Juneteenth

June 18, 2024June 18, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

That is not a word that we in India are very familiar with. Not surprising. Though the ‘Day’ is about a historical event that took place over 150 years back, it officially became a federal holiday in the US only in 2021.

It goes back to the American Civil War. After the Union won, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which declared the over three million enslaved people living in the Confederate states to be free. However, those were not the days of instant communication. It took over two years before the news reached the people of Texas! It was when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, that the state’s residents finally learned that slavery had been abolished. The formerly enslaved African-American community immediately started celebrations with prayer, feasting song, and dance. Over time, the name ‘Juneteenth’ a portmanteau of the words “June” and “nineteenth” started being used for this day.

Since then, the day has been celebrated in Texas, with the first official Juneteenth celebrations held on June 19, 1866, marked by prayer meetings and the singing of spirituals. People wore new clothes as a way of marking their newfound freedom. Over the next few years, African-Americans in other states started celebrating the day as well, making it an annual tradition. Celebrations continued to spread across the United States and typically include prayer and religious services, speeches, educational events, family gatherings and picnics, and festivals with music, food, and dancing. Juneteenth became a state holiday in Texas in 1980, and a number of other states subsequently followed suit.

It still took a long time for it to be recognized at the national level. It was only in 2021 that Juneteenth was made a federal holiday. Activist Opal Lee played a huge part in making this happen. Born in 1926 in Texas, Opal Lee was a teacher. One of the formative events of her life was when her house was burnt down in 1939. The house was in a predominantly white area, and obviously, the fact that a black family had bought a house there was uncomfortable for some people. On June 19, 1939, 500 white rioters vandalized and burned down the home. Opal realized that 19 June had been chosen for a reason and was very symbolic.

Opal was always at the forefront of organizing the community, and played a lead role in Juneteenth celebrations. This gathered momentum when she retired, and she became a relentless campaigner for having Juneteenth declared a federal holiday. For many years, she organized a march of 2.5 miles, to represent the 2.5 years it took for the news of their emancipation to reach the African-Americans in Texas. She promoted a petition for a Juneteenth federal holiday at Change.org, and the petition received 1.6 million signatures. In 2021, when Opal was 94, her dream came true and President Biden finally signed the Bill. Opal was an honoured guest at the function. Slowly, over time, the day started being celebrated outside the United States too, to recognize the end of slavery and to honor the culture and achievements of African Americans.

Here is something that Lincoln wrote about slavery, which is worth pondering:

‘If A. can prove, however conclusively, that he may, of right, enslave B. — why may not B. snatch the same argument, and prove equally, that he may enslave A?–

You say A. is white, and B. is black. It is color, then; the lighter, having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with a fairer skin than your own.

You do not mean color exactly?–You mean the whites are intellectually the superiors of the blacks, and, therefore have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with an intellect superior to your own.

But, say you, it is a question of interest; and, if you can make it your interest, you have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you.’

And to see how he relates it to democracy:

‘As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.’

Wise men know how to capture universal truth in a few words!

–Meena

Wise Words on Democracy

May 28, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

Election fever is well upon us. Not just us in India. An estimated third of the world goes to the polls this year.

A good time to pause and reflect on what people who have contributed so much to the shaping of our nation have said about democracy?

The first section is devoted to quotes taken from the discussions in the Constituent Assembly of India in 1949. The later section reflects Gandhiji’s thoughts on the subject.

‘What is democracy? I define it, in one word. Democracy is accommodation. Any person who does not understand this small definition of democracy, cannot be a democrat at all. ‘(Shri R. V. Dhulekar)

‘If we are going to have a democratic form of Government we should have as real democracy as possible by giving as much power to as small a unit as practicable so that the individuals composing the unit may have easy and ready remedy ..’. ( Shri B. P. Jhunjhunwal)

‘..the strength of democracy lies in the character of the people and their representatives.’ (Shri B. M. Gupte)

*Dr. Rajendra Prasad, President of the Constituent Assembly, signing the Constitution of India.*

‘The essence of democracy is not so much the existence of what are called political parties, etc., but the essence of democracy is the effective participation of the individual in the actual government of the country. The greater and more effective the participation of the individual in the government, the greater is the democracy, because democracy is still only an ideal which has yet to be reached by humanity.’ (TJM Wilson)

‘..Gandhiji said that true democracy rose not from the top but from the bottom. Power and authority should not be centered at the top but should be distributed among the people at the base of society. Then alone can true democracy be established and then alone can people enjoy freedom.’ (Shri Kamlapati Tiwari)

‘We must observe the caution which John Stuart Mill has given to all who are interested in the maintenance of democracy, namely, not “to lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man, or to trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions“. There is nothing wrong in being grateful to great men who have rendered life-long services to the country. But there are limits to gratefulness. As has been well said by the Irish Patriot Daniel O’Connel.. no nation can be grateful at the cost of its liberty. This caution is far more necessary in the case of India than in the case of any other country. For in India, Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship, plays a part in its politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other country in the world. Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship. (BR Ambedkar)

‘We must not to be content with mere political democracy. We must make our political democracy a social democracy as well. Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy. What does social democracy mean? It means a way of life which recognizes liberty, equality and fraternity as the principles of life.’ (BR Ambedkar)

From: Discussion in the Constituent Assembly of India. 1949.

