"Is There Anything in the World Sadder Than a Train Standing in the Rain?"

Nothing has talked to me as much as the trains did. I had gone to the beach many times with the intent of listening to the sea.But such sublime things never happened.

I lived near to a suburban metro station in Chennai for almost two years.Neither friends, nor fun or studies have moved me as much as the trains did. During the stay their I developed my innate child-like curiosity for trains.It never became a commonplace thing to me.Everyday of my stay I used to open my doors to see trains as they pass by . To see a goods-train idling on then track, when I go for a evening stroll or a cup of tea, delighted me more than anything.

I feel, there is nothing more representative of life as trains. It moves on whatever happens.

My life in that small cramped room was incessantly punctuated by the noise of trains.It has broken my silence innumerable times.Trains have rammed into my dreams when I was half-asleep. I have clinged to their doors and tops and it had taken me to valleys overlooked by mountains with mist running down it. And the full-moon steadily and persistently glowing over it.

I feel trains are not just means of transport but a principal life-mover.People lead their life depending on trains.People beg, people sing.People get entertained.People fall in love. People get killed.But how much ever their lives are changed by trains, it never stops.It keeps running and generates more stories.

One of my unforgettable experience was when I was crossing the railway tracks.I was on the middle of two tracks. And trains were going on both of them. It trembled me.The wind, as the trains moved past almost stuck me down. I simply closed my eyes. It was a scary and sublime feeling.

Most of the times I tend to think of trains as a living-creatures. Much like a super-anaconda with many sub-species.And that it is possible zoologically study the trains and it's evolution from a single primitive ancestor.
If we were to regress to superstitious beliefs with our technological advancements intact, I think trains will be worshiped as deities. And myths will be made about. It is only our reason that keeps us from doing it; not our instincts.No wonder Pablo Neruda said in one of his poems "Is there anything in the world sadder/than a train standing in the rain?"

So, Who Needs Secularism?

When Kamala Suraiya converted to Islam from Hinduism, she was asked in an interview why she converted to Islam, when the religion is notorious for not granting freedom to women. Her reply was,” who needs freedom?” A considerable portion of India also seems to ask “who needs secularism?” Being communal in India can be considered "natural", in the same vein as gay rights activists say that being gay is "natural” for them. Non-secularism is a better option, for a majority of the population and often the only one.
Consider this—the story of an average Kannadiga born in Bangaluru, (it is a cliché, but to one has to embrace different clichés time to time to understand human psyche and society.):
"I was born in Bangaluru in early eighties. My father is a daily wage laborer. He managed to give me education till twelfth standard. After that he could not afford my education. So I took driving classes to work as a driver. I thought I was qualified enough to make a "decent living". I went to IT companies to drive their cabs, or work in any job to make a comfortable living. But I could hardly find jobs. I was enamored by how my city has grown--grown big and grown strange to me. People around have been speaking languages, which I am not comfortable with. I became insignificant. I struggle to eke a living doing all kinds of jobs. I am estranged and confused. But I tried to pick up the strange languages around me.
I often sensed that I was been derided and mocked at; I am not sure whether it is because of my demeanor or because I was not conversant enough in their language or because I was not at par with them. But I used to dismiss these thoughts just as my gut feeling. Later, I managed to open a pan-cigarette shop-- very much below my expectations for a decent livelihood. I converse to the customers in the strange languages I had picked up.
They seemed condescending again and again. But I justified it as my feeling every time I felt it. Nevertheless, these feeling clouded my conscious and unconscious alike. My parents have been saying that, this is our place, and that they have lived here for quite a long time. But why do I find this place more and more distant from my needs, and me as days pass? My identity was being pulled and drawn thin like a gold foil, so much that I don't exist.
I couldn't brush it aside--because I encounter it on a daily basis. Neither could I forget it because, I my meager earning didn’t give any material comfort indulge myself in. So I made up my mind and I said "enough is enough."( I said it much before the terrorist attack in Mumbai.)
I don't know exactly when I did give up trying to speak in the strange languages. But I remember that on when a customer argued with me in his strange language about the price of a pan, I lost my nerve and asked him to get lost. It was so spontaneous that it took a minute or so for me to realize that I had spoken in Kannada, which he would not have understood. I was speaking the language of my soul. I was speaking my soul out.
Understanding that there is no-point arguing with an arrogant person like me, he went away. He may or may not have had his reasons for arguing with me. But why will I care? I had been trying to understand people of his kind for years, just to fit in. But they never seemed to take any effort to understand me. Now, I gave up on understanding them and on my own sensibilities. Neither do I expect them to understand me. All I need is a dignified life. I don't want to argue or debate with them. They would have understood it long time back even if they had half-a-brain. I will make them understand in the tough way. Soon I found that many of my peers share my view."
With majority of political parties contesting the election having made their USP secularism, the issue has found place in the heart of the public morale of progressive India. But what do we mean by secularism?
True secularism starts from the grass-root, not from utopian ideologies. Our idea of progressive India’s secularism is vague and skewed to suit our narrow goals. Thackery and Muthalik wouldn't have existed, but for Mumbai and Bengaluru. Frustrations in a metropolis easily finds echo through out the state.
Identity is not an optional extra, but is a function of a dignified life. The less privileged are the most vocal and aggressive about their identity, though privileged class of the same ethnic or linguistic group do reflect it with lesser intensity. Greater one’s dignity is at peril, the more intensive will be the struggle for identity.
To say that people at the helm of communal and regional political parties started the divide is not true. They merely give it a national expression and identity. The problem was already there. Whether they capitalize on it or not is a different issue.
India is divided on numerous linguistic and ethnic lines which need regional solutions. There can be no one universal secular agenda for India. The litmus test of India's true democracy lies in formulating and implementing it's indigenous secular policy.

