POETRY : MEANT TO FADE AWAY

MEANT TO FADE AWAY…

There was a world free of care,

Where time didn’t fly, and people didn’t stare,

Where the meadows remained green,

Yes, there was a time; there had to be;

A time, somewhere in between.

When love not glitter, united brothers,

When there stood a helping hand,

At every street, at every bend,

To dust off all blues,

To be the human, the human god had sent!

The fields were endless, the greenery magnified,

Where we were rocked our lives’ cradle,

Yes there was a time; there had to be;

A time, simple yet mystified.

What we are now and what we were ages back,

What we could have been…

What lies today are just memories,

Now scrambled on paper,

We try and fail everyday to mend our lives astray,

Yes, there was a time; there had to be;

A time, meant to fade away.

(c)SANGBID KUNDU

                                                                                                      2012

POETRY : SUFFOCATION

SUFFOCATION

Something snaps; pulls me underneath,

With sheer gust and overwhelming strength,

I know I can resist, but I can’t fight!

His resolve remains unquestioned.

I am a frail, tethered leaf,

How shall I fight the multitudes?

How shall I seek my way?

Through this unnerving crescendo!

Never belittle life, they say.

We chose what we chose to be,

Yet I feel that fallacious drive,

To blame my alter-ego at futility!

Why can’t I give in?

To this suffocating paranoia!

I am not gasping for breath,

I am in dire need for.

Deep down my haunted past,

Something flickers…

I wish I was bold enough!

I wish I hadn’t dawdled;

At the expense of uncertainty!

The longings are no longer mine,

I didn’t know when I was sweetly strangled,

I don’t know, why a day fades away,

Moments came and moments went,

I wish I could turn away…

(C) SANGBID KUNDU

2012

POETRY: MY PREDICAMENT

 I was here,

And I hold in my heart all my friends close and dear.

If I was gone tomorrow, would people even care? 

Would they even notice that I was not there? 

I know some people would not be upset about me

Those people, at my funeral I would not see.

If no one was there, I would be sad, 

But in a way, I would be glad.

I don't want anyone to be sad that I am not here, 

I don't want them to be sad or even shed a tear.

I want to see them with a smile on their face, 

And not to see sadness in this case, 

I just want them to be happy that they knew me, 

And for them to know that I am finally set free.

I will still be around anyhow, 

Even though they cannot see me now.

I'll still be here to help heal hearts, 

Maybe now I can stop the pain before it starts.

So do not be sad that I have gone away, 

Because in your heart, I will stay.

As long as you continue to believe, 

There is no real reason to grieve.

I'll still be around somewhere near, 

And you can call on me, and I'll be here.

(C)

SANGBID KUNDU

2010

POETRY: A RELINQUISHED NIGHTMARE

I felt an exuberant upbeat,
With heavenly attires prest at my feet
Not long ago I was fragmented
Happiness was no longer my friend…
It left me…
For now lived an empty heart in an empty soul.
Strangely enough though…I felt,
As if some quest was beckoning me,
I went deep into the ocean of thoughts…
In vain, conjecturing the future.
But the future looked ominous, I must say,
With events so dreadful, hideous for the eyes
I say not because I thought so
But because it shook even the heavenly skies.
The milieu was no longer mellow, the skies glared,
Oh! What a sight that was... A sight pleading for mercy.
Quite a fusion it was… the moment,
I cannot quite simplify.
With thorns akin to my life’s darkest of ordeals,
Were lain out and they had gone into the horizon…

That endeavor was nothing like before,
My nightmare reveals.
I felt as if I lay in chains…
Bounded by my very own suspicion,
In sheer desperation, I let out a yell.
Suddenly the tide turned and my pain began to cease,
Not in jiffy though but rather peevishly,
As if, it did not want to go away.
Then I felt my pulse rate slowing…
I gave the nightmare second thoughts and let it merge…
Amidst my memories of disdain.



SANGBID KUNDU
Oct,2009

(C) sangbid kundu
2009-10

POETRY: MUDPITS

Across roads and pathways, 

They lay plaintive; cursed in agony; 

Never to speak up again.

They lie in various knots and often jut, 

Protruding out from a hated circumference, 

Some lie peacefully asleep, 

Beneath apple wood and elms.

The agile, the swift and the ones emboldened, 

Seethe with rage, but only with reckoning to hindsight

They arise in apt predicaments, the mudpits.

م 

Tiny huge, clumsy and shallow, 

Blemished pretty faces-

With nothing more than a jarred descend, 

The hurt the ones less wary and nimble, 

With ruthless intent.

Only when the blasé time draws its curtains, 

Will they stop, with ceased recurring, 

For now at least, the mudpits continue....

