Modern Democratic Diplomacy in Mutually Disrespectful Mode as Exemplified by Two Great Democracies!

By being in the interiors of my great nation where human civilization originated for the first time, I often think about the factors that make humans being different from animals. More appropriately I do think of human civilization and the progress of it in the last many millenniums.How do we make the differentiation among us as being more civilized or less civilized? 

Civilization is perhaps the ability of humans to co-exist peacefully and work jointly for bettering their own conditions of life. The more civilized you are, the more you shed those traits that are found in animals, such as greed, selfishness, fear of the unknown, fighting for self existence and self gratification, disrespecting the weak, committing suicidal errors, etc. In other words, civilization is the evolutionary progress of humans from animal nature to real human nature, the latter being nearer to divinity.

The ability of humans to evolve a democratic form of government in itself is a sign of advancement of civilization. It shows that the majority of the population has been able to remove much of their inherent animal tendencies to some considerable degree that they could voluntarily empower some others as their leaders without any fear contributing to such decisions.

It is indeed a good thing that the modern world has two large nations have progressed in collective civilization that they are democratic nations. One is my own country- India, the home land of a variety of mixed race peoples existing from pre-historic times. The other one is again a nation of mixed race peoples who took the pains of establishing and recreating a land of opportunities by adventure and hard work in a great unexplored continental mass in the recent few centuries of human existence. And it is called the United States of America.

While both have attained certain levels of civilization to the threshold of sustaining democracy in their respective geographic areas, both seem to keep some collective prejudices and envy against each other, though for different reasons.

The Americans through their short survival struggles of a few centuries have learnt the techniques of better human resources management that they now hold the trump card of modern intellectual superiority that has made their country a super power in wealth creation, technology and warfare.Obviously, the average individuals in this nation are too proud of being the citizens of a super power and they obviously aspire for reaping benefits of that status. They have rather evolved as a super race of modern times by some better human resource management techniques which essentially give respect to human intellectual abilities and utilizing the individual and collective human intelligence for collective strength of the nation.

On the other hand, the Indians collectively adopted the policy of discrediting their intellectuals that they seldom allowed the superior brains of their lot not to get involved in nation building programs. Many of such Indian intellectuals finding no opportunity to utilize their intellectual creativeness soon thought it wise to cross the seven seas to reach the land of opportunities, the USA. The Americans,  knowing fully well the worth of human brains have been too glad to accept intelligent brains from any place in the world. But for that they only asked one thing-the allegiance to their new found nation! After all they are all immigrants and being an immigrant was not a taboo for them as was the case with those ancient settlements of human races elsewhere in the globe.

The GDP of India may not match the USA now and the average Indian might be much poorer in international monetary measurements, but Indians know the strength of their nation and the value of their culture. They don't need to work hard like the Americans for a living. Their land is much more fertile and yielding than the lands of the new continent. So, Indians in general can afford to be lazy and easy going than the average Americans. Of course, they do not mind those modern technologies developed by the intelligent brains being sold to them for enhancing some of their comforts for exchange of some of those exclusive things their ancient land so abundantly produce for them. Indians know well about the value of the customer and they are customers always. And they know that customers are kings in modern times of international trade.

And even if these modern gadgets do not come to them they are not so worried. They can also live without them. It is only the seller who is going to loss. Not the buyer!

And Indians also know very well about their potentials. If they manage their nation a bit more carefully, they know that it can surpass any nation in the world. But for now, there is no compulsion for such management techniques! When the time is appropriate, it would be done!

Indians, like me, have much aristocracy in our blood streams as a result of thousands of years of existence. We have castes and creeds of all sorts. But all are benefited from all sorts of blood streams and all sorts of genes that we can adapt to any sort of roles at any time. We can be king or slave, both at the same time, depending upon the situation.

We can appear as very civilized or very beastly both at the same time, depending upon the situation and the circumstances. Indians also know very well the ancient tactics of Chanakya inherently and there is not need that they learn about such tactics in schools and colleges.

So, if any one think that Indians could be taken for a ride, they are totally mistaken. It might be difficult for people with straight forward genetics to understand the genetic make up of Indians with so many genetic features and characteristics. 

So, some of those american law enforcers totally made a wrong judgement when they thought it as an adventure to arrest and disgrace the honor of an young Indian lady who have been holding a high diplomatic position representing India in the USA.

I have been listening to the news and reading about this incident of booking this elite Indian diplomat posted in the Indian consulate in New York for violation of some US law. 

