Monday, October 31, 2011

An act of Cowardice

The scholar and poet, A.K. Ramanujan wrote an essay called, “Three hundred Ramayanas”.
No educated, sane person can question the erudition and the scholarly credentials of Ramanujan. The essay looks at different ways the great epic has been retold in various contexts. The different versions do not in any way diminish the importance of the epic. Rather, they enrich it.


But half-baked bigots who believe that there is only one version of the Ramayana fail to comprehend this. What is denied by these chauvinists is the richness embedded in the plurality.

It is not the views of the bigots but the views of an academic community that are at issue here.

Now, isn’t it very strange that the vice-chancellor and the academic council of Delhi University took the decision to remove this essay from the university’s undergraduate history syllabus, and that there has been no outcry from those ‘big names’ who swear they are safeguarding India’s democracy?
The poet, philosopher, essayist, late AK Ramanujan
Come to think of it, that there has been too much of an outcry from those who should be concerned with the preservation of academic standards and values, either.

As one writer put it, ‘this piece of’ history’ is no more and no less appalling than its ‘pre- history’.

In 2008, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad ‘activists’ attacked the history department of Delhi University for including this particular essay in the syllabus, and then beat up the head of the department. No record of any action taken against the hooligans who bashed up a professor.

But, perhaps not so strangely, this act of violence was followed up by a ‘complaint’ filed in the subdivisional magistrate’s court in Dera Bassi. The complainant said that the essay, inter alia, ‘hurt’ Hindu sentiments because it contained ‘libellous comments ‘about Hindu deities.

The matter ended up in the Supreme Court, which appointed a four-member expert committee to look into it.

Three members of this committee completely endorsed the essay and the fourth had no comments on the essay’s contents but noted that it would be a difficult essay to teach, especially for teachers who were not Hindus.

In spite of all this, the vice-chancellor and members of the academic council, in their wisdom, decided to strike off the essay from the syllabus.

One would have thought that core idea behind any institution of higher education is to open up the minds of students. This means, especially in a subject like history, making them aware of the different views that exist and the different texts that historians have to read and interpret. Ramanujan’s essay , I believe, demonstrates this in the case of one very important text.

Quite a few members of the academic council may not be knowledgeable about history and the concerned text. Yet they passed an opinion. This is a transgression of the norms of scholarship. The decision of the Delhi University vice-chancellor and the academic council is an act of cowardice.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

An Irish Holliday


This year, we’re throwing a small Halloween get-together in Patna, Bihar. Just a few kids and grown ups. It’s a tiny fundraising event, an excuse really, for all of us to have some fun..

Halloween was, in reality, a pagan holiday that was born from the Celtic celebration of the dark season. This specific festival is also known as “Samhain”.
In those times, Gallic people used to observe a similar  type of celebration, known as “Samonios”; however, the Gallic day has been replaced with Christian festivals; which is the reason why Halloween hasn’t remained a traditional festival for most of Europeans.
Celts observed Samhain three days before and three days after the 1st of November. Although there were no carved pumpkins or trick or treating, people used to walk holding a lantern made out of a turnip and the celebration was stricly observed by the entire pagan society. Naturally, Samhain festival was also the occasion for Barbarians to eat, drink and have lots of fun.
Through the centuries, while Continental Europeans converted to Christianity and stopped to celebrate Samonios; which was replaced with All Saints Day, Celts turned Samhain into All Hallow’s Eve.
You might wonder why I keep writing about the former Gallic pagan festival and here’s why: although All Saints Day and Halloween may appear as totally different holidays, they’re strongly linked in that “All Hallow’s Eve” means “The night before the fest of all saints” and that it was supposed to be followed by “All Hallow’s Day”; which translates into the Christian “All Saints Day” on the Continent.
As you can see, although the festivities and activities are different, the meaning of both holidays is the same.
All Hallow’s Eve evolved through the centuries and crossed the Atlantic Sea when European colonists and, more particularly, Irish emigrants, brought the festival with them to their new home country.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Less noise this Diwali?