(c) SANGBID KUNDU

2010 

A tête-à-tête WITH MAMONI ROISOM GOSWAMI

They say, some instances in one’s life are worth forgetting and some rare instances are worth their weight in gold. And truly, each moment of this interaction with one of the most knowledgeable individuals that we have come across, was worth a lifetime. The words she shared with us were the words of gold. One of the most popular literary geniuses in Assam, Late Dr Indira Goswami, popularly renowned as Mamoni Roisom Goswami, is the Prince Claus Award winner for literature and the winner of the reputed Gnanpith award. Spending time with her, listening to her experiences and her compendium of wise talks was a reminiscent of a dream come true for me. Months after her sad demise, I reflect back on those moments and realize that I was lucky enough to have met such a lustrous genius, who had her own way with words… I, being a curious 15 year old back then, blurted out questions at her, silly and cerebral alike. And she was more than pleased to answer them all, with an ever lasting smile that was as lucid as water...

The following are excerpts of that intriguing session.

1.     Ma’am, what are your thoughts when you write a story?

Ans: Well, writing a story is spontaneous…it is natural. The creativity while writing a story comes out by itself. Whenever I am writing a story, I only focus on the topic that I am writing. It follows with a deep flow of thought and a continuous sense of gravity.

2.     Who inspired you to write?

Ans:  My greatest inspiration has been my mother, Upen Lekharo…Moreover; I was also quite aided by my atmosphere. Kritinath Hazarika, I remember, once told me to write a story and wanted to see my hand in writing. Then…I wrote about an elephant which was gifted to me and my brother by our father. Surprisingly, the story was so well knit that it came to be published in Kritinath Hazarika’s journal. This was the genesis of my writing life.

3.   Do you think that creativity of students can only be developed through vernacular medium?

Ans:  According to me,…I think creativity is universal. But the limitation of vernacular medium is that the creativity of the student is not expressed at the broader level… (i.e) to the outer world. Hence, English is equally important to express one’s creativity at a more higher platform. It is a global language and the grip on its language is very much required.

4. Now-a-days, students opt for an English medium school. Do you think the importance given to the vernacular medium is declining.?

Ans: Well, it is declining, to say the least and it is happening at quite a large scale. It is necessary that a student should be well versed with his or her mother tongue as well as the other languages spoken in the community. This declination can be stopped,… if again the vernacular languages are include in the curriculum and are given equal importance as the other subjects. But again English cannot be ignored. It is the window to the outer world and one should expertise in it to earn higher accolades in creativity.

5. How have you been managing your writings with your job?

Ans: See… … after my husband’s tragic death, I was provided with a scholarship to research on Vrindavan and I accepted it even if I knew that melancholy was due. After a few years, I got a job in Delhi University to teach modern Indian language. But I am always at ease while writing. My colleagues and friends provide me the moral support that keeps me egging on and on.

6.  Mam, which novel or book would you recommend for us, the younger generation?

Ans:  Tulsidas’ Ramcharitamanas, because it has very high morals and teaches us the values of a successful life.

7. Ma’am, do you think that the beauty of the story is lost while translation?

Ans: Yes, it is very true that the vigour that you feel while reading an original work is lost after it’s translation in the other languages. The essence and the charm of the story is not quite the same. But… sometimes writings get better after translation. Like my Assamese novel got better after translation to the English as “The Man from Chinnamasta. But this happens once in a blue moon.

8. Keeping in mind, a great career ahead, what would you suggest for the students of Assam?

Ans: The students of Assam have a bright and a colorful future ahead of themselves. The students should actively take part in sports and physical education. … I remember, once Swami Vivekananda said, “You will learn more if you play football, rather than reading the Gita.”… This is because sports teaches us the long forgotten value of companionship and enhances the co-operative spirit within us and brings out the leadership capabilities. These values are of vital importance to survive in this competitive world. Sports channelize our extra knowledge. Moreover, we should be a true human and be spiritual. We should be humble and generous by nature in order to become a successful person ahead.

9.  Ma’am, can you please suggest at least five best colleges to pursue education in all the streams in Delhi?

Ans:  For Arts—The Stephens, Hindu

             For Science Stream—Ramdas, Stephens, Shyambal, Hindu and many more.

10. while writing a story, what do you think of mostly?

Ans:  Well… as I am a novelist, it is very important to end the story well, because the ending leaves the deepest impression on the reader’s minds. The entire success of the novel depends on the ending. If we know the ending, the beginning becomes lot easier.

11.  How was it possible for you to take an initiation on the ULFA peace? Do you think they will be able to succeed in their motive of making Assam a free, independent state?

Ans:  I am a humanist…I always wanted to write a novel on riot. One day, I suddenly got a phone call from Paresh Baruah. I always write, “I was human and was amidst the riot.” An independent Assam would be more chaotic to administer than the present day Assam but it is very true that our fellow compatriots inconsiderately neglect the North East.

THE CONVERSATION TOOK PLACE ON THE 18^TH OF MARCH, 2010 AT HER RESIDENCE IN GUWAHATI

GANDHI'S FIRST LETTER TO LORD IRWIN

Lord Irwin, 1919

MK Gandhi, 1919

WHY I REGARD THE BRITISH RULE AS A CURSE!

