Showing posts with label British India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label British India. Show all posts

Saturday, 11 June 2022

Remembering Jallianwala Bagh massacre...

Sardar Udham (Hindi; 2021)
Director: Shoojit Sircar

One always wonders how a cult started by a group of semi-literate fishermen at the fringe of the Roman Empire by the Sea of Galilee could eventually grow up to impress the whole of the Empire, including its rulers. This rebel's rhetorics soon triggered justified wars and legitimised usurping of lands to claim their hegemony. The belief system garnered potential believers because it targeted the oppressed or the persecuted. The marginalised and the dying were given the dignity to exist with others on Earth. In return, the converts were willing to trade in their lives (or, in their words, sell their soul) for the religion. Yes, martyrdom played an essential role in recruiting more new members. 

As India goes on a spree to rewrite its national history, more and more heroes of yesteryears come to the fore. Sardar Udham Singh (@ Sher Singh @ Ram Mohammad Singh Azad) is one such example. He had been conferred the title Shaheed-i-Azam Sardar Udham Singh, the great martyr, after Indian Independence to honour him as one of the freedom fighters in India's war of Independence. He is credited for assassinating Michael O'Dwyer, the former Lt Governor of Punjab who gave orders to Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer to open fire on a crowd of 20,000 inside Jallianwala Bagh, an enclosed park, in 1919. These people congregated in an enclosed garden near the Golden Temple in Amritsar to celebrate Vaisakhi, at the same time, to express their protest against the British colonial masters for arresting Congress Party's satyagraha proponents, Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew. The congregants were accused of violating the law, which banned any assembly of more than four people.

Udham Singh
Udham Singh from an orphanage, himself a late teenager, was witness to the brutal assault at Jallianwala Bagh. Deeply traumatised by the whole event, he joined the movements of the masses to oust mighty Britain from their country. He, a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Movement, made it his life mission to assassinate the perpetrators of the killings at Jallianwala Bagh. The army shot at the unarmed civilians not to warn them but on a mission to kill. They hit till their enormous cache of bullets ran out.

Udham Singh was running away from the British Imperial Police all his life. He crept out of India, through Germany and Russia and finally sneaked into England. His revolutionary activities were influenced by Bhagat Singh and the Gaddarites, the overseas Indians who supported India's quest for self-rule. 

21 years after the incident at Jallianwala Bagh, Udham Singh shot Michael O'Dwyer in cold blood after he delivered a lecture in London. This film gives a rundown account of this whole saga, spending a lot of time on the aftermath of the shooting and death at Jallianwala Bagh.

Wednesday, 4 May 2022

The need for a routine and human interaction!


Mathilukal (Malayalam, The Walls, 1990)
Written & Directed by: Adoor Gopalakrishna
(Autobiography of Vaikom Muhammad Basheer)


This is another classic from Kerala's son of the soil. It tickles our minds to consider two things. Firstly, human beings are creatures of routine. The other is we are social animals.

A routine schedule gives them a purpose to this entity called life. No matter how purposeless the rituals may be, we would do it diligently as if it were a higher calling. We would find a legitimate explanation to justify our actions, perhaps give a scientific twist to it. In absence of these 'unwritten' rules and left to our own devices, we would probably just rot away trying to fulfil the indulges that satisfy our primal needs. This would just make the human race a band of sloppy sluggards. Soon enough, the species would be decimated from the face of Earth.

Being social animals, we need to interact with each other. This interaction could be in person, via mail, in cyberspace or just by hearing a responsive voice, as we learn to appreciate from this film. And the voice does not need a face to go with it.

Being in prison cuts us off from our desire to be free. It put us into a routine, which hopefully will make us reassess our existence. The routine nature of life there hopes to put us back into the loop of living purposefully.

Having human interaction is construed as a luxury for inmates. Hence, solitary confinement is threatened as a stick to cow them to conform to the rules of gaols.

