Ghost of our glorious past.

In wake of the recent events (more specifically the noise on corruption and rape tragedy in Delhi) I have come to realize one thing. The stark difference in thought and attitudes of the younger generation and the older generation here in India.  The young want change for the better and the older give reasons as to why all is not that wrong or keep playing things down.  This has got me thinking why is there such a difference in attitude? Common logic dictates that there is a generation gap, but the gap here I see is that of oceans apart. If you observe the protesters or the people who condemn these acts or the system at large are the younger crowds. Some older folks do sympathies but most just find reasons for justification and not change. The sad part- most of our leaders are old school and that is not going to change for few years at the least.

 So, why is there this difference? This question has troubled me ever since. WHY? After much though I conclude- the answer might be in our history. Now you might not agree with me and I don’t claim to be right; you might have a better argument, but this is mine.

Open any history book on India and the story that jumps out it that of struggle and injustice.  Cutting the long story short, it all starts with: once there was this great nation where people lived happily and had a flourishing culture and were content with all that they had. Then there came a spate of invasions starting with the Aryans, followed by the Persians then the Moguls and finally the western Europeans dominated by the British. Each one bringing their culture, rules and laws that made the living of common man in India difficult. Everyone adapted, blend in but were not happy; were not free. Finally we had had enough, we fought for our freedom and after a long struggle we were free. India is relatively a new nation, just having got its independence in 1947. With most of her older generation being born just few years before the independence, during or after it. Those were the times when the struggle for independence was at its peak, non – corporation with the law of the raj was the fed. This is important as my point comes from this attitude.

The older generation was born with an attitude of rebellion as that was brought down to them from their forefathers. Will this constant change in rules/ rulers and culture, every few hundred years not leave a mark on the attitudes of its people? People did adapt to the changes with an attitude with utter disrespect to the laws of whoever made them. For them it was matter of self-respect and ego to get things done even when the law did not permit it. It was right for that era; those people were right in doing so, as it was their land and why do they listen to foreign rules. Hence we found out ways to gather the masses and bend the system to our advantage using religion, culture and other things as the foundation. Major recent examples will the non-corporation movement, walk against the salt law. Religious defiance – sarwaganik Ganesh ustsavs celebrated in western parts of India, or rise of the Sikh symbolisms of turban and sword to make one unique and bring one’s unique identity out. All these people were great people they wanted their identity to remain their culture to flourish. Bending the law set by foreigners in our land and getting work done his/her way, earned one respect. Standing against the system that was then wrong, that which imposed restriction on our core freedom made martyrs. Then one night we got freedom to make our own laws to be our own leaders.

Unfortunately this sudden change left us more confused than ever. Though we were free we followed their model for years, to govern our free country. Nothing was easy to come nor did we have the freedom to do things freely. Everything was license based, foreign trade as well as ideas in terms of press and media was highly regulated. The politics was not based on progress but mass votes. Education system and sports even today have high degree of government influence. The judicial system though separate from the political system has an open rift between them. For example when the Supreme Court passes a judgment against the government, the government goes and changes the law to favor her. And people fresh out of a foreign rule still had that rebel in them and the attitude that came with it.

Most of the older generation has this attitude of defiance and attitudes do not change quick. We find it ok to break the law till we are not caught, we do not queue and always try to bend the law rather than follow it. Drive in any major Indian city and you will know how much respect people have for the traffic laws. Our leaders all of whom belong to that generation set examples of utter disrespect for the law or the system. As most Indians think corruption is ok till the time you can get away with it (I had written another bolg about corruption, so I won’t comment on it).  That attitude carries on with most of us, from parents to children; from society to society and culture to culture. We are Indians only when we are at war or watching cricket. Rest of the time we are north Indians, south Indians and east Indians, Marathis and bhaiyas, Hindus or Muslims or Catholics, General and reserved.

Why? I ask myself, because we are still trying to protect our identity, we are still living in our past. We have still that attitude of disregard for the law for our women for all that which is not mine. We are still living under the ghost of our glorious past and have no respect to our future as a country as Indians as one.

So is all lost for this great nation?

No! and that is the best part, our attitudes are changing. India had its second independence in the 1990 I would say. When we opened our doors to the world. Internet, innovation and new ideas flooded in. All those born after the 1980 now thought differently, our attitudes were different our access to knowledge was more. All this brings in change in our behavior. Now more and more women work and hold high positions in institutions, more people are getting educated, our cities are growing and there are more inter-cast marriages than before. Would all this be possible in the 1970s-80s India? Hence when something that is grossly wrong happens, like corruption or rape; the younger generation want change want someone to be held responsible and give answers. But the older generation cannot comprehend this and find reasons as to whom to blame and often it is the victim. As they are not used to or their attitude has not got used to the level of freedom have now or made to believe that we have.

Our women now enjoy much more freedom than they ever did and the future will be even better. This is good and at least I do not see this reversing. With women having more freedom than before and India having 1/3 of the world’s population such incidence of brutality against women will be reported.  The crime might not stop or criminals will not just vanish.  Our elders making pointless statements justifying the crime will not stop. However our attitudes will change and so will our thought; not overnight but with time. Once one generation dies there will be new ideas coming in, cultures changing our attitude towards things will change. For this to happen we have to be ready to change ourselves. As the old saying goes ‘Rome was not made in a day’ mere dost.

Cheers,

Ninad Dighe.