Creative indeed?!?

 How narratives change! And how 'creative'ly! Just look at what is happening around us! Each and every possible political party would have its own I/T cell, and each one would have its own spins, and every one would accuse the other of 'creating' narratives! Are not these the current catch phrases? And world wide?

Why remember these rather obvious themes? Well, the advertisement 'guru' Piyush Pandey is no more. Which is sad. Any death diminishes all, as John Donne would say.  The weirdly funny aspect of this tragic story is that the so-called intellectuals who constantly critique capitalism, its vicious connect with the political Right Wing, et al, all such creative thinkers are busy writing paeans to the creative genius of the advertising guru, how he understood the pulse of the common man, and so on! Absolutely ironic indeed! 

What is advertising? Basically it is entertainment, entertainment, entertainment. Moreover, it IS crafting such a narrative that marketplaces get created for goods and services that are the fallout of capitalism, and often in excess! Well, as proof, let me quote Herman Wouk's essay entitled "What is advertising?" 

Actually, the oft anthologised essay is actually a talk he gave during an advertising meet. It is a blistering attack on advertising as a profession. Well, I have taught this piece many times, even to Commerce students, relating it to their specialisations such as brand building, et al. Often I have quoted Indian ads, including the Oglivy ads to prove the points made by Herman Wouk. 

In the classroom, literally dissected we many such ads. I related it to Herman Wouk's anti-capitalist stance. Tried to make students think about the ethics of marketing, branding, advertising, their various types, and so on.

Hence it is rather ironic that the king of advertising is now literally being canonised by the so-called 'liberal' newspapers, academic groups, anti-establishment thinkers whose eternal slogans are whines against capitalism and the 'Right Wing'.

It looks as if in the wor(l)ds of narratives, it is a game of passing the buck entitled 'i am always right, you are forever wrong'. Hardly creative, right? It smacks in such an ugly way of an opportunistic blame-game which, much worse, appears to be a sport of back-scratching in private and in public brow-beating and/or beating the so-called 'enemy of the people' (in reality 'friends' as per convenience) black n blue! Hardly creative, right? 

Such hypocritical and convenient double-speak is what George Orwell, one of my most favourite authors, exposed in his great novels "Animal Farm" and "1984". Both novels open up the chicaneries and pretenses of both the Liberal Left and the Right, and in a truly creative and honest way.

May the soul of Piyush Pandey rest in peace! May the narratives of ALL sorts wither away, and may genuine creativity rule wor(l)ds. High hopes indeed! 

Pratima@ I have always wondered what must be happening to the followers of political parties who were at each other's throats till eternity, and whose top leaders suddenly are 'friends and colleagues' overnight! What type of 'creative' narratives must be touted!?! 

Yet another amusing narrative is the blistering attack on the two you know who 'crony capitalists' at that, who took roots, grew strong in the seventies and nineties! Why, it is such selective focus which gives creativity of narratives a bad name as silly word games that hide ugly realities! 

Is Laughter the Dis-ease?

 The title of our blog today makes you think that something is amiss with it, doesn't it? Traditionally we have been taught that laughter is the best medicine, right? Well, just look around, and you would grant the truth of our title. 

Okay, let me give you a few examples that might make you agree with me. Watch our "comedy shows".  They mock teachers, for instance. Let me give you two examples; Sagar Karanday as 'Swargate Bai' in ''Chala hawa yeu dya" and Namrata Sambherao as the 'dancing' teacher who makes weird most faces as a teacher in "Maharashtra chi hasya jatra." 

Yes, as an academician, I do admit that there ARE problems galore in our education system. Just cannot be denied. Yet when the institution is rendered so totally ridiculous in programmes that have a mass appeal, whatever little dignity that is left to it evaporates in to thin air, right?

 Believe me, there ARE (may be, just a few) extremely sincere and genuine teachers, from the pre-primary to the post-graduate level, in cities and in the mofussil areas,  who do try everything possible to make studies enjoyable yet sincere. When teachers, lecturers, schools, colleges are rendered ridiculous @ mass media, be it films or the TV, laughter does become a dis-ease! 

Since we are talking about comedy, look at what is known as 'stand up' comedy. Everything and anything under the sun that can be precious is rendered ridiculous in such shows just for the sake of a few giggles. Remember the Ranveer Allahabadia controversy? 'Beer Biceps' must have been drunk on so-called success to crack such ugly vulgarities as jokes! As a result of 'such' comic sense in abundance, fart and family, both are laughable in equal measures! 

