Sonali SenRoy's Book

I had first heard about the Sonali - Rossellini story in 2008, when Dilip Padgaonkar's book, "Under Her Spell: Roberto Rossellini in India" had come out. 

Over the past 17 years, I have spent numerous days in libraries and archives, collecting information in English, Italian and French about their story. For example, you can read my article about this story written in 2008. You can say that I am obsessed with it.

Today I received a book written by Sonali in 1961, that I had ordered. There was a surprise hidden in it. This post is about her book and the surprise. The image below shows Sonali from the back-cover of her book.

Let me start with a brief background about the Sonali-Rossellini story.

Brief Background About Sonali-Rossellini Story

The 1945 film, "Rome, Open City" created the legend of Italian film director Roberto Rossellini. At the end of 1956, Rossellini arrived in India to shoot a film. At that time, he was married to the Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman.

In India, he fell in love with Sonali Dasgupta, wife of film director Hari Dasgupta. There was a huge scandal. In October 1957, Rossellini and Sonali escaped to Paris with her younger son.

4 years later, in June 1961, Sonali wrote a book in French & Italian titled, Altro Mondo (the Other World).

Sonali's Book

I had heard about this book, but had not managed to lay hands on it. After so many years, a few days ago, while re-reading my old notes, I was reminded of this book and thought that now it might be possible to find it on internet. I found it straight away, and ordered a used-copy for a little more than three Euro.

Today morning that book arrived. It says that it was originally published in French and translated into Italian by Sonali herself, with the help of Mr. Dominique Aubier. It was published by Longanesi & C., Rome in June 1961. The cover has the picture of a woman from the Ajanta caves.

On the book, the author's name is Sonali Dasgupta. The first question in my mind was - why did she use this name for her book?

Sonali's maiden name was Senroy, and after her marriage to H. Dasgupta, she had become Sonali Dasgupta. When she had reached Paris in the beginning of October 1957, Roberto was still married to his second wife, Ingrid Bergman, and their legal separation was ratified in Rome in early November 1957. At the end of November 1957, their daughter Raffaella was born.

Thus, her choice of publishing her book as "Sonali Dasgupta" in 1961, probably meant that she and Roberto were not yet formally married. May be, at that time, her divorce with Hari Dasgupta was not formalised and thus she was forced to use that name, because it was on her official documents?

Surprise in the Book

I was surprised that the used copy of the book I have received, has a hand-written note in Italian by Sonali (click on the picture for a larger view): 

 "Questo libro non è l'opera di uno scrittore ma l'esperienza di una donna. La sincerità in esso racchiusa è la prova della simpatia e amicizia per tutto e tutti. Maggio 1961, Roma, Sonali Dasgupta."

(Trans.: This book is not the work of a writer but the experience of a woman. The sincerity in it, is the proof of sympathy and friendship for everything and everyone. May 1961, Rome, Sonali Dasgupta)

Sonali and her elder son Raja

The book is dedicated to Ragia (Raja), her elder son. In the book, the spellings of Raja are "Ragia", because Italian does not have J and it uses "gi" for the J sound. It is possible that she had given verbal instructions about the dedication and the person transcribing it had used the Italian spellings of the word. I feel that she must have been disappointed that her son's name was not spelled properly.

When I had first read about the Sonali and Roberto story, I had been greatly struck by her leaving of her elder son, Raja, in India, who was around 5 years old at that time. It had seemed to me like a "Sophie's Choice" kind of situation because a mother had been forced to take one child and to leave behind her other child.

I think that by dedicating this book to Raja Dasgupta, she was expressing her regret and pain at that separation.

Contents of the Book

The book is composed of 13 chapters. The first chapter starts with her days in Bombay immediately preceding her departure from India for Paris, with her young son Arjun (later he changed name and became Gil Rossellini). A couple of chapters have brief glimpses of her life in India such as about her birth in Banaras/Varanasi and her father's work as a doctor and about her journey to Europe.

Rest of the book is about her encounters with Europe, first with Paris and Saint Remy in France and then about her life in Italy. These encounters include linguistic difficulties, challenges of adapting to the western clothes, and the curiosity of people about the sari-wearing woman. In the parts about Italy, there are also different episodes of dealing with journalists and other curious persons.

The book does not touch on her love-story with Roberto and her life with her first husband. It reads like a series of vignettes, as if she was talking to someone about what it means for her to be an exotic Indian in Europe and to explain the peculiarities of India to the Europeans. The first draft of the book was probably written by that interviewer (Dominique Aubier), at a time when she didn't have a good command over French or Italian.

The book also shows her desire for dignity and privacy, for not giving in to journalists looking for melodramatic stories and scandals.

Conclusions

To find this book with her handwritten words in my hands was an incredible sensation. Suddenly, I could touch the words she had written and imagine her sitting at a table in a bookshop, writing dedications.

It seemed to me, as if across time and space, she has decided to extend her finger towards me, daring me to touch her.

I had written to her once to ask for an interview, but it was a time of bereavement and she had withdrawn from all public contacts at that time. She died in 2013.

I have been obsessed with this story for almost 2 decades. I have already written about it a few times and have been in contact with Raja Dasgupta, her elder son, as well as with a few other persons who knew her.

With all the material that I have collected about this story, I know that one day I will write a book about it. When I saw her handwriting today, I felt as if she is herself asking me to do it.

***

Non-Fiction Books 2024

In 2024, I decided that every time I will read a book till the end, I will note down my comments for my blog, instead of trying to come up with a list of books at the end of the year. Thus, this time making a list of my recommendations has been easier and is comprehensive.

This post is divided into 2 parts - this first part is about non-fiction (6 books) from 2024, while the second part will be about fiction books.

1. Spring Chicken - Stay Young Forever (Or Die Trying) by Bill Gifford  (2015)

It is a 2015 book about ageing, living longer and becoming older with less health-problems. It looks at the whole world of living longer movement - from what does ageing means, what causes ageing, the impact of ageing on different body-systems including muscles and movement, heart, lungs, brain and neurons, metabolism, etc. and and what can be done to slow down this process.

The author talks to the well-known experts and researchers in each domain, as well as to people with crazy ideas who are trying to stay younger and live longer. Most such books are repetitive, they have only a few ideas, but this book takes a wide overview and hardly ever repeats itself. It was my first read in 2024 and it got me straight away. It is a well-written book.

2. Midnight's Machines - A Political History of Technology in India by Arun Mohan Sukumar (2019)

It touches on an unusual theme - the relationship between culture of a people and technology. I had never thought about the cultural attitudes about technology in India in this way before reading it, and it made me rethink about some of my earlier beliefs. In India, we have beliefs about nature, environment, divinity and our own (human) role in the larger scheme of things.

Many of these ideas are expressed in terms like Gandhism, the ideas of self-reliant communities, the beauty of small things, and the distrust of modernity and technology (and of rich industrialists). The book touches on all these and how these affected pre-independence and post-independence developments in India, the role played by Rajiv Gandhi and even greater impact of Y2K disruption in bringing a grudging acceptance of technology to India. Though youth is enthusiastic about this change but the book suggests that the older distrust has not yet disappeared, it continues to shape our decisions even now. A very interesting read.

The Indian Ideology by Perry Anderson (2012)

This book looks at 20th century's India (at the 120 years period going from the birth of Congress party till the last UPA Government). Anderson's main area of interest has been Marxism and his analysis of the recent Indian history is shorn of any romanticism about India's freedom struggle and the role played by Congress in it.

His main criticism of congress in the pre-independence period is that its ideology was not progressive and modern, but was "Hindustani" (biased towards Hinduism). After independence, his judgement is that there was a confused polity. He looks at the ideas of Gandhi and Nehru, finding much to criticise, conceding some good intentions and a lot of bad choices.

He lays the blame for the creation of Pakistan on Gandhi and congress party "because they wanted a strong central government". He also finds fault with Indian electoral system (it is not proportional representation), inclusion of Kashmir in India, crushing of the independence movements in the North-East and the treatment of Muslims in post-independent India.

I feel that in India, we are used to a fawning adulation towards figures like Gandhi and Nehru, and any attempt to look at anyone critically is seen as sacrilegious. In that sense, I found his analysis refreshing and provocative. However, I do not agree with many of his conclusions for example, that aiming for a strong central government or not allowing successions, were bad choices for India. In any case, I feel that this book should be read for an alternate point of view about contemporary India.

Who Ate the First Oyster by Cody Cassidy (2020)

Simple sounding questions like "who ate the first oyster" or "who invented fire" or "who invented clothes" can lead to a profound reflection on human evolution over the past 3 million years and understand the significance of things that we take for granted.

For example, eating oysters required people to understand the science behind the tides of oceans because the oysters can only be gathered at low tides. It required making a connection between high-low tides with phases of the moon and a keen spirit for the observation of the world.

It is a book about human evolution science and I found it very interesting, full of A-Ha moments. If you like reading the natural history and science books, try this book from 2020 - it is full of new insights.

Age of Revolutions by Fareed Zakaria (2024)

I knew Zakaria only as a TV personality and this this was his first book for me. The central theme of the book is that big and transformative changes occurring in short spans of time, are revolutions for the human societies, each of which follows a trajectory ending with an inevitable backlash of some kind. He focuses mainly on the revolutions in Europe over the past 500 years, especially about economical and social organisation of society, including the technical innovations.

I liked the first half of this book more than the second half. I felt that the last part of this book was scattered and confused. However, even in the second part, I found interesting ideas about cultural backlash to explain part of the Putin-Xi Jinping effects in Russia and China. I also agree with his view that today many countries in the world are not looking to the West to copy its ideas of organising societies, but instead, many of them are exploring their own understandings of modernity.

I also felt that the book sidesteps the whole issue of spread of Islamic orthodoxy, which is another huge phenomenon influencing geopolitics today. This orthodoxy can also be seen as a backlash to sudden modernity and changes in those countries. It seems that some of them, especially in the Arab world, seem to be finally overcoming it, while others, especially Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, seem to be lagging behind.

In conclusion, this book is an interesting read.

The Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjee (2022)

Pulitzer prize-winning Mukherjee writes big but interesting tomes about themes related to medicine. This book had come out in 2022 and I had been planning to read it for a long time.

In the medical college, I used to love physiology and had been fascinated by the microscopic "organelles" inside the cells, but at that time the understanding about these was fairly superficial. However, over the past decades, thanks to new research and technology (including genetics & molecular biology), our understanding of human anatomy and physiology have improved in ways that I could not have imagined. Thus, I was looking forward to reading Mukherjee's book on this theme.

It is great book, immensely readable, but it is for general reader. For me, it skimmed the surface, giving tantalising glimpses of the new knowledge but not really going deeper into it. For deeper learning about human physiology, I need to read a textbook. However, if you like to learn about the human body, it is an interesting book.

Conclusions

I feel that most non-fiction books do not need to be a full book, they can be much shorter. Most of them have very long initial parts where they talk at length about the context, but most of it is already well-known. When they do touch on their subject, they are often repetitive. Therefore, though I do start reading a lot of non-fiction books, I rarely finish them. Thus, I am really happy that I have 6 books in this list this time.

As the year comes to an end, I am listening to an interesting podcast by Devdutt Patnaik, which is more than 12 hours long. Recently, I had also listened to another interesting podcast with Manu Pillai. Hopefully, in 2025, I will read some books of both of them. This year (2025), I am also hoping to read some biographies, a genre that I have largely ignored so far.

Best wishes of a happy reading 2025 to all of my readers. If you have read a good non-fiction book, do tell me about it in the comments below - thanks in advance.

You can also read about my choice of fiction books that I had liked in 2024.

*****

Art & Sculpture At AIFACS

After visiting the M.F. Husain exhibition at DAG, I was walking towards the Central Secretariat Metro station when I saw the AIFACS building at Rafi Marg crossing, and old memories came flooding back.

Let me take a look, I thought, hoping to check the building that I used to visit regularly during the 1970s, when I was studying medicine in Delhi. In those days, the first floor of AIFACS had the British library and I had some very happy memories of hours spent there, looking at and choosing the books I wanted to read.

My first impression from the outside was that the building looked a little deserted, as if few people visited it, while I remembered it as an active space with people going in and out all the time. I asked a guard near the entrance and he explained the reason - the British library is no longer located in this building, it had shifted to Kasturba Gandhi road.

There were some exhibitions going on in the AIFACS galleries and I quickly visited a few of them. Here is a brief update about this visit (the image above has a wonderful sculpture by Aatish Khobragade).

The Lama in the AIFACS Foyer

The first thing that I noticed was that the AIFACS foyer has a new statue. It seems like that of a Buddhist lama. There is no plaque near the statue about the person. I asked about it but no one seemed to be sure about who he was. One of the guards said that it was a previous Dalai Lama.

I think that it can be the statue of the 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche (Ngawang Lobzang Thupstan Chognor,), who was sent to Mongolia as the Indian ambassador during the 1990s, when the country had come out of Soviet influence. I had seen one of his statues in a Buddhist monastery in Ulaan Baatar, and I thought that this statue looked like him. For Mongolians and Russian Buddhist he is seen as a very important religious figure.

I hope that someone from AIFACS (or any one else for that matter) can confirm about it - please tell me in the comments below.

Shekhar Ranjan Dutta & His Mythological Art

This was a solo exhibition on the ground floor of AIFACS, presenting the mythological paintings and some sculptures by the artist Shekhar Ranjan Dutta from Cooch Bihar in West Bengal. His paintings were on huge canvasses with a predominance of yellows, browns and reds.

