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October 23, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Raiders are here Knowledge on sale! |
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FLOATING ON A
SEA OF GAS Challenges of housing finance
The communication gap
This time Judges judge themselves fairly
Does the UN really work?
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Raiders are here IT does not take much to make Indian industrialists nervous. Even so, the new threat is real. A bunch of corporate raiders have appeared on the scene, flush with funds, and giving sleepless nights to the likes of Mr Nusli Wadia, Mr Lalit Mohan Thapar, Mr Sheth and Mr Jayaprakash Gaur. This has come at a time when the stock market price index for old established industries is plunging, making the scrips of some of the well-known companies affordable. An analysis in a newspaper points out that the shares of many companies have lost heavily in recent months. The bluest of bluechip Telco has shed nearly 70 per cent of what is called market capitalisation or the aggregate value of its shares. At this rate it needs only about Rs 500 crore to buy 26 per cent of the equity and try to seize control of the management. Similarly, the much fancied Larsen & Toubro has hit a trough and has become vulnerable to hostile takeover. The story is long and the temptation irresistible. And one Calcutta-based jute mill owner has made this a possibility. Mr Arun Bajoria has bought 14 per cent of shares of Bombay Dyeing, owned by the Nusli Wadia family. It has only about 32 per cent which means that the jute baron poses a credible challenge. A Delhi real estate promoter, Mr
A.H. Dalmia, is in the field to acquire a 45 per cent stake in a Mumbai real estate firm owned by Great Eastern Shipping of the Sheths. Share dealer Bhasin has taken a 6 per cent share in Mr Jayaprakash Gaur-owned Jayapraksh Industries. It is likely that these are genuine investments with an eye on making quick and good profit. But nobody can be sure and hence the sense of unease. Mr Bajoria has said that he will unload his shares at the right price which he thinks is Rs 200. Mr Dalmia has chosen a different road. He is in the market to buy shares of Gesco at Rs 27 a share. It means the present owner has to make a counter-offer and soon as his holding is a mere 14 per cent. The latest sensation is the news of tobacco giant ITC buying less than 5 per cent in Eastern Hotels which runs the Oberoi chain. ITC, which owns the Welcomegroup hotels, says its intentions are honourable and the purchase is part of its portfolio diversion plan. Attention will now be on the action of the financial institutions like UTI, IDBI, LIC and ICICI which hold a big chunk of shares in many companies. If they decide to vote with the present management, a takeover bid will collapse. This is what they have said in the case of Bombay Dyeing. And it is what they did when celebrated industrialist Swraj Paul tried to capture the management of Escorts and DCM. If Sebi finds that its code has been violated by anyone, it can refuse to recognise the share-holding, thus helping the present owners. The Sebi takeover code is a word-for-word copy of the British original which was meant for a different industrial culture. The code has three important provisions. The present management can add to its holding but by only 5 per cent every year. Any private individual can buy 15 per cent and notify Sebi if he adds to this; he must also buy another 20 per cent from the market (this is called open offer). There should be no concerted effort by the raider, his company and others to corner shares within individual limits but launch the bid later. If, however, two-thirds of the shareholders decide to change the management, the ceiling will not apply. Top industrialists want changes in the code to either increase the promoters’ right to add to their holding or reduce an intending raider’s size. They see the raiders as pure evil while many believe that this phenomenon will lead to restructuring the management. It is known that the promoters (management) run giants with less than 20 per cent of equity (the right to manage) and do not add to the real value of the units. They will have to change now. Research in the USA has revealed that the value of shares of those companies which attracted the malevolent notice of raiders has jumped thanks to normal stock exchange response and the mandatory open offer. This is precisely what is happening now. That way, the sensex has reasons to smile again. |
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Knowledge on sale! KNOWLEDGE is now on sale! Witness the spectacle of advertisements in the print medium, offering GK books that claim to help one become a ‘‘crorepati". This is the inevitable, ludicrous fallout of the current T.V. rage, ‘‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’’, being anchored by the financially-troubled Amitabh Bachchan, once the superstar of Bollywood and crorepati many times over. What has given a further impetus to the exploiting publishers is the advent of the first ‘‘Crorepati’’ of the popular show, Harshvardhan Nawathe from Mumbai. Though word had got around much earlier about Nawathe winning the prize, still millions watched the show on October 19 night. The suspense was no doubt missing. But that did not prevent viewers from glueing to their TV sets, having a vicarious pleasure from the joy of Nawathe. There is a poetic justice of sorts in the first crorepati being from Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, where the presiding deity is Mahalakshmi, the Goddess of
