Salute

Four years ago, on this day, iconic Marathi poet Mangesh Padgaonkar passed away. His poem Salaam (Salute) became the post-Emergency voice of dissent for Marathi writers and poets and won him the Sahitya Akademi Award. I posted the poem on social media and received accusatory backlash from a few friends.

They accused Padgaonkar of being a ‘disruptionist’ and a provoker of unrest. They blamed me for indulging in mischief. Their indignation was considerably countered when they were informed that it was written over 40 years ago. Of course, they were primarily offended because the poem held a mirror to their habit of saluting.

                                          

L K Advani had said of the Indian media (during the Emergency days) that they crawled when asked to bend. Similarly we find persons who salute their masters even when they don’t need to. Some do it out of fear, some do it for favour. Some do it to be on the ‘right’ side, some do it to ensure that no ‘wrong’ happens to them.

It was the survival instinct, an attribute Padgaonkar identified astutely, and attacked with vigour in the poem. He sketched the imagery of scared common man willing to salute anyone in authority and ever-willing to comply. While some of us may become like that, the day belongs to the ones who stand up for the values they care!

We must ask ourselves why we look up to authority with fear and trepidation. We must introspect whether we have aligned to bowing down even we have done no wrong. It is okay to salute another out of respect or for acknowledging what’s good. But to do so for fear or favour is a sign of letting go of human dignity.

Without the freight of fear or lure of favour

Salute with dignity to values that are dear!

~ Pravin K Sabnis

GiftTime

My father K N Sabnis taught me that the best present to give anyone is the gift of time. And till his passing away on 24 December 1994, he practiced what he preached. He would take great pains to visit people in their good as well as bad times. When it was not possible to visit, he would spend time to pen letters to communicate.

Time is a beautiful gift in life. The time and experience we spend with someone shows its meaning. Time is the best thing we can share with someone. Time is the resource that we all have in equal measure. All of us get a full 24 hours every day.

Time is also a precious gift because we only have a set amount of it. We can make more money, but we can't make more time. When we give someone our time, we are actually sharing a slice of our life. And to be able to do is so is to be truly wealthy.

But we do not want to part with our precious resource. Instead, we choose to offer pointless presents and material gifts. The best of intentions are meaningless when the eventual action is the gift of trash or the burden of obligation. Let’s choose to gift our time to everyone in our circle of concern.

Material nor money makes a merry chime

The best present is when we gift our time!

~ Pravin K Sabnis

Awaken

In Zen, a Buddha (Sanskrit: awakened) is one who has become fully enlightened. Nearly 30 years ago, I met a Marxist who was a student of philosophy. We had a common interest in Zen. Narayan Desai was three times my age when I met him but the gap never mattered. His exuberance towards learning was simply amazing.

As a writer, he wrote over 20 books in Marathi, Konkani, English, Gujarati and Hindi; Biography of Lenin, Swami Vivekanand in 21st century, Me - a socialist, Buddha – my companion, etc. He also compiled a Spanish-to-Marathi Dictionary. As Director of Thinkers' Academy, Mumbai, he devoted his entire life to research and writing.

Desai never gave up on learning and kept updating himself with global as well as local happenings. He de-emphasized theoretical knowledge in favour of direct individual experience of one's own true nature. He would say that ‘thinking and experiencing’ was the only to live. He refused to play dead, till he died on 5 August 2007.

It is easy to awaken the sleeping. But you cannot wake up a person who is pretending to be asleep. When we pretend to sleep, we choose to be selectively insensate to the incidents around. Our vision is adversely affected if our viewing lenses are cracked or coloured. We cannot hear right if we allow negative ‘noise’ to clutter our mind.

We must learn from Narayan Desai who did not play dead. He chose to open his mind to the diverse reality. He sought to learn and was ready to unlearn. He did not get stuck in the mire of prejudice. He chose to be awakened all through his life. And he chose to awaken others too!

16 December 2019 marks the start of the centenary year of Narayan Desai who lives through his awakened thoughts and reflective writings. The greatest connect with his inspirational ways would be for us to awaken. We must shed blinkers of single prejudice that prevents us from seeing the wide perspective of multiple stories.

Don’t play dead, don’t look away

Awaken to the reality every day!

~ Pravin K Sabnis

  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3fBsnqUYpI&feature=channel

Reason

Mullah Nasrudin borrowed a brass pot from his friend. The next day, he returned it along with a smaller pot. ‘Your pot gave birth while I had it,’ said Nasrudin, ‘so I am giving you its child.’ The friend, happy to receive the bonus, did not question him.

A few days later, Nasrudin borrowed the pot again. After a week passed, the friend asked Nasrudin to return it. Nasrudin answered, ‘I can’t as your pot died.’ ‘How is that possible?’ the friend shouted, ‘a pot can't die!’

‘Well, you believed it gave birth,’ said Nasrudin, ‘so why can't you believe it died?’

So often, so many of us accept things only when they benefit us. Being self-absorbed is about being pre-occupied with only one’s thoughts, interests and paybacks. However we change our stance when the same thing is to our detriment.

We must align with reason. Reason is the power of mind to think, understand and form judgments logically. We must not allow our emotions to block up multiple perspectives. When we stick to self-absorbed approach, we give up on reason.

We jump to conclusions and believe it to be right. We refuse to look at other angles to the situation. We stick to our blinkers and our prejudices. However, if we are put into the position of the other or another side; we may realise that we ignored reason.

A basic template for reasoning is evenness. We cannot argue differently depending on how it suits or concerns only us and our single perception! Reason cannot change as per gender, location or affiliation. It must be based on a 360 degree perspective.

Good for goose, is good for gander too

Reason is about sticking to what’s true!

~ Pravin K Sabnis

Teach him Now

He looks at her and what she wears

He looks as she shamelessly stares…

He looks at her wander in the night

He looks as she seems an assured sight…

He wants to teach her… real lessons

He wants to hold her… off her passion!

He wants to rein her before it is late

He wants to chain her inside the gate!

He hears her argue with her mother

He hears her treat advice as a bother…

He hears her ask her father for rights

He hears her speak, stand and fight…

He tells her that she is a lesser one

He tells her to stop acting like a son!

He tells her she is asking for trouble

He tells her to be just random rubble!

Now when she is brutalised, he is full of fury

Now he wants to play prosecution and jury

But the ones who abused and set her ablaze

Are just like him… movers in a bigoted maze!

He saw her as a lesser thing… so did they

He saw her as a pet… they saw her as prey!

He held dirty thought, they did the dirty act

Thoughts lead to actions… that’s a real fact!

So clear the dirt now that blurs the brain

Treat her like a human… not as a stain!

No lesson needs to be taught to any girl

It is the boys who need the washing swirl!

He needs to change his outlook of her

He needs to learn humane behaviour…

Abuse, brutalisation is the same chafe

Teach him now so that she can be safe!

Teach him now so that she can be safe!

 ~ Pravin K Sabnis