Tuesday, April 14, 2020

महापरिनिर्वाण दिनानिमित्त बाबासाहेबांना वाहिलेली काव्यांजली - Namdev Dhasal

अहं ब्रह्माास्मि। 

अस्मिन सस्ति इदं भवति। 

सतत चालले आहे महायुद्ध 

आत्मवादी-अनात्मवादी यांत। 

- म्हणे बीजातून फुटतो अंकूर 

म्हणे बीज होते म्हणून अंकूर फुटला 
अविनाशी दव्याचे पाठीराखे कुणी 
कुणी सर्व काही क्षणिकमचे पाठीराखे 
महाप्रतिभावंता 
मी शिकलो आहे तुझ्याकडून 
दु:खाचे व्याकरण जाणून घ्यायला 
सर्व दु:खाचे मूळ तृष्णा 
कुठून जन्मास येते, 
केव्हा तिचा क्षय होतो ते. 
सरकतो आहे माझ्या डोळ्यांसमोरून 
मनुष्यजातीच्या उत्क्रांतीचा प्रागैतिहास. 
दृष्टांत देणारी उत्क्रांत माणसांची रांग 
विहंगम- 
आणि एक बुटका केसाळ माकडसदृश्य 
त्याच्यानंतर दुसरा 
त्याच्यानंतर तिसरा- 
शून्ययुगापासून आण्विकयुगापर्यंत 
चालत बदलत आलेली माकडं की माणसं? 
करून जातायत माझं मनोरंजन 
प्रतीत्य समुदायाच्या पक्षधरा,- 
आता कळतो मला अष्टोदिकांचा अर्थ 
काय असतात दहा अव्याकृते 
आणि बारा निदाने 
काय असते निर्वाण- 
निर्वाण तृष्णेचा क्षय : दु:खाचा क्षय 
क्षणिकम आहे दु:ख; क्षणिकम आहे सुख 
दोन्ही अनुभव अखेर विनाशीच. 
बीज आधी की अंकूर 
बीज होते म्हणून अंकूर निर्माण झाला 
या गहनचर्चा माझ्या 
जिज्ञासेला डिवचतात 
धावती ट्रेन माझ्या सामान्य आयुष्याची 
मला प्रेषितासारखं बोलता येत नाही 
फक्त दिसतं पुढचं 
भविष्यातलं नाही, वास्तवातलं 
स्वप्नातलं नाही, वर्तमानातलं 
माणसाची प्रतिमा अधिक उजळ करणाऱ्या 
महापरिनिर्वाणोत्तर तुझं अस्तित्व 
जागृत ज्वालामुखी होऊन बरसते आहे 
आमच्यावर झिमझिम पावसासारखे 
उत्स्फूर्त लाव्हाचं उसळतं कारंजं 
ठिणगी ठिणगी फूल झालेलं 
काळाच्या महालाटेवर बसून 
कलिंगचं युद्ध हरलेला येतो आहे 
आमच्यापर्यंत. 
त्याच्या अंगावरली काषायवस्त्रे 
सूर्यकिरणांनी अधिक गडद केलेली. 
काळ किती विरोधी होता आमुच्या 
काळाचे किरमिजी जावळ पकडून 
तू बांधून टाकलेस त्याला 
आमच्या उन्नयनाला 
अंतर्यामी कल्लोळाला साक्षी ठेवून 
तुझे उतराई होणे हीच आमची 
जगण्याची शक्ती 
फुलांचे ताटवे झुलताहेत नजरेसमोर 
बहरून आलीयेत फुलाफळांची शेतं 
या फुलांवरून त्या फुलांवर विहरत 
राहणारी फुलपाखरं 
चतुर उडते -पारदशीर् पंखांचे- फुलाफांदीवर 
लँडिंग करणारे- 
काय त्यांची निर्भर ऐट- झुलत्या फुलांवर अलग थांबण्याची- 
रंगांची पंचमी फुलपाखरांच्या पंखांवर चितारलेली 
अमूर्ताची चिरंजीव शैली- डोळ्यांना रिझवणारी 
किती किती प्रयोग चित्रविचित्र रंगमिश्रणाचे 
चतुर हवेला खजिल करत अधांतरी तरंगणारे 
आम्ही -मी झालो आहे धनी - या गडगंज ऐश्वर्याचे 
अहाहा -झिंग चढली आहे ऐहिकाला 
नेमका हाच आनंद भोगता आला नाही- 
माझ्या बापजाद्यांना 
