RIP Rabi Panda

 As this malignant Covid mutant is busy spreading its tentacles in India, I am busy writing obituaries of my near and dear ones on regular basis - folks I am and was familiar with, who left their indelible impression in me. They left too early for comfort, their deaths could have been preventable. We do live in turbulent times.

In 1979, as a 10 year old cricket fan, I was watching a match between the touring Australian team and East Zone (Comprising Odisha, Bengal, Bihar which included Jharkhand then, Assam) at the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack, Odisha. There was no TV those days. The gallery was full of transistor wielding spectators.

Came afternoon. Close to tea, came the announced from an Odia commentator "CHA PAANA BIRATI", meaning "Tea Break". The person sitting next to me gave me some unsolicited information, that the players will go outside for tea and chew a few betel leaves (PAAN) during this break, hence the name "CHA PAANA BIRATI".

I believed him and imagined Alan Border along with Kim Hughes going out to a kiosk outside and ordering GOPAL ZARDA (A popular scented tobacco) PAAN, followed by a "Cutting Chai", brewed from a coal oven. However I took it for granted that Rabi Panda, a player representing Odisha those days and true to his salt did so.

He struggled against the bowling of a rookie Geoff Lawson, the young Aussie fast bowler who could find a place in the team because all his better known compatriot Dennis Lillie, Len Pascoe were playing in the better paying Kerry Packers League (Test cricketers were paid in peanuts those days). Rabi Panda, the only batsman of Odisha origin was cheered by the local crowd as he walked in to bat. But he didn't last long and got out early. When he returned back, the crowd booed him, as their local hero failed him. A la TAKHT YA KAQTA (Crown or Coffin) were the sole options for the Mughal princes, our cricketer are showered with flowers or brickbats to the whims of their fans.

I vividly remember during Australia's fielding, a guy sitting next to me shouting HEY HEY Hilditch and threw a half eaten apple towards him. (Andrew Hilditch, an Australian batsman was also a solicitor and the son-in-law of legendary cricketer Bobby Simpson). Hilditch returned the compliment gesturing like a Monkey and throwing the apple back. The guy who caught the apple appeared to be in the seventh heaven, unaware of the symbolic message conveyed by Hilditch's mimicry of monkey.

Mr. Rabi Panda used to play regularly in BJB College ground and Mukteswar Cricket Club (MCC) field in Club Cricket tournaments, both walking distance from BJB Flats where I lived. While watching his team bat, he was narrating to the attentive listeners about his batting against the likes of Geoff Lawson and Malcolm Marshall. Though he lasted longer against Marshall, he found the Windies bowler more ferocious. 

We kids listened to his story in rapt attention. Next day in my D M School bus and later in the class when I retold Mr. Panda's experience, I became the center of attention and found an active audience. I enjoyed every bit of my celebrity status however temporary it was, earned by listening to Sri Panda's escapades standing from few feet away.

Like many sport persons of reputation in India who found employment in PSUs, Mr. Panda was employed in SAIL. It was sad to know that he passed yesterday from Covid. Odisha lost a memorable sports person who arguably was the first Odia cricketer to perform well at Zonal level where Odias were very sparcely represented those days. RIP Mr. Rabi Panda.

RIP Satyajit (Papu) Jena

 The current wave of Covid in India hasn't left anyone untouched. Everybody of us has lost a near and dear one, a friend or a relative. Today, I lost a friend.

Satyajit (Papu) Jena was my classmate in REC (now NIT) Rourkela. Unlike overwhelming majority of us who lived in the hostel, he was a Day scholar at that time - a term used for the locally based students who didn't live in the hostel.

The homesick in me used to be jealous of him, for he lived inside the Campus, a stone's throw away from the college and more importantly he didn't have to go face the ordeal of the horrible ragging we had to go though in our batch. (The scourge of ragging got drastically reduced from our batch).

