Even though I felt I had systematically deconstructed L’s arguments, I was still unsettled about the whole issue. There was something which was bothering me. I opine that the BJP is as useless as any other party. The Congress proved its uselessness over 50yrs, the BJP did just that in 5yrs. So in that sense, it probably was less painful. I am aware that the Upper castes were not too happy with Gandhi regarding the Harijan movement. I am also aware, that the upper castes were being stupidly silly about it.
It is another thing to be challenged by a foreigner about something about my country. I am admittedly not a Gandhian. My ideology is somewhat different. However, the debate spawned an interest in the “other” side of Gandhism. What was really the politics of the day ? How did Gandhi become Gandhi ? It is quite evident that Nehru rode on Gandhi’s popularity and made use of it for his own ends. What lies beyond the mysticism, the myth and the legend of Gandhi? Considering it was in the interest of the ruling political party to ride on Gandhi’s popularity and hype, I would certainly take all history of this era with a pinch of salt.
As far as the question of who got "rid" of Gandhism is concerned, I do not think its got to do with any caste or religion.
I think its a social phenomenon. Indians have moved on. We want to buy foreign steel companies not make loin cloth on a spinning wheel. We do not remember our past 'cos our past is tied with shameless corruption, unemployment and poverty. Money is no longer evil. We are the neo-capitalists.
I do not know who was real and who was unreal. As it is being increasingly evident that our history maybe a result of a whitewash I am curious to reverse-engineer the “facts” I know. Any help is welcome.
Monday, June 25, 2007
My experiments with truth - Part 2
“ Gandhi was killed by an upper caste man.” he said. “of course all upper caste people hated him. The upper caste thought his ideology was rubbish. Why was it that they were so motivated to actually kill him ?”. Everyone’s eyes fell on me. I said “ Aw’ c’mon, saying Gandhi was killed by an Upper caste is like saying Kennedy was killed not by Oswald but by a Christian, I think its hardly a fair statement.” He continued “ My friend, you are saying this ‘cos you come from the same background (Caste) and it is possible that you have been brought up on the same anti-gandhi ideology that Gandhi’s killer was” I remained silent. “Gandhi was anti-upper caste, he was a great supporter of the backward caste. As a result all upper caste people hated him. And they got rid of him. Subsequently, in the present day, where no one really cares for Gandhi’s principles, who benefits ? It is the upper castes, is it not? It was always the backward castes who were big followers of Gandhi. Gandhism never really caught on with the upper castes. I am very sure that even in this day, he is still remembered more among the backward castes than the upper castes. Gandhi was good to the Muslims, which obviously didn’t help”
I said “You still haven’t explained why it was the Brahmins who killed Gandhi and not Godse ?”. He said “Godse was a member of Hindu right wing fundamentalists. You very well know that this organisation was completely run by the Upper caste. The Jan Sangh (early BJP) is a hindu right wing party. It’s a fundamentalist organisation. After independence, they found an excuse to get rid of him. Now they have got rid of his ideology.”
I was quite taken aback by the caste angle. I had never really thought of it that way. I never really thought the upper castes had an active hatred against Gandhi for “de-stratification” of the society. But I was willing to agree that it might be possible. It was the first time in my life I was seeing that point. However, I found it very unfair to be branded as Gandhi killer caste. And also, there were innumerable people who fought along-side Gandhi for Indian Independence. How is their fight any less compared to Gandhi’s ?.
It was my turn to speak. “ Firstly, I would like to point out that there are numerous upper caste Gandhi disciples or Gandhians. Secondly, you say the upper castes have systematically eroded Gandhi principles ? How would that be possible my friend ? I am not a supporter of the BJP, as they haven’t done better than any other party. Right wing or Left wing. However, I must point out that in the last 60yrs of Indian Independence, more than 80% of the time India was ruled by the Indian National Congress. The very party which is claimed to be based on the principles laid down by Gandhi. The hindu right wing party has ruled for less than 10%. It is always the victors who write the history, not the losers. If Gandhi’s principles had to be got rid of by a planned campaign (as suggested by you) , don’t you think you would have to be in power to implement such a policy ? Even among the so called upper castes, the Brahmins constitute only a fraction. Keeping this mind, if they have managed such massive PR coup against Gandhism, it would be quite a feat especially when not in power, don’t you think ? If they DID manage such a feat, I beg to ask you the question, why have they struggled to stay afloat as a political force in all 60yrs? All their efforts to come to power have been pathetic. So if today there is a complete erosion of Gandhism, by sheer logic you should be blaming the pro-gandhi Congress party.”
