DEAR NARENDRA MODI

Dear Narendra Modi,

I wondered when you touched the entrance of Parliament devoutly the other day. You took it as a holy place but I consider it a dirty place. The land of Parliament does not become holy within seconds just because you became the Prime Minister of India. Hundreds of criminals entered it earlier with evil forces of immorality, corruption and filth. Still there are many sinners in it. You are not making laws to benefit the innocent and the poor but the influential and the manipulative. When scores of such selfish and narrow-minded idiots are sitting in Parliament, how can it be considered holy by you? Ordinary Indians are not at all interested in what is happening in Parliament because it is not working for them but millionaires and billionaires in India and other countries.

You are an admirable person and politician in BJP but not most of others working under your leadership. They have been and will continue to be rogues. They indulge in corrupt and immoral dealings as long as they are in power because they are not interested in developing India but themselves. You are like a stainless star among a number of criminals and sinners. Can you ever state that everybody working under the banner of BJP is a righteous person in all respects? You are leading a bad party with good motives. If everybody in this country has patriotism and dedication like you to develop India, working hard continuously, we can see developed India in near future but that is not the situation in India now. Everybody is interested in exploiting others for his rapid development.

We generally institute regulatory bodies like ICAI to establish and practice norms needed for development of our regions but almost all of these regulatory bodies in India are corrupt to the core. CAs advise companies and individuals how to evade tax and become rich and influential in a short period of time. I don’t believe that election commission and ACB are working with utmost freedom and honesty. Take any regulatory body in India. It is fundamentally wrong in delivering its scheduled services.

Corruption is prevalent in almost every region in various ways. Crores of public money is being misused every year. Only those, who can fight for their rights patiently, are getting justice after years. Hopeless and helpless Indians are not resorting to courts of law for justice but praying God to bless them with death at the earliest.

I am not living in a kingdom of Lord Rama but a place where opportunists and criminals are being treated like kings and queens and the honest and the hard-working ones are being treated like worthless objects. In this bleak scenario, I believe, you can achieve very little in the years to come. It is not just enough if a leader is ideal and visionary, but his followers must also possess these qualities. How many of your MPs and ministers have qualities like you? Even if you take the best decisions, they defeat your ideals and vision directly or indirectly. You are like a holy cow among many dangerous brutes. You utilize your authority to serve the people of India substantially but your team members use such authority to earn money and become rich fast. What is known publicly is very little. Crores of money is changing hands regularly in India. It is a strongly established hierarchical process wherein everybody gets his or her share of corrupt money or assets based on his or her status in that chain of authorities.

Corruption and disorders are prevalent in India like mosquitoes and darkness at night. You want to reform such India into a vibrant place of wonders. On one hand you are selling tobacco products and alcohol to Indians for the tax income being generated from it and on the other hand you are talking about the welfare of Indians. Are you improving or ruining the lots of Indians this way? You want to collect money from the dead bodies of drunkards, prostitutes and idealists alike in the form of taxes and other legalized penalties. You want to provide political idiots with a number of facilities and leave the poorest of the poor in pathetic conditions forever.

When millions of Indians are suffering with various problems across this holy land of India, your President and other ministers are living comfortably in public places. Are you living for ordinary Indians or exploiting the public money for the luxuries of politicians and ministers? A true Indian leader should live in slums among mosquitoes and filth to understand and empathize with their plight like Mother Teresa or Mahatma Gandhi? How many of your MPs and ministers have these qualities? You want to change India with such rogues and dullards around you. For years, Indians are disgusted with the acts and activities of politicians. They stopped believing in their deceitful words. They are accustomed to lies. They are patient enough to bear any kind of physical or mental problems. The politicians before your reign trained, kept and made them so during the last 60 years. How can they believe in you even if you speak the truth? They saw devils and demons ruling India. They can’t trust even God in this condition.

The development of India is not in the hands of persons like you now but in their collective lot. You wish to expand national highways for development of trade and commerce but what if those roads are laid and maintained badly by corrupt contractors and illegal agents. In every corner of India, what you can find immediately without much research or analysis is disorder and disappointment.

Indians strongly believe that India does not develop fast as it happens in the USA or China. They have been experiencing such hard times since independence to India. As they have no many expectations from you, try doing something. We are not discussing India now because it was made thoroughly corrupt and restless for years. You cannot change it rapidly. We are talking about you only because you are a great Indian like Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. Even if there won’t be improvement in our lives because of you becoming the prime minister of India, we are, at least, happy thinking that a gentleman and challenger is ruling India now. We like you and your qualities and not those found in Indians or India now? We are in a pit of desperation and gloom. You cannot pull us out of it. A political system, which got ruined over a period of 60 years, cannot be transformed to the better within a few months or weeks.  So, democracy is a big failure in India. Don’t ever praise democracy in Indian format.

Hundreds of idiots are ruining India every day and night making and selling harmful products to educated and uneducated people alike. I am unable to see quality anywhere in anything now except in hope and death. They are selling adulterated milk, wrongly ripened fruits, harmful dishes and drinks…India became the storehouse of all wrong kinds of foods and drinks. Coca Cola and Pepsi are selling quite useless beverages to majority Indians over the years. Can you ban such foods and drinks in India? Every Indian must get the best food and drink only to consume in any corner of the nation, not even one harmful product like cigarette, tobacco powder or dirty snacks. When can you make India so? Lakhs of cases are pending at various courts of law in India? When can you get them cleared? In India, victims are dying faster than lawyers and judges. It shows the inefficiency of police and legal systems in India. They treat you like a VIP and me as a worthless guy because I am not the prime minister of India. When all citizens are treated and guided kindly and properly by various government agencies, people can believe in such governments and their governance. Merely talking greatly on a stage on some occasions does not help you develop India. Avoid observing formalities and start changing the realities in our societies and cultures.

