Respected Brother
Sadar Charan Sparsh
I am bemused with the kind of thought provoking and contemplative write-up in todays post the crux of the matter was definitively on past and how we protest over past in our present.. yet the onus to rediscover the past does not lie only in finding faults with it sometimes.. or rather many times the PAST TEACHES US TO ACHIEVE SIMILAR FEATS WHAT OTHERS DID ACHIEVE IN THE PAST..
Oh that was indeliberate capitalisation.. yet once it did happen I retained it.. not for posterity.. not for any greater significance yet for the reason that this probably would be the guiding feature for this ongoing post from me..
I know Shivaji.. I would not love that anyone finds faults with him.. I also know I love Bhagat Singh and would definitely get disappointed if someone had to raise some fingers of any accusations on him.. I was deeply hurt when some text books had referred to his acts as the one similar to terrorist-like activities.. how sad..
The Congress with its middle of the sea Shivaji resort might just not be initiating a revival of interest in the great Maratha but also doing some good to our understanding of the history of the Maharashtra or Marathwada.. If there have been such projects regarding the great men especially the kind of Nehru and Gandhi why not raise such monuments for the great warriors in Shivaji Maharaj, Maharana Pratap and Laxmibai of Jhansi and maybe if my wishes have some meaning why not a Bhagat Singh Memorial as well..
We are to learn of our great scholars from the text books that were written by foreign writers in a foreign language.. Can we not preserve and promote our own heritage if we understand the significance of our history.. Yet I would rather not like to imitate the statue of liberty like erection of the Shivaji monument.. Shivaji existed and excelled in the hills of Sahyadri.. (I hope I am not entirely wrong in my observations..) I would have loved that one of the regions near his forts should have developed into a monument on him..
Coming back to the subject of India and Pakistan or commitment of errors.. I feel I have clubbed two unrelated issues into one sentences yet they are related..
India and Pakistan as some people say were circumstantial is wrong.. nothing is circumstantial in History.. nothing happens on its own… though we may ascribe bigger share of the partition to British our own fallibility into their traps can not be ignored.. whether it was Jinnah or Nehru or Gandhi’s fallacious thinking.. it has to be analysed without any strong convictions in favour or against them.. one can not or rather one should not take every act of our great leaders as free of errors.. they too were human being and they too fall into that often quoted phrase - to err is human .. they were great for some of their acts.. they could be ordinary in some other acts and they could even be sloppy in some of their acts.. I am not here to point fingers or accuse one more than the other.. I am also not here to unravel the history of partition.. yet I am here to say that it indeed is that stroke of misfortune.. it is that scar that does not disappear.. it is that same wound that still bleeds whenever the interests of two strong communities or rather countries (now) come to a conflicting stage..
If we say that it (India) is a Hindu land nothing could be far from the truth.. I mean it indeed is a Hindu country with great records and statistics proving it to be so.. ( yet I feel, erroneously, my preceeding statement if read alone would sound to mean the other way..) but to say that it is not a Muslim country is not correct.. I know of Mughal India in medieval times that may have had good or bad times yet those were the times more close in the history of India than the Vedic or pure Indic times.. they (Muslims) have been part and parcel of this country for very very long times.. it would be wrong to undo their stake to the land.. and Partition of India and Pakistan did exactly that in such a division.. if Nehru was to be termed a culprit a Jinnah can not abstain from being at the wrong end.. if Gandhi had failed it can not be termed as a success for Jinnah as well.. If Congress was at fault the Muslim League was equally responsible.. if British were to be blamed the blame must also fall upon India as well as Pakistan in succumbing to their plans and ploys..
How do I conclude this.. I do not know.. I only know that I love Urdu as much as I love Hindi .. it is different that I can not read their script but it does not mean I (we) do not understand their language at all.. I love Akbar the great as much as I love a Rana Pratap or Shivaji Mahraj.. I may not have been to a mosque yet I can not rate them below any temples.. I might not have extended a hand of friendship to a muslim yet I have not even developed a sense of enemity towards anyone of them.. In a nutshell I have nothing against the coexistence of the two religions in the greater interest of both the communities..
I prefer to sing Mohammad Rafi songs with the same fervor as the one’s sung by Mukesh or Kishore Kumar.. I rate Shah Rukh Khan in the same class as that of Amitabh Bachchan.. I also rate Zakir Hussain as true representative of Indian music as much as the Ravi Shankar.. In Mumbai, I rate Haji Ali a great Historic and religious place as the Siddhi Vinayak or the Mahalxmi temple.. and yes I am not afraid if either a Hindu or a Muslim gets enraged by my these statements.. If I am punishable under some laws I am prepared to undergo the most severe punishment.. yet I would never say that India belongs only to Hindus or that Pakistan belongs only to Muslims.. in fact I would say that India (undivided) belongs to the human beings who inhabitate it than to any of our religious credentials.. we have had such diversity and yet emerged as a great democratic country.. why can we not embrace Pakistan into our fold as a friend.. why is it that we should always keep harking upon the differences rather than embarkng upon our similarities..
I know brother I have spoken a little more than what I should have.. yet I am not afraid if you or anyone on this blog dislikes my thinking.. I would not mind if you or others start neglecting or disapproving of my thinktank.. it is all right no two people can always think alike on some topics.. I would love to conclude with the song ..
Tu Hindu banega
na musalmaan banega
insaan ki aulaad hai
insaan banega…
Abhaya Sharma August 31 2009 9:45 AM IST
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