Caring two hoots for the rules and norms the HP cabinet on 27 September, has signed the death warrant for the tea gardens; and as news reports say one influential owner of Dharamsala is the immediate and direct beneficiary. What a shame! What arrogance! What abuse of power and  authority! Have  the sane and sensible people of HP, the environmentalists, the NGOs, all gone to sleep? Will the leaders of opposition rise to the occasion, protest and oppose this? Will they promise to nullify this deed if voted to power? Will the HP High Court take suo moto notice of this blatant violation of rules by the govt to appease a powerful teagarden owner and not let it get away with this? Will some good Samaritan file a PIL? I hope and pray that something happens and this disaster-wrapped-in-tragedy is averted.

                          ***

Plastic wins and our good old leafplates (पत्तल ) lose out

Are the days of relishing the Kangri dham served by the dhoti-clad boti and his team on fresh, green leaf-plates (पत्तल) now over? Days, when on a neat and clean, cow-dung plastered, sunny courtyard, we squatted in rows and slurped steamy hot madras, dals and the khatta?  Well, more or less, yes. Over the years, those absolutely lovely, inviting and health-safe leaf-plates have given way to ugly plastic plates: simply because plastic plates are cheaper and easy to get from the market and so convenient to use. (Cheaper yes; convenient by all means; but what are the health costs?) And to make the whole picture thoroughly revolting, instead of those open courtyards in the rapidly urbanizing countryside we now have the shamiana-canopied grounds covered with those dirty, dusty, grimy, over-used and utterly unhygienic,  green ‘carpet-spreads’ where we sit and eat out of the plastic plates.  Plastic, I hardly need emphasize and repeat, is carcinogenic; the low grade type but cost-effective used for plates/thalis etc. even more so. Secondly, plastic, being non-biodegradable, is an abominably notorious environment polluter. Plastic discards uglify our hill slopes, forests, khuds, kuhls, roadsides and even the pristine wildernesses of our beautiful countryside. They pollute our soil, water and air, and garbage dumps with plastic leftovers attract monkeys, stray dogs, birds and vermin; cows end up having their guts choked with plastic. (No wonder that much to the alarm of scientists, large chunks of polluting plastic have been discovered  far up at the North Pole. The fear is that when ice melts, this plastic will be released into the Arctic ocean.) But the sad fact is that despite this awareness and knowledge about the hazards of plastic, we, the urban elite, caught in the rat race, our life’s priorities topsy-turvied by greed, life of ease, and a mad scramble for materialistic gains at all costs, use plastic with gay abandon for the weddings and all other kinds of celebratory occasions without a second’s thought about the hazards and damage we are inflicting on our environment and society. 
Now coming back to our vanishing leaf-plates, though I don’t claim any scientific evidence, I have a personal theory howsoever fallacious, silly and ludicrous that perhaps the leaf-plates also soak some of the extra oil and fat that our dhams have in good measure – while plastic can’t and doesn’t – and help you enjoy your dham without accumulating an overdose of unwanted calories and life-threatening cholesterol.

In short, as the news report in The Tribune (25 September 2017) indicates, we are not just being callous about our own health and hostile to the environment, we are also driving the men and women of our villages who make those leaf-plates, out of their livelihood. If the present trend continues, there will  be no hands left to make those plates and gradually this  tradition will be lost forever. Let us therefore, reverse this unhealthy drift and switch back to the old practice by taking a little extra trouble to procure and use our good old pattals for our feasts, weddings and parties.Happy, healthy (dham) eating!          

***

Cheers! Death sentence on tea gardens is averted for now but...

The Kangra valley must have heaved a huge sigh of relief at the news item that the HP cabinet in its meeting held on 18 September 2017 decided against allowing the sale of land under tea gardens of the chosen few. If not my petition which I had launched on change.org against this government move, maybe at least our prayers were heard. (And at this juncture I would like to heartily thank all my friends who stood up and signed the petition.) It is indeed wise and prudent of the HP cabinet to have  resisted the pressure and desisted from such an unsound move with terrible environmental costs. Wise and prudent for its own sake also because elections are around the corner and the present government can ill-afford to rub the पब्लिक  - 'जो सब जानती है' - the wrong way. So may be for a short term, the death sentence that was likely to be pronounced on this ‘green treasure’ of the valley has been averted at least for the time being. But the enlightened citizenry must remain vigilant and proactive to thwart such an attempt should it rear its head again…which it will, sooner or later. Being fence sitters and fuming and fretting with impotent rage will not help matters. Eternal vigilance is the price we have to pay for protecting and preserving our nature and its priceless wonders which help us keep our sanity, well-being and aesthetic health intact in this screwed up world. So my dear fellow citizens of Kangra, arise, awake and stop not, and do not let the  politicians of any hue befool us, take us for a ride and get away with their environmental misdeeds and misdemeanors: for posterity’s sake if not for ourselves. And we can do it in our own little, discreet, dignified ‘Gandhian’ ways without confrontation and street fighting.

                                                    

...But why land plots for legislators?

