Art and the Raj

TheSeer Team

As dusk settled into the horizon, we moved towards discussing the bygone eras of India. The atmosphere was fitting, the excitement subsided and the gathering calmly awaited the perspectives that cameras had captured of our pasts. 

 

We missed Mr. William Darlympole’s perspectives on painted records of the past due to his unfortunate absence during the session. However, Ms. Alka Pande very comfortably filled in his shoes and took us through the visuals captured by the colonial camera. Until this session, I believed cameras to be impartial to the subject. There are only so many ways in which you could capture the truth in the past. We didn’t have photoshop after all! But the biases underlying each shot were very skillfully addressed by Ms. Pande. She brought to the spotlight the idea of colonial documentary. Unlike documentaries today, which delve into multiple imagery, photographers relied on single image documentaries to describe and tell the story of a given location, architecture, or people, colonial photographers in particular always brought a glaringly obvious view to their art- The white gaze. The white gaze looked at exotic elements with such an object of scrutiny that they no longer remained as organic elements. They reduced people to objects and human culture to hollow architecture.

 

With great finesse and detail she took us through slides of old photographs, described styles, tones, colours, and distinct individual styles of capturing a frame. We were able to witness the works of renowned British Era artists like John Murray, Cuthbert Christy’s Album of India, Watson and Kaye’s The People of India or the works of Baker and Burke through the 19th century.

 

When describing Kaye’s People of India, with quite disdain and distaste, Ms. Pande went on to describe the chronicling of tribes and the real objectification of nativity in India. The pictures were staged to capture the naked Indian in shades of brown, with distinct features and characteristics used to describe exotic species. This lack of empathy was integral to the white man’s gaze.

 

However, we also witnessed an Indian photographer Raja Deen Dayal’s works. He documented the opulence of the British colonial era more compassionately. His pictures were as exotic and removed from everyday British reality. His photographs were also heavily staged. However, the dynamics portrayed were familial dynamics. The architecture was displayed with pride, royalty were depicted in full glory, and the settings were picturesque.

 

Through this vivid imagery, the Q&A also took a turn towards the inter cultural influences in art. With India’s enormous past and multicultural influence, no art form could be claimed to be purely Indian. We have embraced hybridity in expression. Irrespective of the lens that perceived our past two centuries, the documentation of biases that has accompanied physical documentation has added a wealth of perspective to our understanding of colonial India.

 

 

 

 

About the Author: Deepika Aiyer is a 20 year old Literature Fest enthusiast who looks forward to being blown away by new ideas, opinions, and schools of thought. She currently writes for TheSeer.

Children | Literature | Fun (C | L | F) – Day 2

TheSeer Team

The youngest reporter and blogger on the team, Devaarsh Mehta attended a few of the CLF sessions for children in his age category (12+) at the Bangalore Literature Festival, Day 2. Find his take on these sessions that are specially designed for children to have fun and also take home a lesson or two.

 

The Grass is Red on The Other Side

Gautam Benegal is a great illustrator. He showed us many of his illustrations in different books and how he uses a different style in each book. He then told us that solitude is essential for ideating. Too many sights and sounds can make the imagination blind and deaf. Yet, if we focus we can even do art in hectic places. Use your fingers as a frame and capture a view, including the time and space in your mind’s eye (you can eve click a picture on your mobile) and then paint/draw it.

 

 

Talking Objects – The Museum as a Storyteller

In the museum, we saw many things like old royal fans, teapots, sugar holders, telephones, butter churners, graters, statues, pictures of weddings, masks, puppets, textiles and many pictures of the Ramayana in different mediums.

It was a lot of fun as we played many games such as guessing games, thinking games etc. I was a little sad in the end, as it had exceeded the time limit and had to be stopped.

 

 

Wonders & Visions – Why Science Fiction?
Vinayak Varma and Gautham Shenoy

This session was the one I enjoyed the most in my entire time at BLF. It was a talk on science fiction. The authors said that reading Sci-fi relaxes them as they can escape from the real world and jump into a world where anything is possible.

 

All good Sci-fi stories have different branches of science at their core. For example, zombies come from zombie ants, ants that are infected with a virus, which causes them to climb up a tree and commit suicide, because of which more viruses are released and this infects other ants.

 

Sci-fi stories also have this what-if-question. Like what if robots took over the earth or what if there is an alternate dimension, etc. Sci-fi stories breathe life into science and they are very different from fantasy stories as they are more in the realm of possibilities. About 30 years ago, having a cell phone would have been something out of a Sci-fi book. Come to think of it, tomorrow itself is Sci-fi because everything IS Sci-fi till it actually happens.

