Jackson Heights, Sherry and Phafda Jalebi

                                                 Jackson Heights, Sherry and Phafda Jalebi
August 3rd, 2014

Its 8:30 in the evening and I am sitting in Jackson Heights, New York City. Its almost been two years in America and I feel pretty much at home. The way I got used to U.S., its motorways, rigorous traffic rules , ramps, complicated GPS systems, over-speeding tickets, central Manhattan district with its mish-mash of streets and avenues and take-away burgers, confounds me beyond imagination. There is  a reason behind this. I was always a person who was observed as introvert, abstract and a bit lost. I admit that this allegation or rather a description has some grain of truth. I spent several years in Delhi but still that city appears alien to me. I don't drive in Delhi  and neither I could develop strong familiarity with the routes of Delhi. I could not find the connection with the culture, lifestyle, politics and the parties of Delhi. But the connection with New York, Cornell and in general with US was immediate, spontaneous and natural. I feel that this connection goes back to my previous births. In fact I am reminded of the episode in Mahabharata, the text with which I have the most intimate connection and fascination, where Arjuna travels to Patala lok (land below the earth) with Lord Krishna. If we believe that there was any truth in that mythology that it definitely impels us to think that Arjuna went to Americas as it is right below India on the globe.

Jackson heights is the place where at one glance and in your first presence you feel that you have come to Ahmedabad or Bombay of 1990s. It is not just difficult but kind of impossible to find a white-skinned man. The weather is humid and I am taking a casual evening stroll. My evening stroll exposes me to heavy, screeching noise of the iron-wheels of city rail that runs right above my head. I am not very surprised to find traditional Indian Hindu females clad in salwaar-kameez and saree, traditional Bombay type muslims clad in kurta and pyjama which ended a little above their ankles. My next sight shows me young muslim girls coming out of their homes to end their Rozas(fasting in Ramadaan). They are wearing very bright and colorful (red and violet colors)salwaar-kameez and they have thick red lipstick and make-up. Some of them have beautiful patterns of henna on their palms and reaching their elbows.  They seem very happy , though a bit tired after a day of fasting. This quest of preserving their cultural and religious identity is sometimes disturbed by their curiosity to know about others boy-friends and the first experience of kissing. However, this curiosity is expressed with a little fear, unusual body-language and whispers.
But, Jackson heights is not just Ahmedabad or Mumbai. When I was watching the cheerful smile and pretty eyes of those traditional muslim girls, Jackson heights beautifully blends into Cancun, Mexico city or Canton. The blending was so subtle, so discreet and so elusive that I completely escaped it. The next encounter is of a loud, happening Mexican night club which was playing raunchy salsa music. I can see some young bearded lads smoking hashish and a stunningly pretty Mexican girl in a very short outfit trying to lure customers with her erotic and innocent gestures. I enter the club and I see guys high on cannabis or cocaine into an intense embrace with latino girls.
My next sight is a group of Chinese females playing poker after dinner as if it was Beijing. After a few blocks I see a group of Indian musicians playing Sikh bhajans and then a band of Bengali musicians. The whole sight reminds me of Canton city of 19th century when it had colonies of traders from across the world. Amitav Ghosh beautifully portrays the Canton of 19th century with its Parsi, Gujarati Armenian, Egyptian and English merchants. Jackson heights is truly a cosmopolitan, postmodern, diverse and a multicultural city. I am absolutely amazed at the capacity of United States to accommodate such diversity, contradiction and speed.
I begin my evening with fafda jalebi. Being a half gujarati, I have a special regard for fafda jalebi and Jethalaal in Tarak mehta ka ulta chashma ( a tv serial on sab tv) has revealed the divinity of fafda jalebi to me. There is something more this fafda jalebi. It is not just a stroke to quench your senses. Today it has become a strong symbol of Indo-US relations because of the strong presence of Gujaratis in the motel world of US. In fact there are myths like the entire chain of 7/11 is owned by a Gujju merchant. I have heard Americans soeaimg volumes about the wealth of Gujjus in US.
I am meeting Sherry at Dera. Dera is a Pakistani restaurant famous for its Nahari, biriyanis and paya shorba. Whenever it comes to good biriyani in a foreign land I always prefer to contribute to the GDP of Pakistan rather than India because no one can beat Lahoris in the world of biriyanis and Karhai. Sherry is a Chinese girl who has two pretty and small Chinese eyes and a sharp intellect. She is my junior in Cornell University and at present She is interning with Consulate General of India. She is trying to know South Asia and its confused mesh of politics, culture, religion, feudalism, diplomacy and little bit of economics growth. If she finds some space in her mind after this transcendental and slow journey of South Asia she tries to explore New York City. Like most of the Chinese students she is good in econometrics and accounting. She likes hotpot(Chinese cuisine), misses Beijing and its poker evenings. Today she is here with her mom who speaks in Chinese so I am trying to communicate with my hand gestures explaining what goat curry is and how it can be eaten in the absence of noodles. I have strong feeling that most of the Indian diplomats are also communicating with the sign language with their Chinese counterparts. On a casual note, Indian diplomats are really good at using sign language as it is the most effective weapon to create confusion and underlying philosophy of Indian diplomacy is the classic art of linguistic confusion which it derives from its ancient philosophical doctrines like 'syadvaad' (theory of manyness of reality) and kashnikvada(Buddhist doctrine of momentariness).
We are having a lavish dinner of goat karhai, nahari, surkh sheesh kabaab, paya shorba and mutton-do-pyaza, which is followed by imarati, gulab jamuns, kalakand and rasmalai. After a gap of about two years, I am relishing these Mughal delicacies. In Delhi, I was a regular visitor of Karim's which offers excellent Mughal delicacies. I feel that Indian government should launch postcards in the memory of Mughal bawarchis (Chefs) as today the cuisines invented by them, form a major part of India's soft power.foreign ministry.
While we are having dinner, I see a lean and lanky Indian gentleman sitting besides us. He is thin to the extent of looking malnourished. Sherry is keenly observing him with serene Buddha smile like perfect Chinese diplomat. I ask her the reason for that kind of concentration. She shows me something which is very peculiar. I see that the emaciated gentleman ordered karhai chicken, karhai goat, palak paneer, parathas dripping with clarified butter, naan, kadhi pakora and half a kg of sweets. I am not very surprised because I am used to my young, thin and 'sanskari' (cultured in a hypocritical sense)cousins eating like 40 chapatis in my village feasts. But Sherry finds it amusing, surprising and also disturbing. She is concerned with the fact that where is all this food going and how is India feeding its people if each individual is capable of making such a legendary contribution.  Immediately she makes a conclusion: "India is slow in its growth rate and work efficiency because you guys eat so much, after which you can't work, you sleep and also invite heart attacks, diabetes and other ailments."  I don't refute her analysis as even I feel like agreeing with what she discovers. Well I wish that this innocent Chinese observation does not reach their foreign ministry, otherwise the Chinese government will definately use this information for some kind of strategic planning.
I decide to call it a night as I have to get ready for tomorrow's meeting with Mr. Vijay Nambiar who is the special advisor to Secretary general of United Nations on Myanmar Affairs.

Thakore Saheb

                       

The dull, dry and hot summers of Marwaar sometimes have the silence of death. In fact the word ‘Marwaar’ itself comes from the Sanskrit word ‘Maruvat’ which means the land of death. This silence of death is most visible and felt in the hot months of May and June. It is sometimes broken by the music of scorching loo winds in the desert. It is the time of the year when the Baolis, Beris, Tankas and Nads go mostly dry and desolate, except that one can occasionally see emaciated cattle, a hopeless bird or a big-turbaned Raika[1] with his Nagra shoes and upturned mustache, on their banks. In one such summer, my father was asked by the Chief Minister of the state Mr. Joshi to take charge as the Deputy Superintendent of Police, of a small town called Bali.

