Illiteracy is a greater poverty than lack of resource to buy food

My father, Nikhil Kumar Das, is perhaps one of the best examples of the theory that education is the only thing that can alleviate a society and civilization from poverty and darkness to prosperity. I believe there's only two classes in the world - educated and uneducated. Everything else comes from that.  An illiterate person belonging to an upper caste is just an outcaste in front of an educated Dalit. In today's world education is perhaps more important than ever. In today's world education is power.

 

My father was just a refugee - one of the million faceless and nameless entities that kept pouring into India after the partition. The term 'refugee' is perhaps something whose meaning is understood only by them who have been refugees themselves. It's perhaps best understood by a tree which has been uprooted from it's own soil of hundred years and planted somewhere else in a different climate and soil. The tree dies in the new soil. But the refugees don't die easily. They keep on fighting for their survival, just like animals. Anyone who has seen a refugee camp would understand that it's nothing better than a barrack of animals. When the entire struggle is just for the mere survival then all the superior human instincts seem to die. But very strikingly, most of the people, who have been refugees at some point of time, struggle through their lives, put the traumatic past in past and move ahead with great strides. Perhaps the nature puts some more life into their lives and they some how just cease to die, cease to give up. That's the story of most of the refugees. It's this 'refugeeism' that makes them successful. And this success comes mainly from education. When you lose something in life you feel bad. You just keep on thinking of what you've lost. But when you lose everything in life, you don't have anything to feel bad about. You don't have anything to miss. But you have everything to dream of - everything to aspire of. Each and everything that you get in life becomes a prized possession. You understand how precious is even the day's light, a night's calm and the water's life. You don't take anything for granted in life. And it's this zeal to survive, this zeal to achieve or attain even the minutest things in life, that makes you appreciate that education is indeed the only thing that is their wealth.

 

My father was brought up by his elder sister and brother-in-law in a house with some other twenty people of various ages - all of whom had had a traumatic journey from Bangladesh. My father, aged only seven years, along with his sister of ten years and elder brother of fourteen, set out for the fateful journey from Bangladesh, leaving behind them their parents, their homes, their houses which they never saw ever in their lives. The journey -  that they never knew how painful or ruthless it could be. They had to wait in the queue for seven days just to get the ticket for the ferry that would take them to the nearest railway station from where they would catch the train for India. They just had a few days' ration of puffed rice and jaggery. After reaching the Sealdah station in Calcutta, my father couldn't come out of the train, which was to return to Bangladesh with Muslims from Calcutta. When the train started moving, my uncle would have shouted in panic and my father was just thrown out of the window. He fell on the platform and got crushed under the feet of the rushing people. When he could be finally rescued he had already broken a few bones of his rib - the marks of which are still there. My father's story might not have been the most traumatic one in the house where there were many other people with similar stories to tell.

 

My father's brother-in-law was a clerk with the Port Commission in Calcutta. His income was for sure not at all sufficient to feed an extended family of 20 people - forget about any luxury or even expensive education. Still, my father could complete his engineering. At every step he did make use of all the benevolence of the people and government. And yes, I should tell very loudly that he achieved everything without any reservation. Whenever I see people arguing that reservation is the only way to uplift the poor or lower caste, I just want people to know of my father. What you need is good schools and good teachers - both of which were available to my father. The key to education is not reservation but the dedication of the teachers, an atmosphere for learning and above all the urge to learn. It really makes me sad that neither of these requirements is satisfied in today's world. The government schools in rural areas are just home ground for creating cadres and most of the teachers are just as irresponsible as the government. So I don't see anything improving in the near future in the status of the poor illiterate people, because they would be still deprived of education.

 

Despite the daily struggle and the constant strives for survival, my father, like most of the people around, also developed strong cultural qualities. Most of them had good interest in literature and music. All my interest in books came from my father. Here also the teachers played a very critical role in developing these aspects.

 

Today we are among the upper middle class or might be even the rich class. That's really rags to riches. All this has been possible just by one thing - that's education. Illiteracy is a greater poverty than lack of resource to buy food. I say this because it's perhaps much easy to arrange for resources for the poor people to by buy food, but it's much tougher to make them educated and alleviate their social status. When my father came to India from Bangladesh he was the lowest ladder of society. But now we're among the highest ranks - just because my father got the right education.

Slumdog or Millionaire - a piece of art is always a piece of art

This is in reference with the age old debate about a piece of art depicting Indian poverty supposedly getting more attention in the west. The recent instance of such a debate has erupted after the success of the movie 'Slum dog Millionaire'. Amitabh Bachchan has expressed his unhappiness over West's obsession to portray India in poor light.

 

Very obviously whenever it comes to internationally acclaimed Indian movies, dealing with poverty, the name of Satyajit Ray creeps in. Many people have the habit to  reinforce the point, that West acclaims only those movies which depict poverty,  by saying that Ray's popularity in the West is mainly because of the portrayal  of poor India in his 'Apu Trilogy' and other movies. Well, I believe these people who say that Ray has depicted the poverty and the darker side of India are obviously those who don't understand Bengali or even can't appreciate a movie by reading subtitles or might not have even seen the movies. A piece of  art is always a piece of art and it has nothing to do with what it depicts. A  piece of art becomes a masterpiece only when it transcends the topic with which  it deals and arouses a universal appeal to all people across cultural and social  boundaries. Even when you read the original novel by Bibhutibhushan Banerjee, based on which the Apu Trilogy has been made, the poverty or the struggle of the  kids Apu and Durga never seem to bother you. It might not even strike that they are so poor. It's the life of the kids, it's the thrill with which they fill  their life - their sheer joy in drenching in rains, their sheer excitement in  seeing a train for the first time in their life, the sorrow of losing a sister,  the sorrow of leaving their home town for ever, the wonders of settling in a new  place, the way Apu slowly grows amidst new environments - his thirst for  knowledge, his surprises at the nooks and corners of Calcutta during his college  days, his marriage in a very remarkable situation, his very short married life  and the pains of losing his wife and then finally his relationship with his kid  - covers a complete life of a person. The life is complete with all its sorrows, pains, happiness, wonders, mysteries and excitement. It's a life full of optimism. It's a life which is like a song - that evokes a emotional symphony of varied notes. It doesn't matter whether Apu belongs to a small village in Bengal or Iran or Virginia or Timbuktu or Honolulu. Apu could have been a rich kid also and still had the similar share of joy and sorrows and excitement. The background and the context in which the story is told become immaterial in front of the feeling that you get out of it. That's what the requirement of a masterpiece is. 

 

Most of the masterpieces happen to deal with poverty. This is perhaps because the "sweetest songs are those which tell us of the saddest thoughts". Perhaps the struggle of a poor person appeals more to an artist than a rich life. The same is true even for the Hollywood movies. Do you ever feel that "How Green Was My Valley" portrays poverty? No never. It's again about a kid who recalls his childhood which was not very extravagant or affluent. Still he misses his life, which was full of struggle. But for the kid the life was full of fun and excitement - the same fun and joy that fills Apu's life. Even 'Gone With the Wind’ also shows poverty to a large extent alongside the extravagance of the rich people. 

 

But that doesn't mean a movie has to deal with poverty to be a classic. Movies like 'Last Emperor', or 'Harry Potter' are classics even though they have nothing to do with poverty. Each type of movie has its own appeal and reach. There's no specific rule to become a classic. Anything that touches the heart and stays in your mind for a very long time is a classic.

 

Finally it's not that all movies portraying Indian poverty have been acclaimed in the west. ‘City of Joy' was a disaster though it might have portrayed poverty and slums even more than the recent 'Slumdog Millionaire'. But the movie was not received well in the west because the movie was really a crap. I believe if a movie is good and has a universal appeal, it becomes a classic and attracts viewers worldwide.  It has nothing to do with what it portrays!!

India's secular credentials are just impeccable!!

