What If? August 25, 2005
Posted by chitranshu in History.6 comments
Today, in our ‘Culture & Media’ class, while the professor was discussing how the modern perception of ‘Indian culture’ was constructed in the late 19th & early 20th centuries through calendars (we had earlier discussed other media like newspapers, novels, etc.), an interesting question was raised by Anirudh; what if India had achieved its independence earlier than it actually did? What would have happened then? What would our history be like?
This immediately woke up all the sleeping souls 
& a few opinions were voiced. However, the professor soon brought the discussion back to calendar art, & the currents of imagination that had risen in everyone’s minds were stemmed. These currents might find an outlet in the next lecture, or on the proposed HS 476 e-group, but meanwhile, I would like to present a few scenarios of India that I imagined, while pondering over this question.
Case 1: If the Mughals or Marathas had been powerful enough to keep out the British, or if the British had lost the Battle of Plassey, or if the 1857 revolt had succeeded: I am handling all these cases together, because I believe that the end result in all of these would have been the same. Even if the British had not won the Battle of Plassey, the European powers were, in general, gaining ground in India. Almost all the Indian rulers were taking help, at various times, from the French, the Portuguese or the British. If the British had not succeeded outright, then most probably, the country would have been divided into ’spheres of influence’ of the major European powers. Even if India had managed to retain its independence, it would have been something like China, which was continuously harassed by these Powers. Also, if Germany or Italy had managed to get a foothold later (as they did in Africa), then India could also have been a major battleground during the World Wars (as if providing our ’sepoys’ to fight for the ‘British Empire’ was not bad enough), which would have been much worse. It could also have meant the breaking up of independent India into more than the two parts that actually happened (examples of this can be seen in Africa). The British stronghold on India allowed them to build up the administrative & other systems that we inherited.
Bottomline: If our princes had not given up completely to the British, they still could not have avoided foreign interference. In fact, their success against the British in the struggles before 1857 would have just resulted in an increase in the divisions within India, which would have been exploited by other European Powers.
(I have made this argument based on the belief that the Indian princes were a declining, & divided, creed. The reasons for this are rooted in the medieval history of India. To say that a strong ruler could have emerged & held the country together, or that India could have become a global power, or that it could have developed without losing its independence, would require a lot of other changes in the history of India.)
Case 2: If the British had listened to the petitions of the Congress in the 1890’s: This would have required some very kind-hearted soul in power in Britain, as there was no other motive for them to do so. The result would most probably have been Dominion status on the lines of Canada, Australia, etc. & the end result (i.e. the present) would have been mostly the same. Not a very interesting case to discuss, so let’s move on.
Case 3: If the revolutionaries had been strong enough: Now this is a very interesting case, & according to me, India would probably have gone the way of many of the Latin American nations (repeated coups). This seems quite difficult to imagine, mainly because of India’s long peaceful history, but there’s another reason, which is precisely the reason why the revolutionaries did not succeed. India is too large a country to be moved by a single line of thought, mainly because of its diversity. The ideology of the revolutionaries was all very good & respectable, but it was not so broad-based as to appeal to all parts of India. If however, they had succeeded in mobilizing the masses in an armed revolt, the result would have been that India would have done very well as long as it was governed by that generation of revolutionaries, but soon after that, there would have been similar armed revolts against the now-indigenous government.
Another major stabilising factor for India today, & probably also the culprit for a lot of inertia, is the administration & the apolitical army. These British legacies would most definitely not exist in this case, & indeed, they would have been the vehicles for many of these coups. An alternative case is the American example, where an armed revolt led to the creation of the USA we know today, but the difference is that by the late 19th & early 20th century, the European countries were too strong not to interfere with a nascent Indian nation. In America’s case, the French Revolution & Napoleon’s apparition kept Europe busy, giving the USA crucial time to establish itself.
Case 4: If the INA had ‘liberated’ India during WW II: This case is very deeply intertwined with the overall history of WW II, but still, if we assume that the INA had ‘liberated’ India & Japan had won the War, it would have meant a new ‘pseudo-colonial’ phase with Japanese, instead of British, influence. If instead, the INA had won, & subsequently, Japan had lost, & further war between the INA & the British avoided by a ceasefire, it could have resulted in a stronger India bargaining for its future, & possibly, an avoidance of Partition. This is a very complicated case to discuss, & I’ll let it be for now.
Case 5: If the Congress had succeeded earlier than it did: This is not very different from the actual case that we all know. One thing that can be argued about is the time of Independence. If it had been before the estrangement of Jinnah, it would probably have meant a weaker Muslim League, & no Partition, though it is difficult to imagine that the British would not have tried to bring up communal questions & create divisions. A more detailed analysis of this case, however, would require a knowledge of the internal politics of the Congress & other parties, beyond what is known to us through common history.
History is much too complex, as it is, for us to make conjectures about ‘alternative histories’. Still, I have presented my opinions. I know that some of these might sound quite objectionable to some. The only thing I would say to that is that while I respect all the people who fought for India’s Independence in any which way, I do not believe that any of them should be put on a pedestal. I am too sleepy to write anything more, so goodbye for now…
Against All Odds? August 21, 2005
Posted by chitranshu in Movies, News.2 comments
I saw ‘Viruddh’ yesterday. It was a nice movie (btw, my definition is that if I can sit through the movie, it is nice.. Then there are various levels of that niceness 
), but could have been much better. Firstly, John Abraham can’t act. He is fine in the scenes where he just has to be himself, like talking to his parents on the phone, or hanging out with his friends. But the scenes at home where AB is cracking jokes & he is supposed to help in the comedy, he looks utterly helpless. Then there are the other characters floating around, especially AB’s friends, who, in the typical Bollywood style of ‘political correctness’, have to represent the various parts of India, who just do the bare minimum required of them. Sanjay Dutt, I felt, was wasted here, & the only other notable performance was Sachin Khedekar, who has a good monologue in the beginning, & generally conveys the feelings of helplessness (against the ’system’), arrogance of authority (of a typical policeman), & sympathy for the old couple, all very well. That leaves the two main characters, of Amitabh Bachchan & Sharmila Tagore, & it was indeed due to their acting that this film is watchable.
But more important than the review of the performances, or the film per se, is a review of the issues dealt with in it, although there have been better movies with similar stories & issues (most notably ‘Saaransh’, although there is much more to ‘Saaransh’ besides this plot). Like ‘Saaransh’, this film also shows the fight of a lone couple against a powerful politician, who is able to manipulate the entire machinery to his advantage. Both also show the old couple’s love for their deceased son manifesting itself in a different way for another closely related person. Both show, in the end, that there still exist some people in authority, at a level high enough to punish the villains, who have their hearts & minds in the right place, thus leaving a glimmer of hope for the viewers at the end.
That brings us to the main point of such movies. What is wrong with our system? Who is to be blamed for it? What can be done to correct it? As both these movies show, a lone person CAN fight against all these odds, & come out victorious. But why should he have to fight alone? It is easy to blame the ones in power for the wrongs around us, but what everyone conveniently ignores is that all of us are as selfish as them. They have the power to take advantage of any situation, & they will use that power, even unfairly if we do not check them.
In these movies, for example, if everyone at the scene of the incident had ‘followed their conscience’, it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble. If this collective action takes place regularly, the powerful people in society will be wary not to use their power in unfair ways. But what actually happens is that everyone chooses not to meddle, & rather carry on with their own lives, fearing that if they stand up for what is right, they will invite trouble.
Every person who gives in to this fear, & to the corruption around him, actually strengthens it. Corruption can exist in any society only if the people (unconsciously) nurture it. Then why does everyone blame the ’system’ for all the wrongs? Who forms this ’system’? Where do those corrupt people come from? From the society itself!
The most recent example of this that we saw were the Mumbai floods. It is true that faulty planning & haphazard growth contributed to the deluge, but at the personal level, how many of us always dispose of garbage in the right way? Forget the rules, how many of us show some basic civic sense in our behaviour?
Recently, I overheard a conversation in the first-class compartment of a local, where one guy was cynically blaming all the authorities for all the trouble. He criticised the Railways for the way in which they handled this crisis. Then, he mentioned that the Central Railways had, after these rains, allowed passengers having a Kurla-CST pass on either Harbour or Main line to travel on both (whichever was convenient to them) until the services were fully restored on both lines. So, apna hero took a Harbour line train with a Main line pass (or vice versa, i don’t remember), & when the TTE came & asked for the ticket, he said he didn’t have one. When asked to pay the fine, he refused, & kept on arguing with him upto CST, where he finally showed his other pass.
He narrated this incident with a sense of pride, & criticism of the officials (‘the trains are not running, but they still want to check tickets’), while in my opinion, he was a classic example of how ordinary citizens pester the officials & affect their normal work, while themselves failing to assume any responsibility as a citizen.
There is no end to the debate on such issues, but I will have to end this post here. Got to catch up on some sleep.
