2017

Narendra Modi is definitely the best orator India has seen in a long while, but we must remember that he chooses his words with extreme care. So when he referred to the slaughter of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 by saying that he would feel fain even if puppy came under the wheels of  his car, he meant to convey something that many of us missed. In the same vein, the very sharp words that he selected for the farewell speech of India’s longest-serving vice president carried a message that we need to understand.

In the normal course, one would like to stay away from any controversy surrounding an organisation that one has headed for over four and a half years. But since the matter has a bearing on India’s democratic traditions and its federal polity, I would need to clear the air.

As Indians get ready to celebrate the nation's 70th anniversary in a few days, our main worry should not be whether some have suddenly decided to become anti-national, but it should be on a new, dangerous game of competitive hyper-nationalism that has recently been unleashed. Ridiculous ideas are being floated to instil this 'nationalism', like installing a military tank within the precincts of a genetically restless university. With systematic attacks on plurality, the atmosphere has already been heated to the desired degree that facilitates the branding of inconvenient dissent as anti-national.

Millions all over India brave the lashing rains of the month of Sravan to reach the holy Ganga or the nearest river they can find. Theyfill up two pitchers with water and then carry them over long distances, just to pour it all on Siva‟s head at selected places, like Tarakeshwar in Bengal. Rituals like these, that are unfortunately being misused by rowdies, may rather appear strangebut it is through them that Hinduism ensures that its flock renews its physical and emotional links with the mighty Ganga.

শ্রাবণ মাস এলেই দেশের লক্ষ লক্ষ মানুষ প্রবল বৃষ্টি সহ্য করে পথে নামেন। গন্তব্য গঙ্গা বা কাছাকাছি অন্য যে কোনও নদী। নদীতে গিয়ে দু’ঘড়া জল ভরে, শিবমন্দিরে গিয়ে শিবের মাথায় সেই জল ঢালেন। প্রথাটি অদ্ভুত মনে হতে পারে, কিন্তু এ ভাবেই হিন্দুধর্ম যুগে যুগে গঙ্গা ও ভক্তিপ্রাণ মানুষের মধ্যে কায়িক-মানসিক সংযোগ সাধন করে চলেছে। গঙ্গা তো শুধু এক নদী নয়, সর্বগ্রাহী এক ধর্মেরও রূপক। ঘটনাচক্রে আমাদের রাজ্যের তিন প্রধান তীর্থ— গঙ্গাসাগর, কালীঘাট ও তারকেশ্বর— গঙ্গার সঙ্গে ওতপ্রোত। এদের মধ্যে তারকনাথের মন্দিরটি তুলনায় নবীন। তবু, তারকেশ্বরের ইতিহাস ঘাঁটলে বাঙালির ধর্মীয় ইতিহাস সম্পর্কে অনেক কিছু জানা যায়।

Nations, even those born yesterday, take immense pride in showcasing their past, often with large doses of exaggeration to establish their ‘ancient’ ancestry: by utilising odd archaeological finds here and there. In contrast, a civilisation like India that is over five millennia old appears to falter in projecting its rich heritage.

None can forget the painful scenes of mindless violence that followed the Partition, but as Govind Nihalani's iconic film, Tamas, showed, all that one needed to start a riot was to kill a particular animal and place its carcass before a place of worship. The business of riots is not really mindless, but what surprises old 'district magistrates' like us who have handled 'riots' is why they are allowed to recur and feed the new cult of communalism that has penetrated Bengal.

The problem with parliamentary democracy often lies in its inscrutable legal jargon. By the time one gets to know the real purport of a Bill, it is all over and done with.

We need, therefore, to act real fast to convince our lawmakers not to rush through with further amendments to the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendments and Validation) Act, 2010.

ভিড়ে-ঠাসা তীর্থযাত্রায় বা ঘরের নিশ্চিত আরামে বসে দূরদর্শনের পর্দায়, যে ভাবেই বাঙালি আজ পুরীর রথ দর্শন করুক, সেই মুহূর্তে তাদের মনে পড়ে শ্রীচৈতন্যের নাম। সন্ন্যাস নেওয়ার অল্প দিন পরে, ১৫১০ সালে পুরীতে প্রথম বার পৌঁছে মহাপ্রভু ভাবে বিভোর, জড়িয়ে ধরতে গিয়েছেন দারুবিগ্রহ। সফল হননি। তাঁর স্বেদকম্পিত শরীর, আনন্দাশ্রু, রাগানুরাগা ভক্তির আবেশ ও নৃত্য কোনওটারই মর্ম সে দিন বুঝতে পারেননি মন্দিরের কর্মীরা। প্রায় উন্মাদ ভেবে তাঁকে সে দিন থামিয়ে দেওয়া হয়েছিল। জগন্নাথ মন্দিরের কর্তৃপক্ষের সঙ্গে শ্রীচৈতন্য এবং তাঁর ভক্তদের অনিশ্চিত সম্পর্কের সেটাই শুরু।

As a defining moment, the twenty fifth of June of 1975 has more than secured its position on the timeline of Indian history. While the Congress prays hard to just forget the ignominy of Emergency, the prime beneficiaries of this tragic phase, namely the Yadav-led socialist parties, are burping after feasting on power for several decades. As the most fearless and uncompromising opposition to India's Emergency, the Akali Dal earned lucrative political rewards, but the most interesting contender is the ruling party. It is hell-bent on appropriating all credit for everything remarkable, whether in the past or at present.