Wealth. Not to be outdone by this mega show on Star TV, rival channel Zee is all set to launch ‘‘Sawaal Das Crore Ka’’ to be anchored by Anupam Kher, who must rank as one of the most popular Bollywood stars today. As a consequence, one shudders to think the spectacle of invasion of the country’s bazars by cheap GK books ‘‘imparting knowledge’’ to make a Mammon out of the man in the street. The GK books entered in a big way during the 1970’s when they sought to prepare the youth for competitive examinations for various jobs — from humble clerks in government departments and banks to the exalted
IAS, IFS and IPS. Out of the many in the race, a few quality publications have survived till today. There is no quarrel with such publications. But what is worrisome is the way knowledge is being ‘‘marketed’’ as a commodity to be bought from the
shelves. What is knowledge and what is the purpose of knowledge? This question must be answered with honesty if the youth of the country are to be saved from lopsided development. First of all, knowledge must mould one’s character and prepare one to face life with equanimity under all circumstances. Knowledge is not a package of cold facts and statistics to be consumed and vomited. Knowledge is not bought but acquired throughout one’s life for
continuous all-round progress, not just material. It must help one imbibe time-honoured values of life. One of them is no doubt not to succumb to greed or the desire for quick money. All religions the world over warn against succumbing to greed. Literature is full of stories about how the greedy have come to grief. What is acquired without efforts goes away soon just as the way it comes. ‘‘Easy come, easy go’’, sang Elvis Prisley in the swinging sixties. It was on the lips of every youth of the day. Even the material West knows the dangers of greed. So, to know the East’s own values, look West! |
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FLOATING
ON A SEA OF GAS THERE must be more to Mrs Hasina Wajed’s visit to the USA, the first ever by a Bangladeshi Head of Government, than only gas. The Israeli-Palestinian confrontation distracted attention from the event, not allowing either President Bill Clinton or his Secretary of State, Mrs Madeleine Albright, to do it full justice. But problems in one part of the Islamic ummah can only underline the need to build or strengthen ties in the rest. Mr Clinton would not have spent longer in Dhaka than in Islamabad when he visited the subcontinent in March if he did not perceive benefits in reinforcing this wider alliance. Bangladesh’s religious identity and geopolitical location, bordering Myanmar and close to China, give it a strategic advantage that is probably even more important to the Americans than the abundance of fuel. True, the West Asian crisis has demonstrated again that oil is hostage to the region’s explosive politics, and that the West needs a reliable alternative source of fuel. While Bangladesh’s proven deposits amount to 16 trillion cubic feet, experts feel that actual deposits are probably the world’s largest. But this is no sudden discovery. It has been known for a long time, ever since the sixties when Bangladesh was East Pakistan, that the country “was floating on a sea of gas,” as an official put it at the time. Nearly 20 years ago a young Bangladeshi MP, Mr Tipu Panni, advised President Hussain Mohamed Ershad to sell the gas to India so that he could switch it off whenever the Indians were less than forthcoming with Farakka water. When India was lukewarm, largely because of the expense of exploration and piping and because there were doubts then about the quality of the gas, another Bangladeshi politician sneered that it was because the energy could only be used to develop the eastern and northeastern states. “New Delhi would have jumped at it if all that cheap gas could be piped to Punjab or Uttar Pradesh!” he said. Later, Mr Ramakrishna Hegde, as Union Commerce Minister, did suggest a deal, but in a rare show of agreement, Mrs Wajed and her arch-rival, Mrs Khaleda Zia, both announced that the gas was not for sale. It would be used, said the Prime Minister, to generate cheap electricity, something that 85 per cent of 125 million Bangladeshis now do without. They might view things differently if US dollars and expertise were on offer, especially since Petrobangla, the state-owned monopoly, is unable to exploit all the known gas-fields. Gas must be set in the context of overall economic growth which, in turn, is affected by political stability. A Southeast Asian diplomat claims to be more sanguine about Bangladesh than India or Pakistan because in spite