Wednesday, November 21, 2007

We Bengalis


Bangla is the 7th most spoken language of the world, that is more than the number of people speaking russian, japanese or german! So when did this language come into being and who are the people speaking this language? What is their origin and basic culture? These questions were prompted by my nanaji's understanding that bengalis were actually a "lutera" tribe in earlier times!!!

Obviously history coursebooks are the last place you look for such answers. I did some research on this and came across some interesting observations and inferences.


History of Bengal

If we look at history, there is mention of Vanga (South Bengal + Bangladesh) + Anga (North Bengal) in Atharvaveda, along with Magadha (Bihar). They are a part of the solah mahajanpadas (16 great nations of the indian subcontinent) in 600 B.C. ReThe mahajanpadas are the first example of democracy in the history of the world. In hindu mythology epic The Mahabharata, Duryodhan had made Karna the King of Anga. Mahabharata (I.104.53-54) and Puranic literature (Matsya Purana: 48.19) attest that the name Anga had originated eponymously from the name of prince Anga, the founder of the kingdom. Matsya Purana describes the father of this eponymous hero as the chief among the demons (danavarshabhah).

Later, Bengalis were ruled by hindu kings, then buddishts, then muslim kings, and then the britishers. The first buddhist king of Bengal of the Pal dynasty, came into rule by election in 750 A.D., the first resurgence of democracy in south asia. But if you look at the history of bengal, it is not a part of a large empire for the longest times in history. If a large empire was breaking up, bengal would be one of the first to break apart. They had their own territory, often broken into smaller parts.

The fighting spirit of bengalis lived on. The idea of raising an army to fight the huge British empire could only have come from a true Bengali like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. People just 5 years back burnt an atrocious and exploitative zamindar alive in a bengal village. Even today, there are no pick-pockets in Bengal because if one is caught, the matter never reaches the police or court. The public beats the criminal to death on the spot! As i write this piece, army is being called into the city of Kolkata to control the mobs that are protesting against the communist party ruling Bengal for the past 30 continuous years. This is just the second week of the protest!


Economy of Bengal

The trade was flourishing with other parts of the country and the world. Champa, the capital of Anga was known for its wealth and commerce. The Mughals called Bengal as the "Paradise of the Nations" after being impressed with its trade and wealth. Farming was indeed one of the major activities of livelihood.


Geography of Bengal

Bengal is situated served by two huge rivers, Ganga and Brahmaputra. Both of them meet at the delta and merge with the sea. This is the mix of the marshy and forested area of the Sunderbans. Though rivers formed a major mode of transport in bengal, the terrain was so unique that only the locals of the area could fight a war there and win.


Religion of Bengal

History shows us that bengal on the average had been a hindu state in ancient times, then buddhist in early medieval times. There was a resurgence of hinduism at around 1000 A.D., followed by influx of islam. It is worth nothing that the caste system though observed in bengal, is not staunch at all.

If we look at the calendar of bengalis, we are always a day behind the lunar calendars followed in north india. In fact, the bengali calendar is said to be the only living remnant of the Tarikh-i-ilahi of Akbar the Great. Baisakhi, the new year day comes a day late in bengali. Bengalis do not pray to Lord Ram during Dusshera, but instead pray to Goddess Durga on the same day of Vijay Dashmi. On the day of diwali, bengalis do not celebrate lakshmi puja like the banias of north india. Instead they celebrate Kali Puja on the day of diwali with mutton/non-veg being a compulsory part of the prasad. Interestingly, the bengalis primary pray to war goddesses and the main festivals are to celebrate triumph in war.

It must be noted that it was in bengal that religious reform movements like Brahmo Samaj and abolition of archaic anti-female religious rituals like sati and child-marriage were started in Bengal, notably by Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Even today, liberal view islamic writer Taslima Nasreen lives in Kolkata, not in any muslim country.


Music and Dance of Bengal

Bengalis never had a classical music or dance form. It was all folk music and dance. The formal music emerged only in the late nineteenth and early 20th century with Rabindra Sangeet of Nobel Laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore.


Language of Bengal

The bangla language started emerging at around 1000 A.D., at the same time as that of the resurgence of hinduism. It is worth mentioning that bangla is closer to sanskrit or shudh hindi, not khadi boli. There are probably above a 100 dialects in bengali. But bengali, unlike hindi and like english, is a unisex language. The vocubulary is not very large and the words are sweet sounding. Interestingly, bengalis pronouce 'V' and 'BH' exactly the same inspite of having two different alphabets for it in the devanagari script. It is to be noted that a proper script of bangla was developed by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar only in the 19th century.