Long time back Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the poet of Vande Mataram, had told, "Tumi Adhom Hoile, Ami Uttam Hoibo Na Keno", which translates into English as, "If you're inferior, why shouldn't I be superior". That's against communism, because it perhaps sows the seeds of inequality. There are two ways of bringing equality among these two sides - superior and inferior. One, you improve the 'inferior' and two, you drag down the 'superior'. The first option is hard, but the second one is very easy. It's very sad that many people take extra effort to resort to the second option to downgrade many aspects of India just to give a feeling that we're also as bad as the rest. Well, this has reference to the secular credential of our country. It has become a fashion for a group of people, who think that they are the only secular people in this country and the rest are just a bunch of irrational, insensitive, illiterate, parochial and communal thugs, to dig up acts of intolerance and disharmony and highlight them every time the country condemns an act of terrorism perpetrated by Muslims thinking that highlighting some bad things about India might make the perpetrators of terror feel happy because that would equate them to the also-equally-bad-Indians. A classic example of this is an article by Arundhati Ray in the aftermath of the recent Bombay Terror Attacks on 11/26. She has a lot of sympathizers. She and her crusaders want to always bring up Narendra Modi, Indian Army's violation of human rights in Kashmir, VHP, BJP, Veer Savarkar and what not - as if all these can justify a young Muslim to get angry and frustrated to the extent that he finally takes arms. This not only demeans the stature of Muslims in India, but also brings disgrace to the secular credentials of India. It's sheer lack of knowledge about the history of our country that makes people come to some conclusion just based on a few stray facts. Just because you fracture a few bones in your body you don't call yourself a limp or handicapped. Just because there are few black moles in your body you don't denounce your body and go for plastic surgery. Just because there are just a few (yes, just VERY FEW) acts of intolerance in a span of 4000 years of impeccable track record of tolerance and harmony, you don't label India as communal or intolerant.

No one appreciates communal riots. They are the biggest scars of our society. Almost all political parties have resorted to some form of communalism in recent times to gain political mileage. Often the ruling political party didn't want to go against the sentiments of the majority community - starting from Suhrawardy's (the then Muslim League CM of Bengal province) role in Hindu genocide on "Direct Action Day" on 16th Aug in 1946 (FYI, that's the biggest genocide of any community till date in India killing more than 4000 people in 72 hours), to the Shikh massacre under Congress and finally the post Godhra riots under Modi.

Now consider the following.

Ashoka turned into a Buddhist and played a great role in spreading Buddhism to major part of Asia Pacific. Statistically the spread of Buddhism during the reign of Ashoka and the successive Buddhist Rulers of India over the few centuries was much more than what the Caliphs could attain in the first few centuries after the birth of Islam - and all that without any force. Even though the whole of China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, Sri Lanka and many other countries turned Buddhist, India still remained a majority Hindu nation. Have you ever heard of any conflict between the Hindu and Buddhist. Ashoka, Kanishka, Harshavardhana, the Palas and many more emperors of India, though themselves Buddhists, never antagonized the Hindu rituals and traditions. In the same way the Hindu Guptas allowed Buddhism to flourish. The result of this harmony was off course Taxila and Nalanda Universities, the centers of learning and education for the entire world for almost 1500 years, till the rise of Baghdad during the Golden Age of Islam. People from all over the world flocked to Taxila and Nalanda, which were the centers of great discussions, arguments, debates that resulted in the greatest researches, inventions and discoveries in the field of science, mathematics and astronomy.

The greatest example of harmony is perhaps the period between 1200 and 1800 AD, when most part of India was ruled by Muslim rulers, all of whom came from outside. It's remarkable that elsewhere Islam just swept across all the places where ever it went. Almost 100% of Persian Empire (covering Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Asia Minor and major parts of Middle East) and Arab land was converted into Islam over a few centuries. Traces of pre-Islamic culture and religions were wiped out since the decline of the Golden Age of Islam (8 to 12th Century AD). But despite the 600 years of Muslim rule in India, only a fraction of India had converted to Islam. From this point of view the Muslim rulers in India were undoubtedly much more tolerant than their Western counter parts. This is also an example of the Indian tradition of tolerance and harmony, that existed even before the advent of Islam in India. None of the Muslim rulers elsewhere in the world had non Muslims in critical positions as in India. Akbar's reign is just incredible from that point of view - 4 out of 9 in his Nava Ratna were Hindus. None of the Muslim rulers elsewhere in the world ever thought of amalgamating different religions and creating a new religion called Din-i-Ilahi like Akbar. Beyond the Islamic Golden Age, there were very few instances of free debates and discussions on religion and philosophy between people of various creed and cultures in the West. For three hundred years, the mullahs of the Ottoman Empire objected to the introduction of the printing press saying that the Word of God (the Qur’an) would be defiled if it came in contact with the wood or the metal of the press. It was only in the year 1728, three hundred years after it made its appearance in Christian Europe that the printing press was allowed into the Ottoman Empire. Contrary to that, Dara, one of Aurangzeb's brothers had translated Upanishad from Sanskrit to Persian. The first Ramayana in Bengali was written with the initiative of the first Muslim Rulers of Bengal. Has anyone heard of any Muslim King naming his capital after the a Hindu God? Well, that would be just a blasphemy in Arab world. But Tipu's capital was actually called Srirangapatnam - the city of Vishnu.

The other side of the story is also there. The Bengali San Calendar, considered to be a Hindu calendar, was actually synched up with the lunar Hijri during Akbar's reign, but the counting remained Solar. That's why the date in the Bengali San calendar is quite close to that in Hijri. This means that my marriage, on some auspicious day as per Hindu norms, has a reference to the day when Prophet Mohammed marched from Mecca to Medina. Well, you might argue that Akbar might have forced this on the Bengalis. But then the Bengalis didn't change this ever - even after the death of Akbar or the end of the Muslim Rule in India. Is there any other place in this world where a Muslim calendar is synched up with Christian era or vice versa? Has anyone spoken about this? The sound of Shehnai is part of the ritual in any Hindu marriage in North India even though till date I haven't heard of any Hindu playing Shehnai. In older days even the staunch Brahmins used to invite the Muslim Shenai players to perform in their marriages. Is there any ritual in any part of the world where people of different faith play such a great role? Bismillah Khan's shehnai was one of the main attractions in the temples of Banaras till his death. Can you show me any single church or masjid in the world where a Hindu has been asked to sing Bhajan? Have you ever heard of any Hindu preferring the Brahmin Kishore Kumar Gangopadhyay over a Muslim Mohd. Rafi for religious reason? Have you ever heard of any actor becoming superstar by virtue of his religion? Khans are the rulers of Bollywood. Some of the richest Muslims, the likes of Wadias and Azim Premji, of the corporate world are in India. The biggest real estate company, Prestige, in Bangalore is owned by Muslims. One of the poorest persons, also a Muslim, from one of the remotest villages went on to become the top boss of India's premier defense research organization and later the President. Ask Abdul Kalam, ask Mohd. Rafi, ask the Wadias, ask Azharuddin, ask Bismillah Khan, ask Shahrukh Khan, ask Amjad Ali Khan and Ali Akbar Khan, ask the sexy Katrina Kaif, ask Omar Abdullah, ask Ghulam Ali if they have ever faced any discrimination? No.... India never discriminates. That's why the Parsis never found any problem to establish the biggest business houses in India where as they had to flee from their home land - Persia. The Tatas are as much Indians as are the Birlas and Ambanis. Have you heard of anyone discriminating between Tatas and Ambanis because of their religion?

Can you show any other country in the world with such impeccable tradition of harmony and secularism? India always has provided the safest and the most prosperous ground for the development of any culture and religion. Even now we're equally proud of our past which is partly pagan (Indus Valley), partly Hindu, partly Buddhist and partly Muslim. A very simple example of our regards for all the religion and culture is the way our history is highlighted in our National Portal: http://india.gov.in/knowindia/medieval_history2.php
In contrast just have a look into what Pakistan says about their history: http://www.heritage.gov.pk/html_Pages/history1.html
An entire 1000 years of Hindu rule is intentionally omitted to give stress on the Islamic Age. Even the Vedas are mentioned in a very poor light: "In fact they (Aryans) believed in nature gods, one of them Indra destroyed the dams and spelled disaster on the local Dasyus who differed from them in colour, creed and language. These Aryans conquerors developed there own religion of the Vedas, practiced animal sacrifice and gradually built up tribal kingdoms all over the Indus Valley". It's a pity that the national portal of Pakistan totally ignores the fact that their ancestors might have written the greatest books of philosophy some 3500 years back just because the Vedas are non-Islamic in origin. The same is true for Iran where the Mullahs revolted against the Shah's decision to use a calendar with zero point coinciding with the coronation of Darius the Great rather than the Islamic Hijri, in 1970s. Just see the difference - one of our Hindu calendars is synched with Hijri and Iran doesn't even want to relate to their greatest emperor just because he was not a Muslim.

