The “Globalization of science” theme poem

The “Globalization of science” theme poem

An all-original poem by Sujay Rao Mandavilli

 

Science has had a truly impressive history,

And the west has played a highly spectacular role in science as we must all agree,

Though science has not always been western and western-centric only,

The ancient Mesopotamians, Sumerians did contribute greatly,

As did the ancient Chinese and the ancient Indians equally,

There were other gilded ages and mini-golden ages too,

And flashes of brilliance too,

Along with great centres of scientific importance and intellectual advantage,

Such as Baghdad in the fleeting Islamic scientific golden age,

Sciences are still largely Eurocentric indeed,

As it must be quickly consented and agreed,

With non-European attempts still a pale and feeble image,

And Eurocentric perspectives dominating more or less completely,

This is particularly true of the social sciences as most of us will agree,

This is because they lend themselves easily to parochialism and ethnocentrism,

This is why social sciences are different from other sciences and are drenched and suffused largely in anachronism,

Social sciences must bring out the breadth and diversity of human experience,

And must not in the service of an archaic and a long forgotten cause remain entrenched,

We have antediluvian theories on the origin of language,  

That are so reflective of colonial history and baggage,

Such as the bow-wow hypothesis, watch the birdie hypothesis,

The pooh-pooh hypothesis or the yo-he-ho hypothesis,

We have to work out the mechanics of novel areas such as language dynamics or the lexical empowerment of languages,

Along with better pedagogy and education,

Led by theories worked out comprehensively and with dedication,

We need participant observation and studies on enculturation,

Economics is still based on the European experience mostly,

With its consumption driven models and its tragic neglect of human experience and social and cultural harmony,

Social and cultural anthropology is still steeped in colonial exploratory adventures as we see,

Ripple and cascading changes are required in psychology and philosophy,

Political science and archeology,

We had previously discussed this critically and exhaustively,

In our earlier publications on social sciences and anthropology,

Change must be precipitated by thorough investigation and reexamination,

And comprehensive and critical reevaluation,

To bring out the richness of man’s cultural diversity fully and completely,  

And sociology has scantly progressed since the days of Weber and Cooley,

We also have a long way to go in scientific method and historiography,

Ethnographic studies or Indology, 

Inductive research and cross-cultural research design must become the norm,

And grounded research and etmic perspectives must also become the complete norm,

This must be our realization and our starting point,

And we must not mediators or arbitrators appoint,

Service to science must become our motto,

Our core strength and our inalienable mojo,

Service to society must no longer become a taboo,

And all these goals we must pursue stridently and with much fuss, ado or ballyhoo,

Service to the education system must be on our immediate wish list,

And from service to mankind we must not desist,

Let esoteric pursuits be given the go-by,

Let ivory tower pursuits be given the fly-by,

Let nerds be bypassed and the power of true and well-meaning scholars lionized,

The author’s personal wish is that we must always harbor and cultivate hope,

Therefore we must not mangle, and rattle any glimmer and ray of optimism and hope,

Not just by pruning the branches of the archaic and colonial tree,

But by striking at the heart of colonial enterprise and decree,

Let us fight equipped to the teeth,

Let us fight armed to the hilt,

Not physically,

But intellectually,

Let us knock our heads together quickly,

And get our heads around the basic issues rapidly,

Let our intellectualism and our raw brain power be our ammunition,

Let our grey cells be our cannon fodder and our munitions,

Let us broadly spread our wings,

And wholeheartedly and unanimously in concordant chorus sing,

Let us refuse to cow down, be serfs and meek stooges,

Puppets, pawns or faint-hearted toadies,

Let the motto, mantra and mission of the globalisation of science mission, 

Reverberate all across the world in harmony and gleeful unison,

A century after colonialism’s eventual political fall,

This must be our sweeping long-term goal and our broad vision,

Let the broader goals wholly scrupulous and non-pedantic,

Echo among all segments of the population both academic and non-academic,

Let us usher in the globalization of science in the true spirit of meaningful change,

Let us usher in progressive and self-initiated change,

We have a long way to go as we are presently stuck in a gridlock and a stalemate,

We cannot yet solve our own problems through the vehicular mechanism of science,

And regarding this, we must not matters mince,

We must initiate change all across the world among all citizens, residents and freemen in sum, 

And for multiple generations of intellectuals, thinkers and the laity to come,

Let us modulate the ill-effects of religion,

Let us usher in intellectual revolutions,

Let us usher in social science revolutions,

Let us usher in revolutions in pedagogy,

And in anthropology,

Wherever necessary both in the orient and in the occident,

Let us also upend the foundations of economics,

Which is anachronistic just like other fossilized relics,

Such that a million intellectuals bloom,

And a million thought leaders bloom,

These are no shallow talk and certainly no theatrics,

We have nothing against the west,

We acknowledge their contributions, their zeal and their zest,

We also wish all well-meaning individuals with their diverse pursuits and undertakings all the very best,

Though we acknowledge that there is no standard goalpost and no standard litmus test,

We must however with dogged determination pursue and chase our goals,

This is no empty weasel talk and this is certainly no hoax,

We must always remember a golden rule: A rising tide lifts all boats.

