India's Tryst with Destiny

On this day when India turns 65 being an Independent country, it is suggested to every Indian to go through our first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's magnificent speech made in the Constituent Assembly (now Parliament) and ponder if we are worthy of this hard fought freedom and if we still need to put in a lot to not only protect it but improve upon India's position as an independent and Democratic country:

"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially.

At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.

It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her success and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again.

The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?

Freedom and power bring responsibility. The responsibility rests upon this assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom we have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now. Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now.

That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we may fulfil the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity.

The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.

And so we have to labour and to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for anyone of them to imagine that it can live apart.

Peace has been said to be indivisible; so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this one world that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.

To the people of India, whose representatives we are, we make an appeal to join us with faith and confidence in this great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill will or blaming others. We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell.

The appointed day has come - the day appointed by destiny - and India stands forth again, after long slumber and struggle, awake, vital, free and independent. The past clings on to us still in some measure and we have to do much before we redeem the pledges we have so often taken. Yet the turning point is past, and history begins anew for us, the history which we shall live and act and others will write about.

It is a fateful moment for us in India, for all Asia and for the world. A new star rises, the star of freedom in the east, a new hope comes into being, a vision long cherished materialises. May the star never set and that hope never be betrayed!

We rejoice in that freedom, even though clouds surround us, and many of our people are sorrow-stricken and difficult problems encompass us. But freedom brings responsibilities and burdens and we have to face them in the spirit of a free and disciplined people.

On this day our first thoughts go to the architect of this freedom, the father of our nation, who, embodying the old spirit of India, held aloft the torch of freedom and lighted up the darkness that surrounded us.

We have often been unworthy followers of his and have strayed from his message, but not only we but succeeding generations will remember this message and bear the imprint in their hearts of this great son of India, magnificent in his faith and strength and courage and humility. We shall never allow that torch of freedom to be blown out, however high the wind or stormy the tempest.

Our next thoughts must be of the unknown volunteers and soldiers of freedom who, without praise or reward, have served India even unto death.

We think also of our brothers and sisters who have been cut off from us by political boundaries and who unhappily cannot share at present in the freedom that has come. They are of us and will remain of us whatever may happen, and we shall be sharers in their good and ill fortune alike.

The future beckons to us. Whither do we go and what shall be our endeavour? To bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.

We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be.

We are citizens of a great country, on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.

To the nations and peoples of the world we send greetings and pledge ourselves to cooperate with them in furthering peace, freedom and democracy.

And to India, our much-loved motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent homage and we bind ourselves afresh to her service. Jai Hind ! :)"

Happy Independence Day to all Indians :)

Arundhati Roy: Goddess of Big Controversies!

Arundhati Roy has travelled a great distance since 1997, the year which saw her winning one of the most coveted awards in literature, the Booker Prize for her amazing ‘The God of Small Things’. She instantly shot to international fame and along with helped expanding the Indian literary sphere beyond the Indian borders. Today she is hardly a novelist; at best she is an occasional essayist; but she is certainly a big time activist.

And I have big problems with self-styled activists. These activists are almost always sympathizers of evil mongers, be it Maoists or Kashmiri separatists - an occupation in vogue nowadays. They stylishly call themselves as Human Rights Activists.

I agree that Arundhati Roy is an intellectual and is blessed with extraordinary talents but I do not approve of her indulgence into misguided sedition in guise of social activism. Many a times I feel she does what she does to attract attention. She could have got adequate notice by being an author too but why did she choose the path of controversies is beyond my comprehension. Otherwise, to think that she does not understand the meaning of humans or rights or sedition or freedom - azadi - would be absolutely naïve.

“Kashmir should get azadi from bhukhe-nange Hindustan!” advocated Arundhati Roy at the recently held seminar in Delhi on “Azadi – The only way”. Of course, she and other splitists got massively booed by the crowd as expected. Her misdemeanor would have got brushed away under the garb of oft repeated democracy-thus-freedom-of-speech theory but the Indian media took it up seriously and forced the government of India to react – at least issue a statement – against the seditionist brigade. However, the fact that she and her fellow secessionists are still freely roaming the surface of the Indian earth is enormously disappointing and might set a wrong precedent.

