Its time for the third posting and I hope to give you a glimpse into the profile of some of the people whom I interviewed for the study. I conducted three interviews with persons who write messages on the
vartaphalak. It is interesting to see how these three interviews represent three diverse discourses, which have influenced the lives of these interviewees to a large extent.
Mr. Anil Aagavane, Sadashiv Peth
Anil Agavane runs a sarvajanik vachanalay (public reading space) on Kumthekar Road in Sadashiv Peth. The first image above shows the location of his sarvajanik vachanalay. He works as a librarian in a local college, though I later came to know that this seems to be just one of the many designations that he holds. He is a local BJP activist, deputy chairman of his caste association (Charmakar caste), on the Shaniwarwada Mahotsav board (a local annual cultural festival), and member of 3 other civil society bodies.
I met him early in the morning to catch him writing the board at Kumthekar Road, so that I could take some pictures of his writing the board. He swept the area first and then fetched the board from somewhere where he must be leaving it at night. The board was meticulously cleaned, before writing the thought for the day. On the day, he elaborated upon the definition of ‘suvichaar’ (good thought): a suvichaar enriches us, elevates us to a higher level, helps in destroying all temptations and purifies our soul.
This was followed by an elaborate, almost ritualistic procedure of stamping and stapling the newspapers, folding them and putting them in their designated racks. The photographs of Ganapati and Laxmi put up just above the newspaper racks were cleaned, the old garland was changed, and incense was lit.
The rhetoric of ‘social commitment’ and ‘social service’ was all pervasive in Mr. Agavane’s basic outlook. According to him, the main thing which motivated him to write the vartaphalak was his staunch belief that every individual owes a debt to the society (samaajala dena lagane). Two things which have influenced him and led him to take up this current work has been his work in the education sector and his work as a BJP activist. He said that this work made him realize that he is the part of a larger whole and that he owed the society something.
He described this activity as being ‘dyaandaan’: giving away knowledge as charity. He claimed that dyaandaan in our context was even ranked higher than annadaan. He saw himself as a part of the larger society and hence this sense of social awareness (samajik bandhilki) was extremely strong in him, motivating him to do this activity. The notion of ‘welfare’ as contributing to the process of nation building came across prominently in his narrative. Thus such vachanalayas and vartaphalaks had a role to play in rashtrakarya, according to Agavane; newspapers have the unique status of being a people’s medium (lokamadhyam), due to which they form the pillar of democracy.
Mr. Agavane strongly felt that it was not correct to express one’s ideology through the vartaphalak. According to him, if one is doing a kind of social service, then one cannot look at one’s own selfish interests; one has to think of what is in the interest of the larger society. Incidentally, in our first conversation, Agavane had proudly mentioned that though he was a BJP party member, he had never let his political ideology come out through his vartaphalak messages.
Anil Agavane writes his vartaphalak in Sadashiv Peth area, which is predominantly a Brahmin area. According to Agavane this area was inhabited by uchhaprabhu (well-educated) people. According to him, there were at least two graduates per each family, which testified to their highly educated status. He mentioned that since all of them were highly educated, they were much more critical and he had to be very careful when writing his board. One could not afford to go wrong, the content had to be grammatically correct.
I had met Mr. Agavane once before the interview as well, when we talked in detail about his work. He had then offered to show me all the letters that he had written to the newspapers about various issues. Most of these letters were concerned with civic problems, problems in the local area or the city at large. This included a wide range like: problem of statues in the city, unsafe bridge without railings, how citizens should drive carefully in the monsoons, how Kumthekar road (where his ‘vachanalay’ is located) needs to be repaired urgently, how the ordinary tax-paying citizens should vote proactively, how politics has become business, that women should not be objectified, there should be steps taken to halt the obscene activities going on at a city bridge etc. A lot of these issues had themselves been a matter of great debate in the local newspapers at specific points of time, and it was obvious that Mr. Agavane had participated in these print debates with gusto.
I was also shown a few hundred photographs which featured Agavane in assorted programmes ranging from AIDS awareness lecture to distribution of notebooks to poor students. It was notable that while showing me these photographs, where he could be even amongst one in the crowd, he was mentioning names fast and furious. These were obviously names which mattered in the local political scene. (Though the names of the other interviewees have been changed to protect their identity, Mr. Agavane's name has been retained on his request)
Mrs. N, Guruwar Peth
Mrs. N is 66 years old and lives in a traditional waada in Guruwar Peth. She is a member of Sanatan Sanstha (SS), a religious organization and writes on 3-4 vartaphalaks in her area as a part of her SS activities. The second image in the post is a photograph of the vartaphalak written by Mrs.N, explaining the ideal way to perform an aarti.
