PaperPlanes#9 – Poetry Has A Language, And It Doesn’t Have To Be Your Mother Tongue

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It was a cloudy evening in namma Bengaluru on which Harper Perennial had hosted its tenth-anniversary event at the new Blossom Book Store on the Church Street. They had Vivek Shanbhag, Anita Nair, Volga and Jayanth Kaikini as their chief guests. They spoke about their books in regional languages that got translated into English by Harper Perennial.

Though the guests spoke about books, the focus was language. At one point, Kaikini said when he lived in Mumbai, at home he spoke Konkani, Marathi on the local bus and metro, English and Hindi at work, and came back home to write in Kannada. Kaikini, if you don’t know, is a writer, poet, and above all, one of the lyricists who brought meaningful lyrics in Kannada movies back from the brink of a shameful death. Though his mother tongue is Konkani, he writes in Kannada because it is close to his heart. He also said people can understand better if written in a language close to them. For most people, unlike himself, mother tongue is close to their heart. For which I told yes, just like people get more offended when someone abuses them in their mother tongue than in any other language. Yes, I had to make that analogy. Because you don’t choose language, but the language chooses you.

Kamala Surayya, a noted poetess, under her penname Kamala Das, wrote in An Introduction – ‘Don’t write in English, they said, English is not your mother-tongue. Why not leave me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins, every one of you? Why not let me speak in any language I like? The language I speak, becomes mine, its distortions, its queernesses all mine, mine alone.’ She was right. Poetry is a form of literary work that doesn’t care about language in which it is written. The poet writes in the language in which he or she is comfortable. The reader chooses poems in languages he or she enjoys. Both don’t have to be the same.

What a poet tries to convey through the poem is best known to him or her. A reader can only analyse and interpret it to his or her best knowledge. It is not the same as reading a novel or a short story. Nobody can impose a poem on anybody. Because a poem is a whole story written in fewer words. Poetry is not for everyone; so wrong. Perhaps poetry in all languages is not for everyone. That means it is not enough if you know the language to enjoy the poem. You have to feel it. You will only feel the poem if it is close to your heart. That’s why teachers in school took more time to explain poems than stories in the textbooks to students. Again, the teacher would have explained what he or she interpreted and might have differed from what the student thought. That’s why most students feel poetry is boring. No, poetry is not boring. It is just that poetry is not in the right language for that student or person. Because poetry has a language, and it doesn’t have to be your mother tongue.

PaperPlanes#8 -The Lost Emperor

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You would think an aging person unanimously chosen, nay forced, to lead several factions from various regions, cultures and even agonistic religions in an underdog war against the might of the Empire, in its full glory, would be the stuff of legends, considering how many Star Wars and superhero spinoffs permeate our waking moments these days. And yet hardly anyone remembers Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal Emperor of India.

And yet I am not here to correct the annals of history (William Dalrymple has already done the world that favour) but rather to speak about Bahadur, the man, Zafar, the poet. So you didn’t know he was a poet, you don’t say!

Zafar lived in the times of Ghalib and Zauq, two of the biggest names in Urdu Shayari which, of course, Zafar himself was instrumental in promoting. But despite living in the shadow of giants (a theme with his life, it seems), he was no mean pen-pusher himself (being trained by Zauq, the court poet himself) and tackled and improved upon some of the hottest themes and images in ghazals of the time:

kyA hogA rafu-gar se rafu merA garebAn

ae dast-e-junoon tu ne nahin tAr bhi chhoDA

Pining lovers tearing their clothes off in a fit of passion and jealousy was a common theme. Zafar hits the hyperbole out of the park by saying he has ripped his to such shreds that there’s not even a thread left to stitch.

marg hi sehat hae us ki marg hi us kA ilAj

ishq kA bimAr kyA jAne davA kyA cheez hae

While Ghalib famously said that pain beyond limit becomes its own medicine, Zafar is beyond the point of caring for medicine and recommends slow sweet death as panacea! What was most striking for me when I read Zafar for the first time, however, was the softness of his sorrow. In a field (led by Ghalib again, who else!) where chest thumping, self-patting and gore was the order of the day in romantic ghazals, Zafar comes across as a breath of soothing air, a balm on lovers’ rent chests!

What king, let alone the Emperor of the greatest of all kingdoms, India, would speak with this humility to the woman of his dreams, begging for his daily wages of insults!

gAliyA tankhvAh thahri hae agar baT jAegi

Ashiqo ke ghar miThAi lab shakar baT jAegi

Zafar was an unwilling emperor, the crown thrust on his sensitive head! Before his accession, he lived like a pauper, unlike his three royal brothers. In 1828, a decade before he succeeded the throne, Major Archer had this to say of Zafar – “His appearance is that of an indigent munshi or teacher of languages”.

itnA miliye khAk me jo khAk me DhunDe koi

khAksAri khAk ki gar KhAk sAri rah gai

In the words of the simple king himself, be so humble that if someone searches for your ashes in the dust, let them find only dust! So in a way, it is fitting then, that the victorious Emperor (Zafar means victor) is lost to time.

About the Author – Kaushal Suvarna has published two poetry collections – Siamese Compassion and A Trans-Arabian Handshake. He writes at https://lovelifeetc.com.

PaperPlanes#6 – Boast of Quietness

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“Writings of light assault the darkness, more prodigious than meteors.
The tall unknowable city takes over the countryside.
Sure of my life and death, I observe the ambitious and would like to
understand them.
Their day is greedy as a lariat in the air.
Their night is a rest from the rage within steel, quick to attack.
They speak of humanity.
My humanity is in feeling we are all voices of that same poverty.
They speak of homeland.
My homeland is the rhythm of a guitar, a few portraits, an old sword,
the willow grove’s visible prayer as evening falls.
Time is living me.
More silent than my shadow, I pass through the loftily covetous multitude.
They are indispensable, singular, worthy of tomorrow.
My name is someone and anyone.
I walk slowly, like one who comes from so far away he doesn’t expect to arrive.”

It is because of this piece, I was drawn towards poetry. What held my fascination was the fact that in this world of poetry, one can be honest; that one can be true to oneself and to the world; the gesture will be applauded. It is a pity that when I came across this piece, my meekness led me to believe that being oneself was possible only in the world of poems. Back then there was an utter lack of ambition and one would immerse into and hide behind this world where the day would pass as a maze of thoughts. Time was never a worry, as it seemed to be playing along my pace. I realize how this piece gave me an intellectual high, comforting my self imposed limitations and fears. However, even back then as now it did twinge this point just below my breast and just above the lungs, somewhere in the centre.

Today when I consider myself far more confident, and not at war with the world, I want to partake in its worldliness. This piece does not comfort me anymore, as I feel the need to find a place in this world. I do not feel the same pride I once felt addressing myself as someone and anyone. While I still feel we are the voices of same poverty, there is an urge to change the status quo the country is still languishing in. I have developed drive whose inspiration is still not materialism, although my day has become greedy from the need to make this country a better place to live. I have never felt this identification for my homeland as I do now, and would like to see its men and women rise above the worries of food and shelter. My ambition is to not worry about a livelihood but about ‘a way of life’.

