Grammar does not have rules, it has habits

Grammar does not have rules.
It has habits.

What we perceive as rules are simply derived from the way majority of the language's speakers, or at least some influential sources such as TV, movies, newspapers, magazines, spell-check in word processing programs (major influence on my shifting from 'colour' to 'color'... see, even now the first word is underlined in red! ) are speaking at the time.

With particular reference to English, that explains how there are exceptions in our languages for every "rule".

With regards to teaching grammar, I think what makes it so difficult is this inherent hypocrisy : the language doesn't seem to follow its own rules. It's because there were no rules in the first place : syllabus planners observed the contemporary practices and formed patterns from there, and then wrote them down in our textbooks as rules. I see this craze among veteran language teachers to keep inventing new models, formulas, tricks etc to set everything straight; newer and newer books keep coming out to explain it in better and novel new ways... they're just barking up the wrong tree.

We'd be much better off if we simply gave up all pretenses of order, and told the learners frankly that it's spoken/written this way because that's how the majority or at least the influential sources seem to like it. Maybe tomorrow people might start doing it differently, and then, voila! The rules, no, the HABITS of the language will have changed.

If you want the language to do a particular thing differently, then get a large number of people, or the influential people, to speak/write it your way and you will have CHANGED the grammar of the day. Yep, that's empowering to hear. And involving. And way more realistic.

And digressing a bit.. guess what other sectors ought to redefine their rules into habits? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKHUaNAxsTg

Open Letter to Parents

Disclaimer: This is a rant. It's not coherent. The sentences are too long. I'm not going to try making it coherent. You have been warned.

OPEN LETTER TO PARENTS

I want to address this to parents who have achieved a definite degree of what we term as success in our society, who have worked hard to achieve it, who started out small, who struggled a lot and were able to secure a financially stable upbringing for their children. Some of you made it overseas; others made it big where you were but now you want your kids to carry on with your upward growth curve and make it big.

First: thank you for doing what was needed. Your efforts have borne fruit. Now, you might be expecting your kids to continue on the same graph.. to go ahead, break more boundaries, get even more financial success, a more secured future. To take your legacy forward.

But for some of you, you might find the same drive missing in your children. You might be hurt and confused if they are having other priorities (or none that matter in your opinion). You might even take it as a threat to your legacy or to their own well-being. Or you may have noticed it coming and arrested those tendencies early on in your kids' childhoods, taken the reigns over their post-school lives and made sure they studied hard and scored well, applied to this entrance exam in time, filled in their admissions at so and so place properly, kept daily checks on them even when they were away from home (before: phone, now: Skype) , made sure they "keep it up" (what??).

Canary in the Coalmine

Post on FB by Down To Earth, https://www.facebook.com/down2earthindia

By 2015, India is projected to have:
3 million schizophrenics
12 million alcohol dependents
20 million people with mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder
25 million people with anxiety, phobias and other common mental disorders
Will India's proposed legislation and policy on mental healthcare bring relief to the mentally ill?
Go to http://ow.ly/nHtVd

My response:

It would be cheaper to fix the root problems manifesting themselves in these various forms than to go behind each mental illness case and "fix" it.

Human beings are not mechanical robots. Our health defects happen due to the way of life surrounding us, the environment we are embedded in. 

The medical profession runs on the fatal assumption that "normal" life as it is, is perfectly OK. 

It's not. 

The increasing numbers of people falling to mental illnesses are like the canary in the coalmine. 

What should miners do if they see the canary rolling over? They should realize there isn't enough oxygen in there, get out and improve the ventilation. They should not just sit there trying to cajole the canary back to health or give it drugs to "help" it carry on.

Why our global society is collapsing

I found this para on the website of a Portugese peace village named Tamera (doesn't really describe it so do click to find out more)  puts much of what I want to say in concise. So, reblogging it here (and, of course, I fully stand for what is written ahead):

Excerpt from T E R R A N O V A
 - Project for a Free Earth written by Dieter Duhm, all rights to the original author and website :

Our current society is collapsing because of inner contradictions, which can no longer be solved by conventional means. The human being is a "Zoon Politikon" – a societal being and as such is subject to the laws of society. 

At the same time, however, in accordance with his physical and spiritual nature, he is a member of the biosphere and as such subject to the laws of organic life. 

If these two laws contradict each other, disease, criminality, violence and war arise. 

Today we experience a planetary culmination of this contradiction. We experience global epidemics of disease and violence. 

Humankind has organized itself in the wrong way. It has established a way of living that does not comply with the laws of life. 

