Monday, May 28, 2012
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
China's Stratergic Intrusion in India, Naighbourhood
By B. Raman
"The Chinese long-term strategy with regard to India has many facets. The trans-border developments are only one---but the most important--- component of their strategy. There are other components---namely, strengthening their relationship with Pakistan in order to confront India with the danger of a two-front war should it try to change militarily the status quo either in respect of China or in respect of Pakistan with regard to Jammu & Kashmir; giving Pakistan a nuclear and missile capability for threatening India; weakening the Indian influence in the rest of South Asia and strengthening their presence and influence in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal; creating a presence for their Navy in the Indian Ocean region and opposing India's attempts to emerge as an Asian power on par with China.
Till recently, we had no well thought-out long-term strategy with regard to China----neither in the border region, nor in South Asia nor in the Indian Ocean region. Only recently the initial rudiments of such a strategy have been appearing. Our attempts to strengthen our strategic relationship with the US and Japan is one such building-block of this comprehensive strategy. Our proactive Indian Ocean policy is another building block. But we find ourselves handicapped in further developing such a comprehensive strategy because we have let our influence be weakened in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. "
From my article of September 8, 2009, titled "India-China: Dangerous Hysteria" available at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers34/paper3398.html
Despite all the abusive mails and comments that I have been getting and to which I am used over my article deploring the hysteria that is being created by some of our strategic analysts and the media over the trans-border developments, I am not unduly concerned over the reports of continuing Chinese troop intrusions into Indian territory. These intrusions were initially confined to the Eastern sector and now are being reported from other sectors too.
2. When a border is not demarcated on the ground and when there is no common understanding between the two sides as to what constitutes the line of actual control due to the Chinese reluctance to exchange with us maps indicating their understanding of the LAC, such intrusions are bound to take place from both sides. Such intrusions used to be a recurring feature across the India-Myanmar border before the two countries demarcated the border except in the trijunction areas to the north and the south. Such intrusions were also a normal feature across the Sino-Myanmar border in the Northern Shan State and the Kachin State before the Sino-Myanmar border was demarcated in the 1970s except in the northern trijunction where the borders of India, China and Myanmar meet, which remains undetermined and undemarcated till today.
3.What I would be worried about is any illegal occupation by the Chinese of territory claimed by them either in the Arunachal Pradesh or in the Ladakh sector. The 1962 war occurred not because the Government of India ignored reports of intrusions, which are instances of trespass, but because it ignored and played down intelligence reports of illegal occupation of Indian territory by the Chinese in sectors such as Aksai Chin in Ladakh and their incorporating them into Chinese territory. It is our failure and reluctance to counter such outrageous instances of illegal occupation of Indian territory which inexorably led to 1962.
4. The Chinese used to have the habit of illegally occupying territory claimed by them if they had an opportunity of doing so, They did it in Indian territory before 1962. They did it in Myanmar in the late 1960s.They did it with regard to the Philippines when they quietly occupied in 1995 the South China sea island of Mischief Reef, which the Philippines claimed as its territory. After the furore caused by their illegal occupation of the Mischief Reef, I am not aware of any further instance of illegal occupation of foreign territory by the Chinese. If there is, I would be happy to stand corrected.
5. I have stated this many times before and I state this again that the Chinese would continue to stall the border talks with India by even not exchanging maps on the LAC till the Dalai Lama dies. They are not satisfied that that they have pacified Tibet once and for all. The Lhasa uprising of March 2008 has created fresh doubts in their mind about the prospects for continued political stability in Tibet. They are determined to impose on the Tibetans a successor to His Holiness, when he dies, chosen by the Communist Party of China. They do fear that there will be opposition to their nominee from the Tibetans and that this could lead to disturbances in Tibet, in which the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) will play an important part. They want to keep a pressure point which they can use against India in order to make it control the TYC. A continuing dispute with India over Arunachal Pradesh will, in their calculation, help them in dealing with any-post Dalai Lama instability. It has been my assessment that the border talks will show some movement for the better or for the worse only after the death of His Holiness and not before.
6. The question for our policy-makers is whether we facilitate the Chinese game of stalling till His Holiness dies or whether we insist on a settlement here and now and if so, what are the options that could be explored. It was in that context that I suggested that we explore the possibility of a status quo plus solution under which in return for the Chinese accepting the status quo in Arunachal Pradesh, we could consider accommodating some of their interests in Tawang, about which they seem to be doing a song and dance. I was amazed by a flood of mails accusing me of suggesting that we hand over Tawang to the Chinese. Where have I said so?