Gandhiji on Democracy

‘I understand democracy as something that gives the weak the same chance as the strong.’

Democarcy is ‘..”the art and science of mobilizing the entire physical, economic and spiritual resources of all….in the service of the common good of all”

‘There is no human institution but has its dangers. The greater the institution the greater the chances of abuse. Democracy is a great institution and therefore it is liable to be greatly abused. The remedy, therefore, is not avoidance of democracy but reduction of possibility of abuse to a minimum.’

‘..if individual liberty goes, then surely all is lost, for, if the individual ceases to count, what is left of society? Individual freedom also can make a man voluntarily surrender himself completely to the service of society. If it is wrested from him, he becomes automation and society is ruined. No society can possibly be built on denial of individual freedom.’ ‘In the democracy which I have envisaged, a democracy established by nonviolence, there will be equal freedom for all. Everybody will be his own master.’

Profound perspectives indeed, and we would do well to reflect on them, and to think about the fundamentals of democracy, which are:
1) Respect for basic human rights,
2) A multi-party political system paired with political tolerance,
3) A democratic voting system,
4) Respect for the rule of law,
5) Democratic governance, and
6) Citizen participation

Democracy is much more than election day and inking the finger!

–Meena

Pic: http://www.nbpgr.ernet.in

Nature Education Pioneer: Anna Botsford Comstock

May 23, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

In 2005 a book titled Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder became a best-selling ‘bible’ for the environmental movement. In a society where an entire new generation of children was spending all their time indoors, hooked to virtual devices for entertainment, the book by Richard Louv rang alarm bells. It brought together research that indicated that this alienation from the natural world was creating a phenomenon called Nature Deficit Disorder, and urging that direct exposure to nature was essential for healthy childhood development, and for the physical and emotional health of children, as well as adults. The book spurred an international movement to connect children, families and communities to the natural world.

Today the value of direct exposure to the natural environment is recognized as an important input for a healthy life. Educational curricula at all levels are formally introducing opportunities for this, emphasising the need for learning-by-doing in natural settings. Not many today are aware that more than a century-and-a-half before this ‘trend’, there was a strong advocate for ‘connecting with nature’. She was Anna Botsford Comstock. Indeed, she may be called the pioneer of nature education.

Anna was more than this; a woman of many achievements. Born in 1854 in a Quaker family, Anna grew up in an environment which encouraged appreciation and exploration of the natural world. She spent her childhood on a farm which was largely self-sufficient, guided by her mother in observing different aspects of nature, and getting some formal education in a single teacher rural schoolhouse. A voracious reader, she grew up with the influence of the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Wordsworth and Henry David Thoreau. When she was 13 the family moved to a place closer to a town, where she graduated from high school. She then applied to Cornell University which had recently begun to admit women.

Anna Botsford was interested in English and history, but took a course in invertebrate zoology to balance her curriculum. As part of this she attended the lectures of a young entomologist John Henry Comstock, who encouraged her to cultivate her already strong interest in nature, as well as her skills as an illustrator. He also asked her to assist him in his research. The working partnership blossomed into romance and the two were married in1878. Anna had to discontinue her studies, when Henry was appointed chief entomologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and they moved to Washington, D.C. where she also worked for the same department. Anna returned to Cornell to complete her degree, side-by-side with working in the lab, and graduated in 1885 with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Anna’s additional career as a nature educator began in the early 1890s. This was a period when there was a large migration of rural youth to urban areas in search for employment, leaving a shortage of labour in rural agricultural communities. One school of thought believed that if young people were taught to appreciate the wonders of nature, it would encourage them to stay on in their family farms, and also others to migrate to rural areas. This gave rise to the Nature Study Movement which began in New York and soon became a nationwide movement. Anna was attracted by this approach. She believed that ‘future citizens should be set on inheriting our Earth by learning of its environments, and of the interactions of the living systems therein’. Anna emphasized that children should discover their environment through the use of their five senses and careful observation. Through their own individual investigations, children could thereby cultivate a sense of connection and responsibility for our Earth. She began promoting nature study programmes in public schools throughout Westchester County, often leading lessons and training teachers in subjects related to the natural sciences.

Serendipitously, the Cornell College of Agriculture got a grant to carry out a pilot project under the Nature Study programme, and Anna plunged into this with passion and conviction. She continued to lecture and promote nature study in local schools as she had been doing. In order to reach a larger audience Anna began lecturing and training teachers at other institutions across the nation. She also wrote and published a series of Nature Study Leaflets that were distributed to schools and teaching programs. The Nature Study Leaflets were in fact succinctly written and beautifully illustrated Lesson Plans for self-led or teacher-guided instruction. Her detailed notes, language and observations were reminiscent of the writing of Henry David Thoreau who had been one of her early inspirations.

Anna began with botanical lessons, but soon included all species from microbes to mammals, as well as natural resources and ecosystems. The pedagogy encouraged the development of a child’s curiosity by “opening one’s eyes to our natural surroundings.” Having developed hundreds of such Nature Study Leaflets, Anna felt that it would be useful to compile these into a comprehensive manual. In 1909 she began work on this comprehensive manual which grew into a nearly 1000-page document. No commercial publisher was willing to publish it, so it was published by Anna and her husband. Published in 1911 as Handbook of Nature Study, the book was a huge success, going into over twenty reprints, and being translated into eight languages. It remains a timeless resource and continues to inspire new generations of nature lovers.

