Banaras wisdom: 'Birth Is a Matter of Fate but Death is a Matter of Time'

 

Chopped wood is stacked up in several neat piles waiting to feed the pyres at Manikarnika Ghat, the cremation ground on the banks of the Ganga in Banaras where the pyres burn day and night. It is a unique cremation ground where the customary Hindu rule of cremating bodies only between sunrise and sunset does not apply. The special blessings of Lord Shiva himself, the lord of the city ensures the liberation of the soul. 

Burning Pyres at Manikarnika

 

As I lean on the railings of the terrace of a temple at the Ghat in the afternoon watching the flames and smoke rise from at least half-a-dozen pyres below, I am joined by a Buddhist monk in the characteristic maroon gown. “Everyone should pay a visit to this place to keep the ego in its right place,” he opines. He is accompanied by an elderly white lady – maybe European or American – who too, perhaps has come to Banaras in a search for the meaning of life – or is it death?

Bereaved waiting for cremation

As I trudge up the narrow alley from the cremation ground to the main road, the hustle and bustle around continues. Several funeral processions wind their way down to the ghat chanting ‘Ram naam satya hai’ (taking the name of Ram is the only truth). The Ganga meanwhile flows serenely down towards the sea carrying the ashes of the dead.

Words of Wisdom

Not that the belief is universal. I find a sceptic in a tourist guide and an old-time inhabitant of Banaras. How is it possible, he asks that ‘moksha’ is assured just by being cremated at Banaras regardless of merit.

Ganga Cruise

 

BENARAS CRUISE

Cruising along the Ganga at Banaras is at once a spiritual journey and one that offers the beautiful shimmering reflections of a medley of multi-coloured lights that play in the rippling waters. The Uttar Pradesh Tourism launch M.V. Sam Manekshaw glides softly upstream 

Manikarnika cremation ghat of eternal pyres

Ganga Arati

Sunset at Malaviya Bridge

starting from NAMO Ghat, among the latest to the added to the famed 84 Ghats, sites on the left bank the Ganga for the holy dip and other religious rituals. The cruise covers all the ghats from Ravidas Ghat to Raj Ghat and can be booked online at – https://alaknandacruise.com/Home/Booking_new

The eternal journey of life (and death) can be viewed from the launch. Vibrating life is evident in the Ganga Aratis in which the river is worshipped as the source of life for one of the world’s still living oldest civilizations. Priests blow conch shells, chant sacred mantras and sing hymns accompanied by bells and swinging huge brass torches. Thousands gather on the steps surrounding the Ghat or sit in boats anchored on the river front to watch the proceedings with reverence.

But barely a hundred yards downstream comes the reminder that life is not all song and dance and the human journey is a mortal one. This is the Manikarnika Ghat where cremations are carried out day and night. In fact, legend has it that the pyres have burned there continuously for centuries without a break. Hindus believe that though the body is cremated to return it to the elements, the soul attains ‘moksha’ or freedom from all earthly ties if the cremation in carried out in the Kashi of Vishwanath who helps them along with the ‘Tarak Mantra.’

 

 

 In Defence for Nature: The many hurdles of forest dwellers in Uttarakhand - Indian Ruminations

This is a story of the result of arrogance of so-called civilization and the know-alls who refuse to acknowledge that the have-nots may have something from which they can learn.

SNAKE IN THE GRASS

SNAKE IN THE GRASS

                            (illustration by Chaitali)

Snakes perhaps are among the most vilified animals in the world. Spiders are crawly while lizards are creepy though, except for a few species, none of them inspire terror like snakes. So much so that they have even snaked (pun intended) their way into human language in the form of such negative idioms like ‘snake in the grass’ or ‘forked tongue’. Recently a Bengali Bollywood and Tollywood star set off a furore when he threatened to strike his opponents like a cobra.

