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Agathiyar and Macaulay: Why Tamilnadu adores Bharathiyar, Periyar, Kamarajar and Annadurai?

Our Prime Minister has recently commented that India should abandon the education policies started by Macaulay during the British rule and produce more Sarvapalli Radhakrishnans. Of course, he has the luxary of addressing people (perhaps with a teleprompter) and never answering any questions. Radhakrishnan was born as Sarvapalli Radhakrishnayya to Sarvapalli Veeraswami and Seethamma, from a Telugu Brahmin family on 5 September 1888 in Tiruttani. Tiruttani is one of the six ‘padaiveedu’ (divine house) of Lord Murugan, who Tamils consider as their God and provider of the Tamil language. He had his early education at Voorhes College in Vellore. This was started by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph and Elizabeth Voorhees of the Reformed Church in America. He joined the Presidency College in Madras when he was 16 and got his Masters degree in 1907. The Wikipedia entry found [1] said he joined philosophy by chance rather than choice, which was not uncommon in his days, often dictated by affordability. His undergraduate Thesis was titled ‘The Ethics of the Vedanta and its Metaphysical Presuppositions’. The criticism of vedanta having no room for ethics was a motivation for his research. This perhaps explains our Prime Minister’s adulation. Radhakrishnan became the President of India and his birthday is celebrated as Teacher’s Day in India. Radhakrishnan grew to be one of the great philosophers in the last century.

Our Prime Minister would not like to recognize that he was in Congress which made him the President following the education he received from the missionary colleges. Osho, who became Bhagwan Rajneesh, was very critical of the choice for Teacher’s day and pointed out that it’s absurd to honor a teacher who has become President, i.e. a politician. [2] This started within a few months after Radhakrishnan becoming a President, which in my view is incorrect. India had just become a Democracy and our population was used to praising the King in his front and so it is not surprising. He served one term as President and may have liked to serve one more term but that was not to be. Radhakrishnan was a beneficiary of the education system started by Macaulay and learned enough to challenge the Christian missionary’s way of portraying Hindusim. William Meston and Alfred George Hogg, advisors of Radhakrishnan commended his Thesis. In turn, Radhakrishnan commended Prof. Hogg as his distinughuished teacher and one of the greatest Christian thinkers we had in India. Our Prime Minsiter and all those criticising Macaulay Education may do well to ask “how did we let Macaulay come here and write our Education policy?” I remember a meme spreading lies about Macaulay being circulated distorting his words. Some blame Moghuls and British for the conditions we were in when Macaulay came (I do not agree with this). In the large scheme of things, his arrival and education policy did help the people of India. Where is India without it’s people?

I wrote this blog on 24 December, the remembrance day for Periyar and MGR, two of the most popular leaders in Tamilnadu in the 20th century. MGR broke away from Karuanidhi’s DMK, started by Annadurai, and started ADMK which became AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), a few years later. Many in India are surprised by the Dravidian movement which has been ruling Tamilnadu since 1967. Some equate it with communism without having any understanding. DMK is as capitalistic as BJP is. Rajaji supported Annadurai when DMK was elected the first time in 1967, more on this later in this blog.

Why has Tamilnadu voted for the Dravidian parties since 1967? To understand this, we need to know Agathiyar. Recently, R. Balakrishnan, a retired IAS officer spoke about the myth of Agathiyar (Agastya) in Tamil. [3] Tamil is among the oldest language still widely spoken. Tholkappiyam, a grammar treatise on Tamil was written more than 2000 years ago. A myth was created by some that Agathiyar was sent from Himalayas during a wedding ceremony of Lord Shiva as the whole population attended the wedding [4]. Earth (which was only the Indian subcontinent in this myth), unable to bear the weight of all devotees, tilted with North going down and South going up. To bring balance, Agathiyar, a dwarf saint, was sent to South by Lord Shiva. Agathiyar saw Deccan to have grown too tall, higher than Himalayas and stepped on it and reduced its height. He thought Deccan had become too arrogant with undue height and had to be taught a lesson.

He brought some water enroute, kaveri river given by Shiva in a small vessel (kamandalam). While he was on a meditation on Deccan (near what is Thalakaveri, origin of Kaveri river), Lord Ganesha comes as a crow and tilts the vessel and Kaveri starts flowing. When Agathiyar reached South, earth regained the balance and was standing flat (perhaps on the nose of a tortoise which stood all the way down, to borrow the words of Narlikar, one of the posthumous Bharathratna awardees). Agathiyar taught the tribes living in south Tamil which was given to him by Shiva. Shiva apparently gave Tamil to Agastya in Banaras as some others were arrogant and speaking in Sanskrit and not respecting Agastya. According to this myth, he wrote the first grammar book in Tamil which no one has ever seen. He is claimed to be the guru of Tholkappiyar whose Tholkappiyam is available now. Their brilliance in creating a myth to control a population is increcible.

Linguistic scholars know the origin of Tamil and Sanskrit. For people who want to know some history, there are many books and I recommend ‘Tamil a biography’ written by David Shulman. [5] Those who want to believe Sanskrit or Tamil is the oldest and better than the other langauge(s) may continue to believe so and not read this book or learn any history. I was in Agartala recently and went to a Shiva temple there. I saw the statue of Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha. Perhpas, Murugan is not in their mythology. Murugan, the God Tamils worshipped was accommodated as the second son of Shiva in South and became known as Karthik in some parts of India. Clearly, whether Tamil came from Shiva or Murugan, it does not matter anymore. It can be appropriated and given a date after Sanskrit, which I suspect is the reason for creating such myths!

At Agartala temple taken on 22 May 2025

If I look at Agathiyar and Macaulay, the later seems to be an honest real human being who came to India with people stuck on past glory and introduced education for all. Certainly East India Companty did not come to India with the mission to teach and emancipate the locals. They came to make profits. The UK did not start ruling India to uplift the population here but to loot its wealth for its own benefit. Bengal famine was man (Churchill) made and Sashi Tharoor can talk eloquently about this. He may not like to talk about how uppercastes in Kerala used religion and their association with kings to exploit the people. The UK/Europe, likewise, would not like to characterize Churchill as a mass murderer but would characterize Hitler as one. Coming back to Macaulay, Radhakrishnan ‘s advisors from UK, after teaching him research methodology, appreciated his work and gave him the degree. They did not try to shut him down for showing that the view of Christianity about Hinduism was wrong. They were open minded scholars willing to learn from a student. However, those who created the myth of Agastya, would like the myth to continue and they are not open minded to look at any evidence.

Tamil had been in use all over India in the past. Brahui language spoken in northwest Pakistan/Afghanistan is closely related to Tamil and other Dravidian languages. Apparently, Brahui also means ‘God’s language’. Gandhi gave them a way to appropriate Brahui by saying “Ishwar Allah Tere Naam’. However, their reason for existence is to exclude Islam and hence, Urdu a language really developed in India may be considered foreign soon. Those days, everywhere, God was there for explaining things people could not understand. I suppose, this will continue as long as humans manage to keep earth inhabitable for them and survive. As a proverb in Tamil says, what we could learn is only a handful and we could never learn, is like the whole world (கற்றது கைமண் அளவு கல்லாதது உலகளவு).

People speaking Tamil have eventually settled in what is the state of Tamilnadu today in India. Of course, some Tamils have migrated to Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Malaysia [6] where Tamil is one of the official languages. Agathiyar is a mythological individual who was invented to appropriate the people and their language by people who wanted to claim Sanskrit as the mother of all languages. This is the worst anyone can do to someone else. While Prime Minister is condemning the Macaulay education, his party and Governor are trying to propogate the myth today. TN Governor Ravi and his party/group associates are not trying to honour one of the oldest language but trying to appropriate it without ever contributing to it. Tamil scholars have slammed their attempt to recreate the ‘Agashtya expedition’ based on a myth to appropriate what is not their own. [7] According to the report in the Federal website, the organizers of Kasi Tamil Sangam from IIT Madras did not respond to the critique’s comments. Unlike the advisors of Radhakrishnan from UK, the organizers from IIT Madras did not want to listen and discuss but participated in propagating the myth. They are using the IIT Madras created by Nehru who wanted scientific temper to be in the Constitution, to do exactly the opposite. Thinking about it, this is not different from the myth of Agathiyar who was invented to keep the people in dark.

Periyar came from a rich family and joined congress and worked with Rajaji, who was then a tall leader from the Madras presidency. During a visit to Kasi, Periyar was discriminated by the local Brahmins which changed him. In Tamilnadu as well, he did not like Congress party conferences serving food for Brahmins separately. I joined the Indian Institute of Science in 1997 and have written early about its beginning. [8] In this huge campus of about 370 acres, no restaurants were allowed to serve non-vegetarian food. Student hostels had separate vegetarian and non-vegetarian messes and one which served both. In the annual lunch arranged for all faculty and family, non-vegetarian food was not allowed. When I became the Secretary in the Faculty club organizing the annual lunch, I arranged non-vegetarian food for those who prefer that. Not surprisingly, that was a significant majority. While those promoting such myth get annoyed with the ‘minority appeasement’, they promote majority harassment by imposing the minority preferences in public places.

I was in a committee to bring a restaurant in the campus. The committee decided the menu and fixed prices for every item, including vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. When the restaurant opened, only vegetarian items were served. When I inquired with the management, they informed me that some influential people had asked them not to offer non-vegetarian dishes. After complaints from me and others, they started serving non-vegetarian dishes outside the restaurant in an open area. One day, I saw a students group wanting to sit together and the hotel management not allowing them as some of them wanted non-vegetarian and others vegetarians. They wanted to sit together and eat. I complained to the Director that IISc was practicing segregation and the restaurant started serving all items inside. This happened during 2005-2010. I can imagine how it was during Periyar’s time. Most of these staunch vegetarians did not miss a chance to go abroad for their studies, conferences or vacation and rub shoulders with Europeans, Americans, Japanese or Chinese whose primary food is meat, dominated by beef. However, they wanted the public space in India to remain vegetarian. No-one can object to how anyone lived in their home or their food preferences. While using public space, forcing a majority to follow your way of life is unacceptable. Recently, Karnataka CM was accused of having non-vegetarian when some of them were celebrating some festival. This must end. Periyar’s fight was not just about food.

Rajaji as Chief Minister of Tamilnadu did a few things that costed his position twice. During his term as CM before independence, he enforced Hindi and lost his seat. He asked Tamils to speak Hindi on the street and Tamil at home. I have written two other blogs on this issue [9,10] for those who are interested to learn more. Two things he did as CM in 1950s was to close down a large number of Government schools and introduce vacational training (kula kalvi) for students to learn their family skills, carpentry, goldsmith, … Periyar opposed both strongly and encouraged Kamaraj to take on Rajaji within Congress. Rajaji was forced to resign and his candidate for CM was defeated by Kamaraj who became the CM. Periyar asked Kamaraj to fight in Gudiyatham, far from his home, to become a Congress MLA. Annadurai did not field any candidate from DMK. Kamaraj won the election against a communist candidate.

