ABVP एक राष्ट्रवादी संगठन है, ये सब जेएनयू वालों की गलती है

‘एबीपीवी एक राष्ट्रवादी पार्टी है, विरोध बर्दाश्त है, विभाजन की बात नहीं. इस देश में फ्रीडम ऑफ स्पीच इतनी ज्यादा है कि आप अपने प्रधानमंत्री को उनका नाम लेकर बुला सकते हैं’

केंद्रीय मंत्री वेंकैय्या नायडु जी का ये बयान सुनकर तो मतलब जी खुश हो गया. ये जेएनयू वालों ने नाक में दम कर रखा था. गंगा ढाबे पर इनका आतंक कम था क्या जो ये डीयू तक पहुंच गए. अब एक तो ये अंग्रेजी भी इतनी किटर-पिटर बोलते हैं कि पूछो मत! जाने कौन-कौन से फिरंगियों के नाम गिनाने लगते हैं. पहले तो अंग्रेजी समझ नहीं आती फिर फिरंगी नाम सुनते ही खून अलग से खौल उठता है.

लेकिन नायडु जी ने ठीक बता दिया है. बताओ, मोदी जी को उनका नाम लेकर बुला सकते हैं. ये नहीं कि ऐजी-ओजी करके बुलाएं. सीधे नरेंद्र मोदी कहकर बुलाते हैं. और तो और ‘उनकी’ तुलना गधे से करते हैं. बताइये, ये भी कोई बात हुई. देवी कालरात्रि का वाहन है गधा. ये जान-बूझकर हमारी भावनाएं आहत करते हैं. लेकिन हम कुछ नहीं कहते.

दूध मांगोगे तो चॉकलेट देंगे-कश्मीर मांगोगे तो…

ये अफजल प्रेमी गैंग के सदस्यों ने कश्मीर का राग अलाप-अलाप कर नाक में दम कर दिया है. पहले बोलते थे कि कश्मीर मांगोगे तो खीर देंगे लेकिन इन्होंने इतनी आफत कर दी है कि अब तो मन करता है कि सिल्क चॉकलेट ही दे दें. महंगी तो है लेकिन क्या करें, देश बदल रहा है. मोदी जी बोले हैं प्रोग्रेस हो रही है तो दिखाना तो पड़ेगा न.

नायडु जी बिलकुल ठीक बोले हैं विभाजन की बात बर्दाश्त नहीं की जाएगी. कतई नहीं की जाएगी. अरे, विरोध करिए. राहुल गांधी भी तो कर रहे हैं. आप भी कर लो.

लेकिन मास्टर स्ट्रोक तो रिजिजू जी ने मारा है…

इसमें दो राय नहीं हैं कि नायडु जी ने एबीवीपी की इज्जत रख ली है. लेकिन खेल की दिशा तो रिजिजू जी ने 24 फरवरी को ही पलट दी थी. वो एक वीडियो वायरल हुआ था जिसमें दिल्ली पुलिस लड़कियों को पीट रही थी और एबीवीपी पर गाली-गलौच करने के आरोप लग रहे थे. पुलिस और एबीवीपी वाले लड़कों की भद्द पिट रही थी लेकिन रिजिजू जी ने शानदार अंदाज में गेंद उनके पाले में ही डाल दी. कैंपस में गुंडा-गर्दी के खिलाफ लड़ाई को एक ट्वीट से राष्ट्रवादियों और अति-वामपंथियों के बीच लड़ाई है. मतलब ‘जेएनयू वर्सेज ऑल इंडिया’.

अब रेप की धमकियां, मारपीट और गुंडागर्दी वाले सब आरोप गायब. अब अफजल प्रेमी गैंग के सदस्य पिछले साल की तरह नेशनलिज्म पर क्लासेज चलाकर सिद्ध करें अपना देशप्रेम.

रिजिजू जी ने बिलकुल आखिरी बॉल पर छक्का मारकर मैच अपने पाले में कर लिया है.

हर हर मोदी…घर घर मोदी

कोई कहे कुछ भी लेकिन मोदी जी के भीतर कुछ ऐसा जादू है जो उनकी भक्ति करने पर आपके अंदर आ ही जाता है. देखिए, रिजिजू और नायडु जी का करिश्मा.

ये अफजल प्रेमी गैंग के सदस्य मोदी भक्ति में लीन होते तो क्या पता अब तक इनके कश्मीर और आदिवासियों को आजादी मिल भी गई होती. लेकिन ये गांजा फूंकने वाले वामपंथी सुनें तब न. इन्हें तो वो कार्ल मार्क्स और वो चीन वाला माओ ही पसंद हैं तो झेलें पुलिस के घूंसे और रेप की धमकियां.

Nitish vs Shahabuddin war of words and its possible impact on UP Elections

In the war of words between Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and RJD’s Ex-MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, the latter seems to win. It’s because he – a leader with noted criminal history has a close proximity with RJD boss Lalu Yadav.

It goes back to 2005 when Nitish Kumar was gaining strength from his moral positioning. He was trying to make Bihar – a safer place to live. In order to do so, he put criminal-dons of Bihar like Shahbuddin, Prabhunath Singh & Surajbhan Singh behind bars. He ordered to set up trial courts in Siwan jail because Shahabuddin showed himself medically unfit to face trial in courts. He got multiple punishments ranging from one year, two years and ten years in different cases. Yet, he still has to face trial in 37 cases along with a CBI inquiry.

But time has changed. Now, Nitish is heading a coalition government with a support of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD’s upper hand. Yet, he tried to contain Shahabuddeen like before by shifting him from Siwan jail to Bhagalpur Jail in the current government. But he couldn’t further stop his release, possibly due to pressure coming from Lalu Yadav.

And, as it’s openly predicted that Shahabuddin will not let it all go easily, Shahabuddin has started attacking the authority of Nitish Kumar.

Apparently, Nitish Kumar has risen in his political career but for ex-RJD MP, he is just another politician from Bihar who shouldn’t have challenge his authority at the first place. So, now when he is out and will do what he was doing from inside the jail, he is going to attack Nitish over and over again.

Will Nitish act tough against Shahabuddin?

It’s a question worth answering. Seeing the current political scenario, Nitish Kumar can’t do much. As per the news reports, Nitish has had a meeting with senior JDU leaders to discuss the possibility of imposing crime control against Shahabuddin. Reportedly, Nitish is angry with Lalu Prasad Yadav because he’s not stopping the criminal don.

So, here comes the question – will Nitish impost CCA? The answer to this question is no.

Nitish will not do so by risking the longevity of his coalition government. He doesn’t anymore gain strength from his moral positioning among Bihari population. Many loyal Nitish Kumar fan voters showed displeasure over Nitish joining Lalu Camp before voting begun.

Apparently, RJD gained most from Mahagathbandhan while JDU didn’t perform well in comparison to previous elections.

So, now if in case Nitish breaks ties Lalu over this issue he has nothing to lose but he will lose more.

Can Shahabuddin Impact UP Elections?

It’s another question that’s not being asked now because it might be too early to predict anything for UP elections. But I personally think that this political development can impact UP Elections. This is how it can. If you are watching closely then you must have noticed political developments since 5th of September.

On 5th of September, Shivpal Yadav from Samajwadi Party announced that merger of Mukhtar Ansari’s Kaumi Ekta party with SP is inevitable and happen soon. And, issued the warning of possible riots in UP before elections.

(Mukhar Ansari known for his criminal history and hold in Muslim voters comes from Mau – a region with Muslim majority, fall close to UP-Bihar border.

On 7th of September, bail order of Shahabuddin comes and Bihar’s Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav gives a statement that Nitish Kumar will be a better PM than PM Modi.

On 10th of September, Shahabuddin gets a grand welcome by RJD leaders and attacks Nitish Kumar.

On 11th of September, Nitish responded back – It doesn’t matter what one person says, I have got people’s mandate.

