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December 2012 • KINDLE INDIA | 1

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1st December 20121st December 2012 Ideas Imagination Dialectics

E x pl or ing Inf init y :E x pl or ing Inf init y :Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy in ConversationMathematician Marcus du Sautoy in Conversation

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a beautifulmind

| KINDLE INDIA • December 2012 10

core areas and resettled. Your take?

Tribals are the ones who have protected the forests for generations. It’s only the so called civilized people who have extracted everything out of the forests, now they want to throw away the tribals as well, who had a relation with the forests. You look at the tribal practices – they have worshipping forests for so long. Th ose who have lost their link with water, with soil will not understand this. So environmentalists who come from very urban and elite backgrounds look at environment in isolation wheras preservation of forests have been always traditionally practised by tribal communities but now they are being used as labourers to cut forests. Th eir entire culture, their traditions are being destroyed. Th ey are being made to believe that everything is a commodity. Everywhere in the world, it has been proved that if you alienate communities from the forests, they become enemies of the forests. So with modern plans of regeneration, aff orestation, the tribal practices need to be respected. Th eir sole source of livelihood is the forest.

Rapid urbanization is a reality and along with it is migrant labour… you work in a region close to the Mumbai Goa highway… so how do you deal with issues of migration?

Th at issue is becoming more complex and problematic now. You see people from Rajasthan, people from West Bengal, Jharkhand coming to our area and our people going to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka. So there is a chain of contractors that have been working with so many years of experience in dealing with people, local agricultural patterns. Even aft er NREGS, migration hasn’t stopped. Earlier till harvest, people used to remain in their villages and then plan the work aft er harvest but now even before the harvest, the contractors come and take them away and one night, you will suddenly fi nd a village empty. Th ey are taken to Karnataka, to the borders of Andhra Pradesh. To track them and bring them back is diffi cult for organizations like us and you need state machinery to counter migration. But that pattern and norm is being maintained so that people keep migrating and keep losing their strength, so that they cannot unite or get organized.

What are your views on the Aadhar scheme…about how it will be used to dispense ration and so on?

Aadhar as it stands today, has absolutely no relation with PDS because just looking at the cost factor for UID cards, to install that kind of a machine in every PDS shop… that kind of budget is not there in the present plan. Without that, they are claiming that aft er so many years, EGS wages will be paid through these cards but how are you going to execute it without machines which are not even included in your budget? Nandan Nilekani is making all sorts of claims. We had called him for a public meeting but he did not come. None of the state representatives came. Th ey don’t want to answer our questions, our doubts. Th ey refuse to come on public forums.

Biomentric cards will supposedly replace all other evidentiary documents…

But how can that happen automatically? When you have a corrupt system, how can technology that is replacing another technology solve all problems? Does it have a magic key? People will fi nd ways to manipulate technology as well and especially in villages and remote areas, who is going to take control?

But that is the operational aspect of it. With UID card becoming the sole document of evidence; will it not disenfranchise a large part of the population?

I cannot say anything about that just now but I can surely say that by just giving the cards, the tall claims being made cannot be realised because it’s just not there in your system. When you are given a biometric card, all your movements can be tracked and that becomes a centralized source of information with the government and for whoever is ruling, it becomes a tremendous source of power. Th erefore, it is certainly not a democratic tool in a country like India which has to have diff erent ways to give recognition to its citizens. But as an organization or an alliance, we have not yet taken a public position on the UID. We are still

We cannot look at land acquisition in isolation. This kind

of a bill is coming with many other issues. Earlier we used to call

this dacoity but even that word is too small for what is going

on. This has to be challenged. Land is a resource. Soil cannot

be produced in a laboratory. So you have no right to kill what you

cannot produce.


exploring and therefore we had organized this seminar but none of the offi cials came.

Given the kind of issues you take up, how has your engagement with the authority been, considering a Sudhir Dhawale or a Seema Azad who are charged under sedition for speaking against the system?

(Pauses) It has been our experience, atleast in our area that no system is monolithic. So every administration will have bureaucrats with diff erent perspectives and they might help you, like when we had this referendum against the Reliance SEZ, we had a very straightforward, pro people collector and just because he was there, the referendum could be conducted in a transparent manner. Th ere are such people in the police. When people like Arvind Kejriwal started talking about corruption, people from within the system started passing on information to groups like us.

But doesn’t it come across that it is a State policy to repress any kind of dissent?

Th at will always be there.

So how do you negotiate that?

You have to fi ght it out. Th ere is no other negotiation. If people are organized properly and it is a long term struggle and it requires consistency and determination. If that is there… I have seen so many organizations that have fought for so long and won. For example this Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor will be a very diffi cult battle for us because the villages are scattered, it’s a huge project. Mobilising people, strategizing will be diffi cult.

