Desicritics Opinion

Phir Dil Do Hockey Ko - The World Hockey Cup 2010

Sumeet Trivedy — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 06:33:45 EDT

Phir Dil Do Hockey Ko was the slogan of the Hockey World Cup 2010 held in India. Hero Honda, the sponsor of the world cup tried its level best to pull crowds to stadium and also to attract the TV crowds. Three big names from different fields, none of them related to Hockey were promoting the world cup. In my opinion, the Hockey World Cup 2010 was fairly successful for both India and FIH. India did not perform badly and there were crowds in the stadium and also there were TV audience.

After the end of all of India’s games in the World Cup, I asked myself few questions.

Do we have a national level of tournament for Hockey like Ranji trophy for cricket and Santosh trophy for football?

Do we play Hockey in school and college level as in other sports?

Is Government of India doing something to improve the condition of Hockey?

To my surprise the answer to all the questions were NO. We have not produced a Hockey legend for past 20-30 years. Except Dhyanchand, we do not remember any Hero in our National Game. Though we had many greats but the young Indians do not know any of them.

I came to know from my elders that once Hockey was played in schools and colleges. That was the time when India had its glorified days in Hockey. We won Olympic golds and World Cups more than once and with ease. Even if we did not finish as the best, we always finished well. That was the golden era of Indian Hockey.

The trends in the game changed and the use of artificial grass and few changes saw the decline of Indian Hockey. For many years we did not have a single ground in India where artificial grasses were used. We started losing more matches than we won. The interest of the common man started shifting from the game as they could not accept such decline. Hockey, the game which was a popular game in 60s and 70s started losing its popularity. Even schools, colleges and organizations stopped playing Hockey. Come 2009, forget about winning a gold we could not qualify for the Olympics. We were happy that a new breed of boxers and a shooter were winning medals for us but we forgot that our national game is being played in such a big event and our team could not qualify for it.

FIH, the board for world hockey tried from its end to revive Hockey in India. The 2010 Hockey world cup was held in India and I am happy that our performance was satisfactory. Let’s accept the fact; India was never a favorite for this world cup. India was ranked 12th in world ranking when the world cup started. In my opinion finishing on 8th position is not a bad result. We won against Pakistan and could have won against South Africa also. Though we lost more games than we won we did fairly better than 2006 World cup where we finished 11th. With no games being played at national level, with no games being played in basics structure, with no support from Government and with no current day legend if we can achieve a better position than last time and with signs of further improvement there is hope of doing better in future, I believe Indian Hockey has done relatively better than what was expected. I congratulate the team for achieving this feat and I will definitely say – Maine Dil diya Hockey ko.

Introducing Astrology in Schools

Priyank Chandra — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:24:12 EDT

I believe astrology should be introduced in schools. This is my firm belief, one which I have settled on after years of observation. It is time we give legitimacy to a practice that most people in our country either follow or "see no harm" in not following. It governs the lives of many and is the "belief" called upon whenever any events need to be initiated. No matter how many hours of work are put in by the men of science and technology, the astrologers are the ones who gives us the green-light. Such is their power.

I digress for a moment. Most of astrology at least pretend to appear scientific, with a lot of pseudo-scientific bullshit and a long list of complicated rules that have seemingly been studied and practiced for thousands of years. But you know what I really despise? Tarot cards. I understand the need of humans to find patterns in the randomness that surrounds us. But please make an attempt to pretend to to look harder. Cards? Seriously. Is that even trying hard enough?

So anyhow, introducing astrology in schools will allow students to wallow in the power of determinacy. They can forget the bullshit about uncertainty and chaos, ignore the vastness of the universe, of which we are but inconsequential constituents and pretend that the infinite number of variables that have the ability to influence the course of a life are an urban legend.

We will create a population of determinacy-loving content fools, with no concept of existential angst, only resignation to fate or a desire to perform meaningless tasks in an attempt to ward bad luck away. The stars have decided our fates. Our destinies are riding upon all the patterns in the universe.

