Kartik Lokhande's blog

By Kartik Lokhande A classic survives the tides of time, and storms of commercialisation. And, the latest Marathi movie ‘Katyar Kaljat Ghusli’ has proven this. Based on the musical drama of the same name, which is a milestone in Indian theatre, the movie has been made so finely that it also is set to become a milestone in Indian Cinema. Already, the movie has been showcased in International Film Festival, and is in the race for UNESCO’s coveted Fellini medal. Talking of commerce, this celluloid masterpiece with opulent sets and musical extravaganza has forced even the multiplexes to increase number of shows and days. In fact, in Nagpur, on Monday afternoon too, there was a long queue at a multiplex to buy tickets for the show of ‘Katyar Kaljat Ghusli’. This speaks of how well a quality cinema is received by audiences. The movie has a special connection with Nagpur. For, it is associated with two legends -- Purushottam Darwhekar aka ‘Master’, an acclaimed playwright-lyr...

* November 2015 marks the culmination of birth centenary celebrations of Eknath Ranade, a son of Vidarbha who made it the cause of his life to realise the dream of Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari By Kartik Lokhande  It was 1962, a year that had stirred the atmosphere in the country owing to several factors including a war with China. In January 1963, India was to celebrate the birth centenary of Swami Vivekananda. In down south, in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, tension was in the air over Swami Vivekananda’s memorial. There were attempts by some to claim the Rock off the shores of Tamil Nadu where Vivekananda meditated. A firm leadership is required to navigate through little storms in the journey towards realisation of a goal. Eknath Ranade, a man born in village Timtala in Amravati district of Vidarbha region in Maharashtra, was destined to be that firm leader as far as Swami Vivekananda’s memorial at Kanyakumari. Born on November 19, 1914, Eknath Ranade was the ...

By Kartik Lokhande Valour, Steadfastness, and Commitment. These three words form the motto of Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), a specialised mountain force guarding the most arduous of the borders of India. And, after 53 years, the ITBP has lived up to this motto and has evolved in one of the best-trained force. Raised on October 24, 1962, ITBP with four Battalions in the wake of Chinese aggression, the force was given the task of guerilla warfare, frontier intelligence and security along the Indo-Tibetan border. Presently, ITBP Battalions are deployed on border guarding duties from Karakoram Pass (between Siachen Glacier and Aksai Chin) at an altitude of over 18,000 feet in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh, covering 3,488 KM of Indo-China border, manning Border Out Posts. As its personnel guard at these towering heights in extreme cold, they have earned the sobriquet of ‘the Himveers’. Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister presenting colours to ITBP on June ...

By Kartik Lokhande  Gadchiroli Police, on the basis of credible intelligence inputs and increased patrolling, has been successful in eliminating as many as 52 Maoists in the past five years. This is the highest-ever casualty inflicted upon the Left Wing Extremists in Gadchiroli Police in a span of five years, ever since Naxalism was reported first in this easternmost district of Maharashtra. In the year 1980, first Naxalite activity was reported in Gadchiroli district. The first Naxalite casualty -- Peddi Shankar, Commander of Shirpur Dalam -- was reported in Maharashtra on November 2, 1980, in an encounter at Moyabinpeta in erstwhile Chandrapur district. In 1982, Gadchiroli was carved as a separate district out of Chandrapur district. In the next few years, the police machinery could not taste similar success against Left Wing Extremists, who were working to instigate tribals to take up arms. However, in 1986, the cops intensified patrolling and there were encounter...

* Maoists have killed nine Auxiliary Constables in Bijapur district, two in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, and two in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra this year By Kartik Lokhande  Fed up of violence unleashed by the Maoists, tribals were sometimes passing on information to cops in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and adjoining districts of Bijapur and Sukma in neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh. As their information proved vital in some anti-Maoist operations, now the Maoists have started ‘targeted’ killings of tribal who have joined police or are assisting cops one way or the other. In Gadchiroli district of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, Maoists recently abducted and killed Shankar Wadde (50) from village Mallempodur. The Maoists also killed Pidu Bange Pungati (50), Police Patil of village Ghotpadi, and later held a meeting at village Nelgonda to issue a threat to ‘people assisting cops’. Before killing Wadde, the Left Wing Extremists  took him to va...

By Kartik Lokhande Of late, the country is talking about a spate in the protests of the kind of returning of awards especially by writers. Some are referring to Dadri lynching incident, some to murder of acclaimed writer M M Kalburgi, and some to secondary political party like Shiv Sena’s diktat forcing cancellation of the concert of Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali in Mumbai. Of course, Dadri lynching must be condemned in the harshest words. Of course, Kalburgi’s murder must be denounced. Of course, political party must be criticised for issuing diktat against performance of a popular and eminent artist from Pakistan in India. However, at the same time, one must make an attempt to look into political overtones to the protests especially by artists, and that too, award-winning writers. It all became a talking point in electronic media and activist-media, especially after Nayantara Sahgal, daughter of Vijayalakshmi Pandit (who was sister of India’s first Prime Minist...

  By Kartik Lokhande In the current atmosphere of political hate-mongering and media attention being diverted to high-profile murder mystery, news of Edula Santhosh Reddy’s death has been relegated to national silence. For, his death raises many basic questions that no one is probably willing to find answers to. For those who do not know who Edula Santhosh Reddy is, here is a brief: He was a Class X student studying at a private school at Julapally mandal headquarters in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh. A resident of Abbapur village, he committed suicide as his family was not being able to pay the fees and the school authorities made him stand outside classroom along with some other students for long time. Before ending his life, Edula shot a selfie-video and narrated the entire incident that led him to take the extreme step. Now, this raises an important issue – How to make education affordable to all? At the root of this question is massive commercialization of e...

