tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94156522024-03-08T02:09:48.183-08:00Dipanjan's Random MusesDipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-29641061650424633742013-05-26T22:19:00.000-07:002013-05-26T22:56:59.527-07:00Uttarpara Jaikrishna Library<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H8o3sXHB6cA/UaLsx9z5QDI/AAAAAAAAAYo/XADnDInHDzM/s1600/jaikrishna.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H8o3sXHB6cA/UaLsx9z5QDI/AAAAAAAAAYo/XADnDInHDzM/s320/jaikrishna.jpg" /></a>The mysterious rooms on the first floor had been locked forever. Rumors were if you tried really hard, you could still hear Michael Madhusudan reciting MeghnadBadh Kabya on his deathbed. I tried, but only heard footsteps a couple of times.
<br><br>
The ground floor of Asia's first public library and its 1.5 million books were still accessible to "public" although subject to Swapan-da's level of non-cooperation -- ranging from "parbo na" to "ek ghonta pore eso" -- and whether the backup librarian's flirtatious advances towards the temporary clerk received a relatively benign response.
<br><br>But those were minor hurdles.
<br><br>The shelves that needed no librarian would last at least 10.5 lives. Enough food for even a fasting 12-year old hopelessly addicted to extremely fast reading.
<br><br>Major problem was the walk. If the school ends at 3:20, the library closes at 7:00, and if it takes 20 minutes to walk from school to library, and then another 45 minutes from library to home, how many words can you read? Clearly not enough.
<br><br>Fortunately, to solve this precise problem, intelligent Brahmins and Germans came up with two crucial inventions - poite and bicycle.
<br><br>More importantly,these two inventions work together really well when a generous baRomasi gifts a 13-year old boy a brand new bicycle despite vigourous protests from the boy's parents.
<br><br>Quality of life can jump exponentially and in unexpected directions when all of a sudden 20 minutes become 5 and 45 minutes 10. You might end up exhausting all chhoToder bangla books available on accessible shelves much sooner than you had anticipated, and while searching for a Sansad Engligh-to-Bengali dictionary with your left hand, your right hand might nervously extend towards the ingreji shelves.
<br><br>In 1851, East India company refused to help JaiKrishna Mukherjee, but could not stop him and his community. Enterprising individuals and communities somehow manage to beat states -- mercantile, communist or both.
<br /></div>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-78854345317451160882009-04-12T09:25:00.000-07:002010-04-06T14:27:24.876-07:00Gandhi, Bose, GOI Act (1935)<font color=rgb(37,21,70)><br />My dear Subhas Babu, </font><br /><i>[This was very formal which was unusual for Gandhi-Bose communication]</i><br /><font color=rgb(37,21,70)>"I must dictate this letter as I am willfully blind. Whilst I am dictating this, Maulana Sahib, Nalini Babu, and Ghanashyamdas are listening. We had an exhaustive discussion over the Bengal ministry. I am more than ever convinced that we should not aim at ousting the Ministry. We shall gain nothing by a reshuffle; and probably, we shall lose much by including Congressmen in the Ministry. I feel, therefore, that the best way of securing comparative purity of administration and a continuation of a settled programme and policy would be to aim at having all the reforms we desire, carried out by the present Ministry. Nalini Babu should come out, as he says he would, on a real issue being raised and the decision being taken by the Ministry against the interests of the country. His retirement from the Ministry would then be dignified and wholly justified. I understand that so far as the amendment of Municipal Law is concerned, separate electorate for the Scheduled Class is given up. There is still insistence on separate electorate for Mussalmans. I don't know whether opposition should be taken to the breaking point. If the Mussalman opinion is solid in favour of separation, I think it would be wisdom to satisfy them. I would not like them to carry the point in the teeth of the Congress opposition. It would then be a point against the Congress."<br /><br />-- Mahatma Gandhi (21 December, 1938)<br /><br /><u>Background</u>: </font> Under the provincial constitution imposed on Bengal by Government of India act 1935, Bengali Hindus were permanently debarred from exercising any political power in their province. <br /><br />250 seats in Bengal Legislative Assembly were apportioned as follows -<br /><br />1) 117 for Muslims of Bengal elected by only Muslim electorate.<br />2) 48 for any resident of Bengal elected by general franchise.<br />3) 30 for persons belonging to Hindu "Scheduled" castes - certain castes regarded as "depressed", elected by general franchise.<br />4) 19 seats for representatives of industries, commerce, elected by their electorate.<br />5) 11 seats for Europeans, persons of British origin temporarily residing in Bengal, elected by their electorate.<br />6) 8 for labor, chosen by a labor electorate<br />7) 5 for landowners, chosen by their special electorate<br />8) 3 for Anglo-Indians, chosen by their special electorate<br />9) 2 for Indian Christians, chosen by their special electorate<br />10) 2 for Universities<br />11) 2 for women<br />12) 2 for Muslim women<br />13) 1 for Anglo-Indian women<br /><br />As a result of this act, Bengali Hindus were eligible to compete in 117 (250 - 117 - 11 - 2 - 2 - 1) seats at most, to be elected by general franchise. Even among these 117 seats, 30 were reserved for scheduled castes, quite arbitrarily picked. On the other hand, Bengali Muslims could contest 203 seats (117 + 48 + 19 + 8 + 5 + 2 + 2 + 2), 117 of which were to be elected by a Muslim electorate. Based on 1931 census numbers, Muslim population in Bengal was anywhere between 52-54%, which clearly did not justify the numerical distribution of 203-117, even if one were to accept the underlying premise of communal and casteist electorate. British community of Bengal was given 4% of seats in Assembly when their population was not above 0.0004%. In reality, the position of the Hindus was even worse than what this unfair statute implies. They did not win 117 seats they were eligible for. Besides, some of the winners, from both "high" as well as "scheduled" castes joined with Muslims against the general Hindu group, including Nalini Ranjan Sarkar, finance minister in Huq-League ministry formed in 1937, whose resignation, or lack thereof, was the subject of Gandhi's letter to Bose.<br /><br />In the elections of 1937 based on the provisions of GOI act of 1935, Congress still emerged as the largest party in the legislative assembly, followed by Muslim League and Krishak-Praja-Party. Bengali Muslim votes were almost evenly split between all-India Muslim League, which in Bengal was the party of upper-class Muslims, and Fazlul Huq's Krishak-Praja-Party (KPP), which was the party of peasants and tenants. Because of the electoral system described above, a coalition system was inevitable. Huq first approached the Congress, but all-India Congress was unwilling to co-operate with any other party in provinces where they did not have absolute majority. That forced Huq to join forces with League to form a coalition ministry, and eventually the focus of KPP-Muslim League coalition shifted from socio-economic reforms to communal issues.<br /><br />Congress refusal to make a special case for Bengal was a mistake. Because of the numerical distribution, it was impossible for Congress to win absolute majority in Bengal any time in near future. Huq's strong power base among Muslim peasants would have been the ideal platform for Congress to stay in touch with Bengali Muslim masses, which, as an opposition party, they failed to do over the next few years. In Assam, Congress did decide to share power in a coalition provincial government. [to be continued ...]<br /><br /><font color=rgb(37,21,70)><u>Source</u>: Thy Hand, Great Anarch! by Nirad C Chaudhury -- Chapter - Politics in Bengal (1937-38)</font>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-24252138203248425052009-03-14T02:20:00.000-07:002009-03-14T09:55:06.443-07:00Cramer vs Cramer<embed src='http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:221516' width='448' height='361' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' wmode='window' allowFullscreen='true' flashvars='autoPlay=false' allowscriptaccess='always' allownetworking='all' bgcolor='#000000'></embed>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-86393444810462098382009-02-18T15:24:00.000-08:002009-02-28T17:23:19.021-08:00Kill Dil: Vol. 1<span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms"><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/iVXsNe_hCMs' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/iVXsNe_hCMs'/></embed></object></p></div></span>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-84192612305517710532008-04-04T23:22:00.001-07:002009-02-28T17:23:57.247-08:00Darjeeling Unlimited<a href="http://madwell.com/flash/hotel.htm"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/R_djdUyS3pI/AAAAAAAAAGg/HqiAKUCgZ4g/s320/chevalier.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5185722851387432594" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms">Peter Sarstedt was born in New Delhi, to Albert and Coral Sarstedt, both in the civil service, in what was still a British possession in 1942. The following year, his parents moved the family to Kurseong near Darjeeling. Did Anderson know this bit of trivia before deciding to give Sarstedt's 1969 UK chart topper "Where do you go to (My Lovely)" a rebirth in The Darjeeling Limited's graceful prequel <a href="http://madwell.com/flash/hotel.htm">Hotel Chevalier</a>? <br /><br />Unlikely, but not impossible.<br /><br />Could Anderson predict that his <a href="http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2007/07/wes-anderson-and-satyajit-ray.html">eclectic use of Ray's musical scores</a> and widely publicized references to The Darjeeling Limited as a <a href="http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article&contentid=20071007200710070222296253bc1bb2§id=54#">tribute to Ray</a> -- and to Renoir who during the shooting of The River in India met Ray and encouraged him to make films -- would inevitably attract critical comparisons contrasting Anderson's clinically detached deadpan irony with Ray's empathetic humanism? <br /><br />Very likely. <br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/QqLH2Sjatn0' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/QqLH2Sjatn0'/></embed></object></p></div><a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/09/28/movies/28darj.html">A. O. Scott (NYT)</a>:<blockquote><em>But humanism lies either beyond his grasp or outside the range of his interests. His stated debt to “The River,” Jean Renoir’s film about Indian village life, and his use of music from the films of Satyajit Ray represent both an earnest tribute to those filmmakers and an admission of his own limitations. They were great directors because they extended the capacity of the art form to comprehend the world that exists. He is an intriguing and amusing director because he tirelessly elaborates on a world of his own making.</em></blockquote><a href="http://www.erratamag.com/archives/2007/09/the_darjeeling.html">Robert Davis (Errata):</a><blockquote><em>Anderson bluntly ties the ceremony to the father's funeral using a jarring flashback that feels like a scene from Reservoir Dogs, a film that's probably closer kin to The Darjeeling Limited, with its color-coded characters, eclectic music, and slo-mo strides, than the films of Satyajit Ray or Jean Renoir that Anderson cites as inspiration.</em> </blockquote>Predictable, and a little unfortunate. Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but it is definitely not the most artistic expression of inspiration. And how uneasy lied the head that wears the (somewhat reductionist) <em>humanist</em> crown? <br /><br />At least a little.<br /><br />An <a href="http://www.girishshambu.com/blog/2008/03/on-auteurism.html">auteurist</a> look at Ray <a href="http://satyajitray.ucsc.edu/filmography.html">filmography</a> might not quickly reveal the fact that eight out of his first eleven films were faithful adaptations of works by three great turn-of-the-century <em>humanist</em> Bengali writers -- Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Tarashankar Bandopadhyay (1898-1971) and Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay (1894-1950) -- who were a generation or three older than Ray. Apu trilogy, <em>Jalsaghar</em>, <em>Teen Kanya </em>and <em>Charulata</em> created Ray's legacy, and even today, especially in west, he is primarily remembered for a set of films that spoke of a world Ray had very little first hand experience of. <em><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=OvnqBZhTlxg&feature=related">Kanchanjangha</a></em>, a real-time narrative set in Darjeeling and Ray's first film based on his own script, was greeted with a coldness typical of Darjeeling winters. Pensive detached Monisha, eccentric bird-watcher Jagadish, narcissistic Indranath, Ashok of humble background but of not-so-humble demeanor, and the upper-middle class milieu of elite Bengalis vacationing in a hill station and speaking Bangla with a liberal sprinkling of English, were not easily reducible to universal archetypes. Ray also drew significant flak at home for his portrayal of Apu in segments of Aparajito and Apur Sansar which were perceived to be cold and detached, a departure from the original.<br /><br />Darjeeling, the backdrop of <em>Feludar goyendagiri</em>, a short mystery, also witnessed the debut of Ray's legendary detective Feluda. With the help of Feluda's dry wit, sarcasm and cynicism, eccentric Professor Shanku's exploits, brilliant translations of Lear and Carroll on the pages of <em>Sandesh</em> inspired by Sukumar Ray's genes and his absurdist universe, idiosyncrasies of numerous single middle-aged outsider male protagonists, distinctly unique but similarly quirky, in dozens of short stories including the one on which <em>Agantuk</em>, Ray's last film, is based, Ray created a reflexive creative world of his own, cherishing and defying the boundaries of genres with equal glee, a world at least as far removed from Tagore's and Bibhutibhushan's as from Anderson's. <br /><br />More troubling is the subtle insinuation of racism in Jonah Weiner's Slate attack piece - <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2174828"><em>Unbearable Whitenes</em></a>: <br /><blockquote><em>Rita isn't a character so much as a familiar type: the mysterious, exotic, dark-skinned beauty. Jack hardly exchanges a word with her, but, reeling from a bad breakup, he begins pestering her to leave her Sikh boyfriend, convinced for no good reason that she can turn his life around</em>.</blockquote> That paragraph perfectly describes Hari's attitude and feelings towards Duli, tribal "Miss India" in <em>Aranyer Dinratri</em>. Assuming Weiner would not find <em>Aranyer Dinratri</em> and Ray equally obnoxious, isn't he expressing a double standard which simultaneously forces white man's historic burden to become a contemporary white man's guilt as well as a brown man's privilege?<br /><br />Going back to Davis who correctly notes a void at the core of the film:<br /><br /><blockquote><em>Anderson is too ironically deadpan to embrace any sudden transformations in his characters, so they don't seem remarkably changed by [an event by a river], which effectively reduces it to a plot point with an emotional patina, rendered impotent by a filmmaker who seems to think that he can compensate for the emptiness at his film's core just by pulling away from sentimentality. He's trying to fill one void with another</em>.</blockquote>The river event might be impotent which is partially the point, but the void is powerfully resonant of what is absent.</span>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-18163685489943352432008-04-01T14:25:00.000-07:002009-02-18T18:44:16.458-08:00Write-offs<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/rCZRqH7sRyA' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/rCZRqH7sRyA'/></embed></object></p></div><br /><span style="font-size:100%;font-family: trebuchet ms"><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22180574/">UBS</a>. <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21116195/">Deutsche</a>.