We want freedom - Mahatma Gandhi

"Actually Indians want freedom, but do not want to do anything for it. In fact they will be quite happy that in the process they also make a bit of money."

~ Arun Shourie  

(Quoting Mahatma Gandhi on Indian freedom movement.)

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What do people have to do, to sound wise and noble? 

Complain and express pessimism. Right amount of  concern will get people to even think you to be noble.

Everyday I am deluged by mails, from people  expressing great pessimism and a deep concern for the present situation. Talk, talk, talk, complain, complain and complain. 

Just wringing one's hands, or assigning blame never resolved any problem.  The media is best at this, they make a noise but never offer solutions. Most reporting is biased and stacked in favour of those who make them money and give them more power. Many people usually intelligent ones with a lot of free time on their hands are generally also very good at only complaining.

All this is so exhausting and mostly fruitless.

Many believe the government should fix all problems. That is a ridiculous expectation. If I want something I strive for it individually and collectively. Luckily some of the complainers have ideas of how the problems could be solved. 

Some readers have proposed the coming together of people who share similar aspirations and concerns. I love the idea and request suggestions and thoughts on making the world a better place.

Unsung Heroes - Ramesh Butani

Sometimes I get to spend time with my aged friends, Vimla and her husband the 92 year old Ramesh Butani. As our friendship grew so did I discover a hero.

Here are some of his experiences.
On 8th Aug 1942, Mahatma Gandhi launched the 'Quit India' movement, to unite all Indians, in all out effort to oppose British rule of India and become independent.



At that time, Mr. Ramesh Butani aged 17 and three of his other juvenile Sindhi college student friends living in the city of Hyderabad (Sindh) decided to join the freedom struggle. Malkani one of the friends knew the very rich Indian buisnesman,  Bhai Pratap Dialdas. They went to him to seek counsel. He asked "What do you think you can you do, for our freedom struggle?" 

Butani said, "I can write articles and Anand Panjwani here can help me distribute our message" Malkani and Shivdas Sahani said "We know how to make small bombs to create a scare amongst the British authorities."

Bhai Pratap said, "Whatever you need you arrange it. Whatever money you need its yours. Whatever resources you need but can't get it let me know and I will arrange to provide it to you. 


The four youngsters working in total secrecy, set up their base in a garage provided by Bhai Pratap. They got hold of a small hand press and other resources, along with various chemicals to make bombs. Every alternate night they would print a couple of hundred copies of some inflammatory message against the British and messages of motivation to Indians.  A typical poster had the motto  'Rebellion is my religion, revenge is my oath'.

Every now and then Malkani and Sahani would take the bombs and set them off in public places, to infuse a sense of panic amongst the British. They succeeded in their intent of causing a ruckus without killing anyone. 

In November 1942 the British police arrested the four friends. They were kept in jail for several months, beaten up regularly. They were grilled often by the police, to find out who was funding and supporting them. The young men said they were independent and had collected money by begging. The name of Bhai Pratap was never revealed.

The police sought the death penalty for the four but the prosecution could not establish a case and Malkani and Sahani, were found 'not guilty' by the court and set free. Unfortunately Butani and Panjwani were found to be 'guilty' and were sentenced to 20 lashes each.

The punishment was to be meted out in the backrooms one of the Police stations in Hyderabad. A tall and formidable Sikh soldier led Butani to the back, stripped him naked, strapped him down and when they were alone the Sikh wept.

He spoke softly in Hindi to Butani, "Please forgive me for doing this. I feel ashamed that I have to side with the British against my own people, but I dare not leave their service for then I too will be targeted." 
He continued, If I give you 20 lashes I am afraid I will kill you, and my officers sitting in the front room want that. However I will give you only 10 lashes and 10 times I will lash the wall. I know you will scream in pain when I lash you, but you must also scream even when I lash the  wall"

So harsh was the lashing that Butani was in hospital for 3 months and could walk again only after 5 months.

Butani ji stopped writing and printing inflammatory articles, but continued to join agitations wherever they were held. 

In 1943 a brave lady, the freedom fighter Aruna Asif Ali arrived in Hyderabad (Sindh) to spur people on in the fight for freedom. 

The British had announced an award of Rs 5,000 for her capture, because she was the nationalist who unfurled the Indian flag at the Gowalia Tank maidan, in Mumbai on 9 Aug 1942 which marked the commencement of the 'Quit India' movement. She took this courageous step, after the British authorities arrested all the Congress leaders.

Bhai Pratap had received information through his spy network that Aruna ji was marked to be arrested the next morning. There was no time to lose. He sent for and arranged for Shri. Jaitley and Shri. Butani to accompany and escort Aruna ji, safely out of Hyderabad. They travelled by foot and 'tonga' in disguise, she as a Muslim woman in a burkha, accompanied by Shri. Jaitley and Butani ji acting as her husband and young son respectively. 

