Where I have been.

This last week, a dear friend of mine, Sid wedded the beautiful Aastha. Of course in between the whole, OMG Sid is married. OMG we are so old, I managed to photograph most of the wedding. This is part one of the entire album, wherein I photographed Aastha as she got ready to be a colorful and absolutely lovely bride. 

"God of All things"

TOI tells me, that apparently, the Hindus are not so happy about this cover.

"Jab they Met"

From the Hindustan Times,

"Body language experts, after looking at photos from the meeting, feel there are unresolved issues between them. “Deepika seems anxious. There is evidence of some pain, which  may come from unaddressed issues. Eye contact is being purposely avoided, Ranbir looks more comfortable than her,” says psychiatrist Deepak Raheja. 

“Their body language is awkward. Their confused state of mind is evident in the way their hands and eyes are going in different directions,” says psychiatrist Sanjeev Kalra."

Maybe Deepak Raheja and Sanjeev Kalra, these amazing psychiatrists who have given us invaluable insight into Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor(?)'s first post-breakup public encounter would want to read this. 

A Beginning?

My favorite photo of the weekend: Burmese Refugees in New Delhi celebrating the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. (From the BBC)

"Oh, in the end, she dies."

"It is worth remembering, that it is much more disheartening to have to steal than to be stolen from."

"Livingstone 'Livy' Montagne: You're a magician, Boris. To have produced all this in three weeks, and from nothing. 

 Boris Lermontov: My dear Livy, not even the best magician in the world can produce a rabbit out of a hat if there is not already a rabbit in the hat." 

A Powell and Pressburger classic, The Red Shoes was made in 1948 and released in a post-war Britain, that as Anthony Lane puts it, was still rationing "color, food, and feeling." Powell and Pressburger, who had previously made several war movies, including Contraband and 49th parallel- both functioning as anti-German propaganda disguised as thrillers, made during the war, collectively formed a team they called "The Archers." Departing from their war themes, they decided to bring to Britain, something refreshing, colorful, musical, and an absolute visual treat. Unfortunately, "The Red Shoes", the story of a ballet production, a ballet dancer, her "impossible" choice, and ultimately her dance to death, did not quite fare well with the public then. 

As part of their "Archers agreement", Powell and Pressburger had jotted down that "When we start work on a new idea we must be a year ahead, not only of our competitors, but also of the times", and rightly so, while The Red Shoes was not well-received at the time, it went on to become one of the most important and renowned films of not only their partnership, but also of post-war British Cinema 

I watched it at the National Museum (which has off late become a frequent destination) and I liked it not only for the aesthetic  beauty that it is (all the dances were actually performed and staged btw), but also because within that harmless beauty lay a narrative of a possessive, dangerous, and almost demonic ecstasy.  Oddly enough, every scene reeks of Powell and Pressburger, yet the film somehow, remains entirely removed from their style and substance. 

"Flat Chahiye?"

Few weeks ago, Maharashtra Chief Minister, Ashok Chavan was supporting the good ol' Thuggerays when they called to ban Rohintan Mistry's book, which was "offensive" to the good ol' Shiv Sena.

Soon after, it was revealed that Chavan had given apartments ("flats") from the Adarsh Society to his relatives. Adarsh Society apartments were built for living war veterans and war widows. But three of his relatives (who fall into neither category) had apartments in the housing society. Moreover, another flat was in the name of his mother-in-law, who, by the way, is deceased and by virtue of being deceased is surely not a living war veteran or war widow. Chavan, of course, promptly, almost by protocol, reacted to the scandal by submitting his resignation. Soniya kept it aside, as Obama was to visit (and Chavan was to greet him, wearing dark glasses!). And now finally, Soniya has accepted the resignation. But what does that even mean? Chavan can now retire as CM but go back to his 3 Adarsh Society flats (in the lovely Cuffe Parade) and other wealth he accumulated during his tenure as CM, or will actual court proceedings be carried out against his corrupt self?

Oh well, I am tired today, so I will not attempt to answer that question and leave you with something funny I found somewhere.

"Obama's Trip to India: Are Coconuts a Threat?"

While political unrest and curfew continues in Kashmir, Irom Sharmila continues to fast, trains stop because of Maoist threats, and a cyclone approaches South India, NDTV reports here, (on the front page of its website), that "the Red Carpet that was laid to send off the "Obamas", kept flying away and finally had to be removed". Because showing every minute of his movement live on television is just not enough. 

