Pappu

Pappu is my friend from our village Rajapur in Bhadohi (also called a carpet city, a town in the state of Uttar Pradesh). I meet him every time I visit Rajapur, rather he makes it a point to meet me whenever he knows that I am in Rajapur. He can't speak or hear, he was not born with these disabilities, but he lost his hearing ability (and hence speech also) because of some serious illness during his early childhood. People from the village also say that if he had received proper treatment on time, he would have regained these abilities, but it didn't happen due to the lack of resources and knowledge. He is more than 30 years old now, and he is physically very strong and does most of the physically demanding work. He has his own method of communicating with people around him. Because of his condition, he couldn't go to school, there is no separate school for people with special abilities near my village and other schools don't admit students who are not "normal" according to them. Therefore, he couldn't take any formal education in any school this is the reason he also doesn't know the sign language which people like him use all over the world but this didn't stop him from inventing his own sign language which he can use to communicate with others. I don't understand his sign language but most people (even small kids) from the village can understand this special sign language and can have normal conversations with him. I need an interpreter who can explain his gestures and then translate back what I say to him. Fortunately, I always find someone willing to do this job happily for me. My interaction with him is always interesting.

His desire and ability to communicate with others are amazing, he can talk on almost every subject from politics, family disputes, and village gossip. As mentioned, he mostly does physically demanding work like farm work, taking care of cattle, cleaning the home, etc. Many families from the village call him to perform some tasks like milking a cow which has some temper issues, or help with lifting heavy objects. Maybe they call him because they think it is not safe for people from their own families to engage in these tasks and as Pappu is used to doing these types of jobs he readily agrees to do these things. But his sign language is very specific to our village and anyone from outside our village cannot understand it. He can manage to communicate well with people from our village but he can't do the same with anyone who doesn't belong to our village. I feel bad because his life is confined to this small village, and he is confined to performing certain types of jobs. It is not that there are no facilities in India where people like him can get proper training to overcome any disabilities and live their life like any other person but these things are not accessible to everyone, especially in villages there is a lack of awareness about these resources. This situation persists even today in many parts of rural India and I hope it changes very soon.

Pappu is living his life to the best of his abilities, he is trying to make the best of whatever society has offered to him but he still has a desire to get married and have a family like many people of his age around him. He got married once but his wife died recently because of hepatitis. He was not happy with his marriage as his wife was also with some disability and he thought he deserved a "normal" wife like everyone else around him. Even today he expresses his desire to get remarry and most people around him don't think it is going to happen. Pappu also doesn't want to marry a girl who is not "normal" he was not happy with his first wife, maybe he thinks that his kids also won't be "normal" kids if his wife is not "normal." This is such flawed and outdated thinking but he learned these things from people around him. People like him don't need sympathy but they need fair treatment and equal opportunity. They are often considered "abnormal" by people around them and this should stop. There are many examples all over the world (including India) where people with disabilities display their capabilities and talent if given proper training and opportunities. Unfortunately, even these examples failed to change the attitude of society towards people like Pappu, still, they get a lot of sympathy but no equal treatment. Pappu doesn't need any sympathy. I find him capable enough to do any job if he is offered proper training, but he is confined to do particular tasks which he does excellently. I wish people like him were given the freedom to explore their talents like everyone else around them. I am sure there are many Pappus in our society who can not explore their true potential just because of society's attitude towards them. The situation in cities is slightly better but in villages government needs to carry out aggressive awareness campaigns like they did for girl's education. Despite all odds, people like Pappu fight and excel in whatever work they do, this shows that they have immense potential and talent. I hope that people in India change their attitude towards people with special abilities and offer them proper resources and a fair chance to explore their potential.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Some impressions from my recent visit to Uttar Pradesh

Last week, I visited Bhadohi and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh (UP). I try to visit my ancestral place, Bhadohi, regularly as there are still many people who I know personally and it is always a pleasure to interact with them personally. There are many sweet childhood memories associated with this place and my visits bring back those sweet memories. The last time I visited this place was in 2010, so it was four long years after which I visited again. This time I was also curious to know what people think about the current government of India as this is the first government after 1984 that has won an absolute majority in parliament and UP is one of the major reasons why this things happened (BJP+ won 73 seats out of 80 in this state).  I did not expect to see any drastic changes as it is just five months since this new government came into power but was mainly interested in the mood and expectations of people.

