IS WEST BENGAL SEALED IN A TIME CAPSULE?

 

 

A rich history of excellence in art, music and culture, an entire league of role models from all spheres of life and fertile climate for new and revolutionary ideas to take birth, thrive and prosper has taken a heavy toll on the state of West Bengal. From Thakur Ramkrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Ravindranath Thakur, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Rishi Aorobindo, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Raja Rammohan Roy, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Acharya Jagdeesh Chandra Bose, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy, Bankim Chandra, Sharat Chandra Chattopadhaya, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis and Satyendra Nath Bose to Nandlal Bose, Jamini Roy, Mother Teresa, Sister Nibedita, Ravi Shanker, Uday Shanker, Satyajit Roy, Hemanta Kumar, Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen the list of luminaries this state has produced is unending! Instead of this history becoming a source of inspiration to achieve newer heights it has become a restraining weight around its neck, not letting the state embrace the privileges of modernity. Bengal, which was once the symbol of India’s intellectual freshness, is dying a slow death due to its crumbling social infrastructure, lack of jobs and economic stagnation. Over the past few decades, West Bengal has degenerated into ‘Waste Bengal’

Bengal’s intelligentsia or the ‘buddhijibi’ (as they are known in Bangla) hardly ever talks about the state’s economic decay, shut industries, the unimaginable political violence during elections or lack of jobs, as for them, their favourite pastime is reminiscing about the illustrious past. A state of cultural arrogance prevails despite the prevailing stagnation and doom.

When it comes to the state’s politicians invoking Bengali pride and sub-nationalism has been one of the distinct traits of West Bengal’s politicians, who stir up such sentiments to cover up their administrative failures and to gain a political upper hand. Be it the Left Front a decade ago or Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress now, invoking Bengali pride has been their go-to answer to the state’s colossal problems. Bengalis are, however, stuck in a time-warp, refusing to even talk about the state’s problems.

We Bengalis spend too much time in intellectualizing simple issues, debating on non-issues, and procrastinating instead of working towards a better life.

History

While Bengal was on the forefront of our freedom struggle, after partition it just fell apart. Punjab too was divided and still by sheer determination and hard work it was soon on road to recovery but Bengal still holds the grudge of being wronged! One cannot however ignore some facts of history which pulled back Bengal while other states prospered and surpassed this state.     

Moving the national capital from Calcutta to Delhi: In 1905, Bengal was partitioned by Lord Curzon to counter the power of Hindus. This brought a strong opposition from the Hindus, the event that led to the rise of a strong freedom movement. Anxious about the consequences the British moved the national capital out of the Bengali heartland to reduce the influence of the revolutionary Bengalis in the national scene. Bengal never recovered from the loss of grace.

End of World Wars: World Wars affected Calcutta in many ways. During the war, the Calcutta economy grew as the city became a center of production for things related to the war. Birlas and other trading communities really used the opportunity to build factories. However, at the end of the war, demands dropped and factories were left under-utilized. Then in 1943 in the later stages of the Second World War came the Churchill induced Bengal famine.

Partition: The riots leading up India's partition in 1947 deeply scarred Calcutta and rest of Bengal. West Bengal was cut off from the key port of Chittagong and many of the fields of East Bengal (now Bangladesh). Until 1947, jute processing and other factories were in the west and all the farms were in the east. The partition put both sides at a huge disadvantage.

Freight equalization policy:  In 1952, Indian government introduced this policy by which if you open a steel plant in Mumbai, the government will give you iron ore at the same price as you get at the source in Jharkhand. It was done to spread the industrial development all over India, while raw materials were primarily available only in eastern India. So now businesses in the rest of India were no longer compelled to move to Bengal to tap its coal and iron ore. They could set up in their home states, mostly in the west and south. 

Naxalbari movement: Unlike many other states, the West Bengal government after independence didn't push enough to abolish the discriminatory zamindari system that allowed landlords to wield too much power. This slowly fermented resentment among Santals and other tribals leading to a major riot in Naxalbari in northern Bengal. That eventually led to the Communist revolutionary Naxalite movement that disturbed much of Bengal. Armed struggle and unrest further alienated investment in the state.

