IMPLACABLE NOVEMBER DISPLAY INDIA'S WARM HUES AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Every cold damp week of November opened up a window to display India in all its warm hues and diverse culture.

Here in Meghalaya and elsewhere, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains and indigenous communities all showcased their happier and solemn sides during this “implacable November” as Charles Dickens would say.

November started on a somber note with Christians observing the All Soul’s Day on November 2. Christians remembered their departed soul and visited the graveyards with freash flowers and candles on the occasion.

The next week on November 9, the Garo Community celebrated the Wangala Dance festival marking the end of harvest and the beginning of winter season. During thecultural fiesta, dancing troupes from ten villages from all over Garo Hills, including Bangladesh, exhibited their dancing prowess attired in colourful and exotic tribal costumes to the beats of hundred ‘damas’ or drums at Asanang, West Garo Hills .

Although it is “hard to hold a candle, on a cold November rain” as Guns and Roses complains, but, exactly seven days later on November 13, Hindus celebrated Diwali or Deepawali with lights, candles, earthen lamps and fireworks.  Kali and Lakshmi Pujas were also held on this day.

The festival of light brightened up the otherwise cold damp November as Hindus celebrate the day to mark the sweet homecoming of Ram, Laxman and Sita to Ayodhya after fourteen years in exile, not before defeating the demonic Ravan.

The day is also celebrated by the Jains  as Deva Devali. On this day, Lord Mahavir founder of Jainism attained Nirvana or Moksha in 527 BC.

The next day was Children’s Day, the birthday of India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. During the day various programmes were held in schools and colleges and kids got free sweets!

Again next week on November 23, the Khasi community professing the indigenous way of life, Niam Trai Niam Tre, celebrated the Seng Kut Snem, again a post harvest celebration. Colourful processions were taken out with elaborate tableaux to celebrate the day.  The occasion is also observed to pay obeisance to the deities for protection of the local indigenous faith and providing a bountiful harvest.

Just two days and beginning of the week, Muslims observed Muharram. During the occasion members from the Shia community took out procession to commemorate the martyrdom of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein and three days later Guru Nanak’s 544^th Birthday – the founder of the Sikh religion - was celebrated by the Sikh community as Guru Nanak Gurupurab.

Grand processions were taken out with skilful performance of martial art, songs and dances. Later prayer services were held at the local Gurdwaras followed by offering of a sweet dish or Karah Prasadmade from Semolina. And now with December round the corner, the festive season is headed for a grand finale. 

A CURIOUS CASE OF CURIOSITY

Living in an isolated neighbourhood can be a bit eerie, even if it’s a posh real estate area in the Milky Way, with life-supporting Supermarkets, clearing goodies every season, for free.

Despite all these freebies, the curious child continues to wipe the fogged windowpane and peer closely into our remote backyards for the fantastic and extraordinary. Hoping, someday fine-pedigreed impish men, with antennae on their heads, would beam us to uncorrupted time wrapped worlds.

Science fictionists, on the other hand, have left no meteorite unturned to fuel, ignite and propel the mind into the mysterious navel of the Universe.

One of the answers to this collective fantasy is Curiosity, a rover or rather a SUV, at this moment happily clicking pictures, digging holes and “eating dirt and rock” far away on an alien planet.

It is not just National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA’s$2.5 billion rover, Curiosity, landing this year on Mars, August 6; it is the curiosity of several billion earthlings, searching for the unknown.

Curiosity was conceived way back in 2004. Her metamorphism from a “reasoned engineering” to the present shape took another four years andNASA’s social media team announced the good news to the world through Twitter on November 19, 2008 - handle @MarsCuriosity.

"I'm WAY cool, nearly built, and I need a name," the baby rover first tweeted and an essay contest was launched for kids.  12-year-old Clara Ma’ suggestion - Curiosity - was chosen from more than 9,000 entries in the US.

