On train, meeting an old man from Hardoi

It may not always be possible to reserve your tickets since most travel is decided on short notice. Even if you do want to reserve the list is too long even in the waiting. This blogger as a policy don’t travel during holidays or festive season it is a logistic disaster, a nightmarish experience. I am really an off season guy!!. It is cheaper and quieter. But shockingly in last few years even off season has become crowded. It seems most people are into traveling anyway. When I least expect a crowd I try to find out the reason they are traveling. In most case it is a sudden decision because of some emergency or some unexpected reasons.

There are many people whom you meet, observe, interact while traveling some leave strong impression. Years back I was traveling from Lucknow to Allahabad a distance of around 6-7 hours, I checked the time table and dropped into the railway station. Surprisingly the platform was as crowded, since there are too many festivals celebrated in this part of the world I thought maybe I had missed some local celebration. Few queries clarified that this is usual, and no it is very much a working day. I couldn’t come in terms with the fact that so many people have some sort of emergency in their life or maybe like me they don’t believe in working!!. Anyway the lesson here was I need to restructure my theory on why people travel?!! To make the matter worse the train was announced to be delayed by half an hour and this they announced every half an hour!!.

The platform was very crowded there was no place to sit. In the mean time the train was further delayed and I started to consider other option like bus. By this time I had also got a place to sit so was reluctant to give up the comfort, very soon the train had arrived-4hours late, and so was the stampede to unreserved compartment, within seconds it was packed to the door. I found myself inside compressed to the side seat. After an hour or so my plight had started to reflect sharply on my face. A man looked up and said he was getting down at the next stop so I better stand next to his seat and so after another hour or so I managed to get few inches. Tired I drowsed, I was awakened by a sharp cry from my lap, I found a kid who was as startled as I was, on my lap, very soon he was dislodged and plucked by hands, it was another station and another swamp of people and noises. It was then I first noticed him, he was an ancient looking man (must be atleast 75, I guessed), wrinkled, lean, carrying a crumpled dirty cloth bag in his one hand, while the other clutching a seat. He did not respond to any of the commotions around and held onto his grip. A stoic grim struggle, it seemed the frail man was used to. Premchand had got his characters from these surrounding was it not??. I couldn’t help asking myself these (those days I dreamt of writing one great story, recently though it is waning, age catching up?. And so looked at people as characters!!, Arrogant me). Looking at him you could easily be transported to small dusty villages of north India that haven’t changed much in centuries. Soon I was in my own ethical struggle….well I should give him the seat (not exactly seat but few inches of space) shouldn’t I?? It was the struggle between mannerism and comfort, what is wrong and right. I was too tired but his haggard face and presence augmented the discomfort, for a moment in this ethical quandary I wished I could vanish or become invisible so as to escape his eyes which sometimes pierced me. Recently I was reading Iris Murdoch’s The Bell (picked up from a second hand book shop in Jabalpur few months back, I stumbled upon a gold mine of cheap spectacular old books, includes Gunter Grass, Iris Murdoch…ended up buying 20 odd books for 500-600Rs. The bookstall owner was ecstatic as I was but for entirely different reason, he never thought he would ever be able to sell these and some of the books were lying there for more than three decades, he informed. He should be right since the books I bought included Abu’s cartoon-1974 edition, 4Rs!!, also a very strange travelogue published in 1975, Sahib, your pony is ready- Diary of an unusual journey across India, by Johann Rudolf Hug, since I am really into travelogue-frankly I am into anything that fancy my interest, I bought this book, that looked quite rare, but found it to be bit too pretentious, at one level patronized the ‘poor but helpful people’. Jabalpur is strongly suggested for those looking for good old books or magazines). These lines from Murdoch’s book came alive and stared me

Dora stopped listening because a dreadful thought had struck her. She ought to give up her seat. She rejected the thought, but it came back. There was no doubt about it. The elderly lady who was standing looked very frail indeed, and it was only proper that Dora, who was young and healthy should give up her seat to the lady who could seat next to her friend. Dora felt the blood rushing her face. She sat still and considered the matter. There was no point in being hasty. It was possible of course that while clearly admitting that she ought to give up her seat she might nevertheless simply not do so out of pure selfishness. This would in some ways be a better situation than what would have been the case if it had simply not occurred to her at all that she ought to give up her seat. On the other side of the seated lady a man was sitting. He was reading his newspaper and did not seem to be thinking about his duty. Perhaps if Dora waited it would occur to the man to give up his seat to the other lady? Unlikely. Dora examined the other inhabitants of the carriage. None of them looked in the least uneasy. Their faces, if not already buried in books, reflected the selfish glee which had probably been on her own a moment since she watched the crowd in the corridor. There is another aspect to the matter. She had taken the trouble to arrive early, and surely ought to be rewarded for this. Though perhaps the two ladies had arrived as early as they could? There was no knowing. But in any case there was an elementary justice in the first comers having the seats. The old lady would be perfectly all right in the corridor. The corridor was full of old ladies anyway, and no one else seemed to be bothered by this, least of all old ladies themselves! Dora hated pointless sacrifices. She was tired after her recent emotions and deserved a rest. Besides, it would never do to arrive at her destination exhausted. She regarded her state of distress as completely neurotic. She decided not to give up her seat.
She got up and said to the standing lady ‘Do sit down here, please. I am not going very far, and I’d much rather stand anyway.’
‘How very kind of you!’ said the standing lady. ‘Now I can sit next to my friend. I have a seat of my own further down, you know. Perhaps we can exchange seats? Do let me help you to remove your luggage.’
Dora glowed with delight. What is sweeter than the unhoped-for reward for virtuous act?

