miscellany...

My Father Baliah

2012-01-27T03:24:00.000-08:00

My Father Baliah

Though not commensurate with the huge population, Creative Writing by Indians has become common. Still, finding an English book of a Telugu writer, among the piles of foreign ones interspersed here and there, with Indian writings, gives a refreshing breather. More so, with ‘My Father Baliah’; a recently released memoir of Y.B. Satyanarayana by Harper Collins. A rare one of the genre of experiential dalit writing in English.

The book is a lucid and brief rendering of the lives of 4 generations beginning with Narsaiah, his son Narsaiah, his son Baliah and one of his sons Y.B.Satyanarayana. In addition to being a ‘Madiga’ by caste, one of the last rung of the social ladder of varna, the senior Narsaiah, as a landless labour, is a subject of Nizam’s oppressive revenue system in the form of the upper caste landlords. The junior Narsaiah, distraught over the death of his endearing wife owing to cholera, unwittingly, bids goodbye to his village along with his son. With the help of his maternal uncles, he joins the Nizam’s railways. While employment breaks the hold of feudalism, living in quarters in towns, subdues the caste discrimination too. Baliah grows enduring stepmother’s treatment; all by himself becomes a semi-literate, takes up a job in the railways and marries. Midway, Baliah seems to go astray with over drinking and living with a lady. He, however, stands his ground, takes in the lady as his wife, and together they breed almost a score of children, of whom our protagonist too is one. Baliah, though not educated, finds education and through it a job in the railways, only way out of the social and financial predicament. The children too imbibe this.

What are more striking in the narration are the discipline and the passion to get educated, that Baliah instills in the children, despite the appalling conditions of housing, food and clothing. Simply stated but touching is the familial love among the members. Finally, Y.B. Satyanarayana and two of his brothers earn doctorates in their respective subjects and the tale ends. The gripping nature of the theme, a sprinkle of words of Telangana dialect, several unknown or rather forgotten details of names and local practices – all together make it an exponential read. Given the familiar vocabulary and expressions used, it is an inspirational work for children – to know the value of academics and the inhumanness of caste.

Single minded in their devotion to wriggle out of oppressions of caste and poverty and uplift themselves to an independent life of dignity, none of these real life characters seem to be affected by the political movements that overwhelmed their respective periods – the Telangana armed struggle, the movements for a separate state and categorization of scheduled castes for equitable distribution of opportunities under reservations. The writer, as it appears from a few sentences, is influenced by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. He appears to have taken to Buddhism too. Of these however, nothing is stated in the book. May be, they are reserved for another one, which is obviously welcome.

Shit Happens

2012-01-19T11:10:00.001-08:00

If you are a lanky and diffident student aspiring to go to America, get unsolicited support from everybody there without exception, study at a top notch university while still working in the evenings, snatch a beautiful white girl from her hunk boyfriend and still be unscathed, get laid by her all through the stay, earn a degree, relieve yourself of the girl by endearing her to the ex and fly back home with unbounded confidence of dealing with any girl here - Karan Puri's book would give you a shot in the arm.

You need not be a young student for that matter. People of other ages who had yearned of migrating, but held back for some reason, can relive the dream through this novel - the most wonderful ever introduction to America - clean, hassle free place inhabited with angels alone - a virtual utopia manifested.

The next time, a non-resident pours over the tough and hectic life lead at an American University, you can accost her or him with this book and vouch for it too, because the writer had a stint at the same university that the protagonist of the fiction revels himself in.

Varavara Rao’s “Captive Imagination” : A sweet retribution in poetry-prose

2010-03-21T19:28:00.001-07:00

The State is capable enough to gobble up the bodies of those it kills, without traces. Yet, it throws up the beaten-to-death and bullet-ridden body of Sakhamuri Appa Rao, the Maoist, for all of us to see. Why? Is it not to instil terror in us so as never to have anything to do with questioning and rebellion?