Neither was the reporting of the "neutralization of the threat to Obama from coconuts". Yes I kid you not, coconuts. And herein, NDTV and the India Media were not the only guilty ones-  "foreign" newspapers and news sources also seem to be concerned about the "coconut threat". 

"No fallen coconuts mar president’s visit"

"Coconut threat was neutralized"

 "Coconut threat averted before Obama’s arrival in India"

"Obama's Trip to India: Are Coconuts a Threat?"

"India Intervenes to Protect Obama from Killer Coconuts"

"Keeping Coconuts Off Obama"

"In India, a coconut-free zone"

 "President Obama (left) and coconuts are shown. | Reuters Photos AP Photo"

Google News tells me there are 1000+ articles on "coconuts and Obama". Wonderful. 

"A decade of starvation for Irom Sharmila"

From the Independent,

"Her skin is ghostly pale from years of incarceration, her body is diminished and thin. But Irom Sharmila's eyes still sparkle. This week, in the drab surroundings of a hospital's secure wing in the north-east of India, the world's longest hunger striker completed 10 years of refusing food or water. The 38-year-old woman marked the occasion by reaffirming her vow not to end her fast until the demand for which she is struggling has been met.

"Ten years has been completed. She is spending the time reading and writing poetry," the woman's brother, Singhajit, said yesterday from Manipur. "Several days ago we went to see her. She was fine, still strong. She told us that unless she gets her demands she will continue fasting."

The dedication of the woman known simply as Sharmila, has highlighted the rarely-told turmoil of the state of Manipur, where a decades-long insurgency, combined with a draconian response from the state has created a place where violence is common-place. Over the years, more than 40 insurgent groups, many of them little more than criminal gangs, have demanded autonomy from India. The authorities have responded by dispatching thousands of troops, creating a state that is almost as heavily militarized as Kashmir.

Sharmila, who is force-fed a mixture of liquified carbohydrates and proteins by a nasal tube three times a day, is demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), a piece of legislation that gives police effective immunity from prosecution.

Human rights campaigners say the act has created an environment of impunity, where troops often shoot suspects on sight. There have been numerous reports of so-called "fake encounters" where security has executed suspects and claimed they were killed in a shoot-out. Last year a photographer captured paramilitaries arresting and killing a former militant in daylight in a busy market. Many people are too scared to go out after dark. Unemployment is huge and mental health problems are rife.

When Sharmila began her fast on 3 November 2000, police arrested her and charged her with attempted suicide. Such a charge allows detention in jail for just 364 days. As a result, Sharmila has never been brought to trial and is annually released and rearrested. During all this time she has not seen her elderly mother, the two agreeing that meetings might undermine her determination.

Her mother, Shakhi Devi, who lives little more than a mile from where Sharmila is held, says: "I will meet her after getting our demand." For a reason the authorities have never explained, Sharmila is not even permitted to exercise or walk outside in the daylight, a right routinely granted to those convicted of the most serious crimes.

Earlier this year, when she entered her 10th year of fasting, Ramesh Gopalakrishnan, Amnesty's India researcher, called for the young woman to be freed. "The Government of Manipur must release Irom Sharmila and withdraw the criminal prosecution initiated against her. In addition, the Indian authorities must repeal the AFSPA," he added.

Sharmila, who cleans her teeth with dry cotton out of a determination that water not pass her lips, and whose body has stopped menstruating, began her fast the day after 10 people waiting at a bus stop on the outskirts of Imphal were shot dead by paramilitaries belonging to the Assam Rifles.

The previous day, insurgents had attacked the paramilitaries' base, though there was no evidence that any of the 10 people killed at the bus stop were linked to the attack. Today, the location in the village of Malom is marked by a simple memorial where the names of the victims are inscribed in a white block.

The night she learned of the massacre, Sharmila had scribbled on a piece of paper: "What is the origin of peace and what will be the end." The next day, she ate a meal her mother had prepared and told her of the killings at the bus stop. Sharmila has not eaten since.

