Urdu short story: ‘What kind of nationalism is it to live in India and have an Arabic name?'
The second problem that arose was of the dress. There was no trace of Indianness in the pants, coat and tie that I wore. In fact, all three were a reflection of my slave mentality. I was amazed that I had worn them all this while. I decided to wear pajamas instead of pants. But then, a certain Persian person told me that the pajama had come to India from Iran. And so, I began to wear dhoti and kurta. But not a kameez, as the word 'kameez', too, is of Arabic origin and it reeks of the stench and stink of an Arab!
The third problem was of hair! After all, was it not treachery against the country, a blatant form of antinationalism, to keep one's hair fashioned in the English style? I instructed the barber to keep only one lock of long hair at the back of my head and shave off the rest. He did exactly that. I had seen images from ancient India showing men with long and lush moustaches. Following their example, I began to grow my moustache. When my friends saw the large moustache on my somewhat small face, they assumed that I had put on a fake one, possibly because I was acting in some play. Forget my friends, when I saw myself in this new look, I began to feel that I had been created not by God, but Shankar, the cartoonist. But I did not lose heart. One has to do all manner of things to be Indian.
Now we come to my eyeglasses. I asked several pandits: 'Is there any mention of eyeglasses in the Ramayana or the Mahabharata?'
They said: 'In those days people didn't eat vanaspati ghee and so their eyesight did not weaken while they were still young.'
I asked: 'Did Sugreev, Kunbhkaran, Dushasan and all the rest have such good eyesight that they never felt the need to wear eyeglasses?'
The pandits replied: 'All of them applied kajal in their eyes.'
I found the solution to my problem. I took off my spectacles and began to apply kajal. As a consequence, when it got dark, I began to mistake a rope for a snake and a goat for a dog. And when I attempted to read a book, the words turned into black doodles. In a few days, even during the day, I began to mistake one thing for another. I consulted an eye doctor. He advised: 'If you don't wish to become blind, kindly wear your spectacles.'
'But it is not Indian.'
'How does it matter? This watch that you have strapped on your wrist is not Indian and this cigarette that you are smoking isn't Indian either.'
'You have rightly reminded me. From tomorrow, I shall smoke a huqqah.'
'What have you decided about the watch?'
'I shall take it off.'
'And if you have to know the time?'
'I shall ask someone.'
'Do as you please, but kindly wear your spectacles, or else you will lose your eyesight.'
Thinking that I would simply add to the number of blind people in India if I were to become blind, I went back to wearing my glasses.
One night, as I was watching television, a friend of mine pointed out somewhat caustically, 'Television is not Indian.'
Ruing his utter ignorance, I said, 'If there was no television in ancient India, how could Sanjay give an eyewitness account of the events of the great war of Mahabharata to King Dhritrashtra?'
'It was a miracle of yog and meditation.'
'You may call it a miracle of yog. I would like to believe that Sanjay had a television set.'
'What happened to that set after Sanjay's death?'
'It was destroyed in the great war of Mahabharata.'
A few days later, another friend picked on me. He said: 'You have done your Bhartiya-karan, but why do you still wear boots?'
'I shall wear a joota from tomorrow.' I found it quite difficult to walk in the joota because it bit my foot terribly. But I paid no heed to the pain.
However, wagging tongues will wag as long as people have something to say. Someone said, 'Why do you always go to the office in a bus or a taxi? You should travel in a chariot or a palanquin.'
Annoyed, I replied, 'Where are palanquins and chariots to be found in the twentieth century?'
'Then you should walk.'
'The office is eight miles away. How can I go on foot?'
'Then forget this business of Bhartiya-karan.'
'I can't do that.' In a sly tone, they got back with another quip. 'Your wife still wears lipstick and powder. When will her Bhartiya-karan take place?'
The words were bitter but true. I vowed that I would insist that my wife henceforth colour her lips with betel juice and use sandalwood paste instead of face powder.
Now I thought that no one could point a finger at me and say that I was not one hundred per cent Indian. But I was proved to be wrong. One evening, a group of young men came to my house under the pretext of congratulating me. In the course of the conversation, they said to me, 'Despite being a complete Indian, why do you have a telephone in your house?'
'The telephone is a necessity for everyday life.'
'But it was not invented in India.'
'Nor was electricity.'
