‘Dambar Dabbis’ at the sad mercy of Lord Rama

Few regions on earth can boast the rich cultural tapestry of Karnataka’s west coast.

The place is home to “literate” Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Jains, Buddhists; to speakers of a multitude of languages who eat different foods, dress differently. But the ongoing segregation and ghettoisation of communities, often, it seems, to the drumbeats of a democratically elected government, receives scant notice.

Suddenly, friends are no longer just friends; classmates are no longer just classmates; neighbours are no longer just neighbours. Almost everybody and almost everything is beginning to be brazenly, dangerously viewed through a constricted  aperture custom-made to enhance doubt, suspicion and mistrust.

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Sudipto Mondal, in today’s Hindu, reports from Panja, the chikungunya capital of Dakshina Kannada, where the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has “successfully enforced” a ban in the Government composite pre-University college on Muslim girls wearing the burkha.

“Many girl students spoke about the humiliation they face every day. One of them said, ‘All the other girls have started calling us ‘Dambar Dabbi’ (boxful of tar). They have come up with rhymes that poke fun at our outfits.’

“According to her, every time she and her friends put on or take off their burkha, a few boys and girls start clapping or chanting ‘Jai Sri Ram‘. Her classmate claimed that some students regularly take her headscarf from her bag and hide it.

“The bullying extends outside the campus. An elderly woman told The Hindu in confidence that some men forced her to take off her burkha when she was walking back home one evening. ‘When I agreed, they began to celebrate and raised slogans of ‘Bharat mata ki jai’,’ she said.

Read the full article: ‘We were friends once but not any more’

Also read: Giving Lord Rama a good name, 24x7x365

“Bowlers’ Graveyard” takes on a new meaning

Harsha Bhogle writes in The Indian Express that the real danger of the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore is that the inherent innocence of “the game we love” could become hostage to spoilsports; the game being played in heavily fortified garrisons, the viewing pleasure limited to what the camera captures and commentator says:

“Ultimately though, cricket is only a tiny part of the reality of our existence. Like the movies, if more strongly, it can allow us to escape into our little cocoon for a few hours. But thereafter we must emerge and place it in the context of our times. This is a time of extraordinary hatred and violence, of tearing apart rather than stitching together; of grown-up men fighting like neighbourhood kids but with weapons that can maim and kill. The sad reality in our part of the world is that we have far too many people to police and far too few that don’t need policing.”

Read the full article: The game we love

CHURUMURI POLL: Is 2011 World Cup in danger?

Tuesday’s attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore, on top of the November 26 terror attack on Bombay, raises a fundamental question: Is international cricket on the subcontinent in danger of being held hostage by terrorism?

Will cricketers be able to visit India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with the same freedom they did? Will the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), scheduled to start next month, go on without trouble? Or will foreign players pull out? Will the World Cup in 2011 go on as scheduled? Or is it in danger?

Also read: CHURUMURI POLL: Should India tour Pakistan?

Black and white or colour, no biz like showbiz

While the stars dazzle at the 75th anniversary celebrations of Kannada cinema, a police constable relives some sepia-tinted memories at an exhibition at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore on Monday.

Photograph: Karnataka Photo News

272 miles to go and so many promises to make

On the day the Election Commission announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections, former Union minister and Congressman-turned-BJP strategist Arun Nehru‘s back-of-the-envelope calculations, published in The Pioneer, Delhi, of where the two “national” parties stand.

The verdict: Congress 149, BJP 135. In other words, the “regional” parties still hold the key at this point for either the UPA or the NDA to reach 272.

Unless, of course….

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Sheela Bhatt on rediff.com:

“If one looks from New Delhi, it seems that the Congress has an overall edge compared to other contestants. But if you view the Congress’s prospects from the state capitals, they seem hardly encouraging. If Congress loses dramatically in Andhra Pradesh (it has 29 seats in the outgoing house) and Tamil Nadu (10 seats), it will almost certainly lose the game.

“The reverse is true for the BJP. From New Delhi, the BJP looks divided, confused and devoid of fresh ideas. But in a few crucial states it seems that the party is set to take advantage of the anti-incumbency of the United Progressive Alliance government. In the western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, the issues of terrorism and economy are hot and will harm the Congress.”

Graphic: courtesy The Pioneer

Also read: Poll straws again point to a ‘hung’ parliament

CHURUMURI POLL: A Congress-BJP government?

Real-life zeroes taking credit for reel-life heroes

ARUNDHATI ROY in Dawn:

“So now everyone, including the Congress Party, is taking credit for the Oscars that Slumdog Millionaire won! The party claims that instead of “India Shining” it has presided over India ‘Achieving’. Achieving what?

“In the case of Slumdog, India’s greatest contribution, certainly our political parties greatest contribution is providing an authentic, magnificent backdrop of epic poverty, brutality and violence for an Oscar-winning film to be shot in. So now that too has become an achievement?

“Something to be celebrated? Something for us all to feel good about? Honestly, it’s beyond farce.

“And here’s the rub: Slumdog Millionaire allows real-life villains to take credit for its cinematic achievements because it lets them off the hook. It points no fingers, it holds nobody responsible. Everyone can feel good. And that’s what I feel bad about.”

Read the full article here: Caught on film: India ‘not shining’

Genuflection is all about whose feet you fall at

churumuri.com is pleased and privileged to endorse, without any reservations and without reading too much between the lines, this action of chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa.

Sri Shivakumara Swamiji of the Siddaganga Mutt is decidedly older in age and in wisdom; has spent a lifetime in service of society, providing free quality education to the poor and underprivileged; and has earned the respect of millions with his vision and selflessness.

If only we could say the same thing of most “godmen”, without having to hiss about their financial hera-pheri, their business empires, their political antics, their sexual proclivities, etc; and without frothing at the mouth about “secular” politicians attending iftaar parties or confabulating with children of Christ.

Photograph: Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa seeing off Sri Shivakumara Swamiji who travelled with him from Ramanagaram to Tumkur on Sunday. The CM later continued his journey to Tiptur (Karnataka Photo News)

Also read: Should a chief minister fall at a godman’s feet?

The left hand knows what the left hand is taking