The Statesman Kolkata 15th June 2008

My letter published in the Statesman Kolkata today

First the oribinal article and then my rejoinder

Spotlight: State Power, Religion And Social OppressionThe book is a must for all sections of the reading public... A review by Suranjan DasClass and Religion in Ancient India By Jayantanuja Bandyopadhyaya Anthem South Asian Studies, Anthem Press We have known Professor Jayantanuja Bandopadhyaya as an expert in international relations and contemporary affairs. But this book has proved his scholarship and expertise in ancient Indian history as well. Based on such Sanskrit classics as the Vedas, Upanishads, Manusmriti, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Arthasastra, Kamasutra, Gita and Puranas, he has ably demonstrated 'the dynamic relationship' between religion and ancient Indian society. Using the methodology already developed by Debprasad Chattopadhyay, R.S. Sharma, Romila Thapar and Irfan Habib, Bandopadhyay shows how the ancient Indian state played a crucial role in upholding, propagating and enforcing a particular form of religion in the interests of the ruling class. In doing this he questions the notion of 'unparalleled religiosity and spirituality' of ancient Indians, developed by orthodox Hindu scholars, as well as the thesis of the spiritual foundations of Hindu nationalism, promoted by the classical protagonists of the Indian renaissance. The basic argument that runs through the book is the role of religion in sustaining an oppressive and highly stratified social structure in ancient India. Bandopadhyay contends that unlike in other ancient societies, as in Greece or Rome, in India it was primarily religion, rather than primitive accumulation and brute force, which played a crucial role in class formation. The first chapter of the book outlines the process of class formation in the Vedic age.Contradicting the popular notion of the Vedas being divine revelations, the author argues that the Vedas were composed by the priestly class of the Aryas and reflected the material and worldly aspirations of the contemporary ruling class. By the time the 10th Mandala of the Rig Veda was composed a four-tier class structure in an embryonic form came into existence. ThePurusha Sukta of the 10th Mandala of the Rig Veda essentially sought to sanctify this emerging class structure by imparting it a divine origin. The second chapter argues that the Advaita philosophy was an ideological instrument to preserve the exploitative class structure in the name of the eternal creator. The subordinate members of the society were taught to accept the divine social order and not to covet the wealth and power of the powerful. The third chapter views the composition of the Bhagavad Gita by 'successive writers' in the context of the challenge posed to the Vedic religion and social order by the foreign invaders, the rationalist philosophies of Lokayata, Sankhya, Nyaya and Vaishseshkia, and the rise of Buddhism and Jainism. Brahminical hegemony was now given a new form to preserve the Vedic social order. In the fourth chapter the author demonstrates how such Hindu mythological theories like yugas or time cycle, envisaging the return of the avatar to counteract any threat to Vedic religion, constituted 'a religious instrument of political control in the hands of the ruling class in ancient India'.The author entitles the fifth and final chapter of the book `State and Counter-Revolution' where he unfolds the decisive role of the ancient Indian state to organise the Brahminical counter-offensive against the entire range of anti-Vedic forces. To support this counter-revolution the state encouraged the composition of the dharmasastras and the Puranas, the Brahminisation of atheist philosophies and texts like the Ramayana and Mahabharata, and the large-scale revival of Vedic sacrifices. Individuals or social groups opposing the Vedic religion were also subjected to state persecution. The state thus systematically used its power to 'preserve and perpetuate the predatory class-caste structure of ancient Indian society'. Consequently, the society in ancient India became 'more oppressive and exploitative' than any of its contemporaries. The author shows how by the time the Upanishads was compiled the ancient Indian society had experienced class polarisation. But this exploitative Vedic religion and social order also evoked opposition, as Bandyopadhyay indicates, in the form of the intransigence of indigenous Anarya tribes, emergence of Buddhism, Jainism and various atheist philosophies and the rise of Shudra kingdoms. The capture of state power by the Sungas and then the Guptas represented a Brahminical counter-revolutionary process which saw a close class collaboration between the Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and the state and coincided with the compilation of the Manusmriti and Dharmasastras, the expansion of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, and composition of many Puranas. Besides, Bandyopadhyay demonstrates how the ruling classes utilised such texts as the Gita and Puranas to present the image of a common Brahminical religion in the face of the prevalence of plurality of gods and goddesses in India's cultural tradition. The author draws a parallel with emperor Constantine's attempt to replace Greek and Sumerian gods and goddesses by Christianity to assert political control over an ethnically heterogeneous population. The ruling classes in ancient India were engaged in their pursuit of artha and kama with the support of the Brahminical texts. Religion, as the author contends, was used for "purely demonstrative and exploitative purposes".Jayantanuja Bandyopadhyaya's reflections on ancient Indian society have great contemporary relevance. His findings throw light on the historical roots of a fundamental contradiction in our country's political economy: a functional democracy, a pluralistic society and economic attainments coexisting with the traditional rigid class-caste structure of Vedic origin and a dominance of 'metaphysical and mythological' Hindu belief system. The author correctly notes that emancipation of the millions of the dalits and subordinated groups in our society, who comprise the overwhelming section of the Indian population, depends on the destruction of this repressive social structure.In fact, the survival of the Brahminised hierarchical and exploitative social structure has provided the fundamentalist political forces in contemporary India an adequate space for working The relationship between state, religion and social structure in India that is underlined in the book, has also an international relevance. Violent fundamentalist assertions in West Asia, the rising force of rightist politics in the USA, and the use of religious justification for interventionism in international politics - all these are indications of this relationship in the global sphere. We hope that the author will enrich our understanding of this international process in a separate volume.The author admits that dissection of the ancient linkage between religion and class-caste convergence in India had been his academic zeal. The present book is a testimony to the fulfilment of the author's passion. Based on a sound analytical framework and an interpretative reading of ancient Indian texts, the book makes a fundamental contribution to a better understanding of the evolution of Indian society in terms of continuity and change. The Select Bibliography is extremely rich and lends an additional value to the book for scholars interested in pursuing further the line of thinking delineated by Bandyopadhyaya. The book is a must for all sections of the reading public. (The reviewer is the Vice-Chancellor, University of Calcutta)

To
The Editor
The Statesman
Kolkata


Sir

The leitmotif of Prof. Jayantanuja Bandyopadhyaya’s book, as is evident from the review by Suranjan Das, ‘STATE POWER, RELIGION AND SOCIAL OPPRESSION’ in the 8TH DAY in yesterday’s Statesman is the same as the theme of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s pioneering work ‘Who were the Sudras?’. The great Tamil thinker and iconoclast Periyar held similar views. He was a true revolutionary can be understood by the fact that he questioned the patriarchal concept of a ‘woman’s virginity’ labeling it to be a mischievous attempt of the upper castes to enslave women.

Emperor Constantine, after embracing Christianity, persecuted the non-believers on the advice of the Church and the whole Empire became monotheistic. According to the historian, Edward Gibbon, Christianity was the chief cause of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.

Thanking you

Sincerely

My Mistress’s Sparrow is dead

An ode to the Immortal Catullus


He was the most vitriolic and the most virulent of the Latin poets of antiquity. But his poems are still read with profound pleasure. There was nothing of the softness or effeminacy in his writings. He has used the ‘f’ word quite frequently with near lethal effect. Come to think of it, the ‘f’ word and its sister germane ‘buggery’ is integral to his poems. The hallowed institutes of Classics learning, Oxford and Cambridge, still teach his poems; the entire lot in Latin. An English translation of his work somehow robs the reader of its sense of humour and subtle irony that every page is pregnant with.

Very little is known about Catullus’s life. He died young, pretty young, aged only thirty years. He was born in 84 BCE and died in 54 BCE during the heyday of the Roman Republic. A contemporary of Julius Caesar, many of his poems heaped scorn and ridicule on the most famous Roman of the day. He had a passionate love affair with a married woman, Clodia, whom he calls Lesbia and his poems on Lesbia are a study on the fickleness of emotion. Lesbia one may recall is derivative of the word Lesbos, an island of Greece, which during the Golden Age of Hellas was famed for a poetess Sappho. Very little of Sapphic poetry survives but she was reputed for her Epithalamia or wedding poems. Catullus had also written a couple of Epithalamia containing a modicum of ribaldry. He also loved a young boy Juventius and was not shy to speak about it.

It was his contention that a writer’s life ought to be chaste but his pen need not be. To understand his poems one must realize that in pre-Christian Rome, eroticism was in full vigour. Adultery, pederasty, phallus display and other orgies were routine, specially during the Festival of Saturnalia.

Let us start with the Lesbia poems. In ‘Tears for Lesbia’s Sparrow’, he writes about the pet sparrow which is Lesbia’s delight and she holds it fast to her breasts. When the sparrow is hungry he bites her fingers. He wishes to toy with the sparrow when he is lovelorn. In the next poem the sparrow is dead and Lesbia’s eyes are swollen with tears. Her pet will no longer play with her, nor dance on her laps, nor chirp to her ears. In another love poem he asks Lesbia for a thousand kisses and a hundred more and to confuse them so that no enemy can cast an evil eye. Shortly after, he mentions of the rupture of his relationship with Lesbia and exhorts himself to be firm and unwilling to chase what is fleeing from him. He wonders who will now pay homage to her beauty, who will love her and whose lips she will bite. Meanwhile Lesbia is in love with a pretty boy named Lesbius and the poet wishes to know if three men could be found to vouch for Lesbius’s parentage. In another poem Lesbia vilifies the poet to her husband who is pleased to hear it. The poet calls the husband a stupid mule as he fails to notice that Lesbia has a lingering emotion for the poet: anger. If she had remained silent that would have been the end of the story. In one of his last poems, Catullus makes a painful entreaty desiring Lesbia to come back to him and satiate his love for her.


His caustic poems, poems bursting with invectives, are a delight to read. He lampoons Asinius Marrucinus for stealing the poet’s table napkins. Not that the napkins are worth a lot but his friends had earlier gifted them to the poet and he had cherished their possessions. Later in another poem he warns his friend Aurelius, to whom he gives a boy, possibly Juventius, for keeping safe during his absence, not to indulge in immodest passion. Catullus has nothing to fear from the people on the street on their daily chores but from Aurelius’s penis, which is dangerous to both good and bad boys. He advises Aurelius to shake his penis with as much force as he wishes and if he debauches the young boy then an evil fate will be his. In the next poem he rebukes Aurelius and one Furius and tells them that he will fuck them and bugger them for their misdeeds.

