The Government doesn’t give us house, allowance for our children’s education or any benefit Government has done nothing for us. Why should we stick our neck out to remove other people’s dead animals! We don’t want to be killed for the work which pays us bare minimum! I wont risk my life for money

 

“We will stop picking up dead animals if we are harassed and tortured like this“

“Why should we pay bribe every year for the contracts of removing dead animals? These contracts are reserved for us. The rate of bribe grows ten percent every year. We are threatened by government officials that they will open the contracts to general category if we don’t pay up. We should be given license for this work and not be expected to apply for contracts every year. “

“The Government doesn’t give us house, allowance for our children’s education or any benefit Government has done nothing for us. Why should we stick our neck out to remove other people’s dead animals! We don’t want to be killed for the work which pays us bare minimum! I won’t risk my life for money”

The Dalit- Muslim workers and contractors dealing with removal of dead animals are feeling terrorised, scared and angry after recent attacks by cow vigilante in Lucknow. They are also frustrated with both the police and bureaucracy’s lack of initiative in providing them protection. Their concern is supported by advocate Mohammed Shoeb of Rihai Manch – “There is a deliberate attempt to dilute the offences in the FIR in the recent case of Vidyasagar and Chhote. The local police has not applied sections of the atrocity act and also sections of IPC related to the spreading of enmity between communities”

The speculation is rife among the Dalit- Muslim contractors that that this could be a ploy to open up the reserved contracts to the general category. If the Dalits and Muslims stop applying for the contracts out of fear who will get the contracts?  Will the Caste Hindu really do this job? They almost zone out wondering why first rumours of beef and now cow carcass has been used to hit, hurt and kill Dalits and Muslims in last few years.  Is it simply love for Gau Mata? Or is there a business model there? After all the big beef export business is largely handled by caste Hindus. Could they now be eyeing these contracts? They can always employ Dalits to do the dirty work.

On July 28, 2016 , Vidyasagar and Chhotey’s vehicle was stopped by a cow vigilante group two kilometre away from Indiranagar Police Station. This is one of the posh localities of new Lucknow. The two Dalit men were transporting a dead cow on Lucknow Municipal Corporation’s usual orders.

Vidyasagar and Chhotu were abused, beaten up and threatened that they would be killed if seen again with a dead cow that wasn’t properly covered with a Kafan.

Where is the Kafan?  “Where is the Shroud?”
 

The vigilante men were livid that the dead cow had not been covered with a shroud. “Har mari gau mata par kafan hona chahiye nahee to tumhey khatam kar dengey”.  Vidyasagar and Chhotu explained to the miscreants that they didn’t have the money to buy Kafan for every cow. That it wasn’t their cow. They were asked to pick up the dead cow by LMC.
The vigilante group asked whether the Dalit men would eat the dead Cow.  Vidyasagar, a Dalit man of thirty something and Chhotey, in his forty are from Sitapur. They explained to the miscreants that they don’t eat dead cows.

What would they do with the dead Gau Mata, asked the vigilante men. The two Dalit men informed that the dead cow’s skin would be removed. Hearing this the vigilante group started hitting the two Dalit men and accused them of killing the cow, eating beef, being disrespectful towards “Gau Mata” or Cow mother.

On the August 3, when this reporter reached the Nagar Nigam office at Lalbagh Lucknow I couldn’t help notice how white the walls of the campus were. No usual betel leaf marks anywhere. Swopped and cleaned. Silent and calm. Well contained.  LMC veterinary officer Dr. Arvind Kumar Rao  mentioned that by the time contractor, Mohd Iliyas had reached the spot the vigilante group had left. The miscreants were in their early twenties. The Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) lodged an FIR with the Indiranagar Police Station after the matter was brought to its notice by the contractor. Was everything back to normal? Were Vidyasagar and Chhotu back at work? this reporter asked.

“Sab kaam kar rahey hai” Everyone is back at work. Dr Rao insisted that this wasn’t like Gujarat. The boys who harassed were not vigilante. They were miscreants of twenty something. It was not an organised attack of any cow vigilante group. Has such incidents increased in Lucknow? this reporter asked next. Dr Rao said it was a one off case. He, however, agreed that cow protection drive is on the high in the country. Dr Rao used the word Gau-Mata while talking about cow. He however, added that there is no killing of cow in Lucknow. “Only a mad person would kill a cow in this area. Miscreants just harass people. Cleaning the dead cow is extremely important else the rot will cause endless health issues in the population”.