Reluctantly, my father, who was till then serving in district near to his hometown, joined as the Deputy Superintendent of Bali. He was received by his official driver, Mehtab Singh on the railway station. Mehtab singh, originally from Jaisalmer had all the required physical features to plan a successful raid in Pakistan as a Bhati dacoit of Jaisalmer Riyasat. Unfortunately Jaisalmer Riyasat, the only state officially taxing dacoits and thieves had become a feudal relic and a wonderland, in the stories of grandmothers, with its tales of chivalry. And Pakistan had become a separate Jurassic Park so for Bhatis, dacoity as a career, and expression of valor was not a feasible option anymore. However, Mehtab Singh chose to become another variety of dacoit i.e. the dacoit with a uniform and a danda. With his mountain-like chest, three inches wide fingers as if they were about to drop some cow ghee on squeezing, snake-like dense and upturned mustaches and amber like big, fiery eyes, Mehtab Singh seemed none less than Ravana[2], to me as a child.

Marwaar of 80s was neck-deep in feudal order of society. For one serving in the police department, it was more or less the same as it used to be in the British time or state time. The officers in police department were like mai-baaps for common people. It was not unusual to have a retinue of 30 to 40 attendants at the sarkari residence which was referred to as ‘bangla’ in a very colonial style. The town was a sleepy, lazy and uneventful. For a police officer, the occasional robberies by dacoits and kanjars, honor-killings, family feuds, and elopement of girls were the main crime in that sleepy town. For an outsider there were not many options to make his evenings beautiful. Except for a few boring government officers, there were not many people to mingle around with.  

However, this was the exterior. If one ventured beyond his ‘sarkari’ existence, then he would found true and classic stories in that town, stories of love, lust, art and renunciation. The stories which were 1000s of years old, and if one could peel off the layers he could even get the glimpse of the continuity from the era of Buddha, Mahavira and Mauryas. In the hot and draught-stricken summer months one could readily spot Jain sravakas and Chullakas. Jaina monks would often frequent that area and spend their rainy season. Their chants seemed ordinary to the local people and the Marwari merchants who were mostly Jainas, but to the one passionate about ancient Indian history, those chants, chullakas and sravikas were like a joy ride into history. It was a sight of sheer joy, surprise, mystery and awe at the fact that how a tradition could be continued in its purest from since the age of Mahavira. My father would often wonder whether the earliest Jaina disciples of lord Mahavira and Jain sangha of 600 B.C. were similar to what those people did now. The people of 600 B.C., the way they behaved, the way they looked and dressed, their relations and politics was in anyway different from the present Jainas, or these present ones are the most authentic peep into the dark and unexplored alleys of history. Many other stories of saints with supernatural powers, ghosts, Mamajis(local deities), kings and queens could be explored in that town and its surroundings. Those stories will continue to form a part of my writings forever.

In this story, I am going to tell about a man, who seemed like coming straight from world of surrealist painters, magical realist writers and the folklores. But at the same time, his close companionship made one feel that he came from your own, nearest and closest world. One could even feel that he came from one’s own heart or one might think that he wanted to or felt like that men at least once in his life time.

Shiladitya Singh Rathore was landlord of a small principality of Ratangarh. Shiladitya was the eldest son of Thakore Bhanupratap Singh. Shiladitya’s mother was from the royal family of Mangarh in Madhya Pradesh. Shiladitya grew up just like other young boys of princely families. He grew up hunting, pig-sticking, riding and playing cricket. He lost his father’s care and attention when Jennifer, a British theatre artist entered his father’s carnal world. He was then sent to Mayo high school in Ajmer, where he befriended Adhiraj Singh, who hailed from a royal household in Madhya Pradesh.

Shiladitya and Adhiraj Singh had a very strange relationship. They were best of friends but somewhere inside there was hatred, rivalry and jealousy. Adhiraj Singh was like an alter-ego of Shiladitya. Shiladitya in his personal life was a man of few words and umpteen numbers of books. He lived in his idealistic world where Rajput virtues like truth, honesty, chivalry and loyalty held a supreme place. Adhiraj Singh lived in his own deceitful world where Rajput vices like drinking, gambling, women, lust and treachery reigned supreme. Adhiraj Singh was a master of words and a playful wizard who could mesmerize anyone with his flamboyance, boastful words and style whereas Shiladitya in his first impression always came up as an unusual, philosophical, artistic and a bit strange fellow. Because of this exterior impression, many could not understand his intense, innocent and a loyal soul.

After high school, Shiladitya came back to Ratangarh. In the sandy, dry state most of his time was spent in intense reading. He immersed himself into the world of Kafka, Nietzsche, Kant and Wittgenstein. Kantian stories of space and time became more intense and mind-boggling when they were transported from the philosophical debates of German universities to sandy, silent, cold and ancient nights of Marwaar. Shiladitya found himself more in the realm which lied in the zone of conjunction of metaphysics and spirituality. He found himself turning against feudal practices and regime. Bhanupratap Singh found his revolutionary instincts a cause of worry so he was sent to Cambridge for his higher studies.

The world of Cambridge was waiting for Shiladitya with three possibilities; first of exploring the wonders of metaphysics and linguistics, second; exploring the valley of bliss, death and passion, which opened through the eyes and curves of Rajyashri, and third; possibility of being or not-being the alter-ego Adhiraj Singh. The choice had already been made, but foolishly like you, me and all of us Shiladitya thought that he was the true agent.

Cambridge was a new world to explore. Shiladitya was miles away from the feudal winds and old sand dunes of Rajasthan. His day began with f morning stroll in the foggy mornings of Cambridge. Often, on those foggy mornings, he would befriend strange people from less known countries in that pre-globalized world. He would befriend professors, research scholars and at times beautiful women. After that he became a part of honorable Cambridge tradition through its high table British breakfasts, 11 o clock English teas, discourses on linguistics, bridge, golf and rowing. Within a year he had become a pukka sahib who did not want to go back to his hometown. He has made a kind of comfort zone in the intellectual circle of Cambridge, its philosophical society meetings, ballroom dancing and dramatic society. He thought he would become a professor in Cambridge.

Then one day, in this happy and eventful life he met Rajya Shri and Adhiraj Singh. Adhiraj had joined Cambridge an year after Shiladitya.  He was a family friend of Rajya Shri since both of them came from the same state of Madhya Pradesh in India. Adhiraj Singh formally introduced Rajya Shri to Shiladitya Singh. Rajya Shri, though came from a royal family, but was a complete anti-thesis to the life-style of a Rajput princess. She never observed purdah[3]. She rode motor bikes, drove the fastest cars and drank crazy. She tamed wildest of horses in the ground, and hunted the proudest men in the bed. She was free, wild and like a rage. Her passion for love, lust and cannabis knew no bounds.

Shiladitya could not protect himself from her intoxicating eyes for long. It began with ballroom dancing, flourished in hunting stories and poetry, and peaked in the carnal pleasures of foggy nights. However, the things were not as simple as they seemed. Rajya Shri was in love with Shiladitya, in ephemeral and abstract realms. But, she still found her human self wildly indulgent in the carnal pleasures with Adhiraj Singh. One half of her mind dreamt of a maddening grip of Adhiraj on her thighs and navel, the tickles on her back and craved for getting lost into the jungles of that wild, smelly male chest, whereas the other half of her mind discovered herself in the poetry of Shiladitya.

Soon she declared this elitist existential dilemma to Shiladitya: “I am mentally in love with you and physically in lust with Adhiraj”. For Rajya Shri, this dilemma was not an occasion for remorse, but a state of supreme enlightenment which comes rarely in this physical form. She was right, it was a rare phenomenon; unimaginably rare for Shiladitya, lovingly rare for Adhiraj Singh and ‘not-so-rare’ for Rajya Shri.