We have reached an apocalyptic limit beyond which no survival is possible. 

To overcome this dead end, we do not need mega-cities, nor trillion dollar technologies for Martian colonization. 

Instead, we need intelligent concepts for a new cohabitation of planet earth. 

We do not need reform, instead, we need a new direction of human evolution. We are at the beginning of the greatest revolution in history.

Misuse of tech and insanity of copyright

this was a recording of a play we had in our college's annual fest... and some how through all the noise and distortion...

Clicking on Dispute, I'm told about some pretty grave consequences should the dispute be rejected by some invisible decision-makers : my whole youtube account.. including several videos i've uploaded till now.. could be erased.

So.. yes. Long term : need to move away from youtube and all such "free" web services being offered by giant corporations. I certainly don't think the people who originally made it (and then google bought it for a bomb) had this in mind.

is nuclear power really safe?

http://www.chinkyshukla.com/jadugoda--the-nuclear-graveyard.html

similar stories you can find of the "adivasis" of the US and Australia where they're been mining & processing uranium.

Only an equal person is free

Reblogging this from Chitra Jha's FB page:

Making others feel important while putting ourselves down is a subtle strategy we use to control others. When we make somebody feel very 'high', we gain power over that person because we can either keep them high or throw them down. 

Staying on a pedestal can feel very good and special; most people enjoy that trip, and in order to enjoy they have to fulfill a few conditions, such as, "Don't do this; it doesn't suit you. Don't do that; it is below you. Keep your status." You see the manipulation! The man on the pedestal cannot live his own life. He is completely dependent upon others, who control and manipulate him, while making him feel like a god. That's the trick, and it is an ancient, time-tested trick. After staying on the pedestal for some time, people fear coming down and becoming ordinary once again. Others take advantage of this fear for their own gain.

Making others feel low or high are tools of manipulation and control. If someone is low they can be repressed and punished; if someone is high they can be thrown off the pedestal. Only an equal person cannot be controlled. Only an equal person is free.

So, beware from either climbing on a pedestal or making yourself feel lower than others. Both ways you can be manipulated. All pedestals are a kind of prison. Being ordinary is the only birthplace of freedom. Only ordinary people can be natural, alive and true. 

Considering each other equal in our ordinariness is the greatest respect we can pay to each other as human beings.

Originally published here.

Pointers that educators should take note of

A comment on FB inviting suggestions for improving TFI's (Teach for India's) methods led me to this rant.... (I'm putting line breaks here to make it more readable... apologies to the poor souls who had to read it in a continuous paragraph..)

Unnecessary repetition might be a good place to start. (the preceding comment had been erroneously posted 3 times.. oh how i love taking advantage of glitches) 

It might be worthwhile to consider what the world's leaders in alternative education / deschooling movement have been telling since decades 

(and which was never mentioned to us in Insti, (referring to Insitute, a 5 week training program that TFI put us through before our fellowship in which they'd promised to cover everything we needed to know about edu sector) making it the political equivalent of teaching a course on world history of freedom struggles without making a single mention of Gandhi, Mandela or any nonviolent freedom struggle) : 

That learning is NOT a product of teaching. 

That kids learn best about life by actually living it, not by spending valuable hours locked away from it. 

That exams/tests/assessments are probably the worst way to check for real learning. 

A Manifesto for Conscious Men

I came across this video, and the related articles, would like to re-post them here. I will state here that I am in total agreement with what is stated in the ensuing video and text, and want to share this with people I know and who know me.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_uRIMUBnvw

An article about it:
http://www.realitysandwich.com/dear_woman_and_man

It explores taking this further, and that's my broader field of interest : how to take it to the society-structure level.

Excerpt:
The first, Riane Eisler, is a Scandinavian-born, U.S.-trained lawyer and economist.  Her most recent book, The Real Wealth of Nations, explains that brilliant thinkers, from Adam Smith to Karl Marx and beyond, have all failed to produce political systems that function for the greater good of all precisely because their models are all based on a flawed and destructive social artifact: the "Domination" system.  In Eisler's words, societies adhering to the Domination system have the following "core configuration":

• top-down authoritarian control in the family and state or tribe
• the subordination of the female half of humanity to the male half
• the devaluation of caring, nonviolence and other stereotypically "soft" values in women and men
• a high degree of institutionalized or built-in fear, coercion, and violence

In contrast, societies adhering to what Eisler calls the "Partnership" system would exhibit the following:

• a more democratic organization in the family and state or tribe
• the male and female halves of humanity are equally valued
• values such as caring and nonviolence are highly regarded in both women and men
• a low degree of institutionalized or built-in fear, coercion, and violence

Interested readers can dig deeper into Eisler's conception of these two "social categories" at her website.  To me Eisler describes an appealing possible future whereby our children can grow up in an environment that cultivates the highest human potential, as opposed to being poisoned by a pervasive culture of "fear, coercion, and violence," in the home and on the street.

