Atheist for a Day
Jainism is one of the sects under the vast umbrella of Hindu religion. It began, like all sects do, as a reform movement and stayed under the umbrella unlike Buddhism which disappeared from India altogether and acquired its own persona in China and Japan. Bhagwan Mahavir preached self abnegation of an extreme variety as the only way to break out of the cycle of birth and death. It included not eating anything which moves or anything that grows below the ground. Some extremists, my parents among them, also believe that wearing clothes is a luxury which prolongs the cycle and delays the union of soul with the Prime Soul.
When I reached the rebellious teen age I refused to go to school in my birthday suit. Instead, with the help of other like minded teens I acquired the jeans of latest fashion, matching shirts without the collar and stylish jackets frayed at the right places. I even developed a taste for animals, killed and cooked by someone else of course. My parents tolerated the clothes but when my mother found out about the nefarious taste buds I had developed, the dam broke. The flow of her tears stopped only after my dear father put all my books and other belongings in a paper bag, handed them to me gruffly and pointed to the world beyond. My siblings cheered when I passed the gate without the slightest idea of where I was going. It must be my noble deeds in the past life that pointed out the direction. I turned left when I got to the main thoroughfare. After an hour of walking in the blowing dust and sweltering heat of the Indian summer at its height I reached the outskirts of town and found what seemed to me the salvation. A small sign on the gatepost said Swami Dharyanand’s Nastic Ashram – Retreat for Atheists. Retreat is what my exhausted body, perhaps soul as well, needed. I had no idea who Atheists were, what they did or what they believed or not believed in. Retreat is what attracted me. I opened the gate and trudged the small narrow walkway to the door of a small rather dilapidated bungalow. The door was open and there was no sign of activity from inside. “Hello, is any one in?” I said, in a soft voice so as not to disturb some one in meditation but attract notice otherwise.
After a few moment of suspense I heard some steps. An elderly lady dressed in a green cotton sari, her grey hair streaming behind her, appeared. “What can I do for you?”
“I have just been thrown out by my parents because I did not follow the basic tenets of our religion. I am looking for shelter in return for my labour,” I replied
“You have come to the right place. This is the home for people who do not believe in God and who do not practice any formal religion. You are welcome to join us and become part of our crusade. Make this humble cottage your home. We are one big family who share all the joys and sorrows, comforts and hardships like brothers and sisters. Most important, we share the goal of relieving the world of the blinkers of religion. It is a tough task but under the leadership of Swami Dharyanand, we are making steady progress.”
“I am so relieved I found you. I do hope I can help you in achieving the laudable goal. Please count me in as a disciple of the Swami,” I said while bowing down to touch her feet.
“No, no no,” she said stepping back. She added, I felt with unnecessary vehemence, “Only person you touch the feet of is the Swami and that too just to pick specks of dust to rub on your forehead so some of his wisdom can pass on to you.”
She led me to a large room in the back with wooden bunk beds at two levels. I guessed the room had twenty beds. Each bed had a thin mattress and a thinner blanket. Every thing in the room, walls, ceiling, beds, mattresses, blankets was green. The floor was concrete which was cracking in places. Most of the beds looked as if they had never been used. I put my paper bag on one nearest to the entrance. “Let me introduce you to the Swami now,” the lady said walking towards a side door. I obediently followed.
We entered a spacious bright room with a large open window on my left. With the exception of a small bright green door in the corner on the right, the other two walls had floor to ceiling shelves filled with books. Again, the ceiling and the exposed walls were painted bright green and the floor was concrete. There was a large mahogany desk in the middle of the room with a high backed chair placed precisely in the middle on the other side. On my side of the table were two low stools, presumably for the visitors.
“Wait a minute here,” the lady said before disappearing through the back door. I moved closer to examine the desk. There was a telephone on one side, a heap of files on the other. With a few exceptions the books on the shelves looked as if they had not been opened for centuries. The room did have a musty smell, now that I think of it. I was moving towards a bookshelf when the door opened and a handsome young man in a green long cotton shirt, green baggy pants and bare feet entered briskly. He was no more than twenty five, perhaps five feet six, hundred and twenty pounds, lustrous dark hair parted in the middle and clean shaven face more beige than brown. He stopped a few feet from me and stood erect waiting for me to make a move. The response of the lady when I greeted here crossed my mind. I bent down, touched his feet with fingers of both hands and then rubbed the fingers on my forehead. A heavenly smile flitted across the angelic face. He pointed to the stools and moved towards his chair.
He leaned back, his dark eyes penetrating through the skull into my innermost thoughts. After a long pause which unnerved me not a little, he said his first words to me in a soft sing song voice, “You wish to join our Ashram. That is good. We are always in need of followers in our fight to contain the spread of various religions. Younger the new converts the better. They have more energy and are more persuasive in discussions when they are in their teens and twenties. Tell me something about yourself.”
