The Half Sphere

The half-moon peeped through

my window grill at midnight,

the midwinter chill

pinpricked my pores,

I opened my hair and 

went to the terrace

without any woolens,

everything was half at the moment,

my half-lived life

my studies not been full

even my dreams half-buried under

the half formed snow.

 

But the fullness of my being

is ready for  full encounter

my pride is full

my desires are full

full is my body and mind,

the sky above is always full

my efforts, however, are not so.

 

When my love whispers from afar

with full-throated glee

half-joking, half-serious:

Should everything be half,

I said no, the half will be double

come let's make the world full together

no belly will be half full

no sleep shall be marred

by half dreams broken into doom

The hemispheres are we

we will join the spheres and

 make the earth fulfil herself.

Sabita Sahu

Moony Memories

Another day of excitement

I stood against the towering

roaring  waves, to see the

divine love of moon and sea,

soft and slow was the breeze

everything was in its motion

to witness the unique union.

 

All decked up like Venus

bright and beautiful,

the moon peeped out

tearing  the clouds

to fall on the body of the sea

to be swayed by the waves

and enjoy the glides.

 

The sea caressed her

with every unfolding wave

and with every rise she came up

with a splendid smile to end the battle

to lose and merge with him.

 

Suddenly the memories arose

love stirred in my heart

creating typhoons in 

my silent thoughts

fanning my thirsty emotions

to carry the flight.

 

If I have self insulated myself,

love me like the raging sea

ready I am to  dance with

the waves  and can make no

mistake to live a life

I desire to live.

Sabita Sahu

Ram Mandir Bhumipuja

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Those who say and write, The Ram (Janmabhumi) Mandir Bhumipuja (ground breaking) on August 5,2020 amid Corona chaos was deliberately fixed to add injury to insult to the protesters of Article 370 abrogation are braying off the mark. Whether the coincidence was fortuitous or willed the fact is, history was restored after a gap of 500 years of a cultural void. The Hegelian Spirit of History has now regained its self-conscious  Freedom. Hopefully this Freedom will determine its own pace  and course. The cultural dimension which is the primum mobil of history will now give  its clockwise push to make the culture a reinvigorated  entity, free to expand its pristine value structure. Therefore the Bhumipuja at Ram Janmabhumi to raise a grand temple should not be viewed through any political or sectarian lens. The Mandir is only an artefact, a visual wonder perhaps, to arouse the aesthetic sense of the devotees and visitors. What matters is the spirit, the essence, the symbolic value construct of a culture which in its mazy course is still the sustainer of a civilization. If Ram's Ideals, values his sense of moral governance are valid and dynamic the post Bhumipuja generations of  India must demonstrate by their words and deeds  that man can make the world his home in sun and shower. If this is not the lesson imparted by the ceremony, the ceremonial visual tapestry will hang on a date in a calendar.

 

Ram is worshipped in India as an avatar of Vishnu, the administrative  head of the Universe in the Trinity imaginary of Indian thinkers. The epic Ramayan, composed by the sage poet Valmiki  may or may not have any authentic historical reality as no record of Rama's birth and his life's works exist. The Indians termed the epics Ramayana and Mahabharat as history (Itihasa) and as such the work of Valmiki can be accepted, contrapuntal challenges notwithstanding. Scholars are, however, at variance about its date of composition. If the popular belief is believed Ramayana predates the Vedas but most modern scholars believe that the epic was written sometime between 300 BC and 200 CE. But in popular imagination  Ram is forever, does not matter  BC or CE. Now the main question is why is Ram a permanent feature of Indian memory? Even the neighbouring countries like Srilanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia , Philippines and Iran, Afghanistan have versions of the Ramayana in their social lives? The episodes of the epic are still enacted in Thailand and Indonesia, and in Iran only very recently some sculptural evidence of a Ram Chariot and Hanuman's kneeling obeisance posture has been found. This definitely suggests the impact of the epic and its eponymous hero on a larger territory beyond the borders of India. Ram's geopolitical fame and his  practised values definitely have touched a universal human chord. We can  assert beyond an iota of  doubt that Ram was historically real and his name and deeds had spread far and wide.  Now we can ask the other question: Why was Ram admired if not worshipped, by a large segment of humanity spread over South East Asia and beyond?

