जमाना हंसता है मुझ पर तो गौर फर्माएं
इतने लोगों की खुशी में हमारा हाथ तो है।।

उसने मर कर भी कुछ नहीं सीखा
आप को अब भी याद करता है।

LIBERATING INDIAN MIND -19
LULLABY HISTORY

“Do you know what is being taught, these days, at the senior secondary level in the name of history?”
“I Have been teaching in the university and I do not know what exactly is being caught there today, with the stick and staff wielders changing everything they do not understand with unprecedented haste. How can I know what is being taught at the senior secondary level in the name of history? But, how did you become so curious, about the history books prescribed at the secondary level?”
I did not answer straightway, “The book is called Themes of History.”
“But why… “
He was going to repeat his question. I ignored him, “Do you know what the themes of history mean? “
I knew he was getting irritated with every new query, but I just intended it. “ It means, teaching history is although important, but you shall not be allowed to know your history. You shall be told grandmothers lullaby and fairy tales told at the bedtime of a child, to give him a pleasant sleep. I mean, the education of history has now become a bottle of sleeping pills to soothe irritated souls.”
“That is what we are complaining. Illiterate as they are, these RSS people are out to ruin our educational system, to facilitate the advent of Nazism and dictatorial regime and throw us centuries back by by the time we realise the mistake.”
“I agree with you but with a minor correction. This book was prepared during the penultimate sway of the Congress government. It may or may not have been planned to perpetuate dictatorial functioning but democratic set was destroyed from within no doubt. It was leading precisely to autocracy no doubt.”
“In that case, it should have been revised during the past four years.”
“ The problem with the new set up is, that it is full of vigor and good intentions, but is hollow of head. It does not care to improve intellectually as at the very outset it had chosen a military role for itself, of course, a defensive role at that. Both, soldiers and bureaucrats, are required to keep clearly off political education involvements, and as such it had decided never to participate in politics. Once it decided to taste the forbidden fruit of political power, it should have made Panchatantra and Arthashastra compulsory readings for its cadre and even this limited exposure would have made it the most competent rival in Indian politics, much earlier, even without love for erudition. As of now, it knows neither its enemies well, nor understands its cultural priorities. In has no historian, no creative artist, no thinker or ideologue to handle cultural and educational problems. It is evident from choices made so far by it to head culture and HRD ministries, higher educational centres and research bodies, besides its emphasis on producing skilled slaves for abroad. We are in a piquant situation in which on the one side we have the gangs of vociferous and erudite miscreants, who care more for their loaf than their freedom and conscience and on the other simpletons who do not know which weapon should they carry and how should they use it in the changed circumstance, nor have ability to select the best available from the lot neither inimical nor friendly to it. It suffers from persecution mania, not to believe or tolerate anyone not belonging to its larger family as it calls it.”
He was joyous to see me so severely judging the BJP. “don’t you forget that there is some truth in the comparison of Hindu parivar or Hindu Brotherhood with Islamic Brotherhood.”
“Don’t digress into Realpolitik which has become a cesspool of the ugliest and dirtiest maneuvers. We have parties ready to make a hell of our country which throughout rated superior to the paradise, as and when they are out of power. Despite all their limitations these people have never indulged into dirty game detrimental to the country to gain or remain in power. Once getting another chance these power hungry guys may do what they planned but failed to execute in their previous turn to prove their comparison valid.”
“But you were also critical of their organization. Weren’t you?”
“I am examining the status of the educational system and cultural spine of the country and am covering larger issues. I was just going to admit that these simpletons in power today do eulogise personal experience, on the line of person-to-person contact in their propaganda mill, even in education. Books and researches may wait till they clean every head of everything learnt from written, or for that matter, even of oral traditions. They can not even perceive the danger posed and harm already cause by irrationally and unscientifically prepared textbooks to avail political mileage by deliberate destruction of our culture, suppression of factual information and destruction of cultural understanding by you people. They could not visualise even the remedial measures?”
He got a bit charged but I took him head on, “Do you know what history is?”
He showed his displeasure but did not speak.
“History is chronologically ordered account of events and deeds that affect our society so that we may have an idea as to when and how and why they took place and what were the results that followed. In the words of Buddha imasmim sati idam hoti, imasmim asati idam na hoti. imass uppaada idam upajjati, imass nirodhe idam nirujjhati. (‘इति इमस्मिं सति इदं होति, इमस्मिं असति इदं न होति, इमस्सुप्पादा इदं उप्पज्‍जति, इमस्स निरोधा इदं निरुज्झति), In case this happens that will occur, If this is sown this will crop, if this is checked from taking place,this will be warded off.”
“Don’t bore me. I know what history is.”
“Then you must have known that this lullaby-anthology is not history, because it knowingly escapes catalytic events and chapters in our history.”
“I haven’t seen the book yaar. I told you right at the beginning.”
“Sorry! I should have not expected a censure from you. But do you know why it was left?”
“Hadd hai. How could I know the reason.” He could not conceal his displeasure.
“It is a long story with criminal intents. But looking at your mood, it is wiser to defer it for tomorrow.”

