Category: Enough said

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Enough said

Of old-fashioned remedies and exploring nature

We have turned our backs on the natural medicines our country offers us, putting our faith in expensive, chemical cures.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

For the last two days, I have been plucking and piling up leaves. My nephew has been down with dengue and the only natural cure for it is papaya leaves, or rather the papaya pulp and juice. Also, with my diabetes playing hide-and-seek with me, I was told that the only way out was to chew guava leaves.

I went to the nearest nursery but it was too fashionable to stock our ‘outdated’ amrood plants. The jeans-clad maali rattled off the names of some japani-chini-vilayati imported plants that the nursery had, so I had to take my leave. But not one to give up, I went to a far-away orchard full of guava trees and plucked some off the trees. Since then, I have been chewing on them like a goat. With my usual dal roti, these leaves are becoming a staple part of my diet.

There are so many benefits to be explored from nature’s bounty, but we often overlook them. My doctor, Dr GP Sharma, has been insisting for so long, “You are fortunate that that younatural medicines are a diabetic in India, for there are so many natural remedies available – jamun, neem, cinnamon, karela, bhindi, several herbs and seeds, so many trees and shrubs. All of these are natural ways to combat high blood sugar levels.”

But to recap from diabetes to dengue, it is now becoming obvious that dengue is fast becoming something to fear. It is virulent and severe, with mosquitoes thriving (or should I say, allowed to thrive) by the municipal authorities, who are unable to clear up the mess even around our health centres. If this state of affair continues, we may have to trash the oft-quoted ‘A for apple, B for ball…’ for a newer version of the alphabet that our future generations can easily relate to. We might have to teach them, ‘M for mosquito, D for dengue, C for corruption, K for killer…’

And while we have been paying little heed to nature and whatever it can do for, nature seems to be getting back at mankind, too. First the havoc at Uttarakhand, now along our country’s coastline. And even in the midst of the chaos, we see, perhaps only in our country, that in the midst of the stampede, those stranded devotees are not rescued but thrown into rivers and nullahs! This happened this week in Madhya Pradesh, when hapless devotees were flung into nullahs and rivers by dreaded Chambal dacoits by MP cops.

And even as we grapple with everyday worries – inflation, infectious diseases, cyclones, corruption – the election fever slowly catches on and makes fools of us all in several different ways. But that’s a column for another time.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.nytimes.com, www.hemroidharry.com)

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Enough said

The USA’s problem, in Chomsky’s words

Humra Quraishi recalls an old meeting with Noam Chomsky, especially since most of his words then are coming true now.

Total anarchy seems to be the order of the day. It’s happening in the Middle East, it’s happening in the African belt and to an extent, in our subcontinent.

The more I ponder over the situation, the more I recall a 2001 meeting with Noam Chomsky in New Delhi, when he’d given forewarnings of the shape of things to come. During the interview, he had repeatedly stressed that more disasters were waiting to hit as countries like the USA continuing with their expansionist policies.

arms raceHe’d said, “The threat of terrorism is not the only abyss into which we peer…an even greater threat is posed by the very expansion of the arms race. The arms race is inappropriate, because the USA is, for now, competing alone. Its goal is to achieve ‘full spectrum dominance’. These plans have been available in Government documents for some time and their plans are being developed.

“These plans were expanded in the first months of the Bush administration and again after September 11, in a crude exploitation of the fear and horror engendered by these horrific crimes. It is conventional everywhere for attack to be called ‘defence’ and this case is no exception. The plans for militarisation of space are disguised as ‘Ballistic Missile Defence’ (BMD), and even if technically feasible, must rely on satellite communication and destroying satellites is easier than shooting down missiles. This is one reason why the USA must seek ‘full spectrum dominance’.

“Such overwhelming control of space that even the poor man’s weapons will not be available to an adversary. The goals of space militarisation extend far beyond than this. It’s the Clinton era publications that announce the primary goal prominently: ‘Dominating the space dimension of military operations to protect US interests and investment.’ Armies were needed ‘during the westward expansion of continental United States.’ Of course, in self defence against the indigenous population!”

