In 2020: UPSC gave an Essay Topic: Simplicity is the ultimate Sophistication!!!
In 2024: UPSC gave an Essay Topic: All ideas having large consequence are always simple!!!
Both the essays can be attempted with the below content.
RELEVANCE OF THIS ESSAY
This essay is relevant from a multitude of angles – social, environmental, political and from an economic standpoint.
We live in a world, that is getting complex each passing day and as a species, we are entwined in it. It has indeed become a cob-web of complexity. And the only way out of it appears to be simplicity.
NECESSITY OF SIMPLICITY
Our species confronts a triple crisis: every biological system is deteriorating, we face growing social inequality, and the global economy has entered what could be a long depression. With our economy and climate in crisis, these times call for a change in how we live.
Happiness Index says we are not the happiest generation, although we have immense technological power with in our reach, we have access to best of the education, bet of the healthcare and all other aspects of good life, yet we are sad, depressed, isolated and disconnected from real world.
In our way through civilizational progress, it appears we have lost our true soul, lost our being. We have forgotten the ways we used to be happy with so little things, we have more now, and we are less happy, less content, more fragile and more isolated than ever before.
We are not happy with our jobs, our education,our society and our achievements and a void dwindles with in us all asking the pertinent question – What is the meaning of life ? and What went wrong ?
DEFINING SIMPLICITY
People are intuitively drawn to Simplicity, sensing its promise of the re-enchantment of life. But at the same time, they fear it, worrying that they will never enjoy themselves again. But they’re mistaken — if you’re not laughing and smiling more as you simplify, you’re not doing it right.
We’re happier and more fulfilled when we limit our outer riches and focus on inner riches. It’s not about impoverishment — where people do not have enough — particularly enough food, or shelter or safety. It’s about everyone having enough. Simplicity is about having enough, but not too much. Affluence, as the Dali Lama notes, brings inner, spiritual impoverishment.
Is Simplicity relevant to the poor? Yes, but in a different way. The Simplicity movement is a middle-class movement because it concerns making a choice about how to live, and the poor have few choices. Instead of cutting back their spending, the poor need more money to spend. The poor need new policies rather than Simplicity tips. They need policies that support higher minimum wages, good jobs, affordable housing and health care — policies that make it possible for the poor to live simply.
Simplicity is relevant to the poor in another way — it challenges our beliefs about money: As long as we allow unbridled profit to be our primary goal, people, and particularly corporations, will lie, cheat and treat workers unfairly. Ultimately, profit is the reason we go to war, and it’s the poor who fight these wars.
Simplicity, then, is about taking control over your life and resisting the forces of the dominant society that tell us to claw our way to the top, to be a winner, regardless of consequences. Being a winner does not necessarily make you happy! And in fact, it most likely won’t. Again, as Thoreau says, success is when you feel contented “with only a sense of existence”
WHAT SIMPLICITY IS NOT ?
More often than not, we have come across essays on this topic where students equate simplicity with – Poverty, Frugality, Choice of Apparel, Anti-Technology etc.
- Simplicity is not POVERTY (Don’t romanticize Poverty)
- Simplicity is not living in a HUT or leading an ASCETIC life (Instead it is a philosophy on how to lead life)
- Simplicity is not anti-technology (Technology as such is not good or bad, it is good/bad depends on the user)
- Simplicity is not banality or lack of luster
- Simplicity is not Mundane
- Simplicity is not romanticization of our past.
Simplicity is finding balance in our lives and leading a life that is uncluttered yet sophisticated.
CONSUMERISM AND ITS PERIL
Many believe it’s because a lifestyle of overconsumption creates deficiencies in things that we really need, like health, social connections, security and discretionary time. These deficiencies leave us vulnerable to daily lives of dependency, passive consumption — working, watching and waiting.
The typical urban resident waits in line five years of his or her life and spends six months sitting at red lights, eight months opening junk mail, one year searching for misplaced items and four years cleaning house. Every year, the typical high-school student spends 1,500 hours in front of the tube, compared with 900 hours spent at school.
Yet, the game is changing. Just as we approach an all time peak in consumption, converging variables like shrinking resource supplies, necessitate changes in the way we live. Here’s the good news: reducing our levels of consumption will not be a sacrifice but a bonus if we simply redefine the meaning of the word “success.”
Instead of more stuff in our already-stuffed lives, we can choose fewer things but better things of higher quality, fewer visits to the doctor and more visits to museums and the houses of friends. Greater use of our hands and minds in creative activities like playing a flute or building a new kitchen table. If we are successful as a culture, we’ll get more value from each transaction, each relationship and each unit of energy; by reducing the waste and carelessness that now litter our economy — energy hogs like aluminum cans and plastic bottles, huge thirsty lawns, excessive airplane travel, feedlot meat and suburbs without stores — we can finance the coming transition to a lifestyle that feels more comfortable in the present and doesn’t clearcut the future.
Healthy, robust cultures mentor diets that are anthropologically correct, but sadly, in many market-bound economies, food has fallen from its lofty stature as a source of well-being, community and clarity to the simplistic category of fun. “Even wild monkeys have healthier diets than many humans,” says anthropologist Katharine Milton. Again, in our money-mad world, the focus is on snackability, convenience and shelf life rather than human life.
Alarmingly, the value of the food has radically declined in the last century. In 1900, wheat from conventional farms was 90 percent protein, compared to only 9 percent today, according to United Nations data.
The economic crisis of the fall of 2008 was clearly based on greed — the pursuit of wealth regardless of the ethics. As Thomas Friedman says in his November 25, 2008 New York Times column:
This financial meltdown involved a broad national breakdown in personal responsibility, government regulation and financial ethics. So many people were in on it: People who had no business buying a home, with nothing down and nothing to pay for two years; people who had no business pushing such mortgages, but made fortunes doing so; people who had no business bundling those loans into securities and selling them to third parties, as if they were AAA bonds, but made fortunes doing so; people who had no business rating those loans as AAA, but made fortunes doing so; and people who had no business buying those bonds and putting them on their balance sheets so they could earn a little better yield, but made fortunes doing so.
It is clear that the pursuit of wealth changes you. It makes people more greedy and selfish. So the research shows that the pursuit of wealth will not make you happy. However, there’s another, related piece of research that is more compelling than any other: The biggest predictor of the health of a nation, as measured in longevity, is the wealth gap. The bigger the gap, the lower everyone’s longevity. It’s not just that poor people’s health brings down the average. (Which is part of it, of course.) No, it hurts the wealthy as well.
