P CHIDAMBARAM

This is a letter published in the Statesman Kolkata on the 10th of April 2010 in which the coorespondent waxes vitriolic on P Chidambaram. I rose to the defence of our Home Minister in a letter published today.
 First the correspondent's letter and then my reply.


Where does the buck stop now?


SIR, ~ P Chidambaram met the media at Lalgarh and blamed Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee only to please the Opposition in West Bengal. Perhaps he spoke a little too soon. Ironically enough, the buck has moved in the direction of the union home minister with the killing of 76 CRPF personnel by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh.


Mr Chidambaram is a Harvard-educated lawyer and a master in sophistry. He had taken up the legal cudgels for Enron in India. Against the backdrop of the recent tragedy one is inclined to ask: “Where does the buck stop now, Mr Home Minister?” The country is waiting to learn.


Yours, etc., Indrajit Sen, Kolkata, 8 April.











In safe hands


SIR - Indrajit Sen’s letter ‘Where does the buck stop now?’ in today’s edition reminds me of Byron’s famous words: “A man must serve his time to every trade. Save censure ~ critics all are readymade’. Our Home Minister had the grace and decency to own up to his responsibility for the Dantewada massacre of the CRPF jawans. He had offered to resign. How often do we come across a minister, whether at the Centre or in the states, who is willing to stand up and be counted? Two incidents come readily to mind: the killings at Nandigram and more recently the fire at Stephen Court?


Mr Chidambaram is privy to many confidential reports. As a lawyer he is surely aware of the possible impact of his statements. He does not play to the gallery, as claimed by Mr Sen. We can rest assured that the country’s internal security is in safe hands, a point which even Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee concedes.

SPRING CLUB

My brother Samirda is an excellent host when it comes to entertain us to dinner.

Last Sunday he took us to Spring Club on the EM Bye pass and we had an excellent time.

To start with we hit the bottle straight away and had Antiquity with soda while Tatini had a mocktail. This went on very well with Chicken Malai Kebab and Golden fried prawn.

For the main course we had Mutton Bhuna and Fish Goan curry with Butter Naan.

The food was simply superb and the ambience was homely.


Many thanks Samirda.

VISWA-BHARATI

There was an article in the Statesman ,Calcutta  by an alumnus of Viswa_Bharati University on the current state of affairs there. I was provoked to write a letter to the Editor  airing my views which is published today.
First the article and then my letter.


Massive erosion of values



Instead of holding a beacon to the rest of the world and showing what India can offer, Visva-Bharati has become academically insignificant and a home for the undeserving, says Santanu sinha chaudhuri






In the recent past, violent protests were reported from places where students were not allowed to copy during the Madhyamik examination in West Bengal. These incidents were spread over five districts: Murshidabad, Birbhum, South 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Malda. Significantly, parents joined examinees in the protests. After the last day's exam, there were demonstrations at six places in Murshidabad, during which the protesters broke furniture and injured a headmaster. The most bizarre incident took place at Lashkarpur High School in Lalgola where irate parents went in to beat up teachers as punishment for "strict" invigilation. The teachers overpowered one of the parents, thrashed him, and handed him over to police.


From cheating in exams to parents actively helping their offspring to cheat is a downhill journey that illustrates a massive erosion of values. And this does not exist only in the rural backwaters where India doesn't shine that brightly.


At Visva-Bharati, the university set up by Rabindranath Tagore, a different kind of incident revealed a similar decline. On the night of 27 February, some students of the arts faculty entered a hostel for girls and used filthy language to harass and intimidate them. As if this was not bad enough, the perpetrators of this shameful act also beat up the boys who protested, injuring 17 fellow students. They also vandalised some priceless works of art.


The students who sexually harass their own classmates are despicable. The incident is more disturbing because it happened in Santiniketan where one of the tallest Indians tried to recreate a traditional Indian school, an ashram. Instead of holding a beacon to the rest of the world and showing what India can offer, Visva-Bharati has become academically insignificant and a home for the undeserving.


Education these days means acquiring saleable knowledge; it has nothing to do with building character. In older days, parents from many corners of the country sent their children to the school set up by Rabindranath not because it would assure them good jobs but because they wee expected to become better human beings. That the education that produced better human beings also produced brilliant creative artists and professionals is another story. Countless among the alumni of Visva-Bharati have excelled in their chosen fields. Syed Mujtaba Ali, Pramatha Nath Bishi, Ramkinkar Beij, Kanika Bandopadhyay, Satyajit Ray, Mahashweta Devi, Suchitra Mitra, KG Subramanian, and Amartya Sen are not exceptions, but dazzling motifs on a general pattern.