I concede that holding on to the illusion of free will is too much of an effort. Astrology provides you an easy way out. While supercomputers still struggle to figure out the weather for the next day, astrology claims to know far more with far little information. And all from the unique ability to look at anything in the world, and predict. And from the stars, we have already moved down to cards and dust, parrots and palms. In the end of it all, we now assume that a recognizable pattern has to run through ALL the events in the universe.

The ones who claim to have found it will tell us about it, help us plan our lives and negate the forces of the universe by taking money from us. By teaching astrology in school, we cut down on the middle man. Let every child in the country find his own patterns, and manipulate them through creative means to enable them to have a better future.

Tag me a Price

Halima Khan — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:04:12 EDT

Nothing in life comes without a price attached to it not even life itself. Does anyone beg to differ? Then I suggest you need to go check with your parents how much giving you life cost them. However, I am doubtful if you are interested in that so here are some tags, which might be more relevant to your existence:

The first in this category has to be phone connections, from luxury, they have become a much desired and sought out need. In the last few years, we have become lucky with choices; from pink and blue Telenor tawk shawk to red Jazz to bright orange and green Ufone there is also the blue and white Zong. The telecommunication has become so increasingly aggressive recently that other than pricing strategy they have to be very creative with marketing too. Well no one is complaining about that for sure; after all, it is a delight to get to see ‘bootilicious’ models dancing to irritatingly catchy tunes.

The sim cards are widely available now and at affordable rates too. It does not come as a surprise that everyone has to have two or even three nowadays, especially with dual sim phone sets gaining popularity. Nonetheless, it is major good news that governments finally realized its responsibility and the NIC copy as a requirement to issue sims is being strictly followed. The standard sim rate has been 500 with either free credit or talk time or a limited number of sms or all three in some cases. The summers wavered the sim prices for instance Warid sims are available at Rs.150 only. Ufone is giving three sim options, two are priced at Rs.130 only, and one costs Rs.150 only. Zong is the only phone company offering a phone set and a sim combo deal under Rs.2000 only. However, no need to rush this offer is valid for limited period which doesn’t end.

Prepaid service gives us ample choice in selecting the billing system that suits our calling requirements. There is the one-second billing, the thirty seconds billing, and the regular one-minute billing. In addition, there is also per hour billing packages with all services charging approximately Rs. 5 per hour. However, most of these low call rates apply to the same network calls. This trend has changed recently with phone services becoming more consumers’ friendly than ever.

Phone is not just a communication gadget anymore it is a whole entertainment parcel. Voice quality and connectivity is very important for cellular service providers, but to keep pace in this cutthroat competition value added services are of keen significance as well. Mobile TV, radio, web browsing, chatting, song dedication, quizzes, games, competitions, lucky draws and so on and so forth. Viola, your very own Pandora box!

Be it lovers sighing their nights away or friends trying to catch up on lost time or socialites sniffing for the up and happening or employees trying to do their job cellular services have definitely proved bigger blessing than nuisance. Moreover, it is a relief to see this blessing becoming progressively more affordable.

At the end of the day it hardly matters what code proceeds your number till you have a mobile set in your hand to flash in people’s faces especially if you have a pair of car keys dangling in your other hand. Yes the ultimate dream that every prestigious member of ever generation thinks obligatory to pursue, and thank God, for economies of scale that it is not a too far off possibility. There is no limit to how much you can spend on shoes and bags, agreed? Unanimously, of course! Conversely, I insist there is no limit to how extravagant you can get with your car too. Sky is the limit with how luxurious technology can make your four-wheelers.

Honda is a beauty but undisputedly it is the most unaffordable beauty in the market especially for just starting-off youngsters. The Accord 2.4 I-VTEC is quoted at Rs. 3,599,000.00; there is no way in heaven or hell that I am adding only to that figure. That one is for recommending to your daddy especially if he can afford the ever-rising petrol prices. If you plan to pursue this extravaganza, you had better hurry since ‘the unit price is subject to change without notice & at the discretion of Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Limited.’ Though I am sure the helpful salesperson will remind you that the price prevailing at the time delivery of the vehicle will be charged. The luckiest you can get at Honda showroom is at Rs. 985,000.00 and you just bought yourself a City (manual transmission).

