In my opinion, I do not want to criticise anything, without saying to myself "I can fix it" or "I can play my part in fixing it". After two heavy posts criticising India, or more specifically its laws which seem to contradict with its ideals of freedom of speech, I thought to myself "What can I do to fix this?"
My answer is this. India Poised. It's old, but it is something I take up and notice. We are a nation in our 60th year of Independence. Japan was obliterated during WWII and now it is a forefront nation in the developed world. We are but two years "younger" than Japan, but we always seem to be, in PK Varma's words, a "developing nation". The question we need to ask is why. I believe India Poised has an answer to this question.
I reproduce the anthem as follows:
There are two Indias in this country.
One India is straining at the leash, eager to spring forth and live up to all the expectations the world has been showering recently upon us.
The other India is the leash.
One India says, give me chance, and I'll prove myself. The other India says, prove yourself first, and maybe then you'll have a chance
One India lies in the optimism of our hearts. The other India lurks in the skepticism of our minds.
One India wants. The other India hopes.
One India leads. The other India follows.
But conversions are on the rise. With each passing day more and more people from the other India have been coming to this side. And quietly, while the world is not looking, a pulsating, dynamic new India is emerging.
An India who's faith in success is far greater than its fear of failure. An India that no longer boycotts foreign made goods, but buys out the companies that make them instead.
History they say, is a bad motorist. It rarely ever signals its intentions when it is taking a turn
This is a rarely ever moment. History is turning a page.
For more than half a century, our nation has sprung, stumbled, run, fallen, rolled over, got up, dusted herself and cantered, sometimes lurched on. But today as we begin our 60th year as a free nation, the ride has brought us to the edge of time's great precipice.
And one India - the tiny little voice at the back of the head - is looking down and hesitating.
The other India is looking up into the sky and saying, it's time to fly.
Until my 21st birthday, my opinion on the Indian National flag, were relatively mainstream. I strongly believed that "Flag Code of India – 2002" was correct and its punitive actions necessity. I argued, how could it be that those who were born under this very flag, can get away with showing disrespect. Furthermore, I was also proud of the Flag Code of India - 2002, as it allowed me a privilege which I wouldn't have been allowed under the previous "The Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950". Improper use of the National Emblem was (and is) an offence under the "THE PREVENTION OF INSULTS TO NATIONAL HONOUR ACT, 1971", and is punishable by a prison term of not more than a year. A similar law exists for the National Anthem. As the act says :
Whoever intentionally prevents the singing of the Indian National Anthem or causes disturbances to any assembly engaged in such singing shall be punished with
imprisonment for a term, which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both
I thought this was quite right. After all, these are the most potent symbols of nationalism, and if one isn't considerate enough to respect, nay, deify the flag and the anthem they were born under, they should be taught a lesson. In fact many a time I felt immensely pleased when I read/heard about articles in which ordinary Indian Citizens chided their fellow Indian citizens as they had shown scant respect for the flag.
On April 22 2007:
I celebrated my 21st birthday. Among the presents I got, were two books. One was "Bad President", written by RD Rosen, Harry Prichett and Rob Battles. The other was "The Argumentative Indian" written by Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen. I got to reading the former book, and Pages 98 and 99 really pricked my conscience. I produce a snippet as follows:
In Summer 2003, President Bush endorsed amending the First Amendment to make desecrating the flag, unconstitutional.
I thought to myself, well GWB may be dumb-ish, but he's sort of on a good track here. Then i read this:
...We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherised emblem represents....
This was a quote by Justice William J Brennan Reading this quote, I decided to let my brain ponder over it while I got some sleep.
April 23 2007 till present:
The next day, I read Amartya Sen's book, and I paid particular attention to his 5th Essay, entitled "Tagore and His India". In that essay, he mentions Tagore's extreme dislike of fervent nationalism. It mentions his novel The Home and the World where the protagonist Nikhil, says:
I am willing to serve my country; but my wirship I server for Right which is far greater than my country. To worship my country as a god is to bring a curse upon it.
My conscicence truly pricked, I went through the Wikipedia to find more information on the cases and other related cases. The information I gathered is here in 1, 2, 3, and 4 . Thus, I have realised one truth. I was wrong. In my opinion, punishing Indians for not standing up for the national anthem or for desecrating the flag, is as Justice Brennan said, diluting the freedom that the emblem represents. I am proud of my country, and of its national symbols, and I shall strive to give utmost respect it deserves. But to force my expression onto others is denying their right to expression, and that certainly is unconstitutional.
