Languages and Bio-diversity

2008 is the International Year of Languages, isn't it ? Recently, read about the danger of extinction hundreds of languages around the world. It seems, there are a few languages which are spoken by less than 5 people. And, if they die, the language will also die with them. Being with the adivasis here in Gudalur, I can understand why protection of languages should be high on the agenda.

Anita sent a nice email about the role played by languages in protecting bio-diversity and important knowledge about forests, plants and animals. The article says that more than half of the world's 7,000 languages are endangered; many face extinction in the next century. Reproducing some parts of that email here :

"Interestingly, the projects funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) could save more than just a few mother tongues. It might also protect plants and animals.

Talk about diversity!


When the nonprofit organization Terralingua mapped the distribution of languages against a map of the world's biodiversity, it found that the places with the highest concentration of plants and animals, such as the Amazon Basin and the island of New Guinea, were also where people spoke the most languages.

As well as serving as indicators of biodiversity, languages also act as good signs of cultural diversity and a group's understanding of surrounding environments, because people store communal knowledge in their language.

"Wherever humans exist, they have established a strong relationship with the land, and with the biodiversity that exists there," said anthropologist and Terralingua President Luisa Maffi. "They have developed a deep knowledge of the plants and animals, the local ecology, as well as a knowledge about how to use and manage the resources to ensure continued sustenance of biodiversity."

Languages hold valuable knowledge about how to preserve biodiversity.

Native languages have many names for plants that describe how and where they grow, as well as their medicinal uses. But the meanings often do not survive translation from one language to another. "If you've learned something about a plant from a speaker of an indigenous language, but you don't use the language, it's harder to pass on that knowledge," said linguist Pamela Munro of UCLA.



As one example, members of the Native American group called the Sekani practiced controlled burning of the forests of British Columbia to regenerate the forest and keep the understory clear for game animals. Their methods also kept the mountain pine beetle pest at bay.

A small pox epidemic decimated the indigenous people and the timber industry took over the management of the forests, putting a stop to the controlled burns. Since the 1990's, without the regular burnings, the beetle's outbreak has destroyed more than 7 million acres of forest. "The forests have been made unusable because the native populations have not been allowed to continue those practices," Maffi said. "Ultimately their communities will have to disperse, which will lead to a loss of cultural and linguistic diversity."

When I see the explosion of Tamil in internet, I am hopeful that my mother tongue will survive for centuries.

Probably, having the script is the key. Since most of the adivasi languages do not have scripts, they are quite vulnerable.

Value of Authenticity

An interesting debate has been going on in the international media scene on Authenticity after the Beijing Olympics. After the inaugural ceremony of the olympics, it was announced that the televised TV footage of the fireworks had been pre-recorded and digitally created for maximum effect. These included the 55-second sequence of fireworks called "footprints" exploding in consecutive ripples along a south-north axis across Beijing from Tiananmen Square to the Bird's Nest.


What people around the world saw was "mostly an animated three-dimensional video that was made over a year. It was not actually live footage except the final stage". Even though the fireworks in question was actually going on over the Beijing skies in the same fashion, what people around the world saw in their Television was not the one that appeared on August 8th, 2008 ! This was done for maximum effect, we were told.

Similarly, there was an issue with the beautiful little girl Lin Miaoke who was reported to have captured the heart of the nation with her singing. It seems, she was just miming to the voice of another young seven year old kid called Yang Peiye. Yang's voice was terrific, but she had a buck teeth. Hence, they matched the beautiful face of Lin with the wonderful voice of Yang, and presented to the world. The world's heart got captured ! For maximum effect.

Purists are making a noise about this 'cheating', but the argument I liked the best was about the issue of authenticity. As long as we are not sitting in the stadium and watching things, whatever we receive in the television cannot be called authentic. There is some level of digital interference by the time we see it in our television. So, how does it matter if the fireworks were pre-recorded and shown ? After all, the intention was to impress everyone with the beauty of coordination.

Pallavi Aiyar wrote this in Hindu :

"... [this accusation about cheating] has to do with the assumed intrinsic value we seem to ascribe to authenticity. But, is the authentic always 'better' than a replica ? If the pleasure derived from viewing a fake is as much or perhaps even greater than that drawn from the original, is the authentic still of more value ?

