Our Tech Futures: Digital Diplomacy, A Practitoner's View

Digital Diplomacy: A Practitioner's View

Diplomacy has two essential dimensions, each feeding into and complimenting the other. The first is to achieve the Foreign Policy goals of a country. In India’s case it is to facilitate the internal transformation of India by leveraging the external environment. The vehicles of India's transformation are the people and resources within India, India’s foreign partners and the Indian diaspora. We as Indian diplomats have to link and connect the last two to the first and vice versa. The second dimension is Public Diplomacy which basically means reacting and responding substantively with the operating environment, both within the country and outside the country and also obtaining feedback from it. It needs to operate in an incessant and virtuous loop.

Diplomacy has changed in the 20th century and even more so in the 21st century. In a conventional sense, diplomacy comprised of communication between governments, not direct communication between a foreign government and population of another. It could have been regarded as a breach of sovereignty. Between the invention of the radio and social media, the meaning has totally changed with a strong element of Public Diplomacy, a term first heard in the 1920-30s featuring in the diplomatic tool box. If we refer to the radio age then BBC, VOA were and still are tools of Public Diplomacy of these powers. 

When we talk about Digital Diplomacy, there are various aspects that need to be considered. Does it only affect Public Diplomacy or does it also make and influence the craft and practice of Diplomacy. There seem to be two schools of thought regarding Digital Diplomacy. The first claims that it is a new tool in the conduct of Public Diplomacy. The second maintains that it increases the ability to interact with both domestic and foreign public and actively engage with them thereby enabling the transition from monologue to dialogue and thereby influences diplomacy as a whole. So perhaps the best definition of Digital Diplomacy would incorporate both perspectives and state that: Digital Diplomacy is the growing use of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) and social media platforms by a country in order to achieve its Foreign Policy goals and practice Public Diplomacy.

Digital Diplomacy is thus the use of ICTs to help achieve diplomatic objectives. I would not restrict digital diplomacy to only Public Diplomacy. I would like to posit that it is the use of digital technologies in and by the Foreign offices, be it for internal management, consular work or reaching out to people. 

Prime Minister Modi has placed "Digital India” at the heart of India’s development strategy. The objective is to create a digitally empowered society and infuse technology into government, healthcare and education. The Ministry of External Affairs (Indian Foreign Office) have taken a lead in implementing the Prime Minister’s vision of Digital India. 

Digital technologies have changed the way how we work within the Indian Foreign Office. And here one is not referring to computerisation, data storage and use of email and the internet. We are increasingly using several next generation digital technologies to change the way we work and communicate. Notable among them is eSamikhsa, an online application for data collection and analysis and very recently launched online dashboard of MEA which allows to communicate to people on a real time basis what we are doing. Here are some ways in which we are using digital technologies: 

A: Digital tools have helped in improving internal management and communications:
(i) Better internal management, MEA dashboard, Online Collaboration Sheets (OCS) sheets, Intranet, eSamiksha; 
(ii) Grievance redress- Twitter has emerged as an important tool for this. With no intermediaries, even a common citizen can reach out to the senior most functionaries. The use of digital tools has strengthened democracy; 
(iii) New opportunities for external engagement: in these times it is impossible to convey what we do and what we think without the use of the new tools. Emails are dinosaurs. They come in waves and if you miss checking your mails one day, you are drowned. So dashboard based monitoring and responding is the only sure way of communicating. At the Consulate level we have developed Pramit or Pravasi Mitra. Pramit is a dashboard based web application/response management system which assures 100% response within one business day. No query is missed, no one is left behind; 
(iv) Consular emergencies, both at personal level and at a national/international level, we are just a tweet away. One just tweets tagging us with a personal inconvenience and we respond within minutes and 
(v) Use of Twitter and Facebook during the evacuations that we did, most recently in Yemen. These help in sharing information and bringing people together by mobilizing people for common action. 

B. Public Diplomacy: Use of Social Media gives us enormous power in communication. Countries such as India who do not have a BBC or VOA or Russia Today have these social media tools available to us and we also have been able to develop enormous outreach similar to other leading powers of the world. Digital Diplomacy through Social Media has made dialogue possible replacing monologue of the earlier avatar of Public Diplomacy. Such two way communication offers more opportunities for engagement with foreign public and domestic stakeholders. 

But Public Diplomacy is more than just having Social Media tools at one’s disposal. A modern diplomat has to be well versed in writing both telegrams and tweets. In some ways the luxuries of the past i.e. the telegram and the diplomatic bag have all but disappeared. Now it is instant communication. We have to show nimbleness in communication, reading and digesting social media and making sense of it is a continuous task. In Digital Diplomacy Content is the key. Also staying on the message, positive messaging and never to get involved in spats, negativity and criticism of others is the hallmark of the Indian digital diplomacy.  Our Foreign Office has been very fortunate as it has been led from the top. Our leaders have shown us the path. 

However, one cannot afford being carried away in Social Media interactions. We are not soldiers in a trolling army. We cannot always be reactive to the environment. As diplomats we have to find time and space for contemplation and analysis. We are not only reporters. We are also creators of news. Just retweeting tweets doesn’t make one a digital diplomat. Just having a Twitter or  a Facebook account doesn’t mean that an organization is digitally savvy or is digital in its outreach and approach. 

There are also many challenges and limitations to Digital Diplomacy as well: Getting the digital code in the DNA of foreign office is the key. The fear, resistance, apprehension has to mitigate. Also at the end of it all Digital Public Diplomacy can only be practiced with members of the digital society. Are those who are not digitally literate beyond the purview of the Digital Diplomacy? That is the question that all practitioners of Digital Diplomacy have to deal with.  

