As part of its election coverage, last Monday's Hindustan Times carries a "Constituency Watch" for two nearby constituencies, Thane and Kalyan. Part of this feature is a small table titled "Demographic Details".
Here's the data from the two tables.
* Kalyan:
Maharashtrians: 49%
Sindhis: 15%
North Indians: 12%
Muslims: 10%
Others: 14%
* Thane:
Maharashtrians: 45%
Gujarati: 10%
North Indians: 15%
Muslims: 10%
South Indians: 10%
Others: 10%
Looking at these two, a few questions occur to me.
* Why are Muslims listed separately? And since they are, why do these tables not also list Christians or Sikhs? Why not Hindus?
* Are Muslims not Maharashtrians? Not North Indians? Gujaratis? South Indians? What does it mean to list Muslims who live in Maharashtra separately from Maharashtrians?
If you have any answers, I'm all ears.
April 29, 2009
Word play
* "They are not united. They have made no progress. Then why do they call themselves the United Progressive Alliance?"
* "If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of progress?"
* "Do you want to see India united? Do you want to see India progress? Then it's time to make the United Progressive Alliance disappear."
Each of these, the entire text of a print ads. They have appeared in my morning paper, one a day over the last three days.
Well, not the entire text. At the bottom of each of the ads is "Shiv Sena-BJP Alliance" and "Issued by Shivsena Central Office, Dadar, Mumbai."
These are also the only ads I've seen from the SS-BJP Alliance.
So what's it, the SS-BJP Alliance has no programme to offer voters? It can find nothing to say about what it plans to do if it comes to power? It's ashamed of its vision for India, so much so that it prefers to stay silent?
I mean, what's a voter to do who's disillusioned with the current government? A voter, for example, like me? I look around for alternatives, but the major alternative out there can offer only a puerile play on words. With zero about its plans for my country.
Yeah, that's the way to get my vote. Sure.
* "If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of progress?"
* "Do you want to see India united? Do you want to see India progress? Then it's time to make the United Progressive Alliance disappear."
Each of these, the entire text of a print ads. They have appeared in my morning paper, one a day over the last three days.
Well, not the entire text. At the bottom of each of the ads is "Shiv Sena-BJP Alliance" and "Issued by Shivsena Central Office, Dadar, Mumbai."
These are also the only ads I've seen from the SS-BJP Alliance.
So what's it, the SS-BJP Alliance has no programme to offer voters? It can find nothing to say about what it plans to do if it comes to power? It's ashamed of its vision for India, so much so that it prefers to stay silent?
I mean, what's a voter to do who's disillusioned with the current government? A voter, for example, like me? I look around for alternatives, but the major alternative out there can offer only a puerile play on words. With zero about its plans for my country.
Yeah, that's the way to get my vote. Sure.
Amnesty and magnanimity
The free market that is modern cricket -- at least as propounded by the Board of Control for Cricket in India -- has just demonstrated its market-driven magnanimity. As of today, all Indian players associated with the ICL will get an "amnesty" if they "cut all ties with the unofficial private league." There will be a "cooling period" of a year before they can become eligible to play international cricket. But they will "be allowed to play domestic cricket immediately."
Magnanimity. You heard it here first.
What I don't get is, why aren't there Indian cricketers who play for the IPL who say, we won't stand for this treatment of fellow professionals who were merely trying to make a living? Is the lure of lucre that overpowering?
I know it matters to nobody, but still: the IPL gets no TRPs from me. And it will not, as long as it talks the language of "bans" and "amnesty" and "cooling periods".
Magnanimity. You heard it here first.
What I don't get is, why aren't there Indian cricketers who play for the IPL who say, we won't stand for this treatment of fellow professionals who were merely trying to make a living? Is the lure of lucre that overpowering?
I know it matters to nobody, but still: the IPL gets no TRPs from me. And it will not, as long as it talks the language of "bans" and "amnesty" and "cooling periods".
April 28, 2009
Fatal cure
Think I called it "Doctor, doctor", but in print, it has been renamed. Either way, I wrote it and it's on the edit page in the Hindustan Times today April 28: A fatal cure.
Comments welcome.
***
Speaking of Binayak Sen (my article linked to above is about Binayak Sen): given the easy way people will dismiss him as a "Naxalite" or such, this interview with him is worth reading.
Comments welcome.
Speaking of Binayak Sen (my article linked to above is about Binayak Sen): given the easy way people will dismiss him as a "Naxalite" or such, this interview with him is worth reading.
April 24, 2009
The same two questions
Read this somewhere recently: "the ideology of the BJP is Hindutva".
This prompted me to dig up two questions I asked here, almost two years ago. Smack in the middle of elections, I'd like to ask them again.
These two questions:
What is Hindutva? Why should it appeal to me?
These are serious, sincere questions.
If you're willing to answer them in that same spirit, please leave a comment. In your own words, explained as you understand it and you'd like others to understand it: simply, clearly. No links, no pointers to what someone else has said or written. (Where I read that line at the top, we were directed to the leaders of the BJP to find out what it is).
Any responses like that will be appreciated. (And will, in turn, get responses from me in the same spirit).
Abuse, if any, will be ignored.
Thank you.
This prompted me to dig up two questions I asked here, almost two years ago. Smack in the middle of elections, I'd like to ask them again.
These two questions:
What is Hindutva? Why should it appeal to me?
These are serious, sincere questions.
