Innholdsfortegnelse for 20 August 2018 i Open Magazine

THE AMAZING THING ABOUT FREEDOM IS THAT IT remains contested forever. The word appears on the cover of this issue of the magazine as a commemorative reminder, and it brings back conflicting histories of occupation, struggle, separation and liberation. Even as Nehru made his poetic tryst with destiny, the orphaned ghosts of Partition were uninvited guests at the midnight rite. Seventy years on, they still remain unresolved stories of freedom, in memory and art. Not just in India, but elsewhere as well, history has the habit of adding a spectral subtext to epic tales of freedom. We overcome the past only to be confronted with new struggles that keep the word as unifying as ever. And as disputed as ever. Is India passing through such a phase in its political…

IN AN ERA WHERE LANGUAGE HAS LOST ALL STABLE REFERENTS, it is difficult to find a word that describes the tenor of our times. But if, at the pain of gross simplification, one were to choose a word to characterise the times, ‘cretinism’ might not be a bad candidate. This is an age of both moral and political cretinism. The term ‘moral cretinism’ was perhaps first used by Alan Bullock in his biography of Hitler. It referred to a peculiar immunity that fascists had to any moral considerations or motivations. Bullock was not entirely clear whether this was simply a deep incapacity, a pathological trait, or a willed condition. But what the term captured quite startlingly was the idea that one could imagine a politics which was increasingly immune to…

IT HAS BECOME one of the defining features of Indian politics that disaffection among a section of the population amid broad-ranging governance failures invariably translates into a demand for reservations. The present moment is no different. While the Maratha agitation for reservations continues in Maharashtra, the question of reservations in promotions in public employment has resurfaced before the Supreme Court. In proceedings that have commenced before a five-judge bench, the Attorney General has urged that a larger bench revisit precedent and set new standards. Ironically, the source of legal controversy is a 2008 decision in the M Nagaraj case, which gave the state enormous leeway in framing reservation policies. The case upheld a constitutional amendment providing for reservations in promotions with consequential seniority, on the condition that the state has…

INSIDE HIS SPARTAN Mumbai home on the second floor of an ageing building with narrow, dark staircases and walls with peeling plaster that remind one of Fassbinder movies that portrayed life in post-World War Germany, Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of the Mahatma, looks out of place. For a man of his size, bearing and composure, dressed in a T-shirt and walking shorts, he looks as if he should be elsewhere. That is the first impression. For a Gandhi scion—and a real one at that—who had made a controversial pact with Mont Blanc almost a decade earlier to sell high-end pens with the image of the man who led India’s freedom struggle embossed on them, you expect him to lounge in an opulent home in a tonier locality. In videos I had…

IN 1922, RABINDRANATH TAGORE published one of his most important works, the play Mukta-Dhara. The story, rich in symbolism, is a simple yet powerful one. A child of mysterious birth is found abandoned by a mountain waterfall. He is adopted by the royal family and raised as the crown-prince, Abhijit. As he turns into a young man, Abhijit continues to feel close to the falls. He eventually learns that he is not a prince by birth. He discovers a spiritual kinship with the falls. He goes and sleeps below the waterfall at night. When asked by his father, King Ranjit, why he does something so outlandish, he replies, “In the sound of this water, I hear my mother’s voice.” The king has other designs on the mountain stream. He appoints…

‘Allah’—the little word, Uttered with such flowing tenderness and belief By Lord Nabi pleading with the Father of three worlds with a heart surging with intense love to pardon the sins of the subjects, even the sword raised to kill the Guru Slipped from the hands of the assassin! —From the poem Allah by Vallathol Narayana Menon I WANT TO KISS the hairy hands of the Head of our department,’ said Deepa. ‘I want to tell John from English that I love him,’ said Jyothi. ‘I want to watch a film with Ashraf,’ said Shameena. Even after the three of them had expressed their wishes, Rasiya remained silent. ‘Why are you keeping mum?’ Jyothi asked her. ‘Nothing,’ Rasiya nodded in answer. ‘Don’t mess up things. Classes last only for a…

