CHANGES .....ARE UNWELCOME SOMETIMES

Time heals, time also changes, not just people but places too.Change is inevitable but unwelcome sometimes too.Time and change have affected not just tribal Bastar but large cities like Bangalore too...and for the worse.In the process of these events it is always the local people who are affected, be it Bastar or Bangalore.
A recent visit to Bangalore brought back old memories of a friendly city.A city which is known for its hospitality towards outsiders.Ironically, probably this is what has led to the ruin of its original culture....The masala dosa and the idli vada joints have given way to numerous north indian' chat' and the 'paratha points'.Buttermilk and coconut sellers now have resorted to selling 'baraf golas' and 'nimbu paani'.Except for a few old well known eateries like goos old MTR and others have been able to withstand the change!Others have resorted to catering to the 'uttar bharatiya 'palate.
Talk to an auto driver or a shop keeper in Kannada and almost always you will hear a reply in Hindi, it took me a while to reconcile to the fact that Bangalore is being or has been tken over by the 'north indian 'wave.Who is to blame???The outsiders who are ruling the economy and therefor the city or the locals who have failed to uphold their traditions and language and have given in to the wave and foolishly consider it superior.
They come ,they stay and probably conquer the culture too.Above all they consider the locals inferior.....Its sad that the city has offered them so much and all they do is call anybody living below the Vindhyas a 'Madrasi"!

MORE GOOF UPS ON THE GOVT. WEB SITE

Just check out the following link
http://www.tourismofchhattisgarh.com/bastar-tribes-of-chhattisgarh/bisonhorn-maria.html
It says that marriages between blood relatives and even brothers and sisters are common.
The person who has compiled this has evidently no knowledge whatsoever of the Gond culture.The Koyatoor are divided into 750 gotras or families and marriages within the Gotras are strictly forbidden so where does the question of marriage between blood relatives arise?

What does one achieve by projecting such falsehood to the outside world? Providing untrue info about probably one of the worlds oldest cultures, on a govt. maintained website only speaks volumes about the callous attitude of the people in power towards its people..

WATCH YOUR WORDS..

Yesterday i.e. the 15th of April 2008, a leading Hindi daily of Chattisgarh, छत्तीसगढ़" carried a news item whose headlines read' थोक में आधा दर्जन' and no the writer was not referring to some

vegetable or fruits but to six children

born to a lady,Sunila Devi in Bihar.


What is shameful is ,this was the same

newspaper that lunged at Mr.Ajay Chandrakar when he made the offending

statement regarding children not being produced by the Govt. How different is this

headline from Mr.Chandarakar's comment?


It is said that childbirth is a second life for a woman.In the writers enthusiasm to

popularise the news item of a lady giving birth to six girls at one time, the very

essence of motherhood has been mocked at by publishing such an offending

headline.What does the writer mean by saying that the lady has given birth

'थोक में'? Is this the phrase to be used while referring to babies, who are yet to

understand the ways of this wicked world?

Now ,whom do we demand an apology from?Why is it so difficult to value

another humans sentiment? At the cost of selling hot stories, the humane side of

the media seems to be lost.

OFFICIAL ERRORS...GET FACTS RIGHT

Read through this to know what incorrect things people have to say about the

life and people of Bastar....


'The Gonds tribals of Bastar have their own 'Ghotul' system in which the un


married young mature boys and girls live together in seperately made huts and


copulate.During this time they enjoy themselves by participating in dancing ,

music , local story telling etc in a drunken mood. Inspite of these they gets


knowledge of different social activities.The members can get out of the ghotuls


to marry.This Ghotul system is mostly found among the Muria Gonds tribes and

the origin of this system is related with their goddess 'Lingopan'. '

This is an excerpt from the 'official' website of Bastar www.bastar.nic.in. It gives

a totally false picture of the centuries old social institution of 'Ghotul". Why do

people fail to realise that the Ghotul was a social institution where the young

learnt about their cultures and traditions and not just a system that allowed

free 'sexual relations' as the author of the website claims...

'Youngsters interacting in a drunken mood'....does it mean that drinking was a


prerequisite to interact in the Ghotul??? Another blaring mistake is the mention

of Lingopen as a Godess....Lingopen is a GOD of dance and music and the

presiding diety of the Ghotul.

Further the website also mentions that the Madias drink like animals from the

water.....Is this the picture being given to outsiders to promote tourism??

