The latest issue of Tehelka carries an article on Tamil Nadu's 2006 government order that allowed hindu people, irrespective of their caste, to become priests in hindu temples - and brahmins protested, of course!
Yesterday's Deccan Herald carried a photo of women in burkhas protesting their right to wear burkhas and head scares - opposing a ban imposed in SVS College, Bantwal.
I have always been uncomfortable with legal or formalized demand that force opening up of communities, clubs, organizations to memberships that would otherwise not be allowed. It is the intrusive, aggressive manner of promoting pluralism that I am opposed to.
I remember with distaste, many years ago in the US, the great fuss made about letting women join the "Old boy's club", or the legal battle over the right of a gay person to become a priest. I would have much preferred that women made their own club that allowed men, and gays tried a church that welcomed them or had a congregation of their own - without bias towards sexual choices/ preferences. Their liberal inclusiveness would then draw broader memberships, and with time, hopefully, drive old rigid systems out of existence.
Similarly, if a state sponsored temples that were caste independent, and the majority populace took their patronage there, the ugly system of caste segregation would vanish anyway. Maybe brahmins would then be forced to apply for jobs at these temples that were better stocked. Similarly, it is up to people of muslim faith to decide when and how their religious dress code needs to evolve - for their own good.
I strongly believe that our ability to survive as a democratic nation depends critically on our ability to exist with as many variants be it individuals, groups, communities. With their existence we allow our selves the gift of the diverse, conservative as equally as liberal, modern and also ancient, rock and dhrupad. Rights of an individual or a minority will reflect the freedom of us all, as a people. The role of a state is to provide a helping hand to the needy, financially backward, culturally downtrodden, without necessarily diminishing individual rights of brahims to be brahmanical, or women to hide their face.
I am reminded of the amazing 'Stars upon Thars' by Dr. Suess in The Sneetches. The sneetches, without stars, took to wearing stars also, leading to a completely muddled up situation till no one knew
which were the original starred ones and which were unstarred. I highly recommend all Dr.Suess books to the fundamentally muddled, or socially confused.
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Friday, 21 August 2009
A Friendly Visit from Ms. Clinton
Catching up with back issues of Tehelka, I read with horror an excellent article by Nityanand Jayaraman on the agenda behind Ms.Clinton's visit to India. Apparently, Ms. Clinton was here to help pass a legal bill that provides a safe and small liability cap of a mere $450 million USD, for the operators and providers of India's nuclear power facilities, in case of a disaster! We, as a nation will have to cough up rest of the compensation - i.e. in case we deem it necessary to help out our future Bhopal type victims - and really, we do not have a good track record on taking care our needy, victimized, unfortunate. And, get this, we, the moronic, boot licking nation that we are, have already got a draft of such a bill ready. Why do our elected representatives behave so callously? Who has given them rights to play with lives? And...what is Obama up to, now? The savior of the world only wants to save national, corporate, US interests? Would such a bill be acceptable in his nation? A one time compensation of a mere $500 for lives lost, torn, harm havoc-ed over generations, the suffering, the pain - as in the case of Bhopal tragedy? Is Obama's dream only for the privileged of his world, not pain of all humanity?
How dare the US bring such a proposal to the table, and how dare we accept it???
How dare the US bring such a proposal to the table, and how dare we accept it???
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Sale! Humans Discounted
In a society uncontrollably propelled by rampant consumerism, accumulation, and search for deals, it appears that in a country like ours, humans are a commodity that are most overproduced and therefore most under valued .i.e. they are easily available discount priced or even on clearance sale - 90% off! Buy one get five free! The cost of a human, from within the lesser fortunate strata, goes for much less than the cost to feed that person well, let alone support a family, maintain health, or educate, aspire, dream for future - and it is most convenient to keep them that way.
