Fragmented Rainbows

Bhumihar Brahmins

2026-03-31T12:31:00.000+05:30

Bhumihar Brahmins... love, 'em; hate 'em, you can't ignore 'em. It surprises me, very pleasantly, that a post I wrote in 2007, is still visited and commented on.

Pundit Yogendra Bhattacharya in his book "Hindu castes and sets" defines 'Bhumihar Brahmin' as landholders who held grants of land for secular services. Whoever held a secular fief was Bhumihar. If he was a Brahmin, he was called a Bhumihar Brahmin.

Bhumihar Brahmins perform all their religious ceremonies in the same manner as other Brahmins, but they are not entitled to accept religious gifts or to minister to anyone as a priest. The usual surnames/titles of the Bhumihar Brahmins are same as those of other Brahmins of Northern India. A few of them have Rajputana surnames/titles.

Ideally, the Bhumihar Brahmins are supposed to perform sixteen major Saṃskāra rites during the course of their lifetime.

In the pre-natal stage, Garbhadharana (conception), Pumsavana (rite for consecrating a male child in the womb) and Simantonnayana (rite for parting the hair of a pregnant woman) are performed.

During childhood, Jatakarma (birth ceremony), Namakarana (naming ceremony), Nishkarmana (first outing) Annaprasana (first feeding solid food), Choodakarana (first tonsure) and Karnavedha (ear piercing) are performed.

During education of the child, Vidhyarambha (starting of education), Upanayanam (thread ceremony- initiation), Vedarambha (starting of the study of the Vedas), Keshanta or Godana (first shaving of the beard) and Samavartanam or Snaana (ending of studentship) are performed.

During adulthood, Vivaha (marriage) and Anthyesthi (funeral rites) are the main ceremonies.

All the orthodox Bhumihar Brahmins try to adhere to these customs but, times have changed and all Samskaras are no longer practical.

Only the most essential ones like Garbhadharana (conception), Jatakarma (birth ceremony), Namakarana (naming ceremony), Annaprasana (first feeding solid food), Choodakarana (first tonsure), Vidhyarambha (starting of education), Upanayanam (thread ceremony- initiation), Vivaha (marriage) and Anthyesthi (funeral rites) are performed.

Firecrackers, not Poems!

2024-08-19T16:02:00.000+05:30

Came back from one of those small little academically oriented ‘Book release’ things, that took place in an upper room with an audience of less than four dozen people.

A room packed with Jha-jis and bhabis, also friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and of course the culprit who invited me, the native Maithili Professor of English who fashioned this slender collection of 38 angrezi poems.

Prabhat Jha has the audacity to plunk his poems, like so many stones, into the dead sea of mainstream silence, inhabited by non-literate screen-hypnotized cyborgs, and wait for a hint of a ripple!

So here we were, in plebian Patna, this B-level city struggling in her new clothes and shiny shoes, one that has become our home. Jha says it effortlessly:

Your city is like a part of your body,

Nothing new or exciting about it,

You don’t glorify

Or feel special to see it,

But in the end, it’s a part of you…

In this debut collection of poems, Prabhat Jha adds a fresh dimension to English literature from Bihar, in the matter of style, subject, syntax, and an earthy syncopation with the soil of Mithila. “My love,” he writes, “can only be felt in Maithili.”

Maybe he speaks for the Bihari college student with ‘You are not the dark lady, and I am no Shakespeare’ and about a love that ‘will be temporary, mundane, fluctuating’!

There are many moods within these 72 odd pages, and why not?

Who said there are only 7 colours in the rainbow?

What about the colours in between?

Colours which are invisible?

Now, a thought creeps in when one reads these lines. Which colours that are invisible? My rainbow hues as a Queer person? The special colour of my mixed European and North-east Indian identity? Sneaky, isn’t it? The way this sly fox plays on everyday words. He uses them to tickle you, or fashions them into barbs, prods, tweezers, and tiny little razor-sharp piranha teeth.

Jha isn’t one of those soppy romantics that lulls you off to sleepy, picture postcard, locales. His style appears to be all over the place, random, starkly dictated by whim, and perhaps that is one of the things that is so endearing about this book. Every poem sits up and demands a second, or even a third reading.

And oh yes, it is political, definitely political, and there’s no soft-pedalling, when the muse hits, she comes in with all guns blazing. Jha blithely shoots the crap out of Patriarchy, Icons, Myths, Blind faith, and the state of Nations, with the sly simplicity, and earthiness, of a true-blue Maithili Brahmin. These poems, written over a span of 14 years, speak of desperation, disillusionment, panic, and hope.

Collision is an everyday affair

Ban Dook Dom [Bandook-dom?] is a fire-cracker of a book, with the potential to jolt you out of your lethargy.My recommendation: Read Ban Dook Dom before you suffer Ban Book Dom!

Cheers!

Ban Dook Dum, poems by Prabhat Jha, Authors Press 2024, 72 pages, Rs 295.

A Sonnet For Stan Swamy (1937-2021)

2024-07-05T00:30:00.005+05:30

Three summers mourn since Stan Swamy took his flight,

A righteous soul by shadows overthrown.

A champion for the downtrodden, robbed of light,

His final breath a whisper, justice unknown.

Dark plots entangled him in webs of lies,

His fight for justice painted as a sin.

But truth, though veiled in tears, will surely rise,

His spirit ever bold, a fire within.

For in the hearts of those he sought to mend,

His memory a beacon brightly burns.

The poor he served, their grief may never end,

Yet from their pain, a new resolve returns.

So rest, Stan Swamy, though your path was grim,

Your legacy of Love has conquered Death’s dark whim.

-Frank Krishner

[Three years ago, during the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown, Father Stan Swamy, an 84 year old, infirm Jesuit Priest, social worker and champion of the rights of the poor was falsely accused of plotting against the State, incarcerated, denied bail even though he was frail and suffering from Parkison's disease. On the 5th of July 2021, he died an innocent, undertrial, a victim of Institutional Assassination.]

Thoughts On Watching Lok Sabha TV ...

2024-07-04T11:07:00.000+05:30

VERSE OR WORSE #1

This is a risk I know I take,

My concern is genuine, not fake.

This may make some of my good friends mad,

But honestly,

Mr. Gandhi’s rant in Parliament was really, really sad.

The maiden speech of the Leader of the Opposition

Was full of hot air, not well-thought proposition.

It lacked polish. He lacked poise.

Insults and innuendo, and sentimental noise!

Waving holy pictures, and defying convention,

Was the Honour of the August House really his intention?

He shamed the Leader of the House, he hit below the belt

Like a bull let loose in a china shop, that is what I felt.

The Floor of the House - a game of chess. With finesse it was played.

If you ‘winged it’ and you fumbled, then you just might be ‘slayed’.

But no! This Gandhi wasn’t playing chess, the show was streaming live

Parliament is Mixed Martial Arts, it’s a bloody, messy, jive.

And so, he leaps into the ring, throwing punches left and right,

And Modi and his gang are there, itching for a fight.

He body slams the BJP and politics of hate

Ridicules PM Modi for his ‘non-biological’ state.

And now he speaks the ‘Hindu’ word with Shiva by his side

Modi’s Gang retaliates, to shield his wounded pride.

Mixed Martial Arts is no chess game, you don’t play by those rules.

