VIDUR&#039;s Blog

www.youtube.com/ividur

BJP slams Nirupam’s remarks about Irani, seeks apology (ibnlive.in.com)
Cong MP ticked off by party for remarks against Irani (thehindu.com)
Nirupam sparks debate over politicians being sexist (ibnlive.in.com)

Filed under: Denunciation | Tagged: Abhishek Manu sanghvi, Abhishek Manu Sanghvi on YouTube, Acting Institute, Acting Institute Vidur's Kreating Charakters, Acting Trainer, Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, Congress, Delhi Rape, Denunciation, Diction Trainer, Ekta Kapoor, Gujarat, Gujarat Election, Gujarat Election Results, Himachal Pradesh, Hindi Teacher, India, Indian National Congress, Kamal Nayan Chaturvedi, Kyonki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Maderna Case, Maharashtra, Mumbai, MUMBAI - MAHARASHTRA - INDIA, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Narayan Dutt Tiwari on YouTube, Narendra Modi, Paras Nath Maderna, Politics, Sanjay Nirupam, Sanjay Nirupam's Comment Against Smriti Irani, Shiv Sena, Smriti Irani, Tulsi Virani, Vidur, Vidur Chaturvedi, Vidur on Twitter, Vidur's Acting Institute, Vidur's Blog, Vidur's Kreating Charakters, Vidur's Students, YouTube | Leave a comment »

Shame on You Sheila Dikshit !

Posted on December 19, 2012 by VIDUR [ Kamal Nayan Chaturvedi ]

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA DECEMBER 19 , 2012 11.59 P.M.

Sheila Dikshit is the Chief Minister of NCR Delhi . Sonia Gandhi is the Chair – Person of UPA and she is President of Indian National Congress also . Both are woman . Both recently went to Gujarat for electioneering and said that women are not safe in Narendra Modi‘s Gujarat . I am yet to hear about any rape case in Gujarat .

English: Sonia Gandhi, Indian politician, pres...

Sonia Gandhi, President of the Indian National Congress (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sheila Dikshit , Chief Minister of Delhi (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Aren’t they ashamed ? They are blaming Narendra Modi’s Gujarat , when girls are continuously being raped in Delhi under their nose . They are shedding copious tears for Gujarat and maintaining stoic silence in Delhi . They are not even emotionally moved . When a girl was raped last time in Delhi , Sheila Dikshit issued a statement that moving out in the night should be avoided. She , as the Chief Minister of Delhi , was not a bit concerned about law and order situation . She maintained that no rape would happen if girls don’t roam around in the night or venture out early in the morning .

The whole nation is aghast at the current rape of a girl in the moving bus in Delhi . But shameless politicians have again started playing their games . Statements are again being issued . Outrage is again demonstrated . Promises of swift action are again dished out . Visits of VIPs to the hospital has again started . But I know nothing is going to be changed .

When persons of the stature of Sonia Gandhi and Sheila Dikshit go to Gujarat and make false accusations for temporary electoral gains , you know that nothing will ever change because elections are not round the corner in Delhi .

I am reproducing the complete story , which I got from a friend on my BBM :

The full story – The bus driver ram singh went out with his 6 friends ( 2 rkp sabzee wale + all bihari ) the girl and the guy was called by the driver and were given proper tickets ( the bus was a school bus with black curtains .. Not permitted for transport use ) the girl was 23 a very good student and wanted to reach dwarka mor.
After they got in , the guys hit a rod on the guys’s head and threw him out , then raped the girl one by one which was moving continuously in the posh areas of delhi and ncr.
After raping her badly , one of them inserted a very long rod in her vagina which almost killed her and threw her out and ran away.

She was lying in the middle of the road hurt and nude.. Not even single person helped her or covered her for an hour.
When police came in no one helped them pick her up. They were just not interested at all.

The girl’s vagina + small and large intestine is totally damaged and she cannot live a married or normal life. Doctor said ” main bayan nahi kar sakta ki ussne kya kya zheela hai … Bolte hue muzhe dard hota hai “. She has gone in coma 5 times from 16th dec. She is unconscious , critical and is non stop crying. The ribs are damaged as well.

That’s the whole story
And that’s what delhi people are.
And her only fault was that she took a wrong bus!

