Women’s Liberty: Is it how we think about it? - I

Poets, writers and various other artists have presented the condition of women in their creations. Women have been oppressed in many walks of the society. The renowned poet Maithili Sharan Gupt wrote

अबला जीवन तुम्हारी यही कहानी
आंचल में है दूध आंखों में पानी

(O Women, your story of life is all the same, there's milk in your breasts and tears in your eyes). However, in contrast, the women of today believe that they are liberal-minded; they have the right to do what men do and of course move shoulder to shoulder with men. However, it is important to see whether they are moving together or aspire to take away the reins from men and rule the world. The men today have many boyish questions: What is the practical representation or interpretation of women’s liberty: partying, smoking, boozing, drugs or indiscriminate sexual behavior or is it just the liberty of mind or a philosophy that is being talked about?

On the 60th day of Independence of India, and after many stalwarts like Mrs Indira Gandhi, Kiran Bedi and most recently Ms Mayawati and Mrs Pratibha Patil, it is time to look back and see whether women in India have understood the true meaning of freedom or otherwise. This article is not targeted to demean the status of the woman in any sense, however, it is definitely targeted to show how the sense of freedom has been interpreted in today’s context.

Feminism what we know today has undergone major changes in its philosophy, since it began in the early 20th century. The first wave of feminism dealt with the voting rights of women, the second wave with the inequalities of laws and culture, and the third wave was the continuation of the second wave and also deals with the perceived failures of the second wave. Feminists often differ in opinion over the sources of inequality, how to attain equality, and the extent to which gender and gender-based identities should be questioned and critiqued. Modern feminist political activists commonly campaign for a woman's right to bodily integrity and autonomy on matters such as reproductive rights, including the right to abortion, access to contraception and quality prenatal care; for protection from domestic violence; against sexual harassment and rape; for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay; and against other forms of discrimination.

The hue and cry about sexual harassment in the workplace arose when Anita Hill, a law professor at the University of Oklahama alleged that Clarence Thomas, with whom she had worked, while he was the head of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, has sexually harassed her with inappropriate discussions of sexual acts and pornographic acts after she refused his offer to date him (1991). An instantaneous wave of sympathy went in favour of Anita Hill in America. However, if we study the timing of the allegation, it raises our eyebrows. In 1991, Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American to be appointed to the United States Supreme Court, decided to retire. The then president of America, George Bush, saw this as an opportunity to appoint a more conservative judge to the Supreme Court. He thus appointed Clarence Thomas, a forty-three year old, conservative, African-American from Pinpoint, Georgia. Thomas would maintain the racial makeup of the Court, yet would add another conservative voice on decisions involving Affirmative Action and abortion. Thomas’ nomination sent a panic wave throughout the women’s activist organizations and they were immediately worried that Thomas would rule against legal abortion as well as Affirmative Action. Thomas was then thoroughly interviewed by the Senate committee and he was specifically asked about his opinion on Affirmative Action. Thomas mentioned that he hadn’t formed an opinion till then. The voting process in the Senate committee was split seven-to-seven. His nomination was therefore forwarded to the Senate, without a clear recommendation. It was at this point of time, when Anita Hill appeared in the whole scenario. Thomas vociferously denied all the allegations and during the hearings, called the process as “a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks.” Thomas, after a few deliberations, was appointed associate judge in the Supreme Court. As a follow up to this case, rigid lines on sexual harassment at the work place were drawn, as many other women started complaining of similar behavior from their male colleagues. Men were actually worried that they could face legal hassles even if they appreciated the looks of a fellow female colleague.

Another remarkable incident in the same land was that of Bill Clinton and Monika Lewinsky. The story of Bill Clinton seeking sexual gratification from Monika was brought to light just a few months after Bill Clinton assumed his second term in office as President of the United States of America. It was said that Monika had confided about her sexual exploits with Clinton to another lady named Linda Tripp who had secretly taped telephonic conversations and released it to the press. The literatures on the internet suggest that Linda’s records in the White House were against her and she played a game to set the records straight with the US government. In this case, the last words of Monika after her interrogation were “I hate Linda Tripp”.

Could we establish a pattern here? Was it that Monika was planted in the White House as an intern? Was it that Anita Hill was a pawn of some other force? It appears from these events that these efforts by women were not only to gain political mileage but also to gain some advantage in kind.

Let us leave the stories which have happened in America and come to India. I was chatting with a female in the Yahoo Chat rooms and mentioned to her that I was doing intensive research on female behavior as a personal hobby. She expressed a genuine interest in the same. I mentioned to her that as a result of my research, males would stop teasing females. She was very happy. I further mentioned that boys would even stop looking at females. She quipped “Nahi yaar tab to mushkil ho jaayegi (No dear, that would be a great problem)”.

The Indian female population of today uses the address “Bhaiya (Elder Brother)” for just anybody, whether it is the gardener, the sweeper, the street urchin or a classmate. Although looked at in a very positive attitude by the elder population, does this have very good effects on the society? I illustrate this with the following examples:

a. One of my friends, who was working in a central government organization had a female colleague who had had a major accident leading to a compound fracture. While she was recuperating from the accident, he was responsible for helping the colleague with the academics, getting regular fruits and medicines and even washing clothes. During this period the girl started calling him “Bhaiya”. At every small break after work, the boy would find some time to visit the girl in the room and talk to her; sometimes even lending her his shoulder while she cried occasionally in her loneliness remembering her boyfriend and parents. When the girl substantially recovered, and put her first step on the ground without her crutches, he was very happy that day. Surprisingly within the next few days he came to know, that the girl had complained of sexual harassment against the boy to the administration. The boy was subsequently devastated emotionally and professionally.

b. Another instance, of one of my friends who was working in a university in Bhopal about 7 years back is very interesting. A female colleague often called him “Bhaiya”. One day, when some joke session was going on, the boy put his arms around the girls shoulders. The girl reacted sharply. “Haath hataao! Yeh koi tarikaa hai? (Remove it! Do you know what you are doing?)” The boy was stunned. He replied, “Arey tum to mujhe bhaiya bolti ho. Usi rishte se to maine aisa kiya thaa! (But I thought you think about me as an elder brother. It is therefore I do it)”. “Accha behan samajh ke kiya thaa. Tab theek hai! (Oh! It's OK if you thought of me as your sister” replied the girl!

