For all those who hate science....

Reading a book that has been sent by a friend for review, I came across a statement he made: "Love is chemistry and attraction is magnetism". I was wondering if love is chemistry and attraction magnetism, can there be anyone in this world who can say he hates science?

My own experience suggests that this chemistry and magnetism can at times result in economics, biology, physics (please do not read it as anything else) and as the years go by, history. Who says physical sciences are distinctly different from social science and humanities!! I recall an instance when chemistry turned into athletics and spirituality.

Mohan (my FPG some thirty years before) and me walked into Kamaths wanting to catch up on breakfast. I took a seat facing the hotel's entrance and Mohan sat opposite but at an angle to me. We finished our dosas and called for the inevitable coffee when a young woman (don't expect me to say handsome. Perhaps this story wouldn't have happened otherwise) came to sit in the table behind Mohan, facing me. Mohan and me had a penchant for engaging in intense debates and I was loading my next torpedo into the tube in my mind when this young thing happened. The torpedo stuck in the tube and before long even I realized that I was ogling. Women in any case know it intuitively when someone ogles at them and here she hardly needed her intuition. And, in the processes of freezing on my tracks on my top floor, I had made a fatal mistake. I did not notice that she was accompanied by her father.

Realizing that I was 'stuck' and sensing the trouble rising behind him (literally!!!), suddenly Mohan got up, seized my elbow and before I blinked, paid out the bill in the counter, pushed me into the street and goaded me to pick up pace. It is only when we turned the corner and were well on our way back to the room that I realized that Mohan had actually saved my skin.

From chemistry to athletics to spirituality, reflecting on this 'history', I realize that sciences, humanities and spirituality are inseparable. No man can ever say with certainty that they are separate from our own lives irrespective of our likes and dislikes for a subject. Did someone say he or she still hates science?

Think again!!!     

World Cup is not just about football....

“Let their feet rule your heart” proclaimed the headlines in Time of India. Yes, the World Cup in Sao Paulo literally kicked off to run amuck in our heart. Scolari’s expressive antics, Neymar’s impressive two goals, Oscar’s dream run to give Brazil its third goal – every single one of them made you dance on your feet. Marcelo’s OG (own goal)…produced guffas in the stadium and his naïve looks after the even and the goal keeper’s understanding pat on his back will remain one of the memorable and humorous incidents in World Cup 2014.

But what actually touched my heart most happened 10182 miles away to the east of Sao Paulo. Lt Gen Chatudom Titahsiri, Head of the army run Channel 5 in Thailand said “Happiness for the whole country is more important than money” after the military junta ruling Thailand decided to broadcast World Cup matches free of charge!!

Years before, a friend of mine taught me a valuable lesson “when you love someone or something, show it in small deeds. Osho, one of the most profound intellects to have walked this earth also said that it is passion that defines your thirst for truth, not renunciation. The person who wrote the headlines in Times of India and the Thai general both have just proved this right. When you give your heart to what you seek, you receive two bounties: first, you live; second, you achieve.

Do not forget to switch off the drudgery of your life when you can and watch World Cup 2014. It is not just football. It has many wonderful lessons for life. Happy watching and happy living!!!   

All for a pinch of salt....

In the early hours of today, 06 June, seventy years before thousands of young men stared at the approaching beachheads in Normandy. The weather had turned foul and their commanders knew that it was too late to turn back. The landings had to proceed as ordered. They also knew that the Germans were prepared to welcome them with murderous fire. The invasion fleet was drawn from eight different navies, comprising 6,939 vessels: 1,213 warships, 4,126 landing craft of various types, 736 ancillary craft, and 864 merchant vessels. There were 195,700 naval personnel involved. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings)

At 0630h, The American Second Army began landing on Omaha beach. The beach was taken, lost and retaken twice during the day with over 9387 American service men giving their lives for it. The history of the world was re-written by the sacrifices of these men. President Obama, paying tributes to these men today at Normandy described the Omaha as "Democracy's Beach", to the cheers and tears of thousands of French and American veterans who had gathered to observe the day. He was right when he said that these men had come to protect the liberty of people whom they had never met. And a grateful France remembers them and honors their graves as its own children's. President Obama also paid glowing tributes to the British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand troops who co-wrote world history on that day.

While the American soldiers in Normandy were writing history with their sacrifice, elsewhere in West Asia, Africa, Germany, Italy and the Far East, two and a half million Indian soldiers had already created history for the British Empire. 87000 Indians gave their life to "protect the liberty of people whom they never knew" - in President Obama's words. India contributed 1200 million Pound Sterling to the British war effort, apart from paying for all the British, Indian, American and other 'foreign' forces stationed on Indian soil to fight the Japanese and to assist the Chinese. The hidden cost to India was even more - take for example 1.8 million tons of wood (mostly saal) from Indian forests that was used by Britain for army purposes all over the world or even the 400 miles of railway tracks taken out with their wooden sleepers for relaying in West Asia and Africa for the British campaign. India which started with just 350 million USD 'debt' to Britain in 1939 had USD 1.92 billion in debt at the end of the war!! History is witness to the truth that the Allied victory would not have been possible but for the huge sacrifices that India made, albeit as a 'slave' of the Empire.

Despite the truly selfless sacrifice of Indians in the war that is being described today as the war for liberty and democracy in Europe, it is sad that not a word has been said about those valiant Sikhs, Gorkhas, Rajputs, Madrasis, Mahrattas and Bengalis who are buried in the sands of time. These men, poor peasant children from humble backgrounds in India, are neither heroes like those Americans in their native land; they were not considered saviors of mankind for they were from a 'colony'; they are forgotten in their own land for they died far away.

But, they were men of a great culture were the code of honor is held above even life. They were the children of great warriors like Ashoka, Akbar, Guru Teg Bahadur, Maharana Pratap Singh, Balaji Baji Rao II, Rani of Jhansi, Tantya Tope, Rani Mangamma, Veera Pandia Katta Bomman, Marudu Brothers, Tipu Sultan, and Birsa Munda - whose very names represent the great martial traditions that India is home to. They gave their life, voluntarily and smiling, for they had had a pinch of salt on which they had taken a pledge for their colonial masters. For that pinch of salt, they broke their culture by going overseas; for that pinch of salt, they fought like fiery devils; for that pinch of salt, they gave their lives.

They continue to be, wherever they are, unheard-unsung-unknown, all for a pinch of salt.