'Sahitya Sarita' 2019

A poem a day keeps psychiatrist away!

'Literature' and 'Engineering' seem to be sort of paradoxical terms these days. In fact, they are not so, especially when one of the most reputed engineering colleges in Gujarat organizes a magnificent literature festival. L.D. College of Engineering organized 'Sahitya Sarita' - an annual literary fair where connoseiurs of aesthetics interact and perform. What makes it even more interesting is that the event is planned and managed solely by a group of students.

In 2019, they came up with a novel concept called 'Teacher's Corner' that offers platform to creativity of teachers working in technical colleges. Bearing the yoke of responsibilities they can't manage to write and present their poetry anywhere.

By God's grace, I was given an opportunity to compere this unique Poet's Meet. I also recited two of my poems. It was my first experience of anchoring a poet's meet and I must say it was not just enjoyable but a cherishable experience, beyond doubt. Besides, the presence of renowned Gujarati poet Shobhit Desai was an icing on the cake. His accolades to my poetry and anchoring has propelled me to explore other avenues in aesthetics. Such events charge my dynamo.

As P.B. Shelley said:-

"Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world."

Passion, Perversity and Poe - An Introduction

Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre. Credited to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre, Poe has been regarded as one of the earliest American practitioners of the genre of short story. He has also significantly contributed to the then emerging genre of science fiction now known also as Sci-fi literature. The first well-known American writer who endeavored to earn bread and butter by writing alone, Poe had to live a financially difficult life and career. He was born as Edgar Poe in Boston, Massachusetts; he was orphaned young when his mother left for heaven shortly after his father abandoned the family. Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan, of Richmond, Virginia, but he had never been formally adopted by them. He studied at the University of Virginia for one semester but had to leave due to financial scarcity. His publishing career commenced modestly, with an anonymous collection of poems, ‘Tamerlane and Other Poems’ (1827), credited only to "a Bostonian".

Poe channelized his attention to writing prose and spent the next numerous years working for literary journals and periodicals. Gradually he managed to earn repute for his own style of literary criticism. His work compelled him to be a wanderer by moving among several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. In Baltimore in 1835, he tied wedlock with Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. Later, in January 1845 Poe published his poem, ‘The Raven’ which became an immediate hit. His wife died of tuberculosis two years after its publication. He began planning to produce his own journal, The Penn (later renamed The Stylus), though he died before the journal could see the light of day. On October 7, 1849, at age 40, Poe died in Baltimore; the cause of his death is unidentified and has been variously attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents. The mystery surrounding Poe’s death has led to many myths and urban legends. The reality is that no one knows for sure what happened during the last few days of his life. From alcoholism to rabies, myriad possibilities have been checked for his death time and again. His life was finally an enigma. No wonder why Poe’s stories pertain to mysteries of life and death.

Thematic concerns in his stories range from abnormalities of human behavior, untimely and enigmatic death of characters, physical and psychological abnormalities, guilt-ridden conscience, incest, cryptic messages, horror caused by ghostly appearances, inexplicable incidents like the collapse of a house, hallucinations, detection of crime and culprit, perversion, so on and so forth.

1. ‘The Tell-tale Heart’

It is a horrific tale of an old man with a ‘vulture eye’ who is murdered; yet, his heart seems to keep on beating. To the reader’s utter shock, he assassinates the old man to get rid of his evil eye. It can be interpreted as the voice of his tormenting conscience which doesn’t allow him a breath of relief. Ultimately, he fails to suppress the crescendo of his nagging soul and blurts out his crime inadvertently.

2. ‘The Black Cat’

It is a story of guilty murderer who breaks down and reveals himself. It is the height of human perversion that the man who once loved animals so dearly gets infuriated by a tiny gesture of a cat and kills the poor innocent creature. Caught in the tentacles of his own devilish soul, he brings another cat and ultimately he can’t help but brutally murder the cat as well as his own wife. The first person narrative gives it a touch of authenticity. Poe’s signature style of gruesome acts and macabre atmosphere makes it one of his most memorable stories.

3. ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’

The story has a narrator who is invited to see his old childhood friend at his isolated abode. What follows is a series of fantastic ideas – such as Usher believing everything in the house to have ‘sentience’, coupled with the impending death of his sister. Critics have focused on the possibilities of the theme of incest in this story.

4. ‘The Purloined Letter’

It is an early forerunner of the modern detective story. It tells the tale of a woman of royalty who is blackmailed by a cabinet minister.

5. ‘The Cask of Amontillado’

It is about Fortunato who has insulted the narrator and now he is out to avenge it. He cajoles Fortunato to come to his home as a connoisseur to check the veracity of a rare brand of Amontillado. The narrator leads Fortunato deeper and deeper into the graveyard, getting him drunker and drunker along the way. The narrator chains Fortunato until he begs for mercy. After Fortunato cries out Montresor’s name, Montresor walls Fortunato alive. Then Montresor finishes the job and leaves him there to die. What we hear at last is Fortunato’s cry for help and the recurrent mention of Amontillado. It is a startling story of how much one can get offended by a friend’s taunting remarks and to which extent one can go to avenge his humiliations.

6. ‘The Gold Bug’

It is a story of William Legrand who was stung by a gold-colored bug. His servant, Jupiter, doubts that Legrand is probably turning insane and seeks help of Legrand’s friend, an unnamed narrator. He consents to come to his old friend’s home. Legrand pulls the other two into a thrilling enterprise after decoding a secret message that will lead to a buried treasure. With the theme of cryptography, the story is a forerunner of the genre which is now known as detective fiction.