Communist sentiments: Sick of Nehru’s and Congress’s apathy towards West Bengal the Hindu upper castes in Bengal shifted much more towards Communist party and this spooked the remaining businesses in the state. In 1968, there was an "Ashok Kumar Nite" at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium which was attacked by goons. The women were dragged away and over the next couple of days their naked dead bodies found in the neighborhood. The CPI(M) leaders including Jyoti Basu justified this, calling it the rise of the proletariat against the decadent capitalists and petty bourgeoisie. Consequently both of these categories of people left the state, where most of them had lived for 3 or 4 generations, in a tearing hurry.

Aditya Birla was dragged out of his car 500 meters from his office (outside the WB Secretariat known as Writers' Building), his clothes torn off, and he was made to walk to his office in his underpants. Industries closed down, businesses fled, professionals left and work opportunities evaporated. Education standards went downand the future compromised. Even the labor fled to other progressive states.

Exodus of industry: The worst face of communism was the damage it did to the prospects of the labour force, which it intended to protect. The abundance of freedom instigated labourers to organize protests and gheraos halting production. Strikes and rampant lock outs were common norms in the state. No wonder why a whooping number of industries were forced to shut down. Much later when Tata wanted to enter again with its Nano factory in Singur, Mamta Banerjee forced them to leave their partly constructed factory and the Bengali voter rewarded her for her indiscretion by promptly making her the Chief Minister!

Deluge of refugees: While the partition in 1947 saw the first deluge of refugees the war for the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971 saw West Bengal's population just doubled from 4 Cr to 8 Cr. These 4 Cr People had no place to stay, no food to eat. The Left Front Govt. came in 1977 and they had to do something for these 4 Cr people and so they brought about the land reforms. They didn't allow anybody to die unfed, and that truly was an achievement but this sudden population deluge further pushed back the prospects of this now even more densely populated state.

A problem of perception: For an outsider the perception of Calcutta is that it is a troublesome, lazy city where shopkeepers sleep in the middle of the day and people leisurely jaywalk busy roads. The Bengali elite have not worked significantly to change this wrong impression and this impedes outside investments. The television images of protests, bandhs, strikes, political killings and the news of ‘protection money’ and ‘tolabaji’ by locality goons under political patronage has not helped either. The fact that there are equally ambitious and aspiring young men and women waiting for an opportunity to contribute to nation building and prosper is not appreciated by the industry.

Tinkering with Education: This was perhaps the biggest blow the state had to suffer in the hands of the CPM.  They successfully implemented a system to brainwash students into unions. Elite institutions like Jadavpur University and Presidency University became political hotbeds and communist echo chambers. There are many virtues of student politics but when it overwhelms academics in educational institutions then it benefits only a few who see their future in politics. And eco chambers invariably hinder a 360 degree world view and overall development of the mind.

Poor urban development: Kolkata still remains the only metropolitan city and magnet for all job seekers in the state. Siliguri, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling have limitations but also opportunities which are still to be exploited. Successive governments have failed to change the prospects of Malda, Murshidabad, Asansol, Durgapur, Burdhawan and the call for clean energy will further hurt the coal belt.

Animosity with the Centre: The last time the state was governed by the same political outfit which was ruling the Centre was in 1977 when the Congress rule since independence ended and Communists came to power. They stayed till 2011 when Trinamool Congress replaced them. Congress did everything to strip Bengal of its industries and even stopped investments in Bengal, particularly after the communists came to power. The communists destroyed what little industrial work culture was left in Bengal and when they did manage to convince Tata to come to open the Nano factory in Singoor Trinamool took up their disruptive politics. Neither the leftists not the TMC saw eye to eye with successive governments in Delhi. This animosity has been perpetual, ongoing and extremely harmful to the people of the state.

So what is the way out of this quicksand?

An urgent course correction is required today for a better tomorrow.

1.   

1. The state needs to reverse its industrial decline. Bengal was once an industrial powerhouse. But years of trade unionism and government’s criminal apathy dealt a severe blow to industrialization, leading to many big industries exiting Bengal. Lack of industry and jobs have hurt educated Bengalis the most as they’ve been forced to migrate in search of jobs. Bengali intellectuals, especially the state’s young population, must support and encourage industries and businesses as much as they can.
2. Bengalis have to give up the sense of victimhood and act as virtuosos and if cultural pride and arrogance is coming in the way there should be a serious retrospection. If anybody can turn the fortunes of the state then shunning them as ‘outsiders’ is foolish. West Bengal belongs to India just as the entire India belongs to Bengal.
3. Bengal needs to invest massively in its health infrastructure. The state has failed miserably in tackling the current pandemic with one of the lowest testing rates and one of the highest fatality rates. So many Bengalis are travelling to Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi for treatment because advanced healthcare is either absent in public sector or costly in private sector and central healthcare schemes are disallowed by the state!
4. The politicians in Bengal need to be Bengal centric and learn to work silently for their state. They have a lesson to learn from their neighbour Sri Nabin Patnayak in Odisha who is doing wonders and not hankering for power in New Delhi. A successful Chief Minister automatically acquires the image of the forthcoming Prime Minister provided they can transform their state, we have seen this happen in 2014.
5. Development and minoritism do not go hand in hand. When resources are scanty they have to be judiciously spent for the salvage of the last person in the line (Antyodaya) irrespective of his/her religion, cast, creed and language.
6. Development is not possible in an environment of corruption, particularly if it is omnipresent from the highest corridors of power in the state to cut-money and tolabaji in the streets. There is enough for everyone’s need but there is not enough for a few people’s greed. This environment with all its characters will have to be replaced lock, stock and barrel.
7. The perception of Bengal needs to change in the country. People think Bengalis are not enterprising by nature. They prefer jobs over business. They prefer education over money. When schemes like Mudra yojana has helped many to start their own small businesses there were not many takers in Bengal. In this context the New Education Policy with emphasis on Skill Development should be given wholehearted support.
8. The atmosphere in educational institutions need to change and the ambience should be less toxic.

The Nation is waiting patiently for Bengal to rise and shine once again not only for the sake of all Bengalis but for the sake of all Indians. The cancer of discontent, anger, frustration and protest must be uprooted by Bengalis themselves. The Nation is hoping and praying for saner senses to prevail and for Bengal to prosper. The state has to come out of its self constructed time capsule as soon as possible.

INTERESTING SHORT LATIN PHRASES

 

 

In September last year I wrote a blog on the Latin influence on English language. If you missed it please read it by clicking this hyperlink: https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2020/09/latin-influence-on-english-language.html . By doing so you will enjoy this blog even more!

 

Latin is a difficult language for most but knowing a little bit of Latin can also prove to be quite useful to all the English speakers. In fact, you will stumble upon a great number of short Latin phrases as you watch TV and read books, as you visit an art gallery or museum, or even on a note left on the refrigerator by a family member. Surely, knowing exactly what these abbreviations mean and how to use them correctly will prove to be quite useful!

 

Latin is one of the most influential languages in history, no wonder traces of it can be found in most European languages even today. After all, it was the language of science and scholarship across Europe until the 19th century, as well as the universal language of prayer and worship for the Catholic Church. English too was greatly influenced by Latin, and we're sure you know that common words like "formula", "senior", "animal" and even "cactus" are all Latin borrowings. So let me talk about 8 interesting short Latin phrases you have been either regularly using or encountering once in a while reading English text:

 

1. Circa (abbreviated as c., ca.) In English, the word circa and its abbreviations are a way to state that an event took place or an object dates back to an approximate time. For example, when the specific year when an artist created a painting cannot be established, but the general period is known, you will see “circa 1560” instead of just “1560” written in a note next to its title in a museum or a publication. Essentially, circa is just another way to say "around." The meaning of this word is easy to remember as circa comes from the Latin word for describing something round - circum. As you may have noticed, several other English words, such as circle and circumference, stem from the same Latin root.

 

2. Id est (abbreviated as i.e.) Most people aren’t familiar with the full version of i.e., which is id est. The term can be translated from Latin as “that is”, and it usually precedes a more thorough explanation of the topic discussed in a sentence, just like the English phrase “in other words” or “namely”. Here’s an example: “Only one city, i.e., London, has hosted the Summer Olympics three times.” A common mistake people make when using i.e. is to only use it before a list, as in “Popular pets, i.e. dogs, cats, and birds, have lived in human homes for thousands of years,” much like you would use e.g. (or for example). Although you can use id est in that way, you can also describe or specify anything mentioned prior in a sentence with the help of this abbreviation.

 

3. Post scriptum (abbreviated as P.S.) Everyone who has ever received an email or a letter is familiar with P.S., i.e. that little note at the end that is written as an afterthought, as in, “P.S. My warmest wishes to your daughter and son-in law, I hear that they just recently got married.” But have you ever wondered what the letters P and S stand for? It’s a shortening of the Latin phrase Post Scriptum, which can be translated into English as "written after". You’d be surprised to find out that the humble P.S. has a long history in the English language - scientists found it in letters that date all the way back to the 1550s.

