[Reader-list] Back home, I feel reborn

[Aarti Sethi]

Dear Kshamendra,

You are absolutely right of course. I reacted hastily, never a good thing to
do :)

On a theoretical note, I am not sure there is such an equivalance between
the articulations of power and articulations by people. By this in no way do
I mean that we should suspend our critical judgment and faculties when it
comes to private articulation. Rather I'm trying to say that there is a
great difference between an official version which is backed by guns, and
the abject terror that subjective human lives are thrown into when caught in
the cross-hairs of power. This makes me, ethically, develop a sharper
critical stance when it comes to the "police version". I am only speaking
for myself, in the spirit of discussion and clarification.

regards
A



On Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 7:44 PM, Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Dear Aarti
>
> Thank you for clarifying that.
>
> I have stayed away from exchanges on the "Delhi happenings" and do not
> intend to start on them now. I was not commenting on your views on "Delhi
> happenings".
>
> What I was referring to was that if you can allow yourself with your
> analysis to be "skeptical" about the "police version of events" then it
> would be "hypocritical" not to allow me to be "skeptical" with some analysis
> about another reported event.
>
> You have clarified that was not your intention. Your graceful apology was
> not really neccessary but Thanks.
>
> Take care
>
> Kshmendra
>
>
>
> --- On *Sun, 9/28/08, Aarti Sethi <aarti.sethi at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
> From: Aarti Sethi <aarti.sethi at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Back home, I feel reborn
> To: kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com
> Cc: "Sarai Reader List" <reader-list at sarai.net>, "Sanjay Kak" <
> kaksanjay at gmail.com>
> Date: Sunday, September 28, 2008, 7:27 PM
>
>
>  Dear Kshamendra,
>
> Are you referring to my posts regarding the Delhi encounter in which I have
> been skeptical of the police version of events? Please do elaborate on where
> my hypocrisy lies. I'm sorry, I seem to have included you in a mail meant
> primarily for Aditya. I do acknowledge that you began by saying that
> harassment of this nature is something you disapprove of. You have a full
> right to ask questions of him. I was reacting simply to the tenor of a mail
> that takes as its initial premise that any such description must obviously
> be suspect. However my response was primarily meant for Aditya, and I
> aplogise for including you in a blanket fashion.
>
> Of course I am always willing to discuss my position regarding the Delhi
> encounter and the ethical terms on which I work out my position.
>
> regards
> Aarti
>
>
>
> On Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 7:12 PM, Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>>   Dear Aarti
>>
>> There are many of your attitudes and "reactions" that I find sad.
>>
>> If you could be more specific about what you find "sad" in what I have
>> written I could then ignore the hypocrisy in your attitudes between your
>> reaction to what I have written and your own recent posts on another
>> incident. Request for specificity and not vagueness.
>>
>> You would
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --- On *Sun, 9/28/08, Aarti Sethi <aarti.sethi at gmail.com>* wrote:
>>
>> From: Aarti Sethi <aarti.sethi at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Back home, I feel reborn
>> To: kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com
>> Cc: "Sarai Reader List" <reader-list at sarai.net>, "Sanjay Kak" <
>> kaksanjay at gmail.com>
>> Date: Sunday, September 28, 2008, 6:49 PM
>>
>>
>>  I think its really sad to react to a story like this in the manner that
>> the two of you are. Have either of your ever been arrested by the police for
>> anything? I presume not. I honestly cannot think of anything more
>> frightening than to be under the power of the state when they might invoke
>> anything against you including the NSA. I don't think there is any cause to
>> celebrate police harassment or be skeptical of it. Have you not been reading
>> the papers over the last 5 years Aditya? You consider yourself such a
>> well-informed and intelligent person. Here are just  four reports of
>> Kashmiri muslim boys shot in "encounters". Spend a little more time online
>> and many more will surface.
>>
>> How come at such a young age all humanity has been leached from you
>> Aditya? I find it quite astonishing and deeply saddening that you measure
>> all human beings and experience and human worth in the prism of whether it
>> extends your agenda or not. This apparently makes it completely impossible
>> for you acknowledge that there might be some truth and value to the
>> expereince of other human beings qua human beings.
