tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84162765304040745192024-03-08T06:34:15.936-05:00Generally About BooksMayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.comBlogger643125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-54109988013451152222022-06-09T07:01:00.003-04:002022-06-09T07:01:58.926-04:00The Great Hindu Civilization: Pavan K. Varma's Looking Glass World<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghYtgLap2Y54SqGii5KyPz9G5DEAgVDOuRT74BOcjLs9NoI90v9FqzN7rTQFgP8HD14_TLg6AGWcrzdftrCPHpDZJGSV3gosirYkvORO8mQCdIK2yMpJiyzufjmIZqj_Y2C-QAcpms-2qxy32Hum8cGPFImwUbXtukzpJ5-YDpcjiW7_sM-Ci7w9iS/s678/Verma-1-1-678x381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="678" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghYtgLap2Y54SqGii5KyPz9G5DEAgVDOuRT74BOcjLs9NoI90v9FqzN7rTQFgP8HD14_TLg6AGWcrzdftrCPHpDZJGSV3gosirYkvORO8mQCdIK2yMpJiyzufjmIZqj_Y2C-QAcpms-2qxy32Hum8cGPFImwUbXtukzpJ5-YDpcjiW7_sM-Ci7w9iS/s320/Verma-1-1-678x381.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Pavan K. Varma’s The Great Hindu Civilization – Achievement
Neglect Bias and the Way Forward must be read in the context of the rapid
degeneration of India from a Constitutional secular democracy to an autocratic
state where the only democratic feature is periodic elections; all other
Constitutional provisions that made India the largest democracy in the world
are being allowed to erode rapidly by the ruling Hindutva establishment.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The advocates of Hindutva, the political ideology of Hindu
nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP), claim with fervour that following Narendra Modi’s electoral victories in
2014 and 2019, the Indian nation has been reawakened from a deep slumber, and
has entered a phase of true Hindu renaissance.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And that it is time now for the Hinduism to reclaim its
rightful place at the top that it has traditionally and legitimately occupied;
to obliterate the influences of the ‘Islamic marauders,’ and the British
colonial rulers. These ‘aliens’ subjugated the Hindu mind and emasculated the
Hindu civilization for a millennium. What drives these bhakts up the wall is
that even in the first five to six decades of an independent India, the
Nehruvian ideology of secularism continued to dominate academic and public
discourse, leading to further marginalization of the Indian civilization’s
Hindu ethos.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For these bhakts, there is no distinction between Hinduism
and Hindutva – they are the same, or at best two sides of the same coin.
Violence is their preferred mode of discourse. The hatred fomented by the
bhakts has driven India to the edge of the precipice, periodically culminating
in violence against the religious and caste minorities. The state is complicit
in these diabolical shenanigans, as it allows the Hindutva forces to slowly but
in a determined manner, take control of all the apparatus of statehood that was
created to ensure democratic rights to the people.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.thebeacon.in/2022/05/11/the-great-hindu-civilization-pavan-k-vermas-looking-glass-world/" target="_blank">Read more</a> </p>Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-48057774836221824262022-04-18T11:37:00.004-04:002022-04-18T11:37:37.181-04:00Knowing Fraser...<p style="text-align: center;"><b>The Book of Malcolm: A review and remembrance of Fraser Sutherland</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJXfLgoEcEwMRMXjYCQyo32M94TEljo9TWuh7ml_iFMz1JMrPVQwpezDhxhMHrLWQr2va6vrJeKZb4v3HIETUz-c5YrnYSiuzJfEeBkoQpiVCj6xKnlXE9BEcpa1scZseB7Ym0Bpz-fX2J6Fj-B-6Hh6OOFQWylf1fOMZhSH6F2g6UxDPjA_hRUOc/s678/Book-of-Malcolm-678x381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="678" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJXfLgoEcEwMRMXjYCQyo32M94TEljo9TWuh7ml_iFMz1JMrPVQwpezDhxhMHrLWQr2va6vrJeKZb4v3HIETUz-c5YrnYSiuzJfEeBkoQpiVCj6xKnlXE9BEcpa1scZseB7Ym0Bpz-fX2J6Fj-B-6Hh6OOFQWylf1fOMZhSH6F2g6UxDPjA_hRUOc/s320/Book-of-Malcolm-678x381.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Fraser Sutherland died just over a year ago in March 2021.
His contribution to the world of Canadian literature consists of a few books of
poetry, prose, fiction, and nonfiction. From common friends, I learnt that he
had an amazing knack of annoying influential people in the literary world,
which is why he never got the recognition he deserved.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">His frankness was motivated by his strict rules about
writing and writers. In his last poetry collection Bad Habits (Mosaic 2019), he
says, “Somehow a good writer has to work aslant to the existing order. For a
writer to be popular, to win prizes, to be feted by the media – those to me are
grounds for suspicion. If the trappings of public success, however welcome,
began to descend on me, I’d start to suspect myself.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Read more: <a href=" https://www.thebeacon.in/2022/04/18/the-book-of-malcolm-a-review-and-remembrance-of-fraser-sutherland/" target="_blank">https://www.thebeacon.in/2022/04/18/the-book-of-malcolm-a-review-and-remembrance-of-fraser-sutherland/</a></p><div><br /></div><p>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 32px; font-weight: 700; text-align: -webkit-center;"><br /></span></p>Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-79394518286160989232022-03-23T17:29:00.001-04:002022-03-23T17:29:14.258-04:00An Appeal to India’s Constitutional Institutions<p> Collective appeal</p><p>In the wake of alarming developments in India, senior journalists and media persons from all over India, have issued this Collective Appeal to all Constitutional Institutions in India. We request you to give it the widest possible coverage on media and social media platforms.</p><p>The Names of all Signatories are listed below</p><p>In the Face of Orchestrated Hatred, Silence Is Not an Option</p><p>An Appeal to India’s Constitutional Institutions</p><p><br /></p><p>As journalists and media persons from all over India, we make this Appeal to all Indian institutions to step in and uphold their constitutional mandate in the wake of open calls from various quarters for attacks on India’s religious minorities, especially Muslims.</p><p>The concerted amplification of hatred has been growing over the past years and months, as has the attendant advocacy of violence. Sometimes, the occasion is an election, at other times it is a political gathering, a so-called ‘dharam sansad’, or a controversy over clothing. or even the screening of a movie.</p><p>These calls for violence – which have been widely reported in the media – have been met with a cold and calculated silence from the country’s top leaders. Months before, we saw systematic hate being propagated against Muslims under the pretext of Covid-19, including calls by legislators for their socio-economic boycott. Disturbingly, the term ‘corona jihad’ was fabricated and amplified by sections of the media establishment.</p><p>Calls for violence or the socio-economic boycott of a community clearly do not enjoy the constitutional protection of free speech. And yet, the political executive – both at the level of the Union and in several States – appears unwilling to discharge its constitutional obligation to act. The police either take no cognisance of those inciting anti-minority violence or register cases under disproportionately mild sections, which strengthens the perception that such offenders are above the law.</p><p>Against this backdrop, the President of India, the Chief Justices and other Judges of the Supreme Court of India and the various High Courts, the Election Commission of India, and other constitutionally provisioned and statutory bodies are constitutionally obliged to ensure that these calls for violence do not translate into something unimaginably worse. Since sections of the media have also allowed themselves to become conduits for hate speech, the Press Council of India, the News Broadcasters & Digital Association, unions and associations of working journalists, and all media-related bodies need to respond urgently to the crisis at hand.</p><p>Since December 2021, well-synchronised calls for the annihilation of Muslims have been made, beginning with a religious meet in Haridwar that month. Muslim women and girls have been systematically targeted in 2021 and 2022 through social media platforms, including the pernicious Bulli Bai App. The ugly controversy over the hijab in Karnataka has resulted in Muslim women in different parts of India being harassed and humiliated.</p><p>During the election campaign of February and March 2022, we saw the repeated appeal to divisive hatred and the stigmatising of Muslims and other minorities, with ‘star’ campaigners from the ruling party unashamedly breaking the law to seek votes in the name of religion. The Election Commission of India, which is statutorily bound to ensure that such practices do not corrode the integrity of elections, has not shown the required autonomy and independence from the political executive to act.</p><p>Most recently, the screening of ‘The Kashmir Files’ – a film that cynically exploits the suffering and tragedy of the Kashmiri Pandits by using their plight as a pretext for the promotion of hatred against Muslims – has seen orchestrated attempts inside and outside movie halls to incite anti-Muslim sentiment. Attempts have been made from the highest levels of government to stifle fully justified criticism of the film and of the violent reaction it is generating by claiming there is a “conspiracy” afoot to “discredit” it.</p><p>When all these events are taken together, it is clear that a dangerous hysteria is being built up countrywide to push the idea that "Hinduism is in danger" and to portray Muslim Indians as a threat to Hindu Indians and to India itself. Only prompt and effective action by our constitutional, statutory, and democratic institutions can challenge, contain, and stop this disturbing trend.</p><p>India today stands at a dangerous place, with the founding values of our secular, democratic, and republican Constitution coming under flagrant assault from prejudiced ideas, acts of prejudice, discrimination, and violent incidents, all planned and orchestrated as part of an anti-constitutional political project. That we have seen elected officials and others who have sworn an oath under the Constitution amplifying some of these multiple and connected instances of orchestrated hate through acts of commission and omission, with sections of the media assisting this project, makes the situation even more urgent. </p><p>That is why it is both urgent and crucial that India’s constitutional institutions, and especially the President, the higher judiciary, and the Election Commission, discharge their mandate under our Constitution and that the media perform their responsibility to the people of India by asserting their independence and speaking truth to power.</p><p>N. Ram, former Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu & Director, The Hindu Publishing Group</p><p>Mrinal Pande, Senior Journalist and Writer</p><p>R. Rajagopal, Editor, The Telegraph</p><p>Vinod Jose, Executive Editor, Caravan</p><p>R Vijayasankar, Editor, Frontline</p><p>Q. W. Naqvi, Chairman & MD, Satya Hindi </p><p>Ashutosh, Editorial Director, Satya Hindi</p><p>Siddharth Vardarajan, Founder Editor, The Wire </p><p>Siddharth Bhatia, Founder Editor, The Wire </p><p>MK Venu, Founder Editor, The Wire </p><p>Aziz Tankarvi, Publisher, Gujarat Today</p><p>Ravindra Ambekar, Director, MaxMaharashtra</p><p>R.K. Radhakrishnan, Senior Journalist</p><p>Deepal Trivedi, Founder Editor: Vibes of India, Gujarat</p><p>Hasan Kamal, Senior Journalist & Columnist, Inquilab</p><p>Teesta Setalvad, Co-Editor, Sabrangindia </p><p>Javed Anand, Co-Editor, Sabrangindia</p><p>Pradip Phanjoubam, Editor, Imphal Review of Arts and Politics </p><p>Anuradha Bhasin, Executive Editor, Kashmir Times </p><p>Kalpana Sharma, Independent Journalist</p><p>Aunindyo Chakravarty, Independent journalist</p><p>Saba Naqvi, Independent Journalist</p><p>Dhanya Rajendran, Editor in Chief, The News Minute</p><p>Shabir Ahmed, Senior News Editor, The News Minute</p><p>Anirban Roy, Editor, Northeast Now, Guwahati</p><p>Dhiren A. Sadokpam, Editor-in-Chief,The Frontier, Manipur </p><p>Tongam Rina, Journalist, Arunachal Pradesh</p><p>Monalisa Changkija, Editor, Nagaland Page</p>Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-21300507688080393472021-12-28T14:11:00.002-05:002021-12-28T14:20:19.047-05:00The Mass Destruction of One Life<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> From <b><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5122223.C_P_Surendran" target="_blank">C P Surendran</a></b>'s latest novel, <b><i><a href="https://www.niyogibooksindia.com/books/one-love-and-the-many-lives-of-osip-b" target="_blank">One Love And Many Lives Of Osip B</a></i></b>, published by <b><i><a href="https://www.niyogibooksindia.com/" target="_blank">Niyogi Books</a></i></b>, we give below excerpts from a chapter titled, The Mass Destruction of One Man. The excerpts deal with the disintegration of a writer, Arjun Bedi, facing allegations of sexual misconduct , who is the mentor to the teenage protagonist of the novel, Osip B.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhl2CWeLzkb0fbkot-axl9X0VQDnm4aJ-nvfl832bP5w1LWPvtBlVyfH-EDZ7AaY3bG-uY2iyMxWkpxCGkKbHtO6eArWikEDZ0jb_DQDqdCvgjK35WhFsAzmqQ-HPc9CdXokpXkXKZuSWsdWP5Sn8Egr0J4byNVljZ8Nh1g_sOILbL3vJz77IYBHSF2=s2668" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2668" data-original-width="1720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhl2CWeLzkb0fbkot-axl9X0VQDnm4aJ-nvfl832bP5w1LWPvtBlVyfH-EDZ7AaY3bG-uY2iyMxWkpxCGkKbHtO6eArWikEDZ0jb_DQDqdCvgjK35WhFsAzmqQ-HPc9CdXokpXkXKZuSWsdWP5Sn8Egr0J4byNVljZ8Nh1g_sOILbL3vJz77IYBHSF2=s320" width="206" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I arrived at Whispering Woods, there were already
people in Arjun’s living room. The smell of alcohol and tobacco mixed with
perfumes licensed the air. The hall was packed. It was late, though guests
still trickled in. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">‘But you had a birthday party earlier in the year!’ I
said.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">‘This is the roaring ’20s. We hurtle from one drunken party
to another.’ Arjun put an arm around me. ‘That was for Maina. This one is for
me, but it is quite political in its purpose.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I must fight by all means the daily and mass
destruction of my one life. With silence, cunning, and parties, pagans and vegans
all welcome!’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">‘URF?’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">‘They want to see blood. The crowd needs to see fresh blood.
It has a way of turning everything into a sport.’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">It seemed unfair to ask him for help.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">‘Everything all right?’ Arjun asked.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">‘Well…’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">‘What’s it?’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">‘The thing is…Can you come to my school?’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">‘What
for?’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">I told him in an urgent whisper, every word I uttered more absurd than
the one preceding it.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">‘This is serious business, OB. How did you get into this mess? You are
worse than me. But I am afraid I can’t get into this, not now.’</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘You are a famous man. A great writer.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Fame is what they can use against you. Remember what I told you some
time back? You wouldn’t believe it, it is organized frenzy.’ Arjun looked
around. ‘These little parties I throw are my way of holding on to what little I
have. It’s a dangerous world now, anyone can work out their revenge from rest
rooms, you understand? These are toilet revolutionaries,’ Arjun grimaced. ‘But,
what the hell are you up to? An affair with your teacher followed by murder?’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘No, not murder. Exhumation.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘It’s as good as murder. Hell, it is worse!’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Three retired men of the military came up to Arjun and wished him happy
returns loudly. Their chests were covered in stars and medals. The shorter,
thickset one, with a luxuriant, twirled mustache, seemed always one step ahead of
the other two.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘You must formally join our political party, Arjun Saab,’ the short
general said, staring hard at Arjun. But his eyes twinkled. ‘You promised.’
They had, it turned out, recently started a political outfit at the behest of
Arjun.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Ah, my generals,’ Arjun said. ‘India’s best.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘We registered the party. You can’t back out now,’ the second man said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘The New India Political Party, NIP,’ the third said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘RIP?’ Arjun said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The generals laughed helplessly, holding on to each other's shoulders.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">‘Arjun Saab, Arjun Saab,’ the leader shook</span><span face=""MinionPro-Regular",serif" lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: MinionPro-Regular;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">his head as if Arjun was too much. ‘Really, you are
our star. Our torch. Our…’ He looked around at his friends for help, but they only
smiled in encouragement.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Of course I will join NIP. On one condition, but.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘What’s that?’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘I’ll be the treasurer. For life.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">They all threw their heads back and laughed again. They were an
uproarious bunch.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Jokes aside, Arjun Saab, the retired soldiers of this country can no
longer bear to see the nation going down the drain. It’s as you might say, RIP
India or NIP India.’ The short general said. ‘We are looking for a writer with
the rank of a general.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘All right then, I will be your Maxim Gorky.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The generals raised their eyebrows.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘He was the head of Union of Writers under Stalin,’ Arjun said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘M. applied to him for two sweaters and a pair of trousers. He didn’t
get the trousers, I think,’ I said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘This is Osip Bala Krishnan. He is Russian,’ Arjun repeated his old
joke.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">They ignored me.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Let’s talk
about NIP.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Aren’t we
all a bit too old to start a change-India party? Mind you, I am not talking
about me,’ Arjun said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span>‘You will bring the average age down, Arjun Saab,’ the second general
said. Everybody laughed again. One of the generals shook his head as if to say
this is just too much. He </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">had tears in his eyes.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Really, we are as good as the young,’ the short general said. ‘I
challenge anyone here to hand-wrestle me.’ He looked around the room, but
mostly in the direction of a woman in blue jeans and kurta. There was a
bespectacled young man with her, holding her wine glass as she was answering a
call; her other hand was in a sling. ‘What corruption! Moral, financial,
physical. Is this what our founding fathers sacrificed their lives for?’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Are you addressing me, or my neighbour, general?’ Arjun said. ‘Careful.
