All The World’s a Stage

People say and are free to say whatever they wish to (this should NOT be, in any which way, interpreted to be in favour of or against Ms Arundhati Roy and the recent unnecessary fiasco she has created). However, a saying becomes a quote, only when it finds rhyme and reason with proletariat. How they interpret it then is, again, their prerogative. One such quote is from the strong man of USA, Thomas Jefferson. He once said “Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear”. Quite wise of him to say this; and an even wiser aspect for the hoi polloi, if they understand.  

 But, from where I look at it, this particular quote is flawed – in its fundamentals. I am not trying to challenge the greatness of Mr Jefferson; instead I am trying to draw home the point that, merely asking questions does not serve any purpose until it has a firm support of a strong urge to ‘seek answers’. Asking questions is good, but is of no use if the zeal for posing these questions again and again until a satisfactory answer is obtained, is absent. What use is a question, if there is no answer to it or even the answer is not chased by?  

That is where the difference between fools and wise arise. Even a fool can ask questions, but the wise will seek answers. This leads to a further construal, that the proletariat, the common people, are nothing but herds of fools being driven from one pasture to other by a small group of shepherds. They are shown a path and a rosy picture is painted that they will find greener pastures down that path, and these flocks keep travelling on the calls of their shepherds, while these shepherds rejoice over the wool and milk they rear and sit on the pile of wealth. If any of these sheep has the audacity to turn around and ask the shepherd about why they are being driven continually, at first he is not answered or given the impression that his question is being thought about. If, during this process, he forgets about the question he had asked, shepherds have no issues in driving this sheep again. Else, if he tries to act smart and keeps insisting, he is picked out and thrown into a slaughter house.   

Then why ask question?  

What purpose does asking these questions serve? If eventually the answers are never given or are misrepresented.  

Why try and act smart or show off that “I dared to ask the question”? Fool! Where is the answer? What is the answer? 

Baffled??  OK! I apologise for this long banter and blah blah (…again… :() before coming to my exact point.  

What has been running through my mind is, the poor state of common people who have no power to exercise any of their fundamental rights, are being exploited…time and again…in fact, almost every day…and still go about their routine lives…merrily. I fail to understand the reason to why they have become habituated to being fooled and why they enjoy it so much. It is not just the Indian people in context here. It is the common people world around. They have been fooled ever since the days of intellectuality finding its first roots in brains of human beings…ever since the people needed a leader to lead them while they were hunters…and to this day…a group of few is still fooling billions around the globe. 

This is not any conspiracy theory which I am brewing up…nor will this article help the cause of the foolish…I guess they deserve the treatment they are being meted out…and no one can help. But it is interesting to note how this brilliant con…a magnum piece of perfectly scripted drama…is being performed…at a global stage. The words of Sir William Shakespeare have been given life “All the world’s a stage”.   

The fiasco Wikileaks has created; the way it is being shunned by governments all over the world; ‘Red Code’ being issued for Julian Assange…even worse – a Swedish court issuing arrest warrant for him…all this while no action is being taken on the revelations of these leaks. Funny …isn’t it? Or is it how it is meant to be. Let some ruckus spread, pay no head…People will definitely forget. That’s how they are. 

This is not just the first incident; many such incidents have been taking place throughout human history. Every theory has its corollary and contradictions. ‘Conspiracy Theories’ have been making rounds, especially in our beloved United States of America. They have been shunned and Questions remain unanswered. But what is interesting is how easily people have forgotten about them. They love to watch such documentaries on TV, let some people like Jesse Ventura make a living out of it…but in reality, when it comes to taking action and not just believing in them…they quietly subside into the warmth of their homes…never go out in the quest…never seek the answers. 

Some of the commonly known questions from US History have been:

 Was US successful in sending man on moon?

Why was Vietnam War raged for so many years?

What actually happened in 1993 WTC bombings?

What is “Clinton body count”?

Was 9/11 an insider job?

What was Watergate scandal?

Though some of these are widely debated questions till date, the consequence is – no definite answer. However, actions have been taken in some cases like the Watergate Scandal and impeachment of Bill Clinton (although on an altogether different issue).

Our country India too, is no stranger to such unanswered questions. It also has its share of unanswered questions. Some have been hidden in a most conniving fashion; some have been dealt with in the eyes of public but eventually left unanswered when the public forgot about it. India too has developed several interesting tools to obscure facts and keep the hoi polloi into darkness. The NCERT books, the RTI Act, the provision to appeal in a higher court against the judgement of a lower court, CBI, RAW and IB are a few examples of these tools. How and why I have arrived at such an inference will be explained in subsequent posts. Since, whatever happens in USA is given so much consideration and is fondly read and watched, I have thought of coming up with a series of posts dedicated to the unanswered questions of Indian History and Politics. Here is a list of questions to which, I feel, answers have not been arrived at, and nor will my attempt to answer them put a full stop; instead, it will just be a foray into these questions, a first step towards seeking answers. 

Here’s the list:

 Why was Netaji Subash Chandra Bose shunned from Congress? Was he living as the Gumnami Baba of Firozpur till 1985? Is he actually dead now?

 What happened to Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent on the night of 10^th January 1966? How and Why did he die?

 Indira Gandhi or Indira Khan? The politics behind keeping the lineage alive.