"We Are Not Pro-Anyone, We're Only Pro-Burma"

Published at Counter Currents

"We Are Not Pro-Anyone, We are Only Pro-Burma":  An Interview with Burmese Activist and Former Political Prisoner- Ko Bo Kyi

By Akanksha Mehta and Ava Patricia Avila

Burma has been under a military-dominated regime since 1962, when General Ne Win led a coup, toppling the civilian government under the tight control of the military-led State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Burmese military regime has since then suppressed political activism, engaged in several human rights violations, and disallowed free and fair elections. On November 7, 2010 , Burma will hold multi-party elections for the first time in twenty years. The elections form a part of the seven step “path to democracy” proposed by the SPDC.

The military regime's leader General Than Shwe has pledged to release Burmese political prisoners in amnesty before the upcoming elections. However, there is increasing international skepticism about the military regime's commitment to `legitimate` political process and the mitigation of human rights abuses. At the 17 th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit held in Vietnam from October 28-30, 2010, Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan stated that representatives from the military junta did not give any indication whether Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's detained pro-democracy leader, would be released on 13 November, the date on which her house arrest is due to expire.

With a few days to the election we met Ko Bo Kyi, a former Burmese political prisoner, and pro-democracy activist, at a Human Rights Conference in Bangkok , Thailand . Bo Kyi was imprisoned and tortured for seven years and three months in Burma . While his father and sisters still remain in Burma , Bo Kyi now lives in Mae Sot, a Thai town at the Thai-Burmese border, where he is the joint-secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). In 2008, Human Rights Watch honored him with the Alison Des Forges Defender Award for “his extraordinary activism and heroic efforts” to disclose the oppressions of the ruling junta and advocate for pro-democracy activists. In this interview, he elaborates on his own ordeal, torture and political imprisonment in Burma , as well Burmese politics and the upcoming elections.

You were first arrested in 1988. What was the situation in Burma at the time and what acts of “dissidence” led to your imprisonment?

In 1988, I was a final year student at university in Rangoon and I wanted to be a scholar. But in Burma , there is no student union, and no human rights. Many of my classmates were killed within the compounds of the university- in front of me. Watching all this, how could I stay silent? Therefore, I joined student demonstrations and demanded for the release of all student detainees. I was arrested because of my participation in these demos and protests.

What happened after you were arrested? While in prison, were you aware of the political developments in your country?

Immediately after my arrest, I was taken to an interrogation centre and for the next 36 hours I was denied food and water and was kicked and beaten repeatedly. I was not allowed to sleep for four days and was questioned by the officials. If my answers dissatisfied them, they would torture me more. In 1990, the government held free elections for the first time in almost 30 years. I was informed that after the elections, power would be transferred to the winning party. I knew if that happened, I would be released soon. When the results were revealed and NLD won, we [the political prisoners] were very happy, but we soon realized that the results were being annulled. I was then transferred to a very remote prison.

What were the conditions in the remote prison and how were you treated?

I was kept in a tiny cell and I was only allowed to go out of the cell for 20 minutes everyday. They did not even let me study or read/write. They killed my intellect and my brain. I somehow sneaked in a dictionary and started teaching myself English. But they found a piece of paper I had written on and they began to torture me and beat me regularly. The prison guards told me if I wanted to stay, I should stay away from politics. That is how it is in Burma.

How long were you in prison the first time you were arrested? Why were you re-arrested?

I was released after three years in prison, and I had several discussions with the regime's leaders. They wanted me to become an informant and I agreed for the sake of others. But I continued to demand the release of all political prisoners and they arrested me again, saying that three years was not enough for me. I was sentenced for five years in prison. These five years, I learned a lot from other political prisoners and their experiences and studied a lot. I was in the same room as other activists and we became a `democracy`, exchanging our opinions and figuring out our differences.

What happened after your release from prison in 1998? How and why did you continue your fight for democracy?

Some of my colleagues did not survive the torture and starvation and died while I was in prison. How could I live in ignorance and discontinue my fight? Without the release of political prisoners, we cannot have a democracy in Burma . The resolution of Burma 's ethnic issues relies on a political dialogue between different leaders and activists, and this can only happen if political prisoners are released. After a year in Burma , I escaped to Thailand and in the year 2000, along with other former political prisoners, I started the Association for Assistance of Political Prisoners (AAPP).

What is the situation in Burma today with regards to political imprisonment? How many political prisoners still remain in Burma ?