7. What are the Chinese interests in Tawang? Nobody knows for certain. I have asked many retired military officers whether Tawang would have any military significance for the Chinese. They said no. The Chinese themselves have cited what they consider as the historic and religious links of Tawang with Tibet. They even claim that there are records to show that the residents of Tawang paid their taxes to the set-up of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa and not to the British Government in New Delhi. They have not made a similar claim regarding the rest of Arunachal Pradesh. They have also pointed out that one of the previous Dalai Lamas was born in Tawang. The Singapore Foreign Minister, who had recently visited Lhasa, has been quoted as saying that the Chinese are worried that after the death of His Holiness, his followers might proclaim a child of Tawang as the incarnation of His Holiness. If that is so, they should try to get hold of Tawang before His Holiness dies instead of waiting till his death.
8. I have been suggesting to many think tanks in India that instead of getting hysterical over Tawang, we must do a detailed research, analysis and assessment of the Chinese obsession with Tawang. Nobody has done so till now.
9. In a commentary on the observations of the Singapore Foreign Minister contributed to the South Asia Analysis Group (www.southasiaanalysis.org), Brig. Subash Kapila, a fine military intelligence officer with whom I had the pleasure and privilege of being associated, has raised a very important question: the Chinese did not show the same obsession with Tawang in the past as they seem to be doing now. He has pointed out that the Chinese even withdrew from Tawang in 1962 after having occupied it. If Tawang was that important to them, they should not have withdrawn from there. Why did they do so?
10. The answer is simple. Long after they withdrew from Tawang, sections of the US media carried reports, based on interviews with the Tibetan Khampas, that the Khampa revolt in the 1950s against the Chinese occupation of Tibet was orchestrated by the USA's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and India's Intelligence Bureau then headed by the legendary B.N.Mullick. One does not know whether these claims or allegations were correct, but the Chinese presumed that they were. The fact that after the failure of the Khampa revolt, His Holiness and his entourage made a dash for Tawang has added to the strength of the Chinese presumption. The Chinese fear that if there is a joint attempt by the Indian and US intelligence to destabilise Tibet after His Holiness, that attempt could be directed from Tawang. .
11. I am not a military expert. But I have spent nearly three decades in the intelligence profession. From whatever little I know of the craft of intelligence, I could say that if there is one place on the Indo-Tibetan border from where a covert action to destabilise Tibet can be mounted with some success that is Tawang. I am, therefore, not surprised that the Indian presence in Tawang gives them the creeps. When I suggested a status quo plus formula what I had in mind was an Indian guarantee that New Delhi would not allow Tawang to be used to destabilise Tibet after the death of His Holiness in return for a Chinese acceptance of the status quo in Arunachal Pradesh, including Tawang. I do not know whether this will work with the Chinese, but it is worth trying.
12. I am not unduly worried over the continuing reports of Chinese troop intrusions. We are fortunate in having a competent, professional army, which is capable of taking care of them. There is no need for a hysteria over the intrusions. I am more worried about the diplomatic, economic and strategic intrusions which the Chinese are quietly making in our neighbourhood and the inability of our diplomacy to counter them. What are those strategic Chinese intrusions around us in our neighbourhood?
• The winning of the contract for the second stage of the Hambantota port development project in Sri Lanka.
• The winning of the contract for the Colombo-Kalutara road in Sri Lanka.
• The winning of the contract for the improvement of the Kyaukpu port on the Arakan coast of Myanmar.
• The winning of the permission from the military junta of Myanmar for the construction of two pipelines---one for gas and the other for oil--- from Kyaukpu to Yunnan. These pipelines will carry not only gas and oil produced locally but also brought by Chinese tankers from West Asia and Africa. We claim to have great influence over the junta in Myanmar. It has reportedly agreed to sell to China gas found by a consortium of which an Indian public sector company was a member. After millions of rupees of Indian investment, gas is struck and the Myanmar junta sells that gas to the Chinese. We watch it sucking our thumbs.
• The reported furtive negotiations with the Government of Bangladesh for a pipeline to carry gas from Bangladesh to Yunnan via the Arakan area of Myanmar.
