THE LANGUAGE OF SILENCE

THE LANGUAGE OF SILENCE

The Language of Silence is supreme ; it is superior ; it is subtle . It uplifts; it enlightens; It has no script ; just meanings ; symbols ; space . It demolishes existing perceptions!  

     

          It is now that I am in my late fifties that I am fathoming the ‘language of silence’. The Language of  the Child. The language of my Dog. Perhaps when we are  small  it is with this language  apart from the regular ‘crying’ to communicate that we are born with.

  

      More than communicate we assimilate . The babies do it regularly . The moods of parents . The dogs do ; the moods of Master/Mistress ! But when we grow we enter the areas of coarseness and entangle ourselves  into complications of our creations. Is it our selfishness our greed that debars us from  the refine Language?

      It is now that I have started  gaining my consciousness of the lost language of silence. How silence speaks louder than words. Don’t we experience it in our conversation with friends , family members , elders , officials, when the ‘gaps’  between the conversation convey more than our actual talk? When we are expecting an important call and the anticipation , the delay  communicates more than the message !

    I sincerely miss and crave for the ‘silent’ era of Cinema. The Cinema of Buster Keaton, the Cinema of  Charlie Chaplin. I rate some of the films of Hitchcock of the ‘silent’ era superior! I lament the loss of creativity of Charlie Chaplin with the advent of the ‘Talkies’.  I hope one day we shall return back to the ‘silent’ era  to discover the ‘pure’ under the ‘coarse’ of human nature. That would be more challenging and meaningful .

SADHNA-( 1941-2015 )

SADHNA

    O Phooloon ki Rani! Baharon Ki Malika , Tera Muskarana;Gazab ho gaya  sang Rajendra Kumar to her  in Arzoo sometime in sixties. Dev  pleaded her to stay back a while! In ‘Hum Dono’ “ Abhi na Jao chod Kar Ke Dil Abhi Bhara Nahin” . She inspired  Shakeel to pen “Mere Mehboob Tuzhe Meri Mohabbat Ki Kasm!, in ‘ Mere Mehboob’ and motivated Hasrat Jaipuri  to quote “ Ik But Banaoon  ga Tera  aur Pooja Karoonga ,are Mar jaaoon ga Pyar agar mein Dooja Karoonga” in ‘Asli Naqli’. Yes! They all wooed sadhna the refreshing beauty of sixties who made ‘churidar –Kurti ‘ a big hit in ‘Waqt’. Sadhna is no more  she died yesterday at age 74. I did see her sometimes in news among litigation, fighting for her house with her Landlord/ Tenant ! But that was not the way I wanted to see her. It was on the screen of sixties that she reigned and I wanted to see her like that! Always !

 She belonged to the era when we used to fall in love with the heroine. The love lasted strong for few days after seeing the film , those few days of ‘Khumar’  were cathartic . She belonged to time when beauty was beauty and the cult of consumerism had still not captivated us. She belonged to those days when assembly line creation had not commenced and charm was distinct !

Her first film was with Joy Mukherjee ‘ love in Shimla’, which was a hit and was directed by R K Nayyar whom she married later . She was hailed as a star and there was no looking back. Her hair style known as ‘Sadhna Cut’ was famous.  Actually it was created by her director to cover her rather large forehead, but became a cult. Reputed banners wooed her ;‘Arzoo’ with Ramanand sagar ‘Waqt”, Directed by Yash Chopra and produced by B R chopra was a big hit and perhaps a first multi- starrer of its time. We recognize our stars through films, scenes, dialogues and songs. But since songs are such integral part of Indian Cinema we remember songs more than perhaps film and sometime recognize stars and films through them. She gave Raj Khosla two big hits- ‘Mera- Saaya’ and ‘Who  Kaun Thi’, these were heroine oriented films. The popular song “Jhumka gira re Barailey Ke Bazar Mein” and the classy , “ Tu Jahan Jahan Chale ga , Mera Saaya saath ho  ga”  were from Mera Sayya. It was not only the commercial film makers who wanted her cast but the  less commercial  and selective film makers  liked to give her good roles- we still remember her as pretty Mita of ‘Hum- Dono’ who left her rich father to be with the lonely mother of Dev when he went to war. Hrisikesh Mukherjee cast her in ‘Asli Naqli’ opposite Dev and we cannot forget  Dev and she singing “tujhe Jeevan Ki Dor se Bandh liya hai,Tere Zulmon Sitam Sar Aaankhon par” . The great Bimal Roy cast her in three films- ‘Parakh’, ‘Prem Patra’ and ‘Benazeer’ and her image is immortalized as she sang the iconic Saawan song in ‘Parakh’ penned by Shailendra - “ O Sajna Barkha Bahar Aayee, Ras ki Phuhaar Laayee , Aapnoon mein Pyar Layee..”

 Her career was cut short by the occurrence of ‘Thyroid’ and despite treatment she could not conceal her bulging eyes which marred her beauty . Her last big hit was ‘Intequam’ she made the famous song ”Kaise rahun chup ke maine peehi kya hai hosh Abhi tak hai baki aur zara si dede saki aur zara si..”. The song sung by Lata was on top of the chart of Binaca geet Mala for a long time. She never ventured into any side roles despite Raj Kapoor requesting her to do the role of Rishi’s mother in ‘Bobby’, she politely declined , the role went to Sonia Sahni.

