A market sans money

Arindam Chaudhuri bags Delhi team of i1 Super Series

Money counts for nothing as commodity exchange on the barter principle is the norm at the historical Jonbeel mela of Assam which binds different tribes from the state and Meghalaya together

At a time when the money market is controlling the entire economy of the world, a unique market, operating on the barter principle, is still held once every year on the first Thursday after Makar Sankranti. Jonbeel mela is held at Jagiroad of Morigaon district. Gova King Deepsing Deoraja inaugurates the fair. When the King takes part in a community feast on the first Wednesday after Makar Sankranti, the mela is considered to be open.

Tribal people of the erstwhile Gova kingdom come down from the neighbouring Khasi and Karbi hills to the mela with their harvest of crops and fruits to exchange them with fish, traditional pitha and sandah and other commodities that are locally produced in the plains.

While the British took over the reins of Assam on February 24, 1826, after the Yandabu Treaty, the Gova kingdom came under British Rule in 1835. But traditional practices continued without any break. The Gova people select the King, abiding by the rule of hierarchy. The present King is a 17-year-old boy from Nongphu in Meghalaya who is studying in the tenth standard.

Hundreds of Khasis, Karbis, Jayantias and Tiwas walk down the hills with loaded bamboo baskets hanging from their forehead. Meanwhile, the people from the plains also gather. They exchange commodities throughout the day. The Tiwa people of the Gova kingdom are busy fishing while the market goes on. Guests are served fresh fish caught in the four beels (lakes) of the Gova King: namely Jonbeel, Arambeel, Khamrangibeel and Thakurdovabeel. There is another lake in the Gova kingdom where the local people do community fishing as the Assamese new year breaks in April.

The Jonbeel mela is a symbol of unity among the people of the plains and the hills. Both these communities address each other as "mama-mami" (maternal uncle and aunt). At a time when even the most remote corners on earth are not insulated from the effects of globalisation, the barter system of exchange gives Jonbeel a unique character.

Though the Gova kingdom obviously does not have any political significance today, it works as a cultural institution of the Tiwa tribe with a 51-member strong royal courtier group. Some of the portfolios are Borbarua, Jela (priest), Bhitarmazi, Bormazi, Muchi, Komar, Kumar Arandhora, Ranua, etc. Actually, these positions were meant to help the King to run the various functions of the Gova kingdom in the older days. Today, the royal courtiers are mainly responsible for organising cultural celebrations like Kharbeel mela in April, Gosai Olowa mela and Lakhimi puja (once in five years) on the bank of the Jonbeel lake.

At the Jonbeel mela, the King collects ‘tax’ from the tributary kings and traders coming to the mela. The tax is taken in the form of money or material.

According to one of the courtiers, Jursing Bordoloi, also a relative of King Deepsing Deoraja, the main problem of the mela is that they have no land of its own. For years, the fair is being held on rented land. “It is the most unfortunate situation,” he laments. The newly formed Tiwa Council has decided to dig a part of the historical wetland, the Jonbeel, to construct a cultural auditorium and a gate carved with traditional Gova designs.

On the last of the three days of Sankranti, King Deepsing Deoraja visited the mela. He arrived in a car and not on the elephant. The tributary King Bhadra Singh Deoraja also came to mark the festival. Meghalaya Governor Ranjit Shekhar Musahari, Member of Parliament Rajen Singh, former president of Tiwa Sahitya Sabha Tulsi Bordoloi were other prominent dignitaries who graced the market with their presence. The Meghalaya Governor said that anthropologically, Lalung, Kachari and Karbi tribes descended from one mother and such a celebration can help strengthen friendly relations among the different tribes.


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Dalit students at a government-aided school study the language of the vedas

Sanskritisation turned turtle

Dalit students at a government-aided school study the language of the vedas at a time when it has been shunned by the Brahmins and upper castes who were supposed to be its sole custodians

Kumbakonam is a historical temple town in Tamil Nadu. Situated on the banks of the Cauvery, this small place had garnered national headlines way back in 2004 when 83 students were burnt alive when a school was ravaged by a massive fire. Today, the town has put the episode of horror behind. And a school, by imparting traditional teaching, has acted as a major vehicle of social change.

The Jayendra Saraswati Oriental Higher Secondary School, a government-aided academy, has turned the prerogative of upper castes to learn Sanskrit on its head. Here, learning of the language of the Vedas is imparted to students from Dalit and backward communities.

The school was started by Swami Chandra Shekarendra Saraswati, the then Sankaracharya of Kanchi Mutt in 1966. By the 1990s, the school was tottering; the building had fallen apart, there was little or no funds. Then stepped in Sri Jayendra Saraswati, the current Sankaracharya of Kanchi Mutt. Normally, the Sankaracharya will come, bless the pupils and leave. But on a visit, he called a student from the seventh standard and asked him to recite some slokas. That boy incidentally turned out to be a Dalit student. He recited the Sanskrit slokas so beautifully that Swamiji was impressed.