On 12th of September, Lalu responded on this development – Shahabuddin hasn’t said anything like this, He said Lalu is my leader and Nitish Kumar has no problem on this part.

Apparently, on the same day, JDU has issued a show cause notice to its MLA Girdhari Yadav who went to Bhagalpur Jail to attend Shahabuddin. So…thodi taklif to hai.

Coming back to the question – Will it impact UP elections? I think yes. Shahabuddin’s has influence over Muslim voters of a Bihar’s siwan district that falls adjacent to UP border.

Siwan is close to UP’s constituencies that have Muslim majorities like Deoria, Balia, Gorakhpur, and Mau.

Now, come back to what Shivpal Yadav has warned of. Riots. He has played the same card that SP has been playing since long to bring in Muslim – Frighten Muslim voters with Riots and get their votes.

So, now just think for a moment if it happens then who will benefit the most. It’s BJP and SP. Because if the polarization of votes happens, a big part of UP’s 19.3 Muslim vote share will fall in SP’s account and a majority of Hindu votes will go to BJP. And, figures like Shahabuddin and Mukhtar Ansari will be really helpful for SP for re-establish its ages old Muslim-Yadav vote bank political equation for upcoming elections.

So, if this’s not just a coincidence then Nitish has fallen in the great game and great game is terrifying. 

शहाबुद्दीन की रिहाई के साथ ‘चंदू-जेएनयू’ युग का अंत

मुझे अपनी छवि बदलने की जरूरत नहीं, जनता ने 26 से मुझे उसी रूप में स्वीकार किया है जैसा मैं हूं, लालू प्रसाद यादव मेरे नेता हैं और नीतीश कुमार परिस्थितियों की वजह से बिहार के सीएम हैं.

ये शब्द थे 11 सालों बाद जेल से रिहा होकर 1300 गाड़ियों के काफिले में सवार होते पूर्व आरजेडी सांसद शहाबुद्दीन के.

बिहार के बाहूबली नेता शहाबुद्दीन पर राजीव शर्मा हत्याकांड समेत पूर्व जेएनयू अध्यक्ष चंद्रशेखर प्रसाद और उनके साथी श्याम नारायण यादव की हत्या का भी आरोप है.

अक्सर एक ही समय पर दो अलग-अलग स्थानों पर दो घटनाएं घट रही होती हैं जिनका एक-दूसरे से कोई सीधा संबंध नहीं होता. लेकिन अगर समय की पर्तों को खोलकर देखें तो ये पता चलता है कि दोनों घटनाएं किस तरह एक दूसरे से जुड़ी होती हैं.

इन दोनों घटनाओं में यही संबंध है. ये दो घटनाएं हैं – जेएनयू छात्रसंघ चुनाव 2016 और चंदू के हत्यारे शहाबुद्दीन की रिहाई.

जेएनयू स्टूडेंट्स में कॉमरेड चंदू के नाम से चर्चित चंद्रशेखर प्रसाद ने अपनी स्पीच में कहा था – 

हमारी आने वाली पीढ़ियां सवाल करेंगी, वे हमसे पूछेंगी कि जब नई सामाजिक ताकतें उभर रही थीं तो आप कहां थे, वे पूछेंगी कि जब लोग जो हर दिन जीते मरते हैं, अपने हकों के लिए संघर्ष कर रहे थे, आप कहां थे जब दबे-कुचले लोग अपनी आवाज उठा रहे थे, वे हम सबसे सवाल करेंगीं.

 

ये स्पीच एंटी-बुलिज्म, एंटी-पेसिविज्म और अवेकनिंग है. आप जेएनयू को जानते हों या न जानते हों, वहां की हवा में तैरते वाद-विवाद और नारों से आपका ताल्लुक हो या न हो लेकिन अगर आपने जिंदगी में कभी भी बुलिज्म को बर्दाश्त किया है तो आप इस जेएनयू के विचार से सहमत हुए बिना नहीं रह सकते.

जेएनयू सिर्फ एक विश्वविद्यालय नहीं बल्कि एक आइडिया है…आइडिया एक ऐसे शिक्षण संस्थान को रचने का जहां से निकले छात्र देशभर में सुनने, संवाद करने और समस्याओं के क्रिएटिव सॉल्यूशन निकालने में विश्वास रखें.

इस स्पीच के हर शब्द को हम क्लियरली सुन सके क्योंकि कॉमरेड चंदू के दौर का जेएनयू कहने-सुनने में यकीन रखता था. संवाद के जरिए दूसरे पक्ष को खुद से सहमत करने में यकीन में रखता था.

जेएनयू छात्रसंघ चुनाव में खुद चंद्रशेखर की बनाई पार्टी अॉल इंडिया स्टूडेंट एसोसिएशन ने तमाम विरोधों के बावजूद खुद के वजूद को बचाने के लिए सीपीआई (एमएल) से जुड़ी पार्टी स्टूडेंट फेडरेशन अॉफ इंडिया के साथ गठबंधन कर लिया. तर्क दिया गया कि ये गठबंधन जेएनयू की फासिस्ट ताकतों से रक्षा के लिए किया गया है.

लेकिन चंद्रशेखर प्रसाद ने खुद कहा है कि जहां तक हमारे जैसे लोगों की व्यक्तिगत महत्वाकांक्षा की बात है तो वो ये है कि हम अगर कहीं जाएंगे तो हमारे कंधे पर उन दबी हुई आवाजों की शक्ति होगी जिसको डिफेंड करने की बात हम सड़कों पर करते हैं और इसीलिए अगर व्यक्तिगत महत्वाकांक्षा की होगी तो भगत सिंह जैसे शहीद होने की होगी न कि जेएनयूएसयू चुनाव में गांठ जोड़कर जीतने या हारने की महत्वाकांक्षा होगी

आज से 20 साल बाद अगर आप आज के जेएनयू की प्रेसीडेंशियल डिबेट्स को यूट्यूब पर सुनने की कोशिश करेंगे तो आपको हाईडेफिनेशन स्पीच वाले वीडियो मिलेंगे लेकिन अनफॉर्चूनेटली आप आज की स्पीचों के एक शब्द को ठीक से नहीं सुन पाएंगे.

आप सुन पाएंगे उन खोखली आवाजों को जो चंदू की सोच के विपरीत जेएनयूएसयू चुनाव जीतने के लिए गठबंधन करके चुनावी विरोधी एवीबीपी के खिलाफ बोलती नजर आएंगी. आवाजें जो गैर-सामाजिक विचारों के खिलाफ नहीं चंद संस्थाओं और नेताओं के खिलाफ बोलती नजर आएंगी. क्योंकि शहाबुद्दीन की रिहाई के साथ जेएनयू-चंदू युग का भी अंत हो गया है.

 

आचार्य हजारी प्रसाद द्विवेदी बताते हैं गोरक्षकों की मनस्थिति

धार्मिक अतार्किकता से भरे जिस तथ्यविहीन देश काल में हम जी रहे हैं उसमें दो बातें अहम हैं – पहली स्वयं के इतिहास और भविष्य के संबंध में पूर्ण अरुचि, दूसरा भौतिक उपभोग का उत्तरोत्तर महिमामंडन. यहां मैंने अतार्किकता से पहले धार्मिक और देशकाल से पहले तथ्यविहीन विशेषण का प्रयोग इसलिए किया है क्योंकि धर्म को छोड़ दें तो हमारे समाज का एक बड़ा तबका तर्क और तथ्य आधारित हर विधान और वस्तु को सहर्ष स्वीकृति देता है.

इसमें 70 के दशक के बाद से पश्चिमी देशों में विकसित घरेलू उपयोग के साधनों से लेकर मौसम, युद्ध और आपसी संवाद से जुड़े फेसबुक जैसे माध्यम शामिल हैं. इसके बावजूद इसी समाज का आधुनिक युवा गो मांस, पवित्र ग्रंथों के अपमान, मस्जिद और मंदिरों में भौंपू और मांस के टुकड़ें फेंके जाने के बाद बर्बर जातियों की माफिक सैकड़ों की जमात में असहायों को मौत के घाट उतारने में जरा भी नहीं झिझकता.