संस्कृतीच्या मिरासदारांनी केला त्यांच्यावर अत्याचार 
आणि केला अनन्वित छळ 
छळाच्या इतिहासाची सहस्त्रावधी वर्षं 
माझ्याही पिढीने यातले सोसले पुष्कळसे 
आमचे नारकीय आयुष्य संपवून टाकणाऱ्या 
आकाशातील स्वर्ग तू आणलास 
आमच्यासाठी ओढून पृथ्वीवर 
किती आरपार बदलून गेलं 
माझं माझ्या लोकांचं साक्षात जीवन. 
आमच्या चंदमौळी घरातील मडकी गाडगी 
गेलीयत- माणिक मोत्यांनी भरून 
रांजण- भरून गेलेयत पाण्याने 
कणग्या भरून गेल्यायेत 
अन्नधान्यांनी ओतप्रोत. 
दारिद्याचे आमचे शेतही गेले आहे 
कसदार पिकाने फुलून 
गोठ्यातील जनावरेसुद्धा आता नाही उपाशी मरत 
श्वान आमच्या दारातले इमानी 
भाकरीसाठी नाही विव्हळत. 
बळ आले तुझ्यामुळे आमच्या शिंक्यातील भाकरीला 
आता भूकेचा दावानल नाही आम्हाला सतावीत. 
चिमण्यांचा गोतावळा वेचीत राहतो 
विश्वासाने दारात टाकलेले दाणे. 
धीट चिमण्यांनी बांधले आहे आमच्या 
घराच्या आढ्याला घरटे 
खाली घरकारभारीण शिजवते आहे 
चुलीवर रोजचे अन्न. 
जळत्या ओल्या सुक्या लाकडांना 
घालते आहे फुंकर फुंकणीने 
तिचे विस्कटलेले केस आणि डोळ्यातले सुखीप्रंपचाचे अश्रू 
घरट्यात जन्म घेऊ लागलीत रोज नवी पिल्ले 
मांसाचा चिंब चिंब आंधळा गोळा 
पुकारतो आहे आपल्या आईला. 
अगं, चिमणीबाई बघ गं आपल्या पोराला 
घरातील म्हातारी पाहते आहे संसार चिमण्यांचा 
घरट्याबाहेर तरंगत लटकलेली 
चिमणी नावाची आई 
बाळाच्या चोचीत देते आहे चोच. 
किती अवर्णनीय आनंदाचे धनी आम्हाला केलेस हे महामानवा- 
कुठल्या उपमेने तुला संबोधू- 
प्रेषित म्हणू - महापुरुष कालपुरुष! 
किती उंच ठिकाणी आणून ठेवलेस आम्हाला 
आम्ही आता नाही उकरत इतिहासाची मढी 
सनातन शत्रूला आता सारे विसरून आम्ही लावले आहे गळ्याला- 
वैरात वैर संपत नाही हे सांगणाऱ्या आधुनिक बोधीसत्ता- 
ज्याला आदी नाही, अंत नाही अशा अंतरिक्षाला 
जाऊन भिडणारे तुझे कर्तृत्व 
कोण मोजणार उंची तुझी? 
मी -आम्ही जगतो आहोत या संक्रमण काळात 
तुझा सिद्धांत उराशी बाळगून 
प्रागैतिहासिक माणसांच्या अवस्था मनात ठेवून 
हा प्रतिसृष्टी निर्माण करणारा माणूस. 
विध्वंस करायला निघालाय आपल्याच निमिर्तीचा- 
हे आधुनिक बोधीसत्त्वा- 
शक्ती दे मला या विध्वंसक्याला 
वठणीवर आणायला. 
कोणी काहीही समजो मला 
तुझ्याविषयीची माझ्या मनातली श्रद्धा आहे अपार- 
कोणी घेऊ देत शंका 
अखेर माणूस शंकासूरच ना? 
मी गुडघे टेकून तुझ्या चैतासमोर 
या छोट्याशा विहारात 
कबुली देतो आहे माझ्या सर्व गुन्ह्यांची 
किती प्रसन्न वाटतं म्हणून सांगू? 
पश्चिमेचा विश्रब्ध समुद वाहतो आहे शांत 
मावळत्या सूर्याची काषाय किरणं- 
ललामभूत करून सोडताहेत चराचराला- 
हे माझ्या चैतन्या- 
बोल एखादा तरी शब्द माझ्याशी- 
मी शरण तुला... 

