Chasing after Indian idols

But in recent decades, there has been a paucity of idols. Apart from occasional sparks like a Bollywood superstar, the scion of India8217;s oldest political family, or a scholarly president, India has generally been deprived of figures to adore. And this Spartan diet hasn8217;t done much good to the emotional Indian spirit, which is possibly why Indians puppy-chase any fashionable big thing that has come their way, and this is also perhaps why we applaud anything that even remotely reflects our nationalism. India is still searching for its heroes. And so far it has not been satisfied with those that have turned up.

How else does one explain the maniacal urge to put our Taj Mahal in a list that is not official in any sense of the term? And if it is a private entrepreneurial event, what possible assertion have we made to the world by getting a national heritage monument placed on that list? This sudden craze cannot even be interpreted as genuine pride in heritage that is known the world over. How much do the drawing-room debates and coffee-shop concern over the environmental hazards that the Taj and other monuments face actually influence our behaviour? We faithfully visit these sites, but how much effort do we make to understand their history and social context? For all we know and care, the Taj will gradually be destroyed by pollution and turn a sickening yellow before long. Seven Wonders or not, how can we be sure that the same man who cast his vote for the monument a few days ago will not scribble 8216;Balwinder was here8217; on a monument that he visits with his friends?

These are questions we must answer. When an astronaut of Indian origin returns from a successful space mission, we celebrate it almost like a second Diwali. With little knowledge of or concern for the actual purpose and achievements of the space mission, the Indian media welcomes Sunita Williams as 8220;our daughter8221;, hounds her relatives to find out what her favourite sweets are, and sings her praise for days on end. When an Indian PhD student8217;s research gets published in Science, one of our most popular web news portals morphs the story with the headline 8216;Indian may have found a cure for HIV8217;. The fact that there are four other senior non-Indian researchers involved and that they themselves admit that their work is a first, small step towards understanding the disease does not really concern us. As long as there is someone or something fit to be celebrated in the spirit of nationalism and draped in the Tricolour, we are game for it.

It may appear to be something of an exaggeration to say this, but it must be said nevertheless. Every country has the right to celebrate its national treasures, but excessive nationalistic zeal in a country like India, which is already marked by a hopeless jumble of social, religious and cultural divisions, can only make for for volatile politics.

The writer is a postgraduate student at the National University of Singapore