As of today, there are 2193 political prisoners in Burma . In 2005-06 there were about 1100 prisoners, but after the monk-led protests in 2007, the numbers have doubled. These include activists, journalists, bloggers, monks, students, elderly, and even children as young as 14. The regime arrests anyone for “real or perceived opposition” to the regime. You can be arrested as a political prisoner for merely owning a copy of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Many political prisoners are sentenced to over 65 years in prison, without any legal representation or fair trial.

You've talked about your ordeal and the torture you faced while in prison. Is it common for political prisoners to face torture while in detention? Is torture state policy in Burma ?

The UN defines torture as severe pain or suffering that is purposely inflicted with the consent of a public official for coercion, confessions or any discrimination. Torture in Burma occurs systematically as a means of punishment, confession, and instilling fear in those who oppose the regime. All political prisoners face torture at some point or the other during their detention. There are 43 prisons, 109 labor camps, and several interrogation centers where torture is carried out. The military regime states that Burma has no political prisoners, only “criminals”. However, political imprisonment and torture is state policy in Burma.

How does the AAPP assist political prisoners in Burma ?

Torture is designed to breakdown the identity of a strong man/woman turning a politician, a union leader, a leader of an ethnic community into a non-entity with no connection to the world outside of the torture chamber. The AAPP documents cases of torture and human rights violations in Burmese prisoners, keeping the identity of these prisoners alive. We work to secure the support of governments and international organizations to put pressure on the Burmese military regime to release political prisoners. We also provide political prisoners with basic necessities such as food and medicine and aid in the reconstruction of the lives of political prisoners.

The regime has stated that they will release political prisoners before the upcoming elections. Do you think the military regime will do so?

Some political prisoners will be released before the elections as a token gesture. They will be the one with 3-5 year sentences. Some will be released. Not key prisoners. Not all prisoners.

So given that, do you think the upcoming Burmese elections will be fair and legitimate?

I have my doubts about the legitimacy of the elections. Some Burmese (a minority) support the regime and they will vote. Many Burmese people will not vote for the regime, but the regime instills fear in the public and often forces them to vote. The elections will be rigged and the struggle for democracy will be far from over.

Then what is the role of the international community and in particular the region (ASEAN, India , and China ) in assisting the release of Burmese political prisoners and the Burmese struggle for democracy?

The international community needs to acknowledge repeatedly that 10,000 political activists have been arrested, detained, and tortured since 1988. An independent international investigation into torture and death of political activists behind bars is required. ASEAN leaders need to commit to human rights causes in their own nations and strengthen their civil society groups in order to assist the Burmese struggle. India supported our struggle for democracy before 1997, but since then has been on good terms with the military regime. India has geopolitical and geostrategic interests in Burma and has always proclaimed that India 's heart is in Burmese democracy, but India 's mind is in the regime. For China as well, Burma is geopolitically important. The Chinese are supportive of the regime as they fear that the rise of Burmese democracy will align Burma 's foreign policy as pro-West or pro-American.

But, they are so wrong. We want everyone to know. We are not pro-West, pro-China, pro-Inda or pro-anyone. We are only pro-Burma.

"Temple for 'Goddess English' focuses on Dalits"

NDTV reports here,

A temple dedicated to 'Goddess English' is coming up in a nondescript village in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district with an aim of encouraging the local Dalits to learn the language.

The temple, a single storey structure covered with black granite, would have an over-three-feet-tall idol of 'Dalit Goddess English' installed on a pedestal in the shape of a computer holding a pen, a copy of the Indian Constitution and donning a gown and a hat. The idol has been inspired by the Statue of Liberty and the computer screen would have a dharma chakra (a Buddhist symbol).

"When it was being debated as to what should be the national language of India after independence, Dr Ambedkar was the only national leader who vociferously batted for English while all the others were against it. And today we see the imbalances caused in the society because of English as those who do not know it are left behind," he said.

 Prasad said that the temple is being built to popularise English among Dalits, who form a sizeable number in not just the village but also in the area, so that they can move ahead in their lives. "This temple would help encourage them to learn the language which has become essential for one's growth as in 20 years' time, no decent job would be available without its knowledge," Prasad said.

"In future, the temple would become the focus of Dalits with most of their rituals like the ones relating to births and weddings revolving around it," he said.