Among the few writers who have treated these reptiles with sympathy and understanding is P.G. Wodehouse who has not only included a benign snake named Peter among characters included in his 1921 novel ‘Indiscretions of Archie’ but has endowed him (indeed PG identifies its gender too) with emotions that are almost human. Though I may personally hesitate to go such lengths, from experience I would not hesitate for a second in endorsing his implied message that at bottom every snake is a good- hearted gentleman, despite the fact that its heart has only three chambers.  

To relate how I arrived at this conclusion I will have to go back half-a-century in time to Dehra Dun, the place where I grew up and attended school. My father, a government doctor, had been allotted a residence that was not only rather big but also had extensive gardens on two sides. Just next to the compound of the house was a fair-sized orchard of lichee, mango and jackfruit trees where incidentally I picked up most of my sporting skills. Many people would sound a caution to me against moving about so freely in that orchard, some even going to the extent of telling me to beware of a dangerous ‘monster’ that lived there.

Being young and optimistic, I naturally viewed these warnings sceptically imagining that they cynically wanted to prevent me from enjoying myself. But after many years of running around in that orchard I had an encounter with the ‘monster’ in person. The warnings had not been without foundation. Let me assure you that it was not a terrifying experience though it was definitely a startling one – both for me and the ‘monster’. The encounter revealed to me an unknown but very attractive side of the much-suspected wilds which inspire in most of us that feeling known as ‘unnamed fear’, usually associated with disembodied spirits.

The ’monster’ in question was a rather large and black king cobra. My mother had passed away and I was attending university in Delhi. As a result, there was no one to frequent the garden around our house – for the sun in the winters and the gentle breeze in the evenings. Taking advantage of the absence of the “human nuisance” the cobra would come to the concrete walk next to the veranda to sun himself (or herself, it’s difficult to tell). But it made off as soon as it heard my steps on the veranda. In a jiffy it had crossed the 20 feet or so of the garden and disappeared into the undergrowth of the orchard. A second time I only some days later I only heard the rasping noise as the snake hurried off, this time in another direction along the concrete walk.

For me it was a revelation. Hitherto I had regarded snakes as unpleasant and at times frightening animals. The hiss of an angry snake can be quite ferocious and unnerving. But the one that I encountered had been living in close proximity to us and we had never come to know. We went about our business and it went about its business. Though we made no special efforts to keep out of its way, the king cobra certainly went out of the way to keep out of the way!! Since then, my conviction has grown that animals are by and large harmless and it us humans who are guilty of spreading the greatest harm by wantonly killing all kinds of animals and insects without any provocation. Besides, our existence is vitally depended on the birds, animals, plants and trees around us. Without them we as a species are doomed.
 

HAS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CHECKMATED HUMANITY?

 

DIGITAL INTRUSION?

Last June I posted an entry titled ‘Google As Pied Piper’. That chronicled an experience with Google maps that I found to be not only alarmingly but intrusive to the point of being definitely dangerous. The good news that time was that we were able to reach home unmolested. But it could have been anything depending upon how the so-called algorithms behind Google Maps functioned. However, much has come into public focus since then and it turns out that large sections of people all over the world are coming alive to the real danger posed by social media to the fabric of society. It has been recognised that it poses a clear threat to democratic processes and that it has played no small role in muzzling the voices of millions of people across the world. Most recently it has been Facebook and Chinese apps that have been facing flak. Mark Zuckerberg was summoned by American congressmen after the Cambridge Analytica uproar over sharing of personal information. But other bigwigs of the digital world like Amazon, Facebook and Google were also summoned by the Intelligence Committee of the American Senate on the apprehensions of foreign interference in US elections. Curiously, neither Alphabet CEO Larry Page or Google chief executive Sundar Pichai appeared for the hearing, raising suspicions about what they may have had to hide.     

