Dacoit Jagga; legend from the days of the Raj **. 91

The Dacoit Jagga and His Exploits During the Days of the Raj in India

Jagga was a dacoit who built up a gang and got hold of a white charger and roamed the Punjab countryside. He became famous as the man who rode the white steed and the Police were scared of him. Unconfirmed reports suggest that so great was the awe that Jagga inspired that at night the Police in Lahore District barricaded themselves inside their police stations.

Before the advent of the British a situation of near anarchy prevailed in North India. It was almost like a free for all and with a weak central authority, many dacoit gangs and thugs appeared on the scene. This scenario lasted for about 200 years till the British consolidated their hold over India. Men like William Sleeman and others broke the backbone of dacoit gangs and the cult of thuggery and an element of peace descended on India. However at the turn of the 20th-century dacoit gangs again surfaced. This was basically a reaction to the Indian police.

To understand this aspect of the social milieu, it must be realized that all top officials of the Indian police like the Superintends of police were English, while the Dy Superintendents were generally Anglo-Indians. The rank and file up to the rank of the inspector were all Indians. Thus a station house officer called theThanedar was a big man in the Indian countryside and social scene. He was the man in touch with the masses and in a number of cases power went to the head of these men. As a reaction to this many honest Indians in the villages took up arms.

 One such case that has now become folk lore in the Punjab is that of Jagat Singh Sidhu. Popularly called Jagga, he was a Jatt and belonged to the martial caste of the Sikhs. He was born in 1902 in the Lahore District now part of Pakistan. Many ballads now eulogies Jagga as a sort of Robin Hood who robbed the rich and donated to the poor , but there is not much evidence of any such activity by Jagga.

Jagga started a normal life and after the death of his father married as per his mothers wish a girl from a nearby village. Her name was Inder Kaur and Jagga had a daughter from her named Gulab Kaur. Not much is known of his married life, but some information is available that he was a man of immense strength who could lift a sack (Boree) of wheat weighing 82 kg and throw it with ease.

 Jagga was an honest man and at that time corruption had started eating into the vitals of the revenue system. The local surveyor called a Patwari was often a man who would not work without his palm being greased. This infuriated Jagga and as per reports one day he thrashed the village Patwari. Jagga repeated this act many times and his actions were noticed by the local police inspector named Asgar Ali who arrested Jagga and hauled him before the court. Jagga was awarded 4 years imprisonment. This term in prison embittered Jagga and on coming out in 1926  he decided to avenge himself against society. This was the beginning and there was no going back.

Jagga built up a gang and got hold of a white charger and roamed the Punjab countryside. He became famous as the man who rode the white steeed and the Police were scared of him. Unconfirmed reports suggest that so great was the awe that Jagga inspired that at night the Police in Lahore District barricaded themselves inside their police stations.

 Jagga now committed many daoities and he became feared, particularly among the rich. He made it a point to rob gold smiths and his writ ran in the wilds of the countryside.

Jagga lived a reckless life, perhaps he knew that his days were numbered as he lived on borrowed time. With a reward dangling on his head Jagga knew he faced a tremendous odd to continue to live. He ate drank and lived a merry life, till his own cook decided to earn the bounty on his head and after a raucous night of drink and wine laced with spicy food the cook shot Jagga dead. This was in 1929 and signaled the end of Jagga.

 His wife lived on till 1983 and his daughter still lives in Sri Mukatsar sahib district of the Punjab, her husband having deceased in 2005. Jagga is now a folk hero in the Punjab. His actions have been given a nationalist cover and his dacoities are classified as a fight against the Raj. His songs are sung in the villages and people talk of the bravery of the dacoit Jagga on his white charger.

Coming USElection: It may be the Last Swan Song

America is a superpower and for that reason the world is interested in the coming election to the White House. The white house is the official residence of the American president. It has great symbolic value. The road to the white house is through a long drawn election and nomination process. There are 2 major political parties namely the Democratic party and the Republican party. Both parties choose their representative, who will fight the election. It is thus a one to one affair.

Presently, both the Republicans and the Democrats have chosen their representatives. Donald Trump will be the GOP nominee and Hillary Clinton the Democrat nominee.

In many ways, this is a crucial election as the US has a 10 trillion dollar deficit and is weighed down with overspend to support regimes all over the world from NATO to Afghanistan. Trump is asking to reduce this overseas burden while Hillary is the old world politician and will follow the beaten track.