It gets better,

"To give a touch of modernity, the engravings of symbols and formulae of physics, chemistry, mathematics and English sayings would adorn the walls. Efforts are also being made to build the staircase of the temple in the form of a computer keyboard," he said.

Well, the former Chief Minister of the state, Mulayam Singh Yadav, used to talk of banning English (and computers)  in schools and the current Chief Minister of course likes to build statues of herself (not those of Goddess English) and garland herself with money. And while this temple might just "popularise" English, I hope the state (and the temple trust) realize that the temple and the statue and the computer-keyboard-staircase will not actually "teach" those who are inspired to learn. For that one requires- schools, teachers, books, infrastructure, supplies etc. 

Things that have Amused me recently.

[Above: My CEO father inaugurating a dealership in Nashik by releasing a dove whilst wearing a shiny turban. (others may not find this amusing, but there is just something hilarious about your father so dramatically releasing a dove)]

[Below: A palm tree in Mumbai grows to resemble Ganesha and residents of the area adorn it with flowers,color, and fruit- worshiping and praying to it- From the Mumbai Mirror)]

"No one can contain or stifle the Shiv Sena's roar."

NDTV reports here,

The Mumbai Police has filed a case against members of the Shiv Sena who organized a rally at Shivaji Park on Dusshera. The Bombay High Court had ruled that the party would be permitted to go ahead with its annual rally at Shivaji Park, provided the speakers did not exceed the 50-decibel limit. The Sena agreed to that in court.

But at the rally, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray had mocked the Bombay High Court saying "Is my volume within 50 decibels. No one can contain or stifle the Shiv Sena's roar." 

In an editorial in its mouthpiece, Saamana, the party today said, "Loudspeakers blaring out 'azaan' atop mosques in Bhendi Bazar and Behrampada areas disturb sleep and children's studies. Action should be taken against them also."

It really is as simple as that- "No one can contain or stifle the Shiv Sena's roar"- because the Shiv Sena is nothing but a thuggish bunch of goondas who go around taking every law in their hand and justifying it all with some bizarre nationalistic/religious/moral reasoning, and  all the while, our ministers watch, ignore, and condone. After all, it's all about the voter bank that might be lost- freedom of speech, public law and order, freedom to reside anywhere within the country etc. can all make their way to hell while the Shiv Sena and it's hooligans stand there "mocking" the judicial institutions of the nation. 

Well done, Mumbai police. While the Chief Minister Ashok Chavan decides that Rohantan Mistry's "offensive" book should indeed be banned, at least someone is standing up to the Thuggerays.

NDTV has an interview with Amitabh Bachchan here.

The interview is introduced/summarized as "Amitabh Bachchan talks about Paa, his father, and how KBC is changing lives." However, the headline of the story (or title) is "I would like to believe Narendra Modi is secular: Amitabh Bachchan."

Firstly, Mr. Bachchan, please look up the definition of secular. Also while you are at it, please read the Sangh Parivar and RSS preamble, the various RSS prayers, books by RSS (Modi is an RSS pracharak), and while you are at it, I suggest you also read the core texts of the Hindu Right Wing by Savarkar and the kinds. You can get all these at the VHP bookstore in R.K. Puram, and Suruchi Prakashan Store in Karol Bagh. You can also find them online.  While I am not suggesting that all RSS members are violent and riot-engaging, the ideology is not secular, it is Hindu Nationalist.

Anyway, this was not supposed to be about Bachchan's terminology or his beliefs and business, whatever they might be. 

So let me get to the point. Dear NDTV, I find it quite amusing that in the introduction to this interview you mention how it is about "Paa", "his father", and "KBC", but you decide that none of these subjects are interesting enough to be put into the headline? Instead you take the one statement about Modi and decide that will be your headline. So then either, the person who wrote this is a terrible journalist who decides that the headline has nothing to do with the article's introduction/summary (or forgets to change the introduction), or you are as always trying to make everything into a sell-able masala and tamasha. I suppose since the two are far from being mutually exclusive, it is both.

Finally read this work of Brilliance.

This is kind of book you read on quiet evenings, with a glass of whiskey or wine, party amused, partly bemused, thoroughly smitten.

"Writing, when properly managed is but a different name for conversation. As no one would venture to talk all, no author, who understands the just boundaries of decorum and good breeding, would presume to think all. The truest respect which you can pay to the reader's understanding, is to leave him something to imagine, in his turn, as well as yourself."