The Watergate Scandal it may be recalled involved the bugging of the US Democratic Party headquarters by President Nixon and his Republican boys. So huge was the Watergate Scandal that it resulted in the unceremonious exit of President Richard Nixon. The book and the film ‘All the President’s Men’. (Those interested in knowing more about it could see an interview of Richard Nixon by Robert Fox, ironically available on the site of another social media giant – YouTube). Earth shaking events by any standards, considering that in those days the United States was one of only two super powers in the world. In terms of economic might, it was the only super power. The ripple effects of a drastic regime change there was sure to be felt all over the world.   

But the world has changed vastly since those days both in terms of US power and the value of privacy. Soviet Union, the other Super Power, disintegrated in 1991 apparently leaving the US as the unchallenged power. In terms of technology the internet has seemingly trapped the entire world in its so-called world-wide net but instead of a spider there are several giant corporations that have become the biggest private media companies ever known to man. The older seven or eight giants have paled into insignificance compared to new companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon all of which gather enormous amounts of information from individual human beings who also happen to be their customers. Getting bugged or spied upon is no big deal any longer, partly of course because of the fact that few people are actually aware that they are under close surveillance. People just walk around nonchalantly with such scandals literally in their pockets. I am of course, referring to the ubiquitous mobile smart phone loaded with applications or apps and “wonderful” high definition cameras on both surfaces of the phone which are actually two-way cameras. You use it like an ordinary camera while images are passed on to the various software operators on the phone.

And to top it all, the bugging is even considered to be prestigious if your grossly overpriced device carries the sign of a moth-eaten apple on it!! Reminds one of the economics propounded by that Wizkid who helped Obelix market his practically useless menhirs in Asterix comics. The tragi-comedy of it all is that most people who use smart phones are not even aware that the wonderful multi-megapixel cameras with which they click those cute selfies are also used to spy on their every activity and gather all manner of information. Do you want an example? Well, my phone informs me every evening ‘ten minutes to home’ just about half-an-hour before the end of work time. No such messages now as I work from home. Un-nerving, for it rubs it in that my movements are not only being tracked but also recorded.

Its laughable to think that not so many years back one of the indicators of development was the number of phones per thousand of population – the higher, the more developed. India, of course was way down in the list and dismissed variously as underdeveloped, least developed or developing, according to taste. After a great deal of ‘progress’ Indians own an estimated five to six hundred million phones, roughly one for every 2.5 persons (the .5 possibly referring to children)? Now it seems virtually impossible to get rid of that instrument somewhat in the manner of Mary’s little lamb. People responded to Arogya Setu app with great suspicion and only about a hundred million downloaded it, and a large number had it forced down upon them. The Orwellian ‘big brother’ seems to have become a reality.

A rather startling declaration in this connection was made in recent television documentary ‘Social Dilemma’ by Tristan Harris, a former Google employee. According to him, eventually technology is destined to overtake human intelligence and strengths and replace them. But that is in the future. The tipping point it seems has already occurred. Technology, he asserts “already exceeds and overwhelms human weaknesses – and is at the root of polarisation, radicalisation, outragi-fication and vanityfication…. this is checkmate humanity.” In simple terms, what Harris is saying is that machines have already crossed a threshold that will enable them eventually to take over (or overtake) man. Are Harris’s fears well founded or was he overstating it? Was it just a digital social media marketing ploy? “Don’t even try…you don’t stand a chance,” most of the characters seem to be saying in the documentary. Remember, he is a former Google employee and part of the team that created the behemoth. So it is surprising that about the only thing that he found objectionable in the whole Google project was that there was no one thinking of making it less addictive. So why should, to draw a parallel, a cigarette manufacturer think up ways to make cigarettes less addictive? Or cocaine cartels seriously working to reduce dependence on hard drugs? D..n it, their business model works on the human weakness of addiction.