The rich person in this country doesn’t have the longevity the middle-class person has in Norway, a country committed to a small wealth gap. Why is this? It seems that a wealth gap destroys social cohesion. It creates a society in which people do not feel connected with others, do not feel responsible for others, do not care about the common good.
When a society allows a wealth gap, it’s telling people: It’s a jungle out there. It’s a cutthroat world. Do what you must in order to survive. Watch your back. Don’t trust anyone. Don’t expect any help. Don’t expect fairness. It’s every man for himself. You’re on your own.
In this kind of society, people feel like they have to hustle constantly if they are to survive. They lie and cheat to get ahead. Crime and violence grow. Of course citizens come to believe that no one cares, that you can’t trust anyone. Social cohesion is destroyed.
The resulting sense of isolation and lack of belonging takes its toll. But there’s something more: Part of this is the inequality of status. There is something very harmful about inequality. The poorer people are forced to feel shame and envy. The rich people feel arrogance, contempt and disdain, as well as guilt and fear of reprisal. These are not healthy emotions!
Yes, it’s more pleasant to have higher status, but the high-status person never really feels good because there’s always someone higher! And when you’re at the top, you know everyone is trying to dethrone you. And who likes those people at the top? Do they even like each other? No, they never know who will be the one to stick the knife in.
Ultimately, the greatest harm comes because no one feels part of something greater than themselves. You feelisolated, disconnected, ignored, abandoned and alone.
All the research shows thatfeelings of caring and connection lead to health, happiness and longevity. Anger, fear, resentment and loneliness are devastating to people. These emotions will only disappear as the wealth gap disappears.
A country with a large and strong middle class is one in which government has stepped in to say that the important thing is the common good, not extreme profits for a few. People have long argued the “trickle-down” theory of economics. We have seen that it doesn’t work.
What works is equality and connection — people understanding that our fate is tied to others’ fate.
You only become more caring by being cared for. We do not feel cared for in this cutthroat culture. You learn to compete, to achieve, to prove you’re better than others; you judge others, compare yourself to others; you learn to ignore the homeless, to hide your real feelings with a false image; you learn to cheat, to fool people, to trick them, to manipulate them. Who doesn’t worry they will end up alone, abandoned and neglected — sitting drugged in a wheelchair, warehoused with other old people.
Aldous Huxley called it “organized lovelessness.” We choose technology over people and interact more and more with machines — voice mail, e-mail, cash machines. We even check our own library books outs. You don’t need anyone and no one needs you.
Juliete Schorhas noted that, over the past 30 years, real consumption expenditures per person have doubled. Her analysis reveals a double-edged sword that has emerged particularly in the 1980s and 90s: [The] booming economy reinforced a powerful cycle of “work and spend” in which consumer norms accelerated dramatically. People needed to work more to purchase all the new products being churned out by a globalizing consumer economy. And they responded to their stressful lives by participating in an orgy of consumer upscaling.
A study by the psychologist Tim Kasser, The High Price of Materialism, has shown that the ecological footprint of an individual (measured as the number of acres necessary to support one’s chosen lifestyle) increases steadily in proportion to number of hours worked per week, and rises dramatically for those working more than 35 hours per week. Kasser showed that, at the same time that ecological footprints go up, genuine life satisfaction goes down.
Repetitive stress injuries, sleep deprivation, psychological stress, obesity, lack of exercise, anxiety and depression are all quite dangerous individually, but they may also conspire to cause diabetes, heart disease or cancer. All of these illnesses are linked in some way to theculture of overwork.
Dr. Suzanne Schweikerthas noted, however, that there is a deep irony here that brings us back to some social and political questions that are broader than those of work hours alone. “Our desire to keep our health insurance benefits,” she pointed out, “ties us to jobs that are bad for our health.
CULTURAL SHIFT AND JAPAN
Imagine a way of life that’s culturally richer but materially leaner. In this emerging lifestyle, there is less stress, insecurity, pollution, doubt and debt but more vacation time, more solid connections with nature and more participation in the arts, amateur sports and politics. Greater reliance on human energy — fueled by complex carbohydrates — and less reliance on ancient sunlight stored as pollution-filled fossil fuel. Fewer fluorescent hours in the supermarket, more sunny afternoons out in the vegetable garden. Instead of being passive consumers, doggedly treadmilling to keep up with overproduction, we’ll choose healthy, renewable forms of wealth such as social capital (networks and bonds of trust), whose value increases the more we spend it, stimulating work that’s more like a puzzle than a prison sentence, and acquired skills and interests that enhance our free time, making money less of a stressful imperative.
A culture shift like this — from an emphasis on material wealth to an abundance of time, relationships and experiences — has already occurred in many societies such as 18th-century Japan.
Land was in short supply, forest resources were being depleted, and minerals such as gold and copper were suddenly scarce as well. Japan’s culture adapted by developing a national ethic that centered on moderation and efficiency.
An attachment to the material things in life was seen as demeaning, while the advancement of crafts and human knowledge were lofty goals. Quality became ingrained in a culture that eventually produced world-class solar cells and Toyota Priuses. Training and education in aesthetics and ritualistic arts fluorished, resulting in disciplines like fencing, martial arts, the tea ceremony, flower arranging, literature, art and mastery of the abacus.
The three largest cities in Japan had 1,500 bookstores among them, and most people had access to basic education, health care and the necessities of life, further enriching a culture that spent less money but paid more attention.
LESSONS FROM CANADA AND EU
Places such as Canada and the European Union (EU) have already started down this enviable path, making political and cultural space for values that lie beneath the bottom line of monetary wealth. For example, most EU countries give legal standing to mandatory family leave from work, part-time jobs with pro-rated benefits, higher taxes on energy use and pollution in exchange for lower income taxes and take-back laws requiring manufacturers to recycle products at the end of their use.
An everyday ethic is emerging in Europe that encourages sustainable behavior by popular demand. Says John de Graaf, co-author of Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic, “Western European countries have invested in their social contracts. Strategic investments in health care, education, transportation, and public space reduced the need (and desire) of individuals to maximize their own incomes.”
VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY – “COOL LIFE STYLE FOR A HOT PLANET”
The wake-up alarm is buzzing with news ranging from climate disruption to the end of cheap energy and food riots around the world. The time for changes in how we live is now. Only if we act swiftly and voluntarily, can we transform catastrophe into opportunity. Small steps are not sufficient. We require large-scale changes in our energy systems, the radical redesign of our urban environments, a conscious democracy with the strength to make great changes, and much more.
