Lets be Good!

Let's be Good !

It is easier said than done.

Not only Holy men, priests and spiritualists of all hues, everyone even man on the street is saying this. Be good! Even worst politicians say this especially after they get elected. When I hear this advice I think I am really bad. I sometimes feel that all the God men, Priests & spiritualists, Saints and Scholars are trying to reform me. They yell at me, pointing their fingers. Oh sinner!.. Even if you do some good deed that is not enough. And then I feel depressed. I am down the earth in a pit, a dirty pit. Do we really need to degrade a person to reform him? After all did n’t Krishna say in Bhagavad Geeta “Yatho Ichhati Tatho Karu” ( Do as you like ) – of course He did it after what ever he has to say!. I must confess that I am not a sinner. I certify that you, my reader, are also not a sinner. It is all perceptions. What ever we do we all are good. I think by nature we all are good. We only need to retain the natural goodness. So Let’s be good.

What is the criterion to be good? How do we measure goodness? Our Karmas ? Our actions? There are some actions you do in secrecy without hurting anyone that is considered as taboo even to mention? Do some sinful actions make you not good? Not good to whom? to yourself ? to God ? God may like it. How do you know? Good behavior, morality, ethics, decency, good conduct - Just imagine who issues the conduct certificate!. The Bible world discusses the qualities of good person extensively. The Hindu dharma describes the subject in myriads of its ancient texts. Islam covers it in great length as a way of life itself. I am no great pundit to add anything new to it.

I think just ‘be good’ is enough. Whatever meaning is inbuilt in there is sufficient. So Let’s be good.

It is true some of our actions are sinful. ;)

When I look back some of my actions were really bad & stupid. Just 5 minutes ago I killed that black disturban ( black smelly insect with a turban – a white band on his antenna- I don’t know what is his real name, nick name, pet name – zoological – I don’t care if it is Amerigos Vespuchi – it was any way a poochi! ) which flew into my room with a horrible ‘vroom’ sound and made my life hell. I rolled the news paper and went after him. It took some time for him to rest. Then a hard & swift hit! A life ended. I looked at the fellow closely. He was quite healthy. A member of a well-bred clan. I looked out of the window..in case any of his relatives saw me killing their near and dear one. These days we can not trust any one. Did a slight fear creep into my mind?

May be the poor fellow had a family to support, Kids etc.. But then I tried to justify my action. He crossed into my territory. What if I had crossed the limits and entered into his abode. Surely he must have hit me. Trespassing is not allowed. Simple. No body has a right to intrude. Even if he has to intrude let him go to an unclean Yellow painted Government building. There, the clerks will not hit him. I have seen many government clerks working just under a spider net. They pretend to work under the spider net peacefully. They will not clear the spider net because it is somebody else’s job. And that somebody is always hard to find. Spider-net or not they always pretend to work.

Some body said a Government job is hard to get but when you get it then life is pretty easy and peaceful because there is no job!. Look at the holidays they enjoy and the amount of work they do in a week. There is neither performance review nor any appraisal issues. All government employees are good people. The senior managers who damn care about their job and who do not check their subordinate’s job are also good. The employee unions who oversee and protect these non-doers are also good. The people who elect the rulers who decide these things are also good. So we all are good set of people. Who said I am bad?

To become good and remain so is difficult. Swami Chinmayanandji said don’t just be good, be aggressively good! I wonder in this good world how I should do it. Where ever possible I have always been good. I worked in Saudi Arabia for more than decade. I worked with different nationalities including Pakistanis. I have been good to all of them. They all have been good to me as well. Rrrr except for one. He is a Pakistani gentleman who later became a friend.

Initially he hated me for some reason. He hated all Indians so it was not a surprise to me. He was tall & bulky gentleman from Pakistani Poonjab. Whenever he met any Indian in the office corridors he sang a song. It was like this: “Na samjhoge Na sudharoge tum Hindustanovalo… Mith javoge par na samjhoge tum..” ( roghly translated “You Indians you will never understand, you will never improve.. you will be no more still you will not understand… etc.etc.) I found it rather funny. But I never asked him about the song. Neither any of the Indians there. Most Indians were South Indians and their knowledge of Hindi/Urdu was limited. Every time I met him he said something wacky about India and Indians. He always misspelled the names of Indians – perhaps purposefully. I do not know.

For him Tendulkar is Tindaalkar. Kambli is kavumpulli. He always tested my patience but I kept quiet. But when one day he misspelled Mahatma Gandhi’s name as Mohatarma .. (Means lady in Urdu) my patience crossed the LOC (line of control). I controlled myself like what India did in Kargil war. I told myself Let me be good. I stood up and firmly, intensely, deeply stared into his eyes for some time. He just closed the door and left.