If you're willing to answer them in that same spirit, please leave a comment. In your own words, explained as you understand it and you'd like others to understand it: simply, clearly. No links, no pointers to what someone else has said or written. (Where I read that line at the top, we were directed to the leaders of the BJP to find out what it is).
Any responses like that will be appreciated. (And will, in turn, get responses from me in the same spirit).
Abuse, if any, will be ignored.
Thank you.
April 22, 2009
More about warped minds
Following up to my previous post, About warped minds, consider these quotes:
* The Special Investigation Team (SIT) ... on Tuesday slammed reports that riots witnesses were tutored to give false evidence for exaggeration of the situation, by activists and organisations helping the victims.
* [T]he Supreme Court termed the leak as a "betrayal of the faith reposed in those to whom the report was allowed access".
* "The alleged reported leaks appear to be inspired by dubious motives. I cannot confirm such claims. The act is highly condemnable," [SIT chief] Raghavan said.
* The SIT sources said the alleged leaks appear to have been based on statements of state police officials and "cannot be termed as findings of the report."
All from the Hindustan Times today (April 22), this report: Gujarat riots witnesses not tutored: SIT.
* The Special Investigation Team (SIT) ... on Tuesday slammed reports that riots witnesses were tutored to give false evidence for exaggeration of the situation, by activists and organisations helping the victims.
* [T]he Supreme Court termed the leak as a "betrayal of the faith reposed in those to whom the report was allowed access".
* "The alleged reported leaks appear to be inspired by dubious motives. I cannot confirm such claims. The act is highly condemnable," [SIT chief] Raghavan said.
* The SIT sources said the alleged leaks appear to have been based on statements of state police officials and "cannot be termed as findings of the report."
All from the Hindustan Times today (April 22), this report: Gujarat riots witnesses not tutored: SIT.
April 20, 2009
About warped minds
All over again, timed with the run up to voting, there's plenty of uproar over Gujarat. A Times of India journalist called Dhananjay Mahapatra wrote a report (NGOs, Teesta spiced up Gujarat riot incidents: SIT, April 14) which casts doubt on a number of aspects of the violence in Gujarat in 2002.
In his report, Mahapatra mentions the Special Investigation Team that has been looking into the violence. On April 13, writes Mahapatra, "the SIT led by former CBI Director RK Raghavan told the Supreme Court on Monday that [Teesta Setalvad] exaggerated macabre tales of wanton killings." (Note the impression he gives that Raghavan himself was in Court on Monday to say this). Mahapatra's report also tells us several things that Gujarat counsel Mukul Rohatgi said in Court.
Among others, Mahapatra makes these allegations:
* 22 witnesses who had submitted "identical affidavits" regarding the carnage were found to have been "tutored" by Teesta Setalvad and had "not actually witnessed" incidents during the violence.
* The SIT also found "no truth" in three "widely publicised" incidents:
- that a pregnant woman, Kausar Banu, had been gangraped and killed, her body slit open to remove her foetus.
- that dead bodies had been dumped in a well in Naroda Patia
- the police botched up investigations into the killing of some British nationals who got caught in the violence.
Mahapatra ends this part of the report with this direct quote from Rohatgi:
"On a reading of the report, it is clear that horrendous allegations made by the NGOs were false. Stereotyped affidavits were supplied by a social activist and the allegations made in them were found untrue."
Right here there are questions about Mahapatra's news report. From his own writing, it is clear that it is Rohatgi who claims that Setalvad and NGOs spiced up the incidents. Not the SIT.
Mahapatra also reports that the SC Bench "swiftly told" Rohatgi that regardless of his particular reading of the SIT report:
- it was the efforts of the SIT that had resulted in action against "many more accused" than Rohatgi's client, the Gujarat Government, had managed.
- there was "no room" for allegations and counter-allegations now. "In riot cases," the Judges observed, "the more the delay, there is likelihood of falsity creeping in."
That last observation, about falsity, is worth keeping in mind as we try to make sense of all this.
Naturally, various pundits with their own dislike for Teesta Setalvad, her NGO and their methods, immediately offered their various comments on all this. That's their prerogative, of course. But it's interesting to note that the one thing they picked on from Mahapatra's report to comment on was his assertion that there was "no truth" in the Kausar Banu murder. (Swapan Dasgupta, for example, uses Mahapatra's report to say that the stories of disembowelled pregnant women "appear to have been the product of warped minds"; he doesn't even mention Mahapatra's other claims, for example about the affidavits. See his Apologise to Gujarat).
CJP, Sahmat and Setalvad put out their own responses to Mahapatra's report. They make these points:
* Mahapatra says the "SIT led by former CBI Director RK Raghavan told the Supreme Court" about Setalvad's supposed falsehoods. Yet nobody from the SIT, certainly not Raghavan, was at the SC on April 13 to tell the SC anything.
* The SIT submitted a report to the SC in March 2007, whose contents are not public.
* The Gujarat government produced its own comment on the SIT report, and this is what Rohatgi tried to read out in Court. (Not the report itself).
Faced with this, Mahapatra himself issued a rebuttal (Report based on SIT findings, April 16) in which he says his paper has a copy of the SIT report.
He quotes from it. Most of his rebuttal is about statements by 19 (not 22, his earlier claim) witnesses. They came before the investigating officer with previously prepared statements that Setalvad and advocate Tirmiji had helped them prepare. Nowhere in his rebuttal does Mahapatra repeat his earlier claim that they were "identical affidavits".
Why?
