REMEMBERING PROF. D. K. CHABRA TODAY.

Today Prof. D. K. Chabra left for his heavenly abode at 8.05 AM. He was unwell and God almighty relieved him of all his pains. The pious and kind man that he was, and with fathomless accumulation of blessings from his patients and relatives accompanying him, his Atma will surely meet Paramatma and rejoice in all its glory.

Dr. D. K. Chabra was to me a role model in my residency days. His dedication to the patients and his unflinching devotion to Prof. Dave was legendary. He knew what the professor desired as if by telepathy. I was posted as a House Officer and among my other duties I had to do the Carotid angiograms of all the head injury patients. Those were the pre C.T scan days and this was a vital investigation. There was a small room in Neurosurgery basement next to Prof. Godwin Newton's room which had a small X Ray machine in which I did the Carotid angiograms with an intern and usually we did 10 to 15 each day. One day after doing about 6 or 7 angiogram there was a loud noise in the machine and it stopped functioning.

I was scared to my bones and I informed my JR. He then told the Chief Resident who gave a wry smile and said "ab beta tum hi Chabra Sir ko batana". The evening round started and angiograms were required for every head injury patient in this round. In the very first patient when Dr. Chabra was examining the angiogram the Chief Resident said "Sir, Surajit aap se kuch kehna chahta hai". He promptly retorted " to tumse kyon kehla raha hai?" Then turning around to me he raised his eyebrows "bolo". I then went on to describe the entire incident as it happened much to the amusement of my seniors. He simply nodded with his eyes closed and said "theek hai".

The mega round finished in a hotel in Chaok where we had dinner. We then walked to the Superintendent's office where there was a public phone. He gave me loose change to ring back home and tell my parents that I won't be home that night. And while the rest of the team dispersed we walked back to Neurosurgery ward. On the way he went inside a ward and picked up an empty glass bottle in which transfusion fluids were prepared in NSB basement. Then he asked me if I knew how to drain out petrol from a scooter. We walked to his scooter and made me pull the pipe out of the carburetor nozzle and drain out 200 ml of petrol in the glass bottle. After securing the pipe nozzle junction to his complete satisfaction we walked down the stairs to the X Ray room.

That night I learned one of the greatest lessons of my professional life. He pulled out a bag of tools from his locker. He then showed me how to dust and clean the machine every day before using the machine. He went on to dismantle the entire machine and showed me the anatomy of an X Ray machine. Finally he pulled out a fuse and said that was the usual culprit. It surely was. He had a box of fuses and I was asked to find a matching one. He inserted it in its socket and sure enough the machine sprang back to life. After disconnecting the main plug he then started putting back the machine piece by piece. My job was to wash and clean the parts he passed on to me in petrol and with a small brush and dry them so that he can put them back. By 4 AM the job was done and the machine was ready for action. As I cleaned the room he left for home but not before telling me that once I am done I can start calling the remaining head injury patients for their carotid angiograms because we will require them for Prof. Dave's morning round.

Not only X Ray machines, I have seen Dr. Chabra repairing OT lights, Cautery machines, ICU beds, OT table and that has left an indelible impression on my mind. Though I did not choose Neurosurgery as a career but from Dr. Chabra I have learned that if you respect your surgical equipments, they will respect you. You have to personally take care of them and they will last your lifetime. No manufacturer or service personnel can pull the wool over your eyes. I always respected him as 'a guru with a gurutwakarshan'!

Prof. Chabra was a true Georgian role model. A perfectionist to the core, time was of no consequence to him. Late night operations and dressings were a norm and often instead of returning home in the dead of the night he would sleep in the corner of the OT. He had this sixth sense and on quite a few occasions I have seen him bring an operated patient back to the theatre in the nick of time to prevent a sure disaster. Neurological physical signs which eluded us yelled at him and the fundus of the patient's eyes is where he often found the reason to the OT.

He was a great teacher, a kind and compassionate doctor, a technically brilliant surgeon and an outstanding human being! He was God's gift to his residents.

UNDERSTAND YOUR SKIN MOISTURIZER

It’s a common mistake to dismiss moisturizer if you have normal or oily skin. The truth is moisturizers can be beneficial for any skin type. As we age, we lose oil-producing glands in the skin, which leaves the skin dried out and more prone to damage. Moisturizers and skin lotions reverse that process by locking water in the topmost layer of the skin and replenishing the skin’s protective barrier. For people with dry skin, keeping the skin hydrated that way will help you get rid of cracks and flakes. For those with oily skin, avoiding moisturizers can cause the skin to try and overcompensate for the missing moisture by producing even more oil, leading to acne flare-ups and shiny skin. 

If you have found yourself standing confused in the skincare aisle of a department store, don’t worry, you are not the only one. Picking the right moisturizer can be both confusing and challenging proposition. So let us understand them. The ingredients that make up a moisturizer can be divided into three groups:

Humectants - the simplest way to explain humectants is to think of them as water magnets. They pull moisture from the air and from the deeper layers of the skin into the uppermost skin layer called the epidermis. Common humectants include glycerine, hyaluronic acid, and propylene glycol.

Emollients - when the top layer of your skin doesn’t contain enough water, the skin crack and flakes off which leaves open spaces between cells. Emollients are components of fatty substances, also called lipids, which fill the fill those gaps, making your skin softer and smoother. Examples for emollients include shea butter and oils.

