Varsha Bhosle - RIP

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 09 Oct 2012 01:27

Varsha Bhosle, one of the first of the post-cold war Indian journalists to write fearlessly about topics that most others in her profession were too politically correct to touch, has passed away - reportedly committing suicide. In my understanding, it was not the first attempt. She was a very sensitive and complex person, with a fragility borne out of an unusual life and unstable emotional circumstances. Those on BRF who used to follow her columns will miss her.

http://www.rediff.com/news/varsha.htm

KJo · Post by **KJo** » 09 Oct 2012 01:31

I was and am a big fan.

Jayram · Post by **Jayram** » 09 Oct 2012 01:32

Very Sad and shocking news. RIP now at least.

Agnimitra · Post by **Agnimitra** » 09 Oct 2012 01:38

I had once corresponded with her some years back. Shocking news. RIP Varsha.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 09 Oct 2012 01:43

She was breath of fresh air in the left leaning world of indian journalism which thinks everything wrong is because of India. She was able to call things out for what they were and not be undermined by political correctness. She gave hope that there were nationalists in the media.
She was also very informative. I learned from one of her articles about the origins of Japanese tempura snacks.

Short answer its a pakoda!
India (pakoda)->Portuguese (batter fried fish on Fridays and singing Oh Tempore!)->Japanese(Tempura batter fried fish)

I recall her "Shroud of Turin" to describe Sonia Gandhi.

ReDiff article:

Varsha on her Mother

My original post:

JEM, Please do start a thread on Varsha Bhosle. She was the first among the nationalist journalists and was a refreshing contrast to the SLIME (Self Loathing Indian Media Elite) who dominate the media nowadays.
RIP.

Cosmo_R · Post by **Cosmo_R** » 09 Oct 2012 01:45

Met her, corresponded with her.

Bless you Varsha, a breath of clean air in the swamp of Indian journalism.

ShauryaT · Post by **ShauryaT** » 09 Oct 2012 01:46

Interacted with her in 1997-98, one of the few in India, who thought on libertarian lines.

Nandu · Post by **Nandu** » 09 Oct 2012 01:47

Used to be a big fan (with occasional disagreements), but I think she hasn't written for a while.

RIP, Varsha.

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 09 Oct 2012 01:56

Varshaji, Bhagwan aapki aatma ko shanti dey aur aapkay parivaar ko shakti ...
I have missed your writing for a decade and now this wait will never end...

ShyamSP · Post by **ShyamSP** » 09 Oct 2012 01:59

My Shraddanjali to Shri Varsha Bhosle, a bold writer. Her articles rightly pointed wrongs of left and Congress.

May her find Satchitananda in reincarnation. She was close to Sat but Anandam may have missed in her current life.

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 09 Oct 2012 02:04

Rediff Cache of Varsha's articles

http://www.rediff.com/news/varsha.htm

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 09 Oct 2012 02:45

Apparently she shot herself in the head at her mother's home (singer Asha Bhosle). No suicide note found. She attempted suicide once before in 2008.

Atri · Post by **Atri** » 09 Oct 2012 02:58

Shraddhanjali, Varsha ji.. You were sorely missed in your years of exile...

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 09 Oct 2012 03:16

^

RIP sister. That is very sad. I used to follow her articles in those days. She was sidelined once Rediff got into the hands of paid-media.

pentaiah · Post by **pentaiah** » 09 Oct 2012 04:02

I am a big fan of this hard hitting, fact speaking journalist, Versha Bhen.
She was eloquent in her espousal of what she believed as a true nationalist. Her scathing attack of BJP when found wanting and waffling on core issues is testimony to her impartiality and not to toeing the line.

She was independent nationalistic, supportive of the sacrifices of the men and women in the armed forces and maverick of sorts.

I am very sad to hear her passing in this un natural ways. May she get peace in her new abode.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 09 Oct 2012 04:04

I was exposed to her writings thru' rediff site.
it was total eye opener. I had not seen anyone write with so much frank and fearlessness. she had the gift of writing, making a dense head understand her point of view.
Regularly followed her columns. It then suddenly stopped.
found out later that her columns caused lot of angst amongst the psec fundamentalists.
she was asked to tone down her writings. But she refused.
Personal life tragic.
RIP to Varshaji.

Multatuli · Post by **Multatuli** » 09 Oct 2012 04:08

I wish her family, her mother in particular, strength. This is very sad and shocking news.

Ramana, I frequently think of her article "The Shroud". She so aptly described the hoax committed by Antonia Maino/"Sonia Gandhi".

KJo · Post by **KJo** » 09 Oct 2012 04:29

I didn't know that Varsha also had sung in Hindi movies. She sounds pretty good.

Here's a song of hers with Amit Kumar (a favorite of mine)

Dil Ka Laya Hoon Nazrana
Aakhri Insaaf © 1980 Saregama
http://www.saavn.com/s/#!/s/song/hindi/ ... T0-eRdlXAQ

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 09 Oct 2012 05:17

Surely a very rare style and clarity that explained a lot of things in perspective, including ones describing wars against pakis where the fuzzy characteristics of pakis, as opposed to the one projected came out clearly.

A dump link here too.

Her immortal soul has surely shown light to many and wishing liberation soon.

Harish · Post by **Harish** » 09 Oct 2012 05:43

A sad loss for India. At a time when India and Hindus are under attack on so many fronts, a brilliant, no-nonsense woman journalist who always stood up for India and Indians, decided to take her own life.

I remember reading Varshaji when she was at her most prolific. Every time she put her pen to paper, she would rip a few new orifices for the slimebag commies and their ilk. She wasn't easy on the lunatic fringe of the VHP either. She was mature, balanced and assertive in a way few journalists have been.

She ditched political correctness - an euphemism for Hindu-bashing and sucking up to the anti-Indian slimeballs in the Left - at a time few Hindus had any voice at all in the media. Refreshing and original, daring and assertive, truthful and balanced. My idea of everything a journalist should be.

Not to belittle the darkness she must have battled, it's rather lame to take your life because you are bipolar depressed. Having struggled with depression myself, I can tell you that you will emerge victorious in the end. It is not an endless abyss, though I can readily identify with that hopelessness. I am sure she would be alive today had she had someone to talk to. Suicidal ideation is a highly impulsive behavior and can take on bizarre forms when you are alone.

