The UPSC Civil Services Exam Controversy - What is it? Is it justified?

The UPSC controversy - Newskarnataka

Protests from  civil services aspirants have erupted demanding the scrapping of Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT). The reason for the demand? According to the protestors, it is discriminatory against Humanities and Hindi Medium students. The Centre, on Tuesday, July 22,  asked the UPSC to postpone the preliminary examination slated for August 24, asking the Panel already set up to study the pattern to submit their report within a week. In the meanwhile the UPSC has started issuing admit cards, creating further unrest.

What is this controversy all about?

In 2011, the UPSC after much consultation,  changed the pattern of  the civil services preliminary exam slightly. Upto 2010, the exam used to have two papers — one on general studies and one on an optional subject where aspirants could choose one of 23 listed subjects. In 2011, the UPSC decided to replace the optional subject paper with a paper that tests the aspirants’ aptitude at a very basic level.

The syllabus for this paper, comprises comprehension, interpersonal skills including communication skills, logical reasoning and analytical ability, decision making and problem solving, general mental ability, basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc — Class X level), data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency, etc — Class X level) and English language comprehension skills (Class X level).

Why are the protestors opposing this aptitude test?
The protests by aspirants center around their allegation that the exam is  heavily tilted in favor of those from the Science or, more specifically, Engineering background and is discriminatory against students from Humanities, particularly those who have studied in Hindi-medium.

They feel the Quantitave aptitude tilt  - logical reasoning and analytical ability, decision making and problem solving, basic numeracy, data interpretation etc  favor Science and Engineering students. They feel that Maths related questions put students from Humanities at a disadvantage according to them. Communication skills are restricted to English language comprehension skills and are therefore discriminatory to Hindi-medium students. 

According to the agitated aspirants the number of Humanities students clearing the preliminary exam has fallen drastically after the changes were introduced.

What is the government doing about this issue?

MPs have been continuously raising the matter in the house in the ongoing Parliament session. On Tuesday 22nd July, Union Minister Jitendra Singh told the house, that it asked the UPSC and the committee constituted to look into the matter to submit its report within a week  and would write to the UPSC to postpone the exam, pending the recommendations of the committee. In the meanwhile however the UPSC has started issuing hall tickets and this has enraged the protesting aspirants no end.  The protests have now turned violent. Certainly the issue could have been handled with more finesse.

Is the CSAT really discriminatory as the aspirants claim?

The discrimination bugle is being sounded on the basis of the quantitative nature of the exam and the language of the comprehension test. They must understand that the civil services are all about instant application of intelligence and creativity in solving problems, something not tested in the past. 

In its previous avatar, the selection was merely a test of an aspirant’s reading and retention ability A consistent effort and an excellent memory rendered success in the civil services exam while those who lacked this memory capacity were at a great disadvantage.

 This has not changed with the new format. However an additional element has been injected and partially removes that disadvantage for those whose memory ability is not as strong as their intellectual capacity – a test of Quantitative and Qualitative aptitude. This is tested for almost all post graduate and engineering courses, even those in the Humanities. These tests are supposed to test intelligence and creative problem solving abilities that are very essential for the civil services. 

There should be no cribbing about it, as aspirants only need to be adept at a Class X level, which is very very basic and is a level at which even Humanities students must be proficient. Yet it is being opposed. 

Secondly, Civil Service aspirants come from all the states, not just Hindi speaking states. All states have their own medium of instruction and many students study in their state’s official language even at the college level. The common language therefore is English. It is also language of International diplomacy and administration. Since the civil services aspirants are from all over the country, the options cannot be restricted to Hindi and English and therefore having it exclusively in English would not in my opinion be discriminatory.

Are the protests justified?

