Tuesday, September 9, 2008

India- Only a figment of our imagination?

At the cost of sounding like a separatist I feel a deep need to raise this- Is India just a figment of our imagination. Does a national identity truly exist? How do you define an Indian? Besides the obvious that he belongs to India. When I was in school India had 26 states- vaguely remember there being a struggle for a split of Bihar into Bihar and Jharkand. But nothing more.
15 years down the line UP, MP, Bihar have all been split into halves. Kashmir is fighting for its identity, the Gorkhland agitation has gained momentum, the fight for Bodoland is still strong and now we have Raj Thackeray fighting for the Marathi Manoos. North East does not even get covered in the news not even weather updates, Assam get hardly any relief measures when struck by flood. The scene is Chak De beautifully sums up when the girls from NE come to register for the hockey camp.
With all this we still believe that we are one Nation-that must be a huge blind spot. To me it’s more like we are 35 countries tied by a fragile string which is ready to crack. Wouldn’t we be better off if we became like Europe-35 countries, one single currency, and no Visas required?
But maybe then we would find some other reason to fight…cause politics does not cease to exist
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8 comments:

1conoclast said...

"35 countries tied by a fragile string which is ready to crack. Wouldn’t we be better off if we became like Europe-35 countries, one single currency, and no Visas required?
But maybe then we would find some other reason to fight…cause politics does not cease to exist."

Beautifully said!

1conoclast said...

You & I think alike...

See this

aShyCarnalKid said...

That is what I have been wondering . It seems that I was living in my own dreamland where India was "one" nation .

Utopianthots said...

on a chat show Tom Alter put it beautifully said something to the effect of India was built on an impossible dream of being secular, democratic country-the people need to be made to believe in that dream once again

Jay said...

@utopianists
Yes, Alter's remarks make sense. It's a dream, in reality. Only on paper are we truly secular and democratic. Politics is killing us.

Utopianthots said...

If only we were a little more discerning politics and politicians would'nt be able to destroy our fabric

Sushil Malani said...

Are we missing roots? have we been told to forget our culture and history which is more than 5,000 yr old.. will remebering this history help to unite india?

Utopianthots said...

What say could just be true Sushil. Maybe going back to our roots would help reform this society. Maybe we could start with the kids and help them understand our history and roots better.