Will Hanging The Rapist Solve The Issue Of Rape??

Will Hanging The Rapist Solve The Issue Of Rape??

The ghastly act of rape in the national capital has once again brought the issue of safety of women under focus. I for one believe that rape & human trafficking should be considered the biggest crime against humanity above all other crimes even above murder, kidnapping and terrorist activities; the most painful fact about rape is that the victim is scarred for life the physical pain associated with the act is too small when compared to the pain that the victim goes through all her life including social stigma and personal scar. Even if you look at the current incident closely “Gangrape Victim” has become her name, everybody associates her with the act which she would want to forget as a bad dream, the problem is that she will now be known by this very act of crime committed against her, 10-20 years down the line she will still be known as the girl who survived a gangrape.

The debate is still open on variety of issues related to this particular incident and rape as a whole reasons for rape/how do we prevent rapes/ who is responsible etc, I in fact read a blog titled “why Indian men rape”; these are all important topics and need to be discussed continuously in various forums; But I would like to concentrate on the issue of punishment that is being demanded for the rapists. If you are following the student protests and various other protests across the country you would have noticed that the public view in general is with the three basic demands :-

• ·     The rapists be hanged to death
• ·         Fast track all the rape cases
• ·         Bring a law which approves Death Penalty as punishment for rape

Now let’s look at these demands one by one:-

• ·         The rapists be hanged to death :-  Well I respect the public view and felt the same but in retrospection I feel that we are actually asking the judiciary to pass a judgement which we want, in a way are we not undermining the whole judicial process? Now I know I would attract brick bats for this but let’s look at this case logically within the purview of law, to be sentenced to death the case needs to be classified as rarest of rare, now I have an issue with this very term, how does one decide which one is rare, which one is remotely rare, medium rare and then rarest of rare??  Aren’t we in a way classifying that ohh crime committed against you is bigger than crime committed against me and since I don’t fill the required criteria the accused in my case deserves a lesser punishment than the accused in yours. I mean who the hell came up with such a term in the first place?? There is a rape happening in India every 20 minutes, what justification will you give to a tribal women getting raped in Chhattisgarh when you tell her since nobody did a candle march for her accused can’t be hanged? Also I personally I would want each rapist to live his entire life in shame and by rotting in jail, each minute, each second he should be made to feel guilty & repent what he did. Basic rights of an Indian citizen should be withdrawn, which means he should not have any identity no passport, no pan card, no ration card, no voting rights absolutely no facilities that a common man has access to. I might sound a tad sadist but trust me that’s the amount of hatred I have for such monsters. Hanging them would solve their problem for ever. So let’s look at making the rapists pay for the crime rather than providing them an easy escape route.
• ·         Fast track all the rape cases:- Even I am against 15 -20 years of dragging of cases but let’s look at the dependencies of making a case fast track, the police for instance have to present strong prima facia evidence for framing of charges against the accused and in cases especially in rural India where the victim herself is not sure of the procedures of the law add to it if the accused is well connected the shoddy investigation by police, the judge gets transferred etc. So a fast track court would be a fast track court only in name and the case would still drag on for years; however this would be a great step considering we have a dismal data of only 12% rape cases actually getting reported and out of this convictions happens in only 18% of them, this should be a great step towards atleast starting to address this menace.
• ·           Bring a law which approves Death Penalty as punishment for rape:- Now this is highly debatable, asking for death penalty is easy but we need to keep in mind that passing such a law will have serious ramifications; the next rapist will make sure that the girl dies so that there is nobody to testify against him, so apart from the fear that every girl faces of getting raped, she will also carry the risk of getting killed. The need of the hour is to re-look at the existing law, for instance current law will consider rape only if there is strong evidence of intercourse, if the intercourse has not happened its not even considered rape. There is no clear guidelines on eve-teasing (I don’t even like the term) very few people take it seriously; some even consider it entirely acceptable.

There is no law in the world including the most talked about Arabic laws which would deter anybody who really wants to commit this ghastly crime; also a law is created to punish and not to deter and what we need right now is some proactive steps instead of reactive punishments; We might never have an India where there is zero rapes, Iam all for stricter punishments for rapists but it should be all around; rapists should be shunned socially and their pictures should be published with their phone numbers, addresses, employment details. Once convicted they should be devoid of any citizen rights no passport, pan card, ration card, driving license, insurance, and should be chemically castrated. This will be the biggest deterrent if any towards the crime. This will send a strong message to anybody who would know it will not just be a jail term but also social boycott for life. Hopefully the citizen protests won’t stop until strict laws are drafted and passed, and on the other hand we should collectively try and create an environment by educating our children (both Sons & Daughters) about respecting women and standing for their rights. Till then we still keep hoping and believing that one day we’ll be able to restrict if not put an end to this ghastly crime.

