Who is greatest in the Kingdom of humans

What makes you great to the world, so much so that you become the ‘greatest’ of your times? Is greatness the title for those who become successful in their respective fields? Or is it that everyone who appears on TV has the chance of attaining greatness? Steve Jobs, who died fighting pancreatic cancer, being showered with so much love and respect raises this question.

While any celebrity has a right to an obituary, posthumous encomiums by way of comparison with other greats should not happen just because of the bankruptcy of a particular age in producing truly great individuals.

What defines Steve Jobs? The fact that he could make people go crazy about his company’s products?

If marketing is what makes you great, then our Indian politicians are the greatest, because they market themselves so well that even after their failures in one term after another, we keep voting them back to power. If making a new product is what makes you great, then there are many new products being invented everywhere in the world. Yes, the claim to launching the first personal computer goes to Jobs, but he was not behind its invention; he was the chief of the company that invented it. Any man heading the company that has a product to sell can do what he did.

To those who think he revolutionised cell phones, the fact is he just re-packaged his products by mixing up what was already out there in the form of already available gadgets/software like Blackberry, Palm, Windows, etc. A man becomes truly great for humankind and his passing away deserves mass mourning only if he has done something to better the lives of his fellow beings, overcoming personal greed and lust for power.

While all of us take our newborn kids to have ‘Do boond zindagi ki’, to save our kids from the life-crippling polio virus, very few would know why those life drops come for free. There are many other diseases, medication for which does not come even at a reasonable cost, forget having it free.

The man who invented the polio vaccine, Jonas Edward Salk, decided not to patent his invention. After seven years of rigorous research, when he had the chance to become a billionaire, much like Jobs did, he refused to do so. When someone asked him ‘Who owns the patent of the vaccine, he replied, ‘Can anyone patent the sun?’ In civilisation’s history of one individual bettering the lives of fellow humans, can Jobs stand anywhere close to Salk?

Jobs did not even eradicate poverty with the immense wealth he accumulated by selling his so-called great products, invented by scientists who worked in his company. Instead, he rather stopped all philanthropist activity by Apple in 1997, saying philanthropy can ‘wait until we are profitable.’ Today, Apple is one of the world’s most valued companies (sitting on $40 billion cash) and ironically, it is perhaps the only one in its category that has no philanthropic contribution worth talking about.

I don’t own any Apple product, and most Apple aficionados would accuse me of commenting on something that I don’t use. I am not commenting on the products he sold; I am commenting on the tears that are being unjustifiably shed on the death of a rich man. I am not taking anything away from Jobs as an entrepreneur, and the fact is that he was an inspiration for his company. But I find it difficult to accept the belittling of the very notion of greatness by bestowing it on those who worked for themselves and promoted the noxious idea that ‘profit motivates humans’, a theory that would have never given us the polio vaccine.

Written by Mr. Neeraj Thakur for Daily News and Analysis http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_comment-steve-jobs-wasnt-great-he-wasnt-even-close_1596888

Why do WOMEN cry?

A little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?" "Because I'm a woman," she told him.

"I don't understand," he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will."

Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?"

"All women cry for no reason," was all his dad could say.

The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry.

Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked, "God, why do women cry so easily?"

God said, "When I made the woman she had to be special.

I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world,

yet gentle enough to give comfort.

I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children.

I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining.

I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly.

I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.

I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly.

And finally, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed."

"You see my son," said God, "the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart - the place where love resides."
Source: Facebook.

Sizzling Streets of London

"Do you have an extra cigarette", "Lets go for a drink", "How about a weekend", "Are you shy" are some of the expression that might fall into your ears when you try to dodge crowded streets of London. Not very often you hear them but you do hear them. They can really scare you when you hear them from some strangers. Why am I brooding over this without giving my readers a context? What do they signify? Who expresses them? 

