On Thinking Pattern That Has Lost Its Focus
Blood was all over the floor and so was he. There was a deep cut on his forehead which became more visible as he pulled himself up. As he took his bag in his hand and started walking ahead, his imbalanced walk said he was drunk. As i was telling myself “May be also due to loss of blood he must be feeling weak so he is not able to control his footsteps,” he lost control of himself and hit the wall first and then collapsed on the floor. Unfortunately the same part of his forhead hit the floor to deepen the wound.
As this happened everyone in the busstand, including me, watched it as if it were a street play on alcoholism. I could see a police outside the busstand and went to him to inform. The police pointed out another police inside the busstand whom i had not seen and took me to him. As we aproached the police inside the busstand, he knew why i was going to him and before i could say anything he asked me “Who is responsible for his condition?” Even before i could answer him he asked me if i was aware that the wounded man was drunk. I lost my temper and said loudly “The point is not as to who is responsible or not and whether he is drunk or not. The point is that he is hurt and he is bleeding and we need to attend.” His ego was hurt and he too raised his voice to say “You keep your eyes open and see for yourself the reality. He is drunk and he has hurt himself,” almost to mean he himself should go to the hospital as he himself is the reason for his wound. This was unbelievable. A police on duty was speaking so irresponsibly and illogically and more importantly so inhumanely!
Realising that raising voice will lead to nothing i slowed down and said “Sir kindly call the doctor,” and it looked like it worked for he walked towards the coin booth to dial 108. As he was trying to call the ambulance i went near the wounded man and as i stood next to him some more people stood my me and started staring at the man. The policeman started shouting and screaming at the crowd asking them to “make an issue” and vacate the place. This was sheer arrogance and i couldnt take it anymore and called the SP who spoke to the policeman and ensured that he would call the ambualance and the injured man is taken to the hospital.
As i was walking back home after the injured man was taken to the hospital, i was thinking about the line of thinking of the policeman. His focus point was the fact that the ijnured man was drunk and he himself had caused injury to himself and not that a man is injured who needs to be attended. I felt very irritated. If i were not to be a journalist who could feel confidant enough to raise voice against the police and also call the SP when required and thus ensure that the injured man is attended, i am sure the policeman would have not taken any action because of his mis-focused thinking pattern, which could have lead to something very serious.
This thinking pattern which has lost focus if enters the dominant discourses, then it would create extremely negative ripples in the society, i told myself as i rested my head on the pillow. It was then that all the incidents reflecting the mis-focused thinking pattern of the peopple who create public opinion started surfacing in my mind. Here i collect a few:
~ Janardhan Poojary had arranged for a press meeting to condemn the pub attack in Mangalore. Mr. Poojary in his usual theatrical style condemned the attack on pub saying it was an attack on women and set the floor open for us the journalists to ask questions. One among us broke the silence to say “They (the girls) went to the pub and not to the temple. Can you call the girls who go to the pub as girls? are they girls?”
When the question to be asked was “how correct was it on the part of the Sri Ram Sene people to take law into their hands?” but the entire debate and focus of the matter was shifted to if pub culture was right or wrong and if it was right on the part of girls going to the pub, which further victimized the already victimized.
~ Anand Bhai (Patwardhan) had come to Manipal and created a mini revolution in the minds of the students. This made the “youngest” and popular journalist very very uncomfortable. The “youngest” journalist kept repeating the same story saying “Anand Patwardhan has made a film on Gujarat where he has shown a pregnant women’s stomach being slit,” and would further ask “Is that ethics?,” and continue to say “When someone is slitting the stomach of a pregnant women he is standing and filming it. Is that ethics?”
I (and many) tried to make this “youngest” journalist understand that Anand Bhai had made no film on Gujarat and it was Rakesh Sharma who did and also that even the film which Rakesh Sharma made had no scene of a pregnant women’s stomach being slit. But the “youngest” man would not listen to the truth.
This story and sounter argument episode must have taken place for atleast a fifty times in fifteen days and not even once did the “youngest” journalist ask himself or ask anyone as to how morally and ethically correct was it to slit open the stomach of a pregnant women with a trishul! The “youngest” journalsit’s argument accepted that a pregnant women’s stomach was cut ripped apart but his ethical question was about someone hypothetically filming the incident and not about the very incident itself.