This legendary offering with a string of accolades behind its name tells of the author’s autobiography during his incarceration during the pre-independence era in the 1940s when he was charged with treason for writing ‘anti-National’ articles. The film can roughly be divided into two parts.

In the first, we learn that he is respected by jailers and fellow inmates. He gets on jolly well with other prisoners, considering the usual stereotype about prison politics we get from movies. Everyone has a backstory justifying their crime and the circumstances that pushed them to commit them. Basheer, the protagonist, is well respected, for everyone knows about his incisive writings.

One day, there was quite an excitement when many political prisoners were released when the colonial masters had a change of heart. Unfortunately, Basheer's name is not on the list. Basheer is left alone without his friends. The small rose garden he cultivated around the compound started growing, giving him some tranquillity.

One day, whilst tending his garden, whistling, Basheer hears a feminine voice from the other side of the tall prison wall. What started as time-pass slowly evolved from a non-essential banter to possibly something romantic. It came to a time when that was the most looked forward moment of the day!

Finally, when the day came for release, Basheer was actually in two minds about whether he should leave as he would miss his conversationalist across the wall. How ironic. He wanted to leave the prison all the while, but now he is sad about leaving. How routine and meaningful interaction brought purpose to life!




Saturday, 16 April 2022

Then and now...

Somebody's here!

It is a piece of land right in the middle of the triangular subcontinent, a land so remote that King Dasavaratha thought it was apt for Ram, Sita and Laxman to spend 14 years in exile. A forest lush with various flora, deer, birds with psychedelic-hued feathers, the cursed stone of Ahalya, sages, tribes and demons used as their playground and workstations. It soon came to be non-existent with climate change and invading foreign invaders over the generations.


Locally made pistols


The farangs took a particular interest in this area when they were kings. The abundance of minerals in that area piqued their curiosity. Many mines sprung up, and the visitors thought it was an appropriate venue to host numerous factories specialising in gun manufacturing, ammunition and bombs.

There it was, Jabalpur of the central state of Madhya Pradesh with its gun factories, military barracks and related military training posts. 

What used to be a playing field for sages the like of Gautama who sought peace beyond the physical world is now a minefield for training warriors to shatter the living daylights of their enemies.

@India Coffee House
The invaders also brought in uniforms which impressed the locals. Somehow, this uniformed dressing gave authority to its wearers, and the natives were dying to put them on their skin. They did not mind that it would mean thrashing their own kind and playing subservient to the colonial masters.

The locals in foreign costumes were God-sent to the invaders. It made it much easier for the HQ some 7,000 km away to cow their subjects into submission. This is how British troops and officials about 20,000 ruled over the 300 million population in India.




It is a jungle out there!


Heading somewhere?



Renaissance in the pipeline?

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Sunday, 22 August 2021

About Bengal famine.

Churchill's Secret War (2010)
Author: Madhusree Mukerjee

Besides participating in the Boer War and WW1 personally, as a Prime Minister, he spearheaded the Allied Forces in World War 2; Winston Churchill made it his life ambition to destroy India. His handling of the 1943 Bengal famine is equal to genocide. Instead of being responsible colonial masters taking care of their colonies that helped to propel their economies, he chose to blame the shortage solely as the natives' fault for choosing to breed like a rabbit. In his same tone of contempt, he verbalised, "Why isn't Gandhi dead yet?"

At the heights of the Second World War, the British had its hands tied all over the place. It was trying to act as the biggest superpower. In reality, it was bleeding. India was supplying all its credit needs. In essence, on paper, the British bought India's produce with a promise to pay later. And later was after WW2 when Britain was in dire straits and had to let them go.

Britain was also not self-sufficient as far as its food supply was concerned. Churchill had to feed his people throughout the war. He was dependent on the colonies for that - from Australia and the Americas too. The war made it difficult to move the food supply around. The U-boats were supposedly terrorising the Atlantic. In reality, however, there was only one such attack on commercial ships. There was a fear that the Japanese may enter India via Burma, made worse by the support by Bose's Indian National Army.

