Language and Politics in India

भाषा की राजनीति, राजनीति की भाषा                             मृणाल पाण्डे

 

खुद को भारत माता, मातृप्रदेश और मातृभाषा के जनूनी पूजक प्रचारित करते आये हमारे बडे नेताओं द्वारा अपने (बहुप्रतीक्षित एक्सक्लूज़िव) साक्षात्कारों के लिये नामी गिरामी अंग्रेज़ी चैनलों को चुनना आप सबको भी शायद मेरी ही तरह अजीब लगा होगा | इससे भी अधिक चौंकानेवाली बात यह, कि हर कहीं विनम्रता से अंग्रेज़ी में पूछे जा रहे सवालों के जवाब नेताओं ने ठंडी आक्रामक ठसक के साथ हिंदी में दिये | काय भैया, अगर आप लोगान कूँ दिल को खेंच कर हिंदी में ही अपने दिली जज़्बात का अक्स वगैरा दिखलाना था तो क्यों नहीं आप वेष्टी (लुंगी) सँभाल हिंदी चैनल पर उतरे? (लेखिका द्वारा दकनी हिंदी का यह प्रयोग शायद हिंदीपट्टी की राष्ट्रीयता को साबित करे) | आखिर भारत के कई सूबों, उनके कई तरह के संप्रदायों से उठनेवाली आवाज़ों ने ही तो मिल कर वह हिंदी बनाई है, जिसके फज़ल से, ऊपरवाला झूठ न बुलवाये , अपने हिंदी चैनलों से लेकर हिंदी फिल्मों तक की लोकप्रियता इनके अंग्रेज़ी संस्करणों से कई गुना अधिक है | इसलिये हिंदी की नाक को सीधे न पकड कर अंग्रेज़ी के द्रविड प्राणायाम से पकडने की यह राजनीति हम हिंदीवालों को कुछ हजम नहीं हुई |

यह सही है कि भारतीय भाषायें, खासकर हिंदी इस चुनावी समय में कई तरह की राष्ट्रीयताओं, भावनाओं की गर्मागर्म लपसी बन चली हैं | और मुख्यधारा ही नहीं सोशल मीडिया में भी उसे इस्तेमाल करनेवाले लोग लगातार उसके विभिन्न प्रकारों से कई तरह की पुरानी नस्ली लाग डाँट साध रहे हैं | यह सब हिंदी के समन्वयधर्मी मिजाज़ के खिलाफ है जो तमाम तरह की बोलियों भाषाओं को हमेशा से बहुत खुशी के साथ अपनी शब्द संपदा में शुमार करती रही है | राजनीति के कढाह में पकती नई भाषाई लपसी अहिंदीभाषी बापू अथवा काका कालेलकर सरीखों की मिली जुली हिंदी की सहज मिठास नहीं | अंग्रेज़ी की खिडकी से हिंदी के ताज़ा चुनावी इस्तेमाल के पीछे नेताओं द्वारा ग्लैमरस उच्चवर्ग तक अपना वज़न साबित करने की अदम्य कामना है | इसीसे उसमें अनचाहे एक कडवाहट घुल गई है, जो शायद साक्षात्कार दे रहे नेताओं के मन में व्याप्त, ‘तुम’ मूर्ख अंग्रेज़ीपरस्त अल्पसंख्यक बनाम (मातृभाषा के पुजारी, विमल बी ए पास नुमा) ‘हम’ बहुसंख्यकों के हिकारती विचार की उपज है | साक्षात्कार दे रहे इन नेताओं के जवाबों में हमको हिंदी पट्टी या अहिंदीभाषी क्षेत्र के आम जन से सहज संवाद की इच्छा नहीं दिखी | न ही उसमें दबंग जिरह करते हुए भी जेटली, रविशंकर, सिब्बल या प्रशांतभूषण सरीखे नेताओं की अंग्रेज़ी मीडियाकारों से लंबी पहचान का सामाजिक स्वीकार था | अंग्रेज़ी मीडिया तथा संवाददाताओं को लगातार जली कटी सुनाते हिंदी के इन नवदबंग राजनैतिक पहरुओं पर अंग्रेज़ी के सुविधासंपन्न चैनलों पर अपनी शर्तों पर आने और फिर राजनैतिक हिंदी का फरसा चलाने की क्षमता दिखाने की ज़िद हावी थी | मज़ा देखिये यही नेता विगत में हिंदीक्षेत्र के भैय्याओं को मराठी या गुजराती में कोस कर अपने इलाके की अवनति के लिये कोसते रहे हैं |

सच तो यह है कि भारत में मध्यकाल से लेकर आज तक जब कभी केंद्रीय राजनैतिक सत्ता टूटने लगी है, उस समय अंग्रेज़ी तथा तमाम भारतीय बोलियों भाषाओं को चुपचाप अपनी माला में पिरोती रही सहज हिंदी का साहित्य और मीडिया( जिसमें फिल्में भी शुमार हैं) राष्ट्रीय एकता का सर्वमान्य पुल बन कर खडा रहा है | गदर और गर्दिश के बीच पटियाले से पटना तक और काश्मीर से कन्याकुमारी तक दिलों को एक तरह से धडकते रखना राजनैतिक या मूढ रूढिवादी धार्मिक ताकतों के बस का काम नहीं था | इस काम का श्रेय हमारे संगीतकारों, लेखकों, कवियों और पत्रकारिता को है | आज हिंदी का राजनैतिक प्रयोग कर रहे नेताओं या उनसे चिपके हिंदी संस्थानों का दोष यह नहीं कि वे दरबारी हैं, बल्कि यह कि वे अधूरे हैं और रहेंगे | क्योंकि कानूनन हिंदी तबतक राजकाज से एकाकार नहीं हो सकती जबतक अहिंदीभाषी राज्य उसे संविधानप्रदत्त ओहदा देने पर एकमत नहीं होते | कानूनन स्वीकृत भारतीय भाषाई माध्यम के अभाव की ही वजह से अंग्रेज़ी ही आज भी कानून से लेकर प्रशासन , प्रबंधन, इंजीनियरी और तथा डाक्टरी की पढाई का अनिवार्य माध्यम है | क्षेत्रीयता के नाम पर अंग्रेज़ी या हिंदी को राजनीतिक भाषणों में शर्मसार करने वाले तमाम नेता खुद भी काम के वक्त उनको ही खोजते फिरते हैं | अभी हाल में हिंदी की एक प्रति्ठित कहानी पत्रिका के समाजवादी संपादक का निधन हुआ | उनकी इकलौती बेटी ने उनकी पत्रिका के एक ताज़ा अंक में अपने दिवंगत पिता को एक मार्मिक पत्र लिख पूछा है, आपने खुद अंग्रेज़ी का विरोध करने के बाद भी मुझे अंग्रेज़ी माध्यम स्कूल में पढने क्यों भेजा ? आपकी विरासत का बोझ उठाना मेरे लिये यह बात ने कितना दूभर बना देगी क्या यह आप नहीं देख पाये ?

