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| Monday, May 1, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Bharatpur:
a fiery warning
POLITICS
and PARLIAMENT |
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| US media goes berserk on Elian by R. A. Singh FOR the last several days the US media – print, audio and visual — has been swamped with the coverage of seven-year-old Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy rescued from a shipwreck while clinging to a broken down raft. The fact that his mother drowned in the attempted crossing from Cuba added to the drama and poignancy of the story.
Salaam
Delhi!
A
gathering of writers, poets
Rituals
melt as Kashmiri priests die
May 1, 1925
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THE Bharatpur army ammunition depot blaze is most shocking and regrettable because it has happened in the post-Kargil period when a great deal of pragmatism and caution has been ostensibly put into practice at sensitive storage sites. According to the authorities concerned, "8,000 to 10,000 rounds of arms" were destroyed. Another statement issued simultaneously says that "more than 14,000 tonnes of ammunition used in small arms, tanks and long-range artillery shells" exploded and got spent up. The words "small arms" are being used to minimise the impact of the devastating news on the public mind in this age of spreading awareness and quick technological information. The available facts should be pieced together to nip misstatements in the bud. Arms and ammunition have not been merely "seriously damaged"; these have been lost in the fire. The depot is located just about seven kilometres away from Bharatpur. There are underground storage facilities too which have escaped damage. Twenty open plinths were set ablaze. The initially stated cause was an electric short circuit! Subsequently, it was said that a fire which started outside was fanned by a strong wind, burning the grass-bone dried up by 46 degrees Celsius of the local temperature and causing the "accident". The Defence Minister's aerial survey of the sprawling inferno and his assurance that the stockpile would be "replenished soon" mean nothing at present. The view did not support the guessed cause — "a chance occurrence" — and Mr Fernandes can only give compensation to the government stores from government funds. The man to listen to is
the former Chief of the Army Staff, Gen V.N. Sharma. The
damage of 8,000 to 10,000 tonnes of ammunition is a
colossal loss.... The Bharatpur fire was preceded (some
time ago) by the Jabalpur central ammunition depot blaze
which put a question mark on the provision of
fire-fighting equipment and protocol. “The mere
firing of a rocket or an incendiary bullet into the dry
grass could start off a major fire.” The lack of
funds hinders human work (in the absence of machines) and
the grassy growth leaves the depots vulnerable.... Now
look at the site and its importance. Bharatpur is
strategically located, points out a contemporary, to
receive weapon stores produced in the ordnance factories
situated at "in-depth centres". Both broad
gauge and metre gauge railway lines serve the Rajasthan,
Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir sectors. The depot plays a
critical role in giving logistic support to the Army. The
magnitude of what is being made to look like an accident
is too large to exclude the possibility of sabotage. The
vulnerability of such stockpile sites has been spoken out
by tongues of fire. The inadequacy of crisis management
steps has been explained by the extent of the damage. Now
the search for the lacunae and failures must begin in
right earnest. There are several Bharatpurs and Jabalpurs
in the country. Any effort to conceal the cause of the
fire should be treated as a betrayal of the cause of
national safety. The Army Chief is the best person to
finalise the nature and the modality of the inquiry.