of 15 million Hindus and a small Buddhist community, it is ethnically homogenous. The Awami League government can claim several achievements. It has consolidated parliamentary democracy after years of military rule, open and disguised. Its 1996 water treaty with India removed a major irritant whose political implications were even worse than the economic. The 68-point 1997 peace agreement with the Chakma and other tribal leaders ended a 25-year secessionist war in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and won Mrs Wajed UNESCO’s Felix Houphouet-Biogny Peace Prize. American investment has gone up from $ 20 million to $ 800 million since she took over. An embryonic market explained why the US Chamber of Commerce and the US-Bangladesh Business Council took an active interest in her visit. But for all that it is the world’s only superpower — perhaps because of it — the USA is a country in need of friends to execute its global policies, especially in the Islamic world. Pakistan was the obvious instrument during the Cold War and is still Washington’s indispensable eyes and ears in the “crescent of danger”, as Mr Ronald Reagan called West Asia. But the Pervez Musharraf regime’s political isolation, a rampant heroin and Kalashnikov culture, and incipient signs of social Talibanisation make it necessary for Mr Clinton to cast around for other allies among the Muslim nations of Asia. Indonesia is too strife-torn and Malaysia’s Dr Mahathir Mohamad too acerbic for either country to be regarded as a dependable partner. A stable, democratic, non-fundamentalist Bangladesh on good terms with its bigger neighbour, but still in need of diplomatic ballast, might seem the obvious choice. No wonder there is talk of a strategic relationship. Just as General Ershad scored over the then opposition Awami League in 1985 by persuading Mr Rajiv Gandhi to include Nepal in water negotiations, today’s Awami League government would gain an edge over critics who constantly accuse her of selling out to India by forging strong links with the West. But the Prime Minister will still face challenges on both domestic and subcontinental fronts. At home, she is under intense populist pressure from Mrs Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its partners. Some of them opposed independence in 1971, others were hand in glove with the military. Mrs Wajed hit out at them when she urged people who loved Pakistan to migrate there. But rhetoric alone, howsoever logical, will not quell the small but dangerous fundamentalist element which was responsible for the persecution of Taslima Nasreen, the author of Lajja. Anti-Indianism is the other face of their bigotry. Abroad, Mrs Wajed has taken on Pakistan. She used her UN General Assembly address last month to criticise military regimes, provoking General Musharraf to refuse to meet her on the plea that she had interferred in his country’s internal affairs. She is also demanding a copy of Pakistan’s Hamoodur Rahman Commission report on the events of 1971, which has never been published, and wants Islamabad to apologise for the atrocities in which three million Bangladeshis are said to have been killed, thousands of women raped and a reign of terror unleashed on innocent civilians. Islamabad’s refusal to take the 300,000 Urdu-speaking Biharis who opted for Pakistan but are languishing in Bangladesh is a compounding factor. Estranged from her scientist husband, Mrs Wajed is above all driven by the urge to bring to book the men who brutally massacred her parents, brothers and a host of other relatives 25 years ago. She escaped only because she was then in England where her husband was working. The passion for justice could impinge on relations with the USA where three of the killers live. A Dhaka court convicted the three retired army officers, A.K.M. Mohiuddin, Ahmed Sharful Hossain and Rashed Choudhary, of the crime in absentia in 1998, together with 12 other former military men. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s daughter wants them extradited. Outstanding in a region noted for its remarkable women leaders, she has taken Bangladesh a long way. It is not every international “basket case” — the dismissive comment in 1971 of a State Department official that is often wrongly attributed to Dr Henry Kissinger — that is courted by the lone superpower. That is a tribute to Mrs Wajed’s unostentatious administrative efficiency. The writer is a former Editor of The Statesman. |
