Shatru Hanta Yoga

Kawcaw

Shatru Hanta Yoga:

Good news for fledgling bureaucrats

It is only recently that I heard of Shatru Hanta Yoga. K.N.Rao, the noted astrologer, did not refer to it when I did the Jyotish Acharya Course from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

In brief, what I have now learnt is that the enemies of people having this yoga in their horoscope do not prosper or last long. In fact, they “die”, which need not mean a physical death. It might just mean the end of wealth, power or other emblems of prosperity.

Having drawn a blank at the internet, I consulted my cousin Rup Krishen Baqaya, who is an eminent astrologer. He told me that not having heard of this Yoga he consulted the book on yogas by B.V.Raman, the doyen of Indian astrology. Even he does not mention this yoga.

Baqaya’s surmise is that if such a yoga is to be postulated, it should posit a malefic like Mangal, Rahu or Shani or even Surya in the sixth or eighth house.

When I analyse my own life in retrospect, I surmise that I must have had some kind of shatru hanta yoga in my horoscope. Or else, how do you explain the following events?

When I was just 4 years old in the Service, I was involved in the Indraprastha episode where the police entered the CPWD office in Delhi and beat up the staff inside. B.N.Tandon was the Deputy Commissioner of Delhi and I was his ADM. Tandon conducted a preliminary inquiry into the incident and made a totally gratuitous adverse remark about me. I had to face a departmental inquiry, with all the consequent mental strain. As expected, I came out unscathed from the inquiry.

However, Tandon who was going strong in the Prime Minister’s Office had an ignominious end when Indira Gandhi reverted him back to U.P. where he retired from an inconsequential post.

In Himachal Pradesh, when I was Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, the political rivals of Dr. Y.S.Parmar ganged up and persuaded Ramesh Chand Verma, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee to frame a report against me which led to a privilege motion. Later, when the situation changed, Verma came to my house and apologised for what he had done at the instance of some friends. Unfortunately, a few months later, his jeep jumped into a ravine and he died a premature death.

When I was Secretary, Civil Aviation in the Central Govt. the Jet Airways wanted me out as I was supporting the Tatas in their proposal to float an airline in collaboration with Singapore Airlines. Pramod Mahajan was tasked by them to persuade Vajpayee to post me out. He succeeded, but very soon thereafter Pramod was shot dead by his own brother. A grisly Shatru Hanta Yoga, indeed!

Please do not get me wrong. It is not only the undeserved harm they did to me that boomeranged on them. I am sure such people keep on accumulating negative karma as they move forward in life. One day, the pot gets full and bursts.

Therefore, I tell my fellow bureaucrats, do not despair due to any damage done to you by your seniors or by politicians. The divine mill grinds slowly but surely. Their own karma catches up with them at the end, even if you do nothing to retaliate.

Just wait and watch! Whatever be the position of planets in their horoscopes, all noble souls have an inbuilt shatru hanta yoga, which is their protective angel.

                                         *********************

         Silly Point

                                       All for a samosa!

M.K.Kaw

                    The Initiatives for Change is the modern name for the erstwhile MRA and the Centre for Governance is its child. On 13^th December, 2013 this child celebrates its tenth birthday. The full name of this prodigy is Initiatives for Change Centre for Governance. Its pet name is ICCfG.

                    The Centre was created in December 2003 due to the realisation that governance or the lack of it was at the heart of the malady which afflicted the country. The Centre has started a Journal, launched a website, held lectures and panel discussions and launched training programmes.

                    The Initiatives for Change is based on the premise that we have to be the change that we wish to bring about in the world. Obviously, the Centre for Governance also sends out the message that if we want to have a regime of ethical governance in this country, we have to be ethical in our thinking and behaviour. It is not surprising that its flagship programme is training in ethical governance.

                    The unique selling point of the ICCfG is the training infrastructure created by the IoC at Panchgani, Maharashtra. Trainees speak of the unique ambience of the table-land with its lush greenery, fresh clean air and ashram-like atmosphere. When I visited Asia Plateau for the first time, I was moved to pen the following tribute to Panchgani:

                              Is Panchgani a plateau in outer space

Where the sun paints everything gold

                    And the moon silver

                              And the stars hang like improbable oversized props

                              Arranged by an amateur event management group?