Now the RaGa boy has started it, and the Modi Gang aren’t fools

They snatch the word hot from his mouth, and twist it to a rope,

Made a ‘Hindu hater’ noose of it, there certainly was scope!

The one-eyed referee of this show, does what was expected

It’s scripted by the Treasury, and fair play is ejected.

And so, it goes on, blow for blow, this mindless, shallow bout.

Our ‘Knight in Shining Armour’ becomes a bloomin’ lout.

How I wish that it were different, that I wouldn’t feel revolted

But the stable door’s smashed open wide.

That bloody horse has bolted.

[This is the first instalment of Verse or Worse by Effkay!]

Hello Again!

2020-03-09T10:33:00.002+05:30

It's been quite a while since I've actually visited this space.
And while I'm here today, I'm still trying to figure things out.
Should I pick up or pack up?
With all the clamour and clutter out there, do I still have something to say?
or have I said it all?

Christian 'Witch' bludgeoned! Comments Christian soldiers?

2015-08-10T17:22:00.002+05:30

A news photo showing a village elder showing the spot where Jacinta and the four other women were murdered

Mandar in Ranchi district (Jharkhand State, India) is particularly close to my heart. It was there, at the Holy Family Hospital, aged 16 where I first came under the surgeon’s knife. Today, Mandar haunts me in a different way. Fifty five year Jacinta Toppo, a Catholic woman, was one of five unfortunate women who met a horrible, savage death, when a mob, among whom were some of her own relatives, declared her a witch and stoned and bludgeoned her to death.

This woman, stoned as a ‘witch’ by a mob Mandar in the dark hours of Saturday morning, was a progressive matriculate who donated 3 cottahs in 2009 to set up a school in her village. The four others were Ratia Oraon (70), Madni Oraon (55), Etwaria Oraon (50) and Tetri Oraon (35).

Jacinta, the only tribal Christian among the victims, was educated and known for her good works. Among her children, a son is in the army (Bihar battalion), a daughter a nurse. Besides donating land for the village primary upgraded school, Jacinta led a campaign against alcoholism. With some others, she campaigned for power supply in the village, which it finally got six months ago. Four months ago, Jacinta got a tube well installed.

A frenzied mob of 250 villagers, stripped them, lynched them and pelted stones on their bleeding bodies around 1am on Saturday. And this on the instigation of another woman an ‘ojhain’ (a female ojha or witch doctor) named Aichin in Jhakhra Tola, another cluster blamed them for causing the death of village boy Bipin Khalkho, a Class VI student.

And yet, at among the 27 persons arrested for the grisly killings, two youths Xavier, 22, and Moses (locally called Mojes), 26, were Christians, Xavier a Catholic college student and related to Jacinta. Xavier, despite his college education, was among those who believed that women of his village practised black magic to kill a child.

Though Bipin was ill for some time, exhibiting symptoms of jaundice and typhoid, his family did not take him to a hospital till it was too late, relying on witch doctors, local media reports say. Taken to missionary-run Holy Family Hospital in Mandar on July 29, Bipin died on August 2 morning, a nurse saying his liver was damaged beyond repair.

Just last year, a young friend of mine, David Tirkey, died of malaria and jaundice based complications in a village near Torpa in Ranchi, in somewhat similar circumstances. The death of this young man, well liked by the community in his village and among the Adivasi and Catholic community on Bodh Gaya came as a cruel shock. But imagine the greater shock to find that all his family, brothers and sisters came back to Bodh Gaya from the funeral with totems and charms around their necks. They were told, apparently by some ‘ Christian’ ojhas that another family in the village had cast spells on them. The younger brother Rajesh, himself in college, clung on to the charms for dear life, and would not listen to reason.

The Catholic priests in Bodh Gaya, Torpa, and in other tribal areas for that matter are more concerned with social issues and human rights, than addressing these fundamental issues of blind superstition and primitive fear. But on the other hand, can they really rein in the ‘Charismatics’ and the other fringe religious who actually see manifestations of ‘evil’ in everything they don’t agree with? Seems like a good formula for stirring up some good 'witch hunting' in the jungles, no?

I still haven’t seen a statement from the Cardinal or the Archbishop, or any officials of the Church in Ranchi on this issue. Correct me if somebody has actually made a statement to the press, and mentioned this in the pulpits over this Sunday!

All That Jazz -1

2015-05-10T09:10:00.001+05:30

April 30 every year is celebrated as International Jazz Day. Jazz was something we were accustomed to listen to while growing up, my Dad being an amateur horn blower and piano accordion enthusiast, who also had an impressive repertoire on the mouth-organ.

Ella, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Frank Sinatra were constantly on the record-player or on the radio, and scat sounded so deliciously fun to the ears of an eight year old. Louis Banks was a household name, and so were Pat Crain, and Usha Iyer, later Uthup.

After all, I grew up a 'Calcuttan', having spent a goodly portion of the first ten years of my life in my Grandad's house at Eight Sudder street.

Jazz is integral to our composite culture. I recently invested some fifteen hundred rupees to acquire my very own copy of Naresh Fernandes' gem of a book 'Taj Mahal Foxtrot', which is Musical History in more ways than one.

Consider this. On August 15, 1967 , the Anglo-Indian band leader Ken Mac was flown to Karachi from Bombay to perform in honour of Pakistan's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah at the Karachi Club. Jinnah requested the band to play Paul Robeson's "The End", one of his favourite tunes. Ken obliged. Meanwhile, on the midnight of August 14, in India the combined bands of Mick Correa and Chic Chocolate were on stage at the Taj in Bombay, and on the ballroom floor were people like JRD Tata and Vijayalakshmi Pandit, and at midnight, the band let out a swinging jazz version of the Jana Gana Mana, the tune that would officially become the national anthem three years later.

I'm still sipping at Taj Mahal Foxtrot, it's a heady cocktail that you should savour and not rush through at a single sitting. And each day, I learn more about how jazz actually became an inseparable part in the great mosaic of pan-Indian cultural expression.

The Bhaiya Letters: Kaidi number 4702

2014-10-10T06:18:00.000+05:30

My Dear Ammaji,

Finally after shedding lot of sweat, and making hole in the sole of my Bata chappal, I am sending to you the Puja greetings enclosed in this letter. In these days of email -shemale, the post office in Bangaluru is taking on appearance of dodo, that dead bird of British Raj. It took me damn long time searching for post office asking this one and that, but finally it is located like needle in the haystack. Last time my Uncle Bholanath found needle in haystack by sitting down on it and he caused awful commotion and much consternation and I am thinking that you remember well this incident.

Accept my respectful pranam and I am hoping you are in the pink of health after you have survived the pink eye condition. I am just coming from Chennai where many Madrasi ladies are going around with pink eyes, not because of the conjunctivitis, but because of conjunctions in the stars. Dusky Dravidian damsels are pink eyed because of weeping copiously over the misfortunes of their world famous Ammaji. One day Ammaji is the queen of Tamil Nadu, and next day she is cooling her high heels behind the bars of Parapanna jail. So sad, because this Ammaji is heaping so much of happiness on heads of faithful followers: Sometimes free television, sometimes free cycle, one rupee kilo rice, and many others things free she is giving every time election is rounding the corner. Poor lady, she is only keeping one rupee of salary for herself, not like our netas in Bihar who are eating the fodder and keeping the cows in the air-conditioning! But who can ward off evil eye of green eyed jealousy monster from rival party who is doing much jadoo-tona and so putting corruption case against this Ammaji! (This Ammaji is looking so sweetly smiling from her poster not like sour-faced and pouting Didiji who only mutters ‘cholbe na!’. I am eyeing the smiling face and I am thinking: How can judge be so stone hearted to send her to the grinding stone where she will make attafrom chakki for four years!)