Deciphering the Antulay Conundrum

AR Antualy was a name relatively unheard of in the national political scenario, until recently. The Congress Cabinet Minister for Minority Affairs, to put it inomplexly, has simply asked for a probe into the death Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare and two other officers during the Mumbai 26/11 terrorist attack.

Though Mr. Antulay was asking for a probe into the suspicious circumstances of Karkare’s death his remarks have insinuated a conspiracy theory that the Hemant Karkare was deliberately targeted as the organization he headed was for the first time bringing up Hindu names for the in Malegaon blasts. Vague premonitions in the public opinion could find consummation with his remark. This was a theory which many Urdu media pundits were also contending for sometime now.

Mr Antulay’s remark is dealt in the mainstream media in one of it’s pet fashions—politician bashing. Typical media sentiment was that India should not give Pakistan a chance to think that we have dissident voices just as Nawas Sherif is trying to nail President Zardari for restrictions in entering or talking to anyone in Amir Ajmal Kasab’s village in Pakistan. The talk shows are scrupulously scripted so as to avoid spinning the debates to uncomfortable realms. Media which apparently acted as a third party neutral observer pandering to public opinion throughout the 60 hour encounter, is now cautious.

So is the Government. It cannot muster enough will to suspend Mr. Antulay, especially when he has found support along many party lines as his comment found support from Muslim community. With the JD(U) MP Ejaz Ali has also voiced his support for Mr. Antulay, means the Muslim vote bank of one or more allies of the UPA coalition is dented. At the same time, the government is losing it’s diplomatic credentials to leverage Pakistani government to act on LeT camps in its soil. No doubt the government is treading on thin ice.

There is an increasing need in the Muslim community to militate against the insecurity that is plaguing (especially in employment and housing) after the Bombay riots and Barbari Masjid demolition. The condition has worsened with anyone with a Muslim name becoming possible terror suspect. In 2005, Assam United Democratic Front founded by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal won 10 out of 126 assembly seats. The same experiment is also being done in Maharahtra by Badruddin Ajmal. Antulay’s remark makes more sense in relation to these developments.

Even Antulay is mincing words carefully. In the interview with Rajdeep Sardesai in CNN IBN, he said that he is not a fool to say that Hemant Karkare was not killed by Pakistani terrorist, that he was asking for a probe into the killing not only of Hemant Karkare but also that Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar. And he has not even raised Malegaon blast issue. M.J Akbar in his column, ‘The Siege Within’ in TOI (dated 21/12/08), has said that in a democracy there must be a balance between the “freedom of expression” and “freedom of impression” and that a “clever politician is a master chef in cooking up a broth of impression and expression.”

AR Antualy who was an Indria Gandhi loyalist, was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for a two year term and had to resign on corruption charges. Antulay says he is not eyeing the Muslim vote and that his constituency of Kolaba has a mere eight per cent of Muslim voters. Whether Antulay’s stance help him or harm him needs to be seen. But it is going to bring political upheavals like never before as this conundrum unravels.

The Dog, the Martyr and the Chief Minister

“The more I see the representatives of the people, the more I love my dogs” , said Alphonse De Lamartine. These words reflect public sentiments after26/11 Mumbai attacks, especially after the remarks by Kerala Chief Minister V. S Achutananthan.
Mr. K. Rajeev, relative of the NSG Commando Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan who was killed in the encounter, pleaded with the media to end the controversy over the remarks of the Chief Minister. On behalf of Mr. Unnikrishnan, father of Major Sandeep, he apologized for his unruly behavior at the Chief Minister and his colleagues. With that, ‘the dog’ issue was put to rest.
As the fog created by the media lift, we can clearly see the facts—that a man lost his son and left a vacuum that no words, ex-gratia or musical tribute can suffice. And, greatest of all tragedies, that we as a nation has not learnt from our mistakes. It is banal to talk of media hype and media fuelled controversies. Common man seems to know as much about the media construction of reality as communication theorist does. And it has become habitual for the public as well as politicians to place the onus on the media for their own incompetence and lack of sensibility.
This is not to deny the role of media in the present controversy. They are only the catalyst of the controversy not the fuel of it. At the worst, media can be considered as pesky intruders.
The Chief Minister was replying to a question by a reporter as to what he had to say about being not allowed in Mr. Unnikrishnan’s house. One can easily make out from his words that he felt insulted at the house of Mr. Unnikrishnan . Speaking to the media in Malayalam Mr. Achutanandan said “Karnataka Chief Minister reached his house earlier than us. Was it agreed upon by the two CMs to go together?” And then he uttered those calamitous words “Had it not been for Sandeep, a dog would not have visited the house.” Media immediately capitalized on this as it promised higher TRP ratings. The sentence was promptly highlighted in the subtitle of the video and aired again and again by news channels.
To use a word like “dog” is not becoming of a Chief Minister. Further, there were efforts to clarify the CM’s statement as a colloquial expression. Anyone who knows the language will find these remarks as uncouth. Mr. Achutanandan was simply playing into the hands of the opposition and the hawkish media.
E.K Nayanar was known for his quirky comments and retorts which at times created controversies. When the idol from a temple in Kerala (Ettumannur) was stolen, he was accused by the opposition that the heist occurred because his government failed to ensure police security at the temple premises. Nayanar retorted, “ Does God also need police protection?” It will be remembered not only for the controversy it created, but also for the uncomfortable truth it drove home into the minds of the masses.
Mr. Achutanandan’s words were not just insensible but unhealthy for a democracy. His words could be misinterpreted as comparing the armed forces of a country to a dog.( And this misinterpretation was almost achieved.) Cumulative insensitive comments of this sort could actually weaken the morale of the armed forces. But let us hope that the harm will undone, thanks to short public memory.