ऐसे में प्रश्न उठता है कि कैसे इस जमाने का युवा तार्किकता से भरे समाज में जीते हुए भी बनिस्बत अपने पापों पर शर्मिंदा होने के बजाए स्वयं को भगत सिंह से प्रेरित बताता है और भारत माता के चरणों में समर्पित बताता है. क्यों एक हिंदू ह्रदय सम्राट को गोरक्षकों की निंदा करने पर अगले चुनाव में अंजाम भुगतने की धमकी मिलती है. ये कुछ ऐसे सवाल हैं जिनके जवाब आचार्य हजारी प्रसाद द्विवेदी ने अपने निबंध घर जोड़ने की माया में दिए हैं.

पढ़िए क्या कहते हैं द्विवेदी जी –

वह कौन सी वस्तु है जो अनुयायियों को अपने गुरु के उपदेशों के प्रतिकूल चलने को बाध्य करती है? यह कहना अनुचित है कि अनुयायी जानबूझकर अपने धर्मगुरु के वचनों की अवमानना करते हैं, वस्तुत: अनुयायी धर्मगुरु की प्रतिष्ठा बढ़ाने के लिए ही बहुधा गलत मार्ग ग्रहण करने लगते हैं. जो लक्ष्य के साथ मेल खाते और बहुधा उसके विरोधी होते हैं. हजरत, ईसा मसीह अहिंसा मार्ग के प्रवर्तक थे; परंतु उनकी महिमा संसार में प्रतिष्ठित करने के लिए सौ-सौ वर्षों तक रक्त की नदियां बहती रही हैं. हमें इतिहास को ठंडे दिमाग से समझना चाहिए. सच्चाई का सामना करना चाहिए.

जब किसी महापुरुष के नाम पर कोई संप्रदाय चल पड़ता है तो आगे चलकर उसके सभी अनुयायी कम बुद्धिमान ही होते हैं, ऐसी बात नहीं है. कभी-कभी शिष्य परंपरा में ऐसी भी शिष्य निकल आते हैं जो मूल संप्रदाय प्रवर्तक से भी अधिक प्रतिभाशाली होते हैं. फिर भी संप्रदाय स्थापना का अभिशाप ये है कि उसके भीतर रहने वाले का स्वाधीन चिंतन कम हो जाता है. संप्रदाय की प्रतिष्ठा ही जब सबसे बड़ा लक्ष्य हो जाता है तो सत्य पर से दृष्टि हट जाती है. प्रत्येक बड़े यथार्थ को संप्रदाय के अनुकूल लगाने की चिंता ही बड़ी हो जाती है इसका परिणाम यह होता है कि साधन की शुद्धि की परवाह नहीं की जाती. परंतु यह भी ऊपरी बात है. साधन की शुद्धि की परवाह न करना भी असली कारण नहीं है. वह भी कार्य है; क्योंकि साधन की अशुचिता को सत्य भ्रष्ट होने का कारण मान लेने पर भी यह प्रश्न बना ही रह जाता है कि विद्वान और प्रतिभाशाली व्यक्ति भी साधन की अशुचिता के शिकार क्यों बन जाते हैं? कोई ऐसा बड़ा कारण होना चाहिए जो बुद्धिमानों की अक्ल पर आसानी से पर्दा डाल देता है. जहां तक कबीरदास का संबंध है उन्होंने अपनी ओर से इस कारण की ओर इशारा किया है.

घर जोड़ने की अभिलाषा ही इस प्रवृत्ति का मूल कारण है. लोग केवल सत्य को पाने के लिए ज्यादा देर तक टिके नहीं रह सकते. उन्हें धन चाहिए, मान चाहिए, यश चाहिए, कीर्ति चाहिए. ये प्रलोभन सत्य कही जाने वाली वस्तु से अधिक बलवान साबित हुए हैं. कबीर दास ने स्पष्ट शब्दों में कहा है कि जो उनके मार्ग पर चलना चाहता हो वो अपना घर पहले फूंक दे.

कबिरा खड़ा बजार में लिए लुकाठी हाथ जो घर फूंके आपना सो चलै हमारे साथ

घर फूंकने का अर्थ है धन और मान का मोह त्याग देना, भूत और भविष्य की चिंता छोड़ देना और सत्य के सामने जो कुछ भी खड़ा हो उसे निर्ममतापूर्वक ध्वंस कर देना. पर सत्यों का सत्य यह है कि लोग कबीरदास के साथ चलने की प्रतिज्ञा करने के बाद भी घर नहीं फूंक सके. मठ बने, मंदिर बने, प्रचार के साधनों के आविष्कार किए गए और उनकी महिमा बताने के लिए अनेक पोथियां रची गईं. इस बात का बराबर प्रयत्न होता रहा और अपने इर्द-गिर्द के समाज में कोई यह न कह सके कि इनका अमुक कार्य सामाजिक दृष्टि से अनुचित है; अथार्त विद्रोही बनने की प्रतिज्ञा भूली गई; आगे चलकर गुरु-पद पाने के लिए हाईकोर्ट की भी शरण ली गई. यह कह देना कि यह सब गलत हुआ, कुछ विशेष काम की बात नहीं हुई. क्यों यह गलती हुई? माया से छूटने के लिए माया के प्रपंच रचे गए. यह सत्य है. कबीर पंथ का नाम तो यहां इसलिए आ गया क्योंकि ये सारी बातें कबीरपंथी साहित्य पढ़ते हुए मेरे मन में आईं हैं.नहीं तो सभी महापुरुषों के प्रवर्तित मार्ग की यही कहानी है. माया का जाल छुड़ाए छूटता नहीं. यह इतिहास की चिरोद्घोषित वार्ता सब देशों और सब कालों में समान भाव से सत्य रही है.

कारण साफ और सामने है. जब लोगों को एक तस्वीर दिखा दी जाती है कि अमुक धर्म औऱ संस्कृति संकट में है. पुराने जंग लगे हथियारों को निकालने का वक्त आ गया है तो लोग सोचना छोड़कर उनसे जो कहा जाता है वो करने पर उतारू हो जाते है. उन्हें स्वत: लगता है कि भारत माता, धर्म-संस्कृति और गो माता की रक्षा के लिए अगर किसी की हत्या भी की जाए तो उनके लिए वो हत्या नहीं वध है. शत्रुओं का नाश है.

धर्म और संस्कृति की रक्षा के मार्ग पर बुद्धि किनारे हट जाती है. सर पर एक धुन सवार होती है पंथ बचाने की. ऐसे में आपके विश्वास के प्रतिकूल या उससे जरा सी हटकर उठने वाली हर आावाज आपका खून खौला देती है. इस आवाज को दबाने के लिए सोशल मीडिया से लेकर व्यक्तिगत जीवन में भी आप एक जानवर की भांति रक्षात्मक मुद्रा में प्रहार करने को प्रेरित होते हैं. आपकी ये मुद्रा सोचने की शक्ति छीन कर आपको एक रौ में बहाने लगती है जैसे बरसाती नदियां बहती हैं. रास्ते में आने वाली हर चीज को नष्ट करती हुईं. ऐसे में अगर आपका धार्मिक गुरु या नेता जिसने आपको इस स्थिति में पहुंचाया है, मार्ग परिवर्तन के लिए अगर आपको रुकने का आदेश देगा तो आप उस आदेश की अवहेलना करके उसे कुचलते हुए आगे बढ़ जाएंगे क्योंकि आप सिर्फ भाग रहे हैं कहीं के लिए नहीं बल्कि कहीं से.कहीं पहुंचने के लिए. लेकिन कहां ये आपको पता नहीं क्योंकि आपने कंधों पर घर जोड़ने की जिम्मेदारी ले रखी है. और, इसमें साधन की शुचिता को आप आड़े नहीं आने दे सकते.