Objectively speaking, "authenticity" is ethically ambiguous or neutral. It has no superior moral value in itself. Indian visitors to China are often horrified to discover "authentic" Chinese food and experience far greater pleasure from gobhi manchurian than bona fide chicken feet !"

Tamil culture is one excellent example of our desire to just preserve the cliches (or our notion of ancient culture) rather than the authentic facts. We have all been brain-washed so much by the power of mass-communication during the last hundred years that we Tamilians do not have the courage to look for authenticity in anything in life. We are happy with the portrayed images and are content with the 'feel good' factor. In that sense, we are more English than the English themselves; more american than the americans and (when it comes to noodles) more chinese than the chinese ! Who wants authenticity; we just want to be happy ...

PS : In Trichy, we have a small 'burma bazaar', where you get all kinds of things. Our favourite is a watch shop, where they can assemble all the parts of a clock and give you a Citizen or Titan or a Omega or any international brand. All for a mere Rs.100 ( about $ 2.5 !)

Why Dilbert ?

Some of you may wonder why I love Dilbert and the Office Dynamics. Just look at the sample of three strips given below. You will know yourself. (You can click on the strip to see a bigger picture in a new window).







Any views anyone ?

Battle for the eyeballs

There was a time when I used to enjoy seeing advertisements in the Television. I thought, that is one of the most creative of modern professions. But, today, I am squarely blaming the TV ads as the reason for many of our evils. I am still not that much against advertisements in the print media, but the visual media is too powerful and influences the thinking of an entire nation.


Read an article on Advertisement and Contents in our media. See this quote :

As the media becomes more dependent on advertising, advertising becomes less dependent on the media. The final hopes of readers paying for content are fading.

Advertising has long paid for content and made it free. Now, it has grown to a stage where it even determines the content.

Promotion of a product is one thing. Everyone is bound to do that. But, TV ads are also done on a massive scale and hence social responsibility has to be there. If we are peaceful in Gudalur, it is because we do not watch TV ads day in and day out.

And, there is big big money involved. To the extent that they are dictating policies of the government, the forms of entertainment, who wins and who loses and what not. The entire T-20 cricket format was designed to suit TV ads. No other game can have scope for so much of advertisement but cricket. Between each ball being bowled, there is an ad; there is a message that pops out from the corner, one cartoon character jumps up and down, asking us to drink something or use a particular company's mobile phone.



Then, best batsman of the day, best bowler, best catch, best runout, best shot, most sixers, most boundaries, most wickets, man of the match, man of the team, man of the over, man of the first hour, second hour... each sponsored by companies. As someone said, there is actually a battle for the eyeballs ! Catch our attention, get into our minds and sit there ! The violence shown in the TV and its influence on our kids is a well-documented fact in our TV controlled life ! (Saw a terrific - but, frightening film called 'Wag the Dog' recently. More about it separately).


While thinking about this, I was wondering there are many things I am also actively involved in communicating to lots of people. Health messages, Just Change posters insisting on trade justice ... I may justify, saying that they are socially relevant messages !?

And, in this blog also, there were Google ads. I am thankful to Google for hosting my blog free; grateful to them and all that. But, ads ? Am I also fighting for the eyeballs of the few who visit my blog regularly ? I may justify saying that they are only text ads, they are unobtrusive, etc. But, I guess, they should be off.

So, I am taking the google ads away from the blog. I am sure, no one will miss them. Dilbert cartoon strip is not an ad. So, it can continue I think.

Black Bart, the civil Highwayman

People have a fascination with outlaws. Especially, we are very keen to find out one speck of nice thing about a horrible murderer and keep remembering that - as much as we are keen to find out one speck of bad thing about a noble soul and keep repeating that.

Recently read about a Highwayman called "Black Bart", who robbed coaches, looted money and lived without a trace in the wild wild west of US in the late 19th century.


"Black Bart" Bolton, whose exploits delighted the public, infuriated Wells Fargo detectives. The curious thing about Black Bart was that he often left verses at the scene of his holdups. One of them read :

"I rob the rich to feed the poor
Which hardly is a sin,
A widow ne'er knocked at my door
But what I let her in,
So blame me not for what I've done
I don't deserve your curses
And if for any cause I'm hung
Let it be for my verses."