For Shiladitya, it was as if Descartes was coming out of his grave and staging a perfect demonstration of Cartesian dualism. For a moment, Shiladitya thought that he was suffering from a split personality and projecting his ontological adventures into the real life. However, he soon found out that it was- his destiny, and a woman with her instincts, fluctuating between disloyalty, sensuality, intense physical ‘craving’ and love. It was an ordeal of his lust, mental wildness or vulnerability. And, there was an alter-ego in the form of Adhiraj, ragingly after him at every stage of his life to rupture his inner peace and moral world.

Adhiraj Singh, was just like nightmare which terrified Great Alexander in his secret moments. One could never find Shiladitya in that terrified state. Neither would anyone ever believe Shiladitya if he ever told anyone of such a nightmare because that nightmare had its existential relevance in nabbing Shiladitya in his most secret moments. It was a kind of internal and psychological torture which revealed itself to Shiladitya only. Possibly, it was an outward projection of his internal fears and failings. For others, Shiladitya was a brave, assertive, well-groomed and intellectual Rajput prince, but this prince was most scared when he was nearest to his victories in life, be it sports, books or women. He was scared of an illusory possibility of Adhiraj coming at that last moment and capturing all the spoils of his victories.

How much real this fear was; is quite a complicated phenomenon to explore but yes it was real to Shiladitya. It was real in his inner world. As a child, Shiladitya was once introduced to a learned astrologer and tantric from Kamrupa. His name was Dhurjati Narayan Mishra. It was believed that Dhurjati Narayan Mishra had conquered Karnapishachini[4]. Dhurjati Narayan Ji had told Shiladitya that in his Kundali[5], there was a yuti[6] of two papa grahas[7] i.e. Shani[8] and Mangal[9] and because of that another papa graha, Rahu[10] in its mahadasha[11] will have a strong impact on his thoughts and events of life. Rahu as a planet generates inactivity as it is a tamsika griha[12]. Rahu is supposed to lead one to confusion and indecisiveness. It keeps one’s mind i.e. buddhi away from knowledge and wisdom. It drives one towards carnal pleasures. Shiladitya’s Rahu kaal had started with his promotion into grade 12^th in Mayo school and in his grade 12^th he met Adhiraj Singh for the first time. After that some coincidences occurred which embedded a notion, very strongly in Shiladitya’s mind; that Adhiraj was a Rahu in human form.

Whenever by chance or deliberate purpose, Shiladitya met Adhiraj, he would grow suspicious, uneasy and restive. Then, there was something mesmerizing about the Adhraj Singh. Shiladitya could never resist himself from getting drawn into ‘Adhiraj’ phenomenon. He always thought that he would be extremely careful but Adhiraj with his celestial vibes was always one-step ahead of Shiladitya Singh. ‘Adhiraj phases’ of Shiladitya’s life always ended with something more confusing, elusive and deluding.

In Cambridge, began a phase of the most original battle of mankind i.e. the battle for women. The species of advanced apes had always fought this kind of battle right from proto-historical periods to Harappa to Mahabharata. 700 years back a brutal, barbaric and lusty Muslim king Allahudinn khaliji had attacked Chittor to get Padmavati, the beautiful Rajput queen of Chittor. This time battleground was in Cambridge and as always the unmoved mover was Rajyashri. In this battle, Darwin’s advanced apes were the students of refined philosophical thought and sciences, wore Gucci and channel, but were still fighting the most primitive battle. Surprisingly, this battle was won by Shiladitya. Rajyashri could navigate through the mind-body dualism and locate her true love in Shiladitya. However she could do it only after three years of endless wandering into the jungles of flesh, philosophy and morality. But, this did not happen without an anti-thesis. It left a deep wound in Adhiraj’s heart. Shiladitya firmly believed that the reaction would happen sometime as no action in the cosmic realm goes without a reaction.

Shiladitya married Rajyashri after coming back from Cambridge. It was a grand princely wedding which was remembered for years. After marriage, Shiladitya worked as a diplomat in Paris for few years. In Paris, he was accompanied by his beautiful wife Rajyashri. Shiladitya’s poetry and art, Rajyashri’s eyes and red wine, and the evenings of Paris made the perfect combination. Shiladitya often called his Paris years a phase of romantic surrealism in his life.

However, the phase did not last long. After his father’s death in 1975, Shiladitya had to come back to Ratangarh. He came with a grand idea of converting his old palaces into hotels. His painter, writer and artist buddies in Europe had long wanted to explore the mystic music of sands. He had other ideas too like to start a community-based NGO for water conservation.

His business was growing by leaps and bounds. He was a happy and successful man, with a beautiful wife, a handsome son and lakhs of rupees to splurge on holidays in Europe. Then, one day he visited Dhurjati Narayan Mishra Ji, who was on his death bed. Dhurjati Narayan ji blessed him with prosperity and happiness, but before his death he uttered a few words,” rahu in its last phase becomes the most vicious one…………………………………………………….brings complete ruination.”

Years of happy life, prosperity, social prestige and the political influence had brought Shiladitya far away from his mentally turbulent youth and the ghost of Adhiraj. His relation with Rajya shri had stabilized and it seemed that he was the happiest man on Earth. But Dhurjati Ji’s last words, kind of disturbed Shiladitya. He found out that the spell of Rahu was in its last phase, in his life. Once again the skeletons came out from the cupboards of his past. 

Next morning, in the usual busy office hours, he received a guest. The guest was visiting Shiladitya after almost a decade. It was Kunwar Adhiraj Singh. Adhiraj had come with a friend of his. Amaury was a budding painter of Paris. Adhiraj requested Shiladitya to let Amaury study the murals of his palace. Amaury wanted to study the old Rajput paintings on Indian seasons. He wanted to study the painters patronized by the royal courts. Shiladitya was a great admirer of arts so he gladly accepted the proposal. That evening was the evening of cool summer breeze, kebabs of teetar (Indian partridge), laal maans (Rajput delicacy prepared in a traditional style), some good red wine, poetry and old Cambridge days. Intermittently, the old bitterness tried to surge its head but it was comfortably sidelined.

After the dinner, Amaury asked Rajya shri to dance. Rajya shri, was surprised and elated as after almost an era she was made to feel her real self-i.e. the passionate, sensual and amorous Rajya Shri. Nothing significant transpired between Adhiraj and Shiladitya. However, while leaving he told Shiladitya that he had forgiven him for marrying Rajya Shri. But, Shiladitya felt that Adhiraj was lying. He could still feel the depth of the wound which he had given to Adiraj by hurting his pride and for someone like Adhiraj, who had never tasted a defeat; it was not very easy to swallow the loss of pride and Rajya Shri.

From next day Amaury’s investigation began. He was meeting the local painters and examining the art works of the old court painters. In this schedule, he would often go to Shiladitya’s house and enjoyed a drink with him and Rajya shri. Soon Amaury, found that he was no more interested in the dead murals of the past. He felt himself being drawn into the colors and smells of a mural with life.

Rajya shri, with the passage of time had grown younger and prettier. Now her eyes reflected not only the sensual passion but a kind of stability and power, a grip which was kind of hypnotizing, and captivating to the limits of death. When Amaury saw her sipping wine in her chiffon sarees, her eyes seemed dangerously attractive. He could feel the colors and aromas of those colors. Those colors and their aromas were maddening for Amaury. They were the aromas of sin, a strange and irresistible temptation to immorality. Immorality seemed like a piece of art, the best painting Amaury could ever dream of. The sketch of sin it was, and his French soul discovered a new world of creativity defying the conventions. In this new world, creation was beyond the duality of morality and immorality. He felt depth and intensity of creation coming from blood of the evil sitting inside him.  The drive for this new and wild strain of creation emanated from the eyes of Rajya Shri. Then, it disappeared into her glass of wine and then went back into her eyes. Then, in her eyes, invisible it was, but it had the power to absorb the artist Amaoury into the black hole of Rajya Shri’s bosoms.

