सही फ़ैसला. मज़बूरी और जन आन्दोलन का डर.

मेरे पिछले दो पोस्ट मे मैंने चुनाब पर कुछ लिखा था। उसका सीधा संबंध इंदिरा गाँधी , स्वर्ण मन्दिर , चौरासी का वर्ष , कांग्रेस के उमीदवारों और एक आम आदमी के वोट करने के अधिकार और मनचाहा उमीदवार चुनने की लालसा का अल्पविश्लेषण था। एक खास वर्ग के द्वारा अभी हफ्ते भर चले जन आन्दोलन तथा वर्षों से चले आ रहे खुंदक का बड़ा ही अच्छा असर हुआ। कांग्रेस की मज़बूरी कहें या गले में आ फंसी हड्डी से बचने का उपाए। जो भी हो फ़ैसला जन हित मे हुआ। आख़िर प्रजातंत्र मे ऐसी तानाशाही कब तलक बर्दास्त की जावेगी। हिन्दी इम्पेरिअलिस्म और एक पार्टी मत से हम कब तक भारतीय कहे जाने वालों को ख़ुद से अलग-थलग रखेंगे। विभिन्न संस्कृतियों का देश भारत जहाँ कई भाषा , विचार और परिवेश के लोग रहते हैं.....उन्हें आपनी बातरखने का पूरा हक है। चंद लोगों के लिए एक पुरे समूह को दरकिनार नही किया जा सकता।
जय हिंद .....
अब मैं पुरजोर आवाज़ मे कह सकता हूँ की वोट करूँगा और पप्पू नही बनूगा.

Cecil Baugh - The moulding of a master

THE ART OF THE POTTER is demonstrated by a young Cecil Baugh, who wasthe instructor at Maggotty Potteries which was founded by the Hon.Donald Farquharson to teach pottery to the young people of St.Elizabeth. Mrs. Taylor of Maggotty donated the lands for the school.

Christina Benjamin, Gleaner Writer

WHERE DOES the life of a master potter begin? Is he born with thetalent, or is it moulded into him? Pottery master the Honourable CecilArchibald Baugh, O।J।, really complicates the answer to thesequestions. His life is filled with the twists and turns, theintricacies and hardships necessary to provide any artist with anemotional influence.

