Arun Deep Ahluwalia

COULD not believe a 10th Class school boy walking into our university‘s Geology department, knocking at the door of a Head of Department & several teachers saying: Sir I won national Olympiad in Geology at Geological Society of India, Bangalore; I have been selected for international Olympiad at Taiwan; I have been referred by Professor R Shanker (Foreign Secretary of the Geological Society of India) to see; Please help me win the gold medal. Prof. Shankar of Mangalore had been our guest last March.

Shobhit (see the photo) is the boy from Panchkula who as per a telephone call received from his mother, has indeed won a Medal in Taiwan though a Bronze; I told her not to worry as Shobhit is her own GOLD MEDAL gifted by God to her and all of us. Shobhit was worried about the JET AIRWAYS strike coming in the way to Taiwan. But he finally made it. This another Kalpana Chawla like UDAAN; a youngster who dreams Mother Earth instead of the skies. Surely we have many more dreamers. Our system must change to make them flourish.

For several weeks Shobhit went from poster to poster, fossil to fossil, rock to rock, a crystal to crystal in our colourfully decorated verandahs and museum gallery; not only our colleagues but nearly all students adopted Shobhit as their own and each spent several hours on Shobhit. Shobhit sat in their classes, in their rooms, Shobhit even sat through classes of ONGC Expert DR B P Singh who was our guest for Petroleum Geology and was teaching on Saturday, Sunday and Monday all holidays.
His father would come at lunch to see he was fine. One day I drove Shobhit during heavy downpour to our Dino Gallery in Sector 10 Museum. When I introduced Shobhit to Professor Ashok Sahni the architect of the gallery recented awarded the INSA Life Time Medal; he indeed stood up to give him a hug and pat on the back.

Shobhit is not our formal student but almost all the 150 geologists ( teachers, students) and all the staff who are literally amateur geologists own Shobhit as their own. Shobhit is our OUTREACH STUDENT; not we but he has reached out to us. Our Department as per him is his SHANTINIKETAN. He is our OLYMPIAD BRONZE! Of course he is the Geological Hero from the Tricity region and richly deserves to be honoured and lauded by the Administration, Panjab University and hopefully by our MP Pawan Bansal and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal. I suggest we invite Shobhit coming Saturday & get him a hug from an old Chandigarh School Boy ie Kapil Sibal. I am sure that is the spirit Sibal sahb is trying to create across the country through his much talked about education reforms which may indeed create more SHOBHITS.

Gone are the days when Geology Department was considered the last choice of new students; not only all our seats are full; best students have left elite departments and opted for ours; even in this recession our boys and girls got placements in the Hydrocarbon sector in India and abroad as well mineral industry besides half a dozen making it to UPSC’s GEOLOGISTS EXAM. As if an ONGC Chair was not enough, UNESCO is offering us a UNESCO CHAIR. These Chairs are precious as these are gifts with honour, love and care.

It is time our dynamic Vice Chancellor who tirelessly dreams big for the university day in and day, supports and advocates our desire to set up an institute of applied geosciences in PU we would like to call: INDIRA GANDHI INSTITUTE OF APPLIED GEOSCIENCES, GEOEXPLORATION, GEOTECHNOLOGY AND GEOMANAGEMENT FOR PETROLEUM, GAS AND ENVIRONMENT. Our alumni in ONGC promise us the sky for a new building, labs, museum,if Govt of India supports the move to have this institute which can make Chandigarh and PU Campus famous the world over for quality training in Oil and Gas. It can become an ONGC Academy in Panjab University; they have one at Dehradun. ONGC professional promise to be our adjunct faculty for free as our partners in oil and gas education. ONGC top boss Director Exploration Dinesh Pande is our old boy and son of our late Professor I C Pande. We request for widespread support for our big dream. Top positions in GSI, ONGC, WIHG, DGH, Schlumberger and even UGC have been and are occupied by PU Geology alumni. They will all join hands to make ours a unique institute. To cap it al we have a SHOBHIT as our freelance outreach student. We are different because we deal with Mother Earth, please help us achieve our dream institute for OIL & GAS within PU, give us a huge chunk of land and even a larger chunk of moral support, our friends will give you the rest.

[shobhit94@rediffmail.com]

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Consumerist capitalism, the main cause of depression

Dr Sawraj Singh writes from Washington

THE just released statistics show that more than eight million Americans seriously considered committing suicide in the year 2008. While this number appears to be shockingly high yet it is still a tip of the iceberg because there are any more people who are severely depressed. Depression is very common in America today.

I am a physician and have lived in America most of my life. I feel that it is extremely rare to find somebody who has not experienced some symptoms of depression at one time or the other. Many people are taking medications for depression and anxiety or are taking sleeping pills. It is very rare in America today for a person to be fifty years old and not taking medication for high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol lowering drugs, anti depressants, tranquilizers or sleeping pills. Many people have to see mental health workers. Alcoholism, drug addiction, family violence, strained relations and family disintegration can also be associated with depression. Similarly absenteeism and missing work as well as not being able to get along with other workers can also are the result of depression. All these problems are very prevalent and are growing.

Why so many people are frustrated and depressed in the consumerist capitalist system? The main reason is that consumerism pushes people to the lower centers of existence. The lower centers are motivated by the basic instincts whereas the higher centers inspire a person toward cosmic awareness. Consumerism promotes, selfishness, greed, jealously, hatred, vengeance and arrogance. All these feelings keep a person agitated, frustrated and wandering. Ultimately these feelings push a person to depression. When depression becomes very severe then people start thinking about committing suicide to end their suffering.

