Darjeeling : A city steeped in Nature

It has been a long time I have given my writing finesse some favour. So here when I sit down to pen down my thoughts, there is high probability of incoherence between what I perceive and what I express. Walking down the memory lane has been my favourite pastime being the utterly retrograde person I am.
It was about dusk. My flight landed at Bagdogra and the ultimate destination to be reached was Darjeeling. I hired a taxi and after a while, we reached Siliguri and it appeared that Siliguri was about to sleep. Through the chaos of the town, the intermittent stench, and the tea gardens, we started our drive up hill. We had 3 or 4 close shaves with oncoming vehicles, sometimes almost colliding head on. We even saw a motor- scooterist skidding round a bend and falling off his scooter, his cigarette still firmly in his mouth albeit slightly bent! We passed through farms and villages, were held back for half an hour on one of several roads which are sinking due to heavy trucks which would not have been allowed on these roads during the British days. The Himalayan villagers were friendly and warm, still unspoilt by tourism. All the heavy vehicles had the words "Please Horn" painted in primary colours on their backs and all along the way there were notices painted into the sides of the hill reminding drivers to sound their horns. We stopped for tea at Kurseong, Land of the White Orchid.

The narrow roads to the foothills of Shivalik were intertwined all along by railway lines (Darjeeling Himalayan Railway). Roads on the rail or rails on the road? They seemed like a series of “mating serpents”. I was wondering how any train could run on such a narrow gauge. Moreover, it was also very close to the settlements and people were going about their daily activities right on the track, a guy keeping his newly shined shoes to dry on the tracks, one woman cleaning utensils from the stream running adjacent to the track, sitting on it!! So on and so forth, it was as if the tracks were such an integral part of their lives. The roads were typical of any hilly area. Green on either sides, steep curves,streams, rivulets, culverts, ravines and many gorges that seemed endless. I have read too many books regarding Mountains hiding behind the mist, grey sky, invisible valleys, relentless rain, worn out road and it was the reality during my visit in mid-June. The narrow roads were punctuated by villages. The writings on the walls spoke about allegiance to India but separation from West Bengal. Vehicles with GL registration surprised me initially, then I came to terms with a novel form of protest. The blue coloured train just meandered past us joyfully spitting tonnes of smoke.

