A poem (with changes) !!

When a VIP die

The news clip said

he was an important man

did lot for people.

The procession was witnessed by millions

they raised slogans of him being eternal.

He was cremated on sandalwood pyre.

When an anonymous man

was crushed by unruly vehicle

on the busy street.

There was no mass grief

There were no processions.

Funeral was at banks of muck water

next to the garbage bins

attended by hungry dogs.

Or maybe he was dumped into unmarked grave

like other unclaimed bodies

and left to decay.

Not many missed him.

But yes that night

the vagrant cat was puzzled not being fed.

It showed its displeasure

and wandered into the dark.

(thought of adding these lines but later decided against…

Maybe we should become VIP

O the joy of

burning on the sandalwood pyre.)

PS. the changes were thought few days back, but i was on tour-in silence is the better word, was not into Net nor any news. Just now came to know about boat tragedy in Thekkady. This blogger has been to the lake many times frankly the conditions are not that bad but rules are not followed nor are the tourists treated properly

When Macaulay’s bastards come home to roost

Shashi Tharoor is one of the better known English writers, he is now Union Minister. I have read many of his books (some of them well written one need say), most of his interviews and articles follow the pattern of selling India to the world: the thali analogy is repeated so often that it nauseates. His book “The great Indian novel” was probably my first few English contemporary fiction (it was those heady days when I had taken the decision of committing myself to reading, someone handed this book). I could understand the book since Mahabharata is one story I knew very well and Indian history I had studied, thus I could finish the book. I enjoyed it though, one guy whom I tried to tell about the book was appalled he thought it was insulting Hindus by twisting the story, he believed it was in a very bad taste. I somehow wasn’t convinced, years later as I understand these people there is a realization that maybe the guy was right. This section that thinks and interact in English live in a different world that I find difficult to understand, a world that seems cocooned in trappings of exploitative past. It is the world that is vacated by the colonial masters. The realization is startling. It may sound simplistic but is generally true. They have acquired the skill of commenting and judging about common people but living their life is a quite a different proposition. It is the world they like feeling good about but find difficulty in associating. Frankly they cannot really relate, the reason why keeping the distance is critical. The ego also makes others/nature look servile or existing for one’s comfort (He won the election because he contested on congress ticket, frankly anyone could have won, CPM infighting and kerala two party system).

In this cocooned world the lexicon used tends to demean majority of common people, their tribulations are part of the humor. It is no surprising that “cattle class” although funny for some is not at all humorous for millions of people eking out their living in horrible condition, when used by a union minister is shocking. Ever wondered why these words when used in English is not considered offensive but when translated becomes derogatory. The same reason why slumdogs, underdogs …works well in elite section (I never came across the word corporate dog. Am I surprised?!. The possibility of these words in English language is remote, it was a language of a country that was once referred to as land of shopkeepers. And even if these enter English language I don’t think it will be considered funny). Yes this blogger has travelled many times in “cattle class” no not in any aircrafts (how many do that?!!!) but in buses and trains, it is worst than cattles to be frank but to be made fun of by a Union Minister is appallingly insensitive. He can blame his English I guess. Our man need be careful he is a Union Minister and not TV chatterati or in some drawing room talk. Given a chance this blogger would love to travel in luxury but will find it difficult to make fun of millions of people’s existential predicaments.

English media (a very insignificant influence one need say) though is trying to make a martyr out of him. It is understandable, it is their bastard. It is their reality, they have to protect and yes try making it into common Indian reality. I absolutely don’t understand “holy cow”, if its an Indian joke then why is that such reference are not found in Indian languages!!. It is the legacy of colonial scoundrels. They try demeaning everything that was “native” (of course exception are there and yes they wont be using these insensitive references). Macaulay was guru on these matters. The exotic Indian stuff that these English minded section expertise in, also works wonders with western, equally pretentious crowd, who are exasperated trying to understand this complex country.