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Moving from the general to the specific, I here narrate some personal experiences of being a 'digital diplomat', both using it for internal management and for Public Diplomacy. I must confess that I have transformed from being wary of Tweeter to now being tweeple. In the late 2000s I was wary as my former boss, was a pioneer in the use of Twitter for political messaging but was always getting into trouble with his bosses because of his tweets. So I’d advise him to refrain from tweeting. But he was certainly ahead of his times and was confident that people would get used to his tweets. I understand now what he had meant.

Presently, in the Consulate , we are active on a frequently updated Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and LinkedIn. We have brought about uniformity in our addresses: all our platforms have the same handle, simple and easy to remember, use and communicate- @indiainnewyork.  A confession is also in order. In a bid to reach out to young people, we tried to be on Snapchat. But we haven't been able keep pace with it as it is just too fast and ephemeral for us. Another advice that we have been getting from media consultants worth sharing is that Facebook is a more reliable Social Media platform than Twitter. This is because it is much more difficult to open a Facebook account than a Twitter account. So the genuineness of the person interacting with us is better established on Facebook. On Twitter we frequently encounter nameless and faceless persons who troll us or are abusive and make unreasonable demands. 

Our Website is the most visited platform. Since we revamped it in June 2018, it has registered almost 1.7 million hits, more than 100,000 hits a month. Hosting of our web application Pramit on the website encourages people to visit our website. This makes our web application serve a dual purpose- it forces a behavioral change in the applicant as he/she use the app to reach out to us. As the app is located on our website, the applicant is obliged to visit the website and then see for himself/herself what is happening at the Consulate. 

Being posted to New York where we use Social Media extensively in our daily diplomatic duties, I can cite several cases of timely and effective use of Social Media to help to contain and manage tricky and difficult situations. In October 2017 there was a terror attack in Manhattan. The news spread like wildfire in India. From the very beginning the question on our mind was about Indian victims. We reached out to our NYPD friends and were able to find out that there were no victims of Indian origin. This news was promptly put out on Twitter and helped in calming anxiety. Another case of effective use of Twitter which comes readily to mind is the attack on an Indian Swamiji (monk) in Queens, New York. I immediately reached out to him, met him and tweeted a picture with him conveying that he was well and police had arrested the assailant. This was picked up by the Indian media and effectively dealt with rising concerns in India. Another example was the murder of members of a Sikh family in Ohio. I immediately spoke to the Police and family members and could determine that it was not a hate crime. This view was promptly tweeted and once again we were able to deal with a potentially explosive situation. 

Another example of constructive use of Social Media comes to mind. After the Pulwana terror attack, Viveik Patel, a young man from Virginia, started a drive on Facebook to collect funds for the victims. I was one of the first to endorse him and many people reached out to me about the authenticity of the person. I asked him and some of the persons who had doubts to come and see me in the Consulate. They all came and we had a meeting where Viveik explained his model and said that there was no way he could misuse the funds. We agreed to send the money to the Bharat ke Veer account operated by the Ministry of Home Affairs. We took a picture and posted on Facebook and Twitter which was shared widely. Our endorsement removed doubts and this fund on Facebook went on to raise more than a million dollars. Later on we worked with the American India Foundation to transfer the money to Bharat ke Veer. A proactive role by us on Social Media allowed for raising funds for a worthwhile cause in India. These cases highlight the power of Social Media tools and the need to use them quickly and effectively when the situation arises. Today;s diplomats have to be Social Media Savvy.  Diplomats need to shun the stock phrase - I’m not Social Media or Tech savvy. If you are not Tech or Social Media savvy can you be savvy Diplomat? 

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The Revenge of the Vegetarian, #HumorinDesiLife

Growing up in a Bengali family, being a so called non vegetarian has been second nature to me. Bengalis are as non-vegetarian as can be. My father earned a government doctor's pittance of a salary which would run out well before the month was over. He was an avid fish lover and as a result he had a running credit account with the fishmongers of Delhi's INA market. I recollect my mother always asking us when we returned home after attending wedding receptions whether the food was vegetarian or non-vegetarian. If the answer was vegetarian, she had little interest in going any further. Only if our hosts had passed the non-vegetarian test would my mother venture to ask about the bride and her jewelry. By growing up in such an environment, I had little understanding of vegetarians and had never taken them seriously. I was a kind of a non-vegetarian fundamentalist, experimenting and trying to convince people to eat meat, almost disrespectful of people who didn't enjoy it. I remember this episode from first year in management school (IIFM, Bhopal) when as mess secretary I asked the mess boy to reheat the left over lunch and serve it as dinner for the vegetarians while the non-vegetarians had fresh chicken curry to feast on. Not unexpectedly I was unceremoniously dumped from the post of the mess secretary the very next day. Since then life has tried to make me understand vegetarians and vegetarianism in greater detail and I have begun to appreciate why people are vegetarian and become vegetarian. Vegetarianism is an evolved concept involving great deal of self-control and perhaps is the solution to many of our global challenges including climate change and violence. And my own personal world has also evolved and changed.

One may think that being vegetarian is plain and simple. Or food is a simple and binary choice- either you meat or not. It is not. It is not only a choice between being shakahari or niramish (vegetarian) and masahari or amish (meat eater or non-vegetarian). Perhaps we are all more mishrahari (omnitarians, if such a word exists). 

