CMS Bridging the Religious Differences

CMS Bridging the Religious Differences
by   SYED ALI MUJTABA

Lucknow: Interfaith is a subject that has to be taught very young, and doing a yeoman service is the City Montessori School, (CMS), Lucknow. Here a typical day starts with an assembly during which the children first sing and pray one God, irrespective of their religious faith. Extracts of Holy Scriptures from all religions are read and explained during the assembly.

This spiritual time is followed by an interactive discussion between the children and their Principal or teachers about the ‘Virtue of the Month’ and the various ways to implement it on a daily basis.

For each month of the year, one virtue is picked up by a ‘Board of Virtues’. Friendliness, Justice and Truth are some examples.  The ‘Virtue of the Month’ is written on the black board of the classrooms.

‘It is at as early as six or seven a child should be introduced to moral values, virtues, cultural and inter-faith diversity. The children understand many things, but are often prêt to outside influences’, says Archanaa Pande, Principal of the Asharfabad Campus.

In case the family environment cannot give such constructive social education, it is the role of the school to impart some positive influences, she explains.

The day at CMS witnesses a succession of courses with an impressive level of enthusiasm and discipline from the pupils as well as interaction with the teachers.

The school develops team spirit and ability to hold responsibilities by gathering the children in four different Houses - Hope, Love, Peace and Unity, mixing classes and ages. These Houses have tasks to fulfill and targets to match in various fields all the year round.

Similarly, as an introduction of each school happening, an all religion prayer is performed by the children wearing traditional costumes of others' religion to generate awareness, reverence and unity.

Deepa Tiwari, Principal of CMS Rajendra Nagar -I campus, says extracurricular activities encourage the children to be creative and to remain in a constant learning mode. It goes from a Book Fair Exhibition with books written by the children, to cultural dance performances, plays, seminars, competitions, and religious festivals, she says.

CMS also familiarizes the children with Indian and international personalities who contributed to the social growth and progress of the world so that they can become a real source of inspiration.

Each year, CMS organizes a series of activities to celebrate the World Interfaith Harmony Week. Each day comes with an event that encourages not only the pupils but also their parents to share and engage with others. There is a time for shared meals, exchange of cards between the children, singing, dance and quiz competitions involving the parents.

With the same purpose, Dr. Jagdish Gandhi, the founder of CMS has invented a concept of world Parliament for children where they become world leaders and discuss about the issues faced on the international stage. This exercise incites the children to find solutions and take collective action for the welfare of the humanity.

‘CMS does not content itself to provide a high-rate education, it feels entrusted with a much broader responsibility vis-à-vis the children. The school aims at helping the children to become vectors of social change for a better world’, Mr. Gandhi says. ‘CMS teaches why and how to respect others in their differences since ultimately 'God is one, Religion is one, and Mankind is one,' he adds.

'A good teacher is like a candle, it consumes itself to light the way of others'. These were the words written at the gates of the Asharfabad and Rajendra Nagar-I, Campuses of the City Montessori School in Lucknow, says Muriel Potherat, Project Manager of a Delhi-based NGO promoting interfaith harmony and called Faith Matters, who attended an International Conference on Promoting Interfaith Harmony organized by CMS’s Asharfabad Campus in July 2012 and was later there for a three-day training and observation programme.

This eye-catching quote is one among many others promoting a spiritual education, human virtues as well as oneness of God and mankind. It is even more mesmerizing to realize that these words do not only hang beautifully on the walls of CMS, they are mirrored in the daily schedule of the children, says Muriel, who works with students at enhancing interaction and respect between faith communities.

When I saw many performances of the children showcasing an inspiring model of interfaith harmony, I realized that as a child I never had such an experience during my school days, the social worker, who hails from France, said.

A child is both a hope and a promise for mankind and I can affirm with much admiration that CMS gives more than full justice to these words. I could figure out how much level of expertise CMS has developed in this field as it equips the children with the required means to overcome the continuous challenges of life and make a difference in the world. It’s not mere education, rather a way of life. And each one at CMS believes in it with humility and conviction, concluded Muriel.