Baugh was born on November 22, 1908 in Bangor Ridge, Portland, toIsaac Baugh, a sawyer, and Emma Cobran-Baugh, a farmer. This is thesimple foundation upon which 'The Jamaican Master Potter' was formed.
Every Saturday from the age of nine, Baugh accompanied his mother onfoot seven miles to Buff Bay to sell her produce. Being one of fourchildren, he was often chosen to accompany his mother to Kingstonwhere his brother was studying engineering. On this trip he saw whatsome might call his vision: two women firing a kiln to make yabbas ­this was his introduction to the pottery-making process. His storybrings to mind the biblical tale of Jeremiah's journey to the potter'shouse, one of Baugh's favourite lessons.
Cecil Baugh soon moved to Kingston and began an apprenticeship underSusan and Ethel Trenchfield who hailed from St. Elizabeth. Baugh gotmarried in 1928 to Beryl Ebanks, Susan Trenchfield's niece. Later, heworked alongside Wilfred Lord a free form potter. His background isreflected in his teaching, "We got the clay for our stoneware fromCastleton Garden" says former student Maxine Grey, "We would have towalk over the bridge to the hill to get the clay, and we would prepareit. Today you can just buy the clay ... but not us, he made us get itourselves."
Baugh sold much of his early pottery as a 'yabba man', selling atstreet markets. He then worked as a grounds keeper in Montego Bay, andlater as a door-to-door pottery salesman in Kingston. He soon returnedto Montego Bay where he opened his own studio, The Cornwall ClayWorks. He sustained the studio for five years before leaving it toexplore the world of pottery making. In order to be the best, he wouldhave to see what lay beyond the boundaries of traditional Jamaicanpottery .
THE SHAPING
Baugh joined the British army in 1941 and travelled to Lancashire,England, for training. He later went on a voyage to South Africa,where he found himself slapped by the hand of racial discrimination.He moved on to Cairo, Egypt. Here, he was introduced to a method ofpottery glazing which mirrored his self-invented 'Egyptian Blue'.According to Baugh, he was fascinated by this finding. Baugh was oneof the few remaining soldiers in his regiment after the war. He choseto stay in Egypt for three years, and then visited Aden where he wentto art school briefly.
In 1946 he returned from World War II to a home which had been tornapart by tragedy. His mother and daughter died in his absence, and hismarriage was failing. It is said that tragedy shapes the spirit justas it breaks the heart. Again he became like the clay he so loved -moulded by his experiences. One thing every potter knows aboutpreparing clay for shaping is that, in order for the artwork tosurvive inside the fires of the kiln, all air bubbles must be removed,and so the clay must be kneaded or 'beaten' to perfection. In lateryears, to add one last bruise to his 'beating', his second wife diedtragically in 1986.
Earlier however, upon his return from the war, Baugh opened a potterystudio on Mountain View Avenue. He then travelled to the UnitedKingdom in June 1948 where he studied with Margaret Leach and thefamous British potter Bernard Leach. In an article done by TheGleaner, he referred to this time as "The start of my career as an artpotter ... My glory years." During this time he was truly 'shaped' andprepared for the 'glazing' his new-found knowledge would attract him.He learnt the artistic and scientific methods behind making glazes,working with clay, building wheels and kilns, and firing among otherthings. These priceless shards of knowledge he brought back toJamaica, where he planted the pottery seed - an element of artistrythat has now bloomed within the country.
Phillip Brian, another of his many students, reminisces: "He was amaster of the potter's wheel ... I remember my first time entering theschool on Central Avenue. Cecil demonstrated the making of a beautifulpitcher on the potter's wheel. Then, when he was finished, he justdestroyed it ..." Brian says the students were appalled. "To him itwas just a demonstration ... He said, 'The best is always ahead ofyou'।p"
THE GLAZING
The glazing refers to the decoration of a newly shaped piece of claywork before it is placed in the kiln. This is when the clay finallybecomes recognisable for its beauty ... the finishing stages, when allare able to see the work as it will be: no longer the simple structurethat it was originally, but now recognisably extraordinary. Baughentered into this stage of his life when, in 1950, he founded theSchool of Arts and Crafts, now known as the Edna Manley College of theVisual and Performing Arts.

Mari Sigurdson shared with The Gleaner: "His dream was to create aJamaica Potter's

Association ... Every potter in Jamaica has someinfluence of Cecil Baugh - even foreigner's ­ everyone! He was willingto share with everybody।" Baugh was head of the Ceramics Department atthe school until he retired in 1974। "I went to art school to paint!"exclaimed Grey in an interview with The Gleaner: "He had such aninfluence on my life - I had to change to pottery.
This was only the beginning. He has had so many accomplishments thatto list them all within this article would surely take up the greaterpart of this - the Arts Section.
Cecil Baugh is a legend in the pottery world. Referred to as'Jamaica's Master Potter', he has won numerous honours for his work:the Silver Musgrave Medal of the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ), 1964; theOrder of Distinction, 1975 National Honours; the Norman Manley Awardof Excellence, 1977; the Centenary Medal of the IOJ, 1980; the JamaicaBauxite Institute Award, 1981; the Gold Musgrave Medal of the IOJ,1984; the George William Gordon Award for Excellence in the VisualArts, 1994; and the Order of Jamaica presented in 2003.
A FIRE IN THE KILN
When clay is fired, the glaze and the shape become a fixed part of thepiece. The magnificence of the work is set into permanence. CecilBaugh is just that ... a permanent part of Jamaican history. Yet, Imust dare to deviate from the norm and ask that he not be rememberedsimply by his awards, his titles, and his unending list ofachievements. I dare to ask that he not be remembered simply as'Jamaica's Master Potter'. Instead, I appeal to people to rememberthis master as he was in his 'un-glazed' form - as a teacher.
His memory surely resides within his many pupils. "Once you startedtalking to Cecil you became a student of his ..." says Baugh's friendDavid Dunn. "If you sat down with him for an hour you would definitelylearn something about ceramics ... and about life." His influence iswidely felt. He has left two daughters: Ms. Leila Baugh and MyrtleEbanks: "He was a man of great determination and he put his heart andsoul into everything ... He was strong, in his own right, even thelast time I saw him. He lived as a soldier; He will die as a soldier,"Mrs. Ebanks told The Gleaner.
EGYPTIAN BLUE
Cecil Baugh has been handled like any truly priceless work of art:beginning as clay - naturally exquisite - simple with unformedpotential, moulded by the hands of the most renowned pottery artistsaround the world, and as any prized product of the art world - aged toperfection.
One of Cecil Baugh's favourite quotes sums up his life: "Painting isgood, but pottery never dies." Cecil Baugh, like any priceless work ofpottery, will truly never die.

