Kanan Jaswal's Thoughts of the Days of May 2022

May 01:     Of course, partial successes too deserve to be celebrated, but only by making more and better efforts, relentlessly.

May 02:     Repeated failures naturally result into some disappointment but it is up to us not to allow it to overwhelm us or lower our self-confidence even one bit.  

May 03:     In many traditional organisations, seniority is often confused with superiority.

May 04:     That nearly all weaken-India and break-India forces within the country are also supporting his stand on Russia's war on Ukraine should prompt Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider it very seriously.

May 05:     Can the Central government certify that each State of India is being administered in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution? If not, we the people of India would like to know the concrete steps it is taking to ensure that they do.

May 06:     When a State government is determinedly acting, as if, on its well-thought out plans to carve another Pakistan out of India, will the Centre remain a silent spectator for the fear of some ultra-liberal elements in the Supreme Court?

May 07:     Had tens of millions of Bangladeshis in India really been economic refugees, they would start trouping back to that country now that its economy is doing much better than India's. But no, they will not go back because their intention always has been to make a mini-Bangladesh in every part of India.

May 08:     Happiness or unhappiness is not an incident, a state of mind either. It is a decision which we make over and over again.

May 09:     Just because death stalks life continuously, the living should not stop living their lives to the full.

May 10:     Excuses seemingly defend your past but they put your present and future in jeopardy.

May 11:     Columbia University could also have awarded the Pulitzer Prize for photographs of COVID-19 victims being buried in mass graves at New York's Hart Island, and for reports of the NY City administration keeping hundreds of COVID-corpses in refrigerated trucks for more than a year in the absence of plans for their final resting places.

May 12:     Even after 75 years of Independence, why should the government allow any non-government organisation to receive foreign funding? They should have no right to exist if they can not raise sufficient funds from within the country for their work.

May 13:     The Supreme Court says that corruption by the members of the uniformed services will not be tolerated. In fact, corruption by any public servant, uniformed or not, is intolerable, and those indulging in it ought to be severely punished, whatever be their ranks.

May 14:     The failing state of Pakistan has a trait in common with the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, in that all these four countries harbour Khalistanis, who have been plotting and carrying out acts of terrorism against India. 

May 15:     The biggest tribute to honesty is paid by the dishonest when they share their loot honestly among themselves. 

May 16:     The ruling family of the Congress party knows it fully well that introducing caste-based job reservations in the private sector will give a big boost to brain drain from India, but so what? It will get to enjoy its sweet dream even if it is a nightmare for the nation.   

May 17:     Promoting the undeserving is not doing them a favour. It is, in fact, doing them a big disfavour because now on they are going to be always weighed down by imposter syndrome.

May 18:     The world needs them all - the thinkers, the doers, and the thinkers-cum-doers.

May 19:     Society progresses when all its constituent parts do and it is gratifying to know that any of those may initiate and lead this process.

May 20:     Life is a challenge but it is kind to those who take it up courageously.

May 21:     Fools are in no danger of being replaced by artificial intelligence. They are safe until the invention of artificial stupidity.

May 22:     In an armed conflict, only with the world's biggest democracy India on its side, the West can get the better of China. Knowing this fully well, the West's liberals, many of them in the pay of the Chinese government, have to do everything which, in their view, would weaken India.

May 23:     Procrastination is the default option for those lacking in self-confidence. 

May 24:     Take justifiable pride in your profession, even glorify it if you must, but never at the expense of any other profession. Remember, it is not a zero sum game you have to play here. 

May 25:     You can consider yourself a true professional only when excellence has even seeped into your doing the routine.

May 26:     Rahul Gandhi's role in the Opposition, as he understands, is to be the opposite of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in everything. That's why while Modi, on his hectic foreign visits, raises India's international stature, Rahul, on his leisurely sojourns abroad, uses his kerosene tongue in attempts to lower that stature.  

May 27: True friendship is making each other feel relevant and needed.

May 28:     Intellectual honesty is much larger and deeper than financial honesty. One can be financially, yet not intellectually, honest but the reverse of this is not possible. 

May 29:     It takes two to tango; Indians should buy Indian and Indian firms should constantly endeavour to offer quality products and services comparable to the best in the world.

May 30:     It may not make a fanciful story but you do not have to hit the rock bottom before deciding to go up in life.

May 31:     The future is not an unruly crowd of days coming at us all at once; it is, on the contrary, an orderly stack from which the days descend and present themselves before us one by one. There is, therefore, no reason that the future should frighten us.