She is a matriculate and had been working as an assembly line technician in an electrical goods’ company for almost 33 years. N mentioned that she came to be associated with SS around 8 years ago, when she joined the organization seeking mental peace in the face of her unhappy domestic situation. After practicing namahsmaran and involving herself in spiritual pursuits, she actually started benefiting from her activities in the organization. Even though her domestic situation remained unchanged, she said that now she got the strength to cope with her situation. She started involving herself more and more in their activities. After she quit her job, she also got more time, which she then began devoting to SS activities.
She defined the organization’s objective as preaching spirituality in the society and working towards turning the society towards spiritual endeavors. According to her, Hindu religious practice has deteriorated of late and hence their organization attempted to make people aware of their religious practices and heritage. At the same time, she also mentioned that SS also worked towards raising a voice against deshdrohi (anti- national) and dharmadrohi (anti-religion) elements in the society.
Writing on the vartaphalak constituted one of the many activities prescribed to SS members as a part of pursuing their sadhana. N mentioned that since all the sadhaks are supposed to do it as a part of their sadhana, they are never felicitated or praised for this work. The ego (aham) of a person inflates because of such praise, hence this policy. I also happened to meet a senior person of the organization at a later date who also introduced another interesting aspect to this. According to him, insisting that all the members write vartaphalak as a part of their sadhana, had another objective behind it. This was to help them get over their aham (ego). Writing in a completely public space makes you feel humble, since you are writing before the entire crowd. He gave an illustration of an extremely rich, old sadhak who used to go in his car to one the vartaphalaks and write on the board as a part of his sadhana. I thought this was an extremely interesting angle of looking at vartaphalak as a public space and how this Sanstha, which had a large middle class base, looked at using this space as a way to get over their egos, to be humble. Implicit in this is the assumption that using this kind of public space is something that people like us would avoid, we would be embarrassed by it, our egos would not allow it.
The sadhaks had been instructed by the organization to obtain permission to write on as many such vartaphalaks as possible in order to reach out to a maximum number of people. She mentioned that at this point they write on about 500 vartaphalaks in Pune city and that they are doing this work on a war-footing (yudhapataliwar).She admitted that she initially felt a bit embarrassed (sankoch) about going and writing on a vartaphalak in the neighbourhood. Also when she first went to write on a board in a Muslim area, a few men questioned her, accusing her that SS wrote anti-Muslim matter. But according to N, she was convinced that she was doing God’s work and that they needed to pass on this heritage to the younger generation.
The content of the vartaphalaks is ready made, provided in small booklets brought out by the SS. N decides what kind of matter she wants to write; for instance, if any festival is coming up then she would probably choose something which explains the importance of that festival and details of how to perform specific rituals on that day. SS brings out a daily newspaper called ‘Dainik Sanatan’ which runs a special column everyday titled, ‘Vartaphalak prasiddhisathi’ (for writing on vartaphalak). The messages are clearly anti-Christian or anti-Muslim in nature, drawing people’s attention towards the various anti-national or anti-(Hindu) religious activities that these communities were engaged in. Interestingly, N mentioned, because of the high presence of other religions in her area, she did not feel comfortable writing dharmavirodhi matter. She said that SS notice boards in Kasba Peth, Tambdi Jogeshwari wrote a lot of dharmavirodhi stuff, but they can get away with it. In her area there were also a large OBC population. Given this variety, one had to write what is acceptable to all, according to her. However she protested against this, since she thought that was nothing wrong in bringing to light the reality, if certain bad elements indulging in wrong doing.
She contended that while most notice boards catered to the specific issues of that area or the collective, SS work catered to the larger public; it is addressed to all and is not limited to certain areas only. Responding to why vartaphalaks are largely to be found in the older parts of the city only she opined that newer areas are largely dominated by the ‘flat-system’, where people are self-centered, where they don’t come together. In Peth areas, people still retain that sense of community (ekatrit, sanghatit). According to her, people in newer areas do not probably need a vartaphalak.
The amount of initiative taken by the organization in meeting me and orienting me towards their work was remarkable. I got to meet two of their senior members, was invited to their monthly meetings and satsangs right away.
Mr. R, Sadashiv Peth
Mr. R is a 67 year old retired advocate, who owns a Ram Mandir in the heart of Sadashiv Peth. Incidentally, the vartaphalak in this temple area is also written on by a member of Sanatan Sanstha. However, in my first meeting with Mr. R, he mentioned that he used to regularly write on the vartaphalak a few years ago. He is a member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and told me that he was actively writing on the board for 3-4 months especially in the wake of the demolition of the Babri Masjid. I have interviewed him as a key informant for this study, since he represented someone who has used the vartaphalak towards a very specific political agenda.