Occlusives - the final group of ingredients are the occlusives, a type of moisturizing agents that work by forming a protective coating on the surface of your skin. The barrier formed between your skin and the air offers two primary benefits: keeping water sealed inside your skin and keeping irritants, allergens, and other harmful particles from being able to enter your skin.

Many facial moisturizers contain a reduced amount of occlusive ingredients as they might clog pores. On the other hand, lotions that are meant for thick skin areas like the elbows or feet tend to be rich in occlusives. 

The most important ingredient to look out for in a moisturizer: 

Glycerine : Glycerine belongs in the humectant category, and it is actually the third most common ingredient in moisturizers, right behind water and fragrance. It keeps the skin hydrated by drawing moisture from the air and deeper layers of the skin. Its hygroscopic nature attracts moisture. However, in dry environments, there is not enough moisture in the air to draw into the skin, so humectants like glycerine rely more heavily on the moisture found in the lower skin levels, resulting in more dryness. For this reason, it's important that glycerine in moisturizers is combined with emollients like shea butter. 

Shea Butter : Shea butter is a natural emollient that’s extracted from the nuts of the shea tree. Shea trees are native to West Africa, and most shea butter still comes from that region. When incorporated in moisturizers, shea butter works as an emollient, as it fills out the cracks in your skin, and keeps the moisture contained. Not only does it hide imperfections and gives the skin a youthful look, it actively helps the damaged skin to heal. It’s important to note that if you suffer from acne you may want to avoid using products with shea butter, as it can clog the pores.

Hyaluronic Acid: Hyaluronic acid is another humectant found in many moisturizers. It is also produced naturally by your skin to help retain water. As you age, the amount of natural hyaluronic acid in the skin decreases, making it more likely to dry out. For that reason, older people may want to opt for moisturizers with hyaluronic acid high on the ingredient list.  Another factor that may cause natural hyaluronic acid levels to decrease is prolonged exposure to UV radiation in sunlight. So if you spent a long time outdoors, on a camping trip or at the beach, for example, your skin would benefit greatly from applying a moisturizer with hyaluronic acid. It is an important ingredient, as it helps the skin retain its natural ability to retain moisture and appear soft and youthful. 

Petrolatum: Petrolatum ointment like Vaseline is the most effective occlusive, sealing in moisture and creating a protective coating over your skin that prevents water from evaporating. The combination of humectants like glycerin and petrolatum will keep the skin hydrated. Once the water is drawn into the epidermis by the humectant, the petrolatum seals it in the upper and lower skin levels. Alternatively, you may apply Vaseline after you shower, to keep extra moisture from fading away. However those who are acne-prone should use petrolatum with caution and do a patch test behind the ears. Alternatively they can just reserve this occlusive ingredient for body care - dry elbows, knees, and feet.

6 tips for those with dry skin

1. Turn down the thermostat. Hot air tends to be drier than cooler air.
2. Use a humidifier. Humidifiers can help. The problem is that moisture may be soaked up in walls and furniture or disperse rapidly, depending on how airtight your home is.
3. Take warm, not hot, baths and showers. Hot water whisks away the fatty substances in the skin that help it retain water. Some doctors recommend bath oils. You can also use bath oil as a post-bath moisturizer by rubbing yourself down with a teaspoon of it diluted in a couple cups of warm water.
4. Use a mild soap. Dove is a familiar brand. Cleansers like Cetaphil are an alternative to soap.
5. Wear loose clothing. Clothing that binds and rubs can dry out skin.
6. Stay protected. Cold, windy air is very drying, so bundle up and wear warm mittens or gloves to protect your hands.

Dry skin by itself isn't a medical worry, although serious cases can result in cracks and fissures that invite infection and inflammation. The real issue is discomfort — dry skin can be sore, tender to the touch, and often itchy. There's also the red, rough, scaly appearance lamented in many advertisements for moisturizers. With a better understanding of your skin needs you can now choose the moisturizer that suits you best. 

LOSS OF MOTIVATION – A HUGE CHALLENGE

Motivation is the basis for creativity and productivity. It is the key to moving forward and feeling involved, powerful, and purposeful. Motivation and enthusiasm manifest as desire and interest, and as a driving force that pushes us to take action and pursue our goals.

But what happens when we run out of this main ingredient? Everyone has felt a decline in motivation at certain points in their life. The stillness and uncertainty brought by the coronavirus pandemic, lockdown, and social distancing are certain triggers for demotivation for many. Retirement from 9 to 5 jobs is another risk junction for many as they do not know how they can be useful without their jobs!

The reasons for lack of motivation may be different for different people and it is important to get to that reason in order to figure out how to get through it. Procrastination, laziness, indifference and passivity that usually set in cause unhappiness, weakness and lack of satisfaction. Returning to being enthusiastic, motivated and active can bring a sense of joy, strength and power. Instead of suffering, feeling uncomfortable and passive, it would be much better to produce enough motivation to take action and do things.

So let us try and analyze why we lose our motivation and fall in the vicious trap of laziness, unhappiness and depression

Are we clear about our goals?

