A Spiritual Experience

As the cold set in and winter drew near,
I found myself bundled up one eve drear,
With the fire in the hearth dancing merrily,
In tune with the wind that blew so eerily.

There came a moment when silence was complete -
It seemed that sound faced a prospect bleak,
But the creak of a floorboard did the tension break,
With such suddenness - putting my sanity at stake!

A thrill of foreboding seized my mind,
The fire dimmed, I seemed blind!
Across the sea of darkness I glimpsed a shimmer,
Through the solid walls, a specter a-glimmer!

The apparition hovered, a pale-greenish hue,
I dared not to breathe - my countenance now blue,
Not a word it uttered, silent and grim,
Whilst Fear clasped me and filled me to the brim.

The mute Phantom floated, arms outstretched,
While I lay frozen; whimpering in my bed,
From outside came faint sounds of revelry,
The silence lay broken, and the devilry.

The Wraith and I have never met since then,
Nor have I mentioned our tryst to mice or to men,
For soon after that encounter that December day,
I moved out and found myself a new place to stay.

Those that have it Easy

With small peaks of hope and great valleys of despair,
Fate is a miser and Life, unfair.
Long is the journey ere an apex is reached,
Even delicate flowers must bloom after winter's breached.

Grudge not the blessed, for they are strong of heart,
For Destiny rewards us if only we play our part.
For those that have it easy and have their places under the sun,
Have earned their places for their work is done.

Where are the Horses and where are the men?

What makes a man? Barney Stinson would say "Suits!" - on many levels, he would be right. Ever since human beings developed sentience and civil society with its philosophers, humankind has tried to answer the question. Our consciences, when not hushed by our penchant for greed and fallibility, tell us the answer is doing good to and by our fellow men, having mutual respect and helping anyone in need. In time, those that listened to the tiny guy on their left shoulders with the halo on his head more often than they did the tiny guy on their right shoulders with the horns on his began to be grouped and associated the closest things to the answer. They were the ladies and the gentlemen. Over time, like all good things, the concept of being ladies & gentlemen was bastardized to mean men and women of noble birth and not noble deed, and later, to mean all and sundry in the name of equality. Men and women are created equal - ladies and gentlemen are a cut above the rest in both thought and action.

I read an article on the internet today. It argued that social interaction between the sexes had been reduced to online video chats and social networking. That women around the world were reducing their expectations in a man. The article concluded that the reason for the whole mess was that men aren't really "men" anymore, that the well-dressed, courteous gentleman was a thing of the past.

Its not a man's job to carry society on his shoulders - that's just disguised male chauvinism talking. However, it is true that the quality of men in general is deteriorating. Guys these days aren't worried about what they should say to a woman - wooing has been reduced to mindless prancing in clubs. While dancing is a part of the mating ritual of several animals - I would like to believe that people think more of having a connection with someone than just grinding against each other in a sweaty, smoke-filled, dim-lit place with drunken people. Call me old-fashioned but I think a good conversation is where you really connect with people - similar interests are fine, but they don't guarantee quality. Besides, where's the show of respect that is the right of another human being? Take these hip hop recording artists these days - women are no longer referred to as ladies - they are "bitches". Their music videos reduce women to objects that are treated like possessions. In the name of equality, people have forgotten courtesy and basic decency. I personally know some girls who take severe offence at my insistence on holding a door open for them. Its just good manners - Its not like I think they are incapable of understanding the operating concept of a hinged door. I'm giving them the respect they deserve as the opposite (Note: I don't say "fairer". I'm all for gender equality) sex.

To make the counterpoint - maybe the ladies and gentlemen are not an extinct species. Since the dawn of civilization, they have been associated with certain generalized cut of society. In medieval Europe, they were the mounted knights and the women of the families of the Lords and land-owners. A century ago, they were well-educated men in top hats and women in puffy gowns. During the early years of the 20th Century, they were the pseudo-philosophers and "men and women of leisure" who traveled the world and always seemed to be well-groomed. Maybe today, the ladies and gentlemen are still there - only less bothered with three-piece suits and ball gowns. Maybe today's ladies and gentlemen prefer jeans and t-shirts, hang out in malls and play video games.

