TASLIMA

Split: A Life by Taslima Nasrin; Published by  Penguin Random House; Pages 496 ; Price Rs.599.

                                                                                                          ***********************************************************                                       Taslima Nasrin has become a world famous personality  and symbol because of the repression to which she has been subjected in her native land-Bangla Desh and elsewhere.

                 “Dwikhanditho (split into two),” is the original Bengali version of Nazrin’s “Split”, which was banned by the West Bengal government in 2003 for being incendiary. A High Court order in 2005 overturned that ruling, but by then Nasrin, who had already had to flee Bangladesh in 1994, had been pushed out of Kolkata too.

Somewhere in the middle of this book,--Page 53- comes a blank page with a small paragraph which resembles an epitaph on a large tombstone. “Note,” it says: “Despite the injunction being revoked, persistent concerns over renewed communal tensions have forced the author to excise the section from further Bengali publications and leave a blank page in its stead.”

That blank page and note  tells  as much of Nasrin’s life as this book under review which is only one of her seven volumes of  memoirs. The book runs through much of her years ---growing up in Mymensingh and then moving to Dhaka to practise medicine. It reveals  many of the loves of her life, but also her betrayal at the hands of her father, who beat her mercilessly on the basis of an article written about her, her alcoholic and abusive second husband, whom she marries on a whim, to the larger world outside that hounded her out of her home, or remained silent instead of moving to protect her.

 The book --- originally banned in West Bengal because of accusations that certain sections might incite communal tensions — sums up the history of the author as well as her evolution from a poet to a public intellectual, covering her work as a novelist, an essayist, a staunch feminist and an activist for freedom of thought and expression. The book  asserts the power of the printed word and the reaction it triggers in those who fear the word.

There are some quirks in the telling of the story. Anecdotes about people appear out of nowhere, without a proper introduction of  characters .  Nasrin’s lovers are nameless and become  initials, R, MM, NM etc., which confuses the reader. The book gives no dates of events.

“Anger” is the dominating element of the tale. Nasrin’s anger over the treatment of women and minorities, at erroneous portrayals by the media, at political compromises of leaders. Her raw anger, that barrels out of her run-on sentences, justifying a description of her — of an “angry young woman pitted against a lot of angry old men.”

Nasrin had been compelled  to get out of  Kolkata, a city she considered her second home after Dhaka, which she had left in 1994. She can return to neither city. Kolkata was not the first time she faced defamation, humiliation and ban—even physical harassment—because of her writings. After Salman Rushdie, Nasrin made Bangladesh join the list of countries in the subcontinent that bowed down to religious fundamentalists at the cost of their artists. She has been in self-exile from her country since she was 32 years old due to a death threat (fatwa) allegedly prompted by her life, feminist writings in newspapers, stand on sexual freedom for women, the novel Lajja (Shame), and events in Bangladesh following the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. Since then, Nasrin has lived sporadically in India and Europe for 24 years, and has a home in Delhi under a renewable temporary residence permit.

One is shocked at the horrible treatment Nasrin was subjected to by almost all the men who were important in her life. This happened to her although she was well-read, a practising physician, and a poet, acclaimed for her brave, fresh voice, secular values, and championing of the poor and minorities. Through her years of growing up in Mymensingh, work and personal life in Dhaka, and the trials and tribulations that followed, she depicts how she tried to live a honest and true life, not as a woman but as a human, advocating for women and not against anyone, which still meant going against religion and society.

 As a person, a poet and a writer, Nasrin is noted for  challenging the established order. She has challenged  cultural and social mores and expanded the space where women’s sexuality can be freely explored, in words, through memory in the form of poetry or prose. 

 The politics of language – the Mother Tongue — brought Bangladesh into being. Its intellectuals, poets and singers have had extraordinary impact in shaping the course of the 45-year-old country since its sense of being a nation emerged long before 1971, through the language movement (Bhasha Andolan) of 1952, the martyrs of Ekushe February (February 21) and the war of liberation.