This was the first time in my life a stranger had asked me that. I hesitated for a long moment before venturing, “My name is Ravi, sir. I am just finishing grade 8. My parents are strict Jains and they expect me to be a strict vegetarian and go naked even in the winter. When I refused they booted me out of the house, in a manner of speaking sir, they do not really wear boots, only cloth slippers. I now want to work with you to save other kids from the rigours of such religions. All I need is food and shelter and I will devote all my energies to your, sorry sir, our cause.”
Swami’s eyes had not wavered for a moment. The pause now was longer than the earlier one and I was beginning to feel uncomfortable. My eyes were focused on the table as if I were counting the specks of dust on its surface. At long last his soft voice played pleasantly on my ear drums, “I will accept you as a disciple although you are much too young to spread the Word by yourself. You will be in training for next two years. During this period you will help the staff in the maintenance of the Ashram. If you pass the test at the end of two years, you will become a deputy to the Junior Assistant Preacher.”
“Thank you very much, sir. What will be my responsibilities as the deputy to the junior assistant preacher, sir?”
“You will do what the JAP tells you to do. You might carry the bag of brochures in a back pack and hand him one when some one opens the door on his rounds. You may prompt him if he needs it during his spiel. You will do whatever helps him and whatever he asks you to do. When he determines that you are ready to preach, he will make that recommendation to the Assistant Preacher who will send it to the Preacher with his comments. Eventually, it will arrive at this desk for the final approval. If I am having a good day, you will win the promotion.”
I was impressed by the orderly process. I did have a slight problem though, “The place is very quiet, sir. Where is every body?”
“They are all out in the field converting the God fearing into blessed heathens. They should be back by the dinner time. Unless you have some serious questions, run along and help Sita Ma. She is in the garden.”
I made my way to the garden where Sita Ma was pulling carrots out of the ground. She showed me where the potatoes were and told me to dig a handful. Apples and pears were picked next. I helped her carry two buckets of produce to the kitchen. “The dinner will be ready in an hour. You can use this time to study the teachings of Swami Dharyanand,” she said pointing to a thick binder on a side table in the dining room. My tummy was protesting a little too much for me to read anything, leave alone something as important as Swami’s teachings. “Do you mind if I take a walk in the garden first?” I asked looking greedily at the fruit trees. “That is okay. Just watch the monkeys,” Sita Ma kindly consented.
I had barely munched through an apple and a pear when I heard some excited voices from the kitchen. I suppressed my inclination to join them; I could here the conversation while eating another perfectly ripe pear within my grasp and no one would be interested in the opinion of a raw recruit anyway. I could see Sita Ma in the kitchen listening attentively to two men and two women dressed in, you guessed it, green apparel. If I heard it correctly, and there is no reason to believe otherwise, one member of the group had an epiphany when they were passing a church, they did not say of what denomination. This individual stood in front of the building as if in a trance. Then shook his head gently from side to side and said, “Friends, I just heard from God. My place is with the Believers – those who believe in Father who is in Heaven. God has given me yet another opportunity to take my place in the pew. I pray you too, my friends, will see the light one day. Till then, goodbye.” With that he ran into the church and for all they know the repentant erstwhile atheist collapsed in front of the Cross, stream of tears making a mess of the dirt floor.
Sita Ma introduced me to other disciples but they showed little interest in me, perhaps they were starving too. The dinner was even more plain than any served by my mother. The only spice used was a touch of rock salt. The minimum amount of butter was used and chapattis were served dry – that is without a dollop of butter as my mother did. The conversation was all about the deserter, the Assistant Preacher who was Swamiji’s favourite disciple. When I remarked on Swamiji’s absence, Sita Ma told me that he cooked his own meals and had them by himself so that his meditations were not interrupted and the disciples could have uninhibited conversation. I had my own suspicion but I kept it to myself.
Life at the Ashram came to an abrupt end the next day. A short thin man appeared early in the morning followed by four hefty men who may have been the members of the national heavy weight wrestling team. The man was the owner of the building who had not been paid the rent for several months. He had obtained the evacuation order and had brought enough muscle to enforce it.
I picked up my paper bag and retraced the steps of the previous day. As a sign of reconciliation I took off the clothes I was wearing before entering the house. My mother was thrilled to see her reformed son and it wasn’t long before I was happily drinking mango juice and eating buttered chapattis with spiced curries, a bowl of assorted sweets within reach.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Stray Thoughts:
Greece crisis, banks and shortselling:
There can be no doubt that the banks led by Goldman Sachs played a crucial role in exacerbating the crisis through short selling of Greek bonds. Short selling amounts to selling what the seller doesn’t own. If I borrowed an asset from a friend and sold it I would most likely go to jail even if I provide a replacement. Therefore, in my forty years of investing I have never seen the morality of short selling. Moreover, when the bank lends the stock from my account for some one to sell, I should be informed and I should have some claim on the profits. If the regulators really want to minimize volatility in trading and eliminate phony crises, tightening shorting rules would be the first step.
