The visit of President Obama is filled with uniqueness and this inimitability suits the stated purpose of the visit.
Nowadays it is a fashion in the business circle to measure the effectiveness and performance of a newly appointed CEO on the basis of a report card based on the first hundred days in the office. The CEO also makes sure that in the first 100 days he visits to inspire the subsidiaries in the countries which are generating or have the potential of delivering higher returns, India often featuring in the top 10 of this list
The president may be allowed some concessions for not having to make it in the first 100 days, but surely did he visit China and India in the same year and stopped short of visiting Pakistan in spite of coming so near.
Also President Obama may be the first and presumably the last non-white president of the U.S. to visit India as America impedes their experiment with “change”.
This is the first time a President of America came calling to India on a purely business mission and landed in Mumbai, bypassing the state honour at Delhi.
What ever was left of “strategic” policies with the South Block was shifted to a secondary visit after the main mission was accomplished.
On the first day of the meeting while some symbolic private deals worth around $10 billion were struck by private ventures, while in Mumbai you have to play along with Ambanis, the press and media went ballistic on the mere modalities of non issues like President never uttering the sinful word, Pakistan, and how India will benefit from this visit.
The American administration has made no false claims about this visit as being purely a mission to save the greatest nation of the world albeit the fact that our expectations are simply creations of our own fecundity.
But a careful look will emphasis on the point, what really America has to offer besides "running" shoes and "bottled aerated" water and an operating system which crashes more often than its running period?
There is not much of technology that America can offer in the field of agriculture, industrial technology, healthcare and communications - either India has the self expertise or they have better partners in Europe to choose from.
Today is a far cry from the fifties and sixties where Indian Prime Ministers went to U.S. with begging bowls asking for food to feed the ever growing hunger of people, fed over enthusiastically on doses of socialism and what India got in return was rotten, rejected lots of PL240 wheat, which was meant for cattle feed in U.S.
The only thing that America can offer is military technology, where it has got real expertise, cultivated through decades and tested at all battlefields in the world , which had been their own creation for testing their developments.
This is where the President is needed to do a hard sell with India, as India has a strategic reliance on Russia, France and to some extent even Israel on these issues.
Nowadays military deals are predominantly done by politicians and thrust upon the armed forces, with a result that to some extent we have seen our intelligence and military capabilities compromised.
This visit of President Obama is no exception, except for the fact that Americans, in a way they do the best, has taken their best leaf out of the marketing expertise from Harvard or MIT and succeeded in camouflaging the whole visit with a "partnership" or "collaborative" overtone.
We, in India, stand to gain nothing out of this visit, not even money that can buy you a candy. America has come with a begging bowl but with a mentality, of a misplaced notion, as the most powerful nation of the world.
This is clearly reflected in the tone and tenor of the president and while we may jump around, with our never ending colonial mentality, relishing on his intellect and charisma and wanting our politicians to be wearing pinstriped suits and speaking cultivated Harvard "English", but at the end of the day for a farmer dying of hunger neither the town hall meetings or the business meets gives them any hope of survival.
This is typical of America as it is typical of India to be subservient to any visitor, even to Pakistan, under the guise of our heritage of treating our guests as God.
Over the last six decades India was looked down upon by the U.S. state administration, so much so that Henry Kissinger did not think twice before calling Prime Minister Indira Gandhi a “bitch”. There is a growing rhetoric that we must forget the past and move ahead, but this rhetoric will remain rhetoric, till the major political parties can forget about the incidents of 1984, 1998 and 2002 and move ahead. Selective amnesia can be disconcerting.
While the Tea Party may object to what they see as an abject wastage of money spent in this visit of President Obama to India, we Indians hardly see the amount of capital that will be carried away by the Air Force One leaving us doing what best we can - sucking our thumbs.
November may be too early or in this context even Mumbai, but this visit of the President Obama can be aptly termed as "The Beggar who came from the Cold", to borrow from John Le’ Carre, and if that may restore any pride in our already famished hearts.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Enjoy - My Fellow Countrymen
The following is an article published in The Telegraph.
Only the so called Bengali intellectual can relish & digest such articles without any feelings of discontent.
This is by some non descriptive Supreme Court lawyer called Rajeev Dhawan - scooped out by NDTV after the "Ayodhya verdict" - please note that the fellow never uses the word but referes as "Babri Masjid" judgement.
The best part are his recommendations - with such people around India can never fail.
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Like Caesar’s “Ides of March”, the much-awaited Babri Masjid judgment by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has come, but not gone. It is now certain that both Muslim and Hindu litigants are going to appeal to the Supreme Court. It is no less certain that the Supreme Court will stay (stop the operation of) the judgment to prevent any further unilateral action by an aggressive sangh parivar.
Aggression by the Muslims is unlikely. After the Babri Masjid judgment, they have become a much weakened minority. They lost when Hindu idols were placed in the Babri Masjid complex on December 22-23, 1949. Insult, most unbecoming, was added to injury when the masjid was destroyed on December 6, 1992, whilst the world looked on. Then came the final blow when the Lucknow bench judgment of September 30 disempowered them both legally and morally. What will they negotiate with — except concede their claim for the greater glory of the Indian (Hindu?) nation?
The judgment was delivered by three judges: S.U. Khan, Sudhir Agarwal and Dharam Veer Sharma. It is customary in such cases to have a minority judge on the bench so that, at least, appearances are met. In the Babri Masjid Case I (1994), concerning the validity of the government takeover of the site and the surrounding Hindu land, it was the Muslim and Parsi judges who strongly dissented. Here, it was thought that the Muslim judge — Justice Khan — would dissent if faced with an unreasonable majority of Hindu judges.
Although there were a huge number of issues before the Lucknow bench, they can broadly be classified into two. The first was — who did the site belong to? If the answer to the first question was the Muslims, did the Hindus have a right to pray at the site? And would this right to pray have to be obtained from the Muslims or superimposed on Muslim ownership of the site? Thus, the central issue was really: who owned the site?
The answer to this question should have been simple. It had been answered in favour of the Muslims in 1885. Again in the 1940s, when Shia and Sunni Muslims fought over which waqf the site belonged to, it was the Sunnis who won. Now, if the Muslims did not own the site, how come the Sunnis won? There was also a precedent for this kind of situation. In the 1820s, the Shahid Ganj mosque had been taken over by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Matters simmered on. The Muslims lost the case in 1855. By 1940, the Privy Council was confident that the mosque site belonged to the Sikhs and not to the Muslims. The only further issue in the Babri case was whether Muslims had filed their case within 12 years of December 22-23, 1949, from when the Hindus claimed hostile possession of the site. There was no dispute that the idols were placed on the site that evening in December 1949. As it happens, the Muslims filed on December 18, 1961 — a few days before the limitation expired. So, they had not lost the site by adverse possession to the Hindus.
Why did this simple solution not appeal to the judges? Justices Sharma and Agarwal simply assumed that this site was always a pilgrimage for Hindus since time immemorial. Even recent history belies such a conclusion. Myth and conjecture cannot displace truth. Faith may move mountains but cannot eclipse facts. This was no basis for a legal Hindu claim to the site. This was simply imagined history. Curiously, Justice Khan went along with this theory but with some doubts.
His first doubt was that while the Hindus may have prayed in the area, there was nothing to suggest that it was the Babri site that was sacral. His second doubt was that although the Ram Chabutra and Sita Rasoi had been constructed, the claim that this was the exact spot of Ram Janmabhoomi came along only years after the mosque had been built. In other words, the Hindu claim was concocted as a counterfoil to the very existence of the mosque.