And while you are still in the stupor, you see another media image of a frail, greyed man crying out into the wilderness over the Maoist’s mutilated body that is draped in red. His moan vents helplessness, anger, retribution and determination to rise again. The picture exorcises the terror. The neutral onlooker becomes a sympathiser and the sympathiser, a confirmed Maoist. The state does not realise the futility of its counter-productive stratagem. It firms up for another encounter. The greyed man moves on to pen a poem, an obituary for the departed. He is Varavara Rao.

The Capitalist State jailed an unarmed Varavara Rao for the right reason of his poisoning its body politic but on the wrong trumped up charges, which could never be proved. In jail he continued the tirade through an amalgam of prose and poetry, by way of letters from the prison, commissioned by Arun Shourie for the Indian Express, and here they are, aesthetically bound together by Penguin now.

The end flap of the dust cover describes the writer as a ‘Maoist Ideologue’, though the writer himself claims to have come to Maoism through poetry. This poetry-prose is potent enough to wean away those who believe Maoist practice to be decapitation of humans and thwarting of development to a more sympathetic understanding of the phenomenon. Ideologues, given to taking on Maoism from a theoretical standpoint, would be found wanting in refuting this propaganda, perfected in extremely humane terms and poetic nuances. Jail, its environs and inmates, the flora and fauna, come out alive. The yearning for freedom, the longing for love and the ruminations on life and death will touch and move you to tears.

Though not a substitute for its reading in Telugu, the Book is a must-read. Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong’o writes the foreword which disappoints, given the highly creative and original nature of the work and the complicated and much-to-be-said about theme of stealing freedom from a poet for dreaming of a better world. While the second letter is the best translated one, there are several instances where only Telugu words were translated, leaving out what the writer wanted to tell us. There are printing mistakes as well.

a pamphlet for a friend ……….

2010-03-08T14:06:00.001-08:00

Let’s make “Brahmaiah Choudary Veerepalli” our secretary………………

Brahmaiah, born into a large agriculturist family in a remote village of Nalgonda District, is a commoner and one with the ordinary struggling lot of our brethren of lawyers.

On schooling in the Public Telugu Medium stream, he went to study the five-year Bachelors of Law in Visakhapatnam. Empathizing with his peers in their trials and tribulations was his wont. Thus was Brahamaiah a natural leader all through his educational career. His multifarious activities in the student politics and cultural events of those days are well represented in the print media and well preserved by him till date. He was claimed to be one among them, amusingly by each and all of the frontal organizations of the Left, Right and Centre. Brahmaiah was the darling of the student community of Northern Andhra.

On graduating, Brahmaiah joined a battery of lawyers, then occupying the chambers of J.Chelameswar, a Senior Advocate, and continued to be a junior colleague there till his senior was elevated to the Bench. He then had a brief stint with Mr. B. Adinarayana Rao, the esteemed and much coveted advocate, who propelled his humble spirit to take on a spiralling independent career.

Never being accustomed to be an individualistic solo on any stage, Brahmaiah launched himself into legal practice with a group of highly energetic, motivated and legal- eagle like youngsters with a palatial office, electronic library and well groomed paralegals. He turned himself as popular among advocates of the High Court as he was among the students and was endearingly called BRAMS.

As member of the Executive Committee of the Bar Association, he was a much sought after man for help by innumerable lawyers ranging from the ‘newly-initiated’ to the ‘retiring- ones’. ‘Never Say No’ to any call for support from any quarter regardless of caste and class was his motto. He had that natural ethic of reaching out to the needy well ingrained in him. Leaping into the midst of a mire of a lawyer’s problem without heed to the personal trouble involved, had always been his hallmark.

Come vacation he shoots off to his village. Finding him there tending to his mango groves under the sweltering sun and mixing up with ‘sons of the soil’ with his Hutch like pup fussing round him, one is bound to mistake him for a native farmer.

