Existential Dilemma

Re#23 Kaalchakra

Alas
The vagaries
Of our kaals
The great Kaal
That can coolly
Cause crowns to collapse
And beggars become benighted
Yet clearly no Clueso
Is the Kaal
That goes
Round and round
A complete round
Of curiosities
And finally returns
To a point
To THE point
And wonders
Isn’t this where I started?
Or, in other words
Haven’t I seen this before?
Kaal asks a question
That kaal has heard
Asked over the ages
Heard and wondered!
Sought and then
Finally shot!
In short
As the circle of time
Comes back to the point
Where it all started
It asks THE question!
Confounding so many
For so little
For so long!
And so we have
The question
Of our lives
And the question
Of our times
For which time – THE kaal
Provides the answer
Are any of us?
Ever the same
Are any of us?
Always the same
And yet
Are any of us?
All that different
And aren’t we all
In reality
Malleable
When caught
In the cruel clutches of kaal?!!!
And isn’t conformance
The crux of cruelty
And doesn’t it amount
To that close encounter
With the Kaal of the worst kind
The Kaal
Which carries us away!
THAT Kaal!
Yes, my pal!

re: Beej # 18

That`s so very well written!

Had Hitler won, millions would have been literally worshipping him now;... inspired interpreters would have maunfactured endless literature extolling the virtues of Nazism, explaining why gassing perfidious Jews and their little children was the Great Leader`s divinely ordained duty.

Such is the power and hold of ideologies on human mind. No Khukuri could hope to perform this amazing trick.

---

Apologies for being out of the loop, but are Beej and BeeJay one and the same person? :)

Re: # 18

Barun, thanks for responding to the questions. I don’t think you should equate ridicule – which some may have displayed toward this particular ideology, with hate – which is an animal of a very different nature.

You appear to make a distinction between the ideology as it is idealized (or idolized, as some would say) versus as it is practiced. That is generally true of anything in life – even Hitler must have come up with some version of the Nazi philosophy which probably looked good to his followers – the sordid reality was something they were either not exposed to, or they made sure in their own mind to always look away from its problems – something which has been brought up recently in the context of Muslims and Islamic terrorism. As you say, it’s true that a khukri is only good if its user is – the reality of life is that most people are NOT good at using a khukri! After all, when people can find a better alternative to hunt for food – they would stop using the khukri and consider it an outmoded tool – and probably look back wonderingly at those who continue to do so, in spite of better alternatives.

As you so confidently pontificate – “…hate the hands which used the tool to bring spoil and misery…”, the reality is virtually all regimes that accepted this ideology brought little else to their populations! As you say, unsanitary conditions would be breeding grounds for unhealthy ailments – but the appropriate response is to address those conditions – not develop a tolerance or liking for the disease they lead to. However, it’s also true that “hate” is not the appropriate response – in this case, as well as in many other cases of differences based on ideology, religion, etc (I like your attitude of not hating, even though you may have had “justifications” of sort, as you explain). I must differ with you on China – presently, China has few “communist” characteristics – in fact, except for its highly centralized and dictatorial control of power, it could easily pass for a capitalist system.

Let me thank you for explaining the situation in Nepal – which is of interest to me. Because of geographical conditions, some of those movements have been spilling over into north Bihar for a long while. There is nothing trivial about those problems.

Let me also congratulate you on your Gurkha heritage – this group’s courage under fire is legendary and has served as a source of encouragement to countless soldiers throughout the world – the stuff that heroic stories are made of!

Re: # 22

Thank you friend for your responses. I will be leaving for Bijanbari tomorrow for a project and there is lots of homework to do. The villagers have come together to build a Community Hall and I have been given the honour of designing the same.

