RE: [ALOCHONA] Video: Teesta Sutra

Cyril Radcliff
W.H. AUDEN

Unbiased at least he was when he arrived on his mission,
Having never set eyes on this land he was called to partition
Between two peoples fanatically at odds,
With their different diets and incompatible gods.
'Time, 'they had briefed him in- London, 'is short. It's too late
For mutual reconciliation or rational debate:
The only solution now lies in separation.
The Viceroy thinks, as you will see from his letter,
That the less you are seen in his company the better,
So we've arranged to provide you with other accommodation .
We can give you four judges, two Moslem and two Hindu,
To consult with, but the final decision must rest with you. '

Shut up in a lonely mansion, with police night and day
Patrolling the gardens to keep assassins away,
He got down to work, to the task of settling the fate
Of millions. The maps at his disposal were out of date
And the Census Returns almost certainly incorrect,
But there was no time to check them, no time to inspect
Contested areas. The weather was frightfully hot,
And a bout of dysentery kept him constantly on the trot,
But in seven weeks it was done, the frontiers decided,
A continent for better or worse divided.

The next day he sailed for England, where he quickly forgot
The case, as a good lawyer must. Return he would not,
Afraid, as he told his Club, that he might get shot.


From W.H. Auden (1907-1973), Collected Poems, 1976, p. 604, poem dated May
1966

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Emanur Rahman
Sent: Jan 29, 2012 5:17 PM
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com, <'undisclosed-recipients:'@mx3.service.uci.edu>
Subject: RE: [ALOCHONA] Video: Teesta Sutra

 

Sir Cyril Radcliffe was a man of great vision – he knew that in the fullness of time, Mirjafars would reign supreme in East Bengal and that any future resource sharing would be based on how many times those Mirjafars could be bought and sold in day. I dare say he is probably patting himself on the back right about now but wondering why he wasted any time on such agreements.

Once the Tipaimukh dam is in place, my ancestral river the Kushiara will dry up (like the Padma) and Sylhet's agriculture will be decimated. But that's ok, I live in the UK (like so many of the children of the politicians and pseudo-intellectuals who support this dam) so I don't give a damn (no pun intended). ! Thankfully I will still be able to fly into Dhaka, lunch at the Westin, hire a nice Grand Hi-Ace to take me to my bari, do some charity work, laugh and spit at the politics of the day and then return to the safety and comfort of London.

I'm a true patriot.

Emanur Rahman, UK

From: alochona@yahoogroups.com [mailto:alochona@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Isha Khan
Sent: 21 December 2011 05:38
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Video: Teesta Sutra

Video: Teesta Sutra


The Teesta is worshiped for centuries by all those who live along the path its carved down from the snows of the mighty Kanchenjunga in Sikkim, to where it joins the Brahmaputra in what is Bangladesh today. The power of the river is now the leitmotif for a new kind of diplomacy, a symbol perhaps for the unfinished task of Independence 40 years after India helped Bangladesh win it from Pakistan. The question of sharing at least 25 per cent of Teesta waters still hangs in the air between Delhi and Dhaka. The man who divided the subcontinent in 1947, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, must never have thought river waters would lead to continued bitterness among neighbours.

Video:
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/india-matters/india-matters-teesta-sutra/218696

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