When Nasrin asks: “Do nations need a religion?” and provides the answer, “It is the people who need it. The nation is not one individual; it is a guarantor of safety for people of all religious and ethnic identities,” she is speaking a truth on power and on behalf of every person who has feared or died or has been assaulted by the self-appointed defenders of faith — Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist or Christian.

By calling religion “a fatal virus that had been dispersed in the air” in the context of the intensifying political confrontations in Bangladesh just before President Ershad’s ouster in 1990, Nasrin is speaking for every country where politics has been communalised to serve the narrow ends of political ambition.

Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya welcomed the ban  of the book by the Calcutta High Court as he accepted that progressive and liberal West Bengal could erupt in communal discord over the book.

 The combination of politics and religion, of politics and hate, of politics and culture has transformed the Indian landscape into a battleground where one side gets to call the shots and the other side cowers in fear. It has claimed victims among public intellectuals of extraordinary courage and wide impact, like Gauri Lankesh,  Narendra Dhabolkar and Govind Pansare all of whom challenged the emerging political-religious dogma of the RSS-led Sangh Parivar. They and the  Bangladeshi bloggers Avijit Roy, Rezaul Karim Siddiquee, Niloy Chatterjee, Ahmed Rajib Haider, Ananta Bijoy Das and many others testify to the power of the word to challenge and undermine Nazrin’s beliefs.

The book is an important record of the fate of those who dare to walk the road of truth, the rebels and the revolutionaries who try to change society and right historical wrongs! Through her writing, Nasrin says, “I tried to reaffirm that a woman’s body and her heart were her own and not someone else’s property to treat as they pleased.”

 We have not heard of another Bangladeshi female voice like Nasrin’s. Nor, for that matter, in India. It is, therefore, essential that this voice is not tamed.

 Apart from the personal anecdotes, the scathing commentary on the social and political structure is thought-provoking and attempts to ask questions that may incite anger and fury for those who may not be able to view it for what it is – a reflection of the world we live in.

                                     

P.P.Ramachandran.

9/9/2018. 

P N HAKSAR

Intertwined Lives-   P N Haksar and Indira Gandhi by Jairam Ramesh ; Published by Simon and Schuster; Pages 518;   Price Rs.799/-

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Jairam Ramesh is a Congress MP and author of six books—one on Indira Gandhi as a Nature Lover and Conservationalist. His  latest book brings alive the lives and times of a man who spent his life being invisible.  P.N.Haksar  was Indira Gandhi’s principal secretary and wielded   extraordinary   influence on both India and Indira. He drafted her speeches, helped in appointments, wrote lengthy notes and steered the course of Indian foreign policy. He was outspoken but listened to by the P.M.

The book under review  chronicles the remarkable life of Haksar from being on the watchlist of the British agencies to helping create India’s own spy agency, RAW, with his Kashmiri comrade R.N. Kao. He bore witness to India’s  history and made it in some measure   being Indira’s  voice .

This is  the first full-length biography of  India’s most  powerful civil servant during the Indira .

This is a work of great scholarship born out of thorough research and the copious footnotes are a proof. Haksar was Indira’s “alter ego” during her period of glory. He  was unarguably India’s most influential and powerful civil servant.

Haksar was  handpicked by Indira  in 1967 as the secretary in her Secretariat. It was a position  of enormous significance which  reshaped modern India at several levels. It revealed the role of a  bureaucrat as a center of  power, altered  the contour  of the PMO and resulted in many  far-reaching decisions that affected  Indian politics. From 1967 to 1977, Haksar advised  the prime minister on several issues that led to fundamental changes -- the nationalisation of banks, abolition of privy purses and princely privileges, the Indo-Soviet Treaty, the 1971 war and creation of Bangladesh, rapprochement with Sheikh Abdullah, the Simla and New Delhi Agreements with Pakistan, India’s first Pokhran tests and later, the integration of Sikkim with India. Drawing on extensive official records and private papers, Ramesh has ploughed through tonnes of   office documents and private archives and produced an eminently readable account that ought to command the attention of all Indians interested   in Indian politics or economics.

