Monday, August 25, 2008

To Krsna

How did you pin them down with your smile?
All those fluttering hearts, quivering, naked
In the playful glow of your up-curved lips?

How could you lead them on with your flute?
Those faltering feet, timorous anklets tinkling
Shattering threshold and lakshman-rekha
In hot pursuit of woodnotes in the wild?

How could you -- rustic and ribald,
Ink-black and smeared with butter
Dare smash my pretences,
Break down my defences,
Tear away my designer masks,
Make mockery of my indignation?













I am become – on this night of lamps
This flickering, flaming wick
Seeking,

Searching,
Simmering.
Dancing desperately in the dark.
How could you keep me awake and restless?
Straining
For the sound of your step
Listening
For the lilt of your tunes
Longing for your touch?

Frank Krishner: started Ranipul, Sikkim 1994 – completed Patna, Bihar 2006.


Note: lakshman-rekha – refers to the boundaries of propriety traditionally defined for Indian women. In the Ramayana, Lakshman, the brother of King Rama drew a rekha [line] around his brother’s wife Sita, who would be safe as long as she did not cross it. Ravana lured her across the lakshman –rekha and that resulted in a war, and loss of face for Sita towards the end of the saga.

The subject is Lord Krishna, the legendary god of love, who was the darling of the cow-girls and cow-boys as he grew up among them.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Staying Alive

Good things have been happening in Bihar. Not on a massive scale. But in small doses.
Like the new government intervention of having kids aged 12 to 16 access a bridge course that helps them complete the class 8 course in about 11 months. These kids are from the labouring classes. they have boarding school facilities .. that menas three square meals, books and a chance to get on with their studies without having to scrounge for a meal or to take up a job. In 11 months they should have functional literacy and numeracy. Some will stay in school. others will be able to negotiate jobs better. Brilliant!

Ugly Jammu versus Kashmir battle

A few points about the manufactured 'communal " flare-up over Amarnath
It was triggered off by the flip-flop of the state government (Kashmir) on the diversion of 800 kanals of land to SASB. An area not much larger than the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi, one journalist ponted out.

The SASB is entrusted with the responsibility of conducting the annual Amarnath yatra.
Broadly, its mandate is to provide facilities to the pilgrims who visit the holy cave of Shri Amarnath in south Kashmir.
It creates and regulates facilities for the pilgrims.
The cave is located in a snowfall area far beyond the tree line on higher reaches and can be accessed only for about three months in a year.
For the rest of the year it remains under heavy snow and, thus, is difficult to reach.

The facilities created for the pilgrims are temporary in nature and comprise mainly pre-fabricated huts, mostly toilets, since it does not make sense to try to create any permanent or even semi-permanent structures on glaciers.
So the land was diverted, temporarily, for the duration of the pilgrimage, to the SASB by the state government.
Incidentally, the allotment was made by the government on the recommendations of the forest ministry headed by Qazi Mohammed Afzal, Tariq Hamid Qarra and Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussein Beigh. All the three gentlemen belong to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a coalition partner in Azad-led government.
The three PDP ministers headed the forest, law and the tourism ministry, respectively. Besides, Mr Beigh was the number two in the state cabinet.

Part of the diverted land falls under Ganderbal, the electoral constituency and virtual fief of the Abdullahs for decades till Qazi Afzal trounced Omar in the 2002 assembly elections.

Farooq threw the proverbial first stone by questioning the wisdom of the land allotment to SASB though initially there had been no reaction in the valley against the move.
Farooq Abdullah's reaction to the land allotment was not strident or tough. Yet it made news.
And then all hell broke loose after the then chief executive officer of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board Arun Kumar made a statement which communalised the whole situation.
In his defence, Kumar says that he stepped in only when rumours about Hindu colonisation of Kashmir valley by the SASB became rather vicious.
He also pointed out that it was his duty as CEO of the SASB to try to set the records straight.


At that time, rumours were floating in Kashmir that the SASB was hatching a sinister conspiracy to change the essentially Muslim demography of the Kashmir valley.

Several local newspapers had either insinuated that large numbers of Hindus would be brought in from outside and settled on the land diverted to the SASB.
Never mind the fact that it is not possible for anyone to settle on such heights where not a blade of grass grows.
The newspapers also conveniently glossed over the fact that under Article 370, no outsider can become a permanent resident of Jammu & Kashmir.
Separatists fanned these rumours and mobilised large crowds for protest.
This led to death of five persons across the valley.

The two mainstream political opponents fighting for the Kashmiri Muslim votes
the NC led by father-son duo of Farooq and Omar Abdullah,
and the PDP led by father-daughter combine of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and
Mehbooba Mufti, are largely to blame for what happened.
They made no effort whatsoever to counter the bogey of Hinduisation of Kashmir.
Of the two, the PDP will have to take a large share of the blame as it was a part of the ruling coalition when it all started.

