Logos at the Heart of the Community

The academic session was already at its fag end when I arrived in Allahabad in the month of May last year. My first few evenings were spent in reading the book The Gospel and the Plow by Dr Sam Higginbottom. I had the book with me for quite some time but it was only when I finally joined the institute founded by the great missionary that I had the opportunity to read the book cover to cover. It turned out to be one of the most important books that I ever read. I was familiar with Dr Higginbottom’s autobiography but this smaller book had a unique power and it made a significant impact on me. It cannot be denied that it is a great book. Its style is simple and its message most profound. The book was published nearly a hundred years ago, but it remains as relevant to the needs of India as it was in 1921. It remains relevant because it presents in a fresh way what God has always desired for His people—comprehensive blessings.

When God led the Hebrews out of their state of slavery in Egypt almost 3,500 years ago, He said that He would lead them to a Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. God wished to free them from physical as well as mental slavery in Egypt. God also wanted to bless them both spiritually and physically.

Spiritual blessings and material prosperity went hand in hand in God’s plan. Since God cares as much for our physical as for our spiritual hunger, His comprehensive blessings are for our bodies as well as for our souls.

When Sam Higginbottom came to Allahabad, he thought his primary responsibility was the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ but the condition of the poor peasantry and landless labourers made him acutely aware of the comprehensive mission of God. Soon he learnt that his mission must include caring for the hungry and the destitute; soon he learnt that India needed the good news and the good agricultural practices—India needed “the Gospel and the Plow”.

Thus began the huge dream of an agriculture institute that would assist the poor and the meek of India inherit the blessings of the Kingdom. The foundation of the Allahabad Agriculture Institute was laid in 1910. The campus also had a chapel, which, of course, underlines the fact that the gospel must accompany the plough and vice versa.

The institute is now more than hundred years old. It has grown into a degree-granting deemed university. It stands tall like a beacon of light in Allahabad and the state of Uttar Pradesh. In 2010, the management of the university took a most wise decision to rename the university in the honour of its founder. Allahabad Agriculture Institute is now proudly known as Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences. It testifies to the world what the theology of the Gospel and the Plough can accomplish for a society.

The institute keeps the memory of the Dr Sam Higginbottom alive. But more important thing is to keep his vision alive. And thankfully, Dr Sam Higginbottom wrote two books that have helped in that task. The Gospel and the Plow and his autobiography (Sam Higginbottom, Farmer: An Autobiography; 1949) continue to serve as two pillars on which his vision is firmly set.

To some it may seem like an exaggeration but, to my mind, writing of these two books is in no way less than founding the institution. The current head of the university, the Hon’ble VC, has often acknowledged—in private as well as in public—the impact of the written legacy of Dr Higginbottom. It was these books that confirmed the vision that the Most Rev. Prof. R. B. Lal received and strengthened his resolve for the renewal of the institute.

The institute was the hardware and when the right software was used, it flourished.

Word has power. And writing makes that power available to generations to come. As mentioned above, when God led the Hebrews out of slavery, He gave them His Word, His commandments, His laws. And these former slaves were instructed to write them down and pass them on to the next generation. Because to receive it and to continue to enjoy that blessing they must keep His commandments and obey His law. They were asked to organise themselves in a special way. Their personal, family, tribal and national life would have to be built around God’s laws. They must not organise themselves around a man, a king, an ideal or an idol but around the written Word given to Moses. Since in the beginning was the logos (John 1:1), the logos must also be in the centre of the new community. Only this way of organization would ensure that they continue to receive the blessings promised to them.

Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey’ (Deuteronomy 6:1–3).

These laws was the software for their new life in the new land. Dr Higginbottom’s books were undoubtedly the software for the renewal of the institute. And, the faithful servants of the institute have through their prayers and close reading of the scripture activated this software. The written word—of scripture and of testimony—has power.

God made us in His own image (Genesis 1:26–27). Jesus taught us to call God our father (Matthew 6:9) and said that a son does what he sees his father doing (John 5:19). God writes. We must read what He has written in His Word. But we must also imitate our Heavenly Father in the act of writing.

The magazine Radiant Life is a symbol of the centrality of the written word in the life of a community. It seeks to keep a record of manifold blessings of God bestowed in the community around Yeshu Darbar—and even beyond. It also aims to provide a platform to writers, poets and chroniclers to record their witness. The magazine will also make an effort to facilitate exchange of ideas that further strengthen the followers of Christ and His body, the church—and hopes to promote and keep a record of all the blessing they receive.

The resumption of the magazine after a gap coincides with a very significant milestone in the life of the founding bishop of Yeshu Darbar the Most Rev. Prof. R. B. Lal, who turns sixty as the magazine goes to press. We wish him a long and healthy life. His message included in this issue testifies to the immense power of prayer and the centrality of the Word of God in the life of this institute. May our readers draw inspiration from the life of the servant of God!

(Editorial, Radiant Life, Vol 9, Issue 1)

The Jesus Savarkar Loved

In a few weeks’ time from now, the world will be celebrating Easter. It is the day of Jesus’s resurrection—the day he came back to life. This is also the occasion when a plethora of conspiracy theories start doing the rounds in media. They offer various scenarios as to what happened to Jesus after he was crucified. The most recent and most profitable of all speculations was Dan Brown’s 2003 novel that would have us believe that Jesus went to France. But Ganesh Damodar Savarakar, in 1946, had already claimed that the Tamil Brahmin Jesus actually came back to his homeland in Tamil Nadu—which is obviously some distance away from France—and from there moved to the Himalayas. The English translation of the Marathi book Christ Parichay is being published now, seventy years after the original came out. Its publication a month before Easter may just be an innocent coincidence but given the intellectual landscape of the country, it may not be so. The newspapers have reported some of the highlights from the book, here are a few we could look at.

The first claim is that Jesus travelled to India after his crucifixion. But, this theory only appeared in the 19th and 20th centuries—one version said he came via Afghanistan and went to Kashmir and China, and was buried at the age of 120; the other, Savarkar’s, adds a twist saying that he first came to Tamil Nadu and then went to Kashmir where he took nirvikalpa samadhi at the age of 49. But no Jewish or Roman record supports any such assertion. There is no contemporary report or document that says Jesus was revived by his disciples or that his body was stolen, which, if true, must have been recorded in the official papers of the imperial Roman government.

The second and more interesting claim in Savarkar’s book is that Jesus was a Vishwakarma Brahmin. Now, Vishwakarma in the Hindu pantheon is the god of artisans, the manual labourers, who are considered to be Shudras and not twice-born Brahmins. So while Savarkar does acknowledge that Jesus was a carpenter, one wonders why he didn’t declare him to be a Shudra. Or did he think a Shudra could not be spiritually enlightened?

