Recently on May 7th, 2011, as a proud nation (and even comity of nations) we celebrated the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. Our newspapers and magazines were full of coverage on Gurudev’s life, contributions and implications for the coming generations.

For me the immediate challenge was how does one pay tribute to a great man whose corpus of work is like that of an ocean? One can probably only catch up on a small fraction of that corpus in our entire lifetime.

The phenomenal character of works authored by Tagore and subsequently those written on him in Bengali, English and other Indian and world languages would constitute today miles of shelf length in any major library. He enjoys the distinction of having composed the national anthems adopted both by India (Jana Gana Mana) and Bangladesh (Amar Sonar Bangla).

In an interesting way, early on during my under-graduation itself, as a result of too much time spent indoors in school and college classrooms, it is the Santiniketan / Visva Bharati legacy that got me excited about Tagore’s contributions. The idea of a learning institution pursuing the fine arts and humanities in idyllic, sylvan settings in an informal environment reminiscent of the age-old Gurukul system to me sounded like a Eureka-moment, a unique achievement in modern education.

Tagore was critical of rote schooling. The move away from typical classroom structure and his abandoning conventional approaches to education has led later-day observers to rightly call him the ‘Father of Informal Learning in India.’ I had the pleasure of staying at Visva Bharati for a while where I could sense the spirit in which Tagore had gone about his lifetime’s work. It was a poignant experience indeed for me being in Tagore land.

Apart from his contributions to literature, arts, painting, music, education and much else, here are a few unique achievements that we are beholden to Tagore for in modern India:

Bridging the East and the West: In another blow to the Rudyard Kipling’s philosophy of the East and West not meeting each other, Tagore travelled far and wide from the America’s to Europe and East Asia. Between 1878 and 1932, Tagore visited more than 30 countries on five continents. Not only was his literary work recognized leading to the Nobel Prize in literature, but several of the acquaintances he made not only shared his interest in literature, arts and painting but also travelled to visit Santiniketan. A China Studies Bhavan was formally opened as a research department at Visva Bharati by Rabindranath Tagore on April 14, 1937 with lofty ideals of strengthening the age old cultural ties between India and China. The sheer geo-cultural breadth of Tagore’s travels has no parallel among the icons of his time.

Cosmopolitanism : Tagore had a cosmopolitan vision for India and the world respecting the plural and diverse cultures. Through all his writings, artistic works and even the statement of objectives in the founding of Visva Bharati, Tagore always worked for an amalgam of civilizations, castes, religions and gender. In a sense, he was probably the earliest in the 20th century to treat the world as a ‘global village’ and himself as a ‘global citizen’ much before technology changed the way media, communication and transport impacted how people across the globe related to one another.

Patriotism and Anti-colonialism: Tagore wrote extensively on the perils of imperialism and narrow-minded nationalism. For Gurudev, to combat such evils India required ‘moral warfare’, a great ideal that Mahatma Gandhi represented. Among the founding fathers, both Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru considered him as a guide if not their sage in their leadership of the freedom struggle. It was Gandhi who was known to have given him the title of ‘Gurudev.’

A famous instance of his rejection of colonial repression was a firm “thanks, but no thanks” statement to the British empire through the return of the knighthood given to him as a mark of protest against the 1919 Jalianwala Bagh Massacre. Tagore’s compositions such as ‘Where the mind is without fear’ and ‘If they answer not to thy call, walk alone’(the famous Ekla Chalo Re) won mass appeal. Yet as the great mind that Tagore was, it was not as if he was uncritical of some of the politics of his compatriots including aspects of the national movement that came under his scrutiny.

It would be most fitting to conclude with an excerpt from one of Tagore’s most inspiring poems:
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
……………………………………
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

Global citizens need the above verse NOW more than ever before. Few leave behind their mark on eternity and Tagore is one among them.

References:
[Thanks to my colleague Ms. Chandra G, for terming Tagore, the‘Father of Informal Learning in India’ ]
R. Tagore, ‘The Centre of Indian Culture’ (Kolkata : ViswaBharati, 1919)
R. Tagore, ‘A vision of India’s history’ (Kolkata : ViswaBharati, 1951)
R. Tagore, ‘On Gandhi’ (New Delhi : Rupa, 2008)
Mala Bridges, ‘Santiniketan’ (Santiniketan : Subarnarekha, 1997)

http://www.visva-bharati.ac.in/Heritage/Contents/HeritageContents.htm?f=../Contents/SantiniketanAims.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore

Please welcome another author to this group Blog – Mr Anandan, father of our friend Kumaran. Please encourage Mr Anandan by posting comments and interacting with him. – Priya.