The Great Common Man Circus

The Great Common Man Circus

2012 has been an eventful year for India; suddenly India seems to have found its mojo as far as citizen participation is considered. Suddenly we have turned from a “chalta hai”nation to a “kyun”nation. It’s a healthy trend no doubt that citizens are today more involved and concerned about the country, what is appalling is that this has opened flood gates for self-styled & proclaimed messiahs of the common man. Never has India post-independence saw so many self-proclaimed voice of the people NETAS spring out like wild mushrooms in every corner of the country. So in addition to politicians who have been telling us what to do for decades; we now have “voice of people” leaders who are busy telling us why we shouldn’t be listening to the politician anymore.

India runs on jugaad is a popular jargon you get to hear in almost all the expatriate get togethers,  So what is this new jugaad of “voice of people”?? Let’s try and understand this on a opportunity analysis. So what would you need if today you decide to become a politician of repute in India?? I have listed down the minimum requirements as far as I understand as follows:-

·         Political Lineage :- Now let’s be honest if you have a father, mother, brother, sister, anybody who is in politics, then it becomes a natural progression for you, like a doctor’s kids become doctors, an actor’s kids become actors So a politicians family joins politics. And in case you have a famous surname you can still rule the country without getting into politics. So all those whose family is in politics and so would you but since you are reading this I assume you don’t so read on….
·         Huge amounts of money: - If you are loaded with money, have shady politicians on the board of directors of equally shady companies and a lot of disposable cash, you make the next logical move to move to the other side of the fence; so instead of greasing the politician to land the next tender you become the one to grant the tenders to your own companies off course. You can take a “Not Applicable” approach to this requirement if you are a TATA, RELIANCE or BIRLA coz then you get to direct the decision makers on what policies would you need in lieu of a fat donation off course and you don’t even have to get your hands dirty in day to day politics of it, can be equated to outsourcing for better understanding. Probably you are also not from this bracket; if you were you wouldn’t have needed a “how to” from me so read on…
·         Huge Fan Following: - This is even rare you need to be either a film star* Now any film star won’t do it needs to be from the south and it needs to be big (read: Rajnikanth, Kamal Hassan, Mohan Lal, Chiranjeevi); Hindi film industry is far more widespread to have a following at par with regional cinema with absence of any actor/star accepted widely. So if you are not as famous (accept it) and are not even sure of the people living in your apartment recognizing you then you won’t qualify so if you don’t then read on…
·         Retired bureaucrat:- This is more of a retirement benefit to thank you for the favours you doled out to the Govt when in power, you get trained by first getting nominated to the lower house and once you have learnt the ropes you graduate into the upper house and ministerial cabins, yes the same ones in front of which you stood hat in hand a few years back and if you are tired of doing anything responsible then you just have to ask and get paid holidays stints as ambassadors to countries around the world
 
Now that majority of us don’t fulfil any of the above given pre-requisites the only other option left is to appoint yourself as the self-proclaimed messiah of the people of this country, how do you do that??? Well for the good of the society and personal ambitions as a whole yours truly has charted out “JUGAADS” for you to get their quickly. All you have to do is choose one of the following:-
 
·         Religious / Pseudo Religious Icon :-  Start a religious reinterpretation, disappear for some time and then re-appear with claims that one among the many gods has rested the hope of saving this world on your shoulders and you are willing to share the responsibility with everyone who chooses to align with you, get a large enough following to become a game changer & then graduate to become a politician on your own
·         RTI activist/ NGO :- Govt has given this platform to aspirants to raise a storm against anybody under the sun and use the opportunity to take credit for the down fall of an established player, bigger the player bigger the platform and mind you the seed investment is  Re. 10/- only, drawback is that  there are real market risks involved and you have to be careful not to get sucked into the petty game of blackmailing, keep that art for bigger occasions for now you atleast need to act honest and follow up each RTI application worth its salt. NGO is another option the only hitch being you need funds to survive so you need to choose a side either with the Govt or against it, the biggest drawback being you never become a stand-alone entity you always will need the crutches of the mother ship to stand, but suits you in case you have a more rigid line of thought as far as your political affiliations are concerned.