Our lack of motivation could stem from not being completely at peace with the goals wee set for ourselves. Every person has an Essential Self and a Social Self. The Essential Self is the part of us that is spontaneous, playful, and creative, the part that knows what really is important to us. The Social self, on the other hand, is the part of us that is acutely aware of the rules of society and is keeping us safe by making us follow those rules in order to be accepted by our peers. Sometimes we set our goals based purely on what our Social Self and attempt things that might make others feel impressed or proud of us. This is usually not what we really want and so our Essential self is not motivated to go all the way! So, we cannot afford to set wrong goals for the wrong reasons.

Do we know why we want to do it?

Do you know why you want to achieve your goals and your targets? Make sure your reasons are strong and emotional. When we’re not sure what exactly we want to create or achieve and why then our future is vague and getting motivated is nearly impossible. Think about it, why do people stop smoking? Most of the time, people stop smoking because they have a strong reason, if they continue to smoke, they may suffer serious health problem and might lose their love ones.

Do we have a plan?

A goal without a plan is just a wish. Now that you are clear about your goal and know why you want it, how do you aim to achieve it? What is that plan? A plan gives us a sense of familiarity with the task in hand. Humans like familiarity, we resist the unknown, so if we don’t know what it is that we want and why, we end up staying in our current, familiar situation. This may lead to a feeling of stagnation and a lack of motivation and procrastination. So once we know our goal, we need a plan to achieve it.

Visualise the success

This is a great motivator. It works and only if we are willing to work on it. Visualization has been a very powerful tool that available to us and it is free of charge. We can think and imagine whatever we want, wherever and whenever you wish to. When we think of a slicing a juicy lemon why do we start salivating? This is because our mind cannot differentiate between what is real and what is not. This is what makes visualization such a powerful tool. Think about it, if your dream is to drive a Mercedes Benz, imagine the vivid picture of you driving. Imagine the model you want, the colour, the feels when you sit in, the smell of leather, feel the steering and hear sound of the engine roaring. Do you think your mind will eventually make it real one day? You bet. Now that your imagination is fired so will be your motivation to work towards it.

Lack of challenge

If you are a habitual winner, winning every battle and have never tasted defeat then chances are you are playing in the junior league and soon you will lose motivation. Challenge is an essential ingredient in motivation and self-realization. We humans are ever-evolving creatures, at any age. We need challenges in order to master new skills. It’s important to remember there is a sweet spot to a being challenged - too great a challenge may create a fear barrier that will kill your motivation. And at the same time if the challenge is too easily conquered, we quickly get bored and lose our motivation again. It is then again time to review our goals. Lack of challenge is actually a signal to us that we are on a path that isn’t beneficial for us anymore. It is keeping us in our comfort zone, doing only familiar things and not experiencing anything new……..how can that be motivating!

Create an environment

Surround yourself with a circle of genius. If friends and co-workers around you are ambitious and all fired up it will be hard for you not to be motivated. You will tend to become the people you are around with. If you are always surrounded by successful people who talk about their growth and learning, you will learn and join the conversation as well. On the other hand, if you are surrounded by negative people who always gossip and talk about other people, you will feel negative and have no motivation to work like them. Choose your company well and stay motivated to prosper.

Remember, a small goal is better than no goal at all and all goals should be time bound. You don’t have to turn your whole life around. If it is something that is important to you, and adds purpose to your life it’ll reignite your motivation.

Use agents of motivation

To me this means friends and family but to others it may mean very different things. Read a book, listen to music or watch something inspiring can definitely put you back on a faster gear. These can be your motivation spark plugs. Authors and orators have made fortunes writing and lecturing about how you can motivate yourself and I will not doubt their usefulness either.

Take a break

Hijacking your motivation is a way for your mind to tell you that it’s important that you take a break and spend some time with other people. So just taking a break can be a great agent of motivation. Go out in the garden or spend some time with your friends or relatives. It can even be a phone or video call. You’ll be surprised at how much this break can motivate you once you go back to work. A break clears a clouded mind and brings in a new freshness of ideas which can in turn be a great motivator!

Avoid a burnout

If you’re feeling tired all the time, you have lost your energy for socializing and the idea of taking a nap sounds more appealing than anything else you’re usually interested in - these might be signs that you have pushed yourself too hard for too long and are you may be burned out. Being an ambitious and active person is great, but chasing too many dreams and trying to get too much done can be exhausting, disheartening and beyond the limit of what is sustainable. This is the genesis of burnout. Learn to allocate your time sustainably. Your energy is limited, so it is important that you dedicate it to the things that you truly care about.

Dream Big, Start Small, and Act Now

This is a very powerful principle and it works every time. When you dream, you have to dream big so that your dream can inspire you. However, when you start, you have to start small because you want to make it into a habit so that you will automatically take action consistently every day. And don’t procrastinate, start now!

Motivation is one of the keys that will push you into taking action and keep you moving each day. If you do not have motivation, you will tend to procrastinate on the things that are supposed to get done. Eventually, you will put things off and totally give up 

TRAVEL BUBBLE – baby step towards opening Travel and Tourism

Undoubtedly Tourism and Hospitality are the two industries which have been worst affected bt the Coronavirus pandemic. The United Nations World Tourism Organization estimates that that international tourism could decline by up to 80 percent in 2020 as compared to 2019. This could put approximately 100 million jobs at risk. Many governments around the world are now slowly trying to rejuvenate their tourism economies and travel bubbles might be the way forward for the immediate future. 

