The Token 15th

Ah, the Independence Day again. The supposed day of freedom from exploitation, economic drain, received notions, opprobrium, imperialist intervention. As of today, most of those ideals represent work-in-progress. Which is not so bad. As the ubiquitous Kalam speech that everyone emailed everyone points out, we must not brood and breed negativity.

Among the many things that I did not do for India on this special day are as follows:

•     I did not place an Indian Flag in my orkut profile picture

•   I did not forward Kalam’s speech to anyone. I detest chain mails and forwards, no matter how great they are. My inbox is a cruel cul-de-sac where unwanted stuff goes straight to the bad bin.

•    I did not send “Happy Independence Day” short messages, scraps, greetings et al. I however replied to those who did to me, with a modest ‘Jai Hind.’

It is great that so many people on and off social networks are engaging in communicating their joy or whatever on a particular date. I cannot be one of them. If a tenth of the effort that was wasted in tokenism today and is wasted every year could be channelized to do something concrete for the country, there would be, I am sure, visible differences. For the better, if I may add. Although in a complex democracy like India “better for whom?” is always a thorny issue. But achieving and assuming dignity, self sufficiency, civic responsibility, a sense of ownership and belonging about a nation, lesser pollution and more participation hardly ever hurt anyone.

Am I engaging in rhetoric? Perhaps yes. So what DID I do?

Nothing much. I am as guilty of criminal passivity as most. However, back in India, ever since I remember, I never threw an empty wrapper, a can, a cigarette or anything that our public spaces are full of into any place except a dustbin. If I couldn’t find any, I’d stuff my external wastes in my handbag. I never spit on sidewalks and walls. I made sure my dog (bless his soul) was toilet trained to NEVER do anything outside the confines of our home, or indeed, outside his designated space. I stood up to offer my seat to anyone that seemed to need it more. I never stopped public transports at places where they shouldn’t. Never much of a leader or organizer, I took part in most community initiative as a volunteer…. to clean up, or plant trees or campaign for something I believe in. I missed an army officer father while he was away on field postings. I placed my faith in the police and government offices to be snubbed time and again. Still I always tried to hold on to that faith.

The above-mentioned things are not things that make me exceedingly proud. They just point at the meagerness of one person’s efforts to try and be a citizen that lives in a community, a citizen that was served independence on a platter. Not a good citizen. Just an ordinary one.

Considering our millions, even ordinary efforts can make extraordinary differences. Efforts that involve minor sacrifices, respect towards one’s community members, politeness, concern for environment, a sense of stake holding, a sense of not wasting the indepence like one throws away a free sample.

 

Environment, Politics, Injustice and other ills represent elements of drawing room conversation for us. Community members and fellow citizens are faceless entities best ignored, for they are the ones that spit, litter and encourage corruption. The environment is something to disown, leaving the job to others and to, of course, everyone’s favorite whipping boy, “the government”.

Probably it’s needless to point out that we get almost exactly what we deserve. In terms of ‘government’, ‘the system’, ‘the (mischievous but forgivable) celebrities’ and everything else that figures in our endless powwows.

Amartya Sen points out our history of being a non-reticent people, our ability of reason and dialogue, our spirited engagement at public debates and discussions, and our vibrant civil society in ‘The Argumentative Indian’. Participation, even at the level of communication and dialogue is representative of a wholesome democracy. But what if that is ALL participation amounts to?

And the way I see it, tokenism is slowly replacing the argumentative tradition. We forward a mail, send a flash card, write a scrap, a blog, or use sms to feel complacent. We somehow begin to believe that we have done something. That somehow our duties are over until the next 15^th.

There are people that make genuine efforts, at social and individual levels. They often do it more for themselves than for their country, community or environment. Hence I do not lose hope, even if there aren’t many of them. Because doing something for ONESELF is the best start one can have, the best reason.

If we were to implement just one thing mentioned in that Kalam mail everyone forwarded everyone, things can change. Some people perhaps did that one thing. There is no need to disdain just one effort, one action, one step.

The wise ones however kept forwarding the mail every year, having found the perfect shun-tactic, muttering “so true” for the nth time as they hit the send button. There are things I regret not doing for my country. This little farce isn’t one of them.

~ by feistyfeline on August 15, 2007.