shame on Tamil Nadu

 Of late, every bye election in Tamil Nadu has become national news and the unimaginable atrocities committed during the poll campaign by all the financially  sound political parties  shocks the nation . The endless coverage by the electronic media  on the RK Nagar bye election exposes the police department’s deliberate  indifference to various  complaints made on violation of laws, the inefficiency of the  state Election Commission in checking the  daily breaking of poll conduct rules and the flow money power for exchange of votes and in silently  tolerating the fearlessness of the powerful political parties in throwing  challenges to the election machinery . It also exposes the shamelessness of the voters in demanding cash from every political party as if it  is their right. One auto driver told me that,  he has received Rs 15000 totally and few articles within a week . His justification is, all the political leaders have Crores  of ill gotten money looted by exploiting people through bribes and commissions  and hence, there is nothing wrong if he gets a miniscule share of it. Still we call Indian democracy as a vibrant and functioning  democracy  without realising that, widespread cash for vote practice demonstrate the weakest position of our electoral system. Tamil  had gained national importance in the past regarding its good economic and social indicators  and political  stability  . Now even the national media is extensively covering Tamil Nadu for all the undesirable happenings . we have become notoriously popular , day by day the hatred for politicians is  increasing among the responsible civil society and many think it is  wasteful to exercise our franchise when political morality is  at such low level .

lower rank of india in Human development Index

 Any welfare oriented nation  should be very concerned about the lower rank in HDI , because it only means that  ,  their nations are  lagging behind in  health, education and standard of living matters. India, slipping from 130^th to 131^st rank among 188 nations  in HDI ranking is not a matter to be ignored. Ever since, globalization era started,   privatization ,liberalization and deregulation  rules started dominating the economies of the world , only the corporate sector benefited immensely and  aggravated  the inequalities   .  Manufacturing of aircrafts, helicopters ,  defense  equipments , luxury cars ,  nuclear projects,  smart cities, tube trains , satellite and missile programmes   became top  priority projects and the social programmes were neglected .  The result is,  the basic needs  of majority of the population such as food, drinking water ,   clothing, shelter, education and health care  are not satisfied and they continue  to suffer due to joblessness and poverty .India which is loudly proclaiming as an emerging economy , should feel ashamed to occupy such a lower rank in HDI and bother to take measures to improve it . After all , higher rank  in  HDI indicate the wellbeing of the entire population  which would result in higher rate of human capital formation

A worthy Role model

                                            

                                                                      

Teachers usually and parents sometime ask the children  about their role models . Often the answer would be some popular or famous persons or some person with outstanding achievements in  their chosen fields of activity or one of their teachers Very rarely they mention a parent or grand parent  or  some one in their relatives circle as their role model. The reason (as per my view)   is that , may be they are all taken for granted and hence not observed closely. Had they observed them closely and spotted some admirable qualities in them, surly , there is a chance for them to accept one among them as a role model  .

Hence,  I was really surprised  when my thirteen  year old niece told me, when I asked her about her  role model that,  “Lakshmi” the domestic assistant working in her family for more than a decade is her role model,. Wanting to know the reason for selecting her, I further probed  . The following  statements made by her about Laksmi were very interesting  and thought provoking.

 It seems lakshmi has three children , one boy and two girls , an elderly mother and a very irresponsible husband  who is very lazy to go for regular job. Her salary which she gets by working in 4 homes as domestic help is the only regular source of income . Within  that income, some how,  she manages to look after her family by meeting their basic needs and educated all her children up to school final level and given them some skill training with which they could  get decent jobs . Their salary goes only towards the savings meant for their marriages and for some emergency expenses . She  has studied only upto 3^rd standard, yet she manages her finances well.  She hates indebtedness and never ask for loans from her employers . But , with right she will demand increase in salary when ever prices go up, since she understand the dignity of her labour .She never expect tips for doing some additional work, saying that she is not petty minded.

