Politics and Education

Aristotle

Indians, by nature, are political. The science of politics is in our blood, and the art of manipulation of human free thinking is a skill humans at large have perfected over the ages. And its not I alone who says this; "Man is by nature a political animal" is what Aristotle said back around near 350 BC. Might I modify this and say, The Indian man (and also the woman) is, by nature, a political animal. Charity begins at home, they say, and for a young budding Indian mind developing into maturity, home is where the brain develops. So it is of no great surprise that our educational institutions, the nursery of fresh young minds, should have a very substantial role to play in the nation's political scheme of things.

If you had asked Lord George Curzon (Viceroy of India, 1899 to 1905) or Sir John Simon (Chairman of the Simon Commission of 1927) about how Indian students played a substantial role in the Indian freedom struggle, they would have been able to give you a picturesque account. These gentlemen had been at the epicentre of two major political protests of the early 20th century: The Partition of Bengal protests and the "Simon Go Back" movement. In both instances, it had been the student community which had jumped in with abandon into the troubled waters of politics.

These are only two instances. Preceding these, and succeeding them as well, many political events in our glorious history have acknowledged a tremendous role played by the students. India has across the ages produced generations of very bright and hard-working students. Though the privileged went to England for higher education, quite a number of education centres came up in India with a reputation of producing the finest brains of the country. Lahore, Allahabad, Calcutta, Madras and Bombay boasted of the finest Universities back in the 19th century.

The Simon Go Back Movement of 1927

A proper education system for young Indians was devised for the first time by the British themselves. In this regard, important it is to note that when Thomas Babington Macaulay, Council Member, delivered his Minute on Indian Education in February 1835 to William Bentinck, Governer-General of British India, proposing the introduction of English education among Indians, he had merely wanted to create an assortment of clerks and officers (babus) out of the native Indians who would have a mere proficiency in English to be able to assist their colonial masters in their machinations in this land. Later on, it was this English Education Act 1835 itself which would come back to haunt them, for this had opened the doors of scientific and political vision among the youth, who would ultimately be a driving force behind the ouster of the British. The ancient age-old Indian philosophies when combined with knowledge of Western rationalism and free-thinking, changed the way Indians thought. To read more about Macaulay's Minute, the Act, and his supremely egotistical and idiotic remark about Indian literature, read this article.

Coming back to focus on Calcutta, a host of colleges provided the society with the brilliant minds nurtured to provide not only political and economic but social upliftment as well. This tradition then carried on after independence, Calcutta turned into Kolkata, but all these centres are thriving along right upto when this blog is being written.These institutions are all distinguished enough and need no introduction, but for the sake of records, a few of these are the Presidency College (now University), Scottish Church (alma mater of the immortalized Animesh Mitra of Kalbela fame), Bethune and Lady Brabourne (for urban girls from all communities), St. Xavier's College (one of the first Catholic institutions of the city, founded in 1860), the famed Medical College (their first batch of medical practitioners graduated in 1838), and of course, Jadavpur University, where the spirit of revolution lives on, and which yours truly can proudly proclaim to be a humble student of.

"The foundation of every state is in the education of its youth", said Diogenes the Greek philosopher. So why is it that the young and the educated have always been attracted into the unsafe waters of politics? This question can never be answered by looking at the state of Indian politics today. I won't really go into the redundant discussions and deliberations on how far our political system has degenerated and why at present it is a muck-pool; we have heard it all too often. But the aspect to deliberate upon is that if this has been the state of affairs for quite some time, then what is it that has been drawing the drawing the best minds of the country to politics, and sometimes, to extremist politics? Not the muck, for sure.

Youth is that infinite whirlpool of energy which provides the world with all that is positive. The brighter the mind, the firmer the body, the deeper are the reserves of this vital energy. And if energy it is, it has to be spent. The earnest call to serve mankind is a bugle which has been blowing constantly over the ages. It is a clarion call rendered from the chasms of human suffering, which calls on fellow human beings to lessen the extent of misery. Pointedly enough, very few people have the ears to catch this cry. Even more pointedly, time and again it is only the youth of the nation who have registered these calls and responded.

