How untenable is India's social order where 20% of the population, upper caste Hindus, rule with apathy and indifference, the great unwashed masses who constitute 80% of the populace? We deserve to implode in to civil war, and in our relatively short history as a Republic it amazes me that we haven't yet. Or perhaps it's the discourse in which the 'million mutinies' across India are framed that makes Me-The-Delhi-Elite, (ironically, alternatively called Hobo) believe that these aren't civil wars, these aren't revolutions but in fact treacherous, unpatriotic terrorist infractions. Are the Naxalites terrorists or revolutionaries? What is their cause and why have they adopted violence? I don't know much about the Naxalite movement so can't write any more than this. But I'll have you know, now that this little research question has popped in to my head I will pursue it. It came to my mind because of the Kherlanji massacres. Enraged is perhaps too mild a word. Disgust too. Galled doesn't even begin to cut it. Four members of a Dalit family were tortured, their bodies mutilated, their women raped and left with their genitals disfigured and the entire elite English press fails to take notice of this for a month. That's the real problem. Foucault's idea of 'discursive power' or even Lukas' idea of 3-dimensional power, the power of 'agenda-setting' (Whitelight extend these to the WTO and you'll realise why I have such an immense problem with the current forumaltion of multilateralism) suddenly come alive outside the classroom.
Shivam, who also wrote the Tehelka article on the Kherlanji massacres, unleashed a mighty storm in the Indian blogosphere for publishing pictures of the deceased. I'm going to sit on the fence with this one. I realise why he did it? This story had been ignored for a month, we all are quick to express our outrage when Jessica Lall or Priyadarshini Mattoo are denied justice but when Surekha, the mother, and Priyanka, the daughter, are beaten up, gang raped with axes, bicycle chains and bullock cart pokers, we by no fault of ours, turn a blind eye. They were gang raped mercilessly even after they died. Roshan and Sudhir, the sons, were beaten up, their genitals mutilated, faces disfigured and their bodies tossed in the air, before they lay dead on the ground. The father, Bhaiyyalalji watched, hidden behind a hut as all this was perpetrated before his eyes. The cops naturally failed to file an FIR initially. I can't process this. I can't write about this anymore. It terrifies me. Shivam published those pictures to shock us and jolt us out of our comfort zones. I don't know how OK I am with it because just as with the Tsunami and the Mumbai blasts the Indian media went overboard publishing pictures of deceased. Is it a public service or making a theatre out of our personal sadism? If a friend of mine died in a car accident would I like to see her pictures published in the press as a public service broadcast against drunk driving? NO. As for the level of violence meted out to these women, I remembered reading this article by Martha Nussbaum about how even during the Gujarat riots maximal violence was carried out on the female body and how the current Hindu right's construction of Hindutva is in fact derived not from indigeneous knowledge but European Fascism. It's a complicated peice, written lucidly and if you have the time go read it. I cant sum it up, brevity is not my forte. But in summation, the Kherlanji massacrs have made me re-realise how many ghastly injustices occur in my land everyday and how little of it we hear. And precisely which ones we hear about.
I don't have access to a lot of Indian publications but I do know that Times of India has often deemed it important to print such trvialities as 'The World's Funniest Joke by an Indian' *Whooopeee! We've arrived haven't we? The world thinks we're funny, and I think we're a funny people too* as a front page headline and the others are no better. I have a bit of repsect for The Hindu, I'd have more if it didn't put me to sleep all the time. I do enjo the Indian Express except every front page story, all 55 of them are always continued on page 8 and there on. TOI I get daily for the crossword, it's not-too-easy-not-too-hard and it isn' a cryptic crossword. I can't even begin those. But never mind that. The Sachar Comitte Report has been leaked, trickle by trickle, in to the Indian media and the findings by this 'religious census' committee are amazing but not surprising. Muslims fare worse than even the SC/STs in education, and trail the OBCs in employment, economic status and landholdings. That they are represented well below their demographic share in government jobs and the lower judiciary. And, ironically, the only place where they are over-represented is in the country's prisons. Muslim is the new black dahlings, and I amn't talking fashion. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Indian media still seems to have its panties up in a bunch over this report as it concerns itself with Muslims and their pitiable condition in India. It isn't the same vein as Hindu-bashing which can ften triviliaze the debate but it is still in some twisted sense representing Muslims in the mold as popular discourse seeks to constantly establish. I am not saying that this issue does not deserve serious debate and remedy but why were the Kherlanji massacres ignored? In the calculations of vote-bank politics is it that the comparatively more cohesive Muslims are a better bet, and thus make for better newsprint than the various Dalit communities? I could be wrong about the cohesive nature of the Muslim votebank or the diversity of the Dalit community but then WHY is it that this story did not merit any attention!?