Since you mentioned Arvind Kejriwal, what’s your take on his anti corruption movement?

I don’t want to say anything on him.

He has launched his political party…

Th at cannot become his political activity for a long time… exposing parties like that. In a country like India, where 2 strong parties are fi ghting, common people withdraw from the scene. Th ey don’t take sides. So when you are only exposing corruption, there will be a lot of discussion but people who will vote will not take positions when it comes to elections. So I am sure Arvind Kejriwal’s party will not get votes if it continues to function in the manner it is functioning now because his kind of politics cannot build strength. You have to organize people, take positions and it’s a continued process. In fact, we were asked to join him before he announced his party and we refused because that’s not our kind of politics. He came to one of our meetings and we had a lot of questions and we were not satisfi ed with his answers.

What kind of questions?

Questions like how are you going to build up your diff erent constituencies, how are you going to approach them, what is your plan of action… questions to which he had no answers. So just this kind of stunts (allegations) won’t help.

We are defi nitely looking for ways of alternative politics. Many movements in India came together and formed the People’s Political Front and we are still working on it. Kejriwal had approached us for this front to join his party but we refused.

So why do you think anti-corruption has so much currency with people as opposed to land movements?

Look, when you are talking about corruption and especially the manner in which the issues are being raised, it’s like corruption is somewhere over there. Nobody is looking within. Th erefore blaming someone else is always easy whereas if it’s a matter of land, it’s about taking clear sides and there a lot of interests operating. To fi ght that kind of a multiplicity of interests, you have to be consistent. People don’t want to engage in that sort of a constant fi ght. Writing a letter to the President or Prime Minister is easier than fi ghting the landlord in your own village.

CURRENT AFFAIRS

I am sure Arvind Kejriwal’s party will not get votes if it continues to function in the manner it is functioning now because his kind of politics cannot build strength. You have to organize people, take positions and it’s a continued process. In fact, we were asked to join him before he announced his party and we refused because that’s not our kind of politics.


Th e Army Chief ’s visit to Tezpur during the 1962 War.


This isn’t about analysing the legacy of the

IndoChina war or where Nehru failed... it’s the story of a song

that narrates the horror and trauma

of a war in a far off land. By Mitra

Phukan.

A WAR, A BARD, ANDA SONG 1962

Tawang, Bomdila… lands of myth and legend, towns of deep spirituality. Places that were far removed from the mind when thinking of war. But they had fallen to the enemy rampaging down inexorably. Fear was in the hearts of the people of these mountains and valleys. Evacuation was the word on every lip.

But where could they go? Th is was home.

And then, the disbelief. And aft er that, the Song.

Koto Jowanor Mrityu Hol, Kar Jibon Joubon Gol, Xei Mrityu Aporajeyo Tene Mritok Noholu Moi Kiyo…

Henu Himaloy Bharotor Prohori, Tahani Xunisilo KahiniPisey Mrito Jowan Xobe Siyorisey Laage Siro Jagroto Eti BahiniAji Kameng Ximant oDekhilo Dekhi Xotrur Poxutto SiniluAru Mrito Moun Xoto Jowanoley Mor Osru Anjalee Jaasilu

Koto Pitri Putrohara Hol, Koto Matrir Buku Xuda Hol, Ronga Xendur Kaar Mosa Gol, Kar Baxona Apurno RolProti Jowanor Roktorey Bindu Hol Xahoxor Ononto XindhuXeye Xahoxor Durjeyo Lohorey Jaasiley Prodigya Joyorey

Aji Kameng Ximanto Dekhilo Dekhi Xotrur Poxutto SiniluAru Mrito Moun Xoto Jowanoley Mor Osru Anjalee Jaasilu

So many Jawans lie dead: lives, youths, so many have gone…Th is unconquerable death! If only I too could experience that dying.

Th ey say the Himalayas guard Bharat,that’s what I’ve been hearing all along, But the dead Jawans shout, No! Th e need is for a vigilant force! I have seen the fr ontier of Kameng today,and there, the enemy’s brutality

And to the lifeless, silent Jawans, I off er the tribute of my tears. So many fathers have lost their sons; so many mothers’ hearts lie empty,Red sindur wiped off fr om the heads of many, so many desires unfulfi lled, Every drop of the jawans’ blood is an unending river, a Sindhu of courage And these unvanquished valorous waves bring the fi rm promise of victory.

I have seen the fr ontier of Kameng today, and there, the enemy’s brutality And to the lifeless, silent Jawans, I off er the tribute of my tears.

