N-deal: The plot thickens

The countdown for the NSG countries to sit together and deliberate the India-specific waiver in their nuclear trade policy has begun. For the Manmohan Singh Government and the Bush administration, any positive resolution from the group is really important. Both of them have taken risks to bring the deal to the table of the 45-member group. If the NSG does not agree to the proposals, the UPA Government's commitment will be questioned. The Left parties will compare the government's attempt to that of Don Quixote, who fought with imaginary enemies for nothing. The failure of the deal at this juncture will be akin to suicide for the Bush administration, when the presidential poll is round the corner.
There are really some organisations which are trying their best to get the deal foiled. Arms Control Association (ACA) in the US is one of them. The Arms Control Association (ACA), founded in 1971, is a national nonpartisan membership organisation dedicated to promoting public understanding of and support for effective arms control policies. Through its public education and media programs and its magazine, Arms Control Today (ACT), ACA provides policy-makers, the press and the interested public with authoritative information, analysis and commentary on arms control proposals, negotiations and agreements, and related national security issues. In addition to the regular press briefings ACA holds on major arms control developments, the Association's staff provides commentary and analysis on a broad spectrum of issues for journalists and scholars both in the United States and abroad.
ACA's intervention in arms control measures has been exemplary. The organisation has pressurised many government and non-government institutions against the moves towards weapanisation programmes. The organisation is forcing Israel and other Middle-East countries to adopt measures of de-weaponisation. India has not yet promised to cleanse itself of the nuclear arms it possesses, the organisation alleges. It is not part of the CTBT and other non-proliferation measures. That the NSG exports nuclear equipment and other facilities to India amounts to helping a country develop nuclear warheads. This is the arument of ACA regarding the nuclear deal.
ACA has succeeded in forcing at least 15 countries among the NSG to ask India to rewrite the draft. The organisation has said that the rewritten draft does not fulfill the demands the group has raised. Whether the organisation will succeed in jeopardising the deal will be seen after the crucial meeting today.

Machines for perpetual laziness

It is a contradiction in human behaviour that the more we are concerned about the outcome of our work, the less we would actually like to work. We want to have all works done by others. The fact that invention of machinery has its origin in laziness will bring the point easily home to you. It's a wonder that our civilisation is developing at rapid pace despite ( and because of ) our inclination to lethargy.
It is a law of physics that energy can be neither created nor destroyed. A machine or equipment works as per the energy we exert on it. Objects, whatever be their quantity, are unable to make a motion on their own. We make them move. That is why despite robots or computers, we are always on the move. However, scientific laws are not eternal. They are always open to challenge. So have they always been so far. Can there be a machine which creates energy on it sown? Can the input of energy far exceed its output? Our lazy ancestors asked these questions time and again. The result: a machine called perpetual motion machine.
Perpetual motion machine dates back to 1150, when Indian mathematician and astronomer Bhaskara claimed that he invented a wheel which would run forever. During the Middle Ages a number of gadgets that are full of 'free energy' were brought to public. Leonardo Da Vinci drew sketches of such machines which, if powered by a little energy, will be on the move forever. Philosophers predicted of a time, when machines would keep man immobile. During Industrial Revolution, when many predictions came to true, as many perpetual motion machines rolled out as there are crazy people. In 1917, American President Woodrow Wilson protected an inventor who claimed that he invented an energy-free machine. The last of these crazy machines were made in 2008 by a person named Thane Heins. His gadget, named Perepiteia, is being analysed by physicists. Perepiteia is generator in which a magnetic friction is converted into magnetic boost which constantly produces electric energy.
We like to live in a world of make-beliefs. Since inventions like atom bombs have made us suspicious of science as a useful discipline, perpetual motion machines, which tear into pieces time-tested laws of physics, find enough space in our imagination. Remember the first law of thermodynamics. It says that the internal energy of a system is as much as the energy exerted into it minus the work done by the surroundings. Perpetual motion machine challenges the law by saying that the internal energy far exceeds the output. But a question remains: when does such a machine make man lazy? When too much energy helps a system develop intelligence and process of thinking. But a note of alarm in passing:
Will the machines enslave us in a distant future and make us to work much more than what we do today. A dreary prospect, oh lazy, crazy men.

Onam in a world of make-believe

Onam is the harvest festival of Kerala. All harvest festivals are conceptualised through a specific historical angle. Sir James Frazer in his anthropological classic ‘The Golden Bough’ points out that all harvest festivities have a unity of theme, although they are culturally different. There is a land devastated by famine, because the king is physically impotent and mentally tortured. If the land has to turn fertile, the king will have to be sacrificed at the altar of the deity. All harvest festivals from Europe to Egypt tell the tale of colourful festivities with the painful wail of sacrificed kings echoing in the background.
Onam does not completely fit into this frame. When Mahabali ruled Kerala, there was prosperity all around. It’s interesting for an anthropologist to imagine a time when a king ruled his kingdom without even a prison. However Mahabali had to undergo virtual regicide. The same qualities which made him a generous figure caused his ‘downfall’. There was a cosmic conspiracy to dethrone him. When gods conspire with one another to achieve something, they will definitely achieve it. So Kerala’s harvest festival is built on the theme of regicide. A king vanished into Hades not to save his kingdom, but to save his reputation as a generous king.

When some of our educational institutions are getting shorn of values and common good, a great legendary figure like Mahabali has to teach us mainly two lessons in order to prepare us to live in a competitive and consumerist society:
1, Saving oneself is better than being generous
2, Don’t trust anyone, even if he/ she is your god.

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Onam celebrations begin from early morning. People come out to cull flowers for the beautiful floral patterns in the courtyard which, as hours go by, witness the musical performance Tiruvathira. Onathappan, a clay figure representing Mahabali, will enjoy the festivities and make the single day granted by gods to come and live with his subjects meaningful. This is followed by a sumptuous meal and a get-together of relatives and friends.

Telling tales of a nostalgic Onam celebration is only time consuming. In a nuclear family, courtyards are fast disappearing. So is the habit of gardening. If such a family has to celebrate Onam, there is an option
You can beautify the patch of earth in front of your flat with plastic flowers- if they satisfy the Corporation’s criterion of micron level. If your personal computer does not allow you to stand up for a while to engage in celebrations, you can youtube a Tiruvathira and after viewing it have an outing to a five star hotel. The chefs there will make you believe that they are far better than your ‘busy’ dad and mum in making an Onasadya. Anyway we are living in a world of make-believe.

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The land has deteriorated. Even the statistical department can’t calculate the growing numbers of the poor. The farmers whose green produce enlivened your grandparents’ Onam celebrations have committed suicide. Our kings are answering the famine with mainly two solutions: Power cut and press meet.
It’s high time we thought of democratic regicide.


******Published in ' The Indian Express on August 3, 2008.