|
|
|
|
wxyz12345.rediffiland.com/
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Bengal's Woes
The sorry predicament in which Bengal finds itself today is a matter to be lamented and bemoaned.The pride of India which gave a clarion call in the past to shake off the shackles of centuries,now finds itself chained and grovelling in the lowly dust--a victim of its own policies of opposing anything and everything that spoke of private capital and entrepreneurship.
Bengal has woken up thirty years too late-Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee"s governement now is trying desperately hard to woo investors and industrialists but its party comprises members who have shunned industry captains all their lives,making a career out of hate filled rhetoric and venom spewing speeches against them.For them now to accept the Tatas would be an admission that they have done grievous wrong and harm to the state of West Bengal and its people which most of them are unwilling to do.So even while their Chinese counterparts makes Beijing showcase its might and power to the world,a might built out of an unabashed embrace of capitalism,our comrades in Bengal find it difficult to take the leap forward.. What Mamata Banerjee is doing today is what members of the Bengal government did all their lives.Why then do they call Mamata a disruptive force?She has learnt her politics from them-politics of "bandhs" and "michils" and "dharnas".Bengal after all never took anything from the Centre lying down--it has always opposed New Delhi in the past....its people were aware and conscious of their rights and as such took to the streets disrupting normal life at the drop of a hat!! Dear Comrades,Ms.Mamata Banerjee is only following in your footsteps-her first teachers were those from among you....And she has done better,become a master of the game.. So even when Ratan Tata threatens to pull out of Singur despite an investment of 1500 crore in the Tata small car project,Mamata counter attacks with the threat of continuing with her indefinite siege of Singur.Whose gain?Whose loss?Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has promised unconditional help to Ratan Tata if he decides to shift the project to his state.1500 crore to the Tatas is a drop in the ocean but for West Bengal and the poor in Singur,it"s the last lifeline in a bleak and hopeless future.1500 crore worth of investment means a life of security guaranteed by a steady source of income.It"s a promise for future investment,a promise of development and progress.... The investment by the Tatas meant the state was finally shaking off its image of a slow behemoth,an enemy of capitalism...it meant Bengal within the next ten years or so could be part of the big league,could be counted with Bangalore and Bombay and Delhi... But what a mess the state is in now-Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is now held ransom by a woman whos thrives on threats of violence and disruption...he is paralysed into mouthing appeasements with no clear cut answers to the ongoing crisis.. Should the Chief Minister of a state be dictated to?What did he or his ministers do all these months?Mamata Banerjee made no secret of her plans--she has always been very public of her policies on Singur..Why did the Chief Minister not take enough action to make sure Mamata"s vicious,anti-progress policies were exposed before the people of Bengal and the country?Why does he go on the defensive leaving his men and forces bewildered at his lack of any definitive action?The Chief Minister should have launched a massive campaign through the media and public rallies to educate the people about the benefits of the Tata Project and how important it is for a state that has had little or no investment in the last thirty years. Today the people,even among the educated elite care little about the success or failure of the Project,mainly because they were never made to feel their cooperation was needed.If today Buddhadeb had the people"s support,Mamata would not venture to do what she is bent on doing. The people in Kolkata are silent,caring little or nothing at all about what happens in far-away Singur.This is the single biggest failure of Buddhadeb-his inability to counter Mamata"s vicious and often malicious propaganda...call it lethargy,inertia or ineptitude but Buddhadeb"s failure is glaring and the state must pay a heavy price for it. So while Bengal languishes in the mindset of the fifties and the sixties,the rest of India marches ahead confidently to join the first world.What a shame that Bengal is in the state that it is today! ....................................... PS.Mr. Buddhadeb,this is an appeal..everything is still not lost..get the courts to declare Mamata"s agitation illegal and let the Singur Project continue..for God"s sake,stop being defensive,come out openly in its support and let Ratan Tata bring out the Nano....you will lose only a few votes but please do this for the sake of the greater good.