The new Corolla that hit the market just this year has four models including Altis1.8 VVTI (AT) and 2OD Saloon diesels, all four supporting sunroof, and they fall between Rs. 1,600,000 and Rs. 1,800,000. Toyota has fairer economical cars to its credit as well; there is Cuore available between Rs. 400,000 and Rs. 500,000 only depending on which color and model you pick.

Suzuki is not far behind in sales and car quality. There is the good old Mehran, even though it’s a little old fashioned it’s as reliable as ever. Then there is also the Cultus, which goes slightly higher but is in keeping with evolving trends. It costs around Rs. 700,000 only. Alto is available at an affordable Rs. 500,000 approximately. Even the slightly luxurious Liana is priced averagely at Rs. 900,000 only. The sporty jeep is the Suzuki car to cross the Rs. 1, 000,000 mark and that too only slightly.

Most banks offer leasing opportunity nowadays at fairly easier terms, if none of the above fit your budget.

Whichever models of whichever brand you end up buying its essential to remember, that with great power of that key comes great responsibility. Being careful on the road is part of your civic sense just as carefully taking care of your car’s maintenance is. This is not just for your safety but also for everyone else’s. Like every other product, the handbook that comes with it is important. Go through the warranty manual and fully understand your consumer rights to avail the after sale services to your best advantage.

Oh a point of information please morally all cars should come without horns.

Well by now, we have painted the picture with the mobile and a set of car keys but it’s not complete yet now is it? To be perfectly equipped for survival in this current age plastic money has become an important ingredient, cannot stress the importance enough so I will move on to what alternatives are available in the ‘sabzi mandi’. International banks have long realized how fruitful Pakistan is as a potentially very ripe sales base. The security threats are nothing compared to how rewarding the gullibility of people here can be. No offence in being an easy prey is there.

ABN now known as the Royal Bank of Scotland has been in the market for quite some time now. They are the only ones co branding their credit cards. There is the collaboration with Air blue which gets you free air travel when you mange to reach required reward points. Then there are also Ufone benefits of free talk time and line rent. HSBC has the standard silver, gold, and platinum credit cards. However the major incentive that using their card has is the more you use it in your shopping, traveling etc the more the bank saves for your child’s education. That is definitely a tempting reward point system. MCB bends more towards the debit card options so you get to spend only what you have. Hardly any fun eh! HBL follows the market trend with the green card and the gold card. The credit card acquiring process has no doubt simplified a great deal and the terms are more convenient with greater stress on wider opportunities for its users.

Most banks share the benefits they offer; also, there are more or less standard features. Even the credit card membership fees are as good as same with the option being Rs.2000/- and Rs.4000/-. However, the Platinum Card fee ranges from Rs. 5000/- to Rs.15, 000/- depending on what limit the bank has assigned you. The fringe benefits on credit cards are more or less regular as well with insurance given especially on travel and with discounts offered with redemption partners.

With wants and needs switching sides, fast price tags have taken a relative connotation; only you can decide what your budget accommodates. Nevertheless, there is definitely something for everyone now. Happy affording!

Alone, White, and Female in India

Deepa Krishnan — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:53:23 EDT

On a travel forum recently, a young Polish woman asked: "I am planning to go to India and would be grateful if you could tell me whether it is safe for me to go there alone. If someone has any experience in travelling on his/her own, please post your comments"

Lots of people offered her advice; most of which centered around dressing modestly (preferably in a salwar kameez!), not getting too familiar with strangers, avoiding isolated areas and dark alleys, and so on. Among the many people who offered advice, there was one gentleman who suggested she carry pepper-spray. This led to a protest by some others - What?? Pepper spray!!?? Why are you scaring tourists away from India??