 

 

 

About the Author: Devaarsh Mehta is a certified bookworm, guitarist (almost), riddle maker, puzzle solver, and earth warrior with a huge collection of books in his personal library. He currently writes for TheSeer.

Accidental Magic

TheSeer Team

“I can’t stop reading it, being a Harry Potter fan”, was the note with which Shrabonti began. The next thirty minutes saw Keshava taking us through his journey from entering the world of Harry Potter to his work, Accidental Magic, that journeys through Boston, Madras and Bangalore.

 

The Beginning

During the summer of 1999, when Keshava was in the 4th standard, he won the 2nd prize in a quiz contest and bought the Lord of the Rings, his first self-bought book from the Premiere book shop. “Ek kitab ko dekha to aisa laga”, was his reaction, which took him on an odyssey starting with Harry Potter and Pottermania. 

Keshava mentioned that he hated being a child and thought that children are defective adults. This led him to discover and sign up for adult Harry Potter communities, which revolved around fan art and a lot of discussions on the relationships between Ron, Harry and Hermione. He was mostly what people refer to as a ‘Lurker’, more interested in what others had to say rather than writing his fandom.

 

His foray into writing started when he had a sense of loneliness as a student in the US. Keshava wanted to write about people. This, along with his Pottermania, resulted in Accidental Magic. The seeds were sown in his childhood, because he grew up in a home full of books and had a lot of freedom to read the genre of his choice.

According to him, calling something a ‘literary fiction’ is a serious crime. One needs to read a book like taking a nice glass of wine, not like taking multivitamins or broccoli!

 

Is the book only for Harry Potter fans?

This was an interesting question that Shrabonti posed. Keshava replied in the negative, saying that Harry Potter fans appreciate the familiarity, whereas the others would appreciate the unfamiliarity, or being able to relate to other aspects such as Boston and Madras.

 

A glimpse into the protagonists

Keshava gave us some insights into two of the characters – Kannan and Curtis, two very different people. Kannan is in his 20s and goes to the US to do his Masters; his family is defined by the absence of love. Curtis is in his 50s and hosts a radio show. Curtis is Keshava’s favourite character, whereas Kannan comes closest to being a ‘protagonist’, having had the highest number of revisions.

 

Three Wishes…

Shrabonti asked Keshava about the genre of books that interest him the most and what would he like to see in young writers. These are the three wishes he put forth:

  1. To see more fiction that seriously engages with India. Keshava listed Arvind Adiga and Arundhati Roy as his favourites. 
  2. Wish young writers would write in the language they think. Keshava felt irked that a lot of writers nowadays sound as though they are trying to emulate someone else in the writing style, which takes away the originality of content. 
  3. Hope to see more writing in the past tense. He referred to youngsters, who, in their thirst for immediacy, write in the present tense – this is often seen as a virtue in social media.

 

Keshava read an excerpt from his book, about the Bangalore that Kannan finds when he returns from the US in order to see a girl from Madras in a matchmaking alliance.

 

 

 

 

About the Author: Usha Ramaswamy craves to get more creative in addition to being an avid reader, traveller, vlogger, marketer of events, mobile photographer. One day, she wants to write a book but for now, she pens her reflections at her blog and puts up photos on instagram. She also works as a software process consultant and is a mother of two. She currently writes for TheSeer.

Savarkar – The True Story of the Father of Hindutva

TheSeer Team

Born in 1883. Died 1966. He lived 83 years of which he spent 30 years in prison. “He didn’t influence Indian politics much when he was alive and died an unsung hero for some and a hero for most. We are now entering an era where his ideas are coming alive, exactly a century after he wrote his fundamental treatise, which was titled Hindutva. By the time India faces its next elections, Hindutva would have completed 100 years as a political philosophy articulated, codified, and presented before the world, and today it is much more accepted as a political ideology”. With these introductory lines, Varghese K. George, the associate editor and US correspondent for The Hindu launched a discussion on the life of the man whose name would forever mark the foundations of contemporary Indian politics: Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, and the man who immortalised him in his book Savarkar: The True Story of the Father of Hindutva, Vaibhav Purandare.

