Simon Rowe is a New Zealander who has fallen in love with Japan and the Japanese culture. His love affair started in the 90s and shows no sign of abating.
What made you migrate to Japan? Japan in the 90s was a very mysterious and closed country. The yen was very high. They wouldn’t allow the freelance writers and you had to have a visa sponsored. I really wanted to go to Japan not just because it was such a mysterious country but also for financial reasons as I could sell a lot of stories of Japan. So, my mother was the one who really helped me because she was reading a Sunday newspaper. She found an advertisement that was for English teachers in Japan. I applied and they accepted. I had to teach seven hours a night time and they sponsored my visa. So, day time I was writing and night time I was teaching. But if you are clever you can actually use the teaching as a way to learn about the culture because you get the students to talk about their culture. So, they get good lessons and you get a lot of material for your stories! So, you are getting the good oil for your writing.
When did you meet your wife? I met her in Japan in 1997 at a party. She liked travelling but not back packing. I introduced her to back packing and we travelled everywhere. Then we moved back to Australia. We had kids and moved back to Japan. She is a yoga teacher now. Her teacher who is a Japanese person lives in Delhi.
The bar depicted in Mami Suzuki
Why do you like about Japan? I feel at home in Japan because there is a strong sense of community. We have the children’s association, PTA and soccer association. I have two kids. My daughter is 16 years old and my son is 12 years old and a soccer maniac! At home, we are constantly switching between Japanese and English just like you switch between Hindi and English without even being conscious of it! How did you learn the Japanese language? I used to go out to the bars and restaurants. Bars are the best place to pick up the language because everyone is relaxed and they will talk to you if you are alone and a foreigner. In my city, western Kobe, they are very social people. It is a quiet city which is famous for Himeji Samurai Castle. So every day, hundreds of tourists, get off the train and walk to the castle and then walk back to the train and they are off. It is a lovely place because it has room to breathe and has beautiful people.
What is your relationship with writing? Oh! I had started reading at a very early age. I read books like Jaws, the National Geographic Magazines, Prison Escape stories. So, I had a sense of a story and then growing up in New Zealand you have sense of adventure and you are outside all the time. So, once you have lived the experience and have stories and adventures, then it is not difficult to write. So, I told my students to go out and have an adventure and then write about it. In the last 6 years, I turned to writing fiction because travel writing became too mundane and then we had articles like ‘the ten best places to have coffee in Rome’ or ‘the five best mountains to climb’. So there was really no story telling involved. For us Kiwis, telling stories is a part of our culture. Writing is really storytelling. Writing fiction gives this amazing freedom to create anything you want. That is really enjoyable.
What do you like about the Japanese lifestyle? Everything is very well organized and predictable in Japan. However, if you look closely, it is really like this double-edged sword. I like the fact that everything is predictable. The trains will run on time, the people will never be late, the customer service is the best in the world. They are very patient people. You expect things to happen because that’s the way it always happens. Therefore, you don’t waste time or get angry or irritated. However, by the same token, it can be a bit confounding when they stick to the schedule and the rules. The etiquettes, the rules and the manners are something that requires many years to learn. You cannot just charge in there and do what you want. Like I was in a train and there was an earthquake. The train stopped for about an hour and nobody said anything. I closed my eyes and all I could hear was people breathing. So, you have to be sensitive to the Japanese culture. The thing about the Japanese people is that they are very social and they love drinking and socializing. But they are very good drunks as compared to Australia. In Australia, drunks can fight and kill each other but in Japan even when they are drunk, they look out for each other. When they get drunk, they get noisy, they laugh a lot, they play instruments and then they go home and sleep. They are very nice natured and super welcoming people with almost zero crime. For an outsider, Japan may appear to be too strict, formal and structured but once you get to know it, it becomes one of the best places to live because there are no surprises. You have to have an open mind and it is all about give and take. Like for example, for me as a foreigner, it was difficult understanding why we needed to give a gift to someone who has given us a gift or why certain customs exist. Now, I have come to appreciate all these customs and rituals.
Do you like coming to India? It is my third time in India and first time in Jaipur. In 1992, I came from Katmandu and went to Agra. This was the time of the Hindu Muslim riots. I saw the Taj Mahal the next day and then there was a curfew and no body could leave the hotel because of the riots. It seems funny that I came the same time that the Ram Temple- Babri Masjid issue happened. It seems strange that I am coming back now when all is settled. It brings back a lot of memories. The first two trips were miserable. I got sick and I saw a man die in a very bad way. He put his head on the railway tracks. These things rather depressed me and I couldn’t enjoy myself. I was on my way to Jodhpur. Afterwards, when I was going to the airport, I asked a young boy to get me filtered water, which he didn’t. He got me normal water and I fell sick again. This time though it has been wonderful. Everything has been amazing. I am having the best time. I am enjoying the Indian people, the chefs, the taxi guys, the writers, the poets and the volunteers. They are not afraid to give their opinion. In Japan they don’t do that because there is this sense of maintaining harmony where you don’t have to upset anyone by giving your opinion. No one talks politics. So, I am really impressed. India has really changed but I can’t say the same for the tuk tuk drivers! They are the worst when it comes to driving and the money
This article by Shailaza Singh appeared in Rashtradoot Newspaper’s Arbit Section on April 4, 2024.
