SOCIETY
Uday Mahurkar on A Dargah for the Insane
At Mira Datar Baba's dargah in Unava, a small, dusty town of 19,000, a two-hour drive north of Ahmedabad on the Mumbai-Delhi highway it is believed the pir's spirit cures mental illness and drives evil spirits away.
It's difficult line to swallow for rationalists who would swear by medicine and psychiatry. But close to half the 2,000-strong crowd that throngs the Unava dargah daily is there at this last-resort faith-healing centre. From not being able to understand modern medicine's interpretation of the mind, let alone being able to afford it-a visit to a psychiatrist, a doctor- or simply becoming weary of looking for a cure. Visitors have to pick their way past deranged men and women shrieking, babbling incoherently, small clusters of blank-eyed people, young and old, in a trance-like state.
Mir Saiyad Ali was a boy-general in 15th century Gujarat in Sultan Ahmed Shah's army. He died 500 years ago, aged 16, while leading an army division against the Sultan of Malwa during the battle of Mandugarh. Folklore says he had willed that in the event of his death; his body should be put on a camel and buried where the camel finally stopped at Unava. A mazar was built at the place. Gradually it came to be associated with spiritual healing for the mentally ill.
(Source: The India Today, 15 July, 1996)
Vir Sanghvi on Astrology and Politics
Prime Minister Deve Gowda waited for an astrologically propitious time to be sworn in. He even delayed the shift to Race Course Road till the star-gazers gave him the go-ahead. And the Cabinet expansion awaits the approval of the soothsayers.
Politics and astrology go together in India. Indira Gandhi did not get out of bed until she got the permission of assorted astrologers, tantriks and yoga teachers. Morarji Desai refused to be disheartened during his eight years in the wilderness because an astrologer had told him that he would be Prime Minister one day. And Narasimha Rao is said to owe his remarkable ability to survive all crises to the efforts of such men as N.K. Sharma who would red the stars and conduct havans. Nor are these former Prime Ministers the only ones who count on astrologers. All Indian politicians base the timing of major decisions on astrology, palmistry or some such future-reading craft. Essential to being an Indian is a belief that there is something to astrology, palmistry and the like. In 1989, because of the ambiguous nature of the results they got away with it. But in 1991 and 1996, when there were genuine surprises, the journalists failed to predict, the astrologers also got it wrong.
Why should this be so? The astrologers offer assorted explanations.
Frankly, none of this is at all convincing. Either all political astrology is bogus or the current crop of astrologers consist of incompetent star-gazers.
(Source: The Sunday, 30 June-6 July, 1996)
R.K. Misra on Destruction of M.F. Hussain's Paintings
In a shocking election-eve display of vandalism, activists of the Bajrang Dal sneaked into an art gallery in the precincts of the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology and reduced about 25 to 28 M.F. Husain paintings to cinders in Ahmedabad on (10 October, 1996).
The paintings are valued at Rs.6 crore. The Bajrang Dal was unrepentant, even threatening. Proud of their handiwork, the Bajrang Dal activists stamped the gallery and whatever remained of its belongings with Bajrang Dal’s stickers. Before leaving the place, they rent the air with Tarzan-like yells proclaiming their pedigree-Jai Bajrang. It is believed that the destroyed paintings were precious (for their) creator and had never left his home in Mumbai before.
(Source: The Pioneer, 11 October, 1996)
Beef: A Cheap Source of Protein
A ban on cow slaughter will rob millions of poor people of a cheap source of protein. The cheap source of protein denied to millions of people can be substituted by other sources only at a tremendous cost, which the nation can ill-afford when nearly 50% of the population is under- nourished. People do not feed cows when they stop yielding milk, they become a burden and are left to fend for themselves. If cow slaughter is banned, such animals will become a public nuisance.
Anti-cow slaughter measures would also interfere with Government acquires these animals; it would be illegal to the proprietary rights on the animals. Unless the impose conditions on their use. If the Government does acquire them, it will be saddled with the logistics of impounding and feeding millions of animals countrywide, which will cost the public exchequer a fortune.
(Source: The Tagore Dassan, Mysore)
Allah 'Miyan'?
(In) Ms. Geetanjali Gangoli and Ms. Gopika Solanki's article, The Scriptures Through Women's Eyes' (Speaking Tree, Times of India, September 21), it was amusing to read the comment in connection with the use of the word "miyan' with Allah that the common tantamount to equating husbands, in general, with God. It practices of collating Allah with miyan in speech was further said that this was impermissible and blasphemous.
I would like to point out that the meaning of the word miyan does not mean 'husband' in any way. Rather it means someone who is to be respected and revered. That is why we use 'bade miyan', 'miyan sahib', miyanji', etc. for elderly people. I would also like to take this opportunity to remind that the full name of the former premier of Pakistan is Miyan Nawaz Sharif and that prefix in the name undoubtedly has nothing to do with the word "husband'
(Source: The Times of India)
