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Thursday,
September 5, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Misplaced
US zeal Waters of discord |
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Musharraf
has his way ELECTIONS in Pakistan have always been a farce. It is no different this time. President Pervez Musharraf has won the parliamentary election to be held next month although he is not a candidate! And he need not be. The Constitution as amended by him will ensure a National Assembly that would carry out his wishes to the best of its ability. That is how democracy works in the benighted country. It has not known even a short spell of political stability since it was carved out of India in 1947. In the early years Prime Ministers walked in and out faster than the fashion models on the ramp.
That
‘foreigner’ issue again
The
beauties who drove me
A
teacher by choice makes a good teacher Conscientious
teachers contribute to growth
Meaning
of truth
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Misplaced US zeal GOING against all available counsel, the Bush Administration continues to indulge in sabre- rattling against Iraq threatening it with a regime change through military means. President Bush, it seems, is quite convinced that his Administration would be doing the Iraqis and the world a big favour by ousting President Saddam Hussein and breaking the “axis of evil”. For him, the focus of the so-called war against terror has shifted from Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda to Iraq, and having failed to deliver Bin Laden to the American people so far, he is keen to have at least President Hussein under his belt. Iraq’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction and its unwillingness to submit to international inspection have been offered as reasons for exercising the option of military strikes. Iraq has responded by saying that it is ready to discuss the return of UN weapons inspectors within the broader context of ending economic sanctions against it. This is not acceptable to the US policy-makers, who have dismissed Iraq’s invitation to the US Congress members and experts to carry out inspections as a “stunt” and have underlined their determination to go ahead with their plan of action. India has already communicated its “strong reservations” to the USA against the use of force. The European Union has also distanced itself from such an offensive by the Bush Administration and the UK, America’s strongest ally, has said that it will go along only if the UN approves the action. On the other side, nearly the whole of the Islamic world and even Russia do not see eye to eye with the USA on this issue. Despite this, Mr Bush is insistent that he will go for a regime change in Iraq, completely and wilfully ignoring the moot point that no country, however powerful, has the right to intervene in the domestic affairs of another country. Mr Bush, it seems, is extremely keen to earn brownie points at home by striking abroad and protecting American commercial interests in the extremely volatile West Asia. The most serious cause for concern globally, however, is the unabashed unilateralism that the Bush Administration has been indulging in ever after the September 11 attacks in New York last year. He has ignored world opinion on Iraq so far. At home, too, Mr. Bush has several times bypassed Congress to arm himself with more powers. At every given opportunity, Dubya (as Mr Bush is affectionately referred to) has been reiterating his make- no- mistake- about- it, we- mean- business rhetoric and ordering all and sundry to fall in line with his viewpoint. He is convinced of his righteousness and his might. Dubya delusion is that he can force his will against Iraq, or anyone in the world. He has so far refused to acknowledge the fact that despite the sanctions against it and the attendant shortages, Iraq is no Afghanistan. Its military capability is intact and it can engage the USA in a prolonged and bloody war. Besides, the conflict has the potential of spreading to the whole region. Israel, fearing an Iraqi onslaught following American attacks, has already launched a series of defence-related exercises to protect itself. The signs, therefore, are ominous. We hope better sense will prevail. |
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Waters of discord THE Supreme Court’s directive to Karnataka to release from its four reservoirs 1.25 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) of water everyday to Tamil Nadu beginning with Wednesday till the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) takes a final decision in this regard is timely and needs to be implemented in letter and spirit. Whatever the outcome of the all-party meeting convened by Karnataka Chief Minister
