Middle Class Voice is here to Stay

What is clear to all political pundits whether Kejriwal's Party succeeds or not, that thanks to social media 2014 will see the advent of the Middle Class Voice in Indian Politics. Kejriwal has conviction and organising capacity. This is not an unexceptional quality. There will be and are others who demonstrate this in social and business entrepreneurship. They will be ready to fill in Kejriwal's shoes, were he to quit.

The traditional political parties will have to factor this in--. Even though Arun Jaitley's lone voice on Art 377 was silenced by the BJP, it was a signal to the conservatives in the party that they may have to adapt to the winds of change. So in the fear of being vanquished, they may have to banish political doublespeak.

What remains to be seen is how soon will this transformation take place. Maybe it will be hastened by their own need to survive. 

AAP--Give them a Chance

In all fairness, middle India wants to give the AAP Team a chance. the ground was fertile; sufficient numbers of the Indian population have exposure to western mores, rule and culture, to admire the material progress these cultures have made. And to want the same. AAP was a seed that fell on an already fertile soil. Change was there for the asking. AAP happened to have had the courage to take up the offer.

In the interest of all--other political parties should follow suit--give them a chance to show whether we are ready to adopt a more transparent form of politics. The traditional parties have nothing to lose but some time--If the AAP succeeds then they can adopt the same formula--if the AAP fails, then they are ready in the wings.

So whatever the outcome---its in everyone's interest to give them a chance.   

Catching the Ranikhet Express

In Search of a Narrative

My girlhood had been spent in Naini Tal, in a world typical of a north Indian colonial hill station. This world consisted of elite Anglicized boarding schools, modern hotels, horse-riding, yachting, polo tournaments and picnics. It belonged to a culture that was a fluffy pancake tossed out of a western kitchen and patted down on one that was rooted in age-old pahari traditions and the folklore of a mountainous terrain that for centuries had allowed for subsistence culture alone. Though I had schooled here, I had not really known the Kumaon hills at all. Yet, growing in me was a need to understand something apart from the pristine beauty of these hills or my own youthful memories in a boarding school. Oddly enough, it was an illness fifteen years ago, and subsequent convalescence that spurred me to seek out an excuse to be up in the hills again. To smell the sweet crisp mountain air again and to discover them anew. But i needed a reason to be there, an excuse to spend time in the hills. I was a researcher in search of a story, a writer seeking narrative--but what could it be--I did not know enough about the hills really. In my formative years, local Kumaoni history and folklore weren’t part of school curricula as that of far-off Europe such as the Crusades, Renaissance and the British Industrial Revolution were.So what did I really know about Kumaon? 

I quickly realized I would have to look beyond the worlds that I had inhabited thus far and bypass all that I had been previously familiar with. I would have to also ignore the colonial traditions that had been slow to wear off in the first few decades after India’s independence and look for what had long lain beneath. This involved observing the underpinnings in the life of the ubiquitous pahari seen at every other bend of the hill road. Wearing a black topi and a black jacket, a black umbrella tucked under his arm, and a saffron and rice tilak encrusted on his forehead, he could be spotted sitting on his haunches smoking a bidi, or on a bench at a chai shop. All I knew was that he was part of the industrious workforce of the U.P. plains, meeting his family’s needs by sending money orders back home. Almost till the 1980’s, every government office in Uttar Pradesh had a Kumaoni clerk, every dhabha, a Kumaoni chotu and every hostel, guest house, institution or office, a guard called Bahadur as the Nepalis who came to the plains via the routes of Kali Kumaon were called. Little more was then known.

Catching the Ranikhet Express from Old Delhi Station, as I had once caught the Kathgodam Express from Lucknow, with a steam engine decorated with painted ‘Homeward Bounds’ made by school boarders, I plummeted straight to the last railhead of Kathgodam. The train has always been an overnighter, broad gauge or narrow gauge, since the early years of colonial rule when it stopped at Lal Kuan. You fell asleep in the summer heat and dust of the plains only to wake up to spy that compelling sight of the mountains in the distance in the morning. In a short story I had once written called ‘Coming Home’, I had described just such a train journey:

It was early morning by the time the train drew in. Before dawn broke he would be at the window. He would gaze out of the heavy iron bars of the old first-class compartment, ready to catch the first rays of light as they pushed back the charcoal of the night sky. The smell of soot hit his nostrils and flecks got into his eyes, but he fluttered his eyelids and thrust his face as far out as he could to feel the fine fresh wind blowing against him. He would look closely at the landscape to see if he could spot distant hills, afraid the train might have been cheating on him and all the while pulling in the opposite direction……….

At Kathgodam, a choice awaited me; buses and taxis plying to Naini Tal, Bhim Tal, Almora, Kausani, Pithoragarh….where was I headed? And who could my travelling companion be? Someone I could spar with or unburden my fledgling thoughts upon?

Dolly & the Hospital

So Dolly took her maid to Kailash Hospital. It was a factory dedicated to the health of its customers—pay the money, be a good customer, come for a cold and cough, keep paying for consultancy, keep paying for medicines, keep paying, keeping the doctor happy. 

Nation Fracturing--and a Cynical Media

Arnab Goswami--lacks basic broadcasting ettquette

I miss the Arnab of NDTV days--I for one was an admirer then--but now his decibels just get louder and the content more specious. It seems he has decided what he wants each presenter to say--and woe if they don't. Tonite Shazia Imli didn't have a chance--he put her through the mincer for daring to challenge him---" Why are you smiling Shazia? Am I making you nervous?" Hey what kind of professional anchor talk is that. No personal comments Mr Goswami, especially not with a woman on your show--or did the Times TV people not know basic broadcasting ettiquete? Should I stop watching Times TV just because I long for an international standard TV anchor. 

Lal Batti ke bina Minister

Capitalism ke zamane mein aur gandhigir? Bina Lal Batti Minister kyon bane? Yeh kab tak chalega.

Most people who go into the hurly burly of politics are driven also by an egotistical drive.
All the Roman pomp accompanies it--you don't go by public bus, you wield power, you live in a bungalow, you have stylish drawing rooms and blooming gardens, you have servants and foreign travel----Of course you must work harder than anyone else. Can the Indian polity muster enough "volunteers" who want to get into this game and not enjoy the plums of office? Even the American President stays at the White House.

But Gandhi ji received dignatories at his ashram in a white dhoti.  But it didn't make him less powerful.    

No old wine in new bottles--but time for a Naya Daur.

Kejriwal's party has given a platform to the urban and lower middle classes who had no  `voice'. Social Media has translated this `faceless--voiceless mass' that political parties had earlier ignored into an avalanche that even Kejriwal perhaps doesn't know how to manage. A behemoth has been unleashed--and all are running scared.

Here is a space for those who have  no `political lineage' to find their voices in the other established parties, much the same as BJP did provide an open platform in 1990.

Both BJP & AAP have one thing in common--an opportune agenda that suits the mood of the times. The difference lies in their history. BJP did not begin on a clean slate for the RSS platform had been around for a century before it gave it  a political voice. But Kejriwal's Party is rising from a clean slate.

Congress has to look at the BJP's graph in the last 23 years to see where it can go---a real challenger to the established political system.Clearly this is not an overnight sensation---it was and has been simmering all along. Unless the lessons are learnt, there is no way of knowing where public opinion may go. But could it end Culottes verses Sans culottes. Take heed o venerable ones--Old wine in new bottles will not do.

In Rhythm with the Universe--remembering Gandhi

The time has come to remember Mahatma Gandhi. To make the India he dreamed about. 

Has the time come for the earth to heal itself? For us to propel the forces of reason into motion so we can be one with the Universe?

Power for the sake of self aggrandizement is not a true quest. You will be forgotten sooner than you think. with a blink of an eye, once life extinguishes, all that you think makes you special, will disappear, and as the old adage goes, the good you do alone lives on.

Purity of intent is the most potent driving force. Political power that is garnered and harnessed for the good of all, the common cause, can and will move mountains.

Let's give a chance to all who put this as their central mission. Intellect, charisma, qualifications, muscle, money power, sab sadak pe reh jayega agar dil saccha nahin hain.

Maybe the time has come to propel into public life, all who wish to fight for the rights of the common man.
Maybe it needs all of us to push this to happen.Hum sab ko kandha lagana hain.      