<br /><br />In another press release,<br /><br />Treasury Department to Backstop Markets<br /><br />APRIL 1,2008 (NEWS SERVICE) Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced today that the Working Group on Financial Markets has determined that Treasury will step in whenever the S&P Index drops below 1320.<br /><br />“We can’t have Wall Street bankers shoulder all the responsibility for keeping their bonuses intact,” he said. “The great American system is in a position to guarantee profits and the federal government will absorb all losses incurred by the top one per cent of the population by income,” he concluded.<br /></span>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-77713750368915039992008-03-18T09:55:00.000-07:002008-03-18T10:00:31.879-07:00Moral Hazard<span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms"><blockquote>"Thank you for calling Buy-a-Bank," said an e-mail from a long-time reader. <br /><br />"Please listen carefully as our menu items have changed. <br /><br />For Mandarin, press 1. <br /><br />For Arabic, press 2. <br /><br />For takeover of Bear Stearns, press 3. <br /><br />For Lehman Brothers, press 4. <br /><br />For any monoline insurer, press 5. <br /><br />To purchase residual assets of defunct hedge funds, please stay on the line and an operator will assist you."</blockquote> [<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_baum&sid=aorthtIRVJ8k">link</a>] </span>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-83245473331686971242008-02-07T11:56:00.001-08:002008-02-09T08:55:18.302-08:00Obama, minorities, macaca<span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms">In 25 California counties, Obama did better than his state number (42.3%), and in 33 counties, he did worse. According to 2006 census data, California's racial demographics are as follows:<br /><br />WB (white, non hispanic + black) = 49.8% <br />AH (asian + hispanic) = 48.3%. <br /><br />In ALL 25 counties where Obama did better than his state average, AH population is less than 48.3% of county population. There is not a single exception.<br /><br />(Descending order of Obama's vote%)(Click on chart for full-size version)<br /><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/R61wAuKfUYI/AAAAAAAAAEI/jHq0RN5gx6M/s1600-h/obama_better.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/R61wAuKfUYI/AAAAAAAAAEI/jHq0RN5gx6M/s400/obama_better.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5164907505358164354" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Top three in terms of AH proportion are San Francisco (Obama=52.1, AH=46.2), Alameda (Obama=50.7, AH=45.8) and San Mateo (Obama=43.5, AH=46.6). Out of those three, SF and Alameda stand out. Obama's number in San Mateo is not that different from state average, and he did lose that county even though he did better than state average. Interestingly, SF's Asian-Hispanic breakdown is 32-14, but it is more even in Alameda (24-21) and San Mateo (23-23). Bottom ten of the 33 counties where Obama did worse than his state average are all AH-heavy -- to be more precise, H-heavy -- except Tehama. Alpine county, the only CA county with significant (20.8%) American Indian or Alaskan native population, seems to have liked Obama, though.<br /><br />(Descending order of Obama's vote%)(Click on chart for full-size version)<br /><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/R61yn-KfUaI/AAAAAAAAAEY/vUf4vGybJos/s1600-h/obama_worse.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/R61yn-KfUaI/AAAAAAAAAEY/vUf4vGybJos/s400/obama_worse.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5164910378691285410" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On the other side, dejected talk radio luminaries were heard ruminating on <a href="http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/003683.html">Macacagate</a> and what could have happened if only George Allen -- the great uniter of security hawks, evangelists and fiscal conservatives -- was allowed to run. Words and phrases such as "set-up", "ridiculous accusation" and "taken down early" dominated the discussions. </span>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-61250546277592667532008-01-13T00:23:00.000-08:002008-01-13T12:19:12.715-08:00India - Always in my head<span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms">After returning from Los Angeles Olympics 1984, shooter Soma Dutta wrote a series of articles about her experiences. One article was titled <em>"India-ta kothay"?</em> (Where is India?) Apparently, inside the Village, she was asked that question quite a few times by American journalists and volunteers, much to her chagrin and astonishment. How could someone not know about the seventh largest and the second most populous country in the world unless, of course, they learned their list of countries from the Olympic <a href="http://www.mapsofworld.com/olympic-trivia/olympic-games-results/losangeles1984.html">medal tally</a>? <br /><br />I have never faced that particular question as a follow-up to the deceptively complex "where are you from?", but even as late as in mid-late 90s, and especially in Pacific Northwest, I had to distinguish India from West Indies and Indians from native Americans several times since older Americans, in particular, sometimes followed up with "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Indies">East Indies</a>, not West, right?" or "so you are an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Indies#History">East Indian</a>?" I used to find those references anachronistic and a little amusing. Having been living in bay area for the last seven years and recently been chastised a few times by a follow-up of "of course, which part?", now I usually reply "Calcutta" to meet a blank stare sometimes, and at other times, having to end up explaining that it is neither in north India nor in south. Bay area is atypical, but I do travel quite a bit all over the country and it seems some progress is being made. India is in.<br /><br />During last weekend's ABC/Facebook presidential debate hosted by Charlie Gibson, India showed up several times which was a little unusual. US political debates are not particularly known for their focus on countries not named Mexico or OPEC. Not that any of the serious -- with all due respect to Ron Paul's incredible Internet blitz campaign, his chances of winning the republican nomination is not much higher than that of any random atheist transgendered lesbian black woman -- candidates is an isolationist, but there is widespread consensus and very little to argue about the relationships between US and other major countries. We should, therefore, probably take notice when India becomes an exception, not once but four times. After all, one of these debaters will become No. 44 in less than a year, and what contexts bring India to the foreground of his -- or her -- thought processes are perhaps significant.<br /><br /><object width="440" height="275"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/D616BDCAA4AEB717"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/D616BDCAA4AEB717" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="440" height="275"></embed></object><br /><br />During the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4091645">republican debate</a>, Ron Paul's first reference to India was in the context of increasing health care costs forcing Americans to travel to India to get heart surgeries done. Even after the travel and hotel expenses, the costs are lower in some cases. Paul is not supporting more government intervention in health care. He is speaking against government money printing and deficit spending that he thinks are responsible for triggering inflation in health care costs which would have been lower otherwise. India, in this context, is an alternative provider of high-quality critical health care services at a much lower cost.<br /><br />Second reference to India in that debate did involve oil. Gibson's contention was India along with China and other emerging economies were going to compete with US for oil and consequently, increasing global demand and consumption of oil would push gas prices higher, probably much higher. No republican candidate disagreed with his premise. Supply-side concerns about oil have been commonplace, but increasingly apparent fear about competitive global demand for oil challenging US consumer spending, and open expression of that fear in public forums are fairly recent. <br /><br /><object width="440" height="275"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/595E110812BBF6A8"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/595E110812BBF6A8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="440" height="275"></embed></object><br /><br />During the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Story?id=4092530&page=1">democratic debate</a>, it was Senator Clinton who brought up India for the first time when asked about how she was going to handle re-energized and re-constituted Al Qaida leadership in Western Pakistan and more specifically, the possibilities of them acquiring nuclear weapons. While discussing the importance of precluding any reactions against India by taking Pakistani government into confidence before launching intelligence-based actions against Al Qaida, Clinton used a particularly astute phrase "inherent paranoia about India in the region of Pakistan". Unfortunately, there was no follow-up discussion on whether stoking or quelling that paranoia was more in line with US national interest. In answering the same question, Richardson clearly stated that $11B assistance given to Musharraf to fight terrorism was used to fight against India and was basically stolen.<br /><br />The last reference to India was also made by Richardson who followed up on his oft-repeated and <a href="http://www.factcheck.org/richardson_flunks_two_subjects.html">disputed</a> claim that US was 29th in the world in maths and sciences by saying that India and China are more competitive as they graduate many more times engineers than US does. Even if we disregard per-capita statistics and the quality of graduates, the number seems <a href="http://www.issues.org/23.3/wadhwa.html">inflated</a>, although his main point about the need to increase investments in research to stay competitive in a global economy holds.<br /><br />To summarize, India is consuming a lot of oil, providing relatively inexpensive critical health care services to US citizens, suffering from USA's misguided Pakistan policy and might face a catastrophe in future if Al Qaida leadership in Pakistan is not dealt with intelligently, and is going to be a competitive threat by graduating more engineers than US. Thankfully, not much anti-outsourcing rhetoric and <a href="http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/004510.html">smear campaign tactics</a>. </span>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-18167593729592260392008-01-06T01:30:00.001-08:002008-01-13T01:03:42.823-08:00Atrocious Umpiring<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/Ti9AFeF7zlY' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/Ti9AFeF7zlY'/></embed></object></p></div>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-52641535607280567282007-11-09T01:41:00.001-08:002007-11-09T01:50:29.619-08:00Helicopter Blinks: Part 2<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/yAwvlDJgJbM' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/yAwvlDJgJbM'/></embed></object></p></div><br />Helicopter looked distinctly nervous. Soaring gold and oil tickers were very appropriate. Apparently traders in the Pit at the CBOT in Chicago were cheering Ron Paul when he spoke.<br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/WvirM1goFq4' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/WvirM1goFq4 '/></embed></object></p></div>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-14954658851119862122007-11-03T23:17:00.000-07:002007-11-05T21:21:59.423-08:00ভারতচরিতমানস : সুবর্ণরেখা -- সঞ্জয় মুখোপাধ্যায়<a href="http://www.pallab.com/downloads/avro/setup_avrokeyboard_4.5.1.exe">Please click here to install Avro for Bangla fonts</a><br /><br /><strong>ঊৎস-- অন্যান্য ও ঋত্বিকতন্ত্র : সঞ্জয় মুখোপাধ্যায় (প্রকাশনাঃ চলচ্ছবি, কলকাতা, ২১ মে, ২০০৫)</strong> <br /><br />'সুবর্ণরেখা' ছবিটির দিকে তাকালে একথা বুঝতে আজ আর সংকটের সম্মুখীন হতে হয় না; আজ স্পষ্টই বোঝা যায় ঋত্বিক ঘটকের পক্ষে এই ছবি ইতিহাসের সঙ্গে তাঁর নিজস্ব চুক্তিপত্র | সুবর্ণরেখা দেখার পর আমার কেবলই মনে পড়ে <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Watch_(painting)">রেমব্রান্টের 'রাতের পাহারা' (১৭৪২)</a> | ওই ছবির তিমিরঘন প্রত্যাশা, মুখাবয়বের সচকিত অভিব্যক্তি ছাড়িয়ে যা আরো বড়ো প্রশ্ন নির্মাণ করে তা পটে একটি বালিকার উপস্থিতি | পটস্থ এই বালিকা তবে কে? সে যে ইতিহাস এ কথা বোঝার জন্য পৃথিবীকে বেশ কিছুদিন ধৈর্য ধরতে হয়েছে । ঋত্বিক 'সুবর্ণরেখা'য় অনুরূপ পরীক্ষাই সম্পন্ন করেন । বেশ্যালয়ে যে কন্ঠস্বর দেববাণীর মতো ভেসে আসে সেই <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi#Assassination">'হে রাম' </a>এক অলৌকিক, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diegesis">একসট্রাডায়জেটিক কথন</a>, প্রায় ডেলফিক ওর্যাকলপ্রতিম যা সময়ের স্বাক্ষর । বস্তুত, ঋত্বিক ঘটক 'সুবর্ণরেখা'য় আর একবার ভারত আবিষ্কারের ঝুঁকি নিয়েছেন । স্টেশনে অভিরাম যখন মরণোন্মুখ বাগদী বঊটির মুখে মা'র পরিচয়প্ত্র খুঁজে পায় তখন আমরা বুঝতে পারি অন্যদিক থেকে, অপরদিক থেকে ঋত্বিক প্রণয়ন করছেন অন্ত্যজের রামায়ণ । <br /><br /><object width='425' height='366'><param name='movie' value='http://www.youtube.com/cp/vjVQa1PpcFNrpk_d9hkwD4Ee8-FBafO9A_JToNlXGZE='></param><param name='wmode' value='transparent'></params><embed src='http://www.youtube.com/cp/vjVQa1PpcFNrpk_d9hkwD4Ee8-FBafO9A_JToNlXGZE=' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' wmode='transparent' width='425' height='366'></embed></object><br /><br />একে আধুনিক দলিত রাজনীতির সংযোজনী বলা যাবে না; বরং চূড়ান্ত বিস্ময়ে উপলব্ধি করি যে ঋত্বিক জাতীয় মহাকাব্যটিকে আর্যাবর্তের সীমা পার করিয়ে দিতে চাইছেন । ইতিহাসের উৎসবিন্দু তাঁর জানা নেই, কিন্তু অপসৃয়মান পদচিহ্ন অনুসরণ করে সময়ের জরায়ূতে প্রবেশের গাঢ় আকাঙ্খা আছে । 'একমাত্র সত্যজিৎ রায়'- নামের ছোটো আলোচনায় ঋত্বিক সত্যজিতের প্রতি আমর্ম শ্রদ্ধাজ্ঞাপন করেও 'পথের পাঁচালী' ও 'অপুর সংসারে'র অন্তিম পর্যায় সম্পর্কে নিজের অসন্তোষ গোপন রাখেন নি । তিনি লেখেন - 'আর সেই মারাত্মক শেষ পঙক্তিটি -- <em>"অপু নিশ্চিন্তিপুর ছাড়িয়া যায় নাই । সে আবার ফিরিয়া আসিয়াছে ।"</em> বইয়ের প্রাণবস্তু বোধহয় এখানেই ছিল ।' বস্তুত, এই মন্তব্য ঋত্বিকমানসে ইতিহাসের গঠন সম্পর্কে সবচেয়ে গুরুত্বপূর্ণ আলোরেখা । তিনি পারেন না সত্যজিতের মতো নিবিড় আস্তিক্যে দীক্ষিত হয়ে ইতিহাসের সরলরৈখিক অগ্রসরণকে মেনে নিতে, সে অর্থে আমি একটু সাহস করেই বলব তিনি হয়তো 'প্রগতি'-বিষয়ক ধারণাতেও সময় বিশেষে আস্থা রাখেন না বরং আমাদের চেতনাকে আমূল প্রশ্নবিদ্ধ করেন । <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gagarin#Space_flight"><em>'মানুষ চূর্ণিল যবে নিজ মর্ত্য সীমা'</em></a> - 'সুবর্ণরেখা'র সেই মহেন্দ্রক্ষণ তাঁকে আশাশীল করে নি কারখানার ভেতরে; বরং <a href="http://foucault.info/documents/">ফুকো</a> প্রমুখ ইউরোপীয় মহাজনদের কাছে হাত না পেতেই তিনি গ্যাগারিনের রূপকে বিজ্ঞানের জয়যাত্রাকে ছুড়ে ফেলেছেন চুল্লীর প্রহরে । আমি বলব ঋত্বিক এত দ্ব্যর্থহীনভাবে আমাদের জ্ঞানের সঞ্চার পথটিকে আর কোনো ছবিতে বিদ্রূপ ও পরীক্ষা করেন নি । তাঁর সব ছবিতেই শিকড়ে ফিরে যাবার টান আছে, কিন্তু মহাপ্রস্থানের পরে স্বর্গারোহণ পর্বে মাতৃভাষা ও মাতৃভূমির প্রতি চেতনার এত তীব্র জ্যা-বদ্ধ টান আর কোথাও নেই ।<br /><br />'সুবর্ণরেখা' প্রসঙ্গে বারে বারে মনে হয় কী চক্ষুহীনই আমরা ছিলাম । ঋত্বিক বাস্তুহারা কলোনীর নিতান্ত স্থানিক ও কালিক বিপর্যয়কে গান্ধী-প্রয়াণের ঐতিহাসিক নক্ষত্র পতনের সংঘাতে জুড়ে দিয়ে আসলে অবতরণ করতে চান এক পুরাণকথার পৃথিবীতে যেখানে বৃদ্ধটি টাইরিয়াসের মতো সংস্কৃত বিলাপোক্তি উচ্চারণ করে যায় । 'সুবর্ণরেখা' সমস্ত আখ্যান জুড়েই সময়ের দুটি স্তরকে কাছে ডেকেছে । আমাদের চোখে দেখা কিশোরীটি কখন যে <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabai">মীরাবাঈ</a>তে রূপান্তরিত হয়েছে, এক বৃদ্ধের সান্তনাবাক্য কিভাবে দূরাগত আকাশবাণীর মতো গম্ভীর হয়ে গেছে,কীভাবে সহস্র নরকমন্থনের পর আমাদের গীতা, ঊপনিষদ-ব্যবহৃত মিথ্যার মতো অলীক সান্তনা তা যাঁরা <a href="http://eliotswasteland.tripod.com/">'ওয়েস্টল্যান্ড'</a> পড়েন বা <a href="http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/fellini.html#dolcevita">'লা দলচে ভিতা'</a> দেখেন তাঁরা আগেও অনুমান করতে পেরেছিলেন । কিন্তু আরো গভীরভাবে যা মনে হয় তা হল এই চলচ্চিত্রের মতন একটা আধুনিক যন্ত্রনির্ভর শাস্ত্র ও পাশ্চাত্য সংস্কৃতির উত্তরাধিকার নিয়ে এই প্রথম ঋত্বিক দীপ্ত ব্রাহ্মণের মতো প্রত্যাঘাত হানলেন । অধীত জ্ঞান এবং দৃষ্ট অভিজ্ঞতা দিয়েই 'সুবর্ণরেখা' চলচ্চিত্রে তিনি আমাদের ইউরোপীয় আধুনিকতা বিষয়ক-ধারণাকে 'প্রাদেশিকতা' মুক্ত করেছেন । বলা চলে 'সুবর্ণরেখা'উত্তর ঔপনিবেশিকতার আবহে আমাদের ইতিহাসের নবনির্মাণ । গার্সিয়া মার্কেজ স্বদেশে ছড়িয়ে থাকা সময়ের টুকরোগুলো কী বিচিত্র বিন্যাসেই না সাজিয়ে এঁকে রাখতে চেয়েছেন স্বদেশের মানচিত্র, ভূগোলের প্রতিলিপি, আত্মার বিবরণী ! পথনির্দেশিকা তার নেই, তাকে মায়া বাস্তবের আশ্রয় নিতে হয়েছে । উপরন্তু উপনিবেশবাদ লাতিন আমেরিকাতে শরীরের সংস্থানও প্রায়ই হরণ করেছে । ঋত্বিকের অতিচেতনা হয়তো মতাদর্শে ভিন্ন বলেই ছিন্ন খঞ্জনীর মতো বাংলার নদী মাঠ ভাঁটাফুলে এখনো খুঁজে পায় শুশ্রুষার ধব্বনি । তাঁর ছবি প্রত্যেকটি বিশ্বাসযোগ্য শংসিত বাস্তবতার দ্বারা নিষিক্ত নয় কিন্তু কুরুক্ষেত্রের যুদ্ধে অর্জুন যে চলচ্চিত্রীয় চোখ দিয়ে বিশ্বরূপ দর্শন করেছিল তেমনই কোনো চেতনার সৌজন্যে দেখতে পায় নদীর পাড়ে আর বস্তীর আঙিনায় ক্লেদ, কোলাহল, রক্ত, ও গ্লানির শেষে আত্মা স্নান করে উঠেছে । 