Is this the same country where just a call from a petite weak leader led to complete non-cooperation in the entire country, where just two words “Vande mataram” used to inflict fire in the hearts and a valour to sacrifice life...
Are we living the dignity?
Call it heights of being emotional or being archaic. It is most likely that the so called modern , self centered current citizens of the country are just obsessed with themselves and their selfishness. The developments in the past few weeks made me think this way. And its not a feeling which came out of blue moon or just in my mind. Knock the conscious, any true Indian would get these discomforts in their hearts.
Here we struggle among ourselves. Amongst our colleagues, our neighbours, our friends, and this list goes one. We dont have a single thing which we can hold on with pride. But yes, our so called gen-next chaps would argue we have IPL, we have MNC, shopping malls and what not. But talk about the soldiers, who guard our borders, who were slain, or about our own tradition, you are either looked upon as an idiot or eccentric emotional fool or be labelled as a fundamentalist. I know the word 'tradition' means different to different people ironically!
Now why am I writing these stuff now?! Honestly I don't know. But may be to put down some question in my mind which are bothering me oflate.
It has been over 60 years this country was established and it has seen enough of radical changes till now. I am talking more about the line of thinking in the minds of common man [and woman]. Is this the same country where just a call from MK Gandhi used to impulse a country wide movement, where even the teenagers and less than that used to fill their hearts with unmatched bravery and sacrifice their lives for the 'cause'. We are forgetting that there was no country or a boundary or a system so to say which we have now and we proudly [are we?] call India. It was just a movement against injustice, unmatched in the history of the earth.
The same country where a mother, sister, wife used to sacrifice their son, brother and husband for the cause which they are not guaranteed of success! Isn't this something too much of a strong traditional background our country has for what citizens and their selfish attitude we have now? Are we worth that dignity? Are we capable enough and have we earned that? The answer probably is unfortunately 'No'.
Today a former prime minister of the country uses such words about his contemporary that if i write those words here in the blog, I am most likely to be spammed and may be blocked! Is this the same lineage of people who used to follow up with their leaders, have a decent relation with people of different thoughts about achieving the same goal - the freedom, yet differ in their approaches. I don't want to write incidents supporting this because i feel if a person don't know about these facts about our own tradition, its not worth telling them!
Our politicians stay at resorts and five stars to discuss the problems of our farmers! the same country where people and the leaders used to walk together miles to protest and fight for their rights. May what come, they were ready for the worst consequences. Today we have on the flashing news headlines that a bollywood heroin/hero got a small bruise while bravely shooting for a movie! Hats off to the so called cultural development we have made!
We have lost our soul so much that, amidst the live telecast of a funeral of an eminent person we get advertisements of new year parties, luxury cars, perfumes and aphrodisiacs. May what come, the press should do its duty and dig out news from any scraps. Check out Sunday news papers and any decent person cannot read it in front of their parents [now there will be an argument about being mature, modern and open!] leave apart the photos of hardly covered models.
We are in such a pathetic cultural situation that if a boy says any good words about his another friend, it is most likely that there will be a funny moment about gay relationships. Remember this is the land of same Ram-Lakshman.
If i ask myself, what great realization or reform i am about to make by writing these things? The answer is 'nothing'. We can't do anything to people who are already a part of it. Who have lost their independent thinking and their ethnicity in the name of being modern or global! Take a look into our Vedas, and just our contemporary Kannada literature by Kuvempu and loads of other eminent souls, we are probably the first to think global and yet have a local perspctive.
This reminds me of a emotionally charged incident which happened at the Red fort, New Delhi. No, don't confuse it for any terror attack or any communal riots! I was there for the first time with a friend to see Red fort and there was a painting exhibition - of freedom fighters. Call it my contemporary / modern negligence, I just walked into the exhibition hall without reading what was it about - the details.
The hall was scanty with very less people interested! There were about 50 or more [vaguely] paintings of freedom fighters and their biographical life stories depicted. The paintings were a little different as all of them were in shades of red and dull. I felt what i usually feel when I encounter any past incident, painting, literature about those unmatched glorious days of India.
When I came out, I read this board outside the exhibition.
[Now the people who cannot read the National language! go to ****!]
I can never explain the state of my mind. The maximum I did was collected from the person sitting in the corner of the exhibition, with some books on lives of the Freedom Fighters the details of the people who did these paintings. As told early, there were no takers for those books. And anywhere we go we can find books from all around the world with some stupidly simple manipulation of what our traditional values teach us! No offenses meant but it feels foolish on our parts to hunt for such personality development books of some western influenced authors or writing styles when we inherit one of the most ancient, tested, accepted and proved as one of the best! May be the reason is we have become unworthy for the best things and we can only digest the remnants of what the west copied from us!
The person at the bookstall asked me to look at the shop for a while as he had some work inside the exhibition hall and I did the same. I was completely emotional sitting in that sepia dusky evening with all those paintings giving me my most heavy state of heart.
I was contented that there is still, at least at some corner the genuine respect for our own tradition. I am sure there are many more left. This blog is for them. Just a small and emotional move to reflect we feel the same.
Hatsoff to the artiste and the writer who painted the brave sons of India with their blood.
शहीद चित्र -प्रदर्शनी
परिकल्पना, शोध एवं संकलन :
रविन्चंद्र गुप्ता
परिकल्पना, शोध एवं संकलन :
रविन्चंद्र गुप्ता
011-20539308
011-27023145
चित्रकार , प्रबंधन एवं आयोजन
गुरुदर्शन सिंह बिन्कल
09968315135
चित्रकार , प्रबंधन एवं आयोजन
गुरुदर्शन सिंह बिन्कल
09968315135
प्रस्तुति:शहीद-स्मृति चेतना समिति (पंजी.)
३२, शिवालिक अपार्टमेन्ट , सरस्वती विहार, दिल्ली -३४
I did capture some of them once I settled my mind but my hands couldn't stabilize while clicking..