In the West people may be mostly vegans or meat eaters, although even in the West and particularly in the US, there are many complications in food habits as people are eating less meat as eating meat is becoming less trendy. Americans eat about a third less beef than they did in the 1970s, even though an average American consumes almost 215 pounds of meat per person per year as per OECD data of 2016. Traditional meat eaters are moving away from it and alternatives such as 'beyond meat plant based burgers' are booming. Some change is due to health reasons and some due to impact meat production has on carbon emissions. The New York Mayor has introduced 'Meatless Mondays' in schools and something impossible to even visualize in the past i.e. the 'impossible burger' a meatless patty burger is now a new rage. One now often runs into Americans who say that they do not eat meat, are vegetarians and eat only fish. Some others are vegetarian on some days, by choice, and not on others. Veganism is also growing and thanks to it, these days it is easy for Indian vegetarians to find food in American restaurants. Early immigrants tell horror stories of having to survive on bread, butter, milk and bananas only. Even vegetarian soup had meat broth. 

In India, we are used to being vegetarian or non-vegetarian. In airlines and railways, the constant, irritating if not annoying query of stewards is always: "Sir veg or non-veg?". Unmindful of foreigners, whether they understand or not. But dig deep and it isn't so simple. The vegetarian pantheon has many gods. Even the orthodox 'Hindu Vegetarian Meal' can be quite varied.  Our food also has a philosophical underpinnngs  (from the Ayurveda)  in terms of being Sattwic (originates from the word for true or truth), Rajasic (root is raj meaning royal) and Tamasic (root is tamas meaning darkness). Tamasic food is supposed to arouse basic instincts while Sattwic food has a calming effect on the body. Rajasic food is balanced. Sattwic food is recommended, tamasic food is best avoided and rajasic food is acceptable. So many foods classified as tamasic are not used in preparation of devabhog (food offered to Gods in temples). Onions and Garlic are clearly tamasic and never used in preparation of devabhog. Even among lentils, moong is the most sattwic while masoor is considered tamasik.  Traditionally, for many, vegetarianism is not a matter of choice but a question of birth and rites of passage. Hindu widows, traditionally, are supposed to live very austere lives and only consume sattvic foods. If you are born Jain, you are likely to be vegetarian. If you are a Hindu from Gujarat your food choice is destined to be restricted to vegetarian fare. If from Bengal, then it is most likely that you are non-vegetarian or at least a fish eater. Bengalis are synonymous with fish and that too river fish. A Kashmiri, whether Pandit or Muslim, is a compulsive meat eater and consumes mostly goat meat. It is no longer only a question of where you are born or born veg or non-veg, but also choices and circumstances.  Food choices are layered and textured and needs probing. Far from being binary, it is actually quite impossible to classify food habits of people, even vegetarians. 

Westerners reporting on Indian vegetarianism is lop-sided and agenda driven. Recent reports border on proclaiming loudly that India is actually a non-vegetarian country, many even eat beef and number of vegetarians in India may actually may be quite small. This is done mostly by foreigners, even of Indian origin, who are not willing to understand the deep seated psyche of Indian vegetarianism. Even the most compulsive meat eater in India also eats at the same time, if not simultaneously, then consecutively, lot of vegetarian food. Meat and fish is not cheap and even compulsive non vegetarians have days when they do not eat meat such as during festivals, shraddh, in case of death in the family and on many other occasions. Vegetarianism all over the world is a complex phenomenon and means different things to different people.

Speaking to people and media reporting in recent times and of course out of my own life experience, I try to bring some method in the madness by attempting a classification  of how being vegetarian may mean different things to different people. It is a spectrum ranging from being very strict due to religious ordain to being flexible depending on the environment and conditions. I have been able to find 10 types of vegetarianism. It is a classification of diets and not people, and exceptions are there. One can always find a Jain eating meat and a Bengali detesting fish and also Muslims who do not enjoy meat. Here I am tempted to narrate this tale shared by my colleague,Vipul Mesariya, whose college mate was once waxing eloquent on how tasty the chicken curry he had that evening was. When his friends pointed out that he was a Jain, he replied quite nonchalantly that the chicken had been prepared in the Jain style- without onions and garlic.

1. Vegan: mostly Western concept. Avoid everything of animal origin. So milk, cheese, yogurt and even honey are out. Of course no types of meat, fish or eggs can be included in the diet. Extreme vegans also exclude contact with leather and are PETA supporters, and have rebellious, environmental, progressive undertones. It is revolutionizing the culinary scene in the US, although tofu based veggie meat mimicry can challenge one's taste buds. 

2. Jain Vegetarian: all meats, fish and eggs are out. Onion and garlic are not allowed and neither are root vegetables such as potato, radish, carrots, yam and cassava. In the strict sense even ginger is off the table. In the relaxed Jain diet however, potatoes and ginger are in. Some may extend it to include onions and garlic even. But eggs and all meat are forbidden. Significantly, due to the efforts of Jain monks, Palitana in Bhavnagar, Gujarat has become the first vegetarian city in India where sale of eggs and meat has been banned since 2014.

3. Vaishnav Vegetarian: mostly practiced by Goswamis of Brindavan, ISKCONites and other communities. For them all meats and fish are out. But milk is in. But onion and garlic is a big no no, although ginger is kosher. They are very strict with their diet and go the extent of seeing ingredients in food packaging and know which ingredient has animal origin and which do not. Many carry small lists with them and can be found cross checking while purchasing  bread or cookies. In this category we could also find food that is prepared in temples (devabhog) such as the delicious Khichri  offered to Lord Jagannath in Puri. 

4. Normal Vegetarian: this is the classic category. No meat or fish. Not even eggs. But eat all foods of plant origin and milk products. Not fussy with onion or garlic. This is the most prevalent type of vegetarianism in India. The only catch could be individual preferences, some can't withstand the taste of Tofu, others don't like some particular vegetables. Most South Indians can't figure out the taste of paneer (cottage cheese) and wonder why north Indians are so excited about it.  Notable vegetables detested by people are eggplant (variously called as brinjals or aubergines), bitter gourd (karela) and some others. I personally don't understand why people buy and cook the vegetable known as Kundru in India. 