 

A human being is raised to a deity status when his values are seen as the most respectable for mankind and his works or deeds, his judgements, heroism - restraint and above all his administration and governance of human affairs are felt as life ennobling and ecofriendly. Ramchandra of Ayodhya is one such(literary) deity for men and women who have heard about his stories, that is his life's highs and lows, achievements and sacrifices. Born a Prince  (a miracle birth induced by divine elixir) his childhood was spent under the tutelage of a strong willed disciplinarian Biswamitra; his reversal of fortune came on the day of his coronation as king of Ayodha, caused by human agents; his life in exile turned its course when his wife Sita was kidnapped by Ravana, the most powerful king of Lanka - but he did not succumb to his gloom. He forged new friendship with Sugriba, a king  with a monkey totem and Hanuman a scholar son of the Wind God and a great being of physical and moral strength. He built an unheard of bridge over the ocean from the southern tip of India that is Bharat to Lanka and attacked the forces of Ravana to rescue wife Sita. He won; destroying evil he established the Rule of Dharma. He restored the kingdom to Ravana's brother Bibhisan and returned to Ayodhya. When some low caste people questioned Sita's chastity, as a king he respected public opinion and banished his Sita, an expectant mother. And he ruled his kingdom without discrimination - caste, creed, gender; respected freedom in all  individuals, never greeded for another's land and made his people love  each other...

 

Today if Rama is still remembered , with worshipful love , it is because Ram stands for 'rectitude', that is moral uprightness and courage to implement moral convictions. Ram respected his father -mother ; loved his siblings; honoured and obeyed his teachers and  all learned men and women; never harmed anyone as long as he was not attacked; respected and redeemed his commitments to friends, honoured his words to the detriment of his own interests , protected the weak and supported the poor, never compromised his values. He made  sacrifice of his personal life to please the people. In this sense his exiling Sita when she needed him most is a personal sacrifice. The Ramayan created Ram as the ultimate human ideal, fit enough to be a king. A king has no parents, no family, no luxury and no self indulgence. The king lives and dies for the people. Sleeping on the floor and eating the plainest food his life is dedicated to the larger  family - the people. The king lives  for his people as their Sevak - Servant not master. 

 

But that does not mean  the king will give up arms and negotiate  for peace. He should create fear in others for only then respect comes. A strong man is grudgingly admired by enemies - a weak man is often ignored. Rama was and continues to be this ideal human being - royal, heroic and kind. This Bhumipuja for  the Ram Mandir ought to be a pledge to redeem Ram's debt to mankind; to make India that is Bharat, free from fear, the fear especially  of foreign aggression and create mutual love among the people irrespective of caste, creed and other man- made discriminations.

 

Modi (Narendra Damodardas Modi, the present Primeminister of India) laid the foundation brick as a fated man to restore India's historical pride. But history of the future must move as Ram has already shown in all affairs of life management. If this event is just a foundation laying ceremony the future historians will record it as  an act of Hindu Supremacist triumphalism: If it is a relaying of the Ram values in public and private life  Modi will definitely find a respectable place in the Pantheon of the future. Restoration of values must move forward along  creative universalism.

Arise My Pen

My Covid struck pen lay supine

dust settled my desk held its weight

This pen has recorded the Hero's exploits,

measured the hooves of the charging stallions

and also the tears of the victims

described the gold dust flying

from the flails of invaders

Golden temples and silvery moons

have fallen, lay covered

under the debris of time.

Today my pen coughs, sneezes

the ink flows in droplets of pain,

the masked men heaped like rotten

fruits are thrown into ditches

for feasting magpies to damnation

wherever I look I'm beaten by

the whimper of helpless men ghostlike

covered from top to toe

as if shrouded mankind

hides its history in shame.

Where do I find my Love

the promising saviour

the vaccine for torn lungs!

Is he headed towards inferno

searching for Beatrice in hellfire!

O' my pen, my long night's dawn

rise up, call him to kill this Corona

and sing of man's new history.

Sabita Sahu

What's Our Legacy For Gen Next

Prafulla Kumar mohanty 

Man today has left Darwin behind, he can and does plan out the evolutionary pace of the species. The hateful Nazi  eugenics is remodelled in our genetic engineering. Transhumanists believe our species can attain enhanced stamina and intelligence. Google is funding research to make man 'immortal' - aiming at a 200 year longevity. To maintain enhance sexual power in 80+ generations, laboratories are doling out magic pills. Garcia Marquez's  cyclist hero in 'To my Melancholy Whores' rings up the 'Madam' for a virgin on his 90th birthday. Wow! stop aging and aspire for immortality, is the new call by the scientific community. Hospitals everywhere  try to save octogenarians knowing well the futility of the task. Governments pump in resources to prolong life. More than half the population of the world lives on pension or public - private charity - without contributing anything to the society. These oldies desire revitalized youth and like Shantanu enforce, by sheer bond of filial affection, a vow of celibacy and perpetual bachelorhood in his most heroic and ethically conscious son, Bhisma. So was the case with Yajati who enjoyed the sacrificed youth of his son. All these are  the achievements of human civilization and we are proud of it. But who enjoys the fruits of these achievements? The answer is plain and simple: The rich and the powerful. A poor man choicelessly sinks into fatalistic stupor. And the young - the demographic dividend - have no share of the socio - economic pie. Young and innovative men and women do not enjoy individual authenticity and wait for opportunities. In India, Pilots and Scindia's are sidelined while the aged in the organizations control the purse strings and grab the steering wheel. Frustration like simmering fire engulfs the youth to despair.