We were soon in Darjeeling- the “Honermooner's Paradise”. The quaint town discovered by two British agents, with its cobbled streets and bungalows lets you experience remnants of the “Victorian past” and because of my fascination with Victorian Era, it, no doubt, attracted me. The streets in the market take their own turns and go up hill at their whims. Selling mostly winter wear and memorabilia, this market closes way early that one could imagine. Just past 5 and it’s late and dark in Darjeeling. Don’t miss to walk in to a bakery, and especially Glenary and have some “out of the world” pastries and ice creams.
First a little chilly and soon the ice cream gives you a frozen experience. At 8pm, you are left with no option but reach your hotel room and surf channels.
Early in the morning we were off to watch the sunrise at Tiger Hills. Duh! Sunrise, what’s so invigorating about a sunrise, this was my first reaction. A detour from Ghoom railway station takes you uphill to Tiger Hills. 4:15a.m. It’s pitch dark. “You are approached” (No! people, leave your dirty thoughts aside) by women selling coffee/tea at this hour. They trudge all the way uphill to sell coffee /tea to tourists. Give them money for the effort, even more for the tea. A large crowd waiting on the ground and many waiting a level above. All waiting to see a sunrise. From the enclosure(a level above),all you can hear is a crowd singing what seemed like folk songs; you are blinded by the innumerable flashes clicked. Reaching early helped us get a window for a perfect window for the sunrise. But, still I was sure of this exercise being a dull, waste of time created to fool tourists. And, I was wrong as usual. It was indeed stunning! What was more surprising was the crowd ... ocean of people and the cabs parked along the road for KMs ... People were shouting and laughing, smoking and shivering, just to watch golden Mt. K at sunrise. On your right, the sun slowly appears above the horizon. The golden rays slyly sneaking out. The darkness was giving way to many shades of orange. Though unwillingly, the blue sky was accepting the unwelcome golden rays. Within minutes, a glow appears on a mountain range on your left. The Sun beaming in glory on your right, mercilessly outshone by the sheen of the Kanchenjunga on your left. The Kanchenjunga that appeared drab in those black and white pictures in my school Geography text book, was vivid and resplendent here, enjoying every moment of the attention she got. Unfazed by the clouds’ attempts to mask her brilliance, this white beauty’s radiant smile left us in love with her. I was lucky enough to see how it dominates Darjeeling’s horizon as then it disappeared into swirls of mist and cloud for the next six days that I was in Darjeeling and Sikkim. I never saw it again. Apparently, the mountain people say that the mountain chooses who it reveals itself to, so I feel blessed to have seen it at all.
We then decided to check out The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, nicknamed the “Toy Train”. The Darjeeling station and the toy train itself is a work of beauty. Built by the British, it has retained its old world feel and one is transported to the bygone era standing at the station and looking at the steam spewing engines with their quaint coaches. Soon, it was time for our joyride, we took our seats inside the trains, clicked a lot of pics and not only us , all the co-passengers, young & old had turned into children in that train; all the passengers were getting in and out of the train, clicking pics from different angles. When the train started to move, it was such a funny experience, as it was moving at a maximum speed of 10 km per hour!! But it was interesting too, at certain places, the houses and shops were so near to the rail track that I felt that could reach out my hand and grab the stuff displayed on the shop!! The train’s whistling and billowing out white smoke at intervals was such a different experience, we felt transported back to the 1800s!! Chugging slowly, we reached The Batasia Loop.
The Batasia Loop, where the Darjeeling trains take a U turn and the Gurkha Memorial is situated on a hillock that promises a panoramic view of the town.
Isn’t it a sacrilege to miss the visit to a tea estate when in Darjeeling? A foggy morning. A gentle breeze, the golden rays of the sun, a whole valley covered with tea plantations. The leaves are just freshening up, trying to clear the mist on them. The intoxicating aroma of a cup of tea takes your senses to a newer high. The taste is heavenly. The whole experience is suddenly a notch above bliss. We walked for about half an hour or more, past the collection of small houses where the tea workers live and out into the tea gardens. At that elevation we could see for miles, and we were completely surrounded by carefully trimmed tea bushes growing in a luxuriant pattern. From a distance, a tea garden looks like a thick deep green carpet. The air was fresh and clean and the atmosphere calm, sunny and very happy indeed.
We had a very quick visit to the Darjeeling zoo as we did not expect much there and plus I had been to many “zoos”.  The famous 45 minutes rope-way was in disuse after an accident some years back, we were told. So, now I was more enthusiastic about the ropeway. And thank God, I didn’t miss it. The beauty of the tea plantations, the perfect weather would have got missed, had I cancelled the visit.
During my stay there, I was just disappointed for not able to get good pictures. Be it the erratic rain or the slovenly grey sky, pictures looked dull. But obviously that doesn’t matter at all (“or may be to some extent”) as the journey was an indelible one- the one, which I never wanted to end. I had a busy two-and-half days in Darjeeling, but still had lots of time to relax in my fireplace heated room and on the breath taking terraces of my hotel, to shop for tea, to walk the mall and to drink tea, of course. From Darjeeling, I went to Sikkim … But that’s another entry for another day…

Women: A Question of Identity

 One of the basic tenets of metaphysics holds that the soul does not differentiate between man and woman and so both are essentially the same. The Rigveda visualizes society as a Virat Purusha and out of his limb came out man and woman in whom there is no difference. (The Rigaveda, 10.90). In the Brihadaranyak Upanishad, it is said that God wished to appear in two forms as Man and Woman, as the two forms were conjoint in him. Accordingly, he separated the two and they turned into husband and wife (Brihadaranyak Upanishad1.4.3). Similarly it has been propounded in Subalopnishad that in the beginning of the creation, Prajapati created from half of his own form, the Man, and from the other self, the woman. (Section 2). In Shatapath Brahaman, woman has been designated as ardhangini (5.2.1.10.) .She has been considered to be born from the left side (not part) of the atmatattva (soul). That is why, she has been called vamananga.