On another aside as much as I loathe the Congress and trust me it's a heartfelt hatred for this most undemocratic and equally communal of parties, I am glad that the Sachar Committee Report will push the BJP into a corner. The only Indian party I'd ever vote for is one that identifies the real Hindu questions of caste *What is your surname? I say that question be banned.* as the ultimate and only issue of Hindu reform. Remember the enemy is within. WITHIN. Frankly I'd vote for a party that bans organized religion altogether and forces people in to concentration yoga camps stretcing the horizons of their minds, bodies and souls. I'd vote for hippies. Peace man. Sigh....when it comes to India I just don't know who to vote for or even in Delhi for that matter. So instead of bigger party questions I vote for individuals. Which of these mofos is least likely to pilfer funds? Which one of these mofos is not a paedophile? *Because I know of an MP from a party who allegedly sexually abused someone I know but managed to quell every inquiry and that person eventually became a drug addict damning her own credibility. It's a shiteous world out there, I just realised my newfound optimism was based on hope when there isn't any to speak of.* Which one of these mofos is not Sheila Dixit? Which one of these mofos is not....ugh *puke*......Madan Lal Khurana? Which one of these mofos is not ......*barf in the mouth*.........Sahib Singh Verma or Sajjan Kumar? Which one of these is the least odious mofo? That's the one I'll vote for. But vote I shall. Someday that shall change.
*************************************************************************************
What is patriotism? Who defines it? Within an Indian setting what allegiance do I profess to my country because my country might be that of Kashmiris or Punjabis or South Delhi snobs or a country of politically conscious youth. Or mostly my cuntry is one of struggling women. OK men too, I'd be sexless and bored if men weren't in my c(o)untry. There! See how quickly I degenerate into a prurient retard!? I deserve to have all my faculties implode in to a civil war like my country. I don't how I came to be this way but no one objectifies men or treats them with as little seriousness and sincerity as I do. Not my male friends, those I regard as human beings. I think I even respect some of them. But the men I find attractive............. it's not as if I don't respect them but I can't take them seriously. I treat them as I suspect a lot of men treat me, when they don't know me or aren't friends of mine. I am a female chauvnist piglet. Think of it, the way men are attracted to women's chests, I am attracted to men's. Yuck. I think I'll go shoot myself now. In the head. Not just in the foot mind you!
Shivam, who also wrote the Tehelka article on the Kherlanji massacres, unleashed a mighty storm in the Indian blogosphere for publishing pictures of the deceased. I'm going to sit on the fence with this one. I realise why he did it? This story had been ignored for a month, we all are quick to express our outrage when Jessica Lall or Priyadarshini Mattoo are denied justice but when Surekha, the mother, and Priyanka, the daughter, are beaten up, gang raped with axes, bicycle chains and bullock cart pokers, we by no fault of ours, turn a blind eye. They were gang raped mercilessly even after they died. Roshan and Sudhir, the sons, were beaten up, their genitals mutilated, faces disfigured and their bodies tossed in the air, before they lay dead on the ground. The father, Bhaiyyalalji watched, hidden behind a hut as all this was perpetrated before his eyes. The cops naturally failed to file an FIR initially. I can't process this. I can't write about this anymore. It terrifies me. Shivam published those pictures to shock us and jolt us out of our comfort zones. I don't know how OK I am with it because just as with the Tsunami and the Mumbai blasts the Indian media went overboard publishing pictures of deceased. Is it a public service or making a theatre out of our personal sadism? If a friend of mine died in a car accident would I like to see her pictures published in the press as a public service broadcast against drunk driving? NO. As for the level of violence meted out to these women, I remembered reading this article by Martha Nussbaum about how even during the Gujarat riots maximal violence was carried out on the female body and how the current Hindu right's construction of Hindutva is in fact derived not from indigeneous knowledge but European Fascism. It's a complicated peice, written lucidly and if you have the time go read it. I cant sum it up, brevity is not my forte. But in summation, the Kherlanji massacrs have made me re-realise how many ghastly injustices occur in my land everyday and how little of it we hear. And precisely which ones we hear about.