Later he did not sing his famous song. He also did not discuss much cricket with me. One thing I learned from it. Not retaliating in certain situation makes you good. Make others good too. He became a buddy later. He is now settled in U.S. near Niagara waterfalls. I wonder what song he will be singing nowadays – especially after 9/11.

That brings a thought to my mind. Why Osama bin Laden is not good to Americans? He always swears by God. Why American government is not good to host of other nations and people? They also proclaim loudly “In God we trust”. Why cant’ China be good to Tibetans? Why can’t Sri Lanka be good to Tamils?... and vice versa ?

Should I list all strife torn areas ?

Why most of the time Religion comes into picture?. Is this all a mischief game played by God? Then…hey guys, Lets defeat God’s devious plans. Let’s be Good.. !

Let’s understand the difference and appreciate it.

I am trying now. Trying to understand the difference. Difference between a jack fruit and a mango. Traditionally I am habituated to eat both in the summer. Not only because it is mostly, easily and prettily available in Kerala in summer but also because my parents, grand parents and all the uncles and aunts ate it. Just Imagine a big jack fruit with all its thorns and that white sticky substance called “Mulanju” in Malayalam, what is the English word for it ? I don’t know. In England there is no Jack fruit tree so forget it. Any way compare the jack fruit with a cute smooth skinned mango. A jack fruit has hundreds of seeds in it but a mango just one. Jack fruit is difficult to cut . Mango is easy-peesy for all Indians. ( I have heard about Europeans struggling with mango) Jack fruit is sticky and more smelly. Mango is not. It has moderate tolerable smell. It is juicy. We use all the seeds in the jack fruit but we throw out the just one and the only one seed in the mango. What a difference ! But which one is better ? I can not say. I can not keep a mango beside a jack fruit and belittle it. Some of my clan members say jack fruit is better. They say it has more vitamins and minerals in it and more use. Ok. May be. I am no scientist to argue. But I can not belittle a mango or hundreds of varieties of mango for that matter.

I agree jack fruit may be very good but can I ask the world to use it five times daily or at least every Sunday morning because it is good?. Can I send two evangelists to Alaska to preach about the qualities of jack fruit to Eskimos ? What will the Eskimos think ? Say.. if I say that every Eskimo should eat at least one jack fruit a month! Ha ..ha..ha..

Eskimos live in Igloo. Igloo is house made of Ice. Once two Eskimos were brought to New York when the temperature was below 10 deg. C. Pretty cold for us Indians. Eskimos could not tolerate that temperature. They became sick soon after landing. They had diarrhea and they vomited. They were immediately taken back to their place by plane. Now the Americans learned the difference. The difference is much greater than Boeing and Airbus (The billion dollar contract which India is contemplating). Now I too understood the difference.

Europeans like stiff mangoes. Not the juicy ones. They need special cutter to cut the mangoes. Like our Supari cutter. They cut it in the middle and make two halves. Then they remove the seed from it and fill it with plain cream or Ice cream. Place it in a bowl or hold it in hand and use a spoon to eat. You see now a spoon is a ‘requirement’ to eat a mango. Now I understand the difference and appreciate it.

I was in Chuk-chuk train ( small mountain train - earlier it was fitted with steam engines I like to call them that way because they look like toy trains ) coming down from Shimla. I met two South Indians in the train and felt happy myself being a southerner in the remote north. Engaged them in conversation. They were on an All-India-tour. Talking about many things conversation ended-up with temples in North India. “Oh! full of marbles..” they said “the Idol and the floor alike.. People touching the Idol.. ”. They seemed pretty upset and unhappy about it. Why ? I asked. “No bhakthi.. you see” they said in a chorus. What marble has to do with bhakthi or devotion ? I pondered. I sort of became googly until I discussed the matter with a North Indian friend. She said When her parents visited some South Indian temples they said the same. “What ?” I asked anxiously “ No bhakthi there “.. before I could ask why, she explained “Water and oil everywhere.. in the floor & on the walls, darkness every where, you can not even see the Idol properly forget about touching the Lord’s feet! ..She continued ”my Parents could not stay more than 3 minutes in any Temple in South India”. I had held some of the great temples of south in high esteem. So I became silent for sometime. To be frank I allowed some time for my ego to burn down. I said “I now understood the difference and I appreciate it”.

Now that is it. Differences exist. Difference persists and you can not change it. We can not humanize the jarawas of Andamans. When we do that they become either Hindus, Muslims or Christians. Then no more Jarawas. Let’s have them as Jarawas and live with the difference. A salad bowl with several vegetables is better than a bowl with a single vegetable.

Now whenever I see the difference whether it is north-south, Hindu-Muslim, black & white, bad roads & good roads , development & underdevelopment, good governments & bad governments, happiness & unhappiness, Truth & Lie I have no quarrel with any because I UNDERSTOOD THE DIFFERENCE AND I APPRECIATE IT.