I love Neera

One of the first conditions of happiness is the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken.

 -Leo Tolstoy

Nature provides us everything we need in abundance. Eating and drinking natural things and to behave naturally. 

It is no secret that living in harmony with nature helps promote good health. Yet we seem to increasingly live unnatural lives. 

Synthetic lifestyles and processed foods, hamper our natural bio-rhythms, and makes our body and mind toxic, cause various illnesses thus playing havoc with our well being.

Using many harmful chemicals, most food processing is carried out by large multi-national companies. They use highly automated plants, and employ very few people. They employ a bevy of scientists to help maximise taste and get the maximum profit from product. Unfortunately they often indulge in sourcing, processing, manufacturing, and marketing practices that are increasingly questionable. 

Let us take the case of aerated cola drinks produced by various multinational companies. The product costs only 10% of the selling price to manufacture. The products are considered unhealthy (loaded with refined sugar, full of chemicals, some of which are considered harmful). They deplete surface and groundwater resources, provide very few jobs and livelihood to people. All the income these companies generate are remitted out of the country back overseas to enrich other people at great cost and little benefit to local economies and communities.

On the other hand we have many natural juices and beverages, sugarcane juice, fresh lime sherbet,etc. A wonderful local beverage is 'Neera'. Neera is produced by small local farmers, working in cooperatives to produce a healthy naturally cooling refreshing drink. The cooperatives benefit hundreds of thousands of farmers whose products are gathered, checked, distributed and  sold through authorised street vendors to customers at an attractive price. 

                                      

A nation becomes impoverished rather than wealthy when some large multinational organisations increase GDP by getting local people to buy unhealthy products at ridiculously high prices. The very high profit margins these companies generate benefit just a handful of people, most of them foreigners. India can be better off by providing healthy products at low prices which benefit millions of people and supports local communities.

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The amazing story of the production, marketing and distribution of Neera is a story of community growth and a win-win proposition for everyone involved. 

Neera, or palm nectar, is a sweet tasting sap extracted from  toddy palms. Extracted  before sunrise, the translucent oyster white coloured, neera is a very refreshing drink. Neera is widely consumed in India, Sri Lanka, Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Myanmar.

The drink is popular, has high nutritive value, delicious taste and agreeable flavor. Its production requires neither mechanical crushing, as in the case of sugarcane, nor leaching, like beet-root; 

Neera is rich in carbohydrates, mostly sucrose, and has a nearly neutral pH.
Neera contains a number of minerals, salts and is high in protein.

The various Indian state governments of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Orissa have worked to encourage local populations to grow palm trees, employ tappers, help with marketing and distribution and thus help small farmers, transporters and vendors. 

The amazing concept has the potential to create employment of an additional million jobs over and above the 600,000 currently employed in just production and sale of Neera.

In Maharastra and Gujarat, the entire production and supply chain is managed by the stakeholders themselves called The Neera Palm Product Cooperative Society. It  has set up small kiosks to sell neera alongside almost every roadside in most cities areas.

In Karnataka where there are abundant Coconut trees the Neera is being taped from coconut trees. In Tamil Nadu, neera is called as "Padaneer" in Tamil.

Seek out natural beverages in your local community. Sugarcane juice, lemon juice etc. You will save money, and enjoy feeling refreshed.

Live naturally, be healthy, and happy, and support your local economy. Try a refreshing glass of neera. 

Following the Followers

I must follow my followers, for I need to know where it is that they want me to lead them.

- Gurvinder Singh    (untitled work)

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A leader is someone who leads. Conversely leaders need followers. 

People however need to be motivated, to follow. Leaders resort to two primal motivating forces, fear and greed.

Nothing moves people better and faster than fear. Fear is born out of our need for survival. Fear in most cases is manufactured and induced by leaders.

Greed is fed by inducement or some sort of rewards, we could even call it a bribe. Rewards could include money, property, sex, rank, power, even heaven and paradise in the after-life.

Military, political, social, religious, business, philosophical, fashion, etc, Leaders can be of all types. Whatever the field, leadership is a lonely job, with the leader inevitably setting the agenda and getting people to follow.

Politicians in democracies make possibly the worst leaders. The followers are whimsical and opportunistic. Politicians have be even more opportunistic than the electorate, because the time window to act is extremely short. They see which way the wind blows and then they move in that direction. They are compelled to lead the mobs by following them. 

