Gems they are: Guru-Deguru Lessons

By Renton de Alwis

Written in October 2010, On this last day of the year, some said would end and is still in tact, I recalled the lessons I learnt not from books this time, but from a few people whom I loved, still love and will love for ever. They are all no more. May they all find the eternal bliss of Nirvana. 


Teachers they are all. At school, on the street, at work, at home, our tutors, people we meet, our colleagues, bosses, brothers, sisters and our parents, we learn lessons from them all. Different lessons, some that never escape our minds, others we let go, having learnt a lesson or two, nevertheless. They are all ‘Gurus’; a now universally accepted word derived from the Sanskrit language. Then there are the ‘Deguru’, meaning mother and father. A ‘Guru’ can be anyone. Anyone worth emulating, learning a lesson from, much unlike the popularly accepted meaning of a ‘Sadhu’ or a holy person.

So much care

One of my early Gurus in life was my own uncle, ‘Daha Mama’. He was called ‘Daha’ not as an abbreviation of ‘Dahanayake’ or ‘Daham’, but because that was how he commandeered his favourite animals, the cow and the bull he reared at the back yard of our home in Dehiwela. He was my mother’s youngest brother and his name was Benjamin Fernando. The odd man out in the family, while all others got some education, he had chosen to bite off each letter from his alphabet at school. My mother told me stories of how he had desisted school, but learnt to love animals. His love for his mates who were cattle, dogs and cats was amazing. Each day in and day out, he would look after them with so much care. That was one of the first lessons I learnt on caring, outside of my mother’s loving care.

‘Daha Mama’ was also tasked with taking me to and from school each day. He protected me as if an animal would protect his kind. I resisted his possessive way of caring, often with contempt. It was an embarrassment to be ‘looked after’ when other kids were enjoying their freedom and even making fun of ‘Daha Mama’, until one day, a bully of a bigger boy assaulted me.

Patient counseling

‘Daha Mama’ had found out about the incident and had met that child’s parents to tell them that their child should not be brought up to be a bully. He had not threatened the child or been hasty in action, instead he had approached the child’s parents. A good lesson I learnt on how to deal with difficult issues, with patience extending the same caring we have for our own. I also learnt that there were many lessons the likes of him had learnt from the school of life, which he chose to attend in place of the formal schools we fall over each other to attend.

 

Load to carry

Then there was ‘Abaram Mama’. He was Daha Mama’s friend and was tasked with taking us to school, in his buggy cart. This was when I was transferred from the girl’s school I was attending in Dehiwela, on completion of the second standard to a College in Bambalapitiya. I recall, my mother giving him a few rupees each month for the ride with seven other children. Like my Daha Mama, Abaram Mama loved his bull ‘Pulli’ that helped him earn his living. With eight kids and him on the buggy cart, Pulli had a load to carry. Each day, each way, Abaram Mama would have two rest stops for Pulli, when he got a treat of some grass and water.

On this fateful day, the cart fell into a ditch and most of us were thrown out of cart. Miraculously, not one of us was injured but it was Pulli that was hurt. His neck had twisted and he was grasping for breath in pain in the ditch. Abaram Mama having found that all eight of us were alright, ran to Pulli and untied him from the viya gaha (the front part of the cart where the bull’s neck rests) and placed his head in his arms.

Mannussakama

It was a lesson on love to see him caressing Pulli’s forehead. His efforts were in vain for in a few minutes, Pulli died in Abaram Mama’s arms. It is then that I witnessed for the first time in my life, a grown up weep. For us kids, it was a sad experience to see someone we dearly loved, weep like I had seen a mother do, at the funeral of my class-mate who died of pneumonia, a few months before this incident. His wailing and weeping lasted a good half hour, when people who gathered took him away from Pulli’s dead body. It was not until later in life, I realized that, what I was witnessing was Abaram Mama’s deep-rooted ‘Mannussakama’ (quality of being humane).

Talking about lessons learnt, I think to this day, that my father was amazing at teaching them. Every morning he would leave home on his bicycle sharp at 7.05, with his lunch box attached to the back-bracket and return sharp at 5.50. It was a ride between our home in Dehiwela and his work-place at Ceylon Railways at Ratmalana. He was on time, each time. I only remember him being late once ever. On that day he had fallen off his mode of clean, green and healthy transport and had a bad scrape on his knee.

Stay open

He never complained or was disgruntled about anything about his work. It was always how good it was and how much he enjoyed it. Yet, I remember long years later when I was facing the dilemma of choosing a profession, how he told me, “Don’t join the Railway. It is a closed Department”. He meant that there could be no other options available for a railwayman once in its employ. When he shared this lesson with me, he was already retired after 35 years of service in that very ‘closed’ Department.

How I hated it then, for he never gave me a toy for my birthday. It was always a book and after a while a ‘Meccano set’ (an assembly kit with which you could design and build things). Today, I thank him for the lessons he taught me on the virtues of reading.   

Each of us will have learnt so many lessons like I have, but many of us think of them to be unworthy of recall. These were lessons learnt not in school or university, but from the Guru-Deguru school of life, outside of those formal institutions. There are many we learnt within those formal institutions too and space would not permit me its recall here.

