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RSSTuesday, December 21, 2010
Of history, our times and kaju feni.
I was lucky enough to catch a talk by Ramachandra Guha the day before.
Worship them or hate them, but you've got to love the IIT guys for giving us non JEE crowd the opportunity to watch such greats speak 10 feet before you, at MoodI.
The first time I had heard of him, was from one of my seniors. He wouldn't stop gushing about how brilliant 'India after Gandhi' was. Which is when I read upon his work, and was absolutely blown away.
The second time I happened to stumble upon his name with the help of this post. I remember spending an entire evening on the Ray and Keshavan website, and admiring the brilliance of his brand designer wife, Sujata Keshavan.
Coming back to yesterday.
I remembered the rush for registration before Harsha Bhogle's talk at MoodI last year. So I was worried I might not be able to get a chance to hear the man speak if things go horribly wrong.
Fortunately or unfortunately, there was no rush for registration. And when the time arrived, the FC Kohli auditorium was only 60% occupied when Ramachandra Guha strode in a casual blazer.
He took no time in absolutely charming the crowd. He opened with a few quirky statements about how his relationship with MoodI was close intertwined with kaju feni.
The man then wasted no time in speaking about his book. He spoke about Mahatma Gandhi, he spoke of Nehru. He spoke of the pre and post Independence thinkers of India, the 'makers of modern India'. This was the first time I heard a historian speak, and to be honest, I was speechless.
I was in complete awe of this mans sheer knowledge, his intellectual honesty, his fluency with the words he used. Fluency to the extent that any line picked out from today's talk could've been easily quoted and printed at the back of some book. (To pick out an instance, I particularly loved this line he spoke. About how it's come to a stage where "India is governed by people with power but no authority, along with people with authority but no power". This was in reference to Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh respectively :P ) But more on that, another day.
During his interactive session, he read an excerpt of his latest book, which included a quote by B.R Ambedkar.
"In India, 'Bhakti' or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship plays a part in politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other of the world. 'Bhakti' in religion may be a road to salvation of the soul. But in politics, 'Bhakti' or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship."
This is what this man said in his last speech to the Constituent Assembly.
Just this one quote gives us an idea about the quality of thinkers in India up until 30 years back.
With this one quote, not only did this man establish what would later be a fundamental reality in current day politics, but he also very cleverly managed to answer the question before the question was even stated.
But sadly enough, most people in this country don't even know this statement of his. Let alone, remember it. Forget understand the brilliance in the subtlety of it all.
I cant really speak for my parents generation. Neither have I lived through the Naxal movement, nor have I faced the Indira Gandhi tenure at the parliament. They might have some valid reasons, but what is our reason for not being aware? For not trying to be aware? For not caring? For not pushing the envelope a bit further?
We elect youth icons, and forget about them in 2 months.
We bad mouth the system, and then we forget to do our bit in the selfish pursuit of a career.
It's stupid to live in the hope of a person to come and transform a democratic nation really. But it's not that stupid to live in the hope of a generation who just might transform a democratic nation a bit by bit, by transforming itself at the basic level, by creating and taking that middle path.
I read Mark Lilla once write that, "In our politics, history doesn’t happen when a leader makes an argument, or even strikes a pose. It happens when he strikes a chord."
Luckily,we have people who are doing, and acting.
What we need now,are some thinkers to keep us inspired, to keep us acting, to strike a chord.
Where are the current thinkers of Modern India, you say?
They are being recruited by Facebook for an inhuman pay package.
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nice nice. Seemed it was worth it. Disagree with the last statement though. The entire youth of the country doesnt come out of IIt do they?
Ah no. Didn't mean it that way. Was a very generic statement.
Wrote it in a sense that, the youth today will be too selfishly occupied to bag the best job and the best car, before reaching 40 and realize they haven't really given anything back. And at that point, they are far too deep and comfy in that system to do anything then either.
A vicious cycle you see?
It was after a long time i read a post like this. thanks.
This might make mayuresh happy but for once i wished i had come home for the winter.
Brilliant article. No arguments to your reasoning. Period.
I used to always wonder what happened to the idealists of the freedom struggle. Why dont we have such people anymore. And then it struck me because we dont need them. The situation now does not warrant a Gandhi to rise amongst us. The british arent oppressing us. There's no occupant to drive away from our home.
Yes people may argue that there is still poverty and corruption but it is "India After Gandhi" that makes you aware of how better off we are now as compared to then and makes you salute those who helped realise the concept called INDIA.
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