Commotion at a Durga Puja!

 

The Durga Puja pandal was quiet in the morning hours, except for the occasional bursts of incantations from the priests, amplified by the mics. Suddenly, there was a commotion. Two street urchins, probably around 7-8 years of age, entered and marched ahead confidently and occupied two empty plastic chairs in the front row. Their tiny skinny bodies black as coal and clad in rags. Somehow, they were in possession of two toy pistols that they were firing continuously. The decent devotees at the adjacent chairs looked askance at them, horrified in some unnamed way. They immediately asked them to silence their pistols, and the kids gestured they wanted food. A senior organizer looked around annoyed, perhaps not finding the volunteers assigned with the duties of crowd control. Even as the firing continued unabated, a seemingly resourceful lady devotee consulted the priests on the altar and eventually managed to collect some particles of food--of sweets and fruits--that she gave away to the urchins. Although not apparently pacified, the kids took those and left the pandal, firing and chatting louder. However, all those in the pandal were back to their undisturbed devotion. 

Kolkata: Cancel the Commerce of the Durga Puja Carnival!

Yes! We ask why shouldn't the pure Commerce show of the Durga Puja Carnival in Kolkata be canceled in view of the worsening medical crisis? For how long this cruel irony of continuing the worship of the Mother Goddess and continuing to torture/kill the Mothers in human forms going to continue? 

Greed, limitless greed of humans! Dear God! This time Goddess Durga came in a cradle which in itself implies ominous times, and further, the tithis from Mahasaptami onward came mixed in such a way that you get three days of worship, technically. Yet, the greedy and selfie-social-media-crazy crowds of 'devotees' were still not satiated, descending on the Puja pandals in uncontrollable hordes for as long as seven days, and to pander to their greed and to have the maximum of business, most of the Puja organizers disregarded the tithi break-up completely and have been celebrating Bijoya Dashami or the Dussehra well into Ekadashi, the eleventh day! They expect the hordes to descend tonight too into their pandals and continue to gorge on their food stalls, generating more business for them!

And, in came heavy thunder showers in the afternoon, probably washing away the pandal premises of various Pujas! Wrath of Mother Goddess and Mother Nature so clearly visible, not just this time, but many other times over the recent years. But to what human avail? The greed, the eternal insatiety, the moral degradation, the paralysing corruption and the tantalising hypocrisy are all irreversible: set seemingly in an automatic motion to bring the End inevitably. And, what can we fools do but for crying or making unreasonable demands? 

The Modern Tarakasur on the Ola Grounds!

(Although no pun is intended as for the upcoming Durga Puja and the killing of demons or evil forces, we must clarify that this particular demon or raakshas or asura Tarakasur, according to ancient Hindu scriptures, was killed by Kartikeya, the elder son of Goddess Durga as believed, and not by the Goddess herself. The name of the demon is being taken here just for its resemblance to the name of villain of the piece. No malice toward any and all.)

In the City of Joy, Kolkata, enthusiastic people start visiting the Durga Puja pandals (what they call ‘Thakur dekha’) from the very next day of Mahalaya, that is, from the first day of the Devi Paksha—the illuminated phase of the Moon when Goddess Durga descends on earth—as and when the Pujas get inaugurated or opened with the idols installed. They do it because of the wish to visit as many Pujas as possible and to avoid the impossible rush of crowds that start visiting in millions when thousands of Pujas are open across the city, particularly during the actual Puja days. Most people prefer taking the public transport and walk miles for the pleasure as they love doing that enjoying binge eating amid the crowds of devotees or revelers. But some others, perhaps due to increasing age or illness or to make the experience comfortable, hire drivers for their own vehicles or hire cabs for the whole of the day or the whole of the night and have hectic bouts of pandal hopping.

Our protagonists, Pinakpani and Paroma, an elderly couple whose two daughters are married off and the only son is working in a different city, decided to hire an Ola cab for the maximum allowed duration of 10 hours and planned to move out in the early afternoon and enjoy till late night. The cab driver called them half an hour before the booked time and arrived at the right time to pick them up. Pinakpani found the bearded and tall young driver amiable enough and also knowledgeable in regard to the Pujas that are already open for the public and the myriad routes connecting those.

