At The Surajkund Fair

Friends, Some of the faculty and and students of IGNOU had visited the the Surajkund crafts fair(ended 15th Feb.2010) which is held on the the way to Faridabad. These pics were sent to us by Dr. S.V. Reddy. The fair is held by the Haryana Tourism. Here the urban and the rural meet spectacularly.This time countries like Thailand, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Egypt and Tajkistan too participated to show their traditional crafts along with the Indian craftsmen/women. In this way a chance for building national and international goodwill and understanding seems to have taken shape.In contrast to the violent past month in India and elsewhere, some shades of harmony were at display at the fair. (SFC, PG IGNOU with the help of Mr. Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew)




Artefacts on Display and above artificial Flowers
Display at a Pavilion

Mela(fair) pictures

A Trapeze Artist about to begin

Mr. Ravikant (Dir) EMPC at the fair

Mr. Ajay Mahurkar at the Surajkund Fair

The Afghanistan Pavilion at the Surajkund Fair

A canopy at the Surajkund Fair

A village Artist

Performing Artists at the Fair

A Camel At the Surajkund Fair

IGNOU faculty member Dr. S.V. Reddy at the fair

The Surajkund Mascot

Blood Donation Camp at IGNOU

The School of Health Sciences, IGNOU and Rotary deserve to be congratulated for holding a successful blood donation camp at the Maidangarhi campus yesterday. Over a hundred volunteers donated blood and many contributed by looking after the donors and in organising the camp. The participants included students,faculty members and staff of IGNOU. At a time when there would be need for emergency medical supplies (including crises such as the earthquake at Haiti where even Indians are reported as missing or injured), such a camp can either help or atleast be an example for future such camps. That such camps can promote international goodwill is demonstrated by the report in Times of India on 31st Oct. 2009 when the family of an Australian David Moore travelled to India and donated blood in a camp which was deemed to be part of marriage celebrations of an Indian student who had worked and studied in Australia. They reiterated here their commitment to be a part of the wider donors movement. At a time when the attacks on the Indians are again on the rise in Australia, these gestures are worth remembering. (They remind us that a very large number of Australians can be appealed to for building goodwill at times of racist attacks or urban violence of the 'social swamp' which we described in an earlier posting.) The camp at IGNOU also threw up certain questions. The anxiety and apprehensions of participating in such a camp was evident amongst all the participants ie. the students, faculty and the staff. Some exhibited symptons of a higher than usual BP levels or some students fainted. Now the reasons for this could be due to the higher levels of anxiety which prevail in the typical urban existence we lead today. Various studies have documented how these anxiety levels about the body have gone up in the age of mobiles and speed telecommunication. Also, the questionnaires asking for health background etc.could be better designed and executed. As we move in to an an age where workplace takes up most of our time and it is here that we encounter the dynamics of speed telecommunication at its peak, we need to have strategies to cope with its stresses and strains. In India some private sector companies have gyms where employees can destress. Similarly in some countries a good and cheerful ambience is created by the efforts of the working people. This needs to be consciously done. As several writers including Sitaram Yechury, M.P. from Rajya Sabha have recently pointed out (in HT this week), progress in health does not automatically follow economic development. It has to be consciously achieved. As more and more students from diversity of backgrounds come in to IGNOU in large numbers and also leave to join the work force, this task of good health and cheerfulness will have to be worked for. It is here spending time on the counselling of the participants on questions of health background etc. could have been useful in taking care of risks and confidence building . On the whole a success and our congratulations to the School of Health Sciences. (SFC, PG IGNOU with the help of Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew)

NITIN GARG

Nitin Garg
The Indian student who was killed in Australia was cremated at his village in Jagraon (India) yesterday. We extend our condolences to his family and friends in this hour of grief. Meanwhile we wait for the 'full facts' to come out from the Australian government(as promised by the acting foreign minister Crean) on a series of recent attacks on Indian students in Australia.( SFC, PG IGNOU, with the help of Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew)