Unlike other societies, India hardly ever encouraged physical prowess, adventure or competitive sports. We do, of course, have some wrestling but it is restricted to a tiny section of male pehlwans. We read of how the Kshatriyas jealously guarded archery from doubtful aspirants like Karan and how Ekalavya had to pay with his right thumb for daring to excel in an upper-caste elite sport. But, frankly, one sees no evidence of Kshatriyas organising sporting contests, once the Mahabharata was over and done with. Tribals, on the other hand, were more devoted to archery and organised regular hunting meets, but their increasing integration into the mainstream meant that they lost many such traditional skills. What about kabaddi or other village games? We are not saying that no one ever played games: we are simply stating that we did not value sports as highly as many European or African societies did and do.

While politicians quibble over the legality of the recent rules issued by the Central government curbing the movement and trade in cattle of all types and even camels, we may like to take a look at the big picture. The oft-quoted Article 48 of the Constitution is one among the many unrealized directive principles: desirable when able. It talks of banning the slaughter of milch and draught cattle, but the point here is that no one is advocating this patently uneconomical idea. We need to understand that even the best cows become a burden to poor farmers after their lactating period is over. So do old draught animals. Most farmers, many of whom are strict vegetarians, therefore, sell them off so that other humans and cattle can be better looked after.

On April 18 every year, museums in India celebrate International Museum Day and for a week or so, except for a small group of enthusiasts, all of this goes unnoticed by most of us. This is symptomatic of the disconnect between the average Indian and his heritage. Much of the mental or knowledge gap is thus substituted, rather effectively, with involuntary “correspondence courses” of post-truth half lies that are planted so vigorously on WhatsApp. But why is it that museums fail to attract us so passionately, while in the West or in the Far East, China, Japan and Korea splurge on setting up more and more museums and in drawing record footfalls?

The new game of appropriating national leaders who are long dead and gone as ‘Hindu nationalists’ is rather interesting. It competes with the pastime, popularised in the early decades after Independence, to absorb all divergent streams of the national movement under one banner of the ‘Indian National Congress’. This leads to eulogisation and ‘canonisation’ and here, one must examine the recent attempt to foist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar as the most noteworthy icon of Andaman’s infamous Cellular Jail.

The unprecedented display of aggression witnessed in Bengal in April in the name of Rama Navami, has perhaps distracted the Bengali people from the good old traditional deities of Chaitra. This month, from mid-March to mid-April, has always belonged to Shiva, Shitala, Annapurana or Basanti and the very indigenous Dharma-Thakur. Bengalis were very clear that Durga came home only in Ashwin and reserved ten full holidays to rejoice in her name. What lent most colour to this month was Gajan,which is so similar to Taai-pusamin Tamil country.Throughout the month, several people dressed up as Shiva-Parvati, and wandered around streets and localities: singing, dancing and invoking Mahadev. It was the Bengali way of taking a religion to the streets, with devotion and pantomime, not with swords and threats.

রামের নামে যে অভূতপূর্ব আগ্রাসনের প্রদর্শনী দেখলাম, তাতে মনে হল, আমরা চৈত্র মাসে বাঙালির পূজিত চিরকালীন দেবদেবীদের ভুলে গিয়েছি। এই মাসটা শিব, শীতলা, অন্নপূর্ণা বা বাসন্তী এবং ধর্মঠাকুরের। এবং বাঙালিরা খুব নিশ্চিত যে দুর্গা বাড়ি আসেন আশ্বিনে, তা সে বোধন অকাল হোক আর না হোক। এ মাসে সবচেয়ে বর্ণময় উৎসব গাজন, অনেকে বেশ কিছু দিন ধরে শিব আর পার্বতী সেজে বেড়ায়, শিবের নাম করতে করতে। আমরা ধর্মকে এ ভাবেই পথে পথে নিয়ে যেতাম, ভক্তি ও নাচ-গান-মূকাভিনয়ের মাধ্যমে। তরোয়াল আর হুমকির মাধ্যমে নয়। উনিশ শতকের জাতিতাত্ত্বিকরা উত্তর ভারতে রামনবমী পালনের কথা লিখেছেন, কিন্তু বাংলায় নয়। এবং এটা খুব পরিষ্কার ভাবে বুঝতে হবে, দুর্গার জয় উদযাপন আর রামের জন্ম উদযাপনের মধ্যে ফারাক আছে। দুটো ঐতিহ্য আলাদা, আশ্বিনের অকাল বোধনে তাদের দেখা হয় মাত্র। বাঙালিরা একে পালন করে দুর্গার নামে, অন্যরা আশ্বিনের নবরাত্রি ও দশেরাকে পালন করে রামের নামে।

Classes were interrupted at will and the college shut down at sporadic intervals, which meant students lost irretrievable academic months and years. But Presidency is Presidency and some teachers dared the violence and gave tutorials in their rooms at considerable risk and others took makeshift classes in their homes.

If someone is serious about Doordarshan, it has to decide once for all whether it has to maintain some 50 mini-TV stations to produce just six hours of programming in an entire week.