To deprive the invading foes of food supply, stockpiles were moved and even burnt. Restrictions were imposed on the transportation of rice. On top of that, the agricultural yield in 1943 was dismal after a typhoon. Massive famine ensued. Instead of moving grains from other parts of India to fill in for the need, Churchill did just the opposite. Produce from the Punjab region were siphoned to feed the war troops in the Mediterranean. In Churchill's eyes, feeding Indians serving the British army was equivalent to providing for the whole of India. Imports from Australia were detoured to Ceylon. Despite being advised of the situation on the ground, the one-tracked hotheaded imperialist Churchill gave two hoots to the misery of the Bengalis. He kept dragging his feet to send aid. Contribution from American civil societies also did not make it to India.

The final outcome is a devastating famine in the Bengal region estimated to have reached 3 million by some studies. It became a testbed for what deprivation of food could do to Man. It brought out the best and worst of mankind. Mothers killed their children to ease their suffering. Lactating mothers were seen feeding their already dead babies. The mothers themselves were skin and bones. Some families had to sell their teenage girls to brothels to feed the rest. Many young brides kept themselves alive by marrying old widowers for food. It was common for British officers in India to give their supplies to the pleading and dying locals, but this was supposedly illegal. Eyewitnesses of the devastation at the ground are described in gruesome details in this book.

It is ironic that despite all the miseries that were taking, business in Sonaganj, a brothel village established around the time the British established Calcutta as their administrative capital, prospered with many few intakes! Sonaganj laboured through these hard times and remain the biggest brothel complex in the world.

Churchill's subsequent election loss spurred him to write history to put his perspective history as the correct one, one where he would not be painted as the villain. His statement before the House of Common in 1948 summed it all, "For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself."

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Tuesday, 2 March 2021

Blinded!

A Billion Colour Story (2016)

History tells us that India used to be a welcoming land to any weary sojourner. It is proud of being the only country in the world where its people did not persecute anyone based on physical appearances or personal convictions. It stands proud of not harassing Jews. It ushered in visitors with such warmth, sharing their knowledge in the hope of finding meanings of life, so much so that they decided to overstay their welcome and so much as a rule over the roost.

Did the last of the visitors leave such a scar of conquest that can never heal? To ease their administration, the British, initially a band of looters in the form of East India Company and then later for the Crown, divided and subdivided their subjects by breed, colour, occupation, religion, etc., drilled in the idea that they were different. They mastered the craft of 'divide and rule' to its finest.

The divide became so pronounced that it carved out the limbs out of the tripartite sub-continent. The conquerors were happy to leave with such an arrangement that became cumbersome. It fitted very well with their intentions to destabilise the region by instigating brotherly skirmishes. As the Cold War was developing, political influence over the area was maintained. Destabilisation ensured the petroleum supply was kept in check with British aspirations.

The world was achanging. Ideas were spreading like wildfire. People became loyal not to the flag but to a belief of an invisible pink unicorn that was an oxymoron, but who dare ask. The representation transcended all rational thought and called for blood. A once peaceful existence has turned hostile. How do you expect the hosts to take things lying down? An eye for an eye, and I will instead be blind than do the blasphemous something, says one party. A tit for tat says the other in reply. The combatants are mired so deep in muck that they had forgotten who drew first blood and for what they are fighting for.

We encounter this award-winning film with this background that showcases an eternally optimistic trained in Australia movie-making couple who believes that the old India is very much alive. Despite the adverse publicity churned daily on the media, they believe that a billion colours that beautify India are there for taking. Reality sinks when they discover that their mixed marriage (Hindu and Muslim) is a big issue in modern India. They find dead end at every turn as they struggle to complete their movie. In the midst of all this is their son, Hari Aziz, trying to find his place in society.