When There Is No Getting Over That Rainbow

Day after day I must face a world of strangers
where I don't belong, I am not that strong
Its nice to know that there is someone I can turn to
who will always care, you are always there
when there is no getting over that rainbow
when my smallest of dreams won't come true
I can take all the madness the world has to give
but I won't last a day without you
So many times when the city seems to be without a friendly face
a lonely place
Its nice to know that you will be there, if I need you
and you will always smile, its all worthwhile..........
This 1970s Carpenters number captures the bewildering urban life and its emotional ups and downs which so many of us(both young and not so young) lead. It is in this context that the Ruchika case and its aftermath sends shivers down our spines.Molestation of a young student and an aspiring tennis player, misuse of power,harassment of family and friends and the eventual suicide of Ruchika have been highlighted by the press and the media.So also the hounding which continued for 19 long years.Ms.Brinda Karat,the Rajya Sabha MP, described this aptly as the 'sickness of the system'. Not only was the young girl traumatised and isolated by the incident but the operations of the 'political state' further reinforced her feelings of debasement and isolation. How else do we look at the political and state machinery nexus which as the media points out swung in to operation for these many years? India inherited the structures of its state system from the British colonial times. As an eminent writer and thinker of the 19th century, Frederick Engels,has pointed out that the British system had drawn up its legal institutions 'almost exactly in the the same terms as in the (absoloutist) Prussia'. Framing of cases against Ruchika's brother,his torture and then concomitant harassment of her friends and their isolation reflects methods of operation reminiscent of these practices under British imperialism. The British political state, as Engels points out had perfected the methods of 'debasement through isolation' and 'debasement through association'(which he also found in reports on Australia) both designed to'ruin systematically and consistently the victims of the state and law physically, intellectually and morally and to reduce them to below the level of beasts.' Today this works through what the Slovenian thinker Zizek calls the technological totalitarianism of 'emotional democracy' Witness how Chautala in a media interview almost labelled Ruchika's family cowards-'dubak ke baith gaye'( they are cowering like weak animals in a corner) thus appealing to the macho emotionalism which he presumed would isolate her 'cowering' family and friends. They have infact taken up the cudgels with the help of a fledgling but determined civil society movement. We in the IGNOU SFC and PG have taken up the issues of our study processes and life processes getting caught up in the machinations of the political state both here as well as in supporting Indian students in Australia. We need to concomitantly exercise this vigil. Otherwise there will be 'no getting over that rainbow.' (SFC, PG IGNOU with the help of Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew)

