Justice in Darjeeling

A week ago, prior to the assassination of Madan Tamang, I wrote on DT, “14-15 May strike is to derail Madan Tamang's public speech on the eve of the League's foundation day rather than as cited by GJM.” Though this paradox is well noted by many other commentators too but none thought the magnitude of the said meeting would unfold as on the 21 May morning-- before he delivered his speech, Madan Tamang was no longer. One needs to ask why did the GJM plan to protest/disrupt Madan Tamang's public speech though he was in favour of Gorkhaland ?

Madan Tamang as 'a man who knew too much' 'facts and figures' on the Hill issues (including rhododendron) not only championed the cause of Gorkhaland, democracy, 'collective leadership' but also for transparency. Before he addressed the public on 21 May, he was murdered. Is there any relation with time of his murder and his speech – certainly against the Set-up and pro-Gorkhaland; and most likely on the nexus in the tripartite talk ? Did he die as a whistle-blower ?

Despite post-assassination claims and refutations between GJM, ABGL, Democratic Front, the WB Govt. as well as of the local mass and media, or between CID vs. CBI probe, 'not in favour of talk' and 'talks will continue', 'resignation' and 'withdrawal under pressure', FIR and complaints what remains consistently in the discourse is -- who killed Madan Tamang ? And what remained unmentioned -- why was Madan Tamang killed ? Unfortunately, what was left out from the discourse is not democracy but justice - 'justice for Madan Tamang'. In other words, the rule of the law should prevail rather than 'law of the land', as often the latter case is in Darjeeling.

To seek justice, it is again imperative to ask a twin question: how many murders have taken so far in Darjeeling ? And in how many cases, justice is carried out? Most of us don't know the count regarding murder but certainly we know that none of the cases have been pursued enough to meet justice beyond the customary 90 days custody at 'mama ghar' as generally referred in Darjeeling. If such is the tradition of delivering justice in the Darjeeling Hills, it is not unnatural to expect omission in the discourse, or injustice, or to take 'law of the land' – one who can bully provides 'justice' too. History of Darjeeling abounds with such form of 'justice'. And it is true about the GJM as well as the LF Govt. as it was with the GNLF. Not to mention is about so-called 'minor violations' like of 'IPC section 144', 'threat of a dire consequence', 'grooming of extra constitutional forces' and many more as many tea bushes in the Darjeeling Hills. Does this not show the failure of the law under the LF Govt. ? Or is it to let loose 'one's own people' to avail benefit of it when needed/desired ? It undoubtedly benefits one to remain and exercise power, but how far such value, ethics, and norm will continue and to what extent? To me like to many others, the most frustrating part of the exercise is that it is intentionally practiced form of 'justice' which is corrupting society, community, region, politics, generation, etc.

Finally, will justice be delivered in Madan Tamang's case ? I am  an optimist enough to expect that it will not be. But for sure, the Set-up without the Doars and Terai will be justified. In this given context where every other thing like money, siblings, children, power, etc is greater and bigger than the issue of Gorkhaland, one can hope for a form of 'justice' where mutual hide and seek takes place, where I-beat-you-cry takes place. Such is a place called Darjeeling. No wonder, I guess. More wonderful is public memory which is 'memory-full'.

Rangbull Farm

A view of the State Potato Seed Multiplication Farm from the Packing House.

Twelve kilometres away from the Darjeeling town, the State Potato Seed Multiplication Farm stretches over 356.42 acres at Rangbull (a toponym definitely of the Lepcha origin). The Rangbull Farm, as popularly known is situated a kilometre down from the national highway connecting Darjeeling with Siliguri, and can be seen from the highway, too.

As a part of the Grow More Food campaign under the British Army, the Rangbull Farm came into existence in 1945. The vegetable cultivation was encouraged and was war supplied all over the Middle East, through the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway upto Siliguri. The produce was packed at, known till today as the Packing House with an office nearby (to be specific both at Bangladara on the national highway), now both privately owned. In the subsequent year, due to the lack of budget the campaign had ceased its operation.