As Indians if we like to pursue the philosophy of unity in diversity and relish the idea that our country never faces the scourge of communal riots, then City Montessori School, Lucknow is a role model for such nation building. It would be a beautiful dream to see each school of the country trying the CMS model of interfaith harmony and prepare the tiny tots how to live in peace and harmony.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

Stop the Madness of Hatred

Stop the Madness of Hatred
Syed Ali Mujtaba

The chilling pictures that shows the persecution of Buddhist minority in Bangladesh is shocking. I guess this has come in reaction to the Buddhists violence against Rohinga Muslims in Myanmar .

The Myanmar government doesn't deny its involvement in the slaughter of Rohingya Muslims, so it is accepting responsibility and cocking a snoot at Muslims. But why Bangladesh government should act like Myanmar .

As an Islamic country, the Bangladeshi government must bring to book the criminals behind such outrageous act. It’s high time they should refrain from blaming this atrocity on 'international conspiracy. Instead of being seen in contempt and complicity Bangladesh government should track down the scoundrels behind the attack and set an example of living in peaceful co existence.

How long such action and reaction of minority persecution will go on in South Asia ? Each of us in fact is a minority in one sense or other, if we just try scratching our identities.

The best example to site could be that of Babu Bajragi, the man who orchestrated the orgy of communal violence against Muslims in Ahmedabad. He is found to be complaining that while serving life imprisonment in jail, he finds himself as a minority surrounded by the Muslims inmates as a majority.

In fact if reports are to be believed on one occasion Bajragi was even thrashed inside the prison. What more ironical story could be better than this, when we compare the demon of a person letting loose the trail of blood and mayhem against the minority Muslim during the post Godhra riots. At that time he always thought he belongs to majority community and can get away doing whatever crime against the minority.

Anyway coming back to the point, such senseless act of persecuting the minorities is going on for long in South Asia . There seem to be no remedy in sight, no one knows, when such mindless retributions is going to stop and each group would live in peace and harmony.  

It is high time some concrete plan of action has to be made to address this issue. I have always been arguing that the religious, the ethnic, the linguistic minorities in south Asia can only be safe, under the umbrella of South Asian Federation.

If there are any takers of this idea let us take it forward and make South Asia a better place to live.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

Unbelievable -Well this happens in India!

Unbelievable -Well this happens in India!
SYED ALI MUJTABA

India is a queer land where many unbelievable developments happen every moment. Some of them are chronicled, others go unreported. Here an attempt is being made to portray the shocking side of India. If you have any problem in believing them, suffice would be to say; well this happens in India.

Have you heard about the traditional practice of senicide (killing of the elderly, whose illness gets prolonged and who refuses to die) by their own family members? Known as Thalaikoothal, its practiced in some parts of Tamil Nadu where the elderly person is given an extensive oil-bath early in the morning and subsequently made to drink glasses of coconut water that  results in renal failure, high fever, fits, and ultimately to the death.  Thalaikoothal has covert social acceptance and in some cases even the relatives called for the ceremony when it’s performed.  These days lethal injection is given to perform Thalaikoothal, to make the death less painful and prolonged. This barbaric practice continues to thrive as people seldom complain to the police. Do you have a problem believing this? Well this happens in India!

The two holy cities of India; Mathura and Vrindavan houses more than 5000 widows who are living in pathetic conditions in the ashrams meant for them. These widows move to these holy cities in their twilight years as they believe to wash away their sins and attain Nirvana if they die in these holy places. However, after their death here they are denied basic human dignity. Their bodies are disposed off chopping into pieces and packing in gunny bags and being thrown on the river banks. Do you have a problem believing this? Well this happens in India!

In the coastal Tamil Nadu at Koodankulam, a valiant and peaceful protest by thousands of local people living in the vicinity of the under construction nuclear plant was met with brutal police repression. Tamil Nadu police has filed more than 55,000 FIRs against local villagers; among them some 6800 are charged with ‘sedition’ and ‘waging war’ against the nation. Do you have a problem believing this? Well this happens in India!