Can we say that a common Indian woman uses the word “Bhaiya” as a cosmetic? Is it self defense? Or is it that she calls somebody Bhaiya to tell him that you are not the Mr. Right for her?

A female student of a popular engineering college (unfortunately she belongs to my home town) once suggested to her junior that if there was any problem in her thesis, and she was not able to write some of the codes in MATLAB and C, she should indulge in some sweet talking with boys and her problems would be solved. In another scenario, senior girl students of a college advised their female juniors not to wear a bra for their viva-voce examinations, so that their nipples protruding from their dresses could earn them some good marks. In a country, where bridges are falling down every now and then, roads lose their load bearing capacities and potholes appear, students graduating with no problem solving ability would further aggravate the issue.

I was reading a recent copy of a popular computer magazine, which actually highlights technology and developments in the IT industry. In the “LETTERS” section, one of the readers had complained that the magazine had no business designing a cover with a young girl showing ample cleavage and sitting with a laptop. Although the editor dismissed the complaint of the reader with ease saying that the cover related technology with casual nature, it is apparent what the motto of the design was; to get more males to buy a copy of the magazine whether they read it or not. It appears like the motto of adult magazines like Fun and Fantasy, only the girl is wearing some dress. Can we establish a pattern here? Can we say that the women are still allowing themselves to be used and that they are happy doing so, till they are paid?

I have been intensely doing some studies on women and have been interacting with and interviewing many women relating this topic. An interesting response came from one of ladies travelling along with me from Delhi. I asked what “women’s liberty” meant to her. She responded “Equality with males and the freedom to choose my own partner”. “Hmmmm...” I thought and asked myself, “Do I have that freedom?” I have talked to many males in IIT Kanpur, and they said that they did not have the freedom to choose their own partner, and that their parents would kick them out of the household if they did so. I asked one my research colleagues to pose this question to his wife. Her response was “This question is irrelevant in the Indian context. Indian women are not clear about it”. I could not help but agree. Indian women who claim to be liberal, show equally “girlish” qualities as their other friends do. They use the same techniques and tools when they need to get their work done, get a free ride or get a bus pass without sufficient documents. I am reminded of a very famous film ‘Erin Brockovich’ starring Julia Roberts. I place a quote here:

Ed Masry: What makes you think you can just walk in there and take whatever you want?
Erin Brockovich: They're called boobs, Ed.

Note by the author: Women’s Liberty is a very big concept. It has not been understood properly by the Indians. I would appreciate if readers bring more positive issues to this concept. Please send your brickbats and feedback

A tennis match: France and India - Roubaix and Kanpur

When I lived in Dehradun earlier, and it rained cats and dogs, I often joked that what would happen if we say "Hey Bhagwaan, roko ise! (Oh god stop it!)". Perhaps, god would give us a message, "Kya karoon yaar control hi nahi hotaa! (What can I do my friend, I can't control it!)"

Kanpur, a city in which I have been living for the past three years, is troubled by extremities. Heat, cold and rain.

Make some dough with wheat atta (farine de blé) and put some yeast into it. Keep it for sometime .... Put it in the oven ... what do you get? Bread ... In Kanpur, you would probably save the cost of the oven in the summers. You would perhaps bake the loaf of bread even by putting it in sunlight.

Winters are equally horrible. When the Uparwallah (Le Dieu) decides to deep freeze us, answering nature's call is a terror and a task to be apprehensive of.

Come rains, and you have your rooms full of a hundred ... rather a thousand ... varieties of insects. Insects of all shapes, colors and sizes, which you might only have probably seen in your worst dreams, appear. We have fluorescent tubelights in our rooms and these attract the insects... large ones ... Ok, I decide to switch off the tubelight. After five minutes, there are creatures moving on you computer screen, and you think something is wrong with your eyes! You decide to turn off the screen as well. There are small insects biting you while you make honest attempts to sleep.

This year, rains have played a hide and seek with Kanpur. It rained once in May, and then it did not. For the past few days, it has been only humidity and no precipitation. The only things melting are seen to be human beings, who, out in the sun, sweat out more water than they drink.
It was just day before yesterday, when I was talking with a french friend of mine who lives in a city called Roubaix, and complaining about how the rains had cheated Kanpur, while it had been raining in nearby areas. She offered to send the clouds to Kanpur! I joked "Tu a fait le magic! La pluie est arrivée! (You have done the magic ... the rains have arrived)" The joke turned fortunately true after two hours. Kanpurites were happier! Today, she said that the clouds and the rain had moved away from Roubaix.

"On peut jouer au tennis avec les nuages. Tu es prête? (We can play tennis with the clouds. Are you ready?)", I asked her. "On peut utiliser les nuages comme les balles de tennis (We could use the clouds as tennis balls)!" The match has started ... let us wait for the results.

Hope, we could make rains happen and spread happiness to people.

Note: For a more poetic version (French) visit De Roubaix à Kanpur ... histoire des nuages written by the friend who lives at Roubaix.

Virginity, Dignity, Opportunity and Publicity

The year before last, I saw a caption on a T-shirt, “Virginity is not dignity, but a lack of opportunity”. Last week, in the Kanpur Times supplement of The Times of India, a Bhojpuri artist has proudly remarked – “I have had many conquests”, referring to the relationships with the women in his life. The use of the word “conquest” was, in my opinion, in bad taste and therefore in this article, I present a chauvinistic male’s perspective on the issue.

