Dam you!

Man said it to the river, and dammed it.

In so doing, did he or did he not damn(pardon the swear word) himself?

A flowing river was made into lakes. Agricultural lands, man's dwellings, forests, flora and fauna were inundated and lost. The regular supply of silt that the river provided oh so generously to the land it flooded was stopped. Instead this silt deposited itself in the river bed, making it go shallow over the years and causing the extra cost 0f desilting. Man grew confident of the mighty walls of the dam, and hence occasional wall breakages and subsequent flash floods took him so much by surprise that he lost much.

In return, he got electricity (mind you, not all dams can yield electricity), an assurance that he will get water for agriculture all the year round in just the right amount.

Imagine now, a scenario without dams.

The average villager knew well the level to which river water was likely to reach. Cleverly, he prepared himself for it - by collecting his stuff and moving up to higher up areas referred to as 'Gadhs' (You may still here about gadhs and even get to see them in several villages of North Bihar). The river would come, spread its silt on his agricultural fields, and in its own time, recede. The farmers would return, and enjoy a decent harvest sans fertilizers.

North Bihar gets flooded every year, notwithstanding the amount of rainfall. This is because of the millions of gallons of water that flows down the Himalayas every monsoon. Every year we hear of at least one river that has broken its embankment and caused floods. Every year we hear of villages plunged into misery.

Have embankments really helped? Would it have been better to provide for maintenance of level-markers to indicate which level a river is likely to reach during an average flood and prepare more 'gadhs' than embankments?

Viva Ms Babi

Flipping lazily through the TV channels this lazy afternoon, came across one that was airing that 70's comedy 'Namak Halal'. Sat watching it for lack of anything else worth viewing - and had a pleasant surprize in the bargain - the insight that Ms Parveen Babi is not less than most of her more-touted contemporaries.

Believe it or not, I ended up ignoring Amitabh (a well-nigh impossible task for me, you know!) as my entire attention was taken up by this doe-eyed actress and her talent in histrionics. Such marvellous control of facial expressions, such calculated coldness in voice and eyes that would give way to emotion only for one flickering second - with an interestingly grey-tinted character and some of the most power-packed punchlines reserved just for her. (e.g. - "Unke paas phool the, unhone phool bheje. Mere paas jo hain wo main de rahi hoon." After which she proceeds to hand over a cactus plant to Amitabh for Shashi Kapoor!) Add to it her natural beauty and SA, and whoa! What a scintillating performance you would see.

True enough, beauty sans personality can not impress ever, and if you wish to find the deadly combination of the two, do give Namak Halal a Babi-centric look next time you watch it :)

Eva-Lution

From Adam's ribs to The President of the largest democracy in the world - Ms. Eve, you have come a long way!

I wish to salute Womanhood today thought it's not 8th March.

The fact that there are so many centuries between Razia Sultan and Pratibha Patil is something of a damper, but, chalta hai, folks! Better late than never, so they say, and we are still ahead of US of A in this one, lolz. The non-selection of Kiran Bedi for that coveted post is another damper, but still - at least we are moving ahead in the right direction and I am feeling very optimistic at the moment!

The Lust for Trust

"The most evil form of manipulation is the manipulation of the mind"



Whose quote is it?

Can anyone help me there?


Cause if no claimants come up, I shall take possession of it as being one of my own, so apt I am finding it at the moment!

The sentence sprang into mind so spontaneously as I watched certain events unfolding before my eyes.

A was an ex-freedom fighter. After Independance, A left to puruse the path of spirituality after being enlightened by a guru. A left for his heavenly abode after establishing a modest ashram in a small town which gained some local popularity. A was survived by seven sons.



B, C, D, E, F, G & H were different from each other, but shared a common trait - of being extremely good with words, extraordinarliy talented with the tongue.

B was honest, quiet and serene, and devoted to A.

C was interested in only one thing - cashing in on the popularity of A.

D was a mild family man.

E was as devoted to A as B was.

F was ostensibly as devoted to A as B was, was resident caretaker of the ashram while A was alive.

G was hot tempered and unstable.

H was a rebel but so far as 'sacrifices' went, had made the biggest one.



While A was on the verge of passing away for his heavenly abode, speculations flew about regarding the candidate who would receive the precious legacy of trust. B, E, F & H were serious contenders, though H was being touted as the blue-eyed boy.



Most were shocked when B, the eldest was chosen for the sacred seat. The dark horse winning the race caused the circlets of disturbance on the surface of a deceptively peaceful pond.



E was deeply hurt by this, and reacted by withdrawing himself from all activities. He gradually developed on his own a small following of people who loved and trusted him.



F had great hopes on being named the successor, and the dashing of these hopes, and his fall from the elevated position of yesteryears left him a bitter and vengeant man.



H being the rebel that he was and flabbergasted by the non-recognition of his sacrifices, left the place and found for himself a completely different school of thought - almost anti to that of his father.

Things developed along these lines for several years. Relationship between the seven brothers remained normal for onlookers but had sinister undercurrents for the observant members of the inner circle.

Events catapulted into action by a sudden ailment of B, which, incidentally, was not as serious as it appeared initially.

Needless to say, his speedy recovery was looked at askance by the others. Nasty comments were passed, double entendres were made and a few harsh words were spoken.

Thoroughly piqued by this strange reaction, I was forced to question around for reasons behind this transformation of normal men into vultures.
Was it money? It seemed not. Though for C & F, it could well be that, I personally knew that G & H were rolling in dough (sorry, was dying to use this dirty slang for them.. :D) F could also possess a second reason - revenge.

But money and revenge really did not gel as being strong enough motives for hatred. For one, there just wasn't enough money in the thing - nothing on the lines of Osho Ashram. And petty vengeance also seemed too insufficient.

I thought and thought, and finally came to the point - Manipulation! Manipulation of the mind. Manipulation of the thought process of another man. Manipulation of the ideas of another man. And this manipulation leading to the subversion of another human mind to yours. The heady feeling of power over another's cerebrum because of the cunning use of your tongue. In short, the lust for trust.

And predictably I was reminded of the evil of Elsworth Toohey from Ayn Rand's Fountainhead - and also of the quote with which I opened this write-up - "The most evil form of manipulation is the manipulation of the mind."

I am striving hard that at whatever small scale it may be, the miniature center of human mind manipulation that I talked about, can be stopped from victmizing other lambs.

Let's see if I succeed!