Few gave this country a chance of survival 60 years ago. The prevailing wisdom was that India would crack apart into dozens of princely states, that the centre would simply not hold. By contrast, it was expected that Pakistan would be a more homogenous nation,united by religion. As it has turned out, Pakistan has become a nation undermined from within by religious fanaticism and an emasculated middle class. Sure, India too has its crisis points in the form of an imperfect democracy battling poverty, farmer suicides and unemployment, but despite the imperfections, it has been astonishingly resilient.

In the remarkable book, India after Gandhi, historian Ramachandra Guha had once tried to unravel the enigma of India.

“Why does India survive?”, he asked in his final chapter.

His answer, a sense of a shared symbols – cricket, cinema, music – a respect for diversity, and above all, a remarkable constitution that guarantees fundamental rights and enshrines the principle of one man one vote. I think this country owes a huge debt to the framers of the constitution. I cannot think of a more progressive document anywhere in the world, one that respected individual rights above all . We must be blessed that in the 1940s a collection of rare public figures came together to frame the constitution. It might be difficult to imagine this in our polarised times, but in the 1940s, Indians had the sagacity to realise that people of differing ideological persuasions needed to be brought together so that every possible talent could be harnessed. Maybe, we need to read our history books once again to understand the true meaning of freedom, of being an independent nation. Today’s young and restless I fear often have little knowledge or interest in history.

• How many young Andhraites know of the sacrifice of Potti Sriramalu, the man whose fast unto death led to the formation of the modern Andhra Pradesh, and laid the basis for liguistic states?
• How many young Maharashtrians know of the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement and the sacrifice of those who fought for their state?
• Is any young Punjabi interested in reading the biography of Tara Singh?
• The Forward Bloc may keep the flame of Netaji alive, but do young Bengalis bother to read his life story?

Sadly, we are becoming a country ignorant of our history. We seem more comfortable with the quick fix cinematic idea of Gandhi in Munnabhai, than doing anything to really try and understand the man behind the Mahatma. In the 60th year of Independence, we need to make a pledge: a pledge to try and appreciate our history a little more.Remember that old chestnut:

“Those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it.”

Rachit Chandra

My views on subject drastically changed when recently I had a chance to watch an amazing environmental film, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ that showed how man mercilessly cuts the tree that provides him shade in the scorching heat.
The film daringly showed how the industrial cities of the world have contributed in badly polluting the environment, depleting ozone layer and increasing toxicants in the air. It showed how the limited resource of fresh water has become unfit for consumption. It showed how the global warming has gradually affected glaciers and ice caps, raising the level of ocean waters and posing a great threat to the coastal cities. The scenes in the film predicted that within four to five decades the Earth would no longer be able to sustain life and that the end was far nearer than it seemed. The stark reality really jolted me out of the deep slumber I was in.
The knowledge of this grave truth calmed me down to a great extent that I actually began to admire those school children who walked miles to create awareness about our deteriorating environment. Today I don’t mind if I have to wait for a procession to pass, and I feel sorry for those who lose patience because they do not understand the gravity of the situation. The ignorance about the subject is too much and we have very little time left to reverse the process of self-annihilation. These school children are doing a great service to humanity and we must support them. After all, it is our own existence which is at stake…

Today, the national days are seen more as a holiday and worst example of this can be seen in schools and colleges where students have little time to attend the flag hoisting ceremony. The schools and colleges of the country have to keep the attendance compulsory on national occasions. Its sad to witness that a student comes to attend such solemn occasions due to fear of losing some marks or paying a fine. Even adults are not behind in giving least importance to the great day. Its heart wrenching to know they are completely clueless about perhaps the most significant day of our country.

In reality, our patriotic fervour today is confined just to the cricket field. We can die for our country when it comes to cricket. If our team wins , we feel we have conquered the whole world. It is really shameful to observe that we Indians resort to processions and violent acts if our county loses a significant match. Remember how the whole nation stood up against the 11 players when India lost in the World Cup. I wish these protests were rather for social dilemmas our country is going through. For today’s youth, India is reduced to being a launch pad for entry into US or other cash rich countries, for instance, the episode of Sunita Williams and consequent celebrations in India clearly exhibit to what extent we are obsessed with the western culture.

We feel that a foreign label on our foreheads can only shows our true value to the entire world. This is really a dangerous trend. We are losing our own identity in the process. This mental survey to the western culture is making India lose its freedom once again and it’s high time that we come out of it before it is too late.

This growing lack of patriotism which is fast spreading its vicious roots in the minds of our youth and children is taking a catastrophic form and must be taken care of.Or else the future of our country which is bestowed with such a rich past/ heritage is going to be in deep waters. It’s up to us, the people, to stand up and feel proud to be a part of this nation which has nurtured our souls and hearts.

There is so much an individual can contribute towards the progress of our nation. We need to improve the tone of our social and economic life through improved work ethic and environmental behaviour.

Rachit Chandra