On becoming CM, he re-opened all the schools closed by Rajaji. He stopped ‘kula kalvi’ plan of Rajaji. Kamaraj is called a ‘Leader who opened the eyes of the people through education’ (கல்விக் கண் திறந்த தலைவர்) in Tamilnadu. He is considered by some historians as the first Dravidian CM in Tamilnadu. Later, as Congress CM, when he was trying to impose Hindi, Annadurai led DMK to defeat him. In 1967, when Annadurai won and formed the first DMK Government, Rajaji was supporting him. Let me repeat: Periyar and Annadurai supported Kamaraj to become Congress CM against the policies to deny education for all. Rajaji supported Annadurai to defeat Kamaraj as he did not like some of the policies of Congress at that time. Annadurai as CM, changed the name of the state to Tamil Nadu and led Tamilnadu for two years before passing away in 1969. Like some feel about Patel who passed away within a few years after Independence, I wish Annadurai lived a few more years. Today, in Tamilnadu, one group claims Bharathiyar mentioned Tamilnadu before Annadurai. This is tried after the attempt by TN Governor Ravi to suggest the name of the state to be Tamilagam received a lukewarm response. One of the legislations Annadurai brought was to legalize marriages that were conducted without any rituals sanctified by a religious leader. As I have mentioned in another blog, my marriage was conducted this way.

During the first half of twentieth century several social reformers were fighting against caste based discrimination of fellow humans in Hinduism. Different leaders chose different paths. Ambedkar converted to Buddhism. Narayana Guru did not convert but reformed Hinduism in Kerala and ensured that upper castes do not exploit lower castes. Ramalinga Vallalar denounced all rituals and promoted worshipping only light without any form. He wore only white clothes. Gandhi preached against untouchability and wanted the temples to be opened for all castes. He had a lot of discussion with Periyar and Ambedkar about social reforms. Shahu Maharaj in Kohlapur started schools for everyone including women. When I visited Shivaji University Kohlapur, I was gifted a biography of Shahu Maharaj which was dedicated to some of the reformers including Periyar, image shown below. [11] Periyar chose atheism as he was convinced that much of the population was controlled by religion to keep them in dark. For those who follow Tamil, I would encourage you to listen to the speech in the video of Reference 4 below. For others, I have given the gist above. Periyar and Rajaji remained friends for life and they both lived to mid 90s.

Oplus_17170464

Bharathiyar’s poems are being discussed in Tamilnadu today with every group making different claims. Bharathiyar is one of my favourite poet. I have mentioned often that he deserved the Nobel in literature except that he wrote mostly in Tamil and in his time, no one could promote him. He passed away when he was only 39 and had written from his childhood until his death. I have read his translation of Bhagavad Gita in Tamil with a long Introduction written by him. He was a staunch devotee of Krishna and wrote many poems on Krishna. He was a liberal at heart and wrote about women’s liberation and abolition of caste as well. He evolved and naturally his views evolved. For those who can follow Tamil, I recommend Sugi Sivam’s speech on this issue [12]. Towards his last years Bharathiyaar wrote “கடலினைத் தாவும் குரங்கும், வெங் கனலிற் பிறந்ததோர் செவ்விதழ்ப் பெண்ணும், வடமலை தாழ்ந்தத னாலே தெற்கில் வந்து சமன்செயும் குட்டை முனியும், நதியி னுள்ளேமுழு கிப்போய் அந்த நாகர் உலகிலோர் பாம்பின் மகளை விதியுற வேமணம் செய்த திறல் வீமனும் கற்பனை என்பது கண்டோம்”. In English “We now understand that the monkey flying over an ocean (hanuman), a beautiful woman born in a fire, the dwarf saint coming from Himalayas to balance the earth (agastya), and Bima who went under water to the Naga world to marry a snake’s daughter are all fictions’. Today, as every political party in Tamilnadu tries to own him and ask their friends to condemn him, the fact is Bharathidasan, who changed his original name of Subburathinam was active in Dravidian politics. Kalki (author of the popular novel Ponniyin Selvan and Congress supporter in those days) started promoting Bharathiyar only after his death and did not appreciate Bharathiyar’s progressive writing.

To conclude, I find those who created a myth of Agathiyar to appropriate Tamil to be more evil than Macaulay who came here and drafted an Educational policy to take education to all. The Union Government introduced the Viswakarma Program recently, which made Rajaji lose his CM position in TN. At the same time, the Government introduced a plan to take students from Gurukul (studying Vedas?) to IIT (13). On the one hand, they claim Vedas have everything that we can ever know. On the other hand, they sneak through a plan to admit students from Gurukul to IIT. If this is not an admission that Vedas do not have everything and in today’s India IIT education promises a good life, what else can be? If one were to think logically, Government should have given a plan to admit students who may qualify for Viswakarma program to IIT and help them update their skills at the Indian Institutes of Technologies. They have introduced a plan to stop the education of people who work with their hands. They introduce special plans to give IIT Education to students who go to Gurukul! Tamilnadu Government rejected the Viswakarma program and introduced another bill to support people who are above 30. Union Government introduced the bill to support youth just after their highschool. I wish a middle ground is found.

No wonder, most people in Tamilnadu today remember the important contributions of Bharathiyar, Periyar, Kamarjar and Annadurai as education for all became a motto in the state. This was continued by every CM after them from Karunanidhi, MGR, Jeyalalitha and now Stalin. The results are clear for those who want to see. Empowering the population can be the only goal for any Government. If a Government tries to promote a myth as knowledge to keep the people in dark, I would be doubtful of their intentions. Home minister wants to remove English and introduce Hindi which neither has great literature as Tamil or Sanskrit nor modern knowledge as English. Is this yet another way of keeping people in the dark? Mohan Bhagawat says he would not care about the Constitution and India is a Hindu Nation. Modi says he and Gawai rose to their positions thanks to the Constitution. I would like our Constitution to guide our growth.

References:

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarvepalli_Radhakrishnan Found on 24 December 2025.
  2. https://www.osho.com/osho-online-library/osho-talks/celebration-completion-radhakrishnan-a643cc1a-4ad?p=79716b3b872b30cfa6ab1cf65246c88a Found on 24 December 2025
  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlWlMJZwfhA Agashtyar: A relook. Speech in Tamil.
  4. https://youtu.be/EUhLto9aQLc?si=cR4zYuoHVR0HXON7 Listened on 24 December 2025
  5. David Shulman, Tamil a biography 2016 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29940795-tamil
  6. Somewhat coincidentally (helped by Google and AI?) an audio-recording of a speech in Tamil by M R Radha in Malaysia was recommended by YouTube. I would recommend this for anyone interested in learning how Tamilnadu and Malaysia were in those days. https://youtu.be/LdgXUgrZaBw?si=aKEJbglkoc9e_cVw
  7. https://thefederal.com/category/states/south/tamil-nadu/tamil-scholar-tenkasi-to-kashi-agasthya-expedition-217197 (Found on 24 December 2025).
  8. https://earunan.org/2018/05/27/j-n-tata-planned-the-indian-institute-of-science-and-swami-vivekananda-did-not-influence-it/
  9. https://earunan.org/2025/10/21/birth-centenary-of-m-ilanchezhiyan-social-activist-writer-and-an-excellent-academic/
  10. https://earunan.org/2019/09/14/languages-in-india-some-experiences-and-a-suggestion/
  11. Jaysingrao Pawar, “Rajarshi Shahu Chhatrapati: A social revolutionary”, Maharashtra Ithihas Probodhini, Kohlapur. 2013.
  12. திருப்பரங்குன்றம் யாருக்கு சொந்தம் | Suki Sivam Speech | Thiruparankundram – YouTube Accessed on 24 December 2025.
  13. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/government-throws-open-iits-for-students-from-gurukuls/articleshow/122961118.cms#:~:text=India’s%20education%20policy%20is%20undergoing,modern%20scientific%20and%20academic%20inquiry. (Accessed on 25 December 2025)
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Birth centenary of M. Ilanchezhiyan, social activist, writer and an excellent academic!

Some time ago, one of my colleague informed me of a space-time graph in which one can place individuals depending on the influence they had. All humans have the common origin and each one is represented by a point depending on how far their name and fame extended in space and time. Most human beings lie very close to the origin with their influence only extending to their family in their lifetime. Leaders who transformed societies for the better or worse would appear diagonally far away from the origin, as their influence goes beyond their birth place and date. This graph has only positive axes. The distance between the person and those who learn about the person is given in x axis and the time difference between the two is given in y axis. As one can see, no one who lived before the person’s time could know about the person. Some names that come to my mind are Thiruvalluvar, Auvayyar, Buddha, Asoka, Jesus, Raja Raja Chola, Cleopatra, Da Vinci, Napolean, Lincoln, Marx, Hitler and Gandhi. These people are known to many living all over the world for centuries after their birth. It is likely that there are several others in the human history who made contributions which influenced beyond their time and space but remain anonymous. During the time of Goutam Buddha and Mahavir, Makkhali Gosala founded Ajivika (aseevakam in Tamil) and he remains unknown to most now (1). From what I read, Makhali Gosala had thoughts that resonate with me today. Both he and his religion have disappeared now and maybe humanity had been influenced by his thought without knowing. Considering my experience over the last 60 years, I can think of a few whose contributions last but their names fade away. Several of the very influential people that I had known when I was young, are virtually unknown to the youth of today. A. R. Venkatachalapathy, Sahitya Academy winner for Tamil books in 2024, wrote the biography of V. O. Chidambaram Pillai (2), who is popularly called as ‘Kappalottiya Thamizhan’ (Tamil who owned a ship). To my surprise, I found out that most of the youth of today have not heard of him.

Today, 21 October 2025 happens to be the birth centenary of Prof. M. Ilanchezhian who lived in Chennai and Kanchipuram and contributed a lot in his lifetime. I suspect, very few living today know of him. I must reveal that I got to know him as he happens to be my wife’s uncle (elder brother of her father).

There is a Wikipedia page on Prof. M. Ilanchezhian now (3). He was born as the first child of Manikkavasagam and Abirami Ammal in Perunagar near Kanchipuram on 21 October 1925. Father Manikkavasgam was very concerned about the disparity in society we had during his time. Besides, the status of Tamil language in the then Madras state was rather poor. India has a group of people who managed to remain powerful and Tamil was mentioned as ‘narabasha’ (language for the people) and Sanskrit was mentioned as Devabasha. Besides, all classical music festivals would have songs in Telugu and Tamil was forbidden. Tamil is among the oldest language that is still widely spoken and has a rich literature starting from more than two millennia ago. In the middle of last century, Dhandapani Desikar sang in Tamil in Madras (Chennai now) and this upset the organizers. They decided to wash the stage with cow urine claiming the stage has been polluted (4). The popular magazine Kalki wrote an editorial justifying the action. This was strongly condemned by many in the state. After sensing the mood in the state, editor and popular novelist Kalki changed his stand. He had himself written beautiful songs in Tamil (kaatrinilae varum geetham comes to mind). This was sung by M. S. Subbulakshmi and the song was very popular (5). His novel Ponniyin Selvan was very popular as well and made into to a successful movie recently by Maniratnam. Nadars were not allowed to enter the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai and Mookka Nadar was lynched for defying the ban. I have written another blog on this (6). Times have indeed changed now. Recently, I visited Thiruchendur and found out that Shiv Nadar had donated for renovation of the Temple. I understand he donated funds for building the Kalaingar Karunanidhi Library in my hometome Madurai as well. However, during the first half of 20th century, the situation demanded a social reform movement. For most of the people birth determined what one could hope to do in life. Justice party was founded with the main objective of social justice. This led to the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) and Periyar was invited to lead the organization. Manikka Vasagam was very active in Justice Party and then DK. He had changed his name to Manimozhiyar and was popularly known as Kanchi Manimozhiyar (7). He pushed Annadurai to start a political party and DMK was born. He was an MLA from Saidapet and stepped down to make Karunanidhi an MLA from Saidapet. Though he did not contest, he actively campaigned in the consituency. His son Kumarasamy was with him through all these and changed his name to Ilanchezhian.