With great difficulty they arrived at Kotri railway station where they boarded a train to Shikarpur. Once there Aruna ji secretly met with key people at a safe house arranged by Bhai Pratap.

 Butani and Jaitley with great difficulty managed to return to Hyderabad. All the heroes played their part and kept the flame of the freedom struggle burning bright. 


Soon thereafter young Butani ji, got a job as a reporter at the 'Sindh Observor' newspaper. His outstanding work saw him elevated to the post of assistant editor. He interviewed several times the future leaders of India, Jinnah, Nehru, Sardar Patil, Maulana Azad, etc.

On 14th August 1947 he quoted from Jinnah's speech as the first Governor General of Pakistan, 'Now that freedom is a reality, we should forget, Muslim animosity to other faiths, and  live and build a secular Pakistan." 

Unfortunately Muslim fundamentalists and extremists ruled the streets of Pakistan. They took exception to Butani's factual reporting on secularism statements of Jinnah. They sought to kill him. He took refuge in the home of Muslim well wishers and finally with the assistance of the Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan fled to India on 9th Sept 1947.

The small built and frail looking Butani ji shows that courage and strength does not mean only physical strength.

Many Sindhis gave their blood, sweat, tears, money and lives for the freedom struggle. Rarely is their contribution acknowledged. 'Sindh's role in the freedom Struggle' by Baldev Gajra is an excellent reference on this subject.

Drop by drop, the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of such unknown and unsung heroes, created ripples, that grew into waves that eventually turned the tide against British occupation in favour of Indians and our freedom. 

To these countless unsung heroes, the people of undivided India owe their gratitude and debt. We salute you.

Digestable People

I am grateful to Mr. Rajiv Malhotra whose many talks and books and the occasional email have awoken and inspired not only me but numerous  other people.


One can possess things but not people. 

Yet Husbands try to possess their wives and vice versa, together they try to possess their children. Employers seek to own their employees etc. Marketeers want to entrap their customers, and governments want to possess their citizens. Everyone is trying to literally possess, control and exploit  everyone else. 

Not only do they try to possess, they wish to eat and digest them completely. Most people make it easy by blindly, meekly and senselessly submitting to the expectations of powerful and dominating people making themselves easily digestible.


Powers that be, colonialists and rulers have always used this very effectively as do school teachers, military, political, religious, and community leaders. 

Get conformance from people, digest, get conformance, digest, chomp, chomp, chomp, burp!

       

 

This is why people who do not conform by thinking and behaving as per the wishes of the powerful, have to be destroyed if they cannot be possessed. To set an example and to deter non believers who might have thoughts of their own non conformists are ridiculed, isolated, locked up, expelled, and better destroyed. 





Not merely killed the non conforming individuals and groups will be crucified, burnt at the stake, quartered, and tortured in myriad ways and that too in grand public displays. 

Gandhi ji appeared to have little regard for the things the British valued greatly, personal liberty, is a case in point.

The British threatened him with imprisonment, and violence, and smilingly not only Gandhi ji but numerous of his followers marched into prison and did not flinch or recant when Police and soldiers rained blows on them.

The language also changed. When he was asked by the British, what do you want, he replied "Swaraj". How do you hope to get it? "By Satyagraha" Gandhiji replied.

The British were flummoxed, they were now hearing new words, they were encountering radical thoughts and philosophies, unrecognisable patterns of behaviour. Gandhi ji was impossible to digest.


Gandhi ji was a peoples leader, he appeared to live in simplicity, and want nothing but freedom for his country and her people.. Gandhi ji had the backing of the Indian political set up, the businessmen and even the policemen and soldiers. He was also the officially nominated leader of the Indian National Congress.

Though they wanted to be rid of this irritatingly complex mind in a simple fragile body. The British had no choice but to deal with Gandhi ji because he had the popular mandate. He was invited to come to Britain for talks and also to meet King George.

The Britishers banged their heads against the walls in exasperation at this strange and stubborn Indian, physically so frail but spiritually so Himalayan. While Gandhi ji maintained and respected all social protocols, he insisted on wearing the traditional farmers 'dhoti' and thick homespun cotton shawl and sandals. He also took along his white goat whose milk formed a staple part of his diet.

He was indigestible, refusing to be overpowered or awed by British royalty and made his point bluntly but politely that it was high time the British left India to Indians.

Britain however refused to accept Indian demands to leave India. Had Gandhi ji prevailed and had remained the leader of the Congress, India would have been free much earlier and still one people rather than the gruesome outcome of partition that took place. Unfortunately Nehru and Jinnah were both too eager to be the leaders and were easily manipulated and managed by the British.

