mindwanderings | the weblog of som benegal

It would be sad, indeed, if we in India, should feel a sense of glee and vicarious pleasure in the tumultuous goings on in Pakistan today.  The situation there is so complex that it would take a political or mathematical genius to sort out the meaning of the moves and counter-moves, each more baffling than the other.  It is a fact that the division of India on the quaint concept of the two-nation theory was a tragedy of Himalayan dimensions.  Much controversy on the subject, hot controversy at that, goes on even today.  But it is a futile one, and indeed a sterile one.  Only a miracle, and miracles exist only in fantasy, can bring the two countries united together.  But what can without miracle be achieved is to find ways of peace, friendship and harmony of co-existence.  Steps have been taken but somehow faced by inscrutable self-defeating hurdles.  One of those – one step forward and two steps backward.  But the effort by our two peoples must continue.

Easier said than done, alas.  And now the turmoil, the anguish, the torment of the Pakistan peoples must give us pause while we understand the incredible, frightening and frightful ferment laced by blood and gore.  It is not just a fratricidal fight to the finish, as it were.  We can at least discern that behind and beyond the mayhem are sinister forces which seem to have seized an opportunity congenial to their fanatical purpose which they consider most legitimate in the light of their philosophy.

On the surface is the real legitimate yearnings for the people of Pakistan to acquire some democratic system and governance which allows them to live in peace and prosperity without autocracy and terror lurking ever in the shadows or openly baring its fangs.  This yearning is something which India and the Indian people must sympathise with and wish them well.  We need not rush into the scene and complicate matters.  But, please no ecstasy for Pakistan’s agony.  It is against the heart and soul of India’s psyche, heritage, proud heritage, and history to bear hatred for none and affectionate friendship for all.

God knows I don’t believe in God! How many people who claim that they do not believe in God, nevertheless exclaim “Oh, God,” or “My God.” Evidently there is something in this Creature or, should I say, Creator, who cannot just be wiped out from one’s consciousness, or should I say conscience. I fancy that even those who are rationalists or who believe that “religion is the opium of the people” cannot restrain themselves from swearing by God when confronted by misgiving and anxious bewilderment. No wonder then as the philosopher Voltaire said, “If God did not exist it would have been necessary to invent him.” When we see the lowly microbe or lofty man, the mind-blowing expanse of the Universe, seemingly eternal and timeless, can we say it is just a fickle chance or is there a divinity that shapes our ends? The great scientist, Einstein, could not help realising that even in chaos there was an order with determinate laws which only a Creator or God could have organised in its countless details.

But the best rationale for God, a compassionate and understanding God, comes from Gandhiji. He says “God is the hardest taskmaster I have known on this earth and he tries you through and through. And when you find that your faith is failing or your body is failing you, and you are sinking, he comes to your assistance somehow or other and proves to you that you must not lose your faith and that he is always at your beck and call, but on his terms and not your terms. So I have found. I cannot recall a single instance when, at the eleventh hour, he has forsaken me.”

Even the most skeptical atheist (or one who does not believe in the existence of God) or the agnostic (or one who believes that nothing can be proved about the existence of God) can deny that in the moment of darkest despair, he can escape the thought of God, and ask for deliverance.

For who is He, but the one who says in an old miracle play by an unknown author, in unforgettable terms:

“Everyman, I will go with thee, and be thy guide,
In thy most need to be by thy side.”

Can assurance and love be greater than this?

“To be or not to be: that is the question” as Hamlet said in Shakespeare’s time. But in our times the question is “to be or not to be the Prime Minister.” The question has become crucial if not crucifying. Now that Manmohan Singh has been declared (never mind by whom) to be the weakest Indian Prime Minister, we need one who is not “like a weasel” but “very like a whale”. But who should this whale be? There are many who openly believe they are the “consummation devoutly to be wished” but are coy about expressing their desire. Atalji is one such. He speaks in riddles and enigmas. But Advaniji, the shadow Prime Minister does not believe in waiting in the shadows. Narendra Modi hotly denies he wants to be the Prime but cooly hints that if he is called upon, who is he to deny the nation’s wishes. And Rajnath Singh? Oooh! oooh!

