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  • From Operations to Architecture: Leveraging Microsoft CoPilot to master TIBCO EMS and FTL

    I have a strong belief that Information Technology Operations is one of the most critical departments of an organization. In a large and multifarious organization like the Canadian Tire Corporation, Information and the systems that this information flows through act as a nervous system of a company. These heterogeneous systems comprise a complex umbrella of various technologies and products. It is the job of an I.T operations team to ensure that these systems work seamlessly, and are always operational. It is no exaggeration to say that the operations team guarantees customers receive continuous value from the services provided by our firm.

    Within this vast and intricate world of I.T Operations, I belong to a team that is responsible for making sure that the TIBCO infrastructure runs smoothly and providing quick resolution of production issues that may impact our real-time services. Resolution of these issues require a deep understanding of the underlying systems that constitute our TIBCO environment. It also requires a holistic understanding of various other technology products and areas that comprise an integrated I.T ecosystem.

    Drawing from over a decade of experience working in TIBCO operations at various organizations, I have come to form a conclusive opinion that the field of operations is tightly integrated with the architectural design on top of which the operations run. To support and troubleshoot the operational problems, it is imperative to learn and be thorough with how the underlying system is structured. In this regard, I would like to present my case as to how Co-Pilot has played a transformative role in bridging the gap of my understanding between TIBCO Operations and TIBCO Architecture. It has fundamentally changed the way I approach the complex incidents that I encounter in managing and maintaining this Middleware infrastructure of which TIBCO is a component.

    Within the broader net of TIBCO operations and TIBCO Architecture, I would like to put forward two interconnected examples that demonstrate a consolidated view of how Microsoft CoPilot acted as an enabler in transforming my comprehension and implementation of day to day work here at DiT team within Canadian Tire.

    Case Study 1 – Understanding the new TIBCO EMS and TIBCO FTL design: Enterprise Messaging Service (EMS) is the messaging backbone of our environment which enables applications to communicate with each other via XML-based messages. These XML based messages contain of the actual payload or business data that the applications process. This workflow is directly linked to the customer-facing services provided across various Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC) channels. The EMS server utilizes destinations like queues and topics to manage messages generated by producer applications and retrieved by consumer applications (primarily BusinessWorks or BW applications in our environment). In our legacy systems, we have been using a standalone EMS system in our production environment running on version 8.4. This legacy configuration does not employ an Active-Standby architectural design, which would otherwise ensure that if the primary EMS crashes, a standby server takes over with minimal to no disruption.

    The design/architecture of EMS / FTL drastically revamped when our entire TIBCO based ecosystem was migrated to a newer version. This was a major shift in building a new set up with both TIBCO BW migrating from the older 6.5 version to the newer 6.10 version and EMS migrating from the older 8.4 version to the newer 10.3 version. The major shift in the set up was the use of TIBCO FTL , acronym of Faster than light, as the foundational backbone of the new EMS. The new setup is called EMS on FTL stores, where FTL provides a synchronization and communication mechanism between the three EMS services that form a Quorum in the new design. Since the architecture was setup by the external HCL team, it seemed an uphill (but an imperative) journey to understand this complicated system design that acts as a bedrock of our operations. This is where CoPilot came to the rescue.

    I regard AI in general, and our CTC based CoPilot as a modern alternative of a book club or discussion forum serving as a space to brainstorm ideas and refine conceptual understanding. It is like a laboratory where one can “stress-test” his ideas. To master the new EMS and FTL setup, I adopted a conversational learning approach, which is central to how Copilot builds expertise. I got to know how different layers of FTL , consisting of FTL cluster service, FTL persistence service and FTL realm service work together as a cohesive system to harmonize the workings of the EMS cluster. This intensive, two-way dialogue was highly iterative: Copilot corrected gaps in my understanding of the new design, while I occasionally corrected its contradictory statements. This collaborative process ultimately allowed me to build a crystal-clear insight into our new EMS on FTL architecture.

    The grasp of conceptual understanding did not occur instantly. It required several back and forth arguments. As mentioned above, building on knowledge with the use of CoPilot is an iterative process. This back-and-forth approach helped me connect the dots, moving from an exhaustive grasp of how the FTL cluster server operates as the topmost layer to understanding how the FTL persistence service (used to persist data in the EMS cluster data stores) and the FTL realm service (used to synchronize and replicate configurations across the EMS servers) work together beneath that layered structure.

    The first test done with CoPilot was to check how data replication happens across the EMS cluster hosted on three Linux based servers. To kick off the process, I provided CoPilot with the configuration of our EMS cluster system by attaching the Business-EMS.yaml file which consisted of two major pieces of information. The first was the path of the data store where all the persistent messages are stored and the second was the path of rs.db file which includes the configuration files in a .JSON format. In order to check if we have real time data replication, CoPilot recommended that I verify if the data store path is on nfs (Network file system) or XFS (which would indicate a standalone data store). I ran the df -Th /path-to-store-File and the output showed that the file system is XFS rather than a networked file system.

    I was not convinced thus far since the store.db file in the store directory was almost the same size across all the three EMS servers. Upon putting forward this point, CoPilot prompted me to do a hands on test by suggesting that I create a test queue and push a message to this queue on the Active EMS server, kill the Active server so that Standy EMS Server takes on the Active role and verify if the queue and message appeared on the new Active server. I executed this test and observed that the queue indeed did got reflected on the new Active EMS server but the message did not got replicated. The concern was still not addressed. If the data replication in the data store was not real- time, how did the sizes of the files in the data store across the three EMS servers hosting the cluster matched?

    Prompting this concern to CoPilot, and engaging in more intense conversations, I got to know that only persistent messages (these are the messages that get written to the disk so that they are never lost , unlike the non-persistent messages which get stored in EMS memory) get replicated real-time. So, based on our “discourse”, I performed another test of similar nature and pushed a persistent message on the test queue and I was glad to know that it was reflected on the new Active server. Knowing this aspect of the new EMS/FTL architectural design was the first big step towards building a solid foundation.

    The next vital step was to understand how the EMS server interacts with FTL during boots-up. From my interactions with generative AI, I have experienced that the best way to extract the most from an AI agent like CoPilot is not to just ask a straight question like “how does something works?”. Instead, a better approach is to prompt it with your own initial conceptual understanding and build upon that foundation based on Copilot’s responses. This makes the interaction far more engaging and helps sharpen your knowledge within a specific context. I believe this collaborative feedback loop is exactly what makes prompt engineering so powerful.