Thursday, 14 January 2021

A believable myth

Tumbbad (Hindi; 2018)

Interestingly, myths, folklores and scriptures of lands far away carry a similar line of storytelling. As a baby, we find Moses let loose on a waterproofed basket in River Nile to escape the Pharoah's clutches and how he was brought up in another family. Is it a mere coincidence that the cases of Karna whose mother, Kunti, left him in a basket in a river to escape shame and Krishna, whose mother, Devaki, did the same to escape the tyranny of an evil king strike a similar chord? Like that many similar stories are found in the Zoroastrian scriptures and even the Greek myths.

One plausible explanation was given to Moses's comparable tales, Karna and Krishna is the time Jews spend in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar decimated Jerusalem and its first Holy Temple and took Jews as slaves to Babylon. Cyrus freed them and helped them to build the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Apparently, in the 60 years, the Jews spent time in Babylon they had assimilated some of the Hindu mythology into their own scriptures!

 The exciting thing about this film is the storyline. Given a fictitious tale of a greedy child and his doting mother. The Goddess of Prosperity is said to have mothered 160 million gods. Her first child, in her womb, was a greedy one. He was eyeing for his mother's gold and food. He got the gold, but the other gods managed to stop him before acquiring the mother's food. The goddess made a deal with the other gods that the child, Hastar, would not be worshipped and lost by history. 

Fast forward to 1918, Hastar in the form of an old lady is kept in a dungeon under shackles. She is fed regularly and kept asleep by a mother and her two young sons. One day the routine goes haywire when the younger boy injures himself and has to be taken to another town for medical attention. All goes wrong when the elder son, Vinayak, is tasked to feed the old lady. She becomes violent and almost gobbled him up. The returning mother immediately sends the elder away to another town. The younger boy had died.

 
Knowing that there are secrets hidden in the mansion that he lived in Tumbbad, Vinayak returns as an adult full of debts. He finds out about the gold that he has to fight out with the imp, Hastar himself. Vinayak steals a few gold coins from Hastar's loin-cloth as he is busy gobbling food. The story becomes twisted as Vinayak becomes prosperous and that stirs the curiosity of his creditor. As Vinayak gets older and too weak to fight the imp, he coaches his son to take over. 1947 had come, and Tumbbad is appropriated by the government.

An interesting piece of storytelling and has a string of accolades under its belt to prove it. It a symbolic representation of man's greed for material wealth. They fail to realise that what they need in life are simple. They need a stomach to fill and to live life to appreciate the positive things that life has to offer - the joy of seeing a happy family, seeing the children grow and nurturing them for the next generation. People take their family members for granted.

Saturday, 27 June 2020

Knives, daggers, and bullets cannot destroy religion.

Manto (2018)
Netflix

We always try to portray the world as a place of hope, of joy, dream, and the sky is the limit of our achievements. This is just hogwash. In the real world, Mother Nature is particularly hostile towards its creations. And we, the products, are no different towards each other. We sugarcoat the world around in perfect harmony with apple trees, honey bees and snow white turtle doves. In reality, it is ruled by bigots and kleptocrats who use their Machiavellian techniques to hoodwink everyone to fill up the world with their preset agendas. They paint an image of heaven on Earth, but deep in their pockets, they have conceived a plan of chaos and entropy. But still, these flag-waving jingoistic cabals have only one thing on their agenda - control and the power that comes with it. 

As if to entice its followers, they create an imaginary enemy and a promise of an unproven paradise. Consequently, the conforming automatons think with their brain; not with their heart, losing the only thing that keeps humanity alive. Compassion. 

History tells the story of the victors. Theirs would be the account as depicted by the powers that be. Writers, especially great ones, tell a different view of history. They say what is going at the ground level and is more indicative of that is true to life. Look at the mainstream media. See how 'truth' is hijacked to suit the narrative of the day and the viewpoint of their paymasters. Nobody likes bad news. They feel motivated when things are going on well as planned. They label writers as nihilistic and pessimistic as they tend to highlight only the things that are rather unseen, unheard, suppressed and marginalised. The raw reality of life is viewed as obscenity.