In fact, intellectualism itself is rendered ridiculous currently. Anything distinctly and/or remotely intellectual, rational, serious is shown up as boring, impractical and laughable. What matters is "jugad"! Sure, many intellectuals could be empty airheads. 

They do have ridiculous echo chambers and fight viciously amongst themselves. Yet constantly demeaning anything and anyone intellectual as impractical makes a nation where reel heroes and cricketers are idols! Remember, the much hassled Spanish  doctor who snapped, " Go to Ronaldo; his huge pay cheques will cure you of corona"!!! 

Yes, at all sorts of excesses, we MUST laugh, but not constantly at what is sensible and/or valuable, while glossing over all that is mean, cheap, and vicious. Let me give you an example. Every time, school and college girls gyrate sexily to the "lallati bhandar" song from "Jogwa", an injustice, rooted in society as (an ugly) tradition gets vindicated/valorised as a mere art form! Much worse is this effect than the raunchy cabarets! 

We could go on and on giving  multiple such examples. Instead let me summarise by stating that 'what we laugh at shows us up'. Let laughter not be a slow poison  vitiating everything worthwhile! 

Pratima@ 'Life is a comedy when seen in/as a long shot,' said Charlie Chaplin. Why render it tragic in a tight close-up? 

Viruses that are vitriolic!

 Hypocrisy and Partiality are two bothersome defects that vitiate any situation. Be it the office and/or the family, especially the larger variety as and when they come in to contact (as joint family as an institution is already in its very last throes), obvious partiality, and hypocrisy to hide it or to gloss over it, completely ruin relationships as totally destroyed in the process is faith. 

Do you think it is only amongst individual relationships, be it familial or work related, that partiality and its after effect (or is it the cause) hypocrisy are manifest? Not really! These viruses destroy national and international relations as well. 

Want an example? No, we are not going to talk about the 'Trump'ery or Gaza or Ukraine. These are viruses that have mutations that can defeat the Covid one! 

Let me talk about a different, a newer version. Significantly, the BBC, ever aware of the minute most wrinkle in any socio-political contexts, especially in fast developing countries like India, in this case, is conspicuously quiet. Absolutely has gone deaf, dumb, mute, blind over the issue!

The 'local' media, however, is bursting at the seams over the double dealing of the British PM about the EU connect with Britain, how it has been exposed by the Opposition, and even by the coalition partners, and, most importantly, how it has led to a constitutional climax to which apparently the Monarchy, too, has responded, proving thus that it is not merely of decorative value.

Such a context, if it really is unspooling itself in the British parliament, is a grave situation. The hypocrisy and partiality of the international media, espcially of the BBC, is such that the entire scandal is pushed under the carpet. 

Despite the funny silence of the main media over the grave context, the social media, especially of the local variety has erupted over it, opening up in the process festering wounds such as the exploits of  'grooming gang'! 

 Unbelievable is the response of the immigrant community from india. Most of them seem to form ghettos in different pockets, live the 'here' there! The umbilical cord is tough to cut! Or is it the language problem? They do not seem to integrate with the  country of adoption. They alienate themselves from the immediately local contexts, Thus win hypocrisy, and even sick conscious partiality, through ignorance! 

Pratima@ In the final analysis, partiality and hypocrisy, however much they may try, cannot hide the warts and wounds that deface the reality. Instead, despite their double dealings and two timing talks, the perpetrators of partiality and hypocrisy expose themselves totally, completely, fully! 

Bhaubeej

 The Bhaubeej this year was special for me for two reasons. First and foremost, my brothers came to Mukund Nagar for celebrating the Bhaubeej. Sanju must have come for the first time after Aai's demise. Raju, too, comes very rarely, but he did come at least a few times that could be counted on the fingertips of one palm. It must be very difficult, tough indeed, for them both, too. They honoured my wish though, which was a great high for me. 

So far after Aai's demise, the get-together happened mostly at Sanju's place. I felt very happy that both of them came here as it was a fulfilment of Aai's wishes for our togetherness. My Bhaubeej was absolutely made thus! 

The other reason that makes the Bhaubeej Day special this year is that exactly four months ago, on June 23, I was returning to Hrishikesh after an exemplary (absolutely none of the typical Himalayan problems such as traffic jams or landslides or horrible rains were a bother) pilgrimage of the Chardham. The "kapat" (as known up there) of Yamunotri, Gangotri and Kedarnath close today. 