Co-incidentally, I had just been reading a city magazine, a 'Women's Special', with a whole page devoted to staying safe in cities - and among the five things they listed was pepper spray!

So what's the right advice for this lady? Should she stick to big cities? Are they safer, or are they more dangerous than smaller towns? Are some states safer than others? As I heard various points of view, I felt obliged to conclude that there is no single truth when it comes to female safety in India.

But that doesn't mean there are no conclusions to be drawn! I travel alone, frequently, to different parts of the country, and from my own interactions with men, I find that some parts of the country are disconcertingly hostile to women and disparaging of their bodies, whereas other places are a delight.

I was in Orissa recently, and I have to say I did not encounter one single lecherous man; it was a fantastic experience. I have spent two years in Calcutta, again, without so much as a single nasty incident in spite of late nights and odd hours.

I would rank Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi among my list of difficult places for solo women travellers. (I have not been to Bihar, but I confess I have no great expectations from the state that produced Laloo Prasad Yadav). Other than Orissa and Bengal, I would rank Kerala among my nicest travel experiences, followed by Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa (in no particular order). I have no experience of the north-eastern states.

Of course, this is all based on personal and anecdotal stuff, and is therefore open to bias, but I suspect many Indian women would agree with me. If you don't agree, that's fine too. There is no necessity for consensus here. Irrespective of which state is better and which is worse, what I'm trying to say is that there seem to be some regional trends in the behaviour of men towards women.

I am puzzled by these differences. Surely we are all not that different from each other? Maybe it’s just that places which are more hidebound and stuck in the dark ages are more difficult for women? With a social structure that does not value women, it is that much more difficult to get the basic respect you deserve. But Tamil Nadu with its high female foeticide doesn't value women either...so it's hard to explain why I feel safer in Chennai than in Delhi. Again, this is also a sweeping generalisation. Some parts of Delhi (and I am writing this sitting in Delhi) are extremely safe and very nice to be, and some very nice guys I know are from Delhi. But I don't feel the same "body freedom" in the crowded lanes of Chandni Chowk as I do in the equally crowded Pondy Bazaar or Bhuleshwar or Gariahaat markets. Why? I wish I knew.

Sigh - so - going back to the young Polish woman - while there is no single truth about the Indian men she will encounter, the fact remains that she is likely to go through some not-so-pleasant experiences if she is travelling solo. Let's face it, this is a difficult country for single white women to travel. The average Indian man assumes that white women are alley cats and are potentially available - why else would they flaunt their bodies in public places, right? To add to this is the depressingly common lesson which most young men receive at the hands of their older friends - that's it's perfectly alright to ogle and whistle and grope and treat women badly. Indeed, it is very *masculine* to do so, as Hindi movies so brilliantly illustrate. It's not just white women who get the lecherous idiocy - the same disgusting treatment is accorded to very modestly dressed local women as well. It's a grim story, and one that always makes me want to decimate the entire male race :)

To the lady who asked the original question, I say, pack that pepper spray, girl! You may not need it, but you'll feel better with it in your purse.

Should Marriage be Abolished?

Sumanth — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:42:15 EDT

In old days, people mostly lived in communities in villages. The parents used to take care of children and the grown up children used to take care of frail and sick old parents. That was the circle of life.

Today, with the Americanization of the world, some new noble actors gatecrashed into this circle of life. They are the Corporates, Society and the Government.

Today, parents solely take care of children, and then they handover the grown up children to Corporates and Governments. The young children work for the corporates and pay taxes to the Government, which claims to take care of everyone. In reality, children do not have time for old and sick parents. I see a lot of respectable elderly people in the neighborhood, who explain their old age loneliness with tears in their eyes.

Even though there is a lot of pressure for Americanization of India by Helen Clark of UNDP, our Government does not talk about anything American like Social Security or Healthcare System for old people in India.

The returns on investment (ROI) on children by parents are virtually zero today. So, children should be the responsibility of the Society or the Commune. Osho wanted the family to be replaced by the Commune.