Let me give some of those news links here:

"Lawyer for the domestic help of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade on Thursday said there was legitimacy to the charges against Khobragade "

"Tough-talking Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara, the prosecutor credited with ‘busting’ Wall Street and the Gambino and Colombo mafia crime families, has jolted India"

"The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), the detainment authority in the case of the senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade (39) arrested in New York last Thursday, confirmed that the Deputy Consul General had been strip-searched" 

"Outrage and overreaction"

Any Indian back home would naturally feel insulted and agitated by this American hegemony and they feel naturally offended and insulted. Back at home, no law enforcer would ever dare to handcuff a lady officer from the elite administrative services without due sanctions from the higher authorities. The Americans have exceeded all limits and even did such things that are only done to people of the lowest orders or those who do not have any support from any sources of power or influence back in India! Both in India and in the US, laws and rules apply differently to different people. And those handling laws in both countries realize that too well. No wonder then that an ex-bureaucrat of India has openly told that fact in one of his articles that he published in the newspapers the other day. In short what he meant was that the laws are never implemented in letter and spirit by any one any where. Perhaps only fools would do such a thing! Incidentally, the man who took the pains to book the Indian lady officer of the diplomatic services using the american law has an Indian origin.  

Perhaps, the common citizens of both these great nations would now be wondering and fuming for various reasons. Individually, many have not yet reached the state of maturity to analyze these things to a common conclusion.

They are yet to learn many things to realize the fundamentals of the games that the (ruling class) people play globally. So long as you do not know such tricks of the games, you just belong to the class of the commons. 

So you could get elated or annoyed when India retaliates. You would not know what to say when some of the elite ruling class from either sides sit together the next day and exchange pleasantries heartily smiling before the media cameras. And that is part of diplomacy and governance. 

Unfortunately, our civilizations have not so progressed that we are able to express our views honestly! In fact, diplomacy means the art of hiding honest views! And we have not yet learnt the benefits of being true to our selves both personally and collectively!

And yet I would not be doing an honest writing unless the full story of the incident as reported elsewhere is also brought out. The incident is more than what appears in the daily media in broken pieces. I give two other links below which give some more wider picture of the incident:

"the Indian establishment colluded to victimise the domestic assistant"

"US Attorney Preet Bharara has issued a statement defending their actions"

So as we stand today, we really do not mean any thing when we say, we respect each other. For the same reason, we do not mean any thing when we say just the opposite. Again when democratic governments officially declare that they do all things as per law, it may or may not mean the same.

And to reach to a meaningful level we need to go much further towards civilization. We need to reach to our full potentials of divinity to be real humans! A state of existence when we are real humans upholding truth honestly and boldly!

And as of now what we lack is our ability to be true to our inner consciousness, as individuals and collectives.

Or in other words, we lack the ability to lead a life governed by honesty and truth in the true sense. So long as it is so, these kind of incidents keep happening! And we remain divided without really knowing what is right or what is wrong!

Some of us would support the wrong doers while some others would sympathize with victims of hegemony. Some would justify the acts of our so-called democratic governmental representatives while some others among us would feel ashamed.

Remember, all of us have not yet reached to the perfect mind levels. We have improved a lot from the past and we would keep improving in the future! But perfection is millenniums ahead!

Such incidents are just reminders of our present status!  

Respect Seniority : A Divine Mandate for Longevity !

In the book of Exodus in the Old Testament Bible, the Ten Commandments that God gave to the descendants of Abraham are given. Out of these ten commandments, only one commandment is with a promise. It is the verse 12 of Chapter 20 of the Book of Exodus. It reads like this:

" Honor your father and mother that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you" 

In the Old and New Testament Bible, this commandment is stressed many times.

It is a divine mandate that each and every one in this world respect and honor their parents. If they obey that divine wish, they would have a long life in this world. That is an assurance from God. 

Thus, for longevity, one of the main requirements is that one should honor his or her parents.

Since parents are seniors to us by a generation, I would extrapolate that commandment a bit further. I would say, that the divine mandate to us is that we should respect all our seniors for receiving divine blessings.

I have been privileged to read and know about the divine organization that governs the whole of the Universe. The revealed knowledge provided in my favorite book of life guidance (The Urantia Book: about which I have written many times in my previous blogs) has been the source of that privilege.

In this book too, I remember reading a divine mandate that is given to the celestial or spiritual personalities who exist and work in different capacities in the Universal Administration of God. 

There are innumerable orders of personalities who are normally invisible to us humans, but are doing innumerable tasks in the innumerable worlds in the vast universe. They talk of the divine injunctions that the higher orders of spiritual personalities have. 

