The Stench of Saffron

Should I stay or should I go?

The Clash asked that, rhythm and rhyming the approach-avoidance syndrome, backing it with a driving incessant beat, and…leaving the question unanswered, now that I think about it; which doesn’t help me a lot, or any.

See, the thing is, I’ve remained in India for the past decade and half in highly addictive expat comforts. This in spite of the best efforts of the Foreigners Regulation and Registration Office and its bureaucratically brilliant systems for making life just that little bit more pebble-in-the-shoe-ish. I shouldn’t be surprised. I mean, you take bureau… I beg your pardon, Bureaucracy, which India has had for a lot longer than most other places, and you clothe it in the Eton-Harrow-OxBridge pomposities that pass for governance and administration, and what you get is the FRRO, and their ability to trigger ‘screw it, what’s the travel agent’s e-address, sorts of thoughts and impulses. But, I digress.

The FRRO is not the reason I’ve bookmarked Lonely Planet and know where my passport and traveling pants are. [Aren’t cargos just the absolute tits?]  For the first time in 15 years I’m starting to get uncomfortable with the smell of teen spirit. An appreciable, increasingly aggressive, portion of India’s youth, the generation that Narendra ‘BigMo’ Modi has so assiduously wooed and won, have embraced the concept of Indian National Cultural Values (INCV) (All concepts in India are labeled and acronym-ed. It’s a cultural thing) and are looking to impose the same on the rest of India. As an example let me cite the attempt by some of Young Modern India (YoMo’In) (concept again) to exercise their perfectly reasonable right to show affection, one for the other, in public and with due regard for the decencies necessary. Towards this end a ‘Kiss-in’ was organized and announced. This did not meet with the approval of the Religious Right (RR) (also a concept), who, in short order deployed their youth wing. There are altogether too many upper case concepts of that wing for me to list. Suffice it to say that they are manifold and are, without exception, large, testosterone driven and ready to rumble. Pumped with ideology, righteous anger, and, I suspect but cannot prove, steroids, these myrmidons of INCV were able to intimidate the local police into backing their play in preventing the Kiss-in from happening. The cops must have figured that worst YoMo’In could do was kiss them in protest while the RR youth wing was armed, but I’m guessing.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that things have reached the twin lightning insignia stage but one gets the feeling that saffron shirts and khaki shorts are being bulk ordered and stockpiled. Certainly saffron is starting to replace the admittedly condescending Congress white in the halls and seats of power, bringing with it the stench of faith based governance and reminding me of the reasons I left home, hearth, and health insurance to remain in India. But now…

I wonder if the FRRO in Vietnam has better manners.

Militant Religiosity

I find myself becoming quite religious in my antipathy to reli…no, actually, that should be, Religion. I find myself proselytizing and preaching on the dangers of institutionalized faith. My semi-libation – I’m clumsy and tend to spill things – toasts to polymath Dawkins are starting to take on the aspects of ritual, tending uncomfortably towards dogma and cant. My accountant tells me that she is considering submitting my bar bills as a tithing expense. I find myself surfing anti-Religion web sites for arguments that I then plagiarize and pass off as revelations. Hell, I’ve found myself taking out my articles of faith, polishing them, and presenting them as the only Truth that makes sense, ignoring, as I do so, the obvious holes in my logic, over-riding objections with the power of oratory. In short, I seem to have become Religious.

Oh, I have my justifications and my rationalizations, but, they all boil down to fear. No difference there, then. I mean reli… Religion got started because of fear in the first place. Fear of the night. Fear of the unknown. Fear of thunder, lightning, and the voices of the gods in the howling wind, the naked ape cowering in the sturm and whimpering in the drang . All of which is as close to a selfie as I care to get. Not that I'm scared of thunder and the voices of the gods, you understand. Those have been explained, to my satisfaction, by rationality and science No, my fear is of the rising tides of militant religiosity.

 Saffron the designated color of Hinduism, as opposed to the condiment, seems to be subsuming the philosophical and much heralded Colors of India. That’s colors, plural, as in many and varied; a heady mixture of creative concepts to explain the mysteries of life; each limning, shading, on occasion merging, with the other, to create a reasonably amicable, (for a given value of amity), system of social order that has served the sub-continent well for a few thousand years. The philosophies were not so much competing, as much as finding their place in the pavane of governance and individual rights and responsibilities. At least, that’s the way it used to be. Not so much now.

