Sami, sedition and Arundhati Roy
What if we could visually be aware of all the neuronic activity in our brain cells every time a thought crossed our mind? It would probably look like how the TV screen would appear when the cable supply suddenly pops off and it gets inundated with those infinitesmally small particles colliding incessantly with each other. I’m sure if I could see the bombardment going on in my brain just now, I’d be exhausted in a minute. Thoughts don’t tire out. We do. So then the “I” that I am is different from the thoughts that I think. So what does , “ I think, therefore I am”, actually mean? I still have to figure that one out. I get exhausted every time I tryJ Well, now, a lot of people are doing the rounds in my nerve circuits . For no obvious reason, the bent old man whom we called “Sami” from my childhood days is strolling arm in arm with Arundhati Roy. May be I’ll get to know why if I pin them down to my keyboard. I have no remembrance of why he was called by that name. Most likely, he must have been a Palghat Brahmin who had found his way to Marakkarkandy, which is where we have our house in Kannur. My father smoked beedis and chewed paan almost continuously. But he never would keep a stock at home. So as children, whenever we were not at school, we ran endless errands to Sami’s shop to get them for him. If the day started early enough and Sami hadn’t yet opened shop (which meant that the planks in front of his hut had not been removed) , we would scamper to the back of his dwelling.Sometimes he would still be praying in front of a framed photograph of Lord Murugan or he would be having his morning tea session along with his cat, who was his only companion. He would pour tea into a half coconut shell for his cat and break pieces of a “murukku” and put them into it, all the while sipping at his own tea from the aluminium tumbler. He was thin and slightly bent and wore glasses and his head was always shaved .Most of the time he only wore a dhoti and looked much like Gandhi, although much more slightly built. As children, our cognizance of how old he actually was, must have been a matter of pure impression. The fact may be that he was actually in his forties. Who knows now? Sami would not be hurried , so we had to wait till he had finished his morning ritual. I didn’t mind really. I think I was fascinated which is perhaps why memories of that scene has made such a quantum leap to reach my consciousness now . That street corner where he lived and earned his living was the most interesting place I have ever known. The evenings in particular, would come alive. There was a toddy shop and an arrack shop near by and a drunken brawl erupted almost on a daily basis. We’d hang over the compound wall and watch as they hurled the choicest abuses at each other and lunged and beat and kicked each other. Ocassionally a knife would come out. At that point , I think the crowd intervened. The “kathikuthu” (knife-stabbing) days were highlights of the nukkad drama that unfolded anew everyday. The next day after one of those incidents , the two who had been deadly intent on finishing off the other, would be seen walking past on the street, chatting together as if the previous evening had never happened. Sami was remarkably placid and nothing of the goings on around him ruffled him . Now that I think back, I can’t recall whether I ever heard him talk. .But much of my childhood joys revolved round Sami’s shop. Apart from beedis and paan, he kept sweets and groundnut chikkis and marinated mango pieces and avla(gooseberries) in glass jars. Also jaggery sweets wrapped up in small pieces of cellophane which we called “oyalichamuttai”. In local parlance that means something that bothers you out of your wits. “Stick –jaws” , I think similar sweetmeats are called. He also used to have a chart hung up on the wall with very small coloured squares of paper stuck on them. You got to pluck out one of them for five paise and then if you were lucky you would get some small plastic knick-knack. If you were really, really lucky , you would get a shining new one rupee coin! How our hearts pumped when that was won. And then Sami got himself a wife. At this point I would have to tell you about the row of houses where the prostitutes lived. (This is getting to be like Amitabh’s dialogue in Sholay when he goes to chachi on Dharmendra’s behalf, with a proposal for Hema’s hand in marriage, isn’t it?) “Eacha Lane” , it was called. Eacha, in Malayalam translates to “Housefly”. Don’t ask me why it was so named, but yes, surely, there was quite a buzz around that place. Sami married one of the females of Eacha Lane, so Sathyan, her son, got a brand new father. I don’t quite know whether they got along; he was already an adolescent then and had started earning for himself by rolling beedis. Work over , Satyan would sit on the verandah of the local library just next to the shop and read the newspaper loudly to himself. As far as I know Satyan had never gone to school. I don’t remember now how Sami’s tale ended for I got married and came away. In the corner where Sami’s hut stood , Achyutan Vaidyar’s ayurveda shop came up. He too has been there for many years now and temperament-wise, Vaidyar is as placid as Sami used to be. I have wondered often why the memories of my childhood days creates such a strong yearning in me for having the ability to travel back in time. Most of all, I think , it is because it evokes the sense of freedom and tolerance to every shade of human existence that characterized society of those times. May be it is the total lack of it now in the beautiful valley of Kashmir that made Arundhati Roy speak with such anguish. I can quite relate to her outrage because the Kashmiri society has been rent asunder in this terrible tug of war between the terrorists and the state. I can relate to that because Kerala is walking down the same road and intolerance fuelled by political machinations is becoming the order of the day. The cry for “Azadi” is an agonizing call for the freedom to be as they once were. I think she understands that. I think the rest of us charging her with sedition really don’t understand what freedom is, may be because our thinking has always been in chains.