'সুবর্ণরেখা' ভারতীয় ইতিহাসকে কুমারীত্ব ফিরিয়ে দিয়েছে, বক্তব্যের দিক থেকে নয়, ভাষার দিক থেকেও । এই ছবির ছিন্ন পুঁথির অংশগুলি দেখলে তাই মনে হয় কৃত্তিবাসের মতন <em>' ভাষাপথ খননি স্ববলে '</em> ঋত্বিক ঘটক চলচ্চিত্র শাস্ত্রকে আমাদের মননে ও মৃত্তিকায় সম্ভব করলেন । দুর্ভাগ্য চল্লিশ বছর আগে এ কথা বলার লোক ছিল না । (২০০৩)Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-60038944359211636792007-10-26T23:48:00.000-07:002007-11-04T01:18:43.558-08:00Missing the Maharathis?<a href="http://www.prempanicker.com/index.php?/site/building_a_platform/">Much</a> <a href="http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ci/content/multimedia/316096.html?view=transcript">ado </a> <a href="http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article§id=59&contentid=20071026200710260330022651f2ee094">about</a> <a href="http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/current/story/317119.html">Maharathis</a>. Should they stay or should they go? As CricInfo puts it: Is Indian cricket better off without the Big Three - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly? Unfortunately, the ensuing discussions often generate more heat than light. However, a couple of questions can probably be answered without triggering fistfights or allegations of parochialism. 1) Shall we miss watching them bat? Yes, most certainly. 2) Without them, are we going to win significantly fewer ODIs? Probably not. <br /><br />As any diligent reader of mutual fund disclosures knows, past performance does not predict future results. But it is difficult to argue that maharathis, at the twilight of their careers, will be missed much when their absence seems to have made very little impact on India's win ratio until now.<br /><br />An admittedly crude measure of an individual's indispensability is to compare his team's win ratios with and without him in the team. After all, who among us does not remember telling ourselves -- "I will see how they win without me" -- after being dropped from a team? So a curious mind might wonder how India performed when a Sachin was rested, a Rahul was injured, or a Sourav sidelined. As always, StatsGuru obliges.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/RyOWk8ELPoI/AAAAAAAAADw/PA3t9igHpd8/s1600-h/maharathi.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/RyOWk8ELPoI/AAAAAAAAADw/PA3t9igHpd8/s400/maharathi.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126106362220854914" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms"><br /><br /><br /><br />The "With" columns show the stats for matches in which the batsman was a part of the team, and the "Without" columns show the corresponding numbers for all the matches he missed during his entire career span. The difference in the winning percentages is the MissHim™ factor. Tendulkar's absence has adversely impacted India, albeit marginally. And quite surprisingly -- at least to me -- India has won at a significantly higher rate without Dravid and Ganguly than with them. In the context of tens of thousands of runs the big three have scored, one might have expected a more noticeable effect of their absence on results. <br /><br />Some of the arguments against the usefulness of this measure are easy to foresee. The number of "Without" matches is much smaller compared to the "With" matches. Moreover, the distribution of "minnow/non-minnow" opposition, home/away factor, inconsequential matches, relative team strengths could conceivably be different between the two sets especially because layoffs triggered by an injury -- or a Chappell -- tend to happen in bursts. Regardless, I would argue that over a long career, MissHim™ index has some statistical significance as to how strongly a player's presence influences match results. The numbers for <a href="http://dipanjanc.blogspot.com/2006/11/greatest-one-day-batsmen.html">greatest one-day batsmen</a> from other countries seem to support this notion.<br /><br /><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/RyN9FMELPmI/AAAAAAAAADg/CEbbLYVfqv0/s1600-h/others.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/RyN9FMELPmI/AAAAAAAAADg/CEbbLYVfqv0/s400/others.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126078328969313890" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />All of them have positive MissHim™ values. The top five batsmen with the highest numbers are Ponting, Gilchrist, Richards, Symonds and Inzamam. Intuitively we do recognize those names as big match-winners and big-match performers. Interestingly, Yuvraj has a MissHim™ factor of 20.89, second only to Ponting, and undoubtedly Yuvraj is a proven match-winner in his own rights. <br /><br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/RyN9U8ELPnI/AAAAAAAAADo/vN4xv-HnhFg/s1600-h/yuvraj.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/RyN9U8ELPnI/AAAAAAAAADo/vN4xv-HnhFg/s400/yuvraj.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126078599552253554" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />So there might actually be something more to MissHim™ than just being an entertaining, but useless, index of the complex interplay between individual brilliance and match result, that is the game of cricket.<br /></span>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-52455760771816459632007-10-22T23:09:00.001-07:002007-10-27T11:05:09.030-07:00Purono sei diner katha<span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms"><br />here is my nephew. very smart. <br />(turns her head away from devi and faces nephew) <br />she is very smart too. from iit, going to grad school now.<br />oh, hi<br />hi.<br /><br />(one week later)<br />email: shubho bijoya. sorry for not replying to your email. have been totally swamped with mid-terms. before coming to us, my parents told me to focus on studies and not waste time on internet and emails, so please do not send me any further emails. (translation: (you are not hot) or (i have a boyfriend) or both. altavista me to find out.)<br /><br /> *******<br /><br />local bengali club is organizing a cultural program on pujo weekend. <br />yeah, i know.<br />what are you going to do?<br />sing.<br />what, eagles?<br />no, a nazrulgeeti.<br />i am impressed.<br /><br /> *******<br /><br />wow, i did not expect so many people.<br />still it's not quite the same.<br />girls are prettier.<br />but the spirit is not there.<br />whatever, i am hungry. what are we going to eat? phuchkas sucked.<br />only fish. only fish.<br />yeah, you have been talking about it for months, but where is it?<br />somewhere in shivaji park, but i don't remember the number. let's walk.<br />(after an hour)<br />wish we could look it up on our cellphone.<br /><br /> *******<br /><br />what would marx say about pujo? just another opiate?<br /><br />the religious aspect of it, yes, most certainly. rest is just circus.<br /><br />but for five days at least, ordinary poor people look genuinely happy, don't they?<br /><br />i am not sure how many of them are really happy and how many are just going through the motions. they have no reasons to be happy. pujo is merely a diversion that entrenches brahmin-bourgeois power structure by sublimating pent-up anger and frustration of the proletariat.<br /><br />but public pujos are sarbojonin, universal. doesn't that help to bridge class and caste differences?<br />not in our current societal framework and it's not truly sarbojonin either. if you look at paras and clubs carefully, they have clear socio-economic and caste alignments.<br /><br />but within each para, there is variation,too, and they do celebrate together -- socially, culturally.<br />not muslims. and that culture you are talking about is bankrupt. what to celebrate - hindi film songs? anyways, you are coming to the party stall on main road, right? we have a large book collection this time and we are going to show battleship potemkin on ashTomi morning at gano bhabon.<br /><br />not the stall, too many old people. will drop by for the film though.<br /><br /> *******<br /><br />what's our strategy?<br /><br />well, we can just park our asses here at shibaji sporting mandap and wait all night.<br /><br />but they may not come.<br /><br />are you crazy? free khichuri, bose-a(N)ko results, jalsa. ashtomi is the big night. everyone will be here.<br /><br />what if they go to one of the pandals on main road first and then get stuck?<br /><br />hmmm... let's split then. you wait here. I'll take my cycle and go north. As soon as I see them, I will be back.<br /><br />don't take the main road on your way back.<br /><br />are you crazy? only shortcuts. <br /><br />it would be so cool if we could carry phones with us.<br /><br />get real. for two years we have been waiting for a home line and you are dreaming of mobile phones.<br /><br /> *******<br /><br />how many new dresses this year?<br />eleven. <br /><br />eleven! for five nights? and your ma was saying she may not even let you go out on shashThi night.<br /><br />yeah, she thinks the real pujo starts only on saptomi. but silly, what about mornings and I always save two. one for lokkhipujo. another for kalipujo. <br /><br />ah.<br /><br />what about you?<br /><br />let's see, we are going to kolkata on saptomi, on ashTomi, we are cycling all the way to ...<br /><br />i was asking about new clothes.<br /><br />oh, three shirts, two full pants. no more half pants.<br /><br />only two?<br /><br />yeah, but six possible combinations should take care of five nights.<br /><br />geek! so you are coming to our place for bhaiph(N)oTa, right?<br /><br />why? i am not your brother.<br /><br />but you don't have a sister.<br /><br />who needs a sister?</span>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-8959866095028100412007-09-20T15:37:00.001-07:002007-09-20T17:47:00.202-07:00Helicopter Blinks<span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms"><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/AeHWW5gbc0w' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/AeHWW5gbc0w'/></embed></object></p><p>A <a href="http://www.minyanville.com/articles/bernanke-ron+paul-testimony-wall-street-america-dollar/index/a/14185">remarkable exchange</a>, but the helicopter needs to work on its poker face.</p></div>Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez instructed Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company, to convert its investment accounts from dollars to euros and Asian currencies to reduce risk. [<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601083&refer=currency&sid=aGBuWpZJ9cPI">link</a>]<br /><br />Sept. 20 (Telegraph.co.uk) -- Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright. [<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/09/19/bcnsaudi119.xml">link</a>]<br /><br />Sept. 20 (Marketwatch) -- Crude futures rally past $83 to another record. [<a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/crude-rallies-past-83-another/story.aspx?guid=%7BF5481D9D%2D4826%2D4221%2DA0F1%2DF4B2FE73A127%7D">link</a>]<br /><br />Sept. 20 (Marketwatch) -- Canadian Dollar Trades Equal to U.S. for First Time Since 1976. [<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a6P793FCNiNo&refer=home">link</a>]<br /><br />Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Gold Rises to 27-Year High on Weak Dollar, Inflation Concerns. [<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=asWOQnbTi.D8&refer=australia">link</a>]</span><br /><br />Sept. 20 (Investmentnews)-- Euro all time high against the dollar. [<a href="http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070920/REG/70920015">link</a>]Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-80909535095699709452007-09-05T23:19:00.000-07:002007-09-20T16:10:47.491-07:00Scary Movies<span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms">Be scared, very scared.<br /><br /><strong>Scary Movie "The Original" -- Like where is like USA such as in a map?</strong> Starring Little Miss South Carolina.<br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/lj3iNxZ8Dww' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/lj3iNxZ8Dww'/></embed></object></p></div><strong>Scary Movie 2 -- We are not monkeys!!! </strong>Starring Hunchback, Brownbee and Tanretardo.<br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/t4Cc8t3Zd5E' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/t4Cc8t3Zd5E'/></embed></object></p></div>If you think the sequel does not live up to the original, take a look at this <a href="http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=27847">recent gallop poll</a>. These three stooges are true representatives and leaders of their people and not some fringe outliers.<br /><br /><strong>Scary Movie 3 -- Bail us out please! </strong> Starring Jim Cramer, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voice_%28Seinfeld_episode%29">the intern at Kramerica Industries</a> aka WWW™ (WallStreet Workers Welfare).<br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/rOVXh4xM-Ww' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/rOVXh4xM-Ww'/></embed></object></p></div>Helicopter Ben <a href="http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2007/08/fomc-statement.html">listened</a>.<br /></span>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-32326892266187641702007-08-30T18:33:00.000-07:002007-09-02T11:08:09.231-07:00Partition of India: Part Two<span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms">On 2nd April, 1947, in his personal report at the completion of his first week in office, Mountbatten painted a very gloomy picture. The Cabinet was fiercely divided along communal lines with two major parties having irreconcilable differences. The entire country, especially Punjab, N.W.F.P, Bihar, Calcutta, Bombay, U.P and parts of Delhi, were reeling from riots and communal tension. <br /><br />Sikhs in Punjab, as a retaliation for the <a href="http://www.sikhsangat.com/content/Sikh-Sakhian/15629/1947-Rawalpindi-Shaheedis/">atrocities committed </a>on them in the districts of Attock, Rawalpindi, and Jhelum since March 5, 1947, were planning on seizing the major irrigation centres. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=hxdwpfLfEeoC&pg=RA2-PA439&lpg=RA2-PA439&dq=evan+jenkins+punjab&source=web&ots=BjAVM_07BH&sig=FlqpDOMTa1jjDh2kaQF1xU4XEP0#PPP1,M1"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/RtennQs7dUI/AAAAAAAAACI/3EmuBMxIBdo/s200/menon.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5104732995587896642" /></a>In his next weekly report on the 9th of April, Mountbatten pondered over a general election in Punjab, but concluded that it was not going to solve anything and governor's rule under section 93 was to continue. That decision was triggered by Punjab governor <a href="http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030408/edit.htm#5">Sir E.M. Jenkins' </a>detailed analysis dated 4th April, 1947 where he concluded that out of 175 seats in Punjab, 90 were Muslim certainties, 82 non-Muslim certainties and 3 were uncertain. Therefore, in an election, the Muslim League would have a very slim majority and consequently their government was going to be extremely unstable. The last line of Jenkins' report was ominous.</span><span style="font-size:100%;font-family: trebuchet ms;color: #191970"><blockquote>..."A Muslim Ministry now would mean instant civil war". (The Transfer of Power, Volume 10, Page 119)</span></blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms">In spite of the doom and gloom around him, for a while Mountbatten tried to keep an open mind about the possibilities of transferring power to an unified India, but time was the biggest concern as June 1948 deadline was non-negotiable. From the notes of Viceroy's Staff Meeting on April 11, 1947: [Mountbatten Papers, Page 190 of The Transfer of Power, Volume 10]</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;font-family: trebuchet ms;color: #191970"><br />..." The Viceroy said that it had always been and would remain his main desire to hand over power to an unified India with a strong centre. The next best to this would be to hand over to an unified India with a weak centre -- such as was envisaged in the Cabinet Mission plan." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms"> For a brief period, the "Gandhi plan" -- a scheme supporting an All-India Jinnah government -- seemed promising even though it had been proposed by Gandhi without consulting Nehru, Patel and other major Congress leaders. The outline of the plan was: (Transfer of Power, Volume 10, Page 140)<blockquote></span><span style="font-size:100%;font-family: trebuchet ms;color: #191970">..." Outline of a scheme for an Interim Government pending Transfer of Power.<br /><br />1. Mr. Jinnah to be given the option of forming a Cabinet.<br /><br />2. The selection of the Cabinet is left entirely to Mr. Jinnah. The members may be all Moslems, or all non-Moslems, or they may be representatives of all classes and creeds of the Indian people.<br /><br />3. Mr. Jinnah must stipulate, on behalf of the League or of any other partes represented in the Cabinet formed by him that, so far as he or they are concerned, they will do their utmost to preserve peace throughout India.<br /><br />4. There shall be no National Guards or any other form of private army.<br /><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/Rtejogs7dTI/AAAAAAAAACA/5mGau-f4Oa0/s1600-h/gandhi.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/Rtejogs7dTI/AAAAAAAAACA/5mGau-f4Oa0/s200/gandhi.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5104728619016222002" /></a><br /><br />5. Within the framework hereof Mr Jinnah will be perfectly free to present for acceptance a scheme of Pakistan, even before the transfer of power, provided, however, that he is successful in his appeal to reason and not to the force of arms which he abjures for all time for this purpose. Thus, there will be no compulsion in this matter over a Province or part thereof.<br /><br />6. In the Assembly the Congress has a decisive majority. But the Congress shall never use that majority against the League policy simply because of its identification with the League, but will give its hearty support to every measure brought forward by the League Government, provided that it is in the interest of the whole of India. Whether it is in such interest or not shall be decided by Lord Mountbatten as a man and not in his representative capacity.<br /><br />7. If Mr Jinnah rejects this offer, the same offer to be made <i>mutatis mutandis</i> to Congress.</span>" </blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms">Discussed between Gandhi and Mountbatten without involving any other major Congress leaders, this proposal drew a very sharp critique from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._P._Menon">Mr. V.P. Menon</a>, Mountbatten's political advisor. In a letter dated April 4, 1947, he pointed out that the plan was not practical because on several occasions in the past, similar plans had been rejected by Jinnah. As an example, he cited Jinnah's success in persuading League leadership not to accept Lord Linlithgow's offer for participation in Central Government in August, 1940. Also with a Congress majority in Central Legislature, the League government would be powerless and Mountbatten would have to be deeply involved in party politics to break gridlocks. He further argued --<br /><blockquote></span><span style="font-size:100%;font-family: trebuchet ms;color: #191970"> (Transfer of Power, Volume 10, Page 124)<br /><br />..."7. According to Gandhi's proposal, Jinnah is at liberty to plan for Pakistan and even to put his plans into effect provided that he is successful in appealing to reason and does not use force. This is asking for the impossible. If Jinnah could persuade the Sikhs and the Hindus of the Punjab and the Hindus of Bengal to join <br /><a href="http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1820/18200780.htm"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/RteiSgs7dSI/AAAAAAAAAB4/xc_02duQdkM/s200/menon.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5104727141547472162" /></a><br /><br />Pakistan, he would automatically get his Pakistan without joining the Interim Government in dubious terms. On the other hand, if Jinnah still persists in his scheme of separation, he will be giving his case away by entering the Central Government. This was the main motive which induced him to keep out of the Central Government in the past"...<br /><br />... "10. It is suggested that if Jinnah rejects the offer the same offer is to be made <i>mutatis mutandis</i> to the Congress. It should be borne in mind that all the factors that have been mentioned as working to the disadvantage of Jinnah will for the same reason work to the advantage of the Congress. H.E's main task is to find a solution to the present deadlock between the League and the Congress. It is no solution to suggest that power should be transferred to the Congress to the exclusion of the Muslim League. If the proposition were as simple as that, it would have been solved long ago."...</span></blockquote><br /><br /><span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms">In spite of V.P. Menon's detailed arguments and conviction that League would not accept this plan, <a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/Rtgkwws7dVI/AAAAAAAAACQ/Nh3H22erEPM/s1600-h/krishna.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/Rtgkwws7dVI/AAAAAAAAACQ/Nh3H22erEPM/s200/krishna.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5104870597750125906" /></a><br /><br />and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V.K._Krishna_Menon">Krishna Menon's </a>assertion that at that point it was even beyond Gandhi to convince Nehru, Patel and other major Congress leaders, Mountabatten was hopeful during a follow-up meeting with Jinnah. <br /><br />(Mountbatten papers: Viceroy's interview No. 42. Transfer of Power, Volume 10, Page 124)<br /><br /><blockquote></span><span style="font-size:100%;font-family: trebuchet ms;color: #191970"> ..."I told him that I regarded it as a very great tragedy that he should be trying to force me to give up the idea of a united India. I painted a picture of the greatness that India could achieve -- four hundred million people of different races and creeds, all bound together by a central Union Government, with all the economic strength that would accrue to them from increased industrialization, playing a great part in world affairs as the most progressive single country in the Far East.<br /><br />I finally said that I found that the present Interim Coalition Government was every day working better and in a more co-operative spirit; and that it was a day-dream of mine to be able to put the Central Government under the Prime Ministership of Mr. Jinnah himself.<br /><br />He said that nothing would have given him greater pleasure than to have seen such unity, and he entirely agreed that it was indeed tragic that the behavior of the Hindus had made it impossible for the Muslims to share in this.<br /><br />Some 35 minutes later, Mr. Jinnah who had not referred previously to my personal remark about him, suddenly made a reference out of the blue to the fact that I had wanted him to be the Prime Minister. There is no doubt that that it had greatly tickled his vanity, and that he had kept turning over the proposition in his mind.<br /><br />Mr. Gandhi's famous scheme may yet go through on the pure vanity of Mr. Jinnah!" ...</blockquote></span><span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms">(to be continued) </span>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-75389091015014264462007-08-24T08:39:00.000-07:002007-08-30T22:53:13.040-07:00Partition of India: Part One<span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms"><a href="http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/122609">The Transfer of Power 1942-47</a> is a treasure trove. Free from hind sight and biases, this collection of documents from India Office Records during the period January 1, 1942 - August 15, 1947, meticulously edited by Irish historian and professor <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=rD00N-vAB70C&dq=nicholas+mansergh&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=RX1iHIZT-6&sig=JIHuB_2-HKnmD0rpRUcNMWM4FcQ#PPP1,M1">Nicholas Mansergh</a>, is as close to a no-spin zone as it gets. I will publish some interesting excerpts hoping the readers will check out the original documents.<br /><br />The Transfer of Power : Volume X (22 March - 30 May 1947) (page 159-160)<br /><br />Record of Interview between Rear-Admiral Viscount Mountbatten of Burma and Mr. Jinnah (Mountbatten Papers. Viceroy's interview No. 41 -- April 8, 1947)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;font-family: trebuchet ms;color: #191970"><blockquote><br />... "I tried once more to bring him back to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1946_Cabinet_Mission_to_India">Cabinet Mission </a>plan, but he was absolutely adamant that it was useless to resurrect a plan which could only have been tried if the utmost goodwill had prevailed between all parties in 1946, and which now was foredoomed to failure.<br />I invited Mr. Jinnah to put forward his arguments for partition. He recited the classic ones.<br /><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/Rs8Kzgs7dRI/AAAAAAAAABw/opkN9qRnjQM/s1600-h/mount.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/Rs8Kzgs7dRI/AAAAAAAAABw/opkN9qRnjQM/s200/mount.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5102308782902048018" /></a><br />I then pointed out that his remarks applied also to the partition of the Punjab and Bengal, and that by sheer logic if I accepted his arguments in the case of India as a whole, I had also to apply them in the case of these two Provinces.<br />Whilst admitting my logic, he expressed himself most upset at my trying to give him a "moth eaten" Pakistan. He said that this demand for partitioning the Punjab and Bengal was a bluff on the part of Congress to try and frighten him off Pakistan. He was not to be frightened off so easily; and he would be sorry if I were taken in by the Congress bluff.<br />I replied "I would not be taken in; because if I agreed to such partition, it would be on your able advocacy; but I could not of course allow your theories to stop short at the Provinces."<br /><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/Rs8KkQs7dQI/AAAAAAAAABo/0S8CgwNQB80/s1600-h/jinnah.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/Rs8KkQs7dQI/AAAAAAAAABo/0S8CgwNQB80/s200/jinnah.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5102308520909042946" /></a><br />He was most distressed, and said that it would greatly weaken his Pakistan, and appealed to me not to destroy the unity of Bengal and the Punjab, which had national characteristics in common: common history, common ways of life; and where the Hindus have stronger feelings as Bengalis or Punjabis than they have as members of the Congress.<br />I said I was impressed by his arguments; and was therefore beginning to revise my ideas about any partition anywhere in India; since any argument that he produced for not agreeing to partition within the Punjab and Bengal applied with even greater force to India as a whole. For if he was to insist on the partition of India, he would be breaking up a great sub-continent of numerous nations, which could live together in peace and harmony; who could, united, play a great role in the world; but who divided, would not even rank as a second-class Power. The more so since he evidently intended to destroy even the mere vestiges that remained of the Indian army, after the passing of this morning's budget proposals for the armed forces and the likelihood of the withdrawal of all British officers by June 1948.<br /><br />I am afraid I drove the old gentleman quite mad, because whichever way his argument went I always pursued it to a stage beyond which he did not wish it to go" ... </span><br /></blockquote><br /><a href="http://dipanjanc.blogspot.com/2007/08/partition-of-india-part-two.html">(to be continued)</a>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-44907605888103304512007-08-18T20:46:00.000-07:002007-08-22T00:17:27.008-07:00Two Daughters<span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms">While Indian bowlers are recovering from their periodic <a href="http://dipanjanc.blogspot.com/2007/08/bowling-for-valentine.html">AABNAB</a> stress syndromes triggered by yet another traumatic -- also rather stupid and <a href="http://palscape.wordpress.com/2007/08/12/dravid-the-gutless/">gutless</a>, if you ask me -- no-confidence vote, non-cricketers keep wondering why they do not even get invited to any wedding parties. They are like the widows whose shadows would spell a curse on auspicious weddings to sponsors, endorsements or fanfare. Silently slipping under all radars, <a href="http://www.iloveindia.com/sports/archery/indian-archers/dola-banerjee.html">Dola Banerjee</a> has become a <a href="http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/06/stories/2007080656481700.htm">world champion </a>and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koneru_Humpy">Koneru Humpy </a>is on the verge of becoming the second woman after Judit Polgar to achieve <a href="http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3989">super-grandmasterdom.</a> Like lovers spurned, they are used to <a href="http://www.sportolysis.com/2005/07/27/sponsors-keep-running-away/">feeling</a> <a href="http://www.aajkaal.net/archive/report.php?hidd_report_id=83200">ignored</a>. But it must still hurt a little.<br /><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/Rsfoews7dOI/AAAAAAAAABY/tZaWL5NTWv4/s1600-h/dola.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/Rsfoews7dOI/AAAAAAAAABY/tZaWL5NTWv4/s200/dola.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5100300718187443426" /></a><br /><br />Hurt which Manipuri ace archer and warrior princess <a href="http://www.pittsburghpostgazette.com/ae/20011022dey1022fnp5.asp">Chitrangada</a> who had been raised as a man experienced when Arjuna turned her advances down on the pretext of asceticism. In reality, he was just not that into her. At least not until she went to Madana's Makeover consulting firm and transformed herself. Immediately after Dola lamented in a 2005 <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1217342.cms">TOI interview</a> that in spite of winning tons of international medals and ranking in top five of the world, no archer had won the Arjuna award in over a decade, she finally got her man. It is indeed hard to determine whether interviewing with TOI is a more humiliating experience than taking help of Madana. But the fact that someone does read TOI is reassuring and all is fair in love and war. Yes, even a decision to move from Baranagore to Jharkhand.<br /><br /><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/RsfomAs7dPI/AAAAAAAAABg/oooEh0zyLIE/s1600-h/humpy.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/RsfomAs7dPI/AAAAAAAAABg/oooEh0zyLIE/s200/humpy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5100300842741495026" /></a><br /><br />Or hurt that Mondodari must have felt when Ravana ran after Sita. Was Ravana, a brilliant and brave man, also a patzer? Did he feel emasculated when in spite of possessing a massively parallel 10-CPU system, he <a href="http://www.helium.com/tm/216733/history-chess-gamemost-historical">lost to his wife</a> who had invented the most beautiful game? Was the epic war that followed merely his attempt to regain his wife's respect? We will never know. Humpy was not raised as a man, but she has always <a href="http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3033">enjoyed beating men </a>over chess boards. With no woman, except Judit, left in the world who can give her a decent fight, she does not have much of an option either. And it is not something that is entirely new to her. In 2002, she became the youngest woman to win "men's" GM title and she did that right after winning the national "boys" under-14 title.