‘Karmayogi’ Golwalkar Guruji- Coming Soon To A Theater Near You

By Subhash Gatade

True or false !
- RSS had participated in freedom struggle ?
- Congress had demanded help from RSS for Gandhi’s protection ?
- Godse had never been a member of RSS ?

Well, for laypersons like you and me who have the ‘misfortune’ of attending any normal school, the answers to these queries would be in the negative. But if you happen to see the yet to be released film/docu-feature titled ‘Karmayogi’ you would be enlightened with a different set of answers.

You would be told that it is a myth to say that RSS kept itself away from freedom struggle and in fact it had decided in its high level meeting to participate wholeheartedly in the struggle. (It is a different matter that till date one has not yet discovered a single freedom fighter who owed allegiance to RSS brand of Hindutva). If one goes by this bollywoodian version of Sangh trajectory, you would know that Congress government led by Nehru had made frantic calls to the Sangh bosses for Gandhi’s safety and a team of Swayamsevaks in fact happened to be brave enough to volunteer for his security

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two poems from pakistan

1)  how does it matter

so long we are forced to or free to
offer the best years of our lives 
at the altar of work
as slaves serfs or as wage-slaves
i ask my friends of economics and political science
how does it matter
if we produce more and consume more
if we produce less and consume less
if we produce  and consume more effectively
and distribute more equitably
if we produce and consume less effectively
and distribute less equitably.

so long we are forced to or free to
offer the most beautiful years of our lives
at the altar of work
as slaves serfs or as wage-slaves
i ask my friends of social science and history
how does it matter
if the human pyramids
countries firms families and identities
split or come together more peacefully
split or come together more violently.

time tells never anything
so long we are forced to or free to
worry to death
about the terms of offering
the most youthful years of our lives
at the altar of work
as slaves serfs or as wage-slaves
i ask my friends of literature and natural sciences
how is it going to matter
if we look at our present as living historical novel of future
or as science-fiction  of past.

July 2004

 

2) Bar Girls Movement
(on the demonstration of bar girls against
the ban on their profession in mumbai,
india, april 2005)

 

snatched away pains

turn into stuff of our yearnings

we long for it
fight for it passionately

 

 

this may explain

how they turn our fight for freedom

into our fight to

to remain bar girls

 

 

between

bar girls and others
name of the only difference is:

the frequency of job interviews

 

 

you think

we are alone when

we apply for jobs

looking for the highest bidder

for half an hour

three years

or half a life

 

market is glutted with

our lookalikes
now

we go on our all fours

cheap and desperate

that extra makes the difference

maket is not glutted with

our lookalikes
now

we do it with

self-respect and dignity

or something in between

dancing to the full glare of

board of  experts

our irrepressible smiles

do not forget to drop

your best lines

effortlessly

sir take a closer look at

my hair age and looks

height and colour

here is my bio-data

past records and future promises

hating my existence

as bar girl clutching at the length of chain

long before we notice

this length of chain has turned into

length of our  freedom

Gangadin Lohar
April  2005