When contacted by a journalist for their comments, most of the NC leaders explained why they kept quiet and looked the other way:
As opposition party, it was not their responsibility to help the government.
Going a step further, they also accused the government of failing to solicit its support for normalising the situation.
Tthe Congress party, which was leading the government, also failed to scotch rumours of Hindu colonisation of Muslim Kashmir
Nothing but a shameful political drama-- the real antinationals are our Indian politicians!

'THE SHOT HEARD AROUND THE WORLD'



Melvin Durai is a Winnipeg-based writer and humorist. Bornin India and raised in Zambia , he has lived in North America since 1982. Through the Internet, his column is read by thousands of people in more than 90 countries. This week's column hits the bull's eye! (pun intended)


THIS WEEK'S COLUMN:


In case you missed the news, in case you were sleeping under a rock or just got released from Guantanamo , India won its first-ever individual gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, causing 1.1 billion people to jump up and down with joy, touching off a minor earthquake in California and a majorinterruption in tech support.

Yes, an Indian man won an Olympic gold medal -- and without all his opponents getting injured. Abhinav Bindra, a25-year-old from Delhi , won first place in the 10m air rifle event, beating 50 other shooters, including that great Albanian marksman Imer Gudschot. So excited were members of the Indian Olympic Association,s o taken in this moment of high-fives and champagne-popping, that some of them checked the official medal table to see ifIndia had moved past America . No such luck, of course, but that didn't stop Indians from celebrating like it was thegreatest Olympic achievement ever. And who can blame them?After all, it was their first individual gold medal sinceIndia began competing in the Olympics more than a centuryago, back in the days when 'catapulting' was an officialsport.'


The drought is over!' screamed one newspaper's headline, causing even more celebration across the land, particularly in the farming community.


It was a shining moment for India on the world's greatest sporting stage. As one Indian politician eloquently put it,'Abhinav Bindra has shooted us all into glory!'


Almost everyone in India , from the Prime Minister to the church minister, heaped praise on Bindra.

Even members ofthe Indian Astronomers Association, attending a conventionin Pune, took a break from the proceedings to applaud the'shooting star.' Congratulatory messages poured into India from all over theworld.


U.S. presidential candidate John McCain, hoping to endear himself to Indian-American voters, sent a congratulatory card that he said was 'from one straightshooter to another.'


Indian legislators debated a motion to celebrate Aug. 11 every year as Gold Medal Day. They voted down a proposal to display Bindra's medal at a national museum in Delhi , amid fears that the building would not be able to handle themillions who would come to view it.


The excitement and celebration may have seemed overblown,but not to Indians. '


People around the world may not know this,' a Chennai man said, 'but we Indians really love gold!


'Bindra's victory, combined with shooter Rajyavardhan SinghRathore's silver medal at the 2004 Olympics, is expected to increase the popularity of shooting in India , drawing thousands of youngsters to shooting competitions and exhibitions during breaks from cricket.'


We want shooting to be more popular in India ,' said sports administrator Baljit Singh, 'but not as popular as it is inAmerica .'


Hoping to match the success of TGC (The Golf Channel) in America , media mogul Rupert Murdoch announced that Indian viewers would soon be treated to TSC (The Shooting Channel).I t's expected to feature various shooting competitions from around the world, as well as reruns of the American shows'Gunsmoke' and 'Have Gun Will Travel.'


Rajesh Patel, who has been hired as a TSC analyst, saidBindra's victory will have a lasting impact in India , evenon sports announcing. 'We're not going to say that someone's performance is 'simply wonderful' anymore,' he said. 'We're going to say that it's 'simply Bindraful.''


Schoolchildren for years to come will learn about Bindra, thanks partly to an Indian publisher who has already put outa special alphabet book: 'A is for Abhinav. Abhinav is first name of champion. B is for Bindra. Bindra is surname of champion. C is for Chapati. Chapati is food of champion.'


Bindra has not just earned a lifetime of adulation, he has become India 's most eligible bachelor, receiving a flood of marriage proposals. Said his proud mother: 'We have received proposals from North Indians, South Indians, even WestIndians.' Indeed, a Trinidad dairy farmer with a 20-year-old daughter offered 1,000 cows in dowry, but Bindra turned down the offer, saying he doesn't want to milk his fame. That pleased Indian sports fans, who want Bindra to choose his bride carefully, believing that the country's future Olympic glory rests partly on what type of genes his children inherit. Some are even dreaming of a match betweenBindra and badminton star Saina Nehwal, an Olympic quarterfinalist. But that would be folly, according to oneIndian scientist, who said, 'If we match a badmintoner with a shooter, we might end up with a badshooter.'