    I followed the same strategy and after some oscillating conversations, I was able to refine my understanding about the EMS start up/boot up process. Over a period of time, I have developed a habit of presenting a final summary to Co-Pilot based on our long conversations to chisel out the rough edges and close the loop. With the problem at hand, I did the same and proffered my final summary with the process that looked like the following – “When EMS server starts, it brings up its main process called tibemsd which calls the FTL realm service, which in turn loads the configurations from rs.db to the memory of tibemsd process. When we create a queue, tibemsd process stores it in its memory and also connects with FTL realm service which in turn stores it in the rs.db file across all the three EMS servers.”

    The third step was to know how the FTL manages the Fault-Tolerance of the EMS. To know about it, it was imperative to first be acquainted with the difference between FTL cluster service, FTL persistence service and the FTL realm service. CoPilot did a wonderful job by presenting a diagram of how these three FTL processes are layered and function in conjunction with each other. This was the perfect example of the quote that “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Through the diagram, I got to know the complex idea in a very efficient manner.

    Case Study 2 – Troubleshooting EMS / FTL issue: Knowledge brings confidence but like any area of research, this confidence is tested when you encounter the problem in real-time. In my case, this “opportunity” came when our team got alerted that our Active EMS in production suddenly and unexpectedly crashed and the Standby resumed the role of Active. Drawing on my understanding, I was able to analyze the logs of the crashed EMS server in a more effective manner. The logs indicated a “temporary network disconnection”. So we assumed that was a one-off incident and might not occur again. However, the issue repeated itself after a couple of days. I knew it was something beyond just a minor network disruption. I contacted the CTC Network team to know if there was any change made by them on our EMS servers during the timeframe when the issue occurred. Network team responded that there was no activity carried out on their end.

    CoPilot once again became my “trusted colleague”. After I described the nature of the “roadblock” we were facing, It suggested that we need to upgrade the EMS to version 10.4.1 from 10.4.0 and FTL to version 7.1 from 7.0. By scanning the vast ocean of TIBCO documentation, CoPilot highlighted an inherent and a known bug in the current versions of the software that we were using. With management’s approval, I initiated the process to implement an in-place upgrade of the EMS and FTL instances. An in-place upgrade allows you to deploy the new software using the existing configurations, meaning we did not need new servers to execute this overhaul. Not only CoPilot described the entire process of upgradation, but also facilitated in deepening the comprehension of various features of the new versions. It laid out the exact plan of action including any prerequisites and migration stages required for this upgradation.

    With the enriching assistance of CoPilot, I was able to upgrade EMS and FTL to the newer versions in our development environment, and we are now ready to execute the process in the higher environments.

    To sum up the above two inter-related cases studies revolving around TIBCO EMS and FTL, I would like to mention that the value that you get from CoPilot is directly dependent on the input that you provide. It ultimately boils down to “prompt engineering” which includes scraping the concepts through long and concentrated conversations till every dot connects. This iterative approach is exactly how Copilot transforms your outlook and method for handling daily technical work.

  • Views on the talk “How Conversations Can Create History | Swami Brahmaviharidas | TEDxTampa”

    With the passage of time, I am drawing the conclusion that the essence of true religion is to bring together people from all walks of life, irrespective of their belief system, on a single unified platform and inspire them to put in a collective effort for the benefit of all humanity. More than anything else, it is this indivisible and inseparable voice that has the strength and velocity to uplift mankind, especially in our contemporary times ravaged by wars and social tumult. Any form of hatred or bigotry hidden under the garb of religion cannot lead to a truly spiritual journey and the eventual enlightenment arising out of it.

    When it comes to constructing this shared platform that serves as a bedrock of our “Global village”, conversations can play an instrumental role. Personally, since my early days as a student, I have always cherished thoughtful and thorough conversations. Although, the form and style of my conversations have evolved over time, from participating in debates and extempore during my university life, to writing interactive comments on the articles in “The Economic times“, to publishing my own articles on the online publication of Red hat Inc. and finally to the incessant conversations with AI these days, one thing has been permanent all these years. That is the unwavering faith in the power of conversations.

    With an ever growing urge to pursue a spiritual path in my life, I am always on the lookout for “conversations” that acquaint me more about this mystical aspect of human nature. In that regard, I recently came across a TED talk given by the reverend Swami Brahmaviharidas. I must admit this is one of the best and most far-reaching TED Talks I have ever watched, especially coming from someone from a purely religious sect. Here are some of the key takeaways from this profound talk:

    A secular hope for a “fractured” world: Swamiji is one of the prime minds behind the conception and establishment of the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple in Abu Dhabi, located in Abu Mureikhah part of the capital city. To its merit, it is the first Hindu stone temple in the Middle East. Well, I am usually not easily impressed by the act of building a temple (or any other religious place of worship) in any part of the world, even if it is the first of its kind. What ignited my thoughts in case of BAPS temple in Abu Dhabi was that its “success story” epitomizes the principle of “unity in diversity”. In my view, unity in diversity should not just be a theoretical concept, or just rhetoric, but something that is implemented at a ground level. It should be something concrete that emboldens people to implement it in action. This is something that the BAPS Mandir has proven in the “heart of the Islamic world”.

    The minds who brought this “Hindu temple” to fruition came from diverse faiths, including those who had no faith. Consider this – for building this temple, the land donor was a Muslim King (Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan), the chief architect was a Christian Roman Catholic, project manager was a Sikh, structural engineer was a Buddhist, and the chief consultant, an Atheist. The entire process of building this temple exemplified the nature of the diverse world we live in and also that if we join hands, the world can become a more cohesive place to live in.

    Conversations as the nucleus of historical events: In his TED talk, Swamiji throws light on a very insightful perspective that every major religious book like The Bhagavad Gita, The Holy Quran, The Holy Bible, and (in my opinion), the Jewish Talmud, revolved around conversations. The messages propounded in these holy books by holy men (from Sermon on the mount to Gita Saar ) were centered around dialogue and conversations. Moving forward centuries later, we will still find that the great leaders who changed the landscape of the social and political world were the one’s who engaged in deep and intense discourses. Whether it be Martin King Luther Jr.’s, “I have a dream”, speech, Winston Churchill‘s “We will fight on the beeches”, speech or Gandhi’s “Quit India” movement, conversations have shaped the world we live in. Even the peripatetic academy that the great thinker and philosopher, Aristotle, created (known as the Lyceum), was hinged on dialogue and conversations.

    Can conversations enable you to become the best version of yourself?: In his outstanding talk, Swamiji shares research that inferred that conversations rewire the brain in the same way and with the same effect as crossword puzzles do. This reflects on the remarkable vigor of discourse and the power it has to shape our minds.