As I watched the documentary, I definitely got the impression that most of those who were interviewed were convinced that technology and social media were unique events in human history in which machines would simply push human beings to the second spot. But it also had a participant who pointed out, sensibly in my view, that humans had successfully negotiated new technology in the past and would do so in future too. But Harris sounded like he was roughly the first person, an insider at that, who had noticed this very grave danger though no one in the entire documentary offers any way out of the apparently inevitable social dilemma. In fact, I did not see any evidence of analysis of the problem, always the first step towards dealing with it. But perhaps Harris and his colleagues would be happy to know that the problem had been recognized and analysed long back by not an American but by an eastern philosopher - Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). The answer too lay in the analysis. Alas, only if it had been heeded.

Delivering a lecture 88 years back, ‘Asia’s Response to the Call of the New Age’, Tagore accurately diagnosed the problem of Western Civilization. He said that Europe had made science the vehicle of its greed “hurting the very spirit of science which is disinterested and high above all clamour of profit-hunting. When excess of passion in any form becomes the principal motive power in man’s nature then he is wire-pulled by it like a mechanical doll and is powerless to check its blind movements even when urged by reason. Such uncontrollable spasms of greed or of anger, or jealousy or of suspicion are truly materialistic, however intelligent may be their method and means.” It was not the use of machinery itself that was responsible for this “degradation”, Tagore said, and identified the cause in the “spiritual lacunae, in emergence of primitive barbarism in some civilized form. When a free lunatic hurts himself, then it is not the external freedom which is the cause of his hurt but lunacy itself, and if he is a skilful one his danger is all the more fatal.”

The plot in the Silicon Valley contains all the ingredients mentioned by Tagore and like a mechanical doll it seems powerless to check its blind movements even when urged by the reason of the likes of Tristan Harris!!

The Case of Mystery "Sources" in Modern Journalism

 Reading newspapers is often a trying affair these days. This is because some reporters, particularly those based in the capital, resort to the indiscriminate use of anonymous sources, particularly in political stories which are rarely challenged. And mind you, these stories can hardly be described as falling in the category of ‘great public interest.’

The only explanation that I can think of is that there is a wide-spread belief among reporters that resorting to this “little trick” lends mystery to their stories making people wonder who those unnamed sources could be. These reporters are convinced that stories attributed to “sources” not only reveal their close proximity to the founts of information but also lend them authenticity. Remember Watergate and the anonymous ‘deep throat’ that eventually led to the ousting of an American president. The reporters (Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein) of the Washington Post achieved celebrity status and are the most commonly quoted examples when the conversation veers around to investigative reporting. Perhaps our home-grown humble reporters too dream of becoming heroes who eventually write books and hopefully have films made after them.

But the ‘poor fools’ don’t realise that far from raising credibility, the gimmick of using anonymous sources gets exactly opposite results. I remember one colleague who had earned the nickname of “planter” due to his penchant for using “highly placed sources”. I suspect these sources could be any of the following: the fevered imagination of the reporter himself. Or misplaced and mischievous people who want to achieve private ends from the safety of anonymity- essentially using the shoulders of the reporter and the news organisation to fire their guns!! There is, of course one more possibility which I think is highly unlikely: that the source was sitting on the top storey of the Empire State Building or the Eiffel Tower!!

 Many years back, when I was less aware of the ways of the world, I started a small newspaper. The flame of idealism burnt bright in me and inspired me into a path that I later discovered was full of pitfalls, not the least of which was financial. However, to get to the nub of the matter, one interesting incident occurred during the short life of that neighbourhood newspaper. One of my neighbours who was perhaps feeling neglected submitted to me a piece attacking his rivals accusing them, in sum of grave irregularities. I published it, but with his by-line. As soon as the paper was out, the very upset author paid me a visit demanding why I had given it under his name instead of using the term sources. In other words, he was grumbling about me not offering my shoulder for his dirty work. No doubt he had received a mouthful from those he had attacked.

Moral of the story: Reporters, senior or junior, must put the interest of the paying subscriber uppermost which means ensuring the authenticity of the information and not play “politics” with it. The use of anonymous sources raises suspicion that the reporter is not objective but in cahoots with one of the parties – a thing that should be strictly avoided by the media no matter what the lollipop or threat.