That’s Dev and Diya. They represent the rights of the underprivileged and head
a social media campaign against me. I have some trouble on the patriarchal front
as you might know.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Love thy neighbour as thyself.’ The general with tears of joy in his
eyes said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Love thine own neighbour, not mine,’ Arjun said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This time the three generals nearly doubled up with laughter. The short
general put out a hand in the direction of Arjun, pleading with him not to be
so funny. ‘I may be gazing elsewhere, but I look up to you,’ the short general
said, straightening up. ‘As for the campaign against you, it is chaff in the
wind, Arjun Saab. Nothing will shake our faith in you.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The short general hugged Arjun briefly, and turned their attention to
someone seemingly important entering, a politician, from the white </span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">khadi </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">he was
wearing, and marched toward him.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Arjun swallowed a drink neat and gravitated to Dev and Diya, who had
moved out into the balcony. I straggled along by Arjun’s side in grim
fascination.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘I have had to work on through someone to make them come here,’ Arjun whispered.
I later learned that the 'someone' was the old man with the German shepherd. He
was Diya's uncle—and Arjun's friend—and the couple were living in a flat of his
in the building, a rent-free arrangement, Arjun said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dev and Diya were stiff, and it was clear they wanted to stay by
themselves. They had done Arjun a favour dropping by.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Dev and Diya, Thank you for coming.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘We will be only a minute here.’ They seemed assured and self-sufficient
in the strength of their good intentions.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Of course. I know you are fighting a good cause. And this is perhaps
not the time to ask…’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘No,’ they said in unison.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘I am not a tactful person…’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘We know that, don’t we, Dev?’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘I knew this was why he insisted we come. Don’t tell me I did not warn
you.’ Dev said to Diya.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘I can’t help it, and I didn’t think I would say it, but all these daily
mass mails to publishers, festivals, editors …,’ Arjun said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Well?’ Diya said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘It seems so much work.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Mr Bedi, please don’t worry about our workload. We will stop when you
apologize,’ Diya said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Apologize for what?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘For your nude dancing and provocative comments and sexist columns.
There were many good people in that party. They are deeply offended.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘It was a rave party…so many years ago.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘But only you were nude. And you put your arm around a victim’s waist.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘I was wearing something, not much, I admit, but something.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘But you were the only one nude,’ Dev said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘There were others in other rooms.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">'Mr Bedi, a writer must represent the spirit of his age, and overcome
it. You have failed,’ Dev looked away in resignation.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘At a seminar, you said, “What’s everybody’s problem with the dick!”’
Diya said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘It was both a joke and a question,’ Arjun said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Your whole discourse is wrong,’ Diya shook her head.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘And your columns! We can’t allow that kind of writing. You may think it
is daring and intellectually provocative. That is your vanity. It is just bad
form and poor taste.’ Dev shook </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">his head of long curls. ‘And one poem that turned up on my computer last
night, something about the Dark Spider.’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">‘“</span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Dolomedes
Tenebrosus</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">:
Spontaneous Male Death” was the title. The dark spider eats the male partner
after sex.’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘You called the female spider a “b…h”. Language is a social tool, Mr
Bedi,’ Dev said. ‘There are norms to be observed. These are sensitive times.
There is a historical correction to be made in favour of the female gender…’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘In favour of Dalits and children, too.’ Diya’s large, earnest eyes left
no room for doubt about her commitment to her cause.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘In favour of the wronged people. What we stand for is a certain
much-needed correction in patriarchal politics,’ Dev said. ‘We are conscientious
citizens of this country, Mr Bedi, and we can’t let a few things happen on our
watch—even if the government is not of our choice, and we have no executive
powers,’ Dev’s eyes bored into Arjun’s. ‘We have an obligation toward civilized
society. But this is no place to talk about such matters, is it?’</span></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjkupnh41YnJWHiZTXvDHqcttUjfko76AKMiQUgiPuMQG2myC3MLmgG5X-Qag_B4G8H0emlQjyazCq1pOYKTayKMXWQ36rUVKVuBoKaL2iQX05S4PyauGX5T9x8h6MqnoyMpaRD3tHoze7xOdg3Mv0fh_zfsygwT2EFa0wO4Kw27Z3gpKpDcls1roE7=s1600" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1199" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjkupnh41YnJWHiZTXvDHqcttUjfko76AKMiQUgiPuMQG2myC3MLmgG5X-Qag_B4G8H0emlQjyazCq1pOYKTayKMXWQ36rUVKVuBoKaL2iQX05S4PyauGX5T9x8h6MqnoyMpaRD3tHoze7xOdg3Mv0fh_zfsygwT2EFa0wO4Kw27Z3gpKpDcls1roE7=s320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>C P Surendran</i></b></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />‘You are depriving me of my right to earn a living, in effect. That’s
not a constitutional or even a liberal thing to do. Any accused has the right
to speech and work. In any case, you are not the court,’ Arjun said.</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It appeared to me that the intended reconciliatory meeting was not going
the right way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">‘If the State is regressive, and the institutions are failing us, the
citizen must step forward as the culture dispenser. There’s no space in </span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">our </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">world for
exploitation of any kind,’ Dev said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘You know you are guilty, don’t you, Mr Bedi?’ Diya said.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘I…’</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span><span style="font-size: large;">‘The fact is your kind of voice has had its day,’ Dev
said.</span><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></div></div>Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-19011265046435383362021-12-14T13:51:00.003-05:002021-12-28T14:44:27.792-05:00Self-critical expression, censorship, freedom of speech & hate speech <p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Self-critical expression lends a moderate hue to any issue under debate.
It can and does have a positive impact on artists and journalists. Both artists
and journalists have to necessarily walk the tightrope between freedom of
expression as enshrined by the law, and hate speech, which is prohibited by the
law. And there is a thin line that divides these two concepts. Self-critical expression rather than
censorship is the key to a democratic society. Self-critical expression is self
regulated; censorship is imposed by an extraneous authority.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Self-critical expression is inherent to any conversation where more than
one view is being debated or discussed. An individual develops and comes to
hold views and opinions over several years, and through borrowed or lived
experiences. These often turn into dogmas and are justified as ideology. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The easiest way to test them is to put them through the test of a
sincere discourse. When one hears another side of a fiercely or a dearly held
opinion in a debate, one begins to comprehend another dimension to that
opinion. And that, in an individual who is open minded, results in a better
understanding of any issue. Significantly, even if the person doesn’t change
her views on the subject, this exchange of views is important because it
provides her with a wider perspective.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">For a journalist, self-criticism is not always necessary. For a
reporter, it is easy to overcome an inherent bias by actively seeking a view or
views that are diametrically opposed to her views. This is prima facie of
paramount importance to ensure balance in reportage.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">However, one must draw a line in being fair. Fairness should not
automatically mean that two opposite views are considered and included in a
news report to make it balanced. On some occasions, it is not at all necessary
to appear to be fair, especially when one is reporting about hate crimes,
police brutality, sexual abuse of minors, gender-based inequality.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Also, columnists are read, and are popular and controversial mainly
because they hold a point of view which is biased and almost never
self-critical. The most recent example is of Don Cherry, the sports
broadcaster, who was fired in 2019 because he made unguarded comments about
immigrants not wearing poppies for Remembrance Day.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Censorship in the media is as old as media itself. There are multiple
reasons for censorship in the media, but the main reason is to earn revenue.
The other is to adhere to socio-cultural and political moorings of the society
within which the media operates.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The media in the West cannot stop finding fault (justifiably) with
autocratic societies, where religious or political ideologies, determine
societal debate. But the same media doesn’t see anything wrong with the
inherent fault lines in Western societies.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">For instance, in Canadian media, there isn’t enough exploration and
dissection of the continuing absence of adequate reportage of issues pertaining
to Canada’s indigenous population, and their right over Canada’s lands and
resources.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I don’t think there is anything wrong in criticizing religion or an
ideology objectively. However, almost always such criticism is based on
prejudice and is motivated by hate.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">The government, the establishment plays an important role in this
debate. In his essay The Etymology of Terror, published in </span><a href="https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2021/11/17/the-etymology-of-terror/"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">New York Review of Books</span></a><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">, Matt
Seaton says, “We have reached, then, a point in the etymology of terror at
which governments have assumed the right to designate any specific person or
group, literally anyone they don’t like, as terrorists. By one new standard for
terrorism, it can apply to human rights lawyers and researchers who irritate
government officials, because to decry state violence has become itself a
terrorist crime. By the other new standard, it can apply to anyone who happens
to be in the wrong place at the wrong time—the time and place being lethally
adjacent to wherever the US is hunting “war on terror” adversaries.”<br /></span> </span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 21.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 21pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Prejudice can only be combatted through objectivity.
Such objectivity must necessarily include self-critical expression. Lee Marcle,
the eminent Metis author, who recently passed away, narrated a poignant
incident to the </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/how-indigenous-authors-are-claiming-space-in-the-canlit-scene-1.4573996/lee-maracle-stormed-canlit-stages-to-make-sure-her-story-was-heard-1.4578124"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">CBC</span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"> when
her book <i>I am Woman</i> was published in 1988. S</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Open Sans";">he
asked to be included in the Vancouver Writers Festival to launch her book of
essays, but was denied an invitation. “So I went there and got up on stage and
grabbed the mic and I did a reading,” she said. “I said, ‘Right now you are in
my village, this is my original village and I am going to read here.’”</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 21.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 21pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Open Sans";">The situation has changed today, but not much. I
think, it is important for the non-mainstream artist to create a parallel
mainstream that promotes their respective culture within the Canadian milieu,
and context. We can only fight neglect and hate by creating an alternative
space that promotes an alternative interpretation of a Canada that we want to
create. This requires proactive intervention, and not blaming. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 21.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 21pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Open Sans";">In his essay Canadian multiculturalism and national
identity – a 50-year relationship, Varun Uberoi of Brunel University, London,
England, says, “…if people’s conceptions of their political community include
cultural minorities as normal and equal members of it, these conceptions help a
culturally diverse citizenry to visualize themselves as a group. But those with
such inclusive conceptions are also less likely to exclude and discriminate
against minorities as minority cultural differences are not seen as something
to fear or to avoid.” (Published in Multiculturalism at 50 and the promise of a
just society, </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://acs-aec.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/663_AEC-CITC_EN_V6_Web.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Open Sans";">CITC
Canadian Issues</span></a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Open Sans";">).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 21.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 0cm 21pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Open Sans";">There isn’t adequate concern over the general
ignorance of the Canadian mainstream to the rich diversity that has been (and
is being) created in Canada politically. Multiculturalism is 50 years old. And
while it has achieved much, it is in essence an empty slogan.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></span></p>Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-3084022286780099962021-12-14T13:48:00.001-05:002021-12-14T13:48:07.517-05:00New Writing<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Lease - short story published in the Maple Tree Literary Supplement</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.mtls.ca/issue25/mayank-bhatt/">https://www.mtls.ca/issue25/mayank-bhatt/</a></span></p><p>Excerpts<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“I hired a private detective to check your past,” Myrna
said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“You did what?” the wine almost sputtered out of my mouth
and I quickly gulped it. I gaped at her, as my jaw dropped.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“I was letting you in my home; I had to take precautions.
Nathan – the real estate agent – and Deb agreed.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I had no idea what to say or to do. Finally, after sitting
in a daze for a while, I put down the wine glass and got up to leave. She
didn’t stop me. On my way down to the basement, I decided it was time for me to
move out, to rent a new place.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Myrna knocked on the door the next morning. She walked in,
carrying two mugs in one hand and a kettle in the other, the dog rushed inside,
and sniffed at my legs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Good morning. Let us have tea together. You left abruptly
last night.” She handed me the mug and poured hot tea in it. She seemed
flustered, she sat on the only chair in the room, as I walked to the bed. I was
groggy and feeling heavy in the head.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Look, I am sorry.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I looked at her and took a sip of tea. It instantly cleared
my head. “I am curious to know, what did the detective find out?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Oh, nothing at all of any consequence.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“You did find something recently because your attitude
changed.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Yes, thanks to a huge coincidence. Deb met your
stepdaughter’s partner Ruth. She gave you a glowing reference; told her
something about how years back you saved their relationship by arguing with
your ex not to force your stepdaughter to go to Kitchener.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I was again gaping at her; speechless and clueless. I sipped
tea without talking. Then, I told her that I would be moving out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">“I know you are upset, and I said I am sorry, and I mean it.