Oil price and Alberta’s budget deficit:
Alberta's budget deficit goes up and down like a yo-yo because it is based on oil and gas prices, which also go up and down. Huge deficits and huge surpluses are expected in a commodity-based economy. The swings could be reduced if the province based its spending on the long-term average price of commodities and set aside surpluses in good years to make up for shortfalls in bad. This will stabilize provincial spending and allow municipalities to plan with confidence. (Edmonton Journal May 16, 2010)
Atheists and Pope:
The crude attempts to humiliate the Pope (Hitchens, Dawkins attempt Pope's arrest on U.K. visit, April 12) are disgraceful. Atheists must have tolerance for other belief systems and must respect individuals who command the following of millions of people to deserve any tolerance and respect for their own beliefs. Such behaviour causes much shame and grief to atheists like me who believe that every one is entitled to the belief system they can live with in peace.
Spill and Oil Sands:
What will you have, major disasters like this or continuous pollution by extraction from oil sands? At least the later is predictable and in the long term manageable. In any event nothing beats doing without what will consume you sooner or later.
Lap dancing teachers:
What surprises me in this furor is that no one asked how good or bad were the teachers in the class. For all we know they were exceptionally good teachers. Even if they were merely satisfactory as teachers it seems a little shortsighted to end the promising careers of two trained young professionals when a warning or a suspension would have been a sufficient penalty. In all probability, Winnipeg has lost two teachers because the media and some parents made more fuss than their thoughtless action required.
Greek debt crisis:
What surprises me the most is that the Euro partners of Greece can even
contemplate helping them out in view of their shenanigans before admittance to the ECM. This Greek tragedy has its origin in then Greek
government sweeping the debt under the carpet rather than facing up to it and finding ways to reduce it. They pulled wool over the eyes of their future partners and now want their money. Only reason for Germany and France to help now will be that they were a party to the trick then being played and they are willing to risk the well being of their citizens to save face, sacrificing in the process a golden opportunity to establish a solid foundation for Euro.
More on Greek debt crisis
It is not surprising that the workers are complaining about the austerity being imposed on them by leaders who will suffer relatively little in comparison. There is no doubt that the current crisis is due to the excesses of the past and the situation has to be rectified. Unfortunately, the time for gradual adjustment is past and the changes have to be drastic but they should be presented in a palatable form. Perhaps the workers would have been more amenable to cuts in their wages if they saw the prosperous group in the society subjected to a more than cosmetic tax increase and severe penalties for past and present tax avoidance. I had hoped that the governments had learnt from Bolshevik revolution – you can not expect the poorest to shoulder the biggest burden of the restructuring of the society just because they appear to be the weakest without risking major upheaval.
EU lawmakers and oil sands
While it would be churlish to deny the environmental damage caused by oil sand development and production, it is equally incomprehensible to see producer country and companies being blamed rather than the consumers who demand it. If lawmakers want oil sand production to be curtailed, all they have to do is promote vigorously an alternative, if there is one, and oil price will drop to the level where production from oil sands is uneconomic.
Stiffer penalties for illegal tobacco:
With due respects to the doctors, the problem is with enforcement, not
with penalties. If you do not find the culprits what good will the stiffer penalty do? And if you found the smugglers and prosecuted them regularly, existing penalties will put them out of business. To solve this problem we need to look into why our policing agencies fail to apprehend smugglers and why, when caught, the smugglers are let off cheaply by the justice system.
Surge in populism:
The growing classes of haves and have nots do indeed inflame populism as Prof. Buruma says. However, these classes have always been there. The difference now is that have nots are becoming have nothings while consumerism is rampant among the haves. This is particularly alarming in developing countries and if the trend does not reverse, the violent protests of Thailand are only setting a stage for what is to come in more populous Asian countries.
Victims 'ashamed', 'violated' or just cheated:
Although the victims claim they feel ‘violated,’ perhaps cheated would be more accurate. As Bernard Shaw told the irate lady when he offered her a pound after she had agreed she would go to bed for a million pounds, “Madam, we have established your profession, it is the rate we are discussing.” If the ladies asked for payment in advance, as most sex workers do, they would not have been cheated at worst and would not have felt ‘violated’ at best.