She belonged to the age when Cinema was Young. When Cinema was  scarce . When Cinema was Rare . When Cinema had to be draped . When Cinema had to be Stolen. When Cinema was festivity. When Cinema was Celebration. The Age that is no more. As she is no more!

“ Lag Ja  Gale Ke Phir Ye Hansi Raat ho nah o Saayed is Janam Mein Mulaquat Ho Na Ho.. Lag Ja Gale..”  (Madan Mohan’s haunting song filmed on Sadhna in ‘Who  Kaun Thi’ )

THE SOUND OF THE STEAM ENGINE !

 

          THE SOUND OF THE  STEAM                                                                                                           ENGINE !           

The sound of the    Rail Engine kindles images of  hope, happiness, progress,  revolution, partition, separation, movement, rejuvenation, motivation, civilization, life,  activity, commencement , flux , expectation , arrival , departure , and  so much more. Specially the vintage steam engine driven train which emanated power , music and rhythm . The steam puffing out of its head and from the sides, its naked pistons  pushing in and out propelling the wheels forward creating such captivating huffing  sound. One has marvelled the sight and the   sound  at many stations whilst awaiting the arrivals and the departures as the steam engine shunted to and fro. Essentially; it is a good omen, in  all cultures  and societies, the world over.

    

     However, along with the joy there are tragic images of the Partition when the dead bodies arrived from both sides in the overflowing trains so vividly captured in films such as  ‘Gadar’ ,‘ Train to Pakistan’ , ‘Tamas’ and ‘Gandhi’ and a host of documentaries  and are  seated in the collective memory of that generation  and the present too. We have also the images of   the holocaust where train carriages were full of the Jews being taken to the ‘Concentration camps’, and the Trans-Siberian  train of the post Bolshevik Revolution, the Stalin era when counter revolutionaries and dissidents were exiled to the cold desert transported by the infamous Train!

     These days sometimes I sit alone in my balcony of the apartment facing an industrial complex at a distance, it is near to the port of Vizag. The loneliness is interrupted by the gushing sound of the  rail engine  and of the soft collision of the bogies in movement. It is indeed very reassuring and makes me happy, as if reminding me that it is here to give me company. The romanticism of steam engine will soon fade into past as it almost ceases to exist in most places . Though I feel that to maintain our industrial and cultural heritage it should still function in some short sectors; and  should not die the way the Trams did in Mumbai!  The steam engine revive many childhood memories. I do not though recollect my first ‘conscious’ train journey but I am sure that I would have boarded my first train at Dehradun where I was born. As I remember one incident of my childhood connected to train  which puts me to shame to this day! I was at home with my grandmother and her brother who had come to visit her, and we were having tea in the evening. Suddenly my country cousin along with her Dad arrived from the village, they sat for some time and then she nudged her father to leave. We wondered as to what was the hurry, she smiled shyly but her father said that they  have to go to the railway station to show her the  railway engine and the train . I found that strange and could not conceal my astonishment which did not go unnoticed, maybe I mocked at her! After they left my Grandma’s brother asked me if I had seen the electric train, then he said that the electric trains run in Mumbai and that I could see the latest Shammi Kapoor film ‘An evening in Paris in which the electric train is shown, I got the message and felt bad for my behaviour. Incidentally India was the first country in Asia where the electric trains were introduced by the British in Mumbai Local, it was later in Japan but soon they surpassed all with the bullet train and now China has left even the west behind in its railway technology. I may not remember the Air journeys but many Rail journeys I can recall; the food; the smell; the commotion; the dialects; the arguments ; the jokes. The culture of reserved seat was not wide spread   and therefore on many vacations we would travel during long day journeys to Nazibabad ( in order to travel to Garhwal) from Allahabad , unreserved. Obtaining a seat along with the family members was akin to a wrestling contest! Later my regular train to Mumbai from Allahabad was the famous Bombay mail or Calcutta mail  as one may call.

    The Train , the Engine , the journey , the sound has played an important role  in the Indian celluloid  inspiring many songs, action sequences  and symbolism. The scene of ‘Pather Panchali’  when the two siblings venture out  of their surroundings and chance upon the railway track. First they hear the sound keeping their ear on the track and then the train with the traditional Engine arrives and mesmerises the children. It is such a captivating scene ! The action scene of Dharmendra ( Veeru) and Amitabh Bachhan ( jai ) of ‘Sholay’ where the dacoits attack the train was perhaps the beginning of maturing of the  action Directors in Indian Cinema .The climax of ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Lejayenge ‘  with Shahrukh extending his hand from the running train  to Kajol when finally Amrish Puri  releases her to freedom . Not only the scenes are set in the train but the entire films have  been set in the moving train:  ‘Half Ticket’ starring Kishore Kumar and Madhubala ,‘The Train’ starring Rajesh Khanna and Nanda, ‘The Burning Train ‘ inspired by ‘Towering Inferno’ was a multistarrer with Dharmendra and Hema Malini  leading the cast. The world Cinema’s love of the trains is similar: ‘The Great Train Robbery’ starring Sean Connery , Donald Sutherland and Leslie Anne Down , ‘The Train’ starring Burt Lancaster and Paul Scofield, ‘Von Ryan’s Express starring Frank Sinatra,  there is a famous Kurosava film  ‘Tengoku to Jigoku ( High and Low ) which inspired the Indian film ‘Inkaar’ starring Vinod Khanna and Amjad Khan. And there are plenty others. Parting, separation , goodbyes and reunion have been filmed regularly at railway platforms which is a dominant symbol of such emotions.