So what if you are not even good enough to manage one of the above well then the easiest way to get there is to become the self-appointed “GYAANI” on all the issues, you need to have a “VIEW” on everything and jump right in at the mere smell of an issue create a hue & cry show the world (read: News Channels) how hurt you are about the state of citizens of this country. So broadly the dos & don’ts towards becoming a common man’s NETA are as follows:-

·         It’s all about being seen, the more eyeballs you gather is directly proportional to the seriousness with which the Govt takes you
·         Throw allegations, don’t worry you don’t have to prove it, just get a story which will stand the prima facia scrutiny and then disappear or rather move to the next allegation
·         Get a freedom fighter/ journalist/lawyer just anybody with a little reputation on your side to provide you more credibility
·         Create ruckus the moment somebody points fingers at you, claim the entire political class is planning to bring you down, create a conspiracy theory even if the postman rings your door bell twice instead of once as he/she usually does.
·         Blame everybody; do not take sides the ruling class should be the primary target but also keep a foot on the opposition, after all you are out there to create space and that would come only if you push both sides a little
·         Use the social media, sms polls, emailers and all modes of communication that the traditional politicos are not so smart about
·         Challenge for public debates, though you may not have anything substantial to say but still it takes you a notch higher from small netas to national neta when you debate with a bigger neta.
·         Hijack, Gatecrash, Associate yourself with any protest under the sun, you should be the poster boy of protests in this country. Remember issues are secondary what is important is that you = protest
·         Hire a photographer, get clicked only when police is dragging/ pulling/hitting you to create the sacrificial image for the country men

Adhere to this and bingo you suddenly can claim to represent the civil society. Remember the mantra is to criticize the system, make heroes out of outlaws like Maoists and unlimited supply of placards and lots of free time to jump into any protest right from garbage clearance to corruption.

Now on a serious note, how long will this continue, well this works on the primary funda “make hay when the sun shines” sooner or later people of this country will see through your antics and will realize your true ambitions, I really don’t want to predict what will happen on that day. Also this post is in no way endorsement for any political party, neither does it claim that citizen movements are farce, the point I want to make is that with so much confusion around a few people in the name of citizen messiahs shouldn’t use the opportunity to reach the same place, the cleaning of which we intended to do in the first place. Till then just enjoy the great Common Man Circus

A Scared Nation- Battling the shades of grey!!!

Its been a long time since I last visited my blog, no it was not a sabbatical nor was it what is called a idea drain out, just a little busy with life. Though I felt strongly about a lot of issues which I thought I should write about but everytime I sat down to pen my thoughts the whole issue became dangerously confusing; that’s where this whole idea of a scared nation came along.

So are we a scared nation??? Or rather have we turned ourselves into one??? In what context one might ask..so let me trace back to where it first stuck me . A few days back I wanted to publish an update on my FB page wishing everybody on the start of Navratri, so I typed a long message and then just before I hit the publish button I stopped and thought does this message sound  too radical?, would friends from different faiths than me consider me a right wing crusader? ..i know its funny but the thought actually crossed my mind and I edited and re-edited the entire message 28 times before publishing what I thought was a sobered down update.

This made me thinking and I started to observe friends around me including myself on how we react to something as simple as a FB status update, and I realized though I find some of the staus  messages nice, I go no further than probably hitting the “LIKE” button, coz something tells me it doesn’t suit my “shades of grey” Ya that’s what I have decided to call this present state of the young in this country. In 90’s there was a clear line drawn you were either in the minority or Non-Secular, it was drilled down to each physche that majority means oppressors and minority meant oppressed. Political parties on one hand made hay of this latest discovery where you were brandished either a terrorist or RSS man depending upon your faith. So if your vehicle had “Sri Ram” written on it, irrespective of the reason you were a RSS guy who razed Babri Masjid or killed hapeless women in Godhra. Similarly if you sport a beard with a skull cap you were a terrorist who planted bombs in Mumbai or celebrated when Pakistan beat India in cricket. So the polarization was complete with parties fighting elections on the agenda that who supported or represented which faith in India, or in rather derogatory terms who was more “SECULAR”. One side accused the other of being radicals and the other minority appeasers and citizens of this country like in 1947 were again forced to choose either based on their faith or compulsions. I am lucky to have broadminded parents who never forced me to do something against my will or belief, I was introduced to religion in a normal way and was always instructed to respect other religions and faiths as ours. So I have sang carols with Christians, religiously attented Iftaars & Sehris, even tied a turban to visit The Golden Temple; But was disappointed when they told me that I was free to marry any girl as long as she is not Christian or Muslim. I didn’t know what to say??? Probably the social compulsion was playing hard on them (let me discuss this topic in detail in some other post).