COVID19 DAY 49-95 (26.6.2020)

COMPASSION IS THE CALL OF CORONA

Much water has flowed over more than the past one month. The worldwide toll taken by this “stubborn” virus is closing in on the half million mark while the numbers infected has gone past the nine million mark. Of course, optimists point out that more than half have recovered. After just under two-and-half months of lockdown the government opted to relax it rather than to risk an economic catastrophe in addition to the pandemic. But the dilly dallying continues as India has climbed to the fourth place in the total number of cases reported and is second only to the United States in the number of serious and critical cases. This number though for some reason has remained stationary at 8944 for well over the past week. There are regular changes in the number of new cases, deaths and recoveries but the number of serious and critical cases remain constant.

The question arises as to whether statistics are important at all or are they merely numbers that bear little relation to the reality. One is reminded of the stratagem adopted by the dispensation under Napoleon the pig in George Orwell’s satire on the Soviet Union ‘Animal Farm’. Just to give an outward show of well-being, grain bins were filled mostly with pebbles and then topped up with corn to make it appear as if there was no food shortage. I wish authorities take statistics more seriously particularly in the time of a pandemic when numbers are of paramount importance. That is perhaps the reason why many high-ranking government officials have come down with Covid19 since neither statistics nor contact tracing has been taken seriously enough. Experts have said again and again that the only way to bring the pandemic under control is to follow the virus. And if information about people who are getting infected is swept under the carpet, the virus gets the upper hand no matter how good it looks for us now.

However, looking at the past weeks and months what has struck me most is the lack of compassion in people at all levels. The attitudes of many leaders is utterly insensitive and shows complete disregard for human life. The American president, for example, has no qualms about saying that he would consider it a success if 80,000 people should die. It does not strike him that it is a failure even if one death takes place. (The toll is now over 126,000, seemingly leaving the president’s dreams in tatters!! What an exhibition of inhumanity). The Brazilian president describes this deadly infection as just a little cold. Is he out of his mind? At one million, Brazil now has the second highest number of positive cases in the world just behind the US. More than 53,000 Brazilians have already lost their lives to this “little cold”. True, for most it is just a little cold but for some it is fatal. Many leaders in their eagerness to appear realistic and practical have floated the idea people acquiring herd immunity. Maybe they are trying to cover their poor response stemming from the lack of a sense of urgency. Do they even know what this might mean in terms of loss of lives, pain, loneliness and loss of jobs and livelihoods and economies and livelihoods destroyed? Urgent action to save lives does not even figure in their agenda. Clinging on to power seems to be their single-minded pursuit. Rest is just “collateral damage.” For they seem to be sure, mistakenly though, that the virus will leave them alone.  

Over the ages India has been showing the beacon of compassion to the world beginning with Buddha. Compassion stems from the belief here that everything is a part of the Brahma whether it is man, animals, plants or inanimate objects. I recently learnt of a story of compassion about Sri Sarada Devi, known among her disciples as the Holy Mother, the wife of mystic sage Ramkrishna Paramahansa Dev – the man who was called Master by Swami Vivekananda and worshipped by many disciples. Sarada Devi, who outlived her husband by 34 years, belonged to Jayrambati in Bankura district of Bengal and lived there after the death of Sri Ramkrishna – an extraordinary being whose greatness was underlined by his simplicity and humility. Humility and simplicity also marked the life of Sri Sarada Devi who was a very kind hearted person who tried to help people in need without asking their caste and creed – the very essence of compassion. The incidents that I am going to relate are about Sri Sarada Devi bring out these very characteristics in her and should act as a guide and precept for all, whether they are powerful or powerless, wealthy or poor, particularly at a time when we are in the presence of a virus, sometimes deadly, that is totally non-discriminating. She was no revolutionary but she was supremely compassionate.