Criminals are not scared of the police or legal system in India now because they are in favor of them everywhere. You cannot play all roles to change India fast but you must ensure that everybody plays his or her role perfectly in every part of India. If you can change the fundamental structures and procedures of governance, perhaps, you may be able to change India a little in your present tenure as the prime minister of India. Do your ministers cooperate you in this mission? They are accustomed to bribery and adulteration of systems for years? Do they change immediately for your sake? All states and union territories are neck-deep with huge financial burdens? The heads of these systems are always looking towards the central government for financial assistance? You cannot satisfy all of them donating whatever they ask you for because you cannot print money hugely based on their demands. They have no financial capacity or genuine interest to develop their states or places? India cannot be developed in these circumstances. You cannot inject development and happiness into the lives of Indians when they cannot change to the better at their levels in various places.  Thus you have an ordeal ahead of you. You will remain as a helpless and solitary pedestrian on the path of progress because you alone are dreaming and walking in that direction now! 

Political parties survive based on donations and patronage from different business entities and individuals in a nation. Any Indian entrepreneur or individual does not join your political party unless they benefit from it somehow someday. It means you are accepting donations from the worst idiots also in India. Such immoral and illegal rogues only have huge money to donate and satisfy you adequately. You are encouraging such business entities in every part of India. They are the biggest villains in your way of ideals and achievements. If you aim at goodness, they spoil it with weapons of badness aimed at you. They are not ready to change. All large scale industries and units are unbelievably corrupt in India. Ordinary people cannot get jobs in them. Most of the temples and other abodes of worship are also corrupt and unholy in India. Everything has a price there, including the service of worship coordinated by a temple priest. It means in India all are doing business now but not service. Can you change the mindsets of these many scoundrels just like that? Then how can you change India rapidly?

In these circumstances, I have a few more points of caution for you. Mind them and lead India bravely.

1. Even the most helpless and poor Indian must be able to live happily in India because this is a holy land and nobody should suffer from lack of food and security. Can you touch the lives of the poorest of the poor?

2. Educational system deteriorated to the worst levels in almost every part of India. Reservations for SC and ST communities largely lead to this crisis. If I am being treated specially like an adopted son from birth to death, why should I bother to learn or teach anything perfectly? The state and central governments look after me everywhere. Since there is no spirit of challenge and competition among these social sects, they are ruining the systems of governance and learning to the most possible extent. They gradually entered all fields of public administration. They are drawing others from their communities to those positions of power and benefits. Those, who have great intelligence and drive to work, are remaining beyond the system because of these reservations. Can you ask these brothers and sisters of you to live independently without depending on reservations at all?

3. Contractors are exploiting public money hugely in almost every part of India. If I am a contractor, I charge 1000 rupees for a minor public work of 200 rupees. You are paying me all that money just because it is public money and not yours. If it is your money, and if you earned it after years of struggle, you would certainly spend it carefully. Public money is not owned by one but many rogues and criminals in India. They transfer that money to other criminals and sinners in society. Politicians are those mediators in India now. I release any amount of money even for a worthless project if the contractor is my brother or cousin. How can you control outflow of huge public money this way? Have you courage and efficacy to regulate this mighty kingdom of contractors in India?

4. God is in me. I should not search for God outside. Check how many temples are there in India now? Millions of rogues are frequenting these abodes of worship every day and night? Why should I go to Tirupati to worship Lord Venkateshwara there only if I know that God is everywhere and He can bless me from any place if I always remain virtuous? We are preparing sinners building these many temples every year. They are going to temples for formality sake. If I regularly go to a temple, I get the image of a pious person. If I often go to a brothel, I get the image of a sinner. This is how Indians are attributing qualities to others now in India? They assess and appreciate anything looking at its surface level. They don’t think deeply about anything. They have no time to think about real issues and try to resolve them but only to criticize others always! They are lazy and shallow sinners at their level. Their count may be one billion approximately. Are you a wizard to change all of them applying your leadership qualities? When ordinary people do not change, development does not take place anywhere fast. Leaving these many ordinary Indians in their ditches of stupidity and superstitions, how can you change India?

5. In India, what you can find everywhere abundantly is problems and problem makers but not ones interested in resolving them at their level. If there is dirt on my shirt, I wait for my wife to come and clean it because God did not create me to do such mean things but others only. If you advise my wife to change me slowly, she quarrels with you saying ‘Why don’t you tell the same to him directly?’ You don’t/cannot tell many things to me directly for various reasons. So, direct communication is not much possible in India. You know who are causes of corruption and unrest in India but you do not talk with them directly. You ask police, IT or BSF folks to change India mediating in this critical process. They feel “We cannot change India. Modi also cannot change India. Even God cannot change India”. The same is the case with creators of black money also. Why do you ask the folks of Swiss banks to return that black money but not your rich Indians to take back that money and put it in your bag of idealism directly? Tell them that you want to develop India and so their black money is also needed in this mission. If you can change them with your words or acts, you can certainly change India.

Ordinary people do not listen to you because they are ignorant and innocent. Educated and rich ones also don’t listen to you because they are very intelligent and manipulative. It means nobody is willing to change readily now in India even after you became the prime minister of India. It means only you are treating Parliament as a holy piece of land but not I or other Indians like me. Since you became prime minister and can enjoy various privileges in that position, you are blissful now. When we are very happy, even criminals and sinners look like gods and goddesses to us everywhere. Since you frequent to Parliament, those idiots and rogues are appearing like deities to you. It is because of ‘conscious illusion disorder’. When you stop practicing formalities like other prime ministers and presidents, and start experiencing and changing bitter realities, you would start thinking about India, not Gujarat alone. You could change your home state working hard for many years because you know your people to some extent. Can you tackle the rulers and people of all other states and union territories also in that manner as you did in Gujarat?

