Religion Of Love

Why roam in deserts of hate,

climb mountains of showy valour

waste life in the sham of living,

come for the pilgrimage of love

it’s a journey that knows not the end.

Yes, the road is hard, path devious

So what! March forward and clear

a path leaving your footprints of love

for lovers to follow paving their own,

revelling on the new discoveries

of love's unrevealed dreams.

A year has passed one more rotation

of the planets, the sun chases a new dawn

opening up new destinations defeating

all odds, customs and worldly affairs:

count not your wounds, whimper not

for your pain and million sorrows,

worship the moments of bliss you had

in the shapely arms of your love

double it by reliving  them, be yourself

celebrate life with the religion of love.

Walk on life’s lovepath, celebrate

your love life with kisses all the way

life is a lover’s kiss,if love is

your only faith: live it with love

enjoy the raw pain of the world

vowing not to deviate half way.

Sabita Sahu

Celebrations !

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

When clouds appear in the sky bringing the prospect of rain we celebrate in anticipation of a good harvest. When a babe is born we celebrate welcoming the new entrant to our world. When a girl attains puberty we celebrate with fertility rituals. Marriages do call for celebration of a new beginning in life. When death occurs drawing curtains on a life we also celebrate with different rituals in slow languid rhythms bidding farewell to a person who after life’s fitful fever sleeps well! The harvesting season brings hope for another year and naturally we celebrate with fanfare. Celebration naturally comes to man as life, whatever be its form and reality, is full of tension and natural and unnatural pain. Celebration is the compensation for the intricate web of pain which like the spider’s web enchains in soft threads unseen and unknown.

Celebration on one side is the joyous expression of gratitude to gods for their bounty, on another it is a propitiatory ritual to gods to grant wishes legitimate or illegitimate. It is also a snobbish showing off of wealth, scope and large hearted bohemian temper. There are yet others who lavish all they imagine on an occasion as if there is no tomorrow. As civilization advances, new gadgets flood the market and avenues of new opportunities to swell the purse and  bank accounts open up. The tone and temper of celebrations change from the alap to the jhala. Religious celebrations have undergone a sea change. The oil wick lamps have now been replaced by LED and psychedelic lighting supervised by qualified engineers. An earthen lamp, however, is kept in one corner as a symbolic relic of those dark centuries. The offering plates have grown in size, shape and material-brass to gold-,the images too have grown in size.  An austere Durga or a blissful Saraswati is now a supermodel of a multinational jeweller. The loud speakers blare through the night to far off miles.

The social occasions of revelry have gone up a few decibels. A birthday is celebrated with royal glamour as though after a long wait the Prince of Light is born to dispel all darkness from earth. The starters, the prandial spread will put to shame the grandeur of all descriptions in our epics. The classical sense of a banquet will appear ridiculous before the affluent imagination of an event manager. Marriages are so grand and ostentatious that a wise man is compelled to vow bachelorhood or just elopement with the loved one to a desert tent.

Political celebrations too are now loud and pompous. A victory in the Panchayat Elections or Parliament; the celebration of a political party attaining majority are now riotous with band, flags and festoons causing traffic jam and road blocks. Even a clean chit in a murder case is now an occasion for celebratory display of money and power. A football team emerging as champion in the English Premier League celebrates victory like a coronation.

No no , don’t take me wrong . I am not opposed to celebrations, for celebrations keep our zest of life alive. Human energy at its highest tension must be maintained to meet the challenges of nature and civilization; hence any victory or survival from the jaws of death must be celebrated with aplomb. But when a third of the world’s population is denied a few survival morsels why should the rich and powerful make a vulgar display of their joy? Moreover, so much food and goodies are wasted and thrown that heavens wonder at our stultifying luxury of self indulgence.

The world calls for celebrations. The early dew on the lotus petals, the crimson sun giving the wake up call to the late risers, the birds in clusters moving to search for food are all sights and events to celebrate in creation. Celebrate man‘s love for man, celebrate human dignity. Make mankind move together in a celebratory stance thanking the giver of life in his most beautiful creation. Celebrate the end of poverty, sickness and war. Make your every moment a celebration of being alive. The snobbish party and wasteful fanfare and drummery over small and natural joys of life are not needed; for they are celebrations in themselves. Celebrate the art and  creativity of man in creative ways. Celebrate humanism and man’s victory over the agents of death. Celebrate the elimination of crime and separation.