    I am absolutely convinced that the goal of a human being should be a lifelong endeavor to become the best version of himself. And yes, conversations do play a vital role in achieving that state of thought. Contemplative and considerate conversations create opportunities for self-correcting mechanisms, and self-corrections further lead to producing depth in our thoughts, especially if they result from earnest introspection. A few years back, I came across a book by Nelson Mandela titled “Conversations with Myself”. The work is a compendium of reflections by this gigantic figure who led South Africa to freedom and became an epitome of equality across the world. Self-talk or self-ruminations enables one to know oneself more profoundly.

    Swami Brahmaviharidas TED talk perfectly connected the dots that comprehensive conversations of a global nature sit at the very center of making our world more humane, more tolerant, and more productive.

  • Commonalities between three greatest Indian spiritual philosophers

    Lately, I have started to wonder whether the tools for professional success are the same as those required for spiritual success. Knowledge, hard work, perseverance, ambition, expressiveness, and tenacity are well-known, well-documented ingredients of success in the business world, but are they enough to grow in the spiritual realm? In search of an answer, I embarked on an endeavor to read about those people who, in my view, have reached the pinnacle of this vast, invigorating, mystical, and intricate world of spirituality. To initiate my journey, I did not had to look beyond our great nation, India. Although the geographical boundaries of a country are defined and well marked, the “spiritual boundaries” of a nation, like India, are limitless and permeate the vastness of the universe.

    This ancient civilization, spanning more than five thousand years, has produced some of the most profound thinkers in the world. These thinkers have impacted the lives of millions of people not only in their country of origin, but their thoughts have touched the “soul” of scores of people around the world. I think the three most thought-provoking and inspirational spiritual philosophers that the subcontinent, once called “sone ki chidiya”, has produced are M.K Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda, and Guru Nanak. Reading and learning about them made me draw a few common grounds that connected their thoughts and ideas. The bedrock of these eternal ideas that changed how an ordinary Indian views religion, society, and spiritual progress stands on a common platform. Some of the commonalities where the minds of these three great “spiritual giants” meet are:

    A modern view of religion: “The Story of My Experiments with Truth” is one of the most uplifting books that I have read in my life. In one of the instances mentioned in the book, Gandhi describes his experience of visiting the Kashi Vishwanath temple situated in the “holy” Indian city of Benares. His spiritual expectations were devastated in observing the uncleanliness and chaos in the bazaars leading to the temple. The noise, the swarming flies, the slippery lanes made his stopover “perfectly insufferable”. No wonder that the unkempt shrine made him question “how Indians could successfully manage self-government if they could not even keep their most sacred places of worship clean and peaceful.”

    If one studies Swami Vivekananda in depth, one would be enlightened by the fact that the “reverent monk” was one of the biggest critics of the social evils and rigid rituals of Hindu society in particular and Indian society in general. He famously gave the term “Kitchen religion,” which he associated with “don’t- touchism”, which, in his own terms, was “the obsession with ritualistic purity, such as what to eat or touch, rather than spiritual depth”. In this context, he went even further and stated that many Indians have taken their faith to their kitchens and made “cooking utensils” their religion. In a gist, he harshly censured the existing religious dogmas in Indian society and placed enormous emphasis on internalized spiritual growth rather than just blindly following the nonsensical practices in one’s creed and belief system.

    Although founder of Sikhism (one of the youngest religions in the world), and its first Guru, I prefer calling Nanak the “Guru of the entire humanity” rather than just a Sikh Guru. There is a narrative from his “Janamsakhi” (literally meaning birth stories) when he was lying down with his legs towards the “Kaaba”. When an offended Arab priest objected to this perceived “blasphemy,” Nanak calmly replied, asking the priest to turn his legs in a direction where God does not exist. This reflects how shallow the conviction is of those who find God only in a few man-made structures. Nanak’s message was vividly that God is omnipresent.

    Another notable incident from his life was when he visited Haridwar and on seeing people throwing water eastwards towards the rising sun. Upon his inquiry, people told the Guru that they are quenching the thirst of their ancestors who live in the heavens towards the east. On hearing this, Nanak entered the Ganges and started throwing the water towards the west. Baffled with this act, people asked him why is he dousing water in that direction. The Guru replied that his fields in Punjab were in dire need of this water. With even greater perplexity, priests started laughing and said how can the water go that far. Nanak, with all his calmness and composure replied that if the water can go millions of miles towards the heavens in east, it could surely reach his fields just a few hundred miles away. The “first master” was a proponent of sensible thinking and was a champion of religious unity. This reminds me of the following famous adage:

    “Nanak Shah Fakir – Na Hindu Na Musalman”

    In essence, what connects these aforementioned episodes is that each of these figures of titanic spiritual strength critiqued the religious dogmas that existed in the society during their lifetimes. I have a firm opinion that reform, whether it is personal or societal, cannot be implemented without critiquing one’s own set of principles and practices. In other words, constructive criticism opens doors for reforms and reforms in turn provide an innovative and modern alternative to existing inflexible doctrines.

    The views and perspectives of these three leaders make an incision into our doctrinaire Indian society, where people follow religion with an unquestioning mind. In my own humble experience, I have seen people making a trade or a business deal with their God. The mode of worship that largely exists in our society is just ringing bells in the places of worship, reciting scriptures, or rotating prayer beads, and that too is geared towards the fulfilment of their personal objectives. Although, there is nothing immoral in that but it certainly cannot lead to a spiritual enlightenment. On the contrary, the lives of these three great men introduces us to a path where the true form of worship is the one which is tied to public service. “Sewa parmo dharma” is the highest duty and way towards spiritual elevation.

    Being an agnostic, I am still skeptical as far as the existence of the “almighty” is concerned, but what I am unequivocal about is that if there indeed is a superpower, then the ledger on which his evaluation of our lives would be based would not be as to how many times we have recited a “mantra” or visited a place of worship, but on how many destitute lives we have impacted and changed. In a spiritual journey, one should free himself from the shackles of following a rigid methodology with absolutely no rational basis and adopt an experimental mindset towards enlightenment.

    Unbounded Intellect: I have a strong intuition that God (if one exists) does not like people who worship him out of fear but would appreciate those who could intellectually argue with him. Intellect is after-all the biggest and greatest gift of the “Lord” to homo sapiens that distinguishes us from the animal world. On these lines, a related parallel that I draw is that all three luminaries were well versed in the philosophical texts and religious scriptures that belonged to the ideologies of different societies and sects other than their own. This confirms to my personal belief that in order to understand religion and spirituality at its core, one has to dive deeply into the unbiased and unfeigned analysis of all the major religions and prominent thinkers of the world. Let’s take the case of Swami Vivekananda. It is well documented that while in college, he thoroughly studied Western philosophers like Immanuel Kant and Herbert Spencer. He was also well versed in the holy scriptures of Christianity and Islam.

