MF Husain and a Kerala Award

MF Husain is a great artist. I have no doubt about that. I have seen him in person when he came to TIFR in Mumbai where I worked for sometime. The whole wall of TIFR lobby was decorated by his paintings in those days. I found Mr. Husain very humble. A thing which surprised me was that he walked with out shoe or slippers.

I had seen some of his paintings at Jehangir art gallery. That was about 20-25 years back. Before he became famous. In spite of my adoration for him as a painter my mind has been saddened by his recent act. He should have abstained from it at the sunset of his life.

He may have now joined the millionaire club but my respect for him has gone down and touched the -----stone.

What happened? Read this news item from Telegraph:

After receiving the IB report that said paintings such as Bharat Mata and other nude images of Hindu deities can cause communal trouble, the ministry, under Shivraj Patil, is considering prosecuting the 91-year-old painter under a section of the Indian Penal Code.

The IB report suggested that the government should take damage control steps.

Sources said the law ministry, whose opinion had been sought, has said Husain can be prosecuted under Section 295A, which deals with outraging religious feelings of a community.

The home ministry section dealing with human rights had sent photographs of seven-eight paintings by Husain to the law ministry.

These paintings are Hanuman opposite Sita sitting on the thigh of a naked Ravana, nude Sita on the long tail of Hanuman, bull copulating with Parvati and Shankar watching, Durga in sexual union with a tiger, nude Laxmi on the head of Ganesh, nude Saraswati playing the Veena and Bharat Mata in the nude.

I have no interest in knowing what the government is going to do or who takes political mileage out of this and who does n’t.

Some people would ask are there not nude paintings on temple walls?. Are there not erotic sculptures scattered around India like in Khajuraho. So what ? These are simple ignorant questions. Husain is welcome to draw a Shiva-parvathi sangamam or Radha-Krishna sangamam or Kamadeva-Rati nude painting. No one will utter a word.

Here he has deliberately chosen some mythological characters that stand for chastity. So his intention here is clear. This is not just one painting – a series of them and all of highly revered deities. Some time back when he drew a picture of Holocaust he drew Hitler as naked. When asked why he did that his answer was he hates Hitler. So the parallel here is obvious. The old man hates ‘it’ like anything. One thing we should understand and appreciate ‘open rebuke is better than secret hatred’. He is not hiding his hatred like many others.

Hinduism as a non-Semitic non-religious ‘religion’ has highest tolerance level. So we should forgive and forget it. Looking at the number of pictures he has drawn on this ‘blasphemous topic’ one can say that he was at this business for a long time. Only eccentric people can think of a painting like Sita sitting naked on Hanuman’s tail. We should laugh it off loudly. That way Sanatana dharma becomes greater. By protesting violently the non-religion becomes a ‘Religion’ like any other. Hinduism is an open book with loose and unnumbered pages. That is the greatness and beauty of it. Some people want to bind it and make it a monotonous Semitic religion. I am not with them.

Well, I put the title as MF & Kerala award. Let me explain why. Some grey haired Marxist ideologues in Kerala see the world differently. They write articles like ‘next month whole people of US will become communists and Fidel Castro will become US president’ etc. etc.. There are people to believe them. Did I not believe them in 1976 when they said in a couple of months red flag will fly on top of Parliament building? This chicken still remembers the promise of hen-breast.

What is intriguing is the Kerala government’s stupid decision to award MF Husain now. This at this time is really a mischievous award. I think Husain will never come and accept it. He has said he has no knowledge of it. Marxists can not understand people’s mind. Marxism gives importance to matter over mind. If you think they are supporting Freedom of Expression ( that too communists with a long history ? ) then let me ask why did they kick out Tasleema Nasreen from Calcutta ?

Tailpiece : Did they announce award because Husain used more red paint in his paintings ? Lal Salaam Comrade Husain !

Husain's Bharat Mata ( look at the 3d-effect rather than the nudity):

Pollution free Lawn Mover at Taj - Shame on us !

