Sajjad Zahir: The Voice of the Common Man
He was sent to Pakistan to lay the foundation of a communist party. He remained underground for 3 years, but was ultimately arrested with the poet Faiz. Click on the link to read further
http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00006124&channel=leafyglade%20inn
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Ya Devi
Shakti
Hiren Kumar Bose
Published in Shakti, Times 2005
Six days prior to Durga Puja every devout Bengali household wakes up before sunrise to soak in the festivity related to the coming of Goddess Durga in their neighbourhood pandal--- listening to the Chandi Path being played on the All India Radio. I still remember my childhood days spent in Ambala Cantonment getting up bleary eyed, still wrapped in a quilt as the Sanskrit shlokas extolling the virtues of the demon slayer consumed the immediate surroundings. That was also the first time I got introduced the word 'shakti'.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Shakti Rupenu Sanghastita
Namastasyae Namastasyae Namastasye Namo Namah.
(I bow down to the Goddess who manifests herself as shakti (power and energy) in everything, living and non living).
As I grew up I began to understand that belief in Shakti or the feminine aspect of divinity was an integral, and somewhat popular, element of the Hindu religious fabric.
Shakti is symbolically female; but it is, in reality, neither male nor female. It is only a force, which manifests itself in various forms. For instance in the case of cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons it has been solely gender specific, namely Katrina, Rita, Laura etc.Smart and politically correct, as the Hindu sages were they divinised everything, the rituals and festivals, ceremonies and celebrations so that man engaged in the desired objects of the world was always reminded of the Supreme Being. Elaborates Vedanta scholar A Parthasarathy elaborates in "The symbols of Hindu Gods and rituals": "Hinduism has personified wealth and riches in the form of goddess Laxmi. So a man who runs after material wealth is made to remember the goddess in all his transactions. Thus a touch of divinity is lent to his material pursuits. Another man may pursue knowledge. Knowledge is personified as the goddess Saraswati. So his mind is also drawn to the higher even though he is engaged in the pursuit of worldly knowledge." Shakti, the mother Goddess, also known as Ambaa (mother), or Devi (Goddess) is considered to be the personification of Cosmic Energy in its dynamic form. It is believed that Shakti is the power and energy with which the Universe is created (by Brahma), preserved (by Vishnu), destroyed (by Shiva). And the cycle continues. Worshipped in several forms as Rajarajeswari or Kamakshi, she is the Universal mother; as Uma or Parvati, she is the gentle consort of Shiva; as Meenakshi - she is the queen of Shiva; as Durga riding the tiger and bearing weaponry she is fearless in her battle against the demonic or the egotistic forces of man; and as in the angry and terrifying Kaali, she destroys and devours all forms of evil. In fact, she is also the personification of time, her dark form symbolic of future, which is beyond our knowledge. Devi, Kali, Bhagavati, Bhavani, Ambal, Ambika, Jagadambe, Kamesvari, Ganga, Uma, Chandi, Chamundi, Lalita, Gauri, Kundalini, Tara, Rajesvari, Tripurasundari, etc., are all forms of Shakti.
Radha, Durga, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, and Savitri are also five names of the same Shakti.Shakti is the energy aspect of the Lord. Inherent in God and inseparable like heat from fire. As Maya, by which the Brahma creating the universe is able to make itself appear to be different from what it really is, or the unmanifested state, when manifest, is the universe of name and form. Electricity, magnetism, heat, light, the five elements and their combination, are all external manifestation of Shakti. Intelligence, discrimination, psychic power and will are all Her internal manifestation. She keeps up the lila (play) of the Lord through the gunas, namely sattva, rajas and tamas. She lies dormant in the muladhara chakra at the base of the spine, in the form of coiled-up energy known as the kundalini shakti, She is at the center of the life of the universe, She is the primal force of life that underlies all existence. She is the energy in the sun, the fragrance in the flowers, the beauty in the landscape, the Gayatri or the blessed Mother in the Vedas, colour in the rainbow, nectar in the flowers, intelligence in the mind, potency of cures, power in sages, devotion in bhaktas, samyama and samadhi in yogis. A poet would describe Shakti as nature itself: the whole world is Her body, mountains Her bones, rivers Her veins, ocean Her bladder, sun and moon Her eyes, wind Her breath and fire Her mouth.The worship of Shakti reminds us that one needs to free oneself from desires, which leads to the chaotic state of our mind. We all are prisoner of desires-like nursing an ambition to work for a MNC firm, or having a Miss World look alike as one's wife, or having an apartment in an upmarket high rise, or acquiring an Rs 1 lakh worth flat TV... the list becomes endless.
No sooner have you satisfied one the other crops up its heads like the demon Mahishasur or Ravan. As long as there are desires within, the mind remains agitated---a state when one is unable to concentrate and shies away from contemplation and meditation. In order to fulfill the desires we are willing to go to any length-beg, borrow or steal. In fact, the craving is natural for one's societal importance is valued by one's acquisitions. Moreso in a consumerist culture we presently live in. Burdened by our limitless desires we distance ourselves from the promise of higher degree of consciousness: happy in our cloistered world of simple consciousness from which we hatched.
Shakti chastises the believer, the devout, the seeker to find one's true nature beyond name and form. Explaining the process Eckhart Tolle, The power of now, says, "When your consciousness is directed outward, mind and world arise. When it is directed inward, it realises its own Source and returns home into the Unmanifested ."Shakti has the power to release us from our "I" centric existence that imprisons us in emotions like jealousy, anger, lust, envy and pride; and, more importantly, is capable of making ordinary mortals a Gyaneshwar, a Ramkrishna Parmahansa, a Tukaram et al.
What better way to stop the mind from its ramblings? Bestow 'salt and sugar' of divinity in rituals and festivals, ceremonies and celebrations. But there is something beyond too as a savant remarked: "While you pray you talk to God when you meditate God talks to you."Meditation, and more so disciplined meditation, is like taking your mind (remember we only take our bodies) to an aerobic class. Once ushered to the borders of that world you need to knock at the door repeatedly to experience the eternal bliss and self-realisation. What happens then? "Spiritual consciousness bring with it an illuminating understanding of the life and order of the universe, and a brilliant intellectual enlightenment which makes even the most complex problem of life seem simple and clear; coupled to these is a sense of lofty moral elevation and a sense of exaltation and joyousness impossible to describe. There comes also a conviction of immortality -not a feeling that one shall have it , but a certainty than one already has it," writes Dr Rolf Alexander, a physician who worked at Mayo Clinic and acutely aware of the limits of modern medicine travelled to Tibet and India in search of ancient, universal, healing techniques. Dr Alexander explored the body/mind connection and its capacity to activate the vital life force residing within each of us and penned the self-help book, The Healing Power of the Mind.
Don't forget that every individual is born with divinity, though dormant. And only the worship of shakti is capable of arousing the same As Goddess Kali's best known devotee Parmhansa Ramkrishna put it: "You cannot realize him if you have the least bit of attachment in you. A thread with ever so few ragged fibres won't pass through the eye of a needle."
Hiren Kumar Bose
Published in Shakti, Times 2005
Six days prior to Durga Puja every devout Bengali household wakes up before sunrise to soak in the festivity related to the coming of Goddess Durga in their neighbourhood pandal--- listening to the Chandi Path being played on the All India Radio. I still remember my childhood days spent in Ambala Cantonment getting up bleary eyed, still wrapped in a quilt as the Sanskrit shlokas extolling the virtues of the demon slayer consumed the immediate surroundings. That was also the first time I got introduced the word 'shakti'.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Shakti Rupenu Sanghastita
Namastasyae Namastasyae Namastasye Namo Namah.
(I bow down to the Goddess who manifests herself as shakti (power and energy) in everything, living and non living).
As I grew up I began to understand that belief in Shakti or the feminine aspect of divinity was an integral, and somewhat popular, element of the Hindu religious fabric.
Shakti is symbolically female; but it is, in reality, neither male nor female. It is only a force, which manifests itself in various forms. For instance in the case of cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons it has been solely gender specific, namely Katrina, Rita, Laura etc.Smart and politically correct, as the Hindu sages were they divinised everything, the rituals and festivals, ceremonies and celebrations so that man engaged in the desired objects of the world was always reminded of the Supreme Being. Elaborates Vedanta scholar A Parthasarathy elaborates in "The symbols of Hindu Gods and rituals": "Hinduism has personified wealth and riches in the form of goddess Laxmi. So a man who runs after material wealth is made to remember the goddess in all his transactions. Thus a touch of divinity is lent to his material pursuits. Another man may pursue knowledge. Knowledge is personified as the goddess Saraswati. So his mind is also drawn to the higher even though he is engaged in the pursuit of worldly knowledge." Shakti, the mother Goddess, also known as Ambaa (mother), or Devi (Goddess) is considered to be the personification of Cosmic Energy in its dynamic form. It is believed that Shakti is the power and energy with which the Universe is created (by Brahma), preserved (by Vishnu), destroyed (by Shiva). And the cycle continues. Worshipped in several forms as Rajarajeswari or Kamakshi, she is the Universal mother; as Uma or Parvati, she is the gentle consort of Shiva; as Meenakshi - she is the queen of Shiva; as Durga riding the tiger and bearing weaponry she is fearless in her battle against the demonic or the egotistic forces of man; and as in the angry and terrifying Kaali, she destroys and devours all forms of evil. In fact, she is also the personification of time, her dark form symbolic of future, which is beyond our knowledge. Devi, Kali, Bhagavati, Bhavani, Ambal, Ambika, Jagadambe, Kamesvari, Ganga, Uma, Chandi, Chamundi, Lalita, Gauri, Kundalini, Tara, Rajesvari, Tripurasundari, etc., are all forms of Shakti.
Radha, Durga, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, and Savitri are also five names of the same Shakti.Shakti is the energy aspect of the Lord. Inherent in God and inseparable like heat from fire. As Maya, by which the Brahma creating the universe is able to make itself appear to be different from what it really is, or the unmanifested state, when manifest, is the universe of name and form. Electricity, magnetism, heat, light, the five elements and their combination, are all external manifestation of Shakti. Intelligence, discrimination, psychic power and will are all Her internal manifestation. She keeps up the lila (play) of the Lord through the gunas, namely sattva, rajas and tamas. She lies dormant in the muladhara chakra at the base of the spine, in the form of coiled-up energy known as the kundalini shakti, She is at the center of the life of the universe, She is the primal force of life that underlies all existence. She is the energy in the sun, the fragrance in the flowers, the beauty in the landscape, the Gayatri or the blessed Mother in the Vedas, colour in the rainbow, nectar in the flowers, intelligence in the mind, potency of cures, power in sages, devotion in bhaktas, samyama and samadhi in yogis. A poet would describe Shakti as nature itself: the whole world is Her body, mountains Her bones, rivers Her veins, ocean Her bladder, sun and moon Her eyes, wind Her breath and fire Her mouth.The worship of Shakti reminds us that one needs to free oneself from desires, which leads to the chaotic state of our mind. We all are prisoner of desires-like nursing an ambition to work for a MNC firm, or having a Miss World look alike as one's wife, or having an apartment in an upmarket high rise, or acquiring an Rs 1 lakh worth flat TV... the list becomes endless.
No sooner have you satisfied one the other crops up its heads like the demon Mahishasur or Ravan. As long as there are desires within, the mind remains agitated---a state when one is unable to concentrate and shies away from contemplation and meditation. In order to fulfill the desires we are willing to go to any length-beg, borrow or steal. In fact, the craving is natural for one's societal importance is valued by one's acquisitions. Moreso in a consumerist culture we presently live in. Burdened by our limitless desires we distance ourselves from the promise of higher degree of consciousness: happy in our cloistered world of simple consciousness from which we hatched.
