Yash's encounter with Pune and Varanasi

During our recent India visit, Yash traveled with me to Varanasi and Pune. This time he could share his own opinions about life in India with me because this time he traveled along with other family members and his improved analytical abilities allowed him to compare things. His first encounter with India was with airports and the staff there, I must say that even I was impressed by the well-maintained domestic as well as international airports and very courteous staff.

In the first segment of our trip after we landed in Mumbai, stayed in Pune for a day and then went to Varanasi, a very colorful and amazing city. He stayed there for a week and during that week visited malls and marketplace, traveled by rickshaw, city bus, cycle rickshaw, and also by walk. As much as he loved meeting family members and travelling with them he hated the roads and traffic of Varanasi. He really freaked out when people honked at him aggressively, the sound was really loud for him to tolerate. I wonder why people need such a loud horn for their vehicles. It creates a lot of noise pollution as well as inconvenience for people, especially for kids and seniors but no one seems to care about this in India. They honk aggressively even at kids and seniors. Loud and aggressive honking was the most annoying part of Varanasi's traffic for Yash. Roads were narrow and traffic jams were a regular event, other vehicles hitting or dashing cycle rickshaws in crowded traffic was a regular affair, it seemed exciting for Yash as he had never seen anything like this before. People throwing trash on the road, and spitting wherever they want also surprised him. He was also amazed to see that kids, as well as grownups, were equally contributing towards making the city dirty. He tried to tell few times to his cousins and others that it was not a good thing to do but he soon stopped doing that when he found out the futility of offering any such advice. Yash didn't dare to come with me to my village as he was scared of having no electricity and no toilets (I should mention here that this time I was pleased to see that most homes had a toilet in our village). He preferred to stay in Varanasi and enjoy the traffic chaos rather than visiting the village.

After experiencing the chaos of Varanasi he came back with me to Pune and landed in another chaos. But he found Pune much less chaotic than Varanasi. Honking was there but not that aggressive and loud, more traffic but fewer jams, and somewhat less garbage on the streets. People's attitude towards following traffic rules was not much different in both places. Actually, we counted once during nighttime (when there were no traffic police) how many people stopped at the red light, and to our surprise more than 90% didn't bother to stop. Despite all this, he liked Pune more in comparison with Varanasi. Pune people should stop complaining about all the traffic jams and other problems, our city is much better than the constituency of our PM. I wonder why all PM candidates of India fight their election from one of the most undeveloped states or parts of India? Is it just because they are safer seats and they can win it without putting much effort or is it because they really care about these places and want to develop them? The constituencies that Indian prime ministers have represented for years are not considered as most developed cities or villages of India and they remain considerably undeveloped even after being represented by one of the most powerful politicians in the country for many years. Let's hope our current PM Mr. Modi manages to change this and when Yash visits Varanasi next time he doesn't find any difference between Pune and Varanasi. After all, Varanasi is already a well-known city and tourist hub, it should not be hard to develop it compared to other parts of Uttar Pradesh. I know why Yash liked more in Pune compared to Varanasi. But when he compared Pune with New Haven he preferred New Haven. Let's hope that the difference gets reduced in the coming years and the gap between Varanasi, Pune, and New Haven becomes more narrow.

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

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

Sorry Mohsin, my city failed to protect you

My last post was related to increasing incidents of Hooliganism where people or groups are targeted just because of something they expressed. I have expressed my concern about the low tolerance level and violent reactions in India so many times on my blog and elsewhere. Any country that aspires to become a developed nation and attract world-class talent needs to value freedom of expression. Such a society needs to have an atmosphere where different opinions are encouraged and disagreements are welcomed. Only in such conditions attract real talent. The brutal murders of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar and Mr. Mohsin Shaikh don't indicate that India is moving in that direction. These two incidents that too in one of the most progressive cities of India (Pune) indicate that the country is moving in a reverse direction. There is an atmosphere in the country where people are scared to speak their opinions because they feel threatened. This is such a sad state for a country that claims to be tolerant, inclusive, and open to all cultures and beliefs. These claims are now questionable on so many levels.

