FUCKED UP BEYOND ALL RECOGNITION

Friday, August 1, 2008

India After Gandhi

The most interesting,intriguing,inspiring,exasperating,shocking,stunning,-and a whole lot of other adjectives-,diverse,difficult country.
The one and only India .

Everyone says they've read about the history of India,in the process completely forgetting that an India came into existence only on 15th August 1947. What they do know is about the pre-independence struggles over-glorified in our pathetic history text-books, peppered with a hundred and one misconceptions and more.For all practical purposes (and a few not so practical) , history has become synonymous with one date : 15th August 1947. History ended for most people on this day with a few exceptions, the Gandhian fanatics , for whom the date was extended to Jan 30, 1948 .

To know about the history of Independent India (India after Gandhi??) , read India after Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha .

200 pages into the book , and after many a revelation came to light, I felt it would be a good exercise to jot down some stuff here,and sincerely hope I manage to do so without falling into the pitfalls of procrastination.

I shall speak on specific topics later on, while this post shall serve as a general one.This series of posts will contain quotes, taken from Guha's epic work .

Ever since I started reading this book, one constant feeling which has been growing in my mind is awe. Of two different subjects- the author , who must have gone through tons of reading material , literally speaking ; and of the fact that 60 odd years after Independence , India is still existing as a single entity.

Alongside, an exponentially growing fear also came into existence - how long is it going to be before India breaks up due to internal strife ???

"There was no Indian nation or country in the past;nor would there be one in the future"

"Unlike France,or Germany or Italy, there was here no national essence,no glue to bind the people and take them purposively forward."

I look around myself-

  • the mumbai-marathi problem
  • the hindu-muslim problem
  • the sikh nation (khalistan) problem
  • the communist problems
  • the anti-hindi and likewise , anti-regional languages problem
  • northie vs southie issue
  • naxalites and internal terrorism
  • blah blah blah ....

"The heart hoped that India would survive,but the head worried that it wouldn't."

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not thinking about what the Brits did to the land when we were under their rule, I still believe we would have been better off under them right now.

Indians are a bunch of self centred lazy frauds.

In a decade or so, with all the environmental calamities that are going to happen, small governments will cease to exist and borders will be erased or at least, reduced.

I hope Tamil Nadu gets separated from the country. I mean, seriously. Compared to the other states, we still look sane and capable sustaining human life and civilisation.

pavan madhini said...

Your first point is arguable , but the second point is irrefutable atleast as far as the present situation goes .

Are the effects of global warming going to be that drastic ???

Well , yeah , it would be nice not having to mention that Hindi is not THE national language of our country to every other ignorant moron I meet here .

My existence said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
My existence said...

Its true that after Independence we have always been entitled as"United India" but neither we were united nor we are. Social issues still suppress us in the society. I do adore the author and respect his views but the thing is why don't you see India through your own eyes rather than getting influenced by some book written by an intellectual I must say? I do agree our system has no base, I do agree our Preamble is baseless as it has mentioned integrity as well social ,secular,democratic republic. India is just 61 years old. And in these 61 years we have seen a hell lot violence and it still continues . Even though we had such odds, our India could emerge as the fastest growing economy. We have the 2nd largest army. Our heritage our culture is praised all over the world. Many things have originated from India, may be if I start witting it will turn out to be a book instead of the reply! My point is, just don't get away with the flow of all negativity. Posting such articles is just irrelevant. Do something for India if you think anything can be done with it. You need guts to stand up in an election and fight for the rights. I have been hearing about corrupt politicians since childhood but I never saw anyone taking any step forward for eliminating corruption!! We just talk but nothing put into work.The whole disintegration is because of us. We created caste and then class and then many other societal odds. I know its very difficult to change the system even if we try our level best but still do we really give it a try? Have we yet done something to be heard in the public? Have you ever given a thought about the separatists of India? Have you ever thought about the Kashmiris who were the left outs till now though now some action will be taken to stop the violence going on over the Amarnath Valley. Because of people like you and your views India is still a developing state and what can we expect more? I think you are an IITian. Why the hell are you in such a reputed Indian Institute? And your next step will be of course anyhow to get out of India to do your further studies. We people are so self centered. Its very easy to comment. I've never thought of myself as a particularly patriotic person(in its various manifestations , I cordially dislike the Indian state, as distinct from the India of its people), but still it is an inextricable part of me. Its a vast space to accommodate the clamour of giant cities, teeming with the seething energy of millions and the silence of empty solitudes. and include the pilgrim and the politician, the poet and the revolutionary, the street urchin and the merchant prince, ahimsa and nuclear might, 3,000 years and the 21st century. I still don't know what did I think of when I thought of India and what random impressions conjured my many Indias! But India is much more than a million mutinies now; it is a billion plus narratives of itself waiting to be told. Not just once upon a time, but once upon a future...

