Celebrated India's Independence Day outside the Indian soil for the first time. How? Here goes..
>> Displayed the Tricolour (Tricolor?) proudly on my profile on a social networking site, with 'Proud to be an Indian' replacing my first and last names. Mera Bharat Mahaan, for the world to see.
>> Watched Rang De Basanti, yet again. Was totally impressed by all the 'cool' stuff - beer 'baatly's, midnight hangouts, campus fancy-talk and the rest. With all the 'Lose Control' and 'Khalbali' stuff, you can't really blame me for not being able to name all of the 5 freedom fighters the movie tried to highlight. Managed to remember there were 5 of them. You don't expect me to name them, do you? Or worse, learn what their contribution to the struggle was?
>> Spent a moment's silence remembering Baapu, the one man who brought our country our independence. And when I say Gandhi, I can't but help bringing Nehru in the same breath, the man who Gandhi said 'will speak my language when I am gone'. Oh, there were others too?
>> Khudiram Bose, Prafulla Chakri, Bhagat Singh, aww.. why throw names at me? Why am I supposed to know about them anyway? Weren't they nothing more than 'misguided patriots'? The Mahatma said so and I trust the Mahatma. Would Tantya Topi and Rani Lakshmi Bai even come under the category of freedom fighters? Lalitya wonders, so do I.
>> When were Gandhi and Nehru born? Oct 2nd and Nov 14th, duh! Every Indian knows that, Vaidya tells me. We get a holiday on the former, and got chocolates as kids on the latter (Children's Day, remember?), apart from the full-page ads that flood the newspapers with on those days. When was Subhash Bose born, or Aurobindo Ghose, or Tilak? Should I know, and should I care? Isn't there the Martyr's day for all of the rest of them put together? Ohh, the day Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated? Yeah, I get the point.
>> Does Gandhi have to be everywhere... hogging the calendar, our history books, currency notes (even the ones that get handed under the table in the not-so-Gandhian ways) and government office walls alike? What have I against Gandhi? Nothing at all, honestly. But I do wonder - have we, in celebrating the contribution of a couple of individuals, come to gloss over that of a lot of others? A certain wiseguy observed, "If our civilization is to survive, we must break with the habit of deference to great men. Great men may make great mistakes". Wiseguys and wisecracks!
>> Why should I be even bothering about our history - stuff that's happened much before I was born? Haven't I had enough of history lessons in high school already? Haven't I spent endless hours mugging up the exact date and time the Battle of Wandiwash, among others, was held - never bothering to care about its relevance, if any? History was/is all about chronology, what's there to learn anyway? Besides, isn't there enough happening currently to keep me busy? Why hang on to the past?
This blog was never intended to go beyond frivolous descriptions of the moss that is me. 'Current affairs' were strictly restricted to the mundane in my life, nothing even remotely national. 'History' boiled down to remembering the day I first took to violence against the bugs, and the day they got their laughs back. This, however, is one rot in me I am not exactly proud of. 'Zara Yaad Karo Kurbani...', someone sang at the celebrations here, rather beautifully at that. Nice song.. touched the heart momentarily, and then the indifference/apathy took over again. "What more can we expect from you anyway? Didn't you leave India in search of 'greener pastures'? Why do all this holier-than-thou talk?". Yeah, right!
Never paid much attention in school (If this is Nikhil reading it, you probably know why), and been lazy ever since to go learn stuff on my own. The fact that there is no one universally accepted version of Indian history doesn't seem to help matters either. Leftist History, Rightist History, European versions, and folklore - wonder if there is such a thing as the absolute truth/fact/version of history anymore. "If you believe all you read, then don't read!", said an unknown Japanese wiseguy. That helps, or does it?
Hoped once upon a time for discussions/debates that never seem to happen without the invariably accompanying rhetoric/clichés. Books take sides and the authors get labelled pro one-or-the-other tainting their works even before the read. Being indifferent and ignorant has been so much more convenient. Rightly so? I do not know. Like always, this was just another Independence day.
>> Displayed the Tricolour (Tricolor?) proudly on my profile on a social networking site, with 'Proud to be an Indian' replacing my first and last names. Mera Bharat Mahaan, for the world to see.