आप राजनेता हैं केजरीवाल जी, सेल्समैन न बनिए!

प्रिय मुख्यमंत्री जी,

आज आपको ये खुला पत्र इस भरोसे के साथ लिख रहा हूं कि आप नहीं तो आपके समर्थक जरूर इस पत्र में जाहिर की गई चिंताओं को समझेंगे. आपके दफ्तर पर कथित सीबीआई रेड के बाद से आप आक्रामक मुद्रा में हैं. आपने पहले प्रधानमंत्री को डरपोक बताया. फिर टीवी पर उन्हें और सीबीआई को उल्टा-सीधा कहा.

किसको कहा डजंट मैटर

खैर, मैं, किसको कहा के मुद्दे से कतई विचलित नहीं हूं. इससे पहले जनता रोबोट से लेकर रबर स्टांप तक न जाने क्या-क्या कह और सुन चुकी है. आपने तो अभी तक सिर्फ डरपोक ही कहा है. और डरपोक होना कोई बुरी बात भी नहीं.

लेकिन, मुद्दे की बात ये है कि आपने ऐसा क्यों कहा. वो भी टीवी पर. कुछेक कार्यकर्ताओं के सामने गुस्सा फूट पड़ना अलग बात है. लेकिन, नेशनल मीडिया के सामने क्यों? ऐसी बयानबाजी चीख-चीखकर कहती है कि आप जानबूझ कर वो भाषा बोल रहे हैं जो आपके वोटबैंक को ये बताए कि आप उनके लिए फैजल खान हुए जा रहे हैं. और, एक-एक करके उनके साथ हुए अन्यायों का बदला लेंगे.

पॉलिटिकल कंज्यूमेरिज्म उर्फ राजनैतिक उपभोक्तावाद

ये राजनैतिक उपभोक्तावाद की अगली कड़ी का विकास है. पहले नेता उत्पादक था और जनता ग्राहक. नेता किसी न किसी विचारधारा में अपने नारे भिगोकर जनता को बेचते थे. और, जनता बाल में लगाने वाले रंगबिरंगे रिबनों जैसे नारों को खरीद लेती थी. लेकिन, अब ऐसा नहीं है. नई कड़ी में नेता उत्पादक न होकर सेल्समैन है. ये नेता विचारधारा की पूंजी में यकीन नहीं रखते. और, रखें भी क्यों? जब हद्द लगे न फिटकरी रंग चोखो आए तो काहे विचार और धारा का सहारा लिया जाए. ऐसे में जनता जैसी भाषा चाहती है नेता वैसी भाषा बोलता है.

तमाम तनावों के तले दबी जनता को बस परफॉर्मर्स चाहिए. न्यूज चैनल पे एंकर जबरदस्त मजा दे, कॉमेडी शो में ‘शर्मा जी’ और पॉलिटिक्स में नेता जी. सो, आप मोदी जी को बादलों का ताऊ बताते रहो. लेकिन, इस नूरा-कुश्ती में आप अपना ही बड़ा नुकसान कर रहे हैं. इट्ज लीडर्स जॉब टू लीड. आपके इस अंदाज से आपकी ही पार्टी के नेताओं में कैसे गुण पैदा होंगे.

किसी भी पेशे में सर्वांगीण उत्कर्ष का रास्ता शिखर की ओर देखने और पूरी श्रद्धा से उसके कदमों का अनुपालन करने से होकर जाता है. ऐसे में आपके पास तो जवाहर लाल नेहरू, लाल बहादुर शास्त्री और अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी की थाती है.

इन नेताओं ने घोर मतभेद होने के बाद भी कभी अपने विरोधियों के प्रति ऐसी अमर्यादित भाषा का प्रयोग नहीं किया. मैं यहां अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी द्वारा कांग्रेस अध्यक्षा सोनिया गांधी की उनकी सरकार के प्रति टीका-टिप्पणी पर दिए गए भाषण को कोट कर रहा हूं. पढ़िए, अगर पढ़ सकें तो.

अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी कहते हैं –

Book Review: Wanderers, All by Janhavi Achrekar is a good journey but with a bit of sluggishness

While reading ‘Wanderers, All’, there was a constant thought in my mind if this book leaves its readers empowered with knowledge & understanding at the turn of final pages of the book. Or if the readers will highlight quotations and twist corners of important pages; but I reached to a conclusion, as I finished the book, that even pearls go unnoticed when they are in abundance. The author has beautifully recreated the old Bombay city of 1900s era when it was infected with plague and communal riots. Retelling the stories of her ancestors, she has talked about her great-great grandfathers and grandmothers with a bit of realism that is really appreciable. It was the time when females were not given enough respect but Achrekar’s female characters are embodied with sense of self-respect & self-dependency. She has even shown that despite progressive thinking and educated mindsets, the women of that era were cursed with social evils like difference between girl & boy child. With respect to these attributes, it’s a rare book that talks about the Mumbai metropolis of 1900. The author has painstakingly researched & shown us the lives of people that lived in this certain era. The characters are developed like real human beings, affected with real like emotions and challenges to Indian lifestyle in British Raj. The book encapsulates the beginning of freedom movement in the region of Maharashtra.

However, the problem lies with the length of the book. It’s a part memoir & part narrative of new age wanderers, stretched to 420 pages with dedicated chapters on Marathi plays and references to songs & poems. The first seven chapters introduce ‘Kinara’ – that’s possibly writer playing herself. She is young independent unmarried girl of 35, who wanders around the world. In these chapters, you travel along with Kinara and literally feel the weather of Goan beaches. She shares her philosophy about love, home, traveling and cosmopolitan lives. She is up to tread on the paths that her ancestors have once treaded. After brief intro to Kinara, the book goes on telling about three brothers, who were the top heads of Khedekar clan which she too belong. In these pages, readers feel the bit of adventure as it’s about nobleman and three sculptor brothers, who successfully made their fortune by impressing a king.

In case of books with parallel narratives, the risk of losing readers’ attention lies with author’s capacity of keeping both narratives attention-grabbing. Ashwin Sanghi has beautifully used this pattern in ‘The Krishna Key’ and Paulo Coelho did this in ‘Eleven Minutes’ (though, it goes with a main plot and sub plot of the story). Ashwin Sanghi has beautifully kept both narrations interesting and of page turner quality. At one side, he was narrating the quest of an ultimate weapon in modern time and secondary narration was about the Mahabharata war. The length of each chapter was equal. If it is not then chapters of secondary narrative were shorter than primary ones. So, the reader keeps on reading on and on, anticipating what is going to happen next. In ‘Wanderers, All’, the first few chapters are set in modern age and then the book goes on retelling the lives of author’s ancestors, lived in the 19^th century. There is a certain part of the novel where it loses its readers like when there is a sole chapter on a Marathi play and two page long poems. The reader can still be carried forward if the story set in modern time hooks on.

Still, it can be said that this is a rare book and the readers should be patient enough to know all the intricate details about the people lived in the 19^th century. Some books are like journeys, they bring you to distant places, make you meet new people while keeping you at the comfort of your home. So, it’s a good book but it could have been better if concluded in fewer pages than it is.

Correction: The reviewer pays sincere thanks to the author for reading this review and posting comment about the mistakes that earlier version of this review carried.

What if! Peter Mukarjea played Littlefinger

Well, the title of this post struck to me when I saw Peter Mukarajee, constantly changing his stand on Indrani Mukarjea’s arrest across the day. His first ever comment went like this, ‘The police will not make up a case and they would arrest a person only after they have something against her. They told us that she is being taken to a police station in connection with a case. There was nothing amiss in my wife’s conduct and the two share a very normal relationship like any other siblings.’ He gave this statement to Indian Express at about 12:30. As this story was developing constantly, he comes to know about Mikhail Bora’s interview and commented that he has been kept in dark and didn’t aware with any missing person FIR and Raigad farmhouse that Indrani’s family owns. It was little surprising that he couldn’t gauge the relationship between Indrani Mukarajee – his wife and Sheena Bora – passed off as Indrani’s cousin, given his lifelong career as a trader.

