The Mathematics of Super-rich Hindu Godmen!!

Ever wondered about super-rich Hindu godmen??!! All of us cannot escape being wonderstruck at the extensive material possessions religiously safe (always beyond the domain of tax and property laws that stalk the tiny material prospects of lesser mortals like yours truly) under the clutches of long list of Hindu religious figures. Well mendicancy that always reminds us of naked bearded Sadhus lost in meditative trance, it now instantly fetches us the image of gold-imbibed sages on whose feet both elites and the masses put their heads for seeking better prospects. Sadhus are doing good business man!!

It is one of the most predominant means of land grab in India ranging from prime locations in metros to the remote mountainous stretches. It is a very simple Hindu mathematics that functions on the parameters of blind faith and governmental incapacity to interfere into the religious affairs of the people who manage and organize religion for 80% population in this country. It starts with a smart bearded eagle who puts his ass by a holy fire near the vicinity of a suffering settlement full of people in need. You know why people’s faith in fate and God for a reprieve from their problems is not coming down as it should given the vast strides in science and technology? It is rather going up to turn into a blind race without any rhyme or reason. The reason is god dammed massive population in this country. People are crammed in a small space and fight over little resources. They ultimately have to spread out the corner of their apron for divine intervention. In ancient India that was rich in resources, faith was a means of spiritual pursuit. Now it is a mad rush to stand in the queue like sheep and humbly get blessings to fulfill needs. People have so many needs and uncountable frustrations that they are forced to drop logic at the end of a hard-cut day of struggles.

The mathematics of this Godman prosperity is very simple. Suppose ten people start going to a new religious sprout, the new Sadhu on the scene. They have their histories of disappointments, struggles, issues against man as well as God, trials and tribulations. When they decide to hit their forehead into the dust around the holy feet of this new blessing giver, even with a very weak probability law, some of them have already done enough to resolve some of their issues. Suppose out of ten, two people have been struggling long enough so that in any case they would have seen a positive change in their situation even if they had not visited this godman. But since they see a change in their situation after they started visiting this religious fellow, they forget the long trials and tribulations and their fight. They think that if it was not happening for so long, and now it materializes, so it must be born of this holy man’s blessings. So these two overzealous and over-obliged troubled souls turned followers become the publicity agents. Driven by a devotional spirit they will fetch 10 each fellow sufferers from the group of their acquaintances. And out of those 20 persons, at least 4 would have done enough to change their life positively anyway. But again these four will go ga ga about the Sadhu’s prowess in changing their lives. These four will get another 40 and so on. It grows with a very serious mathematics. A sort of nuclear chain reaction.

What about the rest 8 of the 10 people who visited initially? They will never doubt the powers of Sadhus as such. At the most they will think this particular one is not skilled enough to resolve their issues. So they will continue with their struggles against their causes as well as search for a skilled-enough holy figure who will ultimately deliver the goods for them. They will be scattered in the different levels of groups falling in the domain of various Sadhus. And those who realize that things have changed for them (which would have changed anyway given their long-road of struggles); they dump finally their loyalty at the feet of the holy figure that they are visiting at that time. In this way these godmen get their core group of loyal followers. So not surprising that most of these godmen are cut in the avatar of Aasharam and other cheats. A very simple religious mathematics, eh! 

If Gandhism is a philosophy, not individual legacy, Arvind Kejriwal, then, is the modern Gandhi!!

There is a cartel that has hijacked Indian democracy. It involves mighty politicians belonging to all the mainstream political parties, big business houses, senior officials and powerful antisocial elements. They complement each other and help each other in monopolizing things for mutual benefits and plunder the resources. Kejriwal challenged this criminal nexus. That's why he stands marginalized and stigmatized like this. All the thieves have started barking against him because he is their common enemy. Everybody knows how people like Mr Ambani control top ministries in India. And when Kejriwal shows fearlessness and puts them in dock they go for witch-hunting. Media is also controlled by these big economic and political tycoons. So the journos are also leaving no stone unturned in demeaning this new Gandhi fighting for the little little freedoms that have been denied to the common man of India. Hope people have their brains with them and won't be influenced by the propaganda organized by the exploiters.

Ground realities related to Khaps!!

Every community in India has its own type of social organization. Minority religions have their unique systems regarding marriage etc. These are so unique that some of them are even beyond the reach of civil and marriage acts. It means Indian constitution allows diversity of culture and thought. Khaps should basically be analyzed with a belief in this very concept. If so many distinct customs of marriage, divorce, property rights, which are even in stark contrast to other uniform laws in India, are allowed then why are khap panchayats judged with an exceptional, exclusive judgmental hammer ignoring so many unique cultural traits they define and defend regarding the Jat community. We have to understand that these are basically units of social organizations just like any other community in India and having its own utility and flaws.

Those who sit in the studios and blabber about the issue of honour killings should come out and see the ground realities related to honour killings. Ask the family where such incidences have taken place. They will tell it was the fear of getting marginalized by the mainstream society and the fear of stigma that drove them into the gruesome act. Very rarely Khaps will ordain honour killings. There have been some incidences when such injunctions were unfortunately ordained from Khap chabutra, but in those cases it happens when things somehow reach the larger domain of the community. In such cases these criminal acts have to be punished as per the law of the land. Don’t individuals commit murders? Does that mean that all of us should be put under scanner for being possible murders? Every individual, every institution in the domain of social, economic and political framework has its own versions of criminal acts. Does that mean that we should raise questions about their existence itself? Civilization thrives on reformation, not termination. Even Britishers thought of reforming so many unique customs instead of gross termination.