Catullus poem ‘Siesta: to Ipsithilla’, has all the ingredients of a secret rendezvous of lovers. He asks Ipsithilla to stay alone in her house at siesta and keep the doors open and be ready for nine fucks in succession by Catullus as he had had a plentiful meal and his erect penis was making a hole in his tunic. In his ‘Suggestion to Vibenius’ he asks the father and son duo to migrate to a vile place as the father’s right hand is dirty with filthy deeds and the son’s arse is all consuming. His poem ‘the Writing Tablets’ is surely a masterpiece of satire. In this poem a loathsome adulteress has taken the poet’s manuscript and refuses to give them back. He exhorts his friends to accompany him and accost the strumpet on the street with foul words and call for the papers in question. If she still refuses to part with them then to shout from the rooftops that she is a whore and implore her to return the same. If to no avail, then they ought to change tactics to make her blush by calling her the most virtuous woman in Rome “honest and chaste one, give back my letters”.

To the poet Calvus he vents his spleen when Calvus had sent a complimentary copy of his poems to Catullus. Catullus’s sarcastic comment was ‘Great gods, an amazing, immortal book. That you sent to your Catullus, so he might immediately die, on the optimum day, in the Saturnalia’. Thallus was another individual who had invited the poet’s wrath by not returning the poet’s cloak. Catullus loudly calls him a sodomite, softer than a rabbit’s fur or goose grease or the tip of the ear or an old man’s flaccid penis mouldy with spider webs. In his confessional poem ‘Threesome: to Cato’, he tells of the amusing instance of catching a young pupil in flagrante delicto with the poet’s lover and immediately plunges his erect penis into the youth’s arse.

Catullus is in his elements in his Mammura poems. Mammura, also known as Mentula in some of the poems, was, according to the prevalent gossip, a wealthy man who was the lover of Julius Caesar. Catullus calls him a Cock, an allusion to penis, and sometimes calls him a sodomite and sometimes a catamite. That Julius Caesar was a pederast was well known and Catullus castigates him for wasting his spoils of war and the booties from Spain by lavishing expensive gifts on Mammura. According to Catullus they were beautifully matched, these perverse buggers. Caesar was initially incensed by these scurrilous writings and a discreet word was sent to Catullus to apologise to Caesar, which the poet eventually did. Caesar, being Caesar, forgave the poet and invited him to dinner at his palace and the two antagonists shared a wonderful evening.

Catullus lives in his poems, which have withstood the test of time. Nothing insipid and nothing dull came flowing from his stylus. He had enjoyed life to the full or whatever that can be enjoyed in three decades of existence. He had grieved the death of his brother in Troy and had visited his tomb to pay his respects to his soul. His poems on Lesbia characterize the periodic swing of his mood; the ecstasy of love initially, followed by the pangs of separation and later on his pining for his beloved. His invectives form a genre on their own and stand head and shoulders above anything else available. They are a landmark in poetry.

MATRICIDE

This is a taboo subject. It is hardly ever spoken, in India anyway. After ransacking every nook and corner of my memory regarding this matter in the Hindu religious books I can remember only one instance of this heinous crime. Yes you have guessed it. It is the story of Parasuram. Parasuram had killed his mother on the command of his father with an axe, ‘Parasu’ in Sanskrit, and hence his name. But there was no stigma attached to it, as redemption was quick to follow. Being pleased with his son’s obedience, his father offered him a boon of his choice to which Parasuram quickly prayed for his mother’s resurrection, which was promptly granted.

Matricide is a heinous crime abhorrent to all. The Hindus have glorified motherhood beyond all recognition. They have stretched imagination very thin and long and even worship the humble cow as a mother. To willfully do away with a mother is obnoxious to the psyche, but a slow and pathetic torture is not unheard of as the media frequently reminds us. There are umpteen cases in the courts of Kolkata where the judge has to castigate the wayward sons to look after their aging mothers or face the wrath of law.

So speaking of matricide I have to take you to the age of Golden Greece and tell a tale of the heroes after their homecoming following the sack of Troy. It is a well-known story; the first poem of western Civilisation and Homer is indeed a household name in Europe. However this is not from the Iliad but from Eskilos’ [Aeschylus in Latin] trilogy of ‘the Atreids’.

So let’s start from the beginning. The Greek warriors, under the commander-in-chief Agamemnon, had assembled at Aulis to sail for Troy in their thousand ships. But a strong wind kept them harbourbound for a long time and the soldiers were loosing heart. Calchas, the soothsayer, opined that Agamemnon had to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia and placate the Gods if he desired a favorable wind. The general of the Greeks had no choice but to call his Queen Clytemenstra and his daughter Iphigenia to Aulis on the pretext of getting his daughter married to the great hero Achilles and then putting his unsuspecting daughter to the sword. Such was the beginning, the ominous beginning, of the voyage of the Greeks to Troy.

Clytemenstra was a woman of no small parts. She did not take kindly to this affront of her husband. She was previously married to another man whom Agamemnon had killed. She bore Agamemnon three children: the two daughters, Iphigenia and Electra, and one son Orestes who was one year old when the Greeks sailed for Troy.

The Trojan War took all of ten years. The Greeks were no strangers to looting or what is called the collection of war booties. There were frequent marauding parties who raided the outlying cities and villages for food and gold. And women. The bounties were distributed among the various chieftains. Agamemnon received a woman called Breisis and Achilles had one called Chreisis. Breisis’ father was a priest of Apollo and when he came to the Greek camp as a supplicant begging for the return of his daughter all the assembled dignitaries recommended her return. The spiteful Agamemnon, the supremo of the Greeks, was peeved and he vowed to take Chreisis from Achilles. Achilles reluctantly agreed and refused to take any further part in the war. It was this refusal of Achilles, angered by Agamemnon’s outrageous act, which made the war to linger for ten years and many were the Greeks slain on the beaches of Troy.


Later on, after the sack of Troy, King Priam’s daughter Cassandra was given to Agamemnon as his prize. The virgin Cassandra was a prophetess and she sailed with Agamemnon as his consort and concubine to Mycenae where his palace stood. Eskilos’ drama ‘Agamemnon’ begins on his return to the palace. Clytemenestra welcomes her husband with all ceremony and pomp. The temple bells of the city are made to ring. The women of the royal household ululate. The route from the ship to the palace is draped in a crimson carpet.

To cap it all Clytemenstra gives a longish speech welcoming her husband and entreating him to walk on the carpet. She affirms that during the period of his absence from Mycenae she has constantly prayed for his safety and longed for his presence. Her body and soul, her flesh and spirit have remained true to him. Now she requests him to disembark and enter the antechamber of his palace where she will help him with his bath. Such devotion to her husband is indeed laudable and ought to be praised in the best possible terms.

I thought I understood what is meant by the term ‘brazen perfidy’; but reading this drama of Eskilos and studying this character of a woman I got a different dimension to the term. Make no mistake; although she makes a public display of her chastity, all these ten years of her lord Agamemnon’s absence she was having a clandestine and torrid sex affair with her husband’s cousin, Agesthus. Now she was all set to murder her husband after first gaining his trust by guile. She led him to the bath and after disrobing him made him wash himself in the tub. When he got up and asked for a towel she threw a fine wire net over him and then cut of his head with an axe, aided by Agesthus. She did not spare Cassandra either, who had a premonition of the tragedy about to enfold. The ten years old child, Orestes, was whisked away by a faithful nurse and was entrusted to a distant royal household. Following this nefarious act she again delivers a verbose speech to the assembled citizens of Mycenae vindicating her bloody deed. She sites the killing of her beloved daughter Iphigenia to placate the Gods and the rampant whoring of Agamemnon with women such as Breisis, Chreises and Cassandra on the plains of Troy.

Thus Clytemenstra has gone down in mythology as an adulteress and a murderess, one of the most vicious of all women known to humankind. It was now time for Agesthus to occupy the throne of Mycenae, ably supported by Clytemenestra who married him and is reported to have bore him three children. Agamemnon’s body was not given a decent burial and was shabbily buried in a nondescript sarcophagus. By royal decree no one was allowed to mourn over the grave. Agamemnon’s daughter Electra however refused to obey and she frequently paid her respect to her departed father by laying flowers on his tomb. If Agesthus had his way Electra would have been killed, but Clytemenstra was against any further bloodshed.

Orestes meanwhile grew up to manhood in the royal house of Crisa and his close friend and playmate was Pylades, the Prince. He was keen to avenge the death of his father but was afraid to commit the heinous crime of matricide. He approached the temple at Delphi and asked the proper course of action and Apollo replied that he had to kill the royal couple of Mycenae as filial duty but he also had to face the wrath of the Erinnyes afterwards. The Errinyes were the dark bat-like creatures of the underworld that would constantly hound and torment any one guilty of murder and the crime of matricide would call for special retribution.


Orestes was undeterred by the thought of persecution by the Erinnyes. Disguised as a humble shepherd from a distant land he returned to Mycenae and made for his father’s grave. There he offered a clipping of his hair as a mark of respect to the departed soul. Electra meanwhile was nearby and seeing the hair, which resembled her’s remarkably, quickly guessed the truth. A short while later brother and sister were united and the both vowed vengeance on the Royal couple. Their plan was very simple: that Oretses should seek ingress to the palace as a forlorn traveller and seek to destroy Agesthus first and then kill Clytemenstra and Electra would assist him
At noon of the very same day Orestes approached the palace gate claiming to come from Crisa with news of Orestes death in a chariot mishap. The Queen of Crisa had kept the ashes of Orestes in an urn and wished to send the urn to the palace at Mycenae. Clytemenstra was in the palace and hearing the news of Orestes’ death approached the stranger and ushered him in. Meanwhile Pylades, also in disguise, came bearing an urn and proclaimed that it contained the ashes of Orestes which the Queen of Crisa had asked him to carry to Mycenae. Agesthus, who was in a nearby temple, heard of this pleasing news and rushed to the palace. Eager to interview the stranger, he called for him and Orestes seizing his chance stabbed him with a kitchen knife. That was the end of Agesthus. Clytemenstra hearing the commotion ran to the scene and at last recognized her son Orestes who had now come to seek revenge. He dashed toward Clytemenstra who pleaded for mercy by exposing her breast but Orestes dispatched her with a fatal blow. She fell on the body of her lover Agesthus in a fatal embrace.

What happened to Orestes afterwards is altogether a different story. Thus ended the life of Clytemenstra, who was hoisted with her own petard. She is the very epitome of evil: obnoxious, unchaste and a scheming, cold hearted murderess. Such perversity suited her well; not for her any moral dilemma of right or wrong plaguing her conscience. There is no hesitation in carrying out her design and her son Orestes scarcely remembers his mother’s breasts, those that he had suckled as a child. One crime begat another and slowly but relentlessly the golden age of Mycenae, the greatest civilization on the Mediterranean in her day, passed into oblivion. Only the saga, the unhappy fate of the famed house of Agamemnon, remains.