• The proposal for a railway line from Gwadar on the Mekran coast of Pakistan to Xinjiang for which a feasibility study was ordered by the Pakistan Government two weeks ago.
• Talks with the Pakistani and the Iranian authorities for a gas pipeline to take Iranian gas to Xinjiang.
13. What contracts of strategic significance India has won in our neighbourhood? Zilch/
14. What progress India has made in strengthening its strategic presence in its neighbourhood? Zilch.
15. How effective Indian strategic and economic diplomacy has been in our neighbourhood? Zilch.
16. It is time to be worried and howling over the way China has made strategic inroads in our neighbourhood and over the failure of our diplomacy to counter it.
17. Our Army can take care of China. Can our diplomats take care of China?
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, He is also associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com)
"The Chinese long-term strategy with regard to India has many facets. The trans-border developments are only one---but the most important--- component of their strategy. There are other components---namely, strengthening their relationship with Pakistan in order to confront India with the danger of a two-front war should it try to change militarily the status quo either in respect of China or in respect of Pakistan with regard to Jammu & Kashmir; giving Pakistan a nuclear and missile capability for threatening India; weakening the Indian influence in the rest of South Asia and strengthening their presence and influence in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal; creating a presence for their Navy in the Indian Ocean region and opposing India's attempts to emerge as an Asian power on par with China.
Till recently, we had no well thought-out long-term strategy with regard to China----neither in the border region, nor in South Asia nor in the Indian Ocean region. Only recently the initial rudiments of such a strategy have been appearing. Our attempts to strengthen our strategic relationship with the US and Japan is one such building-block of this comprehensive strategy. Our proactive Indian Ocean policy is another building block. But we find ourselves handicapped in further developing such a comprehensive strategy because we have let our influence be weakened in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. "
From my article of September 8, 2009, titled "India-China: Dangerous Hysteria" available at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers34/paper3398.html
Despite all the abusive mails and comments that I have been getting and to which I am used over my article deploring the hysteria that is being created by some of our strategic analysts and the media over the trans-border developments, I am not unduly concerned over the reports of continuing Chinese troop intrusions into Indian territory. These intrusions were initially confined to the Eastern sector and now are being reported from other sectors too.
2. When a border is not demarcated on the ground and when there is no common understanding between the two sides as to what constitutes the line of actual control due to the Chinese reluctance to exchange with us maps indicating their understanding of the LAC, such intrusions are bound to take place from both sides. Such intrusions used to be a recurring feature across the India-Myanmar border before the two countries demarcated the border except in the trijunction areas to the north and the south. Such intrusions were also a normal feature across the Sino-Myanmar border in the Northern Shan State and the Kachin State before the Sino-Myanmar border was demarcated in the 1970s except in the northern trijunction where the borders of India, China and Myanmar meet, which remains undetermined and undemarcated till today.
3.What I would be worried about is any illegal occupation by the Chinese of territory claimed by them either in the Arunachal Pradesh or in the Ladakh sector. The 1962 war occurred not because the Government of India ignored reports of intrusions, which are instances of trespass, but because it ignored and played down intelligence reports of illegal occupation of Indian territory by the Chinese in sectors such as Aksai Chin in Ladakh and their incorporating them into Chinese territory. It is our failure and reluctance to counter such outrageous instances of illegal occupation of Indian territory which inexorably led to 1962.
4. The Chinese used to have the habit of illegally occupying territory claimed by them if they had an opportunity of doing so, They did it in Indian territory before 1962. They did it in Myanmar in the late 1960s.They did it with regard to the Philippines when they quietly occupied in 1995 the South China sea island of Mischief Reef, which the Philippines claimed as its territory. After the furore caused by their illegal occupation of the Mischief Reef, I am not aware of any further instance of illegal occupation of foreign territory by the Chinese. If there is, I would be happy to stand corrected.