When we have such creators of public opinion and shapers of public mind and discourse, i think the policeman is only partially responsible for his mis-foused thinking. That is why i keep repeating to while speaking to my student friends “Media is all about persepective.”
This Is A Big Order, But See What You Can Do…
School reopens today in Karnataka. Many innocent minds will be ’schooled’ and shaped into the worldly ways of operating. At this point, i feel like going to every teacher in every school and read out the letter written by Abraham Lincoln to his son’s teacher and say “This is a big order, but see what you can do…”
He will have to learn, I know,
that all men are not just,
all men are not true.
But teach him also that
for every scoundrel there is a hero;
that for every selfish Politician,
there is a dedicated leader…
Teach him for every enemy there is
a friend,
It will take time, I know;
but teach him if you can,
that a dollar earned is of far more value than five found…
Teach him to learn to lose…
and also to enjoy winning.
Steer him away from envy,
if you can,
teach him the secret of
quiet laughter.
let him learn early that
the bullies are the easiest to lick…
Teach him, if you can,
the wonder of books…
But also give him quiet time
to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky,
bees in the sun,
and the flowers on a green hillside.
In the school teach him
it is far honourable to fail
than to cheat…
Teach him to have faith
in his own ideas,
even if everyone tells him
they are wrong…
Teach him to be gentle
with gentle people,
and tough with the tough.
Try to give my son
the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting on
the band wagon…
Teach him to listen to all men…
but teach him also to filter
all he hears on a screen of truth,
and take only the good
that comes through.
Teach him if u can,
how to laugh when he is sad…
Teach him there is no shame in tears,
Teach him to scoff at cynics
and to beware of too much sweetness…
Teach him to sell his brawn
and brain to the highest bidders
but never to put a price-tag
on his heart and soul.
Teach him to close his ears
to a howling mob
and to stand and fight
if he thinks he’s right.
Treat him gently,
but do not cuddle him,
because only the test
of fire makes fine steel.
Let him have the courage
to be impatient…
let him have the patience to be brave.
Teach him always
to have sublime faith in himself,
because then he will have
sublime faith in mankind.
This is a big order,
but see what you can do…
He is such a fine fellow,
my son!
- Abraham Lincoln
Being And Nothingness
“Sir, they looked at me weirdly,” she said and we laughed. We both knew that for the rest of the world it would appear a bit weird if a student from a Media College goes to a coaching centre and asks for a seat for medical entrance coaching.
She wanted to be a doctor always but landed in a Media College by chance. While she is doing good in the media field, she still has her heart in medicine and is preparing herself for medical entrance exam as she wants to do her MBBS once she complete her degree in Media.
“Sir,” she said after a moments silence, “If i dont clear the medical entrance exam i shall go join the defence.” Not being a man who is passionate about defence i just smiled, not knowing how to react. I dont know what this expression of mine communicated to her for which she immediately said “I might appear like a person who knows not what she wants. I tried for medicine once couldnt get through so came to media. Now i am trying for medicine again and saying if i dont clear this i will go for defence. But what i am saying is true Sir, if i dont crack the medical entrance exam i will go join the defence.”
I had a braoder smile this time on my face. Taking the glass on the table i said “The shape of this glass is dictated by the purpose of it. To mean its being is decided by its to be,” similar to what Phaniraj Sir had told me once sitting at the Annapurna Canteen in Manipal with the example of the scissor. “But,” i continued “man’s being is not dictated by any purpose. We are not here with any purpose. We are not born to be this or that. We are just born without our life being dicated with any purpose. It is Being and Nothingness. So, you need not think much as to if you will be judged as a person with no focus or purpose. Being is the only truth. The rest is all what we make out of our being.”
Then i went on to narrate as to how i wanted to get into visual media always and how i am in print media today, when i showed no interest in print media all my life. I also narrated the story of another friend of ours who always has been passionate about print media and especially about the organization i am working for, but how he, today, is all set to enter the visual media.
Both of us lauaghed…
Gaston Roberge 75
No film enthusiast and media academician in India needs to be told about Gaston Roberge. Yes, he is the one with his book CHITRA BANI opened the doors of film appreciation for many film enthusiasts in India.