Also here are some things that I would like to clarify -

Certainly, no Khukuri can replace an ideology (this has especially greater meaning in the Darjeeling Hills today than ever before - people who have been in Darjeeling Hills or know about the political situation here will understand what I mean) and I was not trying to implement it in any way in my previous response. It is also true that ideologies are inherently good and bad. I agree with you when you say that (ALMOST!) all Communist regimes failed to take care of its people. ALMOST! I have lived in Cuba for three years. Castro’s Regime still offers free medical benefits to the people. And this also includes education. Of course, hordes of people still make their way to the United States but then again where does this not take place. Yes, Castro has not been able to make the UNITED STATES out of CUBA but who else has? The issue here certainly, (at least in our discussion) is not that Communism has failed; in fact if you have traveled to Africa or South America for that matter and lived among the people there you will understand that other forms of Governance has also similarly failed. Why? Because the hands that impletemented these forms of Governance failed. You yourself, imply, “…. all regimes that accepted this ideology (Communism) brought little else to their populations”, true, and this is because all these regimes either failed in the implementation of the ideology or simply failed to successfully adapt its principles vis-à-vis their unique needs. We would not want to say that since Democracy failed in certain African countries or even Nepal, it is a failure as an ideology, now do we?

You must know by now that I will be a last person in the Earth to vouch for the Communists. I just like to call spade a spade. And also I don’t like to ridicule at anything, and ideologies of all. Ridicule is begotten either of ignorance or fear. It certainly is worse than Hate. I have always believed myself to be a student. I would like to learn, accept my shortcomings and work upon it but surely not ridicule at others. I would not even ridicule the Nazis because surely, our ‘Bhagat Sight’ can be someone else’s ‘Terrorist’.

And thank you for congratulating me on my Gorkha heritage. I truly am proud. In fact, I come from a long line of soldiers (on my mother’s side.) My granduncle Andrew died in the Indo-Sino War. My grandfather fought in Indo-Pak (48), Indo-Sino and Liberation War (Indo-Pak Bangladesh Liberation). Actually, there were seven of them brothers and all of them were in the Army, granduncle Andrew being one of them. My maternal uncle presently is in Gorkha Rifles and saw action in the Kargil War. I, on the other hand have worked with numerous NGOs including the United Nations and have had the fortune to travel to numerous countries including witnessing the war in Chechnya.

Ideologies are not like khukuris. They affect the mind. They are like drugs. They motivate, they inhibit, they explain, they confuse.

Some are good. Some are very bad. They don`t all work at the same pace. All of them have unintended side effects.

Some people may not benefit from even the best drugs. Some people may derive pleasure from the worst ones, and become addicted to them, finding it impossible to leave them.

Poor Khukuri. Neither khukuri nor swine flu is a patch on bad ideologies.

re: barunroy # 17

Ideologies good, people bad - interesting, but true?

Hardly...

Magar, dil ke khush rakhne ko, Ghalib, ye khayal acha hai.

re: barunroy # 17

Ideologies good, people bad - interesting, but true?

Hardly...

Magar, dil ke khush rakhne ko, Ghalib, ye khayal acha hai.

#14 by kamath
[Bengali culture has nothing to do with it. It is hundred percent stupidity nothing else.]

#15 by Schukler
[what kamath says, i believe, is absolutely true.]
[i guess the red stuff is only a mask...a mask hiding sheer hypocrisy...in india,]

Kamath, don’t you think this is a rather “simplistic” answer? Whether you call it “stupidity” or Schkler calls it “hypocrisy”, I don’t believe there is no rational explanation (maybe Ms. Hindvi has something to contribute (she has on everything else, after all), unless she is still smarting from the drubbing on the other board), I don’t believe it is nostalgia – after all this is at least the third or fourth generation of the followers of that ideology in West Bengal.

Also, after a faith or philosophy or ideology builds up an identity of its own, it does not need continued sustenance from its place of origin – as was seen in case of Buddhism, whose roots are in India but most followers outside it – heck, it probably also applies to Islam and Christianity.