Let us enforce and realize human trusteeship of the planet

Let us enforce and realize human trusteeship of the planet

An all-original poem by Sujay Rao Mandavilli

 

The natural environment refers to the environment we live in,

It refers to the natural resources we use and to the air we must breathe in,

It may refer to the lifeless and the non-living that constitutes the abiotic,

Or to the rich, variegated and teeming life that is represented by the biotic,

Humans have long damaged the environment anthropogenically and catastrophically,

With heterogeneous and sundry activities such as agriculture, livestock and industry,

Sustainability has been seldom adequately or sufficiently understood and cruelly and unheedingly brushed under the carpet,

And with short-sighted inattention which we will eventually regret,

We have also often failed to channelize, optmize and foundationally and comprehensively reset,

Our self-serving, self-seeking and purblind ways alter, and our reckless profligacy reexamine and correct, 

Right from early path-breaking and trail-blazing civilizations,

Indeed, right from the pioneering Neolithic revolutions,

To the dawn of the magnificent and munificent industrial revolution,

Humans have had a large and a catastrophic environmental footprint with all their chequered and polychromatic luggage and baggages,

And man may in a sense even be an apex predator as he clumsily and dodgily trudges,

And stalks and walks the earth in random and fumbling incohesion,

Using up earth’s resources greedily without a care,

Consuming earth’s multisplenderous assets and riches hastily without giving a tinker’s damn regarding posterity’s material and spiritual welfare,

Our overtures in the realms of sustainable development are skimpy and recent,

In many ways they are skill half-cooked, half-baked and nascent,

Let us therefore stop to think and introspect about future generations,

While making esteemed sacrifices in the current and present generations, 

We still pollute disastrously and precariously through plastics, e-waste and power generation,

Transportation, chemical industries, building and construction,  

Metal ores, paper and fool-headed deforestation,

Agriculture, meat, livestock, poultry, and fossil fuel consumption,

Therefore let us endorse the human trusteeship of the planet principle uprightly,  

That first stemmed from the ideals and ideas of the legendary Mahatma Gandhi,

Who spoke about the need for human restraint and caring responsibility,

As we are endowed with an intellect let us envision and see,

What man can do not only for himself but for other species that live on land and sea,

And take care of their just and unconditional welfare truly and completely,

This will be a just manifestation of man’s claimed intellect,

As he claims to invigorate and resurrect,

Earth’s lost bounties from man’s marauding army,

Anything else would be a devastating catastrophe,

And a twisted and warped misalignment of man’s claimed and misplaced intellect,

As we seek to duly guard and to duly protect,

Life’s multitudinous forms from man’s encroaching greed, 

Let us therefore self-energize and plant the seed,

Of multitudinous and multifaceted environmental activities,

We may even choose to begin from some scholarly and well-erudite theory,

We must even refine and rein in environmental anthropology with some semblance of orderly sanity,

Even as we seek to protect life’s myriad forms and biodiversity,

Comprehensively and holistically,

Directly and indirectly,

With a long-sweeping goals and not just fleetingly and impermanently,

Through vectors spread out as far and wide as population management and technology,

There is no denying the fact that humans have long outsurpassed their means,

And that humans have long outstripped their naturally endowed resources,

Not just marginally and peripherally but to a considerable degree,

With a stubbornly high resource wastage rate and a high resource depletion rate indeed,

The future course of mankind is rootless and unsettled and remains to be seen,

Humans have lived recklessly, unreasonably and nonchalantly,

Negligently, sloppily and carelessly,

Let us pause for a moment and think about it,

And put it into our pipe and leisurely smoke it,

This is no false flag, but the hard and fast reality and must be ingested fully,  

This is the bitter and naked truth veritably,

Therefore, let us not prevaricate and pussyfoot,

To deny this would be a rib-cracking excuse,

Let us move away from our staid and worn out playbook,

As we can no longer smilingly whistle away in the woods,

Let us throw out outdated and outmoded clichés,

And sidestep all bogeys,

Let us not hear only one side of the story,

And languish irrecoverably in a stony tower cast in ivory,

Nor get the wrong end of the stick,

But let us instead proceed with the right ethos and in true bounteous spirit,

Let us also go full throttle,

Let us also go full steam ahead,  

And grandly surge and power ahead,

And let us march in grand unison,

We must launch the right kind of missions,

And take the right decisions,

Let us create the right kind of awareness amongst our restless and teeming millions,

Among the rank and file and minions,

Let us therefore summon and marshal our latent and inborn spirits,

And thunder aft and fore with thunderous spirit,

We are in many crucial metrics trailing,

And are in complex and multitudinous ways comprehensively ailing,

Therefore, let us move forward with all guns blazing,

That we must axe and castigate whatever to the just and fair cause of environmental sustainability is irrelevant and malevolent,

If not outright and vilely repugnant,

There is no need to throw out the caboodle,

Or carelessly and negligently kick out the kit and boodle,

However, we must not ourselves fleetingly or illusionarily mollycoddle,

Human trusteeship of the planet is possible and is not a distant pipedream,

Along with sustainable development it is not a hallucination of an unfulfillable dream,

Mankind’s intellectual and economic goals are possible and one need not make any sacrifice supreme,

Wholly sustainable development may take time but it must surefootedly come,

If we don’t realize this soon enough we will all be littered with civilizational debris,

And many a tragic litany,

Let us therefore achieve our environmental aims, and let us achieve our environmental goals in sum,

This is the point that we must against all odds and with even prowess drive home.

