Endangered Wild Red "Dogs" of Mudumalai

On one of our frequent forays into the nearby wilderness areas, three of us set out for a ramble one late afternoon. The area to be explored was a fairly level area of grassy plains and scrub jungle leading up to a low range of forested hills. The area right at the base of the hills was thick scrub jungle and before that to be traversed was a plain of grassland with a few small patches of shola here and there, and with one sharply cut, well wooded nullah, about 50 feet deep and 40 to 50 feet wide at the top, cutting its way through the plain carrying the occasional runoff from the hills.

This nullah is frequently used by herds of elephant coming out of the hills in search of the waters of the perennial Moyar river.

As we hit our stride pretty soon, we made good ground and were soon getting to the end of the plains. There was one last shallow dip ahead of us and as we got to the edge we came to a sudden halt. What had startled us were the patches of red here and there visible through the low undergrowth and dried grasses. Now, any sort of red is a colour that one keeps an eye out for especially in these particular forests where tigers are not that uncommon.

The light had taken on that glowing golden glow that is unique to parts of the Nilgiris. It happens as if by magic in the late mornings and again with a slightly different character in the late afternoons. The uplifting and enveloping feeling of that quality of light is very hard to describe, but it is also fantastic light for photography. It was in this setting that the red patches looked very intriguing. We were still and observant and saw the lookouts in turn raise their heads above the grass to check us out.

Initially I thought it was a small pack of red hunting dogs (sen-nai in Tamil, dhole in hindi) that we had chanced upon. Soon though, we realized that we were seeing a lot more than that and our estimates were of 25 to 30 dogs, which is a very unusually large pack of the asiatic hunting dog (Cuon alpinus) or simply red hunting dogs.This was about 7 years ago. I have been back to the area so many times since but never seen more than one or two and recently even that hasn't happened.

Much misinformation surrounds these fantastic animals. They are without doubt the very best hunters around. It is said that once they start after a prey (spotted dear, sambar, and sometimes even young bison) they do not quit until they succeed. The pack hunt is an incredibly complex and scientific operation with two or three relay groups operating in tandem and communicating with each other through complex whistled signals.  Yet, they are completely harmless to humans and will not even defend their kills from encroaching humans.  The entire pack also cooperates in bringing up the cubs with various members donating regurgitated meat to the fast developing cubs. It therefore requires a pack of at least 6 or 7 individuals to successfully bring the cubs to maturity. We are rarely aware of these wonderful animals as inside the forests as they are such silent movers and very alert to avoid humans.

On another occasion, we had some novices along and with quite a bunch of kids too so, while some of us set out on a longer hike, we sent this 'family group' to a small rock that affords a nice view of the same plain area and is only a couple of kilometers in. This was an early morning walk and as they were about half way there a herd of spotted deer came running right at them. Now, this is very unusual indeed and the forest guide immediately stopped the group. The deer broke right round them and kept going without even a pause. Right behind them came three red dogs in hot pursuit. Seeing the humans, they stopped in their tracks, investigated, and, their hunt spoiled for the day, quietly disappeared.

Wonderful animals, the Indian hunting dog seems to be going the way of the rest of the forests. As we systematically cut our way through our small remaining patches of forest, and as we occupy and 'develop' every bit of the cleared land, all our unique wild animals are disappearing. The 'sen-nai' depends on a plentiful supply of deer to keep their packs going. The same is of course required by leopards and tigers. All three will therefore soon disappear into the archives of the history of humankind's wholesale destruction of nature.

Thinking of Earthquakes

The word itself is frightening. The reality much, much, more so! Some years ago, with a group of friends from church (All Souls, Coimbatore), we took off to try to lend a hand in the North Indian state of Gujurat where a massive quake had leveled many populous towns. I went along as a blood banker and someone who knows something about lab medicine. The group was organized by Roshan.

We were nine altogether and were led by a double FRCS surgeon (Dr. Thomas Abraham). We didn't all know each other very well when we started out, but that changed.

We worked out of a much cracked (but still standing) Catholic hospital at Gandhidham. Almost every building in this town sported huge cracks and structural damage, but most were still standing. That was frightening enough and we lived in small tents while the hundreds of patients were treated in bigger adjoining tents, all placed well away from the main hospital building - just in case...

Though the hospital still stood, no one (except the very brave surgery teams), wanted to take any chances as there were massive cracks right through the structure. The operating theater was inside, however, and all serious surgery requires that level of sterility, so the surgeons and nurses just went about their business as if all was normal.

After two days settling in and organizing our work at the hospital, we went along with one of the CARE relief teams to some outlying villages, and on the way back paused at the town of Anjar.  Anjar is a populous town and was once densely packed with cheaply constructed houses and shops. The devastation was almost total. it was just one huge mass of rubble. What was even more scary was that it was untouched. The surviving locals, and apparently all the local government too, had fled for their lives. There was absolutely no sign of an attempt at any sort of 'rescue operation'.

We were standing yards away from the spot where hundreds of children on an early morning Republic Day march through the downtown area simply disappeared under tons of rubble. My guess for this town alone would be at least 30,000 dead. Facing Anjar that day, the reality started to sink in. The word 'terrible' had a meaning. Something just turned inside of me. I felt as if my insides had been vacuumed out leaving only a dull aching sense of shame and horror.

But there was mercifully work to do, so we got back and got busy. The recent series of earthquakes in Padang suddenly brought all those memories flooding in. Earthquakes and Tsunamis are terrible things. At least with the Tsunamis (that we have seen) they are one-of events, but earthquakes are not so. There were predictions on the net even in those days that another big one was lurking and could be unleashed in Gujurat at any moment. The reminders were constant. You'd get this sudden feeling of disorientation as everything wobbled. These were the frequent aftershocks, some so gentle that they are hardly noticed, others that made me want to run - but there's nowhere to run to.


The pics are of Anjar. In the one just above, the headless idol marks the spot under which the school children 'disappeared'. 

Pray for the survivors of Padang. Food, clean water, and shelter will all have disappeared. If the quake doesn't get you the chances that serious diseases will is very high. Pray for the relief workers on the ground. They are all at risk and will need to fight off their own fears just to be able to get on with the unbelievably huge tasks that face them.

The aerial view on the right shows the 'downtown' area. Not only had homes and shops been damaged , there wasn't even a sense left of any individual buildings or even of walls...

To Sleep, Perchance To Dream

A good night's sleep has long been known to be of great value for being alert the next day. Lack of sleep has always, right through human history, been associated with irritability i.e. the grumps but NOW, 

there is increasingly strong evidence that sleep also has a BIG effect on all of our health - our hearts, our lungs, and even our stomachs, 
in addition to our minds.

In fact, chronic poor sleep has recently been found to be positively involved with the decline of heart function, increases in blood pressure, loss of lung function, and a whole lot of other bads - see the title link.

Sound sleep includes having all the stages of sleep (N1, N2, and N3) and there should also be a decent amount of dream sleep (REM). One can actually be getting enough time asleep and still not have restful sleep due to poor sleep architecture. When sleep is well balanced and of a sufficient quantity, that alone is considered a 'good, sound sleep.'

Poor sleep habits, insomnia (inability to fall sleep), frequent arousals, and daytime sleepiness, are all different parts of the picture. Sometimes, other things like snoring (a sign of obstruction to free breathing during sleep), full blown sleep apnea, or restless legs can worsen  the problem.

Poor sleep is also frequently clinically associated with depression, fibromyalgia, hyperactivity, ADD, and can even be caused by various medication side effects.

Sleep apnea (stopping of regular breathing during sleep) is unfavorably linked with obesity and can exacerbate health problems for people who are anyways otherwise living on a slippery slope to poor health. When the apneas and hypopneas are severe they can reduce our blood oxygen levels (oxygen saturation) below the normal level. Even during sleep, the O2 saturation should  stay above 90%. Typically when awake and active, healthy people will have saturations of 100% or close to it . When saturations drop below 90% this is bad for all parts of our bodies and minds. We do need a goodly amount of oxygen to keep ourselves alive and healthy!

Irregular sleep patterns due to other causes can wreak havoc with our health. Those who work nights, students cramming for exams, and even worse working 'switch' shifts, are all in very great danger of permanently ruined health. I find it amazing that in so many medical colleges right around the world, students are routinely forced to work/study for 48-72 hours at a stretch. It seems to be some sort of a rite of passage, a 'trial by fire' with a 'throw them in at the deep end' approach. It is both disgusting and unhealthy. Anyone who chooses thus to burn the candle at both ends is asking for trouble.

Another very bad association of disturbed or poor sleep is with GERD (gastric reflux). Stomach acidity tends to get much worse with poor sleep and when strong acids from the stomach come up the esophagus (swallowing tube) we are in real trouble. It can get so bad that the acid makes its way all the way up to our throats and into our tracheas (breathing tubes) causing cough and lung damage. In the worst cases, a person's teeth can get eaten away by wayward stomach acid!

But there's a lot that we can do to help ourselves to sleep better even without medical intervention and especially when our insurance (if we have any) won't cover the expense of sleep studies, CPAPs, and all the potential associated medication. Here are some tips:

• Have a regular bedtime.
• Stay away from stimulants like caffeine (tea, coffee, sodas...) and nicotine.
• All sleep-aid medications (and most antidepressants) alter sleep architecture towards lighter sleep (that's bad), so avoid them as much as possible.
• Have a good sleep environment. Blue light is especially calming!
• Don't watch TV for a couple hours before bedtime.
• Don't eat anything for at least two hours before bedtime.
• If you have GERD (acid reflux)  make sure it is well treated, especially before bedtime.
• Keep your mind relaxed, particularly after dinner. Identify your stressors and deal with them appropriately (a little advice that Hamlet could have used...). Having a blank mind isn't possible for most of us, and no one really knows if that will help one to sleep, but certainly we can identify activities that we find relaxing and concentrate on doing those -  especially after dinner.
• Try to sleep on your back as much as possible.
• Raise the head of your bed by about 6 inches, this will help to keep your acids in the stomach - where they belong.
• Get out for an early morning walk and make sure that you absorb a solid dose of the early morning sun. The bright light 'sets' your in-built hormonal sleep scheduler and it will help you to feel sleepy at the right time at night.
  
• Never, NEVER, drive or operate machinery when you are feeling sleepy!

If you kick a lot, snore heavily, or it's been noticed that you seem to stop breathing while asleep (as, being asleep, you may not have noticed, so try asking your spouse, parents, siblings, kids, or room mates), and when you regularly suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness, lack of alertness, or waking up feeling unrested, then you probably do need to consult a sleep expert. Strangely enough, that's also probably your lung doctor (pulmonologist)!

Eventually, doing a sleep study (polysomnopgraphy) will help to sort out all your doubts -  if you can afford it! Of course, we would want to exhaust all other options first, but for some folks it probably really would help...

We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
 Prospero in "The Tempest"

Slave or Free? Independence, Dependence & Interdependence

Musing on the self’s necessary embeddedness-in-its-context, Jon Erdman, over at his Theos Project blog, has a fascinating post woven around the quintessential jazz quartets/quintets of the early nineteen sixties, and the experience of fantastic music from the likes of John Coltrane and Miles Davis and their troupes (search out some very choice live concerts on YouTube). On stage, each of the performers is an artiste of rare excellence, yet they meld together so spontaneously and effortlessly in their virtuosity that it is a wonder to behold – and the resulting music is something much more than the sum of its parts – shear magic. So what is this? How does it work? Pure individualism is an important basic component, but isn’t there also the magic of real codependence?

The ‘West’ (perhaps especially America) has lauded the values of freedom and independence as supreme.Western culture now extols these as the purest and most fundamental of human ideals – at least in theory. Western culture gears up to provide each individual with the greatest possible degree of freedom and independence.Economically, what that boils down to is ‘free enterprise’, while politically, the only way to go is pure democracy. Individuals, then, who make up the society, cooperate only by choice, and never of necessity. Of course, we are often left with a lingering suspicion that these 'ideals' may be more of a marketing gimmick than really real...

In the East, while we have been bombarded with these Western values and cultural norms, yet we are still very much ensconced in a completely different milieu. Our culture always covertly calls the shots. Family and societal needs always take precedence over individual likes, desires, goals, and even thought.

Certainly, some sort of a challenge has been thrown down on the part of freedom and independence by the ubiquitous Western oriented media, but how far has it gotten and where do we now stand? Are we Easterners now setting out to become ruggedly independent individuals? Perhaps, in some peoples mind’s, being freedom loving, democratically oriented, and independent, is theoretically possible. Perhaps, there is even an individualistic façade, a persona, trying to creep into our collective consciousness. But, in all key instances, when we dig a little deeper, we do find that it is merely a pretence, if not even a posturing, and one that is evident only on the surface.

