Patriotism

In a general sense, patriotism refers to a "cultural attachment to one's homeland" - Wikipedia or simply put "a devotion to one's country"

In 1995, a research project called the World Values project ranked India No 4 amongst several countries on a patriotism score that basically comprised of a graded response to the question "Are you proud to be an Indian" or American etc as the case may be. As an aside, in this survey, Germany was near the bottom of the list in spite of the obvious progress made by the German economy and their excellent quality of life. Germany stood near the top before World War 1 in patriotism surveys but has declined steadily since then. In an emotional sense, Germany never really recovered from the reverses of World Wars. Equally, material prosperity does not equate to pride in one's country.

So Indians are proud of their country. Most people would be justified in wondering why. After all, on many parameters such as economic development, civic consciousness, honesty and integrity, the physical quality of life and so on India would be ranked close to the bottom of the heap. Yet it would be a rare Indian who does not get a lump in the throat when Lata Mangeshkar sings 'Ai mere watan ke logon' or share a blissful moment of pride when you see a patriotic film like 'Border' or 'Haqeeqat'

So is our patriotism linked to a military ideal? India is generally a pacifist country with non-violence enshrined in our creed and constitution. Why then do we get moved by militarism? Or is it the mythical ideal of a self sacrificing hero, who lays down his life for the motherland that moves us? The idea of sacrifice is deeply embedded in the Indian psyche. Starting with Ram, there are dozens of heroes in Hindi movies who are ready to sacrifice everything for a friend. Is patriotism therefore really defined by sacrifice and military jingoism? If so, the spurt of feeling and the the unforced tears that accompany it are very transitory. Perhaps we reserve them for the two days in the year when it is permissible to wear your patriotic heart on your sleeve.

And yet perhaps our patriotism has a deeper shade than the obvious strains of military jingoism. Perhaps is stems from the comforting knowledge that we belong to what is arguably the oldest civilization in the world. Who gave mankind some of its most profound and uplifting spiritual thought. Who in spite of years of enslavement as a colonial underdog today aspires to regain its rightful place amongst the leaders of the world. We can be justifiably proud of what we were and what we can become.

It is very easy to get bogged down with fragmentary thinking in India. To give in to despair that the Indian ideal of unity in diversity is lost forever in the fractious politics of everyday life. It is in this context that Tagore's uplifting poem is so relevant today.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high 
Where knowledge is free 
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments 
By narrow domestic walls 
Where words come out from the depth of truth 
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection 
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way 
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit 
Where the mind is led forward by thee 
Into ever-widening thought and action 
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake 

Benign Neglect

The British had a phrase for their strategy in Afghanistan in the 19th Century during the time of the 'Great Game'. They called it 'Masterly Inactivity'

There are many other phrases that express similar sentiments. The thought is not new. It centres around the view that active intervention is not always the best policy. The Indian Government has, of course, mastered the art perfectly. The only question is whether it is by accident or by design.

There are several good examples of the great Indian art of 'taloing' if I might use a Hinglish expression. In the '60s, the Indian Government had sparked violent protests in South India because of their insistence on the primacy of Hindi. There was deep and widespread dissatisfaction in South India and for a while it looked as if the policy could actually lead to secession (or something close to it). Fortunately the Government backed off under pressure and gradually the threat abated. In the interim years great changes have occurred. There is far greater social mobility these days, communications have improved to an unimaginable extent and most of all the universal appeal of Bollywood has led to a revolution of sorts. On a recent visit to rural Tamil Nadu, the changes were apparent. Most of the younger women and girls were dressed in salwar kameez and almost everyone spoke a smattering of Hindi. A good example of 'Benign Neglect' if I ever saw one!

A related concept is of  'Time the great Healer'. In the '90s, the Khalistan problem in Punjab looked like spinning out of control. Here again, the Government chose to view it as a law and order problem rather than a significant political statement. I feel that that approach was beneficial in the long run. By containing the violence and the rhetoric, the core of the movement eventually fizzled out. Over time the immediacy and anguish also fade. This is not to minimise the horrific actions that occurred as a fall out of the Khalistan movement but only to comment on a strategy that knowingly or otherwise was adopted by the Indian Government. The fact that it does not always work is exemplified by Kashmir where the fire of militancy is stoked by external elements. I have a strong feeling that left to themselves the valley would have settled down and integrated better with the Indian mainstream. Indeed the North East is a case in point. Today there are literally thousands of North Eastern youngsters who study, live and work in all parts of India even in the smaller cities. This interaction ultimately leads to better understanding and a softening of attitudes.