 

4. Videlicet (viz.) The abbreviation viz. stops many experienced readers in their tracks, and rightfully so, as it sees little use these days. Viz. is the abbreviation of videlicet, which in itself is a shortening of the Latin phrase videre licet, meaning "it is permitted to see". Like i.e., viz. is considered a synonym for "namely", and the difference between the two is very slight, so most people actually use the two interchangeably in sentences like the following, “Each symbol represents one of the four elements, viz. earth, air, fire, and water.” As you can see, viz. precedes a full list of words that specify the phrase that comes before it - in our case, it is the four elements.

 

5. Stat: Doctors are familiar with this word and with so many television programmes with medical themes others too are getting a taste of this. In an emergency situation, a doctor may say something like, “This patient needs 100 mg of steroids, stat!” From the context of the show, you’ve probably understood that stat means “immediately,” and if you have, you’d be absolutely right. Stat is a shortening of the Latin adverb statim, which means “instantly” or “immediately”. In reality, though, stat is mostly used in written directions to medical staff and is actually rarely uttered in emergency situations as all hospital TV shows attempt to convince us.

 

6. Nota bene (N.b.) You can sometimes find N.b. as a footnote, much like you would P.S. But how do these two abbreviations differ in use and meaning? Quite a lot, it turns out, as unlike postscript, N.b. is NOT an afterthought or a note on an entirely unrelated subject. In fact, it’s the opposite - the information written after N.b. is a noteworthy and often very important part of a message or text, which is exactly why it is mentioned separately. For example, you could write “N.b. This substance is highly flammable, so keep it out of the sun.” As for the etymology, N. b. stands for Nota bene, which can be translated as “note well”. In essence, when you see N.b. as a side note or a footnote, it means “pay attention!”

 

7. Et alia (et al.) Now, there’s a Latin phrase that’s very similar to et cetera, but it can only be used to list people. This phrase is et alia, but we pretty much only use its abbreviation - et al. - in English. Et al. always refers to people, and the most common place you will see this abbreviation is in texts that cite academic papers, e.g. “Psychodynamic theory (Sigmund Freud et al.), states that these defenses are a way of distancing ourselves from acknowledging unpleasant thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as we go through our lives.” Instead of writing “Sigmund Freud and others”, the author used “Sigmund Freud et al.”

 

8. Et cectra: Et cetera, better known as etc., which is a way to denote that list of things mentioned in a sentence isn’t exhaustive, as in, “Cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, kale, etc. have risen in popularity recently due to their apparent cancer-fighting properties.” Romans themselves have actually taken it as it is from the Greek phrase "καὶ τὰ ἕτερα" (kai ta hetera), which literally means 'and the other things'.

CLUELESS CELEBRITIES AND AGENDA DRIVEN ACTIVISTS

 

Celebrities have an unenviable role to play in social media. They have to comment and take sides in issues that neither concern them, nor do they know anything about them. Climate change is one such topic and farmer’s protest is another. Social media has made them poster boys and girls and every time competing and contrasting echo chambers want them to air their views in their favour lest they will not hesitate to troll them and castigate them as sub-humans. Even Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar and the legendary Amitabh Bacchan are not out of the reach of their venomous spit!

The hypocrisy: The activism propounded in social media has the unique ability of creating the awe inspiring images of icons of righteousness like Great Thunbeg. She was so angry with the way that the elders were mistreating mother earth that she gave up going to school, sailed in an alleged “zero emission yacht” transatlantic since she refuses to fly, given the carbon footprint of air travel, and reached the Unite Nations office in New York to deliver the now famous “how dare you” speech. What the climate activists forgot to tell you however was that a crew of 5 to 7 people had to be flown transatlantic in order to bring this alleged zero emission yacht back to Europe with the associated  5 to 7 times increase in carbon emission!

Friends, you will have to understand that Greta Thunberg is not a person; she is a carefully crafted image of the left and left of centre activists of the world who have an agenda to fulfill so that they remain accountable to their sponsors. So it was not unsurprising when the same Greta Thunberg  wads into the Indian farm imbroglio—supporting farmers of Punjab and Haryana who not only are responsible for some of the worst annual carbon emissions anywhere on earth through their crop burning, but also for significant health problems, including asthma and cancer.