Out in the world, our youth may appear to be momentarily confused about the possibilities of individuality and selfhood, but on arrival at home from high school or college, the dream quietly fades away. Culture and family are all that surrounds one, effortlessly sucking you in, and you are once again comfortably enveloped in that familiar territory of duty and belonging. Oneness of mind is not at all a matter of choice, it is the unquestioned necessity for survival and the ground of every one’s very identity.

Whatever be the future of our culture wars, in one small way democracy does threaten to drive a tiny wedge into our so far impregnable melding pot. Exercising one’s vote is a uniquely private event. However much discussion on politics, or the nation’s needs, may precede, the casting of that one vote is sacrosanct; it will not be intruded upon. Few are the opportunities to be a real individual in Eastern societies, but here in India, the vote is the one unique thing that DEMANDS your independence and underscores your constitutionally guaranteed freedom.

Don’t throw it away by failing to exercise your franchise.

In this coming election, and whenever again the opportunity arises - PLEASE VOTE!!!

The AUSTERITY CODE & POWER

In hard times, it's suddenly not so hard to think of ourselves shampooing the dogs, or washing and waxing our own car(s), or steam cleaning our own carpets, or doing some home wiring/plumbing, or even packing lunch to work and eschewing the Big Mac, or whatever. Perhaps instead of tossing out that pant, a little unobtrusive patchwork might not be amiss? In hard times, DIY becomes the order of the day. Outsourcing is just out, even when that means that we are going to lose some comforts and lose some of our now not so precious time.

All of this, and more, could be thought of as cost cutting. Budgeting, and budgeting, and stretching that cash to make ends somehow meet, and staying off those deadly little credit cards...

The other side of the coin is that all of a sudden, the few rupees or dollars in one's pocket take on a new power. Our economies survive, as they are, only because we earn and then we spend. When the spending drops, businesses have to figure out ways to again separate us from that cash.

Influencing what you will choose to do becomes the most important question that other businesses must find an answer to in order to crack the AUSTERITY CODE. If you still have a job, or a viable business, you have in your hands power, real power. What you are still willing to spend money on will do well, and whatever you avoid has to die.

Of course, this has in fact always been true. The thing is that in easier times we just don't notice. Keeping up with the Krishnans is so much easier when we are not feeling the pinch.

Subliminally, but effectively, advertisers are able to convince us that we just can't live without X or Y or Z, the cost really doesn't matter, but to make us feel a real sense of achievement, the bargain of the century is always there to be had, just don't miss THIS chance, AND with an unbelievably low EMI to boot!

The real power of the consumer - that's you - is that the economy cannot do without you. But, that doesn't mean that you are obligated to spend in any way except how you decide is best.

You may get to vote once in a couple of years but you do get to exercise a much more powerful economic (and hence even political) power with every single note that you pull out of your pocket.

Think about it. Think about it a lot, and start exercising your power, Now, and Forever.

Humankind, God, and the NEW CREATION

A Blogworld friend, author, psychologist, and deep thinker, John Doyle has been following a trajectory of thought based on his own reading of some of Paul's (of New Testament fame) thinking. This is remarkable not least because John happens to be somewhere in the atheist/agnostic camp.

On his famous blog "Ktismatics", John has done a whole series of posts on the concept of the "new creation" in some of Paul's epistles. The entire series of posts begins here and there is an index to the the whole series at the end of this post.

In commenting on one of those posts I had made the following statement -

“I’m sure that there are not ‘many’ gods or even more than one, but I’m equally sure that for humankind there have to be many gods even when we think there are none.”

- and John then invited me (perhaps in jest) to expand on the thought.

I admit to having been in a bit of a hurry and dashing that off without giving it sufficient (or even much) thought. Still, though crude, I can stand by the statement and try here to elaborate on the thought.

It's my own belief statement. I believe that God 'exists' i.e. is real. I don't think that the one that I have come to recognise as God is more than one but I could easily be wrong on that call.

The second half of my assertion is more difficult. Each of us is an individual and we know individually.

In an important sense my friend John Doyle is not the same as your friend John Doyle even when we are physically referring to the same person. I'm therefore sure, in my own pigheaded fashion that when I refer to Jesus that is not the same as when you do or when someone else does.

On a broader front, and perhaps more controversially, I think it is also possible that when someone refers to Shirdi Sai Baba they may in fact be thinking of the same one that I know as Jesus.

In fact, to broaden it out even further, it is possible that a person could be an atheist and still 'know' God...and that is not to say that God is not particular!

What do you think?


The New Creation in Paul: Galatians 6
The New Creation in Paul: 2 Corinthians 5
The New Man in Ephesians 2
The New Man in Ephesians 4
Doppelganger Theory in Colossians 3 and Romans 6
The New Creation in Paul - Summary Observations
The Return of the Ktismatically Repressed

The Going Gets TOUGH

Billions have been lost by the 'know it all' big bosses of politics, finance, and industry. Those billions won't bother you now as much as that tiny bit of the pie that suddenly went down the drain and that was all that you had to lose!

Getting into the inviting rut of worrying about what you could possibly have done different is now not going to help. What's gone is probably irretrievably gone. If anything does eventually get salvaged that will be far too late to solve today's problems. So, rather than decry the current state of affairs, we'd all better get practical and start doing what needs to be done.

My first suggestion is: GET BASIC!

The core areas of our economies will survive even the very worst economic disaster and will also be the first to pick up after everything bottoms out.

My second suggestion is THINK FREE!

As one of my heroes remarked "I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail." (A. Maslow)

So, get lateral, jump out of that box, roundcan the mental straitjacket, and start to use those noodles to good effect.

and Finally: Be GENEROUS.

Wars, Deaths and Selfishness in World Politics

This month's New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) carries a free full text of correspondence related to two widely divergent estimates of post-invasion violent deaths in Iraq. The debate in itself is about statistics and stuff but the shocking fact is that the lowest estimate of non-combat violent deaths in the civilian population is 150,000 while the more realistic estimate (still on the conservative side) is 600,000!

Saddam Hussein in his worst avataram, is considered over a tenure of 24 years (1979-2003), to have been responsible for no more than 50,000 deaths per year. Post ouster that rate has climbed to at least double and probably even much more.

Should we not certainly be worried when hundreds of thousands of people die?

One of my major questions is was it worth it? I really don't know how to answer this question. America repeatedly claims that they simply had to get rid of a psychopathic butcher, but then the butchery after his removal seems to have got that much worse!

On another front look at what has been happening in Sudan's Darfur region. The toll there is conservatively estimated to be around a half million with a couple of million who have been turned into refugees and are always on the brink of starving to death or of being massacred in their UN/AU 'protected' refugee camps.

The striking similarity in both these horribly deadly disasters is the oil. Black gold. In both cases we see greed for control of oil revenues spilling over into ethnic-racial conflicts and terrible destruction of human lives. Entire peoples are being wiped out. Oil is not evil in and of itself. What it boils down to is greed. Greed alone is not enough, it is those who have power and who get greedy who then utilise ethnic hatred and use that as a propaganda weapon to justify and inflame their wars on innocents.

Saddam fell into the trap twice, first with Iran and then with Kuwait. In between he took a few swipes at the Kurds. I don't think that there is much doubt that in both wars, Saddam was lured into being the point person for others, who subsequently dropped him like a hot potato when the going got tough. But then that's just par for the course in the world of Realpolitik.

Do we have to search very hard for the reasons for other disaster zones like Zimbabwe or Myanmar? On the surface, NO, yet my overactive suspiciousness always makes me wonder who is duping whom to get what? It always seems that one of those with real power in this world sits and meddles in the background to actively but furtively create a situation out of which will fall windfall profits and increasing power and influence on the world stage.

Greed, power and the death of innocents...

On the Branding of Swadeshi

India's economy is in crisis. Inflation has raised its ugly head, putting our many millions in trouble. The greatest difficulty is that it is the most essential of commodities - food and fuel - which have seen the fastest rising rates.

At the same time, complexity takes hold on our economic, political, religious, and cultural fronts, yet we are being sold a strange brew of oversimplifications. I also sense a deliberate bid to reduce the political fallout by confusing the issues. Great and somewhat relentless forces have actually been unleashed in our nation as well as in the part of the world known loosely as South Asia.

Strategically and with global implications, the restoration of democracy in Pakistan followed by the apparent sidelining of 'Mushy' Musharraf, has led the US, Britain, and the EU to seek much closer ties with India. We see the rise of the West most clearly in the field of defense. More subtle signs include the red carpet welcome to MNCs, as well as a deliberate (but silent) turning away from the independence theme of Swadeshi that formed the economic backbone of Mahatma Gandhi's freedom movement.

It is not just one Indian national party that has changed their tune to welcome the latest trend to global capitalistic hegemony...

On the one hand our politicians try to convince us that our economic needs dictate our ongoing trade with Myanmar. They can sense no necessity to stand up for our principles of democracy and freedom. On the other hand, we are not willing to accept desperately needed gas from Iran. Iran's policy of seeking nuclear self-sufficiency (as we too used to) apparently offends our new highly valued principle of pandering to the Americans, not to mention the quest for dependence in 1-2-3!

Myanmar is of course the politicians' goldmine. The amount of money involved in cheating world sanctions on behalf of big business is not something that any of our politicians is willing to sneeze at (e.g. SEE HERE). No similar 'pots of gold' await any deal with Iran. While our nation may benefit immensely from the low cost of sorely needed Iranian gas, this perhaps pales in comparison to the loss of secret revenues from those neoglobalists who want to call the shots for us.

So, as Mahatma Gandhi knew, when there is no Swadesh there can be no Swaraj. Swadeshi is also prominently missing in agriculture. The obvious result is that while the prices of basic foods skyrocket, the traditional farmer gets poorer and poorer. Those that benefit directly, and immensely, are the stockists and middle 'men' - a misnomer in itself for this niche has now been fully occupied by MNC minions.

The new breed of MNC trading house can hoard (or should we say 'stock') and exercise empty 'value addition' with impunity and then sell at self-created demand peaks without a whimper from our wonderful politicos. The obfuscation is most clearly visible when the government blames 'global' factors including that wonderful commodity, crude oil. The recent global spike in the prices of foodgrains should actually have absolutely no impact on domestic prices when our own agricultural production is more than self sufficient! The same goes for cooking oil where retail prices have risen by more than 50% over just the last six months!

Meanwhile, the farmers starve, fail to pay their debts, and commit suicide. On the sidelines await the ever-eager property speculators who will pick up excellent farmland at distress sale prices and then comfortably wait for the cash-rich agri-corps to come by.

As Gandhiji remarked so many years ago, "Swadeshi is that spirit in us which requires us to serve our immediate neighbours before others, and to use things produced in our neighbourhood in preference to those more remote. So doing, we serve humanity to the best of our capacity. We cannot serve humanity by neglecting our neighbours" and that Swadeshi is "a call to the consumer to be aware of the violence he is causing by supporting those industries that result in poverty, harm to workers and to humans and other creatures"

Would that Gandhi's maha atma come back to rescue us from our oh so 'Gandhian' politicians. Or, failing that unlikely happening, that our youth would discover the true power of the ballot, voting for persons who are not so bent on first taking care of their own pockets, but who have instead a vision for humanity and for the India that can be built by Indians who do care.

Course in MT designed for College Students

AN exciting new course on medical transcription designed for college students in Coimbatore has been announced at Phoenix & Ahead

I am really excited about the possibilities. I will be handling the Language of Medicine (LOM) and in whatever other ways that I can. The Phoenix center is beautifully designed with a ThinCLient networked Lab and a separate dedicated classroom with all the infrastructure in place.

It looks to be an eight month stretch (by sacrificing all of one's weekends) and any college student should be able to earn a certificate in Medical Transcription.

There are obvious synergies for students as their command of English will automatically get polished and that's a huge plus for getting through any of the competitive entrance exams (GRE, GATE, CAT, CEE or TOEFL ...).

Furthermore, as I myself am a witness, being able to do MT as a transcriptionist or editor is a tremendous boon in any financial tight spot - and we all know that students and young people generally will face plenty of those!

How free is FREE?

I have been mulling over the latest political brouhaha in the US primary race. I think it's symbolic of how shallow the US's purported commitment to freedom really is.