5. Vegetarian Egg Eaters: They are more like normal vegetarians as mentioned in 4 above but also eat and enjoy eggs, in all preparations i.e. hidden in cakes or presented as omelettes or hard boiled. A variant of this category is those who eat eggs only when unseen or concealed away as part of cakes or cookies or ice cream. An egg omelette is off putting for them but they can't detect the smell or taste of eggs once it is baked or cooked.  Their love for cakes or ice cream over rides their distaste for eggs. It is noteworthy that among egg eaters one finds the maximum fuss as well. Many detest the strong smell of hard boiled eggs and others run away from runny eggs. Some like sunny side up while others prefer to make it dark by frying their eggs twice over. I personally can't figure out how some, particularly wrestlers, drink raw eggs mixed in their milk. Still more curious is the latest fad of eating egg white omelettes and frittatas. How is egg even egg without the yolk? 

6. Vegetarian but enjoy non-veg curries: a small but discernible group.  They are normal vegetarians, may or may not eat eggs but they enjoy the taste of meat or fish curry but cannot tolerate the pieces.  They are found mostly enjoying the curry in parties or outside their homes. At home any non vegetarian cooking is sacrilegious.

7. Vegetarian but OK with boneless meat: bones are testimony of carnage and animal origin. So as long as it is boneless or kababs they cannot distinguish between animal protein and milk protein such as cheese or paneer. You may think I am making this category up, but I have a friend from Udhampur who enjoys kababs and tikkas but cannot eat chicken leg pieces or lamb chops. Seeing the bones makes him feel queasy. This culinary adventure of course happens outside their homes mostly at weddings or parties.

8. Vegetarian, Yes Sir, but at home only: Due to cultural factors, for some, pure normal vegetarianism is only followed at home, but outside, (mostly a friend's place or at parties) they cannot wait to feast on meats. At weddings they are almost attached to the pots from where meat is being served and they become exclusively non-vegetarian. There are several variants of this and the reverse works as well. I have seen  Kashmiris eat meat only in Kashmir (as they are assured of its halal source) but moment they come to Delhi or go elsewhere they eat only vegetarian food and no meat. 

9.  Normal vegetarian but becomes  a non-vegetarian when drinking: this category is the most unique. Alcohol has an over whelming influence in deciding one's eating habits. So accompaniment of kababs and tikkas are a must for a merry evening.

10. Day-to-day Vegetarian: Basically they are non-vegetarians but become vegetarian on particular days of the week, mostly on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays. They create the most confusion because if you serve them vegetarian on the day they are non-vegetarian they get most offended. Also no non-veg food during religious festivals such as Navaratri or during the month of Shravan (rainy season) complete the characterization of this group.

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Today, although I remain non-vegetarian, my life and work involves dealing with vegetarians. At the professional level, one of the first public invites I received in New York was to address the convention of "Vegan Vision". I said no to H.K.Shah, Chairman of Vegan Vision USA on the grounds that I didn't have the conviction to speak to his congregation. To him, "being vegan is a way of expressing love for the environment, no cruelty to animals and health". Shah is vegetarian by birth and has turned vegan in the US. At 88, he is full of energy and is championing the case of vegetarianism and veganism as a matter of choice.  I subscribe to his ideals but have to change fundamentally before I can address his flock. 


All over the world vegetarianism/veganism is getting popular.  As climate change becomes a major concern for young people, plant based diets are seen as way of reducing our carbon imprints. Also the modern methods and manners in which meat and milk is produced is very upsetting to many.  They cannot just get around to consuming meat. So there are more vegetarians among us then one can guess. The best way is to clearly state one's choices- what is acceptable and what is not. Most do not understand what pure vegetarians or day-to-day vegetarians are all about. 

At home, my wife turned vegetarian about 5 years back because "she answered the call of her body" and says that for her being vegetarian means "being humane'. She, however, eats eggs in all preparations and also milk products. Her definition of vegetarian doesn't include fish much to the dismay of her Bengali in-laws. My daughter turned vegetarian a year ago, overnight, influenced by a Netflix movie 'Okja' and a documentary 'Food, Inc.', basically on where your food comes from, showing the inhuman way meat is produced. After that she just couldn't eat any meat or fish. Her determination is noteworthy as she turned from being an avid lover of fish and meats to being totally vegetarian although she includes eggs in her diet. Her twin sister on the other hand is a picky non-vegetarian restricting herself to the meats we normally eat in India. Then she made a deal. Yes! what a deal!!! If she gets into her favorite college without sweat, then she'll become a vegetarian. So in the immediate family of four, from having two and a half vegetarians, very soon I will be the only one. Sweet revenge for the fundamentalist.

I conclude with some Desi Humor, yes a vegetarian joke. A vegetarian Indian Union Cabinet Minister was visiting Shanghai in 2005. We had advised the hosts that he was a pure vegetarian. True to their word, they served vegetarian food at the State banquet. But all the courses had food shaped as animals such as chicken, cow or lamb depending on the non-vegetarian menu. This was revolting to the Minister who couldn't get around to eating animals even if they were made of potatoes or cheese. So he remained hungry. Even the dessert was bird shaped.  In desperation he asked the steward what the others were having for dessert. The answer was ice-cream. So the Minister asked for ice-cream. The Chinese hosts would hear none of it as the ice-cream, they insisted, contained egg and they were under strict instructions that the Indian Minister was a pure vegetarian. I had to face a hungry (angry) Minister in the hotel lobby when he returned from the banquet. He regaled us with this story when thereafter we went to an Indian restaurant looking for normal vegetarian food. 



