Six
Professionals in Search of cultivating Humanity
URGENTLY NEEDED !
An ELECTRICIAN
...to restore the current between people
...to restore the current between people
that do not speak to each other anymore.
An OPTICIAN
...to change the outlook of people.
...to change the outlook of people.
An ARTIST
...to draw a smile on everyone's face.
...to draw a smile on everyone's face.
A CONSTRUCTION WORKER
...to build peace.
...to build peace.
A GARDENER
...to cultivate good thoughts.
And last but not least
...to cultivate good thoughts.
And last but not least
A
MATHS TEACHER
...for us to re-learn how to count on each other.
...for us to re-learn how to count on each other.
An ELECTRICIAN
This thoughtful advertisement, ‘Urgently Needed’ was one of the good e-mails I received as a part of New Year greetings. How true that we need just six professionals to make our world a beautiful place. Still truer is that all of us have within us the making of an electrician, optician, artist, a construction worker, gardener and mathematics teacher though none of us is aware of such potential inherent in us. Like the elephant which does not know its own strength, we do not know our inherent strength. The spark in us seems to be like a lamp in a bushel and therefore we remain in darkness and like Matthew Arnold’s Scholar-Gipsy, we ‘wait for the spark to fall from heaven’. We would rather make a call to the electrician to restore power when lights go off than fix the fuse ourselves. Why can’t we be electricians and like God in Heaven, say ‘let there be light’ and find that there is light. The greyness of the present day,that resembles Milton’s hell with ‘no light, but darkness visible’, demands that we light up the world. In this modern world of technology, human contact has been replaced by the impersonal e-mail, Twitter, SMS and Facebook. We think we communicate better and faster through the new communication technology, but the truth is in all these efforts human contact gets lost. We delude ourselves that we are in touch with thousands of men and women, but the truth is we stay alone with the laptop giving us company. Francis Bacon said: ‘A crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.’ Facebook is one such device that has a gallery of faces that we look at without any feeling and often without recognition. The first and foremost casualty of communication technology is loss of interpersonal rapport. The physical gestures and expressions that complement communication through words are absent leading often either to inane exchange of words or getting one’s signals crossed. We need the electrical current made of words, feelings, emotions, gestures and physical togetherness to flow but not through an open circuit that illusorily connects hordes of people but through a closed circuit that intimately connects people. Today we are like Eliot’s Gerontion with ‘dry thoughts in a dry brain’ complaining
This thoughtful advertisement, ‘Urgently Needed’ was one of the good e-mails I received as a part of New Year greetings. How true that we need just six professionals to make our world a beautiful place. Still truer is that all of us have within us the making of an electrician, optician, artist, a construction worker, gardener and mathematics teacher though none of us is aware of such potential inherent in us. Like the elephant which does not know its own strength, we do not know our inherent strength. The spark in us seems to be like a lamp in a bushel and therefore we remain in darkness and like Matthew Arnold’s Scholar-Gipsy, we ‘wait for the spark to fall from heaven’. We would rather make a call to the electrician to restore power when lights go off than fix the fuse ourselves. Why can’t we be electricians and like God in Heaven, say ‘let there be light’ and find that there is light. The greyness of the present day,that resembles Milton’s hell with ‘no light, but darkness visible’, demands that we light up the world. In this modern world of technology, human contact has been replaced by the impersonal e-mail, Twitter, SMS and Facebook. We think we communicate better and faster through the new communication technology, but the truth is in all these efforts human contact gets lost. We delude ourselves that we are in touch with thousands of men and women, but the truth is we stay alone with the laptop giving us company. Francis Bacon said: ‘A crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.’ Facebook is one such device that has a gallery of faces that we look at without any feeling and often without recognition. The first and foremost casualty of communication technology is loss of interpersonal rapport. The physical gestures and expressions that complement communication through words are absent leading often either to inane exchange of words or getting one’s signals crossed. We need the electrical current made of words, feelings, emotions, gestures and physical togetherness to flow but not through an open circuit that illusorily connects hordes of people but through a closed circuit that intimately connects people. Today we are like Eliot’s Gerontion with ‘dry thoughts in a dry brain’ complaining
|
I have lost my sight,
smell, hearing, taste and touch:
|
|
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How should I use it for
your closer contact?
