October 10, 2015

Tuka, Kabir, Nammalwar, Meera stood in the dirt and sound on the Kurla railway platform, Mumbai, waiting for Gandhi to bring the tickets for Varanasi. Gandhi and Ba with tickets on hand bought with cash from Ba, stumbled and fell over a steel package. There were no lights at Kurla, as is the norm, and they could not make out the train. They huddled on the platform to share vada-pav, vada made by a Patil, pav by a Mohammed and green chutney by a bhaiya, as the bhaiya crowd bumped past them. Somehow, they crawled into an unlit, unreserved compartment of Varanasi Passenger; allowed floor space though none turned an eye on them. Gandhi had on him a copy of Songs of Kabir, Translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, bought from the Sarvodaya Book Stall; as there were no lights, he couldnt read. By 10 in the night, late by an hour, the train started, stopped, started..they were going to a Ghulam Ali concert at the Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi; seemingly, Ghulam Ali has promised a Kabir doha and a Tuka abhang for them. At Varanasi station, they were picked up by Manmohan Singh; he relishes ghazals and Ghulam Ali; he listens quietly, no wah-wahs every quarter second. Having hours of time, the group loitered Varanasi, took boat rides, couldnt get tickets for Masaan, settled down for a chat on the stone steps leading to Ganga. Manmohan Singh broke the quiet, asking Gandhi of India. 'What is that?,' Gandhi came back. 'Didnt you fight non-violently for Indian Independence; I know because I was the Pradhan Mantri of Independent India for 10 years,' said Manmohan. Gandhi memory was slipping; Kabir helped: 'Speech diminishes you, Bapu. There was no India in our times. We welcomed Parsis, British and hated Muslims; that hate is something of an Indian must for all times.Today, there is no India today.' Bapu pleaded for some bhakti sangeet; it soothes; Bhaktimarga blunted all search, writes Irawati Karve. After Meera bhajans sung by Meera, Gandhi told them a modern Indian fable: There lives my friend Manmohan Singh. They say he ruined the concept India in 10 years, the concept India he rescued in five years. He never says anything. Never could. Nehru, me and many others never said Sorry in our lives. I drove out Ba from my house, never said Sorry. The concept India had and has no Sorry. This friend, Manmohan Singh alone, says Sorry; said Sorry to Sikhs slaughtered in 1984. Critics said it is easy, Singh being a Sikh. Please, sorry, thank you..are most used by Parsis and British. I should know, having lived in England; JRD is my friend, funds me in need. Concept India never.' Time for Ghulam Ali concert. Siya Ram enjoys ghazals. Winning back a losing out.