Needless self-flagellation

In the past few decades, the tendency of self-derision, leading to self-negation, betrayed by the so-called intelligentsia, has become the hallmark of our collective thought-process. Casteism, backwardness and corruption have so affected our morale that we have failed to come up as a homogeneous nation.

Scornful cliches like this-can-happen-only-in-India8217; only added to this process of demoralisation. The media, which lacks the constructive legacy of its pre-Independence pioneers, has only catalysed the process.

Which is why we cannot lend permanence to an occasional brilliance we show. For example, in 1983, while the whole nation rejoiced over the glorious World Cup cricket victory, the skeptics preferred to call it a fluke win. The typically defeatist reaction soon permeated our mindset and prevented us from building on the success further.

The well-orchestrated demolition of the Babri mosque may have been an act of terrible shame, but places of worship have been destroyed even in a country like America. And it has happened recently in the strife-torn Indonesia. So, why do events similar to Babri not generate as much heat? Because, it is only we who indulge in unending debates.

This is not to justify anything, but only to say that it8217;s time we took our failures and shortfalls in stride and tried to overcome them. Making amends for the past mistakes, and not self-flagellation will heal the wounds.

We sure have some glories to fall back on. We are an ancient civilisation, which means we were among the first to become civilised. We have glorious spiritual and scientific traditions to boast of. Which land has given so many religions and religious movements to the world as India has? And contrary to popular belief, haven8217;t the Indians given the world some fundamental lessons in science? The inferences of quantum mechanics have turned the physicists to the cosmic vision of the ancient Indian sages. From Vedic maths to medicine and architecture, Indians had excelled in many areas of scientific activity.

In modern times, we are among a select band of nations in many fields. Be it space science or information technology, Indians have proved their mettle all over the world. Occasionally, we too have produced Nobel laureates. We may be one of the poorest nations, but the third richest man in the world is an Indian. And whether one likes it or not, we are a nuclear power too.

But are we ready to detoxicate ourselves from the overdose of pacifism and spiritual fatalism responsible for our miseries? Like a man hounded by his boss at office venting his ire on the family, centuries of servitude set off internal clashes within ourselves, most strikingly manifest in the scourge of untouchability and ill-treatment of women. It is also a reason why we are so dichotomous in our internal and external demeanour.

So what do we do about it? Will a critical commentary like Water help? If we are serious about achieving the desired results, we need silent revolutions. We have had great reformers who did not stop at pointing out the evils in our systems, but strived to rid the society of them. A healing touch must accompany criticism for the latter to become acceptable.