That was in the year 1974. Prior to that he had, along with Satyajit Ray, started an institute in the same name CHITRABANI in thea year 1974. He was also a faculty in the St. Xaviers Institute, Kolkata and a visiting faculty at the Film and Television Institute of India and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute.
His books include Mass Communication and Man (1974), Mediation, The Action Of Media In Society (1978), Films For An Ecology Of Mind (1978), Esienstien’s Ivan The Terrible, An Analysis (1980), Another Cinema For Another Society (1985), The Subject Of Cinema (1990), The Ways Of Film Studies (1992), Communication Cinema Development (1998), Cyberbani(2005), Satyajit Ray (2007) and Media Dancer, Who Sets The Tune? (2009) His book The Empires is all set to be published.
There is more to this great man. But this small piece of information is more than enough for us to imagine how huge a canvas Sir is. There is a reason to remember him and speak about him today. Today Sir turned 75. Wishing him a happy birthday i would like to share this essay written by Sir which is titled THE MEDIASPHERE AND THE IMAGE MAKER with you all. I dont know how else to celebrate the birthday of a man of words, thoughts and ideas than to spread his writings which capsulates his thoughts and ideas.
The mediasphere and the image maker
- Gaston Roberge
Any filmmaker addressing a group of professional photographers would certainly feel tempted to discuss the similarities and differences between the art of film-making and that of still photography. What I propose to discuss, however, has little to do with such questions. I wish to discuss our common task as image makers. We often say, very wrongly, that we take pictures. In fact, we do not take pictures, we make them, whether mobile or still, we make pictures, we make images. By creating the image which surrounds us, we contribute to building up the environment of our society, what I have called mediasphere.
The phrase mediasphere is used here by the analogy to a series of terms which all refer to man’s environment, like biosphere (the zone around the earth where life is possible), atmosphere (the mass of gases, chiefly air, around the earth) [add to these, stratosphere (the layer of atmosphere, about seven miles from the earth in which there are little temperature changes); ionosphere (part of earth’s atmosphere 25 to 250 miles away from the earth. The word biosphere was coined by Suess. The noosphere is the “terrestrial zone of thinking substance” (Theilhard de Chardin: THE FUTURE OF MAN, pp.163 ff)]. Mediasphere simply means the network of communication media which surrounds the earth. Thanks to that communication network men and women throughout the world can relate to each other. This they do through exchanging word-messages and image-messages. Today the entire planet is bathing in a flux of words and images. That is why some specialists speak of logosphere (sphere of words) and iconosphere (sphere of icons or images) meaning that today man is immersed in words and images as in atmosphere. The media of communication are the physical channels of planetary communication. They have become an extension of our nervous systems, or better still, they are in the process of becoming a sort of nervous system for the whole of man and woman kind. Willy-nilly, through this network, the human family is growing more united. We will have therefore to find ways to live at peace. In the human body the two eyes usually work happily together, and so the two hands and the two feet. All the members of the body contribute to the welfare of the whole body, and this is made possible thanks to the nervous system. Now, with the development of the means of communication, humankind is building up a nervous system that calls for the conscious unification of the human family.
In the earlier times, our great, great, great grandfathers lived in the middle of fields or in the forest. The images and sounds which contribute to their personal and mental life were immediately available in their environment, and in most cases, were not man made. They may have been a totem, images of some deities, houses or temples, but sight and sound came to these people mostly from their ‘natural’ environment. On the basis of this natural sensorial information, our ancestors endeavored to understand their personal and social relationship with the environment. They evolved two modes of thinking and of expressing themselves: science, to formulate the laws of the environment and art, to enter into communion with the environment, to modify and enhance it to an extent. It is possible that in earlier times science and art were one and the same activity. Today they have developed into two specialized branches, much to their respective impoverishment. Hopefully, they will be re-united. New technologies, especially in the sciences of communication and cybernetics will usher in the time when once again the artist and the scientist will have to be one and the same person.
