I am not a midnight's child or a child of partition. Actually, I was born the year after Nehru died. In a sense, I represent the post-Nehruvian generation, those for whom the freedom struggle was confined to Amar Chitra Katha comics and history textbooks that valorised our national icons. And yet, i must confesss there is something about 60 years of Indian independence that fills me with a sense of pride and nostalgia.
Pride in being an Indian, nostalgia for what it must have been like in those heady days ahead of August 15th 1947. Looking at sepia-tinted images of Rajpath on the day India achieved freedom, one can imagine the frenzied crowds, the sense of utter joy at being a free nation. We take freedom for granted today.
We couldn't have been quite so bindaas 60 years ago. That perhaps is our greatest achievement, creating a sense of uninhibited freedom among millions (spit where you want, vote for whom you wish!).
Few gave this country a chance of survival 60 years ago. The prevailing wisdom was that India would crack apart into dozens of princely states, that the centre would simply not hold. By contrast, it was expected that Pakistan would be a more homogenous nation,united by religion. As it has turned out, Pakistan is on the brink of disaster, a nation undermined from within by religious fanaticism and an emasculated middle class.
Sure, India too has its crisis points, it is an imperfect democracy, battling poverty, farmer suicides and unemployment, but despite the imperfections, its been astonishingly resilient.
In his remarkable book, India after Gandhi, historian Ramachandra Guha tries to unravel the enigma of India. Why does India survive he asks in his final chapter?
His answer, a sense of a shared symbols - cricket, cinema, music - a respect for diversity, and above all, a remarkable constitution that guarantees fundamental rights and enshrines the principle of one man one vote. I think this country owes a huge debt to the framers of the constitution. I cannot think of a more progressive document anywhere in the world, one that respected individual rights above all .
We must be blessed that in the 1940s a collection of rare public figures came together to frame the constitution. It might be difficult to imagine this in our polarised times, but in the 1940s, Indians had the sagacity to realise that people of differing ideological persuasions needed to be brought together so that every possible talent could be harnessed.
Ambedkar may have been no friend of Gandhi, but it was the Mahatma who insisted that he part of the constitution drafting committee. As the Mahatma put it, "Freedom has come to the Indian nation, not to the Congress party." (will some members of the Congress party learn from this?)
Maybe, we need to read our history books once again to understand the true meaning of freedom, of being an independent nation. Today's young and restless I fear (and I hope I dont sound ancient here) often have little knowledge or interest in history.
How many young Andhraites know of the sacrifice of Potti Sriramalu, the man whose fast unto death led to the formation of the modern Andhra Pradesh, and laid the basis for liguistic states. How many young Maharashtrians know of the samyukta Maharashtra movement and the sacrifice of those who fought for their state?
Is any young Punjabi interested in reading the biography of Tara Singh? The Forward Bloc may keep the flame of Netaji alive, but do young Bengalis bother to read his life story? Sadly, we are becoming a country ignorant of our history.
We seem more comfortable with the quick fix cinematic idea of Gandhi in Munnabhai (a film I enjoyed), then doing anything to really try and understand the man behind the Mahatma.
In the 60th year of Independence, we need to make a pledge: a pledge to try and appreciate our history a little more.
Remember that old chestnut: those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it.
Meanwhile, have a great Independence Day. (And while sending sms greetings to friends, maybe pause to think of all those great men and women who made this day possible.)
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%22I think this country owes a huge debt to the framers of the constitution. I cannot think of a more progressive document anywhere in the world, one that respected individual rights above all .%22And I fail to see the %22progressive%22 uniqueness you speak of in our constitution. Most of the provisions were directly inherited from the British, US and other Constitutions in existence then. ...Reply
I completely agree with rajdep sir that the current generation of indians do need to study history n appreciate the freedom we have today.It is very important to note that students or rather teenagers like me who are hungry to learn about the years gone by but find no proper sources.We are forced to belive versions of stories from relatives and teachers whose stories keep changing with every passing second.We do not have any particular fixed and reliable source through which we can have a real and trusted source,of things we would like to know,the social condition not in terms of what the educational condition then was but what was it that students like us did in those times?Perhaps the only very comprehensive story about a child we can find today is about a young mahrashtrian boy called shravan kumar.Which is not enough to satiate the hunger for knowledge of the kids today.Perhaps Gandhiji's autobiography and Jawaharlal Nehru's %22Letters to a daughter%22 are the closest that come to descriptions about children then.We so much want to know about our great leaders,but the numerous political parties in the country always distort the images we have by all the mud slinging.It really becomes very difficult for any kid in this situation to think of anything of the country's glorius history and its numerous leaders.The future of any nation depends on its young minds,but in our country,we barely have any access to any ideas or ideologies our forefathers or great men propogated,what we have is just versions of mouth passed from generations which do have the occasional addition of the very Indian %22Mirch Masala%22 to it. ...Reply
As Indian history is important, so is world history. There are some bigger lessons in the latter. Its an irony that when we learnt history in school we were not interested, and when we are, we are not able to spend a lot of time!Destination Infinity. ...Reply
14/10/07I have just finished reading the book by Ramchandra Guha. Few things strike me glaringly:> his omission to mention mopla riots in 1921 shows his bias in favour of muslims> his omission to narrate that all the provincial commitee members voted Sardar Patel as the Prime Minister and Nehru was thrust upon the country by Gandhiji. This shows his bias in favour of Nehru.> his omission to tell that Art.370 was almost rejected by the Congress party and in the absence of Nehru, it is Sardar Patel who got it approved, against his own wisdom. This shows again his bias against Hinduism.> his passionate plea for better treatment of muslims in India, like Nehru, without assigning any reasons, while Islam treats its minorities shabbily. This shows he is worried about secularism more the Hindu livesThe tenor is good, the language is readable and the contents are objective, subject to the above comments. I wish Guha responds. ...Reply
RAJDEEP,I READ THE ARTICLE BUT ALAS TOO LATE .. I PERFECTLY AGREE WITH THE WAY THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF INDIAN TRADITION IS GOING TO RUINS... ALL MY ANSWER IS... THAT IS THERE A CONCRETE SOLUTION FOR THIS AND NOT MERE DISCUSSION.. HOW MUCH DOES A MEDIA IN EVERY FORM HELP TO OVER COME THIS BIG DRAWBACK... DOES ANY T.V SPONSORS THE SHOWS REFLECTING THE LIFE HISTORY OF OUR GREAT FREEDOM FIGHTERS WHO HAVE SILENTLY SLAYED THEIR LIVE'S FOR THIS GREAT COUNTRY.. DOES IBN MAKE EFFORT TO PUBLISH THE SAME AS AN ARTICLE EVERY MONTH RGARDLESS AND IIRESPECTIVE OF THE STATE OR IS THIER 1 SHOW IN MANY LEADING NEWSPAPERS AND TV CHANNELS TO ENHANCE AND REPLENISH THE INDIAN HISTORY AND CULTURE ... INSTILLING IT AMONG THE FUTURE GENERATIONS AS A COMPULSIVE AND ENTERTAINING AS WELL AS AN EDUCATIVE TOUR... OR IS IT ANY TIME GOING TO RISE BEYOND THE STAGE OF MERE PANEL DISCUSSIONS AND JUST ARTICLES......?lets offer our efforts to revive them by individually spreading the indian tradition and culture to the best of our efforts and knowledge..... ...Reply
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