A Performer
My father was a man of varied interests. He could talk fluently for hours on novels of Tolstoy and Turgnev, music of Smetana and Janacek, art of Kaminski and Kokoschka, politics of Churchill and Gandhi and the origin of species in Bible or by Darwin. But he had only one ambition for me, his only son. He wanted me to perform on the stage of Royal Festival Hall in London. He chose the instrument carefully, by letting me play piano, violin and cello at the tender age of five with masters of these instruments. The decision was unanimous. My talents were suited for piano. I spent next fifteen years practicing five hours a day, every day including birthdays and Christmas. I won competitions, scholarships, medals in the Conservatory of Music and raised hopes of a great music career not only in my father’s breast but in many of my teachers.
It was thirty years ago when I left home for the first time for the final step in my training under a German master in Berlin who had been the leading performer since long before I was born. It cost a pretty penny, I suspect prettier than my father could afford, but any sacrifice was worth it for me to reach the level required to perform on the stages of the great hall on the banks of Thames. There were twenty students from all over Europe and America under the master’s wings. I never found out whether it was by coincidence or design, there were ten men and ten women in the group and it was not long before twenty singles became ten couples. Partners rotated during our term of two years but no one went single for long or found a partner outside of the group. Who else would want to spend days with someone who can only do one thing – play piano and talk one subject – intricacies of music they were practicing?
The time passed very quickly. Our families traveled to Berlin for the last piece of our training - a series of concerts that lasted a whole week. Each student played a sonata, one chamber piece with instrumentalists from a renowned chamber ensemble and a concerto with a local orchestra. It was a tribute to the master’s reputation that the performances were sold out months in advance except for a few celebrity tickets saved for dignitaries who dropped by at the last minute. We could never decipher our relative levels from the master’s demeanour. Rather than earn the wrath of parents impoverished by his charges, he chose a committee of professional performers and academic musicians to do this important job for him. The committee graded the performers and these grades determined whether a graduating student will perform in the leading halls of Europe or teach beginners in his/her home town.
The budding performers were under great stress. They had sacrificed the childhood, adolescence and the youth for the anticipated glory of a Rubenstein or a Horowitz. One lapse of memory, one untimely twitch of finger, one miscue from the conductor, in fact one slightest mishap of any kind whether a performer’s fault or not, could be enough for a prospective Van Cliburn to turn into a Mr. Nobody in a Junior High. Of course no one expected it would happen to them, some competitive souls did pray it would happen to others. Oddly, many of these prayers were answered; that is what an overload of stress does to you.
Before my performance I followed the routine prescribed by the masters; a light meal with a small glass of red wine followed by the rest for half an hour when I tried to get my mind away from music to something of little importance – global warming for example. Half an hour before the performance, I gave a quick look over to the heavily annotated score, reminding myself of the pitfalls I must avoid. The last act in preparation was a five minute soak of hands in a basin of near boiling water to loosen the finger joints. The hands were so hot they did not need drying. I was ready for a sign from the stage manager to walk to the stage looking confident but actually a bundle of nerves.
I walked to the centre of the stage, bowed to the audience, sat on the piano stool, adjusted its position and height and held both hands above the keys for an extended moment for dramatic effect. The stress was excruciating and my hands were shaking but not enough for any one except those in a few front rows to notice. I was to play Schubert’s Sonata in C minor, D958. The stress went away just as the hands dropped on the keys and I must have held the attention of the listeners because there was hardly any coughing. My biggest feeling as I played the last notes was suspense about the response of the audience. Much to my relief the applause at the end was enthusiastic. I bowed gratefully a couple of times and walked slowly off the stage. The cheering became louder and the stage manager suggested another bow. “How about an encore,” I asked. “Not allowed,” He said. I went back to the stage with a heavy heart. To paraphrase Lerner and Lowe I could have played encores all night.
The performances with the chamber ensemble and the orchestra were similar except that I shook hands with the conductor or the leader of the chamber ensemble, both mumbled words of encouragement. The presence of other performers on stage also reduced the stress somewhat although the periods when I was not playing were a little awkward. The audience responded with enthusiasm again and the conductor and I returned twice for the bows.
I attended some of the performances of other students. The audience was just as enthusiastic as it was for my performances. Although not complimentary to the critical faculty of concert crowds, this reaction did have one positive: the judges were not influenced by the audience reaction.
