Sunday, July 26, 2009
P. Sainath
Its two months since now, that my schedule is extremely laid back. (All play and no work makes for a poor life!)It was roughly four in the afternoon when I went through the local pages of Hindustan Times and my eye caught a known black & white picture which was of my senior lecturer in Social Communications Media dept. of Sophia Polytechnic Mumbai. A person I truly admired. The first two lines gave me this conformation that he was in town, and I couldn’t read the rest out of excitement. I quickly messaged him enquiring about his visit. My mind completely diverted towards my cell phone which I kept checking in every other minute. Maybe he is busy, maybe he has left, and this thought occupied me for long.
Until I went to pick my mummy from her art classes and I was suppose to wait there for 15 minutes. Suddenly I thought maybe he hasn’t read my text, so I finally gathered courage to give a call and as expected he didn’t picked up. In a moment my cell flashed and it was his call- P. Sainath. My heartbeat skipped seeing his name on my screen. I quickly picked and introduced myself and also my willingness to meet him in my city. Unfortunately he was at the ‘Raja Bhoj Airport’ Bhopal. I was late. With great disappointment I kept the phone down, and continued waiting in the car. In a split second I got a call back again from him conforming whether the airport authority here allows meeting in the lobby after checking in as the flight is at 8pm & it was already past 6. I wasn’t sure though, but I wanted to make a try. In fact how could I afford to miss!
Until I went to pick my mummy from her art classes and I was suppose to wait there for 15 minutes. Suddenly I thought maybe he hasn’t read my text, so I finally gathered courage to give a call and as expected he didn’t picked up. In a moment my cell flashed and it was his call- P. Sainath. My heartbeat skipped seeing his name on my screen. I quickly picked and introduced myself and also my willingness to meet him in my city. Unfortunately he was at the ‘Raja Bhoj Airport’ Bhopal. I was late. With great disappointment I kept the phone down, and continued waiting in the car. In a split second I got a call back again from him conforming whether the airport authority here allows meeting in the lobby after checking in as the flight is at 8pm & it was already past 6. I wasn’t sure though, but I wanted to make a try. In fact how could I afford to miss!
Leaving my mom uninformed, cancelling my plans with friends on phone for the weekend while driving, and with no money and empty fuel tank I just planned to rush. Although Bhopal is a small city, but Airport from my place is at the extreme opposite corner. While I was driving several thoughts engaged my brain. Will I be able to meet, will he recognize me? I recalled the 1st & the last time I spoke to him. I remembered the bench were I sat on the 1st day of my college and it was scrabbled- “Sainath Rocks”. I remembered the 1st time I questioned him in the class- “Isn’t Media so much biased nowadays?” , I remembered cancelling my reservation to my home town just because of the sudden scheduling of his lecture in those days. And most importantly on the last second day of my pre board examinations, as soon as I came out of my class, few of my class mates passed me this message that Nirmita Mam is looking for me. As such I have a very clean record and less interaction with teachers. I was confused and I was looking for her. She passed me this message that Sainath wants to speak to you regarding your internship, text him before you call.
Apart from the usual excitement, the thought that he remembered (He is a busy man), his concern took me to a different level altogether. The conversation I had with him that day was something I dreamed of. There was a lot of noise in the corridor and I was listening him with a lot of effort and tearful eyes, my voice choked in the end & I still don’t know why. My friends thought it was a call from home and neither could I explain anything to them. This whole thing reminded me of what I called artificial reality shows. Where a performer cries in front of the judge and I find it extremely funny. That day I really felt from my heart what the relationship with a mentor is. I could recall every word of that conversation today.
And with these thoughts I didn’t even realized that I was fast enough to reach at the airport, were the parking guy was asking me for change and I was fighting with him to fund me with just 10 minutes. I ran in my chappal & uncombed hair, which the security found strange, & the next obstacle was of the entry fee. At last I could see Sainath waiting. With so many thoughts & goose bums I got speechless seeing him & started pinching myself. My mom kept calling me but I was lost. The conversation started and soon ended with fatherly advises. Those 10 minutes seemed countless seconds to me.
Though he asked me to call him by his name, but I can never call my father so.
I am blessed.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Naxal movement in India
Naxalite or Naxalism is an informal name given to communist groups that are now active in more than 8 states of India striving to establish a ‘red’ corridor through an armed revolution.
It is said that the naxal movement originated from a small village in West Bengal, Naxalbari when the local peasants under the leadership of Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal who led a violent uprising in May 25, 1967,after local peasants were attacked by landlords over land dispute. What started as a local level movement soon spread into a call of revolution to overthrow the government and upper classes whom the protestors held responsible for their plight.