I’m not ashamed to broadcast such a message to make people aware that what’s going on in our capital!! ‘So called capital’. Sushma Swaraj demands death penalty for rapists (Delhi Rape Case). Agree or Disagree? Dont shy away and please your vote here.
{www.ndtv.com/article/polls/sushma-swaraj-wants-death-sentence-for-rapists-agree-or-disagree-306803}
Kindly spread the word. Help women live their life.

This is the message I got in the morning and I am reproducing it verbatim . I am aghast . I am ashamed . I denounce Sheila Dikshit in the strongest term . Heads must roll . Police Commissioner of Delhi must be held accountable for this heinous crime . A fast track court should be constituted and capital punishment should be awarded to these criminals .

Rape is crime against humanity . Rape is like crucifying Christ again and again . Rape should be condemned in strongest term and no excuses should be made . It leaves a scar in the psyche of the victim . It is considered a social stigma . It has traumatized the hapless victims since time immemorial .

Rape (Photo credit: Valeri Pizhanski)

I am sorry that when an innocent girl is fighting for her life and will always fight for her honour , if she survives , some Union Ministers were enjoying lavish dinner in a 5 Star hotel in same Delhi last night .

Need I say anything else ? Is there any empathy left in this world ? My emotional psyche is disturbed and wounded .

I denounce this incident in strongest term . I , on behalf of all the students and staff of my acting institute Vidur’s Kreating Charakters , demand Sheila Dikshit’s resignation and demand that Police Commissioner of Delhi should immediately be removed from his post and he should be held accountable for this crime .

Shame Sheila Dikshit , shame !! May God’s curse be on you for making Delhi , the rape capital of India !

VIDUR

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA

www.youtube.com/ividur

#Delhi rape highlights chronic women’s safety issues in India (kractivist.wordpress.com)
#DelhigangRape accused now charged with attempt to murder (kractivist.wordpress.com)
Four Suspects Detained in #Delhi Gang-rape Case #Vaw (kractivist.wordpress.com)
Outrage over India bus gang rape (oddonion.com)
Stop Intellectual Masturbation India: Yet another Hideous Rape Crime (latenightthought.wordpress.com)
India’s ruling Congress leader visits victim of horrifying gang-rape (nzweek.com)

Filed under: Denunciation | Tagged: Acting Institute, Acting Institute Vidur's Kreating Charakters, Acting Trainer, Chair Person UPA, Chief Minister of Delhi, Christ, Congress, Congress President, Delhi, Delhi Rape Case, Denunciation, Diction Trainer, Gujarat, Hindi Teacher, India, Indian National Congress, Kamal Nayan Chaturvedi, Maharashtra, Mumbai, MUMBAI - MAHARASHTRA - INDIA, Narendra Modi, National Capital Region, NCR, Police Commissioner of Delhi, Politics, Sheila Dikshit, Sonia Gandhi, Sushma Swaraj, UPA, Vidur, Vidur Chaturvedi, Vidur on Twitter, Vidur's Acting Institute, Vidur's Blog, Vidur's Kreating Charakters, Vidur's Students | 3 Comments »

Mr. Karnad’s Speech at Lit-Fest , Mumbai

Posted on November 7, 2012 by VIDUR [ Kamal Nayan Chaturvedi ]

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA NOVEMBER 07 , 2012 11.45 P.M.

This is the text of GIRISH KARNAD‘s speech at the Mumbai Literature Festival, as compiled by Outlookindia.com from various sources.

Girish Karnad visited Cornell University in Ithaca New York for screening one of his old movies – Kanakapurandhara on October 29, 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On Friday afternoon at the Tata Literature Live! festival in Mumbai, playwright Girish Karnad surprised audiences with an unexpected and spirited critique of Nobel laureate Vidia Naipaul. Naipaul was awarded the Landmark and Literature Alive’s Lifetime Achievement Award on October 31. Karnad was originally supposed to talk about “his life in theatre” in his session, but instead launched into a scathing critique of Naipaul and the conferring of the award to him

This is what he said at the festival, as reported by Sify:

At the Mumbai Literature Festival this year, Landmark and Literature Alive have jointly given the Lifetime’s Achievement Award to Sir Vidia Naipaul.

The award ceremony held on the 31st of October at the National Centre of the Performing Arts coyly failed to mention that Naipaul was not an Indian and has never claimed to be one. But at no point was the question raised.