We have made the earth - the greatest monument - a dilapidated structure, almost a ghost of her pristine state. The environment is barren, almost infertile. She cannot anymore hold and nourish our growing population. We are about 8 billion and going. We don't pause to think whether the coming generation can get air to breathe, water to drink, earth to stand on. Pollution is our most unenviable contribution to our progeny. The air they breathe is poison. The ozone layer is depleted, the forest cover is disappearing. The big cities we have  built - New York, Delhi, Beijing, Paris, Mumbai, Chennai - all are dens of pollution, Dante's torture spirals where life groans. Youth is gone at thirty. The newborns soon gain lung infections. Venice and such cities are now sinking. The leaning Towers may soon measure their  length on the ground. And the earth shakes. In north India, particularly the Himalayan region earthquakes of low and medium magnitude are daily nightmares. The cities are packed like sardines. The poor and the houseless are  not safe even on the pavements. Land Rovers mow them in their tired sleep. All governments promise homes to the unsheltered but roofless youth languishes in the coaxing pretence of the power groups. Almost all cities are thirsty - be  it Mumbai, Chennai or Brahmapur or Argentina. When the rains come floods take their toll. China, America, England and our own India float groaning during the flood seasons- and when the floods leave behind a desolate  scene the young and the old and the poor cry for water. All our efforts to save water, our rain harvesting  programmes go awry. We have drunk the milk of Paradise in our dreams and imaginative literature but we cry hoarse in our parched throats for water. The future we have given our children is a dry, depleted, bland and bald earth without clean air, without water - sans everywhere.

We have  willed a corrupt, ill-organised and ungovernable social structure to gen next. My words are harsh but the reality is harsher still. The mobile phone and the internet was supposed to be a great blessing  for a communicative society coming close together. But the Internet is used for fakery deceit and violence. Every day the Face Book, Twitter and other such 'beautiful' Apps  (Tik Tok and Hip Hop) blare expletives at the best creation of God. Lies, damned lies and fake statistics are thrown at unsuspecting people. Hacking is another menace - and all these are done not by preternatural  creatures but by the modern men and women of our world. Character is not destiny, the assassination of character is our destiny. The younger generation is now very much  the victim of our fond gifts. But the worst legacy we may leave behind are caste, colour, sex, race and religious discriminations.  Those who said black is beautiful are now forced to fight for existential relevance. In  America the Blacks are now up in arms against the whites. The liberal accommodation  of all colours, creeds, ideologies, freakishness is now disturbed by other identities and ideologies which were once thought banal. A young man does not  know what to hold on to. What values are growth friendly and life friendly the young cannot choose as the efficacy of all ideals are made debatable without any possible resolution. In sheer frustration and anger he picks up the AK47 as a symbol of macho authenticity and kills without any disturbance of his own value equilibrium. Rape and murder are of no consequence. Terrorism too is now an accepted fact of life. If someone is a victim, he becomes a victimizer to have heroic revenge or at least to get even.

The young today are bewildered. The latest pandemic trounced his freedom and identity. He has no future to look  forward to nor does he have any love for his past. His present is now chocked by time's uncertain pace. Will the lovers of this earth, the Human Race, the great cultures and the dreamers of cosmic dreams now pause and introspect for a moment? - To make  a future for their own? If they too are in a mental  stasis, the future will not happen. Hurry up  please - It's Time.

Time Unframed

I have sculpted my yesterdays into

a beautiful history that is unwritten.

Like window shopping 

I often visit them and look

at every moment -

the tears of solitude

the moments of loneliness

the unspoken words

the incomplete dreams

all appear as a distant image

far from sight like a shadow.

The past can never return

like an unfulfilled dream

it pricks and spills time.

Hiding the expressions

my mind rebounds 

the thoughts in flashback

and swallows me whole

I fight to breathe  fresh air

to associate my being with reality.

If past is the golden treasure,

today is  radiant pleasure
seize the moment and live it

nothing happens twice

today is offered once

you will not see tommorow.

