Disclaimer: Opinions are like assholes. If you bare them, others find them unbearable.
I was taught history in a missionary school by a muslim . Most of the national history was about the aryans, mouryas in ancient period, mughals in medieval times and independence movement in the modern era.
India is this amazing place which featured one of the world`s earliest civilizations. We had great emperors, philosophers.scientists, physicians (and of course we make excellent subjects anytime). At that age, we were so proud to be be born in a country as diverse and unique as ours. We were not taught many age old customs of our culture like sati and polygamy were outlawed by the British. No one told me then that Bose judged the imperialist England as a greater evil over Hitler`s Germany and Japan. I did not hear of Abha. Tipu was a tolerant emperor then who equally respected all religions. I thought Tito and Sukarno, being co-founders of NAM were more or less similar to Nehru. Life was pretty simple then. Everything was black or white. Akbar was tolerant, Aurangzeb a bigot, Shivaji a patriot, Gandhi the hero,Mountbatten the villain, Teresa a saint, Westerners the looters and India the greatest country. Intellectual orgasms do last much longer.
I would write poems on the greatness of our country/culture, watch movies made on the lives of our freedom fighters and wholeheartedly pray for India`s win over Pakistan in cricket. Kargil war happened and it marked me at my highest patriotic zeal. Newspapers would carry inspiring stories of how our Indian soldiers would brave tough weather and drive back the enemy.
At some point during my graduation, I guess the switch flipped. Today I see country, religion or a caste as mere separations. All of us want to feel proud of ourselves. We want to be associated with someone who is great because we think greatness is infectious. Instead of chasing greatness, we chase the shadows of great people.As we draw bigger circles around us, the number of greats falling in them would increase. We start with family, move on to area, caste, state, religion and finally country.
When someone says the country is intolerant/tolerant, I do not understand. How can a country be tolerant/intolerant? There will always be a considerable number of people on either side. Some might say isolated incidents of intolerance must not lead us to generalize the whole country as intolerant.At what percentage does the scales tip? It is subjective.
Argument and agreement are overrated. It is the tongue of the proponent which decides the validity of the argument often.
What do we do when people raise voice against our constitution? something quick before it is amended for the nth time to suit them. We can be those keyboard warriors who would feed the perpetrators of violence at patiala house with belief. Amongst all this, I forget the values we`re trying to uphold. I try to understand who the taxpayers are, what democracy is and who the parasites are.
Why do taxpayers pay tax? because they`re taxpayers. They expect the government to create a conducive environment for them to optimize their earning potential. The government needs more taxpayers to prosper. It would like to provide education to people so that they could earn their livelihood.
What if the government does not fund the universities? There will be more disgruntled youth who could not afford education and hence could not find employment. They might want to vent out their anger by joining the naxals and fueling a civil war that does not bode well for the taxpayers. It would not be unreasonable to assume the tax paying public are doing themselves a favor by sponsoring the education of this students.
What is a democracy? I`ll enlist the help of wiki here. “a system of government in which all the people of a state or polity … are involved in making decisions about its affairs, typically by voting to elect representatives to a parliament or similar assembly”. it consists of four key elements: (a) A political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections; (b) The active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life; (c) Protection of the human rights of all citizens, and (d) A rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens.
Let a person be a host or a parasite, he has the same rights as all other citizens. In India, everyone aged over 18 has a right to vote. Most people under 22 depend upon parents for food and shelter. How would it be if their parents told them “I subject your will to my interest as it is I who sponsor you right now. Vote for so and so candidate.”
Looking at all the furore over not supporting India in a cricket match, one would think every time India wins over Pakistan, our GDP would raise by .1%, the number of women raped in India per day decreases and the aggregate morality of our society raises a notch.
One might think I`m anti-BJP or one of those sickulars. Why should one be either on this side or that side? It is like being asked who is the better tennis player- 97th ranked Janowicz or 98th ranked Krajinovic? In the search for an optimistic note, what else are we going to do?
Abyss of erudition 