Clouds Coming From the South

Friends, We are posting an account of travel to the Yunan province of China by one of our friends from IGNOU. Mr. Vats went to China from IGNOU about seven years back. Since then he has taught at the Beijing university and not only learnt the Chinese language but also is now engaged in translating Chinese literature. In the process he has made many friends and was even nominated for an award for promoting India-China friendship. Currently he works at the China radio international. He has travelled extensively in China, keenly studying the issues of development and the questions of harmony in the Chinese experiment.As you know, recently the ethnic riots in Xinjiang province recently placed these issues centre stage in the context of China. There have been analyses pointing out departures from Mao Zedong's approach towards minority- majority communities' relationships in the current day China.Mr. Vats has decided to study the situation himself. His account of travels in Yunan(which in Chinese he tells us means 'clouds coming from the south') is at the moment a page from his diary. He is open to your comments.You can write to him directly at c/o Mr. Rakesh Vats, China Radio International (we will subsequently post his email address)or you can query him through this blog.It is perhaps these issues of harmony and development which have enhanced interest in Asian studies and China in universities such as the Australian National University, as reported by the ABC news on 8th Jan. 2009.This news report also suggested that one of the factors in this interest is the dream of the Australian PM, Kevin Rudd (who speaks the Chinese language fluently), that Australian children will learn Chinese to reach out to the region.Mr. Kevin Rudd, who was in India recently in the context of race attacks on the Indian students in Australia could perhaps also include these Indian students in such dreams of multiculturalism. "Development in the border areas of Yunnan in China
Run up to the much awaited celebration of 60th anniversary of People’s Republic of china on October 1st ; CRI gave us an opportunity to travel to the vast border areas of south western part of Yunnan province inhabited mostly by minorities of china. The purpose of the travel was to observe and see the development taken place in the last thirty years after china implemented reforms and open policies in those far flung areas that usually don’t shine in the cities neon lights. We were flown from Beijing to Kunming the capital of Yunnan province from where we had to start our journey of two weeks mostly by bus. Yunnan province is the sixth largest province of china and home to two third of 56 minorities, half of the total plants and animals found in china. If someone travels to Kunming and want to see the cultural varieties of these minorities, one can visit minority’s village in the city which showcase the cultural diversity of almost all the minorities in one place. On 12th August early morning we started our journey by bus and our destination was 700 km far away in the mountainous region a small town Manshi which is a town under the jurisdiction of Luxi,which is the capital of the Deihong Dai & Jingpo nationalities autonomous Prefecture. I was very apprehensive before the travel and was sure to get all the joints of the body loosen by the end of day’s journey in the mountainous region. My experience of traveling in the hometown mountains in Himachal Pradesh, India was an indication of the trouble ahead. As our bus journey progressed I was utterly surprised to witness the wide four lane road in the lap of the serpent shaped mountain track, and the minimum speed of the vehicle is prescribed 60 to 80 km for heavy vehicle and 100 km for smaller one. By cutting open the hearts of mountains, by erecting tall pillars, by cementing and iron netting the slope of the mountains, hundreds of tunnels as small as 50 meter and as long as 3900 meters, a wondrous straight highway has been made till Manshi. If you drive on this road and in case your car’s breakdown, there is a safety net on this mountainous highway, after every ten twenty kilometers there is a bifurcated safety road peace going up and been filled with sand and rubber tier wall, it can save the life in the emergent situation. And there were also signs on the road of the length of the descent and ascend lying ahead, and numerous water stations on the way.
It’s not only the highway and vehicles whose speed was a matter of surprise, but the overall development of the region which lay both sides of the road was an eye opener. Village by village we witnessed the progress of rural areas of minorities in the mountains. Even traveling in the bus and seeing from the window, we could clearly recognize which minority village we are passing by. The well built houses of the villages clearly have some symbol painted on the walls of each and every house which indicate their identity.
Next four days we spent in the border towns of Manshi, Baoshan ,Ruil, Wanding, talking with the officials, meeting local peoples, criss-cross the border market and enjoying the local feast in the minorities villages. In Manshi,we found the language, the costumes and the customs are more like those in Burma, Laos and Thailand. Even the sign board in the market, road sides are mostly in three languages, Chinese, Burmese and Thai. After reforms and opening up these areas have witnessed an unprecedented growth in the border trade which has benefited people’s income and their life. Most of the minority’s villages in this region enjoy all the facilities accorded by the central government’s policies for minorities, school with in radius of four kilometer for every village, electricity, health care center, nine years compulsory education, tax rebate and insurance for the farmers. Normally where a couple can have only one child as a rule in China, minorities can have more then one. To protect their languages, and to curb drop out rate in the schools, the teachers are appointed after giving them training from their own communities so that the children can get basic education in their mother tongue. When you pass through the city, you tend to forget that you are walking through the streets of a small border town, the streets are as wide as in Beijing and all the facilities of modern city town can be seen here. ATM, Carrie four, KTV, net bar and high rise buildings. Ruili also has the largest jewelry market of china, mostly jade articles and jewelry is being traded here.
Our next destination was Tengchong County which lies at the western foot of Gaolinggong Mountains, in the western part of Yunnan province. Bordering on keqinbang of Burma on the west with a boundary of 148.7 kilometers. The population here consists of more than 10 ethnic groups, such as Hans,Dais,Bais,Huis,Lisus,Achangs and others, each with their own rich and colorful culture and traditions. Tengchong is a famous historical and culture town, known as “The hometown of Overseas Chinese”. It is situated in a border area and is a town of strategic importance. During the anti-Japanese war Tengchong was a main battle field in the western part of Yunnan Today It has seen much development, thanks to the bubbling border trade and it has emerged as a famous tourist attraction for scientists, and inland Chinese travelers for “Geological Museum”,” Natural Botanical Garden” and” a “Natural Museum”. Anti-Japanese war memorial is a new edition in the city’s tourist spots which attracts nearly a 1000 visitor everyday.
Our first leg of travel was coming to an end and we traveled back from Tengchong to Kunming, a day’s journey again by bus. In the last six days we had seen many new places, unknown to us before and our purpose was to know first hand how far these places have benefited with the reforms and open policies of the Chinese government of the last thirty years. And how much impact these policies have made on the life of so called ‘Aam Admi’ (common man) .Is he getting ‘Roti,Kapra aur Makan’ and other facilities, such as electricity, clean water, roads, schools ,hospitals and social security? How can we do that? To know about all this firstly we need to talk to those, who have power and responsibility to provide all these things, and we did talk to those people, although we also know its not sufficient but the fact remain that a society which has zero tolerance for corruption, government officials tried to do their job with a sense of responsibility, honesty, hard work and with utmost transparency provided us all the figures and information we needed. .secondly, we should look around with open eyes and ears and try to see those forms of development which don’t require any discussion or figures and information. They speak for themselves, such as basic infrastructure in the city, roads, transport, market,etc.We can clearly have an idea after seeing this if the society is moving ahead or not. Third, we need to talk to those who are the recipient of all this development. We tried to use all these three methods to see how much developed has taken place in these areas. I met with a 14 year old girl of Jingpho minority in her village named Lucy and she for me represents the new face of upcoming generation of these minorities. She likes English, can use Internet and after graduation she want to work in a media. The new generation of minorities in this region has got a chance to dream and to fulfill it also." (Pages from Mr. Vats's diary.We are grateful for sharing his thoughts with us.).(SFC, PG with the help of Mr. Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Matthew)

