Friday, October 31, 2008

Meeting Amol Palekar in a Conference




I had gone to a Conference in Poona University and I found that I was sharing the space with Amol Palekar. I was a great fan of his,. i think all our generation was. In the 70, and 80's he represented the common man and the boy next door. In this era when the hero's looked out of this world he has a charm of the ordinary man to whom one could relate. he was also involved in the theater and later on went to direct some women based films. Introduced by Basu Chatterjee in Rajanigandha, he went on to act in many of the films which we friends Renu, Niharika , Mohini and Ashima had enjoyed talking about and seeing together. Gol-Maal, Gharonda, Baaton Baaton Mein, Choti see Baat were our all time favourites. Renu was very fond of the dialogue which she would repaeta ad nauseum from Ghronda, I think it was some thing like this, Yaha log Kandha nahi dete hai marne ka intejar karte hai or some such thing.I asked him about his films like Admi Aurat and Kari which i would like to use in class but was disappointed to know that none of these were available in India and were found only in the USA. We also discussed Tarre jameen pe. It was a nice meeting which transported me back to my youth in Allhabad when we were not great movie buffs. We friends were more into reading and theater but definitely we were great fans of Amol Palekar and Shyam Benegal. I think I drove every one crazy by discussing Manthan so many times. I was so fascinated by this film. I am not sure how I would react to this now. Bhumika also impressed me a lot.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

In Goa, Conference about Siddis

   

In January, 2006 from 9th to 11th January, I attended an International Conference about Siddis.This was a very interesting gatering because I met scholars and activists from different parts of the world who were interested in the issue of Siddis. Siddis are the African Diaspora in India and some of them have converted to Islam, some are Hindus and others are Christians. When I was in Maulana Azad National Urdu University, we had done a Project on Siddi women and had developed some good rapport with the Siddis of Hyderabad. Like the others the Hyderabad Siddi’s are also descendants of Africans from North-East and East Africa who were brought to India as slaves, soldiers or servants. As from the past most of them are stationed in A.C Guards since the time of Nizam Mahboob Khan. Some say Raja of Wanaparthty ,who ruled Mahboobnagar dist of Hyderabad had 25 African body guards who were hardworking, enduring and loyal soldiers and he presented them to the Nizam who stationed them in A.C Guards ( African Cavalry Guards). Today also this areas can be traced back to more than 100 years and many roofs of houses have British titles and workmanship. Their music, song and dance are the only links with their African past. Their ethnic identity is enshrined in daff-the small hand drum, which is their main cultural element. It is the Siddi linkage to their ancestral past and heritage. Historically daff is linked to royalty and aristocracy and they were known to have performed in Nizam’s palace during festivals and in marriages. But today it is a poor man’s musical instrument and they play it in marriages but the daff is facing challenge due to modernization and globalization and the changing taste of the people towards more techno music. Today also they have two groups of daff players, the sherri baja group- and the Daff party group. Some Sidis are keenly aware of their past, and a few remain in touch with relatives in Africa. But by and large they have lost touch with their roots and have got amalgamated to the local culture. They know for sure that their forbears came from Africa. But they have lost any knowledge of African languages, and don't know where exactly their ancestors came from or why they settled in India.They have remained on the fringes of society ever since courtesy the bigotry ingrained in India by the Varna (colour) based Case System of India. While a few Siddis are know for their sporting exploits, the vast majority barely manage exist on the outer fringes on Indian society.
Theirs is a patriarchal society with male based superiority. Majority of the Siddis in Hyderabad are Muslims and speak Urdu and Telugu. They seem to have integrated to the local culture adopting many of their ritual and practices but the local culture has really not assimilated them completely. Due to the dark skin there is a lot of discrimination among girls and there are problems in getting them married . Even the Siddi boys prefer to marry Dakhani girls who are fair skinned when compared to the Siddis. Dowry is rampant. The Siddis practice purdah very strictly and there are a lot of curbs on the mobility of the girls. Due to lack of education many of these girls are not working outside the house and spend their time at home in helping with the household work and watching T.V.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

In the rain

We, Varun and I had gone to Haldwani during summer holidays and it was very
warm. There is a lot of power cuts there and this adds to the woes. Suddenly one
day when it started raining Varun had the time of his life by playing in the rain.
Naniji kept shouting at him to come in for he would fall sick but he refused to
listen and had a whale of a time. He was also joined by Avani for some time but
she had the sense to come back inside soon and dry her self up, but Varun kept playing
in the rain. It reminded me of earlier days when as children we would also love
to play in the rain. India has such a harsh summer that any rain after this is welcome
and it brings to life every thing around it and nature looks so clean and green. <>

Friday, October 3, 2008

Having a bath






Getting Tarun Varun ready was a real task. All the three kids loved water and even today swimming is agreat sport with them. Once inside the bathroom for a shower it was difficult to drag them out. They would keep singing, fighting, playing and making a mess of the whole bathroom. I still remember when we were in Zambia Bittu would be the first one to get into the pool and the last one to come out. The same was true of Tarun Varun also who would refuse to come out of aswimming pool be it in ICRISAT or any where else.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

A Handfull

 
 
 
Bringing up twins has its own joys and pains. I still remember that the day I discovered that I had twins , in the third month of my pregnancy and I had started crying on the diagnostic table only.It was after a gap of seven years that i was having a ked and two on top of that. My university was twenty five km. from where I was staying. I did not have a full time servant and the due date that the doctor had given was toward the beginning of June. I think i kept crying most of the time and Mrs Rizwi who was staying at Vijaya Towers was a great comfort.However things turned out to be really well planned. In the month of February a couple who was looking for a job came to our flats. They were a Nepali couple and since Somu could speak in Nepali, the wife started working for us and the husband got a job as a cowkidar in the flats. They stayed in our garage downstairs and I really owe a lot to Lakshmi who managed my house for four years. She was really God send. My kids were born on 4th April and I got summer holidays for two months and I could join my duties in JUly. I could attend all my Conferences and Lakshmi really managed the house and kept it spick and span. She even trained Tarun Varun and it was such a pleasure to see them in the evening. They would be dressed in different combinations, the hair styles done differently each day and with a liberal amount of Johnson Baby Talc they would smell very good. The twins soon became a favorite of the whole complex and found many new Uncles and Auntys, to spoli them and pamper them. Particularly important were Mrs. Shorey, who was teaching in Nasr School and and is now its Principle at Kondapur and Mrs. Reddy, who would spoil them with giving so many things to eat. Bringing up the kids made me realsie how important a househol;d support it for a working mother. I had a tough time for my elder son Bittu who was brought up in creches , which were really not much in the 80's. I have through out my career realized the importance of support to women who are working outside the house and staying in nuclear families. Unless the children are taken care of a woman cannot give in her full attention to the work. We blame many women for not concentrating on their jobs at the lower level but one has to really talk to them and see how they manage their kids and family responsibilities with their work.