Economy is rolling around so called smart people. It is the same concept at various levels. At home or in the nation; people who are smart enough to handle capital decides the flow and flood of capital.
NV Paulose
Those who observe my writing can easily understand that i am writing from my heart without any pride and prejudices. Convictions about the mission in life is the fountain that provides ink for my writing. There may not be much of polishing in the presentation of sentences. There may not be any system in the structure of sentences. But i will be writing what I know right and rightful for everyone.
I simply ponder on or around the way our society evolves and certain thoughts become stressed on or stressful in the process. Stress is a delivery process. It has to deliver something new and I never knew about it before. One such delivery happened on the other day was about the new phrase. Working is Capital is the new phrase I could coin for giving foundation for this article itself. There is nothing more to come out until this delivery process.
I was thinking about the role of capital in the success of Global TV. How much fixed capital and how much working capital? What are the normal sources of capital? How to mobilize them from where? How to begin with and how to go about?
Our world had created a model and mechanism immediately after the second World War. What is this second World War? The world is engaged in war in every other second. Which second we are not in war at somewhere or other? Is the world totally peaceful at anywhere at any point of time? See the way our thoughts go in different directions and dimensions.
Life comes out of emotions and convictions that are touching our deeper mind. Certain cry is sounding in my mind very louder as I write this. It may not be there when I read them again at some point of time. But the emotional convictions will remain stronger and unwavering forever in my mind. We have certain convictions that govern our conducts in life. We choose our attitude and approach based on our convictions.
Here I make a long quote from the writing of S. Balakrishnan *
Ninety-five years ago on 22nd September 1921, Gandhi made a momentous decision to change his attire. From the elaborate Gujarati attire, he decided on a simple dhoti and shawl. This epoch-making decision was taken by Gandhiji in Madurai after he decided that he has to work for and with the poor people of India and how can he identify with them if he wears different clothes from them. He stuck to this dress code even on his trip abroad and until his very last moment! And he never regretted his decision as he writes:“All the alterations I have made in my course of life have been effected by momentous occasions; and they have been made after such a deep deliberation that I have hardly had to regret them. And I did them, as I could not help doing them. Such a radical alteration — in my dress, — I effected in Madura.”
Gandhiji’s desire to identify himself with the poor masses was not a momentary decision. He had been contemplating about it for a long time. On two earlier occasions, he had thought of donning the common man’s clothes but it was ultimately in Madurai (Tamil Nadu) where he finally took the plunge of adopting the attire of a poor peasant. He remarked later that it was Madurai that gave him the necessary strength to take a decision on his clothing though, on a couple of occasions earlier, he came closer but could not fully adopt this attire. The Mahatma said Madurai gave him necessary strength to shed his traditional attire for ‘loincloth’ at last.
Gandhi describes the incident that forced him to shed his formal attire: “On the way (from Madras – now Chennai - to Madurai by train) I saw in our compartment crowds that were wholly unconcerned with what had happened. Almost without exception they were bedecked in foreign fineries. I entered into conversation with some of them and pleaded for Khadi. …. They shook their heads as they said, 'We are too poor to buy Khadi and it is so dear.' I realized the substratum of truth behind the remark. I had my vest, cap and full dhoti on. When these uttered only partial truth, the millions of compulsorily naked men, save for their langoti four inches wide and nearly as many feet long, gave through their limbs the naked truth. What effective answer could I give them, if it was not to divest myself of every inch of clothing I decently could and thus to a still greater extent bring myself in line with ill-clad masses? And this I did the very next morning after the Madura meeting."
This thought travelled along with him during his train journey down to Madurai where, on 22nd September 1921, Gandhi once for all decided upon a simple dhoti and a shawl. He was staying in the upstairs portion of a follower’s house (Door No. 251) on West Masi Street in Madurai. That was his second visit to that city; later, he visited it thrice. As he came out on that morning to proceed to Ramand (Ramanathapuram) and further down to Tirunelveli, he appeared in a new avatar with a telling fashion statement, if one can call it so! Fittingly, the same house is now occupied by the Khadi Emporium!
As he proceeded on his travel itinerary from Madurai, he was forced to stop en route to accept peoples’ greetings. And the place where he appeared first in public in his new loincloth attire is now called ‘Gandhi Pottal (open ground). A humble statue of Gandhi stands there just across Alankar Theatre on Kamarajar Road in Madurai.
However, Gandhiji did not want everyone to follow his simplistic dress style. He wrote in Navajivan: “I do not want either my co-workers or readers to adopt the loincloth. But I do wish that they should thoroughly realise the meaning of the boycott of foreign cloth and put forth their best effort to get it boycotted, and to get khadi manufactured. I do wish that they may understand that swadeshi means everything.”
This kind of drastic change in attire brought him both bouquets and brickbats and also some raised eye-brows. An interesting anecdote is the reluctant invite to afternoon tea at Buckingham Palace by King George V to Gandhi and all Indian delegates to the Round Table Conference; reluctant, because Gandhi’s poor man’s dress was simply against the court etiquette. But Gandhi was also equally adamant by pre-announcing that he would not re-clothe even to meet the King. His stand was simple that the Indian poor were still naked because of Britain. Later, when asked if he was not wearing enough clothes to meet the King, Gandhiji is reported to have famously remarked, “The king had enough on for both of us”. There could not have been a better riposte.Quote I end here to continue with the writing that I had persuaded at the beginning of this article.
Whenever I visit a temple, when I need to take out my over clothes, I will remember the act of Gandhiji to make me align with the status of the poor in the world. Going to God a blissful mind. Let that mindfulness be with us always.
Let us come back to the capital concepts by thinking aloud about it’s whereabouts.
Do we need capital for doing anything and everything? Is capital the only thing required for everything to happen? What is capital after all. We need to redefine our definitions about capital. We need to come out of most of our prejudices about it. Can we become the capital? Can we become the change that we are looking forward to see around?
Yes! There are plenty of capital unused and unattended. An unattended asset will soon becomes a liability. It should be handled carefully before it becomes stale and lost. Let us work to pool the largest wealth of human capital to mobilize passion and compassion to create wealth all around and give it to give maximum justice to maximum people in the world.