There is nothing to suggest that Muslims gave up their site. Justice Khan’s conclusion was that “both the parties i.e. Muslims and Hindus were using and occupying different portions of the premises in dispute… and both continued to be in joint possession of the entire premises in dispute”. Thus, both failed to prove their title, so the site belonged to both. So, they become joint owners. How Nirmohi Akhara was entitled to one of the portions of the site defies proper explanation.
On one issue, Justice Khan and his colleagues differed. This was the sangh parivar — Bharatiya Janata Party theory of Muslim aggressors wantonly destroying Hindu temples to build mosques. The theory was important to Hindu fundamentalists to support the Hindu case for historical revenge against idol-destroying Muslims. This approach assumes that present-day Muslims had to pay the price for their irreverent ancestors. This was a war cry for revenge. Justice Khan refused to countenance this claim for historic revenge. The archaeological evidence did not suggest that a real contemporary temple was destroyed by Babur. If Babur had done that, the site would be haram and unacceptable for Muslim prayer.
The Archaeological Survey of India’s view that the site was haram has been solidly questioned by distinguished archaeologists. Justice Khan accepted that there may have been a defunct temple in the site many centuries ago. But the Hindu judges gave total support to the sangh parivar revenge theory. The evil deeds of Muslim invaders had to be punished even if they did not take place.
This leaves the question of the Hindu right to prayer at this site. This right is predicated on the basis that there was a historical Lord Ram who was born on this very site in Ayodhya. There is no proof of this at all. But, lest the argument lose its real colour, let us assume that common sentiment assumes the existence of Lord Ram of Ayodhya. But the assertion that this very site was his birthplace was only a reaction to the fact that a mosque had been built there. What better way to discredit the mosque than to say that was the holiest of holy sites?
It was a communal argument invented for communal reasons. Such an argument could not be the basis of a property right in favour of the Hindus. If Hindus were in possession, what was the need for the trespass of putting the idols there on the night of December 22-23, 1949? The factual situation was that the Hindus had abandoned their right to the site and claim to a temple.
There is little to analyse in the judgment of Justice Sharma. It is entirely pro-Hindu, discloses no legal basis and upholds the Hindu claim for no better reason than that he wanted to do so. His judgment is absurdly long and does not sustain argument, but only sentiment. Justice Agarwal’s judgment also does not bear legal scrutiny and is insufficiently balanced in his treatment of hopelessly inconclusive historical material. Ultimately, the Hindu case is based on hearsay and ‘say so’.
What were the judges trying to do? A title suit was converted into a partition suit on the flimsy basis that since the property belongs to neither, let it belong to both. Alternatively, it has always belonged to the deity and those who took it from the deity must suffer for it. But the whole world belongs to the deity without forcing focus on his unproven birthplace on earth. But it seems that the judges were in a panchayati mood to find a solution which they had not been asked to find. “Share the site,” said the judges. Not even half-half; but two-thirds Hindu and one-third Muslim. This division eludes a proper foundation. The judicial solution is unworkable. Muslims will be ousted into a corner to feel even more insecure than they do in a majority-dominated Hindu India which lets fly at Muslims, Christians and other faiths with ferocious malice aforethought.
The suggestion that mosques can be destroyed physically and legal titles taken away with legal alacrity dishonours a secular rule of law on which India’s togetherness must rest. Some say let us bury the hatchet on this dispute and move on. This seems eminently wise. But no solution should be based on a decision which induces the minority to feel cheated out of its claims. This is yet another example of brow-beating Muslims into second-class citizenship in which they cannot even defend their legitimate rights in a court of law.
I believe a solution is possible. The site can be divided. First, the Muslims need to be given an apology before anything else is done. Apologies have an important place in dispute settlement. Second, the waqf board’s legal rights must be recognized. Third, they need to be persuaded that the old mosque or a new one will be built on, or in the vicinity of, the site. Fourth, a plan to build a world heritage area in which all religions can be accommodated should be chalked out and the land distributed accordingly to make this a world heritage site to be visited by all.
I have a sense, that if Lord Ram were to arbitrate this dispute, he would approve of this kind of a solution.
Only the so called Bengali intellectual can relish & digest such articles without any feelings of discontent.
This is by some non descriptive Supreme Court lawyer called Rajeev Dhawan - scooped out by NDTV after the "Ayodhya verdict" - please note that the fellow never uses the word but referes as "Babri Masjid" judgement.
The best part are his recommendations - with such people around India can never fail.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like Caesar’s “Ides of March”, the much-awaited Babri Masjid judgment by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has come, but not gone. It is now certain that both Muslim and Hindu litigants are going to appeal to the Supreme Court. It is no less certain that the Supreme Court will stay (stop the operation of) the judgment to prevent any further unilateral action by an aggressive sangh parivar.
Aggression by the Muslims is unlikely. After the Babri Masjid judgment, they have become a much weakened minority. They lost when Hindu idols were placed in the Babri Masjid complex on December 22-23, 1949. Insult, most unbecoming, was added to injury when the masjid was destroyed on December 6, 1992, whilst the world looked on. Then came the final blow when the Lucknow bench judgment of September 30 disempowered them both legally and morally. What will they negotiate with — except concede their claim for the greater glory of the Indian (Hindu?) nation?
The judgment was delivered by three judges: S.U. Khan, Sudhir Agarwal and Dharam Veer Sharma. It is customary in such cases to have a minority judge on the bench so that, at least, appearances are met. In the Babri Masjid Case I (1994), concerning the validity of the government takeover of the site and the surrounding Hindu land, it was the Muslim and Parsi judges who strongly dissented. Here, it was thought that the Muslim judge — Justice Khan — would dissent if faced with an unreasonable majority of Hindu judges.
Although there were a huge number of issues before the Lucknow bench, they can broadly be classified into two. The first was — who did the site belong to? If the answer to the first question was the Muslims, did the Hindus have a right to pray at the site? And would this right to pray have to be obtained from the Muslims or superimposed on Muslim ownership of the site? Thus, the central issue was really: who owned the site?
The answer to this question should have been simple. It had been answered in favour of the Muslims in 1885. Again in the 1940s, when Shia and Sunni Muslims fought over which waqf the site belonged to, it was the Sunnis who won. Now, if the Muslims did not own the site, how come the Sunnis won? There was also a precedent for this kind of situation. In the 1820s, the Shahid Ganj mosque had been taken over by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Matters simmered on. The Muslims lost the case in 1855. By 1940, the Privy Council was confident that the mosque site belonged to the Sikhs and not to the Muslims. The only further issue in the Babri case was whether Muslims had filed their case within 12 years of December 22-23, 1949, from when the Hindus claimed hostile possession of the site. There was no dispute that the idols were placed on the site that evening in December 1949. As it happens, the Muslims filed on December 18, 1961 — a few days before the limitation expired. So, they had not lost the site by adverse possession to the Hindus.
Why did this simple solution not appeal to the judges? Justices Sharma and Agarwal simply assumed that this site was always a pilgrimage for Hindus since time immemorial. Even recent history belies such a conclusion. Myth and conjecture cannot displace truth. Faith may move mountains but cannot eclipse facts. This was no basis for a legal Hindu claim to the site. This was simply imagined history. Curiously, Justice Khan went along with this theory but with some doubts.
His first doubt was that while the Hindus may have prayed in the area, there was nothing to suggest that it was the Babri site that was sacral. His second doubt was that although the Ram Chabutra and Sita Rasoi had been constructed, the claim that this was the exact spot of Ram Janmabhoomi came along only years after the mosque had been built. In other words, the Hindu claim was concocted as a counterfoil to the very existence of the mosque.