Climate change activists and deniers: you're both right and you're both wrong

Environmentalists, beware. Time to see through the facade. The authorities' intentions were never aligned with the common good to begin with. Their main intentions have been control and extraction of wealth, and they will do whatever it takes to push ahead with it, they are especially keen on hijacking the environment movement.

This factor is what is pushing many people into denying climate change : for many the fight is with the exploitative policies and intrusion into citizens' lives being pushed in the name of environment. And then we have pollution-reduction advocates who get so desperate for ANY way to halt the exponential CO2 rise that they go into denial about the covert government agendas behind pollution control laws.

So I'm going to take a step here and make a statement : To environmental activists and climate change deniers : You are BOTH correct in what you're most passionate about. The problem is that you're passionate about two different things, and you're both ignoring what the other guy's concentrating on, while your push in your area of concentration is causing problems for the other.

What both of you need to realize is that your being right does not automatically make the opposite end 100% wrong.

Climate change is not one big hoax being peddled to rip people off and end their liberties. It is a reality that is being peddled to rip people off and end their liberties.

Climate change activists aren't agents of a grand conspiracy pushing a hoax; they're concerned about the planet's ecosystems rapidly becoming inhospitable to life.

Climate change deniers aren't agents of Big Oil or blind upholders of the status quo : they're just against being ripped off by rogue authorities, increasing state control and policing of people's lives, and the exploitation and violation of human rights.

From subsidizing to taxing solar

Spain Levies Consumption Tax on Sunlight

Proving that idiocy truly has no bounds, Spain issued a "royal decree" taxing sunlight gatherers. The state threatens fines as much as 30 million euros for those who illegally gather sunlight without paying a tax.

No more free sun: Arizona's biggest power utility wants to tax solar

www.treehugger.com

Arizona's biggest power utility, Arizona Public Service (APS), has announced their intention to implement what would effectively be a tax on the sun.

http://www.nosuntax.com/

Time to see through the facade. The authorities' intentions were never aligned with the common good to begin with. Their main intentions have been control and extraction of wealth, and they will do whatever it takes to push ahead with it, they are especially keen on hijacking the environment movement.

The Dandi Salt March in the Indian independence movement is a good example of a civilian population's response to ridiculous taxation : break the unfair laws en masse. That's the only way to go about it; no point in negotiating with the exploiters.

Is there really NOTHING we can do?

There are so many times when I've heard "there's bad shit happening all over, being done by vested interests, against the common good. They control everything. What CAN we do? We can't do anything about it. There is NOTHING we can do."

Well, avoiding the usual motivation / moral / philosophical / love-all dialogs, I'm going to try following another trail of breadcrumbs.

If it were true that there was really absolutely nothing that we, as simple people, could do...
Then please explain to me why there is such a large need for these vested interests to prevent the information about their activities from getting out? Why the massive censoring campaign that's underway in all corporate and government controlled media right now? Why the massive disinformation campaign wherever information is being leaked? Why the secrecy? Why the distractions? Why the attacks on whistle blowers? Is all of that being done just for timepass?

If it were true that there is really nothing we can do, then why go through so much trouble? Keeping truths from getting out, is an immensely expensive, resource intensive, time-consuming, high-stress process. Given how greedy they are, why would the vested interests even need to bother to do ANY of this, if there were really NOTHING that simple people could do?

It's because the premise is wrong. It seems there is a LOT that simple, ordinary people can do. It appears the vested interests are not in complete control; they seem to have everything to lose from more and more people becoming aware about their agendas. Not even getting to the point of people actually doing anything : even just awareness spreading seems to be scaring these guys out of their pants. Why else would they go through all the trouble to keep people in the dark??

What CAN we do? I don't really know the details. But I would suggest, as a battle strategy, that you do precisely what frightens your enemy the most; do precisely what your enemy is doing everything to prevent you from doing.

Farmer suicides explained in brief

Monsanto has been traced and pinned by farmers rights and human rights organizations worldwide as the single biggest culprit behind the Indian farmer suicides.