The demand to scrap the CSAT is certainly not justified. The Civil Services selection methodology required a thorough overhaul and the introduction of the CSAT is just the first step. The reason it requires a thorough overhaul is that it does not produce the quality of civil servants be it the IFS, the IAS or the IPS that India needs in the modern age. For one, it adopts a decremental strategy of selection for the various services and this must be replaced with separate custom made selection methodologies for each of the services that it seeks to fill. Also apart from intelligence and creativity, it must test for integrity (the ability to stand up to pressure for the sake of one’s values), something that the bureaucracy is in dire need of. Let’s hope that this one step forward will become  a giant leap in the near future and not fall two steps backward.

Human Development – India crawls forward, must get up and run

Human Development - Newskarnataka

The United Nations Development programme (UNDP) has brought out an annual report on the state of Human Development every year since 1990.  The Programme assesses Human Development on the basis of three parameters — long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.

For this purpose the statistics that are taken into account are life expectancy at birth, mean years of education among the adult population, the expected years of schooling for children of school entry age and the gross national income in 2011 international dollars, converted using purchasing power parity rates.

Sadly, the annual report 2014 -15  is not very encouraging for India, as the report’s statistics indicate that India is unlikely to achieve its own millennium development goals, for which the achievement deadline is next year end.

India follows the MDGs framework accepted by the Government of India which was developed on the basis of 2003 UNDG (United Nations Development Group) guidelines.  Its eight MDG’s are as follows:

1.     Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
2.     Achieve Universal Primary Education
3.     Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
4.     Reduce Child Mortality
5.     Improve Maternal Health
6.     Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB
7.     Ensure Environmental Sustainability
8.     Develop Global Partnership for Development


The report commends India its progress, but laments the slow rate of progress, giving rise to pessimism about the achievement of these millennium goals. Since the goals were adopted in 2003, the UPA government which was in power at the center for the last 10 years, must take the blame for the poor showing.

The report is also a report on India’s failure to lift its people out of misery.  The report indicates that while India’s  gross national income is the highest in the region, it ranks significantly lower on the HDI than some countries of the region  While its ranking remains unchanged at 135 out 187 which is  marginally lower than Bangladesh (142) and Pakistan (146), countries with smaller economies / geographically smaller SAARC countries like Sri Lanka (73) and Maldives (103) have done better on this very important index, an indicator of good governance.

Even as India moves to create a new economic world order as a signatory to the creation of a new Brics bank, it must be noted that the pomp and show that India put up at Rio de janerio in Brazil earlier this month cannot hide the fact of India’s poor human development record  - Russia, Brazil and China are in the high HDI category with rankings of 57, 79 and 91 respectively.

Other significant findings of the report are:
Life expectancy in India is the lowest in the region (66.4 years)
Schooling – has the lowest mean years of schooling (4.4 years)

The report reintroduces a gender development index based on a sex-disaggregated HDI, defined as the ratio of the female HDI to the male HDI. GDI measures gender inequalities in achieving the three basic dimensions of human development indicated above. GDI was part of the report till 2010 but had then been taken out and is reintroduced.

The disparity in development between males and females is high, something that the government should be ashamed of: for males it was 0.627 — the highest in South Asia — its HDI for females was 0.519 — higher only than Pakistan. Yet we claim our society to be gender neutral in its development schemes.

Among 145 countries, India ranks 98 on inequality adjusted HDI, against 95 for Brazil and 45 for Russia.

In summary, the report states that India is moving in the right direction,  but slowly. The report also suggests a six point agenda to the government if it is keen on improving its HDI ranking. It estimates that India can and should create a safety net that would include NREGA, universal primary health coverage, old age and disabled pensions and child benefits including the right to education and food security  by spending a mere 4% of its GDP, something that is not unrealistic It also suggests that priority be attached to creating an ecologically sustainable energy and transport grid.

The other affordable solutions given in the report are universal basic services (including healthcare and education), targeting the three most vulnerable phases in a person’s life cycle  (first 1,000 days of birth, when s/he enters the labour force and when s/he leaves it) full employment, inclusion and disaster preparedness.