I am afraid to admit that one has developed a conflict with the idea of a city and its need to ‘build’. I am at conflict with its pace. With no first hand experience of a countryside, I assume it to be a place with unattended green wilderness punctuated by houses which are not at conflict with nature. I have many complaints, angst and regrets against the cities I have been a part of and still am. The quick to attack rage of steel and the lariats of my fellow Indians makes my heart burn, though now I do not feel isolated by their aspirations.

The willow grove’s visible prayer holds much more beauty for me now, as do all the phases of a day. Now I want to be a part of every sunrise, and every sunset and find romance in noon. While I am much more aware of my dispensability, I would like to feel worthy of tomorrow as I sleep and wake up, every day.
I want to develop my own pace, fast or slow and be unashamed of it.
I want to be more prodigious than a meteor as I wanted to be back then, albeit being a part of this worldliness.

The ‘Boast of Quietness’ holds a much more meaningful place in my life now. Thank you for this poem.

About the Author : Gunjan Vashisht is a poet, writer who has a flair for human nature and finds herself at home with the propensity to explore habits, reactions, opinions, mindsets.

Grasmere churchyard.. Grave of William Wordsworth and his wife Mary.

PaperPlanes#5 – His Words are Great Music!

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I am convinced that there are three things to rejoice at in this Age—The Excursion, Your Pictures, and Hazlitt’s depth of Taste.
– John Keats in his letter to Benjamin Robert Haydon on 10th January, 1818.

The onset of life is poetry. A rose may smell as sweet by any other name but a child’s first words with the maternal force of divine, in any shape or form other than the rhythmical, cadenced cry cannot weave the same magic in the ears or the airs of the world. When a mother lullabies her child to sleep for the first time, poetry becomes the first and the sweetest words of instruction for a lifetime. When a Teacher establishes her first contact with the aliens on earth who are to be schooled to become humans, poetry drenches and softens the first pathways of unyielding greatness.

Professor William Hastie taught at the Scottish Church College, Calcutta. At the time, this college was known as the General Assembly Institution. The Professor in one of his classes was discussing the ‘Great Poem’ of William Wordsworth – The Excursion. It is the longest poem written by the poet and is considered to be one of the most influential poems of its time. The poem advances through a debate among its 4 main characters – the Poet, the Wanderer, the Solitary, and the Pastor. This poem was published in 1814 and is arranged into 9 books. Notably, the 3rd and the 4th books consist of a conversation between the Wanderer and the Solitary regarding religion, spirituality, and human virtues. As with every other poem of Wordsworth, these lines too were born from the deep meditative reflections of his mood. For me, Wordsworth becomes one with his subjects of poetry – nature, mind, or soul notwithstanding, he seemed to transcend into the inner chambers of entities he dealt with. Naturally, he remains one of the most difficult poets to teach in a classroom.

 

But descending
         From these imaginative heights, that yield
         Far-stretching views into eternity,
         Acknowledge that to Nature’s humbler power                
         Your cherished sullenness is forced to bend
         Even here, where her amenities are sown
         With sparing hand. Then trust yourself abroad
         To range her blooming bowers, and spacious fields,
         Where on the labours of the happy throng
         She smiles, including in her wide embrace
         City, and town, and tower,–and sea with ships
         Sprinkled;–be our Companion while we track
         Her rivers populous with gliding life;
         While, free as air, o’er printless sands we march,        
         Or pierce the gloom of her majestic woods;
         Roaming, or resting under grateful shade
         In peace and meditative cheerfulness;
         Where living things, and things inanimate,
         Do speak, at Heaven’s command, to eye and ear,
         And speak to social reason’s inner sense,
         With inarticulate language.

         – From Book 4, Despondency Corrected, The Excursion – William Wordsworth

During his lecture on the poem, Professor Hastie was explaining the nature and meaning of ‘trance’. For his students to have an understanding of the subject, he directed them to visit Dakshineshwar in Calcutta and see Sri Ramakrishna who was believed to be a realized soul in spiritual experiences and someone who went into Bhava-Samadhi (a state of ecstatic and heightened consciousness or spiritual ecstasy) at will.

Narendranath Dutta, who was present in the classroom, heeded to Hastie’s advice and went to see Sri Ramakrishna. This young man was to become Swami Vivekananda through his association with Sri Ramakrishna in the years to come by collecting gems at his Master’s feet and influence the history of humanity in a way that the French Nobel Laureate Romain Rolland described thus – “His words are great music, phrases in the style of Beethoven, stirring rhythms like the march of Handel choruses. I cannot touch these sayings of his, scattered as they are through the pages of books at thirty years’ distance, without receiving a thrill through my body like an electric shock. And what shocks, what transports must have been produced when in burning words they issued from the lips of the hero !
India was hauled out of the shifting sands of barren speculation wherein she had been engulfed for centuries, by the hand of one of her own sannya?sins; and the result was that the whole reservoir of mysticism, sleeping beneath, broke its bounds and spread by a series of great ripples into action. The West ought to be aware of the tremendous energies liberated by these means.”

Sublimity, thy name is Poetry!

PaperPlanes#4 – Panth Rehne Do Aparichit, Pran Rehne Do Akela

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Those feet must be someone else’s, which were defeated,
Which returned after surrendering their resolution to obstacles,
My feet are different: unafraid of sorrow, eager to create,
My feet measuring immortality,
In their quest to reinvent
They will create a golden era even in darkness.

Those stories must be someone else’s
The sounds of which were destroyed in vacuum, and all traces lost in dust,
My story is one which even amazes destruction,
I create everyday,
A market of pearls,
And a festival of sparks.
Let the path be unknown, and you me alone!

(Translated from Hindi by Prachi Jha and Ashok Kumar Jha)

Poetry has always been a source and expression of strength for the subalterns. In the early 20th Century, when India was reeling under the influence of British Raj as well as patriarchy, there came a wave of fresh poetry from Mahadevi Verma. I got introduced to Mahadevi Verma as one of the storytellers in my small book of Hindi lessons. I vividly remember in the textbook, Verma wrote about her pet squirrel ‘Gillu’ and her encounters with the little being. The more interesting part of that lesson was the description of Verma’s own life. She lived alone in the times when the thought of a woman living all by herself was never heard of.