What was Mohsin's fault that he deserved to get killed like this? Followed Islam was his fault? Is it his fault that he dressed or looked different than many others in that neighborhood? Are these things enough to kill a person? What was Dr. Dabholkar's fault? He was not a Muslim or dressed anything differently. Why was he attacked and murdered? Both incidents are somewhat related as both these people were targeted because they expressed something. In Dr. Dabholkar's case, he was targeted for opposing religious superstitions and other religious malpractices. There are some inhuman practices that some people want to protect in the name of tradition and culture, he was killed for fighting against such inhuman practices. In the case of Mohsin, he was targeted without even any mistake from his side. Someone distributed some objectionable content on Facebook and WhatsApp related to Shivaji Maharaj. This created a lot of controversy and communal tension, and he was killed due to suspicion. Even if we assume that Mohsin was in any way related to generating those images that created so much controversy, is this the way to deal with such issues? Can anyone with a rational mind justify such type of behavior? Taking the law into own hands to disrupt society, destroying public property in the name of protest, or attacking certain groups is a sign of uncivilized behavior. These acts only deserve condemnation in the strongest possible words and very strict action should be taken against all culprits involved in any such incidents. But all this sounds meaningless when Members of parliaments like Mr. Anil Shirole justify some of these acts by calling them the natural reaction of people whose feelings get hurt. The same excuse was offered by Mr. Modi after the Godhra violence and we all know how many people lost their lives because of that so-called natural reaction which was nothing but cold-blooded genocide. None of these reactions are natural, they are purposeful, planned crimes, nothing else.

It is not important how many people died or who died to judge the seriousness of such types of crimes.  The numbers and names don't matter much, if this mentality prevails then these things will happen regularly only the names of people and places will change. If more and more people go unpunished for these types of crimes, if they find any sympathizers among our politicians then they will get more aggressive and brutal in their attacks. That is why any statement that even remotely tries to justify such brutal attacks on innocent people or the destruction of public property should be interrogated and punished. There should not be any compromise on freedom of expression and any violent anti-social activity should not be encouraged. Politicians have greater responsibility in all this as any sympathetic statement from their side acts as an encouragement for these goons. We cannot afford to have another Godhra in India, enough is enough, already many people have lost their lives because of this fanaticism. We need to fight these anti-social goons no matter which party or organization they belong to, absolutely nothing can justify such violence and destruction. 

The death of Mohsin is really shocking for anyone belonging to a city like Pune. I belong to that city and we Punekars take pride in calling our city one of the most progressive cities in India. I am also surprised that there was no candle march or any protest against Mohsin's murder like it was in the case of Nirbhaya who was gang raped and killed in Delhi. Mohsin's death is not any less shocking to me than Nirbhaya's death, both crimes are equally brutal and heinous. That is why I wonder why people's reactions are so different to both. Mohsin, please forgive my hometown for its inability to protect you. Punekar like me is deeply shocked as well as ashamed because of this incident, I have no words to express my feelings. I never imagined that within so short time after Dr. Dabholkar's death, we would witness another such heinous crime in Pune. I hope that now our politicians and administration take a lesson from it and take all measures to avoid any such instances in the future. I know this is too much to ask for but I just hope that at least people step up and try to stop this madness. If this doesn't happen then I don't know how many more Mohsins or Nirbhayas will have to die before our society wakes up and takes any action. The culture of hooliganism must go before it destroys the social fabric of our society.

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

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

Links:
1. In Pune, ‘Hindu zealots’ kill man over ‘offensive’ Facebook post
2. Pune techie murder: BJP MP says some repercussions to derogatory FB post 'natural'

Pu La and Sunita Deshpande - two people who transformed me

Purushottam Lakshman Deshpande (fondly known as PuLa, पु ल in Maharashtra) and Sunita Deshpande, were a couple who had a huge influence on my thinking and some other aspects of my life. I don't have to introduce these two personalities to people who come from the state of Maharashtra in India, these two, or at least PuLa are household names in Maharashtra, especially in the city of Pune where I was born and raised.