There are two more things to note about the bangla language. Bangla unlike english and like hindi, has three sets of addressing styles, mai, tum and aap. Plus, unlike hindi and unlike english, spitting and throwing has the same corresponding word in bangla. Obviously, there is no epic in bangla!


Sciences in Bengal

If you have heard of Indian scientists, you must have heard of Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose and Meghnad Saha. And if you are well-read, you must have read about Bose-Einstein theory and Bose-Einstein condensate! This emergence of scientific education in bengal started in English, not in Bengali. The bengali script had just taken form, let alone knowledge being present in bengali language!


Households and Culture of Bengal

The Bengali household is unusual compared to the other indian ones. The females have a far greater voice in the house and society. It is only the bengali husband that is known to be beaten up by his wife. This sense of violence is demonstrated in bringing up children as well. How many children would have heard the following dialogues on almost a daily basis from their parents while being disobedient:
1. Eat your food or i'll stuff so much food in your mouth that you will never be able to open it your entire life
2. Come here quickly or i will smash your head into the wall
3. If you do not study hard, i will bang the saucepan hard on your head and break it.
You would agree that such children would only be bengali.

Moreover, even in the early 20th century, Tagore's stories talk of a girl and boy sitting all night in one room and studying together. Too modern for India even now right?


So who is this bengali we all know? He is a human being who is a genetic mixture of aryans, dravidians, chinese and malays. It is the geographical area where all these human sub-species meet and mingle. He is a fierce warrior who has villages named golakaata (neck-slicked), pota-paadaa (buried-alive-colony) and mathaphaata (smashed-heads). He was influenced by many religions and cultures but still managed to stay independent. That is why the caste system of north india/aryan hindus could never grow strong. Bengalis fought a lot among themselves too, that is why even today bengalis are never a good linguistic political force/party. The bengali tribes were brought together by the Britishers who first captured trade and then power. That effect of english education is seen on the formalized unisex language and the modern nature of bengal households. The emergence of music, arts, social sciences and other intellectual activities in bengalis was a result of the primary activity of war being taken away from them. All this happened just about a century ago!!!

(Written by me on 21-nov-2007)

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

views on reservation

Known funda behind reservations :-
1. Reservation is thought to be the easiest way to enforce all people to get
equal chances...
2. it works on the assumption that given a chance, people who get reservation
would perform almost as well as the others...
3. and hence, we would finally reach a situation where the "disadvantages" of
the backwards classes are removed, and we would no longer need reservation

But there are a few hidden aspects to it as well...
1. i feel that reservation works on a basic assumption that all people would be
honest and fair... to much to assume in this world!!! people use this concept
of reservation and backwardness for their own advantage... once given, its
almost impossible to remove... hence we need to reconsider our assumptions...
2. all people do not get the advantage of reservations due to lack of
information, opportunities and education... so people who have already
benefitted from reservation once, keep on benefitting from it... hence govt
needs to move away from a passive way of improving society by laws to a more
proactive role (eg: opening more schools)
3. some people will always remain "backward"... but the definition of the term
is not complete, and is static... hence, we need to modify this aspect...
4. now in today's age of competition, the non-reserved class feels that it is
losing out opportunities to candidates who are not as deserving as they are...
true... so do we remove reservation??? no, there are still lot of people left
to take the benefits of reservation (plus other "reasons")... so we continue
with reservation or increase it... thus entering a vicious circle... hence we
need to break this circle, innovatively...
5. reservation has never solved a problem... it makes us more dependent on the
"system" to iron out the inconsistencies... but in the meanwhile we forget that
we are a part of the system... what is needed is a will to change the
mentality...

broadly, its all a loop ... nepotism (my child/relative should do well) -->
corruption (minor manipulation for that is okay) --> "casteism" (to maintain
advantage to my friends) --> "chalta hai" (thats what happens here attitude)
--> selfishness (let me benefit from this) --> more nepotism (everyone is doing
it so its probably okay now) .....

i note that most steps taken till today have been to address the first three
issues... but it hardly addresses the two attitude/mentality issues of the
loop... education is the only way out...

