Bura Jo Dekhan Main Chala

I read Sant Kabir's following famous doha when I was in Grade 5 or 6 in school. 

बुरा जो देखन मैं चला, बुरा ना मिल्या कोए 

जो मन खोजा आपना, तो मुझसे बुरा ना कोए 

Bura Jo Dekhan Main Chala, Bura Naa Milya Koye
Jo Munn Khoja Apnaa, To Mujhse Bura Naa Koye

I remember this doha almost every day when I read what is being reported in the media. Each political party is telling what is wrong with others. The same is true for politicians -- they are always eager to explain that other politicians are corrupt, bad, criminal, and so on. The same is also true for countries. Recently, India is getting a lot of coverage in Canadian print and TV media. Last week, I saw a full page article about slow justice system in Toronto Star, Canada's leading newspaper. Next day, it published an article about poverty in India. I don't understand in what way writing about India's justice system in Toronto is going  to help change the system in India, as if everyone in India reads the Toronto Start newspaper and will jump to change the system on seeing these articles. Why can't the same newspaper pinpoint that Canadian Justice system is so expensive that majority of Canadian can't even think of using the system. Why can't it write that to process a two page citizenship application, the Canadian Government takes nearly two years! We can always find problems with others. For a change, let us look at ourselves, and try to improve us. 

Who cares about inner beauty?

We sometimes say that the inner beauty is real. But, do we really mean it? 

I feel that we have all been brainwashed with what or who is considered beautiful. While there may be minor or sometimes significant differences between the definition of beauty among different regions of a country or among parts of the world, for an individual, it remains more or less rigid throughout life. We make the first impression about a person by his/her external appearance, and a person whom we feel is not beautiful initially gets the B grade, though, later on, we may change our opinion. It may be acceptable if I find a person not beautiful enough to be my life-partner, but do I have a right to give my opinion on other qualities of that person based on his/her physical appearance? For instance, if we find a person not beautiful, simultaneously we also make an opinion that that person also can't be a good singer, dancer, actor or professional. We see this all the time during singing competitions on TV programs/stage shows, where a singer must be beautiful and well dressed in order to be accepted. This is exactly what happened with Susan Boyle, when she appeared to sing on the TV Program, "Britain's Got Talent 2009" on April 11, 2009. When Susan, 47 year old, not a beautiful women from generally accepted standards appeared on the stage, everyone, including the judges starting laughing at her. The usual assumption -- an ugly women can't sing well. But, when she started singing, everyone was stunned. Her singing performance has already been watched by over 100 million viewers on the Internet. If you haven't watched singing her so far, here is the link.

 

We are bad listners

The usual weekend activity for most Immigrants in USA and Canada is to have a get together on the Saturday night with friends. Usually three or four families are invited for snacks and dinner at some body's house. The guests usually arrive around 7 pm and leave close to midnight.  Besides spending time eating and drinking, there is a lot talking (I won't call it a discussion) about various subjects, such as politics, movies, economy, Obama and taxes. However, the most of the time is spend on talking about India's problem -- corruption, adulteration, population, inefficient babus, crowded places, and so on. After the group has solved all the problems India is facing, it moves on to the problems of Canada and USA -- high income taxes, ever rising property taxes, too much wait time in hospitals, etc. Usually, somebody or the other does have a solution for almost everything. One topic that is talked about in all such parties is comparison between India and Canada/USA, and whether one made the right decision to immigrate to Canada/USA.

One thing that I have observed at these parties is that while a person is talking about something, others are impatiently waiting to say just something, which may not be even remotely related to what is being said. It appears that others are lot even listening -- they are just waiting for a chance to say something. Because of this behaviour, the topics keep changing, and when the new topic starts, no one feels sorry for the previous topic. Let us leave aside what happens at these weekend parties of immigrants because they just get together for a change and time pass, if you observe carefully, most people in general want to present their point of view, and not listen to others. And, if given a chance, people keep on talking for ever. Why is that we are bad listeners? Perhaps we feel that the other person does not have anything useful to tell, or may be we feel that we are more knowledgeable and intelligent that the other person, so why should I be listening, rather I should be talking... 

 

The Story of Stuff

I have come across an excellent material -- The Story of Stuff that encourages viewers to reduce consumption, preserve natural resources and reduce pollution. The story tells that USA, which has just 5% of world's population consumes about 30% of world's natural resources. If every one on the earth starts consuming at the rate of Americans, we would need more than 3 earths to get the natural resources. It also talks about commercial and Government interests that encourage people to keep buying stuff, which in-turn leads to the problem of too much exploitation of natural resources, creation of garbage and toxic waste, global warming and so on. The site, www.StoryOfStuff.com contains a lot of useful resources. Please visit the site for the benefit of the Earth.

Toronto High School Teachers' Strike Action

This week, over 80% members of the Toronto High School Teachers Union have endorsed a strike action plan. While their demands for wage increase and job security have already been accepted (in this environment of recession!) by the School Board, now these privileged members of the society are complaining that they are being asked to supervise school children when the students are not in classes, e.g during lunch period or in playground. This extra supervision duty will make a teacher work on an average an extra eight minutes per day! An extra eight minutes a day is a big deal for these teachers, and are willing to go on strike. They don't care if studies of thousands of students is affected by their strike, but why should they supervise children for extra eight minutes per day for the safety of the children, even when they are physically present in the school. The same teachers gladly wait for an hour or more for their own children when they drive them for an evening hockey or soccer game.

The Toronto High School teachers remind me Mr. Ayodhya Dass, my high school Principal. When I was in Grade 8 or 9, our Government School building was being reconstructed. Half the building was demolished and a new building was being build in its place. Due to the shortage of classrooms, the school was being run in two shifts. The morning shift was looked after by the Principal and the afternoon shift was run by the Vice Principal. One day, our Vice Principal was transferred to another school and due to some reason, the new Vice Principal who was supposed to join our school did not arrive. Then, Mr. Ayodhya Dass, whom I admire, started looking after both shifts. He used to arrive the school around 6.30 am and leave in the evening around 6.00 pm. He did not own a vehicle and used to commute by public bus. His house was located at least 10 KMs from the school, so I hope he was spending an hour of commute time each way. And, our great Principal did this not for a day or two but for more than a year! I am sure that he was not paid any money for all the extra hours he devoted for the students.

The purpose of living on the earth should be little more than always worrying about the money we get for what we do for others.