Do I have to give any further proof for the secular credentials of India - of which Tagore says - "Here I stand with arms outstretched to hail man divine in his own image and sing to his glory in notes glad and free. No one knows whence and at whose call come pouring endless inundation of men rushing madly along to lose themselves in this vast sea of humanity that is India. Aryans and Non-Aryans, Dravidians and Chinese Scythians, Huns, Pathans and Mogols all are mixed, merged and lost in one body" - that's the body an Indian!!

A final note. The Hindu-Muslin communal divide is nothing but the creation of Jinnah. People say that Savarkar had talked about Two-Nation-Theory long time before Jinnah. But the point is that how much influence did Savarkar have on Indians? Compared to that Jinnah's influence on Indian politics and society was much more stronger. Also Savarkar never asked the Hindus to go and kill the Muslims, which Jinnah actually did. The first ever large scale communal riot between Hindus and Muslim happened only after Jinnah's call for Direct Action against Hindus. Since then the Hindus have been just retaliating. The day Jinnah's venom cease to exist in the minds of any Indian, there won't be any communal problem!! And the saddest part is that Jinnah himself was also quite secular like any other Indian. He invented the venom just to satisfy his political ambition.

Is Gandhi's Non-Violence applicable to tackling terrorsim?

I think Gandhi is often misunderstood about his "means vs. end" approach. I've been trying to find out what's the background of his apporach and from where he would have got. After reading lot of books by him/on him by Indian/foreign authors I understand that his ideas were influneced by Tolstoy and Indian philosophies - mainly Krishnaism - that's what I call the management strategies of Krishna as mentioned in Geeta. Perhaps the first use of Krishnasim was by Chanakya and his Arthashastra remains one of the most modern and practical book on management and finance. Gandhi's apporach was just the best management tactic that could solve the particular problem of unifying India and bring an end to British Rule. He has used mainly the "Saam" apporach of "Saam-Daam-Dand-Bhed" strategies propounded by Krishna. I've recently read Arthashahtra and it's just too good.... It's relevant the most in today's world in dealing with corporates and also managing countries. Using Dand & Bhed are also neccessary at times.

Chanakya used to first use force on his oppnents in the battles and then when the opponent used to become weak and victory was imminent he used to convert the minds of his oppoent and bring them to his side. That's what Ashoka also used after kalinga war and his empire was as big Alexanders - and much much more prosperous than Alexanders - because he never dominated his enemies - he changed the hearts of his enemies and that ensured uninterrupted harvest and trade and business!! That's not exactly what all emperors did.

Gandhi knew that with force he can't weaken the Britishers. He did strikes and non coperation. And when the British were becoming weak he showed benevolence by asking Indians to fight against Hitler - exactly same as what Chanakya taught us...

Gandhi could control genocides by personally going to the spot of action and things used to come under control just in minutes!! There's a difference between the people of 40s and the Jihadists today (or for that mater of fact even Hitler). Then they used to listen but do you think now the Jihadists would listen to Gandhi. He himself wanted Indians to fight against Hitler because he knew that Hitler won't be contained with the "Saam" style of management. Non Violence is just an extension of "Sam" style and he himself used "Dand" for Hitler. He would have done the same thing now also - terrorism has to be tackled at any cost. Innocent people were killed in the Kurukshetra war also and Arjun had also asked the same questions that people ask now. Krishna's answer was - "if for a greater cause of 'universal' truth, in which you believe, you have to kill your mother, brother, friends - go ahead and do that....". But that should be aimed at solving the problem. You can't go on killing which won't solve the problem. That's the difference between a Jihadist or a Tiger (refering to LTTEs) approach and being harsh on terrorism by Govt. The Jihadists are supposedly fighting for liberating Muslims from the dominance of the non-Muslims world-wide and the Tigers to get the rights for Tamil speaking people in Sri lanka. Is the problem in Palestine getting solved by Hamas. Is the problem in Kashmir getting solved by Lashkar-e-Toiba? Does anyone think that LTTE can really solve the problems of the Tamils in Sri lanka by just terrorism? So what are the Jihadists/Tigers/Naxals achieving? Absolutely nothing. On the contrary the government just has no option than to take to arms to contain these acts of terrorism. The terrorists could have surely used the non-violent apporach to attain much greater goals, but the government can't expect for a change of minds because the terrorists have already lost the normalcy of their minds and they can't think rationally any more.

What happened to Baghdad - the once center of art, culture and science of the whole world??

I've been wondering for quite some time about a very disturbing trend throughout the Muslim World. Well, this very term Muslim World is also very unfortunate. Harry Belafonte very aptly had sung "This land is your land, This land is my land". There can't be anything called Muslim World. There can be off course a land where Muslims are a majority. What ever be it, the term Muslim World is very widely used everywhere. And it's also depressing to see the condition of most of the Muslim countries (or rather countries where Muslims are majority). In an article in Times of India columnist M J Akbar has referred to some very startling facts, mentioned to him by one of his Arab friends, about these countries: "there are only 500 odd universities in the Muslim world. The United States has 5,758 and India has nearly 8,500. Literacy in the developed world is 90% against 40% in the Muslim world. If you removed Turkey from the list, the comparison would look grimmer. High tech goods and services constitute only 0.9% of the exports from Pakistan, and 0.3% from Algeria. They add up to 68% of Singapore's exports".

Apart from this piece of information it's very apparent that throughout the world many of these Muslim states are among failed states. Pakistan is on the verge of bankruptcy, still doesn't show any sign of getting out of the vicious circle of decay. Iraq was ruled by a thug and brutal sadist and perpetrator of genocide, called Saddam, for some time till it finally fell into the hands of Bush. Iran is ruled by a type of fanatic dictator for the past thirty years. Palestine and the entire stretch of North African countries don't have any governance. On top of these there is so much money being pumped into several militant organizations round the world which is pulling many of the Muslim countries into war zones. Israel retaliates the militancy of Palestinian Hamas in a hundred times bigger way. US forces retaliates in Pakistan and Afghanistan. India retaliates in Kashmir and elsewhere. There are many more such retaliations throughout the world. And in all these thousands of innocent lives are lost. I have been wondering to find a reason behind all these. Who should be blamed for all these? Is Israel responsible for everything that's happening in middle east. Did India really violate human rights in Kashmir to such extent that some Kashmiris are justified to become terrorists. Is there any justified reason for some section of the Muslim World spreading the concept of an Islamic Jihad against non-Muslims? When did it all start and who is to be held responsible for all these? The present condition of Iran and Iraq saddens me most because of her glorious past.

Persian Culture and civilization has been one of the most influential cultures of the world. The Persian language is the mother of most all the languages spoken in the Middle Eastern and Central Asia. The Persian art, architecture, philosophy, science, literature, poems have been among the best in the world. The influence of Persian culture has transcended the boundaries or Iran and Iraq and have become homely names even in India. Rumi's Ghazal and Omar Khayaam's poetry have been equally popular in India ever since they came into existence. The Hindi/Urdu poetry and literature has derived many things from Persian literature. India had links with Persia and Persian people since very long time. We've read about the Darius the Great and his Achaemenid Empire, one of the largest and most prosperous empires of all time. We Indians never heard anything bad about the Persian people and culture. So why suddenly they have fallen back? It's really a matter of grave thought what would happen to Iran once the oil fields go dry.

