Idea of India and Theory of Chaos

One anguished screenwriter wrote in one of his screenplays: ‘….go to America, you’ll see Americans, go to Africa, you’ll see Africans, go to China, you’ll see the Chinese, go to Pakistan, you’ll see Pakistanis. In India, show me one Indian…we have Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians…. And we have divisions based on states…where is the Indian?’

The hero of the movie mouthed this dialogue with vigor and passion and I sat back and said, ‘nice!’

That was long back.

Recently, I happened to see the same scene from the movie in one of its countless re runs on TV during my aimless channel surfing.

Bang!

It hit me.

Where are the Indians?

Do we, think of India in our conscious mind, ever? India as our mother land, India as our own? I guess not. Most of us don’t, I don’t. There is too much rot going around to think of it all as my own and internalize it. Why bother? I have enough troubles of my own to take care of already, thank you.

But something has happened to us after 26^th November 2008.

I can’t even begin to fathom how and why it affected us the way it did. But it has. The feeling of hurt and anger at the events that unfolded on that fateful night was real and it was coming from somewhere deep within. A feeling we did not know we were capable of. I guess the real Indian was right here all this while, asleep.

Now that we have awakened like a Rip Van Winkle, what greeted us was a rude shock of chaos around. After a lot of whys and wherefores, the realization dawns that the corrupt politicians, the inept police and the rotten system around us did not fall off from the sky into our world. Neither did it sprout out from the ground one fine day. It was always here, getting more corrupt, more inept and more rotten, while we were busy taking care of our troubles.

Take a closer look at the idea of India- 28 different states with different languages, cultures and agendas, many gods, religions and many many more sub castes and communities, the very rich and the very poor, the middle class and the backward class, North and South, left and right, center and states…all these contradictions come together to form India as we know it today. It becomes a little less bizarre to comprehend the chaos around us once we understand the fabric of society. This is a mad rush to claim ones identity, the identity of the nation is lost somewhere in this melee.

But, at least we have woken up. No, don’t expect anything to change overnight. Nothing might happen even for a long time. Change happens first in our heart, then our mind and then it will have its physical manifestation in the real world through our actions. The one that happens in the heart is probably the most difficult of all, for you can’t will it and make it happen, you can’t tell it and make it happen…it has to…well, happen. And it has. Maybe only for a few now. But it’s a start. It will catch on, like the embers that eventually lead to a wild fire.

Keep the embers burning.

Terror and Hope

Hope is a beautiful thing. In times of strife, it maybe the only thing that can keep us going.

On the night of 26^th November, ten or possibly more young men rowed towards the shores of Mumbai. What they did later would stun the world and our collective conscience. The bullets from their AK-47s cut short innocent lives at a railway station, a hospital (sic!), two hotels and a residential area. The reverberations were felt in the heart of every Indian.

Can anything be more outrageous than this? Surprise, surprise! Yes. The way our politicians acted and reacted after the terror attack was truly mind numbing. Sample this-

Even as the commandos were engaged in a fierce gun battle, one politician descended on the scene to announce the amount of money he will give to the deceased officers’ family (Talk about swift action!) The opposition leader thus spoke on his arrival : ’Me and the prime minister were supposed to come here together, but since he couldn’t make it on time, I came here alone, first’ (Congrats sir on winning the race!) A senior minister of the state actually said the following: ‘In a city as big as Mumbai, such things do happen….They had planned to kill 5,000 but managed only 200’ (How comforting! thank you sir, for your kind, consoling words)

I mean, we all knew politicians were corrupt. But we thought they were intelligent, in a perverse way alright. But, they are just corrupt. And heavily drunk on power. Even in such a delicate hour, they can’t see beyond their noses. This one up manship, corruption and carelessness has been the bane of our country for ages now. And in more ways than one has led to this particular attack. Where are the real leaders?

‘A nation gets a leader it deserves’ How very true! And those words point directly at each one of us. We know our leaders are corrupt, but we let it be. We know our system is corrupt, we let it be. We have got so used to the maddening chaos around us in our everyday life. We just let it be.

How did we get here? A nation which had so many great leaders during its struggle for independence, can’t find a single man or woman to lead her now? Why?

Well for one, during the freedom struggle every single person in this country- young, old, man, woman, child….wanted just one thing- Freedom! Great leaders were borne from this need and they too wanted just one thing for the country- Freedom! I think that is what we lack the most today –A common goal. A common direction.

That will start when each one of us stops letting things be. When we stand up for what is right. When we demand more.

I believe that change is coming about. Here are a couple of incidents that has happened in the aftermath of the terror attack- The widow of the officer who fell to the terrorists’ bullets, declines the cash offered by a minister, The father of the major who laid his life down fighting the terrorists, actually tells the chief minister on his face; ‘Please get out of my house, I have no respect left for you’ These instances also sums up the feeling of resentment that is frothing up inside the common man today.

In rallies held in Mumbai, which no political party or religious groups have initiated, the number of people pouring out to the street is said to be staggering. People walked in silence with a symbolic candle in their hands, but the real fire has been lit in our hearts and souls. I think we as a nation is awakening. I do not know what this will lead to, but I hope it will lead to something bright and beautiful. For if one billion people wish for a cleaner, brighter future, there is no way anything can stop us. We will get the leaders we deserve and a nation we can truly be proud of.

Those ten or so young men who came to Mumbai on the night of 26^th November might have unwittingly done more for this nation than any politician ever has. Don’t ever let that anguished reverberations die down in your heart.

Hope is a beautiful thing.

Three more illustrations

Three Illustrations

Three illustrations I did for stories by Pingu

Duggar and Racecoo

Meet Duggar and Racecoo.

I am illustrating a book, a collection of cute little stories written by 3 year old Pingu. These are two of the characters from the story.

ALONE - A Graphic Short Story by me

Point of View

This is an old story I just came across. If you haven’t read it, you should.

One day a very wealthy man took his son on a trip to the country with the purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spend a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son,

“How was the trip?”

“It was great, Dad”

“Did you see how poor people live?"

“Oh, yeah”

“So, tell me, what did you learn from this trip?” the father asked.

The son answered,” I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our foods, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”

The boy’s father was speechless.

Then his son added, “Thanks Dad, for showing me how poor we are”