He added, “In the Reagan years alone, US-sponsored State terrorists in Central America had left hundreds of thousands tortured and mutilated corpses, millions maimed and orphaned and four countries in ruins…In the same years, West-backed South African depredations had killed 1.5 million people. I need not speak of West Asia or much else. All of this, however, is barred from the annals of terrorism by a simple device: the term terrorism, like most terms of political discourse, has two meanings; a literal one and a propagandist one.

“The literal one can be found in the official US documents, which instructs that ‘Terrorism is the calculated use of violence or threat of violence to attain goals that are political, religious or ideological in nature (carried out) through intimidation, coercion or by instilling fear.’ But the literal definition cannot be used, because it is close paraphrase of the official policy called ‘low intensity war’ or ‘counter terrorism’.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.al-monitor.com)

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Enough said

Revisiting Gandhi’s present-day legacy

Would our politics be any different if Mahatma Gandhi’s grandchildren had joined active politics? Or would things continue as before?
by Humra Quraishi

As I write this column a little after Gandhi jayanti this year, I have been recollecting several things about the Mahatma. The very crux of his philosophy was simplicity laced with truth. Nothing complicated or layered, just a subtle and direct way of communicating. Probably this is why we can so easily relate to the great man even today.

gopalkrishna gandhiEvery time I meet any of his four grandchildren, children of his son Devdas Gandhi, I get the sense the same sense of uncomplicated communication. Each time I’ve interviewed Ramchandra Gandhi, Rajmohan Gandhi, Gopalkrishna Gandhi (in pic on left) and Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee, I’ve always got a sense of ‘genuineness’ in their words and views. Even when I visited Tara and Rajmohan’s homes, I was struck by the simplicity. In fact, the late Ramchandra Gandhi had never even owned a home and lived all his life in a rented annexe in very tight financial conditions.

When I first visited Tara (in pic below) at her South Delhi home, I could see it was a very ‘different’ space. Huge hand-made dolls stood in the house, as did charkhas and khadi weaves. When I asked her about her grandfather, she’d said, “Bapu kept a very tight schedule so we couldn’t interact for hours at a stretch, though I’d spent most of my childhood with him and Ba. He spoke on ‘mulya’(values), taught us to value time, to focus on ‘buniyadi usul’(fundamental values). I never saw him angry or cranky. But very often he’d looked sad. In fact, whenever he was upset he’d stop talking and fast or tara gandhi bhattacharjeekeep a maun or roza and stop eating. When upset, he would sit at the charkha spinning for hours at a stretch.”

Rajmohan described his relationship with Gandhiji thus: “As his grandchildren, we didn’t have any special rights to his time. He belonged to the entire nation. At that time, I was a child so I couldn’t understand it, but I later realised that the family had to pay a heavy price to achieve freedom. Looking back, I think even then I had some inkling of why we, his grandchildren, couldn’t spend much time with him.

rajmohan gandhiHe recounted the values he inherited from his grandfather and father, “My father Devdas Gandhi brought us up on the same values – that money making was not to be the purpose of life, that service was to be part of life and that any service ought to be totally unconnected with personal advancement. He always stood for freedom of the Press and told us how important it was for the Press to be free.”

There is much to share on the subject of Bapu and the many anecdotes of his life and times, but I have to share this one thought: I wish Gandhi’s grandchildren had joined active politics. Who knows, the situation in the country could have been somewhat better with their presence? Rajmohan (in pic above), who had joined the Janata Dal briefly before leaving the party and politics after huge disillusionment, said, “Today, political parties have hardened their stance on questions of caste and religion. My inability to do that prevents me from finding a strong voice in any political party. As far as the Congress is concerned, the refusal of the party to fight out corruption keeps me away from it.

“The BJP is out of the question because of its ideology. I am too old to start a new party of movement. I would have done it years back but not now…today I find my skull too  fragile!”