<br /><br />Yes, I am aware of the <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=RfzDaVHW5XA">third daughter </a>who is sneaking into top 30. But <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055508/trivia">unlike Monimalika</a>, she has not been deprived of global fame. Quite the contrary. Even the lethargic, but ever amorous Arjuna discovered her <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arjuna_award#Arjuna_Awardees_in_Lawn_Tennis">a year before </a>he found time for a fellow-archer. With looks and attitude that Madana's Makeover can only dream of and a very wicked forehand, she, unlike our bowlers, archers and pawn-pushers, is giving our batsmen a run for their money. <br /><br />Not that there is anything wrong with that. </span>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-84728546173405357922007-08-01T20:30:00.000-07:002007-09-12T10:48:01.967-07:00Bowling for Valentine<span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms">Bowlers don't get no love. Their bridesmaid dresses are more worn out than 79-over old balls reeling from 305-2. It's a good thing they become used to apathy early in their lives. Remember that neighborhood kid who by his cockiness alone could walk into any Australian team? That he did not do so was only because his fielding skills were sub-Rhodesian -- non-existent, to be more precise. He never really bothered to learn how to field, forget bowling, and his arrogance was Chappells' envy, but neighbors' pride because he possessed <i>para</i>'s most precious possession: its only cricket bat. <br /><br />That of course gave him exclusive rights to pick his team, open batting, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._G._Grace#Unconfirmed_stories">Graciously</a> veto umpiring decisions and go home with his bat in the middle of a very tense game just because he felt like it. You do need a ball and a group of hapless boys who can supply and throw that ball to get a game going, but like everywhere else in life, economics set the rules in gully cricket. A good cricket bat was at least 20 times more expensive than a cambis (canvas), rubber or rubber deuce ball. Leather and cork balls, and the accessories they necessitated were luxuries that a <em>para</em> with one cricket bat could hardly afford. 20 was the operative number, and it still is. 20 wickets that India needs to win a test match. <br /><br />It does not happen too often especially when the team ventures out of pitches that on the third day suddenly become very friendly to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_bowl">dust bowls</a>. Admittedly, away-win ratios are getting <a href="http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/engvind/content/current/story/304613.html">minor facelifts</a> in the new millennium, but miles to go before they start thinking of competing with Sensex slopes. <br /><br /><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/RrGDPeelMtI/AAAAAAAAAAw/miv3HMunoio/s1600-h/awaytests.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/RrGDPeelMtI/AAAAAAAAAAw/miv3HMunoio/s320/awaytests.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5093996955435348690" /></a><br /><br />Even after recent improvements, the ratios are consistently poor and that fact alone makes each of those away wins famously cherished and celebrated.<br /><br /><strong>Australia:</strong> Except the <a href="http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1970S/1977-78/IND_IN_AUS/IND_AUS_T3_30DEC1977-04JAN1978.html">two</a> <a href="http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1970S/1977-78/IND_IN_AUS/IND_AUS_T4_07-12JAN1978.html">victories</a> against an Australian side severely depleted by Packer invasion in 1977-78. However, it is quite remarkable that Bedi and Chandrasekhar claimed 29 of the 40 wickets in those two tests. As if to compensate for the hollowness of those two wins, the other two are nothing but miracles. Remembered more for the Gavaskar-Lillie episode, <a href="http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1980-81/IND_IN_AUS/IND_AUS_T3_07-11FEB1981.html">Melbourne test in 1981</a> witnessed exceptional bowling performance from Kapil, Doshi and Ghavri. MoM? Viswanath, of course. <br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/E8WXvwGEfn8' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/E8WXvwGEfn8'/></embed></object></p></div><br /><br />In <a href="http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/IND_IN_AUS/SCORECARDS/IND_AUS_T2_12-16DEC2003.html">Adelaide 2003</a>, inconsistent and mediocre throughout his career, Ajit Agarkar with a match figure of 8-160 and an incredible second innings figure of 6-41, for once, lived up to his promise and left us pondering on what-ifs. Kumble pitched in with six wickets as well. Both were eclipsed by MoM Dravid's batting, of course.<br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/74XCsp9-J1U' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/74XCsp9-J1U'/></embed></object></p></div><br /><br /><strong>England:</strong> India's first win in England at <a href="http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1970S/1971/IND_IN_ENG/IND_ENG_T3_19-24AUG1971.html">Oval 1971</a> is rightly remembered for Chandrasekhar's magical spell: 18.1-3-38-6. Bedi and Venkat assisted well with 7 wickets between them in the match. Kapil's devils translated their 83 world cup and 85 B&H winning one-day performance into a couple of great <a href="http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1986/IND_IN_ENG/IND_ENG_T1_05-10JUN1986.html">test</a> <a href="http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1986/IND_IN_ENG/IND_ENG_T2_19-23JUN1986.html">victories</a> in 1986. English weather and wobbly batting made the pace quartet of Kapil-Binny-Madan-Chetan appear as deadly as Marshall-Holding-Garner-Roberts. Almost quite as incredibly, Kapil managed to win a MoM by edging past Vengsarkar, but I am sure his captaincy and 24 runs clinched it, not the five wickets he took. And Vengsarkar was not to be denied as he won MoM in the following test. <a href="http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2002/IND_IN_ENG/SCORECARDS/IND_ENG_T3_22-26AUG2002.html">Headingley, 2003</a>. 628 runs with big three scoring big hundreds, but 20-wicket rule still applies. Kumble and Bhajji combined well to take 11 of them. And we all know what happens when you throw <a href="http://greatbong.net/2007/07/31/jelly-beans-and-the-fab-four/">jelly beans at Zaheer</a>.<br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/5L6y6tkkMEQ' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/5L6y6tkkMEQ'/></embed></object></p></div><br /><br /><br /><strong>South Africa:</strong> A historic win at <a href="http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/rsavind/engine/match/249215.html">Wanderers 2006</a>. Zaheer-Sreesanth-VRV combined brilliantly and Sreesanth was unplayable in the first innings. His MoM was clinched by his break-dance spell though, not his swings. In the first innings, number eleven VRV's 27-ball 29 was inspirational, but who remembers that?<br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/uBm7b7YEXNY' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/uBm7b7YEXNY'/></embed></object></p></div><br /><br /><strong>West Indies:</strong> Three of the four victories came in Port of <em>Spin</em>. Bedi-Pras-Venkat took 15/20 in <a href="http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1970S/1970-71/IND_IN_WI/IND_WI_T2_06-10MAR1971.html">1971</a>. Bedi-Chandra-Venkat claimed all 16 wickets that fell in <a href="http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1970S/1975-76/IND_IN_WI/IND_WI_T3_07-12APR1976.html">1976</a> in one of those very rare tests where the losing team's exceptionally sporting declaration proves the 20-wicket rule. <a href="http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2001-02/IND_IN_WI/SCORECARDS/IND_WI_T2_19-23APR2002.html">April 2002</a> was all about pacers though. Khan-Nehra-Srinanth who at their peak -- as seen in 2003 World cup -- arguably formed India's most potent pace combination claimed 15/20. MoM? VVS Laxman, with 69 and 74 in a close game. Kumble and Bhajji combined well (12/20) in <a href="http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/wivind/engine/match/239923.html">Kingston 2006</a> in another tight game.<br /><br /><strong>Pakistan:</strong> <a href="http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/IND_IN_PAK/SCORECARDS/IND_PAK_T1_28MAR-01APR2004.html">Both</a> <a href="http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/IND_IN_PAK/SCORECARDS/IND_PAK_T3_13-17APR2004.html">victories</a> came in the same series after a very long wait. Kumble dominated with 13/40, but he was brilliantly set up by Balaji-Pathan combo that promised so much before fizzling out. MoMs? Sehwag and Dravid.<br /><br />And it is not just the test-winning performances abroad that are memorable. What is left in Indian cricket if we forget Binny's posterior, <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=MiUWDiDE9Zg">Tendulkar's Hero cup last over</a>, Razdan's debut fifer, <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=rovei0Io6q0">Chetan Sharma's last ball</a>, Goel-Shivalkar's unfulfilled potential, <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=bxBxyA4Y9i4">Pathan's hat-trick</a>, Doshi's late emergence, Shiva's early disappearance, <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=mVfPEFFZMUw">Kumble's tenner</a> and Sandhu's inswinger? <br /><br />Show some love -- but no worries, they will keep <em>delivering</em> regardless. </span>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-89321120915440115582007-07-06T20:21:00.000-07:002007-08-06T00:44:39.971-07:00Hard Eight<a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/Ro8ILhGdAII/AAAAAAAAAAo/10nK45rc7vY/s1600-h/hard8.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_GaAxS-JSX1E/Ro8ILhGdAII/AAAAAAAAAAo/10nK45rc7vY/s320/hard8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5084291498281599106" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms"><br />I have been <a href="http://palscape.wordpress.com/2007/06/29/fcb-the-cocktails-and-i-random-eight/">tagged</a> by BongoP'o'ndit with the eight-random-facts meme. Hmm... <a href="http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/15160_HARD_EIGHT">eight, hard</a>! I guess it could have been worse; it could have been an <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0283832/">eight-femmes</a> meme. And I should know better than to say no to an Aussie, so here we go.<br /><br /><strong>1</strong>. <em>"They have trivia nights on Tuesdays...which if you can muster a group of four people seem like a lot of fun. However, the bartender told me that this one group by the name of "the four fat Indians" always wins...which they did the night I was there. Oddly enough, they weren't fat at all but actually quite skinny."</em><br /><br />Not too sure about the veracity of the last two words and <i>always</i> is a bit of a stretch, but as the founding member of <em>the four fat Indians</em>, I think I like this <a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/k6m7uTFW0MfVotLNwSULUA?rpp=20&sort_by=relevance_desc&start=39">Yelp reviewer</a>.<br /><br /><strong>2</strong>. To continue on a trivial note, on one summer evening of 1990, at Moulali Yuba Kendra, Calcutta, I had my first encounter with <a href="http://www.greatbong.net/2005/07/21/a-beautiful-mind/"><em>a beautiful mind</em></a> who was surrounded by a group of scrawny boy-cheerleaders and the first flickers of now-all-too-familiar halo. Both of us were still in our shorts and at the end of the inter-school quiz, we joined forces in blasting the quizmaster. In the last round, DBPC's straight was <em>who was the youngest ever world chess champion</em>. A sitter and Parnab promptly replied <em>Kasparov</em>. The quiz-master strangely said <em>no</em> and the bonus came to UGHS. Thinking he must have misheard, I wisely and slowly repeated <em>Garry Kasparov</em> -- as opposed to Anatoly Karpov, you see -- but the quizmaster negated me as well and announced the answer with a derisive smile: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Tal">Mikhail Tal</a>. Now as much as I always admired the attacking style of this brilliant man from Riga and his 1960 <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tal-Botvinnik-1960-Mikhail-Tal/dp/1888690089">masterpiece</a>, both Parnab and I were correctly confident that Kasparov had broken Tal's record in 1985. We tried but failed to convince the quiz-master who must have got his answer from an outdated source. I still believe that this experience was a pivotal moment in shaping <em>the beautiful mind</em> and inspiring its future creativity. Unfortunately, that was not our last encounter as we both ended up in JU.<br /><br /><strong>3</strong>. Speaking of chess and Russians, in the last tournament I played seven years ago in Seattle, when I won -- to be honest, I was sandbagging because my USCF rating was nowhere close to my real strength as I did not grow up in US and had played very few USCF-rated matches since my arrival in 1997 -- my rating section, the American organizer while announcing the names of winners said: <em>and I thought Russian last names were hard to pronounce.</em><br /><br /><strong>4</strong>. On the subject of last names, have you ever wondered about the poet, novelist, bureaucrat and economist <a href="http://www.sasnet.lu.se/bilder/anita.jpg">Anita</a> <a href="http://www.indiastar.com/bhattacharya5.html">Agnihotri </a>-- how, with that last name, does she manage to write Bangla so well? Wonder no more and yes, your hunch is right. She is my cousin and grew up as a fellow-Chattopadhyay. In Mussoorie, she happened to meet <a href="http://www.springerlink.com/content/n837435555565734/">this man</a> during one of those IAS <s>dating</s> training sessions. This is precisely why more Bengali men need to join the cadre. <br /><br /><strong>5</strong>. If you are tired of cursing Bill Gates every time your Windows crawls, or worse, BSODs -- it doesn't happen any more, right? -- and would like to diversify your cussing targets, you can use me. For a couple of years, I was part of the evil empire's core OS team and my sloppy, buggy and kludgy hacks are to be found in Windows 2000 and XP, and probably in Vista as well.<br /><br /><strong>6</strong>. After leaving Microsoft in 2000, I interviewed with Google for an engineering position, cleared the phone interview and scheduled an on-site. Then inspired by immense laziness and misplaced wisdom -- search is a commodity and how can they beat the likes of msft, yhoo, alta vista etc. -- I did not pursue the opportunity and joined another start-up. My only consolation is that the odds were in favor of me botching the on-site as they were very selective. On the other hand, I used to be smart back then. To convince myself that the very painful what-if scenario was not realistic, I finally managed to interview at Google for a senior management role a few months ago and was quite promptly rejected. <br /><br /><strong>7</strong>. Where do you go to drown your sorrow? My vote is for Vegas and all-night no-limits Texas-Hold'em. It is hard to get a more direct, visceral exposure to all-American greed. The last visit ended in a remarkable way. On the night before we were to leave, I sneaked out of the hotel room -- a little discretion was warranted as the previous two night-outs had not been quite productive -- and started playing. After a couple of hours and a horrible streak, I was down another 300 bucks and was about to call it a night. Then I drew an ace and 10, and the flop had two aces. Everyone folded except a big British guy who was apparently very drunk and playing really loose. He kept bidding and with a set of aces, I kept calling. I could lose only if he had the fourth ace and a higher kicker than 10 -- it was definitely worth a shot. The river had the third ace and then I knew, with a quad of aces, I couldn't lose. He went all in. I called. Turned out he had a pair of queens and a full house, so he could lose only if I had a pair of kings or the fourth ace. He thought the odds of that happening were low, went for it and lost. Except that he didn't quite lose. The dealer announced a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_beat">bad beat jackpot</a> and that was the first time a jackpot was hit in that casino this year. The total was worth about eight grand. The bad beat loser gets to keep the bulk of it -- about three grand -- and the rest is divided among the other players. The fat British guy started jumping up and down. The dealer was excited too. In five years of dealing cards, he never hit a jackpot before and got great tips that night.<br /><br /><strong>8</strong>. I never drink while playing poker mainly because I like to remember the faces, the cards and the banter, not so much because my play suffers. My threshold is quite high. Over the years, I have developed my own version of BAC diagnosis tests -- the most famous being how long it takes me to blurt out 50 American states in alphabetical order. I used to be good with the alphabetical list of 22 Indian states as well which I memorised when I was six from a book I can still picture, but too many new states have been added since then. Can secession really overcome under-development and inequality, and even if it does, is it worth me having to re-order my list every year? I do not think so.