अंग्रेज़ी पर गदा भाँजते नेताओं की दामी सूट ,स्कार्फ, हैट बूट पहने कई फोटुएं खिंचवा कर बँटवाई जा चुकी हैं | जिनके वंशधर हैं, वे उनको अंग्रेज़ी माध्यम स्कूलों तथा विदेशी कालेजों में ही भेजते हैं | तब वे लोग जिनको मीर ने मुंतखिब ए रोज़गार ( नौकरी की ताक लगाये) कहा था ही अपवाद मान कर क्यों कोसे जायें ? अगर अंग्रेज़ी को गाँधी की सलाह मान कर आज़ादी के साथ ही अस्वीकार कर दिया गया होता तो शायद यह दमघोंट झमेले न होते | पर वोट जुगाडने की ताकत की बतौर हिंदी का उठना, जबकि दिल्ली गिर रही है, उसे समन्वयवादी और विनम्र नहीं हेकडीबाज़ बना रहा है जो शुभलक्षण नहीं | उसके भाषणबाज़ राजनैतिक सरपरस्त हिंदी को अपने मिजाज़ में ढाल कर उसे अहिंदीभाषी भारत को और रुसवा करने की, क्षेत्रीयता के दायरों को और तंग बनाने की, या फिर निरंतर अलगाववादी सियापे करने की मुद्रा दे रहे हैं, जो आगे चल कर भाषा को क्षुद्रता

देगी |

उर्दू अंग्रेज़ी और फारसी को खारिज करना सिर्फ खुसरो मीर ज़ौक गालिब, को ही खारिज करना नहीं, उन तमाम और भाषाओं के ज्ञान को भी खारिज करना है जिसके बडे लेखक हमतक अंग्रेज़ी की मार्फत पहुँच रहे हैं | यह नकचढी अलगावभरी हिंदी तो बहुत करके नये नकचढे राज्याश्रयी लेखन और राजनैतिक परिवार से बीन कर भरे गये सदस्यों वाली अकादमियों की परंपरा को ही पुष्ट कर नये चाटुकार व दरबारी ही बनवा सकती है |

हल क्या है ? अभी इस सवाल का जवाब देना संभव नहीं | अलबत्ता हिंदी पर इतनी चर्चा से यह तो (उम्मीद है) साफ हो ही गया होगा कि भाषा कोई बनी बनाई या उधार पर ली गई चीज़ नहीं, एक गतिशील प्रक्रिया है | इसका कोई एक स्वरूप सब पर लागू करना असंभव है | खासकर सरकारों की हिंसात्मक उठापटक से भरी राजनीति की मार्फत | भाषा न तो राजनीति है, न धर्म | उसकी रचनात्मकता ,चिंता और उल्लास का केंद्र मनुष्य है- सीधी सादी ज़िंदगी जीनेवाला मनुष्य | जो घर के भीतर बाहर प्रेम और झगडे ,वीरता या कायरता , दल या नेता सब लिये दिये जीता है, फिर मोहभंग होने पर छटपटाता है ! अमेठी के कालजयी कवि जायसी चित्तौड दुर्ग के खंडहरों की तरफ इशारा कर सदियों पहले भाषा की यात्रा की कहानी हमें बता गये :

कोई न जगत जस बेचा, कोई न लीन जस मोल |

जो यह पढै कहानी, हम सँवरे दुई बोल ||   

 

 

 

Compassion, the most banned emotion

 

Looking at the visuals of political leaders talking inanities non stop , I have realized that the human emotion most frequently withheld is not sex, but compassion . To feel so deeply moved by the grief and suffering of other humans that in trying to ameliorate their pain , one has to letsgo of one’s own immediate interests and offers a frank apology for all misdeeds committed against humanity. Years ago I remember a village Jagariya ( a Dalit priest who calls out to lost spirits and alienated gods in a ritual of expiation for collective sins causing all kinds of unforetold disasters) in Uttarakhand opening the haunting ritual with a song of apology : Kariye Chhima mero Kariyo nee Kariyo , Kayiyo nee kayiyo parabhu !  (forgive the wrongs I may have committed and those I may no have, the hurt I may have caused by saying or by withholding words!) . Offerimng such an apology is impossible for our leaders today . Perhaps they feel that in making it they would be risking a loss of their vote banks and turn into a wandering saint with no known caste, political or Party affiliations .

Never mind what we may say about Indians being different from other ‘cruel’ races , the 2014 election reveal that in our daily lives we are no different . Our known electoral history is replete with examples where various sorts of  philosophical and societal taboos have held compassion firmly in check, so that members of various tribes , citizens of particular republics or followers of certain sects , may not lose sight of the worldly ties that create families , sectarian groups and , last but not the least ,  the Nation State . Naturally as the heat builds up during the elections and speeches become more and more shrill, the quality of Compassion will be the first casualty.

Thousands of years ago ,  Vaivaswat Manu created the Four castes in descending order of importance . He took care to draw a series of circles of compassion of diminishing intensity, around individuals . The circles ensured that one must love one’s parents most warmly ( Pitri Devo bhav! Matri Devo Bhav!), then one’s family and then others belonging to the caste and clan . After the formation of India’s democracy respect and loyalty for the nation State comes first we are told . ‘Pehley Desh, phir parivar ‘, thunders a popular leader . What of those that stand outside the pale of the System as minorities ? Silence .

As usual, women, those givers of life and frequent teachers of compassion, pose a problem . The various male lawgivers agree that as producers and nurturers of human beings women must be accorded the deepest respect , but under a law based largely on a  male epistemological stance, laws for marriage, inheritance and sexual relations, see to it that by and large women and transgenders are treated as second in importance to men . To protect self interest and the interests that form and guide the formation of families , clans , civilizations and the Nation State based on male centric laws, our present day political parties also create vast backlashes to ensure that compassion and self denial are not allowed to overwhelm the system . Atavistic loyalties to clan , caste , political party and region must be maintained under all regimes, when considering cases of women deprived of their domestic and democratic rights . Sectarian discipline and market structures help sustain this mindset .

