Rapidly erasing memories - latecapital everyday Kolkata

"The city changes everyday rapidly. It changes so fast that it's difficult to keep a track..." says an old taxi driver. Yes, Kaleidoscope sees that everyday. He remembers his father used to teach him mechanisms of remembering a place by creating and memorising landmarks.  A shop, a particular house at a crossing, etc. used to serve the purpose effectively.

Kaleidoscope wonders what would be his advise to his only a few months old son when he grows up?  Surely not to memorise important landmarks because they might change any day.

If these landmarks change so rapidly that even a taxi driver find it hard to memorize what will happen to the very essential character of the city?

Meanwhile as kaleidoscope crosses near Chetla he finds that a new skyrise is on the making. It has displaced the earlier construction. The only mark of past that remains is is the window of a a possible grocery shop. One of the the ends of the shop bears 1990s characteristic style advertisements belong to that of popular brand of a detergent: surf.

The multi hinged shop window and the characteristic 1990 advertisement show a surrender of past to the neo-liberal growth of capitalistic Pursuit.

Kaleidoscope knows like many others do, perhaps less than the taxi driver the city will transform itself to such an extent that the name Kolkata will become just a context without characteristic significations.

Sabarimala - there goes the secularism once again

Interplay of the hill shrine of Sabarimala in Kerala, a supreme court judgement allowing young women to enter, Pro-Hindutva activists results in whole country dancing in the tune of religious rights once again. Meanwhile BJP president Mr. Amit Shah's comment unveils already unveiled the fact that the party is nothing but a representative of  Hindutva ideology in a supposedly secular country. The protesters have jeopardized the law and order situation of the region and BJP finds it to be one of those rarest opportunities to use their age old, tested election winning mechanism - polarisation.

Let us quickly see the situation in broad spectrum:

The protesters:

They are on their way to protect one of the age old unjust prohibition in the name of 'tradition' against women with fertility. These sort of orthodoxy is nothing new and is to be found everywhere. There is no point in blaming the protesters just because they believe SC verdict will defame the sanctity of their tradition.

The politics with faith:

With Parliamentary election around the corner Sabarimala temple is a battle for political space in Kerala for the BJP. The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala represents the last bastion of the left rule in the country. Their positions have two important elements, a) they upheld the belief that everyone has equal right to worship and b) it has attempted to upheld the court directives. Most of the national leaderships including Indian National Congress (INC) have projected it to be a 'historic judgement.' With time and rising agitation INC, at least the Keralian form of it started to fumble and INC president Mr. Rahul Gandhi who, by the way, gave some hope against the aggressive masculinity in Indian politics (click here: 1, 2), had to categorically say that he believes men and women possess equal right to worship (click here).

What remains important in fumble INC, aggressive BJP is the fact that "secularism is dead" as Ashis Nandy mentions or at least alien as Romila Thapar mentions.

Gendered world:

No doubt, women represent one of the strongest pillars of patriarchy Sabarimala  reaffirms that once again (click here). However many young women journalists from CNN -News 18, NDTV, India Today, and New York times were made to step down from their vehicles. Then many young women making attempt to enter into Sabarimala are made to stop by violent means.

The essential element: 

No matter what happens with Sabarimala, its a win for those looking for making India a religious country, far away from the concept of secularism whatsoever. It is an attempt to work on the issue of access to a religious institution. Mr. Bijayan, the Chief Minister of Kerala seems to be right as he says "It shows how an RSS mind has formed so firmly within the congress... but they should that if Congressmen join the agitation led by the BJP, tomorrow they will all become the BJP's supporters."

While Mr Rahul Gandhi makes visits to one temple after another, West Bengal sees increasing fall in the number of Left supporters with a subsequent portion of them going towards BJP, it is perhaps time to question the very foundation of secularism of the country once more. Why Sabarimala? Why Sabarimala now? 

Perhaps this is the time political parties look at their ideological training parameters which has somewhere gone missing, except for the BJP, they hardly requires any. They easily attach to the existing primordial identity structure. 