They talk about just three such injunctions that they have from God and the following are the first two:

1. They should always show adequate respect for the experience and endowments (God given powers) of their seniors and superiors.

2. They should always be considerate of the limitations and inexperience of their juniors and subordinates.

The above are applicable to each and every living being in this universe.

From the above, I presume that it is God's will that we give due respect to our seniors and superiors. 

It is also God's will that we give due consideration to the limitations and inexperience of our juniors and subordinates.

Every one of us is either a child or a parent or both. Similarly, we are bosses and subordinates at the same time. We are both seniors and juniors at the same time. We are all either elder brothers or sisters or younger brothers or sisters to some others.

So, if we wish to lead a good life and want to ensure longevity, it is necessary that we follow the divine mandate of respecting and honoring the seniors and being considerate to the juniors. 

If this simple rule is followed in the simplest organizational unit of the human society-the family-then we are bound to have happy and prosperous families. Starting from the family, this rule should be extending to our immediate neighborhood and to the whole fraternity of human groups and organizations. 

When we keep this simple divine mandate in our minds and act accordingly, our society would be happy and prosperous. 

In turn our nation would be happy and prosperous. Our business and governmental organizations would have long existence. They are bound to perform well. 

Now, those thinking of the other way are perhaps going against the divine mandate.

Many of our corporate business leaders and management experts think of making quick returns and results by going against this mandate. 

They think it is better bypass seniority in the organizational ladders with dynamic juniors for getting quick benefits. 

Quick benefits they might get. But then longevity of the organization would be the casualty. 

Would it be wise to make the son the head of the family in place of the father just because the former has acquired a university degree the latter did not have ? 

Would it be wise for the son to disrespect his father in such a case? 

In our world today, such things are happening. 

Juniors, sons and daughters are getting too impatient. They want to occupy the seniors' position in the shortest time. 

Respecting the seniors is not an important thing for a good number of people. 

At the same time a good number of seniors do not consider it as important to be considerate to their juniors. 

Same is the case with many parents with regard to their attitude towards their children.

When we do and act this way, we are violating the divine will. 

When we deviate from the divine mandate, we start losing the divine blessings. 

Without that blessing, our life would become more and more difficult. 

We may lose our longevity and the goodness of life!

In my opinion, it is very beneficial to give respect to elders regardless of their social status or position. Similarly, elders too need to learn the art of respecting their juniors. And when this is done, it has to be a sincere effort and not an artificial act.

Those who sincerely know how to respect others reflect a kind of divine aura that envolope them always as an invisible protection.

In reality, respect is nothing but a sincere fraternal love and consideration that is mandated by God.

Blessed and happy are those who know this secret of life!

How Do They Cause Bloodshed in Democratic Protest Marches ? An Eye Witness Account From India !

Though Mahatma Gandhi is considered as the father of modern India who won her independence by adopting non-violent peoples' protests against the rulers, his so called Indian followers who inherited the chance to rule the country apparently do not allow their fellow citizens to adopt to such foolish methods of protest any more.

The second or third generation Indian rulers and administrators of independent India might be laughing in their heart of hearts at the foolishness of their predecessors for succumbing to the peaceful and harmless protests of Gandhiji and leaving their controls on the subcontinent.

Had they been in the place of those British rulers and administrators, Gandhiji would have miserably failed in his mission or would have transformed himself from an Ahimsawadi [ believer of non-violence] to a Himsawadi [proponent of violence].

The modern day Indian rulers and their all Indian administrative machinery seem restless and impatient in handling non-violent democratic protests that they seem to be using all efforts that they can to make a peaceful protest into something where blood is shed and transforming the peace loving poor Indians' hearts and brains to burn with hatred to them- their own lucky brothers and sisters whom they have elected to serve as ministers or governors or administrators of their beloved land for a certain period.

Otherwise what is the logic in those police actions against the peaceful protestors following Anna Hazare and his team in Delhi in the recent past ? Did the protestors resort to violence to call for such actions ?

I do not know. I have so far never been to any such sites of protests by fellow Indians for various demands or issues. What I knew was from the news media. But that was till yesterday. Yesterday, I became an eye witness to a peaceful protest march in one part of this nation and the manner in which the law enforcers handled it causing bloodshed on either sides.

My office is in this state capital city and my residence is just a kilometer away in a secured small township owned by our company, which is a 'Maharatna PSU' . All officers like me who stay in this township normally go home during the one hour lunch break.

To save on petrol and to reduce the traffic on road, we have recently adopted a car-pool for our  lunch errand.

