"The Alphabets of Latin America - a carnival of poems" - by Abhay Kumar

Abhay, the poet diplomat, has published a book of 108 poems with Latin American themes in an alphabetic way..

A for Amazon, B for Bahia, C for Caipirinha...
T for Tango Y for Yemanja and Z for Zocalo

Here is the blurb I wrote for his book

"Abhay K. is India’s counterpart to Octavio Paz, the Mexican diplomat- writer whose poems on Indian cities, monuments, gods and culture introduced India to the Latin Americans. Abhay gives a poetic perspective of the vibrant Latin American spirit, their colorful culture, magical realism of the writers and motivates Indians with ‘Oh, do not say no...Let’s go to Rio’."

During his posting in Brasilia, he travelled extensively in Brazil and Latin America to have a feel of the region, meet poets and writers, participate in Book Fairs and recite his poems in various cities . He used to organise a monthly meeting " Cha com Letras - tea with literature" with Brazilian writers in the embassy. 

The book has been published by Bloomsbury India

Here are some of his poems and excerpts

Borges

Looking for Borges
I came to Argentina I found him nowhere
I searched all the libraries and cafes
all the labyrinthine streets of Buenos Aires he was not even at La Recoleta
I found merely a mirror and a face staring
at me in disbelief
it’s hard to believe everyone told me
Borges lived in Argentina

Brasilia

Brasilia is the last utopia Brasilia is Sylvia Plath’s dystopia Brasilia is a landscape ectopia
Brasilia is an oasis of migratory birds Brasilia is an oracle’s prophetic words Brasilia is a page from Harry Potter
Brasilia is a shifting mirage in the desert Brasilia is a vision gone pale, blurred Brasilia is a nail yet to be hammered.

Caipirinha

I asked a bartender in Brasilia for a drink she said nothing, just offered me a caipirinha
I drank it happily and asked—what is it? She said—Brazil is body, caipirinha—its soul
Drink whiskey when in Scotland, rum in
the Caribbean, when in Brazil drink caipirinha
Curious, I asked—how is this magic potion made? Her face blossomed like a sunflower, and she said—
pour cachaca of your choice, squeeze— a lemon, mix it with crushed sugar and ice. ‘And love?’
She smiled,put a gentle kiss on my cheeks and said—a great drink must have in it—love distilled.

Eduardo Galeano

A Letter to Eduardo Galeano Dear Eduardo,
The open veins of Latin America
have been cut open wider
since your departure,
new veins are being cut open every day,
the number of workers in the vein opening industry has multiplied,
unemployment rate has significantly dropped,
inflation has also come down,
isn’t it development? What else would you call development? There are new vampires on the horizon with globalization, their hunger for blood and wealth has exponentially grown Amazon has many veins. Amazon is burning.
It will open many veins instantaneously.
Hope you’re well and not turning in your grave. Please do not. There is hardly anyone left who can fix damaged graves these days.
Everyone is employed in the vein opening industry. Therefore, please rest in peace.

Yours sincerely, The Poet

Jorge Amado

I saw the captains of sands
in Salvador, Bahia of all the saint,
kicking football
on the Porto da Barra beach
I asked them if they knew Jorge Amado, the writer
– they asked me – ‘Jorge who?’ I said loudly – Jorge Amado
they looked at the football and kicked it hard,
it fell in Amado’s house
there I found an old typewriter
which bore his fingerprints, his colourful shirts
smelling of sea, women, cinnamon and clove,
on the wall
Marx, Lenin, Ganesha,
a Maithuna couple, dancing to the sound
of Condomble rituals, books waiting to be opened.

Victoria Ocampo

An ailing poet, sheltered in her home, her heart
she—his Vijaya, his poetry, his life
Victoria and Tagore,
two souls dancing in ecstasy
as Purabi blows incessantly between India and Argentina.

A long petal of the sea – novel by Isabel Allende

This latest novel by Isabel Allende is about dictatorship, persecution and exile, familiar themes in her novels. This story starts with the civil war in Spain and the Franco dictatorship which cause death, destruction and exodus of people. Roser and Victor from the Dalmau family from Spain escape first to France and then to Chile. They are nostalgic about their home in Catalonia while trying to establish roots in Chile. But their misfortune follows to Chile which falls under Pinochet dictatorship. The Chilean regime detains and tortures Victor for his leftist sympathies. Roser manages to get Victor released with the help of Venezuelan embassy and takes him to Venezuela. But in Venezuela they miss their home in Chile. Eventually they return to Chile when democracy is restored after Pinochet loses the plebiscite in 1990. 

