Greek crisis in one line

“Weather is a great metaphor for life-sometimes it’s good, sometimes ,it’s bad, and there’s nothing much you can  do  about it but carry on umbrella or to dance in the rain”, is an apt quote to capture the existential dilemma of the country Greece known for its ancient civilization and the march of democracy. Ever since it joined  the Euro-Zone circus it has enjoyed the advantages of low inflation and the low interest rate but also suffered from the debt as it continued to live beyond its means perpetually as if there was no tomorrow.

The Result: It is now trapped into a serious economic mess and the devil speaks the truth   yes  IMF says the huge debt of Greece is unpayable and unsustainable  making us to remember what Keynes told  in the3  20’s that war reparation payment SOUGHT FROM The defeated power Germany was just impossible. That Germany has forgotten the past   and also the series of debt relief it got from the U.S during post war period and refuses to see the cracks on the EURO wall by denying debt relief and imposing austerity measures which will do more damage to Germany and also to euro experiment.

What I told for 90 minutes I cannot type now. To tell the story in one sentence we shall go back to the quote. Greece cannot afford to dance in the rain(remain in the euro union enjoy and suffer) but exit from it(take its own currency and get some long run protection after undergoing short term chaos.

Remembering my childhood Days

Recollecting those early childhood days

During the post operative days now

Made me to remember my parent’s love and care

I vividly remember those early pre-school days

When I willingly attended the class conducted

 On the piyol of an ancient building

This once upon a time housed the old police station

Under the French regime in my village

After drinking mother’s milk at 2 plus unashamedly

An Amrita which has had sustained

 My physical and mental stamina for ages

Imparting an enormous immune capacity and good health

Later the foundation laid by mother’s milk was

Supplemented by snacks in the evening

Right from the early stages of school

Yes, homely food when combined with hot bonda,

The first set prepared from the fresh unrefined groundnut oil heated

In the neighbour’s house destined for their  hotel in the market

Two plus one(the latter bonus for the first purchase)

Three bondas fused with freshly ground coconut/ green chillies chutney

Served on a daily basis as I ran to fetch them

After returning from school.

That taste still lingers in my tongue.

As the first love, sorry infatuation with a beautiful girl

In the troublesome teeny twenties

A clear one sided love buried into the deep recesses of the heart

I can live those days only in my memory.

Excerpts from the graduation DAY Address not delivered,only the introductory part

Following  is the introduction to a Graduation Day Address  prepared for  an institution  in response to telephonic invitation  and later  the  function was cancelled. The  full  text I am unable to locate. I have concealed the identity of the institution.

At the very outset let me express my sincere thanks and heartfelt gratitude for giving me the pleasant and proud privilege to address the engineering graduate students of the reputed X Group of institutions, It is not only an honour but also a duty as I had been associated with this academic intuitions since its inception. I distinctly remember The Hindu Business Line Club debate and discussion and also some keynote addresses I have  given on this platform.

There are so many issues and problems crying for attention and solution. Given my International Economics and also philosophical background I will attempt to dwell upon a few themes which need not be continuous or connected but more relevant    in so far as drawing attention of the public is concerned.

More than four decades of rigorous teaching and serious research experience have given me some knowledge and academic solidity that I would confine myself to a few select themes and say things which normally many others would like to gloss over and hence hesitate to tell and therefore would remain unsaid.

 

In that sense in what follows I would be more unconventional and unusual in my articulation and I will take sufficient care that i will not permit myself to   transgress the boundaries of established tradition and self imposed discipline.

At a time when there is more chaos in the oil rich middle East countries, which has greatly affected our oil imports and also hastened the process of repatriation of our workers there including the Nurses we have made a silent revolution in changing the political landscape of the country by breaking the monopoly power of congress party which has now touched the bottom for the first time in the history. The credit goes to the matured though illiterate masses. Unlike some of our neighbours the greatest thing about our democracy is its resilience and vibrancy although the residual elements of feudal dynasty still lingers in a larger measure.

An equally significant development was the elevation of an ordinary OBC candidate who sold tea at railway station helping his family as a school going kid who could fit himself as chief Minister of a state and later get into the driver’s seat of Prime Minister,buldozing the opposition both from within and also outside  and also much against the heavy odds and trenchant criticism levelled against him. To what extent there is going to be a paradigm shift in policies and programmes we are not sure as the first truncated budget does not have the firework of the previous NDA REGIME of the late 1990’s. However as thanks giving gesture some concession has been shown to the middle class. No measures for fireworks in stock market but a verbal concern for the poor. Regardless of one’s own likes or dislikes Modi’s victory has imparted stability to our polity and economy.

All of you know since the darker days of global economic crisis close on the heels of sub-prime Lending crisis and the consequent recession all over the world the growth impulses have been crippled. We are now growing at a rate far below our potentials. The paradox however is that with low and sluggish growth there is more inflation especially on fuel and food  and they defy solution. Huge trade and current account deficits and also fiscal deficits continue to pose more risk putting pressure on rupee value and also preventing us from lowering the interest rate. Erosion of money value is reflected in escalation in gold price and real estate values. Many poor people can not afford house and even minimum jewels.

