<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">The Constitution for these Puneites is not a piece of paper. It is a way of life, something to stand by, something to live for...<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">JUSTICE...</span><br /><br />A banner put up by a saffron political party at a Pune rally in July 2003, caught the eyes of a young legal eagle.
“The banner depicted a saffron flag hoisted atop the Vidhan Sabha Bhavan with the words ‘Control over the State Assembly is our strategy’.<br /><br />“According to the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act of 1950, no one is allowed to use pictorial representations of any national monuments or buildings for personal, professional or commercial use, without prior permission. Secondly, according to the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act of 1971, no other flag is to be substituted for the national flag. In short, the banner was illegal and sent out the wrong message,� says advocate Asim Sarode, who then filed a case against the organisers of the rally.<br /><br />After repeated meetings and talks with Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha representatives, where Sarode filed the case, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) at the Wanowrie police station received a confidential letter from the Lok Sabha Secretariat, saying that the organiser was guilty of violating the law and appropriate action should be taken.<br /><br />Speaking of the victory, Sarode says, “As per the Acts, the offender is required to give an apology letter and a fine of Rs 500. It may seem a small victory, but these things are as dangerous than an attack on Parliament. Tomorrow, if someone puts some other flag on the Vidhan Sabha, there will be riots and human rights will be violated.<br /><br />These acts are highly unconstitutional and we citizens have to take a stand and question our leaders when they knowingly make such grievous mistakes.� Adds Sarode, “When people do unconstitutional things like this, the seeds of discontent are sown. It’s not a question of making a leader feel smaller, it’s a question of upholding the law and preventing the destruction of our country’s secular fabric. As a human rights activist, I have to take a stand. If our leaders themselves break the law, what hope do the common citizens have for a better life?�<br /><br />Zahra Khan<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">LIBERTY...</span><br /><br />THE play, Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy will go down in the annals of Indian drama as one of the most controversial plays. Tusshar Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, objected to the advocacy of the play on the grounds of freedom of speech.<br /><br />After its seventh show, lathi charges, demonstrations and mayhem ensued. A bus carrying props was burnt down in Mumbai. The matter was taken to court. After a twoyear ban, (1999-2001), the play opened again. Director Vinay Apte stood in the midst of it all, tall, proud and unrelenting. Today, as much of the controversy is part of theatre history, Apte says, “It was a challenge.�<br /><br />Apte points out that most of those opposing the play, had not seen it. “There was nothing controversial about it. I am not Nathuram’s advocate. What was depicted was not something that people had not heard about. There were no revelations and no comment to demean or ridicule Gandhi,� he says. So, was Mee Nathuram just a victim of politics.<br /><br />“In the olden days, political games would have been garlanding a political figure with chappals. Well, this entire barrage against Mee Nathuram,was just a diversification of political games,� he feels. However, the play was not easily forgotten. “People kept asking me when it would open again. The people who had bought tickets for the eighth show, preserved it and did not ask for a refund, hoping that it would see the light of the day,� Apte adds.<br /><br />“I thought it would attract a critique, or a silent demonstration. While doing it, I was careful and had softened the language,� he adds. Today, Apte’s victory lies in the fact that when the play opened again, it ran to full houses, and has since, completed 300 shows. Needless to say, the ban got the play unwanted publicity. “Whenever a director does a play, he assesses the life of the play. The ban, added to the life of the play and it overshot my modest estimation,� he smiles.<br /><br />DEVAYANI SHAHANE<br /><br /><a href="mailto:devayani.shahane@timesgroup.com">devayani.shahane@timesgroup.com</a><br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">EQUALITY...</span><br /><br />DELIVERING hard-hitting speeches, organising Belan Morchas or brain-washing the female species to hate the Orwellian “more equals� called men. <br /><br />If this is what feminism means, Medha Samant never was a feminist. But ask the women residing in the Karvenagar slums about Samant and they will call her a demi-goddess, who helped them break the chains of dependence and stand up for themselves, their family and the community.