Iris Murdoch is as perfect a writer can get, she is flawless. She is the kind of writer you should read with a hot cup of chocolate coffee lying next to huge aquarium, fancy that??!!. ..well if you don’t have all these comfort then her writing will transfer you to cozy little world of interesting characters. There culture milieu may be different, geographical setting alien but emotions, predicaments are universal. So there I was somewhere between Lucknow and Allahabad in a crowded train very much identifying with a book written (published in 1958) by someone who may have never been to this part of the world. Astounding!!. So even if you don’t want to give the seat and try to be ‘strong’, you do end up doing entirely opposite!!. Ethical predicaments!!

I though worked out a compromise, after half an hour so when my legs had started to sting against the wooden seat, I offered him the seat and stood next to him. He didn’t smile or show any gratitude. He ensconced into few inches of space as if it was designed for him, he fitted in perfectly, it was as if his body was elastic. After an hour or so I asked him to get up and he got up as immediately as he had sat, no question asked, no smile exchanged. It was as if we were working in the hands of fate, diminishing my act benevolence which I found very irritating. After a station or two the person next to me got up, the old man occupied the seat. We were three people sitting on the seat meant for one, next to the window. His bones jabbed into me, he was all bones with a sheet of skin over it. Finally bored with monotony of things around I ventured to talk, very much apprehensive, since he didn’t seem like a person who would enjoy talking

Aap kahan ja rahe ho chacha? (in here people refer to old men as chacha in public, there is a stress in second cha. I love the Hindi of this region. They are very civilized and respectful-sabyya, in the way they use the language. Hindi finds its best expressions here, particularly old timers of Banaras). And just like the character in Premchand he referred to me as babuji (…I found it amusing if not embarrassing. Here I was twenty-something too much into trash fellow, being referred to as ‘babuji’ by an elderly, poor but dignified man!!). There was resignation in the way he said things. He told that he was going to Banaras and had got in from a place before Lucknow, the name I recall after much thinking as Hardoi. He was traveling alone. What about luggage? He looked at the cloth bag, it had started to tear, he held his hands over it as if he was carrying something precious. It sure was precious; it was his wife’s ashes he was taking to immerse in Ganges (ganga mayyia, as he said). In that crowded train looking at that bag, precariously held by those frail hands a realization struck me: if a single life is so precious, how is that people are ready to kill so many people. Every time there is bomb blasts or riots this thought comes back hunting and the image of that old crumpled man who when I asked:
‘kahan ja rahe ho chacha?’

Said with an effort to smile ‘bahuth dhoor jha rahe hai babuji…..bahuth dhoor….’

So who is above law???

‘National news channels’ are embarrassments many a times. Well it must be the competition, the market demand…and who ever said these forces would lead to ‘value for money’ or refinement??. They sometimes hit rock bottom. Pity these people and their occupation and market constraints (nopes it’s not about censor!!). News is already a serious entertainment, the fun turns into ecstasy when movie actors and actresses are involved. It is a real (very real) reality show and easy excuses for clips from movies, every honchos dream come true. I pity the slaves though (I hope the “journalists” have safeguards as is given to any labour, sometimes this blogger feels they are treated inhumanly by their masters), risking their life to get the ‘bite’, running around with camera, jostling, pushing and finally making that non event into breaking news is quite a task. I sometimes admire the dedication…there is a self congratulatory atmosphere when they first ‘break news’ (such an achievement that one….geez I love it when I know it first, I as a viewer is jumping to watch it first!!). Fun can be nauseating when it extends to tragedies, one scoundrel masquerading as journo was found jubilant that it was ‘our’ channel which brought the Mumbai train blasts first. As the tragedy unfolded he kept reminding the viewers that it was his channel that broke the new, a proud glee to match. Business is important but it has to follow rules and norms like sensitivity. If no rules then it has to be made, self regulation works in egalitarian society and media is definitely not reflection of these.