Kudos to Rahul for straight talk

India wants the rule of Dharma---the power of youth and volunteerism demonstrated just that. The old style of politics will not do. We have thousands turning out at Jan Sabhas---I am certainly proud that Rahul for one does not say " Who Kejriwal?". Kejriwal is just a face and voice for what lakhs of young Indians are thinking. They want to participate--they want to be heard--as in the time of Gandhi Nehru when we were fighting the British. Its time for nation building not nation fracturing--to say that this 120 year old party cannot  become the voice of the people is absurd.   

Hay Ram--remembering the Mahatma

Hay ! Ram

The name of Ram gives me immense power.

For self reliance the name of Ram and his kind grace are the ultimate means.

Listening to Ramayan recitation is the foundation of my passion for Ram. I believe that the Ramayan  written by Tulsidas is the best epic of devotional path.

India of my dreams – I shall work for an India in which the poorest shall feel that is their country, in whose making they have an effective voice, an India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people; an India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony. There can be no room in such an India for the curse of untouchability, or the curse of intoxicating drinks and drugs. Women will enjoy the same rights as men. We shall be at peace with all the rest of the world. This is the India of my dreams.

This is an edited extract from Gandhi: Essential Writings ( OUP), complied and edited by Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

Cloudy mind Vs Clear mind

Dear all of you who choose to read my blog,

Bear with me as today I divert from my usual topics and write about something else.

The mind is like crystal clear water, pure, still and deep. Thoughts that arise from this quality of mind rise fast to the surface. But how do we cultivate such a mind. How do we slice through the irrelevant accrual around it? The cloudy veils that dull perception, that deflect pure sincere thought?

Meditation helps one focus on what is essential to well--being, and what is mired in greed, selfishness, personal aggrandizement, anger and so on.

Buddhist chanting " Nam Myo Hon Renge Kyon" advocated in Nicheren Diashonin's " Buddhism in Daily life is a technique to uncover this pure mind.

Chanting unleashes one's ichinen and creates the reality we truly desire.

To understand ichinen and " nam myo ho renge kyo" please visit the Soka Gakkai website. Be firm in your resolve to be happy and you will. 

Diplomatic Row or more?

So its all about the 4500 dollars? I don't think so. Theories are flying fast and hard. Asylum for a maid on the basis of traficking? There must be at least 400 odd cases of such a nature--so why did they act just in this case only? Another theory has it that the husband of the maid--was a US informer in India---god knows who he was answerable to--some say DEA---and this was a set up, to get him into the US on certain charges----so its all a big drama much in the John le Carre style---that the real reason for this lies elsewhere and the Dy Consul General is just fodder for a bigger ......

Of course there are ways to retaliate--- the homosexual staffers in the US Embassy could be subjected to the Supreme Court ruling in accordance to Indian laws!

But finally why this was done---becomes a bigger and bigger mystery. 

Family Legacy

Family Legacy: A Kashmiri Pandit Daughter Looks Back By Manju Kak---Kashmir Times

Fog in Delhi, Fog at the AA Party--

Has Anna been the astute politician and taken the wind out of Kejriwal's sails? Has he been devious, or done a deal? It is a case of  an affronted ego because  of AA Party's victory?

Whatever is happening on the political scene requires a lot of nation wide dai mokhu---meaning Buddhist chanting--for the best positive forces to emerge and for a political cleansing so that all parties emerge stronger, more committed to nation building than the quest for personal power. 

Arnab Goswami & Knight in Shining Armour

Indians have a habit of yelling. We speak at our topmost decibels. because of this most of us are hard of hearing. I am always amazed when I am in the US, how one never has to repeat anything. My daughter in law gets upset when I do--and I have to watch my words, and then I come to India. the rickshawala in Noida will ask three times before it registers upon him that after my vegetable shopping in Indira Market i wish to go to Sector 27, C--block. acha kahan jana hain---29 sektor? he will ask. Its the same case if you ask for a loaf of bread at the grocers or pansaris.

So I fully understand when Arnab Goswami goes for the highest decibel----but the understanding does not translate into appreciation. He screeches, he laments, he shouts, he is a Shakespearean actor in full regalia.

An anchor, sadly,  he is not.

Justice Ganguly's Intern

The point is has Justice Ganguly done this before to young women? Will more creep out of the woodwork and accuse him? Or was it an old man making one last bid before he accepted his time was up---and in Tejpal's words--a huge error of judgement?

I agree every human error, failing, or questionable behaviour does not necessarily have to be settled by the law courts. The case history, the person's character, and other such details of past behaviour could be taken into consideration and the matter settled in accordance. sometimes even a newspaper apology could be considered. Whatever happened to the good old tarred and feathered routine?

Can you imagine a Justice, tarred and feathered made to parade the streets. Such humiliation may be worse than facing a law court.

But again, two friends and I were lunching at the Delhi Gym and the Tejpal Case came up. I became instantly unpopular as one of them had a daughter. You ask why? well, I said, while girls and boys have an equal right to see  a late night movie, in my day, we were warned of consequences. Is it anti--feminist to warn a girl of the risk she might be running into. No doubt we wish for an ideal society, but should we ignore the fact that it isn't one and therefore not warn our girls?

  

Koffee with Karan---an insipid brew

The insipid interviews of Karan Johar, titled Koffee with Karan, assumes the viewer really wants to know the answers to the inane questions he asks, and even worse, the lack of intelligence our stars show when answering them, not to mention the poor taste in clothes etc.

However, if the aim of Starworld is to prove to the rest of the world that Indians have low criteria for television entertainment, then this is a good way to go. everyone knows the most TV entertainment programmes is about how low can we get to catch maximum eyeballs.

There must be a financial logic to this that I don't quite get--finally why do we contribute to making a wold which has a surfeit of what is not really worthwhile, and a shortage of what is?  

Time to celebrate Courage?

Indian democracy is at the crossroads. It might be a false start---before the real one actually propels us into being an educated thinking democracy. Though, it can be said, that even educated thinking democracies are sometimes governed by the lowest common denominator....take how the American populace elected George Bush.

But when we stand up for Damini and even at the cost of taking feminism too far, as some of the TV panelists said, the noise of the debate should make the potential rapist in rural India alarmed. We have to make this din loud enough for fear to be instilled in the male population in villages, towns, mountains and sea coasts, to become fearful of this Amazonian women power.  

Indira Jai Singh is fighting for that---fighting that the stigma of being the weaker sex should be wiped out and I laud her for that. 

In the same breath one should laud all those who are trying to challenge traditional mindsets be it in Politics or Society.    

The time has come to celebrate courage.

Nicholas Roerich--Painter of Light.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1131004/jsp/opinion/story_17416860.jsp#.UpeFzJh4IEU.email

Saurav Ganguly---for public service? Is this a joke on janta?

Rahul has a better pulse on middle class progressive India in giving the political devil--Kejriwal---his due. He is acknowledging defeat with grace and moving on. But BJP is running scared and espousing the same politics as can be seen in the choice of Saurav Ganguly.

Great cricketer, with political sympathies yes, ---but shouldn't political life be about proven involvement in public service and public concerns?

Or is it about seeking an alternative platform for fame after the first career has waned?

Kiran Bedi---a Rajya Sabha ticket?

Dolly has been watching Kiran Bedi on the TV  for some years now. Whatever her opinion of her in the past---currently the lady ex--cop seems to have compromised herself and Anna--the timing of the Anshan--seemed to be aimed at gaining political mileage rather than purity of intent---VK Singh on stage---the whole bit about Sushma Swaraj saying the Lokpal Bill would be passed without discussion---there was no surprise element in it at all---Has someone been promised a Rajya Sabha ticket ? Too smooth, thinks Dolly, even to her unpracticed eye. Methinks I smell a rat.

Aah, even the glorious become vainglorious--this damn infernal ego of man---saala hamesha trouble karta hain.

Worry not, thinks Dolly, if her assumptions are true, then she must confess that she is neither a greater man/woman herself, and would have also fallen to the temptation.

But Anna Hazare---why he has proved to be the most astute `khiladi' of all. And the white khadi is not fooling Dolly.