I will make it up for you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I kept quiet. I had to move out. I wanted to ask her but
didn’t whether she would have gone through such a vigorous process to ascertain
the past of a renter, if that person was white.</span><o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p>Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-78963357869247321722021-12-14T13:40:00.004-05:002021-12-14T13:40:44.249-05:00Interview in the Artisanal Writer<p> <br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Fira Sans";">To me it posed a challenge of portraying the complexity of being a Muslim in Canada, and I’m not a Muslim. In recent years, there have been intense debates in the literary spheres about ‘cultural appropriation.’ Would I be able to portray with accuracy and empathy the life of a Muslim family, the family dynamics, and the inner turmoil? I was born in a Hindu family, but my dad was a socialist, and I grew up to be an atheist. Also, as a journalist, I covered religious violence that wreaked havoc on Bombay in 1992-93 and recorded the misery Indian Muslims suffered. Pertinently, I’ve been married to a devout Muslim for over 25 years. I believe that a novelist’s primary responsibility is to tell a story competently and responsibly. Innumerable novelists have created a world in their novels that is palpably real without ever being even remotely connected to the world they create. I have done so in </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #111111; font-family: "Fira Sans"; max-width: unset;">Belief</em></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Fira Sans";"><span style="font-size: medium;">, and I’ll leave it to the reader to judge whether the novel succeeds in portraying the complexity of being a Muslim in Canada.</span><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://artisanalwriter.com/2021/11/01/mayank-bhatt/">https://artisanalwriter.com/2021/11/01/mayank-bhatt/</a></span></p>Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-75453471086224885552021-08-22T20:43:00.003-04:002021-08-22T20:43:51.816-04:00New writing<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>My First Cancer Birthday: A Diary of Coping</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>August 20, 2021</b></span></p><p><a href="https://www.thebeacon.in/2021/08/20/my-first-cancer-birthday-a-diary-of-coping/"><span style="font-family: georgia;">https://www.thebeacon.in/2021/08/20/my-first-cancer-birthday-a-diary-of-coping/</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">A year after he learnt of his fatal illness, its
traumatic coping and chemotherapy, <strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">Mayank
Bhatt</span></strong> dwells further on his struggle to find meaning to
life and death, in love and writing.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span>
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></p>Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-73821061402606075662021-08-01T09:30:00.000-04:002021-08-01T09:30:03.136-04:00One Love and the Many Lives of OSIP B: Cp Surendran<p style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Guest Post: Beena Vijayalakshmy</b></span></p><p><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;"></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W7UMAo-loHQ/YQae-fTFtdI/AAAAAAAAFlw/aEHfnnrFLy8x5BGMn2dgsaT9qopxQIjRACLcBGAsYHQ/s1196/IMG_0936.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: transparent; clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="863" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W7UMAo-loHQ/YQae-fTFtdI/AAAAAAAAFlw/aEHfnnrFLy8x5BGMn2dgsaT9qopxQIjRACLcBGAsYHQ/w231-h320/IMG_0936.jpg" width="231" /></a></span></i></div><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;">“If
it be true that every novel contains an element of autobiography – and this can
hardly be denied, since the creator can only express himself in his creation –
then there are some of us to whom an open display of sentiment is repugnant.”</span></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">Joseph Conrad<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;">These are the words that first came to my
mind as I sat entranced after reading <i>One Love and the Many Lives of Osip B.</i> by Cp Surendran. The book was launched recently. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I read it off Kindle.</span></p><h3 class="iw" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: auto; background-color: white; color: #5f6368; font-family: Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75rem; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.3px; line-height: 20px; margin: inherit; max-width: calc(100% - 8px); overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"></h3><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;">Cp Surendran has effortlessly juggled the
many roles that he has come to don in his eclectic career. While I had been
familiar with his brilliant poetry and his many essays, I had not read any of his
works of fiction until Osip came along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
dare I say, he makes for one demanding author who elevates his readers on to
the next level and intrigues them with the blood and beat of language. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;">The story of Osip defies description. And
deliberately so. To put it simply, it follows the journey of the protagonist, Osip
Balakrishnan, an eighteen-year old who falls irresistibly in love with his British
teacher, Elizabeth. When she rejects his love and takes off to England, Osip
pulls off a stunt that almost gets him arrested. In a desperate attempt to win back
the one love of his life, he follows his destiny to England and in the process,
discovers that his future is inextricably linked to his communist past.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;">The narrative is jammed with several
themes, plots and digressions that it is practically impossible to do justice
to the book in the space of a short blog. Suffice to say, it is one heady ride
that is anti-woke and is bound to raise many eyebrows. The novel touches upon several
contemporary themes such as individualism vs groupism, cancel culture, the rise
of nationalism and Islamophobia, the fall of pluralism, beef vandalism among
others. It is a severe reproach of the authoritarian India that is antagonistic
to dissent in any form, the emasculation of the Fourth Estate by the powers
that be, the culture brigade that polices practically every sphere of social
life in India, and holds to ransom anyone who dares to deviate from their idea
of moral rectitude.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;">However, what intrigued me most were the
autobiographical elements of the book. Being familiar with the instrumental change
and the drastic administrative reforms brought about by the rise of communism that
revolutionized Kerala of the 60s, the allegorical insinuations to the author’s
father and his many contributions to the Communist establishment in Kerala were
unmistakable. In his heyday, rationalist and literary icon, Pavanan, was a
force to reckon with, an undeniable presence within the Communist circles in
Kerala. However, in his final years, he led a life of relative obscurity, after
being afflicted with Alzheimer’s. As does Narayan, Osip’s grandfather. Incidentally,
Pavanan’s given name was also Narayanan Nair. The pain of watching one’s loved
one disintegrate right in front of one’s eyes is very poignantly captured in
the novel. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;">The existential despair and the travails of
a battered journalist, Arjun Bedi, who is discredited and exiled by woke groups
– “toilet revolutionaries”, as he calls them - is reminiscent of the author’s
own trials and tribulations in recent times. The book worms its way into one’s
subconscious, rendering the surroundings out of focus in stark white. The writing
is vigorous, the prose almost poetic to a fault, the plot complex yet
structured. There’s a painterly minimalism to the language – every word
necessary, every word taut. The poetic depth of the love story leaves one with
lingering thoughts of love and loss, while the honest writing forces one to
find expression to those parts of our experiences and reject everything
superficial.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;">Every once in a while, there comes along a
book that hits some very real moments for a reader. Osip comes in the middle of
a pandemic, as a virus ravages the nation. The book was recently launched and is invariably bound to revive debate on several
contemporary issues. As it rightly should.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;"><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-------</span></span></i></b></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;"><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Excerpt from One Love and the Many Lives of Osip B. Cp Surendran Copyright 2021</span></span></i></b></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;">Love,
the Word Known to All <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;">I sat down at Cheers, a cheap coffee place
near the Oxford Railway Station, not bigger than a stall, where I had found
myself in my aimless walks this mid-morning, and where you could stand around
round plastic tables in red and white, and have a coffee and a croissant for
one pound. One side of the place was red bricks, and the other a mirror. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b0awrv7PgFo/YQafA4bC34I/AAAAAAAAFl0/Ea5j0bYfWzkeXgv4fHjAZS82b82DV1mwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2608/IMG_0938.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2608" data-original-width="1205" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b0awrv7PgFo/YQafA4bC34I/AAAAAAAAFl0/Ea5j0bYfWzkeXgv4fHjAZS82b82DV1mwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0938.jpg" width="148" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;">The man behind the counter was young and
bald, and had a face that invited confidences. I bought the coffee without
looking him in the eye, and placed it on a red table. I had a headache coming.
Its source was precisely at the centre point behind my eyelids. Soon it would
radiate around my head. I checked my phone, read again the message from Arjun.
Dev had posted the party scene where Maina was having a meltdown on social
media. Diya shared the post with a kind of dissenting note. She said that it
was a personal moment at a private party, and, ideally, should not be put out;
but Arjun was a public figure, and his wife’s ‘observations’ about him were
helpful to understand the domestic abuse of the ‘benevolent patriarch’. She
said she would have more to say on the issue in a forthcoming book. Dev had
masked Maina’s face in his video.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘The
terror comes in waves,’ Arjun said. They had come up with another case where he
had asked an artist if she were her own nude model. Arjun said he did ask the
artist the question, but it was out of genuine curiosity. ‘Today,’ Arjun said,
‘I awoke to hear someone moaning, like a hurt animal, and found it was issuing
from my throat, so I will go and apologize to them and see if this thing can be
stopped, but what’s there to stop now? You see, Osip, although one needs
forgiveness or appreciation from no one more than one’s detractors, and though
their file on me says I am well versed in the English language and the uses of
irony, I say it all quite plainly: I am tired, and I must learn to die with
this, though Dev and Diya have offered a forum on their online portal for me to
apologize. Hmm. This offer Osip, was preceded by an anonymous call on my
landline. The caller, a male voice, merely said, “Hello rapist, good morning”
and cut the call. And, so, I ebb and eddy toward my exilic status, which I
console myself is an essential stage of a writer’s evolution, but equally, I am
aware now, that even this thought could be an assuagement of my vanity. In
short, I am no longer sure of myself. Stay good, and let me know if you need
anything, money, etc.’ <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;">I sipped the hot coffee. English coffee
always smells better than it tastes. A heavy-set woman in a tall black hat,
black leather jacket, and black high boots came in with two black poodles,
talked to the man behind the counter in a whisper, laughed, and left, glancing
at me. The cold air was heavy with perfume in her wake, and triggered the first
stab of my blinding headache. I leaned my head against the mirror. ‘Poor
Arjun,’ I thought. I could not think of a repentant, apologetic Arjun. I closed
my eyes to contain my headache. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;">‘Now I
present to you my 1935 poem, Ode to Stalin, seeking his forgiveness. “Though I
am not yet worthy of having friends,/Though I am not sated with bile and tears,
/ I still seem to be seeing him in his greatcoat, in his cap, / On the
wonderful square, with his happy eyes…// ).’” ‘Gladen’kii stishok. Facile
doggerel.’ ‘Yes, nothing in the great Russian language, with all its wide
vowels and gushing sibilants, justifies or accommodates it. The language fails
when the poet is false to his situation. And the situation here is stark, simple:
there would be no reprieve. Only more Siberia from the big man, and there is
enough Siberia for all to go around with, and mocking laughter of other
doggerel writers.’<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Are
you talking to yourself in a foreign language?’ the man behind the counter had
come around, and was now considering me with his kind, bulbous eyes. ‘No. I was
thinking of something.’ ‘I thought I could hear your thoughts, mate. I don’t
mind, except the customers might take fright.’ I picked up the coffee and left,
my head on fire, carefully stepping over the little puddle of poodle piss on
the floor, mystified which one of them did it and exactly when. It seemed the
woman in black had come a long time ago. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Buy the book: <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/One-Love-Many-Lives-Osip-ebook/dp/B096RY2NNG/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Cp+Surendran&qid=1627823675&sr=8-2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">One Love and Many Lives of OSIP B</a></p><p class="MsoNormal">Watch Vani Tripathi's interview Cp Surendran: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KalingaLiteraryFestival/videos/353476452954331/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kalinga Festival</a> </p>Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-70727375565786773592020-10-12T20:44:00.005-04:002021-04-12T10:48:18.701-04:00New writing...<p><b>Activist (short story)</b></p><p><a href="https://montrealserai.com/article/activist/">https://montrealserai.com/article/activist/</a></p><p>(10 April 2021)</p><hr /><p><b>The First Six Months - Diary of a Cancer Patient</b></p><p><a href="https://www.thebeacon.in/2020/12/28/the-first-six-months-diary-of-a-cancer-patient/">https://www.thebeacon.in/2020/12/28/the-first-six-months-diary-of-a-cancer-patient/</a></p><p>(31 December 2020)</p><p><b></b></p><hr /><b><br />Gandhi's ambivalence on race</b><p></p><p><a href="https://medium.com/@mayank.bhatt/gandhis-ambivalence-on-race-d2a86178d4e0">https://medium.com/@mayank.bhatt/gandhis-ambivalence-on-race-d2a86178d4e0</a></p><p>(12 October 2020)<br /></p><div><b><hr /><br />Lokmanya Tilak: Pragmatic politician or diehard ideologue</b><p></p><p><a href=" https://www.thebeacon.in/2020/09/03/lokmanya-tilak-pragmatic-politician-or-diehard-ideologue/" target="_blank">https://www.thebeacon.in/2020/09/03/lokmanya-tilak-pragmatic-politician-or-diehard-ideologue/</a></p><p>(3 September 2020)</p><p><b></b></p><p><br /></p></div>Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-66338655255266285842020-06-17T07:01:00.004-04:002020-08-04T12:22:48.710-04:00Thank you!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have reached a stage in my life where I don't need to say anything more.<br />
<br />
It is time for introspection.<br />
<br />
It is time to be with Mahrukh and Che, and plan for a secure future for them.<br />
<br />
And to be with Durga and Sonal, and Shakera and Farrukh.<br />
<br />So, after a dozen years of active blogging, I'm going to stop now. </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">There's enough here in this space to keep you occupied for a long time if you chose to browse through the past posts. And some of it may actually be interesting.<br />
<br />
Thank you for stopping by.<br />
<br />
Thank you for being a part of my journey.<br />
<br />
Remember me as that awkward friend who always cared, and who didn't know how to show that he did. </div>
Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-60414932237743958032020-04-30T20:52:00.005-04:002021-07-07T09:11:55.787-04:00Remembering Rishi Kapoor<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CjDnu7AGD4Y/XqwOeQV1oTI/AAAAAAAAFX0/V0nywF9FmtQv5yHxxGty_QsN0PMT__rwQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Rishi%2BKapoor.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CjDnu7AGD4Y/XqwOeQV1oTI/AAAAAAAAFX0/V0nywF9FmtQv5yHxxGty_QsN0PMT__rwQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Rishi%2BKapoor.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: left;">T</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">o write about Rishi Kapoor in the
past tense is incredibly sad.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">As an actor, Rishi Kapoor was an
institution. His legacy will last as long as there is cinema. </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">But he was more than just an actor. In
the last decade or so he had become a social media influencer, a twitter
aficionado.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">This blog post, however, is only about
Rishi Kapoor the film star who although he came from a privileged background,
thrived in a highly competitive environment for four decades because of his
immense talent.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">There are already a number of
excellent obituaries about Rishi Kapoor; many written by people who knew him personally and met him frequently; mine is probably not going to match
those either in erudition or depth. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">This blog post is just my tribute to an
actor who will always remain an integral part of my adolescence and youth. I didn't know him personally. I didn't meet him, ever. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">To the generation that became interested
and aware of the tremendous appeal of popular Hindi cinema in the 1970s – he
was and will always remain a lodestar. Rishi Kapoor was that young, reckless
romantic, willing to risk everything for love, and who almost always nearly
lost everything but got the girl.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<o:p></o:p><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">By the 1970s, the
dreams of a post-independence India were in tatters. There was a rising anger
at the system, captured brilliantly by Amitabh Bachchan’s smouldering rage.
Rishi Kapoor gave the audience welcome relief from that overwrought and
essentially futile fury.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Right from his debut as a lead actor
in Bobby (1973), where he was the personification of young love with its all
its doe eyed innocence, Rishi Kapoor captured our hearts by his competent
skills as an actor. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
He was a despondent, hopeless lover in Laila Majnu (1976), as a crossdresser in
Rafoo Chakkar (1975), as a carefree quawaal in Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), and a
dafli-player in love with a mute dancer in Sargam (1979) – my favourite Rishi
Kapoor film.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<o:p></o:p>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">All his films from that era are
equally well-remembered for their songs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Rishi Kapoor redefined the song and
dance routine that is a staple of Hindi cinema, and although never acknowledged
as a great dancer, he knew how to set fire to the dancefloor with his moves.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<o:p></o:p><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Although he showed his versatility in
every role he played, he was not offered challenging roles, till rather late in
his career. The one notable exception was Doosra Admi (1977), where Rishi
Kapoor played a young, ambitious man focused on his career and falling in love
with an older colleague. His portrayal was bold, mature, but deliberately
underplayed. He didn’t let Rakhee, a consummate, top-of-the-line actor of that
era, overshadow him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">In the 1980s, Rishi Kapoor signed up
for a whole bunch of utterly unforgettable films. But he did give his fans Karz
(1980), a reincarnated revenge saga based on the Reincarnation of Peter Proud;
remembered today for its unmatched energy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Prem Rog (1982), his second film as
the male lead after Bobby that his father directed, saw Rishi Kapoor again give
a subdued performance. Just as Bobby was centered around Dimple Kapadia, Prem
Rog was focused on Padmini Kolhapure. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
Then, came Sagar (1985), the film that relaunched Dimple Kapadia. Rishi Kapoor
could have easily been eclipsed by the much-acclaimed Kamal Hasan, but he held
his own effortlessly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="MsoNormal" style="orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">I'm sure, he knew his worth as an
actor, and would have been full of remorse that he didn't get good roles in his
prime. But he didn’t believe in wasting his time waiting for good roles. He
made good with whatever came his way, and never flinched from accepting roles
that would probably have been rejected by other actors. </span></div></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br />
He eagerly accepted roles that played second fiddle to the woman lead in films.
