Did We Cause Change?

The Earth is getting warmer and climatic changes are on for all to see. It's raining and snowing where it never has, and, cold freezing places have seen temperatures soaring to 40 degrees Celsius. But the questions I ask are

1. is the human race responsible for this change? 
2. Are we big enough to effect such changes? 
3. Is it our ego that makes us believe that we can bring about such a change?

Let us look at the ice age and the dinosaurs. Did the growing population of there gigantic animals that ruled the land, sea and sky cause climatic changes that brought on the ice age? The reason for the ice age can be better attributed to 

• an  impact of a giant asteroid
• high radiations from a supernova
• an epidemic
• a volcano that created a layer of dust that blocked sunlight for years
• a change in the shape of Earth's orbit...making it hotter or colder
• a change in the tilt of Earth's axis...heating or melting the poles
• a wobble of the Earth about its axis...changing the time and duration of a season

These reasons apply as much now as they did back then for climatic changes that seem to want to wipe out human/dinosaur presence on Earth.

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Oh! Passing sojourner on Earth’s largess

The Earth warmer now than ever before,

And damned are the gases spilt forth.

Two centuries have passed since a driven wheel

Ploughed the dirt to form scopionic paths,

Lunges forward now on unplumed wings.

Are we the reason for the Warming Earth?

Or are we too small to shape a Universe in flux?

Are two centauries ample to affect a change?

Change is nucleus to the space we float in

Too removed from our sphere of influence,

Do dinosaurs lay a claim to the Ice age?

No control we wield over nature’s umbrage.

We pump our egos thinking ‘WE’ create change

Megalomania, I think we need be accused of.

We are too small to reign in the monster 

Let things go on as planned destinies.

Climate has changed and so has life.

Time now worshiped in vain life altars

Brio dreams zip in tired half-shut eyes and

Adrenaline pushes our thick clogged vessels.

Now bonds valued as the stocked bull runs

Love now devoid of devoir bonding as

Lost souls spill into sidewalks and alleys.

Find your universe in the embrace of arms

This sphere you can control and inspire

Choose to illumine or in a dark world live.

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© Nalini Hebbar/openmind/2009-all rights reserved

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Change of Status

Today's women have created a niche for themselves in the work places of  business world; and have proved time and again, to possess the ability to shape their own lives, to create a world of their own dreams balancing  family and career with great aplomb. The fall of the joint family and rise of the nuclear one has led to the breakdown of the traditional role women used to play in society. She has begun to speak her mind with regards to her rights; and has demanded a role of an equal partner in the business of family management alongside her husband.

India has a complex social set up where ancient traditional religion-sanctioned practices have given men powers that are almost unsurmountable. Indian women have accomplished a lot but have yet to find a foot hold to work towards overhauling the male dominated society. She may have to find a way to incorporate some of the traditional diktats into her modern role requirements.


In an interview “Changing the male mindset is a key aspect to women’s liberation. Men also need to be ‘liberated’ from the shackles of patriarchy,” acknowledges Harish Sadani. To do this, he founded Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA) in 1993, one of only a handful of organisations in India that are trying to change men’s patriarchal, chauvinistic and often violent attitudes. He says, "Patriarchy, apart from disadvantaging women, brings with it a set of behavioural norms and responsibilities that hinders men from expressing their fears, problems and vulnerabilities.Men often become violent, aggressive and uncaring due to patriarchal modes of socialisation. Images of masculinity are linked with being strong and violent and to notions that men with ‘power’ are ‘real men’. ‘Opening up’ in men is much more difficult and complex than with women. Men often do not have any experience, confidence, or even vocabulary to describe their innermost feelings related to sexuality and other related issues  It takes guts to renounce obvious patriarchal privileges and step down from a dominant position in order to win moral self-respect. Men are seen as part of the problem, but unless they are seen as part of the solution and the process of transformation no significant change in the status of women will occur. Changing the male mindset is key to women’s liberation. Men too need to be ‘liberated’ from the shackles of patriarchy. It calls for a paradigm shift in viewing the ‘women’s issue’ as a ‘gender issue’ (equally, a ‘men’s issue’) by all concerned." Source


