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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Weaving a Tricoloured dream

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/Tarun_Vijay/The_Right_View/Reclaiming_India/articleshow/3333783.cms

Published on :- 15 Aug 2008,

Beyond hate there is a clear blue sky and sunshine. Caste, colour and community melt in Tricolour where a larger vision and achievement dominates. Kargil proved this, so did Abhinav Bindra and the SMS patriotism we see on this day of our independence. Read one I got at 6 am today – 31 states, 1,618 languages, 6,400 castes, 29 major festivals and one country India – proud to be an Indian.

These are not empty, artificial mobile companies' business enhancement tricks. Those who sent it mean it. The Farooqis, Siddiquis, Vijays, and Mukeshs and Alexes, all make it a point to assert their Indianness this day and it's so exhilarating that I feel like a swan flying over Mansarovar, free and fearless. If problems exist, so do the solutions. Darkness is only a signature of light done in haste, the sun will come without fail; history shows. If we believe in what we say we believe, and hence trust, the day of India will come as Sri Aurobindo, the great Sanatan Dharmi visionary, foretold on his birthday, 15th August.

Everything follows an economic freedom and security and let that be India's dream to achieve. If India is my temple and God, how can I attain nirvana with deadly caste-based discriminations, unfathomable poverty, illiteracy and no will to eliminate terror?

If I were given a chance, I would urge a stop on all new temples being erected and request our sadhus and philanthropists to donate just for one purpose – creating infrastructure for Dalit empowerment and making available excellent education to the disadvantaged.

This alone will help India to emerge powerful and self-reliant, not some islands of immense wealth and stinking arrogance. Attack the hypocrisy ruthlessly and create your own path, distinct and breaking traditions. We worship Devi, yet kill her in the womb. We trade favours from deities, get some grants fulfilled and build new temples and donates lakhs, yet ignore dirt and filth and mismanagement in the temples. We say God resides in all yet hate others, same blood and race, for their different caste and colour and faith. We say cow should be worshipped and is like a mother, yet allow its slaughter and export to neighbouring countries' butchers for money. We practice democracy but create a vested interest in letting moneybags control it. We need Sanskrit to solemnise birth, marriage and last rites, yet when in power we ensure very meticulously that Sanskrit is killed and dishonoured for the sake of few votes. We wax eloquent on the glory of Indian languages, yet try to do everything possible in English to show our higher level of existence and behaviour.

Every single party and organisation does that. To speak and write in any non-Indian language changes the way you are received at various forums. To announce that you have read only a book by a phoren writer or adore a western actor and to vacation abroad becomes a mark of higher status instantly. Love all; admire the best in the world, but as an Indian – who would like to emerge number one in the global affairs, with the rich civilisational flow in our veins intact and pronounced. That's what 15th August means to me. If you can love your motherland, mother tongue and all children of the same mother, you just can't have any genuine concern for anyone else too. The one who doesn't belong to his own soil can't belong to any other land too, whether that's his cherished fatherland or the land of some extra-territorial loyalty.


Abhinav is fine, but what about those who practice barefoot and yet emerge unsung champions?The city where Abhinav got the best education in the costliest schools is called Dehradun, named after Guru Dronacharya who had the right thumb of his best student Eklavya cut off to ensure Arjuna remained unchallenged. The same city saw Dalits and tribal children emerge champions in district level football competitions trouncing famous public school teams. Reading the news I felt perhaps the penance or the prayashchit of Dronacharya has been completed now, in his own city as the new generation Eklavyas refuse to bow before the injustices of the high and the mighty(www.ititi.org). The irony is that when these tribas take up guns in their hands and burn the Tricolour, there is a plethora of concern in the chocolate circles of the elite, but none comes forward to help press for their inclusion in the Indian progressive mainstream and educational empowerment. If someone tries to help the downtrodden they are scornfully discouraged or simply cold-shouldered.

Break the mould and emerge a new Indian. What if for a couple of years we don't build a temple or a mosque or church and concentrate on economic development, educate our illiterate fellow Indians, donate our organs and bodies to the medical institutes for others when we breath our last (can there be a better last rite than helping others when the dead body is simply burned or buried)? Will Shiva or Allah or Jesus be angry seeing no concrete structure coming up for them or happier? Ramakrishna Paramhamsa said that to serve humans is to serve Shiva. Isn't it true for all, whoever believes in humanity? If our love is allowed to cross barriers, will it not culminate ultimately in non-violence as none likes to kill his beloved people? Why should we need to have enemies and kill non-conformists to prove our superiority?

If 15th August means freedom, lets dustbin the old fossilised ideas and rotten action plans to create a new path of compassionate wisdom and nationalist victory, fuelling engines of economic growth. That's the dream Tricoloured, an Indian way to a happier planet.

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