The man I bow down to!

"I know the value of life, I lost my brother due to the lack of ambulance and timely action," said Manikandan.

My sister saw the video of him going about his business of saving lives in his small Ambulance. She and her husband decided to give some money to him for his selfless sacrifice. The man picked up the call, acknowledged their praise and refused money! REFUSED MONEY! "Sir, I am doing this for free; I'm fine and comfortable with what I do, thank you very much".

As my sister pinged me this story, I could visualise her in tears. Here is a man who is serving the society for free, and not taking any money for his service. No, he is not like my sister to be giving a part of her earnings to charity. Never is he the common man like me, to sit and talk away, the society's issues on Twitter and Facebook. This man is real. He genuinely goes out of the way to help. From whatever little he has, he gives; And he gives his all.

There are a few who start strong and wither away. Perhaps this man is like that. He would have started this sojourn during COVID times, I told myself; "I have done this for 49 months and have saved 650 lives. I have not gone home during corona times. I sleep in my ambulance and police provide me with food". Manikandan answers sceptics like me.

"Why do you do this when your life itself is in poverty," many people ask me says Manikandan. I want to do this for my brother. To the best of my ability. Till I can.

I bow down to that man, not because he refused the money, but because, for him, the cause is more important than the money.

Will I ever find that purpose in my life, for which I can give my life, without expecting anything in return?


For those who can understand my language - https://www.facebook.com/584025382087845/posts/831515464005501/

The woman who fought patriarchy and changed Indian health care forever!

"Sir, I want to start a medical school", said Ida. "Come again? You want to start what?" Colonel Bryson woke up from his slumber. "Medical school colonel"; "A medical school for women" replied Ida. Ha, you are joking, ain't you? the colonel just shrugged it off! Do you know what you are asking? Do you know the famous joke on the sheep brains, doctor? the colonel continued. There was this big feast where mutton was served. One guy went to the cook and asked him where are the brains, the sheep's brains. The cook nonchalantly replied, they were all female sheep. They never had any brains. You know this famous Indian joke, don't you doctor, the colonel continued. Women don't study in India doctor Ida. They just don't. Just leave this foolish idea of yours and get going. Colonel Bryson, the in-charge for medical schools in the then Madras Presidency during British India told Dr Ida Scudder, the women who founded the biggest and best medical college in India.

Dr.Ida was not quitting. Colonel, you know the needs of this country. So many women are dying for want of women doctors and please let me start one, cried and begged Ida. Do you at least have the money to start school? oh, the money will come, Ida just shrugged it off. But do you have at least the buildings? We will build them shortly, Ida was persistent. The man was getting irritated. Who will teach Dr.Ida, who will teach? Do you have the teachers? Bryson was angry by now; I can teach colonel, said Ida. Serenity personified!

The frustrated colonel let Ida have the final laugh. Okay, Dr.Ida, you win, I will let you start the medical school, provided you get 3 applicants. Three! I'm sure you won't even get one. But if you have three students, go ahead and start the first medical school in India for women.

Dr Ida Sophia Scudder got 64 applications then. She chose 18 women. The first 18 women medical doctors from India. When the first year of the Madras University exams concluded, the colonel met Dr.Ida again. Promise me you won't quit doctor if all your girls fail. Even the men have found it tough, many of your girls may fail, Bryson told Ida with the typical masculine arrogance. When the results came, only 50% of the men passed, while all of 18 Ida's students passed in first class.

Aunt Ida, for me, is the greatest human to have lived in this country, for she fought against all odds, and the biggest of them all, patriarchy, to give us all health care. What if Aunt Ida had quit against the might of human stupidity that day? I would not have been where I'm now, for my grandmother belonged to the second batch of her students after the medical school became a medical college in 1942. Today more than 50% of medical doctors coming out of India are women. Almost all of the gynaecologists of this country are women. For that day, one woman stood against every nonsense the world threw at her and won, and changed Indian health care forever.