Camilla Townsend’s book ‘The Fifth Sun’ dispels the age-old notions that depicted Aztecs as a blood thirsty, barbaric civilization and throws light on their triumphs and struggles.
According to the Aztec folklore, the universe had imploded four times previously and they were living under the fifth sun thanks to the courage of an ordinary man called ‘Nanahuatzin (Na-na-wa-tzeen). When the Gods asked for a volunteer who could immolate himself and bring forth a new sun, Nanahuatzin volunteered and without much fanfare stepped into the fire. As he burned, the sun rose and the life on the earth was saved.
When I read this interesting story from Camilla Townsend’s book “The Fifth Sun: A New History of Aztecs”, which had been awarded the Montreal’s McGill University’s much coveted US$ 75,000 Cundill History Prize 2020, I was reminded of a similar legend inscribed on a plaque in the Mehrangarh fort of Jodhpur in Rajasthan.
When Rao Jodha wanted to build a grand fort on a hillock, a saint who was known as the Chidiyawale Baba was meditating in that area. Disturbed by the soldier, he cursed that if the king attempts to build the fort of his dreams, his kingdom would be fraught with repeated draughts. When the king begged the saint for forgiveness, the saint told him that though he could not take the curse back but if the king could find a man who is buried alive on his own will, the curse would be neutralized and the city would be protected. Thus in 1459 they found a volunteer in Rajaram Meghwal, who agreed to sacrifice his life protect the land and its people. In return, Rao Jodha promised him that he and his heirs would look after Rajaram’s family. But, the question is would a foreigner understand this sacrifice or would he term it as a barbaric act? How can someone truly understand and appreciate these acts of heroism and sacrifice unless they understand the underlying culture, bravery and emotions of the person who willingly chose to end his life for a cause which he perceived to be much greater than him? In most articles, books and movies, the Aztecs have been depicted as people who loved violence and brutally sacrificed people for their own pleasure or purposes. The Spanish conquistadors who came wrote about the grisly ceremonies where the Aztec priests would slice open their victims’ chests and offer their still beating hearts to the Gods. The bodies would then be tossed down the steps of the towering temple of Mayor. Many archaeologists have found skull racks and towers during the course of their digs and expeditions.
Movies like Apocaylpto have enough violence to convince the world that this ancient civilization knew nothing else. Spanish is a language spoken by millions across the world, hence when the Spanish conquistadors wrote about their perceptions and impressions of this ancient civilization, people took it to be the truth. No one till now really bothered to go beyond this widespread perception of the Aztecs because for the people of the west it would mean looking at the other side of the story. It would mean understanding the point of view of an almost extinct civilization, the people who were really not ‘Indians’ but had been forced with a name just because when the famous explorer Christopher Columbus landed in Antilles near Mexico, he believed that he had reached the Indian Ocean. Though the mistake was discovered with time but the name stuck with Europeans, the Spanish friars and the subsequent explorers who referred to the native Americans as Indians. It seems quite similar to how some people still think of India as a land of snake charmers and elephants!