On August 3 of 1877, a stage was making its way over the low hills between Point Arenas and Duncan’s Mills on the Russian River when a lone figure suddenly appeared in the middle of the road. Wearing a long linen duster and masked with a flour sack, the bandit pointed a double-barreled shotgun at the driver and said, in a deep and resonant voice, “Throw down the box!” When the posse arrived later, all they found was a waybill with a verse painstakingly written out on its back, each line in a different hand.

Almost a year later, on July 25 of 1878, the PO8 struck again. As the stage from Quincy to Oroville slowed to make a difficult turn along the Feather River, the masked man stepped out of the bushes and asked that the box be thrown down. His spoils included $379 in coin, a silver watch, and a diamond ring. Once again, when the posse reached the scene, all they found was a poem:

“Here I lay me down to sleep
To wait the coming morrow,
Perhaps success, perhaps defeat,
And everlasting sorrow.
Let come what will I’ll try it on,
My condition can’t be worse;
And if there’s money in that box
’Tis munny in my purse!”

Once again the lines were written in varying hands and the work signed “Black Bart, The PO8.” In order to make the highways safe once again, Governor William Irwin posted a $300 reward for the capture of the bandit, to which Wells Fargo & Co. added another $300. Another $200 was contributed by the postal authorities. The reward went unclaimed for five years, during which Black Bart seemingly robbed at will. Often laying low for several months, Bart would suddenly go on a spree and rob three or four stages in as many weeks, and then vanish without a trace. Black Bart’s talent for covering great distances on foot in impossibly short times (described as a “thorough mountaineer and a good walker” in a Wells Fargo circular), was no doubt a great asset in his life as a highwayman.

The morning of November 3, 1883, proved cold and clear as Reason E. McConnell drove his stage towards Copperopolis. His only passenger that morning was young Jimmy Rolleri, and his only cargo was the Wells Fargo chest fastened securely to the floor of the stage. Fastened securely because along with the $550 in gold coin and some three and a quarter ounces of gold dust, the box contained 228 ounces of gold amalgam from the mill at the Patterson Mine. As the stage slowed down at the approach of Funk Hill, Jimmy jumped off the stage with his Henry rifle to do some hunting, planning to meet the stage on the other side of the hill. As the stage neared the top of the hill, a rustle in the brush made McConnell turn his head. He found himself looking straight into the muzzle of a double-barreled shotgun.

You see, Black Bart knew about the amalgam. Ordering McConnell to unhitch the team and walk them up the hill, Bart then entered the stage and commenced to break open the chest. Meanwhile, Jimmy somehow managed to meet McConnell away from the stage. The two took cover and watched as Black Bart backed out of the stage with his loot. McConnell then “seized the rifle from the boy and opened fire on the robber.” He missed, twice, after which Jimmy took the rifle and fired, causing Bart to stumble before disappearing into the brush.

Sheriff Ben Thorn of Calaveras County reached the holdup site that afternoon and organized the posse to search for clues. Among the items found was a small round derby hat, two paper bags containing crackers and granulated sugar, a leather case for a pair of field glasses, a belt, a quartz magnifying glass, a razor, a handkerchief full of buckshot, three dirty linen cuffs, and two flour sacks. Black Bart would have undoubtedly taken his belongings with him had he not been run off by the Henry rifle.
The handkerchief full of buckshot proved to be Bart’s downfall, for in one corner were four small letters: F.X.O.7., a laundry’s identifying marks. Sheriff Thorn took the evidence to Wells Fargo detective J. B. Hume in San Francisco, whereupon Hume turned the handkerchief over to special operative Harry Morse who immediately went to work on tracing the laundry mark. A week later, on November 12, the laundry was found and the owner of the handkerchief identified as one Charles E. Bolton.

Bart was arrested and after lengthy questioning decided to confess to the robbery and show his captors where he had hidden the amalgam, hoping this would make it easier for him when he came to trial. After the amalgam was recovered, Bart appeared on November 17 before Superior Court Judge C. V. Gottschalk at San Andreas. During his career as a highwayman, Black Bart robbed twenty-eight stages; when he was caught he confessed to only the last and was sentenced on the basis of that one alone. He received six years in San Quentin Prison.

Released from prison on January 21 of 1888, Charles E. Bolton disappeared from sight a few weeks later and was never seen again.

Independence Day

As India celebrates its 62nd Independence Day on August 15th, would like to wish my fellow countrymen a very happy 'Independence Day'. Our tricolour flag, Hoisting ceremonies, speeches, banners, sweets and what not .. !