Dear Friend,

Before embarking on Civil Disobedience and taking the risk I have dreaded to take all these years, I would fain approach you and find a way out. My personal faith is absolutely dear. I cannot intentionally hurt any thing that lives, much less fellow-human beings even though they may do the greatest wrong to me and mine. Whilst therefore I hold British rule to be a curse, I do not intend to harm a single Englishman or any legitimate interest he may have in India.

I must not be misunderstood. Though I hold the British rule in India to be a curse, I do not therefore consider Englishmen in general to be worse than any other people on earth. I have the privilege of claiming many Englishmen as dearest friends. Indeed much that I have learnt of the evil of British rule is due to the writings of frank and courageous Englishmen who have not hesitated to tell the unpalatable truth about that rule.

And why do I regard the British rule as a curse?

It has impoverished the dumb millions by a system of progressive exploitation and by a ruinously expensive military and civil administration which the country can never afford.

It has reduced us politically to serfdom. It has sapped the foundations of our culture, and, by the policy of disarmament, it has degraded us spiritually. Lacking inward strength, we have been reduced by all but universal disarmament to a state bordering on cowardly helplessness.

In common with many of my countrymen, I had hugged the fond hope that the proposed Round Table Conference might furnish a solution. But when you said plainly that you could not give any assurance that you or the British Cabinet would pledge yourselves to support a scheme of full Dominion Status, the Round Table Conference could not possibly furnish the solution for which vocal India is consciously, and the dumb millions unconsciously, thirsting. Needless to say there never was any question of Parliament's verdict being anticipated. Instances are not wanting of the British Cabinet, in anticipation of Parliamentary verdict, having pledged itself to a particular policy.

The Delhi interview having miscarried, there was no option for Pandit Motilal Nehru and me but to take steps to carry out the solemn resolution of the Congress arrived at in Calcutta at its Session of 1928.

But the resolution of Independence should cause no alarm if the word "Dominion Status", mentioned in your announcement, has been used in its accepted sense. For, has it not been admitted by responsible British statesmen that Dominion Status is virtual Independence? What however, I fear, is that there never has been any intention of granting such Dominion Status to India in the immediate future.

But this is all past history. Since the announcement many events have happened which show unmistakably the trend of British policy.

It seems as clear as day light that responsible British statesmen do not contemplate any alteration in British policy that might adversely affect Britain's commerce with India or require impartial and close scrutiny of Britain's transactions with India. If nothing is done to end the process of exploitation, India must be bled with an ever increasing speed. The Finance Member regards as a settled fact the 1s. 6d. ratio which, by a stroke of the pen, drains India of a few crores. And when a serious attempt is being made through a civil form of direct action to unsettle this fact among many others, even you cannot help appealing to the wealthy landed classes to help you to crush that attempt in the name of an order that grinds India to atoms. Unless those who work in the name of the nation understand and keep before all concerned the motive that lies behind the craving for Independence, there is every danger of independence itself coming to us so charged as to be of no value to those toiling voiceless millions for whom it is sought and for whom it is worth taking. It is for that reason that I have been recently telling the public what independence should really mean.

Let me put before you some of the salient points. The terrific pressure of land revenue which furnishes a large part of the total revenue, must undergo considerable modification in Independent India. Even the much vaunted permanent settlement benefits a few rich Zamindars not the ryots. The ryot has remained as helpless as ever. He is a mere tenant at will. Not only then has land revenue to be considerably reduced, but the whole revenue system has to be so revised as to make the ryot's good its primary concern. But the British system seems to be designed to crush the very life out of him. Even the salt he must use to live is so taxed as to make the burden fall heaviest on him if only because of the heartless impartiality of its incidence. The tax shows itself still more burdensome on the poor man when it is remembered that salt is the one thing he must eat more than the rich man both individually and collectively. The drink and drug revenue too is derived from the poor. It saps the foundations both of their health and morals. It is defended under the false pleas of individual freedom, but in reality it is maintained for its own sake. The ingenuity of the authors of the Reforms of 1919 transferred this revenue to the so-called responsible part of dyarchy so as to throw the burden of prohibition on it, thus from the beginning rendering it powerless for good. If the unhappy Minister wipes out this revenue, he must starve education, since in the existing circumstances he has no new source of replacing that revenue. If the weight of taxation has crushed the poor from above, the destruction of the central supplementary industry, i.e., hand-spinning, has undermined their capacity for producing wealth.