Pinakpani told the driver to go a famous Puja at the farthest northern end of the city so that they could visit all other pandals while coming back. The journey thus was to continue for nearly an hour. After a few minutes calls started coming to the driver’s mobile phone, and slowly and steadily he got visibly upset, raising his voice, but never rejecting the calls. What Pinakpani and Paroma could understand was that he was talking to his elder brother and there were some family issues. Pinakpani got irritated when the driver was plain shouting into his phone, and curtly told him to shut up and concentrate on driving, also pointing out that the police could haul him up anytime. The driver agreed, reluctantly and gloomily though.

The rest of the journey was quiet. They got dropped near the entry gate of the Puja and the cab left, the driver instructing them to call him up ten minutes before they were to be picked up and that he’d tell them where exactly to wait.

Pinakpani and Paroma had the bonus of beholding the famous Puja they never could visit before along with a smaller one in the neighborhood. After taking tea they started walking toward the exit to the main road. Pinakpani called up the driver who asked them to wait for ten minutes at the landmark location he himself spelt out.

And then all hell broke loose. The driver kept on calling, telling them to wait there, and at the next minute asked them to move a little toward the left or the right. After doing all those unsavory exercises and still unable to sight the vehicle the couple began feeling harassed even as the humid cloudy weather increased their discomfort making them sweat profusely.

Nearly an hour elapsed and the traffic congestion plus the deafening noise all around them further heightened their unease.

Now Pinakpani was in a boiling rage, shouting at the incessantly calling driver, throwing him names and liberally using the foulest of abuses. Fearing for his health Paroma took over command and taking his phone started negotiating with errant driver. But to no avail. As Pinakpani walked away to a corner to have some peace of mind Paroma, helpless now, requested the police guard on duty to talk to the driver. The policeman obliged her and after speaking for about three minutes gave her a few instructions. Accordingly, Paroma signaled Pinakpani to accompany her to the designated spot.

In the meantime, Pinakpani was searching for all options for help on the Ola App and finally finding some space to write something about the issue he wrote a few lines requesting them to cancel the trip and punish the villainous driver and sent the message. But no reply came up.

They crossed the traffic junction through an underground subway and moved to the bus stop, on the same side of the road though. They had to move at a snail’s pace along the crowded barricaded pavement as the public buses kept on coming, stopping at the stop ahead and leaving. They were nearing an opening for boarding the buses when they saw the driver hustling up to them from the opposite side. As he began speaking to Pinakpani as if trying to explain how wrong both of them were in not finding the location or him, our fuming protagonist motioned him to stop and not dare touch his arms.

Without a word they moved into the backseat and as the driver quietly got into his driving seat Pinakpani wrote the destination of their home in the app. When there were seven hours still left of their paid rental trip.

Paroma was extremely unhappy when she found out that they were moving back home.

“How can you trust this demon to again drop us at some Puja and vanish for hours? I’m telling you; he’s doing this willfully…he needs to be home immediately to sort out family matters and cannot afford to wait till midnight. So, he’s trying to harass us out of it!” Pinakpani explained to her in a hushed tone.

“Then why are you obliging him? We should make him toil harder for our money!” Paroma argued.

“But again, as I told you, he’ll start doing the same, and maybe we’ll be able to see only one Puja in the rest of the time. So, I want to cut short the trip so that he suffers in terms of reduced payment."

For the rest of the journey, it was all quiet inside the car.

Pinakpani gave him the end OTP as they reached home. And he got another shock of unexpected proportions. The bill is the same as when booked. Not even four hours of the booked trip are spent and yet they’re being charged the full fare for ten hours and hundred kilometers!

“You’re as bad a devil as your goddamn company! No! I’ll not give you a single paisa; sort it out with your company!” Pinakpani roared as he alighted from the car. He checked his mobile and found an email from Ola waiting which promised some action in response to his earlier message. He frantically started writing a reply mail, narrating the injustice: both in terms of a villainous driver and atrocious billing. As he was waiting for a reply from the company the driver, in a surprisingly quiet mood, was standing by the other side of the vehicle and talking over his phone. Finishing the call the driver spoke to Pinakpani, “I’m calling over my brother here. You can talk it out with him.”

That worried Pinakpani: he heard of many stories about physical scuffles between passengers and Ola or Uber drivers some of which really turned ugly. Fearing for their safety he enacted a dramatic act.

