Post-Hug politics and sexuality among a few lawmakers in India

I found Rahul's hug to be one of the defining moments of politics in India in recent times (click here). We are comfortably in the post-hug political phase in the middle of aggressive masculine politics of the country. The hug has been subtle and well maneuvered. Just when the hug could bring down the nature of personal enmity which roared with character assassination and creation of popular but otherwise unacceptable and irrational constructs.

The paid IT cell to make propaganda visible and acceptable & leaders filled with racist, sexist and communal mentalities transforming India from a more or less liberal tolerant country to an intolerant and follower dependent nation at a massive pace. What Amartya Sen says about the quantum jump towards backwardness in terms tolerance, security, violence, social security, redistribution and honesty cannot have a single solution.

One can ask what difference does a hug make? The straight answer might, nothing! But it is not so. It does make a difference.

First of all there was a visible difference between the two leaders displaying certain unspoken dimensions of politics of India in recent times as I have already discussed (here). There is in fact more to it.

Jharkhand MP,  Nishikant Dubey along with some other BJP parliamentarian, as it appears, have said they were afraid of hugging Mr Gandhi because of their perception hugging an unmarried man is an act of homosexuality and that they might face a divorce from their wives (click here for the telegraph news on it)!  You can easily laugh with such a stupid statement, or you can go on analyzing the perception of lawmaker and reason for which the pariament needs more of Rahul's hugs than some drastic surgical strikes on economy or our neighbouring countries.

There are basics missing from one of the highest institutions in India and a hug at least started to unmask that.

Meanwhile Amul's witty cartoon is soothing, more soothing than everyday images of lynching, rape and murders in a country which taught tolerance and acceptance for such a long period of time.

Pic credit: https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-in-india/amul-rahul-modi-hug-twitter-reactions-5268781/

Hangovers in liminality: Kolkata pubs after they are banned

Let us think about a young person belonging to an upwardly mobile middle class of Kolkata having a headache on the Sunday morning. What would be your perception?

There may be many, but the most prominent one might be the like this "the person might have been to a party and drank till midnight to have the  odd headache." This may or may not be the case but this has increasingly become the popular stereotype of the class Kaleidoscope referring to here

The city too often has headaches after the Saturday nights in numerous popular party destinations. One of which happens to the space surrounding City Center I. Kaleidoscope does not want to mention the region as place because the place is never an 'assured' and 'certain' place, but something quasi-known, always changing and difficult to explain space. The space during the making out nights with party becomes even more unknown and uncertain the flow of people and professionals from a variety of places seldom known to each other. Yes there are known people and unknown specialists including the "one night standers" and "professionals" to the regular tireless selves looking for transcendence of everyday existences. Such interfaces gives a liminal dimension to the space and spatial practices.

While Kaleidoscope had to spend some time for a week at the space he could decipher a changing dimension of the number of vehicles parked over the week and sudden rise in the numbers with the weekends. Meanwhile while commuting from his usual office place through an unusual way he could talk to the auto-drivers regarding the changing dimension of the VIP road with closing of bars following a government order which bans bars and pubs from functioning near national highways. There seems to be an inflow of selves and professionals creating an even strong liminality near the city center I.

Meanwhile, there are remains of the time that crisscrosses through the liminality leaving behind a few marks, few hangovers like this:

A hug in aggressive masculinity- India's alternative politics

There seems to be a phase in the political spectrum of India at present. We can roughly divide it pre-hug and post-hug. Yes, I am referring to the famous hug by Mr Rahul Gandhi to Honourable Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi on occasion of No-confidence motion against BJP led NDA on 20th July. A motion which as expected has been easily won over by NDA but marked something extremely interesting towards the possible future of the politics of India.

After the hug, social media is flooded with the ridicules and laughter towards so called 'childish' behaviour of Mr. Rahul Gandhi. Was it really childish? Let me inspect briefly.