This all was happening while Indrani was being grilled by Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria. In a matter of few minutes, social media got hit with the breaking news of Indrani accepting Sheena as her daughter from previous marriage. So at 1:00 PM, he talked to CNN-IBN to improvise his stand and dropped the bomb shell of intimate relationship between step-sibling Sheena and his elder son Rahul. He told the media that he was informed that Sheena left the country for America. Thus, he asked his devastated son Rahul to move on. This was something really disturbing and raises serious questions (that will probably go unanswered). The question is why he asked his son to move on if he wasn’t aware with the actual fate of Sheena. He said that Sheena’s contact number begun going switched off for ‘obvious reasons’. These ‘obvious reasons’ should be defined well because in today’s era youngsters don’t just shut up at the switched off dial tone of their lovers’ contact numbers. They go on searching them on virtual media and get suspicious when they don’t get them there too. So, this theory doesn’t seem working that he didn’t know anything remotely about Sheena’s murder. The more believable tale can go like this – he told his son about the murder of Sheena and asked to move on and his son indeed obeyed his father because he has not any other way out in such a condition.

Later on, he added to CNN-IBN reporter that Indrani didn’t approve Sheena’s affair with his son Rahul. It is an immature effort of framing Indrani as the murderer mother because Sheena and Rahul were not siblings with blood. They were indeed connected with the marriages of their parents. Rahul wasn’t the blood son of Indrani and so he could be an ‘OKAY GUY’ for Sheena if Indrani & Peter have not married. It cannot certainly be the case of honor killing because Indrani herself has married thrice and couldn’t possibly fuss over so called step-sibling love affair between Sheena & Rahul. Later on, it is being reported that police team is officially quizzing Peter Mukarajee.

The Twitter Factor

Like every other popular murder mystery in India, people start speaking (on Twitter & sometimes on TV) and media run their gibberish as credible inputs relevant to the reporting of the murder mystery. So, in this case too. People started tweeting and releasing personal histories related to Indrani & Sheena. Some tweeted with overt sense of pride that they studied together in some high school of Guwahati. While some came forward to say that this is the case of honor killing for scandalizing the matter in Lalit Modi way. The moment tweets started hitting with honor killing word, it alarmed newsrooms in Delhi to Mumbai. Everyone (reporters & social media reporters) started speculating and following the people close to the matter for more details. Soon after this, the news broke out that Indrani has accepted Sheena as her daughter. This was the moment when tweets of incest started coming in. It simply served what it should do to make Indrani look like Nupur Talwar in Aarushi Murder Case. But later on things started going amiss because honor killing trend died its natural death and Indrani started trending as a desperate social climber while the official execution is still on the go.

The LittleFinger Factor

It’s important that I remain true to what I have written in the title of this piece. It’s about seeing Peter in the shoes of LittleFinger (People who are not aware with LittleFinger aka Lord Baelish should google his name to know how he killed King Joffrey and put the blame on Tyrion Lannister and returned back to Kingslanding). Now, I like to add Avirook Sen’s comment where he has mentioned that Indrani was the half power at NewsX and she was inclined to increase her stake in the company. Moreover, her behaviour has been problematic and dominating for Peter Mukarjea. This was a possible reason to see Peter Mukarajee as suspicious because Sheena’s serious relations with his son can emerge as a problem of property dispute so he simply removed both from his path. It is a kind of saying that goes like this if you want to remove big people then purpose won’t be solved just by toppling them from power, you need to steal their right to speak as well.

Post Script: My post is not intended to see Peter as the accused like we are seeing Indrani as one. Instead of this, we must keep patience for the official press releases of official interrogators. Hope this will serve the purpose of this post.

Sorry Guys! this Airtel 4G TVC doesn’t go well

Dear Readers,

This morning, I got an email from Indiblogger.com. The email came as a source of happiness to me because it gave me the opportunity to talk to you guys by writing about ‘Airtel 4G internet challenge’ advert. I bet my entire Indian readership has already watched this Airtel television campaign. I feel like calling it television campaign instead of TVC that my advertising colleagues do. Because I think writers do and think differently so I try to think differently only to pretend myself that I am steadily becoming a big writer that I am not now at least. So, without distracting from my subject, I like to tell you that this post is about the advertisement film that is being used by Airtel for creating buzz for its 4G internet service product.

Today, internet is something we cannot live without today. It is powering thousands of creative agencies & web ventures across the world and now it is also powering up some of the top trending news sites. I have personally experienced that one day of internet unavailability brings the productivity of these news sites to bottom. They are kind of depended on Internet and I find that absurd.

We have seen that Internet has the power to enable politicians to get hold of nation’s top post. We have lot to show what high speed internet can do for this nation and its youth but unfortunately we are being tagged as consumerists. I like to ask everyone if we all use internet to watch latest Honey Singh video, I believe we do not. The film tells we use internet to check top five management collages and watching coke studio, download movies and honey Singh videos. But the question looms at large that do we only do this with internet? Aren’t we building businesses out of internet and creating fortunes using the freedom internet has given us? I would have been happier if this TVC would have added a bit of video blogging or something that brings empowerment to us – the consumers of internet. I would have been very happy if this advertising film includes emerging video jockeys, stand-up comedians and our beloved ‘AIB’ sort of YouTube channels.

Now, there is less time left for 4G services to come in our hands and we are ready to enjoy the power of fast speed internet. I wish this time it comes for real.

Love Always
Anant

Post Script: I like to say that the solution of creating appropriate advertisement film that includes every section of Indian youth, lies in between (Read: moderation). The film created by Idea cellular company was way too exaggerated. Obviously, we can’t make robot by reading Wikipedia pages, can we? Please write back to me what you guys think about this.

Film Review: ‘Masaan’ जिंदगी जैसी एक फ‍िल्म

Masaan film review

मसान पर कुछ लिखने से पहले जरूरी है कि इस फिल्म को ठीक ढंग से समझा जाए, इसकी प्र‍कृति की विवेचना की जाए। यह बताया जाये कि आखिर यह फिल्म किन मायनों में खास है और किस तरह मसान फिल्म-दर-फिल्म बदलते भारतीय सिनेमा के बदलाव की एक महत्वपूर्ण कड़ी बनकर उभरती है। भारत और खासकर बॉलीवुड में सिनेमा को सिद्धांतता: भारतीय जनमानस का अक्स दिखाने वाला आईना कहा जाता है। लेकिन बॉलीवुड की जमीन पर उगने वाली वाली बहुसंख्यक फिल्मों ने इसे एक ऐसे जादुई आईने में परिवर्तित कर दिया है जिसमें वह दिखाई पड़ता है जो हमारा जनमानस देखना चाहता है। इसमें चकाचौंध है, फुंके हुए सपने हैं, फार्मूले हैं और रेस भी। लेकिन इसके ठीक उलट साहित्य शब्दों के जरिए अपने पाठकों को उनकी जिंदगी का एक्सरे दिखाने का प्रयास करता नजर आता है। फिर बारी आती है कविता की तो यह एक इंजेक्शन की तरह पाठक को उस जगह पहुंचा देती हैं जहां उसमें थोड़ी बहुत संवेदना बची रह गई है।

