5. 1
PREFACE
The inception of a magazine like CONCH was not a product of some
stellar idea by one of the team members. Neither was it a case of waking up
one fine morning and deciding to publish a magazine over the morning cup of
tea. So what exactly compelled a bunch of university students to come together
and put in a collective effort and bring CONCH into existence? Passion.
It is the age of the virtual media and somewhere down the line, this has
subverted the significance of print media for the younger generations. There
is no denying the fact that ours is the era of the smartphone, which has made
it possible to carry the whole world in our pockets. E-newspapers, e-magazines
and e-books are the new cool, as the youth lingo goes. But then again, this is
not a tirade against this change. CONCH supports and encourages this change.
After all, change is a positive sign of growth. The idea that brought CONCH into
existence is based on change; change that can be heralded through the power of
the pen. CONCH aims to become the voice of the masses. The people behind this
enterprise were in search of a forum to give their opinions voices. The social
media and the virtual zone did not suffice and in the journey of this search,
CONCH was conceived in and born out of their minds.
âConchâ, a word with a Sanskrit origin, is what a large sea-snailâs
shell is called. The word was chosen to represent this magazine after copious
amounts of deliberation amongst the team members. So, why was âconchâ chosen?
A little digging into the background of the word and what it means brought to
the fore some metaphorical parallels to the idea with which the magazine was
being conceptualized. The conch has spires in its internal structure. When blown
upon, the air reverberates between them, gets amplified and the sound thus
produced, is bold and demands to be heard. Literature gives instances where
the conch is symptomatic of democracy and power for its possessor. These
references underlined the primary purpose of CONCH- to make opinions heard
loud and clear, and to give its participants a powerful platform of expression.
CONCH focuses on streaming the creative forces of the individuals to
make a mark. Therefore, the readers will find that CONCH is not a monolingual
magazine, rendering it more powerful than any other magazine. CONCH also
encourages people to express themselves through art forms other than creative
writing as well. CONCH embraces diversity, coupling it with a versatility of
expression. With these words, the entire family of CONCH welcomes its readers
on board the journey of thoughts!
~ Nikita Sinha
6. 2
Contents
Are you free?
Rit Chattopadhyay and Mayukh Biswas
The obsolete I
Debanjan Chatterjee
The Long Paragraph on a Short Page by a
Bricoleur, on the Notion of Freedom
Dibyajit Mukherjee
Blinded Vandalism
Pritthwish Das
Freedom needs Literature or Vice Versa
Payel Halder
āĻāĻŦāĻŋāĻ°ā§āĻ° āĻ°āĻ
āĻ¤ā§āĻˇāĻŋāĻ¤āĻž āĻŦāĻ¸ā§
A Place Insane
Navin Pandey
Freedom of the soul from the body
Paulomi Dasgupta
Where do we draw the line?
Medhasree Talapatra
To My Love
Arjun Prasad Singh
āĻ¸ā§āĻŦāĻžāĻ§ā§āĻ¨āĻ¤āĻž - āĻŽāĻžāĻ¨ā§ āĻāĻŋ?
āĻ āĻ°āĻŋāĻ¤āĻŋ āĻ¨āĻžāĻĨ
Intestate
Arjun Prasad Singh
Dawn of 15th August, 1947
Ariti Nath
The Whistleblower
Jatin Mehta
āĻā§ā§ āĻ¯āĻžāĻŦīŋŊā§
āĻ°īŋŊā§āĻĻā§āĻ°āĻĻā§āĻĒā§āĻ¤ āĻŦāĻŋāĻļā§āĻŦāĻžāĻ¸
āĻĸāĻŋāĻā§âāĻā§āĻ¯āĻžāĻāĻ
āĻāĻ°ā§āĻ¯ā§āĻ¯āĻāĻˇāĻŋ āĻĒāĻžāĻ˛
āĻŦāĻŋāĻāĻ˛ā§āĻĒ āĻ¯īŋŊā§āĻ¨āĻ¤āĻž āĻ āĻāĻžāĻ°āĻ¤āĻŦāĻ°ā§āĻˇ
āĻ¸īŋŊā§āĻŽā§āĻ¯āĻļā§āĻ°ā§ āĻīŋŊā§āĻˇ
āĻ¸ā§āĻŦāĻžāĻ§ā§āĻ¨āĻ¤āĻž
āĻ āĻ¨āĻŋāĻ¨ā§āĻĻāĻŋāĻ¤āĻž āĻĻā§
āĻāĻŽāĻžāĻ° āĻĒāĻŋā§āĻžāĻ¨īŋŊā§......
āĻŽāĻŖāĻŋāĻā§ āĻ¨ā§āĻ¤āĻ˛āĻž āĻĻāĻžāĻļāĻā§āĻĒā§āĻ¤
Pumpkin song
Debanjan Chatterjee
I
Arpan Roy
ā¤ā¤° ā¤ā¤žā¤¨āĨ ā¤ĻāĨ, ā¤šā¤Ž ā¤šā¤žā¤°āĨ ā¤¨ā¤šāĨā¤ ā¤šāĨā¤
ā¤Ēā¤žā¤¯ā¤˛ ā¤šā¤žā¤˛āĨā¤Ļā¤žā¤°
Freedom- an illusion or reality?
Ritwika Das
Freedom- A Choice?
Suchandra Banerjee
āĻīŋŊā§āĻāĻ
āĻĒāĻŋāĻā§āĻāĻŋ āĻŦā§āĻĻā§āĻ¯
The Writer
Mayukh Biswas
Freedom
Paulomi Dasgupta
Faces of freedom
Rit Chattopadhyay
Confinement
Paulomi Dasgupta
Until the battleâs won
Soubhik Biswas
āĻ§āĻ°ā§āĻŽ āĻŽā§āĻā§āĻ¤ āĻ¨āĻžāĻ°ā§āĻ° āĻĒāĻā§āĻˇā§ āĻ¨āĻž āĻŦāĻŋāĻĒāĻā§āĻˇā§?