Senators Obama and Clinton are locked in a 'fight to the death' in the democratic primaries. Into the midst of this melee springs a surprise (Obama machine) monkey wrench, the Wright Wrench. Now, suddenly, Obama turns tail and runs for cover, rebuking his overzealous ex-pastor and in the final analysis losing (in my unAmerican opinion) his perceived moral edge over his eagerly expectant rival.

The politics of the situation is rather comic. Whoever wins will be a 'historic' candidate in remarkable ways. So, I am not overly exercised by the potential outcome. Past experience has taught me never to be overly optimistic in these matters, for Americans generally seem more enamoured of the more caddish candidate and have always voted these known bad apples in for a second term and with their eyes wide open too.

What does interest me is the shallowness of the meaning of 'freedom' for Americans. One is welcome to be free, it seems, as long as that freedom does not extend to criticizing anything American. America is always good. America is always right. American foreign policy is always eminently fair... Any dissent is unAmerican. Any dissenter is a traitor. You are free only to believe and espouse one American truth.

One need not agree with a Wright, or for that matter with a Ward Churchill ("little Eichmanns" title link), or even a Farrakhan, or with anyone who refuses to wear a flag lapel pin... But, if one believes in freedom, if one really believes in freedom, one has to respect the dissenter and the dissenter's right to dissent.

At one time it was traitorous and unBritish for the erstwhile colonists to speak out against their God-appointed king. The dissent on which a potentially great democracy was founded was enshrined in the American Constitution's main text and then specifically spelled out in the very justly famous "First Amendment". It is a fundamental human right to be free to disagree!

One would think that being a member of a church where a pastor dares to speak what he sees as the truth, should be a big plus point for a presidential candidate. Here is someone who says that they admire the person and agree with some of what that person stands for and yet recognises that person's fundamental right to hold views that are unpopular.

Ask yourself: Is agreement necessary for acceptance? Does unpopular = unAmerican? I also wonder, does criticism of America mean less love for America, or even less patriotism?

If I were a psychoanalyst, I might even wonder whether such obvious displays of hypersensitivity may not be symptomatic of some under-the-surface feelings of GUILT?

ECLECTIC YOUTH

I find that today's youth has a really eclectic taste in music. Here's a playlist that has some of Saranya's (19) and Rommel's (15) slowly growing/constantly evolving pile of Good Stuff:

Find our Christmas songs HERE and my own 'a bit of hard rock etc.' Here...

ADHD at Ponnvandu, New in the LD Series !

INDEX TO LEARNING DISORDERS POSTS AT PONNVANDU:

ADHD- LD6

SLOW LEARNING - LD5

Autism - LD4

DYSLEXIA - LD1

DYSGRAPHIA - LD2

DYSPRAXIA - LD3

AND GENERALLY:

NUTRITION FOR KIDS WITH LD

DEVELOPMENTALLY CHALLENGED KIDS - TIPS FOR PARENTS

India and Tibet

No one in the International community of nations seems to be ready to bell the Chinese cat on Tibet. The policy of silence is loudest in Tibet's closest neighbour India.

It seems a shame that commercial interests combined with India's real fear of confrontation with China on the disputed area of the borders in Arunachal Pradesh state, should be sufficient to cow down such an erstwhile champion of human rights as India. Still, the sad truth is that though the Dalai Lama is our guest in exile, in toto, that too is just for publicity's sake and has little other than symbolic value.

Reading through Tibet’s long and tortuous history, we must again conclude that the death blows to Tibetan independence were finally dealt by the British in the early years of the 20th century, closely followed by a botched CIA operation during the 1950s.Like any unfortunate country that is lacking great enticements (like oil or mineral wealth), no other nation is willing to stick their necks out against the Chinese behemoth for the sake of a few million poor and exploited Tibetans. Europe is happy to support the right of Kosovans to self determination but won’t even whimper at the fate of the poor Tibetans. As with Sudan and Burma, so it is too with Tibet - a mysterious cat has got every single nation’s tongue!

Meantime, the Chinese have been much more concerned with the possible effects on their precious Olympics. I think they have misread the world’s commitment to anything other than money. Our modern world’s shame is highlighted by the fact that ‘amateur’ sport has been so successfully exploited to become the biggest money spinning "event" of all time. Catch the nations of the world putting principles ahead of the chance to collectively make some really fast bucks! If only even one country would demand autonomy or at least basic human rights for Tibetans before agreeing to participate… fat chance!

Just for fun, compare the "Free Tibet" facts and figures (click on the title) with the Chinese version of 'the truth' and tell me what you think...

Update Burma - Bloody Stones

Quoting from the Christian Science Monitor : "The government's Myanmar Gem Enterprise – Burma's third largest export company after the state-run oil and timber companies – has said gem sales have increased by 45 percent every year for the past three. The gem auctions, held once or twice a year since 1964, are becoming more frequent. All told, the official trade in Burma's gems, according HRW, was valued at $297 million in fiscal year 2006-2007, but is estimated to actually be much higher when factoring in unofficial sales. " (title links to full 3 page article)

The triumphant announcement of the growing success of the Rangon gem auctions comes after our morally bankrupt "world leaders" called for a boycott on Myanmarese gems.

Most of the mines are government owned, with large shares going to individual memebers of the military Junta. The mines supply a world hungry for jade, rubies, diamonds, cat's- eyes, emeralds, topaz, pearls, sapphires, coral, and yellow garnet. Remember that about 80% of the world's gem quality rubies come from Burma/Myanmar!

A further horror is that in typical fashion, all the mines have been confiscated from local communities these same communities are now 'employed' there as forced labor - mostly women and children.

Interestingly, gem exploitation ranks only third in Burma's export earnings. Oil and TIMBER take the lead (no boycott has been called against Burmese timber or oil!). Incidentally, while India earns quite a bit from Burmese gems, the main interest is in black gold (oil)...

In all three spheres, China studiously ignores all calls for international boycotts and is closely followed (though much more obliquely) by India.

While some of the world’s gem trading MNC giants have officially supported the ban, many are also busy exploiting ‘the letter of the law’ and hiding the origins of their gemstones by rerouting the raw Burmese gems to other countries such as India and Sri Lanka in order to muddy the original source. In India, gem traders gleefully line their pockets with the bloody spoils of value addition as they polish and facet the gems to be exported as India’s own (it’s an 800 billion rupee industry with India processing between 75% and 80% of the all of the world’s gem stones).
What a shame that the world’s largest democracy and supposed champion of human rights would quietly allow their traders to deal with a monster state that makes its money while bleeding a fellow democracy to death.

The New Voting American

One of the most fascinating aspects of the battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has been the surprisingly variable response from women voters.

Hillary was the feminist dream come true, or so we all thought, but a shockingly high proportion of the women voters have plumbed for Barack.


Immediately, some famous feminists have called foul. They feel that women who support the "young, handsome" male in this epochal battle are abandoning the faith. These 'heretics', they claim, have played true to sexist form in rejecting the more experienced and more iconic woman in place of the untried though charismatic male upstart.

Many have expressed a surprisingly negative sentiment about the future with statements made like "this is the only real chance of my lifetime to see a woman become president". The fact that Hillary is not a self-made candidate has perhaps been blocked out by emotion, or even campaign rhetoric?.

What I see though is that if for a moment one listens to these 'traitorous' voters, neither sex not rock star charm have anything to do with their choice. Many are in fact staunch feminists. The issues for them are the issues. The Clintons are a known quantity and many women do not like what they stand for. These voters are in fact thrilled to have a choice, and of a one who stands equally tall on issues of equality.

In the final analysis, for the young new American voter the choice has nothing to do with either gender or race and nothing could be more thrilling or actually more amazing. The iconic issues of the past have been foregone for a new, mature, approach to selecting the best PERSON for the job.

May the best person win...


click the title link to go to Samantha Power's Scotsman interview...she's an excellent example of a very broad phenomenon.

Kenya - Meddle and Muddle

Under British colonialism, the world learned how to divide and conquer. Now, with the American hegemony at hand, that has been replaced by a 'policy' of meddling and muddling. The resulting confusion is very destructive to nations and economies. Kicking off the 21st century, Iraq stands as the sentinel example . Pakistan, with Mushy (the U.S. backed dictator) now creating an unholy antidemocratic mess, is another case in point.

Kenya is an unlikely place to suspect an American hand but the signs have been there for quite some time now. Mwai Kibaki, the previous president, is a typical example of one who seems well intentioned, urbane, well educated, soft spoken, and yet is firmly in the U.S.'s back pocket. The secret is money, though that's hardly a great secret, is it?

Unfortunately for the U.S., even the Kenyan government's official map that purports to explain the strange result of Kibaki's 'win' shows, to anyone who knows how tribes and populations are actually distributed in Kenya that the 'official result' is a farce.

Bush, in the face of an obviously rigged election, wants power to be shared in Kenya. Shared? Did he offer to share his presidency when John Kerry won the popular vote in his own questionable 'win' in his own 'democratic' country? In other words, by whatever means, Mwai should retain the semblance of power, for Raila Odinga is an unknown quantity and looks (from what we can tell of his public persona) to be much less likely to slip quietly into the CIA's silky hands.

Kofi Annan's attempts to help sort things out in Kenya must have really alarmed the Bush administration. Kofi has been a quiet but powerful force in opposition to the American attempts at hegemony. That fight almost destroyed the U.N. itself as the U.S. used its money power to choke the U.N. into submission. Rice is now sent to butt herself in to the delicate situation in Kenya to see to it that Mwai doesn't cave in. The fact that then thousands more may die in the face of a ham-handed attempt to subvert real live democracy, is immaterial.

Also immaterial, it seems, is the fact that perhaps for the very first time in Africa, a country has voted without regards to tribal allegiance. That is the only way for Odinga, a non-Kikuyu to have popularly and decisively ousted Mwai who is a Kikuyu. Kikuyus themselves, and a lot of them too, voted for someone from another tribe - unheard of in Africa, till a couple months ago!

Kenya is a land of vast potential. It has excellent agricultural prospects, good water, regular rains and has a wide range of habitats. The people are intelligent, relatively well educated, hard working, honest, sincere, friendly and very politically active.

Let's not do things the Cheney-me-to-a-Rice Bush way just this once. Enough of this meddling and muddling! Let's give Kenya a chance.

In the meantime, as Kenyans struggle for their independence and their right to decide their own future, let them know that there are many around the world praying for their success and peace and progress.

For the land of my birth, right now though, I am much reminded of the title of a book by a South African writer, Alan Paton:

CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY

Haunting Echoes of 'Health' Insurance

Way back in June of 2006, I had done a post ("Money or Medicine" - click the title link) on the shenanigans of health insurers and particularly a group called United Health (at that time hiding behind a quiet buyout of Oxford) who had earned a rather rich write-up in the NY Times. I was therefore less than surprised to see this heading at NPR today on my Google Homepage: "N.Y. Attorney General Accuses Insurers of Fraud".

Part of the answer must be that it's a bit like life insurance - you don't really know much about what you've actually got for your investment till it is (far) too late to make any changes. Folks that get really sick and then get shafted are already in such bad shape both financially and personally that their feeble voices are well below our threshold.

We will insist on believing the slick sales talk, and continue to be awed by the shiny brochures and the oh-so-well-designed websites that we forget that all that cosmetic costs real money and its coming out of the premium that so quietly gets deducted from your paycheck every month. Effective cosmetic cover is only really needed when there is no intrinsic beauty to reveal. Individual horror stories are a dime a dozen, but few seem to be aware that their fates are a result of careful planning and cleverly hidden execution. The return on investment for the shareholders is the permanent goal. Shafting and systematically cheating a few thousand here or there is the acceptable collateral damage along the path to that ROI.

Granted that the present U.S. government is more concerned about protecting the turf of such big businesses than overly worried about the healthcare that the general populace does or does not get. Still, I wonder how such corporations can continue to convince people to pay the dues that keep them raking in the money even when their primary aim is to take folks for a cheap but royal sounding ride?

We are so proud to be among 'the protected' and we will continue to be proud until it's too late and we are too far gone to be able to do anything about it but cry.

Thanks to Peter Kuper for the wonderfully apt illustration.

Out of Sight but right at our feet

Please click on the image and enjoy it full size. It is AMAZING!

What will Be?

You who are on the road Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.

Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

As a teenager, anytime mom and I would have a knock down drag out fight over any matters of cultural evolution or generation gap stuff - important stuff too, like having the FREEDOM to grow one's hair long - I would eventually get round to playing this song, just a bit too loud, and mummy would laugh, after ensuring that she had indeed won the argument.

I look around at the youth of today, with a daughter in college and a son in high school, and I wonder. When I was a teen, the issues seemed clear. We were against war and for peace, we were for love and against hypocrisy, we distrusted the establishment and wanted to be allowed to learn from making our own mistakes, and we loved the music that spoke or felt of these issues.