|
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Tomorrow's Child
I am yet to be born but I feel my Maker's fear, trauma of past sins,anguish of today's battles, Tomorrow's pains. It's evening now, I can tell by the bloating of the body to blow the conch shell. Far-away rumblings send silent prayers, Then a voice,a tiny voice said.. 'I am afraid for you. The land is no more the heaven I promised The earth is no more the haven I thought. Tomorrow is the Devil's, Impulses storng,lustings naked,deeds shameless...' Responses learned from the Creator send a reassuring whisper,a slender promise.. All is not lost,today is yesterday reborn.... Day breaks,the sun shines,the skies clear,oceans heave..... I will be Tomorrow's Child.... When the meek shall inherit the earth When men born ordinary shall walk with heads held high. So grieve not,rejoice my Maker! This hour shall pass,this gloom shall fade,evil will end.. I will be Tomorrow's Child When dawn is breaking When the sun's golden rays shall bathe the bleak wintry land...
|
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Oh to be Born Free...!!
Boy oh boy what a Sunday this has been!! My day began in the wee hours of the morning,at 4am precisely,the alarm pulling me out of bed.This was done with the sole intention of doing some last minute cramming for today's UGC. NET exams but a strange lethargy stole over me and I only pottered about the large empty house,looking up at its yellow cob-webbed walls,peering out of the windows to gaze at the bluish black haze which would soon turn ash blue.. I decided I could not miss out on this precious moment when dawn is just breaking out and the gods seem to be whispering out your name...when the air is heavy-scented and a cool papery-thin breeze is gently awakening the buds to a morning of lust and lascivious intent...!! Nothing,just nothing could stop me from stealing such a morning for myself...I wanted to soak in the delights and stolen pleasures of the morning and preserve it forever...I wanted to write poetry,a love poem,of lovers making wild love...I wished it were raining and the lovers surrendering,with spent breath to the gentle pitter-patter of the slow languorous rain drops.... But my fond wishes remained empty dreams when the sharp persistent ringing of the bell jolted me out of my reverie...was it the door bell or the phone....?? It was my maid at the door who had turned up early this Sunday morning... Had the morning cast its magic on her too?? Ah,perish the thought for she of the dimpled smile and twinkling eyes satisfied with the small joys of life cannot afford the pleasures that nature gives for free to you and me.... For her the buds don't dream,the leaves don't sigh,the breeze does not run riot with the young girl's dress.... For her the winds don't mouth words of love or the morning hold her in a passionate embrace... She has no time for these joys for she must bow and bend and wash and scrub... After almost an age,exhausted by the demands of the marathon session at the examination,I felt liberated,exhilarated at being born free.....free to love and laugh and live....free to dance and hum and sing....free to scream and berate in anger...free to just be me..... How many of us have this which is denied to so many......???
|
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Manna from Heaven
The monsoons have come to Kolkata and what a welcomne relief..!!Phew..!!This Summer was particularly trying..seemed like there would be no respite from the relentless heat and high humidity and to add to your terrible wounds there was CESC-Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation-uncooperative as always..depriving you of power at all times of the day and night.
If you happened to be one of those citizens conscious of your rights and thought it your bounden duty to register a note of protest with the powerful CESC,the response you received was..."please bear with us,there has been a major breakdown..we understand the trouble you are having to go through...power will be restored shortly....."
The usual cliched statements,infuriatingly soothing,tantalizingly vague,having the desired effect of calming the harried caller without making any commitments about when or how exactly his trouble would come to an end!
The Customer Care fellows have turned a mundane,routine job into an art.And mind you,you could shout out from the rooftops,in the process endangering your already over-strained vocal cords,about the inefficient and ineffective service of the power generating body and ne"er would you succeed in ruffling a feather..!!Told you,those chaps have been trained to keep their cool even in an earthquake.To save yourself any further embarrassment,you quietly put down the receiver,not able to make up your mind whether you had been hit or given a hug of sympathy for the hours spent in next -to- impossible conditions!
Anyway,hoping all that is of the past,the rains are here and let us welcome it,and sing its tune and dance its rhythms,even if that means more than half the city will be facing water logging and its attendant worries!For the monsoons conjure up visions of a quaint little town,washed and cleaned and greened and revive aromas of the baking earth receiving the first few drops from the skies above..
