િતર્યકી

– પછી તો તાપીકુંવરીએ માંડ્યું આખ્યાન.

સાંભળનારાં ઓછાં ને તાપીકુંવરી જાણે કે કળિકાળમાં આવાં આખ્યાન સાંભળનારાં ઓછાં જ હોય. પણ કથા કરવાનો એનો ધરમ, ને સ્વધર્મનું પાલન પ્રાણાન્તેય કરવું એ સત્ય એ પરમાણે.

પ્રસ્તુત આખ્યાનનું ધ્વનિમુદ્રણ આ લખનાર દાસીએ કર્યું અને જેવું એ કહેવાયું તેવું આપની સામે ધર્યું :

નમન

સર્વ દેવીદેવતાઓને અને સકલ ગ્રહોને.

સુજ્ઞજનોને અને અજ્ઞજનોને, સ્વાર્થીજનોને અને નિઃસ્વાર્થીજનોને, નિર્મલજનોને અને મલિનજનોને, કીડીથી કુંજર લગીની જીવસૃષ્ટિને, અને તૃણથી મહાતરુવર લગીની વનસૃષ્ટિને નમન.

નમન કરીને માંડીએ,
માંડીએ આખ્યાન એક તેજપુંજનું
જેમને હૃદિયે વસે રાંક જનતા,
સાચું કે ખોટું તે તો હરિ એક જાણે,
પણ એ ખુદ તો રોજ એમ કે’તા !
જનતા સવારે ને જનતા બપોરે,
જનતાનું હિત એ સેવંતા.
જનતાનાં દુઃખોને ફેડવા કાજે,
એ મૂકે એવી બળ-દોટ,
ઓળંગે સમદર ને ઓળંગે પહાડ,
વળી ઓળંગે કાંગરા ને કોટ.
એક દી’ સવારે તે મનમાં શું આવીયું,
ને સરજાવ્યું એમણે એક વસ્ત્ર,
સૂર્ય જેમ ઝળહળે, સોના તારે પરજળે,
જ્યમ્ ધારણ કર્યાં હોય શસ્ત્ર !
વસ્તર મૂલવાન ને પે’રનારા ગુણવાન
લોક થયું આખું હક્કબક્ક !
આવું તે વસ્તર પે’રીને એ તો મહાલિયા,
ને રંકગણ થયું ધોળું ફક્ક.
પહેર્યું જો હોત ભુવનખૂણે, અંધારે,
તો નહોતી ખરે જ કોઈ આપદા,
આ તો પહેર્યું ધમાલભેર, દેખી-દેખાડીને,
દીનદુઃખિયાંના કંઠ થયા ભારે !
દુઃખિયાં વિમાસે કે આપણે તો રુદિયામાં
આવા આ મહાજન ના વસીએ,
કેમ કરી, કરી શકે આવા આ દાખડા ?
બાજી બાજીને આપણ મરીએ !
     તે દી’થી તેજ કેરા પુંજનું શું ઘટિયું
     એ શાણુંજન મૌનમાં વિચારે,
     ઝાંખા એ લાગતા, ને બોલ એના ગાજતા
     તે બોદા ને ઠાલા ઘણા ભાસે !
     ગર્વીલા કંઠનાં કામણ કંઈ ખૂટ્યાં,
     ને જાદુ સહુ ઓસર્યા અચાનક,
     આંખ્યુંમાં ધૂળ એવી અણધારી ઊડી,
     કે સૈન્ય એનું થંભ્યું બેબાકળ.
કારણ સમજાયું નહીં, એવું તે શું થિયું,
એક વસ્તર જ્યાં ઝળહળતું પહેરિયું ?
પણ શાણું સહુ લોક એક જાગતી રે નગરીનું,
સમજીને સાને ઘણું પામિયું.
પિસાતું લોક અને કચડાતું લોક, કોણ પીડા તે અહીં એની પેખે ?
રોજરોજ કન્યાઓ મરતી ને લૂંટાતી, વેદના એની કોણ દેખે ?
જાતે રે જીવ ટૂંપે કેટલાયે જન, વ્યાકુલ-વેરાન અહીં કેટલાંયે મન !
બળબળતું, ટળવળતું, વલવલતું ભાસે સૂકું તે ભઠ્ઠ મારું માદરે વતન !
     આવાં અણિયાળાં દુઃખો ઠેસે ફંગોળી,
     એક ટોળકી ફરે મદમાતી,
     હુંકારા કરી-કરી, છાકોટે ચડી,
     પોણી પરજા જ્યાં મરસિયાં ગાતી !
રંકની મજાક ભ’ઈ ધૂળ બની વળગી, હું-હુંની પોટલી આખી રે સળગી,
આપણેયે ભોટ ખરાં, બુદ્ધિનાં બાપડાં, તે તેજપુંજ ગણી લીધા એહને,
જેહને તો વહાલેરાં વસ્તર છે સોનાનાં,
જેહ સામે જેકારે વામનો ટોળાનાં,
જેહ પહેરે ઝળહળતું વસ્તર,
જેહના હાથ નીચે પાંગરે મોહ ને મત્સર …
ધાર્યા કંઈ કેવા, ને દેખ્યા હવે કેવા, એ તો નીકળ્યા
સાવે સાવ, છેકેછેક …

