This image was forwarded to me a couple of days ago. I was very disturbed by it througout the day & couldnt put my finger on the cause.
This blog is going to be about some of the things I thought of that day..
Well, to start with - War. For a long time when I was in India, I felt that waging war on backstabbing neighbours was the correct way of establishing a sense of harmony within the nation. That it would almost work as harmlessly recuperative a strategy for the nation as throwing stones at a wall does for an angry person who wants to get rid of his/her wrath.
I guess I did not know then that my mind was just taking a sip from the thoughtsoup in the collective consciousness of nearly half a race-- cus in retrospect it was no surprise when a few years later, entire nations not only seemed to have caught on the thought, but were also acting on it!
First it was the US, killing innocent people for the oil, under the enigmatic Lennonish label of peace-on-earth. Then it was the US dictating nuclear policies to nations world wide, acting again like someone mocking fire standing at the mouth of a dormant volcano. Then it was Mumbai, home to millions, that was on fire. What did India do in retaliation?
Well, some of us are still waiting for an answer that would have the potential of being converted to a patriotic Bollywood flick. I for one am extremely proud of my country for handling the issue in an adult like, mature manner and not bothering with savage battles just to flaunt their destructive and savagely capacities when there are clearly other issues at hand. By this I certainly dont mean to let the guilty walk away free. My point is in fact, punish the guilty, not everyone who is in between you and the culprits.
I then thought about the educational system that the forward was focussing on. Indeed, in the old Guru Shishya parampara, the Guru was much more than a modern day teacher/professor. He/She was a realised being who would masterfully gauge and edify the development of their pupils, to make them better human beings. As my friend K pointed out, there would not be 100 graduates from the same school, with the same grade vying for the same job. This was because, the emphasis in the 'interviewing' process was on all round development which would automatically abate the number of candidates to a select few. For example, Lord Ram would be taught certain war fighting skills (certain astras) that his brother Bharat would not, despite sharing the tutelage of their Guru.
It maybe argued that this made sense, back then, as they would fight their wars together, so Bharat would not be disadvantaged for not 'knowing'. However, the deeper significance seems to be that one would have to prove his mental and moral perspicacity in order to even be considered for facing the highest of battlefields - the allusion here is to the scale of wars on everyday battlefields in arenas of duty, relationships and spirituality. Thus a King, would be trained to consider the well being of his people before his own. The people could therefore trust his judgement and give him the respect he deserved for shouldering a responsibility such as this. This seems to me to be a significant reason behind the harmonious and progressive society that Macauley praises.
So is there a connection between what I was thinking or was it just another random musing?
I m going to publish this blog as is for now--without too many conclusions and the summarizing paragraph, as I m running out of time and dont want to save it for a later date..I will make changes to it and edit it with examples that will clarify my point of view furthur...but do post your comments so that i know what is being percieved out there...
