'Auto' Engineering - The Marma Way

One of the first gifts a boy child receives is a toy car! The plastic car graduates to the battery-operated model with blinking lights, then to a collection of matchbox cars and eventually the authentic ‘to scale’ collection that grows exponentially in size, from majority to middle-age, fuelled by the need to keep alive the ‘boy’ in us all.

Of course, the spirit of curiosity that dismantles the plastic car by the end of the evening, diminishes to cosmetic appreciation of design and trimmings by the time we pay frightful sums for ‘to scale’ versions and comprehensive medical checkups.

During the course of the evolution through the auto-toy chain, we step into Dad’s shoes, driving the family and girlfriend in his car, before marriage demands the purchase of a sleek four-door family pride to transport wife and offspring!

Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost have exited our Formula One memories, replaced by bruising battles between Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher and now Lewis Hamilton, witnessed from the confines of a sofa, sipping beer with buddies on Sunday afternoons.

We love to drive cars; we revel in the ‘need for speed’ fantasy on the computer and live in endless fascination of Ferrari engineering but live in trepidation of a breakdown on the road simply because our auto knowledge is, for the most part restricted to the cosmetic. So, when we get stuck we call AA for “Help”!

We are drivers of the ‘auto’ mobile, the sophistication of which overshadows F1 engineering – the human body. The sharp learning curves of everyday life drive us round the bend but we remain ignorant about our psycho-physiological marvel; unable to read the warning signs and intuitively understand how to tweak our engineering for improved performance.

Centuries before Jean Todt fine-tuned Ferrari into a racing superpower, Sushruta - one of the founding fathers of Ayurvedic medicine –mapped the schematics of body engineering detailed in the classic Ayurvedic text, Sushruta Samhita.

Marma-point massage dates back to southern India circa 1500 BC. Masters of Kalaripayattu the ancient martial art targeted an opponent's marma points as a way to inflict pain and injury. 64 of these are considered as ‘kula marma’ (deadly points) of which 12 marma points when hit with a knockout blow, can cause instant death.

The word marma is of Sanskrit origin; mru or marr word meaning hidden or secret. The Sanskrit phrase, Marayate Iti Marmani, means there is likelihood of death or serious damage to health after infliction to these places and hence these areas are called marma.

By definition, a marma point is a juncture on the body where two or more types of tissue meet, such as muscles, veins, ligaments, bones or joints. Yet marma points are so much more than a casual connection of tissue and fluids; they are intersections of the vital life force and prana, or breath. Marma can also be associated with terms such as tenderness, secretion or vital places.

Combat situations demand extremely agile, strong and supple bodies, which instantly obey the focused mind. The practitioners of Kalaripayattu used Kalari massage to prime their bodies and sharpen reflexes.

The highest stage of Kalaripayattu is marma prayoga, a near-extinct science being resurrected by some practitioners. According to marma prayoga, our body is crisscrossed like irrigation channels with meridians, a closed interconnecting system through which ‘prana’ flows in the body. Marma shastra believes there are 26 meridians in all. Of these, 12 are located in pairs on the left and right sides of the body, respectively.

Healing has always been an integral part of martial arts. As a healing technique, marma prayoga is potent. You cannot be a fighter without knowing how to heal your wounds. But nothing connects the two better than marma shastra — where the difference between life and death is just a matter of pressure. Along with their ability to kill, however, comes an ability to heal.

Wounded Kalari fighters were nursed back to health with marma therapy. Kalari practitioners used marma-point massage to stimulate healing in areas that corresponded to the soldier's injuries. Eventually, Ayurvedic physicians around India learned of the technique's powers and brought Kalari masters into hospitals to teach the art.

The idea behind massaging the marma points is to cleanse blocked energy, also called chi, by either arousing or calming the dosha (humours). Like a television with three channels, each marma point has three receptors that align with the three doshas.

During a marma-point massage, the points are stroked in a deliberate sequence using specific essential oils. The therapist or the Kalari master uses nadisuthra kriya to apply pressure with the fingers, thumb or toe at marma points on the body.

There are 108 Marma points -the mind is considered the 108th marma. Major marma points correspond to the seven chakras, or energy centres of the body, while minor points radiate out along the torso and limbs. The points cover both the front and back body, including 22 on the lower extremities, 22 on the arms, 12 on the chest and stomach, 14 on the back, and 37 on the head and neck.

The Ayurvedic tradition of Sushruta says that diseases are afraid of approaching a body which has been foot-massaged, just like animals in the sight of a lion.

This ancient martial art of Kalaripayattu and its healing techniques has gained a renewed significance. When fast cars and faster lives are a compulsion, we still remain warriors - not on the battlefield but in the theatre of life. Just as the engineers at Ferrari squeeze every ounce of performance from their F1 prototypes; through the practice of Kalaripayattu and marma therapy we too can reduce the drag co-efficient of tension through calming the mind, improving the aerodynamics of mental alertness and keeping ourselves disease free with flexibility, nimbleness and suppleness to corner with ease the chicanes of life.