 Haksar was a  “a remarkable man who worked for a remarkable woman.Those in power must have people around them who speak truth to power. Indira Gandhi gave Haksar the freedom to tell the truth to her,” according to Ramesh. He has also provided  never-before-seen photographs and extracts from , archives, official papers, memos, notes and letters.

Gandhi and Haksar’s relationship was more than just a professional relationship. They were friends first, having stayed together with Feroze Gandhi in London in 1938 and then Gandhi brought him to her Secretariat to bring professional competence. Ramesh describes Haksar as the ideological beacon and moral compass of Indira Gandhi.

 However powerful he was Haksar was reduced to a voice and had no role to play during the Emergency in 1975 or Operation Blue Star in 1984. “Haksar was fully opposed to the Emergency, his house was raided and his wife was almost arrested. He was the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission back then. In a note from the time, he has written, ‘I kept looking at the Prime Minister, but she avoided my gaze’,” said Ramesh.

 Haksar , according to Ramesh was the “most unusual Indian who had not only a remarkable capacity to think but also was afforded an unusual opportunity to act.” Haksar opposed Sanjay Gandhi’s move to manufacture small cars. Jairam Ramesh writes of December 1, 1968 when Sanjay Gandhi applied to the Ministry of Industrial Development for a letter of intent to manufacture a small car.

“Haksar had voiced his strong objection to the PM about her son dabbling in such a venture… and to Sanjay Gandhi staying at the PM’s residence and carrying out his business activities from there… His objections were fundamental. He was against diversion of scarce resources to manufacture cars and was for expansion of the scooter manufacturing capacities in public sector instead.”

 “He made his views known to the PM. An uneasy truce prevailed. That was to end on September 30, 1970 when Sanjay Gandhi was finally given the letter of intent to manufacture 50,000 small cars every year without foreign collaboration and without imported raw materials. My reckoning is that this was the beginning of Haksar’s estrangement with Indira Gandhi. The final break would happen 27 months later,” Ramesh writes.

 During the Khalistan Movement in Punjab in 1984, Haksar had advised Gandhi to “solve the problem through political process”. He wrote her a long note on the issue, but was unaware of Gandhi’s military plans on the Golden Temple.

 Haksar  “invented” the formula in 1987 that India and China could cooperate in other areas even as they addressed their differences on the boundary question. He was sent to China as special envoy by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1987, said he spent 10 days persuading the Chinese to accept his formula that, despite differences on the boundary question, the two countries should “endeavor to reconstruct the totality of Sino-Indian relations in the field of trade, industry, technology…”

Ramesh writes that what Haksar mentioned in July 1972 happened more than a decade later when Rajiv met Deng Xiapoing in 1988 in Beijing.

“Credit is given to Deng Xiaoping for being pragmatic and creating an opening. In reality, this is exactly what Haksar had been advocating for years — keep the border issues aside and start cooperating in other areas,”

 Twenty years after Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to Beijing, the two countries are still engaged in addressing their border dispute but trade and contacts between the two countries have multiplied manifold since 1988.

 Haksar contributed to almost all the speeches Gandhi delivered from the day she became PM on January 24, 1966 to the day she was assassinated on October 31, 1984.

 The author writes of Haksar as a man of pragmatism who guided Indira Gandhi to play safe when Soviet Russia first gave military equipment to Pakistan in 1968; a man of great socialist credentials who nudged her to nationalise banks in 1969 and abolish privy purses in 1970; a bureaucrat who had, by 1970, convinced her that India must go nuclear; and also a close friend who served as a guide to the PM’s sons, Rajiv and Sanjay, when they were studying abroad while Haksar served as the deputy high commissioner of India to the UK.

Jairam admirably sums up Haksar—“This was the life and times  of a most unusual Indian who  had not only a remarkable capacity to think but also was afforded an unusual opportunity to act. On rare occasions in  history a person finds his right niche  at the right moment. Haksar found his at an extremely critical period in India’s recent history. He held public offices with unparalleled distinction and set standards in public and personal life which few can imitate and fewer still improve upon.”

