Negativity

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Negativity is the pastime of a few intellectuals, obsession for some politicians and a born womb- inheritance of a good number of naysayers. Some people enjoy negativity just to create controversies. Some  others are attitudinally negative out of jealousy. If they see a beautiful woman they will sigh like a demented philosopher and say- yes she is beautiful but beauty is transient, time will cause wrinkles on her shining skin, her golden breasts will hang like rotten mangoes just to touch her naval. There are  yet others for whom nothing in God's vast acres is good, nothing is pleasant. They are what the late lamented Arun Jaitley coined , "Nawabs of Negativity". There are people for whose palates nothing is tasteful. If a flawless Royal Dinner  is thrown on the marriage celebration of the  Princess these nawabs of negativity like the old Brahmin, in an old story I remember to have read, will say  "If it is too good how can it be good; it may satisfy the tongue but it will not be good for digestion". Such people, if they are taken to heaven- if there is a heaven somewhere- they will certainly say, "If there is no contrastive disorder Order has no meaning". These people are incurable specimens of negativity.

A Greek dramatist wrote " It is better not to be born in this world full of pain". I would like to ask, if you are not born how would you experience the pain of the world? Life is a cat and mouse game. If you are chased by a cat you run like a hare  to a lair of safety. Once you are safe in the dark corner of your hiding place you feel blessed. If a cat misses its prey it would curse itself. But if you catch your prey and make a hearty meal of it you  will say like my sometime friend in my salad days. "What a lovely  world God has created"!- for his favourite Lobster breakfast. The World is beautiful for its variety and plenty. You see light and shade, enjoy your (stupid) joys and suffer your( cursed ) pain. But at times the pain of separation is also the most enjoyable feeling this world offers. You write volumes, wait out the unending hours and  sing woeful songs requesting, cajoling the clouds or the wind to carry your bleeding heart for your love's mercy. The binaries of life  make life desirable despite the prickly pears wounding your kissers. The world offers choices. You can be what you wish to be or you can wait for nature and society to shape your body and mind. But most philosophers and thinkers, poets and politicians are positive in their approach to Reality. The horrors of life must be vanquished by human intelligence. If floods come and devastate life does not end. Man is the greatest survivor and in order to survive you have to utilize all the negative intelligence positively . The politicians all over the world are a hated lot because they often fail to use their  positive thinking  in making the world a good place to live in. But those who blame them, do they have an alternative in their mind? It is easy to  say that the world is  an unmanageable place. But man has managed the world for millions  of years by his positive thinking. The negativists have not given us any alternative world. They do not have the blueprint of  an alternative scenario of life.  Negativity and cynicism are impediments on the  path of the positive visualizers of life on the planet. Negativity stops progress, halts life, increases pain, the pain of nothing happening anywhere.

Death is the natural negativity to life. But death has not stopped the world's forward movement towards progress of life. In the world today man's life is more comfortable, the world is more livable than it was ever before. But negativity is also essential  for it inspires thinking, it gives energy to penetrate the layers of clouds to reach light. It induces human  energy to fight against all the enemies of life- hunger, sickness and old age, even death. It is negativity which creates  the scenario of horror and doom, thereby forcing human consciousness to fight the doomsday possibilities with redoubled vigour. Negativity is like the other side of hope, faith and light which man would like to reach by his determination to survive meaningfully.

But those who always see death in life are not human. The stubborn negativist  deserves expulsion from human society. But man has accommodated all negativity. Even Caliban whom Shakespeare abandoned in The Tempest has his place. The stubborn inhumanity of some negative specimens too are needed by the society to appreciate the glow of positive thinking. Despite negativity we now fly in the air, sail beyond the seas and create gardens in icy fields. The most unresponsive lover too is a darling:  We should win them with more love. The negative minds need our love for they are loveless barren wasteland. Let us try to make gardens of them.

The Sea Calls Me - Sandra !

 

May be my dainty footprints

on the sand reminded

him of our unflinching love

of time tested bonds beyond births,

Sandra- He called me while I was

bowing down to Lord Jagannath.

His call invited me in lovely rhythms

the midnight rain of the season

pushed my steps to the shore

the beach was lonely, dark sombre,

the waves gave me a roaring welcome

wet, shaky and  ecstatic I stood

Sandra, he called again in foamy delight

spreading his wide mouth to kiss my feet,

but when I advanced  he receded.