Talking To The Terrorist

“I can hear you and the rest of the world hears you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!” proclaimed President George W Bush standing on the ashes of Ground Zero on September 14, 2001 - addressing rescue workers shouting ‘USA! USA! USA!

The United States is still in pursuit of the people responsible for having “knocked these buildings down” with the determination to eradicate and kill those leaders and followers that perpetuate terrorism.

Unfortunately recent reports raise concern that the ‘War on Terror’ is close to a dead end.

On November 27^th after completion of sanitising operations by the NSG at Nariman House in Mumbai, crowds screaming “Bharat Mata Ki Jai …Pakistan Murdabad” had to be dispersed by water cannon.

With the country seething in anger, in the aftermath of 26/11, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was measured in his response saying that the people of India “feel a sense of hurt and anger as never seen before.”

Amongst those goading the government into a war on terror is former union minister Arun Shourie exhorting “No more talk of ‘minimum force’. Its time to overwhelmingly crush the terrorist forces and repeatedly; It should be both eyes for an eye and a jaw for a tooth”

It is thus far and no further, agrees B. Raman, Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, advocating “a divided Pakistan, a bleeding Pakistan, a Pakistan ever on the verge of collapse without actually collapsing-that should be our objective till it stops using terrorism against India”

Devarchit Varma, a student of broadcast journalism in Bangalore thinks “Terrorism has now reached a point where it has to be dealt with mercilessly. There can be no space for any negotiation”

There is a strong and mounting demand for firm and decisive action exacerbated “by the warmongering and hysteria of the media and middle class in metros” a trend condemned by John Dayal, Member, National Integration Council.

Amidst the tom-tomming of jingoism and the fog of manufacturing consent clouding judgement ex-soldier, Srinath Raghavan presently a security analyst at the National Institute of Advanced Studies provides clarity saying “There are serious limits to India’s capacity to impose substantial costs on Pakistan. A limited strike would thus amount to little more than scratching the wound: it may make us feel momentarily better but will not address the underlying problem. To suggest that India can hold the initiative and can gradually turn the screw on Pakistan is either naïve or disingenuous”

Partho Datta, a strategy consultant from Bangalore reminds us “a military response is not on. A confrontation between two nuclear capable nations is too awful to contemplate”

“With the war on terror on one side and the proliferation of violent extremism on the other nothing is heard nor understood just like in an incessant shouting match” observes

Dr. Noa Zanolli, an international conflict resolution expert.

Expressing his anguish on condition of anonymity an IPS batch mate of Ashok Kamte killed in the Mumbai operations says “I expect the same stereotype stand from the political parties, same response from the media and the same anguish and feeling of helplessness from the public. The opposition parties will exploit the situation to say that the Government has been soft on terror, should invoke POTA, should hang Afzal Guru, etc. While legislations and awarding deterrent punishments are very essential in our fight against terror, then are by no means sufficient to put an end to terror”

Searching for simple explanations - and simple solutions- is an immediate repercussion of anger and fear. We ought not to forfeit our best weapon against terrorism, which is the ability to understand the seemingly incomprehensible.

Instead of seeking immediate answers, we need to frame the appropriate questions. Why did more than a dozen potential terrorists find each other in the first place? Why did they prepare elaborately to take the lives of hundreds as well as their own lives?” Why is the youth easy prey for recruiters who know how to manipulate them into finding heavenly fulfilment by their sacrifice? Until we understand the answers to these questions, we are in danger of retaliating wildly, like a fighter with a paper bag pulled over his head.

Some conflicts – that social scientists term ‘ontological’ - are highly resistant to the tools of diplomatic or military pressure that cannot entirely "resolve" them.

Herbert Kelman, professor of Social Ethics in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University notes: "Conflict is caused and escalated to a considerable degree by unfulfilled psychological needs as security, identity, self-esteem, recognition, autonomy and a sense of justice. The need to protect identities is so important that it will be pursued by individuals and groups regardless of the costs and sacrifices involved”

The next series of question we must therefore ask ourselves is: “What is the message of terrorism?” What are terrorists trying to communicate through dastardly deeds? What are the grievances - justified or otherwise – that these voices express? Is mutual mass murder the only viable means of communication? What does it mean when we simplistically interpret acts of terrorism as: “They hate us. They hate our way of life”?

Dr. Noa Zanolli urges us to listen to the voice of terrorism by inquiring “Is the violence a language conveying hopelessness of fulfilling one’s life dreams, a sense of deprivation, disenfranchisement and utter desperation?

The current circumstances of numerous ethnic groups around the world and particularly in India reflect a situation of relative deprivation and deep feelings of vulnerability. Extremists manipulate an alternative identity to find self-serving explanations for the humiliation in real or imaginary but always powerful enemies that unjustly have imposed these circumstances upon them. The sense of humiliation is transformed into anger and a sense of historical injustice, which is very difficult to resist in particular for young members of society.

Thus Hafeez Saaed of the LeT, fuels Ajmal Kasab employing vitriolic videos of Narendra Modi and Praveen Togadia decrying Islam while Balasaheb Thackeray exhorts the formation of Hindu suicide squads as a response to Islamic terrorism. Meanwhile, in the forests of Giridih away from police and public eye, the Maoists prepare a 300 strong Child Liberation Army as a terror platform of the future.