There is nothing to suggest that Muslims gave up their site. Justice Khan’s conclusion was that “both the parties i.e. Muslims and Hindus were using and occupying different portions of the premises in dispute… and both continued to be in joint possession of the entire premises in dispute”. Thus, both failed to prove their title, so the site belonged to both. So, they become joint owners. How Nirmohi Akhara was entitled to one of the portions of the site defies proper explanation.
On one issue, Justice Khan and his colleagues differed. This was the sangh parivar — Bharatiya Janata Party theory of Muslim aggressors wantonly destroying Hindu temples to build mosques. The theory was important to Hindu fundamentalists to support the Hindu case for historical revenge against idol-destroying Muslims. This approach assumes that present-day Muslims had to pay the price for their irreverent ancestors. This was a war cry for revenge. Justice Khan refused to countenance this claim for historic revenge. The archaeological evidence did not suggest that a real contemporary temple was destroyed by Babur. If Babur had done that, the site would be haram and unacceptable for Muslim prayer.
The Archaeological Survey of India’s view that the site was haram has been solidly questioned by distinguished archaeologists. Justice Khan accepted that there may have been a defunct temple in the site many centuries ago. But the Hindu judges gave total support to the sangh parivar revenge theory. The evil deeds of Muslim invaders had to be punished even if they did not take place.
This leaves the question of the Hindu right to prayer at this site. This right is predicated on the basis that there was a historical Lord Ram who was born on this very site in Ayodhya. There is no proof of this at all. But, lest the argument lose its real colour, let us assume that common sentiment assumes the existence of Lord Ram of Ayodhya. But the assertion that this very site was his birthplace was only a reaction to the fact that a mosque had been built there. What better way to discredit the mosque than to say that was the holiest of holy sites?
It was a communal argument invented for communal reasons. Such an argument could not be the basis of a property right in favour of the Hindus. If Hindus were in possession, what was the need for the trespass of putting the idols there on the night of December 22-23, 1949? The factual situation was that the Hindus had abandoned their right to the site and claim to a temple.
There is little to analyse in the judgment of Justice Sharma. It is entirely pro-Hindu, discloses no legal basis and upholds the Hindu claim for no better reason than that he wanted to do so. His judgment is absurdly long and does not sustain argument, but only sentiment. Justice Agarwal’s judgment also does not bear legal scrutiny and is insufficiently balanced in his treatment of hopelessly inconclusive historical material. Ultimately, the Hindu case is based on hearsay and ‘say so’.
What were the judges trying to do? A title suit was converted into a partition suit on the flimsy basis that since the property belongs to neither, let it belong to both. Alternatively, it has always belonged to the deity and those who took it from the deity must suffer for it. But the whole world belongs to the deity without forcing focus on his unproven birthplace on earth. But it seems that the judges were in a panchayati mood to find a solution which they had not been asked to find. “Share the site,” said the judges. Not even half-half; but two-thirds Hindu and one-third Muslim. This division eludes a proper foundation. The judicial solution is unworkable. Muslims will be ousted into a corner to feel even more insecure than they do in a majority-dominated Hindu India which lets fly at Muslims, Christians and other faiths with ferocious malice aforethought.
The suggestion that mosques can be destroyed physically and legal titles taken away with legal alacrity dishonours a secular rule of law on which India’s togetherness must rest. Some say let us bury the hatchet on this dispute and move on. This seems eminently wise. But no solution should be based on a decision which induces the minority to feel cheated out of its claims. This is yet another example of brow-beating Muslims into second-class citizenship in which they cannot even defend their legitimate rights in a court of law.
I believe a solution is possible. The site can be divided. First, the Muslims need to be given an apology before anything else is done. Apologies have an important place in dispute settlement. Second, the waqf board’s legal rights must be recognized. Third, they need to be persuaded that the old mosque or a new one will be built on, or in the vicinity of, the site. Fourth, a plan to build a world heritage area in which all religions can be accommodated should be chalked out and the land distributed accordingly to make this a world heritage site to be visited by all.
I have a sense, that if Lord Ram were to arbitrate this dispute, he would approve of this kind of a solution.
Monday, November 1, 2010
The Systematic Distortion of Indian History
History is half as true as the colour of the historian and is specifically true of history of the Indian subcontinent. While the ancient civilization in the subcontinent produced volumes on philosophy and religion and to some extent popular literature, ranging from great epics, couple of dramas to explicit eroticism in the form of Kamasutra, but when it came to writing a detailed account of day to day life or about its surrounding environment [flora, fauna, socio economic life], they almost drew a blank.
What remains today as accounts of those periods are through intermediaries, mainly through the travelogues and in some passing comments in treatises on other subjects. The visitors came from far away land like Persia, China, mostly for trade purposes or for the sheer adventure of the unknown and once they stepped into this beautiful land with the richness of material and soul, they stayed on for years devouring what ever came across their way and left with bag full of documents and an enriched heart.
The Chinese came to take away the teachings of Buddha, besides selling their silk and earthen ware, but as again there was complete lack of enthusiasm in part of his disciples to share their Masters words of wisdom. The Hunan king invited monks to China and commissioned them to translate the wisdom of Buddhism in their language and as a result the volumes of Buddhist literature in China far exceed that of India.
In the 4th century B.C. there was an attempt by Kautilya through his epic Arthashastra, which although is a treatise on statecraft, politics, economics policy and military policy, gives us certain details about life and times of that period.
The Islamic conquerors maintained, like all military generals do, a daily log and that carried on even to the Mogul dynasty with Babar to Akbar maintaining a personal account [or through their courtesans, Akbar could not read or right] like Akbarnama [Book of Akbar]. Although it served more as a military document for Babar and Humayun, but in hands of Abul Fazl it took a more refined stance, but can in no way be treated as an unbiased account of the rule and life of the subjects at that time.
The history till independence of India has been flooded by the works of European historians whose accounts ranges from mythical to spiritual to upright derogatory.
Like the “History of India” was written by John Mill, who never visited the country and never spoke any local language. This format of history suited the British as their ulterior motive was to rule the country and it would be counterproductive for the British subjects to come over to a land and hit hard against a culture which is far superior in terms of its philosophical content than theirs.
The colonial rule left copious volumes of documents, the India House having more documents than even the Central Archives of India.
Orientalism, a word made famous by Edward Said in the 20th century, influenced a breed of Indian historians and they carried on writing history of the subcontinent immersed in the same sprit of Postmodernism. The writings depended more on the official documents of the British rule, with very little independent research, but was made more accessible to the general public at large.
If history was the life of a king, his conquests, his queens, his wealth then rendition in comics like Amar Chitra Katha would suffice. But history is more than that and modern history tries to delve more into the socio economic life of the subaltern in the rule of the king. But history is no science that it can be verified by experiments, the historians need to depend on what ever account is left from those times aided with some architectural evidence.
Any event in history can have three versions – one by the perpetrator, another by the affected and the third as an outsider perspective. All accounts have their own self bias and hence it becomes a matter of hard choice for the historian to write an unbiased view of the event without being influenced, partially or fully.
Mass in a socio political context is a mere number until or unless it is led to a certain activity, either in a constructive or destructive way and it is then that the mass gathers momentum and makes relevance. Mobilisation of the mass requires a tremendous effort by the leader and the leader can be a part of the mass or an outsider with a cause which appears to appeal to the mass. The stature of the leader is determined by the quantum of the mass moved – Mahatma Gandhi being one of the finest examples in India.
