Binu Alex
Whenever I listen to Pankaj Udhas, I appreciate him for his permutations and combinations of words that he uses to admire alcohol. Whatever tunes that he uses, whatever occasion he may be in, he has nothing but alcohol. He uses liquor statements even to express love. For me he is the biggest ambassador of liquor companies in Devnagari language.
But I don’t know him personally and so I am not sure whether he pours this admiration into a glass, adore it with some soda and then consumes it at the same frequency that he sings songs for it.
This is the same formula that works for Gujarat. This is a state full of contradictions. As soon as you complete your words about the post earthquake resilience of the people here, you have a Godhra and post Godhra. No sooner you finish speaking how people have bounced back from this violence; you have Narmada oustees left in the lurch because they are the most vulnerable and most unwanted tribal people of the state. As you finish speaking about how the state has still emerged as number one destination in industrial investment, you have Vadodara violence. And as you admire the way the city has normalized, there are some fanatics who have banned Aamir Khan.
I am the biggest causality of these contradictions because each time I start praising the place, it falls right on my face.
The best part of all these drama is that common people are just not concerned. “There must have been some reason if riots have taken place in Vadodara,” my neighbour, a Patel running a chemist shop told me the other day. He repeated this to Aamir Khan ban as well. But what surprised him was a resolution passed by Chemists Association to boycott all products endorsed by Aamir Khan.
To my memory, he hasn’t endorsed any product that has a remote relation to chemists and druggists. Two of the advertisements that I see Aamir Khan in a television commercial are for Coke and Innova. Innova is not sold through a chemists shop and these same chemists haven’t stopped selling Coke.
So what are these bans all about? Anyone can interpret this as a political sycophancy. It was the same sycophancy to impress the Chief Minister that many associations sang the same song during the Narmada issue. How does this benefit these associations? Immense, according to one of the political analysts. People hang on as association presidents and secretaries mainly for political ambition. Political ambition also means monetary benefits. People may believe they are devoted Hindus. As Ganesh Devy pointed out in one of his commentaries in Tehelka Magazine, the “Gujarati devotion is all about acquiring. They have an exchange relationship with God - I give you devotion, you give me riches.”
It is the Pankaj Udhas story again. You give me a tune, I give you the same devotion again and again.
I had a few Muslim friends when I was in School. I tried to contact them after the riots. Though they did pick up the phone, they did not care to give back a call though I had given my full address to them in case of any need. I called them again this year. Two of them have gone to Middle East and a few who are left here were apprehensive. Though they asked me about my well being, I could overhear the murmur “leave us alone”.
So that is the reason you a long list of NGOs fighting for Muslims who have nothing to do with Islam. Because what happened was a human rights violation, human rights activists are there in the scenario. Because a huge rehabilitation is necessary, you have a long list of NGOs even in that line. And not to forget a number of agents for funding agencies who dole out funds to nondescript NGOs for what they term as developmental work. But I don’t see any Muslims in the scenario. This also indicates how politically isolated the Muslims are in Gujarat.
I really pity the people who issues diktats to ban those people who speak against the state. In a democracy, it is the right of a citizen to express what he feels right or wrong, even if it against the policies of a state. But because you are pro-Narmada, you are against anyone who speaks for the project affected people. Are we a banana republic? Yes, to a certain extent we are. You need not be an expert to know that all these are political actions and have only political answers. You cannot expect a solution from civil society to these problems. My only question is how long will this primitiveness continue? Till that time let the sharab ka nasha continue.
ba
Whenever I listen to Pankaj Udhas, I appreciate him for his permutations and combinations of words that he uses to admire alcohol. Whatever tunes that he uses, whatever occasion he may be in, he has nothing but alcohol. He uses liquor statements even to express love. For me he is the biggest ambassador of liquor companies in Devnagari language.
But I don’t know him personally and so I am not sure whether he pours this admiration into a glass, adore it with some soda and then consumes it at the same frequency that he sings songs for it.
This is the same formula that works for Gujarat. This is a state full of contradictions. As soon as you complete your words about the post earthquake resilience of the people here, you have a Godhra and post Godhra. No sooner you finish speaking how people have bounced back from this violence; you have Narmada oustees left in the lurch because they are the most vulnerable and most unwanted tribal people of the state. As you finish speaking about how the state has still emerged as number one destination in industrial investment, you have Vadodara violence. And as you admire the way the city has normalized, there are some fanatics who have banned Aamir Khan.
I am the biggest causality of these contradictions because each time I start praising the place, it falls right on my face.
The best part of all these drama is that common people are just not concerned. “There must have been some reason if riots have taken place in Vadodara,” my neighbour, a Patel running a chemist shop told me the other day. He repeated this to Aamir Khan ban as well. But what surprised him was a resolution passed by Chemists Association to boycott all products endorsed by Aamir Khan.
To my memory, he hasn’t endorsed any product that has a remote relation to chemists and druggists. Two of the advertisements that I see Aamir Khan in a television commercial are for Coke and Innova. Innova is not sold through a chemists shop and these same chemists haven’t stopped selling Coke.
So what are these bans all about? Anyone can interpret this as a political sycophancy. It was the same sycophancy to impress the Chief Minister that many associations sang the same song during the Narmada issue. How does this benefit these associations? Immense, according to one of the political analysts. People hang on as association presidents and secretaries mainly for political ambition. Political ambition also means monetary benefits. People may believe they are devoted Hindus. As Ganesh Devy pointed out in one of his commentaries in Tehelka Magazine, the “Gujarati devotion is all about acquiring. They have an exchange relationship with God - I give you devotion, you give me riches.”
It is the Pankaj Udhas story again. You give me a tune, I give you the same devotion again and again.
I had a few Muslim friends when I was in School. I tried to contact them after the riots. Though they did pick up the phone, they did not care to give back a call though I had given my full address to them in case of any need. I called them again this year. Two of them have gone to Middle East and a few who are left here were apprehensive. Though they asked me about my well being, I could overhear the murmur “leave us alone”.
So that is the reason you a long list of NGOs fighting for Muslims who have nothing to do with Islam. Because what happened was a human rights violation, human rights activists are there in the scenario. Because a huge rehabilitation is necessary, you have a long list of NGOs even in that line. And not to forget a number of agents for funding agencies who dole out funds to nondescript NGOs for what they term as developmental work. But I don’t see any Muslims in the scenario. This also indicates how politically isolated the Muslims are in Gujarat.
I really pity the people who issues diktats to ban those people who speak against the state. In a democracy, it is the right of a citizen to express what he feels right or wrong, even if it against the policies of a state. But because you are pro-Narmada, you are against anyone who speaks for the project affected people. Are we a banana republic? Yes, to a certain extent we are. You need not be an expert to know that all these are political actions and have only political answers. You cannot expect a solution from civil society to these problems. My only question is how long will this primitiveness continue? Till that time let the sharab ka nasha continue.
ba