Politicians and bureaucrats — including the Defence
Minister and the Defence Secretary — should
voluntarily and with dignity keep themselves away from
the probe into this fiery warning. Our powder must be
dry—and safe. |
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CONTOURS of an impending crisis have come on the radar screen of the BJP and the alliance it leads. There is no threat — now or in the near future — to the government but tonnes of embarrassment awaits it. Sacked vice-president Madan Lal Khurana has threatened to lambast the government on four counts. He is sure to be joined by allies and vociferously supported by the entire opposition. Of the four contentious issues two have lots of emotional appeal and the others will become non-issues by the time he gets up in the Lok Sabha to open his attack. He feels the government has compromised the nation’s sovereignty by advancing the date of lifting physical restrictions on imports of all items by two years — from 2003 to 2001. And that too clandestinely. This is an old story but with a new twist. The US Secretary of Commerce (the rank of Cabinet Minister in this country) had written a letter to his counterpart here demanding an immediate end to the curbs and Delhi duly signed on the dotted line. This is overblowing it a bit but the government has no explanation why it did not officially announce the signing of the agreement in the middle of November, forcing Indians to know about it from a Washington press conference. And President Clinton’s visit was announced later, stoking suspicion that there had been much give and a little take in all this. The more damaging charge is about the proposed optical fibre cable network to link all state capitals. That is Sankhya Vahini and will facilitate fast transmission of electronic data and greatly help the government, big companies, television networks, universities and also give the information technology a mighty shove. Why oppose it then? It is the American partner and the manner of selection that has aroused disquiet. It is a fully owned unit of Carnegie Mellon University, with no great reputation in this field and with neither the requisite technology nor capital. The Rs 1300-crore project was negotiated in a hush-hush manner, without inviting a tender and without a thorough inquiry into the background. Only one man was in the picture, dotcom Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. His friend Dr Raj Reddy is interested as is former scientific adviser to the government, Dr V.S. Arunachalam. The standing committee of Parliament has asked for the immediate revocation of the agreement and starting the selection process all over again. The RSS sees in the presence of a US firm in this sensitive area a threat to national security. Here again the government will be in the dock not for what it has done but for the way it has done it. Apart from the
increasing clumsiness of government functioning, the
Khurana episode exposes the creeping collapse of
political culture in the country. The BJP has not evolved
a mechanism to allow members to let off steam without
challenging the leadership. In the case of the Delhi MP
he could not even meet the Prime Minister for a fortnight
and when he finally met him, he was given only a few
minutes. All this to a senior leader and until recently a
confidant of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. This has happened
earlier to Mr Shankersinh Waghela in Gujarat and Mr
Kalyan Singh in UP. Mr Khurana enjoys wide support for
his stand though few will openly join him. In fact at
least one Union Minister is known to be his ideological
soul mate. What has compounded the problem for the BJP is
the retirement of RSS chief Rajju Bhaiyya who had the
moral authority to cool tempers, and a weak BJP president
who is also sick. The Congress too suffers from a similar
rusty forum and accumulated frustration. That is the
striking feature of today’s political organisations:
feeble or non-existent debating opportunities. |
POLITICS
and PARLIAMENT A CRITICAL analysis of the history of India reveals that this country developed the concept of personal loyalty at the expense of impersonal devotion more than any other nation, that the Indian State always was centred round its ruler, the king was more important than the institution of kingship. In the last about 2000 years we ignored the vision of India and concentrated on its visionaries. We deified Gandhi but buried Gandhiism. According to Swami Ranganathnanda, the over-emphasis of the hero-worship led to the complete absence of what is called “impersonal political loyalty”. This led to political decay which persists till today. The result is that politicians and legislators regard their leaders more important than the institution they represent. In a parliamentary democracy, a situation of the kind when a member of Parliament considers his leader more important than Parliament itself, should cause serious concern. During the heyday of Nehru, touching the feet of a leader became quite fashionable. A Bombay weekly Blitz, once published the photograph of a Union Cabinet Minister from Maharashtra tying the lace of the shoe of the then Prime Minister. Sycophancy became so common that every minister started holding a mini-durbar. Every local satarap had his demi-god in Delhi. An erstwhile Punjab Chief Minister carried in his hands the legendary chappals of a political leader on a wet slippery airport of Chandigarh where the chappals had accidentally fallen off. Another Punjab Chief Minister, who later became Home Minister, stated that if his leader, Indira