Pseudo patriotism

Surge of seasonal patriotism is round the corner. It is created. I don’t see a natural surge. The question is why do we need to create such feeling? We live in a high context culture society and we need a celebrity or hero to ignite patriotic feelings. We remain dormant for most of the year but come January and August we get a booster dose to show the patriotism. The effects and side effects of this booster dose vary in different age groups, like Kal, Aaj aur Kal. We are divided in three categories. We have those who were born before the independence or born till mid-fifties. I dare not call them old. These are our senior citizens. This generation has seen a different India. Their expectations of present day India were so different. The present day ABC (Anarchy, Bureaucracy, Corruption) in governance is far different from dream that they cherished for India. This generation is the one that is most disappointed. They have lived their life with struggle. The Nehruvian socialism made them stand for hours in a queue for a kilogram of sugar or rotten wheat or adulterated rice. The politicians failed to deliver India the abundance. One had to go around Fountain in Mumbai or New Market in Kolkata or Burma Bazar in Chennai even to buy a smuggled blank audio cassette. One would have endless wait to get a scooter booked by depositing Rs.500 at the post office and pledging same in favour of the dealer. The generation grew old with hope for abundance. It Things improved, but it came with a price. Inflation, corruption and criminalization came hand in hand with the abundance. The sum total was the same. The generation paid a heavy price for what they had desired.

The second generation was born post republic till mid-seventies. This generation made best use of the situation and grabbed the opportunities. Some from this generation changed the definition of politics. Social service laced with political ideologies turned in to profession. The poisonous ivy of state reorganization on linguistic basis that was planted in Nehru era had grown. Differences between the communities started becoming more prominent. This generation made best use of this. They grabbed the opportunity and furthered the British policy of divide and rule. They acquired what they desired, not necessarily deserved. Looking at the opportunities some from the earlier generation also joined the bandwagon. Some of them even became mentors for the younger generation to guide them to loot the society and the government under the disguise of social work aka political activities. This generation was on a different platform. They never contributed for the freedom struggle; they got the freedom and poisonous ivy on a platter that resulted in greed and hatred. This generation saw abundance for themselves. The abundance was at the cost of sacrifice of values and morality. Some from this generation still rule the country and play dirty politics. Some make such statements that one feel as if they are the ministers of enemy nation. This is done just to please the vote bank. The systems and politics resulted in brain drain. India lost many talented people to the developed nations. Their aspirations could not be fulfilled by these selfish mediocre politicians and the systems that they developed and propagated.

Fragmentation of political ideologies and the parties, emergence of new political parties resulted in this generation. Political nudity was at its low and unfortunately this became the benchmark for the coming generations. Corruption took its root and politicians started turning shameless (there may be few exceptions). This was the era that started marketing patriotism twice a year regularly and frequently if needed. Celebrations during national holidays became rituals.

Now comes the third generation that I referred to. My heart goes with them. Struggle for the independence and post-independence era are only a text book matter for them. This generation has observed the second one. They saw the higher magnitudes of corruptions and scams. Scams that were of few crores were up at lacs of crores. Murders and rapes that were sporadic became routine. Respect for law that was high during the independence era and declined thereafter is almost extinct now. Now it looks like everyone is above the law, especially the politicians. There is a great deterioration of law and order. There is politics everywhere, be it suicide of a farmer, or rape of a minor, or even expressing respect for Hinduism.

This generation has been fortunate to see the technological changes, the advancement. The comforts that were elusive to earlier generations are within the reach of this young generation. Their priorities are different. Social structure has undergone change. Individualism is setting in. One has become self-centered. Owning a house was last wish that a first generation male. Today owning a house has become first priority for any male or female in the present generation. Mobiles, bikes, cars, overseas vacations and many other things that were a lifetime ambitions in the past have become routine requirements today. Earnings have increased manifold and therefore the spending and resultant inflation. All this is fine and understandable, but not at the apathy towards the political systems and governance. Dynastic rule makes it difficult for a common patriotic soul to acquire political highs. The dynastic rule does not accept others in the system and this deprives the patriotic from joining politics that has been polluted more than the sacred Ganga. The way now Gangajal is unfit for consumption, the politics is also unfit for current generation. Those who stay at the banks of Ganga have no choice; similarly those who got dragged into politics, they too have no choice. They have to live with this reality. However those who can avoid this polluted Ganga, they stay away, rather than taking a plunge with motive to clean it. Lighting candles, conducting street plays, taking out morchas and many other innovative ways of protest are fine. These cosmetic activities cannot be curative. The movement against the corruption that was in the forefront has also lost its steam. Looks it’s going to be like this. A long weekend during national holiday is becoming more meaningful than celebrating the rituals and expressing pseudo patriotism. Mother India you have to live with it.

