Was reading about ‘Gobekli Tepe’ the other day. Liked it so much that I put up a link on my FB page. First time I did that, and liked the way FB picked up the link and displayed a short summary too. Gobekli tepe is a paleolithic site, and is the earliest sing of human architecture and planned building known to us. The various structures have been interpreted as some sort of temples or places of ancestor worship. They date to c.10000 BC, well before we had assumed humans capable of building large common structures, and even predating the advent of farming, which is assumed to have started at a large scale some 2000 years later. It was always assumed that only after agriculture was well established and a surplus food supply assured did the population expand and people were free enough to venture into other fields, such as pottery, art, architecture etc. in short, the cultural evolution was supposed to have started after the Great Agricultural revolution. But here we see signs of culture predating farming by a couple of thousand years! There are a number of round structures made of stone and covered with lime. In these round rooms, there are free standing monoliths that some archaeologists interpret as ancestors/proto-gods. These are huge structures, some weighing many tons and have been carried here on top of this hill from some distance, in an age where the wheel was yet to be discovered.
Though a desert today, the area was lush and well irrigated 12000 years ago. What I find most interesting is that there is good evidence that wheat and grains were first cultivated in this area. some strains of wild wheat in the surrounding hills are genetic ancestors of the oldest known cultivated strains. This makes Gobekli the probable site of man’s first foray into settled agricultural life. And these people, for unknown reasons, built this astonishing structure. There are signs that some sacrifices were carried out here. Then, mysteriously, around 8000BC, the site was deliberately buried under rubble.
Interested as I’ve always been in archaeology, two things make Gobekli Tepe all the more fascinating. First, it is the precursor of the Sumerian civilization, and the unknown, unnamed ancestor figures on this hilltop temple fit in so well with the Sumerian myth that agriculture was brought down to man from the hills by unnamed Gods who existed before the Sumerian pantheon came into being. What a bewitching idea, tying up these two disparate threads into one beautiful progression!
The other idea is that this is the site of the proverbial Eden; that the Bible carries a record of folk memory going back to the time when man moved from the relaxed, easy lifestyle of the hunter-gatherer to the more rigorous life of the farmer. The story of Adam and Eve’s leisurely life in the garden and their subsequent exile to work the earth to bring forth food resembles very closely man’s move towards an agrarian lifestyle.
And both these fascinating (to me) stories are linked to one patch of earth; ancient, mysterious, massive, awe inspiring, harking back to the dawn of man.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
India v/s China
The thing that got my goat more than the joint US-China statement saying China had a big role to play in South Asia, a region that India sees as its area of influence, was our response to the statement. Our government was literally foaming at the mouth, our media was in paroxysms about our “loss of prestige”, the journalists were apoplectic. Everywhere you heard the refrain about how India would not brook any interference in her affairs and so on. Within a few days, the US came out with a statement averring that their ties with China “were not at the cost of their ties with India” and we all patted ourselves on the back for a serious challenge averted and honour saved. Then last night China came out with a statement that they did not intend to intervene between India and Pakistan (which is what we thought the joint statement was a veiled reference to) and they preferred that we solve the problem bilaterally. What a nice gesture!
But what irritated me in the whole affair was that our knee-jerk reaction to that statement made us sound almost childish. And moreover, it gave China a tacit right to meddle in South Asia. Notice that they say that they would not prefer to interfere in the Indo-Pak affairs. They might, but they won’t. Let’s see if the two kids can solve this quarrel between themselves, they see to say. Have we looked more stupid in recent times? I don’t think there was any need to go public with our “righteous indignance” here. Ignoring the statement would have given it the amount of importance it deserved. No one has the right to interference in our affairs is an understood fact. By responding to the statement like we did, we brought that fact into question. By refusing to even acknowledge it we would have given the impression that we really didn’t care what China or the US said about this stuff, as long as they didn’t try to actually act on their stupid ideas. If ever China offered to mediate we could counter that offer by offering to mediate between China and the Dalai Lama. By ignoring the statement we would have said to the world, “We don’t recognize anyone’s right to meddle in our affairs”, by responding to it as we have, we say “We know China has the right to interfere but we won’t allow it to.” Which sounds better?
