#Books: शरतचंद्र चटोपाध्याय की पुस्तकें

एक ट्रेन यात्रा के लिए प्लेटफार्म से कोई किताब खरीदनी थी। आजकल बुक स्टॉल्स पर नए 'चीकी' लेखकों की 'लव स्टोरीज' खूब दिखती हैं। एक पच्चीस साल का लेखक जिसके दूध के दाँत भी नहीं टूटे, जब प्यार और रिलेशनशिप्स पर ज्ञान देता हुआ किताब लिखता है तो चिढ़ ही होती है। खैर, नजर गई शरतचंद्र चटोपाध्याय की एक पुस्तक पर - 'लेन देन'। पढ़ा तो एक बिलकुल नयी दुनिया दिखी।

वह नयी दुनिया किसी साइंस फिक्शन की तरह काल्पनिक नहीं और हॉलीवुड मूवी की तरह किसी पराए संस्कृति के बोझ तले दबी नहीं थी। उस नयी दुनिया में हर ओर शोर नहीं पर खामोशी की अपनी भाषा थी। जहाँ हर कुछ बिकाऊ नहीं बल्कि त्याग, तपस्या और संस्कार के बंधन थे। ऐसा नहीं कि उस दुनिया में सब खुश थे - कहीं करुणा की नदियाँ और कहीं पीड़ा के कुएँ भी थे। पर पानी और आँसू दोनों में 'पॉल्युशन' नहीं था।

वह 'नयी' दुनिया हमारे पुराने समाज की सच्ची तस्वीर दिखाती थी। जब लोग सच्चे-दिल और भावुक होते थे। जब पैसे के लिए कुछ भी कर गुजरने की किसी ने प्रतिज्ञा नहीं ली थी और जब 'संतोष' नाम की कोई चीज हर दूसरे घर में मिलती थी। वह 'नयी' दुनिया मुझे अच्छी लगी।

अच्छी लगे भी क्यों नहीं - शरतचंद्र की कितनी ही पुस्तकें बॉलीवुड की फिल्म बनकर खूब सफल हुई हैं - जैसे हाल की देवदास और परिणीता। शरतचंद्र (15.09.1876 - 16.01.1938) बांग्ला भाषा के एक महान लेखक थे।

अगली ट्रेन यात्रा में फिर से उनकी एक किताब मिली - कमला। फिर से वही 'नयी दुनिया' और वही जादू।

फुर्सत मिलते ही किताब टटोला; प्रकाशक 'मनोज पब्लिकेशन्स' दिल्ली के ही थे और उनकी एक वेबसाइट भी थी। वेबसाइट पर गया और जितनी मिलीं - 'शरत साहित्य' की कुल २१ पुस्तकें ऑर्डर कर दीं जो कि अमेज़ॉन इत्यादि से आधे से तिहाई कीमत पर मिल रही थीं। ४ दिनों बाद सारी किताबें घर आ गयीं हैं। और खुशी इतनी है कि क्या कहूँ।

धन्य है भारत और यहाँ का साहित्य।

- राहुल तिवारी

"The world will heal; all it needs is a few more kind hands. A few more." ~ Rahul 

#Hinduism: Daughter lighting funeral pyre of Atal Bihari Vajpayee

After demise of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, one of India's best and most respected Prime Ministers on 16^th of August, his foster daughter Namita Kaul Bhattacharya lit the funeral pyre ^[1]. That created some buzz in the media as media is always eager to cover as many aspects of the ‘news of the hour’ as possible. Media reported about the fact that a daughter lighting funeral pyre is not common among Hindus; which is correct. But it is important to note that the reason behind the custom is not any bias against women but a different one altogether.

First, Hinduism as a religion does not ban women from attending cremation or a female from lighting funeral pyres. A lot of women have done so across the times. This practice of not allowing women at the cremation site is more of a cultural practice or a social custom. The reasons can be explained in many ways.

The major reason is that daughters are perceived to be emotional and too attached to their parents and hence may not be able to carry the whole process as strongly as a son would be able to do. This should not be seen as a sign of ‘weakness’ as modern feminist could judge it as. Any custom that society makes considers the general welfare of people. In several cases a daughter may be strong enough or stronger than the son but those would be exceptional cases.

Anu Lall writes in her article ^[2] titled "Why Hindu Women don’t light funeral pyres":

"As the fire leapt up, the pandit handed over a bamboo stick for the Kapaal Kriya — breaking the skull to release the soul from the body. Several times in the process, buckets of water were poured on me, or I was asked to pour on myself. Shivering to the spine, in the cold November rain, breaking my dad’s skull, my senses were numb, maybe heart stopped beating. I must be breathing. Must have, coz I didn’t die. We came back, drenched to the bone, my soul and mind paralysed."

This just gives an account of kind of experience the doer of the rituals have to go through.

You can go through the whole process or rituals in this article on Hindu Jagriti website  ^[3].

It is an arduous task.