I have been a voracious user of the internet and its various utilities including chat, email, voice and video conferencing. One of my hobbies is to observe people deeply and to classify various people into many categories. The list of categories of people has been increasing by leaps and bounds over the last 10 years, since I started interacting with people of the world outside my home. My initial registration on the internet initially was on the Microsoft Chat client on Windows 95, which allowed me to connect to a host of chat servers on the world. Initially, my registration as a male user evoked a poor response. People would rarely respond to this poor boy who found 10 minutes of time to sneak into the room with an internet connection and establish a link with the chat servers. I thus bumped into an idea of registering myself as a female. Females have been generally accused of having a poor sense of humour. I, however, could not resist showing off mine. As a result there were a large number of people sending private messages and asking for my telephone number. I gave it to them … of course a fake one.

I subsequently registered myself as a user of Yahoo! Mail. Surprisingly enough, my profile got registered as a female and I was surprised by a large number of males asking me to cyber with them while I was in the Yahoo! Chat rooms. I was not pretty sure what cybering meant that time and therefore said yes to one of them. The next 10 minutes were really unforgettable. He started doing all kinds of things to me … virtually of course! I had to finally say that I was a simple male with no such intentions.

The exuberance and curiosity of youth soon got the better of me, and I found myself chatting with “girls” (Considering the fact that I had previously posed as a female, the alleged girls could well have been males) on all sorts of topics. Some girls refused to comment, some agreed and some said I was too curious. Interestingly enough, people who said I was too curious belonged mostly to the western countries. The confirmation to my previous sentence can be found in American Pie – Part I wherein the story revolves around a group of teenage students desperately making attempts to get sexually involved before their prom. Today, in 2007, Indian girls have also started giving a similar response (cf. Priyanka Chopra’s interview on the Sunday supplement of the Times of India a few months ago).

In real life, I have encountered some girls who had openly talked about their status (in the context of lost virginity) with unabashed abandon to anybody and everybody. On deeper research, it was found that they were speaking the truth indeed but were under the treatment of a psychologist or suffered from personality related disorders; owing to the fact that their families had problems and that they felt rather ignored in their childhood. In this connection, I would also like to mention the name of Tara (name changed) who was ready to get involved with a middle aged man 15 years her senior and a friend of her father, for her father had nearly beaten-up her ex-boyfriend. On deeper questioning she said that her parents were rarely at home and they were rarely able to talk or dine together.

Talking of males of today, and especially the Bhojpuri singer whom I quoted in the first paragraph, represent a case of distorted mentality and pseudo-socialistic attitude. If the same thing happens to a member of their own family, they would even go to the extent of gang-rape of a female family member, murder or other heinous crimes, the examples of which can be found in abundance in some of the states in India. It is often found that people who become famous without much of effort cannot handle the fame with ease and either resort to sexual exploits, booze or drugs (the examples from the west include George Michael, Michael Jackson, Robby Williams, Dieogo Maradona, Mike Tyson, Mel Gibson et al.) Similar examples could easily be found in the Indian community although I would restrain myself from naming them.

However, let us come down to the common man: a closer example from an ex-resident in one of the halls in this institute. One fine morning, boasting around in the corridor with a loud voice about his transition. A closer study and observation on this friend of ours lead to the fact that he was craving for attention, and was being vociferous to let yours truly know about it, for he rarely talked to him. When I was working in a university, I had two female assistants as data entry operators, and I was questioned daily as to whom I was able to entice. A female friend of mine regularly faces queries regarding her male guests from her colleagues family living 30 -40 meters away from her home in her neighbourhood. If the reply is not satisfactory, the colleague is instrumental enough people cook up stories about her in the office premises. The colleague makes such efforts as my female friend turned away his advances once upon a time.

The typical Indian female, as I have observed, is generally expected to be shy, homely, fair, and intelligent and not have fantasies when on the other hand the typical Indian male spends precious time pleasing himself to the western graphic depictions of indulgent and exaggerated behaviour available for purchase/rent at many CD shops. The presence of a similar content, if traced at an IP which belongs to the female counterparts becomes the story of the day, the week or perhaps even months. Contemplation also begins as to how the fort maybe captured, whereas in real life, the person does not even have the courage to go ahead and talk.

We are walking in the midst of a conceptual change. The American thought process is getting into our blood which is the cause of more mentally imbalanced children. Single parenting, troubled marriages, divorces which start from the mere ego clashes of the proud male and the supposedly intelligent female, come down to the children who find solace in the arms of drugs and paedophiles. Lured into sexual relationships, these children can do nothing else but feel proud and boast about their lost virginity. It reminds me of the famous story of the fox, who lost his tail and then inspired others to cut their tails off.

Readers! Your status of virginity or your girlfriend is not my business. Keep it to yourself, be happy and let me be not so frustrated!

Orkut Politics, Globalisation and the Internet Ban

Since my childhood, situations have arisen when I had not been able to chose between the options for the next course of action. Doctor or engineer, the two high school crushes, the choice of college and the choice of the PG specialization are amongst the few to name. This day, when I find myself in a generally termed “elite” institution, the situation repeats itself. The dilemma has raised its head again. Life is again at the crossroads.

The term “generation gap” is pretty common. The past generation finds ultimate solace in accusing its successor of not following the “norm” of what they practised during its prime time. For example, my past generation often kept pressurising me to read aloud whether its was English literature, language or science for that matter, which of course I did not like, for it felt that I was a parrot! The moral of the story seemed like “Memorize whatever you could, by crying yourself hoarse, and then, literally 'vomit' it out on the examination paper!” As a route for escape, I found that doing mathematics was safer, as you could not solve trigonometric problems or calculus by reading aloud.