Workplace bullying - power, hypocrisy and the presentation of self

What happens when you see a person in serious trouble whom you have harassed for quite long. Kaleidoscope wishes to talk about those uncomfortable moments in workplace where you see the other person being harassed, bullied and ragged because of some  supposed perceived notion of right and wrong. What if you find the person in deep trouble and when you reach there you find the entire crowd that harassed or supported the harassment  already making their presence felt? 

What appears to be a mere representation of hypocrisy is actually an interesting nature of human beings - we can call as the art of pretension.  

What makes art of pretension so ubiquitous in our everyday life?

A. The power nexus and oligopoly 

Yes, it is indeed true that kaleidoscope inhabits a world full of hierarchy and he has to abide by certain unjust informal rules. The world of bureaucracy is never a world of equality, bureaucracy divides and integrates by in so far as it functions as integrated whole. Such divisions are primarily based on unequal distribution of authority and often empowers persons of authority to undermine the  rules. Hence, in an inequal institutional environment people fine it logical to align long the power centers. Often such nexus remains unchallenged and most of the people finds a comfortable fit somewhere within that. 

Within such a situation participating or passively supporting the continuous harassment  often is a strategy to maintain the status quo. For a basic human nature is to fear the change and a constant anxiety of "what if" the situation becomes worse than this? Or what if I become a target?  Hence, the status quo propagates such issues or violence, sometimes a good number of people become part of it unknowingly. 

B. The strategic silence and situational voices

What about the person who gets bullied over and over again? First of all, there are two kinds of persons: a) who protests without articulation often resulting in even more instances of bullying, and b) those who remain silent and hence whenever they speak up no one pays any attention and the situation remains largely the same. These two are never strategic responses but are instinctive responses. Kaleidoscope like many others seems to find such situation every now and then. 

C. People trying to do things differently

It is often seen that the first categories of people having been harassed do not look for a solution of the problem. It is not that they do not suffer! They usually expresses their complains at the backyard but refuse to do the same on face. It results in a precarious situation for the person who attempt to articulate for them. The problem becomes manifold when the category "b" people keep on nagging for their harassment to those who attempts such articulations. It happens because of the same old inclination towards maintaining the status quo.

For category "a", harassment increases often with increasing number of people getting involved in the process and those who wishes to stop often find themselves playing the role of a moral police.

Presentation of selves

Kaleidoscope wishes to bring the good old Goffman here before he concludes this messy text. Yes, kaleidoscope finds a juxtaposed nature of role playing, role assuming, hypocrisy, ideal types and everyday practices. Now think about the example that he mentioned in the beginning of the text. The one which speaks of a situation where people who harassed a coworkers pretends to best friend to the colleague once s/he is in trouble! It can be seen a juxtaposed situation of morality, notions of right and wrong, interface with the power packed oligopoly (as discussed in point A). 

Pic credit: http://www.forbesindia.com/article/special/country-cultures-make-their-mark-on-workplace-bullying/36275/1 

Letting Go 20 - Father

Yes, its first 5th October of my life when there is no longer you around. Just like the sky that changes over time, or the river making a new course, or like the dew drop creating soothing sound of falling on a pool in a late winter night my conscious life with you rapidly seems like a moment, which is gone. Gone forever.

The more days pass my memory plays a trick. It begins by showing the face when you were leaving us with immense pain, probably a burning sensation of heart slowly giving up and a liminal phase of rapidly falling bloodsugar. I remember myself saying my last goodbyes as I saw mother crying out. I consoled "how long do you want him to suffer? let him go." Your face, that face of a person you love, facing death, I remember, it was not smooth. It is never smooth for anyone. The spectacle changes you, once and for all. There was no tears for me, till today! I was holding your hand, feeling the body giving away with the heat that used to comfort me back in my childhood. Adulthood is only for detachment. Yes, I do not remember hugging you ever before you really fell sick with  a growing tumor! I remember how different it was, I remember I was easily hugging you in your last days and that wiped off my childhood memories. Slowly telling  me Suman, you are going to loose him. I whispered back "sooner the better!"