Questions and doubts expressed by others make us think and act differently. Some of these questions posed to you above are to alert you in this direction. If you find accurate answers to these common questions of many in India at theory level at least, you can jump into practice of it later, slowly.

I respect you as Narendra Modi alone, not as an entity of BJP or Gujarat. BJP or Gujarat did not change you but you changed their images to a great extent being associated with them for long. That is the quality of a true leader. If you can make such leaders in your government and India extensively, perhaps they can help you change India fast.

There are many things to share with you from my end but I cannot do all of it in one go. I may not write to you again because I lost enthusiasm for India and Indians after seeing 90 rogues around 10 virtuous beings. When 10 good Indians are struggling hard to improve India, 90 evil Indians are trying harder to deface and damage it. In this setting, how can I believe that Narendra Modi or I can change India just with a set of virtues in mind and body?

Before concluding, I advise you to shave your beard completely every day and colour your hair black continuously. Many young Indians are living and dying like old people in India. Though you look old considering your bodily age, you are a dynamic and energetic young Indian when I assess your spirit of patriotism and passion for this nation. Your present look of body is not fitting this psychological status and brilliance of your mind. So, you should appear all Indians with a clean shave and coloured black hair hereafter. If you think you are an old and worthless prime minister like Manmohan Singh, without individuality and self-respect of your own, I don’t mind how you look at all.

HOW TO EXPRESS IT?

There is a long distance between feeling and expression of it. There are many thoughts, emotions, passions, ideas and fancies in us but we fail to express most of them for various reasons. Expression is an outlet of our hidden feelings, which helps us relieve ourselves of that concealed psychological burden. I believe that 50% of our innermost thoughts and notions are remaining unexpressed forever. I share some of my notions and experiences in this regard. You too have them. Feel them. Try if you can express them someday. I think it is very difficult!

1. Lakshmi was the first innocent and impressive beauty that attracted me when I was 17 or so. Their house was just opposite ours though a little far. We fell into silent and secret love with each other unknowingly. When I knew that she was getting married soon, I wrote a letter and posted it. The postman was considerably familiar to me and the father of that girl. He returned that letter to me shortly. I don’t know whether this postman read this letter or her father. My intended creature did not receive it. There were many feelings of admiration and psychic attachment between her and me. I could not reach them to her properly even to this day. Void thus spread between us. I am talking a lot of nonsense with a number of creatures daily about quite unnecessary things also but I failed doing it effectively with the one whom I admired a lot. Expression in words is more concrete than other forms of it.

2. My parents struggled a lot to bring me and my two brothers up. I saw, felt and experienced those times. I always feel grateful to them for what they did and are doing now for our happiness and welfare. Their affection and care is so pure and deep for us that we often fail language to express it. Can we express it in a few words or a few acts? If I give fruits and snacks favourable to them regularly, would it fill that need felt by me intensely? How can I assess the value of their love and attachment for me to repay it in a proper order? I am working and living for myself. They are living and working for us more than themselves. Theirs is selfless and unconditional love. I may not be the best man in this world from many perspectives to many close and distant observers but I always look so to my parents. Their love is blind and irrational as parents towards us? I often fail to express my sense of gratitude to them for all that.

3. My elder brother Srinivas enabled me to enter the University of Hyderabad and study there for two years. He may not have expressed his sense of love and affection for me in different ways so far for some reasons but he has a lot of warmth and love for me. I can feel it as his brother. I too often feel to say or do something to express my sense of affection for him but failed to do it till now. Feeling is intense but expression is zero. I never told him how much I love him because I take it as an uneasy and avoidable affair altogether. Being unable to express our love to the close and related ones is really a big challenge for all of us. It is more so when we fail to do towards our siblings also.

4. My brother Sambha is the pillar of our family. He thinks and does something good and visionary minding the welfare of our family. He is not as educated as me but he can handle different kinds of people better than me. He is logical and practical in understanding and treating people. I am sensitive and ideal in many respects. He expresses his bitter or sweet feelings towards others instantly to settle the matter there and then itself. I don’t do so presuming that others might get hurt. He is my hope and guide as an affectionate and loving brother. I think God often equips us with the kind of people we need to survive happily. We fail to identify and appreciate them just because they are very close and unbelievably helpful to us. We think we need not express it. Often we fail to express it properly.

5. Often I see extraordinary beauties on roads, in buses, trains, bus stations, railway stations and elsewhere. Their beauty impresses me deeply. I think ‘what an exceptional beauty?’ Her financial status may be low. Her standard of living might be quite ordinary. Her social status may be negligible. Beauty is God’s gift. It may be anywhere. It does not come to us searching for us. We must go there. It is a blessing of God in nature. The presence, voice, appearance and characters of many beautiful girls and women impress me deeply. They are not related to me directly or indirectly. They are not accessible to me. Above all, in a democratic country like India, I should respect the rights and privileges of many creatures around me. Talking something to an unknown person is, in a way, violating their fundamental rights. If they don’t like it, they may take it offensive and insulting. My sense of admiration and appreciation often fails voice in these contexts. Beauties are remaining passive and dull for these reasons in almost every part of the world. We should not wish to possess every beauty we see but we must be able to express a few words at least because it may be a source of inspiration to them. Can we imagine such an ideal world where anybody can publicly or privately express his or her sense of celebration and appreciation to the other?