A busy bee in his office, his adeptness at Word Processing on the Personal Computer and his mischievous resourcefulness and ease at delving the Internet is a sight to see. Running across courts and waxing in the humblest way that’s coherent enough to secure an order, he was never after money but contented himself with the gleam in the eyes of the client. Legal Practice is a karmic act ordained to him by providence.

He knows everything about the lawyers around him and leaves nothing of him to be closeted. With insatiable thirst for humour and ever eager to be of some aid, the Association needs him. We need to empower him so that the needy amongst us are empowered. These are troubled times for Telugu lawyers and the Chaplin’s strain in Brahmaiah will have a defusing effect.

Let’s give this wonderful human being and the entertaining lawyer, a chance. Let’s elect him as our SECRETARY and he is bound to be the best one at it!

ELECT BRAHMAIAH CHOUDARY VEEREPALLI AS THE SECRETARY OF THE ANDHRA PRADESH HIGH COURT ADVOCATES BAR ASSOCIATION

‘India’s New Capitalists’

2009-12-30T03:13:00.001-08:00

'India's New Capitalists', authored by Harish Damodaran, is a string of stories of pioneering entrepreneurs, who rose from the throes of feudal India to become the country's successful businesspersons and capitalists. The emphasis is on the socio-economic phenomenon of only a few castes throwing up a majority of the money-spinners. The book is published by 'Permanent Black' in 2008 and its paperback edition is released in 2009.

I found the 4th Chapter, about the Telugu speaking population, interesting and really informative. It ends with three case studies, Andhra Sugars, the Lanco Group and Matrix Laboratories.

The 4 page write up on Lanco, together with other passages about Lanco, makes an inspiring-read, more particularly for persons of my ilk, who are not aware of its origins. But for the fear of incurring the wrath of copyright law, I would have attached the excerpts. The book is worth buying and reading.

Idly-Sambar Go Back ! Pizza Burger Stay Back !

2009-12-29T17:53:00.001-08:00

It is almost a cultural, social and political renaissance in Telangana. 'A wonderful song, 'Jaya Jayahe Telangana' is adopted as State Song in the place of 'Maa Telugu Talliki Mallepuudanda'. The Song On youtube

It is composed by AndeySri. Born Andey Ellaiah in a village in Warangal District in a Madiga family, he had no formal schooling, grew up by himself with his mother disappearing and father abdicating responsibility, never learnt to write, but became a master of poetry and is now a coveted writer for films too.

Not just him, the whole of Telangana has risen as a single individual. Elite, commoners, writers, songsters, artists and even children are rolling out prolific work in their respective fields pushing for separation. They are united as an invincible front putting the splintered Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema to ignominy. About a 30 youth are said to have already sacrificed their lives.

History as distinct from the mundane is in the making. Judges render political exhortations in non-judicial forums and pass orders in Courts directing Vice-Chancellors to host agitators. Cultural troupes of the Marxist-Leninist fronts replenish inspiration. Better-halves of the teachers serve food when hostels are closed. These are unique and did not happen even in the famed student revolution of France of 1968. All made possible by a crystallized sub-regional identity.

The far right, the extreme left, the centrist forces, the Dalit, Bahujan groups – there is a virtual competition to appear more belligerent and nearest to Dakhni. Closet Maoists heave a sigh of relief. After a long lull there is a mass movement, they can own. The agony of living in the plains and mouthing the underground is overcome. The Andhra and Rayalaseema signify bourgeoisie and capital and Telangana is but the proletariat and exploited.

Personalities acclaimed as intellectuals of the liberal stream too have been afflicted with the phenomenon. It is no longer the perceived grievance of 'Uneven Development'. The rhetoric and jargon of Colonialism has been adapted to change it into 'Exploitation'. To take it away from the purview of scrutiny based on empirical data the color of 'Identity and Pride' too have been added. Myths of 'colonizers' sipping away all the water, eating away all the coal and squatting on all the land are perpetuated. Impossibilities of the northerners mixing up with the locals and the Andhrites staying alien are given a Goebellsian trial. It is now a faith not requiring reasons to believe in. Any talk against it is insult that is taken to task. No dissent is allowed.

