Snake in the grass!

"Snake in the Grass"  c., 2010 by Arundhati kaul

Nirupama Pathak went home from Delhi to Jharkhand. 'Home'; one place you go to find solace ,shelter,peace, support and help. One place you'ld expect to find  understanding, trust, faith , love and affection. She found a "snake in the grass"  instead; her mother! Difficult as it is to believe that your own mother , who actually brought  you to life ;can smother you and snuff  out your life . It has happened before  and might have happened in this case too, although it is yet to be proven. In this case if we look at the issue from her mother's perspective; although it does not justify murder but her mother would have gone through life's ups and downs. She might have borne various difficulties in bringing up her children. She might have endured a lot of  adverse social commentary for letting her daughter be on her own in  big bad Delhi. She however did not expect her own daughter to bring unwelcome social barbs that her unwed motherhood would rain on her. Mother did not expect her own daughter to be that ' snake in the grass'. At the time of writng there seems to another "snake" in Nirupma's life. Her boyfriend. Some one who reportedly got her in the familyway and than let her face the music alone.

Madhuri Gupta  had a decent life by any standard you choose. In a country that has  millions who go homeless and hungry ; millions who have no access to education ;educated who have no hopes of finding a job and workers  who do not know if they will get paid next month. She had a home , she had received free decent education and she had a secure pensionable federal job in foreign affairs. She had got promoted to elite IFS  cadre and she did not even have to write that very  very tough competition. Wonder of wonders she was  posted abroad representing her country. Even if you discount the pride that being your country's representative brings and think  purely in terms of the dollar value. It is still substantial. She should be the last person you'ld imagine who is ungrateful. No such luck. She choose to be the "Snake in The grass".

A company of CRPF  men went in search of Maoist terrorists in Dantewada Jungle recently. Irrespective of their professional mistakes they did not expect to find "Snakes". Their own fellow security men who had sold  government arms and ammunition to these terrorist. Of course the Snake ate them all.

IPL was India's pride and Joy till about a month ago.  Lalit modi was the pristine master who could do no wrong. Everybody was raking it in. From BCCI to governing body everyone was scratching each other's back. Suddenly a "falling out of thieves" happened over the sweat equity for Sunanda . A paltry sum compared to billions that are at stake. Some one got greedy or someone wanted a cut of the pie ; we do not know. However  Now everyone is pointing fingers at everyone else. Of course Lalit Modi will be finally declared the " Snake in the Grass" . Depending on your point of view ; for daring  or being stupid to challenge the government elements. If you ask me this is a case of "Snakes" in the grass.

If you realize , it is not always others; at times we become our own snake in the grass. Every time we make a decision that is based  on selfish motives we  either become that snake itself or allow that snake to come closer and bite . Most times it does!

God's Eye View

"God's Eye View", c., 2010 by Ashutosh kaul

Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma( later Wing commander); first Indian in Space spent eight days abroad Salyut 7 space station many many years ago .Actually he was launched from Baikanour on 2nd April 1984 , aboard Soyuz T-11. In a famous conversation that was televised live and  is seared on countless minds; he was asked by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi how India looked from the space and he replied, Saare Jahan Se Achcha, ("better than the entire world", The opening lines of a famous Indian patriotic Anthem by Muhammad Iqbal).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0r4FX_z8kM&feature=related

Imagine if he was sent back today what  possible answer can he give??? Could he say the same thing again? Luckily  he need not answer it ,since he is  happily retired now and will be spared the dilemma. So who can answer this question for us ?

A couple of years before that space odyssey ;Muhammad Rafi sang "Khuda bhi aasmaan se jab zameen par dekhta hoga...." (when God gazes on this earth...). God! that's who can answer this for us. God sees it all; doesn't  he? So what does God see?  Suppose we ask?

I tried and God sent some images. It was not of a green verdant landscape with a cascading waterfall. It was not of well fed, happy ,content and serene faces of people. It was not a little boat lazing in a calm sea. Neither was it of  laughing ,shouting and playing children. God did not see butterflies floating in air either or that riot of colours that spring brings to the garden. Missed the sweetly singing bird too. 

Instead those images were  confused and a little out of focus. There was no India . In fact there was no country anywhere ,just endless agitation as far as you could see. Images  were one on top of the other. They  were hiding each other and peeping out at places. All very confusing but one could make out flashes of  sharp light;  billowing grey smoke, congealing red blood on the roads making an ever spreading dark mass. Blue black and pink lacerations on earth and on  flesh. Loud noises  ;so loud that you can not hear them .You could only  see and smell and feel its ominous presence. And there were voices;many many threatening voices ; speaking  angrily in an unintelligible language that did not sound human at all. God was also about to say something but then there was another big bang and I  woke up. Sorry I did not catch it or I would not hesitate to tell you .