The results were not publicly announced but mailed to the homes of the students. You can imagine the suspense; it almost killed my father. He had mortgaged his home to the hilt, sold the car and borrowed against his life insurance to pay for my training with the German prodigy. At last the envelope arrived a week after we had been back. It was appropriately addressed to my father. He opened the envelope, read the short letter, looked with infinite grief at me and never talked to me, or any one else, again.
I never touched a piano after that day. As for the Royal Festival Hall I have never been inside. But I perform in the building everyday. How do I manage that? No, not as a panhandling musician, I do not need to stoop that low. I am the pastry chef in the dining room. I perform with the best ingredients available for a distinguished audience. Lords and Ladies of the realm wish they could lick the plate after tasting my mango lemon sauce on their sherbet. Some do sneak a lick via a piece of bread. The maitre’d is disgusted but I am flattered. I do wish my father were alive to see them. I score a major triumph when this happens. I have never heard of any one kissing the program after a great performance of a piano concerto. Have you?
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
A Geologist’s View of Climate Change
Huge daily protests in support of the drastic proposals at Copenhagen clouded the alternate point of view. Unfortunately, the lines are drawn sharply and there is no grey area in between. A review of various issues is in order before we make the decisions which have the potential to change the pattern of human life for ever.
One crucial factor in the debate is the data. Unfortunately there are significant year to year oscillations in the data and different trends can be projected depending on the chosen time span. Each side blames the scientists on the other side of bias. There is no doubt that they are both right to some extent. There was a time when the scientific research was the domain of the independently wealthy who could disregard the financial implications of their conclusions. Alas, those days are long gone. Now the scientists depend on the commercial interests for their grants, often for the salaries too. To expect the absence of bias in these circumstances is not reasonable. To confuse the picture, the climate patterns over the life of this planet show indisputably larger changes than being observed now. According to this viewpoint, carbon emissions are only a minor consideration in the climate change. But that does not mean that they are acceptable. Even if they have not been related to particular diseases as of yet, increasing elements of pollution interact with living organisms and change them, perhaps for the worse. Pollution has to be reduced to protect future generations from undesirable mutations. Thus, the dispute is not about the evil but about the urgency and the ways of fighting it.
Large changes during geologic times caused havoc with life forms as they existed and new forms of life took shape in the environment. If this is what is happening now, it behooves us to prepare for the changes as well as to fight them. Not much is being done to prepare the populations whose lives will be devastated by these changes other than their leaders expressing despair in international conferences to deaf years. An example of this neglect is the city of New Orleans after Katrina: it is being rebuilt over the devastated site rather than being moved to safer land.
Human beings are capable of controlling the pollution without economic upheaval as demonstrated by the cleaning up of the atmosphere in Europe after the war and control of CFC emissions after Montreal protocol. Scientific advances are crucial in this endeavour. Just as the motor car solved the problem of horse manure in large cities by replacing horse carriages in the early years of twentieth century, drastic improvements in the internal combustion engine or the invention of new type of engine or energy source could make our desperation a source of amusement to future generations.
The proponents of drastic steps to prevent climate change must appreciate the extent of economic sacrifices they expect from general population. The suggestions of many climate scientists involve drastic changes to the life style which can not be accomplished in a short time frame without changes in economic structure. This will cause immense suffering to a large population who will lose their jobs and would not be willing and/or able to train for new ones. Politicians will not be forgiven by this constituency at the polls and are understandably reluctant to take such actions.
The per capita emission goals are particularly impractical because:
1. They do nothing to reduce overpopulation, in fact may even encourage its growth. The overall number of consumers is the basic element in total consumption and emission counts. Steps are needed to reduce the population, not encourage its growth.
2. Considering the rate of growth of big population nations like China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, the reductions in developing countries, even if they entirely eliminated the emissions, will be more than offset by the increase in developing world if per capita emissions, emission intensity in some circles, were to be the only consideration.
3. The process of accomplishing these goals will involve a large shift of wealth and industry to the developing countries, some of them not on friendly terms. The citizens of developed world will accept this at their peril.
These considerations show that humans are not likely to control emissions by themselves even if they are crucial to counter climate change and for eventual survival of the species. Let us hope that the dire predictions of climate catastrophe scientists are wrong. If they turn out to be correct, technical innovations on a revolutionary scale are mankind’s only hope.
Huge daily protests in support of the drastic proposals at Copenhagen clouded the alternate point of view. Unfortunately, the lines are drawn sharply and there is no grey area in between. A review of various issues is in order before we make the decisions which have the potential to change the pattern of human life for ever.