Odisha dateline 2006, when 14 Adivasis, were gunned down by the Police at Kalinga Nagar for protesting against accusation of their land by the Tata Steel Company. The National Human Rights Commission had discovered that Adivasis were forced to give it up their land were without adequate compensation with police intimidating and filing false cases against them. Such treatment of Adivasis is not unusual in India; thousands of them are languishing in jails often without a charge-sheet filed against them. The general opinion that is built about Adivasi is they are a Moaist. Do you have a problem believing this? Well this happens in India!

If Adivasis are Moaist, Muslims are criminals. There are 102,652 Muslims languishing in Indian jails. The number of Muslims in jails is highly disproportional to their population. The estimated proportion for the Muslim community stood at an approximate 12 per cent in the country, whereas the number of Muslims in jails stood a ratio of 22 per cent.  According to the recent National Crime Records (till December 2010), West Bengal has the most number of Muslim prisoners with 47 per cent, Maharashtra Muslims account for 10.6% of the population, they comprise 36% of the prison population. In Gujarat, where Muslims account for 9.06%, they are 25% of prison inmates. Karnataka’s Muslim population is 12.23%, its jails have 17.5% Muslim. In Uttar Pradesh Muslim prison population is 26 per cent and in Bihar its 23 per cent. Most Muslim prison population is those of under trial than the number of convicts. Do you have a problem believing this? Well this happens in India!

In India you can also find armed extremists and criminals living comfortably in designated camps in the Northeast. They live under well-defined `ceasefire’ agreement with the Indian State. However in spite of restrictions on their movements, these militants cross the line of control at ease. Its common knowledge that they reign in night while the Indian state rules during the day. Do you have a problem believing this? Well this happens in India!

Contrary to northeast, it’s the Indian Army that holds sway in the Kashmir valley.  The life, liberty and honor of the common Kashmiri people are at the mercy of these men in uniform. They live in an open prison under the watch of the barrel of the gun oozing out of the Army bunkers. Like it or not, the paradise on earth is reduced to a garrison state. Do you have a problem in believing this? Well this happens in India!

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, is blamed for the insurgency in the northeast. The iron lady of Manipur, Irom Sharmila Chanu is demanding its repelling and is on hunger strike since November 2000. Her protest has now become the world's longest hunger striker entering more than 700 weeks. This kind of Gandhian protest once had shaken the might of the British Empire, but the Indian state seems undaunted even 12 years of such protest. Do you have a problem in believing this? Well this happens in India!

While Anna Hazre and Baba Ramdev’s fast hogged media limelight, the fast of Swami Nigamanand went unsung. The Swami, who went on fast to “Save River Ganga” was allowed to die during his protest. The Swami demanded ban on mining to save Ganga and when his fast entered the 68th day (last 40 days in coma), was admitted to Haridwar district hospital, where sheer medical negligence resulted in his death. Earlier, he was successful in closing all the stone crushers in the ecologically sensitive areas around the Ganges banks. This time he was protesting against the Himalayan Crusher Company that was continuing its operation. At that time the entire country was busy watching the high drama of fast being played in New Delhi, its total neglect of the media that took the toll of a real crusaders life. Do you have a problem in believing this? Well this happens in India!

This discussion may not be complete without the mention of the notorious mafia dons who live like kings in the prisons of UP and Bihar. They are served with the best of food and alcohol inside the prison cell. They settle property disputes; dictate transfers/promotions/appointments of government officials; they make phone calls to politicians and business leaders dictating them their demands. Do you have a problem in believing this? Well this happens in India!

One can go on enumerating such inchoate images of India, but each of them can be contoured providing the brimming side of the country. It’s often said what true about India the opposite of it is also true. Well that’s the beauty of this country. Do you have a problem in believing this? Well this happens in India!

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

No Bodo, No Musalman, First Insan (Human)  
Syed Ali Mujtaba 

There was no positive story in the recent past that was reported n the recent Assam imbroglio, except one, but before telling that lets count the negatives that has shaken us from within. First was the mass exodus of the Bengali speaking Muslims population from their shanty homes residing in the lower Assam valley?  It followed the armed raid by the murderous Bodo tribe.  There was much of blood letting and mayhem in this tragedy that triggered one of the largest displacements of population in the independent Indian history.

Unfortunately, Assam is too far from New Delhi, the seat of power and also far from the so called national media that’s more comfortable in reporting Anna Hazare and Ramdev. Even though five lakh people left there home and over 100 perished, the tragedy did not moved the national media to report it like a national crisis.