And not through free market economics : the Indian govt used taxpayer money to subsidize Monsanto's BT cotton and the associated fertilizers and pesticides;

and to make costly dams to (claim they will) supply the extra water needed by cotton, sugarcane and such cash crops.
There is simply not enough water falling on the Indian subcontinent to mass-grow cotton and sugarcane sustainably: simple fact.

They compelled the farmers to switch over to cash crops where they were growing enough food to feed themselves earlier.

Then the dams ran dry, the subsidies disappeared,

Monsanto hiked the prices on its seeds exponentially (what we call as copyright and royalty fees),

subsidies to textiles were removed (while tax holidays for major IT companies were preserved..),

the international prices of textiles fell (people don't really need to buy new clothes everyday, and with the global recession that consumerism was reigned in) >> cotton sales prices fell. And now the Indian farmer was spending more per year than what he was getting. Even sugar prices have had to be fixed artificially to prevent them from crashing.

Instead of telling them to switch back to growing real food, the farmers were pushed to take loans; banks reached all villages to facilitate lending, regulations were relaxed to give to more risky borrowers. Gold loans were promoted (even film stars advocated and spurred it).. with the undeclared knowledge that they'll never be able to buy back their gold. At some points loan waivers were also offered.

Microfinance was promoted on a massive scale and there too fraudulent NGOs ripped them off.

Satellite TV was spread to farthest reaches through generous discounts; and through television the farmers were bombarded with expectations of high-cost college education (which became a profiteering business, far from any noble intentions), lavish weddings, costly home refurbishments, petrol-consuming vehicles, in-home toilets, the whole delusion of development, to attain which, the farmer had no choice but to stick to using his land to grow cash crops instead of the food that could have fed his family.

As less lands were used to grow food, and more and more food needed to be bought, food shortages started, kicking up prices and they're still rising exponentially. Have you been to the sabji-mandi lately? Do you know anyone or any org that's even keeping track of how much the prices of basic foods have risen?

All intervention only makes more problems. The best thing that can be done right now is to actively remove the effects of all interventions.

They don't need intervention : They need de-intervention. They know how to switch back to growing enough food to feed their families. They need the space and the absence of other (false) promises, the scaling back of government advocacy and expectations and knee-jerk measures, to figure it out on their own.

Stop the intervention : the farmers will stop dying.

what does an iron hand finally get you?

Interesting conversation...
Shared by an acquaintance on FB..

i m looking for gr8 defenders of paid human rights & paid intellectuals
who r making a martyr out of Ishrat Jahan.... I want to ask them simple
questions: r they also paid by Pakistan or Saudi Arabia or r they
looking for some awards or recognition or funding from anti-nationals?
anti-nations have organized multiple peace marches, candle marches and
campaigned heavily in India & world... I can undoubtedly say that they
must b publicly prosecuted... no mercy.. no mercy at all... let
promoters of terrorism have first hand experience

..and so it started a comment-war... I'll name one guy A and the other B
and some others C and D. Note that all of these are totally non-violent,
ordinary, nice, pleasant folk in their regular lives.

The myth of leadership

Expressed by a friend on FB :

True test of leadership is when you are confronted with problems. Seriously disappointed with the reaction of a person who I thought had it to become a great leader. Every time there is a problem, rather than looking at a solution, the first reaction is of hiding behind the wall of blame game..blaming everything but self :( # disappointed

My comment:
i've had a similar letdown 3 yrs back. since then, realizing and internalizing that everyone is human and fallible... the myth we build up of leadership is just dehumanizing. The leaders who take it to their head.. well, they can't admit making mistakes later on.

And it's also unfair to those seen as leaders. I recently witnessed a wonderful friend of mine get a lot of undeserved hatred from a follower because they just could not comprehend that this person who they see as leader of the group is a human, has several different things going on in life and will not "be there" for that particular group all the time.

We can't specialize & outsource leadership to any individual... that whole concept is false. it has to be worked upon inside us.

Processed and junk food industry is causing food shortages and hunger

If you want a healthy life, you have got to eat healthy food.

Cancer in a Can: The Shocking True Story of how Pringles are Made

I hope you do read the article linked above; but even if you don't, I'd like to make a point : We should not have to even come to that.

If authorities across the world were really worried about food shortages, then the first thing to do is to shut down the entire junk foods / processed foods industry, like chips, kurkure, soft drinks, biscuits etc. Yes, soft drinks as well, all of them. They use loads of SUGAR. Guess which is one of the most water-intensive crops? And guess which planet's limited groundwater reserves are being used for soft drinks??