He right away launched into what he thought was the ideal vartaphalak practice. Vartaphalak according to Rahalkar, is a good medium for raising awareness (lokjagrutiche changle maadhyam). According to him, the vartaphalak is a cheap, cost-effective medium to reach out to people. The writer here has full freedom to express his opinion. One can write one’s opinions to the newspaper, but that need not necessarily be published by the newspapers.
He was of the opinion that a vartaphalak should not reflect merely what is reported in the newspaper. The writer has to include one’s own comments on that matter to make it more interesting. Also certain things which are hidden by government or political parties should be revealed by these boards. It was clear that for Rahalkar, the boards were clearly political in nature. They have to be aggressive for people to take notice, according to him. He mentioned that rhetoric was extremely important while writing the vartaphalak. At the same time he was clear that vartaphalaks should be within the framework of law.
Vartaphalaks reflect the existing social and political environment or reflect certain contentious issues; according to him, people are generally not very interested in reading about adhyatma (spirituality) (he was probably referring to many boards written by Sanatan Sanstha, which focus almost exclusively on issues of spirituality).
He was extremely dismissive about the existent vartaphalak culture in Pune city, which according him, only reflected local issues: of someone’s death, some programme being organized, some meeting, good thoughts etc. But that’s futile use of this space. Vartaphalaks, according to him, should reflect vaicharik issues (intellectual issues). His contempt for this practice was obvious as he commented as to how there is no point in having vartaphalaks which limit themselves to extremely local or exclusively spiritual issues.
He also proceeded then to give me a few samplers of his messages. Most of them were very specific to a typical Maharashtrian upper caste cultural background: use of Marathi bhavgeete (a specific genre of popular music in Marathi), of Sanskrit shlokas and so on. For instance:
Dona aaplya bhinna aakruti, antaraat punha ekach preeti (though our silhouettes are two distinct ones, we are unified in one love internally). He had written this in order to express what is necessary in order to really achieve national integration. It would not be achieved through simply faking unity, but that feeling of unity should be inherent.
In another quote he had made use of the fact that most of Hindu deities are shown to be carrying different types of weapons and Hindus worship deities which bear arms:
Asha shastra-astranchya devdevtanchi puja karnare Hindu, itke shandha kase? (How come Hindus, who worship Gods bearing arms and weapons, are so impotent?)
There was a definite sense of pride in how, he being an advocate, he had always managed to express what he wanted on his vartaphalaks, within the legal framework.
I stop here for the time being. The profiles have turned out to be rather lengthy, but I also think the detailed context was necessary to see the various strands of discourses that might be operating behind the vartaphalak writing activity. Till the next posting then…
She defined the organization’s objective as preaching spirituality in the society and working towards turning the society towards spiritual endeavors. According to her, Hindu religious practice has deteriorated of late and hence their organization attempted to make people aware of their religious practices and heritage. At the same time, she also mentioned that SS also worked towards raising a voice against deshdrohi (anti- national) and dharmadrohi (anti-religion) elements in the society.
Writing on the vartaphalak constituted one of the many activities prescribed to SS members as a part of pursuing their sadhana. N mentioned that since all the sadhaks are supposed to do it as a part of their sadhana, they are never felicitated or praised for this work. The ego (aham) of a person inflates because of such praise, hence this policy. I also happened to meet a senior person of the organization at a later date who also introduced another interesting aspect to this. According to him, insisting that all the members write vartaphalak as a part of their sadhana, had another objective behind it. This was to help them get over their aham (ego). Writing in a completely public space makes you feel humble, since you are writing before the entire crowd. He gave an illustration of an extremely rich, old sadhak who used to go in his car to one the vartaphalaks and write on the board as a part of his sadhana. I thought this was an extremely interesting angle of looking at vartaphalak as a public space and how this Sanstha, which had a large middle class base, looked at using this space as a way to get over their egos, to be humble. Implicit in this is the assumption that using this kind of public space is something that people like us would avoid, we would be embarrassed by it, our egos would not allow it.
The sadhaks had been instructed by the organization to obtain permission to write on as many such vartaphalaks as possible in order to reach out to a maximum number of people. She mentioned that at this point they write on about 500 vartaphalaks in Pune city and that they are doing this work on a war-footing (yudhapataliwar).She admitted that she initially felt a bit embarrassed (sankoch) about going and writing on a vartaphalak in the neighbourhood. Also when she first went to write on a board in a Muslim area, a few men questioned her, accusing her that SS wrote anti-Muslim matter. But according to N, she was convinced that she was doing God’s work and that they needed to pass on this heritage to the younger generation.