She came to my rescue again on a gloomy Sunday morning recently, when I was reading a digital postcard called DaakVaak in my emails. This was one of the poems from that postcard. I was awed by how she started her poem by rejecting those feet which were headed to defeat. I related to this line more than anything else. It talks about how defeats are a way and not a necessity in life and it must be someone else ’s feet if it had returned. Had it been her feet then it wouldn’t have returned, it wouldn’t have given up. This poem has something innately courageous about it. It rejects the conventional defeat. However, it doesn’t mean that she hates the idea of defeat but she says that she believes in her ability so much that she sees victory in the fallen. To me, she is Satan and Almighty at the same time. Christianity has always viewed Satan as the most ‘Satanical’ being on earth but I find heroism even in Satan. ‘Paradise Lost’, one of the epics by John Milton has the epic begin in medias-res where Satan is glorified and his followers are given a prodigious prose about working for their master but at the end, he is the fallen angel. For me, Mahadevi Verma starts after Satan has fallen because she may be sweeping the floor off and preparing to start the next round when the doomsday prediction is around the corner.

The next stanza in the above poem is even more interesting where she makes her story unique and common at the same time. She starts by saying that she creates and innovates every day. At the same time, she shares the stage with you, me and anyone who would want to be an active responder. The reason for choosing this piece is that poetry has always been the language of the elite, the language only rich quote while they give speeches or appear in ballets but Verma’s poetry gives feet to the common and appear in everyday emotions. This poem felt like a unique tribute but to every man.

Read the original poem here

About the Author: Kalpita Wadher is a Masters’ student of Social Science but her undergrad in literature makes her combine society and people with words of solace.

PaperPlanes#3 – KurigaLu Saar KurigaLu

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Prof. K S Nissar Ahmed (Kokkare Hosahalli Shekh Haider Nissar Ahmed) is a prominent Kannada poet and writer. KurigaLu, Saar, KurigaLu is his hard-hitting poetical satire that will forever apply to humans.