    What make the ‘Trains’ so special in India are the songs picturised  on them : ‘ Gari  bula rahi hai, siti baja rahi hai’ from the film ‘Dost’ starring Dharmendra is indeed philosophical. Then there is the famous children song sung by Ashok Kumar in ‘Aashirwad’, ‘ Rail Gari rail gari….’ The song is unique for it was sung by Ashok Kumar himself and in it he mentions the famous local stations of Mumbai ( the song however is not picturised in a train but in a park ). During our time the song of ‘Rafuchakkar’ starring Rishi Kapoor, Nitu Singh was popular ‘chuk chuk ,chak chak, Bombay se Baroda tak…’.  The famous Vijay Anand shot the song ‘Uparwala jaan kar anjaan hai, apni to bas har aah ek toofan hai ‘ for ‘Kaala Baazar’,  sung by Dev to woo Waheeda whilst they are travelling together in train. Then there are songs sung atop the goods train- ‘humdono do premi duniya chod chalen’ sung by Rajesh Khanna and Zeenat Aman in ‘Ajnabi’, ‘Hoga Tumse pyara kaunHumko to Tumse hai  …. O  kanchi’ from the film ‘Zamane ko Dikhana hai’ starring Rishi Kapoor and Padmani Kolhapure is shot on a moving train against the Darjeeling hills with tea gardens. But undoubtedly the best filmed is the Mani Ratnam’s ‘Chaiyaan Chaiyaan….’  On Shahrukh  Khan dancing with Mallika Arora and her troupe on a moving toy train against Nilgiri hills with some breath-taking shots in ‘Dil se’.  And there are  some songs shot inside the engine compartment on a moving Train : ‘Dhanno ki ankhon mein hai pyar ka surma aur chand ka chumma’ written by Gulzar for the film ‘Kitaab’ and the much remembered and shot well ‘haton ki chand lakiron ka ye khel hai bas taqdeeron ka’ of ‘Vidhata’ filmed on Dilip Kumar and Shammi Kapoor, directed by Subhash Ghai . Finally there are at least two songs filmed with the jeep chasing or moving alongside the train and the heroine sitting  by the window ;both are filmed in the Darjeeling hills ( made famous recently in ‘Barfi’ ) because that is the only place in hills  where there is rail track and road running parallel  over long distance. The first song was made famous by Mohammad Rafi and filmed on Dev Anand  and Asha Parekh in the film ‘Jab Pyar kisi se hota hai’ , ‘Jiya ho dil ka parda khol do….’. The second is the all time  favourite of young people ‘mere sapnon ki rani kab aaye gi tu’ from the film ‘Aaradhna’ ,sung by Kishore Kumar and filmed on Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore.

     Indeed; to this day the Rail and its Engine remains an important motif in our Lives , Cinema and Songs.

THE AGE OF 'E' LEADERSHIP

THE            AGE         OF        'E'          LEADERSHIP

  

 

There is crisis of true leadership in India, leaders who could steer the people by the strength of their sacrifice, motivational abilities, organizational skill, ideology are few. During our freedom struggle such leaders were in large numbers. They were in various states. Patel brothers in Gujrat,  Chitranjan Das and Netaji Subhash  in Bengal. Rajendra  Prasad in Bihar , Nehrus in U P. Ali brothers, Maulana Azad, Madan  Mohan Malviya . Rajaji,  Srinivas Ayengar and Prakasham in South.  Lala Lajpat Rai in Punjab. Tilak in Maharashtra. And many others.The leadership of the freedom struggle was the people’s leadership . They may have had shortcomings  but they were in touch with the ground reality. They emerged after rubbing shoulders with their countrymen.

    
     What is the scene now ? What we have is a bunch of  ‘E’ leaders , leaders created by media /TV/internet . Leaders who have been nominated to lead. Some of them with their talent and ability have become mass leaders in that the people identify a certain ideology, certain principles in them, and have expectations. Sonia Gandhi is one. She was not a mass leader ,she was made the Congress President and now she is the party’s principal vote catcher. Is there any other person in the Congress who can garner votes for them? Very few with limited and regional appeal may be there. Those who were mass leaders in the Congress have left the Party and formed their own outfit: Mamta Bannerjee, Sharad Pawar.  Some are regional players . Tarun Gagoi in Assam,Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan  , Digvijay Singh in Madhya Pradesh . Some are consistent single constituency players such as Kamal Nath who has held his Chindwara seat in Madhya Pradesh  since   nine terms, but could not enlarge his influence . Presently Congress is in power in Kerala but we are not sure if Omen Chandy could sway the masses owing to  the very fact that it was a closely fought elections with CPM losing narrowly.

