The Importance of being a Nationalist
This one is dedicated to all those dedicated nationalists and martyrs for the Indian cause.
Firstly, let me point out that I have all the respect for the old nationalists and all our national heroes (with the exception of a certain ‘Father of the Nation’, whom I unfortunately see as a big fake).
India is a vast country. This both a general statement as well as a verifiable fact (if you care to verify). However, I believe there is a fundamental flaw in bringing together 20-30 states of different kinds and stitch it together and declare it a nation. But, first I must point out that the concept of the nation-state, like many other concepts, is one borrowed from Europe. India (as we know it today) never had any separate existence. It was just a bunch of states that happened to be in the same geographical area. There was rarely a fixed boundary and territorial definitions of a state were fluid. This means no checkpoint ‘Charlie’s (which for the uninitiated, was one of the many checkpoints connecting East and West Berlin, through the (in)famous Berlin Wall).
Enough of beating around the bush. I will now come to the point that I was trying to make—Indian nationalism, like Pepsi or Coke, is now a marketable (extremely profitable) commodity. Why, this great announcement? Because of a few incidents that have been found media attention (read cricket problems).
The entire trouble began when a certain Bengali captain of the Indian cricket team, was chucked out of the team by an Australian coach and his Indian crony (a former wicket-keeper). The trouble that followed was far from simple, there were black flag demonstrations, weekly effigy-burning sessions, media discussions, and more locally Psycho’s stupid t-shirt and cheering during the India-RSA match. The Aussie coach became as famous as Simon of Simon Commission fame ( thankfully no Lala Lajpat Rais). The Indian Team was booed off the field when they came to play in Calcutta (same match). Certain members of our college (they were outstation candidates), who had gone to see the match, were appalled at this behaviour (they were possibly right), and immediately blamed it on the un-sportsman like temperament of the Bengalis. There was even a discussion (quite heated) about this issue in class the next day and even some time later. Eventually, the entire nation was divide into two groups—pro and anti-India.
My main objection to this entire episode is simple—where is the great ‘India’ that we talking about. A simple quarrel between two stupid sportsmen about who would control the nation’s (and the world’s) richest cricket board became a huge national debate. Seriously, how low could we stoop? I feel that this is symptomatic of different nations forced to live as one ‘nation’. The Bengalis felt that the captain was dismissed because he was Bengali. Frankly, given his performance, he should have been kicked out of the team a long time ago and given a fair chance to get his place back in the team. The rest of the nation felt that the Bengalis were separatist, stupid, regional and idol-worshippers. One person actually claimed that the whole debate was about the fact that the Eastern region of the country did not produce enough national level heroes and promptly attributed the behaviour to a fear of losing their only hero on the national level. In fact, this person may have been closer to the truth than he realized or meant to be.
‘India’ is now a commodity that is being brought and sold globally. But, inside this seemingly seamless country lies a great divide. The people who claimed that the Bengalis were separatists or regional were equally if not more so in pointing out the fact. No amount of sociology or history or political science has been able to convince me that ‘India’ as a nation ever ‘existed’ or it ever will. I have taken a more common (read low-brow) example to prove my point, there are more fashionable ones like the Naxalite movement, the Khalistan Movement and more recently the Ram-Janmabhoomi Movement, which also paint the same picture of India. ‘India’ is not a ‘nation’ yet, there are too many barriers in the way—Regionalism, Communalism, Economic disparities (this feature is not unique to India), and host of other –isms.
It is possibly when we have realized this fact that we will be able to form the ‘India’ of our dreams.
Jai Hind (couldn’t find a more appropriate line to end)
This one is dedicated to all those dedicated nationalists and martyrs for the Indian cause.
Firstly, let me point out that I have all the respect for the old nationalists and all our national heroes (with the exception of a certain ‘Father of the Nation’, whom I unfortunately see as a big fake).
India is a vast country. This both a general statement as well as a verifiable fact (if you care to verify). However, I believe there is a fundamental flaw in bringing together 20-30 states of different kinds and stitch it together and declare it a nation. But, first I must point out that the concept of the nation-state, like many other concepts, is one borrowed from Europe. India (as we know it today) never had any separate existence. It was just a bunch of states that happened to be in the same geographical area. There was rarely a fixed boundary and territorial definitions of a state were fluid. This means no checkpoint ‘Charlie’s (which for the uninitiated, was one of the many checkpoints connecting East and West Berlin, through the (in)famous Berlin Wall).
Enough of beating around the bush. I will now come to the point that I was trying to make—Indian nationalism, like Pepsi or Coke, is now a marketable (extremely profitable) commodity. Why, this great announcement? Because of a few incidents that have been found media attention (read cricket problems).
The entire trouble began when a certain Bengali captain of the Indian cricket team, was chucked out of the team by an Australian coach and his Indian crony (a former wicket-keeper). The trouble that followed was far from simple, there were black flag demonstrations, weekly effigy-burning sessions, media discussions, and more locally Psycho’s stupid t-shirt and cheering during the India-RSA match. The Aussie coach became as famous as Simon of Simon Commission fame ( thankfully no Lala Lajpat Rais). The Indian Team was booed off the field when they came to play in Calcutta (same match). Certain members of our college (they were outstation candidates), who had gone to see the match, were appalled at this behaviour (they were possibly right), and immediately blamed it on the un-sportsman like temperament of the Bengalis. There was even a discussion (quite heated) about this issue in class the next day and even some time later. Eventually, the entire nation was divide into two groups—pro and anti-India.
My main objection to this entire episode is simple—where is the great ‘India’ that we talking about. A simple quarrel between two stupid sportsmen about who would control the nation’s (and the world’s) richest cricket board became a huge national debate. Seriously, how low could we stoop? I feel that this is symptomatic of different nations forced to live as one ‘nation’. The Bengalis felt that the captain was dismissed because he was Bengali. Frankly, given his performance, he should have been kicked out of the team a long time ago and given a fair chance to get his place back in the team. The rest of the nation felt that the Bengalis were separatist, stupid, regional and idol-worshippers. One person actually claimed that the whole debate was about the fact that the Eastern region of the country did not produce enough national level heroes and promptly attributed the behaviour to a fear of losing their only hero on the national level. In fact, this person may have been closer to the truth than he realized or meant to be.
‘India’ is now a commodity that is being brought and sold globally. But, inside this seemingly seamless country lies a great divide. The people who claimed that the Bengalis were separatists or regional were equally if not more so in pointing out the fact. No amount of sociology or history or political science has been able to convince me that ‘India’ as a nation ever ‘existed’ or it ever will. I have taken a more common (read low-brow) example to prove my point, there are more fashionable ones like the Naxalite movement, the Khalistan Movement and more recently the Ram-Janmabhoomi Movement, which also paint the same picture of India. ‘India’ is not a ‘nation’ yet, there are too many barriers in the way—Regionalism, Communalism, Economic disparities (this feature is not unique to India), and host of other –isms.
It is possibly when we have realized this fact that we will be able to form the ‘India’ of our dreams.
Jai Hind (couldn’t find a more appropriate line to end)
posted by poli at 9:29 AM
1 Comments:
Well put. You snatched the words right out of my mouth. But, you do know that the only reason Mr. Chappell wanted Ganguly out of the team is because of a nefarious plot hatched by the ACB to keep the best Indian and Sri Lankan cricketers out of the team through the machinations of their evil Aussie coaches, right? You want proof, its stuck on my hostel door.
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