responsible for this ?

What has gone wrong ? Is the government accountable and answerable?

Let me doucument it for posterity briefly.

(To be continued under the caption:

I can't breathe, cries the nation

We don't mind if he goes) 

.

I am a machine created for reading and teaching which I enjoyed most

In my 30s, I exercised

to look good.

In my50s,to stay fit

In my 70s to stay ambulatory.

In my 80s, to avoid

assited living.

Now in my 90s ,I am just

  doing it of pure defiance

Growing  BOLDER.COM

I am a machine created for devouring books

Said Mark once,

In my case I was made for reading and teaching

Going back to the quote,

I have not had the habit of exercising

When I have begun my early70s in 2020

I realise I must restart the machine and do

Simple breathing and stretching at least.

I am starved of good books and also deep sleep

For long being preoccupied with teaching and preparation

I hardly spent any quality time with my family and parents

When the old age catches up and Whispers my

Falling and failing in life, my burnt out life ,

Recklessly lived without much holidays, I repent now

Having had spent for more than a year at Adelaide

By being sleepy and becoming lazy, not walking much

I rest and relax but not getting refreshed or rejuvenated.

Will frozen shoulders and tired knees get a boost

and will God change me for the better

and enable me to do the work, reading and writing

And make me a bundle of energy, joy and peace.

I am D Sam and I do what I do

Poetry survives because it haunts and it haunts because it is simultaneously utterly clear and deeply mysterious,because it cannot be entirely accounted for, it cannot be exhausted, says Louise Gluck.

Mine is a poetic prose;words came to me from different sources and they just fitted into my story,-the life story.

.I am D Sam:I do what I do.I am what I am.By birth I am Tamil.And by sheer açcident my nationality is Indian,as my birth place and residence happen to be a part of India..But I consider myself as a world citizen.All countrymen are my relatives and I belong to the entire world.I can't escape from it.This is because the compassion for humanity is built into my system in a natural and normal way.

Who am I is a complex and difficult question.There is a poet, child, student, teacher and rebel in me.I am an argumentative Tamilian proud of my roots, and tradition.My ancestors and the language they have spoken have a rich legacy.I can't identify with the religion of Hinduism as Iam above religion.I do not invoke my caste name although I cannot escape from it..That can't be my identity.It was just a symbol, never misused by my father...

Iam spiritual and strictly not religious.I am sensible enough to understand that Iam not just the body, but inner consciousness...I am the soul and I do represent that self.I must be myself..I do not want to immitate or replicate someone..what I say or do is not to please others but to make life more meaningful and accountable.

What I prefer to eat what dress I want to wear,whom should I date and marry and how must I lead my life ,... the list is long and endless, it's my prerogative and my will.

Do not put your concept of religion, your awkward behaviour, your sense of hatred and your way of arrogant life on me.Let me lead my life with the sense of humour and compassion at heart.

I have been ordained by the destiny for a purpose.without grumbling and complaining let me do my work and negotiate all the vicious curves and  bends on the road of life..you don't have any right to confine me into the narrow walls of nationalism and destructive communalism.

A few confessional statements when the new year has just begun

I came to Adelaide for the first time in November 2017 close on the heels of  the demise of my love and life, my wife.She was not merely beautiful, more elegant and cultured but largely accommodative of my disorderly orderly behaviour and sheer madness in my teaching profession which called for a massive preparation every day and all through my teaching life at predegree, degree and postgraduate level be it at college and later at University, I never carried notes to my class and gave lecture extempore...The entire credit goes to her for my continued romance with my economics discipline.Furthermore,she did play an incredible role in g,icing birth to  three  daughters and raising them as responsible children and eventually getting them settled in life..

It was not a mean achievement for in the second half of her life she had more health problems and with all the stress of the economist hero of the Beautiful Mind movie she survived and braved all dangers and the wise and benevolent destiny conspired to help her and kept her in good humour....

In March2018 I returned back to my home town the French town Pondicherry with my Adelaide diary one .Next year I planned for a visit to the United States but for reasons known to the God, despite getting visa ,I cancelled it and during that period I wrote a lot of poems and  few of them were typed later at Adelaide...

The second trip again commenced from November 2019 for a long trip and the return ticket was booked for ,the month of May.

But the intervening of corana did upset all the plans and the entire 2020 was spent in this beautiful city.I lived through all the seasons and corana was not much of a problem even while it proved to be a great nuisance and disaster for the majority of the nations

Living through all these months at South Australia,in a perfect homely pleasant atmosphere I must have read more and written more although I did live with books and recorded my emotive feelings which will come under  the head scribbling pad from Adelaide 2019/2020.

One good thing,is that I wrote more poems in 2020..Most of my writings are mostly autobiographical, with the exception of articles in Business Line and   a university journal Erudition...

Let me make a new beginning from today to be a little more active  in blog writing and also using Norwood library...I do not know when the windows in the airport open for geting board pass to fly to my home town to experience the smells and sound of my place..until then let me do my work and also get engaged with my grandson who is mostly an explorer and space studies lover...

I am also going to be  Little cautious what I put in as foodand also look into breathing pattern and sleeping hours..welcome 2021 once again ....