āĻ¸ā§āĻāĻ¨ā§āĻĻā§āĻ°āĻž āĻŦā§āĻ¯āĻžāĻ¨āĻžāĻ°ā§āĻā§
NOUS SOMMES LA MATIN NOUVEAU
Dibyajit Mukherjee
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8. 4
âĸ Athens (399 B.C.) - Socrates was silenced to death for
his ideas and preaching against the views of the State.
âĸ Spain (1492-1502) - Spanish Emperor Ferdinand forced
the entire Jewish and Muslim population to convert into
Catholicism or else be expelled.
âĸ Italy (1633-1642) - Galileo Galilei was kept under house
arrest because of his scientific views were dissimilar to
the views of the Church.
âĸ Vancouver, Canada(1914) - A Japanese ship, Komagata
Maru, was travelling to Vancouver, Canada, carrying 376
passengers from Punjab, British India. 352 of them were
not allowed to land in Canada, and was forced to return
to India, due to various exclusion laws in both Canada
and the United States designed to keep out immigrants
of only Asian origin.
âĸ Germany (1930âs and 40âs) - In Nazi Germany Jews
killed in gas chambers and were brutally burnt alive in
large numbers.
âĸ Iran(1989) - A Muslim religious leader Ayatollah
Khomeini issued a religious edict condemning
author Salman Rushdie to death for the publication
of The Satanic Verses.
Freedoom
Are you free?
Rit Chattopadhyay and Mayukh Biswas
Do you think you are free? Or are you not? Oh, got you! You are partially free! In any case, no
matter where on the freedom-scale you belong or the quality and extent of freedom you enjoy,
have you ever thought why we use this seven-letter word to signify an ecstatic state of liberated
and emancipated existence? My friend, when we use this word we are actually in debt to a series of
linguistic inflections, some of that is even untraceable. The collective wisdom of all the dictionaries
in this world, suggest something like this: the power or right to behave or act in a way or a number
of ways that a person may desire.
Then, can we say, that the right to do whatever we want, whenever we want and wherever we want,
is freedom?
The word âfreedomâ can be broken into âfreeâ and ââdomâ (very predictable!). The suffix ââdomâ is
derived from Old English â-domâ meaning âstate, condition, authority and jurisdictionâ; having origin
in Proto-Germanic â-*domazâ, meaning
âto place, to setâ. The word âfreeâ has a
distinct Germanic origin, its literal modern
day translation being âfreiheitâ. The word
is actually more closely derived from the
German word âfriedeâ (originally âfirthâ,
which means âpeaceâ).
My humble apologies for such boring
sentences, but do not take off your eyes
just yet! Here comes the interesting part-
it is believed that the archaic term âfirthâ
was applied to signify the time of peace
between two Germanic clans when their
blood feud was held at bay by the God
âFredaâ or âFritaâ. Thus, even when we look
at the word from etymological perspective,
we conclude that freedom gives peace; or
put it in a better way, freedom is peace;
peace is freedom; or are they twins?
The Constitution of India contains the right
to freedom, given in articles 19, 20, 21,
21A and 22, with the view of guaranteeing
individual rights that were considered
vital by the framers of the constitution. It
is a cluster of four main laws. The right
to freedom in Article 19 guarantees six
freedoms one of them being the Freedom
of Speech and Expression. However, at certain given conditions, the State can impose reasonable
restrictions in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly
relations with foreign States, public order, âdecency, or moralityâ or in relation to contempt of court,
defamation, or incitement to an offence.
Now, the question that arises is, which and what are we to consider decent or moral and vice-versa?
Is peeing in public decent? Is kissing in public moral?
9. 5
Thus, even when we look at the word from etymological perspective, we conclude that freedom
gives peace; or put it in a better way, freedom is peace; peace is freedom; or are they twins?
Do we all have a common source of peace?
Do we all find freedom in doing the same thing?
If not, then?
The obsolete I
Debanjan Chatterjee
What holds sway and what puts forth are complimentary constructs in an era of economic
development that closely mark the terms pre-modern,modern and henceforth. Chronology of
compartmentalisation will suffer,as each trend has its own inter-disciplinary nature. I know
you wonât get me and neither do I. Just take for instance,certain wealthy countries who
have created a distinct psychological
and physical environment that has
significantly affected the way the human
mind perceives and builds reality. You
are curious,so do I. Pop in at times. How
exactly is the post-modern freedom?
How exactly do you know of itsnature?
Is it essentially economic? Yes. It is
economic unbounded by the instituions
of state,country and international
structure. This freedom denies a body
of law makers , my choice determines
my post-modern condition.The paradox
lies elsewhere,in the realisation that
inequality in human society is the product
of human will and this brooding trend
license âindependenceâ,not just âfreedomâ
independent of the human will. If you ask
me close,freedom in today world inspite
of having its origin in the gross economic
progress exists outside the usual socio-
political constructs. More curious,ainât so?I
am here to sprout tension. The tension
has begun sprouting outward from an
obsolete âbelowâ, preventing the human
mind from performing its usual lazy habit
of mediocrity and demands expansion of
intellectual realms. Explode the past? Or
shall we dismiss long narratives of history that had dominated Indian philosophical and spiritual
thought? The condition is in a state of ceaseless becoming.And we?Inherently unstable. Now,as
often perceived this instability is not however destructive. The post-modern instability is the
conditionâs greatest strength. The framework is inexplicably yes and it is this indefinability that
lends suppport to the condition. So,where do we lead? Do we ever lead? We just perceive the
senses,all of them;our physical becomes one with our psyche with a manufacturing âthen.â And
you burst into laughter. like I did once. Freedom is a difference,uniquely material surrounded
by materials.You arenât disrespectful, nor was Sharapova. Its time. You better plug some
mouths.
âĸ Jammu & Kashmir, India(1985-95) - Kashmiri
Pandits were threatened to death by the Jihadists.
They were almost forced to leave their homeland in
large numbers in the 90âs.
