Goodness and success

does goodness really lead to success?

being good is like helping others, having compassion, empathy, being truthful, and ultimately maintaining a good relationship with oneself and with others.  We have to understand the highest quality of being good is at the level of humanity. Then comes our other identities for example good with society(family, friends, relatives) or good with the country(patriotism) or with nature etc. we know many who are patriotic but not good in dealing with her family like Governor of Puducherry.
Kabir was good with humanity but bat at society.

Being successful is like gaining wealth, knowledge, power and being able to help others. Ambani and Modi can be good examples.

I consider that success is a function of hard work, perseverance, practice and the like.
for example there are many politicians who are not following practices of being a good person, still, they are successful.

But being good is not enough for success, for example, Ram could defeat Ravan not because he was good but because he was able and have capabilities.

So what is the use of being good? For example, in a badminton court, I know two players. One of them always share his secrets with newcomers and other may even refuse to play with not so better players.
why does one help others -- there can be many reasons like
1. is it because of reciprocity but we must not demean goodness with such a meaningless purpose. Also, there are many who have compassion for unknown.
2.  fear of God, as religion teaches us to be good and kind for others but religion has caused pogroms.
3.  habit of being good, for example, once developed the habit of respecting elders. Advising in family matters.
4. We are human and we had it naturally like love and empathy. Also, these human-like characters make us feel good. Yes, happiness can be a reason for being good but still, we are animals and animal-like feelings also please us so why not to be bad.

But being good is not enough and good people are in the jail or babysitting for bad people. far away from success.

I consider goodness like the handle of a cycle and success is like moving forward.
Further, we know that we can manoeuvre our cycle with help of handle but the more important purpose of the cycle is moving forward and going somewhere.

But lastly, being good is just another plane which may or may not coincides with success. This leaves us open to be good at any point of time i.e. after or before success.

women and food

The women's rights movement have always talked about the position of women in the society. What they demanded is different from time to time but it is clear that position of women is associated with the division of labour. From the day the division of labour started from hunters and gatherers to neolithic to advanced society women are tasked with managing the household and men are tasked with works outside courtyard.

But this division is not the reason for status in the society but the value we associate to the task. For example if women cook food and men hunt then they may have equal status in the society unless the hunting is given more value and cooking is looked down upon.

And when the societies got evolved in a more complex setting where economics became business outside of kitchen then the value of household activities diminished heavily.

cut to present age the significance of kitchen is the least in the house compared to lawn outside or garage, guest room etc. This is because we think that food is secondary to many other things. And this has led to lowering the value of all those who are associated with it for example housewives, dadiji, naniji and all those who are always worried about our food.

But what if food becomes primary to everything, which actually it is
 1. a good meal can be valued by those who live away from home and have to spend time, money, and energy on an unbalanced diet.
2. taking good meal is such a psychological satisfaction that we can concentrate well on the task assigned. At time Gautam Buddha takes up KHEER just to bring mental satisfaction.
3. as a country we can save billions by preventing food poisoning, under and overfeeding, export-import of food items, kitchen have a solution for many diseases and illnesses such as turmeric, hot water and much more.
4. kitchen is associated with culture and a history of taste and love and we must preserve it.

What can be done is that
1. spread of awareness that food is THE most important part of one's life and we all work for a happy meal and a beautiful life.
2. women can be encouraged to stay as housewives and they must be paid heavily for giving proper value to their work.
3. we must understand that if we start valuing our kitchen and other household activities like mopping, dusting, cleanliness etc. all those associated with it then the status of women will increase automatically.

The times are changing and we are seeing that more and more women are choosing to be housewives because taking care of a house is as important responsibility as earning from working outside the house.
my post is not to prove that women can not/should not be supreme court lawyer or rbi governor but to show that these exceptions must not be the parameter for measuring stauts of women. Rather household autonomy is a better criteria and this autonomy can be spread over by valuing food and household activities.
And with growing awareness about  preventive health care and food or hygiene, the condition of women will improve.

just like that -- every 3 minutes an indian girl is trafficked into sexual slavery, and only 1% of them are rescued.