These multi-billion dollar industries are not feeding any hungry people, and are growing their ingredients on vast amounts of land that would otherwise have been used to grow real food to feed people. In the process, by dealing in bulk, they are causing monocropping over huge lands which makes use of fertilizers, pesticides and excessive water consumption inevitable. The lands they use then lose their fertility over time, ending up into wasteland that won't feed any people even long after these companies have left.

India-Pakistan cycle peace yatra, passing through Pune-Mumbai right now

This group of students is doing an India-Pakistan peace cycle yatra (they will cycle through the border to Pakistan). They have been cycling from Kannyakumari, reached Pune yesterday evening (2 July) and will be coming thru Mumbai on 5/6 July.

Amazing journey they've had... please pass the cell numbers mentioned to any mediaperson you know.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Delhi-University-Students-For-Peace/557306484301543

Last update:
We Love our neighbour Pakistan!
Friends and Comrades, Brothers and Sisters,
Now we are Gandhi Bhawan Pune.
Contact us : 08130981540; 09999998647


We're attempting to map their journey.. please see: http://goo.gl/maps/wwQEp


 

What it's all about

Thought for the day : It's not about defeating the polluters, the
imperialists, the fascists, the police state, the corrupt rulers, the
banksters, the petro oligarchs, the corporatocracy, the monopolizers,
the enslavers, the distractors, the patriarchs, the narrow mindsets,
the control freaks, the cynics, the pessimists, the whatevers.

It's about leaving them behind.

(Inspired by a quote from Dr.Steven Greer, shown in the documentary
movie SIRIUS.)

The best tactic for survival?

Sharing something that's caught my fancy recently. I've attached a screenshot of an online forum conversation I found shared on facebook,

...revolving around a computer game that was started on a computer server and left to run, with computer players (bots) fighting each other in a teamless deathmatch (meaning your goal, to win the game, is to kill everyone else and remain the last one standing). The game has an Artificial Intelligence program that would experiment and analyse the best tactics for survival, picking the best ones with each successive game.

Well, in the forum conversation, the person who started this game off to run on its own, forgot about it for 4 years and now checks back in, anticipating some highly skilled gameplay. Instead, he finds out that all the bots were NO LONGER FIGHTING EACH OTHER.

Read the conversation in the screenshot.. very interesting! As one contributor posted..
"The ultimate survival strategy developed over 4 years :  nobody dies if nobody kills. They've achieved something we couldn't. World Peace."

What freaked me out was when the server's owner joins the game to check what's wrong, all the bot players are rotating to look at him, showing that the game program hasn't crashed or gotten stuck. They're all voluntarily choosing not to fight.

There's not enough conclusive evidence here.. I wonder if this experiment can be repeated anywhere? Even so, this has given me a lot to think about.

Just googled it.. seems to have made quite some news stories:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/07/01/quake-3-arena-world-peace_n_3529082.html?utm_hp_ref=uk (I feel the article draws an erroneous conclusion in the end, so please read the original screenshot and draw your own inferences)

PS: apologies for language in the screenshot...

More regulation needed? WRONG!

Stop falling for the trap of demanding more & more regulation.

Regulation hampers small, local businesses while keeping loopholes open for bankers and big industry. Naturally it leads to system instability because the money is draining out.

Contrary to most assumptions, Globalization in its most destructive forms today is heavily dependent on govt subsidies and active govt intervention to protect big industries. A real free market system will KILL big industry.

This lecture by Michael Shuman from Post Carbon Institute brings it out : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRwnx9wLEAE

Here's a good source for news and information regarding globalization vs localization & real economics : https://www.facebook.com/TheEconomicsofhappiness

Here's to the crazy ones (in Hindi) ( हिंदी में )

Hindi translation of the Think Different para... I don't want to endorse the brand here because this is bigger and deeper than brands.

Here's to the crazy ones.  The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.	यह उनके लिए है जो पागल केहलाते हैं. सिरफिरे. विचित्र. सनकी. मुसीबत पैदा करने वाले.
The round pegs in the square holes.	कोई सांचे मैं ठीक से न बैठनेवाले.
The ones who see things differently.	ये दुनिया को अलग ही नज़रिए से देखते है.
They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo.	इनको नियमो या वर्तमान - स्थिति की कोई परवाह नहीं.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.	आप इनसे सहमति करें, लडे, झगडे, प्रशंसा या अपमान भी कर ले, लेकिन एक चीज आप नहीं कर सकते. आप इनको नजरअंदाज नहीं कर सकते.
Because they change things.	क्यूंकि ये परिस्थिति को बदलते हैं.
They push the human race forward.	ये इंसानियत को आगे बढातें हैं.
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.	जहाँ पे लोगोंको पागलपन दिखता है, वाहीं हमें प्रतिभा दिखती है.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."	क्योंकि अंत में वोही सिरफिरे लोग दुनिया को बदलते हैं, जो अपने आप को दुनिया को बदलने के काबिल समझते हैं.