The tale of India's ruination is not complete without a reference to the liabilities incurred in her name. Sufficient has been recently said about these in the public Press. It must be the duty of a free India to subject all liabilities to the strictest investigation and repudiate those that may be adjudged by an impartial tribunal to be unjust and unfair. The iniquities sampled above are maintained in order to carry on a foreign administration, demonstrably the most expensive in the world. Take your own salary. It is over Rs. 21,000 per month besides many other indirect additions. The British Prime Minister gets 5,000 per year, i.e., over Rs. 5,400 per month at the present rate of exchange. You are getting over Rs. 700 per day against India's average income of less than annas 2 per day. The Prime Minister gets Rs. 180 per day against Great Britain's average income of nearly Rs. 2 per day. Thus you are getting much over 5,000 times India's average income. The British Prime Minister is getting only 90 times Britain's average income. On bended knee I ask you to ponder over this phenomenon. I have taken a personal illustration to drive home a painful truth. I have too great a regard for you as a man to wish to hurt your feelings. I know that you do not need the salary you get. Probably the whole of your salary goes for charity. But a system that provides for such an arrangement deserves to be summarily scrapped. What is true of the Viceregal salary is true generally of the whole administration.

A radical cutting down of the revenue, therefore, depends upon an equally radical reduction in expenses of administration. This means a transformation of the scheme of Government. This transformation is impossible without independence. Hence, in my opinion, the spontaneous demonstration of 26th January, in which hundreds of thousands of villagers instinctively participated. To them Independence means deliverance from the killing weight. Not one of the great British political parties, it seems to me, is prepared to give up the Indian spoils to which Great Britain helps herself from day to day, often in spite of the unanimous opposition of Indian opinion.

Nevertheless if India is to live as a nation, if the slow death by starvation of her people is to stop, some remedy must be found for immediate relief. The proposed conference is certainly not the remedy. It is not a matter of carrying conviction by argument. The matter resolves itself into one of matching forces. Conviction or no conviction Great Britain would defend her Indian commerce and interest by all the forces at her command. India must consequently evolve force enough to free herself from that embrace of death. It is common cause that, however disorganised and for the time being insignificant it may be, the party of violence is gaining ground and making itself felt. Its end is the same as mine. But I am convinced that it cannot bring the desired relief to the dumb millions. And the conviction is growing deeper and deeper in me that nothing but unadulterated non-violence can check the organised violence of the British Government. Many think that non-violence is not an active force. It is my purpose to set in motion that force as well against the organised violence force of the British rule as the unorganised violence force of the growing party of violence. To sit still would be to give rein to both the forces above mentioned. Having unquestioning and immovable faith in the efficacy of non-violence as I know it, it would be sinful on my part to wait any longer. This non-violence will be expressed through civil disobedience for the moment confined to the inmates of the Satyagraha Ashram, but ultimately designed to cover all those who choose to join the movement with its obvious limitations.

I know that in embarking on non-violence, I shall be running what might fairly be termed a mad risk, but the victories of truth have never been won without risks, often of the gravest character. Conversion of a nation that has consciously or unconciously, preyed upon another far more numerous, far more ancient and no less cultured than itself is worth any amount of risk.

I have deliberately used the word conversion, for my ambition is no less than to convert the British people through non-violence and thus make them see the wrong they have done to India. I do not seek to harm your people. I want to serve them even as I want to serve my own. I believe that I have always served them. I served them up to 1919 blindly. But when my eyes were opened, and I concieved non-co-operation the object still was to serve them. I employed the same weapon that I have in all humility successfully used against the dearest members of my family. If I have equal love for your people with mine, it will not long remain hidden. It will be acknowledged by them even as members of my family acknowledged it after they had tried me for several years. If people join me as I expect they will, the sufferings they will undergo, unless the British nation sooner retraces its steps, will be enough to melt the stoniest hearts.

The plan through civil disobedience will be to combat such evils as I have sampled out.

If we want to sever the British connection, it is because of such evils. When they are removed the path becomes easy. Then the way to friendly negotiation will be open. If the British commerce with India is purified of greed, you will have no difficulty in recognising our independence. I respectfully invite you then to pave the way for an immediate removal of those evils and thus open a way for a real conference between equals, interested only in promoting the common good of mankind through voluntary fellowship and in arranging terms of mutual help and commerce suited to both. You have unnecessarily laid stress upon the communal problems that unhappily affect this land. Important though they undoubtedly are for the consideration of any scheme of government, they have little bearing on the greater problems which are above communities and which affect them all equally. But if you cannot see your way to deal with these evils and my letter makes no appeal to your heart, on the 11th day of this month I shall proceed with such co-workers of the Ashram as I can take to disregard the provisions of Salt laws. I regard this tax to be the most iniquitous of all from the poor man's standpoint. As the Independence Movement is essentially for the poorest in the land, the beginning will be made with this evil. The wonder is, that we have submitted to the cruel monopoly for so long. It is, I know, open to you to frustrate my design by arresting me. I hope there will be tens of thousands ready in a disciplined manner to take up the work after me, and in the act of disobeying the Salt Act lay themselves open to the penalties of a law that should never have disfigured the Statute-book.