 Edgar Allan Poe is considered a father figure for the genre of short story as he was one of the earliest writers of short fiction. Despite being a poet, editor and literary critic, his prime contribution has been to the formation of short story in America. Generations after generations of writers in the world have been inspired and influenced by his theory of short story and by his stories as well. His most recurring themes deal with questions of death, including its physical signs, the effects of decomposition, concerns of premature burial, the reanimation of the dead and mourning. Poe's early detective fiction tales featuring C. Auguste Dupin laid the groundwork for future detectives in literature.

 Pre-Thinking Task:-

With this information in mind, it's time to take a plunge into our mind. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and ponder over your behavior patterns, brightest and darkest sides of your personality etc and answer the following questions with utmost sincerity, brutal honesty and absolute objectivity.

Questions:-

01. Recollect a moment of your life when you were at the height of ferocity (anger) on someone with/without some specific reason. What did you feel like speaking to or doing with that person?

02. Have you ever felt tremendous drive to hit or murder someone? When? Why? How? Elucidate.

03. Have you ever felt like committing suicide? Was it just a passing thought or you were serious? What propelled you to think so? Describe your experience (although momentary) of suicidal tendency.

04. Write about the scariest of your dreams. Have you ever cried or screamed by a bizarre and horrible nightmare? Elaborate.

05. Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever undergone any experience of supernatural elements? Explain.

Prepare a blog for the given task and share your link in the comment section. The deadline for this task is 19^th September 2018 before 11 AM.

All the best!!!!

Heidi - Three Years She Grew in Alps

Heidi – ‘Three Years She Grew’ in Alps

"Three years she grew in sun and shower,

Then Nature said, "A lovelier flower

On earth was never sown; 

This Child I to myself will take; 

She shall be mine, and I will make 

A Lady of my own."

- William Wordsworth

Wordsworth's Lucy poems, Thoreau's Walden, Wilde's 'The Selfish Giant'... Ample hyperlinks pop up on the screen of my mind when I wish to put in black and white an amazing movie-watching experience I had this evening.

In 1948, national leaders of India and Switzerland signed a trity of friendship and cooperation in the realms of research, agriculture, aesthetics etc. To celebrate the 70th Friendship Day of these two beautiful countries, the Swiss Ambassy in India has initiated a nation-wide open for all film-viewing program called 'Swiss Films on Wheels' under which Ahmedabad got a privilege to watch an enchanting swiss film called 'Heidi'. It is a step in the direction of heralding values like mutual acceptance and coinhabitation, piety of innocence and value of Nature.
Mr. Chintan Pandya, the pioneer of Fanatika - an Ahmedabad based group for theatrical activities invited me to watch this film and I thank this respected friend for a cherishable experience. 

Heidi - a cute, little, innocent but orphan girl lives with her aunt who then shifts her to her grandfather's home in the countryside. No.... wait, I must avoid spoilers here but to say the least - her life swings just like a pendulum between two extremes - absolutely authentic, soothing, natural life in countryside and artificial, smothering, unnatural life in urban areas. Through Heidi's life shuttling between two polar opposites, the filmmaker has showcased the massive and worldwide diasporic shift from rural life to urban life and the price that we pay for it - loss of innocence and childlike curiosity. Here you don't have to awaken the giant within. Rather you have to awaken the child within. Let it live carefree. Let your childlike nature fly and soar high in sky. Under the disguise of sophistication and civilization, people have turned more pretentious and less transparent, more burdened and less true to life. However, the film at no point sermonizes nor does it become loud, it rather conveys the message subtly. Based on a work of children's fiction with the same title published in 1881 by Swiss author Johnna Spyri, this lovely film brings to us the life of a young girl in her grandfather's care in the Swiss Alps. There have been more than twenty adaptations of the aforesaid book worldwide which includes films, T.V. Series, stage performances etc.

Frankly speaking, I was a little apprehensive about the film while going there due to a pre-conceived notion that watching a film in Swiss German language with English subtitles would divide my attention between scenes and subtitles, marring the charm. Luckily, my conjecture was proven wrong (as was the case with an amazing Marathi film 'Natsamrat').

But what's so special about this film?

It has an inexplicable emotional appeal to one's heart (if one has something more than just a blood-pumping device on the left side of the chest.). The girl is accustomed to live in the lap of Nature with apparently harsh but affectionate company of her grandpa. It is an absolute bliss to see her running with her arms stretched on the lush green slopes of mountain. Goats and swan are her companions, grumpy grandpa (who looks like Santiago of The Old Man and the Sea) is her caretaker, Peter - a raw and rustic but believably innocent goatherd is her friend and above all - NATURE is her world.

                                         (Heidi with her best buddy Peter)

                          (Heidi with her beloved Grandpa)

However, the season of ecstasy does not last long for her. When she is shifted to a high-profile, rich, urban family in Frankfurt as a companion of a differently abled girl.... Oh, wait! I must not spill the beans. Right? Let's construe various aspects of the film. To begin with dialogues, there isn't much use of flowery language, irony, punches etc yet there are some statements which would reverberate in spectator's mind even after going home. Such as,

"You have to make a choice between whether to believe your eyes and ears or to believe what people say."

"If you get joy in doing something, you just have to do it regardless of what people say."

Cinematography is a plus point of the film. The way the camera captures various locations is appealing - be it goats grazing the grass on hillside or an eagle hovering in the sky or the hustle and bustle of market in the city. Although there isn't any song in the film, the background score is perfectly in harmony with the tone and ambience of the film.