One summer evening I was strolling along a busy street in Wimbledon. Street full of people pass through me with various intentions in mind. Illuminating yellow mercury lights and a touch of romance with wonderful smell of fragrance made my life bubbling. People rush to reach their purpose made me aware that this city does not have time to stand and stare at each other. This makes me rush even though I don't have to. When I was pretending to be rushing two beautifully dressed blondes adorned with fragrance and artificial jewellery whispered into my ever sharp ears, "do have a cigarette" which took completely with a scary surprise. First of all I don't smoke and hate when people smoke around me, making me passive smoker, secondly they were absolute strangers. I replied to them with a my intimidating pleasant smile, "I don't smoke." This was an icing on the cake for the girls because they felt I was a good man. As I walked pass them, they decided to follow me and whisper some more pleasant surprising things into my ears, like "are you shy" "where do you live" "you are so handsome" etc. By now I was absolutely sure that they were looking for more than a cigarette but ignorent me never new the language of this world in which I live. They were looking for a night with them. I just ignored them further and walked my way thinking about my own ignorance and lack of knowledge about the young people who go about doing what they like. I assumed that they were either young prostitutes who are desperate for money or some teenagers who just like to experience something from an adult or they could be anything, let me not run my imagination wild. 

London keeps me on my toes every minute, either studies or some extravaganza which is every day business for Londoners. But London streets really scare me because there can be anyone on the street who are like prowler looking to devour you. It seems like London is ever green with several activities that are going on in and around us but we have keep our eyes wide open and do the needful. Most often I think that London is a wonderful city for studies and it is right but it can be quite depressing too if you don't have money, like these two girls who approached me. One of the students I met said that she went for stripping not because she wanted to, but simply because she could not suppost her studies and her ailing mum. I presume that there are more students like this who go for the thing which they don't usually like to do but situation has lead them to do against their own interest and will. 

I think this is not only case of London but most cities around the world where young people try to meet their needs. Rise in college fees and rise in food materials has changed the situation of the young people in the world. Many drop out of college, some decide to take the path where they can get easy money like selling their skin and so on. How are we to respond to this perpetual problem of the youth? Does the government have any answer for this or its just doing what  pleases the politicians? I have not an answer to them but I do agree that there is a problem which will remain a problem until one day youth decide to take to the streets as it happened in August on London roads and as it is happening on Wall Street in America. 

Magnificat

My being glows in your love oh, Lord

Because this love knit me into a being in my mum's womb

abounding and nourishing whole of my yesteryears

Oh, Lord I am unworthy of this love

Yet unworthiness is not an issue for you Oh Lord.

Oh, My feeble heart a piece of opaque diamond with moss around it

Enemy prowled around me to devour my soul

My being coveted for material things

Things that gave my being a timely pleasure

Oh, My fragile heart fell prey for the snare of the fowler.

Oh, Lord my being gratitudes you, you love of my being

Your felt absence not an absence indeed

Your gentle and subtle touch stirred and shook whole fibre of my being

You bountiful graces hovered over me ceaselessly Oh, Lord.

A faint voice whispered into me, 'Can you hear me?'

Gentle yet a sure knock at my heart's door like morning dew touching the tender ground

This knock made all the difference in my being

Difference to move mountains Oh Lord my God.

Oh Lord Your compassionate  look surrounded my being like odour of jasmine in the garden

Thou look set my soul and body aglow 

Oh, how marvellous to cling on to your look Oh, Lord

like tender child clings to her mother's bosom

Yet thou saith, "Don't cling to me, for thou hath mission to accomplish."

Jerri Melwin Dias SJ.
Photo: A valley at Araranzazu, Spain.

Good or Bad

Human beings have tried to solve the mystery of good and bad for many centuries. Human mind is a mystery in itself. This mind sees everything around him as a mystery. Solving a mystery is not possible because it is a mystery. If it is solvable then it is not a mystery. Good and bad cannot be justified really because as I mentioned earlier in my article, what is good for one may be bad for another and vice versa. Hence I would place good and bad in the category of mystery. We all have try and find out ways and means to be prudent and wish good of oneself and the society. 