Oh what a brave lady! For fourteen long years this damsel warded off the evil eye, with army of pundits, jyotishis, lawyers, liars, new shoes, and other worthy items. The fellow responsible for making the madras ladies teary eyed is called Subramaniam Swamy who has been eyeballing a political plum. Now in Chennai all the people in Ammaji’s party are warily eyeing one another while they are waiting to know who Ammaji has her eye on. But I hear that Ammaji’s eyes were occupied staring at the four walls of her single cell. They are calling her Kaidi number 4702!

This Ammaji is the female Lalooji of Tamil Nadu, mind it! I am sure you are remembering how our dear Lalooji also finally went behind the bars? This is kali-yug. They are acting like Raja Kans , but can prison keep the Raja of the Yadavs inside? The bars bent just like butter and let out our makhan chor who is now moving with rosy cheeks hither and thither all over Bihar!

I hope this letter reaches you in good condition. Bengaluru is getting rather soggy, and it is not the winter monsoon. The babu at the post office counter is wetting the stamp with his tears. Not because of the Madrasi Ammaji. His eyes are leaking like a chai-chalni. He is getting this emotional because I am paying for postage stamp and he hasn’t sold a single one in the past six months.

With salutations and laying my weary head at your lotus feet,

Your very own

B.I. Hari ; Traveller at large.

Buck Passing, buckshot!

2014-10-08T07:56:00.003+05:30

On Dusshera night... the fateful tenth night after the nine holy days ... a Novena of prayer rituals and abstinence for Hindus of the North of India.... there is a big community display where an effigy of the ten headed demon king is set off in a blaze of pyrotechnics. In the capital of Bihar, this spectacular Guy Fawkes event erupts at the Gandhi Maidan, Patna's Central Park [where people, animals, street vendors, cricket playing urchins, and loafers park themselves with gay abandon, but's that's another matter].

Anyhow, this time after the event, a rumour that a live wire had fallen somewhere sparked off a stampede that ended in some 32 deaths and several injuries. The administration seemed unprepared, and worse still, there never seems to be any strategy or protocol on how to deal with such emergencies. Now that the blight of terrorism and such has come to Bihar, one thinks that there should have been a plan for quick response and evacuation in case of any contingency.

There was none. Pitiful.

Shouldn't the Chief Minister be the one to resign instead of merely passing the buck by transferring police officials and administrative heads?
We're tired of watching this man react to situations as though he's a deer caught in the oncoming headlights of a tow truck.

No wonder the opposition and some of his own colleagues are pumping him full of buckshot.

Dear Dear! Sister Joan ....

2014-10-02T22:03:00.000+05:30

What does one say about Sister Mary Joan SND?

Apart from all the wonderful things that her many students and colleagues no doubt will recall about her, I for one will always remember the time one of her ferocious bloodthirsty hounds stalked me as I emerged from some NDCC late night production work and walked to the Notre Dame gate one winter night .

The brute promptly sunk its fangs into my new winter coat, ripping its sleeve. Had it not been for the prompt intervention of Ganesh, the night watchman, I’d either been eaten alive or probably have ended up pushing daisies, through sheer cardiac arrest.

Within minutes the portly figure of dear Sister Joan emerged from the gloaming, she bore down on watchman, canine, and its victim reciting an unending stream of ‘Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!’, and then she turned to me with an exasperated look, shaking her head.

“And what did you do to upset my poor baby?” she demanded, cradling and caressing that slobbering animal who would have surely bitten off my arm had it not been for the thick padding in the coat.

The torn coat and the shattered and traumatised human being were of no concern to her. Her beloved dogs took pride of place. She was absolutely oblivious of serious the incident was.

Her logic was simple. No visitors had any business being on the grounds of the convent once her dogs were let out. And if happenstance one of her pets bit you on the bum, then you were entirely to blame for having flaunted your bacon!

Sister Joan had absolutely no sense of humour when it came to animals and that’s what made her so delightfully comic and over the top. Many a harried former student of Notre Dame Communication Centre will have a quirky story about Sister Joan and her precious dogs, which, for a time were kennelled just outside our TV studio window!

There are a lot of us folk out there who can tell you that when it came to all God’s creatures, dogs were at the top of her list followed by cattle and pigs and squirrels and birds and she would stand up for them.

And as for men, they were the one’s that fell from God’s grace. The animals didn't commit original sin. She clearly believed that most men were usually guilty until proved innocent.

And the music!

You may get all mushy over how good she was at music. But let’s get real. Sister Joan was an absolute terror to several youngsters who would practice for the Sunday Mass ... the choir practices. Impatient, impetuous, and imperious, she was as devastating as any diva of the Opera.

But oh, how sweet it was on the rare occasions when one of the harried choristers received a smidgen of praise or a smile for finally hitting that impossibly high note! And Sister Joan’s smile, when it did make an appearance, was angelic.

Back from having seen her laid to rest, one gets the feeling that good sister Joan is probably comparing notes with my patron saint, Francis of Assisi, another songster and animal lover. I’m sure the two of them getting along like a house on fire.

Gandhi... still rocks and rolls?

2014-10-01T19:09:00.000+05:30

Shall we dance? Looks like Yul Bryner in The King & I

On the eve of the great Gandhi’s birthday, some random musings.

It’s interesting to see that Gandhi’s visage continues to adorn Indian currency notes of all denominations, and that the current dispensation in Delhi continues to cash in on the memory of the man who stubbornly insisted that India must be inclusive, embracing people of all faiths and persuasions.

There are a lot of folk in the business of Gandhi glorification, with the express aim of earning a quick buck or two, all in the name of homespun ideas and swadeshi. We’ve seen several of these khadi-sporting thugs weave their oily ways around, attempting to get on the boards of various ‘Gandhian’ institutions, and even open up a few of their own.

One also hears of a misguided, muddleheaded, chappie running around wearing Gandhi caps and homespun trousers with a clutch of credulous Caucasians [read white-haired American non-violence enthusiasts and such] in an attempt to ‘bring swaraj’ to Champaran in the form of a college of social work, where American students would cross the seas to come to and work among the villagers. Good idea, but hare-brained, considering that the fellow is known for nothing more than ‘spinning dreams’ - that sound good at face value but on closer observation look like social work ponzi schemes. Beware of the broom-wielder from Bhitharwa, somebody told me, he’s the March hare who’ll lead you down a rabbit hole and you’ll find no wonderland, just a very hungry python waiting to be fed!

Okay, so here’s an argument for you. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi wasn’t that great a visionary. He had some interesting ideas, yes. Charisma, yes. He could write well, definitely. A leader of the masses, he gave them something to believe in, and he walked the talk. But he had flaws. Oh, he was flawed! He used his fast-to-death weapon to blackmail Ambedkar from initiating action that would truly liberate the Dalits from Brahmanical dominance. I don’t want to really dwell on all his ‘experiments’ with truth and sexuality, some of which sadly, we will never know unless we can get our hands on the entire Gandhi-Kollenbach correspondence.