I feel civility, mutual respect and giving aid remain as important as they ever were and will continue to be so - failure of which would sound the clarion for the end of humanity. Since we still continue to have faith in society and civilization, ladies and gentlemen, as per my definition, do exist. They exist in those that have a kind word for those of wounded heart or pride. They exist in those that volunteer at homeless shelters, old-age homes and orphanages on a regular basis. They exist in those that donate blood and organs. They exist in those that show the spirit of sportsmanship. They exist in those that simply manage a smile at a stranger on a Monday morning.

There's an organization called the Gentleman's Society. They have, on their website the following ( I think, very valid) Rules of a Gentleman:

1. A gentleman is always presentable
2. Live a passionate life, with a compassionate nature, and dispassionate judgement
3. Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-give. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
4. Opening the door for a lady is not optional.
5. A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.
6. Nothing beats a good hat, so long as it is removed when indoors.
7. Anything worth having, is worth working hard for.
8. A gentleman will never instigate a fight, but he is permitted to end one.
9. A gentleman reads and reflects.
10. The best suits are tailored (ties should never be a focal point).
11. A gentleman means what he says, and says what he means.
12. Be gracious in manner, humble in tone, and thankful for what is given.
13. A gentleman lives beyond his zone of comfort.
14. The line between confidence and arrogance is very thin, and a gentleman is aware of it.
15. Drinks are not meant to be mixed.
16. A gentleman can drive stick-shift.
17. A gentleman can jump if need be.
18. Know the differences between courage and stupidity.
19. A gentleman is observant, and takes action without delay.
20. To a lady, a gentleman will readily offer both his coat and his hand. 

It has always been my ambition to be a life-long gentleman and I strive to be one everyday. Of course, some things won't happen - me wearing a hat, for example - but I hope people will still consider me eligible to be a gentleman. A couple of years ago, I had an epiphany - that I have a way of life, a personal motto that defines my existence: "Nobilitas, Logica et Epicurismo."

The Dangers that Nursery Rhymes Pose

Someone once said, “Child is the father of Man” – true enough – our childhood shapes us, most of us still recall fondly the memories of cherished younger days when the world seemed fairer, people more beautiful, colors brighter, days longer, breeze cooler and flowers-fragrance sweeter. Even now, when we’re very much past our primes – old warhorses that have seen too many battles – and no longer wet behind the ears, we still find moments that bring out the inner child in us – a sudden laugh, a mischievous prank, a multi-hued window display, a cartoon show in Technicolor, a Christmas-morning gift-wrapped box; all quite suddenly turn us from our boss-hating, stress-filled, deadline-despairing lives into carefree tykes.

“Ah! Those were the days”, you say? “We were so innocent back then – not a wicked thought in our heads”, you declare? “Hah!” is all I snort. Our society is one that teaches us violence at a very young age. It is one that has been instructing us to wish misery upon others ever since we first started learning.

Do you disagree? Well, what are your first memories of school? Pat comes the reply – nursery rhymes, of course! Bingo – nursery rhymes are short poems that epitomize acts of violence and hurt. Let me elucidate:

One of the first recorded English nursery rhymes was “Ding Dong Bell”. The poem is about a little kitten that was dropped into a well by one Johnny and was later rescued by another of the same name. While the version we all know goes on to admonish the perpetrator of the heinous crime against felines, the original (first published as a canon) just gave up the cat for dead and proceeded with announcing her death –

Jacke boy, ho boy newes?

The cat is in the well,

Let us ring now for her knell,

Ding dong, ding dong bell.

“It’s Raining; it’s Pouring” makes light of a poor old codger who was probably hemorrhaging after dashing his head against the bedstead. There is also the rhyme about “Jack & Jill” who were left without adult supervision to perform an obviously unsafe task and had to face the consequences that possibly scarred them for life. “Rock-a-bye Baby” is even worse and exults about a breaking branch causing a cradled baby to fall from a height.

While the “Old Woman who lived in a Shoe” is an example of bad parenting and worse family-planning, “Little Miss Muffet” makes fun of a girl’s arachnophobia.