Plot construction is quite coherent except a few scenes in the second half where fantasy eclipses realism and hence it makes some happenings unconvincing. However, considering holistic appeal and genre of the film, such anomalies can be given benefit of doubt.

Performance is one of the most potent elements of the film. Heidi is a sweet little girl with 24 carate pure smile and pious heart, grandpa is an angry old man with a tender heart, governess of Klara is a typical, snobbish lady... - all thanks to the effortless performances of actors. So casting plays a vital role in the success of the film.

Is there any symbolism in the film? Yes. An eagle flying high in the wide open sky and Heidi mimicking it, signifies freedom that Heidi and even Klara yearn for throughout the film. Roughly speaking, the eagle appears thrice in the film:-

At the beginning (Heidi on the mountain)

At the middle (Heidi in the city)

At the end (Heidi again in the countryside)

This signifies a remarkable symmetry of the plot construction. When Klara secretly brings home three kittten which she bought from the market, her governess is panicked. Her bewildered behaviour and allergic sneezing represent her extreme detachment from Nature. Large gates of home are heavily bolted blocking rain or dead leaves or even a breeze entering home. Heidi's frequent attempts to open up windows can be interpreted as Nature knocking the doors of people living life of pretentiousness in urban areas. Recurrence of goats, swan, eagle, kitten etc underline the contrast of countryside v/s urban life. No wonder why Heidi sleepwalks and dreams of grandpa and eagle when she is in the golden cage of Klara's home. Her angst as a misfit to aristocratic life and yearning for home reminds me of Ishan Avasthy at the boarding school in the film 'Taare Zameen Par'. As Wordsworth said:- "Child is the father of the man.", Heidi - Nature Personified - plays catalytic role in transforming lives of surrounding characters. Whether it is grandfather or Klara or Peter - the Midas touch of Heidi rejuvenates every life. Her goodness, tenderness, selfless acts, love for the living beings etc make the eyes moist and at the end of the film, we carry home a little bit of Heidi in our hearts.

To sum up in just one sentence:- Watching 'Heidi' feels like someone gently brushing a feather of peacock on our cheeks. Period. 

                                                                  

            -       Dr. Jay Mehta

            Written on 10-11 March 2018

શિક્ષણનું દ્રૌપદીકરણ

"कैसे आकाश में सुराख़ हो नहीं सकता

एक पत्थर तो तबीयत से उछालो यारो"

- दुष्यंतकुमार

શિક્ષણ સૌથી ઉમદા કાર્ય છે.

શિક્ષક ગુરુ સમાન છે જે પરમાત્માથી પણ મહાન છે.

શિક્ષક વિદ્યાર્થીઓમાં મુલ્યોનું સિંચન કરે છે.

શિક્ષણથી માણસોનો સર્વાંગી વિકાસ થાય છે.

વિદ્યાલયએ દેવાલય સમાન છે.

વ્યક્તિનું ચરિત્રનીર્માણ જ નહિ, રાષ્ટ્રનિર્માણનું કાર્ય શિક્ષક કરે છે.



અરે, કપાળ તારા બાપનું! શિક્ષણનું ખૂન કર્યા પછી એનાં શબને પોસ્ટમોર્ટમના નામે ચૂંથવા જેવી વાતો છે આ બધી! છેલ્લા ૬ વર્ષથી આ ધંધામાં છું (‘ધંધો’ શબ્દ સમજીવિચારીને મુક્યો છે.) અને એટલે હું કહી શકું છું કે શિક્ષકની પાસે શિક્ષણ સિવાયનાં તમામ કામો કરાવવામાં આવે છે, અને આ કંઈ હું પહેલો વ્યક્તિ નથી જે આ લખી રહ્યો છું. બધા ને બધી ખબર જ છે પણ સૌએ તમાચો મારી ને ગાલ લાલ રાખવો પડે છે. બધા બધુજ જાણતાં હોવા છતાં કોઈ કંઈ જ કરી ન શકે એનું નામ ઠોકશાહી/લોકશાહી. જયારે આ ઉમદા કાર્યક્ષેત્રમાં પ્રવેશીએ ત્યારે આંખોમાં ઉજ્જવળ ભવિષ્યનાં અને પ્રગતિનાં સપ્તરંગી સપનાઓ આંજીને આવતા હોઈએ છીએ પણ પછી રહેતાં રહેતાં ઈડિપસ રેક્સની જેમ જાતે જ એ આંખો ફોડી નાખવી પડતી હોય છે. કારણકે આપણે જ મને-કમને, જાણ્યે-અજાણ્યે એ ‘something unclean has happened’ વાળું કૃત્ય અને કબુલાત કરવા પડતા હોય છે. આજે મારી નજરમાં શિક્ષકથી વધારે બિચારું પ્રાણી સમાજમાં અન્ય કોઈ નથી. (અહી એવા શિક્ષકો ની વાત છે જેની છાતીના ડાબા ખૂણે લોહી પહોચાડતા યંત્ર સિવાય કાંઈક છે, એવા શિક્ષકો નહિ જેમણે પગારપંચ, સરકાર, સંસ્થા કે ટ્રસ્ટને પોતાની જાત વેચી મારી હોય) હું સ્વીકારું છું કે શિક્ષક સમુદાય માં એવા અનેક black sheep, કલંકરૂપ તત્વો ઘુસી ચુક્યા છે પણ એવા લોકો ને આ વેદના વિરેચન સાથે કોઈ લેવાદેવા નથી.

દાઝ્યા પર ડામ, પડ્યા પર પાટુ, અને ઘા પર મીઠું કોને કહેવાય એ સમજાવું?

“તમારે માસ્તરોને તો જલસા છે. કાંઈ કામ કરવાનું નહિ, સીધો બેસ, ઉભો થા, બેસી જા કરવાનું ને પગાર ખાવાનો”

“હવે તો નવા પગારપંચમાં તમારે તો બખ્ખા છે, નહિ? તોતિંગ પગાર લેવાનો ને ઉપર થી વેકેશન મળે એ જુદું.”



સમાજ માંથી આવું સંભાળનારા કર્ણપટલોએ જે તે સંસ્થામાંથી કેટલું હળાહળ ઝેર જેવું સાંભળવું પડતું હોય છે એ વિચાર્યું છે ક્યારેય? કોણે કીધું કે શિક્ષકે ખાલી ભણાવવાનું? અરે ભાઈ એને કલાસમાં ટકવા દ્યે તો ને? વસ્તી ગણતરી થી વૃક્ષ ગણતરી સુધી અને ચુંટણી થી .................... જેવા કામ (પ્રાસ મેળવવો હતો પણ કાબુ રાખ્યો!) એની પાસે કરાવવામાં આવે છે.


વર્ષ માં બે દિવસ એને ગુરુ, ગુરુ કરી ને માથે ચડાવામાં આવે જેથી એ આખું વર્ષ ખુશી ખુશી વૈતરું કર્યા કરે. એ જમાના ગયા જયારે વિદ્યાર્થીઓ અને વાલીઓ પણ સાહેબ ને માન આપતા હતા. હવે તો વિધાર્થીઓ પણ વિચારે કે "આ સાહેબ તો એડ હોક છે, મારું શું બગાડી લેવાના છે?"



સરકારી હોય કે પ્રાઇવેટ, ડિગ્રી હોય કે ડિપ્લોમા, સ્કૂલ હોય કે કોલેજ, આર્ટ્સ, કોમર્સ હોય કે સાયન્સ ... કાગડા નહિ ગીધડાં બધે સરખા જ છે. કહેવાય શિક્ષક પણ કામ કારકૂન નું કરવાનું. રોજ નવા પત્રકો ભરવાના, માહિતીઓ મોકલવાની, ડેટા તૈયાર કરવાનો- ટૂંકમાં તમારા સબ્જેક્ટ સાથે તમારા છૂટાછેડા કરાવી દેવાના. કોઈ કામ નીચું કે ખરાબ નથી હોતું. ડોક્યુમેન્ટ્સનું પણ આગવું મહત્વ હોય છે પણ શિક્ષકે શું ફક્ત એ જ કરવાનું?

વિશ્વકક્ષાએ ટૂંકી વાર્તાના જનક ગણાયેલ રશિયન વાર્તાકાર નિકોલાઈ ગોગોલની ક્લાસિક વાર્તા 'ધ ઓવરકોટ' નું કેંદ્રવર્તી પાત્ર અકાકી સરકારી કચેરીમાં કોપીયરનું કામ કરતો હોય છે. એ સમયે ફોટોકોપીયર (ઝેરોક્સ મશીન) નહોતા એટલે જાતે લખવું પડતું. એ દિવસ-રાત એ જ કામ કર્યા કરતો હતો અને જો એમાં સહેજ પણ ફેરફાર હોય તો તે મુંઝાઈ જતો હતો. એના જીવનમાં મશીનની જેમ કોપી કર્યા કરવા સિવાય કઈ જ બચ્યું નહોતું. આજે 150 વર્ષ પછી પણ પરિસ્થિતી મહદઅંશે એવી જ છે ને! આજકાલ શિક્ષકો ની દશા પણ કૈંક આવી જ છે. ડિજિટલ ઈન્ડિયાના નામે બધુ ઓનલાઈન મંગાવવાનું શરૂ થયું પણ સાથે કાગળ પર 04 કે 06 કે 08 નકલમાં સ્વ પ્રમાણિત કરીને મોકલવાનું તો બંધ નથી જ થયું. સરદારજી વિષે જાણીતા જોકમાં જેમ તે ઝેરોક્સ કરીને અસલ સાથે સરખાવીને ખાતરી કરે એના જેવુ જ ચાલી રહ્યું છે.

(ઉપરોક્ત વાર્તાના પાત્ર અકાકી નું રેખાચિત્ર)

ભૂતકાળમાં ડિગ્રી-ડિપ્લોમા એન્જીનીયરીંગ કોલેજ, આર્ટ્સ કોલેજ, સાયન્સ કોલેજ વગેરેમાં નોકરી કરી છે એટલે હું કહી શકું છું કે આ પીડા મારા એકલાની નથી, અનેકોની છે. એવુંય નથી કે નોકરીમાં કંઈ પ્રોબ્લેમ થયો છે.(કોમેન્ટમાં કોઈક પૂછશે જ ભાઈ, શું થયું? કાહે ઇતના બિલબીલા રહત હો? એટલે ચોખવટ કરી.) પ્રોબ્લેમ ખાલી એટલોજ છે કે મેં મારા અંતરાત્માને એનેસ્થેસીયા નથી આપ્યો એટલે આ બધું નથી જોવાતું. અનેક અદ્રશ્ય દુ:શાસનો અને દુર્યોધનો શિક્ષણરૂપી દ્રોપદીનું ચીરહરણ કરી રહ્યા છે અને અમારા ભાગે એ સાડી સંકેલવાનું કામ આવ્યુ છે! સેમીનાર, કોન્ફરન્સમાં પંજાબી ફૂડ ખાઈને સર્ટીફીકેટ, T.A.D.A. લઇને ભાગવાની વેતરણમાં હોય એવા તજજ્ઞો એ.સી.હોલ માં બેસીને જયારે ‘સર્વાંગી વિકાસ’, value education, સર્વગ્રાહી અને ગુણવત્તાસભર શિક્ષણ, મૂલ્યનિષ્ઠ કેળવણી જેવા ભદ્રંભદ્રીય jargon ફેંકતા જોઉં છું ત્યારે મને ધૃતરાષ્ટ્રની સભામાં બેસેલા ચાપલુસો જ દેખાય છે. કૌરવોની સભાનાં એ ભિષ્મ પિતામહો, કૃપાચાર્યો અને દ્રોણાચાર્યો કરતાં તો રાવણની સભાનાં વિભિષણ અને માલ્યવંત સારા કે જેમણે ખોંખારીને વિરોધ તો નોંધાવ્યો!