    Same was true of Gandhi. Although during the days he thought his life was ending due to an illness , he regularly listened to Bhagavad Gita, he possessed intense knowledge of the world religions and even believed that he has made the religions of world his own. I regard Gandhi as one of the most erudite Indians of all times. Not only was he widely read, but as a copious writer, his legacy also includes a tome of published work. Similarly, when we talk about Guru Nanak, it is believed that during his youth, he “soaked” himself in the study of both Hinduism and Islam. He was also a great poet. In the words of Khushwant Singh, “Nanak was a poet of uncommon sensitivity who could turn his pen from gentle satire to rapturous praise “. The nucleus of my argument being that in order grow spiritually, it is vital to have an understanding and an appreciation of all major faiths in the world. This provides an intellectual depth and in my modest opinion, intellectual growth and spiritual upliftment are mutually inclusive.

    The philosophy of detachment: This is the most challenging but at the same time, an absolutely essential ingredient of attaining spiritual awakening. As per Bhagavad Gita, “Detachment is engaging fully with your duties while remaining free from anxiety of the results”. As per the same sacred book, detachment is like a “lotus metaphor, being in water but being untouched by him”. In my view, reaching this state of mind is tantamount to reaching an emotional state which is extremely arduous to achieve in our contemporary “dog eat dog” world. However, all the three foregoing spiritual philosophers I discussed about led their lives free of attachment and through their works, showed the world how to conquer this formidable “demon” of attachment that resides within our hearts.

    I have just initiated on my spiritual expedition and my steps and efforts are still at a very nascent stage. However, as I set out to this life long voyage, I have found these three spiritual philosophers who can become my beacon of light towards this demanding yet exhilarating journey. In that regards, I quote this relevant “doha” from the great Kabir:

    “Guru Govind dou khade, kaake lagun pay.Balihari guru apne, Govind diyo batay.”

  • Reflections on Mahabharata: Part – I: A few thoughts on Karna

    There is no other religious text that I have read about more than Mahabharata. In my view, it is an indelible spiritual gift from India to the world. I still vividly remember the profound book, “The Essence of Bhagavad Gita“, written by Swami Kriyananda, which I bought and read in the year 2008. Beyond just making an earnest effort to comprehend the intricacies of this “longest epic poem in the world” encompassing life’s infinite depth in the written textual form, I have watched adaptations of Mahabharata in its visual form as well. From watching B.R Chopra’s masterpiece umpteen number of times, to watching the captivating episodes on this subject as depicted in “Bharat Ek Khoj”, I have had the opportunity to approach this eternal work on human life and behavior as a sincere student.

    As with any other subject or aspect in life, if one continually inquires about it, he starts to formulate an opinion about it. So is my case with Mahabharata. I have always been intrigued by its characters and how they relate to us in the contemporary times. Of all the characters in this intense and soul touching literary work , one that has ignited my thoughts the most is the mystical yet dramatic character of Karna. Here are some of my perspectives:

    The greatest “Warrior” of his time: Around the final stages of the eighteen day war, when Duryodhana, exhausted and in sorrow, entered the “Dwaipayana Lake”, Yudhishthira ridicules him and challenges him to come out of the lake and face his fate. At the very moment, Krishna discourses with the Pandavas that had Indra not taken Karna’s impenetrable armor and his earrings (in my view , this was an act of deceit), his death was impossible. Legend says that no weapon could pierce Karna’s armor (Kavacha) and even a “Divyastra” would bow to it and return back. It is also believed that his earring’s (Kundalas) made him invincible.

    Now it is generally argued that Arjuna was the greatest archer of his time. I find a lot of merit in the argument that Arjuna was indeed the man of focus and among the greatest warriors in Mahabharata. But was he better than Karna? I doubt. People sometimes cite “Virata war” where Arjuna injured Karna from the arrows of his divine “Gandiva” bow. However, it is a fact that Karna (and it is believed that at the time of this conflict, he did not had his celestial “Vijaya” bow given to him by his guru, Parshurama)also pierced the chest of Arjuna with his thirteen arrows.

    The last argument to build my first point of view is the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna just before the beginning of the war. When Krishna returns to Pandavas camp after deciding the “rules of engagement” and Arjuna asks him what took him so long, Krishna answers that he met with the people he likes and that included Karna. Arjuna, on hearing this, bursts in anger (and aguish) and asks back “why did you had to go to that son of a charioteer?”. Hearing this, Krishna silences Arjuna by pointing out that Karna is the only warrior who has an arrow in his quiver which makes him worried for Arjuna’s safety.

    Based on this, I opine that even the “Lord” himself knew that even Arjuna could not defeat Karna, especially in a fair one to one duel. No wonder, both Krishna and Kunti made several attempts to “buy” out this first Pandavas and to break up with Duryodhana.

    An eternal optimist: There is a famous incident from the war when Shalya becomes the charioteer of Karna. He constantly aims to peel off courage from Karna mindset like someone slowly and effectively peels off the skin of an onion. Whether it be Bhishma Pitamah, Guru Dronacharya, Parshuram, Draupadi or the Pandavas, there is not even a single “great soul” who does not flings insults on Karna and attempts to bring down his morale. Even after all these slights and multiple curses on him, he never looses faith in his ability and skill. In the entire treatise of Mahabharata, if there is one personality that does not knows the meaning of dejection and pessimism, even though being target of incessant affronts, it is Karna.

    Moral grounding: Last year, I wrote an article titled “How righteous was karna“. In that article I argued that when it comes to morality and depravity, Karna was as righteous and as villainous as the Pandavas. If he hurled insults on Draupadi during the game of dice, she was also the one who rejected Karna during the “swayamvar” (Bride- choosing ceremony) just on the basis that he was not a “Kshatriya” (of warrior class). Is it not tantamount to practicing inequality and discrimination? Well, it may be argued that it was Krishna himself who signaled Draupadi to reject Karna, but there are other cases where arrogance of Draupadi have been documented in the epic. And what about Yudhishthira who gambled away his wife? Yes, the Pandavas did pay the price for that, but so did Karna for his acts of vices.

    My stance here is that Karna was as moral and as immoral as any other character in the scripture. Even during the war, besides Bhishma Pitamah, there was no other chief military commander whose conduct was as ethical as Karna. His pulling back his arrow to his quiver (which could have otherwise killed Arjuna) after the sunset is another example in this context.

    There is a famous saying from Rishi Vyasa about Karna when he meets him during Rajasuya Yagna of King Yudhishthira. The prime sage adorns Karna with respect by saying that there is no one in all the three “lokas” (world’s) who does not knows this great warrior.