O' sea take me in

enter my soul and body

my mortal eternity of separation

I pine birth after birth

quench the fire and calm my soul.

give me the depth of your being,

O'  'Father of Fire' give me light

to find my way to complete the circle

my agony is too much for my life

fill me up , be one with me

come with one final roar make me

one with you  be my saviour my love!

Sabita Sahu

I Am Right : You Are Wrong

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Since language mediated reality dominated human consciousness two words, Right and Wrong, coexist in all human discourses. The conversation may be just a chat between a  couple (after two years of marriage), father and child, teacher and student, neighbours, public debates, parliament, debates in a democracy, arguments in a court room or anywhere else in state-center, country-country or even young or mature lovers who vow to die for each other, these two words will occur several times and the powerful between them or the specimen of patriarchy would be right. If it is not accepted by the other party  the result is quarrel, divorce, war or murder. The church, temple and mosque supporters have been killing publicly declaring the victims a heretic before burning him/ her at the stake. The other religious zealots too kill. The strong in argument  and weak in strength or power concedes defeat at a public place but  nurses his hurt  with million nourishments to his ego and thinks of himself as a revenge hero. In literature the revenge hero has his pride of place. The weak and the meek become strong in villainy and clandestine  machinations like Iago or Shakuni. Might is always Right. In India the sages and scholars have approved of Birabhogya Vasundhara, which is also true of Timurs and Ghajinis!

In the modern world Galileos are no more punished but nations which are powerful in military might may have claims on your rights and ideas. The Gulf countries are always wrong, for they are weak in money and muscle. China is right to claim Sikkim and Arunachal; Pakistan too is right in sending terrorist to India out of spite with the plea of freedom for kashmir. The United Nations becomes a divided nations the moment a Trump or Ji Jinping asserts a right which flouts International law but if a weaker nation raises a universal issue, genuine, authentic and peace disturbing it is cold shouldered by the P5, for they would decide what is morally, legally and politically right for the good of mankind.

But there are exceptions. When Taliban is created by the Americans to counter the  advance of the Russians in Afghanistan, they were right: For what they did was for world peace. What they did in Iraq was also right. They attacked Iraq accusing Saddam Hussain of stockpiling Weapons of Mass Destruction; but no WMD was found anywhere. But whose sense of Right was powerful enough to challenge America? In the world politics of power equations today every leader is right . Even Imran Khan is right to surrender the power of an elected Government to his Army General  Bajwa by yielding to the demand of a three year extension  post - retirement. Right and wrong have no relevance when need, greed and power politics decide the future of a country.

Changing the political metaphor when we look into our daily  martyrdom of morals we are often bewildered. When a mob lynching happens over a silly unreasonable issue two groups representing right and wrong start  debating on national television in India. The anchor helplessly acquiesces  in for loss of TRP. But if an anchor shows some grit and opposes what is morally and legally wrong  the power group calls him/ her a soldout media person. In the name of free speech the right claimers parade statistical lies without fear . The nay sayers often carry  the day by the decibels they raise. If a Rapist is a religious leader his statement is institutionally supported proving yet again, the victim is always in the wrong.

 Right and wrong are now divorced from morality. It has more political overtones, that's why  we try to make politically correct statements despite the voice of conscience whispering what you are saying in the public is a trouble  avoiding logic far removed from truth. A woman now can say to  have sex with another person consensually is not a betrayal of love. I love you beyond the chastity of the body. A man too is now legally free to have  another woman without transgressing the charmed circle of his family. A lover who forsakes the world for his beloved is now considered a fool. Even his lady love often says you are right in your love for me but wrong to expect positive response from me. You go on pouring your soulful love on me, delight me by your poetic words, write volumes of poems for my entertainment: that is your Right and the right way to treat your love . But if you expect the same kind of participative response in word, speech and action, you are wrong.

Right and wrong have now constitutional validity. If my right does not violate the Constitution I am not wrong. But if I think my unegoistic word and action is Right I am wrong.  But if  I feel what you feel is the right thing to write, speak and do, do it without bothering about the others' cry of wrong  wrong  wrong.

I Am The Richest

I am the richest, proudest of all

my garden glazes with Tulips

my sky rains nectar of hope

my sun, moon, stars

gleam in glamour

move around me for his love.

He smiles bounties,

fulfills my dreams

he has no conditions

none can outbid him

in loves plenty,

goodness is in his soul

charity is his mind's frame

riches are uncountable:

He is no god- He is a man

all women dream.