A tool initially developed by the Department of Defence in America, the Internet took a larger leap by the end of the past century, and as expected, the audience was appalled with a continuously growing repository of information and otherwise. Terms like “information superhighway”, “distributed databases”, “digital library and cataloguing”, “e-commerce”, all came up with a boom, and courses in various universities were started. The concept of globalisation, which was the keyword in the nineties of the past century, was beginning to take shape. The progressive members of the past generation, who were often wistful about having only 24 hours during the day, were now enabled and enthralled with a tool for their day to day activities including research.

Unfortunately enough, the fantasy of the common youth caught up with “undesirable information” which was also available for free, and it felt that it was must easier to please its senses rather than stimulate the intellectual within. The evening cricket match, broken panes and consequent shouting which were common scenes earlier, and also a means for socialising, were replaced by Rs 20 per hour Internet cafés. Socialising therefore started restricting itself within small cabins where college students usually met while typing on the keyboard. Socialisation therefore, turned global wherein the internet chat room was a playground, where people started seeking net partners and even net spouses. I remember that in 2003, when I was a frequent visitor to the Bollywood Chat rooms, a girl who called herself Chanchal, from Mumbai, India was already “net married” to a guy from Islamabad, Pakistan and was being addressed as Bhabhi (sister-in-law) by many of the chatters. In 2005, I visited the rooms again and happened to meet the same guy. I asked him about Chanchal and he had no clue where she was. Probably some guy had hacked her profile and account and the “love” was lost in oblivion. The guy had “moved-on” as he had realised it was not the real life.

The popularity of net-based socialisation caught up with sites like Orkut, Hi5, Tagged etc, where the fantasy of seeking photographs of pretty girls and handsome hunks caught up fast. Six months after I had subscribed to Orkut, I was often asked by peers as to why my scrapbook was vacant and as to why I had deleted their scraps. People then seemed to get more closer to those who wrote a testimonial for them or became their fans. The testimonial might just be anything. Even the most disastrous grammar or SMS lingo would do. I recall one of my bengali friends had oti jaali maal (extreme fraud) written on his testimonial and he was proudly showing it off! A person from a senior batch of mine asked me to write another testimonial for her which would be pretty long and should gratify her desire to be flattered, instead of the little meaningful and nicer one line testimonial I had scribbled after a lot of thinking for 17 long hours. I also recall an incident when one Shachi (name changed), charged me of being an Utko lok (strange bloke) on the scrapbook of Yogita (name changed) based on a scrap which I had written to Yogita! Politicking based on scraps had already begun and I had to face it hard. I, of course retorted with Gandhigiri, and Shachi therefore, cannot look me in the eye currently! I have to accept that, I too have jumped in to politicking with my Orkut friends.

The above paragraph however presents a negative aspect of the picture. I have been able to connect with many friends from college, my teachers at school and the students of my teachers too. They keep on updating me about the well being of my teachers. Although I have been very choosy about selecting friends on social networking websites, restricting my friend-list to whom I know personally, occasions have arisen when people unknown to me have become very good friends sharing their happinesses and sorrows with equal fervour.

Orkut is a site powered by Google which in turn has its own share of implications. Since long, Google has been a tool for the researchers to find out research papers, material, programming code and workarounds to name a few. The recent addition of soft copies of books at Google has also given rise to the pleasure of finding free educational material for browsing. The pleasure of taking short cuts to life also comes in here. People freely pick up material or “plagiarise” from the internet and create their own material without the courtesy of acknowledgement. I am reminded of a story when a king asked Euclid whether there was an easier method to learn Geometry and he responded “There is no royal road way to Geometry”. I would like to mention the name of Kaavya Vishwanathan, a student of Indian origin, who recently earned a place in the shame list of Harvard University for plagiarising parts of a novel to write her own (How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life). Some of us are plagiarising to earn good money and fifteen minutes of fame, but are bringing a bad name to our origins and country.

We can see here that the internet with its fair and unfair implications has become an important component in the daily lives of the students and faculty. Accept it or not, the Internet tools have made us do a lot of work which were not possible earlier in a span of 24 hours. The daily life and productivity have changed their ways. The recent ban on the use of internet at hostels has drawn a lot of flak from the fraternity. Words like “unwanted parenting” and “technical prison” have been used recently in threads based on this issue. In this connection, I am reminded of a move by an American university which deleted a huge repository of “objectionable” digital images from its storage area, with a note - “If you can explain or justify how these photographs would be useful for your studies and stay in this university, and we are convinced, we would replace these photographs immediately”.

But in spite of these, I am still in a dilemma. Should Internet be banned or allowed? Life is at crossroads again. And we have to choose the right way, the hard way, to use the facilities responsibly, to become the best and to remain the best.

Looking back at 2006

The year began on a high note with a lot of commitments and duties to fulfill. The whole month of January was a busy schedule, preparing for the event named CIVERE-06 at IIT Kanpur, a paper presentation contest in Civil Engineering, to be held in mid-February. I was the chief coordinator of the organising team along with Anand Hingway and Mayank Jain (popularly called Manjan). Pre-event preparations, list of invitees and coordinating the judge panel were all in the fray. In one of the meetings of the organising team, I met Manali Singh, a kid from Saharanpur and a student of CE, IITK, who was initially reluctant but somehow agreed to compère the inaugural function of CIVERE. Anand. Mayank and I gave it our best shot to make it the most successful event of the year for the department of Civil Engineering.

In the month of March, my thesis supervisor Dr. Bharat Lohani, started worrying about my state-of-the-art presentation. Fortunately, I had already worked upon some material and it was only the trimming of some material with the help of my supervisor, that made the presentation work fluently.

The month of May saw me reach Kalpakkam along with my parents, at my younger brother Suddhasattwa's residence. It was for the first time in my life, that I went so close to the sea, so as to collect sea shells and cowries from the beach and to let the waters of the Indian Ocean cover my feet while I stood capturing the seascape with my digital camera. I also took the advantage of the free time to write some code and work on my research proposal. When with family, I took every chance to tease my younger brother.