On household debt:
Canadian’s household debt is of two very different kinds. One is the mortgage debt taken on to profit from increasing value of the homes. The other is taken by young persons to keep up with their peers and is largely high interest credit card debt. While both are worrisome, it is the later that is more dangerous because it assumes continued employment. Rising interest rates will cause higher unemployment via reduced consumer spending by mortgage holders. This will squeeze new unemployed while most mortgage holders will get by. Therefore, it is the credit card companies who should be taking urgent precautionary actions. However, judging from the ‘preapproved’ application forms arriving in the mail every day for my teenagers, I suspect that another bank crisis is on the horizon.
Century of Africa:
It is strange to lump a vast continent like Africa and proclaim that this will be their century. Africa, in spite of the dark skin of its people, has different cultures, tribal conflicts and most important different economic systems, strengths and weaknesses and different regions will perform differently as they did in Asia. Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia took lead since the fifties while China and India lagged. Now these two countries are catching up. Will it be their century? Only if they solve immense social problems they face and that is not a given. If they do not succeed in distributing the wealth better than they have done recently, their success will be a flicker rather than permanent light. Similarly, if we emphasize commerce and aid without helping them solve their social conflicts, the prosperity will remain a dream in the eyes of Western optimists.
Quebec and Greece
It may be all Greek to Quebec but it should not be all Greek to the rest of Canadians. $8.6 billion a year is a bribe to Quebec so they stay in the Federation just as the loan to Greece is a bribe for Greece to stay in Euroland. Without the loans Greece will have to drop Euro as its currency and may even leave the common market. If this happens some or all of the countries like Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy may be forced to follow suit. Germany and France do not want the disintegration of their markets, hence the bribe. It has nothing to do with the pensions and retirement age, every thing to do with Greeks and other southern Europeans buying their products and services. (Calgary Herald, May 10, 2010)
BP and the oil leak:
It is only right that BP, or their insurance company, should pay for the cost of containing the oil spill. But how does one calculate the costs of damage to the birds and fish? All industrial activity, even though it is most obvious in extraction of resources, has the costs which we disregard. If these costs, pollution and depletion of the air and water, long term costs of deforestation and damage to non-human life forms in air and water and on land were included the balance of prices of different items will change and the consumption patterns will more truly represent what we take from the nature. This may transform our society, although there is no guarantee, into one which is more in harmony with our environment.
Greece crisis, banks and shortselling:
There can be no doubt that the banks led by Goldman Sachs played a crucial role in exacerbating the crisis through short selling of Greek bonds. Short selling amounts to selling what the seller doesn’t own. If I borrowed an asset from a friend and sold it I would most likely go to jail even if I provide a replacement. Therefore, in my forty years of investing I have never seen the morality of short selling. Moreover, when the bank lends the stock from my account for some one to sell, I should be informed and I should have some claim on the profits. If the regulators really want to minimize volatility in trading and eliminate phony crises, tightening shorting rules would be the first step.
Oil price and Alberta’s budget deficit:
Alberta's budget deficit goes up and down like a yo-yo because it is based on oil and gas prices, which also go up and down. Huge deficits and huge surpluses are expected in a commodity-based economy. The swings could be reduced if the province based its spending on the long-term average price of commodities and set aside surpluses in good years to make up for shortfalls in bad. This will stabilize provincial spending and allow municipalities to plan with confidence. (Edmonton Journal May 16, 2010)
Atheists and Pope:
The crude attempts to humiliate the Pope (Hitchens, Dawkins attempt Pope's arrest on U.K. visit, April 12) are disgraceful. Atheists must have tolerance for other belief systems and must respect individuals who command the following of millions of people to deserve any tolerance and respect for their own beliefs. Such behaviour causes much shame and grief to atheists like me who believe that every one is entitled to the belief system they can live with in peace.
Spill and Oil Sands:
What will you have, major disasters like this or continuous pollution by extraction from oil sands? At least the later is predictable and in the long term manageable. In any event nothing beats doing without what will consume you sooner or later.
Lap dancing teachers:
What surprises me in this furor is that no one asked how good or bad were the teachers in the class. For all we know they were exceptionally good teachers. Even if they were merely satisfactory as teachers it seems a little shortsighted to end the promising careers of two trained young professionals when a warning or a suspension would have been a sufficient penalty. In all probability, Winnipeg has lost two teachers because the media and some parents made more fuss than their thoughtless action required.
Greek debt crisis:
What surprises me the most is that the Euro partners of Greece can even
contemplate helping them out in view of their shenanigans before admittance to the ECM. This Greek tragedy has its origin in then Greek
government sweeping the debt under the carpet rather than facing up to it and finding ways to reduce it. They pulled wool over the eyes of their future partners and now want their money. Only reason for Germany and France to help now will be that they were a party to the trick then being played and they are willing to risk the well being of their citizens to save face, sacrificing in the process a golden opportunity to establish a solid foundation for Euro.