But it can be argued that a physical presence of a leader is not always needed to create a movement, with a clear distinction to be made between mass movement and mob.
In today’s socio political context, the society has been fragmented to suit the various political parties in terms of caste, creed, religion and other attributes. This also is for the purpose of obtaining maximum benefit from this fragmented mass, but it is also easier to derive “stimulus” that would sway this mass. If one thought that individual brilliance within the mass may negate this affect then it is only a presumption, because once you start believing in the “stimulus” your reasoning gets obfuscated by the greater cause.
A practical example is a Fire Alarm system in an office building. When the fire alarm rings, the people inside the building, irrespective of their rank [from the managing director to the bell boy] moves to a place outside the building in the designated “assembly point”. In this case the trigger for the mass movement [exodus] is inanimate, a mere electro-mechanical contraption called a fire alarm, the stimulus being the personal safety of the people inside the office building.
Neither Jawaharlal Nehru nor Indira Gandhi and her generations afterwards were mass leaders but were quite a contrary and the mass leader in Jayprakash Narayan never came even anywhere near to political power. But they had had cultivated the art of creating the stimulus with their strong official machinery.
While the Left parties and BJP has a clear ideology and to that extent also some of the regional parties like BSP [dalit ideology], RJD [social equality], but the oldest party of India, Congress is devoid of any ideology so as to speak.
The relevance of Congress ended with the independence, it was a forum which gave the voice of the Indians to reach the colonial rulers, but subsequent to independence and creation of India as a secular, democratic polity, Jawaharlal Nehru failed to create an ideology which could bind the party to their grass root supporters. The wind of nationalistic policy in terms of nation building based on socialistic principles played for a decade and with the waning of that spirit, there was the period of simmering disquiet, which Nehru could hardly handle and in many cases made blunders.
But behind the great veil of Socialism, he sowed the seeds of that nefarious “stimulus” which unknowingly has spread its tentacles and engulfed our daily lives which will be discussed in details subsequently.
“The Matrix” series by Wachowski Brothers borrowed heavily from the Buddhist or Vedic philosophy. It is a simple tale that tells that the computers have taken control of the humans, controlling their brains and thereby their actions, and how a group of “originals” try to fight out of this imperialistic control.
Movies like the “Enemy of the State” depict how every move in our life is monitored by the government, which is nothing more than a control of our lives. The control becomes easier if the polity believes is a similar ideology and do not contest any opposition to that ideology, the ideology can be religious, philosophical or political – but the central theme is to make the polity believe in that.
During the height of the “Cold War” the leftist states in India were flooded with books from Russian distributors like Mir and Vostok, highly subsidized. The collection varied from textbooks of basic science [some becoming as popular as to attain a textbook status] to writings on socio economic principles of Marxism.
Dmitri Mendeleev was a bigger figure as a true Russian than the proponent of the Periodic Table of Elements and for every scientific discovery of the allied West there exists a counterpart in the Soviet domain.
The state propaganda was drilled hard into the public domain and in fact they started believing what they were fed with as they were practically cut from the rest of the world.
Such was their faith in the leadership that in China, another Marxist block, nearly 30 million people died in Mao’s quest for transforming the traditional agrarian based Chinese economy into a modern communist society through the process of agriculturisation, industrilisation and collectivization.
The mass were in complete agreement with the principles of Mao Zedong, any rebellion being violently suppressed, in its Great Leap Forward which ultimately led to a famine and death of unparalleled proportions.
We may take pride in living in the worlds greatest democracy which adheres to secularity, is guided by jurisprudence and allowed by the constitution of freedom of speech which retains our free thinking and logical reasoning.
It is entirely another perspective, what if the ideas on which our reasoning pattern depends is based on a huge propaganda? What if what we have been taught through our school days is a clearly crafted play?
It has been assumed that not more than 1 to 2 mass leaders are needed per ten thousand people and a complete control over the minds of these leaders makes it easy for domination. Are we moving towards a Matrix like society where instead of computers there will be select few calling the shots?
This is the basis of the distortion of the Indian History, against which people are becoming aware only now, thanks to the efforts by the huge Diaspora who are investing their time, energy and money to uncover the truth and expose the culprits of systematic distortion of History.
Advancement in technology, free market, communication has helped in the spread of ideas which contradict the forty year period of systematic alienation of the people from the truth.
What remains today as accounts of those periods are through intermediaries, mainly through the travelogues and in some passing comments in treatises on other subjects. The visitors came from far away land like Persia, China, mostly for trade purposes or for the sheer adventure of the unknown and once they stepped into this beautiful land with the richness of material and soul, they stayed on for years devouring what ever came across their way and left with bag full of documents and an enriched heart.
The Chinese came to take away the teachings of Buddha, besides selling their silk and earthen ware, but as again there was complete lack of enthusiasm in part of his disciples to share their Masters words of wisdom. The Hunan king invited monks to China and commissioned them to translate the wisdom of Buddhism in their language and as a result the volumes of Buddhist literature in China far exceed that of India.
In the 4th century B.C. there was an attempt by Kautilya through his epic Arthashastra, which although is a treatise on statecraft, politics, economics policy and military policy, gives us certain details about life and times of that period.
The Islamic conquerors maintained, like all military generals do, a daily log and that carried on even to the Mogul dynasty with Babar to Akbar maintaining a personal account [or through their courtesans, Akbar could not read or right] like Akbarnama [Book of Akbar]. Although it served more as a military document for Babar and Humayun, but in hands of Abul Fazl it took a more refined stance, but can in no way be treated as an unbiased account of the rule and life of the subjects at that time.
The history till independence of India has been flooded by the works of European historians whose accounts ranges from mythical to spiritual to upright derogatory.
Like the “History of India” was written by John Mill, who never visited the country and never spoke any local language. This format of history suited the British as their ulterior motive was to rule the country and it would be counterproductive for the British subjects to come over to a land and hit hard against a culture which is far superior in terms of its philosophical content than theirs.
The colonial rule left copious volumes of documents, the India House having more documents than even the Central Archives of India.
Orientalism, a word made famous by Edward Said in the 20th century, influenced a breed of Indian historians and they carried on writing history of the subcontinent immersed in the same sprit of Postmodernism. The writings depended more on the official documents of the British rule, with very little independent research, but was made more accessible to the general public at large.
If history was the life of a king, his conquests, his queens, his wealth then rendition in comics like Amar Chitra Katha would suffice. But history is more than that and modern history tries to delve more into the socio economic life of the subaltern in the rule of the king. But history is no science that it can be verified by experiments, the historians need to depend on what ever account is left from those times aided with some architectural evidence.
Any event in history can have three versions – one by the perpetrator, another by the affected and the third as an outsider perspective. All accounts have their own self bias and hence it becomes a matter of hard choice for the historian to write an unbiased view of the event without being influenced, partially or fully.
Mass in a socio political context is a mere number until or unless it is led to a certain activity, either in a constructive or destructive way and it is then that the mass gathers momentum and makes relevance. Mobilisation of the mass requires a tremendous effort by the leader and the leader can be a part of the mass or an outsider with a cause which appears to appeal to the mass. The stature of the leader is determined by the quantum of the mass moved – Mahatma Gandhi being one of the finest examples in India.
But it can be argued that a physical presence of a leader is not always needed to create a movement, with a clear distinction to be made between mass movement and mob.