 

When asked about the character of VD Savarkar, Mr Purandare stated simply that he was an incredibly complex person, and without looking at his entire life, the two halves of which paint two very different pictures of the same man, it is not possible to wholly understand his controversial personality. It is difficult to form conclusions based on the accounts and impressions of other Hindu nationalists and political debaters. In fact, a close friend of his, David Garnett, called him a man of single-minded recklessness. Mr Purandare supported this saying that Savarkar would “often plunge into an activity just simply because he very strongly believed in something”. This even applied to the dynamic change in his ideologies, as in the first half of his life he advocated Hindu-Muslim unity, and in the second half, Hindutva and aggressive Hindu assertiveness. For a man who called the 1857 sepoy mutiny an “outstanding example of Hindu-Muslim unity”, this change came neither easily nor quickly. It took 30 years of inhumane living conditions, torture, and debasing at the hands of Muslim, Pathan, and Baluchi jailors in the Cellular Jail, as a result of which Savarkar underwent a massive intellectual and ideological change. There was both a personal and political transformation towards a predominantly anti-muslim mindset. This was also fortified by the rampant Hindu-Muslim violence in the early 1900s. He, along with Muhammad Ali Jinnah, opposed Mahatma Gandhi’s decision to align with the Khilafat Movement. 

 

Yet, another eminent freedom fighter of that time, Bal Gangadhar Tilak also went to prison, and instead came out a strong advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity, pointed out Mr Varghese. This brings to light the almost opposite and parallel paths that these two men followed. The years of brutality that he had suffered at Kala Pani made of him a changed man.

 

When it came to martyrdom and sacrifice, however, Savarkar chose a very pragmatic approach. On one hand, he hailed the martyrdom of Bhagat Singh while on the other hand, he filed seven mercy petitions between 1911 and 1920. This fact, said Mr Purandare, only highlights the complexity of the man. “Savarkar, you see, was a person who was convinced that he was a leader of a movement. He was not a mere footsoldier. He felt that his leadership was necessary to guide people, and so he didn’t want to end his own life.”, he said. This was at a point in the history of the struggle for independence when the sacrifice of a man like Bhagat Singh had helped galvanize the entire nation against the British. Savarkar did not wish to die insignificantly within the confines of a jail. 

 

Another contradiction in Savarkar’s increasingly complex personality, noted Mr Varghese, was his aversion to any sort of religious ritualism, especially when it came to funerary rites. He considered the Puranas and the Vedas as tools that could be used to help the lower caste population feel more Hindu. Towards the end of his life, he was completely an atheist. For him, Hindutva was more about regaining Hindu spaces, which had been soiled by the British invaders and the Muslims that desanctified and destroyed them. Even his stance on cow protection has been misinterpreted by most. Contrary to popular belief, his principles of Hindutva condemn the killing of a cow only when it is motivated by spite, not for dietary causes.

 

While Savarkar certainly excluded Muslims from the ambit of Indian nationhood, he had formed some clear distinctions within the Muslim community.  He believed the Khojas and Bohras to be patriotic and the rest to be problematic. With this, Mr Purandare affirmed the ever changing nature of Savarkar’s opinions and stances. Therefore, it is unfair for people to consider him to be only a Hindutva idealogue or a revolutionary. Seeing that they were two very different people whose actions were motivated by contrasting factors, even contrasting Golwalkar’s and Savarkar’s ideologies would be futile. Their directions of evolution, just like that of his and Tilak, were very different.

 

The final question that Mr Varghese asked Mr Purandare was whether in current politics , the National Register of Citizens and the amendments to the Citizenship Act are fulfilling the vision of VD Savarkar, the reply to which was, “Absolutely, because Savarkar seems to be steering the Indian Government at present because he was very clear that the concept of religion is implicit in the definition of who is an Indian citizen”.

 

 

About the Author: Asmi Roy is a lover of all things written and readable and works as a freelancer. She currently writes for TheSeer.

From Cosmic Dance to Climate Change

TheSeer Team

The stage was set for what was going to be one of the most mesmerizing dance performances and social statements all blended into one. Revanta who is a dancer, choreographer, and actor from Ahmedabad started off on a very strong note talking about how many of the older Bharatnatyam pieces consisted of mainly solo performances by women and how that has evolved today with the men also coming to the forefront, depicting alternate stories. He described how one of the pieces he performed about Ekalavya taught him about untouchability and it is through dance that he learnt about gender fluidity.

 

Next he spoke about the Hindu trinity of Gods – Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva and their context in modern life and climate change. He then broke into a beautiful dance performance about how humans had not respected our planet, which is God’s creation, and essentially insulted our creator. A verse from the performance read – “We are destroying trees, and melting mountains, O Lord of destruction, We are destroying the world ourselves”.

 

As the music faded, without stopping for a breath, he told us the story of Nandanar an untouchable devotee who longed for acceptance. He further added- “Perhaps the Nandanars of today will not take it lying down and perhaps the privileged will ask the right questions.” This was followed by another beautiful dance piece that was so immersive that the audience broke into a huge round of applause.