Ilanchezhian attended Muthaialupettai High School and completed his SSLC (Secondary School Leaving Certificate), which was after completing 11 years of School. Tamil Nadu had 11+1 school and pre-university before starting college those days. This became 10+2 just after I completed my SSLC. He got BA(Hons) in Economics from Pachaiappa’s College, Madras. He joined Pachaiappa’s College in 1952 as a faculty in Economics. He became a Professor and Head of the Department and moved as Principal at Pachaiappa’s College in Kanchipuram. He also served as Principal at Kandasamy Naidu college before retiring in 1984. However, before he started his academic career, he was actively involved in Justice Party, DK and DMK. He worked as co-editor for the newspaper titled ‘Porwaal’ (War sword) with Manimozhiyar as the Editor. He wrote Editorials which were powerful. His Editorials were published as a book in 2009 (8). He authored a book titled ‘Thamizhan thodutha por’ (War waged by Tamils) telling the story of the anti-Hindi protest that controlled the state politics (9). The cover of the book is shown in the image below. The father-son duo were very active in the social reform movement of the Madras state. It is thanks to the work of many like them that all around development is seen today in Tamil Nadu.

I read a news recently about the Madhya Pradesh Government telling the Supreme Court in India that Caste was founded on Social Harmony (10). When I read a statement like this proposed by a Government or those holding power, I cannot but think how hollow they sound. Ambedkar did not believe Hinduism will solve the problems originating from the caste hierarchy and converted to Buddhism before he passed away. He wrote a book titled ‘Annihilation of Caste’ (11). I would be happy to read from the sections that were at the lower end of caste hierarchy declaring that ‘caste is a western conspiracy and we enjoyed the social harmony’. If these statements come from those who are on top, I see only a conflict of interest. They are justifying a system that allowed them to rule and prosper.

One of the decisions Justice party made was to introduce reservations. Today, it is difficult to miss memes that claim reserved category students got admission after securing zero marks in some parts of India. In 2012, I found out that the minimum marks required form admission to MBBS in Tamil Nadu was very similar across all categories. This was possible as the reservation helped all sections to grow. I wrote an Editorial in Current Science giving the data (12). I had written a blog on reservation in India and affirmative action in the USA earlier (13). I was just reading the autobiography of Katalin Kariko (14), winner of Nobel prize in physiology in 2023. Her father was a butcher and she grew up in postwar Hungary, a communist nation under the umbrelage of USSR. She mentions about school students names ending with F, indicating that their parents are physical labourers. Hungary thought children of labourarers should be educated and created opportunities to do it. Birth should not decide the future f any kid. Most everyone who has completed high school would have learned about the van der Waals equation (15). van der Waals was from a carpenter’s family and Netherlands decided to give education to all when he was young. He started school late and got his Ph. D. when he was 36. It had the equation named after him. Curt Witting was born in a place that was captured by different countries of Europe in his earlier years. His mother took him in a boat to Chicago where he grew up in a bad neighbourhood. Illinois decided to educate all children irrespective of their background. He became a successful experimental physical chemist having a great career at the University of Southern California (16).

Our caste and patriarchy all over the world may have given social harmony, when no one questions hierarchy. As they say, if you love someone, set them free. If they come back they are yours. If not, they were never yours. Using societal controls and planting a narrative of social harmony may bring stability. Not growth. To me this could certainly be one of the reasons for India not growing in the last millennia after having a great past. People like Ilanchezhiyan and Manimozhiyar fought for social justice and to a large extent they achieved it. It is a pity that many who benefitted from their thoughts and actions do not know them. Much worse, some of them are led to believe that they have been cheated by this movement and we should return to the glorious past. I do not know where Prof. Ilanchezhian would appear in the graph, near the origin or away in the diagonal. I am certain that his contributions have helped humanity. On his birth centenary, I remember him with gratitude.

References:

  1. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ajivika I found this to be a good cite to learn some history. Accessed on 21 October 2025.
  2. A. R. Venkatachalapathy, Swadeshi Steam, Penguin Books (2023)
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Ilanchezhian Accessed on 21 October 2025.
  4. I found a historical article on this by a Japanese author and will add this here. Most today are not aware of this and they do not understand the reasons for the protest. This incident was also discussed in ‘Aettikku potti’ a feature in Kalki magazine.
  5. I love this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikqFFjO_2cg
  6. https://earunan.org/2015/02/01/rosa-parks-and-mooka-nadar-recent-tales-from-the-worlds-oldest-and-largest-democracies/
  7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanchi_Manimozhiar accessed on 22 October 2025
  8. Thalayanga Ilakkiyam (Literary Editorials) Vasantha Publications, 2009 (Contains 30 of the impactful editorials published in Porwaal).
  9. Archive can be found here: https://archive.org/details/230225-193143/page/n25/mode/2up The book is still available.
  10. https://indianexpress.com/article/india/madhya-pradesh-govt-caste-system-founded-on-principles-of-social-harmony-10309526/ accessed on 21 October 2025.
  11. https://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/mmt/ambedkar/web/readings/aoc_print_2004.pdf accessed on 21 October 2025.
  12. Editorial available online 0555.pdf accessed on 21 October 2025.
  13. https://earunan.org/2015/05/27/reservation-vs-merit-in-india-or-affirmative-action-vs-equal-opportunity-in-the-usa/
  14. https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/462526/breaking-through-by-kariko-katalin/9781529936391 accessed on 21 October 2025.
  15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_der_Waals_equation accessed on 22 October 2025
  16. https://curtwittig.com/ accessed on 21 October 2025.

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Gandhi, King and Mandela

On this 2nd October 2025, Gandhi Jayanti (birth anniversary), I am trying to remember these three men who had enormous influence in the World. Not just in world politics but also in influencing the masses. I had written a blog earlier about Gandhi’s visit to IISc on 12 July 1927 (1).

I am very active in Facebook and have posted my views on everything that interests me now and then. I watched the movie “American Sniper” directed by Clint Eastwood and released in 2014, recently during a long flight. The sniper (Chris Kyle, performed by Bradley Cooper) says once: An eye for an eye! I was reminded of one of the famous quote by Gandhi: Eye for an eye will make the whole world blind. I posted about this after returning from the trip. Apparently, it is an age-old concept and appears in the book of Exodus in Bible, Old Testament (Exodus 21:24) according to a Google search enabled by AI today. Humanity has been discussing about crime and punishment since we started living as a society. One of the successful movies of Director Shankar, Anniyan, lists out punishments for some crimes from Garudapuranam and it was horrifying. Nassim Nicholas Taleb discusses evolution of moral symmetry in his popular book “Skin in the Game” (2). He talks about silver rule (Do not treat others the way you would not like them to treat you) and golden rule (Treat others the way you would like them to treat you) and says silver rule is better. He points out that the silver rule tells you to mind your own business and not decide what is good for others. I see this in the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who became known as Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma meaning a great soul).

Mohandas was born in a well-to-do family in Porbandar, Gujarat. As a child, he had read the story of Harishchnadra, who would always speak the truth without worrying about the consequences. He trained as a Lawyer at the Inner Temple in London and started practicing law when he was 22. Clearly, he was not an activist yet. After 2 years of not so successful practice in India, he went to South Africa to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit. He lived in South Africa for 21 years. His life in South Africa transformed him completely and he became a civil-rights activist. While traveling in First Class in a train, he was thrown out of the train as First Class was only for the Whites. Most humans, irrespective of their space and time, may have felt discriminated at some point in time in their life. Rarely, any of them recognize that they may have discriminated others in other circumstances. Gandhi was different. He immediately realized that people were discriminated in India based on caste and we had untouchability practiced at that time. He followed the silver rule quoted above. He chose non-violent means to fight for the rights of every human being. His autorbiography was titled ‘Experiments with Truth’ and he embodied truth and non-violence. He returned to India in 1915 and led the freedom movement and is widely considered the Father of Nation in India. Even today, I see a lot of people who are convinced that they should be treated well even while treating fellow citizens with contempt. Ironically, some of them now call Gandhi a hypocrite.

While on a visit to the Indian Institute of Science, he pointed out that the 30 Lakhs donated by Tata and also the generous contributions from the Mysore King, both originated from the same labour of the poor millions! He accused the elites of taking the poor for granted and acting as if ‘they knew what is good for everyone’. One can see why Taleb preferred silver rule to the golden rule. Gandhi wanted all the research efforts to have the welfare of the poor as the main objective. As I mentioned in my blog, I do not really agree with this as a true scientist has to pursue research in search of truth, which Gandhi wanted to represent. The outcome may or maynot benefit the poor immediately or eventually. He said ‘No taxation without representation’ and that is the Skin in the Game given as title by Taleb. I read about the shut down of the US Government which would affect every Government employee, except the ones in Congress and Senate and all those directly involved in the Government. All these law makers have exempted themselves from any such shutdown that would affect salary disbursement to the employees. Clearly, they have no skin in their game. Gandhi did. He influenced the world population significantly. Einstein once remarked: “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth”.

Among the leaders who were significantly influenced by Gandhi are Martin Luther King, the civil rights activist from USA and Nelson Mandela from South Africa. Decades after Gandhi left South Africa, the native africans were exploited by the White settlers. Eventually, the whole world boycotted South Africa and apertheid was lifted and democracy born. Nelson Mandela was in prison for three decades. He was released and won the election to become the President of South Africa. He once remarked: If you want to make peace with your enemy, he becomes your friend. It would have been easier for him to arrest everyone who was responsible for prisoning him and put them in prision. Eye for an eye. Real leaders want everyone to grow together. Clint Eastwood made another great film on Mandela titled ‘Invictus’ with Morgan Freeman portraying Mandela. Despite the uneasy relationship with the White settlers and the native Africans based on mutual lack of trust and respect, Mandela realized the importance of building trust and respect. He also realized the importance of sport and discussed with the White captain of Rugby team Francois Pienaar, played by Matt Daemon and supported them to win the World cup. Mandela’s objective is peaceful coexistence and progress and was never divisive.

Martin Luther King was influenced by Gandhi and led a non-violent movement to end civil discrimination in the US. Though slavery was abolished by Lincoln in the 19th century, discrimination of the native americans and african americans continued until the 1960s. I had written a blog about Rosa Parks, who was asked to vacate a seat in the bus for a white man earlier (3). When a White law maker reminded King that no law will make a white man love a black man, King responded: I want a law that will forbid the White man from beating up a black man. He was particular about the well-being of all his followers. During a march for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery, with a brutal police force awaiting them, King called off the march and returned. His followers were upset, angry and confused. He abandoned the march as he feared for violence and loss of lives. He eventually succeeded in his attempts to get voting rights for every citizen through legal and non-violent means.

The photos taken from https://www.thehansindia.com/hans/opinion/news-analysis/relevancy-of-gandhi-king-mandela-ideals-802437

Prior to Gandhi, we had Buddha and Jesus. One of the popular songs of the cine-actor turned politician, MGR, film starts with the question ‘Why were Buddha, Jesus and Gandhi born? They were born to uplift the humans’ (4). This was written by Vaali, who had penned many songs for MGR. MGR in another film song, also written by Vaali, characterized Annadurai, the first CM of Tamil Nadu from the Dravidian movement as Gandhi of South (5). Annadurai was always against his party workers losing their life and career and he advised them to be mindful of their responsibilities. He brought in changes to the society through convincing people, winning elections and bringing in laws. One such law sanctifies marriages conducted without any rituals and not sanctifed by a religious head. Somewhat coincidentally, my marriage was conducted in this way and it is legal thanks to the law he brought in. Taleb in his book classifies people in to three different kinds: People with no skin in the game, skin in the game and skin in the game of others or soul in the game. His example for the three kinds are politicians, activists and revolutionaries (dissidents). Those with no skin in the game seek awards, prizes, honors, ceremonies and medals. Those who have soul in their game get the highest (even only) award which is death for one’s ideas and positions. He lists Socrates, Jesus, Saint Catherine, Hypatia and Joan of Arc. We have added Gandhi and King to the list. Thankfully, Mandela had a full life. Buddha managed it too. However, the powers that be who were affected by Buddha’s rebel could ensure that his fight against rituals was annuled eventually. Will the humanity ever learn and progress together?

