A Long Hiatus

Yes, it's been a while. A lot has happened, much has changed and I have had a lot of stuff going on to really notice how time has flown by. Is it just me? Maybe there's light at the end of the tunnel, but for now it seems endless.

Of all the things that have happened, the most exciting was a much needed trip back home to India, after a period of 27 months. We've now moved to Noida in Uttar Pradesh. Delhi has changed a lot, as has India. Everyone's flying -- no one takes the train any longer. There are many more malls and all of a sudden people seem to be spending a lot more money than before.

And tucked within that trip to India was a five-day visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Yes, I went to Bangladesh. Why? Don't ask me. I was supposed to go there for free, but I wound up paying quite a bit due to the bureaucratic setup of Air India where no one seems to be knowing how the system works -- everything is still not that great after all. When an airline company cancels your flight, it is their responsibility to get you to your destination. But Air India still likes to imagine they are doing you a favor by letting you fly. They cancel, and you end up paying for two connecting flights to get to your destination while you could have taken the train and gotten there in 8 hours.

Bangladesh was great! It was quite an experience. I truly felt like a traveler for the first time in my life. And I also managed to get by with Bengali, thanks to the little Oriya that I know. I went around the extremely crowded city of Dhaka, saw the Ahsan Manzil (home of the erstwhile Nawab of Dhaka, now a museum), Dhaka University, and the Lalbagh Fort (though it is no match for the Mughal buildings of North India). The best part though was a trip to Sonargaon -- a small village outside of Dhaka which has the ruined city of Panam Nagar and some small historic buildings and shrines. I am not really sure how old those ruins were, but they were "real" ruins -- very picture-perfect. The shrines weren't something absolutely worth seeing -- in Delhi, they would be like one of the many obscure roadside monuments that no one knows or cares about since there's such a concentration of history. But it was real countryside -- greenery and water everywhere -- and a real treat to go around the village and the fields. A friendly rickshaw driver, a local from the area, showed me around. It was like one of those Lonely Planet journeys. That being said, here is an itinerary I recommend for any ecstatic travelers who may visit Sonargaon. I typed it out on the Dhaka article on Wikitravel.org too.

Frequent bus services to Sonargaon operate from Gulistan, Saidabad and other bus stands in Dhaka. Tickets may be bought on roadside counters. Mention your destination as Mograpara as you might end up at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel instead. The price of the ticket from Gulistan bus stand is Tk 22 (as of December 2007).

The main places of interest in Sonargaon are the ruins of Panam Nagar, the local crafts museum or the Lok Shilpa Jadughar, the tomb of Sultan Ghiyasuddin, the Goaldi Mosque, and the shrines of Panjpir and Shah Abdul Alia. The first two lie on one side of the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway and the rest lie on the other side. Once at Mograpara, a rickshaw may be hired for sightseeing. It is best to hire the same rickshaw for a fixed amount (Tk 200-250) for seeing all the places in Sonargaon. Most rickshaw pullers know the more popular destinations like Panam Nagar, the Lok Shilpa Jadughar, etc. Some may not know of the tomb of Sultan Ghiyasuddin or the Goaldi Mosque and the shrines. Usually rickshaw drivers who are locals from the village know all of these places.

Also note that the Goaldi Mosque, the tomb of Sultan Ghiyasuddin or the shrines are not huge monuments or structures. Rather, they are lone structures and lie within Mograpara village. Visiting these places also affords a very good experience of rural life which is a very pleasant change from the noise and traffic in Dhaka. Also, the Lok Shilpa Jadughar is the only place where one has to pay an entry fee. It may also be closed just before Eid celebrations. The rest of the places are open and free for the public and do not have any specific openin or closing times.

Hajiganj is another place of historical interest, situated about 10 kms from Mograpara bus stand. However, the above mentioned places usually take up most of the day and it is best to return to Dhaka before evening. Sonargaon and Hajiganj may be combined into a single day if one sets of very early from Dhaka.