Visva-Bharati stopped producing people of such calibre long ago. And it no longer attracts talented students from far and wide. These days, mostly ordinary and substandard students from the nearby areas ~ not even from the rest of the state ~ join the university because it has become so bad that hardly anyone from outside enrols there. Consequently, Visva-Bharati has become a cesspool of mediocrity, with one or two exceptions.


But the reign of mediocrity is one aspect. What make the students ignore the norms of civilised behaviour so completely, just like the parents who fight for their children's "right" to copy in exams?


There are two main reasons. First, most parents have fuzzy ideas about education, and do not have a roadmap for their children's holistic growth. Many of them do not inculcate values in their offspring; on the contrary, they offer poor role models for their children.


It is common knowledge that many parents cut corners to admit their children to good schools. Many would not even hesitate to pay bribes to secure admission. Seats in private medical and technical colleges are auctioned to the highest bidders. Such children begin their education through deceit or money power. But who cares?


About 30 years ago, a father-son duo, who ran a flourishing high school for mainly middle class Bengalis in Kolkata, were under a cloud following the unnatural death of the son's wife. While the case lingered for years, the school continued to produce state toppers. Although a shadow of doubt hung over the principal, particularly during the progress of the criminal case, parents did not withdraw their children from the school. And many more were eager to get their offspring admitted to a school.


It was not a question of someone being treated as innocent until proved guilty. The question simply was whether one was prepared to put one's child in the hands of people of questionable morals. The parents, among whom were my friends, thought that if a school improved the chances of academic success, nothing else mattered. In other words, for many educated Bengalis, education had little to do with values. Should anyone be surprised that 30 years down the road, parents demand their offspring be allowed to cheat?


The second reason that emboldens people to do what they like is the absence of the rule of law in West Bengal; every transgressor today knows there is a fair chance that they would get away with murder. After the vandalism by the examinees and their parents, the police super of Murshidabad district said, "Police will take action if written complaints are lodged". He added, rather thoughtfully, "It is also important to identify the parents who indulged in violence".


Who will identify them? One thought it was the policemen's duty, which they perform shabbily in Bengal. The decline began with the unionisation of the policemen after the present government came to power in 1977. The process was accelerated by unbridled political interference in running the force.


On 22 January 2002, five men of Calcutta Armed Police died on the spot in front of the American Center when four terrorists sprayed bullets on them. Fifty-four shots were fired by the attackers, but the 34 policemen present there didn't shoot back one round. Many of them took bullets in their back, while fleeing. The incident ripped open the abysmal state of the training, preparedness, and morale of the police force in the state. Yet, not one senior police officer was taken to task; neither did the home minister resign in shame. In many other organisations, functionaries would lose their jobs for much less, because there is something called accountability. Should we be surprised about what happened in Silda in 2010?


The police alone don't suffer from lack of accountability. The first organised act of violence happened in Santiniketan during the hoodlum years of 1970s. Some students belonging a mainstream political party attacked the students of a different political dispensation. It is no one's case that the victims were angels, but they were unarmed. Armed to the teeth, the attackers launched a pincer attack from two sides of a boys' hostel. Several hoys were seriously injured. The offensive had been planned at the house of a professor. After the assault, the attackers took shelter in the same house. Everyone knew who the perpetrators were and who backed them. The university took no action against the guilty.


Therefore, there were many instances of violence in Santiniketan, but the guilty were never punished. Things naturally went from bad to worse. The time has come for people to demand that the university authorities throw out the latest bunch of ruffians from the premises of the central university run with tax payers' money.


We have come to the present sorry state because of general corrosion in people's attitude and a decline in the quality of governance. Attitudes won't change soon, but something can be and must be done to enforce the rule of law. People must be made to believe that a high price tag is attached to breaking law.

The writer is an alumnus of Visva Bharati










Visva-Bharati


SIR ~ This is with reference to Santanu Sinha Chaudhuri’s brilliant article on Visva-Bharati, ‘Massive erosion of values’ (30 March). It is a tragedy that a university, conceived by Rabindranath Tagore, is today in a shambles. To the extent that a research scholar may even wish to write a dissertation on ‘how not to run a university’. It showcases the malaise that plagues our education system. The irony is that as a Central university, it has considerable funds at its disposal and all at the tax-payers’ expense. Visva-Bharati is an affront to the memory of Rabindranath, an affront to decency and an affront to our culture.

KETAKI DATTA

Ketaki is the Professor and Head of English at BN Seal College Cooch Behar. An interview of her's was published in the Statesman calcutta on the 27th of narch 2010.
First the interview and then my letter to the Statesman publishe today.

‘I’m a romantic at heart’



27 March 2010


DR KETAKI DATTA’S brilliant debut novel, A Bird Alone (2008), is centered on Anita, an elderly lady living in Dajeerling, whose story is shaped through the other characters’ lives in an intricately and finely woven pattern.