References:

  1. https://earunan.org/2017/07/11/indian-institute-of-science-on-12th-of-july-mahatma-gandhi-and-morris-travers/
  2. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, “Skin in the game: Hidden asymmetries in daily life”, Penguin Books, printed in India by Thomson Press India Limited, New Delhi. Page 19.
  3. https://earunan.org/2015/02/01/rosa-parks-and-mooka-nadar-recent-tales-from-the-worlds-oldest-and-largest-democracies/
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TsCVgK5umM
  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY3Q-PDv9qg

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Science and politics

The organizers of the Astronomy Olympiad this year decided to suspend Israel from participation over its military actions in Gaza (1). I learnt from someone that a similar decision suspending Russia was taken in the previous edition following Russia’s war against Ukraine. A group of scientists have complained to the Prime Minister of India (2). They urged the PMO to take swift action urging the government to step in and create clear guidelines to prevent future events from being politicised. My personal view on this topic is that Scientists should raise above the differences that erupt between nations from time to time and continue people to people interactions. Not only science, sports, arts and all other activities that involve participation from the public should continue as much as possible. Banning cricket with Pakistan is invariably done all the time by BCCI and Indian Government. I was lucky to have had a chance to visit Karachi to attend a scientific conference in 2014. I enjoyed my visit and found that people there are very much like us.

I have been an Editor for the Journal of Molecular Structure. After the Ukraine war, the group of Editors of this Journal decided to ban articles from authors with Russian affiliation. I strongly objected to this and asked them if they considered any such action when the US started an unprovoked war against Iraq. There was no response to this pointed question. Significant majority of the Editors were from Europe and with a majority decision, the Journal stopped accepting articles from Russia. The publisher Elsevier did not follow this policy. They permitted the Editors to reject papers from Russia, as Editors make the final decision about accepting a manuscript. None of the other Journals published by Elsevier did this. Though, I objected, I let the majority decide and did not handle manuscripts from Russia. After sometime, Editors decided to stop this ban. Both announcements were made in public in the Journal website and I am not disclosing any private information (3).

Despite my personal views on this, I find the letter written by 300+ scientists as the real, narrow political activism and not the decision by Olympiad. As mentioned above, the same organization has suspended Russian participation after the Ukraine war. Firstly, the letter misleads the Government by claiming some Indian scientists hijacked the forum and took this action to embarrass the Government. This is a very difficult conclusion to reach given the history of the organization. The event this year happened in TIFR. However, the Olympiad organization has representatives from many countries. They have released a statement clearing the air (4), which reads as follows : “The resolution to suspend Israel from future International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) editions over its military actions in Gaza was taken by an overwhelming majority of the international board consisting of over 120 individuals from 63 different countries”. They were worried about the starvation and genocide in Gaza and decided that they should take some action. On 10th August 2025, an emergency security council meeting of the UN has warned Israel from taking over Gaza (5). Clearly, the Astronomy Olympiad was not acting in isolation driven by any ideology. Perhaps, acting on humanitarian considerations and worrying about mass murder are some condemnable ‘ideology’ for the group of scientists who have condemned the faculty members from India and complained to the PMO. None of them had any clue that within a short period, Indian PM will attend the SCO meet in China and join the condemnation of US and Israel for their unprovoked attack on Iran (6).

The action by the Indian scientists is rather unfortunate. Should scientists have any consideration beyond their work? There is no right answer to this question. Saha felt Scientists should be active in nation building and join the freedom fight. He wanted to write a science policy for India before independence. Raman felt it was not for scientists to do this and was focusing on his work. The book by Abha Sur titled Dispersed Radiance discusses this in detail (7). Einstein wrote to the US president persuading US to work on nuclear bomb to stop Germany. He would not have imagined that Germany would stop before the nuclear bomb and use of nuclear bomb on Japan may not have been necessary to stop Japan which was already down. It is very difficult to justify the second bomb on Nagasaki. I did visit Hiroshima and one becomes numb looking at the museum there. Nuclear bombs are the result of chain reactions but the chain reaction this created in pushing more and more nations to go nuclear is extremely dangerous. Though Einstein wrote to the US President to go nuclear, I am not sure if he wrote to any Government urging them to take action on any other scientist. The American Chemical Society had concerns about the role played by Peter Debye in Germany and contemplated withdrawing his name from the award given for contributions to physical chemistry. The award continues in Debye’s name. I had written an article on Debye in Resonance which gives some references to this (8).

I read the letter and none of the accusations would stand any scrutiny. The Olympiad released the statement taking responsibility for the action. South Africa was practicing apartheid and international boycatt did help in bringing an end to the apertheid. India played the first cricket match with South Africa when the apartheid and boycatt ended.

I joined the International Advisory Board of the Horizons in Hydrogen Bond Research Conference in 2011, just after successfully completing an IUPAC project to redefine hydrogen bond. When I joined the board, most of the members were from Europe with few from the USA and one from Japan and none from India. I have been attending this biannual conference without fail ever since. The series of conferences goes back to 1977 and was started by Prof. Lucjan Sobczyk in Poland. This year it will be in Germany (9). In 2015, the conference was held in Poland and there was a felicitation of Prof. Sobczyk. I was moved by his talk after the felicitation. He mentioned that scientists used this conference to meet continuously during the cold war. The conference alternated between East and West Europe and was never held anywhere else in the globe. In 2011, I volunteered to organize this in India and the committee turned it down. I realized the reason when I was listening to Prof. Sobczyk. Everything changes with time and in particular politics. India will host this conference in 2027 with Prof. Aloke Das of IISER, Pune as the convener. I only wish the Scientists from India did not write any such letter to PMO accusing the fellow scientists and showed some maturity.

References:

  1. https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/astronomy-olympiad-held-in-mumbai-this-year-suspends-israel-from-future-editions/article69954499.ece (accessed on 2 September 2025)
  2. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/israels-ouster-from-mumbai-event-splits-indian-scientists/articleshow/123574227.cms (accessed on 2 September 2025)
  3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-molecular-structure/about/announcements (Accessed on 2 September 2025).
  4. ‘https://sciencechronicle.in/2025/08/31/ioaa-statement-clears-the-air-on-israels-suspension-from-future-astronomy-olympiad-events/ (Accessed on 2 September 2025).
  5. https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/04/1161816 (accessed on2 September 2025)
  6. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/international/india-joins-sco-nations-in-condemning-israel-u-s-pahalgam-finds-mention-in-tianjin-declaration/videoshow/123632965.cms (Accessed on 2 September 2025).
  7. https://navayana.org/books/2012/10/10/dispersed-radiance-caste-gender-and-modern-science-in-india/?v=13b5bfe96f3e
  8. E. Arunan, “Peter Debye” Resonance, Journal of Education December 2010 http://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/reso/015/12/1056-1059
  9. https://hbond2025.desy.de/ (Accessed on 2 September 2025)
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Even by crossing the oceans, chase wealth!

I suspect anyone who has seen the title and decided to read this blog could guess what I plan to write. Fulfilling an election promise, Trump decided to deport illegal immigrants from various countries in an army flight. Columbian President Gustavo Petro posted bravely lecturing Trump and within a few hours had to toe the line. He decided not to let US deport Citizens of Columbia in an Army flight as criminals and arranged Columbian flight to bring its citizens back with some diginity. An army flight from US deported 104 Indian citizens and the men among them were handcuffed and chained during the long flight that landed in Amritsar. Some are pointing out that the illegal immigrants have indeed committed a crime and deserved the treatment. Opposition parties are appalled at the inhuman treatment of Indian citizens. External affairs minister has pointed out that US has been deporting our citizens periodically and about 15000 have been deported since 2009, when the second UPA term started. I do not have any comments about the reactions of the ruling or opposition parties. I was thinking about my flight to USA in 1986, when I went to the Kansas State University to do my Ph. D and some of what I have read in Tamil.

During the mid 1980s, there used to be email groups in the USA, named soc.culture.xxx where members could exchange emails among themselves. This could be the earliest avatar of social media, like Facebook, Twitter or WhatsApp. I joined the soc.culture.india. I found one email with a title ‘x+1 syndrome’. It discussed about the life of a typical graduate student, like me, coming from India. I could relate to some parts of the article. When one reaches US, take some photographs in front of the University/Department and send it by airmail to the family to be received in typically 2 weeks time. The first car, first snow, and many other things are recorded in a film, devloped into a photo and sent by airmail. In a few years, the student would be informed by the parents that a suitable girl could be found for him to be married. Student goes home, gets married and returns to US with the bride. In due course, wife is expecting. The next sentence I read, hurt my pride: No right thinking parents in law would like to have their grand kid born in India, given the American alternative. I did not like this. I found out that I did not follow some of the typical characteristics given of a graduate student from India. My answer about ‘what would you do after studies?’ did not change throughout my stay there: Return to India. The article points out how it changes over a period of time. The main theme of that article was that no one returns from US and they keep saying they would return in the x+1 year with x changing always. I did get married and fortunately for me, my wife was also keen on returning home. I was prepared to accept a job wherever I would get. IITs, IISc, State Universities, Colleges, high schools wherever, as decision to return was final. It did not depend on what job I might get. We returned in 1994 and lived here since then. I have no regrets. I read news about some parents opting for pre-mature delivery, just in case Trump would bring in a law that would forbid their kids from being citizens of US. As I mentioned in a WhatsApp group, this is where the line dividing desire and greed blur. Greed could lead to disaster.

There is a proverb in Tamil which says ‘திரை கடலோடியும் திரவியம் தேடு’ (thirai kadalodiyum thiraviyam thedu) which roughly translates as the title of this blog. Literally ‘Run through the ocean and search for wealth’! Of course no one can run through the ocean and I am sure everyone gets the essence of this proverb. Wealth is important and only the super rich can say ‘money does not bring happiness’. Everyone else needs money to lead a dignified life. Most would like to find an honest way to earn what is needed. Those who are unable to earn what they consider as ‘enough’ where they are born, go wherever required to earn more. It could be to the nearby or far away cities in India or Abroad. This has been happening for several millennia. Columbus wanted to go to India through West and ended up in West Indies, which he was convinced was India until he died. There is a good satire by Trevor Noah, about Columbus’s confidence which comes naturally for the rich and affluent (1). Poor may be more doubtful about what they do.

