Dr Sawraj Singh

ARIZONA is pushing America from Racial Divide to racial confrontation. The controversial immigration law has already divided the country on racial lines. Now, it has passed another law banning the teaching of ethnic history in the schools (House Bill 2281). This is adding insult to injury. One wonders if Arizona is bent upon pushing America into a state of race war. This seems to be a very perverted sense of patriotism when one pushes the country into a state of confrontation and chaos rather than helping the country to unite and be peaceful and harmonious. Dividing a country on racial lines will ultimately weaken the country, whereas uniting the country will eventually strengthen it.

There are some basic realities about America which cannot be ignored. It is a country of immigrants. The only people native to this land are the Native Americans, although they might also be immigrants who crossed into America from Asia when these continents were united by the land in Alaska which has now become the Bering Strait. However, these people have been living here for thousands of years. Everybody else can only count a couple of hundreds of years since they have been here. Some have been here even for less than a hundred years; and others have immigrated to the land a few decades ago.

In different periods of history, different nationalities and communities migrated here. At one time, the bulk of immigration was from Europe. However, the third World has now become the main source of immigration. Without immigration, it will become very difficult to run this country. Generally speaking, the immigrants take the jobs for which not enough work forces are available. This general principle holds true for both legal as well as for illegal immigrants. Legal immigration is only allowed if we determine that we need people in certain categories because we do not have enough people to fill all of the potential slots. Even though nobody determines the need for illegal immigration, yet it is a well known fact that many areas of economy depend upon the illegal immigrants.

Arizona has come up with some statistics to show how much the illegal immigrants are costing them. These statistics are misleading. There have been studies done in the past to show that instead of being a drain on the economy, the illegal immigrants generally add something to the economy. We can calculate how much it will cost us if we get rid of the 12 million illegal immigrants and stop all immigration. Many areas of our economy will collapse. We will have to pay many times more wages and give many benefits to the people who will replace these illegal immigrants. It is almost inconceivable to think that this country can run without the immigrants.

The harsh reality is that we cannot get European immigrants to do the jobs of the Hispanic immigrants. We have to settle for what we can get rather than what we want. The demographic trends cannot be changed. New immigration as well as a new increase in population is only going to be mainly from the people of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The reality is that this country has already become multicultural. We cannot reverse the course of history.

We have to accept the reality whether we like it or not. Denying reality is only going to create more problems and make life difficult for everybody. Accepting multiculturalism and diversity is not a choice from many possible choices, but is the only choice for America.

We have to start seeing our multiculturalism and diversity as an asset rather than a liability. At present, these words have become very unpopular among the majority of the white people and that is why the polls are showing that a majority is supporting the Arizona immigration law. However, history has shown again and again that the majority is not always right and many times it regrets its wrong stand.

We certainly hope that the majority of people realize this before these wrong laws do irreversible damage to this great country, and also realize that such laws are moving us in the wrong direction. The fact remains that America has already become a multicultural and diverse society and this trend is going to become stronger with the passage of time. Nothing can reverse this trend. We are all for immigration reform and making immigration safe for both this country as well as for the immigrants themselves. We only want to point out that without immigrants, we cannot function and the fact remains that most of the new immigrants will be non-white. Therefore our future lies with accepting multiculturalism and diversity.

[The writer is Chairman Washington State Network for Human Rights]

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Sirhind Fateh Diwas: Homage to Banda Bahadur

Om Prakash Sharma

SIRHIND Fateh Diwas was observed from May 12-May 14, 2010, to mark the 300th Anniversary of the conquest of Sirhind, in Punjab by Banda Bhadur Bairagi. Vazir Khan, the Mughal Faujdar, was killed in the battle of Chhappar Chiri, near Sirhind, on May 12, 1710. The Fort of Sirhind was occupied two days after, on May 14. With the killing of the Mughal Faujdar and the conquest of Sirhind, Banda accomplished his immediate mission, assigned to him by Guru Gobind Singh, for avenging the murder of his sons by the tyrant, and the consequent death of Guru’s mother,. After the death of Guru Gobind Singh in 1708, Banda filled in the vacuum caused by the departure of the Sant Sipahi, as his chosen disciple to carry forward his legacy. The intrepid Banda, in his incarnation as Banda Singh Bahadur from Madho Das, an ascetic, jolted the foundations of the tottering Mughal Empire and prepared ground for the Misls and the Dal Khasa to step in to continue the fight against oppression of the Muslim rulers and foreign invaders. Banda was a great patriot and a nation builder destined to earn a high place in the galaxy of great martyrs in the annals of the Sikh history.