ડીક્ષનરીની ૨૦૧૭ની આવૃત્તિમાં Job Satisfaction શબ્દોના અર્થ સાથે ‘ગધેડાની આગળ લટકાવેલું ગાજર’ એવું ઉદાહરણ આપવા સુચન છે. અન્ય ક્ષેત્રમાં રહેલાં જે લોકોને પગારપંચ, વેકેશન, રજાઓ જેવા ગાજર દેખાતા હોય છે એમને ગધેડાના ચેહરાના વિક્ષિપ્ત ભાવો દેખાડવાનો આ નમ્ર પ્રયાસ છે. હું એવું બિલકુલ કહેવા નથી માંગતો કે શિક્ષકની નોકરીમાં પારાવાર યાતનાઓ છે, આ ક્ષેત્રમાં ન આવશો, પણ એટલું ચોક્કસ કહેવું છે કે જો તમે એમ વિચારીને આવતા હો કે હું શિક્ષક બની ને સમાજની સમસ્યાઓ ઉકેલવામાં પ્રદાન આપીશ, સિસ્ટમ બદલી દઈશ, મહાન વ્યક્તિ બનીશ વગેરે તો –You are living in a fool’s paradise. આવું કંઈ જ વાસ્તવ માં બનતું હોતું નથી. તમારે મહોરું પહેરીને વિદ્યાર્થીઓ ને sincerity, discipline, excellence, team-work એવા સુંવાળા શબ્દોના વાઘાં બનાવીને પહેરાવ્યા કરવાના છે, બસ! અને ક્લાસની બહાર yes sir, sorry sir, ok sir સિવાય કશુજ બોલવાનું નથી.

અરે મેં તો GSET, Ph.D. થયેલા સ્કોલર વ્યક્તિઓને આ ફિલ્ડ છોડતા જોયાં છે એટલે તમે વિચારો કે કઈ હદ સુધી એકેડેમીક્સની મા-બેન કરી નાખી હશે. આ પીડા કહેવી તોય કોને? રાજકારણીઓ, મંત્રીઓ, અધિકારીઓ, policy makers – એમણે તો આ દુર્દશા કરી છે. વિદ્યાર્થીઓ અને વાલીઓ તો ખુદ આ ગોરખધંધાનો શિકાર બનેલા છે. શિક્ષકોના કાંડા કાપી લેવાયા છે. ‘માસ્તર’ શબ્દ સાંભળીને મને ‘મા-સ્તર’ જેવું વાહિયાત કાંઇ યાદ નથી આવતું, શાહબુદ્દીનભાઈનું ‘માસ્તરોનું બહારવટીયું’ યાદ આવે છે. પણ હવે આ જાત પર જુલમ નથી સહેવાતો. શુલના મનોજ બાજપાઈની જેમ કહેવું છે:- “કુછ કીજીયે, હમ આપસે બિનતી કરતે હૈ, કૃપયા કુછ કીજીયે. યે સાલા કુર્સી લકડી કા હૈ, હમ હાડ-માંસ કે ઇન્સાન હૈ, કુછ કીજીયે!” ‘A Wednesday’ ના કોમન મેનની જેમ કહેવું છે:- We are resilient by force, not by choice.



એવું કહેવાય છે કે માણસને બે રીતે વશ કરી શકાય:- ભયથી અને લાલચથી. શિક્ષકોને મેમો, નોટીસ, ટ્રાન્સફર, ખુલાસો વગેરે ભય બતાવામાં આવે છે (તમારી વિરુદ્ધ કાર્યવાહી કેમ ન કરવી તેનો દિન ૦૩ માં લેખિતમાં ખુલાસો આપવો) અને પ્રમોશન, પે સ્કેલ, ગ્રેડ પે વગેરેની લાલચો પણ આપવામાં આવે છે. એટલે એ બિચારો રોજ ક્લાસમાં જઈને ગળા ફાડી આવે છે. પણ આવી રીતે જે classroom teaching થાય એમાં શું ભલીવાર હોય? સીધી વાત છે કે શિક્ષક અંદર થી વલોવાયેલો હોય તો એના કામ માં બરકત ન જ આવે પણ અમુક બૌદ્ધિક વિજય માલ્યાઓ એવી દલીલ કરે કે “દિવસમાં ૪ કલાક ભણાવવામાં તમને શું વાંધો આવે છે? બીજે બધે માણસો ૮-૮ કલાક કામ કરે છે” અરે સમજણની ગરીબીરેખા નીચે જીવતા પ્રાણીઓ, ક્લાસમાં ભણાવવું એ કોઈ પથ્થર તોડવા જેવું કામ નથી. એ એક પ્રકારની કળા છે, સાધના છે. એક કલાક ભણાવવામાં કેટલો શારીરિક અને માનસિક શ્રમ પડે એ તમે શું સમજો! તૈયારી કરવામાં કેટલો ટાઇમ આપવાનો, એના કાગળિયાં તૈયાર કરવાના. જેમ કોઈ ચિત્રકાર આક્રોશમાં હોય તો ચિત્ર ન દોરી શકે, મગજ ની નસો ખેચાઇ હોય ત્યારે ગાયક ગળાની નસો ખેંચીને ગાઇ ન શકે એવી જ રીતે શિક્ષક પ્રસન્નચિત હોય તો જ એ ખીલીને અને ખુલીને ભણાવી શકે બાકી show must go on બોલીને ભણાવી દે એ વાત અલગ છે.



