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Electioneered Travels - Orissa, Patna, Gujarat, Haridwar

Photos courtesy Pranay Parab

ORISSA (Kandhamal District) –


In the early mid-portion of April, we set out to discover Elections. What we did discover was poverty. Such is the piteous situation here in Orissa’s remote areas. The poorer villages of Kandhamal hide in their lucid squalor, people having surrendered to fate. Elections mean only one thing – a choice of their scavengers, since they have lost faith in their leaders. As they put it, “the leaders come, smile, ask for votes. Usually they come with bottles of alcohol and promises both fantastic and fake”.

The tribal locals are innocent folk, easily led, simple and for that reason, exploited and deceived. There are copious funds being provided for them, but such is the system that the money reaches all except the ones it is sent for, the ones who really need it. Poverty is so rampant here that people are reduced to eat dried Mohua (a plant used to prepare local liquor) seeds and fruits. Many die of food poisoning. Here, even the cattle seem bare-boned and people are bound to nature – depending on rain for the crops.

And yet, what does all this have to do with elections, one might ask? The rains, the conditions of the animals are all independent factors. But the funds that come for the people – for better roads, electricity, irrigation facilities (unseen in that are, mostly) and so on – all the funds dry out along the way.

I tried to analyze the violence that shook the entire country – the Hindu-Christian violence in Kandhamal – and discovered that the murder of the Swami was just an excuse. The real reason lay in the poverty and conversion. Here, the Christian missionaries convert people by deceiving them in to taking medicinal pills in the name of God and offer facilities so as to convert the people into the fold. Once converted, the truth comes out, that tribal people who are now Christians are now not entitled to any of the reservations that are meant for them as SC/ST. Yet the converted ones use their old certificates to get the job and this caused discontent. Here I must say that I do not blame the converted, for tribals are, as I said, simple folk. But I do blame the missionaries who fool these folk for their own ends.

Secondly, the murder of the Swamiji here. I went to his Ashram and witnessed education in progress – the Swami was running a school for the tribal children. And so far as his murder is concerned, I will echo the words of a friend of mine, “whatever the case, killing of an 80 year old man was wrong and I think the murderers themselves should be ashamed of such a deed”. No more shall I say about this.

Lastly, I will come to the good things here. People are warm and kind-hearted, even though their manners may be slightly coarse at times. They do not understand the deep complexities and most people in the inner reaches (like the Chakapad village) are illiterate. If only for this reason, I like the education setup created by the Swamiji. And I hope that the region gets a genuinely good leader. At the end of the day, it needs it. And deserves it.




BIHAR (Supaul, Madhepura, Kusaha Dam) –

Bihar is my vibrant home away from home. I have always regarded this particular state with undeniable fascination. The people here are in equal measure trustworthy, almost ferocious upstarts and love to chatter about politics especially. Not just this, the sheer brilliance of the people makes it a place fascinating to be in, if you can get along with them.

Well, to get on with it. Poverty here is so deep an issue that it has scorched itself into the skin of the people. Or perhaps it would be more accurate if I said it has been gulped down the throats of the people. I refer, of course, to the floods that devastated Bihar sometime back. I mean, the floods occurred sometime back. And as my grandfather said, in the face of a natural disaster there are certain steps that have to be followed – first rescue and relief, then temporary rehabilitation, then rebuilding and finally rehabilitation in which people basically get their new homes and begin life anew. And while this is in progress, the government also has to ensure that the dam does not break again and the areas are planned to respond adequately in case the disaster occurs again.

What struck me as interesting was that the dam is being strengthened but only where it broke. Although I hope otherwise, methinks the dam shalt break again quenching the blood-thirst of wild Kosi. Secondly, I realized that there has been no rebuilding. People are still living in their temporary residences with poor facilities. There is water crisis, food crisis and mainly – job crisis. Because Kosi left the land barren. So again our greatly responsible government leaders look at each other with sidelong glances and say, ‘time out, please’. In any case, I only wish the government’s glance to fall gently on the people and to work for their needs. The NGOs have done their bit, so why not let the government take up the mantle as is its duty?