These are life cycle risks that all endure, but the poor, women, minorities and the elderly are more vulnerable to these risks than the others and all safety nets must be skewed in their favour if it has to make a difference. The disabled especially in India, endure the highest risks.

The UN and the new government have been talking on these issues but the talks are yet to reach a conclusion pending finalization of the new Govt’s priorities and financial comfort.  However the recent budget’s promises for the speedy development of the infrastructure sector on a PPP basis and a decision to sustain the UPA’s  safety nets, albeit with modifications  are certainly a step in the right direction.

Inside the mind of a rapist

Inside the mind of a rapist - Newskarnataka

Rape is a word that is both widely used and widely abused these days. No one is spared its traumatizing consequences, neither the victim, nor society, the authorities, the media or the perpetrator itself. 

It’s not just young women that are at the receiving end of this heinous crime, women past their prime and children, even infants are not immune to it. Often we wonder, what was the motivation, what was the need, what was the temptation, and basically, what the heck, why did he do it, what got into him. Actually nothing “went into him”. It’s what came out as we will see later in this article.

The media is full of it, because it happens regularly. Its news, whichever way you look at it, and even more so, perhaps because it draws a voyeurs eyeballs to it.  It must have happened regularly earlier too, but is now out in the open forcing authorities to act where previously they would have brushed the victim away after casting aspersions on her character.  

The men in government are now at the receiving end of years of apathy, they can’t fathom it and they don’t really like it. They give a number of excuses for its occurrence, from cultural deviance, to women’s attire and even smart phones in the hands of women. 

Sexual attacks—particularly of women—are, on some level, condoned by society. We’re told, by these men in positions of power, sometimes explicitly, that women “ask for it” by being alone, wearing short skirts, dressing “sexy,” partying, drinking, having loose hair, wearing tight clothes, wearing impractical heels, hanging out with the “wrong” people.  

They have no explanation however when it comes to their inaction, or their inability to protect women. In public they say women are Goddesses that we worship, and in private, curse them their growing independence, empowerment and gender equality.

The Psychology of Rape:

The growing independence, empowerment and sense of equality and the skewed sex ratio in favor of men, is an important sociological phenomena, for it spurs men to physically and psychologically assert superiority over them.

Rape is a sexual deviation, a short cut through the woods, when he finds it difficult to traverse the well laid out but winding highway.  It has very little to do with over enthusiasm of a love struck teenager or for that matter youthful exuberance of lust gone awry.  It’s a hate crime, much like a racist attack, or the Hitler regime’s torture and extermination of Jews.

Despite its monosyllabic form, it is a very complex issue. It has sensitive sexual issues at its core, even as it is driven by complex psychological problems plaguing the rapist. 

No one can be branded a typical rapist and no common traits can be attributed to rapists. It’s a violent act and every human being is capable of violence, but this primal instinct, is tempered by social norms, education, environment, religion and cultural attributes. A rapist stands out, because he refuses to bend to these norms and control his aggressive instinct. 

Groth and Burgess  of Boston College wrote that the medical evidence justifies their position that rape should be considered a sexual deviation. Their research suggested that the rapist is driven by psychological deviations, which express themselves in sexual aggression.

According to them it is the “sexual behavior in the service of non-sexual needs." They argue that rape should be defined as a pseudo sexual act that is not about sex but occurs to gratify other needs. And therein lies the rub. 

Groth and Burgess identified anger rape and power rape as the two types of ape. While both elements are present in act of Rape, one or the other objective / motive, dominates the act. 

Anger rape involves an unplanned rape, which manifests with verbal abuse and forcing his victim into degrading acts.  The rapist bears a grudge against women in general.

A power rape on the other hand, has the rapist fantasizing the act and the way his victim will appreciate and enjoy the power he uses.

Sexual deviation as it occurs in rape is the result of the violent misuse of the sexual act to fulfill deviant psychological, developmental and personal needs. Often the rapist suffers from personality disorders and their lawyers use these as an excuse for their behavior when confronted by the law. 