I being an extrovert and perennial leg puller used to poke fun at him when he came to our hostel. He would never get annoyed or irritated at me - responding to my banters with his characteristic smirk. We weren't very close, but that didn't prevent us from being mutual admirers. I used to do participate in Quiz competition in college and he was lavish in praising me for remembering so many stuffs. Couple of afternoons I had visited his home with other friends to savor some freshly home made Pakoda,  followed by tea - which we hostel dwellers accustomed to dull, repetitive foods cherished a lot.

I passed out from College, never earning any further degrees. He did his MBA at the Xaviers Institute, followed by degrees one after another. Last time when we talked he started telling me the degrees he earned in sequence until he got tired and I lost my count.

Something inside me snapped when I got the news of his passing away after a long battle with Covid. Our REC friends tried their best and were planning to airlift him from Durgapur as his condition was fast deteriorating. Before he could be shifted, he breathed his last this evening. RIP, my friend.

My Analysis of Mamata's win in Bengal

 Here is my analysis of Mamata Banerjee's record win in Bengal in the just concluded elections. The KHELA HABE (Game on) if finally over. BJP certainly made gain from 3 seats to 70 odd seats. But it was too much to expect for the party to defeat TMC in Bengal. Even without Covid or the controversial "Didi O Didi" slogan, BJP could have won another 20 odd seats at the maximum. There is no runner up prize in politics. It's always winner take all. The loser is destined to the opposition benches.

The main reason Bengalis are very proud of their language and culture. Unlike we Odias, they don't have an inferiority complex and detest unwelcome intrusion and alien (in this case North Indian onslaught (somehow similar to Tamils who also consider BJP as a North Indian Hindi imposing party). Odisha is probably the only place on earth where a person not speaking the local language can be in power for more than 20 years. Forget about being a Chief Minister, one cannot even win a Municipality election in Bengal if he doesn't speak Bengali

LANGUAGE - Unlike Odisha, outsiders coming and campaigning in Hindi is not appreciated in the Bengal heartland. This could have been better if a local BJP strong man (or woman) campaigned in Bengali. But the party had no such local leader of stature to match the street smart, experienced politician in Mamata Banerjee. Mithun Chakraborty was an useless import from Bollywood who looked totally lost during the campaign. Bengal is not Tamil Nadu. Celluloid effects are at best marginal.

CULTURE - Bengalis are worshipers of Maa Durga and Kali. Jai Sriram slogan don't raise heartbeats or goosebumps. It won't work there. Culturally the state is far away from the Cow belt of UP and Bihar. Communal polarization has very limited effect as the Bengali psyche isn't caste and communal oriented.

Remember, this was not a national election, rather assembly election where local issues matter a lot more. After all, all politics are local. Just because BJP won 18 Lok Sabha seats in last election, it doesn't mean that they would win a proportionate number of seats in the Assembly election. It doesn't work that way. Remember, BJP won 8 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha last time, but won only 22 seats in Assembly. Ideally it should have won 8 × 7 = 56 seats if the Lok Sabha seats translated to Assembly seats being calculate that way. But it didn't happen.

It took more than two decades of street fighting for Mamata Banerjee to dislodge the well entrenched Communists from Bengal. BJP needs a similar street level fighter who can sleep inside thatched houses in 40 degree heat and take shower in tube well water in order to politically connect with the millieu - not some imports like Mithun Chakraborty who are low on energy and can't come out of the comfort of their AC Van. This will take some time, not going to happen overnight.

My letter to Narendra Modi

 Dear Sri Modi. We Indians are great at giving unsolicited advice. Not to be left out, here are a few from your once upon a time admirer turned into your humble critic - some one who has left his mother land for long, PHIR BHI DIL HAI HINDUSTANI (still an Indian at heart).

Right now we are in the middle of a huge, unprecedented Covid pandemic. It may not have entirely been prevented, but the damage could have been contained if you would have procrastinated Kumbh Mela and elections. Both things are now past. Elections are over. Covid has won.