Saturday the 5th of April 2008

Like all Saturdays I woke up at 3 ‘o’ clock in the wee hours and readied myself for the morning ritual. I prepared and drank my coffee and went out for a walk. An hour later I was back and opened my E-mail. There wasn’t much and then I read the Times London and the Daily Mail on the net. It was a glorious morning when I finished with the computer, and now I was all set to go and earn my daily bread. After having a quick breakfast I walked up to the Rabindra Sarobar Metro station and boarded the 8.12 train to Dumdum. I always read the Statesman Kolkata in the Metro. As I have the pernicious habit of writing letters to the Editor of the Statesman on any issue that draws my fancy, but mostly in response to something that is already published in the newspaper, I was pleasantly surprised on seeing my letter beaming gracefully under the heading ‘Blasphemy’. Mighty elated did I feel. Sure it did call for a celebration, sort of.

I got down at Belagachia and walked all the way to my hospital. It was 9 ‘o’ clock, bright and fresh, and my colleagues came marching in.
A quick ward round and then I went to the OPD where I commenced teaching the 6th Semester students. They were freshies and I explained them the intricacies of Plaster of Paris. A patient of Colles’ fracture was at hand and I demonstrated the deformities. As is my wont, I did ask them a few questions on general knowledge. I am a firm believer that a student must have all square knowledge and not only the rudiments of the subject that is being presently taught. My question on GK was, which animal is incapable of reproduction to which no answer ensued. The answer was the mule. By quarter passed 11, the ‘clinics’ was over and I entertained the students by telling them a couple of dog stories.

I left at 12.30pm and was home for lunch. My better half had prepared a fish curry and there was mutton kheema from yesterday’s leftover to which the two of us did full justice. Post lunch siesta followed and I had my vesper tea and biscuits nearing 5pm. My wife went out to do a bit of shopping and returned by 7.30 pm.

We went for dinner to Zeeshan at 17 Syed Amir Ali Avenue, Kolkata 700-017. The family room is exclusive and air-conditioned. We started with Mutton Seek Kebab @ Rs.65/- and Chicken Tandoori @Rs.65/-. The kebab was simply brilliant and the succulent tandoori was ambrosia. We relished it to our very bones. Next we had Mutton Rogan Josh @Rs.65/- and Mutton Kadai @Rs.65/- along with one Kabuli Naan @Rs.23/-. I am afraid the Rogan Josh was not quite up to the mark. The meat was underdone. On the other hand Mutton Kadai was delicious and the Naan was superb. I had the lion’s share as usual, as my wife is not a voracious eater. She had a sweet dish, the ‘Firni’ afterwards.

By 9.30 we were back in our home and soon I was in dreamland.

The Statesman Kolkata

This is the letter I wrote to the editor of The Statesman Kolkata in response to an article published in the Statesman on 3rd April 2008

But first the original article and then my letter which was published today


Bundle of contradictions by Shabbir Ahmed

For some people Taslima Nasreen is a fearless feminist; for others she is a writer who deliberately courts controversy and sensationalises sex to sell average books. Adherents of Islam believe she has become a big name merely by denigrating their religion and the Prophet. The controversial Bangladeshi writer is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The real Taslima lies buried under a heap of adulations and accolades, invectives and expletives — a bundle of contradictions. In an interview published in an English language daily on 22 August 2007, she said, “I was born Muslim but become an atheist at 13.” A self-confessed atheist, she did not have the slightest compunction about advocating a revision of the Koran and shariat law. She further said in the same interview that she belonged to “a family of free-thinking humans”. But her free-thinking uncle, who belonged to the same family of “rational humanists”, did not hesitate to molest and rape her. She has written against the burkha (veil) but she herself wore one when she left Kolkata for Jaipur on 22 November last year.Religion is the last refuge of mediocre writers and Taslima is following in the footsteps of Salman Rushdie, who reached the pinnacle of popularity — or the nadir of notoriety — by blaspheming Islam. The first edition of her autobiography, which came out in 2004, did not carry objectionable remarks. But the second edition, introduced by the author of The Satanic Verses, did so. Muslims are not averse or insensitive to criticism of their religion. As a matter of a fact, Islam is a much-maligned religion and Muslims cannot remain mute spectators if their Prophet is branded as a philanderer. Taslima’s supporters need to be reminded that freedom of expression or speech is not absolute but subject to reasonable restraint and restrictions. Muslims can defend their religion against the slings and arrows of critics and are even open to an intellectual debate, but they cannot tolerate insult to their faith. For a Muslim, religion is more important than anything else.Apart from Islam, which Taslima assails every now and then with gay abandon, sex is a recurring theme in her works. Her books sell because of sex appeal and not because of any literary value. The third sequel to her autobiography, Dwikhandito, was published in 2004. The book gives details of her sexual relationship with Syed Hashmat Jalal, a Kolkata poet. She describes how she enjoyed the encounters of the closest kind with the poet. No writer worth his or her salt would describe an illicit relationship with such flourish unless, of course, he or she is a pornographer. But Taslima does it because she is a “fearless” feminist and “a writer of rare courage”. Jalal filed a defamation suit against her in Calcutta High Court and sought Rs 11 crore as compensation. The so-called fearless feminist entered into an out-of-court settlement with the poet. The book was banned by the West Bengal government. In 2006, Calcutta High Court lifted the ban.Dwikhandito, which literally means split into two, has smashed to smithereens her image as a feminist. It truly reflects Taslima’s views on sex and sexuality. She is a firm believer in free and uninhibited sex and has preached in her works that a woman has full control over her body and is free to use it in whatever way she pleases. Example is better than precept. Taslima’s amorous and amoral relationship with a Kolkata poet as described in Dwikhandito proves beyond doubt that she practices what she preaches. This is the mark of a true feminist.Amar Meyebela (My girlhood), published and banned in Bangladesh in 1999, is a chronicle of her childhood years. In it she ridicules Muslim clerics and challenges the notion that a woman should always obey her husband as lord or master. The upholders of women’s rights give a clarion call to women to defy their husbands and assert their authority. This goes against the traditions of Islam and other religions. Amar Meyebela is a perfect recipe for disaster, conjugal conflicts and family feuds.Taslima Nasreen left Bangladesh in August 1994 with a fatwa on her head. She has lived in France, Sweden and other European countries. All the countries she visited or stayed in turned down her plea for citizenship as they did not want to antagonise the Bangladesh government and the Muslim community. She holds a Swedish passport. During her long exile in Europe, she had visited India intermittently with a request for asylum or citizenship. Her week-long visit to Kolkata on a tourist visa in 1999 may be described as historic as it paved the way for her stay in India. The entire City of Joy burst into raptures over her presence. Though it was a personal visit, she was treated like a visiting dignitary.The literati thought the presence of an internationally renowned Bengali writer in Kolkata would restore a sense of Bengali pride and identity. Her short visit revived the post-1971 euphoria: E paar Bangla o paar Bangla joy Bangla. Taslima declared in poetic style that the entire stretch from Digha to Coxbazar was her homeland. The Indian government, which had refused her asylum in 1994, agreed to grant her a resident visa, which was to be renewed every six months.Living in Kolkata since 2004, the people of this city showered her with love and affection on her but she abused the hospitality by hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community. Bundled out of Kolkata and tossed from one place to another, the beleaguered Bangladeshi writer succumbed to the mounting pressure and announced she was withdrawing certain sections of her autobiography, Dwikhandito, which had derogatory references to Islam and Prophet Mohammad. But this was only a ploy to buy peace. The damage had already been done by this impulsive and impudent writer. In August when she was attacked in Hyderabad during a release of the Telegu translation of one of her novels, she had this to say, “Some groups want to harm me under the delusion that they can muzzle me and bury my voice. I will continue to write what I believe in.” Taslima is in the process of writing the sixth volume of her autobiography. In a statement issued from the NSG guesthouse in Delhi, she had the temerity to say, “I was hounded out for being critical, but my latest writing is still critical.” There is no sign of remorse or regret over what has happened to her in the past month. Taslima became a pawn in the game of politics that was being played by the CPI(M), Congress and BJP. On 21 November, when Kolkata was rocked by a violent agitation demanding her expulsion, CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose said, “The CM offered her refuge at the request of two Central ministers. Now that some people do not want her to stay here, she should leave the state on her own.” State home secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy claimed she left Kolkata of her own volition. But the facts are quite different. For the past three-four months the state government had been looking for an opportunity to shunt her out of Kolkata. Messages and even veiled threats were delivered to her via high-ranking police officers to shift her base to Kerala or any other state, but she refused to budge. The long-awaited opportunity came on 21 November when a peaceful road blockade took such a violent turn that the Army had to be called in. How this happened remains a mystery. The demonstrations were held in areas that are considered CPI(M) strongholds. Many people think the violence was stage-managed or rather state-managed to divert attention from the killing fields of Nandigram and Rizwanur Rahman’s unnatural death. What added fuel to the flames was an unsigned article in a Left-sponsored Bengali magazine, Pathasanket. The autumn issue included articles by Left Front chairman Biman Bose and former education minister Kanti Biswas. The controversial article, “Taslima prasange Bangladesher Bharatiya rashtradut, Pradhan Mantri O moulabadider prasange” defended Taslima against fundamentalist fury and made a vitriolic attack on the Prophet over his marital life. How an anti-Prophet article was published in a Marxist magazine is yet another mystery. But nothing seemed to go right for the ruling party and even Biman Bose had to retract his statement on Taslima.The BJP has blown hot and cold over the author of Lajja. A Muslim author writing about the Muslim backlash on the Hindu minority in Bangladesh in the aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition was an ideal person who could bolster the anti-minority plank of the party. The party hailed her as a courageous writer. Lajja was translated into Hindi and the Sangh Parivar distributed it for free across the country to ensure the widest possible readership. But the bonhomie did not last long. The party was shocked when Taslima said the BJP was no better than the Jamat-e-Islami and denounced both as fundamentalist outfits. When the same courageous writer defended Deepa Mehta’s right to show the pathetic plight of Hindu widows in her film Water, the saffron brigade accused her of insulting the country and demanded her arrest. The same BJP, now out of power at the Centre, which was baying for her blood, demanded that Taslima be treated as a political refugee. This to corner both the UPA government and the Left. BJP-ruled Rajasthan rejected her but Narendra Modi extended her a cordial invitation.The plight of the Congress-led UPA government is more pathetic. Having become a political hot potato, the Centre did not know how to handle her. The Congress claimed the Bengal government had raised “legitimate objections” to renewing her visa — so big an embarrassment did she become.Having since left Indian shores, Taslima has written 30 books, six of these banned in Bangladesh. The ideas she preaches are dangerous and even Lajja, which is a serious book, is spiced with sex, leaving many believing she is a harbinger of hedonism, a perverter of human relationships.(The author is a freelance contributor.)