Sourav, Anita’s husband, had deserted her many years ago, leaving her with two small children, Nina and Sanju. Nina moved to Paris, where she lives with her family. Sanju, after settling in Bombay, does not seem to care much for his mother. When she was younger, Anita decided to foster Chandana, the daughter of a banji, thus securing a better future for the girl, whom she treats like a daughter. What prompts the narrative and its complex, unforeseeable development is an 80-page letter by Merlin, Anita’s childhood friend, which gives her the opportunity to introspect her past, present and future resolutions.


A Bird Alone is a poignant narrative of friendship and loneliness, a deep reflection on human values and the quest to unveil the true meaning of life. Datta talks with Elisabetta Marino on much else besides the novel


Isn’t it rather unusual that a prominent academic is also such a successful creative artist? What prompted you to begin this parallel career? Who are your literary influences?


When I was just a toddler my mother left me to my grandmother’s care. She was a scholarly lady who pampered me to the extreme. I was admitted to the reputed St John’s Diocesan Girls’ HS School in South Calcutta. Incidentally, Gayatri Chakravertty Spivak was one of the successful alumni of the school. With its sprawling playgrounds (not one but four), St John’s Diocesan played a considerable role in shaping the creative artist in me. During the recess, I used to go and sit at a lone nook to scribble whatever came in my mind, throwing a longing, lingering look at the blue sky, the acres of green grass, my feisty friends engaged in a hopping-race or a hide-and-seek game or basketball at some corner or the other.


Back at home, my granny, grandpa, and I formed a jovial household, while my maternal uncle — a renowned chemist — stayed in an industrial locale a few hours off Kolkata. He was in charge of a chlorine plant. My father, a radiologist, used to stay a few miles off my grandma’s place in a hospital apartment with my mother, a postgraduate in philosophy and a promising singer, and my younger brother who was more happy with his toy-engine at home than attending a play-school. The serene two-storeyed house, the silent afternoons, the fairy tale sessions with my granny, the incessant hours of reading storybooks all helped hone my literary panache. By 13, I began to write for the school magazine, The Dio.


Left to myself in the long leisure hours with a storybook in hand I felt the inspiration of the muse. I used to register the train of thoughts in a notebook. Much later, it helped me to write short stories. I started to write stories way back in 1982, when I was in my final year in school.


After that a new chapter in my life began to unfold. My father got transferred to another district hospital, some four hours off Kolkata. It was Murshidabad, a place smelling of history where the great monuments trigger a writer’s imagination. I dropped in often and each time a new experience gave birth to a new write-up. Then, with my grandma’s demise and my days in college in a “heritage” institution of a district headquarter where my father had been transferred the creative artist in me started taking shape with each passing day. During my graduation I wrote a novella, which I lost during transit.


During my postgraduation and research I hardly had the time to write, but each and every moving experience stayed locked in my heart. After I got a job in a college, those treasured memories found expression in short stories — all beside pieces. Meanwhile, the thesis on Tennessee Williams, which brought me a hard-earned PhD, took much time. Hence between 1992-1996 my creative writing took a backseat.


However, from 1998 onwards I began contributing pieces to journals and newspapers of repute. I also started A Bird Alone during this time. Meanwhile, two major incidents left me battered: the sudden death of my father in 2001, and that of my mother in 2007. In the formative years of the novel, she had inspired me a lot. I found solace in the company of a few trusted friends.


I will be always be indebted to my mom, my friends like Gitanjali Chatterjee of Sahitya Akademi and a few legendary teachers like Professor Sanjukta Dasgupta of the University of Calcutta, Professor Benoy Kumar Banerjee of North Bengal University and Professor Mohit K Ray of the University of Burdwan.


Talking about my literary influences, when I was in Class VII, I read Of Human Bondage, and instantly fell in love with Maugham’s style. I read all his short stories soon after. A few books that have helped shape the writer in me are The Resurrection, Pride and Prejudice, The Last Days of Pompeii, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, Roots, Alex Haley, Maugham’s entire corpus, Mrs. Dalloway, Anita Desai’s novels and stories, Gone with the Wind, The Agony and the Ecstasy, and, of course, Lust for Life.


I really owe a lot to Anita Desai who helped fortify my vocabulary and Maugham.


To get back to A Bird Alone. It revolves around men-women relationships are central...


In the novel men and women are spontaneously juxtaposed. It is not that, I have deliberately shown men as oppressors or escapists in different situations and women as liberty-seekers, warriors of independence; but they behave as the situations demand. For example, we find Anita going back to her Darjeeling residence when her husband Sourav goes missing. Her husband was always jealous of her preoccupation with reading-writing. But she couldn’t give it up for it was spontaneous. Was it only because she loved a “room of her own” or because she prized liberty?