Baptism of Banda and Creation of the Khalsa

Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), son and successor of Teg Bahadur, the 9th Guru murdered by Aurangzeb, ushered in a powerful phase of the Sikh militarism. It turned Bhakti of Guru Nanak into the Shakti of the Khalsa. In the Bichitra Natak, the Guru saw himself born on this earth as a savior. He moved to Anand Pur Sahib where on the Baisakhi day, in 1699, he created the Khalsa. It was an epoch-making event in the religious and political history of the country. In Zafarnama, written to Aurangzeb in Persian, the Guru justified his revolutionary activities by saying: “When all the remedies have failed, it is lawful to resort to the sword”.

Anand Pur Sahib was invaded five times. In 1704, when Governor Vazir Khan besieged Anand Pur Sahib, the Guru finding himself in a tight spot reached an agreement under which the Guru sent ladies and his two younger sons under proper escort to Nahan in Sirmaur State. Guru’s mother and two younger sons fell in the hands of Vizier Khan. The children on their refusal to embrace Islam were bricked alive in the Fort and beheaded on December 27, 1704. The Guru, his two elder sons and forty followers were also surrounded at Chamkaur. Guru lost both the sons and three of the panj piaras.

The Guru moved to South to meet Aurangzeb to urge action against Vazir Khan only to learn about his death. Bahdur Shah, his successor, was not sympathetic. During this sojourn, Guru Gobind Singh met Bairagi Madho Das at his hermitage on the bank of Godavari, at Nander. The Guru was highly impressed by the demeanor of the ascetic who assured him that he was Guru’s ‘Banda’.

The Guru at a darbar held on September 3, 1708, baptised Madho Das and conferred the title of Banda Singh Bahadur on him. He appointed him as his military lieutenant and invested him with full political and military authority as his deputy to lead the campaign in Punjab to punish Nawab Wazir Khan. The Guru issued a Hukum-nama in his own handwriting instructing the Sikhs to join Banda Bahadur in his struggle against the Mughal rule. In response to the Hukum-nama, 40,000 Sikh peasants joined Banda Bahadur. The Guru breathed his last on October 7, 1708, from the stab wounds by two Pathans. Banda got the sad news of the passing away of Guru Gobind Singh, on his way to Punjab. But, he didn’t waver from his assigned mission.

Wazir Khan proclaimed a jihad against Banda. He was joined by the Nawab of Malerkotla, and all other Muslim chiefs and jagirdars. Banda stormed the prosperous town of Samana, the home of the person who had executed the ninth Guru and murdered Guru’s two sons. Several other towns which were centers of oppression, like complete elimination of Satnamis by Aurangzeb, were likewise ravaged. The Battle of Sirhind, was fought at Chhappar Chiri, 20 kms from Sirhind. Wazir Khan was killed on May 12, 1710. His head was stuck up on a spear and lifted high up by a Sikh who took his seat in the howdah of Khan’s elephant. Sher Khan, the Nawab of Malerkotla, was also killed.

Banda Bahadur’s increasing might roused the ire of Bahadur Shah, the Mughal emperor. The Emperor’s order, issued on December 10, 1710 was a general warrant for the Faujdars to "kill the worshippers of Nanak, wherever they were found”. The massive imperial forces drove the Sikhs from Sirhind and other places to take shelter in the hilly region. "It is impossible for me," says Khafi Khan a Muslim historian of that time, "to describe the fight which followed. The Sikhs in their faqir's dress struck terror into the hearts of the royal troops. The number of casualties among the latter was so large that for a time it appeared as if they were going to lose."

Banda installed himself as a ruler. In his short rule, he organized his administration, initiated progressive measures and issued coins in the name of Guru Nanak.