His works reminded me of the stories I used to read in Chandamama, a Hindi magazine, when I was a child. The mythologies of Hinduism are complex and often ambiguous, and I would have liked to ask him how he depicted his paintings which respect those complexities. However, he was busy showing around some persons (in the image below) and I was in a hurry, so it was not possible to talk to him.

Sculptures and Art in the AIFACS Basement

An international exhibition called Nakshatra, was going on in the basement of AIFACS on that day, including some artists from Poland. I did not visit the main room of this exhibition and only briefly spoke to two Indian artists who were presenting their works in that exhibition.

The first was Rekha Soni who had a couple of water-colour paintings in the exhibition (image above). The second artist was Suzain Khan from Varanasi, who had some of her photographs in the exhibition (image below).

Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to actually talk to them to learn more about their artistic journeys. I quickly went around in the central part of the basement, which was showing some sculptures. There were some sculptures there, which I liked.

Among the sculptures, there were 2 works of Surendra Kumar which I liked - Emerging Whispers (above) and Shades of Silence (below). Both these works were in plaster-of-Paris. Surendra Kumar is from New Delhi and is a multi-disciplinary artist - he also had a bansuri performance at the inauguration of Nakshatra exhibition.

I also liked the acrylic on canvas painting by Jyotsna Sharma titled Nature (image below).

However, my favourite artwork in the Nakshatra exhibition, among the ones I was able to see, was a quirky and scintillating sculpture made of aluminium mugs painted purple (the first image at the top of this post) by the Mumbai-based artist Aatish Khobragade - it seemed so full of joy.

Conclusions

I came out of AIFACS feeling a little sad because in my memories, there were hours spent in that building with friends, many of whom are no longer alive. I had little memories of the art galleries below, my memories were mainly about the British library on the first floor.

My hurried visit to the exhibitions consoled me, while I remembered Salman Rushdee's words about imaginary homelands that we carry in our hearts - the old towns, buildings and homes that continue to exist only in our memories.

*****

M.F.Husain Exhibition, DAG, India

Recently, while in India for a brief visit, I was able to visit the amazing exhibition of Maqbool Fida Husain's artworks organised at the DAG art gallery in Delhi.

Husain saheb was associated with the socialist party of India and as a child, I had met him a few times, as my father's friend. While walking with him one evening in Connaught Place in Delhi, I had once asked my father, "Why does he walk bare-feet, can't he buy some chappals?" I don't remember if my father had answered my question.  I have already written about him earlier on this blog. I love his art.

In this post I want to share the 10 artworks of Husain saheb which I liked in the DAG exhibition. (You can click on the pictures to enlarge them)

 1. Mahatma Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru: I think that like Lohia and other socialists, Husain saheb was a little critical of Pandit Nehru, the first prime minister of Independent India in 1947. The painting above shows, Mahatma Gandhi turning his back and going away, while Pandit Nehru arrives triumphant like a bridegroom on a horse. This refers to the eve of India's independence, when Gandhi ji had gone to Noakhali to try to stop the riots caused by India's partition, while Nehru gave his famous speech in India's parliament, "Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge ..."

2. Indian Flag and Mahatma Gandhi: This is another painting that shows Gandhi ji (below). It has a background of the Indian flag painted over a background of mountains and soldiers with rifles. Gandhi ji is shown sitting closer to the bottom of the central white part, partly hidden by a mountain. The blue Ashoka chakra of the flag can also be seen as a symbol of his spinning wheel (charkha).

At the same time, that blue chakra seems like a spider-web, perhaps to show that Indian republic had chosen to ignore Gandhi ji?

or perhaps, it is not Gandhi ji, but a representation of the China-India war? What do you think?

3. Durga: The third political painting among the works I have chosen, represents Indira Gandhi after the India-Pakistan war in 1971 and the formation of Bangladesh (below). Husain saheb had expressed his admiration for the firm role played by India to host millions of refugees coming from Bangladesh and the help given by Indian army in its liberation, by a series of paintings where India's PM Mrs Indira Gandhi was shown as the goddess Durga, represented by the tiger.

It is a coincidence that today (16 December) is an anniversary of the surrender of Pakistani army to India during this war. The painting also has the famous yellow-blue combination used by Husain in many of his works.

4. Mother Teresa: The fourth work that I have chosen is titled 'Mother Teresa'. Husain saheb had painted Mother Teresa many times. I like this painting, where she is shown through her blue-bordered sari while the persons she cared-for, is represented by a dying man (below).

At the same time, the painting is symbolic of India and its flag with parts in saffron and green, so that the white sari and its blue border can be seen as the white stripe and the blue chakra of the flag.

It is a diptych (two paintings joined together to compose a whole). The grey background seems to express the despair of the poor in the years following India's independence.

5. The Two Maqbools: For me, this was one of his most intriguing works in this exhibition. It was a part of a series of paintings on different religions where he had tried to represent each religion by its key messages and ideas.

There are two Husain sahebs depicted in this painting. The one on the left, has a dark shadow and something written in Urdu below it. I think that the shadow and the words express the physical persona of Husain saheb and his Muslim identity. The second figure, slightly behind and to the right, has his paintings behind him and perhaps represents the artist Husain saheb. The two figures are joined at the heart by a chakra.

The black-ink design is partly overlaid by a block of saffron-yellow square, I am not sure about its significance.

I am very curious to hear about the meaning of the words written in Urdu. If someone can read them (click on the picture to enlarge it), do write to me in the comments below.

6. Self-Portrait of the Artist: This is a more joyful self-portrait, where Husain saheb is surrounded by his favourite themes, which he had painted repeatedly during his life - Mother Teresa, the horses, Ganapati, the poor ...

I wonder why did he choose to depict himself in a military uniform with medals pinned to his chest in this painting? May be he saw himself as a soldier-artist on a quest to depict the soul of India? You can also see his bare feet in all his self-portraits.

7. Artist and the family portrait: This is another of his self-portrait as an artist where he shows himself painting the portrait of a family. Behind the family sitting on a sofa, some paintings of Husain saheb including an elephant and some horses can be seen. Is it his own family, where a child version of him is sitting on the ground in front? (Though the family looks more modern in setting and clothes).

Or perhaps, it is the family of his son and the boy with the yellow shirt is his grandson? What do you think? May be, it depicts his exile to Qatar in his final years?

 8. The autobiography: This is a pictorial autobiography of Husain saheb, which has a comic-book kind of quality (below).

On the top left, it has "A for Abdul" from Pandharpur in Maharashtra (where Husain was born), who sold and repaired oil lamps. Along the oil lamps, he has designed 2 hands raised in prayer. Perhaps Abdul was a childhood friend? or perhaps his father?