I have no desire to cause you unnecessary embarrassment or any at all so far as I can help. If you think that there is any substance in my letter, and if you will care to discuss matters with me, and if to that end you would like me to postpone publication of this letter, I shall gladly refrain on receipt of a telegram to that effect soon after this reaches you. You will however do me the favour not to deflect me from my course unless you can see your way to conform to the substance of this letter.

This letter is not in any way intended as a threat, but is a simple and sacred duty peremptory on a civil resister. Therefore I am having it specially delivered by a young English friend, who believes in the Indian cause and is a full believer in non-violence and whom Providence seems to have sent to me as it were for the very purpose.

I remain,
Your Sincere friend.
M. K. GANDHI.

Source: Famous Letters of Mahatma Gandhi, Indian Printing Works, Lahore (1947)

TIME TRAVEL AND ITS POSSIBILITIES

Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space, either sending objects (or in some cases just information) backwards in time to some moment before the present, or sending objects forward from the present to the future without the need to experience the intervening period.

According to Newton’s theory of special relativity, space and time are defined in different axis, and theoretically, matter and timeframecan be altered, to say the least. And heavier the matter or mass of the object in space, greater is its effect on time, and vice versa. Let me give you one example. Our satellites, Along the gravitational perimeters of the earth, time run slower than what it does at the surface of the earth. And so, the satellites are programmed in accordance with the slower time frame.

Some theories, most notably special and general relativity, suggest that suitable geometries of spacetime, or specific types of motion in space, might allow time travel provided these geometries or motions are possible. In technical papers, physicists generally avoid the commonplace language of "moving" or "traveling" through time and instead discuss the possibility of closed timelike curves, which are worldlines that form closed loops in spacetime, allowing objects to return to their own past, but the physical plausibility of these solutions is uncertain.

Backwards time travel seems to be a more modern idea, but the origin of this notion is also somewhat ambiguous. A very big and simple problem is the Grandfather paradox. The grandfather paradox is a hypothetical situation in which a time traveler goes back in time and attempts to kill his grandfather at a time before his grandfather met his grandmother. If he did so, then his mother or father never would have been born, and neither would the time traveler himself, in which case the time traveler never would have gone back in time to kill his grandfather. Again, the very fact that time runs slower in outer space gives rise to the curious notion that there may be some place in space where time stops or ceases to have its effect. But again, in space gravity is present, so there must be a centre to this gravity. But again, post newtonian astro physics considers space to be infinite. So, there can be infinite centres of gravity.

We know today, space is filled with something called anti-matter where the axes of space and spacetime are ambiguous. So, these voids, present us with the opportunity of believing that there may be some spaces where time ceases to be.  But the very fact that we can have infinite centres of gravity creates a paradox because then every part of the space can theoreticaly be under effect of gravity and this would cause the time line curve to bend. So, since the time line curve can bend, another concept of time travel has evolved, the wormholes. In physics, a wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that would be, fundamentally, a "shortcut" through spacetime. A wormhole is, in theory, much like a tunnel with two ends each in separate points in spacetime.

The theory of general relativity predicts that if traversable wormholes exist, they could allow time travel. However, time connects differently through the wormhole than outside it, and ,moreover, the two ends of the wormhole can have different timelines with respect to the extent of gravitation at that point. So, what may be the consequence of an event in one timeline, may be the cause of another…but this is fundamentally impossible as then it will violate …..

TIME, a no spatial continuous flow in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future. Can this flow be stopped? Manipulated? Tampered with in a way that we see fit? What will we see in both our past and into our future?! These are the questions mankind spend aeons contemplating, staring into the limitless sky and asking is time travel really possible? These are the questions that have intriguged us from generations and will continue to do so, in the near future as well…

Super-super moon??!!

On March 19^th 2011, the moon will make its closest approach to Earth in almost 20 years, possibly triggering earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other disasters, claims astrologer Richard Noell.

The phenomenon, called lunar perigee or Supermoon, happens when the moon reaches its absolute closest point to Earth. On March 19, the natural satellite will be only 221,567 miles away from our planet.

There were Supermoons in 1955, 1974, 1992 and 2005, and these years had their share of extreme weather conditions, too. Although there are scientific laws that say the moon affects the Earth, it's still ambiguous whether the lunar perigee and natural disasters is coincidence or not.

Two days after online warnings that the Supermoon might trigger disasters, the devastating Japanese tsunami forced everyone to think - could the movement of the moon cause natural calamities?

"Supermoons have a historical association with strong storms, very high tides, extreme tides and also earthquakes," the Daily Mail quoted astrologer Richard Nolle, who first coined the term in 1979, as saying in an interview with ABC radio.

However, scientists dismiss this as utter nonsense.

Dr David Harland, space historian and author, said, "It's possible that the moon may be a kilometre or two closer to Earth than normal at a perigee, but it's an utterly insignificant event."

Professor George Helffrich, a seismologist at the University of Bristol was equally dismissive.