<br /><br />And now I sign the <a href="http://vivekspace.com/2007/05/07/comprehensive-tag-ban-treaty/">CTBT</a> and refuse to spread this meme. Sometimes you just have to take a stand, even against a <a href="http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/145850.html">misguided Aussie</a>. </span>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-51675855855359656422007-07-05T22:00:00.001-07:002007-07-05T22:34:44.011-07:00The Lady And The Trump<span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms"><br />He walks a good walk and allows Trump to get near the second base, but can Giuliani sweet-talk and seduce the anti-gay pro-life base? Even though these are very early days, if talk radio is any indication -- and who can deny its importance after the whole immigration bill fiasco -- the base is still busy in debating Romney's electability and trying to figure out who this Fred Thompson guy really is. Not much love for Rudy yet, except when his gown is compared against Hillary's of course -- the visceral hatred of Hillary among the dittoheads has to be heard to believe.</span><br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/4IrE6FMpai8' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/4IrE6FMpai8'/></embed></object></p></div>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-15284884616831803572007-07-04T11:12:00.000-07:002007-07-04T20:26:08.647-07:00Happy Birthday<span style="font-size:95%;font-family: trebuchet ms;color: #58a"> <em> "... he has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. this piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain. determined to keep open a market where men should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce: and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, & murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another"</em></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:105%;font-family: trebuchet ms"> This paragraph from Jefferson's <a href="http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/declara/ruffdrft.html"><em>original rough draught</em></a> accusing the King of his involvement in the continuation of slave trade was removed by the Continental Congress from the <a href="http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm">final version</a>, because not all delegates, most of whom, including Jefferson, were slaveholders themselves, could agree on the contention that slavery and slave trade did indeed violate the <em>most sacred rights of life and liberty</em>. Also remarkable is the sense of apprehension about the threats of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Rebellion-Gerald-W-Mullin/dp/0195015142">slave revolts</a>. <br /><br />In a <a href="http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_2_urbanities-thomas_jefferson.html">recent article</a>, Hitchens who wrote a short <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Jefferson-Author-America-Eminent/dp/0060598964/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-6070880-6454443?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183592046&sr=8-1">biography</a> of Jefferson a couple of years ago, however, focuses on the pairing of the phrases "infidel powers" and "Christian King", and the allusion therein to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_slave_trade">Barbary practice</a>. Later in the article, he somewhat undermines historian Frank Lambert's assertion that it was free trade which drove America more than ideology -- a quarrel with Islam, <em>tyranny</em>, or <em>terrorism</em> -- when Hitchens goes on to claim that the motivation behind the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Barbary-Wars-American-Independence-Atlantic/dp/0809028115/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-6070880-6454443?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1183577865&sr=8-2">Barbary wars</a> was at least partially based on principle: an innate incompatibility between <em>freedom </em>and <em>tyranny</em>, and even though the nature of freedom is definitely not essentially Christian, the tyranny is predictably, though not necessarily incorrectly, linked to Islam as he quotes Abd Al-Rahman, Tripoli's ambassador, referring to Koran. <br /><br />If this framing reminds you of his <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2162157/pagenum/2/">unrelenting</a> support of Bush administration's Iraq policy, you are not alone. Jacob Weisberg, Slate's editor, on the other hand, <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2093620/entry/2094025/">reconsidered his position</a> more than three years ago for two very simple reasons: deception and cost-benefit analysis.</span>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-59582060621543670582007-06-27T21:23:00.000-07:002008-11-22T11:56:01.027-08:00An interview with Ritwik Kumar Ghatak (1975): Part 5(Continuing from <a href="http://dipanjanc.blogspot.com/2007/06/interview-with-ritwik-kumar-ghatak-1975_22.html">Part 4</a>)<br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:110%;color: #66ffff">Section 8: An artist's social and political responsibility</span></b><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a"> We are going through this nightmare <em>(dipanjan:reference to emergency)</em> now, but we are not really protesting it or standing up against it. What do you think?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;"> What can I say? The situation is terrible and you do not even know the half of it. I have seen it all first hand -- too many times -- and I have all the contacts. But what can I do against it? I tried to do whatever little I could in different ways. I am not a politician, so I can not really mobilize people or organize anything. What I can do is not going to be of any use -- these problems can not be solved by art. </span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a"> How do you think we can resist the spread of decadent culture? (<i>apasanskriti</i>) </span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">First of all, I find the word <i>apasanskriti</i> absolutely detestable <em>(dipanjan:typical usage of this Bengali word without an exact English equivalent implicates hedonism, in general, and the implied value judgment is not too far from moral policing)</em>. You can not really blame today's misguided youth individually for their nefarious activities. The whole society has been collapsing and now has reached such a stage that none of us knows how to stem the rot. You have to get to the root which is the economic reality of our class-based society. Young men and women are not finding any jobs -- there are seventy thousand unemployed engineering graduates in Calcutta alone -- and they have nothing else to do. So these boys are turning into hooligans and taking part in criminal activities -- what else can you expect? Moreover, the family system is breaking down. In the past, there used to be love or respect or something akin to that for one's parents. Now you can clearly see that those relations are decaying and that is part of the total collapse -- all humane relationships are getting wiped out. And this is how a society falls apart. So to do something against this at this point... well we can try and say what we should, but I do not think that is going to help much.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a"> Can we not start a proletariat cultural movement similar to what IPTA started? </span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">If you can put together a group of young boys and girls, it might be possible. Why not? But you need fresh blood - all of us have become very old and we are not that capable any more. </span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a"> Somewhat related to this, in <i>Jukti, Takko, aar Gappo</i>, there is a sequence where you said "Independence of 1947! Pooh!". What is the significance of this line? </span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">The significance lies in the fact that, by 1947, the British leaders were in a soup. They were in big big trouble. I am not sure how much you know, but I know exactly what happened. First of all, their whole economy collapsed because of war expenditures. Without the Americans, they would have been finished, "all those heroes" were finished -- Churchill et al. Then on the other side, they had to deal with the Subhash Bose situation which led to an intense uprising in entire country. I used to roam around the country back then. Even if I leave Bangladesh-I-mean-West-Bengal-I-mean-Bengal aside, the rest of the country especially Madhya Pradesh -- and I was in Madhya Pradesh back then, in Raipur and Nagpur -- was trembling with excitement. What Subhashbabu finally managed to accomplish is a different issue, but the reaction he generated among Indians, common men and women of India, was intense. They were really really mad at that time and then came the 42 Quit India movement. After that, the naval mutiny in Bombay followed by <a href="http://www.socialisthistorysociety.co.uk/duncancontents.htm">Air Force mutiny</a> -- and no one even knows about that one because it was completely suppressed by the British. Overall the foundation of the British rule in India was shaking. If we could keep fighting, shouting and sacrificing a few more lives for a few more years, they would have been forced to leave India anyways. But the way our leaders made the deal -- a pact with Mountbatten to grab power -- betrayed the entire history of our national freedom struggle. "Gandhi was against it". But the "higher group of our national liberation struggle" could not wait any longer to put themselves in power. I have been talking -- shouting really -- about this betrayal all my life and I will keep doing that.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:90%;"><em>(dipanjan: In an interview with Leonard Mosley, Nehru said -- "we were tired men and we were getting on in years too. Few of us could stand the prospect of going to prison again - and if we had stood out for a united India as we wished it, prison obviously awaited us. We saw the fires burning in the Punjab and heard of the killings. The plan of Partition offered a way out and we took it. […] We expected that Partition would be temporary, that Pakistan was bound to come back to us."[The Last Days of British Raj, p-285]</em></span><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:110%;color: #66ffff">Section 9: Shantiniketan, Rabindranath in national consciousness</span></b><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">We would like to know about your experiences at Shantiniketan.</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Most of my significant and memorable experiences of Shantiniketan are associated with <a href="http://www.anshumandasgupta.bravejournal.com/archive/04/14/2006">Ramkinkar Baij</a>. You do not really need to write about our rowdy and drunken adventures and how we used to barely escape arrests.</span><br /><br /><em>(dipanjan:Ritwik's <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0073603/">last unfinished documentary</a> was on Ramkinkar and in a sad coincidence, Samaresh Basu's final unfinished -- and arguably his best -- novel <i>Dekhi Nai Phire</i> was also based on Ramkinkar's life)</em><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a"> Did you not have any personal contact with Rabindranath?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Rabindranath used to visit <em>Amrakunja</em> in the morning. His morning lectures -- I do not know why they have not been published yet -- were just incredible and so was his charismatic appearance, his magnetic presence. I can not really say anything more than that.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Were you part of his funeral procession?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">On the day he died, I was in our house at Bakulbagan -- my sister used to be a student in Beltala Girls' School. There I heard that he had died. Immediately I started running and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXcctmcHZlU">there was already a huge crowd</a>. I joined them and followed them all the way.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">How do you feel about his absence in our thoughts at the national level? What can progressive democratic culture still get from him? </span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Everything. I don't know if you remember, one of our comrades -- I will not name him -- "decried Rabindranath" and defamed him using the name "RabindraGupta" in a Marxist magazine. This happened during the Ranadive period. All of us were told not to (read him) and they used to call him names -- "bourgeois this and bourgeois that" -- in a disgusting way. I used to tutor an undergrad girl named Ila who was a sister of Shobha Sen. As soon as I mentioned "RabindraGupta", she just went berserk. Rabindranath is inside our blood, we can not go anywhere without him. No matter which aspect of art you talk about, he is right there. Just look at how that girl reacted -- Bengalis can not live without him. We should not even have to discuss this -- to any Bengali artist, any artist ... (he is extremely important)</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a"> But won't you admit that there is a tendency to deny him completely at many levels? Therefore, if you could show some examples from his works...?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">I can show plenty. Right now, right here. I do not have any of his books with me, but I do not need books. However, having to convince people about Rabindranath by citing examples is extremely shameful and degrading. Rabindranath is Rabindranath -- perhaps there have been three or four artists of comparable greatness in world history. Just read <i><a href="http://www.parabaas.com/rabindranath/articles/pNabaneeta.html">Sabhyatar Sankat</a></i> which he wrote just before his death and you will understand. The scoundrels who blaspheme him are absolutely worthless. Unto the last, there is one sentence which will be engraved in my mind -- "to lose faith in mankind is a sin" and therefore, I will not. He is saying that there has been every reason to lose faith, but he will not because it is a crime to do so. "The crisis in civilization" -- there is an English translation as well, just read it. What else can I say? Rabindranath is an ocean and I can not reduce him to a few words. So if you ever find any scum dissing him, tell them on my behalf that I would beat the crap out of them.