My salutes to Manmohan Singh

I read in a translation of Nostradamus when I was young, that a leader would emerge from a region of 5 rivers who would lead India to glory. At that time I wondered, in the era of Vajpayee, Advani, Sonia Gandhi there was no Punjabi in sight who could be called a leader of India. Almost miraculously, from obscurity rose Manmohan Singh to become prime minister of India in 2004. From the dirty politics, rose a lotus, the messiah of 1990's, the man responsible for phenomenal growth of India, the man who turned India around from bankruptcy to a land of opportunities, Manmohan Singh did fulfil the first part of the prophecy. A punjabi had indeed risen to be a leader of India.
For the complete term, I was not particualrly impressed by his stature which was always second to Sonia Gandhi. I used to wonder how can an individual of Manmohan Singh's capacity could be a part of petty politics? How could he survive being a 'puppet' prime minister?
The first real test of my trust in him, came when the issue of OBC reservations came up. I thought that this decision will have far reaching implications for India and its industry. Almost all political parities either supported the proposal or kept a neutral stance to avoid the ire of almost 50% population of India which forms most of the electorate. It was public knowledge that Arjun Singh had jumped the gun on this issue to garner the credit and that PMO was not really inclined to bring it forth. Now that the cat was out of the bag, I thought that Manmohan Singh would never back this being an intellectual himself. The reality was of course far from my assumption. Singh came out in support of reservations though he tried to dilute the impasse by suggesting to increase the seats in all affected universities. For me, Manmohan Singh did not live up to his reputation of an intellectual among the pigs of Politics. He had become a part of the crowd too. I thought that Singh should have made it a point to fight, he should have staked his reputation on this and should have personally resigned from PM's post if Congress went ahead with the proposal. Nothing of this sort happened and I was dejected.
Then came the nuclear deal, which was very important from the point of view of energy security of India. India required almost 21000MW more power by 2015 and the planned power projects could only make up for 7000MW. The huge gap of 14000MW if faced, India would lose the growth momentum. We were never really self sufficient when it came to power. The nuclear deal was fought tooth and nail by Left parties who made it an ideological issue since it was being negotiated with US. The opposition anyway found fault with everything the government does. I, to start with, did not attach much importance to the deal myself. Since its impact will only be seen in 2015, its impossible for the common man to appreciate the wisdom. Here comes the vision of the leader - Manmohan Singh. This time he did all I had thought he would do for the case of reservations. He made the nuclear deal his own prestige issue. He took it personally to rally all of the congress behind him. The man of few words was shouting for everyone to join his side. Congress for that matter showed exemplary courage in backing its PM, even when it could mean the demise of the government (when Left quit). Finally the government was saved and nuclear deal is being discussed at its last stage. Hopefully it will pass.
We all, the common men, are very short sighted. They can never appreciate the vision of Manmohan Singh and the leaders of his like. It is now a common knowledge that what visionaries do today, bear fruits only in future. Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery, and US becomes the melting pot of all the nationalities. Most of the contribution to the US society is being made by the foreign nationals. Nehru invested in IITs, IIMs and other institutes of repute when the money could be diverted to masses for various projects. Now India is reaping the fruits of Nehru's wisdom. Reservations and other short term issues like farm waivers, inflation, do not make or break the future of a country. The only reason a country prospers is because it offers great opportunity for the business to grow.
US became the biggest economy in the world in spite of things like slavery, apartheid etc. Australia became a developed Nation in spite of so low standards of education. Singapore became the center of business for Asia even when industry and education was not fully developed. China too is becoming an economic superpower and preferred place for investment because it offers investors opportunities. Even being a communist nation doesn't deter the investors to invest in China.
Globalization alone can solve the problem of poverty because with it brings a deluge of jobs. India, by the favour of Manmohan Singh, is enjoying such a deluge in IT and ITES industry today. If this favoritism for India has to continue, then we need to address the problems in our infrastructure. Social problems of considering a man more equal than others reduce with prosperity of of the weaker sections and their eventual acceptance by upper classes, as is evident from American society and their problem of apartheid. I think the worth of a leader is only known when the seeds he has sown bear fruits. I am sure the words of Nostradamus will dawn on all my countrymen and probably then the leader from the land of 5 rivers will be considered one of the biggest visionary India has ever produced.
Update 16/06/2009 - Nostradamus was a genius for sure. Now the person from the terriotery of 5 rivers has become only the first prime minister to be elected again after a full term. My wishes with him for an equally rewarding term.

Me Myself and God - III

God is the manifestation of man's inner self. We make our gods according to our own impression of our own self. Thus a honest and fair person will conceive god as honest and fair. This effectively means that if this person has a servant, he would expect himself to be treated the same way by god as he would treat his servant. In addition, he would expect his servant to behave with him the same way he would behave with his gods. Similarly, a cruel person will think god in cruel terms, who would punish him him severely if he erred. Thus, if ever he erred, he would frantically ask for god's forgiveness.

This naturally gives rise to the question, how exactly is an atheist's god? An atheist is one because he cannot think that someone else is in control of his life. He cannot believe in something he cannot perceive either by his senses or by his logic. Also, it is safe to assume that atheists, since refuse to be subjugated themselves, they would not, in turn, subjugate others.An atheists god is thus, an indifferent god; who, if at all, is a supreme power, would refrain from using it over the lives of common people.

Then there is another class of people, found in abundance in mythology, who think they are the gods. They are proud of their existense and the power they enjoy over others. what would their conception of God be? If I am allowed my creative freedom and imagination, I reckon they would think of a god as a cheat who has usurped all the power. Since they think they are as powerful as god himself, they think that this position of power could be theirs too. So they too conceive god in their own image i.e. a cheat, powerful (but not as much as them), and someone who has usurped power. Such mythological figures have generally usurped / maintained power themselves by wrongful means e.g. Kansa, Ravana in Hindu mythology.

In short, our gods are only as good or bad as we are. Extending the analogy, our gods are only as powerful (or powerless), only as brave as we are, only as rich as we are. Doesn't it naturally extend that we are worshiping our exaggerated selves? Does that mean we are worshiping ourselves? Also, does that mean we cannot exceed our limitations as long as we do not decide to do so.... I certainly agree and believe in these dogmas.

This reduces god to a mere convenience to whom we turn to when our courage, determination, resolve, intelligence fail us. We hope for a miracle since god has been credited with many. But we are only as confident of a miracle as we are ourselves confident of accomplishing the job at hand. Thus a coward when asks for heavenly assistance when in danger, is only hoping for a miracle. He is praying as a last resort. Deep down he would know that he is doomed. Similarly, when a student prays to god before exam, he is as sure of god's help as sure he is of his own chances.

To cut the long story short, I think that God is perceived as our own extended, exaggerated self. Our nature, our mannerisms and our own qualities is what make our god. But there is another face of the god - that is the god of miracles. This is the face we turn to when lose heart. But we are only as confident of receiving help as confident we are about getting out of the situation. Thus, it pays rich dividend to strengthen one's own spirit. For this has double advantage of strengthening of our god and our belief in him. For we are one with him and in us he lives.