Pre-independence, it was the deplorable condition of the average countryman and how the colonial masters were systematically destroying a nation that stirred young men and women into action. You might have been a Gandhian or maybe a Netaji follower, you may be Right wing or you may be having extreme-Left ideologies, but it does not really matter, when the goal is the same and the soul is uncorrupted. As the century progressed, the catalysts changed. India was a fledgling democracy, and the need was felt to ensure that democratic rights are fully made use of. This drew more students and young professionals into politics who wanted to carry on the good work their predecessors might have done. Then came the 70's, and with it the disenchanted ultra-Left wings, who no longer trusted the democratic pillars of the country. With suffering comes the urge to rectify the sufferings of thousands, so those who had suffered much and were gifted with fine brains started going the extremist way. Extremism can never be a solution for any evil, whatever it may be, but that is a topic for another blog. It suffices to note that the Naxalite leaders had mostly, without exception, been young men. Read this Indian Express report about an IIT-KGP dropout who eventually became a top Maoist leader.

V for Vendetta

Partycracy found its way into the system post this period. People were inspired by party symbols or individuals who they thought had what it took to deliver the country to greater heights. College student unions flourished, and politics penetrated daily life. Some were disenchanted by the dirt which gradually started encompassing politics, while others stayed on to serve their affiliations. At some point of time, the muck became so immense that it was no longer capable of attracting young minds into mainstream politics. This was the start of that period when an average young boy of eighteen joining college was being instructed by his concerned parents: Akdom 'politics'-e jorabi na kintu. Those fine brains, which had been able to channelize their energies in proper ways earlier, could not do so any more. But that could not really discourage us, could it! Today we are proud to belong to a free thinking intelligent politically-conscious generation who do not need a party banner to express, spread or cultivate ideas among the masses, and work for their betterment. This, my friends, is the politics of tomorrow.

As citizens of the society we live in, it is our duty and our right to give back to the society whatever we have gained from it, and we do not need the banner of a political party to do that. So if that is the need of the day, then change we must the political definitions prevalent today, and device new ways to progressively channelize that "infinite whirlpool". We are a union with 350 million 'youth', which is about the entire of Japan, Germany, UK and Italy put together, and you might throw in a Singapore or two as well. It is time to throw off the shackles of conventional politics. Grab the weed from its roots and drag it out of the soil. Break barriers, create new definitions. Strain the brains, set the sinews on fire. "Ring out the old, ring in the new". Young India, lets rock.

Swami Vivekananda

"Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached."

A Kolkata Auto Ride

Just another busy day.

Mention to anyone "Transport in London", and the immediate response you get is the London Underground, or rather the "Tube". Do likewise for Venice, you'll get Gondolas. Dal Lake will give you Shikaras. Doing this exercise for Kolkata will probably venture a response like Trams. Or maybe the Metro Railways, or hand-pulled rickshaws. Rightly so, for these are items associated with our history and heritage. But along with these we have in our city another form of public transport, maybe not of fancy "heritage" value but ubiquitous enough, and quite a part of our daily lives! The grand old Auto-rickshaw. Simply, Auto!

The auto-rickshaw is quite an integral part of not only the Kolkata but the entire country's transport system, more so in the cities, and with each city you get some new variety. Mode of usage of the vehicle may differ but the basic structure remains same; a three-wheeled automobile, metal body, sides open, canvas roof, handle-bar controls for the driver, acceleration and gear-changing by hand, and a single foot-brake. Running fuel may vary, as may the space and size.

Welcome to a Kolkata auto ride. In cities like Mumbai and Chennai, autos are not shared and are booked by the passenger for his or her travel, akin to taxis. The vehicle also runs by a metre. But not so in Kolkata! We have our own unique system for auto-rides, where specific routes exist for autos which generally connect two important focal points not very far off from each other, maintained and run by auto unions who determine the rates, and to hell with metres and other regulations. How much you pay for a ride is determined by a rate chart, and in sometimes, the auto-wallah's whim.

An early version of the three-wheeled Piaggo Ape

The Piaggio Ape, a three-wheeler vehicle conceptualized and manufactured in Italy for the first time in 1948, can be said to be the antecedent of the modern auto. Read more about it here. In India, in the later part of the 20th century, with increasing population the need was felt to have a convenient, cheap, low-investment mode of transport for densely populated areas. Add to it the additional maneuverability of the three-wheeled auto with a very small turning radius, it was the perfect solution.

Coming back to Kolkata, the city grew into the suburbs, and so did the popularity of this mode of transport. In view of the environmental hazards of using unregulated fuel to run the autos, it was  made mandatory to run autos on LPG or CNG only, and not any other possibly adulterated fuel. In view of the auto-drivers' tendency to cram in as many people as possible onto his vehicle in a single trip, it was then decided that a maximum of four passengers will be allowed, with no embarking or disembarking from the right side of the vehicle. Traffic congestion due to autos also needed to be prevented, so most of the major thoroughfares are now out-of-bounds for autos, leaving the arterioles of the city for them to ply their trade on.