In today’s socio political context, the society has been fragmented to suit the various political parties in terms of caste, creed, religion and other attributes. This also is for the purpose of obtaining maximum benefit from this fragmented mass, but it is also easier to derive “stimulus” that would sway this mass. If one thought that individual brilliance within the mass may negate this affect then it is only a presumption, because once you start believing in the “stimulus” your reasoning gets obfuscated by the greater cause.
A practical example is a Fire Alarm system in an office building. When the fire alarm rings, the people inside the building, irrespective of their rank [from the managing director to the bell boy] moves to a place outside the building in the designated “assembly point”. In this case the trigger for the mass movement [exodus] is inanimate, a mere electro-mechanical contraption called a fire alarm, the stimulus being the personal safety of the people inside the office building.
Neither Jawaharlal Nehru nor Indira Gandhi and her generations afterwards were mass leaders but were quite a contrary and the mass leader in Jayprakash Narayan never came even anywhere near to political power. But they had had cultivated the art of creating the stimulus with their strong official machinery.
While the Left parties and BJP has a clear ideology and to that extent also some of the regional parties like BSP [dalit ideology], RJD [social equality], but the oldest party of India, Congress is devoid of any ideology so as to speak.
The relevance of Congress ended with the independence, it was a forum which gave the voice of the Indians to reach the colonial rulers, but subsequent to independence and creation of India as a secular, democratic polity, Jawaharlal Nehru failed to create an ideology which could bind the party to their grass root supporters. The wind of nationalistic policy in terms of nation building based on socialistic principles played for a decade and with the waning of that spirit, there was the period of simmering disquiet, which Nehru could hardly handle and in many cases made blunders.
But behind the great veil of Socialism, he sowed the seeds of that nefarious “stimulus” which unknowingly has spread its tentacles and engulfed our daily lives which will be discussed in details subsequently.
“The Matrix” series by Wachowski Brothers borrowed heavily from the Buddhist or Vedic philosophy. It is a simple tale that tells that the computers have taken control of the humans, controlling their brains and thereby their actions, and how a group of “originals” try to fight out of this imperialistic control.
Movies like the “Enemy of the State” depict how every move in our life is monitored by the government, which is nothing more than a control of our lives. The control becomes easier if the polity believes is a similar ideology and do not contest any opposition to that ideology, the ideology can be religious, philosophical or political – but the central theme is to make the polity believe in that.
During the height of the “Cold War” the leftist states in India were flooded with books from Russian distributors like Mir and Vostok, highly subsidized. The collection varied from textbooks of basic science [some becoming as popular as to attain a textbook status] to writings on socio economic principles of Marxism.
Dmitri Mendeleev was a bigger figure as a true Russian than the proponent of the Periodic Table of Elements and for every scientific discovery of the allied West there exists a counterpart in the Soviet domain.
The state propaganda was drilled hard into the public domain and in fact they started believing what they were fed with as they were practically cut from the rest of the world.
Such was their faith in the leadership that in China, another Marxist block, nearly 30 million people died in Mao’s quest for transforming the traditional agrarian based Chinese economy into a modern communist society through the process of agriculturisation, industrilisation and collectivization.
The mass were in complete agreement with the principles of Mao Zedong, any rebellion being violently suppressed, in its Great Leap Forward which ultimately led to a famine and death of unparalleled proportions.
We may take pride in living in the worlds greatest democracy which adheres to secularity, is guided by jurisprudence and allowed by the constitution of freedom of speech which retains our free thinking and logical reasoning.
It is entirely another perspective, what if the ideas on which our reasoning pattern depends is based on a huge propaganda? What if what we have been taught through our school days is a clearly crafted play?
It has been assumed that not more than 1 to 2 mass leaders are needed per ten thousand people and a complete control over the minds of these leaders makes it easy for domination. Are we moving towards a Matrix like society where instead of computers there will be select few calling the shots?
This is the basis of the distortion of the Indian History, against which people are becoming aware only now, thanks to the efforts by the huge Diaspora who are investing their time, energy and money to uncover the truth and expose the culprits of systematic distortion of History.
Advancement in technology, free market, communication has helped in the spread of ideas which contradict the forty year period of systematic alienation of the people from the truth.
Monday, July 26, 2010
SHARDA & "Us"
The maid, Sharda, who comes to our house to do the daily chores, gets two thousand rupees at the end of the month. No weekly holidays and if by chance she falls sick or takes a day off I can feel the faint sound of vuvuzela [my wife’s grudging grumble] polluting the house.
She has a son and a daughter to support beside a husband who does some odd jobs, but mostly sits at home. She can manage to work at five more homes like ours, and armed with around twelve thousand rupees she wages a battle against WPI & CPI, which seems to be growing stronger day by day with no effective resistance whatsoever and seems to have even overpowered our very own soft spoken, weak Prime Minister, who is a wizard in economics.
Sharda sends her children to school and schools like all great business institutions have no room for sympathy, except for the devil [read people with money and power]. Our education minister has declared that education is the right of every children, but like that fabled word of Dronacharya, the silent or whispering, “iti Gaja” was left out by the media [may be they could also not hear it].
Kapil Sibal’s conscience is clear as water from the Ganges near its tributary [more mud than water] and hence skipping the entrance to the school he is more focused on the abolition of exams for students of the age where finding a girlfriend is of more substance that Newton’s Third Law.
Sharda does not read Economic Times, for that matter she does not read at all, she is clearly leading a life as delineated by the great Hindu scriptures, submitting herself to “karma” without any expectations. Newspapers, televisions are all treated by her as luxuries of life, which when avoided will lead her to the “stairway to heaven”.
She has never heard of terms like WPI and CPI and a mention of the same would lead to a Freudian slip of Communist Party of India [CPI] having to counter another political opponent in the next assembly elections.
Every day she rues that it is getting difficult to meet ends, a fact also echoed by my wife, although the level of their difficulties may well be related to two lines in parallel planes.
She gets a raise every year and that raise is not measured by the inflation, cost of living or even meeting targets or performance, but by shear gut feeling of my wife, which I would say may not be as perfect as the HR initiatives of Fortune 500 companies but leaves not much room for complaint. The measure of the practice is testified by the fact that she is with us for last three years and promises to continue barring any untoward incidents.
There have been some houses where the annual increment was met with resistance, but Sharda alone could not carry on the fight as she has more than a dozen competitors lined outside the house to replace her. This is the advantage some people take, maybe they are wiser in the tricks of the world and my wife keeps wandering why she could not be like them. Such virtues are in great demand in today’s world and it takes more than intelligence to learn them. It is more like flying a plane, where the hardness of your twin assets matter more than your grey matter.
Sharda does not know who Sharad Pawar is, but she knows that her children get less and less diet every passing day. Even if she knew detailed biography of Sharad Pawar she could not have done much as before an election she votes for the party who gives her the maximum ration, which hardly runs for a week. Neither does she know about Murli Deora, whose sleight of hand has led her to preserve as much of kerosene as possible and the family has adapted to eating half boiled rice.
But I envy her; she does not have to bother about the white elephant “automobile” and does not have to travel in those, oh so dirty public transport, rubbing your shoulder and smell with “oh, those dirty public”. In fact there will be a smirk in her face if she finds out she is in the same bus as I am.
Sharda likes Rahul Gandhi, I never came to know why but she says that next time she will vote for whichever party Rahul Gandhi stands for. She also has doubts if Rahul Gandhi will campaign for CPI [Congress Party of Indira] or Forza Italia. From the time she heard that Rahul Gandhi is visiting the home of Dalits and poor, she has bought and kept a nice blanket along with a new set of Stainless Steel plate and glass. She also made a list of things that she would prepare and a list of demands had been drafted by her son in English.
