Remember the typical titles of Sherlock Holmes advantures? The titles always read as "The Case of...". Today let us follow the trail of the Holmes titles, and explore the curious, and yet very indian, 'Case of the Two Shrivastava's'.
Let us begin with the guessing game. Let us see if you can locate them. Okay, here is a hint. Both of them are from what is known as the 'cow belt' of India. Yes, they hail from the Hindi belt. Yes, both of them are better known through/by their "alias" names. Both have a huge impact on the Indian mindset, nay, on the twentieth century indian history, and beyond. Politics claims both. One of them changed it ideologically. The other called it a cesspool. One last clue. October 11 is their birthdate.
Any guesses? Okay, you give up. Well, yes, we are referring to Jayprakash Narayana Shrivastava alias J.P, and Inquilab Shrivastava alias Amitabh Bacchan. Both of them have shaped Indian history indelibly.
Both come from top notch educational institutions. Those days, J.P. was educated from American universities. As the son of a famous poet, Amitabh, too, trained in high funda institutions, was very close to the then first family. Apparently, before her marriage, Sonia Gandhi stayed with, and was groomed in to Indian ways by the Bacchan family.
Despite their high-funda connects, both these Kayastha young men looked at reality from close quarters. J.P. worked in all sorts of jobs to support his education in the U.S., while A.B.worked as a copywriter, facing rejections all along when it came to his acting dream. Why, the AIR twice rejected him as an announcer, both for Hindi and English!
Is it much of a surprise that both burst on the Indian scene in the early seventies? The J.P. movement of 'navnirman' had the then Indian youth in thrall. In a way, the "angry young man" persona of Bacchan clicked precisely because of that mood of disillusionment with the establishment.
Later, during and after the Emergency, J.P. re-wrote the very destiny of India. The Indian real-politik, which had started getting ugly and murky, suddenly got an ideal(istic) face because of J.P. Sure, the post-emergency Janata Party was quite a farce. Yet interesting propositions about future emerged thence, as we now realise in hindsight.
Amitabh Bacchan, too, dabbled in politics, but his stint there was one of his failures. Yet he scripted the Indian imaginary with his superb baritone and acting prowess. What makes him unique is his ability to re-invent himself time and again which, in a way, is true of the Indian destiny, too, especially since 1990's.
What is the moral of the curious case of the two Shrivastava's, both "loknayak" in their own ways? Well, currently there is a huge hue and cry about how Brahmins stole every opportunity since their Aryan avataar. These two Kayastha's (kshatriya) prove that such Bramhin bashing is just an a-historical, and quite empty, rhetoric. India is a land of opportunity open to all. J.P. stood up to Nehru and Indira Gandhi to decisively craft a new way of politics, while Amitabh Bachchan continues to re-imagine identities even in his mid-eighties. Here is a bow to both on October 11!
Pratima@ The curious case of the two Shrivastava's presents us with very interesting insights in to the history of (identity formation in) India. May be, one day, I might write a proper, detailed 're-search' article on this theme!
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