Newspaper reports say that this year Patna experienced a less noisy and slightly cleaner Diwali than last year.
I suppose it's because the prices of fireworks have  sky-rocketed, and the rupee has less buying power.
It's also because, thanks to rising prices, I've heard several youngsters aged 18 and above say that it's not a good thing to burn money on crackers.
The prices of fireworks also got steeper thanks to the welcome dwindling of child labour employed in the business.
Even so, I did enjoy my free-fireworks show lounging on my terrace with a tall glass of something cool while I watched several other wealthy people in the apartments around lighting up the skies. The rising prices did one thing... the number of kids sneaking around with dangerous 'atom bombs' has gone down considerably.
It was, indeed a sparkling Diwali night. There were less toxic chemicals flying around in the air this year, according to the pollution control board... ABSOLUT good news. Cheers!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Ram Dayal Munda

This morning, almost a month after it happened, I learned of that Dr Ram Dayal Munda is no more.

He can be seen singing and dancing on Meghnath's memorable documentary 'Gaadi Lohardaga Mail'.

"Dance to survive!" was Ram Dayal Munda's personal slogan. He is Jharkhand's only Padma Shree, awarded the honour in 2010.

He was born in 1939 in the village of Diuri near Ranchi. He studied in Khuti, near Ranchi.
After gaining his Master's in Anthropology at Ranchi University, he moved to Chicago University, for his PhD. He joined the university's Department of South Asian Studies and pioneered the teaching of tribal and regional Languages. He also taught South-East Asian languages at Minnesota University.
It was in the US that he came into contact with native-American activists and his commitment to the political emancipation of India's 100m indigenous people – much the largest indigenous population in the world – began to grow, says an obit in the Independent.
He returned to India and became the Vice-Chancellor of Ranchi University in 1985. After retiring from teaching in 1999, he focused on international efforts to improve the status and prospects of Adivasis.
He took part in the UN Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in Geneva and other forums. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
He was sceptical of the new, fast-growth India from the Adivasi perspective. "All this hype, what does it represent for our country? – just a tiny minority is touched by all that, nothing in comparison with the millions and millions of jobless. There is no comparison with what we are losing, without compensation.
 In the mean time, millions of people will simply have to disappear. One-fifth of our tribal population is already on the street, nearly 20 million people lost, uprooted, displaced, wandering around..."

Thursday, October 20, 2011

A Quieter Diwali

It's going to be a quieter  Diwali with less fireworks than last year, thanks to the District Administration and the Patna Police who are finally doing their duty, that is... making sure that only those shops with firecracker trade licenses operate this festive season.
Now, knowing that Bihar was basically known as the Wild East, and that the Patna City area was notorious for illegal and temporary vendors openly selling gigantic volumes of things that go whizz and bang in the dark, the order is being actively resented. The vendors are despondent, and the buyers, who would come here for cheap crackers-- never mind if the place was a disaster waiting to explode --- these buyers feel that they're victims. They want to have a bang up on Diwali, and say hang the law, and licences!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Satyagraha March reaches Motihari today

Motihari: The Gandhi Ashram and memorial at Motihari in East Champaran today welcomed eleven intrepid walkers led by Birendra Soni, who have retraced the steps of Mahatma Gandhi’s journey across this backward region almost a century ago. The walk covered a route of approximately 650 kilometres, and about 5,000 people participated in the various activities organized by the walkers.

Thirty walkers from various places, as well as local residents retraced the steps of the Mahatma, starting 2nd October, [Gandhi’s birth anniversary and World non- violence day] from Bihtarwa and culminating on 18th October in Motihari. The significance of 18th October is that on this day in 1918, the Champaran Agrarian Ordinance was repealed, thus signifying the effectiveness of Gandhi’s first Satyagraha.

A ‘Padyatra’ [journey-on-foot] to draw attention to Gandhian values and development took place in Champaran on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti: the birth anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi. The walk retraced the footsteps of Gandhiji on his struggle for the indigo cultivators. The walk symbolised a call for local development, and sought to focus on the need for a workable and sustainable development pattern for the villages of Champaran.