गरचे आया शऊर ही होता
यह न कहते कि कुछ मिला ही नहीं
आप ने कह दिया हटो, जाओ
अब तो दुनिया में कुछ रहा ही नहीं।

देखिए देखने को क्या न मिला,
फिर भी लगता है कुछ हुआ ही नहीं।

ढूंढ़ते ढूंढ़ते उमर गुजरी
जिंदगी का पता चला ही नहीं।

रोकते रह गए जहां वाले
चल दिए हम मुकाम को अपने।

LIBERATING INDIAN MIND -18
PERSONAL IS UNIVERSAL

“Have you heard about cheats, pickpockets, snatchers and gangsters or not?”

He simply smiled without uttering a word.

“ Your historians have been all in one and each one all.”

“I know you are so sore because of your personal grudge.
There are people who universalize their personal issues to set score while others try to gulp the poison down to avoid being stuck up in a muddy pond.You fall in the first category, the category of light-headed, peevish ones.That is one reason you do not count for much as a scholar. “ he didn’t miss any opportunity to berate me.

“In normal discourse I should not defend myself despite the fact that your imputation is wrong. I would like to underscore only one thing: there is nothing personal except material gain or loss which I did not suffer. In absolute terms personal is universal and universal indeterminate. You cannot collect information about love and write a single line on love that may impress even your neighbor, not to talk of the universe. Only personal sufferings and agonies expressed even with personal touch or through imaginary characters takes you in its grips.

“What you call personal is first hand knowledge of something, while universal is obsolete information much of which is of little use in forming even an opinion regarding something, not to talk of solving a problem. Read as much you can about Shakespeare and his plays, but unless you have read any of his dramas or seen any of them enacted you cannot know what Shakespeare is. The difference between your historians and me lies in the fact that while in the most taxing situations I tried to go to the original sources of whatever I wrote, they disdainfully avoided to reach-out to them and gathered whatever they could from secondary sources. Likewise they avoided to face me and yet did not hesitate from spreading all sorts of canard Against me, and adopted sacrilegious tricks to gag the voice of dissent, in order to perpetuate the incoherent history they had written, whereas I was ready to sit at their feet to learn the shortcomings, if any, in my writing, despite it all.”

“I could believe you if I did not know that they are abundantly more informed than you, and in their personal life, normal behavior and speech they are much more polished, sober, and caring than you. You were deprived of the opportunity to come in their closer contact otherwise you could be much more cautious in use of your tongue and much more dignified in response.”

“I agree with you more than you might expect. But that is the ploy. People mistake outward sophistication for honesty, and store of knowledge for correct understanding. You are no exception. Did you read that best seller The Godfather, or see the picture produced in the same name. Have you heard anything about the competence and mesmerizing sociability of legendary Natwarlal? if yes, you may catch my point.

The test of prudence does not lie in racks of books transferred to your head and your ability to shuffle them deftly. I make a simple query as to why did they fail to learn the language through which they could have a first hand glimpse of the age which they chose to specialize and taught throughout their teaching career? How could one prefer to remain blind in the area which they claimed to illuminate? Through mirror effect? taking light from those who were eager to rub down the haughty culture looking at their colonial and missionary prejudices with derisive smile?”

.”What do you think to be the reason?” He asked with genuine curiosity.

“I have myself not been able to sort it out but the possibilities that flash are many and inter-connected.

“The first one is that the Western educated and occidental leaders who launched Communist movement were as remotely controlled by their mentors as the Congress of initial years. Those who ignited the fire of socialism in the Hindu youths who spent years in British Universities, ignited the sense of insecurity among the Muslim youths to gravitate them covertly towards separatist Muslim demand. They aimed to disrupt the call for unity by the national movement under the banner of Congress. In India they had overtly and covertly planned the formation of the Muslim league, Hindu Mahasabha, RSS, urge for Khalistan and the most impracticable demand for Dalitistan, I forget the exact name Baba Saheb had given it. The bane of the communist party was that It lacked the touch of soil and national fervor which other Communist parties of the world had.

Secondly, it was from its very birth a parasite organization.

Thirdly, it lacked the sense of direction and suffered from self contradictions. For that matter, on the one hand it ridiculed reformatory measures as deceptive and detrimental to revolutionary zeal on the other, in its progressive craze it tried to play the role earlier played more successfully by Arya Samaj. The other CPs throughout the world deferred it for post revolutionary projects.

