Hojoborolo

Autumn of Revolutions

2011-02-10T09:37:00.001-08:00

When the fire first sparked as Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia one could hardly forecast the speed at which it will sweep across from the Atlantic shore to the Gulf and from Amman to Khartoum. The roar has shifted to Egypt in the legendary Tahrir Square, some have sacrificed there life and thousands have been killed by the police and other security forces. However the revolutions stand strong and seems like after Ben Ali , Mubarak is well on his exit mode . There is strong resolve and ultimate passion involved with the concept of freedom - when adrenaline is on high and people can offer the ultimate sacrifice to be free .

However to me it seems some people do need to take a back seat from all the blood roaring and think what happens after , will the political vacuum be filled by some one worthy , how will the substitute deal with unemployment, inflation and freedom of speech . It some how hits really close to home when after a massive anti -Ershad movement we burdened ourselves with two imbecile women and landed the country in between a rock and a hard place. Democracy and prosperity is still not in the driving seat. If Omar Suleiman is taking over will it not likely be the same product with a different face . Post Mubarak, will the country take the shape of Post Saddam Iraq, is perhaps the most plaguing question .

As I write this, Egypt and Tahrir Square is closely resembling the atmosphere of a rock concert just before the band comes on stage .The youth is waiting with bated breath for a new Egypt to be born . Even though there are loads thats yet to be resolved and yet to see how many more countries follow suit after Tunisia and Egypt .. But History is being made , and one cant help but feel lucky to have witnessed such a revolution in ones life time.

Pickles Musings

2011-01-06T08:55:00.000-08:00

My thoughts are jumbled

For the past month and a half there seems be a myriad of thoughts crowding my mind.

Reflections

New ideas

Bad thoughts ..

I need to separate them and come to terms with them, otherwise this restless crowding might just smother me . May be I think to much but I cling to Socrates "The unexamined life is not worth living."

Here is what is going through my mind ( i will not be offended at all if some one thinks me to be the whining DQ) but i know thinking through has always been my salvation

Meditation/ clarity/composure/ Tagore/standing fast on the narrow causeway/ death/ culture/phobia/ intolerance/being myself/patriotism/ loveless future/self development/grudges/forgiveness/patience.

You know nothing big just some vary random yet relevant issues playing hide and seek in my head .

Eventually clarity will come and with clarity my thoughts will resemble less of a scrabble board.But for now. It’s just me and my jumbled thoughts praying for untangling. Or that hidden somewhere in the mess, I will find clarity and wisdom and truth. And praying even harder that in the mystery there is peace.

In the name of Faith

2010-10-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

I was going through Front line's latest edition and this article kind of summarized what I was trying to put in words regarding the whole Babri Masjid verdict issue. Even though the article does not touch on a lot of factors , however effectively sums up the verdict reactions.

COVER STORY

In the name of faith

VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN
in Lucknow and Ayodhya

The verdict in the Ayodhya title suit faces criticism for banking more on faith and belief than on historical evidence.

SUBIR ROY

A file picture of the Babri Masjid.

RIGHT through the run-up to the announcement of the verdict by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court in the six-decade-old title suit on the disputed land in Ayodhya on which the Babri Masjid once stood, there was little doubt that the judgment would be a historic one. It was widely expected to have a lasting impact on Indian society, especially in terms of its politics and judiciary. But when the actual pronouncement came on September 30 – through three separate judgments from Justices Dharam Veer Sharma, Sudhir Agarwal and Sibghat Ullah Khan, after a six-day delay resulting from an intervention by the Supreme Court – such expectations were belied, especially on account of the manifold dimensions of the verdict. While its social and political effects were indeed evident across the country, its most striking impact was on the structure of established judicial practice.

Debates in several forums pointed out that the tools of jurisprudence employed by the judges in formulating the verdict marked a significant departure from the usual structure of judicial practices. Central to this perception is the use of faith and belief as vital factors influencing the judgments, especially on a question relating to a title suit in a property dispute. These two amorphous categories clearly got precedence in the judgments over other material factors such as title deeds. This departure from accepted norms and procedures of judicial practice is expected to have wide-ranging social and political consequences.

In brief, the majority verdict from the three judgments is as follows: That the disputed land in Ayodhya be divided into three equal parts among the parties to the dispute, namely, Ram Lalla (Infant Ram), represented by his Sakha (or close friend) Triloki Nath Pandey; the Nirmohi Akhara, which has staked its claim to the property since 1885 and ran a place of worship on the premises; and the Sunni Central Waqf Board, which claimed to have had possession of the disputed structure and the land around it since the 16th century.

While putting forward this three-way division, the verdict also held that the place under the central dome of the demolished Babri Masjid is the birthplace of Ram as per the faith and belief of Hindus and hence should belong to Hindus as represented by Pandey. A makeshift temple of Ram has existed there since December 6, 1992, the day the Babri Masjid was demolished.