Hate speech is markedly on the rise. It is manifested in the sporadic attacks being reported. Whether it is one state or two, Telugu society has changed forever and Telugus who made Hyderabad and Telangana their home are drifting to an émigré phase. It is a new picture emerging. It is more than Intolerance but is yet to reach the stage of jingoism of the Shiva Sena order.

No surprise that an armed insurgency takes root if the Government tramples the separatist movement with an iron foot. Maoism of a new hue will have a fresh lease of life in Andhra Pradesh.

There are hushed up whispers that all the mayhem is just for the hegemony of the local bourgeoisie of the 10 districts. There is so much of enthusiasm around that a separate Cinema Producers body and a Corporate Colleges Association have already been formed even before a state is carved out. The bar is only to the idly and sambar. The pizza and burgers will however stay.

Dhirubhaism – A.G.Krishnamurthy

2009-12-28T14:56:00.001-08:00

Dhirubhaism by A.G.Krishnamurthy, published by Tata McGraw Hill, is a sleek good-read with quite a few inspiring anecdotes for the top managers and would-be entrepreneurs. That seems to be the limited endeavour of the book too.

If you however take 'ism' in the title of the book to mean an encompassing system of thought of a person and go for this book to grasp what Ambani meant to be business, economy et al, you will be mistaken. This is a book of the personal reflections of the author about a few business practices of Ambani.

15 traits, according the book, constitute the work ethos of Dhirubhai. We understand them to be - taking on a crisis head-on rather than leaving it to the managers to grapple with, standing by the manager to face adversity, extending a hand of charity without the other hand knowing it, balancing a wish with its possibility, being informal with subordinates, supplying to invigorate demand, eying a quality product as the objective and money being just a by-product, not encroaching the space of the professional employed, continuously expanding the sphere of activity, maintaining proximity to learn from people across cross sections, having gigantic plans, dogged adherence to their realization, leaving things to lieutenants to do all by themselves and being optimistic.

The book and these traits are so generic that substituting the name Dhirubhai could make it a book on any of the countless other successful entrepreneurs we see across the country. The same could be said of the writer himself, who hailed from Vinukonda and with his 'Mudra' went on to become a key figure in the International Advertising Industry.

At the end of the book, you would feel the tragic dearth of literature to comprehend a stupendous mystical phenomenon like Ambani, a matriculate son of a school teacher beginning as a workman and ending up being the richest Indian.

Is it the intrinsic difficulty of cognition of such a subject that makes literature scarce?

Or is it that monetary success has more to do with the objective play of the complex and intricate interstices of the socio-political and economic system and less to do with the subjective individual prowess, thereby rendering a personal biography too sleek and uninteresting?

But then, why do we have scores of books and resources to know of the Tata and Birla? Is it that all successes do not leave a legacy or do not necessarily go with an illustrious life and attendant thought to be cherished?

Krupakar Madiga's Casteist Sleaze Against K.Balagopal

2009-11-27T00:06:00.000-08:00

{క్రుపాకర్ మాదిగ, బాలగోపాల్ గూర్చి ఆంధ్ర జ్యోతిలో ఈరోజు ఒక వ్యాసం రాశారు. దానిగురించి}

ఇది నాగరిక సమాజం మీద కులోన్మాద దాడి......

ఈయన పేరు క్రృత్రిమమయినది. ఆలోచనలూ అంతే. ఏ శాస్త్ర అధ్యయనమూ అవసరము లేని, కేవలం కులపిచ్ఛితో నడిచే అమానవీయ, అరాచక, సామాజిక ఆచరణ ఇది. రాజశేఖర రెడ్డినీ, బాలగోపాల్ నీ ఒక గాటన కట్టడంలోనే మొత్తం పరిజ్నానమూ, ఉద్దేశాలూ అర్దం చేసుకోవచ్ఛు.