  

Sheila Dikshit's Legacy to Delhi

Sheila Dikshit's Legacy to Delhi will be assessed by political pundits in due course. Some will say she had a great hand in helping Delhi catch up at being a 21st century city. Some will talk about other things like the CW games.

But leaving all these matters aside---one thing is for sure--the lady brought to the city an aesthetics that the PLU were familiar with and appreciated---whether it was in the sarees she wore, the parks she made, the manner in which she kept her house, or the `dilli ka culture' she so obviously enjoyed.

   

Should Congress should support Sonia Gandhi for Prime Minister?

This is what someone wrote to me--that Congress should support Sonia Gandhi for the Prime Minister's post. There is no doubt that Sonia took the Congress party to power and is responsible for pulling it out of its squabbles and morass.

Congress is often accused of being a Party controlled by an individual or a family. The people who say this do not understand the true nature of power, of how it is exercised, or how it devolves, of the kind of people who look for power. They are mostly outsiders to the game. Therefore their opinion matters little to the cognoscenti.

But look around you--- at Lalu, Nitish, Vasundhara, Naveen, Mamta, Modi,  et al. Do you see an image that is different in its exercise of power? Then why does the Congress alone come in for flak?  Does the public see a strong man in Modi ----does he not betray the same attributes that we give to `one man' shows?

Maybe we have not matured as a democracy to really throw up leadership of another sort--and this alone will keep us from heading into chaos. So hail to pyramidical structures---for the time being at least.
     

Shed off the Transient--Embrace the True

Dolly had gone to Amity University, Noida, some months ago. It was an `Orientation' for Arts students. Just as she was leaving, a young girl, Tanu, came to her. " But what should I do if I am in this course because I couldn't get admission elsewhere? Should I quit and face the fear of remaining without a College degree? Or should I stay and pursue a course I never wanted to do, a profession I did not want to follow?"

Dolly was stumped. How different it was when she was growing up. Anguish was marginal. You just did the course so that your aspirational upper middle class family  could  say you were a " Convent--educated graduate" . Shaadi ke liye accha qualification hain. Some social contacts, some good taste in clothes, correct English accent aur koi IAS wala shaadi kar lega. A businessman maybe, or some feudal lord who needed good genes, fair skin, a pretty face to bear his progeny.

Yes, there was this circumscribed life ahead, a lakshman rekha, that quite curiously and conversely made life simpler and easier. You never discovered yourself enough to want to express it. Sometimes there wasn't that much to express.

Now everyone needed to know who they were. Tanu's problem was real--what if she didn't want to be an artist----

Well, time for Dolly's walk at Humayun's Tomb--to sort this out---

Good Cop Bad Cop--Anna & Kejriwal

Are Anna & Kejriwal playing the game of Good Cop Bad Cop? I hope not. I hope Anna Hazare's ambivalence as shown in his sound bytes, which are more politically astute than High Moral Ground, will be short lived. We do not need yet another Politician in the garb of a Do--Gooder, else all the criticism levied against him, will be justified. His lot should not play the role of de--stabilizing Indian polity, instead  help established parties to stay on a moral course. Otherwise his work as a Moral Compass would be questioned. Neither should he allow opportunists to hop on to his bandwagon to gain political limelight and leverage their own entrees into a Party.       

A Self Righteous Politician--Beware

Dolly enjoyed dressing up in a silk saree to go to the IIC. Someone she knew had become an Ambassador and she was having lunch with her to celebrate. Behold a professional politician sitting in the cafe! Since she was early she found a sofa next to his favoured seating place. Naturally the subject turned to " Who will form the Delhi Government?"  After which followed the inevitable abuse heaped upon Kejriwal. "  He is a Congress stooge." declared  the man, and followed it with, " a stooge who was given huge funding to the tune of hundreds of crores to sabotage Anna Hazare" he insisted " Khel ke beech mein khel hain!"

And Dolly thought--how low we have sunk as a nation that we must look at everything through the prism of suspicion and dubious strategy.

" Sonia Gandhi and Rahul's  acknowledgement of Kejriwal's victory was gracious. " And Arvind Kejriwal should have taken it so--or Dolly feared he would begin to appear self--righteous rather than right thinking. And like arrogance, corruption and other diseases of Political Life, to fall prey to Righteousness was also dangerous to political longevity.

Some also accuse him of being Rigid. Rigid can be good--it can be bad. Gandhi ji was rigid. Lenin said--take one step backward to take two forward....it all depends on the occasion and audience.

Is Kejriwal being rigid, opportunistic, and self--promoting?   

Does Modi hate Kejriwal for stealing his thunder?

Does Modi hate Kejriwal for stealing his thunder? Is that why some TV anchors have ganged up against Team AAP to badger them? Rahul Gandhi seemed cool in contrast. He and Sonia have congratulated Arvind and said we have to learn something from this. Rahul also seems unconcerned to be away from the limelight. Perhaps a statement from Modi would have shown grace. Advani ji showed grace. Yes Modi should have also come out and given a salut to his party's challenger for a grand debut.

Hey folks, grace in time of war is the mark of a true hero. Have we forgotten that?   

Dolly & Team AAP, Rahul Kanwar--TV Aaj Tak

Dolly, while watching Rahul Kanwar interviewing the AAP team at Jantar Mantar, felt affronted. Could the man be serious? Was he really arguing the `pehle aap' `pehle aap' line? Wsa he trying to belittle the Kejriwal victory? Was he playing stooge for a certain man in a certain political party?

These were the questions that came to her mind while the incompetent and aggressive TV anchor tried to move the argument of the AAP team into channels that would affirm his already thought out editorial stand --which is----you guys are afraid of forming a government because you don't have experienced legislators.

Dolly thought, true enough Media should ask uncomfortable questions, but should Media give itself comfortable pat answers?  

Boo Rahul Kanwar for playing to your assured audience and sponsors. Try to take the High Road sometimes and put yourself on the spot, sometimes admit, maybe we don't have the answer to the 2014 Election.

And maybe Modi doesn't like the spotlight off him for so long!

Gay Rights & the Supreme Court Judgement

Does the Court mean to say that you can feel one way, but our opinion of society and civilization decrees that regardless of your feelings your behaviour must be `according to this'. Therefore homosexuality is as unacceptable as murder.

This is a tough question and can be argued in many ways. After all what's free sex in Scandanavian societies is Adultery in the Middle east.



I will have to come back to this blog---to get my thoughts right.

TV Anchors & Political Cynicism

Media--particularly TV Media sells a cynical view only. TV anchors should not confuse critical media with cynical media---it is creating a mind control that is particularly harmful to youth in particular---as can be seen in the debate around the making of a Delhi government. 

Neta --centric--to People centric Politics

Indian. Political Power  must be purged from being neta centric to becoming  people--centric.  Modi or any other leader too will suffer the cost of  self--delusion, as all leaders do when hubris takes over. People's power is like Goddess Lakshmi, it is whimsical and sits in the house of whom she fancies as pure--hearted and deserving. 

Dharma Politics & Dharma Bureaucracy

Yes, Rahul has his heart in the right place--but Congress workers arms must reach out  to the farthest needy Indian who desperately want a clean neta to lead.

You cannot doubt that Kejriwal has clicked the `Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi & JL Nehru' button of emotional connect which Indian political parties had lost. But Sheila Dikshit is right in asking whether a `pragmatic work force will follow?' Or will Arvind only be effective as an Opposition? AAP too needs the Sheila Dikshits to transform the left--over agenda of Delhi inner cities--the bureaucratic malaise that does not allow municipal schools, hospitals, civic amenities to function and deliver.

Mani Shankar Aiyar's Sanity in Express

Mani Shankar has voiced a most sane edit piece in the Express. Only I so not like his defeatist attitude. Congress was a biradari till it lost out to Kejriwal. Now kejriwal has usurped Congress's high moral ground'. Gandhi and Nehru swayed the masses because Sacrifice, and Morality were with them. Congress must re--gain that. Only when its heart beats for the inner city problems---a school for my kid, a clean road, a sewer repaired, an end to bureaucratic malaise---will the Party rejuvenate. MP's must be made accountable for this--otherwise Winnability for what and for whom? Power for whom? For personal aggrandizement alone?