The monsoons in Kolkata will be particularly harrowing this year as vast parts of the city have been dug up to lay down mammoth-sized pipes which connect directly to the Ganga to drain out the rain waters...With more than half of the roads in those parts inaccessible and slush and silt spilling over on to the roads,commuting could make life in Hell seem less intolerable.
The KMC-Kolkata Municipal Corporation-has taken up this ambitious project kindling hopes for the city and is doing a commendable job no doubt but it"s taking a darned long time to complete a project it hinges its pride on.
Monsoon rains mean the streets are filled with blackened mud and filth and the overpowering stench in the air....
I saw the beggar who had aroused my curiosity by his pathetic,stooped frame so many months back again today..this time after the initial averted gaze,I looked closely at the still,lifeless figure...and I cursed him for lying there inert and infirm...
Can he not summon up courage enough to stand and face the passersby and shame them out of their oh-so-comfortable existence?
Or at least,howl and cringe and grovel and beg...??
Oh, why does he have to turn himself into an animal,a dirty cur?He could beg and still remain human...
|
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
The Case of Dr.Binayak Sen...Democracy in India is Thriving..Is it Really So..?
India is the largest working democracy in the world,it is a thriving,prosperous nation,its GDP has touched double-digit figures or will soon if it hasnt yet.. Its constitution gurantees to all its citizens Liberty,Freedom,Equality,Justice... Its citizens enjoy the right to vote and they do so in swelling numbers every time there are elections...never mind if for more than 70% of the population it is the only time they get to exercise their rights as citizens.... Its citizens have been vested enormous powers by the constitution...they can elect their leaders,have a decision-making power in forming their government and equally have the right to dethrone the kings they made yesterday... Yet more than 70% of these very people who make the country what it is lives in abject poverty,more than half of its newborn babies die of malnourishment,its women die of hunger and disease,its men enslaved and rendered powerless by loan sharks and musclemen... The Maoists in the rural heartland of India are a group that fights to rectify the terrible wrongs that Democratic India has inflicted on its people....it is committed to fighting debilitating poverty,inequality,injustice,hunger,disease,deprivation.....but as with all causes its too has failed for it has resorted to violent forms of aggression to counter the might of the State.....and its leaders today are declared criminals hounded by the police.... It is against this bleak background that Dr.Binayak Sen,one of India's best-known public health specialists and human rights activists was working to improve the conditions of the people in Chattisgarh,one among the poorest states in the country. Dr.Sen is now is jail for the past one year,accused by the Indian government of harbouring links with the Maoists in Chattisgarh..Shocking but true! Dr.Sen had been working with the poor tribes of Chattisgarh for years,piloting a community based health programme,setting up a non-governmental organisation alongwith his wife to train rural health workers,setting mobile clinics,speaking out against alcohol abuse and violence against women... He was also a Senior Member of the local unit of a leading Human Rights Group,the People's Union for Civil Liberties... It was in this capacity that Dr.Sen spoke out about the legitimate grievances of the Maoists and had been specially vocal about the government's ways of tackling the Maoists' violence which has been backing a civil militia of local tribals called the Salwa Judum.. Dr.Sen feels and rightfully so that the 'Salwa Judum' has created a dangerous rift in the tribal community and made them nervous and rudderless...It was the path he took as a Civil Rights Activist,the voices he raised to protest the policies of the State that irked the Indian Government... Dr Sen has been awarded the prestigious Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights which his wife received on his behalf at a function in New York because the Indian Government would not release him even though there has been a world wide clamour for his freedom including petitions from 22 Nobel Laureates and more than 2000 doctors worldwide urging for his immediate release... What a pity...!!This kind of incarceration of its best citizens in a country like India!! which has always condemned human rights violations in neighbouring China and other nations all over the world..The Tibet protests were against human rights violations,a cause that India has always supported... But peep into its own backyard and you will come across the most shocking cases of gross violations taking place on a daily basis...just think of the unthinkable brutality that its police inflict on undertrial prisoners,sometimes on innocent victims...the disregard of court orders and the rule of law by this very force...the fake encounters in Kashmir and other insurgency prone areas...and you know why we are in effect a Sham Democracy...! But maybe there is hope....Maybe all is not lost,yet... One Binayak Sen with courage and conviction can lead to an army of Binayaks,maybe not today,not tomorrow even but definitely the day after....We shall wait for that day..Dr.Binayak's fight for freedom shall not be wasted...!!! His wife Ilina says,'We are part of a much larger fight.We are fighting for the right to dissent peacefully.Our commitment to that gives us strength....'