Justice Sharma, who accepted and decreed the suit made on behalf of Ram Lalla, completely held, along with the certification of the place under the central dome of the masjid as the birthplace of Ram, that “place of birth is a juristic person and is a deity”. “It is personified as the spirit of divine worshipped as birthplace of Lord Rama as a child. Spirit of divine ever remains present everywhere at all times for anyone to invoke at any shape or form in accordance with his own aspirations and it can be shapeless and formless also.” The other two judges, too, agreed that Ram was a juristic person and possession entitled him to hold the title. Thus, in principle, there was unanimity on Ram holding joint possession and, hence, the title.

Justice Agarwal, who wrote the lengthiest judgment, running into 21 volumes and more than 5,000 pages, quoted from the Rig Veda: “During the Dissolution, there was neither existence nor non-existence, and at that time neither Lok (world) was there nor was anything beyond the space. What encompassed all at that time? Where was the abode and of whom? What was the unfathomable and deep water?.... None knows and none can tell as to from where and how the Creation took place, because even the scholars or those having foresight, were born after the Creation. Hence, none knows the source of this Creation.”

After firmly affixing legality to faith and belief, the majority verdict also held that the disputed structure was constructed by Babar. Justice Sharma went one step further and said it was built against the tenets of Islam and could not have the character of a mosque.

PTI

JUSTICES DHARAM VEER Sharma, Sibghat Ullah Khan and Sudhir Agarwal who comprised the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court that delivered the verdict in the case on the Ayodhya title suit on September 30.

The verdict also referred to a controversial report of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) stating that a massive Hindu religious structure existed earlier at the spot of the masjid. The verdict, however, accepted that the idols were placed under the middle dome of the disputed structure on the night of December 22-23, 1949.

The immediate political impact of the verdict imparting legality to faith and belief and anointing the place where the central dome of the Babri Masjid stood is all too evident. It has come as a shot in the arm for the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS)-led Sangh Parivar, of which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the principal opposition party in the country, is a part. Though the constituents of the Sangh Parivar have been, by and large, moderate in their reactions, the Hindutva combine clearly perceives it as landmark event that has considerably dulled, if not negated, the stigma of the demolition of the Babri Masjid it undertook in December 1992.

The Congress, which leads the ruling coalition at the Centre, while welcoming the judgment, asserted that the demolition of the Babri Masjid was a criminal act. Home Minister P. Chidambaram was given the responsibility of doing this even as his Ministry successfully ensured the maintenance of law and order across the country.

The mood of elation within the Sangh Parivar was initially muted but got increasingly strident as the days passed. A reflection of this is available in the statements of Sangh Parivar leaders. “In any case the Ram Janmabhoomi movement has been vindicated through the judgment. The need for building a Ram temple has been accepted at the higher levels of the judiciary and through it in the nation as a whole,” said Acharya Giriraj Kishore, international vice-president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which was the sword arm of the Sangh Parivar during the Ayodhya agitation.

Despite such political dimensions, the verdict evoked appreciation from several quarters for presenting what was seen as the best possible formula to solve the long-standing dispute. Former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee described the verdict as one marked by “judicial statesmanship”. The votaries of the “best possible formula in the given circumstances” also made a case for immediate intervention of the Central government to initiate negotiations among the three parties to arrive at an out-of-court settlement.

Talking to Frontline, Indra Bhushan Singh, advocate of the Lucknow High Court and long-term observer of the politics over Ayodhya, seconded the idea of the Central government intervening for a negotiated settlement. “What the High Court has done is to suggest building of a wall of harmony in Ayodhya, with inscriptions of Lord Ram on the one side and of Allah on the other. It is possible in present-day India to do it if the powers that be take the right initiatives,” he said.

The BJP, too, in keeping with the moderate role it has chosen to play within the Sangh Parivar, responded on similar lines. The party welcomed the verdict and stated: “Insofar as the judgment upholds the right of Hindus to construct a temple at the Garbh-Grih (sanctum sanctorum), it is a significant step forward towards the construction of a grand temple at the birthplace of Lord Rama.”

THE HINDU ARCHIVES

A VIEW OF the makeshift temple at the site of the Masjid in 1992.

The opinion of the ASI and other expert agencies engaged by it was that there were remains of a Hindu religious structure where the disputed structure stood. The BJP believes that this verdict opens “a new chapter for national integration and a new era for inter-community relations”. Party leaders such as Ravi Shankar Prasad added that this new chapter could be made possible through the intervention of the Central government.

