A Hamasculation of Gaza

The Gaza conflict continues. More missiles. More Destruction. The death toll has crossed four hundred and counting.  When will the guns fall silent?  How many deaths will it take for Israel and Hamas to know that too many people have died?

This is barbaric, and the Hamas game-plan seems to be to instigate even more Israeli reprisals so that the death toll on the Palestinian side mounts so much that the international community will finally have no other option but to step in and stop Israel.

Doesn't the killing of hundreds of defenceless men, women, boys, and girls add up to a 'war crime?'

And the answers, my friend,  keep blowing in the wind.

The answers are blowing in the wind.

Tripping through India Bhattarai Style

These two chaps decide to backpack through India today and the SAARC countries tomorrow. Ho hum! This is the 21st century and they’re probably hundreds of chaps doing exactly the same thing and they earnestly believe that they’re up to something unique, so seriously, what’s new? 


Nabaraj and Narayan Bhattarai are two young fellows who claim a certain notoriety in their home country Nepal. They took a walk through the length and breadth of the country’s 75 districts between October 2008 and 2010. The jaunt that started with some 350 Nepali rupees in their pocket, pens , paper, a digicam and a handycam, yielded a 98 minute documentary and 508 page book on their 750 day experience. They describe themselves as village yokels with an interest in journalism, and are members of the Lalitpur chapter of the Nepali Federation of Journalists. Coming from rural Nepal to Kathmandu as undergraduate students, they met, clicked and began to ‘live together’. (This could have gotten interesting, only, they are really evasive about that part of their ‘bio-data’, but body language says a lot, boys!)

 They were rather non-committal about events in Nepal, but one got the distinct impression that they weren't too pleased about the 'secular constitution'.  A chance statement that Narayan let slip was telling,  "Nepalis in Gujarat and some northern states admired Modi and the BJP for winning the election and Hindus in Nepal were very pleased about this."  Probably reading the expression on my face, Nabaraj quickly stepped in to say, 'Many Hindus in Nepal support Modi and the BJP, not everyone'.

“Our visit to Bihar comes at the end of our year long travel through India, that started when we crossed the border to Sikkim on the 22nd of July,” says Nabaraj. “Our main purpose is to look at the Nepali diaspora, observe how they live, what are the changes and adaptations in culture, and to bring back that learning to Nepal. Real life stories of Nepalese people all over the world could inspire our own young people back in Nepal,” he says.


The two operate their tour on the ‘modern fakir system’: donations, crowd funding via facebook, and a lot of dependence on the local Nepali population. They accept the hospitality of local Nepalese usually belonging to Nepali cultural organizations within the city they visit. This has helped them gain insight as to how different strata of the diaspora live. However, when I interacted with them for over an hour, what I got was a lot of froth and very little beer.

 What did they learn from their four day visit? After making the usual touristy noises about how impressive Bodh Gaya and Nalanda were (they spent two days sight-seeing and met only one Nepalese person there), they got down to the basics: “We haven’t met many Nepali people, but generally Bihari Nepalese are not doing as well as those in Assam or Mumbai. They aren’t many Nepali speaking people who are in good positions or in the media in Bihar. They are mainly labourers in restaurants and so on. The teenagers that we met did not know Nepali well and preferred to speak in English or Hindi. The irony is that they were the kids of a local man who is a community leader of sorts. Somehow we get the impression that the youngsters are a bit ashamed of being recognized as Nepalese,” says Narayan, the elder of the two. That’s a journalistic statement from the two travellers!

 “We get a sense of disunity and squabbling among the local Nepali population in Bihar, which could be because of lack of higher education. For example in Mumbai, there are two Nepali dailies being published, and in Gujarat we met a highly successful Nepali businessman in the hospitality industry. Where there are well educated Nepalese, we have seen strong and vibrant diaspora associations,” says Nabaraj .

 The two look forward to meeting the Nepalese ambassador in Delhi and hope to gain an audience with the President and Prime Minister of India. Another ‘book’ and a documentary are in the offing!

A young man died...

What do you day about a young man who died suddenly, unexpectedly, in an ICU somewhere in Ranchi, Jharkhand India? That he was 28 years old? That he was just about to experience one of the most life-changing experiences in life: his engagement to a girl he was sweet on, and whose parents approved of the match? That  he was ever-smiling, so polite, ever so helpful and generous? That he was the eldest son and as is usually the case with most working class families, the one his parents would depend upon to see his other siblings through?