He is humble yet subtle

makes me feel an Empress

by his love and grace,

his love expands like gods mind,

He is my wealth my world

my desires end- wishes on hold

I am the richest, proudest of all.

Sabita Sahu

I am The Butterfly Of Mehul Forest

Bowing down I have  never

displayed my smallness ever

nor bent my knees for mercy

never ask for gold mansions

never expected gifts or presents

I am the butterfly of Mehul forest,

where is the strength in my wings?

To hold your empire's scepter

to fire shafts from your quiver.

I am happy with the fragrance,

colours enchant me

I have lived thus through love

I fly with pride, not begging

or asking cajoling , flattering

I call my soul with songful air.

Don't feed me with rubies

like a caged bird

don't smear my delicate body

with arrogance

leave me alone in the

revolution of birth and death

in this changeful earth;

for the love of love for love's worship

in verses of undying lyrics

that is  my palace melody

the success of my grace and beauty

the glory of life in mortality

in this world of laughs and tears.

Sabita Sahu

It's Identity Stupid !

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Homo Sapien : Male,Female, Transgender:

Hungry man, Sick man, Old man, Fighter, Renouncer, King, Hero:

Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Budhist, Zorastrian, Jew:

English, French, Hindi, Urdu, Portugese...:

Czarist, Zionist, Lord, Fuehrer, Chakraborty, Socialist, Communist, Fabian Socialist, Democrat, Republican:

Married , Bachelor, Widow, Husband, Wife, Lover:

White, Red, Black, Brown:

Second sex, Third sex, American, Italian, Indian:

Libran, Leo..:

Slave , Master:

Ruling class, Opposition...etc etc  etc...

Man has been  all these over the centuries.  But what is man? What is his identity ? In a world historically updating itself and making civilizational adjustments in decades and centuries nomenclatures have stamped men and events in different languages. Birth and death records are maintained in registers- now digitally all over the world. Naming an object perhaps started by the Christian God in the Bible. After creating things and creatures He started naming them. And this system continues officially in all countries irrespective of faiths and administrative structures. But there is the Rub!

Man takes on different identities despite his/her name which identified him/her at the Christening ceremony. For instance T.S. Eliot gave three identities of his in a lecture to Oxonians post his Nobel Award: I am an Anglo-Catholic in Religion: a Royalist in politics  and a classicist in Literature. Tendulkar once said 'I am an Indian First, a Maharastrian second and then a cricketer'. Any normal person has almost several identities. He may identify  himself by his nationality; his profession, religion, caste, sex, marital status. He has several IDs like Adhar Card, Pan Card, Voter Identification Card, Club membership etc. His name is no more an identity. He has a class identity too! Arnold J Toynby wrote in 1947 " I am a middle aged English man belonging to the middle class". Politically people identify themselves by their Party loyalties. Others say - I am Punjabi , Gujrati , Odia etc. Yet others say they are Scientists, Litterateurs, Economists etc.

In the present day world the religious identity seems to be overpowering. Asaduddin Owaisy is a Muslim and he must oppose anything that is Hindu. In the sports arena too the religious identity  supersedes the nationality.  An India - Pakistan match becomes a Hindu - Muslim war although in the Indian team we often have more than one Muslim player. In Indian politics whatever decision the Prime Minister takes for the good of the country becomes a Hindutwa Agenda. And it must be opposed by the  Congress, the Left and also the Muslim sympathisers. The interest of the country is secondary. What is focused in all debates discussions is religious identity politics. Any issue is made religion specific and leads to conflictual claims on political, moral or national validity. This disturbing trend raises many questions about identity.

Does man have a human identity as an individual or the secondary and inherited identity is supreme? Does the individual have a mind of his own  unclattered  by the mass identity. Man perseveres to achieve distinction in his chosen field- art, literature , science or sports etc- but he is known to the world by his mass, group or  inherited identities. Can a man say like Michael Jackson be identified as a singer dancer without tags of his country, religion and other self chosen beliefs? Can Romeo be identified as  a Christian Lover? Is not love the greatest value in life? But can that value be the flag of your identity? Can a Kashmiri be identified as an Indian without reference to his religion? Unfortunately No. Human identity does not stem from the human essence a man exudes in his work. Beethoven or Wagner, Tansen or  Thyagaraja  are  above the local hues which they gather during the course of their lives. But today identity has shades of meaning and appeal beyond the self and soul of a being.