The words Shashi Deshpande, the novelist, had used to describe the Neemrana Festival conducted by the ICCR in 2002 perfectly fitted the present event: “it was a celebration of a Nobel Laureate…whom India, hopefully, even sycophantically, considered an Indian.”

Apart from his novels, only two of which take place in India and are abysmal, Naipaul has written three books on India and the books are brilliantly written—he is certainly among the great English writers of our generation.

They have been hailed as a continued exploration of India’s journey into modernity, but what strikes one from the very first book—A Wounded Civilization—is their rabid antipathy to the Indian Muslim.

The ‘wound’ in the title is the one inflicted on India by Babar’s invasion. Since then, Naipaul has never missed a chance to weigh in against the ‘invaders’, accusing them of having savaged India for five centuries, of having brought, among other dreadful things, poverty into it and destroyed the glorious ancient Hindu culture .

A point that strikes one immediately about these books is that there is not a single word in any of them on Indian music.

Given that music defines our daily existence… you find it in the streets, in the restaurants and so on… you would expect an exploration of India to comment on that. Now Mr Naipaul has written three books on India, three very big books… and not one of them contains any reference to music. He has gone through the whole of India without responding to Indian music.

Now I think this only means he is tone-deaf. That’s my reading of the situation but then there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be tone-deaf. It is a constitutional right we all have. But what happens is that if you don’t understand music, if you don’t respond to music, you can’t respond to Indian history because the real development of Indian culture has been through music. This explains his insensitivity to the intricate interweaving of Hindu and Muslim creativities, through the Bhakti and Sufi movements, that gave us this extraordinary heritage, alive in the heart of every Indian home.

What Naipaul’s virulence against Indian Islam conceals is that he has borrowed his model of the history of Indian culture from the British musicologists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, like William Jones. These scholars were acquainted with many other ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptian, the Greek and the Roman. But they were mystified by the fact that while the musical traditions of these civilizations were entirely lost, the Indian musical tradition was alive and thriving.

They decided that this once pure-and-glorious music must have been, at some point during the course of its long history, corrupted and mauled—and they found the villain in the invading Muslim. So, according to them, once upon a time there was a pristine Indian musical culture, which the Muslims had disfigured. They therefore ignored the music that was being performed around them and went in search of the true Hindu music.

The foreigners come, they look at Indian culture, they see pristine Hindu culture, they see that it’s corrupted and it’s corrupted by Muslims. So you see, anyone who has read Naipaul’s book will immediately recognise this matrix, which actually he claims that he arrived at through himself but it is already there in any Indological study long before.

In his analysis of Indian culture Naipaul simply borrows this line of argument and reemploys it—as his original perception. And not for the first time.

Naipaul accuses R.K. Narayan of being indifferent to the destruction and death symbolized by the ruins of Vijayanagar, which to him was a bastion of Hindu culture destroyed by the marauding Muslims. But again he gets this interpretation of the history of Vijayanagar readymade from a book by Robert Sewell called A Forgotten Empire, published in 1900.

Naipaul, as always in awe of his colonial sources, simply accepts this picture as the unadorned truth and recycles it wholesale as his own. That historians and archaeologists working on the site during the last century have proved the situation to be much more complex and have shown that religion had little role to play in the conflict is irrelevant to him.

Now again, what he says is predictable, which is that the Muslims destroyed Indian architecture, that everything went to pot. They were the raiders, they were the destroyers, and you have to look at any building to see what happened during the Muslim regime. And here is what he said about the Taj when people argued with him: “The Taj is so wasteful, so decadent and in the end so cruel that I found it painful to be there for very long. This is an extravagance that speaks about the blood of the people

None of us, if we were at the Taj, would think of the extravagance that speaks about the blood of the people! That’s why you get a Nobel Prize, you know.

He brushes off historian Romila Thapar’s argument that the Mughal era saw a rich efflorescence of the mixture of Hindu and Muslim styles, by attributing her judgment to her Marxist bias and says, ‘The correct truth is the way the invaders look at their actions, They were conquering. They were subjugating.’

To Naipaul, the Indian Muslim remains an invader for ever, forever condemned to be condemned, because some of them had invaders as their ancestors. It is a usage would yield some strange results if applied to the USA.