Following the followers benefits only a small group of the people, and achieves little for the vast majority, hence the frustration with democracies. Three thousand years of history reveal, that every democracy continuously decays and eventually descends into a dictatorship.

If a people are fortunate, there emerges amongst them a breed of politicians called 'statesmen', they look at the next generation not at the next election. 

Winston Churchill said "I have nothing to offer you but blood, sweat and tears", and the people of Great Britain rallied behind him. In spite of his numerous shortcomings and his cruel treatment of the people of the British colonies especially India he is considered a great leader if you consider the British view point.

There are many types of leaders but how do we judge them?

* A poor leader is someone who has to draw on rank, title, position etc to keep on announcing that he is the leader. People are always dismissive of such a leader.

* A leader is worst when his people despise him. 

* The best leader is one who the people do not even notice he is there. He or she creates an environment that makes people move as if it is their own agenda. They work on principles, beliefs and often through a self regulating constantly improving system. 

Beware of the leader who follows the followers.

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Adapted from the quote by Mahatma Gandhi

“There goes my people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.”

Art is not an object

Art is an experience, not an object.

 - Robert Motherwell

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I spent almost a lifetime trying to understand art. I read many books and spoke to many experts and I still did not understand it. I eventually realised, that this was a good thing. 

If it is art, it will stimulate. Otherwise it is just some colours, noise, an assembly of inconsequential objects or just movements of the body.

When we look at something objectively we use the mind. The mind feels nothing for its a cold analytical thing. Art touches our being, and that is a matter of the heart. Matters of the heart cannot be understood, merely experienced.

What a dreary place our world would be without artists.

The eyes see, ....

"The eyes see, only what the mind is prepared to comprehend."

— Henri Bergson

• Nobel prize winner Henri Bergson (1859 -1941) was an influential French philosopher.

I want to be a politician

My friend Jaiprakash Singh, runs the 'Sujata School' in Hyderabad and Moinabad. 

During my visit to the school he requested me to speak to and motivate the young students in class 10, who were shortly due to leave school for college. The easiest thing to do in the world is, to lecture others especially the young and dole out unsolicited advice. Rather than lecture I prefer to have a dialogue with the young, for they never fail to surprise me with amazing new perspectives and their boundless enthusiasm and energy.


We spoke about several things and then a quick poll of the students revealed a great surprise. Several boys and girls said their career choice was to become politicians.

Wow! I never saw that coming.
I later realised that, we often ask what, but rarely why?
I have no definitive answers but yes a theory. 

Most people dream of being powerful, rich or famous. In India all these three things are possible in one profession represented by the Indian politicians of today. Politicians are a force that is not dependent on any other group in society. They are just one step below God in social standing.
All they need is a fig leaf of concern and service. 

Politics is the only profession in which no pre-qualification, formal training, skill acquisition or training is mandated or required. Politics is open for admission to all, and it seems to require no study or hard work.

Traditional Indian society had four classes. 
1. The warrior class who held the muscle power. 
2. The priestly class who were custodians of society's knowledge and wisdom. 
3. The traders who had most of  the money and controlled commerce. 
4. The working class, who had the skills to provide products and services and also those who tilled the land, the farmers.  

This arrangement ensured that no one group controlled more than one lever of power. This provided balance in society because each group was interdependent on the others. The is why India was an economic success and social stability, and there was no social unrest or revolution for over 5000 years.

Now in post independent India there has been a convergence. The people with muscle power now also have financial and administrative power. They are the politicians. Sadly they have made irrelevant religion and education by subjugating and corrupting them.

Though there are exceptions, it is generally believed that politicians exist only to serve themselves. 

During their team as elected officials, they are magically transformed into business and property tycoons. Their wealth grows by leaps and bounds sometimes a thousand fold in 5 years.They usually live in palatial homes and estates, and are surrounded by incredible luxury.  If you smell an incredible amount of money, you can be pretty sure a politician is nearby. 


Politicians are extraconstitutional authorities. Yes I know about that humbug, that everyone is equal under the law and as per the constitution. Politicians are not under the law, they are above it. The entire government administrative machinery is at their disposal. Their power comes by controlling criminal elements, the law and order machinery, the keys to the vault etc. Politicians withhold funds from opponents and those who do not pay, while granting favours and projects usually to cronies, themselves, their kith and kin through front men or to others for a fee. They usually misdirect tax and regulatory authorities to harass and destroy any voice that speaks or even contemplates speaking against them. They are powerful and they have no qualms about demonstrating it, and flexing their muscles often.