Hassan Sadaat Manto was a successful short story writer, novelist and screenwriter who lived in British India around the time of Indian Independence and Partition. Having a successful career in pre-Independent India in Bombay and Delhi, he was forced to leave for Pakistan after increasing aversion against Muslims in Bombay. He was deeply affected by the Partition by the things that he saw. Describing in detail, with no holds barred, the accounts of atrocities of Sikhs and Muslims against each other, he got into trouble to the Pakistani newly drafted obscenity law. He became progressive depressive, hit the bottle, jobless and succumbed to cirrhosis of the liver.

From the movie, I discovered two heart-wrenching short stories - Thandha Gosht (Cold Meat) and Toba Tek Singh (his last composition in 1955). Thandha Gosht tells the story of a Sikh man who meets his fiery and suspicious mistress after going missing for a couple of days. The mistress, suspecting that her lover had been disloyal to her, especially when he failed to rise to the occasion, slits his throat. The man confesses that he had gone off to kill Muslims. This was at the time of Partition. He joined the band of men at revenge rape of Muslim women. He emotionally tells how he attempted to rape a lady only to discover that she had already died. She was just like cold meat.


Manto with his wife Safia and sister-in-law Zakia
Manto Family Archive
Toba Tek Singh is a sad tale of an elderly Sikh man who is institutionalised in the Pakistani mental asylum. He longs to reunite with his family whom he left in the town of Toba Tek Singh. The old chap is unsure whether the city is in India or Pakistan after the Partition. Every one whom he asks gives a different account the town is situated. Then comes the day when Pakistan and India exchanges prisoners and mental patients. This old man is at the no man's land between two countries when he is released to India. Confused whether the town is actually situated, in India or Pakistan, he just drops dead in the agony of frustration.

Read an account of this remarkable storyteller here.


Monday, 10 June 2019

Live for others?

Bharat (2019)

They say this film is based on the blockbuster 'Forrest Gump', but the only similarity to the Hollywood counterpart is that the story goes through certain landmark events that are deemed necessary. For a starter, there is Partition and Nehru's death.

In keeping with the general theme of nationalism that sells these days, this offering is another one of those that spur people's patriotism.


The film is also supposed to be based on a South Korean movie, 'Ode to Father', but the Indian props are way too colourful to portray melancholy that vibrates in the background - of the family cruelly divided during the Partition in 1947.

The protagonist amongst the attendees at Nehru's funeral
Putting all that pomp, colour, splendour and gyrating bodies aside, there is a subtle lesson that is put forward through the narration. Forget the implausible storyline. Keep mum when you know it is humanly impossible for a 70-year-old Salman Khan to beat up 4 motorcycle riding ruffians with iron rods. Look through the objectification of the female body in the many dance sequences and senseless pacification of Somalian pirates with Amitabh Bachchan's songs.

It is a clash between traditional values and the modern way of looking at life. Should one sacrifice his whole life carrying the burden of ensuring the wellbeing of his family? Is the head of the family's responsibility to make sure that everyone's okay? Is the male progeny the de-facto leader of the clan in terms of hierarchy?


Colour and music that is a sine qua non of Bollywood 


As we see the society evolve from a totally patriarchal one to one where responsibility is shared, it seems that everyone is responsible for his own life. In this century of 'self', no one is answerable to another. They say, "it is my life... it's now or never...I ain't gonna live forever

I just want to live while I'm alive...!"

At the end of the show, the protagonist realised through the turn of events that it is ludicrous to stick on to traditional practices. The world changes ever so often. We need to keep up in fear of missing the next revolution bus.


P.S. It is a remake of 2015 Korean movie ‘Ode to My Father’ about a family separated by the Korean War.





Saturday, 11 May 2019

The hand that rocks the cradle and the world!

