Dadaji Ramaji Khobragade - A nightingale in a poultry farm.

Dadaji Ramaji Khobragade. A name I had not heard of. But on the 26th of September I saw an article about him in the daily The Times of India. It is an unbelievable story. The story of a farmer from an oppressed (Dalit) background who developed a brand of rice which is grown all over India. His keen powers of observation had helped him to discover this new variety in 1983 which was christened HMT Sona by a seeds dealer of the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. HMT Sona is a popular wrist watch manufactured by Hindustan Machine Tools and one of the farmers who took the seeds to the dealer was wearing one of these watches when he met the dealer.

The sad part of the story is about how scientists at the Panjabrao Deshmuksh Krishi Vidyapeeth, an agricultural university of Maharashtra, are trying to claim credit for developing a new brand named 'HMT-PKV' which is nothing but Khobragade's HMT Sona.Khobragade is a widower, his son is ill and he looks after his son's wife and three grandsons too. His sole possession is a small piece of land. And yet this genius continues to work, developing new strains of rice. He has developed a new strain which he has named DRK.

It is not that his work has not been recognized. The National Innovation Foundation (NIF)has put his picture on the cover of their famous journal Honey Bee and he was also awarded the National Grassroots Innovations Award this year. The award was given to him by none other than President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on January 5 this year. And PKV which claims to have "purified" the strain also seems to have realised the enormity of their blunder. According a report published in The Indian Express the vice-chancellor of PKV Sharad Nimbalkar has said ‘‘We only say we have characterised, purified and improvised the breed so that it doesn’t get mixed with any impurity in the natural course. And we should appreciate that it is scientifically necessary to do so.’’ He also says ‘‘Nobody can take it away from Dadaji...I will immediately send him the authentication papers for the award.’’

Is it not a sad and horrifying story? Yet such incidents continue to occur. Many a genius stifled in infancy. Khobragade's story reminds me of the story of Dr. Goerge Washington Carver of the U.S.A who had done a staggering amount of work on agricultural plants but had to face a lot of discrimination because he happened to be black.
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Some more links to DRK and his struggle:
(1) The list of innovators and their innovations given here is fascinating.

(2) The report on the TV Channel NDTV must have made quiet an impact when it was telecast.

(3)Unfortunately I could not obtain a link to the article written by Ramu Bhagwat and published in The Times of India dated Sept 26 2005. It was this article which introduced me to DRK and his work.

The Bonsai tray which became a birdbath

I do not know how I had got the idea. I had gone to a nursery to buy some plants when I saw this bonsai tray without any holes in its base. The side walls of this oval shaped clay tray were about 2 inches high. "Just the height that the article in the magazine had recommended for a birdbath" I told myself. The birdbath came home on the floorboard of the scooter. "Good that this model of scooter has hand brakes," I told myself. I wouldn't have been able to transport it if I had gone on the scooter my brother has left behind at home.

The place chosen for the birdbath was under the guava tree in the garden. The response was fantastic from day one. I remember seeing babblers, doves, sparrows, red vented bulbuls, mynahs and brahminy mynahs. The babblers, bulbuls and house sparrows even bathe in it. The babblers really make a lot of noise. They deserve their name. It is quiet a sight to see them enjoying themselves. I really enjoy listening to the laughter of children when they see the birds splashing water. My mother swears she saw a cobra drinking water from the bath. I have seen a cobra every year in our garden. This is usually after the rains are over. I am not sure whether my mother really saw one dinking water from the bird bath or she saw it as it went by the tray. A strange thrill and fear run through me when I think of it.

Once, during the height of the summers when the temperatures had crossed forty degrees celsius I happened to lift the tray and check beneath. I was stunned by what I saw. Thanks to the fact that the tray is made of clay a sufficient amount of moisture always seeped through the pores and kept the soil moist. This moisture was just enough to keep the earthworms alive and healthy. As a matter of fact to say that I was stunned would be a big understatement. That was the height of summer and there was not a blade of grass to be seen anywhere. Wriggling earhworms were the last thing I would have expected to see in that heat. It is good I had made sure that the bath never went dry. I have seen termites eating up the earthworms. I remember that they are a rich source of proteins! The fact that they are below the tray keeps the earthworms safe from birds. If only the birds knew what treasures lay beneath their drinking water!

This incident had happened three years ago and the tray continues to be in the same place. The bulbuls and sparrows and doves and babblers continue to come. I even remember seeing a black pheasant crow some months ago. The cobra hasn't yet made an appearance, but I am hopeful that Nagraj, the lord of snakes, will not disappoint me. And yes, every now and then I see a dog coming and lapping up the water. Very unfair, I feel, as they leave hardly any for the birds. That is why I try to ensure that the tray is never without water in it. Let me see which birds come today. Will inform all of you out there if I see any new species.

Do Indian men have the right to celebrate Rakhi?