6. As a regular viewer of Telugu feature films, I feel very impressed by the beauty, dresses, dance and performance of many actresses and character artistes. I am just able to reach the images of those extraordinary performers but not the actual persons to say or write something personally. I have many notions of admiration and appreciation towards many actors and actresses and many others that appear on film screens but failed to express them so far. I have words to speak or write but no accessibility to those for whom I intend them. A multitude of feelings and emotions are getting buried in my inner self only for this reason. They are beautiful and inspiring creations of God. I am their admirer like many living in this world. There is a long distance between them and me. It’s vacuum and void for me.

7. I passively watch some Telugu television serials in the evenings while my wife does it actively as a habit. I am pressed for time though I like watching television like anything. The beauty, facial expressions, acting skills of many actresses in these serials is so attractive and impressive to me that I think that they are far better than many famous actresses on silver screen. I equally like the looks and performance of many male performers in these serials and other programs. I could not reach my sense of admiration to them so far because their contact details are not easily accessible. Many of them may not even care our emails or messages because of their busy personal or professional lives. Expression not acknowledged by others often insults or hurts us. This is one of the major reasons why many do not express their feelings at all. One person’s response or reaction towards us might impact our overall impression about the creatures in a field of activity or business. Thus, one idiot spoils the image of a whole industry; be it politics, cinema, drama or television. My love for those appearing on television never got an expression.

8. Even as an employee, I often find it difficult to say something to one that I like for their beauty or skills. We cannot talk as freely as we can with the creature of our gender with those of opposite gender. Feminism is one of the reasons. Now girls and women are opting for more space and privacy than those in the past. Boys and men developed many fears and doubts about them for this reason. We find considerable beauties in almost every workplace we come across in our careers. They may not be close to us but we feel a sense of gratitude or admiration towards them for many reasons. We don’t even talk with many in our offices and companies. Then where is space for expression of our feelings and notions! They are waiting to hear something from us because almost everybody craves decent identity and ideal appreciation. A bridge is there between them and us forever. We see them daily. We feel a lot of admiration for them. We feel like expressing it one day. That day never comes. What a pity?

9. Many consider a writer or an artist immoral because he or she admires many around him or her except his or her spouse! Proximity entails contempt. My wife never felt like taking a photo or video for me when I look handsome in a pair of clothes on some days at least. The other day I deliberately told her ‘You never felt like taking a photo for me with our camera. You have time to watch television, beautify yourself and do many such things but never time to capture me with our camera’. She felt guilty and insulting like any typical Indian wife in relation to her good husband’s rational questions! She is taking photos now and then now after my hint. A husband asking his wife to take his photos is a matter of pity really. I felt it. I take her photos almost every day if time permits me. I have passion for beauty, just not my wife or my daughter. I feel it and wish to store it in some form. She may be a beauty but not an admirer of beauty as deeply as me. Just because she did not take my photos intuitively, I cannot underestimate her sense of admiration or affection for me. Many wives and husbands feel a lot of love towards their spouses but fail to express it nominally or substantially. Veturi Sundara Rama Murthy, a Telugu film lyricist, wrote hundreds of extraordinary songs appreciating beauties but I don’t know how much he did so towards his wife. Ilayaraja is a master of divine music. He created masterpieces to make Indian cinema an abode of excellence and heavenly joy. I don’t know if he created a few music notes to appreciate his wife. S P Bala Subrahmanyam sang and is singing classic songs for all of us Indians. I don’t know if he sang any song exclusively for his wife. Director Raja Mouli makes highly inspiring and touching Telugu feature films working hard like a mad man for any length of time even without finding time to shave his beard at times. I don’t know if he ever expressed his extraordinary sense of love to his wife. Life partners are close to us. We often don’t feel like doing something specially for them. We do many things for others but not for those who are sources of our energy and hope. We think they feel it naturally. Even if we feel like sharing that feeling, we fail words or acts. It is something we cannot express but only feel.

10. I like my son Anand and daughter Sankeerthana. They are considerably impressive in their looks. I kiss them and hug them often to express my sense of love for them because they accept it without questions, doubts and apprehensions. Sankeerthana is sum of inspiring beauty and softness right now for me compared to the other two, my son and wife. I should express more love and sensitivity towards my son and daughter spending more time with them and talking more with them. I am not doing it. I am behaving like a guest with them since I am an automated employee now. I think we can express our sense of love satisfactorily towards children and pets to much extent than towards others because they accept our expression positively and silently. I am not expressing my love towards my wife as deeply as I do towards my children because she is an adult. She has responsibilities, volatile moods and specific individuality. We don’t express our love much towards those, who have ability to interpret our love in some manner, depending on their mood or character. All wives and husbands are victims from this regard. Imagine my kissing and hugging all those beauties, whom I admire, just because I have no words to express to them. It would be considered immoral, illegal and avoidable from the perspectives of many creatures in a civilized society. We must express our love towards those only, who belong to us mostly. This is how adults remain victims always.

11. We saw an extraordinary painting in a foreign country drawn by an ordinary artist and put in a studio. We felt like sharing a few words of appreciation with him or her instantly. He or she was not there. We don’t have their address. We don’t know their language. We cannot write well. We may not go there again. It may not be there always. Nobody is bothered about our sensitive inner feelings of this sort except us. Often we feel this pain.