The route covered by the walkers was Bhitiharwa , Murli Bharwan , Narkatiyaganj , Kathari , Chanpatiya , Brindvan , Bettiah, Singacharpar , maujhaliya , Bhakhariya Chowk ,Karmwa Bazar , Sugauli , Dumri , Ramgadrwa , Andhra , Chauradano, kodarkat , Bhelwa Koti, Dhaka, Madhubani , Barharwa Lakhansen ,Chorma , Madhuban , Piprakothi , Chand Sariiya , Chandhariya , Turkauliya, Bhishanpurwa , and Motihari.

The Mahila Samakhya, local District Administration, and Panchayats of the villages provided whole-hearted support to the walk, says Birendra Soni , representing the proposed Gandhi College of Social Work,[GCSW] the main organizer of the event.

Most of this places visited by Mahatma Gandhi during Champaran Satyagrah ( Indigo Movement ) in 1917 and 1918 were covered in the walk. The GCSW, to be opened shortly intends to set up special study centres in the villages that have Gandhi memorials. The Gandhi Satyagraha Walk was to draw attention to the relevance of Gandhian-based social work, which is expected to be the focus of the GCSW, located at Bhitarwa village in East Champaran. The walkers also promoted Gandhian thoughts for promotion of Peace and Non-Violence.

Birendra Soni, says “It is a call for the young people to come forward and think of working towards the development of their own village, contributing their bit to the community, in the way that Gandhi spoke about. Panchayat Raj in its true sense is whole-hearted participation in village affairs, participation in the decision making process, and transparency. A second revolution is needed in Champaran, and our attempt is to focus on a Sathyagraha... a walk for truth that has the potential to energize the people, young and old.”



The Satyagraha Padyatra programme consisted of of inter-religious prayer meetings, Prabhat Pheri, village cleaning campaigns, distribution of books and screening of films on Gandhi. Hand cranked spinning wheels weree part of the event: the participants demonstrated the carding and spinning of cotton into thread. It is said that Gandhi advocated an hour of spinning a day, and this exercise could produce enough yarn to make a set of clothes every year.

Birendra Soni said, “This event is taking place under the blessing and guidance of Padmshree Bhanrlal Jain - Founder Gandhi Research Foundation , Dr. Sudarshan Aynger - Vice Chancellor, Dr.Rajendra Khinmani - Registrar , Gujarat Vidhyapith , Shri Brajkishor Singh - Secretary , Gandhi Memorial Museum, Motihari and Frank Krishner - AASRA , Shri Arvind Chauhan and Shek Saffudin - Gandhi Shodh Sansthan.”

The main walkers for the event were Birendra Kumar Soni , Ashok Chaubey , Rafi Ahmed , Sanjay Namdev , Akhilesh Raikwar , Madan Kumar , Dinesh Shah ,Rajendra Kumar, Lalbabu , Rajendra Kumar,Chandrakishor Mahto , Shivkaran, and many more participated by accompanying the team from one village to another.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Beautiful People

Rummaging through some files on my computer, I came across some of these photographs that I took while on the move... these depict the life of ordinary people... working men series




Hope for the third sex

'If society is not accepting transgenders, we have to change its mindset, at least now,’ - Kabir


And this Kabir is a Supreme Court Justice.

The National Legal Services Authority is working on a law to safeguard the interests and welfare of transgenders on the lines of Special Marriage Act, Supreme Court judge Altamas Kabir said. This was at a seminar organised by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority and the Karnataka High Court Legal Services Committee. The seminar threw light on social, medical, emotional and legal issues relating to the community

'Transgenders are in a most disadvantageous position, not of their own making. Some of them are rejected not just by society, but even by their parents,' said Kabir . Referrring to discrimination against transgenders, he spoke of a transgender doctor was not allowed to practice in hospital and as patients refused to be treated by her.

'We have public toilets for men and women but not transgenders, and they are not allowed to use either. Where should they go? Do you want them to eke-out their livelihood by begging, dancing or by sex work?' Kabir asked, saying it was high time for providing a public toilet for the third sex.
Transgender people have the right to live with dignity 

Similarly, for admission to schools/colleges or employment, application forms have only two columns for male and female but not for transgenders. 'It's not only male and female, but we have to provide one more category - 'Others' to include transgenders,' he said.

