Ode to Stephen Court

There is still life in the burnt out three floors of Stephen Court, which underwent a test by blazing fire that went on for over 12 hours. There were hundreds of men and women standing a few yards from the building were as helpless as many of the government officials, who seemed to have been maimed by the raging flames. Even as several men and women were charred to death inside the building, the modern generation watching the fire pulled out their cellular phones to catch the moment. There were no room for the bravehearts to venture into the building to salvage the few people who were caught inside. I was one such mute witness to the loss of over 50 persons in the fire.

The remnants of the fire are still to be cleared from the burnt floors, and every day as I pass by the building during my evening walk, I can recollect the fateful day. Whatever be the social status, religion or cultural group of the residents of this old building, one thing was sure: human greed knows no bounds. If only the administrators had paid a little more attention to proper and timely maintenance of the facilities, so many persons would not have been charred to death. The building still stands as a mute witness to human wickedness and greed; is this the way how nature tries to teach the human beings a lesson for life?

I was also able to witness the number of people of the city pouring in to the building and its neighborhood to console and comfort the survivors of the fire. There were many groups who organized prayer meetings and candlelight procession in honor of the people who had lost their lives and their dear ones. There were many posters posted on the entrance to the fateful building, many of which portrayed the sentiments of a cross section of city-zens! We are sorry, we could not save you! I felt this was the pathetic helpless cry of the hundreds of men and women who watched the whole floor burning but could not do anything! There was no lack for empathy for the victims and survivors from the part of the people of the city.

Though the building stood just a few meters from our residence, I never dared to venture into the building, and needless to say, I had no business in that building. But now I feel a close affinity with the building, and I look at it with a lot of sympathy and empathy! Much have been lost, and yet there is life, and life has to go on! For many families, life had come to a standstill, and the stories that I had read in the dailies about the people who were searching for their dear ones day after day, hoping one day they might get them back, they were heart-renting. This was indeed a test for not only for the corporation, but also the human heart! How do we respond to this kind of calamity?

Everyone knows for sure that this is not the end of the era when several persons lost their lives in fire; this will be repeated after a few months, and many more will continue to be charred to death! Stephen Court will get back its lifeline and resume life anew, and the lessons learnt may also be forgotten too soon. I wish Stephen Court had known our language, the human language, so that it could pour out its own pain and agony, of carrying and nurturing so many hundreds of men and women day after day. I wish to pitch my ears to the walls of Stephen Court to listen to the unheard stories of this building, the cry and pathos of its walls, for if only we begin to listen to what our buildings say, what our lifestyle say, we cannot afford to neglect the essentials of life.

Return to Roots

Attending an enlightening lecture-cum-interaction with Prof Bharat Gupt on Natyasastra opened up several cupboards in my household I had never bothered to unlock and see what treasures lie over there. I was found asking myself this simple question: how is it that all these years I had not ventured to know and learn more about some of the rich traditions we had been beholding for several centuries. It is no wonder, we may not be aware of many of the rich treasures of our homeland, which have found home in the West, even with adequate copyright and intellectual rights. On the one hand I felt so proud to be part of this great land of cultures and religions, and on the other felt embarassed not knowing the intricacies that this great literature transpose!

It would be beyond the scope of this little blog to enter into some of the salient features of Natyasastra, but it would be worthwhile to highlight one or two key aspects which interested me. This great classic has been popularly known as the Fifth Veda (the other four being Rg, Yajur, Sama and Atharva, which had been appropriated by the Brahmins), meant for the hoi poploi, the aam janta, the nothing-special about people. Is it a generous gesture on the part of Bharat Muni to hand this treatise to the common people, as a consoling factor? Whatever critics say, one thing is for sure: this can be appropriated by any one, especially the non-Brahmin!

The world today is moving at a break-neck speed to explore everything that is possible to harness the world's resources to the best way possible. Brain-drain has not yet become a problem that would disturb the developping nations, but the ancient traditions are slowly finding their place not in schools and colleges, but in archives of archaic manuscripts and museums. The great literature that had enlivened the literature and art of this great nation for several centuries has suddenly become a thing of the past, and we are looking for viable alternatives to replace them. Shame, shame! We have no qualms of conscience to bury alive living traditions, because we are not equipped to take a dip into them!

Some of the great literatures of the ancient India have been path-breaking in several fields, and many of the things that modern science and technology re discover have found mention in many of our scriptures, but who is there to really go through the palm leaves, scrolls to decipher the rich material that had been treasured for hundreds of years. If we ourselves bury these rich materials, then we shall be answerable to the future generations for burying living civilizations as a sign of our incapacity! It is time that we wake up, and unearth the scrolls and manuscripts which are fast eaten up by whiteants and moth! Who knows we may find remedy for many of the evils huanting the world in some of them.

But the responsibility to return to our roots lies with every one of the Indian citizen, who feels obliged to own up what has been our collective tradition, irrespective of culture, religion or language. If our children are taught to return to their roots, in the study of culture, language, literature and religion, then there would be less conflict and attempt from one section of people to assert their cultural hegemony. We do not need to swallow all that the ancient literature and scriptures teach us; we need to look at them critically, and study them at the particular socio-cultural context, and take them for what they are worth. But our lives will be quite different if only we take a close look at them, and shape our lives in the light of our discoveries!