Who actually ride the autos? Everyone. For those availing public transport, the bus or metro routes will only take you so far and drop you at the major intersection nearest to your residence. If you live in the inner parts, quite far removed from the thoroughfare, you probably need to depend on an auto to take you home. Also, given the notoriety of the punctuality of the city's bus service, those in a hurry also need to avail of autos, which are capable of reaching the destination in minimum time. For daily routines such as dropping kids off at nearby schools, autos are very useful, and can be hired on a monthly basis. So, autos are convenience-maximized optimum-utility transport facilities par excellence.

The latest model of Kolkata Auto-rickshaws

Let us then, for the sake of amusement, recall some of the most common experiences we all have of auto rides in our city! All of these are unique and lend quite a bit of flavour to the overall Kolkata experience. I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one whose first thoughts about autos is the oh-so-familiar refrain: "note cholbe na boudi, khuchro din"! And then the ensuing heated exchange between the unfortunate lady in question and the driver. It seems that the rivers of loose change which inundate the city's economic channels dry up completely just as an auto-driver crosses its path. God save the person who boards an auto completely change-less. Then, to those availing autos in very crowded routes, is the unenviable experience of sitting in the middle seat at the back of the auto. Two unknown people on your two sides at uncomfortably close distances, and you are making hopeless efforts to make yourself as small as is physically possible. To those fortunate enough not to have ever been in such situations, imagine finding all aisle and window seats booked on a New Delhi-New York non-stop, and you have an upset stomach.

Now for the most irritating aspect: the waiting. You are in a hurry, find an empty auto with the driver screaming himself hoarse yelling his destination, and you feel relieved. But no, if you are an experienced passenger you have the foresight to guess that the driver is not going to press the pedal unless his vehicle has its full quota of passengers, and in case it is not the rush hour, the waiting time can be as long as anything you can imagine. Again, if you drive your own car to work, you definitely have had a few blood-boiling encounters with autos, who seem to be the root cause of most of the traffic snarls and hair-breadth escapes from collision. Also, not to forget the uncomfortable experience of sitting beside the open doors of an auto during winter, with the speeding auto making a blast of cold wind hit your face and exposed, skin making it numb.

Getting ready for work.

Another very unique experience can be had in the suburbs. An auto has already taken its quota of four passengers, a fifth comes along, and the auto driver asks for the destination. If the point of disembarking is before the point where a regular traffic police beats start, the lucky passenger hangs on to the little space to the right of the driver and gets off before the auto enters unsafe territory under the stern watch of KP. But if the passenger needs to go to some place further, that is within line-of-sight of a prospective police sergeant, better luck next time dada...

If your driver or one of the co-passengers for the trip is of a talkative disposition, you certainly won't get bored during the journey. From onion prices to Alia Bhatt, free WiFi zones to economic policies, everything gets discussed under an auto roof. You might also get a fair idea about the present chart-busters rocking the music industry presently inside an auto. Irrespective of the party flag which graces its rear, the political tone of the city streets is also best judged inside the autos which ply on them ... But lets leave that for another day.

So these are those colourful and varied experiences one has on one of the city's most common transportation devices. They have their many advantages which we avail of, and also certainly have a host of problems as well which affect the common man. But feel what you might about them, they are certainly an unforgettable part of the Kolkata experience, and the flavour they add to the city is quite unique!

Feluda: A Tribute

When an adult looks back at his childhood and reminisces, the books read in those formative years always lend the background to what kind of a childhood it was: the subtle but omnipresent entity encompassing the flavour of one's youth. My first books, I vividly remember, were Pinocchio in English, and HoJoBoRoLo in Bangla. A little later arrived Sukumar Ray, Ms. Enid Blyton, and then slowly, the bigger names of world literature. These are authors whom we look back at and reminisce fondly about. Yet, if I have to name two authors who provide me as much enjoyment now as they did then, it is not a very tough choice for me. I have simply not outgrown them. The second is Mr. Roald Dahl. The first is Satyajit Ray, and his immortal creation. Feluda.

The first ever glimpse of the Feluda-Topshe duo.