Shakti chastises the believer, the devout, the seeker to find one's true nature beyond name and form. Explaining the process Eckhart Tolle, The power of now, says, "When your consciousness is directed outward, mind and world arise. When it is directed inward, it realises its own Source and returns home into the Unmanifested ."Shakti has the power to release us from our "I" centric existence that imprisons us in emotions like jealousy, anger, lust, envy and pride; and, more importantly, is capable of making ordinary mortals a Gyaneshwar, a Ramkrishna Parmahansa, a Tukaram et al.
What better way to stop the mind from its ramblings? Bestow 'salt and sugar' of divinity in rituals and festivals, ceremonies and celebrations. But there is something beyond too as a savant remarked: "While you pray you talk to God when you meditate God talks to you."Meditation, and more so disciplined meditation, is like taking your mind (remember we only take our bodies) to an aerobic class. Once ushered to the borders of that world you need to knock at the door repeatedly to experience the eternal bliss and self-realisation. What happens then? "Spiritual consciousness bring with it an illuminating understanding of the life and order of the universe, and a brilliant intellectual enlightenment which makes even the most complex problem of life seem simple and clear; coupled to these is a sense of lofty moral elevation and a sense of exaltation and joyousness impossible to describe. There comes also a conviction of immortality -not a feeling that one shall have it , but a certainty than one already has it," writes Dr Rolf Alexander, a physician who worked at Mayo Clinic and acutely aware of the limits of modern medicine travelled to Tibet and India in search of ancient, universal, healing techniques. Dr Alexander explored the body/mind connection and its capacity to activate the vital life force residing within each of us and penned the self-help book, The Healing Power of the Mind.
Don't forget that every individual is born with divinity, though dormant. And only the worship of shakti is capable of arousing the same As Goddess Kali's best known devotee Parmhansa Ramkrishna put it: "You cannot realize him if you have the least bit of attachment in you. A thread with ever so few ragged fibres won't pass through the eye of a needle."
Friday, October 28, 2005
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Devrai
Devrai: Story of a Schizophrenic
Hiren Kumar Bose
Published on www.chowk.com
October 18, 2005
You`re married living in a small Indian town, have a school-going child, and besides are burdened with an elder brother who is a patient of schizophrenia. What does one do? Despite an uncooperative husband you keep your brother with you, as Sonali Kulkarni does in the film "Devrai", take care of his needs, attend to him and see to it that he gets the proper medical care and is rehabilitated. May be that`s the reason enough that Devrai (in Marathi with English subtitles) has struck a chord among viewers and even won several awards.
`Devrai` is an entertaining human drama demystifying schizophrenia. Funded by the Maharashtra Seva Samiti Organisation (Canada) and the Canadian International Development Agency as part of the reach-out programme of SAA(Schizophrenia Awareness Association), the film aims at restoring hope and self-reliance among patients with schizophrenia.
According to statistics provided by the SAA, about one per cent of the Indian population is affected by schizophrenia out of which only 40 per cent seem to have access to medical care while the others tend to degenerate due to lack of medical facilities, ignorance, superstition and fear of stigma.
Most of us seem to cope reasonably well, when it comes to understanding and living with any physical illness. But when faced with an individual suffering from a mental problem, it becomes increasingly difficult to comprehend and accept what is going on. A psychiatric ailment, namely schizophrenia, smoulders for many years, before the symptoms become increasingly difficult for the near and dear ones to tolerate. It is often after many months or years that the patient has his first contact with a psychiatrist. The common symptoms of this disease include a detachment from reality, either an abusive violent behaviour or a withdrawn depressive one, and a surfeit of abnormal feelings, concepts and perceptions, often called hallucinations and delusions. The individual thus afflicted is also prone to extreme violence, both towards others and to himself or herself. Treatment involves medicines, counselling and often using Electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) or shock therapy as is known in the layman`s language.
``Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that affects a person`s thinking process and has nothing to do with personality. The sooner we can rid society of this wrong notion of dual personalities, the better it will be for all concerned. That is where the importance of awareness comes in,`` says consulting psychiatrist Dr Soumitra Pathare.
Devrai is a sacred grove where diverse nature is given protection under the umbrella of faith, with the realization that each and every part of nature is sacred in this fabric of creation. The concept of the sacred grove finds its place in many regions. In Kerala they have the "Paamb Kaav", which is in fact a sacred grove offered to snakes. After declaring a plot of land as a "kaav" no cultivation or gathering is allowed. Gradually the land is taken over by anthills and then snakes. In today`s chaotic world we need to learn from this wisdom and create a space for every mind to realize its potential without being judgmental, discriminatory or condemnatory.
The story of Sheshshahi (Atul Kulkarni), a neglected victim of schizophrenia whose past unfolds as the fragments of memories of his close ones are put together. We enter into his mind and travel with him into the unknown world of broken reality. Then begins the process of his recovery. His own struggle from within and the struggle and compassion of his caregivers once again give meaning to his life.
Shesh is completely obsessed by `Devrai`. So much so that his mind renders a whole `Devrai` for him with mango trees and creepers anywhere, anytime. The viewer, in fact, gets inside his mind and have glimpse of his imagination. The plot moves along the path of Shesh`s recovery assisted by his sister`s utmost care and his own inner will to be sane.
The film has layers and conveys its message subtly. It tries to help people in understanding the idea that mental diseases like schizophrenia are very similar to physical ones in the fact that they are curable and are caused by inconsistencies in the body. And of course there is the message to save the environment.
Directed by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar, Devrai isn`t only remarkable for the way it crystallises the pain-lashed protagonist Shesh`s twisted mind but also because it goes into the minds of those who suffer with the ill person.
Very often it`s the patient`s loved ones who require infinite patience and, in fact, suffer a trauma equal to the sick person. In "Devrai" we see how the schizophrenic`s sister is positioned in a precarious seesaw between her brother and peeved husband.
The husband is rightly concerned about the effect that his wife`s brother`s unpredictable behaviour would have on his professional and domestic life.
The narrative never resorts to cheap black-and-white simplifications to drive in its point. Instead we see the characters as being trapped in a situation that they cannot control and are most of the time unable to fathom fully.
Shesh is lost in his own world as well as lost in the world of normal people. Compassionate people including a girlfriend from the past who agrees to accompany him back to his village to look after him surround him blessedly. Such idealism cuts into the reality of the situation where mentally ill people are not just shunned, the true nature of their illness often remains undetected.
Devrai is remarkably successful in piercing and probing the protagonist`s restless mind. Layer by layer the film penetrates Shesh`s psychological trauma and permits the people around him (that includes the viewers) to come emotionally closer to him.
Cinematographer Debu Deodhar picks through the thick foliage of the greenery almost as if it were symbolic of the tangles in the protagonist`s mind.
If you`ve empathized with Russel Crowe in A Beautiful Mind you`re likely to do the same with Sesh for he is superbly competent in conveying his fixations, the rages that follow, and the anxieties. His portrayal of a patient after ECT (shock therapy) and when he is on schizophrenia medication is brilliant. The blank dead look is perfect. Even his eyes look dulled and he manages to convey the "catatonia" of such a patient brilliantly.
The movie scores in depiction of the family support groups and their interaction. The support extended by the patients to one another is very touching and is usually how such patient groups function and progress.
The entire film then revolves around how the patient, his family and relatives come to terms with the disease, how it affects their day to day life, the various treatments and the misconceptions around the treatment, and the anxieties of all concerned. One normally has absolutely no idea of what it entails, to care for a person with a mental illness. The unpredictability, the fears, the social stigmas, the everyday changing behaviour patterns, the wild fears and the phobias that this brings about, are all brilliantly captured.
Rarely does Indian cinema take on the role of a teacher, or advisor, or mentor; and Devrai does it with élan. Pertinent to what actor Om Puri said recently of films being too important a medium to be left only to entertain.
Hiren Kumar Bose
Published on www.chowk.com
October 18, 2005
You`re married living in a small Indian town, have a school-going child, and besides are burdened with an elder brother who is a patient of schizophrenia. What does one do? Despite an uncooperative husband you keep your brother with you, as Sonali Kulkarni does in the film "Devrai", take care of his needs, attend to him and see to it that he gets the proper medical care and is rehabilitated. May be that`s the reason enough that Devrai (in Marathi with English subtitles) has struck a chord among viewers and even won several awards.
`Devrai` is an entertaining human drama demystifying schizophrenia. Funded by the Maharashtra Seva Samiti Organisation (Canada) and the Canadian International Development Agency as part of the reach-out programme of SAA(Schizophrenia Awareness Association), the film aims at restoring hope and self-reliance among patients with schizophrenia.
According to statistics provided by the SAA, about one per cent of the Indian population is affected by schizophrenia out of which only 40 per cent seem to have access to medical care while the others tend to degenerate due to lack of medical facilities, ignorance, superstition and fear of stigma.
Most of us seem to cope reasonably well, when it comes to understanding and living with any physical illness. But when faced with an individual suffering from a mental problem, it becomes increasingly difficult to comprehend and accept what is going on. A psychiatric ailment, namely schizophrenia, smoulders for many years, before the symptoms become increasingly difficult for the near and dear ones to tolerate. It is often after many months or years that the patient has his first contact with a psychiatrist. The common symptoms of this disease include a detachment from reality, either an abusive violent behaviour or a withdrawn depressive one, and a surfeit of abnormal feelings, concepts and perceptions, often called hallucinations and delusions. The individual thus afflicted is also prone to extreme violence, both towards others and to himself or herself. Treatment involves medicines, counselling and often using Electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) or shock therapy as is known in the layman`s language.
``Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that affects a person`s thinking process and has nothing to do with personality. The sooner we can rid society of this wrong notion of dual personalities, the better it will be for all concerned. That is where the importance of awareness comes in,`` says consulting psychiatrist Dr Soumitra Pathare.
Devrai is a sacred grove where diverse nature is given protection under the umbrella of faith, with the realization that each and every part of nature is sacred in this fabric of creation. The concept of the sacred grove finds its place in many regions. In Kerala they have the "Paamb Kaav", which is in fact a sacred grove offered to snakes. After declaring a plot of land as a "kaav" no cultivation or gathering is allowed. Gradually the land is taken over by anthills and then snakes. In today`s chaotic world we need to learn from this wisdom and create a space for every mind to realize its potential without being judgmental, discriminatory or condemnatory.
The story of Sheshshahi (Atul Kulkarni), a neglected victim of schizophrenia whose past unfolds as the fragments of memories of his close ones are put together. We enter into his mind and travel with him into the unknown world of broken reality. Then begins the process of his recovery. His own struggle from within and the struggle and compassion of his caregivers once again give meaning to his life.
Shesh is completely obsessed by `Devrai`. So much so that his mind renders a whole `Devrai` for him with mango trees and creepers anywhere, anytime. The viewer, in fact, gets inside his mind and have glimpse of his imagination. The plot moves along the path of Shesh`s recovery assisted by his sister`s utmost care and his own inner will to be sane.
The film has layers and conveys its message subtly. It tries to help people in understanding the idea that mental diseases like schizophrenia are very similar to physical ones in the fact that they are curable and are caused by inconsistencies in the body. And of course there is the message to save the environment.
Directed by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar, Devrai isn`t only remarkable for the way it crystallises the pain-lashed protagonist Shesh`s twisted mind but also because it goes into the minds of those who suffer with the ill person.