He spent an hour in the school and the school survived. The Sankaracharya arranged for funds up to Rs 60 lakh. The building was restored and soon the school was back on its feet. 1966, when it started out, the Jayendra Saraswati Oriental Higher Secondary School had just ten students. Today, that strength has gone up to 450.

When the TSI team entered the Jayendra Saraswati Oriental Higher Secondary School, tucked in one corner of the Karna Kollai Agraharam area on the bustling Big Bazar Street, the school was abuzz with recitation of students.

''When our school was in a very bad shape, Swami Jayendra saved us. He has told us that we should not collect higher fees from the students. Here up to the tenth standard, we teach Sanskrit like Tamil and English. Poor and backward class students study this language with a lot of interest. We don't say no to anyone. We admit all. For further studies in computer and to know Hindi, Sanskrit will come very handy. We devote more time to Sanskrit classes," says J. Baskaran, headmaster of the school. While the teachers' salaries are taken care of by the state government, the Kanchi Mutt looks after the administration.

Mostly, the students come from poor backgrounds. They are mostly children of fruit sellers, railway platform vendors, daily labourers, masons.

Thirumalai, a teacher of Sanskrit in the school, is himself an old student of this school. He has done his Masters and M.Phil in Sanskrit as well. He was teaching students of the sixth standard when TSI caught up with him. ''We teach everything, starting from Akshapyasa up to grammar. From the seventh standard onwards, classics are taught. It includes Raghuvamsa, Rathnavali, Kumarasambhavam, Krajathajunya, Kaumudhi, Dharkkasangakaraga, Dhasakumara Sarita, Prathabha Rudriayam," he said.

“These young students are like clay, they can be moulded with ease. They learn quickly,” Thirumalai shared his experience with us.

Vaishnavi, a seventh standard student, is brilliant enough to manage her class while her teacher is away in Chennai on official work. Vaishnavi is a Dalit student, her father sells fruits. She was reading out a line from Raghuvamsa and explained its significance to her fellow classmates: “This means that the Kings of the Raghu clan earned only to give away to the poor.”

Praveen Kumar from the sixth standard secured 72 marks in Sanskrit out of a possible 100 in the recently held half-yearly examinations. His father is a carpenter. Valarmathi, another Dalit student whose father is a daily labourer, is also fond of Sanskrit. Sandhya's father is a labourer; the tenth standard student has got 82 marks in her last examination.

N. Ramakrishnan, secretary of the school, tells TSI, ''Generally, you would not find students from higher sections of the society studying Sanskrit. Mostly, lower class students study the language. We don't differentiate on the basis of caste or religion. Last year, a Muslim student scored the highest marks in Sanskrit. By the way, we just don't teach Sanskrit. In other subjects also, our school students are doing good. They are passing the board examinations with flying colours."

How ironic, once considered the language of the Gods which the sudras (lower castes) were not even allowed to hear, today Brahmins and other upper castes have completely shunned it, leaving it to the Dalits to keep the mother of most Indian languages alive.

''E. V. R. Periyar, the great social reformer of Tamil Nadu, vehemently opposed the systems of caste hierarchy and Brahmin superiority. In the course, he also opposed Sanskrit. Tamils are known for opposing Hindi language when in 1937, it was made compulsory in the schools. Anyone who knows the social history of the Dravidian movement would really wonder about what is happening in this school. It highlights a social change that perhaps the keepers of this language will not necessarily be Brahmins," says Thenuga, an art and social critic from Kumbakonam.

Sanskrit, almost a dead language in India, is being revived at many levels. Perhaps making it a mass language would help it to live longer. May be this school has a bigger lesson for the people of this country.


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The UPA-II ship is caught in a vortex and it is doubtful whether Dr Singh can steer it to safety

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World Cup fever is gradually reaching a crescendo and I am sure Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must be wistfully humming ‘De Ghoomake’ in solitary splendour at 7, Race Course Road as he grimly contemplates the prospect of facing a belligerent BJP in the soon-to-start Budget session of the Parliament. As cricket competes with sleaze and serendipity for headlines, it may be time to turn the clock back a while and revisit the Cricket World Cup of 2007.