 What caused the ‘Emergency’ of 1975 and What went on behind the scenes?

 Who was Sanjay Gandhi and What caused his death?

 What is the politics behind the Quota System and what was Mandal Commission?

 What was Bofors Scandal and what is its status now?

 What happened to the accused in “Fodder Scam” and what are the proceeding till date?

 What happened to Ms J. Jaylalitha’s 10000 pairs of Sandals and what are the proceedings in the “TV Scam”?

 How can a convicted murderer, who served term in jail and is still not acquitted like Shibu Soren, be appointed as Chief Minister of a state?

 Why and how have influential leaders of Congress party like Mohan Kumaramangalam, Sanjay Gandhi, Rajesh Pilot, Madhav Rao Scindia, Sunil Dutt, YS Rajshekhar Reddy all died in accidents of one form or the other? How did Morarji Desai escape one such accident?

I understand you all can ‘google’ all these questions and get your answers, but I will try and present my answers with my perspectives and opinions, and would definitely love to hear your take on them. After all, we the people, the mob have a habit of forgetting and need to be reminded of the treatment that has been meted out to us.

To, end this perplexing saga, I would like to quote the words of Carl Sandburg which describe the situate of the common people quite aptly:

I AM the people–the mob–the crowd–the mass.

Do you know that all the great work of the world is

     done through me?

I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the

     world’s food and clothes.

I am the audience that witnesses history. The Napoleons

     come from me and the Lincolns. They die. And

     then I send forth more Napoleons and Lincolns.

I am the seed ground. I am a prairie that will stand

     for much plowing. Terrible storms pass over me.

     I forget. The best of me is sucked out and wasted.

     I forget. Everything but Death comes to me and

     makes me work and give up what I have. And I

     forget.

Sometimes I growl, shake myself and spatter a few red

     drops for history to remember. Then–I forget.

When I, the People, learn to remember, when I, the

     People, use the lessons of yesterday and no longer

     forget who robbed me last year, who played me for

     a fool–then there will be no speaker in all the world

     say the name: “The People,” with any fleck of a

     sneer in his voice or any far-off smile of derision.

The mob–the crowd–the mass–will arrive then.

 

Let me know what you think, by posting your comments 🙂

The Vande Matram Controversy

A few weeks ago the papers were filled (again) with the VandeMatram controversy, with the various madarsas claiming that it is against Islam, and the Sangh pariwar (again) questioning the “Indianness” and patriotism of Indian muslims.

I find this to be stupid and irrelevant on both parts. On one side, I can’t think how can singing or not singing a song determine your patriotism? And, on the other hand, I find the reaction of the Maulvi’s to be a bit too orthodox and bookish. I am no expert in Bengali or Sanskrit, but from what I know and have read, the literal translation of Vande Matram is “I bow to thee, mother!!”. Now, bowing in itself can refer to a lot of actions. For example, it can refer to anything from the action one does in front of the audience when he “takes a bow”, to the “rukuh” or “sajdah” of Muslims, to the bowing and touching of the feet of elders in Hinduism. I believe it is this diversity of actions and meanings that is the base of the controversy.

For the Muslims, Sajdah is something that is reserved only for God Almighty. We do not perform the sajdah to anyone else, not even to Prophet Mohammed (may peace be upon him). So, to ask us to so Sajdah to the motherland amounts to shirk. (Mind you, in the words of Moulana Mufti Syed Shah Badruddin Qadri Aljeelani, the then president of All India Sunni Ulema Board, “If you bow at the feet of your mother with respect, it is not shirk but only respect.“). Thus, the main bone of contention is the actual meaning of the word “Vande” and how a person takes it.

Another reason for the hooplah is the actual poem written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, which depicts the country as Maa Durga, which obviously does not go well with religions like Islam, Christianity, Sikhs, and others who do not believe in idol worship. However, this is not of much importance as the text taken for the National Song is from the first two stanzas of the whole song – which is an unexceptional evocation of the beauty of motherland.

For most people, Vande Matram just means “Praise to thee, O’ Motherland”. If you ask me, I have no problem in bowing before my country, but my bow will be similar to how I bow before my Parents, my elders, and those I respect. For me, it is similar to how I refer to Allah when I say Bhagwan or Ishwar, and I know that God Almighty does not go looking into the words or the language in which he was referred to or called. It is for this reason that I do not find myself agreeing to the fatwa against Vande Matram, as long as one refers to the National Song and not the whole text.

Another angle to this nonsense bawaal was added by those who want us Muslims to pay reverence to the idols of the motherland. This is against what I believe. If one wants to depict the motherland in some way, I am fine by it. If someone wants to pray to her – go ahead. But, please, for the sake of God! do not force others to do what you are doing, do not question the patriotism of others who fail to toe the line. Do not throw us out. Do not shun us. And, above all, do not try to tell us how to love our country.

This land belongs as much to us as to you. We both have lived here for centuries, have shared the same sorrow, the same happiness, the same turbulent times, the same low and highs. Please do not forget this. Do not Nazify this country in the name of religion, appearence, states, status, languages, or cultures.

We have enough trouble with our neighbours, one of whom is hellbent on destroying itself in the fire it started to burn us down, and the other who speaks one thing and does the other, to have time to fight within.

Please give it a thought.

This is Hashir, signing off

Over and out