OPINION


A Beautiful

MindC o v e r S t o r y

The Simonyi Professor for the Public

Understanding of Science and Professor of

Mathematics at Oxford University, Marcus du

Sautoy speaks to Pritha Kejriwal. As he opens

up new frontiers for mathematical thought, a new set of dialectics also emerges to frame

the world with beautiful numbers and ideas…

This interview was taken at The ThinkFest 2012 organised by Tehelka.


Ramanujan Unplugged: Don’t screw up the infinite with a finite imagination

Illustrated by Sumit Das

By Mukherjee P


because they did not just discover, they were pushing frontiers of existing knowledge, faith, axioms of truth, all at the same time. Th ey were walking the grey area between truth and lie, unconcerned about binaries. Th ey were looking at the convenience, inconvenience, tactical, polemical, political and spiritual nature of truth and thus challenging the lie or proving it otherwise.

So, like Gandhi, Ambedkar, Jayprakash Narayan, Periyar, like the brilliant Hamid Dalwai… assassinate the idea of dissent in Ramanujan by mounting more seminars rather than seeking to broaden the area of mathematics (or even teaching the history of the subject) in the humdrum of a repressive syllabus-driven system.

Tomorrow will be an almost-dead sunrise. Th ere will be fresh dead-ends. Some rational voice will cry out from that bleakness saying: let’s stitch syllables… let’s weave water… let’s probe numbers… let’s constantly re-examine but not reject the idea and sense of faith… let’s understand the matrix of harmony. Th at feeble voice from Kumbakonam (now more known for degree coff ee) will be one Srinivasa Ramanujan.

Why don’t you take off your noise cancellation headphone and hear him out? But then, you won’t. What you would rather do is what was done to the rational seeker Khana who existed between 9th and 12th century in medieval Bengal.

We merely cut her tongue.

Let’s do that to Ramanujan. Th en order a bouquet for his 125th birth commemoration.

Ramanujan (centre) fr om his days at Cambridge University

OPINION

So, like Gandhi, Ambedkar, Jayprakash

Narayan, Periyar, like the brilliant Hamid Dalwai… assassinate the idea of

dissent in Ramanujan by mounting more seminars

rather than seeking to broaden the area of

mathematics (or even teaching the history of the subject) in the

humdrum of a repressive syllabus-driven system.


E I N S T E I N ’ S P R O M I S E D L A N D

The contents of Einstein’s

“God Letter” gets a renewed

contextuality with the Gaza

bombings. Saswat

Pattanayak shatters some

myths.

Illustrated by Soumik Lahiri


With the “God Letter” recently auctioned for over $3 million, the world has started taking a renewed interest in Albert Einstein’s core philosophies. In the most conservative estimate, he has been described as the

father of modern physics; and by most liberal counts, the most intelligent human being in history. But despite tremendous biographical sketches, Einstein has remained largely unknown as an activist, or terribly misunderstood as a statesman. Many dimensions of his life have been deliberately suppressed, some grossly exaggerated, and quite a few entirely concocted. Th is is quite natural considering the ruling class elites have a stake in appropriation of his legacies – the United States which granted him residency needed to use him for its Cold War propaganda, while Israel and the Jewish Diaspora needed to tout him – the most famous Jew in history - as their torchbearer. Th e spiritual thinkers have cited him as irreverently religious, while the progressives have owned him up for his idealistic socialism.

But this auctioned letter, handwritten by Einstein shortly before his death, almost disturbed many such long-held conventional conclusions, shattered many a comfortable myth and certainly exposed to the world how little we knew about this man. If Einstein could compose such an unsweetened critique of God and religion as the letter suggests, what else about him do we not know? Who have been suppressing the lesser-known dimensions about someone we defi ne the word genius by? Why has there been a need to distort the truths about the good scientist to begin with?

Th e answers lie in the argumentative clarity and the sheer brilliance that epitomized Einstein all his life – the naked truths our convoluted and opportunistic world has never been prepared to brace itself for. Aft er all, it has always been more convenient to hero-worship a critical thinker than delve into his/her necessary prescriptions.

Although Einstein remained among the most well-known in history, he stated toward the end of his life, how little value that held for him, “Th ough everybody knows me, there are very few people who really know me.” Whether there is a historical necessity to really know Einstein is an important question, increasing in relevance, as more and more of the world is getting engaged in religious warfare, vocally supporting Israeli terrorism, and has been actively embracing tenets of capitalism. Irrespective of our intents, Albert Einstein, the celebrated global citizen who most informedly analyzed international relations, more than anyone else, still possesses the rigorously tenable solutions to each of these crises.

To seek the answers, let’s begin with the three million dollar letter, and then proceed to locate his roots and evolution. In the “God Letter” (1954), Einstein wrote, “Th e word God is, for me, nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation, no matter, how subtle, can (for me) change this. Th ese subtilised interpretations are highly manifold according to their nature and have almost nothing to do with the original text. For me the Jewish religion, like all other religions, is an

incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people, to whom I gladly belong, and with whose mentality I have a deep affi nity, have no diff erent quality for me than all other people… I cannot see anything ‘chosen’ about them.”