However, as we begin to put our hands together to clap our masters for the good deed, the good feeling engendered in us is at once dissipated and replaced with disgust by another act of the government in the very same meeting. As if the doles, perks and privileges being already enjoyed by our state’s lawmakers are not enough, the obliging cabinet in another grand gesture of generosity decided to offer them yet another bonanza: plots of land for homes at cheaper rates. When this already privileged class is already having the exclusive benefit of soft loans at dirt cheap rates of interest, what is the Goddamn rationale behind this act of munificence? Perhaps, with the election dates now closing in, the worthy legislators are in desperate hurry to grab whatever crumbs they can lay their hands on in this open and free loot, before the model code of conduct comes into play and puts paid to their dreams of a life of luxury and splendour at the cost of hard-pressed taxpayer’s money.

To conclude, I commend the government and the sane heads in the cabinet that helped good sense prevail and prevent the tea-garden sale, but I express my deep anger and anguish at the second move. 

                                                           

                                                      ***

    Founder Vice-Chancellor of CSKHPKV leaves a void

        (16 August 1922 – 12 September 2017)

On a sun-lit noon of Tuesday, 12 September 2017, a pall of gloom descended on Palampur as the news got viral: Dr Het Ram Kalia is no more. Certainly, not just Palampur but the passing away of this legendary figure will be mourned far and wide: across the country and beyond. Dr Kalia’s is a story of a boy from  a rather remote Hamirpur village Jahu defying all odds, excelling in academics and finally making it to  the Ohio University in the USA through sheer brilliance and sharp intellect. Thus, returning home with a doctorate under his belt, for him sky was the limit.  He did a brief stint at HAU Hissar but finally his love for his own soil drew him to Himachal. And under his stewardship a College of Agriculture under PAU, Ludhiana, sprang up at Palampur in 1966. It was largely through his dynamism, vision and perseverance that this very college blossomed into what is now called the CSK HPKV, Palampur of which he became the founding Vice-Chancellor in 1978. In the formative years the challenges for him were many and varied but Dr Kalia steered the University’s ship with rare acumen and aplomb to make it one of the premier agricultural institutes of the country.

Dr Kalia was not just a brilliant scientist and a teacher. He was an able administrator and a visionary with a kind, noble soul. His radiant, vibrant persona with a neat, well-groomed crop of snow-white hair adorning his head lent him a peculiar aura. One can’t imagine meeting him even fleetingly and failing to come under his magic spell and charisma. He spoke impeccable, flawless English but had a special love for Urdu and the Pahari dialect as well. A learner always and imbued with childlike curiosity he, more than once, had  expressed his keen desire to learn Sanskrit from my father. Dr Kalia inspired all and helped a whole lot of youth climb ladders of success, build their careers and live happily ever after. His contribution in the field of agriculture and for the promotion of science has been matchless and laudable. Another defining feature of his tenure at the HPKV was the grace and gravitas he lent to the exalted chair of a Vice-Chancellor by keeping it sacrosanct and not letting the politicians erode its academic sheen.

In the evening of his life, he led a calm, quiet life in the serene and tranquil environs of his Palampur home (looked after by the Kalia clan with loving care)  against the backdrop of the mighty and magnificent Dhauladhar. The void this iconic personality, Dr H R Kalia, leaves amongst us – and more particularly in the academic world - will be hard to fill.
                                                                   ***

An open letter to fellow Kangra valley residents: 

Let us offset the proposed government move to premit sale of tea gardens

My dear fellow Kangra valley residents,

Departing from routine kind of posts, this time I am making it an open personal communication. Forgive me if I sound too presumptuous or intrusive.

As residents of this beautiful valley you must all be witness to fast shrinking green cover, unplanned, unregulated construction, unchecked encroachments on our narrow roads and what not. Unscientific mining, tunnelling, hill cutting, dynamiting, tree felling have severely degraded the fragile hill-ecology in many parts of the state. Therefore land/mudslides this time have been more massive and destructive than ever before.  With such dismal scenario as a backdrop, there comes this news almost like a bomb shell:  the proposed government move to frame a policy to allow sale of tea gardens. And it is carried in a newspaper of standing, The Tribune, dated 29 August 2017 and 30 August 2017.

Don’t you think, as I do, that this would sound a death knell for whatever little is left of the pristine green cover of the valley? The tea gardens with a fairly good tree canopy for shade as an essential requirement for good tea growth are not just the “lungs” of the area but they are part of our environmental heritage. Wiping them out wholesale would be disastrous both environmentally and as part of a valuable legacy we have grown to live with. And if it happens so, it would be the last sad chapter in the story of 'Death of the Valley'.

Therefore instead of crying hoarse, lamenting and shedding tears after the deed is done and when it is too late, let’s all join hands to pre-empt this. Let’s request and put pressure on the government not to frame any such kind of policy. With this end in view I have initiated a petition on the site called change.org. change.org has already run several public interest campaigns with resounding success. If you feel that you have stakes in preserving the green cover of the valley, then I request you to sign the petition and share it with your friends on Facebook and other social networking sites. For this you will have to visit the site, sign up and become a member. Please do so and let’s get going. After enough signatures have been obtained change.org will forward it to the CM and CJ (High Court) for action and will keep you posted with its progress by e-mail. And if we succeed, we could launch more such public campaigns to preserve the green glory of our valley for ourselves and more importantly for the coming generations.

