Its the same story every year. Come Republic / Independence Day, the 'para' loudspeaker starts blaring the same old song ".Ae mere watan ke longon, zara aankh me bhar lo paani, jo shaheed hue hain unki zara yaad karo kurbani.". And if thats not enough, DD pitches in with those heart-rending collages of our jawans dying at the front, raising the same question again and again "Is it worth it?". To the credit of Lata Mangeshkar, nothing makes us cry like this song does. Is it her voice or is it something inside of us that makes tears start to roll out in spite of us? Honestly, I dont know. But fact is, cry I do. No matter what. Guess the song reminds me of "an idea that has failed". Despite the best of sacrifices.
While I do not doubt the zeal and honorable intentions of our jawans, not even for a moment, I do often find myself doubting their raison d'etre(or should it be 'raison d'deces'?). Its difficult to justify the idea/rationale for a "country" basis geographical/genetic/religious differences(let alone die for it), especially when most of us will refute the need for further subdividing a country into states on the same grounds.
Decades ago Europe decided on having a common currency and opted for a system that effectively transformed them into a collective of countries which now behaves more like "United States of Europe". I am amused no one thought of renaming it that way. Having a common currency would indubitably have led to a lot of upheavals. Many would have turned into paupers and many multi-billionaires overnight but despite the pain of it all, in the end it was more than half the distance travelled in turning the entire "continent" into a "country". Of course premieres will like to cling on to their chairs just as they do everywhere in the World but who bothers. Today Europe enjoys the benefits of its constituents with an ease thats should be exemplary.
Cut to India and we are still competing with USA for having the largest number of'States'. And by the looks of it, USA is fighting a losing battle:-P Not only that, we continue finding ever more bizarre manifestos for fighting elections and more importantly voting for our candidates. At an age when many get "a calling" to return to their "roots", I find myself peeping at avenues to move elsewhere. Frankly, I never thought it would come to this.
Coming back to our'jawans' and the question "is it worth it?", it seems to me, "the idea of dying for an idea" is not new. Its been there since ages. Whatsmore, neither has it ever needed a justification. Afterall for everyone of us, an idea is as good or bad as another. Probably just a tool to while away our time.
All of us are free to choose our "idea". And to die for it. Probably its the only thing that gives us a sense of freedom!
