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A for Prayagraj



In yet another instance of history’s inexorable vindictiveness, Allah was driven out of Prayagraj on 16 Oct 2018. Allahabad became Prayagraj with the single stroke of a pen. The pen is mightier than the sword if it is wielded by a mighty hand. Might is what matters. It is what mattered from time immemorial. Every war is born of someone’s desire to impose himself, his might, on others. War can be in the form of name changes.

Changing the name of a place is to erase its history. Changing the name of a place is to erase a whole people from that place. Place names, animal totems, dress colours or styles – they can all be weapons of mass destruction. Nothing really changes except names, totems and dresses. Crime rates don’t change. Poverty levels don’t. Political corruption and chicanery don’t. Even after Allah wad driven out, the state of Uttar Pradesh has remained the same, if not became worse, on the various parameters that determine social progress and cultural development. One thing changed, however: dominance. One whole community became vassals instead of citizens. The ego of another community was inflated.

Such conquests as these – obtained by changing names, totems and dresses – do not prove that all the people in the state share the phobia or hatred of the person who brings about the changes.

I once visited Allahabad before it became Prayagraj along with Maggie. It was in 2015. The school in Delhi where Maggie and I were teaching was breathing its last, thanks to the villainous changes imposed on the teachers and students by a religious cult. We started looking out for other job opportunities and one of the many schools which showed interest in appointing us on mutually acceptable terms was Khelgaon Public School [KPS] in Allahabad. The school was founded by Dr U K Mishra, a biochemical engineer by profession, who takes immense interest in school education with a unique focus on sports and games. It is one of the rare schools in the country with an enormous indoor stadium that has all the facilities for various games and sports.

The school sent us free tickets from Delhi by an AC train to attend the interview. We were accommodated in the room next to the Principal’s own residence. We were treated royally. The school made its car available for us when we expressed a desire to see the Triveni Sangam and requested for a taxi after the interview. When chicken was served for lunch, we were surprised. Chicken in a school founded and run by a Brahmin in UP? “We have a lot of athletes in our hostels from various parts of the country,” the attendant explained. “They need healthy diet.”

KPS was a wonderful example of the inclusiveness contained in the ancient Indian wisdom which taught that the whole world is a family: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

You won’t find that sort of inclusiveness in UP generally. A man who calls himself Yogi became the state’s chief minister and any possibility for inclusiveness that KPS had promised vanished instantly. What happened to the glorious vision of the Upanishads which refused to differentiate even between the divine and the human? Why is UP today just the opposite of what the profound Advaita philosophy taught?

The answers are obvious, of course. Yogi was reported to have delivered 34 communally inflammatory speeches in the three months that preceded the recent state assembly elections. He made more than 100 anti-Muslim comments or allusions in his campaign speeches. He explicitly divided the state into 80 versus 20. Division. Just the opposite of what the Upanishads taught. It was this Yogi who drove away Allah from Prayagraj.

What has all that hatred achieved except political power? By subjugation of one section of the state’s population? According to all available statistics, there is more unemployment among youth in UP now than ever. The state’s GDP is crumbling. It is number one in poverty index. The law-and-order situation is pathetic with wayside lynching by ordinary people and legal killing by the police. The way the pandemic was handled was disconcerting.

I loved Allahabad and Dr U K Mishra. But I was only a one-day visitor. A flirt. It was good that I didn’t take up the job there. The Yogi would have disillusioned me irreparably. Now he reminds me of Kajal Ahmad, the Kurdish poet who threw a challenge to the misogynist philosopher Nietzsche.

Kajal Ahmad

    Give me one night

I’ll make you look like a fool.

Give me one night

The fortress of your cockiness will get cracks.

Give me one night

I’ll transmute you with a kiss

from a thinker into a thought.

PS. I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z of  The Blogchatter

Tomorrow: Bhatti Mines is a symbol 

 

 

Comments

  1. Hari OM
    Well, I am embarassed to say that this name change and slipped my notice! Having had contacts in Allahabad, you'd think I'd've noticed, but no... for even they still refer it such, even as Hindus. Then, I also know many who still refer Bombay. I could understand the renaming post-Raj... but this form you describe is like that which happened in Russia for St Petersburg/Petrograd/Leningrad (and back)... or Tsiritsyn/Stalingrad/Volgograd... One just holds the breath to think which place might become Modinagar! YAM xx
    A=Arrival

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Name changes take time for people to absorb. Bombay became Mumbai many years after the name was changed. So was Chennai. And many other places. People will slowly change. But attitudes have already changed!

      Delete
  2. Interesting incident at Khelgaon Public School. All the best to a2z campaign.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. There are good and sensible people in UP too 😊

      Delete
  3. Yogi has become the touchstone of power in India chanting Vasudeva Kudambakkam and abusing it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. Not only Yogi, the entire right wing is hypocritical. They say what they don't mean and do just the opposite of what they preach.

      Delete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. As always, your post paints reality as is. I wish people like the founder of KPS get into politics and become CMs and continue the practice of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. I know I'm a dreamer...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let's keep dreaming. Some dreams do come true. But good people entering politics is a farfetched dream, I think.

      Delete
  6. There are all sorts of people everywhere. I wouldn't generalize the people of a state or region. Yes, changing names takes away the place from the place. They once wanted to rename Shimla as Shyamla. I was heart broken. Thank god it didn't happen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A state which reelects a man who has done all kinds of atrocities even to little children can be subjected to certain generalized verdicts. How else do we speak of that state?

      Delete
  7. the history of our country is so vivid and dynamic, and I believe that we should embrase it rather than try to change it. After all, the history has led us to what we are today (good and bad). Thus, instead of trying to change history and erase its memory by changing names etc, it would be much more fruitful to focus on bettering the future

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    Replies
    1. With you totally on this. Obsession with the past is dangerous. It will only damage the nation.

      Delete
  8. Prayagraj, formerly known as Allahabad, is a vibrant city in India. It offers numerous captivating places to see in Prayagraj. The iconic Triveni Sangam, where three holy rivers converge, attracts pilgrims. The majestic Allahabad Fort, the historical Anand Bhavan, and the serene Khusro Bagh are also noteworthy attractions in Prayagraj.

    ReplyDelete

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