Torture and Massacre of Banda and other Sikhs

There were seesaw battles between Banda and the Mughal forces. Banda was far from vanquished. Quite apart from the daring exploits of the ordinary Sikh soldiers, there were strong rumours in the Mughal camp that Banda Bahadur had magical powers, and could transform himself into many shapes to escape captivity. Most of the Mughal commanders were afraid of a face to face encounter with Banda, and were constantly pushing their Qazis and Mullas to the front to offer prayers to counter the spells of the enemy. Desperate Bahadur Shah ordered wholesale massacre of Sikhs.

Farrukhsiar, the next king deputed Abdus Samad Khan to punish “that sect of mean and detestable Sikhs” and to destroy Banda.

Banda had to retreat to a place north of Gurdas Pur where he was trapped to starvation due to a wrong tactical move by flooding the canal water, that cut off his own line of supply. Abdus Samad Khan ordered massacre of 200 prisoners and imprisoned others along with Banda. Zakaria Khan, the son of the Lahore Governor, ordered his men to lop off more heads of Sikhs. He loaded them in 300 carts. Around 740 Sikhs, along with Banda Bahadur were taken to Delhi. The cavalcade to the imperial capital was a grisly sight.

C.R.Wilson, a civilian from Bengal, in his ‘Early Annals of the English in Bengal’, has given the description of the entry of the Sikh captives into Delhi:

First came the heads of the executed Sikhs, stuffed with straw, and stuck on Bamboo's, their long hair streaming in the wind like a veil, and along with them to show that every living thing in Gurdaspur had perished, a dead cat on a pole. Banda himself, dressed out of mockery in a turban of a red cloth, embroidered with gold, and a heavy robe of brocade flowered with pomegranates, sat in an iron cage, placed on the back of an elephant.

After him came other 740 prisoners seated two and two upon camels without saddles. The road to the palace, for several miles was lined with troops and filled with exultant crowds, who mocked at the Guru and laughed at the grotesque appearance of his followers. He observes that no insults that their enemies had invented could rob the Guru and his followers of dignity. Kafi Khan confirms the resolute will of Sikhs and complete devotion to their cause. That gory scene was enacted for seven days until all the ordinary captives had been disposed off. According to Mohammed Harisi, their bodies were loaded on wagons and taken out of town to be thrown to the vultures. The heads were hung up on trees or on poles near the market-place to be a lesson to all rebels. Not one from the 700 odd men had asked for pardon.

The jailors next turned their attention to the 20 odd Sardars. On reaching the graveyard, the captives were again offered a choice of conversion to Islam or death. All chose death. The Sikh Sardars were subjected to tortures before g execution. Their heads were, then, impaled on spears and arranged in a circle around Banda who was now squatting on the ground. There were hundreds of spectators standing around watching this scene. Banda Singh was then given a short sword and ordered to kill his son, Ajai Singh. As he sat unperturbed, the executioner moved forward and cut the little child into two with his sword. His heart was removed and thrust into Banda Singh's mouth. The father sat through all this without any signs of emotion.

Banda before his execution, replied to the taunt of a noble who reminded him of the horrors he had committed; “I will tell you. Whenever men become so corrupt and wicked as to relinquish the path of equity and abandon themselves to all kinds of excesses, then Providence never fails to raise up a scourge like me to chastise a race so depraved; but when the measure of punishment is full he raises up men like you to bring him to punishment.”

The executioner then gouged his eyes and cut him to pieces limb by limb. The details of the torture figure in several eye witness accounts. The ambassadors of the East India company, John Surman and Edward Stephenson, who were in Delhi then, and had witnessed some of these massacres, wrote to the governor of Fort William, confirming the foregoing account and adding: "It is not a little remarkable with what patience Sikhs undergo their fate, and to the last it has not been found that one apostatized from his new formed religion."