Fab stuff… loved the way u connected the Sami story.
And about Ms Roy, well it’s a double edged sword really. The question is more profound than the usual rants.
Is ‘Nationalism’ is a dead, archaic 19th Century Concept? How much dissent is too much? Is ‘patriotism’ a virtue beyond question? If we claim to be democracy, why are we so intolerant to any dissenting voice? What is India’s fascination with censorships, bans and stuff? How much freedom of expression is too much? Why does the Saffron brigade hate her? If a US can have a Chomsky why can’t India have an Arundhati?
Peace:-)
Sorry if I made you angry. I was expecting a direct answer on Article 370, which I felt I didn’t get by learning your concept of borders, that is why I asked it again. I got it in your yes now, and I am happy with it. No comments on our lines of thinking - I will care not judge a person like that. So no issues. Regards,
Yes Ido Rahul. As I keep repeating I do not believe in borders. We clearly don’t have the same line of thinking. So why don’t we just respect each other’s viewpoint and just leave it at that. I have a right to express what I feel. You have a right to counter it or agree with it.But then, I also have the right not to want to respond to every comment of yours if I feel like it. So truce, please.
Aristotle said, “We make war that we may live in peace.”
All those “ordinary folks” exist and live because someone is there to shed blood for them on the borders. Peace has a high price to keep - and how often we “forget” it! As I wrote in a recent post, “Peace is an enemy of memory.”
Btw Nadiraji, you have not answered my direct question: do you support removal of Article 370 from our constitution which created border within border? In case that is out of question if one supports Kashmir’s so called “azadi”, do you think Article 370 was a bad idea and Indians from other parts should have been allowed to live and settle there all through the years; and it would have helped make a better Kashmir?
I can never forget Arundhati Roy’s ‘The God Of Small Things’. Why has she got embroiled in all these Narmada Bachao
I had quote Einstein once on my FB page . He had said”A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labours of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in
the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. I am strongly drawn to the simple life and am often oppressed by the feeling that I am engrossing an unnecessary amount of the labour of my fellow-men”. How true that is. So, as I said , it is not because I lack gratitude. But who can deny that the ordinary folks going about their lives without ever wanting to take sides get the worst of the deal when the Govts. are not able to sort out things and even complicate it. I am not a statesman, so I wouldn’t know the answers , but it looks like they have no answers too as this has been going on for so long. I am no lotus eater KB. I have sincerely worked for the Govt. for 25 long years. I’m still serving in my own way. But if I long for a world without war, and where the money spent on defence and other military operations can be spent more fruitfully to get rid of hunger and raise the quality for living for everyone, then that is my personal wishful thinking. If that makes you uncomfortable, I’m sorry..there is nothing I can do about it.