“As far as Gandhi being relatively more popular among the Dalits today, I think that too is nonsense. Only Ambedkar is considered a true leader. I am not sure they give a toss about Gandhi today. And you think I am anti-Gandhi ? Lets not go there as it is besides the point. If you think my ideology is shaped by my caste, you have another thing coming. My family has hardly shown any interests in political issues. Our social circle too indicates a lack of casteist fundamentalism. I too like millions others have been brought up on the mundane text books preaching the very same ideology you are talking about, in four different languages!”
By this time my friend L was struggling to counter my point. Of course, I being Indian gave me a little more edge in gathering the points. But he refused to give up, which I suspect had all to do with ego rather than rationale. He queried “ Where do you think I got such an impression then ?”. I immediately recognized this as a trap. If I had speculated on where he got his impression, he would immediately be in a position to catch me on the wrong foot. “ I don’t know” was the only thing I said. He looked at others around the table and dismissed me “ He is a cynic. He wont give up”. I just said “Prove it” “Prove that I was being a cynic. You cant make random statements, my friend”. He said “ I can say whatever I want, cant I ?” As a man of science, that’s the last thing you would expect him to say. It was the sound of his nerves snapping. I shrugged and let it go.
I said “You still haven’t explained why it was the Brahmins who killed Gandhi and not Godse ?”. He said “Godse was a member of Hindu right wing fundamentalists. You very well know that this organisation was completely run by the Upper caste. The Jan Sangh (early BJP) is a hindu right wing party. It’s a fundamentalist organisation. After independence, they found an excuse to get rid of him. Now they have got rid of his ideology.”
I was quite taken aback by the caste angle. I had never really thought of it that way. I never really thought the upper castes had an active hatred against Gandhi for “de-stratification” of the society. But I was willing to agree that it might be possible. It was the first time in my life I was seeing that point. However, I found it very unfair to be branded as Gandhi killer caste. And also, there were innumerable people who fought along-side Gandhi for Indian Independence. How is their fight any less compared to Gandhi’s ?.
It was my turn to speak. “ Firstly, I would like to point out that there are numerous upper caste Gandhi disciples or Gandhians. Secondly, you say the upper castes have systematically eroded Gandhi principles ? How would that be possible my friend ? I am not a supporter of the BJP, as they haven’t done better than any other party. Right wing or Left wing. However, I must point out that in the last 60yrs of Indian Independence, more than 80% of the time India was ruled by the Indian National Congress. The very party which is claimed to be based on the principles laid down by Gandhi. The hindu right wing party has ruled for less than 10%. It is always the victors who write the history, not the losers. If Gandhi’s principles had to be got rid of by a planned campaign (as suggested by you) , don’t you think you would have to be in power to implement such a policy ? Even among the so called upper castes, the Brahmins constitute only a fraction. Keeping this mind, if they have managed such massive PR coup against Gandhism, it would be quite a feat especially when not in power, don’t you think ? If they DID manage such a feat, I beg to ask you the question, why have they struggled to stay afloat as a political force in all 60yrs? All their efforts to come to power have been pathetic. So if today there is a complete erosion of Gandhism, by sheer logic you should be blaming the pro-gandhi Congress party.”
“As far as Gandhi being relatively more popular among the Dalits today, I think that too is nonsense. Only Ambedkar is considered a true leader. I am not sure they give a toss about Gandhi today. And you think I am anti-Gandhi ? Lets not go there as it is besides the point. If you think my ideology is shaped by my caste, you have another thing coming. My family has hardly shown any interests in political issues. Our social circle too indicates a lack of casteist fundamentalism. I too like millions others have been brought up on the mundane text books preaching the very same ideology you are talking about, in four different languages!”
By this time my friend L was struggling to counter my point. Of course, I being Indian gave me a little more edge in gathering the points. But he refused to give up, which I suspect had all to do with ego rather than rationale. He queried “ Where do you think I got such an impression then ?”. I immediately recognized this as a trap. If I had speculated on where he got his impression, he would immediately be in a position to catch me on the wrong foot. “ I don’t know” was the only thing I said. He looked at others around the table and dismissed me “ He is a cynic. He wont give up”. I just said “Prove it” “Prove that I was being a cynic. You cant make random statements, my friend”. He said “ I can say whatever I want, cant I ?” As a man of science, that’s the last thing you would expect him to say. It was the sound of his nerves snapping. I shrugged and let it go.