This book is a valuable contribution to post-Independence   history of India.

P.P.Ramachandran

19/8/2018.

PAVAN VARMA 

Adi Shankaracharya: Hinduism’s Greatest Thinker by  Pavan K. Varma; Published by  Tranquebar; Pages 364 ; Price Rs.699/-    

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  Shankaracharya and his works are not simple by any standard. Pavan Varma simplifies it in a manner that most people would be able to understand and appreciate Shankaracharya and his Advaita philosophy. The book is an introduction that would arouse your curiosity.

 Pavan Varma travels to all the places associated with  Shankaracharya – commencing with the birthplace – Kaladi in Kerala. Then to Omkareshwar where young Shankara came to his guru and lived in a cave. This is followed by  the four Shakti Peethas that he had set up and Kashi, and Kanchipuram. You get a sense of travels done by Shankara as he would have travelled on foot, debating with people, teaching people and binding them with the thought of Advaita. At Kashi, the author gets a glimpse of what a  debate during Shankara’s time might have looked like.

When the subject turns  controversial like the Date of Birth of Adi Shankaracharya --that his lineage claims to be 5th BCE while others claim 8th CE, Varma is astute and gives you  the sources and  you have to determine. Or, when there are several claims like the famous debate with Mandan Mishra. 

Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya (788–820 CE) was born in Kaladi in Kerala and, after travelling the length and breadth of India three times in his spiritual journeys, died in Kedarnath at the young age of 32. His travels took him from the southernmost tip of the country to Kashmir in the north, Gujarat in the west and Odisha in the east, debating spiritual scholars everywhere, preaching his beliefs, establishing ‘mathas’ to take his teaching forward.

He established the Advaita Vedanta School of Hindu philosophy, based on  the oldest Upanishads,--which is  the most influential of the diverse  schools of philosophy and theology that come under the umbrella of  Hinduism.  Shankara, in his brief life, not only  revived a declining  Hinduism, but also  established the organisational structure for its survival and regeneration, through the ‘mathas’ he established in Sringeri, Dwaraka, Puri and Joshimatha .

When Shankara wasa born, Hinduism had become stifled by its own inflexible practice of orthodoxy, ritualism and formality, and bending  before the  reform movements challenging it, notably those posed by   Mahavira Jaina  and  Gautama Buddha , whose followers branched out into new religions distinct from those practised by mainstream Hindus. The rival faiths flourished for many centuries, as Hinduism descended into esoteric disputes over Sankhya dualism and Charvaka materialism. It was then, in the late eighth century CE, that this youthful south Indian sage rose to heal and rejuvenate a divided religion.  Shankara’s Advaita  was the philosophical rejuvenator  during  that period  of confusion, integrating  many thoughts and Hindu practices into a philosophy based on the Vedic dictum of ‘One Truth, Many Expositions’.

 Pavan Varma has produced a comprehensively-researched  account of  Shankara’s life and philosophy. Shankara emphasised the importance of  methods of reasoning, tempered by  intuitive experience, which empower the seeker to gain the spiritual knowledge adumbrated by sacred texts. He focused on selected texts — the Bhagavad Gita, the Brahma Sutras and 10 of the 108 Upanishads as the key reference works of Hindu dharma, illuminating them through his bhashyas (commentaries). Reasoning was, to him, essential to clarify the truth, and Shankara was a famous debater of his time, winning  always through the power of his reasoning and the force of his arguments. His bhashyas are all written in prose with lucidity and sharpness, and employ the Upanishadic question-and-answer .

Shankara also wrote the Vivekachudamani, 581 verses spelling out the qualifications required in a student of Vedanta: to be able to distinguish  the real and the unreal; to attain a spirit of detachment from this world; to acquire  control over sensory perceptions; and to obtain an intense desire to achieve  self-realisation and moksha. The Vivekachudamani reviews the entire range of Hindu philosophical thought and argument, from the Upanishads to the Bhagavad Gita.