Steps we can take are (suggestions are of course invited) :
1. scope : for now, restrict reservation and related benefits to education only
and not expand its radius... the recruiting companies should be barred from
knowing details of whether the person belongs to the reserved category or
not...
2. proactive approach by system : take help of NGOs and social work
organisations to spread awareness... open more schools in backward areas...
promote initiatives to improve economic status... give advantages to people
from backward areas to take initiative to improve their economic condition...
3. concept redefinition : redefine the term backward classes... economic basis
is the best alternative... probably we need a dictatorship in place to modify
required laws!!! but anyways, an alternative can be that once a reserved
category candidate gets education from an A category institute, he cannot use
his reservation any more... opportunities are now open for him...
4. dynamic nature of improvement : progressively reduce reservation
percentages... or maybe we can have reservation for those all those people whose
annual income is below a certain limit... this would increase standard in the
reserved masses, and also reduce excessive competition for the non reserved
people...
5. our contribution : incorporate moral education taught to us into our own
lives... probably do some "social work", atleast after retirement... after all,
the best way to reach heaven is by serving man...

all these steps have to be taken together to get synergistic results... giving
solutions is tough... there are too many factors that are related to each
other... lets try to work to evolve possible solution(s) to the issue we have
here... reservation has to end sometime... and the sooner it ends, the better.....

(written in mid october 2004 on dbabble in response to some posts)

Governance: Religion & Law

today me and my friends abhisek and shaurya were having a discussion regarding what stance we should take regarding imposition on emergency in pakistan. it naturally became a heated discussion, prompting me to pen down my view regarding the basics i have in mind while thinking of such affairs.

if you ask me, governance is what has to create a balance of the following social forces:
1. religion
2. economics
3. politics
4. culture
the method used is usually creating and executing law... with judiciary to decide when exceptions can be made to law...

Lets look at a subset of the governance issue involving religion and law of society. religion is a set of guidelines for society. each individual is supposed to choose the set of guidelines he wants to follow to lead his life. religious "rules" are a matter of personal choice not social compulsion. on the other hand, law is a set of universally acceptable rules. there is no personal choice in law. governance is maintaining the proper balance in society among religion and law.

sadly, religion for the common man becomes a set of inviolate rules by which each man should abide. this is dangerous, because unlike law, religious rules are usually static and do not take into account the dynamic social context. laws change frequently, religious "rules" do not. if the government composed of the elite can not keep a balance between law and religion, the society might go to hell. but if religious "rules" become the law, the society will definitely go to hell.

if you read swami vivekananda's views on the importance of rationality in building a society, these fundas will become clear. sadly even the hindu nationalists are behaving so backwardly... being a forward religion, hindus accepted the divorce law passed in parliament even though its not permitted in the religion... law is for those who dont follow religion, but then religion too should not be such that it makes the majority of society members as law breakers...

coming to governance, i hate it when people over-generalise that one form of governance over other... hitler may be abhored by many but he made germany the most advanced engineering nation of the world and it is like that till date... we need to accept that preferred form of governance is a dynamic thing... for some country it may be democracy today and dictatorship tomorrow... even subhash chandra bose had said india needs dictatorship for atleast 10 years to rid it of the indiscipline of the non-cooperation movement... we didnt have it and thats why government offices are still the kaam pe aao, aur chai peeyo types...

i agree with shaurya's statement that i am least bothered about a nuclear fallout because of dictatorship. the entire world gangs up against any nuclear weapon state with a dictatorial head of state. human rights violation are not necessarily a result of dictatorship. democracy means the right to raise a voice against exploitation, it does not mean lesser exploitation. a country cant justify its existence based on democracy if its laws are based on rules that demand inequality among genders.

coming to my reaction, i would first say that my general order of deciding my priority of issues in descending order is:
1. me
2. my family and friends
3. my country
4. mankind
i dont have even a micron of concern for those who have decided to go to hell, whether it is via democracy or dictatorship or whatever. As long as they dont plan to take me along.

this does not mean i dont play a part in changing things... if there was a petition of the tandoor murder case or S.K.Dubey case or gujarat riots or blue-line killings in delhi i would have voted... i already have voted in such petitions, example the anti-reservatin issue... but jab apni country nahi handle ho rahi hai to doosre ke maamle mein load kyon lena... i would have voted for the pakistan one too, but i feel i am inadequately aware of the actual circumstances to form an opinion... do you ever realise that even the communist rule in china is sort of "group dictatorship"??? why dont we protest about that??? do we ever protest against the monarchy rule of the arab states that is also close to dictatorship???

if you cant have a opinion that is well-thought, dont have one at all... dont open your mouth and convince the people that you are indeed dumb... if by chance US decides to attack US based on some stupid reason, its only India that can intervene and save Pakistan, not the back-stabbing chinese.

(written on 7-nov-2007 on the day of the mail interactions)