âĸ Uttar Pradesh, India(1992) - On December 6, 1992,
a large crowd of Hindu karsevaks(volunteers) entirely
destroyed the 16th-century Babri mosque in Ayodhya,
Uttar Pradesh, India .
âĸ Bangladesh (1994) - Bangladeshi muslims issued
a religious decree calling for the death of poet and
author Taslima Nasrin because she raised womenâs
rights issues in her novel Lajja.
âĸ Jammu & Kashmir, India( 2013)- In February 2013,
A fatwa was released by a mufti against a girl band,
claiming that âmusic is not good for societyâ, and
âAll bad things happening in the Indian society are
because of music.â
âĸ Tamil Nadu, India (2015) - Perumal Murugan
explores the tyranny of caste and pathologies ofa
particular community in tearing the couple apart and
destroying their marriage in his novel, Madhubhagan.
The people of the particular community protested
against Murugan and humiliated him.
Strangled
10. 6
The Long Paragraph on a Short Page by a
Bricoleur, on the Notion of Freedom
Dibyajit Mukherjee
âI think where I am not, so I am where I think notâ ~ Lacan
The idea of freedom can be linked to this Lacanian deconstruction of the Descartean
philosophy of âCogito Ergo Sumâ (I think therefore I am). Freedom is an idea. The expressions of
it vary largely. One systemâs freedom can be said to be an(other) systemâs shackles. No, I am not
referring to Charlie Chaplinâs famous quote from The Great Dictator where the barber disguised as
Hinckle (Hitler) says âDictators free themselves but enslave the peopleâ. What I am trying to say, is
that freedom as a concept is structured like an idea but its expressions are always already embedded
in political ideology. The best example of this can be found in a forgotten Hollywood classic named
They Live by director John Carpenter in 1988. It tells the story of John Nada (nada in Spanish means
ânothingâ, a pure subject devoid of all substantial content), a homeless worker in Los Angeles who
while roaming around the city enters into an abandoned church and finds there a strange box full of
sunglasses and when he puts one of them on walking along the L.A.streets, he discovers something
weird. These glasses function like a âcritique of ideologyâ glasses. They allow you to see the real
message beneath all the posters and advertisements bombarding us all the time. For example he sees
an advertisement board where an agency is asking him to âcome and enjoy the Carribeanâ to carry the
connotation âMarry and reproduceâ. Now lets come to the point. Todayâs fashion is to say that we live
in a post-ideological society but I believe that it is todayâs society that is more and more interpellated,
that is addressed by social authority not as subjects who should do their duty but subjects of pleasures
where we are told- âBe yourselfâ, âLive a satisfying and happy lifeâ, âEnjoyâ, âChillâ, âDo not think
so muchâ. When we too put our glasses on we will be seeing this dictatorship in what we call
democracy. Our apparent freedom is actually dictatorship which has been normalised systematically
by coercive institutions of the state mainly branched into the ideological state apparatus (schools,
Universities etc) and Repressive State Apparatus ( police, military etc). According to our common
sense we think that ideology is something blurring and confusing our straight view (or simple view).
Ideology is not simply imposed on ourselves but it is our spontaneous or free relationship to our
social world, how we perceive its meaning. We enjoy our ideology. To step out of ideology it hurts
and is a painful experience which is rendered brilliantly in another scene of the film where John
Nada the protagonist forces his best friend to wear those glasses. It may appear irrational as to why
they are fighting over these glasses and why does this âbest friendâ refuse to wear these glasses and
does it very violently. This is because he is afraid to come out of the lie that he has chosen to accept
and live with and that truth can be painful and shatter many of our illusions. This is the paradox
that we have to accept. We must accept the extreme violence of liberation and we must be forced
to be free. If we trust our spontaneity of well-being then we might never become free. Freedom
hurts. Therefore what is freedom today? In order to be actually free, that is to do what one wants,
one certainly would like to have the state and other forces taking care of things with oneâs choice
but even when one is unaware about them. On the other hand are we aware when we freely choose
or choices are pre-determined? This is why the last revelations by Wiki-Leaks is so important. They
are about TISA(Trade in Services Agreement), a mega important trade agreement about the free flow
of finances and informations which is something that will pre-determine the contours of economy
for decades to come and not only are the negotiations secret but we learn that even the agreement
itself, if it will be accepted will remain secret for around five years. The most dangerous form of non-
freedom is freedom which is not even perceived but then there is another form of freedom which
has a disastrous impact and has a dangerous implication. For example we are bombarded by messages
which are politically correct (Do not be a racist, smoking is injurious, do not rape a woman, be careful
what you eat, discipline yourself etc etc). It is here that the people are more and more the dictated
messageâs other. Here racism prevails, smoking prevails, raping prevails and every other thing prevails
which is not âsupposedâ to. Here freedom assumes itâs more terrifying structure. This is where to
11. 7
use Conradâs words in The Secret Sharer we become strangers to our own selves. We are living in a
society which has been conditioned to accept this explosion of false-freedom. True freedom means
looking into and questioning the pre-suppositions of everything that is given to us by our hegemonic
ideology, including the freedom to question the nature of âfreedomâ itself. True freedom is the power
to understand the economic conditions which is responsible for the misery the lives of the majority
and then have the ability to go against it. I would like to end by choosing the lines of student-turned
Revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara to define the message of true freedom:
Like everyone, I wanted to succeed. I dreamed of becoming a famous medical research
scientist; I dreamed of working indefatigably to discover something which would be used to help
humanity, but which signified a personal triumph for me. I was, as we all are, a child of my
environment. After graduation, due to special circumstances and perhaps also to my character, I
began to travel throughout America, and I became acquainted with all of it. Except for Haiti and
Santo Domingo, I have visited, to some extent, all the other Latin American countries. Because of the
circumstances in which I traveled, first as a student and later as a doctor, I came into close contact
with poverty, hunger and disease; with the inability to treat a child because of lack of money; with
the stupefaction provoked by the continual hunger and punishment, to the point that a father can
accept the loss of a son as an unimportant accident, as occurs often in the downtrodden classes of
our American homeland. And I began to realize at that time that there were things that were almost
as important to me as becoming a famous or making a significant contribution to medical science: I
wanted to help those people.