Sir

Ever since the black Wednesday of November 2007, the Tasleema debate continues to hog the limelight and Shabbir Ahmed’s write up in today’s Statesman ‘ Bundle of contradictions’ is the latest in the fray. Blasphemy was what the ancient Athenians accused Socrates of and forced him to suicide. A couple of centuries later, Jesus was crucified on charges of blasphemy. Tasleema, it seems is in august company. Whatever may be the fault of pornography, it certainly does not teach us to spread hatred and animosity; and it does have a committed readership. ‘Fanny Hill’ is read by more people than the ‘Collected works of Shakespeare’.

One fails to understand why she should have regrets and suffer from remorse for the untoward incident of November 2007, which was, as per the writer’s view, engineered by some mysterious powers. That Tasleema is a genuine secularist can be gauged by the fact that she has been able to antagonize and infuriate the Muslim fundamentalists and the Hindu fanatics in equal measure! I believe no Indian can boast of a similar feat.

Thanking you

MY DAUGHTER"S WEDDING

My elder daughter got married on the 27th of January last and I am afraid I could not do much of a blogging these few days. She is a techie, now settled in Denver Colorado and she made it to Kolkata for her wedding. My wife and I did most of the initial preparations, a Herculean task to say the least. My wife was ably assisted by her elder sister, who pitched in with gusto. On the 26th, a small dinner and dance party was held at the Hotel Golden Park in Harrington Street. It was in house affair and we swayed to the music of the DJ’s. It was well beyond 11pm when we broke up. The 26th being the Republic day no alcohol was served.

The wedding took place on the 27th. Snehalata Bhavan, about 3kms from my residence, was the chosen site for the ceremony. By 10am we had gathered for some of the Vedic rituals and women’s ceremonies to commence. It is now hard to believe that we got delayed by more than an hour and half as the paraphernalia from the groom’s house took a long time to arrive. It was then that the ‘Haldi’ ceremony took place. A simple lunch followed.

The women dispersed afterwards for dressing in their finery and the bride and her sister who had come from Sussex, UK went to the parlour. As evening approached we were all ready for the ceremony to commence. The groom arrived at about 6.30pm in a phaeton along with his friends and relatives. The band played loud music and there was much dancing on the thoroughfare. Snehalata Bhavan was suitably decorated and the guests started pouring in.

By 7pm the wedding ceremony started and there was much gaiety. The guests numbering about 300 witnessed the proceedings and partook of the dinner as a token of their benediction. It was near midnight when the last of the guests left and our family went home taking the newly married couple along.

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR RAY

Siddhartha Shankar Ray, a one-man demolition squad [he single handedly demolished the Congress party in West Bengal in the mid seventies] and a loose cannon to boot, has suddenly woken up to the mischief wrought by Tasleema Nasreen. In his article in today’s Statesman ‘Let’s put a stop to this infantile affair’ he harps on forgiveness being an integral part of Muslim life. One is tempted to ask him how much forgiveness was shown by the most colourful man in Islam, Haroon Rashid, the Caliph of Baghdad to his brother-in-law Zafar the Barmiki? How much mercy did the Grand Moghul show to the courtesan Anarkali?

Tasleema to the best of my knowledge did not blasphemise on Indian soil. Whatever she has written was done elsewhere. It really pains me how Mr. Ray, an accomplished Barrister, has come to the conclusion ‘that in order to seek forgiveness on her pert, she ordered on her own the expurgation of three pages of her book.’ Is he so naïve that he sincerely believes that Tasleema did the expurgation on her own and that there was no coercion?

We all know what happened on 21st November 2007 at Park Circus Kolkata, a shameless show of strength by a section of Kolkata’s population, with the police remaining a pathetic onlooker. The saga of Tasleema’s ordeal, being forsaken by most of her trusted friends and being shifted from one place to another, is still fresh in our memory. Do you by any stretch of imagination call this voluntary action?
Has Siddhartha Shankar Ray, the wily fox, an ulterior axe to grind?

LUST,CAUTION

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MY CHHOTOMASHI

Yesterday my wife and I took a trip to Sheoraphulli to invite my aunt, Chhotomashi to my daughter’s wedding. Sheoraphulli is about 50kms from my home in Kolkata, in the very heart of Hooghly district. Winter in Bengal is charming with a wee bit of a sniff in the air. The Delhi road as it separates itself from NH6 is frightful and the jars we received prompted us to take a bladder halt at a petrol station. The toilet was not very clean and not very dirty but served its purpose.

We went unannounced and were graciously received by my Chhotomashi in her majestic house on the Ganges. They don’t build such houses any more. She is nine years younger than my mother and stays with the family of her younger son. She lost her husband a couple of years ago to old age.

Munna, her daughter in law, is a delightful woman and a wonderful conversationalist to boot. She regaled us by telling various stories of the happenings at Sheoraphulli. My Chhotomashi is no longer her ebullient self; age has mellowed her. She was in her bedroom reclining, and nursing a sprained ankle. Her eyes had a visionary look and I deeply pondered what those eyes had beheld in the vanished yesterdays. Life had not been easy to her; her husband being a man of the world and she had mostly confined herself to household chores and rituals.

These two women were very pleased to hear about our daughter’s wedding to be solemnized next month, and the necessary questions regarding the groom and his family were asked and replied to.

What struck me most was that there was no friction in the atmosphere at all, and for once the Dowager Princess gave the impression that she was genuinely happy with our presence. She promised to make it to the wedding, health permitting. We politely refused to have lunch at her place and had tea and a few sweets instead.

After spending more than an hour, we took leave of our ancient relative and headed for home. We pray that she lives for a thousand years and a few years more.

THE STATESMAN KOLKATA 20TH DECEMBER 2007

This is the letter I wrote to the editor of The Statesman Kolkata today. But first the original article and then my letter.



Leading by examples It never ceases to amaze us how fact could be stranger than fiction. A news item, published in a section of the Press recently, profiling one Kabir Chowdhury of Berhampore in West Bengal might have escaped the attention of many readers. But those who had read it were astonished to find striking resemblances between the religious outlook of the fifteenth century holy man Kabir and that of his present day Bengali namesake. Kabir’s followers believed that he was born to a Brahmin widow and brought up by a Muslim weaver. Deeply religious since his childhood, Kabir followed in the footsteps of his foster father to eke out a living. Soon he became the chief disciple of the great religious leader Ramananda. History idolises him mainly as a man who preached that there is no difference between Hinduism and Islam, and worked relentlessly for harmony between the two religions. Kabir Chowdhury too is a born Hindu. A shop owner, he seems to have taken a leaf from the book of his historical predecessor and follows his words and deeds in letter and spirit. He offers both puja and namaz in temples and mosques, fasts during Ramzan, and takes part in all the religious festivals of the two communities epitomising a secular society. Contrast him with the current crop of Indian politicians and you will simply shrink in chagrin. Chowdhury is no politician. Nor does he nurse a political ambition. But he believes, as do all great teachers and leaders, examples are better than precepts. “My life is my message”, said Gandhiji. And indeed it was. He preached non-violence, and he practised it in his daily life. He wanted us to be truthful for he himself was a worshipper of truth. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, reads the two scriptures ~ the Holy Koran and the Gita ~ with equal religious fervour. One can argue politics was never Dr Kalam’s cup of tea ~ it was thrust upon him. But inspired by the Father of the Nation, he too tries in his modest ways to reflect his own words and ideals through his deeds. Both Gandhiji and now Dr Kalam are much above what the word “secular” denotes or “connotes”. They did not have to claim that they were “secular”. But today’s politicians have to: they have to blow their secular trumpet every now and then. All for votes! In fact, there is a scramble among political parties to prove their secular credentials. Putting on a secular mask they would shed tears over the perceived woes of the minorities. Thanks to them, secularism has turned into a clichéd concept. Much to their horror, political parties have now woken up to the fact that their secular pretension is not paying off. So they are pressing for the reservation of minorities in government jobs and educational institutions ignoring the Supreme Court cap. The Buddhists, the Jains or the Christians, however, are not “minorities” to them, for numerically they are minuscule. How many votes can they fetch? So for the moment they can be sidelined! A section of the intelligentsia too joined the secular bandwagon. They supported the ban on Rushdie’s Satanic Verses, denounced Taslima Nasreen for her apostasy and demanded withdrawal of her work Lajja from the market, but they found great creativity in the distorted pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses in paintings and novels! The word “secularism” has helped the career graph of many a politician swing dramatically upwards. At a time when most of our national parties went politically bankrupt and were desperately looking for issues to fight elections with, secularism became the anchor of their political agenda. In the aftermath of the Babari Masjid demolition, political parties vied with each other to hijack secularist issues from each other. The detractors of secularist forces have incorporated a new term for this brand of politics ~ “pseudo-secularism”. They say that secularism has come to mean minority appeasement. But neither does it mean playing the temple card. It is a classic example of the pot calling the kettle black! Both the practitioners of “minoritism” and “majoritism” have one thing in common ~ they exploit religious sentiments of the people to the hilt for their own survival. Politicians and intellectuals would do well to learn a lesson or two on secularism from an ordinary man like Kabir Chowdhury. Here is a devout secularist amidst fundamentally secular humbugs and demagogues. Leaders should lead by examples and not by empty slogans.(The author teaches English at Durgapur Institute of Advanced Technology & Management, Rajbandh)









To
The Editor
The Statesman
Kolkata


Sir


The two leaders mentioned by Ardhendu Chatterjee in his article ‘Leading by examples’ in yesterday’s Statesman, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam were the beneficiaries of an exquisite education of the highest degree. In addition, Mahatma Gandhi was a staunch follower of Leo Tolstoy and his concept of ‘service to mankind’ as the bedrock of religion. These two Indians are humanitarians first and politicians, as we understand the word, later. However, one need not offer prayers and namaz or maintain a month- long fast to prove one’s secular credentials. ‘Love thy neighbour’, an exhortation preached by all religions, if followed in letter and spirit, more than suffices to heal the sufferings that flesh is heir to, in these troubled times of ours.