>>
>> regards
>> Aarti
>>
>> On Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 6:22 PM, Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Malik Sajad certainly is a good cartoonist. Very good art-work. Content
>>> sometimes very hackneyed.
>>>
>>> I am not discounting that some sort of an unfortunate incident took place
>>> that involved Malik Sajad being harassed by a policewoman or being
>>> treated with suspicion at the cyber cafe. I would not expect him to be a
>>> blatant liar. It is sad, whatever be the degree, that any such incident has
>>> to take place.
>>>
>>> A few interesting/intriguing things though in his dramatic narrative.
>>>
>>> - Habitat Centre could not provide him Internet access. Possible.
>>>
>>> - A cyber-cafe would, in advance of Internet access ask for
>>> identification from a complete stranger and not wait till the "owner of the
>>> cafe"  had "peered over his shoulders" and checked what he was doing. I
>>> could be wrong about this.
>>>
>>> - The surprisingly efficiently prompt Delhi Police arrived "within five
>>> minutes" of being summoned to the cyber-cafe from a PCO. Interesting.
>>>
>>> - Malik had his mobile phone with him. Looks like, inspite of the "within
>>> five minutes" arrival of Delhi Police, he had enough time to make a few
>>> calls including one to the "Director of the Film Festival". Why didnt he?
>>> That would have avoided his having to shout "Somebody please go to the
>>> habitat centre and tell them the artist whose installation is there has been
>>> arrested!" while he was being "dragged" to the Police Station.
>>>
>>> - The Manager of Habitat Centre asked Malik not to call from his
>>> (Malik's) phone (or Email) for a few days. Why no Email? Why couldn't Malik
>>> use some other phone to call home or the GK office?
>>>
>>> Kshmendra
>>>
>>>
>>> --- On Sun, 9/28/08, Sanjay Kak <kaksanjay at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> From: Sanjay Kak <kaksanjay at gmail.com>
>>> Subject: [Reader-list] Back home, I feel reborn
>>> To: "Sarai Reader List" <reader-list at sarai.net>
>>> Date: Sunday, September 28, 2008, 4:55 PM
>>>
>>> Just a slice of life story for a young Kashmiri...
>>>
>>> Malik Sajad is the young–very young–editorial cartoonist of the Srinagar
>>> paper, the Greater Kashmir. His excellent work can be seen on their
>>> website
>>> too.
>>> **
>>>
>>> Sanjay Kak
>>> **
>>> **
>>>
>>> *The GK Cartoonist Malik Sajad Narrates The Experience Of Being A
>>> Kashmiri
>>> At A Wrong Time In New Delhi.*
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=28_9_2008&ItemID=61&cat=1
>>>
>>> I arrived home from Delhi yesterday.  I took a deep breath when I laid
>>> eyes
>>> on the landscapes of the valley.  My mother was waiting for me at home.
>>> Her
>>> face was pale and her eyes were full of tears. My father held me for a
>>> long
>>> time as if I were away for years. My brothers gathered around me as if my
>>> return was unexpected. My mother asked me in a weak voice, "Were you okay
>>> in
>>> Delhi?" "Yes," I nodded, "My exhibition had a huge
>>> response. Everyone
>>> praised my cartoons and I enjoyed the trip."
>>> They looked worried and I sought the reason for their worry." They
>>> replied,
>>> "Sajad, some policemen in civilian clothes came here to verify some
>>> information about you while you were in Delhi. You didn't call us for
>>> four
>>> days. We thought something bad has happened to you. We were all crying."
>>> I
>>> was surprised. My family already knew what I had tried to keep secret for
>>> the sake of my mother's health. At home I felt safe again, and I narrate
>>> to
>>> them the ordeal I went through in New Delhi for being a Kashmiri.
>>> I was invited by the Public Service Broadcasting Trust to create an
>>> installation art in the OPEN FRAMES, EXPLORING CONFLICT, an international
>>> film festival about peace and conflict held at the India Habitat Centre.
