Tuesday, October 2, 2007

The Gandhi Of Small Things…

Tarun J Tejpal:
“The idea of India was not based on religon, not on commerce, not on race, not on language. It was set on the plinth of a deeply shared culture and history and built by the brick and mortar of the great ideas of modernity - equality, liberty, justice.
but national narratives are not unchanging… as generations die a steady forgetting of the bhai-bhai past..."


Khushwant Singh:
"Wounds inflicted by Partition took a long time to heal... The new generation doesnt even believe somethng that horrific happened. "

So, what does the new generation believe?
It believes what it sees.
1992 demolitions.
1993 blasts.
1999 war.
2002 riots.
2006 protests.

It believes the 'demonisation' of a few.
It believes the 'demon' in a few.
But that’s too fictitious and that’s too plebian.
Or is it?

In out great fictions we are reminded how power corrupts. Perhaps in our not-so-great lives we are constantly reminded how absolute power corrupts absolutely. Just take a look around…millions of unfulfilled promises… thousands of children being made to work on streets… hundreds policemen asking for bribes to harass lesser citizens… media working on whims and fancies of corporates… big shot’s children believing they rule the country…and many more.

In all the initial court proceedings of Jessica Lall case, Manu Sharma’s face did not show a shadow of remorse or guilt. All that shone from his actions was the undeniable fact that he would get off lightly, for he had the power. This changed when the youth took charge.

The youth of this great nation is growing up in an atmosphere of distrust towards all. Its time for our Gandhi to emerge and lead the way towards another freedom struggle. Freedom from the shackles of pervasive powers that are bent on realization of self-interest. Freedom from all the demigods that rule over all the small aspects of everyday lives.



Lets get up and energize ourselves for the onus is on us to act now and act with courage if we really, actually, whole-heartedly want to see India shining. We need to get angry at what’s happening, because anger shall culminate into active action. We need to make our voices heard; we need to make our marks seen.

As the nation celebrates Gandhi Jayanti, we at Purdafash have gone live to give the millions of unheard voices in India a chance to fight back !!

So now its time for us to get angry and raise our ‘dandas’ as we can be the new generation Gandhis in all the small and big things in our lives.



6 comments:

Arshad said...

May the Ideals of Ghandhi help us build an Ideal India. For India to shine, we need to shine. For Ghandhi to rise, we need Ghandhi in us to rise.

May the Ghandhis in each Indian rise and realize the potential of India.

Happy Ghandhi Jayanthi!

Arshad said...

May the Ideals of Ghandhi help us build an Ideal India. For India to shine, we need to shine. For Ghandhi to rise, we need Ghandhi in us to rise.

May the Ghandhis in each Indian rise and realize the potential of India.

Happy Ghandhi Jayanthi!

Kr Deepak said...

Good work bringing up the purdafash website. I have some issues and concerns.
1. We all know and face the problems and keep on discussing them. Instead of discussions on 100 problems, why dont we start thinking for solutions of 5 or 10 problems. There are already loads of news channels who use news as sensation propaganda. Let this website not change to yet another such forum.

2. Being an iitian myself I felt gr8 about such an endeavour. I would love to be an active member of this. Can you send me what are your short term and long term plans, and how do you plan to move to the next level beyond being just a complaint forum.

3. You may think to include these three thing on the website for taking actions:
1. Right to Information
2. Public Interest Litigation
3. Consumer forums

You need not do everything, aim to empower people, not the organization. Spread the awareness about these things.

Finally one distant dream. If you can start a paid news channel ( without advertisements, which shows news and nothing else ) with timeline, analysis and critical scrutiny, that would be great.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Purdafash Team said...

Dear Kr Deepak,

Thank you so much for your post. Our thoughts are exactly on the same lines as yours. We would surely like to discuss this with you. However we could not locate your contact details so could you please send us your contact details and then we can take this to the next level. Thanks.

Unknown said...

Yes the Gandhi in us needs to awaken but I do not believe that an entirely non-violent and passive [though active and effective] way get us much teeth today. The important thing is to realize the core -

To do away with wrong and to stop giving legitimacy and encouragement to 'what shouldn't be' by glaring our eyes, having the power of the fist, being able to withstand the physical and emotional pain in this struggle and yet having the sanity to think before acting and reacting. Not a blame game but a smart game.

sushilsingh said...

Dear,Friend
DesiEvite takes minutes to create, and send online invitations. Add

as many recipients to your event as you like. and gandhi jayanti

Ecard and invitation send to Your Friend and other.
Please Visit For More Detail
http://www.desievite.com/Desi-Indian-ecards.asp

 
Blog search directory Blogarama Blog Flux Directory My Zimbio
Top Stories On our way to 1,000,000 rss feeds - millionrss.com Blog Directory
Visit blogadda.com to discover Indian blogs