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Milchar
July-September 2002 Issue
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Fusion of multi
tiny specks of Pranav which pervades the Universe in the shape of OM. A
drawing by Late Radha Krishen Kaul (Kotha), retired Asstt. Engineer of
Bal Garden, Srinagar (Originally of Rainawari). Shri Kotha passed away
in September 1994 at Delhi
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Sweet
& Sour
Mera
Bharat Mahan
... Tribhuwan N. Bhan
 When
I was a child, I heard the famous “Tryst with Destiny” speech of our first
Prime Minister Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru. No doubt I understood the significance
of these words many years later. Since then on every 15th August, I have
been hearing the Independence Day speech of every Indian Prime Minister.
Always for the last five decades I have been listening to the words of
different people but with the same content, possessing much heat but little
light. All tall promises which are seldom fulfilled. These words remind
me of Macbeth’s words in Shakespeare’s tragedy:
“This is a tale told by
an idiot
Full of sound and fury
Significant nothing”
On 15th August 2002, I was watching
Prime Minister Vajpai delivering his customary annual speech, from the
ramparts of Red Fort, as there was nothing much I did not already expect
to hear, I dozed off. While asleep, I had the vision of the ‘madari’
who used to entertain people particularly children near my home in Kashmir
at Karan Nagar. The ‘madari’ used to be accompanied by three monkeys and
he would make them perform all sorts of comic antics, which would make
us laugh. Day after day, he would come and amuse us while the monkeys performed
their antics. But as time passed, our interest in them started to wane.
But then to attract the attention of the people, the ‘madari’ dyed
the heads of the monkeys pink. One would notice them from a distance where
even the sound of his ‘dholki’ was not audible. Everytime the culmination
of his roadside show was, the three monkeys enacting the maxim ‘Bura
Mat Dekho, Bura Mat Suno, Bura Mat Bolo’. We had seen him repeat this
everytime. So much before the last act, we all anticipated his next item
of the tamasha and would leave the place. This however did not deter him
from making the monkeys act the last scene of his show. At times he would
be the only one to see the three monkeys enact the final scene. Not only
the monkey tricks, the man would sing songs in rythm with his ‘dholki’
about India’s glory and also about topless Himalayan Mountains. While doing
so, he would dance around in a circle turning and twisting his wrist to
make his only musical instrument beat in rythm with the steps of his crude
dance.
But suddenly my vision
was disrupted by the loud sound emanating from T.V. Vajpaiji was shouting
at the top of his voice ‘Jai Hind’ Jai Hind’. Everytime he did so,
the rest of the congregation joined him. These two immortal words were
coined by that brave son of Bharat Mata, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Suddenly
I remembered the words of poet Coleridge in his poem Kubla Khan:
‘A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw
It was an Abyssinian maid
And on her dulicmer she played
Singing of Mount Abura
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song
To such delight it would
Win me .....’
Coleridge’s vision was due to an anodyne
prescribed to cure him of his indisposition hence rather vague, dim and
hazy. Even that vision passed away like the images on the surface of a
stream in which a pebble has been thrown, creating numberless circles on
its surface. But my vision of the ‘madari’ was clear like an image
on a smooth and tranquil surface of a lake. I could see him singing about
our country’s past glory and describing the natural beauty that abounds
in the land of our forefathers.
This year on 26th January, the grand
show of Indian culture and past glory came on the small screen. The Republic
Day parade on Rajpath was being shown. After the tableaus of various states,
the impressive show of our modern defence equipments was exhibited. Seeing
these huge guns, tanks and also the fighter bombers flying in the sky above,
my mind went back to the days of Second World War. The tension, the uncertainty
and the trauma people had to go through those days is unimaginable. All
that came to an end when two atom bombs were dropped on Japan. First on
August 6, 1945 on Hiroshima and second on August 9, 1945 on Nagasaki. It
was due to this catastrophic event that Japan surrendered to allied powers
on August 15, 1945 on board the ship Missouri.
Nearly the whole of Japan was a colossal
devastation. People had no houses to live in, no food to eat, no clothes
to wear, no water to drink, leave aside electricity and other necessities
of everyday life. But at present after five and a half decades, Japan is
the world leader in manufacturing electronic equipments, automobiles, optical
instruments, ships and also high potency medicines. Such a tremendous achievement
by this small country has been possible because of impeccable character
and dynamic leadership of the people who are elected by the masses as their
national leaders.
In 1945 when Japan had ‘nothing’,
we in India had ‘everything’. But today, in comparison to Japan, our once
great country is reduced to insignificance. Our country is reduced to this
sorry state because of flagrant favouritism and blatant nepotism in the
rank and file of bureaucracy. All these negative elements have conspired
together to turn this ‘Saare Jahan Se Achha Hindustan Hamara’ into a cesspool
of rampant corruption. We have numberless politicians but no statesman,
who could lead our country without fear and favour, to the zenith of progress.
Vascodegama looted our country and
sailed away with huge barges full of our treasures, which was our national
wealth. This happened centuries ago, but today our politicians having over-vaulting
greed are not satisfied by draining the country through various scams.
Instead of bowing their heads in shame, they even snatch the fodder from
the mangers of animals. All these unscrupulous people, instead of mending
their undignified ways proclaim with pride that they will govern even from
the wrong side of iron bars. We should not expect anything better when
people with criminal records win elections by using questionable means.
One has to view the most deplorable and disgusting scenes of people prostrating
themselves on ground to touch the feet of politicians who have been linked
with various cases of corruption involving hundreds and thousands of crores
of rupees. It is at times as these that one is really at loss to understand
whether these people really know what they are doing. The whole world is
seeing India as a country, which is corrupt, dirty, riddled with sycophants
and criminals. A friend of mine who has migrated to Australia once wrote
to me, “For years in India, I breathed dust and hopelessness. In Australia
my family and I atleast breathe fresh air”. Our Hindu caste system is the
greatest evil faced by this country. Low caste Hindus are harassed, humiliated
and hounded around. Our desperate democracy is only a formation of defection
and damnation. But in our country, “Sab Chalta Hai. Chalne Do.’
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