Isn't terrorism a emotional frustration caused by the unwillingness of those in power to engage in dialogue and correct injustice?

“In many cases it is not simple ideological fervour but real material--economic and political--factors that underlie terror. Hence, it cannot be countered simply through a law-and-order approach” explains sociologist Yoginder Sikand.

Wing Cmdr (Retd), Rakesh Sharma astronaut agrees “it should be a preferred, strategy because basically, this type of violence stems out of a (real or imagined) perception carried by the attackers, of being persecuted and taken advantage off”.

Academic and legal luminary Upendra Baxi describes present governance as “a politics of immunity and impunity, a situation where those in power can do as they want without any pull of accountability or tug of constitutionality”

Can we do something to halt terrorism without increasing the death toll of innocent victims and recruiting thousands of new terrorists?

“Listening to the voice of terrorism and interpreting its language is not to be mistaken for condoning it or, diminishing what democratic governments have to do to protect and police their citizens in accordance with their laws” says Dr Noa Zanolli.

There is almost always an opportunity to negotiate with a government who harbour criminals, and it would be unfortunate to squander such opportunities.

Srinath Raghavan of NIAS directs us to the case of Libya where “a state has been persuaded to forsake terrorism as an instrument of policy”. “The crucial turn came after America and Britain began secret negotiations with Libyan officials. The Anglo-American approach was to build reciprocity into the process: every positive step taken by Libya would be matched by concessions. Between 1999 and 2003 Libya expelled terrorist groups operating on its territory, closed down training camps, and extradited suspects to other West Asian countries”

Daniel Korski of the European Council on Foreign Relations urges the world community to read the writing on the wall. In his policy paper “Afghanistan: Europe’s Forgotten War” he concludes that “the continuing strength of the insurgency make Western and European defeat in Afghanistan a realistic prospect. The consequences would be disastrous. Afghanistan could once again serve as a base for fundamentalist Islamic terrorism”.

Korski nudges the EU towards an outreach programme to the Taliban “to engage mid-ranking, “moderate” insurgents, by developing a package of financial and other incentives which could encourage them to support the government rather than the Taliban”

Western diplomats consider this may well be the best opportunity to do the unthinkable and talk to the enemy. According to Tony Barber of the Financial Times, Brussels bureau, “In some quarters, the idea is mutating into something much more radical. In recent weeks I have heard at last one government expert pose an almost unthinkable question: "Why not talk with al-Qaeda itself?"

In addition, Korski suggests regional co-operation “Any stability achieved in Afghanistan will remain unacceptably fragile as long as neighbours such as Pakistan, India, Russia and Iran refuse to accept that stable governance in Afghanistan is in their own long-term interests”

If we are to weaken and eventually eliminate the soil where terror is born it is imperative to remove the source of Bin Laden & Co’s justifications and alliances, by participating in strengthening the web of regional relationships.

Of immediate importance feels sociologist Yoginder Sikand is that “India should rally international opinion to pressurise Pakistan till it takes effective action against groups like the LeT and rogue elements within the ISI”. As a complementary strategy, astronaut Rakesh Sharma is of the opinion that we should garner support from other countries, shamelessly leveraging our biggest strength - our market”

While considering options of ‘talking to the terrorist” it is also required that we set our own house in order.

“We need to rid ourselves of our 'chalta hai' attitude compounded by,' Its-ok-'as-long-as-I-get-what-I-want' approach to life, suggests Rakesh Sharma.

Rafiq Siddiqui from Mumbai believes “Violent individuals and groups are a minority. We need to replace that voice and not let the country being torn apart”. Supporting this opinion is John Dayal who remains confident “of the inherent wisdom, in the Indian electorate, to denounce efforts to sway public opinion by hyper-nationalist demagoguery”.

Sonali Mehta believes “we must stop the Raj Thackeray’s pitting Maharashtrians against non Maharashtrians, causing riots, getting people killed, and that worst crime: wasting the time of the police!”

Ashok Kamte’s IPS batchmate warns us that “as a nation we can expect more such carnage to happen in the days to come and all of us have to be prepared for it”. To allow a “first world reaction from a third world police force” he pleads that his brethren not be transferred like he has “transferred 27 times in 9 years of active policing!!. In order to effect change his plea is “because Police is hated, you don't keep yourself away from the malaise and refuse to raise a voice to improve it”

Across our borders, Srinath Raghavan is of the opinion that we must engage with the Pakistanis. “Unless we remain sensitive to the domestic currents in Pakistan, a breakthrough will be difficult” he adds.

He considers the “internal conditions in Pakistan are more suited to a turnaround in established policy than at any time in the recent past. The internal threat posed by radical groups is clear both to the people of Pakistan and a good number of the elected representatives”

Within Pakistan, the Mutahidda Ulema Council (MUC), a group of clerics best known for their hard line views on Islam’s role in society issued a fatwa rejecting suicide-bombing as ‘haram’ (forbidden) and ‘najaaiz’ (illegitimate). The statement further added: “It seems as if the government is covertly backing these attacks so that patriotic citizens may not assemble and launch a mass drive for the defence of the country” (The News [Islamabad], October 14).

