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 Pope Francis led the Church with the authority and obligation of a co-pilgrim. He became the conscience of the Church. Long before Pope Francis fell ill and the Catholic world began talking about what is next and who is next; while Pope Francis was still making waves of change in the Catholic and non-Catholic world, I heard men of the Church judging him, saying he needed to be a little more careful, tactful, and diplomatic; take time to speak and act—meaning to be conservative and moderate like the Church almost always has been. The pressure on Pope Francis was that he must restrain from saying things that would make him and the Church look weak, vulnerable, and human. I was of the opinion that the authority and influence of a Pope, the vicar of Jesus, who sits in a pompous cathedra is to be enduring even at the point of embracing vulnerabilities, and not run away; be comfortable with others and varied perspectives; face discomfort, sweat, anger; laugh at power; and 'have the smel...

 Tonight’s art becomes inadequate
and useless when the sun rises in
the morning. The mistake lies not in creating art for tonight, but in assuming tonight’s answers will serve tomorrow’s questions. Louise Bourgeois, a French American artist, reflected, “art is a guaranty of sanity;” but that guarantee must be renewed with each dawn, each cultural shift, and
each evolution of human consciousness. If some art endures through generations, it
is only because of its capacity to speak, its ability to demand fresh interpretations that test and challenge the new. To guarantee sanity in the coming year, 2025 must create
its own art. Why create art? Why watch art? Why read literature? True art, in the words of Sunil P Ilayidam, shakes that which is rigid and unchangeable. Art serves as humanity’s persistent earthquake, destabilising comfortable certainties and creating space
for new ways of seeing, thinking, and being
in the world. An artist’s duty is to reflect the times, and we see this in...

 Freud in his essay, Creative Writers and Day-Dreaming, explores the psychological origins of artistic creativity and the impact of literature on readers. He draws parallels between the imaginative activity of creative writers and the day-dreaming of ordinary people. It is a discussion about the relationship between creative art and unconscious phantasy. In it, Freud talks about the role of daydreaming and fantasy in human behaviour, and how creative writers are able to express their daydreams without shame or self-reproach. Read the essay below (for academic use only) Creative Writers and Day Dreaming PDF Freud argues that the child's play and the adult's phantasies/daydreams share a common element—the desire to alter an unsatisfactory reality and fulfil unfulfilled wishes. The creative writer is like a successful daydreamer who is able to transform their private fantasies into works that provide pleasure to the audience. Freud suggests that the writer's choice of subject...

  Parties and governments are competing over who will push for a more policed and disciplined society. It gives a false sense of safety. On 14 August, as India was celebrating the Nehruvian stroke of the midnight hour, when the world was sleeping, and India awoke to life and freedom; elsewhere and everywhere in our country men and women, especially women in large numbers hit the streets on the eve of Independence Day, to protest the rape and murder of a trainee doctor on duty in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata; and the attempt of the powerful to derail the course of the investigation; they hit the road to reclaim their life and freedom. The ruling dispensation and patriarchal establishments narcissistically keep feeling good about everything in our country and broadcast it across the globe generously, but the protest indicated that women of the country do not feel the same, they feel the former and the strong men of our country are just feeling good but
are not being...

  What does one do when one’s compassion cup goes dry and empty; when one comes to a point where there is nothing more left to give? I lost my mother very recently. She was 93. For the last two and a half years, she was ill, and for the last one and a half years, she was bedridden. Though all her children, when they visited her, used to be generous in taking care of her needs, it was my brother and his wife who took care of her day in and day out. They did an amazing job; they regulated their daily routine to make sure that mother did not lack anything, they sacrificed their possible travels and outdoor fun activities to make sure that there was someone with mother always. As days passed, weeks passed, months and years passed, I could see exhaustion and a certain level of irritation setting in with them. There were feelings of helplessness and powerlessness in the face of distress and pain, for medically they could do nothing more for mother, except to give palliative care. Other s...

  This summer has been a season (for the young) of writing exams and (for the adults) of casting votes; and for both, waiting expectendly for the results. Come June, and it would be time for the students to get back to school, and for the politicians (the elected ones) to get back to the Parliament. Though this seems to be a coincidence, there definitely is a consequential connection between education and election, or one could qualify them saying, a good education and a good election. Gore Vidal, an American author, well known for his outspoken political opinions and his witty and satirical observations of American society, said about the American electorate, “Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.” Looking at the general percentage of voter turnout, and observing both the proportions of population having no privilege of education, and even if they have, considering the character of education often pr...

 Vote is the most powerful non-violent weapon in a democracy­­–and that explains, on the one hand, why it scares and unsettles the powerful and the authoritative autocrats; and on the other hand, why people still believe and hope in democracy. It is the vote that demands connection between the most powerful and the least powerful politically. It is the vote that demands accountability and answerability from the mighty politicians. It is the vote that forces the politicians, at least momentarily, to uncouple themselves from the Adanis and Ambanis and engage with the aam aadmis of our country. Let elections come, politicians and leaders who seldom are seen among the common folks are found walking, talking, and eating with them. Once in five years our country, like many countries across the globe, conducts the sacred ritual called elections, where every citizen pulls themselves off from the anonymity of the irresponsible crowd, and self-importantly takes responsibility for their and t...