Between the office and the residence, there is a stretch of about 300 metres of road that comes under the city corporation where the road has also to cross a busy trunk rail route. To enter our township we have to cross the National Highway 75. Our township has a guarded gate which is common to a famous public school too through which thousands of school children also enter and exit every day. [see the map of the area here !]

This national high way is the main link to all people who want to reach the city's airport and one of the main railway stations. Unfortunately for the law abiding citizens, this part of the road also connects the state's secretariate complex housing the legislative assembly building and the residences of many VIPs including the Chief Minister and the Governor. So this part of the NH is also called the VIP road.

In India, if you are an ordinary citizen living accidentally near to the movement zone of the so-called VIPs, even God may not be in a position to save you from your misfortune ! Because, it is now a routine for the brilliant police administrators to ignore the sentiments of the public for the sake of what they now passionately call 'security'. They routinely stop all vehicular movements in the wide roads for such time as they please for the VIP [ Very Important Person which now means a person in India who holds a position in the government or administration who uses a beacon light on his vehicle as a mark of his status!]   and his/her motorcade to pass. Unfortunately, Gandhiji's successors in modern India who started tasting the glories of democratic power want to become like the British Queen in pomp and show ! Why should we spend our money and time if there is no glamour of the power ? They seem to be asking ! The well decorated kings and queens of the past appeal to them much more than the simple fakir figure of Gandhiji !

So the roads in India are stopped at the sweet will of the administrators small or big at any time for any reason. So please do not consider Google's estimated time of travel if you are on Indian roads !

The modern day administrators of India seem to be pretty arrogant when they deal with the rest of the public citizenry in such situations. They do not bother about the incoveniences caused to the public when all roads are closed for their so called security reasons ! They do not even bother for other kind of responsible citizens for whom time is as important as their own VIP masters !

Me and my colleagues too are public servants, but we are not beacon light VIPs. We used to be like them a few decades ago when no one ever used the beacon lights on their official vehicles. Our vehichles perhaps had a small identification on the number plates showing the organization to which the vehicle belonged. The majority PSU officers now drive their own vehicles for going to office, a transformation that had taken place. On the other hand, those public servants who are directly connected with the central, state or local government departments use a beacon light vehicle. The type of the vehicle and the color of the beacon light are the mark of their position and status. Unlike the past, these kind of government vehicles displaying their authority to the public are a normal sight in modern India. Somehow this rampant display of authority by all Dick and Harry from the government service causes an immediate repulsion in the minds of the rest of the citizens against the ruling party. Often the VIP motorcade consists of all kinds of beacon lighted vehicles of this kind belonging to the lower rung government officers. Though some wise men in the government understand the damage that they create to them by this display of power on the roads, they have some how utterly failed to stop this status mania that has affected the government servants of this era.

Though the PSU officers by definition are public servants, they are no longer government officers who  enjoy any status better than the normal public. Our company may be called a Maharatna, but the meaning of that is not of any worth to the officers and staff of the company. We too are stopped and herded out by ordinary policemen when the beacon light vehicles of the government staff cris-cross the the roads. So we are in a position to understand the heartbeats of the public much better than the beacon lighted government servants who have opted to get themselves isolated from all public who do not have any thing to gain from them.

Now coming back to yesterday's story.

While leaving the office for lunch, we find the road leading to our township packed with vehichles due to a big traffic jam. We knew another route and tried that instead only to be entangled there too in a big traffic jam just on the four lane NH 75. We had initially no idea about the cause, but soon we found that a small procession of people shouting slowly moving ahead. Obviously they are peaceful protestors from the villages, amply led by some party leadership now in the opposition.

The administration knowing fully well about this peace march in advance had decided to stop the protesters from reaching the state assembly building where they perhaps wanted to show off their protest. So, they had constructed road blocks on the high way that is the only way for us to reach our homes and for many others to reach the airport and the railway station.

The police could have easily allowed the traffic of non protestors to move ahead to their destinations. But for reasons known only to them, they did not allow that to happen. They prevented the public movement on the road. At least when our car reached the place it was not the protesters who were blocking the road. It were the police pickets and the police vehicles of all kinds.

There were scores of vehicles of my colleagues who just wanted to reach our homes a few meters away for lunch. But we were stopped and forced to move into an open field by the side of the road between the rail way line.

We took the vehicles as far as we could from the possible melee that could happen on the high way.

The protestors wanted to move ahead to their destination which was some 2 km ahead, but the police would not allow. They would not allow not only the protesters but also all others like us who wanted to elsewhere.