ఒక ప్రక్క బాలగోపాల్ కు దళిత విషయాలు పట్టలేదంటూనే ఇంకో ప్రక్క బాలగోపాల్ వంటి వారు ముందు తమ కులం లో సంస్కరణను పూర్తి చేయాలనడం, దళితసమస్యలజోలికి రావద్దనడం, కుతర్కం, నేలబారుతనం.

బాలగోపాల్ కార్యాచరణ మొత్తం నిమ్న కులాలకోసమే చేశారు. వీరిలాగా బోర్డు తగిలించుకోలేదంతే. బాలగోపాల్ గానీ, వామపక్షాల వాళ్లు గానీ, ఇతర ఉదారవాద ప్రజాస్వామ్యవాదులు గానీ, వీరికి ఉన్నంత జ్నానం లేక కాదు, అంబేద్కర్ వంటి కులపోరాటవాదుల సిద్దాంతాలను వాటేసుకోకపోవడానికి కారణం. కారణమేమంటే, అవి కులనిర్మూలన చేయవు కనుక. వారికి, ఆ సిద్దాంతాల పరిమితి కొద్ది హక్కుల సాధనే, అని అనుభవంలో తెలుసు కనుక.

అంతే కాదు. అంబేద్కర్, ఫూలే లది కులపీడనావ్యతిరేక ఆలోచనావిధానం. అది పీడనను తగ్గించడానికి, ఆర్ధిక సామాజిక స్థితిని మెరుగుపరచడానికి తప్ఫ, కులవివక్ష అంతానికి, మొత్తం సామాజిక మార్పుకు, దారిచూపగల సిద్దాంతం కాదు. వ్యక్త్యులను, కులాలను, పరిస్థితులను సమగ్రంగా అర్ధం చేసుకోవడానికి అవసరమయిన తాత్విక పరికరాలు ఆ ఆలోచనావిధానంలో లేవు.

అయితే క్రుపాకర్ మాదిగ వంటి వారు అంబేద్కర్, ఫూలేల సంస్కారానికి కూడా వారసులుకాదు. అందుకే బాలగోపాల్ తాను అనంతపురం వాడినని తెలంగాణావాదుల వద్ద దాచినట్లు కుచ్చితపు ఆరోపణ. దేశంలో భాగంగా ప్రత్యేక రాష్త్రం అడగడం చిన్న విషయం. బాలగోపాల్, కాశ్మీరీలు కోరుకుంటే ప్రత్యేక దేశమే కావఛ్చునన్నవాడు. ఎన్ని పరిమితులున్నా, ఏ కులం వాడయినా, ఎక్కడ పుట్టినా బాలగోపాల్ మన అందరివాడు. కులాలకు, ప్రాంతాలకు అతీతమయిన విలువలున్నాయి. అవి అందరికీ అంతుపట్టవు.

Letter to K.G.Kannabiran, The Grand Old Man of Civil Rights Movement

2009-11-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

Sir,

Sir, may be part of the vocabulary of the genre of colonial hangover, but I could not settle for a lesser formalism.

Though belated, yours is the most enlightening of the scores of obituaries on K.Balagopal till date. I flipped through "Wages of Impunity " and also read your earlier writings like the obituary for K. Balagopal in a Telugu Newspaper, but your world view has become more explicit in this write up in EPW on K.Balagopal.

I put it up on my profile on Facebook as "The Grand Old Man of Civil Rights KG Kannabiran WEEPS for K.Balagopal" for the interested to read. The link is also on the group "K.Balagopal" that I initiated on Facebook.

Kudos to you.

I know you since long. You once knew me too, you patted my back, when I argued a case relating to detaining of a Pharmacy Student before Justice J.Chelameshwar.