Now, here, in this land where diversity, and the right to be different, was enshrined in the Constitutional clauses of sovereignty and nationhood, the monoculture rigidity of militant Hinduism, the Religion, is, with increasing frequency, occupying the public spaces of India. Saffron robes have become the official office wear of an increasing number of legislators and law makers, who in their zealotry are passing laws and ordinances that pay little heed to the rights of the Other. Saffron rituals take precedence minority ways, and no back talk. Taking cues from Mosque and Church, Hinduism has embraced apostasy (apostasy – in a philosophy – can you dig it?) as a control mechanism. No more multiple pathways to the god head; one, and only one, saffron hued, officially approved, mandated, road to salvation. A philosophy that accepted, encouraged, questioning, and dialog is being perverted into a religion with all its authoritarian implications.

I have to stop. This is getting depressing.

The Saffron March

Cassandra… no, wait, was it Cassandra? You know, the lady who warned folks of ill times and was reviled and jeered at for her troubles. Well, if it wasn’t she, it ought to have been, her name has the proper sibilance. Anyway, I think I hear her, but, I’m not jeering, ‘cuz, much as I don’t want to, I’m beginning to see what she is going on about here in, but not limited to, India. Indeed not.

But…

The worldwide [I mean, check out the state of affairs in the putatively non-religious Russia; the 12 Labors of Hercules (beta), Vladimir Putin and his heroic battle against the non-believers as visualized by State commissioned Art. And then there is all too obvious ISIL, the US Supreme Court decision that redefined ‘separation of Church and State’ not to mention North Kores], where was I? Oh yes, the worldwide trend of religion as governance, and the deification of politicians, is making itself more and more visible in the governance of India and that is a crying shame. And that, as Cassandra will have it, bodes for those who have the seeing of it..

Boding is not good. It darkens the vision and saps the spirit. Tomorrow becomes a bogey in the intervening night and can blind the senses to possibilities. Perceptions become selective and it becomes more and more difficult to remember that India is a young vibrant construct that has been more successful in this business of democracy and people power than have any of her contemporaneous bits and pieces of crumbled Empire

India has in 6 and a little bit decades reached a degree of social consciousness it has taken the US two centuries to realize. Largely, I think, because of a long tradition, culture, of tolerance and respect of difference, known as hinduism, the philosophy [h_p].

But…

The same tradition, culture, and philosophy, is being elevated to the upper case status of Hinduism, the Religion [H^R]. As Cassandra is pointing out, H^R is planting its pennons in the halls of power and governance. Saffron is becoming the Office wear of a number, an influential number, of India’s law makers. There are places in India where history is being re-formed into interpretations that suit the purposes of Faith and Belief, and included in school curricula.Local ordinances against hurt religious sentiments are being,  enforced, sometimes forcibly. Zealots, armed with cudgels and bricks, can enforce faith based rules and moralities with impunity and too often immunity. Religion based gerrymandering of the electorate is a fact of the politics of gover…

Wait one second. I’ve been through this once before. Let’s see, when was that? Oh yes, I recall, Ronald Reagan’s triumphant march, Crusader colors, symbols, justifications, and all. Which begat Dubya, a Right wing Supreme Court, the Republican Senate and Dick Cheney. And we can see the result of all of that, live, [you should pardon the expression], and bloody color  on CNN International any hour of the day or night.

I wonder if Cassandra would be willing to join me in a bottle of retsina.

Navratri and Love Jihad

Hinduism^R-the Religion,[as differentiated from hinduism_p-the philosophy], is saying, and doing, some ugly things.

For starters, Hinduism^R, is starting to show signs of becoming, Official.

Hinduism^R has begun to wa… stride the corridors of power. Law makers and administrators are making laws and rules that have their rationale in the religiously held belief that Majority makes Right; which makes the minority Wrong and in need of corrective measures. Human rights are being viewed through saffron tinted lens and are beginning to be found irrelevant to the cause of making India a Hindu^R nation. Which is so far away from hinduism_p (a philosophy that says, in short – Think, and you’ll see), that given the curvature of space/time, it is meeting Hinduism^R (a faith that says, at length - Believe and We’ll tell you what you are seeing), from the other side. Given the muscular aggression of Hinduism^R and the essential live and let live attitudes of hinduism_p, things are starting to bode.

Let me illustrate.

Word is that religious right-wingers, some in elected office, have ordered organizers of the Navratri (a nine night acknowledgment of Goddess Power) celebrations, to keep Muslim men out of venues that hold the Garba dances Garba dancing, for those of you who might be wondering, is a folk tradition involving energetic graceful choreography to driving rhythms, for the most part, although not exclusively, performed by young women. The edict, which in some places flaunts the imprimatur of Official Elected Satraps [OES], is the Saffron Satraps’ [SS], [talk about synergy], counter strategy to their belief that Islam^R has initiated a Love Jihad as part of their war against Hinduism^R. It seems Islam^R has tasked Muslim men with seducing Hindu^R women into marriage, conversion and Muslim baby production. The Garba dances, it seems, were to be targets of opportunity for the love jihadists, what with lithe bodies gyrating to driving rhythms and all.

