Coming back to NCC and his Autobiography. I think I am kind of getting a hang of why this book was so controversial. NCC at his time was exposed to enough ideas and thoughts to start questioning and relating things around - to them. His parents were liberal and encouraging though as he says, looks like they were not prepared for the children to become intellectuals instead of using education as a means of gaining material success in this world. His childhood was heavily laced with names, books, art etc of the west. And throughout the book it is very easy to see the influence of West over him. (Wikipedia calls him self-professed Anglophile).
Now western ideas have always conflicted with eastern ideas in the basic way. Western thought processing is very logical and success oriented in this world outwardly. Eastern philosophy always encourages one to delve within to find that happiness. NCC was born in east amidst this philosophy which in the first place is hard to understand or follow. Further the essence of eastern philosophy is long lost and what remains of it is a mixture of mechanical and unexplained duties - this mixed with the history of India with all those different people and cultures and way of life has formed a very complex society to understand. What apparently remains of it seems chaos and ideas that are either illogical or unprogressive - as far as success in todays world is concerned.
NCC from his standpoint, always seems to be the mind that embraces logic and order over the existing life. Being exposed to the west - in a society that was in awe of their success, it was inevitable for him to not relate or figure out what was missing here. He has given ample insight around this in his book. His thoughts are progressive and definitely have progress of his nation in mind. They are no way derogatory to the life he was born in - though they directly conflict.
His explanations in the book don't come from a person who can explain things in Indian Context - it's always as someone who can explain things better by citing examples from life, literature, art or ideology of the west. Hence I am sure that it was tough for many Indians to understand him and easy to brand him. People do not have the maturity to see different perspective. In a nation that was reeling in the aftermath of the British Raj, his ideas were definitely taken otherwise. Plus he has stood in many places against what is supposed to be normal in the society of his days.
The controversies were inevitable. But then again, it was his autobiography and he was free to be himself - one does not think of the whole world when course of a life is being discussed. It was a life and it was led like this. If it could be better or worse - it is for no one to comment.
Showing posts with label Commentary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Commentary. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Aldar Kose and Shigai Bai
Being born in a nation that was geographically close to Russia and also on friendly terms with the nation that was USSR once, it was very normal for Russian fiction to be available to us easily. Our diplomatic ties with USSR were always good and on the other hand the exchange of artistic thoughts and ideas were plenty. There was Raj Kapoor and then there was Rahul Sanskrityayan whose Volga se Ganga - I have not read but it's one of the top books on my reading list.
Most of the book fairs during our childhood use to have a Russian section which had all these originals and translations available. The name that comes to my mind instantly when I think of these books in Raduga Publications. At one time, I have seen and read a numbers of books that came out of that publications. My note here is mainly for the Russian Folk Tales and Stories for Children that formed a staple literary diet during my childhood.
Then there were these other books that were big and colorful and nice. They said less and were treat for the eyes.
Most of the book fairs during our childhood use to have a Russian section which had all these originals and translations available. The name that comes to my mind instantly when I think of these books in Raduga Publications. At one time, I have seen and read a numbers of books that came out of that publications. My note here is mainly for the Russian Folk Tales and Stories for Children that formed a staple literary diet during my childhood.
Then there were these other books that were big and colorful and nice. They said less and were treat for the eyes.
There were these books that had protagonists named Nikolai, Andrey and the lot, a witch called Baba Yaga, a miser called Shigai Bai who was always outsmarted by Aldar Kose. Terms like Uzbek, Tatar, Krygiz and Kazakh were so common that I kind of learnt them before I knew what they actually meant in the geographical, cultural and historical sense. I had a number of them and the stories gave an amazing insight on the Russian (of the USSR) life.
A number of other books consisted of a story of a charmed and mechanical castle, story of this girl who shifts in a new neighborhood only to befriend the coolest boy on the block. He had this crazy secret society and tasks of which she becomes a part.
Then finally it was all those books that I happened to find in a cupboard of that old and dilapidated house. I just could not fathom how the value of those was not understood by people around. And my love for Tolstoy, Dosteovsky and the rest began.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Women of the Raj
Women of the Raj by Margaret Macmillan was one of the books that I read recently. It was based on her research on these British families of the Raj and authentic supporting documents. It gave an interesting insight on the life of these women who left their country and got settled in India of the Raj. Yet somehow I was not really satisfied after reading the book - I think the Indian in me just wouldn't let me.
Being an Indian and of a generation that never saw the Raj or the struggle that went into it - it was surprising the indignation or rage that one felt in certain parts of the book. Now don't get me wrong, the rage was not against the actual subject or the perspective of the book / author and surprisingly it was neither against the Raj. It was more of a realization as one read through a book that slowly got me.
Our generation of the 80's that was born far from struggle and wars that our country has seen is far removed from the sentiments that comes with such a new born nation. Ours was the first that saw TV and cars in the homes of the masses, cable and internet and mobiles becoming available to all. But ours was also the generation that did NOT want to know what was happening at the Center of the Government. We did NOT want to know how the country was being run or in the first place how did it even come to the stage when we first saw it. All we knew was that it was too messy.