Thanking you

Sincerely

THE STATESMAN KOLKATA 19TH DECEMBER 2007

The letter I wrote to the editor of the Statesman

But first the original article and then my letter


Ignorance the worst enemy


Muslim majority countries suffer from severe economic sclerosis because, most scholars believe, they pay little attention to educational and scientific development, writes HARUN UR RASHIDWithin the Islamic world of about 1.4 billion people, disparity between rich and poor is stark. The leaders of the Islamic community have not been able to rescue many of them from oppression and humiliation.About the Islamic community, former Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohammad at the OIC summit in KL in 2003 said: “Some believe that poverty is Islamic, sufferings and being oppressed are Islamic. Some preach that the world is not for us. Ours are the joys of heaven in the afterlife. All we have to do is to perform certain rituals, wear certain garments and put up certain appearance.”President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan at a seminar in 2002 expressed critical comments on Islamic community. He stated that the Islamic world was: “The poorest, the most illiterate, the most backward, the most unenlightened, the most deprived and the weakest of all the human race.”Whether these statements of Muslim leaders are correct or not, it provides food for thought for the Islamic world.We live in a war-torn world. We live in an unequal world. We live in a world where 15% per cent of world’s population of rich non-Muslim countries hold 80% per cent of the world’s wealth. Non-Muslim G-8 countries have 60% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product. The aforesaid rich countries are becoming richer day by day. Why do they become rich? Does the Islamic world seriously think about the causes of its current plight?Although the Muslim world may control 60% of the world’s known oil reserves, its gross GDP stands at $1,200 billion, a paltry sum compared with Germany’s $2,700 billion and Japan’s $5,600 billion Muslim majority countries suffer from severe economic sclerosis because, most scholars believe, they pay little attention to educational and scientific development. For example, it is reported that Greece, a backwater country of Europe, publishes more books annually than the entire Arab world. What does it signify? It demonstrates that education and pursuit of scientific knowledge is at the bottom in the Islamic world. How many Muslims get Nobel prizes in medicine, physics, or chemistry? What the Islamic world needs is the self-assessment as to why this pitiable situation has developed. It seems that whenever serious critical self-examination is done by some Muslim authors, they are not welcome in their own Muslim-majority countries. As Socrates said: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Alexander Pope in Essays on Man wrote: “The study of mankind is man.” All these sayings tell us one thing, that is, self-examination. Regrettably, envy and self-denial tend to stand in the way of self-examination. We tend to blame others for the situation. We should take a look in the mirror rather than blame others. Some observers say there is an Islamic code of silence among most of the Islamic scholars. The early history of Islam is so evocative that that Muslims have felt compelled to take strong political and moral positions on the side of this or that party to the conflict, plagued in the early days of Islam.History has it that the Battle of Camel (656 AD) was fought between two Muslim forces where about 5,000 Muslims were killed during the battle. Many Islamic historians hold the view that the Battle of Camel was a flagrant violation of the fundamental Islamic tenet because Muslims fought against Muslims.There is a view that in early Islamic history, four divisions in the Islamic ummah appeared. These were Shi’ia, the Khawarij, or seceders who regarded any authority in the ummah other than their own to be illegitimate, the Mutazilah who isolated themselves from political life altogether and Murji’ah, who withheld judgment regarding the ultimate fate of all parties to the conflict that led to the assassination, leaving it to Allah to judge on the day of final reckoning.The purpose of indicating the divisions within the Islamic ummah is to highlight the difficulties faced by Muslims in consolidating the spirit of brotherhood.Ideas and beliefs change over time and they are made of a variety of strands of thought and multiple interpretations. Therefore, the solution to the ills of Islamic society cannot be the same. As they say, one size does not fit all. The Muslim world is severely fractured along ethnic lines ~ all having very different views on Islam and the world. Muslims include a variety of individuals, extending from China to the US, from the oil-wealthy Middle East to Africa. It demonstrates that Islamic ideology is not uniform or rigid. A modern state is an entity of multi-religious, multi-ethnic, and multi-linguistic people, and religion has been separated from the governance of state in western democratic process under the Treaty of Westphalia. Some say that the industrial revolution took place in Europe because of unfettered intellectual inquiry and empiricism that was promoted.Currently, even the sovereignty of a state has been diminished by economic globalisation. World history at the 21st century is at a turning point: one era is closing down and another is opening up. The two great developments of modern time ~ growing demand for popular political participation and the Islamic resurgence ~ have come together, creating new realities that affect Islamic ummah and participatory democracy.A major issue in democratisation of Islamic communities is whether or not Islamic scholars and leaders have successfully made the transition from listing “democratic doctrines of Islam” to creating coherent structures of Islamic democracy, that are not simply reformulations of western concept of democracy. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Turkey are examples where democracy and Islam co-exist.Across the Muslim world, governments and Islamic community grapple with issues of democratisation and equality of rights between men and women. Despite commonalities of religion, differing national contexts and identities give rise to a broad spectrum of political systems, reflecting the multi-faceted relationship of Islam to the state.If the current predicament of the Islamic ummah is to be lifted, there is a view that the ummah cannot ignore these developments in the political process and the Islamic doctrines have to be interpreted in the light of time-place.It is argued that Muslim majority states must be built upon representation and political participation and the challenge is one of power-sharing and inclusiveness, creating conditions that will allow political pluralism. Another matter that is relevant in the contemporary world is the rise of militant Islam. Pseudo-Islamic extremism and violence have distorted and warped the image of Islam. The extremist have hijacked Islam to meet their narrow ends.The pseudo-Islamic extremists argue that the solution for advancement of Islam lies in going back to “the basics of Islam” ~ as interpreted by them. The writings of controversial Islamist, Syed Qutb, an Egyptian, hanged by the Nasser regime in 1966, have influenced many of the contemporary radical militants. The extremists found followers amongst the young urban poor who are unemployed and suffer from deprivations. Another probable reason of militancy is arguably the deficit of democracy, that is, lack of participation of people in running the governments in the Middle East, and the alternative strategy returning “back to the basics” of Islam has been packaged in an uncomplicated manner that has gained popularity and influence among youth and ideologues.What is often overlooked is that the Islamic world is in an uncertain position in the 21st century. There are at least two groups ~ supporters of orthodox interpretation of Islam and supporters of moderate and tolerant version of Islam. The strength of the debate between the two is likely to determine the future of Islam.Some suggest that moderate Muslim majority states may spread the view of peaceful and tolerant Islam in democratic society as against the version of orthodox Islam that is hell-bent on establishing a kind of regime in the name of Islam that goes against the root of Islam.The Islamic world has enough resources and must rise from the slumber and show that Islam can be a boon to humanity.nThe Daily Star/ANN(The author, a Barrister, is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva)














To
The Editor
The Statesman
Kolkata

Sir

Harun Ur Rashid in his writeup ‘Ignorance the worst enemy’ in yesterday’s Statesman has raised a pertinent question: ‘how many Muslims get Nobel prizes in medicine, physics or chemistry?’ It bears recall that the only Pakistani ever to have received the Nobel Prize was declared a heretic, a non-Muslim and hounded out of his country as he belonged to the Ahmaddiya sect. It is indeed an irony that in oil rich Saudi Arabia, which incidentally is a firm ally of USA, even today a woman victim of gang rape is sentenced to two hundred lashes while a thousand times more liberal and progressive Iraq under Saddam is pulverized to smithereens by Uncle Sam. Every religion has a well-entrenched concept of Utopia: the justest, the most honest, the most honourable and the most pious society on Earth. For the Christians it is the early congregation in Rome during the rule of Caesar Nero, for the Muslims it is the society prevalent in Mecca during the longevity of the Prophet and for the Hindus it is obviously the Ram-Rajya. It is no wonder that the supporters of orthodox interpretation of Islam wish to harp back to the long bygone era that has been etched so fervently on their souls.

Thanking you 19th December 2007

Sincerely

Χήίρον:Cheiron

That the presiding deity of Western Medicine or Allopathic Medicine is Æscalupius is well known. However even the great Æscalupius had a teacher is a fact not so well known. If ever a teacher is to be judged by the quality of his students the person I am going to eulogise now stands head and shoulders above the rest. His very birth was wonderful and needs recounting for the strangeness of the phenomenon.

It happened long ago when our world was quite young. Cronus, the father of Zeus, was the lord of the Universe and resided at Mt. Olympus with his consort Rhea. As was his penchant, Cronus snatched a few moments of lechery in a remote corner of a remote island, by lying with a young maiden Philyra, far away from the gaze and glare of Rhea. Little had he reckoned with the wrath and tenacity of a woman who, knowing the philandering ways of her husband, felt herself cheated. Cronus was surprised in the act by his wife Rhea and he immediately transformed himself into a stallion and galloped away.

Such was the outcome of many illicit love affairs in those days; similar is the outcome of many illicit love affairs nowadays.

It is not known what took place between the two women, Rhea and Philyra for the former was neither a harridan nor a rantipole and the latter was a greenhorn in such matters, but in the fullness of time Philyra gave birth to her son, half human and half horse, the celebrated centaur Cheiron. Cheiron being the son of the chief of the gods was immortal; and as he grew up he learnt many useful arts like the arts of healing and resurrection, warfare in all its forms and was considered exceptionally wise and, unlike other centaurs, very well behaved; sterling qualities indeed to be a teacher.

The list of Cheiron’s students reads like the Who’s Who of ancient heroes.

The most formidable of them all was Hercules who was the strongest man who ever lived. He rid the world of monsters and prodigies; and performed the twelve labours for the benefit of mankind. After his death Hercules was deified and now lives on Mt. Olympus.

As already mentioned Æscalupius was another of his students, and being of divine parentage, was immortal. It was said he knew the esoteric art of resurrection: to make the dead come alive. That he overdid his expertise is well documented and Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld complained to Zeus that Æscalupius was cheating him of his subjects on being bribed with gold! Modern practitioners of Allopathic Medicine may take heart: that a corruption charge was laid against the very god of Medicine. Zeus promptly wielded his thunderbolt and reduced him to ashes.

Achilles the supreme hero of the ILIAD, the Trojan War, learnt his ropes at Cheiron’s feet. Achilles was invulnerable except at his heels where the waters of the obnoxious river Styx failed to touch him when his mother Thetis dipped him into the river. That Alexander the Great carried a copy of the ILIAD on his voyage of conquest through Africa and Asia speaks of the reverence that the Greeks had for the poet Homer and the hero Achilles.

Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, was trained by Cheiron. The Argonauts went in search of the Golden Fleece, an everlasting emblem of supernatural power and theirs was the greatest collection of heroes the world has seen. The wonderful adventures of the Argonauts is a tale worth recounting but that would be digressing a lot from our subject.

The virgin Atalanta who was the only woman among the Argonauts was also a student of this famed centaur. She was a woman of many parts and was an unparalleled runner whom no man could beat. She was the victrix of the Caledonian Boar hunt where everything turned topsy-turvy.

There were others too, too numerous to mention who studied under Cheiron.

The end of Cheiron was a tragedy. Hercules shot a poison tipped arrow at another centaur who was about to ravish his consort and as the centaur lay dying Cheiron examined him and wondered what it was that felled so robust a creature. Suddenly the arrow slipped from his hand and stuck his foot and a festering sore formed, recalcitrant to all treatment. He was in constant agony and wanted to give up his life but being immortal could not do so. Hercules pleaded on his behalf and Lord Zeus graciously resurrected, as a substitute, Æscalupius from the dead and Cheiron was made the constellation Sagittarius.