When she enters our home at 7. 30 AM , her appearance is neat  and the smile on her face is  contagious. I have never seen her  narrating any sad story about her irresponsible husband and share her worries about settling her children in marriage.  She takes leave only on unavoidable circumstances and always punctual while rendering her service to the four homes she serves.  She behaves like a family member when her employers home face some crises and shares their distress in her own way ‘

She is very humane at heart . She serves for an elderly couples and a single women, She is  over protective about them .She runs additional errands for them like paying electricity and milk coupons bills and even offer to cook for the elderly couple when they  fall  sick telling them that out side food is not good during sickness. When the single woman is distressed over some matter , she spends some additional minutes in spite of her roller coaster life to cheer her up. This information was shared with us in an appreciative tone by the single woman herself .

 Due to long term service in our homes ,  she takes liberty a like responsible family member and remind us about our monthly  payment of our bills such as for electricity , milk etc., She has never shown irritation , if the work load is more in our home ,some times, due to guests or festivals . She politely tell us, since she has to go in time to other homes, she will do the left out work after she finishes  her routine works in other homes . This shows  that punctuality is important for her   and at the same time she does not “work to rule”as the organised labourers do. For her personal relationship is more important  than material attitude.

She has shared her worries about her husbands irresponsible behavior towards the family obligations and his escapism from them by making her shoulder  more responsibilities. But she has learnt to suffer this situation silently , telling us that, it is her fate and God’s  wish and she can not do any thing about it and her only prayer to God is that, He should give her enough strength and stamina and prolonged life till her children are well settled in life. I understood  from her simple philosophies of life that, this is how Karma Yogis are expected to live .

Once her mother met with an accident and she had to take prolonged leave i.e. for a month  during her hospitalisation and  for after discharge care . Even during such distressed time she arranged for substitutes  for all her employers homes proving that  she is not a mercenary . No one thought of cutting her salary for that  month and called her to get the salaries . She was so moved by the gestures of her employers . Initially she was reluctant to accept the money saying  that, it would be  an unearned money . After much coaxing, she accepted the money saying that . may be it’s  Gods way of helping her through good souls .

I have never seen her with distressed face or complaint about her  financial difficulties . She some how manages her life with the resources available at her disposal . They are- her good health, time management skill, her intelligence , planning skill,  crisis management skill and positive attitude towards life and economic independence without knowing  these terms or the meaning of these concepts which are often narrated by feminists while talking about the qualities required for an empowered women. .

 My niece further told me that, she has never obsered all the  qualities of  Lakshmi closely, . It was her mother who was all the time pointing out her good qualities ,like honesty, hard work ,devotion to work, punctuality , human attitude and perfection in appearance and work , ability face challenges of her life and positive attitude . Then she started observing and amazed at her personal qualities and decided one day that, she would be role model if she really has  to be an  “empowerment women”, so that she will have fulfillment in her life and becomes an as stet to her family and the nation. I too was impressed with her analysis for choosing Laksmi as her role model  and thought there many unsung heroines in the world , who are not equipped with tools of empowerment like higher level education, skill training , healthy food , job with decent pay and family support . they are worthy role models to emulate .

Your thoughts create your world ( this article won the award in the imathra online magazine writing contest )

                                 

                            

                                          

Everything you perceive in the physical world has its origin in the invisible, inner world of your thoughts and beliefs. To become the master of your destiny, you  must learn to control the nature of your    habitual thoughts, through that, your thoughts create your real world .In other words, every effect you see in your outside or physical world has a specific cause which has its origin in your inner or mental world. This is the essence of thought power. Most people  believe in the opposite , i.e.,   they feel or think a certain way because of their circumstances, not knowing the truth that it is their thought power that is creating those very circumstances, whether wanted or unwanted.

 Modern science considers thoughts as energy .William Walker Atkinson told us that "where mind is static energy, thought is dynamic energy - two phases of the same thing" Your imagination is the engine of your thoughts. It converts your thought power into mental images, which are in turn manifested in the physical realm.  Negative thoughts can be calmly and deliberately replaced with positive thoughts. It needs .practice but, it is the mantra that would help to achieve greater life goals in this world. It is estimated that the average person has between 12,000 and 70,000 thoughts a day. This is evidence enough to suggest that your goal should not be to control every thought. It is your dominant thoughts and beliefs that you must learn to bring under your conscious control as they are what largely determine your mental attitude.