The third claim is that Jesus was dark complexioned. Well, that makes him more Dravidian than Brahmin. Tamil Brahmins are more likely to light complexioned—one only needs to look at some famous Tamil actors and actresses to confirm that. Jesus is the saviour of all; it doesn’t matter whether he was black or white. One only wonders what point Savarkar wanted to put across.

On a more a serious note, Indians of all castes and religions have been fascinated with Jesus. Ganesh Savarkar must have been an admirer of Jesus but it seems his Brahmin-tinted ultra-nationalist glasses could not accept that the Son of God may have taken birth in an arid middle-eastern country, away from—what his brother Veer Savarkar had said—his pitru-bhumi (fatherland).

He seemed to have loved Jesus enough to claim him as a part of his spiritual landscape, but he was much too constrained by politics to surrender to Jesus on his own terms.

Silver Linings in Punjab's Communal Cloud

Talking of communal harmony, dark clouds are hovering over Punjab. Here's a story that may be the silver lining.

Masihi Sansar (Christian World) is a Punjabi fortnightly published from Jalandhar in Punjab. A humble newspaper with a shoestring budget is run by a committed editor Freddi Joseph. Besides other things, the paper is committed to highlight the contribution the foreign missionaries made in nation building in India. It has instituted awards in the memory of William Carey, a British Baptist missionary; John C. Lowrie, an American Presbyterian missionary; and Dr Imam-ud-Din Shahbaz, an Indian pastor and teacher. The idea behind these awards is rather simple: Mr Joseph says that Indian Christians are very good at finding faults with each other, but we want to change the culture. We want to start honouring people for what they have done for the community. So for the last nine years they have been organizing a function on the 2nd of October every year where they felicitate fellow Christians for their positive contribution towards the uplift of the community.

In 2013, I was invited by them to present a paper on William Carey in their award ceremony in a church in Jalandhar Cantt. This was my first visit to any of their functions and I did not know what to expect. But I was intrigued nonetheless when I found out that that year they have chosen three Sikhs, Pargat Singh Gaga, Parkash Singh, Gurmel Singh and two Hindus, Rakesh Kumar Singla and Sohan Lal Kaushik for William Carey and John C. Lowrie awards.  There was a powerful story behind it.

 ***

Pargat Singh told me, "They [the VHP and BD] said to us, 'Look at those pictures; see how they [the Muslims] killed your gurus and your forefathers' and we replied 'Let them kill in a picture; no killing is happening in reality anymore, so you better stop instigating us Sikhs'." This pragmatic yet profound answer was what prevented another Muzaffarnagar in Malerkotla.

***

On 10 April 2007, the members of the Bajrang Dal (BD) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), two militant Hindu organizations, had attacked a rather nondescript, small church in Lehragaga, in district Sangrur in southern Punjab. They converted the church into a gurudwara, by installing the sacred scripture of the Sikhs, Guru Granth Sahib. You could read the news report here and a press release by Christians here. The local police apparently was not too keen to uphold justice. It was these  community leaders from among the Sikhs and the two Hindu journalists who threw their weight behind the bewildered Christians. They were the ones who made sure that Guru Granth Sahib was taken away and the church property duly restored. These individuals took on the might of some very powerful leaders in Punjab and even dragged them to court, and fought for justice, and I was told, without little or no support from the Christian church. They even suffered at the hands of the powerful Hindutva lobby. A dhaba that Sardar Pargat Singh ran had to be closed down due to pressure of these fanatical forces, I was told.

Six years after the incident, this small Christian organization had decided to honour these valiant men.

Before the function, as we had our aloo-parathas and tea, I talked to some of them. And I came across another intriguing story.

S. Pargat Singh told me that they had just returned from Malerkotla. The only Muslim-majority city in Punjab was simmering with communal tension because just a day or two ago a Hindu boy had been brutally burnt alive (news report here). The militant Hindu organizations wanted to stoke communal fire and create an anti-Muslim, or rather a pro-Hindutva environment. This was obviously a part of the pattern—the strategy of initiating communal riots to polarize voters for the upcoming general election (May 2014) had been "successfully" implemented in Muzaffarnagar in UP in August–September 2013. Pargat Singh and his friends had been camping in Malerkotla, and it seems they had been instrumental in diffusing the situation. One thing that Pargat Singh told me amazed me. Muslims and Sikhs have had a very bitter past. As the Mughal Empire was declining, Sikhs were getting organized as a political power in the Punjab, and that often brought the two factions in conflict. It was a bloody period, where Sikh gurus and their families suffered greatly and trod the path of martyrdom. Those stories are part of folklore now. The miscreants from the Hindutva brigade wanted to use this gory past to instigate Sikhs to kill Muslims today. Pargat Singh told me, "They [the VHP and BD] said to us, 'Look at those pictures; see how they [the Muslims] killed your gurus and your forefathers' and we replied 'Let them kill in the picture; no killing is happening in reality anymore, so you better stop instigating us Sikhs'." This pragmatic yet profound answer was what prevented another Muzaffarnagar in Malerkotla.

These gentlemen deserve all the honour and more! They restore our faith in the openness and generosity of spirit for which Punjab is known all over.

(Google "Sikh martyrs" if you wish to see some of the pictures referred to in the conversation between members of the Hindutva organizations and Pargat Singh)

AWARDED: (L to R) Gurmel Singh, Parkash Singh, Pargat Singh Gaga, Rakesh Kumar Singla, Sohan Lal Kaushik, with Freddi Joseph

The 200 Years of the Punjabi Bible

When the great Sikh ruler of the Punjab, Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780–1839) heard that an American missionary has arrived on the other side of River Sutlej, the boundary between the Sikh and British territories, he sought to meet him. The maharaja primarily wanted to judge whether this young American can teach English to the young boys of his military chiefs. John C. Lowrie (1808–1900), all of 26 years of age, met him at his Lahore Darbar in early 1835.

Historian John C. B. Webster tells us that in one of the several meetings that the maharaja and the missionary had, the question that really piqued the curiosity of the great Sikh was how God wanted rulers to govern. He wanted to know from the Bible that if God punishes the wrongdoings committed my men, why do human authorities and rulers exist.  To which Lowrie replied: “Rulers are appointed by God to punish in this world many kinds of wickedness; but all will have to give an account, in the next world, to God, both rulers and subjects.” One could, of course, hear the echoes of interactions that Daniel may have had with the ancient kings like Nebuchadnezzar and Darius! Rulers must always remember that their power is not absolute and there is one above them whom they must give an account to.