After the official baptism, Curiosity cradled on Atlas V launch vehicle and bid goodbye from Cape Canaveral on November 26, 2011. Curiosity’s lonely, yet extraordinary voyage across billion of stars and planetary objects took no less than eight months, covering a whooping 350 million-mile to reach its new home.

The final seven minutes of her descent, which included entry, descent and landing on the Red planet’s atmosphere was dubbed by NASA as “seven minutes of terror” for the sheer risk involved.

The seven minutes of terror included lowering Curiosity gently through three stages by reducing speed from a staggering 21,000kph (13,000mph) to zero, in what is being billed as “Hollywood style.”

First, a heat shield slowed down the launch vehicle, while protecting it from the extraordinary heat of 1600 degrees generated by the speed. It was further slowed by opening one of the largest and strongest supersonic parachutes built by NASA.

Finally, a sky crane or a robot fell off the descent vehicle and lowered the rover dangling on cables. After the touchdown, the cables were cut off with explosives and the descent vehicle flew off and crash landed at a site elsewhere.

So far is Mars away from Earth that it took 14 minutes for a beep from Curiosity to reach earth. She tweeted:“I arrived at the Red Planet, Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (Aug.6 UTC).” Curiosity currently has over 12,09,048 followers on Twitter and still counting.

One of the celebrities to respond to the tweet was Britney Spears. The singer tweeted: “So @MarsCuriosity …does Mars look the same as it did in 2000?"  This was in reference to her 2000 album, Oops! …I did it again, where the sings and dances on Mars.

But, Oops! There is lot more than just dancing and singing about the baby rover. So what exactly is Curiosity looking for? The Mars rover is expected to spend two years and would try unfolding Mars’ interesting origami and learn about its atmosphere, geology and others, like: Is the atmosphere conducive enough for breaking down the barriers of earth and having that extra backyard for living in future. Is there any biosignatures?

Are there minerals that could be of help back at home – this point is not explicitly mandated in the mission document, but surely its there in the multi-wired robotic mind. And overall, evaluate if a manned flight could be sent to the planet in the near future.

These objectives would be carried out by scooping sand and rocks from the Red planet by Curiosity with its 7 feet robotic arms onto its brains (onboard lab fitted with computers). The laboratory would then send the data to the scientists cozying millions of miles away on Earth at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) inPasadena, California.

Ever since Curiosity landed on mars, JPL has been keeping millions of curious Earthlings updated with new findings, pictures and news of the rover’s adventure, through its excellent star trekking websitehttp://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. The site has a host of learning tools through interactive games, quizzes etc. about our immediate neighbourhood, apart from day-today information about the mission. A visit to the site is a must, especially for students and those interested in knowing the unknown.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.

“Any scientific quest is good for the people, provide we put the end results in good use,” Dr. S Sudhakar, director of the North East Space Application Centre (NESAC), based at Umiam (Barapani), India, said.

But there has always been this question whether sending expensive robots to space is worth enough when there is a lot to be known about Earth.

To this, there are some divergent views, some interesting ones, however, are floating on the virtual world like: “If Americans are dumb enough to spend $4.5 trillion on a fake war (Iraq) and take on a second war (Afghanistan) that will never end, (then) yes -- It's worth spending a couple $ billion to find at least one intelligent life form in our universe.” 

So far, over 40 missions have been sent by different countries to Mars from the early 60s. The US leads in this race by successfully launching 14 missions. Some of these were flyby missions to get data about the planet’s atmosphere and other physical characteristic; others were more complex, landing on the planet and sending soil sample data, traces of the chemical and geological makeup and snapshots.

Curiosity genealogy dates back to 1964, when Mariner 4, a flyby orbiter, was first launched successful. It sent 21 pictures of the planet. Viking I was the first space vessel to launch on Mars’ surface on July 20, 1976 followed by Viking 2.