Primsa Sir

Yet, there is one more I must share with you. Mr. Primson Jayasekera (Primsa as we lovingly called him), was our maths teacher in the junior prep class (7^th Form). One morning, Primsa Sir brought a basin of water, towel, cake of soap, tooth brush and tooth paste to class and taught us how to wash our faces and brush our teeth; the right way. We later learnt that he had seen one among us in class, with some dirt around the ear. He did not say who it was, yet he taught us a lesson.

Every morning Sir, as I wash my face, I think of you and thank you for the lesson you taught us that day, taking some time off, from teaching us mathematics.  

Pix credit : Wordpress blog image from Google images

Placing trust in the poor

By Renton de Alwis

Written in August 2010, when I was on a three month assignment in Bangkok, this column dealt with the issues faced by the poor and the focus is on farmers. The problem is not only with the systems we have in situ that are exploitative, but also with the very outlook the decision makers and the elite have on our poor. Although the references are dated, I thought it will present some food for thought on a Sunday, as it did me when I wrote it on a Saturday night ….

Comfort has its way of rubbing off you. After a hard workweek, I was sitting in a hotel room in Bangkok last Saturday watching television. My real intent was to see if I could get to watch the cricket final. I had no luck, and I later settled to being content with reading the live commentary on my notebook computer.

So many Khans

While switching channels on the TV, I came across an interview on BBC’s ‘Talking Movies’ with the Bollywood actor-filmmaker Aamir Khan. With so many Khans now on the Bolywood scene, and others claiming ‘My name is Khan’, I had to get his first name right. He is releasing his latest film ‘Peepli Live’ in the UK next month and this was a public relations stint he was on. In response to a question about the film being touted as a political satire about farmer's suicides in India, he quipped “Let’s get to what this film is really about. Not only in India, but in many other places around the world, our focus is all about the cities. While rural areas still have the majority of people living there, there is very little attention on their plight. This film is about them”.

How true. We only focus on what we see around us and what we know. Unlike India’s vast spans of the countryside, Sri Lanka is small. Yet, most of our focus still is on happenings around the city.

End to Victimisation

While my eyes were on the TV screen, rapid images of our own farmers with bountiful harvests, being victims of rice-mill owners and hoarders, ran across my mind. Television interviews of farmers on ‘News at Eight’ claiming they will have to commit suicide, if the price of paddy falls far below what it takes to grow them, ran parallel in the backdrop of my memory. This is in-spite of our government’s proactive policy to be self-sufficient, cause effective regional development and redistribute the fruits of growth.

Farmers respond well and do their all to grow more and the fertiliser subsidies help. But the problem is, when it comes to selling the produce. There is very little done proactively to break the might of the mill-owner cartels. We hear stories of regions where political patronage is behind the hoarders. If we are to keep our trust in the poor and if they are to be rewarded for the huge contribution they make, there must be an end to this gross injustice of not-so-productive middle persons making undue profit.

It is heartening that the might of the auction fixing mafia has been broken at the Port Authority with the intervention of the security forces. But still this is in the city. The rural auction fixing of paddy, during harvest time also needs to be fixed, and fixed fairly without fear or favour.

BOP Business

Switching channels further, I got to another interview. This time a larger than life figure I knew much about appeared on screen. On Japan’s NHK television an interesting discussion was on. The key person on the panel was Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, the man who champions the cause of the poor and calls for us to trust and invest in them. What luck it was for me. The same day, in two different scenarios two people in two polarised situations, discussing the same issues of the same people, the rural poor.    

The NHK discussion was on “The future and challenges of BOP business”. BOP meaning ‘Bottom or Base of the Pyramid’. Businesses that support the poorest of the poor, like the Grameen Bank and the Shakthidoi Yogurt business with Danone the French dairy products company in Bangladesh. Sumitomo Chemicals of Japan project manufacturing mosquito nets in Africa, as a business helping eradicate Malaria. Questions were raised and the pros and cons of programmes like Nestlé’s Milk District project helping farmers to raise cattle and buy their produce, Shakthi project of Unilever where door-door sales of consumables eliminate the need for middle persons keeping prices affordable while providing employment to rural youth and CEMEX Cement Manufacture’s ‘ Patromonio Hoy project in Mexico, engaging rural people in developing housing based on indigenous technology, came to my mind.  

Way Forward

In addition to Professor Yunus, the panel consisted of top level representatives of JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), JBIC (Japan Bank for International Cooperation), and a French agency supporting BOP Businesses. The discussion focussed on how companies can be profitable and contribute to meeting social needs looking at the bottom of the pyramid of populations, where the market size is large. The earlier premise that companies should aim their sales at markets with purchasing power is negated here. The idea is to create purchasing power, by assisting communities to come out of the poverty trap. All members of the panel agreed that the BOP business model, done right will offer a way forward, to end global poverty through business driven solutions, away from the conventional corporate social responsibility or CSR models.

Beggars no more

Professor Yunus emphasised on the need for business people to have trust on the poor. He said that his Grameen Bank gave small but adequate loans to 18,000 beggars on the streets of Dhaka. Now, about 80 % of them are out of begging and have paid back their loans, emphasising that they were grateful for the opportunity they got to begin a trade or a business with the start-up funds. “People are poor not because they want to be poor, but because society has not given them the opportunities they need” he said.

No single solution

During the final session, he was asked the question as to where one should begin a BOP business and how certain one can be of its success. His answer was “Find a need among the poor and a process to meet it, begin the business and face situations as they arise”.  “There is no single solution. Solutions will emerge as you take on the activity. The important thing is to begin” he further said.

