She Won't Reveal (11)

She Won’t Reveal (11)

Nidhu Bhusan Das

A drastic change swept India in 1990s onward in tune with the all-sweeping process of globalization, expedited by the fall of the socialist edifice in east Europe and ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union presided over by Mikhail Gorvachev. The minority government of Prime Minister Narsimha Rao unveiled the New Economic Policy, drawn up by his Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The new policy ushered in a liberal market economy breaking the stranglehold of Nehruvian mixed economy with the dominance of the State sector, resulting in a stunted growth for decades, and ultimate stagnation. A neo-rich emerged and, for the time being, economy flourished, accompanied with scams in share market, disinvestment initiatives, spectacular growth in real estate sector and strong headway of consumerism and a deluge of western values, predominantly the Yankee culture consequent upon the flow of the strong current of Cultural Imperialism with breakthroughs in satellite technology controlled by the USA and her Silicon Valley in the unipolar world. The new generation of the elite and middle classes imbibed the Yankee values, and their imagination and thought got rooted in the remote, away from the Indian ethos. What remained in place is the dream of life, though different, to be happy. They are for pleasure, not joy, with a few exceptions. They live the moment.

It’s well-said, India presents unity in diversity. It has been true in different senses. One of them is economic. In the wake of the launching of the New Economic Policy, there has been a spurt in the five star culture side by side with the growth of slums in the great urban centres and crippling poverty in rural India. It’s said, albeit ironically, that India lives in her villages where poverty and illiteracy are a stark reality against the backdrop of which the elite tend to be proud of the ‘largest democracy of the world’ where rigging is complained of after every election by the politicians. The ‘Unity in Diversity’  theory may be seen as ‘Unity in Duality’ in the sense that a section of the new generation find their root in the spiritual India while the other section embrace western materialism, and jeer at the former as anathema to the new reality. The duality’s there also in the economic sphere reflected in terrible inequity.

What’s happiness, what’s joy? These are questions that agitate the minds of people from every walk of life. Everyone has his/her own way of looking at the issue, and drawing conclusion. We dream of happiness and joy, pursue the dream, and we live in dream. Once we cease to have such a dream, we lose sight of the meaning of life.  Is there anyone absolutely happy? Maybe, Lalon, Kabir or the Buddha knew it. Anu, Sujata and Prof Swapan Sanyal seek bliss in their communion with the other world.Nilu and Jerry are for pleasure and worldly achievements.Mr. Bose has a murky past, and the contact with Nilu has provided the erotomaniac another opportunity for satisfying his carnal desire. This time his partner-in-sex isn’t going to be an innocent victim.

Those who are heart-broken or don’t find the world around capable of satisfying them, transport themselves to the world beyond for bliss.Now, what’s the other world. Some of us may believe in it, but don’t know how to get into it. Michael Bassey Johnson   says,” A good traveller is one who knows how to travel with the mind…..Silence is the best way to confabulate with the unseen…..Blessed are those that know the path out of their carnal flesh, for they shall attain intuition.”

We understand, we can travel to the other world with the active, and perhaps, creative mind attaining intuitive capability when we can forget carnal desires.

Tom Cowan says,” Mystical insight and enlightenment occur when the veil between the worlds is lifted, the worlds are bridged, the gap closes, and we cross over.” The other world, obviously, relates to insight which is mystical, and which is attainable through enlightenment.

In addition to the so-called objective (or outside world) and the (inner) subjective world of the modern western worldview, Patrick Harpur defines another reality that he calls ’diamonic reality’. The human soul mediates between spirit and body. The world-soul, Anima Mundi in Latin, mediates between the One (the transcendent source of all things) and the material, sensory world. Anu, Sujata and Prof. Sanyal understand this while Nilu and Jerry don’t. Anu lives in the Upanishadic India, and has chosen the idyllic against the strong tide of migration from the impoverished rural areas to the squalor of urban centres.When many in the LIC are reluctant to go to the rural areas of the Assam Himalayas, Anu’s volunteered to go to a forested remote area, 11 hours from Guwahati, to officiate as the head of a new branch for now since the day of inauguration. It’s an additional responsibility she’s shouldered. She finds joy in exploring the rural psyche and in the process knows her own self in-depth.

Arup, last week, came to Amlarem. He called at her office. The encounter was brief, confined to hi-hello and formal exchange of goodwill. She could pour cold water on his interest. He isn’t a Nature-lover, doesn’t have the mind to go into retreat in the Himalayas for an occasional break, away from the madding crowd of the metropolis. Yet he took pains to have the passage to the remote place, for the first time. Anu bade Arup adieu in tears, escorting him to the bridal bed with Mita never again to see the former bf, and to bury the past. She left Delhi and instead of Kolkata opted for the Assam Himalayas to keep him out of sight and out of mind. Had she not been able to go transcendental, she couldn’t but invite him to her house. She’s no longer a turbulent sea of emotions, but a placid Mind. She manages time for meditation everyday which gives her peace and strength. So, she could tell Arup, smiling,”I’ll attend the wedding ceremony of your son, if I’m alive then”, perhaps, to mean she isn’t bothered about what has separated them nullifying her dream, and isn’t interested in responding to his gesture for reconciliation.

 “In life, our ability to pause and dive into the infinite ocean of silence allows us to breathe into the fullness of our being in the midst of our daily experiences,” says Julianne Moore. Anu now breathes into the fullness of her being. Time and circumstances have changed for her and that have influenced her attitude, thought and feeling. Western model of development and the power elite that spearhead the process have deprived the rural mass leading to their impoverishment following a skewed growth with urban bias, and Anu appears to be there to atone for the sin of the class in which she was born and which she was brought up to perpetuate. Having abjured the values of the elite, she’s become unique.

Like Anu, Sujata’s also a rebel, but her rebellion is against erotomania and hasn’t gone beyond. Unlike Anu, hers is the passive resistance, not an active revolt.Prof.Sanyal’s metaphysical approach doesn’t have any implication for the wider society where affluence of the chosen few stares at the poverty of the mass. Had they been like Anu and had the forces joined, the mission of Anu against inequity could gain strength and spread further. Circumstances have ignited Prafullada but it’ll take time to gain momentum.

Anu’s at the table reading Reader’s Digest. The telephone buzzes, the name of Sujata has appeared on the monitor.

 “Hello Sujata, how’re you?” Anu’s eager.

”Fine, you?”

“It’s okay out here. Any news?”

“My son’s the note of caution for you: Beware of Amal Bose. He’s a seducer and womanizer.”

“Is it? Looks so gentle and innocent!”

“The serpent is there under the façade of gentleness.”

“He’ll visit Prof. Sanyal on his way back to Kolkata, he said.”

“Ne’er.My son knows him very well.Amal’s aware he isn’t welcome here.”

“Is it? But he says Prof Bose’s his senior friend.”

“He’s in the habit of basking in the glory of others, his technique of projecting him as belonging to intelligentsia.”

“Very difficult to know people.”

“True. But we must try to know, not to be amenable to deceit.”

“Should I tell him I know the truth?”

“I don’t think you should. He’s dangerous, will disturb you.”

“He goes with Nilu,I told you about her.”

“My son knows her, and about her unscrupulous and scandalous ways at the university.”

Anu understands Nilu shouldn’t have been allowed access to her. She apprehends mischief against her. She may misuse the information she got from her diary. (  continued on 22^nd may 2014 )