Anyways, RIP Varshaji. May you finally find the peace you struggled to find.

pentaiah · Post by **pentaiah** » 09 Oct 2012 06:04

Exactly my thoughts Harish Saar ji

There are many people with bi polar condition...in all walks of life including politicians.
The number of medications for this affliction have increased a lot since the 1980s when only lithium was prescribed.

Having worked on drug safety and clinical trials I can say most of the medications do have side effects and some even enhance the suicidal tendencies...

Anyways she leaves behind a large number fans I am sure of.

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 09 Oct 2012 06:12

I was a big fan of her writings, and used to look forward to her columns on the Rediff. I had once sent a feedback, and she replied and thanked me for it.

I wish having a large number of fans like me could have helped her somehow to overcome her suicidal tendencies.

Her death is a big loss to the cause of nationalist journalism.

May her soul come back, reincarnated, as a nationalist Indian once again.

Muppalla · Post by **Muppalla** » 09 Oct 2012 06:20

This is truly sad. I do not know why she is so depressed and why no one in the family could do something about it. Such a brilliant writer trying to commit suicide twice and in the end succeeding to take her life. RIP Varsha.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 09 Oct 2012 06:33

member_23677 · Post by **member_23677** » 09 Oct 2012 06:38

ॐ शांति: , शांति :, शांति :

devesh · Post by **devesh** » 09 Oct 2012 07:08

I never knew of her before today. but here's the first article of her that I read. I think the article itself is a tribute to her and her legacy.

http://www.rediff.com/news/sep/19varsha.htm

Seven lessons from Ayodhya

There's excitement in the secularist air: The court's decision to frame charges against senior BJP and VHP leaders in the Babri Masjid demolition case is said to have put the saffron brigade on a defensive. Apparently, the lust for power, along with the influence of the minorities, had moved them to soft-pedal Hindutva, and this raking up of old wounds wrecked all their plans of gaining wider acceptability.

I agree. Last week, BJP spokesman K R Malkani alleged that unknown, unruly elements had infiltrated the kar sevaks and destroyed the mosque to defame the Sangh Parivar. He said that there was celebration in the Pakistan high commission when the destruction occurred -- thereby also implying an ISI presence. What a cop-out.

But somehow, [grin] nothing seems to affect Balasaheb Thackeray. For instance, Gulzar Azmi, chief of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema (which had opposed the creation of Pakistan on the basis that it would limit "the glory and sway" of Islam to one area when the whole subcontinent was a sitting duck) exonerated him with, "Bal Thackeray only tried to take credit for the demolition of Babri Masjid. The real culprits are the Congress and the BJP. The Sena leaders only talked about it, while the Congress succeeded in razing the shrine by inciting the BJP". Tiger with 900 lives...

Mr Azmi almost inspires me to run into the Congress's arms. Which obviously suggests that I approve of the razing: Typical, knee-jerk divisive-communalist-fundie. But, this is how I felt about it in December 1994: "As I write this on the eve of the second anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, I still do not comprehend the issue which gave the impetus to Hindus. As supposition, even if I take the VHP's belief of the Ram Janmabhoomi as the gospel truth, how does it justify the destruction of a masjid? What has the common man gained, and what other ancient, historical monuments are to be brought down while invoking the names of gods? Is the Taj Mahal safe?"

Shocking, eh? What happened in the interim was that I made an effort to comprehend the core issue. Result: I sailed from knee-jerk Hindu defensiveness smack into an aggressive Hindutva awareness. I am not interested anymore if there was a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya or not -- actually, I don't care whether Ram existed or not. The question is not one of history or theology or archaeology or jurisprudence (but if you want me to expand on that, I can). To me, it's a matter of psychology, period. This is a good time to revisit my mental processes and deliberate on the crime of Hindutvawadis: We will be awash in its ramification for years to come.

In an intellectual clash, it's futile to be polite when the adversary is intractable; and if he also lacks ethics, it's absurd to be virtuous. All defense and no attack never did win a war -- and the Ram Janmabhoomi affair is nothing but a battle. In an ideological conflict, people must learn to wield the weapons the foe employs. Which, in context, are critiquing the systems of Islam and Marxism (just as they criticise caste, sati, etc), and using their tactics to expose the religious, political and social prejudices which motivate them. Lesson #1: Just as Muslims use the rod of feeling offended if Islam is challenged, it's alright for Hindus to feel god-damn outraged when Hinduism is.

So, did Ram or the Mandir exist at all? Not if Muslims can verify the authenticity of Abraham's having built the Qabah. Not if the Al Aqsa mosque of Jerusalem is built over a footprint in rock caused by the Prophet's having landed rather hard on the ground -- after having flown through the heavens on a winged horse. Not if it can be proved that the hair in Hazrat Bal belongs to Mohammed. Point is, the belief that the only true God is Allah is intrinsic to the Hindu-Muslim cleave. Just as Christianity (with its Shroud of Turin and Weeping Virgin icons) pickled the Greek pantheon into a mythology, Islam and Marxism would do the same to Hinduism -- and hence their denial of Ram Janmabhoomi. Lesson #2: Take the fight to the opposite camp -- let them first establish Islam's credibility.

Now, did Hindus have the right to appropriate the Babri Masjid in 1949 if it was indeed in use? Once we accept the belief of pre-Parivar Hindus -- eg, in an 1858 document, one Muhammad Asghar demands the removal of a platform outside the masjid, complaining that Hindus performed worship there -- this is easy-peasy: Internationally (but excluding the pillage by colonial Britain), even stolen art is restored to its original owner, regardless of status quo; and if the buyer should be dead, his descendants are duty-bound to return it. If they don't, the law forces a restoration -- like the litigated ancestral property returned to Native Americans and Australian Aborigines. But if the State refuses to take cognisance, what then? If the original owner has spunk, he finds his own ways to repossess it -- like Spain recovered its churches after driving out the Moors. Lesson #3: Reclaiming one's heritage is normal, customary and desirable -- claim the Krishna Janmasthan, too.