Fourty two years later, the naxalites have established their presence in more than 36 percent of India's geographical area comprising roughly 90,000 square kilometers. More than 20,000 insurgents are currently in operation, and they have been termed as the most serious threat to India's national security by Prime Minister Manohan Singh. The government in the current budget increased the allocated funding on internal security from Rs 17,674 crore to Rs 21,715 crore.
At present their presence can be seen in the states of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
The red bastion that they have managed to establish in states like Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh stands testimony to the kind of violence they propagate.
Chhattisgarh is at present the worst hit by Maoist activities. The affected area is Bastar in southern Chhattisgarh, comprising five districts. Kanker (northern Bastar), Bastar (Jagdalpur), Dantewada (southern Bastar), Bijapur and Narayanpur combined together add to 39,000 sq km, a area that is little larger than Kerala and a little smaller than Haryana.
What is the reason behind the growing force of Naxalism? We need to go the roots of the problem to understand why rural youth are joining the movement, a movement which has well lived past its age.
Naxalites are composed primarily of youths, and its through these youths that they carry out their violent operations and illegal activities. Isn’t it important to look into the issue that why the youths, particularly the tribals join naxalites outfit? After all the life of a naxal is not a bed of rose.
Naxals unlike the Islamic terrorist don’t follow or fight for the purpose of any particular religion. It is totally different from the present Kashmir problem or the former Punjab trouble. It should not be looked as terrorist problem, but as a socio economic problem.
No employment, increasing poverty, government machinery which has failed, failed to deliver even the basic amenities; and machinery in which everything comes for a cost, laws which prohibit them from using their own resources, all these factors have contributed towards changing the mind and transforming a common youth to feared naxalites.
It is said that the naxal movement originated from a small village in West Bengal, Naxalbari when the local peasants under the leadership of Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal who led a violent uprising in May 25, 1967,after local peasants were attacked by landlords over land dispute. What started as a local level movement soon spread into a call of revolution to overthrow the government and upper classes whom the protestors held responsible for their plight.
Fourty two years later, the naxalites have established their presence in more than 36 percent of India's geographical area comprising roughly 90,000 square kilometers. More than 20,000 insurgents are currently in operation, and they have been termed as the most serious threat to India's national security by Prime Minister Manohan Singh. The government in the current budget increased the allocated funding on internal security from Rs 17,674 crore to Rs 21,715 crore.
At present their presence can be seen in the states of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
The red bastion that they have managed to establish in states like Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh stands testimony to the kind of violence they propagate.
Chhattisgarh is at present the worst hit by Maoist activities. The affected area is Bastar in southern Chhattisgarh, comprising five districts. Kanker (northern Bastar), Bastar (Jagdalpur), Dantewada (southern Bastar), Bijapur and Narayanpur combined together add to 39,000 sq km, a area that is little larger than Kerala and a little smaller than Haryana.
What is the reason behind the growing force of Naxalism? We need to go the roots of the problem to understand why rural youth are joining the movement, a movement which has well lived past its age.
Naxalites are composed primarily of youths, and its through these youths that they carry out their violent operations and illegal activities. Isn’t it important to look into the issue that why the youths, particularly the tribals join naxalites outfit? After all the life of a naxal is not a bed of rose.
Naxals unlike the Islamic terrorist don’t follow or fight for the purpose of any particular religion. It is totally different from the present Kashmir problem or the former Punjab trouble. It should not be looked as terrorist problem, but as a socio economic problem.
No employment, increasing poverty, government machinery which has failed, failed to deliver even the basic amenities; and machinery in which everything comes for a cost, laws which prohibit them from using their own resources, all these factors have contributed towards changing the mind and transforming a common youth to feared naxalites.
The pathetic and callous attitude of the successive state government in various states towards the development of backward areas has contributed in no small way in the spread of the naxal movement.
The youths seeing no hope of improving socio economic condition are delineated from the mainstream society. They are disenchanted and share a feeling of discontent against the society, a society which is nothing but the creation of the state.
It is a false general impression that the illiterate mind of the rural-tribal youth is easily susceptible towards adopting a lifestyle of a naxalites. All naxalites are not illiterate. It has been observed that many of the members of the “Dalam” (a group of naxalites operating in a particular area), are very ably educated, some even have completed their graduation. The core members of the Dalam have been found to highly qualified. Why blame them instead of blaming a system which doesn’t give the opportunity to utilize the education that they have been imparted?
Naxals like any Indian citizen are part of the same country in which we live. They are not foreigners but they too have evolved from the same civilization from which we have evolved. So why view them differently?