12. A boss came to our company recently. His salary and privileges are very high in comparison to ours. We soon understood that he or she is almost a worthless person. He or she is being treated very specially because of his or her closeness to the owner of that company. He or she is acting too much before us, insulting us through words or acts, directly or indirectly. We are bearing with him or her regularly considering our helplessness. In fact, our feelings towards her or his character are as follows, “Idiot. What do you know? Why are you insulting me daily like this? You are a loafer, nasty rogue and stupid fellow. When do you go away from here? I should kick your back. I should drag you on road until my energy permits. You know you are a worthless nut but why do you act differently?” Can any subordinate express his or her notions towards his or her boss this way in his or her lifetime while working in a business entity? Even our negative notions don’t find an expression in many events or circumstances of life or profession. We bear with them. We shun them when we go away from those, whom we hate for many reasons.

13. We are driving a new car for the first time, having bought it after a long struggle and pain. We are feeling excessive joy out of that experience then. One sat beside us for formality sake that morning. He is not close to us. We cannot share our experience of joy with him that time or with the vehicle directly. That feeling is intense and one that never repeats. How do we express it? How can we store it to feel in future? Many such valuable and highly important moments in our lives get lost like snow in the sun. We cannot recollect or regain them later.

14. A cute baby is crawling in the portion beside mine. My son, who recently entered six years of age, felt like playing with her. The mother of that baby does not like children of that age playing with her baby at all because the latter does not know how to handle babies. My son eagerly waited to play with her for many days but his desire never got fulfilled. He was always kept at a distance. Soon that family moved into another house far away from that place. My son could not forget that cute baby and the precious moments he desired to spend with her innocently. Even after years, those memories chased him. It’s pain created by him for no reason. This is an hypothesis. Innocent and ideal people are the worst victims in terms of expression of love towards others in this world. They wait for a suitable moment to do it, not knowing that such moments never occur. We have many such sad stories with us.

15. An old man is coming to our house regularly expecting something from us for his survival. Quite unfortunately, every time he comes to our house, we are not finding anything in our house to offer him. Soon we knew that he died in his village. We feel pain though he is not related to us. Every human being feels a sense of belongingness towards all those living around him but often fails to express it. Various circumstances block him from reaching his sense of love for the other some way. We suffer when we get the news of accidents and deaths because we love them. Can we ever express those feelings of pain to them personally in any manner? Never! There is much physical and psychological distance between them and us in this material world with many limitations but still we feel it.

16. There is a beauty just opposite my abode. Her parents talk with mine. My brothers talk with her brothers. She likes me a lot. I am ready to die for her. We are always looking at each other. We are counting every minute to find an occasion to meet. Such occasion never came. She got married and went away. Since then I have been suffering almost every day and night recalling those moments of separation and segregation. Their parents did not block our accessibility. My brothers never knew that I felt so towards her. In many events, others don’t realize that we are suffering silently for something or somebody. Admiration and affection bother us silently. We weave a web of psychic attachment with the other secretly. It always remains a secret. She died after some years. I too died after some more years. Nobody knew that a heavenly love story ran there between those creatures in those times. Many occurrences in this world do not find a place in written records of history. It’s a tradition of pains and sufferings in almost every civilization in every age. Pains and tragedies remained unknown to many forever.

17. One of our close friends committed suicide one night jumping off a bridge into a river. We read about it in a newspaper. We are not in touch with him for many years now. We remember him partially recollecting those moments of friendship at primary school. We suffer silently knowing about that death. We don’t be in touch with many of our well-wishers, relatives and friends for lack of time and due to pressures of our lives and professions. It does not mean that we are not in love with all of them. Psychologically they are all within us. We feel them quite often. We experience grief and a sense of loss when they disappear one day from this material world. We may not be able to access them physically but our mind does it silently. Pain has no expression in such contexts.

18. A social activist struggled a lot for the development of our region. We benefited and delighted a lot because of all that he did for all of us selflessly. He is very close to us. He cordially invites anybody that comes to his abode of social service. We have much time to go and greet him but we never did so. We always postponed practice of that good thought. One day he died of a heart attack. They are taking his dead body through our street. Excessive burden of remorse and pain engulfed our mind because he is no more alive to go and greet. We are crying in our house remembering the exemplary service he rendered to our place having come from a foreign country or a distant state. Nobody consoles or pities us then because we are suffering privately in our abode recalling a blunder we committed earlier. There are hundreds of idealists and thinkers around us struggling daily, intellectually or psychologically, for our welfare or happiness. We seldom or never express our sense of gratitude and appreciation to them. We are praising worthless politicians, nasty businessmen, selfish blokes and brainless rogues on many occasions for formality or helplessness sake but how many of us are really expressing our heart of goodness towards those that are building this society silently? No society or culture survives or spreads without the great efforts of a few always.

Expression is where we fail regularly. Many things, persons and incidents move us deeply. At times we cry silently thinking about quite unrelated things or persons. Our life is short and sensitive. The next moment is an imagination. God equipped us with everything we need to live as a creature of struggle and suffering. There are reasons to make us suffer and solutions to keep us happy getting away from them. There are people waiting to see and talk with us. We are thinking that they have no time or interest to spend with us.

There are extraordinary beauties of nature. They are craving our presence silently. We don’t need money always to make our life comfortable. It is enough if we can feel based on what is there before us. Expression makes us active and meaningful participants in the long and exciting drama of God. He gave us capabilities of expression. We are not using our voice, eyes or hands to express it somehow. Others don’t expect us to be extraordinary performers but just an honest and simple expression is also enough. Expression is many times stronger and valuable than that which remained as a feeling only within us. Feeling is ice. Expression is water. Both are necessary in the flow of life.

Expression is for beautifying our lives sharing the joy or pain of our existence with others somehow. Everybody has pain and joy in his or her life. Don’t feel that others are not expecting anything from you. Perhaps they must be waiting for something to hear from you. Express it as simply or as greatly as you can afford it based on your possibilities and circumstances. Expression is important in many contexts than the point of how it is expressed.

If you don’t express it today, he may not be there tomorrow in your access.

If you don’t express it at this very moment, she may not appear to you again.

If you fail to express it in this lifetime, he or she may not come into contact with you in the next lifetime of you.

CRITICISM

Criticism is saying or writing something about something or somebody. The critic’s purpose may be to find out the faults in others or simply to appreciate them but mostly many of us take the word ‘criticism’ as something that signifies blame and insult. Everybody criticizes and becomes object of criticism sometime or the other in one’s lifetime. Criticism is the fundamental characteristic of humans. They continuously feel forced to criticize others. We are so accustomed to criticism that we find somebody that never criticizes anybody on any ground as someone with abnormality instead of stoicism. There is the practice of literary criticism also in which one shares his comments on the merits and demerits of a work of art, artist, a period of time or an age with distinct characteristics. Many times, when we appreciate others, out of our affection and respect towards them, they may interpret it wrongly and take it as criticism intended for insulting or irritating them directly or indirectly. Interpretation of others’ words and expressions is a difficult assignment altogether. It leads to misunderstanding and conflicts in families and societies regularly. Since most of the human beings, living on this earth planet, are sensitive to a great extent, they cannot accept criticism as easily as they can do with appreciation. In fact, most of us are thinking and doing a lot just for recognition and appreciation by others, but not to satisfy our individual interests or egos alone.

Generally the status of a person allows him or her to criticize others or be an object of criticism.

1. Parents often criticize their children even for negligible mistakes. They think that they have an authority to do so and correct them but children get hurt frequently because of such insensitive behavior of their parents and elders. Some typical statements by parents and elders are: a. You have no discipline. b. Just do what I said. c. Don’t tell lies. d. You are not listening to me. e. You have got a bad gang of friends. f. You have no focus on your studies. g. You should know how to organize your things. h. You are wasting your valuable time. In fact, parents fail to do many of the things they dictate to their children at homes. Since children are vulnerable creatures as dependents on the mercy of their parents, they generally don’t talk back with them. Every day a lot of abuse is taking place across the country against children from parents. Outsiders neglect such nuisance considering it a family affair.

2. Superiors often criticize their subordinates in workplaces, both in private and public and organized and unorganized sectors, almost in every country. One with lower designation and less earning capability in comparison to the other allows the other to criticize one. Some insensitive and immoral bosses make it a habit to criticize their staff almost regularly. They think that they can achieve great results just only by scolding others. I know about bosses, who scold any employee just like that, in any place, without minding the self-respect of the other. Those, who appear as great employers in public places are, in fact, known as the worst ones by their employees. Many bosses fail to realize that we cannot change others just by baseless criticism but by generosity and soft language.

3. Criticism is a fundamental characteristic of common people also. They always expect the governments to do great things for them. They think very little and work at their level to change to the better. Their criticism generally includes: a. Everybody is corrupt in the government (Are you living doing the right things only in the right manner always as an individual?). b. They are doing jobs just for their salaries and other benefits but not out of service attitude towards common people (What are you doing without expecting anything from others in your family, community or region?) c. Politicians are earning crores of rupees and many assets looting public money (How many of you are questioning and beating them publicly when they come to your places to talk nonsense? If you have no guts to do it, who will do it for you?) d. The prices of all commodities increased a lot (Are you selling your goods at the cheapest prices to all before questioning others?) e. They are distributing liquor, money and other gifts to woe voters during times of election (Why are you taking from them when you know that it is wrong, illegal and avoidable?) It means the common are habitual critics in almost every country. They cannot lead their lives without criticizing the governments or others. They appear as the worst blokes from this perspective, blocking progress!

4. Media, police and judiciary are also actively engaged in the pursuit of criticism. They often criticize various sections of people and systems around them but seldom follow moral standards and values at their level. Why should newspapers be distributed by boys of little age if legally child labour is an offence, about which media talks a lot on public platforms and in their own periodicals and on television channels? Police tell us many rules before subjecting us to some case on some ground but how many of them are doing duties as per the law made for them? Lawyers and judges talk a lot about virtues and constitutional doctrines in courts of law at various levels but how many lawyers and judges are being punished on this holy land of India for the kinds of wrongdoings and misdeeds they are involved in? We are all actually scared of these entities because they have no standards of their own. 

Criticism can be broadly categorized as shallow criticism and constructive criticism. Most of what we discussed above is shallow criticism. It is casual, baseless, immoral and illegal to the core. They do it against anybody or anything just like that, without thinking much why they are behaving so. Progressive change does not take place due to shallow criticism. It is useful to vent our suppressed feelings, ulterior motives, grudges, false prestige and egos but not to reform a person, a society or an organization. It is present almost everywhere, even in temples. Can we think a priest, who professes morals and standards to his devotees or followers, never criticizes others without a strong reason? Like air and sky, shallow criticism pervades all parts of human habitations. It is like an inevitable infection among humans. I criticize you because somebody else criticized me a little while ago. You criticize somebody else because you cannot aim it at me immediately for some reasons. He or she, the third person, criticizes others to satisfy his or her hurt complex immediately to some extent at least. It is a chain of events spreading from one to one slowly but powerfully. Let’s examine some examples to understand shallow criticism better.