But their behavior can be explained, but  not excused, by the fact that apart from personality disorders, they can also suffer from developmental disorders, – poor self identity and self esteem  - especially the masculine identity, and rape is an outlet that  provides him the with the false feeling of power and control 

That’s the individual aspect.

Gang Rape:

Gang violence is perhaps understandable from an individual’s point of view, for people think they can get away with it when they are in a group, with a common goal. They feel emboldened to act out their secret fantasies, as they are protected by numbers. They find it conceivably easier to join the mob rather than go against it and suffer the same violence that the mob is about to inflict.

A group’s dynamics can be positive or negative.  It depends on the psychological fabric of the individuals in the group. For example, if   you are walking down the street and see something happening ahead, and you turn to your fellow human being and request his help to intervene in a positive way, the positive infection could spread, with the entire group coming to your assistance. 

However, the negative dynamic could spread just as easily especially in a culture like ours, which has repeated subtle and overt messages that enforce a stereotypical view of women, and the entitled role of men. This is combined with the fact that more often than not, most men have various levels of frustration in their system – they feel powerless against, and angry with women, and they want that control back. All it needs is a trigger. 

Women historically have been denigrated, objectified and viewed as the property of males around the world. To the extent any culture has those kinds of messages constantly in their conscience. its a fertile ground for angry individuals to target individuals who are vulnerable.

Bystander Apathy:

Bystander or witness behavior ranges from the noble (intervention) to the shameful (purposeful ignoring) to the misguided (failing to intervene because the situation is not correctly perceived). It rarely involves the positive group dynamic.

In their now famous 1969 article on bystander behavior, sociologists Latane and Darley argued that bystanders are most likely to intervene when they correctly interpret the situation and think that it is possible to intervene and feel competent to do so. This positive combination of interpretation and feeling is rare,  leading to apathy.

Often bystanders passively participate in the act, refusing to prevent it for a variety of reasons. – For e.g. the Keenan case in Mumbai, the nirbhaya case in Delhi and in the numerous other examples that abound in India, 

Often this passive participation is also accompanied by derisive laughter, which is even more painful. Possibly such behavior appeals to them and / or at some level, they think such behavior is already condoned and acceptable to the society in which they live. 

What needs to be done:

In India, victim bashing has touched a new high, or rather a new low.  It’s all pervasive, stemming from cultural and historical factors. Few people overtly say that sexual attacks are acceptable, but secretly condone it. In Indian society, males are revered and pampered and are often and repeatedly subtly given the message that women’s bodies are for their pleasure. 

Consequently, it’s not difficult to imagine that some men if not all, might think its ok to abuse women.

Therefore the response has to be on multiple levels. 

a. A robust criminal justice response system – Quick, merciless and fair. The message that “This is criminal behavior that will be punished.” Must go across to all potential rapists. A beginning has been made but it has a long way to go if it is to be effective enough.

b. An improved women’s protection system - Self defense courses, mechanisms that automatically broadcast messages of distress when in trouble and effective women’s help lines must be established to cater to women in need of any type of assistance.

c. A Psychological response – Psychologists and Psychiatrists must start talking to the accused and find out what is making them tick – why they view women as targets?  What is the basis of their hatred? Response formulation can begin from there.

d. A cultural self evaluation is painful but necessary.  We must identify the aspects of our culture that is feeding this rape mentality and find a way to reverse it.

A new government, a new parliament - A new hope?

 A New Govt., A New Parliament, - A new Hope; newskarnataka.com

Narendra Modi’s and the NDA’s parliamentary stint will begin in right earnest with the budget session, which is slated to begin on July 7 and conclude on August 14. "The session will have 28 sittings and 168 working hours. Since the Standing Committees for various ministries are yet to be constituted, the demands for grants for various ministries will be passed by both the houses by July 31 after discussion in parliament instead of the committees," Ms Mahajan, the speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha, said after a luncheon meeting of political parties on Saturday.