Then he has "F for Fida", the time-keeper in a textile mill in Indore. Was that an uncle or a beloved relative with whom he had stayed for some time?

"Z is for Zainab", his mother, her head covered, shown with an open book in front, denoting traditional family values of piety. Finally, he himself is there as "M for Maqbool", the painter as a young man, already bare-feet.

Apart from the horses, denoted as "H for Husain" (probably representing the importance of his art for him), the lower-half of the canvas also has the figure of his step-mother Shireen, who is shown younger, her head uncovered, sitting down relaxed with a hand-fan, that has a crescent moon on it. She seems to be the opposite of his mother's image. I don't know if the crescent moon means that she had left for Pakistan after partition?

I also wonder why he has avoided showing or his father or not specifying his father in this painting?

9. The Arrival: This painting was part of a group titled the Nudes and I chose this one to represent the wonderful use of blues and bright yellows in many of his paintings, which I love and which always make me think of Van Gogh.

This painting has 3 female figures, one front-facing and two seen from the back. The upper half of the main figure is nude and her face is partially covered by a couple of masks or moons. It was titled Arrival.

 10. Horses on a red background: The last painting of Husain saheb for this post is his favourite subject, "H for Husain and H for horses". I have seen some of his other horses-related artworks which I liked more, but in this exhibition, there were few horses. The blood-red background and the frightened-desperate expressions of the animals, make me feel a little uneasy, therefore I won't put this painting in my house.

However, I have included it in my list because it was his most loved theme.

Conclusions

I love Husain saheb's art. While preparing this post, by chance I came across a book by the socialist party leader Dr Ram Manohar Lohia for which Husain saheb had designed the book cover (below). When I saw it, I thought that it was a sign from him that he likes this post (or so I would like to believe!) I hope that you will enjoy reading it, as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.

*****

#mfhusain #maqboolfidahusain #dag #artexhibition

Amrit Lal Nagar: Creative Inspirations

Hindi writer and playwright Amrit Lal Nagar has left an incredibly vast testimony of his creative powers expressed in works ranging from short stories to fiction, satire, memoires, plays and screenplays.

In this article, I want to focus on some insights about his creative inspirations based on his book “Jinke Saath Jiya” (My Contemporaries), published in 1973. In this book Amrit Lal Nagar ji had brought together vignettes and memoirs about important figures of the 20th century’s Hindi Literature, some of whom inspired him and others, who were his friends.

Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay

Sharat Chandra, the famous Bengali author, had died in 1938. Nagar ji wrote a vignette about him. At that time he was 22 years old. In the memoir, he wrote, “I had learned Bengali to read his books and he truly had a great influence on me”. Nagar ji had gone to meet his idol a few times.

Sharat Chandra had a house in Panibash village, about 2 miles from Devalti railway station near Hawrah, and it was there that Nagar ji went to see him during his last days. He wrote a moving account of this visit, in which he described Sharat Chandra’s deteriorating health and artistic loneliness . He concludes this account with the following words:

“To go back, after kissing his feet, as I was going to the palaki for the station, he said, “Wait Amrit, I want to show you the splendour of Roopnarayan pond”. The sky had a few stars and perhaps it was a full-moon night. He pointed towards it and said, “When the water is high and it touches my house, I love it.” Standing at the edge of pond, it was the last time that I saw that great artist.”

Surya Kant Tripathi “Nirala”

Nirala appears multiple times in different writings of this book. Nirala had died in 1961. Here I want to share a few impressions from Nagar ji’s essay from 1962, in which he had written about the first Nirala Jayanti celebrations in his village Gadhakola near Purwa town in Uttar Pradesh.

Nirala was born in a Brahmin family in Midnapore, now in Bangladesh, but had arrived in Gadhakola as a child. He grew up here, choosing to live closer to the marginalised groups and wrote some of his iconic stories regarding those persons in this house. It was here that he was tormented by the high caste rich landowners and he left it vowing to never come back.

Nagar ji writes effortlessly creating a vivid picture of different persons who had been a part of Nirala’s life when he was a poor villager, who now wished to claim a part of his glory as a renowned poet. His words express his reverence for Nirala, even while he observes the complexity of human egos and emotions. About Nirala’s closeness to the poor and the excluded he wrote:

“I started to think, why would the higher castes remember Nirala? He had never accepted their caste-superiority. He had refused their false-ideas of religion. He had listened to the voices of the poor and marginalised, fought for them and was a part of their joys and pains. That was why such a large group of his followers was a part of the procession, to show their disdain for the higher castes. I loved it. Lord Shiva has to be accompanied by his marginalised bhoot-gana.”

The Farmer Poet “Padhees”

Balbhadra Prasad Dikshit “Padhees” was Nagar ji’s contemporary and friend, famous for his poetry book “Chakkalas”.

Like Nirala above, Padhees had also chosen to move away from his Brahmin clan to become a farmer himself and to write about the lives of the poor farmers and the landless peasants in his poetry. In his book, Nagar ji dedicates a big chapter to this farmer-poet to express his own ideals of being close to the marginalised persons.

With extensive quotes from different poems of Padhees, Nagar ji’s essay explains the popularity of those words among the poor farmers because he was giving voice to the voiceless. He wrote, “Padhees’ call was like a spark to light the fire in a heap of straw. His poetry was the voice of the mute farmers of the 7 lakh villages of the country.”

Lamenting the death of Padhees at a young age, Nagari ji wrote:

“Farmer-poet Padhees was a great word-smith. Every language would be proud to have a poet like him. The beautiful, alive and heart-touching depictions of nature, villages and the village life that he presented in his Avadhi language poems would be difficult to find elsewhere … Those who had the good fortune of knowing him from close knew that he was even a far better human being.”

Jaya Shanker Prasad

Eminent Hindi writer Prasad had died in 1938, when Nagari ji was just 22 years old. Prasad was one of the early influences on the young Nagar ji.

In his essay on Prasad, Nagar ji describes the hardships he had faced when his family wealth was lost and he was crushed under the burden of debt. Yet even in those trying times, Prasad did not lose his dedication towards writing.

Nagar ji describes the lesson learned from Prasad with the following words:

“He kept his poetry hidden, he liked to keep this passion for himself. This habit meant that he kept working on his literary efforts in solitude. In Prasad’s literary journey, the stamp of this focused effort is evident. As a poet, playwright, and author of stories, books and essays, in all his different works, you can see his undivided and attentive thought-process. A creative work can be small or big, but for a serious author, they all merit equally careful attention.”