Marriage should be abolished. With that there will be an end to divorce industry. There will be no family courts, lawyers, psychoanalysts, therapists, priests, perverts, dowry takers and prostitutes. When commune takes care of all children, there will be absolutely no orphans in the society.

When marriage does not exist and children become responsibility of the commune, men and women do not have to struggle for work life balance and they will have more choices in life. The personal emergencies and shocks will get absorbed by the whole commune.

In the book Third Wave, Alvin Toffler wrote, "Nuclear Family has no meaning, when there is no nucleus at home." The Commune will fill richness in children's lives, where as in a marriage today, the child has to remain suppressed between 2 adults and their narrow identities.

The Commune will create an alternate circles of life with much more stable interactions and interrelationships.

Osho On Marriage and Children:

Abusing the British Welfare State

DesiGirl — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:38:59 EDT

The BBC’s Famous, Rich and Jobless (telecast at 9.00 pm on March 10, 2010) seems another in the long list of “Celebrity tourism”, as the Guardian puts it, to grace our television. A bunch of “celebs” visited various members of the public who are living purely on benefits to see if they can help them.

That the rationale behind the show was shaky as hell is another topic altogether. What I want to discuss is the issue raised by one of the celebs, Diarmuid Gavin, as he visited a big family receiving £29,500 a year from the state. 28-year-old Mum and 29-year-old dad are both jobless and mum is pregnant with her sixth child. They live in a massive six-bedroom detached house and the dad hadn’t had a paying job in seven years.

Of course, this small fact doesn’t deter him from having more and more babies, that the taxpayer pays for. When Diarmuid asks the wife what she feels about sponging off the state, she points to her husband and goes “it is his fault! He wants a big family.”

That left me speechless.

How can you have a child without figuring out how you are going to provide for its future? When you yourself do not have a job, how can you have more and more children?

Answer: Quite easy. Get the state to pay for it.

There was some sob story in the offing, of course, why the dad hadn’t got off his backside and found himself a paying job in 7 years but I don’t buy it. Both husband and wife used to do menial jobs before and chances of them pulling in £30000 a year are slim. But now, thanks to the gazillion kids, they not only have the money, they even have other perks like rent, council tax etc that are paid by the state, aka, taxpaying mugs like you and me.

Apparently, the sick bastard labelled ‘British Fritzl’ was “driven by child benefit greed” and kept raping his daughters and having babies with them because he got child benefits! Ba$tard wants a plush lifestyle and instead of going out there and working his butt for it, he impregnates his daughters repeatedly and bills the state for the childcare.

If these are not examples of gross abuse of the British welfare state system, I do not know what is.

I say give the benefits to the old, the infirm, those who cannot fend for themselves. The OAPs who die every winter because they cannot afford to pay their heating bills, give them the money. The disabled person who cannot go out there and earn her daily bread, give her the money to look after herself. The others, able-bodied ones who are sitting in the comfort of their six-bed taxpayer-funded life, get over yourself and go out there and get a paying job.

I used to work for a social research agency and one of my projects was working on the incapacity benefits – who was receiving them, how much and what was their status. The findings made my blood boil. Whilst there were genuine applicants, there were many who, despite their claims to go out there and work if given a chance, would rather sit comfortably and watch the benefit cheques come in month after month.

I say the simplest way to reduce the massive deficit is to completely rehaul the benefits system. If guys like the father-of-five-with-one-on-the-way had to pay their own way, I am sure they would stop whingeing and get a vasectomy first and a job next.

Mdantsane Dancing- Poetry of Mdantsane

Amitabh Mitra — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:43:42 EDT

the summer wink has left
a stray color shine leaps on an everydaycloud
an everydaystreet
grass flowers bloom around shacks
she touches her eyes
and her hips again
in other patterns
mdantsane moves in unision
i jump out
on an ecstasy river
my long hair
my face rushes
a changing sky
in perfect congruency.