The ‘breaking news’ now is about an actor going to jail, the black buck killing case. Nobody is above the law is a good thought. One wonders though whether political clout can help people claw above the law. Yes they can and that is precisely why I am writing this. ‘Tiger’ Pataudi (tiger sure…pussy cat story??) was caught red handed some years back with black buck carcass (our man was hurrying for lunch, meat was the ingredient missing, our man went out for some hunting, well that is what we did hundreds of years back, just following the tradition dude…our man is stuck in medieval age is not a coincidence!!). Why is this man not arrested or even tried, this blogger demands to know. Evidences against Pataudi boy are much stronger than Salman Khan. If Salman Khan be prosecuted then what prevents law to take action against Pataudi??. Also take into account the circumstances under which Pataudi was caught indicates that it was not his first outing, he is a habitual offender is clear according to the witnesses as also the kind of preparation he did, even carrying portable fridge!! also note the gut was removed so as to preserve the body. The gun I am told he bought as a gift to his daughter (what kind of family is this!!...they could be ideal case of ‘American dream’!!). The fact that Pataudi enjoys his summer in Lords watching cricket while cases against him are pending is unsettling, don’t know whether he symbolizes ‘secularism’ (the final redemption act. Turd a family friend is also not a coincidence!!). Maybe a change in Government at the centre may see some action…geez that then will be ‘political vendetta’. Don’t we have recipe for all events. It also reffered to as fall back option in formal circle!!

The sad part in this context is unlike Pataudi, Salman Khan doesn’t have political clout…that is also the tragedy of the nation. Law seems to work on political context!!. Some people can do no wrong. Even wrong is right!!.

Post script: One may not like Sanjay Gandhi for his actions during Emergency but I do have admiration for Maneka Gandhi (the unfortunate split in Gandhi family has given space for lickers to effectively position, Pataudi just an example). Maneka Gandhi is very committed lady, it is not a mean achievement to have your name synonymous to ‘protection of animals against atrocities’. When I was in college I thought she was bit too belligerent ….but the kind of manipulations, blatant disregard for animals rights, I have started to identify with her. I also watched the program she anchored long back (decade back in DD) it gave insight into happenings against animals. I though feel vegetarianism is personal choice (I just love sea food!!). Laws on atrocities against animals should be taken seriously, in many European countries they even have agencies to check on how you treat your pets and you could be arrested. Killing endangered species is heinous and should never be pardoned. Pataudi is a criminal who should be arrested as immediately.

Dude its about protecting us!!.

There is a stampede going on to protect us!!. God knows from what. Protection it seems will come from making more bombs. Big protection from bigger bombs. National pride is another spin off. Manmohan Singh wants to protect us. Prakash Karat wants to protect us more. Every leader worth his/her salt wants to protect us (incidentally Americans also strongly believe in protecting its ‘children’ so they also attacked Iraq, incidentally!!). The idea of protecting its citizens (also read children) is quite groovy. It is theory at its best with maximum freedom to kill others. It is about preserving self interest theorized at national level, practiced at party/clan level very much for personal benefit.

There was this man, who was very passionate about nuclear bombs disarmament, then he became Prime Minster then he transformed into hawk. He has no regrets about attacking a sovereign nation, everything for people’s sake, for nations sake, he went on with his characteristic grin (history will judge him he said), then people said enough is enough (even the big Ben has stopped ringing, incidentally), he had to resign. Now he is back to square one and so has become an activist again, this time its global warming, its Palestine problem. Sow what do we learn from this story??. Well nothing!.

If the government of India and the protesting political parties had taken the stand against nuclear bombs it would have made sense. Nuclear bombs are against humanity, it’s not a theory it is reality. I guess some get too habituated in discussion, argument, counter argument, deals, interest, counter interest, this point, that point….they forget that they are talking about safeguarding ‘national interest’ on blatantly unethical premise. In this twisted world it becomes ‘sovereign right’ to conduct nuclear test. What kind of ‘sovereign right’ is this??. All of these leaders may live for 20 to 30 years more, or less (everybody has to die one day is also not a concept!!). They might have protected the nation by creating more scoundrels with twisted world view the fact remains that they have contributed significantly to make this world more fragile and dangerous place to live in. The ‘national interest’ of nations has definitely pushed humanity to extinction.

It is a request of this blogger to all the global tourists to avoid countries that stockpile nuclear bombs. Unethical nations and its agenda can only be countered with concrete steps that hurt their economy. USA, Britain, France, China, Russia, India, Israel, Pakistan…should be boycotted by the people, including its citizens at all forums. If millions of tourists coming to India take a vow that they will not visit any country that stocks nuclear bombs, then it will have significant affect on this nation’s economy. If people around the world avoid Indian products and prefer Sri Lankan or Bangladeshi product (if the quality difference is minimal) it will straighten this rogue behavior (some morons also think it as super power right!!. Since when was US of A a model to idealize?).