The consumerist capitalism promotes the concept that in order to enjoy something you must own it. There is no concept of sharing. When we want to possess everything then that puts us against nature because nature is based on sharing. One cannot own nature but has to share with others to enjoy it.

Man cannot conquer nature; he can only learn to live in harmony with nature. The consumerist capitalism alienates man from nature. One who is alienated from nature gets alienated from one self. Alienation from one self leads to insecurity, instability, frustration and eventually to depression.

Consumerism promotes desires rather than needs. Needs can be defined and fulfilled but desires can neither be defined nor be fulfilled. Therefore desire pathway can only lead to frustration and depression.

The traditional Indian philosophy advocated that a person lives at three levels, these are called Pashu birti (animalistic existence) Manav birti (human existence) and Dev birti (Godly Existence). Most of the people are living at the lowest level, the Pashu birti (Animalistic existence). At that level people do not think that there is any purpose of life besides fulfilling basic instincts and basic desires. The few people who start questioning that there is more to life than just fulfilling basic desires, that there is a deeper meaning of life, become real human beings. (Manav birti). Very few people find answers to these questions, in other words they find the real purpose and meaning of life, they become Godly (Dev birti). These people live at the cosmic awareness level.

Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs, can be considered the Zenith of the eastern philosophy and spirituality. It preaches that if a person is a Manmukh (facing mind), that he is guided by his mind which is controlled by his ego. This egoist person is bound to be frustrated and eventually depressed. If a person becomes Gurmmukh (facing the Guru) then he is guided by knowledge and becomes enlightened person. This person lives at the level of cosmic awareness and in harmony with nature. When a person accepts the universal order (will of God) then he lives in a state of eternal bliss (Param Anand). Marxism considers the relationship between man and nature to be the most fundamental relationship. Man should live in harmony with nature. This is a part of the campaign to save environment in China.

[The writer is M.D. F.I.C.S and Chairman Washington State Network for Human Rights]

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End of the American era is inching closer

Dr Sawraj Singh writes from Washington

I was not surprised by the recent report of the London based International Institute for Strategic Studies that the U.S. power is fading and a weakened U.S. will look to allies for support. I predicted, more than fifteen years ago that the American Era and the Western domination will end in the second decade of the twenty-first century. In an article, “Asia’s Century” I predicted that by the year 2013, the American supremacy and the Western domination will end and Asia will become the leading region of the World. I feel that many people will agree that I was not too far off the realities. Many people did not think that this was possible at that time.

The report noted that the U.S. share of global power was declining. Both the military and the economic powers of the U.S. are on the decline. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken their toll. The report also noted that President Bush alienated many American allies but President Obama has regained the support of those allies. They feel that Obama has realized that the U.S. can not do it alone and does need the support of the allies. Obama has moved the American policy from unilateralism to multilateralism.

I feel that while Obama has regained the confidence of the allies yet he is not able to convince many Americans who are not willing to accept either the global realities or the fact that the American style of capitalism is not working and needs a fundamental change. These people are blaming Obama to be a socialist or a Marxist and even some are calling him a fascist and comparing him to Hitler. For too long the Americans have been made to believe that their system is the best in the World and the rest of the World, particularly the European allies, have given up on the puritanical capitalism and have adulterated it with socialist pollution. Many Americans continue to hold onto their beliefs in spite of the overwhelming evidence that America lags behind all the industrialized countries both in the field of healthcare as well as in education. Healthcare and education are the two fundamental pillars of any social system. Obama is the first American president who has come close to admitting the reality rather than continuing to live under illusion. However, for admitting the truth, he has to face the growing wrath of many people, particularly of many white people.

Whether some people like it or not the fact remains that the American Era and the Western domination of the World are coming to an end. The unipolar World where America is the only super power is changing to a multipolar World with different centers of power emerging. America has to learn to live in the new World order.

The American Era started after the Second World War. Therefore it lasted for about 60 years this is one of the shortest periods in the history of civilization. The Roman Empire lasted many centuries, even the decline of the Roman Empire took about 400 years. The British Empire lasted for more than a century. Even during the sixty years, America did not have absolute power. Actually right from the start, America ran into problems. After the Second World War, America was not able to win any major war, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Iraq war and the war in Afghanistan.

The sixty years of the American Era can be roughly divided into three periods, the pre Soviet, the Soviet and the post Soviet periods. We can call the period after the end of the Second World War to about 1970, the pre Soviet period because the Soviet Union was not a very big power then. The Soviet period can be called the period between 1970 to fall of the Soviet Union. (1970-1990). militarily, the Soviet Union became very powerful. The alliance with India (Indo Soviet-Friendship Treaty) made the Soviet Union the most powerful country in the World. America had to offset that by aligning with China. The last period is after the fall of the Soviet Union to the present.

The final period is marked by the rise of the Third World and the rise of Asia. China and Russia have become allies. Leaders such as Putin and Hugo Chavez have emerged who want to end the American and the Western domination of the World. Countries such as North Korea and Iran also want to play a major role in the World. America was not able to check their aspirations. America cannot change the World but can learn to live with the changes.

[The writer is M.D. F.I.C.S and Chairman Washington State Network for Human Rights]

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