In the main, the aggregate behaviour of any population is not extreme. By definition, extremist elements get weeded out and what remains is the moderate majority. Their views may get coloured by extraneous factors as in the case of Kashmir but eventually pacifist and middle of the road behavior will win through. In our pluralistic, chaotic country where the idea of democracy is only 60 years old a pacifist non-confrontational approach is indeed the best. If this is perceived to be an overly optimistic view about Indian governance so be it. As I said earlier, whether by accident or design, our rulers have stumbled upon the happy mean.

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Democracy Quo Vadis?

Wikipedia defines democracy as "a form of government in which all eligible citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Democracy allows eligible citizens to participate equally—either directly or through elected representatives—in the proposal, development, and creation of laws. It encompasses social, economic and cultural conditions that enable the free and equal practice of political self-determination."

Many countries that follow a democratic form of government feel that they are innately superior to more autocratic or totalitarian regimes. India is no exception. Indians are inordinately proud of their colourful, noisy, pluralistic and generally chaotic democracy.

The fact is that in reality, most Indians live in systems that are anything but democratic.

At birth, Indians step into their place into the 'Indian Family'. This is hardly democratic! There is either a stern, old fashioned father who is a terror and a domestic despot or a mother whose word is law. The child's first exposure to the world is to an autocratic system which has strict rules of precedence, respect and obedience.

At around 5 or 6 years of age he enters school. Again a totalitarian state to say the least! The Principal is God incarnate and the teachers enforce discipline with an iron hand. The class prefect or monitor represents authority that cannot be transgressed. He has to conform to the rules and has very little control over his own destiny. A far cry from democracy!

After school there is a faint glimmer of hope. He goes to college where discipline and enforcement are relatively lax. Here is is first chance to 'rebel' and to look for opportunities where he can express himself. Unfortunately the respite is all to short.

Within a few years, he takes up a job. Whether it is in the Public Sector, Private Sector or even the Government, there is a strict hierarchical system. Rules of procedure, convention and deference to one's seniors have to be followed diligently. Deviation is frowned upon. Again the environment is hardly democratic.

Given this structure, it is perhaps surprising that there is such a maudlin longing for democracy in public affairs. In reality, elections and the will of the people are just a means to the end. Politicians, power brokers and others in the murky world of public governance use democracy only as a cover. Vote banks are bought and sold and the final structure that emerges is just as autocratic and centrally driven as any totalitarian regime.

The fact is that Indians are uncomfortable with true democracy. We have not lived in democratic structures and it is unlikely that a cleansing of the political system will happen anytime soon. We are searching for a 'strong' leader - is that merely a euphemism for an authoritarian set up?  

The Lady doth Protest too Much

We saw a movie the other day called Jolly LLB. The title seemed to suggest that it would be a humorous film, perhaps because of the name or word 'Jolly'. In reality it turned out to be a serious piece of work about justice, corruption and coming of age. The seemingly ludicrous judge, typified by the way he looks, eats and behaves turns out to be the real hero. As he phrases it - he waits in his courtroom for real proof to be presented but invariably an 'understanding' takes place and what finally reaches him is a watered down, confused apology for evidence. When he does receive real proof he rises to the occasion and delivers the right verdict in-spite of various kinds of pressure that is being applied on him.

In the ultimate analysis life is about real people and their choices. It is not about some mythical 'system' that has been set up, presumably by unthinking and cruel aliens, that oppresses us and allows us to justify our failures and misdemeanors. Most Indians complain too much about the 'system'. Indians living abroad are particularly scathing. Perhaps they have encountered a less intrusive and heavy handed bureaucracy in their new homes. Perhaps like the 'naya mussalman' they feel obliged to uphold their new homelands. In any case, all of us, Indians and NRIs  'protest too much' like the lady in Hamlet. 