<br /><br />“I just used the plan -showing the slum women a dream of a decent life and providing them with micro-credit to fulfil it,� says Medha, “along with the credit society lending money to more than 3,000 clients, today, we have eight other empowerment services for these women.�<br /><br />The constitution vows to ensure equality of opportunity and status to women. Medha’s formula is clear - if you give equal opportunity first, equal status will follow. That’s why, the Annapurna Mahila Mandal (AMMPU), provides vocational training (udyampurna), family counselling (shantipurna), placement and legal advice (sandhipurna), health insurance and low-cost crèche facility (vatsalyapurna), for these working women.<br /><br />“Today, the husbands of these empowered women have become active members of the AMMPU, as they benefited from our housing and business loan facilities,� smiles Medha, “But the best part is to see the confidence these women have now, when they tell their friends about their new achievements.�<br /><br />After taking an initiative to form a network of services in all major slums in Pune and to form an agency of all NGOs in Maharashtra, Medha’s latest venture is to train slum women in computer application and enhance the microcredit facility further. “We are completing 10 successful years of Annapurna this year, with the hope, that in next 10 years we will be able to solve all the problems of the urban poor,� she says.<br /><br />Her mega-achievement of gender equality through micro-credit is now being appreciated world-wide, with some international NGOs coming to aid her. It’s a small step for her, but a giant step for the urban poor.<br /><br />SHARVARI JOSHI<br /><a href="mailto:sharvari.joshi@timesgroup.com">sharvari.joshi@timesgroup.com</a><br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">FRATERNITY</span><br /><br />PROFESSOR Fr Subhash Anand is a Catholic priest who looks anything like a Catholic priest.<br /><br />Within the Catholic community, Fr Anand keeps a low profile. Like leaven in the bread though, he has been tirelessly working to, for lack of a more politically-correct term, inculturate Christianity for India.<br /><br />In his own way, Fr Anand emodies the spirit of fraternity. Swimming against the tide, to bridge the gap between Hinduism and Christianity. Fr Anand’s work assumes significance in the light of the persecution of Christians in India. Though the situation has died down now, Fr Anand, born Benedict Alvares, is clear about one thing, “Christians have to present Jesus in a way that our Hindu friends can understand. In India, we have to present Jesus using Hindu and other religious symbols and stories. I believe that God has given us, in Jesus , a gift not only for Christians but for all people of goodwill in India.�<br /><br />With a PhD in Hinduism, Fr Anand teaches at the Jnana Deep Vidyapeeth in Pune.“I have stayed mostly in Rajasthan and Pune. I officially changed my name to Subhash Anand in 1964, when I realised that my original name was difficult for people in Rajasthan to pronounce. I was always asked if I was a foreigner,� he explains. “My connections with Hinduism go back to 1960, with Hindustani classical music. Two years later, I began attending Sanskrit classes and eventually, went to Beneras Hindu University for my doctorate,� he tells us.<br /><br />Anand’s doctorate project was to study the spiritual journey or the Adhyatmik Sadhana. He then wrote a book called Major Hindu Festivals - A Christian Appreciation. The book studies Mahashivratri, Holi, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja and Diwali. “The idea behind the book was to go back to the pauranic katha and try to understand the contemporary significance for all people of good-will,� he says.<br /><br />His third book, Hinduism -Story as Theology, was a study of five stories from the Mahabharata. “Through a detail textual analysis I have tried to spell out the contemporary significance,� he adds.<br /><br />All of his research has being inspired by two basic reasons. “Any story - festivals are linked with stories - I believe has a significance for many people. More so, if the stories have come down to us from ancient times. The fact that the stories have survived shows that there is something deeply human in them,� he feels.<br /><br />His books on Shiva Sahastra Nama and Hinduism - A Christian Response have both been acknowledged in scholarly circles. The latter especially is interesting, for it is a study of contemporary Hinduism and Hindutva.<br /><br />“If you ask me what attracted me to Hinduism, I don’t have a clear answer. It is best to let God shape our lives. I have never regretted my going into study of Hinduism. It has, infact, been a very enriching undertaking and I use my knowledge to explain some of the basic questions all humans face and also to make my understanding of Jesus more intelligible and enriching for my students,� he says.<br /><br />PRACHI BAR<br /><a href="mailto:prachi.bari@timesgroup.com">prachi.bari@timesgroup.com</a><br /><br /></div> </div>
