Mera Bharat Mahan
By 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.’
Source: Milchar
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