Gandhi, wanted him to sweep the floors he would gladly do it. The cake was taken by another minister recently who said that if his leader, Ms Jayalalitha, ordered him to jump from the third floor he would do so blindly. These statements, howsoever unverified, may be stray remarks but they do reflect a trend which damaged our democracy. We are not only the largest functioning democracy in the world but have also produced the largest number of democratically elected mini-dictators. Historically this trend is traceable to the time when kings were also commanders. During a battle if the king fell from his horse the battle was over, the army surrendered. Foreign invaders were quick to notice this Indian trait and focused all their attention on eliminating the Indian commander. According to Greek accounts, hundreds of Greek soldiers died to “kill” Porus. And when he was captured alive the battle was lost. Mahmud’s target was always the Indian hero. This is how he finished the Shahia kings whose kingdom had extended even beyond Ghazni. Ghouri employed the same strategem against Prithviraj Chauhan. When Rana Pratap fell from his horse his army fled. But when he returned alive in the battlefield, the battle was over. Similarly, when Dara changed his elephant for a horse and was not visible to his army, Aurangzeb set afloat a rumour that Dara was dead. The Sikhs could not retain Punjab even for 10 years after the death of Ranjit Singh. The British were already waiting for the “hero” to go. The result was the annexation of Punjab. If at the highest level it was hero-worship, at the local and the lower level it was flattery. In India political flattery is a political virtue, absolute flattery is absolutely a virtue. Both corrupt absolutely. Personal loyalties have declined our political institutions. The scene has been aptly captured by an Urdu poet, Iqbal Umar, who says: London mein koyi ja
ke firangee se pooch ley (One may go to London
and confirm Dr B.R. Ambedkar was the first to caution the nation as early as November 26, 1949, the day the Constitution of India was adopted and signed. According to him, if democracy was to be maintained, it was absolutely necessary to observe the caution which John Stuart Mill has given to all those interested in the maintenance of democracy, namely “not to lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man or to trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions”. Dr Ambedkar said there was nothing wrong in being grateful to great men who had rendered life-long service to the country, but there were limits to gratefulness. This caution, he said, was far more necessary in the case of India than in the case of any other country. “For in India, Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship may be a road to salvation of the soul, but in politics, Bhakti means hero-worship which is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.” Ambedkar’s words fell on deaf ears and the nation headed towards the worst types of hero-worship. In India we conveniently forgot that the graveyards of the world were full of indispensable people. Only occasionally we had a breath of fresh air when, on an issue of principle, a Lal Bahadur, a C.D. Deshmukh or a Chagla resigned and challenged personal loyalties to promote the supremacy of impersonal loyalty, the cultivation of which requires inner strength, moral fibre and integrity of thought. If that is not done the pendulum of democracy will oscillate between a directly elected dictatorship and indirectly elected demagogues. After 50 years of the Republic we must realise that democracy does not mean merely the holding of elections and the casting of votes. Its meaning must be extended beyond the pale of visibility. To quote Swamiji again: “The glowing picture of what India can be tomorrow is marred by our knowledge of what she is today.” Let us remember that
strong and enduring States cannot be built on personal
loyalties. A State built on such loyalties will always be
a weak State. Only such States indulge in luxuries such
as “After Mr N, who ?” or “After Mrs I,
who ?” In a State founded on impersonal loyalties
this question becomes totally irrelevant. And if even
then such a question is raised, the answer is loud and
clear: “After Mr ABC, there are a hundred crore
Indians to take over.” In such a State there will be
no horse-trading of MPs, no money-bags in elections and
no unruly scenes in legislatures. Ethics will govern and
India will regain its lost glory. |
US media
goes berserk on Elian FOR the last several days the US media – print, audio and visual — has been swamped with the coverage of seven-year-old Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy rescued from a shipwreck while clinging to a broken down raft. The fact that his mother drowned in the attempted crossing from Cuba added to the drama and poignancy of the story. Elian, rescued by a Cuban fisherman, was taken over by relatives living in an area of Miami that is often called Little Havana because of the large number of anti-Castro Cuban immigrants there. And that was when the fun and games began. The question exercising everyone’s mind was what to do with little Elian. His father in Cuba claimed his son and wanted him sent back. But his grand uncle, the head of the Miami family looking after him, stood steadfast against his return to Cuba, claiming that the welfare of the boy demanded that he remain in the USA. The Clinton Administration is of the view that the boy belongs with his father and is in favour of his repatriation. The confusion became worse confounded when