‘After the conquest, the young people trained in the Roman alphabet began to write down what the various elders said, carefully transcribing their words onto paper and then storing the folios on a special shelf or in a locked box- another well-loved innovation that the Spaniards had brought…[…].’ It was these records that helped Camilla Townsend, who is an American historian and distinguished professor of history at Rutgers University, New Jersey in United States, to understand the real Aztecs and their life. In her book, she says she ‘was sitting in a library when heard a captured Aztec princess shouting at her enemies.’ This inspired her to read the accounts of the early native Americans in Nahuatl (Na-wat) and Spanish and write a book which for the first time presented the Aztec point of view to the world. From the book, it is obvious that the Aztecs were intelligent, enterprising and tough people who had learnt to make the best of every situation that they found themselves in. In one story, when they found themselves living as the servants of another, more powerful ancient tribe, they devised a plan for their freedom. They offered to take responsibility for handling the festivities of an upcoming religious holiday and asked the overlord chiefs to lend them their broken cast off weapons for a performance for the rulers which they were happily given. After all, what could they do with the old weapons? ‘They worked night after night, patiently, painstakingly gluing, sewing and repairing, rendering the feathered, painted shields and spears truly beautiful . At last, they were ready to launch their bid for their people’s freedom- which of course they won.’ Aztecs were known for their sacrifices. Some prisoners of war were sacrificed in religious festivals while the women desired by the warrior were sent to his household. However, the sacrifices were not as gory as the movies and books have made them out to be. ‘In reality, it seems to have been a gravely quiet, spellbinding experience for the onlookers, […]. After a sacrifice, the warrior who had captured and presented the victim kept the remains (the hair and ceremonial regalia) in a special reed chest in a place of honour in his home for as long as he lived.’ It was mostly men who were sacrificed, however, when women were sacrificed the ceremony was different. ‘In one annual festival, for instance, a young girl taken in war was brought from a local temple to the home of her captor. She dipped her hand in blue paint and left her print on the lintel of his door, a holy mark that would last for years and remind people of the gift she gave of her life. Then she was taken back to the temple to face the cutting stone. It was an ancient tradition among the native people not to give way before one’s enemies; such stoicism brought great honour. ‘ This reminded me of the sacrifices made by women in the Indian culture specially when they had to perform jauhar to preserve their honour. Even today, many of Rajasthan’s forts have handprints of women who sacrificed their lives for their honour. In India’s history too, whether in war or death, men who have met their fate with courage have been revered and honoured.
When I asked Camilla Townsend about why sacrifices were such an integral part of all the ancient cultures of the world, she said, “I think the concept of a human sacrifice began as this idea where the ancient human beings were trying to show the divine that they were willing to accept their fate in a rather beautiful way. But unlike the common depiction in many books, these sacrifices initially were not an attempt to humiliate the enemy. On the contrary if the young warrior died without screaming, he was given a great honour as if he himself was a God. All warriors knew that if they were taken prisoners, that would be their fate. They would then try to show themselves, their enemies, their Gods and their people how strong they were and how willing to die they were for the cause.” However, she further added that when the Aztecs were at the height of their power, sacrifices acquired a different meaning all together. “In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries when the Aztec civilization was at its prime, instead of sacrificing an occasional prisoner of war, they started to sacrifice dozens of their enemies and prisoners of war. We have a text from that time which says that they used to go and kidnap or take people from the outskirts, places they were interested in conquering and bring them to their capital city and watch the sacrifices. These terrified people were then sent back to their homes where they convinced their townsmen to give up without a fight or else be prepared for a terrible war.”
Another interesting aspect about the Aztecs was the way they maintained two calendars and considered thirteen a lucky number. We, in India also refer to a lunar and a solar calendar. However, in our case, both calendars have the same number of days. “There were two ongoing cycles of time. One was a solar calendar which consisted of eighteen months of twenty days, plus five blank or unnamed, frightening days at the end, for a total of 365 days. The other was a purely ceremonial calendar containing thirteen months of 20 days each, for a total of 260 days…The two cycles of time both returned to their starting point at the end of fifty-two solar years. Thus a bundle of fifty two years as they termed it was as important to them as a century is today. To name each year they tied it to the ceremonial calendar’s most important number: thirteen. The fifty two years were divided into four groupings of thirteen each, like this: One Reed, Two Flint-knife, Three House, Four Rabbit, Five Reed, Six Flint Knife…[..] Thirteen Reed, and then beginning again One Flint-knife.” In her book, it was the younger generation of the Aztecs who worked to preserve the ancient records when they were conquered by the Spanish. Is it the case today too? Is the young generation doing anything to preserve their culture? “Yes, the younger generation of the native Americans in United States of America (USA) is trying to preserve languages and to offer classes and do everything that they can to make sure that the future people still have some access to these ancient ways of knowing speaking and believing. Today many young people leave the reservations, get jobs in the cities and become activists and remind us all that they are still native Americans. But it is an uphill battle compared to situation in Latin America where people were not put in reservations and can speak in their language, if not follow their religion. The people in Mexico have established classes, community centres, radio programs and books to validate and get people excited about these traditions. However, the truth is that to get a good paying job in Mexico, you must learn Spanish and then possibly English. It will not pay you in a financial sense to become an expert in languages like Nahuatl (Na-wat). The scholars in United States have been thinking about it and trying to raise money about it. Though there have not been any grand successes yet but there are programs attempting to make a difference.” The book is filled not just with the real account of the events that transpired but also with fables and legends of the Aztecs that helped them to find their strength and fight battles that they would eventually lose. For the first time, Camilla Townsend could present a different story of a civilization that has long been misconstrued and misunderstood. However, one wonders if there are any other such long lost civilizations whose stories have just been misconstrued by their conquerors and they had no one to tell the truth?