Next, couldn't the dispute be settled amicably in a court of law? Easier said. In October 1990, Imam Bukhari of the Babri Masjid Action Committee declared that if a court ruling went against Muslim demands, an "agitation" against the verdict would be launched. Then, the Muslim Personal Law Board announced: "The Shariat does not allow the shifting or demolition of the Babri Masjid as it has not been built on a temple or illegal land" (Times Of India, 9 December 1990). Then, realising that they'd lose the debate, appended it with: "The law protects it even if built on a temple" (Syed Shahabuddin, Indian Express, 13 December 1990). Why V P Singh scuttled the agreement with the VHP, why the suit of possession was postponed, do Hindus have constitutional rights, is immaterial. Lesson #4: When secularism comes to mean different strokes for different folks, it's time to cry, "Garv se kaho hum Hindu hain!"

The tricky question is, what justifies the destruction of a house of worship? In a word, nothing. But do not forget that masjids and mandirs are of the same genera -- and the first stone was cast down by a Muslim. I once believed that two wrongs don't make a right -- but that was when I confused revenge with redressal and before I grasped the basis of the Mahabharat: Even after the Pandavs offered to cede the whole kingdom save 5 villages, the Kauravs refused to grant them "a speck of land the size of a pinhead". Upon which, Krishna said that such self-righteousness and intolerance would brook no compromise, that war was inevitable... The VHP had been asking for just "three age-old sacred places" of the thousands converted to mosques -- which were to be relocated, not destroyed. Lesson #5: Stop apologising for Hindutva -- recognising, confronting and defeating Muslim fanaticism is practical and required.

So what has the common man gained from the demolition? Nothing that our pointy-headed intellectuals who can't even park their bikes straight will understand. Nothing that our Leninists, for whom the solutions to ALL problems begin and end with roti-kapda-makaan, will grasp. After all, how can the ideologically servile be expected to know the psychological benefits from the effacement of the most offensive symbol of Hindu slavery? I attribute the Hindu society's negative self-image and utter lack of self-respect to the moral damage wrought by Nehruvians and leftists who have distorted history by projecting marauding conquerors as protectors and Hindu nationalists as villains to, supposedly, "ensure communal harmony". And look where it led us. Lesson #6: History is not the jahgeer of vested interests -- no matter how inconvenient the Truth, it releases: Satyam muktye.

And so to the present predicament: Who demolished the Babri Masjid? In 1990, when Mr L K Advani undertook the Rathyatra to amass support for the bricklaying of the mandir, everywhere, the common devotee's response was enthusiastic. Meanwhile, in UP, chief minister Mulayam Singh had suspended all public transport, blocked roads, imposed curfews, sealed the borders and arrested Parivaris and kar sevaks after hounding them out from houses. On October 22, Mr Advani was arrested. But on October 30, thousands of kar sevaks defied police cordons and planted flags on the masjid's domes. Eventually, the police overcame the crowds, arrested thousands and killed between 10 to 50. Human and religious rights exist only for minorities.

And yet, on November 2, the kar sevaks came back in droves. But this time, Mulayam's police, greatly out-numbered and probably under specific orders, skipped the usual procedures of warning, lathi-charge, tear-gas, firing in the air and shooting in the legs, and fired straight into the crowds. Most of the dead, of whom many were sadhus, had bullet wounds in the head and chest. As usual, the death toll is a matter of dispute; Koenraad Elst writes, "many of the bodies have been carried off in army vans and unceremoniously disposed of in an unknown place." Press figures vary from 9 to 25, Mulayam says 16, the home ministry claims 30, the BJP cites 168, the VHP alleges 400, and eyewitnesses quote thousands.

Whatever the number -- logically, it has to be in hundreds -- there has been no badgering for a probe à la the Srikrishna Commission from our tender-hearted intellectuals, who, of course, also support a government with Mulayam as its defence minister: Islamic bricks, too, are more precious than Hindu lives.

So Mr Malkani... who demolished the masjid? Were the people who congregated for kar seva, who faced bullets in the name of Ram, who joined the Rathyatra from Karnataka, all agents of the ISI? Also, unruly or not, the thousands who brought down the structure couldn't all have been card-holders of the saffron brigade, could they?

Truth is, most were people without political affiliations, bairagis and sadhus too, who had followed their trust in the Ram Janmabhoomi. They were of the stock that had rioted around the Babri Masjid in 1934 when a cow was slaughtered in its vicinity. If at the first shake of the chair, the BJP is Congress enough to turn its back on all that *those* kar sevaks died for, then I turn my back on the BJP. A party without principles is no Hindu party -- shape up or ship out. Lesson #7: It was just another election plank, after all.

the article is a measure of her intellectual independence. no more qualifiers required.

I hope she comes back very soon. her spirit will carry on the sad-vasana of this life into the next one. she has a lot more work to champion and accomplish.

disha · Post by **disha** » 09 Oct 2012 07:32

Thanks for this thread. I wanted to give my shraddanjali to Varsha.

She forced a clarity of thought and more importantly an independent fresh voice among the various Jholawalas who around her look short.

Here is what her mother said about Varsha:

"Varsha has a lot of her grandfather's traits in her," Asha had once told this correspondent in a rambling interview. "Jaidevji (noted music director) named her 'Varsha', but she is an 'aandhi'," Asha had said, looking affectionately at her daughter seated next to her. Varsha merely continued chewing her Kalkatta paan.

*

She was indeed one. May you be reborn and accomplish what you could not in your past lives.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 731797.cms

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 09 Oct 2012 07:51

people come and go, but a precious few challenge you to re examine your beliefs and fight for them. She was one of them.

RIP.

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 09 Oct 2012 07:57

Sad story. Given her robust, fearsome attitude, she was the last person who would have come to mind when it comes to suicide. Amazing the demons people confront in their minds. Just the other day, I was wondering home come there are so few like her who can tell it like it is.

devesh · Post by **devesh** » 09 Oct 2012 08:00

another article of hers I'm posting below. this will be the last. but I believe it is an important piece that reflects her legacy just as well as the above one.