In December 1947, the state government again started the potato farming on the organised way on 100 acre plot leased from the Amalgamated Tea Estate, till 1963. Rangbull despite being famous for cabbage (a local variety is named Rangbulle Banda), the State Potato Seed Multiplication Farm was established at Rangbull to produce, multiply, and supply through the government network all over India, disease free and wart immune potato seeds. Moreover, availability of the land and feasibility promoted the idea into practice. Further, the climatic and agronomic factors further encouraged the growth and production of high altitude potato, though the crop production is lesser than in the plains because of less sunshine with an annual average of four hours daily, fertility erosion by rain water, and the high weed growth. The step of establishing farm at Rangbull was warmly welcomed by the locals as it provided employment opportunity in the post-World War II era. Later, the Rangbull Farm became not just a source of livelihood but also as a centre of their existence with many legends attached with it.

In 1963, the West Bengal government cancelled the lease and nationalised the Rangbull Farm. Then after, it emerged as a major potato seed multiplier with the extension of the farm land to 365.42 acres including both the Sonada and the Rangbull units by converting the fallow land into arable land. With the extension, it was expected to be one of the largest potato farms in Asia. For the convenience of acreage, budget, production, supervision, and labour input, the farm, lying between 5, 500 feet to 7, 000 feet above the sea level was divided into six blocks with natural boundaries of streams, marsh, hillocks, etc. Before nationalisation the sole in-charge of the Farm was the Inspecting Officer (Potatoes) but after the nationalisation it was under the Economic Botanist in the Directorate of Agriculture of the state government, and many of its daily wage workers were made permanent staff. Since the fag-end of the last century, it is incorporated under the Agriculture Department of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.

The seed multiplication was practised on terraced fields with traditional implements like hoes, spade, forks, etc. Later on, hand driven cultivator tractor and traditional plough were experimented to pulverise the rich brown forest soil. Both inorganic and bio-organic manures were used to yield better result. The seeds were planted in November and harvested in July. Sometimes, crops were damaged by hailstorm, and wild animals, but not a single case of theft is registered so far.

In its first year, the Darjeeling Red Round, a local high altitude variety was cultivated but due to less production because of very high disease risk, it was successfully replaced by a plain variety. In 1959, the imported seeds from the Netherlands, of which a white-skinned and a red-skinned variety called Ackersegan and Pimpernel, respectively were introduced in the Farm. Their success story has now became a legend as they were more immune to diseases and were heavily demanded throughout India. Since 1965, the import of seed potato from Myanmar known as Rangoon seed had virtually stopped and the short-supply was largely made-up by the produce of the Rangbull Farm. Later on, Kufri Jyoti, a Shimla variety was introduced which also achieved a major success, and is common among the local cultivators, too. During the 1990s , the Bhangjyang White Long (BWL), indigenously developed hybrid of Pimpernel and Ackersegan at the State Potato Experimental Station, Ghoom Bhangjyang, and Kufri Jyoti were cultivated in the plot-rotation basis.

The State Potato Experimental Station at Ghoom Bhangjyang, twelve kilometres away from the district headquarter on the Darjeeling–Mirik road was established in 1944 to conduct breeding and agronomic research for finding out better varieties of potato in respect of yield, quality, and disease resistance and also to ascertain the optimum cultural and manurial requirements of the crop. An experiment that started on the five acres taken from the Forest Department is the oldest potato research station in the hills. Later the Station was extended to eighteen acres, where various experiments were carried on with the limited amenities like an insect–proof glass house and a small field laboratory. The improved potato strain are Ackersegan, B-1965, Ultimus, and BWL both for the hills and the plains, and Pimpernel for high altitude cultivation show casing the achievement of the Station. During the 1987 crop season the three varieties of potato were evolved which proved a resistant to the devastating blight disease, also. But with the passage of time, the condition of the farm has become much deplorable as if it has got blight. “The field research especially hybridisation, specing and such under the Economic Botanist III are now conducted on the only thirteen acres for about seveenteen varieties without the glass house, the laboratory and more surprisingly the post of a permanent research officer is vacant for more than twenty years,” said Mr K.B. Rai, a Krishi Prajikti Shayak (KPS) at the Experimental Station in 1997.