Incidentally Cheiron is the Greek word for ‘hand’ and is the root of the French word Chirurgery meaning ‘a work done with hands’, which in English translates into Surgery.

The simpleton from Kalighat

Let us call him Sunil; it is as good a Bengali name as any. A young promising man in his late twenties, having had a decent education, he stayed at Kalighat where the famous Kali temple of Kolkata stands cheek by jowl with the numerous brothels on the eastern side of the Tolly Nallah. He had a pretty girlfriend and let’s call her Aparna, who was in her midtwenties. They were very much in love and shared more than a few moments of intimacy.

Come October and the wanderlust springs eternal in the Bengali soul. This couple, though unmarried, decided to visit a town about a hundred kilometers from Kolkata, a fabulous tourist spot. They checked into a hotel and had a hectic time journeying to the various attractions that were on offer. By nightfall they were back in the hotel and had a befitting dinner.

It was time for the action to begin. They had sex, as young lovers are wont to do, far away from the prying eyes and nosy neighbours. Sunil, for reasons best known to him, had the whole sequence of intimacy recorded on video. Aparna was not reluctant to go on record exposing her intimate jewels: unlike Britney Spear’s, hers was a well-forested pudendum on display. Not to be outdone, Sunil indulged in sexual pyrotechniques worthy of a Casanova. It was a long drawn out affair traversing a bathroom sequence the following morning.

On coming back to Kolkata, Sunil approached a nearby studio to convert the video into a digital format, which was the studio’s specialty. The studio obliged.

Some months later Sunil had a career interview at Mumbai and he put up in a hotel there. While having dinner at a restaurant the cheeky waiter grinned at him mischievously and said ‘ bara maaza aya sahab, apko blue film mey dekha’ [I enjoyed a lot watching you in a blue film]. Sunil was about to put a juicy morsel of Chicken Tandoori into his mouth when his hand froze in midair and his eyes jutted out from the socket. He hurried to his room and left for Kolkata on the morrow hiding his face, the face of ridicule and infamy. Stupidity worst confounded: he lodged a complaint with the local police station against the studio owner. The leering policemen, it must be said, took serious note of his predicament and the studio owner was brought to justice.

THE STATESMAN KOLKATA 17TH DECEMBER 2007

I wrote this letter in response to an article published in the Statesman on the 16th of December by SM Murshed

first the original article and then my letter:-





To you be your way and to me mine’


It is said that Ms Taslima Nasreen has been sequestered from public gaze in Kolkata by a machiavellian sleight of hand practised by the CPI-M government, whose intention is to pander to a fundamentalist Muslim constituency. I need to join issue with the use of the word “fundamentalist” in the debate, for I suspect that its use is designed to lend legitimacy to it. The word is used by indolent wordsmiths who have a vague thought that it has a pejorative sense without quite knowing what that sense is. The word “fundamentalism” is defined in the New Shorter Oxford Dictionary as follows: “The strict maintenance of traditional, orthodox religious beliefs or doctrines; special belief in the inerrancy of Scripture and literal acceptance of the creeds as fundamentals of Protestant Christianity.” Going by this definition, I am a fundamentalist Muslim, for I believe, and practise, the five fundamental tenets of Islam, namely I believe in one God and that Mohammad was his Messenger, I pray five times a day, keep the fast during the entire month of Ramzan, give in charity the prescribed amount of my savings, and I have performed the Haj. So is everyone else in the world who regards himself as a true Muslim.Let us see what Ms Nasreen has said about Islam. We need not, to avoid prolixity, go through all her writings. It will be sufficient if we consider her novel, Dwikhandita, which was the subject of the recent storm in Kolkata. On page 48, she observes that a true Muslim is advised by the Koran not to be a friend of Jews and Christians and furthermore, wherever a non-believer is seen, he should promptly be killed. The Koran has not said any such thing. Two observations have been coalesced into one. They in point of fact allude to two different chapters and are separated from each other by their context. The first part of the observation regarding Jews and Christians will be found in Surah Al-Maida, Chapter 5, verse 51 and reads as follows: “O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a people unjust.”The advice here, based on numerous episodes in the Prophet’s lifetime, is not to seek the protection of Jews and Christians in preference to Muslims. The words were to prove prophetic all through history. In medieval times, Muslims had to fight the holy wars of Christendom, namely the Crusades and in our own times the Palestinians continue to fight Jews for a home of their own in their own homeland and Muslim Iraq has to deal with the terrors unleashed by Mr George W Bush in search of chimerical weapons of mass destruction which, much after the event, are said not to exist. The second part of the observation alludes to the slaying of non-believers wherever and whenever found. A gentleman by the name of Arun Shourie said the same thing some years ago. Apparently, great minds think alike. The allusion is to Surah At-Tauba, Chapter 9. verse 5 of the Koran, which is in the following terms: “But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them and seize them, beleaguer them and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.”This chapter was revealed in the course of battle in which the pagans engaged Muslims after the treaty of Hudaibiyah, which they had made with the Muslims, had been violated by them. Frustrated by repeated violation of treaties in the past, the Muslims decided to fight to the finish. Hence the exhortation contained in the verse. Shades of the Bhagvad Gita in which Krishna urges Arjun to keep on fighting are to be found in this. But Mr Shourie and Ms Nasreen conveniently, and perhaps with malice prepense, overlook the second clause of the verse, according to which the pagans are to be spared upon repentance and upon accepting Islam. But what if they do not accept Islam? The answer is contained in verse 6, which reads as follows: “If one amongst the pagans asks thee for asylum, grant it to him so that he may hear the word of Allah and then escort him to where he can be secure: that is because they are men without knowledge.” The answer is that the pagan must not only be spared, but escorted to a place of safety. The supervening verses in Surah Al-Kafirun, Chapter 109 of the Koran may be taken as definitive on this point: “I worship not that which ye worship/Nor will ye worship that which I worship./And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship/ Nor will ye worship that which I worship./To you be your Way and to me mine.” We now see how the words of the Koran are distorted and then rehearsed out of their context. Not content with this, Ms Nasreen then launches a frontal attack on the Prophet’s character on pages 49 and 50. She mentions the wives in his “harem”, alluding to the fact that they were all taken for carnal pleasure. The Prophet first married Khadija when he was 25 years old and she 40. This marriage was happy and lasted 25 years until her death. During all these years, he remained abstemious and did not take any other wife, though the custom among Arabs those days was to take more wives than one. Upon Khadija’s death, he was miserable and lonely. He was persuaded by friends and relatives to marry again, which he did. He then had to fight many battles and each of them took its toll in lives lost, which created a large number of widows with no one to look after them. He proceeded to set a personal example by taking war widows as wives. Next, according to Ms Nasreen, comes the case of his “son’s wife”, whom he married after securing her divorce. Nothing could be further removed from truth. In the first place, the Prophet had no son of his own. He called Zaid, a freed slave, a son and had him married to his cousin, Zainab. The marriage was not successful for various reasons and resulted in divorce. That was a bitter experience for Zainab, who felt done in by the Prophet, who, in recompense, offered to marry her, setting a personal example to show no stigma attaches to the remarriage of a divorcee. This episode is mentioned in Chapter 33, verse 37 of the Koran. The important point to be made in this connection is that the Prophet did not maintain a harem for any carnal pleasure. At no time were there more than four wives, the maximum prescribed in the Koran. The wives were taken in succession in the circumstances mentioned above to set a personal example before asking others to follow suit. With the exception of two, all his wives were well advanced in years, well past the child-bearing age, at the time of their remarriage to the Prophet. Zainab, for instance, was 55 years old. Of course, Ms Nasreen is not expected to know these facts, for she has not studied the Koran. The coup de grace is reserved for the last, when, summing up her exegesis into the life and times of the Prophet, Ms Nasreen concludes with the words: “Eyee holo amader paigambar betar charitra aar taar jobbar arale lukiye thaka allah namer dhoka (such then has been the character of this rascal of a prophet; and concealed within the folds of his raiment is the hoax known as Allah)”. Can the Muslim world be expected to look on with equanimity as mute spectators on this wholly uncalled for, insulting and derogatory remark against Allah and his Prophet?This is not to justify the pyrotechnical display, accompanied by wanton violence and mayhem, to which Kolkata was treated on 21 November. That was sheer hooliganism and the agents provocateurs for it need to be discovered and adequately punished. But this is certainly to demand of the Central, as well as of the state, governments that Muslim religious sentiment, which has been grievously hurt by the animadversions of Ms Nasreen, be adequately addressed and suitable measures taken for assuaging the hurt sentiment. Ms Nasreen has now decided to withdraw the offensive parts of her book which have been discussed above. This proves that either she has no moral fibre or that she herself did not believe in the validity of her views, which were expressed for drawing attention to herself. It has been suggested in some quarters that the CPI-M government, in pandering to the Muslim votebank, whisked away Ms Nasreen to Jaipur, from where she was sent to New Delhi and that is where she now is under the protection of the Central government. It must not be forgotten in this connection that the BJP has espoused the cause of Ms Nasreen, for it has to pander to a countervailing votebank with her frontal attack on Islam.But what is Ms Nasreen's cause denounced by one party and avidly espoused by the other? Freedom of speech say the intelligentsia and the so called intelligentsia. This freedom, circumscribed by restrictions, is guaranteed to all citizens of India by our Constitution. In the first place, Ms Nasreen is not a citizen of India and, in the second, the restrictions mean that the freedom cannot be construed as a licence to attack the religious sentiments of any community. Ms Nasreen is free to exercise her freedom in the country of her birth and upbringing, which is Bangladesh, or in the country of her adoption, but not in India by abusing the hospitality extended to her on a temporary visa.If Ms Nasreen has freedom of speech, so does MF Husain, though it would be heretical to take the two names ~ one that of a third-rate writer and the other that of an internationally renowned artist ~ in the same breath. Where was the voice of our intelligentsia when the artist had to seek exile on foreign shores to escape punishment at the hands of those who found fault with his depiction of some deities? The artist is a citizen of India and he also has the freedom to express himself as he chooses. Perhaps, the difference between the two cases lies in the fact that in the one case Islam was being denigrated and in the other deities of a different denomination. It is sad to think that Indian society countenances these double standards.(The author is a former IAS officer)











To
The Editor
The Statesman
Kolkata




Sir

Contrary to SM Murshed’s view in ‘To you be your way and to me mine’ in yesterday’s Statesman, Indian society, by and large, does not countenance double standards. M F Husain is certainly an artiste of international repute, nay, a maestro; and he is welcome to paint as he pleases, and many of us are unhappy at his enforced exile. Having said that, it is worthwhile to imagine the scenario if he had painted the portrait of ‘you know who’, fully clothed or otherwise, as per the dictates of his conscience. He would have barely lived to see the oncoming sunset!

