'AN IDENTITY-CRISIS' - it certainly is .There is no other apt explanation. Nor can there be a second opinion on it . You have to second my assessment of the ever re-surfacing merry-go-round that the 'locals vs. non-locals' tag takes ...Yes, the row seemingly created on the supposedly 'off-the-cuff' remark of an old-time actress par-excellence and also presently a sitting-member of the August House of Rajya Sabha from a northern state whilst being ordinarily resident in a western state - all of course located within the territorial-jurisdiction of the Republic of India (by definition, INDIA is a 'Sovereign,Socialist,Secular Republic : meaning that no alien /non-Indian can dare trespass into our great land nor seek to dare violate or transgress the laws of the country , excepting 'unless,otherwise occasioned',as it appears )...
But here arise certain 'BIG'-doubts in the minds of a Common-Politician (err, this is one who is a politician by virtue of succeeding somebody from the fore-father lineage of the family and who seeks to be counted as a commoner while bandying guns or running around with gun-toting gunmen ,the Personal Security-guards)...). . . which are these doubts?
Here we go my dear Friends:-
1. What about those trying to foment trouble as well as disrupt law&order being residents/citizens/politicians living in this country and breathing it's air ;drinking its waters and feeding on it's home-grown food ?
2. What about the Indian Citizens living in the northernmost state of Jammu & Kashmir?
3. What about we poorer citizens who feel completely INDIAN and have never had the opportunity to live or learn the mother-tongue whilst being transferred across the length & breadth of the country belonging to the Category of the 'Central Government Family'?
4. What about those who having been born in the country post-independence era too are seeking to divide and sub-divide or partition their very 'home-state'?
5. What about the hard-working professional artistes/practitioners of Law,Medicine,Teaching,IT-related,HR-related fields who have settled in a certain part of the country as domiciled citizenry although born in another region of the great sub-continent ?
6. Why is Mr.L.K.Advani not branded an'outsider' by whoever called Ms.Sonia Gandhi an'alien' and a 'foreign-national'?
[ Are you aware that the own sibling(elder)of the former has been the Defence Adviser to the Neighboring warring country of Pakistan whereas the younger man rose up to be the Deputy Prime Minister of this great Democratic Nation.ON THE OTHER HAND IS the later , a lady who found her spouse in India and continued to lead an ever-thorny and perilous life here in India itself even after the sad and tragic assasination of her beloved husband ;has learnt the national-language and has spurned the all-hankerede Chair of the P.M.of INDIA? ].
7. Why is Mr.Amitabh Bachan now certified by the upstart of a nephew of the grand olden-days'tiger' of the Maratha land ,Mr.Bal Thackeray as 'being above borders' whilst the poor taxi-wallah from Gharwali hills or the poor casual labourer from Bihar's remotest village is not so considered?
8. Who are these new-breed politicos to hold the State and the Society to ransom?
9. What ails the Indian National Arena ? Is it a dearth of genuinely-concerned and honest troupe of administrators or is it a bandwagon of maniacs bunching themselves by the power of the gun/ill-gotten wealth(such as in real-estate mafia deals;counterfeiting of currency for criminal-gangs across the borders;indulging in drug-peddling and corruption of the vulnerable minds of the impressionable mindsets and weaker habits of the Youth who comprise of the largset section of the wheels of the society- like it or not ?Is it a coterie of crooked elements appointing a loud-mouthed,unscrupulously bland-faced obese character as their spokesperson and anointing a few half-baked,raw -hand as the chosen presswallah /journalist /tv-channel to bandy about the supposed eligibility of every other guy or female who manages to give a few interviews and have the pictures splashed across the walls of your compound or inside the inner recesses of your mind's compartments?
10.What is ailing our own INTELLIGENTSIA(and the intelligence of the well-informed,sophisticated,learned minds gets eroded by domestic compulsions or inherent weaknesses of the character or the system's hostile-attitude)?
