8/4/2021 A long haiku about my locked-down mind | Founding Fuel

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A long haiku about my locked-down mind

The government is easing the lockdown at last. I would be able to go out again. But, for what, my mind asked? Poems can articulate
feelings that the rational mind cannot explain in prose

Arun Maira (/contributor/arun-maira)

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[Image by Abdul Basit Dar (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tarsar_lake.jpg) / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

Locked in by the pandemic, for 57 days and counting, I paced the balcony of my apartment—my daily, hour-long walk, to keep body and
mind healthy. Neighbours in our apartment complex had been complaining on WhatsApp about our dictatorial management committee
that was preventing them from walking in the lawns below. I reminded them of Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to
Freedom, in which he writes that he walked back and forth in his tiny cell, for the 27 long years that he was in prison. He came out of his
27-year lockdown straight in body and clear in mind and then led South Africa through a remarkable renaissance.

Shama put the newspaper on the table. The headline jumped out at me. The government was easing the lockdown at last. I would be able
to go out again. But, for what, my mind asked?

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8/4/2021 A long haiku about my locked-down mind | Founding Fuel
A new airline carry-on bag in its polythene wrapping was lying in my closet. I had planned three long journeys, within weeks, to Berlin,
London, and New York, for important meetings. The day after I bought the bag, the Prime Minister announced the lockdown. I really
didn’t need a new bag because I had a good one already with which I had travelled all over the world for many years. I had splurged on
the expensive new one to give myself something to look forward to when I would be packing yet again for another long trip—travels I was
beginning to tire of. The trips had to be cancelled in the circumstances. The bag was put away unopened.

A return to the old ‘normal’ seemed possible now, the newspaper’s headline suggested. Strangely, I felt sad, as if I had lost something.
Poems can articulate feelings that the rational mind cannot explain in prose. Many poems came to my mind. They were poems I had
written 32 years ago, on a hike to Tarsar Lake in Kashmir, where I had travelled for a few days to ‘get away from it all’.

The ‘it’ I wanted to get away from, was a very busy, though well balanced, social and work life in Mumbai; but balanced with too much on
each side. I felt the need for a pause from the rushing around to meetings and parties. To catch my breath again.

I flew from Mumbai to Srinagar, and then to Pahalgam by car, where a guide met me and we set off upwards into the mountains, with
our tents and provisions on the backs of mules. Walking through the mountains, beside a joyously free river, and then above the forest-
line to pastures carpeted with wild flowers, we arrived late one evening at our highest camp-site. The next morning, the guide said, we
would climb even higher to our destination, the pristine lake nestled amongst the peaks. And then return.

I turned into my sleeping bag, and shut the tent flaps tight, to keep the cold out, and dreamt of the lake, blue in the sun, that the brochure
had promised. I was awakened at night by the sound of thunder, rain pounding on the tent, and flashes of lightning piercing the dark. In
the morning, the guide stuck his head in, to say that we would be locked in until the rain ceased. And, if the rain did not stop within two
hours, we would have to return without reaching our destination, so that we could get to Srinagar in time for my flight to Mumbai. And
back to my busyness.

Then a miracle happened, and grace descended. I became no longer anxious about deadlines. It was like a ‘satori’—the flash of insight
that Zen masters inspire—a sudden enlightenment. A poem emerged in my mind.

Peace

I planned the peak in the sun

I woke with rain on my tent
I switched off the engine
There was peace within

I had arrived at the destination, the purpose of my journey, which was to get away from it all. It was like ‘the peace that passeth all
understanding’, as the Bible says.

Another miracle: in precisely two hours according to my watch, Nature became still. The guide said, let’s hurry.

We scrambled quickly up to the lake. There it was, a calm mirror of the sky. Blue, with little puffs of white clouds in it. Sky and lake
merged at its farthest end into one expanse of blue and white; the water was a bit deeper blue though, and also reflected the wild flowers
around it, so you knew which was which.

We had not encountered another human being in the previous two days, other than ourselves. Rushing down from the lake to reach our
night camp, I met an old man walking up the path. I wrote another poem in my diary that night.

An Encounter with an Old Man in the Mountains

He asked me for alms; I couldn’t bring myself

To give him something he had not earned.
He asked for medicine; knowing not what
Ailed him I did not dare.

Then he asked for the time of day:

I looked into his eyes and saw God
Had given him seasons and aeons
While I had just my watch
To guide me on my way.

Poverty takes many forms. Amidst the material poverty which the old man endured, there was an abundance of wisdom. Spiritual wealth
is what I had come to the mountains for. The lake, and the old man’s eyes, showed me the way.

In my mind, I had no time to waste. A world of deadlines. But towards what end, I asked myself? Another poem then.

Deadlines

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Rushing through the Then What
To have lunch at one o’clock
And Then What?

This one, in sixteen syllables, was close to a standard Japanese haiku of seventeen syllables. I have learned since then, however, that
haiku come in many forms. The point of a haiku is to convey the feeling of a moment, without being cramped by conventions.

Three days later, we came to the end of the trail, to meet the car to bring me back to civilization. Another car was parked alongside mine,
with a young Indian couple beside it, evidently on their honeymoon one could see, by the way they were dressed and the coyness with
which they held hands. They were looking up the mountain trail down which we came, to the mountain peaks above.