Hinduism's corpse

http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/nov/04varsha.htm

A very sombre Diwali to you all. Sure, I'd have loved to do a frothy piece for this day but just didn't have the stomach for it. And few of you will, if you see the kind of feedback I got for my article on the lynching of 5 Dalits for the sake of a goddamn cow. Here's one sample:

"Being a TamBram myself you can rest assured that you're hearing things from the horse's mouth... The very fact why casteism has assumed such a big importance in today's society is because we have a democratic system where the numbers count. And unfortunately or fortunately, the Shudras constitute the majority and hence all this big boogey [sic] about how dalits are being discriminated etc...

"Well I'm really amazed that the dalits [are] not being ethnically cleansed, as they rightly should be if they refused to mend their ways. I'm not trying to be a Nazi but am trying to be more realistic... The dalits are a major problem because they're blatantly blackmailing the Hindu society into submission with the threat that either you give what they want or they'll convert enmasse and affect the Hindu image of India into either a Christian or Islamic one."

When I read the long tirade, the first thought that came to my mind was: This is definitely not a TamBram or even a Hindu; it's somebody posing as one so that I take off against Brams in my column! But... the email address seemed vaguely familiar. I began going through the unusual fan/hate mail that I zip up and save, and, voilà, found two mails from 2 years ago, both indicating a fairly knowledgeable, immensely polite, intensely-Hindu writer, albeit one (like me) tending towards violence. This was an authentic mail, alright.

You know those disclaimers everyone puts up? For instance, "This is not to say that all Muslims uphold the validity of jihad," or "It would be wrong to assume that all Baptists support aggressive evangelism," or "I do not mean to suggest that every Pakistani is against the US." Well, it's a load of crap. The simple truth is, analysts notice certain infractions because they emanate from a fixed group, and vice versa. But, political correctness forces them to water down their observations. If they could be honest, they'd say, "the majority of Muslims uphold jihad, whereas the tiny remainder does not," and so on. Such disclaimers aren't my way. Therefore: the majority of TamBrams are utter casteists - some to the extent of mulling over the ethnic cleansing of "Shudras," and some adapting a Karunanidhi-style "secular" mask.

The key word here is 'secrecy.' The glass ceiling is not an open, overt act. It need not even be a conspiracy. Nevertheless, it is reinforced each and every time a member of the "upper castes" blocks out from his environment - by giving any reason but caste - a prospective employee, son-in-law, tenant, etc. The most glaring example of this I noticed was, of course, in Chennai: The entire top staff of a very popular and "secular" film star - who's known to ridicule religion and condemn caste on public platforms - comes from the same "upper caste" the star belongs to. I feel, this kind of person is any day more dangerous than the Nazi.

Following are the *reported* events from the last seven days (like, no incident occurred in Bihar, Orissa...)

"Just last week, a group of upper caste farmers had tried to destroy the soyabean crop [of Dalit farmers of Satpipaliya, MP]. The police were called in and the harvesting was done under police protection." (NDTV News, October 24).
"The Gujarat high court has issued notices to the Sabarkantha district collector and the state government on the basis of a petition challenging the economic boycott of Dalit Harijans by upper caste Hindus at Vaghrota village." (Times of India, October 26).
"Dalit elopes with Jat girl, death stalks Haryana village" (NDTV News, October 28).
"...all 101 members of the Chamar community of Vadgas village in Viramgam taluka were forced to flee on October 26 to Ahmedabad and nearby towns. This, after members of the Thakore community of the village threatened to kill them." (ToI, November 1).
Such discrimination has always existed in India - so much so that it isn't news anymore. Which begs the question, Why didn't I make it an issue in my column till now...? There are no simple answers to that. I think I wished it away. I think I felt that the younger, hang-loose generation would change society. I think I believed we just needed to bide time. I think... I was just chicken. But then, three things happened on a single day: I got into a heated argument over caste with a TamBram; the news of the Jhajjar lynching broke; and, I read about the May incident in Thinniyam, which finally shook me out of my self-induced coma:

About 100 Dalit families live in the village of Thinniyam in Tiruchi district of Tamil Nadu, with the Kallars comprising the predominant caste. Seven years ago, Karuppiah, a Dalit, paid a bribe of Rs 2,000 to S Rajalakshmi, the (Kallar) panchayat chief, to get a house allotted to his sister. However, since Rajalakshmi's term was about to end and the allotment hadn't yet been made, Karuppiah demanded the money back. Rajalakshmi denied having taken it. So, Karuppiah began talking about the bribe and the breach of trust to the villagers. Next, Rajalakshmi's husband, Subramanian, and her son thrashed Karuppiah with slippers. So, Karuppiah lodged a complaint with the police, with two of his Dalit friends, Murugesan and Ramasami, standing witness. The next day, Subramanian and 9 of his kinsmen assaulted Murugesan and Ramasami with hot iron rods - and forced them to feed each other human excreta...

People say that I write with "passion" - and they don't mean that as a compliment. But it's true; my passion-pieces emerge only after I put myself in a victim's place and cannot bear the pain or humiliation s/he must have undergone. I truly did not feel sorrow or pain over the death of 5 Dalits - I felt anger at the waste of human lives over a stupid quadruped, and that's why there was only anger there. But the swallowing of human waste is something I could not even BEGIN to imagine! And so I avoided writing about that incident altogether. I escaped.

But I couldn't keep it locked away. My mind had tripped out to my great-aunt's house in Indore's Chhavni. How, as a child, I had recoiled at the paati sandaas - where the excreta dropped into shallow wicker baskets piled high with more of the same... How I would tie a scarf around my nose and keep my eyes squeezed shut till I fled that dreadful place... How I begged my mother to please, please, take me somewhere, anywhere, else to poop... How I kept grilling her, where does that foul basket go, who on Earth empties it... How, from a window, I saw the frail girl, not much older than me, pulling the basket to a cart... I screamed for my mother, "Aai... it's a girl, she's taking it! You said animals ate it!"

Even now, the hair on my arms are standing stiff as the little girl at the window changes places with the little girl dragging the paati... I feel ashamed of being privileged to be at the window... But - no matter how hard I try - I cannot imagine what that frail little girl felt when she looked up at the fat little screaming thing at the window.

These are the sins - there is no other word for it - that Hindus have to pay for. Age after age, the "upper castes" have kept strata of human beings in a condition where they have no choice but to clean others' excreta, burn corpses, tend morgues, haul away and skin dead animals... Foul, dirty, stinking jobs from Hell that nobody else wants. THAT is the only reason why caste exists today. THAT is the reason why the Shankaracharya of Kanchi, Jayendra Saraswathi, when asked about the mistreatment of Dalits, said on November 1: "Different sections are assigned different duties according to their eligibility." When asked who decides the "eligibility," he shot back, "We."