Another very interesting place I visited was the Armenian Church in Dhaka. It is located in the Armanitola neighborhood in Dhaka, which I assume means Armenian Settlement. During the 1700's -- that very weird point in Indian history when trade suddenly took people to places you'd never imagine them to be in -- Bengal used to have a community of Armenian traders. There are hardly any more Armenians left. I guess like the Anglo Indians, most migrated out of a country which was suddenly too alien. The Armenian Church is the only remnant and obscure evidence of their presence. There were graves with Armenian inscriptions dating back to the 1700s, of people who were born in places as far as Persia and Russo-Armenia. A photo of the Archbishop of the Armenians hung in the room inside and an old, shredded Bible was kept near the chapel. I rung a church bell for the first time in my life. And somehow, there was that touch of nostalgia that I find with most British structures that seem to belong to a romantic, bygone era.

Surprisingly, the caretaker was a Bangladeshi Hindu who was originally from Allahabad. He couldn't go back to India during Partition. And somehow living among a sometimes hostile community seemed to have made him very assertive of his being a Hindu. He was quite straight-forward in asking me if I was one, and had quite a bit to say about Muslims -- and this discussion was taking place as the entire city of Dhaka was preparing for cow-sacrifices to be made for Eid the following day.

It was good trip overall. Maybe it wasn't worth the amount I ended up paying for it. But it was once in a lifetime, as I will probably not go there again, if at all I decide on a vacation in Bangladesh ever. I would much rather visit Chittagong and Cox's Bazaar -- the eastern limits of the Indian subcontinent where India meets Southeast Asia.

The rest of my trip to India included a visit to Orissa and one-day trips to Neemrana in Rajasthan and Chandigarh. Orissa was short and fairly uneventful from the adventure standpoint, except for a short excursion I made on my last day, to Dhauligiri -- the scene of the bloody Battle of Kalinga and Ashoka's subsequent conversion to Buddhism which made it the most prominent religion in India for the next few centuries. At Cuttack, I visited Naraj -- the place where the river Kathjodi branches out of the Mahanadi. The last time I went there was about 8-9 years back, and it was quite eventful, with the car breaking down and us making a hike back home. Finally, it was a comfortable two weeks at home, enjoying the Delhi winter and watching India play Australia.

If you haven't already noticed the widget on the right side of the screen, I have some photos uploaded on Flickr, which I must say are my first attempts at photography.

Anuradha Pal performs with Prof. Allyn Miner

Anuradha Pal -- one of the very rare female professional tabla players (according to the Limca Book of Records 1991, the first and only one) -- performed with Prof. Allyn Miner in the Irvine Auditorium, University of Pennsylvania on Sept. 28, 2007.

Click on the pictures to view larger sizes.

Taal Pulse -- Lehera, Theka and Drone Software

This is an excellent aid for students of Hindustani music. It essentially replaces the electronic lehera, tala and drone synthesizers (like these) and combines all the three into one. And the best part is that it's free to download!

Taal Pulse can play a lehera in multiple ragas and across six talas -- dadra, rupak, keherva, jhaptala, ektala and teen tala. You also have great control over the pitch and the pulse. So if you're a tabla player, just turn off the tabla (and the tanpura, if you want) and use it for practicing layakari. If you're a vocalist or a n instrumentalist, turn off the lehera and use it for accompaniment. Unfortunately, the only option in terms of instruments for the lehera is the harmonium -- a sarangi would have been excellent. Also, a tabla is the only option you have for the talas.

The program can be downloaded from here: http://taalpulse.sourceforge.net/. It can run on Windows, Linux and MacOS platforms, and even PDAs. The website also has a short tutorial though the program is very basic and easy to use. The only (very minor) flaw that I noticed is that if you turn off the lehera or the tabla (or both) and then turn it back on, it plays on only one of the speakers instead of both. Also, if you try doing other work on the computer simultaneously (though that is impossible if you're practicing -- unless someone else is using the computer), you run the risk of messing up the cycle. But that's barely comparable to the convenience it now brings for those practicing by themselves.

The Blue Umbrella (Chatri Chor)

This past weekend I saw The Blue Umbrella (also called as Chatri Chor). According to IMDB, the movie was released internationally in 2005, but was released in India on Aug 10. This is the third movie I've seen directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. The movie won the National Award in India for Best Children's Film.