Swaraj University orientation meet 6-7 July 2013, Udaipur

The admission process for 2013 has started. Kindly check http://www.swarajuniversity.org/join.html for more details on the process of joining. Attending the orientation meet is necessary for the admissions. Check our facebook page for regular updates: http://www.facebook.com/swarajuniversity?fref=ts

Our mailing address is: Swaraj University 83, Adinath Nagar, old fatehpura Udaipur 313004 India

We need to move the internet on to decentralized peer-to-peer networks

We need to move the internet on to decentralized peer-to-peer networks. There's been revelation after revelation over the past few years on how the main service providers, particularly Google, have made it so much easier for authoritarian governments to spy on people without having to prove any suspicion. And telecommunications too. Not just spying, theres a direct control ability now possessed by repressive entities to manipulate what we have been thinking is free flow of information. It's a total co-opting of what is supposed to be the defence against oppression. Its long overdue now. We have to move on. I foresee major upheavals on the www coming up. I don't know what will emerge, but can surely say that things won't be the same as they are right now.

08 Aug 2013 : Update: I came across PRISM-BREAK : A site listing open-source and reliable alternatives to softwares and systems that can help us break out of the surveillance state. All the solutions can't be utilized by the simple computer user yet, but worth checking out nevertheless.
https://prism-break.org/

Learnings from a workshop on self-management

Frederic took a workshop on self-management (actually covered a wide spectrum of things) at Swaraj University with Khojis from 2012 batch in April 2013. You can check out his website: http://selfawarenessforchange.com/
As a participant, some of my biggest personal takeaways from it were: (Disclaimer: my own interpretations can vary widely from other participants' and Frederic's)

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1. With regard to strengths and weaknesses, it emerged that the same sets of values drove our behaviour during both times; and depending on the external circumstances, one time it came out as strength, the other time it manifested as a weakness.

Example: Persistence really brought me success at a particular time in my life; but the same persistence also caused me harm at another time. And the external factors might just as well have turned either way.

An understanding from this was : we actually don't have strengths or weaknesses. They are merely times when our values are being manifested in balance, or out of balance. And this applies not just to ourselves, but everywhere: So it brings into question the whole battle between good and evil : What if there are no evil people, but simply people acting out of balance in specific situations?

What if every "evil" person has the capability to manifest their core values in a more balanced way, and even the other way around?

Looking through history, we see strong, dearly loved public heroes turning into ruthless dictators after some years in power...
we see agents of "evil institutions" suddenly having a change of heart and turning whistleblower or walking a different path...
we see people making decisions at work that negatively impact the world, but being wonderful and caring parents and spouses at home.

What if, by running behind an assumed "evil" and labeling and punishing and trying to destroy it, we've been barking up the wrong tree?

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2. There is a mind, an identity that makes us that is beyond the brain. The brain's role is to interpret, calculate, plan etc and give advice on the next course of action. There are many voices inside us also giving us advice : love, desire, fear etc... in any situation, all of these voices may have different perspectives and will demand opposing things. The identity has to listen to all these voices, and take a decision. We go wrong when we listen to only one voice and not the others. There are limits to what our senses can interpret, to how much our brain can plan and predict; so to listen to only the brain all the time may not be a wise option.

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3. There are things in our life that are within our circle of control. There are things that are outside our circle of control. And then there are things that fall somewhere in between: in the zone of influence, where our influence is present but not total. Many of our sufferings come from trying to drag those things into our circle and trying to control what is not completely within our control. And many of our missed opportunities happen because we assumed something was totally outside our circle of control when it was actually in the zone of influence. Identifying what lies where can save us a lot of trouble as well as open new avenues.

Swaraj University Orientation meet, @Urban Ashram, Pune, 22 June 4pm-7pm

Dear Friends,
We welcome you to join us for the orientation meet of Swaraj University, a self-designed program with no teachers, no degrees and no curriculum. The meet will be held at Urban Ashram, Pune on Saturday 22nd of June, 2013 from 4 pm - 7 pm.