Nagin (1986) with Sridevi was a monstrously bad film but was undeniably a
monstrous hit. He was equally at ease being the second male lead. All his
films with Amitabh Bachchan – Kabhie Kabhie (1976), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977),
Naseeb (1981), Coolie (1983), were hugely successful and remain endearing even
today. Some, such as Ajooba (1991), were colossal flops, but that had little to
do with Rishi Kapoor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Another trend that marks his career is
that despite a string of flops (inevitable, considering he did on an average
three to four films a year) every few years, he would turn in a mega success. So,
after a protracted lean phase in the late 1980s, he delivered a huge hit in
Chandni (1989). </span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">He will forever hold the record of
having launched the careers of pretty young things into movies, and he did that
with aplomb, wearing multicoloured cardigans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">The 1990s were not too different from
the previous decade. He continued to work in utterly forgettable films but also
gave us Bol Radha Bol (1992), which succeeded as much because of him as for
Juhi Chawla; Deewana (1992) which succeeded because of Shah Rukh Khan; and
Damini (1993), which Sunny Deol’s biceps propelled to eternal fame.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">Then, after a lean phase, he turned to
character roles, and entered what was perhaps the most interesting phase of his
career. He was liberated from ensuring a film's success. He could now focus on
his performance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">He brought an indescribable
insouciance to his role as a father who preferred to pursue his dreams as a
photographer rather than be a responsible dad in Hum Tum (2004), you couldn't
obviously like him for the way he treated his wife, but you still weren't
willing to dislike him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">He was wasted as Kajol's dad in Fanaa (2006).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">He was nominated for the best
supporting actor award for his portrayal of a film producer in Luck by Chance
(2009). Delhi 6 (2009) and Love Aaj Kal (2009) again saw him at his subdued
best; in both the films he played an aging lover, who having lived it up in his
younger days, is unable to comprehend the restrained ardour of the younger
generation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">And then, came Do Dooni Char (2010), a
story set in lower middle-class Delhi, for which he won the Filmfare best
actor; his second after Bobby. He took everyone by surprise with his portrayal
of an amiable and yet vicious Bombay bhai in the remake of Agneepath (2012). It
was a performance that got under the skin of the audience – it was hair
raising, and riveting. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">He followed it up with another
incredible performance in D-Day (2013), portraying a character that was based
on Dawood Ibrahim. As the lubricious granddad in Kapoor & Sons (2016),
he was unrecognizable with layers of makeup, but again won the Filmfare best
supporting award. His role in Mulk (2018) won wide acclaim because he brought
to life the uneasiness of India’s Muslims in a country that rapidly transformed into a Hindutva citadel.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Rishi Kapoor's passing away is a national
loss. There won't be anyone like him. There can't be. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div></div>
</div>
Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-70892136250516833512020-04-22T00:42:00.001-04:002020-04-22T09:10:25.490-04:00He was my father<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bVAQxWiVX-A/Xp_L7RPFZNI/AAAAAAAAFXI/RxXh7KvtDK0ADrkVVBsE2nzOg81jpcVgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/DM-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="863" data-original-width="864" height="319" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bVAQxWiVX-A/Xp_L7RPFZNI/AAAAAAAAFXI/RxXh7KvtDK0ADrkVVBsE2nzOg81jpcVgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/DM-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meghnadurga (circa mid-1980s)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">A
few days back, Rajesh Macwan, a friend, sent me a few lines of my father
Meghnad Bhatt’s poem about the advice that a father, who is entering the fifth
decade of his life, is giving to his son, who is about to turn 25. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">But before I get into the poem, let me give a brief background. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">According
to the Hindu Vedas, the four ashramas (stages) of a human being’s life are </span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Brahmacharya (bachelorhood, student), </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Grihastha (householder), </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Vanaprashta (to
give up on worldly life), </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">and the final stage of Sannyasa (life of a mendicant,
a life of renunciation). </span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Vanaprashta
means to enter the forest. When one enters the forest, one begins to relinquish
one’s love for material possessions. Typically, that phase commences when a
person enters the fifth decade. In most Indian languages, the fifties end in "Van" (51 = ekyavan, 52 = bavan, 53 = trepan, and so on). "Van" is forest. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">In
Gujarati, Vanaprastha is called Vanapravesh. Also, in Gujarati, as in other
Indian cultures, the advent of youth is a considered period of foolishness and clueless
rebellion; it’s when a person, and especially a man, is no better than a
jackass. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The exact age when this transformation from a human to a jackass
occurs is when a man turns 25-year-old.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Gujarati
language has a term for it: Gaddha-pachisi. An approximate translation would be
jackass 25, an age when young men are no better or worse than jackasses. A
relatable reference is the contemporary popular psychological term ‘quarter
life crisis’.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Now, let's get back to the couplet that Rajesh Macwan sent me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">I
have attempted to translate the poem into English. I'm not particularly good at
translations, but I wanted to include the poem in this blog post which I'm posting on the 23rd death anniversary of my dad, so, please indulge me.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">A
simpler translation of the title of the poem that Rajesh sent me would be: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><u>Advice of an aging father to a young son </u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">But it wouldn’t capture the essence of
the angst that the original title and the poem possess.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">So,
let’s go with the bells and whistle title: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><u>Advice of a Vanapravesh-aged father
to a son who’s on the anvil of Gaddha-pachisi. </u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I'm not sure if the improvised, hybridized (English-Gujarati) title works, and if it doesn't go back to the simpler version above. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">And
now the poem’s translation</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Till
yesterday</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The
one who wore his father’s spectacles and romped around pretending to be “Pappa”</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Has
suddenly turned critical of bapu-cracy (gerontocracy), Mayank?</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">There
never really was a gap between us, ever</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;">The
unasked, unanswered question that ends the poem is: "Or was there? (a
generation gap).</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Meghnad
wrote this in 1985. He turned 50 that year and I was 23. He was at the height
of his creativity. He was a successful union leader, having unionized the
clerical staff of Mafatlal Group, in the heart of Bombay's corporate world -
Nariman Point. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">His
journalism was flourishing. He was writing for Janmabhoomi and Pravasi (edited by
the redoubtable Harinder Dave). Although rather late, his first collection of
poems Chhiplan was published in 1980 to good reviews, and his second collection
Malajo would be published in a couple of years. During the decade, he won recognition as a poet from the Gujarati literary establishment. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">On
the other hand, I was at a crossroads of my life. I didn’t want to do what I
was doing – chartered accountancy, and wasn’t sure I could turn journalism (at
that time my steadfast interest) into a vocation. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">He
didn’t lose patience at my indecisiveness, and what in retrospect was clearly a
sheer lack of purpose. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I’ve
often blogged about Meghnad here, but it has mostly been of how deeply he has
influenced my thinking. I haven’t written much about him as a father. And more
than a poet, a union leader, a committed leftist ideologue, he was a father.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I
could fit a book of the many instances that I remember of him being a father. Today, I’ll narrate just a couple. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">On
the evening of my sister’s wedding, after she had left with her husband’s
family, Meghnad broke down and wept inconsolably. Nothing would make him stop.
He didn’t want to stop. He cried for a long time, lying on the bed. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">My
grandmother, my mother and I stood near him, gaping at each other, not knowing
what to say or what to do. Later, I asked him the cause of his utter
desolation, but he didn’t answer. He never talked about it ever. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I
saw my father cry only twice. The second time was when he reached Bombay from
his maiden trip to the United States, a couple of years before he passed away. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">And, here's another instance of him being a dad.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I
think the males in the Bhatt family have a genetic defect in the eyes. They all
have to wear glasses at a young age. My father, my son and I have had to wear
prescription glasses at about the same age. In my case it was in 1974, when I
was 12 years old. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">We
had moved to Teli Gali in Andheri a couple of years back, but my parents were still
unfamiliar with the place, and they had excellent, long-nurtured relations in
Kalbadevi-Princess Street area. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">So,
I had my eyes tested at the Round Building (at the intersection of Kalbadevi
Road and Princess Street) and my glasses made at Ganko opticians (at the
intersection of Old Hanuman Lane and Kalbadevi Road). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">That late afternoon, we were returning home from Ganko. I was wearing
prescription glasses for the first time in my life.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">It was raining and I was unaccustomed
to seeing through the glasses. While descending the stairs at the Marine Lines
station, I nearly slipped and would have tumbled all the way down to the
platform, had Meghnad not grabbed my hand and pulled me up. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">He was angry. That was rare because he
was seldom angry. But it was momentary. He pulled me to him and said in a calm
tone. “We must be very careful.” A little later, when we were inside the local
suburban train, he said, "We must start living in Andheri." </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /></div>
Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-81642491420711472392020-03-30T23:19:00.002-04:002020-08-29T15:51:00.146-04:00Is Narendra Modi a 21st century Walter Rand?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Indian Prime Minister's sudden lockdown of India to control COVID-19 is reminiscent of <br />Walter Charles Rand’s tough measures to curb 1896 plague in Bombay</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IFPxfbtmdXg/XoK0UqL_w6I/AAAAAAAAFVw/N9SIvmG7LWorhSLIGz6OX4y6RYo318d6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Bombay%2BPlague.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="900" height="243" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IFPxfbtmdXg/XoK0UqL_w6I/AAAAAAAAFVw/N9SIvmG7LWorhSLIGz6OX4y6RYo318d6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Bombay%2BPlague.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The plague in India: Stricken natives in the Street at Bombay<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lord Sandhurst, in a speech, delivered the other day at
Poona said that in spite of the measures taken to combat the plague in Bombay,
it was spreading and that not only had they the plague in their midst, but
owing to the failure of the monsoon, the grim visitor famine was staring at
them. Europeans have been attacked by the disease, and a nurse has died from
it. The scene represented in our illustration is from a photograph by Inspector
H. A. Perry of the Bombay City Police, and is, unhappily, one too often to be
witnessed in the streets where wretched plague-stricken natives are to be seen
lying down until removed. </span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 56pt;">T<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">he havoc wrought globally by
COVID-19 pandemic has yet to run its course. We are hopefully somewhere in the
middle of pandemic’s curve and in the next couple of months, the rapid spread
of the disease will plateau and begin to decline. It will have killed thousands and more, affecting millions more by then. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The outbreak has tested all
governments and many have been found wanting in being able to control the spread of the virus and the number of fatalities. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">So far (and this is going to be a very long journey) Canada has managed the crisis rather well. Both the federal and the provincial governments have taken the general population into confidence and have been gradually exerting pressure to implement social distancing and alleviating the economic fallout of the pandemic. The Samara Centre for Democracy has produced a useful analysis of the state of democracy in Canada during the pandemic. Read it here: <a href="https://www.samaracanada.com/samarablog/blog-post/samara-main-blog/2020/04/02/parliament-under-pressure-evaluating-parliament-s-performance-in-response-to-covid-19" target="_blank">Parliament Under Pressure</a>. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px;">In India, the federal (central) government has ordered a complete lockdown to ensure social distancing to prevent the community-based spread of the infection.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Swift & Sudden Decisions<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The measure, tough and necessary,
has caused utter misery to the tens of millions of migrant labourers and daily
wage-earners, who have been forced to return home. Managing and ensuring a
lockdown is not easy especially when its implementation is announced without adequate
planning and adequate advance notice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Whether it is demonetisation or
tackling coronavirus, Narendra Modi has made such swift and sudden
announcements his forte. It would appear that he doesn’t seem to weigh in on
the overall impact his decisions would have on India’s massive population.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In implementing the lockdown, the
government has used a colonial-era law – the Epidemic Disease act, 1897 – that was
enacted to deal with the outbreak of the bubonic plague in the Bombay Presidency
in 1896. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The outbreak of plague in Bombay is
remembered for the wrong reasons – the assassination of Walter Rand, the
head of the plague commission, by the Chapekar Brothers (Damodar and
Balkrishna), and the arrest of Lokmanya Tilak on charges of sedition (both events occurring in
1897). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The wide and rapid spread of
plague in Bombay and the adjoining cities also saw the heroic efforts of two
doctors – Dr. Acacio Gabriel Viegas, a medical practitioner from Goa, who
discovered the first incident of plague in September 1896, and Dr. Sir Waldemar
Mordechai Wolff Haffkine, who developed the vaccine for the disease. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">There is always a political story
that underlies the decisions governments take in tackling pandemics and epidemics; it is clear now globally in the way governments are dealing with the coronavirus. It was evident then in Bombay in 1896, too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Seemingly, the tough, no-nonsense
totalitarian response by the Chinese government has yielded results, as
compared to a soft, all-inclusive approach adopted by many countries in Europe
and North America, which has proved to be an unmitigated disaster. China has
been able to control COVID-19 but the virus is swallowing all of the developed world.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Tough action<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The differing experiences of different countries indicate that the way forward is to strictly enforce lockdowns
everywhere. But that cannot be done hastily. It is necessary to take the people into confidence, have their involvement in finding a lasting
and permanent solution. That is the true essence of participatory democracy. The dilemma, of course, is to ensure that while people become aware of the gravity of the situation, the death toll is controlled. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In 1896, at the behest of Lord George
Hamilton, the Secretary of State for India in London, the British government
representatives in India – Lord Elgin the Viceroy in Delhi and Lord Sandhurst the
Governor in Bombay – attempted various ways to curb the rapid spread of the plague.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Lord Hamilton (the Canadian city of
Hamilton gets its name from George Hamilton) was adamant that strictest measure
should be adopted to curb the spread of the plague because the ships from Bombay
were being denied entry into all the ports on the way to England. Both Elgin
and Sandhurst, aware of the prevailing sociopolitical and cultural circumstances in Bombay Presidency, were less than
enthusiastic to implement such strict measures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">At that time, Governor Sandhurst organised the diamond jubilee celebrations of Queen Victoria in Poona on 22 June 1897. In his editorial, Lokmanya Tilak observed that at the time when the city was suffering from the plague epidemic, the celebration was “the sixtieth anniversary not of our prosperity, but of our decline…” <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tilak’s journalism was incendiary; his editorials in Kesri left nothing to the imagination even as he took the necessary precaution not to circumvent any imperial laws.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">There was a severe, irreparable divide between the moderates and the extremists of the Indian National Congress, with Mahadev Govind Ranade and Gopal Krishna Gokhale leading the moderates, and Lokmanya Tilak leading the militants. Their difference would split many institutions in Poona that they had co-founded and were a part of, and cause a vertical spit in the Congress in 1905.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">Tilak’s maneuvers<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">Tilak, when he realised that he was sidelined in the maneuvering and jostling for public space by his more astute moderate comrades, began to pursue stringent advocacy of orthodox Hindu religion, opposing the Age of Consent bill introduced by the British rulers to increase the age of marriage of girls to 12.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">When his opposition didn’t prevent the passage of the bill, he launched the public celebration of the Ganeshotsav in 1893 – a political masterstroke that catapulted him to top of the pantheon of Indian leaders. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">He maintained his stridency in 1895 when he relaunched the Shiv Jayanti – the annual celebration of Shivaji Maharaj’s birthday (February 19), which had been started by Mahatma Phule. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Walter Charles Rand was
appointed the Plague Commissioner of Poona in 1896. He went about his task
with the zealousness of a civil servant unconcerned with local customs or local
sensitivities. Poona in 1896 was in political, social, ideological, and
economic ferment. There was an ongoing famine across Deccan, which had crippled
the economy. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">When the cleaning operations began in Poona and Bombay, the British administration was expectedly thorough, and ruthless.</span></div>
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<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Stanley Wolpert notes in <u>Tilak
and Gokhale: Revolution and Reform in the Making of Modern India</u>, notes:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face="" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span face="" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“As chairman of the newly
created Plague Committee, (Walter Charles) Rand was invested with dictatorial
powers. He arrived in Poona preceded by his reputation as a stern
disciplinarian for having sentenced eleven “respectable Hindus” to jail for
instigating the Wai communal riots of 1894 when he served as the magistrate of
Satara District. After passing the sentence, he had obliged these convicted
Brahmans to walk under a blistering sun for more than twenty miles from Wai to
their Satara prison. But if Rand was regarded with hostility by the orthodox Hindu
of Poona before his arrival there, a brief period in the office at his new job in
that city sufficed to arouse the hatred of most of its inhabitants against him.