In 1899, Anna Comstock was made assistant professor of nature study at the Cornell University Extension Division, the first woman to hold the title of professor at Cornell. But conservative trustees objected to a woman professor, and her title was revoked. Instead, she was named as lecturer with the same salary. Anna did retire from Cornell University with full professorship in 1922. She continued to teach, lecture, and publish materials related to nature studies until she passed away in 1930.

Her pioneering Lesson Plans and her vision for nature education for children supported and inspired generations of students and teachers in nature study.

Anna was also a pioneer in advocating for introducing ‘nature study’ as part of the school curriculum. This continues to be a challenge even today; not many curricula have effectively integrated and infused this; nor accepted that nature study can plant the seeds of valuable life skills.

May 22 is marked as International day for Biological Diversity. A good day to remember Anna Botsworth Comford, one of the early advocates for celebrating biodiversity, and pioneers in biodiversity education.

–Mamata

Vasco da Gama Lands in India

May 21, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

526 years ago to the day yesterday (May 20), the first European made it by the sea route to India. This was the Portuguese Vasco da Gama who landed in Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala. And the history of globalization and the colonization of India by Europeans started.

The discovery of the sea route to India was a milestone in world affairs. It provided access to the spice trade, which otherwise happened overland—more time consuming, more risky and more expensive. Vasco da Gama first came to India via the Cape of Good Hope, and became the first to link Europe and Asia by an ocean route—one that traversed the Atlantic and the Indian oceans. This enabled Portugal to establish colonies all the way from Africa to Asia, and dominate the trade between Asia and Europe for decades. The Dutch, the English, the French and the Danish lagged by almost a century before they could challenge the Portuguese for supremacy in these seas.

There can be no questions about da Gama’s courage, enterprise, skills and sheer sense of adventure in venturing out into unknown waters, and persisting for almost two years in the voyage to finally make it to India.

But even as one celebrates this spirit of human endeavor, it is necessary to question many of the motives and actions.

Da Gama, in his interactions with the Zamorin (ruler) of Calicut was always less than respectful. The Zomorin received da Gama with the respect due to a visitor from foreign shores, but da Gama had no clear answers to why he was visiting India, and gave the Zamorin such trivial gifts from the Portuguese king that no one would quite believe that da Gama was a royal ambassador and not some small-time merchant. This resulted in the Zomorin refusing Vasco da Gama’s request for permission to leave a representative behind to look after the merchandise he had not been able to sell. Further, local officials insisted on his paying customs duty like any other trader. This irritated the entitled da Gama, and he kidnapped and carried away some Nairs and sixteen fishermen when he left the shores.

But the most damning incident occurred during his next visit—the Second Armada. His ships reached India in October 1502. At the same time, a ship named Mirim carrying about 400 Muslim pilgrims including 50 women, had set out from Calicut for Mecca. Da Gama’s ships intercepted Mirim, looted the ship, locked in the passengers including the owner and an ambassador from Egypt, and burned them to death. Only about 20 children were spared on the condition that they would convert to Christianity. Da Gama watched the whole gory incident through the porthole of his ship.

Da Gama had come this time with the objective of signing a trade treaty with the Zamorin. After the pilgrim ship incident, the Zamorin hesitated to take on the Portuguese head-on and indicated his willingness to sign a treaty. But Da Gama had an atrocious condition—that the Hindu Zamorin expel all Muslims from his territory before negotiating the treaty. The Zamorin was appalled and refused. A very senior priest, Talappana Namboodri, known to both sides was sent to Da Gama to try to sort out things. But da Gama labelled him a spy, and had the priest’s lips and ears cut off. He had a pair of dog’s ears to his head before sending him away. But this was not the end of the matter. So infuriated was da Gama that he had the Portuguese fleet bombard the unfortified city of Calicut for nearly two days from the sea, severely damaging it. He also captured several ships, cut off the crew’s hands, ears and noses, dispatching them to the Zamorin with a note wherein he said that he would be happy to reset the relationship to a positive note once the Zamorin had paid for the items plundered well as the gunpowder and cannonballs used to bombard Calicut! Things escalated, and there was a sea battle which da Gama won. He also started trade with Cochin and Cannanore which were at war with Calicut.

Da Gama’s fortunes in Portugal declined for some decades after this journey, and he lay low. In 1594, with the new King’s blessings, he set out again for India, now with the title of Viceroy. This time he landed in Goa. He set out immediately to strengthen the Portuguese domination along the East Coast. However, it was not for long. He contracted malaria and died three months later in Kochi.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to colonize India, and the last to leave! Vasco da Gama not only laid the foundation for this, but also for the ‘divide and rule’ strategy—turning one religion against another, one kingdom against another– which served future colonizers well.

Heroes in their time and country, leaving behind troubling legacies.

–Meena

Lady With the Lens: Homai Vyarawalla

May 9, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

The past few weeks, as India goes through its massive election exercise, the newspapers have been carrying iconic photographs that show glimpses from past elections. For many of us who are firmly part of the ‘morning newspaper’ generation, these black and white images bring back memories of what feels like another age. These pictures capture not only candid shots that evoke nostalgia, but are also telling stories of different life and times. The people behind most of these have been photojournalists. Photojournalists are described as visual storytellers who use photography to document and report on news events, current affairs, and human interest stories. While their camera lens captures, and freezes a particular moment, it is the record of these intrepid storytellers that make history.

