This is one way to look at things.
Freedom. It was an enormously worthy cause, something that I would have been proud to fight for, if I'd had the chance, and the people who died certainly deserve respect and remembrance. But on the other hand, haven't you ever felt - enough already with all the nonsense about sacrifice and martyrdom in the name of freedom? That was yesterday's cause.
Half the civics text book, in my time at least, was filled with information about freedom fighters and how much they sacrificed for the country, and the other half was filled with pledges and codes of honour and anthems that refer back to these people all the time. It becomes such that nationalism becomes associated with freedom fighters (and occasionally, nutty fundamentalists like the Shiv Sena guys). The symbol of nationalism is a statue of some guy in a Nehru Topi and khadi clothes... How relevant is this man to what India needs today? And doesn't anybody find it ironic that this is what today's rotten politician looks like?
Nationalism could be a force that kickstarts change if only it meant something relevant to here and now... if only our symbol could become that guy in the Nehru Topi being stoned instead of being garlanded.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
-
As I type up last Friday's blog inviting questions for the weekly "Ask Me Anything Day", Saurabh looks over my shoulder. Click...
-
Yes, there have been no updates lately, but that is because - well - With a view towards relaxation and general surfing, I trolled LJ for fu...
-
. I have yet again managed to rip my schedule to shreds and shamelessly shy away from work. I need to do something about it... and what bet...
Good point, but it was the history text books, not the civics ones, if I remember correctly :-)
ReplyDeleteHappy Independence day!
ReplyDeleteIndia needs to stop living in the faded glory of the past and move on.
ReplyDeleteA long and eventful history is a good thing to have; we cant live with it alone. I think history texts should be revised to include post independence history - Kashmir, China, NAM etc etc
- Lehmunade
We need to have text books that are not reprints of versions written in the 1980s. The text books themselves need to be consigned to history.
ReplyDeleteCivics is a subject that should be done away with. No point in knowing how to pass a law without knowing why the process was put in place to begin with. Also no point talking about politicians as respectable leaders in text books when in reality they are just sorrupt buffoons.
sorrupt should read corrupt
ReplyDelete