In July 4, 1997, Mars Pathfinder landed a base station. It was named Carl Sagan memorial Station in honour of the scientists. The mission successfully landed the first rover – a 10.6 kilograms rover named Sojourner – on the Red planet. There were other very successful mission sent to Mars like the Spirit and Opportunity.

In 2008, the Phoenix Mars Lander sent back photos of ice chunks it found after scooping up handfuls of soil, a huge discovery in the search for water on the planet. Another key ingredient for life, methane, was discovered in the Martian atmosphere.

All this missions does come with a huge price tag. The Viking missions alone cost about a $1 billion back in the 70s. The Spirit and Opportunity missions cost another billion, for building and operation.

Dr. Sudhakar says that the present mission is not likely to yield result in the near future, but has no doubt in saying that the mission would certainly benefit mankind in the long run. India too has jumped into this “Mars mission scientific quest.” After its moon mission – Chandrayaan – India has decided to blast a 450-crore Mars orbiter next year.

Not to be left behind, there are also bounty hunters banking on this scientific quest and general curiosity of people. “Lunar real estate agencies” are selling chunks of the Moon’s surface to buyers. In fact, Shah Rukh Khan reportedly owns a substantial chunk of the satellite, gifted each year by one of his fans. The lunar chunk comes in the way of a certificate sold by a “lunar moon estate agency!” 

Curiosity is now crawling on all sixwheels and inching every second to unknown places, just as JPL’s motto, which quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path, and leave a trail."

MONGOLOID FEATURE PART OF INDIA'S FACE

The Mongoloid feature forms very much a part of India’s racially-diverse face, Meghalaya Governor, Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary emphasized here today.

Mooshahary said at an inter-state youth-exchange and home stay programme of the National Service Scheme (NSS), that he is often mistaken for a “Chinese or Japanese” outside the northeastern region.

Gesturing to his face, he said: “when you go back you should dispel this impression that this kind of face only belongs to a Japanese or Korean. This kind of face also belongs to an Indian,” he told the young students.

India is the most racially diverse nation on the planet. In the northern, western and eastern corners of the country the population is predominated by the Aryans, while in the South it is the Dravidian population who are in majority.

The Mongoloid population has made the northeastern corner of the country as their home, while the Negroid race is found in some parts of western and southern India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

All these people from different races have made India their home from thousands of years, unlike the recent migration of racially diverse people to Europe and America.

Mooshahary said that India is unique because it presents one of the most diverse pictures of any nation. “A Kashmiri has a different language, face, traditional dress, music and religion from someone who lives in the south, but this is not the same in say between two Europeans,” Mooshahary added.

He pointed out that despite two people being racially different Europeans, there is lot in common between them when it comes to dress, food habit, language, script, music, in most cases religion and other lifestyles.

“The pride and wealth of India is its diversity and the spirit of tolerance to accommodate all the different colours and hues to make what we call India,” the Governor said.

Mooshahary said any education which fails to imbibe into a person this spirit and ethos of a “diverse and tolerant India,” such education remains “incomplete.” 

MNREGS TOP PLATFORM OF GENDER EQUALITY

Apart from providing crucial employment opportunities, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Scheme (MNREGS) is an excellent platform of gender equality.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma making the observation today at a regional conference on women’s empowerment said MNREGS does not make any discrimination between men and women when it comes to wage allotment. 

“MNREGS does not make any discrimination and equal wages is given to both men and women, it was formed on the fundamentals of gender equality,” he told the gathering. The scheme, he said, is empowering women economically in a substantial manner.

MNREGS was enacted as an Act by the Parliament in 2005 and provides 100 days of work to an adult member of a family in a calendar year. The Act provides equal wage to both men and women who undertake unskilled manual labour for building public works.

Sangma said, the government wants to partner with the people in developmental projects and women have been found to be “willing partners” than men on several occasions.

