Ever since Gauri Lankesh was murdered the media has been afire with the theme of illiberalism of the Hindu Right. The provocateurs on the Left Wing (LW) make deft, sometimes vulgar remarks against the Right Wing (RW). The RW knows no answers. They lose their temper. What follows resembles an avalanche of invectives which is self -defeating. I need not to talk about the IQ of the Hindu Right! Their world view is simple. “Our past was exemplary. Let us return to the past.” Their intellectual capital is frugal yet effective. Vanday Mataram! Bharat Mata key Jai! These two slogans take care of nationalism/patriotism. Appeasement policy takes care of political narrative! One need not go to unravelling the Freudian side of this politically pregnant slogan.

The LW works like the legendry bear that saw a lamb drinking water downstream! The LW pulls the RW to the pedestrian level. You are communal! We are secular! And the RW runs for cover. But the wingless Hindus are at a loss to understand why the word communal is not being added to the group of slur words. After all they are not a party to what goes on between the two in the struggle for capturing the political power.

Kama sutra belongs to us. This is permissive, free story of the ancient India. Being not trained in the art of dialects, RW tries to defend what is indefensible. A quick rejoinder could save the day for them. Sample this: Look, the written word is meant for the literates. It therefore follows that this book of pornography was meant for the literate elites. This book must have been very popular with the kings, courtiers, bureaucrats, rich traders and farmers, the generals and colonels. Likewise, Ajanta and Ellora which were constructed by the state by spending lavishly from the state treasury, seems to be the brain wave of those kings whose libido was perhaps unhinged naturally and artificially. Then we had no internet. So, a book was required. The platform of the Internet has made pornography independent of literacy skill. You punch a key and the red-light area flashes on our screens! So what prohibition has saved for the poor in Bihar, is now routed to pornography industry. No education is required because it is a visual activity.

 But before the RW collect their wits, next salvo is fired. Manu code belongs to you. We do not inherit such nasty books. The RW are so confused to say that Manu code was at least a guideline for the kings to rule. Some law is better than no law! And that this code was replaced by the Islamic code. That was replaced by the Imperial code. And now we have the Constitution. But no such answer escapes their mouths. No reply. Only remorse!

We fought for freedom struggle. All born post ’47 claim it. You sided with British and some with Germany. Subash Chandra Bose belongs to you. Gandhi belongs to us.

A strange silence has fallen on the Indian university campuses ever since a fictional version of the freedom struggle was popularised with the active support of the upwardly mobile political Hindus. The farmers/ordinary people depend on folk history to differentiate between fake and true narratives. And they know that for the Hindus the freedom struggle meant freedom from the Mughal/Islamic rule. But they were too weak to challenge them. So, a divine intervention in the form of the East India Company arrived on the Indian scene. And in 1757 Clive defeated Siraj-ul Daulla in Calcutta and took control. But the Mughal Empire in its decaying version was still holding ground till the sepoy mutiny provided the British with an opportunity to dump the remnants of the Mughal Empire in Rangoon one hundred years later in 1857. In the same year, the British started three universities in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. This provided the Hindus with an opportunity to acquire knowledge and intellectual armour to face the political challenges. And they succeeded in introducing revolutionary reforms, in almost moribund Hindu societies. But The post-independence English speaking Hindus converted the benefactors into villains to get hold of India-politically and economically.

They abuse the British not in Persian language, which the Mughals used but in the English language introduced by the British.   Irony!

The unending narrative continues: Nathu Ram belongs to you and a paralysis strikes the RW. Beant Singh belongs to the Punjab. He killed one more Gandhi. We are the aggrieved party!

Qutab Minar belongs to us. It was a very progressive move. Lankesh nursed a desire to construct a staircase to Heaven. He always postponed the construction till tomorrow. Lord Rama killed him before he could embark upon such a foolish project. Qutab Din made the first attempt to observe the moon from a better height to ensure the visual confirmation of the crescent. So, he neutralised the possibility of the Ulemas fighting with each other on this issue.