And there you have it, a celebration of woman power; a decidedly hindu_p concept co-opted by the self serving paranoia of Hinduism^R.

Not that this comes as a surprise. Most, if not all, certainly all the so called Major Religions, take what start out as simple, graceful, caring philosophies, and distort them into grotesque self serving mechanisms of power; the original intent of amicable social contract and mediated compromise lost in the deluge of bombastic claims of salvation and truth; faith in higher power morphs into veneration of power.

The weird thing is that that some Islamist jihadists are going to think that a good plan and are, even as we speak, acquiring Hindu credentials and recharging their cell phone cameras.

I despair.

Religion in Governance

Religion and faith based governance, in a democracy, wow.

I don’t know why the oxymoronic quality of that doesn’t strike more folks, especially to the folks who vote saffron, skull cap, cross, what have you.

No, that’s not true, I do know why. They just haven’t thought about it. They cannot have. No thoughtful examination of the concept will fail to point to the contradiction of including “… because HE/SHE/IT says so” in a, of the people, by the people, for the people, system of the governance. Religion, as far as I can see, doesn’t allow for a whole lot of yeah-but-we’ve-been-thinking from their congregations. Rules is rules, they thunder, (hey, religion doesn’t have to be grammatical, or even coherent, come to that), from pulpits. It is not for you, you imperfect worm, they continue, to question the Word. Yours is to do or die. And we, the anointed voices of HE/SHE/IT, will tell you what to do, when to do it, and more often than not, how to do it, and no back-talk.

And there you have it.

Back-talk is exactly what makes a democracy, well, democratic. Back-talk, adversarial points of view, out-of-the-box thinking, and yes, even fringe opinions, are all part of the mix in the governance of as varied a lot of beings as we citizens; our individual self interests, corners rounded off by the compromises necessary for the existence of a collective well being, subsumed into the greater good, each of those corners discussed, deliberated, and only then fit into the whole.  Arguing with the power structure is what democracy is all about. Not a lot of that in the practice of religion which is given to edicts, commandments, and holy writ, a top down theory of governance. Which puts paid to any impulse to check with the People to see what they think about, oh, let’s say, killing in the name of the God-whose-Voice-is-all-Terrible. Nope, no consultation, no focus groups, no referenda, and most certainly, no back talk.

 That this, faith based governance, is happening here in India, home of lower case hinduism, the philosophy, is particularly galling. Saffron clad satraps have bullied their way into the halls of governance. It should be noted here that Saffron has become the battle color for upper case Hinduism, now an Official Religion, replete with rules, regulations, and intolerant righteousness. Pontificating from their tax exempt pulpits the Saffron Sages (SS) have been able to parlay their quite often irrational interpretations of the tenets of hinduism(lc) into the right and the power to impose on the rest of us their version of a pure State. Beef, they orate, and the eating of the same is antithetical to the dictates of Our One True God(s) and any Hindu who thinks otherwise is apostate. One such SS politician has gone on record as saying that cattle abattoirs are the source of Islamic Jihadists funding. Or so she believes and the fact that she is wearing Saffron when she goes to the office, well, that says it all, doesn’t it?  

I have no idea on how to deal with any of this. Religion and Faith have taken the place of rational discourse, world over. And all i can think to do is ... Holy Smoke.

What an idea, sirji.

Better Governance

How to make India better, how to make the United Nations better, how to make governance better, how to be a better parent, child, teacher, student – worthy as those concepts are, they miss the well intentioned point. The simple (okay- simple and easy don't mean the same thing, yeah?) one-stroke solution to the aforementioned Gordian knots would be for each of us, as, individuals, social individuals, to wonder how we are doing on the homo sapience-y scale; whether the self is in balance with the awareness.

Self is, uh, self-evident.

Awareness, okay, yeah, here’s where things start to get messy. For instance, I was just apprised of a couple of young women physically assaulted, in consecutive incidents,   for having the courage to defy an upper-caste (my fingers feel slimy as I type those words) khap panchayat ruling of exile imposed on their family for being kin to arrested, tried, and convicted felons. The beatings administered for non-compliance with the exile orders, to wit, arrogantly continuing their pursuit of education, which, by the bye, the young women were doing by trekking long rural distances and then doing well in their studies. And there you have it; an instance of selves and their degrees of awareness.  On one side an inner directed collective of selves and their awareness, on the other a more educated sense of self and its place in the larger scheme of things. Are those Young Women better persons? Is the upper (yuck) caste (even more yuck) behavior closer to the animal in man, somewhat lower on the whole personhood scale? Yes and yes. Will the Young Women make better governors of a multi cultural, many-self world? Hell yes. The khap panchayat selves?  Uh, D’oh.