    The leaders are  thrust upon from top. Earlier leaders emerged from below; from the people ,during the various movements: non cooperation, civil disobedience, quit India, emergency etc . A plant emerging from the seed in a traditional way . But nowadays we have leaders akin to fully grown plants being uprooted from another environment   and  planted among the people ( Parliament),  constructed like   GM crop!  Arun Jaitley, Chidambaram,  Shashi Tharoor, Manmohan Singh, Jairam Ramesh Mani Shankar Iyer, Smriti  Irani  are some examples; some may be successful too but they lack the common touch and experience of ‘ hands on’ reality. Jinnah  and Ambedkar are two examples of  nominated leaders who are being talked about these days. Ambedkar lost Loksabha election when he contested as an independent , he was inducted in Rajya Sabha because of his stature as a legal giant . These two never courted arrest during the freedom struggle , never participated in the freedom struggle, wore suit and tie and negotiated for their community  separately with the British. Can we put the above leaders in the category of  ‘ E’  leaders?

     The question arises if Narendra Modi is  an ‘E’ leader or mass leader. He was an organizational  man of RSS and BJP  and assumed the chiefministership  of Gujarat when Keshubhai Patel was removed in  the year 2001. He made a place for himself with his administrative acumen the tragic Gujrat riots  of 2002 polarized the society in the state and he benefited from it. He is the prime minister today and has attained this position by using ‘E’ platform to the hilt. Is this a new trend? Would ‘E’ leaders dominate the political scene in future? ‘Mann ki baat’ through radio is Modi’s comfort communication style ;uninterrupted , unhindered one way communication. It lacks ‘emotion’, it lacks rapport, it lacks creativity which arises at public platforms . It is not an inspirational delivery motivated and altered by the response of the crowd. The traditional  public speech platforms are no more in existence  after the tragedy of Rajiv Gandhi , there is buffer of security personnel, but till such time the leader and public are not ‘roohbaru’   ( in front of each other) the communication is not true. Arun jaitley sounded so smart and logical on TV specially during his opposition days , he has been a student leader and his sphere of influence was New Delhi, but he contested Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar  last year  , he lost. Apparently his ‘E’ leadership style failed to deliver. Even  the Marxists are not far behind in the lack mass leaders. Is Prakesh Karat a mass leader? Is Sitaram Yechury a mass leader? Do they have leaders of Jyoti  Basu’s stature ? The diminishing of the party has happened where followership ceded ; people to people contact ended. Kejriwal ,despite  his flaws has shown the power and magic of mass contact; but you have to sweat and bleed . Who is prepared?

  
     As the corporates are growing the nominated leaders/ ‘E’ leaders  are increasing. They can be created on the ‘click’ of a button –TV , Internet ! Mass leaders too have shades. Gandhi and Nehru were  true  mass leaders  but today the leaders are restricted to their region and constituency. Therefore a binding force at National level is missing . Jayalalita is restricted to Tamil Nadu. Sharad Panwar is popular in only certain regions of Maharashtra, Lalu is in parts of Bihar, Mayawati and Mulayam are in UP. The two people who are not identified as belonging to a community are Narendra Modi and Sonia Gandhi, but they have their own limitations.

       Lok Sabha members are expected to be  rooted to ground, since they are elected directly by the people , they are expected to be mass leaders and frequently raise issues of the people. Rajya Sabha, similar to the ‘house of  Lords’ is expected to be the gathering of elders; intellectuals drawn from various walks of life to shape and guide policies . The members are expected to be wise men, neutral and not necessarily supporting all party issues. However over the years there seems to be no difference between the two. The Rajya Sabha members are as vocal and unwise as members of Lok sabha. They stall proceedings frequently. Leaders who are unable to get elected through popular vote try to enter through Rajya sabha route. This has been a major cause of decline of leadership. Mostly arm chair politicians occupy Rajya Sabha. It reached its nadir when Prime minister Manmohan Singh avoided direct vote and preferred to enter parliament through Rajya Sabha.

      Finally; I guess that as we move toward more CEO/corporate type functioning the emotional cord ( dialogue) with the masses will detach and a’ corporate  cord’ , a firmer control and grip to ensure various compliances such as  income  tax will be the order. The ‘aadhar’ era will help the rulers. ‘Direct to bank’ policy would be for better accounting and control, but emotional schemes such as MGNREGA , food security will be shunned . The neat and clean leaders ( only physically!!) would not like to muck in the messy mass contact schemes which are labour intensive even if the studies have shown that these are slow but powerful empowerment programmes , perhaps the largest in the world.

      We can witness these nominated /’E’ leaders in abundance as spokespersons of the various political parties , hardly anyone is a directly  elected member of Parliament , some may be  Rajya Sabha members but they have never been grass root workers  and have spent the dominant part of their life outside politics, but their confidence level is surprising! Since the time TV has taken a powerful role in opinion making their numbers have swelled. Parties appoint large number of these spokespersons and the changes too are frequent. These people are mostly happy and perhaps suitable for such role only and barely any makes it to the public platform for the real test. They are smart  but would sink in the presence of the masses. They can only face TV cameras sitting on cushioned chairs or even sipping coffee/tea at home, make caustic remarks and reveal intricacies of governance. All of them are sound so authoritative but alas; lack responsibility toward the masses!

     The BJP spokespersons are Sambit Patra , is from the field of medicine,  seen often these days, speaks English with an accent and is US returned. Nalin Kohli another prominent face speaks in English and Hindi and talks like a class monitor and has been in the field of education and corporate. Nirmala Sitharaman is Commerce minister and made a name for herself as a prominent and logical rather too serious a spokesperson during the pre  election days , she is a member of  Rajya Sabha.  Shaina  N C is a fashion designer and daughter of Nana Chaudasma who was sheriff of Mumbai. Sudhanshu Trivedi is a PHD in  mechanical engineering and speaks both in Hindi and English. Mukhtar Naqvi is the only person with some grassroot experience but he left that long time and prefers the safety of Rajya Sabha rather than the hustle and risk of direct election!

