Durga Prasad Dash's Blog, page 18
November 2, 2018
surprises on the way – photo essay
Driving from Mangaluru to Murudeshwar on NH – 66 is awesome in it self – provided you ignore the typical bad patches on any Indian Road that is under repair- or not under repair. (In India some roads are perpetually under repair 
October 26, 2018
I stand / stand not with Abhijit
Seems, Abhijit Ayer – Mitra, the loud mouth journalist and friend of fallen BJD angel Jay Panda, is having a taste of his own medicine. At least that is what appears from his earlier tweets.
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Abhijit Mitra’s consistent derogatory remarks about Odisha either comes from his shallow understanding of India’s cultural roots and pluralism or from an inflated sense of group pride that has chosen the negative path of feeling superior by somehow denying the legitimate subtle differences and specialities of other’s culture and achievements.
If it comes from shallow understanding, his credibility of being a research scholar is seriously at stake. If it comes from an inflated sense of group pride that feels its superiority by downplaying the achievements of other groups he is unnecessarily fueling minor conflicts to make them into bigger conflict of two neighbouring states who have existed in harmony despite having issues with the origin of Rasagolla, the legacy of Subhash Chandra Bose and the 12th Century poet Jayadeva.
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Adornment of outer walls of temples with sculptures of explicit sexual acts is not unique to Kornark Temple. It was a feature of almost all temples built during that period in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and elsewhere. While it needs a separate article to explore why such sculptures were put on the outer walls of the temples, let us not forget that such sculptures were only one of the elements of the grand structures which stood for not only elaborate puja rituals but also as cultural centres of the era. Konark temple features most of the dance poses that has inspired the classical dance Odishi where bhakti rasa is dominant.
But Mr. Abhjit Mitra highlights only one aspect of the Konark temple and ridicules it by calling it a place of humple not temple. A mature journalist would also know where to draw the line between good humour and ridicule.
It is a matter of shame that while western scholars who want to study Indian culture have better understanding of Sanskrit than shallow scholars like Abhijit whose twitter bio has a sanskrit sloka from Bhagavat gita which reads as follows:
September 17, 2018
the tao of governance
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“The best rulers are scarcely known by their subjects;
The next best are loved and praised;
The next are feared;
The next despised:
They have no faith in their people,
And their people become unfaithful to them.
When the best rulers achieve their purpose
Their subjects claim the achievement as their own.”
(Ancient Chines Philosopher Lao Tzu in Tao Te Ching)
A democratic country is administered by the elected representatives. There are periodic elections to find out whether the nation wants the same set of representatives or they want change.
After taking various decisions, the elected representatives don’t carry out the decisions themselves. There is the executive consisting of people who have a more enduring life cycle than the elected representatives so that the country doesn’t run into chaos even if there is political instability in the short run.
Checks and balances to the legislature and the executive are provided by the judiciary and the press. In a robust and developed democracy, the judiciary is autonomous and there is freedom of press. Freedom of expression for every citizen is a part of parcel of healthy democracy. But in the countries where corruption is rampant, attempts are made to curb ‘free speech’ by carrot and stick policy.
Another signs of weak democracy is when the voters are not concerned with their own long term future. At election time they sell their vote eagerly for a few bucks or some cheap goodies that is not essential to their livelihood. It does not matter if the politicians later on deprive them of facilities like good roads or better educational or healthcare facilities. We sacrifice our long term goals for short term useless gains.
In a mature democracy all these elements of democracy – the legislature, the bureaucracy, the judiciary, and the press – function in a robust and autonomous manner so that ultimately it is the system that runs the country (based on a strong constitution) and not an individual as it used to happen during the times of kings.
The demerits of democracy is that development and decision making processes are sometimes slowed down. But at least it prevents the country from falling into the hands of a dictator. Time and again we have seen that:
Power tends to corrupt and
Absolute power corrupts
Absolutely.