Sabita Sahu

Land Grabbing

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Man is a grabber; a greedy predator pouncing on every opportunity, often manipulated, to grab things. When there was no  culture or civilization he thought the landmass on which he stands and moves is all his. When he realized that only land  can feed him, shelter him and  sustain his quest for ownership, he enclosed as much of land as he could. He surveyed his possessions which pampered his ego. Yes he is the owner, the master of all he surveys. Gradually he faced competition; others with the same land grabbing propensity encroached into his land. He fought. He fought for his exclusive ownership of the earth. He wanted more land, more of God's little acre, more trees, lakes, rivers, mountains and more of everything. He became king of a large landmass but he was never satisfied, wanted more. He attacked other land grabbers, killed them. If he became the Chakraborty, the emperor of  vast territory he wanted to invade other countries. He called it heroic adventure. He wanted to beat Alexander, Napoleon in their own games. He knew he might die but he didn't care. He had his logic: If you win you enjoy the earth, if you lose you attain heaven. He swore not to give an inch of land - a pinpoint speck of earth - without causing a river of blood. He searched for Xanadu, he searched for the Golden Bird, he moved directionless for the New World. When Cain became the first (Bible) agriculturist he drove away the animals of Abel, wanted absolute possession of land. He had no qualms of conscience to kill his brother Abel. He argued Am I My Brother's Keeper?

Yes, man is not anyone's keeper. He is for himself. He wants to possess the whole earth and play God. Man is God, that is, the absolute authority, the unchallenged master of whatever he senses. He vows to protect the earth, his possession, which he calls  his motherland. He will shed his blood, the last drop, only to save his pride of being the master. This instinct was given a facelift by the word patriotism, but the psychological truth was the ego of power. Land made him powerful. In all cultures of the world we see this basic tendency of man, this landgrabbing image of man. Man's fights, wars and irrational  conflicts  always centre around the power of possession. Land, Kingdom, Country always gave man  the power push on  which he founded his own metaphysical essence. Jamindar, landlord, king, Primeminister are designations of power, stemming from possession of land - the larger the area, the greater is the power.

In Odia literature Fakirmohan Senapati's Chha Mana Atha Guntha, arguably the greatest Odia novel depicts this land- grabbing of Ramchandra Mangaraj who enters the society from the outside without any roots. But he, by his evil, manipulating mind tricks  the hedonist self - servers and the superstitious fools out of their wits and grabs their land. His end is naturally tragic as nature does not allow herself to be chained by human will. The same land grabbing is seen in Gopinath Mohanty's Paraja and the end is almost similar: The change here, however, is that man's sense of right cannot be trodden over by human boots. What Bhagia - Saria ought to have done in Senapati's novel is done by Sukru and Mandia in Mohanty's work. But the question is why man invests all his mental energy in land grabbing is not explained. Maybe to grab land comes naturally to man as he is power crazy to construct what Byron called, "The Immortality of Independence" (1818). In many a novel we have landgrabbing as the driving force. Pearl Buck's The Good Earth is a bright example. Kalindi Panigrahi's Matira Manisha ( The Earth Man) is also a glowing example where land breaks a family. The brothers part and movement towards the city starts. It may be a legal - moral crime but man cannot but be a victim of his own power hunt. The greatest illustration of landgrab and powerpush is however our own The Mahabharat. This epic states the theme for all time in indelible grandeur. But man refuses to outgrow this built psychic hubris.

Leo Tolstoy in his story "How Much Land Does A Man Need" has dramatically shown that greed for land, is insatiable and ultimately leads man to his untimely end. All ethics - philosophy - law and ideologies have exposed this landgrabbing  as a sin, a crime, an insane obsession but it goes on. Highly educated and otherwise powerful men do this landgrabbing, this transgression of nature's soul territory. Encroachment of govt land is a petty weakness even in the docile humans. There is no cure. But if one is rich and powerful, his grabbing instinct is in free flow. Aggressive communities push their boundaries, expand their power by force. The decline of Globalization was caused by this grabbing of others' "land", the business liberal temper and the Freedom native to a culture of a landmass which we now call cartographic territories of national pride. China today is pursuing the Salami technique of landgrabbing by claiming the history and culture of most neighbouring countries as unclaimed Chinese heritage. This geopolitical muscle flexing is now being resisted by India, USA, Japan and other countries. But no country except India is free of this guilt or crime of land grabbing. The world was never free of such  powerpush nor will ever be. But as men and countries develop more and more ingenious ways of grabbing power the Armageddon will be proportionally self- stultifying.