A recent exhibition of one of India’s most renowned photojournalists, Raghu Rai presents some pages from this history. But this also reminds one of another name that made her own history. This is Homai Vyarawalla, India’s first woman photojournalist.

Homai Vyarawalla was born on 9 December 1913 in Navsari in Gujarat, in a Parsi family. She had a peripatetic childhood as her father was an actor with a traveling theatre group. The family eventually settled in Mumbai where Homai enrolled in the JJ School of Arts. When she was in her early teens Homai met Manekshaw Vyarawalla, a freelance photographer who first introduced her to photography. The two initially shared a Rollieflex camera, and developed their own films in a dark bathroom. Homai started taking pictures of her friends as she starting learning the ropes. Manekshaw submitted some of her photographs of a local picnic to The Bombay Chronicle for which he then worked, and these were published. Homai began to get some photographic assignments; however some of her works was published under Manekshaw’s name, as a woman photographer was not something people respected professionally. She began to draw more attention after her photographs of life in Mumbai were published in The Illustrated Weekly of India magazine. Later Homai also used the pseudonym Dalda 13 (DALD from the number plate of her car, and 13 which she believed was her lucky number!). Homai and Manekshaw were married in 1941.

With the outbreak of World War II, the British Information Services (BIS) relocated to India, and were recruiting photographers on the ground. The Vyarawallas were recommended for the job by the then editor of the Illustrated Weekly. The couple moved to Delhi in 1942, with Homai joining as a full-time employee, with freedom to also take on freelance projects. Homai’s art school training in visual composition added to her skills as a photographer. She worked for the BIS as an official press photographer till 1951, and as a freelancer till 1970. Always humble and polite, clad in a khadi sari and carrying a Rollieflex camera, Homai was indeed an unusual sight on the streets of Delhi.

Homai began covering not only events and ceremonies at the British High Commission, but also chronicling significant moments in the transitional phase from the end of the British Raj to India becoming an independent nation. Some of these events included the swearing in of Lord Mountbatten as the first Governor General of India in 1947, the first Republic Day Parade in 1950, visit of Jacqueline Kennedy’s visit to India in 1962. She covered Mahatma Gandhi’s funeral in 1948 but was regretful till the end of her life at having missed his last prayer meeting when he was assassinated.

Besides events, Homai’s camera captured nuances of faces and expressions of a host of personalities that shaped the 20^th century. From Lord Mountbatten to Queen Elizabeth, Krushchev to Nixon, Sardar Patel to Dr Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi to Indira Gandhi, visiting personalities and their hosts were frozen for posterity in Homai’s frames. Jawaharlal Nehru was a favourite subject of Homai’s. Homai was still the rarity in India—a female photojournalist, and her work did not get the kind of attention that the work of a contemporary, Margaret Bourke-White, did for her pictures of Gandhiji.

Homai herself did not seek the limelight, she preferred that her photographs spoke for themselves. And indeed these pictures that span the first three decades of an Independent India continue to tell the stories that defined that era. In fact Homai never travelled out of India. Her first trip to the USA and UK was when she accompanied her biographer on a speaking tour, at the age of 95 years.

Homai’s husband Manekshaw passed away in 1979. Losing her companion of forty years, Homai also gave up photography totally. She spent the last two decades of her life in Vadodara, leading a simple, quiet, secluded life until she passed away on 15 January 2012, at the age of 98. Homai was the recipients of several awards including the Padma Vibhushan in 2011. Homai gave away her entire collection of prints, negatives, cameras and other memorabilia to the Alkai Foundation for the Arts, on permanent loan for safekeeping and documentation.

As Raghu Rai said in a recent interview “If responsible journalism is the first draft of history, then photojournalism is the first evidence of that history being lived.” Homai Vyarawalla will always remain a preeminent chronicler of that history.

–Mamata

Celebrating Tree-shapers: World Topiary Day

May 7, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

Have you seen deer walking across a traffic island in the middle of a crowded urban space? Or perhaps elephants in your city garden? Well, that is topiary.

Topiary, as per the Britannica, is ‘the training of living trees and shrubs into artificial, decorative shapes’. It is an ancient art, going back to the time of the Romans. In fact, Gaius Matius Calvinus, a contemporary of Julius Caesar is supposed to have been one of the first practitioners, and Caesar is said to have popularized it all over the Roman Empire.

There are three fundamental types of topiary:

Shrub topiary which consists of shrubs which are designed and shaped in various shapes and sizes. Very experienced gardeners do the cutting freehand, while others use frames.
Vine topiary, wherein vines and climbers are encouraged and shaped to grow in various topiary forms
Moss topiary where a frame is filled with wet moss and the chosen plant, and grown in the desired shape.

Whatever the type of topiary, it is an endeavour which requires ongoing work, care, patience and expertise

The fortunes of topiary have waxed and waned. After a long lull, the Italian Renaissance, which saw the flowering of many arts, also saw the revival of topiary. It became the rage in Italy, France (including in the Versailles), and with the Dutch and English. The British took to it with passion, and it was found not only in the homes of the rich and the famous, but also in the modest gardens of peasants and tradesmen. Imagination was the only limit, with ships, fantastical beasts and human figures, all roaming the lawns.

