[Commons-Law] relay

Via: "Sudhir Krishnaswamy"

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Via: Pranesh Prakash

Via:

About Manthan Award South Asia 2009 Manthan Award is a first of its kind initiative in India and South Asia to scout and recognise innovative ICT and digital practices and innovations in digital Content and Creativity towards digital inclusion. The 6th edition of MASA 2009 is being held in New Delhi during December 18-19, 2009 at NCUI Complex. The 2009 edition has key event verticals across all major ICT and digital inclusion for development thematic areas in the region. Launched in 2004 by Digital Empowerment Foundation in knowledge partnership with World Summit Award,the Manthan Award has come to define the very best in digital content for development. Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, India, has been the key Government support partner. MASA 2009 Event Verticals Micro Summit on e-Commerce, Entrepreneurship & Livelihood Generation Consultation on 'Governance & Digital Constituencies Consultation on Education & Learning Consultation on Health, Science & Environment Consultation on New Media & Community Broadcasting Consultation on Mobile for Masses IDRC India Social Science Research Conference & Award 2009 MANTHAN AWARD SOUTH ASIA 2009 AWARD GALA EVENING SOUTH ASIA REGIONAL ICT EXHIBITION ON DIGITAL INNOVATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT Categories for Award Recognition for MASA 2009 Community Broadcasting, E-Business & Commerce, E-Culture & Entertainment, E-Education, E-Enterprise & Livelihood, E-Entertainment, E-Science & Environment, E-Governance, E-Health, E-Inclusion, E-Learning, E-Localisation, E-News & M-Content   The Manthan Award Reach & Spin Offs 2007 -> 353 Nominations -> 39 Winners 2008 -> 400 Nominations -> 33 Winners 2009 -> 378 Nominations -> 45 Winners Facilitating national digital movement through national award platforms in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2009 Partners Key partners for Manthan Award South Asia 2009: World Summit Award, Austria / DIT, Govt. of India / Internet Society / Association for Progressive Communications / D.Net, Bangladesh / ICTA, Sri Lanka / Ministry of ICT, Afghanistan / BNNRC, Bangladesh / FIIT Nepal Intel / IBM / Nokia Siemens Networks / NIXI / IAMAI / Mint / Gujarat Knowledge Society / MAIT / NISG / IGNOU / Edurite / KPMG / TFTP / Social Impact International Scope for Association The opportunity for association with the Manthan Award South Asia 2009 Event Programme is currently open. Interested partners may associate for: Sponsorship & Partnership Exhibition partner Publication partner Hospitality partner Logistics partner

Communications & Contact To know more about the Manthan Award South Asia 2009 Programme and for partnership options please contact: The Manthan Award South Asia 2009 Secretariat 44, III Floor, Kalu Sarai, New Delhi-110017, India Tel: 91-11-26532786 / 26532787 E: manthanaward@defindia.net W: www.manthanaward.org ; www.defindia.net

Resource persons Ms. Priyanka Chouhan (priyanka@defindia.net) Mr. Syed S. (syed@defindia.net)

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Via: "Pescod, Dan"

Forgive me if I am missing something, but I see nothing in this item to
suggest that Gurry backed the treaty proposal at all, even ambiguously.
Rather, it seems that he was silent on that and used the umbrella term
"VIP initiative" to describe work to help increase access to books for
blind and partially sighted people.

Regards,

Dan

-----Original Message-----
From: a2k-admin@lists.essential.org
[mailto:a2k-admin@lists.essential.org] On Behalf Of Pranesh Prakash
Sent: 12 November 2009 11:48
To: A2K Discussion List; Commons Law
Cc: Nirmita Narasimhan; Kajal Bhardwaj; Dipendra Manocha
Subject: [A2k] WIPO Director General Pledges Support for India's
Visually Impaired Community

Dear all,
WIPO seems to be giving all kinds of signal that the Treaty for the
Blind is a very step forward for them.


Regards,
Pranesh

http://www.ag-ip-news.com/GetArticle.asp?Art_ID=7785&lang=en

12/11/2009 07:07 GMT
ag-IP-news
WIPO Director General Pledges Support for India's Visually Impaired
Community

GENEVA - The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director
General Francis Gurry met representatives of India's visually impaired
(VIP) community at a conference on the "Right to Read of persons with
print disabilities and copyright challenges".

According to WIPO, the conference organized by the VIP community in
cooperation with the Government of India in New Delhi on November 11,
2009, and reaffirmed WIPO's commitment to supporting international
attempts to improve access to copyright protected works by visually
impaired persons (VIPs).

"Let me assure you that this is a priority area for the World
Intellectual Property Organization," Gurry said.

More than 314 million blind or visually impaired people around the world
stand to benefit from a more flexible copyright regime adapted to
current technological realities. Individuals with reading impairment
often need to convert information into Braille, large print, audio,
electronic and other formats using assistive technologies.

It is estimated that only 5% of published books in developed countries
are converted into formats accessible to the reading impaired. In
India, however, only 0.5% of works are published in accessible formats.
This has an adverse impact on the educational and employment
opportunities of the country's nearly 70 million reading impaired
citizens.

While, today, sighted individuals enjoy unprecedented access to
copyright-protected content, in some contexts, social, economic,
technological and legal factors, including the operation of copyright
protection systems, can combine to seriously impede access to such works
by the blind or other reading impaired persons. Widespread use of
digital technologies, in particular, has prompted reconsideration of the
question of how to maintain a balance between the protection available
to copyright owners, and the needs of specific user groups, such as
reading impaired persons.

During the meeting, members of the Indian VIP community endorsed WIPO's
role in steering the VIP Initiative at the international level. Gurry
reaffirmed his personal commitment to the specific needs of this
community, particularly in developing and least-developed countries: He
said innovation and affordability are key considerations when addressing
the specific requirements of the VIP in developing countries.

To move forward on these questions, Gurry noted, we will need to take
join ranks with UN partners, namely the World Health Organization (WHO),
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), among
others, to make best use of the expertise and skills that are available.

The ITU for example, is particularly well placed to provide important
technological inputs in the field of telephony and communications and to
foster public-private partnerships in this area.

Gurry welcomed India's readiness to test the prototype guidelines for
trusted intermediaries recently adopted by the WIPO Stakeholders'
Platform. The Director General said that WIPO was ready to explore
options to support training/capacity building activities in India for
VIPs within the framework of the VIP initiative.

The New Delhi meeting reviewed a series of operational arrangements that
could enable fast track access to certain copyright-protected works,
particularly educational materials, in local Indian languages. It also
focused on the need to incorporate the necessary flexibilities in the
Indian Copyright Act 1957 for the benefit of print impaired persons.