This Metaphysical view prevailed in the remote past when woman was looked upon with reverence. But with the passage of time woman’s location in society was reversed. Now woman’s location in, and experience of, most situations is different from that of man; woman’s location in most situations is not only different but is less privileged than or unequal to that of man; woman is oppressed, restrained, subordinated, moulded, used and abused by man.

The simple reason is the traditional role of a man who has been unjustly considered the only earning member for running the family. Yesterday I was having a conversation with one of my “intellectual” friends or you can say I thought him to be intellectual. As when discussing women, his words were “ Oh! Women are just so dependent on men for everything”. And then it made me think Why Women are considered as a “lack”.

How can one forget the role of a woman how, in spite of all prejudices, she used to shoulder the responsibilities as grandmother, mother, daughter, sister and wife. And she still does. All the women around me or at least the women I look up to have a lot in common – they have successful careers, they are married, they are mothers, and they are involved in their communities. Looking back, I don’t know how they did it and how they do.  Some days I come home and honestly am grateful that the only person I really have to cater to is myself. It sounds selfish but it’s true. Yesterday, I started my day at 8:45 AM, after 3.5 hours of sleep, and after just managing to get in a workout at 3 PM, I didn’t get home till 11 PM. Most days aren’t like this but then I think of my mother who while married and working, obtained all her education to the PhD level, and raised two kids, managed her family and still managing, I feel a little put to shame. HOW DID YOU DO IT MOTHER? I WANT TO KNOW THE SECRET! So now the question lies: How are women and men not equal? Where is woman a lack when she holds all the responsibilities?

Being conscious of this role of woman, Vivekananda says that nowhere in the world are women like those of India. How pure, independent, self-relying, and kind hearted! It is the woman who is the life and soul of this country. All learning and culture are centred in them. It is the Goddess of Fortune herself. But these women are denied liberty.

They need liberty; they need to be educated; they need to work outside family matrix to develop society. In fact Vivekananda wanted to transform housewives into working women to develop society world. This change is conspicuously visible in society. Women have started working in a highly commercialized technological sense and are contributing to the expenses of running their homes as well. The numbers of women with multiple role responsibilities, such as wife, mother and paid worker, is on the rise. They find the outside world challenging and attractive. They like the freedom it brings to them. They are educated and often have their careers well before they get married and it is their right to enter this profession world.

But before them, there is a challenge also, the challenge of Home, the home of harmony. There is no ready made solution for them. However, a reference point can be taken from Wordsworth’s “To a Skylark” whose “heart and eye’ remain with her ‘nest upon the dewy ground’, while her ‘wings aspire’. But this is not a final prescription for women as the women have to face multi-layer challenges. Nobody shall come for their liberation. It is through self analysis and self- understanding and through vigilance and courage, they need to watch if their home is suffering from maladjustment; if their home is missing them; if they need identity in a highly technological sense; if they need identity in the context of family matrix; if there are chances of betterment; if there is a need to have a complete overhauling.  How smoothly these hard issues can be liquefied if the society reverses its thinking !

Perspectivizing Aesthetics of Literature

A reader, while studying a text, feels thrilled, transported, at varying intervals. This experience involves two things: the first is  beauty caused by the creative use of language, known as aesthetic beauty  and the second is pleasure caused by the beauty known as aesthetic pleasure which is  experienced by the  reader. The reader experiences this pleasure in two ways – haphazardly as a layman has it and methodically as a trained man does. The former has its worth as vague or even confused while the latter remains accounted for. It is the latter mode which requires aesthetic  tools to analyze and relish literature.