The second important development was the angry and violent protest by Muslim youth in Mumbai and the subsequent violent protest. It sparked off the question, why Muslims in Mumbai should protest for the happenings in Assam; after all they are too far away and have no connection except common religion. The argument may sound fair enough, but living in Chennai, and witnessing protest in support of Tamils in Sri Lanka, who are citizens of another country, the Mumbai protest definitely make sense to me.

The protest was to tell the government and the media to do something to address the issue and not let it to recur again. This has to be seen into the context of 1983 Nellie riots in Assam, when more than 3000 people died and not an FIR was lodged against such program.  

However, the act of Mumbai protestors to become violent is something really condemnable. It would be prudent that those indulging in acts of vandalism must be given exemplary punishment. However, Mumbai protest also exposes the laxity of the police force that did not anticipated the situation and had not made enough preparations to handle the possible fall out if the peaceful crowed becomes unruly.    

Continuing with the negative news, the story of rumor mongering mills then came in. The so called national media that could not cover the Assam story properly started giving live commentary of the fleeing northeast people from various metropolitan cities. The citizenship issue of Assam became secondary, primary was to unearth the rumor mongering factories in the country.

It was discovered that the rumors were spread through the internet using social media and the mobile phones, the modern day tools of communication. This triggered a debate how to control them from having damaging influence on the society, while others arguing that such mediums should not be controlled.

The government took the decision to put restrictions on these two sets of communication and set a precedent for future as well. Do we like to remain under such control and restricts in a democratic country is something that requires a national debate.      

Oblivious of all these facts, a youth organization, in New Delhi took a bold step to cool the social temperature that was rising due the problems related to recent developments in Assam. It assembled a large number of it volunteers at India Gate in solidarity of the people of Assam in particular and northeast in general. Youth gathered there shouted slogans of peace and non violence and harmony. They joined hands and formed human chain near Amar Jawan Joti to show the solidarity for the northeast people.

The youth shouted slogans 'we are one.’ Many placards were displayed condemning the violence and riots in Assam. One placard read; 'Na Bodo Na Muslamaan, Sabse Pehle Hai Insaan' (no Bodo, no Muslim, we all are first human beings). Many present at India Gate also joined the human chain to convey the message for restoring unity and harmony.  

“This human chain is a way to show our unity and solidarity, we also want to say that these violence and riots cannot disintegrate our society and we through our unity will rise every time together,” said Shekhar Jain, of Mission Bhartiyam that organized the peace initiative.

“We are really hurt by the recent ongoing violence and thus we feel that it is us (youths) who have responsibility to come forward and to show that we are against all violence and riots,” he added.

Ansaar Ahmed from National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations (NCHRO) who joined the human chain said; “This is the time of national emergency, our society is in danger and people must know that they are human first, not the Bodos, Hindus or Muslims.”

“We were hurt by this violence in Assam and its aftereffects. Though some organizations and individuals went there and helped in relief works, we also have responsibility towards our fellow citizens. It will be a good gesture if we all can come together to tell that we are one,” said Ms Pathak, a Mission Bhartiyam activist.

 “We, as citizens of this country and as human beings, condemn riots and violence in all forms. We also condemn the shock, the pain, the terror that the people had to face. We empathies with the people of northeast and show our solidarity and extend our support to them” she added.  

Such developments are powerful narratives of contemporary India. It lives up the adage, that what is true of this country, the opposite of it is also true. Among the stories of hatred and violent protest this little tale, was hardly reported anywhere in the media.

As this story sends positive messages- a message of peace and harmony- a message of being human first- a message that we all are Indians and we share our joys and sorrows together, it at least deserves a glance.  
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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

Crowd Management a lucrative Enterprise in India

Crowd Management a lucrative Enterprise in India
Syed Ali Mujtaba

Social activist and anti graft crusader Anna Hazare has caught the imagination of the nation and he and his team is a subject of discussion at every nook and corner of the country. The common man in India sympathises with the cause that they are championing, but some have reservations about the method being adopted to put across the point to check corruption in the country.