All those memories linger forever. At Yamunotri (where Yamuna, the daughter of Surya, requests her twin brother Yama that neither painful nor untimely death would happen in the family of the devotee who visits her temple), I fell yet again madly in love with the heavenly Himalayas. 

The grand vistas en route to, and at, Yamunotri, Gangotri and Kedarnath, every moment, etched eternally on the mindscape, the mighty grandeur and yet the quiet strength of the Himalayas forever play like in a loop in my mind. As is always typical of me, I manage to push back/behind the ugly behaviour one encountered, as it appears so infinitely cheap and miniscule in that superb company.

Thereafter, every bit of information/news of the Himalayas has been a constant (companion) for me. Hence the Bhaubeej Day, when the temples close till Akshay Tritiya circa May, matters. I can imagine the literally white, absolutely total, silence that will hence rule there. Though I did get to visit the temples where the deities would now reside, it does not mean much as Yamunotri, Gangotri and Kedarnath have built a forever fortress in my mind!

Pratima@ I have always loved Wordsworth's "Daffodils". Yet now I really know what is truly meant by 

"For oft, when on my couch I lie/In vacant or in pensive mood,/They flash upon that inward eye/Which is the bliss of solitude;/And then my heart with pleasure fills,/And dances with the daffodils."

The only difference is that "they stretched in a never ending line" in my case refers to the Himalayan heights, peaks, routes and sights!

The Beginning of the End

 As and when the Padwa day, the fourth day of the Diwali festival dawns, without fail, I always feel a twinge, a pang. There are a number of reasons why. 

First and foremost, there is a sense of sadness because the Padwa heralds the beginning of the end of Diwali. Just a day more, and then a year long wait again, right? Willy-nilly, during Diwali, meet-n-greet has to happen. There hence is a pleasant sense of togetherness, of euphoria. Hence this 'just a day more' feel. 

The day is a little depressing also because it shows two contradictory, in fact, mutually exclusive attitudes to the  Vaidic consciousness, the second one aggravating the anti-Aryans feel, currently seethingly dominant.

Let us begin with the positive one as is my wont. On this day is celebrated the Gowardhan Puja. There is often an 'annakot', a mount/mound of food, signifying Lord Vishnu in his Krishanavtar saving the cowherds from the excessive rains and floods. The deity as a young lad lifts an entire mountain to save the lives and livelihoods of the common man. 

Exactly opposite is the story of the Bali Pratipada. Here, too, Lord Vishnu is a young lad, Wamana, the 'batu'. He is granted the three feet strong space by the generous and good King Bali whom he sends to the Patal Loka through trickery. Bali is granted the boon that he could annually meet his citizens. Hence the Bali Pratipada!

The narrative that is currently dominant is that of the trickster Batu Wamana, signifying the Aryans, to be specific the Vaidic believers, especially the Brahmins, being deceitful, unjust and pilfering the rights of the other, the lower castes.

Actually, both the myths relate to Lord Vishnu, and yet the narratives created are so vastly different. The Gowardhan Puja is conveniently forgotten, despite its elevating feel, both figuratively and literally, too! 

In my opinion, such convenient cherry picking kind of 're-search'ed narrativisation is indeed depressing because it unnecessarily creates bad blood between castes, and thereby in the society itself.  Honestly, at times, the anti-Aryan feelings, consciously  stoked, remind of the Holocaust rhetoric against Jews wherein jealousy masqueraded as societal justice led to pathetic (in all senses of this term) genocide!

Enough of such interpretation of the Padwa fest in the public arena. In the private space, it is a lovely tribute to the marital bond, which, too, is fraying at the edges these days. Hence this urgent need to re-imagine its original sense by celebrating it!

Pratima@ Recently I read another such example of cherry picking as 're-search'. There was this lady who was vehemently arguing that Lokmanya Tilak was anti-lower castes! Poor Tilak! During his lifetime, he was reviled for giving a status and a weightage to the non-Brahmins. He was often criticised contemporaneously as the leader of the lower castes and the downtrodden!

Similarly, in the educational field, he told his own son to take up any profession (the example he gave was that of a cobbler), but excel in it. The re-search article I refer to in the first paragraph of the conclusion of our blog talks of the great leader as thwarting, opposing the education of the non-Brahmins so that they continue in to typical traditional jobs/roles! 

Actually, currently, the white collar jobs are mostly occupied by the non-Brahmins, while the Brahmins are taking up the role of stockists and re-distributors, hardly creative by any strech of imagination. Many Brahmin women are caterers, small time to the Chitale Bandhu types. 