|
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Birth of a Star
Wash me,Cleanse me of my sins As the past rushes in an overwhelming swell. The tide of green waters tears through agonies of yesternight...... Atavistic jealousies,ragings of people who with hated dread slash through knee-deep weeds, slush and gore to meet the imagined foe...... Wash me as I soak in my blood to cleanse them of their sins....... That glowing swirl of fire, a distant star is born to burn the sins of those who once I knew as my own Sears through the soul to scorch all in its presence.....tears through the womb...... till I am calmed,benumbed...... But many miles yet till the goal is reached...... My star must wait till I reach it...... I'm not ready to answer your call,my god....... Shall I ever be...??
|
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Wonders
Traveller my mate,rest ye awhile
and answer me ere ye travel mile upon mile.
Did ye ever wonder at the harmony filling all around at the music in the swelling tides that surround?
Did ye listen to a cricket when it sings or the flap of a dragonfly"s gossamer wings?
Did you see the rainbow and not grow envious of the artist that held the brush?
Did ye hear the poetry abound in a green hill and also its quiet hush?
Did you take time out to watch the sky when it did cry or see the moon pass hastily by?
Aye,I did and many more.
The blush on a maiden"s cheek, the scarlet of her lips ever so meek.
The first gurgle of a baby born in glee, the soft glow of a father who contentment doth see
I"ve wondered at love"s eternal beauty and thanked the divinity that shaped this endless variety.
|
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Ramalingan and his Beautiful Aunt
S.P.Ramalingan saw the marvels of the sky secretly through his grandfather's telescope and built a world of his own to which he never allowed anybody in,not even his favourite friend,the old cook's 7 year old daughter.. Ramalingan was tormented his secret pursuit would be detected and that would mean the end to his dreams of visiting the objects of his awe up in the sky.. The first time he witnessed a meteor shower,he thought the gods his grandmother prayed to,guruvayoorappan and ayyappa,were showering diamonds on the earth below...he wanted to run outside to collect them...prizes from the gods themselves! Another time,the shower looked like a million sparklers going off... He once woke up before dawn to view the marvellous sight..but he never repeated this act for the old cook saw him go up the stairs and immediately started a low moaning which reached a crescendo which lasted till the whole household and the neighbours had woken up...S.P.R. lay crouched in a corner of the wall on the terrace which was a good half an hour till it was made sure that there were no spirits or ghosts visiting the old maid. Particularly fascinating was a yellow-orange giant in the high eastern sky which he later learnt was Arcturus or the 'Spring Star' which astronomers elegantly describe as being 'champagne coloured'. He observed the miracle of the old waning crescent moon and the new waxing crescent on consecutive days and wanted to be able to touch and feel its hard solid silver surface and speak with it and ask of it what made it change its shape and who or what gave it its unique beauty...for even as a child,Ramalingan was moved by beauty to the point of speechlessness.... Two objects of flawless unattainable beauty haunted him during his growing up years...one was the moon that bewitchingly changed its shape and enticed him like a lover near the water's bank....the other was his young aunt who like a haunting melody stayed with him forever and visited him in his troubled dreams...she of the tinkling laughter and soft dancing feet, she with her full figure and lotus-petalled eyes in an oval face. She of course took no notice of him,preferring to flirt with the neighbour's older boys but he did not mind as long as he could look at her from behind his dull boring books..Once she caught him staring at her while pretending to do his sums...from then on he became her object of laughter and mockery... He lost all peace of mind,his books became a burden..for escape he went to the stars...even that did not give him comfort... One such evening after being subjected to a prolonged spell of jeering and teasing,both verbal and non-verbal,brought about because he had spoken to the cook's seven year old daughter,he felt a kindly hand on his shoulder while secretly peering through the telescope..... PS: This chapter is the latest one in the series addressing the space journey. to be continued...
|
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,isn't it time you let your conscience dictate to you?