Representatives of key organizations such as the National Institute for
the Visually Handicapped (NIVH), the Regional Resource Centre of the
Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY), the Centre for Internet
and Society and the Federation of Publishers' & Booksellers'
Associations in India presented their views and concerns on the subject.

The meeting was opened to a larger audience of authors, publishers,
collective management organizations and librarians, among others.
India's former Ambassador of India to the United Nations in Geneva,
Swashpawan Singh, honorary advisor on the VIP Initiative to the Director
General of WIPO, also participated in the discussions.

Via: Pranesh Prakash

Dear all,
WIPO seems to be giving all kinds of signal that the Treaty for the
Blind is a very step forward for them.


Regards,
Pranesh

http://www.ag-ip-news.com/GetArticle.asp?Art_ID=7785&lang=en

12/11/2009 07:07 GMT
ag-IP-news
WIPO Director General Pledges Support for India’s Visually Impaired
Community

GENEVA - The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director
General Francis Gurry met representatives of India’s visually impaired
(VIP) community at a conference on the “Right to Read of persons with
print disabilities and copyright challenges”.

According to WIPO, the conference organized by the VIP community in
cooperation with the Government of India in New Delhi on November 11,
2009, and reaffirmed WIPO’s commitment to supporting international
attempts to improve access to copyright protected works by visually
impaired persons (VIPs).

“Let me assure you that this is a priority area for the World
Intellectual Property Organization,” Gurry said.

More than 314 million blind or visually impaired people around the world
stand to benefit from a more flexible copyright regime adapted to
current technological realities. Individuals with reading impairment
often need to convert information into Braille, large print, audio,
electronic and other formats using assistive technologies.

It is estimated that only 5% of published books in developed countries
are converted into formats accessible to the reading impaired. In
India, however, only 0.5% of works are published in accessible formats.
This has an adverse impact on the educational and employment
opportunities of the country’s nearly 70 million reading impaired citizens.

While, today, sighted individuals enjoy unprecedented access to
copyright-protected content, in some contexts, social, economic,
technological and legal factors, including the operation of copyright
protection systems, can combine to seriously impede access to such works
by the blind or other reading impaired persons. Widespread use of
digital technologies, in particular, has prompted reconsideration of the
question of how to maintain a balance between the protection available
to copyright owners, and the needs of specific user groups, such as
reading impaired persons.

During the meeting, members of the Indian VIP community endorsed WIPO’s
role in steering the VIP Initiative at the international level. Gurry
reaffirmed his personal commitment to the specific needs of this
community, particularly in developing and least-developed countries: He
said innovation and affordability are key considerations when addressing
the specific requirements of the VIP in developing countries.

To move forward on these questions, Gurry noted, we will need to take
join ranks with UN partners, namely the World Health Organization (WHO),
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), among
others, to make best use of the expertise and skills that are available.

The ITU for example, is particularly well placed to provide important
technological inputs in the field of telephony and communications and to
foster public-private partnerships in this area.

Gurry welcomed India’s readiness to test the prototype guidelines for
trusted intermediaries recently adopted by the WIPO Stakeholders’
Platform. The Director General said that WIPO was ready to explore
options to support training/capacity building activities in India for
VIPs within the framework of the VIP initiative.

The New Delhi meeting reviewed a series of operational arrangements that
could enable fast track access to certain copyright-protected works,
particularly educational materials, in local Indian languages. It also
focused on the need to incorporate the necessary flexibilities in the
Indian Copyright Act 1957 for the benefit of print impaired persons.

Representatives of key organizations such as the National Institute for
the Visually Handicapped (NIVH), the Regional Resource Centre of the
Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY), the Centre for Internet
and Society and the Federation of Publishers’ & Booksellers’
Associations in India presented their views and concerns on the subject.

The meeting was opened to a larger audience of authors, publishers,
collective management organizations and librarians, among others.
India’s former Ambassador of India to the United Nations in Geneva,
Swashpawan Singh, honorary advisor on the VIP Initiative to the Director
General of WIPO, also participated in the discussions.

Via: Pranesh Prakash

Apologies for cross-posting.

http://www.businessline.in/cgi-bin/print.pl?file=2009111252151500.htm&date=2009/11/12/&prd=bl&

Via: Pranesh Prakash

Via: Jeebesh

Could be useful......