More importantly, Lowrie also mentioned to him that civil authorities in “Christian” countries can use their power to punish wrongdoings of the priestly class: ‘“What! if a padre commits a crime, will they [the government] punish him like another man?” “Certainly.” This he deemed wonderful.’ This piece of ordinary information from Lowrie undoubtedly stunned Ranjit Singh as in the Indian subcontinent religious leaders and priests routinely claimed superiority over the ruling class and escaped the consequences of their crimes and “sins”. The struggle continues to this day, as many religious extremist organizations continue to defy the Indian constitution and say that the claims of “faith” do not recognize the demands of law.

Lowrie also gifted him an English Bible and the Punjabi Pentateuch. Earlier, during his journey, Lowrie had thought of gifting Punjabi New Testament to Lehna Singh, the chief of Amritsar district. But he already had one!

It is worth noting here that Lowrie, the first missionary to Punjab arrived only in 1834, but the Scripture was already available in Punjabi. British Baptist missionary, William Carey, the leader of the Serampore trio, had already produced a Punjabi Bible in 1815, nearly twenty years before any missionary set foot in the state! 

George Smith, Carey’s biographer, wrote about the impact of the Bible that was already being seen in Punjab.

The Punjabi Bible, nearly complete, issued first in 1815, had become so popular by 1820 as to lead Carey to report of the Sikhs that no one of the nations of India had discovered a stronger desire for the Scriptures than this hardy race. At Amritsar and Lahore “the book of Jesus is spoken of, is read, and has caused a considerable stir in the minds of the people.” A Thug, asked how he could have committed so many murders, pointed to it and said, “If I had had this book I could not have done it.” A fakeer, forty miles from Lodiana, read the book, founded the community of worshippers of the Sachi Pitè Isa, and suffered much persecution in a native State.

However, it was left to another American Presbyterian missionary to revise and improve the Punjabi translation. John Newton (1810–1891) arrived with his wife Elizabeth (1812–1857) and other missionaries in India in 1835. Newton also brought a printing press with him. Over the years, in the course of translating and printing the Bible in ten different languages, Newton also blessed Punjab with the first Punjabi grammar (1851) and the first Punjabi dictionary (1854). He is indeed a pioneer in the field of modern Punjabi language and literature.

Christianity, however, had the greatest impact on the illiterate untouchables of Punjab. It was with Ditt (b. ca. 1834), a dealer of hides, in the district Sialkot (now in Pakistan), that the Christian mass movement began in Punjab.  In this Spirit-led movement, the number of Christians increased from 3,796 in 1881 to 3,75,031 in 1921.

The missionaries were now faced with the dilemma whether to allocate majority of their resources for evangelism or for pastoral and educational work. Missionaries had already started schools, but many more were required. To begin with, missionaries were slow to respond to this need. They did, however, plant schools and churches together as the time went by.

Today, the literacy rate among Christians of Punjab stands at little over 54% (2001 Census), which is the second lowest in all communities in Punjab. This is in complete contrast to the national figures, where Christians are second from the top with over 80% literacy rate. This may seem like a big failure of the church, because it means that about 50% of Punjabi Christians cannot read, let alone immerse themselves in, the scripture. God has given his Word in the written form; it is the first responsibility of the church and of individual believers to do all that is possible to acquire skills to read and analyse the great scriptural truths. This is not to deny the great efforts made by even the illiterate converts to absorb the scriptures to the fullest. They memorized by heart various long passages of the Bible, including the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the entire Sermon on the Mount, 1 Corinthians 13, the creeds and hosts of psalms and proverbs. In fact, Zaboors, the Punjabi rendering of the Psalms by Imam-ud-din Shahbaz in early 1900s has made the great devotional poetry an integral part of Punjabi worship and has instilled the Word in the minds and souls of the Punjabi church. But memorizing is no substitute for the ability to read for oneself. 

One obvious way out is for more and more children, and even adults, to be enrolled in schools and other education facilities. Pastors must make it their top priority that everyone in their congregation is literate. It is also imperative to find and create teachers who could work sacrificially to motivate a demoralized set of people to excel in studies.

Another way is to work with churches to improve biblical literacy and to give the congregations the skills to do a deep study of the scriptures. The experience of history tells us that the reading and related analytical skills common people in the West acquired, especially post-Reformation, went a long way in transforming the very fabric of the social culture of the West. The skills they acquired during Bible reading were successfully applied to their professional lives, and it resulted in general improvement in efficiency and ability to perform complex tasks. People did not study to do well in their professions. They did well in their professions because they had been reading the Bible, the Word of God.

The new generation of Christian leaders and educators in and outside Punjab must take up this challenge. Fifty-four per cent may seem like a failure; but, seen from another angle, it is a figure to be proud of. In 180 years, the literacy rate has improved from nearly 0% to 54%! In this age of technical advancements and pedagogical expertise so easily available, is it merely a pipedream to expect the figure to soar to 100% in next two generation?

A small group of believers in Punjab have been praying to use the bicentenary of the Punjabi Bible as an occasion to bring the Punjabi church “Back to the Bible”.  Their vision is to hold 200 intensive Bible-study workshops across Punjab in the year 2015! What better could be there way to introduce literacy and love for the Bible among the church? Would you like to join in prayers?

 (Published in the Oct–Nov 2014 issue of Christian Trends)

Voters must demand the world

Hum mehnatkash is duniya se jab apna hissa mangenge
Ik bagh nahin, ik khet nahin, hum saari duniya mangenge

Hasan Kamaal had slightly modified the words of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s ghazal for this song for the 1983 Hindi movie Mazdoor. But the powerful idea brought out by the Marxist poet comes across very clearly. The toiling, the “working-class” people of the world are not forever going to wait for crumbs to fall from the tables of the high and mighty of the world. Once they rise up to demand their share in world’s wealth and resources, they would actually go on and seize it all. This is a legitimate aspiration of the people of our country. Our history has been a story of the chosen few ruling over the vast majority. There was one set of people whose birthright it was to rule our minds. And there was another set, who exercised its own birthright in ruling our bodies. Brahmins and Kshatriyas had held the intellectual and physical—religious and political—power in their tight grip through centuries. It was not till the middle of the 20th century that we Indians experienced what it means to have people decide who would rule them. It was only in the last decades of the last century that people from the toiling classes, the oppressed majority, Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs began tasting the fruits of political power in India. The aspiration of people is at an all-time high today. The general election is around the corner. How are people going to fulfil their aspirations? What will help them make right decisions? Will they be swayed by empty slogans of Bijli, Sadak, Pani? The never-realized promise of Roti, Kapda, Makan? It is true that political parties must give people concrete plans and clear picture of their programmes. But we the voters must evolve also. Our aspirations must include not only tangible objects and facilities but also values and ideals. It’s not for nothing that Jesus taught us to pray first for the Kingdom of God and only then ask for our Daily Bread! As we prepare to vote and seek to play a role in our own governance let’s ponder over which party or candidate best upholds and promotes the values of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity as enshrined in our Constitution. Let us become people who reject verbal promises and ask our candidates to ensure in deed that ideals are realized. People need more than bread (Matt 4:4). They need dignity, opportunity and liberty—for themselves and also their neighbours. Let us demand the world where highest values are materialized and practiced. We don’t need bloody revolutions to do that. A little bit of honest reflection before we go to the polling booth will help a great deal.