Picture courtesy & title inspiration: The Revenge of the non-vegetarian by Upamanyu Chatterjee.
Article inspiration: anonymous video on tic toc.
                                      

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Jal Shakti

The renewed focus of the Government of India on water conservation is welcome and refreshing. My piece from the heart on the subject.

http://epaper.livemint.com/Home/MShareArticle?OrgId=da7d22e5

28/06/2019 

The biggest disruptor in the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for India is by far the creation of a ministry of Jal Shakti. The merger of the ministries of water resources, river development, Ganga rejuvenation, and drinking water and sanitation brings about a much-needed integrated approach for India’s water issues. Water will be the limiting factor to India’s growth. According to a 2018 NITI Aayog report, 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress and about 200,000 people die every year because of inadequate access to safe water. By 2030, the country’s water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for millions and an eventual 6% loss in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). However, if the Jal Shakti ministry, the one ministry on which the future depends, achieves its objectives, all that will change.

Addressing an election rally before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Modi said, “After constructing toilets and giving dignity to women, I will focus my next term on ensuring clean drinking water.” The creation of the Jal Shakti ministry and the adoption of an integrated approach to water issues formed part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s vision. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the minister of Jal Shakti, has hit the ground running, adopting an inclusive approach by spelling out his vision of partnership with states. In his interview with India Today on 8 June, Shekhawat saw India’s water challenge as an opportunity to involve stakeholders. He is keen on the use of India’s traditional water conservation knowledge whose neglect has brought us to the precipice of a water disaster. He also promised “nirmal” or clean Ganga in two years.

“Nal se Jal” (tap water) for everyone by 2024 is a delayed yet essential goal for India to break into the middle-income league and become a global economic power. It is not difficult to imagine how much economic activity this goal-setting will engender, potentially contributing billions to India’s GDP through the construction/rehabilitation of reservoirs, their linking, the laying of pipes and construction of tanks, among other civil works. Its impact on the nation’s health will also be transcendental, as most diseases in India are water-borne. Nal se Jal is also a natural companion of Swachh Bharat and the National Toilet Mission, which cannot be sustained without water availability in every household. The National Democratic Alliance government has achieved ambitious goals before, be it the 72 million Ujjwala connections, taking electricity to every village and 20 million households, constructing 92 million toilets in less than five years, and the opening of more than 300 million Jan Dhan accounts. Making piped water reach every household is daunting, but the ability to achieve it is there. It is absolutely “Mumkin hai” (possible). If not now, when?

Only 4% of the available water in India is used for drinking, whereas 80% is used for irrigation with rampant inefficiencies. About 4,000 litres of water is used in Punjab to produce 1 kg of rice, though 300 litres is sufficient. The first charge of India’s water must go to drinking water, followed by crop and then industrial production. Furthermore, placing water on top of the conservation pyramid automatically leads to conservation of soil and forests, and forests make water. The mantra of water conservation is age-old and simple: hold it where it falls, in pits, wells, trenches, reservoirs or ponds. This prevents run-off and soil erosion, recharges aquifers and replenishes sub-soil moisture, critical for plant growth and survival. I speak from my experience in the early 1990s when I spent five years of my youth in rural India espousing soil and water conservation.

Living in New York, I marvel at the city’s water supply system, which provides the world’s best potable water. Even restaurants serve tap water. The city has a network of conservation watersheds, reservoirs and aqueducts with almost 95% water supplied by gravity, conserving energy. Institutional frameworks exist for every aspect, be it conservation of the watershed, reservoirs, distribution and pricing. Watershed conservation is the central principle for providing drinking water. Even corporate water bottlers such as Poland advertise the watersheds they protect to promote their products. It is not a pipe-dream to expect such a reality in India.

Many states have already undertaken path-breaking work. Telangana’s Bhagiratha project is worth emulating across India. Maharashtra’s Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan has undertaken water conservation work in 16,522 villages. Unfortunately, rainfall has been poor this year, so the impact of the work is not felt. However, this is bound to change in the coming years when real water harvesting kicks in.

There is also a great synergy between bringing water to all households and the socio-cultural-spiritual movements gaining ground in India around saving the rivers, spearheaded by people such as waterman Rajinder Singh and Jaggi Vasudev. As Vasudev recently said, “Jal Shakti is a landmark step for revitalisation and conservation of our rivers and water bodies.” They are opinion makers and have far reaching influence on people. The merger of their objectives with national priorities augurs well for India. On the lines of the International Solar Alliance that India pioneered, we may lead the world on water conservation from Jal Shakti to Bharat Shakti to Vishwa Shakti.

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Kanjoos Mutton Stew, 1&Only Recipe, #HumorinDesiLife

Kanjoos Mutton Stew

1&Only Recipe

No Frying, Effortless, Light on Stomach and Palate. Also Light on your Wallet.

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We all know misers. They are loath to giving, even 1. This is for them. Everything is in 1s. It's also miserly in adding to your inches. In return you'll get 10s of praise.

1 by 1 Steps

1. 1 kg mutton (goat or lamb). Cleaned and made into small pieces, 1+1 inch cubes or so.