One crucial factor in the debate is the data. Unfortunately there are significant year to year oscillations in the data and different trends can be projected depending on the chosen time span. Each side blames the scientists on the other side of bias. There is no doubt that they are both right to some extent. There was a time when the scientific research was the domain of the independently wealthy who could disregard the financial implications of their conclusions. Alas, those days are long gone. Now the scientists depend on the commercial interests for their grants, often for the salaries too. To expect the absence of bias in these circumstances is not reasonable. To confuse the picture, the climate patterns over the life of this planet show indisputably larger changes than being observed now. According to this viewpoint, carbon emissions are only a minor consideration in the climate change. But that does not mean that they are acceptable. Even if they have not been related to particular diseases as of yet, increasing elements of pollution interact with living organisms and change them, perhaps for the worse. Pollution has to be reduced to protect future generations from undesirable mutations. Thus, the dispute is not about the evil but about the urgency and the ways of fighting it.
Large changes during geologic times caused havoc with life forms as they existed and new forms of life took shape in the environment. If this is what is happening now, it behooves us to prepare for the changes as well as to fight them. Not much is being done to prepare the populations whose lives will be devastated by these changes other than their leaders expressing despair in international conferences to deaf years. An example of this neglect is the city of New Orleans after Katrina: it is being rebuilt over the devastated site rather than being moved to safer land.
Human beings are capable of controlling the pollution without economic upheaval as demonstrated by the cleaning up of the atmosphere in Europe after the war and control of CFC emissions after Montreal protocol. Scientific advances are crucial in this endeavour. Just as the motor car solved the problem of horse manure in large cities by replacing horse carriages in the early years of twentieth century, drastic improvements in the internal combustion engine or the invention of new type of engine or energy source could make our desperation a source of amusement to future generations.
The proponents of drastic steps to prevent climate change must appreciate the extent of economic sacrifices they expect from general population. The suggestions of many climate scientists involve drastic changes to the life style which can not be accomplished in a short time frame without changes in economic structure. This will cause immense suffering to a large population who will lose their jobs and would not be willing and/or able to train for new ones. Politicians will not be forgiven by this constituency at the polls and are understandably reluctant to take such actions.
The per capita emission goals are particularly impractical because:
1. They do nothing to reduce overpopulation, in fact may even encourage its growth. The overall number of consumers is the basic element in total consumption and emission counts. Steps are needed to reduce the population, not encourage its growth.
2. Considering the rate of growth of big population nations like China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, the reductions in developing countries, even if they entirely eliminated the emissions, will be more than offset by the increase in developing world if per capita emissions, emission intensity in some circles, were to be the only consideration.
3. The process of accomplishing these goals will involve a large shift of wealth and industry to the developing countries, some of them not on friendly terms. The citizens of developed world will accept this at their peril.
These considerations show that humans are not likely to control emissions by themselves even if they are crucial to counter climate change and for eventual survival of the species. Let us hope that the dire predictions of climate catastrophe scientists are wrong. If they turn out to be correct, technical innovations on a revolutionary scale are mankind’s only hope.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Published comments
Root cause
Re: "Foster children struggle in school," Dec. 7.
Considering the problems these children have, it is amazing that some of them complete school and it is a compliment to their foster parents. The root of the problem is the birth parents who, with some exceptions, are incapable of looking after the children they give birth to. The effort should be directed at these parents--training them in basic life skills including parenting and sharing responsibility for the kids with the partner. Perhaps even more important, adolescents should be taught to understand when they will be ready to bring a helpless baby into this world and how to prevent it before then. While a review of the foster care system may help, the solution lies in developing a society in which fewer children need such care.
(Calgary Herald, 09/12/09)
STRESS LEVELS MOUNTING
Stephen Lautens Nov. 21 column "Adulthood comes with boring burden" rightly complains about the chores in daily life which are exacerbated by lack of help to consumers from organizations. But he is at least partially wrong when he says his parents had all of these problems too. It was not all that long ago that families had one bread earner and one homemaker and managed quite nicely. Life was less rushed then and the chores did not accumulate. There may be reasons to empathize with older generations, but stress is not one of them. This day-to-day stress is a recent phenomenon. The absolute necessity of the two incomes needed by families to get by is the main source of it.
(Calgary Sun, 30/11/09)
GIVE PERPS THE BOOT
Re: "Deportation of siblings sought," Nov. 15. It surprises me there needs to be any proceedings before perpetrators of serious crimes are sent back to their countries of origin. The automatic deportation should be built into law under which they are sentenced and should bar their return in any circumstances. Yes, it would be tough on their relatives living here, but it is tougher on their future victims when the proven criminals stay around.