Manikarnika (2019)

It is not a documentary, so do not expect factual accuracy. It is quite alright if you see the screen Jhansi Rani letting her hair down, getting into the groove and dancing with the villagers. At least they got the Mahishashura Mardini version of Queen Laxmibai right. Her unabated rage in fighting the tyranny of British can best be compared to the unstoppable fighting machine of Durga overpowering the Buffalo Demon of Mahishashura seen in the Mysore tradition. Living true to the feminine force of Nature which gives life and takes, Jhansi Rani has remained the Indian icon that spread nationalism and empowered women the world over, at least in the Indian diaspora.

The 21st century has seen countries that used to be under the yoke of colonial powers in the previous centuries suddenly open their eyes to realise that their masters never left their shores. They had continued their grip on the newly developed economies through their web of deceit, control and mass hypnotism. Through remote control means with the aid of media, be it print or digital methods, via Hollywood and lately through social media and fake news platform, they are always one step ahead from the rest of the world. Hence, now more than ever, there is a need to rekindle the nationalistic spirit amongst the post-colonial population to combat these seemingly invisible tentacles that control our mind, money and soul.
Died at 29; Immortalised by history.

Laxmibai, Queen of Jhansi, born Manikarnika, was an impressive figure during the First Independence War of India also known the Sepoy Mutiny. She married the King of Jhansi when the East India Company was hot on their heels, expanding their territorial control by instigating feud amongst local princes and inciting political ambitions within the members of the royal courtyard. The Queen's 4 month-old infant mysteriously died and so did the King soon after. A relative's son was adopted for ascension to the throne later. This was deemed illegal by the British who had by then enacted 'Lapse Doctrine' where a territory without a proper heir became British control. Jhansi is given an annual allowance and is expelled from her palace.

She returned with a vengeance after careful planning. Her image of riding on horseback with her toddler tied to her back and brandishing a sword is immortalised on metal statues around India. Trying to defend the city Gwalior from the British Army, she succumbed to her wounds. Not wanting to be captured by an enemy she decided to indulge in self-immolation. Some accounts insist that she was just cremated after her death as per her instructions.

Even before the movie hit the theatres, it, or specifically its heroine, Kangana Ranaut, created a hype in the media. Perhaps it was intentional. As they say in showbiz, any news is good news to stir curiosity amongst its viewers. In an interview, she had apparently threatened to expose the Bollywood mafia on their stance on nepotism. Her directorial direction was also the topic of discussion in the media circle. Excellent at creating a mountain of a molehill, they made an issue when Ranaut apparently took the helm to finish off some loose ends on the final product. Sensationalism or not, Ranaut, a multiple award-winning actor, managed to pull the role of Jhansi Rani very well. This angry 32-year young woman managed to bring to the celluloid screen the story of a gutsy 22-year-old monarch who had the guts to say no to the technically advanced invaders and to give a run for their money.

Interestingly, the first battle against the British was fought jointly to the chant of ‘Bajrangi Bali’, ‘Ya Ali’ and ‘Har Har Mahadeva’. All occupants of the land who had been ever welcoming of sojourners raised in unison against the evil and greedy invaders who had nothing but plundering in their minds. The Indians, on the other hand, had thought of everything - philosophy, the art of living, symbiosis with Mature, arithmetic, space exploration and perhaps even black holes in space. Not the Black Holes of Calcutta that the invaders thought of to subjugate their subjects.

Funny how every time history is invoked, it is often construed as a nidus to start communal violence. It used to be a unifying factor.


An equestrian statue of Lakshmibai in Solapur, Maharashtra.
N.B. During World War 2, many young Malayan Indian women volunteered during Netaji Chandra Bose's recruitment drive to join Rani of Jhansi Women's Regiment of the Indian Army. It aimed to overthrow the British Raj with Japanese assistance. It was one of the very few all-female combat regiments of the Second World War on any side.




“Be afraid. Be very afraid.”*