The US prides itself as the champion of democracy. But it is not so. Because it is the world’s most powerful country, it bullies others into accepting that it is the champion of human rights.
There is not a single day when the US president is not in the news around the world. In most of the countries politicians let their presence felt in a dominant way. Their photos greet us on every page of the newspaper and from every street corner. About their presence in the electronic media, the less said the better. The politician constructs a bus shed out of our money but puts his photo prominently on it.
Some of the small countries like Switzerland show the signs of the best developed countries in terms of public governance. Such countries are run so smoothly that you hardly know who is your mayor of the locality. These countries seem to be following the principles of Tao Te Ching quoted in the beginning.
August 30, 2018
Netflix, youtube, and other stories #2
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Knowing that I have a fascination for things Japanese and also a fan of Malgudi Days, my daughter suggested to watch this series on Netflix. I am into the fifth episode and I have not been disappointed.
Each episode is an independent short story. However they have one thing in common. Most of the actions take place in a restaurant that is open from 12 in the midnight to 7 in the morning.
Through these stories, one gets glimpses of life and the mind of the everyday (or, every night :D) life of the Japanese living in the city of Tokyo.
Binge watch 1: World’s longest bus journey
All the five episodes of this DW documentary is available on youtube. When a peruvian bus company decided to run a bus service covering the 6300 km distance from Rio in Brazil to Lima in Peru along the Transocenica Highway, DW decided to send a crew to be part of the maiden journey.
It was supposed to make the journey in five days, but unforeseen delays along the way extended the journey by another day and a half.
In the backdrop of this journey one can peep into the life of the common men in South America. One can draw a lot of parallels with the life and governance in our developing south Asian countries – unplanned growth and lack of proper control playing havoc with the environment, unfinished and corruption riddled infra projects, and even frequent roadblocks by local to draw attention to their problems.
The journey is spiced with glimpses of personal life of the main driver and some of the passengers. Main tourist spots along the way are also explored in detail.
Binge watch 2: Harmony with AR Rahman
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This series on Amazon Prime also has five episodes in total. AR Rahman, one of our greatest music directors, has a plan to conduct a special symphony that includes rare artists of vocal and instrumental tradition of classical and folk Indian music. The first four episodes explore the back story of these four artists as Mr Rahman travels to the homes of these artists starting from Kerala to the North East.
Sajith Vijayan may not be well known even in his home state Kerala. Equally lesser known is the instrument that he plays. It is known as Mizhavu, a drum traditionally played during temple festivals.
From Kalamandalam of Kerala, Rahman travels to Mumbai to meet with Ustad Mohi Baha’uddin Dagar, one of the dozen surviving players of the musical instrument Rudra Veena. It was interesting to learn that his ancestors, who were Brahmins before getting converted to Islam, hailed from a village named Dagar. Rudra Veena is the oldest among the stringed Indian instruments.
The third artist, Lourembam Bedabati, is a folk singer from Manipur. She has dedicated her whole life to revive the folk music known as Khunung Eshei, even preferring to remain unmarried. She is the main vocal artist in the symphony of the final episode. Her rendering was heart touching in spite of the fact that I could not understand the meaning of the lyrics. That is the power of music.
Mr. Rahman’s search ends in Sikkim where he meets with Mickma Tshering Lepcha who plays a bamboo flute know as Pangthong Palith.
Now the challenge remains for Mr. Rahman to harmoniously blend and amalgamate all these diverse traditions of music. The master of music that he is, there is no doubt everything falls into place in the grand symphony in the final episode.
It also shows how in spite of India being a land of diversity and plurality, since time immemorial, music has always found a way to transcend the boundaries of religion, ethnicity and other difference.
July 29, 2018
Netflix, youtube, and other stories #1
India is full of places of pilgrimages. Each state and each district can boast of thousands of places of pilgrimage, each associated with a puranic legend or some form of divinity. After all, according to Hindu belief, even though the ultimate reality is only one, it manifests in 3.3 bn different divine forms.