Describing transgenders as men wrapped up in women's body and vice-versa, the executive chairman of the National Legal Services Authority said it was both a physical and psychological condition.

Karnataka High Court Acting Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen said that the social stigma attached to transgenders should be eradicated.

'They should also be recognised and respected. They should be provided a means for their livelihood and should be treated on par with others,' he said.

The transgenders population is about 1.2 million in the country. About 250 transgenders from 11 districts across the state attended the seminar.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Preoccupied

There's a lot to talk about
There's a lot to share
So many things are happening
It's not that I don't care ...

There's a Royal Wedding in Bhutan
That's very close to heart
And Baichung's brand new Footbball team
I don't know where to start

So I'll just take a rain check now
And blog another day
There's too much blah there on the net
For you to read anyway!


-verse or worse by Frank Krishner

Thursday, October 13, 2011

A byte from the e-mail 'forward' pool

Why IndiaWorks - written by internationally acclaimed film director Shekhar Kapoor.


A greater ‘hole in the wall’you cannot imagine. A small fading sign on the top saying “Cellphoon reapars”barely visible through the street vendors crowding the Juhu Market in Mumbai.On my way to buy a new Blackberry, my innate sense of adventure made me stop my car and investigate. A shop not more than 6 feet by 6 feet. Grimy and uncleaned.

‘Can you fix a Blackberry ?”

‘Of course, show me”

”How old are you” ‘Sixteen’

Bullshit. He was no more than 10. Not handing my precious blackberry to a 10 year old in unwashed and torn T shirt and pyjamas! At least if I buy a new one, they would extract the data for me. Something I have been meaning to do for a

year now.

‘What’s wrong with it?”

‘Well, the roller track ball does not respond. It’s kind of stuck and I cannot operate it”

He grabs it from my hand and looks at it

“You should wash your hands. Many customers have same problem. Roller ball get

greasy and dirty, then no working’

Look who was telling me to wash my hands. He probably has not bathed for 10 days, I leaned out to snatch my useless blackberry back..

” You come back in one hour and I fix it’.

I am not leaving all my precious data in this unwashed kid’s hands for an hour.

No way.

“Who will fix it?”

‘Big brother’

‘How big is ‘big brother?’

‘big …. Umm ..thirty’

Then suddenly big brother walks in. 30 ??? He is no more than 19.

‘What problem?’ He says grabbing the phone from my greasy hand into his greasier hand. Obviously not trained in etiquette by an upmarket retail store manager.

‘Normal blackberry problem. I replace with original part now. You must wash your hand before you use this’. What is this about me washing my hands suddenly??

19 year old big brother rummages through a dubious drawer full of junk and fishes out a spare roller ball packed in cheap cellophane wrapper. Original part? I doubt it. But by now I am in the lap of the real India and there is no escape as he fishes out a couple of screwdrivers and sets about opening my Blackberry.

“How long will this take?”

”Six minutes”

This I have to see. After spending the whole morning trying to find a Blackberry service centre and getting vague answers about sending the phone in for an assessment that might take a week, I settle down next to his grubby cramped work space. At least I am going to be able to watch all my stored data vanish into virtual space. People crowd around to see what’s happening. I am not breathing easy anyway.

I tell myself this is an adventure and literally have to stop myself grabbing my precious Blackberry back and making a quick escape. But in exactly six minutes this kid handed my Blackberry back. He had changed the part and cleaned and serviced the whole phone. Taken it apart, and put it together. As I turned the phone on there was a horrific 2 minutes where the phone would not come on. I looked at him with such hostility that he stepped back.

‘you have more than thousand phone numbers ?”

‘yes’.

‘backed up?’

‘no’

‘Must back up. I do it for you. Never open phone before backing up’

‘You tell me that now?’

But then the phone came on and my data was still there. Everyone watching laughed and clapped. This was becoming a show. A six minute show. I asked him how much.