The movie is adapted from a short story of the same name by Ruskin Bond. (On a side note, I have a book autographed by him. He visited my high school in 1998.) Bond is one of my favorite Indian authors and his writings, most of which are set in the Doon Valley and Lower Himalayas of Uttaranchal (or rather, Uttarakhand), give you a sense of solitude - so typical of the Himalayan hill-stations. It is as if one is transformed to the hills - anyone who has been to the lower Himalayas would probably agree.

And true to Bond stories, this movie is shot in Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh - a beautiful hill town (though somewhat rife with commercial tourism but not like Shimla, or Mussoorie). But besides the scenery, I didn't really find much in the movie - it's only a children's film after all. The story might have suited a short film; but when you expand a short, simple story into a full-length movie, the pace becomes excruciatingly slow and it is often tempting to pause the movie and take a "break" (with chances that you might not resume watching). A little village girl gets hold a blue umbrella from some Japanese tourists, which draws the attention of everyone in town, particularly the village shopkeeper who tries in vain to get hold of it. The umbrella ends up being stolen, and it is followed by the thief being ostracized by the community. The songs are hardly worthwhile, if not bad.

Pankaj Kapoor plays an excellent role though. His character is funny mostly because his dialogs are in the rural dialect. This is something that must be credited to Vishal Bhardwaj - he is quite acquainted with the tongue - and his movies always have choice folk phrases which I find quite amusing.

Other than that, there isn't anything much here. But in cinematic terms, it is quite well made and thankfully it's not stupid, unlike a couple of recent movies that I have seen in the past few months.

A very detailed review of the movie may be read on Rediff.

William Dalrymple's The Last Mughal

I finally finished reading William Dalrymple's latest book - The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi, 1857. And with this, and with much satisfaction, I have also finished reading all of his books. Dalrymple has been an excellent discovery and his works, despite being a product of scholarship, are increasingly accessible owing to his ability of storytelling. In fact, of late, Dalrymple has shifted focus from travel writing to history. Here is an extract from the book.

The book is almost entirely based off of the Mutiny Papers, in the National Archives of India, which had previously been lying ignored for almost a century and a half. What makes the work unique is that for the first time, one reads about the Mutiny of 1857 from the Indian perspective (albeit coming from a British historian). For a long time, most sources on the mutiny were rife with jingoistic British racialism towards Indians and portrayed it as the uprising of the evil, uncivilized "natives" against the great nation of Britain and all the "goodness" that it possessed and spread throughout the world. The nationalistic opinion, particularly Savarkar's The History of the War of Indian Independence, represented it as a war of Independence and made a hero out of Mangal Pandey, while in reality, it was a mostly uncoordinated uprising that eventually went on to become the most serious threat to imperialism in the 19^th century. Meanwhile, our history textbook in school in India described it from a socialist viewpoint - a collective uprising against oppressive British policies. The fact however is that it always was an army uprising of an exclusively religious nature and was eventually joined by people with a variety of grievances - land regulations, annexation of entire kingdoms (particularly Awadh), etc. And though it was somewhat coordinated, it was for the most part asynchronous with events happening all over North India, while South India remained oblivious of it. The religious nature was barely ever discussed before in India. But it was indeed a joint Hindu-Muslim uprising against British Evangelical Christianity, which was fast coming into fashion among the British in the 1800's.

The saddest part of story is, obviously, the fate of Zafar. Over his lifetime, he had seen the Mughal Empire dwindle from almost the entire subcontinent to just the city of Delhi. And there was nothing he could do when he ascended the throne in is 60's. Zafar's ill-treatment at the hands of the British following defeat and his deportation to Rangoon, Burma is quite depressing. His beggar-like life towards the end and his burial in an unmarked grave seem ridiculous when one imagines monuments like Humayun's Tomb built for his ancestors. Even more pathetic is the destruction of Delhi and the fate of Zafar's successors and others in the Mughal family and the court. (The BBC has pictures taken in 1858 in India following the Mutiny.)