As individuals, we may protest that we are helpless in the face of such immense challenges and that there is little we can do. However, the reality is just the opposite — only changes in our individual lives can provide a trustworthy foundation for a human future where we can not only maintain ourselves, but also surpass ourselves.
Voluntary Simplicity is a cool lifestyle for a hot planet. Simplicity that is consciously chosen, deliberate and intentional supports a higher quality of life. Here are some of the important reasons to consciously choose Simplicity:
• Simplicity fosters a more harmonious relationship with the Earth — the land, air and water.
• Simplicity promotes fairness and equity among the people of the Earth.
• Simplicity cuts through needless clutter and complexity.
• Simplicity enhances living with balance — inner and outer, work and family, family and community.
• Simplicity reveals the beauty and intelligence of nature’s designs.
• Simplicity increases the resources available for future generations.
• Simplicity helps save animal and plant species from extinction.
• Simplicity responds to global shortages of oil, water and other vital resources.
• Simplicity keeps our eyes on the prize of what matters most in our lives — the quality of our relationships with family, friends, community, nature and cosmos.
• Simplicity yields lasting satisfactions that more than compensate for the fleeting pleasures of consumerism
• Simplicity fosters the sanity of self-discovery and an integrated approach to life.
• Simplicity blossoms in community and connects us to the world with a sense of belonging and common purpose.
• Simplicity is a lighter lifestyle that fits elegantly into the real world of the 21st century.
Voluntary Simplicity is not sacrifice.
• Sacrifice is a consumer lifestyle that is overstressed, overbusy and overworked.
• Sacrifice is investing long hours doing work that is neither meaningful nor satisfying.
• Sacrifice is being apart from family and community to earn a living.
• Sacrifice is the stress of commuting long distances and coping with traffic.
• Sacrifice is the white noise of civilization blotting out the subtle sounds of nature.
• Sacrifice is hiding nature’s beauty behind a jumble of billboard advertisements.
• Sacrifice is the smell of the city stronger than the scent of the Earth.
• Sacrifice is carrying more than 200 toxic chemicals in our bodies with consequences that will cascade for generations ahead.
• Sacrifice is the massive extinction of plants and animals and a dramatically impoverished biosphere. Sacrifice is being cut off from nature’s wildness and wisdom.
• Sacrifice is global climate disruption, crop failure, famine and forced migration.
• Sacrifice is the absence of feelings of neighborliness and community.
• Sacrifice is feeling divided among the different parts of our lives and unsure how they work together in a coherent whole.
• Sacrifice is the lost opportunity for soulful encounter with others.
Consumerism offers lives of sacrifice where Simplicity offers lives of opportunity. Simplicity creates the opportunity for greater fulfillment in work, compassion for others, feelings of kinship with all life and awe of living in a living universe.
UNDERSTANDING SIMPLICITY
Crude / Regressive Simplicity:-
The mainstream media often present Simplicity as a path of regress instead of progress. Simplicity is frequently viewed as anti-technology, anti-innovation and a backward-looking way of life that seeks a romantic return to a bygone era. A regressive Simplicity is often portrayed as a utopian, back-to-nature movement with families leaving the stresses of an urban life in favor of living on a farm or in a recreational vehicle or on a boat. This is a stereotypical view of a crudely simple lifestyle — a throwback to an earlier time and more primitive condition — with no indoor toilet, no phone, no computer, no television and no car. No thanks! Seen in this way, Simplicity is a cartoon lifestyle that seems naive, disconnected and irrelevant — an approach to living that can be easily dismissed as impractical and unworkable. Regarding Simplicity as regressive and primitive makes it easier to embrace a business-as-usual approach to living in the world.
Cosmetic/Superficial Simplicity:-
In recent years, a different view of Simplicity has begun to appear — a cosmetic Simplicity that attempts to cover over deep defects in our modern ways of living by giving the appearance of meaningful change. Shallow Simplicity assumes that green technologies — such as fuel-efficient cars, fluorescent light bulbs and recycling — will fix our problems, give us breathing room and allow us to continue pretty much as we have in the past without requiring that we make fundamental changes in how we live and work.
Cosmetic Simplicity puts green lipstick on our unsustainable lives to give them the outward appearance of health and happiness. A superficial Simplicity gives a false sense of security by implying that small measures will solve great challenges. A cosmetic Simplicity perpetuates the status quo by assuming that, with the use of green technologies, we can moderate our impact and continue along our current path of growth for another half century or more.
Sophisticated / Conscious Simplicity:-
Seldom presented in the mass media and poorly understood is an elegant Simplicity that represents a deep, graceful and sophisticated transformation in our ways of living — the work that we do, the transportation that we use, the homes and neighborhoods in which we live, the food that we eat, the clothes that we wear and much more.
A sophisticated and graceful Simplicity seeks to heal our relationship with the Earth, with one another and with the sacred universe. Conscious Simplicity is not simple. This is a life-way that is growing and flowering with a garden of expressions. Sophisticated Simplicity fits aesthetically and sustainably into the real world of the 21st century. Which of these expressions of Simplicity — crude, cosmetic or sophisticated — is most fitting in our dramatically changing world?
Simplicity is not an alternative lifestyle for a marginal few; it is a creative choice for the mainstream majority, particularly in developed nations. Simplicity is simultaneously a personal choice, a civilizational choice and a species choice.
Even with major technological innovations in energy and transportation, it will require dramatic changes in our overall levels and patterns of living and consuming if we are to maintain the integrity of the Earth as a living system. Overall, a “deep Simplicity” that fosters an elegant transformation of our lives is vital if we are to build a workable and meaningful future.
THE GARDEN OF SIMPLICTY
1) Uncluttered Simplicity
Simplicity means taking charge of lives that are too busy, too stressed, and too fragmented. Simplicity means cutting back on clutter, complexity and trivial distractions, both material and non-material, and focusing on the essentials — whatever those may be for each of our unique lives. As Thoreau said, “Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.” Or, as Plato wrote, “In order to seek one’s own direction, one must simplify the mechanics of ordinary, everyday life.”
2) Ecological Simplicity
Simplicity means to choose ways of living that touch the Earth more lightly and that reduce our ecological impact on the web of life. This life-path remembers our deep roots with the Earth, air and water. It encourages us to connect with nature, the seasons and the cosmos. A natural Simplicity feels a deep reverence for the community of life on Earth and accepts that the non-human realms of plants and animals have their dignity and rights as well the human.