Shilditya was on a business trip to Europe. Amaoury’s meetings with Rajya Shri became frequent and they started going for picnics in the silent sands of Marwaar. Those picnics and the immoral strokes of Amaury revitalized the yearning for enlightenment, and the delusions of mind-body disconnect again in Rajya Shri. She felt a release of a wild energy pent-up for almost a decade. Amaury was portraying this wild energy on the canvass in myriad ways. It was expressed as naked Rayashri on a horse back. It was drawn as Rajya Shri naked from tip to toe barring her face clad with a translucent chunari; falling with an inviting reluctance on her bosoms, and Rajya shri partially closing her sinful eyes in the smoke of half-burnt bidi[13]. It was portrayed as nude Rajya Shri lying intoxicated, with half-closed eyes, on her bare breasts, in the lap of Shiva, the eternal Yogi. Her hair falling carelessly on her back and Shiva’s thighs like an erotic elephant burning in the fire of sensual craving- it was Rajyashri, her wild and unending desire for freedom and loss of her ego, and the colors of sin. The sin was at the peak of its beauty, and in realm where the border between indulgence and transcendence become obscure. The best was yet to come.

Amaury made a big canvas in his studio and invited Rajya shri to see his depiction of her wild energies. He told Rajyashri that he was now going to paint his masterpiece of sin, a dangerous world of colors and strokes which might deprive him of his rationality forever, and make him a lunatic. Rajya shri was thrilled with the idea and felt as if she was divinely ordained to be the part of this journey of her enlightenment beyond the masterpiece of sin. Amaury and Rajya shri finished two bottles of wine. Then, they lied on the sand to listen to its song of death.  Then they soaked themselves in the colors of sin. Those two nude souls of sin soaked in the red, purple, blue, magenta and green of ‘sin’, rubbed against each other. They made love on the canvas. On the canvas, they played, felt the sin, and the color of sin. While making love, there were two active bodies and the two witnessing souls. The two witnessing souls were the moral conscience of Rajyashri and Amaury. Thus there were not two but four entities on the canvas. The artful and playful gymnastics and the sensual postures of an emotional artist and a passionate yogini soaked in colors, made the most enigmatic collage of colors on the canvas-the colors of lust, sin, sensuality, art, guilt, morals, conscience, and yearning for enlightenment.

But still there was something left i.e. the color of revenge. Human life is incomplete without this color as it has formed a fulcrum of the evolution of human consciousness and history. It has been the fundamental principle in the development of history, politics and the science of human behavior. The silence of sin was ruptured in a flash of a second. Red and hot blood sped like a jet and drained the canvas in a second. Thick and merciless splashes of blood completed the picture. The revenge had come and its color was red.

Next three years were spent in the court cases and hushing up the fairy-tale of a disloyal queen. Shiladitya singh had to spend millions on lawyers. Since he had social and political influence he could not be proved guilty in the court of law.When my father joined as Deputy Superintendent of Bali, Shiladitya was a prominent political leader and enjoyed the love and support of his people. Soon my father became close friends with Shiladitya. He fondly remembers him as a man of integrity and high personal morals. He would often narrate the instances when Shiladitya generously opened the doors of his family treasury, when no help arrived from the government for drought relief.

Often, in his evenings with his close friends he used to narrate the story of Shiladitya. At times, I used to overhear the stories. He would often remember Shiladitya as a man of high intellectual caliber, connoisseur of wines and literature, a knowledgeable historian and a great friend. Shiladitya, though coming from a royal family performed a marvelous work for restoring the dignity of people form lower castes. After the unfortunate masterpiece of sin, he had devoted his life completely to people.

My father often used to go for hunting with Shiladitya Singh. Many a times he would spend his evenings with my father and the Munsif Magistrate Gulaam Muhammad Khan. At times Shiladitya used to narrate the story of his life and would break into tears. He often felt the guilt of murdering his wife. That guilt was becoming intense. It was taking deep roots and Shiladitya Singh brimmed with the intense feeling of remorse. He started losing interest in his life, son, social affairs and friends. By the end of 1986, he mostly stayed alone. But, still his evenings with my father continued. On one such evening he gifted his favorite Beretta 38 special revolver to my father. He spent the rest of that evening in utter silence. My father saw the tears flowing down a mountain of honesty, friendship, integrity and principles.

At 3:30 in the night, Mehtab Singh knocked the doors of Deputy Superintendent’s residence. After a few minutes of silence, Mehtab Singh was sobbing. Thakore Sahib had shot himself dead.

Next morning, when my father went to Thakore Sahib’s bedroom for a formal investigation, he discovered three things: the masterpiece of sin with its colors of lust, love, revenge and the wild passion of Rajya shri, brittle, yellow pages of Shiladitya’s Kundli made by Dhurjati Narayan Ji, and the telephone number of Adhiraj Singh.

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[1] Local shephard

[2] Mythological demon king of Ramayana

[3] Rajput tradition of hiding one’s face (royal ladies observe this)

[4] A tantric Goddess who bestows the power to know past, present and future

[5] Astrology chart, showing one’s future

[6] Conjuction

[7] Evil planets

[8] Saturn

[9] Mars

[10] Headless demon planet

[11] Period when Rahu governs one’s life

[12]  Sankhya school of Indian Philosphy defines tamsika as dark, generating inactivity and devotion for carnal pleasures

[13] A local unfiltered cigarette made of tendu  leaves , consumed in the rural areas. 

           A tale of Oxford and Cambridge returned liars

A few days back I went to have lunch in Zeus café in Goldwin Smith Hall in Cornell University (US). I had gone there to enjoy a laid back afternoon lunch spiced with the explicit or implicit eroticism of the ‘abstract’,   with a mystic, dusky, poetic,  and a dangerously attractive Indian girl but,  sooner than later, I realized that the political ghosts would haunt my erotic afternoon siestas also. There I met a Professor, who is supposedly an expert on Indian polity. The honorable professor was facing some bureaucratic delays in getting Indian visa to attend a conference.  I told the professor that, since now we have a new prime minister and a stable government so they will fix these problems, to which the learned professor replied that oh no, the new prime minster will ‘fix’ all the Muslims. He further gave a grand conclusion that the days of Indian secularism are now over, with the victory of BJP. Similarly, a few days back I saw several posts on the facebook  from my Stephanian and supposedly Marxist, and liberal colleagues(though a lot of them wanted a laal batti, red wine, good cigars and Cambridge University) , which read, “RIP Secular India, Birth- 15^th August 1947, Death- 16^th May 2014”.

 ‘Secularism’ in India, now it seems that has become a nagging irritant, often used by a motley garb of intellectuals (mainly the professor-politicians of Congress party ), feudal  and caste-based political parties, and attention-seeking self-proclaimed coffee-table revolutionaries like Arundhati Roy and Aruna Roy, to shield all sorts of inefficiency, policy paralysis and minority-appeasing  vote-bank politics.  It is not something which is hated in India, but something which irritates. The mere mention of the word brings forth the images of inefficient Congress party and its deracinated group of intellectual ministers like Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Manmohan Singh, Kapil Sibbal, and our ‘beloved’ and the only ‘rational and a bit ‘erotic’ soul, Mr. Digvijay Singh . Further, it brings forth the images of anti-national, provocative, biased and intolerant English writers like Arundhati Roy, Aruna Roy, Praful Bidwai and some jhola-chap JNU type intellectuals.