In the name of ‘green revolution’ these farmers have systematically destroyed crop diversity and hence our food security by going exclusively for water guzzling crops, which are of mediocre quality, which the government is forced to purchase paying minimum support price for our public distribution system. Their unsustainable irrigation practices will cause Punjab’s water table to get depleted in the next 10 to 15 years, and their rampant use of chemical fertilizers has poisoned the soil. As if this was not enough these farmers also grow Eucalyptus as a commercial crop and this extracts more water from the ground that anything else known to man, further playing havoc with our ground water. And now when you see Greta Thunberg and all the climate activists whom she represents oppose our farm laws you will have no difficulty in understanding the magnitude of their ignorance or the scale of their hypocrisy or  the conspiracy of destabilizing our democracy or all three.

The celebrity factor: Celebrities have an important role to play in any movement, but for that to happen there are a few preconditions. The celebrity must understand the issue thoroughly and their soul should endorse it. If they truly believe in what they are doing they can do winders. When a religious minority in our villages was discrediting our polio drops as a drug which will make the minorities infertile Amitabh Bacchan was roped in for his legendary ‘Do boond zindagi ki’ advertisement and his image was enough to bring the polio campaign back on rails and we eventually succeeded in eradication of the disease. Again it was the same star campaigner who spearheaded the campaign against open defecation by his ‘Darwaza bandh to bimari bandh’ call in our now famous ‘Swachata Abhiyan’ and we succeeded in making most of the country open defecation free.

The problem crops up when the celebrities endorse a movement without understanding what the movement is all about. How many right wing news channels and Hollywood stars endorsed the eccentricities of Donald Trump? They even chose to find faults with the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement and were fanatically pitching for ‘Make America Great Again’ and ‘Proud Boys’ all the way. Then Trump’s goons laid siege on the U.S. Capitol, ransacked it and searched frantically for Vice President Mike Pence to hang him! Now that they have made a complete fool of themselves, where are those celebrities today?

So every time a new law is passed, celebrities need not take sides. Not until they have not understood the law in all 360 degrees. This is not their job. They are experts in some other field of life. They need not be expert in agriculture, military warfare, refugee crisis, terrorism, and marriage and divorce laws. If they have a large social media following, it comes with an even larger responsibility. If their half cooked half baked knowledge leads to their audience getting misinformed, they cannot absolve themselves of their responsibility. Worse still, if because of their ignorance, groups with vested interest take them for a ride, they will have nowhere to hide!

Misuse of Celebrity status: Rihanna’s tweet supporting the farmers’ agitation in India is a perfect example of how vested interest groups are using the celebrities. She naturally knows nothing about the three new farm laws and neither is she expected to know. A  certain Mo Dhaliwal, the founder of the Canada-based Poetic Justice Foundation (PJF) which has Khalistani links, and that also created the controversial ‘toolkit’ tweeted by Greta Thunberg, is one of the Directors of the PR firm – Skyrocket which allegedly paid $2.5 million (Rs 18 crore) to Rihanna for this tweet. Khalistanis obviously care two hoots about the farm laws, they just want to destabilise Punjab for their own nefarious reasons and Rihanna fell for it hook line and sinker! Now Shiv Sena wants to misuse Bollywood and cricket celebrities, but they are smart and not falling for their bait.

Khalistan, for those who do not know or do not remember, was a violent movement behind waves of terror attacks in the ’80s, including the assassination of then India Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Indian agencies have repeatedly flagged how Pakistan’s ISI is trying to re-organise the movement from foreign soil, most prominently Canada, the US and the UK.

Incidentally Rihanna, who considers herself to be a climate activist, or at least her tweets make her look like one, has a few skeletons in her cupboard.  Her love for animal hide can be seen in the internet. There are enough photos of her to have butchered an entire herd of cows to satiate her fashion needs. Her fleet of cars includes Chevrolet Suburban SUV, two Porsches (a 997 Turbo and 911 Turbo S), a Lamborghini Aventador, a Mercedes SLR McLaren, and a Mercedes Maybach limousine. Now nobody would ever describe them as remotely sustainable or remotely eco-friendly.

Agenda driven Celebrities: While you can excuse High School dropouts like Greta and Rihanna for not understanding the three Indian farm laws when educated intellectuals choose to oppose the law only because they oppose Prime Minister Modi ther is a problem. Celebrities like prominent historian Mr. Ramchandra Guha, who cannot be clueless about the environmental consequences of Punjab’s unsustainable farming practices are also fighting these laws tooth and nail. He is one of the most authoritative environmental historians of India. While one would expect him to exercise a calming influence on clueless celebrities, clueless celebrities are influencing scholars like him to tacitly support the ecocide in Punjab through calculated and deliberate acts of omission. And this suits his anti-Modi stance and endears him to his echo-chamber in the social media.

