Sunday, May 2, 2010

Narrow Lanes & Wider Horizon Cont....


How Nations are created? All nations come into existence on the basis which is not at least coherent. Populations have been divided on the basis of religion ( as in case of pakistan), ethnicity and races ( germanic , slovak , czec, french , anglo saxon ) and many on the basis of the earlier kingdoms and Empires that existed and then slowly evolved as republics. Imperialism created nations of their own as most of the Africa , present day India etc is created out of the maps that the conquerers created and then left. But once a nation is created people find a common ground , it may be religion , culture or just the name to feel being the part of nation. 

We all are made to feel part of the name and pride associated with it. But that is manufactured pride. When we are in school or college, we love our group , our class. If there is a competition going on , we will support the section , class or college we belong to.Since that is part of the identity at that point of time we feel the need to support the group we belong to . Patriotism is likewise the identity which we support. Its great that we love our country ,  love in anyways a great thing in itself . But that love should not breed animosity , differences and a false sense of pride. Patriotism should not breed on ground of hatred. Be  loyal to humanity and Earth. Patriotism is not important,Humanity is. If you are doing service to mankind , its a far more appreciable deed than doing service to your nation. 

We all think of murder a a heinous crime. We cant think of doing that ourselves. But we clap for the soldier who has killed five soldiers of the enemy country , on the orders of the government . Those who he has killed were also soldiers , just doing their duty. And we clap for creating orphans of five families. Soldiers are not to be blamed. They do their duty. Thats their job. But do you really think the soldier thinks about his country during the battle. No. He is thinking about how to save himself and his fellow men while executing the orders given by those wise men sitting at office. And the only way he can save himself and his fellow men is by killing the one on the opposite side.
Death of any kind should not bring a celebration , even if its of our enemy.We loath acts of terrorism, but dont go to the root of the problem. If race is the basis of nationalism than the present day India should be more than twenty nations. There is something above than being patriotic.We were in British rule . We had great martyrs like Subhash , Azad , and Bhagat Singh. But for Britishers they were no more than terrorists. They were fighting for Indian independence , hence they are given so high regards. But likewise people in Assam , Kashmir  and some other North Eastern States are fighting for their own independence. 

They think that they have nothing in common with India , and they were never a part of India prior to British rule.They are also martyrs in their own right. They are also dying for a cause , for their people.So should their death be celebrated . Will the stories of their heroism will ever come to us. No , because they are traitor to our country . But this is not their country , according to them , so how can they be traitors. These people could never be won over by force. They can only be won over by love , development and integration into the mainstream.

My head was down with shame when I saw the pictures of Manipuri elderly women , getting naked,and holding the banners “ Indian Army Rape us.” What can drive those women to go to such an extreme extent.Its also amazing how less footage this news got in National media. As if that part of India is not at all important. I got such long forwarded mails of how shameful it is that Indian national flag is still burned in Kashmir and media ignores such incident . I don't think this is even half as shameful as the incident in Manipur.What would happen to the youth of Manipur when they see their mothers and sisters being pushed to such levels. Wont they take up arms . And isnt they justified. And should we clap , if any of those youth is killed by one of our brave jawans.If this is the outcome of patriotism , I am happy being a non patriotic.

We are told since childhood that our country is the most beautiful , our culture is the richest and so on. But is it the right approach. We should be appreciating each and every culture in this world. There are many beautiful places in this world and India is certainly not the only one which can boast of beauty.We call ourselves victims of racism in western nations.But I have seen Indians indulging the same kind of racism to African people.So we are not always on the right side.Its very important for the governments to install patriotism, because its core to the existence of the nation. Its like a operating system that should be installed in order to run the other programs well. Governments will never be transparent. So the onus is on the citizens to understand the larger picture. I know this world can't function without nations. There would be too much chaos and disorder. As their would be if a class has only one section. So its a great arrangement but after all its an arrangement. Its not something to die for. At least not for me.