the Miami relatives filed suit to keep Elian in the USA by seeking asylum on his behalf. The court finally ruled that it would take up the case on May 11, until which date Elian was not to be sent back. The court ruling did not mandate against Elian being restored to his father, who had by then arrived in Washington with his second wife and baby son. Attorney-General Janet Reno made resolute personal endeavours to bring about a settlement between Elian’s father and the Miami relatives. There is no doubt that the Administration went the extra mile in trying to accommodate the contestants. Reno personally relayed proposals between the family members – with the father demanding he be granted custody and the relatives rejecting any demand for surrendering the boy. The plan included moving both the father and the son, along with the relatives, to a retreat where they could discuss Elian’s future in private. The retreats that had been proposed included the conference centres at the Wye Plantation in Maryland, not too far from the Capital. The Wye Plantation had also been used for the Arab-Israeli negotiations earlier. The Miami family, which has cared for Elian since his rescue in November, proposed a joint guardianship of the child with his Cuban father at a Florida location. Gonzalez Sr understandably rejected the idea, insisting on immediate custody of his son and their eventual return to Cuba. Meanwhile, Mr Gonzalez made a televised pubic plea for his son’s return. The appeal apparently touched a chord in many hearts because the US Justice Department was flooded with more than 7,000 telephone calls calling for the quick reunion of father and son. It was clear that a great number of people agreed with President Clinton that the boy’s place was with his father. With negotiations repeatedly stalling – Reno complained that the Miami relatives kept changing the goalposts – the Administration was left with no other alternative but to take away Elian forcibly in order to reunite him with his father. This was accomplished in a three-minute commando operation at dawn on April 22. Heavily armed commandos (there had been reports that some Cuban hotheads had collected arms to resist such an attempt) took away a crying Elian, rushed him to Washington and deposited him in the arms of his father at Andrews Air Force base. A photograph of a clearly frightened Elian in the arms of an adult cowering back from the commando confronting them was shown repeatedly on television, amidst charges of jackboot tactics. But a closer examination of the photograph proved that the automatic rifle was not pointed at Elian, and the safety catch was on so the gun could not have been fired. Vice-President Al Gore and Texas Governor George Bush, the two Presidential candidates, added fuel to the media fire by issuing statements criticising the official tactics. But as The Washington Post editorialised, the two champions of family values fled responsibility in pursuit of votes. The Hispanic vote can be crucial in Miami. The election year fever has obviously affected members of Congress and a lot of partisan comments are being bandied about. A number of prominent Republican members of Congress are exploiting the Elian case as a convenient stick with which to belabour the Clinton Administration. They said they would call for an investigation into what they described as the government’s excessive use of force against private citizens. Some of them went to the extent of charging that the Clinton Administration was taking its orders from Fidel Castro in Cuba. Referring to the manner in which Elian was taken away from the Miami family, House Majority Whip Tom Delay, Texas Republican, declared that both the legislature and the judiciary should look into it. “This is a frightening event,” he added with pious horror. None of those involved, in fact, seem to have Elian’s interest at heart. It turns out that the clash between Elian’s grand uncle in Miami and his father is a continuation of a feud that had been going on from before the time the grand uncle made it to the USA. And he has used every trick in the book to humiliate his rival. Elian’s Miami relatives trotted out psychologists who claimed that separating the boy from his surrogate mother of four months (as opposed to keeping him from his biological father of six years) would cause irreparable emotional damage. Next, they conjured up an affidavit from an ex-friend of Elian’s father claiming that the father beat not only Elian but also his mother. The final straw was when the Miami family’s attorney went on TV and insinuated child abuse of Elian by the father. And a willing media lapped it all up, playing it up for all it was worth. The damage done by the photograph of the commando grabbing Elian was washed away hours later when Americans saw another photograph of a happy, smiling Elian in his father’s arms and obviously glad to be with him. There is, incidentally, a solid reason why the US Administration was so adamant in its professed principle that Elian belonged with his father. The USA has been involved, over the years, in a number of custody battles in which the children of US citizens married to foreigners have been whisked abroad. If the USA ruled against giving custody of Elian to his father, it could well be used as a precedent in future court battles in distant lands. Meanwhile, President Fidel Castro added his own spin. He praised President Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno and the Immigration and Naturalisation Service for a “perfect” operation, adding that the Cuban government had passed along its full support for the raid before it was staged. Castro also announced that the day was a “day of truce – the only one in 41 years (of confrontation with the USA). Tomorrow, the struggle continues.” Indian Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, here for the Fund-Bank meetings earlier, said it best when he commented that the brouhaha over the fate of one boy was ludicrously out of proportion when thousands of boys were dying of hunger all over Africa. The media did not appear to be particularly exercised over that tragedy. The writer is