જે ક્રિએટીવ, ઉર્જાસભર, આઈડિયાથી તરબતર યુવા શિક્ષકો છે એને સિસ્ટમ નપુંસક બનાવી દે છે. તાકાત થી ફાટફાટ થતા આખલાને બળદ બનાવી તેલ ની ધાણીએ જોતરી દેવામાં આવે છે. જેમ બળદ રોજ ગોળ-ગોળ ફરે પણ ક્યાય પહોચે નહી એમ શિક્ષક રોજ નીતનવા પત્રકો ભરે, માહિતી મોકલાવે, આંકડાઓ કાઢે... બળદને ખબર નથી કે તેલ વેચીને કોણ કમાય છે એમ શિક્ષકને ખબર નથી કે આટલી બધી માહિતીનું શું કરવામાં આવે છે!



અત્યારે વિદ્યાલય એ ગણિકાલય બનતા જાય છે જ્યાં રોજ મુજરા થાય છે. શિક્ષકોની હાલત એવી સગીરા જેવી છે જેનું અપહરણ કરીને બિયરબારમાં નાચવા મૂકી દેવાય છે. ગુજરાન ચલાવવા કે મારપીટ થી બચવા એ યુવતી પરાણે હસીને નાચ્યા કરે એમ શિક્ષકે રોજ નોકરી કર્યે રાખવાની છે. I am sorry જો આ વાચતા તમારી લાગણી દુભાઈ હોઈ તો પણ હું તો આખેઆખો, રોજેરોજ, ક્ષણેક્ષણ દુભાઉં છું.આવા આકરા શબ્દો લખતા કંઈ મને મજા નથી આવતી, સપાટો બોલાવવા કે સ્તબ્ધ કરવા નથી લખતો પણ કાગળ પર પેન થી શાહી ટપકે એનાથી વધારે લોહી ટપકે છે આ આંગળીઓ માંથી! It is a constructive criticism. ચંદ્રકાંત બક્ષીએ ત્રીસ વર્ષ પહેલા ‘હું, કોનારક શાહ!’ માં જે ચાબખા માર્યા હતા એ શિક્ષણ વ્યવસ્થાની આજે તો શું દશા થઇ છે! બક્ષીબાબુ ત્યારે કહેતા: “ચારેબાજુ મીડીયોક્રીટીની મોસમ છલકાઈ રહી છે.” જો એ આજે હયાત હોત તો શું કહેત? વિચારો.

-   ડૉ. જય મહેતા
લખ્યા તા. 23-01-'17


Dr. Jay Mehta

Lecturer in English (GES  - Class II)

R.C. Technical Institute,

Sola,

Ahmedabad

Aaj Jaane Ki Zidd Na Karo – Quintessence of Dust

A prostitute and her customers. A police officer. Mumbai’s local train. Abuses. Crime and punishment. …… No, I am not talking about a Hindi film or a literary work. I am writing about a Gujarati play. Yes, you read it right. A meaningful and thought-provoking Gujarati drama. What drew me to the theatre? The three names associated with it viz, Saumya Joshi (does he need any introduction?), Jayesh More (the actor who brilliantly played a police-officer with razor-sharp intellect in ‘Wrong Side Raju’), Umesh Shukla (producer of the film ‘Oh My God’) and I must say they didn’t let me down at all. Let me begin with some introductory details.

‘Aaj Jaane ki Zid naa Karo’ is a play by Saumya Joshi (the creator of ‘Welcome Jindagi’ and ‘102 Not Out’, and a remarkable poet as well). It is originally written in Marathi by Suresh Chikhle and adapted into Gujarati by Saumya sir and Umesh Shukla as a co-producer. It pertains to the life story of a police officer and a sex-worker who meet up in a late night Mumbai local and the meandering path of their relationship. It is a foray into the life of these controversial characters. It is said that every person is like a moon having a darker side which he never shows to anyone.

Prostitution – an age-old menace of human societies around the world. Men are responsible for the existence of this institution yet the woman is always humiliated, harassed and hurt. What an irony! From Mausam to Manto, from Chandni Bar to Chameli, from Chekhov to Chandrakant Bakshi… a lot of hyper-links popped up in mind while watching it. Bakshibabu has written that out of those four famous Varnas (categories) in Indian society i.e., Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishy and Shudra – Vaishy is the term for businessmen. Female counterpart of Vaishy is VESHYA (woman who sells her body to earn livelihood). However, business tycoons earn name and fame whereas their female counterpart…. No, the play does not intend to justify prostitution nor does it attempt to criminalize it. That’s the beauty of it. Without being judgmental, the plays uncovers under the carpet reality of the society. The plight of that character reminds me of classic words of Sahir Ludhianvi: - “औरत ने मर्द को जन्म दिया और मर्द ने औरत को बाज़ार दिया!”