Sumitra Nandan Pant

Nagar Ji starts this vignette with Nirala in Lucknow during the 1930s. Nirala had a deep reverence for the Hindi poet Pant, and had introduced Nagar ji to his works. My favourite part of this vignette is the part when they both, Pant and Nagar ji, were in Madras (Chennai) in 1946, working with Udayshanker on his film Kalpana. This episode illustrates the source of the poet’s creativity:

“Pant ji was writing the songs for that film. He had just recovered from a long illness and often seemed lost in thoughts. There was a light in his serious face. One day, standing in the garden with his hand on my arm, he suddenly raised his head up to stare at a tree. His eyes seemed lit from inside. Clutching my arm, he said with enthusiasm, “Look my friend, the poems are raining down.” Some days after this, he started writing the poems of his book ‘Swarn Kiran’.” 

Conclusions

The sixteen portraits of contemporary authors and poets in Amrit Lal Nagar’s book “Jinke Saath Jiya”, refer to some of the iconic figures of Hindi literature of 20th century. All the portraits, while they tell about their subjects, they also throw light on their relationships with Nagar ji. They also indicate which aspects of their personality and literary efforts were perceived as significant by Nagar ji. In this sense, a critical reading of these essays provide some invaluable insights about Nagar ji, such as his admiration for those who were speaking for the poor and marginalised and fighting for their dignity.

There is so much in these essays that can be starting points for critical research on Nagar ji’s own creative works, to see how these inspirations were developed and manifested in them. For example, his admiration for some of these persons’ optimism and resilience, their knowledge of Upanishads, their respect for our cultural heritage, heritage and knowledge-systems and so on.

At the same time, one can appreciate that in these memoirs and vignettes, there is a touch of levity, humility and self-deprecation about his own creativity.

***

Notes:

1. I have translated from Hindi the different excerpts used in this write-up, trying to respect the sense of his expressions instead of making literal translations.

2. This article was published in the August 2024 issue of the magazine "DFTT" (Documentary Films & Theatrical Trust) of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), a special issue to commemorate the 108 years of Amrit Lal Nagar, edited by Savita Nagar & Rajesh Amrohi.

#amritlalnagar #hindiwriters #hindiliterature #indianliterature

 

"Eliminating" Infections In India

In today's FirstPost, an online newspaper from India, there is a cover story on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) by Kalikesh Singh Deo, "a member of the Biju Janata Dal party. He is the Convenor of the National Coalition on Neglected Tropical Diseases and Malaria".

I have some concerns about the use of term "elimination" for reducing the number of certain diseases like Kala Azar and Lymphatic Filariasis, under the guidance of the World Health Organisation (WHO). I hope that bodies advising the Government of India would have discussions with stakeholders to ensure a reduction in the negative fall-out from the use of such terminology.

Let me explain why I think that using terms like "elimination" in such campaigns is a double-edged sword. (The image below presents some ASHA workers from Maharashtra, India - all public health programmes reach people through these front-line workers in India - without them no campaign or programme can work).

WHO's Definitions

In 2016, WHO produced a document about the use of terms like "elimination". According to this document, the following terms have following meanings for the infectious diseases (page 3):

Control: Reducing the number of cases of a disease

Elimination: Reducing a disease to zero new cases (incidence) in a country or an area

Eradication: The causative organism has been eradicated from nature and laboratories so that it can not cause any new infection

In addition, there is a 4th definition, which is called "Elimination as a Public Health Problem" - this means reducing the numbers of cases of a disease so it is no longer a problem for the health services.

Advantages of Using terms like Elimination

In his article, K.S. Deo explains: "By December 2023, the Government of India plans to reduce kala-azar cases to less than one per 10,000 people at the block level and, by 2030, to eliminate haati pao as well."

Reading the strategy and such explanations, the readers feel that the problem is going to be solved. In this article, he does not use the term "elimination as a public health problem" because he understands that this won't make much sense to ordinary readers.

There are different advantages of using words like "elimination", including getting more resources from the Government and greater commitment from health services and health personnel.

There are real gains on the ground as well. For example, Deo writes: "10 February 2023, India will conduct Mass Drug Administration (MDA) rounds in Mission Mode in 10 affected states". This means that a large number of people will receive medicines to treat and to prevent new infections.

Disadvantages of Using Terms like Elimination

The first time the term "elimination as a public health problem" was used was in 1991, when WHO had launched its Leprosy Elimination Strategy (LES) - to reduce leprosy by the year 2000. At that time I was a member of the the medical commission of the International Leprosy Associations Federation (ILEP) and many of our members had concerns that people will not understand the term "elimination as a public health problem" and will think that the disease has been eliminated, they will believe that it no longer requires resources and services.

The LES had a huge impact in India. In most of north India very few public health services were reaching leprosy patients and most of them were being treated by older lesser-effective medicines. For example, due to LES, by 1998 even states like Bihar and UP managed to provide almost 100% coverage with newer and more effective anti-leprosy drugs to all those who needed them.

The problem came after India had reached the LES goal (in 2005). Many states reduced their support for leprosy services. It was not only decision-makers or general population who had thought that leprosy will be actually eliminated and there won't be any more new cases, even doctors and public health specialists believed it.

For example, 4 years ago, Dr Madhukar Pai, director of McGill International TB Centre and a well-known and influential public health specialist based in Canada, in his article "Failures of Public Health" wrote the following:

In 2005, India declared leprosy to be eliminated and scaled-back on its leprosy programmes. Today, according to WHO, India harbors 60 percent of the world’s cases, with more than 100,000 new diagnoses each year

I can tell many anecdotes of people coming up to me with questions about why governments had declared "leprosy is eliminated" when they still had the disease. I have even seen a sociology thesis from a country in Africa, which had a theory about the LES declaration and a national conspiracy to marginalise the poor persons for the benefit of the rich.

Conclusions

I think that it will be good if Mr. K.S. Deo and his team will bring together different stakeholders, including representatives of leprosy-organisations to find ways which allow us to use the term "elimination" for the advantages it provides and at the same time, find alternate ways to mitigate the damage caused people's expectations that these diseases will disappear.

For example, it might be important to use some other word and not use the word "elimination" in the local language translations about the campaigns.

18 years after Eliminating Leprosy as a public health problem in India, it continues to be a public health problem and is a part of NTD strategy about which Deo has written. LES had an impact, the number of new cases of leprosy in India has been halved (partly this may be due to covid-related reduction in services, so that many new cases were not detected) but the disease is still there and it requires services. It is crucial to avoid mistakes of the past.

*****

Theyyam: When Gods Descend on earth

India has many rich religious traditions during which the Gods are supposed to come down to the earth and express themselves through some persons. Examples of similar traditions can be found in different parts of India.

This post focuses on one such tradition called Theyyam, which is celebrated in northern Kerala in south India.

Gods Speaking Through Humans

Hindus believe that the Divine is present in each living being as universal consciousness. At the same time, they have a pantheon of a huge number of Gods and Goddesses, one for each of life’s different forms. The Gods, animals and plants are all inter-linked through the sacred stories and myths.