ಕುರಿಗಳು, ಸಾರ್, ಕುರಿಗಳು; ಸಾಗಿದ್ದೇ ಗುರಿಗಳು. (kurigaLu, saar, kurigaLu; saagidde gurigaLu.)
ಮಂದೆಯಲಿ ಒಂದಾಗಿ, ಸ್ವಂತತೆಯೆ ಬಂದಾಗಿ (mandheyalli ondagi, swantateye bandagi)
ಇದರ ಬಾಲ ಅದು ಮತ್ತೆ ಅದರ ಬಾಲ ಇದು ಮೂಸಿ, (idara baala adu matte adara baala idu moosi,)
ದನಿ ಕುಗ್ಗಿಸಿ, ತಲೆತಗ್ಗಿಸಿ, (dani kuggisi, tale taggisi,)
ಹುಡುಕಿ ಹುಲ್ಲು ಕಡ್ಡಿ ಮೇವು, ಅಂಡಲೆಯುವ ನಾವು, ನೀವು, (huDuki hullu kaDDI mEvu, anDaleyuva naavu neevu)
ನಮಗೊ ನೂರು ಗುರಿಗಳು (namagO nooru gurigaLu.)
ಎಡ ದಿಕ್ಕಿಗೆ ಬಲ ದಿಕ್ಕಿಗೆ, ಒಮ್ಮೆ ದಿಕ್ಕು ಪಾಲಾಗಿ, (eda dikkige, bala dikkige, omme dikkapaalagi,)
ಒಮ್ಮೆ ಅದೂ ಕಳೆದುಕೊಂಡು ತಾಟಸ್ಥ್ಯದಿ ದಿಕ್ಕೆಟ್ಟು (omme adU kaLedukonDu TaaTasthyadi dikkeTTu)
ಹೇಗೆ ಹೇಗೊ ಏಗುತಿರುವ, ಬರೀ ಕಿರುಚಿ ರೇಗುತಿರುವ, (hege hego eegutiruva, bari kiruchi regutiruva,)
ನೊಣ ಕೂತರೆ ಬಾಗುತಿರುವ, ತಿನದಿದ್ದರು ತೇಗುತಿರುವ, (noNa kuthare baaguthiruva, tinnadiddaru tegutiruva,)
ಹಿಂದೆ ಬಂದರೊದೆಯದ, ಮುಂದೆ ಬರಲು ಹಾಯದ (hinde bandarodeyada, mundhe baralu haayada)
ಅವರು, ಇವರು, ನಾವುಗಳು (avaru, ivaru, naavugalu)
ಮಂದೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಎಲ್ಲವೊಂದೆ ಆದಾಗಲೆ ಸ್ವರ್ಗ ಮುಂದೆ – (mandheyalli ellavonde aadagale swarga mundhe –)
ಅದಕಿಲ್ಲವೆ ನಾವುತ್ತರ? ಮೆದುಳಿನಲ್ಲಿ ತಗ್ಗೆತ್ತರ, (adakillave naavuttara? MedhuLinalli taggettara)
ಹಿರಿದು, ಕಿರಿದು ಮಾಯಿಸಿ, (hiridu kiridu maayisi,)
ಒಬ್ಬೊಬ್ಬರಿಗಿರುವ ಮೆದುಳ ಸ್ವಾರ್ಥದ ಉಪಯೋಗದಿಂದ (obbobbarigiruva medhuLa swarthada upayogadinda)
ಇಡಿ ಮಂದೆಗೆ ಹಾಯಿಸಿ (iDi mandhege haayisi,)
ಹೊಟ್ಟೆ ಬಟ್ಟೆಗೊಗ್ಗದಂಥ ಕಲೆಯ ಕರ್ಮಕಿಳಿಯದಂತೆ (hoTTe baTTegoggadantha kaleya karmakkiLiyadanthe)
ತಲೆ ಬೆಲೆಯ ಸುಧಾರಿಸಿ, (tale beleya sudharisi,)
ಬಿಳಿ ಕಪ್ಪಿನ ದ್ವಂದ್ವಗಳಿಗೆ ಮಾಡಿಸಿ ಸಮಜಾಯಿಷಿ (biLi kappina dwandwagaLige maadisi samajayishi,)
ನಮ್ಮ ಮೆದುಳು ಶುದ್ಧಿಯಾಗಿ, ಬುದ್ಧಿ ನಿರ್ಬುದ್ಧಿಯಾಗಿ, (namma medhuLu shuddhiyagi, buddhi nirbuddhiyaagi)
ಕೆಂಬಣ್ಣವನೊಂದೆ ಪೂಸಿ, (kembaNNavanonde poosi)
ಅದರ ಬಾಲ ಇದು ಮತ್ತೆ ಇದರ ಬಾಲ ಅದು ಮೂಸಿ (adara baala idu, matte idara baala adu moosi)
ನಡೆವ ನಮ್ಮೊಳೆಲ್ಲಿ ಬಿರುಕು? (naDuve nammoLelli biruku?)
ನಮ್ಮ ಕಾಯ್ವ ಕುರುಬರು: (namma kaaiva kurubaru:)
ಪುಟಗೋಸಿಯ ಮೊನ್ನೆ ತಾನೆ ಕಿತ್ತು ಪಂಚೆಯುಟ್ಟವರು (puTagosiya monne taane kitthu pancheyuTTavaru,)
ಶಾನುಭೋಗ ಗೀಚಿದಕ್ಕೆ ಹೆಬ್ಬೆಟ್ಟನು ಒತ್ತುವವರು; (shaanubhoga geechiddakke hebbettannu otthuvavaru;)
ಜಮಾಬಂದಿಗಮಲ್ದಾರ ಬರಲು ನಮ್ಮಳೊಬ್ಬನನ್ನ (jamaabandigamaldaara baralu nammoLobbananna)
ಮೆಚ್ಚಿ, ಮಸೆದ ಮಚ್ಚ ಹಿರಿದು ಕಚಕ್ಕೆಂದು ಕೊಚ್ಚಿ ಕತ್ತ (mechchi, maseda machcha hiridu kachakkendu kochchi kattha,)
ಬಿರಿಯಾನಿಯ ಮೆಹರುಬಾನಿ ಮಾಡಿ ಕೈಯ್ಯ ಜೋಡಿಸುತ್ತ (biriyaniya meharubaani maaDi kaiyya jodisuttha,)
ಕಿಸೆಗೆ ಹಸಿರುನೋಟು ತುರುಕಿ, ನುಡಿಗೆ ಬೆಣ್ಣೆ ಹಚ್ಚುವವರು. (kisege hasiru noTu turuki, nudige benne hachchuvavaru.)
ಬಿಸಿಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನಮ್ಮ ದೂಡಿ, ಮರದಡಿಯಲಿ ತಾವು ಕೂತು (bisilinalli namma dooDi, maradaDiyali taavu koothu)
ಮಾತು, ಮಾತು, ಮಾತು, ಮಾತು (maathu, maathu, maathu, maathu)
ಮಾತಿನ ಗೈರತ್ತಿನಲ್ಲೆ ಕರಾಮತ್ತು ನಡೆಸುವವರು, (maathina gairatthinalle karaamatthu naDesuvavaru.)
ನಮ್ಮ ಮೈಯ ತುಪ್ಪಟವ ರವಷ್ಟು ಬಿಡದ ಹಾಗೆ ಸವರಿ (namma maiyya tuppaTava ravashTu biDada haage savari)
ಕಂಬಳಿಗಳ ನೇಯುವಂಥ ಯೋಜನೆಗಳ ಹಾಕುವವರು. (kambaLigaLa neyuvantha yojanegaLa haakuvavaru.)
ಮಾರಮ್ಮನ ಮುಡಿಗೆ ಕೆಂಪು ದಾಸವಾಳ ಆಯುವವರು (Maarammana muDige kempu daasavaaLa aayuvavaru)
ಬೆಟ್ಟ ದಾಟಿ ಕಿರುಬ ನುಗ್ಗಿ , ನಮ್ಮೊಳಿಬ್ಬರನ್ನ ಮುಗಿಸಿ (beTTa daaTi kiruba nuggi, nimmoLibbaranna mugisi,)
ನಾವು ‘ಬ್ಯಾ, ಬ್ಯಾ’ ಎಂದು ಬಾಯಿ ಬಾಯಿ ಬಡಿದುಕೊಂಡು (naavu ‘bya bya’ endhu baayi baayi baDedukonDu)
ಬೊಬ್ಬೆ ಹಾಕುತಿದ್ದರೂ – (bobbe haakuthiddarU –)
ಚಕ್ಕ ಭಾರ ಆಟದಲ್ಲೆ ಮಗ್ನರು ಇವರೆಲ್ಲರು (chakkabhaara aaTadalli magnaru ivarellaru)
ನಮ್ಮ ಕಾಯ್ವ ಗೊಲ್ಲರು. (namma kaaiva gollaru.)
ದೊಡ್ಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕೂಡಿಹಾಕಿ ನಿಲ್ಲಲಿಲ್ಲ, ಕೂರಲಿಲ್ಲ (doDDiyalli kooDihaaki nillalilla, kooralilla,)
ಎದ್ದರೆ ಸರಿದಾಡಲಿಲ್ಲ , ಬಿದ್ದರೆ ಹರಿದಾಡಲಿಲ್ಲ, (eddhare saridaDalilla, biddare haridaDalilla,)
ದೀಪದ ದೌಲತ್ತು ಇಲ್ಲ, (deepada daulatthu illa,)
ಗಾಳಿಯ ಗಮ್ಮತ್ತು ಇಲ್ಲ, (gaaLiya gammatthu illa.)
ಕಿಂಡಿಯಿಂದ ತೆವಳಿ ಬಂದ ಗಾಳಿ ಕೂಡ ನಮ್ಮದೇನೆ (kinDiyinda tevaLi bandha gaaLi kooDa nammadene)
ನಮ್ಮ ಮುಂದೆ ಕುರಿಯ ಸುಲಿದು ಆಚೆ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಉಪ್ಪು ಸವರಿ (namma mundhe kuriya sulidu, aache alli uppu savari)
ಒಣಗಲಿಟ್ಟ ಹಸಿ ತೊಗಲಿನ ಬಿಸಿ ಬಿಸಿ ಹಬೆ ವಾಸನೆ, (oNagaliTTa hasi togalina bisibisi habe vaasane,)
ಇರಿಯುತಿಹುದು ಮೂಗನೆ! (iriyutihudu moogane!)
ಕೊಬ್ಬಿರುವೀ ಮಬ್ಬಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ಮೈ ನಾತದ ಗಬ್ಬಿನಲ್ಲಿ (kobbiruvee mabbinalli, mai naathada gabbinalli,)
ಇದರ ಉಸಿರು ಅದು ಮತ್ತೆ ಅದರ ಉಸಿರು ಇದು ಮೂಸಿ – (idara usiru adu, matthe adara usiru idu moosi –)
ಹೇಸಿದರು ನಿಭಾಯಿಸಿ, (hesidaru nibhayisi,)
ತಾಳ್ಮೆಯನೆ ದಬಾಯಿಸಿ, (taaLmeyane dabaayisi,)
ನಮ್ಮ ನಾವೆ ಅಂದುಕೊಂಡೊ, ಉಗುಳುನುಂಗಿ ನೊಂದುಕೊಂಡೊ, (namma naave andhukonDo, ugulu nungi nondhukonDo,)
ನಂಬಿಕೊಂಡು ಏಗುತ್ತಿರುವ ನಾವು, ನೀವು, ಇಡೀ ಹಿಂಡು. (nambikonDu Eguthiruva naavu, neevu, iDee hinDu)
ತಳವೂರಿದ ಕುರುಬ ಕಟುಕನಾದ; ಅವನ ಮಚ್ಚೊ ಅಹ! (taLavoorida kuruba kaTukanaada; avana machcho aaha!)
ಏನು ಝಳಪು, ಏನು ಹೊಳಪು, ಏನು ಜಾದು, ಏನು ಮೋಹ! (enu jhaLapu, enu hoLapu, enu jaadu, enu moha!)
ಆ ಹೊಳಪಿಗೆ ದಂಗಾಗಿ ಕಣ್ಣಿಗದೇ ರಂಗಾಗಿ, (aa hoLapige dangagi, kaNNigade rangagi,)
ಒಳಗೊಳಗೇ ಜಂಗಾಗಿ (oLagoLage jangagi,)
ಕಣ್ಣು ಕುಕ್ಕಿ, ಸೊಕ್ಕಿರುವ, ಹೋಗಿ ಹೋಗಿ ನೆಕ್ಕಿರುವ, (kaNNu kukki sokkiruva, hogi hogi nekkiruva)
ಕತ್ತನದಕ್ಕೆ ತಿಕ್ಕಿರುವ (katthanadake thikkiruva)
ನಾವು, ನೀವು, ಅವರು, ಇವರು (naavu, neevu, avaru, ivaru)
ಮಚ್ಚಿನ ಆ ಮೆಚ್ಚಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಅದರಾಳದ ಕಿಚ್ಚಿನಲ್ಲಿ (machchina aa mechchinalli, adaraLada kichchinalli,)
ಮನೆ ಮಾಡಿವೆ ಹುಚ್ಚಿನಲ್ಲಿ (mane maaDive huchchinalli)
ನಮ್ಮೆಲ್ಲರ ಗುರಿಗಳು (nammellara gurigaLu!)

