A LIST OF REASONS FOR NETWORKING

If you are a mobile user and you haven’t traveled on Konkan Railway, I suggest that you should travel atleast once for there’s a lesson awaiting your attention. As your train sourced from Mumbai leaves Khed –Chiplun belt even a gadget allergic like me would desperately pull out his mobile and and check the network availability! A regular on the route knows that he is going to lose his network till he reaches Ratnagiri and it should not be surprising to find to find an entire compartment desperately checking the same!! It is only at Ratnagiri when the network is revived that he relents and probably thereafter never checks or even uses his mobile!

So are networks merely signals that keep you connected? Certainly not! Instances as these make you realize that networks are our psychological support system that subconconciously make us believe that we are in the league – connected, inducing a feeling of security. Loss of network or connectivity for a mere two hours is sufficient to evoke a feeling of insecurity or being left out!

Every person apart from his mobile network is a part of several networks but for the most of the time he is unaware of these networks around him. The office staff where you work, the society where you live, the social gatherings that you attend and the schools and colleges that you attended were and are networks that you are a part of consciously or subconsciously. Such networks especially those which are around for a long time like school or your work place are strong networks which play a vital role in the development of one's personality and he tends to rely heavily on them. They are not only your psychological support system but even an integral part of your individual identity. Such networks have great deal of potentials that lies largely unexplored and is evident at the time of crisis – be it a medical emergency or a financial crunch it is these networks which rush to your assistance or the assistance you seek first.

A school or more aptly a classroom network plays a key role in carving out every child’s self-image, at times boosting his morale and building his confidence. Every network in itself is a powerful entity possessing vast amounts of potential energies like a reservoir. It will be only after such vast energies are made to flow in a regulated manner along proper channels that will lead to the transformation of the same into kinetics before it is finally converted into electricity that will light up our roads, houses, offices, farms and factories. The onus of introducing a child to the existence of such networks around them and encourage them to be a part as well as to seek assistance from such entities entirely lies with the parents and the teachers. Those employed should also identify the networks around them and those with leadership qualities should attempt to channelize this vast potential for a purpose that is positively constructive. The role of virtual social networking sites in pulling down tyranny and nailing oppression is evident from the recent Arab Uprising. However, the role of the real human networks far from pulling down someone is to discover and promote true potentials. It serves not as much to nail someone as much as to liberate people thereby strengthening roots of a democratic set up. Hopefully, we all go networking for a better tomorrow!!

                                                                                                           -     Bhushan Sarmalkar (JAI)