"We"...? Yes, we who believe that discrimination is a bogey, and that reservations is a bane specially devised for the "all-suffering," "now-underprivileged" "upper castes"... (On reservations, next time.)

Thinniyam was my turning point. That was the moment I realised that what's sorely missing from the Dalit debate is the voice of the committed Hindu. You see, the moaning and wailing by the manipulating pinkos and the holier-than-thou "secularists" can make waves only on Western platforms - leaving the core Hindu society untouched. Whereas, the other kind of devout Hindu is even worse! We need a class of committed Hindus from all walks of life who have the guts to reject caste altogether - and do it loudly and with fanfare even if it is merely with their small environment - regardless of the threats from the Hindu jihadis. We need rational Hindus to speak out - and in full throat.

The post-mortem report of the Jhajjar cow has established that the animal had died 24 hours earlier. But, have you heard a word of remorse from any of our "Hindu" organisations who have supposedly been doing so-bloody-much for Dalits and tribals...? Instead, the VHP's Bireshwar Dwivedi said, "even if Brahmins had done what the deceased had done, there would have been the same reaction." Meaning, the cow is so damn holy that anybody can be killed in her name. In line with this thought, about half of my mail that week admonished me with "The cow is our mother"...

Excuse me, maybe your mother has two horns, four feet and a tail, but mine is an intelligent being who has left stupid bovines far behind in the evolution race, and thus has raised her children to be staunch Hindus who keep their eyes and mind wide open. Don't give me this holy-cow bullshit to justify your casteism.

Meanwhile, a bunch of Dalits in Jhajjar district converted out of Hinduism on October 28. Udit Raj writes, "when I along with my Lord Buddha Club and All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations, went to Gurgaon to carry on the planned conversions, I found that several other organisations of Muslims, Christians and others had converged there as well. People began converting spontaneously in big numbers."

Yes, the vultures had already collected at Gurgaon to gouge at the remains of Hinduism's corpse. But WHY should I blame the vultures?? It is their dharma to feed off the dead - off those who have been murdered by "devout," "cow-worshipping" Hindus themselves.

If I were in Udit Raj's place, what would I do...? Well, thank your stars that Udit Raj, I'm not. For, I wouldn't go for idiotic ploys like urging change through conversion - which would only convert me to a "Dalit Muslim" or "Dalit Christian." I'd do a lot worse. After all, aren't I a lot like Balasaheb Thackeray...?

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 09 Oct 2012 08:01

thought provoking, fearless and original.

my respects ma'm.

Arjun · Post by **Arjun** » 09 Oct 2012 08:22

Varsha was an awesome writer. I still recollect her power of articulation that made me look forward to her articles more than a decade back !

Very sad and tragic news....RIP

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 09 Oct 2012 08:37

A real homage to Varsha would be to read her perspective and spread it far and wide in Bharat.

Hinduism's Corpse

A very sombre Diwali to you all. Sure, I'd have loved to do a frothy piece for this day but just didn't have the stomach for it. And few of you will, if you see the kind of feedback I got for my article on the lynching of 5 Dalits for the sake of a goddamn cow. Here's one sample:

"Being a TamBram myself you can rest assured that you're hearing things from the horse's mouth... The very fact why casteism has assumed such a big importance in today's society is because we have a democratic system where the numbers count. And unfortunately or fortunately, the Shudras constitute the majority and hence all this big boogey [sic] about how dalits are being discriminated etc...

"Well I'm really amazed that the dalits [are] not being ethnically cleansed, as they rightly should be if they refused to mend their ways. I'm not trying to be a Nazi but am trying to be more realistic... The dalits are a major problem because they're blatantly blackmailing the Hindu society into submission with the threat that either you give what they want or they'll convert enmasse and affect the Hindu image of India into either a Christian or Islamic one."

When I read the long tirade, the first thought that came to my mind was: This is definitely not a TamBram or even a Hindu; it's somebody posing as one so that I take off against Brams in my column! But... the email address seemed vaguely familiar. I began going through the unusual fan/hate mail that I zip up and save, and, voilà, found two mails from 2 years ago, both indicating a fairly knowledgeable, immensely polite, intensely-Hindu writer, albeit one (like me) tending towards violence. This was an authentic mail, alright.

You know those disclaimers everyone puts up? For instance, "This is not to say that all Muslims uphold the validity of jihad," or "It would be wrong to assume that all Baptists support aggressive evangelism," or "I do not mean to suggest that every Pakistani is against the US." Well, it's a load of crap. The simple truth is, analysts notice certain infractions because they emanate from a fixed group, and vice versa. But, political correctness forces them to water down their observations. If they could be honest, they'd say, "the majority of Muslims uphold jihad, whereas the tiny remainder does not," and so on. Such disclaimers aren't my way. Therefore: the majority of TamBrams are utter casteists - some to the extent of mulling over the ethnic cleansing of "Shudras," and some adapting a Karunanidhi-style "secular" mask.

The key word here is 'secrecy.' The glass ceiling is not an open, overt act. It need not even be a conspiracy. Nevertheless, it is reinforced each and every time a member of the "upper castes" blocks out from his environment - by giving any reason but caste - a prospective employee, son-in-law, tenant, etc. The most glaring example of this I noticed was, of course, in Chennai: The entire top staff of a very popular and "secular" film star - who's known to ridicule religion and condemn caste on public platforms - comes from the same "upper caste" the star belongs to. I feel, this kind of person is any day more dangerous than the Nazi.

Following are the *reported* events from the last seven days (like, no incident occurred in Bihar, Orissa...)