Ab Sab mahilaein, hum sab UP chale, desh ko Badle

Dolly, Humayun's Tomb, and Elections

Chalo UP---ab Up Chalo. Please Shoba Oza, take a train of women activists, that says -----ab ham sab UP kp badlenge.  

Dalai Lama, Rahul Gandhi & Kejriwal

Like Tibet was over run by China just when the oligarchy realized that reforms were needed, and the young Dalai Lama would have done just that, had Tibet's fate waited just a few years--maybe two.

So the Congress old guard may realize that by not giving way soon enough to the new momentum of clean politics, the tidal wave of change  may just overwhelm the diehard cynics, that, like the phoenix, a new one may have to rise from the ashes.

Kudos to Chetan Bhagat--Goodness is the new Cool

Jai Ho to Bhagat for coining this--spread it around--Goodness is the new Cool

Rahul is right Congress must do a Kejriwal

Actually Kejriwal's agenda was Congress's one. It is what they were mandated to do and were it not for the corrupt national polity which creeps into our everyday--this is where they were headed. All right thiking Congressmen should work for a corrupt--free Congress immediately. Governance should be their mantra and dharma raaj should be the deliverance. And it must be seen from the top down. Congress should not turn away willing and eager right minded workers. Delhi elections went awry because of this--it became a `management'  manual versus the AAP model which was an emotional outpouring. Question that needs to be asked--why were genuine well -wishers turned away from Congress electioneering? Why did it become an inbred exercise instead? 

Rahul's party agenda

Rahul Gandhi has the same agenda as Kejriwal--the differences lie elsewhere--TV Media's coverage is superficial, and lacks the deeper understanding of what power--political--is all about---and few `pundits' have actually played the game to comment about this in a riveting way. Piyush Goel of the BJP in particular is particularly unconvincing. Madhu Kishwar's championing of Modi is unconvincing and stinks of opportunism. Kumar Vishwas was more convincing in saying that the game has changed but Goel continues to talk in an outdated jargon. Congress is aware that there is a new wave blowing--question is, how to take a top heavy unwieldy party along with the new winds.  

Is Kejriwal's Party the new CPM

Is Kejriwal's party replacing the CPM? 

Rahul Gandhi & an Unfinished Agenda

Rahul Gandhi’s Unfinished agenda—

In a Hamlet like situation, will he won’t he continues to muster public debate. 

I am not privy to the heir –apparent’s thoughts, but I have seen him as a young man eating parathas out of a plastic tiffin in St Columba's School like any other  middle class boy when the sons of rich Marwari  and Punjabi businessmen  were doling out wads of pocket money and having chauffeurs wait upon them. 

Yes he was the Prime Minister’s grandson then, and Indira Gandhi had been in power eleven years. A fine simple boy in Class 8, simply trying to cope with having a normal Indian school life when the news came that bullets had struck. That surely was the end of childhood and the beggining of an abnormal life of fear. What has propelled him into politics?  Instead of like our own kids he could be in New York or Barcelona, lapping up the good life.

It's an emotionally unfinished agenda—if only his supporters in the Party could understand this beyond the chorus of `PM, PM’. 

Perhaps the boy within that young man does not want to inherit  a hollow republic and truly wants to first set India right. 

Dec 8th--Anna's timing?

Anna must appear to be above Party Politics---its again the case of Caesar's wife---So Anna's timing to begin a a fast for Lok Pal Bill raises some questions? So soon after knowing the results of the Elections? His disclaimer of Kejriwal also raises some questions. His objections to the AAP also do not ring sincere--maybe his objections should be better drafted--because objecting to Kejriwal forming a Political party for the sake of objecting to it--becomes a bit of a conundrum. 

Is Anna Hazare suffering from a Bruised Ego?

Is Anna suffering from a bruised ego because Arvind Kejriwal has taken the wind out of his sails? The stream goes into the river and the river into the sea--yeh tho zindagi mein hota hain. Movements don't belong to anyone, and the youth take it forward.  What do you think dear reader? 

Kejriwal & Co

Gimme Gimme Gimme is what they had said--and all channels are calling them `Spoilers'. They have become Hissedars and not Spoilers which is what I pointed out on News X--the longer the ruling parties continue to delude themselves---the harder they will fall--Immediately--be the change you wish to see--Urban India is speaking out loud. 

Mother of all Polls--the Indian Middle Class has spoken

The Indian Middle Class has spoken--its wants  a share of the Pie and Political Parties can no longer ignore this. The Congress in particular must take heed....or it will be a case like Tibet and the Dalai Lama. When the Dispensation awoke---all was already lost---the PLA had taken over. 

Delhi Polls--2013

The Voter is telling the Political Parties---get younger or move out. Certainly today the Voter is impatient with the old style of politiking. Rahul Gandhi was certainly trying to make the change in the Congress Party. The younger lot--like Pilot, Scindia, and others are the gung ho generation that wants to deliver. The question is that is the Party going to allow it---are the veterans going to make way for this--if not the Party will have to die before the sphinx rises again. Congress needs to introspect to create a " Dharam Raja'. It needs to invoke the spirit of the Freedom Movement---it must let the good people within it make the change. 

Delhi Polls--Dec 2013

Delhi should go out to Vote in large numbers to show that the Electorate is maturing. It should not be  Vote on Caste or Loyalties---but on Performance as it has affected you----Be the Change you wish to see. Make your Politician do their best by you because you DEMAND it--not supplicate it. Do not allow Governments to subsidize you are a favour to you--but because that is your entitlement.

Perform or Leave--should be the message they send out---

We shall not wait in queues for
1. recommendations to schools,
2. mistakes in our water and electric bills
3. our property tax matters
4. To show our proximity to you so that the SHO and Police Constable register our complaints.
5. For our drains to be cleaned
6. For our garbage to be collected
7. For Basic Municipal Services
8. For our Parks to be maintained.

We Demand that you perform on all these civic matters. Give us our Rights as described in the Directive Principles or we will Vote you out. 

Tejpal & BG Verghese

Kudos to BG Verghese for a fine piece of writing---

Delhi goes to Polls--Dec 2013

What does the Voter want--the emotional connect. the Winnability factor does not hinge on  Logic. It does not hinge on Rhetoric either. An Indira Gandhi can win against a Modi any day. But does our Grand Old party have the courage. Can it get over its own Insecurity to field genuine leaders who will be Game Changers. Or is it still resting on the time tested old logic of foxy strategy. People who genuinely appreciate the work of the Party (sure, no party or human is infallible--but the Party has given us a `binding ethos' that every Indian can believe in and be part of as a nation) should rise up and shout in one voice----Give us the Game Changing candidates....set out to build an Emotional Connect with your voter base before 2014 

Goa Prison & Chocolate Cake-- the Tarun Saga--Mama's Manual

Questions--that will be asked sooner or later


Do girls no longer listen to the warning signals--the `mama's voice' in their heads which in my time was full of `Do's and Don't's'---Dress, Hours, Language, Familiarity-----that we were told in our day differentiated the `woman' from the `lady'.  Do elements of `career advancement' while making crucial decisions weigh more than bodily safety. And finally the sanctity of sex is ripped apart in today's society--be it film, music, or the workplace. What do mothers tell their daughters anymore? 

The King is Dead, Long live the King--Dilli ka Rajah

Dilli ka Rajah kaun banega? Ji hanh--kaun? Gupta, Kejriwal or Dikshit?

Two days are left and Delhi--ites are wondering.

When Dolly takes her morning walk in Humayun's Tomb she too is wondering--but her question is something larger--when did Cynicism in Indian society grow so endemic in our society that we say--aise hi hota hai? Honesty does not seem to matter much--the emphasis is on deliverance---do we look for honesty and probity in Public Life--or do we look for ...bhai kaam ho jana chahiye?

These are ponderous questions---and there is no clear answer---but  the election results in Delhi will tell us  how deep the roots of cynicism have grown in this blatantly capitalist age, a capitalist age in which there are no checks and balances, where Public Opinion has not yet matured into a vote share to claim this role. Delhi will be a Show Case to measure if the intelligentsia has become the critical vote--bank mass to influence Votes as they did Policy in the Damini Sexual Assault Case....

Dolly asks the Delhi Public--what will it be--Truth or Deliverance. As the winter chill forces her to drape her shawl tighter,  she gazes up at the spread out foliage of the neem trees and think how much simpler it was in Humayun's times, you just chopped a head, and the answer lay in the sword. 

