Reflections

This is the 4 th article in the Being Indian Series : carrying on from the previous one - Being Indian - 3 : The 1000 Year Slavery , where I examined our so-called slavery of a 1000 years. The impact of Colonialism on the psyche of a people and a society is a tale that needs to be told, highlighted so that firstly, healing can start; and secondly, harmful and at times divisive ideas and ideologies can be nipped in the bud. The rising feeling of a so-called ‘Hindu’ resurgence /  freedom for 1000 years of slavery / rising sectarianism / other factors, has its roots in the colonial experience, the true extent of which is not known to Indians even in the modern day; if they do know, the realization of its import is sadly absent, as shown by current events. The assumption, gaining popular ground increasingly in a currently niche segment of our population, that we have been slaves for a 1000 years, is sadly not based on facts; this is a telling failure of our education sy...

The Great West... The land of development, equality and the abundance of opportunity; in the eyes of some, the land of fairness and openness, the land of open markets and free trade, the land where dreams come true, and the land which defends world peace and comes to the aid of the downtrodden. This is  the land consisting of nations that try to take the message of democracy and free trade to the rest of the planet, carrying a message of peace, rule of the law and equality of people everywhere This is the impression, most, or perhaps all of which are shared by most people in this Great Land, judging from the limited interactions I have had with people from those lands, their news reports and analyses, and an analysis of their policies over a long period of time.  Let us not get specific as to countries and nations, and restrict ourselves to the dream, the land called The Great West. We are currently, as a nation and as a people, in the midst of unprecedented tumult...