Apart from the Persians, even the Arabs has such a great history of development and prosperity. Their contribution to mathematics, science, philosophy predates the European renaissance. Baghdad, the once capital of the Islamic Empire for several centuries used to be the seat of learning, discussions, arguments and above all apostle of tolerance. So what happened to Baghdad there after. Where did the learning go, where did the education vanish and why do they have only 500 universities?

A little bit of study of the history of the Arabs and Persian people since the birth of Islam throws a great deal of light into everything.

The establishment of Baghdad as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate in 762 AD on the banks of Tigris river heralded the beginning of the Golden Age of Islam or the Islamic Renaissance. The simplest definition of any renaissance or golden age in any civilization is perhaps provided by Tagore - "Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, Where knowledge is free, Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls, Where words come out from the depth of truth, Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection, Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit, Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought". Whenever any civilization deviates from this path of free flowing knowledge, unbroken world, strife for perfection and regards for reasoning and truth, it starts decaying. The several centuries of supremacy of Baghdad was an age of Islamic Golden age where every form of art, culture, science and administration prospered to the highest levels. That was the age when people from all over the world were welcome, all faiths and religions were respected, reasoning and arguments were always the foundations of any ideas rather than baseless dogmas. The result was miracle. Almost in every field of science, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, religion, literature, music, art, architecture tremendous amount of original work was done during this period. The creativity in every sphere reached its zenith at a time when the surrounding Europe was still dogged up with it's clumsy ideas of dogmatic religion. In fact many scientists and philosophers had fled the Roman Empire and taken refuge in Baghdad to carry out with their work. There were many Greeks and Indians too. Great efforts were taken in translating valuable works of science, art, philosophy from Greek, Sanskrit and Latin to Arabic and Persian. The best part is that Baghdad gave proper recognition to everyone. They didn't plagiarize anything from anyone. Jawaharlal Nehru mentions in Discovery of India that during the eighth century "the knowledge of Indian mathematics in their Arabic translations spread all over this vast area. The numerals were called by the Arabs 'figures of Hind (of India), and the Arabic word for a number is 'Hindash', meaning 'from Hind'". The Arabs have recognized the contribution from 'Hind' at numerous places. It's during this period that Aryabhat's works in decimal system and trigonometry became widely popular beyond India. Though the concept of 'shunya' was known to Indians for quite long, but still the origin of 'zero' is still not clear. It's often attributed to Aryabhat which can't be either proved or disproved. But there's no doubt that Aryabhat, along with the decimal system gave a proper form to the modern mathematics. Without Baghdad's role it won't have reached the rest of the world. Amartya Sen mentioned in 'Argumentative Indian' that "Aryabhat's Sanskrit term jya for what we now call sine ... was translated, through proximity of sound, into Arabic jiba (a meaningless word in Arabic) and later transformed to jaib (meaning a bay or cove), and ultimately into Latin word sinus (meaning a bay or cove), from which the modern 'sine' is derived". Such instances of assimilating knowledge from across the world is the perfect example of a renaissance which continued even after the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate. It's noteworthy to mention here that the conversion of Persians to Muslim didn't happen overnight through force during this period. People converted Islam gradually out of their own without any pressure from the rulers. During this period both Shia and Sunni scholars prospered without any conflict between them. After the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate the Samanid Persian Empire emerged in the northern part of modern day Iran and Afghanistan and Central Asia. Though they had spread Islam deep into Central Asia but they were deep rooted into their Zorastrian roots. They were also very tolerant to the minority Zorastrian population. The result was the establishment of wonderful cities like Samarkand, Heerut and Bukhara. It's no wonder that the greatest Persian poet after the arrival of Islam, Rudaki, flourished during this period. Also Shahname, the epic poem about Persian kings, was written by Firdawsi during the period. It speaks about the unique cultural values of Persia and also the pre-Islamic Zorastrian religion.

The rise of the Ghaznavid Empire sowed the seeds of decline to the Golden Age of Islam. Mahmud, their ruler created an empire with destruction and ruthlessness. He used to ravage the places he conquered. Such instances of killing and destruction was never seen before. His empire didn't last for long and very soon Baghdad became the center for learning again under the Seljuk Turks, the cultural ancestors of the Western Turks, the present day residents of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Turkmenistan. The expansion of the Seljuks was never accompanied with destruction of cities and genocides. It was during the reign of Seljuk Malik Shah that Omar Khayyam did most of his experimentations in Baghdad. Malik Shah also created a large number of institutes for higher education. The famous Sufi poet Rumi belonged to a later Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. That was the beginning of the 13th century, by the end of which Persia and the whole world was witness to the worst form of destruction and genocide under the Mongol Genghiz Khan. Though Genghiz Khan was not a Muslim, but his western descendants who ruled Persia and other other middle eastern places in Asia converted to Islam. That was the end of age of tolerance and all-inclusiveness. The Safavids converted the majority Sunni Iran into Shia by force. The Timurids released another realm of atrocities and destruction where ever they went. Every sign of the pre-Islamic culture and religion was gradually removed. The Zorastrians fled Iran totally. The grand traditions of multi cultural and multi ethnic discussions, arguments, discourses - which are the main aspects of growth of ideas - never returned back to the Muslim lands. Rigidity increased and external ideas and ideologies became more and more alien. Eventually the Ottoman Empire emerged to the west of Iran in Turkey and surrounding areas. But the Golden Age of Baghdad never came back. Though paintings and art flourished to some extent even under the Mongols, Safavids and Timurids, but nothing notable happened in the areas of science and philosophy. Persian art, architecture and literature flourished much more in India under the Mughals, who were much more inclusive than the later Persians. It's notable that despite Muslim rulers ruling major part of India for close to 600 years, still the majority Hindu population was never converted into Muslims. India also never saw the sort of devastation or destruction that the Mongols and their successors caused in middle east and Asia minor. Perhaps due to the all inclusive culture of India, which the Mughals also embraced to some extent, Golden Ages kept on returning to India.

It's notable to refer to the World Heritage Sites in the Arab and Persian Empires, in present day Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, across the entire Islamic period. With the exception of Soltaniyeh, built in 14th century by the Ikhanids and Meidan Emam built in 17th Century by Safavids in Iran almost all other Islamic sites belong to the Islamic Golden Age, when Baghdad was the center of learning and education of the entire world. On the contrary there much more sites from Mughal era in the World Heritage List.

The point I want to make here is that the growth and prosperity of any nation has a very strong relation to its all inclusive culture, tolerance and arguments. Whenever a nation shuts its doors to outsiders stagnation comes in and the nation can't do well in any area, be it art and culture or economy. It's no wonder that the Islamic India continued to prosper in the same way as the pre-Islamic Hindu India did. The Hindu India constituted almost 30% of world's GDP in 1000AD. The partial Islamic India constituted almost 25% of world GDP in 1500AD. The Mughals continued to constitute 23% in 1600 AD and 24% in 1700 AD. Compared to this even during the Golden Age the Islamic Caliphate in 1000 AD constituted only 18% of world GDP, though it occupied much bigger area than India. Never ever in the next 1000 years the entire Muslim World prospered so well.

Though the rigidity and intolerance increased considerably in the Islamic world since the decline of the Golden Age, with an exception perhaps only in India, still there was no concept of a world wide Islamic Jihad. Perhaps with money coming in so easily from the ground in the form of oil since the beginning of the 20th century, the Islamic countries suddenly became financially quite strong and a section of its people, including some in leading roles, thought it wise to wage a war against the fictitious wrongs done to them by the non-Muslims. Instead of spending money and energy into education, health care and other developmental work quite a good amount of resources were wasted in terrorism.

I'm sure Israel won't have the face or even indirect support from the US or UK to strike into Palestine if the Hamas end their insurgency. I'm sure things will really improve if the rich Arabs stop funding the terror camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan and help the governments of these countries to setup schools and hospitals.

The Golden Age of Islam can again return, if they revert back to what the Abbasids did 1000 years back - open the doors to the world and embrace everything that is good!!