In my earlier post 'Corrupter or Corruptee' I have tried to establish that the Corruptee is more culpable than the Corrupter. The issue hinges on morality and choices. The Corrupter is certainly bad but the one who succumbs to temptation is far worse. Very often it involves misuse of one's official position or worse. The case for not complaining about 'the system' is similar. I am not a legal or constitutional expert but whatever views I have heard about India's legal system and constitution are uniformly positive. It is to our credit that we have survived as a parliamentary democracy for so many years. Admittedly, the administration and implementation of our laws and the Police system leave a lot to be desired but the 'system' as it stands is not too bad. Those of us who have had  long careers here know the pitfalls of dealing with the Indian State. From petty bureaucracy like getting a driving licence made, to land registration, school admissions, factory permissions - everyone has a horror story to relate. However, when you probe this, you realise that all of these people drive cars and have legitimate licenses, they have bought property and their children went to the best schools! How did this miracle happen? If you were to listen to them you would feel that nothing works in India!

The fact is that the Indian 'system' however archaic and moribund does work and it's getting better. In the recent past I have done several things without paying a penny to anyone and in a reasonable time frame:

1. Renewed a driving licence
2. Set up a company
3. Paid property tax on line 
4. Filed tax returns on line
5. Sold property
6. Registered a lease deed
7. Obtained an 'Aadhar Patra'

I'm sure that there are many people in India who will disagree as they have not had similar experiences. It would be great to hear from you. But as far as I'm concerned 'The Lady doth Protest too Much'

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The Death Penalty

Capital punishment in India is meant to be applicable in the 'rarest of rare' cases. In reality there have been only four hangings in India since 1995. Clearly the definition of 'rarest of rare' is very rare indeed. As it stands today, the death penalty can hardly be considered a deterrent. The likelihood of being hanged, no matter what you do, is so low that I doubt if any perpetrator of a heinous crime stops to think that he may be hanged if he is caught and found guilty.

Voices against the death penalty hinge on two arguments:

1. In the event that there has been a miscarriage of justice an innocent person would have lost his life due to a mistake.
2. The death penalty is inhuman and out of step with modern society.

Both these arguments are fallacious. The Indian penal system has enough checks and balances to ensure that a criminal who has been condemned to death has had enough opportunity for legal review including an appeal to the President for clemency. The chances of a genuine miscarriage of justice are quite low and cannot serve as a reason for doing away with capital punishment. It is said that the punishment should fit the crime. I not a believer in archaic and Biblical punishments like 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth' or stoning to death or cutting off a criminal's hands. On the other hand savage acts such as what happened in the December rape case in Delhi deserve punitive punishment. There is a need for stern and sure action including capital punishment.

By soft pedaling on implementation of the death penalty we have give free reign to a variety of malcontents. India has the dubious distinction to having the highest number of murders in the world. The figure for 2011 was 42,923.  For punishment to be effective, it has to be a deterrent. Apart from punishing the perpetrator of the crime it should set a frightening example of what can happen to someone else who wishes to break the law. It is here that the Indian state has failed to deliver. Even if we apply the 'rarest of rare' criteria to such a large figure one may argue that at least 1% of murders may fall into this category. By that logic the Indian state should have hanged 400 murderers in any given year. Certainly at that level the fear of being hanged for one's wrongdoings would have a significant deterrent value. As of today, there is no such thing.

Apart from the extent of capital punishment the other deterrent is the speed at which punishment is carried out. As of now if a criminal is found guilty of murder and awarded a death penalty by the lower court there is every chance that he will not be hanged for a very long time. Rajiv Gandhi's killers and Afzal Guru are a case in point. It would be useful to set a time limit for carrying out an execution after all appeals have been exhausted from the point of being found guilty initially. If the state is unable to operate within that period it would be fair to commute the sentence to life imprisonment.

The purpose of this post is not to make a case for a blood thirsty or arbitrary legal system. I am sure most of us would agree that the degree of lawlessness in India is increasing day by day and the spate of rapes and murders have shaken civic society. There is a need for stern, swift and uncompromising justice. Increasing the focus on the death penalty will go some way towards achieving that objective.



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Honesty Indian Style

A few years ago I was returning to India on a flight from Amsterdam. The flight landed late at night in Delhi and I got into a cab for going home after picking up my bags. On the way I got a call from my house. Someone had called from the airport saying that they had found my portfolio in a luggage trolley. It contained my passport, traveler's cheques and a fair bit of cash. Apparently, I had dropped it while boarding the cab and it had been found by an airline employee. He had found my contact number from my passport and had called home. I called his mobile phone to thank him and to tell him that I would turn back and pick up the portfolio from him. He said that he had already left the airport to come to my house. Finally, he did just that. He came over home at 3 am and returned the portfolio with all its contents intact to me. I was overwhelmed by his honesty and tried to offer him a reward. He refused to accept anything and left me with a warm glow about the innate goodness of human nature.