 

Let us break away from the manacles of religion and instead become more spiritual

 

Let us break away from the manacles of religion and instead become more spiritual

An all original poem by Sujay Rao Mandavilli

 

The general idea and concept of religion is pretty hoary and ancient indeed,

And has played a vital and pivotal role in human society and human civilizational history,

Religion claims to lay forth many a moral obligation and responsibility,

And claims to endow life with a degree of blissful harmony,

Eschewing all forms of bitter acrimony,

And not to omit religious sanctitude and sanctity,

And even births and gestates more obscure concepts such as the rites of passage and liminality,

With a history spanning one hundred thousand years,

Neanderthal men painting their caves in gay and bright art,

And Cromagnon men following their footsteps with magic and sacred spots,

That enlivened their culture and kept their spirits afloat,

The Egyptians, Mesopotamians and the Babylonians followed in their wake,

Keeping the simmering embers of religion awake,

We then had Hinduism, Judaism and Christianity,

And in due course religion began to be studied anthropologically,

Each religion is a different and a distinct beast,

With some common and some unique traits,

By the likes of Paul James, Max Lynn Stackhouse, and Edward Tylor,

Emile Durkheim, Clifford Geertz and James George Frazer,

Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach, Mary Douglas and Brian Morris,

Victor Turner and John Macionis,

Yet their works may be seen today and queer, quaint and outdated,

Esoteric, arcane and hackneyed,

That is why change is imminent, impending and must come we must all say and admit,

Religion has also callously sowed the seed of deep-rooted discord and contempt,

We have had many an incendiary and lavish war,

That categorically stems from the fact that each practitioner sees his or her faith as a gilded guiding star,

Needless to say, this will be seen as a puerile and tragically catastrophic madness when seen from afar,

We have borne witness since time immemorial to wars between rival religious groups,

Christians and Muslims,

Hindus and Muslims,

Shias and Sunnis,

Palestinians and Israelis,

And of the bitter crusades so to speak,

Therefore, let us get down to brass stacks in order that we may guard our sanity,

Religion has in many ways tragically outlived its utility,

And many religions have long become prehistoric dinosauric monsters as some may tend to agree,

Change must be enforced in sum and in essence,

And the contours and the dynamics of sociocultural changed captured in their quintessence,

Through a complete and a stiffly enforced separation of religion and state,

In order to accomplish this, intellectuals must light the torch and luminously and radiantly lead the way,

Developing secular constitutions that grant all rights and privileges to empowered and participating citizens,

This must be our lodestar and one of our primary and central missions,  

Universal and high-quality education must become a zealous high-priority too,

With religious education progressively relegated to the background too,

With experts in pedagogy roped in with steadfast determination,

Granting complete religions freedom including freedom to practice, freedom to convert, and freedom to non-religion,

This is essential lest freedom of speech fades into eternal oblivion,  

Saying no to archaic and often sinister religious-inspired and religious-derived laws,

And instituting and promulgating in their place well-envisioned and well-realized secular laws,

Taking steps to promote a scientific temper and a spirit of enquiry sweepingly in society,

Phasing out religious education and teaching universal human values commitedly,

Not weird and context-specific religious-inspired values blatantly,

Allowing free media without limiting barriers or obfuscation,

Allowing complete freedom of speech and free and open discussion of religion,

Moving all nations towards democratically elected governments in due course and without reservation,

We must fight to gradually bring all the above into fruition,

Let us not take any fortuitous and random chances,

Without pedagogy and religious reform warped and twisted religion disastrously and disruptively advances,

And the fair name of societal amelioration irrefutably sullies and damages,

Therefore pedagogical and religious reform must become our twin goals and aims,

We need to reform social sciences and historiography too comprehensively,

And usher in sociocultural change broadly and all-encompassingly,

And institute in esteemed institutions regardless of location a scientific study and analysis of religion,

Not lip-service to irresponsible and undisguised secularism,

Or shambolic anachronism,

Not an analysis based on dogma or hard-hearted ideology,

That is to say one emanating from a rival religion or a counter ideology,

Nor uncaring and tight-fisted rigidity,

Let us also cautiously explore novel off-beat alternatives to religion eventually,

Let us gradually move away from religion scientifically,

One step at a time or degree by degree,

Even if it is a slow and a tedious process as we will all agree,

Progress has its limitations and will hit barriers and roadblocks ultimately,

Let us therefore untie the Gordian knot and set the record straight, 

Reformist movements have taken place in Hinduism and in Christianity,

And is gradually picking up the threads in Islam as we can see,

Criticism of religion must be toned, graduated and measured and must not be based on a counter-ideology,

This is where intellectuals must play a part but have unfortunately failed us rather horribly,

With their shallow Eurocentric vision,

That borders on non-commitment to the intellectual cause and reason,

This is quite truly utter irresponsibility if not outright treason,

Half-progress is however better than no progress at all naturally,

Man spiritually empowered and finding a higher purpose,

Acting in the higher interests of humanity and always for a just and fair cause,

Treating the whole world as one family,

And seeking out a higher elevated unity,

This is the way to go eventually,

With evidence for or against a superior entity even-handedly evaluated without prejudice and holistically,

And scientifically, thoroughly and wholeheartedly,

With due diligence and due consideration,

Let us bring about changes in mind-orientation,

And ripple and cascading changes in cultural-orientation,

Tactfully, and diplomatically, with restraint and without provocation,

Let us bring about changes in mindspace, thought worlds, and worldviews too,

And bring about cultural remediation too,

Let us still understand that humans will be humans,

And religion is a central part of human identity and is unavoidably and inescapably identity-centric,