Translation into English

Sheep, sir, sheep; what goes ahead are the goals.

Become one with the crowd, shut down the individuality,

Sniff each other’s tails,

Lower the voice, bow down the head,

Search for grass, twigs and hay, you and us, roaming jobless.

We too have hundreds of goals.

To the left, to the right, sometimes directionless,

Sometimes losing that too being distraught at neutrality

Somehow tolerating, only shouting and screaming,

Bowing even to a fly, burping even if not eaten,

Not kicking whoever is behind, not ramming whoever is in the front,

Them, us, everyone.

Heaven is when everyone becomes one with the crowd

Aren’t we the answer for that? The sulci-gyri of the brain

Level the younger and older

Using the selfishness of each brain

Set sail for the whole crowd

A talent unsuitable for either food or clothes, not even for work

To set a price per head,

Explain the duel between white and black

Purify our brains, knowledge becomes unknowledgeable

Worship only the red

Sniff each other’s tails

Where are the differences among us?

The shepherds who protect us

Only day before yesterday threw the loins and wore panche

Put thumbprints to whatever the accountant writes

The credit man comes, likes one of us,

Stabs with sharpened machete and slits the neck

Prepares biryani of sympathy by pleading

Stuffs money into grinning mouths and buttering words

They push us to work under the sun while they sit under the tree

Talk, talk, talk, talk

Perform miracles only with their talks

They skin us completely without leaving a trace

And come up with a scheme to weave blankets for us

They scavenge hibiscus for goddess Maramma

When a hyena crosses over the mountain, kills two of us

And we bleat

Creating chaos

Engrossed in a game of ludo

Are our cowherds.

Even when locked in a barn, neither stand nor sit,

Don’t move when awake, don’t sprawl when fall,

No privilege of light

No scent of air

The air that comes in through the peepholes is ours

The sheep they skinned and smeared salt

To dry from it comes the warm raw smell

That drills our nose.

In this thickened fog, in this bad odour of our bodies,

Sniff each other’s breath

Manage the shit

Silence the patience

Admonish ourselves, not speak about the hurt,

Trust and wait, us, you and the whole herd.

The shepherd who sat down became the tyrant; what a machete he has!

What reflection, what shine, what magic, what lust!

Stunned by its shine, it is colourful to our eyes

It rusts us from inside

Blinds our eyes with arrogance, licking it again and again,

Rubbing our necks to it,

Us, you and them.

In the admiration of the machete, in its fire of passion,

Our goals

Have made their home.

About the Author : Shwetha H S is reader, writer, traveller, book reviewer and author of Blues Brewery, a prose and poetry anthology. She  writes on  https://shwethahs.wordpress.com/

Haiku Monument of Matsuo Basho in Yuno Pass

PaperPlanes#2 – Warming up to Haiku

TheSeer TeamLeave a comment

To say I’ve hated haiku as an art form is a gross understatement; I had never given it a moment’s thought, forget considering it poetry!

And it’s not just the kitsch that most wannabe pseudo-intellectual or insta-intoxicated Sufi/Zen oafs churn out and repeat all over Whatsapp and other digital media either.

Consider this epitome, that’s now a cliche in the haiku universe, the piece that eventually led to the coinage of the word haiku (it was originally hokku, and the hokku used to be part of a longer poem, renga; Masaoka Shiki came up with the term for standalone haiku, made popular by Basho):

an old pond
a frog jumps in
the sound of water

( furuike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto

if you care for the original Japanese text.)

This piece by Basho has been hailed for portraying eternity in a moment, stillness, Zen and whatever the reader’s fertile or troubled mind conjures – it has over 170 official translations in English alone.

No matter how many times I read or thought it over, for the life of me, I couldn’t find any such depth in it. And so I gave up on the genre altogether as snake oil being peddled by Japanophile zealots.

(And lest you should think me an ignorant boor, you are free to peruse this:

https://whrarchives.wordpress.com/2011/09/01/a-contrarian-view-of-bashos-frog/)

So when I recently picked up The Classic Tradition of Haiku (there was nothing else around to read) I tried to keep a very open mind and was truly astonished by the unassuming simplicity and nothingness of it. And then it struck me!

It wasn’t haiku that I hated all these years but the over-interpretations of them! (By the way, haiku is both singular and plural.)

Haiku, rather hokku, is, what it always was, a simple rhythmic formal description of nature – nothing more, nothing less.

It is just a terse fleeting image of a transient natural phenomenon. True to its Japanese roots, it does not overdo on either sentimentality or meaning, it just states an existential fact.

And this very elemental picture, a word-image of an ephemeron in this phantasmagoria we call living on this blind plane of existence, it is this observation that is, and creates, its own meaning.

And so it is, that it is the water in the still pond that makes a sound, not the frog that eagerly jumps into it!

(And it’s not a mere play on words but the revelation of the paradoxical in the commonplace that lends the tiny haiku, barely 11-17 syllables, its unfathomable power – the recognition of truth!)

Having said that, human nature is also nature, and while Basho is synonymous with haiku to today’s western-educated youth, it is the soft sadness of Kobayashi Issa that resounded most vibrantly in me, whether it be his compassion for animals:

Exhausted by
the crowd of children –
a sparrow

or this gut wrenching observation:

her row veering off,
the peasant woman plants
toward her crying child

However, if I had to pick one quintessential haiku, it would be this masterpiece by Kikaku, Basho’s flippant, though arguably best, student:

It is my snow, I think
And the weight on my hat lightens

 

 

 

About the Author – Kaushal Suvarna has published two poetry collections – Siamese Compassion and A Trans-Arabian Handshake. He writes at https://lovelifeetc.com.