The war against tyranny by the British for which they got global support could not provide either moral justification or legitimacy to continue with an immoral colonial policy. Eventually India got her freedom because India become unmanageable by the weakened and chastised British, and it was also the moral thing for the British to do.

The lessons are many but some are significant for all people in all lands.

1. Do not be a digestible person, group or even country.

2. India needs Indian solutions based on Indian aspirations to tackle uniquely Indian challenges. 

3. Inappropriate solutions imported at great cost and implemented by people with little or no understanding of Indian needs has always been counterproductive, wasted enormous resources and stunted Indian development. 

4. Understand oneself, the strengths and weaknesses one possesses and then take the right steps to meet the genuine aspirations of the people.

My fellow countrymen and women, awaken, realise, arise and build a greater and noble India, and a better, kinder, wealthier world. Cherish and honour the freedom you have been gifted by the efforts and sacrifice of so many named and unnamed individuals.

I congratulate all Indians on this Republic day. 

My own way to burn

“The real damage is done by those millions who want to survive. The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. 

Those with no sides and no causes.Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. 

Those who don’t like to make waves, or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. 

It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. 

But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe! From what? 

Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. 

I choose my own way to burn.“

Sophie Scholl (German resistance member, executed aged 21 in 1943)

Indian Democracy - You have a choice

We are often reminded that India is the largest democracy, and we have the freedom to choose.

In the din of psuedo-secularism, psuedo-nationalism, and psuedo-honesty, there is unfortunately little to choose from.

I am an optimist and will therefore choose to vote for change. 
With change there is hope but without change we are doomed. 

This may the only time in 5 years, I can make my political choice felt by the politicians. 

I am going to vote, will you?

Still Looking For Freedom

It is the 15th of August and the anniversary of Indian independence.
There is great official pomp and ceremony across the land. Patriotic songs are heard everywhere, to imbibe a sense of patriotism in the people. Sadly most people do not bother and patriotism seems to be waning everywhere except in the field of cricket. But the youth they do listen, because they are trusting and eager to learn and they can be forced to listen in the educational institutions.

Independence means freedom, but from what and whom?  India won her independence not only from the British, but also the Portuguese and 562 monarchs with titles of Rajas, Maharahajas, Nawabs, Nizams, Khans and Baigs.  

The foreigners and the kings and their staff may have departed and replaced by a new breed of rulers. The country is now run by numerous criminal politician cum businessmen and an often corrupt and dysfunctional government administration.

Sadly we Indians have always been outsourcing our governance to foreigners for over a 1000 years. As long as that happens, India cannot be free. Foreigners need not only be people of foreign birth but also people who do not have their heart or their minds and commitment to the Indian people or nation whom they have sworn under oath to serve.

Every citizen wants, a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

Forget about evil political leaders and useless governments for a while. Let us focus nearer to our own selves and our homes. 

Teachers at schools may teach various subjects but it is the parents in homes who instill values.

Every man is a king and every woman a queen of your own home, where you make and implement your won rules and policies. Your writ runs in your own home. 

Do you show integrity and responsibility in your own home? What example do you set for your family and your colleagues?

Voltaire the French Philosopher and writer said, "It is not only important to be free, but to also know what to do with one's freedom".

We are a young and fragile democracy. We must realise that with freedom comes not only rights but also responsibilities. Almost everyone demand their rights but apparently remain oblivious about their responsibilities. Such a society is like a one winged bird, may even look beautiful and chirp happily, but it cannot fly.

Freedom is not only about being physically free. An individual can never be free if he or she is shackled by an enslaved mind. And an enslaved mind is the product of a weak spirit.

Our children are our future, however they will become what we help mould them into.

This independence day let us vow afresh to teach our children the difference between right and wrong, instill the wisdom to make right choices and the courage to do the right thing. 

If each one of us does this, then we can hope to be truly free.

Where the mind is without fear

"None  are  more  hopelessly  enslaved  than  those,  who  falsely  believe  they  are  free"                                  

~ Johan  Wolfgang  Von  Goethe. 

"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

 Where knowledge is free;

 Where the world has not been broken  up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

 Where words come out from the depth of truth;

 Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

 Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

 Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action -

 Into that heaven of freedom, My Father, let my country awake"

  Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore

       (1861 - 1941)

                                                    ___________________________

Come one and all, my fellow countrymen and women, let us celebrate our freedom. 

Why do you not celebrate with us on this Republic anniversary day of ours?

Let us sing and dance like all happy and free people.

Oh I see! You do not feel too happy or so optimistic.  

Freedom, what freedom you ask? 
Maybe you are right.  