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Leo Saldanha
> Date: 4 November 2009 11:27:22 AM GMT+05:30
> To: Jai Sen
> Cc: Post Commons Convergence
> Subject: Re: [Commons-convergence] Fwd: [Debate] (Fwd) 'Commons'
> Reply-To: leofsaldanha@gmail.com
>
> Thanks Jai for sharing a very interesting article and also a link to
> an very resourceful site on the commons.
>
> ESG has been involved in major litigations over the past few years
> to secure the commons, especially in the urbs. Interestingly,
> Courts have agreed with our positions and secured urban commons -
> such as lakes - from potential acquistion for private profit.
> Recently, as a result of our ongoing litigations, Karnataka State
> cancelled an agreement to privatise one lake, and we think this is
> precedent to cancel all other agreements.
> Thsoe interested can access our PILs and some interim orders by
> visiting our website: www.esgindia.org (look for PILs on Lake
> Privtisation and Road widening). The road widening case is
> interesting because most of us assume the Government has an absolute
> right to renegotiate its form and structure. We contended this
> argument, and have succeeded in winning the Court's support to
> subject such decision to the due process of public consultation as
> laid down in the law.
>
> Somewhat disappointing is the lack of interest amongst many
> activists and academia in these litigation initiatives, particularly
> in exploring its possible implications to securing the commons. I
> hope with renewed interest in the topic, thanks to the Nobel prize
> given to Ostrum, interest may pick up on such issues amongst
> activist and academic communities.
>
> The future as I see it, in light of the worst predictions of climate
> change, will be all about how successful we are in securing the
> public access quality of our commons... be they local parks,
> streets, beaches, atmosphere, forests, cyberspace, etc....
>
> Leo
>
> Jai Sen wrote:
>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>> *From: *Patrick Bond >
>>> *Date: *November 4 2009 9:47:03 am GMT+05:30
>>> *To: *DEBATE
>>> list@fahamu.org>>
>>> *Subject: **[Debate] (Fwd) 'Commons'*
>>> *Reply-To: *pbond@mail.ngo.za , Debate
>>> is a listserve that attempts to promote information and analyses
>>> of interest to the independent left in South and Southern Africa
>>> >
>>>
>>> The Commons: From Tragedy to Celebrity
>>>
>>> United for a Fair Economy
>>> October 2009
>>> http://enews.faireconomy.org/2009/October2009.html
>>>
>>> The recipients of the 2009 Nobel Prize in economics were
>>> announced on Monday October 12th. The prize was shared
>>> between two Americans, Elinor Ostrum and Oliver E.
>>> Williamson.
>>>
>>> Ostrum deserves a special toast for several reasons.
>>> First, such high-level recognition of her work brings
>>> the idea of The Commons into the spotlight, which is
>>> fitting given how broken our current economic system is.
>>> Second, she is only the second non-economist to win the
>>> award and, as the first female recipient of the award,
>>> she shattered yet another glass ceiling for women the
>>> world over.
>>>
>>> Ostrom's research, which essentially bridges political
>>> science and economics, focuses on community vs. private
>>> or governmental management of common resources like
>>> land, forests, irrigation waters and fisheries. One of
>>> her key findings is that successful governance can
>>> result when end-users - the people actually using the
>>> resources - actively participate in the process.
>>>
>>> This directly contradicts the long-standing theory of
>>> the "Tragedy of the Commons," in which property rights
>>> and privatization are seen to be the only means to
>>> preserving finite resources.
>>>
>>> The commons doesn't just refer to natural resources,
>>> however. It includes anything that is shared by members
>>> of local, national or even global communities. And it
>>> raises the idea that we can shift from a market-based
>>> society narrowly focused on private wealth, to a
>>> commons-based society focused on managing common assets
>>> so they benefit everyone. Essentially, it offers a
>>> framework for revamping our currently flawed economic
>>> system, and seeks to do so to benefit the many - an idea
>>> that is right up our ally.
>>>
>>> About the Commons
>>> http://onthecommons.org/content.php?id=1467
>>>
>>> The commons is a new way to express a very old idea-that
>>> some forms of wealth belong to all of us, and that these
>>> community resources must be actively protected and
>>> managed for the good and all.
>>>
>>> The commons are the things that we inherit and create
>>> jointly, and that will (hopefully) last for generations
>>> to come. The commons consists of gifts of nature such as
>>> air, oceans and wildlife as well as shared social
>>> creations such as libraries, public spaces, scientific
>>> research and creative works.
>>>
>>> Biopiracy: The practice where traditional knowledge of
>>> natural resources, especially medicinal and agricultural
>>> plants, is appropriated by international companies to
>>> create products, for which they are awarded exclusive
>>> rights to use under patent laws.
>>>
>>> Cap-and-dividend: A practical solution to the problem of
>>> global climate disruption, based upon the commons
>>> principle that the atmosphere belongs to everyone. (Also
>>> known as the Sky Trust.) First articulated by On the
>>> Commons co-founder Peter Barnes in his 2002 book, Who
>>> Owns the Sky? cap-and-dividend is a response to cap-and-
>>> trade proposals in which polluters are granted
>>> permission to buy and sell pollution rights as a way to
>>> curb carbon and other emissions causing global warming.
>>> This essentially gives existing polluters ownership of
>>> the air in order to create incentives to reduce
>>> emissions. Cap-and-dividend starts at the same place by
>>> creating a cap on pollution that gradually reduces the
>>> amount of greenhouse gases that can be dumped into the
>>> air and creating a market where the right to pollute can
>>> be bought and sold. But rather than letting historical
>>> polluters reap all the financial benefits, fees that
>>> companies pay to pollute would be collected and returned
>>> to citizens in the form of a regular dividend. This is
>>> not only a more equitable way to distribute the wealth
>>> created by a commons, it also increases public support
>>> for measures to stop global climate change. For more
>>> information see Peter Barnes 2008 book Climate Solutions
>>>
>>> Common assets: Common assets are those parts of the
>>> commons that have a value in the market and which are
>>> appropriate to buy and sell (see "inalienability").
>>> Radio airwaves are a common asset, for example, as are
>>> timber and minerals on public lands and, increasingly,
>>> air and water. By recognizing certain resources as
>>> common assets, it becomes natural to ask: Are the common
>>> assets being responsibly managed on behalf of the
>>> general public or a distinct community of interest? Is
>>> the capital being depleted?
>>>
>>> Commons movement: A growing social and political
>>> movement that believes the commons is a crucial sector
>>> of the economy and society and useful prism for talking
>>> about resources that should be shared. The commons
>>> offers not only an affirmative vision of a more
>>> equitable, eco-friendly society: it also serves as a
>>> countervailing force to keep excesses of the market and
>>> government sectors in check. Some speak of an emerging
>>> commons paradigm as a new way of looking at the world,
>>> one that opens up the competitive, mechanistic, profit-
>>> centric mindset that has ruled Western civilization
>>> since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, with a more
>>> humanistic, environmentally aware and holistic world
>>> view. A wider appreciation for the enduring importance
>>> of the commons has developed over the last eight years,
>>> especially among people deeply involved in the politics
>>> of water issues, the internet, the over
>>> commercialization of culture and public spaces. This
>>> world view is now reaching into many other arenas,
>>> including economics, the environment, social justice and
>>> numerous citizens movements around the world.
>>>
>>> Copyleft: This refers to a license that allows free re-
>>> use and modification of creative work so long as any
>>> works derived from the original remain available on the
>>> same terms. Copyleft, formally known as the "General
>>> Public License" or GPL, was initiated by computer
>>> programmer Richard Stallman and the Free Software
>>> Foundation. By protecting the creativity and energy of
>>> the commons from private appropriation, the GPL has
>>> enabled communities of programmers to build shared
>>> bodies of code, such as free software and open source
>>> software. A similar set of licenses for other types of
>>> creative works has been devised by the Creative Commons.
>>>
>>> Corporation: A self-perpetuating legal entity whose
>>> mission is to maximize short-term return to
>>> shareholders. In its aggressive pursuit of this mission,
>>> the corporation not only produces new innovations and
>>> efficiencies, it also displaces costs onto the
>>> environment, our communities and our personal lives (see
>>> externality).
>>>
>>> Enclosure: Historically, this refers to the
>>> privatization of common grazing lands beginning in 15th
>>> Century England, which impoverished many peasants. Today
>>> it is used to describe the conversion of a commons into
>>> private property. Enclosure entails not just the
>>> privatization of a resource, but also the introduction
>>> of money and market exchange as the prevailing
>>> principles for managing that resource. Enclosure shifts
>>> ownership and control from the community at large to
>>> private companies. This in turn changes the management
>>> and character of the resource because the market has
>>> very different standards of accountability and