There is no leader of opposition designated as yet and the NDA is reluctant to grant that status to the leader of the single largest party in the Lok Sabha, the Congress, as the rules stipulate that the party (not the formation) concerned must have a minimum of 10 percent of the seats of the Lok Sabha in its kitty. Viz. 55 while currently it has 10 short of that magic figure.  The Congress is pressing for the same through back channels on the basis that it is the single largest party and also heads the largest opposition formation, though it has yet to make a formal demand in this regard. Reports say that it is also considering moving the judiciary on the matter for an interpretation of the rule that the NDA is quoting to deny them the privilege. The outcome of this wrangling is still not clear. In fact, the speaker steered clear of all questions on the issue of granting leader of opposition status to the Congress, saying the meeting she had convened was to discuss the business before the house. This indicates reluctance on the part of the government to give in to the Congress demand.

In the meanwhile the BJP is sitting comfortably in the Lok Sabha, with 280 seats plus its allies (SAD –  4, Shiv Sena – 18 and the TDP – 16), but will struggle to cough up the numbers in the Rajya Sabha where they have 43 seats as compared to the INC which has 68. Even in combination with their allies, they will require deft political management and the cooperation of the UPA to push their legislative agenda through.

The 15th Lok Sabha could successfully push through only 60 percent of the bills it introduced, for a variety reasons – they didn’t have the numbers in the Lok Sabha, especially after the TMC departed from their fold early on in the life of UPA II, and they didn’t have the numbers in the Rajya Sabha. Issue based support was a non starter, as political parties took diametrically opposing stances, and most of all the BJP eyeing political gains, disrupted parliament time and again over issues they perceived to be politically correct and morally right. 

In the end their tactics, while possibly damaging to the economy, proved their strategy right with the electorate returning them to parliament with a thumping majority. But the hard work starts now – they have to repair an economy that has been damaged by international happenings and local paralysis, caused in part by a strident and uncooperative opposition, a disrupted parliament and deteriorating center state relations that stalled the biggest economic legislation till date – the GST bill.

The economy has just started picking up and the challenge will be to give a boost to that growth in an atmosphere in which the Congress is likely to take the fight to the government – they have already threatened to move an adjournment motion on the subject of Inflation. The divided opposition is likely to act as one on the all round price rise – from fuel and energy to railway fare and onions.  There are also other issues that are agitating the minds of members - the plight of the Tamil fishermen in the Seas of Tamil Nadu and Indians in general in the conflict torn Iraq. 

The government on the other hand is keen to demonstrate its consensus approach espoused by Narendra Modi in his motion of thanks to the President at the special session of parliament, but the proof of the pudding is always in the eating and a confrontationist and suspicious approach can already be seen in not allowing UPA appointees to continue in their positions either in the bureaucracy or in public offices. "Government is willing to give full time to discuss any issue. They are ready to discuss every issue. Different suggestions have come and they will be decided after the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee," Ms Mahajan said after the meeting. 

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the government is ready for a discussion on any issue and appealed to the opposition to "cooperate" to ensure that the decorum and dignity of parliament is maintained and the house business was carried out smoothly. The government also intends to bring bills to replace the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India or TRAI (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014 and the Ordinance with respect to Polavaram project under Andhra Pradesh Reorganization (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014. 

The TRAI (Amendment) Ordinance cleared on May 28 ensured that the government could appoint Nripendra Misra as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. The Andhra Pradesh ordinance was promulgated on May 29, ahead of the official division of the state on June 2. Mr. Naidu also said that Commerce Ministry would be bringing a bill on the National Institute of Design. Various pending bills will be reviewed and priority will be fixed on bringing them before Parliament in coordination with Opposition members, he added.

In an innovation introduced in the house, Ms Mahajan, the speaker, also said that the Lok Sabha proceedings in the session will have a new feature where the picture of members speaking will be shown on the screen to enable all members sitting even on front benches to see those speaking from the rear benches. Back benchers too will now have an incentive to attend and speak, and contribute to nation building.