It is the Mothers , the singing Jagariyas and the artists , those sad clowns of history with painted smiles , who maintain memories of the quality of mercy that raineth from heaven and underscore again and again, the need for compassion . Remember the Iranian mother who saved her son’s murderer by substituting revenge killing with a mother’s slap .

 

      

Elections 2014

इन चुनावों में                                                 मृणाल पाण्डे

 

प्रधानमंत्री के पूर्व सलाहकार संजय बारू की किताब ने इन दिनों कांग्रेस विरोधी खेमे को संप्रग सरकार की कार्यशैली की बाबत काफी बारूद मुहैया करा दिया है | मज़ा यह कि विवादास्पद तथ्यों में से कोई भी ऐसा नहीं जिसे प्रतिपक्ष ने पिछले सालों में संसद से सडक तक लगातार न उछाला हो | पहला मुद्दा यह कि मनमोहन सिंह दस जनपथ के हाथों में थमे रिमोट पर निर्भर थे | माना कि थे , पर यह बात हर कोई जानता है कि देश के दोनो बडे दलों में राजगद्दी पर कौन ? तय  कराने वाली शक्तिपीठ कोई और ही होती है | यह उनकी कमज़ोरी के साथ उनकी सबसे बडी ताकत भी है जिसने उनके शासनकाल को टिकाऊ बनाया है | मोरारजी, चंद्रशेखर या देवीलाल हर गैर कांग्रेसी युग में मोर्चा बनने के बाद जो भी प्रधानमंत्री पद की शपथ लेता था , उसके खिलाफ शिखा खोले रहे जब तक सरकार न बदलवा दी | टिकाऊ शासन शास्त्री जी ,नृसिंह राव अथवा अटल जी ने दिया जिनका चयन फर्क तरह से किया गया , यही उनके बीच सद्भावना की वजह भी रही | एक गोष्ठी में अटल जी को नृसिंह राव ने अपना गुरु कहा तो अटल जी ने उनको अपना भी गुरुघंटाल बता कर उनकी मित्रतापूर्ण खिंचाई की थी | शायद बारू को कांग्रेस के लिये अंदरूनी तौर से इस पद का (घोषित या अघोषित) उम्मीदवार चयन लगभग एक राज्यक्रांति लगता हो , पर ऐतिहासिक साक्ष्य् जो कहते हैं हम वही दुहरा रहे हैं | सच यह है कि तमाम वैचारिक विरोध के बावजूद दोनो दलों के लिये आज भी उनके दल का (असली) नेता या तो 10 जनपथ की पहली पसंद होता है या केशवकुंज की | और एक बार घोषणा हो गई तो वह जन प्रतिनिधि नहीं, एकछत्र सम्राट् की हैसियत पाता है | इसीलिये सत्ता को निकट देखने के बाद बुज़ुर्ग नेता वनवास पर नहीं जाते | और बडे दलों में उन  को हाशिये में ठेलकर उनकी जगह नई पीढी नेतृत्व का लाया जाना किसी भूकंप से कम नहीं लगता |

बारू की स्थापनायें चौंकाती नहीं आम धारणा को पुष्ट ही करती हैं , जैसे कभी बलराज मधोक के खुलासों ने (भाजपा नेतृत्व के प्रसंग में) किया था | दरअसल सीधी रायशुमारी से जिस समाज में शादी ब्याह तक नहीं तय होते वहाँ शीर्ष नेता का चुनाव ही मुहल्ला सभाओं की मार्फत कैसे हो ? ‘आप’, जिसकी राय में नेता राजा नहीं और उसका चुनाव सार्वजनिक जनमत न्योत कर होना चाहिये, पा रही है कि खुले खेल फर्रुखाबादी वाला

फार्मूला भारत में नहीं जमता | लिहाज़ा पार्टी लोकतांत्रिक तरह से चुने नेता समेत कुल 49 दिन के बाद सत्ता से हटने को बाध्य हुई और अब उसे चुनने वाले हाथ उसे तमाचे मार रहे हैं कि हमारी राय का निरादर तुमने क्यों किया ?

बेशक बडे दलों द्वारा हाईकमानी चाबुक तले तमाम विरोधियों का मुँह बंद कर नेता विशेष के नाम पर मुहर लगाने की प्रथा मध्ययुगीन, प्रतिगामी और सामंती है, और योरोप या अमरीका के चुनावों जैसा सहज नेतृत्व परिवर्तन भारत के लिये नामुमकिन बनाती है | पर क्या हम अपने राज समाज की किसी राजगुरु के हाथों राजतिलक कराने की कालातीत रुझान को नज़रअंदाज़ कर सकते हैं ? पार्टियों तथा जनता को कठोर मेहनत के पक्षधर और पुरातनपंथिता विरोधी वैज्ञानिक सोच वाले नेताओं की बजाय किसी चिमटाधारी तांत्रिक या डमरूबजाऊ मजमेबाज मदारी की तरह धाराप्रवाह सम्मोहक भाषण देनेवाले, चुटकी भर भभूत से अकेले ही हर असाध्य रोग के इलाज का दावा करनेवाले और दल या देश में सदस्यता या  नीति निर्धारण के लिये (56, 46 या 36 इंची) सीना ठोंक कर सिर्फ अपनी राय को ही सर्वोपरि रखवानेवाले नेता सुहाते हों,तो पतनाला आखिरकार उसी जगह जाकर तो गिरेगा | इसके बाद भी अगर हम बिना नया कुआँ खोदे अपनी पसंद के पानी से ही प्यास बुझाने की इच्छा रखते हों , तो हमको पतनाले को कोसने की बजाय अपने इलाके के भूस्तर और जलप्रवाह के नियमों का अध्ययन करना होगा |

बारू के बहाने कांग्रेस,सपा,राजद,द्रमुक आदि में कायम वंशवाद और युवा शक्ति की अवहेलना पर विपक्षियों  द्वारा सोशल मीडिया पर काफी कुछ कहा जा रहा है लेकिन जो दल यह सब कह रहे हैं उन्होंने भी भरझोली टिकट नेताई रिश्तेदारों तथा 40 पार की उम्रवालों को ही दिये हैं | यानी इन रुझानों के चुनावी नफे को ज़मीन पर वे भी नहीं नकारते | वंशवाद निश्चित ही लोकतंत्र के लिये शर्मनाक है | लेकिन उसको दल चुनाव में कैसे नकार दें ? उखाडने की कोशिशों को अँगूठा दिखा कर भी खुला वंशवाद, भाई भतीजावाद और जातीय पूर्वाग्रह भारतीय राजनीति ही नहीं कार्पोरेट जगत और शास्त्रीय नृत्य संगीत तक में व्याप्त हैं ? जनता के बीच इन बुराइयों को मिटाने की अपील आप ज़रूर करें पर उनका सही विकल्प बनाने के लिये हमको उन वजहों की पडताल भी करनी होगी जिनकी तहत (जैसा भी है)हमारा लोकतंत्र आज भी औसतन 50 की आयु से अधिकवालों को ही मंत्रिमंडल में लाता है और हमारी तमाम शास्त्रीय कलायें तथा कई तरह का पारंपरिक ज्ञान अक्सर अलिखित होते हुए भी आज तक वंशवाद और गुरुपरंपरा के बूते ही चलाया जा रहा है | सलाहकार संजय बारू कहते हैं कि राजकाज चलाने में

