What holds us together

This one took a long time to come but not without a reason, reasons I may say. Firstly I took a one week off and went out on a vacation and then the following week I was coming in terms with the Delhi heat and my overcrowded desk. Now that I have finally overcome all hurdles, I will share my experiences from my one week trip to the Darjeeling or Gorkhaland as some people might want to call it.
Last few weeks have been pretty hectic for a regular Indian bloke who likes his share of prime time TV. With IPL and elections on his platter, he had more than one reasons to be happy. I wont get into the analysis of elections or the IPL.We have had enough posts on YouthPad and other websites on both of them. I am going to discuss a micro issue here. I have stayed in the North East India for four years. I always got a feeling that the people in North East India feel a little alienated and neglected by the Government of India. In my recent trip to Darjeeling, this belief was strengthened.
Darjeeling is a very pretty destination and I could not have possibly had a better respite from the Delhi heat. But in recent times it has been in news for all the wrong reasons. There has been a demand for a separate Gorkhaland from a certain section of the local population in Darjeeling. Their demand is not unreasonable. It is very convenient for us to sit in Delhi and comment on a situation in Darjeeling or Sri Lanka, but until and unless we can understand the complexity of the matter, we can never do justice to it. BJP says that it is committed to make smaller states in India, and in past have actually gone ahead in making Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttrakhand. In the recently concluded elections they made their support to the Telangana and Gorkhaland public. In an unprecedented move, Jaswant Singh contested from Darjeeling winning by an astounding margin. While I was In Darjeeling, I noticed posters of Jaswant Singh, GJM and BJP everywhere. Nowhere could you see posters of any other political party or leader. It speaks volumes of the pride and the fear which the Gorkhaland issue instills in the locals. Also, what catches immediate attention of the tourists is the 'Gorkhaland' banner put up outside all hotels and shops in Darjeeling. The shops and hotels are not allowed to operate without showing their open support to the Gorkhaland issue.After the victory of Jaswant Singh (and loss of BJP) the whole of Darjeeling was celebrating, not realising that the Gorkhaland issue would again take a backseat as the Congress has never showed any urgency to tackle this issue. The people of Darjeeling are desparate for a separate identity and their demand by no means is unreasonable. Darjeeling does not fit into West Bengal as a state and it is often neglected by the state government in their development plans.
Now comes the big question. What does it mean to be an Indian. How important is it for a citizen of India to have a feeling of belongingness to their state and India on a similar level. During the recent LTTE crisis, the people of North India were quick to play down the pro LTTE sentiments which were aroused in the people of Tamil Nadu. If we sit down and introspect, language plays a big role in binding people together. This is one big reason why Darjeeling, where a majority of people speak Nepali is a misfit in Bengal. The biggest challenge which India always faces is to maintain its sovreignty. Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel had done an incredible job in bringing together the states of India under one flag. Time and again there have been incidents which have threatened the sovreignty of India. But there is some binding factor which holds the country together. But if we spare a thought for the people who reside along the border areas, for them having positive or a negative feeling for either of the countries is very difficult. What was the feeling which actually brought down the wall of Berlin. Why did the people of two countries want to become one. If we think of these things in the Indian context, we could well have the following questions:
- For a person staying in Kashmir, Assam or Tamil Nadu for that matter, what feeling is more important, being an Indian or being a Kashmiri, Assamese or Tamil.
- What is it that holds India together?
- In an IPL or an Indian Idol competition, why does regional and linguistic affiliation overcome the nationalistic feeling, or is it that these individual feelings actually bring together the people of India.
- Can we actually list down atleast three reasons which makes us a proud Indians.
We had a very interesting discussion around the last question on YouthPad and it turned out to be quite a revelation for me because as many as seven 20 something Indians had a completely different approach towards nationalism. One cannot be judgemental about these thoughts but surely gives a lot of food for thought.
Coming back to the Gorkhaland issue, there might be cries of a separate state or even a nation, but it is the Gorkha Regiment which is often considered to be the bravest men in our army. I feel, Indian army is one of the reasons why India is tightly held together and if we look around, we would find a million other reasons. India has survived for 62 years and would survive for centuries to come, growing from strength to strength.

Jai Hind!