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Challenges of housing finance THE 20th century began with 10 per cent of the total world population living in the urban areas, and at the turn of the century the proportion increased to around 45 per cent. The process has been equally manifest in India where the population living in the urban areas was just 16 per cent in 1951, and it is expected to touch the 22 per cent mark in 2001. This unusually large movement of human beings from the rural to urban areas in the known history of humankind has necessitated a relook into our settlement development perspectives. Whereas the cities are emerging as the backbone of the national economies, it has been unable to provide quality life to their residents. Access to adequate shelter remains the most critical instrument of ensuring integration and incorporation of the city’s population in the development process. According to the National Buildings Organisation (NBO), the total backlog of housing was estimated at 31 million in 1991, of which 10.4 million would be in the urban areas. However, it is estimated that the total housing requirement in the urban areas during the Ninth Plan period (1997-2002) is 16.76 million units, out of which over 70 per cent is to address the needs of the urban poor and the economically weaker sections while 20 per cent is for the low income groups. It is estimated that for urban housing alone, the total requirement of investment would be of the order of Rs 1,213.7 billion for 1997-2002 to address the housing shortage of 7.57 million, upgradation of 0.32 million semi-pucca economically weaker sections (EWS) units and the additional construction of 8.67 million units. The total requirement of funds for urban and rural housing put together for 1997-2002 was estimated to be of the order of Rs 1,504 billion. Against this amount, about Rs 520 million is likely to be available if the past trends of housing finance are assumed to continue. Investment to the housing sector comes from two sources: the formal sector and the informal sector. The formal sector, according to the definition adopted by the Rangarajan Committee (1987), includes budgetary allocations of the Central and state governments, assistance from the financial institutions/agencies, commercial banks and specialised housing finance institutions. The non-formal sector, on the other hand, covers households themselves and public and private sector employers extending housing loans to their employees and project funding by HUDCO and other agencies outside the budgetary process. The total investment of the allocation of the public sector in housing has been very low (less than 10 per cent of the total investment in housing) though it has been significant because of the focus on economically weaker sections. However, in recent years the flow of institutional finance to the housing sector has shown a marked growth because of the efforts of the LIC and commercial banks which have emerged as a major contributor to housing finance. The efforts of the National Housing Bank (NHB) has been refinancing land development and shelter programmes of public and private agencies in a significant way. In fact, the NHB’s strategies so far have definitely contributed to the emergence of a fairly strong housing finance system which is on a steady growth path. The flow of resources to the housing sector has also increased with the NHB’s own refinance disbursements estimated to be around Rs 2,400-Rs 2,500 crore. The NHB must, therefore, not only continue to exist but also gear itself to squarely meeting the challenges thrown up by the fast changing economic scenario. Despite the recent growth in housing finance as an organised activity, the informal housing sector continues to be an important segment with a large part of housing being provided for themselves by the private households. An efficient housing finance system based on the principle of competitiveness should be able to raise the bulk of its resource requirements by the mobilisation of household savings in competition with other participants in the market. It is, however, difficult for the housing sector in India at its present stage of development to rely solely on the market determined system where resources are likely to be driven to sectors that offer the highest net returns. Though there has indeed been a spectacular growth of the housing finance industry, the size of the market is still small and largely dominated by two pioneers — HDFC and LIC. It may be mentioned here that housing finance companies do not have access to the cheap loans provided by the government. They have to raise money from the capital market at low costs to be able to compete with other issuers of capital who are able to pay higher returns, specially on equity. It is expected that housing finance companies have been able to garner around Rs 5,000 crores for investment in the housing sector during the Eighth Plan period. The housing finance companies have to come in a big way to cater to the needs of the MIG and HIG groups. It would be prudent if these companies lend at different rates of interest for LIG, MIG and HIG groups keeping in view their lending capability. In fact, the rate of interest to be charged for the EWS and LIG categories should be less than the average cost of funds and much less than charged from the MIG and HIG categories. Housing finance is a crucial input to gear up the construction of dwelling units which indeed is very much needed in the new millennium. If shelter construction and development has to be encouraged, the government in collaboration with the housing finance companies, specially HDFC and LIC, as also the National Housing Bank will have to evolve a strategy for meeting the short-term and long-term credit needs of the housing sector.
