Sounds from the universe: Look at any of the nights, full of twinkling little stars, jostling with each other, for finding some breathing space, somewhere in the crowded shell. It may be fascinating. It may be mesmerizing. Look at the little specs of light. Look at the small groups of tiny little objects and their unfolding patterns. Look at the clusters, galaxies, milky way and all that can catch your eye. Look at the sounds and the message they seem to be radiating. We have known our sun, which burns all the time to provide heat, light and energy to the family of planets and satellites and to so many other objects floating around it. Every object has its individuality. Each one of the objects wants full freedom and seems to be running away from the sun breaking all shackles. However, there is something, some attachment, some attraction, which binds them and keeps them moving faithfully in their orbits. They have been moving like that without any hassles, without any murmurs and without any conflicts, since times immemorial, without losing their individuality or freedom and freely contributing to the smooth functioning and harmony of the system. For millions of years, people have considered and worshiped the sun as the most powerful celestial object in the universe and even to-day, with all the scientific know how, it is extremely difficult to comprehend that our all powerful sun is just a tiny little star in a family of billions of stars, orbiting freely in the space. Every star has an identity of its own. They float freely in the unknown space in the company of their family of planets, satellites and other objects. They differ from each other widely, in size, shape and mass, size and shape of their orbits, their orbiting and rotational frequencies, mineral composition, surface conditions and environment. Still, with all the diversities, they have been gliding along their paths smoothly, for billions of years in complete harmony with each other. All cheers to the all pervading space, which has been continuously stretching its heart out, to accommodate all the vagaries and spills of the ever-expanding system and seems to be relaying a soothing message of goodwill to the stratified, fractured and troubled communities of the world.
People: Members of a family are people of that family and may be identified by the surname of the family. Those living in the neighborhood are neighborhood people irrespective of their caste, creed, religion or social and political affiliations. People living in a city form a group of people, sometimes identified by the name of the city, e.g. Delhites, Berliners, Parisians etc. Then there are people of a state or region who are identified by the name of the state and or by their language and cultural heritage e.g., Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Rajasthani, Sindhi, Multani, Scot, Texan etc. And, of course, people living in a country or those born and brought up in a country or the citizens of the country carry with them the stamp of that country e.g., Indian, Nepali, British, French, German, American, Canadian etc. As if, the identification and division of the people on the basis of their habitat or geographical upbringing was not sufficient, the people of each city, region, state or country are divided further on the basis of their caste, creed and religion and social, economic and political affiliations. Thus, the process of fragmentation goes on and on, and the word ‘people’ ceases to convey, what the universality of the word was intended to represent.
Colour of skin: People may be white or black. They are distinguished by the colour of their skin. People may also be identified as yellow, red or coloured. Initially, about four hundred years back, people with black and white skins landed in the new world. People of Britain and most of the European countries made a beeline for America for settlement and for making a quick fortune and perhaps for picking up some windfalls. Shiploads of the flower of African youth were uprooted from their homelands and transported to the new world for moving the wheels of agriculture and other services in the fast developing colonies. While whites became the masters, blacks were stamped as slaves. Initially, most of the activities were labour intensive and therefore, the productive potential, prosperity, standing and status of the master, depended on the number of slaves that he commanded. Slaves were considered as an asset and were treated as property. They had no rights and they did not enjoy any type of freedom There used to be scrambles, when ships laden with slaves, dropped anchor at the harbours and the impatient masters elbowed each other, for the appropriation of a major share of the slaves in the auction, at the ports and at the city squares of most of the cities. The slaves had no choice except sweating and working for long hours, in accordance with the wills, dictates and in some cases whims of the masters. The life went on like that for days, weeks, months, years and decades before it dawned on the masters that, after all even slaves are human beings and they have all the talents and sensitivities, which will make them think and dream and will ultimately goad them to break away from all the shackles. Naturally, it is heartening to see these days, that people with different colours of skin have been moving and meeting freely in America, apparently without any prejudices or inhibitions and they have gradually shattered most of the barriers of conservatism and have been working together, step by step and shoulder to shoulder to make United States of America the most prosperous and powerful country in the world.