What is a ‘Travel Bubble’?

Travel bubbles, also called travel bridges or corona corridors, are exclusive alliances between neighboring or nearby countries that have shown some success in containing the spread of the coronavirus. These countries don’t need to have zero cases of COVID-19 to form a travel bubble. However, all involved countries should be at a similar stage of reopening. This agreement with neighboring regions will include granting travel across borders for non-essential trips without quarantining upon arrival. People will be able to move freely within this “bubble” but cannot enter from the outside.

Zero transmitted cases are unlikely at this point in the pandemic and the world can’t afford to wait for the coronavirus to be completely wiped out before resuming low-risk travel. Hence, these travel bubbles will be a vital step towards bringing some form of traveling back into our lives. The belief is that with the help of this approach, neither country will need to close its border to ‘protect’ its citizens from a higher frequency of cases due to travelers from another country.

Australia and New Zealand were among the first countries to discuss the idea of a travel bubble as both have handled the pandemic quite well. However, the Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern says that the country isn’t ready to allow Australian tourists just yet and would like to be careful as there are still active cases of COVID-19 in Australia. European countries have been bolder and they are gradually opening their borders to their neighbours. Travel bubbles do require a certain amount of faith and trust in partner countries and their ability to contain the virus, including widespread testing, contact tracing and effective quarantining. 

Which are the countries open to Travel Bubbles?

Austria – Germany

Austria plans to fully reopen its borders with Germany by the middle of June 2020. The travel bubble here would allow for business and leisure trips to be made between these two countries. Austria is also planning to include Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and “neighboring eastern European countries” in its travel bubble.

Croatia – Slovenia

In May 2020, Croatia and Slovenia formed an agreement to set up a quarantine-free travel bubble between them. Croatia is greatly dependent on its tourism sector and almost 20 percent of the country’s total GDP comes from that industry. Hence, this travel bridge will bring some much-needed relief to them.

China – South Korea

China and South Korea have already launched their tightly controlled travel corridor in May 2020. However, this bridge comes with a lot of conditions, including two weeks of screening and a virus test at home before flying, a two-day quarantine in China after arrival, and another blood test to confirm if the visitor is free of the virus. Furthermore, this travel bubble applies only to selected cities in both countries.

China – Singapore

People can now travel for business without having to quarantine for 14 days between Singapore and select Chinese provinces (Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang). In this case, however, travelers will be checked using COVID-19 tests before and after flying and will also be required to use an app that will track their movements during the trip.

China is also planning to expand its travel bubble further in the coming days and incorporate Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau into the safe zone.

Denmark – Norway

These two Scandinavian countries have agreed to establish a travel bubble and reopen tourism between them. However, both of them maintain restrictions for Sweden as the number of Coronavirus cases there is still quite high.

Other countries too are realizing the importance of this concept of allowing a limited and safe travel to foreigners.  Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania opened up to each other and formed a travel bubble. Indonesia, for instance, is preparing to start a travel corridor with China, South Korea, Japan, and Australia soon. Meanwhile, Thailand is planning to re-open its borders to foreign visitors with New Zealand, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Laos, Myanmar, South Korea, Vietnam, and other countries in the Middle East. Travel hubs like Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Dubai need to open very carefully to only a select group of travelers lest they get converted to super-spreading junctions. Though vital for the economy, it may be disastrous for the control of pandemic.  

While travel bubbles aren’t exactly the best solution, they are certainly the right step forward in the current scenario. There is hope that as and when the corona cases begin to dwindle across the world, many more countries will adopt these travel bridges. 

These are baby steps, of course, and we are still quite a long way away from being able to travel normally. However, these corona corridors will be a great step to begin the recovery of the battered tourism industry everywhere in the world and will also help bring some much-needed joy to traveling enthusiasts in these troubled times. 

STATUE MANIA

Statues are always in news, whether they are being erected or being pulled down. The most lasting image of the US war in Iraq was the felling of the statues of Saddam Hussain. With the fall of Hitler’s Germany, Nazi monuments throughout the former Reich were hastily pulled down, part of a wider effort to exorcise the spectre of National Socialism. The Bamiyan Buddhas were blasted by the Taliban to register their religious superiority. Charlottesville in America saw deadly protests sometimes back over plans to remove white supremacist Robert Lee’s statue. At one point it was covered with a shroud, then the shroud was ordered to be removed.

Statues and memorials embody narratives of the past and symbolize societal values. Be it for religious significance, commemoration of patriots, representation of country, preservation of cultural heritage, famous celebrities and revered leaders; monuments are collective tributes to memorialize unique individuals, events and activities. And, to this end, statues and memorials are having profound impact on societies and their culture.

Nations devote substantial energy and resources to commemorating heroes from the past in monumental form. Helke Rausch’s important work on the political uses of statues in European capitals between 1848 and 1914 shows that major cities received dozens of new monuments: Paris gained 78 new statues, Berlin 59 and London 61. With good reason, historians often characterise the 19th century as an age of ‘statuomania’.

