Fistful of Dirt

It’s been a few days since we celebrated India’s Independence Day. The congratulatory messages and nationalistic fervor has settled down now. For some of our “intellectual” brethren, all of this amounts to Jingoism, which is all good too. We have the freedom to have our opinions and live our lives accordingly.

Here is America too Independence Day is celebrated in a similar fashion on July 4th. Some traditions are similar and some different. But by and large, people take pride in commemorating the day when they threw off the yoke of the colonial masters. In either of the countries, not all problems got solved that day. But clearly a good day to commemorate.

The evil in both cases, a tiny Island in Europe called Britain. It exemplified along with other colonial aggressors like Spain, Portugal and Holland the absolute worst of human behavior and thought. The cruelty and decadence of stealing a people’s pride, property, lives by the millions over generations for the greed and power of a few sitting in London, including the Queen, the house and senate members and the enabling Clergy of the Church of England. The machinations of orchestrating a theft over generations of everything that humanity should have evolved away from by this point in history, has few parallels even in the bloody history of Homo Sapiens. It is also a muddied history because typically it is written by the victors. One person or group of persons greed and need for power grab has no limits, it has been found. India bore the brunt of it. USA did too, but were able to shake off the chains sooner than India and you see the difference in material prosperity of the two nations therefore. One, USA, that drove its destiny for now over 200 years and another that had the bone marrow sucked out of it in the interminable, evil, deep dark pit of endless greed by the Queen, Clergy and the House and Senate of Britain for 150 more years.

India will overcome. It will indeed. But each year whether it is 4TH July or 15th Aug I come face to face with a question that is hard for me to shake off. What would I have been doing if I was living under the British rule? Would, in India, I be a fighting soldier or General in Indian National Army, or would I be have been a part of the British Army? Would I have been the like of Udham Singh, or an obedient soldier of General Dyre opening fire on fellow Indians in Jalianwal Bagh. Would I have been a an England trained, well educated Doctor or Lawyer of the British empire enabling the exploitation to continue by working with the Nawabs and Princelings and British officers or would I be in the band of Chadrashekhar Azad completely invested in the destabilization of the British rule with likely death by hanging or being shot at sooner or later the de-facto outcome. Would I have been the one getting tied up to cannons and blown to pieces after the failed uprising of 1857 or would I have been the one executing British officers orders tying my fellow Indians to those cannons so I could get my paycheck, and be a loyal soldier of the British empire , on which the Sun never set I was told with pride by the thieves themselves. In other words would I be an enabler of devastation of human life, spirit, values of gigantic proportions and or would I have had enough sense to see through the myopia of my individual personal and family needs and would have been an agent, successful or not, but an agent to uplift the dignity and pride of my fellow Indians. Similar questions can be asked about my role in the time of Mughal invasions as well. Would I have been a Maratha soldier, pushing back or would I have made peace with the invaders.

Are the answers to these questions relevant at all? Perhaps not. I will contend though that some reflection on these questions may help us create a more evolved society going forward.  

The reflexive answer coming out of all of us is perhaps not all true and may be getting generated by romanticized versions of our true selves. Won’t we all have similar answers? Who would suggest that they would be on the side of the evil oppressors?  Yet, the fact remains that a few hundred thousand British did rule over 200 million Indians at that time. It is said that if each Indian threw a fistful of dirt at all the British, they would have buried them. Whether scientifically accurate or not, the message is poignant. We did enable our own exploitation. Many of us, due to whatever circumstances, accepted the fate of a life under gross exploitation, duress and being ripped of our basic dignity, or worse still, enabled it.

Then, enough of us raised the stakes and threw out the bastards.

Now, to the relevant part. Even after August 15, 1947 all our problems did not go away. They remained and do remain. The challenges of a few exploiting the many still remain. This may be due to politically appointed positions that wield powers with little or no checks and balances like that of a Collector which is a remnant of the Raj, when enormous power rested with a few white British officers. The problem of exploitation by the political elite, the problems of enormous corruption due to limited resources being chased by many and the arbiter of those resources, from permits to college admissions being in undue position of power. The problems associated with law and order, where it takes years to get justice. The problem associated with religious fundamentalism which now is in a vicious cycle of growth. So the average citizen of India is still under the burden of an unequal system, much like during the British Raj. While some things have improved, regarding self-dignity, it is far from an equitable society for all citizens. The little guy continues to get exploited due to lack of or inferior education, lack of opportunities and lack of a level playing field.

So are we, you and I, enabling this ongoing exploitation of the average citizen or are we fighting back, like we believe we would have done under the British. That is the million dollar question.

If we are fighting back, we need to be clear about the how and why. Where does it show up in our daily routine? Are we refusing to bribe our way to conveniences? Are we refusing to judge people in any way other than their work effort and content of character? Are we pushing back against oppression when we see it?  Are we pulling up one family that needs a chance and support? Are we aligned towards foundational changes when they are needed like same laws and equal access to justice system for all men, women and children.

I am sure that many of  us are part of this movement for a new dawn on India.  The force that will rid India of its travails and tribulations and allow each Indian to be fully invested in pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, without fear or limitation. For the rest of us, let us celebrate the next Independence day, having done some more. 

Just a fistful is all that’s needed.