</span><br /><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:110%;color: #66ffff">Section 10: Classical Music</span></b><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a"> Which classical musician has influenced you the most? And could you please share a few memories and anecdotes regarding him? </span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allauddin_Khan">That person</a> -- my guru who initiated me and taught me how to play Sarod -- was one crazy man. Quite a few years ago, he was living at Maihar since he was the court(darbari) musician of Maharaja of Maihar. I went there to direct a documentary on behalf of Sangeet Natak Akademi and then I learned a lot from him as I often used to listen to his reminiscences. <br /><br />He ran away from home when he was eight. His teacher was his elder brother, Aftabuddin <i>saheb</i> -- a master flute player and a <i>baul</i> as well as a devotee of <em>Kali</em>. All this I heard from Allauddin <i>saheb</i> himself who used to open up to me because he loved me a lot. In his childhood, he used to study at a <a href="http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9050246/maktab"><i>maktab</i></a> and on his way, there was a <i>Kali</i> temple. A muslim boy, he was never allowed inside the temple and was often beaten up by Brahmin priests. At night, his elder brother used to tie his feet with ropes to a pole and one night, he ran away in spite of that. <br /><br />After coming to Calcutta, he used to sleep at Nimtala Ghat and eventually managed to get a chance at Star theatre. That was around the time when prostitutes and call girls used to be the actresses. His job was to play flute and he used to get five rupees a month. Then he moved to Udaipur and tried to meet Wazir Khan -- the greatest Sarod player of his time. At first, Wazir Khan completely ignored him -- we are talking about a period that is one hundred years in the past, a different era altogether -- but ultimately he came up with a plan. He lied on the road in front of Wazir Khan's carriage and would not get up until Wazir Khan agreed to teach him. Back then music used to be a big secret, not easily obtainable. I do not know how much of that era you guys have seen, but I have seen a little bit. <br /><br />Anyways Wazir Khan finally relented and said -- "all right, why don't you become my servant and do all my chores?" Allauddin then started doing all the housework and never even got to touch an instrument. After two years like that, Wazir Khan admitted that Allauddin deserved to be his disciple and the lessons started which went on for fourteen years. When Wazir Khan finally gave Allauddin Khan <i>saheb</i> the permission to play -- as you know, <i>ostad</i>s need to give you explicit permission before you can perform anywhere, for example, my guru died before giving me the permission, so I have never played anywhere except in front of my wife and children and that too I have given up; I have given my Sarod away -- Khan <i>saheb</i> came back to his village in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmanbaria_District">Brahmanbaria</a>. <br /><br />One day when he was practicing on the bank of <i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=+Titash+Ekti+Nadir+Naam&search=">Titas</a></i>, he tried to help out a group of neighborhood boys in finding their ball inside a <i>Masjid</i> and in doing so, he fell down and broke his right arm. All the doctors had given up on fixing it as it was completely shattered, but he returned to Maihar and for days, just prayed to <i>Chamunda Kali</i> without eating or sleeping, and the arm gradually started to heal. I am just repeating what he told me. Anyways the arm was still badly injured and it was the right arm with which he played Sarod. He started relearning everything with his left hand and eventually became the best musician of India. His determination and mental strength were just incredible. I can keep talking about him for hours and it will never end because he is my guru and I am ... Ustad <a href="http://www.sarod.com/sarod/hafiz.htm">Haafiz Ali Khan</a> is another great Sarod player. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilayat_Khan">Vilayat</a> is unparallel. When he is in mood, only <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Akbar_Khan">Ali Akbar Khan</a> at his best can probably match him. Ravi Shankar is more of a performer, but they are real musicians. Among the artists that are alive -- I am talking about the vocalists now -- I admire <a href="http://www.dharwad.com/bhimsen.html">Bhimsen Joshi</a> a lot. </span><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:110%;color: #000033">Section 11: Film Society</span></b><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a"> There is a tendency among film society audience to only watch uncensored vulgar pornographic films. How can we resist this temptation and stop what has been hurting an important movement?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">You can not really do anything because some of these rascals -- excuse my language --are only interested in that. And if they demand it, you will show those movies because you are thinking of getting some of your expenses back. "Film society has become another business". You need to "decry" this and loathe this completely, but you don't. This country is in a deep downward spiral. I am a drunk -- and I do not hide the fact; most people know quite well that I drink -- so leave me out of this, but you all need to be a lot more vocal and aggressive. You see, I -- and Satyajit as well -- do not go to watch your film society screenings any more because the films you are exhibiting can not be watched by gentlemen. I do not want to show them to my wife, my daughter. You will have to take up the fight. I can not. I have taken myself out of this. You know what is in my hand and that much I can do, but film society screenings and audience, you will have to...</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a"> We are asking you to help us understand why this is... </span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">There is nothing to understand, or analyze. You just need to stop showing those films. What do you think you are doing?</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a"> What should be an alternate agenda of film societies then?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">In addition to screening good films, you will need to organize discussions, workshops and seminars which can help to inculcate good taste. "That is all". But first, stop exhibiting those horrible films. It just does not make any sense. Primarily Mizoguchi, we need to get all the prints, then from Italy, France... Even in England, Lindsey (Anderson) is doing some good work. Tarkovsky from Russia, <a href="http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/07/43/man-marble-wajda.html">Wajda</a> from Poland, <a href="http://207.56.97.90/shirleyclarkeinterview.html">Shirley Clarke</a> from America -- "it will run for a year".</span><br /><br />(Finis)Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9415652.post-1966395745625356342007-06-22T23:31:00.001-07:002008-11-22T11:59:04.645-08:00An interview with Ritwik Kumar Ghatak (1975): Part 4(Continuing from <a href="http://dipanjanc.blogspot.com/2007/06/interview-with-ritwik-kumar-ghatak-1975.html">Part 3</a>)<br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:110%;color: #66ffff">Section 5: Documentary Films</span></b><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Could you share some of your thoughts on documentary films?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Generally speaking, documentary films have followed two primary trends. First influence is <a href="http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/flaherty.html">Robert Flaherty's</a> work especially his portrayal of Eskimo life in <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=cLERFRQl5EY">Nanook of the North</a>, and the second one is London's Film Centre's movement led by <a href="http://www.onf.ca/portraits/fiche.php?id=278&v=h&lg=en">John Grierson</a>. The entire world came to realize the power and potential of documentary films because of those two individuals. On one hand, you have Flaherty's <i>Moana, Louisiana Story</i> and <i>Elephant Boy</i>, and on the other British Film Board's <i>Night Mail</i> and <i>Song of Ceylon</i>. The great modern documentary directors who followed their footsteps also deserve our deepest respect. <br /><br />Also what Leni Riefenstahl accomplished during <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=58N73cAF97Y">Hitler's era</a> is remarkable and indeed hard to match. Obviously we find her politics to be extremely repugnant, but her aesthetic abilities can not be denied. In spite of Hitler's mischiefs in 1936 during Berlin Olympics, the work she did with her team of 36 cameramen is outstanding and I do not think any other documentary filmmaker who has made a film of that scale in such an organized manner.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Have you followed any specific principles of making documentary films?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">For me, the principle came out of a combination of Flaherty and Grierson's influences -- along the lines of what <a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/454662/">Basil Wright</a> amazingly displayed in <em>Song of Ceylon </em>and<em> Night Mail.</em> I worship Wright. <br /><br />You see, in order to shoot documentaries, you need a much stronger love for people. You can not accomplish anything otherwise. Most of you consider me to be a director of fictional feature films, but please analyze carefully and ask yourself the question whether I have ever done anything except expressing love for my people. Have any of my films been shot inside a studio? <br /><br />To me, there is no difference between my features and my documentaries. I do not consider documentary films to be a separate art form -- they are documents of human life. If you strongly love your people, you can hardly distinguish between documentaries and features. I do not know a whole lot about documentary films even though I have made quite a few as I made those to make a living. I do not think I have the right attitude for making documentary films and I consider almost all of them to be failures. So it will be impudent to say anything more on this.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">We immensely enjoyed your documentary <em>Puruliar Chhau</em> and we also noticed its very significant role in <em>Jukti, Takko, Gappo</em>. What lies behind your strong interest in <em>Chhau</em> dance form?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Chhau is significant because it expresses the depth and richness of Purulia's life. If you visit Purulia, the poorest district of West Bengal, and go inside its villages, you would see how deeply the villagers there love their art. When I mixed with them, I totally fell in love. On observing how passionately they love the dance form and how attentively they create the dance masks, I was completely stunned. My love for them made me crazy. I have worked there three times. The first documentary I made was for West Bengal government. After that, when Philip Pierrot came from Paris, I made another documentary in color for him and finally, I had to work really hard on this film <em>(dipanjan:Jukti,Takko, aar Gappo's Chhau sequence).</em><br /><br />The fact is there is always a vision of mother-image lurking in my head. One of my friends once told me -- "you have been devoured by<i><a href="http://www.rouge.com.au/3/ghatak.html"> the mother</i></a> (archetype)". That is true -- I am always obsessed with <i>the mother</i>. If you notice carefully, <i>raison d'être</i> of the coda of the <i>Chhau</i> sequence is the mother complex.</span><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:110%;color: #66ffff">Section 6: East Bengal (Bangladesh)</span></b><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Please tell us about your experiences of shooting in Bangladesh.</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Good Heavens! If you want me to talk about shooting in Bangladesh, I will have to turn into a diplomat. It involves the political relation between the two countries and that is extremely "touchy". Specifically, if I say something bad about them, that will really hurt them and make the relationship even worse than what it is now. So I don't really want to talk about it. I can talk about "the good points" about Bangladesh and "not the bad points". The young actors and actresses there are simply incredible -- their vitality and energy are so intense as if they could die for you. Most of the technicians will work like crazy for you as well. In general, Bangladesh's people are extremely emotional and once they accept someone as their own, they will do anything for him or her. And if they do not like you, they will completely reject you. There is no point in talking about the equipments -- the situation is completely hopeless. Some of the stuff they have over there are exceptionally good and you won't find them in Calcutta, Bombay or Pune <em>(dipanjan: Pune refers to FTII where, for a brief period, Ritwik was a visiting professor and vice-principal)</em>. However, the equipments have been so carelessly maintained that most of them are completely useless now and I had a really really hard time in fixing them. I turned into a mechanic -- what else could I do?</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Was it because of a lack of knowledge or intentional?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Primarily a lack of knowledge. Also the tendency for taking bribes -- corruption, in general -- and finally complete sloppiness and carelessness. For example, one day we went to shoot at a place about 80 km from Dhaka. We prepared the sets and everything was ready to go. All of a sudden, one of my cameramen tells me -- "dada, this camera is not working; the shutter plate is not moving and I don't know what's wrong". Wasn't it the responsibility of the care-taker to test the camera at studio before getting it and all of us there? Anyways all the crew was there and we were spending so much money, so I had to do something. I finally opened the camera up and found that one pin inside the camera was tilted which was blocking the shutter-plate. I somehow fixed the pin and started shooting. Another day, at a place around 30 miles from Dhaka, we were shooting and I wanted 180 degrees, but the camera was stuck at 120. As you know, there are different types of cameras -- Arriflex type twos have variable shutters and the type ones have fixed shutters. So this cameraman comes to me and says -- "Dada, do you want to variate it? You can't do it; this is 120 with a fixed shutter". I said -- "Are you kidding? This is a type 2b, the best camera." So I open it up to see that it is completely "jammed" and then "I had to correct, then shoot". Problems like this! And the sound system? Horrible. Incredibly bad -- it falls apart as soon as you touch it. They have not taken proper care of anything. Anyways the people were fantastic. So this is the situation in Dhaka.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">What is your reaction on <i>MuktiJuddha</i> -- the freedom struggle?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">I was very excited about it. But now it seems exactly the opposite (of what I had expected) has happened. I don't think anyone else here has as much connection with Bangladesh as I have and that is mainly because I personally know them really well and have been close to so many of them. Most of those <i>muktijoddhaa</i>(freedom fighter) boys have turned into hooligans -- typical hooligans. Every house is full of sten guns, LMGs and revolvers. They have completely changed. Calcutta's newspapers do not publish these stories, but I go there often and I know this. The boys I used to love so much have become this. And the "good elements" among them are very frustrated -- "is this our freedom, is this what we fought for? did thirty lakh fighters die for this?" During the freedom struggle, there was so much excitement and optimism in the air when they fought against the Pak army. I was there and used to shoot in the middle of all that. And I go there now as well and see these two division -- on one hand, you have the ruffians and the hooligans, and on the other an absolute frustration and dejection.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Was the fact that you ended up shooting <a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=+Titash+Ekti+Nadir+Naam&search="><i>Titas</i></a> while you were in Bangladesh just a coincidence?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">No, not a coincidence at all. Bangladesh, as you know, is a riverine country and there are only two good Bengali novels on those rivers -- Manik Bandopadhyay's <i>Padma Nadir Majhi</i> and Adwaita Mallabarman's <i>Titas Ekti Nadir Naam</i>. The crux of the matter is Manikbabu's writing, as you know, is extremely sharp and precise. There is nothing one can say about him -- his writing is so restrained and he can express so much with so few words. However, he observes fishermen and their life from the perspective of a <i>bhadrolok</i>(middle-class gentleman). He can never really get into ... something does not just quite fit. Adwaita Mallabarman, on the other hand, is a <i>Malo</i> - a fisherman. He blah-blahs quite a bit -- there is a lot of redundancy -- but he has an insider's view because he is one of their own and his home is in that Gokarna village where I shot the film. He is the only graduate from that village -- among the <i>Malos</i>. So his writing on the joys and sorrows, the ups and downs of their lives penetrate a different depth altogether. One had to edit it significantly and I probably managed to do it, though I am not quite sure. I was very moved when I read <i>Titas</i> as it was first published around the same time when Adwaita died from TB. Since then I have been thinking about making a film out of it, but of course I could not enter Bangladesh when <a href="http://a-bangladesh.com/banglapedia/HT/K_0160.htm">Ayub Khan</a> was ruling it. As a communist, I had no hope of getting a visa and so I could not do it. At that time, a lot of people used to ask me to shoot the film here in West Bengal and that I could not accept. The river, the land, the boats and the faces -- you can not get them on this side of the border. So I have been thinking about <i>Titas</i> for a long time, since the beginning. My sister now lives in Kumilla, my twin sister. I was in Bangladesh as a state-guest in 1972, 21st February (<i>dipanjan:bhasha dibas</i>). Satyajit was with me as well. One day when I was at my sister's place, at the end of a cultural program, one young Muslim boy approached me and asked me why I was not filming <i>Titas</i>. And right there, I said yes and made up my mind. So it was not a coincidence; I have been thinking about it for a long time and when the opportunity came, I just grabbed it.