The withdrawal of the offending portions of her book by Taslima proves that like most of us, she fears for her life. She was coerced and browbeaten by the powers that be, into doing what she did. Ulterior motives need not be read into her action.

If I remember correctly, Gibbon had mentioned those same episodes of the Prophet’s life, which differ very little from Taslima’s version. Was Gibbon, too, deluded?

Thanking you

Sincerely

Move over Maya, move over Jaya

Take notice both of you ladies. Your days as the Prima Donnas on planet Earth are numbered. An woman more vicious, more vindictive and more cranky than either of you is fast emerging in the third world. In short is indeed a maverick.

Never heard of her have you? She is the first lady of Kenya, her Excellency Lucy Kibaki. Married as she is to the President, Mr. Kibaki, she is used to royal splendour and much pampered upon by one and all. It happened during the national day celebration in Nairobi, the Jamhuri.
The master of ceremonies Mr. Francis Musyimi made a terrible gaffe in the presence of high dignitaries and members of the diplomatic corps. He had introduced the President following which he called out the name the first lady. Instead of addressing her as the First Lady Mama Lucy Kibaki he uttered the First Lady Mama Lucy Wambui. Now it so happens that the President of Kenya is secretly married to Ms. Wambui, which he neither confirms nor denies. Polygamy is quite rampant in Kenya and is a privilege surreptitiously indulged in by the aristocracy.

And what did mama Lucy do? She was instantly on her feet and delivered a thundering slap to Mr. Musyumi. Not for her was any restraint. The whole assembly and the myriad photographers saw what took place. There must have been quite a few chuckles certainly.

THE STATESMAN KOLKATA 12TH DECEMBER 2008

My letter to the Editor of The Statesman Kolkata today

First the original article and then my letter





Gilded butterflyWhether it be the malcontent or the robust social animal, single women have the time of their lives obfuscating the distinction between being and becoming, writes Arpa Ghosh Society has a thing about single women who end up on the leeward side of the marital ocean and gradually lose their glow and freshness in the way preserves over a time lose their flavour atop shelves of a confectionery. Such women, thanks to the pink rupee, are on the rise. We find them everywhere; in corporate houses, banks, share markets, the entertainment industry, teaching institutions and tailoring shops. Ritwik Ghatak's Meghe Dhaka Tara tackles the phenomenon of an attractive working woman compelled to stay single due to poverty, family commitment and betrayal in love. Nita's prototypes remain. But another kind of single woman exists: educated, financially secure and possessing a sturdy personality. A third type ~ rich, accomplished, good-natured, pliable, and well-connected ~ remains mystified about its spinster status. Yet others do not marry owing to such congenital diseases as asthma, heart ailment, epilepsy, insanity and gynaecological problems. Also, eligible women suddenly find themselves over the hill buried as they are under a huge corporate workload. The bottomline is there is no "single woman", only single women, each with her set of private demons. The single women in India do not get normal, nourishing, hassle-free sex. Much of their efficiency is hampered because young, redblooded, intellectually active women are deprived of a necessity in life. Dearth of sex could push mature virgins into either of two pitfalls: "eternal waiting", dressing up and behaving like 21-year-olds hoping to get married even when pushing 40; or "premature aging", donning neutral shades and mingling with the wallpaper in their prime in a bid to convince themselves that they do not need sex. Singletons in India who try to solve the problem by engaging in "zipless sex" (Erica Jong's term) almost immediately realise that there is no such thing. Nemesis follows in the guise of unrequited love and expectation, stalkers, blackmailers, irate neighbours (and relatives), abusive wives, hysterical children (of partners), hard-hearted, exploitative lovers and so on. Family ties are still strong in this country and a man caught in the act will inevitably fall back into his cosy slot in the Great Indian Family. State apparatuses like popular fiction, cinema and television serials with their grand portrayals of khandan, parivar and bharatiya sanskar work round the clock to reinforce the hegemonic power of family. So, the single woman is at a disadvantage. Once retribution follows, in the absence of such social buffers as husband, child and in-laws, the single woman finds it difficult if not impossible to salvage her social respectability. NGOs are known to help battered wives. Are they equally keen to come to the aid of single women who take drastic measures to solve the problem of sex? Living in with a bachelor is hardly an option. First, who would be fool enough to live with a man technically free for marriage? Second, as living together denotes a lack of trust in and respect for each other, self-respecting men and women often find it an inconvenient and uncomfortable arrangement. Time hangs heavy in a singleton's life. The average married woman has household chores galore and her husband and children's associations to cater to. The singleton with no such occupation is often overcome by a sense of futility. The more enterprising and creative people use their long leisure hours to propel their careers and hone their talents ~ singing, writing, bonsai and so on. The singleton is also an enthusiastic member of cultural committees and social organisations. Like Chaucer's Wife of Bath most singletons are merry vacationers if they have the money for it. But often in the absence of the conventional family set-up, the singleton falls prey to hypochondria, nervous disorders and depression. A pressing problem is the family. The normal human being lives by planning for the future and working to meet its challenges. For most single women, the future stretches out like a desert bereft of hope and companionship. These women either live with aging parents, who are rapidly losing their vigour, or with married siblings, partaking vicariously of their future, or alone in flats and hostels developing eccentricities. In the absence of spouse and children, these women find it difficult to define for themselves the meaning of family as it exists for married women or even divorced mothers. The single woman, even while struggling to form unconventional relationships associates family with husband and child. A chartered accountant singleton , otherwise competent in solving her personal and professional problems and a dab hand at networking, keeps telling me that a family, run according to the husband's decisions is bound to flourish since a man's knowledge of the world is "superior" to a woman's. Resourceful singletons go slow on their married friends and try to form sororities with other singletons and women with "imperfect" lives ~ childless, battered, divorced, separated, lesbian ~ to sidestep the cul-de-sac of the empty future. The good thing about such associations is that women unionise and help each other; the discouraging element is the atmosphere of misanthropy and bitterness that pervades such sororities. As there is only a nominal number of unemployed single women (unemployment is a luxury that can only be enjoyed by married women today), young, single women usually have more spending power than their married friends. In the present day of consumerism, the married woman spends most of her pin money on her child, and her core money she saves for her child's future. Hence on a day's outing, spinsters outdo married women in splurging. The future may be bleak, but the present with its financial freedom, is rosier for the singleton than it is for the average married woman whose money like her life is no longer her own once baby arrives. A single woman, in the absence of inheritance, has to plan of her future, while a happily married woman can leave such thoughts to her capable and committed husband. A single woman is a covert threat to her married friends. It is best that the unpleasant secret be out in the open. Her body unspoiled by motherhood, a singleton in her prime has a sex appeal missing in her married counterpart. The relationship between a spinster and a married woman friend at this juncture of their lives is usually coloured by a curious mixture of guilt, jealousy and insecurity. A spinster, insecure of her status and sensitive to her biological clock ticking away, often envies her married friend's household, husband and children, hitting out at her with mean remarks about her "submissiveness to the male ego", her "secure future" and so on. If on the other hand, the singleton is gradually getting over her craving for home, husband and child, the tables turn. She gives off an aura of enjoying life to the brim, free from its trials and tribulations. The married woman is often cutting about her spinster friend being "loaded", "heartless" and "uncaring". Whichever way the wind may blow, the relationship between a singleton and her married friend is rarely free from irony and misunderstanding. A wariness and unspoken competitiveness creeps in sooner or later. A spinster's relationship with men is nebulous at its best, thorny at its worst. With the passing years, the singleton finds herself closer to her father who, once he overcomes his anguish and shock, gradually takes prides in her self-reliance, financial soundness and social status. Also, providing "male protection" to his increasingly proud, lonely daughter gives the father a sense of purpose and direction in his own retired life. A singleton finds herself in a twilight zone of patriarchal suspicion and puzzlement even among her own male relatives. Is she an asset to fall back upon when the wife is in her mother's place? Or is she a millstone? Is she an innocent abroad? Or is she capable of taking care of herself? Men, avuncular in their concern and predatory in their stake in her life, are willing to help but only if she concedes her "weakness" and "inferiority". A singleton flaunting wealth, status and connections wreaks havoc on the vulnerable male ego. In their relations with her, men are monitored by their wives. One single woman tells me that soon after her brother got married, she stopped confiding in him as she could sense that the sister-in-law did not like it. The brother is unhappy but cannot remedy the problem. Another singleton recalls how one night when the lights in her flat went off, she approached the neighbour who repaired the fuse. But all the while, she was uneasy as she could sense the wife's irritation. Perhaps the only man of her generation that the singleton is comfortable with is her male colleague. They share the same workplace, the same professional concerns and they grow old together. Daily interaction takes away much of the sexual friction. Over lunch, tea and the occasional dinner, a bond, neither sexual nor kinship but with subtle shades of both, grows between them. Though few admit it, most singletons go to their male colleagues for advice, consolation and encouragement, not overtly ~ oh, no, the single woman is too proud to do so ~ but covertly, in between discussing work and office politics. In some cases if the man is a chauvinist, wolf or romantic, this could flare up into an extramarital affair. But in many cases, male colleagues are jealous of her competence and enterprising nature. Often some men have the bad taste to comment on her "lack" of sex appeal and sexual frustration, hitting below the belt. A sudden flare-up on the part of the single woman in the workplace is regarded as neurosis and hysteria. The same tantrum in a married woman is viewed more sympathetically. A single woman walks on slippery ground with the opposite sex. I am not sure I agree with psychologists who claim that all women have strong maternal instincts. But the majority does. The single woman is no exception. Her deepest sorrow is not that she could not get a man, but that she could not mother a child; offer it her love and protection. Most single women either suppress their maternal instincts to become hard, inflexible social beings or shower their affection on nephews, nieces, children in the neighbourhood, and small, defenceless creatures like kittens, birds and puppies. Adoption is not yet a viable option in this country. The single woman lacks the social infrastructure to adopt a child even if she is in a financial position to give it an average home and future. In the eventuality of her death, the child loses everything. Social acceptance of an adopted child is still so poor in our country that in the absence of the male parent, the child is bound to become insecure and display behavioural problems. For the single woman, nurturing her sibling's child seems to be the only option, a second-best option as double love and hope of future gain do more harm than good to the child who often develops the "little emperor" syndrome. Finally, we come to the mainstay in a spinster's life; her work. Freud believed that unfulfilled sexual desire unleashes creativity. Libido, failing to find an outlet in love channels itself in work. Sex or the lack of it troubles a singleton. But it also propels her to channel her energies to work. A single woman brings enthusiasm and imagination to her work rarely equalled by her married colleagues. For the married woman, office work is often disagreeable, tiresome and repetitive as it eats into her family time. Often, a married woman forgets that she is a professional. Her work takes backseat to her family commitments as she unconsciously looks for ways to play truant. A single woman has nothing to hold her back from giving her 100 per cent to her work. The singleton often becomes a drudge on whom work is piled on relentlessly. Discontent and unhappiness creep in as the single woman senses the discrimination but is too intricately wired into the office juggernaut to do anything about it. The average married woman defines herself as wife and mother in the context of the larger family set-up. Who is the single woman and what has she to show for her life in this result-oriented consumerist world that prioritises becoming over being? Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters forged their identities in the male-dominated literary scene and critics link their artistic excellence to their spinster status. But all women are not as motivated or as richly endowed as these redoubtable spinsters. What about average singletons? At the end of the day, the married woman has an educated son and/ or a marked daughter to show for her labours in this world. The single woman has no such noticeable trophy to flaunt. Despite her efforts to be self-reliant, healthy and honest in her work and relationships, society frowns upon her for failing to fit into neat categories of wife and mother and rarely loses an opportunity to remind her about the "emptiness" of her life. In social occasions and friendly meets, all single women have cringed at spiteful reminders from "well-wishers" about their single status. It is a failure that cannot be forgiven because it challenges set, stereotypical ideas about women. With the growing number of single women in our society, it is time to rethink certain "given" social patterns and categories. (The author is senior lecturer in English, Vivekananda College for Women, Kolkata.)