Time to wake up and do the cleaning act..Of wrong thoughts and of course the

website.

I think members of the community should demand an apology..for publishing

demeaning remarks and incorrect information ,thus hurting the sentiments of

the community involved

Loss of opportunity: Chenchu children whiling away their time instead of going to a school meant for them near Nagarjunasagar in Guntur district.
ETHIPOTHALA (Guntur dt.) :
Even while schools in other places face perennial scarcity of funds and poor infrastructure with classrooms filled to the brim, it is the other way round in the land of the primitive tribal group Chenchus.
To say there are more well-constructed ashram schools with staff quarters than the number of Chenchu children going into them is an understatement if takes their headcount in classrooms.
The upper primary residential school managed by the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) Srisailam, for the Chenchus here, is a typical example. The sanctioned strength of the school is 400 and the fund flow and staffing pattern is in tune with it. But the attendance on Tuesday was 180 and the number of Chenchus stood at a mere 39 spread across classes I to VII. No class had more than five Chenchus. Others who made up for "lack of strength" included advanced tribals like Lambadas and a few Dalits.
Same is the case in B.K.V. Palem residential primary school near Nagarjuna Sagar dam. Of the 44, only 20 attended on Tuesday and the Chenchus accounted for only four. The scene repeated in the schools at neighbouring Murikimalla, BMC Colony, Peddmanthanala in Prakasam district.
Like most other benefits that do not reach them, it is clear that the schools meant for a primitive tribal group fighting disease and deprivation are used and abused by others. No effort is made to counsel and motivate Chenchu parents. Headmasters and teachers in charge of this task play the blame game. "We persuade but they do not come," was the refrain of the teachers.
A sinister design looks apparent. Cement concrete residential school buildings are constructed without any homework, as every new project brings a lot of money that could be shared in terms of percentages. Once built, more funds come their way for the upkeep of buildings, food, uniforms and books for Chenchu children. So, wonderful buildings abound but there are not many Chenchus. The trick is simple ? blame the Chenchus' so-called disinclination to study, admit others in their place and fudge the attendance registers.
"Much like the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) method used for big infrastructure projects, a system is in operation here. Buildings come up where there are no Chenchus. Where there are Chenchus there are no schools. And where there are schools there are no teachers. There is a mismatch and it serves the purpose of officials out to make money in the name of Chenchus. A thorough re-assessment is required," says Sambasiva Rao of Banjara Development Society, a NGO working among Chenchus.

Source:K.Venkateshwarulu, the Hindu

HERE TOO.............

A recent visit to Bastar and the shrine of Maa Danteshwari made me realise that faith knows no boundaries and so do money making schemes....
After paying obeisance at the shrine, a walk to the Bhairao Baba temple about half kilometre made me see reality.Just before the bridge is a small room, now converted into a 'mandir'.

So, what is different?

A young girl sings hymns of hare krishna ,walking in a trance like state around a tulsi brindavan.The moment she spots an audience she ushers them inside saying 'an akhand jyoti and paath ' programme is on.

What makes the whole thing appear fake is...the pujari in question was earlier a bus conductor and he even ran a dhaba later. A very popular figure....for the wrong reasons..

Two years ago he had only a shed here at the mandir premises. He now has acquired cows and lots of innocent audience.How is it that such a wrong person has turned into a pujari? Or should we give him the benefit of doubt and assume that he has had a spiritual awakening?

Is this a way to slowly gain control of the land there, or to earn money?????Or to impose the Hidutva factor in an otherwise tribal dominated area.I only hope the ancient traditions of the temple are preserved and not gradually influenced and changed under the spell of this con man.

Then I witnessed something that made me optimistic...there were around eight goats tied to trees just opposite the make shift temple ,all being readied for sacrifice by villagers........

So, tradition prevailed......but for how long?

At a shrine where even the royals accepted the traditions of the Koyas.....
how did this
man in question acquire land there? And how is he imposing a clearly alien tradition and'pratha' there?

Are the people of the Adivasi samaj in slumber?Where are the netas who so proudly call themselves tribals?...
Looks like Salwa Judum is keeping them occupied.....

YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU WERE...........

Ashok Mitra after 14th November, 2007

By Ashok Mitra. Translated from Bengali by Debarshi Das, Sanhati.