As for Naipaul’s journalistic exploration of modern India, mainly in the form of a series of interviews conducted with Indians right across the board, one must confess they are supremely well written and that he is a master in drawing sharp and precise visuals of the people he talks to and of the places he visits.

What begins to bother one after a while however, is that he invariably seems to meet brilliant interviewees whose answers to his questions are expressed with a wit and elegance that match his own mastery of the language. Even half-literate interviewees suffer from no diffidence in their expression.

How reliable are the conversations he records?

In a well-known essay Naipaul describes his visit to the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, where he stayed with his friend, Ashoke Chatterjee, the Director of the Institute.

In a recent email to me, Mr Chatterjee said, that Naipaul’s essay was “a scenario that could have been, but was not what he actually saw. Fragments of reality, selected and put together, into a collage of pure fantasy.”

Chatterjee’s friendship with Naipaul came to an abrupt end when Chatterjee told Naipaul that his book, A Wounded Civilization, should be classified as fiction.

In a recent book, Naipaul takes up for examination the autobiography of Munshi Rahman Khan, who emigrated to Suriname at the end of the nineteenth century, and contrasts it with Gandhi’s.

Sanjay Subrahmanyam, the historian, has reviewed the essay in the London Review of Books and it doesn’t take him much effort to establish that Naipaul could only have read a third-hand, truncated translation of the text: “It is as if a reader in Gorakhpur was reading Naipaul in Maithili after the text had passed through a Japanese translation.”

That doesn’t prevent Naipaul from commenting even on the style and linguistic usage of Rahman Khan.

The question surely is by giving him the Lifetime Achievement Award, what statement is being made by the award-givers?

As a journalist what he writes about India is his business. No one can question his right to be ignorant or to prevaricate.

But the Nobel Prize has given him a sudden authority and his use of it needs to be looked at.

One of the first things Naipaul did on receiving the Nobel Prize was to visit the office of the BJP in Delhi. He who had earlier declared that he was not political, “that to have a political view is to be programmed”, now declared that he was happy to be politically “appropriated”.

It was then that he made his most infamous remark: “Ayodhya”, he said, “is a sort of passion. Any passion is creative. Passion leads to creativity.”

Salman Rushdie’s response was that Naipaul was behaving like “a fellow-traveller of Fascism and [that he] disgraces the Noble Prize.”

In the wake of Ayodhya close to 1500 Muslims were slaughtered in the streets of Bombay alone. I was attending a Film Festival in New Delhi when the riots broke out and received anguished calls from my friends in Bombay to say Muslims were being pulled out of their homes or stopped in the streets to be killed.

I rang my Muslim editor to say he and his family could use my flat, in a predominantly Parsi building, until the situation became safe.

The great Marathi actress, Fayyaz, whom I finally located after a week in a corner in Pune where she had fled in distress from Mumbai, described how Shiv Sainiks had thrown fire bombs into Muslim slums and how, when the inmates of the houses rushed out in terror, they were shot down by the police as trouble-makers.

Seven years later, in cold blood, Naipaul was glamorising these events as “passion”, as “a creative act”.

It is significant that this part of Naipaul’s sociologising was not mentioned in the citation of the Award, or by Farrukh Dhondy, who while interviewing him, mentioned the book, Among the Believers and then quickly moved to a long-winded account of how he had helped Sir Vidia adopt a cat which thirteen years later was put to sleep lying on his lap—giving Naipaul another chance to burst into sentimental tears.

Presumably Dhondy was trying to prove how ‘human’ Naipaul was.

But Landmark and Literature Alive who have announced this Award have a responsibility to explain to us where exactly they stand with regard to these remarks by Naipaul.

Naipaul is a foreigner and can make pronouncements as he wishes. But do they mean to valorise Naipaul’s stand that Indian Muslims are raiders and marauders? Are they supporting his continued insistence on Muslim buildings in India being monuments to rape and loot? Or are they by their silence suggesting that these views do not matter?

The Award givers have much to answer for.