About Swaraj University:

Swaraj University was birthed in 2010 as a two year learning program for youth. The focus of the 2-year program is on self-designed learning, ecological sustainability, healthy living and social justice.The program comprises of khoji meets, learning journeys, skill-based workshops, individualized self-study program. There is NO degree or certificate required to join Swaraj University, and we do not give any degrees after the course. There are currently 51 Khojis (learners) enrolled in Swaraj University, from all over India. The exploration areas of Khojis range from self-healing techniques,story-telling, organic farming, film-making to writing, wildlife, music and lots more.

About the orientation:
The admissions for new batch for the year 2013 are open. The new batch will start in the month of August. This 3-hour orientation in Pune
would be a glimpse into the life of Swaraj University in the form of activities, games and sessions. Further, there will be time for questioning regarding the university.

Date: 22nd June 2013 Saturday
Time: 4pm sharp - 7pm
Venue: The Urban Ashram, Opp Sujay Gardens,
34 Mukund Nagar,Pune (http://www.theurbanashram.org/)

Note: Bring a pen and notebook along with you

To know more about Swaraj University, visit us at: www.swarajuniversity.org
or e-mail us at: swarajuni@gmail.com
Our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/swarajuniversity
or call Rahul at 08764279302

Forward it to your friends

Regards,
Swaraj University Team
www.swarajuniversity.org

Message for Teach For India 2011 Fellows

Greetings fellow 11ers, and congrats on your fellowship completion!
More than what numbers your kids achieved, I'd be more interested in what you learned from them. These results, numbers.. I've found they're unfair measurements that dehumanize them. My "worst" students were actually the best positioned to deal with the storms of life and make independent decisions. My greatest worries are for the top-scoring ones who've been conditioned into thinking they're better than others, that they must always obey authority, and that some arbitrary numbers prove their worth. They're all wonderful of course, but I regret the trap they're stuck in. I've met and lived with some unschooling families since then. Humungous differences in the kids - you'd think they're from another planet. (A kinder, more intelligent and knowledgeable, independently motivated, nonviolent planet)

I feel that TFI, in their training, did the equivalent of teaching world history without making a single mention of any non-violent freedom struggles, of any Gandhi or Luther or Mandela. The trainees of such a program would emerge from their training resolutely believing that the only way to win independence is through violent means. This assumption would go on to colour any kind of help they gave to oppressed people, and could end up harming those people instead.

There is a huge, global movement of people proving that scores-driven testing and exams-oriented, factory schooling is doing the opposite of educating people. In Pune itself there are unschooling families leading a national movement of homeschoolers / unschoolers. They don't have corporate funding so don't get published so much. We're organizing a self-sponsored event next week that's bringing together people like this from all over the country. Check out : http://lsuc.weebly.com/participants.html and consider dropping by on the Sunday to meet them.

An example of curing a headache by shooting oneself in the head

A facebook post by Times of India: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151668434312139&set=a.10150135992497139.327198.26781952138&type=1

"If GoM has its way, CBI may not get full autonomy. Read more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/If-GoM-has-its-way-CBI-may-not-get-full-autonomy/articleshow/20400432.cms?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral "

My comment:
Yes, go ahead an give an unelected group of violence-trained and unsocially regimented men full autonomy while they keep taking full cash and budget support from the people. Give them money, freedom and then zero accountability. THAT WILL MAKE INDIA BETTER? We're going to end up with an Indian version of ISI / KGB / Stasi / secret military police, if you read some history then you'll find out that they became an even bigger problem than the one they were set up to cure! They have all turned out to screw the very nation they make a big show of defending.
Whatever the issues of corrupt politicians etc are, it is not a justification to DESTROY (all chances of) people's self-rule. This is a case of curing a headache by shooting yourself in the head.
Corruption is an inbuilt symptom of the system of money and centralization. CBI cannot cure it, will not cure it.

Take a look at the other comments on the post... There is an unexamined assumption doing the rounds that each and every person who will ever work in the CBI is some doodh ka dhula, pure, clean, incorruptible, non-ambitious, non-power-seeking, kind, loving angel sent down from Heaven by God:

"No political party in power will like to give a free hand to CBI because this is one of the strongest tools in their hands to whip opposition and control and overawe those who are not favorable to them.It is only highest judiciary in the country who may do something -but finally enactment of law is the domain of legislature only. Even people of this country cannot do anything because they are under compulsion to vote for A or B and when A and B are mixed up,people can do nothing.And people,as on day,are not able to bring any kind of revolution to force political parties to toe their line..................."

"all have conflicts of interest.. very sad that the so called honest pm supporting all unholy things.. this government is a liability..."