 

 

But the best was yet to come. Revanta now spoke about modern love, modern long distance relationships and our crippling dependency on technology. He then gave us an insight into how he along with his mentors had developed a piece that spoke about modern love problems while keeping the core essence of Bharatnatyam. Once again the music started, and he performed that particular piece for us. The audience could not stop smiling and applauding as he depicted through his movements how long-distance love survives by swiping phone screens, and phone calls and video calls. It was an intelligent and wonderful piece that combined old tradition and modern life.

 

What Revanta did with his session was remarkable. He made very strong and socially relevant statements while also displaying his core art form of dance. He has taken a traditional dance form and made it cutting-edge, honest, immersive, and relevant to the society and times we live in.

 

 

 

About the Author: Pashmi Dutta is a reader, writer, political enthusiast. Trying to talk with ease about things that make us uneasy, she has her blog at PashmiBlog and currently writes for TheSeer.

 

 

 

 

Nehru Lives On

TheSeer Team

Ramchandra Guha’s study of history is rooted in current politics. With political leanings on display and political opinions out in the open, the discussion began as a strong reminder of the importance of Jawaharlal Nehru as the first Prime Minister.

 

Purushottam Agarwal took us through this journey of rediscovery. He brought Nehru to the forefront and wished to give his presence and decisions due credit for building the nation in the initial years. His experience as Chairman, Centre of Indian Languages, JNU and a definitive career in Hindi literature has helped put the spotlight on various innately Indian issues – like the hurting of our newly developed religious sentiments.

 

With his latest, “Who is Bharat Mata?”, he has published a selection of Nehru’s writings and speeches about history, culture and the idea of India with an illuminating introduction. Nehru’s Discovery of India described an instance when the chant of Bharat Mata was broken down to understand what this ‘Bharat Mata’ referred to? What value did it hold? Did it refer to our stunning landscapes, our geographical beauty, or to the people that made Bharat into  one unique society?

 

Bharat Mata’s journey as envisioned in the past, was identified as very different from the current reality  in the session. We were envisioned to move away from oppression into building a society along the principles of inclusion. As the current political environment was once again scrutinised and critiqued, the need for such a book emerged. The session led us to the same crossroads at which Nehru stood so many years ago, and posed the same question to us. Who is Bharat mata?

 

The special emphasis on Nehru over any other historic figures comes from the author’s own past. The death of Nehru led to the unwinding of many orthodox Hindus who had openly criticised his policies and decisions before. This made him wonder what was it that Nehru represented? Where did this reverence come from?

 

Mr Purushottam identified two criticisms against Nehru and their dissolution over the past 50 years. Firstly, Nehru’s idea of religion was considered to be contemptuous to the Indian culture. He refused to prescribe to any particular sub sect. He didn’t proselytise any one form of prayer. But this didn’t mean he refused to acknowledge the importance of religion in the shaping of Indian culture. The book samples some of his profound thoughts on culture, its creation, and sustenance.  

 

Secondly, his idea of religion was more globally contextualised. His exposure to ancient Greek and Indian philosophies developed a Pagan worldview which was simultaneously adopted with certain strains of Advaita ideology. This sometimes meant that he practised a higher level of belief that put his practices on a higher pedestal. This global context made him welcoming of religious divergence in the country and that finally developed a political philosophy which was completely opposed to the usage of religious sentiments in politics.

 

Mr. Agarwal very aptly quoted Nehru in this context, “Where there are sentiments, there is no dialogue.” Gandhi reflected vernacular modernity, while Nehru reflected immigrant modernity. His national identity wasn’t limited to a particular regional identity. This fluidity in identity helped Nehru and Gandhi bridge the gap between the ideological nitty gritties that the two differed on.

 

 

About the Author: Deepika Aiyer is a 20 year old Literature Fest enthusiast who looks forward to being blown away by new ideas, opinions, and schools of thought. She currently writes for TheSeer.

Bestsellers – Smart Women Have Hearts Too

TheSeer Team

Samhita Arni was in conversation with Anuja Chauhan today on a sunny afternoon at the Tughlaq in the Bangalore Literature Festival. Samhita made a big bang start by opening the conversation with “A fireside chat with the hottest author in Bangalore, a peek into her past work and cue into her future”.

 

Samhita’s first poser to Anuja was on the subject of her books, which are not just entertaining, but also have substance, history, and politics. In response, Anuja said that she tries to write books which she reads personally. “The vital thing a reader can give another reader is their voice. Your life experiences are your raw data”, responded Anuja, and went on to add that her father having been an army man, her experiences come into her writing. 