The religious ceremonies in which Gods speak through humans has 2 main functions – (i) as a part of celebration of specific religious and social events; and, (ii) to answer questions and to give blessings to people.

 

All over India, especially in small towns and villages, there are persons who are known in the communities as “carriers of God”, who can go into a trance, and invoke a God spirit to come and speak through them. In north India this process is called “Devi ka aana” (arrival of the Goddess). Usually they do it by sitting down in meditation with their eyes closed and then go into trance. The arrival of the God in their bodies is marked by signs like convulsive shaking while their voices turn rough. After that others can ask questions or ask for blessings and make an offering. This role can be played by both men and women.

In many parts of India, there are also elaborate make-up, costumes and rituals linked with this tradition. For example, in North Dinajpur district of West Bengal, persons manifesting the Gods wear colourful wooden masks during the sowing of fields – this tradition is known as Gomira. In East Burdwan district of West Bengal, the men invoking the Gods, paint their bodies with blue colour and transform into Shiva – this tradition is known as Shiva Gajan. Satyajit Ray's film Devi can be seen as one representation and exploration of similar ideas.

While God-manifestation roles are mostly enacted only by men, usually they are about Goddesses, the different forms of Shakti. In some places, persons of other religions, especially Muslims & Christians, are given specific roles to play during these ceremonies image below with Muslim characters in a Theyyam), which could be linked with specific historical events and indicate processes of religious inclusion.

Theyyam Tradition in North Kerala

The word “Theyyam” probably comes from “Devam” (God). This religious tradition is common in villages of northern Kerala, especially around the district of Kannur and surrounding areas of Kerala and Karnataka. Between October to March, every village holds one annual Theyyam at the village temple. In each temple, there can be different Gods/Theyyams, depending upon the presiding deity and his consorts. Bhagwati is one of the principle deities of the Theyyam.

The persons playing Theyyams usually belong to specific lower castes in villages. The responsibility belongs to specific families and is hereditary, so that male children watch and learn from their fathers and uncles putting on the make-up, making specific ritualistic dance movements and conducting specific rituals in the temple. For the duration of the Theyyam, persons of all castes, bow in front of Theyyams.

The ceremonies continue day and night for 3-4 days and are usually carried out in the open courtyards around the temple. During the celebration, sometimes there can be an occasional animal sacrifice, especially a hen. After their rituals and dances, each Theyyam receives devotees who pay obeisance, and ask questions or their blessings.

Visiting Theyyam ceremonies

I had seen a few Theyyam dancers in a cultural festival in Guwahati some years ago and had been struck by their elaborate make-up and costumes. Then, a few years ago, in a museum near Fort Kochi, I had seen the masks showing specific make-up face-patterns for different Theyyams, which had greatly intrigued me.

It is easier to see Theyyam performances as part of cultural shows, but I was interested in seeing them as a part of a living religious tradition of a village.

In February 2018, during a visit in Kerala, I had gone to Kunnur, where I had hired a local Theyyam guide. You can find online the calendar of Theyyam celebrations in different villages. However, more specific information is available only in Malayalam. Finding and reaching specific villages where the celebrations are being held is not very easy unless you know the local areas. Thus, a local guide can make things easier.

With my guide Chandran, I had visited Theyyam ceremonies in 2 different villages and seen different Theyyams, each with their special make-up and costume. As you can see from the pictures, both were colourful ceremonies filled with beautiful rituals, dances and faithful. Even elderly persons touched their feet and asked for their blessings.

 

 

In my opinion, they are not just a rich and colourful tradition, they are an expression of people’s faith. I found the ceremonies emotionally moving. Unfortunately, with changing times, some young persons feel that these are just old superstitions and are dismissive towards them. Though the Government is supporting some of the families engaged in Theyyam by making them a part of cultural festivals, I feel that to see them as part of people’s living traditions and faith, is a completely different experience.

Conclusions

In one of the villages I visited, I watched a young man patiently lying on the ground for a couple of hours, while the make-up of God Narsimha was being put on his face. While he was getting ready, his uncle, Mr. Narayan, who was one of the drummers and had come home from Delhi, especially for this ceremony, had explained to me the significance of different steps of his preparation.

The most beautiful moment for me had come when after getting ready, the young man had moved away from the group and walked up to a small hill (image above). There he had bent down to touch the ground and then stood there with his eyes closed in a silent prayer. When he had opened his eyes and turned towards people, there was a subtle difference in him – he had transformed into Theyyam. Moving with a feline grace, he had walked to the courtyard of the temple, a God descended on earth.

That transformation had touched me deeply. Gods and humans, together and separate, are bound together in the sacred stories of human imagination - Theyyam is an illustration of this bond.

*****

Note: Post originally written in 2018, updated in 2023

Celebrating Dalit Struggles & Pride

Ever since the advent of metro network in Delhi and surrounding regions, I have started to explore unfamiliar parts of the city and NCR. Every time I visit Delhi, I try to visit some new places. In 2019, I decided to visit the Dalit Prerna Sthal Park and Okhala Bird Sanctuary, near the eponymous metro station on the Magenta line of Delhi metro.

This post is about my adventures while trying to visit these two tourist venues located in NOIDA (UP) close to the Delhi border. I take this opportunity to also reflect on caste discriminations in India.

While independent India opted for laws against caste-based discriminations and affirmative action for persons from lower and backward castes, I thought that continuing deaths of persons asked to clean the sewers was a big blot on nation's dignity. It is only in 2023 that Government of India has decided to allocate specific funds to stop manual cleaning of sewers - I hope that efficient action will be taken on this point and make sure that no one dies due to this act anymore. 

Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal

RDPS or the National Inspiration Memorial of Dalits was commissioned in 2011 by Ms. Mayawati, a Dalit leader, who was at that time the chief-minister of UP state. The word “Dalit” literally means “Downtrodden” and denotes persons belonging to the so called “lower” castes in India, who have been marginalised and exploited for centuries by persons of other, so-called “higher” castes.

Before Mayawati, dalits have had some other famous representatives, who have left a mark in Indian history. Dr. Ambedkar, one of the most important dalit leaders during the independence struggle, is considered the father of the Indian constitution. Babu Jagjivan Ram, a dalit leader belonging to Congress party, had been a famous minister in the Indian national government for more than a couple of decades. Another dalit leader from Congress party, K. R. Narayanan, had become vice-president of India in 1992 and president in 1997.

After the independence of India in 1947, gradually Dalit population groups had also started organising themselves politically. A dalit leader, Mr. Kanshi Ram, had founded a political party called Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 1984 to represent their political aspirations. Mayawati, a leader of BSP, formed the state government in UP in 1995, the most populous state of India with more than 200 million population at that time. After more than a decade of coalition governments, Mayawati formed her first majority government of dalits in 2007. By becoming a symbol of Dalit power and visibility, Mayawati has represented the collective rise of dalits.