Large number of Keralaites have gone to Arab nations in the recent decades leaving the family in Kerala with the hope of raising the standard of their families. Canada has a significant number of Sikhs. US had 5.1 million people of Indian origin, 1.47 % of its population in 2023 according to Wikepedia now (2). Gujarat and Panjab used to dominate the list of immigrants in the past and in recent decades people from Andhra, Telengana, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala are migrating in large numbers. Most readers may have heard about ‘ABCD’ meaning, American Born Confused Desi. One of my friend told me about ABCDEFGHIJ, American Born Confused Desi Emigrated from Gujarat Housed in Jersey. A Chemistry Professor from Rutgers University gave a seminar in our Department and showed the ballot paper from New Jersey which had the names of the candidates in Gujarati and English. Tamils have migrated to many places in the World over centuries: Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, Canada, France and USA and settled there for good. Tamil is one of the four official languages in Singapore. The great Tamil Poet Bharathiyaar has a poem lamenting the conditions of Hindu workers, from Tamil Nadu, in sugarcane fields in Sri Lanka:

கரும்புத் தோட்டத்திலே – அவர் karumbuth thottaththilae – avar
கால்களும் கைகளும் சோர்ந்து விழும்படி kaalgalum kaigalum sornthu vizhumbadi
வருந்து கின்றனரே! ஹிந்து varunthu kinranarae! hindu
மாதர்தம் நெஞ்சு கொதித்துக் கொதித்துமெய் maathartham nenju kodhithuk kodhithumei
சுருங்குகின்றனரே – அவர் surunguhinranarae – avar
துன்பத்தை நீக்க வழியில்லையோ? ஒரு thunbaththai neekka vazhiyillaiyo? oru
மருந்திதற் கிலையோ? – செக்கு marunthithark killaiyo
மாடுகள் போலுழைத் தேங்குகின்றார், அந்தக்… maadugal poluzhaith thaenguhinraar, anthak …

In 14th Century, Pattinathaar lived in Kaveripoombattinam in what is Tamil Nadu today. He hailed from a rich mercantile family. He sent his son in a ship and asks him to bring weath. The son brought only sacks filled with paddy husks. Pattinathar got upset and angry and locked his son in a room. He went to the harbor and threw the sacks with paddy husks. He saw that they were all gold flakes/dusts and precious gems were hidden inside. He rushed back to the room where his son was locked. Son was not found and only a palm-leaf with a sentence written in Tamil ‘காதற்ற ஊசியும் வாராது தான் கடை வழிக்கே’ (Transliteration: kaathatra oosiyum vaaraathu thaan kadai vazhikae, Translation: Even an earless needle will not come with you in your final journey). In this story, the son is thought to have been divine and Pattinathaar realizes the futility of material life and renounces everything to become a Sanyasi (a Monk). While such stories tell us about some hard facts in life, we cannot forget that living in this world requires money / wealth. I remember another proverb in Tamil which says “பொருள் இல்லார்க்கு இவ்வுலகம் இல்லை, அருளில்லார்க்கு அவ்வுலகம் இல்லை” Porul illaarkku ivvulagam illai, arul illaarkku avvulagam illai, which means ‘this world is not for people without materials, that world (heaven, God’s abode?) is not for people without divine blessings’. (Added on 25 Feb 2025. Following a post by Kathir Krishnamurthy, I realized that this proverb has its origin in Thirukkural, verse 247 which is hardly a surprise: அருளில்லார்க்கு அவ்வுலகம் இல்லை பொருளில்லார்க்கு
இவ்வுலகம் இல்லாகி யாங்கு)

As a Scientist who has no understanding of God, I am not sure if that world exists. We do exist in this world and it is important to earn enough to lead a life with dignity. If one has not learned to earn and lead a life in ‘this world’, perhaps they can go to Himalayas and live alone in search of the other World. There is a popular song in Tamil from the movie Chandrodayam in which MGR and Nagesh act “காசிக்கு போகும் சன்யாசி உன் குடும்பம் என்னாகும் நீ யோசி”, ‘kaasikku pogum sanyaasi un kudumbam ennaagum nee yosi’ which translates into ‘oh monk on your way to Kaasi, did you think about what will happen to your family? My previous blog discussed my views about a Family. For most of us, it is important to find a way to earn and live within our means. I do hope everyone finds a way to lead a life with dignity. One needs to have some desire to earn and improve our lives and be supportive of our family. It is very important not to become greedy. It may be difficult to find out when our desire becomes greed. The recent movie ‘Lucky Bhaskar’ has a story which has the hero realizing this and leading a good life.

References:

  1. Trever Noah, “Where was I” Standup comedy show.
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Americans accessed on 8 February 2025

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Family = Love, affection, duty and right in reasonable measures!

May 15 happens to to be the international day for families. This year it was right in the middle of our Ph.D. interview week and I could not write this blog. I started it later and finally decided to complete this on 31st December 2024 as the world is anxious about the uncertainties all over. We have more than two wars. Election results in USA and several other countries and states in India have been of concern to some who consider themselves as liberals. Rebecca Trager has written a commentary in Chemistry World titled, ‘Trump is a disaster for Science’.1 I am reminded of a blog I wrote in 2017 after Trump won the first term and Modi demonetized Indian currency that led to disaster for numerous poor people in India.2 Clearly, New York Times would not accept 2016 to be the worst year ever. I suspect they would dub 2024 as the worst year.

In every nation and in every society, the importance of a family has been recognized. Liberal philosophers have always pointed out that all humanity is one family. I have mentioned an ancient poem in Tamil written by Kaniyan Poongundranaar which proclaims ‘yaadum oorae yaavarul kaeLir’ (“யாதும் ஊரே யாவரும் கேளிர்”), which means all towns are our town and all people are our relatives. When India became the head of G20 recently, the slogan ‘Vasudeva kudumbakam’ (written in Hindi in the image below) was chosen which means ‘the world is one family’.

While these are esoteric ideas, everyone knows what is practically meant by a family. I think family means, love, affection, duty and right (in Tamil காதல், பாசம், கடமை, உரிமை, kaathal, paasam, kadamai and urimai) among the members of the family and I must add in reasonable measures. Anything in excess cannot be good. The esoteric ideas pointed out above can be taken to mean that there is no need to hate anyone and we should all learn to live and let live. There is a proverb in Tamil which says “தனக்கு மிஞ்சி தான் தான தர்மம் (thanakku minji thaan thaana tharmam)”, which means you can help others and donate what you have after keeping what you need. I think this is applicable for time as well. Unfortunately, this does not tell you what one needs and that is upto the individual to decide. It is worth remembering what Gandhi said: “There is enough in this world for everyone’s need, not enough for a single man’s greed”.

A typical family, for me, starts with a husband and wife, who take a vow to share the good and bad life will bring. In typical marriages in India, this vow is implied and is not spoken loud.3 Whether the marriage is arranged by family or the individuals who are already in love with each other, this vow is important. Love and affection between them are necessary but not sufficient. There is an old proverb in Tamil which says ‘mogam muppathu naal, aasai arubathu naal (infatuation lasts for 30 days and desire lasts for 60 days). Life lasts much longer. It is important for the husband and wife to take responsibility in each others lives and also the liberty to expect help from each other as and when needed. It would be naive to assume that the husband and wife live happily ever after the marriage. Good and bad times will come. Facing them together, enjoying the good times and sailing through the bad times are essential. Love and affection could help in doing this for some time. If one does not recognize the importance of the duty and right that come with marriage, sailing together becomes difficult, especially when the going gets tough. Now, one can see how world as one family is not practical.

The major challenge for humans in a family, is balancing the interests of self and other members of the family. Between husband and wife, as equal partners, this is important from day one. Neither can expect the other person to take care of him/her all the time and it is important to give space and time for the other person. There will be situations in which one member has to do more and by nature there will be situations in which the roles reverse. With children, until they grow up, parents have to provide everything. Unlike the husband-wife relation which is expected to be that of equals, parents-children relation is typically, and rightfully, one sided. We need to take full responsibility for our children until they grow to be independent adults. Often unconditional love and support are given to children by parents. As the children grow and learn to take care of themselves, slowly some responsibility for the family falls on their shoulder. While most humans do feel sympathy when looking at everyone who is suffering, taking responsibility for everyone who suffers is impossible for anyone. Within a family, it is a responsibility and duty to do this. This is expected in a typical family and this cannot be applied to ‘vasudeva kudumbakam’. However, parents should not force or expect their children to be with them and help them always and let them do what they want in their life. In my view, parents are responsible for the children who are brought to this world by their act. This needs to be one-sided relation. Ultimately, the children have to move on and start their families.

I am convinced that every society recognized the importance of the duty and right that come with marriage. In India, Hinduism (broadly encompassing all religions originated and grew in India, perhaps except Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism) emphasized this. The most popular poet from Tamil cinema, Kannadasan, wrote several volumes titled ‘arthamulla indu matham (அர்த்தமுள்ள இந்து மதம்)’ translated as ‘The meaningful Hindu religion’. and there is a popular song of him that begins with these words. It starts by saying ‘the meaningful Hindu religion assigned duties for every human’. This includes duties to the family and also to the society, as every human has several roles to play. Thirukkural in Tamil has a chapter each, outlining the roles of different individuals as well. When one recognizes and accepts the importance of duty and right, this continues for life, and members of the family have to do it without any expectation.

Bhagavad Gita emphasized doing one’s duty without expecting anything in return. This is a deep thought that most would accept individually. However, in practice this can be used for exploitation. Ideally, every one should have the liberty to choose what is his/her duty. However, once chosen, (s)he has to remain dutyful. There will be times when some in the family feel others are not doing their part. This could be real or perceived. It would be human nature to exaggerate one’s own contributions. It would be good to have an open discussion and sort these issues out through discussion. It is important for both parties to talk AND listen. Family is an important unit for humans and every attempt to preserve it is essential in my view. As long as family survives, the humanity can survive. Any attempts to dislodge the family structure would be viewed with skepticism by people at large. Perhaps that explains some of the election results. I wish everyone a happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous new year!

References:

  1. Rebecca Trager, Trump is a disaster for Science, Chemistry World, page 6, December 2024 issue.
  2. 2017 will be a great year for India and the World! | earunan
  3. I found this vow on the web: “I take you to be my wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part”. There is a beautiful Tamil film song from Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya which has this vow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXa-wbiXiOw In case you know this song, the first line is worth remembering and it is equally important to realize that the second line implies blind love, that cannot last forever. If it does, it is comparable to fatal attraction.

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Family

My parents: என் பெற்றோர் (En petRor)

My father was born in 1937 in Tallakulam, Madurai to Gurunathapandara Mudaliar and Kamalayee ammal. He was named Aaladi. We had a ‘jeevasamaadhi’ (a grave in which someone alive is buried based on that person’s wish) which was called Aaladi Saami Madam (Saami in Tamil could mean God or Godmen) right next to where he and I were born. Aaladi was a cousin of my great grand-father Nallathambi Mudaliar. My father was born in the family of ‘kaariyakkaarar’, perhaps like a ‘Secretary’ for the group of people in that neighbourhood. This responsibility came by birth. Nallathambi Mudaliar did a lot for the society and when he passed away, the locals insisted that he be buried in their neighbourhood, Parasurampatti in Madurai. We visit his Samadhi twice a year, during Pongal and Chitra festival as a family and pray. He fought in a local election, perhaps to serve the people more but lost the election. Moreover, he lost almost all our wealth in this process as well. My grandfather, Gurunathapandara mudaliar, was a man of principle. He ensured that all loans were settled with interest and my father could start from zero rather than being negative. My father was in pre-University when my grand-father passed away and the responsibility for the family fell on his shoulders at that young age. He joined the small business (cloth merchants) we had. He was an excellent football player and has represented school and played in the city tournaments. His education and football came to a grinding halt after he lost his father. All his life he worked to ensure that the family survived and grew. As we grew, he did a lot to ensure that all our relatives, neighbours, community, and anyone and everyone he got to know could grow. He encouraged everyone to get a good education and work hard.