Sure.

From the Hindu: Apparently, “The minorities enjoy the best opportunities in Gujarat and per capita income is high. People belonging to all sections of the society are happy a lot, though it is a different issue that the Chief Minister gets bad press all the time because of politics and people in Congress.”

How can Ravan refuse to get killed at the hands of Ram who represents all that is good and right in society?

Hilarious story on NDTV, here:

For the first time in the history of the more than 100-year-old Ram Lila on the grounds opposite Agra Fort, Ravan simply refused to die!

All hell broke loose Sunday night when the Ram Lila - a dramatic enactment of the epic Ramayana - had reached its tail end. As thousands of highly amused spectators watched, Raju, the actor playing Ravan, decided he was loving the limelight and could not leave the stage so soon. As Ravan refused to be killed, the organising committee decided to let Ram move ahead in his chariot to torch a huge effigy of the mythical 10-headed king of Lanka.  But even as the burning Ravan effigy tottered and splattered all around, high drama continued in the middle of the ground. Raju kept wielding his sword dangerously, even scaring away Ram and the other characters! 

The ground was divided into Ayodhya and Lanka - the two places where much of the Ramayan unfolds. Trouble started when Shyam Babu, one of the office-bearers of the Ram Lila committee, urged Raju to hurry up with Ravan's death scene. 

"The character playing Ravan, with a bunch of supporters in tow, really got into the mood and kept putting up a fight with his sword. He was in no hurry to speed up his death as he enjoyed the cheer all around," said Vishal, a photographer who watched the proceedings from close.

A member of the organising committee confided that Raju, who was playing the character of Ravan, did not like the constant pressure on him from Shyam Babu to get killed soon. Shyam Babu is the owner of the Kunjamal Tent House which has been traditionally making all the arrangements for Agra's main Ram Lila for past 100 years.

Even after lots of cajoling, Ravan refused to die. He moved from the middle of the ground to Lanka and then disappeared from the scene! 

Informed sources later said "Ravan returned to Lanka" instead of dying as is the tradition. 

"The question now being debated is whether Ravan did or did not die, though his effigy was burnt," wondered Padmini, a housewife.

It gets better,

Raju even pulled out his sword. Shyam Babu and two others are believed to have got hurt. This was a signal for more trouble and the actors representing the two armies of Ram and Ravan got involved in a fight for a few minutes - much to the amusement of spectators.

Shyam Babu told police that Ravan and his team members were insisting that there should be at least 21 bombs in the effigy. This argument escalated and created an ugly situation, and police arrived on the scene. Raju even tried to bully a sub-inspector and other cops who eventually managed to clear the stage with much efforts.

The committee members debated the issue and Sri Bhagwan Agarwal, the secretary, tried to pacify all the warring groups till midnight. "Most probably the fireworks will continue for a few days because it is a serious matter," commented Surendra Sharma, president of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society.

And my favorite bits:  

"The free-for-all was indeed symptomatic of society at large with so many Ravans in myriad forms growing bolder by the day and refusing to meet their nemesis at the hand of the righteous," said Sudhir Gupta, who watched the Ram Lila. 

"How can Ravan refuse to get killed at the hands of Ram who represents all that is good and right in society? Or is it that a new script is being written inspired by what's going on in today's India?"

This made my day!

और सब भूल गए हर्फे-सदाक़त लिखना
रह गया काम हमारा ही बगावत लिखना

न सिले की न सताइश की तमन्ना हमको

हक में लोगों के हमारी तो है आदत लिखना.

हम ने तो भूलके भी शह का कसीदा न लिखा

शायद आया इसी खूबी की बदौलत लिखना.

दह्र के ग़म से हुआ रब्त तो हम भूल गए

सर्व-क़ामत की जवानी को क़यामत लिखना.

कुछ भी कहते हैं कहें शह के मुसाहिब 'जालिब'

रंग रखना यही अपना, इसी सूरत लिखना.

                                   -हबीब जालिब 

More Satyajit Ray

Watched Parash Pathar (1958), Charulata (1964), and Nayak (1966) last week at the Satyajait Ray Retrospective. Beautiful films. Each one. And I will write more about them later. 

Off to Bangkok in a few hours. 