You cried looking at you sitar. You shouted, "My sitars are crying for me, let me play some music!" Yes, you tried, tried hard. I remember you allowed me for the first time to record a few of them which you had avoided throughout your life! Perhaps it was a father's wish not to abandon the home, erase the music completely.

You know, it has disappeared! I no longer come back after an exhaustive day and enter into the home listening you playing your favourite ragas in sitar.

Life is never the same, nor the world! I wish I do not forget your smell, your touch, your fingers and above all the musical childhood which you gifted me!

Compensating for a Gendered World III - Earn extra

Kaleidoscope doesn't know how many times he is going to see the same genderTarulata and Anna (which literally means not any more), if they don't just click on their names btw, now its time to share with you story of Aloka.
story from different actors. Kaleidoscope believes people remember

Aloka is a new inclusion to care for the peripheral works associated with the newborn in Kaleidoscope's home. Aloke happens to wear elegant saaris, often reads news paper when there is not much workload. In fact, there is plenty of time as after washing the baby's clothes and boiling water etc. there is hardly anything left for her to do. Kaleidoscope was curious about Aloka. She happens to speak less but when she speaks she speaks about the world outside. When she doesn't have work to do, she often goes to the balcony or on the roof to watch outside. Aloka happens to have a lot of phone calls. Mostly regarding orders to be handled by her husband who is a tailor.

What is her story? Kaleidoscope was curious. So here it goes.

Aloka's, husband is a good tailor and used earn  good enough to sustain a family, raise their girl and make arrangement for her marriage. Things started to change with the inception of ready made garments. "Even aged people started wearing the ready made cloths!"

Yes, it was a huge change: "Those of the workers easily switched over and joined some 'pull' or in some shopping plaza, those owing shops and business, (entrepreneur Kaleidoscope thought!) could not switchover easily.

Meanwhile Aloka watched her little daughter managing his not to well off family all by herself. Her affinal kin didn't demand anything but then there was infrastructure 'deficit.' Her daughter needed an alimrah, the newly wedded couple had to sleep on a chawki and lacked a proper bed.

While she urged for those items to be given to her daughter "just to set her free of the obligation that she had to keep everything in her mother-in-law's alimrah, and everytime she needed something she had to ask for the keys" her husband said "you have earn it, I can not give, neither did I have the money for it!"

Aloka felt helpless, meanwhile, there was problem mounting in her daughter's family with everyday access to the the alimrah and the like.

Aloke took up the job of aaya - a helping hand in need. She ended up serving for one of the readymade material suppliers and could give her husband one last opportunity to use his skill and earn. This time the husband agreed. Watching Aloka earning he felt humiliated for not being able to earn enough! So the family, as Kaleidoscope watches is slowing coming back to its original shape.

Meanwhile she could afford an alimrah and a proper bed for her daughter!

Pic: taken from http://www.mbcnschool.org/blog/international-womens-day-the-road-to-women-empowerment/

Anarchy in the designed Newtown landscapes

Since Kaleidoscope's arrival in his new workplace destination where everything seems to be too perfect. When he first found his college has a landscaping he thought it will soon become anarchic without proper maintenance. He was wrong. It is maintained every once in a while. So does other lawns. Although he has seen lawn being eaten by ghosts of past as cows once in a while come to have crunchy food in lawns (click here). However, the neatly designed place often sees transformation as the past 'infiltrates' within the present build-in neat and clean design of the place.

While the the 'last canal' got a makeover on both of its banks, Kaleidoscope thought it must be one of the last trails of the past (click here). The canal side lanes are getting paved and it might get 'beautified' like it has in some other parts of the city. The convocation center bound canal not only got 'lawned' banks but also have an installation of an artificial boat - quite heterotopic but it remains. However, the canal which passes through Kaleidoscope's college - also one of the only refuge of natural unkempt touch that the college has, remains to be the same. With an exception of the pavement of the lanes beside the canal the rest of the place remains unaltered.