Sociologist Yoginder Sikand urges “The Indian state and civil society must urgently acknowledge that Islamist and Hindutva terror only feed on each other. Presenting a joint front to work together for peace and security would be a fitting reply to both radical Islamist forces and Hindutva, whose very existence is based on the frighteningly Manichaean notion of perpetual antagonism between Hindus and Muslims”

By confronting these questions together, we may find ways to transcend the conditions that recreate terrorism every day, and live together with justice, and without war.

As a last resort, if power moves must be made (whether to raise consciousness, deliver punishment, or demonstrate our resolve), the goal should always be getting the other side to the negotiating table, not killing or beating them into submission.

Respect The Rule Of Law

Over a month ago, four new traffic signals appeared on the route I take my children to school every morning. The traffic lights have transformed the hitherto ‘free for all” into a ‘frequent violation’ zone.

Some citizens feel ‘more equal’ than others, granting themselves the divine right to drive past the red signal at their pleasure. Such citizens include BPO cabbies, auto rickshaws, motor cyclists, SUV’s BMTC and State Police buses as well as number plates with High Court of Karnataka and Govt. of Karnataka emblazoned. This scene probably replicates itself elsewhere in the country.

Citizens in a hurry terrorise fellow citizens, with supreme disregard for their right to cross a road in safety. From amongst such citizens can be counted the 60% plus equally in a hurry to deny Ajmal Ali Kasab the constitutional right to a legal defence. Unfortunately, within this percentage, the Bombay Metropolitan Magistrates’ Courts Bar Association enjoys bigoted cohabitation with Shiv Sainik lumpen fuelling the tyranny of the majority.

Their ignorance of the rule of law begins with the rules of the road but does not end there.

No lawyer can refuse to defend an accused on the ground that the person is a terrorist as this would amount to misconduct under the Advocates Act, 1961. Refusal would render the lawyer liable for action under the Bar Council of India rules.

Meanwhile, the self-same Shiv Sena that couldn’t summon even a growl when Ajmal Kasab was decimating Mumbaikars, now bares its fangs at lawyers offering to defend Kasab in compliance with the rule of law. It is frightening when a motley pride of tiger cubs decides whether we are patriotic or anti-national.

History repeats itself in the irony of injustice. Twenty odd years ago Ram Jethmalani was despised as “anti-national” when he defended the alleged killers of Indira Gandhi. In Madhya Pradesh, Noor Muhammed, a district court lawyer, was assaulted by suspected Bajrang Dal activists before TV cameras for defending alleged terrorists. Most recently, Kamini Jaiswal braved derision to defend suspects in the Red Fort and Parliament attacks.

If Dara Singh in the Graham Staines case, Lt Col Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya in the Malegaon blasts and Rajiv Gandhi’s assassin Nalini, could all be provided legal aid, why not Ajmal Kasab? Nazi war criminals enjoyed the right to defence during the Nuremberg trials. Even the accused in the 9/11 attacks and July 7, 2007, London bombings enjoyed legal aid.

If people think that Ajmal Kasab is not entitled to a defence, their opinion runs contrary to the Constitution of India and counter to the express rules framed by the Bar Council of India.

However horrifying an alleged crime might be, India’s liberal constitutional democracy unequivocally allows the accused the right of a fair trial. This right to self-defence, it is universally acknowledged, is considered to be the very pivot of our democracy.

“Populations usually don't know the Constitution, the legal rules and the foundation of the judicial system of a country," said Ram Jethmalani in a recent TV programme. “The public needs to be educated on the fact that a defence of Ajmal Kasab means the defence of the rules of India”

Such emotions are damaging to the tenet of India's rule of law and the country's reputation of being committed to jurisprudence. Such dialogue provides an opportunity for the international community to cast the aspersion that Indians have no belief in their own Constitution.

More than 200 years ago a similar situation arose in the United States after the Boston Massacre with a public enraged by an act of brutality by their British occupiers. Because of the virulent anti-British sentiment in Boston, no lawyers in the city would agree to defend the soldiers, believing it would be the end of their legal careers. But John Adams, an outspoken critic of the British occupation, recognized the importance of a fair trial for the accused and agreed to represent them risking infamy and even death. In his diary Adam’s describes the experience as “one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country.”

In keeping with John Adams’ tradition, US civilian lawyers volunteered to join the state-appointed military counsel defending the 9/11 suspects. US Navy Reserves Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, defence lawyer for Ramzi bin al Shibh, alleged driver and bodyguard of Osama bin Laden, said the 9/11 case presented “the ultimate challenge for a criminal defence attorney when a defendant is facing so much hatred from the general public and political backlash, to say the least”.
Within the ranks of American leading law schools, law firms and legal centres, it would be hard to find a cause more popular than the detainees of Guantanamo Bay. Every lawyer wants his own detainee or detainee group. The result is that dozens of the world's most dangerous men now have their own legal Dream Teams ensuring that the rule of law is upheld in letter and spirit.