"Just last week, a group of upper caste farmers had tried to destroy the soyabean crop [of Dalit farmers of Satpipaliya, MP]. The police were called in and the harvesting was done under police protection." (NDTV News, October 24).
"The Gujarat high court has issued notices to the Sabarkantha district collector and the state government on the basis of a petition challenging the economic boycott of Dalit Harijans by upper caste Hindus at Vaghrota village." (Times of India, October 26).
"Dalit elopes with Jat girl, death stalks Haryana village" (NDTV News, October 28).
"...all 101 members of the Chamar community of Vadgas village in Viramgam taluka were forced to flee on October 26 to Ahmedabad and nearby towns. This, after members of the Thakore community of the village threatened to kill them." (ToI, November 1).
Such discrimination has always existed in India - so much so that it isn't news anymore. Which begs the question, Why didn't I make it an issue in my column till now...? There are no simple answers to that. I think I wished it away. I think I felt that the younger, hang-loose generation would change society. I think I believed we just needed to bide time. I think... I was just chicken. But then, three things happened on a single day: I got into a heated argument over caste with a TamBram; the news of the Jhajjar lynching broke; and, I read about the May incident in Thinniyam, which finally shook me out of my self-induced coma:

About 100 Dalit families live in the village of Thinniyam in Tiruchi district of Tamil Nadu, with the Kallars comprising the predominant caste. Seven years ago, Karuppiah, a Dalit, paid a bribe of Rs 2,000 to S Rajalakshmi, the (Kallar) panchayat chief, to get a house allotted to his sister. However, since Rajalakshmi's term was about to end and the allotment hadn't yet been made, Karuppiah demanded the money back. Rajalakshmi denied having taken it. So, Karuppiah began talking about the bribe and the breach of trust to the villagers. Next, Rajalakshmi's husband, Subramanian, and her son thrashed Karuppiah with slippers. So, Karuppiah lodged a complaint with the police, with two of his Dalit friends, Murugesan and Ramasami, standing witness. The next day, Subramanian and 9 of his kinsmen assaulted Murugesan and Ramasami with hot iron rods - and forced them to feed each other human excreta...

People say that I write with "passion" - and they don't mean that as a compliment. But it's true; my passion-pieces emerge only after I put myself in a victim's place and cannot bear the pain or humiliation s/he must have undergone. I truly did not feel sorrow or pain over the death of 5 Dalits - I felt anger at the waste of human lives over a stupid quadruped, and that's why there was only anger there. But the swallowing of human waste is something I could not even BEGIN to imagine! And so I avoided writing about that incident altogether. I escaped.

But I couldn't keep it locked away. My mind had tripped out to my great-aunt's house in Indore's Chhavni. How, as a child, I had recoiled at the paati sandaas - where the excreta dropped into shallow wicker baskets piled high with more of the same... How I would tie a scarf around my nose and keep my eyes squeezed shut till I fled that dreadful place... How I begged my mother to please, please, take me somewhere, anywhere, else to poop... How I kept grilling her, where does that foul basket go, who on Earth empties it... How, from a window, I saw the frail girl, not much older than me, pulling the basket to a cart... I screamed for my mother, "Aai... it's a girl, she's taking it! You said animals ate it!"

Even now, the hair on my arms are standing stiff as the little girl at the window changes places with the little girl dragging the paati... I feel ashamed of being privileged to be at the window... But - no matter how hard I try - I cannot imagine what that frail little girl felt when she looked up at the fat little screaming thing at the window.

These are the sins - there is no other word for it - that Hindus have to pay for. Age after age, the "upper castes" have kept strata of human beings in a condition where they have no choice but to clean others' excreta, burn corpses, tend morgues, haul away and skin dead animals... Foul, dirty, stinking jobs from Hell that nobody else wants. THAT is the only reason why caste exists today. THAT is the reason why the Shankaracharya of Kanchi, Jayendra Saraswathi, when asked about the mistreatment of Dalits, said on November 1: "Different sections are assigned different duties according to their eligibility." When asked who decides the "eligibility," he shot back, "We."

"We"...? Yes, we who believe that discrimination is a bogey, and that reservations is a bane specially devised for the "all-suffering," "now-underprivileged" "upper castes"... (On reservations, next time.)

Thinniyam was my turning point. That was the moment I realised that what's sorely missing from the Dalit debate is the voice of the committed Hindu. You see, the moaning and wailing by the manipulating pinkos and the holier-than-thou "secularists" can make waves only on Western platforms - leaving the core Hindu society untouched. Whereas, the other kind of devout Hindu is even worse! We need a class of committed Hindus from all walks of life who have the guts to reject caste altogether - and do it loudly and with fanfare even if it is merely with their small environment - regardless of the threats from the Hindu jihadis. We need rational Hindus to speak out - and in full throat.

The post-mortem report of the Jhajjar cow has established that the animal had died 24 hours earlier. But, have you heard a word of remorse from any of our "Hindu" organisations who have supposedly been doing so-bloody-much for Dalits and tribals...? Instead, the VHP's Bireshwar Dwivedi said, "even if Brahmins had done what the deceased had done, there would have been the same reaction." Meaning, the cow is so damn holy that anybody can be killed in her name. In line with this thought, about half of my mail that week admonished me with "The cow is our mother"...

Excuse me, maybe your mother has two horns, four feet and a tail, but mine is an intelligent being who has left stupid bovines far behind in the evolution race, and thus has raised her children to be staunch Hindus who keep their eyes and mind wide open. Don't give me this holy-cow bullshit to justify your casteism.

Meanwhile, a bunch of Dalits in Jhajjar district converted out of Hinduism on October 28. Udit Raj writes, "when I along with my Lord Buddha Club and All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations, went to Gurgaon to carry on the planned conversions, I found that several other organisations of Muslims, Christians and others had converged there as well. People began converting spontaneously in big numbers."

Yes, the vultures had already collected at Gurgaon to gouge at the remains of Hinduism's corpse. But WHY should I blame the vultures?? It is their dharma to feed off the dead - off those who have been murdered by "devout," "cow-worshipping" Hindus themselves.

If I were in Udit Raj's place, what would I do...? Well, thank your stars that Udit Raj, I'm not. For, I wouldn't go for idiotic ploys like urging change through conversion - which would only convert me to a "Dalit Muslim" or "Dalit Christian." I'd do a lot worse. After all, aren't I a lot like Balasaheb Thackeray...?

Varsha Bhosle

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 09 Oct 2012 08:39

Hinduism's corpse: About says it all.

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 09 Oct 2012 08:46

My country, period.