An image of most famous Indian Muslims (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

[ I have taken this entire piece from the blog of Mr. Shivam Vij dated November 03 , 2012 . It was posted on http://www.kafila.org . I repost the entire speech of Mr. Girish Karnad for the friends and students of my Acting Institute Vidur’s Kreating Charakters , who visit my blog space . I express my gratitude to the writer and kafila.org . ]

VIDUR

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA

LitFest director slams Karnad for targeting Naipaul (thehindu.com)
VS Naipaul slammed by Girish Karnad for his views on Muslims (ndtv.com)
Why is Naipaul Being Honoured?: Girish Karnad (kafila.org)
Karnad attacks Naipaul for his views on Muslims (ibnlive.in.com)
Artists’ group supports Karnad against Naipaul (vancouverdesi.com)
Karnad and Naipaul (thehindu.com)
Sustaining the myth of hostility (thehindu.com)
After Girish Karnad, Taslima Nasreen rips into V S Naipaul (kractivist.wordpress.com)

Filed under: Denunciation | Tagged: A Forgotten Empire, A Wounded Civilization, Acting Trainer, Among The Believers, Ancient Indian Culture, Ayodhya, Babar, Babur, Bhakti Movement, Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, Culture of India, Denunciation, Diction Trainer, Farrukh Dhondy, Girish Karnad, Hindi Teacher, hindu culture, History of India, India, Indian Music, kafila.org, Kamal Nayan Chaturvedi, Landmark & Literature Alive Lifetime's Achievement Award, Lit - Fest Mumbai, Maharashtra, Marxist Theory, Mumbai, MUMBAI - MAHARASHTRA - INDIA, Muslim, Naipaul, National Centre of the Performing Art, NCPA, R. K. Narayan, Robert Sewell, Romila Thapar, Salman Rushdie, Shashi Deshpande, Sir V. S. Naipaul, Sir Vidia, Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, Sufi Movement, Taj, Taj Mahal, Tata Literature Live, V. S. Naipaul, Vidur, Vidur Chaturvedi, Vidur on Twitter, Vidur's Blog, Vidur's Kreating Charakters, Vidur's Students, Vijayanagar, Vijayanagar Empire, VS Naipaul, William Jones | Leave a comment »

Mr. Girish Karnad : Denunciation Continues

Posted on November 6, 2012 by VIDUR [ Kamal Nayan Chaturvedi ]

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA NOVEMBER 06 , 2012 05.30 P.M.

Girish Karnad visited Cornell University in Ithaca New York for screening one of his old movies – Kanakapurandhara on October 29, 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today while sitting in the office of Vidur’s Kreating Charakters , my Acting Institute in Mumbai , I checked my twitter handle as usual . Mr. Kiran KS , whose twitter handle I follow , has posted 12 tweets dedicated to the V. S. Naipaul and Girish Karnad controversy . I was amazed because of the information I got .

These tweets are based on the article of Mr. Pratap Simha in today’s Kannada Prabha , a leading Kannada daily . Mr. Kiran KS has translated the information in English for the sake of non – Kannadigas and tweeted them .

View summary

1) A brilliant article in Kannada Prabha by @mepratap . For the sake of non-Kannadigas, will tweet excerpts now. #Karnad and Naipaul topic.

Retweeted by Kamal N. Chaturvedi

2) #Karnad calls Naipaul a Muslim virodhi, because of A Wounded Civilization book. The book explains the 5 centuries of invader atrocities.

Retweeted by Kamal N. Chaturvedi

3) So Mr. #Karnad , what’s wrong in Naipaul telling about the “wound” on a Hindu civilization caused by invaders Ghazni, Ghori, Babur etc?

Retweeted by Kamal N. Chaturvedi

4) Mr. Girish #Karnad , if Babur cared so much about his birth country Uzbekistan, he could have “developed” that instead of India. Right?

Retweeted by Kamal N. Chaturvedi

5) In “Thoughts on Pakistan” book, Dr. Ambedkar talks about Muslim mentality,like Naipaul. Will #Karnad oppose Bharat Ratna to Ambedkar too?

Retweeted by Kamal N. Chaturvedi

6) Naipaul calls Taj Mahal a symbol of invasion. Pooh-pooh’s Romila Thapar’s Hindu Muslim “bhai-bhai” symbol talk. #Karnad , is that wrong?

Retweeted by Kamal N. Chaturvedi

7) Tell us Mr. #Karnad , fanatic Aurangzeb ordering destruction of Kashi Vishwanath temple in 1699.. was it Hindu-Muslim “bhai-bhai” event?

Retweeted by Kamal N. Chaturvedi

8) Tell us Jnanapeethi #Karnad, fanatic Aurangzeb ordering Jaziya tax on Hindus… was it Hindu-Muslim “bhai-bhai” event? Why blame Naipaul?

