Of Blood and Tears
Today is the day when Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev sacrificed their life for the mother, this land, called Bharat, Hindustaan, or India through the ages
Bhagat Singh did not do it only for Punjab, Chandrashekhar Azaad did not do it only for UP, Batukeshwar Dutt did not do it only for Bengal.AshfaqullaKhan did not do it only for Muslims.
These people died so as to free every Indian irrespective of region, caste, creed from the yokel of British slavery.
These people did not flinch in the face of death because they believed in something,that was as idea of India free from tyranny and for which they were ready to die. India as an idea which existed in collective subconscious and found expression in cultural harmony for more than millennium but was realized on 15 August 1947 when India got independence and on 26 January 1950 when India got the constitution.
This is an old nation because it has existed as civilization since time immemorial, yet it is new too because for the first time India has been united under the will of her people and not a king, or a foreign despot.
Even as India completes her sixth decade of independence, I am dismayed to note people forgetting the nation which we take for granted was taken at a very high price, a tithe of blood and misery of some of the finest and noblest souls has been paid for the right of freedom.
And yet, do we respect this? Do we realize the importance of nation?
Amidst all the babble of how there is a golden rule of either communism (or the latest fad libertarianism) and nation has become irrelevant, we do a disservice to the freedom fighters.
Nation protects what is good and noble from nihilists. Nation thwarts the “barbarian at the gates”.
Does it sound paranoid? It isn’t.Civilization and progress is not a given, it takes blood and toil. The price of freedom is eternal and unceasing vigilance. So let’s protect what we have.
Absent alertness and readiness to defend it, civilization is fragile.
Great civilizations have, in past, crumbled from nothing more than indifference.
Let us not get duped by the promises of utopia and neglect our nation.
3 comments:
I think one of the factors involved is that people may not be really convinced how the act of someone like Bhagat Singh contributed to freedom.
According to our Indian way of thinking the attitude with which one does is more important. But according to modern people, particularly those subscribing to the golden rule or the fad, only the net effect of action matters. And they don't always bother to carefully evaluate that.
Nationalism is out of fashion and I think it is good. And with nationalism I mean the ideology which tends to mythologize the concept of the nation.
A nation is after all an artificial construct designed so that people can live in freedom, security and order. A nation exists for the people not the other way round. People now understand this and this is why it is better.
btw, I went through some of your other posts and the saffron colour gives a good indication ;)
Julien,
"A nation is after all an artificial construct designed so that people can live in freedom, security and order. A nation exists for the people not the other way round. People now understand this and this is why it is better."
I agree on eveything, but how does that mean nation is passe.
And yes I am unabashedly saffron.
It is a good colour.
Frog,
Yes I guess it is so.
What a shame!
Regards
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