And plays many an important role and function personal, social, cultural, political and economic,

Some researchers have even spoken about a God gene,

And the importance of sacred places as opposed to the profane,

There are no artificial solutions,

No magical workarounds and short-term quick fixes,

Reform is however necessary even as humans fight each other in the name of religion preposterously,

And kill, maim or harm each other scandalously,

Let us hear the lion’s roar and feel and see the winds of change blowing sweetly,  

Let us grab the bull by the horns and usher in change quickly,

Let us harness the venom of the cobra,

And bite into the teeth of the tiger,

Let us all become more tolerant and welcoming,

Not rigid, overbearing and unbecoming,

Let us become less doctrinal and less fanatical,

And more tolerant and more spiritual,

Let us stop the infighting that borders on the mind-numbingly and chillingly preposterous,

By building a larger table rather than a taller fence,

Let us plan ahead and cast the net far and wide my dear friends,

Without regard for short-term implications or myopic considerations,

And the results will indeed be bountiful, rich-yielding and multitudinously splenderous,

Reform and change are necessary the sooner the better we must agree,

Even as we draw the boundaries between wishful thinking and reality,

Or hard-headed facts and fantasy,

If any individual, society or group believes it can subscribe to religion’s endemic flaws illimitably and without inhibition, 

They are living in a fool’s paradise we must reckon,

Religion must in the long haul be tamed if not outright intimidated,

Gradually and in slow and measured graduation,

We must fight and plod on and from our brow fret,

Even if ours is a victory bitter-sweet,

We will the rewards of our just and fertile efforts inevitably plow,

And will reap what we initially did sow,

In the hope of a brighter and glowing morrow,

This must morph into one of the fundamental pillars of activity in the twenty-first century activity,

We must not a catastrophic shipwreck in the history of civilization be,

We must also bide our time and patiently wait and see,

And realize that while religion cannot be brushed under the carpet or wished away with a magic wand,

We need not stick our heads in the sand,

And must patiently evaluate and understand,

Even if there is plenty at risk and plenty at stake,

New religions or new forms of religion can arrive in a reformed state,

We enduringly and forebearingly must wait for them at any rate,

Till society matures and evolves and is ready for fundamental, deep-rooted and comprehensive change,

We may also emerge as self-initiated beacons of change and thought leadership prodigiously supply,

Though not brashly and insensitively like the quintessential gadfly,

It pays for itself even if the wait is arduous, long and slippery,

Let us make spiritually and morality the basis of our rich and variegated civilizational history,

Moving off-ramp from the dreary highway of tedious boredom and the unwacky path desultory,

Then we will gloriously sip from the cup of unconstrained and unrestrained victory,

That will amply justify the wait, and humankind will march hand in hand in resolute and absolute victory.

 

Let us unleash the raw power of pedagogy

 

Let us unleash the raw power of pedagogy

An all-original poem by Sujay Rao Mandavilli

 

We may ask for a guiltless start: But what just is pedagogy?

Pedagogy simply defined is the science of education just as the science of knowledge is epistemology,

It encompasses in its purview and ambit many theories, tools and techniques of teaching,

And student and discipline learning,

Along with commitment and motivation making it a full-fledged science,

And a rigorous, full—blown, and a qualitative science,

The history of pedagogy begins with the origins of literacy,

In the pre- Chalcolithic ages and Chalcolithic ages respectively,

The Mesoptamians, Egyptians, the Chinese and the Indians made gigantic strides and stellar contributions truly,

Though education blossomed and greatly flourished only subsequently,

And elided with the mesmerizing growth of science and technology,

In many facts did not its full potential realize, that is a fact unfortunately,

And remained the prerogative of the elite few mostly,

Ponderous and for the most part pedantic,

Inward looking and highly academic,

Pedagogy must indeed reform,

And return and remain reformed,

But where do we begin and where do we start?

If we are in its just benefits partake and purpart,

Teach the basics of everything,

Teach the concepts and the underlying magic behind everything,  

While learning more and more and thoughtfully expanding the basket,

If we are to avoid the chimes of death and the deathly casket,  

Teach scientific method too comprehensibly and practically,

Teach foundationalism, integrationism and epistemic coherentism duly,

The difference between science and pseudo science must be brought out fully, 

Teach creative thinking and innovative thinking inspiringly,

We must fix and position course content thoughtfully and cautiously,

And must not harm the interests of students catastrophically,

We pitifully students with mostly irrelevant information smother and unduly cram,

In an egregious approach that is mostly an unholy sham,

We must emphasize the creation of rational individuals and individuals scientifically and morally well-heeled,

And the creation of scientific temper with individuals and institutions even-keeled,

The use of technology in teaching and learning must be optimized judiciously,

Use technology creatively and inspiringly and not for technology’s sake,

Machines and robots may be used but their use must not be in vain,

Time encapsulation must be taught,

Such as the Hadean and Archean eon and the Paleocene epoch,

Needless to say, we also need to teach space encapsulation,

We need to teach the size of galaxies in a dreamy-eyed fashion with billions of starts in just the Milky Way,

To eventually though permanently relegate to the background all forms of intellectual affray,