S. M. Krishna in Bangalore to examine the Supreme Court’s directive, it is crystal clear that Karnataka has no alternative but to release water to Tamil Nadu. The farmers in the Cauvery delta region in Tamil Nadu have been suffering very badly for the past few months because of Karnataka’s refusal to release water. They lost heavily as they did not have water for the Kuruvai crop last summer. In fact, Tamil Nadu did not get the stipulated 205 tmc ft of water from Karnataka during this water year (June, 2001, to May, 2002), as per the interim award of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal (CWDT). Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had directed the Karnataka Chief Minister to release 3 tmcft of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu and save the Kuruvai crop. However, Karnataka did not implement the directive, having maintained that it did not have water for its own farmers because of poor monsoon and drought in many districts. Subsequently, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had to knock at the doors of the Supreme Court. The last CRA meeting held on August 28 under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister too did not make any headway. As Mr Krishna was rigid in his stand and expressed his inability to release water to Tamil Nadu, Ms Jayalalithaa staged a walkout at the meeting. Ms Jayalalithaa’s stand may have been vindicated following the Supreme Court ruling. However, this directive should not be seen as victory or defeat for either state. Instead, it should set the pace for an amicable resolution of the 100-year-old dispute. Karnataka may have reasonable justification for its failure to release water to Tamil Nadu. But there is no denying that being the upper riparian state, it has both the duty and responsibility to safeguard the interests of a lower riparian state like Tamil Nadu. This is not to suggest that Karnataka should not have ambitious plans to improve the irrigation potential in the Cauvery basin. But more important is the principle of “live and let live” and the need to come to the rescue of the farmers of the neighbouring state who have been in distress for quite some time. Water is an emotive issue and considering the orgy of violence in both states on the Cauvery river waters issue in 1996, there is need for Mr Krishna and Ms Jayalalithaa to rise above party lines and explore the possibility of a peaceful and permanent resolution of the dispute. Attempts to foment trouble by mischievous elements in the name of language, community or region should be curbed with an iron hand. The Supreme Court had to intervene in the matter only because of Karnataka’s refusal to see reason and act accordingly. Even the CRA too had failed to goad Karnataka into action. And now that the apex court has pronounced its ruling, Karnataka will have to implement it. A significant pointer to the verdict is that the apex court has left the question of a final decision on the issue to the wisdom of the CRA. Consequently, in their own interest, both states should try to make best use of the CRA in evolving a mutually acceptable distress-sharing formula. |
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Musharraf has his way ELECTIONS in Pakistan have always been a farce. It is no different this time. President Pervez Musharraf has won the parliamentary election to be held next month although he is not a candidate! And he need not be. The Constitution as amended by him will ensure a National Assembly that would carry out his wishes to the best of its ability. That is how democracy works in the benighted country. It has not known even a short spell of political stability since it was carved out of India in 1947. In the early years Prime Ministers walked in and out faster than the fashion models on the ramp. And then Field Marshal Ayub Khan changed the rules of the game. The unwritten law since then has been that the army will have a direct or indirect, mostly direct, say in the administration of the country. The parliamentary election due next month has already become irrelevant because the laws as framed by the power-hungry President-cum-Chief of the Army Staff have ensured that neither Ms Benazir Bhutto nor Mr Nawaz Sharif can contest. Not that their presence would have made much difference. But the General is more comfortable with hangers-on who praise him for having saved Pakistan from political anarchy. Whoever wins “democratic test” will have to pretend to have returned under the jackboot of the military dictator. It would be unfair to blame General Musharraf only. Ms Bhutto and Mr Nawaz Sharif when in power did everything except to allow parliamentary democracy to strike roots in Pakistan. When Ms Bhutto was Prime Minister her single-point agenda was to destroy Mr Nawaz Sharif, both politically and financially. Cases were instituted against him and his family at the behest of Ms Bhutto. Perhaps, it were the troublesome family genes that made her act the way she did. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was seen as the leader who could restore democracy in Pakistan. But he rigged the elections and gave General Zia-ul-Haq an excuse to step in. Mr Nawaz Sharif too played a substantial role in destroying the spirit of democratic functioning in Pakistan. When he came to power he did unto Ms Bhutto what she had done unto him. Her husband, Mr Asif Ali Zardari, was put in jail and she was made to flee the country. Ms Bhutto began living in exile much before President Musharraf overthrew the corrupt government of Mr Nawaz Sharif. Now he does not want either of the two former prime ministers to return. His intentions may not be noble in keeping them out of the political process. But when he accuses them of corruption and destroying Pakistan’s economy he is not exaggerating. |