He took out the notes from his shirt pocket and literally threw those over the roof of the car to the driver and didn’t wait a second more. He motioned Paroma and started walking toward their home. The driver who got about three hundred bucks more than the fare ran after Paroma, trying to return the change. Pinakpani stopped him delivering his punch line, “Have all of it, you sickening demon! Have a feast! And Maa (Goddess Durga) is sure to punish you, remember that!”

Back home, he found a reply from company telling him that as per rules applicable to Kolkata only there is no refund for rental trips and full amount is charged irrespective of the duration of the trip. He now understood why the driver was so confident! He knew he'd get his money whatever happened! Pinakpani quietly opened the app, logged out and uninstalled it. “Accursed devils! Damn your joyrides for the City of Joy!”

Durga Puja-2022 Heats Up Amidst Continuing Humid Heat!

Kolkata is fully back to its old-normal ways after two long painful years as West Bengal's biggest festival Durga Puja heats up. Pandal hopping is in full flow with thousands on a spree of 'Thakur Dekha' (how many Goddess idols have you seen?) almost since the start of Navaratri. Although Durga Puja rituals start only from Mahashasthi which starts today, technically for all here Goddess Durga descends on earth on Mahalaya, the last day of Pitru Paksha, that is the eve for the beginning of the bright lunar phase or Shukla Paksha.

There are crowds thronging the major pandals, particularly from afternoon to late night every day, with their mobiles clicking non-stop, falling upon each other for a better view, the rush for the selfies in all available spaces, thronging all the eating joints to their fullest capacity and all the smiles. Celebration is the motif and soul of the festival. Married or unmarried couples of all ages who could be going through lots of strain and stress in the preceding months/years now suddenly find their spouses or partners emitting heavenly smiles before their mobile cameras in selfie mode. The smartly-dressed ladies do it the best possible way, posing in selfie mode for hours and in the process dishing out the sweet and heavenly smiles that their now-energised male partners never possibly witness easily, particularly on the home fronts.

There are hurdles too. The almost unbearable humid heat continues thanks to the near-miss meted out to Kolkata and some other parts of the state by the South West monsoon and the forecast of moderate to heavy rains in the coming days. Temperatures are around 35-degree C still, further worsened by the cloudy skies and up to 90% humidity. However, the unparalleled spirit and enthusiasm of the Bongs defies it all. They'll walk, commute and crowd endlessly, sweating and getting exhausted in the process. Then there is the policing! Perhaps fearing an extreme rush after the two-year COVID layoff some measures taken by the police were also extreme. Entry roads blocked on one side, at times quite unnecessarily. Then they allow you enter the Puja pandal on some lane and exit you on some unknown backside lane due to which many puja revelers lose their way like in a maze and in the pricess losing precious tine and missing out nearby pandals. But come what may, the hoppers would defy all and  definitely won't have rains looking upon Maa Durga to grant their wishes.

Let the spirit of devotion and dedication prevail. Happy Durga Puja 2022!

And of Adopting a New Approach to Write Truncated Pieces!

That evening in end-July a Bangla family friend came to our house in Kolkata profusely sweating and drenched in it from head to foot. However he was carrying with him a packet of smoking hot beguni (Brinjal fritters) and Chops (Cutlet fritters). Before he could cool himself enough under the full-speed ceiling fan he commanded us to partake of the items before those cooled off! And yes, we had those gobbled up quick in extraordinary gourmet delight and also supported by hot steaming cups of tea! Well, in our traditional belief that ‘heat neutralizes heat’, particularly when the heat (like May) is oppressively humid (like monsoon)! This dictum is of the utmost importance now, because the supposedly wettest months of the South West Monsoon, June and July, have gone with absolutely no rains in South Bangla and Kolkata city. In fact, the month of July has proved to be the driest July in history in the Eastern and North Eastern regions of the country. And into August now, there’s hardly any sign of the monsoon in any mood to expedite its proceedings. The seemingly blackening sky along with false thunder eventually pierced though the merciless sun, countess times!