I was curious and puzzled about the scale and intensity of inhuman tortures and killings by the Pinochet’s military goons against their own people who were also white Christians like the rulers. It seems that it is in their Spanish blood. Franco was much more ruthless in Spain in killing, torturing and persecuting the leftists. Pinochet and other Latino dictators looks like a pale imitation in comparison to the monstrous atrocities of Franco.

Isabel Allende has weaved into the story themes of love, survival, relationship, valour, ideologies, sacrifice and old age through the many characters and their experience from  Catalonia, Spain, France, Germany and Chile who are caught in the deadly battle between fascism and socialism. Allende has brought out the conviction and courage of so many foreigners from US, Europe and Latin America who fought for Republicans in Spain voluntarily and sacrificed their lives for the cause of freedom and democracy. 

The title of the novel “ A long petal of the sea” is from one of the poems of Neruda which describes Chile. Allende has quoted Neruda’s poems in the covers of each chapter. The novel is based on the real life story of Neruda’s rescue of thousands of Spaniards through ships organized by him from France to Chile. He did it much against the resistance from right wing elements in the government and in the Chilean embassy in Paris where he was posted at the time of the Spanish civil war. Neruda had personally interviewed and selected those for rescue. The government wanted only those with skills for which there was shortage in Chile and did not want writers, artists, communists and other potential trouble makers. But Neruda managed to include some of those such as Victor and Roser.

Of course, Neruda, who was a communist, himself had to flee the Chilean dictatorship in 1948 seeking refuge in Argentina. There is suspicion that his death in 1973 was actually a  murder by Pinochet dictatorship.

Dictatorship, persecution and exile are the dominant themes in the novels and poems of many Latin American writers who were also among the victims. Isabel Allende herself suffered exile from Chile to Venezuela from where she emigrated to US. 

The themes which influenced Allende’s novel are replaying now in Latin America but in reverse. In the past, Venezuela had provided asylum to many Latin American political exiles and economic immigrants. But now, over three million Venezuelans have taken asylum in the other Latin American countries including Chile to escape the Chavista dictatorship and economic misery in Venezuela. 

Mayor, it is a sin not to have fun in Carnival

The annual carnival in Rio de Janeiro starts on 21 February and thousands of Samba dancers are already practicing their dance steps feverishly to the specially composed theme songs for this year. Besides the official parade at the purpose-built Sambadrome starts, there are the usual street parties which have already got the Cariocas (residents of Rio city) getting into the mode of celebration with beer and caipirinha. 

But there is one important dignitary of the city who not only refuses to join the party but is also opposed to the joyful carnival activities. It is the Mayor of Rio City Marcelo Crivella. 

Yes.. The Mayor of the city which gets over a billion dollars of income from the Carnival tourism season every year. During his term as Mayor in the last four years, Crivella never attended the Sambadrome’s parade. He has refused to participate in the traditional ceremony in which the Mayor hands over key of the city to King Momo of Carnival. He has cut the traditional city budget for samba schools. He is putting out all kinds of bureaucratic obstacles to make the life of samba schools and associations which hold carnival parades more difficult.

The reason for Crivella’s antipathy to Carnival is the fact that he is a “holy” evangelical priest of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God who considers Carnival as “unholy”. He prefers his own evangelical song, “I am crazy for Jesus”. He organized on 15 February a mega evangelical event in the city to show the strength of his supporters vis-à-vis, the samba revelers. He even got President Bolsonaro, a supporter of evangelicals, to address the event. In May 2016, Bolsonaro was baptized in the Jordan River in Israel by Pastor Everaldo, a prominent leader of the Assembly of God. Bolsonaro has promised to take the country to “Jewish-Christian tradition” and place “God above all”. 

Crivella’s position is not an isolated case. It is a reflection of the change being done to Brazilian culture by the Evangelicals who have converted almost one fourth of the population of Brazil, the largest Catholic country in the world. The entrepreneurial evangelical bishops  have succeeded in marketing their Prosperity Theology. In return for the divine help, the followers are made to contribute (tithe) a part of their income to the Industry of Faith of the pastors some of whom have become multimillionaires and charismatic pop-stars. Edir Macedo, the uncle of Crivella is the richest pastor with a wealth of more than a billion dollars and private jet costing 45 million dollars. His Universal Church of the Kingdom of God has over five million members and 13,000 temples across Brazil, as well as presence in several other countries, including the United States. This church owns the second-largest TV station in Brazil, Rede Record, as well as newspapers and radio stations across 27 states. Macedo has been accused of money laundering and other illegal activities for which he spent a few days in jail. The Evangelicals use the entertainment industry to spread their message across Brazil. There are 128 Evangelical record labels and more than 600 radio stations dedicated exclusively to gospel programming.