As the lane is paved, Kaleidoscope now avails the lane instead of broad street which passes through the Central shopping plaza decked with flex and late capital consumerist advertisements.

The canal side lane happens to be an interesting contrast to the rest of the designed and neatly bound city.

• It is a space where he has spotted people quietly sharing a drink or two along with cheap side dish - a makeshift picnic arrangement. Indeed, his species is yet to forget the most coveted space for picnic, as many prehistoric sites are indeed picnic spots for many. 
• It is also a space for some of the workers (as there are many construction workers continuously building the city) to take some rest taking refuge under shed in scorching midday sun.
• Usually in the afternoon Kaleidoscope spots a few couples casually walking, holding each other's hands and looking at the trees, shed and the water which passes through the canal. 
• Casual short-cut takers - yes by those who cannot afford to have a car and walk through. You can understand the lane belongs to the past the organically connected folks.

Kaleidoscope does not wonder when he sees disjuncture between the inhabitants of the builtin apartments in the cityscape and the little past of all that is left. The past belong to the people at the bottom - those of the rooted. No wonder the canal carries waste of the haves and is quietly resourceful for the havenots. Kaleidoscope smiles - no wonder power is situational.

Pic: the paved canal road which Kaleidoscope uses everyday.

"First generation learners" scoring top - the background story

I remember encountering a couple of guardians in 2012 hot and humid June. They want their daughters to pursue graduations from our college that too in anthropology. The reasons being the same poor marks have made them incapable to pursue honours in other disciplines. Both the daughters however scored well in their secondary examinations.

There are challenges for both of them. Their parents are landless agricultural labourers and hence they are poor. Thanks to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes there is some hike in the wage.

Both the daughters have their mothers work in the field and they too offer help every once  in a while.

There are more challenges, they do not have any option than to stay in the hostel which requires money. Moreover, girls outside the home means a) there is an absence of 'helping hand' at home and absence of an additional labour force for the kitchen garden, b) yes, they are not 'that pure' back home, back in the village, c)  who can afford spending for a girl whom you plan to marry off.

However, it was a pleasure to see their parents throwing challenges to at least at three aspects of everyday society a)  gender stereotypes, b) economic challenges and c) gambling with taking up a not so marketed course.

It was an extreme challenge for the daughters too. They were supposed to study in english - a language much feared. Moreover, anthropology happens to be a subject without available textbooks. One has to do a lot of reference works.

Haldia happened to be an amazing place with teachers willing to take up such challenges.

In fact the same is applicable for at least three more boys. I remember those guardians looking at me the person in charge of the admission and also belonging to the department. 'I cannot afford a private tuition - said one of the guardians.' I smiled and said 'you don't have to! Keep the faith'

I remember giving extra load to my senior colleagues. 'You people have to check whatever they write in english and check them meticulously and help them identify the patterns of mistakes'.  Thankfully all five have been most consistent in attending classes and post class english training sessions. Being from the hostel they could spend evenings in the staff room every once in a while discussing, writing, arguing and watching movies.

With increasing attachments to the department they volunteer in restructuring the department before NAAC visit when i aready left the college for routine transfer.

However they were making wonderful progress in not only perceiving anthropology but also in english and computer skills.

Meanwhile one of them scored highst in the university exam and anotherone stood second. The rest however secured  comfortable first class excepting one of the girls.

I remember the one scored highest told 'dont worry sir she will score better in part iii.'

Yes while others remained consistent the girl scored magic figure 60%.

However, it was beyond my perception that their parents will allow them to continue  a post graduation course. But they did and now we have top five of the university- our beloved first generation learners.

Teachrs' day message carried a photograph of my very last day in th college with the next generation faculties whom we transferred the batton. The message said 'sir please remain happy as you seemed in this photo'.

Yes, this is pleasure even when you are not there.