An Ode to Maqbool Fida Hussain

Maqbool Fida Hussain passed away this month at a ripe age of ninety five in London. However controversial and however debatable his worth as an artist may be, the fact remains that Hussain was inarguably one of the finest painters of his times and easily one of the best artists that India has ever produced. Having lost his mother at a very early age, his longing for his mother whom he never saw and his reverence for the saintly like Mother Teresa who filled that void in the lives of thousands like Hussain gave birth to Hussain’s faceless ‘ Mother’ on canvas. Hussain’s series of paintings on India’s most famous ‘ Elephant Headed God’ – ‘Ganesha’ that he painted in both oil and water colours not only reflected His omnipresence but also popularized the diety within India and abroad changing the popular perception from ‘Lord Ganesha’ to ‘My friend Ganesha’! If Hussains Ganesha reflected omnipresence, his ‘Durga’ reflected sheer ‘Power and strength’. And how can one forget his controversial depictions of ‘Goddesses Laxmi and Saraswati’ and that of ‘Sita’ and even ‘Bharat Mata’ which invited the ire of Hindu’s. But Hussain remained adamant and far from apologizing he chose to leave the country in 2006 never to return. This was partly due to the growing hostility towards his works and mostly to evade the legal cases pending against him for hurting the religious sentiments of people. The conference of Qatari citizenship in 2010 on India most celebrated painter shocked Hussain’s critics and supporter’s alike. One wondered whether Hussain who had issues over the state of creative liberties in India would have even a trifling of that liberty in the Islamic state of Qatar. Still others argued that Hussain took selective creative liberties as was evident from his withdrawal of his film ‘Meenaxi’ in the wake of opposition from Islamic fundamentalists. The assassination of Safdar Hashmi a playwright who was brutally killed in broad day light in New Delhi, while performing a street play, gave birth to one of the greatest masterpieces of Hussain ‘Freedom: A Tribute to Hashmi’ which was sold at Sotheby’s auction for a whooping ten lakh rupees in 1989 and was resold in 2008 for 4.4 crore rupees. Hussain and late Pt. Bhimsen Joshi two of the legends in their chosen fields were juxtaposed at a rare occasion where Hussain attempted to capture the divinity of Panditji’s music on canvas. It was a rare and memorable treat for art lovers. Hussain walked barefooted all throughout his life for which he was once refused entry at the Calcutta Club where he was a chief guest! But he never gave in till his very end! I can vividly recall a nostalgic article the celebrated painter wrote for a Sunday supplement of a leading daily wherein he recalled the days when he grew up from a boy to an adolescent in Madhya Pradesh. His first love and subsequent heart break all this set against backdrop of shady mango orchard complete with swings and murmuring of folk songs and lullaby’s that he so intricately captured in words and so vividly remembered even at such a ripe age! The legendry painter then turned to film making and made his first film ‘ Gaja Gamini’ which was his ode to womanhood. Bringing out the true essence of his then muse Madhuri Dixit in a nine yard green Irkali saree the film wasn’t easy to comprehend for an average movie audience but no one could deny the fact that it had some of the finest camera work besides having effective usage of colours. ‘ Meenaxi – A tale of three cities (Hyderabad, Prague and Jaisalmer)’ had some great musical score by A. R. Rahman but the same music which became the highlight of the film also became the reason for the films withdrawal. Usage of the word ‘Noor – Un- Allah’ (the light of the purest kind used to describe The Almighty) was used to depict a woman in one of the songs. This invited the ire of Islamic fundamentalists and Hussain had to withdraw the film.

But inspite of all the Hussain controversies I sincerely believe that Husain’s freedom or for that matter any artists freedom to write or paint anything he chooses even if it is a bit of shit should be safeguarded. We have a legal system to effectively deal with things that are derogatory or offensive and book the guilty. There is seldom any reason to break into an exhibition or burn down a book stall and get ourselves labeled rightists or fascists. Such acts are likely to do a greater harm to democracy than the works themselves would!

There is no need to promote a good work and there is no need to pull down a bad work – people do the honours either by celebrating or ignoring them sooner or later. Let’s leave things to people and let the offended seek legal assistance to book the guilty. As for Maqbool Fida Hussain, his greatness can be gauged by the obituary paid by one of the biggest hardliners of the rightist ideology – Raj Thackeray who remarked that people never really understood the worth of M. F. Hussain as a painter and always tried to guage his greatness from the costs that his paintings fetched! And let’s not forget that Raj Thackeray is an accomplished cartoonist and belongs to the same school of arts where Maqbool Fida Hussain honed his painting skills!!
                                                                                           -Bhushan Sarmalkar (JAI)

My Reasons To Visit The Urchin Garden

A new garden has come up recently on S. V. Road, adjacent to Dahisar Fire Brigade Station. Developed on a slope, it is complete with lawns, a multipurpose space that can be used both as an amphitheatre as well as a skating floor and abundant greenery. Then there’s a children’s play area complete with slides and swings. The ground which once served as a public toilet breathing out filth, has now been successfully transformed into a lush green patch. Today being Sunday and the rains having taken a break, I offered to take my son to this newly developed garden that I had been admiring from outside. It being evening and that too a Sunday evening, the garden was quite crowded and noisier than usual. My son, Shantanu, was quite taken aback by the kind of children who were playing there. They were urchins from the nearby slums dirty with rags for their clothes, noses running, bare footed, some wearing clothes too big for their age with pinned shorts slipping down as the urchins held them with one hand and ran around. He hadn’t been to a garden where such children played or rather such children were never seen where Shantanu usually played. Needless to say, Shantanu skipped the children’s play zone and chose to stay away from lawns where the urchins enjoyed themselves. He suggested we climb upto the top of the slope hoping that it may be somewhat less crowded up there and it was indeed so.