Back at IITK, I engaged myself part time, with the summer camp of the Department of Civil Engineering as one of the volunteers, with the approval of Dr. Amit Prashant. Like the last year, I was ready again to run with the participants during the morning exercises. I presented myself to them, as a sample who goes through the same set of exercises, so as to show them the remarkable changes in my living style, through the month. The summer camp ended after 28 days, and it was notable that some of the volunteers were wistful seeing the participants depart.

My father became seriously ill in the month of September and he was admitted to the intensive care unit of Anant Hospital in Jabalpur. Our ex-neighbour Mr. Venkat handled all the formalities in the hospital thus making matters easier for my mother. While I was at Jabalpur attending to my father at the hospital, Kaushik Choudhury kept up my link with IITK, thus communicating all information from my hometown to Kanpur. Bijit Dasgupta and his wife Mrs Soma Dasgupta also took time off from their busy schedules to visit the hospital and keep up our spirits. My mother had been a very brave woman to handle all the troubles successfully during this crisis. Although I missed two weeks of my French classes during this period, Eugenie (the French teacher) and my classmates helped me cope up with the lessons.

My younger brother came over to visit IITK, for some official work, and his host and I were virtually at loggerheads on the fact, whether he would stay at the students' hostel or the visitors' hostel. My brother however took my side. While he was here for around six days, we could rarely meet, because he maintained a very tight schedule with visiting laboratories and libraries. However he could take the Sunday lunch with me.

Kaushik left IITK in the month of November although I tried hard to convince him. Perhaps my magic did not work this time., and I was annoyed at Kaushik for leaving the institute. I wish him the best for his life and future, and hope that he finds his soul mate which he has been unsuccessfully trying for.

This year our family had good times and the sad ones, and at all moments, I believe, GOD was with us with His support. I surely know that you all have been supporting us with your good wishes and I gratefully express my words of thanks to you.

My hostel is gearing up to celebrating the new years eve and as the music flows in the background, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

पियाजी तो री तीखी तीखी बतियां मोको ना भाये ...

The commercial channels rarely transmit or promote Indian Classical Music or traditional folk music. I say this with the exception of ETV Bangla (the only bangla channel I have access to in my hometown), which regularly airs programmes on Rabindra Sangeet. But it is the only type of cultural music being promoted by the channel. The channel does not even show programmes of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan or their sons who are Sarod maestros in their own right.

I am also sometimes surprised at the policies of Doordarshan (DD) and All-India Radio (AIR). Since my childhood I have always seen that programmes which correspond to the Indian Cultural music or dance are transmitted either at late night or at times when there is the least possibility of viewers being present. The young generation, which has to carry the flag of India forward, is in deep sleep by the end of the day, and never gets to listen to classical music or appreciate dance forms.

I cannot be called a great connoisseur of music. In my schooldays, I considered myself to be lucky if I got to see some quiz shows, science programmes, the sunday movie, and maybe Spiderman. I have been usually listening to film songs, English pop and classical music and some French music over the last few years. My mother, on the other hand, was interested in listening to classical music and usually stayed up late, when the ragas sung by Pt. Bhimsen Joshi or Pt. Jasraj surrounded the environment in a soft volume.

I decided to take a break this year from the chores of Society of Civil Engineers at IITK and join the SPIC-MACAY group at IITK. The interest was to establish new contacts, expand the horizons and have intellectual discussions with motivated people across the disciplines. I therefore volunteered to offer some of my time to the SPIC MACAY group. In the last six months, I have had a lot of discussions about art and dance forms, had the opportunity to hear Ms Kalapini Komakali, dine with Ms. Kiran Segal and listen to the pillars of Indian classical music namely Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan and Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma at the banks of the river ganges at Saraswati Ghat, Allahabad.

It was on the second of December, when Srinath made a move to collect people to go to Allahabad for two purposes, first to hear Ustad sahib and Panditji sing and play respectively, and second to visit the Sangam. The semester had already finished, the teaching assistantship work was already over, and I decided to give it a try. I am well known in the campus for my over endowed appearance and as obvious I insisted upon having lunch and then depart for the destination. Thirteen group members assembled at the gates of our hostel. To my surprise, I saw Eugenie, a young french lady who works at a project and teaches us the French language. She, I was told, was keen to get a brush of the Indian culture, as she had heard heard so much about our country. We started at about 1300 hrs.

I, as usual, switched to the PJ mode, quipping at every statement and trying hard to invoke laughter, as the vehicle made its way through the traffic and crowd of the Kanpur city. We were more bothered about making Eugenie feel comfortable with us, so at times I also dabbled with my half polished Indianised french lingo. At mid way, we saw two shops which were named Mohan Pedaa and Sohan Pedaa and thought it was the right time to purchase some sweets. Uma, in the meantime kept getting calls from her supervisor, and Mayank kept in touch with his mates in the campus curious about his grades. But for most of the time, it was Srinath who kept on talking about the various experiences and feelings he had when he witnessed Indian maestros at their performances.

The programme was to commence at 1800 hrs, and the traffic and the lack of knowledge about Allahabad's routes had us a bit perplexed. We however managed to ask a police constable for the route and he guided us in the right direction.

Ustad ji's performance had already begun. We wanted to be fully immersed in it and therefore decided to have some snacks and tea before entering the venue. But, it seemed that the magic had already started working. The Alaap was already mesmerising us by the magic of a frail 99 year old man, who could barely walk. I felt a magnetic pull towards the stage, and in a moment we all were inside, silent and deeply immersed in the alaap. The surroundings were perfect, the banks of the ganges, a moonless sky, the reflection of the street lights in water, pindrop silence from the audience and the sounds weaving their spell through Ustadji's voice. Ustad sahib performed for two hours continuously and ended with a bhajan scripted by Meerabai.