Dikshit, Kejriwal, and the Lotus.

Sheila Dikshit is 75 or maybe 76. But she packs a punch, and is good to go for another few years. She will deliver too for another few years. She is the quintessential politician. Kejriwal is full of ideas, frustrated with a political climate that won't give a chance to people who want to contribute. He is adamant, energetic, and nobody's chamcha. Not quite sure what the BJP has in terms of news ideas--except for Modi. Modi is no magic wand and if he is--what need does he have for the BJP.

Conundrum. Or not. Maybe the answer is staring you in the face----dear Voter. Kejriwal, maybe the answer is staring at you too in the face---Support Dikshit and get rid of the cobwebs with her---and show you can deliver, not just only in opposition.  

Dolly & Humayun's Garden

Dolly took a walk in Humayun's Tomb after a very long time. She thought she missed it, but she didn't, when, walking down did not arouse the emotions that she thought it would, she realized the experience was over. It had been lived out. She was ready to move on, to another city, another house, another garden. She was over it. What a relief. If only she was over Colonelpura--but the little provincial UP hick town was still in her bloodstream--embedded in her gut--and wouldn't get out. 

Life is Good

Life is Good till it goes wrong. And then it goes horribly wrong. With Tarun Tejpal it has gone horribly wrong. But a lot of people who hate what he did are still asking questions. And the questions are about what women can expect to go wrong and whether our mothers and grandmothers words of wisdom were right that in exercising our freedom we could also exercise the old tradiitonal caution---like we do when driving. I am good, I am great, I am the best driver....but what if the guy coming at me in the red car isn't? An accident...its me who suffers, me who crashes, and me who might just ......end up where I don't want to..

Diversity of views is called for

We must allow as diverse a view of the Tejpal Case in our media space as is possible. Divergent and wide views must be aired and sought, to open the debate to what is happening in Society, and whether women's expectations of civilized behaviour can be met. The Case raises so many contentions as well as a look at the wider implications---- or the Women's cause will not be served.  Also anchors should have a track record of a politician's gender biases, before allowing them to pontificate to an audience or they are only muddying the waters of what should be a healthy informed debate. 

Media & Public Perception--reality and illusion

The most frightening this in this is how Public Perception is being moulded by an unscrupulous Social & TV Media as reported by CobraPost and which we all have known for some time. Politicians say they have to harness it for their own benefit because the `other' side is on a rampage. Immediately Press Council of India, or the relevant institution  should appoint a Committee to frame rules of Social Media Combat--for what is at stake is Democracy of thought. Read Delilo's " White Noise' . Revisit the Dreyfuss Case. If you repeat a lie often enough, 90 % of the people will believe it,  goes the old adage.

Take Hollywood films as a case--if Media, whether it is through cinema halls, tv, or internet, control the content of what we see--that is all we will see, and revenue goes to Hollywood. All the other great films quietly rest in the dust. 

Witch Hunt & Tehelka

Firstly

1. Tarun Tejpal is the accused and not Tehelka. Teheka did not commit the alleged offense so why is the debate centering around Tehelka. Please distinguish between institution and people.

2. Politicians trying to hijack the case to score points is sickening. Obviously the cause of women is only being paid lip service---for the real honey pot is political mileage.
So MEDIA IS DOING A DISSERVICE TO WOMEN, PARTICULARLY THE VOCIFEROUS ANCHORS----

3. Now its all about the TRP's--- the rest be hanged.

4. Just give the 33% Bill--reservation for Women and let them look after themselves--thank you sirs.

5. yes ---justice  must not only be done but must seem biased and fair. 

Tejpal Case--Beware Media--this is not a Nirbhaya moment

TV Media is doing it again. No doubt in the Nirbhaya case the Media shook up a sleepy government and made them stand up. But there is an element of vouyerism here that is taking away from the gravity of the offence and circumstance. The Roman Arena syndrome is not helping the cause of women's rights over their bodies.

Tarun Tejpal & Bandwagon Feminists

This is becoming an ugly case with too much obfuscation.

Indian TV Media and Tejpal

Tarun has fallen victim to the incestuous TV Media. I still re--iterate like others that he has erred gravely in no uncertain terms. That whatever the `beast' within him be, dalliance, predatory or otherwise, just the sheer age difference and the nature of their family relationship should have deterred him from doing what he did even if he felt attracted to the young journalist. But the question raised is--of all the women in the Tehelka fiefdom, why did he need to do this. surely if he was looking for a sexual encounter, he could have chosen someone willing, and made it a consensual one?

Immature TV Media,Tejpal and the Aarushi Case

So the debate last night was all about Trial by Media. And an anchor was wearing his infamous `white hat'. In his `holier than thou' he has begun to remind me of Fox News anchors especially at the time of the Obama re--election. He reaches a goalpost in his mind and then turns all debate into making only that argument. He alone is the star on his show.

Having said that----I for one don't believe the whole story that is out--something is not quite right.

1. Human nature is curious....but as someone else said...why in the world would a 14 year old be attracted to a servant of 45 when dozens of young boys with raging hormones reside in the very populated colony she lives in. People know something...and they are not telling....reminds one of the famous NYC case where the truth came out after 3 years.....And as someone else remarked---is there any connection to the Nithari killings at all?

Tarun Tejpal's Case

I am not coming out in defense of Tarun Tejpal's actions. They are reprehensible and should be condemned. If a woman does not want sex--a man must hear her.


While, as women, we are all on the side of the victim, some more explanations are needed and why is media not asking them. Is it a question of Caesar' s wife? Why is no one courageous enough to ask these questions in the Media? Particularly an anchor who does a `baal ke khaal' on everything?  

Victory Day--November 18th--world wide kosen rufu

Casting off the Transient--Revealing the True----that is what Victory Day--November 18th celebrates---for the Soka Buddhists---

Dolly had a revelation--all aggression comes from one's thoughts--watch them flit in and out--watch them carefully as you would a small child playing with sharp knives--- 

East Village, NYC, has a park--called the Children's Gardening Project, down by 12th street between Ave A & B, that has an atmosphere that is quintessential Village, something quite quaint, and which makes the City what it is. 

Desperately Seeking America is how Dolly would put it. Driving out of NYC, to the small village of Oaks, PA, it became more apparent that this was a country where people were mixed into a polyglot of cultures, traditions and races, and they felt they had made a new whole out of this--because they had learnt how to survive and be rich--but they hadn't really. they were as far removed as Hollywood movies are from life.
The Americans were really just playing with expensive toys--and the novel " White Noise " came to mind. 

Dolly & the Big Apple

Dolly has been plenty times to New York. Each time it feels as if its a beehive. A beehive without really a Queen Bee. Meaning one to the Manor Born. Its also about a feeling where you are desperate to create history. you, meaning the American peoples. History is not happening organicaly here, it is like a class--101, then 102, and so on. They are structuring it--they are making it happen--its not happening to them, so the shadows that act as a binding glue to creating something cohesive is missing. yes, there are no shadows in New York. If there were any they have been cast, recast, typecast, analysed, reanalysed, so that they are no longer shadows, nebulous beings.

What's a civilization without its shadows!!

But its happening in India as well--we too are trying for this monocramatic culture of " chains and brands" the predictability of knowing what you can get, like in each New Jersey strip mall.
 

Asaram Bapu--a sick man or crazed by power?

Asaram Bapu's case of sexual molestation brings something else to mind. The responsibility of parents!

How many times in India have we heard of minor girls being molested by so called sadhus. Let me tell you a story of an extremely protective and self righteous mother, who staked her whole credo on her belief that  conservative upbringing was the key to a successful marriage for her daughters. In her quest for this she went to soothsayers and godmen who assured her that her daughters would be wed within their caste community fold to eligible young men of her choice.

She could return feeling blessed and satisfied at the performance of her parental duties.

And then she took herself and her daughter to yet another god man well considered in her larger family circle.

The " Asaram Bapu" code of conduct was repeated. The old man mauled the young girls breasts and more. The young girl was too frightened to tell her mother, and when she did, her mother said, hush hush, your matrimonial chances will diminish if a scandal breaks out--and who will believe us.

She bought her daughter's complicity with worldly wisdom--assuring her of a Good Match.
An upper middle class woman! How many like her have been silenced.