That ‘foreigner’ issue again COME to think of it, the sudden and rather raucous renewal of the issue of Ms Sonia Gandhi’s “foreign” origin makes little sense at this point of time. It is not merely that the Constitution makes no distinction at all between Indian citizens by birth and those by naturalisation. It is also that the question whether she should or should not be Prime Minister has no immediate relevance. For, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee is ensconced in the office of Prime Minister and though he has lost some of his earlier shine, he remains vastly more popular than any of the aspirants for his job, whether within his party ranks or without. His job, therefore, is not up for grabs and the next Lok Sabha elections are not due until October, 2004. Meanwhile, for more than four years, Ms Gandhi has been President of the Congress, the country’s largest political party that rules 14 states, and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. Quite clearly, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu’s mercurial and imperious Chief Minister, had her self-serving reasons rooted in Tamil politics that have driven her to attacking both Ms Gandhi and her party. Ever since her return to high office in her state — after being forced to resign and seek re-election only when her conviction in a corruption case had been set aside — she has been keen to court the BJP. The recent merger of the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) with the Congress has only increased her ardour for cosying up to the core of the ruling coalition in New Delhi. This may partly be the result of the kind of speeches the Congress President and other party stalwarts made on the occasion of the Congress-TMC reunification against Ms Jayalalithaa and her party, the AIADMK. Hence the vehemence of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s remarks such as the “crying shame” and “moral bankruptcy” of the once great party in the lead of the freedom movement that has descended to projecting a “foreigner” as its nominee to be the Prime Minister of a billion Indians. Evidently, the wily lady in Chennai, regardless of her own ostentatious cooperation with Ms Gandhi in bringing down the Vajpayee government by a single vote in April, 1999, had calculated correctly that the Congress party, given its nature, would rise to her bait. The Congress has done precisely this with its customary clumsiness and thus fallen into the trap she had laid for it. A brief and dismissive comment on her outburst would have quietly ended the matter. But the angry reaction by a whole lot of Congress functionaries — each apparently anxious to appear to be more loyal than the others — served the very purpose Ms Jayalalithaa had in mind. The issue that no one had bothered about for a long time got hyped. During the exchanges that followed the Congress went to the extent of releasing the letter that Ms Jayalalithaa had written to the then President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, promising to support the alternative government to be formed by the “Congress party, led by Sonia Gandhi”. Being adept in wriggling out awkward situations, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister is giving a different interpretation to her words of three years ago. Her interpretation of her words quoted above is an assault on both the truth and the English language. But who cares? The controversy over Sonia’s suitability for the Prime Minister’s post has got fuelled further. As if all this was not enough, the Tamil Nadu unit of the Congress, now enlarged by the influx of the TMC, has embarked on a plan to burn Ms Jayalalithaa’s effigies. This cannot but provoke her usually hysterical followers to retaliate in kind and thus make an irrelevant issue a literally burning one. It would be a major surprise if others do not join in the resultant confrontation. In this context, the BJP’s reaction is instructive. This is a party that had once announced that immediately after the 1999 parliamentary poll it would enact a law to debar foreign-born Indians from holding the exalted offices of President, Vice-President and Prime Minister. It never did, nor is it likely to do so. And if it sponsors such a law now, it would find it even harder to get it enacted than was the case with POTA. But that is beside the point. What matters is that in the current controversy the BJP, with uncharacteristic subtlety, has only said that it is “only