I don't have access to a lot of Indian publications but I do know that Times of India has often deemed it important to print such trvialities as 'The World's Funniest Joke by an Indian' *Whooopeee! We've arrived haven't we? The world thinks we're funny, and I think we're a funny people too* as a front page headline and the others are no better. I have a bit of repsect for The Hindu, I'd have more if it didn't put me to sleep all the time. I do enjo the Indian Express except every front page story, all 55 of them are always continued on page 8 and there on. TOI I get daily for the crossword, it's not-too-easy-not-too-hard and it isn' a cryptic crossword. I can't even begin those. But never mind that. The Sachar Comitte Report has been leaked, trickle by trickle, in to the Indian media and the findings by this 'religious census' committee are amazing but not surprising. Muslims fare worse than even the SC/STs in education, and trail the OBCs in employment, economic status and landholdings. That they are represented well below their demographic share in government jobs and the lower judiciary. And, ironically, the only place where they are over-represented is in the country's prisons. Muslim is the new black dahlings, and I amn't talking fashion. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Indian media still seems to have its panties up in a bunch over this report as it concerns itself with Muslims and their pitiable condition in India. It isn't the same vein as Hindu-bashing which can ften triviliaze the debate but it is still in some twisted sense representing Muslims in the mold as popular discourse seeks to constantly establish. I am not saying that this issue does not deserve serious debate and remedy but why were the Kherlanji massacres ignored? In the calculations of vote-bank politics is it that the comparatively more cohesive Muslims are a better bet, and thus make for better newsprint than the various Dalit communities? I could be wrong about the cohesive nature of the Muslim votebank or the diversity of the Dalit community but then WHY is it that this story did not merit any attention!?
On another aside as much as I loathe the Congress and trust me it's a heartfelt hatred for this most undemocratic and equally communal of parties, I am glad that the Sachar Committee Report will push the BJP into a corner. The only Indian party I'd ever vote for is one that identifies the real Hindu questions of caste *What is your surname? I say that question be banned.* as the ultimate and only issue of Hindu reform. Remember the enemy is within. WITHIN. Frankly I'd vote for a party that bans organized religion altogether and forces people in to concentration yoga camps stretcing the horizons of their minds, bodies and souls. I'd vote for hippies. Peace man. Sigh....when it comes to India I just don't know who to vote for or even in Delhi for that matter. So instead of bigger party questions I vote for individuals. Which of these mofos is least likely to pilfer funds? Which one of these mofos is not a paedophile? *Because I know of an MP from a party who allegedly sexually abused someone I know but managed to quell every inquiry and that person eventually became a drug addict damning her own credibility. It's a shiteous world out there, I just realised my newfound optimism was based on hope when there isn't any to speak of.* Which one of these mofos is not Sheila Dixit? Which one of these mofos is not....ugh *puke*......Madan Lal Khurana? Which one of these mofos is not ......*barf in the mouth*.........Sahib Singh Verma or Sajjan Kumar? Which one of these is the least odious mofo? That's the one I'll vote for. But vote I shall. Someday that shall change.