This young girl  from UP, and her braver parents have shown middle class India--that it should not be silenced.

Asram Bapu's conduct is just the tip of the iceberg! Were the young women of India to speak out there would be a deluge of complaints of sick godmen around--predators in saffron.

Besides what would a man of God want with worldly wealth of 8000 crores?

Seamus Heaney--the silencing of a poet laureate

Castalian Spring---courtesy Kenyon Review

by Seamus Heaney

Thunderface. Not Zeus's ire, but hers
Refusing entry, and mine mounting from it.
This one thing I had vowed: to drink the waters
Of the Castalian Spring, to arrogate
That much to myself and be the poet
Under the god Apollo's giddy cliff--
But the inner water sanctum was roped off
When we arrived. Well then, to hell with that,
And to hell with all who'd stop me, thunderface!
So up the steps then, into the sandstone grottoes,
The seeps and dreeps, the shallow pools, the mosses,
Come from beyond, and come far, with this useless
Anger draining away, on terraces
Where I bowed and mouthed in sweetness and defiance.

Hum Sab Ayodhya

Ayodhya—Righteous Rule

It is the quest for a homeland that  brings me back to eastern UP— the mud huts,  haystacks, wheat and mustard fields, a landscape I grew up with.  By now  the wheat has been cut, fields lie fallow waiting for rain but green mango kaeries  ripen in orchards. But like elsewhere in UP, aspirations are fast changing  and  the erstwhile Kingdom of Kosala is no exception. Cyber  media game shows, glitzy mobile phones, aah nachle—dance and song TV competitions-- enthrall  Ayodha’s youth  at the 2Star Ram Shyam Hotel, the only one here. Come evening and no bhajan-kirtan for them,  instead  it’s  Big Boss on a communal  TV.  Scoffs a local scribe—no budding Tulsidas either, poetry  like news is bought and sold.

Some  weeks  ago instead of the  anti-corruption rallies,   this Hindi heartland witnessed a mega Congress Party rally at Basti, followed by  the BJP one in Faizabad. Thousands of loaded cars sponsored by prospective MLA-- ticket seekers  poured in from neighbouring districts in a show of strength. But Ayodhya’s locals shrugged nonchalantly. Simply no one took notice of Ravi Shankar Prasad and Nitin Gadkari thundering on Ram Mandir;  a non-issue they said. Though there is no denying BJP--MLA Lallu’s  Singh popularity here. His people to people contact is exceptional says Yatin Misra, prince-ling of erstwhile Ayodhya state,  of  `vidhayak’ Lallu. But  imagine claiming if ` mandir’ is built he will light up Ayodhya like a dulhan?  Is there  any mention of development?  Of civic amenities? Beyond widening of roads, has any change taken place? That’s why  beyond  Ayodhya, its other political parties that hold sway.   

Though Ayodhya’s history is well documented in Valmiki’s Ramayana, it is in the Atharvaveda that  its antiquity is first mentioned. The  Ikshvaku kings of Suryavanshi descent,  make up Lord Rama’s  kingdom of   Kosala  divided by the sacred river Saryu with  Sravasti the capital of the north  and Ayodhya,  the south. Though  Ram holds sway here,  it is not the hi-fi pilgrim but  the lower middle class  that comes in droves, from distant Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra.  Some walk  barefoot to the  heavily guarded Ram Janam Bhumi Nyas.  The police guards and  the heavy rolls of barbed wire do not daunt them.

But  having `Ram’s Janam bhumi’  here has been pernicious for Ayodhya,  says activist Gopal Krishna,  yet another writ petitioner of the Ram Janam Bhumi Nyas controversy, also reminding me that the name Avadh adopted by the latter Nawabs came from Ayodhya. A  thousand temples, ten thousand —there is no record of how many, or revenue earned, or taxes paid. Arre  yahan koi documentation  parampara se nahin hain, adds Mr R.C. Gaur of the Ayodhya Shodh Sansthan, a research institute  established in 1985 under the then Chief Minister Veer Bahadur Singh.  No heritage laws apply here, no Antiquities or Treasure Acts.  The mahants are secretive, they don’t like to reveal their sources of wealth, and no one dare annoy the all powerful mahants.

But says the sane voice of Kaushal Kishore Das `Phalahari’  Baba,   of all of us here who wear the `sadhu- make up’,  who is a real sadhu?  Locals gossip, today  religion is a  part of a  money- laundering racket for Marvari seths, sometimes `rajneti’. In this  town of contradictions, religiosity is mixed with extreme pragmatism. Mandir  has become a `khilona’, a toy, continues  `Phalahari’ Baba, just another  face for the  desire for power. If the  Mandir- Masjid  controversy ends will  NRI Hindus or Middle- east Muslims  send money.  Think, who stands to lose?  All I wonder  is-- why  is science  progressing but humanity  regressing, why  are powerful states  fraught with paranoia, are  unselfconfident and unstable, he continues? Surely mandir-masjid doesn’t offer a solution to this?

The outburst of Hashim Ansari, the oldest litigant in the Ayodhya title suits,  is more impulsive. A  Muslim is afraid if he loses `Masjid’ he loses his relevance in this nation. Suppose  we say, okay, no mosque then how do we know there  won’t be a Mathura or some new demand won’t arise.   Peeda hai, Dukh hai, dard hai, usko leke kahan jaye hum? Is this the price of democracy? As long as there is money  in conflict—this will continue. So how can there be an amicable settlement.

Think, 25 lakhs spent each day guarding Ram Janam bhumi Nyas. In a mere  2.77 acres you have 14 PAC and 7 CRPF batallions, numerous Dog Squads, 50 darogas and what have you. BJP walas  wish Ram Mayya to rule, instead Ram lalla is under  lock and key, and the looters are running around enjoying life, he rants, while the Police nationwide  has become daku. Will  those who shout slogans of Hindutva  alone be allowed to live? Will they drive Muslims out into the Arabian sea—where will we go—look at  Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Pakistan? No state  can thrive on the basis of religion—literature and history show this.  All agree Pakistan is a failed state. —Agar masjid lene say aman aaye ga-- then take the masjid. But remember too it was in Akbar’s darbar  that Tulsidas wrote the Ramayana. 

We have to look at the nation, says Hashim. Ek hi formula hai--Mohabbat se jeeyo. Or what legacy do we leave the youth-- Youth do not think anymore.  How can they? If a father sells his house to educate his son and then he needs another 5-10 lakhs to bribe his son’s way to a job, how and what will his son think? We supply cow meat,  arhar daal, but do not eat it. Foreigners eat  better  basmati rice than us.  Why?  Because the nation needs dollars to buy arms. Where are those dollars going? Do they come back to  us  so we can  live in a better way?

Meanwhile Asif Ahmad, City President Congress Party talks about the success at the Basti Rally on 24^th April, 2011. We sent 32 cars, he said. We showed them our strength. All our leaders were there, Salman, Punia ji, Beni babu, etc. But did you tell them about your organizational weaknesses, I ask. Arre who listens….Politics is of the moment—we win on the lehar, the wave—Jo le gaya so ley gaya—5 saal ke leye raja hain voh!  All the rest remains. Then why talk of vikas, development? The voter is not educated enough to think like that.

Says Phalahari Baba, people are foolish. If I am ready to be made a fool of, why should the man not make a fool of me? The politician does it and wins the vote.  Who is angry with the system—no one. The temple trusts are  only angry as to who got more.  The women  employed to perform kirtan –bhajan at one temple are lured away by another  if offered a better make-up kit, Yatin laughs, they argue whether it is Ponds or Lakme. And when a popular TV show picks up people it is for their controversial sound byte—and a nonentity becomes a celebrity—who cares if no one knows him here! No one wants to know what Ayodhya really  is—says Yatin. Rumour has it his father, the Raja joined the BSP,  to save his property from the hands of  `Madam’

There is no Ayodhya anymore, it is a figment of the mind,  says `Phalahari’ Baba.  Open drains are filthy, garbage dumps rot, the populace full of hustlers and cynics.

So what did Ayodhya once stand for,  Ram Rajya?  Do you see any righteous rule here?