Very often it`s the patient`s loved ones who require infinite patience and, in fact, suffer a trauma equal to the sick person. In "Devrai" we see how the schizophrenic`s sister is positioned in a precarious seesaw between her brother and peeved husband.
The husband is rightly concerned about the effect that his wife`s brother`s unpredictable behaviour would have on his professional and domestic life.
The narrative never resorts to cheap black-and-white simplifications to drive in its point. Instead we see the characters as being trapped in a situation that they cannot control and are most of the time unable to fathom fully.
Shesh is lost in his own world as well as lost in the world of normal people. Compassionate people including a girlfriend from the past who agrees to accompany him back to his village to look after him surround him blessedly. Such idealism cuts into the reality of the situation where mentally ill people are not just shunned, the true nature of their illness often remains undetected.
Devrai is remarkably successful in piercing and probing the protagonist`s restless mind. Layer by layer the film penetrates Shesh`s psychological trauma and permits the people around him (that includes the viewers) to come emotionally closer to him.
Cinematographer Debu Deodhar picks through the thick foliage of the greenery almost as if it were symbolic of the tangles in the protagonist`s mind.
If you`ve empathized with Russel Crowe in A Beautiful Mind you`re likely to do the same with Sesh for he is superbly competent in conveying his fixations, the rages that follow, and the anxieties. His portrayal of a patient after ECT (shock therapy) and when he is on schizophrenia medication is brilliant. The blank dead look is perfect. Even his eyes look dulled and he manages to convey the "catatonia" of such a patient brilliantly.
The movie scores in depiction of the family support groups and their interaction. The support extended by the patients to one another is very touching and is usually how such patient groups function and progress.
The entire film then revolves around how the patient, his family and relatives come to terms with the disease, how it affects their day to day life, the various treatments and the misconceptions around the treatment, and the anxieties of all concerned. One normally has absolutely no idea of what it entails, to care for a person with a mental illness. The unpredictability, the fears, the social stigmas, the everyday changing behaviour patterns, the wild fears and the phobias that this brings about, are all brilliantly captured.
Rarely does Indian cinema take on the role of a teacher, or advisor, or mentor; and Devrai does it with élan. Pertinent to what actor Om Puri said recently of films being too important a medium to be left only to entertain.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
The Naked Fakir
The Naked Fakir
Knowing Gandhi: My trials with the man, his philosophy
Hiren Kumar Bose
Published on www.chowk.com October 3, 2005
'The naked fakir', Churchill called him. `Greatest man ever who walked on the earth...` said Einstein.
So diverse were people`s opinion about him. Intriguingly, we Indians feel privileged and fortunate unlike the Westerners when comes to `knowing` the Mahatma or Bapu as we address him as and what he stood for. Because we have been always guided by the thought: he was one of us! That includes me too because while in school we wrote essays on him, viewed Films Division documentaries, could not escape the news items on his birth and death anniversaries and had to sit through speeches delivered by men-in-khadi, the so called sole inheritors of Bapu`s legacy.
The fact is that we hardly know much about Gandhi`s philosophy, and if at all are remotely familiar we consider him to be like a mummy to be raised and displayed during his birth and death anniversaries. Our understanding of Gandhi`s philosophy has been second-hand: knowing him
through what others have said and practiced. Let us face it that Gandhi needs to be evaluated on the basis of his own outlook and his own policies.
In this era of unspeakable global violence the world at large is feeling the need for a revisit and re-envision a trans-cultural understanding of nonviolence. Like it or not the ethics of the everyday politics is being affected through one of modernity`s greatest spokespersons on peace and nonviolence--Mahatma Gandhi. A reading of Gandhi`s works and understanding of present day thinkers brings out the contemporariness of his philosophy.
The moment the image of the frail figure of Gandhi rises before us, several questions assault us. Jai Narain Sharma, Chairman, Department of Gandhian Studies, Punjab University, Chandigarh, asks what is the Mahatma`s relevance today and for the future? What inspiration can we draw from his life? What light can his thoughts and wisdom shed on our problem? How does his way of life affect our course of action in private and public affairs?
Gandhi is slowly being understood as a social theorist, a moral-spiritual philosopher and a social-political activist. Challenging the dominant world structure of his time, the colonial system he struggled with some of the most significant issues of our time: violence, racism, oppression of women, role of religion in the modern world, the nature of capitalism and of course conflict between ethnic and religious communities. Rightly so those engaged in peace mobilization, conflict resolution et al are examining his theory and praxis on these issues and exploring and evaluating his legacy.
Many feel that it is not the relevance of Gandhi to our times that is in question but the acceptance of that relevance by the world at large today for we are slowly waking up to the fact, though belatedly that we can not afford to profit from violence. And if we do resort to violence, it would be at our own peril as the US is realizing in Afghanistan and Iraq. Thanks to its `war against terror` and its US centric worldview it has made more enemies than friends.
Many believe that non-violent action for political ends is only practical under the particular set of circumstances, which prevailed in India during Gandhi`s time. In fact, besides bringing the majority Hindus under its spell, non-violent action became the mantra of the Muslim Pathans of North-West Frontier Province. These men, with a long tradition of military prowess and skill in war, quickly came under the leadership of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan.
The need is not just to deify Gandhi as an apostle of nonviolence who transcended the messiness of our complex humanity, but also to debate his global legacy, understanding the man himself and his everyday application of ahimsa. The basic tenets of Gandhi`s belief were truth, non-violence and peace: the cornerstones of civilization.
"Had we not adopted this code of life primeval humans would not have been able to form societies and become civilized, " said Tushar Gandhi, managing trustee of Mahatma Gandhi Trust and the Mahatma`s great grandson to this writer.
For non-violence is not about walking away because one cannot resist or because one is afraid. It is about resisting without committing violent actions in the face of violence. Non-violence is the only hope we have to end this cycle of violence as the world witnessed with South Africa`s Truth and Reconciliation Commission which brought victims of Apartheid and the perpetrators on the same platform in order to resolve their conflicts. One of the longest running violent conflict between the Irish Republican Army and the British, came to an end only when a nonviolent initiative was made.
The relevance of a man or his message can be said to have many aspects. It can be immediate or remote; it can be local, regional or general; it can be personally relevant to some or universal for all. Like the Governor of Illinois, George Ryan, quoting Gandhi`s remark against revenge: "an eye for an eye and soon the whole world is blind" commuted the death sentences of all the 167 persons on the death row
in his state in January, 2003.
Or as Narayan Desai, son of Mahadev Desai, secretary of the Mahatma, writes in "Gandhi Will Live On" about how a priest changed peoples` heart with his 21-day long fast. Following widespread hunger in the north western provinces of Brazil several families headed for Sao Paulo which scared the citizens who appealed that shopkeepers selling grains be given gun licenses. Hurt by this crass inhumanity Father Kuns, a clergyman residing in the slums went on a fast, which continued for 21 days. Initially, most laughed at him. Gradually, a few came and asked him if they could join him in his fast. The Father said, "No one should for more than one day as a mark of sympathy.
What I would like you to do is something better. Those who feel real sympathy for the hunger-stricken refugees should put up boards in front of their homes inviting them in. Tell them you are ready to share you bread with them till the food lasts. When there is no more food you will share your prayers with them." On the last day of Father Kuns fast there were 10,000 homes in San Paulo ready to share their meals with the refugees. The idea of providing shopkeepers with guns had simply evaporated.
Take the case of the Inuit fishermen of North Pole in Canada who organized a satyagraha to stop Nato`s air exercises which had affected
the fish breeding depriving the Inuit`s of their food. They made a human chain, surrounding about a mile-long airport area, which resulted in Nato abandoning its exercises.
For those of us who believe that non-violent action was once practical but now impractical should need to do rethink. Is satyagraha relevant for the west? The issue was argued a long time ago by an Indian sociologist, Krishnalal Shridharani, in his doctoral thesis at Columbia University (and later in his book, War Without Violence) that the West was more suitable than India for the technique: "My contact with the Western world has led me to think that, contrary to popular belief, satyagraha, once consciously and deliberately adopted, has more fertile fields in which to grow and
flourish in the West than in the Orient. Like war, satyagraha demands public spirit, self-sacrifice, organization, endurance and discipline for its successful operation, and I have found these qualities displayed in Western communities more than my own. Perhaps the best craftsmen in the art of violence may still be the most effective wielders of non- violent direct action."
"Nonviolence", wrote Gandhi in 1920, "does not mean meek submission to
the will of the evil-doer, but it means the pitting of one`s whole soul against the will of the tyrant.... And so I am not pleading for India to practice non-violence because she is weak. I want her to practice non-violence being conscious of her strength and power."
It was Gandhi`s primary contribution, not only to argue for, but also to develop practically non-violent means of struggle in politics for those situations in which war and other types of political violence were usually used. Though pioneering, and sometimes inadequate, his work was sufficient to put him outside the traditional categories. Gandhi was neither a conscientious objector nor a supporter of violence in politics. He was an experimenter in the development of "war without violence".
Gandhian institutions worldwide are experimenting with `war without violence` in countries like the US, Australia, Great Britain, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Bolivia and others. For instance Fundacion Mahatma Gandhi, Colombia was set up to educate the beneficiaries (12-year-old and upwards, those are of scarce economic resources) on teachings of Gandhi philosophy so that they are reflected in them and could acquire a true commitment of service in the progress and well-being of the Colombians.
Gandhi will remain relevant as the kinds of questions he asked nearly eight decades ago are the ones, which now face both the underdeveloped and the post-industrial societies. Take for instance India. It can pride itself today as being a booming economy with Sensex hitting the roof and the multi million-dollar acquisitions by Indian MNCs and foreign investments pouring into India. Just the day when the Mumbai Stock Exchange Index breached the 8000 mark the newspapers reported the death of 50 tribals who died after consuming flesh of rotting animals. Then there are regular reports of farmers driven to suicide due to financial ruin.
Questions Tushar, "Will the Indian industries and the foreign investors establish industries in these country`s backward districts and give employment to the starving destitute? Unlikely. We will never have a Microsoft Technology Development Center in Kalahandi or a British Telecom Call Centre in Thane district."
But even today Gandhiji`s vision of Gramudyog, the technology of Khadi, not just the Khadi yarn and textile but also all the traditional crafts and
skills which if properly administered can provide a supplemental income to these impoverished millions and help stop migration to cities where one can a living by just selling scrap.
As Tushar explains, "A charkha in every house in villages will not be dependant on the elusive electricity which inhibits the spread of industry to these regions, but a charkha in every family and handlooms at least two in every village will ensure that the villagers will be able to manufacture with their own labour enough to clothe their families and the surplus sold for the much needed cash. And then if as a social obligation all of us decide to use at least one item from the village industry sector every day in our lives we will generate enough commerce for the uplift of these villagers."
Now when salient economic inequalities become predominant, and the unprecedented rate of ecological degradation continues, which are likely to cause some of humanity`s worst problems as we all are by the market mantra: `dil mange more` Gandhi`s concept of civilization rings a bell.
Gandhi said: `Civilization, in the real sense of the term, consists not in the multiplication, but in the deliberate and voluntary restriction of wants. This alone promotes real happiness and contentment. `
Inspired by the Jain philosophy of aparigraha, the phrase `restriction of wants` means the civilized person is not the one who would like to eat and drink magnificently, have a lot of sexual partners and so on, but finds it necessary to settle for less; instead it is the one who has considered these matters thoughtfully and has come to prefer what is reasonable and sensible.