(Calgary Sun, 22/11/09)
Climate consensus, indeed
(Re: Leaders Agree Copenhagen Will Focus On Principles, Not Concrete Goals (online, Nov. 15): Yet another example of delaying tactics, so familiar to all parents. Who are the leaders fooling?
(Globe and Mail, 16/11/09)
WATER GETS NO RESPECT
Re: "Recession offers drop of relief," (Oct 16). Bill Kaufmann does an excellent job of pointing out the negligence in water management by the cities and province. The total cost of water on my bill is $1.50 for a cubic meter, less than two litres of gas. Is it any wonder it is wasted at every turn by citizens and the industry alike. If you want the water resource treated with respect, start charging appropriately and the problem will likely disappear.
(Calgary Sun, 25/10/09)
DRIVERS NEED TO GET A GRIP
Re: "Season's first snowstorm sees flurry of crashes," (Oct. 14). Every year it is the same story. Calgarians wait for the storm to change the tires and do not take other precautions needed on slippery roads. Then they blame the city for not clearing the roads promptly. Well, you can't clear the roads in a large city instantly and what good is it to clear them when the white stuff is still coming down? Come on Calgarians. Stay home if it can wait and car pool or use public transit if it can't. Keep a safe distance from the next vehicle and slow down. The posted speed limit is for dry roads and has to be adjusted for icy conditions. (Calgary Sun, 18/10/09)
Root cause
Re: "Foster children struggle in school," Dec. 7.
Considering the problems these children have, it is amazing that some of them complete school and it is a compliment to their foster parents. The root of the problem is the birth parents who, with some exceptions, are incapable of looking after the children they give birth to. The effort should be directed at these parents--training them in basic life skills including parenting and sharing responsibility for the kids with the partner. Perhaps even more important, adolescents should be taught to understand when they will be ready to bring a helpless baby into this world and how to prevent it before then. While a review of the foster care system may help, the solution lies in developing a society in which fewer children need such care.
(Calgary Herald, 09/12/09)
STRESS LEVELS MOUNTING
Stephen Lautens Nov. 21 column "Adulthood comes with boring burden" rightly complains about the chores in daily life which are exacerbated by lack of help to consumers from organizations. But he is at least partially wrong when he says his parents had all of these problems too. It was not all that long ago that families had one bread earner and one homemaker and managed quite nicely. Life was less rushed then and the chores did not accumulate. There may be reasons to empathize with older generations, but stress is not one of them. This day-to-day stress is a recent phenomenon. The absolute necessity of the two incomes needed by families to get by is the main source of it.
(Calgary Sun, 30/11/09)
GIVE PERPS THE BOOT
Re: "Deportation of siblings sought," Nov. 15. It surprises me there needs to be any proceedings before perpetrators of serious crimes are sent back to their countries of origin. The automatic deportation should be built into law under which they are sentenced and should bar their return in any circumstances. Yes, it would be tough on their relatives living here, but it is tougher on their future victims when the proven criminals stay around.
(Calgary Sun, 22/11/09)
Climate consensus, indeed
(Re: Leaders Agree Copenhagen Will Focus On Principles, Not Concrete Goals (online, Nov. 15): Yet another example of delaying tactics, so familiar to all parents. Who are the leaders fooling?
(Globe and Mail, 16/11/09)
WATER GETS NO RESPECT
Re: "Recession offers drop of relief," (Oct 16). Bill Kaufmann does an excellent job of pointing out the negligence in water management by the cities and province. The total cost of water on my bill is $1.50 for a cubic meter, less than two litres of gas. Is it any wonder it is wasted at every turn by citizens and the industry alike. If you want the water resource treated with respect, start charging appropriately and the problem will likely disappear.
(Calgary Sun, 25/10/09)
DRIVERS NEED TO GET A GRIP
Re: "Season's first snowstorm sees flurry of crashes," (Oct. 14). Every year it is the same story. Calgarians wait for the storm to change the tires and do not take other precautions needed on slippery roads. Then they blame the city for not clearing the roads promptly. Well, you can't clear the roads in a large city instantly and what good is it to clear them when the white stuff is still coming down? Come on Calgarians. Stay home if it can wait and car pool or use public transit if it can't. Keep a safe distance from the next vehicle and slow down. The posted speed limit is for dry roads and has to be adjusted for icy conditions. (Calgary Sun, 18/10/09)
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Should We Eliminate Retirement Age?