Before going towards the hugging issue, let us visit to an article by Haris Jamil published in the Wire magazine dealing with the issue of lack women in Indian politics and why we should be concerned for it (click here). Yes, the percentage is low to such an extent that under representation is a hugely understatement. The arena of politics happens to be the ugly masculine one. The extreme aggressive masculinity is found to be ranged from the parliament to Gram Panchayat. Even though, in Panchayats, there is a reservation of women resulting in official representation of women of significance, the space remains to be a masculine one over the years.

Significantly, in all speeches in recent past delivered by the political parties in street meetings to Parliament, there is an increasing intolerance and personal attack including various forms of character assassinations. Sadly, people holding the supereme positions in Indian politics are also not free from it. Meanwhile Rahul came, and made his "pappu" image popular and won over the heart of those who still believe in politics through friendship and agreement on differences of opinion.

Rahul's hug and few lines like you can call me pappu but I have no hatred for you in my mind are quite in contrast with the nature of politics in India.

Rahul, by the way has done everything to attack the grand narrative of vikash or development and showed why it has never been sabka saath sabka vikash - yes there are visible disparities and skewed nature of india's growth story. While one analyses the content of his deliberation it was filled with facts and in stark contrast to what once amit shah projected as Jumlas- gimmick presentations of false promises.

The major themes which one can decipher are the following-

Patience

Game of straight facts

Acceptance of negative stereotyping to make it positive

Neatly bound domains of bad governance

Tactful unveiling of possible corruptions

Softly-spoken firm words

If the entire deliberation of rahul is a soft cake offered to the BJP the hug was the culmination of the revival of friendly opposition.

The hug however is important because of the following reasons.

A. It brings about the politics of friendship in the arena of aggressive masculinity in the sphere for so many years now. On the one hand there is an absence of women in politics and on the other hand even with the women folk's presence in panchayat it remains a masculine sphere. The women who are there in the sphere happen to speak the same language of aggressive masculinity. Choice of words like 'we will eliminate opposition', 'oppositions are enemies' have wider connotations. The increasing number of lynching has something or other to do with such masculine politics of hatread. If you consider your opposition as enemy and then make a wide category of 'others' including the Muslims, Dalits,Christians, different looking people no one can stop lynching. Rahul's hug is expected to curve out some space of politics of a different set.

B. If you look at the body language of the two supereme leaders the one that initiates, bows down and hugs at a moment when he was fiercely attacking the party whose leader he hugs immediately after - Rahul. The other, however, remains seated of course unexpected but could not stand up and accept the grand invitation of friendship and agreement on disagreement - modi.

The former flexible - a demand of democracy and the later is not.

C. The hug signifies India's tradition of tolerance and acceptance of debate and dispute the qualities which the public sphere was about to forget once and for all.

I do not expect post-hug india will be radically changed from its practices. Even if people can the social media and hatred manufacturing paid agencies wont let it happen. But Rahul's hug definitely shows an alternative world of politics is still possible, and desirable. The smile that we have seen on honourable Prime Minister Mr.  Modi's face indicates he also knows its possible! We will have to wait for the post -hug politics to appear.

Grand 21st July: Three narratives one journey

There are layers of remembrance. Sahid or Martyr has become a popular political projection in West Bengal during the three decades of left rule. In each of the CPIM led Left Front party offices you will encounter a raised plinth like structure constructed in the memory of party martyrs. There are popular slogans like "shata saheed er rakto hobe naa to byartho" meaning the blood of hundreds of martyrs will not go waste. Similarly "saheed tomay bhulini bhulchhinaa" - martyr, we have not forgotten and will not forget you. 

Each year the city's biggest ground used in organising the spectacle. The number of attendee is used as an impression of the popular support base of a particular political party. The left has used it during their tenure so does the trinamool.  

However, there are layers of understanding of the situation. I have tried to cover a few reflections of the same just to give you a hint of its significant. 

Context A Bangur Avenue

A gang of five young men seen asking all the vehicles to avail the main road and not the service road-cum-bus bay. The bay is reserved for 'storing' buses they have booked for the occasion. I could have a brief conversation.