Some argue that BOP business to be an escape mechanism in sorting out the failure of the capitalist business model, while others insist it to be an innovation of its own, that will be a panacea allowing the world at large to get out of the poverty trap. Whatever that conceptual position is; like Professor Yunus says, ‘one can not go wrong, placing one’s trust in the poor’.  When there is only one way out of poverty, one can hardly go the wrong way.  

 

Pix credit: Google free image

 

        

Every drop counts

By Renton de Alwis

Written in October 2010, it was to inform my readers of the 10-10-10 Global Climate Change Awareness initiative undertaken by 350.Org, on social media. We also participated from the village of Kiula, where villagers affected by the Tsunami of 2004, came together to renew their commitment to protect the environment. So did several others in Sri Lanka. This is a reminder that there is so much individuals can do using the huge potential and power of social media today, to bring issues to focus, calling for action.  

 
I recall my fourth grade teacher telling us “the ocean is made of lots of tiny drops of water. It is when those drops come together we call it, the mighty ocean”. He was referring to small deeds. He impressed upon us that each of our contribution, even though we were tots then, mattered. I always remembered this vividly, held on to it tight and tried my best to focus on many of the small things one can do.

Mega-mania

Later in life, I also learned that it was the mega-mania that we embraced in our recent human history that has brought us many of the ill-effects, we witness today. Terms such as ‘Small is beautiful’, ‘Need before greed’, ‘Power of the many’, ‘miniaturization’, ‘nano-technology’, ‘the Titanic effect’ etc. become extremely significant and meaningful in this context while those such as ‘Greed is good’, ‘Having a choice from among many’, ‘Over indulgence’, ‘Over consumption’, ‘Big is better’ etc only brought in a questioning of that dominant system of beliefs.    

350. org

This weekend all over the world such ‘little drops of action’ are taking place to mitigate some of our follies of the past. On Sunday, the 10^th October 2010, in 181 countries, tens of millions of ordinary citizens of the world are participating in over 5,900 events, to do what little they can to mitigate climate change. Called the 10-10-10 movement, it comes under the banner of 350.org, tcktcktck.org and age- of-stupid.org and many other like-minded organizations on the virtual and real domains bonding together each doing their little bit.

Some plan to plant trees, care for mangroves, hold workshops and discussions to spread the word around, make policies at work places on reducing energy consumption, taking on new efforts at recycling, while others are exercising pressure on leaders to take more meaningful and assertive action.

The President of the Maldives, head of a most vulnerable nation of sea level rise and other negative impacts of global warming, is himself installing a solar paneled roof at the President’s House in Male.

Numeric that matter

In this effort 350 and 10 are significant numerical indexes. Up until 200 years ago the carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the earth’s atmosphere were at a healthy ratio of 275 parts of CO2 molecules per million (ppm). With the industrial revolution, use of coal, gas and oil to produce goods, emergence of consumerism and over-indulgence, the CO2 levels began to increase steadily and within the past two decades have shot up to intolerable levels for Mother Earth of 390 ppm. 350 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere is presented by climate scientists as a threshold level of tolerance where our planet can have hope of rejuvenation and prevent further catastrophe. They also hold that a 10% reduction in the CO2 levels within a year to be a pragmatic target for mitigation action.

Growing disasters

The phenomena we know today as climate change and global warming began with the our world witnessing unprecedented melting of ice-burgs and glaciers in the Polar regions and at mountain peaks, increased incidence of natural disasters such as floods, raging forest fires, typhoons, desertification, earth-quakes and tsunamis taking place. The incidence of Malaria and Dengue is increasing with mosquitoes having new habitats, within a warming world. Food and water shortages are evident and once futile lands are turning into deserts in some parts of the world.

Even climate skeptics, who kept on claiming that this is a normal cycle of the earth’s warming, have now begun to wonder if this is indeed one of a cycle or a phenomenon beyond, what history had ever witnessed.

Lobbies against

The conventional energy lobbies of fossil fuel, coal and gas interests have been working overtime to ensure that governments postpone policies that discourage the use of these. Probes on climate scientists and questioning the validity of their claims is part of the delaying tactics they have adopted. Huge amounts of funds are used to create lobbies against the rapid adoption climate friendly policies.

The good news though, is that they themselves are now working on innovating alternative energy sources and modes to replace what they are doing now. There are some among them especially in Japan, who since the Kyoto protocol earlier this decade have taken the challenge head-on and through technological innovation taken meaningful action to meet the reduction targets set for them.

Citizen’s action

This all goes to show that what’s needed is the will and a push from citizens to show our policy makers and conventional energy cartels that they need to act and act fast. The objective of the 350 and the 10:10 movement is to create an alliance of grassroots climate organizers from all over the world with a call for little drops of action from all. The idea is to spread the word of the need to preserve the good health of the only planet we have to live in, through practical, visual and meaningful actions.

This weekend schools, universities, temples, churches, community organizations, teachers, students, other ordinary citizens will all come together to do their bit with the help of their constituencies to demonstrate the power of grassroots action on mitigation of global warming.   

Work Parties

The creators of the movement in a communiqué said “To build a movement, we need more than good ideas- we need to be able to gather our friends, neighbours, family, coworkers. What we do must be fun, but be meaningful… this is why we have decided to organize Work Parties of small communities on 10-10-10 in every corner of the world”.