Have written a small Tamil Poem on Independence. Sorry, if I translate it, it will kill it ! So, you have to do with the Tamil one.

ஆகஸ்டு பதினைந்தும் சுதந்திரமும்

காற்றில் ஆடும் தேசியகொடிகள்
காதைக் கிழிக்கும் மேடைப் பேச்சுகள்
அரசியல் சுதந்திரத்தின் ஆரவாரங்கள்
ஆகஸ்டு 15ன் மாயத் தோற்றங்கள்

வருடந்தோறும் விடாமல் நடக்கும்
பக்தி சடங்குகள் தேச சம்பிரதாயங்கள்
தேவை இல்லை இந்த சுதந்திரம்
எனக்கு வேண்டும் உண்மை சுதந்திரம்

வெயில் அடிக்கும் பகல் நேரத்தில்
என் வீட்டு வாசல் வேப்ப நிழலில்
காலை நீட்டி தூங்க முடிந்தால்
ஆஹா கிடைத்தது சுதந்திரம் கிடைத்தது சுதந்திரம்

நெருஞ்சி முட்களை ஒதுக்கி விட்டு
என் குருஞ்சிப் பூக்களை விருந்துக்கு அழைத்து
மலர்களுடன் மயங்கியே கிடந்தால்
அன்று மனதுக்கு கிடைத்தது மகிழ்ச்சி சுதந்திரம்

கொட்டும் மழையில் சிரிக்கும் நதியில்
பொட்டல் காட்டில் எரிக்கும் வெயிலில்
ஆயிரக்கணக்கில் ஆட்கள் நெரிக்கும்
அரசியல் கூட்டம் சந்தை திருவிழாவில்

முகமும் முகவரியும் இல்லாத உருவமாய்
தனியாய் காற்றாய் நிழலாய் அருவமாய்
இருந்தும் இல்லாமல் இருக்க முடிந்தால்
இனிப்பாய் இனிக்கும் இன்பச் சுதந்திரம்

ரகசிய சந்தோஷங்களை
ரணங்களை ஆசைகளை
பயத்தையும் கூடவே என்
பொறாமையையும் சொல்ல ஒரு
தோழி குறைந்த பட்சம் ஒரு தோழனாவது
கூட இருந்தால் பாக்கியம்
அது சுதந்திரம்

என்ன தான் இருந்தாலும்
பிடித்தவளிடம் பல் இளிக்கவும்
பிடிக்காதவனிடம் முகஞ்சுளிக்கவும்
முடிந்தால் போதும்
அதுவே சுதந்திரம்

To be honest, our kids stand in the queue on the Independence Day celebration not as a respect to the Flag, but due to the fear of their Teachers. After standing in the hot sun for an hour or so, compensated unequally by a small toffee, they break free only when everyone disappears from the school ground. If they could play like this, that is real freedom !

08.08.08

There seems to be excitement about the August 8th phenomenon. Humanbeings go crazy when unusual patterns happen in the dates. Eight years ago, when the year 1999 ended, everyone was so excited to have a year ending with three zeros ! And, the whole world celebrated the new Millennium, as if it was going to make any material difference. Of course, there were some purists who tried to spoil the party by saying that the new millennium actually starts in 2001 and not in 2000 ! The argument became more interesting, when some people started saying that Jesus Christ was born in the year BC 6 (that is, "-6"), and not the year 0.

So, it is no surprise that there is excitement about 08.08.08. It seems, the number of people who want to get married on this day is quite high. People have booked in advance to register their wedding on this day, as they consider 8 as auspicious. Why ? Because, 8 looks like infinity (if you look it sideways !). I am sure, parents would like their offsprings to be born on 8th August. Even China is thrilled by the Eightomania. The olympics is going to be inaugurated at 8 PM on 08.08.08


I must confess that in 1988, I also didn't escape from one such excitement. (My god, it was 20 years ago !) It was 8.8.88 that time. I was studying in IRMA and had a blissful friendship with Bharani, Rajan and Nalini. The happy foursome. It was the first day of our Fourth term in the college, after the MTS-2. We wanted to capture that day for posterity. So, we went to a photo studio in Anand and took this photograph. (From left to right, myself, Bharani, Nalini and Rajan).