More on Greek debt crisis
It is not surprising that the workers are complaining about the austerity being imposed on them by leaders who will suffer relatively little in comparison. There is no doubt that the current crisis is due to the excesses of the past and the situation has to be rectified. Unfortunately, the time for gradual adjustment is past and the changes have to be drastic but they should be presented in a palatable form. Perhaps the workers would have been more amenable to cuts in their wages if they saw the prosperous group in the society subjected to a more than cosmetic tax increase and severe penalties for past and present tax avoidance. I had hoped that the governments had learnt from Bolshevik revolution – you can not expect the poorest to shoulder the biggest burden of the restructuring of the society just because they appear to be the weakest without risking major upheaval.
EU lawmakers and oil sands
While it would be churlish to deny the environmental damage caused by oil sand development and production, it is equally incomprehensible to see producer country and companies being blamed rather than the consumers who demand it. If lawmakers want oil sand production to be curtailed, all they have to do is promote vigorously an alternative, if there is one, and oil price will drop to the level where production from oil sands is uneconomic.
Stiffer penalties for illegal tobacco:
With due respects to the doctors, the problem is with enforcement, not
with penalties. If you do not find the culprits what good will the stiffer penalty do? And if you found the smugglers and prosecuted them regularly, existing penalties will put them out of business. To solve this problem we need to look into why our policing agencies fail to apprehend smugglers and why, when caught, the smugglers are let off cheaply by the justice system.
Surge in populism:
The growing classes of haves and have nots do indeed inflame populism as Prof. Buruma says. However, these classes have always been there. The difference now is that have nots are becoming have nothings while consumerism is rampant among the haves. This is particularly alarming in developing countries and if the trend does not reverse, the violent protests of Thailand are only setting a stage for what is to come in more populous Asian countries.
Victims 'ashamed', 'violated' or just cheated:
Although the victims claim they feel ‘violated,’ perhaps cheated would be more accurate. As Bernard Shaw told the irate lady when he offered her a pound after she had agreed she would go to bed for a million pounds, “Madam, we have established your profession, it is the rate we are discussing.” If the ladies asked for payment in advance, as most sex workers do, they would not have been cheated at worst and would not have felt ‘violated’ at best.
On household debt:
Canadian’s household debt is of two very different kinds. One is the mortgage debt taken on to profit from increasing value of the homes. The other is taken by young persons to keep up with their peers and is largely high interest credit card debt. While both are worrisome, it is the later that is more dangerous because it assumes continued employment. Rising interest rates will cause higher unemployment via reduced consumer spending by mortgage holders. This will squeeze new unemployed while most mortgage holders will get by. Therefore, it is the credit card companies who should be taking urgent precautionary actions. However, judging from the ‘preapproved’ application forms arriving in the mail every day for my teenagers, I suspect that another bank crisis is on the horizon.
Century of Africa:
It is strange to lump a vast continent like Africa and proclaim that this will be their century. Africa, in spite of the dark skin of its people, has different cultures, tribal conflicts and most important different economic systems, strengths and weaknesses and different regions will perform differently as they did in Asia. Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia took lead since the fifties while China and India lagged. Now these two countries are catching up. Will it be their century? Only if they solve immense social problems they face and that is not a given. If they do not succeed in distributing the wealth better than they have done recently, their success will be a flicker rather than permanent light. Similarly, if we emphasize commerce and aid without helping them solve their social conflicts, the prosperity will remain a dream in the eyes of Western optimists.
Quebec and Greece
It may be all Greek to Quebec but it should not be all Greek to the rest of Canadians. $8.6 billion a year is a bribe to Quebec so they stay in the Federation just as the loan to Greece is a bribe for Greece to stay in Euroland. Without the loans Greece will have to drop Euro as its currency and may even leave the common market. If this happens some or all of the countries like Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy may be forced to follow suit. Germany and France do not want the disintegration of their markets, hence the bribe. It has nothing to do with the pensions and retirement age, every thing to do with Greeks and other southern Europeans buying their products and services. (Calgary Herald, May 10, 2010)
BP and the oil leak:
It is only right that BP, or their insurance company, should pay for the cost of containing the oil spill. But how does one calculate the costs of damage to the birds and fish? All industrial activity, even though it is most obvious in extraction of resources, has the costs which we disregard. If these costs, pollution and depletion of the air and water, long term costs of deforestation and damage to non-human life forms in air and water and on land were included the balance of prices of different items will change and the consumption patterns will more truly represent what we take from the nature. This may transform our society, although there is no guarantee, into one which is more in harmony with our environment.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Environment: What are we prepared to give up to save it?
