It's not about one man.

It's easy to project all your fears on a single person. Helps you escape the reality. Doesn't change it, though. So, while every liberal and even remotely secular Indian is fearful of a Hindutva chauvinist becoming the next PM, I am afraid, the situation has already worsened so much that Modi or no Modi, the future of an India of the dreams of our founding fathers already looks in peril. The meteoric rise of Narendra Modi is, I fear, just a symptom of the malaise that has spread far and wide. Soft-communalism, anti-minority biases, prejudices and plain hatred, fanatical re-imaginings of the past, these values have gained so much currency today that it is indeed a shock.  And surprisingly have become so internalized by even the 'educated' and 'professionals' that it seems a daunting task to even imagine India returning to the ideal path now. I have to say, the Hindu-chauvinist organizations : the RSS, VHP et al wouldn't have in their wildest of dreams, imagined such widespread popularity of what was for a long time a fringe ideology, shunned by the majority. Is it still shunned by the core moderate Hindu ? I am not so sure.

The reason for my pessimism is the fact that these ideas have gained tremendous tract among the new middle class and the young professionals, students who will be the future of our country. The other day, in a discussion at my office lunch, someone nonchalantly quipped that Hindustan is for Hindus and those who don't agree with that do not matter. And there was amazing appreciation for that. Then someone said that Hindutva is just a 'way of life' and everybody living in India, is basically a Hindu, whether he agrees or not. Again it met with vociferous approval. Someone else joined in with the insightful comment that Babri demolition was a social movement, someone else praised Modi for 2002, saying it was the need of the hour.
All this with very little opposition. Those few who tried to oppose were vehemently heckled into silence. "We will have none of that 'pseudo-secularism' crap." "It is your problem if you are not with the patriots".
And the story continued the next day, and the next and then after, with more and more people joining in the Hindutva bandwagon and the opposing voices becoming shriller but,  let me be brutally honest, totally irrelevant. When the majority smells the whiff of communal thought, situation can turn really ugly, very quickly. And mind you these are the happenings inside an MNC, with bright minds and educated people, who are totally mild otherwise, living out in one the most liberal atmospheres possible in India. And that is why I fear for the future. Their insolence, intolerance was so shocking, their understanding of history so churlish and full of fantastical flourishes and paranoia, their belief in Modi being the saviour of one and all so unbending and their imagined victimhood of 'Hindus' by the others so visceral, it made me tremble in awe and fear.

I have now actually begun to curse all those writers, intellectuals and leaders who fooled me into believing that India is a secular state, that it is not a Hindu Pakistan. My belief has been shaken. With each passing day, I realise even more clearly, what I should have realised much earlier. After all the signs were already there. I must have been sleeping when 2 million people attended the funeral of Bal Thackeray.....2 million people, 20 lakh...imagine that. SO much appeal for a hooligan who did more damage to the cosmopolitan fabric of Bombay than any other person possibly. And I should have been concerned earlier that an openly communal CM was winning one election after the other and was simultaneously being given 'audience-choice' awards, one after the other, for the best CM. I must have been wandering in my dreams with Nehru or Ambedkar way too much and so I guess I deserve the rude shock that I have received now. Still, it hurts to watch the very idea of India of one's dreams being shredded apart and mockingly so, by my fellows without so much as a batting of an eyelid.

I have read some opinion pieces stating that this rise in communalism and Modi mania is transitory and will pass. I don't think so. I think the very secular nature of India has been charred already, and the man hasn't even taken power. And it doesn't matter, frankly. Because the man may come and go, but these ideas have so deeply got entrenched into everyone's minds, that it is not going to matter who is in power. Today a Modi, tomorrow an Amit Shah, day after some other. There is not going to be any stop. Atleast that is what it feels over here in this privileged cordon of cosmopolitan Bombay. Sad, very sad indeed!

'Reading' through the Ghalib glass

( Courtesy : Vishi Sinha )


"कब किताब पढ़ते हो?"
"ग़ालिब छूटी पढ़ाई, पर अब भी कभी कभी,
पढ़ता हूँ रोज़-ए-अब्र-ओ-शब-ए-माहताब में."

"कौन सी पढ़ते हो?"
"अच्छी पढ़ ली खराब पढ़ ली, जैसी मिली क़िताब पढ़ ली."

"क्यों पढ़ते हो?"
"पढ़ता हूँ इसलिए कि कट जाए ज़िन्दगानी मेरी, वर्ना किसी शौक़ की ख़ातिर तो मैं नहीं पढ़ता."

"कितनी पढ़ते हो?"
"वैसे कभी पोथी नहीं काफी, कभी इक फ़िकरा बहुत है."