All I know is that the God's Eye View is not the same as our view.

70 after !

 

I came across this  picture of Jinnah taken on his  last birthday.  The only one that he celebrated in Pakistan. He was just past 70 years. Interestingly I found this picture on 23rd march , exactly 70  years after Jinnah  presided over a session at Minto park in Lahore that passed the "Pakistan resolution" .

Jinnah does not look very cheerful in this picture but I  read somewhere that his disposition was very serious and  he was not in pink of  health at the time. Anyway all the tensions ,trials and tribulations during  his  just realized cataclysmic partition of India must  have had a somber  effect on him. I wonder what was going on in his mind on his birthday that day? Did he feel his life's work done or did he think it had  just begun?  How would he rate himself on  his  progression from the champion of unity to a leader of separatists. He had give the call  to Muslims for 'direct action' earlier and the result was a bloody riot in many places  . He probably was prepared for that cost  of doing business but did he expect the unprecedented gargantuan  loss of life and property that followed the partition?  Did he write  that off as collateral damage too  or was he really sorry at the path chosen by him ? It is difficult to know since he died soon after . His taciturn nature and the fact that any adverse information that may cast doubts on the Formation of Pakistan is not looked at with favour from the Pakistan establishment.   Authentic information is not easy to come by . Although seemingly Jinnah was aware that his detractors call him "Qatil e azam"( great killer) to spoof his  title "Quid e azam"(great leader).

So imagine 70 years on he climbs out of his grave today to oversee  how  his creation has fared and picks up the same newspaper he is reading in the picture above. He would find that his dream  has played more like a nightmare. He would find that half of the estate he carved is sold  by his progeny for ever. He would find that whatever is left does not look anything like he made. He would find his country at war with neighbours and what is worse ; at war with her own people. He would find that it was useless to throw out the British and it was useless to  hound out  the Hindu . Muslims of his dream nation are  bigger slaves of poverty, illiteracy, and fundamentalism . Not to mention slaves of  the Army and America. He will find that his country is  permanently unstable surviving on alms mostly given by non Muslims. He will find it to be the most dangerous place on earth ; a confirmed nuclear walmart.  He will realize it is the fountainhead of Islamic  terrorism and  a  serious headache for the world.  He would find  a lot more news -  not all very good !

I am sure Jinnah will not exactly be very happy. No matter how taciturn he was ; he will  still have a  thing or two to say.  Maybe he will   ask common people to take "Direct Action"  once again. Question is who  is going to listen to him? Will he last  even a  single day in today's Pakistan? A clean shaven , Pork  loving man, wearing western pin stripe suits and oxfords.... !!  Maybe he will grow  a mustache less  beard ,  fire his English  tailor and start his own TV show as another strategic analyst-  berating USA  in every breath and frothing at mouth every time he mentions India. Maybe he won't  do all that and insist that people listen to his idea of what Pakistan is supposed to be .  Now that would be really a serious  mistake because it'll make him at least an "Indian agent" and most likely a "kafir e azam" (great apostate). It is foregone that  his life would  be in mortal danger!! So glad  that he  can not come back . At least he does not have to see what a complete disaster his whole idea has turned out to be.

 

Self- Portrait ;anyone?

 Self- Portrait c., 2009 by Arundhati kaul

Throughout history artists have painted portraits.and writers have written stories and epics. Some of the most successful creative endeavors are portraits . Mona Lisa ; arguably the most discussed work of art is a portrait. Some research says it a self - portrait. Now that is a very interesting idea. Leonardo Da Vinci  looks like a virile bearded wise man in his other portraits yet if Mona Lisa is his self portrait what was he trying to say ?

Creative  individuals paint themselves and  write auto biographies for a specific reason. Some cynics suggest in jest that they are saving the cost of  hiring a model. That maybe true considering the fact that barring a few notable exceptions, artists are almost never flush with funds. My belief however is that it is more a journey into self. A way to understand and know oneself. It is a very complex process and every self portrait is an attempt in that direction.  Amrita Pritam writes "Rasidi Ticket" and bares her soul and inner secrets mostly to know herself. Van Gogh cuts his own ear and the reason we will remember that event is because he himself tried to understand his own impulses by painting a self portrait with a bandaged ear. Probably they got the insight they were looking for  but for the rest  of us  it is important to know that an attempt was made.

