By: Adv. Radharao F.Gracias I wrote the article “Chauvanism versus Patriotism” for the Herald, after a deep sense of frustration at the way things are turning out in our country. The purpose was to make the readers think, and debate the issue. The purpose has been more than served. I have not been on goanet before but I now realize that I have actually missed a lot. I hope to continue being on the net.
I must compliment Santosh Helekar, at the outset, for proving me right. He has taken over the leadership of the chauvanists. I feel vindicated by the response that has come from fellow Indians settled abroad. In my article I had quoted Alberuni’s comment that: “If they (Indians) travelled and mixed with other nations they would soon change their minds for their ancestors were not as narrow minded as the present generation is” (reference is to the eleventh century). >From the comments of Indians who have settled abroad it is clear that they have indeed changed their mindset after having “travelled and mixed abroad”. Congratulations. Alberuni was a prophet indeed ! Santosh Helekar has in his several comments pointed out the names of Srinivasan Ramanujan, S.N.Bose, P.C.Mahanabolis and C.V.Raman to buttress his point about the greatness of India. In doing so, he has completely backed my argument. It is not my case that India per se is bad but, our “way of life” has made it so. Each of the four individuals mentioned above were born in the nineteenth century and lived most of their productive lives in British India. It is under British rule that they blossomed and flowered. That is precisely my point that the British system encouraged intellectual development. Two Indians got the Nobel Prize, Rabindranath Tagore for literature in 1913 and C.V.Raman for Physics in 1930. They were both British subjects. No citizen of the Republic of India has got a Nobel Prize in any discipline except Mother Teresa for peace. And she was a naturalized Indian of European origin ! Contrast this with the fact that out of an Indian Diaspora estimated at fifteen million, five persons have won Nobel prizes between the years 1968 and 2009. They are Dr.Hargobind Khorana in 1968 for medicine, Dr.S.Chandrashekar for Physics in 1983, V.S.Naipaul for literature in 2001, Amartya Sen for Economics in 1998 and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan for chemistry in 2009. I have always argued that we Indians are intellectually inferior to none. But to prove our intellect we have go to the west and earn the rewards. If India is so great why do our people have to go abroad to reach intellectual fulfillment? If India is great why would these people achieve greatness only after forsaking the country and living in the West? Will Santosh Helekar please answer? To know what exactly the state of affairs in our country I would suggest that Santosh Helekar read a book of fiction, the ‘White Tiger’ by a fellow Indian Arvind Adiga which won the Booker Award two years ago. Literature, as we know, is a reflection of life and Adiga’s book reflects the social milieu in the Country accurately. In her response, Amita Kanekar seems to counter my argument that India has been invaded innumerable times by submitting that India is not the only country but other countries have also suffered such invasions. May be so. But India is the only country that has been invaded and conquered so many times without having ever retaliated. On the other hand other ancient civilizations like the Persians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and others have all been invaded and have also invaded. Ours is the only civilization where every battle has been “a home match”. And we have lost every “home match” ! My other grievance is that there were just two points of entry into the country, the Bolan and the Khyber passes through which invaders came. Fortifying and sealing the said passes would have been the easiest of tasks, considering that the passes are less than ten metres in width at some spots. Had we fortified the passes, the doors of Somnath Temple would not end up in Afghanistan ! The Chinese faced with similar threats of invasions, designed and built the Great Wall of China with a length of nearly five thousand kilometers to protect their country. The only reason for our failure to protect ourselves is what we call our “way of life”. The question is, should we continue with “a way of life” which has so miserably failed?