However, my only point of contention with Dalrymple is his extrapolation of Indian Muslims to Islam in general, even though he specifically uses the term "Wahhabi-like" to describe extremist Muslims. He takes a very important political stand in the end - equating the clash between Evangelical Christianity with the Hindu-Muslim population of India, the ignorance and arrogance of the British as they acquired world dominion, and the subsequent violence and politics with that of the US today and its policies in the Middle East. My point is that Islam in India is like a separate species. Though the gap between Wahhabism and Indian Islam has reduced a lot in the last few decades, the latter has developed over centuries along much different lines - specifically in its interaction with other faiths. The point just doesn't hold. Dalrymple however, presents a very important link here. The radical madrassa at Deoband, that was established after the revolt based on a "Wahhabi-like" interpretation of Islam, multiplied in Pakistan after its creation. And it was these madrassas that the Taliban was born out of.

I would accuse Dalrymple of specifically trying to weave a Hindu-Muslim love story out of everything. He seems to have a fascination with Muslim rulers dressing up as Hindu Gods, Sufis smoking up, etc. For example, in this article, he counters VS Naipaul's views on the demise of Vijayanagar with a similar argument. The pillars that the Hindu-Muslim hybrid culture rests on are people like Akbar, Dara Shikoh, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Wajid Ali Shah, etc. But Dalrymple fails to openly accept or criticize the actions of rulers like Aurangzeb, the implications of whose actions are evident even today. Instead, he argues that the number of temples destroyed were not as many as claimed by the Hindu right. He fails to account for the fact that the community is so much prone to extremism, or its reasons, in more concrete terms. He uses the "Wahhabi-like" argument when discussing extremism, but then extrapolates Indian Muslims to global Islam and makes it into an east against west issue.

I think it would be fair to assume he is a modern, academic avatar of a hippie from the 60's. But what must be commended about him is the quality and extent of his research. It is this that leads him to form his views - the complications of which are generally more than the Hindu right is capable of handling, preferring instead, an overly simplistic idea of centuries of plunder by the Muslims and the need for "revenge".

Sanjay Dutt's Imprisonment

Actor Sanjay Dutt was sentenced to six years rigorous imprisonment yesterday for the possession of an AK-56 rifle which he had bought from the perpetrators of the 1993 Bombay Bomb Blasts. This article on Express India has details about the case against him.

The CBI case against Sanjay goes as follows: Abu Salem and his men went to Dutt's house on January 16, 1993 and gave him three AK-56 rifles, 25 hand grenades, one 9 mm pistol and cartridges.

A couple of days later he returned them two AK-56 rifles, hand grenades and cartridges to accused Hanif Kadawala and Samir Hingora keeping one AK-56 rifle with himself.

After the blasts, Sanjay, who was shooting in a foreign country, called up his friends and allegedly sought their help in destroying the weapon.

On Dutt's instructions, the rifle was destroyed by Yusuf Nullawalla, Kersi Adjenia, Rusi Mulla and Ajay Marwah. The rifle and cartridges formed part of the consignment, which was smuggled into India at Dighi Port on January 9, 1993, in pursuance to the conspiracy, CBI alleged.

The accused confessed to have destroyed the weapon in a foundry. CBI procured a spring and a rod purported to be the remains of the AK-56 rifle.

However, Sanjay denied the charge of possessing weapon and destroying it saying his confession was taken under duress and he was shown the "sach bol" patta in jail (with which policemen apparently hammered accused). He retracted his confession much later and his friends followed suit.

Initially he took the plea that he did possess the weapon and this was to protect his family as communal riots had broken out in 1992-93 and his father was a social worker. Later, he changed his stand and denied possession of the weapon.

Why he had to buy an AK-56 and two hand grenades for personal protection is something that confounds me. He was jailed for 18 months in 1993 for this connection, and has been on bail ever since. Besides, there also exist taped conversations between him and the gangster Chhota Shakeel.

In the meantime, he seems to have changed altogether, personally and professionally. I appreciated his role in Vaastav and Mission Kashmir. And though I haven't seen Munnabhai or its sequel, they started a trend of Gandhigiri; and the sequel was the first Hindi film ever screened in the United Nations.