Qutubuddin Ansari of Gujarat was the face that shook the world during the pogrom in Narendra Modi"s Gujarat...Today hundreds of such Ansaris are pleading for justice in Nandigram in Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee"s West Bengal....The irony cannot be missed for it was Kolkata that gave shelter to that hapless man...
Hundreds of men known to harbour anti-CPM sentiments have been abducted,others killed,yet others beaten mercilessly in the follow-up to the panchayat elections in Bengal...the atrocities do not stop there,women and children too have been targeted..beaten up into silence..
About ten days back a young woman was thrashed and beaten up,then stripped naked and chased by a mob furious with her for daring to speak out against the organised mayhem....
It is extremely difficult to get anyone to speak out against the violence unleashed in Nandigram by a party that ironically in its state capital,Kolkata,claims to be a party of intellectuals,therefore beings of a higher order!!Such leaders however look the other way when hungry blood-thirsty wolves fed by it go on a rampage marauding innocent villagers...
Victims are suffering silently,afraid to give out their names or be photographed for fear of reprisal...
A 32 year old woman sobs out,"we have not gone out to vote for we have been threatened with widowhood if we did so."Lathi-weilding and gun-toting CPM cadres visited the women with white dhotis and cowered them into silence,saying they would have to wear the white cloth all their lives if their men cast their votes...
One young boy however blurted out his name in his desperation to locate his father and cried out,"Please help me find my father..CPM cadres have kidnapped him..."
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and indeed the city of Kolkata gave shelter to a victim of the Gujarat riots when his fellow men turned against him..All Calcuttans then held their heads high,proud of their leader,proud of the city they belonged to...Today,however,this very man sitting in Kolkata fails to protect his own citizens from the men his party gives shelter to...he mouths inanities and untruths like "Nandigram is peaceful" and breaks into a rage if anyone dares differ with him...
This is the man whose heart bled when Gujarat bled....today when a tragedy of gigantic proportions is being played out in his own backyard,he takes cover in the cloak of lies and falsehoods. Who will give shelter to the men,women and children of Nandigram,cry out the nameless,terror-stricken villagers...!!
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,we now know was only indulging in age old politics and public relations during the carnage in Gujarat..that facade of humanity was just that,a sham....as he is playing politics with Nandigram now.....
Today it is Nandigram,Mr.Buddhadeb,tomorrow it could be some other place,some other issue...is it time for us to leave Bengal,Mr.Chief Minister...??
This is what a senior police inspector posted in Nandigram had to say...."Cases of kidnapping and atrocities are the order of the day.Nandigram at present stands for atrocities of the worst kind..this place is a country by itself,ruled by power-crazy monsters.Only those who abide by the rules put forth by the "leaders" are allowed to "live".The rest are simply left to rot..My head hangs in shame to think that I work for the State Government Police....."
What could be a worse indictment of Buddhadeb's government and his administration..?
Mr.Chief Minister,will you wake up now at least??Hark back to your younger days..perhaps you might hear the faint stirrings of that long dead conscience...
Pict : This boy defied the diktat of the CPM and approached the CRPF posted in Nandigram to help find his father,kidnapped by CPM goons..
|
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
In Protest of Bandhs..
And Yet Another Bandh! Kolkata was subjected to yet another bandh a little more than a week back,this time to protest the rise in prices...the issue would have touched a raw nerve if bandhs as a weapon had been used sparingly...bandhs have become such a common phenomenon here that people have come to accept it as a part of their lives,evoking little or no comment,not even one of derision...
|
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
