Apr 08, 2008 05:34 PM
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Way back in the 70's when I was a school going kid, we had the famous poem by Rabindranath Tagore, Where the Mind is Without Fear. To date it still remains one of my favorite poems. And when I look at what Tagore visualized and what we are today, I just observed the following.
*"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high"
We live in a society where we are afraid to speak out our mind. We are afraid to speak out our mind, because we fear being labelled. We dont know whether we could go home alive if we speak out our mind. And that is because we have become a society afraid to handle the truth, and so we victimize the person who tells the truth. And when we are afraid to speak our mind, how can we ever hold our head high.
*"Where knowledge is free "
Knowledge has become a commodity to be auctioned to the highest bidder. Education has become commercialized as schools and colleges, determine a person's worth not by their ability, but by the size of their pockets. Far from being free, knowledge has become a prisoner of Mammon.
*"Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls "
The walls have become higher and higher, and the fragments have become more and more pronounced.Hindu vs Muslim, Tamils vs Kannadigas, Northies vs Southies, City vs Village, Caste vs Caste, ** we are rapidly shutting ourselves up into our own cocoons of false security. MIgrants to cities are roughed up and asked to leave. We are insecure of our neighbours, our friends. And I guess a time when we will be afraid of our own shadow.
"Where words come out from the depth of truth"
Words dont come out from the depth of truth, they come out from the manufactured spin of lies and half truths. Not a single word has a honest feeling to it. People tell a word, because it is cool to tell so, without understanding the meaning of it. Words are used to show off how cool you are, not how knowledgable you are.
"Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection "
Yes we do tireless strive, but towards mediocricity. Chalta Hai, seems to be the national motto. And being mediocre seems to be hip. People who strive for perfection are laughed at, mocked for being boring. You strive for perfection, and you are told you are too old fashioned. Tireless striving is passe, short cut measures, and get rich quick are the order of the day, perfection be damned.
"Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit "
The clear stream of reason has not just lost its way, it has dried up forever. We have become so accustomed to living in the dreary desert sand of dead habit, that even when we are presented with an oasis of delight, we do not have the calibre to accept it. So accustomed are we to this dreary desert sand, that we have turned our minds into an empty barren desert.
"Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action*Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. "
We apologize Gurudev. We have let you down badly. The country has Freedom, but it is not yet awakened. Is this what Rabindranath Tagore had dreamed of?