3) Compassionate Simplicity
Simplicity means to feel such a strong sense of kinship with others that we “choose to live simply so that others may simply live.” A compassionate Simplicity means feeling a bond with the community of life and being drawn toward a path of reconciliation — with other species and future generations as well as, for example, between those with great differences of wealth and opportunity. A compassionate Simplicity is a path of cooperation and fairness that seeks a future of mutually assured development for all.
4) Soulful Simplicity
Simplicity means to approach life as a meditation and to cultivate our experience of intimate connection with all that exists. By living simply, we can more directly awaken to the living universe that surrounds and sustains us, moment by moment. Soulful Simplicity is more concerned with consciously tasting life in its unadorned richness than with a particular standard or manner of material living. In cultivating a soulful connection with life, we tend to look beyond surface appearances and bring our interior aliveness into relationships of all kinds.
5) Business Simplicity
Simplicity means a new kind of economy is growing in the world with many expressions of “right livelihood” in the rapidly growing market for healthy and sustainable products and services of all kinds — from home building materials and energy systems to foods and transportation. When the need for a sustainable infrastructure in developing nations is combined with the need to retrofit and redesign the homes, cities, workplaces and transportation systems of developed nations, it is clear that an enormous wave of green economic activity will unfold. A new economics is integral to this new approach to business, for example, where “waste equals food” or the waste of one activity represents resources for another part of the production system.
6) Civic Simplicity
Simplicity means a new approach to governing ourselves, recognizing that to live more lightly and sustainably on the Earth will require changes in every area of public life — from transportation and education to the design of our cities, public buildings and workplaces. The politics of Simplicity is also a media politics as the mass media are the primary vehicle for reinforcing, or transforming, the mass consciousness of consumerism.
7) Frugal Simplicity
Simplicity means that, by cutting back on spending that is not truly serving our lives and by practicing skillful management of our personal finances, we can achieve greater financial independence. Frugality and careful financial management bring increased financial freedom and the opportunity to more consciously choose our path through life. Living with less also decreases the impact of our consumption upon the Earth and frees resources for others.
SIMPLICITY IS THE ULTIMATE SOPHISTICATION- LESSON FROM GOOGLE VS YAHOO
Yahoo search engine was dominant in 1990s when Google was barely starting out. But over the years, Yahoo Search engine became almost irrelevant where as Google took over. The reason was exceptionally simple.
Yahoo Search engine page and Search engine page of other competitors were cluttered with advertisements and links. While Google, kept it exceptionally simple. That’s the prime reason how and why google search engine took over and became a favorite.
Same can be said about the Bing search engine of Microsoft. Now, Yahoo is almost history and and tech journalists have written its obituary already. The reason was simple, it was Google’s simplicity and uncluttered environment that helped it to become what it is today.
Imagine, if google agrees to put an advertisement on its search page, it will reach the global audience instantaneously and how much can google earn from this, yet despite the lucrative nature of this, google stays as it is, that’s because, it very well knows , the day it loses simplicity, it will loose its sophistication and that it will be a history like Yahoo.
SIMPLICITY IS THE ULTIMATE SOPHISTICATION- LESSON FROM APPLE
That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains. – Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs’ interest in design began with his love for his childhood home. It was in one of the many working-class subdivisions between San Francisco and San Jose that were developed by builders who churned out inexpensive modernist tract houses in the 1950s for the postwar suburban migration. Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision of simple modern homes for the American “everyman,” developers such as Joseph Eichler and his imitators built houses that featured floor-to-ceiling glass walls, open floor plans, exposed post-and-beam construction, concrete slab floors and lots of sliding glass doors.
“Eichler did a great thing,” Jobs agreed, which featured homes in the Eichler style. “His houses were smart and cheap and good. They brought clean design and simple taste to lower-income people.” His appreciation for Eichler-style homes, Jobs said, instilled his passion for making sharply designed products for the mass market. “I love it when you can bring really great design and simple capability to something that doesn’t cost much,” he said as he pointed out the clean elegance of the Eichlers. “It was the original vision for Apple. That’s what we tried to do with the first Mac. That’s what we did with the iPod.”
Distinctive design—clean and friendly and fun—would become the hallmark of Apple products under Jobs. In an era not known for great industrial designers, Jobs’ partnerships with Hartmut Esslinger in the 1980s and then with Jony Ive starting in 1997 created an engineering and design aesthetic that set Apple apart from other technology companies and ultimately helped make it the most valuable company in the world. Its guiding tenet was simplicity—not merely the shallow simplicity that comes from an uncluttered look and feel and surface of a product, but the deep simplicity that comes from knowing the essence of every product, the complexities of its engineering and the function of every component. “It takes a lot of hard work,” Jobs said, “to make something simple, to truly understand the underlying challenges and come up with elegant solutions.” As the headline of Apple’s first marketing brochure proclaimed in 1977, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Jobs’ love of simplicity in design was honed when he became a practitioner of Buddhism. After dropping out of college, he made a long pilgrimage through India seeking enlightenment, but it was mainly the Japanese path of Zen Buddhism that stirred his sensibilities. “Zen was a deep influence,” said Daniel Kottke, a college friend who accompanied Jobs on the trip. “You see it in his whole approach of stark, minimalist aesthetics, intense focus.” Jobs agreed. “I have always found Buddhism—Japanese Zen Buddhism in particular—to be aesthetically sublime,” . “The most sublime thing I’ve ever seen are the gardens around Kyoto.”, Jobs confides.
One of the few companies in the 1970s with a distinctive industrial design style was Sony. Apple’s first office, after it moved out of the Jobs’ family garage, was in a small building it shared with a Sony sales office, and Jobs would drop by to study the marketing material. “He would come in looking scruffy and fondle the product brochures and point out design features,” said Dan’l Lewin, who worked there. “Every now and then, he would ask, ‘Can I take this brochure?’”
His fondness for the dark, industrial look of Sony had receded by the time he began attending, starting in June 1981, the annual International Design Conference in Aspen, Colorado. There he was exposed to the clean and functional approach of the Bauhaus movement, which was enshrined by Herbert Bayer in the buildings, living suites, sans-serif font typography and furniture on the Aspen Institute campus. Like his mentors Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Bayer believed that design should be simple, yet with an expressive spirit. It emphasized rationality and functionality by employing clean lines and forms. Among the maxims preached by Mies and Gropius was “Less is more.” As with Eichler homes, the artistic sensibility was combined with the capability for mass production.