A large number of research relating with potato multiplication technique like cut-tuber, side croping with cabbage, etc. were conducted out at the Rangbull Farm, too, with a small field laboratory with few equipments especially to fight viral and fungal diseases. The Farm is proud of finding cause and remedy for leaf rot, mosaic, and wart (The Central Wart Testing Station at Aloobari, Jorebunglow is now the Orchid Centre). In his nineties, Mr K. B. Shah (popularly known as Shah bau), an ex-overseer of the Rangbull Farm under whose tenure the Rangbull Farm enjoyed its golden period, states his experiences with other academicians and proudly recollects his days as a co-worker with Dr H.C. Chaudhary on the high altitude potato. The research scholars from all over the world had conducted their experiments at the Rangbull Farm. But he admits that the Rangbull Farm being situated on the windward side did not permit to be suitable for hybridisation process.

In 1956, the Rangbull Farm had a pucca motorable road connecting the national highway, enabling the Farm to had its own tractor for transportation of farm input and output. In its peak, the Farm had five godowns, two staff quarters, a garage with a tractor, an office, and a laboratory which were reduced to ashes, and the locals did help to clear the left over in the turbulent 1980s. The roads and bridges were damaged by both the human and the climatic factors after the downfall of the Farm. In the late nineties, it was turned more into a playing field, grazing pasture, quarry, etc. than the multiplication farm, once famous all over India. The Kalyani University, too put a side the Rangbull Farm for a proposed regional research station like that of Kalimpong, due to poor existing infrastructure. Whatever its condition has become, not an inch of the farm land is occupied by the locals as they still feel and adore the Rangbull Farm as their bread baker. Moreover, they are hopeful that once again it will retain its glory.

After the Ghising led movement for Gorkhaland, the cultivation which was once carried up to 170 acres, was now practised only on 15 acres and 25 aces at the Rangbull and the Sonada unit, respectively both under the Rangbull Farm. The lack of better co-ordination between the management and the labourers, and proper field supervision, absence of field office and inspecting officer have further deteriorated the farm. In the administrative side, meagre funding, cow dung and seed availability problem and delayed labour wages were also responsible for its collapse.

The issue of the common interest – permanency of labourers as Krishi Shramik, which gained a tempo in the mid 1990 is far from the reality as the farm cannot employ its all registered labourers for more than 240 days a year in its current condition. This demand also depends upon the smooth functioning of the Rangbull Farm, which primarily depends upon the godown.

The produce were once stored in the private hired godowns with poor storing facilities which was not economically beneficial. “Godown is the mother of all the issues concerning the farm's growth and development,” said Mr Samsher Chettri, Principal Agriculture Officer in 1997. After being incorporated into the Agriculture Department, DGHC, the councillor and the secretary of the Department realised the need of godown and reconstructed one each at Rangbull, Sonada and Bhangjyang.

The first time under the DGHC, seeds from the Sikkim State Seed Corporation to rotate the seed species, experiences like from Mr K. B. Shah for the better cultivation and management and the technical guidance from the State government were sought. However, along with the improvement of the infrastructure and the office of the Agriculture Development Officer (Potatoes) at the Rangbull Farm site for better technical supervision and implementation of schemes were never realised in practice.