Why India needs Narendra Modi: by Modi's all time opponent

This article about Narendra Modi, presented at the end of my few cents of views, is written by a Muslim, one of the most vocal critics of Narendra Modi in the post Godhra days. Well, I take it back... it's written by an Indian, a true, intelligent, secular Indian for whom the religion is just progress and prosperity of the country.

No one appreciates communal riots. They are the biggest scars of our society. Almost all political parties have resorted to some form of communalism in recent times to gain political mileage. Often the ruling political party didn't want to go against the sentiments of the majority community - starting from Suhrawardy's (the then Muslim League CM of Bengal province) role in Hindu genocide on "Direct Action Day" on 16th Aug in 1946 (FYI, that's the biggest genocide of any community till date in India killing more than 4000 people in 72 hours), to the Shikh massacre under Congress and finally the post Godhra riots under Modi. It's a practice for many people to tarnish the secular image of India with such incidents. In this respect let me refer to something mentioned in "Discovery of India" (despite my not-so-much liking for Nehru). In reference to Tagore's severe criticism of the sort of the Indian history, full of wars and massacre and internal fights, taught in schools Nehru mentioned that all these wars are just like blips in the annals of the Indian history, but still people tend to talk more of these negative things rather than highlighting so many good things about the prosperity and growth of the subcontinent over 3000 years in all aspects. As a matter of fact despite all these wars and fightings Indian subcontinent have been the strongest economy in the world till the British rule. Even in 1700, when India was not at one of her highest points, she used to contribute to almost 30% of World Economy, very close to the share of entire Europe despite the fact that Europe was basking in the success and glory of Industrial Revolution in that period. It's really a pity that we learn about the invasions of Timur, Chenghis Khan, Muhammed Ghor and so on, but the fact is that these are just so few in number in the span of 3000 years that they could have been just ignored.

The same is true in today's world.

Just consider this: the Bengali San Calendar, considered to be a Hindu calendar, was actually synched up with the lunar Hijri during Akbar's reign, but the counting remained Solar. That's why the date in the Bengali San calendar is quite close to that in Hijri. This means that my marriage, on some auspicious day as per Hindu norms, has a reference to the day when Prophet Mohammed marched from Mecca to Medina. Well, you might argue that Akbar might have forced this on the Bengalis. But then the Bengalis didn't change this ever - even after the death of Akbar or the end of the Muslim Rule in India. Is there any other place in this world where a Muslim calendar is synched up with Christian era or vice versa? Has anyone spoken about this? The sound of Shehnai is part of the ritual in any Hindu marriage in North India even though till date I haven't heard of any Hindu playing Shehnai. In older days even the staunch Brahmins used to invite the Muslim Shenai players to perform in their marriages. Is there any ritual in any part of the world where people of different faith play such a great role? Bismillah Khan's shehnai was one of the main attractions in the temples of Benaras till his death. Can you show me any single church or masjid in the world where a Hindu has been asked to sing Bhajan? Have you ever heard of any Hindu preferring the Brahmin Kishore Kumar Gangopadhyay over a Muslim Mohd. Rafi for religious reason? Have you ever heard of any actor becoming superstar by virtue of his religion? Khans are the rulers of Bollywood. Some of the richest Mulsims, the likes of Wadias and Azim Premji, of the corporate world are in India. The biggest real estate company, Prestige, in Bangalore is owned by Muslims. One of the poorest persons, also a Muslim, from one of the remotest villages went on to become the top boss of India's premier defence research organization and later the President. Ask Abdul Kalam, ask Mohd. Rafi, ask the Wadias, ask Azharuddin, ask Bismillah Khan, ask Shahrukh Khan, ask Amjad Ali Khan and Ali Akbar Khan, ask the sexy Katrina Kaif, ask Omar Abdullah, ask Ghulam Ali if they have ever faced any discrimination? No.... India never discriminates. All that you hear about the riots and genocides are not the only things to hear or talk about. They are just like Timur's invasion and the plunder of Delhi, like Nadir Shah's atrocities, which the historians want to remember more than the fact that some Muslim King in South India (well it's Tipu Sultan, in case we've forgotten) had named his capital (Srirangapatnam) after a Hindu God Vishnu.....

India has been always secular. It has been the Veer Bhoomi (land of the brave people) for the Veers. What Darwin told some hundred years back about survival for the fittest, we knew for ever - Veer Bhogya Vasundara - the world is for the brave. Indians are a brave lot. We treat the Timurs as a blip in our life and proceed ahead. Let's not change our path....

Happy reading - hope every party India has a Modi and every state becomes a Gujarat!!

by Suhel Seth
Let me begin with a set of disclosures: I have perhaps written more articles against Modi and his handling of the post-Godhra scenario than most people have; I have called him a modern-day Hitler and have always said that Godhra shall remain an enduring blemish not just on him but on India's political class. I still believe that what happened in Gujarat during the Godhra riots is something we as a nation will pay a heavy price for. But the fact is that time has moved on. As has Narendra Modi. He is not the only politician in India who has been accused of communalism. It is strange that the whole country venerates the Congress Party as the secular messiah but it was that party that presided over the riots in 1984 in which over 3,500 Sikhs died: thrice the number killed in Gujarat.

The fact of the matter is that there is no better performer than Narendra Modi in India's political structure. Three weeks ago, I had gone to Ahmedabad to address the YPO and I thought it would be a good opportunity to catch up with Modi. I called him the evening before and I was given an appointment for the very day I was getting into Ahmedabad. And it was not some official meeting but instead one at his house. As frugal as the man Modi is.

And this is something that the Gandhis and Mayawatis need to learn from Modi. There were no fawning staff members; no secretaries running around; no hangers on…just the two of us with one servant who was there serving tea. And what was most impressive was the passion which Modi exuded. The passion for development; the passion for an invigorated Gujarat; the passion for the uplifting the living standards of the people in his state and the joy with which he recounted simple yet memorable data-points. For instance, almost all of the milk consumed in Singapore is supplied by Gujarat; or for that matter all the tomatoes that are eaten in Afghanistan are produced in Gujarat or the potatoes that Canadians gorge on are all farmed in Gujarat. But it was industry that was equally close to his heart.

It was almost like a child, that he rushed and got a coffee table book on GIFT: the proposed Gujarat Industrial City that will come up on the banks of the Sabarmarti: something that will put the Dubais and the Hong Kongs of this world to shame. And while on the Sabarmati, it is Modi who has created the inter-linking of rivers so that now the Sabarmati is no longer dry.

He then spoke about how he was very keen that Ratan Tata sets up the Nano plant in Gujarat: he told me how he had related the story of the Parsi Navsari priests to Ratan and how touched Ratan was: the story is, when the Navsari priests, (the first Parsis) landed in Gujarat, the ruler of Gujarat sent them a glass of milk, full to the brim and said, there was no place for them: the priests added some sugar to the milk and sent it back saying that they would integrate beautifully with the locals and would only add value to the state.

Narendra Modi is clearly a man in a hurry and he has every reason to be. There is no question in any one's mind that he is the trump card for the BJP after Advani and Modi realises that. People like Rajnath Singh are simply weak irritants I would imagine. He also believes that the country has no apolitical strategy to counter terrorism and in fact he told me how he had alerted the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the NSA about the impending bomb blasts in Delhi and they did not take him seriously. And then the September 13 blasts happened! It was this resolve of Modi's that I found very admirable. There is a clear intolerance of terrorism and terrorists which is evident in the way the man functions; now there are many cynics who call it minority-bashing but the truth of the matter is that Modi genuinely means business as far as law and order is concerned.

I left Modi's house deeply impressed with the man as Chief Minister: he was clearly passionate and what's more deeply committed. When I sat in the car, I asked my driver what he thought of Modi and his simple reply was Modi is God. Before him, there was nothing. No roads, no power, no infrastructure. Today, Gujarat is a power surplus state. Today, Gujarat attracts more industry than all the states put together. Today, Gujarat is the preferred investment destination for almost every multi-national and what's more, there is an integrity that is missing in other states.

After I finished talking to the YPO (Young President's Organisation) members, I asked some of them very casually, what they thought of Modi. Strangely, this was one area there was no class differential on. They too said he was God.