You women activists cry yourselves hoarse and want to bobbitize every full blooded male who eyeballs the desi Delilah. ‘Eve teasing’, ‘inappropriate touching’ ‘attempt to molest’ and what-not! You protest. You hold forth long on the primetime views that masquerade as news. What would you do if an old dodderer who insists on sleeping in his birthday suit beside two girls young enough to be his grand-daughters? Ignore it and say, it’s all for a good experiment? Seriously?

There’s a school of thought that believes that had he not been assassinated by that chap Godse, he would have probably grown older, weirder, and have lost all relevance in a few more years. But we’ll never know, shall we?

Let's face it folks, love him, hate him, you couldn't ignore Gandhi then, and you can't ignore him a hundred and fifty years on....

Pink-eyed Ponderings

2014-09-29T17:56:00.000+05:30

Egad! The pink-eyed monster strikes.
It's all over the city once the filthy pools of accumulated rain water have begun steaming their viral load into the air.
Patna has been invaded by the pink-eyed infection that's easier to catch than Puja fever. It's when people scamper all over the place looking rabbit eyed, and their noses go twitch because of the itch in the place they can't scratch... their eyeballs!

I don't know what Rajjo my partner in crime was up to, but the fellow came home the other day looking rather watery-eyed, and lo and behold... the next day I rose from my bed twitching like a frenzied zombie in one of those cheap-tack third grade tomato ketchup horror flicks.

They say that this affliction is rather like the common cold. It's going to torment you for four to six days, gum up your eye-lids, make you peer through slit eyes, and generally make you want to join a Jain nunnery -- which means to tear your hair out at the roots with your own bare hands. Honest, these Digamber Jain nuns don't shave their hair at their investiture ceremony, they actually pull it out at the root... gruesome. Buddhists, Catholics and such d have tonsures and they shave off their hair, but the Jains tear it up at the root. That's commitment!

You know, in the good old days Catholic nuns would be as bald as their Buddhist sisters, but nowadays, these nuns and priests only have 'token' tonsures. Wonder how many of their other vows are also 'token' with a pinch of salt?

Anyhow, back to the pink-eyes. Bathing the eyes in a brine solution helps a lot. But I certainly wouldn't go for what one home remedy expert advocated.. put a few drops of mothers' milk into the eye, and let the good pro-biotic bacteria fight with the bad itchy invaders! Some other wise dame said that a couple of drops of honey would do wonders. Applying sticky honey to an already sticky eye? No thank you. I'll just keep with the brine bath, the chloromycetin ointment and the frightfully expensive eye drops the doctor prescribed!

DOES OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM BENEFIT THE TRIBES OF INDIA?

2014-08-22T21:02:00.000+05:30

The late Dr Ramdayal Munda had coined his trademark slogan ‘Nachi se Banchi’ (Dance to Survive) as an injunction to adivasis all over India not to let go of their core traditions and values, which were being eroded and even ridiculed by the mainstream educational systems.

The most distinguished and erudite Indian Adivasi, or aboriginal inhabitant, of modern times, a proud son of the indigenous Munda tribe that for centuries dominated large tracts of central India and put up fierce resistance to British rule, Ram Dayal Munda never forgot where he came from: tribal dance and music remained his first love.

After gaining his Master's in Anthropology at Ranchi University, he moved to Chicago University, where he was awarded his PhD. He subsequently joined the staff of the university's Department of South Asian Studies and pioneered the teaching of tribal and regional Languages. He also taught South-East Asian languages at Minnesota University.

There are more than 600 Adivasi/tribal communities in India and most of them are among the most disadvantaged social groups.

A study conducted by the National Institute of Advanced Studies and backed by the UNICEF published two years ago has revealed Adivasis in India receive the "lowest-cost, poorest-quality and indifferently administered education".

Not only are the Adivasis marginalised, even affirmative action/reservation programmes for Adivasis (as Scheduled Tribes) in higher educational institutions have not had the desired effect, the report suggests. The study found that mainstream education has failed to recognise the aspirations, needs and predicament of Adivasis.

The Naxal violence has made it worse, leading to "widespread destruction of Adivasi homes, livelihoods and larger support structure, including healthcare, schools and spaces for civic action". Indigenous adivasi culture, knowledge forms and language find no place in the dominant education system, it notes. The report cites the example of tribal-dominated Chhattisgarh where a significant proportion of the schools are by the roadside or highways, though most tribals live in forests and hilly tracts.

Reviewing a number of educational programmes for tribals in institutes and schools in educationally backward blocks to fully residential Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas and ashramshalas, apart from fellowships for ST students, the report points to how the many tribal specific schemes run by the government are mostly poorly implemented, go un-monitored, and are often parallel and inadequate.

“Government schools teachers in Jharkhand or Odisha hardly bother to learn the local tribal language, even if they have been posted for years on end,” says Rajesh Tirkey a 24 year old studying in Magadh University. So in or order for an Adivasi to be educated, we are forced to forget our own language and pick up an alien one, be it English or Hindi.”

“Several Adivasi youngsters are doing extremely well in vocational and other courses. Education is to broaden one’s mind,” says a Patna boy who's an advertising professional currently in Australia, “but one cannot be insular forever.”

The Right to Education Act also states that as far as possible the language of instruction at the primary school stage should be in the mother-tongue. It is imperative that schools in Adivasi areas should have primary school teachers conversant in Ho, Munda, Santhali, Oraon, Sadri, and other tribal languages. But when will this be implemented? That’s a question that needs to be addressed if our Education System is to have any real relevance for Tribals.

Goodbye Mr Williams!

2014-08-13T05:46:00.000+05:30

Actor and comedian Robin Williams, who died Monday at age 63, will always be remembered.

He was Mork, the alien from planet Ork, in the 1978-82 ABC sitcom, Mork & Mindy, for which he received a 1979 Golden Globe Award for Best TV Actor in a Musical/Comedy.

He also won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin (1987) and ABC Presents: A Royal Gala (1988). His final television appearance was in the 2013-14 CBS sitcom, The Crazy Ones, which was canceled after only one season.

Williams won an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in the 1997 drama, Good Will Hunting.

He also received three other Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Dead Poets Society (1989) and The Fisher King (1991).

His other film credits include Popeye (1980), The World According to Garp (1982), Moscow on the Hudson (1984), The Best of Times (1986), Awakenings (1990), Hook (1991), Toys (1992), Aladdin (1992), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Jumanji (1995), The Birdcage (1996), Deconstructing Harry (1997), Patch Adams (1998), What Dreams May Come (1998), Death to Smoochy (2002), One Hour Photo (2002), Night at the Museum (2006) and its two sequels, Happy Feet (2006), The Night Listener (2006), Old Dogs (2009) and The Butler (2013).

Williams also appeared on Broadway in his own one-man show, Robin Williams: Live on Broadway, in 2002, and he made his Broadway acting debut in the play, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, in 2011.

Some links

An advertisement...with an 'unknown' Robin Williams in 1977

One man show

Inner Voices and Autobiographies!

2014-08-12T22:18:00.002+05:30

You know what? I think I'm gonna listen to my inner voice and avoid autobiographies ( penned by Indian politicians) like the Ebola virus!