</span><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:110%;color: #66ffff">Section 7: Political Past, IPTA</span></b><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Now I would like to ask you a few questions about your personal life. When and how did Marxism and politics start to attract you?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">I started getting inclined to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Socialist_Party_(India)">RSP</a> when I was in the first year undergrad. Immediately after that, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPTA">IPTA</a> started to strongly influence me and those two events led me to study Marxism. Studying Marxist literature and writing on it went hand in hand with theatre acting -- around 1944-45, although I am not too sure about the exact dates now.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">So you have been a part of IPTA since then?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Yes, I have been involved with IPTA since then. I was.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Around what time did you become part of the managing committee?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">That was in 1948. I became the secretary in 1948 and quit in 1953.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Was that before the party was banned?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Yes, just a little before the ban.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Which of your plays were staged during those IPTA days? And who directed them?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">I directed all of them. Among the plays, <i>Jwala</i>, <i>Dalil</i> -- <i>Dalil</i> was the first -- <i>Officer</i> and <i>Bhanga Bandar</i> are the only four I can recall at this moment.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">sNaako?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Oh yes, <em>sNaako</em>. There are a few more, but I can not recall.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Do you want to say something about what moved you to write Jwala and Dalil?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;"><i>Dalil</i>? I came to Calcutta from Rajshahi in 1948. Well... let's not get into all that <em>(dipanjan:partition). </em>The crux of the matter is I was forced to come to Calcutta and bring my mother with me. And then I had to watch the plight of the "refugees". Well, I can not stand those words -- I squirm whenever I hear words such as "refugee", "asylum-seeker" . "Most...afffair". Anyways, so I wrote <i>Dalil</i>. Then I was the secretary of IPTA and also the director of Central Squad. Writing plays as well as directing and acting in them was a full-time job for me. One day <a href="http://pd.cpim.org/2007/0415/04152007_pc%20joshi.htm">P.C. Joshi</a> -- he was in Allahabad then -- wrote a letter to me. Back then I used to live with my brother (<i>Sejda</i>) on Harish Mukherjee street. That was 1951 and there used to be a newspaper named "Indian Way" edited by P.C. Joshi. As you know, he was the general secretary (of CPI) prior to that and when B.T. Ranadive <a href="http://www.india-seminar.com/2004/539/539%20rudrangshu%20mukherjee.htm">kicked him out</a>, things became really bad for me and my wife. Anyways...damnit. There is no point in discussing all that -- kids of today do not know any of this and will not understand. So in that letter, PCJ told me to "take over the charge of Bengal" as a correspondent. Back then there was a big suicide wave (among the refugees) going on in Calcutta and I reported a series titled "Suicide Wave in Calcutta" on that sequence of thirty-one suicides. It became quite famous after it was published, but journalism and reporting did not quite satisfy me as I could not express my anger and frustration strongly enough -- I had not encroached films yet. So out of those characters in my report, I selected six and wrote the play <i>Jwala</i> which "is a documentary". I wrote the play and acted in it as well. I worked together with a lot of promising young boys and girls. It was on Calcutta at that time... now it is even more horrible, a complete nightmare. "At that time it was more or less a much better city".</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Who else acted with you in <i>Jwala</i>?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Kali Banerjee, Gita Dey, Mamtaj, and there was another girl named Mamata...</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Chattopadhyay?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Yes and there was another girl. And Gyanesh etc...</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Wasn't Bijanbabu part of it then?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">No, he was not. We are talking about 1951-52. After that I did not act for a while as well. And a long time after that one day Tiny Chatterjee who is now a director-general in All India Radio, got hold of me. I did direct <i>Jwala</i> for him, but did not participate -- my voice is not in it. Then my nephew Phalgu did it in Hindi for Patna radio. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phanishwar_Nath_Renu">Phanishwar Renu</a> who recently won the Rabindra award did the translation. His wife is a Bengali and he is from Munger as well, so he is almost a Bengali and knows the language well. Phanishwar and my nephew are neighbors and they have a theatre group. That translation was broadcast from Delhi radio as well. Anyways... let's not talk about it. Now it is all quite acceptable, back then "it was not taken in". It was very difficult to accept it, now things have become much more...</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Long before <i>Jwala</i>, you once mentioned that you wanted to do <i>Trishna</i>?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Don't bug me, my dear. I am a drunk, let me just keep drinking.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Why are you not writing plays any more?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">I don't want to. Look, I have no intention to write.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Well then, was your departure from IPTA voluntary?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Yes, absolutely.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Today (dipanjan:reference to Indian emergency 1975-77) we strongly feel the need for organizations such as IPTA and anti-fascist writers' guild. In spite of that need, similar organizations are not coming up...</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">What can I say? When the anti-fascist movement started, there was a strong group named <a href="http://www.cpim.org/marxist/198602_marxist_culture_ems.htm">PWA (progressive writers' association)</a> and IPTA was born under the auspices of PWA. We slowly became regulars in both of those organizations which shared the same address -- 46, Dharmatala Street. We used to work together and back then it was extremely important for us to do so. I agree that we need similar organizations today. I strongly feel that because I am more or less well-connected to Delhi and I do see that the power structure there is again shaping up in a very fascist way. But I do not know the mindset of today's youth; I do not know how principled they are. If there are young boys and girls like that, then yes, I am absolutely sure they should do something similar especially if you look at what CIA etc. are doing in Delhi these days. I do not want to take any names -- and there are quite a few famous and powerful people who are involved in all this -- but I do know each and every one of them. So yes, there is no doubt that there is an urgent need for similar movements, but unfortunately except the Naxalites, today's youth do not seem to care much.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Aren't you becoming a little too sympathetic towards them?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">To whom?</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Naxalites?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Well, I am bound to be a little sympathetic.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Isn't that out of the order?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">No, why so? I totally disagree with their politics, opinions and ideology, but their honesty? I can't help but respect that. I don't see anyone else. These young boys and girls -- I agree that they are completely misguided which I have shown in my film <em>(dipanjan:Jukti, Takko aar Gappo)</em> -- and their integrity have no parallel. They do not want anything for themselves. Shouldn't I respect that? I must.</span><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:110%;color: #66ffff">Section 8: An artist's social and political responsibility</span></b><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Usually artists are especially individualistic -- what do you think is the reason behind that?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">An artist becoming extremely individualistic is probably not appropriate for this day and age. They probably need to become a little more ... conscious socially. But I don't quite get why today's artists get so angry and mad. I do not quite get it from my perspective. There is a question of being democratic and I do not think they are trying to be. I am roaming round the entire country and I notice these boys and girls and somehow on this point, they are not quite... etc.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Have you ever considered yourself to be individualistic?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Me? I have never even questioned it. I am individualistic, from the start to end. My individualism is a fact, but that should not be held against me or my work. "I am continuously individualistic". But <i>miyaan</i>, what does that have to do with anything? "Life is like that!" I have been part of a lot of trouble and mischief, but I have never ever harmed anyone. Don't you get it, <i>miyaan</i>?</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">How deeply an artist should be embedded into politics?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">It is not a question merely for artists. In this society -- in this class-based society -- every individual must be completely saturated with politics. Not just artists, everyone. But that does not mean an artist should become a slogan monger. You can not become an artist with cheap slogans; an artist must work deep inside your senses and sensibilities. Politicians operate at a superficial level -- slogans, shouting, loud protests etc. -- but I do not think art survives when artists start doing the same.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Do you think artists have social responsibilities?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Absolutely. Anyone who avoids or claims to avoid social responsibility is also fulfilling some social responsibility by helping out the upper-class and ruling bastards. Everyone is definitely fulfilling some social responsibility.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">So from this perspective, what is the primary responsibility of artists of our country?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">To serve the men and women of our country. Moreover, the primary and the final responsibilities are exactly the same -- loving people, serving them and talking for them -- and that must be expressed in an artistic manner. That's all, but not slogan-mongering.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">It is being observed that some artists are getting completely isolated from politics. What is behind that, or ...</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">They are not getting isolated from politics. I have already answered this. They are all taking a side, but are posing as -- "I am not committed". "One can not be non-committed. You are either for this or for that." So none of them are apolitical, they are just being deceptive and are harming people.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Thirty years ago, this commitment used to be much stronger among artists. It has weakened significantly since then and is becoming almost non-existent. What is your reaction?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">I do have a strong reaction. They have been behaving in this way only because there is a growing tendency of finding short-cuts to becoming famous and successful. We were talking about this on our way here, right? In his essay on Shakuntala, Rabindranath while describing Kalidasa's era said -- "how time has somehow become lowly and wretched since then" -- and it is becoming progressively worse. In a way, our moral sense is decaying and everyone is becoming more irresponsible. These are symptoms of a decay leading to an eventual collapse. I think it is going to collapse completely, but at the same time I am positive that something new and strong will emerge out of that process. Maybe during my son's time or maybe during my grandson's. I do not think anything will happen in our lifetime. So you do not really need to group artists separately -- they are part of the whole process.</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">How much of the responsibility of this decay lies with the leftist political leaders?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">They bear complete responsibility, but none of them is on the left anymore. All of them have moved to the right. So I am not sure who you are referring to as leftist political leaders. They do not even exist. The leaders' only concerns are to pocket more money for themselves and their cronies and how to get their names and pictures published on newspapers. No one cares about Indian people. So how do I even assign responsibilities to those leaders? As I said before, something might emerge out of some of the Naxalite kids...</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size:100%;color: #58a">Do you think in the recent past, say within last twenty years, there have been some mistakes made on the part of communist party and its leadership on the cultural front -- mistakes which led to this decay in commitment?</span></i><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:105%;">Of course, there have been huge mistakes as a result of which I quit the party. P.C. Joshi might have had a lot of faults, but he had a deep understanding of these issues. And he used to complaint to each comrade while these mistakes were being made. My wife Lakkhmi was a comrade and was the secretary of Shilong committee long long time ago. PCJ should have forgotten that, but that bastard -- he is almost dying -- wrote a letter to her a few days ago. Whenever I go to Delhi, he would invite me to his house. And it is not just for me or Lakkhmi, he would enquire individually about each and every comrade. He is the man who destroyed Gandhi in Allahabad conference. "Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was completely finished up by P.C. Joshi.". And that man was <a href="http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article182.html">kicked out of the party </a>by a clique -- I am not going to name the comrades -- of certain individuals. That was in 1948 August at Wellington Conference which was held at Wellington Square and named "Second Congress". The party leaders have switched off their responsibilities from then on and obviously there is no point in discussing how much they have screwed up.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://dipanjanc.blogspot.com/2007/06/interview-with-ritwik-kumar-ghatak-1975_27.html">(to be continued ...)</a>Dipanjanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01615918701165933620noreply@blogger.com0