That day, we wondered where we will be in 9.9.99. We were not sure about it, but definitely, we didn't think that one of us will be no more by then. Rajan died in a road accident in 1990, leaving us just to live with this photograph.

Many unique dates have come after that. 9.9.99 for one. In the new millennium, every year we are having something like 1.1.1, 2.2.2 etc. We even had 01.02.03 and 09.08.07 and all that. But, nothing could match the lovely day four of us had at the photo studio in Anand on 8.8.88 !

Value of a Statistical Life

Some of us may feel that human life is the most precious thing and we cannot put a value to life. But, the Environment Protection Agency in US has other ideas. It announced in May this year that the value of a statistical life is $6.9 million - a drop of almost $1 million from just five years ago !

How does it matter, what the EPA says ? Does it make a difference whether a life costs 6.9 million or 10 million dollars ? Apparently, it makes a lot of difference to the Government of US, and importantly to the US citizens. Can you believe it ? This is how it is ..

When drawing up regulations, government agencies put a value on human life, then weigh the costs versus the lifesaving benefits of a proposed rule. The less a life is worth to the Government, the less the need for a regulation, such as tighter restrictions on pollution.

Consider, for example, a hypothetical regulation that costs $18 billion to enforce but will prevent 2500 deaths. At $7.8 million per person (the old figure), the lifesaving benefits outweigh the costs. But, at $6.9 million per person (the current figure), the rule costs much more than the lives it saves, so it may not be adopted.

Of course, the officials told, it seems, that they were just following what the science told them. The EPA figure is not based on people's earning capacity, or their potential contributions to society, or how much they are loved and needed by their friends and family, some of the factors used in insurance claims and wrongful death lawsuits.

Instead, economists calculate the value based on what people are willing to pay to avoid certain risks, and on how much extra employers pay their workers to take on additional risks.

But, what I cannot understand is how the value of life can come down. The costs of everything seems to be going up; at least, on this count, the value of life should increase, I would have thought. People, I am sure, are willing to pay more to stay alive today - compared to, say, five or ten years ago.

Though I grew older by 10 years compared to 1998, I wouldn't accept that my life is worth less now compared to 10 years ago. As suggested by Anita, life is on a golden period right now and things are generally on a high. I assume, most of my friends and colleagues will also vouch for the same.

Probably, this is only for US citizens ?!

Life's versions ...

Someone wise had said, I am told,

If at first you don't succeed, call it version 1.0 !

How wonderful ! If we can have this attitude that whatever we are today, or whatever we are faced with today, is a version different from the past. As long as the new version is an improved avatar of the previous ones, then it is fine.


I wonder how many version changes have happened in my life till now. (Not all of the higher versions were improved ones ! Like all 'upgradations' of Microsoft after releasing their XP in 2000 or so were not improvements, most people feel. Inspite of the high profile launch, Vista of 2007 is not preferred over the eight year old XP - even by pyrates !) I think, till I went to IRMA in 1987, I could be just called manoharan 1.0 only, I think. Moving from school to school within Thanjavur and Pudukottai districts weren't much of a change in life. My hindi classes probably resulted in 1.0.3 or something like that. Even the four years spent in the Coimbatore Engineering college can, at best, be classified as 1.2. Nothing major.

But, in IRMA, there was a steep learning curve there - thanks to my nice friends, especially Nalini. She introduced the whole new world called 'voluntary sector' to Bharani, Rajan and myself. It took sometime to understand that there is something called 'development sector' and things called 'voluntarism' etc. do exist. There Manoharan 2.0 was born, I guess.

Working in NDDB for two years wasn't a version upgradation, I feel. Probably, it gave some confidence that I can contribute meaningfully in a national level organisation and multi-crore business operation.

But, the three years in Andhra with adivasis was another major version change. There, I think, I changed to Manoharan 3.0. Slogging it out in that remote village called Boithili, very basic food, without electricity, fight between naxals and police ... i became a vastly improved version.

And, then came Gudalur. Between 1995 and 2000, it wasn't a significant phase, I think. I tried and did some nice things, but as a person, probably this was a disastrous product. The one year spent in Sittilingi, arrival of Vennila and lot of thinking etc. helped bring out another version, which is much better (I hope !) than the previous ones.


There are things in store (or in development stage) for the next versions. Preparing to be a better father and importantly, an old man. Let me hope that all these major and minor version changes will result in some bearable product called Manoharan !