@KB. You hardly ever comment on my blogs, so I gather this time you really must be bugged:-) KB, you should know that it is with no dis-respect to the soldiers who allow us to sleep in peace that this blog was written. We are indebted to so many people in our lives, the farmer who sows and tends to his fields so that we get the food that we eat, the workers who builds our homes and roads and bridges toiling in the sum and in the rain, the skilled craftsmen in the factories and workshops standing near the furnaces and building buses and coaches and nuts and bolts so that machines and vehicles make our life easier …. ..the list is so long.
Nadiraji,
With due respect, and even to that kaum thing, I would like to say that want to burn my former uniform, why I served in the Army for thirty years, to hear what lotus eaters have to say! It is whenever this bloody Azadi thing comes up we compromise on being Indians first!
The hell with it!
KB,
Ok. So will you support removal of article 370 from constitution for Kashmir which has created border-within-border? And I wonder would Arundhati have dared to take on leaders like Raj Thackeray who have created so much fragmentation within India? As second part of my post I asked others to read about why “Martyr’s Day” is celebrated in Kashmir since 1931. That will give one a background of Kashmiri Muslims’ pattern of protests and will tell that Kashmiri Muslims’ problems didn’t start after 1947, as you mentioned in your comment.
Rahul your comment is still fragmented. Anyway, since you ask about borders..I am a person who does not like any kind of borders, interstate or otherwise. Even if some demarcation is required for purposes of legal jurisdiction etc. people should be allowed to move about as they want.I don’t know if that may be practically possible in today’s world.But since human beings are so clever , that should be something that can be figured out if we really wanted it. I have very few borders in my mind Rahul.Borders are unnatural.
I don’t know how my comment got partially deleted. So I am point it again and would also like to know your opinion on inter-state borders.
I fully agree with Nadira ji on this - we should not erect “borders” anymore and anywhere. So I propose that all of we Indians, and not only BJP and RSS, should support for removal of Article-370 from our constitution which gives J
Elizabeth Morgan
I agree wholeheartedly with your view that fundamental loyalty should be with all of mankind.So much intolerance has gone on for thousands of years.
I cannot see a ‘peaceful’ world , for there will always be the greedy and corrupt ,rich an…d poor , hungry and sick and mostly ’self presevation’ will dominate.
I loved your writing about incidents during your childhood. What lovely pictures I could conjour up!Growing older ,one seems to live on memories ! Mine ,probably ‘embroided’ somewhat over the years.! Thankfully I have had a very full and ,hope ,useful life ,but whether I have made a difference? well all I can say is, ‘I have done my best’.
I fully agree with Nadira ji on this - we should not erect “borders” anymore and anywhere. So I propose that all of we Indians, and not only BJP and RSS, should support for removal of Article 370 from our constitution which gives J
It is not that I don’t understand that we do need demarcations amongst populations for the purposes of being able to administer properly. But it should be just that ..a matter of good governance . Don’t let us kid ourselves that good governance is what we are getting. It is bad governance with a lot of vested interests that has always led to problems , here and anywhere in the world.
Borders of countries, nations, states ..all keep changing.So do loyalties. Before 1947..there were different kingdoms here too. The Berlin wall came down, the U.S.S.R broke up. So what is so sancrosanct about patriotism really? People born in one country reside and make their living in some other country. Where does our sense of patriotism go then? Why don’t we continue to live here and accept it with all its flaws? Why isn’t an NRI who comes back and criticises about all the irregularities here not take up for sedition when there is clear disaffection on their side? I sit here in front of my computer ery night and play scrabble on the net with Elizabeth from Scotland. We chat about how our day went, she tells me about her daughters’ visits and about her grandchildren and I tell her about myself. It’s like we’ve known each other for years. It doesn’t matter to me that she belongs to another country. I know I am rambling quite a bit..but I honestly think we have enchained ourselves with a lot of barriers , both mental and physical.