Be this as it may, art and science now have distinctive roles. The arts are means of expression. They are a language, but infinitely more complex than ordinary verbal language, which in turn is much more specific than the arts. Verbal language is rich in signification; the language of art is rich in meaning. Signification is defined for once and for all. Meaning calls for interpretation. On the other hand, sciences have created channels capable of conveying the verbal or art messages to distant places, to countless persons. We now have techniques to create images and to convey them to millions of people. It is estimated that half of humankind could see the first astronauts landing on the moon. They could hear Armstrong saying: “A small step for a man, a giant step for a mankind” never before in its 2 million years of history had mankind been so united in one experience. Thus, the possibility of communicating among ourselves has grown to an extent that could not have been imagined even a few decades ago. Take, for instance, your great great grandfathers. How many kilometers could they travel in a lifetime under normal circumstances? Perhaps hardly one millionth of the world’s circumference. Some of you have been around the world. You travel thousands and 1000 s of kilometers in yr. you travel greater distances in a month than your great fathers in their whole lives. Astronauts now travel millions of kilometers in week. The possibility of physical transport, of moving personally form one place to another, is matched by an equal ease to convey messages, whether visual or aural, from one side of the planet to the other, and even from one planet to another.
It is in this context of greater ease in communication that we, image-makers, do our work. Some questions naturally arise: do our images enrich the environment? Do they contribute to the expansion of human awareness, to the enhancement of perception? Do they call for a greater activity of the mind? Even at a physical level, do they make demands on the organism, helping the brain grow more sensitive? Or, are our images redundant and repetitious? Do they make us all dull and dumb? These questions evidently arise in the fields of cinema, of advertising, and of still photography.
A second set of questions relate to the values our images promote. Are our images haphazardly born out of our technical gadgets or are they pregnant with meaning and signification? Do they contribute to some form of communion, as essential requirement for the survival of the human family, or do they emphasise artificial oppositions between castes, sexes, human groups? Those necessary but logical distinctions are only too easily emphasised and transformed into ontological but unnecessary oppositions.
Let us now answer too hurriedly the question raised above. But, for a moment, let us pause and reflect on our personal experience, not as image makers, but as image consumers. There is no way of computing accurately the ‘amount’ of images we absorb in one day, and still less, the effect these images have on us. Yet, since the images around us are an important part of our environment, like the air we constantly breathe, it is worth making an effort to become aware of the presence- if not yet of the exact role- of the images in our lives.
You start the day by reading through the newspaper, thus absorbing a few dozen visual messages which you rapidly classify, select or reject. Then, on your way to work or college you literally circulate amongst a jungle of ads. Psychologists say it takes 1/10 sec. to ‘read’ and ad. How many do you read while going to your office college? Dozens, surely. Your mind is immersed in a mixture of messages. You absorb these as innocently and candidly as you inhale countless micro-organisms in breathing. These messages are not inactive: they excite your pet desires, pamper your need for affection, soothe your anxieties; they structure your mind, they set an order of values. In a word, the visual environment re-creates you in its own image. And, what to say of the mud-bath you take at Rupees 2 to 5 when you see a movie? You think the images are on the screen? Wrong. The images are in you. This is the magic of the film: it appears on a screen but lives in the spectator’s mind, like a parasite feeding on the soul of the spectator.
Man, the image maker, constantly image-in(es), takes in images. Indeed, man is fleeting image; he is the screen on which the image of the world flickers endlessly.
There is a vital relationship between man and his environment through the image medium. Let us now revert to our initial point: the image maker.
In the mediasphere the artist-scientist image maker is an ecologist, because he deals directly with mans environment. He thus plays several roles all at once according to his individual talent: he is a psycho-therapist, a teacher, a priest.
In order to appreciate fully the role of a image maker it will help to first get rid of the prejudice according to which there is an inherent, necessary, opposition between man and his environment, and therefore between natural images and cultural (i.e. man made) images. The images we make use are natural as those of nature, because we ourselves are parts of nature. Of course, there is a distinction between man and his environment. But the distinction need not become an opposition. Unfortunately there is ample evidence that we create an enmity between nature and us. We thought for centuries that we could dispose of nature, that it had infinite resources. We have now grown up to the timely awareness that to dispose of the environment means to catastrophe. I shall illustrate this by an example in a moment. What I wish to emphasise now is that (a) we need not ‘regret’ romantically the so-called natural surroundings of the apes and (b) we may trust power to create images conducive to the psychic and moral life of the human community.