—INFA |
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The communication gap WHEN communication gap occurs, misunderstanding creeps in. It can happen between two friends, parents and children and the teachers and the taught. Sometimes one goes on tolerating the idiosyncrasies of a friend. It seems improper to point out the drawback or to touch the raw nerve. Still it is not possible to wish such thing away by simply ignoring them. A time comes when one finds it hard to tolerate the other person’s behaviour. Suddenly there is an eruption of one’s suppressed feelings, resulting in sometimes the disruption of harmonious relationship. The reason is not far to seek. It’s due to the communication gap between the two buddies. When one communicates, there is a dialogue between the two minds. The element that irritates or the misconception that sprouts is eliminated the moment one tries to understand the other person’s point of view. In the case of the parents and the children, there has never been any generation gap. The so-called generation gap is, in fact, the communication gap. A time comes in a child’s life, particularly during adolescence, when mum’s the word. At this juncture the boy or the girl recedes into his or her solitude and the parents feel “ignored”. This is the time when the elders should devise ways and means for bridging the communication gap, instead of finding escape into their own orbit. Once the chilliness of the atmosphere thaws, words trickle down freely in the form of a dialogue and no icicles of doubt, suspicion or aversion take any sinister shape. The moment there is some sort of vibration in the stillness of relationship, harmony begins (out of chaos). The teachers are a class by themselves. They are the speakers while the students are the listeners. They seldom allow the young ones to converse with them. Rather an interruption in their lecture is resented. There is no time after the lecture to invite questions. Hence a big conversational gap between the teachers and the taught. Generally, the traffic is one-sided, resulting in many misconceptions. The recourse to dialogue can clear the cobwebs in the minds. Unless there is inquisitiveness, there can be no acquisition of knowledge. On the other hand, the teachers need to refresh their knowledge by gaining access to the young thoughtful minds. Teaching is a long process of learning. It is a continuing process. Teaching, in fact, is another dimension of learning. In the seminars held in postgraduate classes, it is the communication, the conversation and the dialogue that dispels the mistiness of ignorance. There is an old saying — “Speak, that I may know thee”. The words uttered reveal the real person. Refined manners and impressive apparel may sometimes prove to be deceptive. The famous Urdu poet Mir Taqi Mir had to leave Delhi for Lucknow when the capital was devastated by Nadir Shah’s army. At the new place he once attended a poetical symposium in his traditional attire. The other poets and the audience made fun of him, simply because he was not dressed like them. But the moment Mir recited the first couplet of his ghazal, there was spellbound silence in the hall or the courtyard. The words spoken, the vibrant words, brought about a sea change in the attitude of the listeners. The man, the butt of their jokes a short while ago, rose considerably in their estimation, simply because his couplets had filled up the communication gap. Silence is golden, when one has nothing to say. Speech is welcome, when a person has new ideas to convey. There is no substitute for the forthright expression of one’s viewpoint. |
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This time Judges judge themselves fairly “PROVIDING a right of appeal (in criminal cases) but totally disarming the court from granting interim relief in the form of suspension of sentence,” ruled the Supreme Court on October 12, “would be unjust, unfair and violative of Article 21 of the Constitution, particularly when no mechanism is provided for early disposal of the appeal.” Given under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the decision establishes a principle of criminal law of general and everlasting significance. Fully understood and implemented, it should do much to alleviate the callousness of the Indian appellate judicial structure in the field of criminal justice, a callousness which has grown over the years despite the bulging legal folklore on reduction of arrears. “The pendency of criminal litigation and the experience in dealing with pending matters,” said the Supreme Court on October 12, casting a look around the country, “indicate no possibility of early hearing of
appeal (s) and (their) disposal on merits at least in many High Courts. As the present is not the occasion to dilate on the causes for such delay, we restrain ourselves from that exercise.” One wishes the court had so dilated for, apart from other things, introspection always sends the right message down the line. Pinching oneself to confirm whether one is awake is always better than patting oneself on the back. But let us get back to the NDPS Act from where the Supreme Court began. “Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure,” reads Section 32-A of the Act, or in any other law, “no sentence awarded under this Act (other than Section 27) shall be suspended or remitted or commuted.” The Section is unconstitutional,