Labour and Capital: It is a common scene to see labour working day and night, for long hours and in some cases in shifts, on the shop floors or in the field for wages or remuneration, which more or less hover round subsistence level, whereas, the masters or the capitalists sit comfortably in the glass houses. Labour and capital are the main components of every type of economic activity. They are inseparably linked to each other. Labour can not function without capital and capital can not deliver without labour. When labour and capital work together and in harmony, they produce the marketable goods and services for the fulfillment of the needs of the community. It is where the conflict between labour and capital begins. Capitalist concentrates on paying the minimum possible wages for the inputs of labour and after paying for all the expenses, he tries to appropriate for himself, bulk of the surplus. Consequently, the labour, supported by its unions, tries to strike the best possible deals from the employers for a little bite in the pie The tussle goes on and on and sometimes the conflict escalates leading to demonstrations, shutdowns and layoffs. The phenomenon has vertically divided the people in almost all countries. Every country has lobbyists, political parties and governments, who are committed to promote and protect the interests of employers, investors and managers or the so-called rich and privileged people and on the other side, there is no dearth of associations, unions, political parties and governments which espouse the cause of the poor, downtrodden and long neglected common man. Generally, their stances are very rigid and there does not appear to be any desire, inclination or flexibility for reconciliation. It is unfortunately forgotten that harmonious relations between labour and capital lead to better productivity, bigger pie and smiles, which lit all faces.
Vote Banks: Governments and constitutional structures were initially created to serve the people and to make available to them safety, security and all those services which were not within the capacity and reach of the common man. People were considered as supreme and source of power for the constitution, the government and its institutions lay with the people. Gradually, the functions of the governments and other related institutions have been expanding and instead of serving the people, they have assumed the role of regulating the lives of the people. Naturally, the role of the politicians, who run the governments and other institutions has also undergone a sea change. Initially, highly regarded people joined politics with a mission to serve the basic needs of the people. Now, every politician or for that matter every political party, everywhere in the world has a single point agenda. To grab power and once they get it, to cling to power by almost all means available to them. Naturally, the vote banks have emerged as a natural corollary, in almost every country. The vote banks are almost like holy cows, which are tenaciously guarded and preserved by all politicians. Nothing is barred. All cards are played. Caste, creed, religion, money and almost all types of allurements and of course threats of dire consequences for betrayal. People, who can mobilize and muster support are the most sought after persons and are frantically wooed by all political parties. Their background and the way they function is conveniently overlooked. As and when they succeed, such people insist on extracting their pound of flesh, pushing the interests of the common man and the country at the bottom of the pile..
Elements of nature: Wind blows freely all the time and injects freshness in the environment in every nook and corner of the earth. Hills and snow-clad mountains stand majestically with their heads high, as if trying to inspire people to scale all the heights. Rivers continue their journeys sleeplessly along meandering paths with tingling sounds. And the ocean with the broadest heart accepts and accommodates almost everything. Fauna and flora continue to smile and flourish almost unconcerned about what goes on around them. All the elements differ widely from each other in almost every manner. Still, they function in total harmony with the system, without losing their identity or freedom. People belonging to different castes, creeds, religion, colour, language, region, country or social and political affiliations vary widely in their upbringing, outlook, ways of life, socio-economic conditions and so many other ways. With all the differences and diversities, dreams and urges of almost all the people are similar. Every man wants safety, security, peace, happiness and satisfaction and freedom to follow his internal urges for the realization of his dreams. Apparently there are no conflicts. In spite of what the doomsday people may say, this world has sufficient space and resources for almost everybody to have all the shots at their weirdest dreams. People have been doing it and they have scaled all the heights.