Even if daughters or females were allowed to do the rituals, all of them may not like to do it. Hence sons or male members of the family would take care of the process. It is very important to note that this custom is to "safeguard" the women from the trouble.

Many a time when the deceased does not have a male family member, one of the daughters or a female family member does the process. No Hindu organization issues a "fatwa" against them or any other sort of protest.

To conclude, this custom of not allowing females from doing the cremation rites is social in nature, not religious. And this custom was made to safeguard the females from the inconvenience and ordeal due to a cumbersome process, not as a form of any gender discrimination.

:: Rahul Tiwary 

References:

1.     https://www.news18.com/news/india/atal-bihari-vajpayee-funeral-live-updates-daughter-lights-pyre-of-former-pm-nation-bids-teary-adieu-1847293.html

2.      https://medium.com/@anulall/why-indian-women-dont-light-funeral-pyres-48580e52dd0d

3.      https://www.hindujagruti.org/hinduism/rituals-to-be-performed-prior-to-and-during-cremation-of-a-dead-body

Disclaimer: Views are personal.

#Message: Draupadi and Boon from Shiva

Draupadi worshiped Lord Shiva and asked for husband who is honest and strong and skilled and handsome and intelligent.

Instead of giving her one husband with all five qualities, Shiva gave her five husbands each with one quality.

Message: Beware of what you wish, because you may get it but not in the manner you expect! And old wisdom still works - expect less and be modest in your wants and wishes...

- Rahul 

#Hinduism: Shankara: Ideal God for Householders

God is one but is worshiped by different people in different forms.

Someone said that for a 'grihastha' or householder, the best form of God to worship is Vishnu or his avatars like Ram or Krishn; mainly driving inspiration from 'trilogy' concept in Hinduism where Vishnu is the form of God who sustains life while Shiv is the god of destruction. But there is more in Hinduism apart from Trilogy concept and hence there are no easy conclusions.

Do you know that the only Hindu god who is to be visualized as a householder with a wife and children is Lord Shiva! In popular images you can find Shiva and Parvati sitting together while baby Ganesha and Karthikeya are in their lap. On the other hand, Lord Rama is worshiped along with wife Sita, his brothers and Hanuman but not with his kids. Lord Krishn can be seen along with Radha as consort. Lord Vishnu can be seen along with Goddess Lakshmi. Lord Hanuman was a brahmchari so sometimes he is seen alone while some times along with Lord Ram. Goddess Durga is seen alone. No other God apart from Lord Shiv is visualized along with their children as a family.

Shiv is originally a hermit living on Mount Kailash but he was 'domesticated' by Shakti when she brought him to Kashi where he became Shankara, a householder. Parvati ji became Goddess Annapurna, goddess of food and nourishment for everyone.

Shiv family is also complete. Shiva is Purusha himself; his wife Sati is considered ideal wife; Ganesha is considered ideal son; Karthikeya is the warrior god who protects villages. Together, they represent perfect balance in the universe.

Hence as Shankara, Shiva becomes ideal god of householders or grihasthas.

- Rahul Tiwary

#Art: Famous Paintings from India

Raja Ravi Varma

Bharat Mata (1905) by Abanindranath Tagore

Santiniketan Triptych by Tyeb Mehta

You Can't Please All (1981) by Bhupen Khakhar

Brahmcharis by Amrita Sher-Gil

Mother India by Amrita Sher-Gil

#Society: The Girl Who Would Fly

One of my unhealthy habits is reading local newspaper daily. I call it an unhealthy habit because it thrusts a lot of information into my brain which I would rather be happy without. Most pages contain news about crime, accidents, fraud and other assorted bad-news. There is an editorial page which is designed to bore readers to sleep. There are sports pages which cover what all games foreign people are playing and winning in distant countries. There are capsules of health tips which are perhaps designed to scare readers rather than educate them. There are ads of major brands and for finding missing people. The only pages I love and find useful come in the form of ‘flyers’ from local playschools and restaurants with free home deliveries. Not for their content but I love their colorful design and beautiful paper. To top it, these leaflets are unexpected and a total surprise. But I have been planning to stop newspaper delivery at home for several days.

On the inside pages of today’s newspaper, one news item stood out. A girl jumped from the third floor of GIP mall, Noida yesterday. She arrived alone at the mall, walked for around half an hour, went to the third floor and jumped. Her head broke. She was hurried to a nearby hospital where she was declared dead. The newspaper showed the picture while she was being carried away. Mall-goers were flocking and standing around her like they usually do. A suicide note was found with her which she had addressed to her lover, probably a boy. She mentioned that she loved her friend very much and they were not able to talk for several days which had created a lot of distress in her and hence to end it she had decided to jump. Newspaper reported that she belonged to some other place in UP; was staying in Noida in one of the suburbs and she worked in a company in Noida. She was very much like the regular mall-rats we see in the shopping malls all around. Except that she won’t be seen anymore from today onward. And no one would notice. 