Rakhi is an Indian festival which is celebrated in most Indian states barring those in the southern and eastern parts. It usually comes in the month of August. On this day sisters tie a holy thread around the wrists of their brothers and the latter promise to protect their sisters all their lives. It is one of the most beautiful festivals as it celebrates sibling love. Unfortunately this festival has become like a placebo as India is not exactly famous for looking after its womenfolk. Horrific crimes against women are reported everyday. The Supreme Court of India is attempting to correct this gender bias by passing rulings in favour of equal rights to inheritance to both male and female progeny. But the law on paper is very different from what is actually practiced.

So the question arises: Should Rakhi be celebrated at all? Do we deserve to celebrate it? Rakhi is all about brothers taking a vow to protect their sisters. Protect from what? Well, considering how bad we men are sisters do need to be protected. Do they not? Look at the horribly skewed female to male ratio in most Indian states. Punjab, Haryana and the BIMARU belt are badly affected. Gujarat is not far behind. I read reports about Punjabis and Haryanvis buying brides from Bengal and Assam. I read newsreports about girls being coached to act like girls of the Jain community so that they can be 'sold' to the families of prospective grooms as the genuine 'article'. There are newsreports of polyandry in some districts of Punjab and of non-tribals in Gujarat 'buying' tribal girls to marry just because there aren't enough girls of marriageable age. For a change the dowry system seems to have reversed. My mother tells me that she saw a newsreport on the Malayalam channel Asianet about girls from Cannanore district of Kerala marrying Haryanvi boys who came 'down south' in their search for brides. I hope these marraiges do not transform into abusive, violent and exploitative relationships.

The only state which has a healthy female to male sex ratio is Kerala.Ironically, Kerala does not celebrate Rakhi. But Kerala has enough to worry about. I read disturbing reports about unhealthy female to male ratio in the below six years category there. Apparently even the educated, forward-looking Keralite is not immune to pressures when the time comes to marry off his daughter. "Spend five hundred rupees now and save five lakhs twenty years later" that is how the ads for sex determination tests were worded before they were banned. Even the matrilineal Nair community which prides itself on the rights that its women have is succumbing to the menace of dowry. Most educated Indians have read about Mary Roy and her attempts to get equal inheritance rights for daughters in the Syrian Christian community. Her daughter and Booker Prize winning writer Arundhati Roy is also a crusader for womens' rights. Kerala, the state which has produced many talented women writers, artists and sportswomen also has a lot to learn and improve upon before it can call itself a true haven for women.

I can imagine the ghost of an unborn girl coming and telling her brother "I wish there were a rakhi which could protect the unborn female foetus from her own family". Millions of girls killed in the womb. And we take a vow to protect our womenfolk from invaders! If a family has no sons we label the parents unlucky. If a girl is having a bad time at her husband's what are the chances that her parents or brothers are willing to shelter her?

"Throw away those rakhis please" is what millions of unborn female children who were killed in the womb seem to be telling us. Something is indeed rotten in the state of India!

Fifty Years of Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali

In 1955 a 115 minute long B&W Bengali film titled 'Pather Panchali' was produced by the Government of West Bengal. Its director and screenplay writer was a Bengali named Satyajit Ray who was the art director of a British advertising firm. The film was based on a novel of the same name by Bibhutibhushan Banerjee. Its music was composed by Pandit Ravi Shankar. Some of the other members of this, soon to become immortal, team were as follows: cinematography: Subrata Mitra, editing: Dulal Dutta, art direction: Bansi Chandragupta, sound: Bhupen Ghosh. The film was a success in India. It opened to critical acclaim and audience approval and it even won the President's Gold & Silver Medals, New Delhi, 1955 but it was only after it had won the prize for the Best Human Document at Cannes in 1956 that the world sat up and took notice.

Once the West was won people all over India also 'discovered' this film and fifty years after it was made it continues to wow audiences with its powerful simplicity. Some of the other awards that this film picked up later included:
Diploma Of Merit, Edinbugh, 1956
Vatican Award, Rome, 1956
Golden Carbao, Manila, 1956
Best Film and Direction, San Francisco, 1957
Selznik Golden Laurel, Berlin, 1957
Best Film, Vancouver, 1958
Critics' Award - Best Film, Stratford, (Canada), 1958
Best Foreign Film, New York, 1959
Kinema Jumpo Award: Best Foreign Film, Tokyo 1966
Bodil Award: Best Non-European Film of the Year, Denmark, 1966

The writer Bibhutibhushan Banerjee may have never dreamt that his saga of an impoverished Bengali Brahmin family would attain celluloid immortality and that the characters he created would become household names. Almost all film loving Indians know the names of Harihar, the Father (played by Kanu Banerjee), Sarbajaya, the Mother (Karuna Banerjee), Apu (Subir Banerjee), Durga the young girl (Uma Das Gupta ) Durga the child (Runki Banerjee) and Indir Thakrun the old Aunt (Chunibala Devi). How this film was made is now part of the legend and 'mythology' of Indian cinema. The one year break in the shooting was a very suspenseful period for everybody who was associated with this film. Satyajit Ray himself was ecstatic about the fact that Apu's voice did not break, Durga did not grow up and Indir Thakrun did not die. The gods were with them.This year's Cannes Classic Series was "kicked-off" by a screening of Pather Panchali on May 12 2005. I felt sad when I read that the maestro's son Sandip Ray had not been invited to Cannes. I also feel sad about the fact that there more better prints of Ray films abroad than in India. This speaks volumes for how we care for our cinematic Kohinoors.