But what they also added very quickly was if India has just five Narendra Modis, we would be a great country. I don't know if this was typical Gujarati exaggeration or a reflection of the kind of leadership India now needs! There is however, no question in my mind, that his flaws apart, Narendra Modi today, is truly a transformational leader! And we need many more like him!

The writer is Managing Partner, Counselage

Is the Vedic Class System or Varnashrama the reason for the wonder growth of India?

In his recent column "Why inefficient India worries China" Gurucharan Das has mentioned

"What really perplexes the Chinese, he said, is that scores of nations have engaged in the same sorts of economic reforms as India, so why is it that it’s the Indian economy that has become the developing world’s second best? The speed with which India is creating world-class companies is also a shock to the Chinese, whose corporate structure is based on state-owned and foreign companies. I have no satisfactory explanation for all this, but I think it may have something to do with India’s much-reviled caste system. Vaishyas, members of the merchant caste, who have learned over generations how to accumulate capital, give the nation a competitive advantage. Classical liberals may be right in thinking that commerce is a natural trait, but it helps if there is a devoted group of risk-taking entrepreneurs around to take advantage of the opportunity. Not surprisingly, Vaishyas still dominate the forbes list of Indian billionaires."

Mr Gurucharan Das has brought out a very interesting point in his article. It's really a wonder that despite the dismal condition of India's political class and the government India continues to grow at a rate that's among the highest in the world. The evolution of the corporate culture in India is also quite commendable. Suddenly the world has also started appreciating the management and leadership traits of Indians. People had more faith on Ratan Tata than the other bidders for Corus. Lakshmi Mittal could also turn the world around in his favour during the acquisition of Arcelor. Mr Gurucharan has attributed the business skills of Indians to the fact that Indian culture had a dedicated class called Vaishyas for the sole purpose of doing business. I believe not only the Vaishyas, but the entire class system or the Varnashrama, which has been distorted to horrid proportions at later times, of the Aryan or Vedic civilization did play a great role in shaping up the Indian intellect.

A successful management strategy is to distribute various roles to different people with the right skill. The traits required for sales and marketing are widely apart from that of exploring new business opportunities in orthogonally different areas. The skills required in managing human resources are also totally different from managing the finances of a company. All management courses have specializations based on relevant skills required for a particular type of job. It’s important to have dedicated people for different jobs than having the same person to do everything. It’s also equally important to identify the right person with the right set of skills to do the right job. The success of a company is totally dependent on the selection of the right people. A few thousand years ago the people of India did appreciate the need of such division of work.

We understand today that a nation should be run like a corporation. The premier of any country should be like the CEO of a company. The Brahman class was entrusted with the education of rest of the people. That’s very much like a dedicated team for R&D responsible for all the research, training and imbibing the right skills required by everyone in a company. Everyone had to compulsorily spend the initial years of life at the Brahmans’ houses for education. Each and every king and prince had to follow this custom without any exception. This discipline played a very important role in shaping the intellect and future of the people who would later become leaders.

Perhaps the existence of a dedicated class like this resulted in the high level of philosophy and science in the Vedic and later early days of Indian civilization. Everyone understands that the R&D of any company can’t be held under the guns of the sales team with a predefined revenue target. R&D has a creative aspect and should be left alone without much interference. The Brahman class was meant to be aloof from the day to day operation of the country, which was handled by the Kshatriyas. The ruler, very much like the COO, used to be mostly from this class. The other most important aspect to sustain any country is the trade and commerce, for which there was the class called Vaishyas. There were off course other classes like the Vaids, or the doctors and others based on the specific jobs they used to do. All the classes were equally important for the prosperity of the nation.

The fact that ancient India has been very prosperous for a very long time can be very well attributed to the corporate nature of ruling the nation. It’s no wonder that the earliest book on management was written by Chanakya long before management became a subject in the business schools. Even the management traits used by Krishna became a topic of much interest to the business schools. The evolution of non violence by Mahatma Gandhi is also not by chance. Ashoka had used the same tactic and was able to create one of the biggest empires of the region. Non violence can also be seen as an efficient strategy to manage millions of people. All these strategies have evolved over thousands of years of maturity and study which was surely influenced a lot by the class system.

I’d like to end with a comment about the existence of one more class called the Shudras, which is often considered as the source of all untouchability in Indian society. In Discovery of India Jawaharlal Nehru mentioned that the Shudras or the inferior class consisted of the native people or the earlier residents who’d been defeated by the incoming Aryan people over several years. Throughout the history the victor class has always slaughtered the defeated. It’s a natural chauvinism associated with the victory. So the fact that the Aryans considered the defeated people inferior shouldn’t be considered in any special derogative way. 

Rahman's attempt in creating Symphony for Indian Music

I don't know how many of you have listened to the music of the recent movie Yuvaraj, composed by Rahman. Though the movie didn't create much of a mark, neither did the songs become chart busters. But there's indeed some thing very special about the songs composed by Rahman. I feel this is the first time that a proper Western Classical Symphonic orchestration, arangement and composition has been used in Hindi movie.

Use of Western Classical Music is quite insignificant even in the Hollywood movies or Western music albums. I feel in Hollywood it is restricted mainly to the background scores or opera based songs in period movies. But quite interstingly Bollywood has quite a few instances of using Western Classical music - works of various composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi etc in songs. Perhaps the extensive use of songs in Indian movies provide more scope to incorporate Western Classical Music than Hollywood. Even then, the proper use of Symphonic orchestra and symphonic style of compositions in Hindi movies was perhaps never attempted before Rahman.

I should acknowledge that there have been some significant efforts in the past in bringing Western Classical Music in mainstream Indian music by people like Anada Shankar (son of legendary dancer Uday Shankar and nephew of Ravi Shankar and perhaps the first Indian to attempt fusion music successfully) and Ilyaraja (the first Indian to compose for Philharmonic Orchestra London), but still Western Classical Music has always been a niche and elite thing, not quite within the reach of the mass. Over the years the Indian Classical Music has been able to penetrate more into mass listeners, to a great extent due to movies using various forms of classical and semi classical music in songs and also due to the glamour and aura created by many leading performers like Ali Akbar Khan, Ravi Shankar, Amzad Ali Khan, Zakir Hussain, L Subramaniam - to name a few - all of whom have also created a significant market for Eastern Classical Music in the West. In this context, Rahman's effort is really commendable. In India movies play a great role in popularizing any form of music. I'm sure the present popularity of Ghazal, Sufi music or folk forms like Bhangra won't have been possible without significant patronage from movies.

Bollywood has always attracted the best of the talents from all over India. This has created a very cosmopolitan and enriched form of popular music. Many regional flavors amalgamated into a pan Indian form. In the earlier days Bollyood was mainly driven by people from Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra thus bringing in rich elements of literature, culture, folk, devotional, traditional, classical and semi-classical forms of music from all these regions into Bollywood. During the earliest phase of Hindi movie production in Calcutta in 30-40s under New Theatres, Bombay Talkies' Devika Rani, Himanshu Rai, Ashok Kumar, Filmistan's Shashadhar Mukherjee and music composers like Anil Biswas, Timir Baran, Pankaj Mallik and K C Dey, Rabindranath Tagore was still alive and his influence in any form or art and culture was really unavoidable. Interestingly till date the format of any movie song in any language in India still follows the format of a Rabindra Sangeet with the duration of 3-4 minutes and consisting of sections like Mukhra, Antara and Sanchari. Rabindra Sangeet itself has many ingredients of an Opera. The later Bengali composers like Salil Chowdhury, S D Burman, Hemant Kumar also used folk elements of Bengal and Assam like Baul, Bhatiyali, Kirtan and Bihu widely in Hindi movies. The trio Raj Kapoor-Dilip Kumar-Dev Anand along with composers like O P Nayyar, Roshan, Madan Mohan, Khayyam, Shankar (of Shankar Jaikishan duo) and above all the most famous singer of the time Mohd. Rafi brought in Punjabi elements in music and movies. C Ramachandra and off course the Mangeshkar sisters Lata and Asha, with genes deeply rooted in Marathi Natya Sangeet brought another dimension to Hindi movies. Naushad brought elements of Uttar Pradesh. Apart from the regional flavors in Bollywwod the undercurrent of classical and semi classical music was also quite predominant because most of the composers had deep roots in Indian Classical Music. But throughout the Western Classical Music was always little ignored in Bollywood. Even the usage of Western Classical instruments like Cello and Viola reduced considerably after the 60's. Who can forget the Cello in "Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam" and "Woh Shaam Kuchh Ajeeb Thi"? That's why Rahman's experiment in Yuvaraj is really a great thing for Indian Music.