 In case, Hillary wins the US is sure to slide down and if Trump wins and the US sheds responsibility on economic grounds the result will very much be the same. One wonders whether the US has no better man to lead them in this hour of crisis. Maybe the mighty empire is cracking. Who can tell?

Trump accepts the nomination * 75

GOP  convention is as good as over with the acceptance of Donald as the Republican candidate to face Hillary Clinton.It was not a smooth convention as there was a lot of acrimonies. Many, particularly from the old guard led by Mitt Romney are miffed at the success of Donald Trump. This man was not given half a chance a year back to bag the nomination and yet he has triumphed heads on. Donald was like a boxer fighting a ring battle with the referees biased against him. But he knocked out his opponents and the referees were sidelined. 

Rise of Trump

The rise of Donald Trump is a grave blow to the ego of the older republicans and their supporters. Even now the opponents of Donald in the run up to the nomination have refused to endorse their opponent though they had been soundly defeated. Thus Ted Cruz and John Kasich have avoided endorsing Donald, in addition, many in the old guard have instigated agitations and sit-ins against Trump. Donald is a strong man and not a candidate of the  establishment.  This has hurt the ego of the senior Republicans  and it will not be a surprise if they support the opponent of Donald Trump, the democrat candidate Hillary Clinton to undermine a Donald victory.

All sorts of protests are being made against Donald. In one case 100 women stripped down and protested against the nomination of Trump.  But the opponents forgot got one point and that is that Donald commanded grassroots support among the Republicans and that is what propelled him forward. Donald himself gave an excellent analogy of his victory. He said he was like a boxer fighting in hostile territory  and the only way he could win was by a knockout, which he did. 

Coming election

What about the election? at the start, many of the Gallup polls gave an advantage of 12 points to Hillary over Donald. But despite the massive lead., it has slowly been whittled down and Donald is almost abreast of Hillary. Many Americans like the views of Donald. He has talked of Islam as an opponent and suggested ways to crush Islamic terrorism by hitting the ISIS leadership at their bases. He has announced that he would stop migration from  Mexico by building a wall. It may be an impractical suggestion, but it appeals to the American people. He has also announced that he would counter China and that again is a move that appeals to the common man, who feels that China is a threat.

The Muslim world will not be happy at the rise of Donald and his victory at the hustings may well be a landmark in world history and hasten the Armageddon- the last battle between good and evil. The definition of good and evil is relative as to which side you are on.

Last word

Donald has got the nomination, now it is between him and Hillary. The lady has the advantage as she has a united democrat party behind her with the solid support of Obama. On the other hand, Donald has a splintered GOP behind him and many would like to cut his roots. But the acid test is the American people and they will decide. But again the American election system is in a way rigged as a candidate with a greater majority of votes may not win. This is because of the peculiar system of having elections by the electoral college. Thus in a particular state in case  a candidate wins he bags ALL the electoral votes. One has now to await the elections in November to see who wins the greater number of electoral votes.

Book review: John Masters " Bugles and the Tiger"

 Masters

Book Cover

John Masters was a rare breed of Anglo-Indians who wrote about India. He was a man with golden pen. Kushwant Singh the noted India writer says about John Masters ‘EM Forester understood India while John Masters understood Indians’.

John master lived in India and was born here. His father was a Lieutenant Colonel in the British Indian army and John Masters also followed suite. He was educated at Sandhurst and was commissioned in 1933. John Masters spent a fair amount of time with the Kings Own Gurkha rifles and served with them in the North West frontier. His book Bugles and the Tiger is an account of his life during that period.

The book

Sometimes, I wonder where this beautiful book has been hiding. It is a fabulous account of a young officer attached to a Gurkha regiment in the wild North West frontier where the watch word of the Muslims tribes was Jihad at all times. The Book makes fascinating reading and in my opinion is one of those rare books that one must read.
Masters autobiographical account recounts his passing out from the Military college at Sandhurst and his joining 2/4 Gurkha Rifles on India's Northwest frontier. The strain of the book brings out the love of John Masters for India, the country people and the Gurkhas. It is clear from the book that the Gurkhas loved him as well.

