Mahatama Gandhi was opposed to industrialization in India, as he was aware of the economic-greed that would creep in. The result in India is for all to see. The rich and powerful control everything and the perceived reality of the nation is far from the ground truth.
Larger section of society is seething from oppression and lack of basic resources. The GDP of the country is in no way, reflection of the people reeling below poverty line. The inequities with the tribals and Naxalites, lack of reforms with the farmers, lack of focus on bringing North-east into mainstream, and an overall shoddy apparatus for distribution of funds/opportunities to the poor. Where does this leave us?

What are the solutions if any? Who is to sacrifice in a pragmatic way to pave way for these developments? I for one am ready to commit to social-entrepreneurship. And I strongly believe it could play major role in light of government’s apathy towards broad-based social development. While I criticize the government, it is basically all the well-to-do individuals whose greed is reflected in government’s actions. I believe that social entrepreneurship would lead to grass root level changes in the society. And it would lead to multi-faceted strengthening of the weaker sections, so that they can play effectual role in determining their destiny. Hence, could play a role in determining the shape of the nation in totality.

links:
areas of SE: http://www4.gsb.columbia.edu/socialenterprise/careers/resources/areas
MBA programs for SE: http://compassioninpolitics.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/top-mba-and-business-schools-for-social-entrepreneurship/
SE-platform-and-examples: http://www.ashoka.org/fellow/4870

as breath is a nature,
the love adorns life,
despite any beast nature may be,
mutuality is why we survive.

like the larvae that feeds,
on the green and sways wings,
this soul survives on love,
then body moves in the worldly realms.

like a perfect hue on the horizon,
of one shade, from a single stroke,
we all share that shade in us,
the contrast around us differs.

those tears of love in all of us,
are common yet so human,
so binding, so unifying,
as a stroke of love, well done.

are we one in some way?
and we have failed to see,
bound together and ironically apart,
a predicament in this galaxy.

it’s the way we see,
we are made to see,
what we really feel is lost,
and not regained sadly ever.

if we go deep down, somewhere,
beyond the clamor, behind the stage,
with no strings pulled and no fear in heart,
we may touch that stroke of love.

we’ll feel that true emotion,
so visceral, yet so ethereal,
the body will wear an innocent smile,
one with the soul, and one with all.

da da da…da… da da da….

the sun has just shone bright,

over the horizon of this life,

i can feel it in me,

the magic of symphony.

da da da…da da da…

da da da…da… da da da….

the way you said my name,

is music to my ears,

the way you smile with innocence,

is a wonder for my eyes.

da da da…da da da…

da da da…da… da da da….

as the droplets kiss the earth,

you have touched me deep down,

as the waters wash the shore,

you have splashed me all around.

da da da…da da da…

da da da…da… da da da….

the moment will freeze in my thought,

filled with the joy unbound,

the feel of your embrace,

gives the bliss of a breath.

da da da…da da da…

da da da…da… da da da….

i wish the twinkle stays,

with the freshness of a new sun,

i wish i can see you in both worlds,

in twilight and in daylight.

mazel-tov

courtesy: “The Republic of Love”

the frigid season,

that glass chamber,

heartless and arrogant drops,

beating with a deafening anger.

in tattered clothes, he was gasping for breath,

all alone in the ghastly town,

the lost traveler had stumbled and found,

the glass chamber amid ruin.

it shone bright in that darkness,

luring him with the floral scent,

he moved towards the door,

and saw a shadow behind.

there was companion, his heart raced,

he rushed to the door and opened,

welcomed by the faceless host,

he yelled horror and looked back.

Before he could take a leap,

was clasped in a tight grip,

the shadow behind had come close,

of human form, yet alien.

Before he could think ahead,

they held him, took him inside,

his struggle  proved futile, cry useless,

he was exhausted, terrified and he fainted.

taken inside the huge chamber,

he was thrown amongst the other bodies,

laid there for the whole night,

in a dreadful hell, no life in sight.

awoken by the gasping breath of another body,

and morning hue, in the damp chamber,

he stood up exhausted, and walked,

midst the bodies laying all around, with faces down.

in the nook he found huge mirror pieces,

walked up to those and stared,

nothing but horror he could hear,

he touched his face but it was not there.

with dizzy feeling and weak legs,

dragged self to the lot and found the same,

bodies without faces, without identity,

and he lost it there, as others of his kind.

He could never regain the self,

lost in the glare of the glass chamber,

became one of their kind,

yet another lost identity, one more lost soul.

courtesy: http://www.dancevert.org/images/Ethereal%20Complicity.jpg

I was having this discussion with my friends on what they think love is. Many people must have thought about it gazillion times. And with years of progression in my exposure, I believe my perspective has become more practical, sociological or should I say cynical.

Let’s see the definitions we came up with.

“It’s the feeling of deep mutual concern for each other which is sustainable across time and space”. -courtesy[my friend]

Let me critique this definition.

It definitely covers an important aspect of emotion, which comprises feeling of concern. And at the same time it states the ability to weather wide variety of social influences and social contexts across time and space. But people do fall out of love. So, does that mean such a feeling is not “love” but some milder form of it or some other fleeting emotion. We can love some people at times and also hate them. And we may stop loving them totally. And as this feeling is not felt in isolation by two human beings, it has a social context and will change its manifestation, definition and interpretation with the context.

However, there must be an underlying characteristic to it across social-contexts.

We may have this sustained feeling for some time but then over time do we nurture this feeling. Do we make it our habit and bring positivity to it? For example we put seed in the earth and water it, we get a seedling, a sapling. That’s fructification of our effort, as there is life through our initial effort. But do we nurture that life by protecting, preserving and helping it grow in a consistent manner. If we do, it grows into a healthy and strong plant . Similarly “love” is a symbiotic relationship, which grows with nurturing. If you stop nurturing it, it will deteriorate and die.

I’d like to think as we react to various social exposures or influences, we go through different phases in love. The more we internalize the feeling, the more innate the feeling becomes as part of our emotional being. But as emotional interaction between two people doesn’t happen in isolation, the survivability of this feeling depends upon how much precedence it takes over other interaction between two human beings. If it becomes the underlying layer/fabric for all other interactions, love will sustain, else its success/growth/survivability would depend upon the success of other interactions which could be equally or more prominent.

And then there are other definitions which state that it is driven by innate human need to associate. It’s again arguable that whether love is only selfish; basically it is need driven, or does it become selfless as it grows.

In this discussion we have focussed on feeling of attachment and association. So does that mean people who lead life of detachment  are devoid of love. For them it could be one-way traffic for the most part. The people in focus here are the ones involved in social service, who give everything of their self for good of others.  Their profound self emanates feeling of love for all beings without prejudices and they become the source, without any need to get it back. Perhaps they sustain this one-way traffic for more than the ordinary period of time, after which it is bound to come back to them. We call them enlightened souls, as their urge to give takes higher precedence than the desire to take.

Conclusively the feeling of love has been an ever-evolving, innate emotional construct, which is very much the part of social existence in today’s world. It exists for common human good today, personally and socially feeding our needs, our well being.