"Soviet Jet Leaves Heathrow without Passengers"

 

So this year, for Roy's birthday, other than my usual `book` present, I decided to make  him something interesting.

I found from October 1983 (which was when he was born)- front pages of newspapers, news articles, magazine covers (Time, Vogue, Rolling Stones, Playboy, Penthouse!), movie posters (English, Hindi, and even Telegu), cover pages of Marvel comics, comic strips (Garfield etc.), even stamps released by the Indian government- and put them all together.

It was great fun to put together (I mean what is there not to like about  news linked to the Cold War, old Canon Camera models, and dramatic Shatrugan Sinha movie posters), and I am glad that he quite liked it :) 

 

“And what if I hadn’t run?”

“It’s impossible not to be afraid of dying. But I’m too stubborn, too much of an animal to believe it. If I don’t believe it to the very last moment, the last split second, I’ll never die.”

Finally watched Jean Pierre Melville's "Army of Shadows" about the French Resistance against  the German Nazi occupation. A beautifully cold, unsentimental, bleak portrait of `heroism` I will never forget.The scene were Gerbier and his men are unable to shoot one of their own (an informant) because of the family next door, and Gerbier proceeds to coax and finally order his men to strangle the informant, with the informant having to listen to the entire conservation- is still on my mind. But more than that, what remains on my  mind is the scene after the strangling is done. Gerbier 's man Felix, who strangles the informant, stands in a crowded train,and slowly and remorsefully, with his face still cold and unmoved, removes his hat.

Unfortunately, Melville released the movie in 1969. After liberation from the German occupation, France was swept with executions, imprisonments of "suspected" German collaborators. This official period of "repression" (which strengthened after Gaulle's return to power in 1954) was built on the "collective memory" of the Resistance. By  "valorizing" efforts of those who fought  for "liberation" by being a part of the Resistance, the Gaulle administration discursively justified its atrocities. By the 1960s the younger, liberal, leftist generation of France had begun to question the "construction" of this "collective memory", calling it a myth, and stating that Gaullist politics were based on "appropriated history". In May 1968, de Gaulle put down a student uprising, and with anti-Gaulle sentiments and French Left wing sentiments running high, Melville's movie, which according to critics "romanticized" the resistance was not received well in France.  

Several critics have applauded Melville and have highlighted that the movie did  not "romanticize" the Resistance at all. And I agree, the unsentimentality with which subaltern narratives of heroism are presented in the film, left no room for "romanticization".

Satyajit Ray Retrospective

The National Museum is having a 3 week-long Satyajit Ray Retrospective. Several films by Ray are being screened and a few talks about his films and about Tagore's writing are also being held. Among others, Ray academic and professor of history, Dilip Basu and Indian actress Sharmila Tagore are present at some of the screenings, introducing the films with stories about their making. On Saturday, I watched the Apu Trilogy- Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajito (1956), Apur Sansar (1959). The three screenings took up all day and it really was quite a day. 

There has enough been said about the three movies. And I doubt I can say anything that has already not been said. 

Did you know that the Government of West Bengal paid for the production of Pather Panchali? The government employee did not know how to account for the expense and hence decided, that since the movie was called the "Song of the Little Road" he will put down the expense under Road Construction and Repair-works. So, in the expense sheet, it is PWD, the Public Works Division that paid for this wonderfully sad movie. 

Many have mentioned that the movies (especially Pather Panchali) are painfully slow, painfully mundane- but that is exactly what makes it so beautiful. After all, the movies are portraying life that is indeed slow and mundane. Ray's neorealistic portrayal of Apu and his family through the years is stark and raw, and hence every emotion, every detail  lies naked. Be it the wrinkles on the back of the aged Aunty in Pather Panchali's, or the absolutely brutal suffering and anger of Apu and later his son in Apur Sansar. To add to this, the limited spaces and the timelessness of every frame (remember the old Aunty trying to thread the needle?) and every moment enhance the neorealistic portrayal. Entire villages and entire cities are reduced to single streets, single rooms/houses/yards, the same balcony, the same path, and the train that connects it all. 

Perhaps, the most significant moment for me was when at the end of Pather Panchali, Apu throws the necklace into the pond by the house. The leaves diverge and move away, giving way, stirring slowly. And then a few seconds later, they converge again, as if nothing had changed, and life and time continue to move. 