Evidence is, the urban Indian male hasn’t really changed. He is cocooned as he has always been in a sort of prolonged infantilism – a hatchery protected by doting mothers, fathers, sisters, girlfriends, and society itself. As Mukul Kesavan, author of the The Ugliness Of The Indian Male And Other Propositions says, “The Indian male’s bullet-proof unselfconsciousness comes from a sense of entitlement that’s hard-wired into every male child in an Indian household.” Source


The Indian woman has miles to go before she sleeps, before she earns the right to eat before her husband does and also sleep before her husband does if she is tired. Mindsets need to change, of men, women, and of the society. Religious and political forces will work against the change; but we bloggers have a moral obligation to keep this topic alive, and be the instrument of change.


The Indian Man
Why Indian Men Are Still Boys

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Set control to 100, Volume to 1,

Blur to max when not in use,

Honorary member of Follow the Leader,

Trained to obey an inflexible ‘heel’.

Hand, fingers, feet and toes,

Always on alert to fetch, feed or flush,

Orders to be fulfilled while the dot is hot,

No tips ever paid or ‘keep the change’.

Lock, undo, delete or backspace,

Hack into the mind, heart and soul,

Erase dreammode with any button,

Till all bytes are free for reprogramming.

Her title typed in a big bold font,

Acknowledgment only in-between lines,

Muted in invisible scrawny print,

Wooed by man is woo-man. 

Sulk and fight fierce for the status quo,

Or you could learn to gently fly with me.

Change’s here whether you like it or not,

Time has washed away chains and fear,

Sniff the air that blows from out there,

A silent revolt lines every fair breath.

Hold hands and do trust our intend,

For fairness shines through years of hurt,

No shadow of vengeance or monopoly,

Since the future of Earth and her children,

Rests on the shoulders of compromise.

Isn’t it time, to break free and fly,

To fair lands kinder, to the better-half?

Where we do promise to impartially share,

A platform and altar of equal footing,

Come hold hands and gently fly with me.

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© Nalini Hebbar/openmind/2009-all rights reserved

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Key To My Evolution

I started off as a misunderstood child, unable to read and write, unable to follow instructions and unable to stop grinning even while being scolded. My parents gave up on me but I know they wouldn't have, if they had heard about dyslexia.
What I never lost, during all my struggling years, was the attitude...so positive, that all the negatives aimed at me, changed me in a positive way. I learnt that it was not I who brought these reactions in them. It was their prejudice and their shortcomings that did not allow them to reach out and embrace. I learnt to forgive but luckily did not learn to forget.
I embraced change. I imbibed the new. I grew from within. And strangely those lessons that I was unable to put on paper during exams, those concepts that were taught in class and in life, stayed with me. I understood them differently...in an applied way...taught by me to myself!
So change is the essence of my life...an open mind, open to new thought. And I will not, I repeat, will not remain what I am today, tomorrow. I promise... Yes, I promise this to myself.

 

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As I read my old poems yesterday,

'Is it possible for a person to change?

A metamorphosis of self in change?

Transformed matured grown altered?'

These questions as I read emerged,

As I scanned oldnew poems yesterday.

The process I admire and respect, for

In the Universe change is the essence,

A process, a mystery so remarkable,

A process, omnipresent, incredible,

But as it unfold inside me I see,

Its strength and beauty, I perceive.

I see a mind expanding, opening,

To a word, a theme, a question,

Tentacles in my mind feeling,

Reaching, touching, in unison,

With my heart learning, exploring,

Every minuscule vibe of emotion.

New tissue, new pathways formed,

I think new dendrites and synapses,

New veins, arteries, capillaries paved,

An ‘I’ all new renewed that makes,

To feel and think in modes altered,

Or in hidden, now surfacing ways.

As I search for the reason for change,

That I see unfolding deep within me,

Is it I? This crazy newfound being?

With pen as weapon powerful to wield?

No! No! This change in me for all to see,

I know the real reason for this change!

What holds the key to this change I see,

In the poems my heart and soul writes?

Helping me willingly as I changembrace,

In my attitude, in emotion, in my expression?

The key for change it holds in its possession,

Is strangely 'appreciation'! Simple words!!

© Nalini Hebbar/openmind/2009 - all rights reserved

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