For last few weeks the planet has been coping with two major environmental disasters, an unpronounceable volcano in Iceland and the oil well accident in the Gulf of Mexico; the volcano belching smoke and ashes into the atmosphere and the well leaking thousands of barrels of oil a day into the ocean which is destroying all living organisms as it spreads along the surface of the sea. Bad as these events may be, they are nothing in terms of the cumulative impact of what we humans do every day in the normal course of our lives. The environmental crisis in the form of Global Warming was grave before these disasters and is only marginally worse because of them.
How worried is the general population by pollution in the biosphere and the environmental calamities predicted by climatologists? My sample is perhaps too small to reach a general conclusion. However, the worried acquaintances tend to be relatively affluent. Average Canadians are occupied with other issues in their lives and have no time for alarming predictions of the academics. Our elected leaders know this and therefore they do nothing more than pay lip service to the reduction of harmful emissions. I have harped for decades on the evils of consumer society, increasing consumption in total and per capita terms, growing population which is already much greater than the planet can sustain. Now I ask myself, “Okay, it is critical to counter Global Warming and reduce pollution for the sake of my grandchildren. It is too late for band aid of recycling. We have to get down to the serious business of actually reducing the consumption levels. So what am I prepared to give up to achieve this?”
Inevitably, the answer must involve the spouse: one can’t give up what is dear to the partner without hurting the relationship. For example, selling the home now that the next generation has flown the coop, and moving to a smaller one near the most frequented facilities may cause a serious disagreement. Giving up the second car and using the public transit is not practical in most Canadian cities. In any event, to help the environment, people have to travel less often so there are fewer gas guzzling and pollutant emitting cars and buses on the road. The reduction in consumption will reduce economic activity; there will be fewer jobs to go round. Higher unemployment and reduced standard of living are unacceptable in a society where citizens want to ‘earn a good living’ by contributing to the general good through their productive labour rather than depend on handouts for a living and measure their success by how many of the latest gadgets they can buy.
So what do we do? Science and Engineering are helping us in this direction. New cars, planes, appliances and general machinery are more energy efficient; more environmentally sensitive products for daily use are coming on the market. Many people are working from their homes. Internet is reducing the need – if not the urge – to travel. Genetic crops are producing more food on less land though with more chemicals. On the other hand, science is also devising new gadgets and promoting the population growth by enabling the people and their pets, to live longer and reproduce at an inappropriate age. When it comes to scientific developments, starting from the day a human learnt to control the fire to the great inventions of today, every step forward has also been a step back.
While the engineers continue to improve the efficiency of tools, we need to set a limit to how much of the planet’s non-renewable resources we use, sort of quota if you wish. If our leaders hesitate to lead in this direction we should do it individually on our own. This will reduce employment and hit poor people hard. We can alleviate this by acquiring the items we need from local craftsmen even if they cost more, repair broken down equipment whenever possible and do whatever else we can do to provide employment locally. The process involves the restructuring of not just the economy buy the society as well. It involves the deconstruction of society created by industrialization and its replacement, not by feudal society of yore, but by an egalitarian society which values all life forms equally, human and animal, of today and of the future.
Will it ever happen? I am afraid not. Nature will intervene, in its own cruel way, to save the planet from the rapacious humans. Or, there will be a major war that will set the humans back to sustainable levels, both in numbers and in the stage of ‘development’.
For last few weeks the planet has been coping with two major environmental disasters, an unpronounceable volcano in Iceland and the oil well accident in the Gulf of Mexico; the volcano belching smoke and ashes into the atmosphere and the well leaking thousands of barrels of oil a day into the ocean which is destroying all living organisms as it spreads along the surface of the sea. Bad as these events may be, they are nothing in terms of the cumulative impact of what we humans do every day in the normal course of our lives. The environmental crisis in the form of Global Warming was grave before these disasters and is only marginally worse because of them.
How worried is the general population by pollution in the biosphere and the environmental calamities predicted by climatologists? My sample is perhaps too small to reach a general conclusion. However, the worried acquaintances tend to be relatively affluent. Average Canadians are occupied with other issues in their lives and have no time for alarming predictions of the academics. Our elected leaders know this and therefore they do nothing more than pay lip service to the reduction of harmful emissions. I have harped for decades on the evils of consumer society, increasing consumption in total and per capita terms, growing population which is already much greater than the planet can sustain. Now I ask myself, “Okay, it is critical to counter Global Warming and reduce pollution for the sake of my grandchildren. It is too late for band aid of recycling. We have to get down to the serious business of actually reducing the consumption levels. So what am I prepared to give up to achieve this?”