 

 

 

A Thomas Nast Santa, from 1881, wearing the modern Santa suit

PaperPlanes#1 – Made of Poetry

TheSeer TeamLeave a comment
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

Reproduced above are lines from the poem The Night Before Christmas composed by Clement Clarke Moore for his children on the Christmas Eve of 1822. The poem was originally called A Visit from St. Nicholas and travelled time to become the most defining description of the modern day Santa Claus. How?

In 1863, Harper’s Weekly hired Thomas Nast to draw Santa Claus bringing gifts for the troops fighting in the American Civil War. Nast resorted to Clement’s poem for his inspiration and the resulting Santa was welcomed warmly by the troops. This Santa was a much more relatable one when compared to the ones depicted before Clement’s poem. Nast drew this Santa every year for 40 years.

Years later, Coca Cola in 1931, commissioned D’Arcy Advertising Agency and Michigan-born artist Haddon Sundblom to create a campaign featuring Santa Claus who would be friendlier and more approachable than the earlier versions being used by the company till then. The inspiration came again from Clement’s poem. The ‘jolly old elf’ has come to represent happiness as well as Coke till today,  all from a poem that went out anonymously when it was published for the first time!

 

 

Reference – Coke Lore Santa Claus

 

We are a Generation of Media Zombies, We Need a Ghar Wapasi!

Abhishek JhaLeave a comment

If you are outraged by the rise and rise of Dhinchak Pooja, I ask you where were you when a man called Arnab Goswami was essentially puking noise into your ears and still fetching highest TRPs of all other mortal pukers on television. Or, where were you when another man known as Ravish Kumar converted your TV into a Radio with darkness in your eyes and NDTV’s ‘holier-than-thou’ garbage in your ears?

 
Of course, you have no answers to these questions. You were not there to outrage then, you have no right to make any noise now. You’re a hypocrite who is suffering from selective amnesia. You’re a patron of the fiberals, you sleep with the presstitutes, you have pawned your brains to sickulars.
News channels invite 100 panelists for a debate and you are supposed to think they are serious about the subject. The moderator showers the choicest insults at the panelists and those panelists come back on the channel to take more insults on the very next day, and you are supposed to think all those camera-deprived spineless people will make a difference to your life. Award winning journalists tell you that your new currency notes will have satellites embedded in them and you are supposed to give them hours of viewership.

 
Journalists tell you the religion of every muslim killed in the country and you still think they are the doyens of journalism just because they tell it in English. A stringer pays to a child to say things on camera and you continue to watch that channel. You are steadily metamorphosing into something terrible!

 
When all that all these media agencies spit out is hate and you, otherwise a lovable person who loves his neighbour, fan the dark side of your spirit every day and each night, you become someone I call a Media Kill.

 

Who is a Media Kill?
Anyone who converts from an otherwise ‘minding-his-own-business’ person to someone who judges others 24×7 under direct or indirect influence of the media is a Media Kill.

 
One of the defining features of the present day’s media is not being able to look inside themselves. As a result, you won’t find an Arnab Goswami debating any wrong done by the Times group (remember the tale of Times of India and one Miss Deepika Padukone?) as long as he works there. You won’t find Ravish Kumar debating NDTV’s misdemeanours while covering 26/11 attacks while teaching the standards of journalism to every other network. You won’t find a Sudhir Chaudhary discussing his own lies about the new currency notes during what became an orgastic festival for the news networks that loved Mr. Modi, better known as Demonetization.

 

Media throws open its entire hand while pointing fingers at others. Human beings on the other hand, (I refer here to the ones who are not yet converted), are born to think, introspect, question, think again, and find answers. Media hates thinking individuals.
Hence, the primary objective of today’s media is to increase the numbers of their kind. An inward looking person is a bad panelist for their debates, an introspecting soul is a failed commerce for their TRPs, a person who judges himself instead of others has no use for the media. So, they are out there to convert you, so that they exist for eternity. Every person they convert thus, is a kill, and should be counted as Media Kill.

 

Question – When did you last see a Scientist or a Teacher on any Indian newsroom’s panel discussion?

 

How do these conversions happen?
There are different means. One is by not letting you think. Such hunters show you all that they speak in text form on the screen. Your ears, your eyes, and your mind are all engaged. After a while, you start ignoring the sound and begin waiting for the texts on the screen. The channel has effectively blocked your ears. Some channels do the opposite and block your eyes. The point is to induce thoughtlessness in your mind.
Another way is to keep shouting so loud that the noise dashes into your brain and drowns all your thoughts. You get tired and you sleep while the newsperson keeps shouting judgmental lullabies in your ears. Next day, you decide to not watch it but cometh the 9pm moment, reacheth the remote control! You sleep only after you have got your daily supply of scream-pills.

 
These methods are still superficial. One of the more dangerous means to gain a Media Kill is to distract you from real issues, say, you have no water in your house but media will make you believe that there are no minorities in the country because all of them have been killed by the majoritarian system, or while a community is fighting to be allowed to sing if they want to, these media vultures run a debate on whether Vande Mataram is anti-that community, or while you lament the fact that India is not doing enough on cancer research, they take you on temple runs with Rahul Gandhi and hold discussions on what’s printed on Modi’s suit. So, you keep thinking of cancer research in India for 3 days and then comes the fourth day, the day of your conversion, you start thinking about Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi!

 
From ‘Maut ka Bathtub’ to ‘Amitabh Bachchan ko thand lagi’, from ‘kya alien gaay ka doodh peete hain’ to other ‘sansanikhez khulasas’, media knows how to keep the kill count increasing and create a generation of Media Zombies who are going to spend their lives criticizing everything instead of creating anything!

 

First they bore you, then they shout at you, then you like them, then they deliver their lies to you, then they run a Save Tiger Campaign, then you convert!

 

Unless someone starts a Ghar Wapasi channel, I am waiting for the media to perish. I can no longer watch television until the day I get to switch to a news or entertainment channel where we are allowed to use our minds and convert back to the ‘Thinking Man’ we used to be when there was life on Mars and before the Martian media wiped it off. India TV, are you listening?

Social Business – The new kind of capitalism

JeevaNayagiLeave a comment

 “As a human, to have a job is a wrong idea. Human beings are not born to work for anyone. Human being is a complete person. Human being is a creative person. The moment one enters a job, that is the end of creativity. Job doesn’t need creativity because its driven by instructions”, remarked Professor Mohammad Yunus while addressing a gathering at the Bangalore International Centre on June 30, 2018. The Nobel laureate who was in the city owing to the 8th Social Business Day was speaking about the concept of Social Business and a world of three Zeros- Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon emissions. Continue reading “Social Business – The new kind of capitalism” →

Doklam-2.0-Bookstalkist at Bangalore International Centre

Doklam 2.0 – Implications and Options

JeevaNayagiLeave a comment

On May 28, 2018, the Bangalore International Centre hosted a discussion titled ‘Doklam 2.0’ to discuss the standoff that happened at Doklam between the Indian and the Chinese army and the sequence of events that followed. The panel included Ambassador Nirupama Rao, Lieutenant General Prakash Menon and Anirudh Kanisetti, Research Associate from Takshashila University.