But, the four main places of pilgrimages, known as char dham, are located in the four corners of the country. Badrinath in North, Puri in East, Rameswaram in South and Dwaraka in West. These four divine abodes were established by Adi Shankaracharya who is credited with reviving the Hindu religion and culture that was in a dying state due to the influence of Budhism.
Some say Lord Vishnu takes morning ablution in Badrinath, breakfast in Dwaraka, lunch in Puri, and retires to Rameswaram for rest. Some versions start with Vishnu taking morning ablution at Rameswaram. There seems to be some confusion among the pundits as to the association of the places with lord Vishnu’s daily rituals. However, there is no confusion with regard to one thing which is with regard to the fact He comes to Puri for his lunch.
Why not? Anyone, who has tasted the Mahaprasad which is cooked in one fo the biggest kitchens of the world using age old recipes and techniques, will vouchsafe for this.
There also seems to be a lot of misconception and ignorance about the strange looking deities and the strange rituals associated with them. Of course, for any information these days, the internet opens the flood gates. Out of thousands of videos available on youtube, I found the three following videos very interesting and informative.
The central theme of every documentary is different. While the first one gives an overall idea about Lord Jagannath Dham and other prominent places of pilgrimage and tourism in Odisha, the other two are associated with different aspects of the grand annual spectacle known as Rath Yatra and the event of Nabakalebara .
Yatra Mahaprabhu Shri Jagannath Dham Darshan with prominent temples of Odisha. This documentary gives an overall idea about Jaganath Dham, temples and legend associated with the History of the idols, and other tourist attractions in the Golden Triangle which consists of Puri, Konark and Bhubaneswar. The stunning visuals are accompanied by the mesmerising narration by Sami Narang of Doordarshan fame.
2. The Legend of Jagannath. Originally aired on the National Geographic at the time of Navakalebara in 2015, actor Rajiv Khandelwal takes the viewer on a journey through the preparation for the grand car festival , sprinkling it with glimpses into the history of the temple and the deities from time to time. The documentary is also available on Netfilx with better video quality.
3. God’s own people | Jagannath Yatra. This too was produced during the time of Navakalebara in 2015. However, it focuses on the aspect of the selection of the trees with specific divine manifestations. The wood from these four neem trees were used to carve out new idols of the four deities – Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshan.
There are two parallel narratives in this documentary. One is about how the descendants of the Tribal King Biswabasu now known as daitapatis go on an arduous journey to locate the trees and the detailed rituals associated with bringing the wood to the temple. The second one which provides emotional depth to the narrative is that of a simple woman of the village where the tree for the idol of Lord jagannath was located. Hailing from a remote village in Odisha, I had many nostalgic moments while watching it.
The documentary has been made by the famous director Nila Madhab Panda. (Remember I am Kalam, Kadvi Hawa …? ). Amitabh Bachan has lent his voice for narration – a grand actor for the documentary about a place where everything is grand.
Please watch the videos to go through an enlightening journey.
Jai Jagannath.
The East India Abode
India is full of places of pilgrimages. Each state and each district can boast of thousands of places of pilgrimage, each associated with a puranic legend or some form of divinity. After all, according to Hindu belief, even though the ultimate reality is only one, it manifests in 3.3 bn different divine forms.
But, the four main places of pilgrimages, known as char dham, are located in the four corners of the country. Badrinath in North, Puri in East, Rameswaram in South and Dwaraka in West. These four divine abodes were established by Adi Shankaracharya who is credited with reviving the Hindu religion and culture that was in a dying state due to the influence of Budhism.
Some say Lord Vishnu takes morning ablution in Badrinath, breakfast in Dwaraka, lunch in Puri, and retires to Rameswaram for rest. Some versions start with Vishnu taking morning ablution at Rameswaram. There seems to be some confusion among the pundits as to the association of the places with lord Vishnu’s daily rituals. However, there is no confusion with regard to one thing which is with regard to the fact He comes to Puri for his lunch.
