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SHORT TAKES
1000 Years, 1000 People
This is a valuable reference book for kids and adults alike.
Karamvir Singh tells us that the genre of mini stories in Punjabi came into being in 1972. It had to overcome opposition and criticism from purists before being recognised as a serious literary form. Today it has become quite popular because of its pithy narrative, one-stroke characterisation and often-enigmatic endings, not to mention the crisp prose. In this volume there are some excellent stories like the eight lines long Border wherein a Pakistani farmer, entranced by the rendering of Heer on the Indian side, crosses the border and gets arrested. Similarly, Man takes a sardonic look at the craze for male child. Arcuated Knife depicts how communalism has affected our psyche. Optimist highlights a chronic loser’s positive attitude in a touching manner. Prize satirises the police mindset. It is really amazing how much can be conveyed in a few well-chosen words. The selection of stories is excellent, but the quality of translation is uneven. Hindu Nationalism
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WHAT
is common among Babur, Akbar, Mahatma Gandhi, Ramanuja, Nehru, Indira
Gandhi, Ram Singh (of the Kuka Rebellion fame), Shah Jahan, M.A Jinnah,
Mother Teresa, Macaulay, Miyan Tansen, Clive, Tagore, Sri Ramana
Maharishi and Srinivasa Ramanujam? These are 13 Indians plus three
others related to India who figure among the top 1,000 men and women
whose actions have had a significant impact on the evolution of human
civilisation during the last millennium. If Babur founded the Mughal
Empire in India, then Akbar turned it into an enlightened entity.
Similarly, Clive laid the foundation of the British Raj and Macaulay
provided it with an enduring penal code. Ramanuja reinvigorated Hinduism
by transforming it from a set of rituals aimed at liberating
practitioners from the cycle of birth and death into a devotional faith.
From a huge corpus of ragas Tansen selected four hundred and gave formal
shape to them. Then there is the mathematician genius Srinivasa
Ramanujan whose theorems had bemused the finest brains of his time. His
ideas were so advanced that the world has been discovering their value
gradually.
Rainbow
Savarkar
gave currency to the term Hindutva and today it has become an
ideology that seriously challenges India’s secular ethos, even though
the proponents of Hindu rashtra claim to be genuinely secular
while condemning the INC and leftist parties as pseudo-secularists. In
this collection of 15 essays different aspects of Hindutva have been
examined. Dr Murli Manohar Joshi advocates the revival of sanskriti
as the basis for Indian society. Justice Rama Jois presents eighteen
principles of Dharma (way of life) while Francos Gautier
visualizes India as 21st century’s superpower. Other issues
like terrorism, future of the Hindutva and communalism too have
been discussed. For example Trayambaklal U. Mehta asserts on page 105,
"`85tolerance and understanding are the essential elements of real
Hinduism and a chauvinistic as well as aggressive projection of our
creed, tradition or religion, however noble and altruistic they may be,
have no place in true Hinduism". Well said, but this does not gel
with what has happened in Mangalore recently where women were molested
in the name of preserving our hoary traditions. Hinduism is being
Talibanised by the lumpen. Hope Messrs Khosla and Kuthalia would come up
with an introspective tome next time around.