11. What is our 'NATIONAL CHARACTER' ?
12. Do we lack a 'National Character '? [sURELY,PROCASTINATION OR RALLYING AROUND LIKE SCARED SHEEP IN TIMES OF A NATURAL-CALAMITY OR FLOCKING TO THE ELECTION-BOOTHS FOR THE PERIODICAL CHARADE OF VOTING IN A DEMOCRATIC,POPULAR,MAJORITY GOVERNMENT is NOT AT ALL an attribute or behaviour to be defined as a trait of us : WE,THE PEOPLE OF INDIA ]?
Well not merely a dozen - several more shall but spring up to our minds ( God Bless the Thinking-Minds) on the subject and varying responses spring out of protestation,remonstration or in a demonstration of one's own individual strength of character - inherent or so manifest as a reaction ...
I humbly submit that innate potentials ought to be tapped - by each and every Individual himself /herself and not wait to be utilized by the 'leaders' or fellow-citizens ...Believe me ,friends- as one who has dealt with at close proximity to the Hallowed Halls of Houses of Parliament (whilst assisting Parliamentary Committees,etc.)and observed the innocuousness of our countrymen saluting those who are lesser endowed on points of integrity,ability,strength of character ,I would say we do not as yet think as ONE COUNTRY; ONE NATION; ONE PEOPLES; ONE NATIONAL FLAG' ONE NATIONAL EMBLEM' ONE NATIONAL SPIRIT ' ONE CLASS OF HUMANITY';'ONE WHOLESOME NATIONALITY'...God Blesses us all abundantly and therefore we continue to dance in gay abandon just as the peacock tends to get carried away ,come Monsoons and rainpour...!!!
We have a pledge ' we have a national anthem; we have a national-song;we have a Republic and A UNIQUE CONSTITUTION THAT IS BOTH SACRED AS WELL AS UNPARALLELED IN WORLD'S CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OR IN THE EVOLUTION OF WORLD LEGAL HISTORY - IN NO CIVILIZATION OR FORM OF GOVERNMENT OR STRUCTURE OF ADMINISTRATION can one co-habit with a neighbour who does not speak the same tongue; does not don the same garbs; does not eat the same grub; does not like the weather or mannerisms or slang / accent or colour of the skin of another - AND STILL BE a cohabitant ; a neighbour, a co-worker or even a servant of the master who belongs to the dissimilar community / caste/ set of habits :
Did you hear of the blogger who was sentenced to life for having expressed about the Monarch in Morroco (yesterday) or ,
of the General who killed the very same man who had so appointed him by superceding over ten other seniors in rank,by hanging him publicly (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hung by Gen.Zia and the present President of Pakistan is the son-in-law of said late Z.A.Bhutto who had called Indians 'DOGS' and had met a fate similar to that of a rabid dog you find in Sambalpur or any other hi-tech city of our country) .
Did you know that there is a daily ritual of cross-firing going on across our borders non-stop (even during so-called times of peace and talks for diplomatic solution to the nagging issues and non-issues?
Did you know that the treasures of the times,viz; riches and precious jewellery of the land was kept in the sanctum sanctorum of the Somnath Temple and therefore with the help of a treacherous priest who had the keys colluded and let in the invader ,Ghazni to invade seventeen noted times for the loot (not that he was brave or that GOD was asleep,as the highly intelligent cynics of our generation would be prone to state)?
Did you know that Mr.Amir Khan is as human a being as Mr.Surya (a dear friend)who first sported the maverick hair-style in the movie of the same name [so, the credit being stolen by the Mumbai actor truly and dubiously belongs elsewhere].
Did you know that late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri was so honest and upright a person that he did not have the necessary few paise on his person to buy 'sindoor' for his wife?
Did you know that Mahatma Gandhiji was taught and imbibed into the nuances of the Bhagwat Geeta' by the great Acharya Vinobha Bhave ?
Did you know that while Mr.S.R.Khan may have been jettisoned to the stature of a super-being,he is addicted to the habit of a any other beedi-smoking rickshaw-wallah from the by-lanes of your native-hamlet?
