No Bhajji, No Match-A complete Miss-Match

I was going to attend a discussion on ‘democracy’ in the American Centre, where I was one of the invitee, as a student. I saw a banner hanging near the Pragati Maidan- “No Bhajji, No Match”.
As the auto was creeping towards the kasturba Marg, a month old drama was flashing in my memory. The incident that took place on the Sydney Cricket Ground, on roads all over India, and more so on Indian ‘News’ channels. Yes, I m talking about the Sydney Test Match between India and Australia, which unfortunately would now be remembered for all the wrong reasons- poor umpiring, sledging; despite some good show of cricket by Sachin, Sourav, and Kumble. Symonds abused Harbhajan (our dear poor innocent Bhajji!!!). Bhajji hurled back “Big Monkey”; which was latter changed to “Mother fucker” in the “Special Court”. Media, especially the electronic media took great pride in informing the “informed and awakened” citizens that Our Bhajji is innocent and Un-racist. Obviously the poor guy only called Symonds a “mother fucker” and not a “monkey”. It was also a personal “Victory” for all media houses, for it was due to their active campaign that the “three match ban” from Bhajji was ultimately lifted and “let go with only certain amount of fine”.
I am a proud citizen of this country, but the “Great Indian Tamasha” that happened between the “Monkey” business and the “fucking” affair was embarrassing and shameful to me at least, if not anyone else. I am in no way suggesting that what Mr. Bucknor did as right, or the behaviour of Ponting, Clarke or Symonds were very appropriate. But all I am saying is that the way we Indians react to certain things is laughable. No doubt India produced some great social thinkers and men, who did opposed caste-division, class-division, etc. But does that make us all Indians “naive”? The rigid caste-system exists only in India. One has if ever opened a ‘Matrimonial’ section; he must have noticed that everyone wants a “fair, beautiful” spouse. The very first requirement is being “fair”-the rest is considerable. What is it if not racism-a kind of racism which is deep-embedded in our ‘social-psyche’?
Initially girls only, it seemed, wanted to meet the required demands of their counterparts; and so we had an entire range of beauty products, from fair and lovely to Shehnaz Hussain’s Herbal products.
Some even claimed of purely Ayurvedic formulae. (I wonder why Indians are still dark skinned!!!) The self-conscious males are too now gearing up to be fair and handsome.
Forget these, I have many friends in our University, who like me are not themselves the “fairest” of creatures. But they look down upon South-Indians, merely because they are not “our-types” that they are darker and speak different language. And, what about the Chinkis- our cousins from the North-eastern states? Whether they belong to Assam or to Manipur, they are all Chinkis for us. And the way we pronounce Gora and Gori, the very tone; isn’t it derogatory? And has one ever heared the commoners speaking on roads of our dilwalon ki Dilli, or in the interiors of western U.P., and the conductor of our “lovely” Blue-line buses, or for that matter rowdies in the streets of Chennai? They all have their set of colloquial-slang, which have become quite a norm in that part. Hindi or other versions of mother/sister ****** can be heard even in our campuses when there is some brawl.
And all these continue without any eyebrows being raised. But the day Shilpa Shetty self proclaims herself as a cultural-ambassador of India and accuses her colleagues of a reality show of racism entire country (read the media) boils up. One is not really concerned about poverty, illiteracy, falling ratio of females, rapes, domestic violence. One just has to respond to every media-gimmick. In a country which proudly declares guests as gods- Atithi Devo bhava, foreign tourists (mostly goris) are raped in various parts of the country.
In the backdrop of all these, the Sydney Test has labelled the gentleman’s game of cricket with racism charges. Well, I don’t see much wrong in that though. I mean, when one hardly come across a gentleman in that gentle sense of the term, why expect our poor cricketers to behave in sober manner all the time. Let’s accept the fact cricket is no more just a sport. It has become a profession. And all is fair in love, war and work.
Anyways, let’s look at the Bhajji case for now. Whether Clarke or Bhajji said those words or not, or whether Symonds actually instigated him is a different matter. One can not deny that be it football, or cricket, or any sport, one can not expect sportsmen to behave and act in the manners our forefathers did. Do we behave in similar fashion? Why expect something that we ourselves fail to comply with?
What is laughable though is the behaviour of the “media”. They all have one single agenda-TRP. And so while they may leave out important issues they are quite willing to show a Vishesh on any trivial matter that they are sure would attract some audience. Obviously the audience, the citizens too are to be blamed for this. But at least we expect better treatment from the so called “sophisticated, educated” editors, and the fourth pillar of democracy- Media.