But off late both mother and son have gone into hibernation and she blames the opposition, the anti nationalist, communal BJP, for their absence.
She has dreams and lives by her dreams. She dreams of her son becoming a graduate, getting into a well paid job, getting married to a girl from a good family, having a new house full with the pitter patter of her grandchildren and she, stopped with years of hard work rather than age, will cherish those moments.
Dreams of common man, dreams which will mostly remain dreams and this Sharda will continue till her daughter in law or daughter becomes the next Sharda.
Not a soul will cry, life will go along as it goes, till Sharda gets her next year’s increment.
She has a son and a daughter to support beside a husband who does some odd jobs, but mostly sits at home. She can manage to work at five more homes like ours, and armed with around twelve thousand rupees she wages a battle against WPI & CPI, which seems to be growing stronger day by day with no effective resistance whatsoever and seems to have even overpowered our very own soft spoken, weak Prime Minister, who is a wizard in economics.
Sharda sends her children to school and schools like all great business institutions have no room for sympathy, except for the devil [read people with money and power]. Our education minister has declared that education is the right of every children, but like that fabled word of Dronacharya, the silent or whispering, “iti Gaja” was left out by the media [may be they could also not hear it].
Kapil Sibal’s conscience is clear as water from the Ganges near its tributary [more mud than water] and hence skipping the entrance to the school he is more focused on the abolition of exams for students of the age where finding a girlfriend is of more substance that Newton’s Third Law.
Sharda does not read Economic Times, for that matter she does not read at all, she is clearly leading a life as delineated by the great Hindu scriptures, submitting herself to “karma” without any expectations. Newspapers, televisions are all treated by her as luxuries of life, which when avoided will lead her to the “stairway to heaven”.
She has never heard of terms like WPI and CPI and a mention of the same would lead to a Freudian slip of Communist Party of India [CPI] having to counter another political opponent in the next assembly elections.
Every day she rues that it is getting difficult to meet ends, a fact also echoed by my wife, although the level of their difficulties may well be related to two lines in parallel planes.
She gets a raise every year and that raise is not measured by the inflation, cost of living or even meeting targets or performance, but by shear gut feeling of my wife, which I would say may not be as perfect as the HR initiatives of Fortune 500 companies but leaves not much room for complaint. The measure of the practice is testified by the fact that she is with us for last three years and promises to continue barring any untoward incidents.
There have been some houses where the annual increment was met with resistance, but Sharda alone could not carry on the fight as she has more than a dozen competitors lined outside the house to replace her. This is the advantage some people take, maybe they are wiser in the tricks of the world and my wife keeps wandering why she could not be like them. Such virtues are in great demand in today’s world and it takes more than intelligence to learn them. It is more like flying a plane, where the hardness of your twin assets matter more than your grey matter.
Sharda does not know who Sharad Pawar is, but she knows that her children get less and less diet every passing day. Even if she knew detailed biography of Sharad Pawar she could not have done much as before an election she votes for the party who gives her the maximum ration, which hardly runs for a week. Neither does she know about Murli Deora, whose sleight of hand has led her to preserve as much of kerosene as possible and the family has adapted to eating half boiled rice.
But I envy her; she does not have to bother about the white elephant “automobile” and does not have to travel in those, oh so dirty public transport, rubbing your shoulder and smell with “oh, those dirty public”. In fact there will be a smirk in her face if she finds out she is in the same bus as I am.
Sharda likes Rahul Gandhi, I never came to know why but she says that next time she will vote for whichever party Rahul Gandhi stands for. She also has doubts if Rahul Gandhi will campaign for CPI [Congress Party of Indira] or Forza Italia. From the time she heard that Rahul Gandhi is visiting the home of Dalits and poor, she has bought and kept a nice blanket along with a new set of Stainless Steel plate and glass. She also made a list of things that she would prepare and a list of demands had been drafted by her son in English.
But off late both mother and son have gone into hibernation and she blames the opposition, the anti nationalist, communal BJP, for their absence.
She has dreams and lives by her dreams. She dreams of her son becoming a graduate, getting into a well paid job, getting married to a girl from a good family, having a new house full with the pitter patter of her grandchildren and she, stopped with years of hard work rather than age, will cherish those moments.
Dreams of common man, dreams which will mostly remain dreams and this Sharda will continue till her daughter in law or daughter becomes the next Sharda.
Not a soul will cry, life will go along as it goes, till Sharda gets her next year’s increment.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Bhopal - May you rest in Peace
The growth figures of India makes us all so very conceited. We take pride in the fact that India has weathered the storm of recession better than any of the developed countries. The internal consumption led by the infamous middle class, government expenditure at the risk of increasing the fiscal deficit and inflow of foreign capital as a safe parking place had contributed to the growth. The political class is vying for the credit whether with the BJP’s “India Shining” campaign [which was a sort of blunder] or the Congress’s untoward affection for the “Common Man”.
The basic question arises if we are capable of handling such growth? Are we self disciplined enough to respect this fantastic opportunity that has been bestowed on us?
On the seventh of June the landmark judgement was passed by the court on the Bhopal Gas tragedy. The tragedy happened in 1984, when the Congress government headed by Rajiv Gandhi was at the centre and the undivided state of Madhya Pradesh had Arjun Singh [who recently fell out of favour of the Congress high command] as the Chief Minister.
Bhopal, even today is considered to be a tier 3 city, in spite of it being the capital of Madhya Pradesh. It had very few industries [Union Carbide India Limited was one of the biggest, apart from BHEL] and India was still reeling under a license Raj. The leakage of the MIC [methyl isocyanate] killed nearly 20,000 people and maimed an entire generation [some five hundred thousand people were affected by the gas and has permanent disabilities]. It is considered as one of the worst of the industrial tragedies that happened in the planet.
Candle light protests were not a fashion during those days; we were more Indian than westernized. The social activists tirelessly campaigned but the might of the government and the corporation is something even God will find difficult to fight against, and that to a corrupt government and a rogue corporation.
After 26 year and the fresh verdict there is renewed interest in the case and as usual we like rumination. We get wiser in afterthoughts.
The news channels are fielding their “best man” for the show to raise their TRPs. Is anyone concerned for real justice? I do not think so. Every morning we need some spicy news to make our day – death, tragedy, injustice – all such incidents make us feel a little better before we commence on our daily boring grind.
UCIL flouted safety norms in lieu of saving money like we do every day, not wearing a helmet while riding a two wheeler, carrying more load than a tuck can bear, carrying more passengers in a car than what is prescribed for a truck and the list goes on. They ran the plant with little or no maintenance and on depleted manpower [cost cutting had always been a fashion for multinationals for making more profits]. It was a very American way of operation, typified by running a subsidiary as an illegitimate son.
But is UCIL to blame for all these? Everyone is running after Warren Anderson, who was the Chairman of Union carbide at that point of time. One news channel in their unbridled imagination compared him with Adolf Hitler. What was his fault? He was born in a country where his mother taught him from his birth how to love the color GREEN. It was in his blood, capitalism is written large on every American. But India, which always had been on the fringes of so called socialism, what did she do repudiate the diabolical plans of the corporation? Our governments are always effete against corporation, whether foreign or innate.
Every country has strict specifications published by statutory bodies. India also does have such bodies like the Pollution Control Board, the Bureau of Indian Standards and so many others. They all have been legacies of our colonial rule and after independence, they fluttered like headless chicken. They clung to the old British Standards of the forties and never ever thought of revising them.
