In the Midst of Rain

In the midst of rain,
Suddenly, I get up in pain,
I have a sty again,
I blink my eye in vain.

In the midst of rain,
Gushing like a train,
In swirling chain,
Water ebbs down the drain.

In the midst of rain,
Farmers toil for our grain,
The Physiocratic brain,
Considered them in the main.

In the midst of rain,
Amen! Amen!

(A thought for monsoon. The first stanza is a personal expression. In the last one and a half months I have been afflicted by a sty for six times, each one debilitating me for three-to-four days. I had earlier written on a similar problem Sleep, Leap and Beep. The second one is on nature and the third is an ode to our farmers. But for them, we would all go hungry. Jai Kissan!)

Cooking is an Art

Cooking is an art,
That can destress.
When done wth caress,
You are no less a poet.

Poetry is an expression,
That is beyond wilderness.
Words woven with finess,
Like a chef's mission.

(Cooking can be replaced with any other activity and an appropriate change can be made for chef. The inspiration for this comes from Sahid Akhtar's 'Chand Shabdon se Nehin Banti Kabita', a Hindi poem. I also consider this as an ode to womanhood and motherhood whose work in the kitchen is no less than a poet.)

The Goal SPUN

Aesthetics of viewing football,
Is to find rhythm and rhyme,
Without having to run.

Sitting glued to enthrall,
The skill to squirm without stymie,
And be part of the fun.

Now, it is time for us all,
Not to grim on the grime,
But enjoy the goal SPUN.

(This is an ode to SPAIN for having won the World Cup Football championship in 2010. The inspiration for this comes from Babuji Bose's discussion on Aesthetics and Football in Adda Today forum of Facebook)

Two Judgements of Bombay High Court

Two news items on 8th July 2010 with regard to different rulings by Bombay High Court has kept one thinking. Is this the system that we would like for us?

First, is the story of Adhishree Gopalakrishnan, a class nine student of Vibgyor High School in Goregaon, Mumbai. The court dismissed her petition seeking readmission to school that expelled just a day before the school reopend because her parents protested against a fee hike last year, (Find another school, court tells expelled girl). Prior to this, the school had refused to readmit the student as part of an interim arrangement. This in a sense is an outcome of the sorry state of school education in India. If you want your child to go to a good school, it has to be private. Hierarchy of schools in terms of 'quality' depend upon the paying capacity of parents.

Contrast this with the happenings in the West (including United States) that follows the neighbourhood approach. All such schools are publicly funded and do not differ much in quality. There is no question of protesting against fee hikes, as there are none. This, however, does not prevent parents and the public in general do debate with regard to curriculum, method and many other things with regard to schooling. There can be substantial differences of opinion between the school administration and parents and these are settled without the student having to suffer. As an aside, I may state that a debate in UK a few years ago was how not to conceal the identity of students who get free meals at school. A seriousness is given to school education as it is an essential part of nation building.

Second, is a judgment by its Nagpur bench indicating that 'Physical relationship based on marriage promise is not rape.' This case is between a 42 year old man and a minor. The story is that after inital rape there was consensusal relationship on the promise of marriage. However, as there was no complaint lodged by the police in the first instance, the judge observed that 'The prolonged sexual relationship, therefore, creates a strong doubt about first act too being forcible.' One fails to see why this repeated act 'consensual or otherwise' between a 42 year old man and a minor girl is not rape. This is travestry of justice.

May 2010: From Goa to North-east and back in Mumbai

This has been a fascinating summer for me. Travelled from Goa to the East/North-east and then back to amchi Mumbai. This sojourn, including Mumbai, spread across 10 states, was enlightening and here I recall a few selective encounters.

The trip to Goa (3-8 May) was a long due vacation. The initial plan was a trip to Himachal Pradesh with a few school friends...but it fizzled out in the last moment when we finally decided, on Munna's suggestion,to try out Club Mahindra, Varca beach, Goa. Neri, Nandini and I had a whale of time. In their words - I was without work after ages and 24 hours with them. The visit to temples and churches left us in awe. Honestly, we did not feel the pinch of summer.

Neri's exitement continued as we left for Hyderabad (my in-laws place), where Neri and Nandu stayed for the rest of the month. Summer was at its peak but nothing better than 'Mother's hearth' or 'Tatta and Ammu'. After a couple of days, I returned to Mumbai for the Task Force work. The days were spent working at the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) office and, post-dinner, Sarthak, a research scholar working for his PhD, and I tried to sort out some data issues with the 59th round National Sample Survey (NSS) on Situation Assessment of Farmers.

While in Goa, I received the news of my 'sana' mamu's death (my mother's younger of the two elder brothers). I decided to leave for Orissa to be ther on the tenth day. I also was keen to visit two of my teachers' families in Cuttack (one from school and the other one who had unfortunately passed away at a relatively younger age a couple of months earleir (see, Sakti Padhi Sir...). Finally I left for Kolkata and was lucky to get a train to Anugul (a special train that goes once a week).