I have never been to Kashmir and I’m so hoping that it will not remain a regret. But all my friends who have been there(hindu friends, just to underline the fact that it is not a prejudiced view) speak so highly of the genuine warmth that comes to Kashmiris naturally. Historically too it was the sufi brand of islam that the people there followed which is so much in tune with vedic religion. So what went wrong? Remember Kashmir was the region that was called paradise on earth and it can’t have been just the scenic beauty that was being spoken of. That was the Kashmir where the pandits and the muslims lived together harmoniously . Think of the people there who have since the formation of our nation states, Pakistan on on side and India on the other , been caught between the two who have been treating that beautiful land and its people as a battleground to prove their respective strengths. Think of the ordinary families there , who have lived in fear , both of being labelled as traitors and hunted by the trouble-makers from across the border as well as being arrested or killed for suspected allegiance to separatist groups.We, who live far away , may not quite understand what it would be like to be never able to walk a hundred metres without barricades or to be in mourning day after day after day when one or the other youth keeps disappearing.We may never REALLY know what it is like to be caught in the crossfire. If we did , may be we would also reach a point when years of our boiling helplessness makes us scream out..please leave us alone.
Thank you folks for all your comments. I personally feel that our most fundamental loyalty should be to humanity in general and allegiance to religions, nations or cultural and language groups should only be secondary. Why do we forget that that the latter are only conditioned loyalties based on mere coincidence of our birth? Think about it… to a child none of these adult loyalties matter. His/her responses are at the most humane level accepting and being joyful when surrounded by love, insecure and afraid when denied of it. Why do we lose the sense of that universal “sameness” as we grow up? Why do we become so possessive about the particular group we belong to? I have my attachments, plenty of them and I am only thinking out aloud here.
This is a beautiful writeup, Eka ji (’I’ am definitely different from my thoughts), except for the Aurndhati and Kashmir part. Historically, culturally and legally, Kashmir is an integral part of India. If there is any problem in Kashmir, it is due to mass exodus of the pundits who were the torch bearer of the Kashmiri culture. They should be brought back and should invariably be included in any talks on the issue. If Arundhati thinks that writing just one book on small things (I don’t understand why she stopped writing fiction after the first book Booker) and columns in newspaper on social subjects, make her expert on every issue, that is unacceptable - baat hajam nahin hui.
What a lovely write-up. What is with the name Sami that conjures up such a great canvas of life as RKN did and so have you. What was incongruous to the wonderful narration was the use of the name AR.
Most of us at this age are nostalgic and want to travel back I guess. Me too:) And yes “….the sense of freedom and tolerance to every shade of human existence that characterized society of those times” True!
Nadira ji,
Every individual (particularly celebrities)have to be very careful about public pronouncements. It is not necessary to pander to sentiments of separatists to prove ones secular credentials. Arundhati’s pronouncements provide fuel to the arsenals of both sets of religious extremists, hence I would consider them ill timed and ill advised.
Ben
P.S. I am having a spirited debate on a similar issue in the Kafila blog you posted on FB. Take a look.
Very cice read, about the human aspect…
For Pakistan-funded demands for so called “Freedom” in Kashmir; I won’t accept, even if you say so, that Arundhati knows better way of “respiration” than us, because our lungs have always been in confinement. If Indians won’t understand “azadi”, after being under foreign slavery for 1000 years, I don’t know who will. Arundhati has become an expert to understand problems in Kashmir, overnight and is passing verdicts. I don’t know who would support her? Look, Arundhati is famously wise and globally popular – if I too support her, may be some of her’s would brush off on me too? I am glad rest of India is not with her.
For Kashmir, much of the protest is “sponsored” and stones thrown are “funded” by money coming from Pakistan – and hence the problem has many dimensions.
Someone said why Kashmir should not get “azadi” when Pakistan got it in 1947? If we allowed Pakistan to get created, it doesn’t mean we would allow every Muslim dominated locality to become a separate nation. Today, India is not slave to Britain or anyone else, and hence can protect its soil from anti-nationals.
I feel sad that the Kashmiri separatist Muslims have hijacked and abused the word and spirits of “Azadi” so much.
India should first force a peace there by sending all separistis to jail, take back special status of the state and allow migration in and out of the state, and thereby inculcate the spirit of “national integration”. The special status for the state, no matter what was the historical reason behind it, has reached us to the point where our great nation which finds no parallel in history for being peaceloving, is being accused like a murderous and curbing autocracy.