Jobs publicly discussed his embrace of the Bauhaus style in a talk he gave at the 1983 Aspen design conference, the theme of which was “The Future Isn’t What It Used to Be.” He predicted the passing of the Sony style in favor of Bauhaus simplicity. “The current wave of industrial design is Sony’s high-tech look, which is gunmetal grey, maybe paint it black, do weird stuff to it,” he said. “It’s easy to do that. But it’s not great.” He proposed instead an alternative that was more true to the function and nature of the products. “What we’re going to do is make the products high-tech, and we’re going to package them cleanly so that you know they’re high-tech. We will fit them in a small package, and then we can make them beautiful and white, just like Braun does with its electronics.”
Jobs repeatedly emphasized that Apple’s mantra would be simplicity. “We will make them bright and pure and honest about being high-tech, rather than a heavy industrial look of black, black, black, black, like Sony,” he preached. “The way we’re running the company, the product design, the advertising, it all comes down to this: Let’s make it simple. Really simple.”
Simplicity and Elegance has its Cost too– Jobs’ infatuation with design had a downside. The excess costs and delays he incurred by indulging his artistic sensibilities contributed to his ouster from Apple in 1985 and the gorgeous market failures he produced at his subsequent company, NeXT. When he was recalled to Apple in 1997, he had tempered some of his instincts and learned to make sensible trade-offs, but he was no less passionate about the importance of design. It was destined to make Apple again stand out in a market that was glutted by boxy, beige generic computers and consumer devices such as music players and phones.
“Why do we assume that simple is good? Because with physical products, we have to feel we can understand them. As you bring order to complexity, you find a way to make the product defer to you. Simplicity isn’t just a visual style. It’s not just minimalism or the absence of clutter. It involves digging through the depth of the complexity.
Jobs’ belief in the power of simplicity as a design precept reached its pinnacle with the three consumer device triumphs he produced beginning in 2001: the iPod, iPhone and iPad. He immersed himself daily in the design of the original iPod and its interface. His main demand was “Simplify!” He would go over each screen and apply a rigid test: If he wanted a song or a function, he should be able to get there in three clicks. And the click should be intuitive. If he couldn’t figure out how to navigate to something, or if it took more than three clicks, he would be brutal.
The iPod, and later the iPhone and iPad, were triumphs of Jobs’ original insight in the early 1980s that design simplicity was best accomplished by tightly wedding hardware and software. Unlike Microsoft, which licensed out its Windows operating system software to different hardware makers, such as IBM and Dell, Apple created products that were tightly integrated from end to end. This was particularly true of the first version of the iPod. Everything was tied together seamlessly: the Macintosh hardware, the Macintosh operating system, the iTunes software, the iTunes Store and the iPod hardware and software.
This allowed Apple to make the iPod device itself much simpler than rival MP3 players, such as the Rio. “What made the Rio and other devices so brain dead was that they were complicated,” Jobs explained. “They had to do things like make playlists, because they weren’t integrated with the jukebox software on your computer. So by owning the iTunes software and the iPod device, that allowed us to make the computer and the device work together, and it allowed us to put the complexity in the right place.” The astronomer Johannes Kepler declared that “nature loves simplicity and unity.” So did Steve Jobs. By integrating hardware and software, he was able to achieve both.
SIMPLICITY AND MARKET ECONOMY
The marketplace abounds with promises of simplicity. Citibank has a “simplicity” credit card, Ford has “keep it simple pricing,” and Lexmark vows to “uncomplicate” the consumer experience. Widespread calls for simplicity formed a trend that was inevitable, given the structure of the technology business around selling the same thing “new and improved” where often “improved” simply means more.
Imagine a world in which software companies simplified their programs every year by shipping with 10% fewer features at 10% higher cost due to the expense of simplification. For the consumer to get less and pay more seems to contradict sound economic principles. Offer to share a cookie with a child and which half will the child want?
Yet in spite of the logic of demand, “simplicity sells” as espoused by New York Times columnist David Pogue in a presentation at the 2006 annual TED Conference in Monterey. The undeniable commercial success of the Apple iPod—a device that does less but costs more than other digital music players— is a key supporting example of this trend.
Another example is the deceivingly spare interface of the powerful Google search engine, which is so popular that “googling” has become shorthand for “searching the Web.” People not only buy, but more importantly love, designs that can make their lives simpler. For the foreseeable future, complicated technologies will continue to invade our homes and workplaces, thus simplicity is bound to be a growth industry. Simplicity is a quality that not only evokes passionate loyalty for a product design, but also has become a key strategic tool for businesses to confront their own intrinsic complexities. Dutch conglomerate Philips leads in this area with its utter devotion to realizing “sense and simplicity” and it has a “Simplicity Advisory Board (SAB) unlike any other company.
SIMPLICITY IS NOT SIMPLE
Simplicity is not simple. The world around us is exceptionally complex. Thus, its our ability on how we process complex things and make it simple will be the true achievement. As the saying goes:-
“If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you probably don’t understand it yourself.” – Albert Einstein
Thus behind each simplicity, there lies a great deal of complexity and deeper understanding of complexity and making things simple for the general populace to understand and comprehend better.
Simplicity, Minimalism and “Less is More” philosophies are not mere philosophies, they are way of life , a life that is carefully thought and lead. If we look at the Happiness Index, we would know that the greatest economies does not have happiest people. The reason is there is a lack of simplicity, lack of thoughtful approach to life.
We live in ecosystem that is deteriorating rapidly, the generation is not the happiest one either and we are on the verge of collapse-ecologically, morally, socially, psychologically and otherwise. We need to separate between our Want and Need and then only we can approach simplicity, where life is full of joy and its richness is bountiful. Thus, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
Indeed, Buddha, left home, travelled far and wide, meditated relentlessly and almost fasted to death, but in the end, gave a simpler yet practicable philosophy of life and to arrive at that, and to find the cause behind all our sorrows was not easy for him, but in doing so, he made lives simpler and elegant. HIs teaching were exceptionally simple yet sophisticated and finding a middle path is the true path to happiness and ultimate realization of pure bliss.
In the teachings of Gandhi too, we find utmost simplicity and thus he is widely read and regarded as Mahatma.
You can explore Gandhi, Buddha and other very well known similar dimensions as well.
Recent Posts
- India’s telecom market has seen monopoly as well as hyper-competition.
- Twenty-five years ago, the government alone could provide services.
- Ten years later, there were nearly a dozen competing operators.
- Most service areas now have four players.
- The erstwhile monopolies, BSNL and MTNL, are now bit players and often ignored.