Inevitably, the answer must involve the spouse: one can’t give up what is dear to the partner without hurting the relationship. For example, selling the home now that the next generation has flown the coop, and moving to a smaller one near the most frequented facilities may cause a serious disagreement. Giving up the second car and using the public transit is not practical in most Canadian cities. In any event, to help the environment, people have to travel less often so there are fewer gas guzzling and pollutant emitting cars and buses on the road. The reduction in consumption will reduce economic activity; there will be fewer jobs to go round. Higher unemployment and reduced standard of living are unacceptable in a society where citizens want to ‘earn a good living’ by contributing to the general good through their productive labour rather than depend on handouts for a living and measure their success by how many of the latest gadgets they can buy.
So what do we do? Science and Engineering are helping us in this direction. New cars, planes, appliances and general machinery are more energy efficient; more environmentally sensitive products for daily use are coming on the market. Many people are working from their homes. Internet is reducing the need – if not the urge – to travel. Genetic crops are producing more food on less land though with more chemicals. On the other hand, science is also devising new gadgets and promoting the population growth by enabling the people and their pets, to live longer and reproduce at an inappropriate age. When it comes to scientific developments, starting from the day a human learnt to control the fire to the great inventions of today, every step forward has also been a step back.
While the engineers continue to improve the efficiency of tools, we need to set a limit to how much of the planet’s non-renewable resources we use, sort of quota if you wish. If our leaders hesitate to lead in this direction we should do it individually on our own. This will reduce employment and hit poor people hard. We can alleviate this by acquiring the items we need from local craftsmen even if they cost more, repair broken down equipment whenever possible and do whatever else we can do to provide employment locally. The process involves the restructuring of not just the economy buy the society as well. It involves the deconstruction of society created by industrialization and its replacement, not by feudal society of yore, but by an egalitarian society which values all life forms equally, human and animal, of today and of the future.
Will it ever happen? I am afraid not. Nature will intervene, in its own cruel way, to save the planet from the rapacious humans. Or, there will be a major war that will set the humans back to sustainable levels, both in numbers and in the stage of ‘development’.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Art Gallery of Alberta
Founded in 1924, Art Gallery of Alberta reopened its door in the new building on January 30, 2010. I spent a few pleasant hours there on a Sunday morning during my weekend visit to Edmonton in April. It is a beautiful modern building designed by Los Angeles architect Randall Stout with broad spiral staircase leading to spacious lobbies of two higher floors with large exhibition halls. As far as the art galleries go, it is small. Of the total area of about 85,000 square feet about half is the exhibition space. The building also has a theatre and three studios in the basement. The gallery is perhaps unique for not having some of its permanent collection of over 6,000 artifacts on display. The main floor has an elegant restaurant on the ground floor which served a set brunch this Sunday. There is a coffee counter on the third floor which sells a small selection of sandwiches obtained from a supplier and some simple snacks with coffee from flasks. There is a good gift shop with an interesting selection of merchandise on the ground floor. Unusual for a gallery, there was no restriction on bags and coat racks were unattended.
The gallery opened with five exhibits which are on for another few weeks. The curators are to be complimented for their broad range. I took a 45 minute guided tour and also went around the exhibits by myself. First exhibit most visitors will see is titled Francisco Goya: The Disasters of War and Los Caprichos. It is a set of copper plate prints inspired by Spanish resistance to France and the civil war that followed during first twenty years of the nineteenth century. Goya focused on the miseries due to the war rather than the justification or the condemnation of the warring parties. Caprichos is a bound book of prints which satirizes all levels of the society. It was severely criticized when published in 1799 and was promptly withdrawn. The book is displayed in a glass case open on the most famous plate: Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. There is a computer version of the book where a visitor can flip through the pages. Unfortunately, the screen was not responsive to my fingers and I gave up after several attempts.
Other exhibit on the ground floor displays 40 bronze sculptures by the nineteenth century French artist Edgar Degas. Although Degas exhibited only one bronze sculpture in his life time, more than a hundred wax models were found in his studio after his death. Only the models in good condition were cast and these are on display here along with the one he exhibited. Some sketches and paintings supplement the sculptures. Degas is credited with introducing motion in art and the sculptures are the studies of dancers, bathers and horses in various stages of motion. AGA deserves kudos for bringing these sculptures to Alberta.
First floor had two exhibits. A small room displayed a half built cabin with some scattered tools on the floor. This is one of the two exhibits by two artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller who trained in Edmonton. I needed more explanation to appreciate it than was provided. Most of the floor is taken by the display of portraits of celebrities by Armenian Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh. One large room has the portraits of the major personalities of the twentieth century – Mandela, Churchill, Martin Luther King, Nehru, Einstein, actress Anita Ekberg and almost every body who was anybody. Portraits succeed in bringing out the character of the personalities, e.g. single-minded determination of Churchill, honesty of Mandela, fighting spirit of King, sexuality of Ekberg. Some artifacts from Karsh studio are also on display. Another display throws light on the developing techniques used by the artist.