In fact, the nation’s wishes are all that all of them want to respect. These wishes cannot be clearly defined – elections are of no use, they are ill-defined, subject to the whims of the moment. But divine revelations reveal the answer. Sushma Swaraj has convinced herself that she is it, or maybe she is she. Mayawati has made no bones about her suitability. Jayalalithaa may not say it but her silence is eloquent. Mamata is least silent and most eloquent.

On the Congress side, after Soniaji magnanimously stepped aside, all feminine hearts beat faster but in vain, even Renuka Chaudhury could only end up with a hearty laugh. It was “love’s labour lost.”

As far as the Left is concerned, everyone knows that, as usual, a “classic blunder” was made when Jyoti Basu was not allowed to become the Prime Minister. But now not even Brinda Karat can dream to be one. “Aye, there’s the rub.”

In essence then, the whole situation about impending elections and a Prime Minister is “much ado about nothing.” On “measure for measure,” it is “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

So is it all a “Tempest” or just a “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and will it be “All Well that Ends Well”? Take it “As You Like It.”

Good old Shakespeare, he has an answer to everything!

Like they say, “Many roads leads to the same God,” one could also say, “Many paths lead to the same Marxism.”  But as we know from bitter experience the many roads lead through blood and terror to reach the same God who or whatever he may be.  Likewise, we know from experience that the many paths lead through blood and terror to reach that elusive thing called Marxism or socialism or whatever.  Except for one difference that socialism has taken finally a path which few will recognise what it is and what it was.

After the October Revolution in Russia, the utopian concept of a socialist state was hijacked from the dreamer Lenin by a man called Stalin who made mincemeat of socialism with his gulags and mass displacement of peoples and ruthless control of country and party which became a puppet bunch of Gopak dancers, as Khrushchev revealed after Stalin safely had died.  Till Gorbachev overturned the system and made “non-persons” of Marx, Lenin and all the stalwarts of the old regime.  If any vestige of socialism remains in the old USSR it may be found only with a needle in a haystack now called Russia.

The other great home of socialism and communism was, of course, China with Mao-ze-dong as its beloved leader.  Mao, Chairman Mao, decreed, “Let a thousand flowers bloom and a thousand thoughts contend.”  Except in practice, the thousand flowers lost not only their petals, but also stem and roots, and the thousand thoughts remained strangely silent.  Till after Mao, Deng Xiao Ping said, “It does not matter what the colour of the cat is, so long as it catches mice.”  Beautifully, as always, phrased as only the Chinese can do.  Leading that country into an unrecognisable path of national resurgence based on pragmatism, realism, unconfused with flatulent ideological prattle.

Therefore, one does not know if one should laugh or weep at the genuflecting kow-towing of our communists praising today’s China for ushering in socialist modernisation and its recent initiatives facilitating further growth and consolidation of socialism in China!  The CPI (M) has some brilliant leaders whose ideas may take some discredited terms and terminologies but their sincerity cannot be questioned.  Great is the pity that they have misunderstood hopelessly the colour of the Chinese cat today and its ability to catch the most purposeful mice.  Purposeful for China alone.

The Communist movement in India is a strange animal which defies description. Made of uncountable parts each claiming adherence to various leaders of the movement from Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao-Tse-Tung, Trotsky – you name them and you’ll find some adherents. In the ideological cacophony it is doubtful if any sane person would be able to make any sense of what is going on. But one thing has distinguished the Indian Communist movement – it has had the impressive ability to snatch defeat out of victory. And yet the Communists, if one can call them that, have had amongst them some of the finest leaders and intellectuals, the most dedicated of workers, selfless to the last – but all wasted or banished.

Today, the Communists, ununderstandably called the Left have shown themselves to be a motley, confused lot, unable to articulate what they want. All they appear to be is to be willing to wound but afraid to strike. Therefore in the process the country could be heading towards a helpless drift into a farcical situation, and therefore a dangerous situation.

It is in this context we have to note Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s forthright, unambiguous statement but without any threat. Actually, it is not only about the India-USA Nuclear Deal which in its tortuous way has confused everyone with its technicalities and political legalities but various other aspects of our political, social, economic, security, defence and inter-related factors, which deal with development, prosperity and peace, which have been brought sharply into focus at this critical moment in our history. In this process the sheer opportunism of the elements which constitute our national life have also regrettably been exposed. No surprise then that not only Sonia Gandhi but the Prime Minister and many others known for their mildness have been provoked into unsuspected belligerent plain talk.

