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.

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.)