This article by Shailaza Singh was published in Rashtradoot Newspaper’s Arbit Section on 11 April 2021.
I am not much into reading political histories or dissecting the course of events in history. However, when it comes to the enigma of Pakistan, I like most Indians can participate in endless debates and discussions about the country. I have been fed movies, books and ideas stalwarts like Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel and many more who have struggled for independence and resisted partition. I have been a witness to a plethora of discussions about how India and Pakistan can be friends or can never be friends. So, naturally when I read Professor Ishtiaq Ahmed’s book Jinnah: His Successes, Failures and Role in History, Penguin Viking, it stirred a hornet’s nest of questions in my mind about the much revered Quaid-e-Azam of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Professor Ishtiaq Ahmed is a Swedish political scientist and author of Pakistani descent. He is also the Professor Emeritus of political science at Stockholm University and visiting professor, Government College University, Lahore.
While reading the book what struck me as odd was that until Jinnah relentlessly pursued it, though there were people thinking about creating a separate state for Muslims, no one thought of actually dividing India before 1940. Jinnah was merely a pawn used by the British to deepen the wedge between Jinnah’s Muslim League and the Indian National Congress.
“The British were now laying out a red carpet for Jinnah. However, it would be too hasty to draw the conclusion that the British were already plotting to divide India. At that point, the British strategy was mainly to checkmate congress ambition to drive British out.”
This quote from the book intrigued me. Was Jinnah the main force behind the partition of India? What would have happened had Jinnah not proposed the formation of Pakistan?
Professor Ahmed: Had Jinnah not proposed the formation of Pakistan, and it not been created as a separate state, the 1000-year-old experience of staying together would have become an asset. I am not saying that there would have been no problems or disputes or occasional communal riots. But what I believe is that there would have been a good balance. Contrary to what most people believe, the Congress never wanted to make India a Hindu state. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have included such a large percentage of Muslims in the Indian army.
The book brings another relatively unknown fact to light. Jinnah was never particularly keen about India’s freedom. In fact, he was quite happy had the British granted a dominion status to India. His letter to the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald in 1929 is quite revealing.
“ …I may tell you without exaggeration that the movement for independence is gaining ground, as it is supported by the Indian National Congress. […] I would urge upon you […] to persuade his Majesty’s government without delay to make a declaration that Great Britain is pledged to granting to India a full responsible government with dominion status.”
“ Jinnah was apparently speaking as an Indian patriot and blamed the British for the radical nationalists winning ground but was advising them to frustrate the Congress’s ambition to win independence for India by uniting all Indians”.
Time and again, the author mentions Jinnah’s and Gandhi’s relationship and the various skirmishes they had.
“That Jinnah and Gandhi could not develop a stable rapport was probably both a matter of negative chemistries as well as they’re over all political posturing. Jinnah considered himself Gandhi’s senior in so far as Indian nationalism was concerned. He cut his teeth in politics in 1906 while Gandhi was away in South Africa. Nevertheless, a process had been set in motion whereby Gandhi would upstage Jinnah has the premier leader of the Congress Party”
“In 1915, Jinnah was the head of the reception committee set up by the Gujrat Society (the Gurjar Sabha; both Jinnah and Gandhi were Gujaratis). Jinnah had very warmly welcomed Gandhi and praised his leadership in generous words. Gandhi responded by saying that he was ‘glad to find a Mohamedan not only belonging to his own region’s Sabha but chairing it.’”
“While some people feel that the remark was meant to demean Jinnah, others feel that Gandhi merely spoke in a spirit of elation and pride that fellow Hindu and Muslim Gujaratis were together in the nationalist awakening in those times.”
Yet there were times, Jinnah had to face embarrassment too!
“In 1917, Gandhi again offended Jinnah when the latter spoke at a public meeting in English, while Gandhi and his followers insisted that all speakers speak in an Indian language. They interrupted him repeatedly and Jinnah had to manage in his broken Gujarati.”
From your book it was clear that Jinnah did not like Gandhi! But Gandhi was a leader of the masses! How did he succeed despite Gandhi’s popularity?
Professor Ahmed: It was not just Gandhi. Jinnah had a problem in playing second fiddle to anyone. When people started gravitating towards Gandhi and the leadership of the Indian freedom struggle went to him by default, so Jinnah had no choice left but to create a counter leadership. So, he became a leader of the Muslims. However, not many people understand that his path was not easy. He had strong opponents like Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad and leaders from Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, who were anti-imperialist. Despite all the opposition, he succeeded. In the second world war, Congress made a huge mistake. They promised the British support only on the condition that the British would initiate the transfer of power. Had they cooperated without this condition; the Muslim league wouldn’t have had even a remote chance! The main leaders of the Indian National Congress were arrested in the Quit India movement and remained in jails for three years. This eliminated all the competition for Jinnah. He could mobilize the Muslims with all the tall promises.