Mahapatra goes on to say that the IO explained to these witnesses that according to law, he could not take these statements on record, and that he had to "write the statement ... after interrogating them personally." When the IO did this, he found "discrepancies" and "contradictions" between the previously prepared statements (which, let me repeat, he wasn't considering anyway) and the ones he wrote down. This prompted six witnesses to now say that they had themselves prepared their earlier statements, not Setalvad and Tirmiji.
Mahapatra comments: "In other words, [these] witnesses changed their version about who had prepared their signed statements." The "signed statements" that, let me repeat once more, the IO was not going to consider anyway.
That these witnesses "changed their version" about irrelevant statements, and the explanation of the way the law requires witness statements to be made is, according to Mahapatra's own rebuttal, the sum total of his allegations against Setalvad and her NGO.
Repeat: the sum total.
But note the omission from Mahapatra's rebuttal. He makes no mention of the three "widely publicised" incidents he originally claimed the SIT had found "no truth" in. No mention of British nationals, no mention of bodies dumped in a well, no mention of Kausar Banu.
Mahapatra simply lets those serious allegations hang in the wind. On Swapan Dasgupta's site, one commenter has already called the Kausar Banu murder "a myth". Better, these years later, to pretend it's a myth than to actually seek to deliver justice for horrible crimes.
But it was no myth. On December 12 2003, for example, two separate witnesses told the Nanavati Commission about the evisceration and murder of Kausar Banu. That deposition was reported in a news item titled "Nanavati panel hears stories of rape, murder". Where did that news item appear? In Dhananjay Mahapatra's own newspaper, the Times of India (see Nanavati panel hears stories of rape, murder, Dec 13 2003).
Should we now denounce those two witnesses as "warped minds"? What about the Nanavati Commission itself?
Here's just one more data point on this. Yesterday (April 19), the Hindustan Times carries an article by a writer called Chitralekha. (I can't find the article online; this is the epaper version which will need you to log in first).
In it, she refers to "Ahmedabad killer Bhanu Chhara, remembered by witnesses for the macabre murder of Naroda resident Kauser Bano and her nine-month-old foetus."
So let's sum this up quickly. The bloodshed across Gujarat in 2002 -- from people burned alive in a train to people slaughtered in their homes -- is a matter of public record. It is hardly surprising that there are those who try, as the years pass, to turn that public record on its head.
Yet this is itself the reason justice must be delivered to the victims of the killings of 2002. We know the SIT and the Supreme Court will not be distracted by assorted attempts to deny that bloodshed, and will work to deliver that justice.
(Slightly different versions crossposted on Citizens for Peace and Kafila).
(Also see Sundeep Dougal's FAQ on this episode).
In his report, Mahapatra mentions the Special Investigation Team that has been looking into the violence. On April 13, writes Mahapatra, "the SIT led by former CBI Director RK Raghavan told the Supreme Court on Monday that [Teesta Setalvad] exaggerated macabre tales of wanton killings." (Note the impression he gives that Raghavan himself was in Court on Monday to say this). Mahapatra's report also tells us several things that Gujarat counsel Mukul Rohatgi said in Court.
Among others, Mahapatra makes these allegations:
* 22 witnesses who had submitted "identical affidavits" regarding the carnage were found to have been "tutored" by Teesta Setalvad and had "not actually witnessed" incidents during the violence.
* The SIT also found "no truth" in three "widely publicised" incidents:
- that a pregnant woman, Kausar Banu, had been gangraped and killed, her body slit open to remove her foetus.
- that dead bodies had been dumped in a well in Naroda Patia
- the police botched up investigations into the killing of some British nationals who got caught in the violence.
Mahapatra ends this part of the report with this direct quote from Rohatgi:
"On a reading of the report, it is clear that horrendous allegations made by the NGOs were false. Stereotyped affidavits were supplied by a social activist and the allegations made in them were found untrue."
Right here there are questions about Mahapatra's news report. From his own writing, it is clear that it is Rohatgi who claims that Setalvad and NGOs spiced up the incidents. Not the SIT.
Mahapatra also reports that the SC Bench "swiftly told" Rohatgi that regardless of his particular reading of the SIT report:
- it was the efforts of the SIT that had resulted in action against "many more accused" than Rohatgi's client, the Gujarat Government, had managed.
- there was "no room" for allegations and counter-allegations now. "In riot cases," the Judges observed, "the more the delay, there is likelihood of falsity creeping in."
That last observation, about falsity, is worth keeping in mind as we try to make sense of all this.
Naturally, various pundits with their own dislike for Teesta Setalvad, her NGO and their methods, immediately offered their various comments on all this. That's their prerogative, of course. But it's interesting to note that the one thing they picked on from Mahapatra's report to comment on was his assertion that there was "no truth" in the Kausar Banu murder. (Swapan Dasgupta, for example, uses Mahapatra's report to say that the stories of disembowelled pregnant women "appear to have been the product of warped minds"; he doesn't even mention Mahapatra's other claims, for example about the affidavits. See his Apologise to Gujarat).
CJP, Sahmat and Setalvad put out their own responses to Mahapatra's report. They make these points:
* Mahapatra says the "SIT led by former CBI Director RK Raghavan told the Supreme Court" about Setalvad's supposed falsehoods. Yet nobody from the SIT, certainly not Raghavan, was at the SC on April 13 to tell the SC anything.
* The SIT submitted a report to the SC in March 2007, whose contents are not public.
* The Gujarat government produced its own comment on the SIT report, and this is what Rohatgi tried to read out in Court. (Not the report itself).