पप्पू मत बने वोट करें ....

कौन पप्पू बनना चाहता है। सब अपने हक़ .....अस्मिता के लिए संघर्षरत हैं... यही आम आदमी का बायो डाटा है। और मैं इस से परे नही हूँ। सवाल ये नही है की सिर्फ़ वोट करना है , सवाल ये है की अप्प्रोप्रिअत उमीदवार को चुनना है॥ अगर मेरी जैसी मुसीबत मेरे दोस्त के गले पड़ जावे ( दोस्त वो जिनने मुझे पप्पू लिखा है ) तो पता चले।
पार्टी के अस्तर से अगर देखें तो मैं बड़ा चूजी हूँ। नेशनल लेवल पर किसी को पसंद करता हूँ तो रीजनल लेवल पर किसी को। बिहार में एक खासी पकड़ रखने वाली पार्टी का मैं पुरजोर समर्थक हूँ। ये अलग बात है की मैं न ही जाति से और न ही पृष्ठभूमि से इस पार्टी का कभी सगा रहा हूँ। ये तो एक भावनत्मक जुडाव है। हुआ यूँ की बिहार के एक लोकप्रिय नेता और इस क्षेत्रीय पार्टी के कदावर सदस्य से मेरा मिलना उनके निजी कार्यालय में हुआ। उनकी आपकता देख ,आश्चर्य मे डूब गया और सोचेने लगा की सफेदपोश नेता लोग क्या इन मंत्री जैसे भी होते हैं। ये मेरा वक्तिगत अनुभब रहा, जिसे बुन कर मैंने उन नेता जी की साफ़ छवि अपने मन मे बना ली और पार्टी का सपोर्टर बन गया।
विचारधारा का बीच मे आना लाजमी है, और इसी पर एक व्यक्ति का वजूद भी टिका है- जो उसे आदमी बनाता है। पर्सनल होते हुए विचारधारा मे परिवर्तन किया जा सकता, लेकिन मुझे नही लगता की कोई ऐसी भी परिस्थति हो सकती है जिसमे वोट डालना जरूरी ही हो। मेरे जैसे सिचुएशन मे पड़ने वाले को नेक सलाह ( अपने मगज मे चाबी भरो ....और उसे सोचने के लिए छोड़ दो।)।

वोट और नेता

मुझे याद है वो दिन जब मै पहली दफा वोट डालने गया था। मेरी उमर तक़रीबन १५ बरस रही होगी। बाबूजी के साथ गया था, और वोट डालना क्या , मेरी जिद की वजेह से एक पड़ोस के जानने वाले ने आपना बैलेट मुझे डालने को दे दिया था। बस वोट डालने का रिचुअल पूरा हुआ और मुझे भी खुशी मिली। इस घटना के बाद कभी ऐसा नही लगा की वोट बहुमूल्य है तथा इसका प्रयोग करना चाहिए। ७ बरस से दिल्ली मै रह रहा हूँ लेकिन वोटर आई कार्ड नही था। इस लोक सभा इलेक्शन से पहले कार्ड मिलने की उम्मीद है- तो उत्सुकता भी॥ मेरा क्षेत्र दक्षिणी दिल्ली पड़ता है... कल तक मै बड़ा उत्साही था की इस दफा वोट ज़रूर डालना है , लेकिन कल के समाचार पत्र को पढ़ कर बड़ी निराशा हाथ लगी.... जिस पार्टी को वोट देना था उसने ऐसा उम्मीदवार खड़ा किया है जिसे मेरी विचारधारा वाला व्यक्ति कभी नही चुन सकता ....... चलो वोट करने का ख्वाब ख्वाब ही रह गया.... देखते है जनतंत्र तेरा क्या होगा.