Why we never hear about such people

Cerebral malaria can be fatal, but people have been known to recover from it. Anuradha Ghandy, however, didn't stand a chance. Already weakened by the sclerosis when she walked into the hospital, it was too late. Within 24 hours, she was gone. By the time her vast circle of friends was informed on the evening of April 12, the 54-year-old had already been cremated. Better this than death by 'encounter', after prolonged torture. For that was the fate we feared this Naxalite could not escape.

That Anu managed to evade arrest for so long, was an indicator of the ruthlessness with which she effaced her identity. This, of course, meant isolating herself from all those who would have given up everything to nurse her. There was another way she could have recovered, even while underground. Anu could have followed medical advice and given herself the break her body so badly needed. For someone so important to the Party (CPI-Maoist), it might well have allowed it. But that wasn't her style.

Just climbing stairs had become an ordeal five years ago. Yet, days before her death, she was in some jungle where malaria was probably an inevitability. Anuradha Ghandy, I learnt after her death, was a senior Maoist leader. Her political career spans the first radical student outfit in Mumbai (PROYOM) in the '70s, and the armed dalams of Adivasi women in Bastar. Certain that like her comrades in Chandrapur, she too would be implicated in false cases and arrested, Anu went underground some years ago.

When I first met her in 1970, Anuradha Shanbag was the belle of the ball in Mumbai's Elphinstone College. A petite bundle of energy, bright eyes sparkling behind square glasses, her ready laughter, near-backless cholis and coquettish ways had everyone eating out of her hands, professors included. Elphinstone then was an intellectual hub. The Bangladesh war was just over, drought and famine stalked Maharashtra. Naxalism had come to Mumbai, at that time the industrial capital of the country. Anu, majoring in Sociology, was everywhere—inviting Mumbai's leading radicals to talk about the reasons for the drought, putting up posters that proclaimed 'Beyond Pity' and urging students to get involved with the crisis in the countryside, defending this stand against those who felt a student's role must be limited to academics and at the most, 'social work'.

Anu was also the one to question celebrity guest speakers such as Girish Karnad, whose path-breaking plays had just hit the stage, on the link between theatre and society. And it was Anu who introduced us to that feminist bible, Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch. Those were the days of 'parallel' cinema. Marathi amateur theatre was blossoming at Dadar's Chhabildas Hall. The Dalit Panthers had exploded into the Marathi literary scene. Adil Jussawala's New Writing In India was still making waves. Forum Against Rape, Mumbai's first feminist group, had just been founded. Anu, by then a lecturer at Wilson College, was immersed in all this. With her wide range of interests, she succeeded in linking the human rights organisation she and few others founded after Emergency with the city's intellectual ferment. Among other things, the Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR), demanded that the State stop acting lawlessly with Naxalites even though they rejected its laws.

Thanks to Anu's ability to talk as intelligently with George Fernandes as with Satyadev Dubey, her brother Sunil Shanbag's mentor, the cream of Mumbai's intellectuals supported this demand. Playwright Vijay Tendulkar and reformist Asghar Ali Engineer were CPDR's president and vice-president.

It was time for Anu to grow into a successful academic, the type who writes books and attends international seminars. Instead, in 1982, she left the life she loved to work in Nagpur. The wretched conditions of contract workers in the new industrial areas near Nagpur and of Adivasis in the forests of Chandrapur had to be challenged. Committed cadres were needed. In her subsequent trips to Mumbai, Anu never complained about the drastic change in her life: cycling to work under the relentless Nagpur sun; living in the city's Dalit area, the mention of which drew shudders from Nagpur's elite; then moving to backward Chandrapur. In Marxist study circles, 'declassing oneself' is quite a buzzword. From Mumbai's Leftists, only Anu and her husband Kobad, both lovers of the good life, actually did so.

Kobad's family home had been a sprawling Worli Sea Face flat; he was a Doon School product. Anu's lawyer-father may have left his family estate in Coorg to defend communists in court in the '50s, but she had never seen deprivation. Despite her own rough life, neither did Anu make us feel guilty for our bourgeois luxuries nor did she patronise us. On the few occasions she would suddenly land up over these 25 years, it was as if she had never left. She had the same capacity to laugh, even at herself, the same ability to connect, even with management types, the same readiness to indulge in women's talk. But with those closest to her, she seemed unnaturally detached. Her parents doted on her, yet she didn't take every opportunity she could to meet them. I realise why now.