"Complete nonsense. The moon has no significant effect on earthquake triggering. If the moon triggers "big" earthquakes, it would trigger the many of millions of times more "small" earthquakes that happen daily. There is no time dependence of those; hence no moon effect," he said.

It is obviously clear to the meekest of layman that the 8.9 earthquake that shook japan was caused by the plunging of the "ring-of-fire" tectonic plates underneath the country.

However, while hoping for a non-disastrous ‘moon giant’, point your eyes and camera lenses toward the night sky on 19th. If the sky is clear, you’re gonna get an exceptional celestial treat.

Fiction: Something Strange Happens Everyday

A man, Bob Johnson, leans on a cold, concrete pillar, silently waiting for the train to take him to work. He waits as he has waited for the past seven years of his monotonous, somewhat mechanical existence. He glances calmly at his wristwatch; thirty-seven minutes past eight o’ clock in the morning. “Damn,” he thinks to himself. “Oh well, they’ll have to let me off,” he mumbles to himself, “it’s the first time I’ve been late in the seven years I’ve worked there.” So, Bob slowly makes his way to the edge of the platform so as to get a good seat on the train. Around him, people mill around waiting for the same train Bob waits for. Directly behind him, a fat woman sits on a wooden bench holding her designer label bag in her lap, close to her chest. She is obviously very self-conscious and she glances around nervously. Nearby the fat lady, three African-American guys, aged around 20, dressed in ridiculously oversized clothing, listen to a rap song on a portable stereo. To his left, a businessman and his associate stand underneath a train schedule board discussing some important topic. Near him stands a group of Japanese tourists, looking at a half-folded map, trying to figure out the best route to arrive at their destination. Two of them are in a heated argument, speaking very quickly in Japanese. Bob then catches a glimpse of a crowd of school kids heading towards the platform with their chaperones; they are going on a day-trip to the Natural History Museum. While Bob is lost in his silent study of the Human-Being, the advance warning lights lined along the edge of the platform where there is a six foot drop to the train tracks, warning people that the train will arrive in just a few moments. Everybody hears the high-pitched squeal of metal wheels on metal rails, and a sudden rush of air against his face from the fast moving train brings Bob back to his senses. At this moment everyone waiting for the train; the fat lady, the “homeboys,” the business associates, the tourists and the school group, in amongst a slew of other interesting people; begin crowding the platform where Bob calmly waits to go to work. In all the rushing, panic, and pushing of people, Bob Johnson, who was waiting calmly to get onto the train, somehow gets jostled by the wave of people and topples over. He falls straight into the middle of the tracks. Chaos. Somebody screams, everybody looks, everybody screams, everybody runs. Bedlam takes over; no one knows quite exactly what to do. Bob, after what seems like an eternity, pushes himself slightly off the ground and spits some blood to the gravel floor. Looking straight at the ground, still gathering his senses, he is abruptly hit with a state of shock and confusion. He hears the growing screeching noise of the trains breaks. He looks up and to his right and sees the train’s lights and bulking mass, bearing down on him. At the moment just before impact, and Bob’s almost-apparent death, some ones muscular hand grabs him by his arm and pulls him off the path of his surefire demise, leaving only Bob’s briefcase to be torn apart by the quick-moving train. Every single last muscle in Bob Johnson’s body aches and he can’t stop himself from shaking. All he feels is adrenalin pumping through his mind, and his body. He finally gains his senses back, and sits up impulsively, and looks around. A feeling of relief floods through him where the adrenalin once did before. It was only a dream. He is now in the comfort of his own bed, he looks over on his bedside stand, at his alarm clock, it is five o’ clock in the morning and the sounds of a city gearing up and preparing for a long day fill his head. He gets up and starts his morning routine. He takes a nice refreshing shower, and eats some almost-burnt toast and drinks a glass of orange juice, just as he has showered and eaten breakfast for the past seven years of his monotonous life. As he is getting dressed into his work clothes, he feels a strange aching sensation in his neck, as if he had pulled a neck muscle, or pinched a nerve. At the same time, he has a sore throat and his voice is very raspy. He coughs loudly and thinks nothing of it. All he can think about is the incredibly lifelike dream that he had, so he decides to call his mother just to say hello and to take his mind of the odd dream. He picks up the phone and dials in the ten digit number, he is taken aback by the cold, machine-like voice of a recording, “The number you have dialed has been disconnected, please hang up, and try the number again.” He instead tries another number. And another one, and another one. It’s all the same; they’ve all been disconnected. Finally he decides that the phone lines must be down, or his apartment was disconnected for not paying their bills, and he walks out his door. The moment he closes his apartment door behind him, everything goes silent. No cars, no people, no birds singing, no anything. “Peculiar,” he thinks to himself, “people should be out by now, where is everybody?” Bob walks down the cold, concrete stairs, and everything just gets darker and darker until he finally reaches the floor of the parking garage. At this level, it is pitch black and he can’t see anything, but he decides that along with the phone lines, there must be a power failure. He slowly and cautiously makes his way to where he parks his car. Suddenly, Bob finds himself on the ground with his briefcase by his side. He looks behind him and convinces himself he tripped on something in the dark. He slowly pushes himself up off the ground only to be startled by a car coming straight at him with its headlights on full beam, he hears the screeching of breaks, almost like metal on metal. As the car hits him, the headlights completely engulf him and he feels a moment of disconnectedness and a feeling of incorporeal, like he is no longer in his body, rather than looking up from above. Bob Johnson’s body lay twitching on the subway tracks as the train came to a screeching halt. He had been decapitated. 