'What happened?'

Don't you know tomorrow is brigade?

Yes,oh! so many buses!

Yes, you know we are so many, so we need buses.

We cant get any bus to go back home!

Yes, when a grand event such as this takes place a few inconvenience is inecutable. Tomorrow almost no buses will ply. No auto, nothing!

Takes a sip from the cocacola bottle kept in the hip pocket.

So what are you planning tonight?

We will celebrate!

What sort?

The sort we like! Winks and asks to leave as they were busy altering the usual traffic rules. 

Context B: The auto ride:

Looking at the number of people waiting at the bus stand i quickly took an auto knowing i have to get down again at baguihati. What about autowallah? Visibly disgusted with the traffic jam for about a three kilometers taking about one and a half hour to reach airport.

Tomorrow is sahid diwas, that is why? 

Aren't you going?

I have to, otherwise they will scold me?

What if you cannot go?

I will go.

Why?

Because otherwise party will not spare me.

What, you said they will scold you, you can always switchoff your ears and then pretend that you are sorry!

No, its not that. I might loose my permission to ply in this route.

I have seen so many buses?

Yes, we need busses to transport people to Brigade.

What? Are you implying they do not come by themselves? 

No! They might not, and you know there is a competition between leaders in showing who has greater support base! So they took out much more buses than might actually required. Tomorrow you people will be in great trouble.

A virtual Bandh!

No! A real Bandh, like that of CPIM and their organised Bandh.

Context C Baguihati - bikers:

Bikers happen to be one of the most integrated components of political rallies for quite some time now. A flag of ruling party is all you need to dodge traffic rules including the requirement of wearing a helmet.

How is it going?

Same as before. 

When will you people go tomorrow?

Who told you we are going tomorrow? We are already here. 

Why? its tomorrow isnt it?

Yes, but we need protection to give. Vroom! They disappeared!

I could reach home by 10:30 pm. Feeling the following dimensions of politics of the street and remembrances.

A. the layers of understanding and perception of the Saheed diwas happens to be fascinatingly diverse - which is quite obvious. However, the kind of cele

bratory mood indicates a Carnival night in the city organised by cadres.

B. The politics of street and rally includes transformation of streets, apart from showing the number of people taking streets, transformation of nature of transportation is another mechanism.

C. it becomes necessary to transform the city scape upside down - like that of festival  becomes necessary political weapon. 

AITC has its version of 21st july, click here 

Malls without memories- a postmodern crisis

Yes, space does speak often the unspoken languages. The late-capital shopping destinations are supposedly the space to bring happiness. Kaleidoscope like many others have watched and liked the Bollywood brilliance 'pyaar ka side effects'. It was still the time when people used to feel down with the breakups. Yes the breakup song was still miles away. No one could even think of an item number with mere saiyan ji se aaj maine breakup kar liya!

As kaleidoscope slowly grew in a rapidly liberalised market economy he learned the joy in shopping. However, such joy could never stay for long. No joyfulness stays for long. Not even those which one attains after a long wait including 'buying' your dream car or 'making' your partner to fall in love with you. It is one of the evolutionary keys to success of kaleidoscope's species.

While joys like these never lasts for long, kaleidoscope finds young people creating memories in the built-in spaces like the shopping malls. If past is what we call memories then creating memories in shopping malls instead of black and white chequered  floored cinema halls remains the same. One ultimately has to go back to reconcile one's own biography in spaces.

Shopping malls however haunts you and attempts to push you away or change you when you have no memory there whatsoever. Until you have created some memories at a specific space you are finding it to be the same like just another mall you have had visited thousands of miles away. May be in a different continent.

Meanwhile a quick visit to one of those endless successions of images in the whole simulcra shows

Faceless desired bodies wearing desired clothes alone.

Joytoys hanging like lifeless bodies in suicide missions

Playcorner without space and children

Then kaleidoscope finds the everchanging sky outside... limited by the curtailed horizons.

