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 Gandhi is a man of paradoxes. It is easy to find mistakes and inaccuracies with Gandhi. His inconsistencies are part of his evolving and shifting self-concept, says a well-known Gandhian, Sunil P Ilayidom. He elucidates it with anecdotes and examples from the life of the Mahatma. Gandhi was against writing letters, for him it took away the human warmth of meeting someone personally; but Gandhi was someone who wrote thousands of letters in his life, numbers say that he wrote about 108,000 letters in his lifetime. Gandhi was against Railways, according to him trains would take away the serenity of Indian countryside and villages; but Gandhiji was a regular train traveler. He did not appreciate women participating in public life; but it was in his time women felt most comfort- able to make their presence felt in public life and affairs. Gandhi kept shifting, changing, and evolving. Gandhi himself has said that if I have given different opinions about one thing in different times, take wh

  We are entering the election year. We are entering the most vulnerable phase of our democracy. The most exposed and susceptible point of a democracy is during its elections. It is the time where money and power do their dirtiest jobs. It is the time when people, even MLAs and MPs are not spared, are bought and sold like slaves; and people allow themselves to be sold and bought like pigeons in the market. A country or an organisation becomes vulnerable during elections because it could become an exercise of demonstration of mindless tyranny of the majority. In Democracy Power Is a Fundamental Right There are many forms of governments, but only in modern democracy people hold power as a fundamental right. In every other form of government the ruled are at the mercy of the rulers. Monarchies are absolute; a republic is authoritarian with power in the hands of a few; in oligarchy power is held by a small group of powerful and wealthy people, often they are hidden from the people; a dicta

 Put a hundred red ants and a hundred black ants in a bottle with sufficient facilities and provisions to live their lives. Nothing untoward happens, they would live peacefully, with their usual interactions, cooperation and conflicts that any living together would cause. But if someone shakes the bottle, the ants would start killing one another. Red ants would begin to believe that black ants are their enemies; black ants would begin to believe that red ants are their enemies. But in truth, the real enemy is the one who shook the bottle. In real time no ant realises or understands it. By the time ants realise it, if they ever realise, they both would have lost the battle and the bottle. A close reading of history would make it evident that this is the kind of social experiment many rulers and establishments of the past had put into motion before they forced people of a certain race or religion to leave an area or country, or drove people - who hitherto had lived amicably - into armed

  A hungry girl child is the India’s poorest per- son. She suffers from hunger, inequality, and abuse, for no mistake of hers. Starting from one’s physical and mental disabilities to caste and illiteracy, there could be other relevant parameters of poverty, but a midway evaluation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Developmental Goals in India, done by NITI Aayog, highlights that these two goals, zero hunger and gender equality, have performed the least for the last
few years; and there are less indications of them getting better. This aught to be a cause for worry for a country that, according to the address of Narendra Modi at the US Congress in June 2023, boasts of being the fifth largest economy in the world; and claiming to be the third soon. According to a UNICEF study, globally girls have higher survival rates at birth, are more likely to be developmentally on track, and do better
in preschool, but India is the only large country where more girls die than boys; and more girls ar

  We keep doing what we do, because we have no clue of the actual consequences of our everyday life. We think we know but we don’t. Do our actions and habits make life easier or harder? ‘Tough times create strong men, strong men create easy times, easy times create weak men, and weak men create tough times.’ These are lines from a post apocalyptic novel by G. Michael Hopf. Annotating these lines Aaron Mckie, a former professional basketball player and an American basketball coach, talks about a conversation he had with his friend about the future of their kids; his friend said, ‘My grandfather walked ten miles to work everyday, my father walked five, I’m driving a Cadillac, my son is in a Mercedes, and my grandson will be in a Ferrari. My great-grandson will be walking again.’ There are crucial lessons here for all of us. The climate lesson is this, my grandfather lived in want; my father grew vegetables, did not waste food, recycled and reused whatever possible; I take the planet for

 Visual communication plays a powerful role in shaping our understanding of the world. Like written and spoken language, visuals employ a complex grammar and system of meaning. Study the PDF below (for academic use only) Visual Language and Grammar PDF At its core, visual grammar is comprised of fundamental elements like line, shape, colour, texture, space, and typography. These are the basic building blocks that visual creators assemble and organise using principles like emphasis, contrast, composition, size, proportion, balance, and lighting. Just as words are assembled following the syntactical rules of language, visuals are constructed by purposefully arranging and relating these elemental units. Lines, for instance, can convey a range of associations through their orientation and qualities. Horizontal lines suggest stability and calm, verticals impart a sense of strength and authority, while diagonals imbue dynamism and movement. The weight and curvature of lines further modify th

 Left-wing, right-wing, and centre are terms used to describe different positions on the political spectrum. The terms left-wing and right-wing originated from the seating arrangements in the French National Assembly during the French Revolution (1789). Supporters of the King and the traditional social order sat on the president's right side. These were generally considered more conservative and resistant to change. Supporters of the revolution and those advocating for a more egalitarian society sat on the president's left side. These were seen as more progressive and willing to challenge the status quo. Over time, these seating positions became symbolic of broader political viewpoints. The terms "left" and "right" were eventually used to describe the entire spectrum of political ideologies, not just those present during the French Revolution. Left Wing focuses on equality, social justice, and reform. Left-wing ideologies generally believe in reducing econo