5. I have stated this many times before and I state this again that the Chinese would continue to stall the border talks with India by even not exchanging maps on the LAC till the Dalai Lama dies. They are not satisfied that that they have pacified Tibet once and for all. The Lhasa uprising of March 2008 has created fresh doubts in their mind about the prospects for continued political stability in Tibet. They are determined to impose on the Tibetans a successor to His Holiness, when he dies, chosen by the Communist Party of China. They do fear that there will be opposition to their nominee from the Tibetans and that this could lead to disturbances in Tibet, in which the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) will play an important part. They want to keep a pressure point which they can use against India in order to make it control the TYC. A continuing dispute with India over Arunachal Pradesh will, in their calculation, help them in dealing with any-post Dalai Lama instability. It has been my assessment that the border talks will show some movement for the better or for the worse only after the death of His Holiness and not before.
6. The question for our policy-makers is whether we facilitate the Chinese game of stalling till His Holiness dies or whether we insist on a settlement here and now and if so, what are the options that could be explored. It was in that context that I suggested that we explore the possibility of a status quo plus solution under which in return for the Chinese accepting the status quo in Arunachal Pradesh, we could consider accommodating some of their interests in Tawang, about which they seem to be doing a song and dance. I was amazed by a flood of mails accusing me of suggesting that we hand over Tawang to the Chinese. Where have I said so?
7. What are the Chinese interests in Tawang? Nobody knows for certain. I have asked many retired military officers whether Tawang would have any military significance for the Chinese. They said no. The Chinese themselves have cited what they consider as the historic and religious links of Tawang with Tibet. They even claim that there are records to show that the residents of Tawang paid their taxes to the set-up of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa and not to the British Government in New Delhi. They have not made a similar claim regarding the rest of Arunachal Pradesh. They have also pointed out that one of the previous Dalai Lamas was born in Tawang. The Singapore Foreign Minister, who had recently visited Lhasa, has been quoted as saying that the Chinese are worried that after the death of His Holiness, his followers might proclaim a child of Tawang as the incarnation of His Holiness. If that is so, they should try to get hold of Tawang before His Holiness dies instead of waiting till his death.
8. I have been suggesting to many think tanks in India that instead of getting hysterical over Tawang, we must do a detailed research, analysis and assessment of the Chinese obsession with Tawang. Nobody has done so till now.
9. In a commentary on the observations of the Singapore Foreign Minister contributed to the South Asia Analysis Group (www.southasiaanalysis.org), Brig. Subash Kapila, a fine military intelligence officer with whom I had the pleasure and privilege of being associated, has raised a very important question: the Chinese did not show the same obsession with Tawang in the past as they seem to be doing now. He has pointed out that the Chinese even withdrew from Tawang in 1962 after having occupied it. If Tawang was that important to them, they should not have withdrawn from there. Why did they do so?
10. The answer is simple. Long after they withdrew from Tawang, sections of the US media carried reports, based on interviews with the Tibetan Khampas, that the Khampa revolt in the 1950s against the Chinese occupation of Tibet was orchestrated by the USA's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and India's Intelligence Bureau then headed by the legendary B.N.Mullick. One does not know whether these claims or allegations were correct, but the Chinese presumed that they were. The fact that after the failure of the Khampa revolt, His Holiness and his entourage made a dash for Tawang has added to the strength of the Chinese presumption. The Chinese fear that if there is a joint attempt by the Indian and US intelligence to destabilise Tibet after His Holiness, that attempt could be directed from Tawang. .
11. I am not a military expert. But I have spent nearly three decades in the intelligence profession. From whatever little I know of the craft of intelligence, I could say that if there is one place on the Indo-Tibetan border from where a covert action to destabilise Tibet can be mounted with some success that is Tawang. I am, therefore, not surprised that the Indian presence in Tawang gives them the creeps. When I suggested a status quo plus formula what I had in mind was an Indian guarantee that New Delhi would not allow Tawang to be used to destabilise Tibet after the death of His Holiness in return for a Chinese acceptance of the status quo in Arunachal Pradesh, including Tawang. I do not know whether this will work with the Chinese, but it is worth trying.
12. I am not unduly worried over the continuing reports of Chinese troop intrusions. We are fortunate in having a competent, professional army, which is capable of taking care of them. There is no need for a hysteria over the intrusions. I am more worried about the diplomatic, economic and strategic intrusions which the Chinese are quietly making in our neighbourhood and the inability of our diplomacy to counter them. What are those strategic Chinese intrusions around us in our neighbourhood?
• The winning of the contract for the second stage of the Hambantota port development project in Sri Lanka.
• The winning of the contract for the Colombo-Kalutara road in Sri Lanka.