BCCI was in a mess, as encouraged by the media, the people has made the Bhajji issue a matter of pride. And when you have a shrewd politician like Mr. Pawar at the helm, one can only expect poltics, political statements (and some close door diplomacy as well). And so there were calls like- “Tour is over, if Harbhajan is not freed of all charges”. The issue was ultimately resolved after compromises between ACB and BCCI, initiated by ICC. And what all happened after it was a different ball game- and some of our board members are from the best lot of the country, cutting across party lines.
But do we ever think that such outrageous behaviour on every little matter make us the laughing stock??? We seriously need to introspect before we raise fingers on anyone. I remember a moral science story, which ended with the moral that before raising finger on anyone see that other three fingers are pointing towards you only.
Activism, whether by media, court or by citizens of the country, is commendable. But it should be ‘positive’ activism, and not directed towards some menial end. Else what happens generally is people seem confused, and ignore some important issues, while highlight and fight for trivial matters.

Inhman Rights

“Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all the members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”, Preamble, UDHR.
Rights that a person gets simply because he or she is a human being are termed as ‘human rights’. These include civil, political, social, economic, social, environmental rights. As most of these rights are given by the ‘State’, they exercise a special ethical (or unethical) right of terminating any of or all of these rights. Petty political, diplomatic and economic interests drive most States and the missionary of states to abuse and misuse their powers flex them according to their whims and desires. The frequent abuse of human rights in most states has led to a new system of “In-human Rights”, rights which are sole authority of few states or of handful of people.
We often hear of gross human right violations in Kashmir, Communist China, Palestine, Pakistan, North-east Indian states. But have we ever pondered over the issue? Do we even know what it means to suffer? Well here are some eye-openers….

For Angammal and her husband Guruviah, the nightmare began when they were accused of receiving stolen property and arrested. They denied all knowledge. Their interrogation began the following day. What followed were a systematic beating, sexual abuse and humiliation. They were stripped naked, hung from the roof and hit with bamboo sticks. They were forced to stimulate intercourse in front baying Policemen.

Mr G M Lone, a journalist from Kangan Kashmir, made a statement that he was warned by the local officer that he will be killed if he continued to report atrocities in that area. This warning was published in all Kashmir newspapers. Two days later he was killed along with 7 year-old son. Willaim A Orme, Jr Executive director of CPJ (Committee for protection of Journalists), made a representation to Narasima Rao, then PM of India. "CPJ views slaying of Mr. Lone and his son is a flagrant violations of the right to seek, receive and impart information, regardless of frontiers, guaranteed by article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We want judicial investigation into the case." Copies went to all forums of the world. India stalled any response.

Adel Hamad was taken at gunpoint from his home in Pakistan by US and Pakistani agents in July 2002. He was held in Pakistani prison for months before being transferred to US detention at Bagram in Afghanistan and then at Guantanamo. He had worked as an administrative director at a hospital in Afghanistan, which US authorities claimed had links to terrorist organisations. Adel denies knowing anything about these alleged links. Despite apparently having been cleared for transfer or release from the base in December 2005, Adel is still behind bars suffering physical and mental torture every second.
The sufferings of prisoners kept in Guantanamo without trial is so horrendous that about 145 representatives of the House of Representatives wrote in a letter to President Bush, “Guantanamo Bay has become a liability in the broader global war on terror, as allegations of torture, the indefinite detention of innocent men, and international objections to the treatment…..Its continued operation also threatens the safety of US citizens and military personnel detained abroad.”
I gave just three instances. That does not mean that the rest of the world is at peace. The kind of human right violations that take place everyday all over the place would make the memories of even super computers crash and hundreds of books of the size of this magazine would fall short in registering all the cases.
But is there no end to these gross violations of human rights, which are natural rights and perhaps divine too? The irony of fate is that countries which are most vocal of human rights top the list in violations as well. Pakistan talks human right violations in Kashmir, but ignores the same in Baluchistan, NWFP. America speaks of it around the world and exploits the same principles wherever it suits them. This reminds me of George Orwell, who once remarked “A humanitarian is always a hypocrite.” I also remember a sher (couplet) in Urdu which in English would translate to:
“My assassin is himself the Judge
Justice is uncalled for……”

George Barnad Shaw rightly remarked “only on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge, virtue and abiding love.”
Am I sounding too pessimist? Well I am not. But I am only aghast seeing the situations around the world. But there is still hope, a silver line; and the only way to achieve it is, in john Comenius words “Let us have but one end in view, the welfare of humanity; and let us put aside all selfishness in consideration of language, nationality, or religion.”