Oh, and mention needs to be made about the personhood of the husbands of the Young Women, who abandoned their wives on imposition of the exile. Way to go guys; so much for the holy vows you took to protect and honor your, no doubt, underage brides. I’m sure god will understand.

Saffron Rock

There’s an oily sort of feeling to the politics of India today. There is a nausea inducing sort of slipperiness masquerading as the process of governance. Faith and religion’s imperatives are working their way into the oh-so-fragile skin of reason that is attempting to hold this billion plus collection of ego and emotion together.

And, it all feels so familiar. There is déjà vu happening all up in here. It’s like I’m hearing Carl ‘Retro’ Rove and his Christian Crew tuning up to play a gig in India; Christian Rock morphed into Saffron Rock (lyrics by RSS). Thrash music that assaults and overpowers the sense of the listener; rhyme and reason battered into submission by the screaming chorus of Because My God Says So.

Not that I’m accusing the Hindu Right of plagiarism, not at all, I hasten to add, as quickly as possible. I just think that the brains trust of India’s new Governors saw something that worked and by adding the much richer masala that is this ancient culture, made it their own.

Take this business of Ancient Culture as a simple solution to the trials and issues of a not at all ancient, far from simple, social organism. Do this. Don’t do that - Edicts of a simpler time as the way to manage the mad mélange of self-interest that is this modern construct, India. Any suggestion that those Ancient Rules of Behavior might not be an exact, or even comfortable, fit on the modern body politic is dismissed as the work of the devil, quite often, the foreign devil. Any argument that Ancient Writings, Vedas, Commandments, what have you, are guidelines and not, as it were, carved in stone, is howled down as anti-national and disloyal, treasonous, Christian America and Hindu India. Culture elevated to the status of Religion. It wasn’t that good a song when Ronnie and the Republicans were doing their thing; it hasn’t gotten any better by adding masala to it. But for some reason, or the lack thereof, Ronnie and the Reps were able to spawn a faith based form of governance that produced George W. Bush and the Democracy Destroyers. It took a while, but Carl and Crew got there. I don’t think it is going to take that long in India. After all India is doing in 60 years what took the USA 200 years to do.

I guess I’m hoping that India’s lean and hungry youth will do better than the fat and happy US electorate. Maybe India’s youthful intelligence will recognize the dangers of isolate purity and vote for the exhilaration of diversity. Festivals are best when new meets old and dances in the melodies so created.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Walking the Talk

India’s Prime Minister, Sri Narendra Modi, or BigMo  (for Momentum), is, to all appearances, Walking the Talk. Corruption – check, Development – check, Infrastructure – check, Emancipation for Corporations – cheq…check.  There is much activity and motion in the machinery of governance. Wheels are turning, albeit with no small amount of rusty groans. Files are being closed, lubricated by fear of professional and public consequences, replacing the hitherto indispensable WD40 of file movement, money. People-, Citizen-, Mango People – oriented programs are bursting with green shoots. Newspapers are replete with portraits of well-fed, well-clothed middle-class mangoes beaming with satisfaction at Budgets that sop up their territorial fears with the refrain happy days are here again.

All to the good, no doubt; India has been governed by the Talking the Talk is More than Enough folks for far too long.

But, the things that BigMo didn’t, has not, talked about are beginning to get worrisome. For instance, Mr. Modi has not made any mention of the role of particularized morality in governance. He has not categorically stated, (as he has on corruption, et.al), that religiosity is a private matter and has no place in public administration. He has not had a quiet word with the young lions in his government A result of that is, revisionist governors of dubious intellect and incomplete information are able to thump legislative tables and demand restrictions on swim-wear. Others, in the mode of Sarah Palin, and irrespective of party affiliation, feel free to blame cell phones for rape and demand legislation to curb access and use. Still others, party loyalists and fellow travelers, are emboldened into pouring vituperation and bile on bloggers who wonder about clay, feet, and idols. Across the nation religion and religious teachings are becoming the reason (hah) and the rhyme of rules and ordinances; almost as if the whole saffron clad lot of them stride the halls of power proclaiming, “He didn’t say we couldn’t, so we’re gonna, neener, neener, neener.”

Mr. Modi, sir, wonder if I could ask to have a word with those folks when you get back from Brazil. Or, at the very least, give your very able lieutenants the okay to talk some sense into the right wing of your party. After all, I have heard you say, the welfare of all the people is your concern in your new hand at the till speech. I’m not sure your myrmidons heard you. I am also assuming that your silence on stifling the voices of dissent is an over sight and not tacit approval.