• The winning of the contract for the improvement of the Kyaukpu port on the Arakan coast of Myanmar.
• The winning of the permission from the military junta of Myanmar for the construction of two pipelines---one for gas and the other for oil--- from Kyaukpu to Yunnan. These pipelines will carry not only gas and oil produced locally but also brought by Chinese tankers from West Asia and Africa. We claim to have great influence over the junta in Myanmar. It has reportedly agreed to sell to China gas found by a consortium of which an Indian public sector company was a member. After millions of rupees of Indian investment, gas is struck and the Myanmar junta sells that gas to the Chinese. We watch it sucking our thumbs.
• The reported furtive negotiations with the Government of Bangladesh for a pipeline to carry gas from Bangladesh to Yunnan via the Arakan area of Myanmar.
• The proposal for a railway line from Gwadar on the Mekran coast of Pakistan to Xinjiang for which a feasibility study was ordered by the Pakistan Government two weeks ago.
• Talks with the Pakistani and the Iranian authorities for a gas pipeline to take Iranian gas to Xinjiang.
13. What contracts of strategic significance India has won in our neighbourhood? Zilch/
14. What progress India has made in strengthening its strategic presence in its neighbourhood? Zilch.
15. How effective Indian strategic and economic diplomacy has been in our neighbourhood? Zilch.
16. It is time to be worried and howling over the way China has made strategic inroads in our neighbourhood and over the failure of our diplomacy to counter it.
17. Our Army can take care of China. Can our diplomats take care of China?
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, He is also associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com)
Friday, July 22, 2011
Abdul Kalam
Two young boys, very much less than the age of teens had been singing nice songs in a bus and collected money from the passengers. One of them was tall and lean while the next was very small and young with an innocent looking, handsome face. May be attracted by his nature and appearance, an old passenger called the small boy closer to him and asked whether he would like to come with him to work in his house and he would be paid double the earning that he obtained from this work, singing in the bus.
The boy abruptly refused and said that he was going to study. He further said that he wanted to be a scientist like Abdul Kalam. Not only the passenger but also others around the place laughed at him and ridiculed for his words.
When everything subsided I called the boy and asked whether he knew the things that he should do to become Abdul kalam. He said “NO “. I took him along with me to my working place and told him this is called University and you should study here to become a scientist and if he wanted to come here he should study in the school and should get very good marks.
He was looking around the office with cupboards, files and books and felt sad. He went away with sad face as he did not expect his desire was so much hard to achieve.
Tracing his house through my assistant and knowing the details of this ill-fated boy, I arranged a job for his mother in the canteen of the university. With the help of Up Country Traders Woman Forum in Bambalapitya, I was able to find him a good school, provided good clothes needed and made arrangements to go to the school.
After a couple of weeks, I was waiting with my daughter in the car to see the boy while entering the school. I saw him coming like a rich child carries a nice bag and walking briskly into the gate of the school. My daughter asked me who that boy is. I said “Abdul kalam”.
The boy abruptly refused and said that he was going to study. He further said that he wanted to be a scientist like Abdul Kalam. Not only the passenger but also others around the place laughed at him and ridiculed for his words.
When everything subsided I called the boy and asked whether he knew the things that he should do to become Abdul kalam. He said “NO “. I took him along with me to my working place and told him this is called University and you should study here to become a scientist and if he wanted to come here he should study in the school and should get very good marks.
He was looking around the office with cupboards, files and books and felt sad. He went away with sad face as he did not expect his desire was so much hard to achieve.
Tracing his house through my assistant and knowing the details of this ill-fated boy, I arranged a job for his mother in the canteen of the university. With the help of Up Country Traders Woman Forum in Bambalapitya, I was able to find him a good school, provided good clothes needed and made arrangements to go to the school.
After a couple of weeks, I was waiting with my daughter in the car to see the boy while entering the school. I saw him coming like a rich child carries a nice bag and walking briskly into the gate of the school. My daughter asked me who that boy is. I said “Abdul kalam”.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
No Problem
Alice was the only child to her parents. From her days as a baby she knows no pain and the parents had never allowed her to cry for any reason. In spite of all the efforts to make her fat and gloomy, she was lean, pale, but strong. Her time to marry also came and she got married and started a joyful life. The first year of the married life got interrupted by a series of fever at critical times and got wasted.