 

Historical Overview

Anirudh Kanisetti kicked off the evening with a short presentation setting right the historic context for the audience. Anirudh said, we generally associate Himalayas with peace and serenity. However, the Himalayas are a cultural and ethnic melting pot and therefore is a site of great fractious conflicts. According to him, the 18th century was important for many reasons, the most important being the arrival of Gunpowder. Historically, Gunpowder has led to the replacement of existing power structures with new emerging powers. One such power structure in Himalayas was the institution of Dalai Lama. We tend to assume that Dalai Lamas were the Heads or the rulers of Tibet which is not true. As of the 18th century, Dalai Lama was one of the leaders of the many competing monastic orders and aristocratic nobles who were trying to take control over Tibet, thanks to its economic wealth.

 

This was also the time when China was pushing into the Central Asia because they had gunpowder. During the 18th century, new states like Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal were emerging. Sikkim and Bhutan are claimed to be founded by the Lamas from Tibet. Owing to a myriad of geopolitical factors, the period between 1720s to 1750s was full of conflicts for Tibet. During this time, the Dalai Lama was acting as an intermediary between the Chinese emperor and the tribes of Central Asia. So, the Dalai Lama called the Chinese to help with the domestic conflict in Tibet which resulted in the establishment of Dalai Lama’s authority as the central power in Tibet. This also led to the establishment of a small but permanent Chinese garrison in Tibet.

The Doklam triboundary region. Source: Google Maps. (thediplomat.com)
The Doklam triboundary region. Source: Google Maps. (thediplomat.com)

In 1790, when the kingdom of Nepal was formed, it soon invaded Tibet, thanks to its control over multiple, extremely wealthy trade routes. The Dalai Lama sought the Chinese help again. The Chinese defeated the Nepalese and established a formal protectorate in Tibet. That practically meant that a huge garrison was present in Tibet and the Chinese Governor had to sign off on few things that the Dalai Lama decided on. The same influence did not continue during the 19th century. China was struck by a series of catastrophes such as the Taiping rebellion and suffered humiliations in the hands of the western trading powers during the Opium Wars.

 

The British introduced a new element into the politics of Himalayas. They were interested in securing trade that went from China through Tibet into Kolkata which eventually resulted in 1890’s Anglo-Chinese convention. This led to the establishment of a border between Sikkim, which was already a protectorate of British and Tibet, a protectorate of China. It is interesting because Britain signed on behalf of Sikkim and China on behalf of Tibet. However, Bhutan which was also bordering the area was not part of the convention because the British were still working hard to get the Bhutanese to agree to the terms of the convention. This finally happened in 1910 when the British signed the Treaty of Punakha. Even though an alliance was signed, the Bhutanese never agreed to the 1890’s treaty. So, it meant, the parties who were involved in this conflicted area never really signed it and Bhutan did not ratify it.

 

As per the treaty, “The boundary of Sikkim and Tibet shall be the crest of the mountain range separating the waters flowing into the Sikkim Teesta and its affluents from the waters flowing into the Tibetan Mochu and northwards into other Rivers of Tibet. The line commences at Mount Gipmochi on the Bhutan frontier, and follows the above-mentioned water-parting to the point where it meets Nipal territory”.  China asserts that by this Convention, the starting point of the Sikkim-Tibet border is “Mount Gipmochi on the Bhutan frontier” and that this clearly defines the tri-junction point. However, India’s perspective is that that there were no mountain surveys done during 1890s and after the mountain surveys, the actual peak of the mountain range is Batang La which should be the starting point of the border line. This is in line with the watershed principle and add to it the fact that Bhutan was never a party to this treaty.

 

In 1958,  after China had taken over Tibet, the head of the Chinese mission made a very
controversial statement,” “Bhutanese, Sikkimese and Ladakhese form a united family in Tibet. They have always been subject to Tibet and to the great motherland of China. They must once again be united and taught the communist doctrine.”. Going by history, this was not true since China was never the motherland and the influence that China had on Sikkim or Bhutan is questionable. This statement was received with greatest alarm in Bhutan because it seemed to imply that China wanted to invade Bhutan. This was further strengthened in 1960 by a massive influx of Tibetan refugees to the northern border of Bhutan after which Bhutan closed that border, cutting off ties with China. This meant good for India and the strengthening of Indo- Bhutan ties. All that changed after 1962 Indo-China war. Bhutan was no longer confident that India could protect its interests. So, in 1971, as soon as Bhutan got UN membership, they began negotiations with the Chinese to resolve the disputes. Since 1984, the talks between Bhutan and China have been proceeding and the crux of these talks have mostly been border issues. In 1990, the Chinese proposed an exchange of territories. China offered to exchange 495 sq km area of Pasamlung and Jakarlung valleys (where China and Bhutan overlap) in Bhutan’s north for Sinchulumpa, Dramana and Shakhtoe with total area of 269 sq km, in the western Bhutan. The answer to the question of why China wanted this exchange lies in Paro, which is the only functioning airfield in Bhutan. It was of strategic importance to China. Although the Bhutanese agreed in 1995 to the exchange, nothing much came out of it. In 1998, China affirmed that it respected Bhutan’s sovereignty. However post 2000, the Chinese seemed to have forgotten their affirmations and these years have been marked by multiple Chinese incursions into Bhutanese territory. Over time, China seized huge area from the Bhutanese territory and this is a major point of contention between Bhutan and China.

After laying out the history behind the border conflict, Anirudh gave the stage to Prakash Menon who explained the importance of Doklam in military and strategic terms. According to him, this region is sensitive for India because if the Chinese come over to Doklam, there is only one ridgeline left between China and India. However, it is not about whether the Chinese will come to India but it is about the fact that the Chinese can come. He recollected the events of the first Doklam standoff which started from June 16, 2017 when the Chinese began construction of roads and Indian troops physically stopped them on June 18, 2017. A week later China made public statements and reacted to this standoff in an extreme manner reminding India of 1962.They published videos of live firing drills in Tibet and accused India of hegemonic diplomacy. India’s reaction to this standoff was however, very measured.  On June 29, Bhutan raised a complaint against China but China did not back off. On July 26, 2017, China published a new map, an official sketch map claiming Doklam to be part of China. On 28th of August, right before the BRICS conference, things de-escalated. However, the official statements from India and China were in different tones. India’s official statement on Aug 28, 2017 read, “In recent weeks, India and China have maintained diplomatic communication in respect of the incident at Doklam. During these communications, we were able to express our views and convey our concerns and interests.  On this basis, expeditious disengagement of border personnel at the face-off site at Doklam has been agreed to and is on-going.” Chinese official statement on the other hand made clear it would “continue its sovereignty rights” in the area.

