COLUMN BUSY BEE- OCT/NOV/DEC/JAN

COLUMN BUSY BEE- OCTOBER

Explosions, sabotage threats, cricket scandals, hockey debacle; one hardly knows what is breaking news any more- what with all Indian news channels labelling ALL their news as breaking news. So I did a Rip Van Winkle - no newspaper, no TV news for a month, waking up to learn of the happenings gone by .Nothing earthshaking, nothing too shocking anymore. My forced comatose existence making my dank and clammy transition to the shadier side of forty slightly less agonizing infact.

Yes you read it right. My birthday is like an annual confidence report, I am totally nervous to take a peek into every year. Did I achieve all that I set out for? Am I happier, sadder, guilty or absolved for allowing many a dream to wither while trying to create opportunities to grow and learn?
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” Mother Superior had taught us. To deny personal pleasure was noble we had learnt .So when I chose to be a cog in that huge machinery that kept the country free from foreign intrusion, my sacrifice seemed unmatched, supreme, unparalleled as much as a fighting soldiers’.

When I look back though I remember only the silly salty tears upon my cheek… my life in waiting, in biding as a single parent, watching my skills rust and my dreams choke and die, my faltering, bleeding steps learning forever new tricks on the trapeze of organisational life. I could rouge my cheeks and keep the chin up, but I had a question rankling my mind all the time. Why did “esprit de corps” taste so distasteful even when it was so noble? Why did I feel so dispirited doing my ‘military' duties and fulfilling my obligations? What Mother Superior had forgotten to tell us was – (or were we too young to understand Maslow) Till the time your coffer is full you cannot give. It is true when it comes to the flowering of all things in our life including people, plans, and personal objectives. No matter how noble, it takes time to learn to be unconditional, which is not the same as giving out of fear and guilt of an undernourished soul. It couldn't have been any different in those early years I guess. Responsibilities seem to rest easy on my shoulders today. And could it possible if you busy bees were not by my side in pain and misery to nurture my hive? The hive is full and so the honey flows. It’s my turn now to nurture another.

Am I glad I am ready to pay the rent for my room here on earth at last?


BUSY BEE COLUMN - DECEMBER

The recent debate on whether or not India is on the springboard to join the ‘big league’ leaves me wondering if we got the recipe right. We seem to be in dreadful hurry to dash for the ‘gold’ for the sake of a label. Is this just because we believe we have reasons to justify our claim in the fray (Energy pacts, nuclear deals, rising Sensex /GDP et all), or are we plain insecure (Now ‘Hu’ / ‘WHO’ said that?!)!

Well for one, we could be a little myopic if not totally blind. Let’s take the smallest puzzle and see how things stand today. Apparently Bhopal and Indore claim the highest crime rates in the state which is attributed to rapid industrialisation and urbanisation in these areas. If this is true, you don’t have to be a Nostradamus to read the signs of apocalypse. The boost in GDP may help us flex our muscles but there’s a growing cancer, mounting just as rapidly. Millions are still hungry, illiterate, jobless, shelterless and dying – a severe resource crunch, including that of moral values, mottling the societal fabric by the minute. The latest UNDP report confirms that the Human Development Index (HDI) is dipping far more consistently in India, than anywhere else .Can we do a Nero and play on the lyre while flames rage all around?

We could learn a lot about holistic growth and state craft from the world's first management guru, our very indigenous Chanakya and his extraordinary blueprint of a superpower, ‘The Arthashastra.’ At times however, plain and simple Grandma’s wisdom and a little chicken soup for the soul is all we need to live a healthy, happy life.

The bee colony, insulated from the quirky geopolitical stuff the world is made of, can thank their stars for it. Mhow is an epitome of that little world where life is on ‘a fast track’ these days. It has never been ‘smoother’ you will agree, with the MES and the Station Headquarters on an amazing pot-hole recovery mission, at war footing (courtesy the Chief’s visit). We shall pray for such VVIP visits more often (perhaps synchronised with our leaking roofs next time!). This bonanza includes a brand new red-carpet pedestrian pavement!! Let the new, young and bright JC and SC bees, who we receive within our folds, ever so fondly, feel it was laid out to welcome them!

As we gear up once again for some fun and frolic (with the ladies club strength grown substantially), we also get ready with a brand new package of institutionalised training of ladies (ITL) – now that is a lot of chicken soup for these busy souls.


BUSY BEE COLUMN - JANUARY


Hoorah! We crossed yet another summit. Through all its ups and downs, as erratic as the Sensex, we made it! And we have reasons to feel optimistic about our future too. We have heaps to hope and oodles to dream. With the judicial juggernaut grinding into action at last, it is a moment to rejoice. The month of December infact, came like an icing on the cake, with Manu’s conviction in the Jessica Lall case - a grand finale to ‘justice delayed but not denied’. It is refreshing to learn that sitting MPs and MLAs, who made hay while the sun shined, will not escape the hands of justice for too long.

Indeed, how central the element of justice (or rather its denial) is to our lives! After all it is only our respective notion of fairness that colours our perception and influences our actions. It has the danger of becoming a terror alibi when it is not tempered with a universal sense of fairness. While a cartographic faux pas on the MacMohan Line may haunt us , our nuclear deal alarms our neighbours . It is interesting that I should be writing about justice from the birthplace of no other but Dr BR Ambedkar, the father of our constitution, who upheld social and economic justice for all. While it hurts to see Dalits not getting their due, even after 59 years of independence, it is a relief to see Sorens and their ilk convicted for miscarriage of democracy. Infact just when you think it can get no worse the pluralism that is India gives us reasons to bounce back. While it pained to accept the Indian debacle in Doha, India’s first test match win ever in South Africa salvaged some of that self respect. Even when Agni couldn’t make it, Prithvi’s knockout more than made up for it .

The happiest news was perhaps the elevation of the Commandant, Lt Gen ML Naidu,YSM to the post of Army Commander ARTRAC. A deserving leg up to a revered soldier and a fantastic human being.

We will miss a certain ‘hum’ in our hive. Bidding farewell to the Queen Bee will leave a vacuum no doubt. But if we follow ‘their’ cadence we shall sing in tune forever. “Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work”. And finally beelive no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. It better Bee.

With that lets’ fasten our seat belts and get ready for …yet another roller coater ride. Here we come 2007!