Faced with this, Mahapatra himself issued a rebuttal (Report based on SIT findings, April 16) in which he says his paper has a copy of the SIT report.
He quotes from it. Most of his rebuttal is about statements by 19 (not 22, his earlier claim) witnesses. They came before the investigating officer with previously prepared statements that Setalvad and advocate Tirmiji had helped them prepare. Nowhere in his rebuttal does Mahapatra repeat his earlier claim that they were "identical affidavits".
Why?
Mahapatra goes on to say that the IO explained to these witnesses that according to law, he could not take these statements on record, and that he had to "write the statement ... after interrogating them personally." When the IO did this, he found "discrepancies" and "contradictions" between the previously prepared statements (which, let me repeat, he wasn't considering anyway) and the ones he wrote down. This prompted six witnesses to now say that they had themselves prepared their earlier statements, not Setalvad and Tirmiji.
Mahapatra comments: "In other words, [these] witnesses changed their version about who had prepared their signed statements." The "signed statements" that, let me repeat once more, the IO was not going to consider anyway.
That these witnesses "changed their version" about irrelevant statements, and the explanation of the way the law requires witness statements to be made is, according to Mahapatra's own rebuttal, the sum total of his allegations against Setalvad and her NGO.
Repeat: the sum total.
But note the omission from Mahapatra's rebuttal. He makes no mention of the three "widely publicised" incidents he originally claimed the SIT had found "no truth" in. No mention of British nationals, no mention of bodies dumped in a well, no mention of Kausar Banu.
Mahapatra simply lets those serious allegations hang in the wind. On Swapan Dasgupta's site, one commenter has already called the Kausar Banu murder "a myth". Better, these years later, to pretend it's a myth than to actually seek to deliver justice for horrible crimes.
But it was no myth. On December 12 2003, for example, two separate witnesses told the Nanavati Commission about the evisceration and murder of Kausar Banu. That deposition was reported in a news item titled "Nanavati panel hears stories of rape, murder". Where did that news item appear? In Dhananjay Mahapatra's own newspaper, the Times of India (see Nanavati panel hears stories of rape, murder, Dec 13 2003).
Should we now denounce those two witnesses as "warped minds"? What about the Nanavati Commission itself?
Here's just one more data point on this. Yesterday (April 19), the Hindustan Times carries an article by a writer called Chitralekha. (I can't find the article online; this is the epaper version which will need you to log in first).
In it, she refers to "Ahmedabad killer Bhanu Chhara, remembered by witnesses for the macabre murder of Naroda resident Kauser Bano and her nine-month-old foetus."
So let's sum this up quickly. The bloodshed across Gujarat in 2002 -- from people burned alive in a train to people slaughtered in their homes -- is a matter of public record. It is hardly surprising that there are those who try, as the years pass, to turn that public record on its head.
Yet this is itself the reason justice must be delivered to the victims of the killings of 2002. We know the SIT and the Supreme Court will not be distracted by assorted attempts to deny that bloodshed, and will work to deliver that justice.
(Slightly different versions crossposted on Citizens for Peace and Kafila).
(Also see Sundeep Dougal's FAQ on this episode).
April 19, 2009
Don't ask any old bloke for directions
A few things in the pipeline for this space, all mildly delayed for various reasons. In the meantime, here's a book review I wrote that appeared yesterday (April 18) in Mint. A few changes between what I turned in and what appeared, so the original is below.
Now back to clearing the pipeline...
***
(The book is Don't Ask Any Old Bloke For Directions: A Biker's Whimsical Journey Across India by PG Tenzing, published by Penguin).
From Ladakh, PG Tenzing decides to "push my luck and reach Manali, normally a two-day journey, in one day." That's how he begins Chapter 17, and its end comes two pages later, when Tenzing writes: "It had taken me sixteen hours of hard riding but it had been worth every crazy minute."
In some ways, that sentence captures this little book. Because I read it and I felt like writing Tenzing a one-line letter: "Won't you please tell us about those crazy minutes?" Because he doesn't. In those two pages he mentions -- only mentions -- a yak herder intent on talking while Tenzing pees, the man's butter tea, an overturned bike and dust. Also something made Tenzing cry copiously, but he won't say what. That's it.
Sixteen hours, and that's all we get to know about it.
I mean, as they say, I wanted to like this book. I'm not a biker, but I've spent time with the breed. I simply love the road; I believe there is no better way to travel. So I dived into the book yearning to live Tenzing's trip vicariously, to absorb and reflect on his reflections. Just a few pages into the book, I even told my wife, this guy can write. Because he can: he uses words engagingly, expertly. But a few more pages, and I began to wonder, why is he simulating the expertise of a window-dresser? There's too little meat on those bones.
Nine months and 25000+ km that Tenzing rode an Enfield Thunderbird around India, he must have duffel-bags full of experience and memory. I mean, he drove from Kerala across Tamil Nadu and up the east coast to Sikkim and Assam, then through Nepal to Ladakh and Himachal, back to Sikkim and through the middle of the country to Kerala again, then up the west coast to Bombay. Just sitting here tracing that route, I can think of a dozen different places and themes I'd have liked to hear from him about. This country is like that. But sadly, Tenzing gives us mostly quick, superficial impressions. It's staccato, it's jumpy, it's often disconnected, it's like the notes you'd find in a diary. It's a mere taste that leaves you craving more, more, but there ain't no more. And that's where this book fails.