A famous rhyme sung by all of us as kids was the tale of the “Three Blind Mice” and the cruelty they suffered at the hands of the capable, blade-wielding farmer’s wife. The rhyme goes on to ridicule the scene made by the blinded rodents with their tails chopped off chasing the peasant lady.

Then there’s the wanderer’s conversation with “Goosey, Goosey Gander”. I believe it explains why people are so intolerant towards anyone that doesn’t conform to their religious opinions. The nomad in the rhyme proceeds to regale the bird with his/her treatment of an atheist –

Goosey goosey gander,

Whither shall I wander?

Upstairs and downstairs

And in my lady's chamber.

There I met an old man

Who wouldn't say his prayers,

So I took him by his left leg

And threw him down the stairs.

Anyone who remembers the tale of “Old Mother Hubbard”, would have no doubt of the old woman being hounded by a psychopathic canine with drug issues. Just because her cupboard was bare and her dog got no bone, the vengeful mutt proceeds to harass her for the rest of the rhyme. The poor old maid has trouble making ends meet but still makes her way to the Baker’s to procure some bread for the ungrateful dog who pretends to be dead when she gets home. The mangy cur waits for Madame Hubbard to return from the Undertaker’s with a coffin before getting up and laughing, if you’ll believe it. The abominable pooch further shocks the listener by sitting on her chair, smoking a pipe, riding a goat and inducing Old Mother Hubbard into a position of such servility that she gets sent to the alehouse to buy it some beer first and then to a tavern for some wine. Later the dastardly dog even packs the old woman off to buy it some fruit and a complete wardrobe (including shoes, coat, hat and wig). The deluded old fool even erects a monument to the sadistic mutt.

 “London Bridge” poses a structural engineering problem of how best to prop up said bridge after its collapse. After discussing the pros and cons of using various materials from wood and clay, to bricks and mortar, to iron and steel; it was finally decided to build the aqueduct out of gold and silver and then set a watchman to guard it. The sad part is – aside from the obvious lack of knowledge with regard to strength of materials – the guard is encouraged to smoke all night in order to stay awake.

In conclusion, all evil and sinful thoughts that have ever occurred to us have in fact, stemmed from our early childhood. Nursery rhymes, meant to delight the child and help it learn communication pose a veiled threat to civil society. Further illustrations, if required are Further illustrations, if required are the sex offender Georgie Porgie; and also Peter – the one with a steady diet of pumpkins – and Eeper Weeper, the chimney sweep (both were polygamists and imprisoned their wives in very imaginative but highly uncomfortable locations).

An Encounter with Myself

Ever wonder what it would be like to be able to visit other timelines? Or just be able to go to other places/dimensions with the press of a button? Stuff they did on Quest World or inside the Matrix? Maybe I could deep freeze myself like Phil Fry in Futurama and wake up in 3013. "Welcome to the World of Tomorrow!", a booming voice would boom at me.

What if we could take it a step further and visit alternate universes? What if we could just side-step into a parallel universe? Maybe someone could come up with a portal device that serves as a time-machine - if you stepped forward or backward, you'd literally go back in time or back to the future - and as a inter-dimensional wormhole of sorts - side-step into an alternate reality. Only problem is the randomness and chance laws of the universe/multiverse system would probably mean your probability of getting back to where you started from reduces dramatically with every side-step you take. Now what wouldn't a traveling salesman give to be able to do that forever if we only had a multi-dimensional, multiversal credit system - a UniVisa or a MultiverseCard.

The best, coolest thing would be to meet yourself in different universes. You could organize an online Hangout with yourself, belay that, with yourselves! You could literally form your own football team. Every single team on the English Premier League could have the same line-up. Manchester United have Rooney? No problem, lets buy Rooney from another universe. Another cool thing would be that there would exist a parallel universe where politicians are incorruptible. No. I think I'm pushing my imagination here.

Politicians are scum wherever... My cellphone's ringing - let me get that. I pick up my phone and stare at the screen. The ringing continues. I stare. I stare because the screen is lit up with my portrait on it. It says in bright white letters, "Incoming call from" and below it is a very familiar name - my own! I begin trembling with excitement. My hand is shaking as I reach out to touch the screen with my thumb to push the slider back. I put the phone to my ear and say, "H-Hello?".

