Freedom from Regionalism.

““Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -how passionately I hate them!” ~ Albert Einstein
( I wonder what Einstein must have to say about regional patriotism: the worst putrefaction a pure feeling can ever suffer from.) 

Hello my Indian friends. Within an hour, our country, India will have completed its 63 year of being Independent. This must have been a long journey (given, I joined only 21 years ago.) We, the children of free India, are often accused of having taken the independence for granted.
We have been accused of having the privilege of being born in a free India.

Wait, have we the privilege?
Some of us have. Some lesser fortunate? I doubt. I am talking about regional patriotism here. I talk about an average north Indian laborer (from states like UP and Bihar), who is treated like an immigrant dog in the developed states of the country. I talk about a taxi driver of Mumbai who is forcefully made to learn the local language of the area else he would be kicked off to the so called ‘darkness’. I talk about an average aspiring student getting beaten by goons in bright daylight, while only seconds ago, he was busy answering objective questions about the history of India in a railway exam. The history of ‘free’ India, I mean.
And we, proud Indians, listen to one regional chauvinist talking shit about other regional chauvinist, while trying to cook his own political porridge. And we switch away the channel to an MTV.
I wonder why the Indian home minister almost always issues a neutral statement and is done with it. I wonder why the government doesn’t treat this as inter-state terrorism. I wonder why it’s none of our business.
I wonder.
What right one Indian has to say openly that not only his culture is great, but also, the other guy’s culture is rotting his culture. Worse, what right the Indian administration doesn’t have to teach that fundamentalist that cultures are meant to intermingle with each other.
If a culture is able to maintain its integrity and individualism even after having tolerated ‘n’ different cultures, only then it deserves to be called a culture. Else, be happy calling it a gated community.
That’s why, Indian culture is a culture. History witnesses. Leave alone India, the world has been evolving only because its culture has been evolving. Had this not been the case, we would have remained a food gatherer from some part of Africa. Forever.
And yes, neutrally speaking, the north Indian people, who leave their lands barren and their families lonely, just to work in some ‘developed’ states, should think twice. Working in a distant land is a definite yes, but neither by compromising your culture, nor by disrespecting the other’s.
Nature is always sufficient for our needs. It’s our wants that leads us away from nature and being natural. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are predominantly agricultural states. That does not mean that they have no professional future. As long as humans will continue to live in the world, grains would remain as important as they had been, and as important as they are, right now.
People with entrepreneur spirits and adequate capitals can invest money in the rural infrastructure, introduce new technology in the agricultural sector, help the new small scale industries by playing venture capitalists for them, nurturing new ideas in the mass, opening schools and hospitals to improve the general quality of life.
But yes, India has never taught its children to disrespect any guest that comes in our home. Be he/ she from one’s own state, or from another.
Hell, our ancestors talked about ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” – the earth is our family. And we, the ‘Independent Indians’ talk about turning states into gated communities.
Happy 64th Independence day, folks.

Alok K.
11:06pm, August 14, 2010