The City of Varanasi was as clean (or dirty) as it was during my previous visits. The airport of Varanasi is in very good shape but the roads of the city are in horrible condition. There is garbage lying around in many places and cattle (especially cows and buffalos) roam on the road freely creating a nuisance to traffic. When I asked people around me why they were not participating in the "Swachha Bharat Abhiyan" (clean India movement) started by our PM Mr. Modi who also happens to be the MP of their city they just laughed at me and called me too naive to expect such movements will work. I literally tried to remind people about this movement whenever I saw anyone throwing litter on the street but every single time I was welcomed with a cynical smile or why don’t you mind your own business look.  My son was shocked to see his cousin tossing chip wrappers on the street while traveling on a cycle rickshaw, when he asked her why she did that she innocently replied, “Everyone does that, it’s not a big deal.” But after a couple of days when I saw him spitting right in the middle of the street and asked why he did that he gave me the same answer, people pick up bad habits very easily. I have to remind my son that it doesn't make wrong things right just because the majority of people do it, wrong is still wrong and don’t try to mend your ways just because you are a minority. It was really sad to see the lack of interest of people in the Clean India drive; they were not at all passionate about such a good initiative that too in the constituency of a man who started this movement just a few weeks back. Some roads of this city were wide enough for two-way traffic and in reasonably good condition compared to many others, when I asked people about who did this work? They all replied that it was because of the district magistrate Mr. Pranjal Yadav. There were also a few roads which were newly paved and smooth when I asked about them people told me that they were repaired recently as our new PM Mr. Modi was supposed to travel on them. I really wish that Mr. Modi chose a different road every time he travels in Varanasi so that every road gets a nice makeover because of his travel.  

In my village things were even worse, there was no electricity, and out of two days I stayed there we received power only for 8 hours that too in-between 10 PM to 6 AM. I wonder how young kids will study in such poor infrastructure, people have cars and good houses but no electricity. One good thing I saw this time was that every home in my village has a toilet now, I was very happy to see it. At least some good work has been done by the current government. The situation of roads and electricity was really pathetic but people seem to have learned to live with these conditions. Another incident that shocked me was when I saw a huge traffic jam during one of my road travel in Bhadohi (my village is a part of this town). The entire side of a major highway (Grand Trunk Road or GT road) was blocked by police and people were forced to use only one side of the road creating huge chaos and a very long line of trucks as this road is the main transport road for this part of the state. I have seen many traffic jams in my life but this was utter chaos. I thought what if someone falls seriously ill and needs to go to the hospital urgently how they can navigate in such a mess as there is no one to control this chaos. But I guess I was the only one who was having this stupid question in my mind, everyone else around me was fine with this mess. When I asked people what happened? Why do police block the entire side of the road? I was told that there is a Bharat Milaap ceremony (a function celebrating the meeting of Ram and Bharat) that is going to take place on the road and that’s why it is closed. I really couldn’t believe my ears that they could block a major highway in the middle of the day for such a stupid reason but it was true. I wondered why they were doing this show on a main highway. Why can’t they do it on some school grounds or open fields where everyone can watch it comfortably and which won't result in such huge traffic jams and inconvenience to so many people? Why all these people stuck and suffering for no fault of theirs are silently watching this stupidity? When I raised some of these questions to people around me they all agreed with me but they said "Kya kare, ye aisa hi chalega, abhi kuchh bologe to Pakistani kehake marne lagenge" (what to do, this will go on like this only, if you object to these things they will attack you and call you a Pakistani). It took more than 12 hrs to clear that jam and then someone told me that there would be "Bharat milaap" functions performed by different villages on different days and that's the moment I remembered the slogan "mera bharat mahan." These people really deserve a round of applause for tolerating such plain stupidity with so much grace and patience. I salute their patience but also feel sad about their compulsion to tolerate such nonsense regularly.