Yes, the promises made by Jinnah were indeed tall! He promised the fabled land not only to Muslims but to Sikhs and Dravidians of South India.
“Although Jinnah had on several occasions made the division of India sound fair: 200 million Hindus getting three-fourths of India while 90-100 million Muslims getting one-fourth, he gave different signals to the Sikhs and Dravidians of South India. To the Sikhs he offered a Sikh state if they could show him where its boundaries would be drawn. Implicitly it meant the few Sikh princely states because otherwise the Sikhs were not in a majority anywhere in Punjab, not even in the princely states. To the Dravidians, he pledged support for demanding a separate state in the South.”
Jinnah finally got the partition that he had worked for. However, instead of getting the whole of Punjab and Bengal, he got what he described as a ‘moth-eaten’ Pakistan. Is that why Pakistan has a victim mentality? Are things changing now?
Professor Ahmed: The very foundation of Pakistan is based on the blame game. It began with Jinnah who was the creator of the two-nation theory by saying Hindus and Muslims cannot be one nation. Even after the formation of Pakistan, Jinnah believed that the Congress was conspiring to harm Pakistan. However things have now started changing. After the release of my book, a lot of people have contacted me from places like Lahore and India. They ask me questions which have not been asked in the last 73 years. The new generation is yearning to break the shackles and people like Arzoo Kazmi, Abbas Haider are regularly posting videos which are self-critical and help in increasing awareness amongst the masses. I hope the narrative now turns into that Pakistan and India can be brotherly countries. There is a huge percentage of population in both India and Pakistan who don’t get food to eat. I believe that these issues of humanity can be resolved by both nations by diminishing the arms race and releasing the resources for the nation building and increasing the human betterment index. The people in power in both nations are enjoying themselves. In Pakistan, it is the poor who are bearing the brunt of this problem. The privileges of people in power are unbelievable! You should especially see the properties of the Pakistani army generals who retire. India still doesn’t have that level of corruption at least in the army. In Pakistan, generals have been able to purchase islands in Australia, create chains of restaurants, despite having no inherited wealth or property. Where do they get so much money to buy these properties?
“A favorite lament which one hears in Pakistan is that India could stabilize as a democracy because Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru was the helm of affairs for seventeen long years to steer India away from disturbances and upheavals, while Pakistan’s bad luck was that Jinnah died too soon after Pakistan had come into being. Had he lived that long, Pakistan too would have become an ideal Muslim democracy. The facts belie such analogy.”
The author says that Jinnah was an autocratic ruler whose dismissal of elected governments of NWFP and Sindh were the most egregious examples of a governor- general flagrantly overstepping his office. The declaration of Urdu as the official language of Pakistan deepened the sense of deprivation and alienation of the Bengali majority of united Pakistan.
Where does India stand in comparison with Pakistan?
Professor Ahmed: India still has a better record as far as corruption is concerned. Though they have made mistakes where their political decisions are concerned, at least so far none of the Prime Ministers of India have any corruption charges against them. India has been able to control a lot of its culturally inherited caste issues by creating reservations for the people from the oppressed castes. In a way it has been able to democratically, peacefully, constitutionally deal with the negativity in its cultural package. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar despite being the biggest critic of the Congress party was made the chairman of the constitution drafting committee, which I feel was the greatness of the founding fathers of the nation. The humanism of Mahatma Gandhi and the modern outlook of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru has helped India to become a genuinely elected democracy. I will not say that it is social democracy yet because the caste system has been a part of her psyche and sociology for more than three thousand years. Hence, complete eradication will take time. The biggest achievement is that of one man, one vote, whether it is a Brahmin or Dalit.
Professor Ishtiaq Ahmed’s book Jinnah: His Successes, Failures and Role in History has been an eye opener as far as the Jinnah’s motivation for the creation of Pakistan is concerned. Professor Ahmed believes that India and Pakistan can be friends because we are the same people. However, is that really the case? In the following part, we talk to the well-known defence analyst Maroof Raza to know more about India’s equation with her neighbours and way ahead.
Games People Play- Chinese Whispers
Maroof Raza is a retired Indian Army officer with more than 20 years of experience as a mentor, anchor, correspondent, lecturer, writer and a commentator on issues of National Security and Strategic Affairs. He has also authored books like Low-Intensity Conflicts: The new dimension to India’s military commitments and Wars and No Peace over Kashmir. He minces no words when it comes to India’s relationship with Pakistan and China.
Can we be friends with Pakistan?