- India is ranked second globally—after China—in the number of people connected to the internet. However, it is also first in the number of people unconnected.
- Over 50% of Indians are not connected to the internet, despite giant strides in network reach and capacity.
- India’s per capita or device data usage is low. It has an impressive 4G mobile network. However, its fixed network—wireline or optical fibre—is sparse and often poor.
- 5G deployment has yet to start and will be expensive.
Context
Sunil Mittal, the chairman of Bharti Airtel, said recently that it would be “tragic” if India’s telecom-access market was to be reduced to only two competing operators. He was probably referring to the possible exit of the financially-stressed Vodafone Idea and the increasing irrelevance of government-owned operators, BSNL and MTNL. This would essentially leave the market to Reliance Jio and Airtel. A looming duopoly, or the exit of a global telecommunications major, are both worrying. They deserve a careful and creative response.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Thus Far
The reduced competition is worrying. Competition has delivered relatively low prices, advanced technologies, and an acceptable quality of services. These gains are now at risk. There is a long way to go in expanding access as well as network capacity.
The Indian Telecom Irony
Vodafone Tragedy
Filling the gaps in infrastructure and access will require large investments and competition. The exit of Vodafone Idea will hurt both objectives. The company faces an existential crisis since it was hit hardest by the Supreme Court judgment on the AGR issue in 2019, with an estimated liability of Rs 58,000 crore.
The closure of Vodafone Idea is an arguably greater concern than the fading role of BSNL and MTNL. The government companies are yet to deploy 4G and have become progressively less competitive. Vodafone Idea, on the other hand, still accounts for about a quarter of subscriptions and revenues and can boast of a quality network.
It has been adjudged the fastest, for three consecutive quarters, by Ookla, a web-service that monitors internet metrics. India can ill-afford to waste such network capacity. The company’s liabilities will deter any potential buyer.
Vodafone+MTNL+BSNL ?
A possible way out could be to combine the resources of the MTNL and BSNL and Vodafone Idea through a strategic partnership. Creative government action can save Vodafone Idea as well as improve the competitiveness of BSNL and MTNL.
It could help secure government dues, investment, and jobs. It is worth recalling here that, about 30 years ago, the Australian government’s conditions for the entry of its first private operator, Optus, required the latter to take over the loss-making government satellite company, Aussat. Similar out-of-the-box thinking may well be key to escape the looming collateral damage.
It is not trivial to expand competition in India’s telecom market. Especially since there are no major regulatory barriers to entry anymore. Any new private player will be driven largely by commercial considerations. Global experience suggests that well-entrenched incumbents have massive advantages. New players are daunted by the large investments—and much patience!—needed to set up networks, lure existing customers and sign new ones.
However, regulators and policymakers have other options to expand choice for telecom consumers. Their counterparts in mature regulatory regimes—e.g., in the European Union—have helped develop extensive markets for resale. Recognising the limited influence of smaller players, regulators mandate that the incumbent offer wholesale prices to resellers who then expand choice for end-users.
This has been virtually impossible in India. There is a near absence of noteworthy virtual network operators (VNOs) and other resellers. A key barrier to resale is India’s licence fee regime which requires licence-holders to share a proportion of their revenues with the government. Thus, resale could hurt exchequer revenues unless resellers are subject to identical levies. Understandably, the levies—and consequently additional reporting and compliance—is a disincentive for smaller players. The disincentive flows from levies based on revenues which comes with considerable costs of compliance. It would almost vanish if the levies were replaced by say, a flat fee computed objectively.
The ball is in the court of the regulator and the government. They have options. But will they take decisive action to exercise them? It will be ‘tragic’ if they can’t.
INTRODUCTION
Since most of the early scholars, researchers and historians were men, many aspects of society did not find a place in history books. For example, child-birth, menstruation, women’s work, transgenders, households etc. did not find much mention.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Rather than building a holistic picture of the past, some select aspects such as polity and the different roles of men became the central focus of history writing. Women were confined to one corner of the chapter where a paragraph or two was devoted to the ‘status and position of women’.
Even the details of these paragraphs were hardly different from each other. This made it look like as if history (and thereby society, polity, economy and all culture) belonged to men while women were only a small static unit to be mentioned separately. Of course, there were some exceptions, but these were however rare. This practice is being corrected now and the roles and presence of women are being read into all parts of historical questions.
SOURCES FOR UNDERSTANDING GENDER HISTORY
Sources are the bases of history writing. From simple pre-historic tools to abstruse texts, everything can be utilized to understand life and roles of women in history. The presence as well as the absence of women from sources needs to be duly noticed, deliberated and argued upon and only then to be theorised upon.
Certain objects being directly related to the lives of women or depicting the ideas of the female principle are of central importance. These include but are not limited to female figurines, art objects, texts attributed to or authored or compiled by women, monuments created by or for women, various objects relating to their lifestyle, objects associated with women on account of their cultural roles and so on.
It has been rightly pointed out by Uma Chakravarti that much of the gender history written in early phase was a ‘partial view from above’. This referred to the utilization of select textual sources and focused only on relational identity of women. There were, however, a few exceptions.
GENDER HISTORIOGRAPHY
Amongst the many narratives propagated to denigrate Indian civilization and culture by the British colonial rulers, the condition of Indian women became a point of central reference. Various social evils that made the life of women miserable were pointed out and efforts were also made to introduce ‘reforms.’ Sati, child-marriages, imposed widowhood, polygamy, dowry, educational and economic inequality, purdah (ghoonghat) and many other practices prevailed during the colonial period that made the life of women difficult and pitiable.
Some practices affected women of higher social and economic households while others led to misery for poorer women. Many social reform movements were started in the 19th century to address these issues and contributions were made by Indian reformers as well as British officials and other Europeans.
Women in India came to be treated as a homogeneous category and over generalisation became the norm. While many communities in India practised widow remarriage and did not practise (much less forced) sati and while some practised divorces or separation, the image of the Indian woman who had been subjugated as woman, wife and widow became a dominant theme in history writing.
Secondly, a western vision was placed over the non-western societies and hence interpretations were far removed from the context. For example, notion of stridhan was equated with dowry and little regard was paid to the provisions regarding its use and ownership by women.
The huge social stigma that came along with the selling of jewellery of the household (one of the main components of stridhan) was paid no attention to. Similarly, penal provisions listed by ancient texts for misappropriation of women’s property were not even looked into.