The novel shows why women have to be self-dependent, strong and courageous enough to be alone. They need freedom and can achieve it. They are often compelled to rise up in arms against the eccentricities of their husbands and must be self-assertive in an alien world.


Do you see reading and writing as a means of protecting and securing one’s freedom, identity and mental health? Is it an antidote to loneliness?


Reading-writing is, no doubt, the easiest way of keeping oneself meaningfully absorbed. Hence, I have shown Anita and Merlin engaged in reading-writing and Chandana in regular sitar practice. These are the means to connect oneself with one’s own soul. A philosophical quest.


If you talk about loneliness, well, it surely is an antidote. An individual will never feel lonely if he/she loves to read and write. The desire to communicate with others will be satiated through writing. Anita and Merlin both write Robert Southey said, “My never-failing friends are they, with whom I converse day by day”. Books are, no doubt, “never-failing friends”.


From the idea of communion to that of “contrast” Culture clash, especially that between the East and West, forms the background of the novel…


Culture clash is not my subject. I wanted to enforce the tradition of human values that the East takes pride in. I had been to the University of Lisbon in July last year to read out a paper titled “Human Values and Modern Bengali Drama”. I noticed a few raised eyebrows when contrasting Indian family values with those of the West. But none could gainsay the fact that Indians still cared for the old, incapacitated and, if possible didn’t send them away to a ‘home for the geriatric populace’. In the West sons and daughters are so busy with their lives that they do not have time to look after their decrepit parents.


Similarly, the concept of motherhood in the East is really interesting — very different from that in the West. Here a mother can sacrifice everything for her children. An Indian mother hardly has any life of her own. She is the home-maker, the driving force of the family. Even if she earns she does so for the betterment of her family.


In the novel you seem to be overly concerned with the changing face of India. Newly constructed mansions are compared to “hydra-headed monsters” and chaos and political turmoil reign supreme…


Yes, you are right. India is changing every moment. The Kolkata of our childhood was a different place altogether. Though a metropolis, it was a greener and culturally healthier city. Where are all the lush playgrounds? Hydra-headed skyscrapers dot the city and all its innocence and charm is lost forever.


Look at Darjeeling and Kashmir. Political turmoil has robbed them of all their sublimity. Violence has desecrated these abodes of tranquility


“Nature never did betray the heart that loved her,” says Wordsworth. I, a romantic by heart, have placed my characters in proximity with nature. Whenever Anita feels lonely, she gazes at the tall pine trees, or comes out to the balcony to watch the moving flakes of clouds. I find something therapeutic in nature. Nature heals and shelters desperately lonely souls like Anita.


The writer teaches at the University of Rome


Delightful read


SIR, ~ Elisabetta Marino’s interview of Ketaki Datta ~ ‘I’m a romantic at heart’ ~ in the 8th Day of 28 March was a delightful read. The first novel often tends to be autobiographical. Ms Datta has weathered many a storm and has achieved a coveted position in the contemporary literary world. Her school is indeed proud of her but she has learnt the real lessons of life, which only the school of adversity can teach. Her point that bibliophilia is an antidote to loneliness is a very pertinent observation. The treatment of the old is a social problem in India as much as in the West. However, in our country, family values can yet instill a measure of bonding that age cannot rent asunder. Unhappily the scenario is changing and we do come across many cases of children driving out their aged parents from their homes. And we wish to believe these are aberrations and only posterity can deliver a verdict.

THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DASES

Last evening we stood the Dases a dinner at Chinatown. You see they had their wedding anniversary last Wednesday and we chose Sunday for the celebration. Big Boss was where we headed. The Dases were accompanied by their daughter and granddaughter. It wasn’t that crowded when we sat ourselves at the first floor family section but believe me it gradually filled up to capacity. The ladies had Sweet Corn soup to begin with while Mr. Das and I had a bottle of Kingfisher premium each. The snacks were Chilli Chicken and Chilli Fish. Mrs. Das doesn’t do chicken and we ordered egg fried rice for her. The rest had Mixed Fried Rice as the main dish with Honey Chicken and Hot Garlic fish. We finished the dishes with Pepper Chilli Prawn. The ladies true to their self had ice creams to end a splendid evening. We were surely full and we headed home after wishing the Dases a very good night.

T S ELIOT

I wrote a letter to the Editor of the Statesman Calcutta in response to an article by Naina Dey.
My letter is published in today's Statesman.