I said I would illustrate by an example the relationship of man with his environment. Say you have a species of birds feeding on a species of insects. The more insects the more bird will eat, the stronger the bird will become, the more the bird will develop. At the same time the bird will become a specialist, it will become very skilful at catching this particular type of insect. This situation is that of so-called ‘positive feed back’, where the more this, the more that. In the end the bird is likely to eliminate the insect on which it feeds unless there is a negative feedback that prevents the bird to develop too much. But if the positive feedback is left to play uncontrolled then the bird will annihilate the species of insect and the bird will find that since it has developed and specialized to such a great degree in hunting that type of insect, by destroying its own environment, viz. the insect, the bird will indirectly destroy itself and disappear.
This situation has developed in our society. Thanks to the progress of technology, we have succeeded in preserving our population which has resulted in a marked increase in population. The more population we have, the more technology we develop, and the more technology, the more the population and so on…..this is a chain of positive feedback which is bound to destroy us through destroying the environment, because we cannot dispose of it indefinitely. We will be left in a desert before long unless we somehow grow wiser. The relationship between our environment and us is such that there is no survival for us out of, or independent from, our environment. And we, as image makers, are ecologists, creators of environment. I hope these few thoughts do not sound too abstract or too far fetched and that they can help to develop a sense of responsibility and a sense of pride for the role which still photographers and film-makers play in our society.
Courtesy: FILM MISCELLANY 1 (Dec 1976)
A Publication of the Film and Television Institute of India.
Collective Failure
Moving his fingers between his hair he said, when i asked him if he had come to give back-papers, “No Sir, i have decided to quit the course,” which made me put my head down with shame.
That night i messaged a few common friends of Mani and me saying Mani deciding to quit the course reflects our collective failure, to which not many did agree. But still i stand my ground. It is a collective failure, as i see it, even now. The decision of Mani not just refelects his negligence and irresponsibility, as many believe, but also our failure to bring him to the college, to create interest in him for the subject. And i see it more as my personal failure for i as his teacher couldnt create the required interest in him to come to the class and continue his education.
It was Einstein who once said that the greatest duty of a teacher is not to impart knowledge but to inspire the students to learn more and create an interest for the subject in the students.
Once while having luch with legendary K.P. Rao, he was passionately speaking about Maths. I told him how Maths, to me, is a “dry” subject. The moment i said so, K.P. Rao Sir laughed out loud, in his usual way, as if mocking at my poverty of knowledge, and said “Its not your mistake but the mistake of your teacher,” and continued his laugh for a while and then said “Usually the teahers of Maths fail to speak about the beauty of Maths. They say two apple plus two apples makes four apples, which is a very dry way of teaching Maths. The beauty of Maths is that two of anything plus two of maything makes it four in quanitity.” Saying so he continued to laugh and i was struck by the beauty of Maths which Sir was speaking of untill then. What my teachers of Maths had failed to do, K.P.Rao Sir had succeeded in. But I had travelled a long way away from Maths to love and get back to Maths. But yes, after that day i have always said “I fail to understand Maths,” and not “I find Maths a very dry subject.”
Often i ask myself if my failure to understand Maths and its beauty is my failure alone? No, i have answered myself always. And today i see Mani’s decision as my own failure as a teacher too. And even if no one agrees with me i believe that one mans failure is a failure of the entire world of that individual. How many are ready to take up the responsibility, is what matters!
Recently after the results of class 12 were announced, senior friend B.M. Basheer who is the editor of Kannada daily Vaartha Bharathi, wrote an editorial saying the poor result in class 12 in the state is also a reflection of the education sysytem. The students have failed, yes. They might have not worked hard, yes. They might be poor in studies, yes. But what is that we have done to help them sail through? But are we ready to take up these responsibility, is the question! If the education department is to take up the respnsibility then it is for sure going to bring a change in the results next year.
A not so good film Armaan (Dir: Aruna Irani) had a scene where Amitabh Bachan, a doctor, standing by a corpse is explaining something to his students. A student laughs and AB goes wild and asks him how could he laugh when a deadbody is lying before him. The student swallowing the laugh says “Sir, we get used to the deadbodies in the long run, isn’t it?” To this AB reacts by saying “I haven’t got used to deadbodies. Everytime i see a deadbody in this hopsital i get a feeling that we have lost a battle.”
May be the patient was brought to the hospital in the worst possible condition, but as a doctotr, how far did we fight to keep him alive? how hard did we try to cure him?- is what AB asks silently. A deadbody, hence to him, reflects tha failure of the doctor too!!!