Re: # 16
May be I will agree with you to some extent. I believe Indian society has a long long way to go to digest essence of different political philosophiesand put into practice. Lots of people in Indian politics are still driven by lots of irrational and extreme ignorance. Take the case of former president `Jail` Singh who said that he preferred Hitler to the British just because he did not like the British rule during Independence movement. Or founder of RSS was deeply inspired by Fascist movement of 1920s. How many RSS wallahs have the slightest notion what Fascism is? How many Communists even know how to spell the world. How many even bother to read a good book about various polutcal philosophies. ? So I did simply summarised and said ..it is just stupidity. Few hundred words are not sufficient to analyse the issue properly. But on the whole democracy is in action and communism will be spent force over time.

Re: # 17

Friends, first of all, allow me to express my surprise at such a unanimous hatred of an ideology. Believe me, I have nothing against it. In fact, I have just returned back from Russia after working in Groznyy and am myself in a mood of ‘Old Commie bashing’ then any thing else. And that all of us good old folks here have gathered to discuss about the urgency of the need for the end of Communism, there are certain things that I would like to share.

Communism as an ideology is inherently good in itself as are most other ideologies. And nothing explains this better than our own pet proverb (in the Darjeeling Hills) – ‘A Khukuri is as good as the man who uses it’. A man can use a Khukuri as a weapon to either injure or kill another human being, or he can use it to hunt to provide food for his family or still to clear the woods to make a ground to farm for his family. Surely, the use of the Khukuri itself prompts us to formulate an opinion about it which might not be universally true. Similarly, then ideologies are nothing but tools used by people to achieve their own aspirations by adapting the same as per their own specific needs. (Hence the gradual evolution of ideologies - Marxism, Leninism, Maoism, Glasnost, Modern Communism, Moderate Socialism so on and so forth. And of course, Capitalism, Social Liberalism, Socio-Capitalism etc.)

Shouldn’t then one hate the hands which used the tool to bring spoil and misery upon the people at the same time praise those (hands) which used the same tool to bring happiness, glory and prosperity to the people? If the Communists haven’t been able to do much in West Bengal, those on the other side of the ideological barrier do not seem to have achieved much in other states as well. Surely, here, again I would not like to blame Communism or the Capitalism for the failure. The real culprits are those who use these as tools for the achievement of their personal goals sans those of the people they are supposed to serve.

Poverty, inequality, depravation, exploitation and the lack of freedom are a breeding ground not just for Communist Movements (such as in Russia, China, Cuba, Vietnam, Angola and the others) but also for Nationalist movements like ours or for that matter all the pro-democratic independence movements of Asia, Africa and even South America. There has been a Capitalist pro-democracy movement active in Nepal for more than sixty years now. The Maoist movement is only an infant compared to this. In fact, Constitutional Monarchy was the greatest achievement of this movement, only to be taken back by the present King. The democratic parties in Nepal lost much time in their internal squabbling so much so that there has been no development beyond the Kathmandu Valley. The rest of the nation feels that they have been betrayed both by their King and their democratically elected leaders who are keen only about their seats of power. Their hope now pinned on Maoism surely, I hope, is not because of mass (100 per cent) stupidity as Mr. Kamath seems to believe the reason behind the Communist sway among the Bengali people in West Bengal! (Mr. Schukler agreeing to the same as the absolute truth!)

The Chinese experiments on the other hand, with their Political Ideology is not based upon their losing hope in the same either instead it only proves their leaders being pragmatic, suitably re-modifying the tool for the needs of the time to best suit their aspirations.