Teach the origin of life too with its baffling mysteries amply and fully,

We must teach the origin of the universe too with its intricate complications,

Theories on the origin of the universe with all its complex ramifications,

Bring out real-world complexities exhaustively and panoramically,

Though with simple and clutter-free precision and straightforwardly,

Education systems must therefore begin with the unique and individual needs of each society,

And indeed in some cases of each unique individual in a society,  

Without undermining in the very least its rich diversity and plurarity,

Education systems must also begin with each society’s flaws and imperfections,

Or what we may call their Achilles heels and derelictions,

That in many a case have led to utter decreptitude and intellectual deteriorations, 

Education systems must also teach the origin of religion scientifically thereby exposing its inherent limitations,

Its follies, paradoxes and inherent restrictions,

Breaking its manacles and leading to its gradual evaporation,

Universal values must instead be instituted and propagated in its stead,

Which must in due course become not only societies’ impetus but also their butter and bread,

Educational systems must teach the origins of genetics and heredity,

They must modulate and dilute identity thereby leading to peaceful coexistence and harmony,

Social science research techniques also used and gainfully employed,

And scientific concepts aptly communicated and deployed,

With the legitimate and apposite epistemology,

Along with new and novel theories in pedagogy,

And in student and learner psychology,

Let us usher in changes to mind-orientation and cultural orientation,

Through the mechanism of pedagogy and education,

Eureka points and mini eureka points must be carefully instilled,

Through educational techniques precise, concise and distilled,

We must holistically and all-encompassingly teach aspiration and motivation,

We must diminish aspiration deficiency and resultant demotivation, 

We must inspire and goad students to progressive action,

We must teach not only morality but also far-sweeping vision and fertile perception,

In order to diminish and suitably shrink all forms of negativity and gloom,

That lead to aberrations such as school violence and substance abuse,

And invariable and inevitably to macroscopic doom,

The origin of language scientifically explained thereby shattering the near-invincibility of the tower of Babel to a very great proportion,

Thereby leading to its eventual repudiation,

Superstitions and myths duly cracked and busted,

The age old shackles of destructive delusions mortally wounded

The tedious clockwork of dogmatic destruction thereby unwounded,

Social, cultural and legal institutions painstakingly nurtured and strengthened,

Social and cultural barriers unheedingly shattered and demolished,

Sociocultural and socioeconomic differences carefully dismantled and jettisoned,

Social, cultural and economic capital thereby justly and aptly harnessed,

The wings of academic freedom clipped and curtailed,

To the extent it is not in keeping with the natural demands and constraints of pedagogical responsibility.

Or harnessed, channelized and well-kneeled meritocracy,

We must mould future citizens and teach them social and civic responsibility,

Not brash, endemic or reckless irresponsibility, 

We also need not just interdisciplinarity but also manifold transdisciplinarity,

Impediments and obstacles we must extensively debarrass and disembarrass,

To help achieve the potential not just of the laity but also of the creative and the intellectual class,  

 

To bring about renaissances and enlightenments,

 

And enhance vistas for human development,

 

All things considered and evaluated against the balance of rigorous objectivity and precision, the well-esteemed science of pedagogy,

Even in the progressive third decade of the twenty-first century,

With a careful due diligence performed overall,

Is utterly and preposterously obsolete, and is in dire need of a radical overhaul.

It is tragically past its expiry and its leaden-limbed crawl muddlingly and disconcertingly slow,

And does not allow us the rich fruits of bountiful and unrealized intellectual harvests to sow, reap and winnow,

This is what any sane and introspective analysis will find,

What must be treated as civilizational progress’s golden child,

Must not be turned into a sacrificial lamb,

At the altar of politics, petty bickering et al,

That will be a catastrophic tragedy indeed,

As it will progress and gains stymie,

And lay the foundations for a veritable intellectual and economic catastrophe.

Let us not glide up a slippery slope and ride the calamitous road to hell,

Let us avoid the dreary and the destructive kiss of extinction and the frigid and icy hand of death,

Let us not drive ourselves catastrophically to the edge of a precipice.

Lest we hurtle ruinously down a bottomless and soulless abyss,

Therefore let us wisely and sagaciously turn the tide and choose from a menu of good options,

Not just empty and hollow sabre-rattling but conscious and calculated actions,

Let us work hand in hand and toil in cheerful unison,

In blissful and fruitful cohesion,

With actions positive and persistent,

So let us be on our guard, on our vigil, and our mettle,

And let us not for any mediocre or substandard compromises settle,

Wide-ranging and comprehensive reform is imperative,

And indeed inevitable if not inexorable,

If we are to merrily and gayly envision,

A world without stifling chains or choking inhibition,

In order that we terminate the roguish and outworn hand of obsolescence that will inevitably lead to societies’ tragic and unwarranted crumbling and early extinction,

In this noble endeavour let all nations contribute resolutely regardless of economic stature, and in unerring and unswerving calculation.