Presently, Ajmal Kasab is another ‘pedestrian’ attempting to cross the roads of our legal system. While he denied 58 people the fundamental right to live he is assured legal aid by the same traffic light of Article 21 that guarantees all the right to life even when crossing a road.

While Kasab might be considered guilty based on his alleged confession, a defence lawyer must necessarily raise the question whether the alleged terrorist deserves the gallows or a life term.

The mathematician-turned-lawyer who has offered to defend Kasab offers two clear reasons for his decision to bring Kasab to justice; “in order to serve all of India, and to ensure that all humans receive a fair trial.”

“What people don’t realise is that it could happen to them tomorrow.” forewarns a leading constitutional lawyer.

The last word unequivocally belongs to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who in his recent address to the International Conference of Jurists on Terrorism, Rule of Law And Human Rights, in New Delhi stressed its supremacy saying “The Rule of Law is a continual process. Every day, every moment, in every place, a free people expect to see the Rule of Law prevail through the transparent and proper functioning of democratic institutions. There is no better insurance against the forces of extremism, intolerance and terrorism than the efficient and fair functioning of the institutions of democratic governance”

Spare The Thief, Catch The Chief

Published in Sunday DNA, Bangalore as: Valued: Dead or Alive dtd 14/12/2008

In the feature film Syriana - illustrating the machinations of U.S. based energy corporations and the U.S. government to secure control over the world’s remaining fossil fuel reserves – Wasim a Pakistani oilfield-worker in the middle-east assures his son “Someday we’ll get a real house and get your mother here”.

Wasim is soon one of hundreds laid off. Thereafter, his son is ripe for recruitment for Jihad and by the end of the film, he is ramming an explosive laden speed boat into an oil tanker. This Pakistani boy is treated anonymously, as one among millions, prey to larger forces. We never get inside what drives boys of his culture and class to make this decision.

26/11 has provided the invaluable opportunity to address the shortcomings of reel-life characterization, with insights into the real Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman Kasab. The baby-faced gunman was captured at Mumbai's CST station, where he and an accomplice killed 58 people in a barrage of bullets and grenades.

His is the story is of deprivation and rootless drifting that turned the third of five children of a ‘pani-puri chaat wala’ from Faridkot, an uneducated labourer struggling for survival into a petty criminal and then into a terrorist.

Faridkot, in Punjab province is an economically stagnant area where most people have little education and live in poverty that has been long known for producing Jihadis. Graffiti is found on sides of buildings which say, in Urdu, "Go for jihad! Go for jihad! - Markaz Dawat ul-Irshad."

Influenced by films on India’s “atrocities” in Kashmir and by impassioned speeches of preachers, including Lashkar chief, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Ajmal started believing it might be worth sacrificing his life for the glory of Islam. He then started envisioning jihad as the purpose of his life and a means to gain respectability in his society.

Ajmal told investigators that Lashkar commander Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi promised that his family would be financially rewarded for his sacrifice. “Spread terror and your family will be looked after,” but he now fears that his family members will be killed because he was ordered not to be taken alive.

Violence has always had the power to transform the mundane “nobody” into a heroic warrior. The former Guantanamo detainee and Al-Qaida training camp recruit, Mourad Benchellali, a young Frenchman from Lyon was lured to Afghanistan by, as he puts it, "a misguided and mistimed sense of adventure".

The same narrative replicates itself ad infinitum with Hezbollah's 42,000 Mahdi Scouts aged between 8 and 16, the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Shri Rama Sena or the Maoist Child Liberation Army ensconced in the forests of Giridih. Now that adolescent terrorism has arrived at the Gateway of India we are finally paying attention!

Ajmal Kasabs are everywhere. They are most likely to be teenagers without access to stable family ties seeking support and belonging through tribal allegiances. With no recourse to adult role models, violent role models fill the void - and popular culture delivers glorified violence in abundance.

An abnormally large number of 15-29 year olds are supersaturating the job market and coming up empty. While they are capable of fuelling growth, revitalising economies and social structures under the right conditions, the violence in the Middle East, parts of Asia, Europe and Africa is largely due to tensions and resentments within societies that have a large youth demographic, - creating the perfect storm. The presentation and mobilisation of violence is an attractive solution to disempowered youth.

Do we seek retribution by the expeditious prosecution and delivery of death sentence for petty thief turned terrorist Ajmal Ali Kasab or, do we exploit him as a travelling ambassador propagating anti-terrorism?

Through his death we would have removed a symptom, created a martyr and rewarded him with heaven and give cause for a hundred more youngsters to avenge him in the name of Jihad. Furthermore, we would dubiously inspire another hundred to ‘save India’ against Islamic terror.

In the land of Mahatma Gandhi let us spare Ajmal Kasab; deny him martyrdom, prosecute him with community service for life, indoctrinate him in the ways of democratic dissent and exploit him as a poster boy exposing the folly of terror.

Instead, let us ‘bomb’ Faridkot with books and jobs, annihilate its poverty, exterminate the poisonous puppeteer chiefs of terror that manipulate young minds, so that all children realise a peaceful tomorrow.