Remembering her on the day 60 years after she died! But for Aunt Ida, we may have still kept our women in the kitchens of the world.

But for him, I would have lost hope a long time ago!

I did not have much ambition. Happy go lucky was I. Sport was all I wanted and all I did!  I was 17 and going nowhere. I had not prepared well for the most important class XII exams, and anyways I did not care much. It was the summer of 2003 when my uncle gave a cassette and asked me to listen to a man speak.

"Listen to a man speak?", I thought to myself. Just to please my uncle, and of course, to show off I listened to that man. I played the cassette once, twice and many times over. Every time I listened to him, it did something to me. My heart missed a beat. Every time!

Then, life happened. Failure in class XII meant I had to reconcile to the fact that I will never be the doctor which the world around me expected me to become. His words gave me my life's meanings. When the mighty and the glitzy world of IT did not give me satisfaction, I turned to him again. When the loneliness of the mission fields of Assam hit me, he was not far away, and when the pain of going through mommy's final moments bothered me, I did turn to him for solace.

For Ravi Zachariahs always spoke the right words. He wrote the perfect prose. He had the poise of the words and dexterity of language, that can attract anybody. But the flowery language was just the music, his life was the words that spoke. My travel music was his words. He was the jogging companion long before the modern-day podcasts got me hooked. When my faith was questioned, and when I question my faith myself, Ravi was the sole voice which had held me onto the belief in Christ. For sure, the voice was his, but maybe the words came from above; For I doubt humanity have answers to some of the questions he had answers for.

I write, delete, write again and delete again! My words cannot justify the life of the man, whose words made me the man I'm! RIP Ravi, for you made my life meaningful, by the power of your words. Perhaps the words were otherworldly! 

Corporates are bad! Government's are good!

" If you're not a socialist at the age of 20 you have no heart. If you're not a conservative at the age of 40, you have no head "

I read this and it made me think. When I was 20, I was a hardcore socialist. For those happy and ignorant, "socialism is the political and economic theory which advocates, means of production, distribution and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole".  We pool in all the economic resources and divide it equally. This division of resources will be regulated by the government. What a beautiful Idea, I thought. 

India grew up with socialist ideologies as well. The government will lead the manufacturing of all the goods. All services are provided by the government. They are all provided evenly. There is no divide between the rich and the poor. The British who were the sole reason for us being the poor country have gone. The good Indian government will take the resources from the rich and share it evenly with all the citizens of India. Redistribution is the word! We will all live happily ever after. After all, we have our own government and so we will soon be rich. 

Life though was not the same. After forty years of socialism, in spite of the good people in the government, there was something amiss. Ah, the government is filled with corrupt people. We change the government we will be fine said a few friends. I completely agreed. After all proper redistribution cannot be a bad idea, can it? Change the government, and bingo, we will be rich. For sure this time! 

Few people advocated private ownership of property. The evil and the wicked, I thought. How can anyone who has his intentions on making profit be of any good to the common public? The rich corporates, they are money suckers. They are not like the government, who intends good for the public. They are only after the money. They will do anything to get more and more money. They might even kill. Bloody corporates! I even refused to buy products from the corporate bigwigs. I would rather help the poor farmer, you see. The 20s and idealism go well together, I presume. 

But the ideal world of socialism with more and more government means of production did not seem to be working. In fact, the poor have remained poor forever. Where did it all go wrong? I kept asking myself! I started to read economics, and it dawned on me the folly of it all. 

Human beings are primarily selfish; they will look for their own good before thinking about anyone else. Of course, there are saints but they are the outliers, not the norm. Incentivize the human being, he will work. The first lesson of economics, got my brain rolling. 

The government and the corporates are made of human beings. The very same human beings. The government-run industries did not succeed because there was no incentive for human beings in those industries to be the best. While those in the private sector flourished because they have to be at their best to survive. The market competition made human beings in the corporates to give their best. Thus socialism, with state-run production and service industries can never be as efficient as the best-run market based private entity. 

But can we do away with government and its regulations then? Well, that is for another blog!