As Dr Mark Lindley who has taught courses at Bogazici University Istanbul) on modern South Asian history and on Gandhi and whose Publication include "Gandhi`s Challenge Now to the Affluent", writes, "The idea is challenging to us because it undermines a basic precept of Capitalism - that more overall is always better - which we have got in the habit of regarding as vital to our interests. "
Though Gandhi never used the word `ecology`, but he did suggest that globalized industrialism could become a menace. He said: `God forbid that India should ever take to industrialism after the manner of the West. The economic imperialism of a single tiny island kingdom [England] is today keeping the [human] world in chains. If an entire nation of 300 millions [that`s what he said and he meant India; but now the USA has that many, and India and China have each more than 1000 million] took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip the world bare like locusts.
The unprecedented need to co-operate worldwide, and yet the mounting
and ever more obvious economic unfairness worldwide - heightens the value of genuine concern about poverty. Here is what Gandhi told his disciples, toward the end of his life, as a farewell talisman: `Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to `him`. ... Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore [to] him ... [some] control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to `swaraj`
[self-rule] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?`
With liberalisation and privatisation as accepted policy, the Bharat verses India divide that Gandhi had intuited long ago, is, if anything, rapidly and disastrously growing. The swaraj Gandhi dreamt of is becoming an impossible dream.
It is widely believed that Gandhi was simply a personification of Indian traditions. Dr Joan Bondurant of the University of California demonstrates that wherever Gandhi drew upon traditional Indian concepts, he gave them a fresh and vital interpretation, which differed significantly from the original. Gandhi`s basic assumption that one must not "accept" or "understand" evil but fight it, although supported by some, also was in diametrical opposition to other schools of Hindu philosophy which held that one must not fight evil, but
transcend it.
Gandhi`s activity and sense of struggle not only challenged (or ignored) those schools of Hindu thought. They went contrary to widely established patterns of actual behaviour. In fact Gandhi found that passivity and submission, the common traits among Indians of his day were the main enemy blocking the way to independence. Gandhi is widely credited with a major influence in their reduction and replacement by action, determination and courageous self-reliance.
Many of us, though we grudgingly address him as the Father of the Nation are unwilling to accept that Gandhi`s non-violence method in any way ontributed to the fall of the British empire in India but strongly feel that the British left because it was no longer profitable for them to hold on to the subcontinent. It`s because our history as like others is a record of violent upheavals and not non violent struggles. The new spirit of resistance and independence among the Indians to which Gandhi contributed did increase the difficulties and expense of maintaining the British Raj, especially during the major non-co-operation and civil disobedience campaigns. But even in purely economic terms of trade with India, Gandhi`s program had a significant impact. This is particularly demonstrated by the impact of the boycott during the 1930-31 civil disobedience campaign which coincided with the world depression, and also importantly led to the drop in purchases of British goods by Indians.
Many of us are not aware that the British Secretary of State for India, in the House of Commons in late 1930, according to Gandhian economist J. C. Kumarappa, credited the general depression with a 25 per cent fall in the export trade to India, and credited the balance of 18 per cent in the fall directly to the boycott programme carried on by the Indian National Congress. The total British exports to India according to statistical abstracts declined (in millions of pounds sterling) from 90.6 in 1924, to 85.0 by 1927, then to 78.2 in 1929 and in the boycott year, 1930, to 52.9. The total import of cotton piece-goods by India from all countries rose from 1.82 billion yards in 1924 to 1.94 billion yards in 1929 and declined only to 1.92 billion yards in 1930. However, the British export of the same commodity to India fell from 1.25 billion yards in 1924 to 1.08 billion yards in 1929-a decline of 14 per cent. Then it fell to 0.72 billion yards in 1930-a decline of 42.4 per cent. Between October 1930 and April 1931, when the boycott was at its height, there was a decline of 84 per cent.
Gandhi`s non-violent action is incapable of wielding effective political power, and is hence irrelevant for practical politicians. "I believe, and everybody must grant", wrote Gandhi, "that no Government can exist for a single moment with out the cooperation of the people, willing or forced, and if people suddenly withdraw their cooperation in every detail, the Government will come to a standstill."
By withdrawing the cooperation and obedience of the subjects, Gandhi sought to cut off important sources of the ruler`s power. Every British Government and Viceroy that had to deal with him and his movement would have vigorously denied the view that Gandhi was ignorant of the realities of political power and that his technique of action was impotent.
In a most revealing address to both Houses of the Indian Legislative Assembly in July 1930, the Viceroy, Lord Irwin declared: "In my judgment and in that of my Government it [the civil disobedience movement] is a deliberate attempt to coerce established authority by mass action, and... it must be regarded as unconstitutional and dangerously subversive. Mass action, even if it is intended by its promoters to be non-violent, is nothing but the application of force under another form, and when it has as its avowed object the making of Government impossible, a Government is bound either to resist or abdicate." "So long as the Civil Disobedience Movement persists, we must fight it with all our strength."
Apparently those who have dismissed Gandhi and his technique has some re-thinking to do and rewrite the textbooks not merely by continuing to deify Gandhi but dwell on the praxis of non-violence and help understand the contemporariness of the tool which continues to affect change in us.
Times read: 6317 (as on October 18,2005) Interacts: 229
Knowing Gandhi: My trials with the man, his philosophy
Hiren Kumar Bose
Published on www.chowk.com October 3, 2005
'The naked fakir', Churchill called him. `Greatest man ever who walked on the earth...` said Einstein.
So diverse were people`s opinion about him. Intriguingly, we Indians feel privileged and fortunate unlike the Westerners when comes to `knowing` the Mahatma or Bapu as we address him as and what he stood for. Because we have been always guided by the thought: he was one of us! That includes me too because while in school we wrote essays on him, viewed Films Division documentaries, could not escape the news items on his birth and death anniversaries and had to sit through speeches delivered by men-in-khadi, the so called sole inheritors of Bapu`s legacy.
The fact is that we hardly know much about Gandhi`s philosophy, and if at all are remotely familiar we consider him to be like a mummy to be raised and displayed during his birth and death anniversaries. Our understanding of Gandhi`s philosophy has been second-hand: knowing him
through what others have said and practiced. Let us face it that Gandhi needs to be evaluated on the basis of his own outlook and his own policies.
In this era of unspeakable global violence the world at large is feeling the need for a revisit and re-envision a trans-cultural understanding of nonviolence. Like it or not the ethics of the everyday politics is being affected through one of modernity`s greatest spokespersons on peace and nonviolence--Mahatma Gandhi. A reading of Gandhi`s works and understanding of present day thinkers brings out the contemporariness of his philosophy.
The moment the image of the frail figure of Gandhi rises before us, several questions assault us. Jai Narain Sharma, Chairman, Department of Gandhian Studies, Punjab University, Chandigarh, asks what is the Mahatma`s relevance today and for the future? What inspiration can we draw from his life? What light can his thoughts and wisdom shed on our problem? How does his way of life affect our course of action in private and public affairs?
Gandhi is slowly being understood as a social theorist, a moral-spiritual philosopher and a social-political activist. Challenging the dominant world structure of his time, the colonial system he struggled with some of the most significant issues of our time: violence, racism, oppression of women, role of religion in the modern world, the nature of capitalism and of course conflict between ethnic and religious communities. Rightly so those engaged in peace mobilization, conflict resolution et al are examining his theory and praxis on these issues and exploring and evaluating his legacy.
Many feel that it is not the relevance of Gandhi to our times that is in question but the acceptance of that relevance by the world at large today for we are slowly waking up to the fact, though belatedly that we can not afford to profit from violence. And if we do resort to violence, it would be at our own peril as the US is realizing in Afghanistan and Iraq. Thanks to its `war against terror` and its US centric worldview it has made more enemies than friends.
Many believe that non-violent action for political ends is only practical under the particular set of circumstances, which prevailed in India during Gandhi`s time. In fact, besides bringing the majority Hindus under its spell, non-violent action became the mantra of the Muslim Pathans of North-West Frontier Province. These men, with a long tradition of military prowess and skill in war, quickly came under the leadership of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan.
The need is not just to deify Gandhi as an apostle of nonviolence who transcended the messiness of our complex humanity, but also to debate his global legacy, understanding the man himself and his everyday application of ahimsa. The basic tenets of Gandhi`s belief were truth, non-violence and peace: the cornerstones of civilization.
"Had we not adopted this code of life primeval humans would not have been able to form societies and become civilized, " said Tushar Gandhi, managing trustee of Mahatma Gandhi Trust and the Mahatma`s great grandson to this writer.
For non-violence is not about walking away because one cannot resist or because one is afraid. It is about resisting without committing violent actions in the face of violence. Non-violence is the only hope we have to end this cycle of violence as the world witnessed with South Africa`s Truth and Reconciliation Commission which brought victims of Apartheid and the perpetrators on the same platform in order to resolve their conflicts. One of the longest running violent conflict between the Irish Republican Army and the British, came to an end only when a nonviolent initiative was made.
The relevance of a man or his message can be said to have many aspects. It can be immediate or remote; it can be local, regional or general; it can be personally relevant to some or universal for all. Like the Governor of Illinois, George Ryan, quoting Gandhi`s remark against revenge: "an eye for an eye and soon the whole world is blind" commuted the death sentences of all the 167 persons on the death row
in his state in January, 2003.
Or as Narayan Desai, son of Mahadev Desai, secretary of the Mahatma, writes in "Gandhi Will Live On" about how a priest changed peoples` heart with his 21-day long fast. Following widespread hunger in the north western provinces of Brazil several families headed for Sao Paulo which scared the citizens who appealed that shopkeepers selling grains be given gun licenses. Hurt by this crass inhumanity Father Kuns, a clergyman residing in the slums went on a fast, which continued for 21 days. Initially, most laughed at him. Gradually, a few came and asked him if they could join him in his fast. The Father said, "No one should for more than one day as a mark of sympathy.
What I would like you to do is something better. Those who feel real sympathy for the hunger-stricken refugees should put up boards in front of their homes inviting them in. Tell them you are ready to share you bread with them till the food lasts. When there is no more food you will share your prayers with them." On the last day of Father Kuns fast there were 10,000 homes in San Paulo ready to share their meals with the refugees. The idea of providing shopkeepers with guns had simply evaporated.
Take the case of the Inuit fishermen of North Pole in Canada who organized a satyagraha to stop Nato`s air exercises which had affected
the fish breeding depriving the Inuit`s of their food. They made a human chain, surrounding about a mile-long airport area, which resulted in Nato abandoning its exercises.
For those of us who believe that non-violent action was once practical but now impractical should need to do rethink. Is satyagraha relevant for the west? The issue was argued a long time ago by an Indian sociologist, Krishnalal Shridharani, in his doctoral thesis at Columbia University (and later in his book, War Without Violence) that the West was more suitable than India for the technique: "My contact with the Western world has led me to think that, contrary to popular belief, satyagraha, once consciously and deliberately adopted, has more fertile fields in which to grow and
flourish in the West than in the Orient. Like war, satyagraha demands public spirit, self-sacrifice, organization, endurance and discipline for its successful operation, and I have found these qualities displayed in Western communities more than my own. Perhaps the best craftsmen in the art of violence may still be the most effective wielders of non- violent direct action."
"Nonviolence", wrote Gandhi in 1920, "does not mean meek submission to
the will of the evil-doer, but it means the pitting of one`s whole soul against the will of the tyrant.... And so I am not pleading for India to practice non-violence because she is weak. I want her to practice non-violence being conscious of her strength and power."
It was Gandhi`s primary contribution, not only to argue for, but also to develop practically non-violent means of struggle in politics for those situations in which war and other types of political violence were usually used. Though pioneering, and sometimes inadequate, his work was sufficient to put him outside the traditional categories. Gandhi was neither a conscientious objector nor a supporter of violence in politics. He was an experimenter in the development of "war without violence".