 

Anuja confessed that she was partial to autobiographies and hopes to write 20 autobiographical books before she dies! Her book “Baaz” relates to the crushes she had on fighter pilots, “The Zoya Factor” takes on from her stint in advertising and “The Battle of Bittora” storyline is taken from the election campaigns on which she accompanied her mother.

 

Anuja had some very interesting tips to share on how to cater to diverse audiences. She advocated to write in a light, breezy, bouncy zone, or it will scare the idea away. She suggested to talk to people who are not like you and help to enrich your life. Importantly, she said, “base your characters on traits of people you know”. As an example, she spoke about the grandmother character from ‘The Battle of Bittora’. Pushpa Pandey, the name, was based on her mother’s first name. The character is based on a three-time Member of Parliament from a north Indian village. The traits of the character are a lot like her mother, grand mother as well as her mother in law. There are readers who ask her what is the risk that people might recognize themselves in her books. She ruled out this possibility by assuring that she is good at disguising people, in bringing only traits and not the entire person into her book. 

 

Samhita quizzed her on which medium she leans towards, books or movies, considering that quite a few of her books have made it to the movies, Anuja definitely prefers the written medium since only a book is complete. She then added with a smile that a movie made from a book does have its perks such as the money and being invited to Bangalore Literature Festival.

 

Samhita gave it away when she said that Anuja is working on a web series for Hotstar that has strong women protagonists. Anuja said that this is a medium close to her since the content has to be really sticky and its structure is different from that of a book. 

 

Anuja reflected on having written five books in 10 years; and felt this is too slow. “I’m no speedy Gonsalves”, she said. She wonders how Agatha Christie has been able to complete 70 books. She quoted that Meg Cabot and Vikram Seth are her favourite writers. According to her, the best compliment an author can get is to be re-readable. Samhita added on the compliment to mention that her protagonists are staunch, feisty women.

 

In response to an audience question about her transition from the ad world to writing books, she mentioned that self-motivation is the key; she pushes herself to write at least 1000 words a day.

 

Pepsi’s Yeh Dil Maange More was one of her famous ad campaigns, which was created by building upon Pepsi’s international tagline ‘Ask for more’ and giving it an Indian twist. “Thoda dil daalke bolo – Yeh Dil Maange More”, in her own words.

 

Anuja advised that advertising was a good start to a career before getting into writing. She mentioned that the ad world crushes your ego, and you become receptive to criticism. Her humorous anecdote about Jemima Goldsmith’s father telling her that Imran Khan would make a good first husband sent the audience into splits of laughter. She spoke about the 3Rs of advertising – Rapidity, Resilience, Repertoire. “Read the masters, read, read and read”, is the one liner she had to say to the upcoming writers. Having been glued to every word that Anuja said through the half hour session, the audience gave a thundering applause, almost as if they said ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’!

 

 

 

 

About the Author: Usha Ramaswamy craves to get more creative in addition to being an avid reader, traveller, vlogger, marketer of events, mobile photographer. One day, she wants to write a book but for now, she pens her reflections at her blog and puts up photos on instagram. She also works as a software process consultant and is a mother of two. She currently writes for TheSeer.

Bestsellers – The Belated Bachelor Party

TheSeer Team

The Yayati stage arena was seen jam-packed this evening at 3.30 PM as the love story juggernaut, Ravinder Singh and Milan Vohra, better known as India’s first Mills & Boon author, took the stage. The session moderated by Milan, was kickstarted with an introduction to Ravinder’s latest bestselling novel, The Belated Bachelor Party, which has sold over 3.5 million copies!

 

The discussion primarily revolved around how The Belated Bachelor Party stands out from his long list of run-of-the-mill love stories, culminating in heart-breaking endings. Ravinder called it “a reunion book” which he claimed is poles apart from his kind of writing. This book is more of a comic relief to his readers who complained that there are no happy endings to his books. It also brought back his three friends who had moved to 3 different corners of the globe. It was all about bringing in a change in the flavor to cater to the changing tastes of the audience.

 

Ravinder assured to have incorporated his direct or indirect experiences in his book and that’s a recurrent theme in his writings. He basically familiarized the audience to his book by narrating a short blurb from it which revolves around four friends living in 4 different places and how they held onto the bond of friendship even after living apart from one another for years at a stretch. It all starts with a conference call amongst the four of them that triggered the entire idea of a bachelor party that they never had before getting married. And he chose to add the ‘belated’ part to it because he is of the belief that “belated can fix so many things”.

 

Further, the story behind the narrative style of the book was unraveled to the audience. Ravinder asserted that the idea of making ‘friendship’ his mouthpiece in his book occurred to him from his reading of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak where ‘death’ narrates the story. There also exists the elbow-space to be self-critical when written in third person is what Ravinder believes. His talk on his book was further seasoned by his light-hearted humor and ended with a few cliff-hangers for those who haven’t read his book as yet.