In 1997, the Principal Agriculture Officer aspired that “the Agriculture Department will provide adequate budget to revive the legacy, and within less than five years in phase-wise, the farm will be better than the before.” However, in reality the condition of the Rangbull Farm has worsened with every passing year, and has almost cease to exist. This labour-dependent farm's progress relies not only upon the labourers' commitment which abounds in plenty but on the vision of the leadership who decides, unfortunately, for this heritage farm, once famous all over the world. In the context of today's Darjeeling, paradoxically, it is their political vision which will decide the fate of such long standing tradition of the hill people to become bright or blight.

http://www.darjeelingtimes.com/dtnews/main-news/citizen-news/623-rangbull-farm.html

Tea & Nepali

About the history of tea plant in the Darjeeling Hills, it is a well known fact that tea was not cultivated as a crop in the Darjeeling Hills prior to the plantations started by the British. So far known history of Darjeeling tea, thus, begins with the Chinese saplings in the British plantations and the Nepali labourers. This points to the fact that tea plant is exotic to the Darjeeling Hills. On the other hand, Fred Pinn (1986) in “The Road of Destiny : Darjeeling Letters 1839,” mentions sighting of a tea tree in the wild near Mahaldiram which is prior to the cultivation of tea as a crop in the Hills. Now, this points that tea plant is not exotic to the Darjeeling Hills (at least, Mahaldiram).
At the cultural front, the tea drinking culture -- black tea prepared out of brick tea was not exotic to the locals specially among the Bhutias. This fact is supported by a Nepali word “चिया" which is derived from Tibetan “chha" < Chinese "tchai/cha" rather than from English “tea” < Dutch “tay” < “tay” in one of the Chinese dialects. This leads us to point that the Nepalis were accustomed to “चिया" prior to the British introduction of “tea” but not to the latter's command. Hence, कमान was borrowed and nativised into Nepali from English "command." Interestingly, it also proves that the Nepalis were resident of the Darjeeling Hills along with the Lepchas and the Bhutias prior to the opening of the tea gardens rather than after the opening of the gardens – an impression generally provided in the gazetteers. This fact is also proved on the basis of other accounts by scholars like Dr. Kumar Pradhan.
However, I have not come across any mention of /account on tea plant either in local botany nor in cultural resources like folklores, tales, etc. so far within my limited study. I would be interested to find/collect the account of the Lepchas, Bhutias, & Nepalis on tea plant in rituals, folk tales, songs, narratives, etc. but not related to the British plantation.

Flavours of SL Morphology

Recent research on Sign Language (henceforth, SL) morphology has discovered evidence that SLs exhibit a complex morphology in two flavours- simultaneous and sequential. The difference between the two flavours, Aronoff, Meir, & Sandler (2005: 309) mentions, ‘[T]hese two types of morphology differ from one another with respect to the phonological means they employ, the grammatical categories they encode, their productivity, and their diachronic development.’

The sequential morphology is affixal- grammaticalised from free lexical items, derivational, do not involve morphosyntactic categories, and of limited productivity. Such sequential morphology is found in ASL and IrSL and is rare in both the SLs. In the former flavour, the different morphemes of a word (see Zeshan (2002) for the notion of word in SL) are simultaneously nested over each other by altering the direction, rhythm, or path shape of the citation form of sign, and not by sequencing new phonological segments to the word. The morphologically complex structures- verb agreement, classifier constructions, and verbal aspects- are inflectional and productive. There are deep-seated cross-linguistic similarities in the grammatical categories these forms encode as well as the form they take in their morphological structure.

Simultaneous is sequential
Stokoe’s (1960) phonemic analysis of ASL sign took three formational parameters- HAND CONFIGURATION, LOCATION, and MOVEMENT- (note that ORIENTATION (ORT), the fourth formational parameter, was identified in 1974 by Robbin Battison) to be articulated cotemporally. His analysis also revealed that signs are organized simultaneously (simultaneity is found in every level of SL structure. Various motivations have been given for the simultaneity in SL (see Klima & Fischer 1972; Klima & Bellugi 1979; Supalla 1991)) unlike words of spoken language, which later came to be known as the simultaneous model. Stokoe recognized that at least some elements of signs had to be ordered sequentially, even if the articulation appears simultaneous (Liddell 1984). Supalla & Newport 1978; Padden 1983; Liddell 1984; Sandler 1986; and other researchers proposed the sequential model based on the movement sequences. They analysed the sequential nature of MOVEMENT in sign, and have decomposed into elements arranged either in sequence or simultaneously with sequential elements (Padden 1988: 257).