"कैसे और कहाँ पढ़ते हो?"
"कभी अल्फ्रेड पार्क में था मुक़ाम ,
तो कभी गंगा - जमुना तीरे,
कभी ट्रिपल आईटी लैब
तो कभी छत के कोने में.
आजकल फ़ुर्सत नहीं मिलती
ग़म-ए-रोजगार से
तो पायी है पनाह
मोबाइल की छोटी स्क्रीन में."

Cosmic background radiation & discovery ( sort of ) of the gravitational waves ---- explained

by Minutephysics and Veritasium ( who else ! )

Links between 'manliness' , aggression and increasing sexual violence against women

In deeply patriarchal and somewhat sexist societies, too often the popular rhetoric equates the idea of masculinity and man-hood to aggression and dominance. The pop-culture pumps up this rhetoric as well, refusing to accept 'softer' or let's say less-aggressive sensibilities in men and merrily indulges in consigning adjectives like 'weak' or 'un-manly' to them.

And to top it all, the same pop-media-culture goes overboard with their self-flagellation, on the increasing reported cases of violence, physical and sexual, against the fairer sex. All the disturbing, baying-for-blood of the accused, that regularly occur after each such event, in a perverse way, heightens the feeling of 'manliness'.

Now, one doesn't need to be a nobel-winner to figure out that the very idea of female-liberation or emancipation itself is ludicrous when we refuse to shed these ideas of 'manhood' and continue investing in the popular rhetoric.

Here is an insightful article that actually puts forward some really vital links between increasing violence against women and identity of Manliness :




http://www.epw.in/commentary/male-sexual-violence.html

The question of identity

Identity : of a nation, of an individual....that elusive, inexplicable and highly superficial entity ! What is it after all ? Apart from being a part-fantasy, part wish-fulfillment tool, conceived by us from an amalgamation of selective facts and long-standing myths !!
And what is so powerful about the very notion of 'identity' that we believe in it without any qualms, any doubts ? Is there a more primeval, evolutionary basis for our belief in 'having an identity' ?
The more one delves deeper into these questions, the more convoluted it becomes....


Kritika Pandey's views:

Gopalkrishna Gandhi’s lecture on how the invisible fourth lion on the National Emblem, the unacknowledged fourth color on the ‘Tri-Color’ National Flag, the omitted agony of India from the original song by Tagore before it became the National Anthem, and the excluded secret pain of Iqbal from the National Song as we know it today, left me with unanswered questions ( Which is a very good thing. So much to look forward to )

Identity is a rather complicated thing, because we don’t shape our identities solely on our own. India could think of itself in a certain way, the world could think of India in another way, and yet, both of these views can be completely different from what the world thinks that India thinks of itself. But at the end of the day, what do debates around nomenclature choices of India, Bharat and Hindustan essentially change, and how much, when there is always someone out there who thinks of you the way he does, whether or not you prefer to be thought of in that way? Because you can change the way you look at yourself, but can you really change the way you want to be looked at?

This applies not just to India as against the world outside, but to the many different Indias against each other. To every individual against every other individual. Come to think of it, it’s no surprise that a nation battles with identities torn between India, Bharat and Hindustan every day. Because the nation is made up of people like you and me. And you and me relentlessly prove that Iqbal’s secret pain is not so secret, after all. It finds its way into every heart that beats.

Because ''Iqbaal'' koi marham apna nahin jahaaN mein / maloom kya kisi ko dard e nihaaN hamara?”

This is a question that cannot, and should not, exist all by itself. It commands communal deliberation. Which is why I chose to go back my long lost When-In-Doubt-Post-On-Facebook mode for once.

Innocent humour...simpler times !

A mini review and discussion on the presence of humour and understated satire in SMP's work -- in simpler times !

Purane Gunah Naye Gunahgaar by Surender Mohan Pathak
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This mini-novel was written in 1963, yet doesn't feel much dated today. In fact it is quite a well paced whodunit-thriller interlaced with lovely humour that fits quite organically in the story. And the humour is not of the slapstick version, so common in whodunits, but has rather suave feel to it. The principal character, Sunil, is smart, vulnerable and a really charming character, who is always ready with a quip on his lips and a twinkle in his eyes. And although the murder actually happens well into the second half of the novel, you won't find a single uninteresting paragraph throughout primarily because the length of the novel itself is quite short and the pace is good.
But the real soul of the novel is the language that the characters speak : the classical Hindustani of 1960's era! What lovely words suffused with all the innocence and simplicity of a bygone era! You start suspecting that all the characters have just came back from a 'mushayra' or a 'kavi goshthi'. And add to that the innocence and charm of the 60's, which spills out of the demeanour of the characters here and engulfs you as well. How can you not fall in love with such people ?!