However, I am not going to dwell over the past. In Odia we always ponder about EITA HEITHILE, SEITA HEITHANTA (If this would have happened, that could have taken place). At this point, that's besides the point. Now let's see what you can do going forward. Still there is time to recoup and recover.  

The first step towards the solution to a problem is to admit that it exists and own it. So far we see GALUs after GALUs being pushed (a literal transliteration of the phrase GALU PELIBA in Odia, which loosely meaning stubbornly defending own action). Deflecting the problem to every one on earth except you and your government - from blaming it on Kejriwal messing up in Delhi (the current focal point of the Covid crisis) to Joe Biden not sending assistance on time is going to alleviate the nation's woes.

You can come on TV exactly at your favorite prime time slot of 9 PM and do exactly the following - "Apologize to the Nation". You don't have to use the word apology, your spech writers can put choicest of Hindi words to convey the message appropriately to the Billion plus people. Being awesome at histrionics, you can shed some crocodile tears on TV and show some empathy. Your buddy Trump was too stubborn to demonstrate empathy at the time of similar Covid crisis and ended up losing the election. You should learn from the history unless you volunteer to repeat it.

We Indians are an emotional lot. I can bet they will not only appreciate your apology, but gracefully accept it. You won't lose anything by shedding some of your egos off your 56 inch chest. Rather you stand to gain a lot. 

Start fighting the war against Covid on a war footing basis. Impose shut downs,

clamp down on those who break the rule, convert stadiums, marriage halls and  spare buildings to make shift hospitals. Don't spare perpetrators of profeetering, price gouging and black marketing of oxygen and life saving drugs. You have the majority at center and in majority of the states, not to mention having prior experience of handling an earthquake of epic proportion when you were the Chief Minister of Gujarat. I am sure you can handle this crisis of epidemic proportion.

Please allow me repeat my quip from Amitabh's movie HUM released in the year 1991. In a scene Anumam Kher who plays a crook cop, delivers a very meaningful monologue - BAGAWAT MEIN TIN KISAM KE ADDMI HOTE HAIN (There are three kinds of people in a mutiny), ATYACHAARI (the tormentor), KRANTIKARI (the mutineer), AUR UN DONO KA JHAGDE KA FAIDA UTHATE HUE HAMARA JAISE BYAPARI (Taking advantage of their rivalry are our kind of businessmen). Covid is the Atyachaari and the army of countless volunteers, healtcare workers are our Krantikaris. Don't just tighten the noose on those Byaparis trying to make a profit out of the situation. Hang those scoundrels.

Politics is a matter of perception. Even if you achieve a Pyrrhic victory over Covid, (which I believe we eventually will after the dreaded disease takes its toll), you won't be blamed for your best and trying hard. Public memory is short. They may forget everything, could very well forgive you. You could be politically rewarded for your religious effort.

If you end up doing all the above, you will be my Mahaprabhu. I will volunteer to be your PARAMBHAKT - more than ever Hanuman was to Lord Ram. 

Your Sincerely 

A prospective 

Parambhakt.

The marauding Covid pandemic in India

 I was just watching the reporting of the current Covid catastrophe in my motherland India 🇮🇳 on CNN. It was an objective coverage with some heart wrenching visuals of perpetually burning funeral pyres and Covid patients literally gasping for breath on makeshift beds in temporary outdoor facilities in 100 degree Fahrenheit heat as Oxygen supply was running out. The poor patients left high and dry like fish out of water. The scenes were chaotic and ghastly.  

We may say the Western media projects a negative picture of India. No denying and there is some truth to it. Yet we feed enough fodder to them by adding fuel to the funeral fire. We have a popular Odia Adage - "BAARA BARSA RA TAPASYA SUKHUA PODA RE GALA", transliterated, "Twelve years of penance has been swept away by consuming barbecue dry fish". 

It simply means, down the time travelled road all the accumulated efforts and perseverance in creating the image of India as a powerful, emerging economy, a vibrant, aspiring middle class, a burgeoning global powerhouse - all stand decimated by a single stroke of these devastating visuals. Like the story of the monkey on a bamboo pole, if we climb one foot of development ladder, we are brought down by couple of feet - back to square one.

Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. In this divided world I can't change someone's perception, nor I thrive to do so. But we can't deny the fact that this marauding virus is claiming lives in droves every day, driving all crazy. It has impacted my friends and relatives - some too close for comfort. A clueless administration is running helter skelter like a headless chicken. How much ever we try to sugarcoat the situation, we have failed ourselves at every level. The truth hurts and absolute truth can hurt absolutely. 

Feel sorry for those who are trying to choke facts, control a section of the media, social or otherwise. We want to be a champion Democratic society. But when it comes to freedom of expression and reporting truth not palatable to the ruling dispension we want to be like China. A la good terrorists versus bad terrorists, we are treating BJP led government in Delhi as good, Kejriwal led government in the same city as bad, or vice-versa depending on which side of the spectrum you are. Blame game and finger pointing at this point is not going to help.

I am remind of this epic Kishore Kumar number :

SACCHAI CHHOOP NAHI SAKTI,
BANAWAT KI ASOOLON SE;
NA KHUSBOO A NAHI SAKTI,
KABHI KAGAZ KE PHOOLON SE.

(Truth can't be suppressed,
By manipulation of powers.
Fagrance can't ever come,
From paper flowers).

Yet Hats off to the less vocal section of people who are doing a commendable job by working tirelessly in a challenging time. Having said that, let's hope we learn our lesson from prematurely letting our guard down to see this day and going forward stay a step ahead of the next crisis. Nothing lasts forever. This too shall pass.

The saga of PETA GARAM

 During our childhood days in Odisha, a dry cough had a medical term ascribed to it - called PETA GARAM (warmth of the belly). No one really knew what exactly it means, but it was suppose to be the symptom of many diseases, especially related to cold and allergies.

The term PETA is more famously associated with the acronym for "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals". But here, the treatments for PETA GARAM is associated to a species of mammal called humans, ethically treating the outer belly as a prevention which any day is better than cure.

The cause of a lingering dry cough is always blamed on that elusive PETA GARAM. In case of fever, especially during the summer, it is advised to take a bath with sprinkling less water on head, but a liberal flashing of mugs of cooler water on belly (PETA) to prevent it from going hot (GARAM). If your Pee resembles Mustard oil in color and viscosity, it's the symptom of legendary PETA GARAM.

Shower and ablution those days were a combination of water, bucket and mugs, the fad of toilet paper was still elitist. The concept of toilet paper was as alien as aliens were to me. Toilet and paper were two separate entity, juxtaposing them was strictly fantasy. In 40 degree heat and after hot food water feels a lot better than paper.

An NRI in India once went shopping for Toilet paper. The store was out of it. Said the furious NRI, "What kind of store you have, you don't carry a necessity item like Toilet Paper ?"

"Sorry Sir", The storekeeper responded. We don't have toilet paper but we have plenty of Sand papers. TIKE ADJUST KARANTU or THODA ADJUCT KIJIYE, ("Please adjust a little bit)".

Brahmins were expected to take shower in a semi naked state to prevent their PAITA (sacred thread worn over their shoulder) from getting MAARA (spoiled). And it should involve pouring mugs of water on your belly to keep it in cool and forming a barrage against disease.

It's not uncommon for folks to come out of bathroom with drenched and dipping cloth, a la male version of Mandakini, of Raj Kapoor's "Ram Teri Ganga Maili" fame. In summer such an experience was pleasant. In winter one needs to shiver for minutes before changing to dry clothing.

In our college hostel, there would be a beeline in front of the standing showers when the municipality supply water comes running at noon. The line used to be longer during the winter months as the running water was relatively warmer than the stored one.

The first couple of mugs of water would be poured over the body with a burst of latest Bollywood hit song at top of his voice. That would instantly kill the fear of cold water. The BESURA (tone and beat less) song continues as mugs of water are flashed on the belly to prevent PETA GARAM. The song slowly dies down, as the next person in line keeps knocking on the door, a terse reminder to wrap up with soaked GAMUCHA and tip toe back to your room.