A Study on a Most-interesting Leader

History has given us records of innumerable number of great leaders - ones who stood for what they believed was right; ones who fought against insurmountable odds to realize a new, better tomorrow; and others who promised the moon and then kept it for themselves. The following account happens to be about one of the most intriguing and exciting studies in leadership. 

Che Guevara (1928 – 1967) was a South American Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist.

He was born Ernesto “Che” Guevara de la Serna on the 14^th of June, 1928 in the town of Rosario, Argentina as one of five children of a wealthy couple with leftist leanings. From a young age, Che was moved by scenes of suffering and, being well-to-do himself, was able to clearly demarcate the range of standards of living of people in Latin America.

Early life

Even as a boy, he showed a thirst for excellence. The fact that he suffered from chronic asthma did not deter him from being “very good” and “quite dependable”, according to his classmates, at sports that demanded fitness like football, rugby, shooting and cycling. From an early age, Che showed an interest in diverse fields of study – mathematics, political science, archaeology, engineering, sociology and history were among his favorite subjects at school. What he couldn't get in school, he got out of books in the vast library of his parents.

By the time he was in high school, he could recite from memory, entire verses by poets such as Rudyard Kipling, Robert Frost and Pablo Neruda. He enjoyed reading anything he could lay his hands on and mentions being enamored by the thoughts of Karl Marx, Jawaharlal Nehru, Jules Verne, Franz Kafka, Vladimir Lenin and William Faulkner. As a medical student, Che began putting his analysis of the world he saw and read into words and penned commentaries on various topics such as the life of the Buddha, Aristotle's philosophy, Bertrand Russell's idea of patriotism, Jack London's view of society, Nietzsche's take on the concept of death and Sigmund Freud's interpretation of dreams. A now-declassified CIA dossier on Guevara states that the organization regarded him as one among eight most well-educated South Americans during the Cold War days.

The Motorcycle Diaries

While studying medicine at the University of Beunos Aires, Che took time off from studies to travel the continent. He made two trips during this period that left an indelible impression on him and shaped his future – the first was a solo 2800-mile bicycle ride across Argentina in 1950; and the second, a cross-continental motorcycle journey with his friend Alberto Granado that spanned over 5000 miles, spread over 9 months. Throughout his life, from this time on, Guevara maintained diaries in which he wrote almost daily detailing his experiences and his learning from them. The diaries pertaining to his motorcycle trip were posthumously published as “The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey” and also made into a film in 2004. During his travels, Che recounts several happenings that “tore at his soul” and made him wonder “where this was going”. In Chile, Che saw the pathetic living conditions of the miners in the copper mines. The two friends also happened upon a communist couple who had fled into the Atacama desert, with only the clothes they were dressed in, to escape persecution for their political views.

Throughout their journey, at Che's insistence, the two offered their medical and monetary services to the poor and the needy. As a result, halfway through the trip, they were left penniless themselves. This forced them to mingle with the poorest sections of Latin America and allowed them to see the suffering of the people. While crossing the Andes mountains, they came across poverty-stricken villages almost completely cut-off from civilization. In his diary, Che expresses guilt and regret at not being able to treat a sick child due to lack of money (neither he nor the child's father had enough to buy the required medicines). When the boy subsequently died, the father hardly grieved and instead told Che he was relieved, for he could take better care of his remaining family. In Peru, Granado and Guevara volunteered at the San Pablo Leper Colony where Che was amazed at the solidarity shown by the lepers as a community. Unwanted and uncared for by civilized society, the lepers had formed their own society where everyone was treated equally and respected. The lepers displayed a typical “out-group” behavior. Guevara closed his account of the journey concluding that “Latin America is not a collection of separate nations but a single entity requiring a continent-wide liberation strategy”.

Guatemalan Coup

After completing his medical training, Guevara refused his father's offer for setting him up with a clinic in Buenos Aires as he felt a restless desire to work with the poor. He became a wandering physician for a while before finally settling down in Guatemala. Around the same time, in Guatemala, President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman had just introduced several social reform plans which greatly impressed Guevara. Che immediately became involved in the medical and literacy campaigns and grew to admire Arbenz's vision.