1+1. 1 big potato, 1 big Onion, 1 big Tomato, 1 small garlic bunch, 1 inch cube ginger, 1 small bunch of coriander leaves, mustard oil, 1 bay leaf, 1 big elaichi ( black big cardamom), 1 tablespoon (heaped) of coriander (dhania) powder, 1 teaspoon of red chilli powder (if the chilli is not too hot, may use a table spoon, misers will of course heap it so that guests can't eat much), 1 tablespoon (unheaped) of turmeric powder, 1 tablespoon (heaped) of Garam Masala), 1 glass of thick natural unflavoured curd ( + 1 can of good quality Coconut milk, optional), 1 small teaspoon of ground green cardamom powder, 1 tablespoon desi ghee

3. Clean the mutton and wash it. Add salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, 1/2 glass of thick curd, a blended paste of the onion, garlic cloves, ginger and the tomato, peeled and diced potatoes pieces ( biggish pieces), 1 tablespoon of mustard oil and mix it up, cover it up with 1 plate and leave it for 1 hour.

4. Take 1 pressure cooker. Put it on 1 burner and when the pot is hot, add 1 tablespoon of mustard oil. After the oil is heated, add 1 big elaichi (black cardamom), 1 stick of cinnamon (broken into pieces), 1 big bay leaf, 1 small teaspoon of cloves and allow them to brown & flavour the oil.

5. Reduce the flame and pour the marinated meat into the cooker along with the marinade and potato pieces. Turn it over. Add 1 glass of water, mix it for 1 minute and put the lid on the cooker. Put the flame back into full.

6. Take 1 break and let the cooker whistle. Not 1 but 3 (no point being miserly here). Switch the gas off and let the steam go out on its own, don't take out the weight, be patient (misers of course have abundant patience).

7. Open the lid and check for salt and tenderness of the meat (if meat not tender, who knows which cheap store you bought it from, give it 1 more whistle). If all OK add the rest of the curd or alternatively the can of coconut milk, 1 tablespoon of pure desi ghee along with 1 tablespoon of good quality garam masala and mix it up nicely. Hold your pride and just lick it up a bit to check the taste. Remain miserly and don't polish of the meat meant for your guests.

8. Pour it out into a beautiful bone china serving dish ( the one you have kept away for special occasions, well this is the moment, bring it out) and garnish with nicely diced coriander leaves.

9. Serve to your guests with hot rice.

10. Take and share pictures. Don't be miserly here. It costs nothing yet makes you famous.

11. Give credit to the originator of the recipe. The 1&Only.

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Swami Vivekananda- India’s Spiritual Ambassador to the West

Swami Vivekananda: India's Spiritual Ambassador to the West

My scholarship about the Man and the topic is overwhelmed manifold by passion and emotions, yet I will attempt a dispassionate analysis of his accomplishments. Swamiji’s participation in the Parliament of Religions was an epoch making and historical event as it brought to the world stage not only the recognition of Hinduism as one of the great religions of the world but also for bringing forth the values that infuse Hinduism which are today known and considered as universal values. Always stressing the universal and humanistic side of the Vedas, as well as belief in service rather than dogma, Swamiji infused vigour into Hindu thought, placing less emphasis on the prevailing pacifism. 

Hindus and Hinduism are autochthonous to the land we know as India. This religion defines India and its people and in turn India is defined by it. Every part of India, every grain of sand, every season, every raindrop has contributed to this body of thought, belief, practice and rituals, since times immemorial. Our philosophy and our ideology belongs to our land, our water, our groves and our mountain ranges. Our Shiva resides in Mount Kailas and our Krishna frolicked in the groves of Gokula and Shri Rama roamed the forests of Dandaka or Kishkinda and Sita Devi was abducted by Ravana from near Nashik. It is possible to connect our Gods, our stories to our land.

To this land of the Hindus came Christianity, the Zorastrians, Islam and other faiths. Also other faiths flowered within India, such as Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism as Hinduism incorporated and coexisted with pristine beliefs such as animism and nature worship.  The point to note here is that while India received and welcomed or incorporated within its folds other faiths, there was general lack of knowledge about the mother of religions in the West. 

While the East had been influenced by Hinduism and other great faiths of India, the West was another story. Although there had been travellers and explorers such as Marco Polo and Vasco da Gama and others, they focused primarily on the material aspects of the East rather than the spiritual. So much so, that the West saw India and Indians as spiritually backward and fit for conversion to Christianity. We need to roll our imagination back a couple of hundred years when along with the merchants of East India Companies came preachers and missionaries who thought that Indians had to be uplifted from their spiritual misery.

One such example was William Carey who set up his operations in the Danish colony of Serampore. He travelled to India with missionary zeal but was quickly overwhelmed by the richness and diversity of our scriptures that he took upon the task of translating many of them into English. He established in 1816 the Serampore College, the oldest University College in India.  

The West saw India as a spiritual wilderness largely not permeated by the wisdom of the Church. In this firmament breaks in Swamiji, with his vision and wisdom of not only spiritual awakening of India but he was also perhaps the first to plant the seeds of India's national movement.

To call him the first spiritual Ambassador of India in the modern era would perhaps diminish his stature. He was India's first modern saint. He represented India and Hinduism at the Parliament of Religions, but I believe he represented the hope of mankind. He did not only represent Hindus but made a call for a Religion for the World based on the humanistic values of Vedanta and unity of God.

Today it is fashionable to talk of peace, understanding, compassion, tolerance, human rights, civil rights and humanism. But these words and their meanings were not in currency then. Colonisation was at its peak and world powers were merrily busy subjugating peoples for exploiting them and they were happy to use religion as a weapon for colonisation.

It is in this context and scenario that we have to evaluate Swamiji, his vision and impact. A little-known fact of the Parliament of Religion is that the Archbishop of Canterbury, the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, refused to send anyone to represent the Church of England at the Parliament because he could not even think of Christianity being on the same platform as other religions!