Well, well, well... this person called Natwar Singh, a so-called Nehru Gandhi 'loyalist', hung up his boots and then dashed off an 'autobiography', which he uses to hit back at Sonia Gandhi for not saving his skin in the wake of the Volkar report on the oil-for-food scam.

Sonia G, he says declined the Prime Ministerial Chair way back in the UPA one day because Rahul Gandhi, her son urged her not to become prime minister or she would in all likelihood be assassinated. It had nothing to do with any 'inner voice' that dictated a moral high road, the man says. It was self-interest, pure and simple.

Washing dirty linen, you may call it. And of course, I for one would expect the BJP and its spin doctors to throw some mud into the washing machine, and they did , hogging media space and time on a non-issue.

Mrs G is nobody's fool. She didn't need Rahul's advice anyway. After the results were announced and Sonia Gandhi's party having the most seats at the time, would anyway be asked to form the government, and that got a number of 'nationalists' riled. Sushma Swaraj threatened to do a Sinead O'Connor. Purno Sangma and others clearly didn't want a foreign born prime minister and so on. It made brilliant political sense for Mrs G not to step into that particular hornet's nest. And in a brilliant move, she gave India its first Sikh Prime Minister. No doubt she listened to her 'inner voice', which astutely told her that if she wanted the Congress to remain in charge of the rather unwieldy coalition, she needed to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Which she did, brilliantly!

Natwar Singh - he's credibility challenged!

AIR FM Rainbow :Playing it Uncool

2014-08-11T06:40:00.000+05:30

I have always been partial to National Radio Stations, or the State Broadcasters if you will. The content of the programming and the presentation is usually good, and one isn't bombarded with tons of advertisements.

I am particularly fond of English language music and therefore tune in to The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, Radio Australia, and of course the western music services of All India Radio.

For me, Radio has always been a source of learning and experience. There's always a wealth of information weaving through the airwaves. Radio presenters [or Radio jockeys] from national broadcasters usually do their jobs well, knowing that out there, they are the voice of their country.

It is particularly distressing to note that certain presenters of Western Music Programmes on All India Radio's 'National' channel AIR FM Rainbow appear to have no understanding whatsoever of their job. The chap who comperes the Matchless Music Hour on Sundays [9 am]prattles on about stuff totally unrelated to the music he plays, like trips to Ladakh or sports or whatever. He should get down and research the music. Sunday Mornings could be turned into a request show for Western Music. The guy should open up the programme for messages and such , instead of boring us with drivel.

As for some of the part time announcers on 'Play it cool' on the noon-time slot: they murder the English language, their mispronounce words, stutter, and hem and haw through the show.

It's a pleasure to listen to MMH on Monday and Tuesday mornings though, and the Saturday presenter is not bad at all. Weekday evenings 6pm -7pm are usually fine on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. The phone in programmes are not so hot though, the RJs have to understand that all their listeners aren't in class 10 or 11!

Anyhow, thank God for BBC 2 on Sunday mornings!

John Travolta's 6 year same sex affair?

2014-08-01T07:08:00.000+05:30

Did Heart-throb of the 80’s John Travolta have a six-year same sex relationship with a pilot? And if he did what’s the big deal. Really!?!

Travolta and Gotterba: the good old gay times....

Okay, the Italian actor’s camp may want to stress that he’s actually a staunch, Italian, hetero, Catholic boy, but apart from that it’s just another cat that’s crawled out of the bag.

In a National Enquirer story labelled “ridiculous” by Travolta’s camp, pilot Doug Gotterba said he first met the “Grease” star in February 1981 when he interviewed for a pilot job – and by September they were lovers.

“I know the date (the affair began) because I still have the log book and records,” Gotterba, 62, told the Enquirer.”

He said they flew to Monterey, California, together and shared a “fantastic” bottle of merlot wine over dinner at the Highlands resort in Carmel. “I got the sense I was being courted,” Gotterba said. “As we walked from the restaurant back to the room, John suddenly said, “Hey, would you like a massage?’”

Gotterba said he'd expected the invitation, and the massage quickly led to sex. “John was gentle but very passionate. The next day he told me with a big smile on his face, ‘I really enjoyed last night,’” Gotterba told the Enquirer. He said Travolta, 58, took him on more romantic trips to Hawaii, Amsterdam and Kenya.

“Sometimes he’d bring women along as beards, but he would ask me to join him in his suite and we’d spend the nights together. It was our little secret,” Gotterba claimed.The pilot said he encouraged Travolta to get a girlfriend as cover, and that’s when the actor started dating Brooke Shields.

“There was no chemistry between them. They’d smile for the cameras and everyone assumed they were a couple,” he said.The affair ended in 1986 after growing tensions, Gotterba said.

“He’d show up on my door many times, unannounced, to check up on me,” the pilot told the Enquirer. “He’d disappear into my bedroom and go through my drawers. He always tried to catch me cheating on him.”

He said Travolta would ignore him for days if he didn’t drop everything to be with him on a moment’s notice.Their last meeting was years later in 1992, after Travolta married actress Kelly Preston.

“We were making small talk when suddenly, I blurted out, ‘So, John, tell me. Now that you’re married, do you still prefer men – or women?’” Gotterba said he asked. “Well, Doug, I still prefer men,” Travolta replied, according to Gotterba.

The Enquirer report follows three months after two anonymous masseurs – John Does 1 and 2 – filed and later dropped federal lawsuits claiming Travolta groped them during massages. The first Doe withdrew his legal claim after Travolta proved he was in New York on the day of the alleged Beverly Hills attack. Travolta's camp immediately dismissed the Enquirer's interview with Gotterba.

“This ridiculous so-called ‘new’ story is a re-tread of a story published a few weeks ago by the same desperate supermarket tabloid – the same tabloid that impossibly claimed that John Travolta had an encounter with ‘Doe #1’ in Beverly Hills when he was actually on the east coast working on a movie,” Travolta’s rep said in a statement Wednesday.

So that’s the story… and let’s see how it unravels…. another myth bites the dust?

A Hamasculation of Gaza

2014-07-20T19:25:00.003+05:30

The Gaza conflict continues. More missiles. More Destruction. The death toll has crossed four hundred and counting. When will the guns fall silent? How many deaths will it take for Israel and Hamas to know that too many people have died?

This is barbaric, and the Hamas game-plan seems to be to instigate even more Israeli reprisals so that the death toll on the Palestinian side mounts so much that the international community will finally have no other option but to step in and stop Israel.

Doesn't the killing of hundreds of defenceless men, women, boys, and girls add up to a 'war crime?'

And the answers, my friend, keep blowing in the wind.

The answers are blowing in the wind.

Tripping through India Bhattarai Style

2014-07-20T18:59:00.000+05:30

These two chaps decide to backpack through India today and the SAARC countries tomorrow. Ho hum! This is the 21st century and they’re probably hundreds of chaps doing exactly the same thing and they earnestly believe that they’re up to something unique, so seriously, what’s new?