appropriate” that India’s Prime Minister should be born in this country. Until the time of writing no other party has said anything on the subject one way or the other. The media opinion is divided rather intriguingly. Several newspapers have described Ms Jayalalithaa’s tirade as a “bogey”. But they have stopped short of saying that it is time to bury this bogey. On the other hand, several writers and columnists have argued vigorously that whatever Ms Jayalalithaa’s own failings and flaws, she is entirely right in saying that an Italian-born has no right to be India’s Prime Minister. To the votaries of this doctrine it does not matter that Ms Gandhi is the widow of Rajiv Gandhi, who she married way back in 1968, daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi and granddaughter-in-law of Jawaharlal Nehru. All this brings me to the heart of the matter that needs to be spelled out bluntly without beating about the bush. The controversy triggered by Ms Jayalalithaa would subside sooner or later but it will not go away. The Congress party’s able and exceptionally articulate spokesman, Mr Jaipal Reddy, accused the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister of “flogging a dead horse”. A rather widespread comment on this is that come the next Lok Sabha election and the supposed deadly or dying horse would come back to life and begin to canter. There is substance in this. For, the truth is that a remarkably large section of the fast-growing Indian middle class has a problem with Ms Sonia Gandhi being Prime Minister because of her Italian birth. It is not accidental that in a recent public opinion poll the Congress party’s acceptability increased by 5 percentage points compared with last year. But that of Ms Sonia Gandhi as Prime Minister rose by only 1 per cent from 19 to 20, as against a much higher percentage in Mr Vajpayee’s favour. Undoubtedly, the masses do not always share the views and prejudices of the chattering classes. But, at the same time, the middle-class intelligentsia in this country has an impact on politics that is out of all proportion to its numbers. This problem has existed ever since Ms Sonia Gandhi, overcoming her heavily advertised reluctance to step into the mire of politics, took over the Congress party’s leadership rather aggressively. Neither the Congress nor she has done anything to deal this problem, always pretending that it does not exist. Indeed, the crowning irony is that the gap between the public pronouncements and private opinions of many Congress leaders on the subject of their leader’s foreign birth is as wide as the Grand Canyon. And yet all of them would rather kill one another than agree on one of them becoming Ms Gandhi’s replacement as the party’s prime ministerial candidate. The situation is further compounded by the stark fact that apart from her, the party has absolutely no crowd-puller and vote-gatherer. How can nonentities tell her to foreswear, in the party’s higher interest, any ambition to lead the government that it might hopefully be asked to form some day? The Congress is thus caught in a vicious circle that is extremely difficult to square. There is another clear implication of this state of affairs that should not be lost sight of. The Congress party will have to win a clear majority on its own — or something very, very close to it — to enable Ms Gandhi to be Prime Minister. Otherwise, even if it doubles its present strength of 112 in the Lok Sabha (not an easy task by any means) in a future election, it wouldn’t get enough coalition partners willing to join a government headed by her. Remember the sad story of April, 1999, when Ms Gandhi had confidently declared from the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan, “in two days’ time we will have 272 members, with more coming in”? |
The beauties who drove me MEN in their years of decay and dismay fondly conjure up visions of women, of their “salad” days. However, before nostalgia drives you into a harem of houries, let me make it clear that this is not, in any manner, a story of my own “affairs”. Indeed, it’s the poetry — and pain of those fairies on wheels that took me to the places of my need and fancy. Well, the “dames” in question were the cars I purchased over a period of time — no offence to ladies please. We all know that a car body is so designed as to feed the erotic imagination. It’s a sex symbol down to its “vital statistics”. And this tale, then, concerns those five bloozies who happened to cross my life. My first car, an old Morris Eight, left behind presumably by a British subaltern was a “sell” from the start. The British “memsahib” seemed to harbour vengeful thoughts, and grumbled loudly when taken out for a ride. I was then teaching English at the NDA, Khadakvasla, Pune and the arrogant “dame” would frequently start muttering, spluttering and back-firing in the middle of the road to twist my tail: I had no choice but to give her marching orders at last. The next “beauty”, a battered, abused fiat flaunting her Italian connection, was