Just listen to the song "Dil Ka Rishta" from Yuvaraj. Apart from the incredible background score with pure symphonic or philharmonic style, there's also a fast Jhala style fusion of vocals, rendered by Rahman himself, and the orchestra. Though Rahman seems to go off tune at times, still the effect is quite good. Rahman has recently started the KK Symphony Orchestra, the first full fledged philharmonic orchestra in India. It's really a great effort to bring Western Classical Music to India in a big and far reaching way.

Also listen to the other song "Tu Muskura" from Yuvaraj. The female portion, sung by Alka Yagnik, is very much like a vocal rendition of a symphony. I personally liked the music, more because of the effort that Rahman is putting in creating a new style in our music. I hope that he can really popularize styles of Western Classical Music for Indian mass listeners.

Rahman has always brought new styles in any music he has composed be it the highly classical "Hai Rama Yeh Kya Hua" from Rangeela and "Tu Hi Re" from Bombay or the peppy "Pappu Can't Dance Saala" from Jane Tu Ya Jane Na and "Humma Humma" from Bombay. He brought a totally different dimension in Sufi and Qawal styles when he composed "Haji Ali" for Fizaa or "Khwaja Mere Khwaja" for Jodha Akbar. He even used Qawal style of composition for "Mehendi Hai Rachne Waali" in Zubeidaa in the backdrop of a Royal Rajasthani Hindu Marriage or the "Tere Bina" number in Guru in the background during potrayal of a very important phase of life of a Guajarati couple. He has elevated an Islamic devotional form of music to a level which was never heard of. Not for a moment did these Qawal numbers seem to be misfit in a totally different type of sequence in the movies. His use of folk elements of Bengal in "Kabhi Neem Neem" in Yuva, typical Central Indian village style "Mitwa" in Lagaan and off course the unforgettable Bhangra style "Rang De Basanti" in Rang De Basanti sung by Daler Mehendi and himself are just incredible. He has the capability to put his own unique stamp in whatever he composes and at the end of the day reach to the mass. Almost all his compositions are chart busters. One of his first compositions, "Dil Hai Chhota Sa" from Roja is my Rahman's favorite. I still can't forget my excitement and enthralment when I first heard the song in 1992. It has a totaly fresh set of sounds which created Rahman's signature for ever.

In this context it might be interesting to know about K M Music Conservatory founded by Rahman with a mission to provide students with a strong artistic, intellectual, and technical foundation for pursuing professional careers in music which will be facilitated by creating a learning environment that will provide the highest order of education in all major aspects of music and music technology, offer programs/courses that are contemporarily designed and foster a cultural exchange between students from different parts of the world.

Rahman Favorites

Red Hills in Blue Mountains

Emerald Lake - as seen from Red Hills

I’ve always wondered about the origin of the name Nilgiris, which doesn’t sound like a typical Tamil name. For the matter of fact it doesn’t even have any similarity with the names of any of the forests or hills like Madumalai, Wayanad, Makurti, Bandipur etc. in the surrounding areas. In my recent trip to the Red Hills in the Blue Mountains, Nilgiris, my confusion was clarified. There’s a story behind the name ‘Red Hills’ too. Just wait a few moments for that. Let me start with the story of Nilgiris first.

Legend says that long long ago a group of people migrated from the present Rajasthan towards the south. Having stayed in and around the present Mysore in Karnataka for quite some time they started moving further south and finally settled in the present Nilgiris. The first group of people migrated from Mysore some seven hundred years ago and the last phase of migration happened some two hundred years back, during the reign of Tipu Sultan. This group of people, known as the Badagas, is the majority community in Nilgiris. They have been thriving mainly on agriculture. They established an understanding with the Todas, a much older community in the Nilgiris and believed to be the descendants of the Romans who came to India with Alexander in the first century BC but stayed back and eventually migrated to the south and settled in the Nilgiris. The Badagas coexisted peacefully with the Todas for centuries, not trespassing into the latter’s territories and entering into a barter system with them – providing grains and other agricultural products in exchange of milk, butter and other dairy products. Today Badagas have a population of eight lakhs spread across four hundred village. The other tribes which also coexisted along with the Todas and the Badagas are Irulas – the weavers, Kurumbas and the Kothas – the blacksmiths.

Well, enough of the Badagas and the other tribes of the Nilgiris. But how do I know all these and what’s the story behind the name 'Nilgiri'? I learnt all these from Mr. Vijay Kumar, a Badaga, who has, among many other things, a wealth of interesting information about the tribes of Nilgiris. It’s from him that I learned that the Badagas named their new habitat aptly Nilgiris - mesmerized by the blue tinge of the hills when soaked in fog and cloud. They have been speaking a language which is closer to Kannada than Tamil, due to their long association wit Karnataka. Also as they are originally from Rajasthan, their language does have many similarities with the northern languages. That explains the uniqueness of the name “Nil Giri”, or the Blue Mountains.

Well, that’s the story of Nilgiris. But how did I meet Mr. Vijay Kumar?

That’s the next story.

Willie Collins, a planter and hunter, popularly known as Huli Doray - meaning Tiger (Huli) Man (Doray is used to express reverence and respect), by the local Badagas, fell in love with the Nilgiris and started constructing a house near Ithlar, one of the Badaga villages close to a Toda village called Othe-Kal-Mund or the “One Stone Village” – popularly known as Ootacamund by the English people. By 1875 Willie’s house on top of a hill was complete. He named the hill Red Hills because he belonged to Red Hills in England. He stayed in the house for almost sixty years. After his death a Badaga by the name of Muthoor Pillai, a resident of Ithlar village and an affluent planter and potato trader with business interests in Bombay and Calcutta, bought the properties of Willie from his daughter in 1937. All his children were raised in the hosue built by Willie on Red Hills. Mr Vijay Kumar, from whom I’ve learnt so many things about Nilgiris, happens to be the youngest son of Muthoor Pillai. He has inherited this 130 years old house from his father. Over the years the landscape of the surrounding areas underwent huge change. A number of dams were erected in Nilgiris and Vijay’s house now overlooks the beautiful catchment area of the Emerald dam. Out of the 250 acres of tea estate belonging to Vijay’s family he owns about 70 acres. He became a professional tea planter. His tea gardens surround his house. After his mother passed away in 1990 and his children went abroad for studies Vijay and his wife Banu were getting bored at their huge house. That’s when they thought of an innovative idea. They decided to invite tourists to stay with them in their house. This way they would get to meet new people every time and also have some extra work to keep them busy. That’s how the first Home Stay in the Nilgiris started. It’s now called the Red Hills Nature Resort and that’s where I went for the third time during the Christmas of 2008. The undulating hills covered with tea gardens and draped in the clouds and fog, the calm and serene waters of the catchment areas of the dams idling through the curves and cracks all around creating fascinating shapes of water bodies, the cool weather and above all the hospitality of the Vijay Kumars create the perfect ambience and aura for a relaxed vacation. The 130 year old house, almost three fourth of which has been retained and maintained perfectly till now, adds to the excitement of the stay. The natural grandeur all around is so mesmerizing that it attracts me from time to time and that’s why I’ve been to the place already three times in the past four years.