     The Congress  spokespersons are Sanjay Jha a US returned corporate. C R Kesavan  , the great grandson of Rajaji who too is US returned. Anand Sharma a once student leader but now a prominent Rajya Sabha member. Abhishek Manu Singhvi ,senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha member. Interestingly the congress promulgated list has many children of  the old congressmen starting from Salman Soz , son of Saifuddin Soz,, sons of Vilas Rao Deshmukh Tarun Gagoi, VN Gadgil. Mr Pavan Varma is the spokesperson of JD(U), he was a diplomat and is the member of Rajya Sabha.

  The indications and parallels are not good. The number of poor in India has increased with the advent of liberalization ( creation of ‘E’ leaders). The number of hungry people in India is 194 millions, the highest in the world. China is second in this race at 133 millions; we are way ahead! The increase in suicide by farmers ( unheard in past). The surge to meet Rahul by the masses during his recent padyatras despite his mediocrity  are signs that people are missing their leaders !

WILL 'OROP' BE THE LAST STRAW .....

WILL  ‘OROP’   BE  THE  LAST   STRAW…?

  

Will    OROP( One Rank  One Pension )     be  the last straw in the crumbling  Civil- Military relationship? That is the Question ? For how long  will the Military face humiliation at the hands of the clever bureaucracy and the  inert   politicians?

 Ever since  the Independence the working equation between the military and the bureaucracy has been contentious . Over the years the military has been ceding ground to the civilian bureaucracy and they have been tightening the grip. And there are instances and examples many.

    The first instance was of General Thimayya, the Chief  of Army staff who was a distinguished officer and had Commanded a Brigade in World War II, he was the Chief of the Army staff from 1957 to 1961 . The Defence Minister was Krishna Menon who had tendency to bypass the Chief and give orders directly to the other Army Commanders, he also introduced promotion of senior officers on merit rather than on the principle of seniority.  This led to strain in their relationship and General Thimayya tendered his resignation , however  Pandit Nehru  persuaded  him to take back his resignation to which he agreed and the matter was resolved at that time. However Nehru criticised General Thimayya in the Parliament which undermined his position thereafter and his recommendations were also not implemented. The  debacle of 1962 Indo – China war brought to the front the differing opinions of civil and military and  the Army Chief General Thapar tendered his resignation on health grounds and the Defence minister had to resign on moral grounds and criticism in Parliament. The appointment of General Kaul as the corps commander was also criticised as he had no experience of operations. The written orders “to throw out the Chinese” were given by a ‘joint secretary’ level officer Sarin , who ironically rose in  civil service !

  

     The next major incident which rocked the Nation was the dismissal of the Naval  Chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat by the NDA Government in Dec 1998. The Defence Minister was George Fernandez , there were serious difference of opinion between The chief and Government on the matters of appointment of senior officers,  apparently. Admiral Bhagwat was removed but nothing happened to the Defence Secretary Ajit Kumar who was merely transferred out.The media and the intellectuals supported Admiral Bhagwat who was considered honest to the bone and was apparently resisting  the International Arms Lobby. The decision of the Government led to the withdrawal of support by AIADMK and no confidence motion which led to the fall of the NDA Government. It was so ironic that a disciplined soldier was dismissed by a person who was leader of the infamous ‘Baroda Dynamite Case’ allegedly  involving plans to capture arms and ammunition and carry out blasts during Emergency.

      The ‘Major Dhanpalan Case’ has also made history recently. He challenged in Kerala High Court  in 1996 the decision of the 4^th Pay commission award wherein the rank pay  was introduced  for officers in order to make service more attractive, however the basic pay was fixed after deducting the rank pay thus nullifying  the edge which the armed forces officers had over their civilian counterparts . His historic win led to the protracted litigation between the Armed forces Officers and the MOD  and finally  ended with the  Supreme Court  judgement in favour of the Armed forces which too was delayed owing to the play with words when implementing and required intervention of the  three chiefs and then corrected. In other words the civilian bureaucracy left no opportunity to frustrate the true entitlement of the officers  the case  deserves to be a PHD study in ‘Civil –Military relationship’!

     The resignation of Admiral D K Joshi was also mired in controversy . Why was he allowed to tender his resignation when the entire Defence procurement system was to be blamed for the delay in spares for the aging submarines and replacement of the ageing submarine fleet ? Among the foremost thing which his resignation brought out was the fixation of responsibility between the Armed forces and the MOD. The media questioned the Government for not asking for the resignation of the Defence Minister and saluted the moral courage of the Naval Chief.

  Many anomalies with respect to the 6^th Pay Commission are still lingering and one of them is the NFU ( Non functional  upgradation) . This was implemented in the civil services /police /coast guard   who  are enjoying the financial benefits, it has also upset the  civil- military protocol. When the Armed forces took up the matter they were told ‘cleverly’ that since they were not All India service it did not apply to them. Finally the Supreme Court directed the MOD to implement wef 2011. However the same has been appealed and is awaiting the final disposal

     Another issue which is of serious dimension is the denial of the disability pension to service personnel  who are discharged with certain disability ;despite they winning the case in AFT ( Armed forces tribunal )in number of cases. It has become routine with the MOD to appeal against the decision in High Court and then Supreme Court. This year in Feb in a landmark Judgement in favour of the service personnel combining numerous appeals the Supreme Court stated that any disability acquired whilst in service shall be attributed to service  and the individual compensated accordingly.