based in Washington |
Salaam
Delhi! DELHI-ites have become stuffed shirts and are walking with their noses in the air and why not ? You see, fulsome encomiums are being showered on their city like manna from heaven and that has naturally gone to their already swollen heads. A well-attended seminar recently held in Delhi hailed the city as a “technopolis”, referring to the numerous hi-tech industries coming up on the outskirts. What is generally not known is that Delhi is not just a “technopolis”, but it can claim to being other “polises” too. A sampler. Garbopolis: Credit in full measure for making Delhi a garbopolis goes to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) which has taken diligent care to see that garbage mounds in different localities of the city remain uncleared for months on end and as a result they have assumed mountainous proportions and become star tourist attractions. Smokopolis: Thanks to the thousands of smoke-belching autorickshaws, trucks and DTC buses, Delhi is not just a technopolis, but a smokopolis, too, so much so an average Delhi-ite will instantly choke to death if he breathes pure, life-giving oxygen, but will thrive on carbon-monoxide, nitrous oxide and other noxious vehicle exhaust gases and have pink cheeks to show for it. Slumopolis: There are as many as 839 “declared” slums in Delhi and the number of “undeclared” slums must be easily double that number. Efforts are on at the highest administrative level to have Delhi declared as a “slumopolis”. With unchecked migration from rural areas and neighbouring states, Delhi’s claim to being the fastest growing slumopolis is unlikely to be challenged for the foreseeable future. Hoardopolis: When it comes to garish and gaudy hoarding London or Paris is no patch on Delhi. Huge and ungainly hoardings, illegal and unlicensed, spring up overnight in different localities of the city in violation of the City Corporation by-laws and proclaiming, “Macho briefs and vests for macho men!” so much so, the Qutub Minar can’t be seen at all even on a clear day, unless the hoardings come crashing down during a freak “aandhi”. Potopolis: There are more potholes on Delhi’s roads than in any other city and on an average day, more unwary scooter and mopedwallahs tumble into them breaking their precious necks than in any other comparable city. Delhi’s roads have been rightly described by urban experts as potholes interspersed with occasional patches of bitumen tar. Weedopolis: At last
count, there were at least a billion congress grass and
other noxious weeds growing in wild profusion in the
heart of Delhi and by now, the figure must be approaching
a zillion young plants. Hence the city is rightly called
a Weedopolis — perhaps the only one in the world.
Asthma and bronchitis patients choking to death from
parthenium pollen are a striking tribute to Delhi —
the incomparable Weedopolis! |
A
gathering of writers, poets FOREMOST, pollution and the abnormality in the atmosphere have crossed limits, affecting the so-called VVIPs. These days a fresh round of viral fever is spreading, which seems to be affecting a large percentage of Delhi’s population and has not spared even the President and the Prime Minister of India. Last week the Prime Minister was ill — “throat infection”. And on April 28 the President of India, Mr K.R. Narayanan, had to inaugurate the first ever SAARC Writers Conference here, in New Delhi, but minutes before the inauguration came the news that he is unwell “down with a bout of flu” and so could not make it. Anyway, the three-day long (April 28 to 30) SAARC Writers Conference is definitely the highlight of the week or say of the month. Thirty writers and poets are here “from the seven sister-nations of the region” as described by the well known Punjabi writer Ajeet Cour, who is now better known as the founder of the Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, which is hosting this conference. And at the very onset Khushwant Singh stated that the purpose of holding this conference was to keep the voice of freedom alive in the decaying atmosphere of religious fundamentalism and intolerance. “Lately clouds of suspicion and hate have gathered over our skies and the only community that has not succumbed to this ongoing atmosphere is the community of writers and poets and we have to keep the voice of freedom alive....” And though seated on the dais were two former Prime Ministers of India — Mr V.P. Singh and Mr I.K. Gujral — but both played it safe. In the sense they did not speak of the dirty politics involved in the ongoing tensions between nations of this region and concentrated on the positive alone. Mr V.P. Singh spoke of the changing times we are going through and with that moved on to state that “the final test of being cultured cannot be judged by how well we dance or sing but how we respond when a needy knocks at our door and the question that is coming up is whether we should give them (the needy) tanks or food and facilities.’’ Mr I.K. Gujral started off with a verse borrowed from Gulzar and thereafter concentrated on the fact that tensions between the two countries (India and Pakistan) have certainly deprived the people from knowing their common history, culture and languages.’’ The person who spoke the best at this inaugural session was Kamleshwar. He hit out: “ This conference of the writers of SAARC countries, is, in fact, incomplete! Tell me, are all the countries of South Asia represented here? Where are Afghanistan and Myanmar? Without the participation of these two nations this organisation is incomplete and lame...” Not really halting at that he went on to hit more aggressively at everyday realities: “Since we cannot approve of the forces of negative nationalism let loose by politics, our books are written and sent to each other like well meaning letters but these `letters’ get stuck in government or army post offices. Then, can we, the SAARC countries accept the declaration of the consumerist forces? Our poor cannot afford the Italian pizza, our labourers cannot spray perfumes, our helpless womenfolk cannot wear Rado watches. The SAARC countries shall themselves decide about their bread cakes, their fragrances and their time!” All this could be wishful thinking. Our politicians, dictated by various factions, could never be expected to think along the human line. In fact, the one ‘active’ politician on the dais — External Affairs Minister Mr Jaswant Singh — held out little promise, with a weak speech. Towards the close of the inaugural session the mood turned rather sentimental when Pakistan’s celebrated poet Ahmad Faraz read out lines from his poem titled Peace. It was indeed gracious of him to give me a signed copy of the English translation of this poem and here I reproduce some lines from it (space restrictions will not let me reproduce its entire length).... ‘‘The tragedy is that the breeze of bitterness/And stink of conflict/Comes from the gardens on either side/ The irony is that both sides suspect/ Spring has come only after bathing in the enemy’s blood / Such is the situation of such brutality that now/ Neither your feet are intact nor my hands /Victory is not yours / Nor defeat is mine / No one stands by you / Nor have I anyone with me / The helpless, voiceless people of our towns /Are buried in thousands of mounds of sorrow /Nor their bleak-fatedness seeks the glow of lamps/People who for half a century/ Have lived in dense darkness / Such lamps are spread the light of love / Lamps which enlighten the hearts’ sanctuaries /Lamps that grant the glow of peace/ Lamps which in turn light countless more lamps / Friends! I’ve come to your country this time / Neither for musical company nor poetry /If it is a question of your ego / I extend my hand in friendship, first !” Christianity and dharma? Amidst an atmosphere of
religious intolerance, with right wing fundamentalists
repeatedly targeting members of the Christian community,
a book titled — ‘Finding Jesus in Dharma —
Christianity in India’, was released here. This book
is almost like a ray of hope, reminding us of the fact
that “the Indian Christians have been an integral
part of Indian society for as long as Christianity
itself. They did not ever believe that there was any
conflict between the spiritual environment in which they
had their roots and their faith in Jesus Christ as
Saviour.” Written by former bureaucrat Badrinath
Chaturvedi, it was released by Karan Singh and it has
been published by Indian Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge (ISPCK). Though the very title of this book
pinpoints at the exact thrust but just to put the
contents in nutshell let me quote . “But, above all,
beyond history, beyond theology, there is Jesus, as the
perfect embodiment of Dharma. Faith, trust, caring, love,
and truth — these are the meanings of Jesus, as they
are of Dharma.” |
Rituals
melt as Kashmiri priests die IN a hot concrete flat, as I ruminate on my birthday the dark face (not very uncommon among Kashmiris) of Sampkuj comes out of the silhouette of my memory. The colours of her Phirans used to be slightly lighter than her skin. I vividly recall her spotless white sleeves. She would take out her bare and spindly arms to hold a large plate of rice with toppings of mutton delicacies on her knees. She would neither come with any gift nor shower blessings, but she was a regular on my birthday. She would quietly wait for the puja to be over. After the meals she would collect her share of offerings for the priests. The offerings included rice, salt and one or two rupees. She would collect it in a bag and leave for her home across the bridge. She was the widow of the late Pt Somnath who was Garun, a second rung priest of the family. She had a son who worked as a clerk in the state electricity department. As it is she didn’t come on festivals of death or birth out of economic necessity alone. She discharged the social obligation on behalf of her husband. Besides Sampkuj Pt Goondkak, the family priest Gour, used to be present and performing the ceremonies on my birthday. His daughter was an MA and the son had done diploma in civil engineering and was employed in the state Public Works Department. As it is he also seemed to be continuing in the profession for he knew no other occupation. It didn’t matter to him what offerings were made to him or how much respect his profession enjoyed. He accepted all that was presented to him. Wearing a saffron safa (turban) he would enter the sitting room early morning on my birthday. His phiran with tight sleeves used to be spotless. Having exchanged greetings with my grandfather, who was quite slim compared