  We have grown up hearing the ancient wisdom, "Water is life, and clean water is health." The recent water stress that cities all over the country, and very palpably Bengaluru, is facing indicates that our life and our health are at risk. At any time, in want of water, our electrocardiogram graph can go flat into a straight line.  The demand for water has exceeded the available amount of water. 1.2 billion people, one in every seven persons, across the globe spend their day searching or waiting for water. Can we bounce back? The answer is in building and maintaining a blue-green infrastructure. In a region, if the amount of renewable water per person is below 1,700 m3, the country is said to be experiencing water stress. If it is below 1,000 m3, it is said to be experiencing water scarcity. And if it is below 500 m3, it is experiencing absolute water scarcity. We are not yet at absolute water scarcity level; but indications are that our negligence, indifference and lack of i...

  In 2024 democracy will be tested
like never before. More than half the world’s population is going into their national elections, which includes, India, the United States of America, European Union, and many other countries in Africa and Asia. The remaining half of the population of the world, like the people of China, Russia, and others, pretty much have no power to exercise free and fair elections. Going by the political commentaries that we hear so loud and clear, the far right is making progress and might claim victory in major elections, we would
have national leaderships spanning
from majoritarian populists to fascist dictatorships, and many of our freedoms and institutions would be compromised; the world as we know would change; it will not be the same post 2024. The order of the world as we know since the end of World War II, or in the case of India, from the time of our independence might take a dangerous turn. Will democracy survive 2024 bumper elections? In spite of ha...

 Signs are everywhere. Our dear lives and its inescapable surroundings are changing their course; or is it that big changes around us are affecting things that matter to
us the most. 2023 suggests that we are changing, politically, culturally, and technologically in a faster pace than ever before. We, like the unannounced eruption of a volcano or arrival of an earthquake, are pushed to a sudden leap into the unknown. A quantum leap or a disruptive upheaval? Only time will tell. We are a species that is good at adapting and fitting in–and that gives us hope. Moving beyond individual events, which are perceptible to our naked senses, what are the big drifts and developments that shaping our world? What is the big picture? We should not go about as if we have not seen them. It took humanity over two million years to progress from sharpened rocks to polished met- al for hunting and gathering. In modern times, humanity took over a hundred years to move from steam engines (1712) to elect...

 Gandhi is a man of paradoxes. It is easy to find mistakes and inaccuracies with Gandhi. His inconsistencies are part of his evolving and shifting self-concept, says a well-known Gandhian, Sunil P Ilayidom. He elucidates it with anecdotes and examples from the life of the Mahatma. Gandhi was against writing letters, for him it took away the human warmth of meeting someone personally; but Gandhi was someone who wrote thousands of letters in his life, numbers say that he wrote about 1,08,000 letters in his lifetime. Gandhi was against Railways, according to him trains would take away the serenity of Indian countryside and villages; but Gandhiji was a regular train traveler. He did not appreciate women participating in public life; but it was in his time women felt most comfortable to make their presence felt in public life and affairs. Gandhi kept shifting, changing, and evolving. Gandhi himself has said that if I have given different opinions about one thing in different times, take...

  We are entering the election year. We are entering the most vulnerable phase of our democracy. The most exposed and susceptible point of a democracy is during its elections. It is the time where money and power do their dirtiest jobs. It is the time when people, even MLAs and MPs are not spared, are bought and sold like slaves; and people allow themselves to be sold and bought like pigeons in the market. A country or an organisation becomes vulnerable during elections because it could become an exercise of demonstration of mindless tyranny of the majority. In Democracy Power Is a Fundamental Right There are many forms of governments, but only in modern democracy people hold power as a fundamental right. In every other form of government the ruled are at the mercy of the rulers. Monarchies are absolute; a republic is authoritarian with power in the hands of a few; in oligarchy power is held by a small group of powerful and wealthy people, often they are hidden from the people; a d...

 Put a hundred red ants and a hundred black ants in a bottle with sufficient facilities and provisions to live their lives. Nothing untoward happens, they would live peacefully, with their usual interactions, cooperation and conflicts that any living together would cause. But if someone shakes the bottle, the ants would start killing one another. Red ants would begin to believe that black ants are their enemies; black ants would begin to believe that red ants are their enemies. But in truth, the real enemy is the one who shook the bottle. In real time no ant realises or understands it. By the time ants realise it, if they ever realise, they both would have lost the battle and the bottle. A close reading of history would make it evident that this is the kind of social experiment many rulers and establishments of the past had put into motion before they forced people of a certain race or religion to leave an area or country, or drove people - who hitherto had lived amicably - in...