Ask a five-year old – Who is the most important man on earth?
Answer: My Dad
When we are small children, our parents mean the world to us. They are our creators and protectors. As we grow old, our affection shifts towards our friends and colleagues and even older, than to sports and movie icons. On our deathbeds, we start thinking of saints and gods.
In personal relationships, we outgrow people and accept that our relatives and friends may be important to us, but they are not the most important people on earth.
But strangely, when it comes to our country, we suddenly become parochial and patriotic. Like five-year olds we proclaim – My country is the best.
Isn’t it time to grow up and accept that we may love our country because we are born to it, but that doesn’t make it the best of all countries?
What do we have to be so proud of? A country is primarily made up its people. As people, in what way are we superior to any other people in the world?
In the western state of Gujarat, we are witness to daily pogroms by the Hindus towards the Muslims abated and supported by a monstrous government. We see horrifying pictures on TV of well-to-do classes - Maruti car owners indulging in looting and rioting, and families being burnt to death.
Gujarat is supposed to be one of the most forward states of India. If such is the mentality of such a supposedly modern and progressive state, can rest of India be any better?
In the northern states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, during last year, three couples were hacked to death, by their own parents, with the help of local Panchayat leaders, for having relationship with member of another caste group. Can there be a worse crime than killing your own progeny? Six people may be a small number, but a thousand flowers perhaps never dared to bloom for the fear of being uprooted
Living in cities, sitting in front of our computers, we talk about love of our country and wave flags, while in the interiors, people live in dark ages. The harsh reality of our rural life that was depicted in the movie “Bandit Queen” is a reality in which over 400 million Indians still exist.
A civilization is known by the way it treats its women
Just a few days ago, we saw the shocking sight of Magasay award winner Medha Patkar being assaulted by a group of youth politicians. A women respected all over the world for her struggle for the rights of tribals, was treated in a manner, that should make all of us hang our heads in shame.
A few years ago another woman Bhavari devi couldn’t get justice from the highest courts of the country for the ordeal she had to face from the upper castes. The honorable judges acquitted the five high caste men, accused of raping her by declaring :
“It isn't possible in the Indian culture that a man who has taken a vow to protect his wife in front of the holy fire, just stands and watches his wife being raped; rape is usually committed by teenagers. The alleged rapists here are middle-aged and therefore, respectable citizens”
Report of Amnesty International:
“On average in the State of Rajasthan, a dalit woman is raped every sixty hours. One dalit is murdered about every nine days. Some dalit is the victim of grievous hurt every 64 hours. A dalit house or property suffers an arson attack every five days. The guilty are rarely punished. Conviction rates range between two and three per cent. And many offences committed against dalits never even reach the courtroom stage. Genuine and serious cases are often scuttled”
This my friends, is the reality of India, that we choose to run away from by talking about our software exports, infosys and wipros, and our technological prowess.
We talk about our ancient culture, the Vedas and our Epics, our glorious achievement in the field of medicine, our heritage, our ancient inventions, our great saints and sages, …..,
STOP FLOGGING THE DEAD HORSE.
The past is dead. The people who made our ancient civilization glorious have been dead for thousands of years and bear no relation to any of us, except for what we ourselves perceive.
The looters and rioters of Gujarat declare themselves to be Hindus, but have no understanding of the ancient books that we are so fond of advertising. And how do we treat our great monuments? – the Taj Mahals, the Ajantas and Elloras – by inscribing messages like “Babloo loves Baby” on these priceless structures.
We believe we are people with values. But our values do not come from within, but from traditions and customs, which we follow blindly and superstitiously. For eg, vegetarians feel pride in being vegetarians, but we don’t become vegetarians out of compassion towards animals, but because we happen to be brahmins.
Our cities are the ugliest in the entire world. Nowhere, not even in poor African countries, do we see the kinds of sights and sounds that are so peculiar to this country. Congested roads filled with hawkers, ugly buildings, ramshackle illegal structures, uncontrolled traffic – our cities are filthy, dirty and hellish to live in.
We maintain our own houses in perfect conditions, but treat our surroundings as dust-bins.
Every year, with great fanfare we celebrate our independence..We feel proud that we are a free, democratic country.
What freedom are we talking about? True freedom is freedom of the spirit. We, on the other hand are trapped in the debris of the past and meaningless, outdated rituals and customs.
A culture can be understood by the nature of its TV shows.
Millions of Indians from all classes are addicted to some of the most, regressive soaps imaginable. If one compares the soap operas of today like KSBKBT, KGGK etc with serials twenty years ago like Hum Log and Buniyaad, it would appear that as a society we are moving backwards, regressing instead of progressing.
Even as we have moved in 21st century, we choose out mates, by inserting advertisements in newspapers. “Wanted a fair, good-looking, homely bride for well-settled 28/5’10, Brahmin, Manglik boy earning a five-figure income”
An Oasis in a Desert
We netizens may be different from the people described here; we may be forward-looking, progressive, tolerant, etc.. but we are in a small minority, an oasis in a desert.
A Desert is always known as a desert, not as an oasis.