Banda Bahadur was martyred thus, fighting against oppression and injustice. Carrying forward the legacy of Guru Gobind Singh, he blazed a trail of fervent patriotism, and devotion to their faith that was to claim a long chain of martyrdoms. His Martyrdom Day falls on 9th June, 1716. Banda Bahadur could have built a Sikh Empire and changed the course of history but for some tactical blunders. Ranjit Singh, of Sukerchakia misl born on November 13, 1780 fulfilled that role.

[The writer is former governor of  Nagaland]

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Effective teaching

Vinod Anand

A FEW days back I read a news report on the orientation programme organized by the UGC- Academic Staff College, University of Allahabad, where the valedictory address was delivered by Prof. Mishra, former Vice Chancellor of the University. Addressing the participants, Prof. Mishra gave four tips for effective teaching. According to him a teacher must have four characteristics based on the principle of 4H. He said that the first H stands for “Head”, the second H stands for Heart, the third for Hands, and the fourth H stands for Health.

Let me briefly elaborate on these. The first H, “Head” means that a teacher should accumulate sufficient knowledge and always get himself updated about the subject he teaches, and disseminates it effectively so that his students understand what he says in the lecture hall. He should teach in an impromptu way, with face to face with the students, and not read his notes and then teach. The second H, Heart means that the teacher must be a good human being who understands his students from the core of his heart, and deals with them in a highly humble way. The third H, Hands reflect the skill of the teacher, and his writing capability, and the fourth H, Health connotes the idea that the teacher must enjoy good health so that there are no barriers that restrict his teaching in any way.

I will add a few more H to this list. The first is Humility, which means that apart from having wisdom, a teacher must have humility. Wisdom and humility go hand- in -hand with each other. The next is Honesty: a good teacher must be honest in all respects at least with his students and his faculty members. The last H is Human Behaviour and Demeanour: this leaves a good effect on the students.

Thus, there is a “eight H principle” for effective teaching. In fact, all these eight traits are correlated to each other. Lack of any of these qualities will surely degrade the quality of teaching. The teachers of the University of Allahabad of yesteryears had all these qualities in them, and it is for this reason that they produced highly qualified students who later on spread all over the world in various disciplines and brought laurels to the university. It is for this reason that the University of Allahabad of those times was called the “Oxford of the East”.

In the present scenario, of course with a few exceptions, there is no teacher in the university who has these traits. Quite a number of them do not have good health, but still draw their handsome salaries. They do not have sufficient and updated knowledge to teach; they do not have a perfect skill, and do not undertake any research or projects. None of them get any research paper published in standard academic journals. Majority of them lack wisdom and humility. Honesty also is lacking, and human ambience is completely absent.

Who is responsible for these shortcomings? I think, firstly the teachers themselves, and then the Vice Chancellor who never initiates any programs like, Self Assessment of Teachers (SAT), and Students Assessment of the Staff (SAS), and the Code of Conduct (CC). Let me briefly elaborate on these:

• Self Assessment of Teachers (SAT): Self-assessment is a powerful technique for improving achievement. Self-assessment by teachers links them to their professional growth. Self-assessment is a tool which, in combination with other elements, contributes immensely to change in the instructional practice. Provision of a self-assessment tool contributes to teacher growth by: (1) influencing the teacher's definition of excellence in teaching and increasing his ability to recognize mastery experiences; (2) helping the teacher select improvement goals by providing him with clear standards of teaching, opportunities to find gaps between desired and actual practices, and a menu of options for action; (3) facilitating communication with the teacher's peer; and (4) increasing the influence of external change agents on teacher practice. Self-assessment tool is a constructive strategy for improving the effectiveness of in-service provided it is bundled with other professional growth strategies: peer coaching, observation by external change agents, and focused input on teaching strategies. It must be done by every teacher at least once a year.