David

The Tirkey Family of Magadh University Campus Bodh Gaya

David Pramod Tirkey will be remembered by all who knew him as a fine young man. He will be missed by all of us who have had the privilege of being a small part of his life. he will be missed by the Adivasi community in Bosh Gaya, by the small Catholic community there, but most of all by the numerous friends and neighbours whom he interacted with.
God speed .....

In search of the Bodhi Geese with the golden eggs



Is this the State Bank- Mahabodhi Temple partnership to own 'Lord Buddha'? These blatant signs inside the Mahabodhi temple complex , photographed by Anagarika Dhamma Priya urge one to donate online to 'Lord Buddha'... is the State bank of India and the BTMC an unholy nexus that is misleading pilgrims? Is this to mean that other temples have no link to the 'Lord Buddha?'

 Kashaf Bin Shamim and his friends do not visit the Mahabodhi Temple any more. Neither do Arun Tirkey and Bajrang Munda. Nor do Anjali and Lily or Triratna Prasad. These people, aged 18 to 50 were once regular fixtures at Bodh Gaya’s historical landmark. You would find them walking quietly, feeding the fish, or showing off their world heritage site to awed relatives from other states. Once the town was placed on India’s ‘terrorist site map’ a year ago, the new-fangled security measures have sapped the spirit of camaraderie and harmony. The ten foot wall that surrounds the outer periphery of the temple, and the 200 strong police force and the new security measures are to blame.

 “It’s as though the death eaters from a Harry Potter book has descended on the Temple,” says 19 year old Felix Toppo, a tall and lanky lad. “Sometimes the cops at the gates can be quite rude, and it’s dangerous to talk back, or we guys may end up in handcuffs!”

The 7/7 blasts have scared away Bodh Gaya's geese  with the golden eggs: tourists of every hue and nationality, and there is tough competition as monks and merchants alike joust valiantly to snaffle the few unflappable visitors who do end up before the temple gates.

Triratna Gupta and Anagarika Dhamma Priya, who have lived in the town for decades say that the wall and security measures have driven away business, but there is a whisper doing the rounds that the Mahabodhi Temple Management Committee are in cahoots with the State government to load the dice in favour of certain unnamed business interests.

There is so much of frisking and inconvenience in the guise of security, that most visitors who visit the Mahabodhi once, are reluctant to go through the entire rigmarole for a second visit. "Before, the pilgrim would come back for a multiple darshans, once in the morning, and once in the evening, and remain there till quite late. These visitors would then take time to visit the surrounding shops and take in the local colour. Now that’s all finished.," says Triratna. The only organisation that seems to be unfazed about the dip in pilgrims seems to be the BGTC. The Chief Monk brushed off suggestions that this year there were fewer visitors around Buddha Purnima as 'unverified speculation'. It seems that the donations to the Mahabodhi temple weren't all that much affected by the tourist drought.

“A year ago suspected terrorists engineered four low-intensity blasts inside the main shrine complex. The Tregar Monastery of the Karmapa, Great Buddha statue and an empty tourist bus were the other targets. It’s strange that these explosions were about as powerful as very large crackers. The continued demands from the Temple Management Committee for more and more security measures, is intriguing, even though it’s quite evident that more policing brings about resentment and fear, not amity and harmony,” says Anagarika Dhamma Priya, a PUCL member, and one of the vocal critics of what is being perceived as the steady politicisation of the Bodhi Temple management.

 The harmony between different religious communities and congregations have taken a beating after the blast, and the dwindling flow of foreign visitors that jolted the hospitality sector hasn’t made relationships any sweeter. Business fell almost 70 percent, locals swear.

 Local Bodh Gaya inn keepers, lodge owners and hoteliers complain that the monasteries are nuzzling in on their turf. “It’s bizarre how these monasteries have added on rooms and are providing hospitality for a fee to more and more foreign pilgrims. After the blasts, the monasteries seem to be creating an impression that the regular hotels are unsafe, and they are in fact poaching on our trade,” grumbles Shamim, who runs a middle-of-the-road hotel not far from the main temple. “I wonder whether these monasteries are paying income tax on money earned from their guests?”

 People who own real estate are unhappy as well, because after the blasts they are not allowed to build upon, sell or transfer their holdings. “The blasts are a convenient excuse for the authorities to tamper and tinker around with the so-called Bodh gaya Development Plan, which none of us have really seen,” says Ali Asghar, a member of the local shopkeepers union.

 Prince Dwyer, and educationist and social activist is optimistic, though. “The government has its own perception of what ‘security’ is, and what it must do to assure the foreign visitors that Bodh Gaya can deal with any security threat. As for the drop in traffic, one year is a short span in memory. Let’s wait till October, and we may see increased footfalls and better days ahead. All of us have got to move beyond 7/7/13 ! ”

 

Laugh your Hee-haw off

The Anglo Indian community has its own peculiar sense of humour, gleaned from their varied European and Indian ancestry, their healthy disrespect of clergymen, by their innate religious fear, their love of the bawdy while struggling to appear straight-laced, sober and sanctimonious.