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If humanity is to survive, we have to repair the fuse in our
communication circuit for a free flow of the current and restore the vitality
of inter personal communication bonded on words, gestures, feelings and
emotions.
An OPTICIAN
Yet another facet of modern life is that we no longer live in isolation and we are closely connected to the world beyond us. While cultural heritage accounts for the tangible and intangible attributes of every society, it is now overladen with the cultural influences from across the globe. Some analysts argue that lasting cultural rigidities will obstruct or perhaps even reverse the globalization process that in the long run will result in alienation. Hence there is an urgent need to balance inherited cultural legacy with the new accelerating culture and encourage change from the earlier tradition. Ortega Y Gasset has succinctly described this tension through an analogy of looking through a window at the garden outside. If the glass is pure, our eye travels through the window pane and rests on the green shrubs and the multiplicity of flowers in the garden. We are not aware of the pane in front of us as the eye goes beyond to focus on the garden. But if we disregard the garden and detain our vision at the window, what we see will be a confused mass of colours pasted to the pane. Hence to see the garden and the glass simultaneously are two incompatible operations and call for different adjustments. We need to be opticians to change our outlook on life. Simply believing that we are heirs to a rich and magnificent past , we slowly discover that we are living in a time warp and the traditions are inadequate to face up to the complexities of a globalized world. To take refuge in the past is to live in accordance with the optics of monuments. But monumental optics suffers from four disadvantages. It is seen from a distance, seen from outside, has a halo around it that makes it difficult to see it in totality and lastly its passivity that hinders dynamism to change from within. The contrary optics that we have to construct is to recognize that each one us – that we designate as ‘I’- has inherited a legacy that compels us to live with it and to a great extent conditioned by it. When the newer influences make inroads on that legacy, we cannot ignore the thrust and should develop global optics that will enable us balance tradition with modernity.
Yet another facet of modern life is that we no longer live in isolation and we are closely connected to the world beyond us. While cultural heritage accounts for the tangible and intangible attributes of every society, it is now overladen with the cultural influences from across the globe. Some analysts argue that lasting cultural rigidities will obstruct or perhaps even reverse the globalization process that in the long run will result in alienation. Hence there is an urgent need to balance inherited cultural legacy with the new accelerating culture and encourage change from the earlier tradition. Ortega Y Gasset has succinctly described this tension through an analogy of looking through a window at the garden outside. If the glass is pure, our eye travels through the window pane and rests on the green shrubs and the multiplicity of flowers in the garden. We are not aware of the pane in front of us as the eye goes beyond to focus on the garden. But if we disregard the garden and detain our vision at the window, what we see will be a confused mass of colours pasted to the pane. Hence to see the garden and the glass simultaneously are two incompatible operations and call for different adjustments. We need to be opticians to change our outlook on life. Simply believing that we are heirs to a rich and magnificent past , we slowly discover that we are living in a time warp and the traditions are inadequate to face up to the complexities of a globalized world. To take refuge in the past is to live in accordance with the optics of monuments. But monumental optics suffers from four disadvantages. It is seen from a distance, seen from outside, has a halo around it that makes it difficult to see it in totality and lastly its passivity that hinders dynamism to change from within. The contrary optics that we have to construct is to recognize that each one us – that we designate as ‘I’- has inherited a legacy that compels us to live with it and to a great extent conditioned by it. When the newer influences make inroads on that legacy, we cannot ignore the thrust and should develop global optics that will enable us balance tradition with modernity.