Even the Liberal newspaper, which had so recently advocated the appointment of
a “strong officer” moaned “for heavens forbear,” explaining that this <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Is the universal wail of blank despair that
goes up from the suffering inhabitants of this ill-fated city. There is a limit
to human patience and human suffering which has long since been overstepped…The
accounts we have been from time to time publishing in our Marathi series will,
we have no doubt bear sufficient testimony to the unparalleled distress and the misery caused to the people of this city in consequence of the operations of
the Plague Commission as at present directed.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Gopal Krishna Gokhale, at that
time in London, even accused the imperial police of molesting women during the plague
searches. Mahadev Govind Ranade, a judge in the Bombay High Court, Gokhale’s political
guru, and the undisputed leader of the moderates, prevailed upon Gokhale to
withdraw the allegations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Chapekar Brothers<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">When Rand was returning to his
carriage after participating in the celebrations of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in Poona that Bombay's Governor Lord Sandhurst had organised on </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px;">22 June 1897, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">along with an associate, the Chapekar brothers shot Rand and Lt. Ayerst. Ayerst died on the spot and Rand succumbed to his bullet wounds after 11 days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Tilak was aware of this
conspiracy had given tacit approval of the plot to kill Rand and helped the Chapekar brothers escape and hide. The British administration was probably aware of the linkages between Chapekar brothers
and Tilak, it had no substantive evidence. But it nevertheless wanted to ensure that Tilak wouldn't go unpunished and arrested him under charges of sedition on
27 July 1897. He was tried for disaffection, found guilty and sentenced to 18
months of rigorous imprisonment. Justice Ranade and Parsons denied Tilak bail. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Disaffection</b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Richard P. Tucker notes in <u>Ranade
and the Roots of Indian Nationalism,</u> Justice Ranade defined </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px;">“</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">disaffection</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px;">” in a related case, which laid down the rules of engagement between the British administration and Indian leaders agitating for freedom. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Justice Ranade defined disaffection thus: “disaffection is a positive political distemper and not a mere absence or
negation of love or goodwill. It is defiant insubordination of authority, or
when it is not defiant, it secretly seeks to alienate the people and weaken the
bond of allegiance. It is a feeling which makes men indisposed to obey or
support the laws of the realm, and promotes discontent and public disorder.”</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">The public outrage of orthodox
Hindus at the tough measures implemented to control the plague epidemic forced
the British administration to adopt softer measures. This prolonged the
disease for several years. According to Tim Wallasey-Wilsey, Senior Visiting
Research Fellow, Department of War Studies, King’s College, London, “…the stark
truth is that cultural sensitivity had its consequences. The plague was not
stamped out – and continued to kill until the mid-1920s. As many as 10 million
Indians may have died.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Image credit: </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://qz.com/india/286559/19th-century-mumbai-plague-may-offer-clues-in-dealing-with-ebola/">https://qz.com/india/286559/19th-century-mumbai-plague-may-offer-clues-in-dealing-with-</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://qz.com/india/286559/19th-century-mumbai-plague-may-offer-clues-in-dealing-with-ebola/">ebola/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /></div>
Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-68074173688735762472020-03-19T20:37:00.001-04:002020-03-24T07:44:46.576-04:00The importance of not forgetting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U0xC8pr_maM/XnQQBC5JyZI/AAAAAAAAFUA/duaU19FHZd0OWPuMnJIWMTBRi2IMombyACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/1984.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="295" data-original-width="460" height="256" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U0xC8pr_maM/XnQQBC5JyZI/AAAAAAAAFUA/duaU19FHZd0OWPuMnJIWMTBRi2IMombyACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/1984.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is a perfect storm brewing in Ontario over Gurrtan
Singh’s bill to annually observe the first week of November as Sikh Genocide
Week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Gurratan Singh is a Member of the Provincial Parliament in
Ontario from Brampton East. He is Jagmeet Singh’s brother. Jagmeet Singh leads
the National Democratic Party of Canada.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Expectedly, there is anger and angst among a section of the
Indo-Canadian community at Gurratan’s move. They are at pains to explain that
the massacre of Sikhs in 1984 in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination by
her Sikh guards happened a long time ago and that since then India has moved
on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There is no denying this fact.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Most Indians acknowledge that 1984 was a terrible chapter in
India’s history. Contemporary Indian history has innumerable instances of the
Hindu majority population going on a rampage against other religious
minorities, most notably against the 200 million strong Muslim minority. Under
the Narendra Modi government it has become institutionalised, it is the new normal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Those unfamiliar with present condition of the
religious minorities in India, especially the Muslims, should watch the
serialisation on HBO of Philip Roth’s classic novel The Plot Against America. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The living nightmare that America could have become for its
Jewish population had Teddy Roosevelt lost to Charles Lindbergh (the theme of
Roth’s novel) is the fearsome dystopian reality in which most of the Muslims of
India survive in present times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But coming back to Gurratan’s bill. Dr. Manmohan Singh, when
he was the Prime Minister of India, apologised in the Indian Parliament to
Sikhs for 1984 riots in which the Sikhs were targeted on the streets of India’s
capital New Delhi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A sizeable section of the burgeoning Indo-Canadian
population (estimated to be 1.6 million) feels that Gurratan is not justified
in trying to keep the memory alive of an incident that happened so long ago. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They felt the same when Harinder Malhi, the then Liberal
MPP, succeeded in 2017 in getting the Ontario legislature pass the bill that
defined the Sikh massacre of 1984 as genocide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There are many unresolved questions and emotions that
surround this angry debate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Should we forget a massacre? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What purpose does an annual remembrance serve?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Would it not be better if we just leave the past behind
where it belongs, and just move on to a future that is harmonious and without
acrimony?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nelson Mandela gave us the right perspective about not
forgetting injustices. He said (in 1995), “Reconciliation does not mean
forgetting or trying to bury the pain of conflict, but that reconciliation
means working together to correct the legacy of past injustice.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That is why we remember the Jewish Holocaust and that is why
we must remember the massacre of Sikhs in 1984 – because these were crime
against humanity but more importantly, our societies remain prone to targeted
violence against religious and racial minorities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Remembering a grave wrong helps us relate to the wounds that
may have been inflicted several generations back but which are raw and will remain fresh
forever in present and future generations. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Among my friends I count Sikhs born and raised in Canada and with no real experience of 1984. They turn emotional when talking about the anti-Sikh riots that engulfed Delhi and parts of northern India. It is a part of their collective memory. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the act of remembrance is the compulsion of not forgetting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And it is important not to forget – for those who suffered,
and especially for those who did not suffer, and for those who made others
suffer. Injustice must not be allowed to be forgotten. Society must
be reminded of it regularly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Let me digress briefly to illustrate how the Indian society
is hardwired to forget injustice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The hierarchical structure of the Indian society, which has
been given to it by the caste system, has resulted in the domination
of the upper castes who are a numerical minority. They have traditionally
subjugated the lower castes and religious minorities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The rise of the Hindu Right in India in the last four
decades has been a direct fallout of the mass conversion to Islam of the Dalits
of Meenakshipuram village in Tamil Nadu in 1981.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The upper caste would not give equal status to Dalits or
treat them with respect, but when they decided to adopt another religion, they
(the Hindu upper caste) launched a vigorous campaign that has lasted for four
decades and has led to the Hindu Right occupying the mainstream.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Hindu Right has successfully throttled all other
alternative political and social ideologies. The continued deprivation of justice to Left-Liberal activists Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha is an illustrative
example.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the context of the Sikh massacre of 1984, a blatantly
spurious argument offered is that the Sikh militants killed thousands of Hindus
from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s, when the menace of Sikh militancy at its
apogee in India.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yes, that is correct. But it should not be forgotten that
the rise of Sikh militancy had its roots in the petty and devious politics of
the Indian establishment dominated by the Congress party at that time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jarnail
Singh Bhindrawale was a genie that Congress got out of the lamp, who then
refused to quietly return to the obscurity. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In trying to control the insurgency that Bhindrawale masterminded from the precincts of the Golden Temple, the holiest of shrines in
India, the Indian state did not leave anything to imagination when it
unleashed its full force to against the Sikh population in Punjab.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was state terrorism against its own people that lasted
for more than a decade, and was called off only when the establishment was
completely satisfied that it Sikh militancy had been extinguished from Punjab.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Gurratan Singh is, of course, aiming for political mileage and he is unconcerned that the bill will keep the Indo-Canadian communities divided; perhaps that is precisely what he wants, as it would help him politically, just as it </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">has helped Jagmeet Singh politically to equivocate on the Air India Flight 182 bombing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But the interests of the Sikh community should not be linked to political shenanigans. Common people, who work hard and look after their families,
and mind their own business, would like nothing more than be rid of negativity,
and political and cultural influences that religiopolitical leader wield on
them and their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is time for a radical shift in the approach to finding a solution to this logjam. Leaders who speak for the community – whether they are
political or community leaders – should call for a town hall meeting in
Brampton and have an open dialog on the future direction of peaceful
coexistence between all Indo-Canadians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Another significant step that must be taken in this context
is to invite Sikh families who suffered in the 1984 riots and are now settled in Canada, and the Indo-Canadian community should publicly
acknowledge their victimhood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The only way forward is to have a constructive
dialog that involves all sections of the Indo-Canadian society – Sikhs, Hindus,
Muslims, Christians, and adherents of other faiths.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Remembering a tragedy should not become a reason to hate.</span></div>
<br /></div>
Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-8276145666158273342020-02-16T18:13:00.002-05:002020-02-16T18:13:23.181-05:00The Fruitful City<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ECnO8TSwLFg/XknMWLQSMuI/AAAAAAAAFTE/xftWFbqsm2kgNgeHQ3D109uxTHoRJ-U2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/moncrieff_hero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ECnO8TSwLFg/XknMWLQSMuI/AAAAAAAAFTE/xftWFbqsm2kgNgeHQ3D109uxTHoRJ-U2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/moncrieff_hero.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Fruitful City: Helena Moncrieff</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Late last year, my friend </span><a href="https://secure.toronto.ca/pa/member/3365.do" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;" target="_blank">Shirin Mandani </a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">arranged for me to
participate in a book reading that </span><a href="https://www.heritagetoronto.org/" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;" target="_blank">Heritage Toronto</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> organised at the </span><a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/st-lawrence-hall" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;" target="_blank">St.Lawrence Hall </a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">on Toronto-themed nonfiction books. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The books and the authors
featured included <a href="https://ecwpress.com/products/fruitful-city" target="_blank">The Fruitful City</a> by Helena Moncrieff (ECW Press), <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/561290/the-missing-millionaire-by-katie-daubs/9780771025174" target="_blank">The Missing Millionaire</a> by Katie Daubs (Penguin Random House), <a href="https://www.dundurn.com/books/Flyer-Vault" target="_blank">The Flyer Vault: 150 Years of Toronto Concert History</a> by Rob Bowman and Daniel Tate (Dundurn Press).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It was my first visit to the grand St. Lawrence Hall, at one
time the hub of Toronto political, social, and cultural activities. The venue
reminded me of my visits in the 1980s to the annual lectures on Bombay’s
history at the Heras Institute at St. Xavier
College. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On a Saturday afternoon, St. Lawrence Hall seemed forlornly in
its old-world splendour, isolated in a city that has rapidly transformed into a
postmodern metropolis eager to abandon its colonial era shibboleths. Except
for two or maybe three people, the audience was almost entirely Caucasian. But
I suppose that has to do with the composition of the city’s history. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The program was deeply enriching because the three authors and
their works reflected the </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">vibrancy and the sociocultural diversity that is
Toronto’s strength. I know little about Toronto’s music scene to talk about it
with any degree of confidence, and so, I’ll focus on the other two books that
were discussed that afternoon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Toronto Star’s Deborah Dundas is a master at talking about
books and talking to authors. Her chat with the three authors brought out the
nuances of the research by the authors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Katie Daubs’s The Missing Millionaire is about the mysterious
disappearance of Ambrose Small, the owner of the Grand Opera House, in 1919.
<a href="https://ca.linkedin.com/in/mahrukhbhatt" target="_blank">Mahrukh</a> is reading the book at present, and will, hopefully, write about it
once she’s done reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I found <a href="http://hmoncrieff.com/books/" target="_blank">Helena Moncrieff</a>’s premise of her book fascinating.
The Fruitful City is a slim book of the different types of trees that are grown
by homeowners in their backyards. Trees that reveal the homeowners’ past, their
roots in a different land and an attempt – sometimes rather desperate – to replicate
a culture from which they were uprooted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One of the great losses of urbanisation is the near-total lack
of knowledge about greenery and the foliage that surrounds us. Toronto, with
its ravines, is probably one of the few urban centres in the world, where you
are always close to a forest. Moncrieff digs deep into Canada’s history to
narrate its fascinating horticultural history, the story of its immigrants and
how they imported their trees with them to their adopted homeland.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The book acquired a totally different dimension when I learned
from my friend <a href="https://ca.linkedin.com/in/dr-pawan-chankotra-ph-d-96815813" target="_blank">Pawan Chankotra</a> that
he was planning to grow a neem tree in his backyard. Moncrieff has a number of examples where
immigrants have not only brought trees of their birthplace to Canada, but take
tremendous care of their trees, including providing them artificial heat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Fruitful City won the Heritage Toronto Book award for 2019. Here is an excerpt from the book; it’s longish only to
illustrate the depth of the author’s research:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">On a 1791
map from the Ontario archives, pale, watery colours of pink, green and yellow
mark off sections of geography, and cartographer Henri Chatelain had covered
the margins in tidy script with lists of fruits and other resources identified
around what we now know as Ontario. He documented apples, pears, plums,
cherries and a variety of nut trees “<i>comme en Europe.</i>” Four berry
species are listed too: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and currants.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">In fact,
more than two hundred small fruits are native to Canada. That might sound like
plenty, but most don’t appear in our pantries. To call them all berries is a
simplification, although that’s what they look like. Blueberries and
gooseberries are “true berries.” The rest fall into the categories of drupes,
like cherries and elderberries; pomes such as saskatoons or serviceberries, as
they are known in the East; and aggregates, like strawberries and raspberries.
They’ve grown here for a long time. Indigenous people used silver
buffalo berries to flavour, as the name suggests, buffalo meat. Saskatoons were
a key ingredient in pemmican. Plenty more of those native fruits are said to be
tart but very good in jellies. You could survive on them if you were lost in
the woods, but most need a lot of sugar to make them truly palatable to today’s
tastes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">The
<a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/huron" target="_blank">Huron-Wendat</a> tapped maple trees, harvested berries and grew corn, beans and
squash in small cleanings in what’s now Southern Ontario. The habitat was rich
with wildlife, horticulture, shelter and access to water travel for many
Indigenous societies. A short article in <i>First Nations House</i> magazine
on Toronto’s Indigenous history describes the area as being not unlikely the
Mediterranean, “in that many cultures and peoples met for the purposes of trade
and commerce – dating back thousands of years prior to European contact.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">In the
1790s, <a href="http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/simcoe/index.aspx" target="_blank">Elizabeth Simcoe</a>, wife of the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada,
<a href="http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/simcoe_john_graves_5E.html" target="_blank">John Graves Simcoe,</a> wrote in her diary about the berries she collected – fox
berries, mountain tea berries and wild gooseberries that, she reported, were
excellent stewed as sauce for salmon. The Mohawks gave her young son Francis a
gift of cranberries, and Francis offered apples in return. At their white pine
cabin on the edge of the Don River, young Francis, whose ailments are well
documented in the diary, was said to be “much better, and busy in planting
currant bushes and peach trees.” The peach tree is long gone, and all that’s
left of the estate is a subway station name, its nomenclature taken from the
cabin aspirationally dubbed in the honour of the son: Castle Frank.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="line-height: 150%;">(For Castle Frank, see this: </span><a href="https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/castle-frank">https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/castle-frank</a> and this: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Frank_station">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Frank_station</a>)</i></span></div>
<br />
</div>
Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-44530514731062456652020-01-31T23:48:00.001-05:002020-02-01T14:38:08.012-05:00A Delhi Obsession<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Image result for mg vassanji"" height="223" src="https://www.macleans.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/MAC42_VASSANJI_POST01.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>MG Vassanji</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">In 2012, I had been in Canada
just four years and read Indian newspapers online regularly. I discovered an
interview of MG Vassanji in India’s Mint newspaper when his novel The
Magic of Saida was published. The interview was competent, or so I
thought. It covered all the things that a newspaper reader would want to know
about an author. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">I sent the link to Vassanji,
thinking that he would be delighted. I told him that I had posted the link on
social media. He told me to remove the link. He was actually livid. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">I asked him why, and said,
“They have labelled me. Would they have called Margaret Atwood a Christian
author? Or Amitav Ghosh a Hindu author? I doubt it; they wouldn’t. Then, why
label me as an Ismaili Muslim.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">I didn't quite understand his
anger then. But over the years, as I have got to know him a bit better, I have
begun to comprehend his irritation over being labelled. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">It is impossible to categorise
Vassanji on the basis of faith or nationality because it is impossible to fit
him into a specific ethnic, religious, national silo. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">He is like the Indian raita (an
Indian dish of finely chopped cucumber, peppers, mint, etc. in yoghurt, served
with curries). The Indian raita spreads on an Indian thali, freely mixing with
different vegetables and curries in the thali, and in the process, both
acquires their taste and gives its own flavour to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Ismaili-Khoja culture is a mix
of both Hindu and Islamic traditions, blending the streams into a fusion of
Sufi/Bhakti. Although today’s generation believes in having a distinct as
opposed to a defused identity, the religious songs of the Ismaili-Khojas called
Ginans reveal the strong syncretic roots of the community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">To help me understand the
unique syncretism that has made him who he is, Vassanji had sent me a review of
a book on Ginans. (<a href="https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/22568491/iias-review-vol-xvii-no-1-summer-2011-indian-institute-of-" target="_blank">Ginanic Travails: Conflicted Knowledge</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Over the years, in many a
heated discussion about the religious tensions in India that we have had,
Vassanji invariably points out the tendency amongst Indians to label people;
even Indian liberals are not above the labelling, he would complain. This labelling
leads to stereotypical understanding and portrayal of the two communities in
general, but especially of the Indian Muslims.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Finally, in 2019, with <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/599401/a-delhi-obsession-by-mg-vassanji/9780385692854" target="_blank">A Delhi Obsession</a> Vassanji has
published a novel that sensitively depicts the insensitive Indian habit of
identifying and categorizing people on the basis of their religion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, serif;">The novel is a love story, an illicit love story between a married Hindu middle class woman in Delhi and a Muslim widower from Toronto, who is uncomfortable every time everyone identifies him as a Muslim.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Early on in the story, when the
newly-in-love couple visit a shrine, the tension over identity is palpable.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://images.randomhouse.com/cover/9780385692854" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for a delhi obsession"" border="0" height="320" src="https://images.randomhouse.com/cover/9780385692854" style="text-align: left;" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: tahoma, sans-serif;">“The shrine was modestly
decorated with marigolds and an idol of a god, behind which quietly sat the
priest. Mohini covered her head with her sari end, joined her hands and knelt
before the idol, Munir looked around nervously, then shakily half-knelt beside
her, joining his hands, too. The priest gave them some water, which following
Mohini, Munir sipped from his hand, dabbing his head with what remained. The
watching priest then gave them each some coarse sugar pellets.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;">When they were outside,
back in the brightness, she turned to him and said, “But you are a Muslim.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;">He took a breath, then
replied, “If you say so. But I don’t describe myself by a faith.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;">He felt stupid saying that,
but it was the naked truth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;">“But you bowed to our gods.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;">“Your gods…Well, I paid my
respect to the gods.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;">“What are you, then?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;">“Do I have to be something?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;">“How do people know you,
then?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;">“As just another person. A
friend. A neighbour. An author.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Towards the end, when the Hindu
nationalist rabble rouser Jetha Lal and his brutish acolytes surround Munir at
the club, threatening him, Munir exclaims in despair and anger, </span><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;">“I’m a Canadian. Don’t put
your labels on me.”</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"> To
which the uncouth Jetha Lal patiently responds, </span><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;">“Canadian, sir. But you
like Hindu women, I see. Better than Canadian women, no?” He waited. “No doubt.