*************************************************************************************
What is patriotism? Who defines it? Within an Indian setting what allegiance do I profess to my country because my country might be that of Kashmiris or Punjabis or South Delhi snobs or a country of politically conscious youth. Or mostly my cuntry is one of struggling women. OK men too, I'd be sexless and bored if men weren't in my c(o)untry. There! See how quickly I degenerate into a prurient retard!? I deserve to have all my faculties implode in to a civil war like my country. I don't how I came to be this way but no one objectifies men or treats them with as little seriousness and sincerity as I do. Not my male friends, those I regard as human beings. I think I even respect some of them. But the men I find attractive............. it's not as if I don't respect them but I can't take them seriously. I treat them as I suspect a lot of men treat me, when they don't know me or aren't friends of mine. I am a female chauvnist piglet. Think of it, the way men are attracted to women's chests, I am attracted to men's. Yuck. I think I'll go shoot myself now. In the head. Not just in the foot mind you!
17 comments:
you are right when you point out that the media does not find "village" happenings news worthy,
caste wars- have been fought and are being fought to establish economical supremacy,the so called upper caste dont care 2 hoots about what is written in the religious texts-they can only be stopped by spreading education(atleast one good thing in todays india,is education=job,in most cases)the job ensures some degree of prosperity and respect.
why do you ridcule south delhi or for that matter south mumbai,these people have reached a stage which is aspirational for the rest,do you blame them for not worrying about the rest , it is after all a mad dog race to the top
intresting observation about the english media- there are leftist- it is fashionable to be "anti hindu" and "pro muslim"(whatever the consequences)for the left-good luck to them.
last - a request can you increase the font size of your blog pse :)
hmmm...sumbled upon ur blog absolutely by chance....n this is not to comment bout this post in particular...rather on older ones that i went thru out of curiousity...curiousity was aroused cos sumthin caught my attention as it sounded familiar n so on n so forth...my point is i have this horrible nagging feeling bout who u are......cos u sound jus like an old frend....n there just cud'nt be two of her....no way!way to many things in common....frogs?dont trust me too much? no way....n u dont have to post my comment on ur blog if u dont feel like...its for u not for the world....keep penning...hobo or should i say sumthing else dat might sound familiar like....yellow pages...neverland....on the road...oscar wilde...dylan...neil diamond....dreams sold in classes with yellow walls....run virgin child....am i a bad person?....no way there cud never be two of her...ever....not even in neverland.....
good luck anyway
@anon: doesn't sound like you know me, i mean the only thing you came close to knowing was that i'm a she. i will say this if you do keep it shush. :) thanka! and if i've written about you and pissed you off, then be a bigger person and keep it shush. please. not like i've done a brilliant job of protecting my identity. idiot as i am and remain forever more.
@IR: not blaebut i feel that my crowd, because that is who i have dealt with most consistently are distinguished by their apathy. and besides how many of us that so many people aspire to be would consider a lower caste for marriage, or even an inter-faith marrage? we're in a privileged position and i don't see the same level of passion that a few of us demonstrate. i in fact don't even do anything but write, i know a few who have or are doing a lot more. but the bulk are just content with aspiring to own a more expensive cellfone. which too i ok with, i love prada!, but doesn't mean i am oblivious to my context and the privileges that i enjoy. south delhi snobs espeically lack humility. live there you'll see what i mean. people take themselves way too seriously boss.
font size has been increased.
@anon: um....frogs aren't my passion anyway. :)and do not get neverland reference but dammit if i know you then i need to crack this puzzle. sigh....why do commenters on my blog leave riddles!?
No more discussions on socio-political issues. So, no comments on the subject.
You listened to Cradle of Filth.?????!!!!!!! Hell no
@whitelight: dude what ese is this post about. that las one was just beginning to bore me. but feel free to talk about anything. anything except my darkest days.
Which one of these is the least odious mofo? That's the one I'll vote for. Sounds like my plan =D.