However, the second year was excellent and she became pregnant delighting her parents and other close relatives of the family. The months successfully passed and have reached the fourth one. Alice began to get symptoms of pain here and there. At one stage she has got the problems uncontrollable and wanted to meet the doctor for investigation and treatment.
Listening to the complaints made by Alice, the doctor requested for seven or eight tests and Alice was happy to see the attempts of the doctor to investigate her problems to make her free from all pains and sufferings. The tests went on for a long time and Alice patiently tolerated all those trouble as it was all for her good.
But when the final report was given to Alice she got flabbergasted as it read “No problem found and everything is in good order”
However, the second year was excellent and she became pregnant delighting her parents and other close relatives of the family. The months successfully passed and have reached the fourth one. Alice began to get symptoms of pain here and there. At one stage she has got the problems uncontrollable and wanted to meet the doctor for investigation and treatment.
Listening to the complaints made by Alice, the doctor requested for seven or eight tests and Alice was happy to see the attempts of the doctor to investigate her problems to make her free from all pains and sufferings. The tests went on for a long time and Alice patiently tolerated all those trouble as it was all for her good.
But when the final report was given to Alice she got flabbergasted as it read “No problem found and everything is in good order”
Pampered pets.
During my return from Nigeria through Paris, I was offered an opportunity to stay in Paris for more than four days with some of the officers of Taylor Woodrow in a place which had some connections with the company.
In the building where I lived there were 12 flats and 10 dogs all together not including the security personnel? Each morning and evening the lift fills up with greyhounds, schnauzers and one thumping great Labrador. Swaddled in wooly caps and layers of fleece, their granite faced owners lead them to a dog run a few streets away. There, in an area of size of a tennis court, the hounds frolic.
At first all seemed pitiable, how the dogs offered slivers of companionship in city of Millions strangers from all parts of the globe. It appeared rather very cruel to see how they raise an animal in this unnatural sophistication and comfort which dogs can hardly recognize and understand.
Then I met Jake, another Engineer from Siemens and everything began to make sense. I was astonished at how lavishly Frenchmen treat their dogs. They smoother them, like guilty parents making even dog fanatics of England look negligent. In the American designer boutiques such as Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, dogs were given treats while Gucci began selling a cashmere dog sweater complete with designer Logo.
Pet chauffeur, a minivan service provided touring facilities to the dogs and all sort of treatments utilizing acupuncture methods, continuous sessions with psychiatrists and friendly visits to other dogs in places of England living in luxury kennels. They have also provided lessons together with the provision of expensive biscuits specially imported from Switzerland, and admitted to classes at a very high cost to be trained under experts in the trade who can understand even the barking language of the dog precisely.
I was wondering the depth of humanity among human as children and woman of Africa walk miles to fetch a pail of water and standing in long queues to obtain their daily provisions of dry ration, men and women lives not so much far from them are treating dogs like this. When I told Jake my burning heart of pain to see these activities he said “In spite of hunger and pain those people sleep peacefully in the night while these people in Paris cry in the nights without even a person to talk to them in normal human language”.
In the building where I lived there were 12 flats and 10 dogs all together not including the security personnel? Each morning and evening the lift fills up with greyhounds, schnauzers and one thumping great Labrador. Swaddled in wooly caps and layers of fleece, their granite faced owners lead them to a dog run a few streets away. There, in an area of size of a tennis court, the hounds frolic.
At first all seemed pitiable, how the dogs offered slivers of companionship in city of Millions strangers from all parts of the globe. It appeared rather very cruel to see how they raise an animal in this unnatural sophistication and comfort which dogs can hardly recognize and understand.
Then I met Jake, another Engineer from Siemens and everything began to make sense. I was astonished at how lavishly Frenchmen treat their dogs. They smoother them, like guilty parents making even dog fanatics of England look negligent. In the American designer boutiques such as Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, dogs were given treats while Gucci began selling a cashmere dog sweater complete with designer Logo.
Pet chauffeur, a minivan service provided touring facilities to the dogs and all sort of treatments utilizing acupuncture methods, continuous sessions with psychiatrists and friendly visits to other dogs in places of England living in luxury kennels. They have also provided lessons together with the provision of expensive biscuits specially imported from Switzerland, and admitted to classes at a very high cost to be trained under experts in the trade who can understand even the barking language of the dog precisely.