But you are Muslim, sir. <i>Mlechha</i>. Different.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">(The word Mlechha is italicised
perhaps to emphasize it, not because it is an Indian word).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">A Delhi Obsession is an
incisive portrayal of the unbearable intensity of Hindu nationalism that is
rapidly transforming India into an intolerant, bigoted place where fear rules.
Expectedly, the novel ends tragically; illicit love stories often do. But the
end is as unexpected, sudden, brutal as the end of the popular Marathi film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5312232/" target="_blank">Sairat</a>. The end keeps you awake at
night, long after you have read the last page. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">I apologise for spoiling the
reading experience of those who haven't yet read the novel, but I was horrified
by the end of the story. In half a page, it brought alive the horror that is
India today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"></span></div>
</div>
Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-50517047847973487932020-01-13T07:48:00.001-05:002020-01-13T07:48:06.391-05:00The Power of Opportunity - Richard Rothman<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nEr4hMEez9k/XhxmM-bkjoI/AAAAAAAAFSU/yh11gni_OYw2-akHXij0I1-aTyuk0cJNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Richard-Rothman-Photo-300x300_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nEr4hMEez9k/XhxmM-bkjoI/AAAAAAAAFSU/yh11gni_OYw2-akHXij0I1-aTyuk0cJNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Richard-Rothman-Photo-300x300_c.jpg" /></a><br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Long before the present
publishing boom began in India, Richard Rothman, then a bureaucrat with the United
States Government in India, published a collection of short stories that was
breathtakingly original. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />Then, being the maverick that he
has always been, Richard kicked his comfortable job to launch his own consultancy
– in an area nobody would've thought of as a business proposition – Opportunity. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />His second book on the subject <b>The
Power of Opportunity</b> is being launched in Bombay later in January. In a
short, e-mail interview, he talks about his book and ‘Opportunity’.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />Richard’s consultancy <u>Open
Mind Consultancy</u> has teamed up with the Penguin India team to create a very
India-centric roadmap to both individual and business success.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u_r7TCsNmOE/XhxmYAHDheI/AAAAAAAAFSY/s49gmS6KMW4fdwOGtMBV0fG1HJVw6bbkQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1434" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u_r7TCsNmOE/XhxmYAHDheI/AAAAAAAAFSY/s49gmS6KMW4fdwOGtMBV0fG1HJVw6bbkQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/unnamed.jpg" width="200" /></a><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />What is this book about?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The Power of Opportunity</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> presents
a thorough methodology of thought and action on personal and business
opportunities. It is the first book to attempt to do this since Edward DeBono
published his book <b><i>Opportunities</i></b> in 1978. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />Why is the book titled <i>The
Power of Opportunity</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Because opportunities have
tremendous power to change our lives for the better. They are the seeds from
which all success grows. For example, a couple years ago I met a 20-year-old
entrepreneur, still a boy really, who had dropped out of college to develop an
internet app. This boy, from a very modest background in Bihar, had managed to
raise $20 million from Tiger Global, a major US venture capital firm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />This example highlights two
fundamental things that give opportunities tremendous power: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />1) all opportunities are free.
You can't pay for them even if you want to. There is no “opportunity shop”
where you can buy them. That means that opportunities are available to even to
penniless boys from Bihar. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />2) the best opportunities are like
powerful magnets that attract all the resources needed to scale them. Why had
Tiger backed him? Was it because of his track record? Obviously not. Tiger was
pouring resources into the opportunity, not the entrepreneur. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />But resources flow only to the best
opportunities, what I call golden opportunities. <br />Therefore, it is crucial to
consciously choose opportunities by using a systematic process, and not rely on
luck, as most people do. Unfortunately, most people end up pursuing
Nopportunities, which are not opportunities, because they don't use a
systematic process to choose them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />This is the second book you have
written on opportunity. How is The Power of Opportunity different from Master
Opportunity and Make it Big?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />My previous book, <b><i>Master
Opportunity and Make it Big</i></b>, presented the stories of 18
"Opportunity Masters" who had started with nothing and made it big by
taking advantage of excellent opportunities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Although all of these people had succeeded, they did not necessarily
understand why. In <b><i>The Power of Opportunity</i></b>, I present a
methodology of thought and action which is based on my experience with the over
2,000 businesses I have consulted with over the past 30 years as both an
Opportunity Consultant and Trade Commissioner. Therefore, it is an original
theory which I have developed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />You're probably the only
Opportunity Consultant in the world, what exactly do you do or can do for
corporations and for individuals.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />As the first and only Opportunity
Consultant in the world, I offer companies a systematic process to uncover,
recover and discover opportunities for sustained, profitable growth. How am I
different from other management consultants? Most follow the principles of
strategy developed by Michael Porter and others, which uses “competitive advantage”
as the main filter through which to view opportunities. I’ve found that using
competition as a filter can lead to increasing market irrelevance over time.
After all, do your competitors buy your products? Are they part of your team?
Of course not. I focus instead on providing useful service to stakeholders. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />You have worked in India for the
last 25 years, in terms of your specialisation (Opportunity) how has the Indian
market changed? Are there more tangible opportunities at present then there
were in the early years of economic liberalisation.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />On a macro level, I firmly
believe that India is the greatest land of opportunity in the world today. Half
of India’s population are still subsistence farmers, a business model which is
fundamentally broken in the modern age. Over the coming decades, they will move
to cities and take better opportunities as wage earners and entrepreneurs.
Since the demise of the License Raj in 1991, the Indian opportunities landscape
has liberalized - but it still has a long way to go. The government has got to
focus less on ideology and more on growth through opportunities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />In your sphere of expertise
(identifying opportunities) what changes have you noticed in India over the
last two decades?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />The Indian mindset is gradually
shifting from the pre-license raj mode of opportunity through connections,
bribery and extortion, toward a modern rules-based system that rewards
opportunity based on merit. This migration to the rules of the modern era will
take decades, but the trend is in the right direction, and India will benefit
from it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />You have published an amazing
collection of phantasmagorical short stories and a novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why did you abandon writing fiction?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />I haven't abandoned fiction. I
plan to resurrect and publish my novel eventually. But at this point I'm
focused on spreading the mantra of Opportunity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />You may buy the book here (in
India): <a href="https://www.amazon.in/Power-Opportunity-Your-Roadmap-Success/dp/014344753X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=">The
Power of Opportunity</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br />Kindle edition is available here
(in Canada): <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Power-Opportunity-Your-Roadmap-Success-ebook/dp/B082P277FV/ref=sr_1_4?qid=1578918893&refinements=p_27%3ARichard+Rothman&s=digital-text&sr=1-4&text=Richard+Rothman">The
Power of Opportunity</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /><br />
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Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-58463397169699677422019-12-26T19:20:00.001-05:002019-12-27T05:52:31.255-05:00A requiem for Indian secularism?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As
2019 draws to a close and we look back at the events of the past year, reflect
upon the gains and the losses and the lessons learnt, the one issue that is
impossible to ignore is the rapid decline of secularism in India. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Modi regime, backed by a solid parliamentary majority it got in 2019, has
set into motion changes that have fundamentally altered India by forcibly extinguishing
its secular ethos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Although,
India proudly claims to be the largest democracy in the world, democracy in
India has largely been confined to the successful holding of elections. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For
democracy to be meaningful, adherence to other sacrosanct
principles of democracy are necessary. These principles include respect for democratic institutions, a
legislature that engages in meaningful debate, independent judiciary, a free and
thriving media that encourages debate and dissent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Under
the new Modi regime, democratic norms have been severe constricted. Today,
India under Modi has no patience for secular principles and is keen to enforce
aggressive majoritarianism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Two events
that demonstrated this tendency are:</span><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The lockdown in Kashmir</span></li>
<li><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act and the
implementation of the National Register of Citizens. </span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Modi regime found a semblance of support for its assertive moves in
Kashmir, primarily because many in India believe that the stalemate in Kashmir
needs to be resolved. And if old methods haven’t yielded results in the last
seven decades, new methods must be tried.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">However,
the lockdown of the state and its people since August 2019 is unacceptable, and
a gross violation of people’s rights to freedom. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When
the exercise of identifying illegal immigrants was launched in Assam after Modi
was reelected, it raised legitimate concerns because New Delhi now had a
government that swore by majoritarianism, and was not above using the state’s
enormous reach to propagate its exclusivist philosophy of aggressive Hindutva. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Pertinently,
the exercise of implementing the NRC in Assam proved how difficult, if not
impossible, it would be for a large number of people to prove their Indian
citizenship. Nearly two million people (including Hindus) could not prove that they were Indians. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Perhaps
in recognition of the anomaly that the NRC would result in the exclusion of
Hindus, as well, the Modi regime amended the citizenship act to accord
citizenship rights to non-Muslim immigrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and
Pakistan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Modi’s
supporters may claim that the amendment is to help minorities in these
countries emigrate to India. But the fact is that the purpose of both the NRC
and the amended citizenship act is to exclude Muslims. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Amit
Shah, India’s Home Minister and the second-most important minister in the Modi regime openly declared that the citizenship register would be implemented
across India to ferret out illegal immigrants. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“It
is our commitment to implement National Register of Citizens (NRC) across the
country to weed out the infiltrators. First, we will bring the Citizenship
(Amendment) Bill to ensure that eligible refugees get citizenship, and then we
will introduce NRC to throw out the infiltrators. They are termites, they are
eating into the country's resources,” Shah asserted.</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
declared in the Indian Parliament, “Maan ke chaliye, NRC aane wala hai.” (Take
it as a given that the NRC will be introduced across the country). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
July 2019, when the implementation of the National Citizens Register was
launched in Assam, the following protest poem, “I am a Miya’ written by Hafiz
Ahmed spread like wildfire on the internet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Write
Down ‘I am a Miya’<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Write<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Write
Down<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>I am
a Miya<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>My
serial number in the NRC is 200543<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>I
have two children<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Another
is coming<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Next
summer.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Will
you hate him<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>As
you hate me?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Write<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>I am
a Miya<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>I
turn waste, marshy lands<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>To
green paddy fields<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>To
feed you.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>I
carry bricks<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>To
build your buildings<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Drive
your car<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>For
your comfort<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Clean
your drain<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>To
keep you healthy.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>I
have always been<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>In
your service<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>And
yet<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>you
are dissatisfied!<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Write
down<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>I am
a Miya,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>A
citizen of a democratic, secular, Republic<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Without
any rights<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>My
mother a D voter,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Though
her parents are Indian.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>If
you wish kill me, drive me from my village,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Snatch
my green fields<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>hire
bulldozers<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>To
roll over me.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Your
bullets<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Can
shatter my breast<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>for
no crime.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Write<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>I am
a Miya<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Of
the Brahamaputra<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Your
torture<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Has
burnt my body black<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Reddened
my eyes with fire.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Beware!<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>I
have nothing but anger in stock.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Keep
away!<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Or<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Turn
to Ashes.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>Translated
by Shalim M. Hussain<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Will
this protest poem be a requiem for India’s secularism? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
internet informs me that a requiem “is a religious ceremony performed for
the dead. ... The word requiem comes from the opening words of the
Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead, which is spoken or sung in Latin
(requies means “rest”). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In a
nonreligious context the word refers simply to an act of remembrance.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Some
of the biggest composers of western classical music have composed requiems, and
one of the most memorable compositions is Clint Mansell’s Lux Aeterna for
Darren Aronofsky’s 2000 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180093/">Requiem
for a Dream</a>. </span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">(You may listen to it here: </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZMuDbaXbC8"><span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Clint Mansell – Lux Aeterna – Requiem for a Dream</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">'I am
a Miya' will be a requiem for Indian secularism if the world allows India’s Modi
regime to continue with its persecution of Indian Muslims.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Watch
the video here:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="215" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KUyhrxnWw-I" width="360"></iframe></div>
Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-47766111088018317792019-11-26T19:05:00.000-05:002019-11-26T19:10:18.462-05:00Song of Silence - Sangeeta Gupta's paintings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-91r56WOP1os/Xd29QjPKWQI/AAAAAAAAFRA/6YbZcn5x78QSPpVwmyXU1CmnL-bW8iemQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Sangeeta%2BGupta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-91r56WOP1os/Xd29QjPKWQI/AAAAAAAAFRA/6YbZcn5x78QSPpVwmyXU1CmnL-bW8iemQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Sangeeta%2BGupta.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;">Curator’s
Note by Meena Chopra</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9eBfh9x8UPM/Xd2-Cr9CcrI/AAAAAAAAFRI/x5KaRHvZtYUVwTbpo4JJqvxLIV5IWuNIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Sangeeta%2BGupta-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="986" data-original-width="871" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9eBfh9x8UPM/Xd2-Cr9CcrI/AAAAAAAAFRI/x5KaRHvZtYUVwTbpo4JJqvxLIV5IWuNIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/Sangeeta%2BGupta-1.jpg" width="176" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;">In an ongoing
journey with five elements of life, Sangeeta Gupta reveals the hidden realms of
creativity by bringing it to the conscious levels through her art. There is a
sustained intricacy of mystique, in the entire range of her work. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;">The obscurity
of abstract forms start speaking to one in a silent melody and a continuous
song is created within the limits of space and time through the subjective
experience. Undoubtedly a spontaneous painter, the vision of her inner
world is very clearly and honestly depicted in both her poetry and art. </span>
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9eBfh9x8UPM/Xd2-Cr9CcrI/AAAAAAAAFRM/ywAB-L0c8Jw5P7mYLUs8KRtKf4uKG0WPQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Sangeeta%2BGupta-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="986" data-original-width="871" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9eBfh9x8UPM/Xd2-Cr9CcrI/AAAAAAAAFRM/ywAB-L0c8Jw5P7mYLUs8KRtKf4uKG0WPQCEwYBhgL/s200/Sangeeta%2BGupta-1.jpg" width="176" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;">In her latest
works, there is a kind of explosion of forms in contrasting tones and colours
which give a powerful sense of free-spiritedness. This instantly grabs the
attention of the viewer's eye and draws it deeply into the subtleties of forms
and tones, thereby creating a continuous dialogue between the inner and outer
worlds. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;">What strikes me most in her art is the sincerity, through which the
subconscious flows out naturally, impulsively and effortlessly through her art.</span></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 150%;">Fellow
Artist and Curator</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> <span style="color: black;">Meena Chopra</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<i><br />Continued in the post below</i></div>
Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-54934202848539132052019-11-26T06:14:00.002-05:002019-11-26T19:02:15.120-05:00Keshav Malik - a poet and an art critic <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Continued from above</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Guest post by <b>Sangeeta Gupta</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bQOIFnNRGLc/Xd0D74aJ4sI/AAAAAAAAFQ0/wreUFv1cscYBduGwyTkGEDNtfI76tXVaQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/keshav%2Bmalik3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bQOIFnNRGLc/Xd0D74aJ4sI/AAAAAAAAFQ0/wreUFv1cscYBduGwyTkGEDNtfI76tXVaQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/keshav%2Bmalik3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It seems only like yesterday, I recall.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had recently come on transfer from Calcutta and was new in
Delhi. My third solo exhibition was to be held at the All India Fine Arts and Craft
Society in December 1997. I was desperately looking for someone to help me to
curate the exhibition and to inaugurate it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I met Manohar Kaul, Chairman, AIFACS regarding this and he
promptly suggested that I contact Keshav Malik for this who was in the gallery
attending some exhibition. Kaul said it was easy to identify Malik as he would
be the tallest in the crowd. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I entered the gallery looking for him. He was there in the
midst of a large gathering talking to people, yet he did not seem to belong
there. I was simply mesmerised by his persona and walked up to him and said I
need to have a word with him. He smiled and came out of the gallery and at that
moment we were in a meaningful conversation, which went on for long. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At that point of time I was totally ignorant of his stature
in the art world and had no hesitation in discussing with him about art and
poetry. We instantly developed a bond which grew over the next 17 years. Keshav
went out of his way to curate the exhibition of my ink drawings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Keshav guided and inspired me to evolve as an artist and a
poet. I felt anchored in Delhi – a big ruthless city. It was the beginning of a
great learning experience and a beautiful relationship. His house became my
comfort zone, we shared a lot. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Keshav witnessed my growth as an artist and a poet and
enriched my life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All these years I had the confidence that I could bank on
him for guidance; could call him; meet him when I wished. I had immense faith
in his advice and wisdom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">His passion for reading and writing poetry and reviewing art
was the intrinsic force which made his life not only beautiful but so much
worth living. He loved seeing art so much so that he would visit all shows in
Delhi. He often said that he drew inspiration from art for his poems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He translated my book of poems (The echoing groove - 2005).