These evangelical churches are politically active and advise their members to vote for evangelical candidates and sympathisers with the slogan “Brother votes for Brother”. The Biblical caucus in the Congress is said to be near 200 (out of the total of 513) proactive on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.

It is important to note that Catholic priests in poverty stricken areas had worked for the poor and against the oppression of the military dictatorship during the days of  “Liberation theology” in the past. In contrast, Bolsonaro, the patron of evangelicals and their “Prosperity Theology” praises the military dictatorship and is cutting the budget for the welfare of the poor. 

So the Samba schools are counter attacking the evangelical mayor and the pro-evangelical president with their critical theme songs and floats. 

                      

                   the write up of the float says “Mayor, it’s a sin not to to have fun in Carnival'

The Mangueira Samba school  is going to have a float of Favela (slum) Jesus with a black face, Indian blood and the body of a woman and the son of an unemployed carpenter and Mary of Sorrows Brazil. The song says “Favela, get the vision/ There’s no future without sharing/ And no Messiah with a gun in his hand,” an allusion to President Jair Bolsonaro’s promises of loosening gun control legislation and of reducing punishment for police who kill suspected criminals. Bolsonaro’s middle name is Messias.

The poor people of favelas and poor Jesus are thus caught in the cultural clash between Carnival loving Cariocas and the Carnival hating Evangelical priests. While Carnival helps the poor to forget their miseries temporarily and celebrate life for a few weeks during the parades, the Evangelical Church promises entry to paradise for their followers. 

During my recent visit to Brazil, I saw for myself the cultural changes. Some taxi drivers have stopped listening to samba music and instead play evangelical music. Many of them voted for Bolsonaro and told me that they would vote again for him. They did not see any future for Lula nor did they share my admiration for Lula. A young Brazilian girl, sitting next to me in the flight from Sao Paulo to Curitiba shocked me when she told me that she has chosen to be a religious worker and was not interested in any career in IT or business. 

So watch out Galera… The Triple C spirit (Copacabana, Caipirinha and Carnival) which defined the cheerful and colourful Cariocas are in for changes…

The Cariocas are caught between the Carnival lovers who say it is sin not to have fun and the evangelicals who consider fun as sin

Smoking Snake of Brazil

Smoking snake.. Sounds funny? It was the emblem used by the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (Fuerza Expedicionaria de Brazil-FEB) which participated in the liberation of Italy in the Second World War.

When he heard that Brazil was joining the Allies in the war, Hitler had made a contemptuous remark “ If snakes could smoke, Brazilians wouldl also fight in the battlefield”. In response to this insulting taunt, the FEB decided to use the smoking snake as their emblem.

The Brazilian snake had managed to smoke out Germans in the battlefield in Italy, as a revenge against Hitler’s insulting remark. The FEB defeated and captured as prisoners of war a large contingent of 20573 German soldiers and Italian Fascists including 2 Generals, 892 officers, 5000 vehicles and 4000 horses. This is extraordinary since the Brazilian contingent itself was almost equivalent to the number captured as prisoners. 

I found this and some other interesting information from reading the book, “The campaign of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force for the liberation of Italy” written by my Brazilian amigo Durval de Noronha Goyos Jr, head of the law firm Noronha Advogados. 

Noronha is a prolific writer, besides running law offices in UK, US, Argentina and China, besides the major cities in Brazil. He has written dozens of books and hundreds of articles on international law and related issues. He is at present the President of the Brazilian Writers Union. He has given many lectures around the world including in India.

Here are some highlights from his book

-In the beginning of World War II, the Brazilian government kept up relations with both sides and tried to take advantage from Germany as well as US which were the largest trading partners of Brazil at that time. In 1935, Brazil had signed preferential trade agreements with both partners. 

-Brazil sourced military hardware from Germany and some from Italy, when US refused to supply weapons to Brazil. Later, under the US’s Lend Lease Agreement, Brazil got 200 million dollars of arms and ammunition.

- In 1937 Getulio Vargas did a coup, dissolved Congress, closed political parties and established a New State (Novo Estado) with a new constituition drafted by his Fascist advisors. The Novo Estado put the rights of the society as paramount. The individuals had only duties and no rights. The only differences with the German and Italian Fascism were that (a) the Brazilian dictator did not have political parties like the Nazi and Fascist parties of Germany and Italy and (b) Brazil did not pursue racist policies. Vargas had in fact banned  the Brazilian Fascist party Acao Integralista. But the party tried in 1938 a counter coup which was suppressed successfully. The leaders of the party escaped to Italy with the help of the Italian ambassador.