An ARTIST
20th century is known as the Modern Age founded on the slogan: ‘Make everything new’. In the previous century, there was an urgent sense of liberation from the constraints of the preceding ages and this desire for chalking a new path was evident in modern art, modern sculpture, painting, architecture and free verse(verse libre). The Theatre also saw the emergence of new dramas that included the Theatre of the Absurd, the Theatre of the Grotesque, Kitchen Sink School of comedy, Dark /Black Comedy, Farces etc that replaced the wit , profundity, satire and humour of the earlier Shakespearean comedies and the 18th C Comedy of Manners. What we see today is an attenuated version of Comedy best seen in the Comedy Carnivals presently shown on Indian TV channels. We are not a humourous race who can laugh at ourselves. We need humour only to dissect and destroy others. We think of comedy only as Satire and that too Political Satire that employs ironic comedy to portray persons or social institutions as ridiculous or corrupt, thus alienating their audience from the object of humor. We have not refined our sense of humour to laugh at the simple foibles of men and women, but often mistake comedy to be one of scatological or sexual humour. The wry smile that is forced out of these shows is a testimony to our lack of understanding good comedy. Our TV comedies do not explore the cracks and contradictions in our attitudes and conventions nor are they a kind of commentary on social life, based on close observation and incisive questioning. Most of the time they fall flat and they try to force people to laugh at bawdiness and vulgarity as the spice of humour that makes one make a Shakespearean-like observation: Humour, thy name is not Indian. Indians, in general do not laugh, but roar with laughter at bawdy jokes. I was once asked by a Britisher during my visit to UK as to why Indians always frown. I recalled my friend’s observation when I falsely replied that we have too much sun in India that makes us frown. We need to draw a smile on our face instead of looking either miserable or sad or serious (this mistakenly goes with intellectualism). We have to trust our senses to see beauty in this world. We are good at mouthing platitudes like the famous Upanishad quote :’ Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram’ without understanding its meaning or putting the precept into practice. Even the NRIs - the Indian born American citizens(or GC holders)- wanting to show off the American in them set out on holiday tours in India and return cursing the filth and dirt and poverty and squalor as they have no eyes to see the richness and beauty that is in abundance in our land. We need to develop the artistic eye to add colours to our life and what better way to do it than by drawing a smile on our face!
20th century is known as the Modern Age founded on the slogan: ‘Make everything new’. In the previous century, there was an urgent sense of liberation from the constraints of the preceding ages and this desire for chalking a new path was evident in modern art, modern sculpture, painting, architecture and free verse(verse libre). The Theatre also saw the emergence of new dramas that included the Theatre of the Absurd, the Theatre of the Grotesque, Kitchen Sink School of comedy, Dark /Black Comedy, Farces etc that replaced the wit , profundity, satire and humour of the earlier Shakespearean comedies and the 18th C Comedy of Manners. What we see today is an attenuated version of Comedy best seen in the Comedy Carnivals presently shown on Indian TV channels. We are not a humourous race who can laugh at ourselves. We need humour only to dissect and destroy others. We think of comedy only as Satire and that too Political Satire that employs ironic comedy to portray persons or social institutions as ridiculous or corrupt, thus alienating their audience from the object of humor. We have not refined our sense of humour to laugh at the simple foibles of men and women, but often mistake comedy to be one of scatological or sexual humour. The wry smile that is forced out of these shows is a testimony to our lack of understanding good comedy. Our TV comedies do not explore the cracks and contradictions in our attitudes and conventions nor are they a kind of commentary on social life, based on close observation and incisive questioning. Most of the time they fall flat and they try to force people to laugh at bawdiness and vulgarity as the spice of humour that makes one make a Shakespearean-like observation: Humour, thy name is not Indian. Indians, in general do not laugh, but roar with laughter at bawdy jokes. I was once asked by a Britisher during my visit to UK as to why Indians always frown. I recalled my friend’s observation when I falsely replied that we have too much sun in India that makes us frown. We need to draw a smile on our face instead of looking either miserable or sad or serious (this mistakenly goes with intellectualism). We have to trust our senses to see beauty in this world. We are good at mouthing platitudes like the famous Upanishad quote :’ Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram’ without understanding its meaning or putting the precept into practice. Even the NRIs - the Indian born American citizens(or GC holders)- wanting to show off the American in them set out on holiday tours in India and return cursing the filth and dirt and poverty and squalor as they have no eyes to see the richness and beauty that is in abundance in our land. We need to develop the artistic eye to add colours to our life and what better way to do it than by drawing a smile on our face!
A CONSTRUCTION WORKER
The advent of the new Millennium has seen the rise of the ugly face of Fundamentalism. It has given rise to terrorist attacks in the name of religion. Fear, terror, violence and inhumanity seem to be gaining momentum erasing all possible advances in science and technology towards making this planet a happy world. In despair we ask whether it is possible to revert to co-existence of various religions, faiths and ideologies in today’s world. We hark back to cultural atavism to inflict cruelty on those with different identity. In India, we have drawn indelible lines along caste, class, religion, haves and have-nots and unless they are erased, there will be tension, stress and hostility along those lines to keep us divided. We need to build bridges along these lines that would reconcile the dividing forces. We need reconstruction of our society and make it an inclusive society free of malaise and hatred, of caste prejudice and gender violence, religious bias and class distinction.