We were still deeply lost, when the name of Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma was announced. I had only heard Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma till now, watched him occasionally on the television, and heard his name as one of the music composer duos of the Shiv-Hari. As some of the people had taken the advantage of the interval for a quick break, we silently went down two steps to see the maestro more closely. He appeared, as I had seen him, but with white hair, his charismatic personality, the smile on his face. He reminded me of the poem by Robert Browning titled Pied Piper of Hamlin (1888),

... Into the street, the piper stepped,
Smiling first a little smile,
As if he knew what music slept,
In his quite pipe, the while...

Panditji took a humble bow before Ustad ji, who by now was sitting on a chair in front of the stage, and sat down quietly, tuning his instrument. Then he raised up his face, and asked the school children if they were tired. The children answered that they were not. He advised the children, that if they wanted to preserve their energy, they should keep quite and this also helps the performer to concentrate.

Panditji started playing on the santoor with the announcement that he would be playing rag Jhinjhoti. I closed my eyes and just imagined the pit-pit-patter of the rain drops and heard the santoor playing, and I was bathed in music from all sides. I managed to record a part of the santoor recital on my handycam.

The SPIC MACAY organisers at SMC GHOORPUR were rather kind to ask us for dinner as it was really late in the night. We clicked photos with the team at Allahabad and as we departed from the place, Ustad sahib's song “Piyaji tori teekhi teekhi batiyaan moke na bhaaye”, along with the Santoor kept going on and on in my mind as we rode the Qualis back to IIT Kanpur. What made me happier was Eugenie's smile and the twinkle in her eyes, after she heard the recitals patiently for about 4 hours.

Crazy Kiya Re ...!

The Kanpur edition of the Times of India reports on the bottom of the first page, “Ash sizzles, Bacchans fuming?” (http://www.despardes.com/India/ent/default.html) The report was about the Hrithik – Aishwarya on-screen kiss in Dhoom2 that allegedly earned the displeasure of the “first family of Bollywood”. The background of the story is the hypothesis that Abhishek Bachchan is going to marry Aishwarya pretty soon. The report gives the following lines “...Abhishek was 'very, very upset' on seeing the finished product. The full impact hit him only when he saw it on screen, says the friend, and he made his objection clear to Ash....”. My question to the press is, if Abhishek really loved Ash, he should have had a confidence on her; and therefore a question of being annoyed at her does not arise. To add to the woes, this article was based on the comments of a supposedly close friend of the family.

“First family!” and my eyebrows went up! The early days of Indian cinema were dominated by the Kapoors. Starting right from Prithiviraj Kapoor, it has been four generations that have made the Indian cinema proud in the mainland and abroad. I have read innumerable reports about them and never were they called the first family! How come the Bachchans are the “first family” which is just two generations old by now? Why can't the families of Roshans' or the Khans' be the first family instead?

Jaya Bachchan is an exception, a lady who carries herself with extreme grace and reflects the rich bengali culture embedded within her. The same is displayed in all of her films which stereotyped her as mostly timid and sometimes exuberant roles. Her objection may be justified. Amitabh on the other hand, reflects the Uttar Pradesh culture, especially Allahabad, with literary richness. He is a man of the masses. However, we have often heard about him being involved with Parveen Babi and Bhanurekha Ganeshan (Rekha) and even seen scenes (on the big screen) where Amitabh was on the bed with the lady. This was post marriage. In a recent interview Amitabh said he had no objections to the fact the Abhishek was moving arround with the ladies, as his own mother had none when he himself was doing so. Amitabh objecting? Is he being too gender biased? A big surprise.

Abhishek, a ladies man. Hunk, slim and attractive. He knows how to dress, carry himself and impress people. Howver, we cannot forget your kissing scenes with Antara Mali in Naach, and with Rani Mukherjee in Yuva. I have not yet seen Dhoom2, but I was able to find the onscreen kiss on YouTube and was convinced that it was a mere brush of lips and not a kiss per se. Abshishek you are objecting too, et tu brute?

Aishwarya, who had previously been linked and involved with Salman Khan, Viveik Oberoi and now Abhishek is, according to the report, maintaining perfect silence and giving no clues to the press whatsoever. Yes, Aishwarya that is what we expected from you. You linked yourself with people at the top of their careers and left them when they were in the slump. I find myself pitying Abhishek Bacchan. Hritik on the other hand laughed it off and refused to comment.

The press succeeds to amuse me. It has begun speculating marriage and even tensions before marriage. In a recent report by the Kanpur Times (The Times of India supplement in the Kanpur edition), the astrologers have started saying that the couple is incompatible. Cheap Publicity for the astrologers? The couple recently performed Managala Arti in the Kashi Vishwanath temple. A secret marriage, they say, has been solemnised at the Sankatamochan (Hanumanji) temple! Puhleeeeeze ....! the press has to excercise some common sense, I guess.

Press ne crazy kar diya ghalib, varna hum bhi aadmi they kaam ke...!

L'histoire d'un amour...

L'homme qui était jeune,

L'homme qui était amoureux,

La femme qui a eu de beaux yeux,

L'homme qui est allés à une terre étrangère ,

La femme qui s'est mariée,

Le mari qui était méchant

La femme qui était triste,

Le mari qui battent la femme,

La femme qui a cherché son amour,

La mère qui était fâchée,

L'homme qui était triste,

L'homme qui regarde une feuille de papier blanche,

L'homme qui a un crayon dans sa main.

मां

बस एक चांद को पाने की ख्वाहिश ही तो की थी मैंने,
तेरे लिये आज वह भी कुर्बान कर दी मां

Hall 4: IIT Kanpur: The State of the Mess

One of my former colleagues at Bhopal, who was a degree holder in computer science and engineering, was asked during her days of 'introduction', “Why is the mess called a mess?”. “Because, it is always in a mess!”, came the pert reply. While she told me this joke, I was not really aware then, how a student feels while eating in a mess, pun intended!

I have been pretty interested and inclined to write about this whole issue about mess management, its affairs and the general response of the people towards it. I would be however, putting my words to limit owing to a lack of space.