Right from Muslims to people in down south, marriage customs are different in India. If Khaps have a stand against same gotra marriages then what is wrong with that?? Genetically it has been proved that the more you move away from the genetic line of your parentage, the better are the offsprings. On what grounds we get judgmental? From the yardsticks of Hindu marriage customs, some customs related to certain communities will appear unacceptable. So just targeting a particular community regarding its marriage customs does not sound prudent and justified.

The biggest undoing with Khaps have been their spokesmen! Jats are basically farmers and count very low when it comes to being diplomatically correct. If put prudently even a slap may sound like a logical act born of some justified grievance. And if not put appropriately, even a justified act may appear like a gruesome act. That’s what Khap leaders have done to their system. Their ill-calculated statements regarding reduction of marriage age to cut down on rape, not allowing women to use mobile, codes regarding dress etc, have brought ill-repute to khaps. On the practical surface there is hardly any negative change in the lives of girls and women on account of such instructions, but yes after getting overhyped in the media Khaps sound like Taliban ever trying to enslave woman. Before getting panicked whenever there is such an injunction by some khap, kindly visit the respective areas and find out if there is a change in the lives of woman. You would not find any perceptible change. But yes Khaps will definitely get demonized. Khaps become just self-injurious in such matters. It happens just once in a while when some old patriarch of the headgear generations gets panicked possibly on ulterior grounds and ordains something funny which does not have any affect on the ground level. So Khaps should have diplomatically correct and educated people as their spokesman who know what they are saying and what might be the consequences.

 If we just strictly look from the prism of modernity then most of the unique aspects of different communities will appear redundant. We are here to preserve distinctness, not to smother down diversity. Doing that just against Khaps does not sound like treating Jats equally with other communities in India. So many customs and ways of life related to many other communities also repeatedly rub against the shoulders of law. So reformation is the key objective, not annihilation. In this regard Supreme Court’s observations on Khaps appear unjustified.

Every social system having historical roots has and will serve a role. So to say that Khaps have become redundant is quite farcical. Khaps are passing through a generational shift. The old patriarchs still clinging to its top leadership sometimes over buzz the panic button. It has to be understood that many things that are happening are beyond their imagination. So the reaction! But most of the times their reaction has not any effect at the practical level. Once this generation bows out, brighter young people who are more educated will take charge of Khaps. We have to facilitate this generational shift in Khap leadership instead of tabooing them Taliban way,

Why BJP brand of politics is a safer bet for Indian democracy at present?!

Family politics is one of the biggest issues that  plague Indian democracy. Congress led by Gandhi-Nehru clan and the smaller regional offshoots have checked the flow of democracy from reaching the grassroots level. That’s the reason Swaraj is still a distant, almost impossible, reality even after 66 years of independence. Even within the folds of democracy, only autocratic tricks can succeed in maintaining power concentrated in a particular family. In this regard Gandhi-Nehruvian type of manipulations have done the greatest harm to the spread of democracy and independence across the widespread strata in India. Consequently, things did not change much for the common man of India post-independence.

BJP brand of politics is at least in sharp democratic contrast to Congress in this regard. Atalji headed NDA as Prime Minister.  He could focus just on his democratic duties instead of wasting resources and institutional powers in consolidating family fiefdom to keep it floating across generations. New BJP Prime Minister designate will be in a far better position to function as the topmost administrator of the country in comparison to let us say somebody from the Gandhi Nehru clan. The latter will again have to go into undemocratic manipulations, directly and indirectly, to maintain their grip as the first political family in the country.

At least in present conditions BJP is a far better option than Congress for the spread of democracy in India. It may not be perfect but will at least take Indian democracy to the next stage when Swaraj will be a possibility under the care of some new rising son!!!! 

Peacock, the Beggar

The fields around my village are splashing with as much green paddy as possible. Monsoonal sun across the corners of flying lumps of clouds gives the best glimpses of nature's bounty. But the travelling shadows also try to cover up silent, invisible man-made tragedies. Driven by intensive agriculture, born of costly inputs and decreasing landholdings, farmers just mindlessly dump poison in all forms of pesticides, weedicides and insecticides. So this lush green is a merciless stroke of brush on the canvas of nature, swiping away the natural world of many insects, worms, reptiles and rodents that make nature holistic and encompassing in its game of give and take across food chains. So guys, its just green paddy and poisoned soil below.

Peacocks thrive on insects in the fields. So food-less where would they go. A peacock's plumage swinging to gentle breeze in open surroundings of the countryside is a treat, and we were lucky to witness it so many times during our childhood. Now the last or second last generation of these destitutes, who rarely get an insect in fields, has descended down in the village. An irony: the poison giver is somehow better than the poison itself, at least in the short turn. In the foliage of neem and acacian trees, they just pew out their miseries. To the infants and younger lot it gives a chance to get acquainted with the national bird's sound, and of course help them in learning the initials of human language.

My mom has an almost regular bird visitor, who perches upon the neem in our courtyard and pews out its begging song as if pleading, Mai Roti do!!' While she dispenses her routine chores across the yard, it continues to draw her attention. Roti delayed, it is forced to descend down and enter the inner reaches of house just to make his presence felt through his luxuriant plumage. Once roti is put in small pieces before it, it has to chuck up the offerings as fast as possible because crows line up in their accusing harsh tones, blaming him for being a transgressor who has infringed upon their rights. Crows are very clever. Some of them get behind his plumage and take a pick at his feathers to distract him. One defensive look behind and a few pieces stolen by the other crows waiting in the wings. I call it the 'beggar peacock', my mother does not like the title though.

If that is the fate of the national bird, its hard to imagine the condition of others. Looking at this marvel of nature, whom mom sometimes accuses of being 'namakharam'-- when it comes without its plumage, all the feathers having been shed somewhere, and mom cursing it for being so mindless to waste them somewhere and not shed them in the courtyard -- I just feel sad on account of the fact that may be it is the last or at the most second last in its lineage!!!