Next this reporter met with some of the contractors and workers who deal with carcasses. Municipal corporations hire contractors from reserved category of Muslim and Dalit community to keep the city clean. These contractors hire Dalit workers to transport the dead animals from their owner’s house. It is on the call of the Municipal Corporation that the contractors send their workers to lift a dead animal. Municipal Corporations have a department for dead animals. Removal of dead animals is a serious task in any civilized society where a government and its civic bodies are concerned about protecting its people from illnesses. The men who pick up dead animals get a daily wage of Rs 300 – 350 from the contractors in Lucknow. These men on other days work as daily wage labour and make an amount of Rs 200 – 250 a day. Contrary to Dr Rao’s assessment of the situation we were informed that Vidyasagar and Chhotey have returned to their hometown Sitapur. They have decided to not risk their life. No more picking of carcasses for them. The contractors and workers repeatedly used the words “Khauf” and “Dehshat” while mentioning the mood at ground zero. The workers asked this reporter why spontaneous acts of terrorising them were so common now. They asked – Does it matter who terrorised them? Isn’t the issue that they were terrorised because they were Dalits? Does it matter who hits, hurts and terrorises? The main issue is that Dalit men were hurt and humiliated specifically because of their caste and the nature of their work.

Kamta Prasad, a Dalit contractor from Zone 1 added that such cases have happened in Lucknow before. He has faced harassment twice in last four months. Once he had rushed to Gomtinagar where his vehicle carrying the carcass was stopped by a vigilante group. When he enquired what was the fuss about, the men in Innova tried driving away. In that chaos the car hit Kamta Prasad’s head. He showed the minor head injury he had suffered.

(Kamta Prasad, Dalit Contractor of dead animals with Lucknow Municipality Corporation)

Mohd Iliyas and Kamta Prasad welcome Dr Rao’s idea of an identity card with phone numbers of LMC and Police Station. The identity-card may help their cause. Some contractors suggested that LMC should tell the owner of the dead cow to accompany the body till the destination. The workers should not risk their life for a few hundred rupees for another man’s dead cow.

Some other contractors insisted that identity card may be of help but the question is much bigger and humanitarian. Why do caste Hindus and cow worshippers not pick up their own dead cow? Why don’t they buy a Kafan for their mother? Why doesn’t the cow vigilante group engage with the cow owners and tell them to ensure kafan and last rites for their “Mata”?

They added that general caste Hindu population may never touch a dead animal, including the cow they worship. However, some business minded men may be seen soon as future contractors.  “May be the Savarn workers will be able to afford a Kafan for the dead cow. We don’t make enough to often buy one for our dead family members”, one of them mourned.

(Meanings for English only readers: Mata is Mother. Gau-Mata is Cow Mother)

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It was raining ferociously when we reached our hotel somewhere between Mcleodganj and Dharamkot on the evening of the fourth of July. We advised ourselves to stay indoors. You don’t step out on a rainy night in a terrain you don’t understand. My partner and I had settled for the TV show Durrels (based on the story of Lawrence Durrel’s family when they were in Greece) on our laptop that evening and decided to stay mostly indoors with some Momos and Thukpa (regular urban predictions). The large windows in our room and the precarious looking balcony opened to wild and dark clouds.  Behind them were the giant and magical mountains we were to explore next few days. This was meant to be a quiet holiday. The plan was to walk, trek, lounge in cafes and meditate in motion. My partner insisted I practice Wing-Chun with him. Mostly happily and sometimes not so happily, I trained with him.

Credit: Rukmini Sen

Suresh, however had some work to finish on the second day. After a large breakfast he settled in front of his laptop for the first few hours of the day. We were to meet after four hours in Mcleodganj.  The walk down the Dharamkot road is serene. Slightly slushy and slippery during the rains, but quiet nevertheless. I met old and young monks on my way down and up. Many of them were women. All the monks were in maroon robes. They looked at me, smiled and acknowledged me whenever I did the same. There were few other people on the hilly road. I clicked random photographs. Mostly of the colourful Buddhist flags.  I noticed a monk who helped a woman with a child and then he walked alone. He rested for a while alone.  Then he climbed up the road again.

Once in the mall road of Mcleodganj I decided to treat myself to some Kombucha (fermented and sweetened black or green tea good for digestion). I was very thirsty by now. So I entered this coffee shop which had many books. Once inside I skipped the books and headed towards their balcony full of bright red, pink and orange flowers. The balcony had stairs that, quite like a maze, took you to another part of the same coffee shop. This part was an open terrace. The owner of the coffee shop was friendly and political. We talked about Tibet and how Tibetans feel in Dharamshala. This conversation came back to me a few days later when a student of Buddhism became our guide at the Norbulinka monastery. He told us how most Indians were nice and curious. However, another Indian tourist was very unhappy with him because there were many dogs in the monastery. The tourist had told our young guide to go back to Tibet as according to him the Tibetans knew nothing about how a spiritual place should be kept. This student while narrating this story smilingly said “I told him we didn’t get these dogs from Tibet. This is their home”. He added that the rude tourist’s wife had smiled when he had said that.
 

Credit: Rukmini Sen

At Men-Tse-Khang which is the Tibetan Medical and Astro Institute, the Astro experts advise their clients to feed fish, dogs and animals along with poor people to resolve many life issues. For instance you may be advised to feed fish and dogs if you feel very lazy and tired.  Tibetan Buddhists clearly believe that inner harmony is possible if we also look outside and create harmony with fellow living beings not just human beings. The dogs thus are very happy in the monasteries. They are loved and fed well. None of them are, however, fat like some of the street dogs in Mumbai. May be they don’t eat plastic accidently like the animals in Mumbai.

I have wondered since that conversation with our young guide why the friendly dogs in Norbulinka had disturbed a tourist. We don’t know where the man came from and what values made him hate dogs so much! Or was it not the dogs? It was perhaps humans he didn’t understand. What makes people so sure of their own likes and dislikes? And then what is this stubborn faith that makes people hateful? What kind of values, faith and fears makes people dislike their guests?

I shudder at the thought of being a refugee, of living in exile. No community wants to migrate in such huge numbers till there is fear of life and wellbeing. Not the Buddhists of Tibet, not the Rohingya Muslims of Burma and Bangladesh, not the Bangladeshi Muslims, not the Hindus of Kashmir, not the Hindus and Sikhs of Pakistan, not the Jews of Germany.

Credit:Rukmini Sen

Buddhism, Harmony, living in exile and the free association with these words made me ruminate how the privileged travel, commute and immigrate easily and legally. The privileged can improve their state of being by legally crossing borders of state/province and nation states. However, the poor are viewed as illegal immigrants in case of national borders or an unwanted immigrant if s/he travels in his/her own country.

The poor have no right to cross borders and dream of a better life especially if s/he is not a political community another nation state can benefit from. Our young guide, a trained engineer is now studying Buddhist philosophy on his mother’s insistence. He was born in India and still belongs nowhere or so he felt when he was asked to go back to a land he knows very little about by an absolute stranger. In my many conversations in cafes, shops, meditation centres I heard people talk of their gratitude to India while they shared their pain when a few people treated them with anger and disdain.

There are different reasons given at different times to stop poor from migrating. Demography, shortage of resources, criminal leanings, religion of violence etc. We all tend to forget that our ancestors must have migrated many times, that most of our ancestors migrated from Africa! We are the same people!

I chanced upon a poetry book called SONGS OF THE ARROW by Bhuchung D. Sonam in one of the coffee shops.

He like many other Tibetans has dogs in his narrative. He is a rebel poet of sorts. Someone who denounces the middle path in his work of art. The pain of being in exile is evident.

Credit:Rukmini Sen
 
A poet’s heart must ask questions. One that needs special mention here goes somewhat like this-

A FAT DOG
My name is Migyur
I am a Fat Dog
Barking from a kennel
On a borrowed land
I am witless, shameless, gutless
But I am in charge of
This dog operation
 
Listen
My name is Migyur
I like to wag my tail
To eat all of the time
To work the least of the time
And think none of the time
I am stupid, inspid and a puppet
But I am a fat dog
And that is enough
 
My name is Migyur
I am a fat dog
Growling from my arm chair
To all other dogs
The homeless, stateless, boneless
Tails tucked between their legs
“Don’t think just bark” I order
They listen because
I am a big fat dog
 
My name is Migyur
I am a fat dog
I don’t care about
Ther fangs, bangs, gangs
But I don’t like their minds
Stirring up things
Creating chaos
Bringing change
They want a revolution
My foot! Should have said- my paw!
 
I am a fat dog
I am in charge
I give orders
Get used to me or get out!

Credit:Rukmini Sen

Sonam, the poet in exile also questions the middle path as expounded by Mahayana school of Buddhists. HH Dalai Lama also preaches the middle path of the Mahayana sect. Some in Hinayana sect consider middle path seekers as nihilists. Some in Mahayana consider their counter parts as absolutists.

Sonam writes –

Dog Dead
There is no such thing
As middle path
We al gravitate to our sides
If there is a path in the middle
I would be the first to find it
I am neither here nor there…
To her right
To your left
Far from their centre
There is a dog chewing a bone
In the middle of the path
A truck comes speeding
 
When W. H Auden said “Poetry is the clear expression of mixed feelings” maybe he meant the above. His Holiness Dalai Lama’s decision to not go to war, to leave Tibet with his people, to protect his people at all cost, to keep the peace, to wait with grave patience reminds me of a story of Sri Krishna that my brother and I loved as children. His Holiness Dalai Lama is criticised by some who stayed back in Tibet and some Tibetans who crave for armed battle against China.