अब बात करते हैं कि आखिर मसान है क्या। नीरज घ्यावन और वरुण ग्रोवर की फिल्म ‘मसान’ फिल्म, गद्य और काव्य विधाओं का एक ऐसा संगम है जो भारतीय सिनेमा के लिए किसी कुंभ से कम नहीं हैं। यह वह मोड़ है जहां से एक नया दौर शुरु होने की प्रबल संभावना दिखाई पड़ती है। फिल्म का पहला फ्रेम ‘बृज नारायण चकबस्त’ की नज्म “ज़िन्दगी क्या है, अनासिर में ज़हूर-ए-तरतीब, मौत क्या है, इनीं अज़ा का परेशाँ होना।” से शुरु होती है। दूसरे फ्रेम से ही फिल्म आपको उस जिंदगी में ले जाती है जहां एक सेल्फ डिपेंड लड़की पहली बार सैक्स का अनुभव ठीक से लेने के लिए कंप्यूटर पर ब्लूफिल्म देख रही है। ठीक! यहीं से आप फिल्म में उतर जाते हैं। कहीं जाति, न्याय और प्रशासन की चोट खाते इन युवाओं के टूटते चेहरों में आप खुद को देखते हैं। तो कहीं पहली बारिश की तरह ताजे इश्क में पड़ते हुए चेहरों को गुलाब होते हुए भी देखते हैं। असल बात यह है कि फिल्म में नायक नहीं है। फिल्म का परिवेश ही नायक है जो कि एक अक्स है हमारी आपकी जिंदगी का। कथानक की बात करें तो यह उस दौर की फिल्म है जब भारतीय युवा तकनीक के संमदर में गोते लगाता हुआ सामाजिक कुरितियों और बंधनों को तोड़कर एक स्वछंद पक्षी की तरह उड़ जाने को आतुर है। वह हर धारा, प्रवाह और उसके मूल को समझने की कोशि‍श में है। वह जानना चाहता है कि आखि‍र ऐसा है तो क्यों है और नहीं है तो क्यों नहीं। लेकिन कुछ पंख फड़फड़ाने पर ही वह जाति व्यवस्था, न्याय और प्रशासन के अदृश्य पिंजर में कैद हो जाता है। इससे उसकी मासूमियत तो मरती है लेकिन जिंदगी के प्रति उसका नजरिया वही रहता है।

अभिनय की बात करें तो दीपक चौधरी के रोल में विकी कौशल, देवी पाठक के रोल में रिचा चढ्ढा और शालू गुप्ता के रोल में श्वेता त्रिपाठी ने बिलकुल अपनी टीनऐज को एक बार फिर से जी डाला है। जिस तरह अपनी छत पर टहलते हुए शालू फोन पर अपने नए-नए बने दोस्त दीपक को सितारों को आंखों में महफूज रख लो… जैसे जाने पहचाने शेर सुनाती हैं वह सच्चाई के काफी करीब नजर आती हैं। यह दोस्ती शालू को वह स्पेस देती है जिसमें वह खुद को चाहने वाले शख्स से उस जुबां में बात कर सकती है जिसे वह पसंद करती हैं। वह शायरी कह सकती हैं और निदा फाजली एवं बशीर बद्र के प्रति अपने प्रेम का इजिहार कर सकती हैं। इसी तरह जब फोन पर दूसरी ओर शेर और नज्मों से दूर दूर तक नाता ना रखने वाले दीपक मुस्कुराकर बोलते हैं कि समझ नहीं आया, पर बहुत अच्छा था, अपनी दोस्त को अपनी बात पर यकीन दिलाने के लिए वह स्वाभाविक रूप से कहते हैं ‘कसम से बहुत ही अच्छा है।’ यह सीन देखकर सिनेमाहॉल में बैठे छोटे शहरों के मिडिल क्लास युवा जरूर मुस्कुरा देते हैं। वह दौर याद आ जाता है जब नोकिया 3315 पर एसएमएस में शायरी भेज भेजकर प्यार का इजहार होता था और लड़के-लड़कियां बाकायदगी के साथ इन शायरियों की डायरी मैंटेन करते थे। तब वो मोहब्बत भी शायरियों जितनी पाक होती थी। क्योंकि आशिक शायरी भेजने से पहले उसके असर और छुअन को टटोलने का प्रयास जरूर करते थे। संजय मिश्रा की जितनी तारीफ की जाए उतनी कम है क्योंकि उन्होने विद्याधर पाठक के रोल को जीवंत कर दिया है। विद्याधर पाठक की पात्र रचना अपने आप में एक बायोपिक सी जान पड़ती है उस संस्कृत प्रोफेसर के बारे में जो हालातों की मार से प्रोफेसरी छोड़, कर्मकांड और जूआ तक खेल अपने सभी मूल्यों को गंगा में बहाने को मजबूर दिखाई पड़ता है। इंस्पेक्टर के बारे में इतनी सी बात है कि इंस्पेक्टर की बेटी को फिल्म में देखते ही दर्शक के मन में सहज अपेक्षा पैदा होती है कि अब कुछ ऐसा होना चाहिए जिससे अपनी बेटी के किसी कांड में फंसने पर फिल्म के एकमात्र विलेन को उसके किये का अहसास हो जाएगा। लेकिन ऐसा होता नहीं क्योंकि आम जिंदगी में भी ऐसा नहीं होता। फिल्म में वह ही दिखता है जो एक सामान्य व्यक्‍त‍ि अपनी सामान्य सी शक्तियों से देख सकता है। फिल्म ईश्वरीय न्याय की प्रामाणिकता स्थापित करने की जगह यर्थाथ दिखाती है।

फिर फिल्म में एक दौर आता है जब अपने हाथों से सबकुछ बिखरता हुआ दिखने लगता है। फिल्म के पात्रों के साथ-साथ सीटों से चिपके हुए दर्शकों की आंखें भी जर्रा-जर्रा आंसुओं में बहती दिखाई देती हैं। यह वह क्षण हैं जब फिल्म साहित्य में घुसकर कविता हो जाती है। कुछ दृश्य इतने पॉवरफुल हैं कि सीट पर बैठे मजबूत से मजबूत आदमी को रोने को मजबूर कर दे। पर्दे पर दर्द से कराहते पात्रों को देखने से आप अंदर तक हिल जाते हैं। फिल्म की यूएसपी यह है कि यह जिंदगी को जस का तस दिखा देती है और फिल्म खत्म होते होते पर्दे से आपके भीतर उतर जाती है।

Hey Little Sparrow! Stop coming to my dreams

Once upon a time, there was a writer in south town of London. Living in utter solitude, he was trying to figure out his relationship with a little sparrow bird that comes every morning to land up on his writing table. Every night he thought about people who goes through lost love trauma. He thinks why people go after love, knowing that it’s the thing that leave everyone emotionally robbed and wounded but every morning when he goes to write, the little bird comes over. He kind of started liking her spurious presence. One day, the bird turns into a beautiful girl and started coming over for morning coffee. The writer somehow could not gauge the abstract creation of the girl. He just started spending great time with the girl. They go together for buying groceries, have morning coffee and say goodbye to eachother as the sun sets. Now every morning, when the writer goes on writing his study on lost love, he instead writes about the beauty of love. And one day, the beautiful girl turned into a bird again without saying goodbye to the writer whom she loved. Now, the writer dreams of saving her girl from goons, buying groceries together and in morning he wakes up screaming at the little sparrow, ‘Hey Little Sparrow, stop coming to my dreams’. The little sparrow smiles as ever before…

Ohh! CM Promised? But who cares your land is so valuable

What do we call ‘development’ in cities like Kanpur; a newly constructed road, freshly painted divider or a mega sized road over bridge? I believe a road over bridge will fit the bill considering the necessity of infrastructural development in the city. But I am aghast to see that how the construction of an ROB can force someone to leave one’s house when that didn’t come under range of houses that needs to be demolished.