These monuments continue to shape the fabric of European cities. The gilded bronze statue of Joan of Arc installed in Paris’ Place des Pyramides in 1874, for example, remains a familiar sight in the French capital. Every summer, Joan greets the Tour de France as its riders circle the city’s historic heart during the final stage of the race. The statue of Richard I erected outside London’s Palace of Westminster in 1860 still stands proudly outside the home of Parliament.

The Indian Scenario

India is today in the forefront of spending on statues. From the whopping Rs 2,990 crore Sardar Patel statue to the Rs. 2,800 crore Shivaji statue to Mayawati’s elephant statues costing crores of rupees, to a proposed 2,000-acre grand Vishnu temple complex modelling Cambodia’s Angkor Vat temple; are all no less political projects aimed at garnering political dividends. Post independence the Congress party saturated the Indian landscape with statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajive Gandhi and almost every city had one or two of them. In fact one had to cross the Bay of Bengal and visit the Cellular Jail in Andaman to realize that there were contribution from other freedom fighters as well in our struggle for independence. The rise of Bahujan Samaj Party introduced us to some Dalit ikons like B.R. Ambedkar, Chatrapati Shahu ji, Udha Devi, Suheldev, Jyotirao Phule and Kanshi Ram. Not stopping there the party supremo Mayawati commissioned and erected her own statues to achieve a cult status! Since 2014 with the change in the government and the demise of Congress the statues on the Indian landscape have started changing. It is now the opportunity for the right wing to showcase their politicians like Shyama Prasad Mukherji, Atal Bihari Vajpai and Deen Dayal Uppadhayya.

Statue of Unity - Sardar Patel

In India people don’t raise objections to statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, APJ Abdul Kalam and J. R. D. Tata and a few others. However, such examples are few and far between. Country’s policymakers have seemingly taken note of Jean Sibelius’s words – “Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honour of a critic.”

Size does matter when it comes to statues. In Nehruvian times , 50ft was considered too tall a luxury for a socialist government to fund. But the logic of the Modi age propels monuments into orbits of machismo meant to dwarf everything else that has come before. Not content with the apotheosis of national icons, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to reach for the divine itself. On the banks of the Sarayu river in Ayodhya, a 151m-tall statue of Ram will be built. In Maharashtra, the proposed Ram statue has put pressure on the state government to see if the Shivaji Memorial can go even higher. But what does a tax-payer do? It is almost a sin to ask why government exchequer should suffer as policymakers splurge on political projects. Also, why should there be prioritization of monument-funding over societal development when our budget on health and education is so abysmally insufficient.

Statues are not immortal

Lenin's statue toppled in Tripura

The building and destruction of statues has become a proxy for political battles over ideology, identity and memory. An election victory in a democracy which topples a government and chooses an alternative one also comes with a change of the grand narrative, an ideological and political construct to obliterate an earlier one. Consequently it results in the birth of new statues and, at times, even the destruction of old ones. Lenin’s statues were pulled down in Kerala after the democratic demise of the communist rule. Perriar’s and Ambedkar’s statues have been desecrated more than once by anti-reservationists. Few people outside Tripura knew that the state had a couple of Vladimir Lenin statues. Mobs of vandals, allegedly from the BJP, toppled the Russian revolutionary from the two pedestals he stood on after the 25-year-old Communist Party of India (Marxist) rule in Tripura fell to the BJP. When you build a statue, you resurrect an era. When you destroy one, you end an era!

Unceremonious send off to Edward Colston in Bristol

Statues have mixed fortunes. One day they can be the showpiece of the city square but the very next day they can be lying in the backroom of a museum, or worse still, in the floor of an ocean. From US to UK and Belgium the monuments and statues of contentious historical figures are being brought down by anti racism protesters. A wave of anti-racism protests sweeping across the United States and Europe has reignited a debate about monuments glorifying Britain's imperialist past, which many people see as offensive in today's multi-ethnic society. Statues are at the forefront of this rage and anger. Protesters in the port city of Bristol tore down a statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston and threw it into the harbor. After Edward Colston's statue the demand is for removal of statues of Robert Clive and Cecil Rhodes have started gaining momentum. But by removing these symbols of slavery and oppression will we be able to forget about British imperialism. Has toppling of Colston's statue erased his legacy? Or is there something more to it. Had it started assuming a new and more relevant significance, more in tune with today’s problem of racial discrimination?

Rhodes overlooking Oxford High Street

The Rhodes Scholarship has been a source of funding and prestige for generations of international students. Rhodes Must Fall was a movement that began in Pretoria in 2015. The original target was a statue of Cecil Rhodes that stood in the University of Capetown. The movement spread to Oxford where the demonstrators said the statue of Rhodes should no longer have pride of place on the facade of Oriel College, which overlooks Oxford's High Street. There are larger ambitions of this movement – that is, to bring out into the open institutional racism in university life in South Africa and Britain, and to decolonize education – speak to concerns that many have had for a while. These concerns, by now, have a long itinerary, but they have been awaiting a forum for articulation.