It is generally stated that, face is the index of the mind. If your mind is filled up with good thoughts, your face would always radiate smile and that would attract people towards you. Smile is contagious and that would spread fast and create a happy , peaceful and harmonious atmosphere around you. Such persons with pleasant personality would always be sought after and have reliable set of friends around them. Thus your thoughts play a greater role in creating a favorable environment around you and  the world would look like a place worth living with peace and tranquility surrounding you. .

Let us ponder over some of the basic qualities which would keep our thoughts clean and positive

• If you are from families which give grater importance to values of life, you would have been trained in such values of life such as honesty, morality, integrity, compassion, gratitude, tolerance, patience and sacrifice from child hood. When such values are deeply embedded in your thoughts, the practicing of such values in your daily life benefits you in various ways. It strengthens your character, improves inter personal relationship, earns you trustworthiness and you become role model to be emulated.
• If your thoughts centers on the existence of God and His greatness and total surrender to Him, you would always be guided in your decision making activity. Recognition and acceptance of God’s watching eyes over your behavior would prevent you from sinful and illegal activities and would lead you into a right path in your day today life.
• If you  have the magnanimity to accept people as they  are (with their plus and minus points) , it would be easy to create a friendly and social atmosphere around you and you  can live peacefully and harmoniously with more friends and none as enemies and then the world would become  Heaven on earth for you.
• If you  resolve in your mind to help others as much as possible (within the limit of your capacity) and  exhibit such trait of character through your activities, those who are in need of assistance would reach you without hesitation and would be ever thankful to you and rush to help you in when you are in  need . Helping the helpless and underprivileged will help in  reaping  God’s blessings in abundance and that would help our family too  in times crises.  God’s blessings on our good deeds are like high security cover from calamities.
•  If you always welcome others with cheerfulness, others would  find you as an easily approachable person and without hesitation share their personal matters  and seek your advice and that would help them in decision making in some important matters concerning their life.  Giving a kind and patient hearing to others bitter or happy experiences in life would create a special bond between you and the narrator and in their eyes you become mentors. Giving a patient hearing to others unburdening act and consoling them through choicest and comforting words is a great social service. Such a service will help you to realise your self worth. Then, you will have the satisfaction of leading a productive and purposeful life..
• Compassion towards the poor and disabled , respect to elders, friendship and cordiality with neighbours and relatives , loyalty in friendship , dignified treatment of service providers and being faithful to our own religion and tolerant of other religions   are the qualities which would help you  to shape your impeccable character and that would help in earning trustworthy friends, loyal service providers and loving relatives and harmonious living atmosphere in the world which is filled with people belonging to different religions, culture , language and practices . If such thoughts dominate in your mind then, you will not consider others as low caste or high caste and treat them accordingly. Societies which have citizens with such mature thoughts will not become victims to frequent communal clashes and social tensions. Civil society in such nations will have the decency of not interfering with food habits, dress code and private affairs of different communities and we will live in a better world. The poison of communal hatred emanates from our thoughts which needs to disciplined 
• Positive approach towards life’s challenges would make you mentally and emotionally strong. Such persons would be able to think calmly about the use of the resources available to them in the best manner possible so as to manage such crises. If you do not allow negative thoughts to dominate your mind, emotional and psychological well being would be the result .Then you will not be afraid to face of challenges of life.

Persons who practice   the above mentioned ideals  in their life would lead a highly productive life even during their sunset years and they become assets  to the family,  the society and the nation  Such people will surly be enjoying the benefits of their physical, mental, emotional, psychological and spiritual wellbeing:

The following words of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha perfectly capture the essence of thought power:

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is every thing. In a nutshell, your life is the perfect mirror of your thoughts, beliefs and dominant mental attitude. Whether we realise it or not, we are already into creating our reality through our thought power. Every effect we see in our outside world has its original cause within you. Your thoughts create your reality. Internalise and apply this truth and you   will see your action is the blossom of your thought and joy and suffering are its fruits.”