One does not have  to be a painter or a writer to attempt self- portraits. No matter what one does it is a good idea to take a moment to reflect on one self. It is too easy to evaluate others , find their weak spots and criticize them. Our media is full of such portraits. Our newsmen - the all knowing virtual Gods can take everyone to task  with a clever turn of phrase .  Their audience however is certain that these pro's are in the pay of CIA or agents of the  leftist jokers or a cloaked Taliban; or a neo- nazi fascist sympathizer.  Our doctors know exactly what their patients are not doing for their health; patients have only loathing for their  Shylock care givers. Accounts assistant knows how the the V.P. finance is skimming off the top; V.P. is clear his assistant is a complete idiot.  We are all very good at portrait making and all these are very accurate portraits of each other .  However the reason  they do not go on to become great jobs is because no one is pausing to do a self- portrait. Portrait painting trait is not only found in individuals, it is common in institutions, businesses and even nations . They  only believe in portraits; never  in a self portrait . They will   not think it wise to paint themselves as a woman with an enigmatic smile, or a half crazed man bent on cutting one's own ear. It is such a pity, because the world would become a better place if we all can follow  something even a child knows.

You may or may not adhere to Mahatma Gandhi's entire philosophy but if you have to take one thing from him take his "experiments with truth". It is an attempt by a great man to paint a self - portrait.  Try painting one  for your self.

Death of creativity ?

Wheatfield with Crows, c.1890 by Vincent Van Gogh

Picasso  once said that every child is an artist, problem is how to remain one when you grow up. So what is creativity? Is it creating something new or is it looking at an old thing with new eyes ? How  important is the role of technique , or is expression more important?  Do artists have an expanded understanding or  as Saul  Stein burg said,"The life of the creative man is lead, directed and controlled by boredom. Avoiding boredom is one of our most important purposes".

Naipaul says," I have trusted to my intuition to find the subjects, and I have written intuitively. I have an idea when I start, I have a shape; but I will fully understand what I have written only after some years." If Naipaul does not fully understand what he has written who will? If you read his books you'll know how instinctively he writes without bothering about whether you agree with him or not. Although in these political times his work has been branded pro-west, it is pretty good stuff.


A great piece of art or writing or craft  has a long shelf life and if you examine creative endeavours  that have stood the test of time you'll find a lot of common things. Firstly you'll find it is about people. It connects with people on a human level and much as we like to think that modern man is more .... well more of everything. Fact is that human instincts have not changed for ages if at all. Things that moved people  in 5000  BC are the same that moved them in 2000 AD. Second thing that is evident in a great creative piece is that it is honest. In the sense that author has dropped all pretensions and has not  made compromises. In fact at times this has incensed  contemporary society to the point of complete rejection  of the work.


Art  has always needed patrons. Which come in two flavours; people with more money than sense and people with money and a nose that can smell talent.  Michael Angelo achieved greatness in large measure because he ignored Pope's wishes and did stuff his own way. It is to the credit of Pope that despite his reservations ,he thought it better to eschew pride.  And the  result is that we have some immortal pieces.
 On the other end of the spectrum ,Vincent Van Gogh  could never find a serious backer. His life was financed  mostly by his own brother . I do not think   his brother fully understood  the great service he was doing to creativity  but thanks to him Van Gogh was able to create what he has. Although he sold just a single piece in his entire life , today a pencil sketch by him will fetch millions and rightly so. Point is that Van Gogh  just broke  with all conventions not because he wanted to  rebel or it was the in thing or it was commercially expedient; but because he was honest with his work and his subject. And because that was how he was. Did he not care that he was always broke? Maybe he did but he did not compromise his art. He did not and that's an important step to being creative.

SriRam's story was known before Tulsidas wrote it . Balmiki had already created   the great epic . Tulsi however wrote  it again from his heart without bothering if he will receive any  cash or credit for it.  Remember Gita Press, Gorakhpur did not exist then.  He could not have marketed it to the masses. And today "Ramcharitmanas"  unquestionably resides in peoples hearts. Art for art's sake is a western  concept that is a good description  of great creativity but  Sanskrit  is closest - "Sawntah Sukhay"( स्वान्त: सुखाय).  Create  to please yourself.  Take a trip to Khajuraho. Chandel kings financed that great compound of temples. However you can feel  the  artist's honesty, skill , and faith in the subject oozing out of every stone.  Not even for a second will you doubt their integrity and their belief in their work. See it once and it will change you forever.Truly  immortal art. It does not matter that we do not know  all of their names. Those artists live in their work.  Those buildings are sacred even after they have stopped being  a place of worship. Temples get made even now. How many will pass into eternity?