One of the policies that Arbenz initiated was a Land Reforms Act which limited the quantity of uncultivated land owned by private corporations or citizens. As a result, several U.S. companies which had invested heavily in South American real estate lost huge tracts of land to the Guatemalan government. At the same time, the CIA had most of the South American governments under surveillence as a precaution against Soviet involvement. At the behest of the United Fruit Company, which lost 225,000 acres to Arbenz's reforms, the CIA began taking greater interest in Guatemalan politics and were able to track a shipment of German World War II weapons arriving into Guatemala. In May 1954, the CIA declared the country to be a communist threat and helped a section of the Guatemalan military in the orchestration of a coup d'etat.

Che openly supported Arbenz and upon the successful completion of the coup, had to escape to Mexico in order to avoid being jailed. Guevara was disgusted with what he termed to be “capitalist exploitation of South America by the U.S.A.” and adopted Marxist principles.

26^th of July Movement

By 1955, Guevara established a successful practice as a doctor and lectured in the university in Mexico City. Through some exiled Cubans he had befriended during the coup in Guatemala, Che Guevara met Raul Castro who, along with his brother Fidel, was also in exile for his part in fomenting and participating in the 26^th of July Movement – a failed attack on the Moncado Barracks in Santiago, Cuba on July 26^th, 1953. Raul managed to interest Che with his anti-imperialist talk and invited him to meet Fidel Castro, the leader of the exiled Cubans. Che met with Fidel and spoke with him over dinner, the intense discussions between the two regarding the Castros' plan for overthrowing Cuban dictator Batista lasted through the night; and by dawn, Che had signed up with them as a military doctor.

One of the exiled Cubans was General Alberto Bayo who imparted military training to all the members of the Movement. Che undertook the full training regimen even though he never planned to take part in the actual battles and by the end of the training period, General Bayo acknowledged him to be the “best guerrilla of them all”. Regarding the 26^th of July Movement, Che remarked in his diary that he felt needed for the first time in his life.

Cuban Revolution

On November 25^th, 1956, the 82-strong force led by Fidel Castro set foot on Cuban soil. While still unloading their equipment from the boat, they were surprised by the Cuban military. While some returned fire, several laid down their weapons and surrendered. Guevara, despite being injured, was treating some of the wounded, and was shocked when the soldiers shot even those that had their hands raised above them. Angered by their callousness, Che picked up a gun thrown down by one of his comrades and completed his “symbolic transition from a physician to combatant”.

The survivors of the first wave of attack managed to escape into the surrounding hills and split into two groups to avoid capture before arranging to meet at a stronghold of the Cuban partisans deep in the Sierra Maestras mountains. Fighting off ambushes along the way, only 22 members, including the Castros and Che, finally made it to the rendezvous point. There, Fidel Castro began reorganizing his campaign, mustering support from the urban partisans led by Frank Pais and the mountain villagers who had been ignored by the Cuban government.

Soon, the Movement had a large gathering of newly recruited soldiers and their families and it fell upon Guevara to convert a rag-tag military camp into a self-sustaining society. His participation in the Guatemalan reforms held Che in good stead; in little over a year, he managed to transform the backward mountain region into a thriving country-within-a-country. Che organized the construction of weapons factories to arm the new recruits, large-scale bakeries to feed the entire population, schools for the children of the villages and health clinics. When a sufficiently large army was formed, he took on the responsibility of training the soldiers. Due to his “convincing competence, diplomacy and patience”, Che was soon promoted to Fidel Castro's second-in-command.

The rebels successfully hid themselves and were presumed dead by the Batista government until early 1957 when Herbert Matthews, a reporter for The New York Times, managed to interview Fidel Castro. His article portrayed the guerrillas as mythical warriors fighting for justice and made a highly favorable impression on the Cuban public and the world at large. Che realized the importance of media support for any political campaign and started a clandestine newspaper to disseminate information about the Cause and, in February 1958, a radio station called “Radio Rebelde” to allow communication with distant rebel groups that had begun cropping up in various parts of the country. In August 1958, he managed to convert a defeat in the Battle of Las Mercedes into a victory by demoralizing the Cuban army through propaganda that focused on poor judgments made by the Cuban military command.