Did you know that the turnout at a protest-rally to decry the banning of live-music bands attracted a few'celebrities' that lent publicity to the cause but there is not a so-called superstar/celebrity/business-tycoon who garlands the statue of the FATHER OF THE NATION even on October 2nd (Gandhiji's Birth-anniversary) ?
Well,the food for thought is here . . .
May better sense prevail upon our fellow countrymen . Let us all the enlightened ,the learned, the caring , the educated, the sophisticated Citizens of this Ever Great Nation spread the GOOD WORD ;let us all arise ,awaken from the drugged effects of mass-advertisement and the mass-illusions being created and recreated by willy political elements who is fact are puppets dancing to the tunes of the monied tycoons who again are hands-in-glove with the criminal elements .. .
( WHY THEN ARE NOT THESE FLICKS GALORE BEING BANNED FROM BEING EXHIBITED IN PUBLIC ; RATHER THESE ARE BEING CERTIFIED BY THE STATE'S CENSOR-BOARDS AND EVEN BAGGING AWARDS AS BEING MAINSTREAM-CINEMA OR PARALLEL-CINEMA ) ...
Friends, artwork AND show-business is quite different from the fine art of Statecraft and Governance .So we must all use our individual might and collective clout to awaken the Good Conscience of the mighty Press-groups and the Concerned , in every sphere of Life and get them to launch a National-campaign for the building up of a NATIONAL CHARACTER OF PATRIOTISM AND ONLY THEN would the precariousness,devilish,anti-national tendencies of parochialism,pettiness of regional-branding and the query-'local/non-local candidate' can be eliminated from the application-forms when we seek a seat at the most elite of educational institutions or even institutionalized work-places...SO BE IT ?
'WHO AM I ?' - I ask myself whenever am abroad as would have every other diplomat,sportsperson,film personality or businessman asked on noticing the marked differences in landmarks,cultures,customs,dialects,accents,priorities,habits of those outside INDIA : pat we say ,'INDIANS' with pride ...!!!
Back home, when we return with laurels ,encomiums,awards to our MOTHERLAND ,outside the gates of 'home--sweet-home',one hears the sad ,sadistic,rustic phrase of being a'madrasi',a'punjabin',a'bihari'a 'kashmiri'or a'gujju'... the pride gets punctured...little wonder then that Mr.Bachan aplogised for any ruffled sentiments but who has the compunction to ask him to pledge to take the walk or to praticipate in a rally to ensure that the GOVERNMENT OF INDIA permits the Wonderful Armed -Forces of INDIA to instill a sense of being a part-and-parcel of India and not an appendage ready to be stolen by monsters from across the valley-state and to ask his new-found buddy ,Mr.Mulayam Singh Yadav's buddy, Mr.Amar Singh or Mr.& mR.Ambani or even Sardar Manmohan Singh to introduce in Parliament of India a BILL to enact the Law revoking the antiquated provision that no other Indian can either buy or sell any piece of land in the State of Jammu & Kashmir unless he/she ( only Mr.Mufti Mohammed Syed's daughter Rubina could be the lone woman holding large tracts of land there of course:the remaining are all Men by gender)... UNLESS of course he grabs the idea and gets good old Mr.Manmohan Desai(does he still make films?)to make a cinematic drama out of that - again an 'in-house affair' ,for obvious reasons ...
Who Am I ? - ASK THYSELF MY FELLOW INDIANS...
Let us not be led ANY LONGER ,by dim-witted skunks or evil wrong-doers who do not let the rest of the saner,sincerer,loyal folk steer this great country in the direction of ONENESS,UNITY,PROSPERITY ...!
Let our IDENTITY be ONE of being a proud,happy,loyal INDIAN ...
JAI HIND! VANDE MATARAM!! MERA BHARAT MAHAAN !!!
- BE PLEASED TO ring in the NEXT FREEDOM MOVEMENT!!!