Poem and Watercolor on a handmade paper by Amitabh Mitra

Unleash The Paparazzi Hounds

Priyank Chandra — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:15:58 EDT

I would like to have more active paparazzi in India. I want them to hound and stalk the celebrities. Capture them in their most human state, and make them fight to retain their status of being role-models.

Their opinions do not matter, and count only as any of us, ignorant fools. Yet they blog, they tweet and the newspapers capture every statement they give. These are the models, the item-girls, the actors and actresses. The perfect brushed-up groomed faces that speak to us from advertisements everyday. We live in a society where the intellectuals seem to be forgotten, only to be replaced by meaningless opinions of beautiful people who shouldn't really matter. And I am tired of watching debates getting hijacked by celebrities, who say the obvious things to an audience that has already becoming used to the dumbed down pop culture of the idiot box and tabloids, insulting to the intellectuals who have spent a lifetime working in the field.

If the media wants to give the beautiful the role of the public opinion creators, then I ask them to please unleash their paparazzi hounds which exist only to show the truth, not just the media-op moments of sculpted beauty.

I'm no sadist and I would like people to have a right to their privacy, but I also see the need for truth. You cannot go in one extreme, without a counterweight. If you show the glamorous page-3 parties and the actor's ghost-authored opinions about the Pakistan, war and the Budget, then please let us see their affairs and unglamorous lifestyles.

It is only fair. Journalistic integrity demands it.

Systems Thinking and Counter-intuitive Nature of Social Systems

Sumanth — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:01:15 EDT

In the forward to the book "Order out of Chaos" by Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine, Futurist Alvin Toffler wrote:

One of the highly developed skills in contemporary Western Civilization is dissection: The split-up of problems into smallest possible components. We are good at it. So good, we often forget to put the pieces back together again.

What Alvin Toffler said was profound. He actually pointed at obsessive reductionism and lack of wisdom in Western civilizations in understanding and designing systems to solve complex social problems. I do not have to give examples from recent history of Middle East, Iraq or Afghanistan to prove this fact.

In the 90s, I spent couple of years doing research on complexity, computer simulation of complex process and learning systems apart from avidly reading some of Alvin Toffler’s books. I was passionate about the whole “Systems Science”. I wondered if mathematics of dynamical systems(link) can be applied to complex disciplines like management, sociology and psychological Sciences.

Then, I came across some work on “Systems Thinking” by Peter Senge, professor at MIT Sloan School of Management. That led me to work that Jay Forrester did on “Systems Dynamics” at MIT. That made a connection between Control Theory(link) and Social Dynamics. (Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge, System Dynamics)

Systems Thinking is, more than anything else, a mindset for understanding how things work. It is a perspective for going beyond events, to looking for patterns of behavior, to seeking underlying systemic interrelationships which are responsible for the patterns of behavior and the events. Systems Thinking embodies a world-view; A world-view which implies that the foundation for understanding lies in interpreting interrelationships within systems; Interrelationships which are responsible for the manner in which systems operate. Interrelationships which result in the patterns of behavior and events we perceive.

When we go beyond the linear cause and effect paradigm to study patterns of behavior and then to study the systemic interrelationships among the parts of systems we develop a much deeper understanding of the nature of the way things operate; an operational understanding, which can allow us to work with the system rather than against it. An understanding which allows for the development of interventions to create lasting change within the system, if that is the desired intent.

Jay Forrester writes

Society becomes frustrated as repeated attacks on deficiencies in social systems lead only to worse symptoms. Legislation is debated and passed with great hope, but many programs prove to be ineffective. Results are often far short of expectations. Because dynamic behavior of social systems is not understood, government programs often cause exactly the reverse of desired results.

The field of system dynamics now can explain how such contrary results happen. Fundamental reasons cause people to misjudge behaviour of social systems. Orderly processes in creating human judgment and intuition lead people to wrong decisions when faced with complex and highly interacting systems. Until we reach a much better public understanding of social systems, attempts to develop corrective programs for social troubles will continue to be disappointing.