To
The Editor
The Statesman
Calcutta
Sir
Naina Dey has been unduly harsh on T.S. Eliot in her article ‘An unexpected arrival……….. and departure’ in 8th DAY of today’s Statesman. Tom never knew what hit him when he married Vivienne in 1915 after a brief courtship. It was a secretive affair and their parents were not informed about it. Vivienne’s mother had previously cancelled her daughter’s wedding to a gentleman approved by her father, believing her chronically sick daughter was not fit to marry and bear children. Tom was not aware of this and specially her menstrual disorder that made Vivienne surreptitiously take away the bedsheets home to be washed and returned whenever they spent a night at their friend’s.
Virginia Woolf was at her sarcastic best when she speaks of Vivienne as ‘to bear her on one’s shoulders, biting, wriggling, raving, scratching, unwholesome, powdered, insane, yet sane to the point of insanity, reading his letters, thrusting herself on us, coming in wavering, trembling.’ This memorable sentence ends by calling Vivienne ‘bag of ferrets’.
There have been attempts, notably by Seymour-Jones, to blame Eliot’s homosexuality both before and during the marriage as the chief cause of the marital breakdown. But Eliot’s homosexuality has never been proven. It remains a conjecture.
Bertrand Russell’s involvement with Eliot’s has been commented upon quite extensively. He believed he was helping two young people for whom he professed an ever-increasing affection and admiration. He sexually exploited the opportunity and later on was horrified and disgusted with his own behaviour.


Thanking you
Sincerely

Probal at Lake gardens

Probal my classmate from Bishop Cotton School, Nagpur dropped in at our place on Monday the 1st of March evening. Its about ten years now he is residing in Washington DC USA. We had a nice heart to heart chat on so many topics as friends meeting after ages do. We graced our reunion by sharing hock and soda water followed by a sumptuous dinner provide by my lady.

SAGAR'S EVENING

Sagar and his wife dropped in last evening to have dinner with my daughter Ananya and husband Sankar.

My brother from Shibpur, Howrah, came with a delicacy cooked by him: mutton biryani and mutton chap. Ananya had prepared chicken kebabs and baked Bhetki.

Samirda and I started off with Black Dog and kebabs while Sagar and his better half had kebabs and bhetki.

 The Biryani was simply delectable and the Chap was true to form. Soon, very soon, it was 11pm and it was time to call it a day.

 Many thanks Sagar and Samirda.

LUNCH AT KIM LING

We had lunch today at our favourite spot in China Town: Kim Ling. I started with Hayward’s 5000 and Sankar had Bloody Lady [whatever it means].

 Then we had Chicken vegetable wanton soup. The starters were Drums of Heaven and Chilli Lemon Prawn. Really succulent stuff!

The main dish was mixed chow and mixed rice. To finish it off we savored chilli fish with chilli garlic pepper chicken.

Surely we had an enjoyable time.

23rd December 2009

I met Rajinder after more than a year. On the 23rd evening he came to our house with his wife Nibedita and daughter Gunjan. As usual Rajinder is an exceptional conversationalist and enlivened the evening with his numerous stories and anecdotes. My wife had laid out a splendid table of Bengali dishes starting with Peas –Kochuris and Cholar Dal, Fish-chops, Chingri Malaikari, Polao and Mutton-Curry. It was nice to know that Raj is doing brilliant work in his field and Nibedita is also working in the same hospital at Dumfries in Scotland. All good things come to an end and only the memory remains. Many thanks Raj for spending some time with us.

ARVIN in CALCUTTA

My grandson Arvin left for London last Monday night. My daughter Avantika accompanied him. He will be 1 year old in mid-October.
He spent nearly 4 and a half months in Calcutta: during the sweltering heat of summer. When he came he was unable to sit but when he left he was beginning to stand.
He used to keep my wife and I occupied most of the time with his playful pranks. My daughter used to do the rounds of Calcutta and the two of us used to keep him company, aided by Shyamali and an ayah.
We took him to Kolaghat about 70 kms away for a lunch at the Shere-Punjab dhaba where he attracted a lot of attention.Now we are basking in his delightful memory!

SWINE FLU,SWINE FLU

A Spectre is haunting Calcutta, the spectre of swine flu! When the firebrand Marxists were celebrating Hiroshima day on the 6th of August with all decorum and aplomb here in Callcutta, a Japanese tourist was quarintined at the ID[Infectious Diseases] hospital on suspicion of Swine Flu. This hapless tourist, a veritable innocent abroad, on seeing the interior of the hospital ran for his life claiming that he had survived Hiroshima but ID Hospital was a bigger fish to swallow! Long live the Revolution!

