Empathizing with Joel Stein : His Edison, My Barsana

Despite the harsh and uncomfortable comments made by Joel Stein on the changing landscape of his hometown Edison, N.J due to the immigration of Indians out there; I do find a strong reason & feeling to empathize with him.

We all possess a sense of belongingness to our native places - whether we are Indians, Americans, Europeans, Australians etc. Every culture, tradition and lifestyle has its own innate strengths and its share of weaknesses as well. We do like to live in our own peculiar manner and do cherish our own customs & trends. Stein, therefore can be discounted for the due expression of his feelings.

The way Stein is disturbed or concerned or astonished over the transformation of his hometown Edison, I am concerned and disgusted over a similar transformation of one of the most venerated spiritual places in India brought about by the mindless influx of American dollars by an insensitive band of American NRIs.

Chiksoli & Manpur are twin villages near the town of Barsana (located in District Mathura in the state of Uttar Pradesh) - which happens to be the birth place of Smt. Radha Rani - the eternal consort of Sri Krishna - the propounder of the world famous Srimad Bhagvad Gita.

Everything was going on well in these twin villages till about a decade ago. The serene rural settings compounded by the ecological grandeur of Gahvarvan - one of the finest sacred groves of Braj, Dohini Kund, Vihar Kund, Maangarh, Vilasgarh, Ashtasakhi hills, Radha Sarovar, Mor Kuti, Kadamb Khandi, agrarian fields, gave an internalizing experience to one and all who dared to visit these spiritual hamlets.

The experience was further amplified by the musical renditions of Sri Ramesh Baba - the revolutionary saint of braj - performed in honor of the Divine Couple Sri Radha Krishna, every evening. The warm hospitality offered by the locales at Ras Mandir made one forget the comforts of the finest hospitable destinations.

A community led movement aimed at reviving the lost heritage of the region comprising of ancient water bodies, sacred groves, degraded pasture lands & hill slopes was going on silently inspired by Sri Ramesh Baba. It re-instilled the confidence in the local youth to take charge of their ecological infrastructure and build upon their prosperous socio-economic enterprises on the innate strength of Braj. To attract further support a team of locals went to the US to seek the support of the American NRI community out there. This proved to be a 'turning point' in the destiny of the twin-hamlets of Chiksoli & Manpur, in a similar way the 1965 Lyndon Johnson's fetish for the Asians opened the gates of America for Asian immigrants.

Hordes of Non Resident Indians got attracted to the persona of Sri Ramesh Baba and in their own characteristic pompous style, started influencing the entire state of affairs. The simple rural folks got swayed by their economic might and started selling off their prized lands for their palatial spiritual retreats.

The austerity & simplicity of the place took less than a decade to get lost. The way Edison got invaded by the lesser intelligent Indians, Chiksoli and Maanpur got encroached by materialistic spiritualists.

Now there are multi-storeyed towers in these small villages with shoddy drainage and sewerage disposal systems. The pompous display of money is clearly visible everywhere. To house cattle, fortresses have been built as if they are real endangered species.

Instead of upgrading the local school Sri Raseshwary Vidya Mandir which was envisioned to be graduated into a rural university, the entire focus has shifted on residential apartments for the overseas clients. Due to the lack of building regulations in the rural areas in India, havoc is being designed as the effluent from these gushing buildings would spoil the local habitat like anything.

Cultural invasions are happening all across. Whether its Edison, New Jersey or it is Chiksoli - Manpur near Barsana in Mathura. In both cases, the local communities are at peril and at a disadvantage as their independence and liberty is encroached upon.

I would certainly empathize with Stein as I have really lost the charm and attraction to visit the very place of my inspiration and instruction while I was a little kid.

Stein has simply been chastized on the intellectual plane by the Indian-American Community. The poor me was driven out from the very place by levelling out serious death threats by the goons flourishing on the financial support of the invaders from America.

Cultural invasions of any kind just should not be and just cannot be tolerated or patronized.