The Railway Budget:

The Rail budget will be contentious. Tempers have already risen due to the sudden pre budget railway freight rate and passenger fare hikes. The former is likely to impact inflation and take prices to a new high. 

With the monsoon likely to be late and deficient in some crucial parts of India, the Railway minister will have to tackle a number of issues in the Rail Budget, - the rising costs of its bureaucracy created by multiplication of divisions, rising staff costs despite of implementation of technology initiatives, modernization of its stock, lines, railway stations and safety practices and most of all the hygiene on its trains. All of this costs money and the challenge is to find a way to get that money without taxing the public further, and spend it on the right things.

The Railway Ministry has been working on these issues and it is learnt, has proposed a list of plans to be presented during the Rail Budget session for the development of the railways. These plans provide for better amenities to citizens – redesigned coaches, with improved furnishings and the introduction of a house keeping scheme in coaches. Reports say that around 12 coaches will be re-manufactured with new interior furnishings as an ‘Anubhuti’ pilot project. Hygiene is expected to improve with the application of and monitoring of mechanized cleaning of coaches takes. Comprehensive pest and rodent control treatment will be given top priority. Officials will also be appointed to address problems related to hygiene like maintaining clean toilets and keeping coaches spick-and-span. Railways also plan to manufacture about 4000 coaches including 700 LHB coaches. 

Unmanned Railway crossings which account for about 40% of the Railway mishaps are also a matter of concern as is the security of Passengers. A proposal to install X-ray systems along the tracks to detect faulty parts in trains is expected to form a part of the budget while a new RPF personnel academy for advanced training, is also likely to be proposed in the Rail Budget 2014-15, CCTV, X-ray machines for baggage clearances and other gadgets are also a part of the Railway Budget.

M. Kharge, the previous railway minister, who replaced Pawan Bansal after controversy surrounded him, is now the Leader of the Congress Party in the Lok Sabha and knows a thing or two about the situation in the Railways and will be in a position to challenge his state mate Sadananda Gowda when he presents his budget on the 8th of July.

The General Budget:

The stock market and inflation, both are booming. External CAD is down, but then it was down before the election results were announced. The Fiscal and revenue deficits remain a challenge as does liquidity in the economy, a key input for growth, but also a key driver of inflation. Hoarding is rampant in anticipation of a failing and delayed monsoon and the Middle East is fighting itself, leading to rising fuel prices. Domestic consumption is also a concern

Consequently, finance minister Arun Jaitley's maiden Budget on Thursday is expected to be a tightrope walk of trying to meet demands for tax sops especially from the middle class and pursuing fiscal prudence to spur investment and growth.  Acche Din aayenge, ya nahi is now dependent one man and his budget. 

The new aam aadmi, the middle class or the sandwiched class has always borne the brunt of any economic crises, though it must be said, it is the class that most benefits from a high growth rate too. There are high hopes from the new government that it will raise tax slabs and also significantly hike the annual tax exemption limit to provide a much-needed relief to salaried class, which is reeling under the stubbornly high inflation.   

The finance minister is also expected to spare a thought for investment, with an announcement of tax incentives for industry. As a prelude to the Budget, the government has already extended the excise duty concessions for automobile and consumer durable sectors till December. Gold Import duties and relief to farmers to help them tide over the impact of a deficient and delayed monsoon are also on the agenda of the finance minister.

Jaitley will have to pursue the middle path - one of fiscal prudence, rather than give in to populism which he can afford to do with the brute majority that the BJP has at its command. He can afford to leave the populism for when elections are due in five years or the financial position is better, whichever is earlier perhaps. He has already indicated his approach when he said "If you indulge in mindless populism you burden the exchequer, you convert yourself into a high taxation society. It does not work. Therefore, if you have to follow a path of fiscal prudence, (you should) have a certain amount of discipline," 

The start of this Budget session gives rise once again to the hope that,  Acche Din will be here soon. However, only time can solve that enduring conundrum of hope and reality.

