There are some who strike you as brilliant at first meet. Most don’t. Meet could be personal or distant. In music, art, sport, it could be distant. I have written about personalities whom I have met personally and those whom I have not but have close relation through their work and performance. One such field where though I lack personal knowledge I have gotten close is in the field of classical music. I have had occasion to write about Bhimsen Joshi and Gangubai Hangal [both of them no more]
Another such who is still relatively not so well known is Ganpathi Bhat. I am no exponent of Classical music. My knowledge is primitive but what I know is heartfelt. Many brush Gangubai off as singer with shrill voice. But to me she was manifestation of great talent and her voice played a minor role when I listened to her. When I first heard Ganpathi Bhat some ten years ago it was like a shock wave of pleasure hitting me. He has a rich voice, brilliant control and the variety he brings in without much ado is breath taking.
Those of you who love Hindustani classical music must listen to his music. It will be a divine experience.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Parsimony
I got trained in the old school of thought as far as patient care is considered. There were several dos and don’ts that were dinned into our heads. Some of these were, don’t prescribe an expensive drug when an alternative cheaper one is available. The other is don’t investigate unless absolutely necessary. Always listen to the patient then proceed to examine and always try and come to a clinical conclusion. If you have to confirm do the minimum lab and other tests. When you are in doubt get another opinion.
These principles have stood me and my patients in good stead over the years and saved us lots of head ache and money. But occasionally it has backfired, to give an example or two.
I am against routine annual medical examinations and investigations to all and sundry and with valid reasons. I consider these a waste of money. But when there is a definite indication to screen a high risk patient I do order the required tests. In this case the Youngman’s company does many tests as a part of the employee benefit and an electrocardiogram is one of them. He knows that I am against routine screening for heart disease in low risk groups and the youngster was one such. He reluctantly came and apologetically asked me to have a look at the reports. The company and done many tests which included an ECG.
The ECG was abnormal. Though the rhythm was alight the rate was very high. Even if one gives margin to the fear of doctors and machines many have with the resulting increase in the heart rate, this kind of increase was a cause for concern. The report just said sinus tachycardia and the physician who signed it had not bothered to see the patient. There was also a marginal increase in the levels of thyroid hormone.On talking to him I realized he had lost weight, had been having some diarrhea and when I examined him he had a heart rate of 130 beats per minute. A repeat test for thyroid function revealed he had increased activity of thyroid gland and this was duly treated. Had he not done the annual tests would he have come to see me? Probably not immediately but would have because he was concerned with his loss of weight. He would have come much later when treating him may have become tougher than it did.
Another patient this time a friend of mine, who by nature a thrifty sort of a fellow [there is a very thin line between thrifty and miser].He tries his best avoid consulting me [read paying me]. He also treats himself with some success. He had symptoms of hyperacidity a year ago and as his usual antacid failed to help he sought my attention and I advised him to take a course of different class of anti acid drugs and get back after six weeks. He got better and did not get back to see me. When I met with him on the golf course he said he was well but once in a way he has to take the medicine. This worried me as at his age one should not have recurring symptoms like this. As the golf course is not the ideal place for a professional consultation, I asked him to see me in my chambers. This he did when his wife came to see me, he sort of hitched a ride.
I found he has been taking the medication prescribed and managing. Though there was nothing much detected on physical examination I told him to get an endoscopy done to have look at what his stomach looks like [this meant going to the hospital and getting a flexible tube thrust down the throat right up to the stomach, a not very pleasant procedure but was needed]. He said alright and went away. He did not go to the hospital. He came three months later with worsening of symptoms. I had no doubt about the diagnosis. He had cancer of the stomach and further tests including the endoscopy showed the cancer had spread all over. He does soon after.
Looking back I feel guilty for not having insisted that he get the tests done. I could have told his wife and she would certainly have succeeded in getting the tests done. Would he have survived had the tests been done six months earlier? Yes he would have.