We did a book together, his poems and my paintings (Visions and Illuminations -
2009). One of my exhibitions had his poems and my paintings together on display
(Shridharani Art Gallery, New Delhi - 2004). We read poetry together on several
occasions in the midst of ongoing exhibitions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had this strong conviction that Keshav had so much wisdom
and insight about evolution of Indian art that it should be shared with artists
and poets of all ages and it would be appropriate to document it in a film. I
discussed this with a filmmaker and he gladly agreed to do it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even after making all efforts by collecting data and
research material the project did not take off. I was losing my patience and
peace of mind over it. One day I decided that I would make the film myself. I
am no filmmaker, but I made it as my tribute to my mentor Keshav. I scripted,
shot the film and then did editing with the help of the professional.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was keen to have a special screening of the film on
Keshav’s birthday and the documentary was screened on 5 November 2012 at
I.C.C.R, New Delhi. The first film on Keshav – Keshav Malik- A Look Back, is a
reflection on the life of the noted poet and art critic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He was a Fellow of the Lalit
Kala Akademi. He was an Art Critic of Hindustan Times and Times of India. The
film features, several eminent painters, poets, scholars, and their views on
his life. The film has been screened at various venues such as Kiran Nadar
Museum of Art, Sanskriti Kendra, Anandgram, New Delhi and at Kala Ghoda Art
Festival, Mumbai 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The other two documentaries Keshav Malik – Root, Branch,
Bloom and Keshav Malik – The Truth of Art were screened by India International
Centre and by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Delhi in 2013 and
in the Spring Festival, 2014 at Alliance Francaise de Delhi. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This film has been selected and is in the archive of
Documentary Edge Campus, a resource centre for documentary films, New Zealand,
to be used for educational and research purposes. This film was telecast by the
TV channel DD Bharati and Lok Sabha TV several times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My mind is flooded with hundreds of memories of Keshav. He
would often curate my shows in Delhi spending hours together, till late evening
and then rush back home to change his Kurta and come back to inaugurate the
same exhibition. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Keshav wrote most of my catalogues for my exhibitions. He would come to my studio to help me select the works for an
exhibition, then write about it, curate the show and also inaugurate it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He was a complete man who cared for the feelings of all. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Out
of his concern for women artist that it was more difficult for a woman to
sustain herself as an artist he would go out of his way to help and promote
them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Keshav often said that poetry is a way of life and merely
writing poetry is not enough. His poems were philosophical and abstract and
dealt with deep concern for humanity. He never compromised with his values in
life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During his 89 years on this earth he witnessed so much of
change happening in and around him, but he remained unaffected by the material
and mundane like a lotus in a dirty pond. He was a detached witness to the
affairs of this world and lived life on his own terms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He was modest and humble, sensitive to the needs of others
and yet he firmly stood by his values in life. The artist community who were
fortunate enough to meet and interact with him would cherish the memory of a
man who came on this earth to spread love and compassion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I salute the man and his spirit who had faith and hope in
humanity despite numerous upheavals in the society. While the documentary was
screened at IGNCA somebody asked him “Do you believe in God, have you seen
him?”, Keshav said “No, I have not, I have only seen human beings and I only
believe in them”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Time neither is, nor passes.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What is, is the world-making womb<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">where you are born, to die.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Born asleep, born a dream –<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">dreaming dreams without recall.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">These lines of his poem always remind me that we have
limited time on this earth and each moment should be lived with a sense of
purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Keshav served and guided the Indian art world for more than
six decades through his critical yet constructive writings. He was one of the
first persons I had met in the art world when I came to Delhi 17 years ago.
Keshav was a mentor, guide, and philosopher to me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I specially admired his compassion for young and budding
artists who came from all over India and flocked around him for advice and
help. He was generous to all artists who came to seek his advice. He always had
something good to write about each artist. He was a poet’s poet. I feel
enriched by the long association I had with him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">His passing away is a great national loss and has created a
void which cannot be filled ever. An era of art criticism has come to an end.
His contribution as an art critic and poet will be remembered by the Indian
Artist Community for times to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">10-02-2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why this, why now?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Meena Chopra, a frequent contributor to this blog, is curating an exhibition of paintings by Sangeeta Gupta, a visiting artist and poet from India. The opening reception was held on 19 November, and the exhibition is on till 29 November at Heritage Mississauga - The Grange 1921 Dundas St. W Mississauga ON L5K 1R2.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(The visit of the artist and poet </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/sangeetgupta&source=gmail&ust=1574850867026000&usg=AFQjCNGY187e8Pz0YKCLUxRoBCfl86hT8w" href="https://www.facebook.com/sangeetgupta" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;" target="_blank">Sangeeta Gupta</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> to Canada is co-sponsored by </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/INDIAN-COUNCIL-FOR-CULTURAL-RELATIONS-208099366064132/&source=gmail&ust=1574850867026000&usg=AFQjCNE0JOe2aLLPOKbGuyFILfkiiV8_IQ" href="https://www.facebook.com/INDIAN-COUNCIL-FOR-CULTURAL-RELATIONS-208099366064132/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;" target="_blank">INDIAN COUNCIL FOR CULTURAL RELATIONS</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> along with </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/CROSSCURRENTS.ARTSPAGE/&source=gmail&ust=1574850867026000&usg=AFQjCNF1eaRraO1RkJI_RRfsUAJdkRNGsQ" href="https://www.facebook.com/CROSSCURRENTS.ARTSPAGE/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;" target="_blank">CROSS CURRENTS - Indo canadian International Arts</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/HeritageMississauga/&source=gmail&ust=1574850867026000&usg=AFQjCNE6YTHF0cCVqKy_3Z0MYmNsES9SCw" href="https://www.facebook.com/HeritageMississauga/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;" target="_blank">Heritage Mississauga (Mississauga Heritage Foundation)</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">-Exhibition is curated by </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/meena.chopra.art/&source=gmail&ust=1574850867026000&usg=AFQjCNFZGXQImcQZ9RhL7_9-s045MkoxsQ" href="https://www.facebook.com/meena.chopra.art/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Meena Chopra - Artist, Author & Poet</a><span style="color: #222222;"> and </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/nain.lalji&source=gmail&ust=1574850867026000&usg=AFQjCNGqVzVd5pkCyLgbMwhaoGCaKAoYPQ" href="https://www.facebook.com/nain.lalji" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Nain Amyn- Lalji</a></span></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On 29 November 2019, Sangeeta Gupta will make a presentation on </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Life and works of Keshav Malik - a</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">n Indian celebrity poet, art and literary critic, art scholar, and curator</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">29th at 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm at The Grange</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">followed by an open mic session in collaboration with Courtney Park Writers' Group</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">About Keshav Mailk:<br /><br />Keshav Malik (5 November 1924 – 11 June 2014) was an Indian poet, art and literary critic, arts scholar, and curator. He remained art critic for the Hindustan Times (1960–1972) and The Times of India (1975–2000). He published eighteen volumes of poetry and edited six anthologies of English translations of Indian poetry.<br /><br />He was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, for his contribution to literature. In 2004, the Lalit Kala Akademi, India's National Academy of Art, made him a Fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi for lifetime contribution, which is its highest award).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Wikipedia: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FKeshav_Malik%253Ffbclid%253DIwAR10pjT0JBw-zJUw1Y_-o4k7w7Tzu2AGCBEibfFD1pU9xPpTRfiSulI1Rzg%26h%3DAT0u6WBdynrbdREJuUOUxyBKAPu1rNXgTyjiQtd9bW8buU2BhII6ZNUkHVW1ya9UVbzSBpGty77yVWFelRbPvjHPu9NDVYwhnSbJqUKV-UsvXNBkSq3fLRbABp68Pq4CCA&source=gmail&ust=1574850867026000&usg=AFQjCNHx6wY1mDe4G8_HeJIecSEFsKCb8g" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FKeshav_Malik%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR10pjT0JBw-zJUw1Y_-o4k7w7Tzu2AGCBEibfFD1pU9xPpTRfiSulI1Rzg&h=AT0u6WBdynrbdREJuUOUxyBKAPu1rNXgTyjiQtd9bW8buU2BhII6ZNUkHVW1ya9UVbzSBpGty77yVWFelRbPvjHPu9NDVYwhnSbJqUKV-UsvXNBkSq3fLRbABp68Pq4CCA" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'CROSS CURRENTS - Indo Canadian International Arts' believes in going 'BEYOND BOUNDARIES' both in 'thought and action', 'within and without'</span></div>
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Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-70883746487696154492019-11-24T19:30:00.000-05:002019-11-24T19:37:37.235-05:00Fall book launches<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">For
the last eleven years, I have not missed a single <a href="https://www.mawenzihouse.com/">Mawenzi House</a>’s fall launch event. It
used to be held at the Gladstone hotel till a couple of years ago and now, for
the last couple of years at the cozy, comfortable almost homely Centre for
Social Innovation at Bathurst. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">For
the last four decades, Mawenzi (earlier known as TSAR) has become the
authentic voice of multicultural Canada, by focusing on providing a platform to
authors from different ethnicities who have made Canada their home. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Whmv0YbQo5Q/Xdsha-suauI/AAAAAAAAFQY/ORl7VKz5DK4vmkwzy4zLWjZDLQSOzFzwgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Paper%2BLions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Whmv0YbQo5Q/Xdsha-suauI/AAAAAAAAFQY/ORl7VKz5DK4vmkwzy4zLWjZDLQSOzFzwgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Paper%2BLions.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Mawenzi
House has introduced me to many contemporary authors, some of whom have supported
me in different ways in my attempt to become an author. It has published some
of the best books that I’ve read in the last decade. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">An
illustrative (not exhaustive) list would include Chelva Kanaganayakam’s
translation of R. Cheran’s Tamil poems You Cannot Turn Away; Kwai-Yun Li’s The
Palm Leaf Fan and Other Stories; Safia Fazlul’s The Harem; Saima Hussain edited
The Muslimah Who Fell on Earth; Dawn Promislow’s Jewels and Other Stories; Ava
Homa’s Echoes from Other Land; Loren Edizel’s Adrift; Sheniz Janmohamed’s Bleeding
Light just to name a handful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Earlier
this month, at the fall launch, Mawenzi again unveiled some excellent titles. I
was at the launch and based on the readings by authors, I bought Lamees Al
Ethari’s Waiting for the Rains – An Iraqi Memoir and Sohan S. Koonar’s Paper
Lions (fiction). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Here’s
an extract from Al Ethari’s memoir:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KdwdvgwZW-U/XdshdQ2DRoI/AAAAAAAAFQc/Gb_cCqnoc6I1YEUKyQJlewyyftFRbZibQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Waiting%2Bfor%2Bthe%2BRain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KdwdvgwZW-U/XdshdQ2DRoI/AAAAAAAAFQc/Gb_cCqnoc6I1YEUKyQJlewyyftFRbZibQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Waiting%2Bfor%2Bthe%2BRain.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We knew that the Americans
intended to erase us; if they had wanted to remove Saddam Hussein, there were
less violent ways of taking him out. No one was safe. In the first Gulf War,
they had bombed Al-Amiriyah Shelter, which had housed hundreds of civilians,
mostly women and children. Father and husbands had dropped off their families
there, hoping they would have a better chance of surviving the air raids. Four
hundred and eight civilians died that night. Three missiles that hit the
shelter led to the doors locking from impact and imprisoning people within the
burning walls. I had seen images of the shelter and went to the annual memoriam
at the site; the remains of bodies were plastered on the walls of the shelter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Shock and Awe, as George W.