But man will celebrate his pride of being a father or his arrogance of being a hero in the tinsel world. These poor chaps should be pardoned. But when a celebration wastes what others’ need fervently there is no pardon. Celebrations should be judicious and humble, for, man is the noblest of creation and nobility ought to make us humble.

Death Is Not The End

Death is a welcome balm

embalms life to eternal calm

not a foe but a lover true

comes for the final union

when the body tired of life

needs the lover’s arm: he comes.

As a universal lover, crowns  lives,

champions life with a celebration and

marks the end for a new beginning.

Welcome him and embrace him.

Death makes life so livable,

compels to live with the intensity

of a yogi’s stance, makes life

a private tryst with destiny.

Arrives like the last guest

at a wedding dinner, he brings the

last gifts, name, fame and identity

for having lived life with a vision:

greet him: go with him like a bride

he will beautify  your return after

a noon-nap to participate in

life’s eternal drama of rising

and falling curtains, repainted

to appear in another role.

Sabita Sahu

Free Sex

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Desire for sex is as old as mankind. In Freudian terms libido is the most powerful driving force in men and women. The evolution of civilizational paradigms include sex drive in different forms. Creation arguably centres round the phallus and for that reason phallus worship in different religions in east and west is observed. To curb this drive in the humans, religions and governments have laws or moral precepts: it is a sin to transgress the limits imposed by religion and a crime in the eyes of law. But defying all moral and legal forces men give free play to their libidinous energy. Clandestine sex, enforced sex(rape) consensual sex beyond the limitations imposed by society, extramarital, premarital sex, homosexuality and all  imaginable kinky sex is seen all over the world. In the so called high society wife swapping, group sex, competitive sex goes on winking at the norms of high society values. Pornographic literature and the Internet sky way porn do roaring business. In most countries homosexual marriages are legal. In India the transgender marriages may soon be decriminalized. No progressive writer bothers about Cenci  although father – daughter sex often shames us on the media. So what’s the problem? Bury all scriptures proscribing sex beyond the framework of marriage and abolish the oldest and now effete institution of marriage, and have a free sex society, if the word society in the meanwhile has not broken apart by the logic of the new normal.

The humanist ethic today is persuaded by the logic-if it feels good, do it-; all socio moral norms are anachronisms now. If the heart desires and the mind wills, conscience is trapped by passion to ineffectual protestations often unheard and always ignored. This is not necessarily a recent phenomenon; this has existed concurrently with creation. It is not man who because of his physical superiority subdues woman to sex; Women too have self- chosen sexual pleasures by their urges. Kunti in Mahabharat invited the sun, wind gods for the curiosity of sexual pleasure. Helen being a wife and mother voluntarily became bed mate to Paris in the name of love. Sexual urge defies god and man. In the twenty first century sex is just an itch; it can be scratched without the conscience ringing alarm bells. Films show stalking and even foreplay in the name of freedom of expression. Sex too is a freedom which men and women enjoy with or without sociomoral approval.    

The scientists say that the sex act simply creates a very pleasurable sensation because of chemical changes in the body. Tantrics argue that through sex a divine consciousness is awakened. If this be so why ‘fake’ moralists cry foul ?  Sex is a very private and sweet relationship between two persons. By opening it up to ridiculous levels of freedom we destroy its sanctity. Civilization lends a measure of sophistication to sexual union. It is not a canine act. Humans over the centuries have made this relationship between man and woman a royal artistic relationship. Poets have given it the most luxuriant metaphors. Upendra Bhanja, the Kabisamrat of Odisha has made sex a universal union of elemental divinities. It is the most intense experience where the body and mind reach a still point of spirituality after a participatory journey to the peak of human togetherness

Let not sex, spurred by passion destroy the consummation of human relationships in the name of libidinous freedom. The moral values fortified by modern laws are a good measure of maturity in civilization. Time, place and manner make sexual contact between man and woman a dignified and soul-thrilling institutions. Let us not move in the streets like “A beast with two backs” to borrow an image from W.B.Yeats, making the animals look at us with disdain.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Child Abuse In Schools

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

When I read somewhere “schools are modern temples where life is moulded by knowledge – smiths for this- worldly salvation...” I wince. My ire rises. What salvation? Every other day I read in the papers and watch on television about a girl being raped. Girls between four and twelve are molested and raped by teachers, clerks, peons or game instructors. In some schools, Ryan for instance, boys of tender age are even killed by maladjusted boys with gay abandon. University teachers, research supervisors, principals shamelessly make these temples hell-holes of ignominy. Schools these days are the nightmares for parents. Restless mothers wait for the kids’ safe return. Bus, car, taxi or other transports are not safe. Even boys are not immune from monsters of depravity. This is not an urban exclusive. The rural schools too are defamed by the same perversions of human nature.

