“In an open-ended column, the writer underscores the criminal negligence of the organisers of the satsang in Hathras that led to a stampede, draws link between Sufis and refugees and recalls the legendary Guru Dutt on his birth anniversary”
Humra Quraishi
Will the self-styled godman Narayan Sagar Hari, also known as Bhole Baba, go unpunished and unarrested? He and his followers have already started blaming “anti-social elements” for the deadly stampede during his ‘satsang‘ (religious gathering) on 2 July, at a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras which killed 121 people. Many more were injured, ruined, and devastated!
Bhole Baba and his aides seem to be hiding in some safe refuge. As of the date of my filing this column (4 July afternoon), he seems far away from the grasp of the police force! Strange! It seems a certain political lobby and particular politicians are adopting an obvious strategy to protect this controversial man, who has had a tainted past record. It’s reported he had to go on compulsory retirement from the police department, where he served as a constable, after facing serious charges.
With this background or foreground, is it safe to let this man go about unarrested? Also, why label this entire tragedy a “conspiracy” when the SDM’s (Sub-divisional magistrate) preliminary report on the stampede is this: “A crowd of more than 2 lakh people was present in the pandal. Around 1:40 pm, when Bhole Baba came out of the pandal, his followers started running towards him for ‘darshan’ and to collect the soil on which he had walked… Baba’s personal security and ‘sevadars‘ started pushing and shoving the crowd due to which some people fell down. The crowd ran towards the open field where most of the people slipped and fell due to the wet slope.” Incidentally, this SDM gave permission for the ‘satsang‘ and was also present at the venue when the incident occurred.
WORLD REFUGEE DAY
On the just passed World Refugee Day (20 June 2024), I have been thinking of the Sufis who had come from the Central Asian Republics and also from Iraq and Iran, seeking refuge in the Kashmir Valley. They reached the Valley and did not move further, settling down. The local population accepted them.
Their dargahs and ziarats dotted in and around Srinagar city remind one of that period in history when these Sufis had travelled to the Kashmir Valley. Many reached there as refugees, fleeing their home countries in search of peace. And in all probability, they must have found tranquility in such abundance in the Kashmir Valley that none of them went back to their homelands.
Look how times have changed. Today, refugees in the world are finding the going to be tough… tougher it gets for them.
Ironically, even in a city like New Delhi where those affected by the Partition found refuge, yet most seem to have forgotten those trying times, as there seems little effort to reach out to present-day refugees living in refuge in this very city.
Obviously, the refugees of today cannot be expected to turn into Sufis or demonstrate mystical powers, but surely they can be accepted as they are. And don’t overlook the fact that seeking refuge is a state of mind. So many times, don’t we just close our eyes and mentally transport ourselves, as though finding ways and means of escape, from one particular situation to the next, which could be a little further away from painful realities and insecurities of the day?
On This Upcoming Birthday of GURU DUTT – 9th July
On the past several birthdays of Guru Dutt – 9 July – I did make it a point to read or rather re-read journalist Sathya Saran’s book – ‘Ten Years With Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi’s Journey’ (Penguin). This book, launched several summers back, captures several details about Guru Dutt, the genius filmmaker and actor… In fact, let me add, Guru Dutt was a great-looking genius! His emotionally charged eyes relayed much. He was one of those men equipped with a set of potent eyes!
Though I had never met him, I have been his ardent admirer. Each time I saw him on the big screen, I felt drawn to his emotion-laden eyes! Of course, not to brush aside all that melancholy hovering around his personality… until, of course, he took his life at the age of 39.
With this background, I never miss reading anything and everything related to him. I have read every possible input on him. I had also viewed Nasreen Munni Kabir’s documentary film on him – In Search Of Guru Dutt.
I was keen to get answers to that tragic mystery – why did Guru Dutt kill himself? Those relevant ‘whys’ to that tragic end? Why was he going through that phase of severe depression? Why couldn’t his immediate family or even that supposed actress-lover be there for him? Why was he left all alone that night – that particular night when he was in acute depression, so much so that he killed himself during the course of that night?
In that documentary, when Waheeda Rahman came on the screen, one was somewhat sure that she would utter something relevant. But I overlooked the fact that she, being a seasoned actress, spoke in that absolutely well-guarded way. She spoke only from the films’ point of view. No, she didn’t touch on the personal, but spoke only from the angle that he was a director of this or that film and those connected films-related aspects… She spoke in a synthetic way and left one hugely disappointed.
But, in contrast, Guru Dutt’s sister, Lalitha Lajmi, spoke out in that forthright way in that documentary film… As the camera focused on her, her eyes seemed to focus on the floor, and she said that her brother Guru Dutt seemed to be possessed with one of those personalities that could be best described as “disturbed… on earlier occasions too he had tried to commit suicide… once he was in a coma for three days.” Lalitha Lajmi also mentioned that when they found him dead, one of his hands was lying outstretched, and he was in that posture as though wanting to get up…
And as the camera focused on Guru Dutt’s mother, sitting on what seemed a wooden bed or takht, she spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, describing Guru Dutt’s childhood personality traits in these words: “He was very stubborn/ziddi… and did whatever obsessed him. And at times he would ask such questions that I thought I would go crazy answering them.”
Unfortunately, none of them could throw light on the immediate reason for the drastic step that Guru Dutt took. Killing himself… taking his own life. Why? What was so provocative… what had been so very upsetting and hitting and provocative?
And though Abrar Alvi – his favourite scriptwriter – did say that that evening (before his suicide) he was with him and found him to be in a depressed state… words along the strain, “I had reached his home around 6 pm to discuss the final scene of Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi – but found that he had been drinking from early evening. Then, he was talking in a morbid way. And the whole time I spent trying to get him out of those talks, of those morbid thoughts… I had left his home only around 1 a.m., when I was sure that he had come out of that depression and was okay. But then, next morning I heard he was no more.”
The film personalities interviewed in that documentary film included Johnny Walker, Raj Khosla, Murthy (his chief cameraman) and, of course, Abrar Alvi… but sadly none of them focused on the exact cause of that severe depression that led to his ultimate end.
It’s significant to point out that all the commentators came to one single conclusion – that Guru Dutt was a little too sensitive, a little too different, and a little too passionate and humane for the Bollywood industry. One of the commentators even said that if Guru Dutt would ever lie, his ears would ‘blush’! I suppose, turn red! So obviously, how could such an emotionally sensitive man survive in the harsh scenario of the filmi world!
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