Can you believe it? a pollution free lawn mover at Taj. The photograph was in the net today and in many newspapers. It was also put up in Youtube. Thousands of people from around the world watched it. World newspapers published it saying poor man’s lawn mover at Taj.

Need I say it is shame on us?. Should I ask which monument is visited by largest number of tourists in India? Which monument collects highest amount of money from foreign tourists? Shall I ask which monument generates highest income for India in a year? Then why this? Lets see What our Minister who is responsible for this said in last May:

"Among the world heritage sites in the country, Taj Mahal is one of the most important. So optimum work has to be done by Archeological Survey of India, Agra Development Authority and Tourism Ministry," Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Ambika Soni said.

The ASI is in the process of identifying land around the Taj and acquiring it to create a green patch around the historic site, the minister said adding the heritage site would also host a variety of cultural activities like folklore performances, entertainment packages including light shows and a night bazaar for tourists during night viewing, she said.

Observing that the 17th century monument was visited by nearly 32 lakh tourists in the last calendar year, of which 6.5 lakhs were foreigners, Soni, who was on a day-long trip to the city, also underlined the need for an international airport in Agra, which also houses other archaeological heritage sites like Fatehpuri Sikri and Agra Fort. - ( From Tribune )

Then what is now happening? Is there a lack of money? Why the wretchedness is always haunting us? Who is taking the decisions? Sometime back when we launched Agni missile some western newspaper put up a cartoon of a missile being carried in a bullock cart to the launching pad. I felt agitated then. But now I agree with them. I understand it is possible in India. Over the years, People’s mindset has not changed a bit. Poverty and related mis-behaviours are inbuilt in us. We can't get rid of it easily. Our Ministers, our Governments, Officials all perpetuate it and encourage it.

We have now RTI ( Right to information). That is not enough we need RTQP( Right to Question & Punish). We need the right to punish the minister by recalling for a thing wrongly done or not done. I hope my readers will agree with me.

Maharishi and Simply sitting ideology.

Poojya Maharishi Mahesh yogi attained Samadhi. The media was agog with news of his Samadhi and his western disciples Beatles, George Harrison etc. etc.Two of his famous Indian disciples Deepak Chopra & Sri Sri Ravisankar wrote touching articles.

I am one of his unknown, distant disciples. I got initiated in late 70s when my mind was filled with revolutionary ideas. As a student, I have been indoctrinated with communist ideology in Kerala. In those days all reading, thinking students were automatically left leaning and all ‘left’ thinking students were considered as ‘right’ thinking boys.

So initially I could not accept this ‘simply-sitting-in-a-corner’ ideology. Moreover like any Keralite I thought it is an American sponsored agenda to destroy the communism in Kerala.

It was Uncle Phathak, a Gujarati gentleman, who brought this TM stuff (Transcendental Meditation ( Atheendriya Dhyanam) to our midst. I was staying with my uncle in Mumbai and Mr.Phathak was one of uncle’s friends. Unlike normal Gujjus Mr. Phatak spoke good English and he was a singer of western music. He sang in good places like Taj Hotel in Mumbai. Probably he was a fan of Beatles.

Any way I did not understand most of what he said about TM and I often argued with him in my broken English. My uncle had made up his mind to accept TM. He also persuaded me to accept it so that the whole house will come under the 'aura' generated by meditation. I agreed on one condition that provided my Dakshina (Fee) is paid by uncle. He agreed and Mr. Phatak became ‘our’ Guru. One day was fixed for initiation and a Mantra was given to me. It is a seed left in me forever. If I water and nurture it may grow. Over the years I seldom watered it. But I practiced meditation and my situation surely improved. Is it because of TM? I really don’t know.

Meanwhile we got opportunity to participate in a meeting attended by Maharishi in Mumbai’s Bharateeya Vidyabhavan hall in Chaupati. Since Maharishi had a MSc in Chemistry many people asked Chemical questions which puzzled the Guru. In those days my Indriya faculty had a upper hand in ruling me and I did not understand a bit of the Vedanta philosophy of Maharishi.