Che Guevara gained a reputation of being a harsh disciplinarian. He demanded loyalty to the rebel cause and publicly executed defectors, informers and spies after announcing their crimes. He authorized the formation of a squad to track down deserters and eliminate them. He states in his diary that such finality was essential when dealing with informers as the Cuban army would retaliate by using any data they could obtain on the Castros' movements, even burning down entire villages they suspected of harboring rebels. Guevara viewed leadership as that of a teacher and held regular sessions with his troops where he would read out passages from famous books followed by discussions and debates. He started a camp-wide “Battle Against Ignorance” campaign where he entreated everyone that could read and write to teach and assist those that couldn't. Fidel Castro noted that “Che had great moral authority over his troops.”

Guevara realized the importance of leading from the front and often took great risks “tending to foolhardiness” to show his courage so as to gain loyalty and respect of his men. His bravery even incited respect from the enemy – on one occasion, seeing his lieutenant Joel Iglesias, then still a teenager, fall down badly wounded, Che ran to him unarmed, picked him up and got him to safety. The enemy soldiers saw his act of bravery and stopped firing briefly, allowing him to reach cover. Thomas Alba, who fought under Guevara's command explained in a later interview that “Che was loved in spite of being stern and demanding. We would have given our lives for him anytime.”

While the ability to show detachment to violence allowed Guevara to think logically during battles and allowed him to formulate brilliant strategies under trying circumstances – his diary shows the use of medical terminology and logical sequencing even while describing wounds or making a report just after a skirmish – his acts of valor inspired his troops to give more than what was physically possible whenever he asked them to – he led a group of guerrillas on a 7-week trek through the mountains, travelling constantly and often without food for days, in order to reach a strategic location in central Cuba in time for the final push of the revolution.

In December 1958, Che gained a series of vital victories winning complete control of the central regions and splitting up Batista's forces. His squad was often outnumbered 10:1 and became reputed among the enemy as “The Suicide Squad”. By this time, several Cuban generals sued for peace and surrendered unconditionally to Guevara. Batista fled and Che entered Havana, the capital, with no resistance on January 1^st, 1959, signifying the end of the revolution.

Che, the Politician

Following the successful revolution, Guevara spent a few months recuperating in the countryside in Tarara. While there, he invited many Cuban politicians, economists and thinkers to form the Tarara Group to plan Cuba's future. He spent his time writing a well-received book on guerrilla tactics. Soon after his return to Havana, Fidel Castro, with support from 93% of the Cuban population, approved the meting out of “revolutionary justice” to those responsible for the worst of the oppression – supporters, and most of the top generals, of Batista.

Che was made the Warden of the La Cabana Fortress which housed the war criminals and was responsible for hearing appeals and awarding sentences. He tried to introduce a justice system wherein each case was heard by a jury comprising of 3 military officers, a judge and a representative of the citizens of Cuba who was chosen randomly. He exhibited totalitarian tendencies in order to pacify the public and ordered the summary executions of hundreds – including pro-democratic politicians, dissidents and fervent followers of Batista – noting that the Cuban people were in a lynching mood during this period and “the executions by firing squads are not only a necessity for the people of Cuba, but also an imposition of the people”. Che was forced to found incarceration camps for gays and AIDS victims. This period, according to his diary, was the only time, since he became involved in the revolution, Che felt his idealist nature being shaken.

After the purge, Castro promoted Che to Minister for Industries. Using knowledge gained during his stay in Guatemala, Che introduced several reforms, including nationalization of banks and businesses, that proved to be very successful while ensuring affordable housing, healthcare and employment for all. His land reforms act limited the size of all land holdings to a maximum of 1,000 acres. Any larger holdings were seized by the government and redistributed among the poor. Castro advised Guevara to tour newly-independent nations as an ambassador in order to establish economic ties. Actually, it was in order to separate the Cuban public from their growing affinity for Che's extreme Marxism.