However, the reactions from parties involved in the dispute as well as some of their associate organisations did not raise much hope about such intervention. All the three parties in the dispute decided to appeal in the Supreme Court against the verdict. The Sunni Central Waqf Board and its associate, the Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC), which have had the biggest reversal on account of the verdict's acceptance of “the birthplace of Lord Ram”, have already initiated moves to go in appeal.

The Nirmohi Akhara is planning the same. Talking to Frontline from Ayodhya, Raja Ramachandra Acharya pointed out that the court verdict did not accord enough land for the construction of a proper temple for Ram. “They have suggested three-way divisions of a mere 1,500 square yards of land. How can we build a bhavya mandir (majestic temple) in that much land?” he asked. The VHP, too, made a similar statement. Its international general secretary Pravin Togadia reiterated the Hindutva organisation's long-standing position that there could be no mosque in the area that extended up to the chaudhakosi parikrama. This means no mosque can be built in an approximately 10-kilometre radius of the disputed site.

Nritya Gopal Das, president of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas Samiti, told Frontline that while his organisation welcomed the verdict, it would go to the Supreme Court to get the one-third part of the land given to the Sunni Central Waqf Board.

Ground-level reactions from the twin cities of Ayodhya and Faizabad are overwhelmingly sceptical about the three-way division of the site. Many residents belonging to Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities were unanimous that the division and the subsequent building of a temple and a mosque in close proximity to each other was a sure-fire recipe for conflict.

“The effort of the judges to go beyond law and bring about something close to a negotiated settlement has little chance of working. In fact, it will complicate matters,” said Khaliq Ahmed Khan, a resident of Faizabad. In Ayodhya, Ram Prakash Gupta, a shopkeeper, aired the same view: “They could have decided one way or the other. This tightrope walk is bound to create permanent tension once the construction actually begins.”

It is evident that implementing the judgment or even using it as an instrument for negotiations is easier said than done. The use of faith and belief as legal categories is bound to be debated in great detail in the coming days and to face intensive critical assessment. The criticism of the same in the days immediately following the judgment was by and large confined to jurists and legal observers.

Among political parties, the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (S.P.) questioned the logic of the High Court and said legal verdicts should be adopted on the basis of the Constitution and not on the basis of faith and belief. He went on to say that the judgment was tantamount to cheating Muslims of their rights. The S.P. president could well have his eyes set on reclaiming the Muslim vote bank that he seems to be losing to the Congress, but the fact remains that he has made a point that has wide credence among large sections of the judiciary.

The social and political ramifications of the verdict are bound to result in trying times for the Congress at the Centre. For it is only a matter of time before the more aggressive sections of the Sangh Parivar relaunch their agitation for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. The verdict has given these organisations a new weapon and a new energy. On the other hand, there is also the possibility of some sections of Muslims getting more and more involved in militant activities in response to a verdict that many feel denied the community its just rights.

The saving grace has been the sober and peaceful reaction from large sections of the community. But informed sources in intelligence agencies in Uttar Pradesh said that they were already worried that sleeping terrorist modules of jehadist groups in the State would use the climate created by the judgment to make a few strikes.

Clearly, the verdict has not done much to mitigate the Ayodhya imbroglio. On the contrary, the bizarre use of faith and belief as legal categories and the consequences thereof may actually add to the muddle.

Shoroter Chinta ..

2010-10-12T12:51:00.014-07:00

It’s that time of the year.

Jostling amidst insane crowds. Craning necks trying to catch a glimpse of the protima . Getting my feet trampled by 200 lb mashima from Deywanji Pukur part. Having my purse worked over by the pickpocket expecting his puja bonus. Consuming hawai mithai and kotkoti god knos made of what. Being washed in the bleary-eyed punch-drunkenness that comes not from good old bubbly but from the positive energy that pervades the air.

Not for me not any more settled across the Atlantic in Land of the Ehz!! things are very different. Durga Pujo is now a social event, something that no longer knots the stomach in expectation, something that no longer quickens the heart. It is just yet another diversion on an autumn weekend (Lord Rama may have done akal bodhon but the NRBs go one step further—”weekend bodhon” when you bring out that panjabi and get into your Honda Civic, consult Mapquest and drive to the venue (usually a temple or a school rented out for the purpose).Once there you nod your head, fold your palms and smile vacantly at assorted strangers, do a few “stop and chat”s, take a group shot in front of the protima to be sent back home (“What did you do during Puja?”), stand in the line for the food and then drive back, stop at Metro to pick up milk, bread and salami slices for Monday lunch and sink down in front of the TV :P:P .

Of course this is just my experience. I am sure many people thoroughly enjoy the whole rigmarole of the NRB Durgapuja, especially the Bangali Association types, the “organizer”s who bark the orders and the “performers” who put on the programs and the “editor” s who compile the Puja brochure.It’s just that I am not one of them.Not that I don’t enjoy anything. Far from it.

