We talk of being united in the face of diversity. We talk of being a nation of a thousand languages and myriad cultures. WHERE does the crying need for communal violence come in here at all? We're taught in school (even this year) that India is the land of unity in diversity. Fullstop. Why aren't we taught about caste differences and how they tear the secular fabric of a nation apart? Why aren't we told about partition and what it cost everyone? Why aren't we taught that reverse discrimination is wrong too? Why aren't we bothered about Kandhamal and everywhere else there's religious strife? What does it COST perpetrators to just live and let live?! I don't even KNOW what a secular nation means anymore, the idea of it is so abstract that I honestly canNOT imagine. Are instances of violence in the name of religion individual or institutional? How can the majority of today's youth even believe in the democratic fibre of a nation, when religious freedom has been prised away from Gujarat, Orissa, Bombay and so many other places so many times in the past? Especially when they find themselves cynically unable to acknowledge the existence of a God, a religion, and whatever it may stand for?
Face it, across socio-economic barriers, lots of people cannot help but see things through the veil of language religion caste subcaste and every other micro obligation. I don't see the point anymore. What is left for people to believe in? Is this what the beliefs of a gazillion people say? This knowledge, that something so many people in the past have clung on to as the driving force in their lives is actually the cause for such desolation, is supremely disconcerting. I don't know.
May good sense prevail.
6 people shouted back:
this has got to be the most pessimistic account of the country ive ever read!!!yeah all these exist no doubt but the very fact that we have been able to survive as a nation shows that we still have a something which rides across all caste barriers a something which transcends religion ,which overpowers racism and forces us to remain united ...call it the destiny of the nation or the collective soul of a billion india does exist and stands untied at times of national crisis .when chaos and destruction beckon we stand up as one with spine straight and head held high....case in point kargil and the recent terror attacks....yes we do have bigotry but that is only on the surface ..unravel the veil and u find a collective united soul of a nation....this may be overtly optimistic but that is the way i see it....
i don't think its overtly optimistic, i think thats the way things should be.
i think this 'something' is the most beautiful thing india could boast of. and this collective united soul of the nation should ensure that there IS no chaos and destruction and bigotry and the like in the first place! but you see, in the name of religion, all ppl are doing on the surface right now IS moral policing and blatant racism. it'd make so much more sense to me if ppl WERE united in themselves and not only in the face of crises.
and when i spoke of belief, i didn't mean belief in where the nation's future lies. i meant belief in religion. SO many ppl in india from time immemorial practically centre their lives on their faiths. and when such violence occurs in the name of their faith, it sort of negates everything the faith had so far stood for. and that's what i said disconcerted me, NOT the idea that the nation had no hope.
It is ironic isn't it? People unite for a crisis. But if they were united in the first place, there wouldn't BE a crisis. Forget about what the teachers teach/don't teach us. That's because teaching us all that wouldn't earn them their daily bread. Sad but true.
clarification enough but the overtly negative tone got to me at first.and talking of religion and what does it mean to a common man i gonna be my next post.and teaching all that crap will only put more such crappy ideas into our minds .when you learn only negative things you become a mass of nothing but negation-swami Vivekananda.[whose speeches im passionately reading now].
i KNOW, sharan, it is sad.
@ shyam, i respectfully disagree, we're not as mechanical as that. knowing what things are like will surely serve to improve them on some plane. i maintain that its ignorance that leads ppl to do things like this at all. they should really think about giving us more awareness, a cushioned life isn't really getting us anything great.
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