I once again recall the lesson I learnt in school. It is the tiny drops of water that go to make the mighty ocean. Little bits of action of many, from all over the world will come together this Sunday, to make a mighty collective effort in overcoming the challenge of global warming. You only need to resolve to join in a Climate Work Party near you by visiting www.350.org and be part of that solution.

10-10-10 event, Kiula
Pix credit: Nalaka Lankadhikari

 

Are we seeing some real change here?

 By Renton de Alwis

Written in August 2010, this column talks of the significant gesture of a few ‘good Samaritan’, very rich men in the US. They had pledged to part with their wealth, in a ‘self confession’ of bearing part of the responsibility for the social and economic ills of the worst ever crisis faced by human kind at the time. The crisis still not over was identified to be larger in depth and impact than the great depression of the end 1940’s. It is interesting to inquire as to what impact such CSR type action of a few has had on global society today and if such presents the real solutions for building a better and a more meaningful future for our children …. 

Thirty eight billionaires from the US, among them some of the richest men in the world, are reported to have made a pledge a week ago to give away significant portions of their wealth to support those in need. Warren Buffett cited as the ‘legendary investor’ led the way and pledged to give up 99 per cent, believe it or not, 99% of his wealth to others i.e. a cool sum of US $ 45 billion. Most of it is to be channelled through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Bill Gates is already leading the way with his own deeds. They are joined by New York’s Mayor and Bloomberg founder Michael Bloomberg, now worth US$ 18 billion as the eighth richest man in the US and many others who made their billions in many, many ways. Some through innovative pursuits and others by buying and selling what the Earth’s core, Mother Nature, or someone else invented or produced, making enormous profit along the way.

 

Feet on Ground

Some among us may see this as another ‘do good’ deed and will relate it to corporate social responsibility (CSR), while others will see it as a publicity stunt of a few egoistic rich. Yet others will call it a tax ploy. I for one, would suggest that it is none of these, but a genuine realisation and an attempt by these individuals to look inward at themselves and at the realities we all see (or do we?) around us. We can not, for sure, call this galaxy of the richest of the rich, a bunch of crazy old men. For most of them have over the years demonstrated what they are capable of, and proved their mettle on both intellectual and business fronts. They all have proven track records of having their feet firmly on this ground.

Before we pass final judgement on the significance of this action, let us take a closer look at the social and economic model that has driven and is driving the global economy now.  It is based on Western dominant thinking and has at its base, the premise that the driving motivation for economic and business pursuit, is to take advantage and exploit the human weakness of greed. The yearning demand for more and more in choice enables the suppliers of those choices, the opportunity to profit from it.  Satisfying and meeting the basic needs of all, is not an objective therein.

 

Growth/ Development

That is embedded in the United Nations Charter of Human Rights and remains a political ideology far removed from the realities of the world at large of the dominant model of economics and business.  This model has given us humans a desire and drive, to seek what we know today as ‘growth and development based on the concept of comparative advantage and competitiveness, offering variety and choice driven by the price mechanism’.  And in the process of its achievement, has marginalised a larger portion of the human population, from having access to the fruits of that growth and ‘development’.

More and more food has been produced using better technologies. Yet, hundreds of million people are continuing to be hungry living below the poverty line. Significant breakthroughs have been made in the world’s medical and pharmaceutical industries of ways to prevent diseases and in the invention of new drugs. Yet in reality, there is increased incidence of pandemics and spread of newer strains of disease. Most people also do not have ease of access or affordability to take advantage of these drugs and cures.

 

Self serving

While cities have grown with glitter of high-rise buildings, people in villages are continuing to have limited access to unpolluted drinking water, quality education and health care and are facing higher incidence of natural disasters. Lifestyles of excess have resulted in global warming and the good health of this only planet we have to live in, is at risk. While the world boasts or laments of rates of growth and performances of the stock markets, disharmony has grown among nations and communities. The world we live in has increasingly become polarised. We see huge resistance to efforts to provide health care for all from insurance interests, for incentives to develop alternative energy options from the conventional energy conglomerates and lobbies developing to protect exploitative systems.

On the flip side of the coin, we also see a democratisation of processes and actions on several fronts. The info-communication revolution has provided reach and access to millions on information of how to make their lives better. Access to computers and open source operating systems, have provided new vistas for the education of millions of children in marginalised areas and is very much a growing phenomenon. The green movement has taken on the world by storm and are creating events calling out to each individual citizen. On December 12, 2009, 16 million of the world’s citizens from 181 countries participated in over 5,200 events on a single day, to call on their leaders to bring in real action on climate change. (Refer www.350.org). CNN described the event as “the largest political action on a single day in human history”. On October 10, 2010 (10-10-10) a similar action is planned by an alliance of over 200 organisations calling for earth’s citizens to do their bit to mitigate carbon emissions. (Refer www.tcktcktck.org).
 

A Middle Path

There is more talk today of the need for alternative thinking on how the world and its affairs should be run. A black American was elected as the President of the United States defying conventional belief, and his campaign call for ‘Change we can believe in”. An end to possession of nuclear weapons by all nations has now got into the front of global agenda and is indeed a first, for in the past it was only imposed on a list of selects. Each night Thai radio stations are running adverts on the merits of the ‘Sufficiency Economy” model, proposed by the country’s King. As I had presented in an earlier column, it is based on the Buddhist principle of seeking a middle path, in developing a new social and economic order for meeting human needs away from fulfilling excessive greed.