• Student Assessment of Staff (SAS): In order to monitor the teaching capability of the teachers the University should go for Student Assessment of Staff, where the students of at least two classes of every teacher will assess him by filling in a questionnaire by the end of the session in the presence of another teacher, and the completed questionnaire will go to the Head of the Department and Dean of the concerned Faculty in a confidential way. This is important because the University must be aware as to what the teacher teaches and how he delivers his lectures in terms of the given curriculum. As we know, assessment and instruction are two sides of the same coin. Hence it is critical for teachers to not only assess what students understand, but also use that information to adjust their teaching.
Code of Conduct(CC): All the teachers are supposed to sign a code of conduct to say that they would (1) honestly reflect on their teaching; (2) systematically examine student progress toward identified learning goals over time; and (3) monitor instruction and assessment for continuous improvement
Prof. Mishra, who delivered the valedictory lecture, as I have said above, and suggested the “Four H Principle” of effective teaching, also did nothing during his tenure. Had he done so at that time (late seventies and early eighties), University would have got a different shape now. Presently it shines at night time, but otherwise there is nothing left that would bring back its old traditions.

I am sure this writ-up will somehow reach the honourable Vice Chancellor, and he would read this carefully, and go ahead with the suggestions.

I wish all the best to my Alma Mater.

[The writer is former professor of econ0mics, Allahabad University]

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The sound, fury and music of new age journalism

Bal Anand

EVER since the 19 month long dark epoch of Emergency in June 1975 - January 1977 - infamous for the curbs on freedom of press - the media in India has been in a heady spin evolving itself in embracing new challenges in the professional and technological domains of globalization. The last two decades of India's tryst with liberalisation and economic reforms have witnessed the fastest growth of institutions of mass communications and journalism. A large corps of well groomed and 'brave hearted' journalists have been scripting their own concerns and core issues perceived to be affecting the lives of a billion plus people of India, a vast majority in their own age group. It is precisely with these thoughts that I chose to write about Annie Zaidi's maiden book, titled in the youth lingo, 'Known Turf'.

It was a timely phone call from Hyderabad that enabled me to attend the function of the release of the book on 23rd of April by Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, the freshly nominated member of Rajya Sabha, with a well deserved reputation for his incisive and hit-it-hard views on issue of socio-economic deveopment and secular polity. The venue, a classroom size conference hall in the Annexe of India International Centre, mostly frequented by the retired 'Big Babus', was, for a refreshing change, overflowing with young people attired in all their carefree variety. Sh. MS Aiyar, dressed in trade mark kurta-payjama, graciously apologised for being twenty minutes late, making a reference to the mention in the book (at Page 267) how the long waiting ladies had admonished him in political rally in Dehradun. He told the audience how he had to agree to meet the persistent author of the book on the suggestion of Mr. P Sainath, the well known columnist on the rural scene in India. He further said that his long conversation with the author about the brave new themes and then the reading of the book convinced him to release the book. He read a couple of passages and the engaged in conversation with the author to the immense delight of the audience. The deep sensitivity and sparkling sincerity of the author towards the people and their issues dealt in the book enlivened the evening filled more with literary than hard core journalistic air about it.

Coming to the book, subtitled 'Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales', published by Tranquebar Press, 280 page, paper back, is, according to the author, "a collection of essays, drawing upon research, travel and personal history." The book indeed opens with the 32 page chapter about author's trip to 'daaku land' -the Chambal Valey - when travelling by Shtabadi to Gawalior in Oct 2004 in the wake of massacre by the Gadariya gang, she discovers that Phoolan Devi - the legendary ex-bandit 'queen' turned member of Parliament was also travelling by the same train. There are sensitive portrayals of the people of the bad land, invoking parallels with the Bollywood films and references to historical records. To quote the author, "Finally, I think in our national imagination, the life of Chambal daaku may be forfeit, but it is life that serves as a testament to the oppression people once suffered, before somebody stood up and said, enough!" The net section with two chapters describes demanding dimensions of travelling and staying for a female reporter in the 'rural heart-land' of India, "I had not eaten all day and dared not get down at the station to buy food...it was the first time in my life that I could not sleep because of hunger." The third section with seven chapters contains respectively the touching accounts of malnutrition among children in Madhya Pradesh, "I usually do not touch babies...I should not have picked her up. It is hard to forget the sight of baby eyes that don't look into your own..I should not have held her,for I remember now that she weighed less than my hand bag...Quickly, I handed her over to her mother and fled. Fled, from the baby who weighed less than my handbag." Then the author navigates the reader into issues of death due to starvation, displacement of people in the wake of big dams. The picture of dying weavers of silk saris in Benaras tells it all, "The Benaras trip was a difficult one...it was here that I discovered one of the most awful things about being a reporter: watching grown men and women break down."