Rushing to meet them whenever she came to Mumbai would have been worse than an indulgence. It would not only have eaten into the time she had for Party work, it would have also made it impossible for her family to have accepted what she saw as inevitable—an underground future. In order not to endanger her family, Anu simply disappeared from their horizon. When her father died, she couldn't go home. That was also the reason for her harsh decision never to have children, though her parents would have willingly brought them up. That was one bond she knew would draw her away from the life she had chosen.

The 'Naxalite menace', says Manmohan Singh, is the biggest threat to the country. But I remember a girl who was always laughing, and who gave up a life rich in every way to change the lives of others.

Jai Ho

UPDATE: HOORAY HOORAY HOORAY! JAI HO GULZAR AND RAHMAN!

(Music that makes you scratch your head and think of Baazi Lagaa from Guru, 00:28 seconds to be precise)

Jai Ho! ^n

Aaja aaja jind shamiyaane ke taley

Aaja zari waale neele aasmaane ke taley

Jai Ho! ^ n

Ratti ratti sachchi maine jaan gawayi hai

Nach Nach koylon pe raat bitaayi hai

Ankhiyon ki neend maine phoonkon se udaa di

Gin gin taarey maine ungli jalayi hai

Eh Aaja aaja jind shamiyaane ke taley

Aaja zari waale neele aasmaane ke taley

Baila! Baila!
(Dance! Dance!)

Ahora conmigo, tu baila para hoy
(Now with me, you dance for today)

Por nuestro dia de movidas,
(For our day of moves,)

los problemas los que sean
(whatever problems may be)

Salud!
(Cheers!)

Baila! Baila!
(Dance! Dance!)

Jai Ho! ^n

Chakh le, haan chakh le, yeh raat shehed hai

Chakh le, haan rakh le,

Dil hai, dil aakhri hadd hai

Kaala kaala kaajal tera

Koi kaala jaadu hai na?

Aaja aaja jind shamiyaane ke taley

Aaja zari waale neele aasmaane ke taley

Jai Ho! ^ n

Kab se haan kab se jo lab pe ruki hai

Keh de, keh de, haan keh de

Ab aankh jhuki hai

Aisi aisi roshan aankhein

Roshan dono heerey (?) hain kya?

Aaja aaja jind shamiyaane ke taley

Aaja zari waale neele aasmaane ke taley

Jai Ho! ^ n

So this is my good deed of the day. The Rahman/Gulzar/Sukhwinder combination delivers again. Was frankly disappointed with Yuvvraaj lyrics; Tu hi to meri dost hai sounds like Gulzar sahib on an exceptionally bad day. Have bugged all the music shops in Bangalore asking them when the SM soundtrack is coming. Apparently it's being imported via a Mr Godot.

Update: Thanks JpnDude for the Spanish section! Below is a loose English translation that murders the original Hindi. Apologies to Gulzar Sahib. Hope to post a link here when I find a good translation online.

Jai Ho =Something between “Hail” and “Hallelujah”

Come, come my Life, under the canopy

Come under the blue brocade sky!

Iota by iota, I have lost my life, in faith

I’ve passed this night dancing on coals

I blew away the sleep that was in my eyes

I counted the stars till my finger burned

Come, come my Life, under the canopy

Come under the blue brocade sky!

Taste it, taste it, this night is honey

Taste it, and keep it,

It’s a heart; the heart is the final limit

You dark black kohl

It’s some black magic, isn’t it?

Come, come my Life, under the canopy

Come under the blue brocade sky!

For how long, how very long

It’s been on your lips

Say it, now say it

The eye is downcast

Such lit up eyes

Are they two lit-up dimaonds(?) ?

Come, come my Life, under the canopy

Come under the blue brocade sky!