We had all our facts in place as far as history books were concerned and all those national holidays but none of us and I mean none of us ever got far enough to question any of that. Independence was the greatest achievement in the history of modern India and it was simply sacrilegious to raise any doubts on the process of that. Again, I do not mean, that India should never have got liberated in the first place. Contrary to that, I think all of us wish nothing more than East India Company being kicked in its rear-side the first time they set foot on our soil. And they did not get kicked and surely I cannot say that any other country could have helped us on that front. And here lies my resentment.
As a country or rather a group of people stuck on the sub-continent we did not have a choice. And we also did not have the sense to understand that all we could have ever done was to stay put together - which of course we could not at the time (there were too many kings / kingdoms to let that happen). And the kings themselves never could support anyone who had the sense come early (it would undermine their own sense / power / importance / need). So in a way we let a force capture us, kingdom by kingdom, to show us what problem we were in !
Then finally as it always happens in every aspect of Indian life, we found a man who had an idea and since no one had a better one and also because this one showed that how it worked - we accepted one person to deliver us from the trouble. The mediocre were content to hang around him. Once the deliverance was at hand, this man was cooly discarded by many at the eleventh hour to ensure that things turned out how those 'many' wanted it to be. And again, we did not have the sense to understand that all we could have ever done was to stay put together at least. The whole Independence saga towards the end smells of a scandal. And we realize with some reluctance that our nation was born into a set of problems that all of us want to forget - for the time till it does not loom over our head so big that we cannot ignore things any further!
My rage is directed towards the masses of my country who do not retaliate till the threshold is crossed, that they prefer their well being over the nation's, that they always look for someone to come and save them, that everyman secretly knows in his heart that there is no point in being saviour of many, that every leader of some significance was betrayed by his own men in the face of a larger challenge and that this country will somehow manage to go on, in spite of knowing everything.
I think our generation was the one that did not even want to know what could have been. They preferred to stay away from anything that smelt remotely of problems. They had new toys to play with and new countries to explore. They did not want to waste a single precious second on being a part of the problem, they were born in.
Being an Indian and of a generation that never saw the Raj or the struggle that went into it - it was surprising the indignation or rage that one felt in certain parts of the book. Now don't get me wrong, the rage was not against the actual subject or the perspective of the book / author and surprisingly it was neither against the Raj. It was more of a realization as one read through a book that slowly got me.
Our generation of the 80's that was born far from struggle and wars that our country has seen is far removed from the sentiments that comes with such a new born nation. Ours was the first that saw TV and cars in the homes of the masses, cable and internet and mobiles becoming available to all. But ours was also the generation that did NOT want to know what was happening at the Center of the Government. We did NOT want to know how the country was being run or in the first place how did it even come to the stage when we first saw it. All we knew was that it was too messy.
We had all our facts in place as far as history books were concerned and all those national holidays but none of us and I mean none of us ever got far enough to question any of that. Independence was the greatest achievement in the history of modern India and it was simply sacrilegious to raise any doubts on the process of that. Again, I do not mean, that India should never have got liberated in the first place. Contrary to that, I think all of us wish nothing more than East India Company being kicked in its rear-side the first time they set foot on our soil. And they did not get kicked and surely I cannot say that any other country could have helped us on that front. And here lies my resentment.
As a country or rather a group of people stuck on the sub-continent we did not have a choice. And we also did not have the sense to understand that all we could have ever done was to stay put together - which of course we could not at the time (there were too many kings / kingdoms to let that happen). And the kings themselves never could support anyone who had the sense come early (it would undermine their own sense / power / importance / need). So in a way we let a force capture us, kingdom by kingdom, to show us what problem we were in !
Then finally as it always happens in every aspect of Indian life, we found a man who had an idea and since no one had a better one and also because this one showed that how it worked - we accepted one person to deliver us from the trouble. The mediocre were content to hang around him. Once the deliverance was at hand, this man was cooly discarded by many at the eleventh hour to ensure that things turned out how those 'many' wanted it to be. And again, we did not have the sense to understand that all we could have ever done was to stay put together at least. The whole Independence saga towards the end smells of a scandal. And we realize with some reluctance that our nation was born into a set of problems that all of us want to forget - for the time till it does not loom over our head so big that we cannot ignore things any further!
My rage is directed towards the masses of my country who do not retaliate till the threshold is crossed, that they prefer their well being over the nation's, that they always look for someone to come and save them, that everyman secretly knows in his heart that there is no point in being saviour of many, that every leader of some significance was betrayed by his own men in the face of a larger challenge and that this country will somehow manage to go on, in spite of knowing everything.
I think our generation was the one that did not even want to know what could have been. They preferred to stay away from anything that smelt remotely of problems. They had new toys to play with and new countries to explore. They did not want to waste a single precious second on being a part of the problem, they were born in.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Days that Were
I like the days gone by, described in their glory and grandeur or even in the simplest of lifestyles. To get a glimpse of how it was gives me a kind of nostalgia to dwell in. It's strange because I have never been a part of such a life ever. Just that I prefer the simple, 'rustic' settings (by today's standards) but very contemporary ideas and situations of all the classics. It is a pleasure to read and then sometimes see a very aptly done cinematic portrayal of the same.
Places and Countries and Time do not matter for I have noticed that the basic fabric of Human Thoughts have been the same every where and every time. The essence does not get lost in the coating of time and space.
Places and Countries and Time do not matter for I have noticed that the basic fabric of Human Thoughts have been the same every where and every time. The essence does not get lost in the coating of time and space.
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