During the Paleolithic age, hunting and gathering was norm. However much importance was given to Hunting than gathering in all literature of history. Studies, however, show that hunted prey formed only 35% of the diet while gathering fruits and other edible material supplied the major portion. Gathering of food resources was ordinarily done by women. Since gathering was an important activity, more than hunting for game, it could point to significant role playing by women.
The gendered understanding of Harappan civilization is being built upon and various archaeological remains have been studied in this respect. The female figurines, idols of pregnant women, the statue of the ‘dancing girl’, various pieces of jewellery and personal belongings that have been discovered at various sites and offer useful insights on the public and private lives of women and men.
The statue of a girl obtained from Mohanjodaro has been called a ‘dancing girl’ on grounds of familiarity with the institution of devadasis in the later times. Such backward looking explanations are problematic.
There is a wide variety of terracotta female figurines that have been found at different sites right from the pre-Harappan times. Women figures are found suckling a baby, holding utensils, kneading dough, nursing infants, carrying objects like drums, seated figures for board games, with steatopygia (fat deposition on the hips and elsewhere), with floral head-dresses and in many other forms.
Even figurines of pregnant women are quite common. However, most of these have been uncritically associated with fertility, religiosity and reproductive ideas, and have been passed off as representations of the Mother Goddesses. While some of them were votive objects, others are held to be toys or other utilities. The focus on female form has been so stereotypical that women have been seen as associated only with home, hearth, fertility, sexuality and divinity. So much so that sometimes even male figurines in assumed womanly roles were classified as female figurines.
POSITION OF WOMEN IN EARLY INDIA
The first literary tradition in the Indian subcontinent (and the oldest in the world) is that of the Vedic corpus. From the four Samhitas to the Upanishads, we find many interesting references to women in various roles. Some of these women have left their mark on the cultural heritage to this day and are remembered in various ritual and social contexts. Their names, stories, some highly revered hymns, and other interesting facets are mentioned in the Vedic corpus.
The Vedic literature has been classified as Early Vedic and Later Vedic. The Rigvedic society and polity seems to be teeming with life and agro-pastoral economy was enmeshed in close kinship ties. Women as well as men participated in society, economy and polity. Some of the most revered hymns including the gayatri mantra are ascribed to women.
Various natural phenomena are depicted as Goddesses and they are offered prayers. While quantitative analysis highlights the predominance of Indra, Agni, Varuna and other male gods, the power and stature of the goddesses is equally well established.
Women participated in all three Vedic socio-political assemblies viz. Sabha, Samiti and Vidhata. They had access to education and were even engaged in knowledge creation. They could choose to be brahmavadinis with or without matrimony.
Hence, there is no reason to believe that they were only confined to home and hearth. T. S. Rukmani attempts to understand if women had agency in early India. Her work has highlighted many interesting details. The author acknowledges the fact that though the patriarchal set up put women at a loss, there were instances where women found space to exercise their agency.
She points out that though the texts like the Kalpasutras (Srautasutras, Dharmasutras and Grhasutras) revolved around the ideology of Dharma and there was not much space to express alternative ideas, still these works also find some leeway to express ideas reflecting changed conditions.
For example, there is a statement in the Apastamba Dharmasutra that one should follow what women say in the funeral samskaras. Stephanie Jamison believes that in hospitality and exchange relations, women played an important role. She says that the approval of the wife was important in the successful completion of the soma sacrifice. In another study it has been shown that women enjoyed agency in deciding what was given in a sacrifice, bhiksha to a sanyasin. The men had no authority in telling her what to do in these circumstances.
Vedic society was the one which valued marriage immensely. In such contexts, Gender Perspectives if a woman chose not to marry, then it would point to her exercising choice in her decision to go against the grain and remain unmarried.
Mention may be made of Gargi. She was a composer of hymns and has been called a brahmavadini. This term applies to a woman who was a composer of hymns and chose to remain unmarried, devoting herself to the pursuit of learning.
Similarly, in the case of Maitreyi, she consciously opts to be educated in the Upanishadic lore and Yajnavalkya does not dissuade her from exercising her choice.
The statement in the Rigveda that learned daughters should marry learned bridegrooms indicates that women had a say in marriage. Though male offspring is desired, there is a mantra in the Rigveda, recitation of which ensures the birth of a learned daughter.
Altekar refers to the yajnas like seethayagna, rudrayajna etc. that were to be performed exclusively by women. Some of the women were known for their exceptional calibre, for example, from the Rigveda Samhita we find mention of women like Apala, Ghosha, Lopamudra, Gargi, Maitreyi, Shachi, Vishwavara Atri, Sulabha and others.
Women have not only been praised as independent individuals but also with reference to their contributions towards their natal or marital families.
The Later Vedic literature shows the progression towards a State society with a change in the organization of the society and polity. The chief comes to be referred to as bhupati instead of gopati. However, within the twelve important positions (ratnis) mentioned, the chief queen retains a special position under the title mahisi.
The importance of the chief queen continued as gleaned from several references to them in the Epics, Arthashastra and even in coins and epigraphs from early historical times.
The other Samhitas also refer to women sages such as Rishikas. The wife is referred to as sahadharmini. Brahmanas or the texts dealing with the performance of the yajna (Vedic ritual), requires a man to be accompanied by his wife to be able to carry out rituals.
For example, Aitareya Brahmana looks upon the wife as essential to spiritual wholesomeness of the husband. However, there is a mention of some problematic institutions as well.
Uma Chakravarti has pointed towards the condition of Vedic Dasis (female servant/slave) who are referred to in numerous instances. They were the objects of dana (donation/gift) and dakshina (fee).
It is generally believed that from the post Vedic period the condition of the women steadily deteriorated. However, Panini’s Ashtadhyayi and subsequent grammatical literature speak highly of women acharyas and Upadhyayas.
Thus, the memory and practice of a brahmavadini continued even after the Vedic period. The Ramayana, Mahabharata and even the Puranas keep the memory of brhamavadini alive.
Mention may be made of Anasuya, Kunti, Damyanti, Draupadi, Gandhari, Rukmini who continued to fire the imagination of the poets. Texts show that the daughter of Kuni-garga refused marriage because she did not find anyone worthy of her.
The Epics also mention women whose opinions were sought in major events. For example, after the thirteen years of exile, while debating upon the future course of action regarding the restoration of their share, the Pandavas along with Krshna asks Draupadi for her views. Similarly, when Krishna goes to the Kaurava’s court to plead the case of Pandavas, Gandhari is called upon to persuade her sons to listen to reason.