Abducting The Child Mind

“So this was what it was about….. her hate for me is so much she will use our sons to ensure my ruination. I realized the full force that day of what it is to be hated by someone you once loved. My children had become a weapons of retribution"

Unlike other species on this planet, human offspring enter this world completely dependent for care - usually on their parents - for a few decades rather than merely a few weeks.

Across the planet, parenting traditions and styles diverge with culture and community.

Furthermore, the ability to parent is at variance but this task is managed rather successfully by most couples.

“Any attempt at alienating the children from the other parent should be seen as a direct and wilful violation of one of the prime duties of parenthood, which is to promote and encourage a positive and loving relationship with the other parent, and the concept of shared parental responsibility” - THE FLORIDA BAR JOURNAL, VOL. 73, No. 3, MARCH 1999, p 44-48

With the exponential increase in divorce particularly in traditional societies like India grappling with modernism and radical change, children are increasingly being failed by parents who display incapability to rear children.

For millions of mothers and fathers on the ‘wrong side of the socio-economic tracks’ in India the limitations of poverty, physical or mental disability leading to subsequent afflictions of poor health, substance abuse, criminality thus affecting their ability or desire to parent their children, is understandable. Children in these situations develop a survival instinct with probable support from extended family members, friends, neighbours or even NGO’s.

Of concern is a relatively new and emerging class of parents who fail at appropriately protecting, nurturing, educating and guiding their children.

These are mothers and fathers who do not fit the stereotype of the deficient and ill-equipped parent.

These parents are easily mistaken for the ‘ideal parents’ - usually articulate, rather resourceful and competent in all other aspects of their lives. While they profess love and concern for their children, what sets these parents apart from other dysfunctional parents is their overwhelming commitment to meeting their own needs first. In doing so, they are consumed with destroying the bond their children enjoy with the other parent – at any cost.

Parental Alienation Syndrome is produced by a dysfunctional parent, but it is a disorder in the child. If the child can withstand the alienating parent's lies and manipulations, then bad parenting is certainly taking place, but Parental Alienation Syndrome is not.

It becomes Parental Alienation Syndrome when the child capitulates and begins to participate in the campaign against the targeted parent.

Children subjected to Parental Alienation are taught, daily, via denigration and outright lies, to believe that the other parent is unfair, uncaring and unreliable.

The parent undergoes metamorphism from the idiotic and stupid into the evil and dangerous and eventually into someone worthy of complete and permanent rejection. A child assimilates the destruction of that once deeply loving relationship through self-loathing and rebellion. Isolation and crushing depression follow soon after. This is tantamount to child abuse and abduction of an innocent mind.

Parental Alienation Syndrome is a by-product of contested custody cases. Countless number of children are suffering on an ongoing basis while they are in the care of one parent who places more value on getting even with their ex-spouse than they do on the happiness of their child.

Unfortunately, the legal system parents seek remedies from is not as expedient as required. The ignorance and apparent insensitivity of the family courts towards children’s emotional needs is combined with the unwillingness to look beyond the legal infrastructure to examine why once healthy, happy and well-functioning children that experience a warm and positive relationship with both parents, systematically and without cause reject one parent and deny the love and nurturing that would sustain them.

If the family courts are sensitised with relevant information about children, their behaviour and the consequences of people’s actions, then perhaps we could witness a reduction in systemic failures.

What makes the legal system crucial is that the only solution to severe, entrenched alienation is court. Parents that alienate are, if not bona fide pathological, at least convinced in an absolute and paranoid way that they are right. In other words: they won't stop. Acquiring the legal standing to say “No” to power plays and to re-establish relationship with one’s child is the only way to bring a ‘turn around’ in the syndrome.

This is where the real damage occurs to a child's developing personality and young mind and heart. The emotionally damaging fallout that occurs when a child is robbed of his right to be loved by both his parents is a cause for concern as a future generation of India remains susceptible to deviance, depression and suicide.

Having already lost one parent and faced with losing the other, PAS children live every day in fear. Creating an awareness of the drivers and effects of Parental Alienation Syndrome is the first step towards addressing dysfunctions in our legal system that permits it to flourish.

Former partners and the justice system should work together to ensure that children maintain strong and positive relationships with both parents.

Teaching India Again

The education I received at one of the premier educational establishments in the country cost me Rs. 35 per month through fifteen years of school and college on the same campus in Calcutta. At the sister establishment in Bangalore today, I pay for each of my sons for a term what I paid for my entire education!

The quality of education I received - comparable to the finest grammar schools in the world like Eton, Harrow or Rugby – was not just about perfecting the 3 R’s but being prepared for future leadership, competition, success and failure. Such education was equally accessible to the sons of a shop steward or industrial scion, which my middle-class parents would have found unaffordable today.

Teachers like Ms. Peterson, Carl Rosario and Thomas Vianna were no less in experience, quality or stature than the finest at the finest grammar school. For them imparting an education was a vocation, a passion and an art form that ignited young minds, not to simply study for exams but to seek learning beyond the realms of the classroom.