In September 1959, upon his return, Che found that Castro had spent the time endearing himself in the political scene while reneging on several policies that the two had planned previously. Che was pacified with promises of the Soviet Union's “helping hand”. Meanwhile, several cattle ranchers showed dissatisfaction with the land reforms and began secretly funding terrorism to destabilize Castro. On March 4^th, 1960, a ship carrying weapons exploded while docked in Havana harbor. Che was immediately dispensed on site to prevent the situation from spinning out of control. He organized teams of the public to rescue victims, salvage from the rubble and fight the fires that had broken out. He himself joined the rescue efforts providing first aid to many victims. These threats to his nascent government forced Castro to speed up the land reforms. U.S.-based companies lost 480,000 acres in a matter of weeks, inciting President Eisenhower to place an embargo on import of Cuban sugar. On July 10^th, 1960, in his first-ever media-covered public address, Guevara called upon the Cuban people to denounce “economic aggression” by the U.S.A.

In late 1960, Guevara took on the additional responsibilities of Finance Minister and President of the National Bank. He declared 1961 “The Year of Education” and toured the country visiting universities while insisting to the public that literacy was no longer a privilege of the rich. The campaign raised the nation's literacy rate from 60% to 96%. In order to supplement the lack of exports to U.S.A., he fostered treaties with the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc and North Korea. Che signed newly issued currency notes with just “Che” instead of his full name symbolizing his distaste for material possessions. He started youth groups, community centers and labor parties completing Cuba's embrace of socialism. Guevara inspired a socio-cultural reform - “The New Man”, who was “selfless and cooperative, obedient and hard-working, gender-blind, incorruptible, non-materialistic and anti-imperialistic” – and called upon the masses to favor moral incentives over material ones.

He continued working part-time for the Cuban military and imparted training to 200,000 soldiers on newly-acquired Soviet arms. On April 17^th, 1961, 1,400 CIA-trained Cuban exiles invaded Cuba at Playa Giron, Bay of Pigs, while a warship drew off a majority of the army led by Guevara to the west coast. The Cuban forces were successful in beating back the invaders with Castro personally taking command of the troops left to guard the beach. In retaliation to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, Che secured nuclear-armed ballistic missiles from the U.S.S.R., a move which started the Cuban Missile Crisis – a 13-day stand-off of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) with both U.S.A. and Cuba threatening to fire at each other. However, U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. secretly held talks without including Cuba and formally ended the crisis on November 20^th, 1962. The silver lining of this event was the establishment of a direct hotline between the governments of the two most powerful nations at the time.

Che, the Diplomat

Guevara used the results of the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis to further his anti-U.S. propaganda. At the same time, he felt betrayed at the Soviet Union's handling of the events. By the end of 1964, he had risen to global prominence and Castro, being pressurized by the Soviet Union, “awarded” a more public role to Che – as representative of Cuba, he was kept away from the country for long periods of time – allowing Castro to govern the nation under guidance from the Kremlin. In December of the same year, Guevara addressed the United Nations in New York regarding issues such as its failure to curb apartheid in South Africa and the treatment of the black population in U.S.A. During his stay there, he made various television appearances and met with many important figures, among them were U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy and civil rights leader Malcolm X, making a great impression on radical groups in the U.S.

On February 24^th, 1965, while in Algiers, Algeria, Guevara publicly accused the Soviet Union of tacit complicity with the “exploiting Westerners” and averred that he had lost faith in the Soviet way but instead favored Mao's “Great Leap Forward” as true socialism. On his return to Cuba, Che found that he and Castro, who continued to receive support from the U.S.S.R., had reached a parting of ways. He renounced his Cuban citizenship on 3^rd October of that year to “fight for the revolutionary cause abroad”.