Sequential is simultaneous
Supalla (1982) approached the phonological structure of ASL signs by focussing on a subclass of morphologically complex signs- verbs of motion and location. Unlike other signs, a verb of motion and location is morphologically complex where each phonological unit is also morpheme (such single feature morpheme involving palatalisation and tonal modification is found in Japanese and Chichewa, respectively (as cited in Schembri 2003: 8)) reflecting the same structure for the phonological and the morphological organisations. A single string of signs can mean ‘A vehicle passed through the hill and turned up near the tree.’ In this string handshape and orientation which remain the same throughout the string without being taken back to the normal neutral position (a position of hands where and when a signer is at rest i.e. no sign is formed), denotes VEHICLE-Classifier (see Supalla 1982 for details; Schembri 2003) and upright position, respectively. The change of the orientation denotes that the vehicle is turned up. Such construction is simultaneous at the level of morphology and sequential at the level of syntax.

To sum up, there is a kind of continuum/overlapping between different levels in their organisation in SL. The simultaneous morphology is found in all SLs studied so far- a SL universal (Emmorey 2002) and form a language type in which no known spoken language falls under it (Sandler & Lillo-Martin 2001).

Mainwaring's Rong Grammar

The Lapche (Anglicised Lepcha) is an appellation given to the Rongs by the Nepali society. They prefer themselves to be called the Rong i.e. the squatters, and their country, the land of caves. History regards and proves them as the early settlers in all the hills of Darjeeling and Sikkim. Most of the name of the places in Darjeeling and Sikkim derive from the Lepcha origin. A few on the tip of the tongue are Badamtam (the bank of the Padam bamboo), Chungtong (the arrow headed place i.e. a site at the junction of two rivers), Lebong (Alibong i.e. The tongue like spur), Mahaldiram (the source of the river Mahaldi), Phalut (Fak–lut, the peeled summit mountain), Rangli (the Lepcha's house), Rangpo (the wandering or shifting river), Rongtong (the southern river), Senchal (the damp misty hill), Sonada (the bear's lair), Tendong (the uplifted horn – a sacred mountain which saved the Lepchas by miraculously rising above the great flood), etc.

They have a language of their own called by them Rong-ring. It is another major Tibeto-Burman language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan languages family, spoken in Eastern Nepal, Sikkim and Darjeeling, other than Newari. Robert Shafer, an American scholar on Sino-Tibetan studies has stated that Lepcha is really a branch of the Naga group of a Tibeto-Burman as opposed to a general belief of associating it with the Austro-Asiatic speech family. He has expressed his wonder in the following words, “It is remarkable how this Naga language has found a home in Darjeeling, so far away from the Naga hills.” The national professor,Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji regards it as one of the oldest Sino-Tibetan Languages to find a home in India, showing no evidence of Austric contact and influence.

'A Grammar of the Rong (Lepcha) Language, as it exists in the Dorjeeling and Sikkim Hills' by Colonel G.B. Mainwaring of Bengal Staff Corps is the first book in the linguistic study of Rong language. By the favour of the British government in India, he was enable to present to the public a short grammar of the Rong in 1876, fifty six years after the publication of the first Nepali Grammar by J.A.Ayton, both printed at Calcutta.

In his preface, Colonel shares some acquired information relating to the Lepchas and their country. Having no written, or authentic traditional oral records, the pioneer grammarian, is not able to discover the exact period at which the first migrated into the Darjeeling and Sikkim Hills. An important piece of information shared by him is their history from the time of the Lepcha King, Turve, who apparently ruled them about six centuries ago, and about this period, they probably entered the untrod hills.