12. 8
Blinded Vandalism
Pritthwish Das
Expression and Blinded Vandals
The names, the profiles which disturb the day dreaming of every days civilized life
and forces us towards the origin of âLogicâ which develops into a âdoubtâ and âdoubtâ which evolves
itself into an unanswerable question âwhy?â .Even after Knowledge has poured its riches into human
mind and science bared sustenance of rationality, 21st century still observes the barbarous bloodshed
and horrendous institutionalized oppression in a state ofâorderâ and global village of âdemocracyâ.
As a microscopic organism of the entire creation I identify this as not only an unjust distribution
of polished reasoning among Godâs unfortunate images but as an incurable and costumed plague of
intolerance which hypnotizes mankind in preposterous commotion.
The last century has been predominantly commanded by havoc scientific inventions
and its commoditized implementations in the market; the two massive world wars in the name
of nationalized madness and painted heroism causing millions of unnatural human aspirations;
experiments with bloody revolutions for a new dawn which never arrived and ascendancy of globalized
economy to sum up the entire game of aspirations by a certain class. The prolific achievement of
man in the last century seems to be its tedious quest for equality amongâ men and menâ ,âmen and
womenâ and âmen, women and other gendersâ with its counter journey of vice-versa and human
progression in understanding all the civilizations which was in its way to become âoneâ.
But unfortunately the present scenario makes us express our concerns and drags us back
to the history of racial absoluteness in Fascist Italy or Nazi Germany. As the martyrs against spiritual
blindness Dabholkar, Abhijit Roy, Humayun Azad are victimized in the open roads, as Hussains, Nasrins
and Murugans are either forced to leave their respective nations for insecurity or âdieâ in their fields and
as the most effective tool of civilization (expression) has been obstructed with âlawâ(Documentaries like
âIndiaâs Daughtersâ) or by hooliganism (Charlie Hebdo) . Are these the right paths?? question remains.
From the Pages of History
Civilization took its course and with time bounded human species more and more
into boundaries of a set of laws. The Greeks were perhaps one of the first to attain a conscience
which still influences the modern world. But interestingly the history of the hindrance of âfreedom
to expressâ began its course from this era itself when Socrates was murdered through poisoning
by the city state of Athens as he was preaching a set of ideals which were different from the
traditional form. Being part of ancient history it is controversial and disparate among views but it
remains as the earliest example. Galileo Galilee was imprisoned and punished through state law as
he questioned the canonized faith and presented a âtruthâ which later carves human history with
new dimensions. Galilee expressed his own view about the earth revolving round the sun which was
monstrous sin to the church hence imprisonment. We turn these pages as unnecessary portions of
4th standard history but surprisingly this question has travelled time to haunt us at present.
13. 9
Art, Literature and intolerance in recent past
Spiritualism was arguably born in India and philosophy of extremely progressive society
as well as utterly regressive kind existed here side by side for thousands of years. And perhaps that is
the reason why charvaka exists with Shankaraâs Brahma in the country. But in last 20-30 years the things
have been different with the rise of right wing hooliganism in almost all the countries of the subcontinent.
The story begins with Dr M.F Hussain whose stature as a world class painter is
unquestionable and whose heroics in the art form re-established Indian iconography throughout the
world. Hussain was highly influenced by ancient Indian epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata and
presented the characters through Indian style of scriptures from the early days of his career. In
1996 when the entire country is under the dark days of rising right wing fundamentalism , he was
deliberately targeted by a particular political group because his work. They raised questions against
Hussainâs presentation of Hindu goddesses which were mostly nude . Hussain was forced to leave
India and he spent rest of his life in London and Doha till his death. Salman Rushdie, another great
author of Indian origin was bashed with death threats from around the world and Iranian Islamic
head Khomeni even declared the cost of his head. Rushdieâs fourth novel The Satanic Verses was
highly controversial because of the perspective through which he countered Islamic scriptureso .
Several of Rushdieâs visits are either postponed or cancelled because of alarming protests by several
Islamic groups in India. Taslima Nasrin , a well known Bengali writer became one of such victims in
Bangladesh. Nasrin questioned Sharia law and called for the revision of Quran as she found the Islamic
scriptures unfit for women in the modern society. She openly wrote her mind in her works like
âLajjaâ and hence was threatened to death by a right wing group. Later few hundred demonstrators
called her âan apostateâ who was planted by other âimperial forcesâ to âvilify Islamâ according to
them. After 2 months of hiding in 1994 she was forced to leave Bangladesh.
Perumal Murugan
The beginning of 2015 in Social media awoke with a shocking statement from a Tamil author.
âPerumal Murugan the writer is deadâ
Murugan a famous tamil writer and teacher came under the scanner of
controversies when his novel âMadhurobhaganâ was translated into English as âOne Part Womenâ.
Murugan explores the tyranny of caste and pathologies in a community in South India in the
novel. He presented the oppression of women in that particular community through traditional
norms and beliefs. Soon after its translation triggered immense protests by the community
to which the author himself is a part of the author was forced to hang up his creative pen.
In a civilized society every citizen has a right to express their view whether in favour
or against the present notion of the society. It is meaningless to ban somebody or use violence against
him/her to restrict the new ideas which augments the society. It is a question why these hooligans who
threaten Hussain does not protest against the nude carvings of Ajanta Elora and other Hindu temples.
Are they in favour of demolishing ancient Hindu scriptures in order to âpurifyâ Indian culture? or lack
of knowledge and intellect are the causes of such violent reactions. If Rushdie is even responsible for
presenting his views against Islamic scriptures should he not be allowed to present his own perspective.
Today the swords of the fundumentalists are mightier than Rushdieâs pen and yes it is unfortunate.