•

હવે આટલું બોલતામાં તાપી કુંવરીનો કંઠ રૂંધાયો, ને ઠસકે ચડ્યો. એવે ઠસકે ચડ્યો, તે આખ્યાન રહ્યું અધૂરું અને ફલશ્રુતિ રહી બાકી, તે વળી ફરી ક્યારેક …

કળિકાલમાં વળી કયા આખ્યાનની સમાપ્તિ જાણી ?

સૌજન્ય : “નિરીક્ષક”, 01 માર્ચ 2015, પૂ. 20

Pio Gama Pinto

‘I first met Pinto in Kisumu in 1961. ‘I was then 16 years old. Our meeting happened under very unique circumstances. Pinto had been released earlier from detention. My father Achieng’ Oneko had been moved from Marsabit to Kapsabet where he was under house arrest. I do not know how Pinto learnt of my father’s placement under house arrest but he drove all the way from Nairobi to our home in Kisumu.

From Kisumu, we drove to Kapsabet. On the way, he promised he would have me transferred to Kapsabet High School. He would also avail all the books that I needed. He kept his word. When we got to Kapsabet, he parked the car two kilometres to the location where my father was placed under house arrest.

Pio Gama Pinto at the unveiling of Jomo Kenyatta’s statue in December 1964 at the Lumumba Institute in Nairobi. 

He tucked a parcel in my pocket and instructed me not to touch it. Then he asked me to pass by a tailoring shop owned by his friend Okuto Bala and inform him a certain person would be visiting.

I did this and proceeded to my father’s restriction place. When I got to the restriction house, my father went straight to my pocket, pulled the parcel and retreated into another room to check its contents.

It was only after doing so that he talked to me. Later, after my father was released and moved to his home in Uyoma, that I learnt that the person whom Pinto had asked me to inform Bala was coming was actually my father. Pinto had arranged to meet my father in one of the rooms behind the tailors shop.

At the meeting, he briefed him about the parcel he was sending with me (money and letters from other freedom fighters).

The reason he sent the parcel with me was because my father was not allowed to meet people without permission from colonial government; not least Pinto who was constantly trailed by the Special Branch.

I did not meet him again until 1964 when I returned from university studies in Russia. When I returned to Kenya, I went to see my father who had been appointed by President Jomo Kenyatta as Minister for Information and Broadcasting. In the intervening period, my father had employed Pinto’s wife as his private secretary. Pinto had also learnt that I was back from studies and came to see me in the office.

Later that evening, he drove me around Nairobi to help me get acquainted with the city that had radically changed from the time I left. This evening drive was to become a ritual and I remember him coming everyday to pick me from home at six in the evening.

The Kapenguria Six comprising: Bildad Kaggia, Kung’u Karumba, Jomo Kenyatta, Fred Kubai, Paul Ngei, and Achieng’ Oneko. They were arrested in 1952 and detained in Kapenguria.

In a booklet published in 1966 for his first anniversary but never circulated, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga points out that it was Pinto who organised lawyers to defend the freedom fighters when they arrested by the colonial government.

During the struggle for freedom from the British, Pinto maintained political liaison and supplied arms and money to the fighters from supply lines in Nairobi.

When the men in the forests required support, he sent money and arms secretly. He knew the consequences if he was caught— detention, even death—but nothing could stop him. When the (colonial) authorities caught up with his activities, he served his term of detention.

When he was assassinated, it became apparent that Pio Gama Pinto had spent all his money in the fight against the colonial government and its remnants in the new independent Kenya government. His wife and three daughters would have remained destitute were it not for his socialist friends who opened a trust fund to help the family.

In a strange twist of irony, the government made of former freedom fighters which he fought so hard to put in power, would not contribute a single cent to the trust fund.

Additional information from www.awaazmagazine.com

in News Analysis February 26, 2015 

Dr Ongong’a Achieng’, an economics lecturer at the Technical University of Kenya and son of freedom fighter Achieng’ Oneko, carries the testimony of Pio Gama Pinto’s concerns for families of liberators. He tells Gitahi Ngunyi of his relationship with Pinto.

http://mediamaxnetwork.co.ke/peopledaily/137836/pinto-played-big-brother-freedom-heroes-families/

As a college student she was sensitive to the issues that surrounded the society. She was instrumental in collecting donations and charity for the victims of Anamat Aandolan of 1989 in Gujarat. She had kept them in her house and would distribute with her friends to victims, only to get a threat of her house being burntif she gave it to Muslims. She was aghast.

Now, After two decades, when Dr. Damini has come out with a book “Muslim Ghettoisation : A tragedy” there is that element of commitment which is fast evaporating from our society called ‘sensitivity to the issues that surround not necessarily to you but to your people, who may not belong to the community and religion you are born or live with.

Dr. Damini Shah is a lecturer at Gujarat Vidyapeeth who is a scholar and researcher for years is a simple, short statured lady with steel like determination and courage. She did what many could not do or document, many did not bother or avoided to be heard of even. 

Dr. Shah has systematically analysed various aspects of living conditions and depicted the present scenario of the Muslim settlements in her 172 paged book  which has been written with reference to 2002 riots in Gujarat. 

In her documented research thesis, Dr Shah narrates the first account of the settlement dwellers that once many of them were once well to do, had good and clean hygienic conditions to live with and to boast of being civilised progressive Muslims. But, after riots, they said they were shocked to see their own people disowning them, not willing to see them back in their very areas where together they had passed years..and at a place which was rightfully owned by the, Yet, how they were made to be away from it and then the land grabbers in different forms and avatars ‘swallowed’ their land and houses.   

She has taken care to document small to big daily life issues like civic conditions, roads, lanes by lanes, rations hops, voting venues, public transportation, banks, drinking water, water to use, schools, hospitals, post offices, telephone booths, clinics etc present in these settlements and their condition. 

She has chosen to explain her point with the help of bar diagrams, maps and pictures. 

On page 128 of her book Dr Shah writes “the way American Whites tortured and victimized Black Americans and disallowed them to live a lfie of dignity and civilized life, in a similar manner the 2002 Gujarat riots left minority community in a similar condition in Gujarat.

At the book release function held at Gujarat Vidyapeeth Dr. Shah presented her views in simple and through clear statements, which echoed the adverse and unwilling role of Gujarat police, Gujarat government in giving justice to the victims both for punishing the main culprits and to give them basic amenities and housing to live in till today after 13 years of the tragedy.

Dr. Shah also described as she documented it… the ugly and unbelievably sad picture of these victims and their dear ones living in utmost horrible living conditions in Ahmedabad itself which is being projected throughout the nation and the world as ‘developed city of a highly developed and model state of India’ and is being replicated in many other stated under the present government. She lamented the fact that till date no drinking clean water is available to these people who live very much in Ahmedabad city so to say. She showed with pictures how they are compelled to ‘buy’ the drinking water from the meagre source of income which speaks of their pathetic state of living. 

Most of them do not have jobs or have lost their skills due to various factors mainly of being removed and dislocated from their original places of living. 

Dr. Shah’s speech and words are based on the firsthand account of statements and reactions to her questionnaires in these pockets which she carried on for several months now and substantiated with pictures and power point presentation for her readers. 

Mountain of filth which speaks of itself and the ghettoisation near the Mumbai Hotel area of Ahmedabad is not a hidden place. But, one needs guts to face this to believe how is it possible, to check our insensitive levels, but, Dr Shah did it which was not mandatory for her but she chose to do so, to let the world know what it is to live this life. She is not a politician or politics propagator but an ordinary middle class educated woman with a heart and mind which speaks for others and of others’ misery. 

Dr. Shah said due to the ghettoisation of Muslims following the 2002 Gujarat riots, there has been shocking rise in religious obscurantism in the Muslim colonies, most of which were set up by Islamic non-government organizations in order to provide security to the riot victims. 

Dr. Shah also explained that many of them have been forced to live here due to non-compliance of arrangement made for them by the state and authorities. 

She also made an interesting statement as she said that despite all this darkness, the silver lining was that still they wanted to live with the mainstream and by the side of Hindu neighbours but in ‘safe’ areas which are a rare sight or not present in today’s Ahmedabad. 

Perhaps the first book of its kind in Gujarati language, “Muslim Ghettoisation: Ek Karun Dastan” (Muslim Ghettoisation: A Tragedy), released at a formal function in Ahmedabad, has particularly noted that all the dozen resettlement colonies surveyed have “imposing mosques and madrasas attached to them, with all the necessary facilities”, in sharp contrast to the poor housing facilities in which the resettled Muslims live in sub-human conditions.
Giving example of the type of "revivalism" that is prevailing in these resettlement colonies, Dr Shah quotes maulvis of the mosques as saying that “the Muslims had to suffer in the 2002 riots they failed to properly pray to the Allah.”
Comments Dr Shah, “Following insecurity and fear because of the riots, there was a sharp rise in religious identity and a simultaneous rise in the grip of religious leaders on the resettlement colonies, with the community quietly and unwittingly supporting them.” 

As a result of this, Dr Shah feels, the situation that has developed is such that, “while swearing by the name of religious freedom, these Muslims are unable to dissociate themselves from their communal framework.” Dr Shah’s book is based on a PhD thesis which she completed under the guidance of Dr. Anandiben Patel, head, social work department of the Gujarat Vidyapeeth. 
Based on spot interviews in 12 Muslim resettlement colonies of Ahmedabad, Sabarkantha and Anand districts set up after the Gujarat riots, Dr Shah says that ghettoisation has led to “sharp rise in religious polarization” with 92 per cent Muslims, who used to meet Hindus earlier, have no contact with them any more”. 

Interesting observations made by Dr Shah in her book also take us to the pre-riots days of these very Muslims who had chance to live with their Hindu counterparts with whom they were brought up and played with.

She said these people who are today not exposed to the other community for days months and years now are totally isolated and are unaware of what is happening in other parts of the city …are left to themselves.

Earlier, they would celebrate Diwali and Holi with others, make items which were used by their Hindu neighbors and relatives, look at the temples and respect the sentiments and beliefs of others around. They lived with harmony and peace with their neighbours and friends and vice versa.

Published by ‘Gurjar Sahitya Prakashan’ and available at Sanskar Sahitya Mandir and ‘Gurjar Sahitya Bhavan’ in Ahmedabad, book book of Dr Damini Shah “Muslim Ghettoisation : A tragedy”  is  in Gujarati. It is priced at Rs. 247.

Scholarly remarks and short review of the book have been published on the last cover of the book by eminent social activists and men of words namely Writer and Journalist Prakash Shah and Prof Ghanshyam Shah.

Former Vice Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapeeth Sudershan Iyengar and famous columnist and orator Prakash Shah also addressed the gathering on 24th February 2015.

Rafat Quadri, Editor : www.bilkulonline.com and BILKUL English Fortnightly newspaper