The Lepcha language is a monosyllabic one and is unquestionally far anterior to Hebrew or Sanskrit.Colonel Mainwaring pronounced Rong-ring to be the oldest language in the world. His high regards for this language could be underlined in his words, “Of the language I cannot speak too highly. The simple and primitive state in which the Lepchas lived is admirably shown by it. It has no primary words (beyond the words for gold and silver) to express money, merchant or merchandise, fairs or markets. Their peaceful and gentle character is evinced by their numerous terms of tenderness and compassion, and by the fact that not one word of abuse exist in their language. Neverthless the language is most copious, abounding in synonyms and possessing words of meaning, it admits of a flow and power of speech which is wonderful, and which renders it capable of giving expression to the highest degree of eloquence. The language also attests the astonishing knowledge possessed by the Lepchas...It is invaluable to the philological world. It however recommends itself to us on higher grounds; it possesses and plainly evinces the principle and motive on which all language is constructed.”

Colonel Mainwaring states that the advent of the Europeans was the first real blow the Lepchas, the free sons of the forest, the hearty yeoman of the land, the lords of the soil received. They became the servants of servants. Their language which was once the lingua franca, which all Tibetans, Bhutias, and other who entered the hills acquired and spoke, in which business was carried on under Colonel Llyod's time, and justice in the English Courts were administered and documented was set aside, and Hindi was made the chief language in Darjeeling. Later on,Tibetan became the medium of communication between the Sikkim and Darjeeling Governments, consequently the Lepcha nationality and language dried up. The ravages of time have not spared the Lepchas, too. The present day socio-political developments are leading them to cease their identity. That is why an elite Lepcha, Mr A.R. Foning feels his tribe “vanishing”.

The Rong Grammar is simply written to assist the learner, not to challenge the strictures of the critic, painstakingly their own Rong script, which derived ultimately from Tibetan, hence, of the Brahmi origin, is printed with its Roman equivalence with diacritical marks, and English gloss. The Lepcha Script is said to have evolved after the roundular variety of the Tibetan script known as bu-can (pronounced U-che) in about the middle of the 17th. century.

Out of the deep regards and humane sympathy for the Lepchas and their language Colonel G.B. Mainwaring has further stated, that “a dictionary will follow if his health and circumstances follow.” He feels "to allow the Lepcha race, and language to die out would indeed be most barbarours, and inexpressively sad.” His primary objective in bringing out the Grammar was to revive the employment of the Rong language and welfare of the race, both of which have been too long neglected; if, its mission would be fully gained.

It is highly desirable to set up a Lepcha Study Centre under the Human Resource Development Ministry in Sikkim as to preserve and promote the Rong as one of the world heritages.

(This write up was written in 1998. Thanks to Rupesh Rai for digitalisation from remington typeface on butter paper).

Deaf community in India

At the turn of the last century, accounts of various communities in British India came into light (primarily as a part of colonial project). One such account that aroused interest especially amongst sign linguists is about the Angami Nagas. Allen (1905) in Assam District Gazetteers, Vol. IX, Naga Hills and Manipur claims that deaf-mutism amongst the Angami Nagas in the Naga Hills was eight times higher than the national average, where every second person was deaf-mute. Further interest was stimulated by Hutton’s (1921) account of the use of sign language by the deaf as well as hearing in the Angami villages, for communication between different villages speaking different languages. Although there is no means by which this claim of deaf villages may now be verified a hundred years later, Miles (1998) suggests that this may have been true, given the prevalence of Iodine deficiency disorders - often a causal factor resulting deafness - in the mountainous regions of South Asia. O’Malley (1907) reports about higher prevalence of deaf-mutism in Champaran. Similarly, Ibbetson (1883) reports the high prevalence in some hilly and mountainous districts of Punjab, and Srinivasan’s (1964) biomedical study at Bettiah, Bihar. Deaf mutuism in Guntur, Andhara Pradesh is reported due to genetic factor promoted by cultural practises (Mazumdar 1972).