Pawar ka Power

Politics is often regarded as the “game of power”. But talk of cricket, cricket in India, BCCI, and one name that immediately comes to our mind is of Mr. Pawar. The gentleman’s game is not just confined to the game of power but has actually become the Pawar-game, at least in India.Its not that the BCCI was an Utopia and Pawar and his colleagues corrupted the place. Politics and cricket, like everything, at least in India. We often heard of regionalism, favouritism, etc. But after Mr pawar came to the helm of the Governing body, Indian cricket and controversies just do not seem to die off. He first tried to clear his ground, by literally kicking Jagmohan Dalmiya and his men from BCCI, it affiliate CAB (Cricket Associations of Bengal) and from other states boards.Then there was Guru Greg issue and the debacle in the World Cup.The most recent one is,however, the most interesting and at the same time most controversial, and shows his and his men’s hardheadedness.

Subhas Chandra owned Essel group first wanted the telecast rights from the BCCI, but the talks failed. Subhas has by then already launched a sports channel. So the group then intended to start a 20twenty format League in India, on the lines of England Inter-County 20twenty Tournament. But when the talks between BCCI and Essel group again failed, the Group announced about parallel league, called ICL or International Cricket. This was a direct challenge to Pawar and his commardes, and they labelled it as a rebel league and also announced that any player or state board, who associate themselves with the rebel league, would be barred from playing for India or any of its affiliate teem.

BCCI suffered when some former players, like Kapil Dev, More, Madan Lal and about 50 odd domestic players and many international players signed with the ICL. The supreme cricket authority again suffered when Delhi High Court ruled out that even if a cricketer is palying for ICL, he would not lose his job or pensions, if any.Some people like Lalu Prasad, Subhas Chakroverty are also now supporting the rebellious body, at least in words. It seems Pawar Empire is cracking and the growing discontent against BCCI is taking a shape and now their stands a body which can challenge its dictatorial authority.

(Originally written on 28 Aug, 20070

LEFT SHOULD TRY TO GET A LITTLE "RIGHT"

Hartals, strikes, Dharnas, resentment, obstructions, etc have all become synonymous with the Communist parties in India. Even when they did not matter to the health of the Government, they tried all their might to make Government listen to them. But not many people were bothered about 50 odd members in the House. Their oppositions to almost all decisions pertaining to economic affairs and reforms is world known.And that is understandable, given that their theory about life and economy is averse to the general opinion, and which sounds quite good and seems excellent on paper. But all these are fantastic and have virtually little practicality in reality. No, I am not saying that that Marxist policies have no relevance and that they are all gibberish. But all I am saying IS that any policy, whether capitalist, or Leftist cannot be blindly followed and that they need to be adopted and evolved with the environment, in which its thriving, for its proper survival, lest it perishes with time.
When former USSR or China or any other country adopted communism or socialism, they just did not blindly followed Hegel or Marx. But they applied the basic principles of those great men and produced their own specific versions. We thus have Leninism, Maoism, etc. Again none of the communist countrIESjust stayed in History and followed word by word what their forefathers had said.Take China for example, from Mao to Deng Xiaping to Wen Jiabo, the Chinese policies have never remained static, but always evolved with times and needs.

When it comes to Indian Communists, most of them appear to be great scholastics of Communist Manifesto, but very few talk about the practicality and a kind of socialism that is conducive to the Indian subcontinent.
So we may have pioneers of Communism in India S.A. Dange or Mujaffar Ahmed; or among contemporaires like, Jyoti Basu, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Buddhadev or Prakash Karat. But none could talk of a pan Indian form of Communism.

The current deadlock over Nuclear issue is just an example of ignorance of the Left, when entire country seems to be with the Government, as recent opinion polls suggest.Its high time that the Left Gurus try to get their basics correct and come a little right to their age old stand.

(Originally written on 27 Aug, 2007)

Freedom to expressions

“Commit no nuisance here” and the place stinks to the limit of compelling one to vomit. Dirty spots on walls and staircases, made by guthkas and spits, and a small sign board faintly reads “Do not spit here”. Well, why should one really care in a free and democratic country? We are a free nation and the Constitution gives the right to express ourselves. The population of the country is increasing at the speed of light, but who is concerned? What is a freedom, if we are not free to even bare as many children as we want???