My parents never used to speak Marathi in our home during my childhood. They immigrated to Pune from a small village in UP (Uttar Pradesh). I was born in Pune and spent my entire life there before moving to the US. I studied in a Marathi medium and lived in a Marathi-speaking neighborhood and this is why Marathi became my mother tongue. I used to think and talk mostly in Marathi for the first 30 years of my life. My school and our neighbors introduced me to the rich cultural side of Maharashtra and that's how I came to know these two amazing personalities. PuLa's books and his "katha kathan" (storytelling, in his case, he used to read some chapters from his books) are very popular among Marathi-speaking people. They are full of humor and at the same time comment about various aspects of life in a very subtle way. The characters that he portrayed in his stories, books, and plays are very relatable and leave a strong impact on readers. He was also a great actor, narrator, and musician. I think very few people have such a diverse talent. I still enjoy his books, listen to his audio and video clips, and enjoy them as much as I enjoyed them before. I think they are timeless and have the capacity to entertain and educate generations of Marathi-speaking people. He didn't believe in a conventional definition of religion or god but his personal beliefs were never ever reflected directly in any of his writings. Anyone can easily relate to characters from his books, they are so human and real that people feel he is talking about them and their lives when they listen to him or read his books. I guess this is the main reason for his huge popularity.

I read Sunita Deshpande's book "Aahe Manohar Tari" (आहे मनोहर तरी..) much later, after reading many books by PuLa. Initially, I read it because it was written by PuLa's wife, but when I read it I was totally surprised. It left me stunned. I was completely blown away. I must have read it multiple times. I don't think anyone expected such a book from PuLa's wife. It was totally different, something that I never read before. PuLa is known for humor, he had a knack for finding the humorous side of any situation in life, but this book was very serious, up to the point, and brutally honest. The book is about her memoirs. She is very clear and straightforward about her opinions not only about herself but also about other people in her life. She didn't try to hide that she is an atheist and is really proud of that, which many people hesitate to do just not to hurt people or in fear of losing fans. She also made very honest comments about her own personality and her behavior under different circumstances. She also discussed her own strengths and weaknesses honestly. I never read such an honest self-assessment before in my life, maybe Gandhi's My Experiments with Truth comes close. She also wrote some critical comments about her famous and adored husband. As expected, this book created some controversy and also received criticism from readers including many of PuLa's fans. They all thought she was wrong in criticizing him for being lazy or for being a typical husband who expects his wife to take care of him and his home. After all, he was such a popular and beloved author of Maharashtra, and as a gifted artist, a husband, and a talented person he deserved some special treatment. PuLa came forward as her biggest supporter against all this criticism when this book came out and defended her right to express her views. Not that she needed his support but it was nice to see such mutual understanding and respect between the couple. I was amazed to read about such a brave and bold woman who was much ahead of her time in thinking. Her approach towards life was also very unique and impressed me a lot. She managed to live her own life and pursue her own interests and hobbies without getting affected by the success and popularity of her celebrity husband. She narrated almost every major incident of her life with so much honesty without worrying about the reactions of her husband, his fans, or other readers. She discussed honestly variety of sensitive and controversial issues in the book. Whether it was about her thoughts about euthanasia when her mother was suffering in hospital, her first and only pregnancy and abortion, her thoughts about God, about some qualities of her husband which she didn't like, she discussed them all. The book also contains many other interesting incidents in her life, it will be very difficult for me to summarize the entire book in this post. I would like my readers to read the book if possible. When I finished the book I was not the same person I was before reading that book, such was the impact of that book on me. I don't claim that it will have the same impact on everyone who reads it, maybe there will be some who may not like that book, but it transformed me, and helped me in many ways. I hope everyone finds at least one such book in their life.

Actually, these two people helped me in many ways indirectly. These were the only people who were not related to me or my field of study and I didn't meet personally but I still acknowledged them in my PhD thesis. Such was their influence on me. They still remain a source of inspiration for me but I don't worship them or don't follow them blindly. I understand that there might be many people who don't care about them or may even dislike or hate them for whatever reason they have and I totally understand it. I have my own opinions about them and others can have their own and everyone's opinion doesn't need to match with mine. I am thankful to both of them for transforming me because in the kind of situation or neighborhood, I was living it was highly impossible for me to meet with people like them but I was lucky to know them through their books, that's also one of the reasons why I believe that books are such a powerful medium which have the power of transforming people. I get a lot of inspiration and strength from many books and articles that I read. They teach me and transform me in many ways. Thank you, sir, and thanks mam, love you both.

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

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

(Image: from Google images)

Links:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunita_Deshpande
2. http://www.indiainternational.com/pulabahurupi80/index1.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu_La_Deshpande