In Kolkata, a comfortable way to reach Howrah is the Volvo bus - cheap (Rs.40 per person), air conditioned and fast. On the bus met an Odia family traveling from Arunachal Pradesh; offered an old lady my seat. They were all complaining about others not helping and soon managed to get a seat for themselves and created a world for themselves oblivious of others in the bus. En route, we crossed Badabazar (Baraabazzar in Bengali) where one could see banners and posters (surprisingly, all in Hindi!)for the local body election, which was subsequently won by Mamtadi's Trinamool. I was later told by a friend that this was always a Hindi speaking area.

This was my first visit to Anugul station, my mother's natal place and my own birth place. The situation was sombre, but nostalgic. I met many of my cousins and their children, after years, bringing back memories of childhood and the memorable hailstorms... As I sat with my aunt 'maain', ice pieces came and hit her; a sentimental thought occurred as if sana mamun was trying to tell us that he was very much with us all. I observed, there were some positive changes in the society. A decade ago, in case they lost their husbands, women were expected to wear white clothes; now - this had changed. Sana maain and some others present on the 10th day wore off-white sarees even with some light prints. Certainly a much needed, positive social change in that society.

The next day I was at Cuttack and went to Prof Sakti Padhi's house. I could not meet Sadhna Nani as she was with her son in Trivandrum but I spent some time at their place with her mother. From there I went to meet my school teacher Mr Jayace Nayak who taught us Geography and Economics. I met him after 25 years. It was a nice feeling. He was happy too and requested everyone from school to drop by his and other teachers' places whenever they could. There is an independent discussion on Mr Nayak at the Stewart School, Bhubaneswar facebook group. The most memorable thing at his place is about his daughter who is doing her 12th and planning to do her medicine and then serve the vulnerable poor in remote parts of the country, a noble thought indeed. The society needs more like you.

The day after, I was in Bhubaneswar at home for a few hours and left for Delhi for the Task Force meeting. The next day evening I was back in Kolkata to start my North-east trip for the Task Force.

After an overnight stay in Kolkata, I was in Agartala, Tripura the next day. Pre-paid phones do not work in the North-East, but anyway, the nation's security concerns precedes mine. The most impressive part of Tripura that I heard was that their Chief Minister was taking interest in people related issues and would be initiating camps in each and every block of the state to identify all farmers (including tenants) and try to get them into the formal credit fold before end June.

The next stop was Gwahati, Assam on the banks of Brahmaputra, the only male river. The sunrise at four was the highlight. With such an early sunrise I was surprised that the meeting was at 11, as in Mumbai. This was a blessing as I could use the morning to go to a village Dharapr nearby and visit some farmers who cultivate in 'shar' land (islands within Brahmaputra). SThe meeting later in the day was fruitful and then after a late luch suddenly decided to visit the Kamakshi temple, which was not in my itinerary. The visit was smooth and there was no queue but immediately formed within minutes. As they say, some things are destined to happen.

Dimapur, Nagaland was my next visit. The advisory here was not to venture out in the evening and if one is traveling then the best place to stay overnight is the church. I did go to a village Dhanasripar that was close by where I also met a landless household. The village comprises of Kacheri farmers (one of the 12 tribes who can own land in Nagaland) who also reside in Assam; in fact, the bordering village in Assam is called Dhanasri. Penetration of formal banking is low but many farmers have savings account in the bank branch in Assam, but they cannot get agricultural credit. Nagaland is also known for the hottest chilli and this is being used to produce pickle and self-defence spray. One is told that the preferred lingua franca is English, but when I asked the villager they preferred Hindi.

From Nagaland I went back via Gwahati to Shillong, Meghalaya. In the initial part of travel from Gwahati (till about the 17th mile) one has Assam on the left and Meghalaya on the right. On this stretch all petrol pumps and liquor shops are on the Meghalaya side - the reason is that taxes are lower. I had thought that I would stop by on the road if I see some farmers in their land, but was warned that the day being a Sunday, I would not be successful and it was true.

The next day morning I visited three villages- Lad Mawreng, Lait Bynter and Mylliem, all in East Khasi. Land rights here are matrilineal, but I did meet some without land. This could be because they or their mothers had sold out theirs due to some exigencies or as per tradition among Khasis a major portion and in some cases the entire land right passed only to the youngest daugther . Further, each village is identified by a particular tribe and they do give some land from the general pool to the landless for cultivation, but this is given to those from their own tribe and village. Like Nagaland, outsiders cannot buy land here, but what is most important is that the owners also have rights over natural resources. Thus, mining is a lucrating option where the owners of land get a regular source of income. One wonders, why could this could not be used in central India. Of course, aalong with some rights for the landless also.

With my visit over, I return via Gwahati and Kolkata to Hyderabad. Complete some Task Force work and meet some functionaries of the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) before getting back to Mumbai where I have my hands full till end June.