 

Let us create intellectual revolutions in developing countries

Let us create intellectual revolutions in developing countries

An all-original poem by Sujay Rao Mandavilli

 

Science has had a truly glorious past and a rich and a splendacious history,

With elevated accomplishments to reflect its exalted pedigree,

Its vast compass and reach has spanned social sciences and natural sciences such as biology,

And mathematics, chemistry and astronomy,

With many a pre-eminent godfather since the dawn of classical antiquity,

Ancient Egyptians and ancient Mesopotamians did contribute stellarly,

As did the ancient Greeks gloriously and spectacularly,  

As did ancient the Chinese and ancient Indians too remarkably,

Like Imhotep, Shi Shen, and Aryabhatta,

Anaxagoras, Anaximander and Varahamihira,

The Ancient Romans focused on practical engineering and architecture,

They also excelled in military technology and agriculture,

These were followed by the blighted and the much-maligned dark ages,

Whose people were sometimes erroneously depicted as barbarians and savages,

Though feudalism and suppression of learning were rampant,

As were attacks by barbarians and vandals,

This set the stage for the renaissance which was a magnificient reawakening,

It was quite literally a rebirth and a new beginning,

It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity,

It was characterized by an effort to surpass the achievements of classical antiquity,

Gutenberg with his printing press contributed greatly to the spread of awareness too,

And for the church’s dogma and persecution of intellectuals there remained very little room,

We had brilliant minds such as Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, and Nicolaus Copernicus,

And intellectually fecund souls such as Rene Descartes, Francis Bacon, and Andreas Vesalius,

This epoch was succeeded by the Enlightenment in due and righteous turn,

And was marked by an emphasis of rationality and reason,

Science and empiricism,

Rationality and humanism,

It is characterized by the scientific revolution and the ideas of Galileo, Newton, and Boswell,

Burke, Butler, and Campbell,

It more of less ended at the time of the death off Immanuel Kant and the French revolution,

And roughly at the time of the dawn of the industrial revolution,

Which brought about rapid large-scale industrialization,

And many a mind-numbing and earth-shattering invention,

And heightened though uneven economic prosperity,

Colonialization crept in through the back door surreptitiously,

Following the age of exploration and the age of discovery,

Colonization had uneven benefits and was at best a mixed bag,

Coming as it did, with many objectionable strings attached,

Decolonialization ensued as it was inevitable and inescapable,

Though some of the events it brought about were wholly avoidable, 

It sometimes brought about wooly-headed socialism and egotistical dictatorships in its wake,

And the continuation of obsolete and western-centric economic development models that on innovation and creativity applied the brake,

There was no universally emphasized and applied impactful and sublime education,

And were adopted outdated pedagogical techniques,

Bereft of structural rearrangement and technology,

People still subscribe and succumb to many an assorted and discarded ideology,

Particularly in many an evolving nation and developing society,

Decolonization has been brought about in a political sense,

Though not in a truly intellectual sense and even in a spiritual and a metaphysical sense,

That must in the true ethereal sense and definition of the term come about,

If we are to stay afloat and progressively march afoot,

It has come in bits and pieces though,

And in gradual fits and starts,

Scientific revolutions must comprehensively come about,

Intellectual revolutions must wide-rangingly come about,

In the underdeveloped and underrepresented regions of the world,

Just as they did in the occident and the new world,

Social and other sciences must be comprehensively modernized,

With perspectives appropriately and broadly diversified,

And change must come here to permanently and in grand perpetuity stay,

People must tap and eat into the rich benefits of myriad and multitudinous intellectual gifts,

In a manner that bring about unprecedented and irreversible paradigm shifts,

Reexamining the role of religion, though acknowledging that man has a soul, 

And living in blissful harmony with nature with predetermined and adaptable many a long term environmental goal,

And people from all walks of life and all countries must have a say,  

And seamlessly and faultlessly all forms of knowledge share,

And must brightly and astutely chart the path of progress and deftly and dexterously make a way,

Into the rich and luxurious garden of triumphant victory,

Laid out in all in its resplendent munificence and magnificent and delicately interwoven tapestry,

That through willing, eager and enthusiastic collaboration benefits all of humanity,

Where the benefits of kaleidoscopic and multidimensional progress will be then for all to see,

It is only when that happens, will mankind be able to call itself mankind in every conceivable way,

And cultured, civilized and enlightened in true sense of the term,

And it will only be then will the lofty doors of progress open, and blissful prosperity will come here to permanently stay.

Why we need collectivism and collective action in societies

Why we need collectivism and collective action in societies

An all-original poem by Sujay Rao Mandavilli

 

Individuality is an attribute much cherished and greatly articulated,

It simply put, makes people different, happily mismatched, though not alienated,  

It also makes them unique and provides them nourishment and unerring character,

Along with deep-rooted productivity and intellectual succor,

It brings out the very best of their true self and inborn nature,

Uncaring and unchained,

Like a butterfly that spreads out its wings,

Or a cuckoo that merrily chirps and with gay abandon sings,

It also helps them eminently and profitably realize their goals and desires,

Apart from the society that births them in true measure,

It also makes them standout and grants them liberation,

And steers them clear of intellectual incarceration,

Yet we must not downright or outright jettison collectivism and collectivization,

And in many respects and circumstances not steer clear completely of collective action,  

Without reneging individual identity,

And all forms of aggregate and thoroughgoing originality,

Collectivism must sit pretty, and must not be stiflingly bureaucratic,

Or needlessly power-wielding, power-hungry, or autocratic,

Life and light shared are life and light amplified,

And these are attributes of life exceedingly well-lived and magnified,

As opposed to treasures egotistically stowed away and stockpiled,

However we must lessons from the past abundantly and profitably learn,

And carefully evaluate and discern,

There have been calamitous pitfalls in all aspects of socialism,

And in its more sinister near cousin communism,

That though a differentiated practice manufactures factious and disaffected alienation,