If the format and matrix of our national and political life has to be re-aligned in a free democratic way, in short, through elections, then let it be so. But the present farce cannot go on.

If everyone in our political, social and spiritual establishments had been serious about the bridge linking India and Sri Lanka and seen the Sethu project in its true and proper practical perspective any doubts and misgivings would have been overcome and erased in a sensible way to the satisfaction of all – and to the profit of our country. But it was not to be. Incredible as it may seem to an objective mind, all kinds of extraneous issues were raised, nit-picking in intricate details ensued and passions stoked to white heat. A confrontation, entirely of an irresponsible and unfair nature, was raised to fracture the South and North of our country, as though they were alien to each other. We thought we had got rid of such fantasies and had remarkably welded our nation into one indissoluble whole with the vision of our leaders of old. But this, too, was not to be.

What we witness today is the remarkable abdication of purpose and the pursuit of an uninhibited power struggle with no holds barred. What is astonishing is that no pretence is made that the Sethu project has become a cynical political objective of gaining lost power or consolidating power already held. The great tragedy is that most unfairly a fault line in our civil society has been created where there was none before. If there were any fault lines remaining they had successfully been sealed and healed. Through the Sethu project we may have unwittingly aroused a hidden dragon ready to perish us. Already other instruments of governance are being perforce drawn escalating the situation.

This dubious battle must be called off, and we must return to our senses.

In a world of venture and, in a sense, adventure, in which we in India are much bound, we should not be unduly apprehensive of what happens elsewhere and around us. When I talk of venture and adventure, I mean, of course in peaceful action and activities. We want a united country – united in the arts of peace and united in our endeavours to bring to our people without discrimination the fruits of their toil, and other benefits of a just and equitable society towards prosperity. And when I say we should not be unduly apprehensive, I mean naturally, that we should not see enemies, or forces of ill-will towards us everywhere. That would lead to paranoia, an obsession which is surely not our national characteristic, not with our people as a whole.

In our long history, marked by many ups and downs we have taken victory and defeat with calm courage and fortitude, neither exulting in victory nor downcast in defeat. We have never been beggared of our spirit which has enabled us to tide over misfortune and live on in peace and serenity for another day, another dawn. It is that spirit which was sharply brought into being by the vision of a rare soul who could dare to challenge one of greatest empires of history with no more than the weapon of non-violence and truth to bring it down, thereby giving hope and victory not only to his own kind but millions of others struggling for their own freedom. But the success of this one paragon was sustained by the support and dedication of his fellowmen, whose faith kept them strong and whose submission to sacrifice was unflinching.

It is in these overall historical and contemporary perspectives that we have to meet our future with confidence and poise and self-assurance. There are some who point to China and Pakistan as our “enemies”. This is not the way to look at the situation. Towards both countries we have offered the hand of friendship. As a first-hand observer has summed up, China has now a passion to be at the top of the world in everything, like airports, railways, cities and what have you. But not militaristic aggression. They have put that behind; now they want to be the most dynamic economy taking any help from any source which meets their interests. For all the reservations in Pakistan about India, at heart it also wants peace, and willing to lean towards it. It is for us now to invoke our heritage of peace and extend the hand of friendship and cordiality, and look forward to a new dawn each passing day. As our Upanishads tell us – A Today well lived makes every Yesterday a dream of happiness and every Tomorrow a vision of hope. This is the Life, the Very Life of Life. And let us wish to each country and people their own.

Faith has its reasons, which reason alone cannot explain. The rationalist, who considers himself superior by virtue of his refusal to accept anything which cannot be explained by solid facts, demonstrable facts, historical facts or what he calls “scientific” facts cannot and will not tolerate a thing, a fantasy without solid ground called faith. Yes, you cannot produce a thing called faith because it has no solid face – it dwells in the heart and mind. It gives strength and courage and fortitude under the most formidable of challenges. Faith does not need proofs – the only proof it can offer is in the resultant of what faith brings about. Faith, it is said, can move mountains. This may sound romantic but what is faith without romance.