The dam, the damned dam, the Kosi disaster. All of it was like a nightmare. A few days’ worth of headlines and the dam was gone. But one cannot deny that the media were wrong. They called Kosi a natural disaster. It is not. Kosi was a man-made disaster. The Nepali government turned the direction of Kosi and the ancient dam was not repaired since a huge amount of time. The engineers there warned the people when water had come, but no-one imagined the possible magnitude of the flood. All that I can say is that it was a plethora of irresponsibility on the part of many, and the only ones that died where the ones innocent of the blame.

Finally, I would like to raise my hand in salute to the courage of the people and their optimism. Just like there are tales of corruption and decadency in my Bihar, there are many unsung tales of bravery, of selfless service, of dedication and most importantly, of humanity. Many lives were saved by these people (UNICEF, NGOs and other people) and they deserve respect that few politicians could claim to. Jai Hind.



GUJARAT


A rich land with rich people. And people rich not just in their pockets, but in their hearts that gently welcomed us to explore their land, to understand their territory and to fall in love with their great leader Modi. In any case, this portion of my trip was unlike any other. We had better fixed plans and great Gujarati food (Maharaja, thank you for that) and the entire trip was more of a meeting-people kind of trip than a survey of erstwhile disaster or even a plain glorification of the land of Gujarat, which has really progressed in terms of water supply, industries, electricity and other factors.


In this trip I realized many things and among them was the rising presence of youth in politics and the many dedicated people amongst them. Arguably the smoothest part of the trip yet, the only bother (if any) was the problem of heat. And what I loved about Anand (AMUL’s products are manufactured here. Btw Amul = Anand Milk-Producers Union Limited) is the fact that people seem genuinely fond of trees.


And yet, in the shade of Godhra’s events, it is really hard to reconcile myself about the events that occurred and it is equally hard to imagine the knives and swords in the hands of many people. So I do hope that someday the entire state will be thoroughly studied and people would love peace, rekindling Gandhiji as a true leader and not just a dust coated statue.

HARIDWAR

Haridwar, the city of holy men (and women, though they are rarer) was the last stop in our project. After almost a month of wanderings, we were looking for the perfect finish. Perhaps we found it. I know that the word ‘perhaps’ is the most exasperating one in my vocabulary, but it has to apply when you look at each edge of the complex structures.

In Haridwar, we went around looking for the Swami, the Sanyasi who was, incredibly, standing for the elections. The incredible thing about it is simply that any holy man (Hindu, as in) practices Tyaag. He attempts to slowly go beyond materialism and to detach himself from love, hate and greed. A Swami we met articulated his thoughts in the simple words, “how can it be correct for a Sadhu/Sant to enter politics when it is almost completely about love and hate (not to mention greed)”. And yet, my derision wavered when I talked to the Sadhu and he told me his desire was to eliminate corruption and such impurities from Politics and to serve the people with more tangible power.

I do not know whether to believe him or to turn a scornful face and put him in line with other politicians who are also quite vocal about their genuine intentions to help people and have assets (declared only) around a couple of crores. Perhaps I am too suspicious. But I fear that his intention, however noble, could well worm its way to the other side of the coin (polluting religion) than what he wishes (religion purifying politics). And yet, I hope that he is genuine, if only for the challenges he has put himself against.

The action of putting the Swami there was a cunning political move from BJP, and yet it could be good for the country too, depending on how it all finally turns out. But going beyond this obvious ‘both sides of the coin principle’, it suffices to say that religion and politics should not be mixed. If the Swamiji wishes to stand for elections he is welcome to do so but not as a representative of religion but rather as a common man just like another. Because by his choice he puts a lot at stake and if he wins this election, next election we’ll probably see another Swami contesting against him, standing from Congress.

North East Trip April 2007

6 April(Guwahati)

Today was a start. A perfect and immaculate start . In fact, the roots to today reach right back to yesterday, when I came to Delhi (from Bhopal) and went to see the movie 300 (about 300 Spartans who fought a million soldiers of Asia led by a Persian king) and slept for around 3 hours for an early flight to Guwahati .

So, to come back to today’s events. From the flight, I watched the blissfully contorted clouds of thick layers, caught in the golden glow of dawn, and bright, vivacious colours rendered by approaching daylight. As we began the slow descent, I noticed green fields, green mountains and a long, straight road. A perfect landing completed the glorious flight, and we went through a crowded, comfortable and curvy path to our hotel.