Humra Quraishi is a senior journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.thehindu.com, www.zimbio.com, www.theguardian.com, www.hss.iitm.ac.in)

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Enough said

When scenes of strife sicken

Images of riots make us yearn for human suffering to stop. But what about those who actively manufacture that suffering?
Humra QuraishiHumra  Quraishi

I realise that I am talking about the Muzzaffarnagar riots for the third consecutive week through this column. And I also realise that it is futile to keep harping on the patterns of riot and how similar they were to those witnessed during the Partition.

In this connection, I remember interviewing Sunil Dutt soon after the Mumbai riots of the 90s. I asked him if there was any solution to the civil strife and the rioting. And he’d nodded and said, “Yes, there can be a solution. Last night I was going through the latest issue of Time magazine, and the horrifying photographs of war-ridden Somalia shocked me so much that I couldn’t eat. It was dinner time but I couldn’t touch a morsel. Those pictures of people dying, injured and ill, rendered so helpless that most couldn’t even walk.

“And now I am going to suggest that those pictures and others be displayed all over our towns and cities, at all public places and sunil_dutteducational institutions of our country. They should be displayed with this caption, ‘See what war can do to you, your country, your fellow human beings.’”

I had probed him on allegations that he was working only for the minorities during the Hindu-Muslim riots. Looking suitably pained, he’d said, “These are filthy allegations. These are things I can’t even dream of – like people calling me a Pakistani agent or a desh drohi married to a Muslim! Why this propaganda that I’ve worked only for Muslims? When I undertook a padyatra from Mumbai to Amritsar, it was for no Muslim cause, it was for Hindus and Sikhs!

“Even during the Bombay riots, I helped whoever was affected. Obviously I couldn’t first ask them their religion and then help them. Though I have been a victim of the Partition myself, I have suffered tremendously, but my mother taught us never to hate another human being. I have passed this on to my children. It’s important to spread this message because once there is anarchy, it ruins everything.”

And while the tension abates somewhat over Muzaffarnagar (or that is what we believe, safe in our homes elsewhere), I am wondering about former army chief General VK Singh’s recent revelations. Sitting on his safe perch, assured of a strong political career with Narendra Modi as his chief, with an adequate monthly pension to boot, the General has only now spoken about money being given to certain politicians in the Kashmir Valley.

VK singhTwo things: one, if General VK Singh was aware of this, why didn’t he speak out earlier? Why now? Also, if what he is saying is true, is it really as shocking as all that? Don’t we all know that it is an ongoing trend to have money pumped from one location to another – to silence many voices and to keep one’s rule intact?

Little wonder, then, that in each and every conflict zone of this country, a certain section of society thrives. It’s this section – comprising politicians, informers, suppliers, sometimes even the police – that gets rich and flourishes. No wonder, also, that so many conflicts take place in the country fairly regularly.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.the-south-asian.com, www.firstpost.com, www.topnews.in)

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Enough said

Why the silence on ‘those’ rapes?

Several women were reportedly raped and molested during the recent Muzaffarnagar riots in UP. Why is nobody talking about them?
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

Last week saw two crucial announcements taking place – one, death for the four Delhi rapists of Nirbhaya, and two, the official appointment of Narendra Modi as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate for the General Elections next year.

Both these announcements put to mind a certain fact – hundreds of women were raped in the 2002 Gujarat pogrom, and more recently, there were reports of rape and sexual harassment of women from the ‘weaker sections’ during the Muzaffarnagar riots.

I cannot fathom the silence about these atrocities. Why were these victims not allowed to lodge formal complaints? Who are these rapists? Why are there no arrests? Why were no death sentences passed against them? Why are the criminals allowed to go untouched, or even allowed to escape?

What is the establishment saying: that rapes taking place during a pogrom or a communal riot can be forgotten or bypassed? That they are modi not important enough to merit investigation? Except for certain sections of the national media, not one political party in the country has spoken about this extremely disturbing news; that women were harassed and raped and molested during the recent rioting in West Uttar Pradesh. And that they and their families have not dared to file a formal complaint, perhaps out of fear of the aftermath.

So many women sit bruised and broken…

It is this acceptance of such grave injustice that worries me the most. And it has been happening right from the 2002 pogrom. I have been meeting Muslims affected in Gujarat on and off since 2002, and they have been saying over and over that they have learnt to live like second class citizens, with third class living conditions. They dare not speak out against the powers that be, for that could mean doom. If they have to survive, they have no choice but be silent spectators to their own pain and humiliation.