Famous, they are. Other than film stars and cricketeers media reports primarily on politicians. They cover almost every action, and expression. They hang on to every word politicians utter, as if it were holy gospel. This encourages more useless and often harmful verbal diarrhea. The media uses this 'info-tainment' to often fake concern for the people and affairs of the nation to make money while irresponsibility abounds

Kids are impressionable and they learn quickly, particularly fast the things that are not good. Is it any any wonder that politics is the preferred profession for many youngsters?

Isn't it wonderful that India is the worlds's largest democracy?

Pablo Picasso on, Art Critics and Artists

Science and Charity (1897) - Pablo Picasso 

“When art critics get together they talk about Form and Structure and Meaning.
  When artists get together they talk about where you can buy cheap turpentine.”

-  Pablo Picasso

 

Self Portrait -Pablo Picasso

Guernica -Pablo Picasso (1937

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Pablo Picasso, Spanish born painter and sculptor, was the founder of Western modern art. He demonstrated extraordinary artistic talent at an early age. 

A good artist is someone who either soothes or stimulates. A great artist like Picasso does both for he provokes and inspires.

He created an art movement known as Cubism. In Cubist paintings, objects are broken apart and put back together in weird forms and geometric shapes like cubes, cones, or cylinders. The final image provokes the viewer to step out of the normal and mundane and examine objects and situations with a refreshingly interesting and unusual perspective.

Power of play

You can learn more about a person in one hour of play than one year of conversation

- Plato

We were pleasantly surprised to learn last week that  Hotfut Sports a company promoted by our son Pavit and his partner NIkhil were awarded The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) prestigious award for the best sports startup in India for the year 2015.

Is it not strange that we only start appreciating our spouse or child after the world bestows honour on them? Probably being in such close proximity to our loved ones, we see the blemishes more clearly than the glow, the thorn more than the flower.

As the applause grows so does my curiousity. 
I analysed the courageous, and daring journey of these two remarkable young men who are just a tad over the age of 30. Looking at the passion, the professional, courteous and dignified approach to life, reinforces my hope that the future of the world is an optimistic one. 
Given an opportunity it is amazing what youth can achieve.

Four years ago, these two football lovers and their friends, could not find any suitable place to play. 

One evening a frustrated Pavit said, "Dad, its so sad that NIkhil and I, who come from well off families, can not find places to play, what then must be the fate of the average Indian child?" 

"So what do you want do about it?" I asked.
"I don't know what, but we will do something about it", replied Pavit.

Four months later he came back to me and said, "Nikki and I are going to set up and operating world class Futsal, venues to provide affordable play spaces and sports education for children and young adults."
"What exactly is it you are trying to do?" I asked
"Dad, in a nutshell, we want to do good."

Soon thereafter they set up Hotfut with their first venue on a piece of uncultivated farmland almost right in the middle of the city. Since then has never stopped having fun and setting up multiple venues across several cities.

I always looked at sport as something to be with friends and to remain healthy. Never looked at it as a means of education. But when prestigious soccer schools from across the world started approaching Hotfut for setting up soccer academies, it was an eye opener.

Soccer and other sports education is not merely about play and health but also a very powerful way of building character and confidence in people.

Sports education consists of four elements

• Technical
• Physical
• Social 
• Psychological

In India we have focussed only on the technical aspects of sport, but rarely on the other three aspects. As a result India rarely produces accomplished sportspersons.

Sport is much about building intellectual, spiritual and physical strength as it is for technique and style. 

This is why Hotfut's tie-up with the prestigious UK based Arsenal School of soccer is a key to in-school programs to catch and develop young people.

With sport, children often evolve into productive, responsible, happy adults. I look back at my school mates and realised that all those who were active in sport, seem to be healthier, happier and generally more successful in their professional and personal lives. 

It is a proven fact that no matter what career a person pursues, sports people generally perform better. But where are we going with sport in India? Hardly anywhere, because, there is a dearth of facilities, access to available facilities, and manner of managing the field of sport.

An awesome aspect is the work that Hotfut Foundation, the non profit NGO of Hotfut does in bringing play spaces and high quality sports education to the underprivileged child.

With several venues launched, each with a footfall of approximately 10,000 footfalls, Hotfut has spawned a vibrant and loyal community. Hotfut is where friends and competitors gather, play football and cricket, to blow off steam and generally have fun. 

As Neeraj succinctly put it, Hotfut is a place people come to discover themselves.