As I passed by, he asked, “What is up there?” I looked up to where he pointed, and explained, “Just mountains and a lake.”

In the car to Srinagar, I wrote my goodbye to all that.

What is there?

It’s now back to my must dos or else.

The descending path takes me to my
First rendezvous with people and time
How shall I keep my own peace within?

I tarry for driftwood in the stream

That finds its course through mighty mountains
Compelling it to turn at their will.
Yet it swishes and swirls, whoops and whirls.
It dances with happiness—the joy’s within.

------

My knees ached with the strain of tugging

My heart down from the mountain meadows.
Days of swirling streams, soaring snows.
Sunshine and serenity behind me.

From heaven to earth the path descended

To the beginning of the motor road
Which goes down further to where
Education and Industry uplift Mankind.

There they stood beside their car

He in Gucci pumps and she in high heeled shoes
Thus far these measures of Man’s progress
Could carry them. Must they go beyond?

He watched me come and unpleasant I appeared

With the grime on my face
But the smile in my eye and the Adidas on my feet
Made them feel we could talk.

He asked me as I passed, “Excuse me, but

Is there something special up there?”

Thirty years after my brief lockdown in the tent up in the mountains, another lockdown seems to be ending. Do I want to go back to the
normal that the pandemic has disrupted? Will I travel with my new bag around the world as soon as I am free to?

I could not travel far during the lockdown, only walk back and forth in my balcony. But my mind was not locked in. In fact, not only did I
participate in all the three international conferences I had planned to, and that too without packing my new travel bag. I have
participated in many more without stepping out of my study. Smart telecommunications have kept me busier than ever before.

I wonder now. Has my smartphone released my mind, or has it trapped it further?

Another poem then, thirty years after Tarsar when the internet and the smartphone had not yet been invented. This time, I was in the
hills beyond Mashobra, walking alone on a mountain path, with only the sound of wind in the pines stirring the silence, when my phone
rang. 

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Connecting with whom and what?

Passing by
You smell my flowers
And pluck them

You drop them on the path

When your cell phone rings,
To die
Trampled underfoot.

Love my flowers,
Smell them, leave them.
Carry their fragile fragrance
Lingering in you
Till it fades.

Forget your phone.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Arun Maira (/contributor/arun-maira)

Former Chairman, BCG India &
Member, Planning Commission

Former Member, Planning Commission of India

Former Chairman, Boston Consulting Group, India

Chairman, HelpAge International

Any discussion on policy, the future of India, and indeed the world, is enriched with Arun Maira’s views, and not just because he was a
member of the Planning Commission of India for five years till June 2014. Arun is one of those rare people who have held leadership
positions in both, the private as well as the public sector, bringing a unique perspective on how civil society, the government, and the
private sector can work more closely to improve the world for everyone. He has led three rounds of participative and comprehensive
scenario building for the future of India: in 1999 (with the Confederation of Indian Industry), 2005 (with the World Economic Forum),
and 2011 (with the Planning Commission).

In his career spanning five decades, Arun has led several organisations, including the Boston Consulting Group in India, where he was
chairman for eight years till 2008. He was also the chairman of Axis Bank Foundation and Save the Children, India. He was a board
member of the India Brand Equity Foundation, the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, and the UN Global Compact, and WWF India.

In the early part of his career, he spent 25 years in the Tata group at various important positions. He was also a member of the Board
of Tata Motors (then called TELCO). After leaving the Tatas, Arun joined Arthur D Little Inc (ADL), the international management
consultancy, in the US, where he advised companies across sectors and geographies on their growth strategies and handling

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8/4/2021 A long haiku about my locked-down mind | Founding Fuel

transformational change.

Recognising his astute understanding of both macro as well as micro policy issues, Arun has been involved in several government
committees and organisations, including the National Innovation Council. He has been on the board of several companies as well as
educational institutions and has chaired several national committees of the Confederation of Indian Industries.

In 2009, Arun was appointed as a member of the Planning Commission (now replaced by the NITI Aayog), which is led by the Prime
Minister of India. At this minister-level position, he led the development of strategies for the country on issues relating to
industrialisation and urbanisation. He also advised the Commission on its future role.

With his vast experience and expertise, Arun is indeed a thought leader. He is invited to speak at various forums and has written
several books that capture his insights.

His most recent book, A Billion Fireflies: Critical Conversations to Shape a New Post-Pandemic World and Transforming Systems:
Why the World Needs a New Ethical Toolkit before that, talk about how systemic problems of social inequality and environmental
unsustainability are becoming intolerable. Prevalent precepts of good business management and best practices in government as well
as civil society organisations are failing the needs of humanity. This calls for a whole new toolkit founded on systems thinking,
ethical reasoning and deep listening. And that civil society, government and private companies need to work together to encourage a
variety of local systems solutions for deep-rooted issues that impact different communities differently.

His previous books include An Upstart in Government: Journeys of Change and Learning (2016); Redesigning the Aeroplane While
Flying: Reforming Institutions (2014); Remaking India: One Country, One Destiny; Transforming Capitalism: Improving the World for
Everyone; Shaping the Future: Aspirational Leadership in India and Beyond; and Listening for Well-Being: Conversations with People
Not Like Us (2017).

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