The Parliament was an adjunct of the World’s Columbian Exposition, organised in Chicago to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. One of the main goals of the Exposition was to disseminate knowledge of progress in the world, especially in science and technology, that had been brought about by learned people in the West. Religion being an important aspect of human culture, it was decided to organise a Parliament of Religions. The Parliament marked the first concerted effort to get the representatives of all religions of the world to share their views. It commenced on September 11, 1893.

Here it is important to highlight the inherently human nature of Swamiji. He was initially seized with panic and fright when on stage at the massive Columbus Hall in Chicago, under the glare of seven thousand pairs of eyes from the hall below and the gallery above which were trained on him. Many had spoken since then from prepared speeches and the audience had applauded them politely. There was, however, one who had not yet spoken and who seemed to have passed over several chances to do so. His attire and demeanour compelled their attention. In his ochre robes and turban, this magnetic presence exuded strength. At long last, Dr. Barrows, the master of ceremonies introduced Swamiji who now rose to address the audience. He had no paper in his hand and was clearly intending to speak extempore. The silence as he composed his thoughts was absolute; all breaths were hushed and faces turned eagerly towards him. And then, at last, he spoke. Surveying the gathering, he bowed his head and began with, ‘Sisters and Brothers of America’. He could not proceed, thereafter, for the thunderous applause that followed his simple yet heartfelt greeting rang and echoed through the columns of the Hall, deafening all who were present. When Swamiji resumed his speech after almost two minutes, he commanded everyone’s attention as effortlessly as before. What is remarkable is that while representatives of other religions spoke of the greatness of their religions, Swamiji’s message was Universal. It is pertinent to quote some excerpts from his address:  

"I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. The present convention, ….is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me."

      Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honour of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal."

His Address at the final session on September 27, 1893 was no less spectacular in bringing out the essence of the philosophy of our land that all religions lead to the same God. He declared:

“ …. if any one here hopes that this unity will come by the triumph of any one of the religions and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom from the bottom of my heart and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written in spite of resistance: "Help and not fight," "Assimilation and not Destruction," "Harmony and Peace and not Dissension. "Do I wish that the Christian would become Hindu? God forbid. Do I wish that the Hindu or Buddhist would become Christian? God forbid…The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth. If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world, it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character.”

Later, in a talk that he gave at the People’s Church in Washington D.C., on October 28,1894, he said, ‘Religion is not in books, not in forms, not in sects, not in nations: religion is in the human heart ... It is love alone that can conquer hatred.’

Following his inaugural address all the dailies announced that his speech was the most popular one of the day and he thus became known to all of America in one stroke. In a letter to his ardent supporter Alasinga Perumal, he noted wryly that his heart ‘was fluttering’ and that his tongue ‘nearly dried up’. For this reason, he declined to speak when his turn came several times over until he could postpone it no longer. Even then, Swamiji was remarkably humble and unassuming about the effect of his speech on the American people and the press. To Alasinga, he remarked, ‘you would be astonished if I sent to you the newspaper cuttings, but you already know that I am a hater of celebrity. Never before had an ‘Oriental’ made such an impression on the people of America.

The most resounding vindication of Swamiji’s stance was provided by the newspaper Herald. It noted, ‘Vivekananda is undoubtedly the greatest figure in the Parliament of Religions. After hearing him, we feel how foolish it is to send missionaries to this learned nation. We need to analyse and reflect upon what is there in Swamiji’s message which appealed to the West. He made two assertions: one was inherent unity of man and man and man to nature and secondly the unity of all religions and therefore god. The essence of his teaching was Vedanta, a philosophy based on the teachings of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Vedanta Sutra, which he interpreted as a living philosophy: a feeling of oneness with all beings that was manifested through love for all. For this, it was essential to believe that every being was divine and that, therefore, to serve others was to serve God himself. All faiths led to the same goal – a conviction that Sri Ramakrishna, Swamiji’s guru, had experienced for himself. 

Swamiji did not consider science antithetical to religion. He showed that religion is as scientific as science itself; religion is the ‘science of consciousness’. As such, religion and science are not contradictory to each other but are complementary. This universal conception frees religion from the hold of superstitions and dogmatism and makes religion the highest and noblest pursuit – the pursuit of supreme Freedom, supreme Knowledge, supreme Happiness.

In his lectures in the West, Swamiji encouraged people to rethink the values that had hitherto spread only fear and hatred among the followers of diverse religions. In this way, he not only paved the way for a dialogue between faiths but also with one’s own self. Thus, although Swamiji is often seen as the strongest challenge of Hinduism to Christianity and, by extension, to the British rule in India, he was also, in fact, the strongest Hindu challenge to what the Hindus had turned their religion into by questioning their oppressive social rules and rituals.

Today more than a century after 1893 many here may be asking “what is the relevance of Swamiji’s teachings in today’s world”. One of course is the values that he espoused, that are intrinsic to Hinduism but we have been diffident in vocalising them. The universal humanism taught by Swami Vivekananda is more relevant today in a world which although much more interconnected but is much more riven with conflicts and violence.

The second and equally important contribution is Swamiji laying down a paradigm for human survival. And today when we are threatened by environmental degradation and climate change and rising consumerism, his teachings hold great value. In this engulfing tide of amoral commercialization, it is essential to recover the ethical compass spelt out by Swamiji.

In his letter addressed to Sister Nivedita, he said ‘we are like cattle, driven to the slaughter house, hastily nibbling a bit of grass on the roadside, as they are driven along under the whip’. Raising a question about the entire process of human enslavement, by a small group of predators, Swamiji asserted the power of the human mind when he said ‘we hasten the growth of things by artificial means. Why cannot we hasten the growth of man? he pondered’?