Dil Maange More....

 Dil Maange More - Daijiworld

The more you study…
The more you know
The more you know
The more you forget
The more you forget
The less you know
So why study?

Good question. But not the question I want to answer in this article. Here I want to address a phenomena that has always fascinated me, and addressed in part in the 2004 Bollywood movie Yeh Dil Maange More!

I always wanted to have more of everything. I remember the time when my mum used to bring potato chips from the CITI Bakery (they were the best then) and keep in the snack box at home. In that by-gone era, I was both an avid cricket fan and a voracious reader of thriller fiction. Often, one of the two would occupy my time and with the best accompaniment that one could have in those days – A bag of Potato chips. I would grab the bag of chips and multi task, read and munch or watch and munch and, and when it was over – I would scrape the bag for more – Remember the ad for Pepsi Lays? – You can’t eat just one? That’s exactly it – The desire for more - In one word - a yearning.

As I grew older I realized that this yearning, this desire for more, was restricted to the pleasurable and not the painful. Natural I guess, we are born to avoid pain and grab whatever is pleasurable and forbidden by God, nature or fellow human beings – remember the story of Adam and Eve? Adam and Eve were allowed to roam free in the garden of Eden, but forbidden to eat the fruit of the garden. They plucked and ate an apple, and the rest is history.

Like Adam and Eve and all his descendants that went before me, always wanted more bliss, friends, and time for play, love, caring, knowledge, money, a bigger house, a costlier car and peace of mind.

But, again like all of you my friends, I’ve never wanted more of anything that is painful - injections, fractures, sickness, emotional hurt, poverty, aggression, bullying, rejection or hate. I always wanted less of these. In fact, I wanted none at all or the barest feasible minimum.

Not so long ago, I had a terrible tooth ache and had to visit a dentist- because I couldn’t take more of it. I just wanted it to reduce in intensity and go away. He told me that he would have to do a root canal, but that was only way to end the pain that I was experiencing. I agreed – I knew it would be more painful, but in the long term, the tooth ache would disappear and I could return to my gastronomic pleasures. The root canal was excruciating, and it was then, that I realized then that more is relative and comparative, rather than absolute, and this applies equally to pain and pleasure.

It’s a universally acknowledged law of nature that more begets the desire for more – provided it’s pleasurable - Money, love, the pleasures of the world and even something as abstract as peace of mind. It’s also true that the less you have of anything pleasurable, the more you want of it. A good example is money. It completely explains this paradox, the more you have, the more you want, but even the less you have the more you want. Other simple examples Like Tobacco, whisky and hair - Recall Virender Sehwag and Harsha Bogle? There is one exception that I see among generation Y! – It's clothes – the skimpier they are, the better. But I guess, there is a corollary – there is more of you to be seen which is more compatible to the naked eye!

As indicated, this rule is applicable to any pleasurable activity of life. In fact it applies to life itself. When you have cancer, and you know your life is nearing the end, or when you are about to drown, your desire to live is the strongest, and you always want more of it. Nobody wants to die, do they, unless it’s in a moment of insanity when they couldn’t really take more of “it”.

So is more better? Or is less good? All of you have heard the expression – there is no gain without pain. Everything you desire more of, has a benefit and a consequence. So while the hope of reaping the pleasurable benefits of your desire may be temporarily paramount, the fear of the consequences of your indulgence will always act as a restraining force - unless you ignore it. These two opposite forces automatically create equilibrium, a balance, between more and less.

A friend and I had been to Manipal recently for a meeting. Fellowship followed the meeting at a cute little restaurant, many of which dot the Manipal landscape. Other friends too were present and some of us were amazed at the order he placed – grilled vegetarian sandwiches with double cheese, a plate of French fries with a liberal sprinkling of salt, an ice cream milk shake. The rest of us were more restrained in our orders, and after we explained our restrained ordering behavior, and the long term hazards of such a rich order, he rationalized – I only indulge on the weekend - The hope of a benefit weighed more than the fear of a consequence! And he achieved his own weighted (pun intended) balance.