You are a precious repository of the liberal rights discourse. It is not for your sake but for the sake of posterity that you should be treasured. I would rush to your beck and call for being part of any initiative to record your tortuous path in the Indian human rights journey.

Love

-Srinivas

Appointment of Judges to High Courts and Caste

2009-11-04T10:43:00.000-08:00

It is an anachronism that the principles enunciated by the Courts do not imbue their own administration. It is time the veil that insulates them from the Constitutional ideals and practices is pierced and all their administrative acts ranging from appointment of staff to the selection of Judges is made transparent and amenable to the equality clause of the Constitution.

In a dare devil act, Mr. Prabhunath Vasireddy, a practicing advocate of Andhra Pradesh High Court, through a public interest litigation, drew attention to caste considerations influencing selection of Advocates for Judges posts by the Chief Justice, rather than merit and suitability. Mr. Prabhunath, as party-in-person, in Writ Petition S.R.No. 116786 of 2009, questions selection of four Advocates; two Brahmins, a Reddy and a Velama, for appointment as Judges of the High Court on the ground of violation of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.

The allegations in the petition are serious. It reads that of the two Brahmins proposed, one is the son of former Advocate General and the second is son of a retired Judge of the Supreme Court. The first one was admonished by the Bar Council for professional misconduct and the latter has married thrice after divorcing twice and getting a criminal case for harassment for dowry compounded. The thirty judge -High Court already has six Brahmins. The third person recommended for appointment is a Reddy. There are already seven from the caste sitting on the Bench. The fourth person, a velama, is selected solely owing to his affinity to the congressman Mr. K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao. The Chief Justice should have sent recommendations for all the vacant posts, the petition demands.

The petition came up before a Bench consisting of Justices Raghuram and Ramesh Ranganathan. It was opposed by the Advocate General appearing for the State and Mrs. Bhaskara Lakshmi, Advocate for the High Court. Lending credence to the allegation of certain castes dominating the Courts, all the four are Brahmins !

Maa Telugu Talliki Mallepuudanda - Telangana Jingoism

2009-10-31T05:44:00.001-07:00

Separatist rhetoric is on the rise again. On one hand they take fresh lease of life from the Hyderabad - Free Zone judgment of the Supreme Court but, on the other hand, the political front of Telangana Jingoists, by deciding not to contest elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, conceded that separatist influence in the State Capital, which it claims to be part of Telangana, is weak or rather nil.

The literary front turned more bellicose with its call, published in Andhra Jyoti and written in a Telugu-Urdu hotchpotch that is not spoken anywhere, even in Telangana, and intelligible to no one, to mark November 1st as a Day of Treachery.

Amidst this cacophony, Allam Narayana, also through Andhra Jyoti, castigates Government's decision to make singing of 'Maa Telugu Talliki Mallepuudanda' compulsory in schools. The ground is that the writer Sankarambadi Sundarachari did not refer to Potana! When incensed with hate, one loses sight of facts and intentionally distorts them too. Sankarambadi Sundarachari, in his song, refers to only two rivers Godavari and Krishna, both flowing in Telangana. He eologises Rudramma of the Kakatiya dynasty that ruled over large areas of Andhra and Telangana regions of today from its capital in Telangana. He refers to Thyagayya, Timmarasu and Krishnadeva Raya owing to their affinity to Telugu and Mallamma for another trait, but none of them hailed from Coastal Andhra. Tikkana is referred to for his non-Sanskritic Telugu and Amaravati for its sculpture. The essence of the literary piece is singing paeans to Telugu Talli, a symbolic human manifestation of the a linguistic and cultural community and is not specific to inhabitants of any geographical region. The anti-Telugu article, but for use of terminology like 'superstructure' extricated from 'Marxist' lingo, is a cesspool of malice. May be, its a new cultural commodity for sale, pandering to the thirst of the separatist neo-rich and socialite.