 

At a time when we’d have loved a few days of genuine rains and cooling weather we were instead forced to have a literal rain of hard cash thanks to the equally hot episode of one minister of the Bangla state government and a stalwart of the ruling regional party getting arrested along with his lady associate, supposedly. About half a billion of rupees have so far been recovered from the lady’s flats along with other properties in hiding and a few missing foreign cars. The veteran minister after being distanced and rebuffed by his own party started crying ‘conspiracy’ saying the money was not his and the lady clamoring out haplessly that she was not aware of the money being hidden in her flat. Well, her connections with ruling state party had been somewhat exposed by the media and therefore, it’s come as a huge setback for the party with its Chief Minister projecting her national ambitions since her landslide assembly election victory in 2021, making the strong ruling national party a poor second.

 

The people of Kolkata are like the people of Mumbai as far as the ‘spirit’ is concerned. While the Mumbaikars always show their indomitable spirit in terms of continuing the hard work and making more and more money come what may, the Kolkattansalways show their spirit in continuing to enjoy life in terms moderate living but high eating come what may. The mouthwatering array of chops, rolls, cutlets, samosas, fish fries, fish and meat curries and so on at cheapest-in-the-world prices anywhere, from the street side open joints to the limited posh restaurants notwithstanding, I think, the Bongs should start worrying now, because the Met office has reportedly made a forecast of less rain in August and in September too which means that Bengal’s main festival of Durga Puja, starting this time right from the start of October, is in some real danger of getting washed away. Therefore, they should give less attention to the ‘heat neutralizing heat’ experiment and should not let themselves be swayed too much by the huge corruption in the education sector, the arrested minister being the former education minister, and should focus on chanting some prayers in advance to God and Mother Nature so that Durga Puja does not come under any threat.

 

The local media is not giving enough attention either to Nature’s heat let loose on most parts of the state and in Kolkata or on the farmers staring at a Kharif crop season crisis; no wonder, the way they’ve been consumed up by the hard-cash thunder showers. They’d better started rolling back the focus fully on the ‘monsoon crisis’ so that the lip-smacking people turned their attention to some prayers as we just said so that their thakur dekha (Puja pandal hopping) did not get hampered too.

 

Finally, as to why this writer has suddenly decided to adopt this ‘truncated’ approach to combine several well-planned pieces into a single piece, enough be said that he’s no longer game for the miserable 10 or so hits to the pieces on a rich variety of subjects that he’s devoted a lot to time and energy upon to make those interesting. Often he’s accidentally or even deliberately made mistakes hoping for some discerning readers to point those out. But no! Pointless expectations! So yes! He’s not interested any more in dishing out free matter that nobody cares about, with apologies, of course, to the handful of genuine readers he still has. The writer thinks that it’s better to redirect his energy to writing more books, because even if nobody, again, reads the books, the books would always remain on record as his works. Besides, if the Indian cricket team can go on experimenting with international matches (stopping those only during the IPL for the sheer force of the money power) without bothering about winning or losing why not this humble writer! This writer does possess the power, even though it’s useless, to show his disdain for Indian cricket and stop writing anything about it in future which he’s already and actually started doing, to be honest!

Now Showing: Vote For COVID-19 Vaccine And More!

 

Photo: sandesh.com

While there has been a global race among nations for the production of the first effective COVID-19 vaccine India perhaps becomes the first nation to politicize the vaccine that is still a long way off. Yes, COVID-19 pandemic may kindly take note. There has been a lot of ‘finance’ involved in it and so the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in a way, had to figure in this. Releasing the BJP Manifesto for the three-phase Bihar assembly elections starting October 28, her party promised to distribute the would-be COVID-19 vaccine absolutely free to all citizens of the state. However, it was not clarified about that segment of the state’s citizens who would not perhaps vote for the party’s alliance as to how to exclude or list them out. Apart from this the Finance Minister further justified her presence by promising around 1.9 million new jobs for Bihar.

 

The directly political populism of ‘vote for vaccine’ has, obviously, attracted a series of allegations and attacks from the opposition political parties. They ask, ‘what about other states’ or ‘not free for the non-BJP states’? The immense pressure compelled the party to come out with a clarification that ‘once the vaccine is approved by the ICMR and available for mass production, the central government would distribute the same to all states at nominal costs, and vaccine distribution being a state discretion the Bihar government (if their alliance wins, of course) would make it available free of cost to all people in Bihar. Well, whether the clarification would hold enough water or not the point of poll politics is made squarely and rather too effectively to the gullible and poor voters of the state.