For instance there is the unalloyed joy I derive from reading the “supposedly intellectual” Bangla “poems” (my sure shot formula for enjoying those lines of airy nonsense is to do the old Jadavpur edit i.e. inserting rhyming swear words every third word. Trust me it gives a whole new meaning for even the most moronic juxtaposition of words). Then there is the sheer assault on sensibilities otherwise known as “singing by local talent”, an euphemism for the wife/daughter of one of the Pujo’s chief patrons given the privilege of hogging the mic before the “guest artists” come on to the stage. Not to forget the vicarious pleasure of watching energetic Bangali bhodrolok and bhodromohila trying to be “Punjabi” hip by dancing in a ring-a-ring-a roses pocket full of poses style :S:S

But all this gets boring after a few minutes as I sit on a chair surrounded by other people, whom I just got introduced to (but who all know each other quite well). I hear snippets of conversation as the men discuss mortgage refinance rates, proposed immigration legislation, PR retrogression, spelling bees and IRA accounts. Totally out of it, I overhear scraps of female spousal conversation—animated discussions of mother-in-law, house decorations, saris and jewelery, where in Tdot do you get the best Pabda fish and why their kids just cannot speak a word of Bangla.

To break the tedium, I look desultorily over the room—–I see kids running around and harried fathers running after them while some of the other born-in-the-Ehlands stand in front of a table and enjoy a typically Bengali meal of chicken pizza and coke , brought especially for those kids who just cannot eat Bangali food (Jaano to amar cheleta just cannot eat any bhaat babaah….how so naughty. He wants only peeja and burgher :P).

And around this time, my mind starts wandering blotting out the surroundings as I get transported to another place, another time. Of that Puja where a friend got lost from our group of 8 and announced on the public address system that his 7 friends are lost in the Dhakeshwari Bari Mondop (yes such was his self-confidence that he was convinced that it was not he who was lost but the seven other people who were with him). And of that time when another friend was accosted by an irate father for staring at his daughter and his fumbled attempt at conciliation consisted of saying” What is the problem uncle? This is Puja. You are here to look. I am here to look. Let us both look.”:P:P And this other Puja where I overindulged on fuchka , chinir khelna and batasha and was bedridden for the next 3 days .

My reverie is interrupted by a Pizza-chomping kid running into me, excusing himself with a quick “Sorry ” as he keeps hopping about. Giving him a benign avuncular smile I realize I have been engaging in the stereotypical nostalgia for ‘good old times’, the kind typically engaged in by the “uncle” types, those whom we used to keep at arm’s length many years ago, the ones who while they rail at the world changing refuse to recognize the fact that they themselves have changed.

Yes yes I know.But surely you will accept that I am allowed this indulgence.

Because after all it’s that time of the year – Durga Puja

Amar janla diye ektu khani akash dekha jai..

2009-06-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

Amar janla diye ektu khani akash dekha jai ..ektu borsha ektu grishmo ektu khai sheet..shei ektu khani chouko chobi ankre dhore rakhi .. amar janla diye amar prithibi.. .

There are times I wonder why does imagination seems to be the exclusive property of artists, musicians or philosophers. Why we, the common people are incapable of letting our mind free and flighty, why we cannot appreciate or conceive the beauty of imagination. Is it our social and educational system which increasingly values and reinforces only those disciplines that earn a higher rate of income or the intensive technological developments such as PS3 and X boxes which cripples our imagination at infancy or is it just the world around us - where innumerable wars, torture regimes, rigid religious fundamentals have crippled our mind to percieve beauty in all its natural forms.

Today when the clouds are voicing their thoughts and the rain is purifying all our sins. I feel the drops of diamonds and I imagine- soaring the heights of the sky , exploring the depth of the musky earth and drifting way in the tides of Nereid's.For after all , all that you imagine is all that there is................

Fare well to Ustad Ali Akbar Khan

2009-06-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

As you listen to the tunes of the maestro,raag bhairavi bhatiyar seems to seep through your soul.Music of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan churns emotions that may have been long forgotten even by you.

I cannot imagine the extent of loss that his absence will bring to the world of Indian classical music. Descendant from the family of the Tansen, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, also known as Khanshahib, was on a league of his own. Guitarist Carlos Santana once said that a single note of Khan’s sarod "goes right to my heart," while classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin - who prompted Mr. Khan to first visit the United States in 1955 - once called the sarodist "the greatest musician in the world."

Few knows and few remembers that this musical genius is a son of the land of Bengal, precisely from Shibpur Commilla. It leaves me sad that his music and his contribution has been so marginalized in Bangladesh. And now that he leaves us and makes his way to the neverland may his soul rest in peace and may he live within us through his immortal tunes.