I hope things change for good in this amazing place. I love the people of this state, they are really good, kindhearted, and very welcoming. They definitely deserve better infrastructure and opportunities than what they are getting now. They need more job opportunities as the youth of this state are forced to move out of the village and even out of state in search of better job opportunities. There is a lot of work that needs to be done and it can be only done with honest intentions and strong political will which seems to be lacking in all parties which ruled this state so far. People here have huge expectations from this new government and its head (Mr. Narendra Modi). Many people from this state seem to be in love with Mr. Modi as they don’t want to hear any word against him, I hope he fulfills their expectations and brings that change in these people’s lives. Mr. Modi has the power and all the resources that are required to bring that change. He cannot offer any excuse for failure to do this, it will be a huge betrayal if he doesn't do that. These people are used to these types of betrayals but I hope Mr. Modi changes that trend and fulfills his promises of development and job creation. 

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Clean India - not a easy task but not impossible to achieve

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti (2nd October 2014), the Clean India (Swachh Bharat) movement was launched with a big fan fair and media coverage. Many celebrities and politicians seized this opportunity and published their photos of cleaning some already cleaned areas with brooms to display their sincerity and commitment towards this movement. There were even some brand ambassadors who were nominated to take up this challenge and they are supposed to continue this work. The beginning was like any other ambitious government scheme, with a lot of fanfare and media coverage. A lot of noise and chaos was created but soon all this faded and now I guess things are back to normal. Photos of garbage piles, open drainage, and dirty roads are back on the web to show that nothing has changed. It is possible that these people are trying to be cynical or are commenting based on their experience with previous government schemes. When I landed in Mumbai yesterday, I saw that nothing has changed as far as cleanliness is concerned, maybe it was clean on 2nd October I cannot comment on that as I was not here on that day but today it wasn't any different than what I saw when I visited last year. No one will object to the point that the Clean India movement is desperately needed. At the same time, people should know that this was not the first time any government tried to initiate some campaign to clean India, previous governments also tried to do something like this under different names and different schemes but nothing produced the desired result and I hope this one does produce desired result. Public desire and participation are the key to the success of any such campaign. The main reason why such government schemes fail is that we seldom see any bipartisan collaboration in India on any such issues related to public interest. This limits public participation as people react based on their political affiliations not based on the usefulness of these schemes. Unless this attitude of political parties and their supporters changes it is impossible to expect such schemes to succeed no matter who launches it and how much they publicize it. 

Accumulation of garbage in public places, dirty roads, open drainage, open defecation, and urination, careless attitude of people to throw garbage wherever they want, and heavily polluted rivers and lakes are major concerns of every town, city and village in India. It seems that people are only interested in keeping their own homes clean but the moment they step outside their own homes they just forget about cleanliness and behave as if it is not their responsibility to maintain cleanliness of their surroundings. The government is also at fault as it is not able to provide all necessary infrastructure like dustbins, and proper and prompt removal and disposal of garbage. This problem is result of failure on multiple levels. First, people don't think it is their responsibility to keep their city clean and then the government cannot cope with the increasing demand for resources. People always blame government for not doing their job and government authorities complain about lack of funding and people's noncooperation, so both sides keep on blaming each other. The result is there to see for all, many places in these cities stink, and they literally look like garbage disposal sites. People live in such unhealthy surroundings, they complain about it all the time but rarely try to do anything to change it.

I personally know what it means to live in such an environment, kids in our neighborhood used to play cricket with garbage right in the middle of our cricket ground. There was a huge city garbage disposal site within walking distance from our neighborhood where all the kids used to go to look for some useful stuff. Open defecation was very common as there were very limited public toilets so we were used to living with garbage and filth around us. But our homes used to be very clean, we all used to clean our homes multiple times a day, but the same attitude was not displayed towards our neighborhood. I still see this mentality among people, and unless this changes I doubt whether such schemes will work or not. The idea of a clean India is appealing but this is not going to happen without active public support and participation. How many celebrities who posed for a picture on that day (including our PM) continued with this work the next day? How many bothered to check that the area which they cleaned remained clean after one week? How many politicians or actors continued to work with their supporters and fans to make sure that interest in such activity is not temporary but becomes a permanent habit? Wherever I talked with people about this scheme they either just laughed it off or just ignored which is really disappointing. I really hope that the people of India don't take this cleanliness drive so lightly, this is a very serious issue that will require nationwide support. It is very disappointing to see that during the current election campaign in Maharashtra and Haryana, no political party (including BJP) looked interested in talking about this idea. If it continues like this, this scheme will also go down in history like many other government launched schemes who were launched with good intentions but failed to deliver any desired result. Let's wait and watch, I hope I am wrong because like everyone I also dream of seeing a clean India.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