The question arises that why this has happened?  The answer to this question lies in the development and socio-academic as well as political projection of the concept of secularism. Before moving on to deeper exploration, it is worth mentioning that Indian secularism is essentially rooted in its great cultural and spiritual tradition of harmony, and peaceful coexistence. Any attempt to impose pseudo-intellectual versions of secularism which is based on distortion or denigration of this aforementioned glorious tradition will be met with outright rejection and rise of NAMO. And the present scenario is the one where the agenda of secularism is hijacked, distorted and abused by the left-leaning academia and media of the country. All the above mentioned self-proclaimed stalwarts of secularism and their discourses to protect the ‘idea of India’ are basically ‘moth-eaten’ attempts at intellectual sophistry, learned and rehearsed in the patronizing  arm of our ‘Nehru-Gandhi’ dynasty, and whose only aim is to please the mother-son duo to get good offices.

Indian Secularism is primarily a cultural phenomenon which has evolved over last 5000 years. In fact the word secularism itself is an incomplete expression. The perfect expression should be ‘peaceful and harmonious co-existence’.  Any attempt to define Indian secularism, politically and academically must understand the subtle nuances of this great cultural tradition of 5000 years.

India is a country which has witnessed a tolerant and respectful attitude towards diverse cultural, ideological and religious traditions since the dawn of civilization in this sub-continent. In the age of Buddha, there were about 364 heterodox sects thriving in Bharatvarsha. The sects included diverse groups such as Jainism, which believed in atheism, pluralism and non-violence, amoralism of Purana kassapa, Fatalism of Makhalli Ghosal, materialism of Ajit Kesakambali, materialism of Carvaka, eternalism of Pakudh Kachchayana and agnosticism of Sanjay Belathhiputta. Throughout the course of Indian history diverse cultural and religious groups have co-existed peacefully. Their beliefs were radically opposite to each other like Sanatana Dharma/Brahmana Dharma believed in soul and God whereas Buddhism did not believe in soul and God. The materialists and their mentor Carvaka believed in complete indulgence and denied all other-worldly entities. Similarly, Sankyhas believed in dualist world whereas Sankara and his advaitvaad believed in monism. In addition to these there were ultra-heterodox sects like tantriks, kapalikas, shaktas and saivas and aghoras who believed in sacrifice and even practiced sexual and orgiastic rituals in their tradition. All these diverse groups co-existed and evolved together without any major violent clash, for thousands of years and beautifully crafted the spiritual soul of Bharat varsha which believes in love and harmony. How deep these values of tolerance and faith are embedded in Indian mindset is amply demonstrated by the fact that any Hindu, whenever s/he comes across a religious place of any sect naturally happens to join his/her hands in reverence.

Further, the tolerance can be seen in the fact that same Buddha who did not believe in God and began as a rebel against Brahmanism is now regarded as an incarnation of Vishnu just like Rama or Krishna. In the similar vein, Carvaka who is an ardent proponent of materialist indulgence and pleasure, and categorically denies God is mentioned as a pious saint lecturing Yudhishthira in Mahabharata, which believes in Krishna as God.

In India several ethnic groups came as invaders like Shakas, Kushanas, Hunas, Greeks and Pahlavas but all of them were assimilated in Hindu pantheon of the sub-continent.  All this happened with peace and love. In fact foreign rulers like Kanishka organized 3rd Buddhist council in Kashmir. Greeks adopted Bhagwat dharma. The first historical evidence of Bhagwatism and Gita comes from a pillar built by Heliodorus to mark his devotion to Lord Vasudeva (Krishna or Vishnu) in Vidisha. Heliodorus was a Greek ambassador in the court of Sunga king Bhagbhadra.  Similarly, Tormana Huna who came as barbaric invader became a Saivite. Further, the Southern India which was linguistically, culturally and religiously different from the mainstream Aryan faiths and beliefs was assimilated in a very peaceful and tactical way in Hinduism. Their local deities like Murugan, Menakshi goddess and Balaji were assimilated as forms of Lord Kartikeya, Vishnu and Durga in Hinduism. In course of time Jainism and Buddhism which started as separate religions became a part of hindu cultural and spiritual mosaic.

 In medieval India, due to Bhakti movements and Sufi movements, India witnessed a growth of ‘ganga-jamuni Tahzeeb’ of Hindus and Muslims based on harmonious existence. Sufi shrines like Ajmer sharif and Auliya sahib in Delhi are worshipped by Hindus and Muslims alike. The faiths like Sikhism which emerged in medieval India had elements of both Islam and Hinduism. The peaceful coexistence or so-called secularism was seen in many strange and funny forms also. The cult of Kali-worshipping thugs which mercilessly killed traders and pilgrims had both Muslims and Hindu castes like rajputs, Brahmins and even vaishyas. The community of Jogis in Mewat (rajasthan) is religiously Islamic but they earn their living by singing devotional songs of Hindu God Lord Shiva.

India is the only place where Jewish community never faced any discrimination and the oldest Jewish synagogue still sprawls with all pride and safety in Kolkata. India has the world smallest minority of Zoroastrians who migrated from Iran when Turkish Islamic invaders forcibly converted the people of Iran and massacred millions. Even in the heydays of its power and military might India had never been an aggressor country. King Skandhagupta of Gupta dynasty and Lalitaditya Muktapida were powerful enough to conquer Asia but they never ventured out of India with any sword of aggressive Hinduism. Mighty King Asoka, the ‘Piyanam Piyadasi’ who ruled from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Chittagong to the borders of Iran, went to central Asia and Srilanka  with the message of Buddha not with the sword of religion. India has a rich tradition of ‘Shastrartha’ in which ideological differences are debated in philosophical dialectics. Such debates were based on logic and rationality and they never advocated suppressing the opponent’s view by force. The Upnishads of the vedic tradition propounded the idea of ‘Vasudhev Kutumbkam’ which implies that the whole world is one family.

The secular-liberal brigade of India never displayed any understanding of this great tradition or even showed any respect to this great tradition. In fact, their only agenda was to project secularism as an insult to this great tradition.  This strain of secularism manifested itself in justifying cow slaughter, caste based quotas, haj subsidies, writing mercy petitions for Ajmal Kasab, addressing Osama as Reverend Osama Ji and indicting RSS in 26/11 terror attacks of Mumbai.

The left-leaning intelligentsia has always looked at Hindu scriptures like Gita, Ramayana , Mahabharata and Upnishads with an attitude of mockery, derision and hatred. Whenever there was any demand for proper academic research of Hindu traditions, history and religion the attempts were denied and insulted with accented English. The people who made such demands were scoffed at as a bunch of rustic villagers who could not speak in English. Even their rightful demands like inclusion and academic inquiry of Yoga, ancient Indian scientific texts like Vimanashastra, Charaksamhita, Mahabharata and vedic mathematics were branded as communal and venomous. Once in my seminar class in International Relations with Allen Carlson, we were discussing the dominance of western world in international relations theory. I was absolutely stunned to learn that these great thinkers and academicians of western world had no idea of Acharya Vishnu Gupta (Kautilya) and his ideas on political theory. In the educational curriculum the obvious villains like Aurangzeb, Muhammad Bin Tughlaq and Firuz Tughlaq have been glorified. The roads in capital city of Delhi have been named after them.  

The facts have been distorted to satisfy personal agendas. The NCERT texts and historians like Satish Chandra make a passing reference to the massacre of 30,00 people ordered by Akbar in Chittor as if the Zill-e-Ilahi was going to award him the Mansab of 7000 and allow him to sit next to Abul Fazl (sometimes I feel that he may be a rebirth of Abul Fazl). The brutal murders and forcible conversions ordered by barbarous Islamic rulers have been mentioned like a small joke in the history text books and endless chapters have been devoted to sing the exaggerated glories of Sufi saints. Even the Sufi as great as Nizamuddin Auliya once said that Hindus recognize that Islam is a great religion but they do not convert.  Such a great soul looks utterly greedy and helpless when it makes such a statement.