Then, he throws the bombshell:

The human mind is not adapted to interpreting how social systems behave. Social systems belong to the class called multi-loop nonlinear feedback systems.

The basic principles of Systems Thinking are listed below and they are based on mathematics of dynamical systems. Their application is very simple. Whenever, a policy maker violates any of these principles (which can be used as a checklist), then one can look for a disaster waiting to happen.

1) Today's problems come from yesterday's "solutions."

2) The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back.

3) Behavior will grow worse before it grows better.

4) The easy way out usually leads back in.

5) The cure can be worse than the disease.

6) Faster is slower.

7) Cause and effect are not closely related in time and space.

8) Small changes can produce big results...but the areas of highest leverage are often the least obvious. (Most obvious solutions for complex social problems can be at best useless and at worst dangerous)

9) You can have your cake and eat it too ---but not all at once.

10) Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants.

11) There is no blame.

It is very easy to see that a lot of these principles get violated by political parties and governments worldwide. The feedback systems create havoc across the world economies as the bubbles get burst and the coupled systems swing wildly impacting lives of billions of people.

These principles of systems thinking can result in different patterns or structures of behaviour called “archetypes”. Some examples of Archetypes are: Fixes that fail, Accidental adversaries, shifting the burden.

Why are Social Systems counter-intuitive?

Humans are inherently limited in thinking that cause and effect are closely linked in time and space. For example, you touch a hot stove and you immediately feel a burning sensation on your hand. However, in social systems, the cause and effect are often far removed in time and space, which completely deceives the policy makers.

The simple example is: Imagine there is 8 second delay in the steering wheel of your Car. That is, when you turn it left, it does not respond immediately and it starts turning only after 8 seconds. Now, consider there is a 20 second time delay in your accelerator pedal. Imagine when someone calls you on cellphone, the speed of your car doubles. Now, imagine driving such a Car at 50 miles per hour in a test track. That Car will take you for a ride.

Social systems seem to be slow, but they are much more complex than this example and they take the policies and interventions for a ride. That is what dangerous time delays and couplings in space and time can do. Human mind is not adapted to interpret such multi-loop nonlinear feedback systems. One policy intervention creates multiple effects and side effects over different periods of time at different locations in space (say in the country). These side effects in turn are misinterpreted and polices are implemented to counter these side effects. This entire process takes one very far from real solution or original intentions. The problems do not get solved, but the interventions produce some more severe problems. Then, societies deal with both.

We just have to look at problems in Middle East, Iraq or Afganistan to appreciate this idea.

Jay Forrester adds further.

Social systems exhibit a conflict between short-term and long-term consequences of a policy change. A policy that produces improvement in the short run is usually one that degrades a system in the long run. Likewise, policies that produce long-run improvement may initially depress behavior of a system. This is especially treacherous. The short run is more visible and more compelling. Short-run pressures speak loudly for immediate attention.

Attractive Policies can Create Disaster.

For example, usage of certain pesticides in a farm can lead to reduction in pests for some months and then the pests increase rapidly in spite of usage of the same pesticide. So, what happened? The pesticide initially started killing off one category of pests. However, this category of pests used to feed on other pests more immune to the pesticide. As the pesticide killed the predatory pests, the other pests immune to pesticide started breeding and took over the farm.(link)

Then, I read in newspapers that dowry problem has spread all over India as more and more laws are enacted, crime against women is increasing at a rapid rate and women in US are unhappier compared their grandmothers after 40 years of campaigns and struggles. Now, I know, why India has much less crime rate than US in spite of India's corrupt police and dysfunctional judicial system.

What happened? When you push a complex system harder, the harder it pushes you back. There are only a very few points of influence in such chaotic systems(link), which are highly sensitive to initial conditions. These points of influence are not at all obvious. It’s like those kid’s fairy tales, where a demon has hidden his heart in some box somewhere and to kill him, you need to locate that box. It is very certain that the System pushed the policies back harder as the counter-intuitive non-obvious solutions were discarded due to rhetoric, populism or lack of understanding of how systems work.