Why not? Anyone, who has tasted the Mahaprasad which is cooked in one fo the biggest kitchens of the world using age old recipes and techniques, will vouchsafe for this.
There also seems to be a lot of misconception and ignorance about the strange looking deities and the strange rituals associated with them. Of course, for any information these days, the internet opens the flood gates. Out of thousands of videos available on youtube, I found the three following videos very interesting and informative.
The central theme of every documentary is different. While the first one gives an overall idea about Lord Jagannath Dham and other prominent places of pilgrimage and tourism in Odisha, the other two are associated with different aspects of the grand annual spectacle known as Rath Yatra and the event of Nabakalebara .
Yatra Mahaprabhu Shri Jagannath Dham Darshan with prominent temples of Odisha. This documentary gives an overall idea about Jaganath Dham, temples and legend associated with the History of the idols, and other tourist attractions in the Golden Triangle which consists of Puri, Konark and Bhubaneswar. The stunning visuals are accompanied by the mesmerising narration by Sami Narang of Doordarshan fame.
2. The Legend of Jagannath. Originally aired on the National Geographic at the time of Navakalebara in 2015, actor Rajiv Khandelwal takes the viewer on a journey through the preparation for the grand car festival , sprinkling it with glimpses into the history of the temple and the deities from time to time. The documentary is also available on Netfilx with better video quality.
3. God’s own people | Jagannath Yatra. This too was produced during the time of Navakalebara in 2015. However, it focuses on the aspect of the selection of the trees with specific divine manifestations. The wood from these four neem trees were used to carve out new idols of the four deities – Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshan.
There are two parallel narratives in this documentary. One is about how the descendants of the Tribal King Biswabasu now known as daitapatis go on an arduous journey to locate the trees and the detailed rituals associated with bringing the wood to the temple. The second one which provides emotional depth to the narrative is that of a simple woman of the village where the tree for the idol of Lord jagannath was located. Hailing from a remote village in Odisha, I had many nostalgic moments while watching it.
The documentary has been made by the famous director Nila Madhab Panda. (Remember I am Kalam, Kadvi Hawa …? ). Amitabh Bachan has lent his voice for narration – a grand actor for the documentary about a place where everything is grand.
Please watch the videos to go through an enlightening journey.
Jai Jagannath.
July 12, 2018
The Big Lord Descends Among Us
This is the time for the Annual Car Festival in Puri – the Rathyatra of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra. The rituals connected with the Jagannath temple has many roots and layers – some alaukik and some laukik i.e. some of divine origin and some by treating the idols as normal living human beings.
On the of the last full moon – known as Devasnana Purnima – the idols were given the divine bath. Maybe, it was a little too much to handle even for the divine during their human leela on earth. So they fell sick, like they fall sick every year during this time.
According to western philosophy, time is linear. But the eastern concept of time is that it is cyclic. The rituals of the Lord gets repeated every year like the change of seasons. The rituals get repeated without fail, which is to say they repeat ad infinitum giving life a sense of immortality.
Of course it is not a monotonous repetition. How can it be? Everything connected with the temple is not only practically enermous, they are also named so. The temple is other wise known as Bada Deula – the big temple, the idol of Lord Jagannath is addressed as the Bada Thakura / Maha prabhu – the big Lord, the road along which they make the annual journey in their huge chariots is known as the Bada Danda – the Grand Road, the sea nearby is Mahodadhi – the great reservoir of water, the prasad is known as the mahaprasad, and so on. Everything is grand in scale and imagination scale and is named so.
After the Lords fall sick, the temple is closed for public darshan. These days are known as anavasara. At a practical level, this is the time for specific annual maintenance activities. The wooden idols are repainted and ‘many kinds of ‘secret rituals are undertaken so that the idols not only shine in their full glory when they emerge out of sickness, but also withstand the rough handling during the nine day rituals connected with the car festival.