Bush called it, was exactly that. Everything was a target; we saw smoke rising
from different parts of the city, until the smoke was all we could see.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">You
may buy the books here: <a href="https://www.mawenzihouse.com/">Mawenzi House</a><br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "great vibes"; line-height: 150%;">bobobobobododododod<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br />Also,
in November, my friend Fraser Sutherland’s collection of poems Bad Habits (Mosaic
Press) was launched at the Yorkville Library. Fraser has published nearly 20
books – mostly collections of poems, but also a short story collection and a
number of nonfiction titles. He is great editor, who has contributed to turning
unreadable and badly structured writing into scintillating and compellingly
readable prose or poetry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4thq0xxFlS8/Xdsh7qDKdtI/AAAAAAAAFQo/_LgKoYJqnMM596y44ZcU4oOV5K8-11KAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Bad%2BHabits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1094" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4thq0xxFlS8/Xdsh7qDKdtI/AAAAAAAAFQo/_LgKoYJqnMM596y44ZcU4oOV5K8-11KAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Bad%2BHabits.jpg" width="218" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Bad
Habits has a section titled An Introduction to Fraser Sutherland, which has a
page-and-a-half of Fraser’s idiosyncratic observations that are pithy,
epigrammatic and memorable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Here’s a sample:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">“Poetry
can’t defeat ongoing ignorance, repetitive wrong-doing, physical deterioration
nor persona extinction. But to say a few meaningful words about being in the
world in the face of infinity and eternity – well, that’s something.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">“The
idea of poetry-writing as therapy is especially seductive; if you’re writing a
poem and it’s going well, there’s no better feeling in the world.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">“Somehow
a good writer has to work aslant to the existing order. For a writer to be
popular, to win prizes, to be feted by the media – those to me are grounds for
suspicion. If the trappings of public success, however welcome, began to
descend on me, I’d start to suspect myself.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">And
here’s a poem from the collection<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QMVitO0n23U/XdsgC1Qu5wI/AAAAAAAAFQM/XSPbuGEP4h0MPGlBSg8JZTu_Yi5GY0tMACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Presentation1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="363" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QMVitO0n23U/XdsgC1Qu5wI/AAAAAAAAFQM/XSPbuGEP4h0MPGlBSg8JZTu_Yi5GY0tMACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Presentation1.jpg" width="389" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">You may buy the book here: <a href="http://www.mosaic-press.com/product/bad-habits-poems/" target="_blank">Mosaic Press</a></span></div>
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Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-53307087979934349822019-11-24T15:19:00.001-05:002019-11-24T17:00:22.280-05:00Lullabies for Little Criminals - Heather O'Neill<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QJGMiQy6G4E/Xdrk2imKVlI/AAAAAAAAFP4/OnnuP_t2uN89mrnLTnfsJLOGpjQ6-rKngCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Heather%2BO%2527Neill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="580" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QJGMiQy6G4E/Xdrk2imKVlI/AAAAAAAAFP4/OnnuP_t2uN89mrnLTnfsJLOGpjQ6-rKngCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Heather%2BO%2527Neill.jpg" width="271" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">One of the perils of knowing little about contemporary
Canadian literature is that I have heard of too few Canadian authors and haven’t heard of too many remarkable ones. The ones that I have read are the masters or those that I have
come to personally in the last decade or heard about through friends. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">That leaves a huge gap that I
furtively try to fill every time I go to my local library at Weston. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A couple of months back, I picked up <a href="https://www.harpercollins.ca/author/cr-100079/heather-oneill/" target="_blank">Heather O’Neill</a>’s debut
novel <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Lullabies-Little-Criminals-Heather-ONeill/dp/0060875070" target="_blank">Lullabies for Little Criminals </a>(2006). It is a disturbing novel about a 12-year-old
girl – Baby – who is smart, sassy, confident, and a victim of utter neglect. A
motherless child whose father – Jules – is young enough to be her older brother, and perhaps therefore unable to do anything right in his life, leave alone raise a daughter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
novel depicts one year in Baby’s life (12 turning on 13) – a time when she is still a child but is
forced to become an adult. During that period, Jules and Baby move around
different apartments across Montreal’s seedy localities, populated by drug
addicts, drug pushers, mentally unstable women, pimps, and prostitutes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Lullabies for Little Criminals has no villains. Jules is someone who the reader would automatically sympathise with; he needs
help and is unable to look after himself. He has long ago lost the ability to distinguish
between real and imagined and prefers to be on the run rather than look after his
daughter. Similarly, Alphonse, the pimp, who pushes Baby into prostitution, is abusive no
doubt, but he is often reduced to a pathetic state, with no control either over
himself and his circumstances. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It would seem that Baby gradually loses the ability to decide
what is right and wrong, but in reality, she doesn’t really have a choice. Her
circumstances force her to abandon the life that she desires and knows that she
deserves – that of a normal child, who is good at her studies, scoring high in
her class, and one who would prefer to spend time with children her age indulging in innocent fun. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Instead,
she experiences a harrowing spiral of descent into doom from which it is
impossible to return.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">All through that desperate journey, Baby doesn’t ever stop
being hopeful that she will eventually find a mother, or someone who will be
like a mother. She looks in vain for this mother-like figure in the women she encounters,
whether it is the mother of the kids with whom she spends a few days, or the Russian
landlady or even the prostitute and the drug addicts with whom she traverses
the grimy nether world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The tenth anniversary edition of the novel also has a short
interview with O’Neill. The interview contextualises the debut novel. O'Neill is, as I later discovered, a renowned journalist, who produced the documentary <a href="http://www.helpusfindsuniltripathi.com/about.html" target="_blank">Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The novel
won many accolades and was nominated for many more. It is so lovingly crafted that
nearly all paragraphs end in epigrammatic sentences. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The phantasmagorical descriptions
of Baby’s mind when she is high on heroin flagrantly vibrant, flamboyant. It
reminded me of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000965/" target="_blank">Danny Boyle</a>’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117951/" target="_blank">Trainspotting</a>, which is based on <a href="http://www.irvinewelsh.net/" target="_blank">Irvine Welsh</a>’s
novel of the same name and depicts the life of down and out Edinburgh dudes hooked
on heroin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Reproduced below are some lines from the novel that I found
exceptionally noteworthy:</span></div>
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</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Being
judged by society makes you disregard it after a while.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Usually I
went around with so many ugly insecure things flying around in my head that
when a pretty thought came to me, it usually died a lonely death, afraid to come
out.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sometimes I
wish I was the only man left on the whole planet. And then every day all these
different women would come up to me and I’d have to give them a little love.
Just a little peck on the cheek or a flower or something. Enough to get them
through the day. That’s the way I was born and that’s the way I’ll die.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The real
first kiss is the one that tells you what it feels like to be an adult and
doesn’t let you be a child anymore. The first kiss is the one that you suffer
the consequences of. It was as if I had been playing Russian roulette and
finally got the cylinder with the bullet in it.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When you’re
young enough, you don’t know that you live in a cheap lousy apartment. A
cracked chair is nothing other than a chair. A dandelion growing out of a crack
in the sidewalk outside your front door is a garden. You could believe that a
song your parent was singing in the evening was the most tragic opera in the
world. It never occurs to you when you are very young to need something other
than what your parents have to offer to you.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">From the
way that people have always talked about your heart being broken, it sort of
seemed to be one-time thing. Mine seemed to break all the time.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I cut
through the parking lot, which was filled with men smoking cigarette butts. The
ones who were worse off had tangled hair and looked like Moses when he came
down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. From the distant looks on
their faces, they seemed experiencing a level of profundity that could kill an
ordinary citizen.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Photo credit: </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/photo/author/12676.Heather_O_Neill" style="text-indent: -18pt;">https://www.goodreads.com/photo/author/12676.Heather_O_Neill</a></i></span><br />
<br />
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</div>
<div style="text-indent: -24px;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-indent: -24px;">
</div>
</div>
Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-55417898896108010692019-11-09T15:22:00.001-05:002019-11-10T12:04:52.503-05:00Michael Ignatieff: The crisis of liberal constitutionalism - 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="215" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8b62rK4WthE" width="360"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">According to the 'civilised' west, democracy is the best form
of political governance and capitalism is the best form economic governance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Together, democracy and capitalism are supposed to ensure
that the will of the people is reflected in the election of governments. The
will of the people is also reflected in the economic policies that such
democratically elected governments pursue to ensure economic growth and
prosperity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That is the theory. In practice, of course, that isn’t how
either democracy or capitalism have ever worked. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Late capitalism is a term that has been frequently used to
describe the economic inequities that capitalism has succeeded in creating in societies
that have an abiding faith both in democracy and capitalism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Two recent films expose the ills of both democracy and
capitalism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5431890/" target="_blank">Officials Secrets</a> (2019) exposes the hypocrisy of democratic consensus in the way the United States of America and the United Kingdom – both pillars
of liberal democracy – lied, concealed facts and generally took the world for a
ride to justify the second invasion of Iraq (2003). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Based on the 2017 <a href="https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/pages/panama-papers-about-the-investigation/" target="_blank">Panama Papers</a> expose, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5865326/" target="_blank">Laundromat</a> (2019) dwells
into the nefarious operations of the offshore tax havens that give a legal
avenue to the rich to avoid (not evade) taxes. The film is a glimpse into the murky
world of offshore holdings, hidden financial dealings of fraudsters, drug
traffickers, billionaires, celebrities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All of these worthies were connected to Mosscak Fonseca, a Panama
law firm with offices in more than 35 locations globally, and one of the world’s
top creators of shell companies – the corporate structures used to hide
ownership of assets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Western democracies have a great deal to explain for their
falsification and outright fabrication of facts (about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq) to wage a war on Saddam Hussein
that resulted in tens of thousands of civilian deaths (check this: <a href="https://www.iraqbodycount.org/">Iraq Body Count</a>). <br /><br />Western capitalism
thrives on economic neo-colonialism, and questions are being raised about its
efficacy now only because rampant automation is causing widespread job losses
in western democracies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I frequently remember Winston Churchill when I'm bemused by western hypocrisy. Churchill, responsible for the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-16/churchill-was-more-villain-than-hero-in-britain-s-colonies">genocide
of Bengalis</a> in 1943, had famously said, “History will judge me kindly,
because I intend to write it myself.” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Western democracies, and especially their
leaders, often get away with murder and worse because they determine the contemporary
narrative of the world that becomes tomorrow’s history. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Therefore, while we roundly (and justifiably) condemn the
likes of Slobodan Milošević, we are unwilling to judge Bush Jr or Blair by the
same exacting standards. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Similarly, no institutional efforts are being made anywhere to
rein in the untrammeled run that technocracy has over global economics that is
resulting in unimaginable income inequities everywhere in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The world’s richest 1 percent, those with more than $1
million, own 45 percent of the world’s wealth. Adults with less than $10,000 in
wealth make up 64 percent of the world’s population but hold less than 2
percent of global wealth. The world’s wealthiest individuals, those owning over
$100,000 in assets, total less than 10 percent of the global population but own
84 percent of global wealth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In his lecture earlier this week at the Munk Centre, Michael
Ignatieff (Democracy versus Democracy: The crisis of liberal constitutionalism) spoke about the failure of liberal democracies to deliver on fundamental promises. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He spoke both the trust deficit (bordering on resentment) that masses living in democracies have developed in democratic institutions, and the economic subjugation
of the vast majority of the global population.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ignatieff spoke about the challenge that populist democracy
is posing to liberal democracies with specific reference to North America and Europe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The distinction between populism and liberalism is
populism defines democracy as rule of we the people, which is basically
majoritarianism, whereas liberal democracy tries to create a nuanced framework for democratic institutions to engage in interplay of </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">of checks and balances. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Liberal democracy, Ignatieff explained, “Is a system built
for conflict, for disagreement. The whole point of this system is that politicians
resent the power of the judges. The judges push you back to defend the empire
of law from the empire of politics, the media sits there and drives the politicians
crazy and I have the scars to prove it. And this conflictual system is the very
essence of any system that has any chance of protecting our liberties, as
individuals. And the legitimacy of this system is conditional and performative
at any moment in democratic life.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">According to Ignatieff, conflict is at the heart of liberal
democracies. “We may sit around a table over dinner and think this is not going
well. We’re at loggerheads. We’re fighting with each other. The Parliament is
standing up to the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister is riding roughshod over Parliament.
The media are driving everybody crazy. The judges are interfering too much. We will take sides in these institutional conflicts
that are built into the heart of democracy and at any given moment we will
think this system is losing its legitimacy, the conflict level that we are
having to live through here is just too high for our health. And our democracy
is at risk.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">People who experience the strengths of liberal democracy
such as freedom of choice often despair at its inherent conflict, Ignatieff
said, and then emphasized that a liberal democracy is, in fact, a “conflictual
system constantly in tension, constantly in crisis. And that it seems to me is
both its glory in its strength and its resilience.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Continued below</i></span></div>
Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8416276530404074519.post-17798342553271967792019-11-09T15:19:00.001-05:002019-11-10T12:04:18.536-05:00Michael Ignatieff: The crisis of liberal constitutionalism - 2 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Continued from the post above</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VLGoRPWIl5c/XccfOgsWy4I/AAAAAAAAFOQ/gjgHszgrP80lyEIPeLnRtu3BI9AYweIFgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Ignatieff-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="886" height="198" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VLGoRPWIl5c/XccfOgsWy4I/AAAAAAAAFOQ/gjgHszgrP80lyEIPeLnRtu3BI9AYweIFgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Ignatieff-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Citing the Brexit imbroglio, Ignatieff said, at present, liberal
democracy in Britain is at its best. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“A democracy is there to prevent a
society polarizing into enemies and keeping everybody in a debate in which they’re
merely adversaries. In the unwritten constitution of a democracy, there are no
enemies, only adversaries, and thus far, despite the polarization in Britain,
despite some of the bitterness, this it seems to me is exemplary example of
democracy. Not at its worst, but actually at its best. That’s an unpopular
thought. If I said that in a lecture in London, I might be laughed out of the
house, but I’m sticking with it. If you like democracy, you have to like its rough and tumble.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Talking about the Trump impeachment, Ignatieff again
emphasized that the liberal democratic system has ensured that when the
President of the United States stepped out of line, system has ensured that the
whistle blower has the constitutional protection to perform his / her duty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He said, “It illuminated with clarity what a liberal
democracy actually is, as an institutional system.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The President has a phone call with foreign leader and the President
says something which violates his constitutional oath. “What is interesting is
that they (those who think that Trump erred) then have recourse through
protected legislation to blow the whistle. They’re guaranteed confidentiality.
They’re guaranteed access to the Congress of the United States. The liberal
institutional system worked. It protected devoted civil servants, public
servants, gave them the right to go to the President of the United States and
say he just crossed the line in a phone call. If the president is impeached, it
will be because liberal democratic institutions did what they are supposed to
do.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ignatieff said democracy would be in crisis if Trump was impeached
but would refuse to step down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He emphasized that, “If you love liberal democracies stop
getting alarmed every time it has institutional conflict, because that is the
essence of a functioning liberal democracy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ignatieff turned his focus on the crisis in democracy with
regard to the increasingly fraught relationship between liberal democracy and
liberal professions. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Liberal professions are academics, lawyers, doctors,
journalists, and professional politicians. There is a deep association between these liberal professions and liberal
democracy. These liberal professions run liberal democracy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The lawyers and the judges run the legal system. The doctors
run another pillar of a liberal democracy, which is public health care. Journalists
run that entire thing called the free media, which is constitutive of liberal
democracy. And academics train democratic citizens but crucially, they credential
the entire elite that runs a liberal democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“And one of the things that the populist challenge is making
me anxious about is the erosion of trust in the population at large at the
status privilege and authority of the liberal professions that keep liberal
democracy going. And there is deep resentment towards the credential inequality
that the liberal professions have benefited from,” he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The liberal
professions in general, need to think about inequality. Thomas Piketty’s data
on income inequality is revealing – liberal professions have done
extraordinarily well from the new inequality that began to emerge from the
1970s onward. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He said that a definite linkage exists (but has rarely been
acknowledged) between inequality, the erosion of status, and the erosion of
trust towards liberal professions, and declining faith and confidence in
liberal democracy itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He said, “If you believe as I do that one of the glories of
a liberal democracy is a thing called the rule of law; but at present you go to
many communities across Canada and you ask, what is the rule of law mean to
you? People are likely to respond by saying: It means I have no access to justice. The lawyers are too expensive. The
judges won't listen. And my chances of ending up in the slammer pretty good. There
is a an enormous gulf between the high minded way in which in a university we
think about the rule of law, and the much crueler reality of what the rule of
law looks like in an ordinary Magistrates Court or criminal law court.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ignatieff explained that the legitimacy of liberal democracy
is performative. It’s won or lost every day in our courtrooms. It’s won or lost
every day when a lawyer says, ‘You can’t afford my fees’. It’s won or lost
every day when our legal aid systems don't work, it's won or lost every day in
which an Aboriginal comes out thinking I can't get a fair shake and this
goddamn system. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“These are the pressures on the performative legitimacy of
liberal democracy that we ought to take seriously. They relate to the eroding
trust that the general public has in credentialed liberal professions. And I
think that has a knock-on effect in terms of the faith that people have in
liberal democracy. It’s one of the reasons why people say I don't want liberal
democracy. What I want is to be ruled by ‘We the People’,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ignatieff concluded with an impassioned plea: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“I want the
doors to be open, so everybody can be put through the rigorous, relentless
training that makes great universities great. I don't want to compromise any of
that. But we got to make sure the doors are open. We got to make sure that
everybody can get the kind of chance that my father Mike, and I got through
being in these places. And I think we want as teachers to be constantly
thinking about the professional ethics that we teach in the liberal
professionals. If you’re in a liberal profession, you have obligations, their
fiduciary obligations, their obligations of competence, their obligations of
good advice, their obligations of academic excellence, but they’re also
obligations of service and if we lose that we may pay a price in terms of the
legitimacy of liberal democracy itself that we can barely see.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Mayank Bhatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00971571594141145938noreply@blogger.com0