Published in Punjabi–English fortnightly Masihi Sansar (15–30 March 2014) published from Jalandhar

India's Silent Carnage

Conversation I

I asked P___ about his favourite subject in school. "Punjabi." he said without looking at me.

"And which is the subject you like the least?" 

"English."

"Why?"

"The teacher beats a lot."   

P____ is 10 years old. Once in a while, he accompanies his mother H_____, who works as a cleaner in several of the apartments. His father is a truck driver who's mostly away. 

 

Conversation II

Garbage cart (http://www.willylogan.com)

The fellow who worked as a janitor found a work in the pantry in a nearby BPO. I saw his replacement from my balcony a few days later. He had a small child with him, riding on the cycle garbage cart. The father was pushing it from behind. I jumped over the railing, walked up to them and asked why wasn't the child in school. The father obviously didn't expect me to be speaking to him about the child's education. By his demeanour, he seemed to have been preparing for the defense against some middle-class peeve I might have been bringing against him. On hearing my query, hopefully sufficiently polite, he mouthed an obscenity directed at his son and said, "I have told him to go to school but he refuses to listen." It was hard for me to accept how a 9- or 10-year-old can defy his father. So I asked the boy directly, "Why don't you go to school". "The teachers there beat me a lot, even without any fault of mine," he had the answer ready. 

 

Conversation III

A few years back, I had assisted a few kids from a nearby slum to develop a short skit on the obstacles they face in pursuit of their education. The few that were highlighted included: (i) drug abuse, (ii) parents insensitive to education, (iii) prejudice against girls education and yes, (iv) physical violence inflicted by apparently frustrated teachers.

I myself have been whacked a few times while I was at school, so I am not against corporal punishment per se. But in the case of these boys, one could clearly see that it was not just a case of discipline. 

Children of Dalit parents still find it extremely hard to secure a place in the classroom. The daily physical violence, besides verbal and psychological abuse, not only perpetuates demoralization in individuals but, in fact, pushes entire generations into uneducatedness despite proliferation of schools and educational institutions. 

The problem is that it is teachers, with their warped mindsets, who are responsible for this monumental crime, this very selective intellectual slaughter. 

This is not any less horrific than any of the school shootouts that happen on, let's say, American school campuses.  The latter does get a lot of media coverage, and rightly so. 

But isn't it time we also talk about India's silent carnage?

It’s your choice that ruined him, Mr Bhogle

Harsha Bhogle’s verdict is out. Vinod Kambli was ruined by his own “choices”. Bhogle, very conveniently, washed his hands off this curious affair by refusing to admit that he played a big part in creating an environment that destroyed the classy left-handed batsmen. Kambli, we all know, was a rare talent. But even best of talents need proper nurture. God does give talent but it's the community that builds it up and brings it to fruition. In Kambli's case, the cricketing community that was responsible to care for his talent worked to

In the beginning we were both equal

erode any self-confidence that Kambli may have had in his own abilities. Did Bhogle ever write a laudatory piece, an encouraging article about Kambli? Did he ever give him his due as a commentator and a charming orator? Always enthralled by that fair-skinned, upper-caste wonder boy from a stable and supporting family, did Bhogle or others of his ilk ever think, they need to extend equal—if not more—support to the prodigious talent of that dark-complexioned youth from a disadvantaged background. And then blame it on the latter’s poor choices. A disgusting ploy so commonly and with so much élan put to use by the glib-tongued pundits.

Bhogle has been following the careers of Vinod and Sachin since their school days. There’s an article he wrote before either of these two boys made it to the national team. The piece is startling in that it reveals the support Sachin was getting, in terms of being groomed by the powers that be in Bombay cricketing world. Notice this innocuous little description that gives you the glimpse of how Sachin’s progression from school to the national team was so carefully and meticulously planned:

The beginning of the 1987-88 season saw Sachin at the Ranji nets. Once again the top players were away playing Tests and perhaps the Bombay selectors felt it wouldn't be a bad idea to give Sachin first-hand experience of a higher category of cricket.He was named in the 14 for the first couple of games, and manager Sandeep Patil kept sending him out whenever possible - for a glass of water or a change of gloves. All along Sachin probably knew that he was still at best a curiosity, and that while Bombay was giving him every blooding opportunity, he had to prove himself on the maidans.

Obviously, this article was to be a strategically planned and placed to that it could make possible for Bhogle to break into the cricket establishment via commentating and writing. He could only do that by concentrating on the apple of every one’s eye. He didn’t want to be an eye sore by praising the other young champion, Vinod Ganpat Kambli. But then it was impossible to write about Sachin without mentioning Kambli. Bhogle is forced to mention Kambli in that article twice but it says a lot about both Bhogle and Kambli, and even Sachin.

And in the course of that innings of 329* he set the much talked-about record of 664 for the third wicket with Vinod Kambli, who, it is not always realised, scored 348*

And what about that world-record innings? “I could bat very freely then because my partner Vinod Kambli was batting so well that I knew that even if I failed, he would get enough runs for the side.”

These are the only two places in that 1,800-word long essay that he mentions Kambli. In the first of the two

Genius bestowed on the silver platter

quotes, Bhogle clearly admits that Kambli’s 348 not out (incidentally the higher of the two scores), has almost always overlooked by reviewer, writers, commentators, etc. Now one expects from a decent, honest writer to go on and write another article to tell the story of that overlooked feat. Mr Bhogle apparently never had any time for that. His mission was simple: concentrate on promoting Sachin and ensure your own promotion.