Years later the bastards have some home to roost. But presto now these demeaning references has secular context, so if you make fun of majority people’s faith and tribulations chances are you could be secularist. In a market driven world the elite find these justifying themselves, reasons its excesses. In this wonderful world the steps are easy: create controversy, try dividing people and be in the news, particularly when it seems the person concerned really doesn’t have much to do.

This blogger doesn’t find anything wrong in the way people spent money, it is their choice. If Shashi Tharoor is a millionaire then he can live in five star hotels rest of his life. The question however is of propriety as Union Minister of a country like India a little bit of sensitivity is no big deal to begin with we can also talk about his competence later. I found that his total asset is 15crore, he made his money is the argument. But if he staying in a hotel that charges 1 lakh per day (that makes it 100 lakh in hundred days, that is 1crore!!), one wonders how is he balancing it?. Or is the corporate or other influential people taking care of his expense. That is corruption as I know. I read somewhere that he having worked in UN is quite used to these luxuries. Is this how UN functions?????. I am shocked; incidentally how much this 5star organization been effective in recent times is a question worth asking.

Last but not the least the English media is also celebrating the fact he has about 1lakh followers in tweeter, for a union minister of more than one billion nation that is the joke (in case anyone is trying to locate where the joke is). Thankfully media decide nothing much, unlike America where even the war is fought for TV audience. I read somewhere white house is costliest TV studio!!.

PS. This piece written few weeks back, thought of putting once the issue is done with. These days I don’t find it necessary to take up issues as it happens unless of course it is serious. Tharoor is someone I admired few years back, unfortunately he turned out to be manipulative small timer with big ego. Or in all probability he has too many trash people around who are trying to exaggerate him (it mostly backfires) but whatever the metamorphosis is shocking. It must be the effect of misplaced euphoria, juvenile premise market creates, you got to play dumb to be noticed (and yes lower the dignity of the office to match), it’s about connecting with dimwits!!. And yes if he keeps up with it then you can expect him to come out with many more nonsense very soon, talk about people becoming liability. Are we tweeting?!!

Two amazing poems on spider !!

These are two wonderful poems on spider that are my all time favorite, one of course is Emily Dickenson titled The spider is an Artist and the other by another of my favorite poet (who quite coincidently happens to be an American) Walt Whitman titled A noiseless patient spider. The pic above is taken from a garden near I stay.

The Spider as an Artist

The Spider as an Artist
Has never been employed --
Though his surpassing Merit
Is freely certified

By every Broom and Bridget
Throughout a Christian Land --
Neglected Son of Genius
I take thee by the Hand –

A noiseless patient spider

A noiseless, patient spider,
I mark'd, where, on a little promontory, it stood, isolated;
Mark'd how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself;
Ever unreeling them--ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you, O my Soul, where you stand,
Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,--seeking the spheres, to
connect them;
Till the bridge you will need, be form'd--till the ductile anchor
hold;
Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul.

What amazing poems!!

Austerity is a brave move…

This blogger congratulates the Government for initiating austerity measures, clearly these are symbolic but sends the right message to people. This blogger though would prefer concrete measures and laws (for instance SUVs should be taxed so heavy that it becomes impossible, better would be not to allow these vehicles….no it doesn’t threaten freedom of expression it does threaten my future!!). Market media is going overboard to scuttle these and dismiss it as theatrics as it goes against the norms of their sponsors. Capitalism survives on consumption and by definition austerity contradicts. In this context anything that justifies unmitigated profligacy or greed is desirable. The steps on austerity therefore need be seen in its intent and not impact, it is about connecting to majority of Indians.

This blogger understands propriety than austerity, these however are quite personal choices (but a public servant will have to follow rules on expenditure). As individuals evolve they realize value of things and therefore will opt for choices that are subtle. Understanding the context of life in its entirety takes time. One’s place in universe, nature and society I guess comes with empathy and deep sense of connection with life and living. The insignificance and significance of oneself thus falls into place. Then crudeness, ostentation, vulgar will not find space thus there will be no need for austerity even propriety is natural. That is how progress need be defined. This blogger strongly holds the view that the need for religion was to direct individuals to these ends in the barbaric world when these were conceptualized.