  • On India: A few reflections

    The year was 2010 when I landed in Singapore to take on my new job assignment at Citibank. On the way from Changi airport to my hotel, the taxi driver got curious and asked where I was from. When I told him that I am an Indian, his instant question was – “Do you work in the Information technology sector?”. That question solidified my conception that since the last around two decades, India has become synonymous with I.T and software sector. Today, India produces and exports more software engineers in the world than any other country in the world. As a matter of fact, the south Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana constitute one-third of all the Indian students pursuing studies in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) domain. This, without any iota of doubt, is a massive leap forward. This leap reflects how our country with numerous shades has come out of its cocoon of being called as a country of “snake charmers” back in 1970’s.

    Whether it is the advancement in space programs spearheaded by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), or leading the Asian countries in pioneering programs like “Vaccine Maitri Initiative” during the difficult times of Covid, India has started to play a vital role at a global level. Today, some of the largest and the most impactful companies and organizations like Microsoft, Google and World Bank are headed by Indians. This, without any scope of argument, has boosted the image of the country at an international arena.

    Despite all these feathers in the cap, we, as a nation, face insurmountable problems which hinder our success and restricts us in becoming a truly developed country. Until we solve these insuperable issues staring at us, we cannot compete effectively with giants like U.S.A and China. In my view, here are three challenges that open door for introspection and if addressed, can resolve many other underlying and fundamental problems that our nation faces:

    A paradigm shift from service oriented mindset to Product development mindset : 1991 was a crucial year for the Indian economy. The then prime minister P.V Narsimha Rao and the finance minister Dr. Manmohan Singh opened the gates of the Indian market to the western world, especially to the United states. That caused a boom in the call centers which eventually led to the spawning of the software outsourcing industry. Since then, the Indian I.T service sector has dominated the world. However, unfortunately, we have not been able to translate this leadership in the service sector to the product development sector. Countries like the U.SA , China, Japan, and Germany led the world and stayed on the top because they embedded innovation in product design and development into their economical structural. These countries became and are still the “brains” that create knowledge instead of just providing service delivery. Countries much smaller than India have been far more successful than us in research and development (R & D) and in the new product development. As an example, Denmark, a country with just around six million people, is called as the “programming languages capital” of the world. Many of the software programming languages like C++, C#, PHP along with the software systems like the V8 JavaScript engine were built in this small Nordic country. Even Canada, with a population almost equal to the Indian state of Punjab, developed the Java programming language. Much of the product creation and development has happened and continue to happen in the western world and China. It is the right time that through a collaborative approach, the private and the public sectors in India takes a plunge in this direction.

    A unified Indian voice : I have long believed that for India to progress and become an advanced country in true sense, all its citizens from all walks to life and irrespective of their religious beliefs should contribute in a unified manner. Our diversity is our spinal cord and strength without which we cannot achieve our ambitious goals. No community should feel alienated and there should be a strong sense of belongingness towards India. Both the government and the people should believe that we all our beneficiaries of this society and therefore, we must collectively contribute to its enrichment and growth. A lot of it lies with the initiatives that the Indian government can take to build an “inclusive ecosystem” where every single Indian counts. We must also rise above the religious bigotry and cultivate faith and confidence in people who , even though different than us in their belief system, are sons and daughters of the same country. In my opinion, nationalism and patriotism should always be above religion. As Khushwant Singh, in his book, Gods and Godmen of India, argues that a true religion is the one that propagates national issues like environmental protection, population control and work ethic. It is paramount that we realize that despite of our differences, we are tied by the same national thread.

    A firm belief in the Story of India: It is as important to believe in the history of breakthroughs that emerged from our great country as it is to build an inventive society. One of the aspects that enabled and catapulted United States Of America as a world power was that , in addition to creating world changing institutions like NASA and hotbeds of inventions like Silicon valley, it mastered the art of disseminating the “Idea of America” across the world. It was able to build an image of America as a “world savior” and an “epitome of liberty”. In my opinion, India needs to do the same. We have a proud history and the names of many intellectual giants like Panini, Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, and Sushruta should make us trust our national ability to lead the world. Young Indians should take pride in our historical empires like the Gupta Empire, which is called as the “Golden age” of India and during which many accomplishments were made in perfection of the Sanskrit language, Architecture, and Mathematics (Indians were the first to come up with “gelosia multiplication”). We must build faith that the same “Golden age” can be replicated in the future too.

    Ours is a country of tremendous potential. A strong India will be the one which will be innovative, united and driven. While we embark and continue on our journey to become a developed nation, we must also acknowledge the challenges that we face in realizing our true potential.

  • Why Gandhi would have championed Open Source Software?

    One of the greatest polymath and genius of all times, Albert Einstein, once said about the political views of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, called as Mahatma Gandhi by his millions of followers, that “I believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time.”. Going over his autobiography, “The story of my experiments with truth”, I find Gandhi as one of the most inspiring personalities that I have read about. As someone who works in the Information Technology sector with a keen interest in Open source in general and Linux Operating system in particular, I could vividly draw parallels between the ideology of this great political and intellectual Giant and the ideology that powers the Open source methodology.

    I have come to a conclusive opinion that had Gandhi lived today or during the times of technology and software boom, he would have become a “brand ambassador” and a thorough supporter of the open source movement. The principles that this “saintly leader having a global impact” followed and practiced in his life have several parallels with the foundations on which the open source was built. These ideals continue to stimulate and motivate millions of people around the world. Here are three resemblances between the modus operandi of Gandhi and open source that in my view reverberates with everlasting impact in the world we live in:

    A Community driven approach : Gandhi, during his days in South Africa was deeply inspired by Ruskin’s book “Unto This Last“, which he read and put into practice by establishing the “Phoenix Settlement”. Later, he was inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s work “The Kingdom of God Is Within You” and established “Tolstoy Farm” near Johannesburg. The common aspect of both these establishments were that they were community driven places, an approach also central to the open source developmental framework. Communities form the nucleus of all the software written in the open source world. People who were members of the aforementioned communities formulated by Gandhi participated with a desire fueled by an intention of embedding a novel approach to life while making the society a more participative and responsible place to dwell. Participation is key in the open source world as well. Both these systems transmogrified the basis of the human thought.