Our J L Nehru was comparable in length to height of Qutab Minar and his breadth of vision was comparable to that of Qutub-U-Din. Therefore, we constructed every premier educational Institute in the wake and wash of the Qutub Minar. See our progress. We train our boys in the IIT and JNU and they emigrate to the west especially America. It is their remittances to the central bank that enables us to purchase oil from Arabs! But the RW never question this train of thoughts. They could say, well we are short of trained teachers. It would be prudent if we give them final certificates after they teach in Engineering colleges for three years. In this way we could utilise the services of knowledgeable lectures to uplift the standards of our engineering colleges! But no such utilitarian thoughts strike them.

Som Nath temple belongs to you. Therefore, Rajendra Prasad belongs to you. He had an awkward disposition towards Nehru. He went to the Som Nath temple which was against the canons of the faith of new India. And see how as the President of the Republic he washed the feet of mendicants. The world laughed at us!

In this way the theatre of the Absurd unfolds on the 24/7 News Channels! They invite one bloke wearing saffron. He returns home with a bag full of insults and a box of candy. And we in our homes bang our heads as 5:1 contest is won by the legendary bears.

II

Anger eats up Budhi (wisdom)! That is what our scriptures teach us, repeatedly. Now one of the many names the much maligned Ravana, is Lankesh- the King of Lanka! Humour could have made a tragic killing of Gauri Lankesh less painful after all not all men and women are genuine mourners. But India lost the sense of humour ever since Lalu Prasad cocked a snook at the constitutional arrangement in 1997. He was indicted in the infamous Chara scandal and had to resign. But he made his spouse to take charge of the Government to rule by default. Bihar as we know has absolute monopoly rights on floods, poverty, secularism and mass copying. That day cold humour also became a permanent resident of Bihar state.

I am talking about the humour. Lalu Prasad discovered a pathway and the Indian Constitution obliged him. He became a Minister at the centre for ten years! But the salutary effect his presence in the Parliament was that he made fun and frolic a part of the proceedings. He would always cock a snook at RW and a guffaw would burst like an avalanche of fire crackers. But when the discussion on the Women Reservation Bill was being debated in Parliament in 2010, he vehemently opposed the bill.

You can’t sell ice in winter. So, you switch the trade and sell coal!

Humour is the other face of violence. Provocation is violence by oral means. If a person wants to commit a suicide, he has to simply abuse a gun wielding criminal. In this way he can abet his own suicide, yet become a victim. That is what Gauri Lankesh did. Anybody, offended by her tweets could have come up to her face, said hello and pumped bullets unto her. The murder of Gandhi taught the Hindus no lessons. The Hindus anyway are not prepared to change. Nature has put some filters in their genes that they talk without studying. They only pontificate. A person who froths at his mouth for an hour can’t write one sensible sentence on the subject of his debate.

“Men weave confusion because they are afraid of simple truths.” The Hindus are strangely a passive people. While explaining the behavioural ineptitude of some character Goethe says “He is like Hamlet whose powers of direct action is paralysed by the excessive development of his intellect”.

The first case of love Jihad happened in Kashmir in Sep 1967. A miniscule Pandit minority agitated for 17 days and made Indira Gandhi to wake up and take stock of the situation. The world media took note. But when the Pandits were flushed out of Kashmir the Hindus on both sides of the spectrum converted a tragedy into a slugfest between RW and LW. At the core was the fear that Kashmir may cede. Therefore, placating the Muslims became the chief assignment of the Hindus. Wisdom!

But two years later when Babri Mosque was demolished the issue of secularism became the chief concern of the Hindus. They mourned in groups. In Kashmir case it was political compulsion. Secularism remained intact. In the Babri case it was a political opportunity. Secularism received grievous injuries! The political morality or wisdom is not any issue with the Hindus. Wisdom fortified with courage has somehow escaped to hit them at the hearts. They always find a way to ease themselves out of ugly situations.

In the civilised world we live, etiquette is an essential part of our upbringing. The local population, untouched by the affliction of the English language observe a fair amount of etiquette in situations of mourning. They fold their hands bend their heads in reverence to the departed soul. They console the grieving family by repeating nuggets from Bhagwad Gita. The only voice raised is by the women folk who shed tears at the drop of a hat.