Like: Three pages about Bangalore make up Chapter 29. Plunge right into Chapter 30, in which Tenzing heads "further south to my foster home, Kerala". Some lines about the road through Mandya towards Wynad, which turns into a dirt track; then "Mysore is a beautiful city but I had been there many times and so took a diversion outside it." One sentence about better roads in the South than elsewhere, another sentence about better indices of development in the South than elsewhere. And then an inexplicable five-line lament on "disappointing" Bangalore, already a whole page in the past. Apropos of nothing, leading to nothing, the paragraph just sits there in the middle of the Mysore bypass.
Like: On the ride to Pokhara, "there are natural geographical formations ... which are awesome." Elsewhere, "the way from Manali to Rohtang has some weird rock formations." I mean, "awesome" and "weird"? Is that all Tenzing has for us? Why not tell us some more about those formations? Geology, history, beauty, shapes, the thoughts they put in your head: there's so much to say about rocks, or more generally about intriguing sights on the road. Yet Tenzing roars past them in one tired adjective each.
The pity is there so much potential material here. As a bureaucrat who left the service to make this trip, Tenzing knows the ropes in plenty of situations. To hilarious and satisfying effect, he even throws his bureaucratic weight about at times to put assorted creeps in their place. He has a sharp and cynical eye for the absurd. He hints, but only hints, at his musings on so many things: climate change, poverty, the administrative services, tourism and grotty cheap hotels, bikers.
Like, here's a pointed observation that comes to him while in Nepal: "The middle-class morality of India is killing the tourist potential of the country. No amount of shouting 'Incredible India!' on televisions around the world is going to change that fact." What an interesting thought to take and run with, see where it goes on that Enfield Thunderbird. Yet in four short sentences after that, we're done with it.
So in the end, I can't say it took me sixteen hours of hard reading to get through this book. It's easily read, maybe too easily and that's the problem. But whatever time it did take, I can't say either that it was "worth every crazy minute."
Given what this book could have been, that's a great pity.
Now back to clearing the pipeline...
(The book is Don't Ask Any Old Bloke For Directions: A Biker's Whimsical Journey Across India by PG Tenzing, published by Penguin).
From Ladakh, PG Tenzing decides to "push my luck and reach Manali, normally a two-day journey, in one day." That's how he begins Chapter 17, and its end comes two pages later, when Tenzing writes: "It had taken me sixteen hours of hard riding but it had been worth every crazy minute."
In some ways, that sentence captures this little book. Because I read it and I felt like writing Tenzing a one-line letter: "Won't you please tell us about those crazy minutes?" Because he doesn't. In those two pages he mentions -- only mentions -- a yak herder intent on talking while Tenzing pees, the man's butter tea, an overturned bike and dust. Also something made Tenzing cry copiously, but he won't say what. That's it.
Sixteen hours, and that's all we get to know about it.
I mean, as they say, I wanted to like this book. I'm not a biker, but I've spent time with the breed. I simply love the road; I believe there is no better way to travel. So I dived into the book yearning to live Tenzing's trip vicariously, to absorb and reflect on his reflections. Just a few pages into the book, I even told my wife, this guy can write. Because he can: he uses words engagingly, expertly. But a few more pages, and I began to wonder, why is he simulating the expertise of a window-dresser? There's too little meat on those bones.
Nine months and 25000+ km that Tenzing rode an Enfield Thunderbird around India, he must have duffel-bags full of experience and memory. I mean, he drove from Kerala across Tamil Nadu and up the east coast to Sikkim and Assam, then through Nepal to Ladakh and Himachal, back to Sikkim and through the middle of the country to Kerala again, then up the west coast to Bombay. Just sitting here tracing that route, I can think of a dozen different places and themes I'd have liked to hear from him about. This country is like that. But sadly, Tenzing gives us mostly quick, superficial impressions. It's staccato, it's jumpy, it's often disconnected, it's like the notes you'd find in a diary. It's a mere taste that leaves you craving more, more, but there ain't no more. And that's where this book fails.
Like: Three pages about Bangalore make up Chapter 29. Plunge right into Chapter 30, in which Tenzing heads "further south to my foster home, Kerala". Some lines about the road through Mandya towards Wynad, which turns into a dirt track; then "Mysore is a beautiful city but I had been there many times and so took a diversion outside it." One sentence about better roads in the South than elsewhere, another sentence about better indices of development in the South than elsewhere. And then an inexplicable five-line lament on "disappointing" Bangalore, already a whole page in the past. Apropos of nothing, leading to nothing, the paragraph just sits there in the middle of the Mysore bypass.
Like: On the ride to Pokhara, "there are natural geographical formations ... which are awesome." Elsewhere, "the way from Manali to Rohtang has some weird rock formations." I mean, "awesome" and "weird"? Is that all Tenzing has for us? Why not tell us some more about those formations? Geology, history, beauty, shapes, the thoughts they put in your head: there's so much to say about rocks, or more generally about intriguing sights on the road. Yet Tenzing roars past them in one tired adjective each.
The pity is there so much potential material here. As a bureaucrat who left the service to make this trip, Tenzing knows the ropes in plenty of situations. To hilarious and satisfying effect, he even throws his bureaucratic weight about at times to put assorted creeps in their place. He has a sharp and cynical eye for the absurd. He hints, but only hints, at his musings on so many things: climate change, poverty, the administrative services, tourism and grotty cheap hotels, bikers.