Gandhian institutions worldwide are experimenting with `war without violence` in countries like the US, Australia, Great Britain, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Bolivia and others. For instance Fundacion Mahatma Gandhi, Colombia was set up to educate the beneficiaries (12-year-old and upwards, those are of scarce economic resources) on teachings of Gandhi philosophy so that they are reflected in them and could acquire a true commitment of service in the progress and well-being of the Colombians.
Gandhi will remain relevant as the kinds of questions he asked nearly eight decades ago are the ones, which now face both the underdeveloped and the post-industrial societies. Take for instance India. It can pride itself today as being a booming economy with Sensex hitting the roof and the multi million-dollar acquisitions by Indian MNCs and foreign investments pouring into India. Just the day when the Mumbai Stock Exchange Index breached the 8000 mark the newspapers reported the death of 50 tribals who died after consuming flesh of rotting animals. Then there are regular reports of farmers driven to suicide due to financial ruin.
Questions Tushar, "Will the Indian industries and the foreign investors establish industries in these country`s backward districts and give employment to the starving destitute? Unlikely. We will never have a Microsoft Technology Development Center in Kalahandi or a British Telecom Call Centre in Thane district."
But even today Gandhiji`s vision of Gramudyog, the technology of Khadi, not just the Khadi yarn and textile but also all the traditional crafts and
skills which if properly administered can provide a supplemental income to these impoverished millions and help stop migration to cities where one can a living by just selling scrap.
As Tushar explains, "A charkha in every house in villages will not be dependant on the elusive electricity which inhibits the spread of industry to these regions, but a charkha in every family and handlooms at least two in every village will ensure that the villagers will be able to manufacture with their own labour enough to clothe their families and the surplus sold for the much needed cash. And then if as a social obligation all of us decide to use at least one item from the village industry sector every day in our lives we will generate enough commerce for the uplift of these villagers."
Now when salient economic inequalities become predominant, and the unprecedented rate of ecological degradation continues, which are likely to cause some of humanity`s worst problems as we all are by the market mantra: `dil mange more` Gandhi`s concept of civilization rings a bell.
Gandhi said: `Civilization, in the real sense of the term, consists not in the multiplication, but in the deliberate and voluntary restriction of wants. This alone promotes real happiness and contentment. `
Inspired by the Jain philosophy of aparigraha, the phrase `restriction of wants` means the civilized person is not the one who would like to eat and drink magnificently, have a lot of sexual partners and so on, but finds it necessary to settle for less; instead it is the one who has considered these matters thoughtfully and has come to prefer what is reasonable and sensible.
As Dr Mark Lindley who has taught courses at Bogazici University Istanbul) on modern South Asian history and on Gandhi and whose Publication include "Gandhi`s Challenge Now to the Affluent", writes, "The idea is challenging to us because it undermines a basic precept of Capitalism - that more overall is always better - which we have got in the habit of regarding as vital to our interests. "
Though Gandhi never used the word `ecology`, but he did suggest that globalized industrialism could become a menace. He said: `God forbid that India should ever take to industrialism after the manner of the West. The economic imperialism of a single tiny island kingdom [England] is today keeping the [human] world in chains. If an entire nation of 300 millions [that`s what he said and he meant India; but now the USA has that many, and India and China have each more than 1000 million] took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip the world bare like locusts.
The unprecedented need to co-operate worldwide, and yet the mounting
and ever more obvious economic unfairness worldwide - heightens the value of genuine concern about poverty. Here is what Gandhi told his disciples, toward the end of his life, as a farewell talisman: `Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to `him`. ... Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore [to] him ... [some] control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to `swaraj`
[self-rule] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?`
With liberalisation and privatisation as accepted policy, the Bharat verses India divide that Gandhi had intuited long ago, is, if anything, rapidly and disastrously growing. The swaraj Gandhi dreamt of is becoming an impossible dream.
It is widely believed that Gandhi was simply a personification of Indian traditions. Dr Joan Bondurant of the University of California demonstrates that wherever Gandhi drew upon traditional Indian concepts, he gave them a fresh and vital interpretation, which differed significantly from the original. Gandhi`s basic assumption that one must not "accept" or "understand" evil but fight it, although supported by some, also was in diametrical opposition to other schools of Hindu philosophy which held that one must not fight evil, but
transcend it.
Gandhi`s activity and sense of struggle not only challenged (or ignored) those schools of Hindu thought. They went contrary to widely established patterns of actual behaviour. In fact Gandhi found that passivity and submission, the common traits among Indians of his day were the main enemy blocking the way to independence. Gandhi is widely credited with a major influence in their reduction and replacement by action, determination and courageous self-reliance.
Many of us, though we grudgingly address him as the Father of the Nation are unwilling to accept that Gandhi`s non-violence method in any way ontributed to the fall of the British empire in India but strongly feel that the British left because it was no longer profitable for them to hold on to the subcontinent. It`s because our history as like others is a record of violent upheavals and not non violent struggles. The new spirit of resistance and independence among the Indians to which Gandhi contributed did increase the difficulties and expense of maintaining the British Raj, especially during the major non-co-operation and civil disobedience campaigns. But even in purely economic terms of trade with India, Gandhi`s program had a significant impact. This is particularly demonstrated by the impact of the boycott during the 1930-31 civil disobedience campaign which coincided with the world depression, and also importantly led to the drop in purchases of British goods by Indians.
Many of us are not aware that the British Secretary of State for India, in the House of Commons in late 1930, according to Gandhian economist J. C. Kumarappa, credited the general depression with a 25 per cent fall in the export trade to India, and credited the balance of 18 per cent in the fall directly to the boycott programme carried on by the Indian National Congress. The total British exports to India according to statistical abstracts declined (in millions of pounds sterling) from 90.6 in 1924, to 85.0 by 1927, then to 78.2 in 1929 and in the boycott year, 1930, to 52.9. The total import of cotton piece-goods by India from all countries rose from 1.82 billion yards in 1924 to 1.94 billion yards in 1929 and declined only to 1.92 billion yards in 1930. However, the British export of the same commodity to India fell from 1.25 billion yards in 1924 to 1.08 billion yards in 1929-a decline of 14 per cent. Then it fell to 0.72 billion yards in 1930-a decline of 42.4 per cent. Between October 1930 and April 1931, when the boycott was at its height, there was a decline of 84 per cent.
Gandhi`s non-violent action is incapable of wielding effective political power, and is hence irrelevant for practical politicians. "I believe, and everybody must grant", wrote Gandhi, "that no Government can exist for a single moment with out the cooperation of the people, willing or forced, and if people suddenly withdraw their cooperation in every detail, the Government will come to a standstill."
By withdrawing the cooperation and obedience of the subjects, Gandhi sought to cut off important sources of the ruler`s power. Every British Government and Viceroy that had to deal with him and his movement would have vigorously denied the view that Gandhi was ignorant of the realities of political power and that his technique of action was impotent.
In a most revealing address to both Houses of the Indian Legislative Assembly in July 1930, the Viceroy, Lord Irwin declared: "In my judgment and in that of my Government it [the civil disobedience movement] is a deliberate attempt to coerce established authority by mass action, and... it must be regarded as unconstitutional and dangerously subversive. Mass action, even if it is intended by its promoters to be non-violent, is nothing but the application of force under another form, and when it has as its avowed object the making of Government impossible, a Government is bound either to resist or abdicate." "So long as the Civil Disobedience Movement persists, we must fight it with all our strength."
Apparently those who have dismissed Gandhi and his technique has some re-thinking to do and rewrite the textbooks not merely by continuing to deify Gandhi but dwell on the praxis of non-violence and help understand the contemporariness of the tool which continues to affect change in us.
Times read: 6317 (as on October 18,2005) Interacts: 229
Monday, July 04, 2005
Manto is still smiling
A great urdu short story writer Manto, was controversial during his life and forgotten after his death.
http://www.viewsunplugged.com/VU/20050630/reflection_bio_manto.shtml
http://www.viewsunplugged.com/VU/20050630/reflection_bio_manto.shtml
Thursday, June 30, 2005
BACK TO PAVILION
Armed with degrees and work experience from the US,many Indians are coming back and replanting themselves in their homeland. Hiren Kumar Bose takes a look at the blossoming new US-return community
Is `Swades' happening in real life? Mumbai suddenly seems to have become the hub of`returnee' Indians who, when in their 20's, went abroad to profit skills andknowledge from the West but have returned to harvest their learning in theirown watan. And these individuals are a game -- ready to experiment, willing to puttheir acquired wisdom to test and to take the risk to succeed among their fellowbeings.
It's a very unlikely place to meet a 'returnee' in a South Mumbai restaurant, which incidentally he also owns. But then Abhinav Agarwal (33) is not an easy-to-be categorised individual: for he tells you that his Bistro Chat Masala(tm) is the only place where you get Tiranga kulfi. And that he makes corporatefilms too.
Abhinav graduated from Ivy League, Brown University (Rhode Island) majoring indevelopment studies and organizational behaviour and Management. Besides running amulti-cuisine restaurant, located behind Bombay Stock Exchange he also makescorporate films on subjects such as sales motivation and training for clients, likeGlaxo, Dabur, Ranbaxy, BNP Paribas etc.For all those who wish to chase the `USA returned' dream, Abhinav advises, "Get ajob with a company that has an India presence, work with them for a a few years and then get placed back here. You will still get a dollar salary and expenses would be inrupees."
In Mumbai you are likely to find many such returnees in improbableplaces pursuing careers or founding enterprises, often unconnected with their studies abroad. And they all have one thing in common-the decision to return rather than wait for years to become proud possessors of a green card!
In the eighties and early nineties Taiwan-born individuals working in the US returned to their country of birth with dreams of changing things. And they did. Today, Taiwan is a major supplier of semi-conductor and chips. Even those who continued to stay abroad remained closely connected to Taiwan's emerging technology sector. Silicon Valley-based engineers formed the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association with the goal of "promoting cooperation and the mutual flow of technology and investment between Taiwan and the US." It is not an exaggeration to suggest that this is happening in India. "Brain drain" is giving way to "brain circulation" as talented immigrants who have studied and worked abroad are returning home to pursue opportunities here, thanks to liberalisation.
Having studied and worked abroad, Indian expats like restaurateur and film maker Abhinav Agarwal, netpreneur Mehul Patel, career counsellor and manpower consultant Riddhesh Gandhi, software technologist Akhil Sahahani and biotechnologist Ganesh Kamath have returned home with new skills and dreams of rebuilding India. For them patriotism is not just sending dollars as remittances. It is about being in the land of their birth, taking challenges that come with it and emerging as winners.
As engineers and other professionals return home--either temporarily or permanently-the returnees transfer not only technology and capital, but also managerial and institutional know-how to formerly peripheral regions.
Moreover, they link localproducers more directly to the market opportunities and networks of more advancedeconomies. Entrepreneur Mehul Patel who completed his MS in e-Commerce and New Media from New York University and worked with IBM (New York) says, "I always had a huge entrepreneurial bug inside me and believed that no location can be better to test your entrepreneurial skills than the place you grew up."Mehul (31) heads KIPL.Net one of the largest New Media/Digital services firm, whichprovides consultation across digital platforms, like Internet, Mobile, Intranet andTouch-Screen. Additionally, KIPL is into turnkey solutions across Infrastructure,application, content, design, real time servicing/updates etc.For the returnees the beginning was hard, really hard.