The deeper motivation for my sharing this book for the readers of South Asia Post pertains to Sections IV and V-from pages 91to 161, which touch upon fractured body and tortured soul of Punjab as viewed and examined by an open minded journalist who makes an enigmatic understatement, "There is a bit of Punjab in my blood, although I don't speak the language...dancing to a series of Bhangra and Gidda numbers in school...from movies, from songs and legend...Sikhism...Excitable tempers. Money. Rivers of milk. Lassi...voice came out garbled and, until work forced me to, I hadn't felt any desire to try and decipher it." Then follows the true tale of Bant Singh ,"who was in hospital (PGI, Chandigarh) minus three limbs because he wanted his daughter's rapists to go to jail." The author met him in the trauma ward of the PGI and noted, "At the end of the day, having filed my story and putting my notes aside, I had written a diary entry...'How does one react...look at the bandages...Or do you look away, into his eyes?...talk of the incident in detail...leave as soon as you have the information you need because ...because what can one say any way?...And what do you do when a man minus three limbs in a government hospital's trauma ward begins to sing?" The author is told by Dr Promod Kumar, director of Institute of Development and Communication that, "Bant singh case was actually part of a longer, more subtle resurgence of Dalits.' The author quotes social scientists, "Punjab had class and religious conflict.The next big thing was pipped to be caste conflict..the state has one of the highest proportions of Dalit population: about 28.3 per cent (but own less than 2.3 per cent of land)...in 1991,the scheduled castes accounted for 52% of the state's poverty statstics, more than a decade later, this had gone up to 62 percent (page 99)..."

The essay titled, 'I'm Getting Out' is an anecdotal account of the youth of Punjab for their 'foreign land' craze. They don't mind adopting any method in pursuit of their 'dream', never mind cheating by agents. The young women are not behind - they become victims, in words of author, of 'marriage method.' BS Ramuwalia is quoted, "It is big business...racket is worth at least Rs 10,000 crores." The chapter titled, 'Prone to Bonding' narrates tales of bonded labourers in the neighborhood of Ludhiana kept by the landlords for petty loans. According to Dr Manjit Singh, a Sociologist, 58% of Dalit households were caught in debt traps, 'families had worked without any wages for as long as twenty years.' In contrast is narrated the tale of blatant loot of Rs 286 crore (Page 115) by Panjab's 'political who is who' invoking waiver of loans of the Panjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC), "Here were people who went about in fancy cars...It wasn't that they could not repay their debts. They just wouldn't. Yet, their houses weren't locked up and they did not have to go looking for community land so they could relieve themseves."

The realm of faith and religion is analysed with a rare detachment and depth in the three chapters of the section V of the book. The author explains how, 'Sufism caught at my soul the way no mainstream religion ever had...essence of Sufism was an open door policy and a witty, defiant attitude to people who try to gain monopolies on redemtion and divinity...The first serenade was poetic. Kabir...Mira Bai...Bulle Shah...Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's voice...Rabbi's, 'Bulla ki jaana main kaun?-I do not know who I am..." The growing popularity of Sufi tradition, particularly among the Dalits has been substantiated with reference to the author's discussions with a variety of sources including veteran revolutionary Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga. The chapter 'The Influential Truth' provides an informative account of Dera Saha Sauda in Sirsa, 'Watching Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh in action on the day of the jaam-e-insaan ceremony, I had thought this was as close to conversion as one could get, if you didn't want to formally renounce the religion your parents were born into." The author points out that, "Personally, I think that people have the right change religion like they change houses..." The author further observes, quoting Prof. Sewa Singh of Kapurthala, "The (Sikh) clergy is not worried about small Sufi deras...The real threat comes from these new deras headed by either Hindus or Sikhs. Their followers are often from oppressed castes and are mostly poor... orthodox clergy is so worried about appropriation of the symbols of their own identity...Sacha Sauda chief's name...Baba Ashutosh's beard!..Piara Singh Bhaniarawala's Bhavsagar Granth..."