How could such things happen in India? A hoary culture boasting of five thousand years of unimpeded flow of rich humane values could not have sunk to these depths in just seventy years of Independence and territorial integrity? In the days of the great epics, we do not have evidence of co-education. In Drona’s classes or Vishwamitra’s ashrams, girls are not to be seen? Yes’ we get evidence of rape, kidnapping, and pre-marital or extra-marital sex but paedophilia is not reported. The heroic ages of Greece and Rome have not been infamous for such pervert kind of sex abuse. One may argue, since the schools in those times were in open spaces child sex was impossible. While I accept the spirit of this logic, I am tempted to pay tribute to the society where such unnatural things, perhaps, were not given moral approval. But in contemporary times despite spectacular improvements in the education system and vast changes in the infrastructural environment how could this psychic malady surface without any historical continuity?

Admittedly man is a predator, sexual overdrive is not unnatural in these times of opulence and opportunities. Exposure to sexciting scenes, especially pornographic literature or net pornography may lead a person to turn into a sex maniac; but why the school? A government or private school appoints, at least tries to appoint men and women of comparatively good character. A background check of the other employees is also done in the case of non-teaching employees. Qualified persons manage and administer the schools. Security guards and CCTV cameras watch or suppose to watch things, yet such abuses happen. Should we then say that such occurrences are few and far between and should be taken as individual aberrations? But the frequency and extent of such abuses are now alarming. Last week two female teachers sexually molested a seven-year-old girl as reported by a national daily. This prompts the question; are we so maniacal and our libido manifests so forcefully that all societal and civilizational norms are flouted without any moral compunction?

Punishing the offenders is one way of looking at these problems although that seems to be the Hobson’s choice in all modern states. However, the punishment is dependent on evidence, proof, courtroom pyrotechnics of high-priced lawyers and Tariq pe Tariq. But the survivor is psychologically ruined. The survivor feels vanquished; his/her being smarts to death with self-conscious, self-deprecation. No compensation or punishment to the offender could ever heal the unseen wound.

I am not foolish enough to preach moral education in the schools or moral counselling to the staff. Morals in the democratic society are self-chosen and restraints self-imposed. No coercive imposition of values can change a person’s instincts. The fear of punishment may be deterrent but the death penalty for rapist has not acted as one. I feel the cure lies elsewhere;  in the inherited family values and the knowledge base, we provide in our curriculum. We teach to prepare citizens who will be resources to the state. We never prepare students as beings, as individuals with a sense of human dignity. Modern curricula are abstract, in the sense that these train men and women to be technicians of algorithms, genes and database. The knowledge laboratories must now rethink and produce individuals who will use knowledge with a human face. Otherwise, the data-centric worldview will run its course and no one will complain of crimes.

Reunion

It happened without

planning or premeditation

he agreed, his indisposition

was no barrier, we met in our

small crowded city, in a joint

noisy, hot and busy.

After the greetings, the order

for soup and starter and feeling

of relative unease at the meeting

slowly the old events were relived

with memories of bitterness sweetened

by the present moment of togetherness.

 I have always tried to unite

him with the family but was

always repulsed- and rightly so

he was stubborn to my pleadings

my requests were smiled away

again we became dear strangers:

The nearness that was magical

broke apart, the charm countered

by sulking logic disappointed me,

what looked like done was undone.

But some power stopped the A/C

silencing the crowd having lost

the sight of the family reunion.

Where the hearts and the souls were

rejoined to fill the widening gap like

a written script conceived earlier
stopped the breath for a while.

Sabita Sahu

Deny Not My Love

             

Was it my shallow action or

harsh words that pierced

your heart, I saw a streak

of pain on your face, I swear

never I meant anything,

punish me if you wish

but with a hug and long kiss.

My heart is not strong

enough to bear your tears,
let me lick the rolling dew

till you dry up and brighten
your day with my smile,

touch me, hold me, feel me 

forever and not just for a while.

Words need not explicate

how much my love is for you

but I assert , none can savour

or ever equal as I do.

If to love is a sin or crime,

I’ll do it again and again, till

all songs lose their rhyme.

Sabita Sahu