The roots of this problem are in the bleak socio-economic conditions of our country, especially the deep rural areas which have been neglected, and have seen either no or very little developmental activity. Development of not only the naxal infested area but the other interior remote part of the country should be given its due attention.
The answer to eradicating this menace does not lie in the brutal use of force but a strategy that is based on pushing the agenda of socio-economic development in the rural and remote areas. Generating employment opportunity, which is resented by the naxals, will go a long way in dissuading more young legs in joining the movement.
Perhaps then only this age old problem will gradually disappear as it once appeared. Till this happens the slogan “Lal Salam” will continue to inspire fear even in the strongest of the hearts.
There is no shortage of Security personnel’s, innocent villagers, and disoriented youth in this huge country, but letting them die for a cause which is not justified, either ethically, morally, politically or economically is not acceptable.
The answer to eradicating this menace does not lie in the brutal use of force but a strategy that is based on pushing the agenda of socio-economic development in the rural and remote areas. Generating employment opportunity, which is resented by the naxals, will go a long way in dissuading more young legs in joining the movement.
Perhaps then only this age old problem will gradually disappear as it once appeared. Till this happens the slogan “Lal Salam” will continue to inspire fear even in the strongest of the hearts.
There is no shortage of Security personnel’s, innocent villagers, and disoriented youth in this huge country, but letting them die for a cause which is not justified, either ethically, morally, politically or economically is not acceptable.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Just a shout away!
A month after my course is done, I have ample of time to sleep, argue, observe & think. I could easily observe the hierarchal change in my existence, and this was more prominent after seeing my teenage cousins stepping into colleges, seeing youngsters in news every now and then and moreover realizing the fact that I have crossed my student life and things no more seems the same.
It use to sicken me to hear our elders saying- “Humaare zamaane main to”…..But now time runs even more fast watching the impatient, aggressive, and non emotional generation that leaves me a step behind. Always. Is it good or bad? That’s still something i have not yet worked out.
Recently i met my former college professor after a long time and she said- “Your batch was the last batch we miss and remember, now days that attachment is missing”.
Things were and are nearly same except the revolting nature. Dissent against heavy bags; revolt against stress which results in suicides and further decision of scrapping 10th boards, Shout against strict teachers, Shout against wearing veil and having beard in schools, shout against violent video games…Shout for just everything.
The question is that schools were never meant to pamper but to make you disciplined and to enhance uniformity.
To aim for reality shows and opt for short cuts, to exploit your childhood and die without technology. Is this mutiny such a young strong ego that can make you leave your home, divorce, switch your job or kill anyone at any clash or change in atmosphere?
Has adjustments lost its era, its importance?
And within all this, the shout for justice has faded its geniality and has provoked selfishness. And unfortunately everything is justified too.
Maybe O'Brien was right when he wrote...
Do You Remember?
Jennifer O'Brien
Do you remember when life was a game
Do you remember when all we wanted
was fame
Do you remember making mud pies
Do you remember telling little white lies
Do you remember playing dress up
With all your older sisters make-up
Do you remember being afraid of the dark
Do you remember the adventures
On which you used to embark
Do you remember when you hated boys
Do you remember having all those toys
Do you remember your first bike
Do you remember what being a kid was like
Do you remember?
It use to sicken me to hear our elders saying- “Humaare zamaane main to”…..But now time runs even more fast watching the impatient, aggressive, and non emotional generation that leaves me a step behind. Always. Is it good or bad? That’s still something i have not yet worked out.
Recently i met my former college professor after a long time and she said- “Your batch was the last batch we miss and remember, now days that attachment is missing”.
Things were and are nearly same except the revolting nature. Dissent against heavy bags; revolt against stress which results in suicides and further decision of scrapping 10th boards, Shout against strict teachers, Shout against wearing veil and having beard in schools, shout against violent video games…Shout for just everything.
The question is that schools were never meant to pamper but to make you disciplined and to enhance uniformity.
To aim for reality shows and opt for short cuts, to exploit your childhood and die without technology. Is this mutiny such a young strong ego that can make you leave your home, divorce, switch your job or kill anyone at any clash or change in atmosphere?
Has adjustments lost its era, its importance?
And within all this, the shout for justice has faded its geniality and has provoked selfishness. And unfortunately everything is justified too.
Maybe O'Brien was right when he wrote...
Do You Remember?
Jennifer O'Brien
Do you remember when life was a game
Do you remember when all we wanted
was fame
Do you remember making mud pies
Do you remember telling little white lies
Do you remember playing dress up
With all your older sisters make-up
Do you remember being afraid of the dark
Do you remember the adventures
On which you used to embark
Do you remember when you hated boys
Do you remember having all those toys
Do you remember your first bike
Do you remember what being a kid was like
Do you remember?
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