Why are we still under the impression that India and Pakistan can be great friends? Our governments and diplomats especially in the South Block in New Delhi are constantly harping about old out-dated ideas like non-alignment or friendship with Pakistan or investment in Afghanistan which have no practical relevance in today’s world. The other day I was talking to my friends in the US who were asking me questions like why cannot India and Pakistan be friends and collectively provide a market for America? They think that as long as India and Pakistan are not firing at each other or Pakistan is not sponsoring terror, India can be friends with Pakistan. I think this is the kind of nonsense that you get fed in the western countries. There is a simple logic we need to understand once and for all. Pakistan is not interested in being friends with India. For Pakistan, friendship with India is the first step towards denying its own independent identity. They believe that a Pakistani is a person who is not an Indian. What is a Pakistan according to them? It is an anti-thesis to India. So, becoming friends with India will mean a loss of their very existence and identity. People keep coming up with ideas like a great Grand Trunk Road which will connect India to all its neighbours like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmar. All those ideas are a naught. China has already created a counter to the Grand Trunk Road by creating the China-Pakistan economic corridor which has much more financial steam and depth!
So, can India really govern the equation with its neighbours?
Of course! We should get out of the insecure idea that China can dominate a country like India which has a population of more than 1.5 billion. China along with its allies including Pakistan has a population of approximately 2 billion. Pakistan is one sixth the size of India and yet India keeps losing sleep over it. If you want to learn something, learn it from Israel. You have to make India strong! That in itself will make people secure in their environment. You don’t have to become so big that you cannot manage your own affairs. What is really China doing in the neighbourhood? It is simply putting its money in places like Pakistan and Srilanka. India could have done the same thing. Instead of putting money in places like Afghanistan, they could have invested in Nepal, Bangladesh and Srilanka. But Manmohan Singh and to an extent the current government also is so enamoured being America’s side kick that they don’t even think about it.
But hasn’t China has been luring the countries like Pakistan and Srilanka into a debt trap?
That is what China will do. Please understand that over the last 25 years, China has acquired a lot of foreign exchange. It doesn’t know where to spend it other than to buy out countries and create a zone of influence all over in Asia, Africa, Latin America. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which extends from East Asia to Europe is not just a road! It is a cyber and a business network. It is something like if someone draw some lines on a cellophane sheet and places it on the top of another country. In this way, they can superimpose another set of networks on a country. This is what China’s land connectivity and whole lot of other initiatives are. When they cannot connect by land, they connect by the sea and they try and take control over the trading routes or the ports on the way by either buying it out or creating pressure on the potential client. The thing with the Chinese are that they are very sweet initially. They go to the countries and bribe the leadership. They bought off the generals of Pakistan, the Rajapaksa family of Sri Lanka in this manner. Later on, after the agreement is signed, people realize the rates of interest is virtually unpayable. That is how they gain control over the area. Why cannot India do the same thing? I believe in India we waste too much time in politics, politicians and border disputes.
How can we solve the border dispute? Why do our maps include the disputed areas like POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) or Aksai Chin even today?
Maps are a part of a historical legacy and these maps have come to be over a period of time in terms of what you regard as India or states who acceded to India. Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India. After the independence when the Indian subcontinent was divided into India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, India never was in Aksai Chin. So, people are making a claim based on a map that the then Maharaja of Kashmir, Gulab Singh had drawn on the basis on the information he had given to W.H. Johnson, cartographer. Apparently, the Maharaja had told him to show his territory to be as expansive as possible, well beyond the Karakoram Pass. So, Johnson did that and showed the territories between Karakoram Pass and Kunlun Mountains. But this map was never presented by the British to China. By 1866, the Maharaja’s soldiers had vacated these areas and the Chinese took control of Shahidullah. The ‘line’ laid out by Johnson was modified by Major General Sir John Ardagh, the director of military intelligence in Delhi in 1897. Post-independence, even though Aksai Chin has been shown as un-demarcated, all the claims of India have been based on this line. The earlier governor of Jammu and Kashmir had said that if India has the money and the resources to fight conflicts, then it should spend it on the development of Jammu and Kashmir rather than fighting over territories which were never ours in the first place. I believe that there is no option except settling the battle over the boundary line. The way out is to decide what you are willing to keep and give. Nobody, even a country which is one-fifth or one-sixth the size of India will not allow you to keep everything. No one can keep printing maps and say this is mine and that is mine. Today, I feel one has to have the guts to stand up and say let us settle the boundary line.
The Chinese ambassadors have been saying that we can delink the boundary dispute and get on with business. If that happens, India has the advantage because then if it can ban or stop taking their products which means a loss of 50 billion dollars to China per year. It is a huge amount which it cannot afford. It is also the money that they are pouring into Pakistan through China Pakistan Economic Corridor. What is the point?
China is expanding, but people are not happy! Will there be a revolution some day in China?