THE MONSOON SESSION of Parliament was a bit too short for my liking—from July 18th to August 10th—but it proved remarkably productive. Unlike the second half of the Budget Session that was a complete washout in the Rajya Sabha thanks to the Telugu Desam MPs who trooped into the well of the House and chanted slogans, the Monsoon Session witnessed relatively few disruptions. Indeed, Parliament functioned smoothly from 11am to 6pm on most days. The main reason for this, I believe, was public pressure. At the beginning of the Session, many MPs I spoke to were quite candid in admitting that the public reaction to the all-too-frequent disruption of proceedings—which they can witness thanks to the live telecast of both Houses—was one of disgust. There is an exaggerated perception of…

USHAR GANDHI, Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson, reveals that he was taught very early in his childhood that there was nothing called a ‘greatness gene’. Which is indeed a sensible warning by responsible parents to anyone who may develop a sense of entitlement, confuse his or her inheritance with inborn merit, and perhaps become an incurable snob. This is not only true of those in politics, but also in various walks of life where indulgent parents flatter and give their children a misplaced ego and false sense of pride in having been born to a family with an awe-evoking lineage.In a country where equality of educational opportunity remains a distant dream and extreme disparities in the chance people get to take up various professions—especially those where ‘connections’ and the patronage of elites…

AS THE SEA breeze wafts in through the windows, 90-year-old Ansuya Dutt’s thoughts drift between the past and the present. The television in the room beams images of Pakistan’s general election. “The outcome there is dictated by the army,” she says. With her grey hair tied up in a knot, her frail hands resting on the sofa and voice soft but crisp, she speaks using sparse words, non-judgemental about either the past or the present. How was it living with a hero of the Naval uprising during India’s freedom struggle? “Very difficult,” she laughs. “We were both strong personalities. There was a lot of conflict,” says the widow of Balai Chand Dutt, who had played a prominent role in that uprising of 1946. Dutt and several others were dismissed from…

THERE ARE several disagreements over the story of the Indian revolutionary, Udham Singh. Some accounts place him in Jallianwala Bagh during the massacre of April 13th, 1919. He was apparently serving water to the crowd when the shooting happened. Others claim he was nowhere around the area; he was probably working somewhereinEast Africa. Then there is the story of a book he carried to Caxton Hall in London, whose pages had apparently been cut in such a manner that he could conceal the gun with which he killed Michael O’Dwyer, the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab during the massacre. But this too is contested. Apparently, the book was just a pocket diary, far too small to hide a firearm. But perhaps the most enduring dispute amongst these is the question of…

ONE OF OUR greatest failures, seven decades after Independence, is the production of a public sphere that is violently illiberal, inimical to reason, disdainful of dialogue, and dominated by the trading of aggressive slogans, inflammatory labelling, unsubstantiated condemnations, hearsay and abuse. We shouldn’t be surprised that a public sphere of this kind, which at one end takes its cue from the heckling, blood-sport mentality of television anchors and the hectoring attitudes of party spokespersons, should descend, at the other end, into the mayhem of the lynch mob. Whatever became of the classical idea of a liberal public discourse that guarantees the right to dissent? Or, is that too ‘anti-national’ a question? India’s public sphere today is a testament to the constriction and loss of freedom. Imagine that the 18th-century Urdu…

FROM HIS HIT TV show Mr. Robot to playing British singer Freddie Mercury of the rock band Queen in the film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), Rami Malek has made the transition smoothly, but not without angst and much nervousness. He did not know if he would ever get the part, but he wanted it so badly that he spent two years researching and immersing himself in the character of Freddie, trying to absorb the essence. Born to an Egyptian immigrant couple in 1981, Malek studied theatre at the University of Evansville, Indiana, and later worked in restaurants and made falafel for a living. His drink of choice is canned beer with tequila. How did you prepare yourself to play Freddie Mercury? I’d be hard pressed to find something on Freddie Mercury…

“I have written the opening history of this movement—and Karunanidhi will write the latter part of it,” CN Annadurai, the founder of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and its first Chief Minister when the party came to power in Tamil Nadu in 1967, had said at a public meeting. Recalling those words, K Anbazhagan, a senior member of the DMK, told a gathering in Villupuram soon after the demise of Annadurai in 1969: “It was Anna’s wish that Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) should take over after him. On seeing Kalaignar’s hard work, his writings, his service, his sacrifice, his sharp wit and his power of argument, Anna had no doubt that Kalaignar would succeed him.” The crowd, consisting of party workers, cheered in endorsement of what Annadurai had said of Kalaignar (‘artist’…