Any child growing up seeks an inspiration or a role model. These are hard to come by in real life, so they turn to fiction. Feluda, for them, is a Godsend. The first Feluda adventure I ever read was "Feludar Goyendagiri", incidentally Ray's first ever Feluda story to be published (Sandesh magazine, December '65 - February '66). Within 34 pages of an Ananda Publishers edition (the shortest completed Feluda story ever), it was something unlike anything I had ever read before. And it was just the beginning. As I completed my collection over the years, I saw the world with Feluda. From London and Hong Kong, to Kedarnath and Jaisalmer (identify the stories for yourself), in each case it is as if it were me accompanying Feluda, and not Topshe, his cousin brother, and as Wikipedia puts it, the "quintessential" accomplice! Jatayu, first encountered by the reader in "Sonar Kella", is a source of laughter, humour and general goodwill throughout. Foreign locations apart, it would be a crime to forget the extent to which Feluda has familiarized me with my own city of Kolkata. Works like "Gorosthaney Shabdhan" have dealt with the city and its history better than any history book. A part of the Bengali lexicon, have become the characters of Maganlal Meghraj and Sidhu Jyatha as well, the archetypal villain encountered in three different stories, and the omniscient 'sobjanta jyatha'. Find the complete list of Feluda stories here, 38 in all, and complete your collection.

Maganlal Meghraj

What is it that endears Feluda to us so much, that even as adults we love to go back to its attractions every now and then? We have read detective novels galore, and some really top class ones at that. In our mother tongue we have the privilege of having the likes of Kakababu and Byomkesh Bakshi, the latter all the more popular in recent times. Feluda himself was a Sherlock Holmes addict. Agatha Christie is regarded as the Queen of Crime across the world. But with full respect to all these men, women and their creators, Feluda holds a special place. Why is that? This is the question I look to answer.

Satyajit Ray

We all started reading Feluda when we were going on from "child" to "youth". As children, our reading content had focused chiefly around the world of fantasy and make-believe, but here was something fresh and different. Here is a no-nonsense character, feet-firmly-on-the-ground, with the incidents occurring in places and circumstances we all can relate to. The characters are people we see around us all the time. In short, realistic. For the first time, I the 'child', were being treated as an 'adult'. And it
does not end here. You have a young man in his late 20's, over 6' tall, trained in the martial arts and yoga, sharpshooter, acidic with his tongue and gifted with a brain of near-Sherlock sharpness. It doesn't take rocket science to conclude that he will be the idol of any adolescent.

And then there is the mastery of the author himself. To comment about the plots and characters manufactured in that supremely ingenuous brain of Ray's would be audacity on my part. Each character is lifelike, identifiable and developed to perfection. The suspense was, at times, Hitchcock-ian. Comic relief was a trademark, which is a missing element in a few of the other well-known sleuths. And I could not over-stress the importance of Topshe in the scheme of things, for every young boy idolizing Feluda has placed himself in Topshe's boots at some point of time just to get that feel of sleuthing, even if in make-believe!

And then we grow up. We meet Poirot and Miss Marple, are introduced to Mr. Bond, and gradually Dan Brown, Alistair McLean, Isaac Asimov, Robin Cook, to mention a few of this genre, enter our reading lists. These are great names, immortalized by the world. Yet the one person who introduced us to this genre, with whom we all solved our first crime stories, retains his charm and attraction; the 'naarir taan' if I may say so! Another of my firm beliefs is that a large part of this charm owes itself to the beautiful language of Bangla we share as our mother tongue, for nothing quite matches up with the joy that comes from reading in the tongue we have grown up speaking!

Stuff of legends.

The advent of Feluda films, teleserials, comics and translations has without doubt further expanded the fan-base of Feluda. Ray's masterpieces behind the camera in shooting the first two immortal Feluda films require separate blogs for themselves, but I am no expert in that subject. The actors who have enacted these characters to life have received the highest compliments for their efforts. But for me, it is the printed word that has brought Feluda to life, and if I had to make a list of the things I would have missed the most had I not been born a Bengali, reading Feluda in Bangla would have definitely featured in the top 5! Watch this video, a tribute to Feluda by three prominent Bengali singers.

I could go on and on about Feluda and his charms. Any small mystery encountered in my schooldays would see me assume the character of Feluda, condescendingly designate one of my partners-in-crime-solving classmates as Topshe, and put my thinking cap on. Trips to Gangtok, Benaras or even Puri would consist of trying to identify the locations and circumstances of a Feluda adventure there. Places like the Park St. Cemetery and Rajani Sen Road, Feluda's residence, have acquired different dimensions. All in all, here is one character etched in our memories and alive in our brains, who has left one big indelible mark on our childhoods, never to be forgotten or erased.

Here is to you, Feluda!

