Musings Own Thoughts

 It is election time in India and even as we are celebrating democracy this election has evoked the least enthusiasm in me on a personal level even though I am very clear about the choice of voting I will make when I visit my voting booth next Monday, May 20, 2024. My blog today is based on what I heard in a podcast by Amit Verma featuring a relatively young economist Rohit Lamba which was a TIL moment for me. For the uninitiated TIL stands for (Today I learned). So what did I learn which gave me a subject for this blog. Why I call this a TIL moment is that this knowledge should count as a tragedy and daily disaster of over 10-15000 daily deaths of children under age 5 should give sleepless nights to the leadership of our nation. Today it is reported that the   under-weight among under-five children ranged from 39% to 75%, stunting from 15.4% to 74% and wasting from 10.6% to 42.3% in different parts of the country. The under 5 mortality rate is 32 per 10,000 births. In sheer numbers th

  This blog relates to the issue of affirmative action by states or individuals to help and give rights to individuals, groups of persons advantages in the form of representation in seats of power, selection reserved in seats for education and jobs.  Genesis of the problem as I view it relate to progress of man in general. As societies and civilizations developed and prospered some kind of restrictions and rules of law were needed. The law of the jungle or concept of might is right or big fish eat small fish had to give way. The hunter gatherer gave way to domestication, agriculture and division of labor. Ownership of land and domestication of animals for human needs started happening. This relatively settled existence lead to leisure and man started to exercise his intellect and instead of living with body consciousness he started become aware of emotions and slowly developed a faculty of thinking. From exercising rudimentary intellect in relation to terrestrial earthly matters he pro

In virtute robur In virtue lies our strength, To uphold our motto, We’ll go to any length, This was the chorus of our school anthem, Don Bosco, Matunga. Let me say one thing which is an abiding memory was is a school where somehow we got an atmosphere which was liberal open and conducive to all round development and most of us were taught to become honest responsible citizens of the nation and be prepared for life. This was certainly in contrast to schools ready to churn out sorted academic achievers more concerned with ranks and academic achievements. Intelligence was emphasized on at the cost of development of intellect. Utilitarian education versus utopian education will always remain a contest in the face of modern world demands where man runs after jobs, degrees, material wealth rather than living a life of true meaning and fulfilment.  Coming back to list of virtues for some reasons when we randomly make a list the top rankers are and lists are based on traditions and cultures an