>>> transparency than a commons. (Contrast a public library
>>> with a bookstore, or Main Street with a private shopping
>>> mall.) Because of its compulsion to extract maximum
>>> short-term rents and externalize costs, market enclosure
>>> often results in the "tragedy of the market."
>>>
>>> Externality or illth: A social or ecological cost that
>>> is not paid by its creators. As the scope of market
>>> activity expands beyond a certain point, engulfing more
>>> of nature and daily life, it yields less and less
>>> happiness and wellbeing even as it causes more and more
>>> unintended problems. In market logic, the expanding
>>> output must be regarded as "progress" and "wealth." In
>>> fact, the accelerating pace of the market machine is
>>> producing more "illth" - the opposite of wealth. Author
>>> Peter Barnes ( Who Owns the Sky ) has popularized this
>>> term, coined by John Ruskin in the 19th century, to
>>> describe the unintended but increasing destruction of
>>> nature, social disruptions, health problems and other
>>> (unacknowledged, unintended or disguised) costs of
>>> market activity.
>>>
>>> Gift economy: A community of shared purpose, such as an
>>> academic discipline, whose members give time and
>>> creativity to the community and reap benefits in return.
>>> In gift communities, money is an unacceptable "currency"
>>> because relationships are rooted in personal, particular
>>> and historical experiences of each individual, and
>>> cannot be converted into cash or any other fungible
>>> unit. Despite the absence of cash, legal contracts and
>>> market exchange, a gift economy can be tremendously
>>> productive, efficient and innovative, as seen in free
>>> and open software communities, online wikis and other
>>> collaborative websites, blood donation systems and
>>> scientific research disciplines.
>>>
>>> Inalienability: The principle that a given resource
>>> shall not be freely bought and sold in the marketplace,
>>> but shall remain intact, in its natural context.
>>> Inalienability derives from a social consensus that
>>> certain things and behaviors are so precious and basic
>>> to human identity that they are degraded if they are put
>>> up for sale. "Goods" that have traditionally been
>>> regarded as inalienable include votes, babies, bodily
>>> organs, sex, genes, living species and most aspects of
>>> nature, but market forces are increasingly challenging
>>> long-standing norms of inalienability.
>>>
>>> Land trusts: An alternative model of land ownership in
>>> which a tract of land is owned by a non-profit
>>> organization-usually to preserve its natural assets or
>>> to maintain it as affordable housing. There are more
>>> than 1,600 land trusts in the US today encompassing 37
>>> million acres. Land trusts provide a good example of how
>>> a commons economic model can exist outside the realm of
>>> both government and private control as a distinct sector
>>> for advancing the public good. Professor Carol Rose of
>>> Yale Law School has cited land trusts as an example of
>>> "property on the outside, commons on the inside"-meaning
>>> that the resource exists within the market system as
>>> legal property yet is managed internally according to
>>> commons principles.
>>>
>>> Open source software: (See copyleft) Open source
>>> software is functionally similar to free software that
>>> is protected under the General Public License, or GPL,
>>> except that open source programs allow a program to be
>>> freely copied, modified and distributed, but do not
>>> require it. In addition, the open source community does
>>> not necessarily subscribe to the political agenda of
>>> Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software
>>> Foundation, who regards the GPL as the foundation for a
>>> vision of political and creative freedom. Open source
>>> programmers tend to be more focused on the practical
>>> value of open source code in developing superior
>>> software.
>>>
>>> Public goods: Resources that, because of their "public"
>>> nature, are difficult or costly to exclude anyone from
>>> using. Examples include lighthouses, city parks,
>>> broadcast programming and the global atmosphere. In the
>>> lingo of economists, these are "non-rival" and "non-
>>> excludable" resources. Government often steps in to pay
>>> for public goods because it is difficult to get
>>> individual beneficiaries to pay for them. But in the
>>> networked environment of the Internet, it is
>>> increasingly feasible for self-organizing groups to
>>> create and pay for public goods. Open source software is
>>> a prime example.
>>>
>>> Public space: Any place where people are free to gather
>>> for social or civic interaction. The value of public
>>> spaces is increasingly being recognized as essential to
>>> the health of local communities and democratic societies
>>> in general. While usually defined as parks, streets and
>>> sidewalks, plazas, libraries and public institutions,
>>> the concept can also be expanded to include congenial
>>> privately owned settings such as a coffee shop, corner
>>> grocery or a plaza outside an office building. Shopping
>>> malls, which in many suburban communities function as
>>> Main Street, have stirred controversy by forbidding
>>> civic activities such as gathering signatures for
>>> petitions-a policy upheld by the courts which worries
>>> many civil liberties and public space advocates.
>>>
>>> Public trust doctrine: A legal doctrine that says that
>>> the state holds certain resources in trust for its
>>> citizens which cannot be given away or sold. Public
>>> trust doctrine has its origins in Roman law, which
>>> recognized that certain resources such as fisheries,
>>> air, running water and wild animals belong to all. Under
>>> the doctrine of res communes , the king could not grant
>>> exclusive rights of access to a common resource. The
>>> point is that there is a clear distinction between
>>> common property (which belongs to the people) and state
>>> property (which can be controlled and mismanaged by
>>> government).
>>>
>>> Sky Trust (See Cap-and-Dividend)
>>>
>>> Tragedy of the commons: Title of an influential 1968
>>> essay by biologist Garrett Hardin, which argued that
>>> overuse of common resources is a leading cause of
>>> environmental degradation. This was interpreted by some,
>>> especially economists and free-market libertarians, to
>>> mean that private ownership is preferable to the commons
>>> for the stewardship of land, water, minerals, etc. Yet
>>> in recent years many have challenged this view on both
>>> empirical and philosophical grounds. Professor Elinor
>>> Ostrom of Indiana University has been a leading figure
>>> in demonstrating the practical utility and
>>> sustainability of commons governance regimes,
>>> particularly in developing countries. Other analysts,
>>> such as Professor Yochai Benkler of Harvard Law School,
>>> have shown how people in online commons can indeed
>>> collaborate sustainably to produce and protect valuable
>>> resources. This suggests that the vision of human
>>> behavior implicit in the tragedy of the commons metaphor
>>> is not as immutable as many economists assert, and that
>>> collective management is an eminently practical
>>> governance strategy in many circumstances. The tragedy
>>> of the "anti-commons" is now frequently invoked to
>>> describe the problems associated with excessive
>>> privatization and fragmentation of property rights, such
>>> that collective action for the common good is thwarted.
>>> An example is the proliferation of patents on bio-
>>> medical knowledge that impedes research on cures for
>>> malaria, or the proliferation of copyrights in film and
>>> video that prevents documentary filmmakers from clearing
>>> the rights to images for use in new films.
>>>
>>> Trust or stakeholder trust: A legal institution for
>>> protecting the commons and managing any assets that may
>>> arise from it. If the corporation is the preeminent
>>> institution of the market, the trust is the premier
>>> institution of the commons. The managers of a trust, the
>>> trustees, have clear legal responsibilities to manage
>>> its resources on behalf of the beneficiaries. This
>>> includes strict fiduciary responsibilities, transparency
>>> and accountability. (See land trusts)
>>>
>>> Value: Economists tend to regard "value" as a
>>> quantifiable object with a price tag. But as commoners
>>> realize, "value" can also be something intangible and
>>> not available for sale. An example is the social
>>> satisfaction of belonging to a community and
>>> contributing to a shared goal. A commons can also create
>>> economic value as efficiently as a market; examples
>>> include Wikipedia, the online user-generated
>>> encyclopedia, and Craiglist, the online advertising
>>> service. The difference is that a commons usually does
>>> not convert its output into a marketable commodity.
>>>
>>> _____________________________________________
>>>
>>> Portside aims to provide material of interest
>>> to people on the left that will help them to
>>> interpret the world and to change it.
>>>
>>> Submit via email: moderator@portside.org
>>> Submit via the Web: portside.org/submit
>>> Frequently asked questions: portside.org/faq
>>> Subscribe: portside.org/subscribe
>>> Unsubscribe: portside.org/unsubscribe
>>> Account assistance: portside.org/contact
>>> Search the archives: portside.org/archive
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Debate-list mailing list
>>> Debate-list@fahamu.org
>>> http://lists.fahamu.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/debate-list
>>
>> ______________________________
>> Jai Sen
>> jai.sen@cacim.net
>> CACIM, A-3 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 024, India
>> www.cacim.net
>> Ph : +91-11-4155 1521, +91-98189 11325
>> *DELETION OF OLD EMAIL IDs : *Please note that I am no longer using
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>> and jai_sen2000@yahoo.com . *PLEASE
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Via: Jeebesh

