Jostling With Ethics -6- : For Common Good

A paradigm of our social norm aims for universal ‘good’. Sarva Jana Hitaya,cha our scriptures advocate, and also Sarva Jana Sukhaya Cha. Surely that seems to be a good goal to strive for. Unfortunately, both these words – hita (benefit) and sukha (happiness) – are subjective concepts. Benefit for an individual can often mean the opposite for a group that the individual belongs to. Choice of actions for an individual in such situations of conflict becomes a matter of personal ethics.

Jostling with Ethics -5- : Shooting a Clay Pigeon

I was then a very junior officer of the Air Force, a mere flying officer. I had however become a Qualified Flying Instructor. I was on the staff of Number 1 Air Force College at Begumpet. One day I was asked to report to the armory for some documentation. Being a law-abiding officer, I went down there and inquired what documentation I was required to perform. I was directed to a table where a register lay open-faced. There was a Sergeant behind the desk. He found my name on the register and pointed to a column marked as ‘Signature’. ‘Please sign here sir’ he said.

Jostling With Ethics -4- Is Conflict Necessary?

In our daily life we take a million decisions without much special thought. Lets have a cup of tea. Let’s take in a movie this afternoon. I do not like spicy food. I love to read Harold Robins. In our day to day life such decisions do not cause any ripples around us in most cases. However, even such mundane decisions sometimes cause dissent. What if your companion has an appointment with a hairdresser for the afternoon that cannot be sacrificed for a movie? What if she really loves that spicy curry that must be cooked to day? Well… Life is not easy. I realized this simple truth when I joined the Tigers in October 1953 after I completed my conversion training on the Spitfire Mk XVIII at the Operational Conversion Unit, Air Force Station Hakimpet.

Jostling with Ethics – 3 – : Having a Drink

I am unashamedly from a ‘Moddhyo Britto Bhadro Poribaar’ from ‘Poorbo Bango’ . In plain English that would translate to being from a Middle Class Gentle Folk from Eastern Bengal. Like every other social group in this world, this social group also has its baggage of ‘do’ s and ‘dont’s just as it has its own set of behavior considered socially right and socially wrong. One of the values for this group during the first half of the twentieth century was abstention from alcohol.

Jostling With Ethics -2- : Puffing a Bit of Smoke

One of the earliest ethical jostles that I remember was about smoking. I was in Class X and I was going to a school where many of my friends, the tough and the non-sissy ones, were experimenting with tobacco. Holding a cigarette, inhaling its smoke, blowing a ring, all these seemed so macho. I must admit that I was tempted to join these heroes of my class.

Jostling With Ethics -1- : Finding the Roots

When and where did I format my conceptions about ethics? How and when was I convinced that right and wrong have to be adjudged, right is to be adopted and the wrong shunned? I do not think I was ever lectured about ethics. Yet, my parents managed to transfer their value system into my subconscious so well by the time I left home that I seldom had any difficulty of choice in real life. How did they manage this transfer? This is a mystery that I have not been able to solve.

Jostling With Ethics -0- : Finding A Definition

I have often struggled within my self to answer a question: Is my behavior ethical? The first impediment in finding the answer has been to find the definition of what is ethics. The dictionary told me that ethics is a set of moral principles that govern a man’s behavior. I found myself no wiser be cause I then had to define what is moral. Morality I was told is the ability to ascertain between right and wrong. But, is not right and wrong subjective terms dependent upon environment and circumstances?

Becoming Worldly Wise

My stay in Kolkata with 12(Bengal) NCC Air Squadron was a short one.   I joined the unit in November 1959 and got posted out from the unit by September 1960; it was a couple of months less than a year.