Let us analyze the anti corruption fast of Anna Hazare in New Delhi in August 2011. A careful study of the fast covering both the pre planning and execution, clearly indicate the enormous level of strategic planning that have gone into this public agitation.

While there maybe twenty thousand agitators sitting along with Anna Hazare during the fast in Delhi, and maybe around fifty thousand persons in different cities all over India, yet they remain a miniscule figure when compared to the total population of the country.

The hard fact is that the number of agitators who actually participated in Anna Hazare’s fast could be less than 0.01 % of the Indian population. People in the lower income group who are the real sufferers due to corrupt conditions prevailing in the country and who constitute around 30% of Indian population (more than 300 million people) did not participated in Anna Hazare’s agitation. Many people in the rural areas did not even know about this fast taking place in New Delhi.

Nevertheless, the impression that was spread around the country was that the whole country was behind Anna Hazare. The Government of India was brought to its knees by the people’s power on the streets. The protest method adopted in the colonial era, still remains the most potent form of agitation even today. It also serves a role model for groups and lobbies to launch a similar agitation to get their demands accepted by the government.

The impression that is being created is something that needs to be analyzed, because it has ominous portents for the future of democracy and the development of our country.

The credit of “highly successful” fast of Anna Hazare in New Delhi obviously goes to the skillful agitation managers or team Anna as its being called. The agitation managers had controlled the movement so tightly that no negative campaign was able to make an impact during the time of the protest. The coercive methods adopted by them may have been disliked by lakhs of Indians, but they were “silenced” by the Anna
Hazare’s strategists making more noise and diverting attention.

This is the most conspicuous part of Anna Hazare’s fast in New Delhi and it needs to be studied in detail because this could be a right subject in the management schools and can be learnt under the topic agitation management, a lucrative enterprise in India.

In recent times, the agitators in India appear to have become highly skilled and some of them seem to have turned professionals as well. It’s not a emotional outburst that forms crowd but there are certain methods and theories that needs to be applied for the formation of the crowd.

So the crowd management is an interesting area of study, because India is a democracy and power lies with the people and they need to be mobilized in the streets round the year for different reasons and different purposes. It has to be backed by sound logistics and appropriate strategies in tune with the ground realities. It’s a highly specialized job that needs to be studied in all its seriousness.

This realization is soon dawning upon and the day may not be far off, when the management schools in India will start a special course on “agitation management”, teaching the students about launching agitations in a scientific way. A money spinning opportunity appears to be awaiting the B schools in the country.

What is striking is that many of the recent agitations all over India have been “successful,” with the state and central governments yielding to the threat and succumbing to the pressures of the agitators. Consequently giving an impression that the agitators are right and the method adopted is becoming a role model to be replicated in all the future agitation in this country.

The growing trend now is that the agitators seem to be measuring and testing as to what should be the ultimate intensity of agitation to paralyse the administration and bring down the government or any other agencies to their knees. A scientific survey and right timing, well managed and well executed agitation is sure to be successful.
Given their recent “successes”, many agitators seem to think that whatever may be the cause, if they could organise ten thousand agitators in one strategic place backed by money power and skillful media management they can become successful.

In a country like India, organizing ten thousand agitators is a cake walk. The social media has come as a bonus in the crowd formation, money power and media support are the other necessities. In such circumstances, the political parties and agitating groups first organize the money power and media support before venturing to bring the crowd on the streets to launch a successful agitation.

In the strategic planning of the agitation, they also take into consideration the quality of the political leadership and their lack of credibility which they exploit superbly working out the timing of the the agitation and in framing their pamphlets and speeches.

The Anna Hazare’s fast in New Delhi fast had all such planning done in a very meticulous manner. Every thing was in place, with Sonia Gandhi out of the country and weakest Prime Minister at the helm, they know that Tinamen square cannot happen at Ramlila grounds. So with remarkable planning they launched the agitation sustained it for two weeks a time well thought out to make the government relent and declare mission accomplished.

The example that is set by the Anna Hazare’s fast in New Delhi fast has now its echo is the agitation against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu. Although opinions are divided on this issue, those against the nuclear power station had a field day. With the government unable to decide how to handle the protestors, this agitation is also considered to be “highly successful.”

The Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu is under construction since 2001 with Russian assistance. No one opposed to it and in the wake of Indo-US nuclear deal it was considered to be country’s asset in the generation of nuclear power.

However the radiation leak in March 2011 at Japan's Fukushima nuclear installation due to tsunami disaster, led to the opposition of the construction of the power plant at Koodankulam. Thousands of protesters and villagers living around the Koodankulam nuclear plant blocked the highways and staged hunger strikes, preventing further construction work demanding the closure of the plant

A group of agitators by their skillful planning and methods have been able to stall the entire progress of the massive power plant. The central government has repeatedly given an assurance of the safety of the nuclear power plant but the protestors remain unconvinced.

The Koodankulam agitators taking the cue from the successful agitation management of team Anna are also managing this agitation in the same way. They have managed the media well ensuring that the media focus remain on them and their demands. Their methods include even disrupting the meetings that would support the Koodankulam power plant.

The agitation management theory propounded by team Anna has become so successful that may political parties and agitating groups are taking note of it. In Tamil Nadu, the agitators are getting emboldened and one group is now demanding the closure of Kalpakam nuclear power plant, believed to be having India’s nuclear assets.

Now the big question is how to bring such misguided people into seeing the reasons? India is not Singapore or China where such agitations would be put down with heavy hand mercilessly. India is a democratic country and we all enjoy the right to protest.

The argumentative Indian the debating Indian is the trademark of the citizens of India. There could be different opinions and view points on every issue and in the traditions of the Indian democracy all this has to be discussed and debated in the Parliamentary forum of the country.

Parliament alone is the right forum to debate and discuss every issue that concerns the citizens and the nation as whole. The constitution has given us the rights to remove those in power if majority of people dislike any action of the government but this could be done only by due electoral process.

In such background, if this trend of a small group of people skillfully organizing agitations by their money and muscle power and media management are allowed to have a free run, it can seriously retard the stability and progress of the country.

While we all are proud of the liberal Indian democratic traditions, at the same time, we should realize that in the interest of the nation, it is necessary to ensure that frequent agitations and protests do not hamper the growth of the country.

By resorting to coercive agitations of colonial era, and at the drop of a hat, using methods like so called satyagraha and fast unto death, are highly counter productive. In fact such agitation management is leading to ‘mobocracy’ and creating a condition of unrest in the country. It’s undermining our democracy our liberal values and all the good that goes into the making of wonder that is India. It is high time that we wake up to such realities and arrest this trend gaining ground and doing more damage to the country.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

Network to Reduce Drugs Dependency in South India

Network to Reduce Drugs Dependency in South India
Syed Ali Mujtaba

The launch of the South Indian Harm Reduction Network (SIHRN) in Chennai heralds a welcome initiative for people dependent on drugs, especially those living with HIV and AIDS in the Southern States.


There is a serious concern in the southern states of India over under reporting numbers of people injecting drugs and infected with HIV/AIDS.

Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been delivering services for drug injectors for many years now, and injecting epidemics have been reported more recently in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Civil Society and Community Organizations stated their concern over the numbers of deaths being reported and the lack of facilities for care and support currently available through national and state administered services.

The current services for HIV management through needle syringe exchange programs and medication for replacing illicit or grey market opiates have been largely successful but they are simply not enough.

The challenge of co-morbidities including the presence of TB and Hepatitis C along with HIV require wider access to health systems including hospitals.

There is also a huge demand for medically assisted detoxification and rehabilitation services and a scale up of the fledging Opioid Substitution Treatment Programs in the region.

It is in this context that the South Indian Harm Reduction Network that has been launched has a huge role to play.

In a freewheeling interview with A. Sankar, Convener, SIHRN and L. Samson, President, SIHRN, the goals and objectives of the new organization was spelled out.

SIHRN aspires to bring ownership of treatment to affected communities. It wants to mainstream services that include wider health care, psycho-social support, reintegration related to employment, family support and legal aid, Mr. Sankar said.

SIHRN wants to register state level networks that will work closely with state governments and the affected communities. It also wants to strengthen services for people injecting drugs under States AIDS Control Societies. SIHRN likes to advocate for an improved quality of life for drug dependent people, Mr. Sankar added.