Construction of the Dalit Prerna Sthal (Dalit Inspiration Memorial) in NOIDA close to Delhi, was a way to remind the people about this transformational journey of marginalised dalit people. For this reason, many persons also call it Dalit Garv Sthal (Dalit Pride).

Reaching Dalit Pride Park

The first Delhi Metro station had opened in 2002. Since then it has grown into one of the biggest metro network in the world with more than 250 stations and covering about 350 kms. The Magenta line going to Okhala Bird Sanctuary station had opened in 2017. It connects Janakpuri in west Delhi to Botanical Garden in UP in the east, covering a little more than 38 kms with 25 stations.

Check the latest metro map to see how you can reach Okhala Bird Sanctuary metro station from your home/hotel.

My Adventures in visiting Dalit Pride Park

My first motivation for this visit was the Okhala Bird Sanctuary. It was January and I had read about thousands of migratory birds visiting the Okhala area around the river Yamuna. On the Google map I had seen that Dalit Pride Park was very close so I had decided to visit both these places.

My journey had began in Gurgaon and I had taken the magenta line from Hauz Khas, reaching Okhala Bird Sanctuary Metro Station in a little more than one hour.

Getting out of metro station I had my first encounter with the reality – the exit stairs crossed a wide and busy road, full of fast traffic, and came down to a narrow platform in the middle of the road. There were no signs about how to reach the Bird Sanctuary or the Dalit Pride Park around the Metro Station. Crossing the road to reach the sidewalk was my first dangerous adventure. There was no sidewalk and the shops occupying the area, were not able to tell me how far was the Dalit park, except to indicate the general direction.

A 20 minutes of walk, with an occasional sidewalk that was covered with garbage in places, including a bridge over a canal carrying foul smelling refuse waters, finally brought me to the gate of the Dalit Park.

My satisfaction was short-lived, as the children playing there told me that this gate was locked and to enter the park, I needed to walk to the next gate. Another 15 minutes of walk brought me to the next gate, but it was also closed. Resigned I walked to the successive gate, where a young man selling the spicy fruit-chaat explained to me that all the park gates were closed and the only gate open to public was gate number 5, another half-an-hour of walk away.

By that time, the sun was up and it had become warm. I had been walking for more than one hour and was already tired. I tried looking for an auto but after 10 minutes gave up the idea. Finally, deflated and defeated, I started my walk back to the metro station.

Along the outer wall of the Dalit Park, there were narrow openings from where I could look inside and take a few pictures. It looked green and lovely with a lot of columns in a pink stone, with elephants at the top, which are the electoral symbol of BSP. In the centre of the park there was a monument with statues of Kanshi Ram, Mayawati and other Dalit icons. Through the narrow openings, the pictures have not come out so well and all the statues looked grey or black.

Looking from outside, I did not see any visitors in the park except for a few uniformed men sitting in the shade near the locked gates, looking bored.

Back at the metro station, frustrated and tired, I half-heartedly asked persons about the way to the Okhala Bird Sanctuary. They pointed vaguely towards the bridge on the river. To reach that part, I needed to cross a wide road full of fast-moving traffic without any place for pedestrians. In the end, I thought that it was time for me to lick my wounded pride and retreat from this visit. My only consolation was that I had seen some parts of the park from the outside.

Need for Dalit Pride Parks

Caste is a huge and deeply rooted issue in Indian society. Caste related reservations in educational institutions and government jobs are sources of resentment among persons of "higher" castes. Proposed as a temporary measure at the time of India's independence, it has now grown into a multiple-headed hydra with different caste groups claiming backwardness and right to reservations.

On the other hand, in spite of the equality guaranteed by the Indian constitution, marginalisation and oppression of Dalits continues to be a serious issue in many parts of India, especially in small towns and rural areas.

Yet, there is no systematic way of promoting discussions on this theme in India. During my school years, the only mention of caste discriminations had come during discussions on Mahatma Gandhi and perhaps during the lessons on medieval bhakti poets of India. There was no lesson on how caste discriminations work systematically across our daily lives and nothing about continuing inhuman treatment of specific "lower" caste groups even today. For example, manual scavenging was declared unlawful long time ago, yet there are still places where human beings are forced to carry excreta on their heads and unprotected men are forced to go down in the gutters and manholes to clean them manually, even in the national capital. Many educated Indians growing up in big cities feel that caste discriminations was something belonging to the past because they do not believe in caste distinctions, and have no idea of its continuing terrible impact.

In such a situation, I feel that Dalit Parks can play important roles in promoting public discussions on castes and its negative impacts. For example, they can help in informing public about the reality of caste discriminations through testimonies, films, art and sculptures. They can also showcase important contributions made by dalit leaders to create positive role models. School children should be taken to these Dalit museums, to learn about India's history, its continuing social disparities and to make a vow to fight these.

To Uttar Pradesh Tourism Board

Metro is an accessible public transport that brings tourists to different parts of the city. UP Tourism Board should make an effort to make it easier for persons reaching the Okhala Bird Sanctuary Metro Station to visit the Dalit park and the bird sanctuary. It will be good if a tourism department official actually travels by Metro to understand how difficult it is for people to come out of the metro station and to visit these 2 places.  

Allowing only one gate of the park to be open and choosing that gate which is most far away from metro station for this purpose, seems not only illogical, but also against poor and middle class persons, who do not have their own cars or vehicles for travel.

The tourism board should also put relevant sign boards at the metro station to guide the interested persons. Finally, if they can also make arrangements to facilitate visits by persons with disabilities and old persons (like me), it would be wonderful.

I can guess that the reason why only one gate of the Dalit Park is kept open for public, is to sell tickets and control entry. However, if you check how much money this park is earning from the visitors and if it is a small amount, make the entry to Dalit Park free so that more persons can visit it, experience what it means to be Dalit and face caste discriminations and learn about the pernicious effects of caste-system in India.

Conclusions

I believe that visiting Dalit park and learning about discriminations and inhuman treatment of dalits in India is a great idea – similar to visits to holocaust sites and genocide museums in Europe and monuments to Black-resistance sites in the USA. Often, people and government seem embarrassed to accept that India still has caste-related discriminations. Instead, we need to openly talk about it, make it a prominent discussion point and highlight all that which has been done by national and state governments as well as, by activists to fight it. I hope that UP Tourism Board and Government of India will wake up to its importance and make it an essential part of visits for tourists coming to India.

 

 

Hiding our difficult past and the uncomfortable parts of our present reality because we feel ashamed of it, does not help us in tackling it. We need to talk about it openly, so that we can understand it better and find ways of overcoming it.