Ideological Violence
I shared a popular message (SMS), that is circulating the undivided Dakshina Kannada district, on Facebook and thus increased its reach. It reads “Hindutva is the new opium of the masses and balls of the ball-less society.”
A dear freind of mine commented on the message saying “Please dont speak anything against Hindutva.” The word ‘Please’ moved me, though i was shocked to know that this friend of mine was a Hindutva sympathiser.
That night i sent a message to this friend of mine saying “my ideological stand had nothing against him or any individual and that the message did not intend to hurt him. After half an hour this friend replied me back saying “Samvartha, i understand. Each person is entitled to their opinion. I dint mean to be rude. Just gave a passing comment. You are like my brother,” and i was moved again.
The reason why i was moved by the usage of ‘Please’ and referring to me as ‘Brother’ was beacsue here was a boy who stood on the opposite side with whom i could still have a dialogue, in spite of knowing that we belonged to two different and opposing camps. In this era where the ‘other’ is not tolerated and is eliminated, i was moved to have a friend from the oppsoite camp with whom i could have a dialogue. This possibility to have a dialogue and this scenario where there is love and respect for the ‘other’ and there is tolerance towards that which is opposing the ’self’, needs to be mentioned and acknowledged, i believe, for it dilutes ideological violence, which is introlerant of the ‘other’.
Here i share a piece written by my teacher and guide Varadesh Hiregange, which is titled ideological Vioelnce: A Crtique. He read this out as a key note address on 13 March 2009 at St. Aloysius College Mangalore in a seminar on Violence:
I would prefer to use the word ‘human evolution’ instead of human development without meaning any offence to the second word. The other day one senior academic was telling me – “There is so much violence around us that we can hardly claim that it is the land of the Mahatma Gandhi.” But we tend to forget that Mahatma Gandhi himself saw so much violence during his lifetime – partition causing worst-ever violence- that he spoke so much about non-violence. Hence, possible, he chose the most unconventional path for liberation.
I can talk about violence that is prevalent in nature and human nature. But what disturbs me most in these days, is the violence in the name of culture. It is an irony that culture, which is supposed to erase violence from human nature, has in fact resulted in more violence.
Hence, I intend to talk about one dominant form of violence that is ideological violence. I do not even tend to use the word – political violence which can mean violence due to power struggle. Ideological violence is more subtle, but also more brutal. Its effect is much more intense and longitudinal, more subliminal and dangerous. It can turn violent against all hapless communities, against women, children, minorities, dalits, adivasis and all other subaltern groups. Our own belief in one form ‘development’ can cause immense violence and also subvert ‘human development’ itself.
How does ideology cause violence? In essence, ideology is a system of belief. If it is not open for criticism and self assessment, it becomes a dogma. If it doesn’t introspect, it becomes fundamentalism. If it has shades of religion and if it indulges in power politics, it becomes communalism. If the end starts justifying the means, violence also becomes an acceptable methodology. Ideology starts defending ‘clash of civilizations.’
History is replete with such organized ideological violence, heralding the message that blood cannot be washed with blood. While Ingmar Bergman’s film ‘Seventh Seal’ most colquently discusses the futility of Crusades, both Hitler and Stalin are the semiotics of the ideological violence. Even before condemning international terrorism, it is imperative to be critical of the violence caused by the American neo-imperialist designs.
Now I am more concerned with our own contemporary scene. It is a tragic irony that two great apostles of non-violence – Jesus and Gandhi – confronted violence even in their twilight. One was crucifies and the other was assassinated. Commenting on Gandhi’s assassination, sociologist Asish Nandy says that Godse was just the tooth of a long poisonous snake.
It was not just Godse who desired to kill Gandhi, but it was also the hidden fantasy of all those who endorsed Godse’s point of view – which has even become politically quite significant today. The Gandhi- Godse interface is the semiotics of confrontation between Hinduism and Hindutva and the present is an episode in this long narrative.
From the demolition of Babri Masjid to the recent attack on Christian prayer halls, from Gujarat violence to the recent attack on women in Mangalore pub, vandalism against inter-religious socialization, threats issued to professor (Pattabhiram Somayaji) or to the journalist (B.A. Samvartha)– these are basically different manifestations of the same ideological violence which has unfortunately become the opium of the masses today. But such acts are basically an assault on Hinduism itself. They are irreligious acts in the power-play of politics.