The pledge of the US billionaires is perhaps a signal of a directional change that we are beginning to see in the prevailing dominant thinking. It is symbolic of their wanting to ‘give up greed to support need’ (not charity) and should not be treated as yet another CSR event. This perhaps is the beginning of a process of real change in the existing world order that can lead to ensuring its sustainability.      

Pix credit: self

Sharing Some Random Thoughts

By Renton de Alwis

Written in June 2010, while sitting in a hotel room in Bangkok. At the time, that city was recovering from a severe bout of civil unrest. This column was an attempt to capture the feel of a busy city, looking beyond its usual glamour, while switching back and forth from home to my temporary abode at the time.  

I am sitting here on a Saturday morning in a hotel room in Bangkok. I was pulled out for a while of my active retirement, by my former employer; the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) with an invitation to take on a short assignment of three months. With interest earned on my retirement support nest-egg cut by almost half, by the Central Bank and so much left on the pay-back debt to Mother Lanka on the free education she gave me left, I said why not.

Smaller world

Like I did when in Sri Lanka, living in the remote village of Kiula in the Deep South filing my weekly column, I shall do the same while here. What can I say, but a big ‘Thank You’, to all those from around the globe, whoever, however had chipped-in to invent and develop the power of Info-communication. It amazing how time, place barriers no longer matter at all. We can work from anywhere, with the same efficacy. It’s all about a bit of imagination, innovation and creativity. The world is now a small place. To most I know, big no longer means might and small, indeed is beautiful.  

I miss Kiula; sights, sounds and the feel of Kalametiya and its surrounds fill my heart. It is said that home is where your heart is. I have almost forgotten how to stay away from home for long spells.

Busy but calm

I look out the window here and see a line of people on the Siam Central Sky Train station’s platform waiting for the arrival of the next train. Perhaps Saturday morning shoppers, tourists and those catching up on chores they could not do during the week. All is quite here. One can not imagine there was unease, in this part of Bangkok a few weeks ago. Except for a few charred roofs I see at random, Bangkok is on its feet again. It must be the value of tolerance the Buddha taught. The calm charm of the greeting ‘Sawasdee’ is everywhere, in the midst of the busy, busy feel of ant-like activity. I had seen Bangkok grow over the years. The traffic jams in this area before the Sky Train has now eased somewhat. Yet, not all together dealt with. Unlike how Singapore manages its traffic flows, with ‘pay and pay’ and capacity-based release of cars on its roads.

Park and ride

I recall the sound initiative our former transport minister Dallas Allahaperuma had to discourage cars from entering Colombo.  City executives could park and ride by luxury coach from Moratuwa. Sadly, it had no takers. His intent was to do the same on other routes too. That was a good scheme, but proved that we Sri Lankans were yet unwilling to give up even a part of our comfort, for the common good.

The potential saving on fuel bills, reduction of CO2 emissions, noise pollution, ease congestion, more earnings from tourism; for Colombo could be nicer and more visually beautiful for pedestrians, were non-issues. I wonder why the recent stern action of getting the pavement-hawkers of Pettah off the streets, building an alternative shelter for them in a more conducive environment; can not be extended to our motorists as well? ‘Park and ride’ is an excellent proposition.

No exemptions

It must be made mandatory or regulated with high entry toll-fees for motorists at all times. There can not be exemptions to politicians or government servants. For exception will be the ruin of any good initiative. The rule of law must prevail. All, regardless of who they are, must be made to either take the bus or pay to enter by car by paying the toll. With such schemes, the programme of moving government offices and large business-houses out of the city to less congested areas will be hastened. Business leaders and officials will be better motivated to move themselves out when they have to pay more to operate from within the city.

There will be initial resistance, like in all else. Removal of pavement-hawkers and making key Colombo streets ‘one-way’ were two examples. With time, people see the benefits and begin to appreciate its merits. To do all of this, we do not need to aspire to be a Bangkok, a Singapore or a Hong Kong or even a Kuala Lumpur. We must indeed learn lessons from the follies of others. What we do in the end, need be our own fit-for-need initiative, managed with determination and fairness.          

Our future

In front of the hotel I am staying are a host of private business tuitoring schools. Thai people, like us place high-stakes on education. When I walk from work in the evenings, ten minutes away, I see a hive of activity around with young teens at these schools. They are in uniforms and make a lovely sight, much like bees in a hive.

The sight took my mind back home. Our tuition classes, Sunday schools, teachers, examinations, students, their aspirations and a whole host of things. I recalled that I had only half-read the book my friend Daya Dissanayake, gave me a few days before I left. It was his own work, titled “Vessan Novu Vedun” (Doctors who did not prostitute the profession) and was about doctors who served, placing service before remuneration. I thought of some of our teachers who fitted the description and those who did not.

I thought about our students and the Thai students of whom I still know very little. But I know them to be our future, the future of our countries and the future of our only common planet.   

 

 

Bubbles must burst

Renton de Alwis

Written in late 2011 this was the height of the street protests against the failing of the US and the world economy to serve peoples' needs. Today, the rage in India (see pix below) is against the rape of a young woman in the backdrop of the slaying of  little kids by a young man in a cozy little township in the US. I leave it for your critical thought for how we may approach the solutions ....