There is a saying that you can take the horse to the water but you cannot make it drink it. Sometimes it is difficult to force the issue. But difficult or not I should have done it and he would have probably few more years of life. Now I am carrying this burden and it will be with me and his face will keep coming to haunt me, may be, till I die.
Another patient and another time. This person was a medical shopper. He saw many doctors and I was one of them. He had painful sensations on the skin of his thighs extending down to the calves. Only sensory involvement of pain sensation carrying nerve fibers may be due to many causes and cancer is one of them. He was a smoker and on testing he was found to be a diabetic. I was happy because diabetic neuropathy is very common and good control of diabetes will help. He was told the diagnosis. He appeared happy that a cause was found and went with the diet sheet and prescription. For three months I did not see him. When he did come he had with him records of three other doctors, one of them a homeopath. His diabetes was under control but his neuropathy [pain] had worsened. A neurologist who had seen him had done a scan of his spine and brain with no abnormality. Now he also had weakness and loss of weight which was attributed to diabetes. What is this patient’s illness?
I expressed my worry about cancer to the patient and told him to get a PET scan [an expensive test but will reveal cancer activity] of his whole body. After much deliberation and visit to another doctor [fortunately he too advised the same] this test was done. A tumor was found in the patient’s intestine [ceacum]!
Though nearly six months had elapsed from the onset of pain in region far removed from the place where the cancer was, it was found to be operable. The patient lived few more years but died due to recurrence. Here again if we had forced him to do this test and the diagnosis had been done early, may be, he would have lived his normal span of life. All of us [many doctors whom he went to] thought that diabetes is the cause when all the time it was cancer. This episode too has remained in my memory but does not haunt me as the other one does.
Despite this experience I stick to the principle of investigating only when necessary. But as you can guess, I have started forcing and even threatening them with dire consequences if they don’t follow my advice. Once bitten twice shy, that is what I have become.
Medicine is, in many ways, a cruel profession. You may be right 99 times out of 100 but you remember the 100th because willy nilly, you were responsible. And to the patient who suffered it is 100 percent.
These principles have stood me and my patients in good stead over the years and saved us lots of head ache and money. But occasionally it has backfired, to give an example or two.
I am against routine annual medical examinations and investigations to all and sundry and with valid reasons. I consider these a waste of money. But when there is a definite indication to screen a high risk patient I do order the required tests. In this case the Youngman’s company does many tests as a part of the employee benefit and an electrocardiogram is one of them. He knows that I am against routine screening for heart disease in low risk groups and the youngster was one such. He reluctantly came and apologetically asked me to have a look at the reports. The company and done many tests which included an ECG.
The ECG was abnormal. Though the rhythm was alight the rate was very high. Even if one gives margin to the fear of doctors and machines many have with the resulting increase in the heart rate, this kind of increase was a cause for concern. The report just said sinus tachycardia and the physician who signed it had not bothered to see the patient. There was also a marginal increase in the levels of thyroid hormone.On talking to him I realized he had lost weight, had been having some diarrhea and when I examined him he had a heart rate of 130 beats per minute. A repeat test for thyroid function revealed he had increased activity of thyroid gland and this was duly treated. Had he not done the annual tests would he have come to see me? Probably not immediately but would have because he was concerned with his loss of weight. He would have come much later when treating him may have become tougher than it did.
Another patient this time a friend of mine, who by nature a thrifty sort of a fellow [there is a very thin line between thrifty and miser].He tries his best avoid consulting me [read paying me]. He also treats himself with some success. He had symptoms of hyperacidity a year ago and as his usual antacid failed to help he sought my attention and I advised him to take a course of different class of anti acid drugs and get back after six weeks. He got better and did not get back to see me. When I met with him on the golf course he said he was well but once in a way he has to take the medicine. This worried me as at his age one should not have recurring symptoms like this. As the golf course is not the ideal place for a professional consultation, I asked him to see me in my chambers. This he did when his wife came to see me, he sort of hitched a ride.
