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‘Hasad se dil agar afsurda hai, garm-i-tamasha ho/Ki chashm-i-tang shaayad kasrat-i-nazaara se va ho’. (If the heart is stricken with churlish envy, then you must/Open the apertures of the mind with wanderlust.)
Mirza Ghalib’s prognosis for travel is said to have been prompted by a petty streak he came across in his demeanour towards arch-rival Zauq, a fellow poet patronised by the Mughal court. The atonement spawned Ghalib’s eloquent description of mid-19th century Calcutta and Banaras.
While it may offend Urdu buffs, let’s offer Ghalib’s remedy to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As a victim of socio-cultural myopia that stems from his allegiance to Hindutva, as distinct from the acknowledged lure of Hinduism, which Ghalib celebrated in Banaras, Mr Modi will find benefit in the poet’s prescriptions.
Take the Mughal poet’s love of the temples of Banaras where he dreamt of wearing the ahraam, the unstitched robe of Muslim pilgrims. Isn’t that the culture Mr Modi’s handpicked mendicants of falsified history wish to snuff out from school textbooks?
While it may offend Urdu buffs, one can offer Ghalib’s remedy to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In some ways it would seem to be a blessing that Mr Modi has discarded the pompous tradition of carrying handpicked journalists on the prime minister’s foreign trips. The media indulged him during his election campaign when saturated communication with voters proved handy. Now that he has got where he wants to be, he could use his periods of takhliya, an oriental practice of solitude favoured by mediaeval rulers, from public scrutiny to contemplate his next foreign tour, preferably alone.
Let’s begin with the two countries in India’s immediate neighbourhood the Indian leader decided to visit first. His tour of Nepal would have just wound up. Most Indian leaders have made it a point to visit the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, but Mr Modi chose to underline the rendezvous with a much thicker felt pen. In doing so, did he seek an ideological fellowship with Nepalese Hindus? In which case he has missed the point about Nepal’s recent history — its unshackling from years of organised religion as state policy inflicted for decades by its former ruling coteries.
Nepal has advanced from a feudal Hindutva-friendly monarchy to become a secular democracy that mirrors an emancipated Hindu majority. There are many reasons to applaud Mr Modi’s promise of non-interference in Nepal’s affairs, not the least because Rajiv Gandhi had shot himself in the foot by imposing an insulting economic blockade on it. Now Mr Modi should rein in his Hindutva brotherhood that seems eager to undo the gains of liberal Hinduism in Nepal, not the least by promoting the discredited monarchy.
In landlocked Bhutan, his first foreign visit, Mr. Modi will have noted the lush organic farmlands spread across the mountainous terrain, a far cry from India’s predominantly toxic fertiliser-fed agriculture. There is something to be said for the environment-friendly policies of the tiny Buddhist kingdom, particularly its non-consumerist route as a measure of the gross national happiness it offers its people.
Mr Modi’s meeting with Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff would have brought memories of his very own South Asia, home to the world’s first woman prime minister and several others between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh subsequently. Moreover, Ms Rousseff surely pulled off a coup of sorts by successfully staging the mega soccer tournament recently, a touch of class for a country that is striving to come out of its economic difficulties not dissimilar to India’s.
While in Brazil, there could have been an occasion to glance at the people’s struggle against low wages in sweatshops. Their protests went alongside the World Cup and only gained in appeal when opposed. The share in the country’s governance of the indigenous people, the primacy of political space they enjoy and the dignity accorded to the tribes that want protection from the poisoned chalice of corporate growth and suicidal industrial development make a good point.
From his South African interlocutor at the BRICS summit in Brasilia, Mr Modi might have gleaned the art of dealing with a bitter history of colonial subjugation without losing the proverbial shirt.
In the leaders of Russia and China present at BRICS, Mr Modi could see two of the keenest enthusiasts in the fight against religious terrorism of the kind originally exported from Afghanistan. Also Russia and China have long buried their Ussuri river border shootout, he will note.
Perhaps the most important visit for anyone bogged down by Ghalib’s chashm-i-tang in today’s world should be Japan. Considering that it has not completely recovered from the trauma of its nuclear holocaust, Japan offers a key lesson in its anti-nuclear arms policy.
I was in Tokyo when the Fukushima nuclear disaster was triggered by a devastating tsunami. It was an experience to observe the calm and serene Japanese citizens lining up for miles at the telephone booths to speak very briefly to their families. To change a nagging provincial flavour, Mr Modi might feel tempted to relish the great Japanese tea ceremony, usually served without milk.
In Washington in September, Mr. Modi must shun the domestic blame game about which American administration robbed him of his US visa for his errors of omission and commission in 2002. He should try instead to enjoy a new TV channel launched last week in the heart of the country whose official policy, going by the message on its dollar bills, is belief in God.
He should meet David Silverman, president of American Atheists that threatens to “provide a breadth of content, from science to politics to comedy, all centred around our common freedom from religion”. He could give India’s god-men a run for their money.
If, however, Mr Modi is averse to compromising on matters of faith he can next go to Pakistan though not without Reema Abbasi’s well-researched pictorial book on the amazing Hindu temples of Pakistan. It was recently launched in Delhi. Ghalib will be smiling.
The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.
Published in Dawn, Aug 5th, 2014