Fourthly, It became the gravitational core for brilliant, ambitious, well-off guys more interested in collecting the crop raised by Congress, than tilling and preparing their own field and scatter the seed of their ideology. In other words it was ready to capture power without doing any hard work and in a sense it was crowded by talented idlers.

Fifthly, Learning Sanskrit and Vedic demanded some hard and dry work not liked by brilliant brains. In its tentative approach in most of the matters, it encouraged a misleading belief that Sanskrit language and the liturgical literature in it could foster reactionary /revivalist tendencies. This last belief created a despise for the language, suspicion towards the people who learnt it adequately well and in turn a despise for the entire period of ancient past.” I turned to ask him.”I think I am not over-amplifying it? “

“Although the approach you have taken is dubious, some of the conclusions baseless, such as despise for Sanskrit, as many of our leaders had good background of Sanskrit, yet I don’t mind the elaboration. The angle is new. You may continue. I want to read what those who have developed the skill of slurring the immaculate movement can read in the text prepared by sweat and blood of revolutionary workers.”

“I know there is no sense in playing the flute before a buffalo, but irrespective of its rumination, the joy of playing the flute is not neutralized. I simply wanted the emphasize that the communist movement in India look a reverse course at the very outset. It failed to correct fundamental errors, as its discomfiture suited those who were adamant to prove India a cultural vacuum deeply indebted to it’s western neighbor in all matters.’

Ultimately you have come to admit that the Marxist historians were writing their textbooks on the principles of Marxism as understood by them and were not playing in the hands of any individual or group as unjustly alleged by you. That is all I wanted to listen from you. The fisher has been caught in his own net.” He rose to leave with the air of a victor.

I tried to stop him, “wait. Let me complete my argument, but he was in no mood to listen anything further.

LIBERATING INDIAN MIND -17(B)
DEMOCRATIC TEMPERAMENT (II)

“Wait a minute! wait a minute!” He shouted me back.

“I think it is you who counselled that people should devote all their energies to the field of their choice and must not shirk to other fields. And it is perhaps you who advised us to keep away from politics. Why should you worry so much about educational system to which we belong and find nothing wrong in what you perceive as a menace?”

“You mostly listen to unlisten me, as you yourself brag, how can you understand the implications of what I advise? Listen attentively. I have claimed to be the most consistent political writer which may appear to you a bit inflated. My agitation is against our numbness, our cultural impotence and frigidity, our colonial mindset but more than any other thing I fight exposing the dirty game of sober-looking miscreants who we look for academic certification. I have written chapters in defense of a political leader who in my opinion pledged to go ahead of the divisive and parochial politics for the larger interest of the country, its neighbors and ultimately the entire world. I did it and intend to do it all through my pen, not mass agitation. I only disapprove active politics because the tricks to attain and retain power are mostly demeaning. You should not introduce it in your educational system to demean our future generation. And last of all, note it that you had not even the sense of political participation as you did not agitate, did not even identify the threat which ate the very elan of our teaching system.”

I felt I was forgetting something which flashed while I was elaborating and faded away. I strained to recall it while he appeared toying for some escape route. It flashed again, “and remember two more points. “the communists who advocated study of history so intently, started dissuading people to engage themselves with history after they had poisoned it, lest someone should find an antidote. Secondly, I never advocated complete hiatus between specialized field and areas of general interest. I appeal that those who are expected to handle it must not be disturbed by outside interference, but once it becomes clear that they are least interested in doing their job or are doing it in a manner that aggravates the problem, interference in those areas may be warranted even through active agitation.”

He had found his escape route, “You blame Prof. Hasan for a mischief whereas he tried a solution. If secularism or national integration really amounted to communal poisoning and lust for superiority of Iran and Islamic state, at least half a dozen education ministers followed him who were Hindus as far as I remember, why could they not correct it?”

They were mostly from the Congress which benefited from it. Promotion of communalism with slogans of secularism, that, in short, it encouraged throughout. The others realized the misadventure but had not the cunning even to complete a full tenure. They fell prey to dirty manipulative tricks of the Congress which is so insecure without power that it can even redivide the country failing other options.”

“Arguments apart, I don’t think you care as much for social harmony as you apparently try to show.”

“Social harmony is a dangerous proposition where one faction is rigid as a deadwood and entire responsibility of cohesion depends on bending and twining of the other. The result of every resilient attempt to cohere by the one was attended by added stiffness in stance and enlargement of demand by the other in general and by violent response to maintain the distinct identity in several cases. I don’t preach love where love begets despise or surrender. I advocate understanding, maintenance of safe distance and vigilant cooperation to the extent it is necessary. Sweet words must be responded sweetly, tough gestures must be answered suitably. Mutual respect is still possible where love is lost and hatred is garbed to elude you to mistake it for peace. There are dangerous things without which we can not do such as fire and electricity, but handled with care the prove to be boon, so are some of the social relation. They are invariably harmful if you come too close.”
“We are already late”, he pointed towards the watch, fearing that I may go on amplifying the theme.