Time was running out and we were on the hot sun on this muddy ground with our cars, hungry and thirsty. The police have started to use their riot control vehichles' water canons though there was no riots by the protesters. Then there was a huge exodus of the villagers towards the place we were standing with our vehicles with no way to go anywhere.

Apparently there was a lathicharge [caning] by the police that the peaceful village folk comprising of men and women made a retreat to our side, the only way they could also move. Then they stood there among us behind our stranded vehicles as they too had no way to move out.

For a moment I remembered Jalianwala Bagh Massacre about which I had studied in my schools. What if the police tried the  other weaponry that they had in their possession now ? They could very well do that if their commanding officer so commanded.

Here we are trapped between the armed police whose numbers matched the number of the poor villagers, armless ofcourse. We saw their political leaders calling them to come back to the road instead of running away to the field where they stood now. But they were reluctant. Life was dear to them just as it was to us !

With me there was my colleague who personally knew the second in command of the state police who thought it fit to call this officer for helping us to get out of this possible one way battle field. Though he could talk to him over phone he communicated his inability to help as he was out of the state. Then there was my boss who held the position of an executive director of our Navaratna PSU who thought of talking to the police officers on the road to help us out. He was not allowed to meet them.

Then all of a sudden we saw a vehicle fitted with loud speakers moving slowly towards the police picket on the highway calling out the people to gather. A few of the villagers began to move towards their leaders from the field. Then all of a sudden the police began to fire tear gas shells towards the place we were standing with our vehicles parked on the raw field, about 150 meters away from the high way. The shells began to explode over our heads, one just a few meters away from me. And there was no place for us to run from there at this age of ours when we are just a couple of years from retirement!

The police fired 16 shells on us and it is only God's grace that none of us got injured or dead so ungracefully ! We just did not understand what prompted the police to act in this manner and do such a thing ! We had to be on this battle field created by the police for nearly 3 hours before we were finally allowed to move out.

Fortunately for us, nothing happened to us and escaped unhurt. But that was not so for a poor villager. He lost his life. He was apparently run over by the riot control vehicle of the police !

The political and the administrative leadership in this country is slowly losing their wisdom and patience. It appears that those qualities are getting replaced  with arrogancy, pride and contempt to fellow citizens.

Forgetting what Gandhiji had taught and demonstrated may not be good for modern India in the long run !

People who do not believe in democratic processes and those helping failure of democracy directly or indirectly by causing alienation of people from the administrative machinery should be doing a good thing if they spend some time to think about the power of non-violence in achieving the best in a society and for their nation !

May God give them the wisdom for that !

[View the linked list of all Blogs of the Author Here ] 

The More Learned You are, the More You Respect Others !

"The higher a person's education, the more respect he has for the knowledge, experience, and opinions of others."

The above is a quote from my favorite book. (The Urantia Book: to know more about it visit the Urantia-India Website ! )

I have personally experienced the truthfulness of this statement. I can say that it is a universal truth.

We need to be educated and well trained to respect others. The lesser the education, the lesser we respect others.

The more the number of less educated people, the more the chances of conflicts arising out of disrespect to each others' opinions and viewpoints.

In the final analysis, when the majority are with inferior education, peace and harmony seldom set in.

You can agree to this view point only if you are educated ! But remember, education doesn't mean acquiring formal certificates from schools, colleges and universities!

A formal education is not going to enhance a person's wisdom. So real education is the sum of a person's knowledge, skills, experience, life observations, self generated thoughts and ideas, etc all proportionately mixed with intelligence , common sense and the willingness to learn from others.

If a person is truly educated, the first thing that he or she would realize would be the fact that his knowledge is too little. And that realization is a great knowledge!

Many people having many formal educational certificates from formal educational institutions are only people who have acquired some essential tools required for true education. They may or may not use those tools later in their lives. So, all such people are not necessarily educated in the real sense of meaning that the word educated imply.

When people initially go through formal education, they tend to believe that they have known everything in this world and there is nothing remaining to be learnt. That is because pride and ego filling their minds to make it blind. Such mind blinded persons soon become too incapacitated to learn any further and soon become ill-educated persons. They soon would become high level boasters making themselves a laughing stock among people while they themselves would be too unaware of such happenings around them.

On the other hand truly educated people continue to learn through out their lives and become too less talkative. They would give their advises and opinions only to those who are willing to listen to them and they would never force any one to side with their opinions or suggestions. Because they understand life much better than those less educated ones all around!

So if any one is disrespectful of others, it only shows that the person is not so well educated. He or she is still in the process of learning and has much left to learn in life.

[Reproduced and expanded  from the Siliconindia Blogs of the Author]