to his bulky frame. He would sit cross-legged and wait as my mother would bring utensils and other essentials for the puja. The entire family was respectful to him not because of his self-engrossed looks, but he engaged us in rituals which turned just another day in the calendar into a birthday or a death anniversary. The rituals deepened the mystery of life and death and our reverence for their performer. Never was any disparaging remark made about him either in his presence or absence. I was reprimanded once for referring him by his nickname, quite a common practice among Kashmiri Pandits. Pt Goondkak was also our neighbour. The day he passed away, the food for his large family was cooked at our place. A cousin of mine studied in the regional engineering college. The grand-daughter of Pt Nityanand who stepped into Pt Goondkak’s shoes was his class fellow. They became close friends and decided to marry. This led to quite a filmi drama between the two families. The grandfather and uncles opposed the match for the girl was Gour’s grand-daughter. When the both boy and girl didn’t retrace their steps, the two families relented and their marriage was solemnised. But her stay with the in-laws didn’t pass without innuendoes about her parents’ ‘sub-caste’. Scholars opine that the Gours and Karkuns were not endogamous groups from the beginning. Gour or purohit was a Pandit who was proficient in Sanskrit and wellversed in Shivaite karmakand (the manner of performing rituals). During medieval times every Pandit was proficient in these practices, whom to engage as a performer of the rituals was a serious question which cropped up before Pandits. This issue was resolved by them by deciding to entrust the job of purohit to the son-in-law of the family. Since he had already accepted the daughter as an offering (kanya daan) he was worthy of being given offerings made during the rituals. With the change in the court language first to Persian, then Urdu and now English, many a Kashmiri Pandits learnt these languages and other subjects to gain jobs in the bureaucracy and were called Karkuns. Those who stuck with the practice to karmakand were called Gours. Those who stuck to Sanskrit mostly became teachers of Hindi or Sanskrit in government or aided educational institutions. During the reign of Sri Partap Singh research in Sanskrit works of the yore was started. Among Kashmiri Pandits who made considerable contribution in the advancement of Sanskrit included Mahamhopadyaya Mukund Ram Shastri, Pandit Harbhat Shastri, Mahamhopadyaya Jagadhar Zadoo and Pandit Madhusudan Kaul. However, many among Pandits continued to practice Karmakand and even became dependent on this practice for livelihood. Over the passage of time the British education brought in scepticism about the religious practices. This lowered the esteem of these practices among the Gour as well as Karkuns. Since the fear of death and God remained Kashmiri Pandits despite lending lip service to modern thoughts continued with the ritualistic life-style. While the number of Gours fell, the occupation became a part-time activity among some who were lucky to get state jobs. With more and more children of Gours shunning the practice, a stage has come when practising Gours are few and far between. With displacement from the valley the availability of Gours has further gone down. Many Pandits manage birthdays and death anniversary rituals, either by reading rituals without understanding, from Janthari (almanac) or performing practices as per the directions of purohits of plains. This substitution of Gour is not limited to individual Pandits, but religious functions organised by Pandit bodies have purohits from the plains. For every one Priyanka Wadra nee Gandhi wedding by a Gour, nine Pandit marriages are performed by pseudo Gours (Pandits who have not learnt the Shivaite Karmakand even by rot). After the 1989 exodus there have been several births and deaths but Pt Nityanand did not turn up on any such occasion. It is on seeing the janthari, my mother, living 500 km away, informs me about my birthday. Occasionally Yagnopavit is mailed to me. There is no Garun’s wife Sampkuj or Pt Nityanand or any ritual on the birthday. My friend and colleagues have resolved the problem by celebrating my birthday as per my date of birth according to the Christian calendar. Amidst bonhomie and revelry I am reminded of Keshav Malik’s lines: “And still, all impatience, a river races in your veins to do its duty by pitars. Still, how like an obedient tributary you run to prolong the great chain of the customary
gene.....still....” |
May
1, 1925 ON one point Lord Olivier’s views are both definite and of some practical value. “If the Constitution is faulty,” he says, “it is mere pedantry to declare in advance that for the sake of maintaining the reputation of the British Government for firmness all questions of amendment must be postponed until 1929.” “Only those who are entirely ignorant of the state of general public opinion in India,” he adds,“can for a moment imagine that such an attitude can do anything but aggravate distrust of our good faith.” Now that the views of
five out of the nine members of the Muddiman Committee
— for with Sir M. Shafi's conversion the number of
those advocating an immediate wider enquiry is five and
not four — are before the British public, this
expression of opinion on the part of one who more than
any one else in England was responsible for the
appointment of that Committee is bound to have some
effect upon British public opinion. |
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