 देश के वर्तमान प्रधानमंत्री के दिल में भी पारंपरिक वफादारी और औचित्य के बीच एक विचारमंथन चलता रहा | यह गौरतलब है कि न उनको चुनाव लडना था न ही नया दल बनाना था वे नेता से पार्टी और पार्टी से देश को बडा मान कर संसद के आगे अपनी विवशता की असलियत बयान कर वनवास में जा सकते थे,उनकी गरिमा को उनसे कौन छीन सकता था? पर आलोचना के बाद भी दलीय हाईकमान के हस्तक्षेप को सहज  मान कर राजकाज चलाना ही उनको बेहतर लगा | अब अगर हम उनको एक ईमानदार और विद्वान् व्यक्ति मानते हैं तो हमको यह भी मानना होगा कि शीर्ष नेता के प्रति वफादारी की जो ईमानदार ज़रूरत उनके भीतर थी वही बरस 2002 में गुजरात, या 2013 में उत्तरप्रदेश दलीय सदस्यों ने भी दिखाई , अकेले उनपर हमला कैसा ?

कुल मिला कर दर्द कमोबेश आज हर नागरिक हर नेता के मन में है : सपने अधूरे रह जाने का दर्द, किसी न किसी तरह की गैरबराबरी का दर्द, रोज़मर्रा की ज़िंदगी में भ्रष्टाचारियों , दबंग चाटुकारों के हाथों अपमानित होने का दर्द | उसके बारे में अधिक क्या कहा जा सकता है ? लेकिन इस सबके ऊपर आज़ादी के बाद से एक मर्मांतक डर भी सब पर हावी है : अलगाव का, विभाजन दोबारा झेलने का | जून 1946 में फिज़ां में  जो बिच्छू छोडे गये थे वे नहीं मरे, बिलों में दुबक भर गये थे और मौका पाते ही डंक उठाये बाहर निकल आये हैं | हम सुधी पाठकों का ध्यान इधर इसलिये नहीं खींच रहे कि हमको बदलाव या विकास पर जिरह से परहेज़ है | पर मतदाताओं को चाहिये कि वे भारतीय लोकतंत्र में समन्वय की ज़रूरत की गहराई समझें | बडबोले सवालों से फेंटे जा रहे राजनीति के सफेद स्याह विवेचन के परे जा कर समझें | ताकि चुनावी उत्तेजना की ओट में सत्ता के भूखे लोग अपने हित साधने को जिन्ना की तरह फिर उन बिखरावकारी प्रेतों को एकजुट न करवा लें, जिन्होंने देश को कई बार गृहयुद्ध की तरफ धकेला है |

Nautanki Tales

As children we were fascinated by the tales our old family retainer Kushaliya recounted about his days with a travelling Nautanki Theatre Company . Can we go see one ? we were constantly asking him . But in families like ours, going to see a Nautanki was not just Non Brahminical , but also considered a sin on par with drinking alcohol . Kushaliya had finally to smuggle us during a family visit to see the hit play, Amar Singh Rathore , being staged at the Nau Chandi fair in Meerut . Individually and collectively we came to remember Nautanki thereafter as a basket of forbidden pleasures where we saw lots of dance and music and grown ups with their shirts unbuttoned and their hair all disheveled, their usually glum adult faces aglow with pure joy .

According to court papers available , just before the great Uprising of 1857, the ill managed principality of Awadh under Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, a.k.a. Jaan e Alam, was facing a grave financial crisis . The Court had, however, earmarked an annual budget of Rs 30, 16000 to maintain the theatre buff Jan e Alam’s Rahas team , which included musicians , actors, courtesans and acrobats, as also two permanent dress designers . In 1851 the Nawab got the poet Aga Hasan ‘Amanat’ write Inder Sabha, a musical, for him and his fabled troupe . With this play hybridized classical music , so far limited to family festivals or temples , found a new popular form by marrying classical Ragas to folk music of Awadh . By the time the Nawab was exiled to Matiaburz in Calcutta by the British 1856, and moaned (in a letter) to his estranged Shaida Begum , “ O Jan e Jaan , we are no longer what we were ! Love and romance ( Ishq o Ashiqui ) have all flown out of our life !”, fun loving and loquatious Awadh had gained a popular commercial theatre that was soon travelling all over and in time begat Nautanki . The  rich ( all male ) wrestlers’ Akhadas (training institutes for wrestling and traditional forms of  martial arts ) in the sugar belt of Awadh rescued the impoverished thespians . Celebrity wrestlers of Awadh, many of whom were also skilled bone setters and masseurs , were rich enough to provide a haven to writers , musicians , teachers and out of work performers, and give them a permanent space where they could interact with each other and also rehearse .
Around 1880 , the Akhada run by a prosperous local wrestler , Ustad Inderman in the prosperous town of  Hathras became a congregating point for theatre buffs . The Ustad talent spotted and trained  several  bright Shagirds ( camp followers ) of whom was one Nattharam Gaud , son of a blind Brahmin singer from the streets who excelled in playing female roles and became the star attraction for the troupe’s Rahas presentations . His loyalty to his Ustad and his undeniable talent resulted in his inheriting the theatre company from an ageing Ustad Inderman . Once Nattharam took over , he set about organizing the wrting of fresh scripts based on tales from the scriptures and old romantic ballads and lore . He also created a proper repertory of trained and well paid performers , got traditional craftsmen to design and  create new portable sets and backdrops for the new plays , and employed music teachers to train his young actors . The first blockbuster for Nattharam’s Company was a romantic play written by one Vasudev ji Basam , titled Siyahposh ( The Dark Knight ) . It was the love story of two individuals , Jamal and Gabru . It was basically a musical but also had small prose paras ( called Drama ) inserted here and there . The next block buster came from Basam’s apprentice (Shagird ) Murlidhar ,  who wrote  a play called , Shehzadi Nautanki . This was a tale of love between an anorexic princess ( Shahzadi ) called Nautanki and a commoner , Phool Singh . Shahzadi Nautanki proved to be so popular that the theatre form which was till then usually called Rahas or Swang ( Impersonation ) , now came to be called Nautanki . Bolstered by back to back hits and the cash registers ringing , the Company theatre was soon touring all over the Hindi belt , carrying musical fantasies of love ( divine and carnal ) , colourful sets , and dancers all of which drove the audiences in the Kanpur and Lucknow region wild . Whole villages emptied out when the Company wallahs were sighted and   the colourful tents came up in the village commons near the Urs or Mela site . 
 