'You are absolutely correct. You must light lamps instead of electric bulbs.'
'How can lamps give sufficient light?'
'Why have you kept chairs in your house?'
'To sit on.'
'The ancient Indians did not sit on chairs.'
'Where did they sit?'
'On the floor.'
After a lapse of a few minutes, one young man spoke up. 'Why do you drink tea?'
'What else should I drink?'
'Joshanda.'
'Joshanda is not worth drinking.'
'Fine, then drink milk.'
'I can't digest milk. Moreover, it is very expensive.'
'Why does your son study in medical college?'
'I want him to become a doctor.'
'Why doctor? Why not vaid?'
'I don't have any faith in the Ayurvedic system.'
'But that's pure Indian.'
'Maybe. But I don't like it.'
'You like all other Indian things, why not this?'
'I don't have an answer to this question.'
'Then that means that you are not a hundred per cent Indian.'
They went away. But I was left in a terrible dilemma. Despite everything I had done, I had still not done a complete Bhartiya-karan on myself. Will I really have to light lamps? Must I drink joshanda? Will I have to send my son to the gurukul? And even when I have done all this, the nit-pickers will still say: Why do you read an English newspaper? Why do you take penicillin injections? Why do you eat cakes and biscuits? Why do you call your wife 'Darling'?
After thinking long and hard, I decided to make an announcement through the newspapers:
'I have done my Bhartiya-karan to the extent it was possible. I do not have the capacity to do any further Bhartiya-karan.'
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Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Wayanad copes with grief, looks to mitigate disasters
One recent rain-soaked morning, P Usman, clutching an umbrella, is making his way slowly past verdant tea plantations towards a large graveyard, fenced neatly with stone slabs. Opening the gate and taking a few steps in, Usman, in his late 50s, is quickly overwhelmed with emotion. His eyes well up. Inside the compound are scores of graves, most identified with names and photographs, and others marked only by small cement blocks. 'That's my cousin sister Muhsina,' he says, pointing to a grave marked by a black granite stone with her name etched on it. 'And over there, her three children,' he says, choking on his words. The rain is now heavier, and he moves closer to his sister's grave, and begins reciting prayers in Arabic. The day is significant for Usman and others whose relatives are buried here: it marks the first anniversary as per the Islamic calendar of the July 30, 2024 landslides in Mundakkai-Chooralmala in Kerala's Wayanad, a tragedy that claimed 298 lives and displaced over 700 families. Multiple landslides, following torrential rainfall exceeding 570mm in 48 hours, started in a remote forest in the upper reaches of the hill-range in the early hours of July 30, causing large amounts of soil, rocks and vegetation to cascade down nearly 8km and flatten the settlements of Punchirimattam, Mundakkai and Chooralmala. An expert geological team likened the impact to a dam burst. The inclement weather, the time of the accident and the collapse of a key bridge over the swollen Punnapuzha river contributed to high fatalities. Search and rescue operations went on for almost two months, with body parts of the dead being found 50km away. Dozens of the dead (from all faiths), were laid to rest at the specially-erected burial ground in Puthumala, coincidentally located just a few hundred metres away from a similarly devastating 2019 landslide-affected site. One grave contains the remains of three children, brothers aged nine, six, and three. Pens and toys have been left on the grave, likely things they loved. Usman's loss is both personal — his cousin, her children, and at least seven from her husband's family — and communal. 'For around eight years, I was the driver of a state transport bus that operated daily services to Mundakkai. So I knew these people, many by name and others by face. I have shared tea and meals with them. Their children used to board my bus to go to school. Most of them are now gone,' he recalls, adding that he got a transfer just three months before the disaster struck. Questions about rehabilitation Around 25km away, 40-year-old Regina Johny has been trying to find closure from the deadly landslide that claimed the lives of her husband Johny and their two teenage children, Abhinav and Anugrah. She herself was trapped in the mud, with only her hand above the ground. It was noticed by alert rescue workers; at the time, her survival was deemed a miracle by rescue personnel and local media. Over the past year, Regina has been flitting between the homes of her siblings in Wayanad and keeping herself occupied by working as a sweeper at the district government complex, a job she found through employment exchange and for which, as a civil engineering diploma holder, she is far too qualified. 