    A Do-It-Yourself (DIY) approach to life: The world of open source software is a world of experimentation. It is a world where the concept of DIY is implemented to its fullest and brought into its fruition. Engineers, hackers and software enthusiasts develop products that millions of people can play with, modify and recrate completely new innovations out of those products. Zealots can follow easily accessible in depth documentation to “break and make things”. This creates an enterprising environment benefitting technology, the business and the society as a whole. As I read his autobiography, I see the actions of Gandhi imbibing the same DIY scruples as the one’s described above. The “spiritual giant” was adept in experimentation and trying out new concepts himself and energizing people around him to do the same. Whether it be practicing as a Lawyer, working as a public servant, his explorations in dietary (especially his inclination towards earth and water treatment) or even learning geometry, Gandhi took the existing knowledge, mastered it, and inspired the world to implement the same in their lifestyles. It also implies the broad applicability of ideals and principles that forms the backbone of the open source realm.

    Power to the people : Through Free Software Foundation, the software pioneer Richard Stallman advocates to distribute the software in such a way that it is free for people to use and modify its source code. In 1989, he co-founded “League for Programming Freedom“, through which he campaigns against the software patents and restrictions on the use of “digital software products”. In a nutshell, he is a proponent of giving power to the people. On the same platform, Gandhi’s whole life was dedicated to empowering those who were deprived of exercising their rights. The core of both these ideologies was to challenge the existing norms and protocols and bring about a “constructive revolutionary change” in the lives of people and the world we live in. Evolving and nurturing the expression of individuality forms the spinal cord of both the philosophies.

    Whether it was the relentless pursue of truth which Gandhi immersed with the struggle for independence during colonial era or the software upheaval and revolution brought by the open source methodology to create a better technological ecosystem, I see deep affinity in both these approaches to tackle the pressing problems of the world from which we all can learn.

  • Why “Work From Home” is a bad strategy?

    I have been working from home since I joined Canadian Tire four years ago. The only time I went to the office was to attend a training for three days. I admit, that spending the “official nine to five” work cycle in the office reinvigorated me and energized my spirit. Last month, we got an email from the head of our Human resources department that come October, all the employees of Canadian Tire would have to work from the office for four days a week. The notice came as a surprise to me since the company has had a very liberal approach towards working from home.

    Like most employers, Canadian Tire also switched to a full-fledged work-from-home model at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before that, the company followed mostly a hybrid policy, although employees had the privilege to work from their homes as and when required. There was no compulsion to go to the office every day in our five-day working week. The notice made me ponder the new “corporate strategy”. Is the work from home approach good? Is it efficient? In my earnest opinion, it is not. Here are my two cents on why I think working from the office benefits both the employee and the employer.

    There is no better place to work than an office to build strong comradery among a corporation’s staff members. It creates professional cohesion that enhances team building skills among the employees. Working from the office also builds a disciplined environment. People do not have the luxury of taking a “nap” during their working hours and have to be cognizant of the time. It creates a greater sense of responsibility among all its employees. Let me draw a parallel from my tenure in PGi, my first Canadian employer. I had to give a presentation at 10:00 AM EST. The free flow of ideas and thoughts among my colleagues who were “physically” present in the presentation room enriched everyone’s professional experience. It created an “emotional connection” with my task at hand. Can we have the same experience and connection had the entire activity been done remotely on our laptops? The answer is a categorical no.

    Not only is work from the office beneficial to an individual, it brings enormous benefits to the company as well. Employees have fewer distractions and focus more on their deadlines. It makes the employees efficient thereby increasing the productivity of the organization as a whole. People do not engage in “unprofessional” activities during their work hours like preparing for an exam, applying for educational programs, or just applying for other jobs. While I do agree that everyone has the right to engage in these activities to boost their careers ahead, it should not be done at the cost of work and their existing “paying” jobs.

    An argument is sometimes made that by letting its employees work from home, an organization saves the cost of operations. One case in point is that it does not have to pay for electricity bills, thereby implying that it saves the costs of maintaining its premises. I would disagree with this line of thought and argue that if employees work from the office, it increases their competency and efficacy. It improves the “per capita performance” of an employee which consequently enhances the overall productivity of the employer. Deadlines are met in time which further implies that the management can meet their business objective without delays. This for certain adds to the overall revenue of the organization. Furthermore, when projects are completed without any impediments, it creates goodwill for an organization among both its internal and external stakeholders.

    An establishment is not only about Laptops, hardware, and other apparatus. It is also not about sitting within our “isolated silos” at our homes. It encompasses all those person-to-person interactions, both at professional and personal levels that make us better and committed employees. Without an iota of doubt in my mind, I welcome the notification from my employer to work from the office.

  • Indira Gandhi: “Gungi Gudiya” or “Durga”?

    In his prolific book, Why I Supported the Emergency, India’s best-known writer Khushwant Singh, recalls what Hilaire Belloc mentions about Indira Gandhi: “Her face was like the King’s command, when all the swords are drawn”. In the realm of Indian history, there have been very few leaders who could match the majestic demeanor of Mrs. Gandhi. The decisions that she took during her rule changed the Indian polity forever and its repercussions continue to echo till this day in our contemporary times.

    India, as we know it today, is largely the result of Mrs. Gandhi’s tenure as the country’s prime minister. People representing different political parties have differing views about her. Some like the statesman Atal Bihari Vajpayee called her “Durga” and some like Ram Manohar Lohiya called her “Gungi Gudiya”. While she might be docile in the initial stages of her political career, she went on to become one of the strongest leaders who rewrote the chapters of the Indian political landscape. On the one side, she knew how to aptly deal with her opponents, and on many occasions, with an iron hand, but on the other hand, she connected with the ordinary people of the nation who called her “Amma” or mother.

    Like her father Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira had several political feats that transmogrified Indian political history, but like him, she also had her share of blunders that continue to reverberate to this day. From the “assassination” of Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent to the assault on CPI leader Sitaram Yechury on the JNU campus, her political life was marred with controversies and political dissensions. As the first woman prime minister of independent India, she rose to such a status in her long career that for millions of Indians, “India was Indira and Indira was India”.

    In my view, the greatest achievement of Mrs. Gandhi was the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. Pakistan had to be “taught a lesson” for its atrocities in the then East Pakistan and it was under the leadership of Indira that it was meticulously implemented. Just before the invasion, she asked Sam Manekshaw, the former chief of the Indian Army to enter erstwhile East Pakistan, but Manekshaw replied back that he needed to prepare for a complete definite victory. And victory did come when after a few months, the Indian armed forces entered Bangladesh.

    I recall one of the interviews of Mrs. Gandhi conducted by BBC on this matter in which she was questioned about the morality of interfering in another country’s matter. Her response was “What did Allied forces do when Hitler went rampant all over Europe?”. Post World War – II never has a country been liberated by the sheer use of military might except Bangladesh. This conflict under her prime ministership catapulted India to a regional power to reckon with. She was posthumously awarded the “Bangladesh Freedom Honor” for her role in the freedom of that country.