Sangbid Kundu
2011

DO UNTO OTHERS AS OTHERS WOULD DO UNTO YOU

As God clothes the naked, so shall you,

As God visits the sick so shall you

As God loves mankind, so shall you.

This phrase mirrors phrases in countless other scriptures, holy books and self-help guides. The ethics of reciprocity is a moral fundamental born from social interaction itself. It also illuminates the biological and hence, psychological ability for empathy.

It is degrading to say that any wise man was wise for having thought of it. Nor is it meaningful to label such a fundamental as exclusive to one’s religion.

It is as simple as, feeling sad when another fellow is grieving for his deceased loved ones. As straightforward as feeling indignant when a friend is incarcerated on false accusation. As fundamental as understanding punishment, pain and suffering, that we revolt at its use (even our own) towards another human being.

In this sense, this particular moral, is not a learned moral, but is typical and universal of human beings, and probably of all social animals others than ourselves.

You could also see this particular moral as being a social tool, to weed out selfish individuals who might be leeching from the benefits of the group. Knowing who does not reciprocate is hence a useful gauge of one’s cooperation, trustworthiness and personality. In social groups where this is a universal fundamental, it would therefore be most advantageous for all members of the group to exhibit reciprocation. “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours”, so to speak.

Allow me to broaden your perspectives further, biological entities are typically selfish, or euphemistically, act upon self-interest. This is a truism. Because if we had evolved to not be selfish (excluding animals in social groups for the moment), then we would have died out long ago, for we would be outcompeted by our rivals quite simply. True altriusm, is not an Evolutionary Stable Strategy (forgive the biology jargon), because if selfish individuals arose in  a population of selfless beings, the selfish individual will outcompete, outlast and reap all the benefits from all the suckers around it.

In this sense, the selfish individuals will breed and proliferate in much greater number. And the selfless individuals who are short-changed, breed and proliferate to a smaller degree. Through generations of differential reproduction, the selfish individuals will start to overtake and become the predominant group of the population. Eventually, the last sucker might be short-changed so badly, that it might eventually perish under the competition.

You might be thinking, how does selflessness manifest then? Why are certain people constantly being portrayed as selfless, friendly and exceedingly helpful? Surely, that couldn’t possibly exist, if my explanation were true.

My explanation still stands because of two things.

I assumed the earlier population to be that of a non-social animal. Social groups deal with adversity in a different way. The group works in favour of both the individual’s needs balanced with the group’s. It might seem valuable, in certain situations to have one’s own needs to be fulfilled with the compromise of “social tribute” to the group in the form of reciprocations, sharing etc, than if one worked alone, and risked not satisfying one’s own basic needs due to the lack of help.

Also, while being selfish would certainly be a winning strategy in a group of friendly people, that might not really sit well with the members of the group. We all recall incidents or experiences with people where our friendliness or help have been taken without reciprocation, or even more preposterously returned with a stab in the back, or more mildly, taken for granted.

Equity, justice, fairness. These values arose from simple social and biological interactions such as empathy and reciprocation.

Secondly, and of more controversiality, is the different kind of reward that reciprocation brings – happiness. We couldn’t have relied on such a complex moral issue on pure rationality only. We must definitely have evolved a neurological (biological) way of rewarding our brain whenever such behaviour is carried out.

This might seem blasphemous that altruism and selflessness are performed in self-interest or pleasure, but allow me to explain. Many biological and social functions are dealt with biochemically. Thirst and hunger are biochemical. Libido is dealt with by the sex hormones. Happiness is biochemical (Recent studies have shown that an addiction to alcohol, smoking, exercise is due to an increasing de-sensitivity to the “happy chemical”, otherwise known as dopamine, which gives us the feeling of euphoria and temporary happiness). Empathy is a mixture of both neurological and biochemical inputs. How these are exactly elicited, is still being studied.

So, quite simply, the feeling of happiness and contentment associated with altruism and all those happy volunteers proud to have done their part is an adaptation to ensure that we keep to this social function. Morality seems so much less sacred as it is philosophy. It is biology.

In a nutshell, we are selfless, because we are selfish but sacrificed a bit of the reward for more certainty in the success of survival

How do social groups form then?

