Every people, nation and state defines its identity and gives meaning to its existence based on a set of chosen traumas and chosen glories. These chosen traumas and chosen glories shape the role of a people’s mental representation of historical events and narratives. While every individual’s identity is intimately linked with the larger collective identity; to fully understand ones profound sense of belonging it is essential to recognize how perceptions and interpretations of historical experiences become the crucial link between the individual and the collective identity.
On this day, 62 years ago, when free India became a republic, it has since then been celebrated as one of its chosen glories. And every year, January 26 has been officially celebrated with great enthusiasm with a display of cultural colors; and the might of its armed forces marching down Rajpath in New Delhi for the world to see. Yet in the midst of all this pomp and celebration, it is essential to ask and reflect on what meaning and relevance the common man and woman derives from the republic; and more essentially, whether the Indian state has succeeded in fulfilling the desire and realization of her citizens. The need for reflection and renewal cannot be ignored, if the Indian republic is to emerge as a leader of nations.
In such a poignant moment as this, it is appropriate to pause and recall the vision articulated by the great Indian poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore who in his poem “Where The Mind is Without Fear” cried out:
“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”
This vision of Tagore is compelling and represents a broad framework that encompasses the basic components of the ‘heaven of freedom.’ Today as India celebrates 61 years as a republic, it is pertinent to point out: for the common Indian citizen, to live without fear is still a privilege and not a natural right. For many more citizens, their heads cannot be held high because their self-respect, self-esteem and dignity have been stripped away. Knowledge still remains with the affluent and powerful while the narrow domestic walls are getting more narrow and fragmented. Corruption today threatens the core of India’s democracy and so the depth of truth remains questionable and the arms towards perfection and excellence has been numbed by the volume of disparity and injustice. In the pursuit of power and privilege the clear stream of reason has been lost and replaced by the arrogance of power. In this prevailing reality, the ever-widening thought and action has become stagnant and is being driven by fear and insecurity.
Today, it is certainly time to demand: “Let my country awake.”
“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”
This vision of Tagore is compelling and represents a broad framework that encompasses the basic components of the ‘heaven of freedom.’ Today as India celebrates 61 years as a republic, it is pertinent to point out: for the common Indian citizen, to live without fear is still a privilege and not a natural right. For many more citizens, their heads cannot be held high because their self-respect, self-esteem and dignity have been stripped away. Knowledge still remains with the affluent and powerful while the narrow domestic walls are getting more narrow and fragmented. Corruption today threatens the core of India’s democracy and so the depth of truth remains questionable and the arms towards perfection and excellence has been numbed by the volume of disparity and injustice. In the pursuit of power and privilege the clear stream of reason has been lost and replaced by the arrogance of power. In this prevailing reality, the ever-widening thought and action has become stagnant and is being driven by fear and insecurity.
Today, it is certainly time to demand: “Let my country awake.”