     Finally it is the OROP which is at the cross roads. After fighting for it for more than 30 years  on many fronts the Congress Government announced it prior to the May 2014 elections. It was greeted with cheer and expectations. During the election campaign BJP promised implementation of OROP. However it is more than one year now and the implementation is not in sight. It is my assessment that OROP  should have been implemented within three months of BJP assuming power. It seems that ‘craftiness’ of  the bureaucracy as seen in Dhanpalan and NFU cases is at play. I believe that ‘delay is denial’, if a fair share is to be accorded then it be given in time ; delay creates heartburns and reduces its impact. Why such an important decision is pending for execution is a mystery. The leadership at the helm is known for quick decisions. The decision to move ‘nano’ from Bengal to Gujrat , it is understood was taken through a SMS to TATAS! The quickness of direct purchase of 36 Raphael aircraft from France , the clearance of lakhs of crores worth defence projects shows that if the Government wants to decide it can.  Or is it favourably inclined to  a certain sector only? Its reluctance toward MGNREGA and speediness for promulgation of land ordinance show their ideology !Many messages and write-ups are appearing in the media. Ajay Shukla the defence analyst it is learnt, has stated that OROP is now being linked to the 7^th pay commission, therefore there will be more delay. However two editorials are worthy of note and show the character and commitment of each. ‘The Hindu’ in its editorial of 01^st June appeals for early implementation and offers an undiluted opinion on the matter. It is titled ‘A promise to redeem’ and sums up by saying that “ it is high time the government came out with a clear road map and a firm date for its implementation and then adhere to it. This country owes its defence forces as much”. The Times of India comes out to support with a rider to cut the flab and restructure the Armed forces. In its editorial of 01^st June titled ‘Meet this Demand’ and sub title ‘ But One rank one pension must be accompanied by cutting Armed forces flab’. It  apparently supports the  cause but sums up in the last paragraph “ slashing non operational flab, such as doing away with the orderly system for officers and curtailing the practice of deploying soldiers for escort duties is imperative”. It indicates that the lobby to dilute the recommendations is at work  and is influencing the media. Not favourable signs! One also wonders as to why the TOI has raised the issue of cutting the flab now when the proposal has been delayed and is in the  news and not when it was announced a year back!

     It is indeed sad that the Armed forces had to approach the Supreme Court to get Dhanpalan case, NFU and OROP . Most of the cases in the past involved officers and limited personnel however OROP envelopes and concerns all: Veterans, retired and even serving ( soldiers/sailors /airmen ). The issue is not civil-military as may be made out; it is essentially a ‘military-civilian bureaucracy’ issue . In the past whenever the armed forces have been ‘short changed’ there has been support from the people; be it the dismissal of Admiral Bhagwat or resignation of Admiral Joshi .Students, middle class , common man and even media have expressed sympathy and also anger at the unfairness. It shows that the Nation is behind them. The Armed forces belong to the people of India and therefore it is my firm belief that the people, the press, the wise men of letters will ensure justice. As far as the relationship with the bureaucracy is concerned, well! Some relationships are doomed to fail, this is one of them. The only way it can survive is by recasting the protocol/business rules between  the military and civilian bureaucracy. It is one of the terms of reference of the 7^th pay commission.

 Armed forces being part of the executive should interact directly with the legislature and do not need the ‘buffer’ of  the civilian bureaucracy to be kept under control.

THE KILLER HEAT WAVE

THE    KILLER   HEAT  WAVE

 

    In the last few days as the ‘Heat Wave’ has escalated in the entire country and more particularly in the two Telugu speaking states; Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, it has killed 470 people. Visakhapatnam  recorded its highest temperature of last three years at 45 degree at the Airport, Vijaywada was 46 degree and the highest was at Tuni in East Godavri district at 47.2 degrees. The figures have been rising since last one week and we all register these in a routine way like cricket score!  Similar to our response to farmers’ suicide. Most of those killed are labourers; what could they do? Had they sat at home they and their children would have died of starvation.

   The time is not to issue advisory to the poor labourers but of effective action and prevention. The working hours of the people working in open roads and fields should be regulated and reduced, they should be monetarily compensated for few days. We know from past that at this time the heat wave rises and therefore for few days we could lay off the workers with their daily allowance intact. Cannot the State/individuals  suffer a minor  financial loss?  Since those who have died are from the unorganised sector they do not have any ‘collective bargaining’ power as the Industrial workers have. Is not each individual life is accountable? Are we doing ‘Aadhar’ and various ‘Yojnas’ for paper action only?

   

    As citizens too we are insensitive; earlier during our student days in Allahabad ( it recorded the highest temperature in North India at 47.7 degrees on Sunday ) there were watering points ( piau )  on the road side as a charitable venture during the entire summer season , water was kept in large clay containers and served personally.  The Bisleri bottle has killed that culture. Why cannot we bring in a legislation similar to that in England for cold weather condition wherein  it is the duty of the State to protect people from extreme weather?