L. Samson, President, SIHRN said the challenge is to keep people secure in access to various types of treatment. SIHRN resolve to widen the scope of services to draw together agendas such as homelessness and drug treatment with the key stakeholders managing HIV and AIDS services for people injecting drugs.

Counseling is the glue that will hold the populations adherent to services, as optimism is required to counter the despair felt by the severe stigma and discrimination experienced at mainstream health services, and the abuse on the streets by ill informed law enforcers, Mr. Samson concluded.

The meeting of South Indian Harm Reduction Network SIHRN was held under the auspices of the Indian Harm Reduction on January 28, 2012 in Chennai. It was supported by Sharan, a NGO working on HIV/AIDS in India.

The meet was coordinated by Indian Community Welfare Organization-I.C.W.O, a NGO based in Chennai. More details on this can be obtained from Mr. A.J. Hariharan of ICWO, who can be contacted at fieldmaster2000@gmail.com.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

Painting Between Strangeness and Familiarity

Painting Between Strangeness and Familiarity
Syed Ali Mujtaba

No part of art can express any emotion if there is no some part of reality mixed into it, Emil Schumacher, the famous German painter; a representative of abstract expressionism in post-war Germany is reported to have said.

Another German artist, Ruth Bisping, showcasing her work at the Cholamandal Cultural Center for Contemporary Art in Chennai dwells upon the same thought when she says, this irreducible element is a key to any work, however tiny, however imperceptible the indication might be. In other words, this element within the painting unlocks our mind, our body and our emotions’, she adds.

This hugely talented artist who now lives in Chennai shows her work from different periods of her stay in India. Ruth lives in Germany and France but lately since over a year she is living in Chennai.

In its modern version, painting is spontaneous reflection and interaction. What appears on the canvas is not preconceived or much determined by ‘real thing. The ‘real things’ are hidden in colors and shapes of imagination, they are there, but the creative artist’s projection rules over reality, that is how Ruth explains her work displayed at the art gallery in the Cholamandal artist’s village.

Calling her painting between strangeness and familiarity, Ruth goes on to say, ‘when a painter changes her physical environment, as radical and abrupt, as I did by moving to Chennai, the content and style of my painting is adoptive to whatever changes I have witnessed after coming over here.

Who ever has seen my work in Europe that unfortunately I could not bring them to Chennai, will see the difference put on the canvas here that is reflective of Indian environment, Ruth comments on her painting.

Her paintings reflect a dedication to vibrant fluent colors to raw materiality to spontaneous imagination. Her paintings have come up over a period of one year of hard work put up at her studio here in Chennai.

As one can see, the impulsive process of her paintings showcased at the exhibition there is a transformation of her very personal sensation of the moment on to the huge canvas right in front as one enters into the art gallery.

With her works, she lures us into the quest for traces of nativness, a search in the world completely regimented by the rules of a civilization. And to view it from another perspective, a search of an uncertainty, a freedom, to be felt in space and time, an unorganized strangeness rooted in each of us and with whom we all are so familiar.

Passing through Ruth Bisping’s painting one may experience this kind of uncertainty, continuously changing position and perspective, the beholder is exposed to permanently varying ways of viewing and possibly also experiencing similar feelings.

Her paintings are rooted in gestural and in tachisme painting. The styles are characterized by the spontaneous application of color fields on to the canvas.

Apparent are the elements, a scratch, a sign, and an iridescent surface that makes her artwork so legible. This element throws light upon her painting and its meaning.

The element reveals to us an aesthetic perception of the world, a thought which in terms of Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher, only ever existed in our minds, in our bodies and in our emotions.

Undoubtedly Ruth Bisping’s painting has roots in the tradition of Jean Fautrier, Alberto Burri, Antoni Tapies and certainly of Emil Schumacher.

Ruth Bisping studied at the College of Fine Arts in Braunschweig and Bielefeld in Germany. She has held solo shows of her work in Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Toronto, Bordeaux etc. She has participated in several group shows in Germany France, Lithuania, Italy and Canada. She took part at Biennale for Installation at Gera in 2011. Her work can be accessed at www.ruth-bisping.de

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com


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