A Drunken RSS Man in Jassema

refreshing this was Harish! a long journey is nearing an end?

harish!

loved the lyricism in these passages


...That is perhaps where the real secret of hospitality lies locked. My cheery introduction was an opportunistic exaggeration of friendliness; his half-smile was a most natural, unstrained recollection. Thomas, in many ways, embodied Goa’s spirit. He wore intimacy lightly. He made everybody welcome in a way that was in direct contrast to the welcome of an airhostess or shop floor salesman, who too welcome business with a face. There was in Thomas’s welcome a total disregard for the transactional value or its promise, in the customer.

and this one

I was speaking of the stunning Karwari woman we had seen at a small village kiosk along the highway. We had stopped for a smoke break, and this woman had landed up at the same stall from somewhere nearby. She was probably a farm labourer. She wore a mustard yellow saree, and was of regular height. Her built was the lean, mean, hungry kind, a kind of sparse body that would have been wiry in a man. It was her face that was like the blow of the hammer directly into the iris; even if our irises were tired and dimmed by nine hours in the sun. She had golden burnished skin, a well-formed, sleek, unobtrusively long nose that burst into a florid flare from the false diamond that she had in her nose ring.

Her eyes, not large and expressive, but neither beady and penetrative; they were rather averagely ineloquent eyes. But the lashes, they were speckled with dust visible in the lighted shade of the late afternoon, made her eyes mesmerising. And yet what really took our half deadened senses away from the death to the ringing reality of this woman’s beauty was the streak of red that glistened on her slim lips with impossible, almost painterly sensuousness. And then the beetle juice trickled from the left corner, instantly killing two men with one trickle. One stupid enough to be seasoned, the other seasoned enough to be stupid.


rgds

t

An RSS guy says that Muslims are brothers (while drunk) & THE problem is dissolved...
Huh

- SN

Nice in a mediocre sort of way.I don`t know what else to say.

Hi Harish:

I was hoping you would have covered Goa a bit more. I had a great time there, especially the evening cruise. Goa seems to be developing a personality of its own - the christian and hindu cultures seem to have mingled well together to create a Goan culture.

BTW I am wondering if Shiv Sena was a reaction to the upper-caste leadership of the RSS?

Re: # 5

``BTW I am wondering if Shiv Sena was a reaction to the upper-caste leadership of the RSS?``

thackerays are brahmins. SS was more a bunch of rowdies of mumbai for protection of marathi manus (man). It is said it was encouraged to grow to check the militant trde unions in mumbai mills. SS initially attacked the southerners and the northerners for the benefit of the natives (maharashtrians) , only during 90s they started attacking muslims. but now they are back to show that they are the sole protector of the native maharashtrains in mumbai. 2 years back they beat up a few biharis who had come to mumbai for railway exams.

THE R.S.S. IS STILL STUCK IN THE OLD, OUT DATED CASTE FORMULA, LIKE MOST OF HINDUS IN INDIA. BY GIVING CHANCE ONLY TO BRAHMINS, FOR THE TOP BERTHS, THEY CUT OFF NEARLY 80% OF THE HINDU POPULATION.

I THINK THE THAKERAYS ARE NOT BRAHMINS, THEY BELONG TO THE C.K.P. CASTE.
IT DOESN`T MATTER, THOUGH, THE SHIV SENA WAS CREATED PRIMARILY TO PROTECT THE INTERESTS OF THE NATIVE MAHARASHTRIANS.
THE SHIV SENA DOESN`T DISCRIMINATE MUCH ON THE BASIS OF RELIGION, CASTE OR CREED, IF IT WANTS TO OPPOSE ANYONE.
IT TURNED MORE TOWARDS RELIGIOUS ISSUES WHEN IT STARTED CONTESTING ELECTIONS, LOOSING MARATHI VOTES AND GIVING CHANCE TO OTHER REGIONAL PARTIES LIKE THE N.C.P.
NATURALLY, THE SHIV SENA IS TRYING TO LOCATE ITS ROOTS IN MUMBAI AND THE KONKAN AND BALANCE ITS HINDUTVA IDEOLOGY, BUT IT SEEMS NOT TO BE WORKING, WITH NARAYAN RANE LEAVING THE PARTY.


THE ARTICLE`S DEFINITELY A NICE READ. NAGRAJ GIVES ONE THE FEELING THAT PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO BREAK FROM THE STERIOTYPICAL BELIFS AND TRYING TO THINK BY THEMSELVES.
I JUST HAVE ONE QUESTION FOR Mr. NAMBIAR, WHY `BOMBAY` AND NOT THE ORIGINAL `MUMBAI`, WHEN THE CITY`S BEEN OFFICIALLY RENAMED A FEW YEARS AGO?