Could be useful......

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Leo Saldanha
> Date: 4 November 2009 11:27:22 AM GMT+05:30
> To: Jai Sen
> Cc: Post Commons Convergence
> Subject: Re: [Commons-convergence] Fwd: [Debate] (Fwd) 'Commons'
> Reply-To: leofsaldanha@gmail.com
>
> Thanks Jai for sharing a very interesting article and also a link to
> an very resourceful site on the commons.
>
> ESG has been involved in major litigations over the past few years
> to secure the commons, especially in the urbs. Interestingly,
> Courts have agreed with our positions and secured urban commons -
> such as lakes - from potential acquistion for private profit.
> Recently, as a result of our ongoing litigations, Karnataka State
> cancelled an agreement to privatise one lake, and we think this is
> precedent to cancel all other agreements.
> Thsoe interested can access our PILs and some interim orders by
> visiting our website: www.esgindia.org (look for PILs on Lake
> Privtisation and Road widening). The road widening case is
> interesting because most of us assume the Government has an absolute
> right to renegotiate its form and structure. We contended this
> argument, and have succeeded in winning the Court's support to
> subject such decision to the due process of public consultation as
> laid down in the law.
>
> Somewhat disappointing is the lack of interest amongst many
> activists and academia in these litigation initiatives, particularly
> in exploring its possible implications to securing the commons. I
> hope with renewed interest in the topic, thanks to the Nobel prize
> given to Ostrum, interest may pick up on such issues amongst
> activist and academic communities.
>
> The future as I see it, in light of the worst predictions of climate
> change, will be all about how successful we are in securing the
> public access quality of our commons... be they local parks,
> streets, beaches, atmosphere, forests, cyberspace, etc....
>
> Leo
>
> Jai Sen wrote:
>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>> *From: *Patrick Bond >
>>> *Date: *November 4 2009 9:47:03 am GMT+05:30
>>> *To: *DEBATE
>>> list@fahamu.org>>
>>> *Subject: **[Debate] (Fwd) 'Commons'*
>>> *Reply-To: *pbond@mail.ngo.za , Debate
>>> is a listserve that attempts to promote information and analyses
>>> of interest to the independent left in South and Southern Africa
>>> >
>>>
>>> The Commons: From Tragedy to Celebrity
>>>
>>> United for a Fair Economy
>>> October 2009
>>> http://enews.faireconomy.org/2009/October2009.html
>>>
>>> The recipients of the 2009 Nobel Prize in economics were
>>> announced on Monday October 12th. The prize was shared
>>> between two Americans, Elinor Ostrum and Oliver E.
>>> Williamson.
>>>
>>> Ostrum deserves a special toast for several reasons.
>>> First, such high-level recognition of her work brings
>>> the idea of The Commons into the spotlight, which is
>>> fitting given how broken our current economic system is.
>>> Second, she is only the second non-economist to win the
>>> award and, as the first female recipient of the award,
>>> she shattered yet another glass ceiling for women the
>>> world over.
>>>
>>> Ostrom's research, which essentially bridges political
>>> science and economics, focuses on community vs. private
>>> or governmental management of common resources like
>>> land, forests, irrigation waters and fisheries. One of
>>> her key findings is that successful governance can
>>> result when end-users - the people actually using the
>>> resources - actively participate in the process.
>>>
>>> This directly contradicts the long-standing theory of
>>> the "Tragedy of the Commons," in which property rights
>>> and privatization are seen to be the only means to
>>> preserving finite resources.
>>>
>>> The commons doesn't just refer to natural resources,
>>> however. It includes anything that is shared by members
>>> of local, national or even global communities. And it
>>> raises the idea that we can shift from a market-based
>>> society narrowly focused on private wealth, to a
>>> commons-based society focused on managing common assets
>>> so they benefit everyone. Essentially, it offers a
>>> framework for revamping our currently flawed economic
>>> system, and seeks to do so to benefit the many - an idea
>>> that is right up our ally.
>>>
>>> About the Commons
>>> http://onthecommons.org/content.php?id=1467
>>>
>>> The commons is a new way to express a very old idea-that
>>> some forms of wealth belong to all of us, and that these
>>> community resources must be actively protected and
>>> managed for the good and all.
>>>
>>> The commons are the things that we inherit and create
>>> jointly, and that will (hopefully) last for generations
>>> to come. The commons consists of gifts of nature such as
>>> air, oceans and wildlife as well as shared social
>>> creations such as libraries, public spaces, scientific
>>> research and creative works.
>>>
>>> Biopiracy: The practice where traditional knowledge of
>>> natural resources, especially medicinal and agricultural
>>> plants, is appropriated by international companies to
>>> create products, for which they are awarded exclusive
>>> rights to use under patent laws.
>>>
>>> Cap-and-dividend: A practical solution to the problem of
>>> global climate disruption, based upon the commons
>>> principle that the atmosphere belongs to everyone. (Also
>>> known as the Sky Trust.) First articulated by On the
>>> Commons co-founder Peter Barnes in his 2002 book, Who
>>> Owns the Sky? cap-and-dividend is a response to cap-and-
>>> trade proposals in which polluters are granted
>>> permission to buy and sell pollution rights as a way to
>>> curb carbon and other emissions causing global warming.
>>> This essentially gives existing polluters ownership of
>>> the air in order to create incentives to reduce
>>> emissions. Cap-and-dividend starts at the same place by
>>> creating a cap on pollution that gradually reduces the
>>> amount of greenhouse gases that can be dumped into the
>>> air and creating a market where the right to pollute can
>>> be bought and sold. But rather than letting historical
>>> polluters reap all the financial benefits, fees that
>>> companies pay to pollute would be collected and returned
>>> to citizens in the form of a regular dividend. This is
>>> not only a more equitable way to distribute the wealth
>>> created by a commons, it also increases public support
>>> for measures to stop global climate change. For more
>>> information see Peter Barnes 2008 book Climate Solutions
>>>
>>> Common assets: Common assets are those parts of the
>>> commons that have a value in the market and which are
>>> appropriate to buy and sell (see "inalienability").
>>> Radio airwaves are a common asset, for example, as are
>>> timber and minerals on public lands and, increasingly,
>>> air and water. By recognizing certain resources as
>>> common assets, it becomes natural to ask: Are the common
>>> assets being responsibly managed on behalf of the
>>> general public or a distinct community of interest? Is
>>> the capital being depleted?
>>>
>>> Commons movement: A growing social and political
>>> movement that believes the commons is a crucial sector
>>> of the economy and society and useful prism for talking
>>> about resources that should be shared. The commons
>>> offers not only an affirmative vision of a more
>>> equitable, eco-friendly society: it also serves as a
>>> countervailing force to keep excesses of the market and
>>> government sectors in check. Some speak of an emerging
>>> commons paradigm as a new way of looking at the world,
>>> one that opens up the competitive, mechanistic, profit-
>>> centric mindset that has ruled Western civilization
>>> since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, with a more
>>> humanistic, environmentally aware and holistic world
>>> view. A wider appreciation for the enduring importance
>>> of the commons has developed over the last eight years,
>>> especially among people deeply involved in the politics
>>> of water issues, the internet, the over
>>> commercialization of culture and public spaces. This
>>> world view is now reaching into many other arenas,
>>> including economics, the environment, social justice and
>>> numerous citizens movements around the world.
>>>
>>> Copyleft: This refers to a license that allows free re-
>>> use and modification of creative work so long as any
>>> works derived from the original remain available on the
>>> same terms. Copyleft, formally known as the "General
>>> Public License" or GPL, was initiated by computer
>>> programmer Richard Stallman and the Free Software
>>> Foundation. By protecting the creativity and energy of
>>> the commons from private appropriation, the GPL has
>>> enabled communities of programmers to build shared
>>> bodies of code, such as free software and open source
>>> software. A similar set of licenses for other types of
>>> creative works has been devised by the Creative Commons.
>>>
>>> Corporation: A self-perpetuating legal entity whose
>>> mission is to maximize short-term return to
>>> shareholders. In its aggressive pursuit of this mission,
>>> the corporation not only produces new innovations and
>>> efficiencies, it also displaces costs onto the
>>> environment, our communities and our personal lives (see
>>> externality).
>>>
>>> Enclosure: Historically, this refers to the
>>> privatization of common grazing lands beginning in 15th
>>> Century England, which impoverished many peasants. Today
>>> it is used to describe the conversion of a commons into
>>> private property. Enclosure entails not just the
>>> privatization of a resource, but also the introduction
>>> of money and market exchange as the prevailing
>>> principles for managing that resource. Enclosure shifts
>>> ownership and control from the community at large to
>>> private companies. This in turn changes the management
>>> and character of the resource because the market has
>>> very different standards of accountability and
>>> transparency than a commons. (Contrast a public library
>>> with a bookstore, or Main Street with a private shopping
>>> mall.) Because of its compulsion to extract maximum
>>> short-term rents and externalize costs, market enclosure
>>> often results in the "tragedy of the market."
>>>
>>> Externality or illth: A social or ecological cost that
>>> is not paid by its creators. As the scope of market
>>> activity expands beyond a certain point, engulfing more
>>> of nature and daily life, it yields less and less
>>> happiness and wellbeing even as it causes more and more
>>> unintended problems. In market logic, the expanding
>>> output must be regarded as "progress" and "wealth." In
>>> fact, the accelerating pace of the market machine is
>>> producing more "illth" - the opposite of wealth. Author
>>> Peter Barnes ( Who Owns the Sky ) has popularized this
>>> term, coined by John Ruskin in the 19th century, to
>>> describe the unintended but increasing destruction of
>>> nature, social disruptions, health problems and other
>>> (unacknowledged, unintended or disguised) costs of
>>> market activity.
>>>
>>> Gift economy: A community of shared purpose, such as an
>>> academic discipline, whose members give time and
>>> creativity to the community and reap benefits in return.
>>> In gift communities, money is an unacceptable "currency"
>>> because relationships are rooted in personal, particular
>>> and historical experiences of each individual, and
>>> cannot be converted into cash or any other fungible
>>> unit. Despite the absence of cash, legal contracts and
>>> market exchange, a gift economy can be tremendously
>>> productive, efficient and innovative, as seen in free
>>> and open software communities, online wikis and other
>>> collaborative websites, blood donation systems and
>>> scientific research disciplines.
>>>
>>> Inalienability: The principle that a given resource
>>> shall not be freely bought and sold in the marketplace,
>>> but shall remain intact, in its natural context.
>>> Inalienability derives from a social consensus that
>>> certain things and behaviors are so precious and basic
>>> to human identity that they are degraded if they are put
>>> up for sale. "Goods" that have traditionally been
>>> regarded as inalienable include votes, babies, bodily
>>> organs, sex, genes, living species and most aspects of
>>> nature, but market forces are increasingly challenging
>>> long-standing norms of inalienability.
>>>
>>> Land trusts: An alternative model of land ownership in
>>> which a tract of land is owned by a non-profit
>>> organization-usually to preserve its natural assets or
>>> to maintain it as affordable housing. There are more
>>> than 1,600 land trusts in the US today encompassing 37
>>> million acres. Land trusts provide a good example of how
>>> a commons economic model can exist outside the realm of
>>> both government and private control as a distinct sector
>>> for advancing the public good. Professor Carol Rose of
>>> Yale Law School has cited land trusts as an example of
>>> "property on the outside, commons on the inside"-meaning
>>> that the resource exists within the market system as
>>> legal property yet is managed internally according to
>>> commons principles.
>>>
>>> Open source software: (See copyleft) Open source
>>> software is functionally similar to free software that
>>> is protected under the General Public License, or GPL,
>>> except that open source programs allow a program to be
>>> freely copied, modified and distributed, but do not
>>> require it. In addition, the open source community does
>>> not necessarily subscribe to the political agenda of
>>> Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software
>>> Foundation, who regards the GPL as the foundation for a
>>> vision of political and creative freedom. Open source
>>> programmers tend to be more focused on the practical
>>> value of open source code in developing superior
>>> software.
>>>
>>> Public goods: Resources that, because of their "public"
>>> nature, are difficult or costly to exclude anyone from
>>> using. Examples include lighthouses, city parks,
>>> broadcast programming and the global atmosphere. In the
>>> lingo of economists, these are "non-rival" and "non-
>>> excludable" resources. Government often steps in to pay
>>> for public goods because it is difficult to get
>>> individual beneficiaries to pay for them. But in the
>>> networked environment of the Internet, it is
>>> increasingly feasible for self-organizing groups to
>>> create and pay for public goods. Open source software is
>>> a prime example.
>>>
>>> Public space: Any place where people are free to gather
>>> for social or civic interaction. The value of public
>>> spaces is increasingly being recognized as essential to
>>> the health of local communities and democratic societies
>>> in general. While usually defined as parks, streets and
>>> sidewalks, plazas, libraries and public institutions,
>>> the concept can also be expanded to include congenial
>>> privately owned settings such as a coffee shop, corner
>>> grocery or a plaza outside an office building. Shopping
>>> malls, which in many suburban communities function as
>>> Main Street, have stirred controversy by forbidding
>>> civic activities such as gathering signatures for
>>> petitions-a policy upheld by the courts which worries
>>> many civil liberties and public space advocates.
>>>
>>> Public trust doctrine: A legal doctrine that says that
>>> the state holds certain resources in trust for its
>>> citizens which cannot be given away or sold. Public
>>> trust doctrine has its origins in Roman law, which
>>> recognized that certain resources such as fisheries,
>>> air, running water and wild animals belong to all. Under
>>> the doctrine of res communes , the king could not grant
>>> exclusive rights of access to a common resource. The
>>> point is that there is a clear distinction between
>>> common property (which belongs to the people) and state
>>> property (which can be controlled and mismanaged by
>>> government).
>>>
>>> Sky Trust (See Cap-and-Dividend)
>>>
>>> Tragedy of the commons: Title of an influential 1968
>>> essay by biologist Garrett Hardin, which argued that
>>> overuse of common resources is a leading cause of
>>> environmental degradation. This was interpreted by some,
>>> especially economists and free-market libertarians, to
>>> mean that private ownership is preferable to the commons
>>> for the stewardship of land, water, minerals, etc. Yet
>>> in recent years many have challenged this view on both
>>> empirical and philosophical grounds. Professor Elinor
>>> Ostrom of Indiana University has been a leading figure
>>> in demonstrating the practical utility and
>>> sustainability of commons governance regimes,
>>> particularly in developing countries. Other analysts,
>>> such as Professor Yochai Benkler of Harvard Law School,
>>> have shown how people in online commons can indeed
>>> collaborate sustainably to produce and protect valuable
>>> resources. This suggests that the vision of human
>>> behavior implicit in the tragedy of the commons metaphor
>>> is not as immutable as many economists assert, and that
>>> collective management is an eminently practical
>>> governance strategy in many circumstances. The tragedy
>>> of the "anti-commons" is now frequently invoked to
>>> describe the problems associated with excessive
>>> privatization and fragmentation of property rights, such
>>> that collective action for the common good is thwarted.
>>> An example is the proliferation of patents on bio-
>>> medical knowledge that impedes research on cures for
>>> malaria, or the proliferation of copyrights in film and
>>> video that prevents documentary filmmakers from clearing
>>> the rights to images for use in new films.
>>>
>>> Trust or stakeholder trust: A legal institution for
>>> protecting the commons and managing any assets that may
>>> arise from it. If the corporation is the preeminent
>>> institution of the market, the trust is the premier
>>> institution of the commons. The managers of a trust, the
>>> trustees, have clear legal responsibilities to manage
>>> its resources on behalf of the beneficiaries. This
>>> includes strict fiduciary responsibilities, transparency
>>> and accountability. (See land trusts)
>>>
>>> Value: Economists tend to regard "value" as a
>>> quantifiable object with a price tag. But as commoners
>>> realize, "value" can also be something intangible and
>>> not available for sale. An example is the social
>>> satisfaction of belonging to a community and
>>> contributing to a shared goal. A commons can also create
>>> economic value as efficiently as a market; examples
>>> include Wikipedia, the online user-generated
>>> encyclopedia, and Craiglist, the online advertising
>>> service. The difference is that a commons usually does
>>> not convert its output into a marketable commodity.
>>>
>>> _____________________________________________
>>>
>>> Portside aims to provide material of interest
>>> to people on the left that will help them to
>>> interpret the world and to change it.
>>>
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>>>
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>>> Debate-list@fahamu.org
>>> http://lists.fahamu.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/debate-list
>>
>> ______________________________
>> Jai Sen
>> jai.sen@cacim.net
>> CACIM, A-3 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 024, India
>> www.cacim.net
>> Ph : +91-11-4155 1521, +91-98189 11325
>> *DELETION OF OLD EMAIL IDs : *Please note that I am no longer using
>> my earlier email ids, jai.sen@vsnl.com
>> and jai_sen2000@yahoo.com . *PLEASE
>> KINDLY DELETE THESE FROM YOUR RECORDS ! Thanks.*
>> *NEW :*
>> ‘On open space : Explorations towards a vocabulary of a more open
>> politics’, @ http://cacim.net/twiki/tiki-index.php?
>> page=Publications (May 20 2009)
>> *Check out* both *CACIM* @ www.cacim.net and
>> *OpenSpaceForum* @ www.openspaceforum.net
>> >
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>> World Social Forum and on related social and political movements
>> and issues. Simply send an empty email to worldsocialforum-discuss-subscribe@openspaceforum.net
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Via: Anand Mahajan