>>> The
>>> festival began on the 12 September and lasted eight days. My installation
>>> titled "Terrorism of Peace" featured my cartoons hanging from rolls
>>> of razor
>>> wire with some alcohol bottles hanging on the wire, exactly the same way
>>> as
>>> found around bunkers of troopers on the streets of Srinagar. I put some
>>> mud
>>> and stones on the shiny green marble floor of the Stein Auditorium to
>>> give
>>> the installation the real feel of Kashmir.
>>> On Saturday afternoon, the second day of the festival, I drew a cartoon
>>> in
>>> my hotel room for my Sunday Slice column. I took a picture of it with my
>>> digital camera and headed to a cybercafé about 150 meters from the
>>> habitat
>>> centre to mail it to Greater Kashmir. After I mailed the cartoon I
>>> visited
>>> the Greater Kashmir website and my cartoon website. Meanwhile, I heard
>>> another browser seated on a nearby computer chatting over the phone about
>>> the serial blasts at Connaught Place and Greater Kailash I. Soon everyone
>>> in
>>> the café joined in on a discussion about terrorism and the blasts. While
>>> I
>>> was watching news videos on Greater Kashmir's website, the owner of the
>>> café
>>> peered over my shoulders to glimpse what I was looking at. Soon the owner
>>> and others started to talk about me in hushed voices. "He is Kashmiri! We
>>> should check his identity!" they whispered. The owner approached me and
>>> asked me for my passport in a soft voice.  I gave him my identity card
>>> and
>>> told him that I don't have my passport with me. He took it and xeroxed
>>> it.
>>> He studied my identity card for a long time. He asked me where I was
>>> staying
>>> in Delhi and I gave him the address of the Habitat Centre. He asked me
>>> which
>>> websites I had visited. I listed them for him. I could hear the customers
>>> saying "He is looking at websites from Kashmir!" Then someone said
>>> loudly
>>> "Why should we take responsibility for this boy. He could be anything!
>>> Just
>>> call the police and let them verify who he is!" I started to panic.
>>> "I am
>>> Kashmiri," I thought "No one will listen to me."
>>> There was a PCO in the café. They called the police and told them that
>>> there
>>> is a Kashmiri in the café and that they should verify my identity. I
>>> asked
>>> the café owner to call the habitat centre to check my identity as well.
>>> They
>>> refused. I pleaded with them to just call the centre, but they wouldn't.
>>> Two
>>> fat police constables and a woman inspector wearing two stars arrived
>>> within
>>> five minutes, wearing a we-have-got-the-culprit look. Her face frightened
>>> me. Her hair was jet black and short like a boy's hair cut. Her eyes were
>>> stiff like black moles on her face. She held a very fine stick in her
>>> hand.
>>> She entered the café shouting "Who is the guy? Who is the guy?"
>>> Before
>>> anyone pointed at me I raised my hand with my I card, shouting back,
>>> "Madam
>>> it is me, it is me! Here is my I card!"
>>> She didn't look at the card, but slid it into her pocket, and ordered a
>>> constable to search into my bag. They studied my camera as if it were a
>>> bomb. They told me to pack everything in the backpack.  I quickly managed
>>> to
>>> eject the memory card out of my camera and slip it in my pocket, since my
>>> photographs were the only proof of my installation at the habitat centre.
>>> Before they confiscate my mobile I memorized the number of the director
>>> of
>>> the film festival. The inspector shouted at me "Salay bahar chalo!" I
>>> shook
>>> with fear. I didn't know what to do. No one would listen to me. The
>>> constables literally dragged me out of the cafe. Someone shouted "We
>>> should
>>> place him in the bus." I was shocked and cried, "Please listen to me!
>>> Please
>>> listen to me!" Almost two hundred people gathered on the road to see the
>>> "terrorist"--Me! The crowd was so big that it created a traffic jam.
>>> I
>>> shouted in the air "Somebody please go to the habitat centre and tell
>>> them
>>> the artist whose installation is there has been arrested!"
>>> As they were dragging me to the police station, the inspector shouted at
>>> me
>>> "You Kashmiri bastard! Why do you people have problem with being part of
>>> India? Sala…!" At the police station, they seated me on a bench with
>>> another
>>> person they had arrested. He had dried brown blood all over his face. His
>>> eyes were sharp and red. It was obvious he was drunk. I pleaded, "Please
>>> listen to me. I am a cartoonist in Kashmir! I am not a terrorist! I am
>>> innocent!" They ignored me and listened to their wireless radios. They
>>> continued to hurl abuses at me. Another woman inspector wearing civilian
>>> clothes with a wireless radio in her hand shouted at me "You bastard, you
>>> speak such nice Hindi! Why do you have a problem with being part of
>>> India!"
>>> I replied, trying to be as transparent as possible, "Madam, I am speaking
>>> Urdu actually, which sounds like Hindi."
>>> The inspector woman who dragged me to police station began to record the
>>> evidence:
>>> 1: He was looking at the website with diagrams of guns on it.  (This was
>>> her
>>> definition for my cartoon website kashmirblackandwhite.com!)
>>> 2: He was searching for information about the Kashmir conflict. (I was
>>> reading some articles to prepare for my talk about the "Dialoguing peace
>>> in
>>> Kashmir" at the Stein Auditorium on 17 September.)
>>> 3: He had a camera with a memory card in it. (Obviously my camera is a
>>> Canon
>>> digital SLR and it can't be without a memory card.)
>>> I was crying. I couldn't feel my fingers and feet. I felt like I had been
>>> electrocuted. The incandescent lights in the police station were shining
>>> brightly, but it seemed to me very dark.
>>> I had no hope now. I thought of running away from the police station.
>>> "The
>>> habitat centre is only 50 meters away," I thought. "Even if they
>>> shoot me I
>>> would be injured, but I can prove my innocence."
>>> But I didn't want to give them any chance.  I thought my life was over.
>>> "If
>>> there is no hope of life, I need to accept the reality," I said to
>>> myself.
>>> But somehow this thought actually gave me strength. "I am not going to be
>>> scared of them any more," I thought "They are not going to listen to
>>> me any
>>> way." I stood up and said to them sternly, "Come kill me! Shoot me!
>>> Do
>>> whatever you want, but keep in mind that I am a guest here and my work is
>>> being displayed in the Stein Auditorium! Hang me or label me a terrorist!
>>> I
>>> am going to sit here silently now!"  Then they finally called the
>>> Coordinator for PSBT. The number was busy. I asked her "Madam, can't
>>> you
>>> come with me to the Habitat Centre to check whether I am speaking truth
>>> or
>>> not? It is only 50 meters away." Finally, after fifteen minutes, she
>>> relented and agreed to take me to the Habitat Centre. They held me by the
>>> collar as we walked to the centre. Once we entered the gate no 3 of
>>> habitat
>>> center, she continued to curse Kashmiris. At this point however, I was in
>>> the habitat centre, so I shot back, "Mind your language!" My voice
>>> was firm
>>> and she became quiet. When she saw my work in the auditorium, she started
>>> shouting "You Kashmiris have a problem!" I wasn't in their grasp
>>> anymore, so
>>> I picked up a stone lying in the mud of my installation and started to
>>> smash
>>> my installation. The sound of the glass frames breaking echoed throughout
>>> the auditorium. Those watching a film inside the auditorium came outside
>>> to
>>> see what had happened.  The policewoman ran away.
>>> I called GK to inform them what had happened, but the Habitat Centre
>>> manger
>>> instructed me to not leave the premises and not to call from my phone, or
>>> email, for a few days. After three days I called home and the GK office.
>>> The
>>> PBST issued a letter to the security agencies that I am their guest and
>>> they
>>> are responsible for my accommodation and tickets. I thank God that I was
>>> a
>>> guest of the habitat centre and not alone as a cartoonist for GK.
>>> Otherwise,
>>> the story of another missing Kashmiri would have been all over the news
>>> here. I watched the news channel that night to see if they would flash my
>>> name….
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>