So today, just a day before the Annual Car Festival, Jagannath – the lord of the Universe along with his big brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra emerge after recovering from the high fever. The day is known as Nava jauvana darshana or netrotsav. The Lords are in their renewed vigour and splendour after being treated with powerful herbs and medicines.
During this period when the temple is closed to public, the hardcore devotees of the Lord Jagannath have an alternate option not to miss the Darshan of the Lord even for a single day. They can go to Alarnath temple at Brahmagiri, located at about twenty five kms from Puri. According to the legend, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, during his stay in Puri, was directed to go to Alarnath so as not to miss his daily darshan of the Lord during this anavasara period. The boulder over which Sri Chaitanya used to do Sankirtan is still there.
Being the Lord of the Universe, He has the privilege to take a break. But not so for the devotee or, a seeker in the spiritual life. After getting this rare human life, not even a single day should be devoid of spiritual practices.
[image error]Alarnath Temple, Brahmagiri
June 6, 2018
let these ten witty responses tickle your day
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While reading, or watching TV, or sometimes from real life conversations we come across witty responses to sarcastic comments ot ricky situations. These are also known as comebacks. Some of these make such impressions that you remember the responses for a long time. Here are ten of my most favourite ones:
I
Priest to famous comedian Groucho Marx – “I want to thank you for all the joy you’ve put into this world.”
Groucho shoots back – “And I wanna thank you, for all the joy you’ve taken out of this world.”
II
Gandhi to Patel early one morning after noticing that contrary to Ashram etiquette Patel had not taken bath yet – “God had given you such a wonderful body and then this gift in the form of water. Why don’t you go and take bath immediately.”
Patel – “Agreed. But, it is also the same God that has made this winter morning so chilly.”
III
When Samuel Johnson, the compiler of the Dictionary of the English Language, was asked to share his secret of being able to compile such a large books of words, he replied – “Oh, it was like quarreling with my wife — one word led to another.”
IV
This one is attributed to Winston Churchil
Once, when he was dozing on a train, a woman entered his carriage and noticed that his fly was open. She said “Mr Churchill! Your penis is sticking out!”.
Old Winston awoke, and answered: “Madam, don’t flatter yourself. It is merely hanging out.”
V
I wonder whether the french statesman Talleyrand is the pre-cursor of our today’s dal-badlu politician. After the fall of Napoleon when there was a revolution on, Talleyrand was busy in his evening parties.
During the salad course, the bells changed their tone from alarm to celebration, and snatches of song drifted in through the windows.
“Ah!” said Talleyrand, raising his glass. “It is over. We have triumphed.”
“We, my prince?” said a guest. “And who would we be?”
“Oh, as for that,” said Talleyrand, “I shall tell you tomorrow.” And he called for dessert.
VI
The eternal optimist
Just before the battle of Thermopylae, a Spartan soldier came and reported, that the Persians were so numerous, that their clouds of arrows darkened the sun.
‘So much the better,’ said Leonidas,’ for we shall fight in the shade.’
VII
Shaw: “I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend. If you have one.”
Churchill: “Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second… if there is one.”
IX
Actress: I enjoyed reading your book. Who wrote it for you?
James Hardly Chase: Darling, I am so glad that you liked it. Who read it for you?
X
John Montagu: Sir, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or of the pox?
John Wilkes: That depends, my Lord, on whether I embrace your Lordship’s principles or your mistress.
May 29, 2018
because they are so young …
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There is a saying in Sanskrit:
“yuktiyuktam bacham grahayam baladapi shukadapi,
yuktihinam bacham tyajjyam balaldapi shukadapi”
It means – reasonable words or words of wisdom must be accepted even if those words come from a child or a parrot, Unreasonable talks or words devoid of wisdom must be shunned even if those words come from a child or a great sage like Shuka.
This is a great piece of wisdom. Usually we attach authenticity to authority. We take as gospel truth and accept the words spoken by an authority figure without any verification. An extreme example of this is what happened in the case of Hitler. During his time even the great intellectuals of Germany accepted his propaganda messages without verification and worked for him to further his evil designs.
On the other hand timely and helpful advice coming from a person without authority is ignored. This is quite common in organisational set ups. Sane and effective suggestions from junior employees are quite often sidelined. The seniors even go to the extent of deriding the hapless junior. They may say, “What are you in front of us? You are just a kid in the organsiation. Are you here to teach us who are like the headmaster of the school where you studied?”
Experience has its own advantages. But with experience comes the possibility of experience bias that clouds our ability to see things from a fresh and unbiased perspective.
I love to learn from young people. Children are quick learners and are not afraid to experiment. In understanding the working of a gazette or the latest technological upgrade, children can teach us better.
In certain areas they have distinct advantages. In matters of spoken English my children do correct me and I welcome that. My school and college teachers, though masters of written English, did not have exposure to proper spoken English.
Our history and mythology also have many instances of children coming to the rescue of adults. One such legend is associated with the construction of the sun temple at Konark.
Twelve years after the construction started, when the sun temple was nearing completion, the architects were faced with a crisis. They were not able to figure out how to fix the kalasha at the top and mark the completion of the temple. The king became impatient with the inordinate delay at the final stage and gave an ultimatum to the architects that if they did not fix it before the next sunrise all their heads would be cut off.
Coincidentally, Dharamapada the twelve year old son of the Chief Architect Bishnu Maharana had come to meet his father. He came to know of the problem and went to examine it. He detected detect a minor fault in the construction. He corrected it and fixed the kalasha.
The legends goes on to state that subsequently he jumped to the sea to his death so as to remain anonymous in order to save the architects from beign disgraced for not being able to fix the problem themselves.
The acts of Abhimanyu of Mahabharat are also humbling. There is no way to underestimate the power of innocence.
(In response to Indispire #223)
(‘teach me to dream’ – my anthology of poems – will be available for free download from 01.06.2018 to 03.06.2018.)
April 10, 2018
jovial volunteers
(Third and concluding part of Landmark. Day 10 of BlogChatterA2Z)
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I was angry, upset, and frustrated.
“Maybe, as a last ditch effort, when the beggar is asleep I will cut the chain, take the desk, and throw it in the nearby lake. With the desk gone, the beggar will hesitate to stay in the footpath. Am I not being too harsh on a poor beggar? But, what will a beggar lose anyway. Even after the loss of the desk he will remain a beggar. Rather, with his desk gone he will seriously think of going to the Rehabilitation Center. But, will I be able to do it alone? I need a partner in crime. At least for moral support.”
Chandu was the obvious choice. I knew many of his secrets. He was the one who had once taken me to a whore house. I was unmarried and stayed alone in a small studio house two streets away. Chandu lived with his family in the same street.
I called him inside my shop and explained the plan. He listened to me patiently but was reluctant to join me. He tried to dissuade me.
“Seems, you have developed a soft corner for the beggar. By the way, did he finance your night adventure last time?” I chided. Then I added, “I was just kidding. Don’t mind. After our mission is over we will have a big bash. A complete night out starting from the Bar to your favourite bitch. All expenses taken care of.”
“No, no, no. I don’t need that. As a friend if I can’t help you this much, what are friends for. I was only worried that the plan might misfire,” said Chandu. “Now, listen carefully. We will execute the plan between three and five because that is the time people slept the soundest.
Happy that my strategy to make Chandu help in my mission had succeeded, I prepared to pull down the shutters humming the tune of a happy man. Chandu usually followed the opening hours of the Bar nearby and closed his shop one hour after I downed my shutters. That day he shut his shop one hour earlier and came to join me on my walk back home so that we could work out the details of the plan on the way.
