What happens when the normal legal route to get a task done is made difficult and inefficient? Harishankar Parsai Jee answers this question in his essay Pagdandiyon ka Zamana. People start taking the routes which are not normal and not legal, because the task must be done. And what happens when this practice is sustained over a long time? The routes which are not normal to start with get normalized. So much so that the legal routes are not even thought of as a valid route to get something done any more. Pagdandiyon ka Zamana by Harishankar Parsai is a collection of his satirical essays and the book’s name is taken from the essay that discusses this theme. As I mentioned in my last post, this year is dedicated to Hindi literature and Parasai Jee’s book is the second one I read.

The book is a collection of two dozen satirical essays. Parsai Jee has commented on a wide variety of subjects – Congress, Socialism, State of women, Corruption, Hope and even Dengue. As I read, there were some themes which felt relevant even today and some gave me a sense of wonder. I have selected four themes to discuss in this post.

Normalization of corruption

The title essay Pagdandiyon ka zamana (translated as Era of shortcuts) discusses how corruption gets normalized in a society. He starts this essay by declaring that he tried to become an honest citizen again and failed in the attempt once again. Some acquaintance came to him to ask for help to get his ward’s numbers (marks in an examination) increased and he declined. Because he was honest these days. But it backfired. He had thought that some god had come to test his resolve of being honest, but it was only a man. And the relationship soured.

Using the example of request for increasing numbers or getting a glimpse of the question paper before the exam (he had extremely good connects in the academia), he traces the normalization of corruption. He mentions that ten years ago when people came with this request, it used to be extremely uncertain and with a lot of apprehension. Now, people come and directly ask for this. It had become that normal. As if to pass an exam, this is the way.

He uses a metaphor of people’s attempt to get in to a palace. The main gate is closed. The main gate is the legal and natural way to get into the palace. But no one knows how to open the gate. The main gate is in the hands of bureaucracy and the ways to get it opened are convoluted. It is beyond the capacity of mere mortals. But, there is a way through the sewer. You can get in to the palace through the sewer. If the stink from the sewer bothers you much, please put a sweet smelling handkerchief on your nose.

Once the way is discovered, the people who need to get into the palace start using the sewer to get in. In some time, there are shops lined up around the sewer selling scented handkerchiefs. And the sewer becomes the normal way of getting into the palace. Now, no one even thinks of using the main gate. And if someone thinks of using the main gate, his future is bleak. He will bang his head on the gate, till it bleeds. And the gates will still not open. The people who were supposed to open the gate are busy selling the scented handkerchiefs.

Necessity of generational shift

The essay is called Kandhe Shravankumar Ke (translated as The shoulders of Shravan Kumar). For the folks who don’t know him, Shravan Kumar is part of Indian mythology and is an example of filial piety towards his parents. He carried his blind and aged parents in a Kanvar (a bamboo pole with baskets as seats for his parents slung on both ends) to take them on a pilgrimage to the four most important religious shrines.

Parsai jee uses the story of Sharvan Kumar to comment on the generational shift that he was able to witness between his generation and the next. The people for whom Shravan Kumar was the epitome of parental devotion would fulfil their elder’s demands without any question. The question Parsai Jee asks is simply – are the elders of the current era as deserving?

As the thinking shifts, several things become clear. There are people who are young, want to participate in life and its wonders. And there are people who have lived and through their experience have become blind to the wonders of life. The blinds are sitting on the shoulders of the young ones. Even though they are blind, they are the ones who set the destination for the ones who can see. They ride on the shoulders of the young ones and give directions so that they reach the desired destination. Be it ministerial, administrative or academic centres of power.

But now, the ones who can see have started resisting and that threatens the status quo. Specially in politics, as the thought of the voting populace evolves, the old ideas will stop working. The most recent example that I could think of was the Caste census. The old guard (at least in thought) believed that Mandal 2.0 will work for them. But the Shravan Kumar can see, and he aspires for a better country with better opportunities, rather than caste based reservations. A generational shift is taking place now, as it took place when Parsai Jee wrote this essay.

Trolling before the Internet

The essay is called Telephone (translated as Telephone, pun intended). Some of the people reading this post will be able to recall the time when there were phones with fixed lines. Parsai Jee is probably talking about the era of phones with rotary dials. You couldn’t tell who is on the other line unless they announce themselves. There was no caller identifier.

This anonymity provided the courage to speak the truth. You could choose to speak about what was on your mind without fearing retribution. Today, the trolls on the Internet are generally understood to be provocative and inflammatory. I believe the trolling didn’t start to be provocative or offensive. It probably started when someone who was meek in person had a chance to be anonymous and spoke his mind on a social forum. Gradually, other people also caught on and then the people who were naturally abusive got on the trend as well.

The telephone provided this courage to speak the truth to Parsai Jee’s generation. According to him the ratio of truth in conversations had increased by 67% after the invention of telephone. People can tell a lie easily when they are face to face, but they get the courage to speak the truth when anonymous. I believe with Internet’s anonymity the ratio of truth may well have surpassed 90%. If that reflects on us on what we hold as truth, then so be it.

Rice and diamond

This was an essay that made me wonder. The essay is called Chawal se heere tak (translated as From rice to diamond). In this essay Parsai Jee talks about the scarcity of rice in India. You couldn’t get it. One hundred grams of rice was a precious gift. I know that before the green revolution, we struggled with grains. We needed to get wheat imported from abroad to put food on the table for the millions of citizens. But I had never thought of rice in this way.

While reading this essay, I recalled reading a report shared by a fellow IIMA alum on rice exports by country. India was at the top of the list for 2022. The report is here. And to think of a time when we did not have rice for months on end, filled me with a sense of wonder. Parsai jee effectively draws a parallel between finding rice and finding diamonds through his lived experience. We have come a long way from those times. Now, our major concern seems to be a shift from rice to some other crop which guzzles less water.

Several other essays created an impression of those days and times. Some notable ones are Sajjan, Durjan and Congressjan (anyone could be a successful politician with enough devotion to Nehru), ‘Wo jara wife hain na’ (an interesting look at the position of wives at that time), Bechara bhala aadmi (a meditation on the link between being good and being “the poor fellow”). For readers of Hindi, you will enjoy reading this collection of essays. I will love to hear your thoughts on the essays discussed in this post. May we keep inspiring each other.