Covid-19 Leading to Harsh Awakening (Suvir)

Read my April 4th Slice of Life column in Mail Today, or continue here.

Covid-19 Leading to Harsh Awakening

Human behavior has shown an altricial manner that makes its actions and reactions more animalistic than those one would expect of mankind. Animals are more precocial, independent from birth, but we have ascribed greater intelligence and brilliance to man, whom we assume will be conditioned into performing at much higher levels of being than other creatures.

But assumptions, like comparisons, are odious and mere hypotheses. If our behavior does not rise above that of the animals, we are hardly living up to that greater intelligence and brilliance or to the meaning of what it is to be human.

It is society that conditions man, that leaves a lasting imprint on the markings that form the brain from which our impulses, our reflexes, our reactions, and our humanity stems. Unlike animals that come wired to function from birth with minimal external support, we are dependent on those we come from and the society that we come into.

Jaundiced by greed and deviousness, maimed by a malignant covetous selfishness, conditioned to care and provide only for self and next of kin, we have been reduced to a people of truculent invidiousness who are at odds with our own species. Families, class, groups, orders, brackets, tiers, types, ranks and kinds—these dictate how we behave, whom we respect, admire, look up to, love and relate to, and how we raise our kids.

Our merciless hard-heartedness, our abhorrence of someone different, our jealousy of the differently abled, our castigation of those with other viewpoints, our retribution and retaliation against those who worship differently or choose not to, our execration of those who speak another language, wear different clothes, and pray with rituals incongruent to ours, have reduced us into hateful creatures that have shaken the planet beyond what it can handle.

Where once we had visionary statesmen leading us to live lives that were inclusive, accepting, bigger than any one group or ism, we now have politicians dividing us into every faction that is possible, with nothing but election and quick wins as their drive.

Covid-19 is telling us that the world is exhausted, it has had enough, that there is little left for us to destroy. The earth is telling us to awaken and fast. To rise above our parochial comforts, to look at the world as a whole, to see the planet for what it is. It’s as if the earth we home on, the land, the seas, the creatures—the water we drink and the air we breathe—all are telling us to see how they are one and that we too need to awaken to that reality where we see our shared humanity before we see our individuality.

Altruisim: Evading Us When We Need It Most

The planet is at odds with itself it seems. But is that really the case? Aren’t we as a society at odds with ourselves and within ourselves? The earth is desperately sending us a wake-up call.

When did we start thinking that altruism was “giving” money to the poor? Do we truly believe we come out of a vacuum and our successes have no connection to the world we live in? The sooner we can come out of our comforting caves of selfishness and give back to the communities we live in and come from, the sooner we will become mindful and lose the mindless selfishness that has destroyed us and that is on the verge of destroying life as we know it.

Be it the leader of the Free World or leaders leading other nations, megalomania and narcissism have brought us demagoguery that is as dangerous as what was unleashed upon the world in the middle of the last century.

Armed with little other than personal agendas, worried little beyond their electoral bases, leaders of today show no charitable qualities. They are gangsters, goons, warlords, mafiosos and clansmen. They indulge in 24/7 “reality television,” peddling scenarios created to convince the masses of their altruism. But such altruism is not charity; it is an empty act “to be seen by men”—performed to render their followers unquestioning and submissive, abused by the very shepherds entrusted with their care.

My mother, a Hindu, was educated in a convent school by Irish Catholic nuns and came of age in an India still proud of its Gandhian values. She taught us at a young age about being charitable. A charity that ensured that the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing towards that cause. Generosity of actions that helped others were meant to be as natural as speaking to another or falling in love.

Empathy, selflessness, kindness, decency, humanity, generosity, helpfulness, magnanimity, pity, grace, benevolence, civility, compassion, gentleness, tenderness, mercy, lenity, and charity were traits one learnt by following one’s elders, neighbors and relatives. Finding further tutelage in them by reinforcement given at school by teachers, peer and in studies.

Until we cease thinking of those least fortunate amongst our human collective as the other, as them, as another, we will never be altruistic in our giving. Altruism begins where selfishness ends, where isms dissolve into a cohesive oneness in the human fraternity. When we give without thought to who, why, where, and to what gain for self. Until then we are serving ourselves and our narrow niche in this world.

Chanda Aloo

Chanda Aloo cannot be made in enough quantities at our home. Two people can finish what a dozen people might eat at a fancier meal where everyone is being a tad more formal. Such is the beauty and comforting deliciousness of this simple potato dish. It goes back to my grandmother’s family’s table in Kurwaar. A recipe that has been passed down generationally. It now has fans across the continents. Friends and family members have taken it with them.

You can add asafetida into the potatoes with the cumin if you want even more heft of flavor. Thought that said, as much as I love flavor, there is a certain beauty to the rustic simplicity of this dish.

If you want to be totally crazy, fry garden herbs like rosemary, thyme, summer savory, sage and verbena in oil, then add some lardon bits, cook the lardon till crispy and golden, with a strainer remove them from the pan, reserve to cool on a plate. In the pan with herbs and fat, cook the potatoes minus the coriander, or even with if you want to cook for a surprising end, and follow recipe as is. These potatoes will make you the talk of your family and community.

8-10 medium sized potatoes

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

2 medium onions

Salt to taste

2 teaspoons coriander powder

2 teaspoons Deghi mirchi

Coriander leaves for garnish

1) Peel potatoes, slice crosswise into thin round discs and put into a bowl of water

2) Slice one onion into fine dice and other into thin half moon slices

3) Heat oil in a large wok and fry cumin seeds until golden brown

4) Add onions into the wok and fry for a couple of minutes till they are slightly limp