As I write this column New York’s Wall Street occupiers’ protests had gone-on beyond its third week. Thousands of protesters have been living in the Zuccotti Park (formerly NY Liberty Plaza) are showing their displeasure at having to bear the brunt of the follies of the glamour guys of the ‘financial capital of the world’. As at three days ago, over 50 other cities in the US, hosts of trade unions and support movements on the virtual domain joined in the protest bringing in hundreds of thousands of activists to the fore.

In another development, this year’s Nobel Prize for economics have been awarded to Professors Thomas J. Sargent and Christopher A. Sims who independently of each other conducted empirical research on cause and effect in the macro-economy.

First world poverty

In the UK for the first time since the Second World War, white-collar folk are lining up in charity-lines the likes of Fairshare, which ventures to collect food stuff and other essentials that would otherwise be thrown away at the nation’s supermarkets. They make these available to an estimated 35,000 people who are without jobs and in need. Also for the first time, we are seeing a clear demonstration of first world poverty of a wide-spread kind emerging, not of the usual seekers of charity, the disabled or the homeless, but of those belonging to the middle-class, who now can not but help seek it. An array of street demonstrations we have seen, even leading to looting in some major European cities may well be manifestations of what seemingly is wrong in our societies today.

European leaders met last week to discuss how bail-outs can be worked out for the sick economies of their own and others around them. The Wall Street protests show that bail-outs alone can not save nations in debt who have for far too long, lived beyond their means. The protesters claim that ninety nine per cent of Americans are paying for sins of one percent, who have chosen to create bubbles that have been kept inflated by the government apparatus. Luxurious life-styles maintained through non-existent resources have drawn that nation to debt and resultant chaos.

What must be noted are the Domino and Ecosystem Effects that all of this leads to. In today’s world’s nations, economies, financial networks and systems and everything else that we know, are linked closely with each other. iPods and other such devices enable information exchange at rapid speeds and fund transfers of significant magnitude can now be made within seconds. No one in effect is spared of these happenings. 

Waste not

It is apparent that we are facing the wrath of having chosen to ignore the principle of cause and effect. We have treated Mother Nature with scant regard and lived in denial and sadly some continue to do so now, even when all scientific and other evidence shows that all is not well with the health of our planet. This has gone-on for far too long without any real corrective action taken and all of human-kind seems to be getting into deep trouble. Our greedy ways have led us to seek, build, acquire or spend on many things that are unnecessary.

In our own context in Sri Lanka, we talk of conservation of our environment and go on destroying our forests and other natural assets. Millions are spent on tamashas; the many luxurious wedding ceremonies, unproductive political rallies, fancy openings of development projects, conventions, conferences, award ceremonies followed by cocktail parties and wasteful dinner parties, sponsored events for ‘stars’, promoting many non-essential products and habits. Consumption of alcoholic beverages, tobacco and other more harmful substances known as ‘drugs’, while building huge financial empires around them have been acceptable practise and there has been a ‘looking away’ by many in positions of power on these operations. Grand Prix races and Rallies of energy guzzling luxurious vehicles are touted as sporting events. What can be done modestly and in austere ways is done with grandeur and waste, to satisfy the egos of a few.

How many types of soaps, beauty-care products, baby-care products, generic medicines, food stuff, educational modes and institutions, development and entertainment options do we humans kind need to have to lead affordable lives of acceptable levels of comfort? Instead we continue to place undue pressure on the natural resource-base of this planet, by producing so many unwanted goods and services. This only serves to please the greed that has been allowed to grow within each of us leading us to believe that it is good. Need has been replaced by choice within this belief system.    

Sound fundamentals

A house is built on a foundation that is carefully planned. Different for different soil types; on slopes, on hills, on sandy or muddy moving ground they will be designed and built differently. Some will be built on stilts, while other on foundations of granite and concrete. If the house happens to be your own, this becomes even more relevant and more care is exercised. If it is built for others by you, there may not be the same care that goes into it. That is the sad reality but it is true.

Singapore’s leaders when building that nation’s economy always maintained that it needed to have a strong foundation. They called it having sound fundamentals. The nation has a healthy 50% average savings rate which means that each Singaporean on the average has saved or invested half of his or her income regularly. Some of it is in the form of forced savings through the central provident fund (CPF), mechanism of the country. At the worker level, the country’s trade union movement is also geared to saving, investing and managing major portions of their members’ incomes through the national trade union congress (NTUC), one of the richest organisations in the country operating taxi services, recreational facilities, chains of supermarkets etc.

In the current economic environment, even a country with such sound fundamentals will only be able to withstand external pressures after some time. For the Domino Effect referred to earlier will begin to eventually push down even those who have lived prudently,  for they are closely linked to global financial markets and systems. The currently strong economies of China and India will also begin to feel the pains of this crisis and may need to play a greater role in the establishment of a new order for the world in the future.

And in doing so the principle of ‘hethu pala dharmathavaya’ or cause and effect, which is at the root of all oriental teaching need be taken as the basis for designing these new systems and models. Just tinkering with what is on now, as the Nobel prize winning economic researchers have sought to do, in determining the impact interest rate and tax instruments have on the overall economies of countries may not do. What will be needed is to look at establishing solid fundamentals in living in harmony with nature, within one’s means, based on the ethic of hard work in creating real products and services that will richly serve all humankind. 