Arundhati Roy should get her facts right before articulating her skewed views on the subject of an Azaad Kashmir. I am sure she knows that Kashmir is an integral part of India by all standards of legitimacy. And I am also sure that she knows she too is an Indian. And, just by being a citizen of a democratic country – India – does not make her eligible for speaking in seditious language, howsoever strongly she may feel for her Kashmiri separatist brethren. Her conduct is unlawful. And it is punishable under the Constitution of India. (So what if the state of Jammu & Kashmir has its own constitution? Have you ever heard of a bizarre situation like this anywhere else in this world? ‘Double citizenship’ is a common occurrence but dual constitution? It happens only in India!)

What perplexes me the most is the logic proffered by these so-called activists is their definition of human rights because they are seldom right in their explanation of humans or their rights. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be seeing them fight for Separatists and Maoists rights! Can any person in his/her right senses describe people belonging to either or both of these sections as ‘humans’? For God’s sake, they are terrorists! And murderers cannot be granted the same rights as that of ‘normal’ humans whom they kill at will.

Kashmir became a “problem” – not a mere ‘dispute’ as defined by current interlocutors - because of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s idealistic posturing about the UNO – as it was called in those days – and its ability to bring about the necessary changes while dealing with global conflicts. If our first prime minister had shown political acumen and courage, the whole controversy would have got resolved in 1948 itself. Indian military was quite capable of defending its territory and securing its borders and not letting Pakistan forcefully annex Kashmir and create POK; the most absurd post war happening was Pakistan “gifting” a large swathe of illegally occupied land in Kashmir to China!

Kashmir is a flashpoint and will remain so for many more decades to come. Today, even if India demonstrates strong political will, Kashmir issue cannot be solved which is anyway a remote possibility. Because, today stakeholders are numerous in the beautiful land of Kashmir. A burning Kashmir keeps the South Asian geopolitical aspirations of many nations warm. Then there are the commercial compulsions of global arms trade. A peaceful world - region - is certainly not conducive for the desired growth of this dangerous business which is lobbied hard at the highest levels for its continued existence. Then, the never-ending Kashmir conflict also serves as a legitimate excuse for the government of Pakistan to use it as a deflective device to keep the focus away from its grave internal problems. And Indian establishment is also not far behind in using Kashmir as a tool to suit its political purposes.

Hopefully all those Indian Kashmiris - and I firmly believe they are in absolute minority – who want to be a part of Pakistan or want a ‘separate’ state for themselves, will soon realize Kashmir is an Indian state and no force on this earth can divide India further. Their King who happened to be a Hindu by religious practice had decided the inclusion of his kingdom in the Indian state in all his senses and within his legal rights to do so. And that included his citizens as well. Moreover, almost a failed state by any yardstick, Pakistan should also get over its ambition of acquiring Kashmir, remembering that British’s “divide-and-rule” policy is not applicable anymore in a democratic and secular Independent India. Therefore, even the thought of an “Azaad” Kashmir is insane! Same advice is for Arundhati Roy.

Arundhati Roy could call her Hindustan “bhookha-nanga” but she should thank her stars for being a born Hindustani; for speaking in seditious language in Pakistan, she could have been languishing in jail on a non-bailable warrant forever for “treason”. Because, it is only in a democratic India that she could take refuge in her enormously flawed ideologies and philosophies to justify her separatist tendencies and still be out as a free citizen.

India is tired of Arundhati Roy’s KBC: Kashmir Bachao Conundrum! Hopefully she will resume her writings and stop being the Goddess of Big Controversies!

IPL and Thali

"If America is a melting pot, then to me India is a thali – a collection of sumptuous dishes in different bowls. Each may not mix with the next, but they combine on your palate to produce a satisfying repast.” – wrote Shashi Tharoor in his “Nehru: The Invention of India”.

I remember watching the first match of IPL-1 and getting reminded of Shashi Tharoor’s most appropriate and contemporary expression of the “Idea” of India! And since then, whenever IPL is on, these beautiful lines keep playing in my mind.

You wonder why?