Cut to 2000’s India is a young nation, people atleast in the urban areas have rejected the radical polarization, true colours of political parties are out in the open, the youth is more informed and mature about freedom and more tolerant about religion. Politicians today are rated on their performance/ corruption rather than their faiths and we are the lucky ones to see an almost revolution unfold in Delhi by Anna Hazare. But has this traits made us scared?? Scared to even vent out our true reactions. Look at Anna Hazare I like the man but somehow I couldn’t convince myself to support him whole heartdly because I do not like Gandhi and how can I support someone who is re-marketing Gandhi? Same with Dr. Subramaniam Swamy I like him and I support him as well on his crusade against ‘Gandhis (the present lot)’ but every time he writes an article like the present one I tend to distance myself from him. This is true not only for me but for the people at large, today we have matured enough to take a stance against the radical polarizations that we were forced into but some how it has made us go weak in the knees when it comes to express our true reactions. It was witnessed in the whole of US & Europe in the late 80’s when people were even scared to call a black ‘black’ scared that they would be termed racists.So sobered down terms like “Coloured American”, “African American” etc were divised to kill the derogatry ‘Negro’. Even today a slight slip and you could be termed racist in those countries and some part of it if not same feelings have encaptured the young in India.

So how do we not be scared ???? well I don’t know, I didn’t intend to find a solution to it here,So  as long as it serves the larger purpose of harmony should we accept it? I don’t think so..coz end of the day democracy is freedom of expression and as a nation we should be able to call a spade a spade. Is this too much of wishful thinking that one day I might criticize the Imam of Jama Masjid or The Sar Sangh Sanchalak for their radical views without being brandished a Hindu terrorist or a Pakistani???? Well…wish along………

Ghotuls- Tales of the tribal Night club!!

After hearing a lot of stories/ rumors and legends for years I got an opportunity to visit Abhujmaar; considered one of the most primitive tribal settlements that still exist in Bastar. Chattisgarh has various tribal ideologies and sects and a majority of them are concentrated in Bastar. Some of the major tribal sects are (a) Muria (b) Madiya (3) Gond and a few sub sects like Abhujmaria Muria, Madiya Gond etc. A visit to Abhujmaar is considered risky due to various reasons and the tribals here avoid outsider’s presence in between them. So to be invited in their village took years of trust building exercise and a complete understanding of their socio-economic and cultural heritage. Government documents suggest that Abhujmaar is atleast 100 years behind in terms of the modern societies and their practices; but what I saw and learned in Abhujmaar and their social structure was shocking to say the least. I couldn’t think of a better expression for what I felt. When I researched on the net I found that there are a couple of people who have done the same kind of research and have considerable data on the lives of these primitive tribals. One person in particular whom I would like to mention is Mr. Verrier Elwin. Elwin was a Christian missionary who abandoned his job as a clergy to dedicate his life to work with the tribals of central India. He worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi and later converted to Hinduism, He married a Gond girl to become a ‘participant observer’ as he states in one of his books, but later divorced the girl with two children and married a tribal girl from the north-east part of India when his research took him there coining the same idea of ‘participant observer’ {quite a participative fellow; I must admit}, leaving his first wife and two children to die in poverty, however the point here is not to have a look at Elwin’s personal life but to admire his work and recording on the tribals of Bastar.


A day in the life of an Abhujmaria is same as of other tribal settlements which includes farming and picking forest produce, a majority of them also do wood carving and bamboo works, the shocking part is the equality among males and females. The boys are called chilaks and the girls are called motiyaris, both have long hairs and believe in decorating themselves with junk jewellery, combs made from wood, tusks of boar and colorful feathers. The motiyaris will have mirrors, paper fans and even balloons as decorative items.They have a robust social structure for generations and much of the credit goes to the must talked about Ghotuls way of education and social teachings that are prevalent here. So I decided to enter a territory which is banned for outsiders but the goodwill created by years of association and reference by a couple of tribal friends did the trick