So why is a philanthropist of Cecel Rhodes’s stature being defamed so many years after his death? The problem lies in his will. The vision embodied in his will is very disturbing, to say the least. It called for:

“the establishment, promotion and development of a Secret Society, the true aim and object whereof shall be for the extension of British rule throughout the world, the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United Kingdom, and of colonisation by British subjects of all lands where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour and enterprise, and especially the occupation by British settlers of the entire Continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of the Euphrates, the Islands of Cyprus and Candia, the whole of South America, the Islands of the Pacific not heretofore possessed by Great Britain, the whole of the Malay Archipelago, the seaboard of China and Japan …”

But if you replace the word “British” with “western” and “United Kingdom” with “the west”, you find this statement in his will encapsulates not only Rhodes’s vision but a vision of the world today, one that has had a fresh lease on life in the last two decades – in which unequal access to opportunity and mobility is structurally embedded as the norm; in which the west should still have free passage to, and control of, the rest of the world, whether via business, expatriation, or military intervention – while those travelling to the west must be viewed as potential refugees or people posing as asylum seekers.

The past few years have seen ongoing campaigns in the US to have Civil War statues commemorating Confederate figures removed from public spaces. Counter-campaigners have sought to maintain those statues as they are. What these episodes all have in common is that, within each, monuments have become lightning rods for wider conflicts between competing visions of history.

Is there an alternative?

The former director of the Victoria & Albert Museum, Roy Strong, said, “Once you start rewriting history on that scale, there won't be a statue or a historic house standing... The past is the past. You can’t rewrite history.”

Proponents of retaining controversial monuments have suggested that to remove them would be to efface a part of history. They argue that statues should be preserved because they teach people about the past. But is viewing a statue actually an effective way of learning about history? There is however an alternate point of view as well. Some who oppose particular monuments do not wish to take them down entirely, however, asserting that simply removing a statue is tantamount to pretending a traumatic event in the past never happened. Rather, they advocate removing controversial statues while retaining their pedestals as a reminder of the events that they invoke. Accordingly, empty plinths throughout the US show that some communities have confronted their difficult pasts in this way.

Another option is preservation. The fate of the grand statue of Frederick the Great erected on Berlin’s Unter den Linden in 1839 has been intertwined with the history of the city. During the Second World War, the monument was encased in protective cement. Beginning in 1950, the DDR authorities relocated it several times. It was only after the reunification of Germany in 1990 that Frederick was returned to his original 1839 location.

Different sensitivities and sensibilities

Taking down statues cannot atone the wrongdoings but are merely a symbolic way of confronting the past. Historic evil, systemic injustice, socioeconomic discrepancy and racial oppression all find reflection in these statues and so even after centuries they continue to offend sensibilities. But then whose sensitivity and sensibility are we talking about. When the British cheer the defacement of Karl Marx's epitaph and seethe in anger when Winston Churchill's statue, is vandalized there is a problem. We Indians loathe Churchill because he was the cause of more than a million deaths in Bengal famine, but the British consider him a war hero against the forces of fascism.

So history has judged people differently at different times. Columbus discovered America but also the slave trade and was vilified long before the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. Robert Clive died as the most hated man in England. In Washington DC they are angry with Mahatma Gandhi because he restricted his anti-imperialism movement only to India, conveniently forgetting that both Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King jr. were inspired by him. Over in Oxford, Aung San Suu Kyi’s alma mater St Hughes has removed her portrait and put it in storage because of her Rohingya policy. First, they put you on a pedestal; then they pull you down.

KILLING AN ELEPHANT – THIS IS NOT OUR CULTURE

Edward. Morgan Forster, the famous English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist once wrote "Indians believe that birds, animals and human beings – as indeed everything else – are an integral part of divinity. This is the central belief of all Indian religious and cultural thought and thus, all forms of life must be respected equally. Thus human beings and elephants, horses, cattle and birds like the mynah, the peacock, the parrot and the koel are woven into many fables and religious treatises. Water creatures like the crocodile, the turtle and fish are considered sacred and are associated with sacred rivers like the Ganga and Yamuna. India’s belief that animals, birds and sea creatures are sacred is a dominant and beautiful aspect of Indian culture for millenniums. They are earthly and spiritual companions of human beings and thus equal sharers of the world and its resources” No one can sum up our relationship with environment and the flora and fauna which is ingrained in our culture! In the light of this knowledge when we read about the brutal killing of a pregnant elephant in Kerala we are forced to cry out ‘this is not who we are!”

Since time immemorial we have believed that Nature is part of us, and we are an integral part of nature. We are not two distinct entities and we have never been so. Given this interconnected relationship between animals and humans, Indians have always been careful and respectful of the natural lifecycles of the animals they shared the Earth with - they made efforts to not over-fish, over-hunt or over-harvest. They hunted, fished and collected what was needed to sustain their families, tribes, or clans. Every part of the animal was used, and in many cultures there were accompanying celebrations and rituals of appreciation. There was no stock or species depletion due to over-harvesting - this came with the Europeans and a prime example is the sad fate of the buffalo.

Dr. Kumud Kanitkar, the famous archeologist offered a very interesting explanation of attitude of various cultures towards animals. Every civilization looks at animals, birds and sea creatures in its own special way. In India, generations over the millenniums have seen all species as their friends and partners with whom they share the earth. They have been presented in beautiful forms in paintings and sculptures as companions of deities, as symbols of power and beauty or simply as decorative embellishments…

“The Romans saw animals as fierce creatures which had to be killed or controlled for human survival. The Greeks saw them as symbols of power living in a separate world of their own. But ancient Indians saw them as they should be seen – friendly, loyal and graceful.

