World as I Think

There was a huge row over the recent 150th year celebration of the 1857 revolution and the patrons did emphasize as to how it showcases patriotism. My rage hit its breaking point after a hard fought argument with my friend as we were battling about the so-called attributes of patriotism. The pressing judgment was as to how singing the national anthem or saluting the national flag was deemed to be a great act of patriotism. I could not stand it; there is a great deal of difference between being mad about symbolism and the underlying fervor, which might not warrant symbols. Symbols are created to identify or communicate the underlying principle, the principle as such lives eternally in the thought monuments even if the symbols, which identified them, cease to exist.

I get to recollect a popular example quoted by Kamala Hassan in his film "Anbe Sivam". Love would be cherished even if the Taj Mahal were to be ram shackled. Communism is a feeling, which would continue to amaze everyone when the underlying egalitarian thought is provoked in our everyday life moments. It was there and would be there, although an attempt in the Soviet Union has been faltered. There is a difference between validity of the concept and the fallouts in execution. We would be insulting Gandhi if we wore Khadhi, preached indignity of fellow beings, mocked self-respect and humiliated truth.

Now to the National Anthem, I surely admit that it is a good way to express our love for the nation by singing it. If at all we love our nation, we would have taken some time to know what it means. No excuses that it in Bengali, Let us not humiliate our beloved Bharat Matha that we didn't care to know what was praised about her in the past 26 years of our life.

I thought, I’d take this opportunity to revive the controversy about the acceptance of Jana Gana Mana as our anthem. The poem was composed in December 1911, precisely at the time of the Coronation Durbar of George V, and is a paean in praise of "the overlord of India's destiny". The composition was first sung during a convention of the then loyalist Indian National Congress in Calcutta on Dec. 27, 1911.It was sung on the second day of the convention, and the agenda of that day devoted itself to a loyal welcome of George V on his visit to India.

So what is this patriotism? It denotes positive and supportive attitudes to a 'fatherland'. Patriotism covers such attitudes as: pride in its achievements and culture, the desire to preserve its character and the basis of the culture, and identification with other members of the nation. Nationalism, in its broadest sense, is a devotion to one's own nation and its interests over those of all other nations

Oh My God, lets be true with ourselves whether we are being patriotic or nationalistic. We can't stop in our traffic signals, we can't stop breaking que's and we damn to care about the implication of breaking laws. Leave along being selfless for the sake of the nation, we would rather complain about how ruthless the nation is.

Now to the all important as to whether nationalism is relevant in this era. I feel, Patriotism is finding slimmer woods after the electronic herd hit us in the last decade. The cultural identities are becoming flat; we see globules of people in different pockets of the world trying to identify themselves with homogeneous compatriots past the physical boundaries of the nations. All we need is a yahoo group or orkut community to express our thought, which resonates with somebody else, who has a different cultural background.


PS:
(For people who wanted to know the meaning of our national anthem... if you feel it praises the rich cultural past of India, you might want to know it should be sung in 52 seconds. If you were left wondering where the praise hides in it, you have to seek some other way out..)

Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,
dispenser of India's destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, the Maratha country,
in the Dravida country, Utkala (Orissa) and Bengal;
It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas,
it mingles in the rhapsodies of the pure waters Jamuna and the Ganges.
They chant only thy name,
they seek only thy blessings,
They sing only thy praise.
The saving of all people waits in thy hand,
thou dispenser of India's destiny.Victory, Victory, Victory, Victory to thee.

Labels: India

Labels: Mind

We are often proud to be an Indian, for we have a profound past underpinned by a rich diverse culture, which harmonizes humane values. I have bragged about our Indian culture for too long a time, I am now consciously aware of the nitty gritties of how our society works. I want to play the devil's advocate this time.

How evolved is a culture which forces two unknown people to have sex. It is even laudable that it has happened without the consent of one of them (mostly the female) in the past. I can't imagine how the crime ratios would look if the rapes in the "first nights" are to be accounted. The male partner mostly assumes the right to have sex with the female partner just because they are married. I don't know whether we would even accept this as a case of human right infringement.

There is a negative aura about dating and pre-marital sex, which is prevalent in the western society. In the western society, there is a sense of consensus if two people want to get married, each of them exercise the freewill to choose their partner. In the Indian society, the horoscopes seem to overwhelm the need for a blend of the characters that would want to be together for rest of their lives.

We acclaim that the system has worked in spite of all this; we have lower divorces, single parents and lonely elders. Indian society has been a male dominant society where the female is curtailed of her right to even pursue a career and which eventually forces her to depend on somebody to even live her life. This essentially clips her thought of even revolting any hegemony by the males or the family perse which forces her to fit their boxes. Now that the society is slowly acknowledging the freedom of the XX chromosome, I feel that the females would essentially question the practices, which can put her in unfair clutches. If the divorces number looks healthy after 20 years, I would accept the Indian culture does posses some integrity. Its not fair play to clip a bird's wings and be proud that it does not fly beyond its current boundaries.

I know a couple of Indians who condemned the insanity over the recent shoot-out in Virgina Tech by an desolate college guy, some even dared to extend the argument that such inhuman activities are prevalent in the western society and can't be imagined in the Indian society. I don't know whether these people have the memento effect, they have a short-term memory loss, they cannot even recollect the communal violence’s in Godhara or Tirnelveli which is a manifestation of the cruelties of the caste system, which is deep- rooted in the Indian society. I don’t know as to how we dare to even boast about an inhuman society, which can carry the legacy of the caste system for 2000 years.

Labels: society