In the second quote, Sachin himself acknowledges that it was because

And you shall be my mirror image, not him

of Kambli’s flair that he was able to play without feeling much pressure. Now pressure is among the deadliest of enemies for anyone, and more so for a sportsperson, a young sportsperson. When Rahul Dravid took pressure off Laxman, the latter could go out and play a match-winning—and career-turning—innings of 281 at that memorable Eden Gardens Test. So it does pay to have a partner who allows you to play your natural game without fear. Anyway, over the years, Sachin had been coached and learnt to keep away from acknowledging Kambli, and that’s what he did in farewell speech recently in Mumbai.

However, returning to that theme of pressure and support, let’s look at another, non-sports aspect of it. Sachin never really felt pressure off the field because of his family’s support. What his elder brother Ajit did for Sachin is well known. But do we ever hear of any elder brother, cousin, uncle extending any support to Kambli? In that scenario, wasn’t it the ethical duty of the cricket establishment to walk an extra mile and offer psychological and emotional support? Bhogle criticizes Kambli for making a “caricature” of himself, but did the Bombay, and later Indian cricket establishment, to which Bhogle provided much sheen, create conditions for that to happen?

Manufacturing greatness from the commentary box

The Bhogles, the Shastris and the Gavaskars of the game were all part of a big racket that downplayed Kambli, especially by keeping silent about him, so that they may prop up their blue-eyed boy. And, if they are forced by circumstances to speak about Kambli, they do so without losing the opportunity to run him down. This Indian Express article is a case in point. Kambli is in the limelight for an unfortunate reason and these pundits are constrained to say something.

 

And even as Kambli convalesces after the recent heart attack, Bhogle did not forget to rub in the point that Kambli was a suspect talent because he could not handle short-pitched delivery. He goes to the extent of giving a list of his Test match scores post-1994. Just for the record, in the ongoing Ashes series, England’s Jonathon Trott was severly, and offensively, criticized by his opponent David Warner for the former’s failure to negotiate pace and bounce generated by Mitchell Johnson. It was only later that the story came to light of Trott’s stress illness. And since then, everyone, including David Warner, has gone out of his way to offer support to the South Africa-born English batsman. Did Bhogle and co. have the decency to show any sense of understanding towards their own compatriot?  By the way, there are others who think that it was not the inability to play short-pitched balls that was Kambli’s undoing but his own temperament. And that’s precisely one of the points this article is trying to make. Most batsmen, Tendulakar including have struggled with short-pitched stuff and with coaching and counselling this can be sorted out.

The bottom line: Vinod Kambli is more sinned against than sinning and the likes of Bhogle have no moral authority to make any judgment or pontificate about him making wrong choices. After all, if a young man is not allowed to play Test cricket beyond his 23rd year, what meaning can you attribute to the word "choice"? If anyone at all, it is Bhogle—and the system he represents—that stands implicated in this tragedy of Vinod Kambli. 

Yes, granted that Kambli's individual choices may have something to do with his downfall, but unlike most others, he was not given the honest 

Did you choose that heart attack?

opportunity to redeem himself, rather common human frailties were exaggerated (his love for bling, for instance) and used strategically to plot the murder of a promising career. Giving him a fair chance, would have been too much of a threat for the other icon they were nurturing, nay, pampering.

And yes, choices do make a difference. And Mr Bhogle, you chose to write this article about Kambli today, and not the article that should naturally have followed the one you wrote as an “innocent” 27 year old for that sports magazine.



PS (7 Dec 2013, 12.44 p.m.): A Wild Victim

POOR Vinod Kambli. If it weren't for another team selection process in progress (the team for Parliament, that is), he would have stayed in the news for much longer. As it is, the flashing outside the off-stump of Murli Deora and the leg glances of Jayalalitha have pushed him off our pages. Off the record, there is much speculation on really why he was left out of the team. People speak with authority about his wild ways; one ex-Test cricketer confided to me: "Kambli has really run amuck on the personal front." Since this isn't Stardust, we won't go further, except to say that surely it would be much fairer to the young man if he was summoned by Gundappa Vishwanath and company and told: "Take your pick. You either sow your wild oats or play for India."
By keeping quiet, the selectors are doing Kambli more harm than good. As it is, they have added insult to injury by selecting Saurav Ganguly, a left-hander whose technique is even poorer than Kambli's and who has travelled with the Indian team earlier without ever suggesting that he deserved to be there. Whereas Kambli, shuffle or no shuffle, footwork or no footwork, has a Test average of 50 and a one-day average of 40.

(http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?201345)

(A minor change and a correction made on 7th December at 11.54 a.m.)

Ref: Mini Jallianwala

There was one Jallianwala Bagh massacre in pre-independence India. There have been many since the country gained political independence. Subsequent Jallianwalas were much worse because they were carried out by our own people ... Meghnad Desai mentions—via Kuldip Nayar—a mini enactment of that terrible savagery. But caste and communal strife, state-sponsored riots, extrajudicial killings, fake encounters under the garb of fighting terrorism are many other Jallianwala Baghs not mentioned, not even acknowledged to be so.

Political riots

Political riots

Meghnad Desai Posted online: Sun Oct 06 2013, 00:14 hrs

Fast forward 38 years and we have a politically engineered riot.

What is it about Muzaffarnagar? In his recently reissued book on the Emergency, Kuldip Nayar reminds us that in October 1975 it was the site of a ‘mini-Jallianwala Bagh’. This was the work of Sanjay Gandhi, now erased from the family history. He had decided to sterilise as many Muslim male adults as he could find. The Muslims of Muzaffarnagar did not like what was happening to them, protested and were shot. But at least that was not a communal riot.

Fast forward 38 years and we have a politically engineered riot. It is as if someone had written a screenplay for a suspense film. At first small incidents, followed by a bit of retaliation here and there. Then the pace picks up with a doctored film clip and passions are aroused. Before you know it, there are mahapanchayats and a full scale massacre. The police arrive too late—either under orders or just out of ignorant connivance—but the death and destruction are real.

A Dutch scholar, Ward Benenschot, has just written about the 2002 Gujarat riots. Riot Politics is a book which explains the relationships at the grass-roots which foment such riots. In normal times, citizens cannot get what they are entitled to from the state. They need agents, intermediaries. Their municipal councillor or MLA through their chamchas provide access to such services. Given the political colouring of the area, the Muslim MLA looks after Muslim clients and Hindus after Hindus.

When trouble starts, this useful machinery is turned into a fighting force. Then the clients who owe a favour to their leaders are used to throw stones and wield knives. This enhances the clout of their protectors who then get their votes. The riots do not normally last a long time. Soon, there is bonhomie among people who were burning each other’s houses. MLAs resume their helpful work and life reverts to normal.