And surrenders at the altar of consolidation and power intensification devolution and delegation,

This has tragically and traumatically lessened incentives for ingenuity and fecundity too along with aspiration,

Though other via media solutions have been proposed such as communitarianism,

Along with open-hearted and unprejudiced cooperation,

And unbridled though not dreamy-eyed collaboration,

With the pursuit of the common good and neutrality,

Garnished with a liberal and a general dose of equanimous and even-handed impartiality,

There must be a reasonable rule of law, and no impunity and no negligent irresponsibility,

Success comes with strings attached,

Success comes with undeniable and inalienable responsibility,

Doing some good to one’s own country,

Doing some good to one’s own society,

Doing something for the overall global good,

And for the overall common good,  

As rebels, champions, or thought leaders,

Principals, influencers or resolute commanders,

Modifying techniques to suit unique own disparate cultural requirements,

Not blind emulation, mimicry or mimes,  

This is the hallmark of true intellectualism,

And the symbol of genuine upmanship.

Let us remember our heroes and treat with respect the worthy and the deserving

 

Let us remember our heroes and treat with respect the worthy and the deserving

An all-original poem by Sujay Rao Mandavilli

 

Treating heroes with due respect and approbation Is a hallmark of a civilized society,

Innovators and inventors they may be,

Freedom fighters and liberators they may also be,

Like John Logie Bard or Benjamin Franklin,

Henry Ford or Thomas Alva Edison,

It is also the calling card of an enlightened, progressive and cultivated society,

Therefore, evaluate fairly and comprehensively,

Evaluate in an unbiased fashion and maturely,

Strengths duly acknowledged and appreciated

And weaknesses carefully noted and evaluated,

Adopt constructive criticism,

Not destructive or armchair criticism,

For these reside only in the armory of the weak,  

And bright-hearted optimism and beaming and blazing positivity do seek, 

Pessimism and cynicism must not be condoned,  

Despondency and discouragement along with derogatory condescension, 

Are true signs only of wretched abjection,

Adopt skepticism and certainly not skeptopathy,

Even to a mild and gentle-hearted degree,  

Soak it in and stab it into the throbbing heartbeat of progress,

Otherwise you will up a creek without a paddle be,  

Mandela was known for his anti-apartheid activism,

For which he was unfortunately incarcerated and sent to prison,

He later ran for and became president,

And as the first ever black president he set a major precedent,

For the downtrodden Mandela was a major source of global inspiration,

Gandhi united the oppressed in South Africa in harmony and unison,

And later fought tooth and nail for Indian independence and liberation,

He also fought for social reform with some aberration,

And satyagraha and rural development did champion,

He was not relieved and unburdened from his fair share of failings,

That led to his pitiful ending,

With his idealistic view on religious harmony,

And a tendency to pooh-pooh all-pervasive bigotry,

And tendencies towards racism in his early days,

However, we must all apprehensions allay,

And, evaluations must always be upright, fair-minded, and non-partisan,

Claims of pseudo-secularism must always be investigated with unbiased objectivity clean,

Ambedkar was an important intellectual with many an achievement that we can glean,

His drafting of the Indian constitution was a major contribution,

As was his tirade against the perils of caste which was a major accomplishment,

Though he did criticize Hinduism roundly and unfairly,

And viewed scheduled tribes a tad disparagingly,

Napoleon had initiated many a mighty military victory,

And irrevocably established legal rights and equality,

At the battle of Marengo and the Battle of Austerlitz he earned the brazen cup of victory,

He made stellar and unparalleled contributions to military expeditions too,

Though he was ultimately vanquished at the battle of Waterloo,

Martin Luther King was a man of the civil rights,

Against racism and oppression he carried out many valiant fights,

Against discrimination he thundered loud and clear,

Which had the leadership trembling with fear,

Therefore, praise only the morally healthy,

Commend the intellectually worthy and the academically wealthy,

Don’t suffer nincompoops and self-deluded fools,

Don’t tolerate the incompetent and the aloof,

Don’t condone the meek,

And those who warm-blooded action do not seek,

Don’t tolerate those who lend themselves to sleepy inaction,

Or are prone to degenerate infraction,

Don’t endure smooth riding weasel words,

And yield to delusional weasel talk,

Bear neither braggadocio,

Nor ineptitude only true bravado,

Do not cry out foul,

But evaluate fair, square, and round,

Strengths assessed on one hand,

And failings and weaknesses on the other,

Pursue unmatched intellectual truthfulness and honesty,

And detached scholarly objectivity,

Do not treat cherished souls with unfair contempt and derision,

And evaluate only with fair and thorough precision,

Service to your conscience shall be your only motto,

And your fervid and zealous mojo,

Therefore, do not wickedly and erroneously cuss,

Let alone blaspheme or curse,

The wise, praiseworthy and creditable,

The meritorious and the laudable, 

Let a million more flowers blossom,

Energized by the warm bosom of constructive criticism,

Walk hand in hand in the service of society and the nation,

In this you will find your calling and your salvation,

Those who do not respect the worthy and the deserving,

Will calamitous consequences bring,

And will tear asunder the soul and the fabric of the nation, the world and society,

With non-equanimity often driven by impetuous lip service to the intellectual baseness of ideology,

We must throw out all dodgy and less than deserving approaches of yore,

As we meritorious approaches drive ashore,

Deliverance must come and deliverance cannot arrive soon enough.     