Let me leave you with a few lyrics from an American Country song to reflect on - It’s called more of you.

Everything little thing that you do 
Every single word you say 
Every time you're looking away 
You got me begging for more of you, more of you 

Every time I'm ready to go
Every time I think I'm back in control 
Something gets my heart and my soul 
And I'll be begging for more of you, more of you

The Potato, a star

The Potato, a star - Daijiworld 

A few months ago, I lay on my couch, munching a packet of Lays potato chips, and watching its main ingredient – the potato, become famous in parliament and on TV. Its size was the subject of a detailed discussion, even as its producers, consumers, and traders, vied for center stage on the floor of the house.

The irony – it figured in a debate that was a political, economic and sociological hot potato. By the end of the debate and vote in the Rajya Sabha, I was convinced that FDI in retail is the way forward… but for all the wrong reasons.  After six Lays packets, I was feeling as prosperous as the potato farmer, albeit for different reasons.

Emerging from the Andes four centuries ago, the potato, quickly became a world favorite – it is the fourth largest crop in the world and emerging as a dominant crop in China and India where a third of the world’s crop is harvested.  But it is not a star for nothing.

As a vegetable, what adds to its charm, is its ability to be a useful, healthy, sometimes staple, sometimes alternate, belly companion in any environment from the bar (French fries) to the Vegetarian Mess (Aloo Sabzi), from the gourmet restaurant (Aloo Dum) to the Fast Food Joint (Aloo Tikki / Aloo Chaat) and  of course my living room. It helps brew the Russian favorite, Vodka, and is a healing and soothing balm to burnt skin caused by a variety of factors, from protecting honor to frying the potatoes itself.

The potato can no longer hide its darker side behind its peel or its many twinkling eyes. It doesn’t need a label “Temptations” to attract its biggest customers – children.  “You can’t eat just one” is no longer a myth. It is stark reality. And like its biggest fan, the TV, it’s converting our children into 3D children – Dormant, Docile and Diabetic and possibly, in the near future, we will require a debate on 51% dose of FDI in the health care sector too.

The Last Puff

 The Last Puff - Daijiworld

The Last Puff

A new beginning is what I need

My lungs are about to bleed?

I hope that it will soonest start –

delay is but a malignant seed.

My mind’s all made up,

Coz’ I fear the end,

I’ll do it soon

I’ll not extend.

Is it now, or later today?

Will I, or won’t I ?

It’s a decision,

that’s colored grey.

While the end seems far

the beginning’s near

Can I stay the distance?

Is my interim fear.

I’ve done it before

I’ve had good starts,

but then, as always,

there’s been nothing more.

I watch with glee,

the wispy wavy vaporous gray

that lingers in the air.

and flick the staining residue

that adorns my gleaming shoe.

For the last time, or so I think,

I tauten my lips around the end;

And enjoy,

the tangy taste, the sharp intake

of a deep breath and C O two.

 I feel the rush, as I round the bend,

and I rest assured,

That for the moment

 I’m on the mend.

But what if, my painful end,

My greatest fear

is coming near?

A new beginning

is what I need, before

I start to bleed.

But, again I’m sure,

that once I cease,

I’ll have to seek,

perhaps to find,

the profound answer

to the naughty question

of what will I do

with my nicotine obsessed mind?

Certainly,

I’d pop the sweets,

with regularity, and risk

obesity and diabetes.

There’ll always be jeers,

and maybe, just maybe

a few more beers

A new beginning? I'd like that.

Oh yes! I’m sure I will;

with a committed heart,

I’ll get a good start,

but as the end nears

I’ll wonder again,

If I’ll abandon myself,

to the comfort

of my  fears.