‘500 rupees’ He ventured uncertainly. People around watched in glee expecting a negotiation.

That’s $10 dollars as against the Rs 30,000 ($ 600) I was about to spend on a new Blackberry or a couple of weeks without my phone. I looked suitably shocked at his ‘high price’ but calmly paid him. Much to the disappointment of the expectant crowd

‘Do you have an I-Phone ? Even the new ‘4D one ?

‘no, why?”

‘I break the code for you and load any ‘app’ or film you want. I give you 10 film on your memory stick on this one, and change every week for small fee’

I went home having discovered the true entrepreneurship that lies at what we call the ‘bottom of the pyramid’. Some may call it piracy, which of course it is, but what can you say about two uneducated and untrained brothers aged 10 and 19 that set up a ‘hole in the wall’ shop and can fix any technology that the greatest technologists in the world can throw at them.

I smiled at the future of our country. If only we could learn to harness this potential.

‘Please wash your hands before use’ were his last words to me. Now I am feeling seriously unclean.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Fries for Breakfast

Food is fundamantal to human existence, and that's why it's such fun to explore when on a tour. Travelling around Bihar, looking at education and other developments often means dropping in at the local eating joints... where there's always colour.
This is Sitamarhi, 6:30 am on a summer day.......




Sunday, October 09, 2011

Are you being served?

IN EAST CHAMPARAN: Dishing up roti tadka

SWEET TEA SOMEWHERE NEAR DARBHANGA

HE SAYS HE'S ENROLLED IN SCHOOL, BUT LEARNING A TRADE

FRYING AWAY WITH A SMILE

Saturday, October 08, 2011

Live Poets' and Society

A few writers of verse [or worse] got together at the AASRA Resource Centre to share their lines at the Patna edition of The Poetry Meet initiated by Nihal Parasher.

Now I have been one of Nihal's fans and critics ever since he would pen verse when he was in high school, and he was quite under  the influence of the Hindi poet Dinkar at the time.

It was a pleasant one and a half hour programme, and we were treated  to  poetry in English, Hindustani, Urdu, Hindi and Maithili. It was amazing how some of the young people who read out their poems were able to write with precision in English as well as Hindi/ Urdu. At the meet was a young lawyer who's a terrific poet and lyricist, and what a good singing vice!
NIHAL READING HIS POETRY AT THE 2008 AIDS CANDLELIGHT MEMORIAL
Well, I wasn't so sure about love at first sight, until I experienced the poetry of a certain young man called Piyush Mishra ... his simple and lyrical renditions in Hindustani absolutely bowled us over.

Friday, October 07, 2011

Fast Food Village Style

Continuing  my series on working 'men, I've encountered on my travels through Bihar




Siwan: tea-stall
Muzaffarpur


Darbhanga, I think


Near Bodh Gaya


Patna Catholic Church recognises Transgenders

It's a heartening development, and one that may raise eyebrows among 'conservative Christians', but in this years 'Mega-Youth Festival' being organised by the Youth Commission of Patna Archdiocese, the entry forms have THREE options: Male, Female or Transgender.

The Youth Convention  hopes to have about 100 Transgender delegates, according to the invitation.

The Convention is to have representation from High schools, Colleges, Youth groups, and also from the unorganised youth segment.

Now this is what I call real progress towards inclusion.

Thursday, October 06, 2011

Sand men

Working Men Series
These sand-miners carry loads of sand from the sandboats and dump them so that they can be loaded onto trucks and taken to the cities. It's fascinating just to watch them. The rhythm, the timing, and the coordination.



Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Men at Work

For the next 14 days, a series on Men at Work whom I have encountered on my travels. Today and tomorrow, the sand-miners of Bihar...









The Gandhi Satyagraha March

Cleaning Campaign in a village in Champaran
A few doughty people are trying to retrace Gandhi's footsteps in a pad-yatra from Bhitarwa in West Champaran to Motihari in East Champaran. The purpose.. to see how many in post-modern India are still enthused by the spirit of Gandhi.
Good luck to them.