GHOTULS- The primitive lounge bar

Most of the things that I had read and heard about Ghotuls revolved around the rumors prevalent in the city, but the actual experience of visiting one opened my eyes and gave me a never before experience of understanding the practicality of these tribal practices and for the first time in my life I felt that I was a primitive fellow looking at the most modern way of life. Ghotuls are kind of a community centre away from the village, generally a large hut made of bamboo and mud where anyone above the age of six is automatically a member. They are taught farming, wood carving, and other skills along with community living under the Ghotuls system. It’s like a university with no books or texts, every one is a student and every one is a teacher here. The leader of the motiyaris is called ‘Belosa’ and the leader of chilaks is called ‘Siredar’. An important point to note here is that only bachelors are allowed in Ghotuls, married people are barred from visiting Ghotuls and the intervention of the elders is bare minimal. So every evening the youth assemble here in the Ghotuls; the beginning of Ghotul is marked with beating of the drums, which immediately entices loud shrills from children {never saw children so excited to go to school}the motiyaris start teasing the chilaks and the chilaks go to each motiyaris house to accompany them to the Ghotul. In front of the Ghotul music is played using drums and flutes and the motiyaris start dancing in circles, after a while it does gets boring to watch the same steps again and again, tobacco and local toddy is distributed among all and its wonderful to watch people smoking, drinking, singing and dancing together. This is followed by the checking of home work by the elder chilaks given to younger ones on making bamboo combs, leaf stitching etc. The good ones are appreciated and the bad ones are punished {just like school}. The dancing goes on till late in night coupled with tribal style antakshari, puzzles and poetry. The motiyaris flirt with the chilaks who in turn make effort to win the motiyaris, no motiyaris or chilaks is allowed to give special attention to only one boy or girl and are punished if found doing so. The motiyaris steals the comb of the chilaks which is an indication that she likes him.

We are still debating as to when to start sex education for our children, but here in the Ghotul it’s learned through experience and respecting each other. There is not even a slight hint of pervert thoughts or intentions and the entire process of physical intimacy is looked at like a scared process and the respect for each others physical difference and anatomies is of utmost importance. The equality can be understood even better if I tell you that it’s perfectly alright or rather normal for unmarried males and females in Abhujmaar to swim together in the river with no clothing, something our so called modern society might growl at. The entire process is allowed to develop on its own, the males and females sleep together in the Ghotul from their childhood like brothers and sisters and once their genes develop they go further. The Ghotul tradition of the Muria tribals points to the equality and unisexuality of primitive humans. In the tribe, young men and women “date” from the age of ten onwards. The advocates of free sex and safe sex should study this system of natural sex education at the Ghotuls. Since the Ghotuls do not have formal teachers, the students never develop the attitude that the teachers are of a different generation. As a result, children learn about love at an early age, by watching others. They imitate what they see. Mothers typically teach their daughters about the extent to which they can go at the Ghotuls. Should any problems occur, the Motiyari tells the elders and they collectively sort out the problem. Nobody feels embarrassed by this, nor is anybody despised. When grown-up Chilaks (boy students at the Ghotul) are on duty protecting the fields or are away on other work, the younger Chilaks get the chance to spend the time with the Motiyaris. This is how the young ones get educated. There are strict rules of confidentiality regarding the happenings at the Ghotuls.

Since partners are continuously rotated, every pair gets a chance sooner or later. If a Motiyari singles out a boy to treats him specially, she's punished by the other boys. Because of their sexual freedom, at the time of marriage neither is the bride a virgin, nor is the groom inexperienced. Even after so much free sex chilaks and motiyaris are expected to practice monogamy in their married life. If they stray they are punished severely sometimes even with death. It’s the duty of the Ghotul students to provide entertainment on all occasions. They sing and dance all night to provide entertainment to their villagers. They smoke and drink and have fun. The lessons of cleanliness, and the skills learnt in Ghotuls stay with them all their lives. Living for hundreds of years amidst various diseases, wild animals and now Maoists, Ghotuls provide them with the much needed window of entertainment and relaxation.

I was told that earlier outsiders were allowed to come and watch the proceedings of the Ghotuls but then these officers and police men started exploiting the girls, so it was stopped and now the tribals do not allow anybody to see the Ghotul proceedings. I really felt privileged and couldn’t thank my tribal friends enough to have allowed me to watch the Ghotuls and learn the amazing system of education and social norms in the tribal society. For a city dweller in Bangalore Iam sure the description of Ghotul would sound as if Iam describing a new lounge bar. After looking at Ghotuls atleast I believe that the government assumptions are wrong; Abhujmaar is not 100 years behind but 100 years ahead of the so called modern society of ours.

In the eye of the storm !!!!