And you, of tender years,Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

Teach your parents well,Their children's hell will slowly go by,And feed them on your dreamsThe one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
("Teach Your Children" written by Graham Nash and performed by CSNY)

Whether it is TV, or popular books, what is taught in schools or even what we read on the most popular internet sites, today no definite positions are ever taken. Avoidance of discussion seems preferable to fighting it out. The truth is a non-sequitur, and the activities of daily living have taken precedence over thought, belief, and principle, or perhaps we have lost the confidence to really believe in anything.

I would much rather that the youth do not follow in such nondescript footsteps.

While the amalgam of the strange ideas of the sixties may not provide answers for today's dilemmas, in many ways there are now much bigger challenges than any we faced 'back then'.

The paths that our youth choose to take, their beliefs, and their 'code of the road', will determine much for the future of what mankind is to become.

Choose wisely!

The song "Teach Your Children" can be heard in my current Christmas Playlist and that can be launched from the previous post. I also have "Que Serra Serra" on there too (What will be, will be).

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2007

Enjoy this playlist from PROJECT PLAYLIST, a new song sharing site that's in its beta release:

How Do the RIGHT and LEFT Differ?

ON
Greg Mankiw's Blog: How do the right and left differ?

I really enjoyed this clear and accurate summary of where 'right' and 'left' are currently facing off.

With the right and especially the libertarian right I would agree that big government is bad. But then who guarantees civil rights and justice? can it all be left to locally constituted bodies and to voluntarism?

A completely free (unregulated) market has its attractions and it also has its dangers. Especially, who protects the little fish from the bigger ones, or should we just let what happens happen and may the fittest survive?

Within academia it is felt that the left leaners outnumber (and also look down on) the more rightwardly oriented scholars. What do you think of this, and does it accurately reflect your own perception of our institutions of higher learning?

Lots to ponder indeed!

Thanks to Michael Kruse for posting this up on his own excellent blog: Kruse Kronicle and that’s also a link to his excellent new series on “Living Simply in Abundance”.

On how to be a Better Lemming

'Tis the season to be jolly... would be quite frivolous if it were not at the same time also so profoundly real.The Christmas season in the West is a time especially set aside for spending, purchasing, buying, gifting, and generally being very, very, jolly.
In the U.S. the spending season kicks off with a bang at Thanksgiving, but all over the world, common sense will lead us to suspect that the jolliest of traditional seasons will begin soon after the annual harvest. Give a couple weeks or a month for all that excess to start getting distributed, and then them holidays, and that spending will ensue - it makes good sense.
In India we have that grand 'festival of lights', Diwali, that is strategically placed after the first harvest in October or November and then, in the South of India, there is a second celebration (Pongal) that comes right after the second monsoon season in mid-January and that forms the very exciting and satisfying climax to our times of splurging.
Economies and spending cycles that keep them vibrant have to be based on the presence of excess, and most times that excess is only available for a short while right after the harvest. Holidays are also timed to help to distribute all that 'excess' and just as efficiently as possible! Any great delay between when the excess arrives and the application of peak marketing pressure to get people to spend may result in that excess getting channeled into savings accounts - economists don't like that at all. When we have plenty, and so much that we can even think in terms of excess, the purse strings will be at their loosest. Marketing has to strike while the iron is hottest but that is not the end of the story. We too help out by apparently just temporarily choosing to collectively forget that the upcoming year may hard and long.
Marketing the world over, is geared to maximise its hype just at these times. Spend - buy - purchase - CHARGE IT - or the ubiquitous EMI with 0% interest!
This year, the absolutely essential gadget is...
Everybody simply HAS to have this!
The teaser SAAALE! drags you out, 'pushes' you over that last little hump of caution, and then...
Insidiously, we also might not notice that we will really have to shell-out just a bit more this year than we did last year to get that 'absolutely essential' something. Economic cycles rely on the feeding frenzy to slip into the inflation mode too, for this is the one time of year that folks will be blithely unaware that the essentials just got a bit dearer. The small incremental adjustments will slip quietly into place in the corners of our subconscious even before we have time to register them, for there is so much else of an exciting nature to capture and hold our collective consciousness in thrall.
Value addition is one culprit, but the yen for bigger profits is certainly another. For the corporates, turnover should increase, and so too should the return on investment, the profit margin. Balance sheets will be anxiously prepared as the financial year draws to a close. At stake is the size of the share price pie for that depends on 'the figures'.
To the economist, inflation is a godsend. Deflation, when prices actually drop, (do you see red in the diagram above?) is an absolute disaster and must come straight out of hell. Modern economies rely on inflation to create the space in which value addition creates levels of work both in manufacturing/marketing and in services/marketing. More jobs, more earning, more spending, more money - MORE
Those little entries on corporate balance sheets called profit (net after taxes) quietly also rely on inflation. The trend is paradoxically opposed by innovation and new technologies! The whole complex process works together to keep standards of living on a slow rise that is slightly worse than what the actual inflation level would lead us to expect.
At some point people do question whether this all adds up. Of course it doesn't, not nearly, but it sure looks good while it's flowing along. Pension plans will be the most obvious harbingers of the bad news that eventually inflation catches up with you. Other painful reminders include the cost of health-care, health insurance, and medicines. Long term savings plans and incremental investments will yield something but much less than they should when compared to the damage that inflation has quietly been inflicting.
Money and easy credit are the end of a very long road that has separated our spending from the realities of our actual contributions to life. Think about it, as it is you're just the last stop between the ATM and the corporation that owns the store that you're heading to with the plastique in hand!
What would happen if inflation were to stop? What would happen if our governments printed just enough notes to maintain a fixed amount of money in circulation? What would happen if value addition were to be replaced by true value? What would happen if the purchasing power of a dollar or of a rupee were to become rock steady?
Have you thought about it this year-before you start (or at least finish) spending that bonus?
What will this Christmas/Pongal bring I wonder? Is it perhaps even possible to have fun and fellowship with friends and without money? Will anyone believe that you love them anyway even though you didn't push your plastic a few thousand more over its already strained limit?
GOLD > Coins > Bills of exchange > CREDIT Þ Transactions

Originally published by Sam at http://bartramia.wordpress.com

Invincible! Immortal? Soldiering (dys) Functionally

Not so long ago we had taken a peek at stuff like PTSD and the psychological costs of sending our young people to war. John Doyle, over at Ktismatics has actually been working with Veterans and their unique problems for quite some time despite the VA's refusal to allow outside psychologists in.

Now, new research indicates that there is also a very significant amount of actual brain damage being found in returning soldiers and recent Vets. The figures indicate that this happens FIVE TIMES more frequently than the army has been willing to admit to.

Listen to the NPRs interview (title link) with USA Today reporter Gregg Zoroya on his findings on the presence of brain trauma in soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. The army had reported only 4,000 so affected, but this study indicates that the numbers are 20,000 (so far), and that the vast majority of war returnees have not even been screened yet!

Another startling 'statistic' on veterans indicates that 1/3 of all the homeless in the U.S. A. are veterans. A rough estimate puts that at nearly a million vets (estimates range from 780,000 to 970,000 depending on who-take a look at some typical stats here, here and on Oldtimer.). A rough conservative calculation indicates that there are over 30 million Americans who could be classified as poor and of all of these about 1 in 10 is homeless. Another horrifying fact is that another one third of the homeless are children! One can expect that these stats will only get worse as the Iraq war returnees have experienced much longer tours of duty (than their Vietnam Vet friends) and will probably reach the crash out points that much faster. Add to that the spate of failed mortgages and the effects on families of losing their homes and their savings and you have a recipe for disaster.

I am not surprised that war veterans have suffered injuries that are both physically debilitating and mentally incapacitating. The chances of these sacrificial lambs successfully making it back into 'normal' life is always slim. What is surprising, very surprising, is that the army loudly touts it's ability to "take care of its own", but very obviously does not.

Soldiering has thus become just one more functionality in postmodern America. The lack of ideology is not as horrifying as the show of absolute callousness. It is quite impossible to believe that our armed forces do not know, did not anticipate, the sort of damage that our kids would be facing. Certainly, over four years into the war, they cannot only now be 'discovering' brain damage in returned vets. One naturally wonders how many of those in-service now are already suffering from such brain damage and either do not know it or are afraid to have it found out? The scenario is likely very similar to what is still the case for PTSD - denial.

Typically, the Neocon response has been to laugh it all off, with the Democrats not far behind, for this is a scandal of betrayal on a massive scale and it has been perpetrated in a singularly nonpartisan manner.

People, we are not talking about spin!

This is something much more like an information black hole - And with an election coming up too!

FARMING CONCRETE - India at 50/50

We, the people of India, always seem to be at the crossroads.

For a country that is thought to be developing fast, a lot of the time we are quite uncertain as to our direction, and even more confused about our ultimate destination. Instead we are very busy doing what Yogi Berra once advised : "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."



Everyone seems to silently assume that our goal in 'development' is to become a clone of 'developed' economies as much like the U.S. or Britain, or Japan, and to transform into this heavenly vision just as soon as possible.

Having traditionally been socialist in spirit but officially non-aligned, India has largely come out of 'the socialist trap', and now appears to be leaning towards a capitalist, 'free market' economy, somewhat to the delight of those who like possessing, and using, Capital. Or, so goes the assumption at present, but do we really wish to become 'more developed' in this limited and warped sense?

What are we turning ourselves into? What are we to become? We have indeed emerged, but to what? At present we Indians seems to me to be in the grip of a particularly thick fog. We are incapable of seeing our own noses, let alone tackling any bigger questions. And one of the biggest questions revolves around what we are going to do with agriculture.

Here is today's biggest fork in the Indian Road: 50% (yes, one half) of India's 1.1 billion population is now urban. The growing urbanisation of rural populations is driven by the death of small farming as a viable way to make a living. As making a livelihood out of farming becomes less attractive to families and (by design) much more attractive to corporates, the trend will be that smaller farms will be abandoned to be consolidated by larger, capital rich, corporates who will then complete the mechanisation of agriculture (in the name of efficiency) and try to completely eliminate rural labour.

What are we going to do to employ the up-coming flood of ex-farmers? The number of farmer suicides is growing (though we seem to hardly notice) by leaps and bounds every year. Do we just let them quietly continue to commit suicide? What a convenient solution...

The problem of course, is more general than just agriculture. In a comment on a previous post, Mahil had alluded to the increasing drive for specialisation in our developing world. As the machine, aided by intelligent computerised control, takes over both production and process, where will human-performed jobs come from? From a different angle, another tough question to answer now is : How will our nation's wealth eventually be distributed? Do justice, and fairness, and honesty, and openness have a say in our direction into the future?

Admittedly, our problems in India are not small ones. With a population of well over a billion people, somewhat scarce natural resources, limitations on arable land, and weather that always seems intent on either starving us with drought or starving us with deluges, it's perhaps not surprising that we seem fixated on wondering mostly about the when and the where of the next meal.

The pundits tell us that now, security is the name of the game. Do you own a house? Have you financially planned for your children's educations, and more worryingly, their marriages? have you got a couple of credit cards? Are you keeping up with the Krishnans?

The idea of planning, beyond the matter of the family's survival, is not something that includes our neighbors, our rural cousins and our nation at large.

Being shortsighted produces a situation that is rife for those who do have longer term agendas to quietly set their plans in train. Our politicians seem sometimes to be hand-in-glove and sometimes (rarely) simply dupes. Eventually, when the truth of massive sell offs does emerge, all will perhaps claim to have been too easily fooled! This is not in any sense a 'conspiracy theory'. I refuse to believe that folks that are so good at ingeniously lining their own pockets are as dumb as they wish us to believe on the questions of development and overall direction.

In theory, we have something called a 'planning commission'. The only problem is that this too is a 'socialist' leftover and as such this commission now does little of substance. The current head is someone who explicitly believes in deregulating everything. The resultant "Five Year Plans" have become manifestos of what to dismantle first, and of how fast the markets can be 'liberated'.

Our politicians are just as intent on survival (in the narrowest sense) as anyone else, but they are far-sighted enough to ensure that their monetary genealogies will survive for at least a few generations of their own profligate progenies.

In other words, motive and opportunity are known to be present in all developing economies. These are the ingredients of economic murder. Our economic c(r)ooks are particularly intent on making them coincident TODAY in India.

So, what are we going to do about it? Are we prepared to continue to be myopically concerned with our own little selves? Are you prepared to let your child's nation's future be quietly sold off to the highest
bidder?