This is the story of an under construction road over bridge in Kanpur. It will replace the existing 45 years old bridge that connects South Kanpur to North Kanpur. South zone of Kanpur pumps blood in North Kanpur as New Bombay does to Nariman Point. People from all economic classes travel about 30 minutes to get to the heart of the city to work as accountants, managers, parking boys, tea vendors, and child labors. The large amount of vehicles that passes through this over bridge cause regular traffic jams. At times, the jam goes on for 6 hours because the existing bridge is designed, considering the traffic needs of 1970. The population has increased from 1,275,242 in 1971 census to 4,581,268 in 2011 census. And now 92% of total households posses basic means of mobility like two wheeler and cars. Despite such great necessity, this road over bridge was long delayed because there is a slum beneath this old and fragile bridge. There has been a great show of protest, local politics and failure of government machinery collectively. But, this time government acted so fast that the slum dwellers couldn’t get the chance to protest and end up packing their stuffs. The state government has considerably given one room flat as compensation to families whose houses were demolished and compensation to those who didn’t accept the flats.

But here comes a great deal of mismanagement. The government given flats are based out of the city. Women who are working as house maids, baby sitters or clean utensils in nearby colonies will have to travel about two hours to get to their jobs from their new homes. The same goes for men and students who study in make shift schools and government funded colleges. They will have to walk on foot for 5 kilometers to get the bus to enter in the city than it will take some about 45 minutes to reach their workplaces. In morning hours, it is okay to walk for such a long distance but evening hours will cause great security risks to women.

The other depressing features of this compensation scheme is lack of compassion in awarding flats and fishy distribution of cash compensations. There does not seem a visible mechanism of how cash compensations are being distributed. Some slum house owners have got three colonies against one house and some have got single colony. The highest compensation amount rupees 88 lakh goes to a house owner, who in real is a rich businessmen, owns luxury cars and sells premium furniture at a showroom in a market place. Some people has got 18 lakh rupees as compensation for demolition of their one foot long balcony.

While working on this report, I met a 50 year old lady who lost her husband few days after demolition of her home. This old lady can’t take stairs due to backache problem. The lady told me that UP CM Akhilesh Yadav promised her individually that she will get a ground floor flat but now she is being denied. There is another lady who is a mother to married sons. Her three story home was enough for 13 family members but now she is compulsive to accommodate her big family in government-provided 7*10 feet flat. She got a colony because her house was going to be demolished but later it didn’t. The houses that were less than 10 feet close to the pillars were destined to be demolished. This lady’s house were certainly not 10 feet close so his sons refused to leave the house. But here came the local police who thrashed him up for not leaving his home. They brought him to nearest police station for threatening. The word ‘thana’ threatens these guys.

So, sanctioning this road over bridge is indeed a service to the people of this city. But the big question still looms high that why some people has to suffer for the comfort of others.

Book Review: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – The Musical Alchemy

We know musicians with their music and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is no exception to this basic rule. But when we read the biographies of such artists, it enriches our understanding with art and artists. Pierre Alain Baud’s paean to the legend of Qawwali is one such interesting read. The writer has travelled and spent a great deal of time with the legend Qawwal and it reflects in tiny details of NFAK’s life. It fosters my belief in the thought that creating music is like doing alchemy. You add lots of efforts to get a right tune out of your vocal chords and percussion instruments and only a few shot to fame the way NFAK has done. I still remember when I came across the soulful music of Nusrat. It was my exam’s day and Nusrat’s song was being played loud in the auto I was taking to college. On being distracted, I asked the auto driver to slow down or just stop the music and he did. But till then Nusrat’s music was all over my head. Exam went well but I was still humming the tone. It irritated me and pushed to listen the whole song. In those days, Google required a keyword to give any results so I tried hard to recall any word from the tone. But I got only Gorakh Dhandha and after 20 minutes of extensive research, I could find “Tum Ek Gorakh Dhandha Ho”. Since then I am in love with NFAKs music.

Pierre Alain Baud has painstakingly researched and soulfully written on the great Qawwal’s life. He has brought the details about the art form and resourceful information on the evolution of Qawwali. He has talked about the Qawwali in detail. As the date goes back to eight century when Sufi saints first came to south Asia as Muslim missionaries from Iran, Afghanistan and Syria to propagate Prophet Mohammad’s message. This was the group of secular wanderers, who took the esoteric path to reveal the batin; the thing behind the Zahir. They believed in worshipping god with their excellence of music and spread Prophet Mohammad’s message through humanitarian verses and poetries. It dots the time of famous poets Rumi, Sufi Saint Bulle Shah, Baba Faird and Nizamuddin Aulia etcetera. In Sufi culture, there is a tradition of music & Qawwali. The kids get their initiation from Pir then they go on learning and practising the art for years before going live.

Inclusion of instruments – specific to Qawwali is really appreciating. It fills the half empty glass. The book says that before 18^th century, Qawwali sessions were adorned with indigenous percussion instruments like Sarangi, Dholak and Shahnai. These big sized instruments were a pain for musicians as they took time for readjustment to the changing pitches of vocalists. Right then a Bengali instrument maker Dwarkanath Ghosh transformed an English harmonium into a hand-held instrument. It set the stage for Qawwals like Fateh Ali Khan and Mubarak Ali Khan brothers and later for Nusrat’s journey to planetary fame.

The first half of the book talks about art, Chistiya brotherhood, Nusrat’s lineages and some less known tombs like Alauddin Sabir Kaliyar in Rurkee, Uttarakhand (closely associated with Nusrat’s family). The narration covers nine generations of NFAKs genealogy. The close associations with Qawwal bachha Gharana, which was founded by Sufi saint Nizamuddin Aulia and political allegiances of Nusrat’s forefathers. It includes political allegiance of Fateh Ali Khan and Mubaraq Ali Khan brothers as they propagated two-nation theory with poet Iqbal’s verses. Unlike his guardians, NFAK adopted Bulle Shah, Baba Farid and Rumi’s verses, which talks about the god and his beloved. Such verses were beyond any communal allegiance and thus earned love from all corners of the divided India & Pakistan. Including this, Nusrat sang shabad of Punjabi tradition and Saanvre tore bin of Hindu tradition. It shows him a bit secular but the book doesn’t tell about Nusrat’s stand on Hindu-Muslim conflicts. It doesn’t say if he was secular or adjust himself with changing political tides of south East Asia.

Everyone expects some sort of miraculous stories from the biographies of legends. It holds many. The one is about a dream when NFAK still a child sees his late father who brought Nusrat to Ajmer Sharif and asked to sing. In real, Nusrat instantly recognized the place and set to sing when he first visited Ajmer Sharif. It also opens up thing that shows legends are normal human being. They just try little hard for what they believe in. Nusrat used to have a habit of listening TV shows and advertisements whenever he goes on his foreign tours. It lets him understand the music of foreign soil before his concerts. And when he applies the local music notes in his performances, it got him huge success in places like Japan and Sudan.

Pierre Alain Baud’s work is in French and English Translation has done by Renuka Ghosh. Ghosh’s translation is not devoid of the personal touch that should be felt in Baud’s personal account. Though, I strongly believe that the verses, written in Urdu, English and roman hindi. The latter should be written in devnagri lipi to add the life to verses of Baba Bulleshah. These are beautifully embedded like a special notes of NFAK. Freancis Vernhet has carved the book cover out of gold sand and have scattered all over the book cover. On the jacket, there are prints of NFAK audio tapes. On the second cover, there are news clips that echoes with larger than life stature of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who has is living immortally with his soothing voice.

Book Review: No Direction Rome By Kaushik Barua

What if in a war between evil and good, evil wins? He then will go on executing all the good people at mass gathering spots of his newly owned capital. Like Lord Ned Stark got executed at Kingslanding in front of thousands of people; this includes her daughter, some infants and his ardent followers. After all the executions done. He – the evil will start passing strict laws to strike down all the hidden enemies to his newly formed state. It will set more stages of public executions. People will cheer on seeing perpetrators’ head rolling on ground. They will fill the sky with religious slogans. Then the peace will fall. Years will start passing on. He will make sensible rules to prolong his rule on land he won. He won’t let some war mongers create war like situations out of nothing. Instead he will setup a group of analysts and spies who will get him sane advices to run the state where everyone can feel that they belong to the state and the land which has just been won belongs to them. So the land can become the motherland for their kids and to the kids of kids. So someday they can go on waging wars for their motherland, which was, a war ago, motherland to some other kind of people. The kids will hear glorious war stories that how their forefathers won that important war over good people. The meaning of good in that state will be bad. So they will cheer being called bad. Then who was bad and who was good. You get directionless and that’s Kaushik Barua’s latest book is all about.