At the helm of the team was the celebrated duo of Indian Rahul Dravid as Captain and Australian Greg Chappell as Coach. Dravid was Mr Nice who sometimes surprised us with uncharacteristic flourishes of decisiveness and assertiveness. Chappell was the strategist who pulled strings (often from not behind the scenes) as the partnership between the affable Dravid and the abrasive Chappell promised to take the Indian team right to the top of the heap. For a while, in the early days of their partnership, things looked great as the team under Dravid notched up 16 consecutive One Day victories. Early misgivings about the unnatural and unsustainable nature of this partnership were swept aside as rants of frustrated fans. And then it happened. India was humbled, humiliated and hooted out of the World Cup. Sounds naughty but you can’t help wondering if the Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi partnership is not heading for a similar denouement.

Please remember, it was India that offered the job to Greg Chappell. And surely all of us know the Congress party virtually forced a deeply reluctant Sonia Gandhi to accept the thankless job of being the Congress president. Of course, beyond this, it would be churlish and insulting for India to draw any parallels between the innate dignity and maturity of Sonia Gandhi with the often comical cockiness of Chappell. Yet, as in the arena of cricket, it is both perceptions and results that matter more than intentions in the arena of competitive politics.

No one doubts that Dravid was brimming with good intentions. No one would dare question his ‘personal’ integrity. No one could even gossip about his pedigree and class and his deep understanding of the game. We all knew he was perhaps the best read Indian cricketer, erudite, knowledgeable and a thinker. And yet, many of us couldn’t help wonder if he was the right man to be at the helm of the Indian cricket team. Such strangely similar, sad and haunting thoughts have gripped many while thinking about the erudite, knowledgeable and thinker Dr Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister of India.

It would be tempting to look at recent past and scoff at the comparison between Rahul Dravid and Manmohan Singh. After all, hasn’t the partnership between Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh proven to be one of the most durable and successful in contemporary history when instability and uncertainty were the order of the day? After all, did the duo - despite all criticism and cynicism - not work electoral magic in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections when all those who harangued and harassed Dr Singh - Prakash Karat, Lalu Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav - were humiliated at the hustings? After all, hasn’t Manmohan Singh been at the helm as Prime Minister longer than any other politician in India except Jawaharlal Nehru?

All that was true in the summer of 2009 when the Congress and the UPA looked invincible. But in less than two years, those heady days of euphoria have evaporated, leaving behind a haze of sleaze, scams, rising prices and a sense of drift that is unnerving. The latest survey of Indians carried out across 21 cities by CVoter for this magazine has much that should unnerve Dr Manmohan Singh and cause him deep anguish despite the fact that most Indians still seem to be convinced that he is a good guy. Almost two-thirds of Indian voters are convinced that Dr Manmohan Singh was a better Union finance minister than a Prime Minister. A majority think he is not doing enough to tackle corruption and many more are convinced that he cares more for the rich than the poor. But the sucker punch for Dr Singh is this: three out of four Indians think that he is more of a puppet now than he was during the first term of UPA.

Of course, we all know that much as she respects and trusts him, Sonia Gandhi is not looking at Dr Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister beyond 2014 - perhaps even earlier. We know she has to look at the long term interests of her party and the cringing desperation of Congressmen to see Rahul Gandhi as the next Prime Minister of India. Politics is not about being nice and Mrs Gandhi would request Dr Singh to step aside in a heartbeat if she was convinced that a replacement ‘partner’ would be a better bet for the Congress in 2014. She has reasons to worry on this count. A majority of Indian voters say they have no idea who could be a better Prime Minister now. But the sucker punch for Mrs Gandhi is this: close to 40 per cent of voters say they would vote for the NDA if elections were held today while just 34 per cent opted for the UPA. Clearly, the astute Mrs Gandhi must be aware of the clear and present danger that confronts her party.

Is all looking lost then for the ruling establishment as it lurches from one crisis to another? Lets stretch the cricket metaphor a bit. After the World Cup debacle, a new look team of youngsters led by M.S Dhoni zapped the world by winning the inaugural 20-20 World Cup. If wishes were horses…

Shahana Mir, Housewife, Mumbai

Mitti ke khilaune bhi na saste the mele me/MaaN, baap bahut roye ghar ja ke akele me (Even Earthen toys were not cheap in the fair/Mother and Father cried upon returning home). Government policies in India mean more or less the same for the poor and the middle class, whether it be a Congress government or that of BJP. Today, the most important issue is food price inflation that has wreaked havoc on majority of the people of the country. Only a few rich people, who are getting richer by every passing day, is happy with the situation. Since the UPA always claims to work for the welfare of the minorities, the government must do one more thing for the welfare of the majority of people in India. Print and paste photographs of fresh fruits and vegetables so that the poor can remember their names to live happily ever after.