It is important to make ‘anti nuclear bomb’ idea fashionable to youngsters. Youngsters should know that behind this charade of bickering politicians- for the nation they want to protect, rhetoric, these scoundrels are anti life, anti human, anti peace, anti hope, anti dream, anti future…..

(children around the world praying for sanity, against Nuclear bombs. So does an old lady in Japan....for them Sovereignty is not theory, Bombs are not for peace) photos taken from Net

The new Vice President and some recollections

I have had absolutely no idea about Mr. Hamid Ansari before he was elected as the Vice President, my ignorance. He being the Chairperson of National Commission of Minority is what I associate with. Long back (I guess 1997-8) I had the opportunity to interview Tahir Mahmood the Chairperson of NCM at that time. I was ecstatic and not to be caught on the wrong foot I spend few weeks in preparing for the interview, asking intelligent and insightful questions is as difficult. Even now more than the interviewed I do focus more on what are the questions asked and why!!!.

I wouldn’t have classified myself as journalist but yes they did, and it was entirely new ‘occupation’ for me!!. The tag of ‘media’ can be quite heady. Tahir Mahmood I recall was laconic with permanent grave expression etched on his face. Even when I cracked, what I thought was a good joke, his response was studied, just a shade of amusement (geez was I disappointed!!). Well I guess in retrospect it was good antidote for my excited self, those days I did cross those lines frequently!.

NCM is not a constitutional body but it has specific function of safeguarding the minorities- religion and linguistic. One had to however know the provisions for minorities in the Constitution, the reference point. Therefore I spend lots of time in Central Sectariat library, it is a multistory building with well stocked books (they had amazing colorful books on aquarium fishes) as also rare documents but unfortunately the staffs were not much inclined on books (they even forgot to properly cover the books when the building was being whitewashed!!. Also they were not much bothered about readers and so had to listen to chunnu munnu’s mummy’s latest. This library also became my favorite haunt later to escape summer heat, ended reading up stuff I never thought I ever would!!). During that time ‘conversions’ was becoming something of a discussion point because of various happenings. It was while I was going through these that I came to know about the discussions that preceded adoption of each Article of the Constitution. Like for instance the word ‘profess, practice and propagate’ (of Article 25) was discussed in great detail, each word dissected and put into context and significance. It was an amazing experience and as one goes through these debates in Constituent Assembly you could easily get transported to those ambitious exciting days of a nascent nation.

And what about the interview with Mr.Mahmood??

Well I don’t know whether it was published or not since I had quit by then. So that was my short stint as a journo!!. Another job, another day!!

It happens only in India

You detain a person for almost ten years and then pass a verdict of his innocence!!. In the mean time take high moral grounds in international forums. This can happen only in India. And this is precisely what happened in the case of Abdul Nasser Madhani. It is shocking and more shameful is the silence surrounding these. This is a very serious indictment of Indian Judiciary, and influence of vested interests on law machinery. Madhani is a political leader with significant following, not necessarily communal (frankly this blogger is scared of so called ‘secular’ people. They are more damaging!!). Further he need be understood from the context of his background as religious preacher. I happened to listen to part of his speech in early 1990s (quite accidentally, I was stuck in a traffic jam in Thiruvanthapuram and had decided to walk), he was fiery and intimidating. I found it puzzling and disgusting. But then later I came to hear much worse from others (read right wing Hindus. However I still believe babri masjid- an unused mosque, demolition has much less significance to most people unlike what ‘secularists’ or right elements in islam and hindus want to believe to stoke passion and hence make a living) who have since become national leaders as also irritants going in the name of ‘secularism’. All equally obnoxious and appalling. Madhani in the mean time was misused by political parties and entrenched power groups for their own motives; I won’t be surprised if the same were active in his detention. One sincerely hopes he be wary of ‘secular’ trap of scoundrels in Left (to quote him ‘vikaarthil pravarthikunekayi nallaya vicharichu pravarthikunethu’. He surely has learned his lessons on political survival in Gods own country!!). He was freed because he was innocent and not because of any political reasons. One hopes he will be able to provide some respite for people in Kerala from the two party swindling that has been taking place for sometime now, if not third front a significant pressure group.

Mr. Madhani has changed, matured significantly in all these years. Now I find him a very normal and still quite passionate man, at personal level I also find him quite likable and trustworthy. He still is an amazing orator. How will the State or society compensate his years of detention is something this blogger would like to know (or demands to know)?. Who is responsible for this blatant injustice?