The content of the vartaphalaks is ready made, provided in small booklets brought out by the SS. N decides what kind of matter she wants to write; for instance, if any festival is coming up then she would probably choose something which explains the importance of that festival and details of how to perform specific rituals on that day. SS brings out a daily newspaper called ‘Dainik Sanatan’ which runs a special column everyday titled, ‘Vartaphalak prasiddhisathi’ (for writing on vartaphalak). The messages are clearly anti-Christian or anti-Muslim in nature, drawing people’s attention towards the various anti-national or anti-(Hindu) religious activities that these communities were engaged in. Interestingly, N mentioned, because of the high presence of other religions in her area, she did not feel comfortable writing dharmavirodhi matter. She said that SS notice boards in Kasba Peth, Tambdi Jogeshwari wrote a lot of dharmavirodhi stuff, but they can get away with it. In her area there were also a large OBC population. Given this variety, one had to write what is acceptable to all, according to her. However she protested against this, since she thought that was nothing wrong in bringing to light the reality, if certain bad elements indulging in wrong doing.
She contended that while most notice boards catered to the specific issues of that area or the collective, SS work catered to the larger public; it is addressed to all and is not limited to certain areas only. Responding to why vartaphalaks are largely to be found in the older parts of the city only she opined that newer areas are largely dominated by the ‘flat-system’, where people are self-centered, where they don’t come together. In Peth areas, people still retain that sense of community (ekatrit, sanghatit). According to her, people in newer areas do not probably need a vartaphalak.
The amount of initiative taken by the organization in meeting me and orienting me towards their work was remarkable. I got to meet two of their senior members, was invited to their monthly meetings and satsangs right away.
Mr. R, Sadashiv Peth
Mr. R is a 67 year old retired advocate, who owns a Ram Mandir in the heart of Sadashiv Peth. Incidentally, the vartaphalak in this temple area is also written on by a member of Sanatan Sanstha. However, in my first meeting with Mr. R, he mentioned that he used to regularly write on the vartaphalak a few years ago. He is a member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and told me that he was actively writing on the board for 3-4 months especially in the wake of the demolition of the Babri Masjid. I have interviewed him as a key informant for this study, since he represented someone who has used the vartaphalak towards a very specific political agenda.
He right away launched into what he thought was the ideal vartaphalak practice. Vartaphalak according to Rahalkar, is a good medium for raising awareness (lokjagrutiche changle maadhyam). According to him, the vartaphalak is a cheap, cost-effective medium to reach out to people. The writer here has full freedom to express his opinion. One can write one’s opinions to the newspaper, but that need not necessarily be published by the newspapers.
He was of the opinion that a vartaphalak should not reflect merely what is reported in the newspaper. The writer has to include one’s own comments on that matter to make it more interesting. Also certain things which are hidden by government or political parties should be revealed by these boards. It was clear that for Rahalkar, the boards were clearly political in nature. They have to be aggressive for people to take notice, according to him. He mentioned that rhetoric was extremely important while writing the vartaphalak. At the same time he was clear that vartaphalaks should be within the framework of law.
Vartaphalaks reflect the existing social and political environment or reflect certain contentious issues; according to him, people are generally not very interested in reading about adhyatma (spirituality) (he was probably referring to many boards written by Sanatan Sanstha, which focus almost exclusively on issues of spirituality).
He was extremely dismissive about the existent vartaphalak culture in Pune city, which according him, only reflected local issues: of someone’s death, some programme being organized, some meeting, good thoughts etc. But that’s futile use of this space. Vartaphalaks, according to him, should reflect vaicharik issues (intellectual issues). His contempt for this practice was obvious as he commented as to how there is no point in having vartaphalaks which limit themselves to extremely local or exclusively spiritual issues.
He also proceeded then to give me a few samplers of his messages. Most of them were very specific to a typical Maharashtrian upper caste cultural background: use of Marathi bhavgeete (a specific genre of popular music in Marathi), of Sanskrit shlokas and so on. For instance:
Dona aaplya bhinna aakruti, antaraat punha ekach preeti (though our silhouettes are two distinct ones, we are unified in one love internally). He had written this in order to express what is necessary in order to really achieve national integration. It would not be achieved through simply faking unity, but that feeling of unity should be inherent.
In another quote he had made use of the fact that most of Hindu deities are shown to be carrying different types of weapons and Hindus worship deities which bear arms:
Asha shastra-astranchya devdevtanchi puja karnare Hindu, itke shandha kase? (How come Hindus, who worship Gods bearing arms and weapons, are so impotent?)
There was a definite sense of pride in how, he being an advocate, he had always managed to express what he wanted on his vartaphalaks, within the legal framework.
I stop here for the time being. The profiles have turned out to be rather lengthy, but I also think the detailed context was necessary to see the various strands of discourses that might be operating behind the vartaphalak writing activity. Till the next posting then…
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