During the first week of September, China began the construction of a new road about 2.5 Kms away from the original standoff site. According to Prakash Menon, it is not possible that the Indian surveillance missed this new development. The Print magazine published the satellite images of the new constructions on Jan 17, 2018. The Ministry of External Affairs reacting to this news remarked that the status quo has not been altered at the face-off site. Later, on March 6, the Defence Ministry remarked that the PLA has started some construction but the troops from both sides have been recalled from the face-off site. A similar remark was made by General Bipin Rawat on March 17, that some temporary infrastructure work was being done by the PLA. On 19th March, The Print published new satellite images of new roads to Torsa La.  On March 23, 2018, India’s Ambassador to China made a strong statement that any change in status quo will lead to a situation as happened in Doklam 1.0. Once again, China came back strongly saying Doklam belongs to China and threatened India to stick to the historic conventions. While all of this was happening, the Indian media which was all over Doklam 1.0 was completely reticent. The public was uninformed about what was happening in Doklam 2.0 and it is not clear if the parliament was briefed about the developments. Interestingly, Bhutan has been silent too.

 

Pointing to the series of events that happened during September 2017 till now, Prakash Menon recalled how Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister made a statement on Dec 10, 2017 about “the Dragon and the Elephant dancing together and how 1+1 =11”. This was followed by another round of boundary talks. On Feb 22, the Foreign Secretary’s note to the Cabinet Secretary about moving the thanksgiving event from Delhi to Dharamshala was leaked to public. On the same day, MEA withdrew political clearance for the Asian Security Conference of the IDSA which was to discuss the relationship between India and China. On Feb 23, the Foreign Secretary’s visit happens and Wang Yi repeats himself about the Dragon and the Elephant. On March 27, 2018 China agreed to share data on Brahmaputra with India. Prakash Menon also pointed out the Indo-China meetings in the backdrop of Shanghai Conference and Wuhan Summit and how Australia was dropped from the Malabar exercise. According to him, the policy adopted by India at the moment is to not raise the issue of Chinese aggression in the disputed territory with Bhutan and this is going to have implications on the Sino-Indian, Sino- Bhutan, Indo-Bhutan relationships. This also affects India’s image amongst its neighbours and it might make them believe that India cannot handle a Chinese aggression.

 

Nirupama Rao, who took over from Prakash Menon remarked that she needed to articulate upon few factors that the Doklam Saga elucidates. Firstly, it is the kind of diplomacy that China practises today. We all talk about the power of diplomacy but what China practises today is the diplomacy of power. The Chinese are no longer a rising power and in the race for attaining global recognition, the Dragon has galloped ahead of the elephant. Secondly, what China practises today is coercive diplomacy. China is able to have its way as it wills when a dispute arises. She says she is not pointing to any incipient weakness on the Indian side or its Army because we have dealt with them for decades. A 3418 km long boundary is essentially undecided between India and China. The line that we took before 1962, the boundary that was decided by geography, tradition, custom, treaty etc. are now on the discussion table. According to her, the events that happened post Doklam, be it the treatment of the Dalai Lama’s 60th anniversary, the remark of the Dragon and Elephant dancing together, the decision of not including Australia in Malabar exercise, or the informal summit in Wuhan, indicate pragmatism coming into play.

 

With all the high decibel levels of activity and rhetoric that was expressed, the government tried to calm the waters, lower the temperature and dial down the decibel levels. The reason India does that is because Doklam is not only about India and China, it is also about Bhutan. The disputed territory of Doklam is essentially in Bhutan. According to her the Sikkim – Tibet frontier is the only section of the Indo-China border where there is a treaty arrangement which decides where should the boundary be. We do not have such arrangements in the west. West of the Karakoram pass, we have the whole complication of what Pakistan and China have done together. They have a boundary agreement dating back to 1963 which covers Pakistan occupied Kashmir. East of the Karakoram pass, we decided on the boundary alignment in 1953-54, after the Panchsheel agreement was signed. There again we do not have an agreement on where the boundary lies. We have an actual line of control where you hear from time to time about the Chinese transgressions. East of that, where you have Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, it is a relatively uncomplicated border but there are a few passes which are disputed between India and China. We regard them as border passes whereas China claims them to be under their sovereign.

 

The eastern section of the boundary which the Chinese call as ‘Sector of the largest Dispute’ involves Arunachal Pradesh. The position taken by China when it comes to border disputes has been changing over time. In 1985, China wanted India to make concessions in the eastern section if we wanted China to make concessions in the western. They have their eye on Tawang. Speaking of how Bhutan fits in this narrative, she says eastern Bhutan abuts to Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh whereas western Bhutan is close to Sikkim. The Chumbi valley which is a triangular area referred to as the dagger points to the Siliguri corridor lies in between these two regions. This is a very vital and strategic area in Indo-China borders. In the early 50s, the political officer from Gangtok used to travel to Bhutan and to Lasa via the Chumbi valley. PM Nehru made his very historic visit to Bhutan from Sikkim through the Chumbi valley when he was 69 years old by travelling on a Yak and that really opened Bhutan up to India. We have very important treaty relationships with Bhutan and Bhutan undertook to consult India on matters relating to external security and where issues of national interest of both the countries were involved. There have always been close connections between India and Bhutan and we have the best bilateral relationship with Bhutan as compared to any other country. It is called the “Beneficial Bilateralism”. While you might hear voices in Bhutan about if they are getting the best deal in this relationship and about the effects of demonetization or GST in Bhutan, India still enjoys the trust of Bhutan and the constitutional monarchy of Bhutan has the closest relationship with India. China always regarded Bhutan as a vassal state and it has never withdrawn from that idea. This has kept Bhutan away from China. It would be suicidal for Bhutan to have a diplomatic relation with China without having a boundary agreement. Being a smaller state, it will be difficult for Bhutan to handle Chinese aggression and that is why it was important to calm the waters in Doklam. Issues of strategic importance which involves security have to be discussed quietly keeping Bhutan’s interests too in mind.

This was followed by an intense session of Q&A where Prakash Menon insisted that India could have taken the opportunity at Doklam and stepped up against China while it was bullying Bhutan. He was concerned that the outcome of Doklam will only encourage China to assert more of its bullying nature against other smaller states. However, the Ambassador maintained that India has been able to hold the Chinese off for the last few decades without a war. It has been 43 years since the last recorded incident of bloodshed across Indo-China frontier at Tulung La.  We need a very dispassionate assessment of where we stand with China. We need time to settle our challenges within this country. She questioned as to who wanted a war with China in present times and reiterated that we should be sensitive to what Bhutan wanted out of it. Bhutan and India needed to be on the same page to arrive at a solution. It was not about firing salvos at China and saying that Doklam 2.0 happened. “What is the use of telling public about it, because it just goes to the evening news with live fire on televisions and the anchors discuss what should be the next steps. That is not how diplomacy works”, she emphasised.