In the western world whenever I speak to academicians or anyone interested in India, they ask one question i.e. Is RSS a fascist organization who worship Hitler and Mussolini, and Is Modi going to fix minorities?

What shocks me and agitates me is the fact that such a horrendous lie has been spread over the years systematically by the syndicate of Congress and left-wing intellectual elites of India? When the leader of the ruling party and a Cambridge-educated Prime Minister called the prime ministerial candidate of the opposition party as butcher of Muslims, on baseless grounds they did the worst damage not to BJP, but to themselves and India’s international image. The world community never got to know of our glorious tolerant history but they got to know about this one man who was the biggest enemy of Congress. The congress government after ten years of revengeful investigation against Mr. Modi could not prove his involvement in Godhra riots. Even the Supreme Court gave clean chit to Narendra Bhai Modi. This man was ostracized my congress and left leaning intellectuals, and the media for about ten years, without any proven involvement in the riots. This is shameful for all of us.

In the similar vein RSS has been branded as fascist organization internationally. This argument is completely baseless. RSS, even at the wildest stretch of imagination is not fascist. It has never fought for offices. It has never spread any sort of racial hatred. Even the RSS’s notion of Hindutva is a cultural notion. It aims for preservation and promotion of the cultural and religious identity of all the religious groups living in India and that includes Muslims, Parsis, Jews and Christians also. Despite my disagreement with RSS leaders on several occasions, I have found them, people of impeccable character and honesty who devoted decades of their life to public and social service as opposed to Cambridge-Stephens educated left wing liberals whose backup plan was always writing a GRE exam. It is beyond any doubt that RSS has a strong base among common masses of India, where no one knows these so called secular intellectuals. This base of RSS is not based on Hindutva or any hate campaign, but it is based on the legendry social work done by them in the upliftment of tribal groups, cow protection, education and disaster relief. It has done a pioneering work in civil society movement in India. These aspects of RSS have never been brought to limelight by media. Why the UPA government could take Aruna Roy in National Advisory Council, who signed a mercy petition or Ajmal Kasab, and not anyone from RSS?

The liberal secular brigade found its venomous and revengeful secularism in falsely indicting the popular organizations like RSS in fake cases of terrorism, insulting and ostracizing them by calling them fascist. They found their secularism in catering to the whims and fancies of characterless sycophants and hindu-haters like John Dayala and Asaduddin Owaisi. These two individuals were never arrested when they made any inflammatory speeches. In fact, John Dayal was appointed a member on the committee on North-eastern states of India. Further, they found their secularism in insulting Hindu saints like Baba Ramdev and brutually assaulting them in the middle of night. Well, the surprising fact is that Arundhati Roy who blamed Indian government for ill-treating Muslims during 26/11, did not speak a word when Baba Ramdev and common people fasting against corruption were mercilessly beaten.  Aruna Roy, Harsh Mandar and Mr. Aiyar were not to be seen anywhere.

Tarak fateh, a Pakistani truth seeker, rightly tweeted a few days back that if Indian liberal intelligentsia can tolerate radical Muslim organizations like Ittehad -I-Musalmeen then, why can’t RSS? The left wing stalwarts like Arundhati Roy wrote ‘Monster in the Mirror’ on 26/11 in which she blamed the Indian government for treating Muslims badly. All these instances have created a perception in the common man’s mindset that whenever any Hindu interest is sacrificed the secular brigade people like Harsh Mandar, Medha Patkar , Aruna Roy, Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghosh, Manishakar Aiyar etc. will never speak up and they will take extra efforts in minority appeasement , which is actually true to a large extent. The common people of India do not trust these secular liberals. They have lost their credibility.

Coming to the Communal riots, it needs to be mentioned that the communal riots are a social phenomenon. It is a malaise whose causes are much deeper than global Islamic terrorism. There is a troubled history in the sub-continent. The problem of riots exists only between Hindus and Muslims, not with other communities like Parsis, Jews, Jains, Sikhs, Christians, and Buddhists etc. Why? The reason is that the forced conversions of medieval India left a deep impact in the Hindu mindset. It started when Solanki Rulers of Gujarat allowed Muslim traders a safe and secure existence in Gujarat. First time in the history of India a foreign ruler came and attacked the holiest shrine of Hindus i.e. Somnath. That invasion left a deep impact in the minds of people. Gujarat saw a continuous wave of loot and forced conversions after that. Not just Gujarat but entire North India including Kashmir saw a wave of forced conversions. This has never happened in the history of India. The phenomenon of forced conversion was completely alien to Hindu mindset. This led to strong resistance from Hindus and the proof is that in the entire region from Arabia to Malaysia India is the only country where after 1000 years of Muslim rule 82% population is still Hindu.  The common people are proud of this glorious history of resistance and their feelings can be witnessed in folklores of Rajasthan and north India.  The liberal brigade never accepted this history. I am not saying that it is true. Whether these claims are true or false can be found out only if there is a proper intellectual inquiry and debate. But the liberal brigade completely suppressed the right wing opinion in academia. The left wing academia and its domination never even allowed debate on these matters which are so close to Hindu sentiments. In Babri Masjid case, Supreme Court gave a judgment that there was a Hindu structure there. Now this is a question of religious sentiments of 100 crore Hindus of India. The liberals cannot brush it away as a demand of war-mongering bunch of communal fascists. While looking at Godhra riots, it must be seen that 57 hindu car sewaks were burnt alive in the train. The riots were knee-jerk reaction to that and the state has its own limitations in terms of resources etc. to control such sudden events.  However, the left wing media and intellectuals have never said a word about the burning of car sewaks.

Hence, to conclude I will say that when liars and the lies become so obvious and when they are presented with such refined intellectual sophistry then the common people who are innocent and live on their faith in their rulers come to hate the liars. The liars, no matter how educated they are, lose their credibility. With them, everything associated with them like their Cambridge degrees and Oxford diplomas also lose their credibility because people see those self-proclaimed messiahs of equality, insult a man just because he was a poor  ‘chay wallah’ in his childhood.  Then, occurs a revolution in which all the liars are thrown out mercilessly. How this process happens? The answer to this will be mentioned in detail by Rahul Gandhi in his autobiography which will be published from Italy after 30 to 40 years.

My suggestions for revamp of Indian diplomacy:
Honorable Prime Minister of India,
I am a graduate from Cornell University in Public Administration. In my 2 years of stay in the international diplomatic environment, I have realized that the world community suffers from lot of misconceptions about our foreign policy and our nation. The only way to address this issue is to make institutional changes in our foreign policy and diplomatic machinery. Here, I founded International Affairs Forum to promote soft power in diplomacy. I have realized that 21st century belongs to economic diplomacy and soft power. I am sending you few suggestions for making things better in our foreign policy.

1) The selection system must be changed. 1/4th of the diplomats can be selected through lateral entry system. Many bright Indian students are studying in Harvard, Fletcher school of diplomacy, Georgetown and many other such good universities. They can be asked to send their CVs and cover letter and then selected on the basis of personal or skype interview. Then they can be sent for 6 months orientation course in which they must be trained in Indian constitution, history, culture and diplomatic traditions. Having done that they can be sent for field assignments. Their performance must be reviewed after every 3 years and then a decision taken on retaining them or asking them to leave.

2) 1/4th of the candidates can be selected from the existing government officials in other central services, police services, state civil services, armed forces, private sector and non profit sector. They also should go through an orientation course and sent to field postings.

