"Bharat Ek Khoj"

Chanced on my writing that are 23 years old... and made me remember myself as I was. A lot of grammatical mistakes, language is ok... but its a facet of me which i want to talk about and keep alive. So here goes....! 

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Bangalore

Saturday, November 12, 1988 – 11:00pm

Today, as I sat watching the television serial of Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous literary work “Discovery of India”, my mind travelled back to those days when the cries of ‘Vande Mataram’ and “Bharat Mata ki Jai” echoed on this lovely green and rich soil. My mind bounced between the past and the present, and what I gradually started doing was to relate that wonderful past to this bright and enlivening present.

What I shall write now, are the outpourings of a girl who has seen just 2 decades of her life – a girl who has yet to enter into her adulthood and of course a girl who in her heart of hearts longs to be as innocent as the infant and at the same time as mature as the world wants to see her as. I stop to think as to why the world stops to disregard the feelings of a 20year old girl as one which is totally immature and inexperienced. I thus want to portray what I view of life at this age, as I feel, see and sense it.

At the commencement of the serial, Nehru presents to us a very awkward situation where he enquires off a group of villagers echoing the words “bharat mata ki jai” as to who “bharat maa” actually is. What I was surprised by, the most, was that not one of them could come up with the right answer. They did something because they were asked by a group of others to do so. They were the ones who followed the dictates of the ‘other’ mind. What they lacked in was the basic knowledge of any subject – however serious or frivolous it might turn out to be.

Relating it to the present situation, we now have the group of people who have well furnished their minds with the basic knowledge and they stare with a questioning glance at those group of peasants who had previously proved to be ignorant. The situation has changed and the people have now come on to occupy each other’s shoes. Where is it that we have gone wrong? Should there be a long term planning? Or should we take the first opportunity that comes our way? Of course this depends on the person. It depends on whether he feels his life to be very short or long enough to take any risk that comes his way.

Branching off from this present situation, let us revert back to the serial where we later saw Nehru talking to us from the gloomy prison bars. So much did that great seer see through the high walls of prison which made his room so dard and dull. But whatever he wrote was radiant with its brightness and it brought cheerfulness to all of us.

We then saw Nehru, travelling like Sankaracharya, the length and breadth of our country, discovering the various aspects of our rich country. He shoots off from the banks of the River Indus – the same river from where our civilisation grew and the river which gave the name to this rich country of ours. Our basic life too grows, nourishes itself and furnishes itself on the banks of some fast flowing river. Sometimes we learn to flow with the tide, and at times the current is too fast and we are swept away with it. But there are some who are left on the banks gazing with longing eyes at the fast flowing river. What I want to do is to learn to flow against the tide. However, while doing so what happens is that the stones and at times even the blades of grass hurts me, and in bearing them gives a certain kind of painful pleasure.

From the Indus, we now move on to the lovely Yamuna river which witnessed our great Lord Krishna playing on his flute and enamouring the people around him. Even today, when we go there, one doesn’t fail to listen with his heart to that melodious tune which enraptures the heart so well.

From Yamuna, the camera then shifted its focus on the beautiful Madurai Meenakshi temple – the only temple with a 100 pillars. The camera’s lens was focussed on this large temple from a great height. An overall view at such a great height, gives us an analysis of mankind’s past, present and future. The past which is symbolized by that beautiful temple, the present which is there present before us – the houses, the trees, and the knowledge that this thoughts comes to us from such a great height and at the same time this experience forebodes the future. Though it doesn’t give us a clear picture of it, we do not fail to predict what may happen in the future.

With all this, at the background, there was the lovely changing of the shlokas from the Rigveda, telling us how the world was before the civilization set in.

Thus Nehru’s “Discovery of India’ acts like the chorus in the drama of life set on the stage of this wide world.  It comments on the past, expounds the present and forebodes the future. My head bows to that great soul who was so fortunate enough to have grasped the soul of this wide world in its entirety and in its totality.