Agenda driven Climate activists: Our own home grown agenda driven climate activists Disha Ravi, Nikita Jacob and Shantanu Muluk too are agenda driven. Otherwise despite working in the climate sphere for a few years now why are they unfamiliar with the climate rot perpetrated by the Punjab farmers? Why are they in cahoots with Mo Dhaliwal, a Canadian Indian who is an open supporter of the banned terror movement asking for a separate Khalistan? Why were they planning to target India’s symbols like tea and yoga? Why was the toolkit talking about physical action outside Indian embassies and offices? Did Disha, Nikita and Shantanu not see that the document, purportedly created by themselves, called for “economic warfare against India and certain Indian companies”? Is this just a contrarian point of view that should be considered under ‘freedom of expression’ or is this open treason and sedition?

The violence that happened on India’s Republic Day on January 26 could not have been spontaneous. It takes immense planning and resources to push hundreds of armed lumpens posed as farmers into Delhi. It is very important to understand who the people who authored this toolkit are. Why are the same faces cropping up in all agitations against Triple Talaq, Article 370, CAA and now farm laws? Who is sponsoring them? Where is the money coming from? This is a dangerous ongoing saga and the ignorant celebrities should stay away from this lest they burn their fingers.

The 2006 cult classic ‘Idiocracy’ had drawn linkages between celebrities and environmental collapse, long before this farce played out on Twitter and TV. The movie predicted that the climate will only get worse if we listen to the policy prescriptions of these shockingly untutored “celebrities” instead of environment experts. When a comedy movie predicts the future of climate change more accurately than seasoned experts, you know you’re in serious trouble.

SIESTA – THE MAGIC MIDDAY 40 WINKS!

 

If you are a P.G. Woodhouse buff you must know that “Stolen kisses and afternoon naps, like stolen reading, are always the sweetest and most refreshing.”  We will leave the stolen kisses for another day and talk about the afternoon naps today.

You’ve just finished your lunch. You are about to resume your work, but you just can’t concentrate. Your eyes droop and you feel lazy and sleepy. All you can imagine is a bed where you can lie down peacefully and doze off. Does this scenario sound far too familiar? Don't worry, you are not alone. Feeling drowsy after you eat, especially after lunch, is a common experience. Daytime sleepiness can be frustrating as it makes us feel lethargic and affects our productiveness during the middle of the day but it seems the world has become a Nap-a-valley!

The siesta is historically common throughout the Mediterranean and Southern Europe and Mainland China. It is the traditional daytime sleep of Spain and, through Spanish influence, the Philippines, and many Hispanic American countries. In Dalmatia (coastal Croatia), the traditional afternoon nap is known as pižolot (from Venetian pixolotto). The Spanish word siesta derives originally from the Latin word hora sexta "sixth hour" (counting from dawn, hence "midday rest"). 

In some parts of the world, life practically comes to a grinding halt in the early afternoon. People head home from work for a siesta, as it’s known in Spain, or a riposo, as it’s called in Italy. The Parisians call it ‘baporiyu’, a noon-time clandestine quickie, which keeps you fresh and alert for the rest of the day.

Whether that means a short nap of 20 minutes (the traditional meaning of the word siesta) or a major mid-afternoon break varies from one country to another. But in many parts of the world—including Greece, the Philippines, Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Nigeria—naps are seamlessly woven into the tapestry of everyday life.

History and cultural variation:

The tradition began as a necessity in some parts of the world, where, in the afternoon, the heat reaches its peak and it becomes too hot to be outside. That temperature climb combined with a heavy mid-day meal would send residents retreating to the comforts of home, where they could take a rest and wait for the heat to ease up. Over time, different cultures have tweaked the napping habit to suit their preferences. Some examples:

·         In China: Workers often take a break after lunch and put their heads on their desks for an hour-long nap. It’s considered a Constitutional right.

·         In Italy: The riposo may begin anytime between noon and 1:30pm and run until 2:30pm to 4:00pm. Businesses shut down, and public venues like museums and churches lock their doors so their employees can go home for a leisurely lunch and a snooze.

·         In Spain: The siesta is deeply ingrained, as businesses often close for hours to accommodate the mid-day rest. While the siesta can span two hours, only a fraction of the time is actually spent napping; first, there’s lunch with family and friends, then a rest. Because of the mid-day break, people often work later into the evening.

