Aadhaa hai Chander-ma, raat aadhii
Chander Mohan became Chand Mohammad last week in the face of intense public glare and apparently a more intense and rare kind of commitment to love.
If one could disconnect what the former Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana did to his wife and two children, he would come out as someone either really gone crazy or a man of extreme conviction.
The known social trend in both urban abnd rural India is to carry on the with the other woman on the side and put both the wife and the mistress through an intense bout of perpetual stress. Not just that, to top it all, get all the sympathy of trying to be fair to both the parties!
As we all know, men, more importantly arrived men, can play around with their marital commitments with ease, pick up and drop their various and illicit loves of their life as circumstances demand. But they never ever want to play around with their careers, moreso if that means losing their public prominence or their powerful status in the bargain.
In that context, Chander Mohan stands apart. He not only kicked his powerful kursi to be with a woman he claims to love more deeply than anything and anyone else, but also had the gall to go public with his version of loyalty, howsoever skewed it may have looked in the face of an extra-marital affair. It really does take some conviction to take a stand in such big messes and very few men have made it a precedent.
Having said that, the real test for our new Mohammad will begin in a few months. The power of love is said to move mountains but familiarity has traditionally been a big dent in passion. It remains to be seen, if i.e anyone would be interested in the goings-on of Chand's new household some months from now, how he fares with the actual aftermath of his bold decision.
His politics all but gone and no chance of any kind of a powerful perch in the near future, his family having closed the door on him, his father disowning him and he being without either money or job or anything other than his beloved wife to occupy his mind space with, the coming time looks fraught with impossibilities. If he, and Fiza stride over this tidal test, it would really be a story worth told. If not, usuality is always there to take back Chand as Chander and Anuradha as, well, the woman who did it all to a man and his "happy" family.
Are we serious?
The weeks after the dreadful terror attack on Mumbai have been quite vocal on how Pakistan's civilian Government is itself a victim and how India needs to be considerate about its much touted impotence.
The ridiculousness of the suggestion is as mammoth as the fallout of a thumb-twiddling India would be. And no, a war is not being suggested here. What would do equally well for the Indian public is an honest show of strength by the Indian Government in making see this so-called jelly-like administration on the other side of the border to show some sense of sincerity in its efforts against its homegrown terrorists.
It suits Zardari's Pakistan to come out as a weakling State in the grip of so-called "non-State actors." Think of it: A weak-kneed Government like the one at helm in Pakistan now, had no hesitation whatsoever in showing the backbone to say a big 'No' to India in handing over the men who caused mayhem in Mumbai. It also showed its complicity with the purveyors of terrorism in merely detaining Masood Azhar and Hafeez.
It is quite a laugh for them and for all of us that such detentions mean anything at all. As an Indian gentleman said on a TV chat show, "Hafeez must be enyoing a good biryani meal with the officials" and waiting for the furore to die down before Pak announces it has found no evidence against him and releasing him for yet another attack on India. Perhaps, we need to hire Mossad!
If one could disconnect what the former Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana did to his wife and two children, he would come out as someone either really gone crazy or a man of extreme conviction.
The known social trend in both urban abnd rural India is to carry on the with the other woman on the side and put both the wife and the mistress through an intense bout of perpetual stress. Not just that, to top it all, get all the sympathy of trying to be fair to both the parties!
As we all know, men, more importantly arrived men, can play around with their marital commitments with ease, pick up and drop their various and illicit loves of their life as circumstances demand. But they never ever want to play around with their careers, moreso if that means losing their public prominence or their powerful status in the bargain.
In that context, Chander Mohan stands apart. He not only kicked his powerful kursi to be with a woman he claims to love more deeply than anything and anyone else, but also had the gall to go public with his version of loyalty, howsoever skewed it may have looked in the face of an extra-marital affair. It really does take some conviction to take a stand in such big messes and very few men have made it a precedent.
Having said that, the real test for our new Mohammad will begin in a few months. The power of love is said to move mountains but familiarity has traditionally been a big dent in passion. It remains to be seen, if i.e anyone would be interested in the goings-on of Chand's new household some months from now, how he fares with the actual aftermath of his bold decision.
His politics all but gone and no chance of any kind of a powerful perch in the near future, his family having closed the door on him, his father disowning him and he being without either money or job or anything other than his beloved wife to occupy his mind space with, the coming time looks fraught with impossibilities. If he, and Fiza stride over this tidal test, it would really be a story worth told. If not, usuality is always there to take back Chand as Chander and Anuradha as, well, the woman who did it all to a man and his "happy" family.
Are we serious?
The weeks after the dreadful terror attack on Mumbai have been quite vocal on how Pakistan's civilian Government is itself a victim and how India needs to be considerate about its much touted impotence.
The ridiculousness of the suggestion is as mammoth as the fallout of a thumb-twiddling India would be. And no, a war is not being suggested here. What would do equally well for the Indian public is an honest show of strength by the Indian Government in making see this so-called jelly-like administration on the other side of the border to show some sense of sincerity in its efforts against its homegrown terrorists.
It suits Zardari's Pakistan to come out as a weakling State in the grip of so-called "non-State actors." Think of it: A weak-kneed Government like the one at helm in Pakistan now, had no hesitation whatsoever in showing the backbone to say a big 'No' to India in handing over the men who caused mayhem in Mumbai. It also showed its complicity with the purveyors of terrorism in merely detaining Masood Azhar and Hafeez.
It is quite a laugh for them and for all of us that such detentions mean anything at all. As an Indian gentleman said on a TV chat show, "Hafeez must be enyoing a good biryani meal with the officials" and waiting for the furore to die down before Pak announces it has found no evidence against him and releasing him for yet another attack on India. Perhaps, we need to hire Mossad!
Published in Sunday Pioneer, December 14, 2008, http://www.dailypioneer.com/143238/Aadhaa-hai-Chander-ma-raat-aadhii.html
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