all powder and paint. But not all her Roman ways and wiles could put me at ease with her. She was after my purse, and preferred to spend those of her time in the town garage than under my roof in Patiala. In sum, she had the morals of a street walker, and soon out of sheer misery, I sold it to a mechanic for a song. Now, the family felt unhappy over my distress, and they all coaxed me into buying a new Padmini, a white “princess” indeed. So when, thanks to the infamous Emergency of 1975, prices crashed, I managed to raise the required amount to bring home our “Rajput Rani”. To do her justice, she remained true to the code of honour for 10 long years though, once a while, she did show her “royal” temper. And it was this car which on retirement accompanied me to Chandigarh in 1980. And then came the Maruti “wave”. After a four-year wait, I laid my hands on a green model, though it was doomed to serve for barely a year or so. For I soon left for the USA on a visiting Professorship at New York University. No, I seldom thought of her during my American sojourns, what with the bevy of beauties that strike the enchanted eye there. On return to Chandigarh, I purchased another new Maruti, a virgin in white that was simply adorable — no tantrums, no
nakhra. A lady to her “tail”. When I put my foot on the pedal, it was off on a dream start. Alas, I was not destined to sit behind the wheel for long. As it is, I fell critically ill in June, 1993, and after 10 years’ of my fall, it’s still there with us, a faithful lady doing her duty when needed. My housekeeper even now drives me out on a 15-minute “airing” on medical advice, though I’m unable to leave it even for a small stroll. Pondering my condition in these twilight years, I often drift into fantasies of women met and gone. And when the Maruti still looking fresh as a daisy reminds me of my greener days, I’m driven back to moments of beauty — and bewilderment in my life. The cars have their ways with men, and so have women! One has to bow before the inevitable and the inescapable. |
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A teacher
by choice makes a good teacher CERTAIN relationships continue to be charming and enchanting long after they have ceased to be and one such is between the teacher and the taught. How often we remember a particular teacher and cherish the memory as a treasured one! Is it possible to judge the influence of a teacher’s words? Impossible; because the impact of his words on his students is beyond all bounds and even eternity. No one knows where the influence of a teacher stops. This quote from the Sutra literature defines the greatness of a teacher: Guru Brahama, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwaraha; Guru Sakshat Para Brahama, Tasmai Sri Guruve Namaha (A teacher is equivalent to God, and he should be regarded and respected). According to the Indian traditions, a guru has been in the image of God. Even Lord Rama and Lord Krishna had a guru. It’s a real privilege to be a teacher — someone who can touch so many lives. A good teacher always takes care of basically three things — his subject, students and the professional ethics. More than being a profession, it is a mission. The pupil’s eye-view of a teacher goes through many phases. When we were young and studied at school, some of us harboured dreams of becoming teachers one day. But what about my students? Their response for over one decade and half has corroborated what I never wanted to know. Unfortunately the teaching profession these days doesn’t attract bright young people any more as it was a few decades ago. Perhaps there may be valid reasons for that. Their tomorrows are affected by what we do for them today. Even a few words can change kindling life unto dark hearts. And this is the most significant reason prompting us to teach. Their imaginative faculties have to be honed, inner potentials drawn out and moral, aesthetic and spiritual philosophy awakened. For carrying out his mission, the teacher must be patted in the back by the management and supported in all manners by allowing him a fair amount of autonomy to act and experiment with freedom. The greatest satisfaction and a true sense of achievement comes while you see personalities develop. It’s only a good teacher that allows a child the independence to think, reflect and be creative. Maulana Azad, the first Education Minister of India, stated, “Teachers are the builders of the nation; respect them; support them!” You get your reward when you see that on the solemn occasion of farewell to the outgoing students once tottering kids of the kindergarten, turn into pulsating, impressionistic and charismatic personalities. “It is one occasion that every teacher loves to hate,” opines Ms. Lata Vaidyanathan, Principal, Modern School, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi. Most teachers on these occasions are seen eyes welled up with tears. But these tears are quintessential of joy of the completion of a mission of moulding clay into gold. A friend of