declared the Supreme Court on October 12, insofar as it ousts the jurisdiction of the court hearing an appeal to suspend the sentence awarded to a convict under the Act. “Suspension” of sentence pending appeal, the subject matter of Section 389 of the CrPC, is (in the jargon of the criminal law) a statutory euphemism for grant of bail to a convict so long as his appeal is not decided. Except for a sentence under Section 27 (illegal possession of drugs in a “small quantity” for personal consumption) which can in no case exceed one year, the NDPS Act prescribes a minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment apart from a fine of Rs 1 lakh. Unless, therefore, a convict’s appeal is heard and decided immediately upon institution — a copybook ideal rarely achieved in practice — or unless the sentence is suspended and he is released on bail during the pendency of the appeal, a wrong and undeserved conviction under the NDPS Act can work irreparable havoc. Consideration (in appeal) of the legality or adequacy of a sentence, the Supreme Court, speaking through Justice R.P. Sethi, ruled on October 12, is “essentially a judicial function embracing within its ambit the power to suspend the sentence, under the peculiar circumstances of each case, pending the disposal of the appeal.” Judicial review, added Justice Sethi, speaking for himself, Justice K.T. Thomas (the presiding Judge) and Justice S.N. Variava, is the heart and soul of our constitutional scheme and an integral part of the Constitution’s basic structure. Similarly, “the filing of an appeal, its adjudication and passing of appropriate interim orders is (an established) part of the legal system prevalent in our country.” That, the last cited, is a definite advance upon the doctrine of the basic structure, or the concept of judicial review as part of the basic structure, an advance all the more remarkable because it has been so naturally, almost imperceptibly, achieved. It is ironical though, ironical in the extreme, that the advance was necessitated by a grievous blunder of interpretation committed by the Supreme Court last year in Maktool Singh’s case. Section 32-A, the court had then ruled, takes away not only the executive’s power to “suspend, remit or commute” a sentence, but the court’s power to suspend it as well. The Supreme Court has erred on the side of strictness, I wrote in this column less than a week later on March 22, 1999. “To the severity of the minimum sentence prescribed under the NDPS Act now stands added the impossibility, the absolute impossibility, of obtaining bail pending appeal.” The error has now been undone but indirectly. Rather than overruling the judgement in Maktool Singh’s case, the court went ahead on October 12 to strike down the Section itself as unconstitutional. So important and so commendable, however, is the principle laid down by the Supreme Court last fortnight that one must, in retrospect, thank it for deciding wrongly last year! |
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Does the UN really work? OCTOBER 24 is United Nations Day and like the so many other pathetically hollow slogans “for you, with you, etc...” the UN’s is “The UN works for you...” The question is does it really work for you or me or anybody for that matter? Its ineffectiveness couldn’t have been more writ large now, when the West Asia crisis is at its peak. There is news of Israel’s threat to break from the latest peace accord and the UN seems helpless. Its Secretary-General Kofi Annan, on his arrival in Tel Aviv on October 9, had said that he had arrived “ without a magic wand.” Here, our External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, cancelled his visit to Saudi Arabia, which had to begin last week. To the big question — why the last-minute cancellation there are no answers—not even those laced with the best possible, bureaucratic coatings. Mere speculations — the government of Saudi Arabia wanted him to come at a later date when the situation would have eased in West Asia, or else the visit would have been not too appropriate vis-a-vis India’s present foreign policy, where there has been a sudden change in relations with Israel. And so one side there are the oil rich Gulf countries where several millions of Indians work and on the other hand is Israel which is collaborating with us on several spheres-right from agriculture to internal security measures. Anyway, now there is news from MEA sources that Mr Jaswant Singh is likely to visit Algeria this week and also a delegation (headed by a Secretary level official in the MEA) is visiting Iraq. Although lately Iraq has been sidelined by us - so much so that on their national day besides the Vice-President, who was also the chief guest, there were very few active politicians and probably no Minister from the Union Cabinet. It was a gathering complete with some of the retired politicians (although no politician ever retires