He suggested that a man has to take the work of his perfection in his own hands, instead of leaving it to nature. The mind has to be controlled by controlling the ceaseless pursuit of things, because that person would be acting like the fool, who, wanting to cross the river, catches hold of a crocodile, mistaking it for a log of wood. Man is Man so long as he is struggling to rise above nature, external and internal, and not as he succumbs to its contrary forces.

Swamiji posed the Indian theory of involution to supplement the Western theory of evolution. If man is an evolution from mollusc or protoplasm, then the energy of the perfect man, the Brahman, the Buddha or the Christ, was involved in the mollusc or protoplasm. To be human is a process of becoming what human beings already are but are yet to realise, as beings in communion with the Universal Being. There is no difference between an ant and an angel and every worm is the brother of Nazarene. Swamiji thus postulated that every human is perfect and therefore needn’t be civilised to be perfect, he just had to be human. But this was against the hegemonic position of the West, objectifying the non-European world.

Explaining identity and difference as two sides of the same coin in Bhakti Yoga, Swamiji explained that, there may be millions of radii, converging towards the same centre in the sun. The farther they are from the centre, the greater is the distance between any two. But, as they all meet at the centre, all differences vanish. Swamiji sounded a clarion call for global fellowship when he spoke on the power of the mind, ‘your mind, my mind, all these little minds, are fragments of that universal mind, waves in the ocean, and on account of this continuity, we can convey our thoughts directly to one another’.  Giving this universal approach a concrete content, Swamiji explained his Life’s Mission, ‘we must show the spirituality of Hindus, the mercifulness of Buddhists, the activity of Christians, the brotherhood of Mohammedans, by our practical lives’. He asked insular Indians, what country has any special claim upon me? Am I any Nation’s slave? To him, globalisation made India’s mission very simple, ‘England’s power had united the nations of the world and had opened the path across the sea, so that the waves of Indian spirituality could spread till the ends of the earth. Was not the Roman Empire constructed for the victory of Christ?’ However, his mission was not to spread Hinduism but to ask people to return to their own religion. 

In exchange for the gospel of the Vedanta, he looked forward to receiving from the West the material to improve the conditions of Indians. This exchange was not awkward to him, because both science and Advaita (non dualism) concluded that explanations of things ought to be found in their own nature, that the effect is nothing but the cause in another form, that creation is an evolution, and no external being are required to explain what is going on in the universe. 

Swamiji not only brought India’s message to the West but also like a true Ambassador of his country transmitted West’s message to India. The years Swamiji spent in America and Europe made him understand India better. After he came back to India in 1897 Swamiji admitted in his notes that, ‘the shades are deeper, and lights brighter’. In the West he saw many wonderful institutions and customs, and many wonderful manifestations of strength and power, but “the most wonderful of all was to find that beneath all these apparent variations of manners and customs, of culture and power, beats the same mighty human heart under the impulsion of the same joys and sorrows, of the same weakness and strength.”

Swamiji’s concern for women was another aspect that came to the fore during his travels through America. Struck by their independence and self-reliance, he declared, ‘There is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on only one wing.

It is appropriate to remind us of the relevance of Swamiji’s message more than hundred twenty-five years after his addresses to the Parliament of Religions. The years that have elapsed since then, have witnessed change, never witnessed before in the biological history of the earth, in the wake of globalisation, industrialization and homogenization. Accelerated bio-cultural extinction, growing discord among the human species and between human and nonhuman species, loss of diversity as well as of identity have been characteristic of the past years. The human being, who may become the first agent of nature to destroy himself and his environment, would do well to remember Swamiji’s life and mission, which were dedicated to building bridges between identity and difference, science and religion, nature and culture, West and the East. Introspection on Swamiji’s message is imperative for all if we have to check the suicidal course of the human race.

A version of this essay was delivered as a talk on the occasion of commemorating the 125th Anniversary of Swamiji’s historic addresses at the Parliament of Religions in 1893 at a function at the Vivekananda-Ramakrishna Center, Manhattan, New York on 16 September 2018. Inputs for the talk  were collated from multiple sources making it impossible to give citations. 

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The Lehman Trilogy

Today is my first post as a blogger.  The play "The Lehman Trilogy" motivated me to write, although I must confess I have been thinking about it for some time. The only hesitation was due to conduct rules but I will surmount them by restricting to personal observations of non-official nature.

The play I saw last night is the epitome of artistic excellence, whether it is the script, the actors, the set, the coordination, special effects or the even the the venue: Park Avenue Armory. It lasted more than 3 hours but the audience sat there captivated. It is mind boggling to even think how the director conceived the play involving many characters but portrayed by only three actors. This is the masterstroke. The actors also effortlessly and seamlessly move from one character to the other. There was not a single forgotten dialogue or a mis-step. It was clock work precision delivered by three great actors Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Ben Miles on a moving stage. I would dare to say that this play beats staple Broadway musical fares, a few of which I have got to see.

The quintessential American theme spanning almost two centuries surrounding Jewish immigration into the US, their entrepreneurship and successes which built the US and the rise and falling apart of the exalted Lehman Bros is riveting and relevant even in contemporary times.

One hopes that similar art emerges surrounding the corporates who built India, Tatas, Birlas, Ambanis among others. One anecdote I have heard is about a conversation between Jamshedji Tata and Swami Vivekananda on the board the ship which Swamiji took to Japan enroute to the US. Apparently, Swamiji encouraged Jameshetji to manufacture in India. These will be interesting stories to tell and hear.

This is the first work of Sam Mendes that I saw. Thoroughly impressed, I am already looking forward to seeing The Ferryman, which has been running in New York for sometime.