It has been two years and more since I joined IIT Kanpur as a PhD student, and since then I have seen five mess secretaries. Imagine five of them in a span of 2 years! What is so special about this year is that it is the third time a mess secretary has been elected! I must acknowledge the fact that each of the mess secretaries made an attempt to improvise, innovate and please the junta by bringing in variety in the food items. Recently, as an attempt to appease regional taste buds, Shela rice was introduced. It would be prudent to comment that we have ended up paying more for the Shela rice than the original plain rice served in the mess.

While the mess secretaries attempted their best to improvise the quality of the food and the menu, I guess the employees in the mess have contributed at large to make a big difference. Be it the mess manager, be it cooks or be it those who wait on the tables, it seems that all of them have put on a big placard on their chests saying “Hum nahi sudhrenge!”.

I would like to specially mention the dinner on Friday, when we have “special” food in the mess. By the name of God, I promise you that you would find it really special, and eligible to be quoted amongst the worst meals of the week. Whether it is Kadhai Paneer or Shahi Paneer, it looks the same, it tastes the same. I sometimes strongly feel that all government mess employees should be exposed to a training programme coordinated by IRCTC at Kanpur Central. Even their food tastes better! They even serve better.

Whenever I go to eat and I take my seat, I would never find the salt, salad or jug of water at the proper place on the table. Sometimes, either there would be no salt on the table, or there would be two containers of pepper at the same place. Sometimes, there would be an empty container of salt or pepper even!

As a special mention, I would like to quote the name of Mr. Deepak who serves and waits on the tables. In addition, he thinks he is lean, mean, smart and handsome, and thinks he has the right to play with the music system in the mess. He takes away the plates in front of you without even asking you and there you are, left grappling for the plate! He would make a point hitting you with the large plate with which he is serving. Mr. Sharma, who I feel is the leader of the lot, thinks it is more important to put sabji on the tables where people are not even sitting than providing spoons to the people who are eating on the tables. One of my colleagues was eating at the table and he had no spoon with him and he asked him 2-3 times and then he was angry, Mr. Sharma coolly said “App kahein to sabji na lagayein!”

In my opinion, I strongly feel that if you want to really make somebody angry, invite him/her to the Hall 4 mess, and voila you have a new enemy!

Bengali Ghetto-ism: A non-resident bengali's perspective

Before I commence writing on this topic and series, let me introduce what is a resident Bengali and a non-resident Bengali. Well, the definition is simple, a person with mother tongue a Bangla, who has been born, brought up and a domicile and resident of West Bengal, is termed as a resident Bengali. A non-resident Bengali or Probashi Bangali is one who has mother tongue as Bangla, may or may not be born in Bengal, may or may not be educated in Bengal, and definitely not a resident of West Bengal for a long time. In short the definition of a non-resident bengali is parallel to the definition of a non-resident Indian. Yours truly, for an example, was born in Kolkata, but educated in Madhya Pradesh and is a resident of Madhya Pradesh and therefore a non-resident Bengali.

Before I proceed to say things, let me produce some things before you, which are very general:
(1)It seems that Indians in general believe that “If you can't beat them or understand them, hit them” instead of the well known English saying “If you can't beat them, join them”. Stories in support of this statement would be coming soon.
(2)The sample size which I use to produce this article is too small and it is therefore difficult to make or derive any public opinion out of it. This article is therefore only a perspective view and thus not intended to harm or cause embarrassment to any group or individual.


When I took admission to the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, I had the privilege to listen to the senior professors and the director of IITK. One of the important statements that Prof. Sanjay G. Dhande made, was to go across regional boundaries and to interact and mix with other cultures.

Let me go back to my childhood days, when I was in Jabalpur. Owing to the geographical location of Jabalpur in India, it holds tremendous importance in terms of defence. As a result, the city is a mix of cultures from all regions. Aptly therefore, the city is also called “Sanskaardhaani”. Although, I was born in Kolkata, I was educated in Christ Church Boy's Higher Secondary School (now called Christ Church Senior Secondary School), one of the popular schools in Jabalpur and St. Aloysius College. I did my mathematics post-graducation in the Mathematics and Computer Science Department of Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyala (RDVV), Jabalpur. In short I have spent most of my life till date in Jabalpur.

“Bangaali baabu... sari macchi khaabu... (Bengali clerk, eats rotten fish)”, “Sari macchi ... pulpula bhaat (Rotten fish and fermented rice)”, were some of the regular phrases which I, as a child, had to hear often from my schoolmates, apart from the occasional “Chashmukdeen... ghorepadeen, gharee mein baj gaye saare teen... (Hey specko, the one who farts like a horse, it is half past three) !” owing to yours truly being a specko. Interestingly enough, as a side observation, the people who often said this, had their roots in UP and Bihar. On a probe, it was found out they had an opinion that Bengalies are super-intelligent and their intelligence is spurred by their voracity for fish. Many people have even asked me “Macchli khane se to dimag tez hota hai, tum kaise bangali ho? (You develop a sharp brain if you feed on fish, why kind of a bengali are you?)” owing to the fact that I am a vegetarian.

Let me go further back in the early 50s of the last century, when a decision was being taken in the Parliament regarding the national language of the country. There was a major contest between English and Hindi, which obtained equal preferences in the Parliament. The then Hon'ble President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad used his veto power to vote Hindi as the national language of India. The people from Bengal and the south were mostly in favour of the English language. As a consequence (which I feel was devoid of common-sense, rationale and intellect), there were sad jokes spoken about the then Hon'ble President.1 (Also refer to pt. 1 which I made in the second para of my article!) The lack of financial support from the centre to West Bengal and the south might have been an after effect of this incident. Interestingly Southern India has been able to self-sustain their development. Comparatively, the situation of West Bengal is well before the reader's eyes.

