03-27-2005, 05:48 AM
From deccan
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Rationalist
With Malice Towards One and All by Khushwant Singh
Undoubtedly the most outstanding of all sub-communities of India are Chitpavan Brahmins of Maharashtra. All the Peshwas who built the most powerful empire before the British took over belonged to this community. So did Tilak, Gokhale, Agarkar, Ranade, Karve, Phadke, Veer Savarkar, N.V.
Gadgil, S.M. Joshi, Nanna Sahib Gore, Madhu Limaye. So did Bapu Gandhiâs murderer Godse. Leadership is in their blood. Whatever they do is done with fanatical zeal. They look different. They are light-skinned, handsome men and women with grey eyes. Their detr-actors call them Cobras.
Sathes are also Chit-pavans. The most eminent among them in the present generation is Vasant (born on Vasant Panchmi March 5, 1925) in Nasik. And still going strong. Recently he celebrated 1,000 full moons of his life. Even in his late 70s, Vasant is a tall gora handsome man with engaging manners. He started as a militant Hindu, was an active member of the RSS and had ambitions of becoming a fighter pilot. He wanted to fly his plane to Burma or Singapore to join Netaji Subhash Boseâs Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj). He converted to Gandhism, joined the Quit India Movement, almost had his leg broken by a lathi wielding policeman.
He became the President of the Students Union and then head of the workers Union and a lawyer. Mrs Indira Gandhi encouraged him to join politics and gave him a Congress ticket to fight elections to the Lok Sabha. He won the election and was Cabinet Minister.
One man who secretly resented his rise to eminence was a fellow Maha-rashtrian, Sharad Pawar, known double-crosser with the ambition of becoming Prime Minister of India. Pawar conspired to have Sathe defeated in the elections. Vasant Sathe claims he bears to grudge against Pawar but has recorded his views on Pawar in his autobiography Memoirs of a Rationalist (Stellar).
As the title indicates, he discarded belief in any religion. He writes: âThe concept of God as a creator is itself a creation of the human mind. To me goodness should replace God, for goodness and godliness is a matter of our daily experience in life.â Satheâs memoirs do not make easy reading: he goes on and on about the history of the Congress Party, speeches he delivered and long notations on problems faced by ministries he headed. And all with in a self-congratulatory tone.
A gaping hole in his memoirs is that while he has a lot to say about the anti-Brahmin violence following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, he glosses over the massacre of 10,000 innocent Sikhs following the assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards. Sathe does not even refer to his deposition before the Nanavati Commission. He has also been cagey about his relations with women.
He mentions his spat with Mohammed Yunus, the glorified Pathan Ardali of the Nehru-Gandhi family over Uma Vasudev. Uma had been a close friend of Yunus till Sathe came into her life. A very peeved Yunus had cards printed on behalf of Umaâs parents inviting people to their daughterâs wedding to Vasant Sathe. Vasant lodged a complaint with Mrs Gandhi. She was amused. When he told me about it, I tried to cheer him up: âVasant, it sounds like the fourth battle of Panipat. This time the Marathas are getting the better of the Pathans.â
He was not amused. His versions of his relationships with other women also do not tally with what they had to say about it. What takes the cake is his relationship with his attractive wife, Jayshree. Vasant knew everything worth knowing about sex from seeing what his parents did at night behind the mosquito net.
He also read Kama Sutra and Kok Shastra and knew about the importance of foreplay and the art of working up women to reach their climaxes. Jayshree looked upon the sex act as something a good Hindu wife had to suffer to bear children. So no sooner she had borne him three children and Vasant had his nasbandi, she put her foot down on further intimacies. Poor Vasant got her examined by doctors.