Like, here's a pointed observation that comes to him while in Nepal: "The middle-class morality of India is killing the tourist potential of the country. No amount of shouting 'Incredible India!' on televisions around the world is going to change that fact." What an interesting thought to take and run with, see where it goes on that Enfield Thunderbird. Yet in four short sentences after that, we're done with it.
So in the end, I can't say it took me sixteen hours of hard reading to get through this book. It's easily read, maybe too easily and that's the problem. But whatever time it did take, I can't say either that it was "worth every crazy minute."
Given what this book could have been, that's a great pity.
April 11, 2009
School arithmetic
In a small village in Assam two weeks ago, we stopped for tea. Got chatting with a young man who turned out to be a mathematics teacher at a local school. "Private school", he said.
Later, we visited the place. There is a government school next door. These two are the only available primary and secondary schools in the village, and in fact for some distance around.
The government school has about 400 students and one teacher. Tuition is free.
The private school has about 160 students and 6 teachers. Tuition is Rs 70 a month in kindergarten, and rises by Rs 10 a month for each higher class.
Of the 560 students in both these schools, 400 cannot afford the fees at the private school. Those are the kids who go to the government school.
When we returned to Bombay, we had to write a cheque for tuition for my son, now in the 5th standard. It was about Rs 28,000 for the year, or nearly Rs 2500 a month.
A school I happen to know well in the south of the city raised its fees last year. 5th standard kids in that school now pay about Rs 70,000 a year, or nearly Rs 6000 a month.
Finally, I had dinner a few nights ago with two college chums. One has his daughter in an old and respected Bombay school that has recently been taken over by an industrial house. He tells me that because of a change in the curriculum that's come with this takeover, they have proposed a fee increase, to Rs 350,000 a year, or nearly Rs 30,000 a month.
It's been an education, these two weeks.
Later, we visited the place. There is a government school next door. These two are the only available primary and secondary schools in the village, and in fact for some distance around.
The government school has about 400 students and one teacher. Tuition is free.
The private school has about 160 students and 6 teachers. Tuition is Rs 70 a month in kindergarten, and rises by Rs 10 a month for each higher class.
Of the 560 students in both these schools, 400 cannot afford the fees at the private school. Those are the kids who go to the government school.
When we returned to Bombay, we had to write a cheque for tuition for my son, now in the 5th standard. It was about Rs 28,000 for the year, or nearly Rs 2500 a month.
A school I happen to know well in the south of the city raised its fees last year. 5th standard kids in that school now pay about Rs 70,000 a year, or nearly Rs 6000 a month.
Finally, I had dinner a few nights ago with two college chums. One has his daughter in an old and respected Bombay school that has recently been taken over by an industrial house. He tells me that because of a change in the curriculum that's come with this takeover, they have proposed a fee increase, to Rs 350,000 a year, or nearly Rs 30,000 a month.
It's been an education, these two weeks.
April 10, 2009
About Acts
Much as I find sick and nauseating the words that one fellow called Varun Gandhi harangued his Pilibhit constituents with a few weeks ago, what followed was more sick and nauseating by far: his arrest under the National Security Act.
The NSA? For making those statements? (Forgive me for not telling you what he said, nor giving you a link: I won't help spread hate).
Gandhi's party, the BJP, rightly protested long and hard about this outrage. I hope it has made the party think long and hard too, if not protest, about their own use or misuse of a similar law, the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act.
Specifically, I refer to the arrest and incarceration, under the CSPSA, of Dr Binayak Sen. Dr Sen's offence? That he is supposed to have carried letters from an aging and also incarcerated Maoist leader, Narayan Sanyal. (Never mind that Sanyal's failing health is the reason officials got a doctor -- Dr Sen -- to see him in the first place). No witness Chhatisgarh authorities have produced in court has offered anything remotely like evidence to back up this "charge", such as it is.
In another month, it will be two years that Chhattisgarh's BJP government has kept Dr Sen in jail in Raipur. Two years. Think of that.
Varun Gandhi is no threat to national security; Dr Binayak Sen is no threat to Chhattisgarh's security. Yet in each case, political establishments annoyed by these men have used repressive laws against them. Because the powers those laws allow to governments are irresistible to governments.
The real lesson of these two episodes is simple: Acts like NSA and the CSPSA are too easily misused. You, reading this, really should take note.
The NSA? For making those statements? (Forgive me for not telling you what he said, nor giving you a link: I won't help spread hate).
Gandhi's party, the BJP, rightly protested long and hard about this outrage. I hope it has made the party think long and hard too, if not protest, about their own use or misuse of a similar law, the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act.
Specifically, I refer to the arrest and incarceration, under the CSPSA, of Dr Binayak Sen. Dr Sen's offence? That he is supposed to have carried letters from an aging and also incarcerated Maoist leader, Narayan Sanyal. (Never mind that Sanyal's failing health is the reason officials got a doctor -- Dr Sen -- to see him in the first place). No witness Chhatisgarh authorities have produced in court has offered anything remotely like evidence to back up this "charge", such as it is.
In another month, it will be two years that Chhattisgarh's BJP government has kept Dr Sen in jail in Raipur. Two years. Think of that.
Varun Gandhi is no threat to national security; Dr Binayak Sen is no threat to Chhattisgarh's security. Yet in each case, political establishments annoyed by these men have used repressive laws against them. Because the powers those laws allow to governments are irresistible to governments.
The real lesson of these two episodes is simple: Acts like NSA and the CSPSA are too easily misused. You, reading this, really should take note.
April 09, 2009
Oh, the fear!
