9th October 2010: It was a day before the 2nd Convocation of the recently valedicted Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Burla. Padma Vibhusan awardee Prof. Dr. Yash Pal was the chief guest for the ceremony. He was addressing a huge audience comprising of budding engineers like us and our highly qualified faculty and staff. The entire audience was silently and keenly listening to the revered scientist when he asked an innocent question that stumped us all alike. It was a question that a small child had asked Prof. Yash Pal out of curiosity - "Why does it sound when we clap ???". Neither audiences like us nor our professors had the answer to this simple question and we had to wait till Prof. Yash Pal gave the logical answer. The moment we came to know that rapid expansion of air within the palms causes the clapping sound, we were actually clapping - both out of amazement & respect for the mentally young & curious scientist as well as to test the explanation he provided.
When I recollect this memory of Prof. Yash Pal's speech, I tend to get disturbed at the illogical way we Indians behave. We blindly follow the traditions and protocols without actually understanding what it means. There are many instances where we insult our own god-gifted intelligence.
We blindly follow the infamous Caste System without actually knowing the meaning of Caste. Caste is a description of one's profession. It is the first step to create a merit-based society. Going by the fundamental definition of caste system, two software engineers belong to the same caste whereas a teacher and a lawyer do not fit in the same caste compartment. The moment someone utters the word "Caste" in a public platform, the entire thing gets embroiled in an unnecessary & futile controversy. The four varnas, which is the base of our caste system, were created when things were simple. The Vedic society needed the Brahmins to act as teachers and educate the masses. It needed the Kshatriyas to offer protection against other hostile tribes. For food, logistics and other commodities, it needed the Vaishyas. The entire business was based on barter system and there were no financial institutions to take care of monetary transactions except a centralized treasury for taxation. The Shudras were necessary for doing those tasks that the Maintenance Office/Municipalty personnel do in a planned city. But, this hunky-dory picture goes for a toss when we stage it in 2015 AD. With IT companies, financial institutions, big corporate houses, media houses, political parties and bureaucracy, is it possible to single out a person by his caste ??? The answer is a big NO unless we change the very way we define the castes. In other words, the caste system is perfect but its definitions are outdated. Yet, we blindly follow this outdated definition and fight amongst ourselves.
The British gave us an Education System and we blindly follow it by wearing "Business Formals - Ties, Suits & Shoes" to show off our sense of so-called "Professionalism" in a hot & sultry atmosphere. Ironically, it is only in India where a woman's character and a man's professional behaviour is directly proportional to the amount of clothes he/she puts on. India is a tropical country and sun rays fall directly overhead, heating up the country's land mass. Yet we choose to build buildings with extensive glass fittings to impress foreigners who might award us with their ISO ratings. Our 8th standard Physics runs off the rails that a building with extensive glass fittings replicates the "Green-House Effect" as the incoming solar radiation gets trapped within and heats up the building. So, we clever fellows decide to cool these huge buildings with centralized AC's drawing huge electricity from the grid; which in turn results in indiscriminate deforestation to satisfy the hunger of a power plant boiler. Now the atmosphere within the building resembles a Nordic country with cool breeze. So, to depict our "Professionalism" we choose to sit inside these artificially chilled buildings with full-sleeve shirts, neck-ties and blazers and do R&D on Global Warming. Ironic, isn't it !!!
We Indians worship women as Durga, Saraswati and Laxmi and declare them as sacred & pure. Ironically, we are the ones who consider a menstruating woman as impure and debar her from entering the kitchen and doing the household chores. As a regular blood donor, my doctor advises me rest on the day I donate blood. Extending the same concept, a female needs rest during those four days of the month. Hence, our forefathers used to forbid them to perform any household work. But, we blindly followed the practice and forgot the logical reason behind it. It was the same attitude that made the wonderful idea of dowry a living hell. Dowry was supposed to be a farewell gift from the bride's parents as she leaves them forever to a become a part of a new family. The practice of gifting was not mandatory. We Indians commoditized this love between a girl and her family, pawned our self-esteem & self-respect for the sake of some temporary material gains thereby poisoning our rich culture with unending misogyny.
As rightly said by Lord Krishna in Mahabharat, when people start blindly following things, then the society automatically walks to a Kurukshetra for a bloodbath. Yudhisthira blindly followed the protocol and staked his brothers and wife in that game. Bhisma took his oath so seriously that he forgot to listen to a distressed lady's call. Dronacharya was an epitome of knowledge and character. But his loyalty towards the royal family made him impotent for that crucial moment when he failed to protect his best friend's daughter getting disrobed. All of them blindly followed the outdated customs and traditions till they reached the battlefield to slaughter each other.
So, what's the key to end all this ??? The toughest task in life is to remain mentally young and afresh while growing old. The 88 year old Padma Vibhusan awardee Prof. Dr. Yash Pal is a living example of this. His physical body may be 88 yrs old, but at mental level he still possesses the curiosity of a 8 yr old child to learn, question and innovate. In my point for view, to achieve Vision 2020 of Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam, we need Youth Icons like Prof. Dr. Yash Pal who inculcate dynamism & innovation in the energetic youths of India. As they say - "To be Old & Wise, you have to be first Young & Stupid"
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