Nussbaums article was interesting. One reason I really can't stand the Hindu right is because they stand for a perversion of what Hinduism actually is. But then again when has religion not been perverted by those for whom it is suitable.
firstly u have'nt written or done anything at all to piss me off so there is nothing to forgive :-)
and does it really sound like i dont know u?well then maybe i don't...sometimes fact is stranger than fiction actually....as for frogs...i dont particularly care for them either but when i referred to frogs here in your context i meant frogs by norman mc caig?...n neverland shall 'never' be mentioned but...that stil dont mean it aint inside u..does it?...
and the puzzle of who i might be is actually not one of the worlds greatest unsolved mysteries...cant take credit when it aint due....
rest assured i come in peace n goodwill:-)n thy wish is granted(it would have been granted even if u had'nt asked)...if i do know u...i swear to keep it shush...cross my heart n hope to die...it will remain shush as promised...sush..
:-)
hobo, i gotta love your writing. you're so good that it makes me want to ignore the allegation that you presumptively take as fact. another thing that rankled me was your espousal of a ban on organized religion. bit totalitarian there, luv. but i see where you're coming from. india's, well, india's an interesting case-study. a highly evolved civilization in an advanced stage of decay. i wish the bastards weren't making all this money. probably retarded a major and much needed civil war by a few decades.
re:the latter part of the post
it's not as bad as it seems rather you are being brutally honest :P
It is a pity that The Hindu puts you to sleep, and you 'enjoy' Indian Express... as you wonder what 'real' stories you miss out on as an 'urban educated elite'. It would help, firstly, to stop treating matters of social conflict, with such useless emotional outbursts. And if you can bring yourself to understand the real problems of India, away from their 'horror-inspiring' imagery... then, maybe, you will be useful to the country.
P.S. it isn't 'elite English press', it is the enlglish-language press. I hardly think the English press cares about dalits in India.
where the fuck are you?
@ last anon: i agree, you hardly think. and just because The Hindu offers a great depth and breadth of news analysis does not mean it is beyond reproach.
@barrycuda: what did i take as fact? and it's not fascist to force people in to yoga camps at all. no one's going to die in my camps. they'll come out stronger, more enlightened, more physically fit.
@whitelight: here i am.
@szerelem: i know, i know. i'm very conflicted when it comes to voting in india. i'm still figuring out who represents me the best and none of them actually do.
@in exile: you're too sweet and i'm too honest. :)
@anon who thought he knew me: i don't think you do. the neil young and neverland reference assure me, coz i don't know what you're talking about.
@benny: where are you?
I was afraid my comments would not 'reach' you. I wan't advertising The Hindu, but making a statement about your child-like understanding of social tensions in India. And if you can get over your useless retort to the first line of the comment, I would like you to understand the meaning of my comment - crying yourself to sleep over images of dead people is never going to help matters. And with your superficial understanding, you won't go much further than that. In that sense, your grasp of the issues is no better than the millions you ridicule for doing the same in their posh living rooms of 'South Delhi'.
@embittered anon: you say what you do but make no justifications for your rather malignant opninion of me. what is your superior understanding of the indian social order? why just rage and froth in the comments section instead of englishtening us? i never made any claims to suggest that i am doing anything to improve the world however, if i choose to express my outrage over the deliberate suppression of justice in the country through this forum then i am doing a lot more than the comatose people you liken me to. and if you're doing something yourself then good for you and if you aren't we'll move over and make some room for you in hell.
and that retort stung didn't it? you wouldn't have been fulminating here if it hadn't. hehe...... you're a child.
Dear Hobo, please roll over and make room for your fellow pseudo intellectuals in hell. I am a law student with a view to enter Indian policymaking. I didnt make my comments intending to deny you the right to express your extreme distress oer the 'deliberate suppression of justice'. I would, however, expect an enlightened, educated individual like you from a privileged class of Indian society to temper your emotions with some element of rationality and fact. And lastly, it does seem a tad hypocritical for you to be unemployed, partying all over London and living in SOHO, aspiring to be employed by Boston Consultancy (which, I might add, does not concern itself with 'suppression of justice' among the oppressed classes in India). In the end, it does not matter how many years you have lived on this earth, it matters when you started thinking.I wish you all the best with your blog, it does evidently provide voyueristic pleasure for many.
@still embittered anon: um thanks for the good wishes for the blog but really stop condescending me, make a valid point about the questions i raised or bugger off.
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