3) 50 % should be selected though regular competitive exam conducted by UPSC. Their tenure and the tenure of existing diplomats must be reviewed after every 3 to 5 years and then a decision taken on retaining them or not.

4) The ambassadors should be appointed from diverse areas like business, private sector, non profit sector, academicians and politicians. The nations where business interests are to be promoted can have envoys like Mr. Narayan Murthy etc.

5) we need to increase the number of diplomats to at least 4 to 5000.

6) We should get specialists in public diplomacy, soft power and water diplomacy and climate change.

7) All the processes of visa and passport must be made online. The fee must be accepted by credit card or checks and cash system should be abolished.

8) We must have a soft power secretariat to promote India's soft power across the world. For this the embassies must reach out to universities and academic and cultural institutions.

9) We must have a development secretariat in foreign ministry as now the major part of diplomacy is aids for development, poverty reduction, education etc in conflict areas. We should hire diplomats who are trained in international development studies.

10) India can take lead in reviving SAARC. To begin with, India can form SAARC Peace and Reconstruction Forces, with staff and corps recruited from all SAARC nations. They can, to begin with be posted in Afghanistan. They will engage in development work and train the local security forces. The development professionals can be recruited from our educational institutions like IIM, IRMA(Anand), JNU, Delhi university and other universities. Later, for youth a permanent SAARC peace volunteer corps can be formed. The dedicated band of youngsters will engage in fighting poverty, diseases, inequality in all SAARC nations and other conflict areas.

I have many other suggestions which I can send you on your personal email if you and the foreign ministry are interested. I can be contacted at ap749@cornell.edu.
Jaihind Jai Bharat
with warm regards,

                                                                  Why He Won?

When it comes to India, everything seems like a fantasy sequence of magical realism. The magical realism begins from its mythological Gods with multiple heads and continues to capture the domains of history, culture and politics. This is the country where one small prince (Buddha) got enlightened in Gaya and changed the course on History in entire Asia. This is the country where one lean and lanky mahatma of about five feet uprooted the might of invincible British colonial empire. This is the place which witnessed the unification of unimaginably diverse 547 princely states and, when everyone doubted its survival as a democratic nation, then it showed to the whole world that a country of seven different religions, 540 tribes, 3000 castes and about 1635 languages can survive as a democratic nation with strong economic growth. Today, one another surprising and almost a revolutionary phenomenon has occurred and i.e. the election of a man who was almost ostracized by the national media, political brass and intelligentsia for about 10 years, as the Prime Minister of the world largest democracy.

Mr. Modi comes to enjoy a cult figure like status now. In one of my previous article for PTH (Pak Tea House) I compared his fan following to that of Swami Vivekanand and there were several objections to that. But the way he single-handedly lifted the BJP from the abyss of despair and gloom, and steered its course to corridors of power, with a thumping majority proves beyond doubt that a country of 1.2 billion people is a ‘Modi’-fied India now.

In intellectual circles, this victory is being seen as the victory of communal and fascist Hindutva forces. Yesterday, I saw several facebook posts from my fellow Stephanians (an intellectual ivory tower of India with pro-left leanings) which said, “RIP Secular India, 16^th May 2014). The debate in the intellectual circles has gone back to the year of 1947 and has raised a question mark on the idea of India i.e. Is it the same India whose constitution declares it to be officially a secular country, and guarantees religious and cultural freedom to all its citizens, on account of its glorious history of peaceful co-existence of diverse religious and cultural groups?

I, personally feel that this is not the right way to look at this phenomenal victory. I strongly believe that the intellectual elites must come out of their cocoon of intellectual arrogance and not denigrate the democratic mandate of 1.2 billion people as a ‘making of the communal India’. In fact, closer analysis of the Indian political landscape over the last 10 years makes it amply clear that it is neither a miracle nor a rise of Hindutva. It turns out that this resounding victory is a logical culmination of the political vacuum that arose as a result of the timely amalgamation of several factors.

The question which I want to address here is that why an educated, liberal and irreligious man like me or many of my friends voted for Mr. Modi.

First and foremost, I would like to state upfront that the main plank of Mr. Modi’s election campaign was his Gujarat model of development. This is a new and very radical experiment in Indian democracy. The society where still caste, religion and feudal ethos dominate the mindset of an average Indian, no political party could dare to ride the horse of development, where populist politics and mincing of words had no role to play and, which demanded a no-nonsense leader who worked hard and showed the results which could be quantified. BJP experimented with this agenda in 2004 but failed miserably, because Indian mindset was still trying to come to terms with the phenomena of free market and globalized world. The BJP’s defeat of 2004 led all the regional parties like SP, BSP and Congress to plunge India back into 1980s when the politics was driven by the concerns of caste and religion, and incompetency was shielded by minority appeasement and great socialist ideas. However, this time the India was facing the electorate which has witnessed the financial crises of 2008 and realized the importance of economic growth. This time India was facing a voter which has witnessed the brutal terror attacks of Mumbai and several such blasts, and had realized the importance of national security. This time India faced a voter who was mesmerized with the power of social media and digital government and, would brook no tolerance to corruption and inefficiency.

Mr. Narendra Modi could capture these new expectations of the Indian masses. His manifesto, his style of governance, campaign and persona, in every way aligned with the new voter of India. Never before, there was such massive use of technology, social media and holograms in campaigning. The most startling fact is that Rahul and his team of Harvard and Wharton Graduates; extremely qualified ministers like Mr. Tharoor, Jairam Ramesh etc. could not see the change in the mindset of Indian voter. Their isolation from common masses and the arrogance of power made them think of the Indian voter as someone who is still rooted in caste and religion.

Whenever Mr. Modi talked of national security, economic growth and the incompetency of the government, the INC replied with Sachchar committee, politicization of Batla house encounter, Kargil war and the populist measures like food security act. Lately, their replies reflected extremes of insensitivity to people’s expectations. What was the Congress brass doing when leaders like Mulayam Singh, Digvijay Singh were shamelessly identifying the rights of minority communities with, the sacrifice of national security? When we look back, it astonishes beyond imagination that how could party with 128 years of glorious history could allow its leaders to address Osama Bin laden as Respected Osama Bin Laden Ji’? It is beyond explanation that how could an old and mature party resort to the tactics of misusing CBI to fabricate fictitious notions of ‘saffron terror’  and make a public appeal to the Imam of jama masjid  to urge all Muslims to vote for congress if they wanted to be safe.

It was a sheer misperception on the part of ruling establishment. On top of it, the number of financial scams like telecom, commonwealth continued unabated and a helpless prime minister could not do anything about except keeping a miscalculated political silence. I would consider it worth mentioning that the we must give our sincere thanks to Baba Ramdev, Mr. Kejriwal and Anna Hazare for launching mass movements exposing the moral bankruptcy of the government and, for empowering the Indian democracy and the Indian voter. If it were not for them, the political vacuum created by policy paralysis would never have come to the forefront, and Mr. Modi would never have got this opportunity to fill this vacuum.

Mr. Modi has always been projected as a very polarizing leader by domestic as well as foreign media. The ruling establishment and a bunch of archaic regional parties like SP and BSP played upon this image of Mr. Modi and used it in a very malicious and inefficient way to shield their incompetency, to which Mr. Modi always replied with the rhetoric of development. Hence, in effect this election became a truly polarized election. Mr. Modi ‘polarized’ it between economic growth, strong foreign policy, good governance, and a weak, corrupt ,arrogant and inefficient  governance of Congress whereas the INC ‘polarised’ it between protection of minorities and Hindu communalism of BJP.  Fortunately, Mr. Modi’s polarization worked whereas INC’s polarization backfired.