We started from Bangalore on 25^th morning, exactly at 5am. We created a perfect cozy bed for Prithu in the back of our Tavera, folding the back seat. We expected that Prithu would sleep for sometime. But he was as excited as we were and never slept in the car. Previously when we visited Red Hills he was just one year old and he barely remembers anything of that trip. We expected the traffic to be heavy, especially because of the long weekend and hence decided to reach Mysore as soon as possible. I zoomed through the Mysore Road and reached Mysore by 7:15am. We headed to our favorite Royal Orchid Metropole Hotel for a breakfast and the morning ablutions. We’re back on road by 8:30. The traffic was not much after Mysore and the NH212 between Mysore and Gundalpet is quite good. After Gundalpet the condition of the highway is quite bad for about 10KMs after which it improves considerably through the Bandipur National Park. The drive through the forest is really very scenic though you shouldn’t expect to see even a stray cow or dog, forget the tiger!! Little after crossing the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border we took the Kalahati Ghat Road through Madumalai National Park, a short cut to Ooty compared to the regular bus route via Gadalur. The Kalahati Ghat Road can be dangerous for novice drivers. It has around thirty six steep hair pin bends between Masinagudi and Ooty. The sorroundings are also quite barren compared to the lush green mountains along the longer route through Gadalur. We reached Ooty by 11:30am. Bypassing the main city we directly reached the Bus Station and turned right into the Avalanche Road just after the Bus Stand. Red Hill is about 25 KM from Ooty. The initial 10 KMs on this road is not good. Keeping the Fern Hill Palace to the right, the Good Shepherd International School to the left and crossing the Ithlar village, from where the Vijay Kumars hail, we reached Emerald, the last town and place to buy necessities before Red Hills. At Emerald we turned right towards Red Hills, which is roughly 7 KM from Emerald. The road skirts around the Emerald and Avalanche lakes through a few scarcely polulated villages and treks up gradually amidst lush green tea gardens. There’s a bridge over a narrow stretch that joins the Emerald and the Avalanche lakes. This spot has a magnificient view with sloping green banks of the reservoirs on both sides of the bridge. It’s a good picnic spot. You can drive your car to some extent on the slopes of the banks quite close to the water when the level is high. The condition of the road deteriorates gradually and you have to drive really carefully if you don’t want the suspension of your car to be damaged severely. When you really start feeling that you’re perhaps lost or the road is never ending you see the board of Red Hills on the left. The seven kilometer journery from Emerald can take near to half an hour. From the board it’s around ½ a kilometer on an untarred road before you finally reach Vijay’s 130 year old house overlooking the blue waters of Emerald Lake. It’s really tough to believe that the house is so old. Vijay Kumars have done a good job in maintaining it.

Lush Green sorroundings of Red Hills

We relaxed for the rest of the day after a sumptuous lunch. Though we’re the first to reach Red Hills on 25^th, by afternoon all the eight rooms were full.

The next morning a total of eleven people, including two kids aged ten and six, started for the trek to the Red Hills peak, which shouldn’t take more than three hours to climb up and down. The trek is not very hard but it’s advisable to take a guide. We had Mohan, the manager of the resort and Mobby, the sweetest ever dog of the Vijay Kumars, guiding us. Some part of the trek is through jungle and it’s very easy to get lost because the trail is almost invisible for most part. The trek provides an awesome view of the Emerald and Avalanche lakes and the surrounding hills of the Silent Valley and Makurti National Parks. Vijay Kumar has arrangements for night-stay in tents for six people in the Red Hills Peak. We didn’t know about this but could very well feel the excitement of such an experience.

That same evening we visited the Parsons and the Parthimund Valley and Lake, quite close to Red Hills. We took Mohan with us because otherwise there's every possibility to get lost in the innumerable turns in the Mukurti National Park. Parthimund Valley Lake provides a very good place to watch the sun set. Both the valleys are picture perfect and the lakes serene and tranquil. Each and every place appears to be a picnic spot. The Parsons Valley Dam was the site for the last scene of the film Roja, filmed by Mani Ratnam. It’s a rare spectacle to see so many lakes languishing alongside the hills at a single place.

It’s interesting to learn about the background of all these manmade lakes or rather catchment areas in this part of Nilgiris. Mr. Vijay Kumar provided me with all the information. Many valleys around Ooty have been provided with a number of dams to reserve the waters of Nilgiris and drain all of them into the Bhavani Sagar Reservoir on the river Bhavani which finally drains into Cauvery. All these valleys and the associated catchment areas, at various altitudes, provide spectacular views. Each of these pristine valleys and lakes, surrounded by hills and forests are fantastic and unique tourist spots which are still not that infested with the insensitive and irresponsible tourists. That adds more to the charm of these places. The Western Catchment 1 flows into the Upper Bhavani Reservoir. The Western Catchment 2 & 3 flow into Porthe Mund Valley Lake, which in turn flows into Emerald & Parsons Valley Lakes. Parsons Valley also flows into Emerald which has a Hydel Power Plant. Emerald & Upper Bhavani flow into Avalanche where again there’s a Hydel Power Plant. Avalanche and Emerald Lakes are in same height. They flow into Kunda, where again there’s a Hydel Power Plant. Kunda flows into Piloor, then to Geddai and finally into Bhavani Sagar from the south eastern side. Beyond Porthe Mund is the Mukurti Lake which flows into Pykara Lake, which has Hydel Power Plant. The water from Pykara Lake, off the Ooty-Gadalur-Mysore NH67, flows till Singara, which has an underground turbine, and then into Moyar River, which finally flows into Bhavani Sagar from the western side. Thus almost all water of Nilgiris go into Bhavani Sagar and then finally to Cauvery!! If time permits each of these lakes and valleys is worth visiting. Upper Bhavani requires permission from Forest Department and Electricity Board of Tamil Nadu because it’s the gate-way to the Makurti National Park. Vijay Kumar can take care of the permissions with prior intimation. The trip to Upper Bhavani, which we did the next day, can be clubbed with a Jungle Safari of Mukurti National Park for a half day trip from Red Hills. The Upper Bhavani Lake is the most tranquil and serene out of all the lakes. It skirts the Makurti National Park and is visible for a long time along the Jungle trail. There are several interesting trekking routes in the Makurti National Park. All treks can be organized by Vijay.

The Upper Bhavani Lake is the most tranquil and serene out of all the lakes

I’d decided this time that I’d surely write about the trip in my blog. The last evening I sat with Vijay Kumar to take notes about the history of Red Hills and I ended up gathering a lot of information also about the people and culture of Nilgiris. I learnt some fascinating facts about the Badagas – like their tradition, which they follow still now, of collecting money for any fellow villager who’s ailing, their traditional ritual to make someone free to marry again in the event of death of his or her spouse or their tradition to not take any dowry – to mention a few.

The journey back to Bangalore was not that great, not because of the fact that the traffic was quite heavy, but because of the sadness that had engulfed all of us on leaving the serene Red Hills. No wonder that Red Hills has been featured in Outlook publications like 52 weekends from Bangalore/Madras, 100 Hill Stations of India and 50 Trekking Holidays, 50 Driving Destinations in Autocar India, Go Now, Rave and Lonely Planet!!

Useful Information

• Distance from Bangalore: Around 300 KM
• Distance from Ooty: 25 KM
• Route from Bangalore: NH212 for Mysore-Gundalpet-Bandipur, Kalahati Ghat Road through Masinagudi-Ooty, Avalanche Road from Ooty through Ithlar till Emerald, Right towards Red Hills at Emerald
• Number of Rooms: 8
• Tariff: Peak Season 5K per couple and 4K in off season. Price includes accommodation and all meals
• Places to see (Close by): Parsons Valley Dam/Lake, Parthi Mund Valley Dam/Lake, Avalanche Dam/Lake
• Day trips: Upper Bhavani (30KM) & Makurti National Forest Jungle Safari and all other places around Ooty-Conoor
• Treks: Red Hills Peak & multiple routes in Makurti National Park. Refer to this site for more information about Upper Bhavani and treks in Makurti Natinal Park: http://www.forests.tn.nic.in/WildBiodiversity/np_muknp.html
• Contact: Vijay Kumar +919442254755, vijayredhill@yahoo.co.in
  

Red Hills

(Few snaps courtesy Tathagato)

Emerald Lake from Red Hills Peak, Parsons Valley Lake & Sunset from Parthi Mund Valley Lake

Direction to Red Hills