My mother Chellammal alias Seetha was born to Kulandaivelu Mudaliar (chinna thatha) and Paappammaal in 1941. Kulandaivelu Mudaliar’s elder brother was Sellachaami Mudaliar (periya thatha), who was a born-leader. My mother was one of the five girls born to their parents along with five boys. There could have been a few more babies that did not survive. On the contrary, Sellachaamy Mudaliar and his wife Parattai had only one daughter. Both brothers lived as joint family and all eleven kids lived like having two fathers and two mothers. Periya thatha was the care-taker for the family who made the final decision for the family. They lived in a big bungalow, with two floors and an open-terrace and prayer room in the third floor. This was in the Old Agraharam in Chinna Chokkikulam, just about a km from our ancestral ‘home’. My father was living in a mud-house with tin-sheets on top and there was perhaps only one room with a kerosene stove in the corner. There was no attached bathroom/toilet. We had a well in that area and several other huts. Periya thatha decided that my mother would be married to my father, though the difference in their financial status was huge. My father’s family had a reputation which periya thatha was well aware off. He not only got them married, but also got my father initiated in a new business, as a petroleum dealer.

Before marriage, my father excelled in football and took active interest in the Dravidian politics. He voted positively in the Trichi conference of the newly found DMK in their referundum to decide whether to become a political party or remain as social organization like it’s predecssor DK. When he joined pre-university, he decided to give himself a new name. He liked Balakrishnan but did not want to give a ‘sanskrirtized’ name. He called himself Elangannan (இளங்கண்ணன்) which means the same in Tamil. In Tamilnadu, by then people stopped adding caste name as their last name. Kids were given a name and an initial that came from their father’s name. Hence, my father became G. Elangannan and I became E. Arunan. This is continuing to cause problems for people born in this state as they need to give a first/given name and last/family name everywhere else in India/abroad. My father is third from the left in the top row.

My mother before marriage grew up in the big bungalow. Sellachaamy Mudaliar was very close to Swami Sithbavaananda who ran the Ramakrishna Matt in Thirupparaithurai, near Trichi, called Tapovanam. Swami always stayed in their bungalow when visiting Madurai. Tapovanam ran a boarding school in which all five of my uncles studied until their pre-University. My mother studied in a school in Madurai and excelled in her studies. She got a state-rank in her school final year. My mother is second in the middle row from left.

My mother’s studies ended on getting married to my father in 1959. In addition to the huge differences in their background, my father was a non-vegetarian and my mother was a vegetarian. My mother learned to cook non-vegetarian food as well. Though my father’s family was as religious as every other family those days, my father grew up following the self-respect/Dravidian movements. We have heard that he refused to give a horoscope for checking before their marriage. He named their first son as Thambidhurai and me as Arunan. The third child, a girl was named Vanathi and all these were typical names given by the people involved in the political movement. Their fourth child was a girl as well and my mother preferred to name her Meenakshi, the Goddess whose name invariably follows Madurai, and my father wanted her to be named Bharathi. With a compromise, my second sister became Meenakshi Bharathi, and everyone called her Meenakshi (this is one of the reasons I chose Bharathi as the name of my first daughter). Sellachamy Mudaliar and Chellammal’s influence on my father transformed him dramatically and he became a staunch devotee and a committed family man conscious of his societal responsibilities. The two boys born after Meenakshi were named Sidharthan and Ramalingam.

On Mondays he would not leave home between 7:30 AM and 9:00 AM, as this is considered Ragu kala, an inauspicious time to start anything. His daily routine was leaving home before 8 AM and reaching home around 9 PM. He liked to have a chikki (a sweet toffy made of groundnut and jaggery called kadalai mittai in Tamil) and some betel leaves in the night. I used to go to a petty shop after he comes home to buy these. Those days, buying them in packets and storing them for days or weeks was not common. This was done everyday! As children, we rarely got time to spend with him but could always feel his presence. There was a stick visible at home which was used to warn us by mother at home: Appa will beat you with that stick! I grew up in a time when children aged 5 or more joined 1st Standard in a School. I did my first year of School at Nehru Vidhyalaya in Madurai. My elder brother was already in that school. We were both moved to a school formed by our community in Tallakulam in which my grandfather and father were actively involved. My father learned about T.V.S. Elementary School and felt we should be moved there. He met the school principal repeatedly pleading for admission to his family kids. One year the Principal agreed to admit one student brought by him. He decided to put his elder sister’s son instead of my elder brother in TVS School. His elder sister, my aunt was no more and he felt that her son should be given priority. He continued to visit TVS School pleading to admit his sons/nephews and eventually I was admitted in the 5th Standard. Indeed, that took me to where I am today. That was my third and final school and I had not gone to a kinder garden or pre-school. During the summer holidays after 5th, I was enjoying the vacation and had forgotten that I had to go to school for securing admission to 6th, which was in their High School. I still remember my father coming home during the day reminding me and taking me to the school in his scooter.

My mother was always home and she taught us everything. My handwriting has never been good. I had difficulty in writing 2 after 1 and I remember my mother sitting with me with a slate and chalk and helping me write 2. Discipline was taught from the beginning. I remember winning some lottery, 50 paise during my elementary school days when one Dosai was 20 paise. I told my elder brother and we both went to a hotel near our home to have Dosai. Our mother found this out and when we returned home in the evening, we were beaten heavily for venturing out to a hotel on our own. She told us stories like Ramayanam and Mahabharatham. We learned Thevaram and Thiruvasagam and recited them in the morning and evening. Particularly, in our grand father’s house there was a prayer every morning and evening when all of us would sit and recite these devotional songs for about half an hour. The prayer hall had a photo of all our major Gods, including one of Jesus and Mecca.

My father used to tell us several things as a common wise man from his experience. A few of them I remembered and followed. I do owe whatever I could achieve to these three things (they sound and rhyme better in Tamil and I have given it in Tamil for those who can read): 1. Even if your ship sinks, do not worry (கப்பலே கவுந்தாலும் கன்னத்திலே கை வைக்கக் கூடாது kappalae kavunthaalum kannathilae kaivaikka koodaathu); 2. Let us tie our hair and pull a hill, if it comes it’s a hill and if not we only lose a hair (மயிரைக் கட்டி மலையை  இழுப்போம் வந்தா மலை போனா மயிர், mayiraik katti malayai iluppom, vanthaa malai ponaa mayiru). 3. If we go to a town where everyone is eating crab, ask for the middle piece (நண்டு திங்கிறவங்க ஊருக்குப் போனா, நடுத்துண்டு எனக்கு வேணும்னு கேளு, nandu thingiravan oorukkup ponaa, naduthundu enakku venumnu kaelu). The first one convinced me that I would never worry about anything and focus on what I can do at any given situation. The second one convinced me of the importance of trying our best without worrying about the prospects. And the third one taught me to adapt to the local environment. It helped me live with peace and joy wherever I lived. It is well known as ‘while in Rome do what Romans do’.

My mother’s influence is difficult to write in a few sentences like this. She was always there for us and worked tirelessly. I realized that among our age-group boys, we were perhaps the only ones not to utter any common curse words one hears in every language, everywhere. In general, all of us were well behaved students in the school. Anything we needed, Amma was the first person to be approached.  My father and his younger brother (Nalla Thambi Chithappa) lived as a joint family as well. He and his wife Rajeswari had four children. I remember vividly one day, my chitthappa was carrying the body of a baby within a few days after birth. In 1970, my father, with the support of periya thatha, built 8 houses in a row with tiles on top. Each house had an entrance, a hall and a kitchen. All the eight houses at the end had a continuous 3 feet service area and we had three toilets for the 8 families at the end. Appa and chithappa stayed in the middle two houses which were joined and the other 6 houses were rented. Men and children would take bath right behind the houses, where there was a water tap. Women in the house would all take bath after sending the men to work and children to school. A compound wall separating our houses from the TVS Sangeetha Samajam was there on the other side and there was no roof to this service area. We lived in this house until 1981, when my parents moved to an independent house having toilets at the backside.

I went to USA in 1986 for my PhD and my wife, Thenmozhi alias Gomathi joined me in 1990 when we got married. We had our first daughter born in February 1994 in Urbana. My mother came to USA before delivery and was with us for close to 9 months. My father joined after I got the job at IIT Kanpur. I called him to inform about the job offer and asked him to visit us. I told him that we are returning for good and that would be an ideal time for him to visit USA. Somewhat coincidentally, USA was hosting World Cup Soccer that year. His first response: If you can take me to world cup soccer, I will come. Until then, I was not thinking about going to a game, though in Madurai I used to get season ticket to watch the football tournament every year. I did not know if tickets were available at that time. I told him that, I would try but he should visit us whether or not I succeed. I disconnected the call and called the number available for booking world cup tickets. “Hello, this is World Cup Soccer ticket booking online, can I help you?” “Yes I would like to buy tickets for the Spain-Bolivia game in Chicago” “I can help you with that, how many tickets do you need?” I was not expecting to hear this. I knew Appa and I would go. Would anyone else among my friends be interested? I answered 4! “Here is your confirmation number. Come to the stadium two hours before the game and collect your tickets”. I could not believe it. I called my father immediately and told him: I got the tickets, plan your travel. Then I called some of my friends and asked them: World cup tickets for the game in Chicago are available, are you interested? In a few minutes we needed 10 more tickets. I called the helpline again and I was told: Sold out! My parents during a visit to Niagara Falls in 1994.

My parents complemented each other very well and our house was always full. All our cousins, their friends, and our friends were all at our home almost on a daily basis. My mother cooked delicious food, snacks, made coffee any time and all the time. My father would encourage all of them to do well and enhance our skills. Both of them would host everyone with smiling faces. My father was very active in business associations, our temple priests association, Socio Economic Society (SES, which was formed to help people from our community) and any and all groups he was part of. Our ‘kula theivam’ family god is Sithar in Puliyuran village near Aruppukottai. All those having Sithar as kula theivam come from one clan and they are called ‘pangaali’s, translated as share holders in English. As it may have been typical, in some generation, two brothers must have had an irreconcilable difference and their families and generations since became arch-rivals. Since then we have our pangaalis and ethir-pangaalis (opposite group). The most important festival we celebrated was Sivarathiri. The two groups came to an agreement that they will celebrate the festival and take care of the temple in alternate years. Two groups do nothing together, except on the Tamil New Year day, they would assemble in the Temple and exchange keys. My father did a lot to unite the two factions and now I see more interactions between the two groups. My mother remained the backbone supporting him in everything.

My mother passed away on 18th April 2014, during the Chitra Festival after 55 years of married life. My father passed away on 17th January 2024, during the Pongal Festival. These were the two festivals during which we visit our great grand-father’s samadhi in Parasurampatti. I would have yet another important reason to visit Madurai during these festivals. Today’s generation may not be able to appreciate what they did in their life, starting from agreeing to get married to an ‘incompatible stranger’! They accepted each other whole-heartedly and lived a great life. They have together, raised not only our family, they have raised a village. None of us could have done what we did eventually in our life without their hard-work, unflinching support, love and care. In Tamil, there is a saying ‘annaiyum pithavum munnari theivam’ which translates to ‘mother and father are the primary gods’. In Sanskrit, the saying goes ‘Matha, pitha, guru, theivam’. We have been fortunate to have our primary gods as ideal parents.

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Physical and Mental Health

I am not an expert on physical or mental health. My experiences tell me some things that I like to share with anyone who is interested. These are my views as an individual and these do not represent the views of any other person or an Institution.

What causes a suicide? I have seen suicides happening in various circumstances all the time. A recent newspaper report points out a marginal increase in suicide in 2020 compared to 2019 (1). I wonder if there are as many reasons as the number of cases. If a suicide happens in an academic institutes like IISc, the immediate, and at times, wrong conclusion is academic pressure!