At Cooper Street

The reported racial attack on a Sikh youth at Cooper Street in Melbourne last Sunday again shows that the problem has not yet gone away. However, one positive point was that there was an attempt to prevent the attack by the companions of the attacking youth and also by the bus driver and a passenger at the bus station where the attack took place. We have in the past also drawn attention to this positive aspect of the Australian society. This indeed is an indication that getting out of what the French thinker Paul Virilio called the 'social swamp' is actually possible. This 'social swamp' is a result of individuals cooped up in their 'own black holes' and complementing the micro- fascism of local gangs who dictate local laws and local conditions of living, interacting and thinking in the modern(hyper modern) urban settings. This 'social swamp' according to him actually completes the 'obvious and super organised society' of the western world in the current times. This technologically super organised society he points out is driven by the relentless logic of speed which plays a crucial part in the militarization of urban space and the transformation of social, political and cultural life. Indeed history itself makes 'progress at the speed of its weapons system' It is here that Virilio tries to rescue a sense of history in his critique of the famous cyber Australian artists such as Stelarc. This critique by the humanist Virilio is to prevent situations where political power aided by technoscience turns against its own people. This happened, for example, recently in September 2009 when the military ruler of Guinea in Africa turned the guns at his own people who were holding a protest rally. Hundreds were killed and injured. Really a tragic consequence of attempts to control the mind and body. In India we need to be careful of the ' black hole' phenomenon as evidenced in the bizarre case of the murder committed by the 'brilliant' Phd student of IIT which was reported yesterday. At the same time the attempts to dictate what and how people should think in the wake of the condemnable Maoist violence can only throw us in to a 'social swamp'.(SFC, PG with the help of Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew)

Wake Up Sid

In yet another race attack, an Indian student was hit and robbed in North - West Melbourne in Australia on the 29th of September, reports of which are still coming in. We have been commenting on and actively mobilising opinion on the safety of the Indian students in Australia.Clearly more needs to be done both in India and Australia. However, equally shocking are the reports coming from Mumbai where a leading film maker was made to apologise for his characters using the name Bombay instead of Mumbai for the city in the film 'Wake Up Sid'. Incidents of this kind hardly project the right impression of India and the Indians in an interconnected world.Needless to say such incidents would not help campaigns for the welfare and security of students and other sections of society studying, travelling and living in various destinations across the globe.Within India this kind of identity politics immensely sets back our social, educational and democratic processes.

This kind of identity politics has arisen within the context of the advanced industrial world with which we are supposed to be integrating. We must remember that even within that world this identity politics is a problem area creating enormous difficulties for everyday life of the common people.It has led to riots and frictions in France, U.S. , U.K. and other countries. In Australia it had led to movements such as 'Australian Universities for Australians'. The dynamics of these politics differ from country to country. However in the context of the post- industrial society they seem to be marked by what a leading American author called the union of 'total commercialisation and politics'.This leads to 'one of the many ways' in which discourse and communication becomes immune to artistic and creative expression. The notions of Maharashtrians, Indians or Australians etc. are fixed as some kind of constructs in this discourse and are sought to be imposed. All development of meanings or history is cut off in this way. Human beings in this situation are reduced to these constructs and are vulnerable to the stereotypes generated by them. The 'north Indian outsider' or the 'pesky Indian student' are some of the stereotypes. The defining feature of the post industrial society is the dominance of technology. It is this dominance which identity politics uses to create a closed universe in which fixed meanings and constructs have to be accepted and internalised by individuals in order to survive. In other words multiculturalism is out and the individual is expected to associate with a fixated structure of institutions, attitudes, aspirations and he/she is expected to react in fixated,specific manner.Thus, one of the Bollywood filmstars actually said that her respect for Karan Johar went up because he apologised to Raj Thackeray.It is this internalisation of repressive and fixed constructs which marks the identity politics of the post industrial society.This could be even reflected in undemocratic state systems of the post industrial world which thrive on identity politics. The language of interaction which comes up here, is that of what the famous French linguist and semiotician Roland Barthes called 'intimidation and glorification' It is thus through the intimidatory tactics of Raj Thackeray the glorification of the Marathi 'manoos'(man) is achieved. Likewise glorification of such fixed identity constructs are achieved elsewhere in the world. This creates a hypnotic reality (as Barthes points out) and it is to this reality that we along with Sid actually need to wake up to.(SFC and PG of IGNOU with the help of Mr. Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew).