Amartya Sen, Religious Identity & Conflicts

In his essays and lectures, Amartya Sen emphasizes again and again that all individuals belong to different groups. The fact that Paole is a teacher does not entail that being a teacher is his only identity. Besides being a teacher, he is also affiliated to diverse groups that give him some sort of identity. He is a hockey player, political activist, poet, Christian, childless parent, Indian etc. Affiliation to different groups give him identity which if a particular identity is prioritized over others, Sen argues, his identity would be wrongly misconstrued. This multiple affiliation by an individual leads Sen to argue that mono-categorisation of a person's identity is unhelpful and can easily play into the hand of a religious fundamentalist. Is Prof. Sen correct? 

I think as a non-religious person Sen fails to see how much religious worldview shapes the identity of a person. Key questions like where am I headed? How do I obtain moral learning from? What is the purpose of my life? etc are very significant matters in the life of a person. For a practising Christian or a Muslim these questions are answered through the sacred text. Unlike a non-religious person for whom where there is no particular source from where all these answered can be derived, a Christian or a Muslim search deep into their respective Scripture to get the answer. Departure from this practice would make him or her a non-practising Christian or a Muslim. 

Once a Christian or a Muslim learns an ethical pattern from the Scripture, he or she will apply the learning in all the domain of his or her life. Thus religious affiliation effects the person to live out his or her religious conviction. This religious affiliation takes priority over even national affiliation or family affiliation. This is the nature of religious affiliation. Religious affiliation does not always come into conflict with national or family affiliation. But sometimes it does. For example, even when former USSR adopted atheism as its official religion, faithful Christians refused to comply with the state's law.

Does this entail that a clash of civilisation is inevitable? No. But that is not the point of inquiry here. In this post I seek to underline that religious identity of particularly the Christians or the Muslims is the most primary identity and will continue to remain so.

Bamboo Stem Plantation

The valuable Bamboo plant has many uses. It can be used to carry water, as building material, for making furniture, craft work and to control erosion on riverbanks. But bamboo is always in short supply because it is not usually cultivated by farmers. It just grows wild. Most types of bamboo grow shoots from underground stems called rhizomes. These shoots grow into tall above-ground stems.

If you want to propagate bamboo it is important to follow the correct method. Take cuttings from tall trunks in a clump that is not more than three years old. You will get the best results if you take cuttings from the middle part of the trunk. A trunk 10 metres high will give about four cuttings.

Each cutting should have two full, undamaged internodes and a half internode.

Planting

Plant the cuttings as soon as they are cut because they are sensitive to shock, which can result in poor germination or complete failure. Light sandy loam soils are best for bamboo growing.

Allow plenty of space for the cuttings to develop. Plant them vertically, with the half internode above ground. Apply a seal of moist clay to the top cut edge of the bamboo without covering the hole. The clay will act as a disinfectant. Pour two cups of water into the top of the bamboo cutting. Keep adding water regularly until roots and green shoots develop at the nodes.

Other Method

You can also use longer cuttings with four to six internodes (see diagram below). Plant these horizontally, after making a hole in the middle internode. Keep this hole filled with water until the nodes produce roots and new growth. Cuttings can also be made from aerial shoots that develop on the tall trunks. These cuttings must have at least two and a half internodes.These methods can be used to establish community forests or in reforestation programmes. Let’s keep growing bamboo!

 NB: This material is lifted from Tearfund's publication Footsteps no. 23. The link is given below: 

http://tilz.tearfund.org/Publications/Footsteps+21-30/Footsteps+23/Growing+bamboo.htm

Daniel, Chris & Pumpkin Man

Chris stayed with us for few months. And carving a pumpkin man is one of the few tricks we learn from him. We also taught him how to make aloo subzi. This is a joy of interacting with people of other cultures; we learn from one another.