Thursday 14 August 2008

Tryst with Destiny – A Perspective

So we are in the 61st year of our independence. We have grown old – haven’t we? The “tryst with destiny” has come a long way. We have had many “strokes at midnight” ever since the 15th Aug 1947. We need to slow down a bit – isn’t it? Na… In fact, Old age comes with an advantage. It breeds the path of progress with tons of experience to breed upon. I say, we indeed have achieved a lot together and we as hell have to achieve a lot more.

As we hit another year in our glorious path – let us look back and renew the pledge that our ancestors and freedom fighters took. Let me reiterate a point here – I have always felt that it is not always prudent to “look at the past” and live in the sense of satisfaction, happiness or sorrow. We at best should look at the past – to work on the shortcomings and to fill the “gap” that was left in past actions and perhaps also to look at all the glorious things/events of the past and feel honored to have been a part of it.

However, a look back at the history of India makes me wonder – why do we always talk about 60th or 61st year of independence? We were always an “independent” nation to start with. That Bharat/Hindustan was independent before Mughals came along is something we conveniently forget. King Ram in “Treta Yug” and naughty Krishna in “Dwapur Yug” were all born in the land of “Bharat” which was independent in its own sense. At the least – they were not governed by any known outside forces/civilization. It was only in 1328 AD that Mughal rule finally started in India. It is part of our history – there is nothing new I am claiming here. What is perhaps not appreciated by most of us is that it took multiple attacks by Arabs/Mughals since 715 AD (starting with Mohammad bin Qasim’s attack in 715 AD to Allah-ud-din-Khilji’s attack in 1310 and which lasted till 1328AD) to capture most of India - which means it took almost 600 years for any known foreign power to take India over. 600 years!! Many of us would die 10 times over before we even claim to have lived 600 years on earth. That is a long-long time. That this Mughal rule came to an end with start of an equally embarrassing British Rule is also a part of our oppressed history. The fact is – the last 500+ years of foreign rule have perhaps made us believe that we were always ruled by someone against our wishes and hence when we got Independence from the British in 1947 – we, for the first time, became independent. We have, almost always, thought of ourselves as oppressed country since we (again) - almost always - read history of our country with a “British prism”. No Sir. We were perfectly fine country before Mughals captured our land and had a healthy (almost) democratic culture in those periods – and with much larger area/land of control (from most of Afghanistan to Rangoon and from most of Kashmir till Kanyakumari).

It is hence that I want you to read the history of our country – in a somewhat detail – to really understand the nature and history of our country. Only when you read the history will you understand that this independence from British is ONLY an event in the growth of our nation. We did not certainly realize how to be independent in 1947. We had rich history even before Mughals and British rule, with rulers of those times born and brought up in our own land and were of our own culture. Being governed by such Kings/emperors was not living in tyranny or subjugation. Every bit of history that we can lay our hands on proves that the rule in those times were fair and inclusive. That is what we call independent sense of living, isn’t it? It is like having a Prime Minister of our own land elected/selected from within the citizens of this country. As for electoral democracy, I don’t think there was any precedent of elected representative in those times anywhere in the world – but which does not does not mean that we were not Independent. A point to ponder here is whether electing our leaders in modern India makes us any more independent than being governed by a popular king in those times? I have always believed that the general masses remain subservient to the leaders – elected, selected or forced on us. That you and I are not deciding if the Nuclear deal needs to be signed or not is a proof of that. That you and I have no say in how to solve the Kashmir problem is another proof of that. Even in another democracy like USA – that Bush should attack Afghanistan/Iraq was not decided by the citizens of that country. All these decisions are taken by leader of the day and the prerogative lies with them to make such a decision. Isn’t this akin to the way a King would take decisions? That is what I mean when I say that the way leaders are made – elected or selected - does not actually make a difference. What matters is – how well the chosen one governs. And as mentioned above – the way Bharat was ruled for centuries before 700AD proves that the men who ruled were more or less good governors.

The point I am trying to make is – let us not look at our history confined to only last 60-80 years. We have had rich culture and effective governance even 1000 years back and what we now have to do is continue from the learnings’ of the past. This day should be seen as “our day” of “getting back” to “our” earlier ways of living with free spirits and sense of belonging to the nation.

Let us also spare a thought for the ones who have laid their lives for the country and also for those who lived through to “restructure” the fabric of this great nation (once the British left). Let us also spare a thought for all the people who have been working continuously for all these years (at various times) to help build this great nation all over again. Let us also bow to every single citizens of this country who have been enduring the pain of this period of churning. Let us pledge that “our generation” will help this nation that we refer by the name of Bharat/ Hindustan and India, to get the revered/rightful place on this planet. We shall not rest in peace till we do that.

I have always believed that this country is not only about a Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahar Nehru, Sardar Patel, Laxmi Bai, Mangal Pandey, Chandrashekar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Mohammad Ali Jinnah or such well known freedom fighters. This nation was not built by such people alone. This was built by many more, who we perhaps do not know of. This indeed is “being” built by you and me even today. And for that - I say Thank You. Thank You - for being such good citizens of this country. And to paraphrase Martin Luther King’s famous words – “Together we shall and together we will return to our glorious days”.

Amen.

Mantosh Singh..
14th Aug 2008’

Ps: Next page has Jawaharlal Nehru’s full speech on 15th Aug 1947. Just thought you would want to read it


TRYST WITH DESTINY

“Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially”

At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, then an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her successes and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again.

The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?

Freedom and power bring responsibility. That responsibility rests upon this assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom we have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now.

Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now.

That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we might fulfill the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us but so long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.

And so we have to labour and to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagines that it can live apart. Peace has been said to be indivisible, so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this one world that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.

To the people of India whose representatives we are, we make appeal to join us with faith and confidence in this great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill-will or blaming others. We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell."

- Jawaharlal Nehru – 15th Aug 1947’