R. M. Pitchappan, Scientist, Chennai

India is a country of many variations and has many problems. But we get by as our family values are strong. Of course, episodes of corruption, price rise and mismanagement affect us. I hold the conjunction of various international and national factors responsible for price rise. But as much as government policy is aimed at helping the poor and the marginalised, the practice of giving things for free does not make sense. It kills the motivation to work. It will eventually lead only to a western farming model where big farm owners and corporates can only afford to till the land. Perhaps the government should devise a system so that it supports only those who work. In my field of science, the quality of teaching is abysmal. There is no pride in teaching. I suggest more emphasis be given to quality. There should be no compromise on quality at the point of entry.

Dasharath Pali, Local trader, Ahmedabad

I just cannot fathom what our leaders are doing nowadays. The people are struggling hard to fulfil the needs and requirements of their families. Grains, pulses, milk, vegetables, fruits, petrol… prices are going up. The common man's household budget is going out of hand. Even onions have become unaffordable. How can a person survive? Every year the government assures us that the needs of the common man are being considered in the Budget. Only concerns of the big corporate houses are factored in, leaving the aam aadmi to suffer. I hope that the government eases the tax rates because these taxes make commodities more expensive. Why should we pay Education Cess when billions of rupees are allocated each year for education? Time has come for the government to realise the situation. Otherwise, the public will make sure you are out in the next elections.

Nemai Adhikari, School Teacher, Kolkata

I expected the UPA-II to take steps for qualitative upgrade of education but it has disappointed me. The ‘education for all’ programme and change in the evaluation system have compromised quality. Being half-educated is more dangerous than being illiterate. I am also disappointed with the high rate of corruption and the government's failure to control price rise. Economic disparity is reaching an explosive stage. I think the budgetary allocation for education should be hiked to 10 per cent of the total Budget. The interest rate on PF should also be increased as this may give the inflation-hit commoner a little respite. Retired teachers and government employees depend on the interest accrued on their limited savings like PF and other funds. Having failed to arrest price rise, the government should at least provide succour by hiking interest rates on savings.

Arun gogoi, shopowner, guwahati

I am hopeful about some reform processes that have been kickstarted by the Centre such as online documentation by various government departments which would gradually help in eradicating the role of middlemen in business. Speaking on the leadership quality of Manmohan Singh, I will say he has not been a strong PM. But at the same time, he does not suffer from dictatorial attitude and Singh is running the government in a democratic way. I hope that the government becomes more transparent. In case, people and agencies are found guilty of corruption, the culprits are brought to book. The government should also ensure mechanisms so that such scams do not take place in future. The price hike of essential commodities and fuel price hike has definitely affected me and my family. The government should show prudence to address the issue without any further delay.

Dhruba sahoo, Govt Employee, Bhubaneswar

We can definitely blame the Union government for the optimum rise in prices of essential commodities. And this has created a scope for unscrupulous businessmen to hoard commodities and make money. Though the state government machinery is trying its best to control black marketeers but it has no effect. I think, artificial shortage of essential commodities is the main cause of this price rise. The people, who are responsible for this artificial shortage, should be dealt with most stringently and the harshest punishment should be reserved for them. Both the Centre and the state should adopt a long-term strategy to increase agricultural output to face this grim scenario of food shortage and the resultant price hike. At last, I have to say that the state government has a greater role in curbing price rise as compared to the Union government.

H. K. Abhishek, Software Consultant, Bangalore

I guess two consecutive terms give more time to a government to unveil a plan and implement it. Well it seems inflation has been their plan and it is never going to end. The PM said that we had a stable economy during the global recession. Well, I would agree with that for a while when compared to other countries. Today all prices - fuel, basic food, transportation – are on the rise. This government did or said nothing credible when US talked about cutting down on outsourcing and reduction in number of VISAs. They conceived several plans but I think there was no critical introspection on subjects like 123 Agreement, NREGA etc. To top it all, so many appalling scams have kept the UPA busy and people in constant wonder. I just hope they work for common people sometime and come up with real leaders rather than building up the image of Rahul Gandhi.

Pawan Kumar, Engineer in MNC, Noida

There should be more stringent laws to deal with corruption in the country. Merely enacting laws will not ensure eradication of corruption and the government should make sure that these laws are implemented too. Thanks to the UPA government's performance and rampant corruption, one is unable to live through one's salary these days. Prices of commodities have touched the sky. To top it all, if some fraud or scam is exposed, then the government tries to save the culprits instead of bringing them to book. Our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has proved to be a weak leader on one hand and on the other, Rahul Gandhi is busy promoting himself to keep the dynastic flag flying. The government is indulging in caste and religion-based politics. It seems that the bureaucracy is running the country instead of the elected officials.


For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM ranks No 1 in International Exposure in the 'Third Mail Today B-School Survey'
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"Thorns to Competition" amongst the top 10 best sellers of the week.
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS
'Thorns to Competition' - You can order your copy online from here
IIPM Mumbai Campus