mine, Ms. Mohini Kapoor, who teaches in a nursery school away at Humayun Road branch, and I witness the same trauma every year. She sends her babies from the warm, cosy and safe cocoon of nursery through the rough and tumble of the kindergarten while I am witness to the grand finale; the final ‘send-off’ to young adults who have their eyes focussed on the new horizons and spend their last few days savouring every moment of the only world they know so warmly — the school. During the last working days, suddenly the school takes on an endearing quality and the most hated of teachers is spoken of in kind and indulgent terms. Autographs of all the teachers are hunted and even a bit of signature turns them ecstatic. Truth is that this autograph book is their most treasured possession. They know that they have to go and you too know that you have to let them go. In their primary sections they worship you or fear you. In the middle school they adore or ridicule you while in the senior sections they assess or esteem you. But one thing is sure that they never can be indifferent to you — simply because they know that you are an inescapable and inevitable part of their existence. Whatever you tell them is a word of law, states Mrs. Jennifer Tytler, Principal of
J. D. Tytler school, my alma mater. A very touching moment came when I joined duty after one month’s leave owing to sickness. The moment I entered the classroom, I was moved to see that they all clapped and the expression in their eyes confirmed that in me they saw a saviour. I bear no grudge for not being an advocate, doctor, engineer or an IAS officer as I am shaping generations. My friends often ask me, “Why did you join teaching?” I tell them that I am fully satiated in what I get. It’s a contentment that eludes even some of the greatest celebrities. Teachers might not roll in money but their contribution is greater than anyone or everyone. Teachers’ day is not merely the occasion for the pedagogues to receive cards, awards or bouquets, but a day of self-analysis and stock-taking of our profession. The writer, grandnephew of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, teaches at Modern School, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi. |
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Conscientious teachers
contribute to growth SEPTEMBER 5, the birthday of Dr S. Radhakrishnan (one of the most illustrious teachers of our times) has very appropriately been designated as the Teachers' Day. While it is a day for society to accord its due honours to its teachers, for teachers it is a day of heart-searching and critical evaluation of their intellectual contribution to society. A concerted review of the role of teachers in different ages will reveal that they have, by and large, made honest attempts to shoulder with sincerity the responsibility entrusted to them. It was T.S. Eliot, the most celebrated 20th century British literature and social thinker, who introduced mythical technique of expression and employed ancient myths to comment on the contemporary moral and spiritual chaos. The role of our legendary teachers as also of the teachers down the ages can also serve as a touchstone of the function of the teacher in the present-day world. If we go back to our historical and mythological lore, we shall find that there has been a spectacular change in the role of the teacher over the centuries. Our scriptures abound in examples of teachers who, in addition to their usual academic and moral teaching, imparted training in ancient martial arts like archery, fencing, pugilism and dueling. The pupils, in turn, rendered disinterested and thoroughly selfless service to their revered teachers. In the age of the Ramayana, the disciples were committed to ensure the security of teachers-cum- saints whose peaceful meditation sessions and sacred yajnas were under constant threat from the wicked-minded demons of the times. There was also the custom of the parting gift from the learner to the teacher on the completion of education. The teacher's blessings were considered the greatest boon and to get this, the pupil would consider no sacrifice too high. We have the outstanding example of Eklavya who offered his thumb to Guru Drona on demand, though the downtrodden boy had got no direct training from this teacher. The teacher in antiquity was indeed such a potent source of inspiration that the very devotion of the pupil was sufficient to awaken his dormant potentialities which would then emerge as splendidly and gloriously as possible. The Gurukul system with the teacher as the object of devotion and adoration continued during the early phases of our history. Aspirants for education joined these primitive academies situated in remote corners from the common run of life. The pupils were taught to lead a life of complete austerity and even asceticism as this was deemed to be congenial for acquiring moral and spiritual education. There was unquestioned adherence to the instructions of the teachers who were held in extreme veneration. The