Riots do not flare up if there is timely police action as soon as there is an initial disturbance. Police are often stymied by their political masters. There is vote bank logic in letting your clients suffer before you, their preferred political party, come to their rescue. If they are unharmed and police have done their job , how can the MLA get his kudos for protecting his clients? The cycle has resumed with a mahapanchayat in Meerut, in the BJP’s bid for Jat votes.

Uttar Pradesh will be the battleground for 2014. All parties want a large slice of its 80 seats. The four-cornered contest between the Congress, Samajwadi Party, BSP and BJP will be furious. Communal riots are being used to secure vote banks. Each side will blame the others but the BJP stands to lose most as it will be recast as the communal party, not as a governance one as Modi wants. This is just what the secular parties want.

One thousand communal riots have occurred in the past eight years. Yet the total number of dead was 965, less than one per riot. Muzaffarnagar with 48 casualties is an extreme case. The Muzaffarnagar riots have not yet yielded any serious convictions. It is not so much the MLAs and MPs who matter as they will get away scot-free in any case. One needs to arrest the real culprits at the grass-roots level.

There is here a paradox. Historically riots such as Bhagalpur, Meerut and Bhiwandi which happened during the Congress years in power did not lead to any serious convictions though to many reports and inquiries. The Gujarat riots have, however, led to convictions; in Godhra itself, both for the people who allegedly torched the Sabarmati Express carriage in which 59 died, as well as the Hindu mobs which killed Muslims in the Ode area. There are the Naroda Patiya convictions in which BJP member Maya Kodnani has been sentenced to 28 years. No doubt the tally is not over yet.

Is it not strange that no Congress leader has yet been sentenced for 1984 nor anyone for the Mumbai 1993 riots, or that the riots during Rajiv Gandhi’s days such as Bhagalpur have not led to many convictions? Is it because the Congress is secular that no riots during its rule can be communal?

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/political-riots/1178913/

Cherchez La Femme, Looking for Annie Mascarene - II

Who was Annie Mascarene?

Last month, I had bought a copy of Manorama Tell Me Why, the general-knowledge digest for children. The August number was a collection on freedom fighters. As I flipped through it to see what Manorama is teaching our children about the protagonists of India's independence movement. I saw this page on Annie Mascarene. I already had written a post about her. It only had her unverified signature. Now this one didn't have a whole lot about her, but her picture and few basic detail. 

Summer-Day Camp 2013

It was after a gap of seven years that I volunteered for a summer-day camp or SDC. I last helped the Chandigarh Bible Fellowship as a puppet and drama coordinator in 2005 and 2006. In fact, it was about that time that I began this blog. This time again I was helping the church with the skit. I had initially thought that I would operate as usual from the backstage but them somehow ended up being one of the characters.

Working with and for kids is always fun, sometimes stressful but fun nonetheless.

We were late in starting practising for the skit. Then there were characters who had to travel nearly 25 km one way almost every day in the killing heat of May [Thank you, parents and uncles]. So there were massive odds, but we pulled it off. For the five-day camp, we had two skits every day: one during the morning assembly and other during the closing assembly. So we did a total of 10 pieces. It looks massive in retrospect.

Nadia, Elijah and Alex were three characters besides myself. It was lovely working with three amazing, talented and energetic youngsters. They were volunteering with other activities like songs, craft, games but still found reserves of energy to put in their best for the skit. Had a great support from Abbey, Anandi and Hannah, our prompters and backstage support. Ravi, Jozef, Sam, Anhad, Vanshika, Nathan and Bhrigu were great as a supporting cast.

"Gloria Deo", our salute for the camp caught on very well and every morning I was greeted by our "cadets", who did it to perfection, pulling their right fist close to their heart as they bowed down and dutifully remembered to give God all glory, Gloria Deo.

Bhrigu became very fond of me, or shall I say of my "light saber", which he continued to call a "bat" (to be honest, it did look like a baseball bat!).

And yes, there was Christina, a self-taught gymnast (you have to see her doing cartwheels), a pocket dynamite, who told us on the very first day that we were "terrible" on stage. By the way, she (along with Gun Gun) earned maximum points in the camp for her punctuality, behaviour and performance.

It also gave us great opportunity to the adults to bond outside the church. I had some great conversations with people I hardly ever got a chance to speak to. Also had some nice time with the director of the camp and heard some amazing stories of faith and courage. He told me of an accident, in which a school boy met with a terrible accident and how he miraculously survived. He believed it was answer to prayers. That boy, incidentally, was run over by a bus! Then there was another story of a mother's amazing devotion to a physically challenged daughter. I encouraged him to write these as part of his autobiography, or the biography of the church, but he thought I was joking. I want to tell him I was serious.

And yes, I must not forget to thank S and I, who opened their house for us to practice every evening, for their hospitality, smiles and coffee!

Two Hundred Years of Fear and Trembling

I was born in 1813, the wrong fiscal year, in which so many other bad banknotes were put in circulation, and my life seems best compared to one of them. There is something of greatness about me, but because of the poor state of the market I am not worth much.
     And at times a banknote like that became a family’s misfortune.

Happy Birthday Soren Kierkegaard.

(To be continued)

Is There a Hierarchy in Rapes?

There is no hierarchy in rapes but the culture that allowed deep divisions must be ready to introspect and apologise before it seeks healing.

Yes, it is time for mourning. Many of us prayed for her. We hoped against hope that she might survive. But she did not. On the night of 29 December 2012, the 23-year-old victim died due to multiple organ failure in a faraway hospital in Singapore.

Yes, it is time for mourning. Unwarranted death, even that of a complete stranger, must aggrieve us.

Yes, it is time for mourning. Innocence is trampled far too often in this sinful world.

But time such as this also forces some questions on us.

Here’s one: Is there a hierarchy in rapes?

As the news of this gruesome, literally gut-wrenching, gang rape began unfolding in the national media, the middle-class, metropolitan children of post-liberalization India began to crowd at key spots in key cities giving vent to the justifiable anger a tragedy like this must evoke.