IT’S A SAD paradox of our history that independence came loss of the economic freedom India enjoyed for a century-and-a-half under British rule. That may come as a surprise to Indians brought up on nationalist myths about colonial rule plundering India, de-industrialising its economy and draining offits wealth. More recent economic studies show that colonial India, well ahead of other developing countries, had built up a trading and industrial base that would have made it the envy of the Eastern Tiger economies, had Nehruvian socialism not cut it off from global markets after 1947. Let’s take the myth of colonial plunder first. During the early phase of conquest, British generals and common soldiers undoubtedly acquired much war booty, then regarded as the legitimate spoils of victory. But their plunder was…

THE SUN DECIDED not to play spoilsport this Tuesday evening. After days of endless rain, clouds yielded to the light over Ottapalam. Situated in central Kerala, Ottapalam is not a must-see tourist spot of the state. Like the heroines of Victorian novels, she is neither cooing damsel nor full-throated woman; neither backwaters nor beach; neither village nor city. She is still growing up. Her railway station has only two platforms, but she also hosts hypermarts and shopping arcades. Mundu-clad men on motorbikes whizz down gullies laced by paddy fields. Apartment blocks abut heritage homes. The town has the charm of the old, and a brio which suggests youth. Today the action is at the CSNCentre, as it is the inauguration of the 17th KPS Me-non All Kerala Senior Shuttle Badminton…

12th March, 1976 From: Gour Hari Das To: The Collector of Greater Bombay Sub: Tamrapatra and Sanmanpatra I, Shri Gour Hari Das s/o Shri Hari Das working in Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Bombay, is a freedom fighter and have suffered in Jail imprisonment in 1945 at Balasore Jail in Orissa State for which I have obtained the jail certificate which is enclosed herewith for your perusal and reference of the same. I therefore request you to issue a Sanmanpatra as well as recommend for Tamrapatra. I am staying here since 1956. Your Faithfully, 4th March , 1981 From: Gour Hari Das To: The Collector of Greater Bombay Sub:-Tamrapatra to freedom fighter Shri Gour Hari Das Please refer to your above letter where in you requested the Dy.Commissioner of Police…

IF ASKED WHAT it is that Indian academics needs to get ahead in the world today, most well-meaning people will tell you ‘funds’. I say ‘freedom’. Of course, this includes freedom from want, and so funds certainly play their role. And no, freedom of expression is not what I am speaking of, since Indians enjoy a good deal of it already and perhaps that is why many don’t realise or value it. As Søren Kierkegaard put it, people demand freedom of speech as compensation for the freedom of thought they seldom use! As a historian of early South Asia, teaching and supervising research at two of India’s premier public universities for the past 17 years, I think the freedoms that higher education in India needs to aspire to are the…

TODAY WHEN WE speak of eroticism, we either see it as something predatory, usually associated with men, or, if women speak of eroticism, consider it cheap and vulgar. Eroticism is certainly not associated with independence and liberty. That is for the West. Yet, independence, freedom, liberty or Moksha is one of the four main goals of human life, as per ancient Indian scriptures, the other three being Dharma or responsibility, Artha or success, and Kama or fun. The traditional idea of liberty in India is very different from the idea of liberty in the West. Western independence is individualistic and social; it is the freedom to do things, guaranteed by the state. Moksha is also individualistic but relational, spiritual, and it is about freedom from material and sensual attachments as…

Tabu as a Mentor in Hollywood When Tabu was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences some weeks ago (along with other Indians like Shah Rukh Khan, Anil Kapoor and Ali Fazal), she wasn’t quite sure what it involved. But having worked on ‘legit’ Hollywood productions like Mira Nair’s The Namesake (2006) and Ang Lee’s Life of Pi (2012), she realised the value of the honour and accepted the offer. Since then, she’s reportedly committed to participating in the Academy’s mentorship programme and sharing her wisdom with newer professionals. It’s something she’s often done back home in India. Recently, on hearing that a talented young actor had been conned into doing a ‘sub-standard’ film in America in exchange for a Screen Actors Guild card, she volunteered…