I have every reason to believe that wild rhetoric on victimhood of women with false statistics, contributed to a rise of “female foeticide” in urban India and it worsened the already existing situation by disempowering educated parents, who may have actually fought against the bias.

Similarly, a law against acid attacks may actually lead to rapid increase in incidents. The massive newspaper coverage of enactment of the law followed by victim stories may spread the idea (of use of acid) to many pathologically sick criminals. At present a few hundred people get attacked by acid every year. After the news, thousands may in fact think of storing acid at home as a weapon for their own self defense and that will create a far worse problem than what it is today.

If 33% seats are reserved for women in Parliament, it may lead to more laws in favour of women. However, soon there can be a small strongly held “male vote bank” and women candidates may compete with each other for “appeasement of males” in the constituency. Being women, these elected representatives will face less chance of being labeled as anti-women, so they will be more confident in cutting off privileges bestowed up on women now.

Systems Thinking can be applied to all dynamical systems starting from teams in corporates, to management, economic systems, stock markets, social movements for change and Government policies. All it requires for one is to train oneself in this alternate way of thinking by taking non-linearity, circular influences/feedbacks and multiple side-effects in time and space into account. One can also use various computer simulation and modeling tools to simulate and play with the complexity. It’s like a “social or management flight simulator”. One can see some such simulations in Wikipedia link on Systems Dynamics.

It is possible to create self-organizing and self-replicating learning organizations(link) to bring change, when one uses the principles of systems thinking at its core.
References:
1) A Guide to Learning System Dynamics.

2) Generic Structures: Overshoot and Collapse.

3) Generic Structures:Oscillating Systems

4) Archetypes: Interaction Structures

Photography Times: Green Snake

Vidhya — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:44:00 EDT

Snakes are tricky creatures to photograph. The meticulous camouflage of the green snakes only makes it harder to find if what's raised between the small branches is the head of the snake, or just another docile extension of a leaf.

The trees and the branches were fairly thick making it all the more difficult to find where the snakes were curled away. And my idea for the moment was to photograph one with particular importance to the scales and the eyes. Green snakes have large eyes and blunt shaped heads.

After an hour of patient searching I could find a couple of them, not very far from where I stood, that could be my possible subjects for the day. One of them was looking downward as if it were about to swoop down to catch some prey, and the other seemed almost at the right spot except that it had its head turned away from me.

Making this photograph a bit more difficult to shoot was a disturbing ray of light reflecting from a glass enclosure adjacent to the green snakes. I sought additional help asking K to hold a bunch of books beside the enclosure blocking the path of the light from reaching the abode of the green snakes. With the books held high, I had to work on my zoom before the snake turned his head toward me, which - for all you know - may only be for a couple of seconds.

I was carrying a 70-300mm lens, so had ample focal length to cruise between the branches and leaves to get as close as possible to his head. After a few adjustments to the focal and the aperture to wade away the unwanted lights, I took position hoping the snake didn't hiss away into some other branch. I continued looking through the viewfinder wondering at the amazing stillness with which the snake stayed in his head-turned-away posture - an essential skill if he needs to camouflage and set himself up to catch an unsuspecting prey.

After about 20 minutes of holding my position, my shoulders starting drooping and I badly needed a sip of Red Bull. Even before I had a second thought on giving in to a Red Bull, the green snake slowly turned over. Looking through the viewfinder at close to the entire focal length of my lens, it seemed as if he was staring straight into my eyes. The large eyes and the scaly slimy skin - just what I was waiting for, and three quick shots later I lunged for my Red Bull.

Reptiles are probably the oldest of species to have ever existed on the earth. Reptiles are generally cold-blooded and their skin is usually covered in scales. Contrary to popular belief, many species of snakes are not poisonous, and do not have a history of being hostile to humans.

The Green Snake, for instance, tends to escape if threatened by human or other activity in its vicinity. A rather meek species of snake, they rely on camouflage to protect themselves and prey on insects like crickets, moths and butterflies.