In contemporary times, as well, reports claiming an exclusive deaf villages where sign language is used as a medium of communication among the villagers have occasionally been made. One such report published in 1991 by a journalist, Shivananda Kalave is about the two tribal villages, Basanavakoppa and Sullali (generally called ‘Silent Village’) in the remote forest tract in the Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka. The population of these villages is more than 500, of which 30% of the population comprises of deaf people. After reading this report, a Rotarian Dr. Desai in his campaign to eradicate deafness launched the Project Deaf India was launched from Mysore in 1999, in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Newport Balboa, District 5320, USA, and the Gallaudet University, Washington D.C. It was claimed that multiple causes - hereditary, personal hygiene, environment, nutrition, and cultural and social practices - were behind this high rate of deafness for generations of inhabitants of these villages (Source: www.projectdeafindia.org). A macro-level study has reported “they [deaf] were communicating with gesture and lip reading, a skill passed down along generations all these years” (http://projectdeafindia.org/ report).

To ascertain the facts, I visited the villages in spring 2005, along with Debra Grossman from UCLA who was making a film on Deaf community in India, and Ramakrishna, a Deaf Indian Sign Language teacher and activist. A local resident informed us that the village population is comprised of the Siddhis and the Gaurs. We found that none of the villagers were in fact deaf, except a boy and an old lady who are hard of hearing.

Our visit to the village school and other places, followed by a discussion with the teachers and the different members of the villages, led us to believe that there is no deaf community in these villages. The villagers disputed any high incidence of deafness in their villages and asserted that people were conspiring to get benefit out of it. Moreover, they had serious grievances about this characterisation, as they said that the villagers faced problems in matrimonial alliances, given the scare that there was a genetic factor responsible for deafness in their children. Our discussion with the teachers of other deaf schools and institutes in other parts of the district made it explicit that the claim was a hoax. This claim is made on the basis of my Ph.D. field trip, spring 2005. (The field report in a CD ROM is available with the author).

This is not to suggest that all such reports are false. Reports from Dadkhai -- a remote village in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir and called by the locals as “the cursed village” -- deafness has prevailed for more than a half of century, reportedly affecting 40% of the population (ANI/Reuters 9th.July, 2001, Reference 7449/01, Tape 7320). A recent report (Hindustan Times, 9th.Feb., 2007) suggests that 24% of the village population is deaf, including newborn as well. The Central Health and Medical Education Ministry has deputed doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences to identify the cause; however, little is known about the sign language that people use to communicate with each other.

The existence of such populations once again highlights the need for both a survey of the Indian deaf community and their sign language(s), as very little is known about either the people or their languages. New Linguistic Survey of India (NLSI) focuses on these issues. But we don't know where it is cornered, in which file, in which/whose office, and why.

Bollywood & Dollywood

In India, Hindi cinema (Bollywood in popular parlance -- a world of its own) is the most popular and culturally validated source of entertainment. Its representation of different persons and communities is therefore of great cultural and political significance, and these often generate political and communal controversies. Hindi films have also portrayed deaf (I take this liberty to call Deaf world as Dollywood) characters a few times over the century of its existence -- not only as stereotypes, but also as protagonists. I consider four popular movies of their time to assess the socio-cultural representation of deaf, sign language, and the perceptions about them they have given rise to.

One of the earliest movies in which deaf characters are protagonists is Koshish (An effort) directed by Gulzar, and released in 1972. Starring two widely known actors of the film industry, Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri, the film is a sensitive portrayal of a deaf couple’s romance and the struggles and hardships they have to face to survive with dignity. The characterisation and setting is natural enough to touch its audience, even though the director has taken the cinematic liberty to use written language as a mode of exchange between the characters, (although sign is also used). The film also shows the deaf couple’s yearning for a hearing child and the loss of their first child as they were not able to hear their child’s cry on that fatal night. The most impressive and radical proposal that surfaces in the film is about matrimonial alliance of the protagonist’s hearing son with a deaf girl, thus countering the prevalent notions about matrimony in Indian society. It is one of the most progressive of all films on deaf characters, where the deaf are not just stereotypical characters arousing sympathy, but are presented as an important and equal force in the creation of a more sensitive and modern Indian society.