but what I want to convey is that none from the present setup) and the old loyalists. Writers’ block! As they say, the season has picked up (did it ever decline ? ...no, not even during the long summers months) Anyway, I am just back from the release function of Khushwant Singh’s latest ‘Book of Unforgettable Women’ (Penguin). And that evening there were many of Delhi’s middleaged men and women. And together with this I must tell you that the latest here is not to wear a this or that but to sit and write books. I met at least five people who told me that they were coming out with yet another (no skeleton from the cupboard) book. Bureaucrat poet J P Das is coming out with yet another poetic collection. Journalist Madhavan Kutty is in the midst of his fourth book, in English that is (has written several in Malayalam). Artist Bulbul Sharm is the midst of writing yet another novel. Pavan K. Varma has completed his `Anthology of Erotic Literature in India,’ which should be released by the year-end. Renuka Narayan is also in the midst of writing a novel. And if you were ask me to write more about this particular book release function then there is nothing much that I can add or substract except the fact that these days politician Amar Singh is to be spotted at very possible do. Thankfully he hasn’t switched over to some western wear but continues with the old good khadi kurta pyjama and thus stands out. Others to be spotted that evening were the ambassadors of Austria and Nepal, besides several print and television personalities and, of course, Delhi’s so-called glitterati. FCI’s unique gesture FCI honoured our bronze woman K. Malleswari in a rather “healthy” way. Last Thursday the walkers and joggers club of Lodhi Gardens, of which FCI Chairman Bhure Lal is a prominent member, took time off from all that walking and jogging to hear what Malleswari had to say. And guess what time of the day did they chose for this. 6.30 am! Yes, Malleswari was honoured at this unique hour, in the midst of Lodhi Gardens. Before I move ahead I must write that Bhure Lal walks so enthusiastically that it is almost a pleasure to seem him walk. Internet reach While the West Asia crisis is at the peak, the Internet is bringing forth horrifying pictures of the dead and the disaster around. And on Friday I received a rather offbeat request on my e-mail — Palestinian students coming up with the whole list of American Jew companies to be “boycotted — remember if you buy even one of their products it will be like paying for an extra bullet to be pumped into us —”. It really set me thinking of the ongoing disaster and the helplessness of mankind against arms. Journey to the East Well known dance critic Shanta Serbjeet Singh has arranged for a unique workshop, as she calls it “an international meet of ideas”, to be held this coming week end. I am told that dance groups are coming from different places and there will be a unique interaction of dancers, critics, musicians etc. More details in next week’s column. |
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SPIRITUAL NUGGETS I am all in One individually and one in All collectively; I am present individually and omnipresent collectively; I am knowing individually and omniscient collectively; I am potent individually and omnipotent collectively; All is of God and God is All Individually I am in part, collectively I am the whole; Individually I am Di-verse, collectively I am Universe; Individually I am Limited, collectively I am Unlimited; Individually, I am Begotten, collectively I beget. — The Mazdaznan Affirmation, first part *** First annihilate your self, You may then claim to be a Lord. Awake, die while you live and see, You yourself are That. Annihilate your self first. Lose self and realise the Self. — Sufi Saint Hazrat Sai Hadi Baksh (Miskeen) *** The "I" is not darkness; were it so Blind should we be, unaware of "I", "I". Owing to awareness, it is known that "I" Is not darkness; to one and all tell this. *** "Bottom, top, end, it is, this is, that is"— Tho 'isolated thus, yet all that exists is prime substance; Bodies inert are all impermanent. Apart from the form of water, Can the wave be else? — Atmopadesatakam (The Song ofthe Self) by Sree Narayana Guru. *** Lovers never die, They remain not in the body, They drink from the ocean of love, Their cup filled to the brim. Absorbed in the immortal, They are unattached to the world. Surrendering their heads, They remain immortal in the Infinite. Being always in silence, They remain in the Divine bliss. — Sufi Saint Sachal Sai *** I am native of the distant plane, I have to go to the distant plane, Why should my mind worry, the beloved is with me. Universe of mind is within mind, The beloved is not far away, I surrendered heart to win the heart, The heart is with the heart... The beloved is with me. May our ways and love survive, May the beloved stay near, Breath moves when breath unites, That alone is the desire left. At times he is afar while being near, At times he is near while being afar, For how long will he play Hide and seek, O Hari? — Sufi Saint Dada Sai (Dr) R.M. Hari |
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