Window Seat |
Mrinal Chatterjee | 26.9.21
Gandhi Jayanti
We are celebrating Gandhi Jayanti at a time, when the world
is reeling under violence creating humanitarian crisis hot spots. The
International Rescue Committee (IRC) has released its 2021 Emergency Watchlist,
a global list of humanitarian crises that are expected to deteriorate the most
over the coming year. The triple threat of conflict, climate change and
COVID-19 is driving the crises in nearly all Emergency Watch list
countries, threatening famine in several in 2021.
There are several countries in Asia, Africa and
Latin America which are facing grave humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of thousands
are starving. Many are being subjected to brutal oppression. Many are migrating
to other countries leaving their home and hearth.
Violence has a stiff cost. Institute
of Economics and Peace (IEP) estimates the economic impact of violence and
conflict on the global economy. In 2019, it was estimated to be $14.4 trillion.
This is equivalent to 10.5 % of the global gross domestic product (GDP) or
$1,895 (Rs 1. 38 lakh) per person.
Violence not only has a direct
impact on the economy, but it also reduces the positive benefits that
peacefulness has on the macroeconomic performance of countries.
Social
cost of violence includes stunted social growth, lack of happiness, rise of
anxiety and animosity, leading to further violence.
Globally,
the numbers of those forced to leave their homes due to war, persecution or
natural disaster have reached staggering heights: at the end of 2014, United Nations
estimated 19.5 million of these are people who have fled their country as
refugees and half of them are children.
More than 1.5
billion people live in countries affected by violent conflict, and the gap
between those countries enjoying relative peace and those afflicted by conflict
is growing.
Violence has a
civizinational cost too. The social, cultural and spiritual growth halts. The
society regresses.
We must have
peace in the world. It is our only hope for survival. We must remember Gandhi’s
teachings and work on that, for he had given us the roadmap to have peace in
the world.
Bhagat Singh
The nation pays homage to Bhagat Singh on his
birth anniversary on 28 September. The revolutionary freedom fighter Bhagat
Singh lived for just 23 years. Born on 1907 at the village Banga in Lyallpur
district in Punjab (in present day Pakistan) he was hanged on conspiracy
charges on 23 March 1931 at Lahore jail.
He ignited the fire of freedom and liberty in the
hearts of millions of India across the country. His life has been well
documented. Several commercial films have been made on his short but dramatic
life, Shaheed-e-Azad Bhagat Singh being
the first. It was made in 1954- after 23 years of his death.
Mohammed Rafi's 'Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamaare Dil Mein Hai' from the film
went on to become an all-time hit.
However, not many people know that Bhagat
Singh also worked as a journalist. Bhagat Singh worked as a journalist first in
Pratap in Kanpur and later with Kirti journal in Punjab". Kirti was the journal of the Kirti Kisan
Party ("Workers and Peasants Party", which worked within the
Indian National Congress). Bhagat Singh also worked briefly for the Veer Arjun newspaper in Delhi.
Bhagat Singh and his
colleagues wrote mainly for newspapers and journals including Pratap, Bande Mataram, Kirti (Punjabi) and Matwale. To escape detection, he used several pen names
including Balwant Singh, Vidrohi and B.S. Sindhu.
One of Bhagat Singh's
colleagues, Bhagwati Charan Vohra, was also an accomplished writer. His wife,
Durga Devi, and her sister, Susheela, were also freedom fighters. In some
writings under pen names, it is not clear who was the main author, or whether
it was a joint effort of several close colleagues.
Besides journalistic
writings, Bhagat Singh wrote books and articles in pamphlets. The most
well-known of his books- Why I am an Atheist was written when he was serving his jail time. The book is an
essay by him that he wrote in 1930 when he was in Lahore Central Jail. It was
published in 1931 after his death. The full text of the essay is available
online. Interested readers may peruse.
Manorama Mahapatra
Eminent
litterateur, social worker and former editor of one of most respected Odia newspapers
'The Samaja' Manorama Mohapatra passed away on 18 September, Saturday. She was
87 and survived by two daughters and two sons.
Born on June 10,
1934, Mohapatra worked as a lecturer in Economics in Ravenshaw College. I first
met her in early 1980s when she was a senior faculty and an established poet
and I was a post-graduate student in English literature just trying my hand in
writing fiction. She used to ask us to listen to her poetry, which we dutifully
did, for it used to fetch us steaming cups of tea.
She inherited the
mantle of editorship of Samaja from her illustrious father Dr Radhanath Rath in
1998. Prior to that, she used to write in Samaja as a columnist.
Mohapatra has more
than 40 books and novels to her credit. Her first book ‘Juar Jeiunthi Uthe’(Where
the sea rises), a collection of revolutionary poems on women empowerment, was
published in 1960. Her literary works include ‘Ardhanareeswara’, ‘Baidehi
Visarjita’, ‘Sanghatir Samhita’, ‘Shakti Rupena Sansthita’, ‘Roopam Roopam
Pratirupam’, ‘Smruti Chandan’, ‘Samay Purusha’, ‘Smritir Naimisharanya’, ‘Arup
Aalo’ in Bengali, ‘Ye Prithvi Sarsajjya’, and ‘Uttara Niruttara’.
She was honoured
with Sahitya Akademi Award in 1984, Soviet Nehru Award (1988), Critic Circle of
India Award (1990), Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar Samman (1991) and many other
awards during her illustrious career.
She was the
President of Odisha Sahitya Akademi in 1991, the first woman to hold this post,
till 1994.
Tailpiece: Mayajaal
of Webinar
If anyone keeps talking into the thin air
thinking there are 100 people around listening to him- we used to call it
delusion. Now it is called webinar.
+++
Journalist turned
media academician Mrinal Chatterjee lives in Dhenkanal, Odisha. He also writes
fiction and plays.
mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com