Some of them, I fear, could even be lured towards Modi’s political party, a party that wears a multitude of masks! The BJP is a party that believes in multiplying through an array of shrewd strategies amidst a conspiracy of silence and clever attacks.

Even more worrying is the feeling of doom in the air…much before the elections of 2014 come about, there have been very worrying developments in the country. A very militant sort of communalism is rearing its ugly head bit by bit. Are we to sit and quietly await developments, even as injustices are meted out every day?

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy daily.bhaskar.com, www.sandeepweb.com)

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In memory of Muzaffarnagar

A peaceful town in its earlier years is currently the battleground for communal hatred. What caused this change and why?
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

I was born in Uttar Pradesh and I spent my childhood and my carefree teenage years in that State. I travelled to several remote villages and locales there because my father was particular about his family – my amma and his children – tagging along in our open jeep or in our Baby Hindustan car.

We had travelled through Western UP’s Muzaffarnagar and the adjoining belt on several occasions. I can still recall the sights: sprawling sugarcane fields, dozens of workers on the fields, several zamindars and farmers walking about. There was never a bit of tension among communities and never any question raised about caste or creed, and certainly no communal hatred. We’d spent hours initially roaming about, even travelled late at night and it seemed so perfect. Not once did we hear any mention of so-and-so being a Yadav or a Jat or a Musalmaan or a Brahmin.

All of those idyllic images from my childhood were rudely shattered from the early 90s onwards, with worsening communal tensions over the years. The hatred spread all over, furious and uncontrolled. In 2007 or 2008, at a SAARC writers meet in Agra, I’d asked the New Delhi-based historian Rifaqat Ali details about the ground situation in and around that belt. His observations were particularly relevant because he hails from rural Aligarh.

He said, “The fact is this: only a Jat or a Yadav can have the confidence to write his name atop his vehicle. For a Musalmaan it will spell death or doom. He dare not flaunt his name, Muzaffarnagar picks up gunsespecially in an unknown area.” On another occasion, an academic who belongs to Western Uttar Pradesh told me that though his wife wears a burqa or a hijab, he finds the practice unsafe when they travel homewards. “It is prudent not to ‘look’ like a Musalmaan, for your vehicle could be stopped and damaged, and you could be attacked…anything could happen.”

If you ask about the cops and what they do to save or salvage the mounting tensions, the answers you receive reveal a complexity beyond the expected corruption in the ranks. Apparently, at the constable level, they are recruited as per their caste and creed, so when a situation arises, they act or attack based on whether their community is involved. A Yadav minister or Chief Minister would be more than tempted to enroll as many Yadavs in the force as possible. A Jat minister would do likewise, and this pattern continues across several castes. It would be interesting to know the exact percentage of cops vis-a-vis the community ruling at that moment.

And this communal hatred has spread to the nearby villages and qasbas and towns of Western Uttar Pradesh. Right-wing goons have turned the area into a cesspool. Till date, the BJP MLA from that particular area, Sangeet Som, has not been arrested and thrown into prison, despite uploading the fake video that started the recent mess and which will affect generations of people forever. Nor have other politicians involved in the issue.

Ironical, isn’t it, that the same belt of Western Uttar Pradesh, which had seen the start of the ouster of the British from our land with the Mutiny of 1857 is today embroiled in anarchy? But what happens next? Obviously, a thick-skinned politician or an absolute fool might appear on TV and say, “All is coming back to normal! Only 37 are dead and another 100 are injured, and several others have fled. But the situation is under control!”

What about the four BJP men accused on inciting violence and who have gone underground? What was the police doing? Where were the inputs from IB? What about the role of the Akhilesh Yadav Government? Even if the father-son duo of Mulayam and Akhilesh cry themselves hoarse with the “It’s a Right-wing conspiracy!” refrain, the question they are still not answering is: Why didn’t their police force act?

Humra Quraishi is a senior journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.thehindu.com, www.hindustantimes.com)

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