Where the mind is without
fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection:
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action —
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection:
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action —
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
~ Rabindranath Tagore
~
So said one of the greatest minds as a freedom song for the Nation.After Six decades,India stands at inflection point.Scattered,polarized on religion,caste,reservations.Weak Leadership.The "just Me" society,ridlled by corruption.Unfocussed,unseeing,unjust.
Ripe for takeover?An economic capture if not physical!
For those who are students of History,this was the exact scenario in the 18th Century.The zenith of the Mughals had been reached a century earlier.The descendants enconsced in their Forts in delhi and Agra unaware of the miserable condition below their own battlements.Debauched and uncaring in their hauteur.The British came.
Disguised as merchantmen with brigs loaded with cannon.They found a country in turmoil.They tested,probed the defences and found Babylon.The rich resources and trade and the urge to have monopoly made them masters of political intrigue.According to Sir Charles Woods the highest number of British troops was never more than 70,000.Just that few controlled a Nation.
Hindu against muslim,muslim against Sikh-the famous 'Divide and Rule'Policy.
Has anything changed from the 1800s?In 2013 isn't it still the same?
China testing how far it can push India on its frontiers.Terrorists exchanging hostages at will.The Leaders advise patience.It buys up energy resources globally.It pushes all its South Asian neighbours.Does the Indian army lack the steel or does the Government lack faith in the army?Whatever it may be,the presence of Chinese troops inside the borders of India in Ladakh is not a good harbinger.
They want Arunachal,Sikkim.Yet India recognises the brutal suzerainty of Tibet by the Chinese?Our IAS and political leadership has such vast credentials-graduates of IIMs,IITs,Sorbonne,Oxford...an endless list.YET they blink.They wait and think while a Nation cannot defend its own borders!
I read that a study says India is the 8th most powerful nation in the world.What is the point of words printed on paper when our own citizens walk in fear of a repressive neighbour?
Mahatma Gandhi taught us to turn the other cheek.In this century this could be a suicidal thought.
I cannot express my anguish at such pussillanimity.For those too immersed in their daily lives and happy with their daily quota of shopping and TV,the world outside is crumbling.Its time to move beyond introspection and take action before its too late.