Some scholars hold that to relish literature, there is no need of aesthetic tools.  They raise  inevitable questions like : why cannot we enjoy a piece of literature? Why must we spoil the fun by criticizing? Such scholars are of the opinion that the aesthetic tools hamper aesthetic experience because the reader is lost in a mechanical enquiry. This objection, no doubt, has a logic for one who is not a trained reader  or who is not used to applying such tools to a literary piece. But for a trained reader this objection has no value because for him such an application to a piece of literature is not a mechanical task but an assimilative act of reading and enjoying that piece of literature.

 Furthermore, to answer the inevitable questions, raised above, Peter Berry says that the enjoyment of literary art, no doubt,  is simple but  the greatest enjoyment of literary art is never simple. For the latter we need to have critical tools.  Perhaps T S Eliot had this notion in his mind when he said “ that criticism is as inevitable as breathing”, and we should be none the worse for articulating what passes in our minds when we read a book and feel an emotion about it. Nothing  replaces the reader’s initial felt responses: the sound of poetry on both the outer and inner ear; the visions of fiction in the mind’s eye; the kinesthetic assault of “total theatre.” But human responses seldom remain dead level: they reverberate through multiple planes of sensibility, impelled towards articulation—in short towards criticism. It may be subjective  as well as objective (critical). For the  fullest appreciation of literature,  we need to have critical tools. Their  knowledge is not a deterrent to the enjoyment of literature. On the contrary the application of such tools can enhance the pleasure that the common reader can derive from a piece of literature.

Let us illustrate the argument with an analogy. Think of the premier shows in which mostly   the actors and the artists of cinema are the audience. They are  thoroughly informed on the history of moviemaking; they know both classic and contemporary films; they understand the technical operations of the cinema and its myriad effects; they are familiar with acting styles, past and present. While watching a    movies, they  receive the same impressions on the level of  sense experience,  as the other audience. But because of their special knowledge, they comprehend what they witness. Their knowledge does not dim their pleasure; it does not nullify any pre-critical or amateur response. 

There is one more pause in relation to the use of theory. The scholars hold that  a marked awareness of theory  took place  during the last quarter of the twentieth century when the writers, critics, linguists, philosophers, and stylisticians all had become conscious of the role of theory. The result came in the form of  formalism, new criticism, stylistics, structuralism, post structuralism, ,deconstruction, discourse analysis, semiotics and dialogic criticism. In a word, according to them, it was   the high-water mark of theories.  To them now it is over with the titles like After Theory (Thomas Docherty, 1990), ‘Post Theory’ (Nicholas Tredell, in The Critical Decade, 1993).  They  hold that that ‘the moment of theory’ is over. And so there is no need  of talking about theory. But the present academic scenario both in the east and the  west seem to unfold the fact. No doubt the ‘moment of theory’  is but the ‘hour of theory’ has come as  theory has become a part of curriculum. Now it is not the business of minority rather it has become the business of majority of people to learn and teach theory. So without any pause the use of theory is  relevant and would be so in future  as it has been in the past.

Today there are number of names used for this genre of literature. By  the  students of literature, aesthetics is taken to be as literary criticism  poetics, literary theory, critical approach etc..  Sometimes they, due to ignorance, confuse the terms with one another and they tend to use these terms interchangeably. In fact, aesthetics, poetics, literary criticism,  literary theory, approach etc  are not synonymous , though there  is relationship among them. They can be understood on the basis of their range.

Poetics is the  legislative criticism or art of writing poetry or the study of linguistic technique in poetry or literature. It is a form of critical endeavour which lays down rules for the art of writing, largely based on standard works of literature.  It is  related to the possibilities of the creative use of language at different levels  of a literary text. Its  range is restricted to a text or an author. Elizabethan criticism, except Philip Sidney, and a large part of 18^th c criticism are of this order.