As Abhinav puts it: "Myfriends were in the USA and I missed the social life. It took me some time to findmy groove."Reminiscences Riddhesh Gandhi (26) who did a BBA at the University of Texas anddespite job offers with investment banks in New York decided to return and startYoungBuzz India Ltd, "It is tough initially because even in four years you get usedto the lifestyle in the US. If you have something here that you are passionateabout then staying and working won't be a problem."
Having being in the US for ten years, Dr Ganesh Kamath (38), returned for adifferent reason: "The US is great place for singles and even for those married butnot once you have kids as there is lack of family support system. I used to getsleepless nights thinking about my old age and reduced to spending the grey yearsin an old age home!"Dr Kamath acquired his M.S. in Pharmaceutical Science from Temple University,Philadelphia and became a licensed pharmacist. Following a doctorate specializingin Drug Dosage Delivery, he worked for Wyeth in the U.S. as a research scientist.After a brief stint as a pharmaceutical technology consultant, he used microencapsulation techniques (from Drug Dosage Delivery) to improve the stability ofmicroorganisms when applied in the environment. Back in India in 1997, he worked as a consultant and founded Organica Biotech in 2000, which is a premier biotechnologycompany involved in the development and marketing of environmentally responsibleproducts for industrial wastewater treatment, lake bioremediation, sewage treatmentand solid waste composting.
In India, most IT firms focus on selling low-end IT services but Akhil Shahani'sAjax Knowledge Systems is one of the few that not only have focused on softwareproducts, but sell them solely on the internet. "In 1996, the economicliberalisation happened and I realised that a quickly growing economy such as Indiawould give fantastic monetary opportunities," says Akhil (36) who in 1999 was votedas one of NASSCOM's future 'star' software companies is an MBA from JL KelloggGraduate School of Management Akhil returned home after four years."I focus on low cost but smart ways of creating and marketing newsoftware products. I also use the facilities offered by the Internetextensively for it is a great resource for any entrepreneur who knows how to use iteffectively," says Ajay.
Why go abroad? A question which needs answering and what do the returnees have tosay on this. Says Mehul: "Go with an open mind; don't get stuck to the initialoffer (remuneration), try and learn as much as you can, specially the systems,commitments and respecting each and every second of your time rest all is kool!"
Adds Abhinav: "Education in the top universities in the US isincredible. As money is not as much of an issue as people imagine. Talent isrecognized and scholarships are possible. Get the very best education the world hasto offer and international exposure that would hold one in good stead in years tocome."Concludes Riddhesh: "Going abroad to study is the best experience. The four years Ispent there helped me grow as a person. If you are able to go abroad, just go. It'sa fantastic experience.""But don't get stuck there. Come back home to roost,'' is what they advise inunison.
Published in The Education Times, June 26,2005
Is `Swades' happening in real life? Mumbai suddenly seems to have become the hub of`returnee' Indians who, when in their 20's, went abroad to profit skills andknowledge from the West but have returned to harvest their learning in theirown watan. And these individuals are a game -- ready to experiment, willing to puttheir acquired wisdom to test and to take the risk to succeed among their fellowbeings.
It's a very unlikely place to meet a 'returnee' in a South Mumbai restaurant, which incidentally he also owns. But then Abhinav Agarwal (33) is not an easy-to-be categorised individual: for he tells you that his Bistro Chat Masala(tm) is the only place where you get Tiranga kulfi. And that he makes corporatefilms too.
Abhinav graduated from Ivy League, Brown University (Rhode Island) majoring indevelopment studies and organizational behaviour and Management. Besides running amulti-cuisine restaurant, located behind Bombay Stock Exchange he also makescorporate films on subjects such as sales motivation and training for clients, likeGlaxo, Dabur, Ranbaxy, BNP Paribas etc.For all those who wish to chase the `USA returned' dream, Abhinav advises, "Get ajob with a company that has an India presence, work with them for a a few years and then get placed back here. You will still get a dollar salary and expenses would be inrupees."
In Mumbai you are likely to find many such returnees in improbableplaces pursuing careers or founding enterprises, often unconnected with their studies abroad. And they all have one thing in common-the decision to return rather than wait for years to become proud possessors of a green card!
In the eighties and early nineties Taiwan-born individuals working in the US returned to their country of birth with dreams of changing things. And they did. Today, Taiwan is a major supplier of semi-conductor and chips. Even those who continued to stay abroad remained closely connected to Taiwan's emerging technology sector. Silicon Valley-based engineers formed the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association with the goal of "promoting cooperation and the mutual flow of technology and investment between Taiwan and the US." It is not an exaggeration to suggest that this is happening in India. "Brain drain" is giving way to "brain circulation" as talented immigrants who have studied and worked abroad are returning home to pursue opportunities here, thanks to liberalisation.
Having studied and worked abroad, Indian expats like restaurateur and film maker Abhinav Agarwal, netpreneur Mehul Patel, career counsellor and manpower consultant Riddhesh Gandhi, software technologist Akhil Sahahani and biotechnologist Ganesh Kamath have returned home with new skills and dreams of rebuilding India. For them patriotism is not just sending dollars as remittances. It is about being in the land of their birth, taking challenges that come with it and emerging as winners.
As engineers and other professionals return home--either temporarily or permanently-the returnees transfer not only technology and capital, but also managerial and institutional know-how to formerly peripheral regions.
Moreover, they link localproducers more directly to the market opportunities and networks of more advancedeconomies. Entrepreneur Mehul Patel who completed his MS in e-Commerce and New Media from New York University and worked with IBM (New York) says, "I always had a huge entrepreneurial bug inside me and believed that no location can be better to test your entrepreneurial skills than the place you grew up."Mehul (31) heads KIPL.Net one of the largest New Media/Digital services firm, whichprovides consultation across digital platforms, like Internet, Mobile, Intranet andTouch-Screen. Additionally, KIPL is into turnkey solutions across Infrastructure,application, content, design, real time servicing/updates etc.For the returnees the beginning was hard, really hard.
As Abhinav puts it: "Myfriends were in the USA and I missed the social life. It took me some time to findmy groove."Reminiscences Riddhesh Gandhi (26) who did a BBA at the University of Texas anddespite job offers with investment banks in New York decided to return and startYoungBuzz India Ltd, "It is tough initially because even in four years you get usedto the lifestyle in the US. If you have something here that you are passionateabout then staying and working won't be a problem."
Having being in the US for ten years, Dr Ganesh Kamath (38), returned for adifferent reason: "The US is great place for singles and even for those married butnot once you have kids as there is lack of family support system. I used to getsleepless nights thinking about my old age and reduced to spending the grey yearsin an old age home!"Dr Kamath acquired his M.S. in Pharmaceutical Science from Temple University,Philadelphia and became a licensed pharmacist. Following a doctorate specializingin Drug Dosage Delivery, he worked for Wyeth in the U.S. as a research scientist.After a brief stint as a pharmaceutical technology consultant, he used microencapsulation techniques (from Drug Dosage Delivery) to improve the stability ofmicroorganisms when applied in the environment. Back in India in 1997, he worked as a consultant and founded Organica Biotech in 2000, which is a premier biotechnologycompany involved in the development and marketing of environmentally responsibleproducts for industrial wastewater treatment, lake bioremediation, sewage treatmentand solid waste composting.
In India, most IT firms focus on selling low-end IT services but Akhil Shahani'sAjax Knowledge Systems is one of the few that not only have focused on softwareproducts, but sell them solely on the internet. "In 1996, the economicliberalisation happened and I realised that a quickly growing economy such as Indiawould give fantastic monetary opportunities," says Akhil (36) who in 1999 was votedas one of NASSCOM's future 'star' software companies is an MBA from JL KelloggGraduate School of Management Akhil returned home after four years."I focus on low cost but smart ways of creating and marketing newsoftware products. I also use the facilities offered by the Internetextensively for it is a great resource for any entrepreneur who knows how to use iteffectively," says Ajay.
Why go abroad? A question which needs answering and what do the returnees have tosay on this. Says Mehul: "Go with an open mind; don't get stuck to the initialoffer (remuneration), try and learn as much as you can, specially the systems,commitments and respecting each and every second of your time rest all is kool!"
Adds Abhinav: "Education in the top universities in the US isincredible. As money is not as much of an issue as people imagine. Talent isrecognized and scholarships are possible. Get the very best education the world hasto offer and international exposure that would hold one in good stead in years tocome."Concludes Riddhesh: "Going abroad to study is the best experience. The four years Ispent there helped me grow as a person. If you are able to go abroad, just go. It'sa fantastic experience.""But don't get stuck there. Come back home to roost,'' is what they advise inunison.
Published in The Education Times, June 26,2005
Monday, June 20, 2005
QUILL COURAGE... Write, says Hiren K Bose, profiling the woman who refuses to put her pen down. Taslima Nasreen's only parallel could be Nagib Mahfouz, the Egyptian ...
