REMEMBERING LATA THRU SOME OF MY MOST FAV SONGS:

I belong to the generation that grew up listening to Lata Mangeshkar without missing any single day. All India Radio, Vividh Bharti and Radio Ceylon were the main channels beaming Lata's melodious voice, an inseparable part of daily life. If our radio was off, I could still listen to her songs from the neighbour's receiver.

She sure dominated music waves of film songs and captured the genre for several decades until she reached her most senior years. I enjoy Hindusthani film songs, and Lata is the main reason for this indulgence.

Lata sang over 25,000 songs composed by talented music directors like Naushad Ali, S.D.Burman, Shanker Jaikishan, O.P. Nayyar, Khayam, C. Ramchandra, Vasant Desai and many more. But it was music director Ghulam Ali Haider who first discovered the unmatched talent of Lata. And he is the one who got credited with initiating her singing career. "Ghulam Haider is truly my godfather. He was the first music director who showed complete faith in my talent", Lata once remarked about her mentor.

In her death, my memories go back to her ever luminous gems. The list is endless, but several songs have itched permanent residency in the musical sockets of my flashback mind. My favourite list of Lata's classics is quite long, but here are some of them: Aye ga aane wala, yeh zindagi usi ki hai, tum na zane iss Jahan mein kho gaye, Rasik balma, Hothon Main Aisi Baat, Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna, Chup gaya koi re, dekho who chand chupke karta hai kaya ishare, Kahan le chale ho bata do mussafir. Besides Hindi-Urdu songs, Lata sang in all the languages of India.

Lata has gone into eternal sleep, but the song she left behind, which is another of my fav, is a lullaby in the Dogri/Pahari language:

tu malla tu,lok panan thikrian, badam panne tu.

• Promod Puri

 (A Satire)

IN CANADA:

I want to imbibe and enjoy absolute freedoms in the land of “the true North strong and free.” In these freedoms, I don’t want any mandatory restrictions. I want to drive my car without any speed limits, 10 km to 250 km or more per hr. on the highways or in the city. If I injure or kill anybody that is my right. I hate restrictive traffic signs, “no stopping,” “no parking,” etc. These pose bumps to my freedom to move. I want the liberty to have guns and the right to be racist.

I want absolute freedom in “the land of North strong and free.”

-Promod Puri

WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE WORLD!

Today's world is in turmoil, violent, disturbed, depressing and daunting.

Although we can say, it is an era of peace with fewer wars or battles compared to most known world history. But never-ending combats and conflicts dot all across the globe.

The largest of the world's hotspots show concentration in Africa and Asia, with territorial disputes and civil wars. And most of them are within the boundaries of each country for political reasons or regional freedoms based on ethnic disparities or discriminations.

From Afghanistan to Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya and a few more, Myanmar and Kashmir, including occasional skirmishes between India and Pakistan, the everlasting fights between Israel and Palestinians, the world presents an agitated and vicious scenario that seems to be eternal.

We see violent political instability in Iraq and Lebanon, Burkina Faso, Boko Haram in Nigeria, the civil war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia and Islamist militancy in Pakistan. The American continent has its share, too, with the mad surge of far-Right extremism in the USA, the criminal violence in Mexico, and the political instability in Venezuela. Is Cuba peaceful facing record unemployment and extreme food shortages while the protests and dissent are clipped the moment these emerge?

Brewing in this global conflict pot is the power showdown over Ukraine between Russia and NATO, led by the United States.

The global spread of civil battles and conflicts, with no end in sight, is not only confined to bombing and shelling, killings and destruction of properties but results in extreme hardships for the people. The refugee crisis escalates along with starvation and disease, where millions have died over the years. Sanctions could leave more Afghans dead, including children, Afghanistan is an example of the 20 years of fighting between Taliban and American forces.

-by Promod Puri   

 

 GETTING INVOLVED WITH MINDFULNESS

Staying in an environment exclusively reserved for the self leads towards an experience called mindfulness.

Residing in this environment are the present moments connected to what one is doing, cohering internally with one's own body and mind while keeping an absolute awareness of breath's inhale and exhale flow.

Mindfulness is the idea of being present within yourself at the moment while the world's traffic of events moves on.

It is a practice of being intensely aware of what the person is sensing and feeling in a moment, without interpretation or judgement.

Based on ancient Buddhist practice, it was popularised in the mid-'70s by Thich Nhat Hanh, a world-renowned monk from Vietnam who died on January 21, 2022, at the age of 95.

In his book "You Are Here,"  introducing the concept of mindfulness, he emphasized what we're experiencing in our bodies and minds at any given moment and not dwell in the past or think of the future.

He stressed the awareness of the breath by repeating internally, "I'm breathing in; this is an in-breath. I'm breathing out; this is an out-breath."

According to Hann, peace, happiness, joy, and true love get realized only in the present moment.

Mindfulness slightly deviates from meditation that it can be practised anytime, with closed or opened eyes, without any guru-given mind-focussing mantra. Or even when engaged in routine chores like doing dishes. The idea is to focus on the activity and be fully present. Another example is exercising on a treadmill or bike.   

Living in the present and being involved within does not mean disengagement with the world. Instead, mindfulness with total concentration still keeps the people connected with the surroundings that do not disturb them.

The subtility of mindfulness rests on the essential human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we're doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what's going on around us.

-by Promod Puri

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 MOTHER INDIA:

She is a symbol of Mother India, fighting for the poor, fighting for the Dalits, fighting for justice, fighting for human rights, fighting for the voice of dissent.

In all these concurrent battles, she got caught up in the web of sweeping “anti-terror” laws that landed her in prison.