According to Shankara  Moksha (salvation or liberation, the realisation of the ultimate purpose of each individual) is achievable in the course of our present life.  

 Shankara argued that the Upanishadic insistence on the unity of being, a divinity available to everyone, the atma residing in everyone, and the idea that all human souls ultimately merge into the same Brahman, for instance, implies the equality of all souls and argues against caste discrimination. So does the Vedantic concept of the welfare of all human beings, irrespective of social or economic distinctions: ‘bahujanasukhayabahujanahitaya cha’.

 Adi Shankara declared that any human being, merely by virtue of their personhood could attain the Supreme Consciousness through a study of the scriptures, the Puranas and the epics, meditation , fasting  and worship . Caste has not been  mentioned by Shankaracharya.

 Varma travelled to many of the places associated with  Shankara and discussed his life and teachings with a variety of interlocutors before penning this portrait. He was also inspired by the Buddhist challenge; arguably, his ‘mathas’ were derived from the Buddhist concept of monasteries.

 Varma has  refused “to be a mute witness to the reduction of such a great religion (Hinduism) to its lowest common denominator by ignorant and illiterate people who think they are self anointed protector of Hinduism… I want to proudly say that I am a Hindu, but I want to say that for right reasons. I want those traditions to be respected — of inclusion, not exclusion; of assimilation, not hatred; of dialogue, not violence.”

 The book falls into three major sections. In the first part, the author undertakes an exposition of the fundamentals of Adi Shankara's philosophy of Advaita. It is a treatment that is consciously kind to the lay people, who are novices in understanding of the subject.

In the second part  the author  examines the interface between Advaita and modern science. His  approach is a far cry from the jingoistic and peremptory assertion  that all modern technological developments -from aviation to internet to plastic surgery — were current in ancient India. He treats the two — Adi Shankara's Advaita and cutting-edge modern science - as independent developments; both existing in a state of reciprocal illumination.  Spirituality and science are mutually complementary, not mutually exclusive. The two converge on the dizzy heights of man's quest for truth. This section of the book is valuable even as a crisp introduction to the history of ideas in modern science

The author draws the parallel between quantum physics or particle physics – the science of sub-atomic particles and the Advaita principles. Anyone who has studied Physics knows that at the sub-atomic level we are all waves and made of same material. Pavan Varma takes you across two different branches of science – astronomy and particle physics, the two ends of the spectrum that we have managed to measure. He takes you across scientists and their research and draws a parallel with what  Shankaracharya said. In the end, he wonders why no scientist or scientific organization has systematically studied the works of Adi Shankaracharya to get insights into his thoughts, his research, and his works.

 What is important is that while being a firm believer of Advaita, Adi Shankaracharya, he composed hymns for almost all Devi Devatas of Sanatan Dharma.

In the end, this book leaves you with immense curiosity. And an urge to read the works of Adi Shankaracharya.

"When religions are divorced from their philosophical moorings, they often reach their lowest common denominator," he says. "I see that happening around me and it's a tragedy. I did not want to remain a mute spectator to the devaluation of a great religion."

  He calls Shankara the greatest Hindu philosopher because of his profound impact, which came from accepting and unifying the practices of ordinary people and because he won so many debates and followers. "Few people have written such lyrical and attractive poetry on such complex existential themes," Varma says, noting that his 'Bhaja Govindam' is sung and recited and played in ordinary households even today. He created a non-dual bond between knowledge and beauty.

The book concludes with an  anthology  of Adi Shankara's works.

“Adi Shankaracharya” is a valuable addition to the contemporary literature on Hinduism, a tribute to its scientific and philosophic basis, and an affirmation that it is much more than today’s political ideologues depict.

Pavan Varma declares ,“Writing a book was voyage of discovery for me” -- Sans doubt it will be for the readers as well. A great introduction to  Hinduism’s  greatest  thinker .

P.P.Ramachandran.

15/9/2018.