Last word

This book creates a vivid picture of a Gurkha regiment and the interaction between the common soldier and the British officer. In fact it gives a rare insight into military life.
I first read this book as a cadet at the Air Force Academy on the recommendation of my Instructor. The book surprised me and I have read it 3 times after that. The book is a joy to read and even if you are not a soldier it makes excellent reading. John Masters is intoxicating and once you have read this book you will want to read his other books. He was a master of prose and all India should be proud of him. John Master passed away in 1983, leaving behind a rich heritage of excellent books.

Loving younger women ** 83

I want to state an obvious fact that most men like me, covet and seek out younger attractive women for a relationship. Why? I really have no answer but maybe, after all, it’s a simple answer. As far as I am concerned I do seek the company of younger women and I guess the answer is in one-word biology. One reason is that for men the biological clock is different. I recollect reading somewhere that Anthony Quinn the Hollywood star had a child at 82. Not possible for a woman.

Despite some people sneering at older men and younger women in a relationship, the fact is many younger women marry older men it’s again a biological need.
Frankly, as I am not a woman, I can’t write from the women’s angle. But I suppose all relationships can only take place if there is mutual attraction and sexual desire. So at the end of the day, the woman must like the man and that is the bottom line.

I make no apologies for the fact that many younger women have accepted me as a partner. Maybe it's love, I can’t say. But I see nothing wrong with it. All I can say is that many younger women accept me and it’s not for money for I don’t have much.

Erdogan orders mass arrests after Coup bid in Turkey

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Erdogan orders arrest of over 50000 Turks in the aftermath of the coup attempt

Turkey is in ferment with the government ordering a massive purge, arrest, suspension of people remotely suspected to be involved in the coup.

Turkey is in a state of ferment in the aftermath of the coup attempt. President Erdogan is taking all steps to ensure those elements which are disloyal or even having a hint of disloyalty to him and the Justice party are removed. In the process, he has unleashed a reign of mass arrests, suspensions and dismissals of nearly 50000 people from soldiers to judges and civil servants to teachers. Erdogan is blaming his political opponent Cleric Gulen of orchestrating this coup. He has asked for his extradition from the USA.

The arrests and suspensions.

The volume of arrests and suspensions is mind boggling.They cover people from all walks of life. In a way, it shows his insecurity as mass arrests and suspensions as well as dismissals have taken place. Erdogan has ordered

 Sacking of 15200 teachers and education staff                     Enforced resignation 1577 university Deans                         Dismissed  1500 staff of the Finance ministry                     Dismissed 8777 interior ministry workers                               Sacked hundreds of workers from the prime minister's office                                                                                              

In addition large number of men from the armed forces and police have beenarrested on charges of treason. He is also contemplating the re-introduction of the death penalty to act as a deterrent and the opportunity to execute the ringleaders of the coup.

The future.

The world is perturbed with the actions taken by Erdogan. The removal of large numbers of Turks on mere suspicion has not gone down well in the world community. The President of the EU  Martin Shultz has commented that the arrests and suspensions  smacked of "revenge" against the opponents. The mass scale purge has been condemned by Gulen.The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has cautioned that any introduction of the death penalty would have an effect on Turkeys application to join the EU. The US has also called for the rule of law to prevail. The situation remains fluid and one can't be sure as to what will happen next.                                                                                    

Caste System is alive in India * 73

Caste has been the bugbear of Hindu society. Also called the Varna system, it consists of dividing Hindus as per their profession. The caste system flows from the Laws of Manu as codified in the Manusmriti. These laws were framed at least 3000 years back and have survived the vicissitudes of history. The castes are further classified as higher castes and lower castes and are water tight compartments. Many reformers have spoken against the caste system, but there seems to be no conviction even among men who supposedly opposed the caste system like Gandhi. This man (Gandhi) is an enigma as at one stage he supported the Varna (caste system) and in later writings was of the view that caste system needs to be diluted. He was never a vociferous opponent of the caste system and that includes Hindu reformers like Swami Vivekananda.

The net result is that the caste system continues to dog India and at every stage, one is confronted by this division of society. Many lower castes have converted to Islam and Christianity to escape the clutches of the caste system. But in India, these lower castes despite converting have not been completely absorbed in either Islam or Christianity and still have the old tag accompanying them.

The situation in the 21st century is bad and the recent suicide by a student of the University of Hyderabad is a pointer. He was a lower caste and felt ostracized and just committed suicide. One wonders when India will get out of its caste conundrum