As a mark of ‘gratitude’ for their professional success, my generation has permitted these minds that launched a thousand minds to retire forgotten like Ms. Peterson in a Bangalore old-age home or, like Mr. Subramanian leading a life of penury in Chennai, instead of them enjoying the fruits of their labour on a world cruise like their Etonian counterparts.

Two such notable minds are Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, India’s cricket captains; their leadership skills fashioned in the same institutions, by the same education for the same price by the same teachers – including my mother – but they earn more in a day than what my mother earned as provident fund, after teaching six-year olds for 30 odd years!

Ironically, it is the corporate sector in their desire for the dollar that is prepared to pay my mother a king’s ransom to train trainers –who earn more each month now than she earned in a decade- to fill the vacuum of an inadequate education amongst their BPO workforce.

For a nation that celebrated the Guru–Shishya tradition once upon a time, we have systematically devalued the noblest profession in the world with the worst pay and less respect than we have for the oldest profession!

As a result, for the teachers who educate most of our children presently, the profession is a ‘time pass’ job after college and before marriage or, it conveniently supplements the household income while the task of completing the syllabus is accomplished.

Understandably, the best teachers are rewarded handsomely to educate the affluent few at international schools or, else thrive on parental paranoia to run tutorial classes to school the millions in what ought to be accomplished in school.

Very fortunately, my sons have a grandmother exclusively to themselves to relieve the pressure of systemic shortcomings and a father who believes that education does not end with the classroom but most other children have to withstand the burden of relentless study – rather than learning – and incompetent teaching, aggravated by motivated parents pressuring them to excel.

It is tragic that the quality of teachers and education hitherto accessible and affordable to many has now become the privilege of the prosperous few, while the rest of India precipitates to eat shop and celebrate instead of striving towards the literate.

Teaching India ought not to be a media gimmick employing a million volunteers; it requires us to recall the thousands of passionate teachers that taught us from the village pathshalas to the IIT’s and sponsor them to kindle the joy of teaching amongst teachers and thereby spend the winters of their lives in satisfaction and dignity.

In asking our teachers to teach India again would be our salute to them.

A Sporting Life

Hearing the Indian national anthem performed in an Olympic stadium after 28 years, I was transported - by this unexpected moment of national pride - to an Olympics in the future, when I would be one amongst many hundred Indian fathers applauding our children winning medals for India.

During my school life, our Dad's and Papa's were always on the sidelines watching matches, making us feel like a dream team. If we lost everyone was blamed including the referee, an uneven playing field, bad luck and God too had to take it on the chin...but certainly not their sons! If we won, our Pa's - if they were poetically inclined - would have immortalised our sporting exploits in ballads. What made this special was the presence of Olympian fathers like Leslie Claudius and Vece Paes as cheer leaders.

Growing up in a familial environment with exposure to diverse sports, I too nurtured dreams of pursuing professional basketball and cycling for Team India in the Tour de France but in a socialist India some decades ago such spirit was incongruent with opportunity, unless you were in the army or a government undertaking.

My earliest experiences of sport were varied as camera angles; first watching my mother coach the erstwhile Mysore basketball team to victory from atop Dad’s shoulders, then being thrown into the depths of the murky Dhakuria Lakes in Calcutta- aged 5- by a lifeguard, serving as my introduction to aquatics.

Rishabh and Ahan, my sons now ten and nearly nine, enjoyed a more benign baptism aged 18 months, cradled in my palms across a clear swimming pool. In a matter of weeks they demonstrated their definite preference for an aquatic life. Aged four, they were cycling round the block and a year later winning cardboard ‘golds’ for athletics at school.

Having learned more about teamwork, camaraderie, competition and failure from the sports arena than the classroom, I was resolute in sharing with my lads the experience of sport.

Discovering a new sport continues every summer. Rishabh’s overconfidence has met with comeuppance; playing with forty aggressive children fighting for a football transformed his attitude for the better when learning cricket. Ahan’s reticence while learning basketball conceded to brimming confidence under the guidance of a paternal hockey coach.

Some years earlier, touching 40, I had embarked on a journey of mind and body, learning Kalaripayattu - the ancient martial art - that young boys in Kerala start at 7.

The first weeks of training made me feel unhealthy, ungainly, awkward and unfit. My bones crackled like a bamboo grove in a storm and I discovered muscles and parts of the anatomy through aches and pains. Ofcourse I wanted to throw in the towel on a daily basis but the battlefield expertise of Kalaripayattu instilled in me a mental toughness. I learned to transform negative energies into a reservoir of positive energy waiting to be creatively unleashed at my command.

While swimming for fun remained a constant for Rishabh and Ahan commenced, training under Nisha Millet ignited a passion. Simultaneously, they too were introduced to Kalaripayattu, similarly protesting, unable to understand the intangibles of the torturous learning curve. Now they comprehend the importance of focus that the challenges and solitude of competition demand, with failure not an option be it the classroom or the swimming pool.

Six months later, significantly enhanced performances in the swimming pool whetted by a voracious appetite for competition have them training daily at the Basavangudi Aquatic Centre - an oasis of Olympic excellence. Now Team Kamath has Olympics 2016 in our crosshairs.