But what irritated me in the whole affair was that our knee-jerk reaction to that statement made us sound almost childish. And moreover, it gave China a tacit right to meddle in South Asia. Notice that they say that they would not prefer to interfere in the Indo-Pak affairs. They might, but they won’t. Let’s see if the two kids can solve this quarrel between themselves, they see to say. Have we looked more stupid in recent times? I don’t think there was any need to go public with our “righteous indignance” here. Ignoring the statement would have given it the amount of importance it deserved. No one has the right to interference in our affairs is an understood fact. By responding to the statement like we did, we brought that fact into question. By refusing to even acknowledge it we would have given the impression that we really didn’t care what China or the US said about this stuff, as long as they didn’t try to actually act on their stupid ideas. If ever China offered to mediate we could counter that offer by offering to mediate between China and the Dalai Lama. By ignoring the statement we would have said to the world, “We don’t recognize anyone’s right to meddle in our affairs”, by responding to it as we have, we say “We know China has the right to interfere but we won’t allow it to.” Which sounds better?
BJP- bad or a necessary evil?
Watched a debate on the future of the BJP yesterday. They were discussing if whether the RSS was interfering with the day-to-day working of the BJP and if it was right or appropriate. It got me thinking as to what the future held in store for the BJP. Never been a fan, never will either. But as I see it today I feel it is imploding and that’s not a good sight for Indian polity. I’ve always held Advani as a rank opportunist despite all his claims of integrity and principles, but his leaving the BJP and retiring sounds to me a death knell for the party at a national level. Once he’s gone who else is there with a pan-Indian presence and appeal? All the other ‘netas’ demand no popular following. They’re not even leaders in the proper sense of the word either. They’re the back-room wheelers and dealers. None of them is fit to become the face of the BJP like Advani is today. After he goes, the BJP will be left with second rung politicians with no charisma, hold, or personality.
Now the fall of a party that I love to hate should make me happy, but it unfortunately doesn’t. My choice in politics, in fact, every thinking man’s choice in Indian politics is not between right and wrong, but in what I, or any man, would perceive as the bigger or lesser evil. I have always felt that the INC with all its faults, and they are legion, is the less evil alternative to the sabre-rattling unltra-nationalist jingoism that characterizes the BJP. Hindutva, China and so on, they’ve made a lot of noise though when faced with an actual problem they pretty much bent over. But that’s besides the point. No matter what, at least the BJP was a national level party and a counterpoint to the INC. And that’s what I think will be sorely missed if the BJP does dissolve into petty squabbles and little fiefdoms.
Without a major party at the national level to present a serious challenge to the INC, a sense of complacency will set in and the Congress fall victim to an inertia which will most likely harm India in the long run. In such a scenario the only possible way for the INC to lose would be for them to cede majority in a large number of states, simultaneously, to various local political parties, such as the Akalis in Punjab, the SP or the BSP in UP, the AIADMK or the DMK in Tamil Nadu and so on. And what kind of national government could such a motley crew of diverse people give us? The result’s almost too sorry to imagine.
Now the fall of a party that I love to hate should make me happy, but it unfortunately doesn’t. My choice in politics, in fact, every thinking man’s choice in Indian politics is not between right and wrong, but in what I, or any man, would perceive as the bigger or lesser evil. I have always felt that the INC with all its faults, and they are legion, is the less evil alternative to the sabre-rattling unltra-nationalist jingoism that characterizes the BJP. Hindutva, China and so on, they’ve made a lot of noise though when faced with an actual problem they pretty much bent over. But that’s besides the point. No matter what, at least the BJP was a national level party and a counterpoint to the INC. And that’s what I think will be sorely missed if the BJP does dissolve into petty squabbles and little fiefdoms.
Without a major party at the national level to present a serious challenge to the INC, a sense of complacency will set in and the Congress fall victim to an inertia which will most likely harm India in the long run. In such a scenario the only possible way for the INC to lose would be for them to cede majority in a large number of states, simultaneously, to various local political parties, such as the Akalis in Punjab, the SP or the BSP in UP, the AIADMK or the DMK in Tamil Nadu and so on. And what kind of national government could such a motley crew of diverse people give us? The result’s almost too sorry to imagine.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Disappointments
Sometimes I find myself unable to connect with anyone even on the most basic level. People I expect to be able to understand me and my moods suddenly seem so clueless, it’s as if they never had even the remotest idea in the first place. I don’t make it easy for anybody, I know that, but still not this level of disconnect! I swear there are times I want to leave it all and retreat even further into myself. Anything to avoid this disappointment and rage that rises in me. Nothing, no one is worth the aggravation. I’m not either I guess. However, that’s ok. The total absence of expectations should be better than this repetitive routine of dashed hopes and failed efforts at relationships that I expect too much of and get way too little from. This all too familiar taste of bile rising up my throat is one I cloy of. People I think were close to me have proven me wrong time and again and so I’ve reduced my expectations of them time after time till that level is near zero. I wish it was not how these things ended, but I honestly don’t see any other way.
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