 

Another point needs to be made here. On one hand, the central government has been urging people to adapt to the new normal norms in the strictest way possible while on the other, for motives of politicking the representatives of the ruling class and others have been blatantly violating the norms for wooing the voters who are the people too. Huge political rallies in Bihar have been open invitations for the virus, with more and more rallies to follow. Not only this, almost everyday some protest rallies are taking place in some places, organized by the opposition or the non-ruling opposition or whatever, and here you see only a few leaders wearing masks, and no social distancing at all. The rampant politicking has been one of the major factors for India taking more than six months to reach the pandemic peak.

 

And then, Durga Puja 2020 is one more issue that stinks of direct political play. Bengalis of West Bengal and Kolkata call it their national festival, rightfully so, and this creates a crisis of sorts for the political parties of the state. No party could afford to hurt the peoples’ sentiments by asking them to worship from home and not visit the puja pandals, the shops and the eateries at all. 

Therefore, the ruling TMC government had, as always, announced financial assistance to all puja organizers more than a month back, and then tried to placate them further by allowing pandal-hopping from the third day onward of the bright-moon fortnight or Devi Paksha, with strict norms, of course. The opposition, particularly the BJP huffing and puffing to come to power in the state somehow, has also been trying its best to please the voters who are the devotees too. Finally, it took the Calcutta High Court to clamp down rules for the Durga Puja 2020 celebrations, making all public puja pandals ‘no entry’ zones.

 

No wonder then that Prime Minister Narendra Modi too found time to inaugurate Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata today, albeit virtually. It is apparently more important now for all political parties to assuage the feelings of the Bangla devotees who are also voters, hurt sourly by the High Court ruling and its refusal to consider a review petition by the organizers. Assembly elections are due in the state in the first part of next year, very significantly.

 

One last point. A COVID-19 vaccine can come the earliest by the first part of 2021 only and that too is dependent on so many other factors. Our humble point being that the more the delay in the vaccine coming the more will be the number of possible beneficiaries, because at least two assembly elections are due early next year and more would follow. Once a promise of free vaccine to the people-voters declared it cannot be denied in other states where the same party is going to try its luck in the upcoming elections.

Why Navaratri and Durga Puja Delayed in 2020!

The 11-day Ganesh Festival, celebrated all over Maharashtra and other parts of the country, ushers in the festive season in India, it normally falls during August-September every year as per the calculations of the lunisolar Hindu Calendar. After the immersion on the 14^th day of the bright phase or the waxing moon phase or Shukla Paksha of the lunar month, full moon or Purnima occurs the next day, and the following fortnight of the darkening phase or the waning phase or Krishna Paksha is observed as Pitru Paksha when people pay homage to their ancestors and perform the main shradh or funeral rituals on the culminating day of the new moon or Amavasya, that is Mahalaya. Next day, the brightening phase of the moon starts again which is called Devi Paksha and during this divine fortnight of the Goddess awakening, Navaratri and Durga Puja are celebrated. Hymns of Goddess Durga resonate the air on the auspicious day of Mahalaya, and people of India, energized by the sweet tinge of the Autumn season, immerse themselves in worshiping their favorite Goddesses along with the festivities that effectively break all religious and other barriers. However, this year 2020, after Mahalaya on the 17^th of September, Navaratri is not going to start from the next day and Durga Puja not going to start six days later. You’ll have to wait exactly a month for Navaratri and 35 days for Durga Puja. Most of us already know this when both almanacs of the Hindu calendar agreed on this and announced the delay during Durga Puja celebrations last year, that is 2019.

The basic reason for this delay is the fact that the month of Ashwin that starts on September 17 happens to be mala maas or unholy month as two new moons (Amavasya) occur during the 30 days, the first Amavasya is the Mahalaya day on 17 September and the second one on 16^th October. As per the holy scriptures, a month is considered unholy if two new moons occur and all auspicious rituals except for funeral rites are avoided. This phenomenon repeats itself approximately every 32.5 months as a result of the intricate additions/omissions process of leap days and leap months in the Hindu calendar, and a mala maas can be applicable to any of the 12 months. On earlier occasions, Ashwin had been the unholy month in 1982 and in 2001. Therefore in 2020, the nine-day Navaratri festivities are going to start from October 17 and the Mahashasthi, the start of the five-day Durga Puja, would  be on the 22^nd October; both festivals falling in the month of Kartik. Vijay Dashami or Dussehrais to be observed on October 26. The rest of the Indian festival calendar will not be affected.