                              Or is Panchgani a poetic fancy

                              Where you let your hair down

                              Take off the clothes of false ego and hypocrisy

                              And emerge in your nude primordial selves?

                              Or is Panchgani a thoughtless state

                              Where mind ceases to function

                              Where you do all that you wanted to do but dared not

                              For fear that others might laugh,

                              Like admit that negative feelings were masks

                              Put on so no one could place you

                              In this arena of hate?

                              Or is Panchgani an utter silence and aloneness

                              Where you are forced to confront yourself

                              The hidden self you have tried to flee from all these years

                              And admit in the innermost depths of your soul

                              That compassion is not weakness

                              Ideals not an idle chatter

                              And goodness not a hackneyed religious phrase

                              Meaningless in everyday life?

                              Where tears are permissible

                              Where you can hold your enemy in tight embrace

                              And weep together.

                                             (Published in The Journal of Governance, July 2012)

The history of IoC is full of moving episodes of reconciliation between erstwhile enemies. During the Dialogue on Democracy held in January 2012, I was witness to a drama in real life. We had a black youth from South Africa and a white middle aged lady from the same country. During their interaction in the plenary session held in the stately auditorium, they revealed a harrowing tale of violence.

The youth confessed to having murdered the lady’s young daughter during the riots. The lady absorbed the shock of this revelation and gracefully forgave the black assassin. They embraced each other and wept together.

         There were tears in every eye when the drama unfolded on the stage and we all felt a catharsis that washed away many layers of negativity from our hearts.

         The IoC faculty is an inspiring lot. The resident Trustee who is the director of the complex   is Dr. Ravindra Rao, who gave up a roaring practice as a dentist in Bengaluru when the call came. Each member of the faculty has a story to tell, of how he or she changed from within and decided to turn a new leaf in their life, confessed to their sins and peccadillos and thus were cleansed of their hidden feelings of guilt and shame. This enabled them to transcend their petty egos and selfishnesses and devote their life to service of the country.

                          Today, training appears to be the most potent contribution that the Centre for Governance is making in the building of this nation. The crown jewel of all its programmes is the one designed for serving IAS officers deputed officially by the Department of Personnel, Government of India.

                 It is called the programme on “Ethics in Public Governance”. There are two or three such programmes every year, each catering to 25 to 35 IAS officers. The programme lasts for five days, Monday to Friday. The basic idea is to provide a unique opportunity to the officers and their spouses to spend a few days of reflection and dialogue in the serene and beautiful ambience of Asia Plateau. It is an occasion to reflect on the current state of the nation, to understand the root causes, listen to inner guidance and get inspired by the examples of other officers. Participants are expected to go back from the programme with a renewed sense of peace, power and possibility and devise practical ways to deploy these in the service of India and its people.

                 Arun Wakhlu of Pragati Leadership Institute, Pune who devised the programme initially had novel ways of conveying the message. I had the good fortune of taking part in a morning walk along with the participants. The instructions were to walk slowly and alone, savouring each element of nature, the cool breeze, the mild sunlight, the aroma of flowers, the sounds of birds. If we felt like it, we could stop by a tree and embrace it and close our eyes and speak soundlessly to it. Perfect silence was to be observed. We who tend to look at a morning walk as an unpleasant duty cast by a cardiologist and try to complete it as fast as possible with all our senses closed, found this slow measured sojourn with all senses agog to be an unforgettable experience.

                 The beauty of these programmes is that apart from the IOC faculty which concentrates on inner governance, there is strong support from the Delhi-based Centre for Governance. A typical programme would be flagged off by Shri Prabhat Kumar, former Cabinet Secretary and Governor who might speak on “IAS--- kal, aaj aur kal”. Selected members of the Core group might share their experiences, the ethical dilemmas they faced and how they resolved them, or dissect case studies of recent happenings in the country or speak of exciting experiments in governance being currently practised by their colleagues still in service. In each course, there are speakers from within the service who have faced similar problems and come up with innovative solutions within the same milieu as is being faced by the participants. Thus the Centre chips in with inputs regarding outer governance.