The summer is on; and so is the POWER CUT

When the necessity of power for echelons (fans AC Central AC etc.,) increase in this period;
and ironically the availability of power gets reduced due to numerous causes’

Even the lower strata of the society, in the recent decades have accustomed themselves
to electrical equipments like lighting to almost all of them fans to very few fridge etc/.,
especially people forced to live in crowded areas, small one-roomed hutments.

This is especially true for men even women who have had a hard day out need some rest
to get themselves ready for the next day’s chores. The power cut is quite irksome.

TRUE and ACCEPTABLE.

But hold on a moment!!!!!!

Go back a few decades, may be a few centuries, imagine the plight of the people before electricity was invented…

How much of ancient mankind, even those living in affluence might have suffered????

Probably the truth of the matter may be they might not have suffered much, since power was not invented; they took the vagaries of nature on their strides easily.

They may lament what a weather, terribly hot, cold, windy snow, etc., but their scientific knowledge , advancements and absence of POWER made them to accept the harsh reality as basic elements of nature.

Today, the woman, naturally man also, should console herself (himself) that she is much better equipped than her ancestors who were ignorant of electricity in an ironical manner.

FORBEARANCE should be the VIRTUE OF THE DAY.

Have a NICE day!!!

Fine Tastings Of The Week – Here are the best links of last week from my tweet stream.

1. RT @drmcewan @dpontefract: Augmented reality goes beyond gimmicks - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13262407 ~ vv cool

2. http://bit.ly/ihD8yz last post of a veteran blogger who died of cancer ~ vv sad /via @waxpancake

3. RT @davegray: New post on the connected company: Give pods a chance http://connectedco.com/?p=89 #connectedco ~ vv insightful

4. RT @davegray: ‘Why Instapaper Free is taking an extended vacation’ – Marco.org http://on.news.me/mEHMi5 via @jansn ~ vv insightful

5. /Via @dorait @fastcompany up next social consumption aka share economy http://ow.ly/4HbyE ~ vv interesting

6. RT @Digitaltonto @hypergogue: The best advice I’ve ever been given about graphic design http://bit.ly/fBDHzO Excellent. ~ vv insightful

References

I use a certain ratings scale for my annotations which are explained here.

As part of IBM CSC program, I travelled to the city of Calabar which is located in Cross River State, Nigeria. Cross River State is located in South East Nigeria and Calabar was once a major slave trade port between 17th and 19th century.  The CSC program is one of a kind where IBM sends its employees to help a community address some of its problems. IBM works with NGOs in identifying assignments and sends a group of 10-15 people to handle the projects. The tasks do not have to be necessarily technical. Each team is further sub divided into a smaller size to undertake multiple projects within an assignment. For example, I worked with another IBM’er to help Department of Public Transportation of Cross River state to enhance the skill sets of the organization and get a Document Management system setup. Ten other people who were part of the assignment worked on 5 other projects for the state. IBM also typically sends more than one team (in a sequential fashion) to the same community/city/state to keep up the continuity and ensure that projects are being sustained. This program is part of IBM’s corporate citizen portfolio program and one of the ways IBM fulfills its social responsibility.  And each assignment typically lasts a month. I was privileged to be allowed to participate in one of the assignments.

Cross River State is named after “Cross River” that runs through the state. Weather is tropical and it was rainy season when I was there. The rains managed to cool down the temperature. It was still very humid though and at times I would sweat just standing.   The state itself is very green, though Nigeria as a country has suffered tremendous deforestation.  Calabar, the city where I stayed and worked for a month seemed a lot like a town in Kerala – lots of greenery with homes topped by triangular shaped tin roofs. Main highways and major streets in and around Calabar seemed well maintained with 2 lanes on each side with a divider. Interior areas of the city is lacking in good roads (like village roads in India), but cars do manage to get in somehow. The sewer system in the city was good enough to prevent flooding even with prolonged stint of rain.

Motor bikes have been recently banned in the city of Calabar (a brave move by the Department of Public Transportation) to primarily reduce accident rates. Motorbikes were also used as taxis to commute citizens from areas where cars cannot go. The government has since then subsidized purchase of cars to enable a smoother transition for these motorbike taxi owners. However, this has led to more congestion during peak times. I am ambivalent about this ban, but government is convinced this was the right move.

During such trips, I prefer mingling with the local people, talking to them and getting to know them rather than the canned tours. One the highlights of my trip were a 3 hour walk in and around the market area with few of my IBM colleagues. Most of the local people were extremely nice and would not hesitate to talk to us even though we may be annoying them with touristy questions. A few of the folks, particularly the older generation, were very averse to photos being taken. The aversion I believe is due to the fear of being exploited (perhaps via magazines etc. that highlights the poor conditions of the people).  Once, we explained that we had no such intentions, they seemed OK. However, I made sure I got the permission of parents before I took pictures of their children.