In many ways this girl represented what we call the current generation. She was the youth which makes our country ‘youngistan’. She was the young employee which companies depend upon to keep the input cost low, in order to earn higher profits and give VRS to older employees. She was the typical young earning customer which shopping malls depend upon to do impulsive buying of fashionable products. A girl with a job living alone in a big city; she was the pride of Indian middle class parents. She was the audience which our Bollywood based social reformers like Sushmita Sen and Priyanka Chopra count upon to listen to their feminist sermons. She was the customer pharma a.k.a. cosmetic companies target to make their skin a little fairer. She was the user Facebook and Whatsapp count to keep circulating selfies and videos endlessly. Except that she decided to fly out of their networks yesterday. 

I do not know what went into her mind, but certainly it was more than “I have not been able to talk to my friend for several days". A few days ago, another incident was reported in the newspaper. A girl was seen walking on Metro track in Noida. Onlookers made video of her walk on the Metro line and circulated it online. Based on the CCTV footage, the Police found that she had got into a Metro train along with her boyfriend but during their journey they had a fight and the boyfriend got down from the train at a station. The girl also got down on the next station and started walking back toward the previous station using the track! The CCTV footage showed that she had tried to jump on the track apparently to commit suicide but she could not dare and hence started walking on it. Thankfully she was rescued before it was too late and she left. No case was filed in the police. 

Certainly both these incidents are not one-off cases and represent what is happening in today’s society. These incidents also put question mark on the kind of ‘woman empowerment’ we are doing. Are we putting too much pressure on our young girls which they are not able to handle? Are we not able to differentiate between reel life which movies show and the real life which they have to lead? Are we allowing them to make decisions without first giving them enough wisdom in order to make those? Like Superhit movies, I would leave you pondering at the questions instead of giving my version of answers. 

Finally, I called up the newspaper vendor and stopped newspaper delivery at my home. Hopefully it would save my mind with some unappreciated negativity and the paper saved would save lives of some trees until those are cut down on some other pretext. 

- Rahul Tiwary

#National: Should Delhi become Full-fledged Union Territory Again?

All political parties want Delhi to be made into a a full-fledged State like 29 other States of India. I think given the experience, we should do the reverse. Dissolve its assembly and make it a full-fledged Union Territory again; like it was done in the 1950s. I describe my reasons as below. But before that a bit of history.

After Independence, Delhi was a full-fledged State. The Delhi Legislative Assembly was first constituted on 7th March, 1952. Chaudhary Brahm Prakash Yadav was the first Chief Minister of Delhi. However in 1956, through States Re-organisation Act, Delhi was made a Union Territory under the direct administration of the President of India. Delhi Legislative Assembly became non-existent. In 1957, through the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, Delhi Municipal Corporation was formed. 

In 1991, through an amendment to the Constitution of India, National Capital Territory of Delhi was formed through which the Legislative Assembly, Council of Ministers and a Chief Minister also came back into existence. The first assembly election under new setup was held in 1993 and Madan Lal Khurana became CM. 

Now, reasons why Delhi should be under Union Territory status: 

Practically, Delhi is a Municipality; in whatever terms it stands for. It would make practical sense to make it a state only if it were a large diversified area with a combination of cities, towns and villages which also to a large extent made it a self-sustaining entity. Delhi is practically a city with its old villages having become urban. There is no point calling a city s "State". There is no point having an Assembly where practically most job is done by the Municipal Corporation.

New Delhi being capital of India, it practically makes more sense to keep Delhi directly under Central Government's administrative control. A Mayor of Delhi can do a better job than a CM. Every time a head of another country comes visiting India, anyways Central Govt agencies have to take care of all arrangements. All international media agencies have very stringent coverage of India's Capital and hence any signs of political instability, anarchy, crime or violence in Delhi gets an immediate and widespread international media coverage. A state government headed by a regional party is way too incompetent to manage such scenarios which have international repercussions. 

In Delhi, there is an unnecessary possibility of scuffle between State Govt (if there is one in Delhi) and the Central Government agencies because of inherent overlap of duties and areas of interest. Practically we have seen that State Govt of Delhi has been able to function well only if a National level political party was in its power; because it has better understanding of political and administrative governance and of managing work between various central and state agencies. The moment a regional party came into power, last few years have seen large instances of anarchy which we cannot afford in national capital region. Since in democracy there is always a possibility that political parties of all kinds can get power, we should purge this possibility. Having a divergent or an anarchist regional level party capturing power in the Capital of India leads to maligning India's image in the international forums. 

Finally, population of Mumbai and Kolkata are way more than Delhi but those cities are able to function well under a Municipal Corporation control. There is no specific reason why Delhi should have its own assembly, every colony should have its MLA and it should spend so much money in running a separate state government. If we dissolve state assembly and switch back to central control, the expenses saved in running a state government could lead to less taxes and better facilities for the population.

The conclusion is simple: India should make Delhi a full-fledged Union Territory again and focus on more productive matters. 

- Rahul Tiwary [Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal.]