"A person who longs to leave the place where he lives is an unhappy person."

"The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body.The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become. Conversely, the absolute absence of burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant. What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness?" 

"For there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes." 

"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves." 

"And therein lies the whole of man's plight. Human time does not turn in a circle; it runs ahead in a straight line. That is why man cannot be happy: happiness is the longing for repetition." 

"Ab #Ayodhya Hamaari hai, kal Mathura ki baari hai."

I got a few `wonderful` responses on Twitter after the Ayodhya Verdict, and someone left a `wonderful` poem in the comments section.  Thought I'd share and save them here for eternity. 


Twitter Messages directed to me, after I questioned the verdict in a tweet:

"if ur given a choice between hindu extrimists & islamic extrimists, whom will u choose ? RSS or Taliban ? #Ayodhya"

 "Would you have rather given in to Islamic Imperialistic Demands?"

"Hindu people are not extrimists like your talibani brothers!"

"Say Hi to your Muslim Talibani brothers."

"What have you been drinking?"

"India is a Hindu Rashtra, if we don't have a temple we become Islamic Taliban."

"Ab #Ayodhya Hamaari hai, kal Mathura ki baari hai."

Now the poem- 

"Suna nahi shayad tumne,

faisala nayaylay ka, 

ram lalla hain viraazmaan,

devi bhoomi hai jaanmsthan

yeh mandir majid ka masla nahi,

yeh sadiyon ki parchhai hai,

itihaas ke panoo ko dekho,

palto, tatolo, jo kuch bhi kaho,

shohit raha yugon ke hindutav hai,

maat hindu ne humesha yun hi khai hai,

sone ki chidiya ko jab muglon ne barbad kiya,

humarhi jholi ko jab ghori ghazni ne loot liya

navyuvko bhulo mat yeh

kisse katha kahani nahi

aateet hai bharat maa ka

ab tak tha jo bas soya ya roya 

kal sitaroon ne bhi dekha,

hinduon ka vishwas naya,

jab Allahabad ke lucknow bench ne,

kar diya isthapit itihaas naya

Ram lalla aur seeta maiya kar

rahe hain bahut dino se vishraam

Suru karo ab mandir ka kaam 

Suru karo ab mandir ka kaam"

 Aaj Ayodhya, Kal ?

Mosque windows open into Hindu temple

From NDTV,

In Pune's Ghorpadi Gaon, the windows of the Ahle-Sunnat Jamaat Masjid opens into the yard of the Kashi Vishweshwar Mandir, a wall separates them only somewhat. This unique congregation is 18-years-old.

The Masjid has been here for 200 years.

In 1992, the year that saw massive communal riots following the demolition of Babri Masjid, Hindus and the Muslims came together to build the Temple whose foundation had been laid adjacent to the Mosque.

"We started the Temple work when the country was fighting over Mandir-Masjid. Many Muslims worked for the construction. We even used the water from the Masjid," said Alfred Anthony, President, Kashi Vishweshwar Mandir Trust.

When it's time for azaan, the arati stops, and vice-versa.

Eid, Diwali, Shiv Ratri and Moharram are common celebrations.

"Mazhab nahi sikhata aapas mein bair rakhna. Hindi hai hum, watan hai Hindustan hamara," sang Nasir Khan, Maulana, Ahle-Sunnat Jamaat Masjid.

The area derives its calm from this religious harmony and peace prevails even in times of communal disquiet.

"It's a perfect example of national integration," said Devidas Patil, Inspector, Ghorpadi Police Station.

The broad message of the court verdict on Ayodhya is: On God, there should be no dispute. And if a Temple and a Masjid can co-exist peacefully in Pune, then why not in other parts of the country?

Stories like these give me hope, that not all religion has been "politicized." Common sense and religious harmony, at its most basic, still remain. Although I do have reservations about Ayodhya Verdict (for another day), now that the judgement is out and is asking for a do-able compromise from both sides, maybe we really will have a Temple and Masjid co-existing in Ayodhya? (Optimistic much?)

Either way, this made me happy. I will visit this place when I am in Pune next. 

il Postino (The Postman)

"Even the most sublime ideas sound ridiculous if heard too often."

"When you explain poetry, it becomes banal. Better than any explanation is the experience of feelings that poetry can reveal to a nature open enough to understand it."