To
The Editor
The Statesman
Kolkata

Sir

This is in response to Arpa Ghosh’s incisive writeup ‘ Gilded Butterfly’ in yesterday’s Statesman. Indeed the concept of a ‘single woman’ is against the laws of Mother Nature, as it is aptly said that ‘ menstruation is the weeping of the uterus due to the failure of the implantation of the ovum’.
Ms. Ghosh is stretching the point too far when she says that a single woman is a threat to her married friends. Sex appeal in a woman, whether married or single, depends on many factors and a body unspoiled by motherhood is the least of them. By the way who says motherhood spoils a woman’s body? Menopausal mothers are quite often more attractive than menopausal spinsters.

Thanking you

Sincerely

Yudhistir Choudhury

THE STATESMAN KOLKATA 24th NOVEMBER

My letter to the editor, unpublished. Firstthev original article anthen my reply.

A living testimony to human endeavour Where on earth have all our libraries gone? Swanky malls, glittering multiplexes, savvy IT hubs and cyber cafes, relaxing resto-pubs with chill-out zones sprouting up all around us epitomise the state of contemporary culture, economic globalisation and consumerism. In the fast-paced world that we inhabit today have libraries become passé? Will the digitisation of books and written material stored in retrieval systems spell doom for the old-fashioned repository of books? If books can be accessed through the worldwide web in the privacy of one’s home or the comfort of one’s workplace, will checking out a book or reference in the library become anachronistic? These are pertinent queries in an Indian scenario where public libraries lie in a state of neglect, rare private collections are by and large dissipated, digitisation is still in a nascent stage and new libraries outside the ambit of educational trusts and institutions are no longer being set up. A library is more than just a repository of wisdom and knowledge. It encapsulates the spirit of peoples, cultures and civilisations. In Asia, as in Europe, libraries were invariably though not always, intrinsically linked to centres of learning and monasteries. The libraries of Nalanda and Vikramsila were very much part of renowned centres of Buddhistic learning. The ravages of time, natural disasters or acts of human vandalism have destroyed libraries all over the world. Defacing books and libraries is a form of repression and when books are banned or censored, fears of fundamentalism, autocracy and fascism resurface in civilised enclaves. Such deliberate acts of vandalism apart, all over India, we are witness to passive acts of violence against books when these lie mutilated, un-preserved or in various stages of disintegration due to wilful neglect or indifference. Such acts of negligence are acts of violence against a past that is indeed symbiotically linked to the present and the future growth of cultures and civilisations. In India, the first public library opened at Esplanade Row in March 1836 under the “proprietorship” of Dwarakanath Tagore who appointed Pyari Chand Mitra as the first librarian. This remained a private one-off phenomenon until the concept of the public library was officially popularised in India by the British in the mid-nineteenth century. For decades, public libraries played a crucial role in the spread of education, information and knowledge. By 1903, when Dwarakanath’s library had become almost defunct, it was given a new lease of life by Lord Curzon who bought its rights and merged it with the East India College Library and other departmental libraries to create the Imperial Library which was then opened to the public. Post-Independence, the library was housed at Belvedere, the residence of the Governors-General, and was renamed National Library. In the presidencies of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, public libraries were systematically established for European members and the bureaucracy. Tucked away in some obscure corners of old cities, libraries like the Baghbazar Public Library, Calcutta, or the Connemara Public Library, Madras, or the public libraries of Bombay, are relics of an era when books were the only communicators of knowledge. In independent India, education featured in the State List of responsibilities as a concurrent matter. The Public Libraries Act was adopted by different states at different points of time, Tamil Nadu leading the way by incorporating it as early as 1948, followed by Andhra Pradesh in 1955. In West Bengal, it was adopted in 1979. With a growing population of literate and educated citizens, the Sarva Siksha Abhijan and other literacy missions, documentary knowledge resources still remain relevant in what may today be seen as a predominantly information society. The penetration of public libraries in India is yet to reach a target of at least one government-aided library in each village and district town. In West Bengal, the apex body is the State Central Library that presides over a hierarchy of district level libraries. Several such libraries have become more of text-book libraries catering to students of the area and civic authorities pay scant respect to the upkeep of such institutions. The Jai Krishna Public Library at Uttarpara, for instance, is the only free library run by the state government. Built in 1869 on the banks of the Hooghly by the local zamindar, the library can boast of the best collection of nineteenth century vernacular journals, a collection of 50,000 rare books and manuscripts. Though the Union human resources development ministry releases grants for the preservation of books from time to time, these are hardly adequate for library collections of this stature. The UNESCO defined a public library as a vital force that imparts popular education to one and all by rendering services to all classes of society without discriminating between caste and religion, sex and age, economic and social inequalities. In a very recent welcome move reported in newspapers, the NCERT has appealed to the Union education ministry to mobilise funds so that all schools can have access to their own library collections. In a general environment of rote learning, libraries in schools and colleges can be a veritable life-line to encourage creative thinking and research interests. The technological revolution of the late twentieth century has challenged the manner in which knowledge is documented and disseminated. The creation of online resources and the digitisation of books have made access to information easier and quicker. In instances where access to a public library or research collection is difficult, preliminary information that is only a click of the mouse away is certainly an efficient way of retrieving necessary facts or material. As an equal opportunity resource, the virtual library offers a potpourri of information which, however, is almost impossible to verify, classify or assimilate unless the mind is discriminatory. It is only a trained and discerning mind with a basic level of knowledge that can critically manoeuvre its way through these resources. The cyberspace library perhaps liberates one from the Dewey classificatory system, the symmetrically arranged shelves of libraries and the physical handling of books. Surfing the virtual library yields a plethora of words and images on the computer screen that appear in rapid succession but in no predetermined linear, logical or rational structure. The text may have an authoritative source but this cannot be physically checked, or its corporeal dimension cannot be verified because one is only scrolling up and down to turn the pages on several sites that offer various authentic versions of the same text. This can become disconcerting unless one has recourse to a library where the actual book or versions of a book or manuscript have been archived and can, therefore, be read, consulted and handled in the old fashioned manner. The library and library services all over the world have undergone and are still undergoing immense positive changes. Unfortunately in India the computerisation of libraries and the networking is still largely inadequate. Several crores have been spent for example for building the impressive Bhasa Bhavan to house the National Library collection in Kolkata, but modernisation of services inside the library has not been instituted as yet. And so where does that leave the Book? If one were to reconsider the aphoristic message of Sir Francis Bacon, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested”, one could say that access to the cyber library is tempting for the first two categories which are books to be surfed and skimmed. Reading a book onscreen may need adjusting to a new mobile and volatile medium that does not encourage old methods of study and thought. For books that are to be “read wholly” the seductions of the screen are too distracting. Reading these in “hard copy”, as actual volumes that can be held in the hand and opened at a page allowing the eyes to linger over words and phrases and the mind to concentrate on meaning and thought is a different experience altogether. If a reader knows what he/she is looking for, is able to distinguish between facts and opinions, is quick in discerning reliable sources as against dubious ones, the Internet is a helpful way of retrieving facts, figures and information. But what is most important in the study and pursuit of the humanities and the liberal arts is developing the skills of analysis and understanding, following a line of argument and reasoning and coming to one’s own ethical and moral judgments. Such qualities of mind and thought can hardly be nurtured by the sophistication of modern day technology alone, it would need browsing in a library in close proximity to shelves of books of all shapes and sizes, ranging over different values and interests that sustain the spirit of liberal education and inspire the imaginative faculties of human beings. In this age of information technology, amassing facts has only a limited relevance as this can only be sustained meaningfully on the basis of ideas and interpretations. In the humanities, teaching-learning and research processes will be largely dependent on books and need to be complemented by upgraded library services that have been modernised by technological advancement. The multitude of books being written and disseminated in physical or e-book format will remain a living testimony to human endeavour and enterprise. One may indeed emphatically assert that it is in libraries and through books that our civilisation is going to live on. (The author is Head, Department of English, Presidency College





To
The Editor
The Statesman
Kolkata


Sir

Apropos of Jayati Gupta’s writeup on Libraries ‘A living testament to human endeavour’ in yesterday’s Statesman, the love of books is fast vanishing in our era of globalisation and consumerism. That there has been a paradigm shift in our values can be appreciated by the fact that my nephew was not gifted a single book on his ‘Upanayan’ held this year whereas five and forty years ago I had received a modest collection of books to fill up three shelves! Incidentally it will be worthwhile to know how many students, specially lady students, schooled in the English medium have read ‘Rebecca’ or ‘Fountainhead’, the two books which were frequently read and discussed during my student days. Truly, like Virgo intacta, a Bibliophile is also a rara avis. I fully agree with Ms Gupta that reading an e-book is rather taxing, which I felt to the core while negotiating James Joyce’s Opus Magnum ‘ Ulysses’ on the net, courtesy Project Gutenberg. En passant I may mention that the libraries of ancient Athens, where men like Socrates seeking respite from their shrewish wives found their repose, had a secret tunnel leading to a house of pleasure, a bordello!


Thanking you

Sincerely


YUDHISTIR CHOUDHURY