So is the sentence passed against him still as strong today, 14 years later? The Acorn argues it is not since he as clearly reformed since then. "Justice delayed is justice denied," he claims and the sentence passed today is not as morally sound as it would have been 14 years back. On the other hand, there are those who say the law must be the same for everyone and his celebrity status ought not to be considered here.

I would take a neutral stand on this. He deserves to go to jail for what he did, but I think six years is too harsh. Even two years would have been enough, especially considering that he has lived the last 14 years of his life with the case lurking around - just that is quite a punishment in itself. It is also a known fact that most Bollywood stars have connections with the underworld and are routinely subjected to extortion calls.

Though Dutt's lawyers are filing a plea with the Supreme Court, while he is already in jail, I doubt if he can escape now. Hopefully his sentence can be reduced. Or, he might even be able to get out sooner with some kind of a pardon for "good behavior".

US-India Nuclear Deal - Finally Done

I am glad the deal has been finalized, despite some earlier disagreements. Besides just addressing India's energy requirements, it obviously carries a very important political message too - that India is in the good books of the US. More importantly, it legitimizes India's possession of nuclear technology and brands it as trustworthy of handling this technology safely, especially after being under nuclear sanctions for almost three decades. Whereas that should never have been doubted before, it is nevertheless a recognition that has rightfully been granted. And along with that is the inferred geopolitical message that of all the countries in the region (though I would probably generalize it to anywhere east of Europe), India is probably the most stable and "intrinsically strong".

More importantly, it also addresses some of the energy requirements for the country. According to the Ministry of Power, coal currently provides about 53.5% of the country's electricity while nuclear energy contributes about 3.1%. This latter is expected to increase to 25%, especially because of our huge Thorium reserves. Assuming that hydro generation maintains, if not increases, its contribution of 26.2%, that would satisfy more than 50% of the total electricity requirements. How far it takes us to realizing the goal of "Power for All by 2012" is doubtful though. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has some interesting info on this - particularly these presentations: I, II, III. The first presentation points out that by 2030, coal would still be addressing most of India's electricity requirements, but nuclear, hydro and renewable sources would be contributing a much higher percentage. The third presentation talks about nuclear energy.

According to the Hindustan Times,

The deal provides for full civil nuclear energy cooperation covering nuclear reactors and aspects of the associated nuclear fuel cycle including enrichment and reprocessing. It also "contains a full reflection of the March 2, 2006 supply assurances, and the provision for corrective measures," the fact sheet said. It provides for development of a strategic reserve of nuclear fuel to guard against any disruption of supply over the lifetime of India's safeguarded reactors, ensuring no repetition of the Tarapur experience.

Underlining that "the purpose of the agreement is to enable full civil nuclear energy cooperation," [National Security Adviser, MK] Narayanan said there is no specific reference in the deal to India testing a nuclear device or detonating a nuclear weapon.

"This agreement is intended for full civil nuclear cooperation... potentially most important for energy security," the NSA said. "We are not using it as an excuse to enhance our strategic capabilities," he said. "If we need additionality to our strategic stockpile, we know how to do it. We don't need to use this route for it," Narayanan said, responding to criticism that the deal would fuel a nuclear race in the region.

© The Hindustan Times, July 27, 2007

The BBC points out a couple of arguments against the treaty.

Critics say the pact could encourage India to build its nuclear weapons arsenal, and that it sends the wrong message to countries like Iran, whose nuclear ambitions Washington opposes.

It has also faced opposition from the communists and opposition parties in India who have argued that the deal could undermine the country's sovereignty.

Other countries must understand more about India before trying to put themselves at par with it. Most countries in the region lack a stable political system (albeit corrupt in India's case) kept in check by a judiciary and an independent Constitution. Besides, India's military, unlike both its major neighbors, is not at all politicized and hence the chances of misuse are very little. Besides, India is one of the very few countries (including China) that has a "no first use" policy - we do not use nuclear weapons unless first attacked using nuclear weapons. We are also unlikely to use these weapons inspired by some kind of twisted ideology.

As for the communists, it is not a problem if we buy MiG fighter jets from Russia or have them build steel plants for us.