 हे महाप्रतिभावंता... 

बकवास करते है आप, जाति कहाँ है? / नामदेव ढसाल

थू करने के लिए नही है मेरी जबान पर थूक
बकवास करते है आप, जाति कहाँ है ?

बीच बाज़ार में घसीटते हुए ले जाकर
लटका दिया उलटा
वहीं जहाँ है फव्वारे और ढेर सारे फूल खिलने की प्रतीक्षा में
ठीक उसी सड़क पर जो हवाई अड्डे से औद्योगिक केन्द्र को खिंचती है
जिसका दूसरा हाथ बिग बाज़ार के माल के नीचे रखा हुआ है

वहीं पर
उसकी गरदन को धड़ से अलग करने के लिए
तलवार से काटा गया
ख़ून निकला और वही जिसे कली कहकर हँसते हो
उसके भीतर चला गया
किसी को पता ही नहीं चला
 
काले शीशे से लाल रंग तो दिखता नहीं लाल
और हीरो होण्डा बजाज से निगाह आगे की तरफ़ होती है
उसकी नज़र में भी घुस न सका ख़ून
फुटपाथ को तो घेरकर शर्मा स्वीट सेण्टर ने कंजूमर के हवाले कर दिया

राहगीर नहीं है कोई उसकी राह खा गया वह
उसी वक्त सुपारी के कारख़ाने में जल रहा है कुछ
भट्टी के नीचे
सुपारी को सेंकने के लिए और फैल रहा है उसका धुआँ
जो जाता है सीधे आँखों में

मसलते है और आगे बढ़ जाते है कि उनके पास नहीं है वक़्त
ग़ाली देने के लिए भी
तभी किसी आवाज़ से कोई समाचार आता है
दिमाग के भीतर भट्टी में
पहाड़ियों में गड्डों से जाता नहीं हर कोई डही
जहाँ फरमान हुआ है
तसदीक करनी है उसी जाति के तो हो लेकिन ये काम करते हो ?

विकास बहुत हुआ
बहुत कर ली कोटे वालों ने तरक्की हक़ मारकर .
गाँव, पटवारी, पंचायत, स्कूल के प्रमाण के बाद भी ज़रूरी है
सन्तुष्टि के लिए फ़ोटो ।
  
भरोसा ही नहीं होता मनुष्य को देखकर
कागज़ पंचनामा रिकार्ड शपथपत्र
सब हो सकते है फ़र्ज़ी
बनाया जा सकता है आदमी को भी फ़र्ज़ी
जाति प्रमाणपत्र तो सदियों से बनाए जाते रहे है

सदियों से करते आ रहे है यही काम-धन्धा हमारे पुरखे
तब शिवाजी की जाति के लिए बनारस से बनवाया गया था रिकार्ड
अब कलयुग में ऊँची जात का नहीं चाहिए प्रमाण
वो तो रोटी-बेटी से कर लेते है
बार-बार हज़ार बार सरेआम कहते है
कभी अपने ग़रीब होने के पुछल्ले को जोड़कर तो कभी मूँछ पर ताव देकर
कहते हो ही... ही... करते हुए — बनिया आदमी हूँ

तय कर देते हो और सामने वाला भूल गया हो तो याद कर ले अपनी जाति
कोटा, आरक्षण-रिजर्वेशन, मेरिट, प्रतिभा पलायन, देश-दुनिया
राजनीति, वोट-बैंक, गन्दगी, कचरा, फ़िल्म हिरोइन, एसएमएस, एमएमएस, वाट्स अप, नीली फिलिम गाने ....
बाय करते हो
कि भोत काम बाक़ी है
ये ज़िन्दगी भी कोई ज़िन्दगी है
ये देश भी कोई देश है ...
उस बच्चे से जिसे भगवान का रूप बोलते हुए किसी को शर्म नहीं आती
कहते हो पाना हो स्कालरशिप तो ले आओं मरे हुए जानवर के साथ
अपना फ़ोटो...

