Child that refuses grow up - India @ 62
Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins’ book about events in the Indian Independence movement in 1947-48 beginning with the appointment of Lord Mountbatten of Burma as the last viceroy of British India, and ending with the death and funeral of Mahatma Gandhi has many shades to reflect the last moment that gave this region, then divided into some princely states and territories, customarily now known as the British-India; coldly reflecting British hegemony and well-planned subconscious invasion since the Company Rule(1757-1858) and then as rulers(1858-1947), a birth name – India from Akhand Bharat or Hindustan as the Mughals knew. At 62, it is difficult to gauge how much India has grown if the yardstick is Western World, but I feel India as in Indians have refused to grow up on many aspects though on the surface many changes(if we refuse to call it as development).
In school I had been a regular attendant of 15th August & 26th January Celebrations, especially due to my upbringing. My parents did not encourage jingoism but made me feel proud of the people who sacrificed their lives for a cause which they felt was the only to thing to live or die for. Today, sadly, I lost the chance to salute the flag – guilty as charged, but probably because today it is more easy to salute the flag with movies, tv and newspapers giving us the comfort of seeing it and feeling mellow and flip to the next interesting item.
“Destiny is not static” mentions the article in TOINS. Indeed! At 62 whether the newly formed India is a child or not is up to us to decide but a sms awakened(& I mean in literal terms) me –
We live in a funny nation, where pizza reaches home faster than the ambulance or police… “Happy Independence Day”
To which I replied,
Perhaps we should Americanize Cops and Ambulance Service
This is the main thread that provokes a thought for young Indians like us. We are still considered as third world but I still do not have the idea based on what, since diseases and economic slash to crime and uneducated citizens are also in the first world. Is it because we do not have military or even civilian technology? But the first world also buys the same tech built from many third world either in the form of assets or intellect. Is it because we do not have proper legal system to tackle offenses? But the biggest and the worst offenses from bank frauds to capital market pullers is also from West. Is it because our population and poverty makes look like suckers? Well, if poverty is the benchmark to make a nation look like needy, America(world’s super power) has the entire world swept in debts and cash crunch. So it is okay if you make others poor because of you being poor or if your citizens are in debts, but being penniless is the worst of all. I fail to understand. Is it because we have a culture that is vast and complex? Well Westerners(Easterners – Australians – (sic)) too appreciate our historical ownership.
To be precise nothing can judge a nation, whether it is India or any other nation, to say it is developed or not. At the dawn of independence our nation builders then must have had a dream, but the dream, though not in every Indian anymore, is perpetrated through many unknown ways by private and government bodies, including me and you. So the child refuses to grow up, but it has grown up in its own sense that has made the whole world to sit and look at it for the diversity(good since ancient times and bad for unfortunate reasons presently)it has now. Things will change and are still changing since the midnight of that fateful August day, and hence the Child refuses to grow-up but is still growing(pun not intended)
And here is a rare cutting of Times of India on 15-August-1947
In school I had been a regular attendant of 15th August & 26th January Celebrations, especially due to my upbringing. My parents did not encourage jingoism but made me feel proud of the people who sacrificed their lives for a cause which they felt was the only to thing to live or die for. Today, sadly, I lost the chance to salute the flag – guilty as charged, but probably because today it is more easy to salute the flag with movies, tv and newspapers giving us the comfort of seeing it and feeling mellow and flip to the next interesting item.
“Destiny is not static” mentions the article in TOINS. Indeed! At 62 whether the newly formed India is a child or not is up to us to decide but a sms awakened(& I mean in literal terms) me –
We live in a funny nation, where pizza reaches home faster than the ambulance or police… “Happy Independence Day”
To which I replied,
Perhaps we should Americanize Cops and Ambulance Service
This is the main thread that provokes a thought for young Indians like us. We are still considered as third world but I still do not have the idea based on what, since diseases and economic slash to crime and uneducated citizens are also in the first world. Is it because we do not have military or even civilian technology? But the first world also buys the same tech built from many third world either in the form of assets or intellect. Is it because we do not have proper legal system to tackle offenses? But the biggest and the worst offenses from bank frauds to capital market pullers is also from West. Is it because our population and poverty makes look like suckers? Well, if poverty is the benchmark to make a nation look like needy, America(world’s super power) has the entire world swept in debts and cash crunch. So it is okay if you make others poor because of you being poor or if your citizens are in debts, but being penniless is the worst of all. I fail to understand. Is it because we have a culture that is vast and complex? Well Westerners(Easterners – Australians – (sic)) too appreciate our historical ownership.
To be precise nothing can judge a nation, whether it is India or any other nation, to say it is developed or not. At the dawn of independence our nation builders then must have had a dream, but the dream, though not in every Indian anymore, is perpetrated through many unknown ways by private and government bodies, including me and you. So the child refuses to grow up, but it has grown up in its own sense that has made the whole world to sit and look at it for the diversity(good since ancient times and bad for unfortunate reasons presently)it has now. Things will change and are still changing since the midnight of that fateful August day, and hence the Child refuses to grow-up but is still growing(pun not intended)
And here is a rare cutting of Times of India on 15-August-1947
References:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_at_Midnight
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