1. Teachers often criticizing their students projecting the latter as undisciplined and foolish blokes.

2. Superiors criticizing their subordinates presenting them as irresponsible, irregular and worthless idiots.

3. Police criticizing criminals and prostitutes stating that the latter have no fear of law and order system.

4. Celebrities criticizing media folks as immoral ones when something is shown or written about them somewhere.

5. Customers criticizing shopkeepers for selling fake goods and offering inefficient services now and then.

6. Family members criticizing each other for the faults committed by each of them regularly.

7. Politicians criticizing the folks of other parties as if they are the followers of Lord Rama or Satya Harischandra!

8. Drunkards criticizing the governments and liquor stores for looting their hard-earned money indirectly.     

Shallow criticism often sounds as unbearable nuisance and nonsense to external observers because it happens in various forms around them regularly and they have no authority to directly interfere in it and stop it on the spot. It is just aiming a few abusive words at others without expecting any positive results from that pursuit. It is an outlet for our stupidity, eccentricity and foolishness. It presents us to others as worthless idiots at times but we don’t mind it. It tarnishes our image to a great degree but we ignore it until a disaster occurs. Shallow criticism harms us powerfully. Let’s check some basic qualities of shallow criticism. It must help us to be away from that dangerous disease.

1. Shallow criticism mostly emerges from persons of low standards and values.

2. It further ruins the existing unhealthy environment, adding fuel to fire.

3. It can be done by anybody, anytime, anywhere and it means that it is a tool of any fool or rogue.

4. Others take it easy or neglect altogether because it is the weapon of narrow-minded and cowardly blokes.

5. It points out problems and causes for something wrong or bad but not solutions to get rid of them forever.

6. We don’t need intelligence, creativity or generosity to do it but a little ignorance and a lot of carelessness.

7. It hurts people immediately but the negative results may surface after a week, a year or a decade.

8. It is an easily prepared weapon of weak persons aimed at helpless and vulnerable ones in access.

So, shallow criticism is a devil among us. It attacks us anytime. We must train ourselves to get rid of it as much as possible; the early the better. We must cultivate the habit of offering and accepting constructive criticism to improve ourselves continuously towards being better human beings day by day. Criticism allows us to rate ourselves well.

Constructive criticism aims at both identifying the problem softly and solving it pleasantly and intelligently as early as possible. It is necessary for intellectual and cultural change of an individual, a society, a company or a country. Constructive criticism does not take place as frequently as shallow criticism because it is an intelligent and planned tool of those possessing the qualities of idealism, generosity, social reformation and spiritual transformation. It recognizes both the good and bad qualities in others equally and treats both alike before trying to further change them to the next level of transformation. Kindness, broad thinking, intelligence, strategy, universal fraternity, unconditional love lead one towards understanding and practicing constructive criticism towards others. It is inclusive culture aiming at larger goals, which take a lot of time and efforts from all those involved in it. It is an open platform whereon everybody gets a chance to speak out the truth as understood by him or her. Nobody suppresses the other based on designation or status but facilitates a holistic culture to respect and develop all equally utilizing their skills and experiences in the long run. Constructive criticism illuminates our lives slowly because its fundamental motive is ‘positive change through accepting truths’. Let’s examine some examples of this virtue.

1. A doctor advising an obesity victim to avoid all his bad habits, not just taking tablets and tonics.

2. A professor advising his poor student how to change his life beyond the sphere of academic pursuits.

3. A kind jailer showing a way of ideal self-employment to a prisoner going out of that environment.

4. A lawyer holding local camps out of personal interest to educate innocent people on ways of good life.

5. An ideal and intelligent boss conducting classes regularly to improve his employees through his words.

6. A pimp helping a destitute prostitute to live ideally and happily going away from that painful domain.

7. A social activist teaching innocent and helpless people in a region to develop on their own in the long run.  

8. Journalists and thinkers teaching policymakers how to make and implement great policies and acts.

Constructive criticism always does not aim at achieving short-term goals or immediate achievements. Those involved in it realize that every problem does not have an immediate solution. Before advising others, they think deeply or work on issues analytically and logically to find out permanent solutions to them. They want to change others after changing at their level to the maximum possible extent. The base for all the happiness, comforts and development we are witnessing today across the world is constructive criticism. Every great achievement starts from a dream. A lot of time and efforts are needed to take a dream up to the level of its complete achievement. One commits a lot of mistakes in this process or transformation. There must be one, some or many to guide one in this difficult process of discovery and implementation of ideas and innovations. We need a lot of mentoring in our journey from one milestone to another. The guidance of words we desire in this long journey may emerge from a number of people. Sometimes a very poor and foolish person may also offer an extraordinary advice to a billionaire and be the source of inspiration to start a huge kingdom of opportunities and celebrations. Everybody is capable of offering and utilizing constructive criticism. It is enough if they realize that they have that potential and wish to help and develop others also. Constructive criticism looks simple but achieves extraordinary results. We must request others regularly to offer constructive criticism, words to change ourselves positively fast, to improve at our level continuously. Others may, often, hesitate to offer it proactively, being unaware of our outlook and fearing consequences. So, we must take the initiative to seek others to offer advice generously for our improvement.

The following are the characteracteristics of constructive criticism, which we can utilize at our level.

1. Giving others a chance to criticize us so that we can improve at our level in tune to their expectations from us.

2. Change taking place at all levels due to exchange of open advice among participants of a system or society.

3. Nobody gets hurt because everybody is open to know anything from others and change accordingly.

4. It is base for progress and happiness because without sharing inputs from others, we cannot develop much.

5. Status of a person is not important for it but how he or she is trying to address the issue at hand easily.

6. Regular learning is important to offer it because if we don’t learn much, we cannot advise anybody much.

7. Since it aims at welfare of everybody around, there is no scope for grudge, retaliation and pain here much.

8. Constructive criticism never focuses on a victim but on resolution of issues making many such victims.

9. Constructive criticism from interest groups can solve burning issues within seconds also at times.

10. It may emerge from those also whom we identify as the most negligible and helpless ones in our circles.

11. It is a fruit of individual or collective thinking aimed at achievement of ideals meant for all.

12. There must be absolute freedom and culture of encouragement for constructive criticism to emerge much.

13. It should not discuss just the concepts of ‘profit’ and ‘loss’ but ‘good’ and ‘bad’ also compulsorily.

14. Constructive criticism is a result of ideal thoughts and pursuits conducted by those with standards and values.

15. How one can benefit from it depends on various factors like circumstances, just not one’s fate or capabilities.

16. It is like a patient guide leading us towards light from a series of paths and events of darkness and pains.

Before concluding our discussion of criticism, let’s identify some miscellaneous points and observations related to this concept. It helps you know where you are now in this direction and to where you should go, if you want!

1. Just because somebody called you a fool, you are not a fool. Many throw shallow criticism at you like we throw garbage in open places around our houses. Realize that many idiots and rogues also interact with you often. You need not take most of shallow criticism seriously because it hurts you and curtails your growth as an individual.

2. Intelligent and strategic people are those who benefit even from shallow criticism. If many are criticizing you unnecessarily, it means you allowed them to talk nonsense against you just like that. It is time for you to remove the figures of such people from your list of consideration forever. Throw them out. Why idiots as your friends?

3. Shallow criticism hurts you directly or indirectly, now or later. Take it easy. They may have talked so with you in moments of hurry or absentmindedness. Very few have time and interest to talk about you after a deep analysis of your character and life. They are also busy like you. Forgive them readily if they did it without meaning it.

4. Life is a process of challenges, wonders and pains. Don’t expect it to be cool, soft and comfortable always. Your life becomes boring if anybody does not say or write anything about you somewhere. We crave inclusion and participation. When we are among many, anything may happen. Shallow criticism is also one of those petty issues.

5. Constructive criticism need not be always from others only. It emerges from you regularly. Your conscience is the constant source of constructive criticism. Listen to your inner voice of advice always. Respect it. Follow its orders obediently. Self-reformation is surprisingly possible this way. God did not send you into this world like an orphan.

6. Constructive criticism may not be in a lot of words from others. It may be in one or two words also. It’s not just words that matter but who and why told them to you. An extraordinary person’s two words may transform you more powerfully than a thousand words of an ordinary person from your perspective. It depends on how much you value that person also. You have some yardsticks to assess the worth of others. Respect your judgment also often.

7. Sometimes constructive criticism may be as bitter as poison and as sharp as a knife. Perhaps it is something that you never thought would occur sometime in your life. Somebody anyway did it towards you. Don’t cry or spend alone. Accept your faults honestly. Think that God is showing you a way to come out of that pit of filth. Reorient your life according to the essence of constructive criticism offered by that great or ordinary person. Time and tide wait for none. If we fail to assess ourselves well, God does it differently now and then. Be grateful to Him silently.

8. Nobody is born with 100% virtues and related feelings and genes installed in him or her. We take births and rebirths to live our Karma. Don’t worry about disused and misused periods of time in your life or profession. Many are going through those experiences. You have potential to become a saint from the stage of a sinner also. Once the transformation instinct is on in you, you can change your life in unbelievably short time. Just start changing.

9. Constructive criticism need not be always from those that you respect and love a lot but those also whom you never saw. An old torn piece of printed paper may also inspire you and transform you tremendously. Let me put it in a little story, “A billionaire earned a lot of money and assets. He enjoyed every luxury a human can imagine. He experienced every sensuous pleasure we dream of. One day all his kingdom of achievements and bliss collapsed due to a mishap. He despised his life. He is walking alone towards sea to jump in it and die. On the way, he saw a sheet of printed paper floating in air. He caught and read it. It said ‘If you celebrate your life, it is passion. If you sacrifice your life for others, it is mission. If you find your happiness in others’ bliss, it is participation. Man must be a participant in the beautiful game of God. Go and play it again. Never stop playing. I am watching it here’. He ran back to restart his life. He enjoyed that life long and died peacefully among thousands of his well-wishers”. So, ideal participation in this game of God is our role. Let’s play it beautifully to satisfy our creator. Accept life as it prevails.

10. Those that offer you constructive criticism may not be as great as you expect them to be. A pauper who lost everything in his life due to various mistakes and demerits in his outlook may tell you a few words of caution. A doctor, who is suffering from throat cancer because of smoking habit, might advise you never to smoke in life. A shabby saint may advise you not to shun family to reach God through meditation urgently. A flood victim may advise you to learn swimming. We don’t know who advises us when and why without our request or interest. Don’t assess his or her value looking at their appearance or status of living. Perhaps it may be God’s message to you that way. Learn lessons from those also who could not improve their lives applying their intelligence and vision. Every professional needs the help and guidance of other professionals sometimes. They were born to advise you free of cost. You were born to build a treasure of achievements based on those great words from negligible ones!     

If you want to live a life beyond the considerations of shallow and constructive criticism also, there is a path of excellence…that is of silence. Don’t advise anybody. Don’t acknowledge advice from others. Keep doing great things silently. Our achievements speak louder than our words at times. In human history, we can see a number of stars, who shone in their lives through their silent achievements. If words are a cause of disturbance on your way of ideals and achievements, silence is its ornament. You look more attractive to everybody in that status of life also.