                 One unique feature of the programme is that participants are encouraged to do self- service at meal times and constitute themselves into teams charged with the responsibility of laying the tables and washing of used plates. This sort of work immediately creates an ashram-like atmosphere , which also engenders a service attitude .

                 Add to this two or three group songs every day conveying a moral message, sung by a group of young interns drawn from different countries, and you have the icing on the cake.

                 No wonder, the participants go home awakened and energetic, ready to chart out new directions for their official work, their interaction with the family and their relation to the inner self. And a majority of them feel that they have attended the most memorable training programme of their lives.

                 The interesting part is that some of them strongly feel that they should share their new found knowledge with others. So this programme has spawned so many other initiatives. An officer from Karnataka felt that all employees of the Karnataka Electricity Board should be exposed to a similar programme. Another got posted to the New Delhi Municipal Committee and he wanted all its employees to be trained in ethics. The news travelled to Mumbai and the Commissioner desired that all his officers be trained.

                 The ICCfG took on the onerous responsibility despite the fact that these involved the organisation of training programmes for thousands of officers and men, at all levels.

                 The Centre has organised similar programmes for the IPS,the IRTS and the IRPS.There is a demand from the IRS. And now the National Academy at Mussourie wants their probationers to be exposed to ethics right at the beginning of their careers.. The Department of Personnel desired that State Service officers should also get the message and therefore the State Institutes of Public Administration have been enabled to devised similar programmes.

                 The news has travelled to foreign countries and the Centre has demands from African countries.  A team of four members of the core group was ready to leave for South Sudan to advise them on good governance, but had to cancel the visit at the last minute due to certain developments in that country.

                 The circle of ethics in governance is widening, both in India and abroad. Members of the Core group of the ICCfG are in demand as speakers, coordinators, facilitators and observers. They are all retired senior officers from the Govt. and the public sector undertakings who are trying to share their insights and experiences with whatever energy is left to them, in the evening of their lives. They meet at least once every week, mostly on Thursdays.

                 What do they get in return? As Mukund Kaushal, IPS, retired Special Secretary (Security) puts it wittily, “We work for a samosa that is served in the Thursday meetings.” And a huge amount of joy in doing something useful and worthwhile Instead of just playing golf and watching the TV.

                                  ********************

                 

          Silly Point

                                       The Burking of Indian Police

          Recently the Supreme Court came down heavily on the Indian police for its deliberate failure to register First Information Reports in respect of crimes reported to them by the citizenry. It pointedly referred to the widespread practice of “burking”, a colloquial expression used in police circles for this popular method of fudging the crime statistics.

          I had never heard this word being used in civilized discourse and was surprised to see the highest court of the land giving it some kind of legitimacy. Having always been curious about language, I was nudged into action. I consulted the Concise Oxford Dictionary, the holy mecca for all those interested in the nuances of the English language.

                    I did not expect “burk” to be in the COD. But lo and behold, there it was, although it did not explain what it meant. It merely stated that it was a “variant of berk”. When I looked up “berk”, the dictionary stated that it is British slang, which means “a fool, a stupid person”. It is a noun, not a verb. It is usually not considered offensive despite the etymology .It is an abbreviation of Berkley or Berkshire Hunt rhyming slang for cunt. “Cunt” itself is a “coarse slang for the female genitals”. Its offensive meaning is “an unpleasant or stupid person; a highly taboo word.”

                    It just shows how wrong we can be. Having heard this word current in Delhi police circles, I always thought it to be Haryanvi slang for “working”. When you received a complaint and registered an FIR, it was “working”. When you did not, it was “burking”. Now the situation is clear. It is obviously a word coined by our erstwhile British masters in the Indian Police. When you “burked”, you considered the complainant to be a stupid or foolish person, who had the gumption to come to a representative of the mighty British Raj with a complaint.