Last but not the least, I must add that I bear no hostility or malice towards the owners of tea gardens. I have wonderful rapport and strong family ties running for generatioins with some of them. I mean them no harm, no ill will at all. Nor do I have any political agenda of any kind.  Therefore I am sure they will view this initiative in the right perspective and excuse my audacity, if any. I also want to add that some of them have been active in public life and have been and still are contributing significantly to the development of the area. I, unhesitatingly, place on record my unstinted support for their public contribution,  and respect, love and admiration due on account of our strong family bonds, but (humbly) exercise my right to  express my views - for whatever they are worth - on a issue of immense environmental consequences. 

Yours truly,

Subhash

***

                                                       

God save us from these 'godmen'

So Baba Ram Rahim is behind bars. The wily, self-proclaimed godman tried every trick, fair and foul – mostly foul - in his bag to scuttle fair investigations and trial. But thanks to upright CBI officials and above all, the gritty, incorruptible judge Mr Justice Jagdeep Singh, the long arm of the law did finally catch up with the ‘rapist’. And now we are being served an overfill of the spine chilling stories of alleged murders and sexual exploitation of young, gullible Sadhvis including the ‘witness no. 10’ who stood firm and didn’t buckle under threats, intimidation and blackmail. Hats off to this brave woman! We must also salute the intrepid journalist Ram Chander Chattarpati who dared to expose the dirty shenanigans in the ‘gufa’ and publish victim Sadhvi’s anonymous letter in his evening newspaper that cost him his life allegedly at the hands of Baba’s goons. His heroic son Anshul Chattarpati is equally deserving of admiration and applause for fighting the case in a law court putting his own life at grave risk. But for these bravehearts Baba Ram Rahim ‘Insan’ would easily have escaped the clutches of law and continued to enjoy the luxuries, comforts and the (filthy)  good life in his den, with  a battery of young Sadhvis at his command to satiate his sexual lust. Obviously his was a life of depraved luxury that in some ways even the Rajas and Maharajas of yore would be jealous of! (Doesn't in some vague, eerie way his story remind us of the panchtantra tale where the lion in the habit of having an animal a day for his meal is led to the 'well of death' by the clever hare?)

Looking back at this ‘Baba’ saga, I feel that what makes the society a healthy one, what makes the country robust and great, is not the high and mighty, the rich and the powerful. It is such common people from our midst imbued with idealism, courage, spirit of sacrifice, heroism, daring, fortitude, character and  sense of duty that do us proud. For me these men and women are more deserving of worship and reverence than even the very gods. With all my heart, I bow to them and salute them with undiluted admiration. Mr Justice Jagdeep Singh, the Chatterpatis, the investigating team of CBI officials, the prosecution lawyer, the two Sadhvis, brother of one of the Sadhvi victims, her in-laws and other family members: We are proud of you and salute you all. You are the role models for us. You are the torchbearers for us. You are our source of undying inspiration. May your tribe increase! 

==

Having said this, I must also hasten to say that not all sects and maths are bad. Some of them are doing outstanding work for public good. Ramakrishna Mission and Mother Teresa’s Nirmal Hriday for instance. But problems arise when under the veneer of public good, driven by hubris and over-ambition, greed and lust, and a sense of invincibility, the presiding deities of some organisations practice a vicious agenda of exploitation and crime. When conmen masquerade as godmen and are able to build a massive cult following by hoodwinking gullible masses. Then, in order to expand their power and sweep, they  start bedding politicians. And the politicians in turn use their huge mass following for electoral gains. Baba Ram Rahim is a telling example of this unholy wedlock. Tell me which party politician has not prostrated before him or  has not desired so? Nearer home, our own state’s political bigwigs have paid him obeisance during his visits to Himachal. Some of them openly attend the congregations of the Babas visiting the state, make public show of it and take pride in getting photographed with them. (I personally know of a Vice-Chancellor of a well-known university taking pains to have  a holy word, a sacred mantra breathed into his ears by a 'holy man' – which doesn’t come free - for prosperity and to ward off evil! And as we all know, Baba Ram Rahim has been feted, pampered and even paid huge sums of taxpayers’ money by several politicians as reported in the media. What a shame! What callous disregard to our hard earned money!

Therefore, to conclude, I would sincerely urge my dear fellow countrymen, the youth in particular, to come out of this goddam godman fixation. We are living in the 21^st century and not in a stone age. Let us shed this medieval mind-set. It is the age of science. Let’s draw a line between superstitious beliefs and blind faith on the one hand, and a spiritual but rational and a scientific temper on the other. Let’s not fall prey to these fake fakirs.  Religion and spirituality are wonderful when followed and practised in private. But things get bad when driven by herd mentality we surrender ourselves unthinkingly before the conmen.

It is only when we shed this old baggage of superstition and gullibility that we could move forward and stand tall and proud in the comity of nations.

                                          

                                                                           ***