ढाई सौ किलोमीटर दूर जब सुनता हूँ
तो अपने को किसी आदिम गुफ़ा में पाता हूँ
सन्न हूँ
कि कितने कुत्सित विचार हैं तुम्हारे
कि मानसिकता की सड़न के बाद भी तुम अभी भी हो
उसी गटर के कीड़े जो रेंगता है गन्दगी छोड़ता है और सड़ जाता है
थू करने के लिए नही है मेरी जबान पर थूक
 
बस बचे है मेरे पास शब्द जिन्हें वापरता हूँ
कि चूल्हा जलाने के काम आ जाएँ
कि कक्षा नौ के पाठ की तरह अपने बेटे को पढ़ा सकूँ
जब कोई माँगे तुमसे इस तरह का प्रमाण
तो मेरी तरह ख़ुद का क़त्ल मत होने देना

मेरे बेटे उससे कहना अंकल जी मेरे पास है एट्रोसिटी का काग़ज़
घर में है संविधान...
मूल मराठी भाषा से अनुवाद : कैलाश वानखेड़े

why I dont want to be a manager

1. As a developer I get much control on what I am going to do. Ofcourse I cannot do it every hours. But largely I can pick up technology stack I love, create effective proficiency and look out job in that.
2. As a engineer, I am more like a farmer. I produce things. And I can produce things which can even produce more. For example mathematical library like Eigen, helps us to build more complex pieces for mathematical problem solving. Also similarly a very simple database written in 500 lines of python is enough for most of the small online shopping websites. And can help to get total revenue exceed $1 billion.
Interesting viewpoint
From TeamBlind one cisco manager had following confession:
I wanted to become manager but then I observed mgrs in my org and learnt that for that role,
I need to first become dumb, create silos within team, be territorial, let issue persist until it become redhot, shield my reportee's for any influential event/meeting, be look like tech expert by always front runner for every interaction, ensure that I am always in the loop for every thing happening at the team level,
and most imp learn to lie and be not honest and clear to reportees. After careful thought,
I realized that its steep learning curve for that role.

Socratic Questions

Socratic questions helps as a developer to take design discussion out of local minima or maxima and helps us to descent to get 
- Better understanding of Problem statement, thereby helps us to formulate the requirements
- Better understanding viewpoints and intents.
I dont own anything. It is from below URL. I just put it here cause I love it too much.
Socrates was one of the greatest educators who taught by asking questions and thus drawing out answers from his pupils ('ex duco', means to 'lead out', which is the root of 'education').  Sadly, he martyred himself by drinking hemlock rather than compromise his principles. Bold, but not a good survival strategy. But then he lived very frugally and was known for his eccentricity. One of his pupils was Plato, who wrote up much what we know of him.
Here are the six types of questions that Socrates asked his pupils. Probably often to their initial annoyance but more often to their ultimate delight. He was a man of remarkable integrity and his story makes for marvelous reading.
The overall purpose of Socratic questioning, is to challenge accuracy and completeness of thinking in a way that acts to move people towards their ultimate goal.

Conceptual clarification questions

Get them to think more about what exactly they are asking or thinking about. Prove the concepts behind their argument. Use basic 'tell me more' questions that get them to go deeper.
  • Why are you saying that?
  • What exactly does this mean?
  • How does this relate to what we have been talking about?
  • What is the nature of ...?
  • What do we already know about this?
  • Can you give me an example?
  • Are you saying ... or ... ?
  • Can you rephrase that, please?

Probing assumptions

Probing their assumptions makes them think about the presuppositions and unquestioned beliefs on which they are founding their argument. This is shaking the bedrock and should get them really going!
  • What else could we assume?
  • You seem to be assuming ... ?
  • How did you choose those assumptions?
  • Please explain why/how ... ?
  • How can you verify or disprove that assumption?
  • What would happen if ... ?
  • Do you agree or disagree with ... ?

Probing rationale, reasons and evidence

When they give a rationale for their arguments, dig into that reasoning rather than assuming it is a given. People often use un-thought-through or weakly-understood supports for their arguments.
  • Why is that happening?
  • How do you know this?
  • Show me ... ?
  • Can you give me an example of that?
  • What do you think causes ... ?
  • What is the nature of this?
  • Are these reasons good enough?
  • Would it stand up in court?
  • How might it be refuted?
  • How can I be sure of what you are saying?
  • Why is ... happening?
  • Why? (keep asking it -- you'll never get past a few times)
  • What evidence is there to support what you are saying?
  • On what authority are you basing your argument?