As we left (around 11) for the Kaziranga national park, I couldn’t but gape at the indefinable shades of green. A drizzle had commenced right before our arrival, and the entire world seemed to shimmer. The plants seemed to sway as a beautiful dancer carousing in the joy of eternal life, the green leaves lovingly wound by the coils of rain.
We went through the entire route smiling, our heads nodding, whether due to sleep or ‘the Doors’, I don’t know. Anyways, we halted at a place to have coconut water, and it was sweet beyond delight.

After we had entered the park, we saw a couple of people fallen from a bike, one almost unhurt and the other a bit, well, damaged. But his helmet had saved him from a certain and painful end. Anyways, let’s move on to pleasanter things. As we moved on, we saw a couple of elephants in the distance. We saw a couple more later, with their cute offspring shaking his butt and cuddling to his mother. Further on, we saw 5 or 6 rhinos in their totally natural habitat. Since we were far apart (the binoculars do help!), they didn’t even know of us, and frolicked like little kids. It was fun to watch. And then we came to this resort.

More to come, but this is all for this day.

Thank you, please stay with me.


7 April (Kaziranga)
9:15 AM

Good morning.
We have just set off for Bomdilla, passing through Tejpur. Hold on, I haven’t mentioned where we have set off from, have I? So here goes.

Today we woke around 4:30 (Getting to be a habit!) and went to Kaziranga.
When we were inside and about to walk for the elephant ride site, it started raining. Rain is a terrible thing for such a trip, you know. Anyways we got on to a female elephant, her son excitedly bounding ahead and whisking his tail, and took umbrellas with us. Then we went on a plain with short grass and surprised deer grazing and cuddling their offspring. As we bumbled on, we saw a couple of rhinos staring at us distastefully, and then warily. The grass was wild and taller, so the rhinos scuttled to hide. And so we penetrated deeper and deeper, watching the young pachyderms eat and the old ones, well, crap, the grass became taller, and could easily have concealed the elephants. We saw some colourful birds, and a deep brown, strange variety of deer.
Pretty soon, we saw wild boars, just like those described by Obelix, and grazing away to glory. Some deer had hurriedly gone out of our path, so we saw a very young buck gazing out at us mournfully. Then we moved on, and returned to ‘civilization’, but with the everlasting memories of the wild, of strange smells and sounds, and exotic birds trilling in the shadows.

05: 55 PM
Good Evening now.
We are here in Bomdilla, a small town set in the mountainside. We have left Assam and now entered Arunachal Pradesh. As we entered this area, I noticed subtle, then obvious changes. The plains gave way to mountains; the green scenery was multiplied, and seemed to touch the sky. These hills were totally covered by tall, handsome trees, young and bright, and gnarled and wise. At the other parts, there was moss, lichen, shrubs and grubs. And the beautiful clouds seemed to adorn the entire mountain-tops. I mean, instead of seeing lofty snow-capped mountains, we saw tall but not so high cloud covered mountain tops. In fact, the 5 km climb to reach Bomdilla was so totally beautiful and dangerous, and this was because the clouds were right on and around the road.
Anyways, this is all for today. Tomorrow, we go to Tawang monastery, the second highest monastery in Asia (first is somewhere in Tibet).

Bye for now.


8 April (Bomdila, route to Tawang)

11:15 AM

I am on the road to Tawang monastery. We woke around 6 and left Bomdila around 7:15. The clouds were bang in front of our noses, and we couldn’t see a couple of metres ahead (despite fog lights) and had to go cautiously. After we exited the cloud zone, we stopped to have some breakfast (Maggie n coffee) n went down to a stream. Then we began to regain altitude as we climbed. Ram mama took the wheels from driver bhaiya and we went on. After some time, I noticed that the road had become broken and village-like. I pointed this to mama, and we realized that we’d come up the wrong path! Anyways, we descended pretty fast (considering how high we already were it took us 45 minutes only!) and are now on the right path at last. We are re-entering foggy land, so bye.

6:43 PM

We are in Tawang. There is no power here, so this laptop battery is being consumed. Anyways, we have reached this place and are comfortably sitting on the bed. As I told earlier, we were en route to Tawang. After a couple of hours, we ascended to snow covered areas, where small lumps of snow found their way between trees. And soon we reached heights where everything became white, from the mountain in one side to the cloud/mist hidden vale on the other side. And then we reached the Sela pass, a cool 13700 feet high pass. And we again descended into greenery, with those colourful plants hobnobbing and we saw Yaks (locally called ‘Mithun’) tottering here and there. Nothing new to report apart from that, except that we saw the memorial of a brave rifleman (name Jaswant). See ya, then.