It opens with a famous Rajasthani folk-song Kaga re Kaga re toh se itni araj mohe chun chun khaiyo maans, khaiyo na do naina inhe piya ke Milan ki aas  and of course the enchanting 'Aaj Jaane ki Zidd na Karo'. We later realize how significant it is with the thematic concerns. As the play is scheduled in Ahmedabad in near future, I must avoid spoilers. What should I write about first? Dialogues, performances, techniques, devices… It excels in almost all departments. Let’s take up stage-craft first.

With just one local train compartment on stage, the producers have presented numerous details. A purse, a bottle, a mobile phone and an umbrella –that’s it: with minimal use of stage-props the story has been depicted.

The play is replete with subtle satires and dramatic ironies. After being released from jail, the prostitute prays to Haji Ali for her bread and butter, she gets a job of phone sex and she says: - "BABA SAB KI SUNTA HAI RE!". She mentions a customer who used to remove all rings from fingers before going to bed with her, trying to befool God. She says she never does so because "WOH SAB KUCHH DEKHTA HAI" Imagine Shri Krishnah Sharanam Mamah as the ringtone of a prostitute’s phone.

Dialogues are not just powerful but piercing. A constable tells his senior:-

·       “Sir, who dhandhewali hai!” and senior replies:- “Hum sab dhandhewale hain!”

·       Tu pehla policewala hai jo dusre ko khilata hai!

·       Hum log ki dua bhi limited hoti hai

·       Jindagi par ujharda padta hoy ne tyare je chahero dekhay ne ae j sacho sambandh kehvay

Fascinating and hard-hitting dialogues are the USP of this play. Black humor and Sarcasm in every line help in creating an ambience. Fabulous one-liners are used to depict darker shades of human emotions.

The performances of Jayesh More and Jigna Vyas are truly commendable. Frankly speaking, in the first act I found Jigna ji's character being eclipsed by the talent of Mr. More despite the fact that major chunk of drama has been allotted to her. It is only in the second act that both of the actors show their true mettle. It becomes difficult to decide who's done it better but there is one situation in act II when Jayesh More's character reveals darkest secrets of his life that this brilliant actor rules the roost. Sound of sobs and Alas interjections suffice to convince us that he has delivered not just intense but overwhelming performance.

Admittedly, there are some minor dramatic anomalies such as that lady bites the man's left hand in anger and resentment but later the man ties a handkerchief on his right hand. However, amidst the incessant flow of emotions, nobody bothers to notice such negligible discrepancies. By the end of the first act, the pace of the play gets a bit slower but an unexpected dramatic happening nudges the audience to alertness. Fast-paced dialogue delivery in cocktail language of Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi and English may puzzle some spectators in the initial scenes.

One of the threats of dealing with such a bold subject is that if the team is even a bit less careful, the play may become loud or indecent (and some Gujarati comic plays are infamous for double-meaning dialogues and contents catering to the lowest common denominator). Luckily the team of 'Aaj Jaane ki Zid na Karo' has been very vigilant about it. I don’t mean to say that the drama has Sigma 6 perfection; there would be some drawback which I might have failed to notice. Being a novice in analyzing theatrical experiences, I may have missed out some lacuna in the play but by and large, it’s a paisa vasool experience.

Franz Kafka said:-

“Altogether, I think we ought to read only books that bite and sting us. If the book we are reading doesn’t shake us awake like a blow to the skull, why bother reading it in the first place? A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is what I believe.”

Here is one such literary work on stage. Just go for it.

Thanks.

-         Jay Mehta

Dopehri – A Novella by Pankaj Kapur

Reviewed by Jay Mehta

08-08-2016

“Man is the only animal who is prone to insanity because he spends so much time in this suffocating prison within his own head.”

-        -  Colin Wilson

Last Sunday we watched Pankaj Kapur narrating a story to a large audience.

In which film?

No, it wasn’t a film. It was a theatrical performance of his own novella – ‘Dopehri’.

Oh, wait. Are you trying to say that Pankaj Kapur is a creative writer?

Yes! After all, he is an artist in the real sense of the term.

I was flabbergasted to see him playing Abbaji (King Duncan) in VB’s Maqbool (Macbeth), but never had I thought he would have written a touchy novella on the life of an old woman.

As mentioned in the synopsis, ‘Dopehri’ is a foray into the life of Amma Bi. A poor old widow who lives an aimless life in Lucknow. Her son Javed lives with his wife in the US. Furniture of the house and a Paan-box are her only companions in a large ancestral mansion -Laal Haveli. She shares strong emotional bond with her servant Jumman and her Rakhi brother Dr. Saxena. The novella is a tale of Amma Bi's struggle to come to terms with her incurable illness - loneliness.

Written in a hilarious manner, 'Dopehri' draws a collage of interpersonal relationships. There is no denial of the fact that Pankaj Kapur is well versed in presenting dark humour on celluloid and now the same can be said about his writing as well. 

Allow me to make a candid confession at this point (apology for digression). Initially, I was baffled because the way in which the program began seemed rather abrupt. I was clueless for quite a long time as I expected some dramatic beginning. However, I had to remind myself that it is a dramatic reading and not a drama itself. Having said that, I must also mention that Pankaj Kapur sir could make it so gripping and lively that I could almost visualise the scenes. Enlivening the life of a character in front of an audience by just reading aloud is not a cakewalk.