After spending three arduous years in a Maharashtra jail, Sudha Bharadwaj was released on bail early last month in a trial. The government accused her of participation in the infamous 2018 Bhima Koregaon case.

(Bhima-Koregaon is a small village in the Pune district of Maharashtra, linked with a crucial facet of Maratha history. On January 1 each year, members of India’s marginalized Dalit community gather at Bhima-Koregaon to mark a battle in 1818. The Dalits sided with the British colonial army to defeat Hindu upper-caste Peshwa rulers.)

While personally facing the ordeal of prison life in its most downgrading and inhumane environment, she helped and fought for fellow prisoners facing dire situations, especially during this ongoing Corona pandemic.

Sudha Bharadwaj, 60, is a committed activist.

For the last three decades, she got herself actively involved in struggling for the landless and extremely poor against their eviction and exploitation in the mineral-rich state of Chhattisgarh.

Sudha Bharadwaj was born in Boston, USA, to well-known academic parents.

She gave up her US citizenship to dedicate her life to work for tribals in Chhattisgarh and for the Dalit cause. With a law degree and as a professor at the National Law School in Delhi, she decided to use her credentials and dedicate her life to securing dignity and justice for the most disadvantaged section of the Indian population.

-Promod Puri

 

 In God We Trust:

The four-word phrase appears on all American currency.

The fact is, rather than God, the Trust lies in honouring the printed value of a currency note as promised by the signature of the U.S. treasury secretary.

God does not play any role in the legality of the legal tender.

So why does God's commitment inscribed on all the United States currency, since 1938 on coins and 1957 on printed money?

It refers to the mix of politics and nationalism to coin the expression "in god we trust."

It was initiated and still supported by the Christian nationalism that wants governments and people to "trust in God"; through the medium of money.

The paper money and the coins have thus become an ongoing vehicle to establish and promote the message that the United States is a theistic state who believes in God or trusts in God.

For that reason, the logo becomes the national motto embedding God's commitment. But it appears nebulous and carries no monetary promise when displayed on all the U.S. currency.

Opponents of the phrase argue that it amounts to a governmental endorsement of religion and thus violates the First Amendment's establishment clause.

However, federal courts have consistently upheld the constitutionality of the national motto. Whereas, in Judaism and Christianity, the official motto "In God We Trust" is not found verbatim in any verses from the Bible. 

A 2003 poll stated that 90% of Americans support the "In God We Trust" inscription on the U.S. currency.

 

Proponents have extensively argued for the inclusion of the national motto in more settings, grounding it in the traditional invocations of God that they say have now become an element of civil religion and should express the will of the founders, who believed in God.

Over the years, from coins to paper bills, the national motto's usage and presence have expanded to other visible mountings, especially on motor vehicle licence plates. Currently, about 24 states offer the choice without any additional fee. In God, We Trust is poised for more rides as more states are in line to get the national motto on the licence plates.

In God We Trust is more like an established tradition that is neither religious nor secular that cannot be masked, especially in the rising ultra-Right American culture.

 

 EXPECTING A CRISIS-FREE ERA AS WE ENTER 2022

By Promod Puri

If the circa 2020 and 2021 get merged, we clock an era of a worldwide pandemic, the planetary threat to global climate change, and the sharp and clear emergence of political far-Right.

The impromptu eruption of extreme conservatism, as seen during the last US presidential election followed by the Capitol Hill insurrection, reveals a phenomenon that stubbornly goes unvaccinated to the crisis posed by the pandemic and climate change.

The alt-Right wave runs continental, north to south America, Europe, Asia and spots in Africa. The familiar Left-Right political spectrum got jolted much in '20-21.'

The spur in Far-Right extremist ideas and militancy strikes a grave threat to the pluralist liberal democracies. The danger comes when these ideas get mainstreamed and permeate into political functioning.

Democracy allows this influence in its tradition of having dissent and debate. But the far-Right spread primarily benefits political carpetbaggers.

Prime Minister Modi of India has dexterously introduced and inspired the far-Right culture into the mainstream to advance its ideology as a Hindu nation despite the constitutional affirmation of its diverse and secular character.

The trend is explicit worldwide that opts for monolithic societies in terms of the same religion, same language and same culture.

While extreme conservatism spreads with the excessive doses of nationalism, jingoism and the promise to restore the over-hyped 'past glory,' many nations across the globe stand embroiled in the ongoing internal or external conflicts and combats.

The world remains engulfed in an environment dotted with turmoils and strifes triggered by political, racial, religious, caste, class discords and disturbances fueled with an unlimited supply of arms and ammunition.

From Kashmir to Myanmar, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Ethiopia, the never-ending Israel-Palestinian on and off skirmishes, and many more, the trouble spots are the stable marks on the global vicious and violent scene.

Enormous tragedies are happening worldwide that sound like a normal state of affairs. We are "becoming so desensitized to crises and suffering that they are now happening while hardly being noticed," according to Pope Francis in his X-mas message.

The world population faces desperation and miseries from the never-ending combats and conflicts, contributing to escalating refugee populations year after year. The destitute migrants in their dingy boats die, and those who survive to knock on every available door for shelter to escape from the regimes determined to crush humanity and fundamental human rights.

There seems to be no end to conflicts and crises, battles and bloodshed where radical Right emerges as an influential player in the current state of affairs worldwide.

The issue is how amid all these turmoils and tensions, we can collectively, as one world community, fight the menace of Coronavirus and climate change.

As we head towards 2022, confidently, we do not swing into a revolving door that brings us back to the era of 2020-2021.

 

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