Entire top floor is taken by a large sound exhibit The Murder of Crows by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. The work was inspired by Goya’s Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. 98 amplifiers are placed at various elevations in a large hall surrounding carefully placed wooden chairs. A thirty minute collage of music, sounds of birds including crows and monologues in male and female voices is fed into specific amplifiers. In absence of some explanation, the sounds were meaningless noise to me and perhaps to most visitors.
I enjoyed the visit to the gallery and would heartily recommend it. However, I expected Art Gallery of Alberta to be much more than it turned out to be. I was hoping to see a permanent collection of Alberta art and craft and a selection of critical works from the past. I found the exhibits interesting but not outstanding. I suppose my disappointment originates from the name. If I were visiting City Art Gallery the exhibits and the gallery may have exceeded my expectations.
The gallery has an excellent website which describes current and future exhibits. A visit to the website before the gallery is strongly recommended.
Founded in 1924, Art Gallery of Alberta reopened its door in the new building on January 30, 2010. I spent a few pleasant hours there on a Sunday morning during my weekend visit to Edmonton in April. It is a beautiful modern building designed by Los Angeles architect Randall Stout with broad spiral staircase leading to spacious lobbies of two higher floors with large exhibition halls. As far as the art galleries go, it is small. Of the total area of about 85,000 square feet about half is the exhibition space. The building also has a theatre and three studios in the basement. The gallery is perhaps unique for not having some of its permanent collection of over 6,000 artifacts on display. The main floor has an elegant restaurant on the ground floor which served a set brunch this Sunday. There is a coffee counter on the third floor which sells a small selection of sandwiches obtained from a supplier and some simple snacks with coffee from flasks. There is a good gift shop with an interesting selection of merchandise on the ground floor. Unusual for a gallery, there was no restriction on bags and coat racks were unattended.
The gallery opened with five exhibits which are on for another few weeks. The curators are to be complimented for their broad range. I took a 45 minute guided tour and also went around the exhibits by myself. First exhibit most visitors will see is titled Francisco Goya: The Disasters of War and Los Caprichos. It is a set of copper plate prints inspired by Spanish resistance to France and the civil war that followed during first twenty years of the nineteenth century. Goya focused on the miseries due to the war rather than the justification or the condemnation of the warring parties. Caprichos is a bound book of prints which satirizes all levels of the society. It was severely criticized when published in 1799 and was promptly withdrawn. The book is displayed in a glass case open on the most famous plate: Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. There is a computer version of the book where a visitor can flip through the pages. Unfortunately, the screen was not responsive to my fingers and I gave up after several attempts.
Other exhibit on the ground floor displays 40 bronze sculptures by the nineteenth century French artist Edgar Degas. Although Degas exhibited only one bronze sculpture in his life time, more than a hundred wax models were found in his studio after his death. Only the models in good condition were cast and these are on display here along with the one he exhibited. Some sketches and paintings supplement the sculptures. Degas is credited with introducing motion in art and the sculptures are the studies of dancers, bathers and horses in various stages of motion. AGA deserves kudos for bringing these sculptures to Alberta.
First floor had two exhibits. A small room displayed a half built cabin with some scattered tools on the floor. This is one of the two exhibits by two artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller who trained in Edmonton. I needed more explanation to appreciate it than was provided. Most of the floor is taken by the display of portraits of celebrities by Armenian Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh. One large room has the portraits of the major personalities of the twentieth century – Mandela, Churchill, Martin Luther King, Nehru, Einstein, actress Anita Ekberg and almost every body who was anybody. Portraits succeed in bringing out the character of the personalities, e.g. single-minded determination of Churchill, honesty of Mandela, fighting spirit of King, sexuality of Ekberg. Some artifacts from Karsh studio are also on display. Another display throws light on the developing techniques used by the artist.
Entire top floor is taken by a large sound exhibit The Murder of Crows by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. The work was inspired by Goya’s Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. 98 amplifiers are placed at various elevations in a large hall surrounding carefully placed wooden chairs. A thirty minute collage of music, sounds of birds including crows and monologues in male and female voices is fed into specific amplifiers. In absence of some explanation, the sounds were meaningless noise to me and perhaps to most visitors.
I enjoyed the visit to the gallery and would heartily recommend it. However, I expected Art Gallery of Alberta to be much more than it turned out to be. I was hoping to see a permanent collection of Alberta art and craft and a selection of critical works from the past. I found the exhibits interesting but not outstanding. I suppose my disappointment originates from the name. If I were visiting City Art Gallery the exhibits and the gallery may have exceeded my expectations.
The gallery has an excellent website which describes current and future exhibits. A visit to the website before the gallery is strongly recommended.
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