The world though is less barbaric place now. The society has evolved collectively (essentially with the effort of few wise people), with importance being given to democratic principles, propriety is codified into laws therefore imposed, you do wrong you will be arrested. So although there is a general understanding on dealing within the human society the barbaric past has found its vent particularly in things that doesn’t fall within the law. We have directed our barbarism to our surrounding, thus we exploited the nature with impunity as we have done to the weak and infirm in the past. Wisdom of communities co-existing with nature will assert respect, sustainable and subtle dealing- that is propriety that is experience. There is a need for stricter laws to codify these, the imbalance is leading to catastrophe. The need for holistic understanding of development is very much needed. The individual freedom defined by profligate lifestyle shouldn’t be at the cost of livelihood of majority.

It is in this context this blogger would like to question the human centric path of material prosperity. Western understanding seems to be based on how to control nature (possibly because of harsh and extreme climatic conditions they faced, as also the religion followed in these societies that gave primacy to humans) and this is adopted as model of development, quite successful in the initial phase but as the model is based on exploitation the balance has started to tip in recent times (we live in a system and not unending stretch). It is also not a coincidence that the impropriety of this understanding of development is also reflected in the impropriety of the behavior, arrogance of economists (and marketers of exploitative products, words like aggressive is not of context) is not misplaced. The word sacrifice seems to be a taboo word these days, I feel sorry for millions of people who sacrificed their life and living not only in India but across the word for a just society (to take an example from Indian context: Bhagat Singh sacrificing his life at such an young age was probably the dumbest person!. He should have used his brains and maybe become an arms dealer!!). In a profit driven society these are non productive activities. The reason why we see increasing crudeness around is because these are projected as part of premium behavior to succeed.

The juvenile premises market creates has further dumb down the world around us. In a world increasingly influenced by visual medium advertisements seems to be a major factor of market functioning (influencing consumers, brand building and so on), significant factor in the billion dollar consumer product sector. This sector has a definite impact on economy, millions of people watch these. Even otherwise matured people tend to behave appallingly and seem to get away with it, it is being accepted as normal. The other day I saw venerable singer Mr. Yesudas recommending a brand of gold to viewers!!. This blogger doesn’t understand how gold can be branded, infact all the consumer product from soap to cream to cola differ from each of its competitor brand maybe about 5% or less, the basic ingredients remains the same and then they hyperbole it to ridiculous level, the absurdity is incredible. Mr. Yesudas (like many other small timers) has used his popularity to make some easy money. That in civilized world is cheating but market has created a system wherein even cheating is smart move to capitalize. The impropriety amazes me. So what should we do with celebrities whom we admire but are unscrupulous?. I guess we need to ignore them.

There is also attempt to make things subjective and in market driven world these necessarily introduce crudeness, in society with huge disparities these are done to work out for richer section to gain themselves, subjective doesn’t need any competence since there is no parameter. Thus it helps elite section to justify themselves, so what we have is some bunch of mediocre people and vulgar display. In juvenile surroundings of market these are celebrated.

On senior leaders traveling like common people: well that is how a representative of people need be and in a country like India these signals send right message, but we don’t live in ideal world and matter of security is a serious concern. A senior Minister representing the country also needs to follow protocol and yes most people understand this and little expense on these matters is understandable. I came across a report on Rahul Gandhi traveling in train, the same report talks of him using these mode of transport quite frequently but then market media had to bury the austerity drive so gave coverage with all the cynicism it could muster (slaves in media are doing everything to please master). That reminds many years back I traveled from Trivandrum to ernakulam there was a Minister in the compartment (AK Anthony is an unassuming politician), with increasing say of money in election process people like him are dwindling, the reason why austerity by public servant has become symbolic.

There were also reports of stone throwing on the train on which Rahul Gandhi was traveling, clearly a mischief. But this also bring into focus a very important aspect of what common people have to go through (apart from many other things), since it was ac compartment not much damage was done. But stone throwing on train is not very uncommon. It happens in one in ten times, and I have seen that many times. The worst was many years ago when the stone hit the little girls finger and she howled for many hours. Few months back as I was coming from Jodhpur a fellow who slept all day along had to get down in Mumbai- it is a midnight stop, he opened the door to look out and a granite stone hit right on the lips of the unfortunate fellow, he lost part of his lips and teeth, his face was disfigured (incredibly the old woman co passenger said he was lucky otherwise he could have lost his eye!). In the morning I tried to report the matter to the station master in one of the stop, he told me to report the matter to railway police in the train, I tired couldn’t locate him, gave up. Wonder what railways can do about these things but yes this blogger does take precautions, standing at the door and open window is a big no at night particularly when the big city is in the vicinity, big city means slums and that means lots of frustrated people. Wonder what kind of people throw stones randomly at train, do they know how much pain it causes that too to a person who is not even remotely known to the perpetrator. It is heinous thing to do.

"Why Do Human Beings Create Literature?"

"Literature is a verbal endeavor made in order to recognize the meaning of one's being at one's very root, with an overall understanding of one's relation to society, the world, and the cosmos. Therefore, when a giant corporation, disrupting the natural cycle of life and death, exercises its large-scale violence over human beings - so large that it destroys the fundamental harmony between human beings and their society, the world, and the cosmos - literature, standing on human ground, will continue to protest against such violence”.

That was Kenzaburo Oe, arguably the best known Japanese writer in recent times. I came across his reference in Amartya Sen’s book Idea of Justice. Finally I got this book few weeks back, bargained for 100rs!. Some books will survive for many decades and more, this book is one of them. I have read many chapters, though scholarly it is written in a conversational tone makes it interesting. Sometimes you do feel need for more background knowledge and further reading to get some references. Frankly the guy is amazingly erudite. But then the distrust this blogger mentioned in the earlier blog just got consolidated. ‘Sustainable development and Environment’ is a sub chapter in the book, this blogger though was expecting much on this considering the impact understanding of justice vis-à-vis environment is having on the contemporary world and the realities of the lives of most people. This is an immediate and grievous matter. The idea of justice has to be reflected in any treaties on environment, it need reflect the overall context and entirety of impact, not necessarily justice as seen from elite point of view, there seem to be an attempt on collective ethical nihilism. But Amartya Sen seems to have no time for these, it’s a 4 page chapter in a 467 page book!! (incidentally the acknowledgment section is 8 long page). Even in these 4 pages his concerns seems to be human centric-utilitarian, very much in consonant with market-incentive compatible, and seem to have written in a hurry. Very disappointing. But again it is a great book to have and extremely well written, probably the best on any understanding of Justice.

Problem with theories and intellectual elites is that they are generally ensconced from realities and uncertainties of life that we common people face on daily basis. The reasons for these contradictions, so while Americans were high on democracy but till few decades back were viciously racist. Europe's (France and Britain specifically) pride for liberty and egalitarian values juxtaposed with colonialism and untold misery (you just have to read few chapters particularly about France in Africa, it is genocide if not extermination). In Indian context too while majority of sections were facing vicious forms of discrimination the elite was into philosophical discourses (likes of Amartya Sen are carrying that tradition of irresponsibility), not denying that many of philosophical understanding was amazing and thought provoking. It is therefore not a coincidence that the social protest was initiated from the lower strata of the society, Bhakti movement during the medieval era is just an example…from Kabir to Namdev their occupations and their concerns are not coincidence, the reason for their huge popularity. Freedom movement from British was basically about power struggle the reason why elite had bigger stake (if they had any concern about people the decade after independence would have seen some revolutionary actions in particular land reforms, the reason initial phase of communism was nothing short of spectacular. This is not undermine the fact that some amazing people sacrificed for the cause of freedom as also the fact that period after independence provided the foundation for stable nation). Don’t know why they call these subaltern studies, beyond me!!.