Long back in the year 1979 I had my (then) tiny feet touch the soil of the land of a nondescript town called Jagdalpur. Many hadn’t heard about it till 2008-2009, a majority confusing it with Jabalpur the marble rich historic city in Madhya Pradesh, a tiny spot on the map of India which made me proud every time I spotted it on any map and sad when I couldn’t find its mention in even the basic government diaries which used to have pin codes against names of cities mentioned in the first few pages. I grew up surrounded by the small town charm, green surroundings where spotting a deer, bison, leopard or even a tiger once in a while was only a few kilometers away. I grew up on regular instances of tigers wandering into the town outskirts and how people named them on mythological characters, so we had a tigress named Ganga accompanied with three cubs that were named Shiv, Ganesh and Laxmi on one occasion. The life was simple yet exiting, covered with trees, rivers, gardens, waterfalls and tiger reserves; pollution, traffic jams, job stress, recession etc were big foreign words limited to the oxford dictionary we compulsorily needed to have as part of our books to school. I studied in a convent run by nuns; strict yet gentle, speaking in English was compulsory for us as we belonged to the only English medium school in the town and were treated like kings/queens at social gatherings. One of the few indications of a man’s status in the town was wether his son/daughter studies in Nirmal Vidhyalaya. People used to turn and give a look of appreciation on hearing one speaking in English, so depending on what your personality was you either felt the centre of attraction/ embarrassed / alien to your surroundings. The first group of students who went to Pune/ Nagpur/ Hyderabad/ Delhi or the most favorite spot Bangalore was looked at the same way America looked at Obama when he championed the term change. I joined the latest fad of going to Bangalore to study and have been in Bangalore ever since, 1997 to be precise, but something in me always missed Jagdalpur, though its not my birth place {I was born in godhra (Gujarat)}, I still consider Jagdalpur my birth place and take the same or even more pride in calling myself a Bastaria rather than a malayali which Iam by the basis of mother tongue.

Today every news channel, NGO, Speakers, Social Worker, Writer, citizen of India knows Bastar as the bad land where Maoists are playing havoc with security personnel, in discussions when they talk about Bastar one feels like he is being taken back into the history where people used to narrate stories about chambal and its dacoits and the complete lawlessness prevailing there. Today who so ever feels like takes the responsibility on his/her shoulders to explain to the world the cause of Maoism, or the ways to eradicate it in Bastar, ironically these are the same people who a few years back didn’t even know ‘Dantewada’ existed on the map of India. Dantewada for me is the shrine of Maa Danteswari the local deity of Bastar, where every navratri people used to walk bare footed from Jagdalpur 87 kilometers to seek her blessings irrespective of the religion or caste they belong too, it is the biggest symbol of religious harmony in Bastar which has turned today into a battle ground between Maoists and government forces. Hardly the kind of image I wanted Bastar or Chattisgarh to have.

The history of Bastar is vast and of historical and mythological importance. Chitrakoot in Chattisgarh is considered the place where Lord Ram spent some years of his exile from Ayodhya. The large former princely state of Bastar offers an instructive example of the combining of elements of Rajput, orthodox Hindu and tribal Gond tradition. Modern scholarship claims a date of 1323 for Annam Deo, founder of the Bastar dynasty, to have fled Warangal in Telengana (Andhra) following the collapse of Kakatiya rule after the invasion of the Tughlaq of Delhi sultanate. Oral tradition had suggested that the advent of the Bahmani sultanate in the Deccan had precipitated his flight a hundred years later, in about 1425, and there is evidence that small Rajput kingdoms did survive the first Muslim invasions of the south.Annam Deo is said to have taken the family goddess Sri Danteshwari Mai with him into Bastar, creating a temple for her at Dantewada. As personal goddess of the ruling family, this aspect of ferocious Kali/Durga has long taken centre stage in the affairs of Bastar, which in previous centuries had been ruled by scions of the Nagvansh line. The new Bastar rajas, with a fully fledged Rajput heritage of the Chandra (Moon) line, ruled a forest population of different religious traditions, who, while acknowledged the raja as their ruler. To embellish their spiritual status, the Bastar family over the centuries introduced many other purely Hindu and Brahmanical elements, especially from neighboring Orissa. The major festival and tourist attraction of the Bastar calendar, Dashehra, owes nothing to the northern tradition associated with events of the Ramayan. Here, giant chariots are built and pulled by the tribals with the local deity astride is borrowed from the Jagannath tradition of Puri, and devotion that had more in common with the Durga Puja of Bengal, the festival became a reaffirmation of the ruler's position and the temporal fidelity of his subjects. The last ruler in direct descent from the Kakatiya line, Prafulla Kumari Devi, passed away in 1936. She had married into the Bhanj Deo house of Mayurbhanj in Orissa and her son and heir, Pravir Chandra, last ruling Maharaja of Bastar, perished in a police firing in the Jagdalpur Palace in 1966, championing to the end, the rights of Bastar's tribal people to their lands and forests, Ironic isn’t it ??