I have full respects for Hindi as a language, and I often feel surprised that how a renowned educationist and academician from West Bengal (name withheld owing to lack of reference), who held an important academic post for more than two decades, could say that he did not want to learn that language in which the moustache was a female gender!

As an aside, I would also like to tell you that most of my acquaintances who reside in Kolkata, have strongly believed and still believe that anything outside West Bengal is “dirt”. They often use words like “Khotta”, “Khotua”, “Mero” and “Maowra” for Non-bengalis and non-resident bengalis like us. Resident bengalies have even often accused us of being non-cultured and being lesser intellectuals. But alas! They seldom realise that they have never studied the likes of Makanlal Chaturvedi, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Mahadevi Verma, Ramdhaari Singh Dinkar, Munshi Premchand, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Subhramanyam Bharti, Kabeer, Raskhan, Tulsidas and the list continues...! I often wonder, how many of them have even heard these names. It seems therefore, that the resident bengalies have never attempted to see beyond their roots and make a propaganda on the negative points without even evaluating the others' cultures. Further, to my dismay, the people from Orissa who are referred to as “Oorey” by the people from West Bengal, are considered to be either cooks or nincompoops by the resident bengalies. “Oorey choley maatite paa ... (here 'Oorey' can refer to flying, or an oriya guy)” is a puzzle with intended pun, often asked to Bengali children.

Let us now talk and reason about the typical accusation of bengalies forming a “ghetto” at educational institutes. I will try to reason this out. Firstly, there is a famous English proverb, “Birds of the same feather, flock together”. Come what may, we bengalies love our mother tongue, and love to chat in the language which comes naturally to us. Secondly, whenever an Indian goes abroad, whom does he search for? Obviously other Indians! He does so because he seeks support, love and also loves to talk in a language which comes naturally to him. So, if a guy from UP, Bihar or any other part of India for that matter, searches for other Indians when abroad, why can't they realise that the same scenario prevails when a Bengali from Kolkata arrives at these institutes? Thirdly, bengalies practice Adda, a so-called intellectual discussion session, where all decisions, ranging from personal to national level, are taken, regardless of the case whether sufficient knowledge about the matter being discussed, exists or not! In an interesting incident, I remember a resident bengali gentleman frowning at my mathematics post graduate degree from RDVV without having the knowledge that the Mathematics Department was among the 10 nodal centres of National Board for Higher Mathematics, Department of Atomic Energy.

Further, given the fact that bengalies are jeered at, using phrases like “Bangaali baabu... sari macchi khaabu...”, “Sari macchi ... pulpula bhaat”, it forms reason enough to be ignorant about other people and form a group.

Fortunately or unfortunately, one or two non-bengalies who enter the group, are forced to learn or adapt the bengali language because they are often communicated to, in Bangla. In the colony where I live in Jabalpur, there has been several instances where a bevy of bengali ladies have enriched the Bangla vocabulary of non-bengali women! I have often heard the term “Boudi (sister-in-law)” being used by them to address my mother. In another interesting case, one resident bengali who came to visit my father when he was seriously ill, started talking to a rickshawala in Bangla arguing about the fare and the destination, and kept on continuing the discussion until it was loud enough to seek my attention, and I had to save the embarrassing moment for my family.

I do not know about other people, but my bengali parents have always taught me that whenever I am in a group, I should converse in the common language which everybody knows. They have taught me the first rule of communication, “If you have to converse with a person, converse in the language that the other guy knows.” After all, if I have a joke, I can make everybody laugh by sharing it with all. I still haven't been able to realise why most of the resident bengalis don't seem to understand this fact.2

I often cherish the bright smile on the face of some of my Telugu friends, when I say some Telugu words!

Retrospective 2005

The year began with the cancellation of celebrations for the new year owing to the “Tsunami” in the south of India. My younger brother, Suddhasattwa, who is currently working as a scientist at Kalpakkam, had the luck and courage to escape from the furies of the ocean.

Meanwhile I continued to be busy with my course work and had to work hard enough to earn my grades at IIT. I participated in cultural and extra curricular activities as well.

Suddhasattwa came over to IIT Kanpur this year to take a course in Computational Methods. I had a nice time teasing him as I did in our school days. He spent a lot of time in my hostel room, describing to me about his colleagues at Kalpakkam. On the other hand, I gave him a hard time to understand as to why he was using computations being a student of chemistry!

I took time off from my studies to visit Calcutta with my mother, in order to obtain a certificate that I was indeed born. We ran quite a bit from here and there to visit all the relatives there. We stayed with my aunt and she was happy to have us at her place for a few days. Following the usual bengali customs, she fed me with a lot of sweets, and I kept on explaining I have stopped eating them!

Back in IIT Kanpur, in spite of my well endowed appearance, I participated in the physical training of summer camp students and was able to reduce a few kilos. The summer camp students had a tough time daily with Maj. Vinay Behl, Prashant and myself, during the morning exercises. In spite of all this, they showered us with gifts, before leaving for their own places.

During the later half of the year, I managed to clear my comprehensive examination and am waiting to give my state-of-the-art presentation pretty soon. My guide Dr. Bharat Lohani has been constantly encouraging and motivating me for my research. With the help of Prof. Ashu Jain, I was able to contribute a paper to a national level conference in Hydraulics and Water Resources Engineering at Tumkur, a city 85 kms from Bangalore. Colleagues from my department namely Suresh Kartha, Anirban Dhar and Seema Narain were also present during the conference with their own contributions. I got to meet the stalwarts of Civil Engineering during my stay at Tumkur. It was an awe to meet those people, who wrote the books we read. On the way back, I had the first opportunity to visit a national park and go on a safari. It was enjoyable to see and click the photos of tigers and lions so close.

I have been keeping in touch with a lot of friends through Google talk and Yahoo! chat, and they keep on entertaining me inspite of my evil tendencies to spell out poor jokes at every instant.

Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.