2015

From N.C.’s Writings
A midst the profusion of tributes paid to Indira Gandhi on the tenth anniversary of her martyrdom on October 31, perhaps the most eloquent but concise was by the eminent scientist-philosopher, Professor Yash Pal, who said she had made us feel proud of being an Indian.
To be proud of belonging to our motherland was the constant injunction that my generation had to abide by when we were young students—that was before the country became independent. The galling yoke of (…)

Pradhan Mantri (PM) Modi celebrated Diwali with Army troops at Dograi and reportedly announced that OROP (One-Rank One-Pension) was a Diwali gift to military veterans. Perhaps he was not aware that veterans are critical of this tainted “gift”, since it is a version of OROP seriously diluted by bureaucratic machinations. This includes a proviso that OROP benefit will not extend to soldiers who retire prematurely (PMR) in the future—“No-OROP-for-PMR”. Perhaps Mr Modi does not know that troops (…)

BOOK REVIEW
by B. Surendra Rao
On the Banks of the Thejaswini: An Autobiography by K. Madhavan (translated from Malayalam to English by Dr P. Radhika Menon); National Book Trust, India; New Delhi; 2011; pages 340; Price: 175.
A good autobiography bares the man as much as it unveils the world he lived in and transacted with. It also reflects on the relationship between the two, with full awareness of the forces that impinge on such reflection. The past cannot be reflected upon in (…)

by Aurobindo Ghose
The Russian Revolution took place on October 25, 1917 as per the old calendar and on November 7 as per the new calendar. The birth of the Soviet Union, an island of socialism in a sea of capitalism, “shook the world”, as American writer John Reed’s noted in his famous book on the subject, Ten Days that Shook the World.
The establishment of the first workers’ state was regarded as a man-made ‘miracle’ to end exploitation and free the workers from their chains. The (…)

President Obama has invited the Muslims of the world not just to some introspection but, however suavely said, some self-flagellation as well after the terror attack in Paris. The inference here seems inescapable: whatever may have been done to the “Muslim” world, beginning from the time of the usurpation of Palestine, it is they who remain both responsible for the fate that afflicts them and obliged to find all the remedies. Curiously, all that even as the powers-that-be also tell us that (…)

On the occasion of Indira Gandhi’s 98th birth anniversary on November 19, 2015 we remember her by reproducing the following poem written a year after her death (she was killed on October 31, 1984) and published in Mainstream (November 16, 1985). a year has passed without you; tears dry up on the surface, but the pain persists down below where my heart writhes like a wounded fawn as it dawns on me with every passing day: how much we lost by losing you.
Sumit (…)

Amidst the silence of the rich and powerful And the burgeoning of the lotus, There must be more. Beyond the clamour, The onslaught of the hammer Pulverised all that was sacred Into dead meat; What an amazing feat!
Black is the colour of the day, A face smeared with ink, By men in orange, who declare, We are in the very pink, Of health.
Watch, how with stealth They enter the Press Club And smear Rasheed, For hosting a party with beef. Did anyone ask them to take a leaf Out of the (…)

COMMUNICATION
It is a measure of the growing insensitivity of the authorities that serious efforts were not made in time to save the life of leading social activist and former MLA Gurusharan Chhabra. This social activist died after 32 days of a protest fast to demand prohibition and a strong Lok Ayukta in Rajasthan.
Although he was elected as an MLA from Suratgarh several years back, Chhabra was known more as a Gandhian social activist than a political leader. He was deeply troubled by (…)

EDITORIAL
The results of the five-phase Bihar Assembly polls are out. Proving most of the poll predictions wrong, the electorate of the State handed a decisive verdict by giving a two-thirds majority to the JD(U)-RJD-Congress’ grand alliance or mahagathbandhan leaving the BJP (which runs the government at the Centre with guidance from the RSS) and its allies way behind. The final figures are as follows: the BJP and its allies secured 58 out of 243 seats whereas the mahagathbandhan won as (…)

Suddenly the spell-binder finds that his spell has been broken. The dream merchant, who peddled his never-to-be-realised dreams very successfully just a year ago, suddenly finds that there are no buyers for his wares. Suddenly one discovers that the people are not so gullible as one had thought. Suddenly the bakers of Nagpur, specialising in making hate-cakes, find these are getting mouldy, they are not selling.
Why have things changed so completely in just a year-and-a-half’s time? The (…)