My Meditation practices changed from TM to various other ways. I read Osho. I read Deepak Chopra who had by the time gone away from Maharishi and had become a great spiritualist. I also practiced Sudarshankriya of Sri Sri. AOL, Art of Living, Sri Sri’s foundation, had become a great organization. I also practiced Reiki Meditation. Whatever I did I developed a habit of ‘simply-sitting’ in the mornings.

To this day I could not leave the ‘Simply-stting-in-a corner’ ideology and I am extremely grateful to Maharishi and TM for it.

MNS and narrow-minded politics.

I saw the news. Thousands of people leaving Maharashtra state out of fear. They were afraid of MNS goons. Hindi news bulletins said Manse attacks innocent people. Manse is a word coined by MNS by taking first letters Ma Na Se from Maharashtra Navanirman Sena. But it has caught up like Dil se(Hindi film). Man se (from mind) is obviously two Hindi words. In Marathi it should have been Mana te ( or Mana til, Mana che I am not sure – My Marathi knowledge is limited to Amchi Maathi Amchi Manas & Amchi Mumbai ). Perhaps that Hindi word is not a deterrent in attacking Hindi speaking people for MNS. Any way they are doing it Man se.

Earlier when Uncle Thackeray’s goons attacked South Indians it was a Mahmood joke for whole of North India. My uncles dropped the ‘-an’s from their names. So Gopinathan became Gopinath and Ramanathan became Ramnath. All subrahmanyans and Sitaramans also dropped their ‘–an’s temporarily and saved their lives. In those days Tumcha naav Kaay ahey ? (Whats your name? ) was a feared question. No media, no political support – people suffered silently. Soon the congress party partnered with the Sena. Then later Sena joined Hindutua bandwagon. Everything was forgotten. Now history repeats.

It is surprising the Mah.Govt . did not arrest the MNS leader for so long. It is a clear sign that the main stream parties are looking for a tie up with him later. We should understand that these political leaders are building fortresses & palaces on the tears of poor innocent people. If every state starts like this then India will be no more. There should be stern laws to thwart this kind of animosities. But who will bring such laws, our politicians?

It is highly hypocritical that each state spends crores of rupees for tourism promotion but seldom have they cared about the outsiders who come to the state. All the buses in the state even in big cities ply with board names in local language. My home state Kerala, the so called literate state, is no exception. There is not even a bus number for buses in Trivandrum & Kochi. People from other states find it so difficult to travel. I have seen it myself. There should be strict law that the name boards must be written in English also besides local language. If they disobey central assistance should be cut. On the contrary now the number plates are also changing to local language. We can’t be so naïve and narrow-minded. All right-thinking people should react to this trend.

People like Gokhale, Tilak, Vinoba Bhave, Baba Amte and now Medha patkar are great Maharashtrians who wiped the tears from people’s eyes. But what an irony Maharashtra also has Godses and Thackerays who generate tears in people’s eyes.

Tailpiece: TOI columnist Bachi Karkaria said she is going to change her name to Karkare (pun intended). If I am staying there I will change mine to valsankar. My favourite song then will be "Lagaala Layila Galu - Paani Ten Ten Galu" !

Harbhajan and bad words

I agree with what Shashi Tharoor has said in his column in Times of India. He said if Harbhajan has said to Andrew Symonds ‘ma ki’ (mother’s) and not monkey then it is a horrible thing and he should be punished for it. But surprisingly Indian media and whole of North India has kept silent as if it is not an offensive word. The Aussies also have not reacted to it. So I do not rake it up now. But I still hold that it is a horrible bad word and I think most of my south Indian friends will agree with me.

I was thinking about bad words. Monkey or donkey is not a bad word. But if it is used to address a person then you might be inviting trouble. The context, in which a person calls another person a name, is very important. Language is also important. A horrible bad word in a language may be harmless or may even mean good in another language. So you can not easily define a bad word. But everybody agrees that we should not speak any bad word. Please excuse me for using some over here. My mother tongue Malayalam has very little bad word compared to other Indian languages, I guess.