To, The Editor, Literary magazine Quirk Dear editor, I send here a new work for your magazine. I have been  publishing short literary pieces since 2005, in Muse India, Chowk, and International Journal of Post colonial Literature. Some of my significant works are - A Star Manqué (in Chowk, US) - The Shattered World. (In Chowk) - The Disappearances of a Woman (in Chowk) - The Recluse (in Chowk) - Superseded (in Muse India, India) - Sons of the Soil (in IJPCL, India ) - The Second Immersion (IJPCL) - The Third View (Selected Short Stories from Indo-Anglican Literature, India)   I hope this work, with its new style and highly magnetic literary contents, will be found fit to find its way to the readership of your magazine. Thanking you, Yours truly,   Anand Mahajan 102./23, Silver Oak apartments, DLF phase 1, Qutab enclave, Gurgaon-122002 , India  25/10/09 Cell : 9711415112     FESTIVAL OF A WITH DRAWER   An engineer, scientist, inventor and academic man, after 26 years of active life, was at this moment decidedly preparing to delete all his credentials and identities from the e- world, to step into an average profile settled life. He was terminating his betterment pursuits that continued for years on end, so this day he was decidedly sitting in the Internet cabin. He then started withdrawing his data from various national and international job sites one by one. He removed his ids, passwords, and resumes in his mixed pain and reinforced determination as these details being erased had 20 years old roots; the software would repeatedly ask “ Are you sure?”,  he would overlook and press yes. In about an hour or so, he had withdrawn himself from the e- world; impeccable blocks of his identity fell off the e sphere as cancelled tickets. Had the Internet services been manned, the operators would have remembered this event and watched for few days the voids created by claiming back the now unusable superior material of his data. Have you ever travelled in Bombay locals if you been to Bombay? Commuters of a compartment know all others in their vicinity as they have been seeing the same faces for decades together. It is hard for them to believe that certain seats in front of them occupied by same so well familiar people for decades of their train travel are going vacant for initial few stations now for the last few days. Then they gradually believe that the seats have been permanently vacated.   He had done the above after a long hunt for ensconcing nicely in his profession. During these months of unbroken efforts, he would see blankly aged people and people about his own age. These moments of blank observations would send chills in his heart. He would envy people in seventies and would become scared as well at sight of people in fifties. He would envy old men because like them, he had no enthusiasm to linger till his fragile old years. He would be afraid of younger men because his average, hackneyed   resources and loneliness would torment him if he lived beyond a limit. He would sit at a bench at the solitary railway station of this town of Himachal, and would look at two taps of drinking water. One of the taps, faulty, would remain open all the time. Adjacent tap was OK. People would come and ignoring faulty tap would open the good one with their filthy hands. The one open all the time was better off that way, he would think. Sooner or latter the all time open tap would run dry; but it would never be turned by filthy hands.     He tired of his unsuccessful attempts in Metros, had been living in this Himachal town for last two months. This time monsoon had deceived the hopes of everybody.   The monsoon months had gone dry this year as never before; complete absence of rains  had killed crops, mounted costs of food grain; unfading  heat had infused disability into the systems of cities, towns, and villages to maintain supply of basic needs like drinking water and electricity. Then there was global slowdown already inflicting stings on life to drain away energy. Masses would think that it was all set for the doomsday. So human beings had now resigned and approved sickness of nature and fate. Then without a hint, the life on this part of earth negotiated a U turn and there were rains allover. Rains- softening, overflowing, cooling, inundating, raising hopes for next plantation, solving problems of water and electricity. Like an American science fiction, forces to destroy and sicken nature were overcome. Gods of nature like the medics awakened  at a last moment were trying medicine after medicine in the form of continued downpour without caring for stock and variety.  They had to cure this sick part of the earth, come what may.   He would be woken out of his sleep at nights because of his dreams. He would sit recovering for sometime; but little would he gain. Then he would read his Hanuman Chalisa and let the words of the powerful prayer sink into his scared soul; as if he were falling down a precipitous cliff and the words of the potent prayer would each become a redoubtable spring which would take the impact of his fall.   This night he was feeling much better after the prayer. He came near the front room’s window and sat there. The downpour could still be heard that had continued into 3rd unabated rainy day on this day. Sometimes dry monsoon and sometimes this!   Then at 4 AM, the rains had stopped a bit but the valley was allover laden with white clouds. The white invisibility outside was suddenly broken by loudspeaker of a temple somewhere down in the well of the valley. It was, however, something tangible. The prayer’s words pervaded the entire white ether of clouds in a split second, like a rolled carpet covers in acceleration the entire cleaned up white tiled floor of a big room in a jiffy.   Not all the time he had suffered here. This was a large flat, and only 1 or 2 % of the space was covered with his belongings. Earlier he used to live clumsily in his flats with floor space covered mostly by the furniture and machines.  He turned on the sports TV channel. A F1 speed car race was being shown. Presently a tyro rich rider rammed the high cost car into the bulwark running along the race track as if it were not a race of professionals. The car was reduced to unusable scrap with everything destroyed. Rescue team people rushed to the spot and remained bent examining the fate of the rider. After some 5 minutes of their examination, the rider-totally unhurt- rose in complete ease and stepped outside the confused mass of metal. Not even a scratch appeared bothering him with any pain. He recalled the boy next door who in his wrath over some denial by his parents tore his text book vigorously. He tore it repeatedly and could destroy all pages but one that had hard plastic reinforcement.   This day- one day past Diwali festival - he returned to Himachal to say his goodbye to the hilly town he had been living in for the last three months. He was in professional line for 26 years now and each year a dull Diwali came which he sometimes not even celebrated. Now he was at the end of his career with all dreams of a big career having been curtailed. He was sick, withered and wilted from tragedies and only now here was this coveted Diwali in this hilly town. The hill town people, mostly shopkeepers had spent no efforts to make the already beautiful hill town remarkably enchanting at extents with colorful lighting and expensive fireworks he had never seen before. The town looked like a hilly lass stepping into most beautiful year of her youth and wearing ornaments that won’t look more beautiful on any other women on earth. He, in his hardest time, enjoyed Diwali for the first time in years. I know a man who lived all his life in city flats that had shining big diameter expensive pipes in his Kitchen. Never had a forced discharge of soft and fresh water come in those taps of his kitchen. Then when he switched into a small house in a hilly town, there he found gushing crystal clear water into small sink of his kitchen from the thin capillary like pipeline that descended in a serpentine route from somewhere and opened into the sink of his kitchen.    He was traveling in the toy train this day to exit these idyllic  hilly swathes weaved  with clumps of variety of unbelievable  pulchritude in their natural symmetry. He had penned only a part of it and got it published for reading of people allover the outside world but there was a lot more undone; and he was leaving it incomplete. It appeared the hilly swathes, the small towns with tiny houses perched on hillocks, the streams of crystal clears water, the drifting pieces of clouds just next to the trundling train were all looking at him with blaming eyes for his shying away from his work to describe all of  them  to the world of business and concrete away from here. Swaying  of the trees threw little volumes  of cold fresh air inside the windows of the train, and he, tired by traveling from style="COLOR: black">Delhi to Himachal,  snoozed a bit. By a whistle of the train, his snooze and his dream were both broken in the same moment ; in the dream he saw a lad who had practiced a lot at breaking piles of hard bricks by hand to take part in a tournament; in the tournament however, he could not go beyond the second round; there were so many bricks in the pile in the third round to be broken by hand; the lad had broken only two of them with the ones below the top two intact.

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