Till death I would remain guilty to my conscience if I keep mum about the happenings of the last two weeks in West Bengal over Nandigram. One gets torn by pain too. Those against whom I am speaking have been my comrades at some time. The party whose leadership they are adorning has been the centre of my dreams and works for last sixty years.

Let me start with the governor. Those who remember Anantaprasad Sharma or Rajeshwar would readily admit that it’s a great fortune for this state and the State Government that they have someone as gentle, well-mannered, sympathetic, modest, erudite as Gopal Krishna Gandhi as the governor of the state. Let me also add he had consented to the post because of the interest shown by the central leadership of the ruling party. What has been his grave fault that the ruling party is so determined to declare even him as its enemy? Through a travesty of truth it is being said that governor has termed the return of those who were forced flee Nandigram to take shelter in Khejuri as illegitimate and unpardonable. He has not done so. He has condemned, in no uncertain terms, the way in which they have been brought back. By now the machination that went on behind the return is known to the world. The government had had enough scope to rehabilitate these devastated people in their own homes through political mediation or administrative arrangements during the last eleven months. The attempts through unilateral threatening, police action, indiscriminate firing had a tragic end. But there were still many avenues left to be explored. The government could have announced compensation for the family of dead and injured immediately after the idiotic incident of firing. Promises could have been made to take action against the police officers and personnel involved in the crime. Days passed, and the government did nothing. Announcement was made in the fashion of Vijay Tendulkar’s play’s title, “Shantata, court chalu ahe.” The senior most political leader of the state and the country had to take the initiative to call up Mamata Banerjee, sit and discuss with her a few conditions for resolution. The government was intimated of them. It did not proceed on them. On the initiative of the senior leader of Forward Bloc, Ashok Ghosh, an all-party meeting was convened. That also got stalled due to indirect pressure from the ruling party. In the meanwhile, as was inevitable, opposition parties started using the unstable situation of Nandigram to their own advantage. The flame of tension was kept burning by a variety of organisations of different colour and class. The discontented whining one hears from the ruling party over this has no rationale whatsoever. The responsibility of unspoken suffering of those who spent eleven months as homeless rests squarely upon the shoulders of the government.

It is better to look further into the past. Nandigram was not after all the first blood. Singur episode had happened before that. The Left Front Government does not like nationalised industries. They want to set up private industries in the state. Hence there are promises to acquire land on behalf of the national, international capitalists. That land would supposedly be used by capitalists to set up industries. Since there was declaration of industrialisation in the election manifesto, and since they have won 235 seats, it was readily assumed that there was no need for preparations. All of a sudden peasants were told: leave the land, the masters would set up industries here. If it had learned minimum lessons from the protests, clashes and the blood letting of Singur, the government would have been more careful in Nandigram. But that was not to be. It remained as arrogant as ever. Even the top leaders of the ruling party have been saying there was no existence of the opposition parties in Nandigram. The government itself provided them with the opportunity to grow. The loyal followers of the ruling party declared revolt and those who were not with them were driven out. The onus of this rests on the government as well.

For eleven months complete silence and inactivity were carefully maintained, no political or administrative alternative was explored. And suddenly a new plot was hatched. As has been repeatedly admitted by the home secretary, the police was instructed to remain inactive. Mercenaries were collected from across the state. Workers of the ruling party encircled Nandigram from all directions. Birds, bees, flies, journalists none was given the permission to penetrate the blockade. And then the light brigade of the ruling party charged in, beat the wayward militants of Nandigram to a pulp and into submission. Those who had fled returned. However the moment of their return saw a parallel and opposite incident. Houses were torched anew, those who were inside Nandigram were butchered in a massive celebration of revenge. Presently, the Nandigram sky is reverberating by the scream of the recent batch of refugees.
The governor must have been informed of the developments by the secretaries. Much concerned, he must have appealed to the honchos of the ministry to keep peace. But to no effect. The rampage is going on as we speak. And so is the blood bath. The governor has made a public statement condemning the incident. I don’t know if what he said, how he said it falls within the framework of the constitution. Those who have not forgotten the framework of humanism, however, will not have two minds about it.