Retweeted by Kamal N. Chaturvedi

9) #Karnad says Naipaul failed to grasp India as books didn’t cover Indian music. So Karnad, why your books didn’t cover Indian Shilpa-Kala?

Retweeted by Kamal N. Chaturvedi

10) #Karnad, u criticize Naipaul (not born in India) of not grasping Indian samskriti. But ur book Anju Mallige is about sister-brother sex!

Retweeted by Kamal N. Chaturvedi

11) Mr. #Karnad ,you got to fame directing SL Bhyrappa’s stories. But once he exposed your Tipu “facts”, you termed SLB books as “ordinary”!

Retweeted by Kamal N. Chaturvedi

12) When VS Naipaul got nobel, #Karnad termed him the “greatest living literateur of Indian origin”. Now suddenly he’s a Muslim-virodhi??

1st edition (publ. André Deutsch) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mr. Naipaul’s book ” India : A Wounded Civilization “ is now very much in focus . Mr. Kiran KS has given enough logic in favour of the book and Sir Vidia’s viewpoint . I don’t have any more logic . And I think I don’t have anything new to say about Mr. Girish Karnad and Sir Vidia controversy . I have already posted a blog about it :

5 Nov

Kamal N. Chaturvedi ‏@VidurChaturvedi

Shame On You , Mr. Girish Karnad http://wp.me/ptyXI-2rQ

I , amazingly , got many responses for my blog . Some were in support and some were harsh . Few were very balanced . It’s wonderful to get connected to so many people having such diverse views .

[ I have re – tweeted from the twitter handle of Mr. Kiran KS . These tweets are based on the article of Mr. Pratap Simha published in a leading Kanada daily Kannada Prabha . I express my gratitude to all of them . ]

VIDUR

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA

VS Naipaul slammed by Girish Karnad for his views on Muslims (ndtv.com)
‘Naipaul ,Tone Deaf’ Girish Karnad Video. He is Right (ramanan50.wordpress.com)
I have no regrets for publicly targeting VS Naipaul: Girish Karnad (ibnlive.in.com)
Karnad attacks Naipaul for his views on Muslims (ibnlive.in.com)
LitFest director slams Karnad for targeting Naipaul (thehindu.com)
After Girish Karnad, Taslima Nasreen rips into V S Naipaul (kractivist.wordpress.com)
Why Girish Karnad isn’t wrong about V.S. Naipaul (kractivist.wordpress.com)
Artists’ group supports Karnad against Naipaul (vancouverdesi.com)
Why is Naipaul Being Honoured?: Girish Karnad (kafila.org)

Filed under: Denunciation | Tagged: A Wounded Civilization, Acting Institute, Acting Institute in Mumbai, Acting Trainer, Ambedkar, Anju Mallige, Aurangzeb, B. R. Ambedkar, Babur, Bharat Ratna, Bharat Ratna Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Denunciation, Diction Trainer, Dr Ambedkar, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, Ghazni, Ghori, Girish Karnad, Hindi Teacher, India, Kamal Nayan Chaturvedi, Kannada Prabha, Kannadiga, Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Kiran KS, Kiran Kumar, MUMBAI - MAHARASHTRA - INDIA, Naipaul, Nobel Laureate, Nobel Laureate Naipaul, Pratap Simha, Romila Thapar, S. L. Bhyrappa, Sir V. S. Naipaul, Sir Vidia, Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, Taj Mahal, Thoughts On Pakistan, Uzbekistan, V. S. Naipaul, Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, Vidur, Vidur Chaturvedi, Vidur on Twitter, Vidur's Blog, Vidur's Kreating Charakters, VS Naipaul | Leave a comment »

Shame On You , Mr. Girish Karnad

Posted on November 5, 2012 by VIDUR [ Kamal Nayan Chaturvedi ]

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA NOVEMBER 05 , 2012 01.00 A.M.