Are the death threats on Nasrin justifiable in the answer to her opposition to the doctrines, question
remains. And to speak of the incident of Murugan, who was clinical in pointing out the backwardness
of his own community was forced into silence is an absolute example of conventional oppression.
Martyrs of Humanity
Over the last few years intolerance has been in its epitome both in India
and around the world. The names like Narendra Dabholkar , Humayun Azad and very
recently Abhijit Ray and Charlie Hebdo still torment us. All of these bright personalities
pledged their war against superstitious beliefs and unscientific doctrines which are the
foundations of oppression to a particular class , gender or individual freedom as a whole.
Narendra Dabholkar became a social activist in 1980âs and involved himself in the
movements like Baba Adhavâs âOne Village-one well Agitationâ. Later he focused on the obliteration
14. 10
of superstition and rights of the Dalits. Dabholkarâs activism against superstition and black magic
is evident in various parts of Maharashtra and he strongly pressed on anti superstition and black
magic bill which was passed by Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, a day after his death. Dabholkar
who neglected various death threats were ultimately assassinated in 2013 in public. Both Azad and
Roy are almost Bangladeshi counterparts of Dabholkar. Roy who became popular through his active
blogging against religious irrationality was recently murdered while he was returning from a Book
fair in Dhaka. Royâs independent voice against religious extremism in Bangladesh made a mark among
Bangladeshi youth who got out of their homes in protest of such a barbaric homicide.
Charlie Hebdo
Another incident which shook the world off was the attack in the office of a French
Satirical Magazine âCharle Hebdoâ. About twelve of the staffs were shot dead in Paris by two terrorists
who allegedly claimed themselves to be âthe saviours of Islamâ. Charlie Hebdo is one of the leading
magazines in French which was famous for its satiric cartoons, jokes and ironic tone. Perhaps
their light hearted jokes which entertained people in their breakfast tables made the hooligans too
impulsive to heat up their guns. A huge rally of thousands of Frenchmen came out in the streets of
Paris in support and the phrase âJe Suis Charlieâ(I am Charlie) became highly popular in socal media.
The matter of the fact is the religious extremism is on its rise and it
should be taken care of by people who believe themselves to be civilized and not animal
skinned. Death threats and murders have become so prominent in the cases of religious
intolerance that the establishment should rebuild their ideas in countering them.
In the name of Law
We, Indians declare our pride as citizens of our nation(by supporting
Indian Cricket Team) and satisfaction towards the constitution but raise our eye brows
towards the system. We complain very often âthe system is of rotten rootsâ. But I donât
agree as the system is still powerful enough to limit adults to watch something or to read
something. As we are fools enough to decide on our choice , the establishment decides on it.
The recent ban on AIB roast, a show which presented entertainment through
nonsense jokes uplifted quite a few questions on the role of government in banning media
stuff. Are we not educated or grown ups to decide for ourselves. More recently a documentary
on the infamous Delhi rape case is also outlawed in the name of the nationâs pride. The
discussion about the documentary in the parliament was quite interesting to watch as more
people stood in favour of the prohibition of the video instead of analyzing the raw facts of the
countryâs situation which is in absolute favour of patriarchy and quite unfit for women to live.
It is not comprehendible to me that in the worldâs largest democracy where the
citizens have the right to choose the entire government are unfortunately not literate enough to stick
into their own choice of things and the establishmentâs interference becomes ânecessityâ.
15. 11
Freedom needs Literature or Vice Versa
Payel Halder
As a native of India being a student of literature(CU)âFreedom and Literatureâ seemed surreal
to us in the recent past. However, literature itself always relates to freedom,either by creating or writing.
Literature is a wonderful medium which conveys, maintains and appreciates freedom
between writers and readers. Compared to other forms of art, it is the most modest, relying on words only. The
way it connects people - writers and readers or readers and readers - is through freedom.whereas in a movie,
viewers simply follow one scene after another. For example, while watching Gone With the Wind, viewers
experience Clark Gable as Rhett Butler and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett OâHara. But while reading the novel by
Margaret Mitchell, readers can imagine anyone as Rhett Butler or Scarlett OâHara. The simple sentence âThe
Sun risesâ can be imagined differently by different readers, but a movie scene of a sunrise can only be the same
for every viewer. That is why literature is a truly free art form for both writers and readers.
However, publishing is not always related to freedom. In india we had the Press Scrutiny
Board from many decades. This censorship board prohibited the publication of some literary works. In the
early 1980s, it took from one to two years to get permission to publish a novel. Even with permission, there
would be much editing. Sometimes writers decided not to publish because of immense and nonsensical
editing by the censorship board.
For periodicals at that time, we didnât need to submit manuscripts before printing, but we
did need to submit the print copy before distribution. In the early 1990s, the censorship board would ask
for the removal of paragraphs or whole short stories or articles from printed periodicals before they were
distributed. So we would put black or silver ink over the paragraphs, or glue facing pages together, or rip
out some pages. In the early 2000s, the censorship board asked us to submit before printing any form of
literature or books, including advertisement pages. Then there were no more ugly magazine pages: all forced
editing was completed before printing. Just before the censorship board abolished its process in mid-2012,
a weekly current affairs journal would be submitted three times before it was printed and one time before it
was distributed. That is why it was impossible to have regional papers in places far from the office of the Press
Scrutiny Board and where people from ethnic minorities live. For this reason, media or literature in ethnic
languages was almost impossible to establish. This process prohibited not only the freedom of the press but
also pluralism in the press.
Investors and owners didnât want editors who were willing to test tolerance or censorship, or
take the costly and time-consuming risk of reprinting manuscripts. Some editors refrained from accepting
any work which might be censored heavily. As no definitive rules were set out by the censorship board, it was
sometimes hard to predict what might be censored or not. And since all publication houses need a licence to
operate, there were risks in publishing some works: the termination of a licence, going to trial under restricted
printing law, being put in prison. Eventually writers were forced to give up the freedom to think and write as
they wished.