>> Watched Rang De Basanti, yet again. Was totally impressed by all the 'cool' stuff - beer 'baatly's, midnight hangouts, campus fancy-talk and the rest. With all the 'Lose Control' and 'Khalbali' stuff, you can't really blame me for not being able to name all of the 5 freedom fighters the movie tried to highlight. Managed to remember there were 5 of them. You don't expect me to name them, do you? Or worse, learn what their contribution to the struggle was?
>> Spent a moment's silence remembering Baapu, the one man who brought our country our independence. And when I say Gandhi, I can't but help bringing Nehru in the same breath, the man who Gandhi said 'will speak my language when I am gone'. Oh, there were others too?
>> Khudiram Bose, Prafulla Chakri, Bhagat Singh, aww.. why throw names at me? Why am I supposed to know about them anyway? Weren't they nothing more than 'misguided patriots'? The Mahatma said so and I trust the Mahatma. Would Tantya Topi and Rani Lakshmi Bai even come under the category of freedom fighters? Lalitya wonders, so do I.
>> When were Gandhi and Nehru born? Oct 2nd and Nov 14th, duh! Every Indian knows that, Vaidya tells me. We get a holiday on the former, and got chocolates as kids on the latter (Children's Day, remember?), apart from the full-page ads that flood the newspapers with on those days. When was Subhash Bose born, or Aurobindo Ghose, or Tilak? Should I know, and should I care? Isn't there the Martyr's day for all of the rest of them put together? Ohh, the day Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated? Yeah, I get the point.
>> Does Gandhi have to be everywhere... hogging the calendar, our history books, currency notes (even the ones that get handed under the table in the not-so-Gandhian ways) and government office walls alike? What have I against Gandhi? Nothing at all, honestly. But I do wonder - have we, in celebrating the contribution of a couple of individuals, come to gloss over that of a lot of others? A certain wiseguy observed, "If our civilization is to survive, we must break with the habit of deference to great men. Great men may make great mistakes". Wiseguys and wisecracks!
>> Why should I be even bothering about our history - stuff that's happened much before I was born? Haven't I had enough of history lessons in high school already? Haven't I spent endless hours mugging up the exact date and time the Battle of Wandiwash, among others, was held - never bothering to care about its relevance, if any? History was/is all about chronology, what's there to learn anyway? Besides, isn't there enough happening currently to keep me busy? Why hang on to the past?
This blog was never intended to go beyond frivolous descriptions of the moss that is me. 'Current affairs' were strictly restricted to the mundane in my life, nothing even remotely national. 'History' boiled down to remembering the day I first took to violence against the bugs, and the day they got their laughs back. This, however, is one rot in me I am not exactly proud of. 'Zara Yaad Karo Kurbani...', someone sang at the celebrations here, rather beautifully at that. Nice song.. touched the heart momentarily, and then the indifference/apathy took over again. "What more can we expect from you anyway? Didn't you leave India in search of 'greener pastures'? Why do all this holier-than-thou talk?". Yeah, right!
Never paid much attention in school (If this is Nikhil reading it, you probably know why), and been lazy ever since to go learn stuff on my own. The fact that there is no one universally accepted version of Indian history doesn't seem to help matters either. Leftist History, Rightist History, European versions, and folklore - wonder if there is such a thing as the absolute truth/fact/version of history anymore. "If you believe all you read, then don't read!", said an unknown Japanese wiseguy. That helps, or does it?
Hoped once upon a time for discussions/debates that never seem to happen without the invariably accompanying rhetoric/clichés. Books take sides and the authors get labelled pro one-or-the-other tainting their works even before the read. Being indifferent and ignorant has been so much more convenient. Rightly so? I do not know. Like always, this was just another Independence day.
3 comments:
I didn't know why I was supposed to attend the independence day celebrations. I never attended all flag hoisting when I was in India. But I was amazed by the enthusiasm of the fellow desis. Everyone asked me why was I late. People were looking at me as a traitor. I am sure many of them attended the flag hoisting for the first time( or one of the very few they have attended) in their lives. But, still ....whatever I admit that I was not interested and I don't think it matters.
Ah, I read this now and I know what you're talking about.
In my opinion, it is good that we are the way we are, figuring out stuff ourselves and forming our own opinions than having to begin sentences with "But what I learnt in school was that...".
I wouldn't have hurt to have learnt history from a better teacher, but we've turned out OK in that department. Right, no?
Have often thought about the same things on many independence/ republic days. Good read.
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