Let's critically analyse various aspects of this performance. To begin with thematic concerns, there are innumerable old men and women in society who have been deserted by their insensitive children. In reality, not all are lucky to get that all's well smile at Second Innings Home as shown in the film Lagey Raho Munnabhai. Those poor souls have to live through humiliation, helplessness and (often) hopelessness. Wealth can never substitute warmth of human relationships. Amma Bi's frequent request to the servant to stay with her in afternoon shows her desperate attempts to be in human company. Generation gap, clash of human nature, possessiveness, ebb in filial piety - whatever be the cause, senior citizens do suffer from acute sense of worthlessness and insecurity. 

However, the darkest cloud has a silver lining. Dr. Saxena's suggestion to invite a tenant in a room turns out to be a ray of hope for Amma Bi. Her tenant Sabhia - a young artist from her maternal place Jonpur develops a strong bond with Bi - a bond which comes closest to mother-daughter relation. Working on Sabiha's project of toy-making gives her a new lease of life.

This transformation from a dejected old widow to a support in craft of toy-making is a pivotal part of the novella. Credit goes to Pankaj Kapur's art of characterisation. He weaves characters with such panache that the audience can effortlessly associate with them.

As far as diction is concerned, it came as a pleasant surprise to me. There is an undercurrent of irony even in apparently normal remarks. Rich, figurative language, pictorial description etc give finesse to the work.

Interestingly, various techniques of stage-craft have been utilised in presenting this novella. Accurate and timely use of light and music has been instrumental in the overall appeal of the work. Sound of a clock-bell or an alarm symbolises time slipping slowly from the fist of Amma Bi. Appearance of a tree without leaves and a kite on it speaks volumes for the barrenness of her existence.

However, there have been some flaws such as fast-paced narration, usage of Hindi and Urdu jargon etc. The way Mr. Kapur read aloud reminded me of dialogue-delivery of Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar especially their frequent gear-shifting of intonation.

To sum-up, this has been a novel aesthetic experience for a connoisseur like me. I truly enjoyed watching it but my expectations soared a bit higher, so I anticipated it to be far better than this. Nevertheless, it must be considered an enriching and entertaining reading of a novella.

Thanks.

 - Jay Mehta
(With creative inputs from Keyur Trivedi and Darshita Dave)

09-06-‘12

A Splash from Rain-drenched Psyche

Azeem-o-shaan Shahenshah! His Highness Lord Varuna’s magnificent caravan has made its majestic arrival in Bhavnagar. The first rain has cleansed the ambience of the city. Needless to say, I rushed to be blessed by it, placing Chekhov aside. I stood in the Christ pose in the terrace and tiny, enchanting rain drops began to caress and pamper the bare skin of my chest and arms the way an overwhelmed father’s tears roll down on his son’s neck whom he hugs affectionately (furthermore) or the way a lass showers tender kisses on her man’s rough face and the man finds himself on cloud nine.

In such a contemplative state, I told myself: “If thou hast to surrender to the Divine, surrender absolutely.” Hence, I prostrated myself on the terrace and the cool, soothing breeze drenched me in ecstasy. I felt like the Good Angels were escorting me towards the mercy of the Omniscient. Meanwhile, I overheard kids chirping, twittering and yelling to celebrate the first rain. Rather than any poetic composition, I found these innocent cheers, this hullabaloo to be the most fitting response to the sacrosanct benediction. A cuckoo, some sparrows etc joined the chorus and this orchestra of existence poured honey in the ears of my psyche. Even the trees stood stunned and rejuvenated. All the grievances, frustrations, weeping of life get swamped by this gift of Nature – rain!

However, an undercurrent of agony pulsated throughout. There is a thin line of demarcation between loneliness and solitude which usually gets blurred in such fragile moments. I felt like “I WISH……” Words from Chekhov’s story ‘The Night before Easter’ resonated in my mind:

“Can you tell me, kind master, why it is that even in the presence of great happiness a man cannot forget his grief?”

I think there are no square boxes in human mind where a person can compartmentalize affirmative and disturbing feelings. Consequently, they get jumbled up time and again however hard one may endeavor to sustain equilibrium. People have various ways to tackle it. Some maverick, lunatics may seize writing material and scribble something like this write up, others may drown them in mundane activities of life, some others may channelize their thoughts to their favorite pastime and so on. To each his own!

Whatsoever, I advocate one phenomenon vehemently: Nature teaches humans to stay alive and enjoy life in its totality. We are surrounded by droop-headed, walking corpses who go on complaining every now and then. Dale Carnegie opined:

“Any fool can condemn, complain or criticize, and most fools do.”

Even such cynics find rain to be a disturbance. Poor ignoramus creatures don’t know that the plights they encounter in rainy days are largely human-generated. Had a human being continued his affinity to Nature, he would not have been so pathetically synthetic and hollow.

So, Return to Nature? No. in fact, Nature returns to us in multiple forms and shades. We just have to let her in. Let’s expand the horizons of our psychology and be true to the self as much as we can. I know that this sounds like a mirage in Indian society but we can at least give it a try. Allow me to sum this up with a tiny poem.

LIGHT

The night has a thousand eyes,

And the day but one;

Yet the light of the bright world dies

With the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes,

And the heart but one;

Yet the light of a whole life dies

When love is done.

-         F. W. Bourdillon

(Source of the poem: Poetry for Pleasure, selected by Maung Kaung, OUP.)