Arnab Maity
18. 14
A Place Insane
Navin Pandey
A stroll down the lane
Took me to a place insane
Silence, eerie, almost demonic
Darkness, as dark as it gets
There in the dark distance long
A flickering light, the Darkness pets
As I walk, a slight sound of a song
And then some steps synchronic
But all seem in a slumber
Caught one, asked her name
Laughed hysterical âno names, just numberâ
Someoneâs foul threw us outside the gameâ
And out of that silence, a yelp
A heart rending groan, a roar
Perhaps a cry for help
I ran in, and shouts more and more
Saw one, and the next second
In her hand.
A feverish lump of flesh soft
A part of her own self
A part killed long, long ago
When they stabbed her, with manliness
Hides it, almost strangling the embrace
âWonât let it to lightâ she says
â âItâ might grow someday into a âheâ
A raping sadist âheâ â
~ NVN
19. 15
Freedom of the soul from the body
Paulomi Dasgupta
When a baby is born into this world it greets life with its tears. Through itsâ crying
it expresses its disappointment of being born into the confinement of the body. And thus we are
forever imprisoned in a body in which we struggle to express ourselves. All of us create boxes for
ourselves based on our predetermined ideas and beliefs. We are all expanding beings and when we
set restrictions and limitations on ourselves we suffocate and fade.
Through every condition in life Man is consciously or unconsciously seeking for
freedom. Each of us have a voice within ourselves that wants to speak up. This voice can be given
many names such as the soul,the higher self, the inner being etc.
Is it really possible to let our soul be free when we live a human life? We have to truly
believe in ourselves ,in our inner strength to let it happen .
Each and every one of us have our inner voice , and the ones who are courageous
enough to express this inner voice can only meet the light that lies within us. We have to connect
with our inner light and through the power of that connection live a purposeful and fulfilling life.
The body holds on to the soul and the soul holds onto the body. The soul holds onto
the body to in order to accomplish its purpose and the body holds onto the soul because when
the soul leaves it will return into nothing. The soul will be liberated only when it disregards its
materialistic confinements and unites with the will of the Universe becomes one with the will of God.
Ultimate freedom of the soul is gained by concentration,meditation,by contemplation
and realization. In the freedom of the soul lies the purpose of life.
Koyel Sana
20. 16
Where do we draw the line?
Medhasree Talapatra
William Blake famously wrote: âwithout contraries there is no progressionâ.
The Indian television industry took it seriously. A bit too seriously! In 1955 when the Hindu Marriage
Act was passed, it clearly annihilated all doubts regarding a burning question- we are an extremely
tolerant society, we do of course believe in fraternizing , however we do not condone polygamy. A
man must only have one wife (just one, but whereâs the fun in that?). If he wished to marry a second
time he must divorce the first one (Divorce?? That is just way way formal, legal and hence boring!
We are Indians we donât care about formality, unless of course you know itâs a rape case, then weâd
sit and ponder over the pros and cons, the dos and donâts, the right and wrong for months!)
In 90% of the television shows or soap operas as they are called, that is
broadcasted on the Indian television there is the prevalence of multiple marriages simultaneously.
The story line too is a no-brainer. A man is forced to marry beneath his stature, while his heart
pines for another. Then circumstantially he also ends up marrying the woman he originally loved!
Time consumes them in umpteen tests and the good wife emerges victorious while the original love
is cast in the role of the bad woman vandalising domestic bliss! How many of us did not grow up
with our television sets projecting the plight of these âgood womenâ who despite being insulted and
verbally brutalized in every step of their life cling to their husbandâs feet waiting to prove their
worth by perpetually being patient even when the husband happily made love to the other woman
in her bedroom? The cliche is of Indian television has assumed a leviathan stature so much so that
no matter what the premise promises, we are almost always sure what to expect!
Now the debate regarding the dichotomy of a womanâs role has been around
ever since man learned to farm: she could be two things: an angel or a whore. âThe angel in the
houseâ or âthe mad woman in the atticâ. The good or the bad. But who decides the parameters of
good and bad? Who decides what constitutes the angel or the whore? Do women decide? Or does
patriarchy decide. So if patriarchy is happy playing God- the totalitarian, authoritarian dictator, then
what role do women actually carve out for herself? The fashion world also predominated my men
design the rules and regulations regarding the definition of âsexyâ, âfeminineâ and âstylishâ. From
Salvatore Ferragamoâs wage heels to Christian Louboutinâs red soled shoes to our very own Sabyasachi
Mukherjeeâs bedecked maharani blouse, it is always men who decide whatâs best for women! The
lingerie to bring out perfectly the silhouette of each attire, to marsala being the pantone colour of
the year- men decide it most of the time. Of course we live in a male centric society and those are
the norms and should be followed. So now janus of hypocrisy raises its head: it is men who formulate
these fool proof of formulae of fashion- promote short skirts, and very conveniently it is men again
who portray the good wife to be always clad in a saree with the pallu on her head, while the modern
girl daring to be clad in a pair of denims is happily typecast as a whore- the bad woman! So what
if she is a virgin, has zero sexual experience â her clothes speak volumes. Itâs easy to castigate her.
Standing in 2015 of course this view raises eyebrows among the masses, but television the mightiest of
the media happily showcases these distinctions without actually anticipating let alone comprehending
its lethal effects. Simply typecasting women based on their attire and deliberately villainising the
modern woman not only sets back the nation a few notches but blatanly depicts the diabolical duality
of men who want their girlfriends to dress as they wish and to barricade their wives within the veil of
tradition. Of course transgression is being made but that is merely the equivalent of a drop of water
in a dreary desert and hope seems feeble regarding the changing mindset of the Indian Television
Fraternity which often forgets its accountability to its audience.