 

On being questioned by Milan about his concept of “wealth, women, and wine can make everything happen”, he goes back to connect it to “jar, jameen aur joru” (wealth, land and wife), about what weaken the knees.

 

Ravinder concluded his session by voicing out his firm will to leverage the power of books to talk about the things that matter to him. While signing off, he created fine ripples of applause and cheer amongst the audience by announcing the existence of a bunch of men who are sensitive and can talk about issues without women being involved in whatever way possible.

 

 

 

About the Author: Upasana Mahanta is an MA in English with Communication Studies student from CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) – Bengaluru, who firmly believes that there is nothing more exhilarating and liberating as poetry. She finds solace in writing poems and travel blogs and has amongst her laurels a 1st Prize in the English category of the All India Poetess Conference, Meghalaya Chapter’s Seventh Poetry Competition cum North East Poetry Festival. She currently writes for TheSeer.

 

Hindustani Mussalman

TheSeer Team

The evening session driven by Abdullah Khan, a Mumbai based novelist, screenwriter, literary critic, and banker was one of the most engaging events of the day two of Bangalore Literature Festival. His discovery of George Orwell sharing origin to his birthplace Bihar, drew him to literature. With Abdullah on stage was Andaleeb Wajid, a Bangalore-based writer who has written on diverse topics like food, relationships, and weddings in a Muslim context. The other esteemed guests were Hussain Haidry, an Indian poet, writer and lyricist and Hem Borker, an assistant professor at the Centre for Social Exclusion and Inclusive policy, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. 

 

The discourse began with the contextualization of the current widespread practice of stereotyping on the basis of various grounds like religion, region, caste etc. The debate was intense around the identity aspect and its corollary with respect to our country. Abdullah brought in references from Nelson Mandela’s vision to proceed the argument which mainly dealt with the explanation of who actually is an Indian Muslim in the contemporary India. 

 

The power structure of Muslims facing the stereotypical bias from the country as a whole for being a minority was discussed. Andaleeb expressed her struggles over wearing veil (burkha) and exploring her right to choose the way she wishes to dress and make her personal choice. Hema brought in historical instances which paved a new school of thought about a secular country where everyone has equal rights to practice their own choice of religion. 

 

The debate was carried forward by Hussain’s vision of Indian Muslim not just being a mere set of two words, instead a culmination of numerous identities. He narrated his poem “Hindustani Mussalman” to the audience which received a stellar response. He then put forward a series of questions after narrating his poem which was received with pin drop silence. The narration included controversial parts of the poem about Babri Masjid. He also spoke about being a Muslim and rejoicing the sacred bath in holy river Ganga.

 

The panelist then referred to the aspect of multi-identity in every Muslim. They cleared their stance that they are as Indian as any other citizen of the country. Abdullah drew the mistaken stereotype of most Indians assuming and associating Muslims to mere one section of the society. He gave his life experiences whereby he had to tell people that he has many layered identities besides being an Indian. He gave the example of Genghis Khan who is assumed to a Muslim because of his surname though he was a follower of Tengrism. 

The panelists shared their life experiences and dwelled on the aspect of secularity in the country, overarching the central idea of Muslims as a community in India facing prejudice. The session ended on a very insightful discussion answering audience questions related to current events like the Babri Masjid verdict.

 

 

 

About the Author: Abhinav Kumar is an MA in English with Communication Studies student from CHRIST ( Deemed To Be University), Bengaluru who believes in “No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world”. He is interested in sports journalism and travelogue writing. He currently writes for TheSeer.

Inside the LeT

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The Indian political environment is ripe with stories of Islamic invasions, Hindu-Muslim tensions and land title disputes. The easiest emotional currency that politicians can use is Kashmir, terrorism and Pakistan’s LeT. While navigating through this fragile socio-political atmosphere, Christine Fair managed to very simply explain the workings of one of the biggest terror organisations in the world, the Lashkar- E-Taiba.

As she put it, it IS Pakistan’s LeT. Through Christine’s extensive travels throughout Asia and a detailed study of political and military events in South Asia, she has attempted at understanding the symbiotic relationship that Pakistan has nurtured with the LeT.

In understanding the LeT, their “wide collection of publications are the lowest hanging fruit,” she said. Pakistan never let her easily access propagandist material. However, post being ‘kicked out’ of the country, she could lay hands on some of their deep-rooted ideologies in the American Library of Congress! And since then, she has churned out a multitude of books that attempt at explaining the gruesome reality of this dynamic. Her long seated association hence opened up some rarely known facts about the terror group.

