More patriotism.

I wanted to post something on World Photography Day (August 19th), but decided to photograph something and post that as a blog instead. (A picture is worth a thousand words right?) But domestic commitments meant I couldn't stir out of the house or pick up a camera. So instead of posting something for the heck of it, I just played Age of Empires III for about 5 hours straight. (I'm playing random maps now so I get used to the interface, I didn't do too bad, my city BengaLooru moved up 7 levels).

Which brings me to today. I don't know where, but I read that this year was Bhagat Singh's birth centenary. I obviously had to research, and research I did. Bhagat Singh b- 27th September 1907; d- 23rd March 1931. A sense of overpowering shame engulfs my senses. (I was teetering on the brink of feeling ashamed over the past couple of days for a lot of other things.) Largely because, in spite of all the concern I have for the nation, I had never deemed it fit to recognise this year and its significance. He was less than 23 when he died, and I am days away from finishing 23 myself. He (to para-phrase from Harry potter and the Deathly Hallows) "walked into death's open arms and embraced it willingly". Now, I'm not "afraid" of death myself, but what I find remarkable and most admirable in the great shaheed, is that notion that he so fervently believed in. That his death would make a difference, that his killing, would make for a better nation. (And better it did, the Bhagat-Sukhdev-Rajguru ideals and methods of struggle crossed the borders of Punjab into other parts of India once the nation got wind of their murders). But how many 23 year-olds today believe that their death would make a change in anything in this country?
I didn't want this stream of thought that is, this post, to be some rant about how our country rocks or sucks. As I read about Bhagat Singh, in parallel IE windows, I almost sub-consciously researched Satyendra Dubey's murder, its precursors and consequences. A 30 year old intellectual being, he was murdered by none less than the government itself. I don't talk of this in the literal sense, rather more philosophically. Whether he was killed by the people he fought against or in a simple robbery incident (yeah right) it is highly immaterial. A responsible government should have brought to light his fight against the bane of modern day governance; corruption. But then again, as Upton Sinclair has so famously supposedly said, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it". And in this case, not just understanding it, but also spreading awareness about it.
The bigger shame of the day came as I finished reading up on Dubey. I read the name of Shanmugan Manjunath, a kindred spirit of Dubey (or so the sentence said). I had a very familiar feel of unfamiliarity about this name. It said that he was murdered by a petrol pump owner and his gang. He, like Dubey was in a similar struggle with "bigger" entities and was involved in drives to check rampant adulteration in petrol pumps owned by Indian Oil (where else!). Why had I never known about this? It obviously was in the papers. Wikipedia says that because this was so close the heels of the Dubey murder, it received attention as well. The case was tried, and (all) 8 suspects convicted in 16 months time! (in a non-fast track court at that!) There's even a foundation in his name.
Seventy-six years ago, in a time of lower literacy levels, of lower means of mass communication, it took 3 deaths to catalyse a long overdue youth movement in India (or at least, gave mass and momentum to it; in no way would I underrate the youth movements prior to their deaths). But fast forward to today, and how many people of integrity have to die for something similar to happen? Satyendra Dubey and Shanmugan Manjunath could end up just being names in a long list of the people who died for a lost cause.
A very unlikely person recently showed us what insanity meant, as he walked up to being hanged. He gave cries of patriotism and hurled abuses at his captors. He was quite cruel in his day himself, a mass murderer, but he had convinced himself that it was for his country. He was 69. And still, for people who would see his enemy as their own, he would seem no different than Bhagat Singh. I bring this seemingly scatter-brained thought in this text to highlight that the learned people of today will also have to exercise discretion in which person they look up to as heroes. The death of the 69 year old insane man, while extremely biased and a farce of any sense of "justice" that was supposedly served, was definitely not a tragedy. And the man, not a hero.
I shall sign off today with a poem from Dubey...

Na mujhko yaad rakhna
na mera kaam yaad rakhna,
bas itni dua hai
ki paigam yaad rakhna
(Don’t remember me or my work, just one request, remember my message.)

kindly see:
Bhagat Singh
The Satyendra Dubey Foundation