Category: Delhi

“Shiv was the first hippie among us, he was no god. Peep within and you will find a bit of Shiv in you.”  Something like this was the beginning of a piece I wrote for the college magazine in the final year. The subject was ‘Counterculture – the hippie movement’. I stand by the words and believe it stronger than ever. Having spent a lot of time in the Himalayas I have known the cult of Shiv very closely. Being an atheist, mythological sites and temples for me, are a source of beauty and have art and architectural importance. A Shiv wasting milk won’t even fit him if he was around and even Shiv would never submit to the idea of God. Tonight is the night of cosmic orgy. Shiv will be in unison with his partner and love. You too make love – with the one you love. At 17,800 feet this is supposedly the highest Shiv adobe – it is Dolma La on Mount Kailash. Tonight will be colourful there. The other picture is of Baleshwar temple (13th century) complex in Champawat, Pithoragarh district. Do go and see them for their amazing stonework. <1 March 2022>

For someone who doesn’t watch films this was no fan moment. The reason for his smile was the release of his film  खेलें हम जी जान से, based on the book ‘Do & Die: The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34 by Manini Chatterjee. A great retelling of the revolutionary story of a bunch of teens who challenged the might of the British Empire. This gummy smile stayed on my face that evening as I found it hilarious that Abhishek was signing copies of the book. The copy in my hand is signed by Manini. Photo Parthiv Shah.

No, No, do not worry. I am not raising funds for anyone or asking you to contribute. But think for a moment – you are here because you had the advantage of education. Here, both in terms of this social space which gives you the privilege to reach out, as also your place in the society, a secure job, a business or a profession – your very existence. All in all it is the education which has brought most of you here. So, as and when you get a chance, wherever, in whichever way, however little or small, please do help an underprivileged child enroll in a school, help her/him study. Pokhrama Foundation is doing fantastic work. All I have done is designed this brochure.

Today, twenty years after the carnage that claimed over 2,000 lives we must revisit the judgment that gave Evil a name. This judgment, in Zahira Habibullah Shaikh & Anr (Citizens for Justice and Peace) v/s State of Gujarat, 2004, the Supreme Court minced no words: “The modern day ‘Neros’ were looking elsewhere when Best Bakery and innocent children and women were burning, and were probably deliberating how the perpetrators of the crime can be saved or protected. Law and Justice become flies in the hands of these ‘wanton boys’. When fences start to swallow the crops, no scope will be left for survival of law and order or truth and justice.” For those who suffered there has been no closure instead majoritarian violence has since been tearing the country apart at regular intervals.