Ancient India was a proud and honourable conglomeration, which had its values rooted in the finest of traditions, that flowed from the Vedic times. Marauders from outside, beginning with Mahmud of Ghazni on 27 Nov 1001, had invaded and plundered this nation many a time but its strength was that it could absorb the shocks, assimilate the good aspects of the invaders and continue to be the great nation that it always was.
It was when the British East India Company set foot on the Indian soil that the Royal British Empire took note of this land of milk and honey and decided to plunder its riches for its own growth.
What the Britishers thought about this great nation is best summed up in Lord Macaulay's Address to the British Parliament on 02 Feb 1835 (This has been contested by recent historians that such a speech was never delivered as Macaulay was in Calcutta, India during that time) and I quote,
"I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen even one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the 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 Indian thinks 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".
And over 200 years of being under the British Sovereign, India was systematically reduced to being a pitiful vassal, the British rulers had made sure of that. Where they couldn't enforce their thinking, they followed a divide-and-rule policy!
After gaining independence, many Indians continued with the British traditions and customs thinking them to be far superior in content than ours and heaped scorn at anything, "typically Indian". In fact, many Indians were more loyal to the Queen!
It is this sort of thinking that is undergoing a metamorphosis commencing from the first term of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister and is sure to continue through his second term as well. To give a simple example, there are many people who strongly believe that being secular is to pander to the minorities - and mind you, even the minorities detest this because they know that they are being exploited as a vote bank! The Lutyen's Delhi gang or the Khan Market gang, as has been brought out during the electioneering slug fest, are the biggest followers of this dictum and mind you, they found favour in the corridors of power till Modi upset their apple cart, by his arrival in Delhi, on May '14!
I think there's a wind of change blowing across the country. We are proud to being Indians and we want our country to prosper and become a super power!
Tailpiece.
Reached Guruvayur an hour and a half late and by the time we had turned in for the night, it was almost 0200 hrs!
Got up at our usual time, went through our chores and were ready well in time. The overhead filter and fresh water tank cleaner failed to fetch up as promised and his phone was switched off. It was a
quiet day otherwise!
It was when the British East India Company set foot on the Indian soil that the Royal British Empire took note of this land of milk and honey and decided to plunder its riches for its own growth.
What the Britishers thought about this great nation is best summed up in Lord Macaulay's Address to the British Parliament on 02 Feb 1835 (This has been contested by recent historians that such a speech was never delivered as Macaulay was in Calcutta, India during that time) and I quote,
"I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen even one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the 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 Indian thinks 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".
And over 200 years of being under the British Sovereign, India was systematically reduced to being a pitiful vassal, the British rulers had made sure of that. Where they couldn't enforce their thinking, they followed a divide-and-rule policy!
After gaining independence, many Indians continued with the British traditions and customs thinking them to be far superior in content than ours and heaped scorn at anything, "typically Indian". In fact, many Indians were more loyal to the Queen!
It is this sort of thinking that is undergoing a metamorphosis commencing from the first term of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister and is sure to continue through his second term as well. To give a simple example, there are many people who strongly believe that being secular is to pander to the minorities - and mind you, even the minorities detest this because they know that they are being exploited as a vote bank! The Lutyen's Delhi gang or the Khan Market gang, as has been brought out during the electioneering slug fest, are the biggest followers of this dictum and mind you, they found favour in the corridors of power till Modi upset their apple cart, by his arrival in Delhi, on May '14!
I think there's a wind of change blowing across the country. We are proud to being Indians and we want our country to prosper and become a super power!
Tailpiece.
Reached Guruvayur an hour and a half late and by the time we had turned in for the night, it was almost 0200 hrs!
Got up at our usual time, went through our chores and were ready well in time. The overhead filter and fresh water tank cleaner failed to fetch up as promised and his phone was switched off. It was a
quiet day otherwise!
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