Independence and what it may mean

Sitting home unemployed, I keep hunting for new ways to kill time. A dvd of Bharat Ek Khoj borrowed from a friend has kept me busy for the last few days. Roshan Seth delivers the performance of a lifetime, bringing alive an era we have read so much of and know so little of.

The problem with history, in my limited observation, is that unlike science, it is highly open to interpretation. A historian’s misplaced loyalties may merge fantasy and truth to dangerous consequences, the recent Ram Setu case being an example.

Applying the same skepticism to Discovery Of India, Nehru’s memoirs can be contested for accuracy, or objectivity. That is not what I defend. What cannot be contested is that we have lost our sense of nationalism, which was the only adhesive in our country across caste and creed for the longest time. Where an entire country followed non violence in the face of grave atrocities; as ridiculous as such a movement may seem in times of nuclear proliferation. If each generation gets the leaders it deserves, we are the worst lot in a long time.

Maybe we could all start by getting voter IDs.