The only niggle that I had with the novel was that for such good buildup, the ending was a bit rushed and did not do justice. Also the speed at which some of the investigative actions were conducted in the novel ( especially for the 60's era ) require some suspension of disbelief. Apart from that a very enjoyable read, if not for anything else then at least for the nostalgia factor and as a remembrance for much simpler times!

View all my reviews

A mini discussion to follow-up :

विशेषकर जिस पक्ष ने मुझ पर गहरी छाप छोड़ी वो था नॉवेल का ह्यूमर जो काफी organically कहानी का हिस्सा बनता है, और ६० के दशक की simplicity ओढ़े हुए लगता है।

कहानी में कई  खिलंदड़पन से भरपूर वाक्ये होते हैं जैसे  सुनील और ब्लास्ट के चपरासी के बीच में नोकझोक , जहां चपरासी अपनी हाज़िरजवाबी से सुनील को लाजवाब कर देता है। पर गौर करने वाली बात है कि इन सभी जवाबों, सवालों और प्रसंगों में एक सरलता और मासूमियत है, जो कि अब नहीं दिखती, न दिख सकती है। ये कुछ-कुछ इब्न-ए-सफ़ी के विनोद-हमीद की चुहलबाज़ियों की भी याद दिलाते हैं, लेकिन कई मानों में जुदा भी हैं।

साथ ही कहीं कहीं तो इतने understated और matter-of-fact तरीके से व्यंग्य किया गया है, कि वो और भी ज़्यादा असरदार हो जाता है। अब यही उदाहरण देखिये ---
"ब्लास्ट के दफ्तर में धराधड़ काम हो रहा था। सारा स्टाफ बाहरी दुनिया से बेखबर मशीनों की तरह काम कर रहा था। एडिटर रिपोर्टरों से शिकायत कर रहा था कि वे अखबार के लिए सनसनीखेज खबरें नहीं लाते और रिपोर्टर झल्ला के सोच रहे थे कि क्या एडिटर को मशीन में झोंक देने की खबर सनसनीखेज हो सकती है ?"
---
हास्य के साथ ही इसमे निहित irony ज़रा देखिये कि जिन साहबों को दुनिया की खबरें सबतक पहुंचानी हैं, वो ही दुनिया से बेखबर हैं !
ऐसे ही कितने ही प्रसंग, बिना वार्निंग के इस कहानी में प्रकट हुए, जिनके वजह से पढ़ने में और आनंद आया।

मुझे ऐसा लगता है कि उत्तरोत्तर, जैसे जैसे सुनील का कैरक्टर बढ़ता गया, सारी कॉमेडी रमाकांत के हिस्से ही आ गयी, और ये subtle ह्यूमर वाला हिस्सा थोड़ा खो सा गया और साथ ही सुनील के खिलंदड़पन की जगह स्मार्ट-टौक ने ले ली। खैर समय भी तो ६० के दशक वाला नहीं रहा!

'Behind the truck' shers : India's highway poetry

( Courtesy : Hasan Zaheer )

"मालिक की गाड़ी, ड्राइवर का पसीना
चलती है सड़क पर बन कर हसीना !!"

"मालिक की ज़िंदगी बिस्कुट और केक पर
ड्राइवर की ज़िंदगी एक्सिलेरेटर और ब्रेक पर!!"

"पत्ता हूँ ताश का जोकर न समझना,
आशिक हूँ तेरे प्यार का नौकर न समझना!!"

"या खुदा क्यों बनाया मोटर बनाने वाले को,
घर से बेघर किया मोटर चलाने वाले को!!"

"ड्राईवर की ज़िन्दगी में लाखों इलज़ाम होते हैं,
निगाहें साफ़ होती हैं फिर भी बदनाम होते हैं!!"

"चलती है गाड़ी उड़ती है धूल
जलते हैं दुश्मन खिलते हैं फूल!!"

"दिल के अरमाँ आँसुओं में बह गये
वो उतर कर चल दिये हम गियर बदलते रह गये !!"

"कभी साइड से आती हो, कभी पीछे से आती हो
मेरी जाँ हार्न दे देकर, मुझे तुम क्यों सताती हो!!"

"रूप की रानी चोरों का राजा,
मिलना है तो सोनिया विहार आ जा!!"

"कीचड़ में पैर रखोगी तो धोना पड़ेगा
गोरी ड्राइवर से शादी करोगी तो रोना पड़ेगा!!"

"लिखा परदेस क़िस्मत में, वतन की याद क्या करना
जहाँ बेदर्द हाकिम हों, वहां फ़रियादक्या करना!!"

"पानी गिरता है पहाड़ से, दीवार से नहीं
दोस्ती है हमसे, हमारे रोज़गार से नही!!"

"बुरी नज़र वालों की तीन दवाई,
जूता, चप्पल और पिटाई!!"

57 के फूल 74 की माला,
बुरी नज़र वाले तेरा मूंह काला।