This issue became spotlit for me thus. I was related an incident about an electrician making a home visit in the 46 degree heat of Delhi, this summer, to find a trivial problem that he fixed immediately. The cost of this round trip, his expertise in identifying and solving a problem was Rs.30. A similar trip in Kolkatta would earn him Rs.10 - if he was lucky, and the client generously inclined. I know that a ride on hand pulled rickshaws in Kolkatta, for about a km, can only earn a paltry Rs.5. Or a maid in most metros earns as little as Rs. 300 for cleaning a home, washing dishes, clothes - per month. The same family might spend substantially more over a single meal, or purchasing an useless item in a shop. So what has become of the Indian middle class? Who are we, what do we want, and at what cost?
It appears to me that an interesting way to define a lower cutoff to our burgeoning middle class, would be that group of people that hire paid labor to deal with chores of their daily living - and an increasing set is getting ready to not wash their own dirty laundry! We are fortunate that there still exists this bottomless pit of the needy, starving, exploitables who can, for just the price of their survival in hovels, on scraps of our compostables, live in slavery and do our want. So really, what do we want?? What do we really really want? Is there a picture, longer term goal, a dream of happiness? collective happiness? Is there a vision that guides this middle class? that only I am not getting? And mostly, why is it, that whatever we want, we are most ready to first sacrifice other human needs, human interests, human rights?
Partly, surely, the answer is that we have distanced ourselves from the exploited class - the others. I remember being reprimanded " speak well to them and you'll not get them to listen to you! Treat them decently and you are spoiling them for the rest of us." The exploiters and the exploited have become two completely distinct groups - the human,defined as ' capable of exploiting', versus, de-human, sub-human, un-human. The question to ask now is, what have we gained by this distancing? and for how long can this separation be sustained? We shudder in dread at stories of armed resistance movements that are spreading across the country, hide behind corrupt, vile, abusive and evil actions legitimized by anti-terrorism acts, shrug at large scale and illegal displacements and access to livelihoods for any number of communities across nation, and skip over even smallest mentions of civil liberties and human rights that our governments refuse to guarantee. Who are we that disregard human interest for our sloth and human rights for extra cash in our coffers? Who are we and what do we have to teach our kids!!
This issue became spotlit for me thus. I was related an incident about an electrician making a home visit in the 46 degree heat of Delhi, this summer, to find a trivial problem that he fixed immediately. The cost of this round trip, his expertise in identifying and solving a problem was Rs.30. A similar trip in Kolkatta would earn him Rs.10 - if he was lucky, and the client generously inclined. I know that a ride on hand pulled rickshaws in Kolkatta, for about a km, can only earn a paltry Rs.5. Or a maid in most metros earns as little as Rs. 300 for cleaning a home, washing dishes, clothes - per month. The same family might spend substantially more over a single meal, or purchasing an useless item in a shop. So what has become of the Indian middle class? Who are we, what do we want, and at what cost?
It appears to me that an interesting way to define a lower cutoff to our burgeoning middle class, would be that group of people that hire paid labor to deal with chores of their daily living - and an increasing set is getting ready to not wash their own dirty laundry! We are fortunate that there still exists this bottomless pit of the needy, starving, exploitables who can, for just the price of their survival in hovels, on scraps of our compostables, live in slavery and do our want. So really, what do we want?? What do we really really want? Is there a picture, longer term goal, a dream of happiness? collective happiness? Is there a vision that guides this middle class? that only I am not getting? And mostly, why is it, that whatever we want, we are most ready to first sacrifice other human needs, human interests, human rights?
Partly, surely, the answer is that we have distanced ourselves from the exploited class - the others. I remember being reprimanded " speak well to them and you'll not get them to listen to you! Treat them decently and you are spoiling them for the rest of us." The exploiters and the exploited have become two completely distinct groups - the human,defined as ' capable of exploiting', versus, de-human, sub-human, un-human. The question to ask now is, what have we gained by this distancing? and for how long can this separation be sustained? We shudder in dread at stories of armed resistance movements that are spreading across the country, hide behind corrupt, vile, abusive and evil actions legitimized by anti-terrorism acts, shrug at large scale and illegal displacements and access to livelihoods for any number of communities across nation, and skip over even smallest mentions of civil liberties and human rights that our governments refuse to guarantee. Who are we that disregard human interest for our sloth and human rights for extra cash in our coffers? Who are we and what do we have to teach our kids!!