As far as literary theory is concerned, it is aesthetical criticism or  philosophy of literature which probes the nature of art in general and literature in particular. It does many things apart from helping the reader to reach at the meaning of a text. It is a set of broad assumptions about literature and function of criticism. The range of  literary theory is very wide which includes many subtle questions such as how a work of art is produced, how it ought to be read. What are the conditions in which the meaning is produced? How does a work of art mean what it means? What effects does a work of art produce in the mind of the reader? Does the subjectivity of the reader contribute to the meaning of art? Is meaning an objective reality? Who is a poet? Who is a reader? Is there any relationship of the poet belated with the precursor  poet? Is there any relationship between the writer and the  reader? It  includes  function of literature, poet’s nature and  experience of reader, relationship between the reader and the poet. Its range  is very wide which includes metaphysical, psychological, epistemic, logical and critical points of view.  Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Coleridge, Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde, I A Richards and others belong to this order.

Critical approach is related to descriptive criticism which concerned with methodology or with the varying ways in which art of literature or works of literature can be profitably discussed. It is a study of individual writers and their works , their aims, methods and effects. Ben Jonson and Wordsworth belong to this order. Much of English criticism is of this nature.    

Aesthetics means science and philosophy of fine arts. The problem of aesthetics  includes two aspects of fine arts-- the technique of fine arts and  the theory or  philosophy or theory of fine arts. The  technical point of view of the problem of aestheticism is  related to the possibilities of the creative use of language at different levels  of a literary text. Its  range is restricted to a text or an author. The philosophy or theory  of fine art, involved  in the function of literature, in poet’s nature and in the experience of aesthetic pleasure of reader/spectator,  is the theoretical side of  aesthetics. Its range  is very wide which includes metaphysical, psychological, epistemic, logical and critical points of view. In the West the  hedonistic,  moralistic or pedagogic and  philosophical theories  represent the study of the problem from the point of view of the end of art;  the theories of  imitation, illusion, and idealized representation  represent a study from the point of view of the artist; and  the theories of confused cognition, inference and mysticism represent a study of the problem from the point of view of the reader/spectator/aesthete.

In Sanskrit, the most common name  for poetics is alaṁkāra śāstra. Here the keyword is alaṁkāra which, with the first constituent alam, is to be understood on the authority of Agnipuraṇa as a synonym of the brahma. When we say  that a piece of fine art is alaṁkṛt, we mean that it is informed of the (cognition potential of) the brahma. Three have been attempts to displace the word alaṁkāra from the seminality of poetics due to its limitations imposed on it by the word decoration or poetic figure.

Another important name used of Indian poetics is kāvyaśastra, which like mimaṁsā, (which is the science of the Vedic sentence)is the science of the poetic or literary sentence (text). Here kāvya is poetic sentence or poetry or literature and sāstra is science of this sentence. It was Bhamaha who first used the word kāvya and accordingly the name kāvyaśāstra for Indian poetics was used. Poetic sentence  is a flow whose source is  the writer and whose sink is the reader. In the benedictory of  his Locana on Ananadavardhana’s Dhvanyāloka , Abhinavagupta puts this in the following way:”The duo of the poet and the receiver constitutes the unit of the itness of Saraswati.” 

There is yet another popular  name for Indian poetics used is saundaryasāstra. It has its interesting journey. Vāmana was first to use saundarya (beauty) for alaṁkāra in his Kāvyālaṁkārasūtra. Later Abhinavgupta used the words sunder and sundarya in his descriptions of poetry in his Locana on the Dhvanyāloka. Thereafter Kuntaka used the word camatakara in the sense of  beauty.  Then after a long gap  the sūtra, satyam (the truth), śivam (the good) sundaram (the beautiful) was used in the world of art and literature in 18^th century. This was the central sutra of  English  Romanticism. The followers of Brahmo Samaj were influenced by English Romantics.  According to Kavi Gulab Rai this sutra was first used by Raja Rama Mohan Rai , the founder of Brahmo Samaj and later it was used  by Devendranath Tagore.