As Hathras Nautanki began to gain renown as entertainment , Akhadas in the neighbouring town of Kanpur stirred into theatrical activity . First Lalman Numberdar’s and then Shri Krishan Pahlwan’s Akhadas in Kanpur became active Addas for thespians . Krishan Pehlwan was a man of many parts . Apart from being a wrestler and an active Arya Samaj leader ( a fact that helped him get respectability when he put up patriotic plays supporting the Gandhian movement ) . This actor singer also ran a successful tailoring shop that created glamorous  dresses for members of his Company . Meanwhile printing presses had also arrived in India and Kanpur saw the public getting fired with a Swaraji fervour . In 1920 , Krishan Pehalwan’s Company produced a run away hit about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre called Khoon e Nahak . This was followed by Zulmi Dyer in 1922 which ended amid great applause as the ghosts of all those shot dead by General Dyer beat the blazing daylights out of the General . Patriotism as saleable commodity had arrived ! Sri Krishan Pehlwan also realized the lucrative potential of publishing play scripts or Sangit . His Shri Krishna Pustakalaya had sold 75 million copies of his plays and a play like Aankh Ka Jadu was running into its 79^th edition by 1989 . Sangit books became the earliest best sellers in Hindi publishing and remained top grossers upto the 1980s . The plays , mostly printed from  boom town like Meerut , Delhi and Kanpur , did brisk business at all railway book stalls and popular fairs such as Nauchandi ( at Meerut ) , Sonpur ( cattle fair near Patna ) or Ghazi Baba Ka Urs ( Bahraich ) . With the advent , first of recorded cassettes in the T series and later , TV , these wonderful handbooks are being fast rendered  obsolete .

As the Company moved from village to village , city to city , community to community, ticketed performance of Nautanki plays earned enough to clothe and feed its large family of performers , carpenters , cooks and tailors . Bhishtis ( water sprinklers ) , legend says , sold their Mashaks  ( water skins) and boys stole money and pawned family jewellery to buy tickets for a night of revelry . Audacity helped induct women ( around 1934-35 ) into theatre and this brought the audiences even closer to the performers ( leading to many unforgettable scandals !) . The noted Hindi writer from Poornia Phaneeshwar Nath Renu has immortalized the Nautanki mania in his Teesri Kasam , a  story about a Company Bai ( Heera ) and a bullock cart driver Heeraman . This delicate love story was later  made into a memorable film of the same name by the musician film maker Shailendra .

By 1920 the town of Kanpur became for Nautanki , what Mumbai is to the film industry today . Its  rich textile and jute mills and thriving leather businesses that employed over thirty thousand migrant craftsmen from all over the Hindi belt , created an ideal audience for the raunchy and melodramatic musicals as also plays filled with a patriotic fervour . The latter brought several police crackdowns on theatre companies and forced some of the Ustads to migrate . Erotic theatre , however , flourished . Bereft of  their families the mill workers waited avidly for the excitement of Nautanki which by now featured singing beauties like Moti Jaan and Gulab Bai in female roles . Most of the Nautanki women belonged to the  traditional courtesan stock ( Deredaar Tavaif ) or communities like the Kalbeliyas , Bedias and Nats , who were facing penury after the British government declared them to be criminal ( Zaraympesha) tribes . These women were immune to the profanities and obscene cat calls in public spaces so long as they were paid regularly and well . But finally the drunken audiences began booing off seasoned artists with calls of Ladki bhejo ! ( Send in the young women !) . 

In post Independent India , Nautanki began declining but its music still attracted high and low . The recording company HMV began recording popular music from Nautanki and by 1969 it had released at least eight 78 RPM records by one of its star performers , Gulab Jan . In the absence of clear Copyright laws these pulsating songs were freely lifted , polished somewhat and used to great effect in Bollywood films like Mughal e Azam ( Mohey Panghat Pe) and Mujhe Jeene Do (Nadi Nare na jao Shyam ) . Bollywood films cannibalized Nautanki talent as they wer to do with Bhojpuri and Haryanvi films later . By the 1990s , the Nautanki- bred triad of Ranjit Kapur , Annu Kapoor and Raghuvir Yadav had also migrated to Bollywood since Companies were increasingly being relegated to places like Singhi , Shikohabad , and Beeghapur .
In the age of Milk Cooperatives , tractors and the great urban migrations , old peasant fairs like Sonpur and Nauchandi no longer drew the rural young . And even in the urban areas , Nautanki survived by now on the charity of occasional government festivals to promote India’s folk theatre . In 2001 Sangeet Natak Akademy of Andhra Pradesh had a week long festival of folk theatre across India . Then the  Society of Indian Scholars presented a two day festival Nautanki 2003 at Singapur .This was followed by the Delhi Hindi Akademy’s Nautanki fest in 2004 and another one in 2007 at the Kumbh fair in Allahabad , it was clear that Nautanki as an organic genre was no longer such a hot ticket among the authentic rural folk .
In the age of inexpensive music from the Net , mobile apps playing Bolly hit songs all day , Nautanki is an exotic orchid , kept alive artificially in a few hot houses . Its name now survives as a cheeky pejorative like The Great Indian Nautanki Company , a JV of Apra and Wizcraft that launched a Twenty First Century Avatar of Nautanki : The Kingdom of dreams inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Haryana . It opened as was appropriate, with Zangoora , the world’s longest running Bollywood musical !

A Requiem for Mollywood

 

Meerut was not the steaming cauldron of emotions always . Before the pre election communal riots hit the area , it had a sense of humour, a sense of irony and great zest for community living . But most of that is silenced today, and as Groucho Marx once lamented about his country,  “…The restrictions , political and religious , have killed satire ..first thing which disappears when men are turning a country into a totalitarian state , is comedy and comics ..” .

Frightening words these for this boom town in the western Uttar Pradesh that once upon a time was home of Hindi’s bestselling pulp fiction ( it sold over a million copies of Vardi Wallah Gunda alone , a crime novel by Ved Prakash ) . The rich macho town, a mere hour’s drive from Delhi, remains the biggest producer of sports goods and musical instruments in India and bicycle rikshaws in the world. Meerut district has always had high crime rates and a romantic core harboured by outlaws all the world over. So when it is not making money or looting it, its fancy turns to thoughts of romantic comedies and crime fiction .