The advent of the new Millennium has seen the rise of the ugly face of Fundamentalism. It has given rise to terrorist attacks in the name of religion. Fear, terror, violence and inhumanity seem to be gaining momentum erasing all possible advances in science and technology towards making this planet a happy world. In despair we ask whether it is possible to revert to co-existence of various religions, faiths and ideologies in today’s world. We hark back to cultural atavism to inflict cruelty on those with different identity. In India, we have drawn indelible lines along caste, class, religion, haves and have-nots and unless they are erased, there will be tension, stress and hostility along those lines to keep us divided. We need to build bridges along these lines that would reconcile the dividing forces. We need reconstruction of our society and make it an inclusive society free of malaise and hatred, of caste prejudice and gender violence, religious bias and class distinction.
A GARDENER
India has been mainly an agrarian
society that depends on agriculture for support and sustenance. Yet the
transition to the urban milieu has made us forget the art and pleasure of
gardening. The term gardener (mali in Hindi) is used for a low paid employee
who tends to the gardens at home, in the offices and in the public arena at all
seasons and all weather. But at heart of hearts we are all instinctively
gardeners who have to work and live in different environments, seeking job
satisfaction of seeing things built from ideas(seeds) to realization(the
garden) . To achieve this, we rely on cultivating a balance between good
physical activity and deeper mental, aesthetic and spiritual activities.
Cultivating good thoughts is essential to develop a tension-free, harmonious
development of the body, mind and spirit. Wordsworth the poet of nature and his
sister Dorothy created the Dove Cottage garden that stands perennially as an
expression of both their personal aesthetics and their practical need. Wordsworth
wrote: ‘To me
the meanest flower that blows can give thoughts that do often lie too deep for
tears.’ and added: ‘with an eye made quiet by the power of harmony and the deep
power of joy, we see into the life of things.’ We have within us the spirit of
the gardener lying dormant and we have to arouse it to cultivate good thoughts
and good acts to see into the life of things.
A MATHS TEACHER
Last but not the least whether we like it or not, mathematics is genetically wired to our system. One does not have to be a Ramanujan or his fellow mathematician G.H.Hardy but the indisputable fact is maths is used in every facet of everyday life. Even those who suffer from maths-phobia cannot escape its everyday presence in their lives. Maths is ubiquitous in our lives-with calculations about measurements in a recipe or totalling our bills or working out the ratio between the gasoline in the car and the distance to be covered or working the bank interest rates on our savings and calculating income tax returns- it is all around us. To count ones good fortunes and count the number of friends also form a part of one’s daily routine. Hence the mathematician in us, however reluctant we may be towards studying mathematics as a discipline, stands upfront in our day to day life. We may not be magicians to give ourselves a good and comfortable life, but we have to be mathematicians to get it. We are not alone in this world. We are a part of humanity. If humanity survives, we survive. If humanity is happy, we are happy and if humanity is at peace, we are at peace. So we have to cultivate humanity by counting on each other. Let us cultivate mathematics to cultivate humanity.
Last but not the least whether we like it or not, mathematics is genetically wired to our system. One does not have to be a Ramanujan or his fellow mathematician G.H.Hardy but the indisputable fact is maths is used in every facet of everyday life. Even those who suffer from maths-phobia cannot escape its everyday presence in their lives. Maths is ubiquitous in our lives-with calculations about measurements in a recipe or totalling our bills or working out the ratio between the gasoline in the car and the distance to be covered or working the bank interest rates on our savings and calculating income tax returns- it is all around us. To count ones good fortunes and count the number of friends also form a part of one’s daily routine. Hence the mathematician in us, however reluctant we may be towards studying mathematics as a discipline, stands upfront in our day to day life. We may not be magicians to give ourselves a good and comfortable life, but we have to be mathematicians to get it. We are not alone in this world. We are a part of humanity. If humanity survives, we survive. If humanity is happy, we are happy and if humanity is at peace, we are at peace. So we have to cultivate humanity by counting on each other. Let us cultivate mathematics to cultivate humanity.
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