The two essays in VI section with headings 'What Do You Fear?' and 'Something that Passes for Honest' contain the author's soul searching reflections on the tradition of 'devotion and openness' in the family of her mother. She expresses her deeply touching perceptions of shrinking spaces of values of accommodation, compassion and decency in the paradox of 'divisions' and 'consumerism' driven emerging society of India, asking, "question of 'what' in religious or caste terms." She makes a poignant confession, "A lot of it has to do with being a Muslim, of course. I doubt I'd have resented the question so much if I hadn't felt defensive, if it hadn't made apparent to me that being a Muslim was not such good thing..." The author describes, in touching poetic details, how her maternal grandfather passed away on 6 December 2004, the day of "the demolition of the Babri Mosque," eighteen years ago. One of the last literary tasks Padam Shri Ali Jawad Zaidi was engaged in, in spite of having lost his eye sight in later years, was the painstaking editing of the various original editions of Ramayana in Urdu, by Muslim and Hindu writers! The picture of maternal grandmother, a pious Syed Muslim and professed vegetarian too, also comes vividly alive. In the wake of Gujarat riots, the author posed herself the heartbreaking question, 'whether I belonged here, in this country.' The answer was provided by her weather wisened woman friend who calmly pointed out that, "perhaps I should think about where else I could belong...I thought about it and came to the conclusion that there was nowhere else...A motherland...like your own mother...cannot backtrack on the option of being your mother..."

The last section of the book takes the reader back to plight of Bant singh and his raped daughter, Baljit Kaur and enlarges the issue as a nation wide curse where, "as a woman, it is easy to become a victim." The gruesome tales of female foeticide are even sought to be explained by a well-to-do gentleman from Haryana as, "People have a right to make a choice." The author digs deeper into the cultural notion that "you must give up a daughter completely, retain no claim upon her, economically or emotionally...the boy brings home the bread...a bride who will provide other services...The girl is a drain on resources...And people in India will go on saying that investing in the girl is like watering the neighbour's garden" The author further points out that, "there is more behind foeticide than women not being around for their parents. And much of that is rooted in 'culture'...So,though parents resent having to bring up a child only to lose her, they are also anxious to let their girls go..." The chapter 'The Top One Per cent' analyses complex issues of the marital and family kind for the well educated, professional and independent minded women of the 21st century India. The essay 'Real Power' puts forward interesting explanations why women don't receive the just remunerations for their work and how the example of the ban in Maharashtra on dancing in bars, "did not recognise their right to use their bodies and their skills to their own advantage." The chapter 'Too Much Interest' strikes a few hopeful notes in women empowerment citing instances in Uttarakhand. The last essay 'And So It Goes On' conducts, as if an open heart surgery operation of the victims, with the author putting herself on the operation table for surgeon-readers. The most shameful affliction of Indian male, is euphemistically called 'eve teasing'. She makes a sad confession, "over the years, I learnt that that harassment on the streets is inevitable...Each time I left the house, an invisible snake of suspicion came winding down from shoulder to back and I stiffened with apprehension." She concludes saying, "Now, I find myself forced to acknowledge that it might remain a way of life; that I will never be able to relax in a bus or train or street or park...I also saw what I had to do...Keep confronting...Don't let the fear take over."

I can say that going through Known Turf has been a very revealingly enlightening experience for me in terms of 'a dialogue of generations.' I was indeed so uniquely privileged to have discourses on the eternal and currently passing problems of humanity with the author's poet-prophet grandfather in Iran on the eve of Islamic Revolution. The author, with her maiden book and still shy look, has invited comparison among others with Arundhati Roy - I would like her to be linked to the lineage of Qurratulan Haidar also, the narrator of epic tales spanning civilizations, combining her professionalism of a 21st century journalist and a proud hertage of visionary poets from the sacred soil of her ancestors from Azamgarh and Allahabad. How strange that during her travels in Panjab, "Saadi Annie ...intelligent kurhi (Page87)" mostly interacted with the persons whom I had also 'discovered' around the same time after my return from duties across the globe for more than three decades!

[The writer is former Indian diplomat]

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