Culture | সংস্কৃতি

Now that Pujas are almost here, and Corona notwithstanding, millions of Bengalis will hop from pandal to pandal — a few questions may be interesting.

I am in Delhi where Navaratri has just begun and people are either fasting or undergoing severe restrictions on food and indulgences for the next nine days. Most are surprised that Bengal does not go through such severities and are amazed to hear of our feasting on the chief days, from Maha-Saptami to Maha-Navami.

Till a couple of decades ago, Westerners were surprised that Indians hardly understood their passion for their ‘Thank God it’s Friday’ syndrome and their trooping out of workplaces sharp at 5 pm for the weekend. Neither wild horses nor unfinished work could stop them. In the recent decades, however, Indians have also picked up this weekend craziness. But advanced countries continue to take a dim view of the liberties that Indians take with punctuality.

One is still not certain whether Covid-19 is largely airborne, but we are more than sure that it is and was airport-borne. It was definitely imported by aircraft passengers, usually better educated or economically advantaged, mainly from advanced Western countries. They went on generously transmitting it in all cities as most of our tracking systems are primitive.

It is quite uncanny that the birth centenary of Satyajit Ray, 2 May, 2021, also happens to be the very day on which the results of the bitterest and longest drawn elections in Bengal’s history are being revealed. When one comes to think of it, this coincidence is as poetic as the legendary filmmaker's cinema, because Bengal's politics has always been inextricably linked to its cinema.

Few bureaucrats are endowed with a great sense of humour, or else they would not be bureaucrats in the first place. And, a profession that claims to be the world’s second oldest surely lacks the excitement of the first. There are, however, certain similarities and Avay Shukla’s PolyTicks, DeMockrazy & Mumbo Jumbo lifts the hemline to reveal saucy bits, but leaves it to the reader to fantasise. We benefit from his insider’s ring-side views about “babus, mantris and netas (un) making our nation”. His wit has surely not deserted him even after cohabiting for thirty five long years with dull, dusty and musty files. Behind his satire and flippant delivery, however, he displays his utter seriousness with facts and figures, as is expected from a senior administrator.

Whenever someone is pulled up for jumping the queue at, say, passport counters in international airports, we are embarrassed—as it is almost always an Indian or an equally insensitive person from our immediate neighbours. As soon as a plane lands or a train stops, everyone jumps up and seems to be in a tearing hurry, jostling with co-passengers, to get out. It may sound too sweeping to brand an entire people as too restlessly self-centred, but we all know that it is quite true.

ভারতের অন্য লোকেরা বলে বাঙালি ভোট নিয়ে বেশি বাড়াবাড়ি করে আর রাজনীতিতে এতই ব্যস্ত থাকে যে, অর্থনীতির জন্যে কোনও সময়ই নেই। এ কথাটি অনস্বীকার্য যে, রাজনীতি আমাদের মধ্যে অনেকখানি মজ্জাগত। এবং তার সঙ্গে সঙ্গেই মনে রাখতে হবে যে, স্বাধীনতা সংগ্রামে বাঙালির দেশপ্রেম, উৎসাহ, সাহস ও বলিদান সত্যিই অতুলনীয়।

I must compliment the author and the publisher for coming up with this very interesting publication that would interest readers to learn more about the soul of these two neighbouring countries that were linked by geography, geology, history and God. Both nations that are so physically close to each other, however, tend to take each other for granted, and do not stretch themselves to understand the subtle nuances of each other’s cultural expressions.

India has always been proud of its culture, some elements of which can be traced back to five millennia. Such cultural continuity is indeed, quite rare to find. Besides, culture has played a unique role in getting together and coalescing widely different ethnic and linguistic groups—including those influenced by foreign cultures—across the vast subcontinent into one identifiable civilisation.

We will not dwell upon the recent comment made by the new chief minister of Uttarakhand on women wearing ripped jeans. He obviously spoke for certain sections that are yet to come to terms with the newer dress preferences of Indian women. We will not even discuss individual tastes and freedoms here, because history is really not bothered about our opinions.

Civilisational studies are quite complex as each one is quite unique or else it would not qualify for the term. Basically, cultures represent natural responses of a people to the requirements of their ecosystem, both organic and inorganic. In India, for instance, we really do not wish “good morning” and “good evening”, except to a Westernised clientele or (in recent times) to colleagues.

