OBAMA EARNS HIS NOBEL PRIZE

When Barrack Obama received the Nobel Prize for peace immediately after he was elected the Prsident , I was not much impressed. I thought it was a bit premature to have honoured him when he did not actually deserve it. Of course , the person is amiable . His manners are graceful. But that is not the only criterion for honoring him. Later events show that Obama has been slowly and surely effecting  a paradigmatic change in the attitude of his country towards the other countries of the world. What provoked me to pen these lines is the opening of  USA to CUBA after such long years of suspicion and mistrust . A sea-change indeed !  Iran is no longer a pariah . USA is very careful  now and  very hesitant to interfere with the affairs of other countries ! Fools rush in where angels fear to tread !A good sign ! Mature politics ! A president who wants peace , some one different from those belligerent men who occupied the exalted position earlier .

And now he deserves his Nobel Price for peace.

Hats off to him.
T?K. Jayaraman
21/07/2015
Bangalore 

LIKE FENCE GRAZING THE CROPS

Fence grazing the crops

I am fond of proverbs of every country and every language . They are verily the distilled wisdom of a culture. Today I am reminded of a Tamil proverb . It reads as follows.
"வேலியே பயிரை மேய்வது போல "
The proverb means , " Like the fence grazing the crops "
What is happening in India is illustrated by this Tamil phrase. A party came to power with thumping majority on the promise that they would root out corruption completely. Today we find that the Foreign Minister of the country facilitated the travel of a fugitive from India to Spain . According to her, what was done was purely on humanitarian grounds. It is seen that her husband was closely associated with the fugitive and her daughter was working with a lawyer who represented the fugitive. A chief minister of another state belonging to the same political party , even had closer business ties with the same fugitive according to latest press reports. A government professing to root out corruption helping a fugitive who flees from the country !
The state where I live Karnataka has an institution called LOKAYUKTA , a sort of ombudsman to deal with the corruption among government servants. This institution is headed by a judge. Newspaper reports indicate that the son of this judge was running an extortion racket by threatening government officers with impending raid by the institution of which his father is the head unless they pay huge amounts to him.
I am reminded of the Tamil saying.
A fence is a protection to crops. It is put up so that stray cattle do not eat all the crops. But if the fence starts eating the crops, how can the crops be protected ?
A trend .... ... Here.
An institution created for some purpose acts contrary to that purpose.
Like police indulging in criminal activities .
I am reminded of the biblical saying ,
"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men."
T K Jayaraman
3/7/2015
Bangalore