I want to tell you a story about a British woman called Melita Sirnis. Melita was born in 1912 to an English mother and a Latvian father, a bookbinder who had once been part of the Leo Tolstoy-inspired anarchist/egalitarian movement. Politics was in the family's blood: Her mother was a member of the Co-operative Party; an aunt was one of the first female trade unionists of Britain. Naturally, they all were advocates of Peace. As Melita later said, "Ah yes, they were anti-war all along, the pair of them, father and mother. I suppose I absorbed some of that too."

When Melita finished school, her mother, a staunch advocate of women's education, urged her towards university. She attended Southampton University, where she studied Latin and Logic. But we're talking about a Britain under the Slump of 1929-1932, when more than 3 million people were unemployed: Melita had to leave the university after a year because the family was forced to move to London in search of work. There, she was radicalised by her "poor end" experiences and joined the Communist Party. She also got married to Hilary Norwood, a comrade who'd been commended for his work in the trade union movement as a member of the National Union of Teachers.

In 1932, Melita Norwood got a secretarial job at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association in London and thereafter lived a completely unremarkable suburban life – till 1999. That was the year when Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin, the former chief archivist of the KGB's foreign intelligence section, published The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. After decades of passing on State secrets to the Soviet Union, and 54 years of living a clandestine life, Mrs Norwood was finally outed.

Actually, the MI6 had known about her treason since 1992, when Mr Mitrokhin had defected to Britain with six trunks of KGB archival material, but had chosen not to confront the octogenarian spy. Perhaps, the secrets weren't vital enough to invite prosecution...? Correct! Mrs Norwood only gave away information that enabled the Soviet Union to build the atom bomb...

David Rose, the first reporter to locate and interview her, obtained "a full-blown confession within approximately 15 minutes." He writes: "The material she supplied was literally earth-shattering: crucial information which fuelled the Soviet ENORMOSZ nuclear espionage programme. By the beginning of 1945, the non-Ferrous Metals Association director, GJ Bailey, had joined the coordinating committee of the top-secret tube alloys project – the British project to design and build an atomic bomb. Most of this research was pooled with the parallel US project based at Los Alamos... [KGB] documents suggest they regarded her contribution as of the highest value, and that it played a significant part in enabling the USSR to detonate its own bomb in 1949 – a few months before a CIA assessment claimed it would not be ready to do so until 1954."

Which explains why Mrs Norwood was awarded the KGB's highest decoration, the Order of the Red Banner. Though supplying the A-bomb plans was the highlight of her espionage career, she continued for 27 years more, providing a steady stream of secrets to her handlers, and recruited at least one more spy...

But, why did Mrs Norwood spy for the USSR?

She says: "I did what I did because I expected them [Soviets] to be attacked again once the war was over. Chamberlain had wanted them attacked in 1939: he certainly expected Hitler to go east. I thought they should somehow be adequately defended because everyone was against them, against this experiment [Communism], and they had been through such hardship from the Germans. In the war, the Russians were on our side, and it was unfair to them that they shouldn't be able to develop their weaponry." Mrs Norwood said that, if she could, she'd do it all over again because "The various countries of this rotten capitalist system with its unemployment, its wars, and making money – I hope it will come to an end."

Ok, forget the espionage thing and focus on Mrs Norwood and her family: A pacifist, liberal, educated, hard-working, progressive people with nothing but the good of their compatriots in their hearts. They fought for the exploited workers and actively worked for an egalitarian world order. And, of course, they were dead set against war. Like most of the "secular," liberal Indian saints we know, they did everything without an eye on personal gain. As Mrs Norwood told a BBC television interviewer, "I did what I did not to make money, but to help prevent the defeat of a new system which had at great cost given ordinary people food and fares which they could afford, good education and a health service."

Ideology, pure and simple. A belief system that postulates that the good of the "ordinary people" is supranational; that the needs of the "ordinary people" are paramount to national security; that sabotaging one's government at the behest of another is acceptable; that revolt against one's government during an external attack could constitute patriotism. That's why Stauffenberg was a German patriot. That's why Mrs Norwood is a patriot. Think of this: It's only because she didn't adhere to the crumbling wasteland of "my country, right or wrong" could she enable the USSR to stand up against the Imperialists and deliver the ordinary... WHOOPS! But that system now exists only in Cuba and West Bengal!

Oh shoot, I've to look for another analogy...

Ok. Read the following excerpts, from the deposition of a man who was hanged in the early hours of a cold November morning of 1948 in Ambala prison. Clutching a map of undivided India in one hand and the saffron flag in another, he walked to the gallows chanting an invocation to his motherland. A few hours later, his body was cremated outside the prison walls and, immediately afterwards, the whole area was ploughed and planted with grass so that no one could identify the spot and build a shrine:

On January 13, 1948, I learnt that Gandhiji had decided to go on fast unto death. The reason given was that he wanted an assurance of Hindu-Muslim Unity... But I and many others could easily see that the real motive... [was] to compel the Dominion Government to pay the sum of Rs 55 crores to Pakistan, the payment of which was emphatically refused by the Government.... But this decision of the people's Government was reversed to suit the tune of Gandhiji's fast. It was evident to my mind that the force of public opinion was nothing but a trifle when compared with the leanings of Gandhiji favourable to Pakistan.

...In 1946 or thereabout, Muslim atrocities perpetrated on Hindus under the Government patronage of Surhawardy in Noakhali made our blood boil. Our shame and indignation knew no bounds when we saw that Gandhiji had come forward to shield that very Surhawardy and began to style him as 'Shaheed Saheb' – a martyr – even in his prayer meetings...

...Gandhiji's influence in the Congress first increased and then became supreme. His activities for public awakening were phenomenal in their intensity and were reinforced by the slogans of truth and non-violence which he ostentatiously paraded before the country... I could never conceive that an armed resistance to the aggressor is unjust... Ram killed Ravan in a tumultuous fight... Krishna killed Kansa to end his wickedness... In condemning Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Govind as 'misguided patriots,' Gandhiji has merely exposed his self-conceit... Gandhiji was, paradoxically, a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the name of truth and nonviolence, while Rana Pratap, Shivaji and the Guru will remain enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen forever...

