Kiliminjaro

Kiliminjaro is unaffordable and unapproachable.  To all but a few.  It's foreign territory.  Neither Mount Washington nor Everest illicit the same sort of anticipation and enthusiasm.  Tanzania is the middle of my nowhere.  Nowhere that is unaffordable, unapproachable, unrestrained.

"The Difficulty of Being Good"

In The Difficulty of Being Good, Gurcharan Das quotes Kalidas stating, "In matters where doubt intervenes, the [natural] inclination of the heart of a good person becomes the 'authority' or decisive factor."  God is not always around to arbitrate.

In the Mahabharat, Krishna was fortunately there and he insisted that Arjun kill Bhishma pitama along with the Kauravas because of his commitment to the throne and its rulers.  By giving his word to his father that he would always fight for the throne, Bhishma pitama relinquished his ability to reason on the side of goodness at a time when the throne was unjust.  There is no honor in being on the wrong side.  The cause is more important than grandiose gestures intended to last an eternity.  

"Master of the Universe"

Heman used to sing in my younger ears, and I sure did like him.

"He-Man... And the Master of the Universe!

I am Adam, Prince of Eternia, Defender of the Secrets of Castle Greyskull. This is Kringer, my fearless friend. Fabulous, secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic sword and said: "By the Power of Greyskull!"  He-Man, He-Man . . . I have the power!  Kringer became the mighty BattleCat and I became He-Man, the most powerful man in the Universe! Only three others share this secret . . . Our friends the Sorceress, Man-at-Arms, and Orko. Together we defend Castle Greyskull from the evil forces of Skeletor. . . . He-Man!"

So let's pull out the words we like.

Master, hmmmmm.
Universe, yes.
Defender, yes.
Eternia, sounds good.
Fearless, yes.
Fabulous, yes.
Friend, for sure, yes.
Secret power, definitely.
Revealed, yes.
Magic, yes.
Mighty, un-huh.
Together, yup.

A nice assortment of big words for a little girl.  Of course given the Skeletors in my closet, I needed to believe that mighty He-man would do right by his magical powers.  Contexts matter.  Closets matter.

End Notes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yeA7a0uS3A

America Shining

On Charles Dickens first visit to the US in 1842, he wrote aghast letters back home to England about the plundering ways of the robber barons, the cruelty of slavery, and the disparity between the haves and the have-nots in the immigrant slums.  He was in America just prior to the California gold rush.  Investment in infrastructure like the railways was conducted under euphemisms of progress.  Quiet voices equated the railroads to the "tentacles of an octopus" that wrecked havoc upon the land and its natives as it crawled further into the hinterland.

This Dickensian America is perhaps now most apparent to those mingling on Wall Street.  The rest rest in gratitude for the toils of the quiet voices who found their way to the pulpit over a century and a half.

"...some of America's advances, particularly in the area of free speech, that have been achieved by centuries of popular struggle, are to be admired.  In many respects, the United States is the freest country in the world. I don't just mean in terms of limits on state coercion, though that's true too, but also in terms of individual relations. The United States comes closer to classlessness in terms of interpersonal relations than virtually any society" (Noam Chomsky).

End Notes-

http://charlesdickenspage.com/dickens_in_america_1843_newspapers.html

http://charlesdickenspage.com/haves-havenots.html

http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~eroberts/cs201/projects/corporate-monopolies/development_rrmon.html

Adams, Tim (2003-10-30). "Noam Chomsky: Thorn in America's Side". London: The Observer. Retrieved 2007-09-04

Chomsky, Noam. 2003. Chomsky on Democracy & Education. Routledge. p. 399

The Word of the Lord

"The Word of the Lord", said the preacher.

"Thanks be to God" reverberated the church-goers.

One believes God is pansophic, and therefore makes commitments that He always keeps.

For the rest of us mere mortals, commitments (even when entered with caution) are hairy areas.  Circumstances change.  People's priorities change.  Over the years (and mine are slight) you see enough loss to understand the preference of others for signed documents.

Word comes from Old Norse "orth", almost like "oath".  So some part of you continues to live in a world where word is Word".

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/word

Piddling over pennies

Reliance Industries is ganda dhana for many reasons, but the one that is most disturbing is their reputation for not paying vendors on time.  They like to "tighten" their vendors by withholding payment for months beyond contractual commitment.  It's one way to manage your working capital, I suppose.  The vendors hire the guys who will curry favor the big bully on the block, "Sahab, us payment ka kya hua?"  It's gotten so severe that some venture funds check whether their potential portfolio company is supplying to Reliance;  it's indicative of the investee's tolerance for servility.  As a start-up owner I used to know once said, "I'll touch anyone's feet to get business."

Anna Hazare, the business world also needs you.

End notes:
Ganda dhanda = dirty business
"Sahab, us payment ka kya hua?" = "Sir, would you be so kind as to tell me about that payment?"

Raja-prajah

The days of the Raja-prajah metaphors in organizational behavior are over.  People won't stand for it.  They'll go work for the more data-oriented decision-makers like Google, makemytrip, naukri and One97.  "Just a bunch of internet companies" rule the roast. 

At will

Consider volunteer - ("Origin: 1350–1400; Middle English < Latin voluntārius, equivalent to volunt(ās) willingness, inclination (ultimately representing a formation with -tās -ty2 on the present participle of velle to want, wish; see will1, -ent) + -ārius -ary").

http://dictionary.reference.com/