Girish Karnad visited Cornell University in Ithaca New York for screening one of his old movies – Kanakapurandhara on October 29, 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In recently held Mumbai Literary Festival , Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul a.k.a. Sir V. S. Naipaul got Lifetime Achievement Award . And then in the same festival he was attacked by Mr. Girish Karnad for being a right – winger and for propagating a skewed interpretation of Indian History . According to Mr. Karnad , Sir Vidia’s view of history is biased , twisted and un Indian .

mayaro, easter 2007 109.jpg (Photo credit: vicarsh)

It was shocking and totally unwarranted . Mr. Girish Karnad was invited to speak on his life in theatre . Instead , he went off – topic and criticised Sir Vidia S. Naipaul for being anti muslim . According to Girish Karnad , Sir Vidia is blind to architecture and deaf to music . For being blind to architecture , he quoted Sir Vidia , ” …….. Taj Mahal conjured the toil , sweat and blood that had gone into this vain construction , a monument to death and the memory of a tyrant . “

If this is the cause of lampooning Sir Vidia , then what is Mr. Girish Karnad’s opinion about Sahir Ludhianvi ? Sahir , a Urdu literary figure , wrote a very disparaging nazm about Taj Mahal . I am quoting the nazm with the help of my fading memory .

Sahir Ludhianvi (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

ताज तेरे लिए इक मजहर – ए – उल्फत ही सही ,

मुझ को इस वादी – ए – रंगीं से अकीदत ही सही ,

मेरी महबूब कहीं और मिला कर मुझ से ।

बज़्म – ए – शाही में ग़रीबों का गुज़र क्या मानी ,

सब्त जिस राह में हों सतवत – ए – शाही के निशाँ ,

उस पे उल्फत भरी रूहों का सफ़र क्या मानी ?

मेरी महबूब पस – ए – पर्दा – ए – तश्हीर – ए – वफ़ा ,

तूने सतवत के निशानों को तो देखा होता ,

मुर्दा शाहों के मकाबिर से बहलने वाली ,

अपने तारीक मकानों तो देखा होता ।

अनगिनत लोगों ने दुनिया में मुहब्बत की है ,

कौन कहता है कि सादिक न थे जज्बे उनके ,

लेकिन उन के लिए तश्हीर का सामान नहीं ,

क्योंकि वो लोग भी मेरी ही तरह मुफलिस थे ।

मेरी महबूब उन्हें भी तो मुहब्बत होगी ,

जिन की सन्नाई ने बख्शी है इसे शक्ल – ए – जमील ,

उन के प्यारों के मकाबिर रहे बे नाम – ओ – नुमूद

आज तक उन पे जलाई न किसी ने किंदील ।

ये चमनज़ार , ये जमना का किनारा , ये महल ,

ये मुनक्क़श दर – ओ – दीवार , ये मेहराब ये ताक़ ,

इक शहंशाह ने दौलत का सहारा ले कर ,

हम ग़रीबों की मुहब्बत का उड़ाया है मज़ाक़ ।।

Sahir was a known left – winger and himself a muslim . And he was more strident in criticising Taj Mahal . Mr. Karnad never felt any need to condemn Sahir . But he fired his salvos towards Sir Vidia . Therefore I am forced to believe that it is not for the love of Taj Mahal , but it is sheer jealousy and inferiority complex of Mr. Karnad . Or should I say , it is appeasement of worst order .

Mr. Karnad’s another contention is that Sir Vidia is deaf to music . No one can deny the contribution of muslim singers and musicians in the field of classical music . But along with many muslim classical singers , there are others also like ; Pandit Ravi Shankar , Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia , Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma , Pandit Panna Lal Ghosh , Pandit Jasraj , Pandit Onkar Nath Thakur , Pandit Bhimsen Joshi , Kishori Amonkar , Shobha Gurtu , Rajan Mishra , Sajan Mishra , Jagjit Singh and above all the etherial Lata Mangeshkar and M. S. Subbulakshmi .

If I appreciate the above mentioned singers and artistes , I can’t automatically become a right – winger or a chauvinist or a Muslim – hater .

I denounce Mr. Girish Karnad for being a left – winger . I denounce him for being anti national . I denounce him for being a pseudo – secular and crypto – marxist . I denounce him for being anti – Hindu , and that too unnecessarily . He is himself an okay writer and a third – rate actor . All his Hindi films are testimony to this contention . It is sheer jealousy that he criticized a Nobel Laureate Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul .

He should know that his leftist leaning is exposed . His bias and appeasement is now known to all . His pseudo – secular credentials are condemned .

On behalf of me and my Acting Institute Vidur’s Kreating Charakters , I denounce him in strongest terms .

Shame on you Mr. Karnad !

VIDUR

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA