Wednesday, July 27, 2005

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Why should I need a song to make you feel the way you used to?

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Friday, July 15, 2005

No absolution, no resolution

True to form, I have only just read Dr. Manmohan Singh's speech at Oxford, and haven't yet gotten to L.K. Advani's speech where he mentioned 'Jinnah' and 'Secular' in the same sentence.

True to form, I cannot decide where my thoughts and feelings lie.

I read the speech, and it incorporates all that is good and civilised in us. Of course, it is a little sycophantic, but is it really all that unjustified in being so? If IIT were to call you up tomorrow and say we are giving you a Ph.D, would one not feel obliged to pander a bit to their egos? Dr. MS refers to great words by Gandhi and Tagore, and shows in his knowledge a culture that many Britons would love to have. I felt a quiet pride in knowing, and realising that my British professor knew too, that my English was as good, if not better, than that of most of my classmates in a British University. I topped the first assignment given in our course, and it was marked by a professor considered a tough cookie. And I did it because I went into the course just knowing more than the others did, thanks to our education system. Both the language and the education system were left us by the British. In essence, Indians are consistently beating them at their own games (including cricket!). In my opinion, this is something we can definitely be proud of. They know it, but will not openly accept the obvious transference of power that is occuring the world over.

Let us talk of relative growth. The US of A is the superpower today. They have been independent for what, 200 odd years? We have been independent for about a fourth of that and already they are worried about losing their jobs to us. I am not sure if any other country in the world has grown so dramatically in such a short time post independence. This morning, I read a lovely article by Suketu Mehta, which I understand is doing the email forward rounds as 'the most emailed article from The New York Times'. Suketu's parents moved to the US in the 70's and he and his children are now American. The article deals with his ideas on the outsourcing issue, in a very well written way. (
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/12/opinion/12mehta.html?incamp=article_popular_1&oref=login). My favourite lines are these:

" There is a perverse hypocrisy about the whole jobs debate, especially in Europe. The colonial powers invaded countries like India and China, pillaged them of their treasures and commodities and made sure their industries weren't allowed to develop, so they would stay impoverished and unable to compete. Then the imperialists complained when the destitute people of the former colonies came to their shores to clean their toilets and dig their sewers; they complained when later generations came to earn high wages as doctors and engineers; and now they're complaining when their jobs are being lost to children of the empire who are working harder than they are. My grandfather was once confronted by an elderly Englishman in a London park who asked, "Why are you here?" My grandfather responded, "We are the creditors." We are here because you were there."

We are here because you were there.

I can imagine the outrage and unmeasurable anger and pain our people have endured at the hands of the British over 300 years. But did the British do it because we were Indian? Did the whites not colonise and subjugate other whites? Do we not have wars with our neighbours? Admittedly, most of ours wars today, whether based on land or religion, are also legacies of the divide and rule policy. But war is eternal. People fight. It's human nature. The ones most needed to propagate the species, evolution-wise, are almost always the aggressive, warmongers. The football star gets the prom queen. The British did what the world was doing then. It's just that they happened to be the best at it. And maybe they were the best because they were ruthless. Who knows? If the Portugese or Spaniards had colonised us, maybe things would have been different, but who's to say for sure? History is history - can't do shit about it now.

My blood boils too when I read of how the British killed so many thousands of my fellow Indians. My blood boils when I see how we have been divided on religion. My blood boils when I read of Muslims killing Hindus, but strangely I feel less when Hindus kill Muslims. Why? Maybe because I have been conditioned to believe that we are only righting the wrongs done by those bastards. Maybe right now, a Muslim child in Pakistan is being told about those Hindu bastards, and being taught to hate and kill. One thinks, and one realises that this might not have been there in India if it wasn't for the British.

My eyes well up when I read of the sacrifices made by our freedom fighters. I choke up when I read stories of incredible bravery of Indians, and incredible cruelty of the Britishers. My chest swells with pride when I read of the amazing unity among people of all faiths in fighting against British rule for 200 years. It is sad that we did all that just so we could squabble amongst ourselves. Maybe over the next three or four generations, these atrocities will be forgotten. But short of a global nuclear holocaust, in which case none of this will matter anyway, I don't see history itself being wiped out. And in those pages, there will never be an Indian absolution of the British. Ever.

In a comment on our Prime Minister's speech posted on a website, someone said something along the lines of India would be a superpower now if it wasn't for the British. Maybe. I would never deny that, in fact, I agree. But maybe it would be worthwhile to look at all the countries that were NOT colonised by the British at one point or another, and see where they are today. They are probably worse off, in these modern times, than they probably would have been if they had been colonised. This is, of course, no excuse, but I seem to always come round to the question that was what the British did way back when so out of the ordinary?

They have us their language, an education system, a judicial system, a police system, roads, railways, commuications. Hell, they even managed to unite this massive nation in the struggle to throw them, the ones who gave all this, out of the country. Every single one of the above systems is flawed. But then, which system isn't? Where is the point in saying they gave us a rotten system, when we are the maggots eating away at the foundations? Today, we are using, at the very least, our strength in their language and thier education system to fight back.

So come my friend, let us talk about living in denial. Let us not acknowledge the good the British did in light of the thousands or millions who died in our freedom struggle. Let us reject everything they gave us and start afresh. I have no doubt India would have been a superpower without them and there is nothing to stop us from becoming one now. But did India even want to be a superpower? Without the British presenting a common enemy, who would unite our immense and painfully fragmented land?

Culture, you say? I am a very vocal supporter of my country and culture. I wore my heritage on my sleeve when I lived and studied abroad. Our culture is not short on brutal wars, but let's leave that. You might say the Hindus were a peaceful bunch before the invasion of the Persians or Aryans or Mughals or whoever from the North. Basically, you mean to say before Muslims came to our lands. As far as I know, India had one of her best periods, in almost all respects, under Akbar, Shah Jahan et al. Of course, it all turned bloody and messy later, but if you could ask a subject of Akbar's, maybe he would say my life is fuckin' awesome right now, and it really doesn't matter that Akbar is Muslim. What you and I call our culture and heritage today also contains significant portions of Islamic culture. Would you say you don't want the absolutely wonderful language of Urdu? Stop talking about the Taj Mahal. Of course, the Mughals were responsible for a lot of killing and plundering themselves, and this can be a never-ending argument, but where is the balance? Where is the resolution?

Let's you and I start a revolution today, then. Let us stop whining about why we are behind and get on with it. Let us take revenge by taking away the jobs of their children. Let's stop getting mad about how they spilt our blood, and let's get even, albeit in subtler ways. Let us show them that we can be a superpower too, and we will fuck your happiness now and over the next 50 or 100 years for what you did to us over the past 200 years. Let us not quibble about how illogical this is, or how impractical.

So show me the unity. Show me a country, or a state, or a city willing to be united in this cause. Hell, show me a government that can be united in the cause it was supposed to be elected for. Show me the technology and advancement you want to conquer the world with in Bihar's jungle raj. Show me the civilisation and culture you want to win the world over with in our rape-ital city, Delhi. Show me the unity which you want to face the world with in one small building called our Parliament.

Archimedes said 'Give me a rod strong enough, and a place to stand, and I will move the Earth.' So show me the strength in our unity, and only then can an Indian stand anywhere, move the Earth, and say proudly :

"We are here because you were there."

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Wednesday, July 13, 2005

God, coming to this page now almost makes me feel guilty...

So many things to say. Just no time or appropriate opportunity to put them down. It's not right.

It's interesting when you start really talking to someone only 2 years after being with them. When you feel that you are only just beginning to know about them. Tell me, how does it feel to think you know almost everything there is to know about someone? And then find out you know very little, or have only just scratched the surface?

What if you are so thrilled about the gold, you don't consider the possibility that there may be diamonds underneath? What if you do, and dig, and find no diamonds, and see you've ruined the gold?

Life is at an interesting phase. :-)

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