Nabaraj and Narayan Bhattarai are two young fellows who claim a certain notoriety in their home country Nepal. They took a walk through the length and breadth of the country’s 75 districts between October 2008 and 2010. The jaunt that started with some 350 Nepali rupees in their pocket, pens , paper, a digicam and a handycam, yielded a 98 minute documentary and 508 page book on their 750 day experience. They describe themselves as village yokels with an interest in journalism, and are members of the Lalitpur chapter of the Nepali Federation of Journalists. Coming from rural Nepal to Kathmandu as undergraduate students, they met, clicked and began to ‘live together’. (This could have gotten interesting, only, they are really evasive about that part of their ‘bio-data’, but body language says a lot, boys!)

They were rather non-committal about events in Nepal, but one got the distinct impression that they weren't too pleased about the 'secular constitution'. A chance statement that Narayan let slip was telling, "Nepalis in Gujarat and some northern states admired Modi and the BJP for winning the election and Hindus in Nepal were very pleased about this." Probably reading the expression on my face, Nabaraj quickly stepped in to say, 'Many Hindus in Nepal support Modi and the BJP, not everyone'.

“Our visit to Bihar comes at the end of our year long travel through India, that started when we crossed the border to Sikkim on the 22nd of July,” says Nabaraj. “Our main purpose is to look at the Nepali diaspora, observe how they live, what are the changes and adaptations in culture, and to bring back that learning to Nepal. Real life stories of Nepalese people all over the world could inspire our own young people back in Nepal,” he says.

The two operate their tour on the ‘modern fakir system’: donations, crowd funding via facebook, and a lot of dependence on the local Nepali population. They accept the hospitality of local Nepalese usually belonging to Nepali cultural organizations within the city they visit. This has helped them gain insight as to how different strata of the diaspora live. However, when I interacted with them for over an hour, what I got was a lot of froth and very little beer.

What did they learn from their four day visit? After making the usual touristy noises about how impressive Bodh Gaya and Nalanda were (they spent two days sight-seeing and met only one Nepalese person there), they got down to the basics: “We haven’t met many Nepali people, but generally Bihari Nepalese are not doing as well as those in Assam or Mumbai. They aren’t many Nepali speaking people who are in good positions or in the media in Bihar. They are mainly labourers in restaurants and so on. The teenagers that we met did not know Nepali well and preferred to speak in English or Hindi. The irony is that they were the kids of a local man who is a community leader of sorts. Somehow we get the impression that the youngsters are a bit ashamed of being recognized as Nepalese,” says Narayan, the elder of the two. That’s a journalistic statement from the two travellers!

“We get a sense of disunity and squabbling among the local Nepali population in Bihar, which could be because of lack of higher education. For example in Mumbai, there are two Nepali dailies being published, and in Gujarat we met a highly successful Nepali businessman in the hospitality industry. Where there are well educated Nepalese, we have seen strong and vibrant diaspora associations,” says Nabaraj .

The two look forward to meeting the Nepalese ambassador in Delhi and hope to gain an audience with the President and Prime Minister of India. Another ‘book’ and a documentary are in the offing!

A young man died...

2014-07-14T12:03:00.000+05:30

What do you day about a young man who died suddenly, unexpectedly, in an ICU somewhere in Ranchi, Jharkhand India?

That he was 28 years old?

That he was just about to experience one of the most life-changing experiences in life: his engagement to a girl he was sweet on, and whose parents approved of the match?

That he was ever-smiling, so polite, ever so helpful and generous?

That he was the eldest son and as is usually the case with most working class families, the one his parents would depend upon to see his other siblings through?

David

The Tirkey Family of Magadh University Campus Bodh Gaya

David Pramod Tirkey will be remembered by all who knew him as a fine young man.

He will be missed by all of us who have had the privilege of being a small part of his life.

He will be missed by the Adivasi community in Bosh Gaya, by the small Catholic community there, but most of all by the numerous friends and neighbours whom he interacted with.
God speed .....

In search of the Bodhi Geese with the golden eggs

2014-07-08T22:57:00.002+05:30

Is this the State Bank- Mahabodhi Temple partnership to own 'Lord Buddha'? These blatant signs inside the Mahabodhi temple complex , photographed by Anagarika Dhamma Priya urge one to donate online to 'Lord Buddha'... is the State bank of India and the BTMC an unholy nexus that is misleading pilgrims? Is this to mean that other temples have no link to the 'Lord Buddha?'

Kashaf Bin Shamim and his friends do not visit the Mahabodhi Temple any more. Neither do Arun Tirkey and Bajrang Munda. Nor do Anjali and Lily or Triratna Prasad. These people, aged 18 to 50 were once regular fixtures at Bodh Gaya’s historical landmark. You would find them walking quietly, feeding the fish, or showing off their world heritage site to awed relatives from other states. Once the town was placed on India’s ‘terrorist site map’ a year ago, the new-fangled security measures have sapped the spirit of camaraderie and harmony. The ten foot wall that surrounds the outer periphery of the temple, and the 200 strong police force and the new security measures are to blame.

“It’s as though the death eaters from a Harry Potter book has descended on the Temple,” says 19 year old Felix Toppo, a tall and lanky lad. “Sometimes the cops at the gates can be quite rude, and it’s dangerous to talk back, or we guys may end up in handcuffs!”

The 7/7 blasts have scared away Bodh Gaya's geese with the golden eggs: tourists of every hue and nationality, and there is tough competition as monks and merchants alike joust valiantly to snaffle the few unflappable visitors who do end up before the temple gates.

Triratna Gupta and Anagarika Dhamma Priya, who have lived in the town for decades say that the wall and security measures have driven away business, but there is a whisper doing the rounds that the Mahabodhi Temple Management Committee are in cahoots with the State government to load the dice in favour of certain unnamed business interests.

There is so much of frisking and inconvenience in the guise of security, that most visitors who visit the Mahabodhi once, are reluctant to go through the entire rigmarole for a second visit. "Before, the pilgrim would come back for a multiple darshans, once in the morning, and once in the evening, and remain there till quite late. These visitors would then take time to visit the surrounding shops and take in the local colour. Now that’s all finished.," says Triratna. The only organisation that seems to be unfazed about the dip in pilgrims seems to be the BGTC. The Chief Monk brushed off suggestions that this year there were fewer visitors around Buddha Purnima as 'unverified speculation'. It seems that the donations to the Mahabodhi temple weren't all that much affected by the tourist drought.

“A year ago suspected terrorists engineered four low-intensity blasts inside the main shrine complex. The Tregar Monastery of the Karmapa, Great Buddha statue and an empty tourist bus were the other targets. It’s strange that these explosions were about as powerful as very large crackers. The continued demands from the Temple Management Committee for more and more security measures, is intriguing, even though it’s quite evident that more policing brings about resentment and fear, not amity and harmony,” says Anagarika Dhamma Priya, a PUCL member, and one of the vocal critics of what is being perceived as the steady politicisation of the Bodhi Temple management.

The harmony between different religious communities and congregations have taken a beating after the blast, and the dwindling flow of foreign visitors that jolted the hospitality sector hasn’t made relationships any sweeter. Business fell almost 70 percent, locals swear.

Local Bodh Gaya inn keepers, lodge owners and hoteliers complain that the monasteries are nuzzling in on their turf. “It’s bizarre how these monasteries have added on rooms and are providing hospitality for a fee to more and more foreign pilgrims. After the blasts, the monasteries seem to be creating an impression that the regular hotels are unsafe, and they are in fact poaching on our trade,” grumbles Shamim, who runs a middle-of-the-road hotel not far from the main temple. “I wonder whether these monasteries are paying income tax on money earned from their guests?”