There is nothing far from truth on the way channels today are painting Bastar with. The tribals of Bastar were self sufficient and happy with their simple lives and limited aspirations. They were easily cheated by the traders who bought their produce on much lower rates than the market rates. The main source of income came through farming and tendu leaves (leaf used for rolling beedis) and the tribal walking into banks with notes concealed in bamboos were a common sight. Bastar shares its borders with Andhra Pradesh and Orissa in the south. Maoists came into Bastar from Andhra Pradesh using the dense forest as a cover to cross border. Once they were in Bastar they realized it’s the best place they can be, the simple tribal of Bastar doesn’t even know what exploitation means and the rich mineral deposits would ensure that the govt in Delhi would take them seriously, add to this the popularity provided by the PR of NGO’s and social thinkers this place would be a gold mine, so the means of livelihood was taken away from the tribal by forcing them out of farming and complete ban on tendu leaves plucking and the blame for the same was put on the government, the tribal with no other means to live picked up the gun and thus the balance so beautifully maintained for hundreds of years was disturbed, the Maoists started by raising the native versus outsider issue which couldn’t take off as the much respected ruler Raja Pravir Chandra was himself responsible for inviting people from all over India to come and settle down in Bastar. My father still recalls the crowd of tribals in front of Sardar Pola Singh’s house as he was the first Sardar a tribal had ever seen in Bastar. So the issue of native and outsider died its natural death. So suddenly one started hearing on how the tribal was worried about the effect on the environment and biodiversity of the jungle being disturbed if minerals were extracted, mind you these are the same tribals who as part of their yearly festival ‘aakhet’ went hunting in the jungle and killed hundreds of deers, leopards, tigers or which ever animal they sighted on a single day. So how did this transformation happen or did somebody knowingly fed them with false stories on how the govt was their biggest enemy. The govt of MP and the central govt ignored the initial signals as Bastar was too small a place for them to be concerned and with only 3 Vidhan Sabha and one Lok sabha seat it was not something to waste time and effort on. The bureaucrats were frustrated playing hosts to ministers and their families on vacation in Bastar.

The focus came back the moment the state Chattisgarh was carved out of MP in November 2001 as Bastar became strategic from the election point of view. Suddenly the govt in charge realized it had a big problem in hand, by then the Maoists had extended their reach to the deepest parts of Bastar and the local politicians had started using them to win elections in Bastar. The change in regime brought with it the idea to do something different from the previous govt so Mahendra Karma a local Congress MLA came up with an idea of ‘salwa judum’ a local militia to fight Maoists, actually the idea itself came because certain sections of tribals were frustrated by the whole Maoist exploitation, Vanvasi ashrams had turned into places for sexual exploitation of tribal girls, NGO’s centers for converting black money into white of the rich and famous but the idea failed miserably because the state had no means to arm and train the hundreds of tribals and there was no guarantee of the same militia turning their guns on the govt.

Today the Bastaria in me empathizes with the situation my tribal brothers are in, they have no where to go, either the Maoists will kill them or the police will kill them. I have heard hours and hours of intellectual debate and seen days of prime time discussions on Bastar, but ironically no body understands Bastar leave alone coming up with a solution. The Bastaria finds himself in the same shoes that his beloved King was when he was executed by the Government of India. To understand Bastar and Bastaria should be the first step towards eradicating the naxal menace, we give two hoots to people like Arundhati Roy for claiming the exploitation led to Maoism, she came to Bastar only after it acquired prime time space on national television its actually the opposite the exploitation came after the Maoists came.

I always wished that Bastar became famous so that I don’t have to explain everybody I meet on exactly where Iam from, but I never wished that Bastar be known as the bad land where Maoists play havoc, instead I wished Bastar to be known as a prime tourist destination where a normal city dweller can still experience tribal way of living and experience the nature at its best. Please leave Bastar alone we have been dealing with our problems for hundreds of years and Iam sure will still manage to do it better than its been done.