- Hitler and Mussolini liked the fascist regime of Brazil which had large numbers of Germans( about 800,000) and Italian immigrants ( about 4 million). At that time there were about 400 Italian schools  and over 1000 German schools in Brazil. Sao Paulo state alone had 360 Italian newspapers. The German and Italian governments started to influence their communities in Brazil with propaganda and material help. 

-Brazil had a large Japanese population of around 650,000 in 1940. Between 1924 and 1941 about 130,000 Japanese had immigrated to Brazil under a governmental agreement. The recruitment of the immigrants was done by a Japanese state company Kaigai Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (KKKK). The Brazilian government closed Japanese newspapers and banned public use of the language during the war.

- The German government dreamed of an Antarctic Germany through separation of the three southern states of Brazil, where the German descendants had settled. Hitler had eyes on Brazil and had said,” we shall build a New Germany in Brazil”. He had contempt for the “absurd South American democracies ruled by mestizos”. 

- After seeing the possibility of danger from immigrants supported by Nazi Germany, the Vargas government banned public use of foreign languages, closed down all foreign newspapers and nationalized the schools. 

-The Brazilian government put under detention about 5000 descendants of Axis powers out of their total population of about 6 million. This is much small compared to the 110,000 descendants of Axis powers detained by US which had put pressure on Brazil to do the same. But the Brazilian government resisted it.

-After the war broke out, Vargas broke relations with the Axis powers and joined the Allies. - During the war, Brazil could not use its four submarines since they were made in Italy and faced the danger of being mistaken as submarines of Italy. Thirty four Brazilian warships and merchant vessels were sunk by German and Italian submarines.The Brazilian navy managed to sink 9 German U Boats.

- FEB, created in August 1943 and sent to Italy, consisted of 25334 persons including 20 women who were nurses. FEB suffered death of 467 and around 2700 wounded.

- FEB was racially integrated unlike the US forces which were segregated according to races. The black US soldiers were excluded from honour guards and were given inferior equipments. The Afro-American newspaper of Baltimore published a photo of the racially integrated Brazilian contingent with the headline “Blacks and whites fight together for Brazil, why not for the US?”.

Noronha's book has a detailed account of the evolution of fascism in Europe and in Brazil and the similarities and contrasts between the continental and tropical varieties.

Gods of Maya

"Gods of Maya" was the topic of lecture by Alejandro Garay, a Guatemalan archaeologist at the National Museum, New Delhi today morning.

This was one of the best Latin American lectures in India and an eye opener on Mayan culture.

Garay made an impressive, structured, clear and eloquent presentation on the gods of Maya, the Mayan culture, art and crafts. Garay has come prepared with good amount of knowledge of India. He explained the myths with research findings from archaeology, monuments, carvings and sculptures. 

Highlights of the lecture:

The god of maize (corn) is the most important god of Mayans. According to the Mayan myths, god created human beings to prepare food for them and thats the reason many rituals involve offerings of food to gods.

Mayan Calendar is based on the evolution of human being from conception to delivery (9 months) and not on the stars or planets. According to them, the world was created in 3114 BC.

The classical period in which Mayan culture flourished was between 300 and 1000 AD.

Mayas had developed the most complex system of writing in the Americas. It was developed around 300 AD and has 800 signs and is pictorial like the Japanese letters. The Mayans used ink for writing.

The Mayans have also had zero as number like the Indians. Their numerals are the easiest to learn, as seen in the image below. one dot for 1, two, three and four dots for 2,3 and 4. Five is written as a horizontal line.. for 6.7,8 and 9 it is the line with the number of dots above. For 10, it is two horizontal lines.. and for 15 three lines. For 11-14 and 16-19 lines plus dots. so easy a system..

The Mayans believed that everything including wood and stone had spirit in them. There are carvings (like animations) with images of stones speaking to the human beings.

There was a large appreciative audience of students of art, archaeology and culture, who asked intelligent questions.

Garay is the first ever Latin American archaelogist to be invited by ICCR to India. He is visiting Nalanda, Humpi, Jaipur, Agra and Hydedarabad too..

I advised Garay to do a comparative study of Indian and Mayan gods. I told him about the Tamil book " South American Tamils" in which the author has claimed that Mayas, Aztecs and Olmeds are Tamils who went from Tamilnadu and got lost there..

I suggested to the National Museum Institute to organise a seminar on the similiarities between Indian and the Latin American Inca, Aztec and Mayan Indian cultures..