But there is another India, some refer to it as Bharat, to which this all seemed a bit odd. Make no mistake. That second India did feel outraged at this act of violence against a young girl. After all, it gets affected by such incidents as a matter of routine. So, the irony of it was too blatant to escape notice. Crime against women is not something new in this country. Despicable acts like rapes, gang rapes, brutalization of women, parading them naked are not unknown in our part of the world. Let us list only the most well-known ones:

1. Phoolan Devi, former Member of Parliament and an ex-bandit, was raped repeatedly, first by police and then by upper-caste men in her village. She was perhaps the only one out of hundreds like her who chose to pick up the gun to seek revenge.
2. Not too long ago, stones were thrust into Soni Sori’s vagina by our Dabangg police officers, while—I tend to believe—casually whistling away to glory in the thana!
3. Mukhtaran Mai in our neighbouring pious land was allegedly ordered by the village court to be gang raped as a punishment.
4. Khairlanji created but a ripple and was smothered. Disrobed dead bodies of mother and daughter lay around there, just like that.
5. Parading Dalit and Tribal women naked remains the most favoured torture tactic of the power elites in the hinterlands.
6. Aruna Shaunbag, who has been in vegetative state for more years than my entire lifetime, has her “friend” asking for euthanasia.
7. A tribal woman in Assam was disrobed and chased around on the streets. Hit on her genitals.
8. Manorama in Manipur was raped and shot repeatedly at her crotch.
9. There was Bilquis, gang raped in Gujarat, and the nun in Kandhamal and many other Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Dalit, Tribal women in innumerable state-sponsored or state-supported “communal” riots in the country.

Misogyny (hatred of women) is deeply ingrained in the cultural DNA of South Asia, despite its much-touted goddess-worshipping pretence. Rapes, along with other forms of sexual violence, continue unabated, even unchallenged. If we had done something about the very first rape that was ever reported from one of our dusty villages, we may not have had to lose yet another of our daughters. Or was it that the vulnerable women from the so-called weaker and backward sections (which most of us Indians are) were never owned like India’s daughters? Is it possible that these women were not worthy or valuable enough to be worried about? Was their honour expendable and their suffering well-deserved? How else can one explain the selective pangs of conscience?

With deepest sympathy for this latest victim of women-hating culture, for our young sister, we, the second India, only asked a question why no such outrage in any of the earlier instances of rape and brutalization and murder.

And the first India asks us in return: Is there a hierarchy in rapes?

An Indian journalist writing on an American news Web site counts various lessons this incident taught him—them. Here’s one: “We learned that it’s an exercise in futility to try and assign a hierarchy to rape as if one rape is more deserving of attention than the other. It’s a recipe for doing nothing. Let’s not question why this jolted us more than other rapes now. Let’s be thankful we are capable of being jolted.”

What this self-congratulatory remark assumes that those who have actually been fighting lone and largely losing battles to ensure justice to themselves or their daughters, sisters and friends do not exist; their sufferings, battles do not exist either. It is only now that something will be done. In the end, he is happy to discover that he and others like him are after all a sensitive lot. They care. Trust me, it is a consolation for us too that you are jolted. But we want to help you that you don’t slip right back into your earlier trance-like slumber induced by number of social privileges you enjoy. Try moving beyond the demand for castration and shouting “gallows”. How about working towards an egalitarian world? How about a little humility? If you are really serious, own up to your past insensitivity. How about seeing the world as it is? Recognize that there are deep and diabolic divisions in this culture you never tire of praising ad nauseam. Accept yours is the society that is built on rigid hierarchies of caste, gender and class. Admit you have graded human beings on the basis of their birth communities.

Many “noble souls” have even called for a change in the entire societal mindset without taking the trouble to hint what that might mean. But when the gentleman dreads that this jolt-worthy tale may “end in recriminations about how we care because this is a middle class girl and not a lower caste woman gathering firewood”, the second India understands exactly the mindset that needs to change, which humanly speaking is impossible—though with God all things are possible.

So, be truly brave and resolute.

More than us, you must convince your own inner self that you are serious about the change. You are not faking it. And “you” here is the entire chattering class of India, of which Indian media is only a subset.

You are under no obligation to listen to the second India but let it be said:

Stand up and say that you are sorry for not standing up earlier.

Say that you are sorry for not speaking up earlier.

Say that you are sorry for turning a blind eye to all the earlier brutalities to which women, men and children of lesser gods were subjected to.

Say that your fabled Mother India does not play favourite daughters.

Say that each and every instance of rape and sexual violence will be pursued with this same intensity.

And say that there is indeed a hierarchy; not of rapes and other crimes, but the way our society and culture views and values human beings, both men and women.

And then you will suddenly realize that how irrelevant is this questions: Is there a hierarchy in rapes?

Jabbar Patel’s "Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar": An Exercise in Domesticating the Giant

“India has already graduated beyond Gandhi to Ambedkar…” Vishal Mangalwadi made this pronouncement in a letter he wrote to Arun Shourie about 17 years ago. Shourie had just published a book Missionaries in India: Continuities, Changes and Dilemmas (1994) in which he presented a devastating critique of the Christian missionaries whose service in India overlapped with the colonial rule. An admirer and follower of Gandhi, Arun Shourie is, like his idol, against missionaries, against conversion and against the rise of the Dalits. This letter was written in February 1995. Kanshi Ram’s BSP was already a force to reckon with in North India. Ambedkarism was swelling in appeal with five years of debates and discussions around the Mandal Commission Report. As if to counter this assertion, and reclaim the lost ground for Gandhi, Shourie wrote his next book denouncing Ambedkar, Worshipping False Gods: Ambedkar, and the Facts Which Have Been Erased in 1997. Did Shourie succeed in what he intended to do?

A few months ago, about 17 years after the above-mentioned letter reached Mr Shourie, the mainstream Indian media and the Indian middle-class woke up to the same truth, when the result for the Greatest Indian After Gandhi poll was declared. Ambedkar was heads and shoulders above Nehru and the galaxy of other popular Indian personalities. Many dared to believe if Gandhi was among the contenders he too would have been relegated to No. 2. Gandhian nationalists, within the Congress party as well as the BJP, could not stem the tide of rising popularity of the man whose only contribution to the country according to the official text books is that he was the “father of the Indian Constitution”. The emergence and rise of Ambedkar in the mainstream media and cultural life has posed a serious threat to Gandhism and the Gandhian view of social and political philosophy. Or has it really?

It is instructive to keep this context in mind while remembering Jabbar Patel’s film Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (2000). Any discussion of Ambedkar must turn sooner or later to Gandhi, his older contemporary and, socially and politically, his bête noir. Similarly, his representation must be contrasted with the way Gandhi is represented in the film. When Richard Attenborough made Gandhi in 1982, there was no mention of Ambedkar in the film. Gandhians could live under the illusion that Ambedkar can be relegated to oblivion. However, Ambedkar and his legacy were alive and thriving. With Ambedkar’s birth centenary approaching in 1991, a demand was begun to be made for a full-length film on Ambedkar too.