Till topiary went overboard. And it was the mighty pen which defeated the scissors. Alexander Pope wrote a satirical essay “Verdant Sculpture” criticizing over-the-top topiary, and as a result, by the 1720s and ‘30s, topiary fell out of favour and was cleared from most prominent English gardens. The Levens Hall Garden was one of the few which escaped, and is today the oldest topiary gardens, with 30,000 bedding plants carved in a variety of shapes.

Till topiary was again revived in the 1840s. Not at the same scale, but it became moderately popular.

In its own unique forms, topiary has been quite popular in Asia too. China and Japan have practiced it for many centuries, with the objective of helping the trees achieve their “natural” form. Even the popular bonsai is a form of topiary. Japanese Zen Gardens make extensive use of different topiary techniques.

In 2021, a new event, World Topiary Day, was created by the owners of one of the world’s oldest topiary gardens, the Levens Hall and Gardens in Cumbria, UK, which dates from 1694. World Topiary Day marked on May 12^th every year, celebrates ‘… the fantastic art of topiary (shaping and cutting particular types of tree into geometric shapes and forms that resemble common objects and people) and its heritage within the world of gardening’, and seeks to inspire ‘…keen gardeners and lovers of al fresco living to adopt topiary’s style and structure within their own private gardens.’

A new award for topiary has also been announced as recently as this year and the ‘…search is on for Britain’s best topiary artists thanks to the inaugural Topiary Awards, which are now open for entries until May 31.’

In India too, many gardens and public spaces have examples of topiary. But sadly, after the initial enthusiasm, they are not maintained well, and therefore go out of shape.

India is however home to the tallest topiary as per the Guinness Book of Records. This is the Samban-Lei-Sekpil in Manipur, started in 1983, which has now reached 18.6 m (61 ft) in height. The plant used is Duranta erecta, a shrub common in Manipuri gardens. It is shaped into a tiered structure called ‘sekpil’ that honours Umang Lei, the forest god.

Here is to tree-shapers, tree-barbers, tree-architects and their tribe, for adding green landmarks and a touch of whimsy to our lives.

–Meena

A Man of Many Parts

May 2, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

May 1 is marked as International Labour Day to commemorate the struggles of workers, and labour movements, and celebrate their role in society. In Gujarat the day has an added significance as Gujarat Foundation Day. May 1 marks the day that two new states–Gujarat and Maharashtra were carved out of the erstwhile Bombay state in 1960.

One name that it intrinsically linked with this historic moment is that of Indulal Yagnik who spearheaded the movement for a separate state of Gujarat. Indulal was the founder president of the Mahagujarat Janata Parishad that launched the movement which came to be known as the Mahagujarat Movement, in 1956. But Indulal’s activism well preceded this phase of his life which spanned many significant periods in Indian political life. A life that was not limited to public engagement, but also covered a wide range of interests, and contributions including to journalism, literature, and films.

Indulal was born in 1892 in Nadiad in Gujarat, and completed his higher education in Bombay, graduating with BA as well as LLB degrees. He chose the world of words rather than laws, and started his journey as a translator with Mumbai Samachar, a Gujarati daily, and as contributor to a well-known Gujarati monthly magazine. He began to associate with radical nationalists like Shankarlal Banker, and young lawyers like KM Munshi and BG Kher. He was also deeply influenced by Annie Besant and the Home Rule League, which advocated for self-government for India within the British Empire. In the meanwhile his own thinking was becoming more nonconformist in terms of social norms.

He was always a risk-taker. When Madam Bhikaji Cama became the first person to hoist the Indian tricolour on foreign soil at the International Socialist Conference at Stuttgart in Germany, on 22 August 1907, it was the young socialist Indulal Yagnik who smuggled that flag back to India.

Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa in 1914 drew Indulal into a new cause. By 1915, Indulal launched a Gujarati monthly along with his friends Shankarlal Banker, KM Munshi and Ranjitram Mehta. He contributed to the English magazine Young India and when Gandhi it took over, Indulal moved to Ahmedabad in 1915 to work for him.

When the British government decided to dispatch a team of eight editors—four English and four Indians to Mesopotamia (now Iraq) in 1917 to investigate allegations of mistreatment of Indian soldiers during World War I, Indulal was selected as one of them.

In 1917, he was involved in famine relief in the villages of Ahmedabad district. Indulal was an active participant in Gandhi’s 1918 Kheda Satyagraha, a resistance movement against oppressive land taxes for farmers. He was also, with Gandhi, a part of the move to establish Gujarat Vidyapith, an institution of higher learning. He made Ahmedabad the base for his public and political activities, even as he travelled widely, connecting with the most downtrodden and oppressed communities.

While he was close to Gandhi and Sardar Patel, and worked tirelessly for the ongoing satyagraha movement, Indulal was a much more vociferous advocate of the rights of the marginalized and oppressed communities. This often created clashes of opinion and approach. He also had a fiery and mercurial temperament which led him to act impulsively. While in 1923 he had shared a prison cell with Gandhiji, in 1924 Indulal completely withdrew from nationalist activities and relocated to Bombay where he became editor of a communist-published paper. His socialist-communist perspective led him to write a harsh critique of the 1928 Bardoli Satyagraha in this paper.