·         In the Middle East: Many schools make this sieste mandatory so the kids do not have to work when the temperature in the classroom is close to 30 or 35 ºC. Arabs love their siesta as the hot climate of the Arab Peninsula induces midday drowsiness.

·         In the U.S., napping isn’t quite a cultural tradition—at least not yet. But they’re gradually moving closer to that lifestyle. Some big-name companies (like Google) are becoming increasingly nap-friendly, largely because they believe that it increases productivity. 

The Indian scenario:

Bengalis love their siesta as much as they love mustard hilsa, Rabindra Sangeet, and rasogulla. A real Bengali would love to have bhaat-ghoom, as it’s said in Bangla (bhaat: rice/ghoom: sleep). Assam, Odisha and Bihar too get a bit snoozey and go slow in afternoon post lunch session and Goa comes to a complete halt!

Siesta has health benefits as well. In Ayurveda it’s known as Vaamkukshi and is recommended to those who suffer from chronic constipation, indigestion and arthritis. But it mustn’t exceed 30 minutes. The Greek explorer and traveller Megasthenes, who came to India more than two millennia ago, wrote in his book Indica that the people of India loved to sleep during day-time, especially after taking the midday meals. He further said that these people are like the Greeks, who also loved a siesta! Greeks even had a goddess, who they believed induced afternoon drowsiness!

The Science

Our pancreas produces insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. A heavy meal leads to a higher production of insulin which spikes our blood sugar levels. An increase in insulin results in more sleep hormones being produced by our body, which eventually get converted into serotonin (the key hormone that stabilizes our mood) and melatonin (a hormone that is produced in response to darkness) in our brain. This can ultimately induce sleepiness. Furthermore, the number of carbohydrates we eat at lunch can also affect how sluggish we feel afterward. For instance, carbohydrate-containing foods like bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes stimulate the production of serotonin, which can also cause us to feel sleepy. Other factors that might contribute to your daytime sleepiness are irregular sleeping patterns at night or reduced amounts of physical activity.

Health Benefits

Napping offers various benefits for healthy adults, including:

• Relaxation 
• Reduced fatigue 
• Increased alertness - A NASA study on sleepy military pilots and astronauts found that a 40-minute nap improved performance by 34 percent and alertness 100 percent 
• Improved mood. 
• Lowers blood pressure - with a 37 percent reduction in coronary mortality, possibly because of reduced cardiovascular stress associated with daytime sleep 
• Improved performance - quicker reaction time and better memory. In one study, participants who napped regularly for 10-, 20-, and 30-minute periods improved their performance on cognitive tests of memory and vigilance conducted in the subsequent two and a half hours. While those who napped more than 20 minutes suffered from grogginess, the 10-minute nappers experienced an immediate boost in performance. 
• Calms the nerves - A University of California, Berkeley study found that a 90-minute nap can potentially keep you calm. 
• Enhances creativity - The mind loves a nap. Daytime sleep can enhance creative thinking, boost cognitive processing, improve memory recall and generally clear out the cobwebs 
• Boosts willpower

So there are good reasons to do it! Science proves that napping lowers stress, increases energy and enhances your mood when you haven't had enough sleep at night. It can even improve creativity and productivity.

A short, 20-minute nap can improve alertness and performance, plus your brain stays in the lightest REM-stage (Rapid Eye Movement stage) of sleep. If you nap longer – 30- to 60-minutes – you run the risk of waking up groggy. Those are the times when you would have been better to not nap at all! If a longer snooze is more your style, aim for at least 90 minutes. That gives your body time to get through a full sleep cycle, leaving you more energized.

Let me end the discussion about the afternoon nap with a mention of Urdu poet Daagh Dehalv who compared a pleasurable siesta to accidentally holding a damsel’s tender and chiseled finger, Ek halki-si jhapki, jyon haath aayee kisi naazneen ki ungli...

SPEND ON HEALTH, INVEST IN FUTURE

 

When it comes to health, in India we think it is God’s gift and it should be free like the air we breathe and the water we drink, though neither of them remains free today if we want them clean and healthy. Both as government and as individuals we hate to spend on health and consider such expenditure to be unnecessary, unfair and a punishment. Why should a doctor charge for his service? Is it not his duty to cure? Why is he so money minded? These are the usual utterances we hear, but we the people have never asked our governments why they tend to spend so little on our health and why are public hospitals invariably overcrowded and under-funded.