"जागो INDIA जागो ! अभी सही समय है. हो रहा है भारत बरबाद..बचा lo भारत ko. LETS THROW THIS GOVT & CORRUPT POLITICIANS OUT IN 2014 & BRING A GOVT WHO CAN PUT ALL CRIMINALS & CORRUPTS BEHIND THE BARS. PLZ SHARE WITH ALL. JAI HIND..."

"I think CBI should have autonomy."

Idiots! And yeah, I don't expect TOI to keep that comment there for too long... even the mainstream media is controlled by the same people who want to bring about totalitarian rule without accountability.

Istanbul, Turkey protests and police brutality videos and photos

SHARE THESE LINKS TO THE WORLD TO PROOVE THE BRUTALITY OF TAYYIP AND
POLICE AGAINST UNARMED CITIZENS - PROOF OF POLICE USING DEADLY
CHEMICALS ON CIVILIANS

ANOTHER BRUTAL ATTACK OF POLICE - NO MERCY
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151502368263731&set=vb.651928730&type=2&theater

POLICE DEADLY ATTACK IN IZMIR - HITTING TO KILL
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151648526182702&set=vb.598912701&type=2&theater

POLICE ATTACKING BUILDINGS AND CIVILIANS
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=547468068628376
copied from FB..

Crowdfunding for Swaraj Khojis going to LSuC 2013

Update: The event was amazing; over Rs. 15,000 raised for our participation from friends as well as strangers... thanks, all!



Many of us Khoji’s are attending the 8th Learning Societies unConference (LSuC) this year, from 14th to 19th June 2013. It is a meeting place for people who are looking for how to move from a schooling society to a learning society, where different learning ecosystems can be supported and nurtured. There will be organic farmers, artists, artisans, activists, designers, filmmakers, healers, alternative educators, entrepreneurs, homeschoolers, unschoolers, barefoot innovators, parents, youth, spiritual seekers, and more coming.

We see this as a great learning opportunity and a place for us to put forward our views on the education system. Also, it’s a great networking opportunity for future collaborations, as over 300 people working in fields similar to ours from all over the country are coming together. As we are khoji’s, still learning and not made much money yet, most of us are unable to pay for our costs in attending this unConference.

Please help us raise funds to cover our costs! This will be covering our food and lodging expenses at the UWC Mahindra college, where this conference is to be held.

You can chip in as little as Rs.100, using your debit card. It’ll only take about 5 mins of your time.

1. Go to https://www.muwci.net/v3/payment-system/index.php which is a secure online payment gateway provided by the venue (United World College Mahindra) to process the contributions for the UnConference.

2, See the screenshot on the right to know which options to select. >>

3. Please make sure you add a “(Swaraj)” at the end of your name.

4. You can pay using your Debit or Credit card.

5. Once done, please send an email about it to :
outreach[at]muwci.net , reenaginwala[at]gmail.com , nikhil.js[at]gmail.com (replace [at] with @)

Thanks in advance!

Details:
The cost per head for the LSuC is coming to Rs.3200 per head, including food, lodging and all facilities. The contributions are made on a gift culture basis, where we pay as we can, and participants and friends are encouraged to gift the contributions for those who can’t afford the full costs. The LSuC is a for-and-by-the-people gathering; it does not take any funding from agencies and is completely funded by its own participants and their friends. So that’s where you come in! If all of us can get our friends and well-wishers to pitch in with as little as Rs.100, we can crowd-fund our participation.

Here are the Khojis who are attending the unConference this year. Do connect with us on Facebook!

Arjun Aiyer ~ Aviral Mittal ~ Harshita Wadhya ~ Kamalbir Kaur
Lakshmi Gunasekhar ~ Madhur Anand ~ Nachiketa Doctor
Nikhil Sheth ~ Rahul Hasija ~ Rama Singh Barhat
Ravi Gaikwad ~ Sachin Jadhav ~ Siddharth Yamkar
Tushar Kelkar ~ Zain Rehmatullah

Click here to see this page on our wordpress site (with photo gallery)

BSNL Broadband blocking wordpress.com stylesheets?

CSS stylesheets (what gives most websites and blogs today their menus, arrangements, backgrounds, colors) of wordpress.com sites/blogs are NOT loading from my BSNL Broadband internet connection in Pune, since 3 or 4 days. There seems to be no connection problem with anything else.. just the Wordpress.com CSS stylesheets seems to be getting blocked.

Major spanner tossed into some work I was doing. Fortunately, managed to connect through a mobile net stick.

The problem with government-owned services : how to give feedback?? If anyone knows, please spread the word to BSNL... this glitch must be affecting all wordpress.com blogs and websites right now - they're looking like simple webpages from the old days.