Times have changed . Market rules and  today every human endeavour is  geared to either please the existing market or help create a market.   I am expected to monetize this blog  if I can get enough people to read it.  I  can not let on that I write for the joy of it .If I am lucky ,I will be considered  just stupid  if not entirely fake. Creativity is meant to please the  Lowest common denominator , since that 'll determine  the  deepest market penetration.  Success is measured in TRP's and click thru's. You do not have to be  honest ; just popular. So creative people are more intent on creating a Brand image than creating the brand. Writing from  the heart is passe'. Strictly for losers. Writing for a daily soap is more important.  It does not matter that by Friday nobody remembers what the story was on Monday. No one is interested in writing about human  suffering and disadvantaged people but  headlines will scream  from front pages what a minister says about poverty alleviation. It does not matter  that he has been saying the same thing for past 20 years. Stories will appear and disappear based on who is in power. Truth be dammed. It can not get you a "Padam Shri".


Breakfast, c. 2010 by Arundhati Kaul

No matter what tools we wield. Pen; brush;  mike,camera or even a hammer for that matter. Can we say that we are honest with ourselves first? Can we say we have  told it the way it is and not the way  some money bags  has dictated ? Even as recently as nineteenth century when a court poet wrote about  his king ; He was honest enough to call it "Kasida" ( unbridled praise) and not "Shairi"( Poetry). Today we want to pass off  pure propaganda as Gospel from the newsrooms . Is it any wonder that despite an explosion of media choices  lesser  and lesser number of  people  will believe  anything to be true. Skepticism is  sky high.  Obama gets a nobel peace prize for doing exactly the thing in Afghanistan  that Bush did  except  Bush was considered a  war monger. Go figure! Naipaul's  is branded a Muslim basher and a lackey of the west even before the nobel prize ceremony  gets  over. How many of  the Nobel prize winning  books do you think will be read 500 years from now?   We are killing creativity under the weight of the market forces. That's if it is not already dead and buried forever.
  Sure we can not  all become Van Gogh's.   Certainly, we can not all muster enough faith to rival those Khajuraho  sculptors ( and skill too!). But we can remember our childhood again!  We owe it to ourselves to be honest with our work.  We  must  learn   pure truthfulness from a  child again .One we know best- our own self.Think about what Marie Antoinette said," There is nothing new except what has been forgotten."

Bloody Valentine!

Does anyone remember that a few weeks ago we celebrated  first anniversary of  Mumbai carnage. Yes I said celebrated not commemorated  because that is what we did. What would you call a lazy evening spent on the  Lawns of India Gate with Bollywood stars ?

We heard the great SRK mouth patriotic dialogues  straight out of his movies and teach us "Indianness". We  learnt the difference between " Allah's Islam"  and "Mullah's Islam".  We sang a few patriotic songs and then heard our great leaders shed their crocodile tears for the dead and reassure us that "india will not tolerate " the terrorists any more. We then proceeded to light candles as the dusk fell and that was it. Some songs, some  nice sounding talk and some fun with candles . 

In an earlier post I argued that we can not fight back with Candles and SRK is no match for AK 47. (  http://byteandbark.blogspot.com/2009/11/fighting-with-candles.html )I argued that unless we hit back hard; very very hard  we must be prepared for another bloody nose. I would have given  a lot to be proven wrong. Sadly I was  proven right and so soon!. We have received  a valentine gift in Pune.  What's our answer  going to be ??  Going by  the past record  this time round we  will likely give Pakistan two dozen prints of MNIK free  as a gesture of Goodwill !! Of course SRK can be asked to go on a road show chanting  "my name is khan and I am not a terrorist". That should make people  safe!! Candle  brigade can bring them  out again and media  can broadcast  pictures of bollywood stars with lit candles. Ministers can announce payment to the families of dead again ; declare  'India will not tolerate...... etc. and we can finally resume our valentine day's festivities - sorry for the interruption!!!

 Also as a Confidence Building Measure ( confidence of terrorists , not the public) we must hasten to bring back all the Kashmiri's who crossed over to train  with ISI in Pakistan and resettle them .Home minister  is already in agreement with this proposal  . Poor people are all trained and no where to use that excellent terrorist training! That will   gladden  ISI's  heart towards India !! Although in the last 20 odd years nobody has thought it expedient to bring back and resettle Indians who were the victims of these terrorists and were hounded out of Kashmir.