There are hardly any guidelines for installation of hazardous chemicals, electrical installations or anything that can lead to danger to society at large. Such is the apathy of the government and its obstinate departments to change that still today we lose more than a thousand lives every year in industrial accidents only.
Any government regulatory board can be bought or influenced with and that is not new – so the verdict of this case does not ring a new bell anyhow.
The chemical hub of Ankleswar has toxic levels which can reduce the life of people staying there by more than ten years – but the industrialists and the government take cognizance of the fact that in a country with a population of more than a billion such exigencies are always pardonable.
As a citizen we are equally culpable. More we are educated more is our disrespect for the law. A degree in engineering or medicine makes us immune to the constitution of India – we detest standing in a queue as it undermines our privilege of education. We hate to follow the lane discipline while driving as we want to prove to the world how important our role in office is for the survival of the nation.
I find one dialogue from Spiderman very apt, “With great power come greater responsibilities.”
Who are we trying to blame? It would always be between us and them as that best suits our status quo.
The victims of the Bhopal Gas tragedy were mostly people from labor class. They only have the number on their side, but not the relevant voice. Their voices pass through us, who refine it, mould it and use it for our own good.
For few good days the new channels, media will come with more and more revelations until people are fed up and then Bhopal will be once again forgotten till we again wake up from slumber to another new tragedy, the opposition will try to harass the government, the government will defend all allegations to their teeth, Arjun Singh’s stoic silence will renew his bargaining power [what goes up always comes down and the old man will have the last laugh before he dies] and the victims will lay buried in injustice simply because they cannot recite ‘Jack and Jill’ or differentiate between a wine from Boudreaux or Burgundy.
The Wikipedia page on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy has a lot of interesting information. It may be a good read on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I recommend the same and do not forget your wine as tragedy is to be relished until it strikes you.
The basic question arises if we are capable of handling such growth? Are we self disciplined enough to respect this fantastic opportunity that has been bestowed on us?
On the seventh of June the landmark judgement was passed by the court on the Bhopal Gas tragedy. The tragedy happened in 1984, when the Congress government headed by Rajiv Gandhi was at the centre and the undivided state of Madhya Pradesh had Arjun Singh [who recently fell out of favour of the Congress high command] as the Chief Minister.
Bhopal, even today is considered to be a tier 3 city, in spite of it being the capital of Madhya Pradesh. It had very few industries [Union Carbide India Limited was one of the biggest, apart from BHEL] and India was still reeling under a license Raj. The leakage of the MIC [methyl isocyanate] killed nearly 20,000 people and maimed an entire generation [some five hundred thousand people were affected by the gas and has permanent disabilities]. It is considered as one of the worst of the industrial tragedies that happened in the planet.
Candle light protests were not a fashion during those days; we were more Indian than westernized. The social activists tirelessly campaigned but the might of the government and the corporation is something even God will find difficult to fight against, and that to a corrupt government and a rogue corporation.
After 26 year and the fresh verdict there is renewed interest in the case and as usual we like rumination. We get wiser in afterthoughts.
The news channels are fielding their “best man” for the show to raise their TRPs. Is anyone concerned for real justice? I do not think so. Every morning we need some spicy news to make our day – death, tragedy, injustice – all such incidents make us feel a little better before we commence on our daily boring grind.
UCIL flouted safety norms in lieu of saving money like we do every day, not wearing a helmet while riding a two wheeler, carrying more load than a tuck can bear, carrying more passengers in a car than what is prescribed for a truck and the list goes on. They ran the plant with little or no maintenance and on depleted manpower [cost cutting had always been a fashion for multinationals for making more profits]. It was a very American way of operation, typified by running a subsidiary as an illegitimate son.
But is UCIL to blame for all these? Everyone is running after Warren Anderson, who was the Chairman of Union carbide at that point of time. One news channel in their unbridled imagination compared him with Adolf Hitler. What was his fault? He was born in a country where his mother taught him from his birth how to love the color GREEN. It was in his blood, capitalism is written large on every American. But India, which always had been on the fringes of so called socialism, what did she do repudiate the diabolical plans of the corporation? Our governments are always effete against corporation, whether foreign or innate.
Every country has strict specifications published by statutory bodies. India also does have such bodies like the Pollution Control Board, the Bureau of Indian Standards and so many others. They all have been legacies of our colonial rule and after independence, they fluttered like headless chicken. They clung to the old British Standards of the forties and never ever thought of revising them.
There are hardly any guidelines for installation of hazardous chemicals, electrical installations or anything that can lead to danger to society at large. Such is the apathy of the government and its obstinate departments to change that still today we lose more than a thousand lives every year in industrial accidents only.
Any government regulatory board can be bought or influenced with and that is not new – so the verdict of this case does not ring a new bell anyhow.
The chemical hub of Ankleswar has toxic levels which can reduce the life of people staying there by more than ten years – but the industrialists and the government take cognizance of the fact that in a country with a population of more than a billion such exigencies are always pardonable.
As a citizen we are equally culpable. More we are educated more is our disrespect for the law. A degree in engineering or medicine makes us immune to the constitution of India – we detest standing in a queue as it undermines our privilege of education. We hate to follow the lane discipline while driving as we want to prove to the world how important our role in office is for the survival of the nation.
I find one dialogue from Spiderman very apt, “With great power come greater responsibilities.”
Who are we trying to blame? It would always be between us and them as that best suits our status quo.
The victims of the Bhopal Gas tragedy were mostly people from labor class. They only have the number on their side, but not the relevant voice. Their voices pass through us, who refine it, mould it and use it for our own good.
For few good days the new channels, media will come with more and more revelations until people are fed up and then Bhopal will be once again forgotten till we again wake up from slumber to another new tragedy, the opposition will try to harass the government, the government will defend all allegations to their teeth, Arjun Singh’s stoic silence will renew his bargaining power [what goes up always comes down and the old man will have the last laugh before he dies] and the victims will lay buried in injustice simply because they cannot recite ‘Jack and Jill’ or differentiate between a wine from Boudreaux or Burgundy.
The Wikipedia page on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy has a lot of interesting information. It may be a good read on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I recommend the same and do not forget your wine as tragedy is to be relished until it strikes you.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Naushad from Morocco
It was in the winter of 1997 I reached Prien am Chiemsee, a small town in the Bavarian region of Germany. This was my first trip outside India [I believe we consider Nepal as an illegal extension of India] and that to, to a country where they speak in a strange language as if they are having a fight.
Prien has a small centre for learning German language, at that time was run by Frau Rothkirch. The institute bears her name – Language Institute Von Rothkirch.
All people who were coming to Germany for the first time, from different part of the world and working for different divisions of Siemens AG, had to spend at least one month for learning the basics of the language.
It also served as a melting pot of diverse cultures and getting to know them.
Prien had a very elderly population. The old couples, mostly retired and living alone, rented their house to the students. It also helped the students in picking up German faster as they hardly spoke anything but German, that to countryside German [Bayerisches Deutsch].
I was allotted a room with a lady called Frau Neumann. There were two rooms in the attic and I was told to choose one.
She told me that the next room was booked for a gentleman from Pakistan [although I was expecting a lady from Russia]. It gave me a subtle pleasure that at least I would not spent hours talking in English or broken German. On the other hand it was also the first time I would meet a Pakistani – flesh and blood. The 1993 Mumbai bomb blast was still fresh and the word Pakistani did not evoke much camaraderie in my mind.
