[Reader-list] gaanv, shahar, ravikant aur shaharnama

[Ravikant]

Dear Mehmood,

Thanks for coming up with a quick and as usual deliciuos response. I am sorry 
for the delay - was a bit preoccupied with the press, etc. Vijender had 
already forwarded this mail to the deewan, so let us move over to the deewan 
list and carry this conversation forward - in roman or nagri. (We need some 
interesting discussions on a newly inaugurated list!)  

I agree with a lot of what you have said but I guess we could not make 
oursleves clear so that even a perceptive reader/listener like you missed the 
point some place down the line. I agree with you that we have dismissed the 
country/city dichotomy rather summarily. You are also right that we are 
making a case for city as object of study. We were acutely aware of this 
while writing that small first intro to Sharanama - had we been writing in 
English, we would not have offered those clarifications, alibis, etc. 

So, please do not forget that we are also in conversation with a 
public that is used to consuming an overwhelming sense of disgust with the 
city. Also, there is more to how and how much and since when the city has been 
written about in Hindi or Urdu. It is interesting that village asserts itself 
as the sole source of inspiration in the writings of hindi writers known as 
chhaayavaadis or romantics(the quartet of Pant-Prasad-Mahadevi-Nirala) of 
early 20th century. And the reference to 'bharatmata graamvasini'(village 
dwelling mother India)is embedded there. Hindi Nationalism, like so many 
other Nationalisms elsewhere, established its moral and numerical 
authority/superiority precisely on the basis of its affinity, and claim to 
represent the real multitudes rather than the urbane, degenerate upper 
classes. 'Bazaaroo' is a common address of insult for Urdu, as you would know 
very well. The moral critique of hindi nationalism was loaded against the 
city and whatever the city represented, and that is something we wanted to 
question. The idea is not to present a preferential urban model over the 
essentialised rural or rural-develepmentalist paradigm, but see the city in 
itself.

And there are many other twists to this city/country tale: At about the same 
time when the New Story emerges as the form for urban content and contempt, 
village reasserts itself against technological and urban dreams of Nehruvian 
modernization in the 50s and 60s. I am talking here about Renu's Regionalism, 
which interestingly becomes the template for Rahi Masoom Raza's Adha 
Gaon(first published in devanaagri). Raza chooses to write that novel in 
bhojpuri Urdu and in a polemical, mid-way introduction to the novel - asserts 
his, a Muslim's, right to stay in India because they chose to do so. To my 
mind he writes the novel in bhojpuri Urdu also because the space of modern 
standard hindi was by and large captured by Hindi/Hindu Nationalism and the 
assertion could come from a diffrent linguistic register. Since bharat has 
been captured by the Hindus, Gangauli, the village provides him the basis to 
critique Bharat.

So what we are arguing against is the whole tradition of hollow, symbolic and 
moral romanticization of the village against the city. Notwithstanding the 
fact that Ambedkar at one point did present the city as a utopian escape for 
the Dalits, we are just saying that cities are as valid objects of analysis 
and imagination as villages have been. And by conjoining Urdu with the urban 
we are owning up both, while not disowning the village.

aapka
Ganvar hi, jo apne Ganv ko vapis jane layaq nahin samajhta 
(equally, a rustic who doesn't think his village is worth going back to)

cheers
ravikant

On Monday 19 Sep 2005 10:36 am, mahmood farooqui wrote:
> Humne kuchh dinon pahle ek mock documentary feature ka
> title rakha tha CHALE GAANV KI OR
>
> Maqsad kahne ka yeh, ki voh baat jo us roz Ravikant
> aur Sanjay ji ne uthayi thi aur jise Nandy ji ne
> sameta tha ki SHAHARNAMA isliye aur gaanvnaama isliye
> nahin, kyunki gaanv ab shahar bante ja rahe hain.
>
> Nandy ji is baat ke sakht khilaaf hain ki 'shahar
> banna hi gaanv ki niyati hai' magar shahar aur gaanv
> ke falsafiyana matlabon ko nazarandaaz karte hue mujhe
> kahna yeh hai ki sachhai to yahi hai ki chahe shahar
> vaale hon chahe gaanv vaale donon ke liye gaanv ki
> sarvottam parinati yahi hai ki voh shahar ban jaayen,
> ya shahar jaise ban jaayein.
>
> Lekin darasal bara mudda jo hai, hindi jagat aur gaanv
> ka masla jise bahut aasaani aur sahajta se sanjay aur
> Ravikant ne nipta diya, uska taalluq sirf isse nahin
> hai ki Hindi saahitya ab apni shahri parivesh mein
> aatmvishwaas se khara ho gaya hai, maano hindi
> saahitya koi gaanv se aaya hua mera dada hai jo ab
> teen pushton ke baad shahar mein apni jarein phaila
> chuka hai. Voh Nagarjun aur Nagar aur Nirala aur
> Premchand ab hamare paas nahin hain jo gaanv se nikle
> the.
>
> Gaanv jo kabhi Hindi ka shahar tha so isliye to tha hi
> ki Gandhi aur aazaadi ke rahnumaaon ne hindustan ki
> haqeeqat ka asli akas gaanv mein dhoondha tha aur
> Hindi  srijan ek arse tak apne aaspaas ek naitik
> zimmedari dale hue tha, desh aur desh ke asli juz
> gaanv ke prati. Baat yeh bhi thi ki jo log voh
> saahitya parh rahe the aur jo log use likh rahe the
> voh khud gaanv se aaye the aur unka taalluq gaanv se
> bana rahta tha saalahasaal.
>
> SHuroo ki baat pe vaapas paltun to mere dada jo gaanv
> mein paida hue aur mere pitaji jinhein gaanv ki
> baharein dekhi thin, voh virasat mujhe nahin saunp
> sake, mera gaanv ab ya to aadha hai, ya premchand ke
> paas rah gaya hai aur usmein jo bacha use raagdarbari
> le gaya.
>
> To kahne ka matlab yeh ki hum yadi aaj gaanv ke baare
> mein nahin likhte hain aur uske baare mein nahin
> parhte hain to isliye ki shahron mein ek acchi khaasi
> taadaad un hindi parhne waalon aur likhne waalon ki
> hai jo gaanv se poori tarah naabalad hain.
>
> Hum gaanv ko isliye haashiye par rakh sakte hain ki
> voh ab hamara aaspaas nahin basta aur na hi hamare
> paathakon ke aaspaas basta hai. to hum kyun uspe
> likhein aur kyun uspe baat karein?
>
> Magar agar baat ko gaanv se hata ke kisanon ki taraf
> laaya jaye, yaani peasants ke, to phir maamla
> geographical aur spatial na rahke temporal ho jata
> hai.  Voh isliye ki voh jo paanchveen class la lesson
> hum parhte the ki bharatvarsh kisanon ka desh hai ab
> usmein yun tarmeem kar di jaani chahiye ki bharatvarsh
> kisanon ka desh tha, jo ab abhi yahan qareeb saath
> pratishat ki taadaad mein hain, magar chunki GDP mein
> voh mahaz 25 percent ka yogdaan dete hain isliye humne
> yeh maan liya hai ki kuchh hi dinon mein sab kisan ya
> to shahar palaayan kar jaayenge ya gaanv shahar ban
> jaayenge aur kisanon ko kisaani ke abhishaap se mukti
> mil jaayegi.
>
> Phir hamara shaharnama aap hi aap poore mulk ka ahaata
> kar lega.
>
> Hum shahri log hain bhaiyya aur shahar ke baare mein
> likh rahe hain, hum choonki hindi waale hain isliye
> humko safai deni parti hai. Urdu waalon ne to shuroo
> se hi apne aap ko shahri zabaan waala banake saari
> samaajik zimmedariyon se mukt kar liya.
>
> To pahli baat to yeh ki kya hamein safaai dene ki
> zaroorat hai, doosri baat yeh ki hum agar safaai dein
> to phir dein, kanni na kataayein...
>
> Sammanpoorvak,
>
> GANWAAR.