My studio house was on the second floor of a cluster of old houses with a big court yard. After dinner I set my alarm to three. That night sleep eluded me. By the time the alarm rang I was already awake to put it off.
I waited for Chandu to show up. I paced out of my room onto the balcony that overlooked the street and came back. I lost count of the number of times I paced out and in. It was four but, there was no sign of Chandu. There was no way to confirm. Those were the days when cell phones were not conceived of. I did not know where exactly he stayed. Even though he came to my house so often, he always avoided when I expressed my interest to go to his house.
“That … has ditched me”. I cursed myself for depending on such a fellow. “Let me not waste time waiting for that ….. .”
Covering myself with a big black shawl I started out on my mission. Reaching the place, I was surprised and jubilant to see that the beggar was missing from his post. He must have gone near the lake for his morning rituals, I thought. Still I looked around to see if the beggar or anybody was around. The light bulb attached to electric pole had fused off a few days back. On such a damp and cold night it was unlikely that even a casual visitor would be found on the streets. The policemen and the chowkidars on the errand must be dozing somewhere, I thought . All in all, the signs were favourble. I soared in joy when I did not find much difficulty in cutting the chain to free the desk.
But, the desk was heavier than I had expected. So, at the street corner I put it down to take a break. It was then that I saw or imagined seeing someone coming from a distance. After two more shops there was a staircase. I moved there quickly to hide.
Hiding myself behind the staircase as I palpitated, a million possibilities flashed through my mind. How come I had forgotten that for any damage to the beggar or his property, I would be the first suspect. When I remembered that the beggar was a leader and well connected, I had a scary vision. A crowd of beggars had gathered in front of my shop shouting slogans, Sameer hai hai and demanding my arrest. Next, I was being carried in a police van. I was so engrossed in this scary vision, I did not realize I was perspiring even though it was such a cold night.
What was I to do now? I came out of my hiding and peeped out to look around the street. Actually there was no one around. Without hesitation I lifted the desk, ran back to where it was, put it down and hurried back home.
Next day I opened the shop as usual and acted as if nothing had happened. Chandu also came as usual and acted as if nothing had happened. The beggar sat as usual in his yogic posture. Now, binding his desk to the electric pole was a brand new chain.
Chandu came after lunch time inside my shop, apology writ large oh his face. Before he said anything I dismissed him saying I had some urgent accounting job to do.
After this failed attempt, when I accepted that it was beyond human capacity to rehabilitate or evict him, a great sense of relief dawned on me. Since then both of us continued to have a peaceful coexistence. As a friendly gesture, sometimes, I would be his first donor of the day. But the beggar did not evince any thankfulness and continued to show his indignation if I dropped the offering without due reverence.
The assistant came in the evening again. “Is the manager too much upset?”, I asked.
He looked at me but did not answer my question. “You know Sir”, I continued, “I am not so serious about the loan”.
“But we are. By the way I came here to buy a packet of condoms.” After pocketing a packet of condoms and giving a contemptuous look at the beggar, he left.
At ten ‘O’ clock in the night when I was going to close the shop, I noticed a small police van followed by a large white van pulling in. Big bold beautiful pink alphabets, that read ‘Rehabilitation Anonymous Bangalore” adorned the sides of the white van.
The policemen did not get down. But two volunteers, who looked more like bouncers of a night club, got down from the van. They came to the beggar and one of them said in an authoritative voice, “Come with us. Be quick.”
The beggar looked perplexed. One of the volunteers asked politely to open the lock and unchain the desk. He sensed the veiled threat and obliged. The volunteer carried the desk and the begging bowl inside the van. He had no option but to follow.
He was about to board the van with hesitant steps when a man sitting inside said in a loud jovial voice, “Oye Sir, you don’t worry. We are here to uplift people”. The volunteers lifted him up and got him seated inside. Carrying the landmark, the white van sped away out of sight.
(Concluded)