Meanwhile, the Ayodhya Shodh Sansthan, a research Institute set up in 1985,  continues to show the Ram lila enacted by a troupe from Barabanki for 15 days before the next arrives  to a rapt lower middle-class  audience. With them is a kubdi mai who has braved  the heat, the poor transport, bad footwear,  and come all the way. Is it belief that sustains,  belief that as long as they hear the recitation of Tulsidas’s chaupais  there is still hope that righteous rule, in this crime-infested state  might still prevail.

Food Security--Good Governance or the Politics of Votes

Democracy works on votes. Votes means the wish of the people. So Food Security--if it gets you votes--is democratic. Right?  So where is the dichotomy?

 

The real question is are we in for short term democracy or long term gain. It highlights a larger question--that brings to view what governance models are about? If they are about short term democracy then we have to follow short term models of governance and finally end up with  elections every two years?

 

The Food Security Bill also throws up larger questions of good economics as Arun Shourie says " Where is the money coming from?"

 

But Mr Shouries people who don't fight elections have opinions that don't count. Its a sad state but this is what it is. So if you want your opnion to count you have to face the Arena. Armchair politicians  can always only have half the picture. Sad but true, they can only make good copy.  

Similarly chatterati don't count in an Election. Pundits don't count. Rajya Sabha MP's don't count. Newspaper editors don't count. They are not in the Arena of the Bull Fight.

 

The Shouries of teh world need to give an electoral answer, not just an academic one, because that is how Indian democracy has been played--by all parties so far--Otherwise change the Constitution.

 

 

Dolly & Media

Dolly thinks Media has begun to control our lives--begun to subtly shape, and sometimes not so subtly shape who we see, what we do, what we think. I don't want to see this bunch of actors on every Times of India or HT city page----but I have to, they, these papers are making them popular--finally they are intruding into my space and mind and life--I am no longer free to even think my own thoughts, mutters Dolly to herself as she takes her morning walks in Humayun's Tomb.

Banner of Peace---Roerich

Do you know about The Banner of Peace? Do you know why we should present it to maestro Zubin Mehta in September, when he conducts the Bavarian Philharmonic in Srinagar?

Kashmiri Dost

An exhibition on Kashmiri Pandits---yes that's me, I curated it. Thought it was time someone gave credit to us folk--instead of hounding us out of Kashmir and pretending we never existed unless it was in some Muslim approved garb. Its the problem I have with all shades of fundamentalism--turning the Other out of the Pale--so we have been turned out and Kashmir can only be of one denomination--yes say it please--a Muslim Kashmir.

There he comes, a wily politician, snivelling his way into the circle of viewers and he remarks taht he would love to sponsor the exhibit in Srinagar. Od course we want the Pandits back, genocide, ethnic cleansing, whoever told these fairy tales--we love them, the Hindus--see I want to take your Exhibition to Srinagar, and give you a good time at Kashmir University, but surely, yes, surely you understand, you cannot have an Exhibition on the Kashmiri Pandits alone, can you not put in a few of Muslim Kashmiris, after all that chap there, Mohanlal is so well--known, yes he did convert, and let's do this exhibition there as well--Muslims & Hindus----no marks for guessing who is moustachiod politico might be.  

So its an all out Media War. They really think this Election will be won by the chatterati--but if only chatterati were not as compromised as they are--who owns the Media Houses--who decides what to throw up--how much share componenet is owned by whom? How may want real estate deals in Pakistan, who wants to build the Oil pipeline? Yes Pakistan will be the news profit pickings--why the poor chaps need everything to pull them out of their feudal state. So which group of journos shoudl we take? Those who talk peace? Those who promote war? Hail to the Halleburtons of India---we, teh Media, have truly sold ourselves. Well its a nice state to be in when illusions are cast off and we know now everything, yes everything is for sale. Hail to  American Capitalism! You have truly conquered the world--perhaps the Islamic frontier is the only true one left?

Dolly & Things

Sitting on her favourite bench in Humayun's Tomb, Dolly is wondering about her scrap with her husband. All of 35 years married and he still could not understand why a housewife could get fed up of things. Things that needed to be looked after, things that needed to be washed, things that needed to be dusted, valuable things that could break.....no she no longer wanted things. She no longer wanted to be the person who could want things.

She wanted to be thing--free.

Modi and Lutyen's Underdog

Lutyens Delhi joins hands against a  rank outsider--??? Seriously Tavleen Singh, you cannot fill your column in last Sunday's Indian Express, with this argument, thought Dolly.

Are you ignoring all what has happened in the last 20 years in Indian politics; are you forgetting Lalu as Railway Minister or Mamta, or Nitish, or Mulayam or Beni Prasad Varma?

Your line of argument is Dynasty versus a Raw Political Recruit--alias Modi Sahib. Many politicians have risen on their own might and made it to the Parliament and also Ministership--IK Gujral for one was known to have said that he came to this city of Delhi--a victim of partition-- riding a bicycle. He ended in Maharani Bagh and Amrita Sher-Gill Marg!!

The type of politician NaMo signifies is not unique to Lutyens Delhi, infact he is better off as he has the whole monetary and moral might of the RSS--who certainly must've benefitted from his years of Chief Ministership in Gujarat--directly or indirectly--and .....understandbly so...Dolly thought, on her bench in Humayun's Tomb, again reading Tavleen Singh's outrageous column in the Indian Express,
but after the past edcades  of the underdog claiming bureaucratic and political space to reduce the argument of Rahul vs Modi to mere Lutyens Delhi's penchant for social snobery--that is a political cliche is ever there was one.

Onions and Dolly

Dolly refused to buy onions! Rs 80 a kilo! And now the newspapers reported it was a cartel of traders trying dirty tricks to make a fast buck and also to create confusion! Tch tch what all they will stoop to in an Election Year!

Dolly had one conclusion--eat like a Kashmiri Pandit---no onions in their gravies--made of curds and ginger! Her Punjabi neighbour, Swaran Ahuja was flummoxed----a curry without onions--but Dolly promptly made her her best Roghan Josh, and sent a dish up!

Take some meat pieces and marinate  a little with some dahi and a half tea spoon ful of dried ginger or sonth. Then heat some ghee or oil in a Karahi, and add some cloves, hing and elaichi. Put in the marinated mutton and put the lid on. Let the water slowly dry off before you start scraping the bottom of the dish which has begun to brown. Couple of scrapes--could take half and hour and you have a perfectly browned mutton roghan josh. Add some red chilli powder and garam masala. And have it with basmati rice, or phulkas. Dolly also likes to add some potatoes to the curry, and sometimes a few long pieces of lauki--finger licking dish it is!!

Bye Bye onions---a KP for sure doesn't miss you.  

Dolly & Independence Day

Another Independence Day gone thinks Dolly. Its as if her own life lay spread out in front of her as she watched Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's sad face on the TV. She knew what he was thinking. He was thinking-- does NaMo really know what he is saying when he talks about Poverty, and Pakistan all in the same breath?  Does he know that seizing the throne of Delhi will not be a magic wand that will cure all the ills of India. How gladly he would hand over his own burden if only he could find one honest man to give it over to. No one--least of all the media--knows how difficult it is to find that one man in this whole country--a man fit to wear the crown.....

Dolly feels his burden as if it were her own--whom can he trust, what can he do?

Enjoy your time in the opposition NaMo---enjoy the slugfests while you can---India is not a Gujarat that you can control with money or muscle.  And the crown you hope to wear will be one of thorns---
 

Kashmiri Pandits--A Vintage Album--Exhibition

EXHIBITION---IIC GALLERY ANNEXE--

6TH TO 15TH AUGUST, 2013   

Team—Curator- Dr. Manju Kak;  Text- Siddharth Kak & Manju Kak;  Editor- Meenakshi Kumar;  Panel design- Mohd. Zishan;  Exhibition Assistant- Garima Minocha.

 Acknowledgements- Jamia Archives, Teen Murti Memorial Museum & library, Anchit Gupta, Priya Kapoor, BN Sharga, Henny Sender, Kusum Pant, T.Tochhawng, MK Razdan, Sarla Razdan, Punam Zutshi, Individuals

     

“Kashmiri Pandits of North India-A Vintage Album”

A contribution to the making of India

The contribution of the Kashmiri Pandit to Indian society and politics is significant compared to their small numerical strength.