Mythological and Historical perspective

The first four incarnations of Vishnu, the Lord of creation Matsya (fish), Koorma (tortoise), Varaha (boar), Narasimha (semi human-semi lion) indicate the earliest thinking of process of evolution and are all from the animal kingdom.

Historically the elephant has been a well studied wild animal during the Vedic times (1500-500 BCE) and the capture, training and maintenance of elephants was documented in the 2000-year-old text Gajashastra written in the Pāli script.

The Indus Valley Civilization (2600-1900 BCE) first recorded domestication of the elephant was in Harappan times and the animal ultimately went on to serve as a siege engine, mount in war, status symbol, work animal, and an elevated platform for hunting. 

Mithila painting

The protection of animals became serious business by the time of the Maurya dynasty in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. This was the first empire to provide a unified political entity in India, and security to its forests, its denizens and fauna in general. The Mauryas sought to preserve supplies of elephants since it was more cost and time-effective to catch, tame and train wild elephants than raise them. The Mauryan emperor Ashoka (304 – 232 BC), embraced Buddhism in the latter part of his reign and brought about significant changes in his style of governance. He provided protection to fauna and even relinquished the royal hunt. Kautilya's Arthshastra has extensive account of protection of Elephant forests.

The British period saw the first evidence of cruelty against animals on a large scale. During this era many Indian princes also took to large scale hunting and together with British hunters, many species of wildlife were hunted to near extinction

Batik printing

Elephants and other animals in Indian art and sculpture

The bird and animal motifs have been used in Indian Art in two different contexts. In Fine Arts, like painting, architecture and sculpture, etc. the birds and animals have deeper meanings. For example, the figures of birds and animals carved on the high spires of Hindu temples, which represent the lofty peaks of the holy mountain, Kailash, are the heavenly creatures. They are the mounts of Hindu gods and goddesses, endowed with divine qualities. Yet, the same birds and animals, when employed in decorative arts, reflect the worldly environment. They are purely decorative in character, devoid of any ideated meaning.

Hoysaleswara temple, Halebidu, Karnaataka

Various representations of fauna can be seen in different works of art, mythological story depictions, Buddhist and Jaina relics and rock shelters from prehistoric times. Mughal emperors (16th to 18th century ) have left behind hundreds of animal and bird depictions in miniature paintings for posterity. Emperor Akbar commissioned the painting of Persian and Indian epics. And paintings in Emperor Jahangir’s era had scenes mostly from his own life but included flowers, animals and birds too. 

Animal figures in Bhimbedka in MP and Amrawati in Andhra Pradesh are from 2nd century BC. Madhubani paintings, an age old folk art form of Mithila region and the Hoysaleswara temple, Halebidu, Karnataka of 12th and 13th century depict elephants very predominantly.

Elephants in Indian culture

Elephants play a vital role in Indian culture. Apart from being a part of Ganesha’s personality, the elephant is invariably seen as the companion of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and opulence. Buddhists venerate the elephant as a symbol of the Buddha and thus this concept spreads across many oriental countries where Buddhism is practiced. The elephants play a cultural role beyond religion too. Sculptures in Ajanta, Ellora and various schools of paintings including the Maithili, the Kantha, the Mughal miniature and even folk style Warli paintings feature elephants. Priceless textiles use the motif to celebrate good fortune. They are so omnipresent in Indian art that they have come to symbolize India as a nation.

The recent conflict with nature.

 Our forefathers were of the opinion that humans cannot “manage” wildlife populations. Animals manage themselves; they make their own decisions about when to reproduce, and where to go, decisions that are quite independent of any human desires. Wildlife management, according to them was not about managing animals; it is about managing people. If we gave them their space they will never bother us. Our ancestors had hearts as giving as Nature itself. Living in and off the forests was Second Nature to them; they had been co-existing in the wilds for centuries. However in the mad rush of modernization we are encroaching upon the animal habitats and so conflicts are bound to happen.

Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 made the forests state properties. Fences came up around these protected areas; people moved out, and the wildlife was hemmed in. A  lakshman rekha was drawn, and it demarcated the “inside” for wildlife and “outside” for people. However, this concept was alien for both the people and the wildlife. Animals drifted outside the artificial boundaries while people, who had no alternative state-sanctioned source of food or fuel, crossed into those same boundaries in search of their traditional resources. But now, their usage of forests was “illegal.” This created an increasing, intensifying animosity between the state and the people, and this has over the decades led to a reduced tolerance for wildlife. Nature does not know that it is supposed to exist only within a designated National Park or a Wildlife Reserve. Nature is everywhere; it surrounds us, it is amidst us, and it knows no borders.

The inhumanly brutal killing of the pregnant elephant in Kerala has truly jarred our sensibilities. The excuse that the cracker laced pineapple was for wild boars is neither here nor there. Animals should be given the respect they deserve. We are not doing them a favour by letting them survive, their right to this planet is no less than ours. The perpetrators should be given the same punishment which is given to a murderer who kills a person he is expected to protect. The law should be suitably amended and the killer should be treated as a rabid dog.

