Democracy has left the building

Once upon a time, many countries decided to light up a new flame of their own and keep it burning bright. Every person in the country gave a bit of his light and soon, there was a huge flame that burned bright for its people. A flame that stood for energy, a flame that promised equality for all, freedom for all, security for all who lived in its light. The flame was called Democracy and it was well named because it was of the people, by the people, for the people.

The change happened very slowly and it happened in all the countries that had the flame of Democracy alight. The people who kept giving to keep the flame alight didn’t notice what was happening and as long as they felt the flame they had lit was burning, they felt secure and went about their daily business as usual.

Slowly, the shadow figures moved in, casting their long shadows of greed and hunger for power on the light that burned. The flame that had been lit by the people was slowly being controlled by a few who definitely did not have the people’s interests at heart. One day, all that was left of the flame were a few glowing embers and when it left the building, no one noticed and no one cared.

The armies grew and there were wars. For our safety, they said. To teach others about our wonderful flame, they proclaimed. And to make those wars possible, the people who had lit the flame were taxed. For your own good, they said. To keep the flame alive. All this is because we, the people want a better life for the world.

The powerful grew more powerful and richer. The poor grew poorer. The dreams that people started off with grew dim and died. There was no time for dreaming when every minute went towards existing.

Oh, my people, said the flame that was dying. Look up, listen, stand up and fight for your rights. Fight to fan the flame and make it burn bright once more. As long as there was a spark, there was hope. Maybe the few who questioned a bit too loudly were silenced but hope that its people would wake up was the only thing that kept the flame going.

Once in a while, people looked at the building and wondered if this indeed was why they had lit the flame. They didn’t realise that Democracy had left the building a long time ago. No, Democracy don’t live here anymore. Would it ever live here again?

de-moc-ra-cy: government by the people

This article was quoted extensively by Jeff Radebe at his Corruption Watch launch speech: 

(http://www.corruptionwatch.org.za/content/jeff-radebe%E2%80%99s-speech-corruption-watch-launch)

Thirukural – Couplets To Live By That Transcend Time

Over two thousand years ago, a sage from South India wrote a collection of maxims - 133 chapters, each containing ten short, forceful couplets. He wrote in the South Indian Dravidian language of Tamil and his couplets cover a gamut of topics – from the divine to the role of a husband and wife, to gambling, liquor, medicine, politics and love. While little is known about his life, his work survives and is translated into many of the world’s languages. What is incredible is that most of it is so practical that it could well be relevant today as it was way back then.

 Translated, ‘thirukural’ means sacred couplets. Each couplet has fourteen syllables and each couplet contains a thought which is stated briefly and to the point, much like a proverb or a Confucian saying. It is probably one of the very few holy texts that has survived intact till now. Written on palm leaves with a pointed instrument, these aphorisms have survived time, language evolution, kingdoms, cultures and invasions. One of the reasons could be that the ancient Tamil language has not undergone too much of change unlike other languages in which religious texts were written and which have become extinct. Tamil is still very much a ‘living’ language. The other reason could be the fact that this work rises beyond religions – it is an ethical treatise which in a short, pithy form gives us guidelines so we can live our life in this world better. While the divine is revered and worshipped, it is not the life or lives to come that assume importance but the life we live now. What also makes it acceptable to many is that it does not preach. These aren’t laws and he does not set himself up to be a prophet – all he lays out are basic principles of ethics. While he talks about God, he does not give him a name – in fact, he refers to him as ‘pure knowledge’. He talks about love and charity but does not write down a set of rules. True, it was written as a guide for the times he lived in but because it is not specific in nature, it rises beyond to the universal, its relevance surviving the passage of time. What is touched upon are core values for the human race and discounting a few instances where the guidelines are for life as it was when he lived, for the most part, it contains a roadmap for the essential, basic and permanent aspects of human life.

Who was this man? There’s hardly anything that is known about him. This is the only work he seems to have written and though there have been researchers who feel other works of literature can be attributed to him, nothing can really be proved. So, apart from this ethical treatise, what we know of him are legends. Some say he was a simple weaver who wrote this thanks to divine inspiration. There was no other way a simple workman could have written something so profound over 2000 years ago without the benefit of the education that was reserved for the richer and nobler classes. Another story says that he was a Jain prophet who went South and lived among the people there. However, the Tamil he writes and the allusions he makes seem to indicate that he was a son of the soil. Yet another story says he was a king in Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of India and that he renounced his kingdom, much like Buddha did, to devote his time to philosophical pursuits. (I’m prejudiced as I am from this part of India so the last story is the one I like to believe in.) On the 1^st of January 2000, a 133 foot statue of Thirukural (133 feet to commemorate the 133 sections of his work) was unveiled on a small island off Kanyakumari – where the Indian Ocean meets the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

In the southern state of Tamilnadu, his treatise is mandatory as part of the school syllabus. Many Tamilians, especially the educated ones, revere this creed because it rises above the narrow teachings of most religions. It is an ethical code to live by and it is relevant to everyone. It’s been translated to at least 30 languages around the world and today, it’s grown beyond being a gospel for just the Tamilians. It’s simple, it’s succinct, it doesn’t preach or pontificate, it’s practical, it’s relevant and it’s universal. It’s for every man to live a better life with his fellow men.

HELP! Where Did My IP Address Go To?

I couldn’t find it. Everything around me looked so unfamiliar. I could have sworn when I turned the corner that this was the street where I lived. I have often walked down this street before and all that jazz. But I hadn’t. At least I don’t think so. The frontages of the homes looked different and the numbers on the mailboxes were unfamiliar. I ran back to the corner and on to the train station. Wasn’t this where I’d just got off? Even that had started to look different. So I sprinted at the speed of light – thank goodness this was the virtual world – and went to the next corner to see if my favourite coffee shop was still there. It had been this morning….but wait, it had changed too, Subtly, but it wasn’t the same and the number on the entrance was different. Was this some ghastly dream?

This couldn’t be happening, I thought. I wandered to the park and sat down on a bench. The light in the park seemed different, as though it were the same park but lit by another moon. Then it hit me. Was it possible that I was caught in some dreadful time warp? Had I gone into a kind of Rip Van Winkle sleep in cyberspace only to find that I came back to a different dimension? Where was my familiar address string that I was so used to?

I took a hold on myself. ‘Don’t panic!’ I told myself and retraced my footsteps to the house where I knew I’d lived. I ignored the longer-stringed digital address that glowed on my mailbox and walked in. I knew I had mail – I’d seen the red light flashing on the box. I walked into a home that was mine and yet different. It was sleeker and it looked like everything was going to work a lot faster than before. I gestured at the large all-in-one screen and it came to life with a different light.

‘Welcome to the world of IPv6’

So had I slept while they made that leap from IPv4 to IPv6? I must have!

Soon, very soon, Internet addresses as we know them will have had their day. And we have to embrace a new world and a new address virtually.