Subsequently, he distanced himself from both communism as well as the nationalist struggle and the Congress party, and forayed into films. He began in 1926, by translating the titles for the film The Light of Asia into Gujarati. He then began writing about films for different magazines and newspapers, and himself wrote short stories for a few silent films. He even produced a few films. However his stint as a producer was neither successful nor profitable.

Indulal returned to the nationalist movement. This time he took on the role of championing its cause abroad. He travelled to Britain and Germany where he wrote articles and pamphlets. He also got involved with revolutionaries in Ireland and activists in England. He was in England when Gandhiji was attending the Second Round Table Conference in 1931.

After five years abroad Indulal returned to India in 1935. Now he became an active advocate for famers’ rights, and in 1936 was instrumental in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha, and led the Gujarat chapter of the Kisan Sabha. The world was in the throes of the Second World War. His anti-war activities were deemed disruptive to public order and he was imprisoned in 1940. Upon release in 1941, he dedicated himself to establishing ashrams and schools in areas where there were none. The ashram that he established on the banks of the Vatrak river became his own base, and it is here that he celebrated India’s Independence on 15 August 1947.

When the movement for a separate state of Gujarat was gaining momentum in 1956, the activist in Indulal surfaced again. ‘Indu Chacha’ became the mover and shaker of the Mahagujarat Movement. During this period he once again distanced himself from the Congress party, and established a political party called Mahagujarat Janata Parishad, which achieved significant electoral success. The party was dissolved after the formation of Gujarat state on 1 May 1960. Indulal then founded the Nutan Mahagujarat Janata Parishad.

Indu Chacha was very popular himself, appealing to working class and middle class voters alike. He was elected from the Ahmedabad constituency to the Lok Sabha for four consecutive terms starting from 1957 to 1971. He continued to maintain his almost spartan lifestyle until he passed away in 1972.

Indulal’s life story was closely linked to the political events of Gujarat and the world of that time. His six-volume autobiography Atmakatha, written in phases at different points of his life, is a valuable resource to understand the socio-cultural and political history of Gujarat. He dedicated the book to the “bright and fragrant flower-like people” of Gujarat. As a fellow Gujarati, Indu Chacha’s story gives a peep into the people and events that led to the creation of Gujarat.

On a more personal note, Indu Chacha was a friend of my parents, and I have memories of his dropping in to see them when we lived in Delhi in the late sixties, and relishing hot jalebis with milk! He must have been in his last term as member of the Lok Sabha then. As the state of Gujarat goes to the polls next week, Indu Chacha is still remembered.

–Mamata

The Flowers of War

April 30, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

The media has been full of the 50^th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution over the last week. It happened in Portugal. And apparently, Portugal wasn’t even a respectable democracy 50 years ago! Since a coup in May 1926, Portugal was under an authoritarian regime. In 1932, Antonio Salazar took over as Prime Minister, and remained at the helm of affairs till 1968 and continued to hold the reins of power tightly, with little say for the people in anything. He alo would not give up Portugal’s large overseas territories including Goa, Daman, Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In India of course, the Indian armed forces invaded, and supported by the local freedom fighters, took over in 1961. Portugal continued fighting long-drawn colonial wars in other parts of the world. Within Portugal also, it was an authoritarian rule. Finally, in 1974, the people of Portugal lost patience. On 25^th April, there was a largely peaceful coup led by members of the Armed Forces Movement and backed by civilians from all walks of life. It began to be called the Carnation Revolution because there were almost no shots fired. It being the carnation season, the markets were full of carnations, and people started giving them to each other and also placed them in the muzzles of the soldiers’ guns, as well as in their button holes. It was a happy ending!

Many subsequent peaceful revolutions have been named after flowers, including: The Tunisian revolution of 2010-11 is called the Jasmine Revolution in honour of the country’s national flower. In the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003, Opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili carried a rose into parliament when he demanded the resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze, while protesters in the streets gave long-stemmed roses to soldiers called out to stop them. The President resigned. The 2005 Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan forced President Askar Akayev to flee the country.

But the association of wars with flowers goes further back than that. The famous War of Roses was a long-drawn series of inter-generational wars for the British throne. Fought over 30 years starting 1455, the war was between the House of Lancaster and the House of York, descendants of two sons of Edward III who reigned from 1330-1377. Amidst claims and counter-claims to the throne almost as complicated as between the Pandavas and Kauravas, the war raged till Henry Tudor (later Henry VII) who represented the claim of the House of Lancaster, won the Battle of Bosworth, and sealed the claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, the daughter of the Yorkist King, thus uniting the two houses. The War of Roses is so called for the symbols of the two sides—the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster. After the marriage of Henry and Elizabeth, the symbol was combined in a way that overlaid the white and red roses.

But the oldest of flower-wars has to be war over the parijata tree fought between Krishna and Indira. The origin of the story goes back to the Harivamsam (1^st or 2^nd century BCE). In this tale, Narada gives Krishna a single enchanting blossom of the parijata flower from the special tree in Indra’s garden. Krishna is with his senior-wife Rukmini at the time, and gives it to her. When the junior-wife Satyabhama hears of this, she is angry beyond belief and is only pacified when Krishna promises to fetch her the tree itself from the heavenly garden. However, Indra refuses to part with the tree, and Krishna has to fight a mighty battle—which of course he wins. And the parijata is brought to earth and planted here. (See ‘Heaven’s Flower’ https://wordpress.com/post/millennialmatriarchs.com/164)

So flowers can cause wars. And they can stop wars.