The misuse of state broadcaster (Doordarshan) continues

If someone had told me before the general elections of 2014 in India that if BJP (or to say it correctly Mr. Modi) wins this election with an absolute majority, there will be a live telecast of the RSS chief's speech on Doordarshan (or DD, national broadcaster of India), I would have dismissed this statement immediately. But we all witnessed this event just a few days ago. DD telecasted the speech of the RSS chief live, this was the speech that he delivers every year on the occasion of Vijayadashami (Dussehra). To be honest, I was really surprised if not shocked to read this news. It is not that the national broadcaster of the country was misused for the first time, previous governments also misused it on many occasions to propagate their own party agenda but any previous wrongdoings don't legitimize present mistakes. Unfortunately, this has become the trend, if anyone asks any question about the BJP government they point fingers to previous Congress governments who also did the same things. This never-ending blame game has been going on for years between these two major political parties. Both of these parties claim to be different from each other but in many aspects, they look quite indistinguishable from each other. 

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is a nongovernmental organization. It claims itself to be a nonpolitical, cultural organization but everyone knows about its political affiliation and pro-Hindu ideology. RSS chief neither holds any constitutional post nor is an elected member of any of the houses (Loksabha or Rajyasabha). So, it was an unprecedented move to allow such an organization to use the air time of a national channel that is entirely funded by taxpayers' money. There is nothing wrong in having pro-Hindu, pro-Muslim, or pro-anything organizations; every religion has the right to form an organization and have its gatherings wherever it wants with proper permissions. Many of them including RSS do a lot of good social work in various areas. But at the same time many of them have a very sectarian ideology that heavily favors particular religions and for a central government to allow any such sectarian organization to use national air time was a big surprise for me. Another question is now where do we draw the line? If RSS can get live coverage why not Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)? Why not Bajarang Dal? Why not the Muslim Waqf Board? Or any other organization that promotes a sectarian ideology of any particular religion but claims to be a cultural organization? Why only RSS? What is so special about them apart from their proximity to the current ruling political party?

Many NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) do a lot of good work in India. At the same time, many NGOs exist only to make money or to spread some sectarian religious ideology. RSS's political affiliation is very well known, BJP is considered as their political arm and there is no secret that RSS controls many things happening at top levels in BJP. If they only allow this particular event to go live on national television and not other events by similar organizations then it is a blatant misuse of government resources. I was amazed to see spokespersons of the BJP pathetically and shamelessly defending this action during many TV debates. They sounded hypocritical as they didn't have any logical explanation for this action and they had a really tough time defending this decision, but they did it anyway. But one really good thing happened because of this event, the mask that was on the face of the BJP finally fell off. They tried to make people believe that RSS and BJP are two separate units, even though they both share the same ideology they claimed that they are different but now this delusion ended. It is good that now people know whom they are voting for and which ideology is going to dominate. It is always better to have a clear picture.

Any government can use or misuse the resources that are at their disposal, it is entirely their choice. The current government made very clear which direction they want to go and which ideology they want to propagate. But there is a remote possibility that all these things are wrong and this was a decision taken by the DD administration on their own without any government pressure as claimed by BJP. If this is true, then I am waiting for them to allow similar air time to all other cultural organizations. After all, any government body cannot be partial towards one cultural organization and ignore all others, they need to give equal treatment to all of them. Either there should be appeasement for all or appeasement for none. I am willing to wait and watch if other cultural organizations get their share of time on national television or not before reaching any final conclusion. I hope I am wrong in my assumption that RSS was favored because of its ideological closeness with the BJP and I will be very happy if the current government proves me wrong, let's wait and watch.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Firaaq - A thought provoking, disturbing and impactful movie

Recently I attended the screening of the Hindi movie 'Firaaq' directed by very talented and widely acclaimed actress Nandita Das at Yale University. I watched this movie before, but I was interested in knowing the director's views on this movie and the reasons behind making it. I was also interested in how an internationally diverse audience at Yale reacts to this very disturbing but powerful movie. The movie tries to capture events in the lives of some people one month after the 2002 Godhra riots. One should watch the movie to know the actual plot and understand the characters so I am not going to discuss that. Every character in this movie is very well-written and brilliantly portrayed by all actors.