We have traded in imperialistic rulers to replace them with self serving dynastic and often criminal rulers.  We lived in bondage under the Kings, Princes, Nawabs, British, Portuguese and French, now they have gone we like to believe we are  free.  But are we free? I think not. 

The enslavement of the mind and spirit is greatly more reprehensible and sad than physical slavery.  The physical slave is aware of his or her plight and either accepts or fights it. 

The tragedy of the people whose minds and spirit are enslaved is that they are not aware that they have been enslaved. They take great pride in their slavery and even preach the same dogma of their former and current masters.

This tragedy the great Rabindranath Tagore ji foresaw and prayed to God that  " …into that heaven of freedom, My father let my country awake" 

A great future beckons us, all we have to do is believe in it.  India can once again become a beacon of hope, health, prosperity and happiness for the entire world.

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"The Bard of Bengal",  Rabindranath Tagore ji (1861 – 1941)  reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art.

Author of 'Gitanjali'  he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. Tagore's poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; his "elegant prose and magical poetry" had a profound impact not only on Bengalis but on the world.

His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla. The Sri Lanka's National Anthem was inspired by his work.

Life is like a game of bridge

"Life is like a game of bridge ... 


We did not invent the game or design the cards; we did not frame the rules and we cannot control the dealing. The cards are dealt out to us whether they be good or bad... 


But we can play the game well or play it badly. A skillful player may have poor hand and win the game. A bad player may have a good hand and yet make a mess of it. 


Our life is a mixture of necessity and freedom, chance and choice... we may not change events but we can change our approach to events."


— Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Philosopher and former President of India.


My thanks to Mr. Srinivasan Sundaresan and Mr. Janak Hathiramani for this inspirational piece.

The angry elephant has now begun to run free

• Why do powerful elephants tethered by just a a slender chain remain calm, peaceful and productive?
• What allows a relatively puny man to control the giant? 
• Why does the elephant not break free which it can very easily do?

To domesticate and control the fiercest of animals, man breaks the spirit of the animal. The mahout ties the baby elephant up and no amount of resistance or opposition helps.

The calf is also beaten selectively and kept hungry for extended periods. 

At last the calf develops a fearful and submissive attitude towards its master. Any deemed act of opposition will be met with pain and torture. 

The small chain becomes a powerful psychological restraint.  The same technique used by despotic /exploitative rulers and corrupt administrators to break the spirit of the people that they rule or seek to control.

Emasculating the population, autocratic and thus arrogant rulers do pretty much what they want, even so under the guise of a democracy. Sadly this has been the case in India since past five decades.

The problem with corruption and exploitation is that it feeds on itself continuously and always spirals downward and things keep getting worse until something snaps.

Similarly when an elephant has been pushed too hard and is made to work perversely and harder just to enrich its master, its enormous patience gets exhausted. It then rebels against its  own mahout and attacks and kills him and also destroys all those structures and people directly associated with the mahout.

The noose of injustice, bad governance and exploitation by our own leaders and government has been tightening steadily but has now accelerated greatly in the recent past.  The liberalised Indian economy provides great opportunity for the development of our economy but also the perfect way for corrupt people to launder their money and bring it back into India through various front entities.

How else can one explain Mauritius with a current GDP of US$ 8 Billion investing US$ 205 Billion in a decade in India alone? So rampant and insatiable has been the greed of many of our officials and elected representative that it is open and shameless and even considered a badge of honour to be seen to be corrupt.

Like the elephant the people of India have broken their chains. They have rediscovered a true spirit thought to be long broken and dead.

On the proposed Lokpal bill, our cunning political leaders and the arrogant government still see Appu the tame elephant  which can be ignored and at worst be threatened into submission.  

The trumpeting is getting louder by the day as the elephant is walking free and unchallenged in the middle of the city, as yet unsure what to do.

The  Jan Lokpal bill need to be discussed and a broad consensus has to be evolved for an adequate and effective anti corruption solution but ignoring the writing on the wall and showing utter disdain and contempt for the people's popular expression is fraught with grave dangers.  What Anna Hazare has done is, reignited a spirit into the Indian people.  

The elephant has realised just  a bit of its immense power. It must be handled with fairness and respect that it  justifiably demands. The mahout which is the government must realise its folly and make amends and try to win back its elephant. In spite of all the provocation the elephant is merely running free and only showing its displeasure. If the politicians and the government do not respect the elephant and enrage it further, they are in real danger of getting grievously hurt if not mortally, much like the arrogant and foolish mahouts. 

The government has a few draconian laws and also enormous firepower in its police force and its para military. They believe they can bring down the angry elephant. With their finger on the trigger all they are looking is for an excuse to put down the elephant. It is not inconceivable for the politicians to engineer riots, but that may just enrage a giant herd of elephants.

History shows that evil and corrupt rulers look their strongest just before they collapse.