Such outright rejection of God, Judaism and Israel in this letter have raised many eyebrows, especially in a world that has been systematically tutored so far to treat Einstein as per the ‘decent’ norms of our day. Despite the worldwide attention to the content of this letter, the truth is, it is far from sensational, and the opinions therein are not exceptionally subversive, by Einstein’s standards. It is important to shatter the myths about Einstein’s feel-good pacifi st humanism in favour of his true radicalized communist activism, so that Einstein’s worthwhile contributions are made commonplace and they inspire revolutionaries world over as originally intended, instead of merely enticing secret bidders on auction websites.

Einstein’s Zionism: For a Cultural Centre, not a Political State

Einstein never disowned his association with Zionism, although it is important to note his defi nition of Zionism largely varied from the ones commonly held during his own time, and now. He could easily have succumbed to a reactionary (nationalist) variant of Zionism, considering he was constantly victimized as a Jew, regardless of his celebrity. But he consciously did not choose that path. In 1920, a group of German scientists, led by Nobel Prize winner Philipp Lenard, denounced the theory of relativity as a “Jewish perversion”. Lenard would go on to serve as Hitler’s chief scientist, and the man to fund this campaign to discredit Einstein’s contributions would be later unraveled as the American industrialist Henry Ford, a Nazi collaborator.

OPINION


As a kid I used to hear a lot of stories from ‘Dida’. One of the stories which always made me happy and excited was about

the ‘Pokhiraj Ghora’, a fairytale horse which can fl y. It always made me think that one fi ne day, I would be a prince and ride this horse. Oblivious to the hard hitting reality of life, I spent hours dreaming about my ‘Pokhiraj’, my very own horse, my fantasy. Today, so many years later, I fi nd those times missing from my life, and so is my ‘Pokhiraj’.

A few days back, however I revisited the same thrill and excitement that I felt while hearing those fairytales

Zulpiarby Imran Ahmed


PHOTO ESSAY


Since you are 2 fi lms old now, from a quirky romance to a suspense drama… what should one expect from a Reema Kagti fi lm?

Well, I hope you can always expect a good story, whatever genre it maybe. Like these 2 fi lms are generically diff erent fi lms but the diff erence wasn’t conscious. For me, it’s really the story that I kind of fall in love with and that takes me wherever, while I am writing the screenplay.

So what kind of materials draws you most?

Again… I mean it’s hard to say but I do get a lot of ideas from the newspaper. Real life, you know… like the next one I am writing is based on a polygamist. Th e genesis of the idea was a small newspaper report I read, not that the fi lm will be based on him. Talaash came from something Zoya said to me. It’s based on something that happened to her. Honeymoon started with the superhero story. I had written that as a short story. Th en I started weaving the real characters around the superhero couple and made it into a feature script. So it’s hard to say from

WIDE ANGLE

5 years after Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd, Reema Kagti is back with the much awaited

Talaash. In a freewheeling chat about shooting underwater in Pinewood, reading adult fi ction in childhood, under prepared

critics, favourite fi lmmakers and much more, Reema Kagti spoke to Sayan Bhattacharya just before the release of Talaash. Excerpts.


From Luck by Chance to Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara to Talaash… all very diff erent genres… is there a conscious eff ort to be diff erent from fi lm to fi lm?

No…if the choices were conscious, the work would be contrived. We only develop scripts we want to watch as fi lms… stories we like.

So what would a signature Zoya Akhtar fi lm be… like you can distinguish a Manmohan Desai fi lm or a Woody Allen?

I don’t know really. Th e audience might be able to say. Right now I am only 2 fi lms old… Maybe some years later, and some more fi lms later I will be able to see patterns in

my own work… like if I keep repeating the same theme or I always take that particular shot. But right now I don’t know… I just want all my fi lms to be good stories.

But aren’t their good fi lms that are more about technique than a story?

Th ey are certainly not good for me!

Do you revisit the fi lms you have made?

No I don’t. I haven’t watched the fi lms I have made though I know it is a good exercise!

If you were to revisit Zindagi again… wasn’t it a tad indulgent? Th e picture postcards of Spain…

With Luck By Chance, Bollwood got a fresh voice that pushed the envelope. If her fi rst fi lm was niche, the second was grand in scale and star power. In this short interview between sessions at the Goa Thinkfest, Zoya Akhtar spoke to Sayan Bhattacharya on the power of stories, music and of course Talaash.

by chanceNot

INTERVIEW


RNI NO. WBENG/2010/36111

Regd. No. KOL RMS/429/2011-2013

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