There are still many aspects of caste-related exploitation that are not well understood. For example, while oppression and exploitation of “lower” castes by “higher” castes is a big problem, I feel that hierarchies and intra-caste inequalities and discriminations among the “lower” castes is also an issue. Unless we talk about these aspects, how can we hope to transform India into an equal and progressive society?

Our Upanishads, the ancient Hindu sacred texts, say that there is the same universal consciousness in all living beings. Similar messages from all different religions of India also need to be celebrated in the dalit parks to promote a change in mentality.

Like the queer communities across the world celebrating GLBTIQ pride parades, perhaps one day all cities of India will have colourful and joyful dalit parks and dalit pride parades, where people can learn about our social history and express our pride in our identities.

Note: Post originally written in 2019 and updated in 2023

*****

Most Beautiful Experiences

What makes some memories so special, that we can't forget them, even after decades? I was thinking about my memories of my most unforgettable evenings and wondering about what had made them so special.

In this post, I want to talk about 5 of my most unforgettable evenings and what made them special.

An Evening at the Taj Mahal, India

Talking about a beautiful evening at the Taj Mahal is a cliché, but since it was one the most incredible evenings that I had ever had, I decided to start with it. I had been to Taj in Agra a few times, the first time in 1967 on a school trip. This particular visit was in 2012, when I was in Agra for a conference. One afternoon, as I came out of a tiring meeting, I decided to walk and ended up at Taj Mahal. When I reached, the sky was already turning pink.

It was still crowded and I decided to sit down on a bench on one side, to wait for the evening. Slowly the crowd thinned and it became quieter. There was an azaan, I think from the mosque on the side of Taj or may be from outside. In that quiet, listening to that azaan and watching the silhouette of the familiar shape of the monument against the darkening sky, it was absolutely divine. It was the combination of beauty, colours and the music/sounds which made this evening so special.

The Uvs lake in Mongolia

I have also been to Mongolia many times. This particular evening was in 2008. We had travelled in a jeep from Bayan Ulgii to Uvs in the extreme west of Mongolia. In Uvs, I had one incredible afternoon in the stadium in Ulaangom where a Buddhist lama had led a special session of prayers.

One afternoon, after we finished our meetings, my friends accompanied me to Uvs lake, about 60 kms away from Ulaangom. The lake forms the border between Russia and Mongolia, which means that the mountains you can see in the image below on the other side of the lake were in Russia.

It was cloudy and windy that day. The contrast between light and dark shades of the dry grass, land, lake water and the snow covered mountains was very striking. A row of white round gers (tents) for the tourists, stood out. There were noisy seagulls and black and white lapwings. There, a few of my Mongolian friends sang polyphonic songs, which is a special Mongolian skill. The singers can simultaneously make multiple sounds, some in a wonderful bass and others, more acute.

The colours of the nature, the wind and clouds, the cries of seagulls and the polyphonic sounds of the Mongolian songs, together created something unique, which made that evening unforgettable for me. Even now, when I listen to polyphonic music from Mongolia, I remember that evening along the lake. If you have never heard a Mongolian polyphonic song, take a few minutes to listen to one on Youtube.

Pasubio Mountain, Veneto, Italy

Pasubio is the dolomite mountain of Schio, the little town in the north-east of Italy where we now live. Its highest peak is at more than 2,200 metres. From our home, a 20-25 minutes drive takes us to the mountain pass known as Pian delle Fugazze, at a little less than 1,200 metres. This was the border between Italy and Austria where the First World War battles had taken place. Hundreds of young men from different parts of Italy, but specially from all the towns of our region, had died here. At this mountain pass, visible from miles all around, is an Ossario, where bodily remains of those young men are kept.

We often go to the Ossario of Pasubio (in the image below). There are may mountain paths marked by the Italian Alpine association, where you can go for trekking. There is a hanging bridge there, about 2 km away, which makes for a nice walk. The evening at Pasubio which I remember is from a visit in 2012 evening. It was December and very cold. There had been different snowfalls, but on that day the sky was clear.

Soon after we arrived, the sky turned pink and orange, lighting up the snow with a strange glow. The moon was already out, not yet a full moon, but still glowing nicely. There was no one else at Ossario, just I and my wife. We stood there admiring the beautiful views till it turned dark. I think that it was special because we were alone and surrounded by incredible beauty.

An Evening in the Petrified Forest, New Mexico, USA

In 2018, I went on a road trip with my sister and one of her friends, in USA. We started from Santa Fe and finished our journey in Phoenix, visiting places like Grand Canyon and Sedona on the way. There is just a 2 years gap between I and my sister and I have a level of comfort with her, which is different from all other relationships. For much of our adult lives, we meet once in a while, usually with our families. Only now, with our children grown up, we can meet without our families and spend our time talking, as we used to do in our childhood.

That road-trip gave some wonderful memories, one of which was an evening spent in the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. The beautiful shades of the earth, the amazing landscapes and our constant bickering (which sometimes irritated my sister's friend), made it a wonderful evening.

Baja beach on Tapajos river in Amazon region, Brazil

I have also been to Brazil many times, most recently in 2019 when I had a wonderful visit in Rio de Janeiro. However, my special evening memory is once again from 2012. I was with my friend and colleague Deo, and we were visiting a project in Abaetetuba town in Para state in the north-east of Brazil. One evening, we went to a shack on the Baja beach on the Tapejos river, a few kilometres away. We had some beer, and while Deo chatted with some friends, I wandered alone.

Tapejos is a huge river, its other shore was probably a few kilometres away. It changes with the sea tides of Atlantic ocean. The retreating high tide had left its marks on the sand. A group of children was playing football. Strips of land alternating with streams of water, created a wonderful background.

I walked to the edge of the river. A few families with children were there, including a man with a baby boy, who had parked his motorbike and was playing with the child in the water. Slowly the sun went down the sky turned yellow and orange. As I walked back to the beer shack, the man and the baby boy left on their motorbike. The river, the colours, the families chattering, it all created something magical.

Conclusions

I love writing posts like this, which give me an opportunity to revisit forgotten journeys and to remember places and persons, some of whom are no longer alive. I hope that you have also enjoyed this journey, and that it has made you remember some special moments from your own life.

Writing such posts is also about understanding ourselves and our desires. I have hundreds of beautiful pictures of sunsets. Why did I choose these five? Thinking about it, makes me understand myself - what is important for me, and what touches me deeply. I that it is a way of meditating or may be a way of more mindful-living.

Because of smart-phones, most of us have hundreds or even thousands of pictures. Try to make them count - think which pictures matter to you and why? It will help you to learn about yourself.

I think that many factors contribute to making some memories special for us - 

(1) Beauty or aesthetic pleasure is an part of it.

(2) The persons who are with me contribute to making it special.

(3) A dash of music or art can also contribute to it.

(4) Possibility of remembering it through photographs or a diary or talking about it with friends

What makes some moments of your life unforgettable for you?

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