    The 1971 war was not a standalone military accomplishment under the “authority” of Mrs. Gandhi. In my opinion, there are two more historical episodes in which India and its armed forces emerged triumphant. The first was the 1967 Indo-Chinese skirmishes that took place in the state of Sikkim. The Indian forces caused massive casualties on the Chinese side and regained their lost pride from the India-China conflict of 1962. The other was the equally significant “Operation Meghdoot“. Indian forces, under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, captured the strategically crucial Siachen Glacier and made it part of the Jammu and Kashmir region.

    Another of the great achievements of Mrs. Gandhi was the detonation of nuclear bombs in 1971. Codenamed “Smiling Buddha“, the tests, although done for the peaceful use of nuclear energy, gave India the status of a “Nuclear power”. She knew the needs of a growing country as large as India and had the nerve to make the bold decision to conduct the tests despite the fear of sanctions imposed by the United States and other Western countries. I think “Smiling Buddha” paved the way for the Indian Government to carry on the much-required second round of nuclear explosions under “Operation Shakti” in 1998.

    Despite these aforementioned magnificent accomplishments, Mrs. Gandhi had her share of debacles. The biggest one was that of the storming of Golden Temple in 1984 under Operation Bluestar. This was one such mishap for which India had to pay dearly. In my view, no other historical event was as ghastly as this operation. While I do agree that it was imperative to flush out the terrorists from the holy shrine and maintain the sanctity of the temple, I would disagree with the way it was carried out. More than that, I would challenge the “real intent” of this unfortunate operation.

    Several open and unanswered questions strike me as I ponder on the intricacies of Operation Blue Star. Why was the attack carried out on the Sikh religious day commemorating the martyrdom of the fifth Guru Arjan Dev Ji? Didn’t the “Indira administration” know that there would be thousands of pilgrims inside the complex? Who is responsible and accountable for the innocent lives lost? Were there any negotiations carried out with the terrorists and if so, what was the scope and level of those negotiations? Could a different strategy similar to the one carried out during Operation Black Thunder be used to get rid of the terror elements residing inside the temple? Could a complete blockade of food, water, and electricity work? These questions will continue to haunt our “secular” country till justice is served.

    A few days back, I got to know about the Soviet launched “Operation Kontakt”. This operation aimed to provide concocted and falsified documents to the then Indian government run by Mrs. Gandhi about the support of Pakistan and the CIA given to the separatists. Although I am convinced that Pakistan supplied weapons and funds to the Khalistan movement, the intent of the above mentioned Soviet operation was to malign the Pakistani administration and the CIA and to exaggerate and amplify the urgency of carrying out the operation “impetuously”. Blue Star was executed without proper thought and to hurt the very “Psych” of the entire Sikh community. One of the consequences of this assault was that the moderate and educated Sikhs who were critic of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale also turned against Indira Gandhi and the state of India. It took several years for the Sikh community to get back into the fold and integrate once again into the Indian society.

    I will now touch upon another contentious event that was undertaken under the “brinkmanship” of Mrs. Gandhi. Emergency was imposed by Indira from 1975 to 1977 and it went on for 21 months. I strongly believe that a country as complicated as India needs an “iron grip” to govern its massive, “uncontrolled” and “untamed” population. The emergency period brought with it some of the very instrumental and positive changes in our society. Busses and trains ran on time, work became ethical and people reported on time. Slums were eradicated and cities were beautified. There was a sense of discipline all over the country. However, there were some nefarious aspects attached to that period as well. A censorship was imposed on the press and it was instructed to toe the line or face the consequences. Press is one of the pillars of a democratic society and for any nation to become a champion of secularism and liberal values, freedom of its media houses is vital.

    During the emergency, thousands of opponent leaders were put behind the jails and their voices subdued. Men, including those of old age, were dragged from the buses and sterilized forcefully. In my opinion, there is a fine line that separates governing a country by the rule of law and curbing the freedom of speech of people. Whether the Emergency was good or bad remains a matter of debate but one thing is certain. It remains one of the most controversial eras of Indian history spearheaded by Mrs. Gandhi.

    One can recall Indira Gandhi as a tyrant, a decisive leader, and even an incarnation of “Durga”, but unquestionably not a “Gungi Gudiya”.

  • The “Dark side” of Canada

    “The world needs more Canada” was the phrase I used to see on one of the walls of the Indigo Bookstore located close to my home in Toronto. The “Great white north” is regarded as one of the world’s most immigrant-friendly countries. People from all over the world move to this North American country to find “greener pastures”. But does this aforementioned slogan hold true in contemporary times? I think it does not. Once ranked among the top five best countries in the world to live a high quality of life, Canada today does not find a place even among the top 15 countries. Its cities, once considered some of the cleanest places around the globe, have plummeted in their rankings to be overtaken by European and Australian cities.

    Canada, a G-7 member, faces some insurmountable challenges, which if not addressed, will blotch the country’s reputation as one of the leading democracies in the world. Immigrants and international students are already getting disillusioned from the dim opportunities provided by the world’s second largest country. Immigration is one of the key drivers of the Canadian economy. If the nation does not gets its house in order, it will certainly discourage the people who want to call Canada their home and the country will lose this valuable “human capital” to other competing countries in Europe and Oceania. In my view, two overwhelming issues facing Canada are:

    The plight of the Indigenous people: The true strength of a country is not only reflected in its GDP or its per capita income but in its ability to treat all its citizens equally. Has Canada succeeded in treating all its citizens equally on one platform? The answer is a categorical no. It is usually believed that if you want to subdue a community and instill fear and guilt in its members, you kill their capacity to think. Then you can manipulate them and cause them to behave and act in a manner as per your vested interests and wishes. That is exactly what the country that projects itself as an “epitome of liberal values” has done to millions of Indigenous peoples.

    For over a century, the First Nations peoples have been subjected to marginalization and discrimination. With most of their population already being decimated, these people have been deprived of the right to their land. The systemic mechanism of violence against these “culturally rich” communities has caused inter-generational trauma, especially among its youth. The root of the injustice done to them stems from the Residential school system that started in the 1960s. Indigenous children were forcefully taken away from their families and placed in these schools run by the Christian churches and the Canadian government.

    The purpose of these schools was not to impart quality education to these “unfortunate children” or to open doors of opportunities for them, but it was to convert them to Christianity and to “forcefully” align them with the European culture. The injustice done to these children did not just end there. The deplorable conditions of these schools caused diseases, starvation, and malnutrition to its pupils. Medical experimentation was performed on them without anesthesia. Many of these students eventually lost their lives. The horrors of these residential schools have mentally and physically damaged the indigenous peoples and continue to haunt them to this day.