Obviously, social groups are exclusive entities, in that the members satisfy a certain list of club entry requirements. For humans, we might be at the extreme end of the spectrum, when it comes to the club entry requirements, but we’re not alike from other social animals in other respects. Most groups are formed out of this mutual cooperation or altruism. But what are the criteria?

In biology, there exist two hypothesis to explain altruism - Kin Altruism and Reciprocal Altruism. Kin Altruism is straightforward. Our family, or closely related family members, share many genes in common, due to our relatedness. Hence, it would be advantageous, for the gene (and the individual carrying it) to help members of one’s own family. This may appear to dilute familial love, but as I mentioned, familial love might be similar to how happiness manifests – as a biochemical, psychological and neurological phenomenon, for purposes I have already mentioned. If my body didn’t tell me via this means, that familial love is such a wonderful thing, I might end up treating family members as competition, which fundamentally, really is. It’s either a social family group helping the whole bunch of the same combinations of genes, or the chance that the entire group may be outcompeted by others or by each other and perish. Again, it’s perhaps a trade-off of probabilities.

Reciprocal Altruism has already been elaborated earlier. To summarize once more, it basically means, that I would “scratch your back, if you will scratch mine”. It can also be put in more crude terms, that one is selfless, only in one’s self-interest, and in the case of groups, in the group’s interest, as well.

So, in summary, social groups probably formed from reasons of increased survivability relative to the hardships of individual survival. They evolved in species that found it increasingly difficult to manage at the level of an individual and might be due to kinship, or simple benefits of mutual cooperation. Society or social groups is merely one of the many strategies that the biodiversity of this Earth has employed. Co-evolved with social behaviour is biochemistry, neurology, psychology, all of which manifested in our ability for emotion, empathy, sympathy, which then doubled as social “tools”.

(c) Sangbid Kundu

2010-11

What makes India run on corruption?

Man, since his dawn in the pages of history has looked forth to fulfill his desires and aspiration, which were of course, achieved through fair and unbiased means. However, as they say, “If gone are the times, gone are the talks.” Today this pursuit of achieving momentary happiness has presented itself in front of us in a rather obnoxious manner. This today has transformed into corruption.

Corruption, a term widely heard today- has become the catchphrase amidst the bureaucrats as well as school-going children. It is a phenomenon where the people seek to earn money at frenzied rapidity. No matter whatever the approach may be, the masses seem to have developed the astute mentality that to lead a zestful life, you have to be rich. This prejudiced thought process gives birth to corruption, where greed of the people overcomes their wisdom. Today if we compare India with other countries of the world, it appears to have become the happy land of the corrupt. Today corruption in India has become so prevalent that it is almost imperceptible to the common eye. From the pan-shops to the MPs and MLAs, corruption has become the religion and money, God.  Various factors make India run of corruption but the epicenter of them all are the citizens of India. The corrupt Indians can be divided into three categories: First comes the most corrupted lot, the political leaders, the ones whom we have indirectly chosen to make India into a corrupted nation. They misuse their overwhelming govt. power to generate illegal money or demand fiscal favour in return of their duties. The second category comprises of those people who offer money or material for a work to be done illegally so that they become the beneficiary rather than the loser. The third category of people is most dangerous; the so-called truthful crusaders- this consists of the journalists, authors and of course the common person. They are aware of the fact that corruption is omnipresent today in the Indian society but they refuse to accept the bitter truth that it is ruinous to the national economy. They make hue and cry lamenting about the present state of affairs but when they actually get a chance to indulge themselves in fraudulent malpractices, they clutch their opportunity. This self-centered attitude is the main driving force behind corruption in India. This is the precisely the reason why the rich are getting richer and the poor are becoming poorer.

Bribery is another motivating force for corruption. However, bribing does not involve only money. For the briber it is to get his work done quicker and for the taker, it is the resultant of the desire to pursue the luxurious lifestyle of the rich. This false intuition prompts one to take bribes. This is rightly reflected in the saying, “People are often bribed by their loyalties and ambitions rather than money.”

Today, even the whistle blowers are corrupted. They are bribed more money by the wrong doer than they receive from he government.

 The politicians are another story. They show off a two faced outlook. They make countless false promises to the commoners before election but once in power, the common people do not seem to exist for them. they govt. sanctions them money for the economic prosperity of their wards but half the amount seem to remain at their home. This way they generate a huge amount of black money. This is then spent to invoke insurgents or militants into politics and anti social activities are used to remain in power.

 

All these factors are a result of greed, selfishness and a mercenary attitude towards development, more vitally towards our nation. Corruption is like a plague which has affected every nook and cranny of our country. It would require a huge mass effort to evict corruption from our society. But before doing all this we must overcome our greed for money. This is the preliminary and the most difficult step to get out of the pothole that we have dug for ourselves. Other wise like our present fate would evolve into a monstrous self-depreciating future.


SANGBID KUNDU
2009