The masculine admissions and Chaos in West Bengal

Kaleidoscope has a blogger friend, Medusa. Both of them happened to work in the same college in the port city. Medusa in 2011 wrote a brilliant blogpost: "the taking of a college" (click here) describing how through a violent means political change took place in their college's students' unit bypassing election. It was 2011, the only word that shook the world of everyone including Medusa and Kaleidoscope was the paribartan, the change, the change from CPIM to TMC in the state which had just ended the longest continuous communist democratic regime. Fortunately or unfortunately Medusa then got transferred to one of the elite colleges carrying a colonial legacy and Kaleidoscope to a completely new underprepared college in the heart of a built-in city of New Town, Kolkata. The place Kaleidoscope as noted earlier represents a challenge in teaching. The space for kaleidoscope is a perfect example of spatial liminality, see: "Challenges in teaching at a juxtaposed space" (click here).

Apart from the depthlessness in comparison to Medusa's present college, there is another difference here. Kaleidoscope's college happens to have a student's union and Medusa's college is famous for not having one. How does the paribartan behave in a different set up than the port city college? This college has a glassy architecture, a shopping plaza in front and is surrounded by posh apartments where people are super rich compared to the students who come to educate themselves. Kaleidoscope finds three forms of occupations prevailing: a) IT sector 'professionals' who are upwardly mobile upper middleclass to newly reached upper-class people residing at the apartments, b) Shopping-mall workers, security guards, and c) people engaged in informal economy. There lies a underground roaring black economy of those who can run syndicate of building material supply. The formally outside of the visible economic spheres, these people are also often super-rich, have a huge control over the decisions related to much of the everydayness of the informal sector workers, they are well connected with the local goons and party line.

At a distant and often localised hue, lies a transitional space, a meeting point between formal and informal spheres of economy where the students union etches out their positions. This has been a case for quite some time now, may be a little less during the CPIM era, but increasingly more after the paribartan. The crowd has grown, nurtured in the hotbed of colleges- no matter how newly built they are. Now that there is no election/selection in the student's union sine 2016, there are many faces of the union. It is not that there were not many at other times, but now, everyone has a say in most of the places. The activities as widely covered by a variety of news agencies range from collecting extorted money from even the valid candidates to beating up them, quarrelling with professors, so as to compel the Government to issue an order asking college authorities to stop calling up aspiring applicants to the college compound for physical verification of their merit points.

What makes the young crowd of West Bengal to assume this sort of political culture in most of the colleges:

First of all, there happens to be a good number of guardians ready with money. Its not that they are all helpless, it is that they do not want any conflict and if money can solve that they will assume the easiest option by giving it away. Anyways, still they are paying lakhs less than what they have to if they had to get their sons or daughters admitted to some private colleges. Kaleidoscope's EPW article on "Everyday politics and corruption is West Bengal" seems to have been working smoothly (click here). Yes, of course, there is a fear factor working, but fear is infused among those who were actually ready to pay in cash.

Secondly, doing students' union is quite a "Macho", masculine thing in the first place. You get to satisfy your adrenaline and testosterone but assuming power in the formation. You attract a lot of clout around you and you embody a larger than life image. Hence, 'helping' newcomers to get admitted is a win-win combination. You earn money, you become macho and you become a known face to the new crowd of the institution which you are not ready to leave even when you have completed your course.

While the union occupy an undefined position within the juxtaposed space between the formal-informal interface, the role players remain victims of the demands from the party line and administrative measures being taken. No matter how money they earn, seriously, kaleidoscope feels the amount has no upper limit, neither the amount has any lower limit. At places like that of the college where Kaleidoscope teaches, the newly built up one, has a paucity of students. However, the masculinity prevails.

PS. You know what, Medusa's college doesn't have a student's union, how can they have one, it is a girls' college of repute with colonial continuation.

Pic: GIF from the movie "fight club". taken from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36236124-fight-club