After the death of Nautanki, a folk theatre form replete with music and melodrama , Meerut took to producing regional language films for the vast rural audiences who watched them on inexpensive ( starting at Rs 1000) VCDs that could be run on tractor batteries . And by the first decade of this Century, Meerut had a thriving multi crore film industry employing 15,000 young men and women . Mollywood as some called Meerut’s film industry, catered to three rich states in the sugar belt : Haryana , Delhi NCR and UP. I chanced upon this nugget of information during my tenure as a member of the Indian Board of Film Certifcation, authorized to check and sign the release certificates of regional language films . This film industry was  marked by the energy , audacity and speed , so cherished by this gun loving sugar belt . And it refused to feel inferior to Bollywood . Infact, in a newspaper interview Uttar Kumar , the hero of the run away hit film Dhakad Chhora, claimed that Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara has actually copied them ! 

“This is our greatest film !” ( Yo sai mharee Dhakad Fillum !) says Ombir of village Bagpat who has already seen Dinesh Chaudhary’s ,‘Dhaakad Chhora’ , the runaway Haryanavi hit of 2004 , nine times . He adores its hero Uttar Kumar and heroine Suman Negi ( the Aishwarya Rai of the sugar belt , also the highest paid actor in Haryanavi films) . “ Hallaat ka to humein na pataa per yahan to taliyan in Filmon pe hee bajey hain ! ( I know nothing about the state of film industry but here these are the films that get all the applause ) , he says . He can recite verbatim the immortal dialogue between the hero and his girl friend's father : 

Father: ‘Your death has brought you here .

(Tujhe Teri Maut yhana Kheench Lai hai !)

Hero:  ‘ Tis not my death Samaruddin ! but Shabnam’s love that has brought me here .’

(Maut nahin Samaruddin , Mujhey yahana Shabana Ki Muhabbat kheench Lai hai !)

Thunderous claps !

Compared to Mumbai ,films could be produced in Meerut on shoestring budgets ranging from 2 to a few lakhs . This was a micro fraction of what a Bollywood superstar charges ( even the hit Dhakad Chhora , was produced within 3.5 lakhs). Actors’ fee ranged from Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000 a day , most of the shooting took place in village homes or on the side of canals and highways and wraps up within 10 to 20 days . The ready film , (usually to be distributed through the T series from Delhi ) only needed a certification from the regional offices of CBFC located in New Delhi . This was easy, given that these films fell in the category of regional dialect films .

Crew was easy to come by . It consisted of camera men who learnt their job by making wedding videos , small time construction industry wallahs , manufacturers of hand pumps , housewives also doubling up as social workers , sons of celebrated wrestlers (Pehelwans) . All rode this bandwagon and enjoyed the ride vastly while it lasted. Most comedies , as in Malegaon films , were spoofs of popular Bollywood productions or satires on local quirks ( Teri Meri Mughal e Azam , Rampur Ka Bunty Aur Babli , Choron Ki Barat , Chunav Pradhani Ka , Padosan Achhi Hai , Begum 16 saal ki , Ziddi Jat , Bibi nahin Bomb hai ) . Fights take place usually along canals with Lathis while romantic duets are sung upon buffalo Buggis or against the verdurous greens and yellows of mustard or sugarcane fields . Lathis replaced guns , hijackers are caught when their planes are brought down by Hookah power and Thugs cheat farmers out of their tractors and buffalos using ingenuous excuses .

All that is now gone! Behenji ( sister), says an old friend and newspaper correspondent to me . Today most film theatres and recording studios are locked up or turned into malls . Our own Vishal Bhardwaj started the trend for going away to Mumbai films and producing big budget films about west UP like Omkara . If people can hear our folk songs in the voice of sophisticated singers and see fights and special effects mounted at a cost of several crores, who will see our home productions ? Everyone is watching Bollywood on laptops distributed by Akhilesh Yadav( the Chief Minister’s). And anyone can download from the UTube today . Iss Ghar Ko Aag Lag Gai Ghar ke Chirag Se ! ( This house was set on fire by its own lamp!)

Marx(Groucho) and The Indian Elections

 

In 1933 , when Hollywood no longer wished to gaze for long at the Great Depression at home or the rise of murderous and conniving totalitarian Right and Left wing leaders elsewhere ,the Marx brothers led by Groucho , created the  unforgettable, Duck Soup .  A similar silly season is upon us ! Like hypnotized rabbits we watched Delhi’s newly sworn in Chief Minister stageing a Dharna against the Union Government and declaring himself an anarchist, followed by another Chief Minister thumping his chest and saying it takes a 56 inch chest to create the wonder that his state is today . Then another Chief Minister’s father ( an ex Chief Minister himself) spoke up on the cardio thoracic enlargement , and said well , in his area such assertion of manhood was common among wrestlers not Chief Ministers ! Last but not the least was a quotable quote from a Chief Minister from a macho northern state who mocked his female bete noir by saying she was a Shadi ki Ghodi ( a filly decked up at a wedding) while he himself was a veteran war horse ! 

It was natural that at this point that one’s fancy should turn to the Utube . Here is where we rediscover the  Duck Soup . This great movie , banned by Benito Mussolini in Italy, plays out in the mythical land of Freedonia . Its brave and great leader (played by Groucho Marx) is constantly being challenged by the evil Ambassador Trentino, from the neighbouring land of Sylvania . This is the dialogue that follows when during their mad sparring , the Ambassador tries to mollify Groucho by offering a truce :

Groucho : It was silly of me to lose my temper on account of that little thing you called me .

Trentino: ..Why what did I call you ?

Groucho : Gosh , I don’t remember .

Trentino : Do you mean it was worm ?

Groucho : No…

Trentino : I know , Swine !

Groucho : No , it was a seven letter word .

Trentino: yes , Upstart !

Groucho: That’s it , upstart ! ( leaps up and slaps the ambassador with a glove).

Trentino: This man is impossible ! Its an outrage . My course is clear . This means war you runt !

Groucho : I still like Upstart the best . …

 

Internally within Party Headquarters sharp tongued  Party spokespersons, like the Jallikattu bulls must create panic and fear in public . Their few smart oneliners will go viral no sooner than uttered . Drunk on much thumping of male chests and ululations , the Great Leader’s mug shots are being used all over to create masks for his followers , and his varying head gear and beard have become their style statements as well. In this uniquely Indian version of Sylvania, past fuses with the present and the loquacious Leader is happy to mouth lines being created by hired gag writers, so long as the fabled ‘youth’ in the audience boom their approval and plump middle class matrons stare at him with more than hope in their eyes . Should the audiences threaten to pse too many unanswerables , Groucho comes in handy : ‘ those are my principles and if you don’t like them , well I have others .’

Cricket Wars and All That

 

Long before the 2011 census figures uncovered the mind boggling bulge in the demography of eleven northern states , the Hindi media had sensed  the hysteria and  the psychological warfare waiting to be unleashed at the WC matches between India and Pakistan and the unprecedented TV rating points and political point scoring the Semi finals were going to trigger off in the spring of 2011. Anil Kumble confessed on an English TV channel that the Indo Pak matches have a special subtext for cricketers and their audiences up in the north which he , as a southerner from Bangalore , had always missed out on . But the Hindi channels declared early on that there is going to be a war during the semis and even the English channels believed them and began giving all viewers additional lessons about the sub continent : on what Indo Pak relationship is all about outside of Delhi and Islamabad .

At first the non Hindi speaking India paid it scant attention . As the teams arrived the English channels carried most of the exclusive interviews as usual , discussing what the nasal voice of the singer Shan called India’s , “ new thinking , new possibilities”  . They created an impressive line up of ex captains of teams from the subcontinent , England , Australia , New Zealand and the Caribbeans . They came and sat perched on stools on hard lean buttocks and predicted and analysed constantly cracking in jokes at which they laughed the loudest . For the subaltern mobs, that were not privy to the old bonding a la public school cricket teams ,the Hindi channels lined up godmen , astrologers and demented fans : always a better bet for watchable TV and wild predictions that the subcontinent loves . Since everyone in the subcontinent loves  intelligence conspiracy theories , spying and plots , on the eve of the Mohali match a driver from the Pakistani PM’s entourage was caught and questioned for roaming aimlessly in the army Cantonment area in Chandigarh , a gesture reciprocated with alacrity across the Wagah border where an Indian embassy official was hauled for questioning . Both were later released .

India and Pakistan have been waging wars and playing cricket matches for the last six decades . But each time they begin from scratch as though this is the first ever encounter between them . Both teams have their own die hard fans who move heaven and earth to procure visas and buy tickets for the crucial match . They don body paint and bring along their national flags and a fund of shouted encouragements in chaste Punjabi and Urdu . When asked to describe the situation on TV , after the first few ritualistic statements about the warm welcome by their hosts , they say that they are sure to win on all fronts and that the other side will suffer heavy casualties . The domestic audiences hoot and laugh . OK say the anchors lets now go back to the pavilion . The politicians and the corporates are already there . They always get in and get seated in the best boxes without hassles because they command obedience and can arrange for all kinds of exemptions and easing of rules for the organizers . The fat sweaty policeman guarding the venue tell the rest that all card holding fans must bring an identity proof and shall go no further than  permitted , after which the fans must wave to TV cameras whenever and mouth inaudible slogans .  

In the light of the above, happy viewing fans ! I’d rather watch Kapil’s Comedy Night re runs!

The Reluctant Voters' Guide to Varanasi

The Reluctant Voters' Guide to Varanasi                Mrinal Pande 

With the slogan of Har Har Modi ,the BJP tried to steer Varanasi towards a simplified and sanitized version of  Hinduism, democracy and leadership . But those who knew their Kashi, felt the move to substitute its divine protector the Lord of Lords (Mahadev Shiva) with Modi, was bound to fail in a city renowned for its stubborn defiance of outsider bullies challenging the might of Mahadev. Known also as Kashi(the area of beautiful Kaans grasses), Pushpvati(the city of flowers), Avimukt Kshetra (an area that its patron God, Shiva will never leave) and Brahmvaddana(the city of the truly learned ) Varanasi has a long history of intellectual dominance in the north east and has refused to be overwhelmed by any new ideas before the new proposal is subjected  to a thorough and collective scrutiny by the people of Kashi(Kasheyas) themselves . The process of scrutiny here involves all : kings , learned ones and the common citizen . Once they have all collectively lifted the embargo, Varanasi plays loving host to all genuine ideas no matter what the caste or creed of its carrier . It further goes on to encourage subtly that the common man’s language be used for a dissemination of the new ideas . Buddha to Parshvnath, Kabir, Tulsidas, Premchand, Ghalib and Ginsberg, all dissenters were extended a rare warmth and receptivity after the archetypal argumentative Indians here had been appeased and convinced .  Thereafter, if they so wished, the city would happily offer them a public platform to help generate many memorable freewheeling discourses .

Before the Aryans came in, Kashi was a major trading post and had its own pantheon of Yakshas, Nagas and other weird and unpredictable gods who formed Lord Mahadev's retinue. And when the Aryan duo of Videgh Madhav and Gotama crossed the river carrying a new and ritualistic Vedic culture that had overtaken Aryan cultures west of the Ganges , the peoples of Kashi (Kashyas) did not le them in without a healthy debate on its own variety of Dharma(religion) Artha(capitalism) , Kama(sexuality) and Moksh(liberation) . They made sure that in this land, Lord Shiva the Destroyer alone shall dominate as Devadhidev(the supreme God and patron of all art forms) and his brand of inclusive love for all those fearsome Yakshas and Nagas and wild beasts and reptiles must be accepted by the new incumbents . Unused to such impudence, a hymn writer (of the Paippalad branch of Atharv Veda) lost his cool and sent up a prayer to the dreaded Takma ( Malarial fever), asking it to leave the west and move eastwards and ravage this unbending city of Kashi .

Malarial fevers may or may not have entered the city but Kashi remained unbending . After the great war of Mahabharat Vasudev Krishna of Dwarika (now in Gujarat) emerged as the most sophisticated statesman and leader of men in the northern plains . But Kashi remained cold to him . The king of Kashi chose to befriend a clownish Pondraka(from West Bengal where else?) and encouraged him to fool around as Vasudev of Dwarika to the great merriment of his equally mischievous subjects ! So much for political clout and adroit politicking!

Kashi, like Shiva, harbours a natural love for music , dance and poetry that combine  the folk and classical genres . Everyone acts as a critic of music and poetry here, from the lowly Ahir with his cans of fresh milk to the traders ( like Jai Shankar Prasad and Bhartendu) and ofcourse the dazzling courtesans befriended by artists and patronized by its rulers . It was said by one of its famous courtesans, that her monthly earnings were more than those of the Viceroy of India . These brilliant, learned and financially independent women interacted freely with the high and mighty on an equal footing and  have proffered sage advice to kings, Ustads and Pandits . Some even wrote special Kajri lyrics in the vernaculars to mourn their favorite policemen and soldiers who died defending the honour of Kashi . One Chaiti, which is still sung, goes :

Arey Rama Nagar jaala kaley paniya re Hari ! (ah, our beloved Data Ram Nagar has been banished to the black waters).