It’s a choice we have to make today!

–Meena

Words Maketh Books

April 25, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

This week Meena wrote about World Book Day on 23 April. Not exactly coincidentally, this day is also marked as English Language Day. English Language Day is the result of a 2010 initiative by the UN’s Department of Global Communications, establishing language days for each of the Organization’s six official languages (English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, and Russian).The purpose of the UN’s language days is to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity, and to promote equal use of all six official languages throughout the Organization. English Language Day celebrates the English language and promotes its history, culture and achievements.

Books certainly come in all the languages of the world, but the very fact that we are, at this moment, reading and writing in English, is a testimony to the fact that English is indeed one of the languages that unites word lovers across the world. English is one of the languages of international communication; it enables people from different countries and cultures to communicate with each other in a common language, even if it is not their first language.

April 23, as English Language Day, celebrates the life and works of William Shakespeare, who not only died on this day, but is also believed to have been born on the same date in 1564. The day is a tribute to the enormous contribution that Shakespeare made to the English language.

Shakespeare’s prodigious output of sonnets and plays was remarkable as a body of creative work. These literary works were expressed in thousands of words, many of which (1700 it is believed), he created himself! When he embarked on his literary marathon, there were no dictionaries that Shakespeare could dip into. The first such reference to meanings of words in English was A Table Alphabeticall that was published in 1604. Texts on grammar appeared only in the 1700s. Thus Shakespeare did not have ready resources which could be used to populate his vocabulary.

Scholars believe that Shakespeare’s vocabulary owed to a combination of sources. It is likely that he lent an alert ear to the commonly spoken language of the time, and drew words from there which were written into his plays and verses. Thus he can certainly be credited with the ‘first recorded uses’ of numerous words. But he was equally a master of wordplay. He coined new words himself, often by combining words (eye and ball to make eyeball) changing nouns into verbs (from ‘elbow’ to ‘elbow someone out’), adding prefixes and suffixes into preexisting words. He anglicised foreign words, such as creating ‘bandit’ from the Italian ‘banditto’, and the word ‘zanni’ which referred to characters in sixteenth-century Italian comedies who mimicked the antics of clowns and other performers, and used it as a noun–zany.

These introduced words were soon adopted into the English language, enriching it considerably.

I must admit that in my younger days, I did not take as easily to Shakespeare in the original as may have been done by the more “literary types” of my generation. Whatever Shakespeare we were exposed to was in the form of the ‘abridged and simplified’ versions that made their way into English language textbooks year after year. Yes, we knew that “a rose by any other name”, and “all the world’s a stage” and “all’s well that ends well” was quintessentially Shakespeare, but I for one did not know that so many words that we use today, imagining them to be ‘contemporary’ language were coined and couched in William’s prose and poetry!

Here are some very ‘modern’ terms that first appeared in Shakespeare’s writing.

Addiction, assassination, auspicious, baseless, barefaced, bedroom, champion, cold-blooded, critic, elbow, fashionable, generous, gloomy, hint, hostile, lackluster, lonely, majestic, manager, obscene, overblown, puking, pious, radiance, reliance, skim milk, submerge, swagger, watchdog!

Here are some that have not travelled intact through the centuries. Today some of these are “Greek to us” (incidentally it is Shakespeare who first coined this phrase!).

Mobbled: With face muffled up, veiled.

Foison: Abundance, plenty, profusion

Ganesome: Sportive, merry, playful

Noddle: The back of the head

Fleshment: The excitement associated with a successful beginning

Gratulate: Greet, welcome, salute

Kicky-wicky: Girlfriend, wife

Bawcock: Fine fellow, good chap

Buzzer: Rumour-monger, gossiper

Gallimaufry: Complete mixture, medley, hotchpotch

Garboil: Trouble, disturbance, commotion

Miching: Sulking, lurking, sneaking

For Shakespeare “all the world was a stage” and he also coined a number of colloquial phrases that added drama to the dialogues of his many characters, from Romeo and Juliet to Othello, from the Merchant of Venice to Hamlet and Macbeth. These “as good luck would have it” continue to enrich our speech even today.

All that glisters is not gold

A sorry sight

Bated breath

Break the ice

Cold comfort

Come what may

Dead as a doornail

Devil incarnate

Eaten me out of house and home

Fair play

Green-eyed monster

Laughing stock

Naked truth

In a pickle

Seen better days

Set your teeth on edge

The world is my oyster

Too much of a good thing

Vanish into thin air

Wild-goose chase

What’s done is done

And, it is not Sherlock Holmes but Shakespeare who first said “the game is afoot!”

Shakespeare may be “as dead as a doornail” but he remains the most quoted writer in English of all time. How zany is that!

Well, words maketh a book, and Shakespeare maketh words!