I am not a religious or a spiritual person in the strict sense of the term. I never had the habit of going to temple on my own. I have had more quarrels with God for all the atrocities unleashed on the weak and the deprived. Despite my school friends’ attempt to goad me towards God worship ping it was only short lived.Nevertheless, over the years, there has been a feeling of faith enveloping me that there is some super power and that all the events have been programmed and that it is all destiny written already and nothing can be done about it. Buddha and Osho  are appealing to me now. My current state is that my anguished anger against the creator continues. It is a kind of love –hate relationship.

I was never an atheist.But I am against  the instutionalis ation  and commercialization of  religion .I hate  all kinds of fundamentalists who interfere into the personal freedom  of worship.worship. Exploiting religion for political agenda is the most cruelest and crudest crime as the corrupt politician is a terror to society cutting into the vitals of the system. Instead of celebrating the diversity and oneness of God, there is more violence and vandalism in the name of religion, caste and creed.

 I am A Hindu by birth.It was just an accident. This does not imply that  I should undermine other  faith.It is only those who are ignorant of The supreme and also  intoxicated with outmoded custom and aggrandizement of power are tending towards religious warfare as if there is no real work to do.

A truly religious person or a Marxist is a humanist –a compassionate one, and he or she will work for the welfare of the poor and the weak. Stumbling upon such a true communist or a spiritualist is a rare phenomenon as the atomic particles of the human society have been hijacked by money making madness.V R Krishna Iyer or Ramana or vallalar or swamy vivekanda to name a few are only illustrative examples an the number is diminishing How the Govt could allow the political p-arties and religious intuitions  roll in billions of dollars escaping from both accountability and taxes.

Writing is more than breathing and living and must become a way of life

“Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholies the panic fear which is inherent in the human situation,”says Graham Greene.

All of us have some innate talents and we hardly realize it in the early stages of life. The current system of education is such that there is more emphasis on memorizing rather than thinking creatively; there is very little time for sports and other extracurricular activities.

It is only by extensive reading, one can develop the art of writing in an effortless fashion

Thanks to the teaching profession I could enjoy my reading and writing. Post-retirement, there is less space and compulsion to do both,  but I have the freedom to taste hundreds of books which still remain  absolutely virgin not opened up.

In the last 50 years I have recorded my reflections on life as also my subject. The supreme will not forgive me if I fail to put some order in the disorderly academic life. Revisiting my notebook/diary/journal by re reading and re-writing will act as a therapy satisfying to the soul besides reading many things under the sun.

when the writer Jeyakanthan told long ago  that his writing phase was over as he has done enough,his friend  the famous music legend Ilayaraja who was nearby told that he was now only starting .Writing  becomes inevitable when feelings overflow and you feel like expressing yourself.

we came alone ;at the expiry date go alone into the unknown;until then

All of us came alone into this world

By a strange quirk of fate or karma

For a purpose well structured, but clearly undefined

For us at that time.

All through my life I have been blanketed by

Kith and kin ,friends and foes, wife and children

A  crowd of people-good, bad and ugly

At times cooperating but many a time confronting,

Sometime conducting an exhibition in the art of flattery,

while playing this enchanting  game of life 

With all its sweet and bitter memories

As a participant and also as a spectator

I have been not swayed by notional and fictious

Relationship and non-existent love and concern

I have stood alone in a crowd of hypocrites.

When the game is over we all will go alone

Into the unknown-the mystery world,

The territory nobody has seen

 And the ambience no one could describe

Until then we will do whatever good we could do

And the kindness we All of us came alone into this world

By a strange quirk of fate or karma

For a purpose well structured, but clearly undefined

For us at that time.

All through my life I have been blanketed by

Kith and kin ,friends and foes, wife and children

A  crowd of people-good, bad and ugly

At times cooperating but many a time confronting,

Sometime conducting an exhibition in the art of flattery,

while playing this enchanting  game of life 

With all its sweet and bitter memories

As a participant and also as a spectator

I have been not swayed by notional and fictious

Relationship and non-existent love and concern

I have stood alone in a crowd of hypocrites.

When the game is over we all will go alone

Into the unknown-the mystery world,

The territory nobody has seen

 And the ambiance no one could describe

Until then we will do whatever good we could do

And the kindness we can show,

For there is no guarantee that we are going to

Travel this way as the Kural say

There is nothing to gain, nothing to lose

Nothing ventured,nothing gained

There is always reward for

Audacity and courage,

My dear,have courage in your hands

And face life as it unfolds.

There is nothing to gain,nothing to lose,

You only need  to appreciate

Mother Nature and merge with it.

Remember. Time will change and heal

All sorrows and pain

Kindly note even the transient pleasure

That all of us experience has an expiry date.

Shall we listen to Hal Borland:

“No winter lasts for ever,

No spring skips its turn

Knowing trees I understand

The meaning of patience.

Knowing grass I can

Appreciate PERSISTANCE"