One, for instance, is that the LeT disassociate themselves completely from ISIS for ideological reasons. Unlike other organisations, they never attacked Pakistan and have attempted at creating a very pro-state repertoire for themselves. The LeT has become a very reliable proxy for Pakistan to carry out the needed in both India and Afghanistan while creating a reputation as removed from reality- that of non-violence and pure religious leanings. Their enormous social infrastructure goes as far as providing welfare to Hindus in the Sindh region. With close to no government support, such efforts have translated into very strong image building for the LeT.

The Problem: “Very few Pakistani’s ascribe to their ideological variant of Islam. Out of the 100 that are trained, only a handful get to India and get killed. A majority go back to their district and proselytize on behalf of them”

According to Christine, to achieve this mission, it is very important for the LeT to follow a recruitment structure that can achieve large numbers. Interestingly, Christine drew a parallel between the American army recruiters and the LeT. The US Army begins recruitment at the age of 16. Post this age, individuals identify better opportunities for themselves and it gets tough to get them into army boots. With minors in the picture parental consent must be received. And the same model is followed by the LeT.

Exploring this dynamic revealed a lot about the importance of families and women in the terror groups’ singular mission and the instrument of Jihad. With women being the nurturers of children, they were the first to proscribe to the Jihadi ideology.

As Christine moved deeper into exploring the reasons behind this family dynamic, the first reason she arrived at was the status of a shahid’s (martyr’s) mother. Mothers, in the biographies they wrote for their sons, never made a distinction between being martyred as a terror group member or as a member of the Pakistan Military Army. “Do not come back a Ghazi- a veteran” the mothers said. We can never really define if these women really desired to be such Gold Star Mothers. But years of propaganda has set this as an ideal to aspire towards.

The second reason was that the mothers desired to move to heaven through their sons’ actions. With Islamic interpretations manipulated to justify the LeT’s creed of Islam, they convinced the mothers to send their sons on suicide operations so that they can intercede on their behalf and eventually attain ‘jannat’.

These interpretations, to a large extent, prescribe all sorts of correct Muslim behaviour- the need to veil correctly or to avoid engaging in pundi- maintaining inappropriate relationships with women. The LeT valued every death for the mission and high commanders, sometimes, Hafeez Saeed himself paid respects directly to families.

What we see is that the LeT has managed to run an organisation by not simply recruiting members but by recruiting families that have helped the community grow at a rapid pace.

As a listener in the session, it was interesting to look at the recruitment processes of the LeT. Their recruits are driven by a singular mission and a hope to achieve a goal bigger than themselves. It was surprising to learn how they managed to do this in an extremely cost-effective manner. When soldiers vow to kill themselves, the economics of war becomes very simple. As the soldiers chase ideological reconciliation, no tangible inputs are required.

With up to 90% of the LeT being homegrown in merely 10 districts of the Pakistani Punjab region, the PMA found a strong ally and a malleable instrument of war.

About the Author: Deepika Aiyer is a 20 year old Literature Fest enthusiast who looks forward to being blown away by new ideas, opinions and schools of thought. She currently writes for The Seer

Belonging and Unbelonging in North-East India

TheSeer Team

This was a topic very close to the hearts of Jahnavi, Paramjit and Preeti, making this a heart-touching conversation.  “Do citizens of North East need to prove themselves to be true Indians?”was the question they posed.

Each of the panellists has an emotional attachment to the North-East, however, this being a topic which usually does not generate much interest, they were pleasantly surprised and joyful to see a large crowd gathered at The Red Couch.

 

Where do you think home is?

This was an initial poser before getting into the deeper questions of belonging and unbelonging.

“Nebulous!”, was Jahnavi’s reaction. She has moved between Assam, Meghalaya, and Delhi and shifting every three years since her father was an IAS officer. However, Shillong was her ancestral home for generations and she had a lovely childhood; Jahnavi transported the audience into the beautiful state capital with its wonderful weather. She also spoke of the Delhi she likes, with its neem trees, Lodhi gardens, the beautiful sunset. “Many threads weave together to form home”, she then reflected. Jahnavi came to Bangalore in 1992 to study, has felt a sense of belonging ever since, and is now a writer based here, this being one place where differences are welcomed. “I am gathering some moss and loving it!”, she happily observed. 

Paramjit’s parents were from Rawalpindi, moved to India during the Partition, and shifted base every three years. This has resulted in him yearning to belong to a place he can call “home”.