And another celebrates the colourful and handsome Rutam Ali :

Kahan gayo mero Hori ko khelaiya,

Spahi Rustam Ali, banko sipahiya .

(where oh where has our darling, that handsome player of Holi Rustam Ali, gone ?)

To create music and poetry so lovingly out of wars, banishment and death in exile, is no mean achievement . In an age when Sanskrit ruled , two vernacular poets of Kashi : Tulsi and Kabir, both orphaned and abandoned initially by the society they were born in, eschewed Sanskrit and created literature in local dialects . So also Premchand . All of them rediscovered and re established for all those who lived beyond the pale of the upper castes and their power languages (English, Persian or Sanskrit), a particular aura of human honour and dignity . Their works are neither utopian nor quixotic but introduce a new sonority fed as they are, by a stubborn conviction, that ultimately both art and politics , belong to the mixed societies whose Ganga Jamuni culture must be respected at all times . ‘I will beg for a living, sleep within a mosque but neither give nor ask for political patronage’, Tulsidas said . And Kabir told both the Mullahs and the Pandits bluntly that neither of them knew the real path . Stop yelling for God’s sake,  he said, He is not deaf !

It is important for all aspirants to the supreme leadership in India to realise that voters of Kashi will be unchanging in their resistance to hypocrisy . This once all three major candidates being fielded by parties, are outsiders to the city of Varanasi that can see already how their ultimate goal is to fly the tricolor from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi.

The Buddha’s advise for a poor boatmen, Avariya, still holds for the voters here . This man had come to the Master complaining about how he was constantly being cheated by tricky out of towners after they had been ferried across the river . One can imagine a twinkle in the Buddha’s eyes as he said : “ Outsiders, you should remember, are fickle by nature. It is you the boatman, who must ensure that you exact a proper fee from them before you allow them to set foot in your boat .”  

 

Decoding Modi's Rise

An upwardly mobile nation does not need moral or spiritual discourse from its leaders . It needs meteoric careers . Great names . Absolute majority for one man led party in the Parliament . The Great Leader Who has Come Up The Hard Way, and who can work as a symbol, and make up for the irreversible delays and deprivations suffered by Bharat in the last six decades. They hope a Great Leader with his own memories of poverty and anonymity will finally compensate them for all those years of humiliation and facelessness. 
To some extent it is true that most of India's major political leaders in its first decades after Independence, from Nehru to Vajpeyi, Maulana Azad, Patel and Jagjivan Babu, to Princess Amrit Kaur, Rani Vijaya Raje Scindia or Biju Patnaik did not have to climb the ladder to political success laboriously . They were educated middle class Indians or erstwhile royals catapulted  to prominence by India's great freedom struggle . As children of a great collective struggle for liberation as leaders of Independent India, they symbolised not personal success stories, but the longings of a nation, even an entire Asian subcontinent. They did not shout or thump their chests or indulge in image makeovers . As they rose to speak at Election rallies, to explain, to persuade, a hush fell over the crowd. If you listen to old tapes of their speeches you can even hear their breathing, not the shouts of the audience . The thunderous claps came only after shouting Bharat Mata Ki Jai led by the great leader .
In 2014 Modi must uset different tactics . The times are changing fast and pinching vote banks and bowing to patrons is often necessary . Since the post Emergency years when Raj Narain and George Fernandes went around in carefully careless attires, leaders find it pays to carry the electoral fight among dissatisfied masses as street theatre wherein a man from the underprivileged classes challenges a dynasty and its privileged retainers and wins the battle for the people. Modi is good with that sort of histrionics . He lets it be known daily that he is a pan Indian leader who thinks of the entire nation not just Gujarat . It may have taken Gandhi twenty years to cover it on foot . It takes him twenty weeks. What he lacks in depth he makes up with fiery rhetoric using vernacular phrases and popular sayings. He uses the media that is happy to project the theatre in racy vernacular evening after evening . The panel vivisections of the day's speech that follow in English, only serve to underscore Modi's repeated jibes at the power pack that rules India today . 
Modi should be thankful to Congress MP Manishankar Iyer for calling him dismissively a Chaiwalla, a tea seller who can never become the Prime Minister of India. It immediately presented him in a background that is his natural element. Indian tea shops are not like the posh Starbucks outlets where one stands in line to be served a drink of choice. Tea shops are male clubs, a boardwalk a theatre and party cell simultaneously . They serve talkative clients with a readymade and much cheaper brew in kiosks with tin tables or just benches lying here and there. In the mornings from Bhagalpur to Bhimtal, newspapers are read and commented upon collectively in Chai shops unhurriedly while listeners slurp tea from impossibly tiny glasses with maybe a dry rusk. Here the males from small and cramped homes find a second home where they can step over squabbling women and children to talk, argue and debate political choices . Here they can safely explode in rage or laughter set meetings or check on job opportunities. The street dogs lie around , the kids torment them or pee in corners. But overall the atmosphere is political.  
Modi understands this perfectly. He lets himself be shown using advanced media technologies, chatting people all over India, engaging them in casual banter first and then raising the pitch slowly. He takes care not to back Gujarat too much . He talks of th nation as being above all, even above Party and Family.  We have enormous potential as a nation he repeats only if you will help me eradicate the Congress Party. He does not go too deeply into things like economic policy or foreign trade or the minorities' rights and wrongs. He is naive and mystical here and jumps from explosive joy to seething contempt. He fascinates because he is complex and defies definitions and charges of being a hatred monger against the minorities by denying public interviews . Always confident that he has the right solution to everything , he remains deaf to questions and hisses that charges levelled against him and his government are a political conspiracy hatched by his opponents and a few NGOs, funded by hostile foreign sources using a deep baritone . As he sips mineral water, wipes the sweat with a snow white wash cloth through rhetorical questions he makes people repeat his own analysis of what is wrong with India, as right . Then he gets into his air conditioned vehicle and drives off or flies away. 
Later as they return home from dusty rallies and head for their dark, smelly and water starved villages, the audiences repeat the words with melancholy reflection . Everything is possible since nothing is known for sure. And since the most common version about the communal riots is the official one put out by the Gujarat government , it might be true that all this is a plot to keep the Great Common man away from becoming the Prime Minister. A new India is being born as everyone wants to know what is happening