Kolkata Khobor

I happened to be in Kolkata on 23 March 2010, a day with a lot of happenings. The heritage building of Stephen Court that houses Music World and Flurys confectionary was doused in a fire, an unfortunate incident where 24 people died and 40 are injured. At the time of the incident I happened to be behind closeted in a meeting discussing farmers issues at the regional office of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) at Ryod Street.

The unfortunate incident of the day is that Comrade Kanu Sanyal of the Naxalbari movement ended his life. There is a feeling that this could be because of his disillusionment with the current state of things, his failing health. He might have also delibertely chosen this historical day, as it was on this date in 1931 that the trio of Bhagat Singh, Shivram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar were put to death.

Now, let me move on to some changes. I have been coming to Kolkata a couple of times in the last two three years. This has a old world charm, but for someone visiting Kolkata after 15-20 years there are a couple of visible changes. I will point out two.

One with regard to the trams. Trams, a a heritage ride in Kolkata, have two boggies - the first class and the second class. In the late 1990s the price difference between the two was five paise. If I recall correctly, it was 40 paise for first class and 35 paise for the second class. Yet, this difference was enough to make the second class much more crowded like the Mumbai sub-urban. Today, the price difference is 50 paise (I think it is Rs.4.50/4.00 and Rs.4.00/3.50 depending on the distance) but one does not see much of a crowd in either of the classes.

In the 1990s, not knowing Bengali was not a problem, but if one spoke Bengali it was helpful. It is even said that to be identified as one among the Bengali then not only would one have to speak Bengali, not only would one have to take part in Adda, not only would one have to enjoy the football, but one has to be a connoisseur of Rabindra Sangeet. Well, this may still be true. But, today you do not have to know Bengali to be in Kolkata. Many of the service providers speak Hindi and one sees that even Bengalis end of speaking with them in in Hindi.

I will end up with the Stephen court tragedy. When I was talking about this with a Bengali 'bhadralok'. The first thing he mentioned was that. It houses the famous Flurys confectionary that is a regular joint of artists like MF Hussain. His tone was sad because of the tragedy but he was taking pride in the cosmopolitan nature of Kolkata where art and intellectual adda still mattered. Who said that Kolkata residents are 'Xenophobic'. Bhalo Basi Kolkata!

Sakti Padhi Sir...

The mail from Professor KJ Joseph - I still do not know how to react.
Professor Sakti Padhi was one of my M.Phil. supervisors at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram, a senior colleague at the Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies (NCDS), Bhubaneswar, where he went on to be the director. He has been a friend, philosopher and guide to me and this is indeed a great personal loss.

I landed in Trivandrum for Mphil just a few days after Professor Padhi and family had left and so lost the opportunity of attending his lectures; but heard a lot about his scholarship, humility and hospitality. When I decided to take up a field-based study on tribal Orissa, my supervisor (Professor GN Rao) suggested that I meet him. A number of meetings at NCDS and at their residence near Ravenshaw College followed. In contrast to people who are keen to have more students working under them, he advised me to take someone based in CDS as my second supervisor. However, finally I was lucky that he agreed. Those were the days of the snail mail and he sent his comments by post. I had the fortune of having more interactions with him during my field survey (for my PhD) spread across eight months. His questions, remarks and comments were incisive and very helpful.

Later when I joined NCDS, as colleagues, we got the opportunity to interact closely on the Orissa part of the Macroeconomic Adjustment Policies (MAP)-Health Project. He enthusiastically joined me on all the field visits even during the super cyclone. I remember, on one such visit, a discussion on trust came up. He had said - "we should always begin with trust, as there is no obvious reason to begin otherwise." This is a big lesson in a people-centric approach, which is not at all present in many discourses today. Professor Padhi's capacity to explain tables was remarkable and the way he would weave a story linking different facts was brilliant.

On near completion of the project, both of us went to Trivandrum for a workshop/seminar organised at Kovalam to cater to the international participants. I had vested interest in staying on campus with Professor GN Rao, now my in-laws. He also chose to stay back on campus and I had the good fortune to join him to Chettikunnu to visit Professor Raj. On our return, Professor Raj wrote a personal letter in a post card where he indicated that he should be calling him Sakti (not Padhi unlike the way everyone does in CDS). This was a very touching letter reflecting the personal bond between the teacher-student duo.

For Nandini, my wife, who grew up on CDS campus, Professor Padhi and Sadhana had been more than family. When she was new to Odisha, they made her feel at home in the completely new place, new culture and new people. They were her maternal family. The last time we met him at his office, he was very thrilled to meet Nerika. Excitedly he kept saying, she brought back his memories of CDS days, because, Nerika reminded him of little Nandini. Our heartfelt condolences to Sadhana (who is nani, elder sister, to me and aunty to Nandini) and Rohit.