Demanding a separate state as a panacea for regional imbalance is largely a political issue. Seeking to justify it by malevolent cultural rhetoric rather than by empirical data of backwardness to garner support produces a different result. Damning populations, areas and cultures as a whole is a belligerent and intolerant psychic tendency. Negating all histories and personalities based on regionalism and without discrimination, weaving conspiracies even into innocuous events is a self blinding disease. It is not just ahistoric but even inhuman.

It is a matter for prudent sense that languages and for that matter cultures are common inheritance of mankind. We cherish all that is humane and progressive and discard all that is oppressive and decadent, whether it is a strain that is unique to a group or common to all. This cheap jingoism is like throwing the baby with the bath water. Not only does it alienate commoners who have no stakes in a United Telugu State but denigrates the very culture and quality of people of Telangana. It perpetuates animosity amongst masses who have no role in this game of separatism.

K.Balagopal

2009-10-31T05:41:00.000-07:00

Kandala Balagopal, the synonym for human rights in this part of the world, breathed his last on 8th October, 2009. He lead a hectic life interspersed with fact‐finding visits to crime spots, agitation programs, prolific writing, literary criticism, oratory, polemics, laying a theoretical foundation for human rights work and a hoary lawyer’s practice, he was laid to rest, prematurely at 57.

Kandala family hailed from Anantapur. Balagopal was born to Nagamani, daughter of ‘Sangeeta Kalanidhi’ Rallapalli Anantha Krishna Sarma (23.01.1893 ‐ 11.03.1979), in Bellary, Karnataka. His father, Kandala Parthanatha Sarma, was working with the Life Insurance Corporation there. After a Pre‐University Course in Kavali and a Bachelors of Science from Sri Venkateswara University, he came to Warangal to pursue a Masters in Mathematics at the Regional Engineering College, Warangal and secured a doctorate too.

It was Warangal and its politics that made the man. He came under the influence of the Peoples War Group, the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) and VIRASAM, the revolutionary writer’s organization. After attempting at a post‐doctoral from the Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi, he had a brief stint as Lecturer of Mathematics at Kakatiya University, Warangal.

1985 was a momentous year. In January, police arrested him and foisted three cases. In May, students of the right wing assaulted him. On 3rd September, 1985, his colleague in the APCLC and a highly popular pediatrician, Dr. Ramanadham, was shot dead in broad‐daylight at his clinic, as a counter‐blast to the murder of Mr. Yadagiri Reddy, Sub‐Inspector of Police in Kazipet Railway Station, just a day before. This was the last straw and Balagopal moved to Hyderabad.

During, 1983 to 1998, as leader of APCLC, he faced severe state repression. Withstanding bouts of physical torture, illegal detention and trumped up criminal charges, he stood for the protection of the rights of the woebegone lot. All through, he was a manifestation of the ideals of simplicity in appearance and habits to the extreme degree that they overlapped with unkemptness. He died a personality most endearing to countless social activists and intellectuals of all tendencies and the flood of obituaries and eulogies online and in print is a sign of it.

Balagopal’s initial popularity and acceptance was owing to commoner's perception of his being one of the public faces of armed movements. Contemporaneous with the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, he began to raise questions pertinent to Marxism. He began to doubt the ethical justifications for the violence of the Naxalites, which hitherto formed the fulcrum of the ideology of the civil rights movement. These finally lead to the founding of the Human Rights Forum in 1999, which sought to evolve a human rights approach of being an objective upholder of rights of humans regardless of the cause and justification of the infringement. About the same time, he started to practice law in the High Court and other courts in Hyderabad. The take off as an independent practitioner was so fast and intense that designated Senior Advocates seemed small and naïve in comparison. Judges were mind boggled over his stupendous grasp of intricate procedures and substantive law that took decades for trained lawyers to attain. Contrary to general belief of being an advocate in 'encounter cases', Balagopal filed and argued with equal adroitness several cases, about 800, arising from varied branches of law. The plight of Tribals, conditions in prisons, the issues of junior doctors etc. He was instrumental in making the High Court see the justness in registering an FIR against police personnel involved in encounters which culminated in a ground breaking judgment of a 5‐Judge Bench of the High Court on 6th February, 2009.

Balagopal left a vast corpus of literature, essays in Telugu and English on a wide array of subjects, ranging from infamous 'encounters' ‐ a euphemism for murders by police of the 1980's, people's deprivation through liberalization of 1990's and the Special Economic Zones of 2000's. He gifted to Telugus translations of D.D.Kosambi's work and the Illustrated Classic "Marx for Beginners" of Rius. ‘Roopam‐Saaram’ and ‘Kallola Katha Chitraalu’ are collections of his essays. He, Contributed scores of articles to 'Economic and Political Weekly', and 'Manavahakkula Bulletin” of the Human Rights Forum. His earlier works were published in the 'Frontier', 'Srujana', and ‘Prajaatantra’.

A bird’s eye view of his work over the period reveals that the frequency of the writing grows alongside a modicum of prolixity. On the human rights front, it develops an idealist version of human rights being an independent domain of theory and praxis as distinct from one that is aligned to the peoples movements. A discerning study may even reveal that the present theory of the Human Rights Forum, said to have been ingeniously evolved, says in terms which may probably be new, the same things, what the Peoples Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) was propagating all the while. On the political front and literary spheres, Theodor Adorno, Louis Althusser and Marxist intellectuals of the Frankfurt school are brought in to buttress arguments about deficiencies of Marxism and the wanting theory and practices of the Maoists, their precursor Naxalite parties and revolutionary writers. Several intellectuals including Nalla Adi Reddy @ Shyam, a member of the Central Secretariat of the erstwhile Peoples War Group, who was killed on 1st December 1999, wrote a castigating critique of Balagopal’s theoretical drift from Marxism. Balagopal never reflected and chose to continue writing without heed to the merits or otherwise of the refutations of the critics. It seemed writing was to him a realm of self‐justification for his social practices rather than an arena of democratic expression and discussion.

Towards the end of this amorphous body of writings are reflections, for instance an essay on strategies of political struggle of 26th January 2009, which doubts the very efficacy of organized protest against the state ‐ whether violent or non‐violent. Balagopal left a conundrum to grapple with, not just in terms of the rights debate but larger questions relating to political mobilizations against the state. It calls for a thorough study – his disgruntlement of the politics of the protracted people’s war and divorce from Marxism. He would ever be remembered as one who laid standards of dizzying heights for public life, social activism and advocacy in Courts.

Obama Inaugural

2009-10-31T05:14:00.001-07:00

It is most unamerican of it all. Except for the vast multitudes everything was lackluster.

All the music with the first choir, all the speeches with the one of Obama, the poem, the benediction dissipated the pent up mood. Everything looked worn out, Obama with his unequally shaved sideburns and some blacks rolling out tears of disbelief that started when he was declared elected.

But still, the silver lining was the essence of the speech, though not the form, as the form has over the election became worn out too.

Gay Rights Judgment

2009-10-31T05:07:00.001-07:00

Consensual sex between adults of the same sex is no more a crime according to the High Court of Delhi and this decision is going to make an indelible impact on the sexual behaviors of Indians moving them more towards permissiveness. The otherwise jobless religious right is happy.

The 105 page judgment is a scholarly treat, particularly paragraphs 67 to 71 discussing whether homosexuality is a mental illness and paragraphs 75 to 87 discussing whether enforcement of public morality is a compelling object of the State. The argument that criminalizing consensual sex between same sexes drives it underground making services for detection and prevention of HIV etc difficult seems to have found favor with the court.

The Supreme Court may stay this judgment and make it ineffective for a while, but Justices Ajit Prakash Shah and S. Muralidhar have not only rejuvenated an ongoing debate on legality of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender sexual orientation, but rendered a Legal Decision whose logic is potent enough to be made equally applicable to other offences relating to consensual sex !