Twinkle Khanna and Akshay Kumar, a filmdom married couple, appear at a fashion show. Ms Khanna pretends to unbutton her husband's trousers. Neither was I at the show nor have I seen any clips of it, but from the one photograph I've seen of this incident, the parties involved look as if they are enjoying themselves.
As if they are happy.
But this was too much for one Anil Nair, who was annoyed enough by their happiness to go the law about it. The actors, he complained to the police, had indulged in "indecent, vulgar and obscene behaviour". The Vakola police have since registered a FIR against the couple.
I don't know Khanna, Kumar, nor Nair. But I do know something that HL Mencken once wrote. The always caustic American writer defined Puritanism this way: "The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."
Yep: It haunts Anil Nair, that fear.
So I'd like to say: I'm happy. Forgive me, Shri Nair, for frightening you some more.
As if they are happy.
But this was too much for one Anil Nair, who was annoyed enough by their happiness to go the law about it. The actors, he complained to the police, had indulged in "indecent, vulgar and obscene behaviour". The Vakola police have since registered a FIR against the couple.
I don't know Khanna, Kumar, nor Nair. But I do know something that HL Mencken once wrote. The always caustic American writer defined Puritanism this way: "The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."
Yep: It haunts Anil Nair, that fear.
So I'd like to say: I'm happy. Forgive me, Shri Nair, for frightening you some more.
April 06, 2009
Make the questions harder
This comment on a recent post here brought to mind an article in Time two years ago. It was about abortion; specifically, about attempts to bridge the ideological and emotional divide on abortion.
These two sentences, in particular:
Once you’ve come to know your adversaries personally, once the cartoon villains are brushed away, the conversation becomes more complicated – and more useful ... On issues of such weight, making the questions harder for people is the first step towards finding some answers..
(The Grassroots Abortion War, TIME February 15 2007).
(I should point out that a good friend belongs to a group mentioned in the article).
These two sentences, in particular:
Once you’ve come to know your adversaries personally, once the cartoon villains are brushed away, the conversation becomes more complicated – and more useful ... On issues of such weight, making the questions harder for people is the first step towards finding some answers..
(The Grassroots Abortion War, TIME February 15 2007).
(I should point out that a good friend belongs to a group mentioned in the article).
April 02, 2009
Hear 'em nails
Tytler is freed of charges.
You hear the noise? That's the hammering of one more nail into the coffin of justice for the victims of homegrown Indian terrorism. Terrorism that slaughtered thousands in 1984, in 1992-93, in 2002: but terrorism that we refuse to face up to and acknowledge, let alone punish.
Two previous attempts at exploring this: Some kind of history, Badbye, infernal dark glasses.
But if you prefer not to read them, by all means listen to the hammering of the nails.
You hear the noise? That's the hammering of one more nail into the coffin of justice for the victims of homegrown Indian terrorism. Terrorism that slaughtered thousands in 1984, in 1992-93, in 2002: but terrorism that we refuse to face up to and acknowledge, let alone punish.
Two previous attempts at exploring this: Some kind of history, Badbye, infernal dark glasses.
But if you prefer not to read them, by all means listen to the hammering of the nails.
April 01, 2009
Mango best in universe
Various snippets and happenings from a trip to parts East and (somewhat) North over the last ten days or so. Perhaps there'll be some more on the way.
***
Copying well-known brands is something of a cottage industry in India. I remember a young man in my childhood who bought himself a Phillips radio. When, on day two, it stopped working, he looked more closely and found it was actually a PhillOps. Not PhillIps. Or the Parker pen my uncle once picked up on the cheap. Only to find that it had, in a very tiny font just before the word "Parker", the word "Like". Which was probably why it didn't work like a Parker. Didn't work, period.
Like that only. I was told by someone who knew that "Fair and Lovely" is the country's most plagiarized brand, with some 140+ different copies available across the land. That only. ("Like" in front).
Last week in some tiny Assam hamlet, we bought ourselves a few Mango Bites and a roll of Poppins sweets. Very popular to each and every one in the family, these things. Size and wrappers of what we bought, indistinguishable from the originals. At least, indistinguishable at first glance. On closer examination, they were actually "Mango Best" and "Poopins" respectively.
All else being equal, it strikes me that the name "Poopins" is a tad unfortunate.
***
Assam Tribune of March 25 (I think) carried a long letter titled "Economics, religion do not go together". "In my opinion", wrote the writer, "religion and economics are not compatible in spirit and content. Religion in general is exclusive and economics in general is inclusive."
He says a lot else too. (It is a long letter). I'm not convinced it is an appropriate comparison, but never mind. About the same time I read it, someone I know -- trained in economics and a libertarian -- confessed that when the Babri Masjid was torn down in December 1992, he was "delighted". I detected a note of sheepishness in this confession, as if he had reconsidered that delight in the 16+ years since then. But even so, I was taken aback.
Because at least on the face of it, a libertarian outlook on life -- believing in the pursuit of free will, believing in the promise of economics -- seems to me incompatible with the destruction of a place of worship, with religious fervour and hatreds in general.
Am I right? Or am I missing something?
***
In the classifieds, the Assam Tribune also has an "Achievements" section. This appears to be a place where new PhDs announce their achievement. So it was that, some days past the ides of March, I learned of Bijoy Krishna Pachani, senior lecturer at DCB College Jorhat. The announcement informed all concerned, including me, that Dibrugarh University had just awarded him a PhD for his thesis titled "Child in Medieval Assamese Society". "He became", the announcement continued, "the first Asian and the second in universe to do research on past of the child."