Pix credit: Wordpress on Google

Shaping hopes of Sri Lanka’s Future

By Renton de Alwis

Today is Christmas day and many will be enjoying themselves in various ways. My mind is taken back to the year end events of the year 2010 in the village where I live, of which I wrote this column. Since some false moves has forced the closure of the preschool, I speak of. It is now split in two, located in two different corners of the village, reflecting the sad realities of selfish, commercially driven society. The two teachers, I talked of in my column, continue their dedicated and caring service at one of the schools amidst various hardship. 

 

On this day of peace, my call is for our thoughts to focus on the future of our children and nature of the world we must leave behind for them. Away from the many other diversions for which we spend our valuable time … 

 

Sunday last was special for the Kiula village where we live. It was the year-end concert of the village Preschool and its hall was decorated like it was carnival time. It indeed was. The little ones were dressed for the various performances. Fifty little butterflies, flowers, stars, sun and moon, monkeys, rabbits, Veddahs, Kandyan dancers, drummers and osari clad little ladies, they were. Dressed in varied colours and costumes, they were eagerly awaiting their turn to make merry on the little stage. Bundles of pure innocence and joy they made.

No show-biz

Parents, mostly mothers with rest of their kids around them, were all there.

Having prepared them for the performances; elaborate dresses and in-situ makeup and even little sprinklings of shinny gold and silver dust to make them glitter a bit more, they were on the edges of their bench-seats till the concert began. I have been to many concerts before and seen the best of the best perform. But here, last Sunday morning the atmosphere, ambience and the vibes were different. Without pretences, big sponsor’s messages and the usual show-biz glitter, this was special and elegant. They danced, sang, jumped up and down, fell, got-up and made merry. It was not only a concert I saw, but a culmination of joy, fun, hope and aspirations of our future.

I am sure that there are many similar events held all around our land at this time of year, where our children in their preschool formative years come together and there is similar joy and hope of a better future generated.   

Moulders of future

I also saw through the concert, a window of opportunity to reflect on an aspect which we as adults, seem not to focus on with adequate seriousness. It is the movement of preschool education and the excellent work done by another group of true heroes of our land. Not often heard or thought about, they are our preschool teachers and administrators of early childhood development work programmes. They are indeed the silent, yet effective moulders of Sri Lanka’s hopes of our future.

I must confess that I do not have any specialised knowledge or skills in this area of education and must also confess that I myself am guilty, not having done enough by my own children, in their early formative years. Now that one of my children has acquired for herself a postgraduate qualification in early childhood behavioural analysis and is a specialist Autism practitioner, she herself had taught me a few lessons on the special significance of this sphere of activity.

In making up for lost time and effort, I began to understand why the preschool or the early childhood years are cited as the most important years of a child’s development.

As was shared with us by specialist Shiromi Masakorala, at a recent interaction held with mothers of the village preschool, most of what makes a wholesome adult would occur, during that person’s early childhood years. She explained to mothers how beginning from the period of pregnancy over to formal schooling, the to-be born, the new-born and in early childhood, love, affection and kindness among parents and their collective projection of that caring to the child, supports the child’s well-being and effective growth. She also emphasised the need to facilitate adequate periods and types of play for children to help form their brain-body coordination. Proper nutrition, huge doses of loving care, a sound home environment, independent and team game-play, were the key ingredients she prescribed, to mothers in attendance.

Play skills

A significant observation made on the day was that only one father attended the session to which both parents were invited. There were around sixty mothers in attendance. The need for fathers to also become partners of the process of their children’s early childhood development was highlighted, with a special mention of alcoholic and other substance abuse by parents, as a significant negative contributory factor.    

They were briefed on the popular myth held by many parents that their children should be taught to read, count and write at preschool. It was said that some parents even complained that the preschool teachers of their children were not adequately qualified for they do not teach them these skills. It was emphasised that facilitation of free play was the most important learning need and aid at this stage of a child’s development and that parents should do their utmost to allow the child to develop various play-skills instead of yearning for formal learning skills that must be in later schooling.

Valuable Lessons

Watching the kids at the concert perform, I realised that what we were witnessing, was the result of the marvels of work done by the two preschool teachers. Popularly known as Loku-Teacher (Deepani) and Podi-Teacher (Anoja), they had steered fifty kids of diverse home backgrounds, interests, levels of imagination, access to nutrition and stages of physical growth to be able to grow to their potential.

At this school there is also a down-syndrome child who is accommodated in the regular programme. Much to the credit of the teachers and the mother of the child, it is not only the child who had benefited from the ‘learning’, but also all other children in the programme. It was evident from the different acts they performed together, the remarkable level of understanding they had developed working with each other. I observed that in some instances it even surpassed expectations we would have of rational adult behaviour in dealing with persons with special needs. The children were indeed teaching us valuable lessons on group and team work.

True beneficiaries

 

With a whole generation of our children having grown amidst an insecure and terror ridden environment, these little children will be our hope of the new generation we would want to see emerge, as true beneficiaries of a fresh era of Sri Lanka’s developmental landscape. Though, simple and basic it may seem, the attention we as a nation pay on the development of our children in the South, North, East, West and the Centre in their formative years, will be as important a parameter as the roads, the bridges, the harbours, airports, energy and other infrastructure schemes. 

The success of that effort will be dependent on our having so many more persons the likes of Loku-teacher and Podi-teacher and the effective implementation of programmes such as Mathta-thita (end alcohol abuse) , Nasthiyata-thita (end Wastefulness), Allasata/Dushanayata-thita (end Bribery and corruption) and Bhayata he Avidyavata-thita (end Fear and Ignorance).