Naushad Alam checked in around four in the afternoon. He was very thin [I found out when he removed his warm clothes], around the same height as mine, bespectacled and I could feel him shivering beneath the layer of three coats that he was wearing and in spite of the heater turned full on.
We shook hands, introduced each other in English and then he went to his room to get fresh and change.
He came back to my room, looking a bit fresh but I could feel that he was a bit scared. I made him a cup of tea and offered him some biscuits.
He sat there in the bed, palms crossed between his legs, shivering in pulses. He seemed as innocent as a terrorist.
He was from Karachi and had joined Siemens only a year back. He has never travelled outside Karachi, leave aside being abroad. His chance came by proxy as the person who was originally scheduled to come fell sick. In a short notice he had to make arrangements, like getting his passport and then visa, buying warm clothes, food items, pressure cooker, pulses etc. He paid almost the same amount as his ticket fare in excess baggage and it was only a miracle how he lifted his stuff alone on the second floor of the building.
He was so shy that he refused to lift his face up while speaking to me. I felt a little disconcerting but carried on the conversation. Naushad spoke in a very soft voice, as if he has not yet reached his puberty.
“It is so stupid that in spite of being neighboring countries we are speaking in English.” said Naushad.
“Yes, but as per rules we should be speaking German. By the way what language do you speak?”
“I speak Urdu only, and you?”
“I speak Bengali, the language they speak in erstwhile East Pakistan and a bit of Hindi.”
“No, I do not understand any of the languages.”
“But Hindi is not that different from Urdu, except for the script.”
“Maybe, but I have never heard the language. But I heard that many in India speak Urdu.”
“Yes, maybe in the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad and Lucknow.”
“Ah! Hyderabad, which was invaded by the Indian army and forcefully annexed it to the Indian state.”
I was totally foxed by his statement, Hyderabad – attacked by Indian Army – annexed. It was a total spin and I was left flabbergasted.
“Your army also invaded Goa and more so many people got killed, India was acting fascist at that time.”
We were sitting and having our discussion in a country which has a history of Fascism about forty years back, but no one has dared call India fascist.
“And what you did in Nagaland, killing the tribal, just because they refused to be a part of the Indian state and demanded their freedom. Their leader Phizo was exiled and continued the fight from England.”
“Excuse me, Phizo who?” I was almost sweating.
The soft spoken, gentle Pakistani was telling me the history of my own country which I was totally unaware off or was it a Pakistani propaganda.
I told him that I need to go out and make a call to my family. I rushed to the nearest telephone booth and called my father and asked in sequence what Naushad had told me. It was a part of history post independence and who in the world of our age cared about history.
But some countries do like Pakistan. When you want to inflict hatred against someone a counter productive history comes handy.
You obfuscate a part of it, mould it to suit your goals and brainwash the people. Pakistan had no history – a country only forty years old and having a series of leadership change, junta rules, and a country born on the principle of hatred cannot have a history.
Few days later, when we realized that I can understand his Urdu and he can somehow understand my Hindi [which he kept on arguing was Urdu, but the fascist Indian government gave a new name] I had asked him about his roots.
He thought for a moment and then he said with a smile,” We are decedents of a business family from Morocco, who came to make is fortune in Afghanistan and later settled in Karachi after Pakistan was formed.”
Naushad Alam would never even have a shadow of India cross his frame.
Prien has a small centre for learning German language, at that time was run by Frau Rothkirch. The institute bears her name – Language Institute Von Rothkirch.
All people who were coming to Germany for the first time, from different part of the world and working for different divisions of Siemens AG, had to spend at least one month for learning the basics of the language.
It also served as a melting pot of diverse cultures and getting to know them.
Prien had a very elderly population. The old couples, mostly retired and living alone, rented their house to the students. It also helped the students in picking up German faster as they hardly spoke anything but German, that to countryside German [Bayerisches Deutsch].
I was allotted a room with a lady called Frau Neumann. There were two rooms in the attic and I was told to choose one.
She told me that the next room was booked for a gentleman from Pakistan [although I was expecting a lady from Russia]. It gave me a subtle pleasure that at least I would not spent hours talking in English or broken German. On the other hand it was also the first time I would meet a Pakistani – flesh and blood. The 1993 Mumbai bomb blast was still fresh and the word Pakistani did not evoke much camaraderie in my mind.
Naushad Alam checked in around four in the afternoon. He was very thin [I found out when he removed his warm clothes], around the same height as mine, bespectacled and I could feel him shivering beneath the layer of three coats that he was wearing and in spite of the heater turned full on.
We shook hands, introduced each other in English and then he went to his room to get fresh and change.
He came back to my room, looking a bit fresh but I could feel that he was a bit scared. I made him a cup of tea and offered him some biscuits.
He sat there in the bed, palms crossed between his legs, shivering in pulses. He seemed as innocent as a terrorist.
He was from Karachi and had joined Siemens only a year back. He has never travelled outside Karachi, leave aside being abroad. His chance came by proxy as the person who was originally scheduled to come fell sick. In a short notice he had to make arrangements, like getting his passport and then visa, buying warm clothes, food items, pressure cooker, pulses etc. He paid almost the same amount as his ticket fare in excess baggage and it was only a miracle how he lifted his stuff alone on the second floor of the building.
He was so shy that he refused to lift his face up while speaking to me. I felt a little disconcerting but carried on the conversation. Naushad spoke in a very soft voice, as if he has not yet reached his puberty.
“It is so stupid that in spite of being neighboring countries we are speaking in English.” said Naushad.
“Yes, but as per rules we should be speaking German. By the way what language do you speak?”
“I speak Urdu only, and you?”
“I speak Bengali, the language they speak in erstwhile East Pakistan and a bit of Hindi.”
“No, I do not understand any of the languages.”
“But Hindi is not that different from Urdu, except for the script.”
“Maybe, but I have never heard the language. But I heard that many in India speak Urdu.”
“Yes, maybe in the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad and Lucknow.”
“Ah! Hyderabad, which was invaded by the Indian army and forcefully annexed it to the Indian state.”
I was totally foxed by his statement, Hyderabad – attacked by Indian Army – annexed. It was a total spin and I was left flabbergasted.
“Your army also invaded Goa and more so many people got killed, India was acting fascist at that time.”
We were sitting and having our discussion in a country which has a history of Fascism about forty years back, but no one has dared call India fascist.
“And what you did in Nagaland, killing the tribal, just because they refused to be a part of the Indian state and demanded their freedom. Their leader Phizo was exiled and continued the fight from England.”
“Excuse me, Phizo who?” I was almost sweating.
The soft spoken, gentle Pakistani was telling me the history of my own country which I was totally unaware off or was it a Pakistani propaganda.
I told him that I need to go out and make a call to my family. I rushed to the nearest telephone booth and called my father and asked in sequence what Naushad had told me. It was a part of history post independence and who in the world of our age cared about history.
But some countries do like Pakistan. When you want to inflict hatred against someone a counter productive history comes handy.
You obfuscate a part of it, mould it to suit your goals and brainwash the people. Pakistan had no history – a country only forty years old and having a series of leadership change, junta rules, and a country born on the principle of hatred cannot have a history.
Few days later, when we realized that I can understand his Urdu and he can somehow understand my Hindi [which he kept on arguing was Urdu, but the fascist Indian government gave a new name] I had asked him about his roots.
He thought for a moment and then he said with a smile,” We are decedents of a business family from Morocco, who came to make is fortune in Afghanistan and later settled in Karachi after Pakistan was formed.”
Naushad Alam would never even have a shadow of India cross his frame.
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