I felt strongly

I felt strongly about an issue and wrote a reply to an article published in the Statesman, calctta of the 15th of February 2009

The original article first and my reply later:-


POLITICS OF THE PUBPropagation Of Two Cultures Despite Equality Of SexesBy Sushila Ramaswamy IT is a strange and paradoxical feature of our social life that even the elementary rights of ordinary women are violated openly and unabashedly by a group of hoodlums, masquerading as the moral police. Our political establishment, irrespective of their ideologies, moralise rather than punish the culprits. The question of two cultures, one for men and the other for women, is propagated conveniently, forgetting that the Indian Constitution guarantees equality of sexes in all walks of life. The Karnataka chief minister, BS Yeddyurappa, in response to the recent attacks on women in a pub in Mangalore, stated that he would not allow the growth of pub culture, but he will not ban them as he expected the pub owners to voluntarily close them. In a similar response, the chief minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot, argued against the growth of pub culture and objected to boys and girls holding hands in public. The union health minster, Anbumani Ramadoss, said that pubs were against the Indian ethos and hoped that his proposed national alcohol policy would help curb their growth. Women political leaders like Renuka Chaudhury and Brinda Karat were vocal in their criticism of the Mangalore incident but did not uphold the right of women to drink in public, as is done by men. Interestingly, pubs and bars have been around for decades. But as long as these were male bastions, there were no objections or protests about they being anti-Indian in terms of culture. It is only when women began visiting them that the gender bias among most men became apparent. The present reactions are predictable and follow a trend of similar moral policing of the past. In 1996, the Miss World contest, which was held in Bangalore, was targeted as an expression of anti-Hindu culture. In 2002 in Mumbai, the Valentine Day celebrations were objected to by ransacking shops that sold Valentine Day cards. Since then, the anti-Valentine Day protests of moral outrage have been a regular feature. In Chennai, the police even issued a code of conduct for lovers in public places on the eve of Valentine’s Day. The Marina beach in Chennai wears a deserted look after lathi-wielding police chased away couples and lovers from the beach forgetting that the police are responsible for law and order and not morality and lifestyles. In Maharashtra, the former home minister, RR Patil, amended the Mumbai Police Act 2005 to shut down 2,500 dance bars in the state allegedly on public demand. The Mumbai civic administration banned hookah bars by a circular on 19 June 2005, on the ground that it affects the health of the younger generation and even corrupts them.Periodically, there have been attempts to impose a dress code and a guideline on the “perceived acceptable” behaviour for women. Even celebrities have not been spared. The popular Tamil actor, Khushboo, was hounded and had to go into hiding following an orchestrated campaign against her outspoken views on pre-marital sex and chastity in 2008. It seems that neither the government nor a political leader is strong enough to oppose the moral brigades who specialise in targeting women with the intention of scaring them from enjoying something which is strictly one’s personal choice and one that is perfectly legitimate. In fact, in many instances, the political outfits have covertly and overtly supported intrusions in personal freedoms and individual choice. Liberal values need a liberal society, a point most cogently argued by JS Mill in the context of mid-19th century Victorian England, which he considered as a nation of dull conformists as a result of the pressure of public opinion. Writing in his famous treatise On Liberty (1859), the most powerful defence of individuality and freedom ever advanced till date, he underlined the need for “protection against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling; against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them; to fetter the development, if possible, prevent the formation of, any individuality not in harmony with its ways and compels all characters to fashion themselves upon the model of its own”. What Mill feared in democracy was less the type of government it might produce, than the dominance within society of what he saw as a monolithic body of mediocre public opinion, which would be intolerant of dissent. The threat to individuality came from moral and social conformism and the desire for egalitarianism which democracy unleashed. It was for this reason that Mills wanted freedom of judgment, the right to be convinced rather than coerced to be the institutional basis of a liberal order. The quintessence of Mill's tract was for a public opinion that would be genuinely tolerant, that valued divergent points of view, that restricted the amount of agreement it demanded and that welcomed new ideas as sources of discovery. Mill supported women’s rights, reform of representation and public education as a way of mitigating the fear common in the mid-19th century that democratising society would thwart individual distinctions. These reforms, which his father James Mill and mentor Bentham supported, did not materialise by 1859, which is why John Stuart Mill “recognised, and what older liberalism had never seen”, according to Sabine, “was that behind a liberal government there must be a liberal society.” Following this broad liberal perspective, the Constitution of India granted men and women equal rights, and Indian women, since the middle of the 20th century have made impressive strides in all walks of life, which is in sharp contrast to their condition in the 19th century. This was made possible due to the initiatives for women’s equality, self-respect, dignity and rights taken by Rammohun, Bankim, Vidyasagar, Dayananda, Vivekananda and Gandhi. The role and contributions of the Indian educated middle class women, surpassing their counterparts in the well-established democracies of the West, has been taken note of by Gunnar Mydral in the Asian Drama (1969). Incidents like the outrage in Mangalore suggest that certain forces will try to put the clock back knowing fully well that the support of some male politicians from both the national parties and even some regional ones will come. This in turn will blur the real issues of a right of personal choice and democratic freedoms in our country, irrespective of caste, religion or gender. This does not augur well for our democracy, even after 60 years of its existence, reminding us that securing even the elementary rights of every single Indian is still a distant dream.The writer is Reader in Political Science, Jesus and Mary College, New Delhi