When we look at the world around us – indeed, when human beings who first populated the earth looked around them they were struck by the immensity of the universe which they could partly see but could sense though they could not fully explain. From that moment when thought struck Man he has been obsessed with questions about what quickens life, what makes the universe and its incredible diversity and dimension – how did it come about and continues to exist. Is there a divinity that shapes our ends or is it just a fickle chance. This set the philosopher and scientist in later times in ceaseless quest – one sending probes into the mind, and the other, probes sent into space or into the heart of matter. But, as we see, after millions of years and effort we are a little nearer to truth and yet far from it. The more we understand the riddle, the more perplexing it is.

But, in all this ceaseless quest, the human has maintained an unshakeable faith in himself and his cosmos. Without this sustained faith he would have vanished from the face of the earth or the awe-inspiring universe, grand in its size, content and timelessness. But, he survives and grows larger in purpose and achievement.

Seen in this context, the controversy and passions engineered about the existence of Ram or a bridge constructed or not are paltry and meaningless. Let us rather see ourselves, whoever we are, of whatever persuasion as those who have tried to make ourselves larger and more noble through faith which has its reasons which reason alone does not explain.

Gandhigiri is much in the air, nowadays. It is, of course, with the young new generation growing up and fortunately looking around to see what the lie of land is and how they fit into it, and what they should do about it to mould it to their hearts’ desire. I do not accept the utterly misconceived notion that the young generation is only concerned with itself and only with the reckless up-in-the-air fun of life detached from the realities – the stark realities – on the ground. The young generation may appear to some to be concerned only with the glitz and glamour of the so-called rich countries, particularly indeed wholly, of the U.S. West. But they are also aware, even bewildered, by the manic violence that prevails there, and simultaneously, of the yearning for inner spiritual peace and repose. That is the paradox and contradiction between the struggle of materialism and spiritualism.

In many ways, then, the quest of our young generation is something very laudable and worthy of encouragement. It is very important that they must not be mislead into false and superficial ideas of the basic values of Gandhiji which could lead to disappointment, disenchantment and disillusionment. So far Gandhigiri has appeared in the form of films and media entertainment. Good as it is, it must take on more serious and substantial foundations. The young generation are capable, competent and primed to accept the challenge and its affirmative outcome.

But, what of the generation that should give them the impetus, thrust, and trail-blazing path? What we see today of the old generation at the higher level is the lowest form of conduct, behaviour and example. All public behaviour of most of our leaders today is the very opposite of Gandhigiri, perhaps best described as dirty Gandi-giri! Alas, alas.

O, Gandhiji, where art thou? India hath need of thee! It has been today made by its leaders of stagnant minds into a stagnant swamp instead of a just, equitable, energetic, prosperous polity opening up a land of peace that is bright and inspiration for the world.

If there is one thing that is clear about the Indo-USA Nuclear Deal it is that nothing is clear. The amount of haziness about it at every level and in every detail is remarkable. Several thousand people ranging from politicians (in or out of power), ponderous intellectuals, opinion experts, pollsters (reliable or unreliable, mostly the second), mobile users (supposed to reflect the common people views), gleeful TV loudmouths and magazine pundits have all produced a frightening jarring din. In the midst of all this I doubt if any sane person can make head or tail about what the hell this Nuclear Deal is, whether it is good for India or not.

To add to all the confusion is the insertion of side issues like the consequences of the Deal, its hidden or open perils binding India into US dreams of hegemony over the world by virtue of its enormous physical, though not necessarily ideological, resources. Of the latter there is much ground for doubt and scepticism. Not that others are more exalted. Nor is there much clarity about the existing geo-political equations as they might influence and affect India’s position and interest in the world. While keeping our national security, sovereignty and independence in view, inevitably our experience of remaining clear of any hostile alignment still remains a cherished objective.

One interesting question to which no clear answer has been forthcoming is what Indians feel about the United States of America (loosely called America). Are they pro- or anti? Each faction confidently and unambiguously claims that it is right. As experience shows through our unimpeachable elections – you never can tell what the electorate will decide. But what you can tell is that they are always right; merciless but magnanimous, firm but forgiving. That is the saving grace of the Indian peoples, that makes them dear to the nation. Perhaps, eventually, they will decide which way the nation will go. If only their leaders would give them a helpful hand!