People who own real estate are unhappy as well, because after the blasts they are not allowed to build upon, sell or transfer their holdings. “The blasts are a convenient excuse for the authorities to tamper and tinker around with the so-called Bodh gaya Development Plan, which none of us have really seen,” says Ali Asghar, a member of the local shopkeepers union.

Prince Dwyer, and educationist and social activist is optimistic, though. “The government has its own perception of what ‘security’ is, and what it must do to assure the foreign visitors that Bodh Gaya can deal with any security threat. As for the drop in traffic, one year is a short span in memory. Let’s wait till October, and we may see increased footfalls and better days ahead. All of us have got to move beyond 7/7/13 ! ”

Laugh your Hee-haw off

2014-07-07T20:19:00.000+05:30

The Anglo Indian community has its own peculiar sense of humour, gleaned from their varied European and Indian ancestry, their healthy disrespect of clergymen, by their innate religious fear, their love of the bawdy while struggling to appear straight-laced, sober and sanctimonious.

Here is a good one that I have heard years ago at one of those old get-togethers....

Murphy showed up at Mass one fine Sunday. The priest almost fell down in shock when he saw him. He'd never been inside the church since he was a little bitty baby.

After Mass, the priest caught up with him and said, "Murphy, me lad, I am so glad ya decided to come to Mass. What made ya come?"

Murphy said, "I got to be honest with you Father. A while back, I misplaced me hat and I really, really love that hat. I know that McGlynn has a hat just like mine .And I knew the old son of a gun comes to church every Sunday. I also knew that he had to take off his hat during Mass and figured he would leave it in the back of church. So, I was going to leave after Communion and steal ol' McGlynn's hat."

The priest said, "Well, Murphy, I notice that ya didn't steal McGlynn's hat. What changed your mind?"

Murphy replied, "Well, after I heard your sermon on the 10 Commandments, I decided that I didn't need to steal McGlynn's hat after all."

With a tear in his eye the priest gave Murphy a big smile and said; "After I talked about 'Thou Shalt Not Steal' ya decided you would rather do without your hat than burn in Hell?"

Murphy slowly shook his head. "No, No, Father, when ya talked about 'Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery' I suddenly remembered where I left me hat!"

The WALLED BODHI TREE-PART 2

2014-07-07T19:23:00.000+05:30

Are the fat cats of the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee quietly aiding and abetting the Bihar Government in its game plan to displace local vendors and create more opportunities for big business?

A local artisan: will he soon be displaced by the BTMC plans?

Is the Mahabodhi Temple soon to become nothing more than a goose that will lay easter eggs stuffed with foreign tourist dollars?

Is the so-called 'Bodh Gaya terrorist attack' of July 7. 2013 the perfect cover to execute the destruction of the street vendors and the small and affordable service providers to make way for McDonald's, Barristas, and fancy high-priced salons, eateries?

Will the Bodhi Temple now manufacture a 'brand' through which it will hock trinkets and souvenirs from state Government projects after its 'ex-officio Chairman' the Honourable District Magistrate would have used brute force to chase away indigenous craftsmen and small business that have survived in the shade of the Temple for generations?

Entrance and Exit from the Western Side.. blocking out the market on the east?

The Common Man of Bodh Gaya has a lot of doubts as a ten-feet wall and 200 Bihar Military Policemen now separate him from the Mahabodhi Temple. The wall, to most of the residents here, is a wall of shame in more ways than one can count.

“Last year, after the July 7 explosion, the administration erected this ten foot extra boundary wall in front of the Mahabodhi temple for so-called ‘security’. This wall has benefitted nobody. It has destroyed our small Bodh Gaya bazaar that existed opposite the temple for more than half a century. This cursed wall has affected the market, the business and the livelihood of more than 400 families,” says Triratna Prasad Gupta, the chairman of the Bodh Gaya Vyavasayik Sangh (BGVS), a loose union of shopkeepers who have been in business around the periphery of the temple for decades.

There is no doubt that the bomb blast was a black day in the history of this town, says Ali Asghar who operates a tour and travel agency in the bazaar. “The bomb scared away visitors and incomes fell. On top of that, the wall is overkill. The fallout of the sanitization exercise was that the people who provided low-cost services to the pilgrims were kicked out. As pilgrims came out from the temple after their prayer, there were opportunities to buy cheap souvenirs, have light meals for as little as twenty rupees, and move eastwards to the market for other needs. These services were swept away when the entire space in front of the temple was cleared. The ten foot wall sprung up in front of our noses, and hid our shops from view. The result, business is down by almost seventy percent.”

In the meanwhile, local news reports say that the wall might be raised another five feet, and watchtowers along the sides are being planned. With the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee(BTMC) planning to sell stone images made in Nalanda under its own brand, the locals smell a conspiracy in the whole game-plan of displacing the small vendors, raising the wall, and putting in place obtrusive ‘security protocols’.

“Is the wall part of a larger game plan to squeeze out the locals, and drive foreign visitors towards the more expensive hotels and high-end restaurants that are beginning to dot the western side of the Mahabodhi temple?” ask some social activists from the People’s Union for Civil Liberties and certain members of the Shanti Sadbhavna Samiti.

The son of the late Ram Deo Ram, a graduate from the Sakya Muni College took over his father’s shoe-making business of 18 years at Pachetti locality, east of the temple , recalls that before the wall, several foreign tourists would purchase his pure leather handmade boots and sandals.

Ram Jr. says the wall is squeezing off his customers

Now the footfalls have fallen drastically, even those who visit the temple, return the other way.

“It’s all because of the rules that you have to leave your mobile phone on the western side of the temple, so when you leave, you go back in that direction. The wall is so high that you don’t realize that there’s a whole market behind it.”

“The wall has effectively erased the low-priced artifacts and commodities, broken the backs of the local artisans, and obscured local businesses that have stood here for generations.
" Now the Temple management is tying up with artisans imported by Nitish Kumar who are creating soapstone carvings. So the cash inflow from foreign tourists will be cornered by the monasteries and the high end hotels. Raise the bogey of security threat, isolate the local competition, throw out the poor street vendors and encroach on common land.

" Who can challenge the BTMC, after all their chairman is no ordinary citizen, he is the District Magistrate with almost unlimited powers which can be used in ‘emergency situations’. The explosions are just the excuse by which all opposition to BTMC game-plan has been silenced,” a shop owner observed.

In 1958, several of the shops behind the wall had ceded their own frontage contribute to what became the open space around and in front of the temple. That land has now been usurped by the BMTC, say the affected merchants.

The BGVS has petitioned the High Court against the wall. Says Gupta, “With this uneven playing field, the judiciary is our only recourse to justice. We wait for our plea to be heard. Let’s hope it isn’t in vain”.

The Walled Bodhi Tree- part 1

2014-07-06T17:18:00.000+05:30

TEMPLE UNDER A CLOUD?

A year ago, this night, the good people of Bodh Gaya, the place where the holiest Bo-tree sprouted, tucked themselves [or their significant others] into bed, only to be awakened by a rude shock in the early hours of July 7, 2013.