 

Then came the COVID pandemic and the government was forced to spend substantial amounts to beef up our facilities in government hospitals. Investments were made in beds, PPE kits, testing facilities, ventilators, masks etc. to accelerate our capacity building during the lockdown and thereafter, which not only made us self reliant but thankfully we were able to help a few of our neighbours. Our healthcare professionals and frontline workers responded splendidly and despite our 1.3 billion population and alarming population density we managed to keep our mortality and morbidity figures far better than the countries in the developed world. But, the fact remains, we would not have been so stressed had we spent on the capacity building of our health sector in a sustained way, right from the time of our independence.

 

Our attitude

Why did we not do so? The problem is in our attitude. We Indians still long to be treated by wizards of yesteryear, who could look into our eyes, feel our pulse and rattle out all our ailments. Even today, it is very difficult to make people understand that when in cinemas they see a ‘hakim’ feel the pulse of a heroine and declare her to be pregnant, the entire exercise is most unscientific and incorrect. Your pulse can only tell me that you are alive and a bit more, but not much! Today when a doctor listens to your history, examines you and still comes up with only a provisional diagnosis and asks you to get a list of investigations done so that he can come to a final diagnosis, you are not a happy man. You think there is a conspiracy being hatched against you to rob your money! But you fail to understand that it is this evidence based medicine, this combination of better investigations and better treatment that has improved the life expectancy of Indians from 38 years in 1947 to 72 years in the last census! And like in every other sphere in this world, anything that is better, costs more!!

 

Government spending

India spends only 1.3% of its GDP in health, one of the lowest in the world. Even China, Brazil, Indonesia and Philippines spend 7-10% of their GDP in this sector because they realize that spending on health is not an unnecessary expenditure but an investment in future. No wonder our Infant Mortality Rates and Maternal Mortality Rates remain so unacceptably high. If government fails to allocate sufficient budget for health the public hospitals remain under-funded and under-staffed and more and more patients spill over to the private sector and incur out of pocket expenditure. Even if one member of a low income family has to be treated for a major ailment in the private sector, the family runs the risk of slipping under the poverty line. Aayushman Bharat programme is today addressing this problem but only just.

 

Human Capital

Spending on health is a very valuable economic investment which will invariably yield profitable dividends in the form of healthy work force with maximum ability and minimum ill-health and absenteeism. So by investing in health we build human capital and a productive work force. Healthy adults are assets in factories, fields, industries, sports and all spheres of life. Healthy children do better in schools and sports, grow into healthy and more productive adults. Healthy girls become healthy mothers, who bear healthy babies and the cycle of health gets repeated. All these people make our nation healthy, productive and economically strong. The World Bank has a Human Capital Index which measures a country’s productivity per worker. Today India ranks 116^th in this list with a dismal score of 0.49. The first  three countries in this list are all Asian countries – Singapore 0.88, Hong Kong & China 0.81 and Japan 0.80! So our work force is half as productive, no wonder we remain a developing country!! Investing in health today will improve our GDP tomorrow.

 

Employment generation

Another huge reason why we should be investing in the health sector is that it is that it generates employment like no other sector.  You will be surprised to know that Health sector today is a $8 trillion industry. You might not have understood the size of this industry yet so let me help you – Information Technology is a $3.4 trillion industry and Oil and Automobile are both $2.0 trillion. So the health sector is I.T plus Oil plus Automobile plus more!! Now let us look at the scope of employment – Maruti employs 13,500 employees and earns revenue of Rs. 66,500.00 crores whereas Narayan Health of Dr. Devi Shetty employs 15,500 employees and and makes a profit of 1,878.00 crores! So health sector creates disproportionately higher number of jobs, a boon for particularly the semi-skilled and the non-skilled youth. India needs 2 million nurses and the rest of the world needs 9 million more. Similarly there are requirements for physiotherapists, occupational therapists, vocational trainers and domiciliary care healthcare workers for the elderly, the pregnant and the invalid, particularly when the joint families are breaking down into smaller nuclear units.

 

Spending in health is vital for the future health of our economy and our country. A change in mindset is essential both at individual level as well as at the level of the government. As individuals we must understand that vaccinations for disease prevention and investigations early diagnosis may be costly today but treating the full blown disease with its complications will be far more costly tomorrow. As a government we must invest in health to build human capital and also generate newer avenues of employment.