                    I have personal experience of this phenomenon. When I worked in the Institute of Applied Manpower Research, I used to go to my office on a bicycle. There was no authorised cycle stand in the building. We just parked our bicycles at a particular place at our own risk and hoped for the best.

                    One day, I found my bike missing. At that stage of my career it was a major blow. After searching for it high and low, I came to the conclusion that it had been stolen. So I went to the Police Station and registered an FIR. There was no “burking”. But nothing happened. My bike was never found.

                    A few years later, after I had joined the IAS, I was posted as Sub Divisional Magistrate, Sadar Bazar in Delhi. Three Station House Officers reported to me. I thought it was the ideal opportunity of getting my bike back. When I spoke to the concerned SHO in Daryaganj, he was all sympathy. He told me that bicycles were always found.

                    “How?” I bleated.

                    “Simple,” he explained glibly, “Once in a while, we catch a gang of bicycle thieves. We recover many bicycles, but these are cycle parts. We call the complainants to identify their bicycles. As there are no complete bicycles, they are unable to identify their bikes. Thus we are able to solve hundreds of cases. We give a handle to one complainant, a rim to another and a carrier to a third. No thieves are arrested. So everyone is happy.” He beamed at me.

                    “So, what about my bike?” I meekly enquired.

                    “No problem, Sir. We shall try to recover as many parts of your make as we can. Maybe we will set up a complete bicycle for you.”

                    I thought it was an excellent idea. I unearthed a copy of the FIR which I had carefully preserved all these years. He looked at the printed form on which there were illegible scrawls in Urdu. Then he laughed.

                    “ I told you that there is no burking in respect of bicycle thefts.  I was wrong. Some of us are so taken up with burking, we indulge in it even where there is no advantage in it.You see, this paper does not amount to an FIR.”

                    “What is this paper then? I do not know any Urdu.” I explained, with a sinking heart.

                    “Oh! it is a classic case of burking. What the Head Constable-Moharrir has given you is a copy of the report recorded in the Daily Diary. This has no legal sanctity”, he explained patiently as to an imbecile.

                    Cut across to the year 2010. Ramdev had come to Delhi. He held a huge yoga camp in an open ground. When it concluded, my wife and I also came out along with the surging crowd. In the melee I lost my purse. It was obvious that someone had picked my pocket. There was not much cash but I had lost all my cards—the credit card, the PAN Card, the driving licence, the IIC membership card and so on.

          I rushed to the Lodhi Colony police station and asked the Head Constable on duty to register a case of theft. The man looked quizzically at me, as if I had taken leave of my senses.

                    “Why do you wish to register an FIR? It will just inflate our statistics and you will not gain anything.”

                    “Would you not like to catch the pickpocket? “ I responded.

                    “ In my thirty years of service no one has ever caught a pickpocket. And how do you know that it was a pickpocket who committed the deed?” he asked reasonably. “Maybe, it just fell out of your pocket.”

I was scandalized. “Fell out of my pocket? How is that possible? It was a fat purse and it was in the right pocket of my kurta.”

We had a vigorous debate for half an hour, but the man would not relent. At last, he said with an air of finality, “Look, you have no proof that your pocket was picked. There is no witness to the crime. We can only say that your purse has been lost, not stolen. So I shall record an entry in the Zimni.”

“Zimni? What is that? ”I asked.

“It is the Daily Diary.” And suiting the action to the word, he wrote his piece in Hindi in a fat register that was lying open on his desk. After about half an hour, I was the proud possessor of a copy of the D.D. entry.

It is another matter that the pickpocket was more honest than the policeman. Next day, as I was driving to the office of the Motor Licensing officer to have a duplicate driving licence issued, my mobile rang.

It was my wife. “You don’t need to go to the Transport office. Just now, your driving licence along with the other cards arrived by post.”

The poor pickpocket had just kept the currency notes. He was not a “berker”, a stupid, foolish or unpleasant person. He was a highly ethical gentleman--- just in need of some cash!

                    **************************