 Visual analysis is a systematic approach to examining and interpreting visual materials, aimed at understanding their underlying meanings, functions, and contextual influences. Study the PDF below (for academic use only)   VISUAL ANALYSIS: An Introduction PDF Seeing is an active Decision, says John Berger. The process of seeing a visual is less spontaneous and natural then we tend to believe. Large part of the seeing depends upon habit and convention (a way in which something is usually done). Seeing needs efforts. The way we see visuals has been manipulated by a privileged minority to preserve their social and economic dominance. Everything that you see hides another thing, says, Rene Magritte. Visual analysis is a systematic approach to examining and interpreting visual materials, aimed at understanding their underlying meanings, functions, and contextual influences. In our visually saturated world, images have become a pervasive language that shapes our perceptions, attitudes, and

Chipko Chipko A non-violent forest conservation movement that originated in India in the 1970s; where v illagers, particularly women, opposed commercial logging and government deforestation policies. Protesters used non-violent tactics, notably embracing trees (Chipko means "to hug" in Hindi), to impede loggers. The movement aimed to protect local forests, which were vital for their livelihoods and the environment. It emerged in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand (then part of Uttar Pradesh) in 1973. Legacy includes increased environmental awareness, empowerment of local communities, and pioneering ecofeminist ideas.

  A privileged, relaxed man would never want to change anything. 

 Today is Sunday. I began my day with my usual Catholic Sunday service; standing in the middle of a church, filled with faith filled, convinced, and uncomplicated people, praying, singing, sharing, and celebrating. There was energy, there was vibe, there was devotion, and nothing lacked from the usual Sunday services. But from people walking into the church, to the entrance hymn, to the recessional hymn to people walking back home; everything looked and felt like being in an automated mode. Nothing unexpected happened, and nothing unexpected was even expected. Nothing unanticipated was heard, no one was expected to listen to anything that is unanticipated. It was a ritual performed and participated in the most ritualistic manner as possible. It was a kind of implosion into once own faith, certainties, and, age-old practices. Nothing is neither further clarified nor challenged. Later in the day I was at Chitra Shante (Art Fair) by Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath , which had artworks by

 I love Kaziranga; because here they are not caged or fenced as an exhibition item for the homo sapiens . The rhinoceros, elephants, wild buffalos, deer, the occasional tigers, and many other smaller animals roam free in this 430 square- kilometre expanse across the flood plains of Brahmaputra. Kaziranga lies between the Brahmaputra and the Karbi Hills. Much of the park is marshland interspersed with large pools fringed with reeds, patches of elephant grass, scattered trees, and thickets; inhabited popularly by the great Indian one-horned rhinoceroses. I took an early morning walk around the park with my lens, and the woods there is bustling with birds, both resident and migratory. Sighting rare large birds, like, wooly-necked stork, grey-headed fish eagle, the lesser and great adjutant, which
are declared vulnerable and threatened by International Union for Conservation of Nature, is very satisfying. Kaziranga and its one-horned rhinos We took a safari in a private Gypsy into the cent

  Behold powerlessness, here is humanity: trafficked, used and made to overwork for profit, left unemployed for greed, dominated and muzzled by authoritarian and patriarchal regimes, and desecrated in the name of religion. May is hot; not just because of the rising mercury levels across India and elsewhere, but also because of the elections in Karnataka, which is arguably, an important state for the existence and rise of BJP in the South, because of the ongoing ED raids and political arrests, and of course, because of May Day –the day we appreciate the constitution of the eight-hour working day. The workers today, as in every age, are in a permanent revolution, lest the bosses take advantage of their powerlessness, and make them machines.  There has been no other movement as the workers movement, which made the world take notice of people and their struggles. May is a month to notice humans, look at powerless humans more genuinely, more seriously. I borrow a conversation from Bobby Jos

  Work is not just an economic thing, it is also existential; it gives meaning to human existence. Man verses machine is an age-old conflict archetype. Since the emergence of this conflict archetype machines have been growing in power and intelligence in all directions. The evolution of the thinking machines now stands at the threshold of a quantum leap, breaking completely with the past –the Open AI is here. We have heard of automating repetitive tasks, but that is not the question today. Instead of automating repetitive tasks, technology today is climbing the cognitive ladder. Is it too fast? Or is it that for doing the repetitive jobs we still have the cheap human labour around? Automation Anxiety The stress one goes through because of the fear of losing ones job to automation is real and happening. Work is not just an economic thing it is also existential; it gives meaning to human existence. Money could be provided and found, what about meaning? With infallible machines around the

  Though art is endlessly changing, its ability to make worlds meet is constant: the worlds of the artist and the art consumers break into conversation, the subjects in a piece of art and the audience pause to converse. Initiating conversations is perhaps the greatest modern virtue. Our world, in this era of alternative facts, propaganda, thought control, and post-truth, is more polarised and divided than ever before. Most are stuck in their own petite filter bubbles and echo chambers. We are diametrically opposed to each other on virtually every issue that matters -climate, citizenship, refugees, racism, caste, gender –you name it. Exclusive black and white, left and right, for and against is the new mantra for political success. The rest of the population, in between the poles, is ignorantly comfortable and indifferent. To be in a state of being talkable, or people to be in a position to converse is made tougher by people getting offended by the slightest of disapproval. Of course, t