 

Let there not be any gaps between our cups and our lips !

 

 

 

The Tortoise and the Hare: the story retold

By Renton de Alwis

Written in November 2010, this column examined the need for an alternative model for sustainable human development. Presented for your critical thought ....

At a recent conference held in Bangkok, on how Thailand can meet global challenges in progressing its economy, a speaker referred to the story we all learnt as kids of the tortoise and the hare and the race they took on to reach the goal post. Adopted from Aesop’s fables, it was one of the first to be learnt by all children, as a lesson for life. It established the virtue of being steady and solid on one’s progress. The hare was portrayed as being hasty, unsteady and complacent, in spite of its ability to run faster than the tortoise.

Innovation and courage

The position the speaker took is that the story and the virtues it presented were no longer valid in today’s world. “Not only will today’s hare never take a nap, but it will dig holes along the way to trap the tortoise. The only way a tortoise today, can win that race would be, if he was innovative and bold to climb a hill and roll down towards the goal post” he said. The obvious reference was of the need emerging countries had to be innovative and different. “Realising and understanding the advantages of one’s strengths” was the key. The tortoise had to realise that it had a hard shell that can withstand the impact of the fall and take advantage of it to win the race in a novel way. “But what is most important was to have the courage to jump, even when the outcome was not clearly known” he added.

Reconciliation needs

This indeed is an interesting way to strategise the skills and drive needed to get ahead in today’s world. And more interesting is the backdrop in which these remarks were made.

Thailand is a country that was shaken up by recent events where hearts and minds need to be reconciled, much like we have in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of our over twenty five years of the terrorist saga. This has happened in spite of that country having achieved unprecedented economic growth in the past few decades, sitting right at the epicentre of a growth region, among the Mekong dragons. Yet, there is unease and concerns about disparities in income distribution, access to resources and opportunities. Centralisation of power with the rich elite and marginalisation of the poor is also cited as a possible cause for the unrest, while others venture to call it pure political game-play.

Sufficiency Economy

Right now, things have returned to normal, and attempts are made to bring the rival groups together, it is stated. Another speaker referring to the socio-economic environment commented on the economic philosophy and model, The King of Thailand proposed some time ago for the country of the ‘Sufficiency Economy’. Based on principles of the Buddhist way of living, The King recommended that the Thai nation seeks to adopt a way of life, where the motive for gaining economic prosperity would not be satisfaction of greed. The King advocated “taking the middle path in life as the optimal route for personal conduct at all levels: individuals, families and communities. It counsels moderation, self-reliance, honesty and integrity, while exercising knowledge with prudence”.

Following the principles of ‘Sufficiency Economy’ posits that “an individual should be able to lead a reasonably comfortable life without excess or overindulgence in luxury. That is, if extravagance brings happiness it is permissible only as long as it is within the means of the individual” he said. His Majesty stated in a Royal Speech on December 4, 1998, “If one is moderate in one’s desires, one will have less craving. If one has less craving, one will take less advantage of others. If all nations hold this concept of moderation, without being extreme or insatiable in one’s desire, the world will be a happier place”. The speaker at the conference referred to “influences that have made Thailand’s efforts at adopting this philosophy bear lesser fruit than they should have” pointing to influence of the dominant western economic, social and business culture.

Moderation and resilience

Several Thai scholars and economists have attempted to present the ‘Sufficiency Economy’ model to fit the currently dominant global economic and social environment. In a paper developed on this aspect Medhi Krongkaew, professor of economics at the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) in Thailand states that “while certainly complementary to the nation’s Buddhist heritage, ‘Sufficiency Economy’ espouses a secular philosophy. It does not reject either economic theory or economic progress. Neither does it denounce globalization, as some have tried to interpret. Instead, the middle path in the king’s philosophy speaks of a lifestyle governed by moderation and resilience”.

He further adds that “it is possible to see ‘Sufficiency Economy’ as consisting of two frameworks. One is the inevitability of facing the globalised world in which economic efficiency and competition are the rules of the game; the other is the need for economic security and the capacity to protect oneself from external shock and instability. Thinking within the first framework—the basic tenet of mainstream economics—we must realise the opportunity costs involved in every decision we make. We gain from specialization and division of labor because the opportunity costs of doing everything by ourselves is much higher. The laws of comparative advantage and gains from trade are at work in today’s world. But it would be foolish to pursue all-out specialization without basic security, especially in food, shelter, and clothing. This is where the framework of the ‘Sufficiency Economy’ comes in. This concerns the basic capacity of the people of a country to look after themselves. The optimization principle applies when we seek to answer the question: How much of our time and energy should be devoted to the first and second frameworks, respectively? In other words, how much resources should be allocated to producing for trade based on comparative advantage principle, and how much for basic security? The best mix between the two allocations would represent the optimal state of affairs, both in mainstream and Sufficiency Economics”.

Whole new game

The tortoise in this model as in the story retold, will seek to win not necessarily by trying to outdo the hare at its own game, but by reinventing the game in total. It will not be a game of winner takes all. It will be a game of moderation, self-sufficiency, efficiency and of self-fulfillment through caring for others as much as the caring that goes for one-self. A model that Sri Lanka, as much as Thailand can benefit from and move on to being winning tortoises with all of its shell well intact and protected.