I had not been able to see this film till 1991 even though I had managed to see many of his other films. Luckily I was selected for the Film Appreciation course conducted by the National Film Archives of India at the FTII Pune in 1991. I still remember the effect the first viewing had on me. It gives me goosebumps whenever I think of it. Some of the scenes are permanently etched in my mind: Sarbajaya and Durga combing Apu's hair and making him presentable, Durga and Apu among the white Kash flowers, their first look at a train, their joy when the rains come, Harihar weeping inconsolably on hearing about Durga's death. Is there anyone who hasn't cried on seeing this scene?In his biography of Satyajit Ray titled 'Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye' the writer and film scholar Andrew Robinson reveals the fact that Pandit Ravi Shankar had composed the music for this film in one marathon session from 4pm to 4am.

I can go on and on but I would like to quote Kurosawa: "There is nothing irrelevant or haphazard in his (Ray's) cinematographic technique. In that lies the secret of its excellence." Malaylam film maestro Adoor Gopalakrishnan had once been asked by the portal rediff.com to select the ten best Indian films made. He had chosen 'Pather Panchali' and 'Aparajito' as the first two. His views on 'Pather Panchali' are fascinating: "I think this is the first fully accomplished film in Indian cinema. Secondly, Pather Panchali really marks the beginning of the new Indian cinema. It is also the beginning of the non-Hindi film in India, that is, films made in a language other than Hindi." Aptly put.

I have a few excellent films by Ray in my collection but unfortunately I do not have a single film from his Apu trilogy. So now I know what my next big mission in life is. For lovers of good cinema I would recommend the following web sites to pay tribute to this giant of cinema:
www.satyajitray.org , www.imdb.com , www.sensesofcinema.com , www.asianfilms.org/india/ray.html , www.rayfoundation.mistral.co.uk

Sharing My Thoughts

Writing a blog after ages. I have been writing blogs for a few months now. The site I used to write and post blogs in is named Sulekha. Sulekha is fairly popular among Indians especially expats all over the globe. Its weblogs section has been totally inaccessible for some days now. A few bloggers from that site have started a thread in which they have been giving links to their blogs. It is interesting how a small community of bloggers form and start relating to each other. One gets used to comments and feedback from certain persons. Even brickbats are welcome. It becomes like a family with all kinds of members - good, bad and ugly. No category is unwelcome. The picture would be incomplete without any one of them. Blogging can be narcissistic, though. I have often read and heard bloggers being accused of being extremely egoistic. "Who wants to read about what a girl in Delhi ate for breakfast?" says a friend sarcastically. "Do you remember that George Gamow had written in his book 1,2,3...Infinity that if an infinite number of monkeys were to be given a typewriter each then one of them would type out the complete works of Shakespeare? Well blogging seems to be very close to that situation!" I smile on hearing his outburst. I know he is trying to provoke me.

In the pre-internet era the closest that one could get to some of these narcissistic blogs were the letters one wrote to close friends. I can imagine someone writing a letter like: "Dear Sunita, A warm sunny day in December. I sit in the lawn sipping some wine, reading a book and enjoying the sunshine. It is a science fiction book in which I am reading an article about how easy it will become for people to communicate with each other. This letter from India will reach you in a week or two. But if this article is anywhere close to the truth, in a few years I will be able to write you a letter and 'post' it to you electronically and it will 'reach' you in a jiffy! Unbelievable, is it not? and without using any paper! I am sure that our environmentalists will be exremely pleased! But it also makes me slightly apprehensive. What is the use if a letter reaches almost instantaneously? The answer would also come back almost instantaneously. It would be as if you and I are next door to each to other and not separated by thousands of miles. Would take the joy away from separation. Ah, well I am sure that things will never be so easy. After all science fiction is fiction!......." Well, if someone ever wrote a letter like the one above then it is certain that he/she must have suffered a heartbreak when the internet arrived on the scene! I must add that barring one or two mentions nothing in science fiction ever came close to today's internet.

So here I am posting my first blog in a new site. Let me see what nuggets of wisdom come out of my head. Let me see how many bouquets and brickbats I get for my efforts. Let me see whether I write something worth reading or something which would qualify as 'timepass' (that quaint Mumbai description of anything which is done to pass time!). Only time will tell. But I do know that blogging is therapeutic for me and is much cheaper than going to a shrink! On that cheerful note I close this small narcissistic note.