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.

In Love, For Love, From Love, To Love...

In love there is no Miss only Bliss.
Love is never Lost it Lasts.
In love we are always Assured never Anxious.
In love we are United never Unsure.
In love there in no Pain only Praise.
In love there is never Other One but only Oneness.
Love is never Over it is always Over-flowing.
Love Reaches never Ditches.
In love You and Me are ONE not Us.
Love is Pure not Possessive.
Love is Enhancement not Excitement.
Love is Space not Spice.
Love is Spiritual not Special.
Love is Perennial not Personal.
Love is Care not Control.
Love is Share not Show.
Love is Glad never Sad.
Love is Insight not Sight.
Love is Divine not Only Mine.
Love is Flow not Feel.
Love is Twinkle not Tear.
Love is Heal not Seal.

(I received this Valentine's day message from Shri Laxmikant Singrodia via email.)

Kakkadan Nandanath Raj

Kakkadan Nandanath Raj (K. N. Raj, 13 May 1924-10 February 2010) is a planner, visionary, economist and institution builder. Straight out from the London School of Economics in 1950 he helped in the drafting of the first five year plan, 1951-56, building the new India. His vision was not only as a planner with a socialist zeal, but also as a researcher and teacher inspiring generation of students.

I happen to be one among the last batch of M.Phil. students at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Trivandrum - now Thiruvananthapuram to whom Professor Raj gave some formal lectures. I still remember he introducing us to Hicks' A Theory of Economic History, a classic book, which as Professor Raj said gave you something new every time you read it. His paper The Politics and Economics of Intermediate Regimes, through which he discussed a concept taken from Michal Kalecki. While discussing economic history, he exposed us to the point that econometric tools and techniques can be used and a gelling of the two is known as cliometrics.

The informal atmosphere of CDS in known to residents, but I quote a remark from my supervisor and fatheer-in-law Professor G. Niranjan Rao, "I joined the faculty of CDS in the year 1980. On my first day at the CDS, when Prof P.G.K.Panickar, the then Director intruduced me to him as a new colleague, I addressed him as "Sir". He told me firmly but politely " Don't ever address anybody as "Sir" in CDS!" That was the culture of informality he nurtured at CDS." The informal atmosphere on campus led to discussions beyond the classroom and seminars and these were very learning experiences.

One folklore in the building of CDS is this. Professor Raj was given a budget by Shri Achuta Menon, then chief minister of Kerala to start the campus. Professor Raj thought the budget, though generous, would just be enough to put up an infrastructure, but building an academic institution requires a library. This is when he roped in Laurie Baker who put up the structure with substantial cost reduction. Thus, the rest of the money could go for the library. Generations of students and academia who passed through CDS have benefited from the library, the culture of informality and the persona K.N. Raj.

Whirlwind Tour of Odisha

A very happy new year to you all. I have just returned from a whirlwind tour of Odisha. The initial purpose was to attend the Indian Economic Association 92nd annual conference held at Bhubaneswar and perhaps combine it with a meeting of friends from School after 25 years. The latter could not materialize. Thus, I combined my visit with some other work and made a whirlwind tour of rural Odisha.

I visited places in Banki (one flood prone village where I had a two-hour discussion with villagers), Nayagarh (two farmer field school groups (FFSGs) - one in their field one in their village, two civil society groups that facilitate formation of FFSGs and Selh-help Groups (SHGs) and additional livelihood activities, and one farm house), and Puri (a cluster of two-three villages in and around Birapurusottampur, which happens to be my native village) and also had discussions with various stakeholders. It will not be appropriate for me to reveal the contents of my discussion now, but it does reiterate the grim agrarian scenario in Orissa. The macro observations indicated earlier in Poverty and Agrarian Distress in Orissa (nay, Odisha) is more or less substantiated by these field visits.

A disturbing picture that one observed during this visits is reportage of farmers' suicides by the media almost every day. I did disucss this with many and the responses were familiar as these are similar to the ones that one came across when I was starting the study on Suicide of Farmers in Maharashtra. People have to get out of the denial mode (that this is just a media hype) and the least that they can do is to stop blaming the farmers for this. The media can have a look at the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on suicide reportage. This is a symptom of the larger Agrarian Crisis in India, elaborately discussed in the book edited by D. Narasimha Reddy and me and published by the Oxford University Press. There is need for technological and institutional innovations that reduce costs and improve returns.

Sleep, Leap and Beep

My situation, now, is in a bit of quandary.
I am spending sleepless nights to put in effort,
But, effort falls short because of less sleep.

My eyes, now, devoid of sleep look dreary.
I dare not dream for fear of being in a spot,
But, spot eludes me because I cannot leap.

My prayers, now, are in search of a fairy.
I know that she can take me out of this lot,
But, lot needs to be done for me to beep.


(Inspiration from Prachya Deb Mukherjee at a facebook discussion forum is acknowledged.)

Not Toeing Your Line

As professed by yourself, you have a single point vision,
Interpeting matter not said, without rhyme or reason
To clarify, I just took example from your 'liberated' person,
And showed with fact their subjugation without treason.

Poor or rich, women and men, do not need your sympathy to shine,
Get out of your belief, and accept plural concerns without whine,
You are not the first one to castigate me for not toeing your line,
You are not the first one to castigate me for not toeing your line.