IDLE RELAXATION IS NOT WASTING TIME

Bertrand Russell nine decades ago wrote an essay 'in defense of idleness' and during this lockdown period which was forced on us by the offending Coronavirus we had a lot of idle moments to defend. While some of us were revisiting our old and long lost hobbies, bringing out the artist from deep within us or rediscovering the culinary wizard that we once were, quite a few of us felt that we were wasting time and were genuinely guilty about it. So I pose to you a simple question – does doing nothing amount to wasting time?

There will always be an endless list of chores to complete and work to do, and a culture of relentless productivity tells us to get on with it. Always running behind schedule and always late, with one more thing and one more thing and one more thing to do before rushing out the door is a life far too familiar for all of us. But if that is all that we do day in and out, how interesting can life be? The truth is, a life spent dutifully responding to emails, attending to children’s home work and spouse’s comfort can after some time be terribly monotonous. And then “wasted” time is, in fact, highly fulfilling and necessary.

Children should particularly be allowed to grow in a tension free environment. Over-scheduling children, whose growing minds and bodies need downtime to develop in every realm — social, emotional, academic and physical is not only impractical but downright harmful and a sin. God does not bless us with children so that we can force them to live up to our expectations and conquer our unfulfilled dreams. Smothering all the joy out of their little lives by scheduling tuitions, tennis practice, dance lessons on working days and yoga classes and piano lessons  on holidays leaves them with no time to play, dream and enjoy because that is considered to be a waste of time!

It is so nice just hanging about with yourself doing nothing and allow yourself to have a moment of tranquility and peace, and being able to delve deep into thought about whatever and just observe the world around you. What I’m talking about is time spent drooped on the sofa watching reruns of reality shows, or surfing the web in pursuit of the newest video! At the end of the day, all of us have the urge to while away time flicking through a magazine, sitting by the window reading a book or watching the birds, walking around the block, or simply doing nothing. We should embrace these moments, and see them as what they are: time well spent. It helps us by recharging your battery and de-cluttering, and this cannot be a waste of time.

You would be surprised to know that for most of our history on this planet we have worked for less than half the year. Work all day, every day is a recent phenomenon. We have been blindly worshipping at the alter of hard work believing hard work will bring more money and more happiness. This is almost a cult culture and unlearning this is difficult but the lockdown has taught us to do this. Not working hard focused on the job all the time does not amount to inattentiveness, tardiness and laziness and neither is an idle mind a devil’s workshop. In fact laziness is an unwillingness to work and idle relaxation is the alternate phase of focused work which rejuvenates us and prepares us for best results in terms of creativity and well being. 

The problem comes when we spend so long frantically chasing productivity, we refuse to take real breaks. We put off sleeping in, keep a busy schedule with work lined up one after the other and even if we do manage time away from the grind, it comes with a looming awareness of the things we should be doing, and so the experience is weighed down by guilt. There's a stigma around downtime as people judge you as not very ambitious and not very competitive. Nothing can be farther from truth because productivity, problem-solving, attention, creativity all are strengthened and improved when our bodies have a chance to rest.

Productivity has become an obsession of the upwardly mobile. Are we producing more in order to make more money for corporations? Or are we making more money for ourselves? Or are we doing it to just to hold on to our jobs — jobs we might not like anyway?

It’s possible we’re trying to get more done because we love doing it — and if that’s the case, that’s wonderful. But even then, working long hours and neglecting the rest of life isn’t always the best idea. Productivity isn’t everything. Creating is great, but you don’t need to fill your every second with work. When you do work, get excited, pour yourself into it, work on important, high-impact tasks … and then relax. Relaxation is not wasting time.

History tells us that the sages and saints who wrote epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata and those who composed magical poetry and music like Rabindranath Thakur and Kazi Nazrul Islam were not chasing a tight schedule. They enjoyed nature, they enjoyed seasons, they enjoyed lfe and that is why they were supremely productive. Luminaries including Charles Dickens, Gabriel García Márquez, and Charles Darwin had quite relaxed schedules, working for five hours a day or less. The truth is, work expands to fill the time it’s given and, for most of us, we could spend considerably fewer hours at the office and still get the same amount done. The quality of time we give to our work is far more important than the quantity. It is the same as the quality of food we eat, the quality of the books we read, movies we see, people we spend time with and activities we pursue. All this affects our ability to perform at our best. If you’re putting junk in your mind, it’s unlikely it will have the stamina to pursue your passions. 

But all downtime is not beneficial. There's a big difference between consciously doing nothing versus actually wasting time. True downtime should be a phase of relaxed wakefulness which rejuvenates you so that you can return to your busy life more refreshed. If it's not adding to your energy levels you may be actually wasting time. You probably wouldn't waste a full two hours on Facebook, but you might spend two hours in a meeting you didn't need to attend. The meeting might have been a bigger waste of time as you had to drive through busy traffic and pay for parking too!

We had forgotten how to relax, how to be lazy and how to enjoy life. The lockdown has reintroduced us with our garden and the plants, flowers, birds, bees and insects that were always there waiting to bring joy to our lives. The mahogany book case which was religiously cleaned every day was opened after ages and it was a treat to meet the old friends, all lined in rows and eagerly waiting for us to pick them up once again and spend some quality time with them. This is idle relaxation. We are not being productive but we are enjoying life and getting ready to be of use when the opportunity arrives.