the best Indian possible…

It is safe to be away from television, not read the news papers beyond the initial glance in the morning and never bother to participate in the circus of Gandhi remembrance and celebration. I tried.  But, the invasive world doesn’t leave one alone, there were two tele conversations with friends and several mails where he popped up.  So, the thoughts on him and the need to think them.

Gandhi, represents one of the best manifestation of the Indian Civilization. He did that by a process of understanding, analysis, assimilation and constant innovation within the situations he found himself in. There is a part of Gandhi in each one of us born in this civilization and every one of us have it in us to surpass him several times in our life time. Surpass him not in terms of accomplishments or innovation, that is not necessary. But, in terms of the Indian character manifest through our lives.

‘How can we be the best an Indian can be?’ is a question. This needs an understanding of what is the best in Indian. The incentives and enticements for Indians not to discover what is best about themselves are rather high today. But, the majority believe in some aspect of this ‘Indian-ness’, it could come from their vocation, tradition, culture, art, religion, sense of quality, meditation or intense action. Its understanding is growth. It could remain at the level of the vocation, tradition, culture, religion…or it could transcend to that of the civilization. Not to differentiate or decry other civilizations, but, to understand that we are different. Today, the world could do with several of the better manifestations of India or Indian-ness. Gandhi is just one well recognized brand name of this manifestation.


Oct 2nd, 2009

A month after Mumbai, 4 years after Tsunami...differences in response

The news paper reports are today replete with people paying homage to Mumbai terror attack victims as well as  recollection and homage of those who died in the tsunami 2004.


One natural disaster that saw, in response, a resurgence of human compassion and voluntarism while the other disaster wrought by humans led astray is responded to with anger and animosity. As the year comes to an end, war on Pakistan is increasingly being spoken to as 'when' and not as 'if'. Pakistan itself seems to be under greater  belief that India will go on a war with them. 


The war is being already fought by the media.  The media in Pakistan seems to be working overtime now.  I am sure that makes better business sense, imagine Indians had terror attack and could get good TRP for a television for a week maybe, Pakistan is selling the response to terror and getting probably better TRP (or whatever is the equivalent there) for a month. 


Modern technology and economic organization that provided Kasav and his people with easy access to guns, grenades, global phones and positioning systems has also provided the media in both countries with information on weapon capabilities, about the N processes, about the preparedness for attack, minutes for response, about weapons and their uses...the amount of knowledge we possess on instruments of violence seems endless. 


Many Indians feel that we should show that we too, 'know' how to use these tools of violence, Pakistanis feel that they should show their superior 'knowledge' on the tools of violence, while fanatics on both sides tease each other about each others' ability to use such 'knowledge'.


If the sense of security of a nation comes out of its knowledge of violent tools and methods, it must be a extremely violent society to begin with. I don't think our knowledge (and possession)  of tools of violence provides us with the sense of security.  If the response to the Mumbai attack results in us getting increasingly aggressive in acquiring, possessing and exhibiting (using) tools of mass violence, then we only perpetuate the violence, not work against it. Response to human pain cannot be in causing more human pain, response to the sense of hurt in a nation's pride cannot be solved by hurting another nation's pride. We did not win our Independence by hurting the pride of the colonials. They did not become our 'enemies' despite causing greater damage to us and killing more people for longer duration. 


I don't think India is a violent nation, it does not come to us naturally to be violent. Violent people are not majority in this country, violence does not stay in power too long either. Our tendency is to gravitate towards peaceful existence, and what we tend to, is our true stable nature, our own character.  This is defined by the traditions we have built and the leaders we have come to revere. However, we don't seem to have created either pride in this character or suitable methods of applying it in all situations. Gandhi successfully applied it against the Colonials, and since then it has surfaced once in awhile in different policies almost inadvertently.



As the year draws to the end, the image of the Mumbai attack will overshadow all other images and moments for most of us. The response to this attack on the nation's pride could unite us as a nation. We could be united  as a mob, faceless, identity-less, lynching an unequal but protesting and fighting 'enemy' or we could be united with an understanding of our true character that bring in spontaneous bonding and could make us stronger. Such understanding was seen after the tsunami, in the way many Indians bonded and worked together with complete strangers, in an understanding of compassion and peaceful co-existence. Our responses then were highly innovative, they were spontaneous and made us stronger. Our response now? 

The Racist Remark Episode: Why is our English media so....?

Staying away from my normal work location, wanted to avoid commenting on this national obsession of the last week, but, the continued media attention (like the one below, an editorial in the Hindu) and my current work made me to add my comment to the entire issue.

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : Of rage, ratings and reality shows: "Surely this is too much fuss over tawdry, tabloid television. The whole idea is to star people desperate for instant fame and quick money and grab eyeballs by every means possible — rudeness, bad taste, shocking conduct."

I am not surprised about the provocation that people have felt across the country on this episode, we need to agree that cinema personalities and cricketers are the most visible Indians and regardless of their career status, if they have been visible and recognized in India, they are recognized as a symbol of India outside.

The media demeans by such discussion ("much fuss", "she was paid anyway", "we are all racists", "hahaha...her career will become better now", "we are more racist", etc.) and hence fails to understand what provokes India or a sense of 'Indian-ness' in most Indians (I would leave out those who sit with these same newspapers every morning and let it dictate their opinion about the world, thankfully they are a minority). We need to understand that there is a strong identity of India still prevalent among most people in India and ordinary people do get provoked when they feel that identity has been abused or insulted.

Maybe the Biharis don't know the difference between the programme title and the person who insulted the Indian, but, them burning effigy was an expression of their anger, why should the media showoff its 'tardiness' by pointing out this? (the same editorial has the line 'angry protesters in Patna burnt effigies of someone called Big Brother') I suppose the newspaper wants to show off how much more English than Bihari it is? If only more Biharis had self-respect and sense they would burn the newspaper next!

Increasingly the ability of India to respond to and in influencing a larger region is visible and gaining in strength, and this is not through expression by editors sitting in their babel towers, but by the ordinary people in the streets. Our politicians respond and make statements because (despite their all other limitations) they are more sensitive to the feeling of the people in the streets.

I think it is a positive sign if so many people across the country have been provoked by an abuse of one Indian from a Westerner. One only wishes that such provocation be felt by bureaucrats when they sit for trade negotiations and media which shamelessly recycles what the western media spoke day before yesterday. They allow India(ns) to be abused more regularly and participate in it too. Wish they were as Indian as the Biharis!