Sir

Kudos to Sushila Ramaswamy for her bold and lucid write-up ‘POLITICS OF THE PUB’ in today’s Statesman. To be born on the wrong side of the chromosomal divide is still a curse in our country as some recent events so clearly demonstrate. It has been rightly said that a civilization can best be judged by the status of its women. Apart from foetal deaths and ‘honour killings’ that plague our more affluent states on the western half, the near regular brutalisation of girls and women is fast becoming a routine feature of our daily life. The propensity to take the law in our hands is inherent in us, and when it comes to subjugation of women on moral grounds, both the Hindu fanatics and Muslim fundamentalists are solidly united.

Post independence, and even before, we have had two cultures or two sets of identities: one for men and one for women. In many a household, both urban and rural, the male child was given preferential treatment and the girl child remained under-fed, under-clothed, under-educated and over-worked. Unhappily this practice still continues. Whenever the talk of women’s freedom or liberalisation has occurred, the forces of reaction have been up in arms. The passage of the ‘Medical Termination of Pregnancy’ bill was vehemently opposed on the grounds that it would lead to a laissez-faire behaviour of women with societal decay. Further back in time, during the Raj, education for women was frowned upon as evil and unnecessary. Widow remarriage was another controversial issue on which many hairs were split. The present issue of women going to pubs is a storm that will rage for some time and our posterity, hopefully more enlightened than us, will wonder what the fuss was all about.

We admire and cherish the most lurid sculptures and paintings known to mankind: Khajuraho, Konarak, Ajanta and Ellora, and rightly so. We are proud of our robust ancestors who sculpted them and painted them. They were certainly no prudes. They created, nay glorified, the female bodies in all its nakedness for everyone to see, and appreciate the work of our divine Lord to which they were paying their respectful homage.

The strange spectacle of misguided men thrashing women in public does not correspond our cultural ethos and their actions aught to be condemned in no uncertain terms.

Thanking you

Sincerely

And the debate continues

The recent attack on women in a pub at Mangalore has me pretty worked up. I believe that the time has come for all men honest and true to stand up and be counted. I am publishing a few letters written by others and me in the Statesman, Calcutta.










Highly objectionable
Sir, ~ A section of the media is creating a storm in a tea cup by describing the Mangalore pub attack as a “Hindu Taliban act”. Undoubtedly, it is unfortunate that some misguided young ladies go to pubs not only for carnal desire, but also for monetary gains. Their way of propagating feminism is highly objectionable. It is boosted by a section of the media publishing photographs of scantily dressed ladies. All right thinking persons, irrespective of political differences, should launch a nationwide movement against this. ~ Yours, etc., Bholanath Bhattacharya, Bhatpara, 2 February

my reply

What Logic!

Sir [8th February 2009]

Bholanath Bhattacharya’s letter in today’s Statesman is a lamentable attempt at defending the indefensible. The whole nation has seen in cold horror what the bullyboys of fascist Hindutva are capable of. They had no qualms about beating women in front of the camera as if these women were hardened criminals. The logic of Mr. Bhattacharya’s contention that ‘many ladies go to pubs not only for carnal desire’ can also be utilized to say that ‘many ladies [and gentlemen too] go to colleges not only for carnal desire’ and hence ladies must be prohibited from going to colleges. Dictators and other malefactors of mankind, being totally immoral in public life have a fetish to enforce what they consider to be moral in private life.



Time to ponder [14th February 2009]
Sir, ~ Apropos of the letter “What logic!” (8 February), Arindam Bandyopadhyay might have serious objections to the views of Bholanath Bhattacharya, but it is high time we ponder over the merits or demerits of pub culture. Though the brutal attack on the Mangalore pub by the hooligans of Sri Ram Sena can never be applauded, there is no doubt that pub culture encourages free mixing of both sexes where skimpily clad girls mingle, dance, smoke and drink with boys. Thanks to glamorisation of pre-marital sex and eve-teasing in Bollywood films as well as bare-dare advertising campaigns continuously flashed through the media and hoardings, the female body is increasingly being viewed as a mere commodity.And far from protesting against the commercialisation of female bodies, the brainwashed girls are under the illusion that display of bodies and sexual adventures are the “in-thing”. Thus, not only are cases of abortion increasing by leaps and bounds, sexual diseases and AIDS are also making a steady entry into society. ~ Yours, etc., Kajal Chatterjee, Sodepur, 9 February