Please don’t live in the hope that one day there will be a revolution and it will take over the communist party. The communist party will ruthlessly crush those who try to do something like this. This can only happen in a democracy. Democracies can be toppled because democracies are caught up between use of force and non-use of force. But communists are very sensitive to the challenges to their authority. Tiananmen Square in 1989 was a misjudgement which they will ensure does not happen again.
In the eventuality that our neighbours attack, will countries like America come to our aid?
Please understand that continental conflicts will have to be fought by yourself. No one really is there to help, not even America. When there was a brewing conflict between China and Japan about some islands that lie between them, America who has been Japan’s ally ever since the second world war promised to come to Japan’s aid ‘only if China attacks first. The fact is if China attacked first, it would probably render Japan dysfunctional. Japan is a very advanced country which has made some very good weapons. However, in an age where there are so many different verticals of attacks that include conventional forces, satellite forces, missiles, chemical and biological weapons, an attack can render a country defunct!
A few days back, there was a discussion on the apparent Chinese cyber-attack which reportedly led to a power outage in Mumbai last year. This is the first signal that your cyber adversary gives which is an initial black out of 12 hours or more. They are still clueless about how it happened. This is a part of the unrestricted warfare that China follows. They attack your grids and they make you realize that your entire financial capital can collapse in a second. Likewise, Russia attacked Estonia, which is a completely wired-up country. Everything came to complete standstill. Aircrafts couldn’t land or take off, electricity went off. Russia even did it in Ukraine. Britain claims that it can give Moscow a blackout for 24 hours. The problem with India and China is that India is a passive country and China is aggressive. Therefore, China will do everything to establish its agenda. India mostly reacts.
The only saving grace in the event of a nuclear attack more in the case of Pakistan than China is something called second strike ability. In case Pakistan hits us with all their nuclear weapons, our submarines will still be safe and we will also hit them back. From the Pakistan India perspective, it depends on whether Pakistan is willing to lose one or two or three cities at the cost of destroying India. Hence, the only relevance of nuclear weapons is that it prevents the other person from attacking you. So, don’t expect anyone to come to India’s aid in case of a full-blown war. US and the other countries will only make the right noises. I believe UN is nothing but the world’s most over rated debating society. The fact is that despite India being touted as the potential great power, it does not have a coordinated or comprehensive national security strategy in case of any attack. All the three forces have separate strategies. It is also important to have a clear aim which in India’s case is defence and not capture.
Shailaza Singh
This article was published in Rashtradoot Newspaper’s Arbit Section on 11 March 2021
Book review by Shailaza Singh (published in Rashtradoot Newspaper on 22 January 2021)
In their book, The World of Energy, Engine of Life, Raj Sharma and Vishnu Pareek analyse the entire spectrum of energy, from conventional sources to various alternative sources. The book also provides a perspective on energy policy over the years and explains the fundamentals of energy and all related aspects using clear and straightforward language.
Book Title : The World of Energy, Engine of Life
Authors : Prof. Raj Sharma is currently an Adjunct Professor at Curtin University’s WA School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering. Prof. Vishnu Pareek is currently serving as Head of the WA School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, and as Dean of Engineering at Curtin University.
Publisher : Springer
I loved studying science during my school days. During those times, there was a lot of talk about how fossil fuels like coal and petroleum are polluting the world. Chapters about these topics in our school books talked about how these fossil fuels must be replaced by renewable sources of energy like the wind or the sun or electricity. A lot of time has passed since then. However, despite the Gulf war and the excessive hue and cry about issues like pollution or global warming or ozone depletion, alternative sources of energy have really not been able to dominate the world at large. Yes, there are increased instances of people using solar panels or windmills or water or nuclear for generating electricity but they are few and far between as compared to the excessive dependence that the world has on fossil fuels. Despite the various advances in science and technology in the last two decades (internet, smart phones, other gadgets etc.), nothing much has been seen on the horizon for harnessing energy from the much-touted cleaner sources.
This question has always been there on my mind but I could never get an answer to it. The topic of renewable energy sources, pollution and fossil fuels is a good option if you want to sound very smart and intelligent in social conversations but ultimately all those people just end up shaking their heads and shrugging with resignation when one asks them about the solution to this predicament. However, the question about renewable sources of energy has still remained unanswered despite the media’s hullabaloo about all these issues.
So, when I picked up the book titled ‘The World of Energy- Engine of Life’ by Professor Raj Sharma and Professor Vishnu Pareek, I did not have any expectations. After all, after decades of discussion on this topic, the endless debate by the media, the protests by people who believe the world is going to end any day, what could this book which has been published by Springer say which had not been said before?
Energetic Revelations about (US)
As I was reading the book, a paragraph really caught my attention.