Here is a good one that I have heard years ago at one of those old get-togethers....

Murphy showed up at Mass one fine  Sunday. The priest almost fell down in shock when he saw him. He'd never been inside the church since he was a little bitty baby.

After Mass, the priest caught up with him and said, "Murphy, me lad, I am so glad ya decided to come to Mass. What made ya come?"

  Murphy said, "I got to be honest with you Father. A while back, I misplaced me hat and I really, really love that hat. I know that McGlynn has a hat just like mine .And  I knew the old son of a gun comes to church every Sunday. I also knew that he had to take off his hat during Mass and figured he would leave it in the back of church. So, I was going to leave after Communion and steal ol' McGlynn's hat."

  The priest said, "Well, Murphy, I notice that ya didn't steal McGlynn's hat. What changed your mind?"

  Murphy replied, "Well, after I heard your sermon on the 10 Commandments, I decided that I didn't need to steal McGlynn's hat after all."

  With a tear in his eye the priest gave Murphy a big smile and said; "After I talked about 'Thou Shalt Not Steal' ya decided you would rather do without your hat than burn in Hell?"


Murphy slowly shook his head. "No, No, Father, when ya talked about 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery' I suddenly remembered where I left me hat!"
 

The WALLED BODHI TREE-PART 2

Are the fat cats of the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee quietly aiding and abetting the Bihar Government in its game plan to displace local vendors and create more opportunities for big business?



A local artisan: will he soon be displaced by the BTMC plans?

Is the Mahabodhi Temple soon to become nothing more than a goose that will lay easter eggs stuffed with foreign tourist dollars?

Is the so-called 'Bodh Gaya terrorist attack' of July 7. 2013 the perfect cover to execute the destruction of the street vendors and the small and affordable service providers to make way for McDonald's, Barristas, and fancy high-priced salons, eateries?

Will the Bodhi Temple now manufacture a 'brand' through which it will hock trinkets and souvenirs from state Government projects after its 'ex-officio Chairman' the Honourable District Magistrate would have used brute force to chase away indigenous craftsmen and small business that have survived in the shade of the Temple for generations?



Entrance and Exit from the Western Side.. blocking out the market on the east?

The Common Man of Bodh Gaya has a lot of doubts as a ten-feet wall and 200 Bihar Military Policemen now separate him from the Mahabodhi Temple. The wall, to most of the residents here, is a wall of shame in more ways than one can count.


“Last year, after the July 7 explosion, the administration erected this ten foot extra boundary wall in front of the Mahabodhi temple for so-called ‘security’. This wall has benefitted nobody. It has destroyed our small Bodh Gaya bazaar that existed opposite the temple for more than half a century. This cursed wall has affected the market, the business and the livelihood of more than 400 families,” says Triratna Prasad Gupta, the chairman of the Bodh Gaya Vyavasayik Sangh (BGVS), a loose union of shopkeepers who have been in business around the periphery of the temple for decades.

 There is no doubt that the bomb blast was a black day in the history of this town, says Ali Asghar who operates a tour and travel agency in the bazaar. “The bomb scared away visitors and incomes fell. On top of that, the wall is overkill. The fallout of the sanitization exercise was that the people who provided low-cost services to the pilgrims were kicked out. As pilgrims came out from the temple after their prayer, there were opportunities to buy cheap souvenirs, have light meals for as little as twenty rupees, and move eastwards to the market for other needs. These services were swept away when the entire space in front of the temple was cleared. The ten foot wall sprung up in front of our noses, and hid our shops from view. The result, business is down by almost seventy percent.”


In the meanwhile, local news reports say that the wall might be raised another five feet, and watchtowers along the sides are being planned. With the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee(BTMC) planning to sell stone images made in Nalanda under its own brand, the locals smell a conspiracy in the whole game-plan of displacing the small vendors, raising the wall, and putting in place obtrusive ‘security protocols’.

“Is the wall part of a larger game plan to squeeze out the locals, and drive foreign visitors towards the more expensive hotels and high-end restaurants that are beginning to dot the western side of the Mahabodhi temple?” ask some social activists from the People’s Union for Civil Liberties and certain members of the Shanti Sadbhavna Samiti.

The son of the late Ram Deo Ram, a graduate from the Sakya Muni College took over his father’s shoe-making business of 18 years at Pachetti locality, east of the temple , recalls that before the wall, several foreign tourists would purchase his pure leather handmade boots and sandals.



Ram Jr. says the wall is squeezing off his customers

 Now the footfalls have fallen drastically, even those who visit the temple, return the other way.

“It’s all because of the rules that you have to leave your mobile phone on the western side of the temple, so when you leave, you go back in that direction. The wall is so high that you don’t realize that there’s a whole market behind it.”


 “The wall has effectively erased the low-priced artifacts and commodities, broken the backs of the local artisans, and obscured local businesses that have stood here for generations.
" Now the Temple management is tying up with artisans imported by Nitish Kumar who are creating soapstone carvings. So the cash inflow from foreign tourists will be cornered by the monasteries and the high end hotels. Raise the bogey of security threat, isolate the local competition, throw out the poor street vendors and encroach on common land.

" Who can challenge the BTMC, after all their chairman is no ordinary citizen, he is the District Magistrate with almost unlimited powers which can be used in ‘emergency situations’. The explosions are just the excuse by which all opposition to BTMC game-plan has been silenced,” a shop owner observed.


In 1958, several of the shops behind the wall had ceded their own frontage contribute to what became the open space around and in front of the temple. That land has now been usurped by the BMTC, say the affected merchants.

The BGVS has petitioned the High Court against the wall. Says Gupta, “With this uneven playing field, the judiciary is our only recourse to justice. We wait for our plea to be heard. Let’s hope it isn’t in vain”.

The Walled Bodhi Tree- part 1

TEMPLE UNDER A CLOUD?

A year ago, this night, the good people of Bodh Gaya, the place where the holiest Bo-tree sprouted, tucked themselves [or their significant others] into bed, only to be awakened by a rude shock in the early hours of July 7, 2013.

Some explosives that had been placed inside the Mahabodhi Temple and the great Buddha statue had gone off. Bang! Sleepy little Budha Gaya found itself splattered across the daily newspapers- it had earned its place on the 'terrorism map'.

It's a curious case that is still debated ad nauseum in the tea shops and in parlours, with sighs of resignation and bemused shakes of the head. What an incompetent bunch of terrorists these chaps were. They struck in the early hours of the morning, when there wasn't any real bustle around. The devices didn't do more damage than extremely loud crackers: splintered a pane or two, scratched at the surface of the stone. No casualties at all.

The explosions caused fissures in the fragile balance of harmony, not only among the general population, but amidst those who ostensibly promote peace and non-violence. Buddhism’s holiest shrine may now glitter with some 290 kilograms of pure gold atop its dome, but its welcoming arms have been amputated, a literal ‘Berlin Wall’ policed by surly policemen, have alienated the Bodhi tree from the people of Bodh Gaya.

Editor of the e-zine ' Bo-tree news' Anagarika Dhamma Priya minces no words, “Fear stalks the ordinary folk living around the temple. Fear of the police. The overwhelming presence of policemen outside and inside the temple is unnerving for many visitors. For the ordinary person without a robe, sitting in contemplation or meditation is difficult, because it is quite likely that you will be accosted by some policeman asking you to move on. Moreover, people certainly aren't happy the way the district administration and the police has used the bogey of terrorism to demolish shops, clear out the vendors, and even intimidate young men from certain communities. There have been no protests because most people are fearful of being locked up under some draconian law or the other”

 Of course there was both fear and resentment among the young men, says a young hotelier. “Who isn’t scared of the police? The police bully youngsters in the name of ‘security’  now. Bodh Gaya was never like this. All of us Hindu, Moslem, Buddhist, rich or poor would visit the Mahabodhi temple. Today, ask how many locals  visit regularly? It doesn't matter whether you are Hindu or Muslim, the police have created such a havoc that Buddha now rests behind the Berlin Wall of ham-handed security. Before, we sit till late at night talking and chatting in the small tea shops near the temple. Now, they pack up by eight pm to avoid the unwelcome attention of the Bihar Police.”

RTI activist and Buddhist monk, the venerable Priya Pal Bhikkhu from the National Coordination Committee of Buddhist organizations in India (NCCBOI) mentioned two separate incidents where the Bihar police at the Mahabodhi have manhandled Buddhist clergy. “One incident involved a monk, and another rather ugly one flared up between the policewomen and a Tibetan nun from Nepal. The matter was later sorted out, but it has shown that the Bihar police are inept at handling visitors. That is why NCCBOI have been campaigning for a properly trained National security force to take over at the temple. The Mahabodhi is not the Taj Mahal, it’s not a mere historical monument, it is a functioning place of worship for lakhs of people across the world,” says Bhante Priya Pal.