What might seem unconventional and unorthodox is actually returning to the psycho-physiological regimens devised by the Dronacharyas of yore to produce Arjunas and Eklayvas and by the Chinese to produce sport persons of excellence.

The ‘spin off’ is in academics with more learning achieved in less time affording the boys more time for recreation. Term exams or not, they still have time to swim, cycle and play a game of pool with each other while their friends are quarantined in study.

Our national anthem should have resonated alternately with China’s in every stadium. Sport cannot be treated as a means to obtain a college admission or access a job quota but a respectable profession. In order to do that by 2020, we have to re-acquaint our children with.

Not only would we have contributed to providing our children happier childhoods in times of familial disequilibrium but we would have participated in that process of distilling five hundred of the finest for Olympics 2020.

Grandmothers still excite children with the exploits of Arjuna and Eklavya yet we treat sport as a pariah profession – an avenue of mobility for the disadvantaged. Dronacharyas are considered academic non-achievers who coach to survive, while the ‘physical’ is the first expendable from an education syllabus

The modern Olympics have transposed contests in national supremacy from the battlefield to the sports arena – sans bloodshed. Today, the crème de la crème represent their nations as indices of mental toughness and quality of national character.

From being a noble way of life we have desecrated sport as a means to obtain college admissions and public sector jobs through quotas, thus pushing our future Olympic potential to ‘burn out’ with 300 medals won by age 15! Otherwise, we aggressively encourage our sons to train as cash cows for the cricket machine, mesmerised by the material successes of men in multi-colour.

To be counted amongst the super powers by Olympics 2020 we have to metamorphose from a country of crabs and forge a national character of impeccable quality to distil five hundred of the finest.

We all do not have champions for sons or daughters but we can mobilise with our resources behind those parents with champions, and participate in bringing gold and glory to our country.

The Best Of A Billion

While the Indian national anthem was performed in an Olympic stadium - after 28 years - this unexpected moment of national pride was frittered away without crackers, without car horns hooting and without curious crowds like flies before large plasma screens in malls, attracted by any and every cricket match.

India’s first individual gold in modern Olympic history sent editors scurrying to redeem headlines that previously screamed "China Leads Charge, India Shoots Blanks"

The entire country and its committees showered cash bonanzas with gratitude on Abhinav Bindra - for propelling national ego from humiliating depths to the troposphere of the medals tally. Fortunately, this man in a billion possessed the mental and material resources to undertake the solitary struggle with parental support.

Growing up in a familial environment with exposure to diverse sports, I too nurtured dreams of pursuing professional basketball and cycling for Team India in the Tour de France but in a socialist India some decades ago such spirit was incongruent with opportunity.

Hearing the Indian national anthem transported me to an Olympics in the future, when I would be one amongst many hundred Indian fathers applauding our children winning medals for India.

Having learned more about teamwork, competition and failure from the sports field than the classroom, I unconditionally support my sons Rishabh (10) and Ahan (8) in their passion for swimming, training at the Basavangudi Aquatic Centre - an oasis of Olympic excellence and the perfect model of co-operation between parents, the government and the private sector.

With Olympics 2016 in our crosshairs, Kalaripayattu supplements training to instil the mental toughness that the challenges and solitude of competition demand with failure not an option.

Our national anthem should have resonated alternately with China’s in every stadium. Two cradles of civilisation similarly aged as countries, with the world’s largest populations; two cultures possessing ancient knowledge of the toughest psycho-physiological regimens in existence with one significant difference; the Chinese have inculcated its usage, to distil 600 of the worlds finest while we exist in ignorance, gloating over mere qualification and lamenting under performance.

The modern Olympics have transposed contests in national supremacy from the battlefield to the sports arena – sans bloodshed. Today, the crème de la crème represent their nations as indices of mental toughness and quality of national character.

Centuries ago Kerala cradled the battlefield expertise of Kalaripayattu presently languishing on the periphery of oblivion, while Indian children rarely touch their toes. Meanwhile, China transformed our battlefield expertise into Kung Fu from which it devised a training regimen that instils the mental toughness to face the world’s best and win a hundred medals.

India is joining the nuclear club, sending a mission to the moon, on the threshold of economic superpower status but remained precariously reliant on the resolve of one man to rescue our country from humiliation from amongst the last of 205 competing countries.

Grandmothers still excite children with the exploits of Arjuna and Eklavya yet we treat sport as a pariah profession – an avenue of mobility for the disadvantaged.

Dronacharyas are considered academic non-achievers who coach to survive, while the ‘physical’ is the first expendable from an education syllabus.

From being a noble way of life we have desecrated sport as a means to obtain college admissions and public sector jobs through quotas, thus pushing our future Olympic potential to ‘burn out’ with 300 medals won by age 15! Otherwise, we aggressively encourage our sons to train as cash cows for the cricket machine, mesmerised by the material successes of men in multi-colour.

To be counted amongst the super powers by Olympics 2020 we have metamorphose from a country of crabs and forge a national character of impeccable quality to distil five hundred of the finest.

We all do not have champions for sons or daughters but we can mobilise with our resources behind those parents with champions, and participate in bringing gold and glory to our country.