Many pats on the back to Shri Pachani, but somehow I wonder ... did they check on Jupiter? Or the Andromeda Galaxy?
***
One of the first good views of the Kaziranga park comes at the Gajraj View Point, on the road from Guwahati some 25 km short of the main entrance. You get a good sense of the mixed grassland and forest pockets that make up the park, and you might even see some rhinos grazing placidly in the distance.
The viewing platform/gazebo here was built by the Army. A plaque on the outside says it was "Inaugurated by General VP Malik, Chief of Army Staff, to commemorate construction of ten high grounds by 4 Corps to safeguard wildlife of Kaziranga National Park from the fury of floods." A plaque on the inside spells this out: "This work worth approximately 2 crores was executed by 4 Corps, 7 Engineer Regiment, by employing 8 bulldozers, 2 excavators and 300 men over 46 days."
A nearby sign in Hindi says: "Kripya is ilake ko saaf rakhe aur avyavastha na phailayen."
"Please keep this place clean."
Seems a reasonable request, given that this is the edge of a wonderful park and given the great effort by the Army to construct this platform.
But clearly there are enough people to whom this request means zip. The slope down the hill from the gazebo (i.e. overlooking the park), it is a noisome mess of garbage, suffused with the charming aroma of urine.
***
Postscript: Within an hour of posting this, I received a message from the economist/libertarian mentioned above. Referring to our conversation a few days ago, he writes:
There was no "sheepishness" in my manner. You were completely mistaken. I remain delighted today that the Babri Masjid was demolished. I'd be obliged if you'd please put up this clarification on your post.
Copying well-known brands is something of a cottage industry in India. I remember a young man in my childhood who bought himself a Phillips radio. When, on day two, it stopped working, he looked more closely and found it was actually a PhillOps. Not PhillIps. Or the Parker pen my uncle once picked up on the cheap. Only to find that it had, in a very tiny font just before the word "Parker", the word "Like". Which was probably why it didn't work like a Parker. Didn't work, period.
Like that only. I was told by someone who knew that "Fair and Lovely" is the country's most plagiarized brand, with some 140+ different copies available across the land. That only. ("Like" in front).
Last week in some tiny Assam hamlet, we bought ourselves a few Mango Bites and a roll of Poppins sweets. Very popular to each and every one in the family, these things. Size and wrappers of what we bought, indistinguishable from the originals. At least, indistinguishable at first glance. On closer examination, they were actually "Mango Best" and "Poopins" respectively.
All else being equal, it strikes me that the name "Poopins" is a tad unfortunate.
Assam Tribune of March 25 (I think) carried a long letter titled "Economics, religion do not go together". "In my opinion", wrote the writer, "religion and economics are not compatible in spirit and content. Religion in general is exclusive and economics in general is inclusive."
He says a lot else too. (It is a long letter). I'm not convinced it is an appropriate comparison, but never mind. About the same time I read it, someone I know -- trained in economics and a libertarian -- confessed that when the Babri Masjid was torn down in December 1992, he was "delighted". I detected a note of sheepishness in this confession, as if he had reconsidered that delight in the 16+ years since then. But even so, I was taken aback.
Because at least on the face of it, a libertarian outlook on life -- believing in the pursuit of free will, believing in the promise of economics -- seems to me incompatible with the destruction of a place of worship, with religious fervour and hatreds in general.
Am I right? Or am I missing something?
In the classifieds, the Assam Tribune also has an "Achievements" section. This appears to be a place where new PhDs announce their achievement. So it was that, some days past the ides of March, I learned of Bijoy Krishna Pachani, senior lecturer at DCB College Jorhat. The announcement informed all concerned, including me, that Dibrugarh University had just awarded him a PhD for his thesis titled "Child in Medieval Assamese Society". "He became", the announcement continued, "the first Asian and the second in universe to do research on past of the child."
Many pats on the back to Shri Pachani, but somehow I wonder ... did they check on Jupiter? Or the Andromeda Galaxy?
One of the first good views of the Kaziranga park comes at the Gajraj View Point, on the road from Guwahati some 25 km short of the main entrance. You get a good sense of the mixed grassland and forest pockets that make up the park, and you might even see some rhinos grazing placidly in the distance.
The viewing platform/gazebo here was built by the Army. A plaque on the outside says it was "Inaugurated by General VP Malik, Chief of Army Staff, to commemorate construction of ten high grounds by 4 Corps to safeguard wildlife of Kaziranga National Park from the fury of floods." A plaque on the inside spells this out: "This work worth approximately 2 crores was executed by 4 Corps, 7 Engineer Regiment, by employing 8 bulldozers, 2 excavators and 300 men over 46 days."
A nearby sign in Hindi says: "Kripya is ilake ko saaf rakhe aur avyavastha na phailayen."
"Please keep this place clean."
Seems a reasonable request, given that this is the edge of a wonderful park and given the great effort by the Army to construct this platform.
But clearly there are enough people to whom this request means zip. The slope down the hill from the gazebo (i.e. overlooking the park), it is a noisome mess of garbage, suffused with the charming aroma of urine.
Postscript: Within an hour of posting this, I received a message from the economist/libertarian mentioned above. Referring to our conversation a few days ago, he writes:
There was no "sheepishness" in my manner. You were completely mistaken. I remain delighted today that the Babri Masjid was demolished. I'd be obliged if you'd please put up this clarification on your post.
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