 

Arise, awake youth, and take up the cause of science

 

Arise, awake youth, and take up the cause of science

An all-original poem by Sujay Rao Mandavilli

 

Science as we know is a systematic study of the natural and the manmade world,

Science matures through meticulous observation and experimentation in the real world,

Science proceeds by testing theories against evidence systematically obtained,

It critically investigates all aspects of real-world phenomena meticulously ascertained,

Science is a consummate gift,

That prevents us from going sans moorings or anchors in the sea of uncertainty adrift,

Research is its more practical and real-world effective sister twin,

That for the most part ensures that we do not go against the grain,

Science is organized knowledge bound together with a commonality of purpose,

 

Science should not be misused and distorted without just or due cause or purpose,

 

The science of today is the harbinger of all bright things associated with the morrow,

 

As it rapidly ushers in the resplendent and the dazzling gifts of tomorrow,

 

As a torch and a beacon illuminating a billion minds,

 

With all its bounteously yielded everlasting gifts and finds,

 

Science knows no country and not in the least any parochially cast boundary,

Because knowledge belongs irrevocably to all humanity,

O! budding and aspiring scientist, cultivate a hunger for knowledge and unbridled curiosity,

Inject and instill in yourselves a healthy dose of skepticism and objectivity,

And chart many a novel and unconventional course and trajectory,

Pursue passionately and dispassionately at the same time open-mindedness and intellectual honesty,

 

Along with dogged persistence and iron-fisted determination,

 

Nurture scrupulously fertile creativity and imagination,

 

Orchestrate with your fellow voyagers seamless communication and collaboration,

 

So take up the cause of science, you resourceful and immortal youth,

 

Become martyrs to the cause of science,

And torchbearers to the world to whom you owe all allegiance,

You cultured and you high-browed couth,

Drench and immerse yourselves profusely,

In your self-defined calling and destiny,

Arise, awake and do not yield until the goals of your impassioned calling are realized fully,

Mature and mould yourselves into intellectuals,

Chasing with harmonious vigour your self-proclaimed goals,

Pursue moral and upright intellectualism,

By jettisoning left-wing or right-wing anti-intellectualism,

And reckless, incautious or unheeding hedonism,

Become thinkers and thought leaders foremost,

And dedicate yourself to your craft with genuineness utmost,

Like the legendary Robert Bruce Foote,

Who changed the course of Indian prehistory in one fell swoop,

Or Pythogoras and Linnaeus,

Who in novel and unanticipated ways altered history’s course,

Become standard-bearers and champions,

Become philosophers though not ascetics,

Become academics and theorists,  

Even astute sages and mavericks,

Or scholars and influencers,

Change the status quo as humanity’s present efforts are weary and tired,

Our collective performance grievously currently leaves a lot to be desired,

Therefore do not become talkers, become doers,

Who vacate very early the fastened and secure seat,

And position yourself far out front on the field,

Dabble but do not distractedly doodle,

Understand the importance of far-sighted vision,

Aim high and deeply envision,

Understand the importance of critical thinking skills,

Also the importance of lateral thinking skills,

Cultivate out of the box thinking,

Even out of the ordinary thinking,

Do not adopt run off the mill approaches,

Do not manifest dyed in the wool approaches,

Step out of your comfort zone,

And your skills and talents do polish and thoughtfully hone,

Swim not with the ordinary tide and say no to tedious buzzwords,

As you will demonstrably regret it afterwards,

Dare to be different from the crowd,

Don’t chase goals that purely mercenary,

They yield rewards that are only pecuniary,

And certainly do not mimic infertile duds and unimaginative dowds,

Specialize vigorously in foundational research,

Take in voluntarily all that there is to analyze and search,   

Specialize consistently in service to science,

Specialize passionately in service to society,

Specialize congruously in service to the education system,

Pursue with unrestrained and resolute firmness objectivity and rigour,

Even as your throw out of the window all old-fashioned techniques sour and dour,

Stalk honesty, above all, intellectual uprightness and honesty,

Any deviations would make your own self-stated goals a mockery and travesty,

No sensationalism should be permissible,

Don’t talk big but indulge in actions with consequences considerable,

Innovate more and specialize more,

And break the fetters that bind us sore,

Shatter the shackles of Eurocentrism

Fracture the manacles of colonialism,

Eschew vested interests,

Abort all kinds of conflicts of interest,

Understand problems faced by less endowed societies gratifyingly not just the ablest,  

Examine all precious and beloved assumptions from scratch,

Any other compromise would be a skimpy mirage,

In horizontal collaboration with contemporary societies do participate,

In vertical collaboration with more scientifically mature and aware societies also do partake,

To briefly yet effectively recapitulate,

All forms of bias and prejudice do decapacitate,

Cross-cultural research design must be adopted,

Interdisciplinary approaches must be pursued,

Transdisciplinary approaches must not be discontinued,

Your mind orientation must be honed,

Your cultural orientation must be toned,

Scientific method must be your forte,

Rigour and precision you must court,

Processes and procedures you must vet,

Passion, dedication and devotion you must universally fete.

Then you will not just self-develop and self-mature,

But also lay the scientific grounds for society to grow in stature.