One thing is sure we do not have any equivalent word for M-F, in English, or B-C or M-C in Hindi. We sometimes hire bad word from Tamil and use. Like T-O (Thai O--). The funny part is that even the worst bad word in Malayalam is used with an added softener like Mon or Mol. Mon stands for Makan (son ) Mol = Makal ( daughter ) In fact Mon & Mol are words used to show love and affection. A common bad word in Malyalam is Nayinte mon ( meaning Son of a Dog ). Look at the mon there. Now take the worst bad word Pulayadi mon ( Son of a prostitute ) again there is a mon. So many other bad words are affixed with this addendum.

These words written here may be highly objectionable for some people. For instance some Namboothiri families (Kerala Brahmins) still do not use any bad word. For them even some of the common word like Patti ( bitch), Naaya (dog) Chool (broom) etc is a big taboo and not used at all instead they use its Sanskrit words. Some times for the same thing they use two different words one in the morning and the other in the evening. They don’t try adding the softener Mone. If you translate some of other language bad words into Malayalam it may look funny. For eg. Hindi 'Ullu ka Patha' will be Kooman mon or English Son of gun will be Thokkin Mon. I am sure any Mallu will kiss the person who called them those names. A typical Mallu calls his son lovingly (Pyaar se) with his teeth tight and lips sharpened. Mone .. Monne. Monnhe.

"Mone Dinesha.. " is a funny Malayalam film dialogue which makes every Keralite smile. So that’s it. No bad words ..Mone Dinesha…

The blogging and website creations

There was no blogging before. For that matter there was no internet either.

I did create a website when Internet came to India. Rediff was first to allow a free web page creation. It was in 1998 I think. As hundreds of people did I also created my page wrote some nonsense in it and included my photograph. On top of that I created some additional pages and put links in the first page. The additional pages were of my family, my hobbies, my favorite web sites etc. etc. That was too much for Rediff. Soon they removed all link pages. But they left the first page in tact. I send the URL (website address for the un-initiated) to many of my friends. They viewed it from different parts of the world!. And when I came to know that from USA, UK, Australia and the Gulf they could view my page I felt elated ;). Became Proud! You see if I make a small change in my website immediately, I mean literally immediately, all could see that change. Is n’t it amazing! I told my wife and some close friends about this they could not understand anything. Internet was something new. It was for them to send email. Just a replacement of fax machine.

I had a small business in those days. So we put up a board outside - " Internet and email services undertaken". Many people came with their letters and an email address. Some people brought letters written in Malayalam I had to translate it to send via email. Translation was free of charge. Some of the contents were very intimate. Poor guys! They did not mind if I knew it. Since they do not have computer or do not know how to operate a computer I put my address as from address. The original senders very often came back to check whether there is any reply. In short my office soon turned out to be a Post office.

So one day a grey haired gentleman came and handed over a small packet to me and asked me to send it through email urgently. I took the packet and felt that something is there in it. What is in it? I asked the man curiously. To my utter surprise he said that it is his son’s hostel room keys which he forgot to take. He is studying in a far away Engineering college and he just started this morning and this should reach there before he reaches. In those days Idea mobile was not there otherwise I would have said “what an Idea!”. Internet has come a long away. Now even my son has a fantastic blogs. I am afraid I can not compete.

A good start, a small push, who knows where it takes you!

On this day I created this blog in blogspot. Unsure of what to scribble immediately I wrote "A good start" and then thought for a while. It was a complete blank slate. It was like mic given to a talkative boy in school. A sudden silence. I had hundreds of things to say but nothing came to my mind. A small push was needed. It was like a leaf stuck in a stream. A small gentle push of a breeze was needed and it happened. Everything in this world starts with a sparkle - a 'sphuranam'. Then that sparkle becomes a lightning, then cloud, rain and a torrent. It is in fact this kind of small pushes by some unknown power that shaped my life. Thinking of the turns it took and the way it swayed I some times sit and wonder. Nothing in this world happens without any reason. The small push to write in this blog also may not be without any reason. Who knows where it takes!