Therefore, I will conclude that it is a victory of hope, economic growth based on free-market, and the Modi phenomenon also marks the end of feudal India, dynastic politics, populist politics and caste based politics. I hope Mr. Modi delivers on his promises and keeps the hardliner Hindutva elements in control

Finally, before I end, I must say that the idea of India still remains the same i.e. peaceful co-existence. However, it now wants 10% growth rate and better quality of life.

                                          Good bye and Good luck-Have a wonderful life

The CIPA class of 2014 graduated on 25^th May 2014. All of us will be leaving for known and unknown destinies in few days. Yesterday, my friend Jenny Shin asked me, “hey Abhi, how do you feel after graduation?” I replied that I feel empty. I have the feeling of nothingness. I am letting this tranquility of nothingness seep into my being. In this nothingness, I have felt a few things which I could not feel in the fast paced life of last two years. I am sharing my experiences and few things which I internalized in the last two years, but felt only, in the stillness of this mystic nothingness.

August 2012, I found myself transported miles away from my rustic, rural and 19^th century homeland of Rajasthan (India) to the land of challenges and opportunities. I came with endless question, uncertainties and expectations. Today after about 2 years I feel that if the mankind’s ultimate goal is to achieve self-realization then I have at least made a major stride towards that goal and my unending journey has acquired a direction, ambition and a passion.

I come from a family of priests and except my father everyone in my family devoted themselves to spiritual pursuits. No one went abroad for any higher studies program. Today when I look back I feel that I have also advanced on the path of spiritual enlightenment but through action and serving the humanity.

Today, when I stand here with an eye peeping backwards and another looking into the uncertain horizons of the future, the first question that comes to my mind is: What is the idea of CIPA?

I have always inquired into the idea of my intellectual study before beginning it but in the case of this graduate program this question erupted today morning, a day after I graduated. The question emanates from the circumstances from which I came or hundreds like me came to CIPA and the pyscho-physical evolution of my persona over the last two years.

When a young man at the age of 27 decides to go to United States for a graduate program after five years of work experience in remote hinterlands of India what questions fire his imagination?

It is a state where there is an impulse to unlearn what he had already learnt and learns new things at once. My state of mind then was the state of confusion, when you question your beliefs, ideas, the work you have done. You want to know more and find correct answers to the questions of human existence. There is a rebel and a renegade in you at once. You want to change the order and yet stay within it. I came with hopes, fears, questions and dreams of bringing a sunshine, a smile and ray of hope. Thus the idea of CIPA is realization, wisdom and a peaceful revolution within oneself and outside. It is a revolution which is not chaos but a realm of peace, order and motivation. In the last two years all of us have gone through a revolutionary transformation in terms of ideas, beliefs, attitudes and dreams. The idea of CIPA is embodied in the portrait of Gandhi which I got to see every morning with a cup of tea after my stats class. The message of Gandhi was change and revolution but in a non-aggressive, peaceful, constructive and humble way and CIPA has brought that revolution in all of us. All of us are rebel in our own way: Rafi Sherzad fought against adverse life conditions and came to Cornell. I rebelled against the trend of joining bureaucracy and came to Cornell. Alvaro Salas rebelled against poverty, drugs and came to Cornell and most of you followed the same trend. In CIPA we have honed the art of revolution: Our revolution is for the construction, it is for peace and not for chaos. Hence I would urge:

Rebel, Rebel, Rebel but with a peaceful mind and peaceful intent and with values because its mot just what you dream and, achieve that matter, but what matters is how you chase and achieve your dreams.

With every passing day in CIPA I realized the limitless frontiers of mankind’s abilities and the inherent oneness of his existence. The most important and a life changing lesson for me here was the true spirit of internationalism and universal brotherhood of mankind. For the first time I felt South Asian, not Indian, then I even transcended that feeling and today I feel a universal and a truly global human person. Meeting different nationalities, seeing all of them freaking out over the assignments, midterms, seeing them falling in love, crying and smiling together, building true, deep and sincere bonds of friendship and nonetheless fighting and gossiping , strengthens my faith and belief in the fact that mankind essentially is one. The differences of religion, caste, color, creed and ideology always were, are and will always be superficial. And that demands a strong commitment and dedication from all of us to serve the suffering humanity.

In my class 10 when my classmates thought of preparing for engineering exams I got fascinated with Bismarck, Socrates, Lord Buddha and Prophet Muhammad and the story of human civilization. I found myself organizing inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogues forums in the small, arid villages of India without realizing that those initiatives were just the precursors of today’s IAF (International Affairs Forum).  After CIPA my faith in the existence of a superior, guiding force has strengthened and I have learned to appreciate the beauty of almighty’s mystic strokes. In IAF I tried( with Shaily's mighty support) to bring those aspects of the nations about which we never get to know in the media. We always heard about the conflicts in Afghanistan and Africa but here in CIPA and IAF I learned that there is much more to know about these nations.

Destiny, peace and Dreams:

My American experience exposed me to the new world of ‘networking’. Indeed, it a great way to acquire material success in life. However, in the last two years, I discovered a very important segment of networking which we were all missing out. I prefer to call this segment, ‘internal networking’. It is about reflection, introspection and finding out the spiritual emptiness in oneself. Sometimes, big dreams, big ideologies may blind us to the very basic needs of happiness i.e. a tranquil mind. The endless dreams and a lust for them may lead to anxiety, lust and erosion of morals. But we must find out the way which seeks perfect balance of ambitions, prosperity, mental peace and tranquility, and the righteous way of pursuing them.

I found that way in ‘internal networking’ which for me was taking some time out for closing down my eyes and sit in the meditative stillness of my breath where I am just a witness to what I am, not a doer or chaser of dreams. It gave me an opportunity to look at what I am doing and how I am doing it. I would urge everyone to find this balance through ‘internal networking’ to contribute in more positive way and live a healthy and spiritually satisfying life.

Life is not all about victories and achievements. In the domain of public affairs we will also face failures and downs. Those are the moments where we need some anchorage to protect us from the breakdown. The peace within, which one can attain from meditation, provides that anchorage and support. The tranquility within protects us from the anxiety of failures and, it will rejuvenate us to fight back.  

What else CIPA taught me and in fact the great American civilization taught me?

It taught me that human action and his faith in his action and conviction can bring miracles. This is the lesson which I would like to take back to my nation because my generation in my country reverts back to mystic chants and planets for their future.

Cornell taught me to ask right question with assertion, conviction and dedication. Cornell taught me the importance of basic things like discipline, time management and commitment.

In future, we go into the world of odds and challenges with these experiences and strengths. We will be with friends, allies, opponents and teeming millions who will look up to us with feelings of hope in their eyes. In that real battlefield the core human values like strength of soul, wisdom, balance of mind, tolerance, determination and compassion will be our true weapons. We were born with these weapons and in CIPA we realized their power, and value and in future we will, if not change the world, then at the least send a vibration of true love and harmony in this limitless cosmos.   I feel that I have a mission and I have the skills and I have the right set of ideas and passion to accomplish my goal. I express my heartfelt and sincere thanks to CIPA for churning out a conscious, aware and dedicated mankind out of me and 1000s of youngsters like me. I wish I could impart these skills or structure the education system in my country in this pattern and I hope to do it soon. My 2 years of education is not just confined to me but through me it will reach out to 1000s and if that produces one truly global citizen than I will feel that my existence is meaningful. 

I thank all the faculty members and my cipa fellows for being good friends, philosophers and guides. For me Cornell will always be like a mother and sometime 5, 10 years down the line I can see myself coming back to CIPA lounge and having my morning tea with the Gandhi’s portrait around and trying to find Cheryl.

Before I end,

Woods are dark, lovely and deep, I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep miles to go before I sleep

Hopefully I will see you in the playful strokes of destiny,

In the dreams of destiny

In the tears of destiny,

In the smiles of destiny,

Good bye and good luck