Our Institute has been in the news for wrong reasons in recent times. There were a few suicides in the last couple of years. Institute has taken many steps which include the following: i) Appointing more clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and other health care professionals who can stay with students in the hostel to help them; ii) Every Department/Unit has a committee that can help with anyone in stress; iii) Anyone with an IISc emailid can seek professional help online through the portal yourdost.com in confidence; iv) Anyone with an IISc id, can consult with several professional psychologists in Bangalore without having to take a referral from our health centre (in general, for consulting anyone outside, a referral is needed); and of course we do have a health centre which is more like a primary health centre that has been treating most of us with health related issues. In particular, during the second wave of Covid during April – June 2021, IISc decided not to send all students back home. Our health centre did a remarkable job of keeping our campus healthy. We did lose a few lives to Covid, some of them have been either retired or elderly relatives of one of us, staying out of campus. We lost two excellent staff who were in service, also staying out of campus. Even in these cases, our health centre was very helpful in providing all assistance. We also witnessed a few suicides on campus. In addition to all the steps taken, recently it appears that the administration has decided to change the ceiling fans to wall mounted fans as the ceiling fans had been used for suicides in some cases. Those who were aware of all these steps and those who didn’t know any of these, focused on the removal of ceiling fan to criticize and ridicule the Institute. Of course, everyone knows ceiling fans are not the cause for suicides. I think this step was not needed and this may not affect the suicide rate in any way. Those who are interested can look at this website for more information (2):

From the few recent cases in IISc, that I had some information about, academic pressure was not even one of the reasons. One student had completed his Ph.D. with flying colors and obtained a very good postdoctoral position in Europe. He left a note indicating that he would try to be a better son/brother in the next birth and committed suicide. Another student had depression. Healthcare professionals advised that he be given a break and sent back home. He was sent back home. It turned out that the depression was due to some situation at home. He pleaded for permission to return to the campus which was eventually given. He committed suicide after returning to the campus. For a news reporter, all of these appear as results of academic pressure cooker! Who has time for a detailed analysis and reporting! Besides, on matters like these, it is important to maintain confidentiality and Institute may not be able to share all the information it has.

Mental health is as important as physical health and there is no denying that. Most everyone writing about mental health, seems to indicate that there has been more awareness of mental health now than ever and it should be treated exactly like physical health. Failure, whether in an exam or a relationship can lead to depression. Experiencing a trauma can lead to depression as well. Experienced counselors can help individuals cope up with such failure/trauma. There are several lifestyle practices that affect physical health as well. As adults, it is our responsibility to take care of our health, physical or mental. Institutions like IISc, do have a primary health centre which can provide assistance for common illness. These are not multi-specialty hospitals with experts treating every organs. Doctors in our health centre refer patients needing more care to other hospitals in the city. Now everyone associated with IISc has some insurance and the Institute arranges for treatment without pay or reimbursement of some expenses depending on many things.

I had to interact with a few students who have complained about depression and anxiety. They were getting treatment from counselors. It appeared that for some of these students working in the laboratory caused depression and if they did not have to work they did not have depression. If someone’s health does not allow them to work in a laboratory without depression, it appears that they should find other things to do. Is Institution like IISc free of bullying? Is there any harassment of anyone based on their caste, gender, language, region, religion …? Institute does not allow any such harassment and it has established several mechanisms to counter this. Whether it is IISc or India or any other place in the world, there are rules and regulations. There can be a few individuals who may violate these. It is important in every system to be aware of such possibilities and take measures to prevent harassment and in cases where an individual is caught, take some action. IISc has several such mechanisms and people who were caught have been punished.

Another negative news from IISc in the recent times was about a faculty member being dismissed for sexual harassment. One other faculty member who was guilty was also suspended and this did not come in the news as much. In the much publicized case, it turned out that the action taken by the Institute on the faculty member was not just. He went to court and the court came down heavily on the Institute. Eventually, the faculty member was acquitted though the career of a very successful researcher was cut short. When institutions let media outrage cloud their visions, decisions like removing ceiling fans or firing a faculty member without careful investigation, are taken. In extreme cases, some innocents end up becoming victims. In my view, the reports about the recent suicides in IISc did not have any objective analysis. Blaming academic pressure as the reason for the few recent suicides is as ill-conceived as the plans to remove ceiling fans.

For physical health, there are rules. If anyone cannot work due to health reasons, they are entitled to some sick leave in addition to casual leave every year. If one needs to be away beyond these, faculty and staff could use earned leave or apply for leave without pay. Students are allowed to take 1 month leave. If their physical health does not allow them to attend classes/work in the laboratories beyond one month, there is an option of taking an entire semester off. This would of course delay their progress but gives them time to regain health. It appears that we do not have well laid out rules like these for mental health. It seems obvious that we follow the same rules as for physical health. Often, when someone says they are depressed or they have anxiety and so they cannot attend course or work in the laboratory, those in charge have difficulty in making a decision. While people who are suffering due to depression and anxiety need everyone’s support and care, they cannot be given a degree or a passing grade in an exam because of these reasons. Giving them salary or scholarship for extended periods would be violation of service rules. Whether a faculty, staff or a student has physical or mental health problems, Institute can provide some primary care. Beyond that it is for the individuals, and their family and friends to take care of the health problems. No organization can take care of anyone who needs constant care for a long period of time.

PS: In my previous blog on fatalistic attitude found in our midst, there was a comment pointing out that the blog was ‘meandering with anecdotes’ and concluded that it was a mark of semi-educated politicians. If one thing I have not learned in life, that is to think and act like politicians, educated or not. Of course, that is in my view. I have always referred to K. Kamaraj, a former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, who was not ‘educated’ and did a lot to improve the state. I do share my experiences that may or may not be helpful or relatable to others

References:

  1. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/24-6-per-cent-of-total-suicides-in-2020-by-daily-wage-workers-ncrb-data-shows-7596430/ Accessed on 25 December 2021.
  2. https://www.iisc.ac.in/academics/departments/center-for-counseling-and-support/ Accessed on 25 December 2021.
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Is it the fatalistic attitude that is holding India back?

One thing that is observed about people from India is the aversion to take risk. I share my views on how an average Indian may have acquired this characteristics.

I had quoted this statement of Einstein in another blog earlier. “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”. The way I interpret this quote, one can act like everything is in our hand or nothing is in our hand. Clearly, both these do appear like two extremes. However, a careful analysis reveals that, we have no choice but to act like everything is in our hands. To succeed in life, two things are important: hardwork and some luck. Luck is not in your hands and so one can only depend on hard work. One has to act like everything is in our hands. After all, fortune favors the brave.

From my experience, I have seen that, from our young age, we are told that without God nothing can happen. Let me narrate two stories I heard recently, one from a WhatsApp forward and another from a talk given by a popular speaker in Tamil Sugi Sivam. The WhatsApp forward I received is a story about a devotee in Sri Rangam. In the morning, after the prayers, they distribute ‘prasadam’, food with divine blessings. Often it is ven pongal, a delicious dish made of primarily rice and dhal. One devotee waits first in the queue everyday and demands many servings. Usually, everyone is given one serving. This creates a scene daily. God watches this saga of a faithful devotee everyday and decides to help. God finds out that the devotee is fighting in the queue for more servings every day as he has several kids to be fed and he does not have any income. God then appears in his dream and asks him not to worry about the prasadam. The devotee can go home after praying in the temple. As it was God’s wish, he does that the next day while still worrying about the food for kids. When he reaches home, he is surprised to see the Prasadam delivered at home with enough food for the whole family. When I read this story, I did not like it one bit. Here is an irresponsible devotee who gets married and produces many kids and does not support them. As he is a devotee, God ensures that his family is fed, as he prays. Stories like this should not have been written and shared to all groups. As long as you pray, things will happen for you. That’s a wrong lesson for humans.

Sugi Sivam narrated another story he heard about in one of his speeches. A barber, again a devotee, has an appointment with the king for giving him a hair cut. He walks to the palace well on time and finds some group praying on the way. He joins the prayer and sings and dances in praise of God. When the prayer is over, he realizes that he has missed the appointment. He gets worried and rushes to the palace. Instead of an angry King, he finds the King smiling, feeling good about a nice hair-cut. He thanks the barber for not only keeping his time but also for doing a good job. The barber then finds out that the God had gone to the palace looking like the barber and giving a hair cut to the King as the barber was in prayer. Sugi Sivam felt it was an awful story and I completely agree. Our Bhagavad Gita talks about doing one’s duty without worrying about the results. When did the narrative change to praying without doing one’s duty? Is it the result of assuming nothing is in our hands?

People in India know the importance of monsoon and most everyone who has some knowledge about India would know about the monsoon. A good monsoon helps the Government in power. Though climate modeling is an important area of Science today, predicting Indian monsoon is not so easy. I have heard a phrase ‘vaanam paartha boomi’ (வானம் பார்த்த பூமி) which describes a land mass that looks up to the skies for water. It describes the uncertainty. When Government can fall due to a bad monsoon, what can an individual do. I have heard about how the monsoon controls the economy in India. I was curious to find out how many countries in the world have monsoon. I have lived in the USA for about 8 years and I knew it did not have monsoon like in India. We live in a time when knowledge is in your fingertips, if not everything. I found a website which gave the list of countries having monsoon (1). It also gives the minimum and maximum rain fall during the monsoon. How does one make sense of it?

I decided to subtract the minimum rainfall from the maximum and divide it by the maximum. I thought this would give the uncertainty in the rainfall during monsoon. A number close to 0 would indicate that the average rainfall is what the country gets almost every year. A number close to 1 would indicate that the rainfall during the monsoon could vary widely. Numbers I found were revealing. Let me give a summary of the few countries. Data for 35 countries are available in the website referred above.

Average rain fall in inches

Name Minimum Maximum Uncertainty

Bangladesh 47 118 0.6

Bhutan 55 55 0.0

China 40 80 0.5

India 12 390 0.97

Japan 60 60 0.0

Mexico 23 39 0.41

Niger 9 30 0.7

Pakistan 16 16 0.0

Singapore 92 92 0.0

Sri Lanka 38 100 0.62

US (South) 12 12 0.0

While I did have some idea that the dependence on monsoon may have led most of us to be more fatalistic than the rest of the world, the numbers were stunning. The uncertainty for India is very close to 1 (0.97). That for Japan and U.S.A. (south) are zero. China has an uncertainty of 0.5, but the maximum rainfall it has 85 inches compared to 390 inches for India. This could very well affect the psyche of Indians and our thought processes. Let me compare the stories of Science Fiction movies to illustrate this further.

Back to the Future was a popular SciFi movie from the hollywood that was released in 1985. Michael J Fox was the hero and his life story is interesting in itself. The main point for this blog is that Christopher Lloyd acts as Dr Emmet Brown who creates the time-machine. There was no iffs and buts in the story about creating the time machine. A few years ago, one Tamil movie, titled 24 was based on time travel as well. It has one of my favorite heroes Suriya in a triple role. Father Suriya has been working hard to invent a time-machine. Firstly, he decides to put a limit of 24 hours (title) for the travel. One can see the fear the character has as imagined by the writer. Secondly, he does not discover the time-machine. The story has it that when Suriya was not watching, some wind blows and a leaf falls in to the reaction vessel and the time machine is created. Why can’t we even create something at least in stories, without chance or divine intervention? He is killed by his jealous and greedy younger brother, Suriya again, and the time-machine is lost. Son Suriya grows up as a watch mechanic. Again by two rare events the son gets hold of the time-travel Watch and its key. Both these events happen by chance without the son trying anything.