My experiment with truth - Part 1
It is not often that you start analysing things you have always known. However, I had that chance in the past week. I was in the middle of a very interesting discussion which subsequently boiled into a political maelstrom. The topic was Mahatma Gandhi.
I was hanging around with my usual bunch during lunch. The bunch consisted of an Uruguayan called B and two Italians, P and L. One of the Italians called L has considerable experience living in India and has a fair idea of Indian history and politics. Our discussion was spawned like this:
B: So do you believe in the Military ? And Nuclear Weapons ?
Me: Yes I do believe in my Military very much. I’m still undecided about this world having Nukes, though.
B having lived her life under a dictatorship and was not too impressed with my answer. And asked me “ That is strange coming from someone from the land of the Mahatma.” At this point my Italian friend L interjected and laughed and said in a very absolutist and judgemental manner “Are you kidding !? These guys have trashed Gandhi long time ago. No one cares anymore. The upper caste have systematically eradicated all teachings of Gandhism.”
The last sentence hit me as ignorant. I did want to stop and laugh. B ignored him and continued with her interest “So, why do you support the military?”
Me: “The military is what keeps my country a democracy. Unlike many other nations, the military in India has never crossed the line of democracy. That’s why I support it.” B was fairly happy with my reasoning and resigned. Then I turned to L and picked his last comment and told him I was very offended by his comment and that it was very irresponsible. Being a man of fairly large ego, he was flustered. The debate began.
I was hanging around with my usual bunch during lunch. The bunch consisted of an Uruguayan called B and two Italians, P and L. One of the Italians called L has considerable experience living in India and has a fair idea of Indian history and politics. Our discussion was spawned like this:
B: So do you believe in the Military ? And Nuclear Weapons ?
Me: Yes I do believe in my Military very much. I’m still undecided about this world having Nukes, though.
B having lived her life under a dictatorship and was not too impressed with my answer. And asked me “ That is strange coming from someone from the land of the Mahatma.” At this point my Italian friend L interjected and laughed and said in a very absolutist and judgemental manner “Are you kidding !? These guys have trashed Gandhi long time ago. No one cares anymore. The upper caste have systematically eradicated all teachings of Gandhism.”
The last sentence hit me as ignorant. I did want to stop and laugh. B ignored him and continued with her interest “So, why do you support the military?”
Me: “The military is what keeps my country a democracy. Unlike many other nations, the military in India has never crossed the line of democracy. That’s why I support it.” B was fairly happy with my reasoning and resigned. Then I turned to L and picked his last comment and told him I was very offended by his comment and that it was very irresponsible. Being a man of fairly large ego, he was flustered. The debate began.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
The litmus test
I am a big fan of seemingly useless research and amusing conclusions. With easy access to journals of current science, I obviously spend a great deal of my work hours looking for such gems. Of course, all this is done during work hours, so not much of my time is actually wasted. Yesterday, I caught this very amusing piece of research in Human Physiology. A man of science has hypothesised and provided some evidence that the ratio between the Index finger and the ring finger on the right hand could be indicative of testosterone levels! Basically, the ring finger should be longer than the Index finger in males. This is due to higher testosterone levels in the womb before birth.
So, does this mean if your ring finger is not longer than the Index finger, you are ..er ..not male? I don’t know, but there seems to be enough evidence around to suggest that in such a case either you are low on testosterone or just not male. However, I can gladly extend my scientific opinion and encourage all of you with shorter ring finger that its time for you to reconsider that sex change operation you always wanted (but your parents refused, saying it wasn't value for money). That should keep you on the safer side.
Stop Press: I have just been informed that there is a more absolute way of determining whether you are male or female. Damn, science IS quick.
So, does this mean if your ring finger is not longer than the Index finger, you are ..er ..not male? I don’t know, but there seems to be enough evidence around to suggest that in such a case either you are low on testosterone or just not male. However, I can gladly extend my scientific opinion and encourage all of you with shorter ring finger that its time for you to reconsider that sex change operation you always wanted (but your parents refused, saying it wasn't value for money). That should keep you on the safer side.
Stop Press: I have just been informed that there is a more absolute way of determining whether you are male or female. Damn, science IS quick.
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