One would think that I am trying to mingle a very serious issue of ‘freedom’ with trivial things like spit and nuisance. But then this what freedom means to most, not only in India, but everywhere. Freedom obviously implies freedom to expressions, freedom to exist, and freedom to self conscience. As Albert Einstein remarked “Follow your conscience even if it is against the state”. But no freedom is absolute and in Mills words “my freedom to move my hand ceases where the nose of another person begins”. Right we are free to express ourselves, but it doesn’t mean that we start abusing someone we loathe or because we are against a particular philosophy. One has no right to insult or hurt others on the pretext of democracy and freedom. More than the freedom it’s the license that we want. As Milton said “None can love freedom heartily but good men; the rest love not the freedom, but the license”. And most of us use this license to spit fire and hatred. In expressions of the people we see the inherent psyche of the civilizations, the undercurrent. The Danish cartoon controversy that began three years back still does not seem to end and the reason precisely being that those who regard themselves the “sole torchbearers” of freedom, democracy and rationality are not willing to, or never wished to reason out the discontent and clear the air. In the first weak of February, a particular Newspaper again published one of the cartoon of Muhammed(PBUH). As expected Muslims reacted and agitated, at some places the agitation even got violent. The Danish Interior Minister blamed the Juvenile youths from migrant families and said that no one can take from a person “the right of free expressions”. Right Mr. Minister, but does not the Juveniles and criminals then too have the right to do and say what they feel is correct???

Not going into that argument, what I intend to make clear is that contrary to the general opinion, Islam is not against debate and discussions. But that does not mean that one starts speaking ill against anyone or any philosophy because he thinks it to be wrong.

Taking examples and generalizing it is not going to help anyone. The differences need to be resolved amicably. Some Mr. Ibrahim was responsible for a blast, Muslims are traitors and terrorists. Modi was responsible for Gujarat riots, Hindus are cruel. Bush attacked Afghanistan and Iraq, two Muslim countries. Christians are cruel and enemies of Islam. These will only aggravate the problem….

We should encourage mutual understanding and talk of commonalities and not of differences. The inherent psychology of superiority needs to be tackled properly. Otherwise the situation has thus become that Mr. Rushdie becomes the State Guest of a country, after he tries to malign Islam and presents it in the wrong light. The country, which generally takes strong objections to anyone going against the system; speaking against the Government or office bearers, ignored the fact that the same Rushdie had once called Margaret Thatcher’s (once PM of UK) policy as her “fucking policy”.

A so called feminist author (or rather a hilarious feminist) Tasleema Nasreen regards herself as “secular”. Intellectuals and academicians may not like everything she says or writes, but would still support her for she has overnight become the champion of liberty, feminism, democracy, and secularism. Intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals of India are pressing to give Tasleema the citizenship of this country, which has the tradition of welcoming people with open hand and open heart. But one hardly hears about the support of the people with same vigour and enthusiasm when it comes to another such artist, who is not an author but a painter, and who incidentally is a citizen of this country by birth. Yes, I am talking about M.F. Hussain, who is living in virtual exile, but none really seems to be bothered. He has been alleged of portraying Mother India, and other goddesses naked and so fundamentalist Hindus announced bounty on his head. Nudity has always been equated with purity in Hindu culture, and painters, sculptors, writers, musicians, poets have always celebrated this purity in their works of art.

In any case, let me make one thing very clear that I am in no ways on the side of Mr. Hussain, as Islam strictly prohibits painting of Human beings. Painting women, that too nude, is a double sin. And the the Holy Quran says “Do not defame others gods, lest in ignorance they speak ill of Allah”.

The Editor, and if published, the general reader will think that either I m crazy or that I am in a epileptic fit, for I began with nuisance and spits, and now I am speaking of Quran (in a completely different pond). I believe but that so far as one is faithful and honest to himself, a writer has full freedom to express himself and write what he feels. But on the pretext one does not get the freedom to say and write things, which have nothing to do with reality, but simply because his whims says so. As Dr. Johnson said, “the danger of such unbounded liberty and the danger of bounding it have produced a problem in the science of Government, which human understanding seems hitherto unable to solve…..if every sceptick in theology may teach his follies there can be no religion”.

I would end quoting Abraham Lincoln and Rabindranath Tagore, one former President of America and the other a poet; two different persons, but ardent champions of liberty, humanity and brotherhood. Lincoln remarked “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves”. And Tagore wrote:

“Freedom from the fear is the freedom.

………..Freedom from the insult

Of dwelling in a puppet’s world….”