I have great respect for the selfless service the Indian ladies render for our wellbeing. They have to cook and maintain the households, raise children, in villages serve free to look after the farm animals. The contribution they make in growing food for urban/rural population can’t be quantified. They make discreet/open arrangements to make the marriages worth remembering. Ladies cook and feed during day and sing/dance during nights.

At the time of death these feisty ladies shed real tears, express real grief. And men immobile look like patients suffering from pleurisy!

The English media too mourned the death of their colleague. But the honesty and integrity was missing in their narrative. When a soldier standing guard at the border is killed by a sniper fire what do we do? His death is a possibility which makes us psychologically accept the fate.  But they didn’t take her murder as an occupational hazard, associated with all professions. They somehow feel that journalists are different from soldiers or drivers or divers who come from villages to clean urban drains.

What made me feel very sad that before she breathed her last, news wires shuttled the caution: Free speech is under threat! And at the mourning spots Gauri was discussed less but the disqualifications of the RW Govt at the centre was debated more. The Karnataka Government honoured her with a state funeral although she was out on bail. 21-gun salute bid her farewell. On the other hand, the mortal remains of P V Narsimha Rao were not allowed inside 24 Akbar Road! His body was not allowed to be cremated in New Delhi although a non-entity Sanjay Gandhi was cremated on the banks of Yamuna an honour denied to Babu Jagjivan Ram! Narsimha Rao was a polyglot, an ex-Prime minister who started freedom struggle 2.0 by way of liberating the Indian economy from its Nehruvian affliction. He had no cases against him. Yet was treated shabbily. The habitual burglars of our national treasury have a warped sense of humour!

 III

Freedom without rules doesn’t work. If you want to save your work place/institution from decay and death, you have to be very honest. Gauri was a multitasking person as we know now. She wanted to stand up for justice, the shortest route a rascal, holding no power, authority or organisation takes to harvest fame. Normal people take care of their families and try to lessen the burden on the state. These altruistic types forget their homes and move to higher social planes to live a life of fun and frolic; camera and sound bites earning lacs from the very people they claim to represent.

LW Journalists are angry but the left is already armed. And every armed struggle requires finances to run the clandestine war. You have to study Kashmir armed struggle to understand the indispensability of the financial resources to continue an unwinnable war. If a ruler is bankrupt he has to leave or make people slaves. That is what has happened in Kashmir. People have to pay or face death.

Demonetisation disrupted the flow of money from donors to recipients. Their hoards were rendered useless. But the business men who run the cartel of weapon production and sale can’t wait indefinitely to recover the advances.  The clandestine weapons trade claims not only the innocents but also the intermediaries.

I am not very impressed by the IQ of Hindu thinkers on both sides of the spectrum. Pardon me!  If Gauri wanted to do some improvement in the social atmosphere of her state, why should she keep her gaze fixed at the central government?

The tragedy is that the persons-in-haste suffer from an unavoidable infirmity. They have to look busy because they know they can’t change anything. They know that the change follows her own dynamics. Her own rules, her own timing! If people thought that she followed a politics of assimilation, why did she rake up the case of declaring the Lingayat a separate religion? Had she some political wisdom she could have helped the divisive politics by remaining in the shadows?

If you can’t solve a problem create a new one! That is how America runs the games of politics and war. That is how communists are creating more problems by supporting terrorism. China!

I live in an urban village. Just in front of my residence is the court yard of two brothers (farmers). The families live in other part of the area. They have two buffaloes and one cow and of course the calves. They have employed one helper permanently. Early at five in the morning, two women come and milk them. Then they wash and rub them with a brush looking for any parasites just like every mother does it. They feed them. At six in the evening they burn some leaves to drive away the mosquitoes, feed them and milk them. I see gratitude flowing from animal to the man as love from man to the animal flows. I see no remorse, no complaints writ large on their faces. They don’t complain about working hours and human rights. Their satisfaction with their lives can be gauged from the happiness on their faces. And this is the story of working India. The talking individuals live on sufferance.

Even Karl Marx would have been impressed by this daily routine of the two ladies. I have in my mind named these ladies- Ganga & Yamuna! God bless them!

At sharp 5.00 in the morning they will again start their daily chores and make my day!