Because, Shashi Tharoor’s “Thali” quote can comprehensively communicate the “Idea” of IPL as well: the ‘idea’ itself (‘thali!’); players of different nationalities together in a team (‘a collection of sumptuous ‘dishes’ in different bowls!’); inter-players relationships (‘each may not mix with the next!’); and the enjoyment it provides (‘they combine to produce a satisfying repast!’).

Therefore, I simply extrapolate(d) these wonderful words to put across my - borrowed - “idea” of IPL:

“If cricket match(es) between countries “is a melting pot”, then to me, IPL is a “thali” – a “collection” of talented players from different countries. Each may not “mix” (sometimes) with the “other”, but they “combine” on the field to produce a satisfying enjoyment!”

Do I make sense? May be my attempt could sound a bit childlike but my adaptation conveys the meaning, nevertheless. I think so :)

Disclaimer: I have re-produced the “Thali” quote here without seeking re-permission from its author. I pray I do not get prosecuted for this transgression.

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P.S.: I hear Navjot Singh Sidhu is back on television – Timesnow – and is making waves again with his special coverage of IPL-3! Alas, I cannot enjoy his Sidhuisms as the broadcast timing doesn’t suit me :(

Frankly, Shashi Tharoor deserves better!

Frankly, Shashi Tharoor deserves better! I simply couldn't understand the media-created brouhaha. Also, I feel that there was no need for him to exhibit his anger in the press conference. He could have simply given journalists a copy of his brilliant “Nehru: The Invention of India" and had asked them to come back with questions, if any, only post reading the book! (Wonderful platform for advertisement! The sales of the book would have skyrocketed! ... Just joking :) ... I took out his "Nehru" from my almirah last night and re-read the preface and the concluding chapter in order to refresh my memory with the beautiful journey of "Re-invention of India" before writing my opinion here.

It is sad to see Shashi Tharoor get into unnecessary controversies repeatedly and then spend his time and energy in explanations and apologies. The fault is not entirely his. However, he is himself to be blamed a great deal.

Shashi Tharoor should understand that he has an enviable status and people, especially Media, would be ever eager to exploit that for their own benefits. In today's 24x7 news environment and mushrooming news channels, all vying to grab the eyeballs in order to increase/maintain their TRP, a personality like his becomes a favourite fodder! And his tweets have satisfied their appetite regularly! He is their latest and the current TG - Target Group - if I may use the popular corporate parlance! They have got a replacement for their erstwhile favourite TV-friendly personalities like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rakhi Sawant. (I do not mean to demean him by associating his name in the same context as that of Rakhi Sawant's but I am just trying to explain my viewpoint.) … The best thing for him to do would be to maintain a respectable distance from the otherwise highly alluring media as it is a double-edged sword!

Though I found his "cattle class" remark a bit arrogant and also did not agree with his attitude of tweeting his “difference” of opinion on an official matter on a social networking site (the entire world will collapse if everybody started exercising their democratic rights on Twitter or Facebook!), but I wholeheartedly support him on this "Nehru" controversy. I repeat: frankly, Shashi Tharoor deserves better!

Shashi Tharoor is the most suitable person to handle the ministry of external affairs. His 3 decades of rich international diplomacy experience (he should recall his lessons fast in order to survive in the murky political landscape of India!) will come handy to him in redefining India's otherwise archaic foreign policy. He has the capabilities to soon reach to the status of a few able ministers like P. Chidambaram. He just needs to get his perspective right.

I use my blog page to suggest him something at the cost of making him even very angry with me.

The time Mr. Tharoor spends on reading his half a million plus followers' tweets and posting his own, he should utilize the available time to write a book. He is amongst the select few rare Indian authors in English who are worth reading! In fact I strongly believe that if he gave enough time to writing, his books could be in the league of Nobel laureates! There is a purpose in his books (I especially liked India, Nehru, Great Indian Novel and Riot). Rest all authors are a complete waste of time and I feel that their books should be sold with a "money back guarantee"! Shashi Tharoor’s admirers will be really happy to be able to read a "real" book of his (not compilations of newspaper articles as in "Elephant..." or a hasty job in "Shadows...")! ... At the same time I wish him all the success in his political career, as well! Best of Luck!

Hope NOT to see him in news any time soon for any further controversy!

P.S.: Pl ignore my blog if you found it preachy and a running moralistic commentary on complete nonsense.