The Left-handed Batsman

God makes man, and adds some variety to every single piece He manufactures. Some little quirks here and there, a bit of a surprise now and again, and what we get is what Evolutionists call genetic diversity. One of these wonderful varieties added to human life is the trait of left-handedness. And when you combine this with the wonderful sport of cricket, what results is sheer beauty.

The service that won 14 Grand Slam titles.

Welcome to my first blog, dear readers. So many things craved for my attention as I sat to think about the subject for this blog. What better, I thought, than write about a wonderful aspect of a beautiful game we all are so crazy about... Prior warning, if you do not care much for the sport this might bore you, but if you love it for its sheer beauty, this might be interesting!

First things first. Not all left-handed sportsmen are "left-handers" in the true sense. Rafael Nadal has a booming left-handed service, but writes and eats with his right. Sourav Ganguly, it is said, started batting left so that he could share his brother Snehasish's batting gloves.Sachin Tendulkar, on the other hand, scored 34,356 international runs batting right-handed, but you would find him signing autographs with his left. Nonetheless, cricket has a fixed definition for left-handed batsmen, and they are the subject of my attention.

A copybook left-hander's cover drive from Dada.

Cricket commentators can be heard very often commenting on a left-handed batsman's "natural grace of shot-making". Quite rightly so; we have had a galaxy of batsmen batting left-handed who have looked like grace personified on the field. But what makes them so much more cool to watch, playing the same shot as their right-handed counterparts? Lets start with the off-side strokes first. The textbook says, play offside strokes with your top hand, and use your wrist. Which is certainly easier said than done. For a left-hander, mind you, it is the right hand which stays at top. So for someone like Dada, or say a Suresh Raina, whose right hands are the strong hands, the right wrist motor nerves are much more easier to control, and also more accurate. So the perfectly timed shot bisecting cover and extra-cover looks so much more beautiful. And assuming we have a right-arm bowler bowling over the stumps, the natural angle of the cover drive, going with the angle, makes it even better. Compare this with a Virat Kohli cover drive. It is more of footwork, balance and timing, but maybe not as much grace. The other side of the coin, however, tends to be the angled bat. Such deft wrist movements tend to make the bat face open, resulting in feather touches to the keeper. So all in all, it is a left-hander's wrist which makes his off-side shots beautiful, but at the same time you get those slight nicks to the glovesman.

David Warner and his powerful forearm.

An exception to this technique is David Warner. Blessed with such a strong right forearm is he, that any cover drive of his is booming shot, more of brute force, pummeling the ball to the boundary, with a rather locked wrist. Any room outside the off-stump and you're a goner, but his strong hands can fail when the ball is close to the stumps, as is the case with Shikhar Dhawan, and the edges carry to the slip cordon instead. Try this yourself. Lock your wrists into a fixed position, and mime a left-handed right-forearm-powered shot on the off-side. If you have strong arms and brilliant hand-eye coordination like Warner, you have control over your shot. If you don't, gully-cricket awaits.

Now for shots played down the wicket. Here the hand does not really make a lot of difference since other things like balance transfer and judgement of length are at play. Nevertheless, you do need to make contact at the right time and at the "sweet point" of the bat, or rather, considering rigid body kinetics, the "centre of percussion" of the bat.
Moving on to the leg side. On drives and flicks, both front and square of the wicket, have in general been the right-handers' forte. Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, two exponents of on side strokemaking, were both heavily dependent on the perfect rolling of their bottom, i.e. right, wrists. Born right-handers batting left, are at a disadvantage here, since for them it is the left wrist being called into action. Where the left-handers do benefit is booming slog sweep or lifted stroke over deep mid-wicket's head, against both pacers and spinners. Take a bow, Yuvraj Singh.

6x6

Name a batsman who is not at his best playing the hook or pull shot, and odds are that he bats left-handed. Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja among the contemporaries, Vinod Kambli among the old-timers may plead guilty. Someone of the stature of Michael Clarke was also found wanting. What goes wrong? It is the inability to roll the wrists at the correct instant to keep the ball down. Play the pull shot in front of your front shoulder, they say. So the a left-hander's natural shuffle into the offside facing an over the wicket approaching missile, inevitably takes him away from the ball. The result: top edges down to deep fine leg.

This is more or less a comprehensive summary of a left-handed batsman's approach to shots all around the wicket. Not every generalization works in all cases, and one will run across exceptions now and then. But all in all, the contribution which left-handed batsmen make to this beautiful game we all love is worth its weight in gold!