There were fewer children, one or two groups of irritating teenagers, a few youngsters out to spend their leisure time and so there was enough space for us father and son duo to choose from. We effortlessly zeroed in on a place where we could be completely by ourselves. We were at a height of the terrace of old three-storeyed buildings that lined the S. V. Road and for a moment I thought I could touch the sky and pluck a fluffy cotton like cloud bud! Behind us was a huge garden wall and atleast half a dozen urchins peeped in the garden incessantly from their shanties that overlooked the place. My son couldn’t stop gazing at them for he had never seen a garden full of urchins!! I wondered whether I had done something foolish or how my son would evaluate my act. What would my wife say had she seen all this? Out of sheer curiosity I asked Shantanu whether he would like to come to the garden again. He said no. I told him how the garden had more space than any other gardens for skating but he was adamant. Forget Shantanu, I wondered whether I would honestly like my son to come to this garden again? - As a concerned father definitely not!!

But then why what’s wrong? Is sharing a public space with urchins, orphans or slum dwellers shameful? A sin of sorts? And then it’s a public space - they own it as much as I do. Don’t these people have right to recreation? Many schools are allergic to admitting children from lower economic sections of society especially from the labour class. And if it is not the school it’s the parents who become allergic to such broadminded schools who admit children without any bias. Isn’t education a fundamental right? Then how can it be denied to the majority populace? And then isn’t poverty a grim reality of India? Then why turn our backs or close our eyes and assure ourselves that all’s fine and everyone’s happy? Why tell Shantanu that India is all about burgers when in reality it is all about a humble ‘wadaPav’ and that it is actually lunch and dinner for many or make him believe that India travels day in and day out on two and fourwheelers when it actually travels in crowded trains, trams, buses and still better India is not about two wheelers and four wheelers butit’s about ‘padayatras’! It’s not tobe found in restaurants, cafes, bars and dining halls but on dhaba’s slurping up thick lassi’s and wiping out the butter moustache with a dirty sweat-smelling ‘gamcha’!!

I don’t want my son to share his space with an urchin because his father is probably a driver or labourer or a sewer or a hawker or a daily wage earner who does petty jobs and is at times unemployed. Probably because he gets drunk at times and gets into a brawl with neighbour’s or gets physical with his wife and children and uses filthy language. Probably because he borrows money quite often. Probably because his wife works as a domestic help. But then isn’t it commendable that such people choose hunger over theft, hard work over scams, honesty over diplomacy? And compare this to so called elites who train their children to break the queues to gain advantage or train them to be selfish and diplomatic with their closest friends over petty academic issues. Do I want my son to share space or befriend a rich tax evading stock broker’s son whose father is allegedly associated with scandals and the corrupt just because he mints money and is richly dressed and travels in air conditioned cars? Or with a corporates son whose father compromises on ethics and morals day in and day out to climb up the corporate ladder when he really is not required to do so!! And what about high society pedophiles, rapists, sadists, chronic alcoholics who indulge in drunken driving, kill innocents and get away with it without repentance? Do I want my son to take lessons and pick up values sharing space with children having these kinds of rich backgrounds?!!Should we let our child share space with a child whose father may be a tax evading and corrupt, low on morality or with an honest hard working self-respecting workers child whose parents are probably uneducated but moral and law abiding, poor but honest !! Many may argue that it would be very orthodox and cruel to associate an innocent child to the doings or misdoings of his parents and voluntarily nominate him to be his heir apparent of his parent’s qualities but then we forget these things while dealing with the less fortunate!!

I have made up my mind. I am decided on taking my son to the urchin garden to share space with them. Hopefully with the kind of value based education we Indians impart to our children, they will not be (or ideally should not be) impressed with the vicious tendencies but on the contrary will be able to impress the urchins with their moral and well founded character and at the same time learn to respect and accept the people around them the way they are!!

• Bhushan Sarmalkar (JAI)