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Chopping Trees to Develop
It had to happen one day - the rampant cutting of trees around the city has finally hit my backyard, front yard, my threshold - 120 trees around the CNR Rao circle at the main gate, IISc, are slated for the axe. Its inevitable, we must proceed with the times. We must develop. We must progress. Even if this means we hurt, kick, scream and vehemently oppose such progress.
The larger common good,
as defined by a few,
will be rammed
down our throat,
will make us choke,
suffocate, die,
even as we defy,
and question,
what is this good?
which clears space,
where trees stood?
Bangalore traffic doubles every five years, and our ever changing governance is ever ready to demolish slums, axe trees, destroy heritage and replace it with wider roads, mazes of underpass, overpass, roundabouts, all to keep up with growing traffic needs. It is ready to lie, define, our life, happiness and success, by counting the cars that are on the roads, and squeezing even more.
But, what about people? What about people not in cars? Are roads about transporting people, or clearing spaces for cars - to move, to park? What fraction of Bangalore drives cars? And should our progress only cater to this set? Do they realise, that in their names, the government charges ahead, ready for progress, armed with axe and coffers -ready to be filled. For, lets not pretend, it is neither the well being of its citizens nor longer term development of this city drives these projects.It is corruption, and its infiltration deep into the very pores of our governance, the filthy game of power and greed that propels the development agenda.
And are there no alternatives, except to drive, widen roads, sacrifice air, breath? Our public transportation is abysmal, our walkways erased, no cycle paths, no green space, to linger, meet, wander. We are converting this city into a giant, grey, parasitic colony of consumers and consumables - and IT IS FOR OUR GOOD??? Thank you, but NO, thank you. We oppose, vocally, vociferously, loudly, clearly. We will not stand by and let this be done. We exercise our democratic right to fight progress which will not benefit us - we oppose, fight, because we dare not do otherwise.
You can most meaningfully join our voice by adding your signature here.
The larger common good,
as defined by a few,
will be rammed
down our throat,
will make us choke,
suffocate, die,
even as we defy,
and question,
what is this good?
which clears space,
where trees stood?
Bangalore traffic doubles every five years, and our ever changing governance is ever ready to demolish slums, axe trees, destroy heritage and replace it with wider roads, mazes of underpass, overpass, roundabouts, all to keep up with growing traffic needs. It is ready to lie, define, our life, happiness and success, by counting the cars that are on the roads, and squeezing even more.
But, what about people? What about people not in cars? Are roads about transporting people, or clearing spaces for cars - to move, to park? What fraction of Bangalore drives cars? And should our progress only cater to this set? Do they realise, that in their names, the government charges ahead, ready for progress, armed with axe and coffers -ready to be filled. For, lets not pretend, it is neither the well being of its citizens nor longer term development of this city drives these projects.It is corruption, and its infiltration deep into the very pores of our governance, the filthy game of power and greed that propels the development agenda.
And are there no alternatives, except to drive, widen roads, sacrifice air, breath? Our public transportation is abysmal, our walkways erased, no cycle paths, no green space, to linger, meet, wander. We are converting this city into a giant, grey, parasitic colony of consumers and consumables - and IT IS FOR OUR GOOD??? Thank you, but NO, thank you. We oppose, vocally, vociferously, loudly, clearly. We will not stand by and let this be done. We exercise our democratic right to fight progress which will not benefit us - we oppose, fight, because we dare not do otherwise.
You can most meaningfully join our voice by adding your signature here.
Friday, 22 May 2009
Raipur Satyagraha
I have recently returned after participating in my first Satyagraha, a civil resistance and a protest, an effort to 'invite truth', or even create it. I was part of a group protesting the two year incarceration of Dr. Binayak Sen in Raipur in a sham case implicating him in Maoist activities. The state's key witness has turned 'hostile', denying that Dr. Sen could have smuggled Maoist letters from the prison, which is the primary charge against him. Dr. Sen is in urgent need of medical attention and is still awaiting bail to obtain treatment of choice.