By Kartik Lokhande Dear Bapu, As the world and our nation gear up to celebrate your birth anniversary on October 2 later this week, I wish to take the opportunity to write this letter to you. I am a small man, who nurtured a wish to write to you since his teen-age. I wished to share with you, obviously without any expectation of a reply, some thoughts and some questions to which I could not get logical answers till this date. Hence, this letter. Bapu, your biggest gift to mankind was non-violent, peaceful protests. Sadly, they are a rarity today. For, since India gained independence, Governments of the day gradually tended to ignore such protests except when some influential activists were involved. Today, if a common man wants to stage peaceful protest or takes to non-violent agitation to press for his demand, he is simply ignored. Besides, Governments of the day often tend to take cognisance of only violent protests involving burning of tyres, stone-pelting, torching o...

By Kartik Lokhande Years ago, we six were very good friends. We knew each other by name. We knew teachers as only ‘sir’ or ‘madam’. We went to each other’s homes and paid respects in front of image or idol or script of whichever ‘deity’ was there. We participated as volunteers in religious or other programmes in each other’s homes. I remember all of us pooling together Rs 12/- from our ‘birthday reserves’ to buy new text books for a poor friend among us. We were friends in need. We all shared respect for elders and every faith, and every leader whose story was there in our text-books. But, at the end of our school days, everyone started noticing certain things linked to each other’s background social practices. Then, three of us went to the same college. There, ‘certain things’ dominated each other’s observations. There were politically active others also, who expanded the ideas of these ‘certain things’ for different groups. And, when the forms had to be submitted, these ‘ce...

* For every parent, concern for daughter in the changing environment is real. Every parent tells his/her daughter to be careful in his/her own ways. Vijaya Marotkar, a teacher, is also a poet sensitive to the issues concerning these parents. And, she has found a novel way to enlighten the school and college-going girls on life at crucial junctures.   By Kartik Lokhande   My daughter is my pride.   My daughter is my responsibility.   My daughter is... intelligent, responsible, and strong.   Everyone feels the same about his/her daughter. Everyone wants his/her daughter to be this or that. Everyone wants the society to be a safe place for daughter, in the era of technological advancements.   And, very few have clear idea of how to enlighten daughter with proper perspective and preparing her to face life ahead. There are changes in every girl’s life at different junctures -- school, college, and marriage. And, how to meet these changes is ...

By Kartik Lokhande   2015 is an important year. For, this is the 50th year since 1965 war between India and Pakistan following the latter’s misadventure. For, it is just short of 50 years since ‘Tashkent Declaration’ signed between the then Prime Minister of India and the then President of Pakistan in Tashkent. For, the year 2015 also witnesses one more instance of India willing to talk to her neighbouring State but the latter insisting on involving non-State actors, a characteristic feature of Pakistan since 1965.   In the year 1965, Pakistan hatched a plan for another misadventure in Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir with an intention to ‘finish the unfinished business of Partition’. Pakistan banked on theory devised by some of her over-enthusiastic and radical military and diplomatic elements that people of Kashmir would side by Pakistan Army. However, under the tough leadership of the then Prime Minister Mr Lal Bahadur Shastri, India gave Pakistan a bloody nose as...

By Kartik Lokhande It was August 15 th , the Independence Day of the country. It was an occasion for celebration. Hearts filled with pride, children proudly wearing badges bearing shape of India’s map, people thronging ‘happening venues’ to raise slogans loudly and wave as big a flag as possible to prove that their pride was greater than that of others, and such scenes were visible throughout the country. At a traffic signal where vehicles were waiting for the signal to turn green, a van with a national flag mounted atop came blowing horn and youngsters in it shouting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jay’, and zoomed past, jumping the signal that was still red. This scene, too, must have been noticed by countless many across the country. This, is sad reality of the day. No doubt, every Indian should celebrate Independence Day. No doubt, people must wave flags, hoist those, raise slogans, sing patriotic songs, roam around. But, one must not have any doubt in mind that all these things should add...

* ANO, Special Action Group, Gadchiroli Range are critical units and all are without full-time heads By Kartik Lokhande  Can one expect the army to fight a war without commander? At least, Maharashtra Government expects so in case of anti-Naxalite operations. For over one year, Anti-Naxalite Operations (ANO) headquartered at Nagpur is functioning without any full-time head. Similar is the case with other critical posts in the operations against Maoists. Since the transfer of Anup Kumar Singh one year ago, the post of Inspector General of Police (ANO) is lying vacant. Anup Kumar Singh is currently posted as Joint Commissioner of Police (Administration), Mumbai Police. Rajvardhan, Joint Commissioner of Police, Nagpur, is holding additional charge as IG (ANO). The task of Joint Commissioner of Police, Nagpur, itself is a big one as the city is growing in prominence. Whereas, the position of IG (ANO) requires full-time attention as it is critical from operations point of...

By Kartik Lokhande This is the only word that can best describe the acts of self-proclaimed intellectuals, judicial activists lacking in prudence, and learned individuals who are out-of-sync with the overwhelming national sentiment. And, there was one more segment -- the media. All these put together staged an outrageous show before the nation, and achieved in part what they set out for -- polarisation on communal lines using the hanging of terror convict Yakub Memon’s hanging. It all started with the issuance of death warrant regarding Yakub’s hanging reaching to his family. Within a matter of a few days, the nation was stirred up with the ‘anarchist elements’ opening up a front to discuss why the terror convict -- whose acts resulted in killing of 257 innocents and left more than 700 persons injured in 1993 serial bomb blasts -- should not be hanged. They roped in activists, became activists, ranted and panted day in and day out. In all this, Nagpur -- the city where ...