Kenzaburo Oe is someone I came across almost a decade back I need to thank Sahitya Academy Library (Delhi) for much of my good reading, since I wasn’t much aware of many writers I used to start alphabetically!! (There are many excellent libraries in Delhi. I loved the one at JNU, although I strongly feel the uncouth city doesn’t really deserve these. Bangalore though a great place to be in unfortunately lacks good library, it really is shocking). Kenzabura Oe is someone I had taken up to read but due to unforeseen circumstances couldn’t, then I forgot about him. Now I am searching him in the libraries (these days I am ambivalent about putting money on books when there is option on horse!!. Sure enough I won some money, now the basic rule of probability applied to turf club is that you don’t win always. So I decided to put money on Oe’s “A Personal matter”, alas despite the reputation as knowledge center Bangalore has no good libraries or bookstalls that keep these books. I am amazed). Last few days I have been going through the Net and downloading lots of stuff about Oe. I happen to read his Nobel Prize acceptance speech (the link to the website from this blog, frankly I am disappointed with the site. They don’t renew it and have the same main webpage week after week).

Here is an excerpt of what he said: Japan's 'ambiguity' in my lecture is a kind of chronic disease that has been prevalent throughout the modern age. Japan's economic prosperity is not free from it either, accompanied as it is by all kinds of potential dangers in the light of the structure of world economy and environmental conservation. The 'ambiguity' in this respect seems to be accelerating. It may be more obvious to the critical eyes of the world at large than to us within the country”.

Later he says “What kind of identity as a Japanese should I seek? W.H. Auden once defined the novelist as follows:..., among the dust
Be just, among the Filthy filthy too,
And in his own weak person, if he can,
Must suffer dully all the wrongs of Man.
('The Novelist', 11-14)

This is what has become my 'habit of life' (in Flannery O'Connor's words) through being a writer as my profession.

On another occasion he mentions “Literature must be written from the periphery toward the center, and we can criticize the center. Our credo, our theme, or our imagination is that of the peripheral human being. The man who is in the center does not have anything to write. From the periphery, we can write the story of the human being and this story can express the humanity of the center, so when I say the word periphery, this is a most important creed of mine”.

I have started to like Kenzabura Oe a lot as I read (best way to understand a writer or for that matter anyone is to identify oneself with them, it makes it easy and riveting). I haven’t read Adventure of Nils but my first seven or eight years of life I recall having only one story book (that was before increased comfort in life and pre teen comics), probably a gift from someone. The oversized book had big pictures and story line in few sentences. It was about a boy who was carried by geese to different lands and when he returns with the birds to home he finds his mother making cake!!. I loved that book a lot and must have read hundreds of time and can still recall most sentences of the book, not to mention recurring dreams of flying. Over the years I have understood coming home is about reaching and understanding oneself.

In one interview of Oe I found this incredible line when asked whether he was the first writer in your family?. Oe replies “This is a very delicate problem. My family continued to live [on that island] for two hundred years or more. There are plenty of journalists among my ancestors. So if they had wanted to publish, I think they could have been the first writers. But unfortunately, or fortunately, they didn't publish, so I am the first man who published what I wrote; but my mother was always saying that "You men of our family are always writing the same thing". I like that one!!

Kenzaburo Oe has been very actively involved with young people (his son who suffers from congenital brain damage has been his inspiration for decades, he mentions at one point how it led him to Hiroshima and deeper involvement in writing “Yet as a writer, I must acknowledge the fact that the central theme of my work throughout much of my career has been the way my family has managed to live with this handicapped child”. More about it in my bird’s blog). When asked how young people (students/writers) should prepare for future. He says “First, I hope young men are upright, independent. Secondly I hope they have imagination. The imagination is not to accept the other's image but to create our own image and more precisely to reform the imagination which was given to us. To be upright and to have an imagination: that is enough to be a very good young man”. Simple words lots of meaning.

I hope to read most of Kenzeburo Oe in near future.