Thanks to http://www.jillandjohn.net.nz for the lovely pics from Tibet

The Value of Adding Value

As mechanisation has been a staple reality world over for the last couple of centuries, it has shaped our societies and cultures.

In honour of the industrial revolution, engineering became one of the most sought after professions that only the most brilliant could aspire to. Courses in civil and mechanical engineering initially held pride of place, but then gave way to electronics and electrical engineering, and now even these have become less popular than communications and software 'engineering' - courses that are now even found in the ubiquitous 'Arts College'. The professions have tried to keep pace with cultural developments.

The agricultural revolution and rapid advances in medicine have also combined to make the world's huge population explosion just barely manageable. Of course, out of 6.6 billion people only 1 billion live well. Of the rest, around 25% are in abject poverty and in danger of starving (that's about 1.65 billion people). In absolute terms compared to a century ago, the percentage of poor has declined by half but the absolute number of the very very poor has gone up by about 40 million!

It is argued quite successfully (on paper) that the way to deal with poverty is not to give handouts but to give a hand-up. In other words, bring the poor of the world into the mainstream of production, and poverty will be licked. Is this realistic? Is it even possible? What jobs can we envision creating for the billions of poor?

In 2006, it was calculated that if a real U.S. dollar value were to be placed on the per person share of the entire world's economy (per capita on the world's GDP), it would work out to about $6,600 each. Such figures are heavily disputed by economists, mostly depending on where the economist hails from and what turf they are seeking to protect, so I take this as merely illustrative. The plain fact is that this is well below what an American or a European would consider the barest minimum subsistence level. In other words, if one were to pay an American $6,600 a year, they would starve to death. The poverty level cutoff in the U.S. last year was over $13,000 per annum. On the other hand, in India or China or in Africa six and a half thousand dollars would support a whole family of four at a 'middle class' level for a whole year.

Another little illustration that might illustrate the difference is that a good Medical Transcriptionist (MT) in the U.S. would earn about 65 cents a line. An average MT may pull in about 45 cents a line. The same work, when outsourced to the Philippines or India will earn the MT there, anywhere from 2 cents to 3 cents a line. In both types of economies this would constitute a middle class occupation.



The difference lies in the ways in which "value" has been added to products and services in these developed economies. People eat, they wear clothes, pay rent, they go to and from work, their kids get educated... all over the world. But in the 'developed economies', it costs a heck of a lot more to live even in this basic-needs sort of way.

Marketing and management have become the most honoured professions. The highest paid of all professionals in the world are the managers of large corporations. Now knowledge is the key to money and power. The knowledge that is most valued is the alchemical secret of value addition. It has to be done insidiously and so effectively that the consumer will consume both the product and the mythical value and feel pleased. Now, that's MAGIC !

Is it all worth it? The corporations think so and to tell the truth the answer is that without the layers upon layers of value addition, these developed economies would collapse.

Big business absolutely relies on the inflationary effects of exploitable, value addition, in order to pump profit margins up to a level where there remains little connection between what a goods or service costs to perform/produce and what the end user ends up paying for it. The value addition is self justifying also because it is the primary means of distributing "wealth" or more accurately earnings in the strictly trickle down economy.

Now, these economies want the developing world also to faithfully follow the same route. Everyone should buy-in to the concept of breaking the connection between the real value and what we collectively end up paying for anything after value addition.

Is Mass Production Ethical ?

Successful and well developed economies in today's world are mostly of the 'free market' design. These are economies where a modicum of free enterprise is only slightly limited by government regulation (except in agriculture, but we are not taking that topic up today). The alternative of top down control and no private ownership (communism) has died a natural death.

Both systems were outgrowths of the industrial revolution of the 19C. When looked at from an individual standpoint, by relieving the individual or family unit of the need to accomplish all basic tasks pretty much for themselves, and by introducing the incredible efficiencies of mechanisation, the individual is freed up to do other things, and these things necessarily, will now involve specialisation if one is to fit in to the overall framework. The economy mass produces stuff by mechanised processes that are increasingly automated with as few people as possible controlling as much process as possible.

Work, for an individual, is defined as the specialised, narrow, thing that that individual has been trained to do. The individual has to fit into whatever slots are available in the economy of the day.

So, the training of the individual, education also has to become specialised. Now, in India, there is no more point in getting an 'arts degree'. There is no utility in it. Job requirements do not include something as impractical and unspecialised as an 'arts degree'. Furthermore, if one wants to change lines of work, say after five or ten years of experience, one finds that one is starting the new job at the bottom of the ladder- the earnings ladder! The only thing that counts is a proven ability to perform and that comes only with experience.

We know all of these things and they don't overly disturb us for we are fairly confident that the whole thing hangs together and works pretty durn well. After all, what we need is a job, and some job security, and for prices to remain affordable, and for there to be opportunities and time for recreation and the family. What else does one want from a healthy, sound economy?

I would suggest that we have blinded ourselves to who and what we really are. We do this and allow ourselves to be duped because it is the easiest thing to do. We are comfortable enough, our families are pretty much taken care of, so what could really be wrong?

What we have gained is security.
What we have lost is our SELVES.

What happens to human beings that become redundant? What happens to machines that become redundant? The human has become nothing more than a machine, filling a slot in the endless cycle of mass production.

Mass production is good. Mass production runs the economy. Without mass production there would be no economy and there would be no prosperity.

We have gained the whole world-
But, we have lost ourSELVES.

War Games - Musharraf goes the "Cheney me to a Rice Bush" Route

India has been toying with doing things in 'The New American Way' for some time now. Our present almost misadventures with the 1-2-3 Nuclear Power Treaty have clearly indicated our own Junta's leanings. We too seem to be actively seeking ways to democratically subvert our democracy, but thankfully have so far failed.

Still the Dickied Rice Bush has had some measure of success with our neighbour Pakistan.

America kept insisting that this Mushy stuff was the closest that the Pakistani people could get to democracy. Instead, what was all along a dictatorship in democratic guise has now reverted to form and proved that it was indeed a full blown military dictatorship all along.

Musharraf is a suave, smooth, polite, educated, and eminently reasonable dictator, but a dictator and a ruthless and brutal one nonetheless. He is photogenic and charismatic (wonder where I've heard that before) and an ideal stooge for the U.S. State Department's deeper Neocononial designs in this part of the world.
The last time Musharraf needed to consolidate his power he engineered a war (the '99 Kargil War) with India. The then democratically elected Pak. leader (Nawaz Sharrif) had to flee for his life.

This time Mushy has been concentrating on his Afghany front, and let's hope that he stays focussed there. The chances are that as long as the current U.S. administration is wooing India, Mushy will have to bite his tongue and wait, but nothing is certain in todays global village.

Who knows, perhaps in international parlance this is just one more way of delivering a hidden ultimatum? An openly militaristic Pakistan should certainly fuel the the local arms race and that itself would have made Dickey & Co. very happy. Every cloud should have a silver and gold lining, as should every pocket...

It's too much to hope that India would have learned anything substantial from this, except that there're always ways to make a quick buck. The depth of the pocket is actually what drives politics in India anyway.

Statesmanship is a thing of the rather distant past - a blurry, fading, black and white memory of what was always something of a hazy backlit dream.

"Do, you know that the U.S. tried ever so strongly to dissuade Mushy from such a drastic step?" At least that's the current spin, being disseminated through the hidden alleyways of a 'leaky' State Department.

Everyone does know that Musharraf would never have dared unless he was offered tacit U.S. support.

• We have blown it on Myanmar. We are supporting a brutal military junta.
• We have blown it with Tibet. We have shamed the Dalai Lama.

It is not too late to change tack.

Let us try to realise the reality of our own proud constitution.
Let us once more try to stand for FREEDOM,
to truly uphold DEMOCRACY, and
to be the champions of JUSTICE
that we once thought that we could be,
and that we would be.


UPDATE 1 (Nov. 5) The headlines about 6 months down the road after a bit of NYT investigative journalism:

RENDERING (justice to) THE COURTS:

Gen. Pervez Mussharaf had exported Pakistan's supreme court justices to the U.S. under the Democracy re-education program sponsored by the US Department of State. Now we are pleased to report that waterboarding and other assorted recreationally educational nontortures at Guantanamo for the recalcitrant Pakistani Supreme Court justices has finally resulted in signed confessions of connections to terrorism from all the judges who had originally refused to swear allegiance to General Musharraf after he imposed martial law in order to save Pakistani democracy. They unanimously support the continuation of Mr. Mussharaf as he is clearly now 'the only dictator capable of restoring true democracy.' The Secretary of State is very pleased that the U.S. has been able to further promote democracy in the world."

AUTISM, the latest in the LD series at PONNVANDU

The latest article in the series on Learning Disabilities is up at Ponnvandu. Click on this link:

LD-4 Autism,

Earlier posts in the series are :

DYSLEXIA
DYSGRAPHIA
DYSPRAXIA
NUTRITION FOR KIDS WITH LD
DEVELOPMENTALLY CHALLENGED KIDS - TIPS FOR PARENTS

Freedom dies, dying, dead.

Our world has lost the desire for justice. We are now losing our desire for freedom. Our politicians have become slaves of power and thus slaves of money, for they believe that without money there is no power.

Let me illustrate with two different examples:

The NHS, (National Health Service) and indeed the very practice of English Medicine itself, is being steadily dismantled (read 'redefined' or 'efficientised') in the "Formerly Great" Britain.

• All medical super-specialties are being segregated to a very limited number of treatment facilities that also happen to be as far apart as possible.
  

• The FRCS is soon to follow the MRCP to becoming just an empty qualification. It already requires a Training Completion certificate to get the proud owner any respect at all!
  

• Most hospitals will be turned into Primary Health Centers where only routine medical procedures will be performed by doctors who have no additional qualifications - in other words "doctor" = "glorified technician".
  

The government will (of course) save tremendously on salaries, facilities, maintenance, equipment and training expenditures. But that's not all - the current Labour government is now actively looking for ways to quietly privatise as many of the facilities as possible and to then back that up with private health insurance.

In other words, healthcare will turn into the same sort of disastrous mess that now prevails in the U.S. with the average human simply being denied even basic healthcare...

The first step to getting the public behind these moves is to castrate the existing system. Create a demand and then let the privatisers move in for the kill!

Secondly, look at what's happening in Darfur, Uzbekistan (see title link) and Myanmar... In all these instances, we see tremendous oppression. It is selective homicide and extreme oppression against members of one's own nation being perpetrated by dictator style governments.

The world is silent!

YET, this same international community was happy enough to attack an Iraq that had already been decimated by sanctions. Do you know that a very conservative estimate of unnecessary child death (due to sanctions) puts the Iraqi toll at over 2,000,000? Did you know?

But try to get anything more forceful than pious declarations of commiseration about the really nasty stuff that's going on, that every single person knows is going on, and you are met with a deafening silence!

There was a British ex-ambassador to Uzbekistan who dared to raise a voice of protest against the tacit support that both Britain and the U.S. were giving to the dictator there. He was promptly recalled, criticised and then canned from the Foreign Service. The issue appears to also have something to do with the Uzbek's huge gas deposits which are being tapped by MNCs and their parent governments (see this fascinating fax linking Bush, Enron and Uzbekistan). There is also a suspicion that the American base in Uzbekistan was one of the primary holding grounds for the detention and torture of the victims of America's Renditions.

On Myanmar, my own Indian government, democratically elected and the upholders of one of the worlds best constitutions has chosen to sell itself down the river of looting the helpless.

I am particularly and utterly amazed, and very deeply pained, that there has not been even so much as a whimper of protest in India's press against the ridiculous moral - material support that our democratically elected junta is supplying openly to their brothers in Myanmar.

This same junta granted a high civilian honour to Aung San Suu Kyi just a short while ago! Obviously the two juntas are not strange bedfellows at all!

The only difference between then and now is that now our Indian corporates and their MNC friends have figured out how to make very substantial money from the misfortunes of the ineptly pacifistic Burmese monks.

PRIME PRINCIPLE : Good sources of ROI are not to be scoffed at;

And the easiest way to silence criticism is to enlist the help of our postmodern world's ubiquitous Master of Spin - the POLITICIAN, whose only real agenda is to stay in power for as long as possible, in order to make their pockets as well lined as absolutely possible, while duping the dupable populace that only conscientiously good governance is the goal.

Guns N Roses

It used to be that the worst we could do was to kill off a few of our own species by instigating nasty but localised disasters,


think: Chernobyl, Hiroshima, the Holocaust, Cambodia's Killing Fields, Bhopal, WW1, Iraq...