Questioning viewpoints and perspectives

Most arguments are given from a particular position. So attack the position. Show that there are other, equally valid, viewpoints.
  • Another way of looking at this is ..., does this seem reasonable?
  • What alternative ways of looking at this are there?
  • Why it is ... necessary?
  • Who benefits from this?
  • What is the difference between... and...?
  • Why is it better than ...?
  • What are the strengths and weaknesses of...?
  • How are ... and ... similar?
  • What would ... say about it?
  • What if you compared ... and ... ?
  • How could you look another way at this?

Probe implications and consequences

The argument that they give may have logical implications that can be forecast. Do these make sense? Are they desirable?
  • Then what would happen?
  • What are the consequences of that assumption?
  • How could ... be used to ... ?
  • What are the implications of ... ?
  • How does ... affect ... ?
  • How does ... fit with what we learned before?
  • Why is ... important?
  • What is the best ... ? Why?

Questions about the question

And you can also get reflexive about the whole thing, turning the question in on itself. Use their attack against themselves. Bounce the ball back into their court, etc.
  • What was the point of asking that question?
  • Why do you think I asked this question?
  • Am I making sense? Why not?
  • What else might I ask?
  • What does that mean?

उद्धव ठाकरे आणि सिंधुताई सपकाळ यांच्यात झालेला संवाद

उद्धव ठाकरे : हॅलो..

माई : हॅलो..

उद्धव ठाकरे : हां उद्धव बोलतो आहे, सिंधुताई नमस्कार

माई : बाळा बोल बोल..बेटा..बाळासाहेबांच्या पिल्ल्या बोल..

उद्धव ठाकरे: हं..हो.. काहीनाही मला कुणतरी तो व्हॉट्स अॅप एक पाठवला आपले आशीर्वाद मिळाले.

माई : बाबा केवढी कसोटी आहे लेकरा… केवढी कसोटी आहे..

उद्धव ठाकरे : अहो माई तुम्ही तर आयुष्यभर कसोटी सहन करत आहात..

माई : अरे पण त्या कसोटीला धीराने तोंड देतोस तू.. खरंच. बाळासाहेबांचं रक्त..समर्थपणे पुढे चालला आहेस

उद्धव ठाकरे: मग…मागे नाही हटणार मी. मागे हटणार नाही.

माई : नाही रे.. तू मागे हटणार नाहीस

माई : उद्धवा आणि सांगायचं होतं बेटा.. एवढा सिंपल मुख्यमंत्री कुठेही बदल नाही तुझ्यात..पावलं उचलताना वाटलं नव्हतं तू एवढा खंबीर होशील म्हणून..

उद्धव ठाकरे : अहो मुख्यमंत्रीपद वेगळं काय असतं? आपण आहोत तसं रहावं.

माई: खरं रे खरं..महाराष्ट्राचं रक्त इतकं खंबीर असू शकतं..केवढी आव्हानं रे तुझ्यासमोर लेकरा..बाळा.. केवढी आव्हानं तुझ्यासमोर.

उद्धव ठाकरे : पार पाडणार..तुमचे आशीर्वाद आहेत ना मग बस..

माई : अरे बाबा आहे रे आहेत..काय रे पिल्ला आशीर्वाद आहेतच कायमच

उद्धव ठाकरे  : तुम्ही पण काळजी घ्या..बाहेर जाऊ नका.

माई : तू पण बेटा, जगाची काळजी तुझ्यावर आहे आता. महाराष्ट्र तुझ्या खांद्यावर उभा आहे बाळ तू पण काळजी घे बेटा

उद्धव ठाकरे: काळजी घ्या..

माई : हां हे सगळं निवळल्यावर मी येऊन जाईन बेटा

उद्धव ठाकरे : या या अवश्य या.

माई : हो रे बेटा.. पण सांभाळ, काळजी घे पिल्ला काळजी घे. मीनाताईचं दूध आहे तुझ्यात काही हरणार नाहीस तू.

उद्धव ठाकरे : हो माई..

माई : अच्छा बेटा.