Book Review: The White Tiger By Aravind Adiga

White Tiger is another attempt by an Indian author to sell to the western world the tragedies of India. The narrative of the story is the highlight of this book which promises much but falls flat towards the end.
The story highlights the rural life of India and a life of a villager in a city. The sarcasm with which the author puts forward his views is commendable. The names such as the 'Darkness' , the 'Great Socialist' etc are well thought off and contributes much to the narrative of the story.
The story keeps you engrossed on most occasions but once you finish the book, you feel a little cheated because whatever has been mentioned in the book is what you see in everyday life. It might be of much interest to foreigners to read about the harsh realities of India, but like the Slumdog Millionaire, the author doesnot rise above the call centres, corruption and crime to describe our country.
All in all the author does succeed in weaving together an interesting story, but I dont quite support his style of writing, where one is guaranteed success in the western countries by exposing the underbelly of India.
Verdict: Recommended but not appreciated.

Need of a 'Tendulkar' in politics..

I write this as I watch the Little Master score some glorious boundaries in the final test match of this series. When I got up today, a thought occurred to me that this is probably Sachin's final test match in that part of the world. I belong to a generation of cricket watchers who would switch of the TV when Sachin gets out and probably not watch the match if he isn't playing. I have closely followed all the Indian tours down under in last 15 years or so. Nothing matches the excitement of getting up early to watch a cricket match, but sadly, it just might be the second last time that I have done that. Last time will be the second innings of this test match when the master comes to bat one last time on the New Zealand soil. Watching him play today was as much of a pleasure as it was ten years back. The fluency which he brought to the crease was just amazing. The drives, the cheeky upper cut and the trademark flicks, they were all there.

It is strange how one good innings from Sachin brightens up my day and I am sure there are millions of other Indians who feel the same way. Sachin has been India's source of inspiration for years now. India hasn't produced many individuals who could inspire the entire country altogether. But surely Sachin is one of them. At one point of time Amitabh Bachchan had a similar stature in India. Sadly, after Mahatma Gandhi, no politician could gain that stature in India. And now the situation has worsened. Due to lack of any mass leaders in the country, no political parties are able to instill confidence in the minds of the voters, which would only lead to a divided mandate. From what the opinion polls suggest, no coalition would get a majority this time. This is a sad situation for a country which is desperately searching for a leader who could inspire the masses. India desperately needs a Sachin Tendulkar in politics..

Think Differently and Act Positively

Ankit Nagori

India is on a verge of a change. At least we hope that the there is some. I am not talking just about the elections. Its just a small part of the bigger scheme of things. If we look back at last 3-4 years, India surely has made some steady progress in various fields. But as we progress, we have to gear up for newer and bigger challenges.
Economic downturn, Terrorism and Global Warming etc are some problems which all countries in the world are facing and being an active member in the international fraternity, India has to contribute in its own way to deal with all these problems.Definitely internal issues, like poverty, illiteracy and discrimination are also very serious and all governments, state and central, are trying their bit to counter these. Surely, a lot more needs to be done and all our political leaders, young or old, regional and national have these issues right on the top of the list.The challenges which I am talking about are a little abstract and there might not be any concrete solutions to them.
A few years back, India was tagged a third world country. Our people never dreamt of competing with the USA's and the UK's of the world. Slowly things changed, more and more Indians started getting recognised on global platforms. India was identified as the IT destination of the world. India did better in all fields. And suddenly now we are in a state where we have started comparing ourselves to the USA or to China for that matter.This is a situation which can actually lead a lot of complexity. Not on political terms but in the minds of the youth of the country. We all want to be the best in the world. We want to beat USA in the GDP count and China in the terms of being the leading international destination of the world.Even as we have achieved a lot in last few years, we have to realise our limitations. Practically we may not be able to overtake USA economy in 100 years to come. We may never be able to beat China in the prices. And this is where we need a reality check.
Should we be really competing against nations. We might not be. But in case some of us are, then we should be ready to take the failures in our stride positively. Sometimes over estimating our potential leads to cases where people are not able to take failures positively and this only leads to a situation where we start fearing competition and start feeling that we are up against invincible. This is one challenge that our nation faces. We don't want our youth to start believing that we cannot overtake USA or China.America and China are both very different from us. These countries ride high on innovation. Innovation is the key to all successes. And this should also be the mantra of the lives of our youth as well. If we have to move ahead, we ought to have out of the box thinking. We should start thinking differently and in this process start acting positively. We will face failures, but that should not deter us from our path. Success only comes from a positive frame of mind, out of the box thinking and persistence.
And if we try to tackle the problems of our nation through this mindset, we may actually succeed in eradicating poverty, illiteracy and terrorism quicker than most of the countries. And then no one would stop us from being the best in the world!

Jai Hind!