“President Carter in his address from the Oval Office on July 15, 1979, said among other things:
…. calling for the creation of this nation’s first solar bank which will help us achieve the crucial goal of 20% of our energy coming from solar power by the year 2000. Solar energy contribution to the energy pie in the US today (2018) is less than 1.0%- as against the target stated by President Carter of 20% by 2000!”
The authors go on to say “US with 5% of the world’s population, uses about 20-25% of the world’s energy to lead the lifestyle that it does! One can only try and imagine what would happen if India and China with a third of the world’s population were to provide a similar lifestyle to their people.”
So much for solar power! This is a fact from a country which is touted as a world leader in technology and lifestyle. Moreover, the book also talks about how most countries in the world believe that replicating the Western (US) model of development would be the ultimate sign of having arrived in the developed world but in reality, the model is quite unsustainable since the wastage of energy by the country is quite high. The authors also bring out the stark contrasts between the energy consumptions of various nations versus their population. What captivated my attention was that today US and China (which is following the US pattern of development) collectively consume about 40% of the world’s energy despite having only 24% of the world’s population! The authors say that the development of China happened on the back of cheap, abundant and reliable energy which was readily available in the form of fossil fuels which fulfil about 87% of China’s energy need. Though India’s energy consumption is less than 6% of the world, 92 % of its energy needs are being met by fossil fuels!
Another myth that this book dispels is “‘green energy’ is not really ‘green’ since it requires ‘black (fossil fuel) energy’ to harness, transform into a usable form and control its use to deliver the benefits of modern life.”
Much ado about Carbon Emissions
By this time, I was hooked because everything this book said was different to what has been largely propagated in the world. The media has been talking about how the carbon dioxide emissions have exponentially increased due to the rapid industrialisation etc. However, the authors say that carbon, which we all know is the fourth most abundant element in the universe is the essence of life on the earth and in the form of carbon dioxide the only source of oxygen that we breathe. According to them the human population in on earth a hundred years ago was about 1.7 billion with a reported CO2 concentration in the atmosphere of about 100 ppm; today (2020), the human population of earth is about 7 billion with a reported CO2 concentration in the atmosphere of about 400 ppm!
Out (Laws) of Energy Efficiency
The three laws of thermodynamics which are considered the gospel truth as far energy is concerned are as popular as the laws of gravitation. However, I have never seen anyone interpret them so interestingly till now.
“-You cannot win
– You cannot break-even either, and
– Everything eventually goes to ‘naught’”
Whether in science forums or important sounding books and journals, people keep talking about how to maximize energy efficiency. However, the authors of this book are very clear that “one cannot do without energy-but there is no free lunch!”
Sunning Away!
Everywhere in this book, the authors have clearly stated some interesting facts! Every form of energy whether fossil fuels or the much-hyped alternate sources are a result of the sun shining on the earth. Without the sun, nothing is possible!
“The only ‘green’ energy on Earth in the present day meaning of the term, is that received directly from the Sun in its raw, nascent and pristine form. Period. Full Stop. Everything else is ‘Black’. Nature has provided an automatic clean-up mechanism for the carbon waste in the form of the carbon dioxide cycle. It is the ‘clean, green energy- solar and wind in their raw and natural state-that gave Man his start and it is this energy that Man left behind in his quest for ever more.”
(Has the) Climate Chang(ed)?
“It is interesting to note that CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere has been much higher in the past than it is today; and, there does not seem much correlation between CO2 concentration and Earth’s temperature.”
The authors believe that labelling climate change as a man-made phenomenon and to pin it on fossil fuel driven carbon dioxide emissions is too simplistic. They believe that earth has been through cycles of warming periods and ice ages over hundreds of millions of years where sea levels have risen and deserts have been formed time and again. The activists have been harping away and campaigning on the ‘burning’ issue of the climate change but the book begs us to think about it from a different perspective!
(No) Conclusions
This book offers no conclusions or solutions- the authors have been very clear about this aspect from the beginning to the end. They have simply presented facts based on a lot of different studies that have been done over the years which in a way dispel many myths surrounding the world of energy. Yes, there are some suggestions like revisiting the old cultures like those of India and other countries of the world to understand deeper aspects of energy and its conservation but even those are marked with a ‘perhaps’. The authors make no bones about the fact that fossil fuels do have a competitive edge over the other alternate sources of energy due to a variety of reasons like their ease of use, availability and harnessing power.
The Last Word
The debate on energy has been a long standing one. Over time, the lack or abundance of energy has caused wars, created controversies and catapulted many activists to limelight. This book brings a lot of perspective to these burning topics and is interesting even for those who are not from a science back ground and offers an insight into the much debated and very controversial topic of energy. Read it and form your own conclusions! After all, there is no free lunch!
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