India under siege-III

The date was 1st June,2012.I was to appear for my professional ethics examination on 2nd June,2012.The exam was to be conducted in the afternoon,from 2pm-5pm.I had to read 5 units by then.The first unit  was "Scope and Aim of Engineering Ethics".I was sitting at home with a book written by Mike W.martin and Ronald Schinzinger.Both of them were scholars who lived in America.One of the important topics to be covered in the first unit was about the two theories on moral autonomy.One was proposed by Kohlberg,the other was proposed by  Gilligan,who were again Americans.The book itself was meant for Americans,as was evident from the language used by the authors.(It repeatedly kept referring to America as "our country".)Where was I? Choolaimedu,Chennai,millions of miles away from America.Still,I was reading a book meant for Americans,in order to prepare for an engineering examination to be conducted in Chennai by Anna University,an "autonomous institution".
This really made me think.What is the reason for this?One obvious reason was globalization,which presupposes that it is in the best interests of nations,the world over,to follow the same policies,eat the same food,wear the same dresses and learn the same subjects in the same way(read as,Western way).the other reason that came to my mind was lord Mcaulay's speech in the british Parliament on 2nd February,1875.That one speech that was to impact the lives of millions of Indians for eternity.

The most significant extract of that speech is quoted below:

 “I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a begger, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever counquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation. ”

I cannot,at present think of any person with such forthright and devilish planning as Lord Macaulay.The result is for everyone to see.Lord Macaulay lived in India only for four years,from 1834-1838,but he was destined to change the lives of millions of Indians forever.The main difference between the Britishers and the earlier Muslim invaders was that the Britishers succeeded in making us look down upon ourselves.Indians held the Muslims in fear but the Britishers were worshiped. 


Once the mind is mortgaged,there's little the body can do.When an entire nation is tricked into believing that Britishers alone,who came to plunder the wealth,  could develop the nation,there is no thing that can be done to make people have any respect for their motherland,natural resources or culture.


Thus,another dark chapter in India's painful and turbulent history was being written....Not by her children,but the haughty and disrespectful children of a bitch.


Macaulay wrote a note,sitting in Ooty,“We require an education system in India which will produce a class of interpreters, who will be Indian in colour and Englishmen in taste, opinions and morals.”


On March 7, 1835, the Governor General William Bentinck agreed with Macaulay's Minute and wrote, "the great object of the British Government ought to be the promotion of European literature and science among the natives of India," thus promoting and establishing a permanent position for the use of English language in Indian educational institutions. 


Trevelyan writes, "two of the Orientalists retired from the Committee of Public Instruction; several new members, both English and native, were appointed; and Macaulay entered upon the functions of President with an energy and assiduity which in his case was an infallible proof that his work was to his mind"

Take any English book on Indian history and after reading it you will surely get the impression that India was such a good for nothing before the Britishers came to India.Such an impression is being created and the very same books are used as the reference for drafting the syllabus of  books to be read by school children.As you read this,millions of young minds are being poisoned into believing that India was a nation of superstition,castes and inequalities before the British cleansed the system.Of course,there is no denying the fact that India did face such problems.

But,didn't other nations face similar problems?

When you think of America,does Obama strike your maid or is it Apartheid?

When you think of India,does caste strike your mind or is it the Ashoka pillar at Sarnath?

Let us consider an example to understand our history book-The Indus valley Civilization

While reading about the Indus Valley Civilization,the only person given prominence is Mortimer Wheeler,who famously declared,"Indra stands accused".It was his contention that it was the Aryan invasion that brought down the fall of the Indus Valley Civilization.It hardly matters if people lived after him,like S.R.Rao, D.P.Agarwal, B.B.Lal, Ambedkar, Swami Vivekananda, Arabindho etc have disproved this. 

Wheeler,a Britisher,has said it,and his word is law.I can understand if both sides of the story are presented to the student and the final inference is left to the student.Such myths are propagated as though they are matters of fact.

As far as the Aryan invasion theory is concerned,it was first propagated by Max Muller.Later,Muller himself realized his folly and wrote

"I have declared again and again that if i say Aryas,I mean neither blood nor bones,nor hair,nor skull;I simply mean those who speak an Aryan language".

What does the 6th standard student study?

Max Muller's initial theory.For,surely,its impossible that Indians would've prospered without the help of the white-skinned Europeans.The more a historian speaks lowly of India,the more acclaim he gets.No wonder,then that Ramachandra Guha is proclaimed as India'a No 1 historian while S.R.Rao,who conducted extensive research in the Indus Valley sites,is forced to watch from the sidelines for the simple reason that he refuses to but the Europeans' theory.

As a matter of fact,it is now held by many historians the world over that Ancient Hindu civilization was spread over two river-the Indus and the Saraswathy,which dried up later.Will you find this in an NCERT text book?

NO!

The only way you can know this is by reading Michael Danino's "The invasion that never was",unless you are a history geek,that is.

As Prof.Viswanathan said:

"While other countries are uncertain about their future,India seems to be uncertain about even its past".

Shoudn't we be proud of our glorious past?Do we deserve this treatment inspite of being the cradle of civilization?I really wish people introspect on these questions.

The less i write about the English media's reporting on India,the better.

As the investigative journalist S.Gurumurthy lamented,

"Go to any country and the same negative stereotype is echoed that India is suffering from poverty and malnutrition. India has no drinking water. Indian women are burnt. If they are married, they are burnt, if they are widows, they are burnt. See the image that has been built about this country. Who did this? The English educated Indian".

Education must help people put things in the right perspective.Not help them in repeating old dogmas and strengthening stereo types.

Christian missionaries during the freedom movement created the impression that Indians are filthy, rotten, dirty and unhealthy, advertising abroad these are the people who need to be saved. We have to Christianise them, enlighten them, and give us money. I can understand that because it is their business. But what did we do after 1947?


We repeated the same mistakes. We projected India as a country of unending problems.The media still does it.

Every country has problems. Only in India, problems become identities. How many dowry deaths take place in India in a year? Yet, India is projected as a country burning its own daughter-in-laws. And we also talk about it. Every  newspaper will be writing about it. We believe in self-deprecation. And this goes on in the guise of intellectualism in India.

A new "study" says that Indian widows are sexually unsatisfied and they are becoming lesbians.What filthy lies!

What sort of image are we trying to project about India?I can understand if the foreign media,powered by Christian missionaries does this.But, is done by Indian media in such an overzealous manner.

 In the year 1978, an interesting incident occurred in Manhattan. There was a power failure for six hours. Manhattan is in the heart of New York where you find the UN building, the World Trade Centre and the head quarters of many multi-national companies. One third of the world’s health is concentrated in Manhattan. Within six hours, hundreds of people were killed, robbed and assaulted. We don’t need electricity to behave in a civilised manner. How many intellectuals in India have ever articulated from such a sympathetic approach? We have only tarnished the image of this country. We must be ashamed of this.

In so many American homes,the mothers mix the pregnancy-prevention pill in the food without the knowledge of their daughters.

Is this the India we want to shape for the future.I hope not.Going by the rate of westernization and globalization,it appears likely.

Have we really benefited from westernization,globalization as is being perceived?Is globalization the only way out?More on these topics in the subsequent posts.