www.taslimanasrin.com/quill_courage.htm -
www.taslimanasrin.com/quill_courage.htm -
Rewriting the San'script' (appeared in The Education Times)
From Shastras to software and beyond, Sanskrit has secured morethan its just space in the world of words. Hiren Kumar Bose traces thehighs and lows of this erstwhile lingua franca, both in the country ofits birth as well as in the lands the language is out to conquer
Dictionaries would have us believe that the Sanskrit word 'guru' means nothingmore than venerable or spiritual teacher. That's not the complete story.Let us see how the word came into being. The word 'guru' consisting of theaksharas (alphabet) 'gu' and 'ru' stand for a teacher - one whodispels darkness (ignorance) of the mind (person). 'Gu' means darknessand 'ru' means the act of removal.This is how Sanskrit works – by explaining each and every word we use in ourday-to-day lives. Each akshara or alphabet of Sanskrit denotes the setof letters from the first to the last. Besides, the word also meansthat the sound of the letter does not ever get destroyed, signifyingthe eternal quality of the sound of the letters. It retains thephonetic characteristics of the language and also their individualmeanings as well! Conclusively, the sound of a word is essentially thesounds of the aksharas in the word – a concept that will help simplifytext to speech applications with computers.What differentiates Sanskrit from the Western languages? The bestexplanation has come from Vyas Houston who has popularised thelearning of Sanskrit in the US. Vyas compares Sanskrit to mathematicsand goes on to say, "The way words unfold from their seed forms isremarkable. A root is always a single syllable that contains one ofthe basic sounds, 'a', 'i', 'u' or 'ri'. When the root creates a word,the sound undergoes guna, or a transformative principle, to keep itresonating to its optimum. Hence, chit 'to be aware' – becomes theresonant chetami 'I am aware,' and chetanam, 'being aware'. Budh'knowledge' becomes bodhami 'I know' or bodhanam 'knowing'. Theserelationships operate with mathematical precision throughout thelanguage and gives it an extraordinary power."The Vedic or the Sanskrit view gives more importance to the specialsound it should produce, and the compositions of that sound than tothe meaning of the written or spoken word. Hence the Sanskrit languageis phonetic, not linguistic – unlike the Western languages.The language is particularly suited for encrypting without ambiguity.This is particularly apparent in scientific treatises in Sanskrit,such as works of Aryabhatta, Varahamihir, Bhaskara and others of thatera. Sanskrit, the vocabulary of which is derived from root syllables,is ideal for coining new scientific and technological terms. Theprecise and extremely well defined structure of Sanskrit coupled withits antiquity, offers a number of areas in linguistics researchincluding computational linguistics. Sanskrit has a built-in schemefor pronunciation, word formation and grammar.Sanskrit is co-original with the Vedas. The scientific construction ofthe Sanskrit alphabet is well known. No other alphabet in the world(except those that have adopted the alphabet structure from Sanskrit)has such uniquely positioned letters. In Sanskrit, even the soundswhich make the word are consciously selected.While we in India today consider Sanskrit a dead language, theWesterners consider it as simply a fascinating language, a language inwhich the genius of the human civilisation was perfected to itsfullest. Top-notch Western universities have been busy churning oneesoteric dissertation after another on Panini's Ashtadhyay andcomparing Bhartihari's and Patanjali's grammatical logic.Among US universities, it was the University of Michigan which beganteaching Sanskrit as early as the 1890s as part of the Orientallanguages. Today, it attracts a large number of undergraduates, mostof them second-generation Indo-American kids, majoring in engineering,medicine, and business studies read Sanskrit not as a specialisedbranch but to satisfy the four-term foreign language requirement.George Cardona, a professor of historical linguistics at University ofPennsylvania who teaches Indian grammatical theory and is consideredto be a modern tikakaar (commentator) on Panini's Ashtadhyayi saysthat in recent years there has been an inflow of Japanese students toAmerican universities with very advanced knowledge of Sanskrit.Twenty-two universities in the US have Sanskrit as one of theirsubjects, followed by 18 German universities, five BritishUniversities and four Italian universities.Other countries which take Sanskrit seriously are Austria, Belgium,Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland , Netherlands, Norway, Poland,Russia, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland.In Mumbai, three colleges offer a six-paper degree course in Sanskrit,namely Ruia, Wilson and Somaiya while three others – Jhunjhunwala,Patkar and Bhavan's offer a three-paper degree course.A typical characteristic of the Sanskrit language is its totaldisregard to 'syntax'.Words with their typical case endings may be at any position of the sentenceswithout affecting the meaning or understanding. Take the case 'AhamShalam Gachhami' or 'I go to school'. Play with changing thepositions, like 'Shalam Gachchami Aham' or 'Gachchami Aham Shalam'. Solong as the grammar is perfect, the sentence construction doesn'tmatter. The meaning doesn't change. Try doing that in English though!"This fluidity has rendered Sanskrit particularly suitable forversification and thereby transmitted through generations in the formof shlokas and thousands of aphorisms," elaborates Dipen Chakrabarti,translator, researcher and a Sanskrit lover.Another powerful characteristic of Sanskrit is its ability to be brief and yetinformative. For example, Panini's Astadhyayi, the most celebratedgrammatical work in Sanskrit, is unique in its brevity whilemaintaining all the details. With 3995 aphorisms, the total expansecovered is rather amazing. Apart from the grammatical rules,Astadhyayi is unique as a philosophical treatise as well.Another typical characteristic of Sanskrit works is the greatimportance given toclassification and logical deduction. A language with essentially asingle spoken form that is written in many different ways, Sanskrit isopposed to classical Chinese, which is a language with essentially asingle written form that is spoken in many different ways.Many believe that the language can be revived only if it's brought out from theprecincts of the campus into the streets. Suggests Dr Kala Acharya, director KJSomaiya Bharatiya Sanskriti Peetham, "Its teaching has to be informaland only then can it be popularised. It should be learnt for the joyof reading the classics inthe original or as we say in devbhasa."Samskrita Bharati, an NGO, has done a yeoman's job in this regard byorganising 'Speak Sanskrit' workshops and training volunteers. In1981, Chamu Shastry, a Kannada Brahmin and his friends started Bharatiand have so far trained 20,000 volunteers all over India. Its campsare held regularly in Ghatkopar, Andheri, Dahisar and Borivali andattract housewives, teachers, students and retirees.Shastry's method is to skip grammar and teach Sanskrit as it isspoken. The students thus do not have to wrestle with the nuances ofan arcane syntactics. In fact, people do start speaking Sanskrit aftera 20-hour course spread over ten days. "If the Jews could reviveHebrew why can't we resuscitate Sanskrit?" Shastry argues, then adds,"Popularising Sanskrit is far easier as it is the mother of all Indianlanguages and up to 60 per cent of the words in the other languagesare derived from Sanskrit."
From Shastras to software and beyond, Sanskrit has secured morethan its just space in the world of words. Hiren Kumar Bose traces thehighs and lows of this erstwhile lingua franca, both in the country ofits birth as well as in the lands the language is out to conquer
Dictionaries would have us believe that the Sanskrit word 'guru' means nothingmore than venerable or spiritual teacher. That's not the complete story.Let us see how the word came into being. The word 'guru' consisting of theaksharas (alphabet) 'gu' and 'ru' stand for a teacher - one whodispels darkness (ignorance) of the mind (person). 'Gu' means darknessand 'ru' means the act of removal.This is how Sanskrit works – by explaining each and every word we use in ourday-to-day lives. Each akshara or alphabet of Sanskrit denotes the setof letters from the first to the last. Besides, the word also meansthat the sound of the letter does not ever get destroyed, signifyingthe eternal quality of the sound of the letters. It retains thephonetic characteristics of the language and also their individualmeanings as well! Conclusively, the sound of a word is essentially thesounds of the aksharas in the word – a concept that will help simplifytext to speech applications with computers.What differentiates Sanskrit from the Western languages? The bestexplanation has come from Vyas Houston who has popularised thelearning of Sanskrit in the US. Vyas compares Sanskrit to mathematicsand goes on to say, "The way words unfold from their seed forms isremarkable. A root is always a single syllable that contains one ofthe basic sounds, 'a', 'i', 'u' or 'ri'. When the root creates a word,the sound undergoes guna, or a transformative principle, to keep itresonating to its optimum. Hence, chit 'to be aware' – becomes theresonant chetami 'I am aware,' and chetanam, 'being aware'. Budh'knowledge' becomes bodhami 'I know' or bodhanam 'knowing'. Theserelationships operate with mathematical precision throughout thelanguage and gives it an extraordinary power."The Vedic or the Sanskrit view gives more importance to the specialsound it should produce, and the compositions of that sound than tothe meaning of the written or spoken word. Hence the Sanskrit languageis phonetic, not linguistic – unlike the Western languages.The language is particularly suited for encrypting without ambiguity.This is particularly apparent in scientific treatises in Sanskrit,such as works of Aryabhatta, Varahamihir, Bhaskara and others of thatera. Sanskrit, the vocabulary of which is derived from root syllables,is ideal for coining new scientific and technological terms. Theprecise and extremely well defined structure of Sanskrit coupled withits antiquity, offers a number of areas in linguistics researchincluding computational linguistics. Sanskrit has a built-in schemefor pronunciation, word formation and grammar.Sanskrit is co-original with the Vedas. The scientific construction ofthe Sanskrit alphabet is well known. No other alphabet in the world(except those that have adopted the alphabet structure from Sanskrit)has such uniquely positioned letters. In Sanskrit, even the soundswhich make the word are consciously selected.While we in India today consider Sanskrit a dead language, theWesterners consider it as simply a fascinating language, a language inwhich the genius of the human civilisation was perfected to itsfullest. Top-notch Western universities have been busy churning oneesoteric dissertation after another on Panini's Ashtadhyay andcomparing Bhartihari's and Patanjali's grammatical logic.Among US universities, it was the University of Michigan which beganteaching Sanskrit as early as the 1890s as part of the Orientallanguages. Today, it attracts a large number of undergraduates, mostof them second-generation Indo-American kids, majoring in engineering,medicine, and business studies read Sanskrit not as a specialisedbranch but to satisfy the four-term foreign language requirement.George Cardona, a professor of historical linguistics at University ofPennsylvania who teaches Indian grammatical theory and is consideredto be a modern tikakaar (commentator) on Panini's Ashtadhyayi saysthat in recent years there has been an inflow of Japanese students toAmerican universities with very advanced knowledge of Sanskrit.Twenty-two universities in the US have Sanskrit as one of theirsubjects, followed by 18 German universities, five BritishUniversities and four Italian universities.Other countries which take Sanskrit seriously are Austria, Belgium,Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland , Netherlands, Norway, Poland,Russia, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland.In Mumbai, three colleges offer a six-paper degree course in Sanskrit,namely Ruia, Wilson and Somaiya while three others – Jhunjhunwala,Patkar and Bhavan's offer a three-paper degree course.A typical characteristic of the Sanskrit language is its totaldisregard to 'syntax'.Words with their typical case endings may be at any position of the sentenceswithout affecting the meaning or understanding. Take the case 'AhamShalam Gachhami' or 'I go to school'. Play with changing thepositions, like 'Shalam Gachchami Aham' or 'Gachchami Aham Shalam'. Solong as the grammar is perfect, the sentence construction doesn'tmatter. The meaning doesn't change. Try doing that in English though!"This fluidity has rendered Sanskrit particularly suitable forversification and thereby transmitted through generations in the formof shlokas and thousands of aphorisms," elaborates Dipen Chakrabarti,translator, researcher and a Sanskrit lover.Another powerful characteristic of Sanskrit is its ability to be brief and yetinformative. For example, Panini's Astadhyayi, the most celebratedgrammatical work in Sanskrit, is unique in its brevity whilemaintaining all the details. With 3995 aphorisms, the total expansecovered is rather amazing. Apart from the grammatical rules,Astadhyayi is unique as a philosophical treatise as well.Another typical characteristic of Sanskrit works is the greatimportance given toclassification and logical deduction. A language with essentially asingle spoken form that is written in many different ways, Sanskrit isopposed to classical Chinese, which is a language with essentially asingle written form that is spoken in many different ways.Many believe that the language can be revived only if it's brought out from theprecincts of the campus into the streets. Suggests Dr Kala Acharya, director KJSomaiya Bharatiya Sanskriti Peetham, "Its teaching has to be informaland only then can it be popularised. It should be learnt for the joyof reading the classics inthe original or as we say in devbhasa."Samskrita Bharati, an NGO, has done a yeoman's job in this regard byorganising 'Speak Sanskrit' workshops and training volunteers. In1981, Chamu Shastry, a Kannada Brahmin and his friends started Bharatiand have so far trained 20,000 volunteers all over India. Its campsare held regularly in Ghatkopar, Andheri, Dahisar and Borivali andattract housewives, teachers, students and retirees.Shastry's method is to skip grammar and teach Sanskrit as it isspoken. The students thus do not have to wrestle with the nuances ofan arcane syntactics. In fact, people do start speaking Sanskrit aftera 20-hour course spread over ten days. "If the Jews could reviveHebrew why can't we resuscitate Sanskrit?" Shastry argues, then adds,"Popularising Sanskrit is far easier as it is the mother of all Indianlanguages and up to 60 per cent of the words in the other languagesare derived from Sanskrit."
Friday, May 27, 2005
my article on pranayam
HL: Breathpower! (Published in Times Wellness)
Intro: Hiren Kumar Bose on the art and science of Pranayam
Ever thought that you could usher wellness to your body just by controlling breath. Possible! Yogis of the past called it pranayam.Pranayam is a medium to control the life force, which we ordinarily know as breath or pran. Explains Yogiraj Jitendra, “Friction is produced when objects strike against each other leading to the creation of energy. The same is true about breath too.”According to yogis, every minute an individual witnesses the emergence of 56 vichar (thoughts), which disappear sooner hardly leaving traces. This continues every living moment of our lives. Mind is responsible for the emergence of our thoughts.Normally we are used to taking shallow breaths, which fail to reach the oxygen inhaled to the billions of cells the body is made of. At best its role remains peripheral or cosmetic.With continuous practice of pranayam or controlled breathing the mind is tamed. Once leashed the number of thoughts begin to shrink leading one to stillness. It's our thought, which makes us different. In fact, it shapes our individualities.