I was wondering the depth of humanity among human as children and woman of Africa walk miles to fetch a pail of water and standing in long queues to obtain their daily provisions of dry ration, men and women lives not so much far from them are treating dogs like this. When I told Jake my burning heart of pain to see these activities he said “In spite of hunger and pain those people sleep peacefully in the night while these people in Paris cry in the nights without even a person to talk to them in normal human language”.
Another great soul on the earth
Mother Theresa had been one of those who committed her life for the underprivileged. Not only the systems created by the human for the governance of themselves had produced a kind people named underprivileged, even the god, the creator had brought many people with defects in their organs and thus grouped as under privileged. It could the reason that people of same nature as Mother Theresa those who worked for such mistakes of the god had been praised by all. In this list, not only Mother Theresa but there was many without much known to the world.
Jane was only seven years old when she visited a shabby street nearby town and seeing ragged children there, announced that she wanted to build a house so the poor children would have a place to play. As a young adult, Jane and a friend, Ellen Starr, visited Toynbee Hall in London where they saw many educated people help the poor by living among them.
She and Ellen returned to the slums of Chicago, restored an old Hull mansion and moved in. There they cared for children of working mothers, and held sewing and cooking classes. An art gallery, play ground, and public music, reading and rooms were created in the mansion there by her dreams had come true to a great extent.
She also fought against the labour laws, and campaigned for adult education, day nurseries, better housing, and woman suffrage.
She was offered a university degree by the Yale and was also called as the “America’s most useful citizen” by the President Theodore Roosevelt, and finally was given Nobel Prize for peace.
No matter how famous she became, however, Jane Addams remained a resident of Hull house. She died a resident of Halsted Street in the heart of the slum she had come to call home.
She should be a great soul sent by god to correct his mistakes.
Jane was only seven years old when she visited a shabby street nearby town and seeing ragged children there, announced that she wanted to build a house so the poor children would have a place to play. As a young adult, Jane and a friend, Ellen Starr, visited Toynbee Hall in London where they saw many educated people help the poor by living among them.
She and Ellen returned to the slums of Chicago, restored an old Hull mansion and moved in. There they cared for children of working mothers, and held sewing and cooking classes. An art gallery, play ground, and public music, reading and rooms were created in the mansion there by her dreams had come true to a great extent.
She also fought against the labour laws, and campaigned for adult education, day nurseries, better housing, and woman suffrage.
She was offered a university degree by the Yale and was also called as the “America’s most useful citizen” by the President Theodore Roosevelt, and finally was given Nobel Prize for peace.
No matter how famous she became, however, Jane Addams remained a resident of Hull house. She died a resident of Halsted Street in the heart of the slum she had come to call home.
She should be a great soul sent by god to correct his mistakes.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
To the Atheist
The story is told of a colony of mice that made their home at the bottom of a large upright piano. To them, the music was frequent, even routine. It filled all the dark spaces with lovely melodies and harmonies.
At first the mice were very much impressed by the music. They drew comfort and wonder from the thought that someone made the music, though the person concerned was invisible to them, yet should be very close to them. They loved to tell stories about the great unseen player who had been playing and could not be seen by any ways.
Then one day as adventuresome mouse climbed to the upper part of the piano and returned with an elaborate explanation how the music was made. Tightly stretched wires of various lengths that vibrated and trembled from time to time. In the same way, another mouse too ventured little further and came back telling hammers dancing and leaping on the wires.
The theories that they developed were complicated, unrealistic but complete with evidences. At the end the mice concluded that they live in a mechanical and mathematical world and their stories were merely myths.
But the unseen player continued to play nevertheless.
At first the mice were very much impressed by the music. They drew comfort and wonder from the thought that someone made the music, though the person concerned was invisible to them, yet should be very close to them. They loved to tell stories about the great unseen player who had been playing and could not be seen by any ways.
Then one day as adventuresome mouse climbed to the upper part of the piano and returned with an elaborate explanation how the music was made. Tightly stretched wires of various lengths that vibrated and trembled from time to time. In the same way, another mouse too ventured little further and came back telling hammers dancing and leaping on the wires.
The theories that they developed were complicated, unrealistic but complete with evidences. At the end the mice concluded that they live in a mechanical and mathematical world and their stories were merely myths.
But the unseen player continued to play nevertheless.
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