And with a little minor collateral damage thrown in such as loss of habitats and some consequent reduction in biodiversity.

Global evils are a relatively new creation of mankind.

The reality is that somewhere in the 1950s we created enough nuclear firepower to completely destroy all life on earth.

Now, that's global!

Of course, TODAY the United States of America can be proud of having the ABILITY, and all on their lonesome, to destroy a hundred earths.

Russia may have more, or less and China? Then there's Israel, India, South Africa, Great Britain, France, Germany, maybe and now Brazil too and maybe Iran.

So let's say, for the sake of argument, that's another few hundred worlds worth...

I wonder whether that is why there are so many astronomers looking for habitable earthlike planets?

Well, when they do get started, (on using all of that lovely firepower) let's just hope that they start as far away from this earth as possible!

Now we are also being told, that without ever having intended any such harm, nonetheless, we are well on our way to warming our own little globe so much that it may destroy all of life - at least life as we now know it.

The exciting part of that is that it gives evolution a fresh start and maybe, just maybe, something as purely self (and other) destructive as humankind will not be the result the next time round, but then, it is nature, "red in tooth and claw"(1) that we are talking about! It could even be worse. maybe, we're not so bad after all?

So, this is not ultimately about survival. It looks like sooner (odds on), or later (less and less likely), we will most certainly cease to exist.


But, it certainly is about what we are doing in the meantime.

I think it would be nice if we could go out in a blaze of glory. I really do think that this is something that we can perhaps manage. It's just a small matter of trying not to do any harm to others for the next few years.

Now, is that such a big deal?

Think of posterity.

Think of what some species in the year 3,000 is going to find as they sift through the archaeological dust. Era after era of nastiness, wars, destruction, one upmanship, weapons of destruction and then weapons of mass destruction and then wars based on spin about WMD that never existed, and then... peace.

Peace,

did I hear someone say

PEACE????

And the Ngobel Prize in History for the year 3,001 goes to - #$(*&%)@@*!!!, for the discovoverery of "Peace"...

"The History of Peace"

A richly and horrifyingly illustrated guide to the heroic end of what can only be termed as the most unimaginably uncivilized species to have ever gained intelligence.

It all began in the year 2007, when the species Humanus selfdestructivus realised that they were soon to no longer exist.

#$(*&%)@@*!!! finally succeeded in translating the digital data after almost 300 years of deciphering in base 2, and the result is the publication of a truly remarkable document that has been miraculously preserved. The story recounts how, when this realisation of imminent and irrevocable demise suddenly spread on the WWW, the entire Humanus selfdestructivus decided, mysteriously, and courageously, to spend their last years alive on the planet Ge, in PEACE...

(read more...)

(1) Canto LVI, Alfred Lord Tennnyson, "In Memoriam"

Good for you, Jimmy Carter!

Something about this article on Jimmy Carter taking on a hostile bunch of cops in the Sudan [title link] reminded me powerfully of my dad (H.A. Carr). When he got the bit between his teeth he was going to get wherever he had determined to go, and no one, nothing, was going to stop him.

Where questions of human rights, and more basically human lives, are concerned it's about time we stopped letting the democracies, juntas, and dictatorships give us the royal runaround.

We all need a bit of the Jimmy Carter spirit to start getting things done.

Myanmar, Darfur, Egypt, Palestine, Uzbekistan, DR Congo, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Guantanamo, Kosovo, North Korea, Saudi Arabia (and much of the M.E.) , and then the almost complete blind spots like Indonesia's Papua and Borneo...

Places like DR Congo, Myanmar, and the Indonesian islands, are kept under wraps quite actively by the MNCs that quietly operate there. We have posted about the timber mafias before and this recent TIME article shows how the MNCs, backed solidly by their hypocritical countries of origin, have gone so far as to subvert critically important international aid organizations like the Wold Bank to help them to quietly do their dirty work.

The World Bank is actually governed by government representatives, so without the involvement of the various governments...

It isn't just a matter of quietly making money with a bit of biosphere rape thrown in. The MNCs-govt. nexus always results in human rights abuses. The countries involved will also end up being permanently crippled by the corruption and unequal distribution of wealth and power that the MNCs have encouraged.

Such then is the hidden nexus in today's world, where supposedly democratic and freedom-oriented, nations are actually actively subverting the world's poor (and raping their hapless environments) through their corporations and just for a bit of quick 'filthy lucre'!

Tangled Rights

At issue across the world today is the question of basic human rights. The most endangered right is the right to freedom of speech, but freedom of opinion/religious belief, the right to a fair trial, and rights of habeas Corpus have also been shot full of holes.

The world's political will to uphold human rights has been severely compromised by a number of factors.

First and foremost has been the change that has taken place in the West since the start of the 1970s drive to globalise.

Globalisation has primarily spawned massive international corporations that are not answerable to anyone. The bottom line is profit. And how one gets it, simply doesn't matter. MNCs are designed to ensure their own survival and growth, while sharing a pittance of their ill gotten gains with their shareholders to keep them happy.

Secondly, the swing to right wing politics has had a disastrous effect. Bush Jr. in the U.S.A. led the way followed very closely by Blair and Great Britain. The world's most prosperous nations, those whose corporations are reaping immense benefits from their MNC fostering and spawning neocononialism, have lost sight entirely of human rights. The open support to tyranny, backed by massive monetary support to any type of cooperating petty dictatorships has ensured hat human rights have no importance at all.

The idea of development is much touted as being the one and only route to economic prosperity for the 'developing' nation. In this model the involvement of MNCs is a basic requirement. The MNC brings in the technology, the knowhow, the foreign markets, and the working business models, that are together the key ingredients of success. The MNC is also well capitalised and can afford to wait until all the pieces fall into place to generate its profits. In the process, jobs are created, infrastructure is developed and a nation's economy is supposed to 'develop'. But that's all a pie in the sky theory. It sounds plausible. It sounds good and so we choose to believe that this is what development means, that this is the win-win formula that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are all trying to promote - this holistic and positive model that will bring prosperity to poor 'underdeveloped' nations.

What really happens is that the absolute minimum of infrastructure is put in place to allow the MNC to remove the resources, finished/semi-finished goods that it has come there for. Technology will not be transferred. A few jobs, as few as possible, will be created. the jobs will be mostly menial and manual in nature with a lean and mean administration to extract the most for the least.

The government will be corrupted as environmental and developmental norms are given the go bye. The population will suffer as their natural resources are sucked out. There will be little to even trickle down as the majority of the earning is realised in international markets and the MNC pockets the huge profits. Local market systems that have functioned and self regulated for centuries will be shut down or subverted overnight. And when there are complaints, as there must be,

HUMAN RIGHTS WILL BE THE FIRST TO GO.

Aside: I often wonder if places like Zimbabwe are not encouraged and paid to go down the tubes to frighten the unwary. "This is exactly what will happen to you too if you don't do exactly as the WB-IMF consultants advise you."


I was struck by the incisive and pointed analysis in a not o recent Slavoj Žižek commentary

Are we in a war? Do we have an enemy?

Does "we were all living in a state of emergency because of the worldwide struggle between freedom and Communism, the full implementation of the Constitution was forever postponed and a permanent state of emergency obtained. This state of emergency was suspended every four years for one day only, election day, to legitimise the rule" somehow sound familiar?

in The LRB of May 23, 2002.

Myanmar - India supports the Junta's Freedom to Loot

The world has already expressed its disgust at the criminal actions of the military Junta in Myanmar. There are just two things that I would like to stress:

India's voice has been silent. Why? What is the vested interest that shuts our mouth, or is it that our government actually secretly approves of the actions of the "Generals"?

As an immediate neighbor to Myanmar, one would think that we would be the first to express our dismay, but nowadays many 'immediate neighbors' are complicit by their silence; take South Africa and Zambia for example, and how they have chosen to 'deal' with Zimbabwe. India is proving to be a similarly adept tightrope walker.

Our Indian Junta does not believe in principles any more. The shock of the interim success of the religiously fundamentalist BJP seems to have stripped all of the remaining ideals from todays so-called leadership. The long-term game is to remain in power and in order to do that they feel the need for support and encouragement from other morally bankrupt (but rich) democratic allies. One can see that a certain world power is counting on inciting India to act as a bulwark against the ultimate ascendancy of the growing economic might of China. That particular power in turn unhesitatingly subverts the remaining principles of their chosen allies by the simple expedient of financing whomsoever will 'toe its line'.

Western talk of promoting democracy has proved to be cheap. Belief in the benefits of true democracy have altogether disappeared. The result is seen here as India had backed away from doing anything about Tibet, and then 'on request' did the dirty to our long-time allies the Iranians, so too now will we sell the Myanmarese peoples to the highest bidder.

Both India and Burma (Myanmar) are ex-colonies of Great Britain! The British understood globalisation, and Realpolitik long before anyone else. They had to to be able to maintain a dominance, an empire for over two whole centuries, on which the sun never did set! At the same time the Brits have been busy writing histories of how selflessly they used their empire to educate and develop an uncivilised world. Our Indian leaders have learned too well at the feet of their former masters.

The unholy alliance of a China along with a subverted democracy, both joining in in the shenanigans of the key MNCs ensures the continuance of the military regime in Myanmar. This is my second point. The survival of the military junta is because they are tremendously rich. These riches fund the control of the army that then backs up completely the Junta's undemocratic hegemony.

The money in the case of Myanmar, comes mainly from timber, oil, gas, opium, and mining. All of the timber, oil, and mineral wealth is harvested from the vast pristine tropical wilderness by multinational corporations (MNCs) whose activity is known and approved of by the nations that host and spawn these Money alone is God behemoths. The facts are not even denied; it is called progress, development and globalisation. Shamelessly such MNCs continue to operate without any controls, raping the lands and forests and simultaneously doing all in their power to ensure the continuance and enrichment of the 'oh so cooperative' golden-egg-laying-gooses of a Junta. The nations that spawn such monstrosities as these MNCs are the very ones that also piously speak of promoting democracy!

"The majority of investment in oil and gas was made by multinational companies from France, United States and United Kingdom in entering joint venture projects with the state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE)"

India and China in different ways are great supporters of today's Myanmar, and even rivals for influence there, though there is little question that China's economic influence does dominate.. India has its stake more as the key cutout and staging point for any MNC that wants to get round the 'minor sanctions' and the 'muted murmurs of disapproval' that are occasionally felt from Europe and America.

Myanmar is one nation where there is no need for any mafia. The looting and environmental destruction are legal! But MNCs prefer the anonymity of JVs and offshoring their activities through 'friendlies' like India.

It is also a little-recognised fact that the vast British empire was built on wood from Africa and Asia. In all former colonies one will find that some of the oldest surviving government departments are the FDs (Forest Departments) and that the systematic rape of third world forests was almost the first thing that the colonial British actually did to their colonies. While wood is still a very major money spinner, the future clearly lies in the oil and gas reserves. India and China in their unholy partnerships with the MNCs have their eyes and policies firmly fixed on all that gas and quite some oil reserves too.

• India's double standards and their hidden activity as proxies to 'higher' powers needs to be recognised and CONDEMNED.
  
• The MNCs that are actually doing the damage but who have remained faceless need to be NAMED and SHAMED.

We Indians have been witness to the insidious but definite shift in our own nation's foreign policies as it increasingly leans towards outright doing whatever the richest of nations want. The Indian activity is mediated (dare we suspect 'funded'?) by these same nations and their MNCs i.e. the very ones who are consistently exploiting Myanmar (and wherever else the opportunity to act without any controls makes the process maximally profitable). It is a sad truth that both of our leading political parties have already been 'converted' into backboneless and unprincipled supporters of "that which should not be named". While that pristine state in public speaks loudly of championing democracy, at the same time the word to the MNCs boardrooms is to quietly get on with getting the loot.

I am not at this moment much concerned about the sins of the rest of the world.
It is India's shameless tactics that have confounded me.

Folks, it's time to make a change!
Let's stand up for what's right, for a change...
India needs to get its act together NOW.

Pray for the peoples of Myanmar.

On Looking Good

Appearance, concepts like ugliness, and beauty; should these make any difference to how we relate to other human beings?

Given that for a person with functioning eyesight, most often the very first contact that we make with another person is visual, that 'first impression' certainly must have an impact. Is the person tall, short, lean, fat, fair, dark, handsome, ugly, having some unusual or outstanding feature...? We register these impressions almost subconsciously, and they stay with us. We associate this set of physical attributes with that person.

