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 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 - i...

  A hungry girl child is the India’s poorest per- son. She suffers from hunger, inequality, and abuse, for no mistake of hers. Starting from one’s physical and mental disabilities to caste and illiteracy, there could be other relevant parameters of poverty, but a midway evaluation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Developmental Goals in India, done by NITI Aayog, highlights that these two goals, zero hunger and gender equality, have performed the least for the last
few years; and there are less indications of them getting better. This aught to be a cause for worry for a country that, according to the address of Narendra Modi at the US Congress in June 2023, boasts of being the fifth largest economy in the world; and claiming to be the third soon. According to a UNICEF study, globally girls have higher survival rates at birth, are more likely to be developmentally on track, and do better
in preschool, but India is the only large country where more girls die than boys; and more girl...

  We keep doing what we do, because we have no clue of the actual consequences of our everyday life. We think we know but we don’t. Do our actions and habits make life easier or harder? ‘Tough times create strong men, strong men create easy times, easy times create weak men, and weak men create tough times.’ These are lines from a post apocalyptic novel by G. Michael Hopf. Annotating these lines Aaron Mckie, a former professional basketball player and an American basketball coach, talks about a conversation he had with his friend about the future of their kids; his friend said, ‘My grandfather walked ten miles to work everyday, my father walked five, I’m driving a Cadillac, my son is in a Mercedes, and my grandson will be in a Ferrari. My great-grandson will be walking again.’ There are crucial lessons here for all of us. The climate lesson is this, my grandfather lived in want; my father grew vegetables, did not waste food, recycled and reused whatever possible; I take the planet ...

 Left-wing, right-wing, and centre are terms used to describe different positions on the political spectrum. The terms left-wing and right-wing originated from the seating arrangements in the French National Assembly during the French Revolution (1789). Supporters of the King and the traditional social order sat on the president's right side. These were generally considered more conservative and resistant to change. Supporters of the revolution and those advocating for a more egalitarian society sat on the president's left side. These were seen as more progressive and willing to challenge the status quo. Over time, these seating positions became symbolic of broader political viewpoints. The terms "left" and "right" were eventually used to describe the entire spectrum of political ideologies, not just those present during the French Revolution. Left Wing focuses on equality, social justice, and reform. Left-wing ideologies generally believe in reducing econo...

  Behold powerlessness, here is humanity: trafficked, used and made to overwork for profit, left unemployed for greed, dominated and muzzled by authoritarian and patriarchal regimes, and desecrated in the name of religion. May is hot; not just because of the rising mercury levels across India and elsewhere, but also because of the elections in Karnataka, which is arguably, an important state for the existence and rise of BJP in the South, because of the ongoing ED raids and political arrests, and of course, because of May Day –the day we appreciate the constitution of the eight-hour working day. The workers today, as in every age, are in a permanent revolution, lest the bosses take advantage of their powerlessness, and make them machines.  There has been no other movement as the workers movement, which made the world take notice of people and their struggles. May is a month to notice humans, look at powerless humans more genuinely, more seriously. I borrow a conversation from ...

  Work is not just an economic thing, it is also existential; it gives meaning to human existence. Man verses machine is an age-old conflict archetype. Since the emergence of this conflict archetype machines have been growing in power and intelligence in all directions. The evolution of the thinking machines now stands at the threshold of a quantum leap, breaking completely with the past –the Open AI is here. We have heard of automating repetitive tasks, but that is not the question today. Instead of automating repetitive tasks, technology today is climbing the cognitive ladder. Is it too fast? Or is it that for doing the repetitive jobs we still have the cheap human labour around? Automation Anxiety The stress one goes through because of the fear of losing ones job to automation is real and happening. Work is not just an economic thing it is also existential; it gives meaning to human existence. Money could be provided and found, what about meaning? With infallible machines a...

  Though art is endlessly changing, its ability to make worlds meet is constant: the worlds of the artist and the art consumers break into conversation, the subjects in a piece of art and the audience pause to converse. Initiating conversations is perhaps the greatest modern virtue. Our world, in this era of alternative facts, propaganda, thought control, and post-truth, is more polarised and divided than ever before. Most are stuck in their own petite filter bubbles and echo chambers. We are diametrically opposed to each other on virtually every issue that matters -climate, citizenship, refugees, racism, caste, gender –you name it. Exclusive black and white, left and right, for and against is the new mantra for political success. The rest of the population, in between the poles, is ignorantly comfortable and indifferent. To be in a state of being talkable, or people to be in a position to converse is made tougher by people getting offended by the slightest of disapproval. Of cours...

 Stories are Character/s, imaginary or real, aspiring and moving towards a need/goal through adversaries (achieving it with a big idea / super powers) will make one a hero). More elaborately, Character/s, imaginary or real, faced with a conflict/problem/issue/situation and trying to understand/overcome/change it in spite of difficulties / limitations / oppositions from within or without (overcoming/changing it with a big idea / super powers) will make one a hero). Please study the PDF below (only for academic use) Stories and Film Scripting PDF Stories have Shapes Storytelling is an art form that has captivated humans since the dawn of civilisation. Whether through oral traditions, written literature, or visual media, stories have the power to entertain, educate, and inspire. At the heart of every great story lies a carefully constructed narrative that engages the audience and conveys a meaningful message. According to Kurt Vonnegut, stories have shapes, the main ones are Man in th...

  Some journeys can’t wait even if one is uncertain and insecure of the destination. God has become human. Yes. God is on the side of humans. God and humanity coexist in the same place, in the same body. It is going to challenge the theist and
the humanist alike. No night has been so life-changing as this night. No birth has ever challenged humanity to this degree as this birth. No child has mesmerised and attracted the world for varied reasons as much as this child. Humans fall in love with this child at the very first sight of it. People are infatuated with its sweetness and warmth. It is nice to be around a child who makes no demands. In the fullness of time Jesus grows up, his uncompromising humanity grows up, and
the challenge begins; contrary to people’s expectations the adult Jesus goes to their worship places, Jesus meets them in their tax-collecting offices and on their busy streets, Jesus visits their homes, and he asks them the primordial question, ‘Where is your brother...

  The tragedy of not noticing the other person, not tuning into the other person, to empathise and to understand what is going on with them makes us less human. Daniel Goleman, the author of Emotional Intelligence , talks about a classic experiment in social psychology in a theological seminary. Each student was told that they are going to get a topic for a practice sermon. Many were given the passage of the Good Samaritan - the story of a stranger who was wounded and was left by the wayside, and the man who stopped by to help this stranger in need who was lying by the side of the road. The students were supposed to prepare the sermon and go to the next building and deliver the sermon. As each student were going over to the next building to deliver their well prepared sermon they passed by a man who was bent over and groaning in pain. The interesting question of the social experiment is, ‘did they stop to help?’ And the more interesting question is, ‘did it matter if they are follo...