Jai Hind…. 

I want back my childhood India

I was a toddler when we became a republic. I don’t remember what India was then (in 1950), but I have grown with that. I remember the good old days; these were undoubtedly very happy days. Generally we say that every dark cloud has a silver lining. The dark realities have a possible bright future. In my young days it was all bright and there was apparently no scope for the any silver lining, rather there was no need for any. Everything was good and in order. 

The first dark lining to bright cloud was sensed by me on Nov 1^st 1956 when Nehru reorganized the states on linguistic basis. That was first attack on unity of India. I ignored this dark lining and compromised with new realities. In 1962 China attacked India and it was a shock for a teenager like me. I have been following Nehru’s policies of Panchsheel, very often we had raised the slogans of Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai (हिंदी चीनी भाई भाई)  and felt so humiliated with Chinese invasion, our ill preparedness and poor foreign policies. The cloud now had a larger dark lining. After Nehru’s death it was little bright again with great soul like Lal Bahadur Shastri as PM. His death again enlarged the dark lining. Then the era of Gandhis and coalitions started and the cloud was getting darker. The brightness was getting engulfed.  And today I hardly see any bright spot in this dark cloud.

Lack of discipline, corruption, erosion in values, low levels of morality coupled with economic turmoil and parallel economy are suffocating. During my school and college days we dare not ride the cycle double-seat or go out in the evening without light. I still have the old kerosene lamp that I used for my cycle. More than the fear of police our conscious did not allow use to break the law. Even in eighties when I had a scooter, I did not take both my sons at one time on scooter as it was illegal and is still illegal. Today we see a family of five riding a bike. I feel sad to see a person flushed with money driving BMW, Honda or Audi, showing complete disregard to the traffic lights. He may be rich but a bankrupt on basic social responsibilities. There is no difference between him and some ill-mannered, ill-educated unscrupulous rickshaw-wall. Both are bankrupt for basic discipline. Today one can show total disregards to rules and no one bothers. Sad, isn’t it?

In the past people were hesitant to offer bribes. Mostly the person who gets the offer would feel offended. Today one may get offended if bribe is not offered. The value systems that we had have just disappeared and new western norms are finding roots. Morality has taken a big blow. No one raises eyebrow at the vulgarities in the society or when someone hurting or even killing a person. There are no deterrent punishments. One can commit crime, take pride in it and roam around freely. Justice is delayed, at times denied. Corruption has not spared this system too.  

Relations between different communities were clean and healthy. There was no appeasement of any community and there were no terrorist, but there is a drastic change now. Today if a Hindu pronounces himself as a Hindu then many politicians feels that the secular fabric of India is under threat. There is ugly competition between the politicians to appease different communities and to shield the culprits. Today there is not only a dark cloud but also darkness.

On economic front we were very happy. The small little one paisa had a value. It had a buying power. We did face the era of shortages and ill effects of Nehruvian socialism, but we still were very happy. There was no inflation and US dollar was just four and half rupees. Gold was affordable and so was silver. Food was cheap too. This abundance reflected on attitudes and behavior of the public and society. However all this disappeared under the shadow of the cloud that got darker each passing day.

Today I feel that we should have ministers like C D Deshmukh, Sardar Patel, Justice Chagla, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. I want well educated cultured persons in politics and as ministers. The criminals and illiterates should not represent the masses. Leaders have to be well educated, irrespective of their political ideologies. Gandhi and Sawarkar both had studied law. Nehru and Tilak both were well educated. Education makes the difference.

I want India of my childhood. I want India where there were no fights on linguistic basis. I want that India where we valued discipline and the demon of corruption did not exist. I want back my India where one feared law and refrained from committing crime. I want that India where the money has value and good buying power (inflation taken into account). Can this dark cloud now have a silver lining? Can there be a reversal?  Can history repeat? Can I get back India of my childhood?