The film, released a dozen years ago, no doubt, has high production values. Technically, it is brilliant. After all, you expect that when some of the best names of Indian cinema come together to create a masterpiece. Bhanu Athaiya, Shyam Benegal, Mammootty, Ashok Mehta were all there to aid Jabbar Patel in fashioning a historically credible biopic that is also aesthetically appealing.

But what is it’s evaluation of Gandhi? To be sure, the film lampoons Gandhi, shows him to be a shrewd and obstinate man but ultimately a benevolent moral dictator, who convinces Nehru to bring Ambedkar into his first cabinet. However, mocking and lampooning Gandhi is not the most radical thing a filmmaker or, say, a creative writer can do with the mahatma. He did that to himself, for instance, in his autobiography. In any case, contrary to the popular notions, we Indians are not uncomfortable with the whims and fancies and even moral failings of our great men or even gods.

Recently, Ram Jethmalani, a member of parliament representing the Hindu nationalist party BJP, made a controversial remark that he thought Ram was a bad husband and for that he did not like him. Innocent people can be forgiven for being scandalized with this apparently anti-Hindu remark. But Ram Jethmalani was only being a good, more complete modern Hindu himself. Hinduism does allow one the freedom to be playful with its gods, to the extent of mocking them. Jethmalani will continue to serve in the party that draws its inspiration from Ram the king, Ram the warrior, Ram the brother, Ram the son, Ram the Kshatriya, though he may have a minor bone to pick with Ram the husband. This is because Hinduism does not require absolute moral purity or perfection from its gods. It is perfectly possible to be a good Ram bhakta while complaining about this or that moral failing in Ram. Similarly, it is perfectly possible to be an ardent Gandhian despite quibbling over this, that or the other aspect of Gandhi’s personality.

So Jabbar Patel can lampoon Gandhi but ultimately Ambedkar is shown to depend on Gandhi’s magnanimity to rise up the ladder. The film is a perfect example of how the forces of Brahmanism have incorporated and hierarchised, to use Louis Dumont idea, Ambedkar in the neo-Hindu pantheon of nationalist leaders.

A film that sought to underline the uniqueness of Ambedkar’s life and thoughts should have emphasized how Ambedkar’s diagnosis and cure for India’s Depressed Class’ problems differed from Gandhi’s Harijan cause.

This ultimate impact of the film became clear to me when an accidental reference to it was made in a discussion I was having with a small group of students from Bahujan backgrounds. Since all of us had seen the film a long time back, the only thing these students seemed to remember was the benevolence of Gandhi in bringing Ambedkar on board!

The film does not break the mould but only finds a place for Ambedkar in the cracks that have appeared over a period of time in the grand narrative of Indian nationalism; and thus it plugs that gap. The film falls in line with the larger nationalist design where space for Ambedkar will be made only as a compliment to Gandhi and not as his counter point.

If politics is any indication, India has graduated from Gandhi to Ambedkar. But in cultural and aesthetic spheres, there’s still some catching up to do.

(Published in December 2012 issue of FORWARD Press)

Masochistic West?

British media must truly be in masochistic mode to be promoting a book like that. Sometime I wonder if those guys have really begun taking pleasure in this intellectual self-flagellation ... Anything gone wrong with their former colonies has to be their doing ... All historical tragedies in those societies must be their handiwork ... and when facts fail them, they love falling for half-truths and plain lies ... And this is the way they want to continue to be involved in their former colonies ... I mean it's kind of a peculiarly perverse kind of self-obsession!

One must find a way to define this strange streak of residual imperialism

15 August

Happy Independence Day and Happy Birthday

Good Friday 2012

The description of Crucifixion in all the four gospels is very plain, all of them use obnoxiously laconic expressions: “Then they crucified him” (Matthew 27:33–34); “And when they crucified Him” (Mark 15: 22–24); “...there they crucified Him” (Luke 23: 33–34); “...where they crucified Him” (John 19: 17–18). You have to be careful reading these four passages or you will miss the reference to this rather ironic elevation of the messiah. There is no drama, no graphic details, no mention of nails going through Jesus’s palms and feet, no gory details—not even a word that is not essential for recording the mere fact that they crucified him. It is as matter-of-fact description as it comes. THEY CRUCIFIED HIM.

This seems strange given that all the movies made on the life of Jesus—in stark contrast to the gospel narratives—make this incident particularly poignant. We have seen Jesus screaming and writhing in pain as he lies nearly all naked on the wooden cross, even as a couple of soldiers hold him down while another one goes on doing his job of hammering in those 6-inch-long nails one by one. 

Why such a difference in representation?

To my mind, this is because Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are not telling a “story”. They are not poets in any classical sense. They are not “creative writers” commissioned by a powerful monarch or a church to dramatize—or poeticize—the story of a god, or a hero. They are not constructing a beautiful myth with all sublimity and pathos. All four of them were possibly eye witnesses to the event; two of them, Matthew and John, most probably were. In any case, John was certainly there. What they were writing was not art. They were recording a real, historical, public event, which no doubt affected them personally.

When the Church became very strong, almost a hegemonic institution in the Western world, in the 4th century AD, it still did not replace these narratives with splendid epics that could compete with the classics across the globe. In the last two millennia, when the Church has had tons of money, it did not think it necessary to make them more “classy”. The bestselling authors of the world set aside all scruples when they use emotive sentences like “history is written by the victors” to assert that Christian Scriptures are nothing more than expressions of power politics. The four gospels were, after all, written by men who belonged to a subjugated nation. The gospels still told the story of, in words of Terry Eagleton, the “sick joke of a messiah” and did not transform him to a figure of grandeur. There is no triumphalism. There is humiliation, there is defeat, there is death. As religious mythology, gospel narratives do not stand a chance against the grand designs of epics, either Eastern or Western. The reason is that the “rough-and-ready” form of the gospels narratives was never supposed to work like epics, that is, to satisfy the aesthetic impulses of the elite or to induce somnolence in the masses. To the writers of the gospels, truth and fidelity to facts was paramount. Embellishments were left to the likes of A. Bhimsingh and Mel Gibson.

Indifference to suffering

What this style—or the non-style—of writing does do is to lay bare a central fact about suffering. It is all so matter of fact. It is this truth that makes it perennially appealing. While one suffers, the world goes along with its own chores, ambitions and cares. To my mind, what all these four gospel writers have achieved is a devastating insight into the nature of suffering. It doesn’t matter to the world that you suffer, a fact that becomes the basis of W. H. Auden’s poem “Musée De Beaux Arts”:

That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer’s horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

 One wonders if this is not the most telling image of the crucifixion. Now, let a filmmaker show.