Some explosives that had been placed inside the Mahabodhi Temple and the great Buddha statue had gone off. Bang! Sleepy little Budha Gaya found itself splattered across the daily newspapers- it had earned its place on the 'terrorism map'.

It's a curious case that is still debated ad nauseum in the tea shops and in parlours, with sighs of resignation and bemused shakes of the head. What an incompetent bunch of terrorists these chaps were. They struck in the early hours of the morning, when there wasn't any real bustle around. The devices didn't do more damage than extremely loud crackers: splintered a pane or two, scratched at the surface of the stone. No casualties at all.

The explosions caused fissures in the fragile balance of harmony, not only among the general population, but amidst those who ostensibly promote peace and non-violence. Buddhism’s holiest shrine may now glitter with some 290 kilograms of pure gold atop its dome, but its welcoming arms have been amputated, a literal ‘Berlin Wall’ policed by surly policemen, have alienated the Bodhi tree from the people of Bodh Gaya.

Editor of the e-zine ' Bo-tree news' Anagarika Dhamma Priya minces no words, “Fear stalks the ordinary folk living around the temple. Fear of the police. The overwhelming presence of policemen outside and inside the temple is unnerving for many visitors. For the ordinary person without a robe, sitting in contemplation or meditation is difficult, because it is quite likely that you will be accosted by some policeman asking you to move on. Moreover, people certainly aren't happy the way the district administration and the police has used the bogey of terrorism to demolish shops, clear out the vendors, and even intimidate young men from certain communities. There have been no protests because most people are fearful of being locked up under some draconian law or the other”

Of course there was both fear and resentment among the young men, says a young hotelier. “Who isn’t scared of the police? The police bully youngsters in the name of ‘security’ now. Bodh Gaya was never like this. All of us Hindu, Moslem, Buddhist, rich or poor would visit the Mahabodhi temple. Today, ask how many locals visit regularly? It doesn't matter whether you are Hindu or Muslim, the police have created such a havoc that Buddha now rests behind the Berlin Wall of ham-handed security. Before, we sit till late at night talking and chatting in the small tea shops near the temple. Now, they pack up by eight pm to avoid the unwelcome attention of the Bihar Police.”

RTI activist and Buddhist monk, the venerable Priya Pal Bhikkhu from the National Coordination Committee of Buddhist organizations in India (NCCBOI) mentioned two separate incidents where the Bihar police at the Mahabodhi have manhandled Buddhist clergy. “One incident involved a monk, and another rather ugly one flared up between the policewomen and a Tibetan nun from Nepal. The matter was later sorted out, but it has shown that the Bihar police are inept at handling visitors. That is why NCCBOI have been campaigning for a properly trained National security force to take over at the temple. The Mahabodhi is not the Taj Mahal, it’s not a mere historical monument, it is a functioning place of worship for lakhs of people across the world,” says Bhante Priya Pal.

The Shanti Sadbhawna Samiti, a collection of over 100 citizens from various affiliations, has planned to observe the 7th of July as a black day, with a day- long fast and a candle march. Anagarika Dhamma Priya wondered whether the peaceful protest would be allowed, or would they face police violence, but others, like Gaya YMCA secretary Prince Dwyer believes that the State government will not let police violence happen, because it would scare off whatever tourists remain.

Boorish Policemen keep devotees away?

Says Jose Kariakat of the faith-based NGO Jeevan Sangam, “One cannot just brush aside an incident that has affected the lives of practically every resident of Bodh Gaya, and continues to do so. Mischievous elements tried to make capital of the explosions last year, and it took the concerted efforts of several people and organizations such as the Bodh Gaya Inter-faith Forum, International Buddhist Council, Gandhi Peace Foundation, All India Bikkhu Sangh, PUCL and so on to ensure that the fire of distrust did not burn in our villages.”

Chief Monk of the Mahabodhi Temple Rev. Bhikkhu Chalinda points out that none can fault the State government for protection of the temple.

Chief Monk of BTMC Ven. Chalinda

He believes that pilgrims should learn to adapt to the circumstances. “People want to forget the incident of 7th July, it was not such a big incident; there wasn’t any major damage. We will have a peace prayer meeting to be attended by the abbots of 50 monasteries from Bodh Gaya, as well as members of the inter-faith forum. The DM of Gaya will inaugurate and address the gathering.”

There is a lot of scepticism as to what value Gaya's new district magistrate would add to the mix. "It's a state-sponsored function, nothing more," a resident told me. The secretary of the BTMC- the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee Nangtse Dorjee is staying away from controversy, currently on holiday in his native Sikkim.

Bhikkhu Chalinda will take no part in the candle-march however. “I have to perform my duties as Chief Priest of the Temple,” he reminds us.

The other side of 'Find me a Maid'

2014-07-05T21:05:00.000+05:30

Try this on for size. You're a smart, articulate, young professional, just stepping into your stride at the new corporation you've joined. You are just getting comfortable with being part of a new team, and then, somebody says... "By the way, could you do me a favour? What I really need is a full time maid, preferably an Adivasi girl from a village. I'm sure that you could help us out, being a tribal and all..."
Is this the way mainstream India looks at Tribal citizens?

“Do you know what trafficking implies? It’s enticing young girls and women from villages to the city with the promise of giving them jobs. And yet, my non-Adivasi friends and colleagues don’t give a second thought before saying, ‘Jasmine, you are an Adivasi, find us a girl to work in our houses!’ So that’s my identity. They don’t see me as an educated, articulate and smart bank professional, but as some jungle-dwelling entity with such low self-esteem that she will willingly traffic her sisters to the city to work as servants,” says Jasmine Tigga, a bank officer serving at the State Bank of India.

What makes up one’s identity? Is it your birth-place, your blood-line, your language or beliefs, or does it lie in your achievements, your education, or is it just the way everybody else looks at you? What does it mean to be a tribal professional in the world today?

Let's call a spade a spade. The urban middle-class largely believes that Adivasis should remain in the jungles or continue to provide the unskilled and semi-skilled labour in our sweat-shops.

I remember, way back in my childhood days, how certain Hindi teachers at my school would look down on our third grade Hindi teacher, Miss Toppo, who, I learnt much later, had genuine BA degree in Hindi.

You see, they were quite polite to her, but none of the teaching staff members except for a couple of Anglo-Indian ladies turned up at her brother's wedding. You see, Miss Toppo's own mother had worked as a maid (a 'maid-servant' was the term in those days), and the high caste women teachers just couldn't treat Miss Toppo as an equal.

It was cultural, in those days. Miss Toppo retired after teaching brats at St. Xavier's Doranda for a good twenty five years or so. Forty years on, things haven't changed, have they?

“The strength of Adivasi culture is that we do not consider any work too low, or too mean to perform. We do not look down on others because of the job they perform. And so, this gives us tremendous scope to better ourselves. As a woman, I can assert that Adivasi men have no hang-ups about helping their wives with the housework or looking after the babies. So we have an egalitarian society,” says Jasmine. And that's a damn sight better than a whole lot of crass, rich, high-class Indian women who are really unpaid servants, catering to every whim of their husbands, and their husbands are usually boring, boorish louts....

Jasmine refuses to let anybody take advantage of her good nature. 'At first my boss thought that he could fob off extra work on me, just because I was a harmless submissive tribal. he now knows better than to try that trick again.' she says.

More power to Jasmine Tigga... you rock girl!