The Indian festive season began this year on a subdued and sober note due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic. The government of Maharashtra had appealed to all the devotees to avoid the usual festivities and the idols were set to not exceed four feet in height. The most visited and the famous Lalbaughchya Raja celebrations in Mumbai were cancelled well in advance with the organizers announcing medical camps instead during the days. Excellent arrangements were made on the immersion day with the state government providing artificial ponds and water tankers at every nook and corner of Mumbai and the state, most of the idols being eco-friendly. Indeed, idol makers bore the brunt of the scaled-down festivities.

The scale of festivities during the upcoming Navaratri and Durga Puja festivals is also caught in the agony of uncertainty with the pandemic surge refusing to cooperate. This is also yet to be seen if the mala maas delay would eventually help the organizers and the public participate in the festivities more freely and wholeheartedly. The idol makers continue to suffer though, with the usual flurry of activities and orders totally missing so far.

Goddess Durga is believed to be a demon-killer and a destroyer of all evil forces on earth. The mother-shakti forms of the Goddess descend on earth every year with this very objective and the mortals on earth intone and evoke the Devi’s wrath on the wrong-doers. People of India in 2020, caught up in the throes of one of the worst years in history, would hope fervently that the Goddess shower mercy on them and deliver them of the misery, sufferings and deaths. However, the people must also observe the sacred duties on their part as the challenging times demand. The wait goes on…

Kumartuli—The Workshop Of The God Makers In Kolkata! And Durga Puja!

Kumartuli or Kumortuli is located in the northern part of the city of Kolkata. The locality is a traditional habitat of the potters for nearly three hundred years. The potters or the artisans or the artists settled here during the restructuring of the Kolkata colonial region by the British East India Company. Earning a livelihood by making earthen pots and utensils first they gradually shifted to the making of the idols of Gods and Goddesses for various festivals round the year. 

With increasing demand and quality of their creations over time the artisans became famous and Kumartuli came to be known as the hub of idol makers supplying thousands of idols, particularly of Goddess Durga, to whole of the state of West Bengal and to NRIs of around 90 countries across the globe.

At least three months before Durga Puja, the biggest festival of West Bengal and one of the biggest across Eastern India, more than five hundred workshops come alive with hyper activity day and night. First, the artists make the structures of the Goddess with straw and bamboo, and then prepare the clay collected from River Hooghly that runs alongside. Painting, colouring, decoration, clothing cum ornamentation and finishing follow. They have to complete the process at least one week before the Puja—the day of Mahalaya which falls on Monday, the 8^th of October in 2018 when devotees and organizers shift the idols from the workshop to the places of worship.

Their idols are safe and eco-friendly thanks to the use of only clay, straw and bamboo unlike the use of plaster of Paris by many other idol-makers in India. Their locality is a sight worth seeing ahead of Durga Puja and it is a paradise for photographers. During evenings the atmosphere here at Kumartuli in its maze of congested lanes and by-lanes gets charged and surrealistic with its ‘heavenly’ illuminated workshops in the thralls of activity. 

The artisans are very strict and rightly so; they won’t allow you to enter into their workshops, you will have to stand in the doorway and watch or take photos to your heart’s content. Of course, you can speak to them and engage in short conversations.

Although the prices of idols are increasing every year the quality of life of the potters’ are not quite keeping pace. They still live in various stages of poverty; their houses old and congested, their streets and lanes dirty, and an overpowering stench normally prevails in various corners of the alleys. It is a normal practice and a pity that the Puja organizers spend lavishly on decoration, publicity and overall show values, but always try to economise when it comes to paying the artisans for the idols.

Once in the city of Kolkata, erstwhile Calcutta, you can visit Kumartuli very easily. It is located in a prime area of the city approachable from all corners by cabs or buses or the trains. The nearest Kolkata Metro railway station is Shobhbazar. And of course, you need not adhere to any religion to visit and enjoy this place. You can visit this place for the sheer aesthetics, the beauty, the ambiance and the values of humanity.  

Happy Durga Puja-2018 ! 
Goddess Durga descends on earth on 15th October, 2018! 
Enjoy true souls, and beware sinners !