We often hear many ideologues (senior BJP leader L.K. Advani’s recent condemnation of attack on women in pub, is a case in point) even condemning such acts of violence. But what they don’t realize is the fact that such violence is the extension of their own ideology; such violence is in-built in their own ideology; what they practice is not religion, but corruption of religion. Anything that breeds hatred cannot be religious. Anything that disrupts this delicate web of human relationships cannot be religious.
Violence is the anti-thesis of humaneness. It is the anti-thesis of Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed and Gandhi. It is the anti-thesis of humanity itself.
Life Has Become Richer By The Love That Has Been Lost
Life has become richer by the love that has been lost
- Rabindranath Tagore
This line from ’Fireflies’ of Tagore, i see an undercurrent of a thought saying we do not recognise the worth when things are with us. We feel enriched of its presence only when it is lost.
Now that Mukul Shivaputra a legend Dhrupad singer is missing, we are all turning our attention to that great man. Less thought or no thought we gave to his existence till the news of him being kidnapped broke.
I wonder why this is the fate of many artistes! While they are alive they are neglected and in their absence they are celebrated. I feel extremely sad for Vincent Van Gogh and more sad for Ritwik Ghatak whom i love a lot becuase they did not get the recognition and acceptance while they were alive.
This morning when i met Mahalinga Bhat Sir, he narrated an incident from a film appreciation workshop where a session on Ghatak was being handled by one Mr. ABC, who is a renowned music crtic. Ghatak was introduced and portrayed as an eccentric man who told a film critic, once, “You will not understand my film in your life time,” when the critic is said to have told Ghatak that his films were “not so good.” Narrating this myth, Mr. ABC, said “Now you are going to watch this not so good film which is considered as one of the best films in Indian film history.”
Later during the course, speaking to the musc critic Bhat Sir asked Mr. ABC for his opinion on Mukul Shivaputra, whom Sir likes and admiers a lot. Then Mr. ABC is said to have told Sir “He knocks my door at midnight and asks me to listen to him singing at that point,” with an expression almost saying “what nonsence,” and added to it “Wonder what he does and what he will do.”
The man who narrating a myth from the life of Ghatak who is no more, had no interest in or admiration for a similar legend who is alive.
May be today, when Mukul is missing, Mr. ABC would be narrating some myths about Mukul Shivaputra and celebrating him. I am sure today he feels enriched because of his association with Mukul Shivaputra.
A Stolen Childhood
They walked into the office when we were closing the office for that day. The father and the son looked extremely happy. More than the son it was the father. Son had scored good (very good, in fact) in his class 12 board exams. The father wanted us to carry a news item on his son scoring good marks and being one of the district toppers.
I made the son and the father sit and began with my interview. I asked him what his marks were. “In Sanskrit…” he began, only to be cut by his father who interrupted saying “Say the marks of Maths first.” Telling all his marks the son sat silent. The father broke the silence. “Tell him that you had scored 100 in maths even in class 10 and 11,” he said. The son just nodded his head with a smile.
The happiness of the father was more than that of the son. With just the marks and the information about him scoring 100 constinuously for three years was not enough to make a story. So i asked him what other activities was he involved in. His silence was intensified even the more with the vanishing of the smile on his face. This vacuum was again broken by his father who proudly said “He was completely focusing on studies Sir with no distraction.” I saw the son who still had that look on his face. I asked him if he was involved in any sports. He said “Chess” and his father again interrupted to say “That was all in High School. Once he came to college he was completely focused.”
I felt sad for the happiness of the father and the son. Getting good marks and being topper is good. But at the cost of what? The childhood? The son had nothing more to say about himself other than his marks. The father was extremely proud of his son not being a part of any other activity other than studies. He could see only what his son had gained but not what his son had lost.
Once i had told Smitha Maam, how i wished that i had done some constructive work during my childhood other than having wasted it in things like roaming around, stealing mangoes, playing pranks etc etc. Smitha maam then told me “You can do constructive things now too. But you cant do those things now.” And i felt glad that i had made the best use of childhood.
Today i dont have marks to boast about but i have plenty of interesting stories from my childhood.