9 April 2007 (Tawang)

9 April 2007
3:05 PM


We are in Tawang. Yesterday, the situation was totally bad. We didn’t have a place to stay on 9th, the chances of going to the Chinese border seemed pretty remote, and the cold response at the ITBP guest house made us wish to end this trip.

But Mama called some contact of his, and we are in a comfortable circuit house, with an early morning trip to the Border fixed. And we are also likely to go to a military celebration (organized for us!) called ‘light and sound’ around 6. Anyways, today we went to the army HQ to get our border trip fixed, and after settling in at this circuit house, we went downtown to get gifts for family and friends. It began to rain, and mama got totally wet and unhappy (not to mention tired, because the circuit house is on top of the hill). This is it for today. I will describe the border and future plans tomorrow. Bye.



10 April (Return Trip)

10 April 2007
10:10 PM

We are presently in Tezpur, and pretty much happy. Happy? Well, as happy as one could be after discovering that a hell lot of snowfall had jacked our China border plans, and that we escaped deadly dangers of a snow filled wilderness. Need an explanation? Well, this is what happened.

Yesterday, a drizzle began. Soon, it was a wild downpour. Anyhow, we went to the army HQ, only to discover that the L & S was open-air, and there was no chance in the torrent. Soon, we returned to the circuit house and mama went to sleep. But the rain was pouring incessantly, beating at our windows and roaring in its fury! Of course, around the Chinese border and the Sela pass areas, rainfall was replaced by snowfall. So at 6 in the morning, we were notified that we couldn’t go to the Chinese border. So, we set off on the return trip and from 6:30 am to 8: something (pm), we traversed the return path. God! This was one of the most adventurous things of the entire trip.

For a start, we passed Tawang and its closer distances at a good pace. Then mama took the wheels. This was a good idea. For one, he drove excellently; i.e. at a good pace and fully securely. Also, as we came to the base of the mountain of the Sela pass, we observed a beautiful and breathtaking vale. And the mountain was totally covered in snow. It was paradise, though maybe not for the driver. But mama drove with awesome skill and precision, and on the entire uphill climb we did not have any serious skids or worry. It was deadly dangerous, though. We couldn’t go fast, for fear of plunging headlong into the void, and whenever brakes were applied or we moved on snow, the Scorpio skidded dangerously. So we were forced to go in the first gear up to the pass. After we reached the pass, mama felt tired and handed the wheels to driver bhaiya, who immediately went off-road and skidded badly, making us fear that we’d topple over the edge. A sympathetic local saw our plight and helped our vehicle out of the snow where it had gotten stuck. We begged him to get us down as far as any safe point, which he did, then set off with his friend. But enough description of the danger, I must tell you of the beauty which our eyes cherished. In fact, see through my eyes now!

As we came to the mountain’s base, I saw fir trees, capped with snow to my right. Eyes turn, and the dark green (though it was hard to tell their colour, covered as they were) shrubs decorate the mountain’s side. Straight on, the snow is on both sides of the road. In fact, only two patches are free, those for the wheels. We reach higher. The snow is pure white, on the left side of the road. If the sun would shine, we would not be able to bear the flaring light that would emanate from the entire mountain. But we persistently move on. The road is more dangerous now. Snow has finally reached onto those two free patches, and the vehicle has a hard time keeping steady. Luckily we pass a road clearing vehicle. But, DAMN! While overtaking, the brakes did not work (thanks to snow), and we grazed against a protruding part of the stupid thing. Still, not that much damage. In fact, we were lucky. We do not stop, do not apply brakes. Our speed is mild, but efficient. Look, there it is! The famous, beautiful, deadly pass!
When we saw this first time, it wasn’t dangerous by even a fraction. Now, one small, no, tiny mistake could finish this glorious trip forever. The last adventure, the unknown mystery would be unveiled at last! But no, our time has not come yet, and since the driver could not handle it, a local person came as an angel in disguise (some disguise!) and saved us from what was probably a destined end, a grand finale. And we are free now. Again I saw those beautiful hills, dressed in bright green, and we left the wild, bare hills whose beauty resonates wild in our consciousness, and through the sub-conscious.