The Indian Pulp Fiction

Being married makes you familiar with TV channels you never knew existed courtesy off course your wife. There are many channels which interests my wife, but the channel which has managed to grab her eye balls for the longest time {good job to the marketing guys} happens to be colors, while surviving the various scheming saas-bahus I came across a small teaser ad for an upcoming serial “Keshav Pandit” the name sounded familiar Infact very familiar but I let it pass, the next day while proof-reading rediff.com’s pages {Iam way above the ‘reading’ types}I got to know that the serial was based on a character from Ved prakash sharma’s novel that explained the familiarity. I grew up on Ved prakash Sharma’s novels.


Ved Prakash Sharma is prominent names in the Hindi belt / norths India for his James headly chase style novels in Hindi. According to Hindi novel trade pundits his novel is sold in millions of copies in single edition and even publishers don’t know how many editions have been taken. He has 156 novels to his credit accord to himself. He is highly popular for Vijay-Vikas series. All the characters are larger than life persona. His most famous characters areVijay,Alfanse,Vikas,Watan,Tumbaktu,Singhai,Jackson,Nusrat-Tughlak,Bagharof,Harry and Keshav Pandit,Vibha Zindal etc.

His character Keshav Pandit is also very famous story of a normal guy who had to go through many hardships and had been sentenced to jail. After getting released he vows to fight for people who are not aware of the Indian Judicial process; interesting isn’t it?? There are various characters and characterizations that Ved Prakash has successfully created for years.

Surendra Mohan Pathak is what a Ruskin Bond is to English books. Pathak is an author of Hindi-language crime fiction with nearly 300 novels to his credit. His writing career, along with his full time job in Indian Telephone Industries, Delhi, began in the early 1960s with his brilliant Hindi translations of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, and the works of James Hadley Chase. He also wrote his own James Bond series.

His first short story, 57 saal puraana aadmi (The Man aged 57), was published by in 1959, and his first full length novel, Operation Budapest, came out in 1969.

His major work began with what is called the "Sunil" series, which consists of at least 115 novels. Sunil, a debonair and upright investigative journalist for the fictional daily newspaper Blast, lives in the fictional city of Raj nagar. Sunil has a quixotic nature when it comes to damsels in distress, which happens too often and in pursuit of justice, mostly with help of his best friend Ramakanth Malhotra, a dipsomaniac and owner of a bar called Youth Club. Sunil often ends up on the wrong side of the law and has to face Inspector Prabhudayal, the exceptionally strict and incorruptible officer in charge of the homicide division.

The "philosopher" detective Sudhir Kumar Kohli is another series character of Pathak. This series is totally reciprocal likewise Sunil as in this dilli ka khaas kism ka haraami is the hero and likewise Inspector Devender Kumar Yadav who can easily be persuaded to do something dishonest.

However the best-known series of novels of Pathak is Vimal, a.k.a. Sardar Surender Singh Sohal. another dozen names he uses to camouflage his identity in the Mumbai underworld. He has taken up arms against gangsters like Rajbahadur Bakhia, and after killing him, his next avatar Iqbal Singh and then Vyaas Shankar Gajre. The Sardar has associates like Tukaram and his henchmen, like Wagle and Irfan, etc. Vimal is not a private detective or police inspector but a criminal wanted in seven states.

If we look down south in Tamil Nadu, novelist Rajesh Kumar is more fertile than scriptwriters could imagine. In forty years Kumar has written and published over 1250 novels and over 2000 short stories.

So why are these people still limited to certain areas or belts as some people would call it despite having sales figures which would put the majority of the books on the shelves of landmark to shame. On doing a little fact-finding what I found was that the publishers of these novels don’t have decided volumes, its depending on the feedback, the other fact is that priced at Rs 20 to Rs 50 these books hardly provide the margins a landmark would like to have. On the internet I have found several requests from people looking for these novels which as of now are restricted to news agencies and railway station hawkers for now. The market is huge and the volumes are higher restricted to a certain area or belt and these regular writers who have regular jobs to support their families don’t seem to find it odd that within the country people have not even heard of them. These are the stories which are fulfilling the reading needs of the masses providing them with a larger than life hero jumping out of the badly printed cheap paper books that flush them with action, emotion, sex and crime. Iam sure the auto driver in Delhi or Chennai wouldn’t complain.

As India today is swarmed with writers with people leaving high paying jobs to get into writing example Chetan Bhagat, I feel its people like Ved Prakash Sharma and Surendra Mohan Pathak who are the real heroes who have survived and did well for themselves taking writing as their part time hobby and still surviving an unfriendly terrain called literature or pulp fiction as its called by pundits. With Keshav Pandit turning into a serial and couple of Pathak’s novel being translated into English I feel the time has come that due credit is given to these little known masters of the craft.

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