Hindi Movies on Terrorists

Recently there has been a spate of movies on Muslim terrorists in Bollywood and most of them try to be politically correct while at the same time trying to depict ground realities.
Movies which come instantly to my mind are black Friday, sarfarosh, Black or White, Fanna, Aamir, Khuda ke liye

In 90's when Films were yet to get industry status Indian movies were msotly financed by underworld money and one could see its effect in storyline of films. Glorifying urchins, road side thugs, smugglers etc. Not a single movie was made in this period which was unambiguous in its message

Black Friday : This was a good attempt to reconstruct the events as they were without much change which is pretty rare in India ( remember Border).
Instead of sermonizing movie simply shows what happened Muslims were angry after babri mosque demolition.Police acted partial during riots and underworld was Muslim dominated and this came handy. One very sinister undercurrent of this movie and which is apparent worldwide that as a community Muslims are more susceptible to be brainwashed by community in danger rhetoric as has been demonstrated by history innumerable times.

Sarafrosh was a fresh air and it was mostly a crime thriller with Indian touch. It had two main Muslim characters in Nasseruddin Shah a Pakistani artist who abuses Indian hospitality and Deputy of Amir khan who feels he is discriminated by system because he is Muslim.

Fanna was an outlandish communist propaganda justifying terrorism in Kashmir and actually shows "dhimmittva" attitude common in bollywood

Aamir was different but once again it does not expose the Hippocracy of terrorist mastermind and actually gives a credence to vicitm mindset in muslims without paing attention to fact that more hindus are living in more pitiable conditons than muslims lviing in mumbai ghettos

Balck & WHite was once again a movie with appeasing tone. By characters of Anil kapoor it tries to show that always Hindus have to be accommodative and go extra mile in palacating muslims.


Pretty similar to kingdom of heaven menatlity of hollywood.

I seriously wonder when will our movies start to show real things in real way !!

Mumbai Musings 2

Now it is almost a month in Mumbai. Some observation
1.Due to ban on dance bars and time restriction on disco night life is not what one would expect in a metro.
2.A metro makes people break religious taboo. Girls in burqa can be seen sitting with their boyfriends at marine drive
3.There are so called Maratha stores (I happened to visit two of them). But they are inadequately stocked, rude staff and priced same if not higher. Possibly monopoly feeling makes them behave so or marathis are not businessmen actually
4.girls of age even 13-14 years dress like late teen girls and their faces show that in metros girls attain puberty early. it was never so in my small hometown.
5.Lots of Muslims with long beards or skull cap in normal business place -- any sign of future or am i observing too much
6. Parsi community support mechanism especially in kolaba and old town. Really old people living in dilapidated old buildings
7. All companies have HR and normal support staff mostly Anglo Indians or their descendants.Most probably they are result of intermarriage between lower castes and Britishers. Now I can understand indignation of BK Nehru against this community in his book.
8. A dangerous trend of sectarianism. I mentioned about maratha stores before. There is YMCA hostel whee they prefer Christian guys .There is Maharashtra govt run law college which prefers only maharashtrians. What will happen to this country
9. High brand stores in Malls are frquented by shoppers as opposed to say Indore.
10. People follow lanes in traffic and also while taking buses or trains.other Indian cities can learn
11. No high rise in Nariman point. What is the reason? I don't know but they dream to make it second shanghai. phew ...
12. Mumbai metro project is nowhere. Only roads are blocked in northers suburbs but nothing real happening
13. Climate - good even in summer better than north india at least
14. Food - in all areas you can find find food according to your pocket and platter.

Mumbai Musings

This is my fourth visit to Mumbai but first one when I am meeting a large no of people outside usual sphere of convenience.
I met some interesting people for periods of time extending from few minutes to few days and would try to mention some intresting cretures.

At the top of list are two taxi wallas

First one a gujarati, I guess he was a muslim but he was aghast at new brees of up bihari taxiwallas, rich people , police , family members everything in world. I pray to god don't make me such a bitter man in my old age.

Second was a r\thakur near benaras and was aghast at chamars for putting banners on road to celebrate ambedkar jayanti. i joined his chorus to understand why he thinks so but there was nothing in his brain besides caste prejudice. My question as to why driving taxi if you are a thakur syunned him. Caste runs in blood of Indians.



Third was a boy , a student of first year BMS in the hostel room which I was going to occupy. he was speaking gujarati so i asked him whether he was gujju. He replied no , roman catholic. I said no mater what religion is you can't lose your regionL IDENTITY. THERE ARE WIDE DIFFERENCES IN A MALLU christian and north indian one. Then he says I am portugese not converted. Actually I could say that your forefathers were bastards actually but did not say anything and wondered what will happen to this country when people love to trace their lineage from some foreign invador but not accept their local roots.