In a certain Zen temple there were two Zen students, who were going to meditate in the hall. Along the way to the hall, they saw trees and argued with each other about the trees. One remarked, "Why is that tree so green?" The other remarked, "But why is this tree dry?" And then an argument arose between them. It was about which of the trees was better, the greener one or the dry one. They could not agree with each other, so when they entered the hall, they approached the Master and asked him which of the trees was better. The Master asked them back, "Which one do you both think is good, then?" They started arguing with each other again. One said, "The green tree is better" and the other said, "The dry tree is better."

By coincidence, a novice entered into the hall. The Master asked the novice the same question. The novice replied, "We should not be bothered about such issues. Just leave it." The Master said, "That is right answer. We should not be bothering ourselves with this. Everything has cause and effect. Whatever, we see, hear and think, has its cause and effect. We must learn from the cause and effect of all things." He went on and added, "You both should not divide things into two: good or bad, satisfactory or better. Instead you should learn from all things, you should learn to integrate everything. Separation will stop your progress in learning and practice." The two monks realised that what was being expressed was right and said sorry to the Master and thanked the novice for giving them the light of wisdom.

Integration of good and bad should be our priority. We have accept there good as well as bad but we should not while away our time in arguing what is good or bad but rather see it in the light of good of oneself and the society. This does not mean we have cast a blind eye on the bad that is happening around us. It is very challenging to open our eyes to the bad that is contaminating the world order. Can we really justify necessary violence? Can we consider violence as good if it benefits the society? Can necessary torture be justified? I think in any circumstances these above questions cannot be justified as it inflicts pain and suffering and essentially it violated the human rights. If we browse the news of the world, our ears are bombarded with violence and its effects. Can we consider violence as bad? If yes, what about the Libyan rebels who are fighting against the ferocious leader? These are the sensitive issues that we have deal, first of all in our own minds and hearts and then transform the hearts of the people who destroy the wellbeing of this world. 

Pic: Late early morning landscape in the countryside in Britain. 

My lover speaks of rape

Flaming green of a morning that awaits rain
And my lover speaks of rape through silences,
Swallowed words and the shadowed tones
Of voice. Quivering, I fill in his blanks.
Green turns to unsightly teal of hospital beds
And he is softer than feathers, but I fly away
To shield myself from the retch of the burns
Ward, the shrill sounds of dying declarations,
The floral pink-white sad skins of dowry deaths.

Open eyes, open hands, his open all-clear soul . . .

Colorless noon filters in through bluish glass
And coffee keeps him company. She chatters
Away telling her own, every woman's story;
He listens, like for the first time. Tragedy in
Bridal red remains a fresh, flushing bruise across
Brown-yellow skinscapes, vibrant but made
Muted through years of silent, waiting skin.
I am absent. They talk of everyday assault that
Turns blue, violet and black in high-color symphony.

Open eyes, open hands, his open all-clear soul . . .

Blues blend to an unforgiving metropolitan black
And loneliness seems safer than a gentle night
In his arms. I return from the self-defence lessons:
Mistrust is the black-belted, loose white mechanism
Of survival against this groping world and I am
A convert too. Yet, in the way of all life, he could try
And take root, as I resist, and yield later, like the earth.

Open eyes, open hands, his open all-clear soul . . .
Has he learnt to live my life? Has he learnt never to harm?

Meena Kandasamy won first prize for this poem in Pan-Indian poetry contests.

Apartheid of India: Dalit

Once you're used to it

You never afterwards

feel anything;

your blood nevermore

congeals

nor flows

for wet mud has been slapped

over all your bone.

Once you're used to it

even the sorrow

that visits you

sometimes, in dreams,

melts away, embarrassed.

Habit isn't used to breaking out

in feelings.

F.M. Shinde, 'Habit', in Arujun Dangle (ed), No Entry for the New Sun: Translations from Modern Marathi Dalit Poetry.