...By 1919, Gandhiji had become desperate in his endeavours to get the Muslims to trust him and went from one absurd promise to another... He backed the Khilafat movement in this country and was able to enlist the full support of the National Congress in that policy... very soon the Moplah Rebellion showed that the Muslims had not the slightest idea of national unity... There followed a huge slaughter of Hindus... The British Government, entirely unmoved by the rebellion, suppressed it in a few months and left to Gandhiji the joy of his Hindu-Muslim Unity... British Imperialism emerged stronger, the Muslims became more fanatical, and the consequences were visited on the Hindus...

The accumulating provocation of 32 years, culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast, at last goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of Gandhiji should be brought to an end immediately... he developed a subjective mentality under which he alone was the final judge of what was right or wrong... Either Congress had to surrender its will to him and play second fiddle to all his eccentricity, whimsicality... or it had to carry on without him... He was the master brain guiding the civil disobedience movement... The movement may succeed or fail; it may bring untold disasters and political reverses, but that could make no difference to the Mahatma's infallibility... These childish inanities and obstinacies, coupled with a most severe austerity of life, ceaseless work and lofty character, made Gandhiji formidable and irresistible... In a position of such absolute irresponsibility, Gandhiji was guilty of blunder after blunder...

...The Mahatma even supported the separation of Sindh from the Bombay Presidency and threw the Hindus of Sindh to the communal wolves. Numerous riots took place in Karachi, Sukkur, Shikarpur and other places in which the Hindus were the only sufferers...

...From August 1946 onwards, the private armies of the Muslim League began a massacre of the Hindus... Hindu blood began to flow from Bengal to Karachi with mild reactions in the Deccan... The Interim government formed in September was sabotaged by its Muslim League members, but the more they became disloyal and treasonable to the government of which they were a part, the greater was Gandhi's infatuation for them...

...The Congress, which had boasted of its nationalism and socialism, secretly accepted Pakistan and abjectly surrendered to Jinnah. India was vivisected and one-third of the Indian territory became foreign land to us... This is what Gandhiji had achieved after 30 years of undisputed dictatorship, and this is what Congress party calls 'freedom'...

...One of the conditions imposed by Gandhiji for his breaking of the fast unto death related to the mosques in Delhi occupied by Hindu refugees. But when Hindus in Pakistan were subjected to violent attacks he did not so much as utter a single word to protest and censure the Pakistan government...

Gandhi is being referred to as the Father of the Nation. But if that is so, he had failed his paternal duty inasmuch as he has acted very treacherously to the nation by his consenting to the partitioning of it... The people of this country were eager and vehement in their opposition to Pakistan. But Gandhiji played false with the people...

...I shall be totally ruined, and the only thing I could expect from the people would be nothing but hatred... if I were to kill Gandhiji. But at the same time, I felt that Indian politics in the absence of Gandhiji would surely be proved practical, able to retaliate, and be powerful with armed forces. No doubt, my own future would be totally ruined, but the nation would be saved from the inroads of Pakistan...

...I do say that my shots were fired at the person whose policy and action had brought rack and ruin and destruction to millions of Hindus... There was no legal machinery by which such an offender could be brought to book, and for this reason I fired those fatal shots...

...I do not desire any mercy to be shown to me... I did fire shots at Gandhiji in open daylight. I did not make any attempt to run away; in fact I never entertained any idea of running away. I did not try to shoot myself... for, it was my ardent desire to give vent to my thoughts in an open Court. My confidence about the moral side of my action has not been shaken even by the criticism levelled of against it on all sides. I have no doubt, honest writers of history will weigh my act and find the true value thereof some day in future.

Absorbed all that? Now consider this:

Stauffenberg died because he sought to rid his country of the disease of Nazism; recognised the mortal danger of defeat into which Hitler had led Germany; anticipated the disgrace and punishment that the iniquity of Nazism would bring to his countrymen in its wake. Stauffenberg's motives, therefore, were patriotic.
Nathuram Godse died because he sought to rid his country of the disease of Appeasement; recognised the dangers inherent in Gandhiji's Ahimsa-cloaked despotism; anticipated the capitulation to the whims of Pakistan that Gandhiji would force upon an elected Indian government, against the wishes of the people. Godse's motives, however, were vile...
Vile because the ideology espoused by the likes of Mrs Norwood deems so. The same ideology championed by her contemporaries Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt, Donald Maclean, Kim Philby, John Cairncross, Klaus Fuchs - all of whom sold their country down the Moskva River...

Stauffenberg and Godse targeted the leader of their respective countries. Both were infuriated by the deaths of thousands of their countrymen. Both did it only to strengthen their countries... So who decides when the sabotage of one's government is justified? The Opposition parties? The historians of the conquering countries? The "ordinary people" who pour into the streets to kick at fallen statues and celebrate by looting museums? Or the people who become "the rabble" during communal strife...? Oh puh-lease, spare me the lecture on patriotism: You wouldn't know it if it bit off your nose.

Varsha Bhosle

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 09 Oct 2012 08:57

I thought it fitting that she gets remembered here on BRF.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 09 Oct 2012 08:57

When I heard of Varsha's death, I was saddened. She stopped posting a few years' back and that was a real loss. Now, she is even gone forever. RIP.

Harish · Post by **Harish** » 09 Oct 2012 09:05

SSridhar wrote:When I heard of Varsha's death, I was saddened. She stopped posting a few years' back and that was a real loss. Now, she is even gone forever. RIP.

She was probably made to stop posting. Rediff latched on to the moneytrain and threw away their journalistic ethics - not that they had particularly strong ethics to begin with - years ago. Varshaji's most prolific output came almost a decade ago.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 09 Oct 2012 09:06

Varsha was the one who articulated what I could feel but wasn't sure or clear enough to get a hold of. She was the one who liberated the unapologetic yindoo in me (and I suspect in many many others around the country).

I would read and re-read her Rediff articles back when the web was young (and so was I, just out of Engg college and all). I recall waiting for her next article to come on Rediff with what bordered on impatience.

I am shocked and saddened to hear about her passing. RIP, brave lady!

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 09 Oct 2012 09:11

Sounds like she was a BRF reader.
http://www.rediff.in/news/2003/apr/14varsha.htm
She makes reference to TFTAs here in the opening sentence. Now where in the world could she have learned that acronym from ...