Few Motivational Quotes

"Always remember your focus determines your reality." - George Lucas
"When you are going through hell, keep going…" - Winston Churchill
"You only live once, but if you do it right once is enough."
"Go where you're celebrated not where you're tolerated."
"All we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think is what we become." -Buddha
"Do it today or regret it tomorrow."
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams
"It takes courage to endure the sharp pains of self discovery, rather than to choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives."
"Speak in such a way that others love to listen to you. Listen in such a way that others love to speak to you."
"Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work." - Stephen King
"The struggle you're in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow."
"People aren't against you; they are for themselves."
1. "I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples." -Mother Teresa

2. "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." -Maya Angelou

3. "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." -Henry Ford

4. "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." -Vince Lombardi

5. "Life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent of how I react to it." -Charles Swindoll

6. "If you look at what you have in life, you'll always have more. If you look at what you don't have in life, you'll never have enough." -Oprah Winfrey

7. "Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent." -Eleanor Roosevelt

8. "I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." -Jimmy Dean

9. "Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!" -Audrey Hepburn

10. "To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart." -Eleanor Roosevelt

11. "Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears." -Les Brown

12. "Do or do not. There is no try." -Yoda

13. "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve." -Napoleon Hill

14. "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain

15. "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." -Michael Jordan

16. "Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value." -Albert Einstein

17. "I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions." -Stephen Covey

18. "When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it." -Henry Ford

19. "The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." -Alice Walker

20. "The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity." -Amelia Earhart

21. "It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light." -Aristotle Onassis

22. "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant." -Robert Louis Stevenson

23. "The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me." -Ayn Rand

24. "If you hear a voice within you say, 'You cannot paint,' then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced. -Vincent Van Gogh

25. "Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs." -Farrah Gray

26. "Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck." -Dalai Lama

27. "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." -Albert Einstein

28. "What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do." -Bob Dylan

29. "I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do." -Leonardo da Vinci

30. "When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us." -Helen Keller

31. "When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy.' They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life." -John Lennon

32. "The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

33. "Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear." -George Addair

34. "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." -Plato

35. "Nothing will work unless you do." -Maya Angelou

36. "Believe you can and you're halfway there." -Theodore Roosevelt

37. "What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality." -Plutarch

“I can do anything I set my mind to if I'm willing to pay the price for greatness.”