Well done again Harish, but I still waiting for that book. Keep going sir.

Harish:

A little too long on too many littles! (Now where did we here that before?!) I have to agree with Dost – you hit a bit too light on Goa and too hard on the bar – and all that it entailed, including that ex-RSS man.

Notes:

[He seemed to have surrendered to ganja before his moped lost control. He lay still. A few locals had gathered around him. From all accounts it was a small accident and he would live.]
Another adrak-lover bites the dust – hamidm, please take note!

[Thomas made me feel like he was my longtime friend. ….The aura. The aura that people, characters, history speak of, about famous, physically, historically imposing personalities like the Russian mystic Rasputin, or Gandhi, or Einstein.]
Say goodbye to your expectations, Thomas, at least to those of the long-pending bar bills ever being paid out!

[…the streak of red that glistened on her slim lips with impossible, almost painterly sensuousness. And then the beetle juice trickled from the left corner, instantly killing two men with one trickle. One stupid enough to be seasoned, the other seasoned enough to be stupid. ]
Yup, that betel-juice will do it every time! Especially to long-suffering lonely half-dead “zombies” on bike!

[“Should we pack them off to Pakistan?” I was hoping it was a funny question and Nagaraj would get the clincher before we parted.]
More accurately, a “leading question” from an intoxicated Perry Mason, but the “witness” is the one who seems to have pulled a rabbit from the hat, not the lawyer – at least during this round!

Re: # 6
Thakrays are CKPs.

Just a factual note. The RSS seems to be trying to get out of its old Brahminical image. Its current Sar Sangh Chaalak (President) as well as his predecessor were not brahmins.

Re: # 10

what does CKP stand for?

Re: #11 by dost-mittar

[Just a factual note. The RSS seems to be trying to get out of its old Brahminical image. Its current Sar Sangh Chaalak (President) as well as his predecessor were not brahmins.]


Dost-Mitter,

I have a great respect for people who deal with facts. And I appreciate the fact that you are trying here to clear up a misconception (at the risk of being unpopular, maybe?).

Since I am relatively new to this website, I must have missed out on many ``facts`` that are common knowledge on this website.

So, that being the case, could you point me in the direction of how you (or any other fact-based poster on this website), ever came across the fact that the RSS had cultured a ``Brahminical image`` in the past.

And also, could you also orient me towards the understanding of the term ``Brahminical image``. And how is that different from a ``Hindu image``?

I would really appreciate it.


Thanks,

Ajeya

shivsena thakreys are a ``Kayastha`` caste..like srivastava or saxena of north.

this caste has a history of being babus (scribes, quarter-masters) in mughal, nizam and maratha courts..but some of them also made a transition of becoming mansabdars by wielding the sword. thakrey poses himself in the role of a maratha fief.

SS is maratha, but casteless..most of the cadre is lower-caste, lower-middle class mill and factory workers, bank karmacharis etc, and leadership is mixed.

Time and again, people here (mostly Indians) have accused the RSS and BJP of being ``Brahminical``, but anyone who has knows the parties from up close will vouch for the fact that nothing can be further from the truth. Let`s take the RSS leadership. The current RSS top honcho Sudershan is not a Brahmin. Nor is the party spokesman Ram Madhav. If you take the BJP, Vajpayee is a Brahmin and Pramod Mahajan and Sushma Swaraj may be Brahmins (I`m not sure), but Advani, Jaswant Singh, Bangaru Laxman, and Venkaiah Naidu are definitely not Brahmins. If you go to their state units, most of the leaders are not Brahmins.

The percentage of Brahmins in the BJP/RSS is more or less equal to the percentage of Brahmins in the Congress. But again, the percentage of Brahmin leaders is disproportionately larger when compared to their overall population but that could be because they are more educated and hence more politically aware and active.

rozaiba,

Yes! Is it that obvious?:)

t,

Thanks! That is good for somebody diffident about physical discriptions!

wiseguyin,

NO, of course. Just that it sets tone.

dost,

To a great extent the travel I do impresses a kind of form and regimentation on my work. In so far as that is concerned, I cannot often do justice to all the places I visit. What you say about Goa is very true. Maybe, another time.

And, no the Shiv Sena is not a caste based party at all. It is a genuine sons-of-the-soil movement that got political, and later religious. I have a piece on chowk that traces the raisond`etre of the party. It is called An Insight into the way the SS functions.

HN