social milieu in the medieval period was characterised by disorder and uncertainty. The role of the teacher was taken up by religious preachers who trudged from one place to another pleading communal harmony, love for all creatures including vegetation and need to get literate. In the couplets of Kabir, the teacher has been represented as a treasure of talents. He assigns to the teacher a status next only to God. Thus the teacher of the age took upon himself the onerous responsibility of maintaining amity in all sections of society even in the face of toughest odds created by the uncertain political system of the day. In the education system devised by Lord Macaulay, the teacher came to acquire the foremost position in the social set-up. The concept of the teacher as the nation-builder and carrier of civilisation found a ready echo in every enlightened heart. The teacher accepted the challenge with perfect equanimity to bear the torch of knowledge throughout the length and breadth of the country. It was in this period that Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore established his Shantiniketan which became subsequently an ideal educational institution. The teachers in the period immediately after the Independence have been perhaps the most contented lot. The laudable role played by this generation of teachers and the healthy traditions set by them will continue to guide and inspire the teachers of future generations. The commonest charge levelled against the teaching community today is that of academic, intellectual and moral deterioration. Though it is not totally unfounded, it is taking the pendulum too much on the other side. We cannot deny the fact that the teacher is the product of society. A degenerate society cannot be expected to produce absolutely clean and thoroughly committed teachers. However, the examples of a few tainted individuals should not cast aspersion and bring bad name to the makers of society. We still have a fairly large number of dedicated teachers who work conscientiously and contribute their valuable mite in the development of education. Men may come and men may go, but the ideal teachers, like Tennyson's brook, will go on for ever. The writer is Head, P.G. Department of English, Government National College, Sirsa. |
Meaning of truth THE word ‘truth’ eludes our grasp, and we fail to apprehend its sense or meaning. And yet it is one of the words that has gained the widest currency in moral philosophy. The excessive use of the word ‘truth’ has somewhat lost its lustre, and we continue to fling it with reckless abandon in every day discourse as an integral part of our conversation or as a platitude from public platform. Obviously, truth is opposite of a lie, which according to Francis Bacon “faces good and shrinks from man”. For ages past, philosophy has been dealing with the subjects of supreme importance such as the meaning of the universe, of life and death, and of truth, good and bad, sin and punishment. Centuries ago, Pontious Pilate, the Governor of Judea, had condemned Jesus Christ to death. “What is truth”, said the jesting Pilate, and would not wait for an answer! Pilate being sceptical said that men do not care for truth. He preferred the scepticism to the monotony of a fixed belief, and rejects the truth in favour of opinions which satisfy their vanity, their whims, and their imagination. Socrates, one of the noblest and the wisest of men was a votary of truth, and he had to drink hemlock and die a martyr. A man of tearing spirit, he refused to bow to the dictates of the state. The state could not tolerate his pursuit of independent thinking and spirit of enquiry in search of truth. Of all the dangers, the greatest has come to those rare people who have clung to truth and applied a child-like simplicity and divine consciousness to religion, philosophy, ethics and politics. We find scores of such brave and daring souls who weather many storms, suffer and die for the cause which they devoutly cherish. Of the ordinary person nine-tenths of what has been said of truth is so obscure as to be unintelligent or unintelligible, irrelevant and nonsense. But for centuries, truth has been regarded as the great ideal of humankind. It is the essence of the highest moral and spiritual values. Plotinus, A.D. 205-278 wrote, “To make our soul good and beautiful is to make ourselves like unto God because God is beautiful, ugliness is the same as evil, and contrary is beauty and God.” John Keats identified truth with beauty which he saw in nature. According to him, to see beauty in the universe is to apprehend truth. A poet is perpetually in the quest of beauty, and it is through his imaginative powers that he sees the beauty of truth, which illumines the texture of his poetic composition. Poetic or scientific truth is surely judged by reference to the matter in hand. The poet’s prime concern is to be true to himself — he loves beauty, and his faithful experiences open our mind to the deeper understanding of reality. Mahatma Gandhi regarded God as truth, and truth God. When Mohammad Ali Jinnah asserted in Bombay in 1944 that the Hindus and the Muslims constitute two nations, Gandhi retorted that the two-nation theory was ‘untruth’, meaning that Jinnah’s contention is scarcely borne out by the reality of brutal facts. Philosophers have given a serious thought to the meaning of truth. According to the Consensus theory, a true proposition is one which is endorsed and agreed to unanimously by all persons who have had sufficient relevant experience to judge it. In other words, the notion of truth is determined by its acceptability. Thus the real is just what we would come to agree. According to C.S. Pierce, the real is the idea in which the community settled down. The Consensus theory is a construct of human needs. However, the Instrumentalist theory values utility as a means for determining truth, implying that a proposition counts as truth if the behaviour based on a belief in the proposition leads in the long run, and all things considered, to beneficial results for the believers. A belief agrees with reality by proving useful to those who believe it. Such a criterion is in accord with Benthan’s Utilitarian theory of ethics enunciating the principle of the greatest happiness of the greatest number. The Instrumentalist theory is another name of pragmatism. In human affairs, hard choices are to be made. Lying as opposed to truth raised certain underlying question. Is lying justified, and under what conditions. In the Mahabharata situations occur when for bigger issues supported on moral grounds, recourse to lying is legitimised. It is a big problem to decide how one should deal with the borderline case between truthfulness and falsehood. While telling truth important goals such as the interests of one’s nation or one’s clients, the public welfare and the advancement of knowledge and uncovering of corruption may be at stake and outweigh a strict commitment to veracity. No society could survive without a degree of truthfulness in communication. All communities have emphasised truthfulness as a trait to be fostered. Thomas Brown wrote “Even the devils do not lie to one another, truth is as necessary to their society as to all others”. Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of truth becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe. In this way the pursuit of truth leads to the religious feelings of a special sort. Not knowing how near the truth is we seek it for away. This is because we do not realise the strength of our inner resources, the innermost power which we allow to remain dormant. Self-recognition and self-regeneration open the way to truth. |
The chariot stopped where I stood. Thy glance fell on me and thou camest down with a smile. I felt that the luck of my life had come at last. Then of a sudden thou didst hold out thy right hand and say ‘What hast thou to give to me?” Ah, what a kingly jest was it to open thy palm to a beggar to beg! I was confused and stood undecided, and then from my wallet I slowly took out the least little grain of corn and gave it to thee. But how great my surprise when at the day’s end I emptied my bag on the floor to find a least little grain of gold among the poor heap. I bitterly wept and wished that I had had the heart to give thee my all. *** The night darkened. Our day’s works had been done. We thought that the last guest had arrived for the night and the doors in the village were all shut. Only some said, The king was to come. We laughed and said ‘No, it cannot be!’ It seemed there were knocks at the door and we said it was nothing but the wind. We put out the lamps and lay down to sleep. Only some said, “It is the messenger!” We laughed and said ‘No, it must be the wind!’ There came a sound in the dead of the night. We sleepily thought it was the distant thunder. The earth shook, the walls rocked, and it troubled us in our sleep. Only some said, it was the sound of wheels. We said in a drowsy murmur, ‘No, it must be the rumbling of clouds!’ The night was still dark when the drum sounded. The voice came ‘Wake up! delay not!’ We pressed our hands on our hearts and shuddered with fear. Some said, “Lo, there is the king’s flag! We stood up on our feet and cried ‘There is no time for delay!’ The king has come — but where are lights, where are wreaths? Where is the throne to seat him? Oh, shame, Oh utter shame! Where is the hall, the decorations? Some one has said, ‘Vain is this cry! Greet him with empty hands, lead him into thy rooms all bare!’
Gitanjali, Rabindranath Tagore |
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CERTAIN
relationships continue to be charming and enchanting long after they
have ceased to be and one such is between the teacher and the taught.
How often we remember a particular teacher and cherish the memory as a
treasured one! Is it possible to judge the influence of a teacher’s
words? Impossible; because the impact of his words on his students is
beyond all bounds and even eternity. No one knows where the influence
of a teacher stops.
