Talk at Cooch Behar

Watch here: https://youtu.be/eGl7CZvEC6c?t=5366

GandhiMarx Cooch Behar pdf slides

Youtube link https://youtu.be/eGl7CZvEC6c

Article was eventually published here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14649373.2023.2156129

11 thoughts on “Talk at Cooch Behar”

    2. Bookmarked the YT link. Read the slides. That Orientalist parable of ferryman and passenger I came across first in a poem by Sukumar Ray (Satyajit Ray’s genius father). And I recently used it in an ongoing Bangla book manuscript of mine to highlight the difference between embodied knowledge systems and textual knowledge systems. Had no idea about the Marx connection!

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    3. Yes, the Marx link for that story is great – so I am guessing its a widely known Arabic parable of the order of 1001 nights type stuff. Great to see its even more India connected – please send me your ref so I can cross cite.

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    6. Not related necessarily, but since we are, I presume, fans of Ritwik, anything to do what river will be good. The river crossing story is a whole cycle – we may need to recruit Levi-Strass to this. Here is another one: Aesop’s Fables, translated by Laura Gibbs (2002)
      85. DIOGENES AND THE FERRYMAN
      Perry 247 (Chambry 98)

      On his travels, Diogenes the Cynic came to a stream that was flooded. He stood on the bank, unable to go any farther. One of those ferrymen who regularly carry people across rivers saw that Diogenes did not know what to do so he approached the philosopher, picked him up, and kindly carried him across the water. Diogenes then stood on the opposite shore, bewailing the poverty that prevented him from rewarding the man for his good deed. While Diogenes was still pondering this state of affairs, the ferryman saw another traveller who could not get across, so he ran off to offer his assistance. Diogenes accosted the ferryman and said, ‘Well, I do not feel in your debt any longer for the favour that you did me. This is not an act of judgment on your part – it’s an addiction!’
      The story shows that someone who assists both the truly good and those who are undeserving is not seen as a philanthropist, but is instead regarded as a madman.

      Diogenes the Cynic was a Greek mendicant philosopher of the fourth-century B.C.E. -from http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/oxford/85.htm

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  2. my bit starts 120mins in -https://youtu.be/eGl7CZvEC6c but the talks of Profs Stara, Bartolf and Chakrabarty are great, so settle in for three hours…

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  3. Ah forgot about the Siddhartha reference. Lovely book. The Diogenes story is pretty loaded. Altruism as a disease theme is always fascinating.

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