Immortality of the Revolution

Guevara moved to Africa after leaving Cuba and began helping a rebellion in Congo against the advice of his friends – Algerian President Ahmed Ben Bella and Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser – who warned him of failure. Within seven months, Che wrote in his diary of being disillusioned due to infighting between the rebels and the power-hungry nature of the leaders. He then left for Bolivia in hopes of assisting the rebels there. He began building up an army along the lines of the one used in the Cuban revolution and even though he only commanded 50 soldiers, his guerrilla tactics caused the Bolivian government to greatly overestimate his force. However, Che's revolution was, again, unsuccessful due to the following factors:

• He failed to communicate effectively due to the difference in languages
• By now, the CIA had studied his methods and were able to train the Bolivian military to effectively thwart him
• The Bolivian Communist Party refused to aid him on the advice of the Soviet Union
• Faulty communications equipment cut off his troops from one another

Guevara was eventually captured and taken for interrogation. He showed no signs of fear and held his head high. Upon continued refusal to answer any questions, his death was ordered. On October 9^th, 1967, while being led to his execution, one of the soldiers guarding him asked him if he was worried for his own immortality. He replied, “I'm thinking about the immortality of the Revolution”. His last words were to his executioner - “Do it. Shoot me, you coward! You are only going to kill a man!”

Leadership Summary

Che Guevara was a staunch believer of socialism – Marxism and Leninism. He was an idealist in the beginning. Leadership traits associated with him are intelligence, masculinity and bravery – there are numerous displays of these traits throughout his military career. He was a Servant leader – placed greatest importance in developing his followers and enabling them to become the best they could be – and also a Transformational leader – he wanted to help out the poorer classes of society and aimed at equality for all and he was able to transform a remote mountain region in Cuba and later, the entire nation into adopting a new way of life. He used his career experiences to good effect as seen by his adoption of reforms policies initially used by the Arbenz government in Guatemala and his use of the radio as a means of communication which he noticed had been very effective against his side in the Guatemalan coup. Che was very authoritarian as a military commander but was regarded with respect by his own troops and his enemies – he appeared to have the most credibility as seen by the fact that the Cuban military generals surrendered to him and not Castro. He preferred confrontation to compromise as seen by his acts during the Cuban Missile Crisis. During the post-revolution purge, he faltered as a leader by being “agreeable” and consenting to the public demands rather than follow his principles. He led by example, performing acts of valor in battle; and later, even though he was a minister, by assisting in the rescue activities after the explosion at the Havana Harbor. Che appealed to the people to adopt moral incentives. He was successful in ensuring the adoption of the “New Man” policy in Cuba.

Above all, Che Guevara was a Trasformational leader. He was charismatic and motivational, while providing intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. Time magazine claimed Che was Castro's brain and was “guiding Cuba with icy calculation, vast competence, high intelligence and a perceptive sense of humor.”

Legacy

Che Guevara is considered by many to be a martyr of socialism and proletarian internationalism who stayed true to his ideals and died before he could see the decline of his cause. Even to the end, his refusal to compromise his beliefs have left a very messiah-like impression on many who supported him. His views on the continuity of the revolution even after his death have inspired radical movements in Europe and U.S.A. When his body was kept on public display in Bolivia after his execution there were several hundreds of people mourning him, some even snipping off pieces of his hair as divine relics.

Guevara remains, to this day, a national hero in Cuba where school-children take a daily pledge of “We will be like Che!” His countenance is still seen on a Cuban 3 Peso note. Public buildings ranging from schools to museums across Argentina continue to be named after him. In 2008, his birth-city of Rosario, Argentina unveiled a 12-foot bronze statue of him. Even today, in certain parts of Bolivia, Che Guevara is worshiped as a saint. Alberto Korda's photograph of Guevara titled “Guerrillero Heroico” is the “Most Famous Photograph in the World” according to Maryland Institute College of Art. The monochromatic version of the photograph has inspired a slew of merchandise ranging from bags to cups; from t-shirts to banners.

Che Guevara has been titled “Red Robin Hood”, “New Garibaldi”, “Don Quixote of Communism” by one group, while others accuse him of being a “ruthless executioner”, a “headstrong messiah” and a “cold-blooded killing machine”. Nelson Mandela called him “an inspiration for every human being who loves freedom”. His detractors, such as author Paul Berman, however, say the cult following that Che has inspired is an “episode of moral callousness of our time.” British historian Hugh Thomas sums up Che Guevara's life quite succinctly, “As in the case of Marti or Lawrence of Arabia, failure has brightened, not dimmed the legend.”