The rise of Pt JL Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister,  to the national stage as a statesman and politician with an egalitarian world view is rooted in the cultural and intellectual milieu of the community he came from. This exhibition seeks to trace those roots through a history of two centuries of migration and acknowledges the work of fine scholars and researchers such as Henny Sender, Kusum Pant, B.N. Shargha, and Anchit Gupta amongst others who have re-traced the history of this community, piecing it together through sources such as the monumental two-volume Bahar-i-Gulshan-i-Kashmir, civil lists, newspapers, community journals, archival taluqdaari records and historical texts.

It  showcases the early migration from over 300 years through photographs taken from archives and individuals who are acknowledged.

This community of people who migrated to the Indian plains from the pristine Kashmir valley at varying points of time in history easily adapted and adopted the cultures they inhabited. This ability helped them to progress and prosper. The Kashmiri Pandits (KPs) have contributed to the secular ethos of Indian society and politics out of proportion to their small numbers. Historian Henny Sender says,  they acted like a 'bridge' connecting the Islamic to the Hindu communities, in the cultural mix of the 18^th & 19^th century Indo-Islamic world and later the British. It is often inferred, in modern times, their abdication of this role has been an unfortunate loss to the secular world. Following the bloody events of 1947, till the beginning of militancy in 1989, migration from Kashmir Valley has been of a different order. Their current displacement is one of the greatest human tragedies since Partition. Their  abdication of this role post—1947 is perceived to be a loss to India’s secular traditions particularly in the light of the ethnic cleansing witnessed in post 1989 Kashmir Valley. Not only that, at a time when ethnic and caste divisions are becoming deeply manifest in the Indian polity, few cohesive voices exist any longer to span them. In this context  a re-look at the history of  communities that  kept the social fabric  intact through their secular outlook, such as also Parsis, Kayasthas and Khatris of yore, becomes a worthwhile endeavour. 

Their migration spread over different periods in history, starting as early as the 14^th century. Far away from their roots, this community of Kashmiri Brahmins or Pandits, developed a unique cultural milieu that took the best of their traditions and adeptly mixed it with the cultures they inhabited. This inherent quality to adapt was one of the key reasons behind their success and rise in new socio-political regimes.

When the KPs left the Valley, their knowledge of Persian, Sanskrit  and other classical languages, helped them find jobs. Employment came first in the Mughal courts in Delhi, and later, they contributed to the administration of the erstwhile Rajput and Muslim princely states of North India as diwans, ministers and advisors. Steeped in Indo-Persian tradition, KPs followed a mixed Hindu-Muslim social and literary culture, and thereby, developed close ties with the upper Muslim class as well as the Hindu Kayasthas. This social interaction gave them a secular outlook, thus making them a favourite with their rulers. In the early years of migration during the Mughal era, Kashmiri Pandits, or KPs, worked  as tutors and scribes in the courts and daftars. Later when the might of the Mughal empire ebbed they moved to neighbouring erstwhile Rajput and Muslim fiefdoms as divans, ministers and advisers.

One of the first to receive western education, they worked for the British through the district and high courts, the universities, and came to general governance through the Civil Services cadres of government employ.

In the later 19^th and 20^th centuries many educated and enlightened KPs were at the forefront of social reform. Their influence was not limited to politics alone; they made a significant contribution to Indian literature, development of Urdu, music, art and culture. Then, as the winds of Freedom began to blow, Mahatma Gandhi’s call for Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience found many KPs responding and became a significant part of the Movement. Pt Motilal Nehru and his son, Jawaharlal Nehru are two prominent examples, and of course Jawaharlal became India’s first Prime Minister but there are others like Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and Dr Pt Hridaynath Kunzru who contributed to India’s Freedom Struggle. After Independence in 1947, when the Indian Republic was formed, they were once again a major force in setting up modern India.

But India’s Independence turned out to be a tragic chapter for Kashmir, which acceded to India through the Instrument of Accession executed by Maharaja Hari Singh on October 26, 1947. 

Dolly & Mofussil India--Banasthali Vidyapeeth

Dolly had forgotten what it was like to live in small town India. Even more to be in a small town women's university--a Gandhian heritage circa 1935---deep into Rajasthan's rural landscape.

Driving in she got the feeling that the horse rider has in a John Wayne movie, the sultry mouth organ as a soundtrack, explaining to audience watching, that this is no--man's land, and the rider is a stranger to these inhospitable parts. But with the silence, no tv., just the daily routine of teaching and coming back to chores, a silence set in. A nice silence. By which Dolly meant a silence which though not companiable, was friendly and purring, and kind of balm to the soul. As the days passed and she counted the 6th, she found, the insects roaming about the worn carpeting in the room were not so bad, the basic bathroom not so bad, the thick chapaties at dinner, not so bad, the lack of frenzied activity after teaching hours ended not so bad. Yes on the 6th day, the night before she left, the small town inconveniences, the shabby Guest House, the very basic amenities, seemed quite refreshing to her. Which is when she told a younger colleague that she had noticed one thing about the students. they mostly looked as if they were from happy, tension free homes. No, said the younger observant colleague, they are from mofussil India, that's all. And Dolly thought to herself that metro chic was overrated, metro competitiveness was over--rated. metros over--rated. Three cheers for mofussil India. Certainly a happier India.    

Copyright

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Dolly & Swapan Dasgupta

Swapan DasGupta---Give it a Break. A Rebuttal--to his column--Sunday Times of  India --30^th June, 2013.

Dolly gets up in the morning,  late. Its a Sunday...Sunday the 30th June, 2013. How fortunate I didn't make that trip to Badrinath as planned, she thinks.  Then she looks for the Sunday paper. She gets four, but she starts with the Times accompanied by a cup of golden Makaibari. Some of the morning glow wears off as she  reads Chetan Bhagat's piece on the Indian Muslim. He has it all wrong, she thinks, he is churning out a fictitious character a la  "Indian Reluctant Fundamentalist" All the tell tale signs are there. She passes on to the next---"Rahul Baba--give it a break" by Swapan Dasgupta----what a shreiking self righteous `.....' she thinks. He almost sounds meno-pausal. 

Immediately, pen in hand, she scribbles a rebuttal---and there you have it below.

"Give it a break Swapan. Use another occasion to keep your hallowed seat in BJP’s  National Council. But ….shock, delight, tickle slap…it all sells....how can you resist.  So when the Uttarakhand monsoon disaster struck wise pontiffs like Dasgupta spill venom all over the news pages. … for instance  he wishes to inform the nation how dare Rahul Gandhi be celebrating a birthday vacation when a Cloudburst has hit Uttarakhand? Then he informs us about the decorous manner in which Indians take holidays. Indians do not go abroad. Travel agencies never sell International routes because in the summer, on birthdays, anniversaries, school vacations,  Indians only visit parents or go on pilgrimages. Patriots  like Dasgupta  probably go to their  in- laws,   to the Char Dhams or Tirupati. Certainly not Switzerland, Austria, Italy etc. His passport, for instance, would not be stamped with a Shenzhen Visa.

So….How dare Rahul Gandhi vacation abroad? Is he not a patriotic Indian?  No worries if his father is killed by a terrorist, no worries if his grand mother died at the hands of an assassin—he should visit his parents and grandparents like a good Indian  on his birthday. Because that’s what patriotic netas do---like Atal ji, Advani ji, Goel CM in waiting ji, Uma second CM in waiting ji, Swaraj ji, Jaitley ji. They do not travel abroad on a holiday, never a birthday. They go on pilgrimage---for they are body and soul in the service of  God and the Hindu nation.
Righteous pen—wielders like Swapan Dasgupta must point that out to a blind, misguided nation.  

Puts me in mind last year when national disaster struck the north American east—coast. It was an Election year, but Obama’s hands went forward to the Panic struck states. Yes, Republican Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey, was extended immediate help by Democrat President Obama while independent Michael Bloomberg endorsed Obama as a result of his handling the crisis. Nevertheless Fox News gave its proverbial election/Republican Party twist.  Immediately all America cried out….`Foul’. 

Here too---every right thinking Indian should cry---Hands Off ---don’t take the focus off the poor victims or the Forces battling to help out to score political brownie points of your own."

Having written it, she relaxes. Yeah, spilling venom feels good, she thinks.