Written in unconventional style, ‘No Direction Rome’ seems like a 189 pages long Eminem song. You see angst, aggression, hopelessness and a frenzy race in present towards future. But that so called future doesn’t seem coming and protagonist keep running till their lungs lasts.  No Direction Rome’s protagonist Krantik is living in Rome and leading a life full of hopelessness. He works in a multinational company where he doesn’t find solace. Having a dead-end relationship with a daughter of an MP, he is trying to figure out where his life is leading him. On her fiancée request, he visits to Amsterdam where his fiancée Pooja tries to commit suicide. She then flies back to her family in India and here begins the unending rant that only ends in the final pages of the book. He goes on travelling alone, interacts with strangers, goes on stalking and talking to a girl standing alone in a corner then visits a place he has not prior intention of.

I doubt if dead-end relationship has anything to do with the psychologically upheaval lifestyle of the protagonist. He goes on dating a girl, he doesn’t familiar with and talks of crony capitalism on his first unannounced date. The real good thing about Kaushik Barua’s second book is its vivid descriptions. But I am reading him for the first time so I felt overwhelmed with the pace and bombarding of psychological rant. In one paragraph, he talks about having joint at his colleagues’ apartment and in second line he goes on telling that Rome is filled with crazy people. He says that the city is a big mental asylum where crazy people have been kept. Since relative of the inmates haven’t come to receive them so they have been let loose on streets like animals. And, to keep the streets safe they have been again locked up in their shiny offices. Then after few words he goes on saying he had three joints with his friends. He took orange juice and his friends got gin and tonics. In his long rants, he beautifully creates a window to interact with his readers to keep them engaged. While talking about the asylum rant, he says they had this asylum on the outskirts on the city, and then they had to shut it down, fiscal tightening etcetera (I like writing etcetera, it’s so much classier than abbreviation).  With his small comment as an author, he reconnects with the readers. But what I seriously felt that this seems good as long as you have got good stuff to throw on your readers because in some pages the pace goes extremely slow and boring.

The cover has been designed by a London based independent book cover page designer Arati devasher. Arati has used small caps font for the book & author’s name on the background of a whirlpool of dust and smoke. And, sides are adorned with symbolic Colosseum building which is upside down like a scene in Christopher Nolen’s movie Inception. The whole design of the cover collectively creates directionlessness mood of the book.

Collectively, it’s like a record of human life where everything is being recorded. The spoken and unspoken words, private thoughts and privates acts, conscious thoughts and unconscious thoughts, dreams and inner dreams too. It’s like a Spiderman prose where writer jumps from this scene to that scene within words and five to six word long sentences. You can miss an important event if reading casually.

Chopra opens the Flood Gates With a Scrapbook of Memories

How do we get to know the real self of our favorite authors? How do they think, write and go on publishing their notes, scribbled sometimes on matchboxes, paper napkins or on the back covers of their favorite books. Sometimes a single paragraph or even a line of wisdom can turn a reader loyal to the author. We then go on churning internet for hours to know the publishing process of the works we love, the hardships that our author has gone through with and about the hidden inspirations. This is the next degree of being a loyal reader. We often notice such loyalty in movie buffs; they know the names of directors, actors, writers, lyricists and even production team members before even entering in the movie hall. But seeking all such details is pretty tough in case of books. On googling author’s name or the book, you get numerous links leading you to buy the book or a fine 300 word piece written by PR people for marketing of the title. The Ace publisher Ashok Chopra has opened the flood gates by publishing ‘The Scrapebook of Memories’. Now, others publishers can follow. The beauty of this book is like a good movie. You can not put it down after start reading even opening pages randomly. Each page is written with such a simple and lucid tone that you keep on reading the book. Curiosity goes on and on with each passing paragraph. Though, the hard cover edition makes it difficult to carry this 383 pages long book. It encompasses Chopra’s frequent interactions with publishing legends like Khushwant Singh, M. F. Husain, Dev Anand, J. N. Dixit, Shobha De, Dilip Kumar, Zail Singh and Satish Gujral. In the second part of the book, Chopra has shared his memoirs with cities like Shimla, the Gaiety Theater, and about historical novels. In one chapter, the publisher talks about Gita Mehta’s Raj and Salman Rushdi’s Midnight Children. He marks the evolution of Indian non-fiction and historical fiction genres with Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan and Rushdi’s Midnight Children’s. In a country like India, where people generally don’t talk about books, authors and long form writing, this book tells you before print stories about famous books like Khushwant Singh’s autobiography. While writing about Khushwant Singh and Dileep Kumar, the author recalls his memorable liaisons with legends. He shares a private incident when 99 year old Khushwant Singh asks Chopra if he had any lover in his life. On getting the negative response, Khushwant goes on asking him to have one by reciting a Persian couplet. It shows what Khushwant was at the age 99; the person who at the age of 99 can take care of his associates as a good old grand pa while being as friendly as classmates. He shares one incident when Bollywood legend Dilip Kumar tenderly asks him to visit him often as his visits gets solace to him. Now after a career of 40 years, Ashok Chopra has written about all such memories that usually don’t come in public space. Indian publishing professional don’t talk about such things public and we don’t get to know what happens before publishing of books.

Book Review: From Home to House – Writings from Exiled Kashmiri Pandits

“From Home to House: Writings of Kashmiri Pandits in Exile” is a beautiful collection of heart wrenching short stories. The book hold excerpts from celebrated books like The Garden of Solitude, Blood on Forehead and Refugee in My Own Country. It carries stories of a fanatic friend, an aging old man, encounter with militants, and with non-fiction essays all by exiled Kashmiri Pandits. Some are translated from Kashmiri and Hindi to English. Stories like Addition, Subtraction and division, Under the shadow of Militancy and Garden of Solitude stands out of crowd.

While writing this piece, I was constantly thinking about how many people actually read the preface of any anthology. This book’s preface made me learn that preface works like the holy symbols imprinted on front doors. They tell a lot about house owner like religious leanings of house owners. In case of such books, we get to know how book publishers think about the issue. The preface leads us to the fateful night of 19^th January 1990 exactly when exodus begun. But it tells a different story and contradicts with Rahul Pandita’s book especially on part of Kashmiri Muslims. In RP’s memoir, we have learned that Kashmiri Muslims played the role of a catalyst in the crisis. They got overpowered with greed and religious extremism. This book describes helplessness on part of Kashmiri Muslims. Yet it gives a new perspective. As the book carries personal experiences and echoes the voice of KP groups so it must be read widely.

Stories I loved: 

The Garden of Solitude: Excerpted from Siddharth Gigoo’s famous book The Garden of Solitude is a great read. I am quoting one line from the story: “Everyday I live the life of a centipede, I crawl. I lick. I hide. I sting. I wake up to the fumes o f kerosine in the Morning.” Siddharth Gigoo has shown the refugee camps in such a way that while reading you begin feeling the pain of exiled KPs.

Addition, Subtraction and division: It shows the discomfort of an exiled KP in other caste marriages. The pain of losing ages family tradition reflects beautifully. But as survival demands a big price so Kashmiriyat is the price for exiled KPs.

50 Words Verdict
It is an easy read for people who are interested in reading stories from varied people. Multiple accounts on one specific topic helps the reader in understanding the problem and pain of affected community collectively. Hence It’s a good book to read.