Be certain that there will be  another  blast so till the next one we can  continue to rely on candles and SRK's dialogues . Just do not mention it to the mother of the 19-year-old Anindyee Dhar and her 23-year-old brother Ankik Dhar - both dead. Poor lady will not understand what makes a nation of  a billion people  so impotent , so weak kneed and so bereft of  ideas.

Stars and Politics

  Are Politicians born or are they created? As I look back one thing that I notice is that a lot of politician  really choose to enter the arena at the  start  of    their careers and then climb up. This seemingly is their entire career.  They  seem to give up their other jobs for politics.  Their rise to top  is usually on the back of a major issue or even a catastrophe.  Hitler comes to mind who gave up an artist's life for a soldiers life but then even that career he gave up for a politicians life. He ended badly but he was very successful while he was and his prominence  was an outcome of Germany's problems after the first world war. He became larger than life but  sadly could not handle his power well leaving Germans in a worse pickle than before .
Some politicians come out of nowhere. One day they are not even on the horizon and suddenly next day they are all over. Usually they come in late in their careers or come in when their main career is over. A number of such people came up after the second world war riding their military exploits. Marshall Tito of now defunct Yugoslavia was one; Charles De Gaulle  of France was another. Later on Lech Walesa  of Poland; an electrician from a shipyard rose to prominence when the communist system collapsed. So these were big events that threw up strange people  from various walks of life to  the foreground.  Otherwise political power has been rotating among the few powerful and connected people. Kennedy ;Bush; Clinton ; Bhutto, Gandhi- Nehru are known to all.
One group that has successfully captured power silently  from time to time has been Film stars ; specially when power is  given by  voting citizens . Ronald Reagan  immediately comes to mind. A very ordinary actor became the governor of California and eventually President of the United States. Of course his film career was over by then but public associates stars with goodness and that does translate into a lot of votes . Advertisers are not fools to pay millions for star endorsement. Public does get swayed by  larger than life screen persona of a star. Recent addition to this galaxy is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Currently Governor of California. Unfortunately he was born in Austria  so he is barred from presidency otherwise Obama might  have considered  it better to be  still teaching constitutional law at Chicago.
India has seen her Share of the star politicians. M G Ramachandran a romantic hero became The Chief Minister so did J Jayalalitha a female star. Both in the southern state of Tamilnadu.  Rajnikanth and Chiranjeevi are also actively seeking a political role for themselves. Lots of others have dabbled in Politics from Raj babbar to Jaya prada; from Dharmendra to Vinod Khanna; with varying degrees of success or  should I say with varying degrees of failure. They do not have anything special to offer but their star value. Politics is a way for them to remain relevant when their film career is  finished. Political parties just use them as vote catchers. It would not be complete if I do not mention  Sunil Dutt; Govinda and Amitabh bacchan, arguably the biggest star ever . Sunil Dutt had an illustrious career in acting. He was as good a politician too. Generally considered very upright and well liked by his constituents.  He rose to be a  junior cabinet minister in the center and may have gone further  but for his demise. Govinda tried his hand  at  electoral politics since his film career was waning and then had to face the fact  that he is  inadequate  for both the jobs. Amitabh was drafted by his pal ex Prime minister  of India Rajiv Gandhi . After a while he realized he is better liked by people as an actor and being sensible he simply excused himself. A very smart move since his acting career seemingly is a never ending one.Although he still dabbles in politics from the side lines.
Another name that's   fast emerging is Shahrukh Khan. Considering his proclivity to extend his  patriotic mushy Film dialogues to public rally's and his penchant for generating  a buzz around himself; he is suited for a political role.  The way he  helped create a controversy by not bidding for any Pakistani player in IPL 3 and then blaming everyone else for not being "Indian" and "Hospitable" is typical of a politician, who are masters of shifting blame and projecting themselves as 'messiah'.  His fip flop of playing all sides  by berating Shiv sena then adopting conciliatory tones  and at the same time having media eat out of his hands  makes him a very  clear prospect. Worrying part is that as he is aging his movies have also begin to get jaded apart from the fact that in Ranbir Kapoor there is another  well connected industry  kid  who is  successfully gunning for the exact  ' romantic star' perch Shahrukh is on. Pray that his movies run otherwise we will have to tolerate another popular  star turned politician too full of himself.