Preeti had an outside-in story to narrate, as part of her experience travelling in the north-east to write about issues of conflict and women. People have asked her, “What are you, a Punjabi, doing here in the North-East?”, which makes her question who an Indian really is, are there any permanent boundaries in reality? Partition is such an example whence a line was drawn, the boundaries changed and it resulted in many insiders become outsiders to India.

 

Why do people give you a sense of unbelonging?

“Because people are not curious enough”, was Preeti’s comment. She stressed on the importance of knowing about who lives next to you; knowledge brings enlightenment.

Paramjit added on to say that these stories are rarely told, Preeti’s work is a first attempt at bringing out these to the world. He has spent about 9 years in the north-east, his better half is from Shillong, has a lot of Khasi and Naga friends and would like to belong to the place. However, his features mark him out otherwise and that adds to the sense of unbelonging.

The ‘populist factor’, the deep-rooted belief that the “son of the soil” should get recognition is prevalent in various parts of our country. Paramjit gave a few examples wherein the north eastern states are moving towards populism – the Mizoram association is making people pledge not to marry outsiders. The Meghalaya state government has passed an ordinance which mandates outsiders to register themselves if they are staying beyond 24 hours in the state and there is a law in the making about Khasi girls losing their rights if they marry outsiders.

 

“If we come into populist pressure, the concept of India will be lost” – Paramjit

 

The audience was so much into the emotions expressed by Jahnavi, Preeti, and Paramjit, that there were not many questions. The parting note was a question, “When you write, what is your primary emotion?” For Jahnavi, they are – a need to express, deep nostalgia, some sense of loss. Paramjit had only one word for it – anguish. A realization of what unbelonging truly means….and a wish for ‘belonging’ to set in soon in an integrated India – these are the feelings that the audience parted with.

 

 

 

 

About the Author: Usha Ramaswamy craves to get more creative in addition to being an avid reader, traveller, vlogger, marketer of events, mobile photographer. One day, she wants to write a book but for now, she pens her reflections at her blog and puts up photos on instagram. She also works as a software process consultant and is a mother of two. She currently writes for TheSeer.

Bad Man

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Bad Man is the autobiography of Bollywood’s favourite antagonist – Gulshan Grover, titled after the name he earned as Bad Man for his role and dialogue delivery in the movie Ram Lakhan. In conversation with Roshini Dadlani from Penguin India, he discusses his life and works through the lens of his autobiography.

Gulshan first took a moment to commend the energy of Bangaloreans. He said that he grew up watching great villains of Bollywood. Candidly he continued – “It takes a good actor to play a villain while any good looking person with average acting can play a hero”. There is a stark contrast between his onscreen roles and his real-life persona of a hardworking individual as the book reveals.

Growing up in Delhi amidst economic crises, his father instilled in him the belief that good education is a strength. Gulshan noted that his classmates and batchmates from M. Com degree include public figures like Hon’ble Mr. Justice Arjun Skiri and late Arun Jaitely.

By then, his affair with art had begun and off he went to Mumbai with the resolve to become an actor. He said that he realized a need to do something different which led him to take up formal training at Actor’s Studio where he met the likes of Sunil Dutt who afforded him the opportunity of working on the film Rocky. At this studio, Gulshan went on to work as a teacher enabling him to meet many of his future colleagues.

When questioned how life has changed since he first set foot in Mumbai, he quickly remarked that nothing has changed. He is still as enthusiastic about any small or big role he plays in a movie. He believes in giving his all wherever he turns up, onscreen or offscreen.

Speaking of the challenges that came with his transition to Hollywood before the internet boomed, he related an anecdote where he was caught by Customs officers at Los Angeles for carrying numerous VHS tapes of Bollywood movies that he wanted to share with people he met. He lauded actresses like Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone for cementing the path to Hollywood. When Roshini chipped in with “but you were the first”, Gulshan couldn’t help but lapse into his villainous voice ( which he informed is cultivated) and replied “Koi Shak” ( translates to “any doubt”).

Gulshan was known for experimenting with his looks and deciding his costumes when asked if he still gets into the skin of his characters, he promptly said that he does it every day. He added that the general consensus in the industry seems to be that villains are dead and people are waiting to throw mud over their graves but he is determined to not let that happen. He is currently working on three Bollywood movies (Suryavanshi, Sadak 2, Mumbai Saga). He also hinted at a plausible role in the next James Bond movie.

This hearty session ended with Gulshan stepping off stage to interact with the audience and take questions. The best questions were awarded Penguin goodies and witty answers from the Bad Man himself.

About the Author: Charishma V is just another complex, creative pseudo-adult who can wear several hats. Her blog is at charishmavreddy. She currently writes for TheSeer. Instagram handle – @poetry_over_prose