Citing the example of the government Institute of Entrepreneurship, Sangma said, 80 percent of those who enrolled in these institutions at the Community and Rural Development blocks were women. “Women are constantly searching for ways of economic development and they need to be encouraged and their skills and financial literacy upscaled,” he said.

Moreover, a woman who is economically independent is not only capable of providing economic stability to her own family but is also capable of creating a chain link in a multi – dimensional way for the much needed socio economic transformation of the society.

Stating the government has the responsibility, therefore, to frame policies and projects that are non-discriminatory so that people are empowered socio-economically equally. All the programmes of the government are gender sensitive for all round development of the state, the Chief Minister said.

DR. BHUPEN HAZARIKA'S EFFORT SACRIFICED JOB FOR RADIO STATION IN NORTHEAST INDIA

The setting up of the first Radio Station in the northeast immediately after Independence was made possible by a great personality who put at stake his lucrative government job and sought for his first love and devotion – music and humanism.

It was due to Dr. Bhupen Hazarika’s unselfish effort that brought Radio Station in the northeast in 1948, a prized addition in those considering the georaphical isolation that the region is challenged with. The historical anecdote goes thus…

Dr. Bhupen Hazarika was fond of Shillong and used to come down here often. After Independence he organized a “Hills and Plains Week” with artist invited from all over the northeast at Shillong. The venue was the lovely Park at Barik Point, now known as Hydari Park, after Assam’s first Governor, Sir Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari.

The then Governor Hydari was much impressed with the zeal of young Bhupen Hazarika and after the weeklong festival of music and cultural show, he invited Dr. Bhupen Hazarika for dinner.

In the course of the discussion he came to know that, not only the young singer was good at music, but was also highly qualified holding a Master’s Degree in political Science and offered him a Government job.

“The Governor said ‘why don’t you take up a Government job,’ to which he (Dr. Bhupen Hazarika) promptly replied ‘please give us a Radio Station for the region instead,’” Bolen Hazarika, brother of the singer, recalled the anecdote here at the Assam Club today.

The Governor was taken aback by the passion of the singer and in a way obliged. Soon a Radio Station was set up in 1948 with two centres, one at Guwahati and the other here at Shillong.

The first announcer of the Northeast service was film star of yesteryears, Jnanada Kakati, who was present at the commemoration of 1^st anniversary of the singer and rose first to light the lamp kept before the singer’s picture, wearing the quintessential smile, trademark cap and Gamocha.

The gathering also formed a human chain and pledged to live by the ideals of the revolutionary singer and visionary. The gathering also rendered one of the most popular songs of the artist Manuhe… Manuhor Babe(people for people.)

There were several other dignitaries, some who knew the singer personally and shared anecdote related to the singer’s love for music and all sections of the society.

“If there were any ‘isms’ he believed in…that was humanism,” an old gentleman said, paying tribute to the singer. Others echoed in similar lines, they said that music was the medium the great singer used to spread his message of universal brotherhood, which the younger generation must emulate to bring peace love and friendship all around.

 “From childhood our parents – Nilkanta Hazarika and Shantipriya Hazarika – inculcated in us to love and respect every individual. So he (Dr. Bhupen Hazarika) was a kind and simple person from childhood and never differentiated between rich or the poor nor had any other classification in his outlook. He looked at everyone as equal human being,” Hazarika said.

Stating that for some people it may seem that the singer’s demise has left a vacuum, but for others his ideals is a constant companion.

“There are lots of youngsters who are following his music and ideals so there are several Bhupen Hazarikas in our midst just because they follow his ideals and approach towards life, which is Manuhe… Manuhor Babe,” Bolen Hazarika said.  

Faith cannot be kept imprisoned in geographical limits

“Faith cannot be kept imprisoned in geographical limits,” eminent journalist, MJ Akbar said while dismissing the idea of nationhood nurtured on the basis of religion.

Akbar said that Bangladesh is a perfect example of doing away with the idea of religion and opting for culture, language and secularism, which are the templates of a modern nation state.