  
    The citizens come out in large numbers during the state wide call to plant trees and during ‘Swach Bharat’ programme. They should reach out to poor on their own in such times. You do not need extra ordinary arrangements to save people from heat stroke. Bring them to shade, give water.                                                                       

'BOMBAY VELVET '- ANALYZING FAILURE

‘BOMBAY  VELVET’- ANALYSING FAILURE

      I  felt bad; sincerely for the failure of ‘Bombay Velvet’. I like Ranbir Kapoor ,his apparent innocence and his being the grandson of Raj Kapoor whom I adore for his solid body of cinematic work. I want him to succeed , make good movies and further the cause of good popular cinema the way his grandpa did. What then went wrong? What failed Anurag Kashyap’s dreams?

   

   He attempts to make a crime thriller set in the period between post independence and the advent of the seventies. Period crime drama . What was he  influenced  by? The Period or  the story? The titles say that it is based on a book by Gyan Prakash- ‘Mumbai Fables’  which recounts the many stories which make the metropolis of Mumbai and has presented a film based on certain facts and may be some fiction ( fable! ). Post independence advent of the refugees and their exploitation , the prohibition phase and the reclamation of land from the sea and the creation of the Narimen Point and the Cuffe parade . The role of trade unions which were dominated by the left, the rivalry between two Parsis the owner of Blitz ( Glitz in film ) and the owner of ‘Bombay Velvet’ ( restaurant ) for power and closeness to the seat of authority where Rosie ( Anuska Sharma ) sings , she too arrives in Bombay with a battered past determined to make it Big! Arrives Ranbir as Balraj as  child with his single mother and she is forced into prostitution and Balraj learns the tricks in the docks and the lanes to become a fighter with a big heart. He is picked up by a smuggler and then never looks back. An accidental meeting with Kaizad ( Karan Johar) turns his fate . He becomes the face  of ‘Bombay velvet’ falls in love with Rosie and becomes ambitious. The flm then moves to the regular crime drama of deceit, revenge , cops , builders , the press and the Unions, along with the prohibited whisky and the songs of Rosie. The rich exploit Johnie Balraj. But he gets smart , he wants a bigger share in the pie; he wants to be a Builder. But he is mocked and  trapped and so is Rosie . Bombay flowers into skyscrapers and slums and the story of Balraj and Rosie is  there for us to see.

    

      Now Anurag Kashyap excels in excess, that is his forte , he extends the envelope. One can say that he breaks new ground, never traverses on the beaten track and others may say that he tends to shock the audience and after sometime the people get used to him, the novelty is lost. He widens the canvas in this film, but he fails to make an impact as most scenes are indoors and the magic of Bombay is outdoor which is difficult to create of the fifties and sixties. There are of course flowing gowns and sparking chandeliers and the glitz and gloss of the emerging glamour world but it remains static, songs are mediocre and so is the music which should have been a hit. He tries to be different specially in the rendition of Gita Dutt songs  and  falters rather irritates. Audience is used to action and movement in songs and may have felt let down.

  

       The editing is the major weak area in the film. The film moves slowly, it rather zig-zags, the scenes are well conceived and ‘some’ well executed but in its entirety the film falls.  I am told that the editor is of international repute !Well so was one in ‘Kites’! And since the movie is the ‘magnum opus’ of Anurag there are influences , inspirations  of Hollywood Cinema and essentially Mafia/Mobster cinema, aplenty: The arrival of child Balraj (Ranbir)by train to Bombay with his mother as he looks out, instantly remind of the arrival of Don Corleone by ship to New York against the Statue of Liberty in Godfather 2. Again the attack on Balraj in the climax by Tommy guns remind of the attack on Al Pachino in Godfather 2. The opium smoking through pipe by Balraj in a scene takes us to a similar scene in ‘Once upon a time in America’ where Robert de Niro is shown smoking  opium. The very get up and look of Balraj/Ranbir is borrowed from ‘Once upon a time in America ‘ look of Robert de Niro. In the fighting scenes as he boxes the look is similar to that of Robert de Niro in ‘The Raging Bull’.

     Ranbir is earnest and perhaps complex, he returns to the fight ring when facing problem in real life and loves to be bagger red,  kisses Rosie passionately   but never makes love to her  inspite being invited by her in the bath tub! He has worked hard in  his movements and actions which  are convincing ,but the language he uses weakens his character, the typical Bombay dialect ( mawali bhasha ) does not jell with his look and demeanour ; somehow that over the top characterization is lost. The two Parsi rivals played by Karan Johar ( Kaizad Khambata ) and Manish Chowdhary ( Jimmy Mistry ) speak normal Hindi without any Parsi accent ( Khari Boli ) which looks odd, Karan Johar passes as parsi ( Bawa ) but Manish despite his overserious bearing  ( character based on Rusi Karanjia ) is weak. Anushka sharma as Rosie Noronha is good, there is a lingering sadness and fear in her face and eyes which comes out effectively, her looks as singer are good however her language ,her delivery falters. As she speaks she comes out more as Punjabi and less Goan specially in a scene with Balraj when she lovingly tells him that if he leaves her then “Mein kat Dalungi” this dialogue sounds fine these days but in sixties of Bombay by a Goan girl is unconvincing.