This is not an isolated instance. Yesterday a similar incident occurred while we were on tour in Lucknow. My colleague lost his briefcase while we were working in the market. Again, a good Samaritan found the bag and returned it himself later in the evening.

I am sure that a lot of us have had similar experiences. What I wonder about is whether there is an underlying truth about such events. Are Indians fundamentally honest? It would certainly not appear so if we were to see the level of corruption, fraud and cheating that occurs in our country. Is it mere probability that we were lucky to have come across two examples of honest people in a sea of crooks? I doubt it. Do Indians behave differently when faced with individuals as opposed to an organisation, specifically the Government? Does their behaviour pattern change? Perhaps we can discern the germ of an explanation in that last thought.

Many Indians do not think twice about evading taxes. It's quite OK to cheat the government. In fact it almost feels like a pleasurable game and there is certainly no guilt attached to it. The 'government' is faceless and amorphous and somewhat hostile. Of course it's OK to avoid pernicious taxation! It's almost a duty! However, to cheat an individual is different. The same tax evader may feel morally uplifted if he returns a bag that he found on the street.

An interesting parallel could also be drawn with Indian attitudes towards hygiene  In most cases, Indian houses would be clean and well kept on the inside but the residents would have no concern about dumping their garbage right outside. After all that is not 'their' land. It is government property and the government has to figure out how to keep it clean!

So, all in all, the Indian public has an adversarial relationship with the Government. The government makes progressively more complex rules to govern an unruly public while the public comes up with increasingly inventive ways to beat the system. While all this is going on, at the individual level Indians are fairly honest and helpful to others. A strange cocktail indeed!


Check out my book - Journey to the Hills and other Stories. 

“Beautiful depiction of Hills & life in North India in the ‘60s” – Chandra Srivastava

“The story flow was as smooth as silk and the narration so vivid, real and engrossing that I couldn't put it down....I finished the book in one sitting” – KK Sridhar

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Wisdom of the East

There was a time (just prior to independence and for some time afterwards) that India could justifiably lay claim to a moral high ground. Our culture, history and society was of a higher order than the materialistic West (or so we thought). Nehru was a leader of the non-aligned movement and our political leaders had stature and statesmanship. This happy state of affairs lasted for some time as India meandered along at the Hindu rate of growth through much of the 50s, 60s and 70s. Regrettably the stature of our leaders and the quality of our politicians declined steadily. Our cultural underpinnings were confined to Gurus like Maharshi Mahesh Yogi who provided a convenient cover for disillusioned western youth seeking an escape from toil and war in their own societies.

Perhaps the most scathing view about India was held by China. From the late 19th Century, Chinese thinkers regarded India as the 'lost country' who had been enslaved by foreign invaders for the last 1000 years and more. This view found expression in the negative treatment meted out to Tagore on his trip to China in the 30s. He was regarded as the quintessential eastern sage, out of touch with modern progressive society, advocating a quaint and laughable 'return to the classic period'. Gandhi and his views about the utopian village republics was met with equal scorn. This attitude found its culmination in the war in the early 60s where the Indian army was brushed aside by the Chinese.

The independence movement and its immediate aftermath offered a brief interlude when the average Indian could hold his head up with justifiable pride as outlined above. However, the path we chose of building up the public sector, central control over the economy and so forth was nothing short of disastrous. It was also utopian and dangerously out of touch with global realities.

The fact is that our impoverished millions demand economic progress today. The world has no time for moralising. Realpolitik is the only policy and national self interest the only mantra. It is here that India's leaders have really failed. We have rapidly and gleefully abandoned all pretence of stature and statemanship. Unfortunately, instead of replacing the 'Oriental Wisdom' of Radhakrisnan or Gandhi with the hard headed realpolitik and business sense of a man like Sardar Patel we have fallen between two stools. Indian policy still tries to hang on to a vestige of independent thought as in the non aligned movement and succeeds in exasperating even our few friends. Our economic policies yo yo between spurts of liberalisation after which a beleagured governement licks its wounds inflicted by the militant left and other moonies. There is only one way forward. Our great classical civilisation, our wonderful eastern wisdon and all the rest of it need to take a break. We need to move on the economic front and we need a hard headed, no nonsense driver to steer the ship. The world will not wait for the Indian elephant forever.