Some good things haven’t changed, like Enid Blyton and her tales of adventure. Her Famous Five and Secret Seven series still enriches and enthralls millions of kids around the world. Like most young girls of my age, I always associated her with fun things, nothing very philosophical. Somewhere in my heart I always thanked God that Enid Blyton was never a part of our English lessons at school, otherwise there was every chance of some English teacher ruining all the fun associated with it. I hated Tulsidas and Surdas as a child because of all the Jeewanis (biographies) that we had to mug up for our exams. Nothing is more pleasant to my ears now than Surdas’s description of Lord Krishna’s childhood. Tulsidas wrote this beautiful verse about toddler Ram and his doting mother- Kilaki kilaki uthat dhaaya. Girat bhoomi latapataay. Dhaay maat gode lete, Dasharath kee raniya, but I hated it when it was a part of our curriculum. I haven’t written this post to criticize our education system in 3 idiots style, but I always get carried away when I think of how much more interesting our Literature classes could have been.
Coming back to Enid Blyton, I came across this quotation attributed to her: “Growing old is compulsory; growing up is optional.” The more I reflect on these words, the more I see how relevant they are even today. Mirza Ghalib also said some thing to the same effect, I don’t remember his words though, the jist was that there is a difference between becoming elderly and becoming aged (buzurg hona aur budha hona). I wonder if it can be relevant in the case of the senior Thackeray. Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray says that his party would not allow the Aussies to play cricket in Maharashtra. He said, “Our boys are being stabbed, burnt and shot at in that country and still our cricketers have no qualms in playing with them. Do they have any national pride?”. In the Sena announcement banning Australian cricketers in Maharashtra, in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, he recalled that his activists had taken a similar step against Pakistani cricketers, who still cannot play in the state. How can we forget that Shiv Sainiks dug up the Wankhede stadium pitch, they surely excel at causing destruction. Is he suggesting that the Australian cricketers are responsible for the attacks on Indians in Australia? I heard Aussie cricketers coming out against racism and violence against Indians. Will boycotts help to catch the culprits? Other than soiling Indian reputation and hurting Indian and Maharashtrian economy I don’t think it is going to help much. I wonder if Raj Thackeray is thinking that he missed an opportunity by not speaking out against Aussies first. Thackerays won’t allow Aussies and Pakistanis to play in Mumbai. Bangladeshis may follow suit because of HUJI (Harkat-ul-jehad-al-Islami) connection, North Indians won’t be allowed because Raj bhai doesn’t want them in Mumbai. I guess very soon the only teams allowed in Mumbai will be the the two Thackeray groups.
Why Thackeray alone, most of us act like kids and not mature adults. Like kids if any one of consequence or inconsequential criticizes us anywhere in the world, our reactions are very strong. Any criticism against our national leaders in a book or film, even though it might be true is strongly protested. Gandhi ji’s own biography was more of a confessional statement and as a Gandhi fan I am proud of it but anybody talking even the truth about Gandhi in a negative way commits blasphemy. We have a short attention span and get bored soon and take up one issue after another, not really bothering to wait and see the impact of the sudden outburst. We live in the present, this week it is price rise we are protesting against, a fortnight ago it was the division of states. All that was forgotten as the media picked up the Ruchika Girohtra case and a few days later it was the ND Tiwari scandal. As a nation we need to reflect on where we have gone wrong, and what needs to be done to set matters right instead of knee jerk reactions. We live from one day to the next, confident in the expectation that somebody will look after us, no matter what we do. Let’s grow up and face the reality.
from Vishesh :)
from Reema :)