Watt Market

I visited a small museum which is all about slave trade and the suffering the slaves underwent as they were shipped from Africa to other countries. It was a pretty graphic experience with life sized models, scenarios and audio that reminded one of the gruesome cruelty suffered by Africans.  During the museum visit was when we realized why the “N” word is so despised by current generation African Americans. Obviously it is derived from Nigeria (or Niger) and probably reminds them of horrific times their ancestors had as slaves.

Another place we visited was Obudu – a scenic mountain resort (about 1500 meters above sea level) that boasts the longest cable car in the world. The ride down from Obudu in this cable car is heavenly and it feels like you float in the clouds at times. On the way back from Obudu, visited the Drill Ranch situated in the Afi mountains and is a place dedicated to protecting the endangered drill monkey and chimps.  This is a selfless effort founded by 2 Americans Peter Jenkins and Liza Gadsby who have dedicated their life to rehabilitating the drills. Bush meat is coveted by certain section of the population in Nigeria and the government has not been able to protect the chimps and drills from being killed. Thus, the eventual goal of sending these animals back into the wild has not been realized. Irrespective, the work of the 2 Americans is inspiring.  The walk to see the animals (safeguarded in a huge enclosure) is through a section of the forest in Afi Mountains. This forest also boasts a canopy walkway made of 8 bridges and the walk across these bridges while enjoying nature at its best was a wonderful experience. Even though the visit to Obudu and Drill ranch was short, I am thankful for the effort made by Cross River state to take us on this tour (they provided us with the vehicle and security).

Canopy in Afi Mountain

Liza Gadbsy

Drill Monkey

Cable car (in Obudu)

The state of Calabar and IBM made sure our stay was safe and secure and the people in Nigeria made us feel absolutely welcome. It has been more than 10 days since I left Nigeria, and I still recall the good times we had at least few times a day.

In the next post, I will try and cover a bit more about politics (whatever little I know), religion, people, language, food and the project itself.

References:

Articles related to Motor cycle ban:

http://thenationonlineng.net/web2/articles/28404/1/Cross-River-Okada-bad-taxis-good/Page1.html

http://www.transport.crs.gov.ng/newsevents_and_updates/newsandevents.php?topic=2&title=The%20Strategy%20Behind%20Banning%20Motorbikes%20In%20Calabar,%20Nigeria

About Peter Jenkins and Liza Gadsby – http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9OJQ5l6b1-QYA6L9QGJy01GrPcA

Drill ranch and Afi Mountain: http://www.pandrillus.org/projects/drill-ranch/visitor-information/

Cross River state government web site: http://www.crossriverstate.gov.ng/

Department of Public Transportation web site (Department I worked with): http://www.transport.crs.gov.ng/

Other photos:

Hotel (dedicated to God)!!

Land not for sale!!

This is my 3rd article for the Dignity Foundation’s magazine for Senior Citizens. I didn’t publish the second one containing some basic methods to research health issues, which may be too elementary for our readers.

——

This time i want to cover the wellness aspects of our mind.   But before that I want to thank Ms. Sunita for following the instructions from my previous article and leaving me a comment on my blog.

The physical health of Senior Citizens gets a lot of attention, which is quite good. But what i find worrisome is the scant disregard for mental fitness which in my opinion is much more important.

For the purpose of this topic, i put the Senior Citizens that i come across into 2 buckets – the happy kind, who are quite positive, enthusiastic and energetic,  and the unhappy kind who are anything but.

Both kinds have the usual health issues – diabetes, hypertension, arthritis etc.  Interestingly, i found that the happy kind took the routine health issues in their stride, whereas the unhealthy kind, were unable to handle them without stressing out.

A revelation came to me when I dug deeper into this stark contrast. The happy kind seemed to focus a lot more on their minds than on their bodies, perhaps unknowingly. While they did do their regular exercise and regular tests like most senior citizens, it is what they do with their minds that is telling.  I boiled them down to 5 important activity clusters:

1. They take an active interest in things – news, cinema, politics, environment, neighborhood issues like any responsible citizen.

2. They take the opportunity to learn new languages, solve puzzles like Sudoku, join a toastmasters club, learn music, blogging – or anything that exercises their minds.

3. They do not brood over their life’s problems and regrets except as a way to draw lessons that they can pass onto others.

4. They renew their interest in cooking, taking care of grandchildren or taking care of a pet.

5. They do not focus too much on their appearance except to make sure they look and feel healthy.

On the other hand, the unhappy kind, didn’t do most of the above. And because their minds are not in top shape, even a trivial health issue seems to immobilize them. It is difficult for them to do even their day to day chores, which over time leads to illnesses like depression.

Which kind are you?

If you want to make a start towards a healthy mind, try Sudoku – it is an invigorating math puzzle that appears in almost all daily newspapers and it does not require anything other than basic arithmetic skills.