The Shanti Sadbhawna Samiti, a collection of over 100 citizens from various affiliations, has planned to observe the 7th of July as a black day, with a day- long fast and a candle march. Anagarika Dhamma Priya wondered whether the peaceful protest would be allowed, or would they face police violence, but others, like Gaya YMCA secretary Prince Dwyer believes that the State government will not let police violence happen, because it would scare off whatever tourists remain.

Boorish Policemen keep devotees away?

Says Jose Kariakat of the faith-based NGO Jeevan Sangam, “One cannot just brush aside an incident that has affected the lives of practically every resident of Bodh Gaya, and continues to do so. Mischievous elements tried to make capital of the explosions last year, and it took the concerted efforts of several people and organizations such as the Bodh Gaya Inter-faith Forum, International Buddhist Council, Gandhi Peace Foundation, All India Bikkhu Sangh, PUCL and so on to ensure that the fire of distrust did not burn in our villages.”


Chief Monk of the Mahabodhi Temple Rev. Bhikkhu Chalinda points out that none can fault the State government for protection of the temple.



Chief Monk of BTMC Ven. Chalinda

He believes that pilgrims should learn to adapt to the circumstances. “People want to forget the incident of 7th July, it was not such a big incident; there wasn’t any major damage. We will have a peace prayer meeting to be attended by the abbots of 50 monasteries from Bodh Gaya, as well as members of the inter-faith forum. The DM of Gaya will inaugurate and address the gathering.”

There is a lot of scepticism as to what value Gaya's new district magistrate would add to the mix. "It's a state-sponsored function, nothing more," a resident told me. The secretary of the BTMC- the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee Nangtse Dorjee is staying away from controversy, currently on holiday in his native Sikkim.

 Bhikkhu Chalinda will take no part in the candle-march however. “I have to perform my duties as Chief Priest of the Temple,” he reminds us.



 

The other side of 'Find me a Maid'

Try this on for size. You're a smart, articulate, young professional, just stepping into your stride at the new corporation you've joined. You are just getting comfortable with being part of a new team, and then, somebody says... "By the way, could you do me a favour? What I really need is a full time maid, preferably an Adivasi girl from a village. I'm sure that you could help us out, being a tribal and all..."
Is this the way mainstream India looks at Tribal citizens?

“Do you know what trafficking implies? It’s enticing young girls and women from villages to the city with the promise of giving them jobs. And yet, my non-Adivasi friends and colleagues don’t give a second thought before saying, ‘Jasmine, you are an Adivasi, find us a girl to work in our houses!’ So that’s my identity. They don’t see me as an educated, articulate and smart bank professional, but as some jungle-dwelling entity with such low self-esteem that she will willingly traffic her sisters to the city to work as servants,” says Jasmine Tigga, a  bank officer serving at the State Bank of India.

What makes up one’s identity? Is it your birth-place, your blood-line, your language or beliefs, or does it lie in your achievements, your education, or is it just the way everybody else looks at you? What does it mean to be a tribal professional in the world today?

Let's call a spade a spade. The urban middle-class largely believes that Adivasis should remain in the jungles or continue to provide the unskilled and semi-skilled labour in our sweat-shops.

I remember, way back in my childhood days, how certain Hindi teachers at my school would look down on our third grade Hindi teacher, Miss Toppo, who, I learnt much later, had genuine BA degree in Hindi. You see, they were quite polite to her, but none of the teaching staff members except for a couple of Anglo-Indian ladies turned up at her brother's wedding. You see, Miss Toppo's own mother had worked as a maid (a 'maid-servant' was the term in those days), and the high caste women teachers just couldn't treat Miss Toppo as an equal. It was cultural, in those days. Miss Toppo retired after teaching brats at St. Xavier's Doranda for a good twenty five years or so. Forty years on, things haven't changed, have they?

 “The strength of Adivasi culture is that we do not consider any work too low, or too mean to perform. We do not look down on others because of the job they perform. And so, this gives us tremendous scope to better ourselves. As a woman, I can assert that Adivasi men have no hang-ups about helping their wives with the housework or looking after the babies. So we have an egalitarian society,” says Jasmine. And that's a damn sight better than a whole lot of crass, rich, high-class Indian women who are really unpaid servants, catering to every whim of their husbands, and their husbands are usually boring, boorish louts....

Jasmine refuses to let anybody take advantage of her good nature. 'At first my boss thought that he could fob off extra work on me, just because I was a harmless submissive tribal. he now knows better than to try that trick again.' she says.

More power to Jasmine Tigga... you rock girl!