In the 1970's most literature departments researched on Crisis of Identity. It was thought, after the Wars and the political changes in the world Man has lost his identity. What was that? It was the crisis of the authentic human being. But that crisis was never resolved. In today's world if you say "I am a lover" people will laugh because love is no more an identifying  attribute of a human being. In a materialistic world what matters is 'success'. Any professional or politician who succeeds in amassing money  or wielding power has its identity in the  minds of his admirers or detractors. No identity is now  a monolithic whole. Identity of the basic human being is  no more relevant. Your identity is measured by money, influence or power. The passport is often a pidgin identity. But in the ultimate analysis you are what you feel yourself to be as I am what I am.

Who's Afraid of Death !

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

What is this death you are worried about? From the amoeba to the  bulkiest  elephant death is a constant worry to the  creatures. Nature is not worried about death. If a flower blossoms it must fall else its beauty will be taken for granted. We love beauty, youth, ebullience, sprightliness , puckish mischief and all sorts of heroic display of men and manners simply because there is death. If we lived for all time our seeking bubble reputations, song-dance orgies, love for the tearful joys of life, wasting a life for an insensitive paramour would be mocked at by time as a routine gimmick of deathless creatures. It is death that makes life so lovable. It is age  that makes youth so charming. It is sorrow that makes joy so desirable. It is separation that makes love so very soulful.  Contrast and binaries make the story of life on earth so endearingly meaningful. It is meaninglessness that is death; it is the end of beauty, lovemaking, waiting for dreams to materialize, hardwork,  aspirations and other legitimacies that men and women gain through a lifetime. But after death the legitimacies are gone and the body must be burned or buried to save  the living from the festering flesh, polluting their breathing space. If this be the process why be afraid of it which is inevitable?

But in all ages, all civilizations man tries to conquer death. A heaven where men and women in their fineries move celebrating immortality ; a Jannat of bliss is the hope and desire of the earthly creatures, especially of the intelligent species: And this hope is kept alive by religion, except Buddhism. Is it the glory of civilization or a death fixation of cynical insipidity which religion instills in man through self-denying rituals? Even modern men of scientific temper spend hours in laboratories to discover and invent medicines to prolong life. Google has invested a few billions on the projects of lengthening the span at least to 200 years, now that a century of life has been almost guaranteed in most cases. Why? Is the earth now a heaven substitute or we want to deplete all available resources of nature and leave her as a dead planet? Nature has already given her SOS call. Her climate has changed, the beautiful naturalness has now been deformed by our imaginaries. Human population has increased at the cost of biodiversity and all leaders of the world meet once or twice a year to brainstorm how to restore nature to her pristine symmetry. The earth has now an incurable fever. Her temperature swells the seas and the seasonal cycles are now truant. Why should we do all these to postpone death till the earth's enforced doom?

No one says that we should welcome death. No. Death should come naturally without any provocation. All saints have forbidden self-slaughter. But by delaying death are we not causing the death of many species, ideas, beliefs, practices and also causing the slow death of the earth which holds our shenanigans?

Poets and other creative men have two views of death. One group treats death as an ogre: calls death the leveller. The terminator of life. The other group defies death . Tagore called death his shyam, his saviour and rescuer. But before him the other poets in different languages called death a fearful antilife. Donne however challenges death- Death Thou Art Dead-; Shelley wrote "How wonderful is death/ Death and his brother sleep", and others wrote of death as an 'easeful' benefactor who releases man from life's torments. The lovers put death on a higher pedestal and prefer it to a life of miserable separation from their beloveds. The heroes always brave death and prefer to fall on the sword than to swallow their pride and kneel down before their challengers or the tyrants. Honour in life is a more soul warming value than all other values for the men of heroic temper. For them even death is a trophy.

Those who cower under the threat of death are not worthy of life. Death challenges man to live meaningfully: to utilize every moment for enlightenment of life. I do not mean ' reason, science, humanism and progress' as Emmanuel Kant would have it. Enlightenment is the discovery of the illumination within which brightens the area of reality a man traverses in his life span, thereby brightening life and nature by his divinity. Therefore you men and women never fear death: Fear dying. Fear the thousand martyrdoms which you suffer by your dark desires. To overcome dying death must be conquered by your activities . Live with honour and dignity, with your head up and even , eyes focussed on all elevating elements like love, compassion  and sacrifice to alleviate other's suffering.  And live your life in full defiance of the terminator.