২০১৬ তে যখন ডোনাল্ড ট্রাম্প মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের রাষ্ট্রপতি নির্বাচনের প্রচারে তাঁর সেই কুখ্যাত, কুৎসিততম ভাষা ব্যবহার করছিলেন, ঠিক তখন স্ট্যানফোর্ড বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের অধ্যাপক কীথ জে বাইবি (Keith J. Bybee) তাঁর 'How Civility Works' (সৌজন্যতা কী করে সফল হয়) বইতে বেশ কয়েকটি মৌলিক প্রশ্ন তুলেছিলেন। তিনি তাঁর দেশ কি করে ধাপে ধাপে এক অসভ্য বর্বর রাষ্ট্রে পরিণত হচ্ছে বোঝার চেষ্টা করেছিলেন। সাধারণ মানুষের উগ্র ব্যবহার থেকে শুরু করে তিনি সামাজিক ও রাজনৈতিক জীবনের বেশ কয়েকটি দিক তুলে ধরেছিলেন। তিনি অন্যান্য বিষয়ের সাথে সামাজিক মিডিয়ার ভূমিকা ও অশালীন ভাষার ব্যবহার নিয়ে আলোচনা করেছেন কিন্তু তিনি গবেষক, তাই নৈতিকতা নিয়ে প্রশ্ন করেন নি বা ইতিবাচক প্রস্তাবও দেন নি।

What the British found quite disgusting during their long uninvited stay in India was that Indians defecated in open fields, squatting. The Western world picked up and echoed this narrative and these toilet practices were painted as decisively inferior. A massive Swachh Bharat mission has now been launched on a war footing and by this year its target is to make India free of this archaic custom of open defecation—which has to go, as it is anachronistic.

জানি না প্রধানমন্ত্রী নরেন্দ্র মোদী জুলিয়াস সিজ়ারের সেই বিখ্যাত তিনটি কথা ‘ভেনি ভিডি ভিচি’, যার অর্থ ‘আমি এলাম, আমি দেখলাম, আমি জয় করলাম!’ শুনেছেন কি না। তাঁর কলকাতার ঝাঁকিদর্শনের শেষে মনে হয় মাথায় এই উক্তিটিই ঘুরছিল। যদিও গণতন্ত্রে জয়-পরাজয়ের ব্যাপারটা সিজ়ারদের হাত থেকে সম্পূর্ণ ভাবে নিয়ে নিয়েছেন ভোটাররা। নির্বাচনের আগে কলকাতা এসে নেতাজির ১২৫তম জন্মবার্ষিকীর উদ্‌যাপন উদ্বোধন করে বাংলার মানুষের হৃদয়ে পৌঁছবার এই গরম গরম তৎকালের টিকিট তিনি ছাড়বার পাত্র নন।

We know that as soon as the clock strikes midnight on the 31st of December, we step on a brand new year — with a bang and a lot of hope. But, strangely, we never stop to ask why do we celebrate this particular date and time? Why not, say, the first of March or the 25th of March or even on the 25th of December? This is, incidentally, not idle prattle, for all these dates have had the historic honour of actually being observed as ‘New Year’s Day’. Yes. So let’s get into the story of how we went past all these dates to arrive at the first of January.

Irvin and Sunquist have mentioned in their very well-researched book, History of the World Christian Movementthat “prior to the year 300 AD there had been no consensus among Christians concerning the date on which to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Some argued for a spring date, but others suggested December 25...the day celebrated in honour of the ‘Invincible Sun’. Most Christians came to accept December 25, as the birthday of Jesus, integrating thereby elements of the solar monotheism of Solstice and Roman festival of Saturnalia with Christianity”.

To appreciate a meteoric writer like Michael Madhusudan Dutt and estimate his contribution to Indian literature and culture, we need to first take him from the confines of Bengal, where he is stuck, quite unwittingly. In his home ‘province’, he is remembered forever for introducing lasting innovations that enriched a language that was struggling to move out of its archaic mould.

If we are to select one festival that every Hindu in every corner of India celebrates in some form or the other, we would invariably mention ‘Diwali’. It epitomises the operational plurality of Hinduism that has thrived for millennia without a high command, headquarters or one designated holy book.

As many of us admit, one of the major mistakes committed by a secular India was to assume that religious tolerance and amity would last forever. The secular state’s duty was over by declaring public holidays on the major festivals of all religions, but it never seriously considered explaining to the people what and why these celebrations were observed.