Not sure if those preventing measures against PETA GARAM really prevented us from common ailments. But am sure, it is just another name for dehydration. By drinking plenty of water one is better off than flashing liters of cool water on the torso.

I would like to end this blog with an ode to the talented, blind author of many Odia short stories known for his sarcasm laced writing. His description of minute details was amazing - especially of the human feelings. As he was very young when he lost his eyesight, he could never fall in love at firstsight. He described his blind feeling of love in Odia - "PETA RU GARAM PABAN BAHARI CHHATI KU KUTU KUTU KALA PARI ABHINGAYA" (Love is the feeling of a hot air emanating from the stomach and tickling your heart). I fell in love with that expression of a person who could see it without able to see anyone. Such a feeling of PETA GARAM isn't too bad.

Persecution and pampering

 The saga of two eminent personalities of our history - Chhatrapati Shivaji and Subash Chandra Bose whom our Right wingers treat as their idols. Both were undoubtedly great patriots who fought for the freedom from occupation. Shivaji built the Maratha empire from scratch, strived for independence from Mughals, troubling Aurangzeb to no end to earn the sobriquet "Mountain Rat". The eloquent and charismatic Subash Bose was a perennial throne to the British Raj. Like Shivaji, Subash escaped from the clutch of the mighty ruler to organize resistance from outside.

Yet both were smart unlike their current Right wing eulogizers not to antagonize the minority community by playing  divisive politics. Both ran their Military not based on a Hindu fanaticism platform. They had Muslim soldiers and Generals in their armies (Bose had his Azad Hind Fauz) who served with extreme dedication, loyalty and professionalism.

Why were both successful ? Because both leaders realized the value of secularism. Both knew very well that persecution and pampering of minorities can backfire. Subas Bose recruited POW (Prisoners of War) from the British Army which included good number of Sikhs and Muslims. He treated them professionally - neither pampering them or making them dwell in fear of getting persecuted. Shivaji Maharaj never destroyed any Mosque he captured, nor mistreated any Muslims, their women folks included. By doing so he just neutralized any Jihad (Holy war) card by the contemporary Muslim Kings to be used against him, for he was surrounded by multiple kingdoms ruled by Sultanates. He treated all his subjects, Civilian or Military equally, without any fear or favor, pamper or persecution, irrespective of caste, creed or religious. Being just, his strategy paid well.

In contrast the unjust Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb followed both principles of Persecution and Pampering. He established Zizia (Religion) Tax on Hindus and Sikhs. During his tenure many temples were destroyed, Hindus were persecuted, the Sikh Gurus were brutally tortured and killed. He overturned the long time secular policies of his predecessors. Akbar treated Hindu scholars highly, had many friends including Birbal, the witty close to his heart. Jahangir preferred wine, women and opium to sermons from Mullahs, keeping them at bay. Sah Jahan maintained the status quo. The fanatic Aurangzeb changed that policy, as an end result only to oversee the beginning of the end of his empire.

In modern days, blatant minority (aka Muslim) pamperism by Congress at the national level and Mulayam, Laloo etc at local level led to the rise of BJP. More recently, the abject pampering by Mamata Banerjee in Bengal has led to a spectacular rise of BJP in that state where it was virtually a non entity not so long ago. But a growing BJP hasn't learnt any lesson from the past. Its divisive policy of pampering one community versus persecuting the other is going to backfire sooner or later.

Moral of the story - a balanced, secular approach has led to building of nations. A parochial, right wing with Fascist, supremacy attitude may have led to temporary success but ultimately led to failure. Best examples are Hitler and Mussolini who pampered a section and persecuted another, leading their nations to gotterdammerung. The end - Hitler committed suicide and Mussolini was killed.

History vindicates that neither Persecution nor Pampering a section of society has succeeded on the long run. It's a lesson History has taught us over centuries. No wonder those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.