Credit:Rukmini Sen

In the Mahabharata we learn that Jarasandha, the King of Madgadha, was livid when he heard that Krishna had killed Kamsa, his son-in-law. His daughters-Asti and Prapti had sent a message to him that they had now become widows.

Jarasandha decided to teach Krishna and the Yadavas a lesson. He attacked Mathura seventeen times. Before Krishna and Balarama could come up with a grand plan they heard Jarasandha had entered into an armed alliance with Damghosha of Chedi, Dantavakra of Karusa, Rukmi of Vidarbha and the brothers Vind and Anuvinda of Avanti. The alliance had only a single aim-destroy Mathura and the Yadava clan. The Kingdom of Hastinapur expressed helplessness in coming to the aid of the Yadavas.
 
Krishna was the only person who repeatedly cautioned his clansmen against the war. He then hit upon the idea of shifting the capital from Mathura to Dwarka. Krishna placed the suggestion before King Ugrasena his grandfather. Ugrasena and all other courtiers and even the commanders of the Yadava army were against flight. Balarama too, wanted to fight against Jarasandha.
 
Urgasena told Krishna that if he ran away from battle field, he would be known as a Ranchod or one who has run away from a battle field. Krishna retorted that he had no worry about any new name being given to him. “I already have many names and one more does not make any difference”, he said. “Moreover, I am willing to sacrifice my reputation for saving my people and their lives”, he said.
 
Interesting descriptions about Dwarka’s construction are found in Puranas. "Fearing attack from Jarasangh and Kaalayvan on Mathura, Shri Krishna and Yadavas left Mathura and arrived at the coast of Saurashtra. They decided to build their capital in the coastal region and invoke the Vishwakarma the deity of construction. However, Vishwakarma says that the task can be completed only if Samudradev, the Lord of the sea provided some land. Shri Krishna worshipped Samudradev, who was pleased and gave them land measuring 12 yojans and the Lord Vishwakarma build Dwarka, a "city in gold".
 
While Sri Krishna and his sermons in Gita are mentioned repeatedly whenever war/battles/fights are talked about we rarely talk about how after the Mahabharata War Krishna lived for 36 years at Dwarka. At the end, the Vrshnis, Bhojas and Satvatas destroyed themselves in a fratricidal feud at Prabhasa but Krishna did not interfere to save them.
 
Like Sri Krishna, Hazrat Mohammed is also remembered for battles and wars by his detractors and many of his followers. What we often forget is that Muhammad left Mecca, in 622 CE, after he was warned about a plot to assassinate him. The migration of the Prophet and his followers from Mecca to Medina is known as Hijra or Hegira. After leaving his home in Mecca, Muhammad hid for three days in the Cave of Thawr, located south of his home city. He then travelled north and arrived at Quba' near Medina on July 2, 622. He moved from Quba' to Medina, two weeks later.

According to the Islamic faith, the Prophet was commanded by Allah to leave Mecca for Medina. The plot to assassinate him was the result of his preaching of the revelations God bestowed upon him. He could not preach in public and he had several opponents and enemies in Mecca. Medina was the place where Muhammad started to attract more and more followers.

For the next ten years, the city remained Muhammad's base, from where they marched to Mecca and conquered it without battle. Mecca was won by a treaty not by a war. Today, Medina is considered the second holiest place in Islam and is often referred to as the "City of the Prophet," home of the "Prophet's Mosque". After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, Medina remained an important centre and was considered the de facto capital of the Caliphate.

Sitting here in Norbulinka, drinking the Tibetan butter tea I can’t help but ruminate over HH Dalai Lama’s simple lines – “Nothing is permanent, not even exile”
 
On the evening of 5^th of July, when Suresh and I sat down for our late lunch we read “Untitled” –
Hope is
A counterpoint to
Disappointment,
I wear it like
A belt whose holes
Widen each day
 
This is followed by the heart breaking lines-
 
When the sun admonishes
I cram my head into
The refrigerator
To reaffirm
My allegiance to
The cold mountains.

We were told by one of the men at the coffee shop that all Tibetans shops would be close on the 6^th of July. It was HH Dalai Lama’s 81^st Birthday. We decided to visit his temple that day and watch the students of Tibet School of Arts perform. After all, we live in interesting times. We want numerous answers about resistance, war and peace.

About time we groped for at least the right questions!

(The author, Rukmini Sen, has been an electronic media journalist for twenty years. She launched and produced shows like Special Correspondent and Seedhi Baat. For last three years she has been developing film projects for various film studios. She also edits Hillele. Org)

Credit:Rukmini Sen
 

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