'It's not what I want to do, but at the end of the day, it's a government job. At my age, I don't know if I will get another job,' rues Regina. A year after the landslide, there are mixed feelings among survivors and kin of the dead about how the state government handled the disaster and the ambitious plan it has set forth for their rehabilitation. A mega residential township for the landslide-affected is slowly taking shape near Kalpetta, and plans are in the offing to fine-tune monsoon rainfall predictions and set up shelters as part of long-term measures. Just 2km away from the centre of Kalpetta, the headquarters of Wayanad district, is the 64-hectare plot of the erstwhile Elstone tea estate where the government is building the township. Each family has been offered a 1,000 sqft home in a roughly 3,300 sqft plot within the township. Apart from homes, the township will also feature community centres, a market area, a primary health centre, an anganwadi and playgrounds for children, the government claims. On a recent morning, workers of the Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society (ULCCS), which is in charge of the project, are putting finishing touches to the first model house. The foundations for around half a dozen houses are also ready; the work was inaugurated by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan in April. With over 300 houses to be built, there are serious doubts over whether the December 31 deadline set by the government will be met. But Wayanad district collector DR Meghasree, who took charge just days before the landslide hit last year, appears confident. 'The construction has begun, and the first model house is nearing completion. Work is progressing as per schedule. We will meet the December 31 deadline,' she says. The township project is seen as a top priority for the Vijayan government, especially since the state heads for Assembly polls next year. As part of short-term rehabilitation, survivors are also entitled to allowances for monthly rent and livelihood. The administration pays ₹6,000 as monthly rent for those who lost their homes in the disaster until their new homes are ready in the township. And as part of livelihood allowance, two members of each family are entitled to a daily sum of ₹300 for a year. Bedridden patients get an extra allowance. While these allowances are being disbursed, there have been complaints of delay and eligible beneficiaries being pushed off the list citing arbitrary reasons. On June 26, a group of survivors protested in Chooralmala against alleged delay in payment of allowances and were booked for allegedly manhandling the local village officer. Sulaiman CH, whose home was marked as unsafe in the landslide-affected zone, complains that the government assistance has run into arrears for the past couple of months. 'The first few months, the payments were on time. But now, they have run into arrears. 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Business Standard
an hour ago
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Time of India
7 hours ago
- Time of India
When protecting a species means preserving a complex ecosystem
Forest dwellers across India's Western Ghats worship the tiger in various forms. In a sub-tropical country like India, where the tiger is the apex predator, it is likely that tigers became objects of worship because past generations recognised the need to conserve this big cat for its role in the ecosystem. As the top predator, tigers play a crucial role in controlling herbivore populations, thereby maintaining the balance of flora and fauna in the forest. Ecologists have long emphasised that tiger reserves not only protect the big cats but also maintain ecosystem equilibrium, balance other animal populations, and help preserve forests and their water sources. In Goa, the proposed tiger reserve area serves as the catchment basin for the Mandovi, Zuari, Talpona, and Galgibaga rivers, in addition to several streams. 'It is essential to take every possible measure for the conservation of the tiger, the most majestic animal of the Indian wilderness. As the apex predator in the food chain, the extinction of the tiger will inevitably impact all other components of the ecosystem. The forest provides shelter to the tiger, and in return, the tiger protects the forest — in essence, it safeguards the biodiversity within it,' said naturalist Ramesh Zarmekar. A tiger spotted in Tillari valley forest in Maharashtra's Dodamarg corridor which opens into the Mhadei sanctuary forests in Goa The proposed tiger reserve area in Goa comprises semi-evergreen dense forests with steep slopes. The region is a mosaic of woodlands and grasslands and is already known to be a habitat for leopards, Indian Gaur or bison, sloth bears, barking deer, chital, wild dogs, king cobras, and other mammals and reptiles, besides tigers. 'If all coordinates living with the tiger are protected, only then will the ecology be protected. Once you make a tiger reserve, central govt gives more funds for its protection and this will help in protection of the entire 757sq km all Goa's protected areas,' said former range forest officer Prakash Salelkar. According to the Karapurkar Committee appointed by Goa govt, all the proposed tiger reserve areas are among the richest reservoirs of biodiversity in the world. The forest areas are part of regions identified as the second best in India and the eighth best in the world as the finest tiger habitats. More recently, the role of tiger landscapes to mitigate climate change has also been identified. 'They store more carbon than any other forest type,' said a forest official.