On the other hand, he cited the example of Pakistan, which is in utter chaos. “Bangladesh will not be the cancer, which Pakistan is and has the chance of entering into the modern world…but, there is no hope for Pakistan,” Akbar said, at the four-day "Calm" literary, art and photography festival at Shillong, Meghalaya's State capital in Northeast India.

He said the foundation of Islam is based on “Muslim brotherhood and not Muslim nationhood,” and therefore the faith did not remain confined within the geographical fringes of just Mecca and Medina.

About India, Akbar said that it has the prerequisite of a modern state with its democratic setup, secularism, gender equality and economic equity, although much more is desired.

“There is no corner of India that the evening azan or the peel of the church bells cannot be heard, despite 80 per cent of the population being Hindus. India’s secularism is of coexistence of different faith and even atheists have the right to exist here,” he said.

He said that the idea of India (culture, tradition, integration etc. and fundamentals laid in the Indian Constitution) is much stronger than the Indians themselves, which has evolved over centuries. 

“The idea of India would prevail in the northeast, as it has in Punjab and Kashmir to a large extent. It may take some time, but there is no doubt that this great idea would prevail,” he said.

On gender equality, he said that much more needs to be done, especially when it comes to education in the country, especially of the girl child. He cited the example of Jawaharlal Nehru, when he attributed his effort to bring about gender equality as his biggest achievement.

 Akbar, meanwhile, was scathing in his remark and said: “Indians have contempt of our poor,” adding, that the country must bring about economic equity, so that the poor are a part of the rising narrative of India.

“The poor has a right to demand more, maybe better food and shelter, if not more, so they feel a part of the rising narrative of India…the Naxalites have gone hungry for the past 60 years,” he said about the struggle of the poor.

Akbar said that India was slowly turning into a society, where a few hundred industrialists and 70 odd families are running the economy of the country. “And there is a crisis now, which the young generation would have to find a way out (of the crisis,)” he felt.

DR. BHUPEN HAZARIKA A TRUE ARTIST

Describing the legendry Dr Bhupen Hazarika as a “true artist” worthy of emulation, Meghalaya Governor Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary today said, the revolutionary artist transcended religion and region for oneness and peace through his undying art.

Mooshahary pointed to the phenomenon of the “spectacular footfall of huge multitude of people,” to pay their last respect to Dr Bhupen Hazarika after his demise, being unparalleled in the music world, and goes to prove that the singer “touched people’s consciousness” through his undying art.

The Governor said the quality of a true artist, is in being first and foremost, a peaceloving man, just as Dr Bhupen Hazarika. The Governor said that “unnecessary intolerance” has been created around the world as people do not want to reach each other by simply trying to understand the other person’s point of view. But, a true artist, like Dr Bhupen Hazarika, is someone who believes in reaching out to the masses though the doctrine of peace, integration and learning.

“After the singer’s demise there was an upsurge of emotion and uncountable people visited to pay their last respect. Such a spectacular footfall was never heard anywhere in the music world,” Mooshahary said in his inaugural address at the four-day Shillong Calm literary festival here. The festival would also feature motivational speeches from personalities like Chetan Bhagat, MJ Akbar and others besides art, photography exhibition, etc.

Mooshahary added that “art and culture can help reduce misunderstanding” and the “North East is a treasure house of art, culture and tradition” with “music being its forte.”

Touching on the literary scene of the region, the Governor lamented that the North East has several talented writers in the regional language, who do not get the kind of exposure that writers in the English language gets.

On the overall scenario of the North East, he said some of the problems of the region have accentuated as people believe in living in isolation, due to insecurity of being overwhelmed and exploited by “outsiders.”

“Art and culture,” he stated, has the capacity to liberalise people from this sense of insecurity and take them forward in the path of liberty.

Earlier, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said the Meghalaya Government wants to partner with the people through various modes and the recent creation of the district-level arts and cultural societies is an effort in that direction.