Since 1840, the life expectancy of humans has been increasing by approximately three months every year. In recent years, it increased to 76 in 2005 from 65 in 1975 but the top retirement age has stayed fixed at 65. In other words, the workers had to retire at the expected age of their death in 1975 and even later before that if they were still around. By the yardstick of 1975 the retirement age should now be 76. In view of the improvement in health of our older citizens this should not sound as scandalous as it does. After all, a large number of retirees continue to work in paid jobs after retiring from their long-term employer long after the retirement, many more do volunteer work for several hours a week What this suggestion does do is to indicate that a fixed age for retirement is not appropriate for twenty first century. Even if the age were tweaked upwards, it will soon be out of date because the improvements in healthcare and living habits will continue to make the general population healthier and enable it to live longer.
Ever increasing periods of training are required to qualify for most professions and the professionals need to work till late in life to pay off debts incurred in training and save for a comfortable retirement. An aging population with its demands on healthcare and social services is straining the economies of developed as well as developing nations. Thanks to these factors, there is a crying need for major corrective steps to avert an economic turmoil. Many economists, but no politician, have proposed a revision of the age for retirement. This will at best be a short-term solution. What we need is not a fixed age for retirement but an option to retire after certain length of employment and flexibility to continue the current employment if health and other circumstances make it desirable. Similarly, the government pension plans should enable a contributor to start collecting after a certain period of membership with the option to delay receiving pension with or without further contributions. “Senior” benefits like supported transit passes or discounts which are currently offered them are for businesses to determine what age suits their purpose. Indeed, there is a considerable flexibility now. Some stores allow senior discounts at the age of 55, some at 65 and others do not offer them at all.
The change to length of service rather than the age will make the dreaded forecasts about growing older population becoming a burden on shrinking young population obsolete because the older people who opt to remain in workforce will contribute taxes to the governments and savings to the economy in growing numbers and for many more years. It will keep qualified professionals and trained workers in labour force and reduce the need of foreign skilled workers just when they have incentives to stay home. It will also give time to depleted Pension Funds of corporations to recover. Employers will probably need some protection when they need to terminate older employees who are not willing to face the deterioration in their capacities. However, this is not an insurmountable obstacle and the advantages far outweigh any other difficulties that may arise.
Eliminating the retirement age is one stone that will kill many pesky birds.
Since 1840, the life expectancy of humans has been increasing by approximately three months every year. In recent years, it increased to 76 in 2005 from 65 in 1975 but the top retirement age has stayed fixed at 65. In other words, the workers had to retire at the expected age of their death in 1975 and even later before that if they were still around. By the yardstick of 1975 the retirement age should now be 76. In view of the improvement in health of our older citizens this should not sound as scandalous as it does. After all, a large number of retirees continue to work in paid jobs after retiring from their long-term employer long after the retirement, many more do volunteer work for several hours a week What this suggestion does do is to indicate that a fixed age for retirement is not appropriate for twenty first century. Even if the age were tweaked upwards, it will soon be out of date because the improvements in healthcare and living habits will continue to make the general population healthier and enable it to live longer.
Ever increasing periods of training are required to qualify for most professions and the professionals need to work till late in life to pay off debts incurred in training and save for a comfortable retirement. An aging population with its demands on healthcare and social services is straining the economies of developed as well as developing nations. Thanks to these factors, there is a crying need for major corrective steps to avert an economic turmoil. Many economists, but no politician, have proposed a revision of the age for retirement. This will at best be a short-term solution. What we need is not a fixed age for retirement but an option to retire after certain length of employment and flexibility to continue the current employment if health and other circumstances make it desirable. Similarly, the government pension plans should enable a contributor to start collecting after a certain period of membership with the option to delay receiving pension with or without further contributions. “Senior” benefits like supported transit passes or discounts which are currently offered them are for businesses to determine what age suits their purpose. Indeed, there is a considerable flexibility now. Some stores allow senior discounts at the age of 55, some at 65 and others do not offer them at all.
The change to length of service rather than the age will make the dreaded forecasts about growing older population becoming a burden on shrinking young population obsolete because the older people who opt to remain in workforce will contribute taxes to the governments and savings to the economy in growing numbers and for many more years. It will keep qualified professionals and trained workers in labour force and reduce the need of foreign skilled workers just when they have incentives to stay home. It will also give time to depleted Pension Funds of corporations to recover. Employers will probably need some protection when they need to terminate older employees who are not willing to face the deterioration in their capacities. However, this is not an insurmountable obstacle and the advantages far outweigh any other difficulties that may arise.
Eliminating the retirement age is one stone that will kill many pesky birds.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