Once controlled the mind does the aspirant's bidding. "When one is able to control pran s/he does not let the thought-seed to germinate for the energy created by continuous practice of Pranayam scorches it. As benign thoughts make its appearance, one is slowlyfreed of ill health and wellness dawns," says Swami Bahutanand Parmahansa, a Himalayan sage who was in the city recently.
Purak, Kumbhak and Rechak are the different stages of this breathing technique. Inhaling while closing the left nostril is called Purak; holding the breath known as Kumbhak and exhalation with the right nostril called Rechak.
The state of holding the breath (post Purak) is called Abhyantar Kumbhak. The state of releasing the air completely from the lungs and then closing both the nostrils (post Rechak) is called Bahir Kumbhak. Bahir Kumbhak should follow Abyantar Kumbhak.
Suggests Swami Bahutanand, “As you inhale feel the energy around you being absorbed into you. Once you inhale feel that you are expelling the toxic thoughts and the toxins accumulated in your body."In the initial stages one looks calm and happy, the eyes begin to sparkle with the new found energy, wellness is experienced at the consciousness level and the speech becomes gracious. Pranayam takes one out of the patterns of the "monkey mind". Swinging from past regrets to future worries. The goal however is not to reach nirvana, but to observe the cacophony in a compassionate way, to accept it as transient. The mind no more battles but one watches, with interest, from the stands. The detachment doesn't lead topassivity, but to new ways of thinking. As harmful thoughts leave and flee the aspirant experiences a change in his/her personality and attitude too. "Importantly the whirr of the thoughts ceases," adds Yogiraj Jitendra, who conducts self-healing workshops using Pranayam in city and suburbs.
Additionally one who infuses Pranayam with bhav (feeling) s/he is able to witness and explosion of inner strength (shakti) leading to samadhi. But all these can happen if you are fortunate to learn the techniques from a yogi.According to Dr Richard P Brown, a senior psychiatrist at Columbia University, New York, rapid breathing activates a nerve, Vagus, which connects with the diaphragm and some of the organs, including the heart and the brain. As a result of this stimulation, messages are sent along three different pathways that tell the body to shut off areas of worry while awakening areas that control feelings of happiness in the brain.A pathway is created that leads up to the frontal cortex of the brain and starts shutting down areas controlling excess worries and depressions. Another pathway shuts off anxiety producing parts of the brain stem and a third wakes up the limbic system, which controls positive emotions, explains Brown.Moreover, hormones, which encourage bonding among mammals, are released. One such hormone called the Cuddle hormone is released during sexual activity and also after childbirth.Studies have proved that Pranayam can counteract stress by lowering heart rate and blood pressure, and reducing levels of stress hormones cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine in the blood stream.Pranayam prepares oneself with an experience where one no more carries burden of his/her thoughts. Being at rest the mind is no more muddied with negative feelings like, ego, vengeance, anger, jealousy, lust etc. that is contrary to wellness.
For the yogis believe that it is due to imbalance of the mind that illness attacks our body. Caption This pranayam is called Kanishta Pranayam. Pranayam's are numerous in numbers.1. Sit straight with folded legs (Padmasana)2. Close right nostril with the posterior of last two fingers (Kanishta andAnamika). Breathe in from left nostril.3. Close both nostrils using thumb and hold breath four times of inhalation4. Close left nostril with posterior right thumb and breathe out 2 times ofinhalation from right nostril5. Again inhale from right nostril. The length of intake, holding andexhalation must be in the proportion of 1:4:2 in a continuous process
Intro: Hiren Kumar Bose on the art and science of Pranayam
Ever thought that you could usher wellness to your body just by controlling breath. Possible! Yogis of the past called it pranayam.Pranayam is a medium to control the life force, which we ordinarily know as breath or pran. Explains Yogiraj Jitendra, “Friction is produced when objects strike against each other leading to the creation of energy. The same is true about breath too.”According to yogis, every minute an individual witnesses the emergence of 56 vichar (thoughts), which disappear sooner hardly leaving traces. This continues every living moment of our lives. Mind is responsible for the emergence of our thoughts.Normally we are used to taking shallow breaths, which fail to reach the oxygen inhaled to the billions of cells the body is made of. At best its role remains peripheral or cosmetic.With continuous practice of pranayam or controlled breathing the mind is tamed. Once leashed the number of thoughts begin to shrink leading one to stillness. It's our thought, which makes us different. In fact, it shapes our individualities.
Once controlled the mind does the aspirant's bidding. "When one is able to control pran s/he does not let the thought-seed to germinate for the energy created by continuous practice of Pranayam scorches it. As benign thoughts make its appearance, one is slowlyfreed of ill health and wellness dawns," says Swami Bahutanand Parmahansa, a Himalayan sage who was in the city recently.
Purak, Kumbhak and Rechak are the different stages of this breathing technique. Inhaling while closing the left nostril is called Purak; holding the breath known as Kumbhak and exhalation with the right nostril called Rechak.
The state of holding the breath (post Purak) is called Abhyantar Kumbhak. The state of releasing the air completely from the lungs and then closing both the nostrils (post Rechak) is called Bahir Kumbhak. Bahir Kumbhak should follow Abyantar Kumbhak.
Suggests Swami Bahutanand, “As you inhale feel the energy around you being absorbed into you. Once you inhale feel that you are expelling the toxic thoughts and the toxins accumulated in your body."In the initial stages one looks calm and happy, the eyes begin to sparkle with the new found energy, wellness is experienced at the consciousness level and the speech becomes gracious. Pranayam takes one out of the patterns of the "monkey mind". Swinging from past regrets to future worries. The goal however is not to reach nirvana, but to observe the cacophony in a compassionate way, to accept it as transient. The mind no more battles but one watches, with interest, from the stands. The detachment doesn't lead topassivity, but to new ways of thinking. As harmful thoughts leave and flee the aspirant experiences a change in his/her personality and attitude too. "Importantly the whirr of the thoughts ceases," adds Yogiraj Jitendra, who conducts self-healing workshops using Pranayam in city and suburbs.
Additionally one who infuses Pranayam with bhav (feeling) s/he is able to witness and explosion of inner strength (shakti) leading to samadhi. But all these can happen if you are fortunate to learn the techniques from a yogi.According to Dr Richard P Brown, a senior psychiatrist at Columbia University, New York, rapid breathing activates a nerve, Vagus, which connects with the diaphragm and some of the organs, including the heart and the brain. As a result of this stimulation, messages are sent along three different pathways that tell the body to shut off areas of worry while awakening areas that control feelings of happiness in the brain.A pathway is created that leads up to the frontal cortex of the brain and starts shutting down areas controlling excess worries and depressions. Another pathway shuts off anxiety producing parts of the brain stem and a third wakes up the limbic system, which controls positive emotions, explains Brown.Moreover, hormones, which encourage bonding among mammals, are released. One such hormone called the Cuddle hormone is released during sexual activity and also after childbirth.Studies have proved that Pranayam can counteract stress by lowering heart rate and blood pressure, and reducing levels of stress hormones cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine in the blood stream.Pranayam prepares oneself with an experience where one no more carries burden of his/her thoughts. Being at rest the mind is no more muddied with negative feelings like, ego, vengeance, anger, jealousy, lust etc. that is contrary to wellness.
For the yogis believe that it is due to imbalance of the mind that illness attacks our body. Caption This pranayam is called Kanishta Pranayam. Pranayam's are numerous in numbers.1. Sit straight with folded legs (Padmasana)2. Close right nostril with the posterior of last two fingers (Kanishta andAnamika). Breathe in from left nostril.3. Close both nostrils using thumb and hold breath four times of inhalation4. Close left nostril with posterior right thumb and breathe out 2 times ofinhalation from right nostril5. Again inhale from right nostril. The length of intake, holding andexhalation must be in the proportion of 1:4:2 in a continuous process
my published articles
POLITICS
Heil Hindutva!
Hindutva is prospering for its champions have overtly politicized religious symbols, hijacked a tolerant faith while the mainstream Hindus watch in ambivalent silence, writes the author exposing Hindutva's racist philosophy. For more http://www.viewsunplugged.com/VU/20040101/reflection_hindutva.shtml
To each it's own Kabira
An evaluation of the life and works of Kabir
For more
http://www.viewsunplugged.com/VU/20031016/reflection_kabir.shtml..................
Naam Janki Bai Allahbad Vini, Vidi, Vici.
Janakibai of Allahabad captivated and captured her audience with her sonorous voice. For more
http://www.viewsunplugged.com/VU/20031106/reflection_jankibai.shtml
Writer as a nomad
Rahul Sankritayan, a compulsive traveller from India who embraced many sects and ideologies. He was a litterateur, linguist, philosopher, historian, theologist, lexicographer, Gandhian, Buddhist monk and Marxist.
For more http://www.viewsunplugged.com/VU/20040318/reflection_nomad.shtml
Frozen! The Real story of West Bengal's backwardness.
http://www.viewsunplugged.com/VU/20040513/reflection_wb.shtml
What makes Ustadji angry?
An instrumental performer of international renown, musical ambassador, teacher, creator, and innovator - sixty-six year old Ustad Imrat Khan has very few peers in the world today. During his recent visit to India, Ustadji spoke with journalist Hiren Bose about the current state of Hindustani Classical Music.
For more… http://www.viewsunplugged.com/VU/20030918/interactives_spotlight_ustadji.shtml
Of Synthesis and Empirical Metamorphosis by Hiren K. Bose
For more…
http://www.newtopiamagazine.net/archives/content/issue12/features/synthesis.php
Not Parity, But Disparity by Hiren K. Bose
For more…
http://www.newtopiamagazine.net/archives/content/issue14/features/notparity.php
Heil Hindutva!
Hindutva is prospering for its champions have overtly politicized religious symbols, hijacked a tolerant faith while the mainstream Hindus watch in ambivalent silence, writes the author exposing Hindutva's racist philosophy. For more http://www.viewsunplugged.com/VU/20040101/reflection_hindutva.shtml
To each it's own Kabira
An evaluation of the life and works of Kabir
For more
http://www.viewsunplugged.com/VU/20031016/reflection_kabir.shtml..................
Naam Janki Bai Allahbad Vini, Vidi, Vici.
Janakibai of Allahabad captivated and captured her audience with her sonorous voice. For more
http://www.viewsunplugged.com/VU/20031106/reflection_jankibai.shtml
Writer as a nomad
Rahul Sankritayan, a compulsive traveller from India who embraced many sects and ideologies. He was a litterateur, linguist, philosopher, historian, theologist, lexicographer, Gandhian, Buddhist monk and Marxist.
For more http://www.viewsunplugged.com/VU/20040318/reflection_nomad.shtml
Frozen! The Real story of West Bengal's backwardness.
http://www.viewsunplugged.com/VU/20040513/reflection_wb.shtml
What makes Ustadji angry?
An instrumental performer of international renown, musical ambassador, teacher, creator, and innovator - sixty-six year old Ustad Imrat Khan has very few peers in the world today. During his recent visit to India, Ustadji spoke with journalist Hiren Bose about the current state of Hindustani Classical Music.
For more… http://www.viewsunplugged.com/VU/20030918/interactives_spotlight_ustadji.shtml
Of Synthesis and Empirical Metamorphosis by Hiren K. Bose
For more…
http://www.newtopiamagazine.net/archives/content/issue12/features/synthesis.php
Not Parity, But Disparity by Hiren K. Bose
For more…
http://www.newtopiamagazine.net/archives/content/issue14/features/notparity.php
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