Another time travel movie came later with a title, Inru, Netru, Naalai (today, yesterday and tomorrow). This story has a time machine appearing from future and some guys getting hold of it and using it. The way the story ends, everything is put back as they were and life goes on without the demon of SciFi discoveries! Manirathnam brought out Navarasa, which had some good and mostly not so good and bad anthologies. (I did not like the Navarasa and each rasa mentioned with Hindi/Sanskrit words for the Tamil movie. Adbutha was a shocker for me and it took me a while to figure out, it was meant to be Arputham (அற்புதம்)). That apart, this story by Karthik Naren was inspired by Christopher Nolan’s Inception and other movies. While one might appreciate the attempt to write and direct a movie such as this, the main character talks about astrology all of a sudden. Seems like, not only the people, even writers in India cannot imagine that everything is in our hands. All these three movies were disappointing in terms of the story lines.

We really cannot do much about the monsoon. We can certainly plan for good and bad monsoon years if we take control of our lives. I wish every Indian is taught to take care of themselves and do the best they can. For it to work, everyone should be able to see some progress as they work hard. This is where the society and country should do their roles. It seems that, birth still controls a lot in India. If every child can get equal opportunity to grow, in the next few generations, we can hope that more of us will depend less on God/Luck.

On a positive note, only recently I learned the phrase Que Sara Sara, and the song by the same title. I had known a song in Tamil that was inspired by this old song. I had not known about the original song earlier. Strangely, the original version from Italy has a mother telling her daughter that ‘what will be will be, the future is not ours to see’. (2) The Tamil adaption, with the same tune and almost similar lyrics had a twist. The mother tells her daughter: You will have a life as you desire (3)!

  1. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-countries-experience-monsoons.html
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pv1XlKpAUc
  3. https://youtu.be/zwi1TYepXEw
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By flattening the earth, Covid-19 has highlighted the pyramids!

The year 2020 began like any other for me. Covid-19, as the name implies, was there already except we had no clue what was in store. I have heard about SARS in 2003, when the International Symposium on Shock Waves, to be held in Beijing, was postponed by a year. This reduced the time we had to organize the 25th International Symposium on Shock Waves in Bangalore in the year 2005. My collaborators from our Aerospace Engineering Department, Profs. KPJ Reddy and G. Jagadeesh played crucial roles in bringing this symposium to India for the first time and making it one of the best in the series. I did not read much about MERS but did read about Nipah virus in some parts of Kerala. During the first national lock down, I did see the Malayalam movie, Virus, which I would recommend to everyone. January and February were as busy as any other year, perhaps busier this year. A collaborator from UK was visiting these two months, I organized one and attended three symposia and had numerous travel, while teaching/attending a course.

In the first week of March, I heard some stories from colleagues who were traveling by air about the restrictions faced. After Kerala, Bangalore was beginning to have some cases. We had planned an in-house symposium (IPC Day) on 14th March, Saturday and IISc had planned the Court Meeting on 13th March 2020. I received an email on 10th March announcing that Court meeting was cancelled. Some students were celebrating holi during 9-10 March in our campus and many were beginning to worry about Covid. Some colleagues were suggesting that IPC day be postponed while many others, including me, thought we should go ahead with the meeting. As the concerns expressed by the few could not be ignored, IPC day was cancelled and the dinner we had planned for the 13th March was cancelled too. Many did feel at that time these were over-reactions. Though IPC day was cancelled, we had the Chemical Dynamics Group meeting on 14th March, in which several research groups participate. When we finished the meeting at 11 AM, Registrar’s email announcing the shutdown was there. IISc decided to ask all students to leave on 14th March and gave a two-day notice. I was glad we had cancelled IPC Day scheduled for 14th March. Campus community was upset and angry and it seemed to me that the Administration had enough reasons to shut down the campus.

IISc announced a two week shut down from 16th March with a 2 day notice. India announced a 3 week shutdown on 24th March with a 4 hour notice! Though some states had announced some restrictions by then, national shut down with a few hours notice appears to be a major blunder today. My reaction at that time was that it was a wise and bold decision. Three week shut down was extended by another two weeks. Since then lock down 3 and 4 happened and unlock down plans were announced. It is now 7 months. While several nations in the world are experiencing the second wave, India has a long wavelength and it is not clear if we have reached the peak of the first wave yet. It took more than 3 months for India to register 100,000 cases and we were having close to 100,000 every day until recently. The total number of cases is getting close to 7 million with more than a 100,000 dead!

In the early days, one of our neighbor lost her father to Covid and she could not go to the funeral. Her experience was horrifying as no one can be with the patient and relatives had a tough time paying last respect. Towards the end of June, one of my nephew caught Covid and he was admitted in the General Rajaji Hospital, Madurai. His experience was different. Many patients were staying in a hall and they were generally having a good time as most of them did not have any symptom. He was discharged after a week without having another test. (In the initial days, a patient had to be tested negative twice with a gap of 2 days before discharge). He did see a few cases of patients suddenly developing breathing problems and dying. Two weeks later, my father was taken to a hospital to check his chest congestion. Based on the CT Scan result, he was considered covid positive. His diagnosis happened when we were having PhD interviews online. To our shock, we could not get a bed for him in any hospital in Madurai. My brothers, niece and the nephew who had recovered from Covid were all trying their best to provide care for my father.

On the night of diagnosis based on CT scan results, he was admitted in the same ward in the General Hospital where my nephew was. However, in the two weeks, situation had become worse and there were no nurses or attenders available. A Doctor would visit once every day. One or two family members were staying with the patient in the SARI ward where many patients suspected of Covid were kept. Let me repeat. One or two attenders were staying with the patient in the ward, helping them. My brothers, nephew and niece took time and stayed with my father in the ward with only a mask and hand sanitizer. They were handling him, changing his diaper, giving him a tissue bath. My family is generally resourceful in Madurai and we could not get a hospital bed for my father at that time.

When we took him to the General hospital he was generally in good shape, except for the chest congestion, and asked ‘Why did you bring me to the hospital?”. He was tested for Covid on admission and the result came negative two days later. However, the next day after admission, he needed oxygen as his blood oxygen level reduced. My nephew’s experience in the ward helped in arranging an oxygen cylinder and it was not easy. During the three days he was there, he could be given oxygen continuously and a family member stayed awake to ensure that the mask was not accidentally removed by my father. My daughter, a Doctor, monitored my father over video calls and helped the others attending to him in person. After 3 days, we could get a bed in a private hospital and shifted him in an ambulance, continuing the oxygen supply. It was an ordeal that kept us worried. He was tested again and he was positive at that time. Once he was admitted in the private hospital room, it was like what one reads about Covid patient’s treatment. No one could visit him. Nurses and Doctors in PPE were caring for him. We could send a phone through an attender and talk to him the next day. He recovered in a week and was brought home after testing negative. He has both BP and sugar and takes tablets regularly. As his condition was critical, I applied for an ePass to travel to Madurai and it was denied.

Though his Covid condition was cured, he had some infections and pneumonia for which he needed treatment in a hospital. According to the regulations at that time, he had to be kept at home quarantine for 2 weeks before he could be taken to a hospital. Two weeks later, he was taken to a hospital where he was tested for Covid and kept in isolation until the result came negative again. He was moved to a room where an attender could stay with him as the treatment for infection and pneumonia continued. His condition looked critical and I applied for ePass again for travel to Madurai. Karnataka had relaxed all restrictions by then. Tamil Nadu needed an ePass and it was given for specific conditions such as medical emergency, death of a close relative, tender applications, and stranded returning home. I applied for medical emergency and it was rejected again.

Third time, I managed to get an ePass and drove to Madurai from Bangalore. By now, Karnataka regulations said that someone leaving the state and returning within 4 days, need not be quarantined. However, IISc had one week quarantine for anyone returning from another state. By now, I had stopped worrying about any logic in all these decisions. At that time, according to the regulations we followed, someone going to Mysore (about 150 km) could return and join work. Someone going to Hosur (about 40 km) had to be in quarantine on returning. I packed some food and drove non-stop to Madurai. I was tested before entering Madurai and my result came negative three days later. I stayed in the hospital with my father. He showed improvements, though his condition oscillated. I returned to the campus within 4 days. I drove straight to the Centenary Visitors House, where IISc had kept one wing for keeping the people in quarantine. Everyone was assumed to be a carrier during this time.

I stayed in 1 room for the whole week. IISc had made all arrangements and you could live on your own. One attender fully covered in PPE, would bring food three times a day and leave it at the door and ring the bell. Once I hear the bell, I come out and take the plate inside. Some attenders would move away from the door and wait until I picked up the food. With mask on, I used to thank them. Some attenders, would leave the food, ring the bell and walk back in a hurry. During this quarantine time, thanks to the nature of our work, I could continue my work. I also subscribed to Amazon prime and watched the Tamil movies ‘Thuruvangal 16 (16 directions)’ a very good crime thriller and ‘Baaram’ on Thalaikoothal (one way to put an end to an elderly patient, who is a burden (Baaram in Tamil) on the family). It was a disturbing movie. KD engira Karuppu Durai also covered this topic in a lighter vein and was positive. I like being positive under all circumstances. I watched Alex in Wonderland finally as well. Alex is a popular standup comedian, who had resigned his IT job in the Americas and returned to Chennai to pursue his interest. The show is based on Tamil film songs over 2-3 decades that I grew up with and I enjoyed watching this show.

If you had read this far, the contrast should have been stunning. My father, a Covid patient was kept in a general ward with family members staying with him as attenders in Madurai. In IISc, I was in quarantine being served food by attenders in PPE, though I had tested negative. First one was an inevitable consequence as the system could not handle the number of patients and the family members could not leave the patient unattended. Second one was the rule being followed at that time in IISc. During this period, there were a lot of incidents being covered in the print/social/visual media. In Kerala, a husband returning from abroad was not allowed in to the house by wife and her family. In Madurai, one old man jumped down to death as his family disowned him after becoming positive. One post in the social media lamented that Amitabh Bhachan and family could get admission immediately while some poor lady could not. How far removed from reality people could become? World has never been flat and I doubt if it ever will be. Scandinavian countries have achieved some level of equality, thanks to their small and more uniform population.

People all over the world, for one reason or other, disobeyed the orders/suggestions. Though, there have been talks about such a pandemic for many years now, when it finally arrived, no one was ready anywhere in the world. Africa seems to be handling it better than other parts of the world and it is likely to be due to the natural immunity. How long will this continue? I doubt if anyone knows. Spanish flu (originated in Ft. Riley, Kansas very close to Manhattan, Kansas where I did my Ph.D.) lasted two years and killed 10-20 % of those infected within a few days. Covid seems to be a milder threat and gives patients several days before the condition might become critical. If one is watchful and gets treated for the symptoms, the chances are that it is not fatal. The data as of yesterday, (from Worldometer website) show that “a total of 36,391,128 confirmed cases of the coronavirus COVID-19 that originated from Wuhan, China, and a death toll of 1,060,443 deaths.” That is 2.9 %. The numbers in India show 6,832,988 cases and 105,554 deaths and that is 1.5 %. Somewhat coincidentally, both the numbers in the world and India show that 0.5 % of the population had become positive now. That is one in 200. I certainly know a lot more people, and in my circle it seems like this percentage is significantly more. This includes some who ventured out bravely and others who took all safety measures and isolated themselves until they caught Covid. My father survived and is recovering well. None of my relatives who took care of him turned positive. Stay safe.

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