–Mamata

A Mark of Citizenship

April 18, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ 2 Comments

When we were children, and very much into Enid Blyton’s mystery and adventure stories, a fascinating element in some of these was the notes/letters that appeared to be blank, but which revealed secret messages when warmed. The excitement was heightened when we ourselves tried to make ‘invisible ink’. This usually involved some lemon juice with which we wrote on paper. Once the juice dried, the paper appeared to be blank, until a hot iron was run over the paper, or it was placed close to the flame of a candle, upon which the words would slowly show up. Many a summer afternoon was spent in this ‘mystery’ activity, with much excitement and anticipation on the part of message writer and receiver!

These memories came back recently when another kind of ink is soon to be in the news, except that this ink is far from invisible, it is indelible! The purple mark on the forefinger is inextricable linked with election season. As soon as the voting process begins, this mark becomes the symbol of a citizen who has exercised their right, as well as duty, to participate in the process to vote-in a democratically-elected government. In a country like India in which millions across the country take part in the electoral process, this mark is a great common indicator of participation, as well identification. An inked finger identifies a voter not just when they emerge from the polling booth, but until the ink on the finger ‘wears’ off, a period that may last from a few days to a couple of weeks. The key word is ‘wears’ off rather than washes off. And that is where the search for, and use of, indelible ink in elections began.

In the early 1950s, in newly independent India, there was concern that fraudulent voting could upset a free and fair electoral process. There needed to be a common, easily applicable and low-cost way to ensure that the ‘one voter one vote’ principle was adhered to in letter and spirit.

Research on this started in the National Physical Laboratory of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-NPL). The research and experiments led to the formulation of the chemical formula for indelible ink which could be used on the finger of a voter who has just cast their vote. This ink was unlike other inks that were commonly used to fill the fountain pens that were the main writing instruments of the day. A key component in this special-formulated ink was silver nitrate which is photosensitive, it reacts when exposed to light (sunlight or even indoor light). The water-base ink also contained a solvent like alcohol which allowed for faster drying, as well as some other dyes. The composition was optimized such that it diffused into the skin spontaneously to make a mark which could not be chemically or mechanically manipulated. The precise proportions, formula and protocol for making this ink were a closely guarded secret, and was patented by the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), New Delhi. But for the ink to be produced in vast quantities, it needed a professional ink-making company.

The NRDC approached Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd. (MPVL) to manufacture and supply the ink. An agreement to this effect was signed by the Election Commission of India in collaboration with the National Physical Laboratory and NDRC with MVPL. The factory was established during 1937 by Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, then the Maharaja of Mysore province. It was originally called Mysore Lac and Paint Works Ltd.It was renamed as Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd. (MPVL) in1989.

The original rationale behind the establishment of the factory was to provide employment opportunities for the local people, and for effective utilization of the natural resources of the forest, specifically lac, which was used for the manufacture of sealing waxes. Apart from lac, the factory manufactured paints which were supplied to Government departments, especially to the Defence Department, particularly for war tanks, during the early days.

The factory was converted into Public Limited Company during 1947 as one of the Public Sector Undertakings (PSU). The company continues to be among the prominent undertakings of the Government of Karnataka, meeting the requirements of PSUs, Central Government, State Government, PSUs, private industries and the paint dealers. Although the Company also manufactures and supplies industrial coating paints, decorative paints, wood polishes, varnish and thinners, the largest chunk of its output is the manufacture and supply of indelible ink for elections.

The indelible ink was used for the first time in Indian elections in 1962 and has MPVL has remained the sole supplier since then. MPVL initially supplied ink only for parliamentary and assembly elections, but over the years it has also been supplying ink for elections to municipal bodies and cooperative societies. The concentration of silver nitrate in the ink varies depending on its usage. For example, in 2017, MPVL was commissioned to manufacture special marker pens to mark children during the polio drops drive in South India. The silver nitrate ink used in these pens was less concentrated, keeping in mind that children are prone to put their finger in the mouth.

According to MPVL, the high-quality indelible ink dries out completely in less than 40 seconds, but it leaves its impression even after a one-second contact with skin. The ink darkens with exposure to light and can remain on the voter’s fingernail and skin for at least two days, and up to 3-4 weeks, depending on a person’s body temperature and the environment. It cannot be simply washed away mechanically, or removed by any known chemical or solvent.

As the ink is photo-sensitive, it needs to be protected from exposure to direct sun rays. Earlier it used to be stored in brown-coloured glass bottles; now amber-coloured plastic bottles are used. The bottles used are designed in such a manner so as to prevent any kind of reaction with sunlight until they are opened. The ink is distributed in 5 ml, 7.5 ml, 20 ml, 50 ml and 80 ml vials. A single 5 ml vial is sufficient for an approximated 300 voters. The Election Commission of India places orders for the ink based on the number of registered voters involved in the election. The ink is then supplied to the Chief Electoral Officers who subsequently distribute it to individual voting centres.

The MPVL is the sole supplier of voter’s ink in India since 1962. The PSU also exports the ink to at least 25 other countries including Canada, Ghana, Nigeria, Mongolia, Malaysia, Nepal, South Africa and the Maldives. This ink is made as per the respective country’s specific use of the ink. For example, in Cambodia and the Maldives, voters need to dip their finger into the ink, while in Burkina Faso the ink is applied with a brush, and nozzles are used in Turkey.

So this election season, as we walk into a polling booth and walk out with the small purple line on our finger, we know what has gone into making this distinguishing mark!

–Mamata