LIBERATING INDIAN MIND -17
DEMOCRATIC TEMPERAMENT

Night’s interval is enough for us to cool down. I was a bit remorseful after losing my temper, so I myself made an advance, “We looked for the baby in wilderness while it was all the time in our lap.”

“The day you shall learn to speak straight, people shall start listening you. Presently they listen to unlistine you. Just for courtesy.

“I mean we have shown all the concern for communal harmony, all the worry on communal tension but did not understand where the problem lies. Not even Gandhiji, who spent maximum time fighting the social divide, could identify the root cause and therefore failed to reach the solution available.”

“I was expecting just this. You have road-rolled Marx, Gandhi stood safe and tall. The day will come, you shall smash him down, I thought, and lo! it has come to-day after such a long wait.” he laughed sardonically to temper his sarcasm.

I ignored him. “Gandhiji, and almost all our intellectuals, thought religious divide to be the culprit. They tried to make Allah and Iswar sit side by side, or at least the words to be uttered indiscreetly with equal reverence across religious divide. It was an easy task for the Hindus who had a thousand synonyms of the Lord Supreme and had already added a few from Muslim inventory, such as Khuda, Rabb, and had no problem with Allah, as those who thought no other synonym, not even Khuda could rightly signify the One who tolerated no Other. But even so they had no problem so long others used
the synonyms inadequately defining the Allah.

“It was the elite section of the Muslims, claiming non-Indian heredity and converted upper caste Hindus who formed a tentative solidarity and claimed for lion’s share in despicable democratic set up, but had a greater inclination towards oligarchy. Earlier Indians had religious divide, communal segregation as well. But the clash on social plane was missing as most of the converts to Islam had been Hindus and still retained the old ties.”

“That is half truth yaar. They formed the oppressed castes of Hindu society which they hated because they had been hated by them and found their salvation in Islam.”

“This may lead us astray. But in brief let me tell you that with rare exceptions, all of them were forced to change their faith through different measures. Even in Iran the same had happened. As a test case, see that none of the most oppressed castes got converted. Those who had changed their faith followed their old customs and beliefs, otherwise you shall neither be able to understand why a muslim Kabir advocated yoga and Upanishadic unity, criticised Hindus in tune with the Siddhas, why those converted belonged to weaver, smith, and dyers etc. who had something ready or in process, of which they could be deprived on slightest pretense as the land owners on their failure to pay the land rent due to recurrent failure of crops or famine but the cobblers, washermen, even those tortured to serve as scavengers did not avail the opportunity. But that is not the moot point.

“I simply say that communal-ism was missing in medieval India, it was wedged by the British. They themselves had racial, and colour biases ingrained in their psyche. Moreover colonial compulsions left them with the only remedy. They created and manipulated the fissure to deepen and engineered it to widen at the time of their imminent departure. Our political leaders right from the time of Nehru retained it as a shuffling device. How strange that Indian communal-ism in its last analysis proves to be secular. It has been donned as such by those who perpetuated it to enlarge their democratically unjustified demands.” I felt I have explained it threadbare.

“My dear, you have again come to zero point: communal-ism is secularism and secularism communal-ism. Why do you waste so much of your time and waste mine as well? Don’t you advocate Brahmvad in a different name?”

“I wanted to tell you that communal-ism is anti-democratic in nature. It persist because we did not adhere to democratic principles. I wanted to tell you that democracy is a great leveler. Genuinely followed, it can change our psyche as its compulsions are different. But if you want to identify a group as communal, identify the one with lurking tendency to get more than its share; the inbuilt love of autocracy, dictatorship in it; the readiness to use force as a weapon of quick solution.”

“You mean…”

I cut him short, “I don’t mean anything beyond what I have said. But the very fact that Indira Gandhi resorted to dictatorship, she herself was not free from the slur. The moment Prof. S. Nurul Hasan took over as education minister and started to gain absolute control over a subject in concurrent list in violation of fair play, the day the tool of molding minds was usurped he initiated the formidable program of revising Indian history. This was the first time that a coercive attempt was made to prove that all that is glorious in India came from Iran and civilization in India started with the Muslim rule in India. The virus entered our national psyche denying it any initiative, accomplishment, and innate ingenuity. It has destroyed our immune system, that is one reason you fail to receive the correct signals. If cultural castration hurts you, destruction of immune system may be another option.”