I've had the same sort of experience while talking to people on the phone. Folks that I have never met respond to things like the quality of one's voice, pronunciation/accent, and how articulate one is. I remember a classical music host on our university FM station that I used to call to make requests to when working the midnight shift at the blood bank. It got so that we became good phone friends and one night she had broadcast an appeal for blood just before I called her with a request. She wanted to know how acute the crisis was, and it was a bit of a crunch, in the dead of winter and after some bad snowfalls the trickle of donors had pretty much dried up. Then she asked me whether I had a vehicle and whether I could give her a ride the next morning so that she could donate. I was quite amazed at her confidence and lack of fear! I asked her later how she had had the courage to trust a 'caller-in' stranger, and she just said, "it's your voice". I then had a long talk with her about NEVER doing that again.

When sexuality and finding a mate get thrown into the mix, the questions become more acute, easier to answer, but harder to deal with. Dating is not a very common practice in India. Here the culture is still dominated by Families (with a capital F, see my earlier post here) and particularly so when marriage and mate matching is in view. Families here tend not to look too much at physical beauty, and are perhaps even a bit suspicious of it, but they will not consider people with physical handicaps (especially girls) and will dig deeply into a lot of other things including the other family's caste background, antecedents (is it a 'good' family?), health history, whether the boy is taller/girl shorter, and strangely enough, especially for girls, whether they are fair - i.e. light skinned!

After getting past the critical step of matching horoscopes, the investigation of a potential match can take months, with involvement by much of the extended family and input coming from all sides. One negative opinion freely expressed can spell doom!

With the dowry system also stubbornly hanging around, it is possible that the 'detected deficiencies' on the part of the girl can be compensated by the girl's parents by suitably 'enhancing' the pot. On the boy's side, if there are problems, the opposite occurs, and the amount demanded will be suitably reduced!

In such an environment, Families are terrified of having any hint of controversy surrounding them or attaching to them even from a distance. Any nonconformity is anathema. The usual sexual discrimination is also obvious, for 'boys will be boys' and are allowed to get themselves into a certain amount of hot water, but for the girls, never.

Western culture though, seems keen to let their youth figure out for themselves whom they will make life commitments to, and nowadays, even whether they will permanently settle down with one particular 'significant other'. The role of physical appearance therefore is very prominent. Popularity seems to be first and foremost governed by how good one looks. The other questions, initially at least, take a back seat. If you like someones looks, you are more likely to go out with them when invited. You are much more likely to invite someone out whom you think looks good. Being popular and looking good seem to have more than a casual connection.

Corollaries to this are that everyone is very concerned about their appearance. One should certainly try to look as good as one can! The amount of angst and therefore outflows of money are directly proportional to the tremendous anxiety generated all round. Also, The beautiful and the handsome, are much more likely to pair up with others who are 'beautiful and handsome' and subsequently be envied by all those who do not fit into these categories.

In a youth and young adult fellowship group that I once frequented* about 60% were girls. Out of about 200 people attending, my guess would be that there were about 15 really 'popular' girls ( judging from their calenders) with another 30 or so who generally had a date at least once a week. The rest (roughly 80) pretty much languished in a sea of envy and pretended nonchalance! The unintended but very real cruelty of this system didn't seem to unduly worry anyone. It was a very Darwinian sort of thing to find in a Christian fellowship group: The popular will survive!

In both systems the rules of engagement seem to relax somewhat when 'just friendship' is envisaged. But even here, for some folks, the idea that handsome is as handsome does is not acceptable. The company one keeps should also be from and of the 'beautiful people'.

Pragmatically, either system (Eastern or Western) does seem to 'work'. The respective cultures also do not seem to feel any great discomfort with how their system works and in both cultures, the advertising community finds a rich storehouse of stuff with which to manipulate demand. One can't blame them, for the resulting ideas are powerful as well as seductive!

Being rich, being famous, being beautiful, and their opposites are all factors that we seem to take for granted should make a difference in how we relate to others.

But, I find it horrifying that we take it all as a matter of course. 'That's just the way it is, and that's just the way it always has been'! I'm sorry, but however strongly these ideas are embedded in our cultures, it doesn't make them right. Our ethic must challenge both of these contrasting but nasty systems.
The question is not "does it work?" but is "is it right?".

*quite some ways back so I could be needing correction on this if these trends have changed...

Can Religion Help the Environment?

Chatting with a friend at Greenpeace recently I said “As with most people I don’t worry too much about the ‘ecological crisis'. After all the present situation is one that has been created by so many of our industrial and agricultural activities over the last couple of hundred years. So what difference will my little consciousness make?” He made one comment: "You claim to be a follower of Jesus, have you never thought of how God views what we are doing to His world - and you an amateur conservationist”.

In Africa and the few areas of Asia that still have some forests, native tribes practice a type of semi-nomadic lifestyle supported by hunting, gathering, and ‘slash and burn’ agriculture. They have done so for millennia. The forests were not much affected. Climate change was something that happened slowly over tens of thousands of years. Plenty of time for native species to adapt or move on.

Nowadays, many of these tribes are shifting to the slums that surround all cities. The forests have been taken over by agricultural 'developers' following close on the heels of the poaching and timber mafias. The few remaining forests are being decimated.

In fact, the whole world’s population is shifting to the slums of our cities. The human race has lost touch with the land that gives us life. Everywhere, businesses accumulate land and exploit the land for the maximum output at the least possible investment.

We don’t worry about the long term results on the land as long as our supermarkets are well stocked and prices remain affordable. The land has become invisible.The same could be said for many of the staples of 'civilisation', electrical energy, gas (petrol), building materials, steel, and so on are not areas of concern, and unless prices rise we just don’t think about it at all.

The one environmental issue that we do get a bit concerned about is pollution and that is only because we do have to feel the consequences in our landfills, in the air we breathe and in the water that we drink. The easy way out is what we always prefer and you would be surprised at how much toxic waste gets exported to the third world for disposal. That’s the stuff that’s too nasty to dump anywhere near ‘civilised’ people.

The results of our selfishness are the steady destruction of the ecological balance of the world. Down the road we will pay a heavier price as pollution, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and global warming take hold. The GW skeptics are wrong!

That process has already started. Take the lowly mosquito; a silent and versatile vector for various nasty diseases, this tiny insect is working its way ever northward as winters get milder. The result now is a few cases of West Nile Virus attacks sporadically here and there. Unfortunately, these will be followed by Japanese Encephalitis, Dengue, Malaria, Chikungunya, Ebola, … and other little horrors for which there are no known cures.

Starting with God’s word, the creation imperatives lay out the present situation rather too well. Gen 1:28 “Multiply…subdue it and have dominion”. We have, in our fallenness, persevered pridefully to rape and pillage without a care for the condition of the very lands and the oceans that give us life.

The issue for me today is how to start obeying God’s commandments in the light of what history and science teach. But, neither history nor science are very encouraging for they leave me with a sense that our best intentions can cause more harm than good. Interventions on behalf of nature very often backfire resulting in unforeseeable bad consequences. Human interventions in anything are disaster-prone!

Today, what effect will it have if I take Jesus’s teachings on being in God's kingdom to heart and start living as a citizen of the kingdom of God?

Some of these basic gospel teachings are:

1. To identify with the have-nots.

2. To not accumulate wealth or possessions.

3. To freely share whatever I have.

4. To be more concerned about others welfare than my own.

5. To not build up buffer stocks against whatever may happen tomorrow.

6. To consume only what is absolutely necessary for today.

7. To use all of the talents that God has given me to the best of my ability.

8. To love and accept responsibility for all mankind without discrimination while ignoring worldly and genetically determined imperatives.

9. To personally stand for justice and to support systems and laws that promote justice in its narrowest and broadest senses.

10. To pay taxes and to demand accountability from the leadership on behalf of God’s kingdom.

Jesus’s teaching of these principles automatically brought him into conflict with both the politicos and the religious. There is no 'mammon' to be had for anyone in God’s kingdom, it won’t even trickle down! Therefore, there is a big element of risk involved, especially if a growing proportion of Jesus’s followers start taking His kingdom teachings seriously.

The most important environmental principles are to shun exploitation, or excess, in any form. By redefining what is really necessary and differentiating it from what the market drives me to desire, I will be able to reduce consumption and automatically the environment will benefit, as will the humans of this world! So, for our environment, if I can live by the principles of the kingdom, the results will be at least neutral (we won’t make matters any worse) but more probably I will give the world of nature some breathing space and maybe help to see something of a recovery.

[Slightly modified from a comment made on OST - follow the title link - and first published in October of 2006]

Forces of Evil

The clash of cultures in India and other parts of the third world is something that I have always thought of as an intellectual exercise. Recently, though, the realities have struck a bit too close to home for comfort!

Our culture is one that is dominated by family. The family is now mostly the immediate family and the closest relations, something an order of magnitude greater than the nuclear family itself. Previously such was a much bigger group in India very often comprising one's caste, (community or jaathi). Nowadays, for many of the city dwelling folks, the caste carries a little less weight, but the slightly extended family (SED), has taken over that role and dictates terms to the concerned individuals with an overpowering and imperative voice.

The Now Generation, the 6th - 7th generation of our youth (Millennium 1?) since this nation gained independence, is at a crossroads. They know, and their national constitution guarantees them, their rights, but the rights are on paper and cannot be exercised without causing much consternation in the SED. The SED decides on everything from dress codes, to schooling, to work, diet and even, yes, marriage partners. The confusion is compounded by the utter contrast between what these kids see on TV, on the internet, and what the SED is telling them.

Over the years, it has been our privilege to stand by those few brave souls who are willing to buck the system and insist that they do have the right as individuals to make their own choices. Not surprisingly, these individuals are those who have had perhaps more of an exposure to Western cultures, perhaps with parents who had themselves felt uneasy with the status quo but also quite often it is a matter of conflict from the word go.

Surprisingly, when in the midst of the heated, emotional and sometimes dangerous conversations that follow when a person moves against their SED, the question often boils down to economics: The SED has done a,b, & c for you at great cost to itself, therefore you cannot now go your own way. Obviously, the entire system, the economics of the SED way of life, is being called into question.

Reactions to challenges to the SED system of life are often even violent for so much is at stake. But the critical question is how this clash of cultures is going to work itself out? For one thing, those who want to accommodate the good in the older system (stable, long lasting marriages and families that are child oriented) find themselves in a bind for any change is not appreciated. Without the middle path it seems that only by open conflict will the system change!

Ground Zero is usually marriage. Arranged versus love marriage is the stark choice that faces our youth. The SED will not tolerate love marriages at all. Very often the few couples who proceed and succeed in getting married after falling in love, will face ostracism, often by parents and family on both sides. Some do survive the economic and societal pressures but often these couples are forced apart. The result is often disastrous with the couple deciding to commit suicide.

The only option within SED is to marry

whomever the SED picks out, and make the best of it.

It may have been a good system resulting in stable marriages and strong families at one time, but it only works when both husband and wife (and their kids!) are strictly role bound and do not ask any awkward questions. Given the ways in which the supporting culture is changing, it's only a matter of time before the questions will out and marriages that looked solid find themselves on the rocks.

Our youth will have to find their way through this difficult maze, and to some extent, one can see them succeeding in forging a new path especially in the cities. The rural scene is still completely bound in tradition and forced marriages and even honour killings are still a 'norm' whenever the rural SEDs and the local caste system are challenged.

Snake Dharma

Mahil's comment in the previous post made me think. I was particularly reminded of my first few hesitant months in the U.S. way back in 1974. I had come to study Biology and was trying to find my feet in this strange new place. It was a bit of an adjustment. I had been brought up in Africa, with very few people, infrequent electricity and ingenious but primitive seeming technology. For example, our fridge ran on methylated spirit and baking cakes in a firewood fed oven is a real challenge.

I was just as terrified of snakes as my fellow humanbeings right till the age of 11, which is when I ran into my first 'snakeman'. There was a small reptile collection in what passed for a zoo at Lusaka. There I spent a day in 1969 and was amazed to see the local 'snakeman', one Mr. Vincent, casually handling snakes that I knew to be very dangerous. He eventually convinced me to pick up a Whip Snake (Psammophis), and it wasn't slimy, in fact quite dry, and even pleasant to hold!

That made all the difference! I became a friend, and wherever possible, protector of snakes. Shortly thereafter I found a 2 foot long black snake (unidentified) in our garden, and coaxed it into a large bottle and hid it in my bureau. I then took off to play. Unfortunately, the next morning my mom suddenly got the urge to clean my (admittedly messy) room. She casually pulled out the big bottle and set it on the dresser and kept cleaning till she thought she saw something move. Needless to say, things went downhill rapidly after that. I got home to find my mom shaking with fury, refusing to enter the house, and my dad looking rather helpless.