Since a woman taking sanyasa was an act of transgression, one can explore women’s agency through such instances. In the Ramayana, Sabari, who was the disciple of Sage Matanga, and whose hermitage was on the banks of river Pampa was one such sanyasin.
Such women find mention in Smriti literature and Arthashashtra. Kautilya’s prohibition against initiating women into Sanyasa can make sense only if women were being initiated into sanyasa. He advises the king to employ female parivrajakas as spies.
Megasthenes mentions women who accompanied their husbands to the forest, probably referring to the Vanaprastha stage. Another category of literature called Shastras that comprises of sutras (aphorisms) and the smriti texts (‘that which is remembered’) becomes important in the postVedic period.
These textual traditions cover many subjects relating to the four kinds of pursuits of life referred to as purusharthas (namely dharma, karma, kama and moksha). In all these texts we find very liberal values and freedom for both women and men.
The setting up of a household is seen as an ideal for men as well as women (though asceticism for learning is equally praised for both). For example, Apastambha Sutra opines that rituals carried out by an unmarried man do not please the devatas (divinities). Similarly, Manusmriti provides that ‘for three years shall a girl wait after the onset of her puberty; after that time, she may find for herself a husband of equal status. If a woman who has not been given in marriage finds a husband on her own, she does not incur any sin, and neither does the man she finds’
Thus, we see that women enjoyed choice in matters of matrimony. It is interesting to note that unmarried daughters were to be provided for by the father. In fact, daughter is stated to be the object of utmost affection. Should a girl lose her parents, her economic interests were well looked after. It was provided that from their shares, ‘the brothers shall give individually to the unmarried girls, one-quarter from the share of each. Those unwilling to give will become outcastes’
With regards to defining contemporary attitude towards women, Apastambha Sutra prescribed that ‘All must make a way for a woman when she is treading a path.’ Later Dharmashastra also makes similar statements.
Yagnavalkyasmriti mentions that ‘women are the embodiment of all divine virtues on earth.’ However, there are several provisions that look problematic.
On one hand, we have reverence assigned to the feminine (divine and worldly) and important roles being played by them, on the other hand we have questionable provisions and descriptions like right to chastise them through beating or discarding.
The post-Vedic phase from 6th century BCE onwards is also rich in literary traditions with ample depictions of women. Interestingly, we have an entire body of literature that is ascribed totally to women who became Buddhist nuns. These are referred to as Therigathas i.e. the Songs of the Elder Bhikkhunis (Buddhist Women who joined the Sangha).
The Arthashastra Gender Perspectives gives us information on women who were engaged in economic activities of various kinds. They formed a part of both the skilled and the unskilled workforce. They were into professional as well as non-professional employment.
Some of their vocations were related to their gender, while the others were not. There were female state employees as well as independent working women. Similarly, some of them were engaged in activities which though not dependent on their biological constitution are nonetheless categorized as women’s domain, e.g. domestic services etc. Some of them were actual state employees, while some others were in contractual relations with the State. For example, we have female bodyguards and spies in the State employment.
Jaiswal suggests that these women perhaps came from Bhila or Kirata tribe. Female spies were not only to gather information and relay it to proper source, but also to carry out assassinations. However, a closer look at the text shows that there were different classes of female spies engaged for different purposes. Amongst others ‘women skilled in arts were to be employed as spies living inside their houses’. Others were required to work as assassins. Some were to the play the roles of young and beautiful widows to tempt the lust of greedy enemy.
We also have various Buddhist and Jaina traditions giving us some glimpses of the ideas and institutions of the times. Apart from the orthodox (Vedic and Brahmanic) and heterodox normative tradition we have many popular texts like the Epics in Sanskrit and Jatakas in Pali.
Even Prakrit language has many interesting narratives and poetic texts. The Therigatha by the Buddhist nuns are an interesting literary source that provides us with a glimpse of various women who attained arhantship or similar other stages of Realisation.
The deliberation on the age and deterioration of the body by Ambapali, the non-importance of sensual or bodily pleasures by Nanda, Vimla and Shubha etc points towards the intellectual and spiritual engagements and attainments of women.
It is interesting to note that an absolutely contrary picture is presented by the Jatakas wherein more often than not, women are depicted as evil. It is important to note that women were given an evil aura mostly in their roles as wives or beloveds.
Both the texts and the archaeological remains have been studied by various scholars and opposing interpretations are not rare. For example, on one side Sita (from Ramayana) and Draupadi (from Mahabharata) have been seen as victims of the patriarchal order; on the other hand, they are also represented as selfwilled women.
Draupadi after the game of dice presents herself as a forceful and articulate woman. It’s her wit that saves her husbands from becoming slaves of the Kauravas. Her incensed outrage at the attack on her modesty, her bitter lamentations to Krishna, her furious tirade against Yudhishthira for his seeming inability to defend her honour and many more such instances show her to be an aggressive woman. This persona is juxtaposed to her representations as an ideal wife elsewhere. However, Draupadi is never idealised as a perfect wife who endures the most severe trials without complaint. This honour is reserved for Sita in the Ramayana. She is also presented as a victim like Draupadi and voices her concern at her fate openly. However, her aggression is directed inwards as indicated by her action against the self which culminate in her union with the mother Earth.
Are the limited number of hymns ascribed to the Vedic women a signifier of their general status? Are the goddesses merely representational with no connection to the ideas and behaviour towards women? Did only princesses choose their spouses? Are the warrior women an exception? Such searching questions need to be addressed with due diligence.
While women studies are a good development there is a need to expand the horizons to include other varieties of human existence. We have narratives of fluid sexuality in various texts. The one year of Arjuna’s life spent as Brihallana and rebirth of Amba as Shikhandi are some interesting instances. The artefacts found at the site of Sheri Khan Tarakai include visibly hermaphroditic figurines. There is a need to understand the notions of the feminine, masculine, neuter, and other forms of gender and sexual identities. These will have ramifications for understanding the ideas of conjugality, family, community, society and even polity and spirituality.
CONCLUSION
Human civilisations were built by men as well as women, however, history writing has a huge male-bias. Women were confined to questions of status and position that were largely evaluated in terms of their roles in the domestic sphere.
Their treatment as wives and widows became a central focus of most research alongside their place in ritual or religious context. This made them peripheral to mainstream history. This was questioned by various scholars from time to time and led to the development of gendered understanding of history. Focusing attention on women’s history helps to rectify the method which sees women as a monolithic homogeneous category. Writing gender history has helped in building an image of the past that is wholesome and nuanced.