Dr. Binayak Sen is one person, of the probably thousands languishing in Indian jails without access to due judicial process entitled to them - a safety blanket to protect their civil liberties and human rights. Our 'Satyagarh' in Chattisgarh was a cry, a yell, a scream in many hundred voices, not only for justice in Dr. Sen's case, but all those others, wrongfully detained, many for substantially longer, under much more hostile and severe circumstances. It was a call, loud and clear, that we, the ordinary people of India, shall not let this be, that 'we shall not surrender!' We take responsibility for our bad governance, our rotten judiciary, our corrupt officials, mainly our own apathy in face of a hundred thousand wrongs that surround us, suffocate us, destroy us, and the very concept of a 'we' and 'us'.
There was no apathy in the Raipur Satyagraha. Minstrels sang, feet danced, voices of poets rang out with hopes for humanity and tears of their nightmares. There was no apathy when we marched under the blazing summer sun, young, old, women, children, all, with voices hoarse to wake the world. Fists clenched, held high, to shatter through the deceit, the lies! Protest calls of power, passion, in a battle cry to end wrong doings, not the wrong doers. We were strongly, forcefully, inviting truth, to come amongst us all, to end suffering, of all those suffering. For, can inflicting any pain be right? can any wrong doing be justified? are there any laws, principles, doctrines, greater than the sovereign right of all men to be free, to live, according to the current of their own inner voice? And, should we not protest, since our heart cries in pain? in shame? for all those suffering - wrongfully, willfully incurred at the hands of our own elected officials and appointed police force, who are meant to safeguard individual rights and thereby protect the existence of our nationhood?
Democracy fails without civil liberty. When human voice is silenced, questioning clamped, dissenters eliminated, then democracy itself becomes a sham. This is the state of affairs in Chattisgarh.We were just a tiny team of brave hearts in a war zone 'inviting truth'.
Dr. Binayak Sen is one person, of the probably thousands languishing in Indian jails without access to due judicial process entitled to them - a safety blanket to protect their civil liberties and human rights. Our 'Satyagarh' in Chattisgarh was a cry, a yell, a scream in many hundred voices, not only for justice in Dr. Sen's case, but all those others, wrongfully detained, many for substantially longer, under much more hostile and severe circumstances. It was a call, loud and clear, that we, the ordinary people of India, shall not let this be, that 'we shall not surrender!' We take responsibility for our bad governance, our rotten judiciary, our corrupt officials, mainly our own apathy in face of a hundred thousand wrongs that surround us, suffocate us, destroy us, and the very concept of a 'we' and 'us'.
There was no apathy in the Raipur Satyagraha. Minstrels sang, feet danced, voices of poets rang out with hopes for humanity and tears of their nightmares. There was no apathy when we marched under the blazing summer sun, young, old, women, children, all, with voices hoarse to wake the world. Fists clenched, held high, to shatter through the deceit, the lies! Protest calls of power, passion, in a battle cry to end wrong doings, not the wrong doers. We were strongly, forcefully, inviting truth, to come amongst us all, to end suffering, of all those suffering. For, can inflicting any pain be right? can any wrong doing be justified? are there any laws, principles, doctrines, greater than the sovereign right of all men to be free, to live, according to the current of their own inner voice? And, should we not protest, since our heart cries in pain? in shame? for all those suffering - wrongfully, willfully incurred at the hands of our own elected officials and appointed police force, who are meant to safeguard individual rights and thereby protect the existence of our nationhood?
Democracy fails without civil liberty. When human voice is silenced, questioning clamped, dissenters eliminated, then democracy itself becomes a sham. This is the state of affairs in Chattisgarh.We were just a tiny team of brave hearts in a war zone 'inviting truth'.
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
An Open Letter to the Police
For all of you who comfortably sit, accept and pride in India, world's largest democracy, its accelerated drive to development,progress, measured in roads, malls, airports, dams, industries, consumerism aped after western models, there are many secret, darker sides, to us, our nationhood that we hide deep inside. One such story is told here. Read it. Then, either remain awake, or go back to sleep.
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Gulabi Gang
Stories like that of the Gulabi Gang bring a new level of inspiration to all grassroot movements and a bright ray of hope for the down trodden, weaker sections in our society. Thanks to 'The world as we know it' for this excellent article. Check it out here.
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