The post is not about Nandita Das or the movie itself but the impact it had on me. I am interested in discussing three characters, Aarti, Sameer, and Mohsin who stayed with me after watching the movie. I was touched by the trauma of Aarti (a character brilliantly portrayed by Deepti Naval), maybe because I have seen many people who face such dilemmas and trauma. Many people want to fight the injustice happening around them but can not do it for various reasons. Some can't raise their voice because they don't know how to do it or they don't even know that they have a voice and it can be used. Some don't do this because they think it is not their job, or it is against their culture or it will be a disrespect to people against whom they have to stand. Such people keep silent because of so many reasons and suffer quietly from the inside. They blame themselves for their failure not to help others in need of help. I always wondered are these people guilty of not doing their duty? Can we blame them for not standing up when they saw injustice being done right in front of them? Or shall we try to understand their problems and their inability to gather the courage to oppose the age-old traditions, patriarchal or feudal culture which they are taught to respect and preserve? This conflict is very deep and Deepti Naval portrayed this character very well.

Another character is Sameer Shaikh (played by another talented actor, Sanjay Suri), his first name doesn't denote his religious identity as this name is common among both Muslims and Hindus in India. So, wherever possible he prefers to tell only his first name as he is worried that people might judge him differently if they know his religion. Because of this many people around him don't know his religion, they all assume that he is a Hindu. He is married to a Hindu girl so that makes this disguise even easy for him. People from minority groups living in very hostile social environments may easily associate with this character. It is not only about religious minority groups but also people from lower castes also can easily understand his dilemma and helplessness. They all do this because they feel people in society will look at them differently if they know about their religion or caste. Sameer's character is a slap on the biased mindset of our society where we look at people from particular religions, castes, or genders with prejudice and bias.

The last character is that little boy Mohsin who lost his both parents during the riots. He only knows about the death of his mom as he saw it but doesn't know about his dad's death, no one close to him dares to tell him this truth. He is desperately in search of his dad as he doesn't want to live in the camp shelter made for riot victims. During his search for his father, he gets exposed to the harsh realities of our society at that young age. He learns to hide his identity by changing his real name to some Hindu name (Mohan) just to escape from further scrutiny and trouble. He looks like another Sameer in making who is taught that his religion means something to hide from others, something others around him who are different from him (Hindus) don't like. He starts hating Hindus without even knowing who they are, he only knows them as his mom's killers. This all makes him lose interest in all childhood activities, when kids of his age invite him to play he doesn't want to play. His character poses some very serious and disturbing questions to us. What kind of world are you offering to me? Why I can't tell my real name without worrying about what will happen to me after I tell it? Why do some people kill others for no reason? Why do people hate each other? What was my mom's fault that she was murdered? His character in the movie is too young to ask these questions but when he stares in our eyes at the end of the movie his eyes ask these questions.

As a society or individuals, if we can solve Aarti's problems by offering her required strength to stand up whenever required, or remove Sameer's fears associated with his religious identity and at least create a friendly atmosphere for kids like Mohsin who don't grow up with hatred about certain community in their mind, I can say that we all did our job. Until then we all need to work hard so that there won't be another Sameer who is forced to hide his religious identity or another Mohsin who is wondering what kind of world he is living in. This movie doesn't entertain you, it is not supposed to entertain but it engages its audience successfully with its characters. Firaaq asks many questions through its characters, and it stirs our consciousness. We can choose to answer these questions and work hard towards solving the problems associated with these questions or we can also choose to ignore them, look the other way as if nothing has happened, and move on and wait for the next communal riot, the choice is ours.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]