Window Seat | Weekly column in English | 25.6.23

 

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 25.6.23

Cry for Manipur

Even as the ban-brigade is braying for the blood of the makers of Adipurush, a ‘Comics-meet-Chandrakanta’ saga of modern age Ramayana, the northeastern state of Manipur continues to burn.

Since May 3, Manipur has witnessed repeated inter-ethnic clashes primarily between two local ethnic communities, the Meitei and Kuki. The violence has resulted in over 100 deaths and the burning of at least 2000 buildings including homes and religious sites. More than half a lakh people are currently displaced, with many now living in relief camps. People who can leave Manipur are leaving. The government machinery has so far not been control the situation. Peace is still elusive in Manipur.

Manipur, which means “Land of Jewels,” consists of a valley surrounded by mountain ranges. The state with a population of 32 lakhs is home to 39 ethnic communities following different faiths, including Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, as well as Indigenous religious traditions such as Sanamahi. 

Though Manipur joined the Union of India in 1949, and there has been opposition to the manner of Manipur’s merger with India, it has always been central to the idea of independent India. The first time “Independent” India’s flag was unfurled by an advancing nationalist army was in Manipur. It was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s INA that unfurled the Indian National flag at  Mairang on  April 14, 1944, just about 45 km from Imphal.

Today, the region features multiple conflicting claims to ethnic and communal homelands — and armed insurgent groups to defend those claims. In Manipur, there are at least four valley-based armed groups, several Naga groups and nearly 30 Kuki armed insurgent organizations.

Bringing peace to the state which is experiencing ‘war within war’ situation is difficult, but not impossible- as people have had enough of violence and they want peace. Citizen-centric dialogues and engaging civil society can be the key to addressing decades of deep distrust and historical hurt that have polarized Indigenous communities across the region

Ilaiyaraaja

Music lovers across the world have been enthralled by the music of Ilaiyaraaja for nearly five decades now. Besides composing music for films, he has been an arranger, conductor, orchestrator, lyricist and singer, lyricist and singer. His debut film as Music Director was Annakili in Tamil, which was released in 1976. From 1976 till now, he has composed music for over 1000 films and nearly 10,000 songs in different genres in several languages, mostly in Tamil and Telugu. He has performed in over 20,000 concerts.  He was one of the earliest Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Tamil film music, and the first South Asian to compose a full symphony.

In 2010, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan. Eight years later, he was conferred the Padma Vibhushan. He is a nominated Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha since July 2022

He was born in a Tamil Dalit family at Cumbum in Theni district of Tamil Nadu on 3 June 1943 and was named as R. Gnanathesikan. How he became known as Ilaiyaraaja is an interesting story.

Before his schooling started, his father renamed him Rajaiya. People started calling him Raasayya. Later, when he joined Dhanraj Master as a student to learn musical instruments, his name was changed to Raaja. However, in 1976, while working on his first film Annakili, Panchu Arunachalam, the Tamil film producer had a problem with his name. It so happened that at that time there was another popular music director with the same name, namely A. M. Rajah. So to avoid confusion, Arunachalam added the prefix Ilaiya (which means younger in Tamil) to the name Raaja, and renamed him Ilaiyaraaja. Thus, R. Gnanathesikan finally became Ilaiyaraaja.

Hindustan Samachar @75

Hindustan Samachar, India’s first multilingual agency turned 75 on last 10 April. It was set up by Sivram Shankar (S.S.) Apte, popularly known as Dadasaheb Apte (2 Feb. 1907-10 Oct 1985) in Bombay on 10 April 1948. He was one of the founders of Viswa Hindu Parishad (established 1964) and was its first general secretary.

S.S.Apte, Founder of Hindustan Samachar. 

Apte started this news agency to educate the masses to take part in national development and to strive for national integration through the promotion of all Indian languages. He developed teleprinter with devnagri font for Hindi language. However, heavy running cost forced Mr. Apte to hand over the agency to a cooperative society of workers. In 1957, it became a society called the Hindustan Samachar Cooperative Society with its headquarters in New Delhi.  At the height of its glory, it fed news to its more than 135 subscribers in 10 languages- Hindi, Gujrati, Marathi, Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali, Odia, Assamese, Telugu and Malayalam. It had tele-printer services in Hindi and Marathi. It had a monthly feature service called Yugvarta.

During emergency, the four major agencies of India, PTI, UNI, Hindustan Samachar and Samachar Bharati were merged into one titled ‘Samachar’ in February 1976. Samachar became a major issue in 1977 elections, and after the defeat of Indira Gandhi, the fate of this entity was sealed. The statues que ante was restored and the four agencies resumed functioning separately as before from 14 April 1978. Later financial crunch led to the decline of Hindustan Samachar and Samachar Bharati.

Hindustan Samachar is still alive and kicking. It is presently providing services in 12 languages including Nepali. It has a strong social media presence.

Truthpaste

At a time of fake news flying thick and thin, truth often is a casualty. The other day I saw an advertisement of a brand of toothpaste, which in effect was saying that its rival brand of toothpaste was actually joothpaste. Its claims of protecting dental health were not true.

I felt pity about the concept of truth- satya which has always been given an exalted position in Indian philosophy. It has now been dragged into the fight  of two rival brands of toothpaste.

Bechara ‘satya’.

 

Tailpiece: Fine and Tax

What is a fine?

Fine is a tax for doing wrong.

What is a tax?

Tax is a fine for doing right.

(Courtesy: Mrityunjay Chatterjee)

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