That was what Tilak was presciently thinking, right in the initial stages of the independence struggle. Who cares for facts and scholarly integrity though? What matters is rubbing a point in, however dishonest and unjust! 

The Diwali 'Dhan' Poojan

 When I try to make some special sense of our festivals, I try to locate a pattern. What do I mean? Is that your question? Sure, our festivals are season-bound. That is very much an established fact by now. 

Let me try a different viewpoint. Let us look at the Diwali festival which lasts for six days, right? My submission is that the festival begins in the public sphere to finally end with the private space, the truly close relationships. 

Okay, let me clarify. Till the Padwa alias Bali Pratipada morning, we are in the public domain. We celebrate the livestock (Vasu Baras) , next the medicinal matters (dhan teras), after that control over a tyrant (narak chaturdashi), next the money matters that truly matter in real  lived life (Laxmi Poojan) and the bond a good ruler can create (Padwa and Bali Pratipada), right? 

In fact, I would like to go a step forward and state that the festival resonates with the professions that mattered most during the days of the barter economy, the farmer/the cowherd, the medicine man, the 'kshatriya' (I mean the professional function, not the caste) who helped the common man against a tyrant, the trader/merchant, and finally the good ruler. 

I would like to state that all the myths associated with each day suit this interpretation, too. Kamdhenu, Dhanwantari, Narkasur Vadh, Laxmi descending to the earth, and finally the remembrance of the good king. That is the order from Vasu Baras to Padwa. 

Padwa evening onwards, the focus shifts, I would like to say. Padwa evening is devoted to the marital bond, while the Bhaubeej is dedicated to the brother-sister relationship. Both are very intimate, familial bonds. Hence my argument that Diwali celebrations travel from the public sphere to the private space. 

Sure I need to work more on this thesis. Yet I think it would jell. That is the real beauty of Laxmi Poojan. The wealth need not merely be material. It can be 'idea'-ological , too. Let us count the Wealth not merely of Nations, but of notions, ideas, concepts, thoughts as well. Sure Adam Smith, too, would like it. 

Pratima@ Newer ideas energise the celebrations of ancient traditions 

The Badi Diwali begins!

 Actually Diwali is Diwali. There cannot be any big or small Diwali, right? Under the influence of Hindi though, these days there is this high funda talk of the Badi Diwali which, I suppose, begins with Narak Chaturdashi.

Yes, THE feel of Diwali truly sets in with Narak Chaturdashi. Ardently i remember the childhood days. Aai used to wake up 4.30-ish. Well, she finally slept forever around that time, too! She used to play the Bismillah Khan shehnai record. We always woke up to those lovely tunes.

Those days it used to be truly cold circa 5-ish. Winter would have set in. The cold, however, would not matter as Aai would massage us with warm oil and the Diwali special 'utane', the special scrub. Silken used to be her fingers. The warm water, the mellow light of the 'panati', the 'diya' on the window ledge, her eyes lit up as she would perform the Diwali special "owalne"at the end of the ceremonial bath, siblings lighting up a sparkler, the Diwali special Mysore Sandal soap, this bath, a feast for four senses, would make one feel light as a feather!

The missing, the fifth, sense would soon be satiated with her truly tasty 'faral'. Distinctly I remember Papa performing 'puja', while she would bathe us. Hers would be somehow managed before the day break. Hardly  would it matter to her.

Given such total, complete and absolute adoration and love of our parents, I respect, come what may, her only wish that the three of us should always continue to care for each other, and be together at least during the festive times. Simple soulful wish, MUST be fulfilled. Till the end of my days, I am sure. It is thus that evil is defeated, the real meaning of the 'good winning', the core message of Narak Chaturdashi!

Pratima@As for the 'Narkasur Vadh', everyone remembers Krishna marrying the sixteen thousand women the demon, Narkasur, had incarcerated. Actually, the marriage is a symbolic sanction of their dignity, otherwise not granted by the social strictures supposedly.

Funny, however, it is quoting Krishna marrying  these unfortunate women because forgotten is the fact that Satyabhama, Krishna's consort, helped Krishna defeat the demon. Apparently, not only did she provide him support and succour during the fierce battle, but actually hers was the final blow which killed Narakasur. Essentially, it is a woman who can defeat a demon! 

In my opinion, that is the real win of the good over evil, often overlooked in the 'sixteen thousand wives' narrative! Actually, it is  Satyabhama, a trained warrior, an accomplished archer, who, too, sure deserves our respect, however much traditionally overlooked.