    Ranbir and Anurag are talented and will bounce back soon, but the sad debacle of this ‘Great Experiment’ shall haunt them for some time!

Jai Siaram ! (Will the Red Rise ?) )

Jai   SiaRam !

(WILL    THE    ‘RED’    RISE ?)

     Sitaram Yechury  has been elected as the General Secretary of the Communist party of India (Marxist ) on the 19^th April in Visakhapatnam. The general perception among the sympathisers of the Left is that he is a balanced person, a moderate who has ability to break ice with the  various political parties who matter in present times. There was certainly decline in the impact and presence in parliament of the left in the last ten years. In 2004 it had 58 seats together with CPI, Forward bloc and RSP ,perhaps the highest in its history, whereas in the  present it is just 10  with one CPI, MP . Mr Karat seemed too aloof and stiff and never a person of masses. The fact that he was not singularly blamed for the decline indicates that he could carry the members with him and perhaps they were collectively responsible for the depletion of its MP strength. We are aware of the manner in which P C Joshi and Dange were removed from the party for seemingly   toeing a wrong line ( support to Congress). Indeed it is ironic that CPM followed the path of P C Joshi ,whom the combined Communist party removed as  the first Secretary.

   From the beginning of my student days when among the many youth I too was inclined  toward left politics in Allahabad I silently observed that the Left lacked support in the hindi heartland as it did not have any leader of stature there. Leaders like Jharkhande Rai and Sarju Pande were restricted to their constituencies of Gazipur and Banda.  We lamented that since the top newspapers are owned by the Industrialists there was  no support for the Left in the mainstream media .The front line leaders could communicate in English and  regional language but failed to make any impact in Hindi and in fact hardly gave any speech in Hindi. I heard Mr Namboodripad and also Mr Bhupesh Gupte, they were respected because of their stature but they did not impress me or fellow students with their speech. The impact of the left was in pockets which has eroded since. They also never whole heartedly nurtured /trained  youth in North India and UP particularly as leaders and speakers. Perhaps those who mattered were satisfied in their corners and comforts as they were regularly elected to Rajya sabha. Some did  make good impact in the parliament  with their oratory and interventions such as Indrajit Gupt, Hiren Mukherjee and Bhupesh Gupte who has a record of being the longest serving Rajya sabha member but the good work in parliament never translated to expansion and growth.

In my opinion the following are the reasons of the decline of left :

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a)  Lack Of Unity. The two main left parties ;CPI (M) and CPI should have come together when they both were strong. CPI in Kerala and CPI (M) in Bengal , but perhaps CPI (M) was waiting to see CPI completely depleted and in turn got reduced itself! Ironically the CPI (M) followed the same policy which CPI did by aligning with Congress. If the two  parties come together along with their Unions it may make a fighting force but it is unlikely to happen as it is not in their agenda.

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b)   Mass Movement.   The party could not launch any mass movement in order to expand its reach. Their space has been taken by parties such as AAM Aadmi party and  other non political groups such as Narmada Bachao Aandolan, the anti corruption movement of Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev. The Marxist seemed caged in their traditional mould. They should have grabbed issues relating to environment, Land Acquisition, corruption, health, safety of Women, Education, suicide of farmers.

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c)   Mass Leader. The Communist  parties do not believe in individuals , for them ideology and party are superior. Ideally that is correct but practically it does not happen like that , along with the party you need to project leaders who are identified by the masses, leaders who have the ability to communicate. The CPM won successive elections in West Bengal on the charisma and the communicative skills of  Jyoti Basu. The party did revise its policy by sending to Rajya Sabha  Sitaram Yechuri and Brinda Karat  which helped the party but the contact with the people is primary.

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d)   Ideology. Though it is understood that one must move with times, but at the same time the core issues should not be compromised. People identify the Left with certain core values which stem out of the Marxist thought. Parliamentary Democracy does make the Marxist dilute its goals which are related to revolution and class struggle, but the Marxists should not have supported the policy of reservation on caste lines ,they should have proposed and propounded  reservation on economic condition basis. On taking over as the General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri stated that he would be seeking reservation in private sector . As long as the reservation on caste lines remains the caste will remains which will keep the nation divided and the petty politics alive.Another issue on which the position of CPM is not progressive is its support to personal Law and its opposition to Uniform civil code

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e)   Lack Of ‘E’ approach.  Though Mr Yechuri talked of reaching out to the youth and expanding its reach , the party seemed unaware of the impact of Internet , social sites etc, which BJP and AAP used to the fullest with good results.

    On the elevation of Mr sitaram Yechuri as the General Secretary of the party many interesting comments and columns have been printed. Uddhav Thakre has called Yechruri’s  new position as “Captain of a sinking ship”. Mr Javed Naqvi in an article published in Deccan chronicle has titled it ‘ Do we need the

Communists?’ stating that the space left by the communists has been taken over by other resistance movements.  Dipankar Gupta in an article in TOI titled ‘Sitaram Yechuri Reloaded’ states in his opening lines “ To be more Marxist, or more communist? That is the question for Sitaram Yechuri” . He writes further something quite interesting “ Communists have always revelled in being persecuted loners, unloved maybe but always pure. Yechuri’s stance on all this is refreshingly different ;even Congress is no anathema  if the cause is right”.

   Well! How much of the ‘purity’ Sitaram is ready to shed in order to expand his base is to be seen in coming days.