Now of course it is not only in the media that patriarchy tends to crucify
women, it is in every facade of life. But that is a very definite truth. A significant absolute in a world
replete with relatives; as can be satisfactorily judged by the ever-growing number of rapes in the
country. After the barbaric 2012 Delhi gang rape, an insurmountable tumultuous wave of protest
forced the world to sit up and take notice of a nation that faced the multifarious atrocities deployed
by the authorities to pray rather demand justice for the brutalised girl. She died. Her rapists were
condemned to death, the biggest proprietor of inhuman brutality being underage was sentenced
to two yearsâ imprisonment (heâd be out by this year and then lord save us) and not only did the
21. 17
scenario not change but it has become more frightening day by day. So now the question remains:
where do we draw the line?
The answer to the malevolent question: âwhy do men rape?â has been
sought after forever. Some of the most obvious answers are of course: to assert their manhood, to
teach the girl a lesson and show her her rightful place, to thwart a womanâs progression, to reduce
her to nothing but a vagina. Post wars thousands of women of the defeated nation would be packed
off to rape camps to experience unutterable barbarous torture for the simple reason that the easiest
way to demolish the strength and break the backbone of a nation is to inflict pain and shame on its
women. Even now when women equate man in all intellectual and social fields her sexuality poses
a serious threat to her existence. Patriarchy fears a sexually liberated women and would probably
traverse miles to subvert her! So are women, standing in 2015 still shackled in chains or has been
liberated? Can any country in the world boast of having actually achieved gender equality which are
actually just basic human rights? Simone de Beauvoir wrote: âfor women there is no other way out
than to work for her liberationâ, further stating, â a myth invented by men to confine women to their
oppressed state. For women it is not a question of asserting themselves as women, but of becoming
full length human beings.â âone is not born but rather becomes a woman.â
However what is interesting to note is that in the fight to constantly
equate themselves with men, neutralize gender power-games and being thwarted at every stage by
the fragile ego of a dominant number of men, and being manipulated to scream and shout for her
rights deviating from the path of peaceful protest the term âfeminismâ has been pulled back quite
a few notches even being delineated as something profusely negative, loathsome so much so that a
substantial number of women tend not to associate themselves with the term. But unlike patriarchy
which is perpetually instigating and propagating newer ways to thwart equality and liberation, thus
being content with subverting or even stamping on womenâs rights, while maintaining that âmen
will be menâ with an uncanny pride while knowingly delimiting men as monolithic, unchanging and
incapable- possessing animal instincts and heavily loaded with testosterone which prevents them from
preventing themselves from indulging in harassment and assault. Feminism however holds that men
are indeed capable- much much more capable than just being a primordial bag of ever-burning âidâ
objectifying women as a vessel to satiate its incurable lust.
Recently Vogue initiated a campaign against rape, violence and abuse entitled
âstart with the boysâ where in a two minute short film it graphically portrays a plethora of parents
chiding their male child to not cry for the simple reason that they are boys thus unconsciously
thrusting them towards a life of suppressed emotion, always scolding : âboys donât cryâ. The film
poignantly ends with the slogan: â since childhood we teach them boys donât cry, perhaps it would
be better to teach them boys donât makes others cryâ. Is it not high time that we take a step back
to analyze where we stand and how far we actually possess the potential to go? Merely being vocal
about issues does not solve any problem. The change needs to begin from the beginning. From the
very root of the society that conditions and engineers men and women to blend seamlessly into the
roles designed for them without actually questioning why is the tears of men considered signs of
weakness and a woman who decides to travel alone can be questioned on her chastity. The problems
are umpteen and the solutions seemed to be veiled in a mysterious cocoon that needs to be broken.
Pandoraâs box needs a key to be opened that maybe holds the solutions. But utopia is and will always
be out of reach and in order to commence the change we need to be the change. As Emma Watson
concluded in her speech for the U.N âHe for Sheâ campaign : âif not me then who? If not now then
when?â
22. 18
To My Love
Arjun Prasad Singh
I give you the exuberance of seasons Fair,
Dear love, which is all I could wish to give you
I cannot be brilliantly luminous as Phoebus;
Nor can I be as coquettish as Diana,
I humbly present my fidelity to you through the cannon of my amorous passion
Whilst I ponder over the ineptitude I possess to be someone great,
To be a man who is not stained by imperfection,
How irksome! But upon the comforting glance of your visage,
I am ever happy to cast it away, as we are all perfectly imperfect!
In the sea of our love, storms may arise and intimidate the intimacy of our passion,
Despair may inundate the Hopeful; it may beckon to a hasty
And imperfect inference on the gentility of our love,
My love, the road of passion was never innocuous
Such storms should intensify the paroxysm of our Love
And hold it steadfast than ever,
And as we grow in love with Time,
Let us not stop keep falling in love with each other
Over and over again,
So that the opulence of our Love will be with us,
Till our last sigh; our last whisper!
Koyel Sana
24. 20
Intestate
Arjun Prasad Singh
For me, where I think the road ends, it begins afresh
Not like Prometheusâ energy of rising against the normative;
I feebly lift up my unwilling flesh
To the ever willing Soul
The matinee show in lifeâs theatre, no more
Attracts the juvenility of the Innocent youth
It seldom evades the reconciliation with the past
My past is passed, but not without rational contemplation
Of the Future
I doubt in the fact that I might not get what I seek,
I seek for Happiness; I might not receive a Divine Interpolation
In the novel of my life,
For it is not a bestseller
Beauty fades, gratitude erodes, and time has its own acerbic way of answering,
The temperance of human incurrence;
My doubts will have their answers,
My actions would not be able to countermand those answers
Nothing in this life is as sweet as acceptance;
Time makes us wait; what can we do life other than to wait?
Iâll have to wait as Time weighs my actions,
Then I suppose we all have to begin our Livesâ journey afresh.
25. 21
Dawn of 15th August, 1947
Ariti Nath
Dooms with a scream-
âFreedom! Freedom! Freedom!â
The street beggar wakes up,sneering,
âWhat is that?â
The little girl, who was thrown for being a girl, exclaims
âWhat is that?â
The prostitute, walking alone on the empty pavements, wonders
âWhat is that?â
The father whose son is dead in cellular jail, thinks
âWhat is that?â
The joker after the night show was resting in the tent.