Simultaneously in 18^th Baumgarten used  the word aesthetics, borrowing from Greek, in his doctorate thesis for the first time as the name of a special science. From the Hegelian point of view it means “Philosophy of fine arts” From popular use of the word it seems to mean a theory of beautiful in general, whether in art or nature. Perhaps because of this development  there was good chance for saundarya sāstra, which would correspond to the western name aesthetics, for Sanskrit poetics.

Let me explain aesthetics in a layman’s words. A particular language constitutes the bodily form of poetry, the I-ness of poetry being free from this exterior just as the I-ness of life (ātmān) is free from this exterior physicality of the bodily form (śarīra). This I-ness of poetry is the sense of wonder, a special experience of pleasure. This pleasure is called brahma in Vedanta and by various other names in various other Indian systems of philosophy.  Here it is noteworthy that this variformity of the naming process is not in contradiction to mutual identity while being in oppositional compatibility. That is why in Indian context the school of fine arts are known as : i)Rasa-Brahma-vāda (school dealing with the experience of absolute in literature)ii). Nād-Brahma-vāda(school dealing with the experience of absolute in music. iii) Vastu-Brahma-vāda(school dealing with the experience of absolute in architecture). This I-ness can further be understood as rasagatasaundarya  (experience caused by aesthetic sentiment)  alaṁkāragatasaundarya (experience caused by figures), rītigatasaundarya (experience caused by style), dhvanigatasaundarya (experience caused by suggestion), vakroktigatasaundarya (experience caused by oblique expression) and aucityagatasaundarya (experience caused by propriety). Accordingly they are different theories, the theory of   rasa  (aesthetic sentiment)  the theory of alaṁkāra (figures), the theory of rīti (style), the theory of dhvani (suggestion), the theory of vakrokti (oblique expression) and the theory of aucitya (propriety). 

Keeping all this  account in view we should use aesthetic tools  to analyze and relish literature. The richness of great literature merits correspondingly rich responses—responses that may be reasoned as well as felt. Corollary to  this conviction is our belief that such responses come best when the reader appreciates a great work at various levels of linguistic turns and  from as many  perspective as it legitimately opens itself to. And  it all requires aesthetic tools.

 Here is one precaution  regarding the use of  critical tools. The critical tools are not the final mapping to make an assessment of a piece of literature. They are just reference points which we can modify, in which we can deletion and addition in accordance with the form of the text. No doubt, we have theories to make an assessment of a piece of literature written in any language. But we do not have modern terminology. So for a successful application we have to be little careful about the modern terminology.  applied  Let me explain it in other way. In life there are  always  three models that operate in one way or the other at varying intervals: the first is  the ideal model of things which tells how the things ought to  be; the second is the existing model of things which tells how the things are /were; and the third model is  the functional model of things  which tells how the things  are said or thought to be. Now the question is: Where do these models come from? The first model comes from our Shastras/Dharma and this model works as a reference point. The second comes from our life in action which is put to test of the ideal model and the third is a proposed model to be used. Among these three models, the model given by the Shastras/Dharma  is very important because it is a reference point. But it should be remembered that this ideal model is not to be followed as such. It is just to facilitate us for modifying our existing model of life. If the  modified/existing model does not work properly, it is not the fault of the ideal model. The fault lies with those who fail to visualize the spirit of the ideal model, who fail to visualize time, the circumstances in which the modified model was to be used. What is needed is the recognition that its interpretation is not to be done using a dictionary alone, we need to apply our minds and try to understand what our aestheticians mean. The debate between the scholars  for and against the use of theory  will then be revealed to be artificial and inconsequential.