Anyhow, skipping forward a few years, here I was in Cincinnati, staying with my sister and her hubby (the Jeyaveerans) when a close friend of theirs dropped by. Roger Stuebing was an expert in statistics and worked at the U.C. computer center. Roger decided to try and help me out with my acclimatisation. We got to chatting and soon found that we had a lot of common interests one of which was snakes. A few days later Roger picked me up early and we headed out to join my first American snake collection trip.
Now, if Vincent had been interesting that was mild compared to Dr. George T. McDuffie. A Ph.D. in herpetology (that roughly covers the crocs, gators, snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs and salamanders), McDuffie lived in a big brownstone with a huge basement. We joined an assortment of folks at his place and headed out to the hills. We were after any snake, but he was particularly interested in copperheads (Agkistrodon contortrix)
and timber rattlers (Crotalus horridus - below) both pit vipers.

McDuffie had his right arm in a sling and as we drove, the conversation veered round to his most recent snakebite, and hence the sling. It
turns out that he had been bitten by a rattler 3 days back and had a slightly swollen and painful arm. He had lost count of the number of times he had been bitten, but it had reached the stage where he had developed some natural antivenom (immunity) and McDuffie had also become allergic to the usual (horse protein based) antisnakevenom, and so could not be treated with that at all!

I had no idea what pit vipers were, so the day turned out to be very interesting indeed. We found one beautiful timber rattler and McDuffie had it on his snakestick when I saw someone struggling to hold the sack open with two more sticks. I promptly picked up the sack and held it up for the snake to be lowered into between my outstretched hands. McDuffie calmly let the snake down into the sack and I bagged the snake and handed the bag to McDuffie.

He then looked intently at me and said "that was a very brave thing to do". I was really puzzled and asked what other way there was to bag snakes. Only then did it dawn on McDuffie that I may not know what pit vipers were! Indeed, in Africa there are a plethora of venomous snakes but no pit vipers.
The common vipers in Africa were the Puff Adder (Bitis arietans, not shown) and the very striking Gaboon Viper (Bitis gabonicus - left), neither of which have the heat sensing capability of the pit vipers.

That beautiful, big, timber rattler could clearly 'see' my hands as two large, live, hotspots on either side of its head as it was being lowered into the sack, and I didn't even have a clue as to the danger that I was in!

That was the same snaking trip where McDuffie caught a big Black Racer (Coluber constrictor)using only his teeth, but that tale can wait, as can the account of what we found in that large, hot, basement of his after we got back...

Bitten to the point of immunity, McDuffie really did live-out his dharma. I was saddened to hear that George died (apparently of natural causes) this April at the age of 79 - a true snakeman and fondly remembered!

Snakes in the (Indian) Grass - UPDATED 14 March, 2008

A 'narcissistic' Indian Cobra

INDIA'S "BIG FOUR"


(Naja naja)








The Russell's Viper

Echis carinatus - the Saw Scaled Viper
Notice how variable the colouring can be.

Saranya, my 19-year-old daughter, just recovered from a snakebite this week. I haven't really kept myself very up-to-date on the developments in treating snakebites for the last couple of years as my snake rescue work has almost been non-existent of late. It's very good to see that the next generation is showing an interest in preserving these wonderful, though somewhat dangerous creatures!

Now that I've had to brush-up, I thought I would take the opportunity to summarise the steps to be taken when bitten by a snake...

First and foremost, no snakebite should be ignored. Most bites may be from nonpoisonous snakes and sometimes even venomous snakes do not deliver enough venom when biting to prove dangerous, but that is no excuse not to go to the nearest emergency room, get evaluated, and if necessary, have treatment started. Early treatment is the key to preventing complications, and to saving lives, limbs and kidneys!
In India, it is conservatively estimated that up to 20,000 people die annually from snakebites. Morbidity is also significant. These are not small numbers, and there seems to have been little improvement in reducing the fatalities over the years in spite of now having good supplies of polyvalent antisnakevenom available in all population centers. The major reason for the high mortality rate (about 5% to 10% of all those reporting bites) is the delay in getting the victim to a well-equipped casualty treatment facility fast enough.

About 80% of the venomous snakebites in India come from the saw scaled viper (Echis carinatus) and this little fellow can cause problems perhaps a little more slowly than the others of the "big four" (cobra, and Russel's viper) so it's probably true that a lot of the fatalities that do occur are in fact preventable. Krait bites are also variable and result in little obvious pain or swelling at the site of the bite which can lead one to think that the bite was harmless - DON"T BE FOOLED - take no chances and treat every bite as potentially fatal. Some bites might even be 'dry' with the venomous snake biting but not injecting any venom. At the same time some bites can seem to be harmless but may actually have a slow start to symptoms - often Krait and saw scaled or other viper bites can have this innocent-seeming start but then turn very ugly. Just because there is no obvious pain or swelling DO NOT assume that the bite was harmeless. Treat every bite as potentially deadly till proved otherwise by the competent medical authority.

FIRST AID:

In the absence of a nearby doctor, those accompanying the bitten one need to first CALM the victim down and then immobilise the affected limb (if it is a limb). Not one of the Indian poisonous snakes brings instant death. You do have time to get the victim to a hospital and treated but do get moving immediately.

DON'Ts:

Tourniquets, applying any sort of chemicals or external medicines, and cutting into the site of the bite to suck out the venom (all of which were the mainstays of first aid in my heyday) seem to have fallen out of favour.

DOs:

BE CALM ; ; GET MOVING TOWARDS A HOSPITAL ; ; CALL AHEAD FOR ANTIVENIN

The use of pressure bandaging is controversial but if done with something like a crepe bandage after staring to move towards the nearest competent hospita, and not wound on too tightly, perhaps combined with a simple splint or sling, it may help to slow the spread of venom through the lymphatic system. Blood supply must NOT be cut off! On the whole, perhaps if the bitten one will be getting to a HOSPITAL within 3 0r 4 hours, it may be better not to attempt any pressure bandaging but advice on this point varies.

As you move the bitten one towards a hospital, try to gently remove any jewelery worn on the affected limb - like wrist watch, rings, bangles, bracelets, anklets, or metti (toe rings) as these may cause problems if there is subsequent swelling or edema associated with the bite.
Next, get the person to the nearest good hospital as fast as possible. Walking and running for the victim are best avoided as is movement of the affected limb. Try to carry the person at least on a pallet or makeshift stretcher if no vehicles are available.

Giving anything by mouth is best avoided except if dehydration is a risk, in which case consider sips of oral rehydration fluids (clean water mixed with a little salt and sugar will do OK).
Some poisonous snakes have cardiotoxins (poisons that can slow or stop the heart) so if possible try to keep the affected limb below the level of the heart. The victim should be encouraged to remain calm, move minimally and breathe deeply and evenly to bring the pulse rate to a steady state.

Particularly as you move towards the closest hospital, keep a watch on breathing and on keeping airways clear. If the person has difficulty breathing first see that there is nothing blocking the airway (like the tongue, secretions, or vomit) and if necessary be prepared to help the person to breathe by doing mouth to mouth. Rarely will the heart be affected so early on so full scale CPR may not be needed.

Those having cell phones should call ahead so that even if antivenom is not available, it will be made available by the time the patient arrives. remember that 5, 10, or even more vials of antivenom may be needed, so ask whoever is at the other end to ensure an adequate supply, OR in the absence of definite knowledge, try to take the victim to a hospital that is large enough to be likely to have stock of the antivenin. In Tamil Nadu, the government hospitals are expected to have stock of antivenom.

Observe the snakebite victim carefully while taking them to the hospital. Note the time and location of the bite and try to get as much accurate information on the appearance and size of the snake. Any symptoms such as discolouration at the site or of the affected limb, swelling, signs of bruising, changes in eyes (e.g. droopy lids), eyesight, speech, breathing, sweating, unusual eye movements, bleeding, lowered level of consciousness or other difficulties should be noted.

If the snakebite victim happens to faint the most important thing is to make sure that they are able to breathe. If possible lean the head backward and depress the tongue to keep the throat open. Do not waste time trying to make them recover from the faint. Make sure that they are breathing and concentrate on getting to the hospital fast. If as you move towards the hospital, you do have access to a phone or mobile, ask the doctors who are waiting for you for advice particularly in case of fainting as sometimes this may indicate that a medical condition called "shock" is setting in and that is potentially more dangerous than even the effects of snake venom!

Try to get information on what snake it was, appearance, size, etc. but please don't waste time on this! Getting the person to a competent hospital is the only major priority!

TREATMENT:

Mostly, if there are symptoms, the doctors will immediately do a 'spot test' into the skin to check for allergies to the antivenom. Depending on the symptoms, they may then start the antivenom treatment and then one will most profitably spend one's time praying that there will be no complications.

On admission, and at relevant intervals afterwards, doctors will probably check on how well the blood is clotting (bleeding time, clotting time, and sometimes tests like PT and aPTT), kidney function (urine output, blood urea, creatinine and electrolyte levels), and of course the vital signs - pulse, breathing, temperature, blood pressure and the amount of oxygen in the blood (pO2). They may also keep tabs on the patient's haemoglobin, blood cell counts (especially platelets and WBC), and perhaps the blood gases too.

Sometimes even after a day or two, things can go wrong with the patient starting bleeding, kidney failure, or even the heart could be affected, so keeping the victim under medical observation even after the antivenom has been administered is important. Most of the time, alert medical staff will successfully deal with each crisis as it arises.

Saranya (my daughter), was probably bitten by the Saw Scaled Viper (Echis, see above), but sometimes a non-big-four candidate can cause trouble.

In our our area of South India, especially in hilly areas, we do run into bites from the Hump-nosed Pit Viper (Hypnale hypnale pic. above)

or the Bamboo Pit Viper Trimeresurus gramineus

and very, very rarely,
the King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah).

There have been so many hits on this article as well as requests for more information that I thought I would share some of the resources that I found most helpful:

Snakebite Envenomation in India: A Rural Medical Emergency Indian Pediatrics 2006;43:553-554http://www.indianpediatrics.net/june2006/june-553-554.htm

Kraits deliver some powerful neurotoxins that cause few initial symptoms at the site of the bite but can be deadly within a couple of hours. Detailed Instructions for Krait bites can be found here: http://www-surgery.ucsd.edu/ent/DAVIDSON/Snake/Bungarus.htm *Note that Indian polyvalent antivenom is effective against Krait venom also.

The University of Adelaide's toxinology resources website has an excellent database of information on most of the poisonous snakes in the world, first aid, treatment, and antivenins. Use the search engine to find the information you need:

http://www.toxinology.com/fusebox.cfm?fuseaction=main.snakes.search

Snakebite Research Unit, Little Flower HospitalAngamaly, Kerala - First Aid
http://www.lfsru.org/firstaid.htm

A helpful interview with Romulus Whittaker in The Hindu: http://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/06/13/stories/2004061300400200.htm

Living Poetry - Meet STACY BARTON

Some of this blog's (admittedly few) readers may have noticed that I do have a liking for poetry. As I explained in an earlier post, this particular bug started many years ago under the influence of one of my teachers, Dr. Jon Kamholtz of the University of Cincinnati.

Well, I met Stacy online last year at an emerging theology site called Open Source Theology (OST). It quickly became obvious that she was a real writer - someone who understands how to put the words together to communicate not just facts, but also feelings. Stacy Barton writes poetry (and she also does plays and short stories). Her latest sally is a collection of short stories called "Surviving Nashville".

Well, I visited her blog last week and found that in a couple of posts, she had very casually tossed up some fascinating poetry . With her permission, I am putting up the 'less finished' piece here in this post and another one (more finished?) further down in my sidebar.

So, here's June, which Stacy feels is less finished, or even unfinished. The idea of putting up an unfinished and unpolished poem is to allow any of my lucky readers to participate in finishing a 'living' poem. Well here's your chance! And a golden chance it is indeed. That rarest of things, a creative work in progress, and you get to participate!

So, if anyone wants to suggest some changes, or add a stanza or two, please go ahead and feel free, and if Stacy likes it, the poem may end up being properly published in one of her future collections (no promises)!

june

june means summer

which means kids and pools and sunscreen and sandy beaches

and hot dogs and popsicles

and sleeping in

and afternoon movies with the shades pulled.

summer also means forgetting to buy groceries

(thus the hot dogs)

or do the laundry

(thus the swimsuits)

or go to bed at a reasonable hour

(thus the sleeping in)

If you want to read more, then hunt your way down to the poetry section in my sidebar for Stacy Barton's "At Dusk"