    Today these “real natives” of Canada outnumber other communities in incarceration and in unemployment. They have limited access to education and healthcare, causing further trauma to them. It is not only the Canadian government’s assault on their belief system and on their way of life, it is also an assault on their languages as well. In my view, the programs that allow these indigenous languages to develop lack in their efficacy and intent. This is evident from the fact that many of these languages today face extinction. These languages should not only be nurtured but should be given the status of official languages of Canada.

    There is an argument that asserts that the indigenous peoples do not integrate with the mainstream and as a result face discrimination. I would disagree and counter-argue that how can you integrate a community facing exploitation and mental torture every single day of their lives? How do you integrate a community which knows that the police, which is meant to safeguard their rights is itself an instrument that causes injustice and injury to them? How do you assimilate a section of society whose thousands of women are kidnapped and murdered without any justice served to them? What consolation can be given to those mothers whose newborn babies are “snatched” from them on the day they are born and put in foster care?

    The hands of the Canadian administration are strained in the blood of these innocent Indigenous lives and until this nation redresses these grave issues and brings the perpetrators to books, it cannot truly become a great nation.

    Rampant Crime and Homelessness: Tim Hortons located near my place used to be a 24*7 outlet until two years ago when it started to shut down its doors at 11:00 PM. One day, out of curiosity, I asked one of their employees the reason for the change of this operating schedule. I was appalled to know what he replied. Around midnight, a homeless with a knife in his hand broke the glass window and ran away. Out of safety for its staff members, the management decided and changed its operating hours.

    Around 3400 Km west of Toronto is Calgary, a cosmopolitan city where I had an opportunity to live for four months. What came as a shock to me was that the liquor stores in the city lock their doors from the inside out of fear of the homeless and druggist people who would thrash into the store, brazenly shoplift bottles of liquor and run away. These aforementioned incidents are not one-off events that happen once in a blue moon. Watch CP24, the local news channel of Toronto and there won’t be a single day when you will not hear news about stabbing or gun violence across the country.

    Since the last decade, crime has become uncontrolled and opened its fangs across Canada. Gone are the days when people used to stay out and even travel late at night using public transportation. I firmly believe that homelessness and criminal activity are entwined with each other. Homeless people are usually disoriented, lack a purpose in their lives, and therefore, prone to take the horrendous path of crime. Unfortunately, it seems there are hundreds of thousands of such people across the major cities of this nation.

    Crime also stems from extremism. Since the last few decades, Canada has become a safe heaven for terrorists. I do understand that it is an individual’s right to express his opinions without any fear of backlash, but things take a different turn when this “right to free speech” becomes violent. Canada is one such country where this right to free speech is routinely misused. To make things worse, politicians, especially from the ruling Liberal party, have a record of treating these extremist elements of society as their vote bank.

    In order for Canada to restore its place as the most peaceful, safe, and just country in the world, it needs to accept and overcome these formidable challenges. These are, in my opinion, a black mark on the national image of this otherwise great country.

  • Should beef and pork meat be banned in India?

    “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas” is a slogan launched by the ruling BJP Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It lays emphasis on inclusive growth, a growth in which every Indian is part of and benefits from. It envisions a progress model for the country in which all its citizens, irrespective of their caste, creed, language or religion get empowered. I think that the root of such kind of an inclusive growth has its foundation entrenched in tolerance towards one another and an appreciation of our unique way of life. Have we reached that level of success where we truly believe in the diversity of our nation? I don’t think we have, at least not yet.

    A few days back, I stumbled upon an article that showcased that a 44 years old man was assaulted and his shop vandalized on the suspicion that he was selling cow meat at his butchery. I was even more shocked to know that some reports covering this went ahead and stated that the meat has gone to a forensic lab to determine if the meat was indeed from cow or beef. I strongly opine that in a secular country like ours, everyone has a right to eat whatever they want. No one has any authority to question what we sell or consume as part of our lifestyle.

    If we go back to our mythological scriptures, we could find references that meat eating was prevalent in the society of those times. The great epic of Mahabharata mentions many instances of Pandavas consuming meat. The advent of the Mughals and later the Britishers introduced their cuisine to the Indian cuisine. Even though the Mughals came from outside and most of the Indian Muslims were converted during Mughal era, they eventually became inseparable part of our Indian society. They embraced our culture and played a vital role in transforming our society into the multifaceted and multidimensional society.

    I am a critique of many policies and wrongdoings of my adopted country, Canada, but I think there is one thing that India can learn from this North American country. It is an appreciation for all walks of life and all kinds of lifestyles and it holds true when it comes to our right to consume any kind of food that we want. In a country as diverse as India, there should not be any “ban” on any kind of food, may it be beef or pork. I do understand that many religions prescribe dietary regulations on its adherents. In Islam, eating pork is prohibited and in Hinduism, eating beef is forbidden. Things take a different turn when both the communities live together and share a common habitat.

    There is an argument given that if pork is banned in Pakistan and gulf countries, beef should not be allowed to sell or consumed in “Hindustan”, a country with a majority Hindu population. I do not buy this line of thought and would argue that the aforementioned countries are Islamic nations and not democracies. India, on the other hand is the world’s largest democracy, and one of the most secular nations in the world. In a country like ours, where all religions co-exist, one must have tolerance and appreciation for all kinds of cuisines, irrespective of whether it is beef or pork. Like religion, food is also a personal choice of an individual.

    Another argument proffered is that in order for peace to prevail between the majority and minority communities, both should respect each other’s “religious sentiments”. This means the Hindus should not eat pork and Muslims should not eat beef. This again is a faulty argument. I adamantly believe that for a society to truly become secular, there should be freedom to market and consume all sorts of cuisines that are part of a cultural or a religious community. If inhabitants of Goa, or North eastern Indian states consume beef, they should be freely allowed to do so. The same stands true for the consumption of pork.

    I think that Mr. Modi is an able prime minister and is committed to the integrity of the country, but I firmly think that it is the fanatical organizations thriving under him that spew venom on the minorities. It is them who indulge in hooliganism. It is them who, instead of taking the path of laws and courts, believe in “mobocracy”. They torment ordinary people earning their livelihood by selling beef without realizing that India is the fourth largest beef exporter in the world. That, is what I call hypocrisy. The ruthless assault and “crusade” of the “Saffron brigade” on an individual’s freedom to choose what he wants to eat must end.

    For India to become an epitome of secularism, the country needs to shun its religious bigotry at all levels of governance and allow its citizens to pursue their lifestyles to the fullest. This without any doubt includes giving everyone a choice and freedom of what they want to eat.