Khamoshi (Silence) (1996), directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a story of a hearing daughter of a deaf couple who aspires to become a singer. The national award winning actors Nana Patekar and Seema Biswas are the deaf couple. The film shows their yearning for, and joy over, a hearing child and how this child becomes the deaf couple’s support and voice in their later life. Though sign is used at various points in the movie, it is not Indian Sign Language (henceforth, ISL).

In contrast, Black (2005) by the same director is a story set in pre-independent India of an Anglo-Indian deaf-blind girl and her tutor starring Rani Mukerjee and Amitabh Bachchan, respectively. Initially, the film opens with an impression that a deaf-blind child is possessed by a spirit, rather than a child who is not able to make sense of things around her because of deafness and blindness. As the movie moves on, we find that she learns and uses tactile sign language in the movie; however, this is not ISL but rather some signs from American Sign Language (ASL). The movie ends on a positive note -- she becomes a graduate after many years and gets some degree of independence in her life, and starts to help her tutor who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.

Director Nagesh Kukunor’s Iqbal (2005) is about a 20 year old talented deaf boy from a village who aspires to play as a bowler for the Indian national team. The movie is about his struggle and journey to become a bowler in the Indian team. The lead character of the movie, Iqbal, played by Shreyas Talpade, is a school drop-out as his farmer family was not able to send him to a deaf school in Mumbai. The social setting of the movie shows that the deaf boy has no friends in his village, and his closest companion is his sister, who signs and interprets for him (although Iqbal can lip read slow speech). The director has successfully integrated sign and speech in the movie, where many of the main characters sign and speak. Interestingly, signs are not limited to gestures, and many of the signs are from ISL. Like in Koshish, Iqbal is not a character whose sole motive is to inspire sympathy; rather, it is his talent as a bowler that the film ultimately highlights, and Iqbal’s struggle is to play cricket is as much a young person’s struggle against conventional fathers who do not understand or accept her/his aspirations, as it is about a deaf person’s desire to succeed in a sport that is the hegemony of the hearing. The movie thus also sends a message that Indian cricket as a sport must be a sport that values the talent (rather the hearing or deafness) of its players, thereby questioning current Indian reality, where there are separate teams for hearing and deaf players.

These three films all had a significant impact on societal attitudes. Most prominently in recent times, Iqbal enthused Indian children so much that the National Council of Education Research and Technology now acknowledges sign language as one of the mediums for primary education. The National Curriculum Framework 2005, which endorses child-centric education, advocates ISL based education of the Hearing Impaired. This notwithstanding, none of these films portray the existence of a deaf/Deaf community for their protagonists, who are all alone (or at best with their partners) amidst a hearing society. Moreover, these films have had little effect in permanently altering social attitudes towards deafness as social stigma. A case in point is Ashvin Kumar’s short film The Little Terrorist, which was India’s official entry for Oscar in short film category in 2005. The film is about a Pakistani boy who crosses into the Indian territory while playing. As the story progresses, the Indian family hides him from the patrolling party. In one incident, he pretends to be deaf to avoid the queries of the patrolling officers, and in the process brings to the fore all the stereotypes of deafness as, as signifying social isolation and diminished intelligence.

During a screening of The Little Terrorist at JNU (11.04.08), I asked Ashvin about the lack of political correctness of this portrayal, and he justified as being reasonable in the context, and without an intention to offend. He welcomed my lone intervention and said if it made people to react, then that was a positive development. May be I am not alone next time.