[By the way, Darjeeling Hills is the only region in the whole of West Bengal where Communism does not have any sway among the people or the politics of the region. I myself being part Bengali and part Gorkha fought against the Communists during the Gorkhaland Movement. The cadres of the Gorkha Voluntary Corps (GVC) the armed wing of Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) fought pitched armed battles against the cadres of Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M). I was eleven years old then. My maternal uncle was killed by a group of CPI-M cadres while fighting against them in Tukver T. E. Of all the people hating Communism, I should certainly have been the first!]

what kamath says, i believe, is absolutely true. the hold of the red philosophy in WB has nothing to do with bengali culture. in fact, i would go so far as to say that bengali culture is the complete opposite of it...and what sort of communisn do they follow...buddhadeb is now going all out to get foreign investment in bengal...further, as netizen rightfully asks - what is the relevance of maoism now in the country of its very birth. i guess the red stuff is only a mask...a mask hiding sheer hypocrisy...in india, it is time to push them out of WB and Kerala. We can only hope that antony/chandy succeeds in the south and buddha subverts his party`s cause in the east.

Not being a great fan of the commies myself, I think the article was an awesome piece of parody. I have heard people say that for India, the communist model is the best...with its promises of equality and `people`e rule`...Nonsense...We need an Indian solution to an Indian problem not Mao`s, Lenin`s, Marx`s. We have our share of philosophers and thinkers too and we must use them...or else we are bound to have such confusing statements (as spoken by the four comrades in this article) made by confusing people to the confused masses.
I reckon that those who are derisively called `the chaddiwallahs` - soon to be pantwallahs are a tad better. I can atleast understand what they are talking about.

Barun, I have always wondered – why does the red philosophy hold such sway in West Bengal in particular, where it is so institutionalized? What is the connection to the “Bengali” culture?

Re: # 11
``...I have always wondered – why does the red philosophy hold such sway in West Bengal in particular, where it is so institutionalized? What is the connection to the “Bengali” culture?..``
Bengali culture has nothing to do with it. It is hundred percent stupidity nothing else.

Dear Mr. Poolani, Communism in all its flavours have served India well and has been beneficial to its social upliftment at least in the states of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. Though the benefits the Red Hordes have brought may not have been much to everyone`s desires. On the other hand, Communism has also had had a drastic affect upon the entire North East, where overtly and covertly Red leaning outfits such as NSCN have put the entire populace hostage. In fact, most of the outfits are engaged in a protracted war with the Indian Union and views themselves as (Indian) Vietcong.

In Nepal meanwhile, where I was fortunate enough to spend time at Maoist Camps interviewing young rebels, the one thing I found distinctly baffling was the impossibility of the dreams these people live in. At least your characters – Mr. Max Nair, Stalin Joseph, Lenin Abdullah, Mao Mennon have begun to question the futility of the Lost Revolution, the Maoists in Nepal still believe in achieving the Communist Nirvana, which strangely again, seems to be achievable mostly due to the stupidity of the Monarch who wants to cling on to the throne overlooking almost all the woes of the populace – Now should the question be asked again – Is communism in all its flavours a lost ideology – an ideology so unusable that even the Recycle bin would not take it? Certainly not, the rag tag army of Maoist in Nepal today not only outnumbers and outguns the Royal Nepalese Army 3 to 1; they control almost 65 per cent of the kingdom. And the People’s Liberation Army or the Communist Party of China aren’t helping them (in fact the Chinese Government offered to help the Monarchy fight the Maoists). To command such influence among the populace through sheer ideology can only prove one thing and that is – Communism or Maoism still holds some truth in it. Similarly, the communist outfits in some parts of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram have such control that they run a parallel government and the populace in these bordering villages has never seen the tricolour. Surely, for a nation like ours not being able to celebrate its independence inside its own physical boundary for 58 years leaves many questions to be answered…

Thank you for you excellent piece. Satire I surely hope so.

Re: # 10
barunroy

``To command such influence among the populace through sheer ideology can only prove one thing and that is – Communism or Maoism still holds some truth in it.``

Poverty, inequality is a breeding ground for communism. Nepal is a very poor country, exploitation is rampant when an opportunistic like Prachanda comes along promising utopia, people believe him.

Did you tell these comrades about the changes in the land of Mao. How china itself is moving towards capatilism and of what relevance is maoism in that country?