But now you have made me realize its existence. How ironic!

RaJJl said...

Hmmmm... right. Even i see these problems circulating on our future and present.But lets take it on yet another aspect
* the mumbai-marathi problem - The problem have arise due to one powerful party having a weak leader.
* the hindu-muslim problem - The problem persist coz of many such loser leaders and parties who just for the sake of votes divide the country as those creap English men were doing.
* the sikh nation (khalistan) problem - I am a sikh. I dun want any Khalistan. No ture Indian Sikh want Khalistan. Its just a sloppy dream of some terrorists having low thinking.
* the communist problems - Hmm , i guess we don't have any right to say anything on this coz we on our own select whom gonna rule on us.
* the anti-hindi and likewise , anti-regional languages problem - Is it really a problem ? We can easily learn English for the sake that it is a global language, we can learn Latin and other language for fun or timepass but we can't learn Hindi ? Here the problem is in MY personal thinking i can't carry on with Hindi which is our national language.
* northie vs southie issue - wrong perspective of our people. It can be worked out easily but depends who gonna initiate 1st for this cause.
* naxalites and internal terrorism - What is history of naxals ? And which country dun have interenal terrorism ? Ever thought where these internal terrorists and naxals get power ? Reading a book can change it all ?

* blah blah blah .... - Well that's your personal problem i guess.I dun see this problem in all Indians :)

So if one leader can take things to the wrong direction then yet another leader can change the things to better aspect.Its better to do something rather than reading books.Its dumbness to open up a book to see how to extinguish fire when your own home is buring infront of you sir :)

RaJJl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RaJJl said...

Anyways sir talking about the progress part of India. Europeans are the highest Software consumers but ever thought who are the one to help them out in meeting those consumptions ? We Indians are the 1st in the Software market :) We are the best in ideologies. Still no foreign economist can beat the Chanakya-niti(read it to believe it). I really dun want to write more coz till now you would have made your mind on what exactly you want to act as, A Loser leader or a powerful catalyst :)
Ideas are the best thing to make a new powerful future of a country. India is full of thinkers and writers.But if all gonna curse their own country like what you guys are doing then sorry to say we dun have any future. But i guess even if i will be single then still i will be fighting alone. You can sleep without any tensions,as many such like me are working for our country, for the good of our India. Thanks :)

pavan madhini said...

@my existence
I am not getting influenced by something I don't connect with.I point the book out here because it makes a lot of sense.Just because it is not my original view doesn't mean I shouldn't follow it.
For the record, the book is not really biased in any way.What i've written down is only the way I've interpreted it.
just 61 years? Japan died when we were born and took a decade to be born again.Since, it has raced to the top of the world.
Our army is huge and weak.We'll get blown away by atleast half a dozen armies of the world.
The growth,blah,blah,blah of our economy is mostly Bull-shit.As an economist, believe me when I say we are having the most polarized growth possible.
What heritage?What culture?Being cheap lousy frauds?Being one of the most corrupt societies in the world?The most caste-ridled one?
Posting such articles is not irrelevant.It improves awareness.Ignorance is one of our biggest banes.
I wish I was not here as well, but I am, and let me tell you the best Indian college for tech sucks big time.All noise and no matter.50 years of existence and nothing to show for it except the huge labor-force which can do mind-numbing work.
India sucks, and I want to make it better.Writing this piece here is one of many steps I intend to take.

@rajji
One serious request.Don't even try to make India better, for I won't be able to bear seeing it after you are done with.
The irrationalities of your arguments were striking and the mis-information you throw around freely is baseless.
Reading books changes a lot of things by furthering your thinking.If you can't see this simple thing, you obviously won't be able to connect the far more serious issues I have jotted down upon.
I am sorry to say this,but you are not worth any more words.

T said...

lol.

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