Anand Teltumbde Open Letter before gettign arrested on 13 Apr 2020

A Letter to the People of India, on the Eve of My Arrest


I am aware that this may be completely drowned in the motivated cacophony of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh combine and the subservient media, but I still think it may be worth talking to you as I do not know whether I would get another opportunity.
Since August 2018, when the police raided my house in the faculty housing complex of the Goa Institute of Management, my world has turned completely topsy-turvy.
Never in my worst dreams could I imagine the things that began happening to me. Although, I was aware that the police used to visit the organisers of my lectures – mostly universities – and scare them with enquiries about me, I thought they might be mistaking me for my brother who left the family years ago.
While I was teaching at IIT Kharagpur, an officer of BSNL phoned, introducing himself as my admirer and well-wisher, and informed me that my phone was being tapped. I thanked him but did nothing, I did not even change my SIM.
I was disturbed by these intrusions but comforted myself that it might rather convince the police that I was a ‘normal’ person and that there is no element of illegality in my conduct.
The police have generally disliked civil rights activists because they question police. I imagined that it might be due to the fact that I belonged to that tribe. But again, I comforted myself that they would find that I could not perform that role either, because of my full time engagement with my job.
But when I got an early morning phone call from the director of my institute, informing me that the police have raided the campus and were looking for me, I was speechless for a few seconds. I had come to Mumbai on official work just a few hours before and my wife had come earlier.
When I learnt of the arrests of the persons whose houses were raided that day, I was shaken by the realisation that I escaped their fate just by a whisker. The police did know my whereabouts and could arrest me even then but for reasons known only to them, did not do so.
They did open our house too, forcibly getting a duplicate key from the security guard, but just videographed it and locked it back.
Our ordeal began right there. At the advice of our lawyers, my wife took the next available flight to Goa, and lodged a complaint with Bicholim police station against the fact that the police had opened our house in our absence and that we would not be responsible if they had planted anything. She volunteered giving our telephone numbers should the police want to inquire into this.
Strangely, the police had started holding press conferences soon after they embarked on the “Maoist story”. This was clearly meant to whip up prejudice in public against me and the others arrested, with the help of an obliging media. On August 31, 2018, in one such press conference, a police officer read out a letter purportedly recovered from the computer of previous arrestees, as evidence against me.
The letter was clumsily constructed with the information on an academic conference I had attended, which was easily available on the website of the American University of Paris. Initially, I laughed it out, but next, decided to file a civil and criminal defamation suit against this officer and sent a letter on September 5, 2018 to the Government of Maharashtra for sanction as per the procedure.
There has been no response from the government to date.
The press conferences of the police, however, were stopped when the high court reprimanded them.
The RSS hand in the entire case was not hidden. My Marathi friends told me that one of their functionaries, Ramesh Patange, had written an article in their mouthpiece Panchjanya, targeting me in April 2015. I was identified as “Mayavi Ambedkarwadi” along with Arundhati Roy and Gail Omvedt.
“Mayavi” in the Hindu mythology refers to a demon meant to be destroyed. When I was illegally arrested by the Pune police while still under the protection of the Supreme Court, a cyber-gang of the Hindutva brigade vandalised my Wikipedia page. This page is a public page and for years I was not even aware of it.
They first deleted all information and only wrote, “He has a Maoist brother…his house was raided…he was arrested for links with Maoists,” etc. Some students later told me that whenever they tried restoring the page, or editing the page, this gang would pounce upon it and delete everything and put derogatory content.
Ultimately, Wikipedia intervened and the page was stabilised, although with some of their negative content.
There was a media blitzkrieg, reeling off all kinds of canards through the parivar’s so called “Naxal experts.” My complaints against the channels and even to the India Broadcasting Foundation did not receive a response.
Then in October 2019, the Pegasus story came out. The government had inserted a very pernicious Israeli spyware on my phone, among others. There was a momentary uproar in media but this serious matter also has died a still death.
I have been a simple person who has been earning his bread honestly and helping people to the extent possible with my knowledge through his writings. I have an unblemished record of service for nearly five decades to this country in various roles in the corporate world, as a teacher, as a civil rights activist and a public intellectual.
In my voluminous writings comprising over 30 books, and numerous papers, articles, comments, columns, interviews, published internationally, not an insinuation of support to violence or any subversive movement could be found. But at the fag end of my life, I am being charged with heinous crimes under the draconian UAPA.
An individual like me obviously cannot counter the spirited propaganda of the government and its subservient media. The details of the case are strewn across the internet and are enough for any person to see that it is a clumsy and criminal fabrication.
summary note on the AIFRTE website may be read. For your benefit I will provide its gist here:
I am implicated on the basis of the five letters among the 13 that the police purportedly recovered from the computers of two arrestees in the case. Nothing has been recovered from me. The letter makes reference to “Anand”, a common name in India, but the police unquestioningly identified it with me.
Notwithstanding the form and content of these letters, which was trashed by experts and even by a judge in the Supreme Court, who was the only one in the entire judiciary who went into the nature of the evidence. The content does not refer to anything that could be remotely construed as even a simple crime.
But taking shelter under the draconian provisions of the UAPA, a law that renders a person defenceless, I am being jailed.
The case may be depicted for your understanding as follows:
Suddenly, a police posse descends down on your residence and ransacks your house without showing any warrant. At the end, they arrest you and lodge you in the police lockup. In the court, they would say that while investigating a theft (or any other complaint) case in xxx place (substitute any place in India) police recovered a pen drive or a computer from yyy (substitute any name) in which some letters written by a supposed member of some banned organisation were recovered that had a mention of zzz who according to the police is none other than you.
They present you as part of a deep conspiracy. Suddenly, you find your world turned topsy-turvy, your job gone, family losing house, media defaming you, about which you cannot do a damn thing.
Police will produce “sealed envelopes” to convince judges that there was a prima facie case against you that needs custodial interrogation.
No arguments about there being no evidence would be entertained as judges would answer that this would be looked into during the trial. After custodial interrogation, you will be sent to jail.
You beg for bail and the courts will reject your petition as historical data shows that the average period of incarceration ranged from four to 10 years before they got bail or acquitted.
And this can happen literally to anyone. In the name of the ‘nation’, such draconian laws that denude innocent people of their liberties and all constitutional rights are constitutionally validated.
The jingoist nation and nationalism have got weaponised by the political class to destroy dissent and polarise people. The mass frenzy has accomplished complete de-rationalisation and inversion of meanings where destroyers of the nation become desh bhakts and selfless servers of the people become deshdrohis.
As I see my India being ruined, it is with a feeble hope that I write to you at such a grim moment.
Well, I am off to NIA custody and do not know when I shall be able to talk to you again.
However, I earnestly hope that you will speak out before your turn comes.