My first poetry book- Fragrant flute of fire

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International Nuclear Disarmament

Is it possible?  Yes.  But it is possible only when all the nations declare war  illegal under all circumstances just as physical abuse is.  It is possible when all the nations decide to destroy all the weapons of mass destruction that they have. When an international committee of investigation is set up which has the right to probe into the defense secrets of each nation and  certify that it is disarmed of all nuclear and biological weapons and of all weapons of mass destruction. When a nation which possesses weapons of mass weapons or wages wars is punished by cutting off all trade sanctions by all countries.  Only then, international nuclear disarmament can be hoped for; not otherwise.

Power

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/nuclear-liability-bill-diluted-30792.php

It’s really shame.

How long will power and not logic define what is right and what is wrong?

How long will power be the guardian of peace and define what is peace?

How long will power wage wars and at the same time advice others for disarmament?

How long will it take us to be honest with ourselves?

How long will it take the world to be civilized?

Administration

This time when I went to India, I was not only disappointed but also shocked to see the carelessness and irresponsibility of municipal corporation, the traffic police, the transportation system, the social security system and in fact the whole administrative body. The difference become more and more evident when you come from a developed country.

The administrative body, without any financial loss, can in fact make the traffic system more systematic and more strict by imposing fines on people who break the traffic laws. The municipal corporation can impose fines and tickets to the people who does not maintain cleanliness in public places.  The amount collected from these fines can be used to maintain hygiene and cleanliness in roads, improve the tourism industry, provide more public transportation system, control floods and sanitation system and build more roads. It just needs some amount of sincerity, motivation and patriotism by the administrative heads.

However, we as people are also equally responsible. Instead of blaming it on the administrative, we citizens can take up the responsibility in our heads. The member of each community can submit petition, write incessantly on newspapers, pressurize the government, hold processions and strikes to improve the condition of their society or community on the above mentioned areas. The delegates of our community show so much enthusiasm to organize religious festivals, sport activities, cultural functions in each communities. Why can’t the delegates organize processions and strikes for improving the conditions of their our own community. God will be much more happy if we try to improve the conditions of our community and people than if we try to organize religious festivals.

Patriotism

Blind patriotism like blind love have created untold destruction in human society. Blind patriotism have lead people to support nuclear wars, produce nuclear weapons, have encouraged soldiers in imperialistic adventures, have urged people to support false causes, violate human rights, dominate and exploit weaker nations, have lead to religious riots and much more. Humanity has not suffered so much for an honored concept as patriotism.

A true patriot would rather risk being abandoned by the whole society as traitor for the sake of maintaining the human rights of people over the world. A true patriot would rather criticize his nation for the wrong doings like destroying some other nation’s sovereignty than join the chorus of false patriotism. A true patriot would rather point out the mistakes to rectify her for he has loved his motherland. A true patriot would rather say – ” I stood against my motherland, when she initiated wars, I disapproved of it when she tried to destroy the environment and humanity with nuclear weapons, I went against her when she tried to curtail some other nation’s liberty, when she tried to obtain an unequal share of resources in the world stage by dint of power.  I had done so for I had loved her. I wanted it to be an epitome of liberty, equality and justice, I wanted not her history to be written tomorrow with the blood of innocent people. I want her to be an ideal nation and so I have risked everything for it, even the honor of being called a true citizen. I fear not being called a traitor for fighting for the sake of  her development though just and honorable means. I have done it for I have loved it. And even though the whole of the nation have not approved of me, I have in my heart known that I have been able to provide an example of an ideal son/daughter for my motherland.”

We shall overcome some day

Most of us have a tendency to shrink away from our responsibilities by blaming the society, the politics, the trade unions, the leaders and so on. Rightly enough corruption is there everywhere because it is there in human beings.  Is it not there in business, in corporate world, in education, in religion, in family, in relations and even in ourselves? Yes it there. But that does not mean we can do shun the government because we are part of it and we are responsible for it and we know well enough that we cannot do without it. Can workers uphold their rights, their grievances, the problems without trade unions? Unity is the only strength of the proletariat to fight against the powerful giants of the world who can ruin the world if it satisfy their whims. Can we imagine a society without the government, law and order? Do we shun education, religions, relations and even ourselves because of the dirt that exist in them? If not why is there this hypocrisy?  To shrink ourselves of responsibilities, to be aware, to live and to be awake, to be of worth, to be useful, to find a meaning to life.

I have seen the youths trying to find happiness or rather create it in its many different useless forms which keeps varying, changing, rotating, just to pass the time. To roam about uselessly without a purpose in life except for earning a good salary or rising high to a powerful position. We do not have any purpose, purpose for which a whole life can be given, dedicated, sacrificed without the minimal of regret. So we try to find out the meaning in useless pursuits after addictions, temptations, infatuations, etc ignoring our very responsibilities towards our society which could have given a real meaning to life, meaning which could have yield limitless passions to live, to succeed and to contribute. I hope we find that passion some day in our responsibilities and thus find true joy which crosses beyond boundaries and limits in to the vast ocean of courage. Courage which come up automatically when we the importance of situations and the consequences. I still hope “we shall overcome some day”

Labour system in India

Come, workmen, all, both great and small,
Pay attention to my ditty,
‘Tis something interests you all
That labour in this city.
Be wide awake,
An interest take–
Don’t wait for legislation;
The greatest aim of all mankind,
It is self-preservation.

CHORUS.

Whack row-de-row,
How are you, eight-hour system;
Whack row-de-row,
We are bound to put it through.

Our claims are just– we know they’re right,
As honest men will all agree;
We wage no war on capital,
That every one can see.
If you want to know,
We can soon show,
Without any exaggeration,
We’ll do as much in eight now
With a little more exertion.

CHORUS. Whack row-de-row, &c.

We will take the hours of the day,
And divide them up by three;
First, take eight for labour, say,
Which we’ll do honestly;
Eight for rest,
Which, at the best,
Gives our strength time to recover;
And eight more to attend the wants
Of our distressed worthy brothers.

CHORUS. Whack, row-de-row, &c.

You may talk about your heroes,
But where is one so grand,
Who kindness to his fellows shows,
And rightly understands.
One of this kind
You’re sure to find,
If the trouble you will take, sirs.
At twenty-seven Julia street,
Is the prince of boiler-makers.

CHORUS. Whack row-de-row, &c.

Here the honest sons of Vulcan
In their glory you may find;
Their hammers click, the time flies quick,
They never are behind.
The secret’s one
That all my own,
It will cost you but the trial,
The eight-hour system is the thing–
It’s a fact, and there’s no denial.

And now let me continue the poem in this way:

“And yet today, even though

implemented in the Labour law

Hardly do they follow

Decades after the May Day

As the struggle of our fore-fathers decay

Under the grave of fear

Listen listen, oh brothers

There is nobody to hear

People even donot know

There exist such a law

Its illegal to make one work

Beyond the hour eight

That minimum pay do exist

In law book the Great

Yet rarely implemented in our people’s fate

This is such as much shame

That people are numb and maimed

In the grave of fear

There is nobody to hear

The death silence still prevail

In the Hippocratic cultural veil

As our nation derail

In the pomp and show of glamour

The Have-nots do clamor

And it goes to deaf ear

In the realm of fear

Of ignornance, which reign

In the rat-race of the world

What did we do gain

It is only shame

Oh brother please hear

There is only a small life

Please do not fear” – Saswati

This is the condition of India today.

Terrorism

Its indeed unfortunate that many people think that the retaliation of the richest country in the world in response to the act of terrorism, by bombing and killing people in Afghanistan and Iraq and letting double the number of soldiers (double of how many people died in September 11) die for the ego of the nation is a commendable act.

The people who are killed by such acts of violence are not the people who support Al Qaeda, nor are the people killed in the Twin towers are responsible for the despair of the terrorists and economic imperialistic ambitions of powerful nations. The people who are killed by the acts of violence are ordinary people whose lives perhaps doesn’t change with whoever governs or rules the world. They are ones too much pre-occupied to make a living which is often even not possible for them. They are the ones who build buildings, factories, automobiles. They are the constructors of the civilization whose lives are destroyed just in a second by a bomb. They are the one who grows rice, corps, wheat and yet often sleeps hungry all night. They are the weakest sections of the people who are targeted first in this war of the ego.

They are as much less of the Al-Qaeda’s as of the American Government’s. Neither of them has ever done anything good for these people except killing them or their near and dear ones.  Truely enough the only power the proletariats have is the power of unity if they are aware of it. Will they know their supreme power one day ? Will they rise in revolution one day to destroy the empires who have always destroyed their life?  Nobody knows. On a second thought perhaps it is inevitable.

Aesthetics

Since a long time, I have been a supporter of aestheticism perhaps due to cultural prejudices as I may call it now or influence of some books,  until recently I came upon ‘Marriage and Morals’  by Russel.  It occured upon me, aesthetics perhaps have been given too much importance in theory which is not or cannot be practised in real world. After all, what is the use of those preachings which are respected only by lip services.  Sri Ramakrishna said -’Shun woman and wealth’. In today’s world where money is the most important factor of survival, it is not feasible to shun it. As in case of woman, even though it may be useful to shun it in student life, it is no more applicable once someone marries and settles down in life. I have seen many people to read Kothamrito almost every day and yet refrain to follow them in real time by saying that those principles are above human-capacities.

The theory of aesthetics may have originated at those times when nature was a wonder and people have not known the laws which governs it. They have seen that any useful thing requires work and self-control. They need to collect woods to build fire for warmth and for cooking. They need to build a house to live. That is to say they need to work which was mostly routine manual labour at that time with minimal of pleasure in doing them. Eventually they came to think that any good thing requires painful work and self-abnegation of all the pleasures of relaxation. They thought of some super-power governing every actions which they could not define scientifically and to please that super-power is the means to protect themselves from all natural disasters. Consequently just like other useful rewards, the way to please the super-power is perhaps self-abnegation, austerity and depriving oneself of all pleasures. As such anything pleasureable was looked down upon by the moralists. In some religious text, mostly in the Afghanisation side, even singing romantic songs, watching romantic movies was considered immoral. So was the case in ‘Adarshwadi’ era in India when any literature which incorporated romanticism was frowned upon by the virtuous people.

Another reason is perhaps that most of the people were not educated during that time. As such it was not possible for them to judge the right from the wrong and the only way, the relatively wise people of the then period could bring the society into order was by introducing fear and laws. The self-control which was necessary for any fruitful work needed to be brought about by restrictions without the light of knowledge being spreaded among the common mass. However today with spread of knowledge and education, we realise that progress can be brought about not by prohibition and restriction but by education. I support Russel when he says that instinct needs to be trained and not thwarted. The prohibition of alcohol led to more of black markets rather than anything useful. The prohibition of  fornifications  lead to prostitutions. Moreover as Chomsky observes, the addictions to drugs are more among the less educated people than the well-to-do educated ones.

Hence the answer today to any progress in the society is not laws but awareness, not restriction but freedom, not fear but knowledge.

International Government

Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Palentine and India-Pakistan war….. all these examples once again reminds us the need of an international government. UNO has little power on its own. Plus the veto power given to only 5 nations makes it impossible to pass any bill of international peace which deprives any of these 5 powerful nations from its millitary or economic imperialistic ambitions. Moreover International Criminal Court being a voluntary and not a mandatory organisation with the crime of aggression not being included rarely serves its purpose. In such a situation, it becomes necessary to have an international government voted democratically where each nation has equal power and right and an international court of law mandatory to be abided by all the countries of the world in our to keep world peace and refrain the powerful nations from interfering with the freedom and sovereignity the weaker ones.