She refused to warm up. A very frustrated Vasant sought extra medical counselling on the subject of feminine frigidity after menopause. Who did you think he consulted? No other than the lady Prime Minister of our country. She replied, no doubt coyly: âSome beco-me frigid, some donât.â If Vasant Satheâs memoirs had been properly edited and reduced by half, they would have become doubly readable. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Rationalist
With Malice Towards One and All by Khushwant Singh
Undoubtedly the most outstanding of all sub-communities of India are Chitpavan Brahmins of Maharashtra. All the Peshwas who built the most powerful empire before the British took over belonged to this community. So did Tilak, Gokhale, Agarkar, Ranade, Karve, Phadke, Veer Savarkar, N.V.
Gadgil, S.M. Joshi, Nanna Sahib Gore, Madhu Limaye. So did Bapu Gandhiâs murderer Godse. Leadership is in their blood. Whatever they do is done with fanatical zeal. They look different. They are light-skinned, handsome men and women with grey eyes. Their detr-actors call them Cobras.
Sathes are also Chit-pavans. The most eminent among them in the present generation is Vasant (born on Vasant Panchmi March 5, 1925) in Nasik. And still going strong. Recently he celebrated 1,000 full moons of his life. Even in his late 70s, Vasant is a tall gora handsome man with engaging manners. He started as a militant Hindu, was an active member of the RSS and had ambitions of becoming a fighter pilot. He wanted to fly his plane to Burma or Singapore to join Netaji Subhash Boseâs Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj). He converted to Gandhism, joined the Quit India Movement, almost had his leg broken by a lathi wielding policeman.
He became the President of the Students Union and then head of the workers Union and a lawyer. Mrs Indira Gandhi encouraged him to join politics and gave him a Congress ticket to fight elections to the Lok Sabha. He won the election and was Cabinet Minister.
One man who secretly resented his rise to eminence was a fellow Maha-rashtrian, Sharad Pawar, known double-crosser with the ambition of becoming Prime Minister of India. Pawar conspired to have Sathe defeated in the elections. Vasant Sathe claims he bears to grudge against Pawar but has recorded his views on Pawar in his autobiography Memoirs of a Rationalist (Stellar).
As the title indicates, he discarded belief in any religion. He writes: âThe concept of God as a creator is itself a creation of the human mind. To me goodness should replace God, for goodness and godliness is a matter of our daily experience in life.â Satheâs memoirs do not make easy reading: he goes on and on about the history of the Congress Party, speeches he delivered and long notations on problems faced by ministries he headed. And all with in a self-congratulatory tone.
A gaping hole in his memoirs is that while he has a lot to say about the anti-Brahmin violence following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, he glosses over the massacre of 10,000 innocent Sikhs following the assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards. Sathe does not even refer to his deposition before the Nanavati Commission. He has also been cagey about his relations with women.
He mentions his spat with Mohammed Yunus, the glorified Pathan Ardali of the Nehru-Gandhi family over Uma Vasudev. Uma had been a close friend of Yunus till Sathe came into her life. A very peeved Yunus had cards printed on behalf of Umaâs parents inviting people to their daughterâs wedding to Vasant Sathe. Vasant lodged a complaint with Mrs Gandhi. She was amused. When he told me about it, I tried to cheer him up: âVasant, it sounds like the fourth battle of Panipat. This time the Marathas are getting the better of the Pathans.â
He was not amused. His versions of his relationships with other women also do not tally with what they had to say about it. What takes the cake is his relationship with his attractive wife, Jayshree. Vasant knew everything worth knowing about sex from seeing what his parents did at night behind the mosquito net.
He also read Kama Sutra and Kok Shastra and knew about the importance of foreplay and the art of working up women to reach their climaxes. Jayshree looked upon the sex act as something a good Hindu wife had to suffer to bear children. So no sooner she had borne him three children and Vasant had his nasbandi, she put her foot down on further intimacies. Poor Vasant got her examined by doctors.
She refused to warm up. A very frustrated Vasant sought extra medical counselling on the subject of feminine frigidity after menopause. Who did you think he consulted? No other than the lady Prime Minister of our country. She replied, no doubt coyly: âSome beco-me frigid, some donât.â If Vasant Satheâs memoirs had been properly edited and reduced by half, they would have become doubly readable. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->