My reply


Sir [not published yet]


I wish to thank Kajal Chatterjee for his letter ‘Time to ponder’ in today’s Statesman. I have worked in the remotest district of West Bengal in the late eighties and early nineties of the previous century. Most of the nursing homes there did a roaring business performing Medical Termination of Pregnancy [abortions] on unmarried teenage girls. There were no pubs then and cable TV was a pipedream. Incidentally the champions of orthodoxy had attacked the bill for MTP, on the grounds that it would usher in an immoral and shameless society. Are we the better or worse for it?

The pub in question is a licensed one and pays its taxes and excise duties. The revenue so earned is utilized by the state, like all revenue, for its benevolent activities. Ladies who frequent pubs are not run of the mill naiveties but savvy individuals who know how to take care of themselves. It requires no mention that very few men will visit pubs if women are barred.

What is required today is no stringent moral policing but proper sex education to all students after puberty. More Buladis and fewer Mutaliks.

KOLAGHAT===8th February 2009

We had been for lunch to Kolaghat about 76 Kms from Calcutta. we reached the Shere-Punjab dhaba at 1.30pm. It is a charming place and the ride was simply smooth. My daughter was the hostess and we ate to our heart's content.

EDINBURGH

next day ,sunday , we made it to edinburgh. we had snow on the way!

OH SCOTLAND . MY SCOTLAND

With God in Heaven and the Queen on her throne, what more can one desire than to have a student [ex – student] in Scotland? I e-mailed Rajinder who is in Dumfries, Scotland, from my daughter’s house in Brighton, Sussex, wishing to visit him and see the sights nearby. And sure enough he promptly invited me, and knowing that Indian currency doesn’t travel far in UK also provided me with the tickets.

Friday the 21st of November I woke up early and to avail of the 6ºclock National Express coach from Pool Valley, Brighton. A little after 8, I was in Victoria Coach Station London and I boarded the coach for Carlisle which left at 9ºclock on the dot.

The view from the window was more than charming. Undulating greens floated majestically and with cows grazing and horses roaming it was reminiscent of Merry England as we remember her. Soon we were in Cumbria and the sheep on either side were munching away oblivious to the traffic on the motorway. We had a couple of halts on the way to stretch our legs and have some snacks too from roadside eateries. It was well after sunset when I got down at Carlisle and hopped into another coach to Dumfries. And sure enough Rajinder was there to receive me with genuine warmth and happiness and took to his quarter at the hospital.

His wife Nibedita and his daughter Gunjan, a sweet 6 year-old greeted me enthusiastically. After a hot tea and snacks, I had a warm bath and joined them for dinner. Nibedita is an excellent cook and had spread a table worthy of a genuine Eepicure: Rajma, rice and fish.

We had an early but sumptuous breakfast next morning and Rajinder and I hit the road by 7 am when it was still dark. We headed for Glasgow on our way to the Scottish Highlands and took the Glasgow bypass. The sun was now shining brilliantly although the clouds were threatening in the distance. Our first port of call was Loch Lomond, a cathedral of a lake indeed. We got down and sucked in the pure Loch air. It was cold, cold, cold all around and Rajinder offered me a cup of hot tea from his flask. It is at Loch Lomond that the Scottish Lowlands end and the Highlands begin.

Now we proceeded for Fort William, the centre of the Highlands being the biggest town of the highlands as Inverness has become a city. The hills rose sharply on either side and a well bred Scottish antler greeted us serenely. It was hilly terrain and grass was sparse, a couple of waterfalls caught our attention and we saw the vast fields where the Highlanders of yore fought among themselves leading to a decimation of the clans.

By noon we reached Fort William and we took a stroll on the main thoroughfare, High Street. A fish and chips shop stood invitingly and Rajinder stood a traditional English/Scottish lunch which we ate strolling down to the river Nevis.

It was time now to proceed to the Famed Viaduct of the highlands: the Glen Finnan Viaduct. It is a beauty and we spent the better part of a half-hour admiring the view. This viaduct has been featured in films of the Harry Potter series like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Next we moved to the Glen Finnan monument on the side of Loch Shiel, a site where the bonny prince Charles had raised his standard. Scotland is certainly history personified. Atop this monument the Unknown Highlander stands majestically.

Our last visit was the Ben Nevis as seen from Loch Linnhe. Ben Nevis is the tallest peak of England and a popular tourist site.

With so much to see and so much seen we felt exhausted and Rajinder drove us back to Dumfries; a total span of about 400 miles.