Listens the scream,
Comes out of his tent,
Laughs out loudly and says,
âSO you think you are free?
Really?â
He continues,
âThe Sun is not free- always burns to give light.
The Moon is not free-always shines by the Sun.â
Soumav Mondal
26. 22
The Whistleblower
Jatin Mehta
Do you want to live in a world where everything you say, do, talk to, every expression of creativity
or love or friendship is recorded? All our data, on YouTube, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Gmail, Skype
is under the surveillance of the National Security Agency (NSA). In the disclosure of NSAâs illegal
surveillance, Edward Snowden, former NSA techie, shook the world out of a sweet slumber, plunging
it in ice-cold water of the realization that human thoughts are naked, open to be examined like rats in
laboratories. However, why and how did the NSA manage to pull off such a stunt? How did Snowden
single-handedly tear down the drape to expose the bare truth?
WHY.
The 9/11 tragedy served as a colossal blow to the
USAâs intelligence agencies driving all - from the
President down to the security heads at the CIA and
NSA - into a frenzy. Within 72 hours of the attack,
the agencies were pumped up with power outside
the legal boundaries. This was done in the form
of a new operation named âMission Creepâ. Earlier,
every international call from the US to known
terrorist phone numbers was to be reported by the
NSA to the FBI. In Mission Creep, this extrapolated
to a more aggressive approach where all calls from
the US to Afghanistan were being traced. The NSA
had also been experimenting with mapping of
connections to monitor who contacts who within
the United States thereby forming a âsocial graphâ.
This had to be abandoned due to the constraints
posed by the Justice Departmentâs policy where
such mapping was deemed appropriate only on
non-American citizens. Thus, began the NSAâs
rampant violation of laws and in due course, they
became more and more power hungry.
For this purpose, George Tenet-CIA director,
Michael Hayden - the director of the NSA and George W Bush, could approach the Congress to loosen
up the constitutionâs grip around surveillance laws. Seething with the loss of the twin towers, the
Congress would have been more than ready to bring about the required amendments to the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978. However, any FISA amendment would attract a public
debate that could compromise the secrecy of the intelligence methods. Thus, a back door was created
in the form of a project called STELLAR WIND that involved surveillance of telephone and internet
communications (emails). Signed and authorized by President Bush on 4th October, 2001, the program
would stay unheard by the US legislators until January 2007.
HOW.
Unlike the Soviet Union or China, the US government does not have access to the information on
the internet. Since the inception of the STELLAR WIND, major telecom companies and internet service
providers had been supportive of the program and hence NSA was provided with humongous volumes
of data by the tech giants like Verizon. They were paid in millions by Washington in return of the
favor. The British secret agencies were also involved by the US. During the course of a decade, NSA
became extremely powerful with the aid of intelligence alliance with Britain, Australia, Canada and
27. 23
New Zealand (together known as the Five Eyes). They had access to fibre-optic cables, telephone
metadata and servers of Google and Hotmail. According to Snowden, the spies maintained were so
powerful that they could track and target practically anybody, including the President.
Another leaked secret mission called PRISM,
speaks of a program where Silicon Valley
giants shared the data with the agencies. The
slides show the dates when the companies
apparently signed up for the program, first
one being Microsoft (11 Sep 2007), six years
after 9/11. This was followed by Yahoo(2008),
Google(2009), Facebook(2009), YouTube(2010),
Skype (2011) and lastly by Apple in 2012. The
companies, however, denied any such ties and
expressed their âoutrageâ over the breach in
their data centers by the government.
THE SNOWDEN MAGIC.
At 24, while working in the Geneva headquarters of the CIA, he realized that the way his government
functioned was pulling apart the civil rights of his fellow citizens piece by piece. With Obama
becoming the president, he waited for him to reverse the civil liberties abuses of the Bush era as per
his election campaigns, but was disappointed to see further expansion of several abusive investigative
programmes. When he was was recruited to a more powerful position in the NSA after his stint in
CIA, it was then he came across thousands of documents of blatant spying on all the internet traffic
that went throught the US along with the rest of the members of the Five Eyes. Being one of the
1000 NSA system administrators, he had the authority to open a file without leaving a trace. Itâs also
believed that he persuaded other users to entrust him with their login details. He used pen drives
to download the confidential files. Pen drives are forbidden for most of the staff but he could sneak
them in arguing he needed to use a backup while repairing corrupt profiles. He used to login from
his Hawaii headquarters to the servers located six time zones away when most of the staff had gone
to sleep. Also, he used his IT genius to ensure that no trace was left of him after crawling through
the systems. He was what is called in the IT industry, a ghost user. After several weeks, he applies
for a leave citing health issues and on 20th May 2013, he vanished. He securely delivered the data to
his carefully chosen set of journalists from the Guardian, and what followed was the most spectacular
security leaks in the history of mankind.
IMPACT ON US.
Spying by the government is acceptable as long as they stay within the constitutional limits written
for the protection of our own rights. Imagine a world where one supreme authority has the power to
monitor all opinions ever voiced upon and all the thoughts you ever let your mind escape through
speech or writing. Anything you express now could be recorded and used against you after 10 years.
Via this methodology, hundreds of people are being held captive in Guantanamo Bay, a US military
dumping ground, years without a trial with no proven connection whatsoever with any terrorist
organization. This is just the beginning. Enter a world where every move of yours is under strict
surveillance by a supreme authority and thus is capable of crushing any and every seed of potential
revolt that could be a threat to the supreme power. This is the Big Brother, watching you. As per
William Binney, former intelligence official, your entire life can be put together via different domains
and shown over time. The concentration of immense power to a single agency, when spanned about
several other countries could lead to the rise of a modern day tyrant riding the most lethal beast in
todayâs era, information. Should we not be alarmed?
28. 24
Even if a wall is impeding your way, your will is enough to crack it and assert your
freedom. Spread your branches and flourish,
carving your own way yourself.
Ritwika Das