I found he has been taking the medication prescribed and managing. Though there was nothing much detected on physical examination I told him to get an endoscopy done to have look at what his stomach looks like [this meant going to the hospital and getting a flexible tube thrust down the throat right up to the stomach, a not very pleasant procedure but was needed]. He said alright and went away. He did not go to the hospital. He came three months later with worsening of symptoms. I had no doubt about the diagnosis. He had cancer of the stomach and further tests including the endoscopy showed the cancer had spread all over. He does soon after.
Looking back I feel guilty for not having insisted that he get the tests done. I could have told his wife and she would certainly have succeeded in getting the tests done. Would he have survived had the tests been done six months earlier? Yes he would have.
There is a saying that you can take the horse to the water but you cannot make it drink it. Sometimes it is difficult to force the issue. But difficult or not I should have done it and he would have probably few more years of life. Now I am carrying this burden and it will be with me and his face will keep coming to haunt me, may be, till I die.
Another patient and another time. This person was a medical shopper. He saw many doctors and I was one of them. He had painful sensations on the skin of his thighs extending down to the calves. Only sensory involvement of pain sensation carrying nerve fibers may be due to many causes and cancer is one of them. He was a smoker and on testing he was found to be a diabetic. I was happy because diabetic neuropathy is very common and good control of diabetes will help. He was told the diagnosis. He appeared happy that a cause was found and went with the diet sheet and prescription. For three months I did not see him. When he did come he had with him records of three other doctors, one of them a homeopath. His diabetes was under control but his neuropathy [pain] had worsened. A neurologist who had seen him had done a scan of his spine and brain with no abnormality. Now he also had weakness and loss of weight which was attributed to diabetes. What is this patient’s illness?
I expressed my worry about cancer to the patient and told him to get a PET scan [an expensive test but will reveal cancer activity] of his whole body. After much deliberation and visit to another doctor [fortunately he too advised the same] this test was done. A tumor was found in the patient’s intestine [ceacum]!
Though nearly six months had elapsed from the onset of pain in region far removed from the place where the cancer was, it was found to be operable. The patient lived few more years but died due to recurrence. Here again if we had forced him to do this test and the diagnosis had been done early, may be, he would have lived his normal span of life. All of us [many doctors whom he went to] thought that diabetes is the cause when all the time it was cancer. This episode too has remained in my memory but does not haunt me as the other one does.
Despite this experience I stick to the principle of investigating only when necessary. But as you can guess, I have started forcing and even threatening them with dire consequences if they don’t follow my advice. Once bitten twice shy, that is what I have become.
Medicine is, in many ways, a cruel profession. You may be right 99 times out of 100 but you remember the 100th because willy nilly, you were responsible. And to the patient who suffered it is 100 percent.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Blood sport
In ancient times Romans would set humans against animals and watch the resulting gore from specially built stadia. Next came the era of gladiators who fought against each other to the merriment of the audience. That tradition is even now seen in the form of bull fight. The bulls don’t fight; they are killed after getting them so tired chasing a red cloth being waved by the modern day gladiator called a matador. Bulls occasionally behave in a wayward manner and succeed in attacking not the red cloth but the matador. This element of danger is what interests the audience and the ultimate killing is done by piercing the brain of the animal. One of the most brutal of sports practiced in modern times is this so called bull fight.
Next in order is boxing where two humans fight each other. Elaborate rules and gear makes this less bloody than killing the bull but fighters can get killed or maimed for life. The famous Mohammed Ali suffered such severe brain damage that he became a cripple in his middle age. But the sport is quite popular and even Olympic games have this and that too in many categories depending on the weight of the participants.
Next comes car and motor cycle racing. I just cannot understand the popularity of this sport. If impending death is what one wants to watch and call it sport you have a perfect example of this in motor racing. The recent tragic death of two young men, one in motorcycle racing and another in car racing seemed to have heightened expectations and popularity. In our country, the land of ahimsa, a huge track has been built in Noida and we are going to have this bloody sport pretty soon. The likes of Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and co seem to think that this s sport they should support by buying teams!
Horse is wonderful animal. In grace and bearing I don’t think there is any mammal which is as good looking [including humans] as a horse. What have we done with this animal? We train it to race with a man sitting on the top and urging it to run faster by beating it’s haunches with a specially made strap. And thousands throng to watch. Society women use this as an occasion to show off their costumes and head gear. But again the popularity is partly due to the element of danger where in, the horse as well as the rider may come to harm.
Of course there is an element of injury risk in most sports except probably in table games. Most sports need skill, stamina and fitness and provide pleasure of a different kind. The pleasure is that by taking part in the sport you are actually experiencing pleasure which is based on skill and stamina. The perfect example of such a sport is Badminton. One should watch the likes of Dan of China and Wie of Malaysia playing against each other. It is impossible to believe that a human being can be so fit and agile. There is hardly any threat of someone getting killed playing Badminton, ping pong or Tennis.
As sport loving people we should stop watching motor racing, horse racing and boxing and shift to watching other sports even if it is twenty twenty cricket !
Next in order is boxing where two humans fight each other. Elaborate rules and gear makes this less bloody than killing the bull but fighters can get killed or maimed for life. The famous Mohammed Ali suffered such severe brain damage that he became a cripple in his middle age. But the sport is quite popular and even Olympic games have this and that too in many categories depending on the weight of the participants.
Next comes car and motor cycle racing. I just cannot understand the popularity of this sport. If impending death is what one wants to watch and call it sport you have a perfect example of this in motor racing. The recent tragic death of two young men, one in motorcycle racing and another in car racing seemed to have heightened expectations and popularity. In our country, the land of ahimsa, a huge track has been built in Noida and we are going to have this bloody sport pretty soon. The likes of Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and co seem to think that this s sport they should support by buying teams!
Horse is wonderful animal. In grace and bearing I don’t think there is any mammal which is as good looking [including humans] as a horse. What have we done with this animal? We train it to race with a man sitting on the top and urging it to run faster by beating it’s haunches with a specially made strap. And thousands throng to watch. Society women use this as an occasion to show off their costumes and head gear. But again the popularity is partly due to the element of danger where in, the horse as well as the rider may come to harm.
Of course there is an element of injury risk in most sports except probably in table games. Most sports need skill, stamina and fitness and provide pleasure of a different kind. The pleasure is that by taking part in the sport you are actually experiencing pleasure which is based on skill and stamina. The perfect example of such a sport is Badminton. One should watch the likes of Dan of China and Wie of Malaysia playing against each other. It is impossible to believe that a human being can be so fit and agile. There is hardly any threat of someone getting killed playing Badminton, ping pong or Tennis.
As sport loving people we should stop watching motor racing, horse racing and boxing and shift to watching other sports even if it is twenty twenty cricket !
Nostalgia
I miss lot of things of yester years. I wrote about the joy of cycling without the fear of being run over. We could go to concerts and plays without worrying about the traffic, parking problems and the hassles of returning late in the night.
The concert in my very young days was a kind of musical dance drama called Yakshagana. The characters would dress in the gaudiest of colors and costumes with elaborate head gears. They would have bells tied to their ankles.There was an accompaniment of song and storytelling with the beat of drums. The performance would begin late at night and go on till early hours of next morning! It combined elements of song, dance, theatre, music and storytelling all in one show. It was superb and held us enthralled for more than 8 hours! The truncated from is still widely prevalent in the coastal districts.
The same applied to classical music, it would start late and end may be six hours later. The singer and the audience were one in appreciation of each other. Such spectacles which were common 50 years back have virtually disappeared now. Modern day classical concerts last not even three hours and in one performance some time ago the artist Amjad Ali spent more time tuning his instrument rather than playing it! I thought with the advent of MP3 CD I would be able to get music which lasts for many hours. By this I mean, a single or two ragas elaborated over three to four hours. My search so far has not succeeded.
Foot paths were foot paths then. They were even and one could walk on them. Now they are either used to park vehicles are dug up and we have to walk on the streets and run the risk of being run over. Many, especially the elderly are forced to stay home and rot. Even the simple pleasure of a walk is denied to them.
All this, we call progress and this consumerist economy is driving this society crazy.
The concert in my very young days was a kind of musical dance drama called Yakshagana. The characters would dress in the gaudiest of colors and costumes with elaborate head gears. They would have bells tied to their ankles.There was an accompaniment of song and storytelling with the beat of drums. The performance would begin late at night and go on till early hours of next morning! It combined elements of song, dance, theatre, music and storytelling all in one show. It was superb and held us enthralled for more than 8 hours! The truncated from is still widely prevalent in the coastal districts.
The same applied to classical music, it would start late and end may be six hours later. The singer and the audience were one in appreciation of each other. Such spectacles which were common 50 years back have virtually disappeared now. Modern day classical concerts last not even three hours and in one performance some time ago the artist Amjad Ali spent more time tuning his instrument rather than playing it! I thought with the advent of MP3 CD I would be able to get music which lasts for many hours. By this I mean, a single or two ragas elaborated over three to four hours. My search so far has not succeeded.
Foot paths were foot paths then. They were even and one could walk on them. Now they are either used to park vehicles are dug up and we have to walk on the streets and run the risk of being run over. Many, especially the elderly are forced to stay home and rot. Even the simple pleasure of a walk is denied to them.
All this, we call progress and this consumerist economy is driving this society crazy.
Unsafe Nation
A senior police officer, who was a patient of mine, once told me how easy to hoist a case on any citizen in this country. He even told me how. ‘Suppose I don’t like you and want to trouble you, I will tell my subordinate to book a case of traffic violation on you, that you have not even taken your car out is not the issue. To prove that you did not violate the rule you will have to prove this in front of a magistrate and the case cab drag on for years’. Worse still, he said, he can get me involved in more serious cases of violation of civil and criminal law and the onus of proving innocence is on me. Therefore most people don’t want to even remotely to get involved and if they do they will some have to pay a heavy price in terms of money, time and mental torture.
This is what is happening to Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and co who are fighting the UPA government. Swami Agnivesh, who I thought was a man of character, proved to be such a disappointment. I liked best Anna Hazare’s statement,’ you cannot get a bunch of roses without the thorns’
I hope the vilifying propaganda by the likes of Digvijay singh and likes will not succeed and the common man will, when the time comes to cast his vote against the UPA.
But then who will he vote for?
This is what is happening to Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and co who are fighting the UPA government. Swami Agnivesh, who I thought was a man of character, proved to be such a disappointment. I liked best Anna Hazare’s statement,’ you cannot get a bunch of roses without the thorns’
I hope the vilifying propaganda by the likes of Digvijay singh and likes will not succeed and the common man will, when the time comes to cast his vote against the UPA.
But then who will he vote for?
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Rural hell to urban hell
I remember the days when I could cycle from one end of Bangalore to the other end in 15 minutes. That was 50 years ago. Today I cannot do it at all by the bicycle. At this rate of monstrous growth, this city is going to kill itself in another twenty years. It will be impossible to provide the basic civic needs to this large number of people spread out in 50 km radius by our none too efficient civic body, the BBMP.
Many so called people of vision see the inevitability of our towns and cities growing bigger because of migration of people from rural to urban locales and they even recommend an urban based economy. These include the likes of Nandan Nilakeni and the illustrious Narayan Murthy. This inevitability is due to ambitious youth whose numbers make 70% of our population. These young men are migrating to towns and cities in search of better living and more opportunities.
What is the result? Our towns and cities are becoming quagmires of dirt and decay. Our rich and the powerful are hiding behind huge fortress like compounds with security guarding their privacy away from the environmental muck that surrounds them. Most migrants end up as labourers of one type or the other serving these powerful few.
Is this what we want for our country? Is there no way to prevent this migration? Or is it inevitable or even desirable that people move out?
I am not an economist or a town planner. I only write about what I see and observe. I observe the development of a greatly demeaning society because of this migration. My gut feeling is that if we don’t reverse this trend, our towns and cities will die due to lack of resources and poor management.
How can we reverse this? There are some thoughts. These may not be original ones but they keep on occurring to me whenever I think of the rural poor. The minimum wages must be guaranteed as it is being done in the cities. Increasing the job opportunities in the villages will help to reverse the trend. This can be done by major changes in our agricultural policies. The farmer must not suffer and farm produce must get the right price unlike now where the middleman gets most of the money. Rural overpopulation leads to migration of excess labor. Limiting numbers must be our relentless drive. No one in right sense will leave a comfortable rural life to a life for a poor quality urban life merely because of the so called attractions of urban living. They are coming to the towns and cities because our rural economy is failing to provide jobs.
They leave and make the rural economy suffer and clutter and destroy the cities. Bangalore is one such prime example how this can happen in one's life time [mine]
Many so called people of vision see the inevitability of our towns and cities growing bigger because of migration of people from rural to urban locales and they even recommend an urban based economy. These include the likes of Nandan Nilakeni and the illustrious Narayan Murthy. This inevitability is due to ambitious youth whose numbers make 70% of our population. These young men are migrating to towns and cities in search of better living and more opportunities.
What is the result? Our towns and cities are becoming quagmires of dirt and decay. Our rich and the powerful are hiding behind huge fortress like compounds with security guarding their privacy away from the environmental muck that surrounds them. Most migrants end up as labourers of one type or the other serving these powerful few.
Is this what we want for our country? Is there no way to prevent this migration? Or is it inevitable or even desirable that people move out?
I am not an economist or a town planner. I only write about what I see and observe. I observe the development of a greatly demeaning society because of this migration. My gut feeling is that if we don’t reverse this trend, our towns and cities will die due to lack of resources and poor management.
How can we reverse this? There are some thoughts. These may not be original ones but they keep on occurring to me whenever I think of the rural poor. The minimum wages must be guaranteed as it is being done in the cities. Increasing the job opportunities in the villages will help to reverse the trend. This can be done by major changes in our agricultural policies. The farmer must not suffer and farm produce must get the right price unlike now where the middleman gets most of the money. Rural overpopulation leads to migration of excess labor. Limiting numbers must be our relentless drive. No one in right sense will leave a comfortable rural life to a life for a poor quality urban life merely because of the so called attractions of urban living. They are coming to the towns and cities because our rural economy is failing to provide jobs.
They leave and make the rural economy suffer and clutter and destroy the cities. Bangalore is one such prime example how this can happen in one's life time [mine]
Monday, October 3, 2011
Relevance of Gandhi
Yesterday was Gandhi’s birthday and country celebrated it the usual way. Another holiday to the burgeoning list, no alcohol sold, processions, speeches, garlanding of Gandhi statues and the like. Came evening all were back to their typically ungandhian ways of living.
If there is one country where Gandhian values are practiced least, that is present day India. Let us take one by one. He preached nonviolence as the credo of his life. We have become violent and growing more violent by the day both in verbiage and action. Our movies preach violence and our politicians condone it. Mafia dons and Goonda bosses are given tickets to contest elections by major political parties.
Next in the line of importance of Gandhian teachings was communal tolerance and harmony. He gave his life for this cause. Many are not aware that he was a deeply pained man at the time of Indian independence. He did not want this kind of independence where men of different religious faiths butchered each other. Now not only this intolerance exists but has extended to different sub sects and languages. The major political parties, in Gandhi’s name are actually fostering this and today the country is deeply divided on communal cast and language lines.
He preached minimal needs and manual labor. What do you see around now? Conspicuous consumption and possession of materilals.No one wants to use his hands which include all classes of people. Everyone wants a white collar job. Man who walks wants a bicycle, a cyclist wants a two wheeler, a two wheeler guy wants a car, a car owner wants two of them and better ones. Same applies to money, clothing, jewellery, house and what have you. He advocated spinning yarn as the best mode of providing millions of jobs. Today who wears Khadi? It has become a dirty word as our politicians wear it to show off!
He did not believe in going to temples to prove his piety. But he led the socially oppressed to gain entry into our sacrosanct temples. Untouchability still exists if not visibly but in the mind of people.
Gandhi’s dislike of alcohol was more to do to its capacity to destroy and degrade human life and not because it was bad [it is bad, like too much of food]. In fact his close followers, Maulana Azad and Pandit Nehru were not averse to an occasional tot. Where are we now? every nook and corner we have a liquor shop and Hooch is freely available.
He advocated personal and environmental hygiene and practiced it and preached. We have the worst sanitation and environmental pollution in the world.
Of course he had his quirks. The major one was his advocacy of celibacy as a method of limiting family and was against family planning methods. I am sure he would have changed his views had he been alive.
He probably would have agreed to industrialization where ever it was absolutely required. He would certainly have objected to the loot of our natural resources. Had he been alive he would object even to the export of stones, let alone mineral ore.
So, year after year we celebrate the birthday of this man and venerate him. But follow his teachings, we shall not or will not. As one of my good friends said half in jest and half mocking my stupid idealism,’ he is irrelevant in today’s world’
If there is one country where Gandhian values are practiced least, that is present day India. Let us take one by one. He preached nonviolence as the credo of his life. We have become violent and growing more violent by the day both in verbiage and action. Our movies preach violence and our politicians condone it. Mafia dons and Goonda bosses are given tickets to contest elections by major political parties.
Next in the line of importance of Gandhian teachings was communal tolerance and harmony. He gave his life for this cause. Many are not aware that he was a deeply pained man at the time of Indian independence. He did not want this kind of independence where men of different religious faiths butchered each other. Now not only this intolerance exists but has extended to different sub sects and languages. The major political parties, in Gandhi’s name are actually fostering this and today the country is deeply divided on communal cast and language lines.
He preached minimal needs and manual labor. What do you see around now? Conspicuous consumption and possession of materilals.No one wants to use his hands which include all classes of people. Everyone wants a white collar job. Man who walks wants a bicycle, a cyclist wants a two wheeler, a two wheeler guy wants a car, a car owner wants two of them and better ones. Same applies to money, clothing, jewellery, house and what have you. He advocated spinning yarn as the best mode of providing millions of jobs. Today who wears Khadi? It has become a dirty word as our politicians wear it to show off!
He did not believe in going to temples to prove his piety. But he led the socially oppressed to gain entry into our sacrosanct temples. Untouchability still exists if not visibly but in the mind of people.
Gandhi’s dislike of alcohol was more to do to its capacity to destroy and degrade human life and not because it was bad [it is bad, like too much of food]. In fact his close followers, Maulana Azad and Pandit Nehru were not averse to an occasional tot. Where are we now? every nook and corner we have a liquor shop and Hooch is freely available.
He advocated personal and environmental hygiene and practiced it and preached. We have the worst sanitation and environmental pollution in the world.
Of course he had his quirks. The major one was his advocacy of celibacy as a method of limiting family and was against family planning methods. I am sure he would have changed his views had he been alive.
He probably would have agreed to industrialization where ever it was absolutely required. He would certainly have objected to the loot of our natural resources. Had he been alive he would object even to the export of stones, let alone mineral ore.
So, year after year we celebrate the birthday of this man and venerate him. But follow his teachings, we shall not or will not. As one of my good friends said half in jest and half mocking my stupid idealism,’ he is irrelevant in today’s world’
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