Moley Haalu Bedavva, Ede Haala Needavva
It was a workshop being conducted for the woemn employees of the factory at Baikampady (20 March 2009), where the resource person was informing the women about their rights.
Photo by: Rajesh Naik. Location: Dakshineshwar
As the resource person was speaking about sexual harrasmment in the factories, womens’ right to equal wages and security, the women employees were blankly staring at the resource person with no reaction or no sign of interest in the matter being told to them.
But once the resource person touched on the rights of the working women which would benifit their children, all the women woke up sharpening their ears. I, who was there as a reporter was surprised by the sudden burst of interest that filled the air. They questioned the resource person as to how can they get education loan for their children, how can they apply for student scholarship and if the industry would provide books for the children of the employees.
Though the topic of the workshop was forgotten, it was a heart warming environ which reminded me of an article by P. Sainath where a lady who is a tailor now speaking about all her difficulties that followed the suicide of her husband (who was a farmer) puts an end to her conversation saying “I take all the trouble for my kids. However, my time is over.”
The enviorn there, also reminded me of a line from a poem by H.S. Shivaprakash which reads:
Moley Haalu Bedavva, Ede Haala Needavva
[Feed me not with the breast milk, Oh Mother, but with the milk of your heart]
The difference between the breast milk and the milk of the heart, I understood in a better sence being present in the workshop.
Buddham Sharanam Gachchami…
It is 2553rd Buddha Jayanthi today and Ravi Sir asks me to dao a story on Buddha Jayanthi. He thinks i am suitable to write because of the terracota idol of Buddha that i have on my table in the office. I tell Ravi Sir, “I can write an opinion piece but nothing for the newspaper,” which ends the discussion leaving me with thoughts of Buddha.
The Buddha as an ascetic. Gandhara, 2-3rd century, British Museum.
Buddha was introduced as a historical man in social studies book. But then i never found him interesting enough. It was poem on Buddha by Gopalkrishna Adiga, a renowned Kannada poet, which made me silently start liking Buddha. But it was Jayawanth Sir who for the first time made Buddha one of my major preoccupations. Jayawanth Sir sitting in his shop in the Udupi Car street once said – “Buddha went against the will of his parents yet he is worshipped, when its told and re-told that we need to respect our parents and their words with the example of Shravana Kumar.”
A poem by Aarathi Patrame (Wife of my friend Sibanthi Padmanabh) looks at this ‘great departure’ in a feminist point of view and questions “what did Yashodhara go through then?”
In spite of all these questions, which goes unanswered, Buddha becomes extremely important to me and also close to my heart for his teachings and preachings.
Buddha is usually equated only with Gandhi as a preacher of non-violence. But Buddha is more than a religious figure and his teachings more than non-violence. Late D.R. Nagaraj in one of his essays brings out the similarity between the teachings of Buddha and Karl Marx. B.R. Ambedkar emracing Buddhism (thus Buddha) was a political act, which strengthens the argument that Buddha’s teachings were also quite political in nature.
Bharatiya Janatha Party led National Democratic Allignment government chosing to Buddha Poornima for nuclear test at Pokhran and having “Buddha smiled” as a code word for a nuclear test which is a symbol of violence, also shows the political standing of the party, which is violent in nature.
***
When i was in my 12th class, once, Pejawar Mutt seer Vishwesha Teertha had invited a few chosen students from our school to Krishna Mutt at Udupi for general interaction. There we all could ask any question to Mr. Teertha and he would answer.
One among us had then asked “Buddha is one among the ten avtaars of Vishnu but still Buddhism is a different religion altogether, how is that?” Getting defensive Mr. Teertha had answered saying “These two Buddha’s are different,” thinking that the answer would solve the problem. But the boy who had asked the question asked Mr. Teertha to narrate the story of the ‘other’ Buddha to which there was no proper answer from Mr. Teertha. That evening while returning from Krishna Mutt we all were making fun of Mr. Teertha for his inability to answer the question regarding Buddha and very lightly one of us made a statement “The other Buddha is yet to be born so the story is not written yet for him to tell us.”
I dont know of any ‘other’ Buddha and i dont even know if ‘another’ Buddha will come again to teach and preach this world. All i know is that there is a need to take shelter in the teachings of Buddha, now, during troubled times.
Buddham Sharanam Gachchami…