Shiromanipur was a village neighbouring Jayrambati. Its population was predominantly Muslim who traditionally were silk cultivators. Though India had been a major producer of silk for centuries, it had fallen on bad times due to stiff competition from China and Japan. This also affected sericulture (called ‘toont’ in Bengali) in villages like Shiromanipur which impoverished the cultivators. As a result, many of them had turned into thieves and highwaymen known as dacoits. But surprisingly many of inhabitants of Shiromanipur including those who indulged in thievery and dacoity held Sri Sarada Devi in high esteem and devotion since she appreciated their predicament and did not adopt a holier than though attitude. She not only treated them with great affection and love but also made sure that whenever they came to her house, they did not return to their village on empty stomachs. In addition, she plied them with many gifts of food and other stuff. Knowing the hard times that the Shiromanipur Muslims had fallen upon, she insisted on employing them to build her new house in 1914-15, dismissing fears expressed by many villagers including her own relatives.

Amjad was one such silk farmer turned dacoit who would visit Sri Sarada Devi often at times carrying vegetables for her grown in his patch of land. ‘Toonte dakat’ was his notorious nickname. One day he brought a hand of bananas as an offering for the temple that Sri Sarada Devi happily accepted, overruling the objection of a woman devotee asked why should the offering of a bad man be accepted. But despite knowing of his devotion, Sri Sarada Devi never tried to reform Amjad into a pious man as usually happens in many stories. He continued with his ‘badman’ ways though it must be said in his defence that he never molested Jayrambati, perhaps out of regard for the Holy Mother. She refused to condemn him to the nether worlds just because he was a dacoit. Once when he showed up after a long interval, Amjad explained that he could not come for some days as he had been rounded up for cattle rustling. Sri Sarada Devi accepted this in a matter of fact way, only replying that she was wondering why he hadn’t turned up for such a long time and now she understood why. When she was told some years later in Calcutta (now Kolkata) that he had been arrested by the police for dacoity, her only reaction was: “Oh, and I thought that at least he knew all about dacoity.” She even looked after his wife Motijan Bibi and his mother Fatema Bibi when Amjad was in lockup. Incidentally, Amjad succumbed to a sword wound he suffered during a dacoity raid sometime after the death of the Holy Mother. It takes a liberated soul like her to accept human beings for their intrinsic worth rather than sermonising to them.

No wonder other Muslim inhabitants of Shiromanipur held her in high esteem and some even considered her to be a Pir or Dervish as was recalled many years later by Roshan Ali Khan, who too was a resident of Shiromanipur, in an interview in 1993 to Prof. Taritkumar Bandopadhyay. (Shree Shree Mayer Padaprante, Udbodhan Karyalaya, Kolkata,2001, p. 657-661). remembered the kind and compassionate ways of Sri Sarada Devi when he met her a number of times in the company of his uncles Mafeti Sheikh and Hamedi Sheikh. Roshan Ali also related a mystic vision of the Holy Mother that Mafeti Chacha experienced. Mafeti Sheikh had gone to Sri Sarada Devi’s house to gift to her some vegetables grown in his garden. She was in prayer and so he decided to wait. As he waited in a corner of the veranda of her hut and watched her at the prayers, it seemed to him as if the Holy Mother was levitating a few feet above the prayer mat. As soon as he called out to others to see the miracle, the vision was no longer there. “She was no ordinary mortal – she must have been a pir or a dervish.”

True Sri Sarada Devi was no ordinary mortal. In addition to being compassionate she was courageous and never hesitated to act in accordance with her conviction. If what is recounted here looks like it showed her compassion only towards Muslims only, that is by no means true. She was compassionate no matter what the faith. When Swami Vivekananda fired a Hindu cook for pilfering stuff from the kitchen, the Holy Mother saw to it that the man got the job back as she knew that he was a poor man with many mouths to feed and no other means of making a living.