The problem does not involve Singur and Nandigram alone. It is much more deep and serious. The repetition of mistakes has become a habit. Just consider this for a minute. It has only been a year and a half since the Left Front has won a massive mandate; and what examples of arrogance and stupidity during this brief span! Come what may, we shall have control over every nook and corner of the state. The cricket board will get its chief elected to our dictates. If our candidate loses we would say, “evil power has won, we will chase him out.” Not only the ordinary people, economic thinkers have offered diverse views over land acquisition in Singur and Nandigram. These different opinion holders are nothing but bookworms, what do they know about running a government! Consequently prominent economist and party comrade of the stature of Prabhat Patnaik is hounded. We are an all-knowing government: from cricket, poetry, theatre, films to the magic of land acquisition – we know everything. Neither should anyone lecture us on the pros and cons of the nuclear deal, for we have won 235 seats. Jyoti Basu won more seats in 1987; he was not heard to mouth such hubris.
Not only hubris, add ineptitude to it. Decades have passed shouting hoarse about universal education, and still West Bengal is behind so many states. Money is flowing in from the centre for employment generation schemes, there is zero administrative initiative, the hungry and the unemployed go hungry and unemployed. The centre has arrangement for wheat and rice; these are not even lifted so that they could be sent to the middle and lower class through the ration system. There are uncountable errors and omissions in the list of people living below the poverty line. The shortcomings in the state over empowering the minorities have been detailed in the Sachar Committee report.

Take the incident surrounding the death of Rizwanur Rahman. If the police chief of Kolkata along with his cohorts were removed the very evening in which he let his social philosophy known at a press conference and if the investigation were handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation, public rage would not have assumed such ominous proportions. Instead we witnessed an extraordinary serial exhibition of a strange paralysis. Examples go on mounting.

Three decades ago when the Left Front government took the oath of office it was not to sit at Writers’ building and indulge in empty talks. But to be one with the people, listening to it and after realising the advice of the people with due humility to design government programmes to implement it. Improvisation of the Panchayat system was precisely for this purpose. Yet all this have somehow become stagnant. Though panchayats are elected democratically they are in a sorry state today. The little money that reaches them is not properly utilised, plenty of it disappears into dark tunnels.
It is not possible therefore to avoid the unpleasant truth anymore. One can borrow S. D. Burman’s song to describe what the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was in this state a few decades ago, “you are not what you were.” 90% of its members have joined after 1977, 70% after 1991. They do not know the history of sacrifices of the party. To them ideological commitment to revolution and socialism is simply a fading folktale. As the new ideology is development, many of them are associated with the party in the search for personal development. They have come to take, not to give. They are learning different tricks so as to appropriate various privileges by aligning with the governing party. One efficient way to bag privileges is to flatter the masters. The party has turned into a wide open field of flatterers and court jesters. Moreover, there has been a rising dominance of ‘anti-socials’. For different reasons, every political party has to lend patronage to ‘anti-socials’, they remain in the background and are called into duty at urgent times. In the seventies these anti-socials had reached the top rung of Congress party.

I fear same fate is awaiting the communist party.
Many of the old people, long time and still party members, who have been through numerous sacrifices and are idealists, are a disheartened, disillusioned lot today. But any organised protest will face party disciplinary action, what will be their support in the twilight of life if the party throws them out?
I feel sorry for Mr. Jyoti Basu. Of the four ministerial colleagues who took the oath as members of the first Left Front government with him on 21st June, 1977, only I am still alive. His current state of an imprisoned Shah Jahan saddens the heart deeply. State leadership does not heed the little advice he tries to offer from time to time. If his talks are a tad uncomfortable for the party they are not published in the party organs. Every Friday after the meeting of the party secretaries he comes down stairs and is made to say different things; what he says today may completely be the opposite of what he had said the last time.

But my real concern lies elsewhere. Mamata Banerjee is the safest insurance for the current ruling party. Urban, rural masses may have become discontented with the Left Front, but whenever they imagine Mamata Banerjee’s ascent to power, the sheer terror of that possibility has made them vote for the Left Front. But if it comes to a situation that the hubris and ineptitude of leaders of the Left Front government frustrate them so much that they begin to think there is no difference really, it’s all tweedledum and tweedledee, that will be a real disaster. For notice the behaviour, patronage, programme, mode of action, speech of Mamata Banerjee – she personifies fascism. My ardent appeal to the central leadership of the party which I still love to think to be mine, please think it over, you shiver at the terror of Maoism, will that shivering compel you to throw West Bengal into the gutter of fascism?

The original article appeared in The Anandabazaar Patrika