Thus I conclude, in apologising to anyone I have forced to respect the Flag of India. I am sorry
Couple of days ago, I was watching the movie Krantiveer. For those who
may not have seen it, allow me to give you a brief update. Nana
Patekar, plays a man called Pratap, who has no aim or ambition in life.
However, he is a good man at heart, and his observations, are acerbic,
honest, and brutally truthful. The movie details incidents, which make
Pratap from a man of no vision to a man with a mission and vision
statement (if I may use that term). The movie isn't a master piece, but
Nana Patekar's fiery acting, is just breathtaking. The observances he
makes, are stark and without any sugarcoating. Of particular note is
the outburst when a woman is screaming for male help as two male thugs
try forcing her into prostitution. The other, and IMO by far a more
powerful speech is at the end, delivered at Kranti Maidan, when he
rightly points out our inherent deficiences. Although some parts of the
monologue are heavily jignositic, it must not take away from the more
poignant moments of the scene. It is simply brilliant.
Anyway, after watching Krantiveer, I sat back and I thought to myself,
we as Indians haven't changed a bit. We boast about our culture, our
family values, our "morality", our this and that, yet we are second in
the world with AIDS, have largest amount of illiterates in the world,
is home to a conflict that has taken over 60 years, yet shows no sign
of resolution and much more. We are world leaders in many areas, but
not all of them are ones to be proud of. For every Narayana Murthy, we
have a Phoolan Devi, for every Ambani, Tata, Birla, we have a Laloo
Prasad Yadav, Jagdish Tytler, Shibu Soren. Is this something I look at
and say, I am proud to be Indian??
60 years ago, on August 15th
1947, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru said those immortal words in the
Constituent Assembly "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 ... 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". Our
freedom, as Amit Varma so often notices, can sometimes be very
superficial. See this for more details. It is sad to note that while India's Constitution in
Article 19(1) provides Fundamental Rights, it applies various
restrictions in 19(2), with vague sounding definitions as "morality",
"decency" etc. Contrast this to the American Bill of Rights, namely the
First Amendment, stating "Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances". Thats it. Nothing about morality, decency,
public good, no Kantian ideals there. Just a simple rule. Is it any
wonder why the call America the free country?
However, let us
not rush into blame the Constitution for everything bad that has
happened to India, neither should we blame the politicians. The
Preamble of the Indian Constitution reads "We the People of the
Sovreign ... Republic of India". Then why, when some scandal breaks,
when we see riots, when violence breaks out, when India loses the
cricket, why oh why do we friggin blame other people. Sure, those in
power abuse their responsibility more often then not, so why the hell
do we not say, "ENOUGH!!" We keep on voting the same or similar jackass
to power, and then sit back and say "Politics has ruined our nation". I
ask you this, has politics ruined USA? Australia? UK? New Zealand? If
these countries are "untainted" by politics, on what basis of evidence
can we say politics has ruined India. We are a nation of one billion
people. Yes it is hard to represent them, as the demographics of US,
Australia etc, are vastly different from the demographics of India.
However, we Indians are used to slavery. As Pratap says in Krantiveer,
we enjoyed firstly being enslaved by Kings, then the British, and now
we love being enslaved by politicians. We revel in our ability to bend
and evade rules, we bask in the glory of being able to pay off a cop,
although we may have committed a serious traffic offence. Heck, if
middle class and upper-middle class elitists like us, don't give a
royal damn about the country, why on God's green earth should those,
who don't even know if they are going to get two square meals a day do
so? We blame poverty for all our ills, but what have we done to uproot
the causes? The best way of eradicating poverty is by redistribution of
wealth, and embrace of market reforms. However, we are lazy to
implement that, but are active at crying ourselves hoarse.
One
may argue, that all countries fight have their own fair share of
problems. I concur. However, I am yet to see a country, so laid-back
about its problems, that rather than facing them head on, we'd rather
go to another country, and settle there for a "better future". All I
say is, well with that attitude, we might as well invite a foreign
ruler back. Or rather, should we get the UNSC to rule over us, with each member of the P5 taking turns over 2 years??