India Unbound August 20, 2005
Posted by chitranshu in Personal, Travel.1 comment so far
My apologies to Gurcharan Das for lifting the title of his book, but as you will see, I have used it in another context. I had found this cool thing recently, where you can indicate on a map the states you have been to in India. I tried it & here is the result:- 
Actually, this is if I count the states that I have passed through on train journeys. If I count only those states where I have stayed somewhere for a few days, then the result looks like this:-
My father being in the Railways, we could travel for free anywhere on the Indian Railways (with some limitations), & as you can see, we made good use of this. For the last 4-5 years though, we haven’t gone to any new place. Now that I think of it, there are still so many places left. Besides a lot of the eastern part of India, I have not yet been to Goa, the islands (Lakshadweep and A&N), Kashmir (we just visited Jammu), or the western part of Gujarat (I have just been to Ahmedabad & Vadodara).
There is a lot still to be explored, not just in geographical terms, but in many other ways. For example, I came to know a lot of stuff about the Indian Railways through my practical training this summer, inspite of my father having been in the Railways all along. Technicalities apart, you can check out some of this interesting stuff here. Also, when Lath & I set the India Quiz at MI two years back, or even now, once in a while, I come across something or the other, & India still manages to amaze me.
Now I hope the context for the title of this post is clear. 
Food for Thought August 19, 2005
Posted by chitranshu in General.add a comment
This story was sent on our batch mailing group by Rohan a few days back. I thought posting it here would be a nice way of preserving & publicising it (if & when my blog gets a sizable readership 
). Here goes:-
“I awoke early, as I often did, just before sunrise, to walk by the ocean’s edge and greet the new day. As I moved through the misty dawn, I focused on a faint, far away motion. I saw a youth, bending and reaching and flailing arms, dancing on the beach, and no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin. As I approached, I sadly realized that the youth was not dancing to the bay, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night’s tide, stopping now and then to pick up a starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea. I asked the youth the purpose of the effort. “The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun rises, they will die, unless I throw them back to the sea.” As the youth explained, I surveyed the vast expanse of beach, stretching in both directions beyond my sight. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The hopelessness of the youth’s plan became clear to me and I countered, “But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference.” The youth paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish and threw it as far as possible. Turning to me he simply said, “I made a difference to that one.” I left the boy and went home, deep in thought of what the boy had said. I returned to the beach and spent the rest of the day helping the boy throw starfish into the sea.”
Then there was another similar anecdote mentioned in one of the replies on our group:-
Once, Mother Teresa had gone to a biscuit factory owner for charity (she used to take broken biscuits). The owner asked why she served the diseased (Leprosy, TB, etc.) when there are so many diseased and the help she provided was but just a drop of water in the ocean. Mother replied, “Without that drop, the ocean is incomplete.”
The starfish story is due to Loren Eisley. I believe there are hardly any of us who can give up all comforts & follow what Mother Teresa did, but at least we can be aware of such people around us, & try to do our little bit.
I guess that is enough for now. It is sounding like a sermon.
Latecomers August 18, 2005
Posted by chitranshu in Personal.add a comment
Quite a weird name for a blog posting, right? Well, our entire batch just received a warning (through email) from our ES prof, saying that we won’t be given attendance if we are more than five minutes late for the lecture. Since this course started, many students had been casually strolling into the lecture theatre upto 45 minutes late (for a 90-minute lecture). Given that our institute is now getting very strict about attendance, this latest warning may ensure that all the students are in their places on time.
However, that still won’t solve the biggest problem with this course (& many other courses, for that matter), which is, complete disinterest from the students’ side, due to which, most of them just do whatever they want to do in class, without listening to what is going on. In the case of ES, the air-conditioned atmosphere helps, with its comfortable seats, & dimmed lights. Now, most of the students just sit behind & read something else, or sleep, or talk softly & play pranks on their friends, while some more adventurous souls try to irritate the prof by whistling or making catcalls, laughing or clapping in between, or actually standing up & asking irrelevant questions.
Though I am not trying to justify all this, I would say that I have heard of worse behaviour by students in certain other colleges. Here, firstly, there is a certain level of decency (it’s IIT, after all). Secondly, the prof who teaches you is also the one who sets your exam paper, & then grades you for it, unlike other colleges which are affiliated to some university. While this may also mean, sometimes, that the prof can use his ‘absolute’ power unfairly, let us keep that discussion for later. Thirdly, such behaviour is by no means the norm, & in fact, in almost all other courses, students either listen to the prof, or do something else silently.
I have digressed from the major problem, i.e. the disinterest of the students. While many profs feel that the culture in the hostels & the extracurricular activities on campus push students away from studies, & the lure of an MBA & a high-paying job causes them to lose interest in technical fields, many students feel that this is the only time they have to enjoy themselves fully & do whatever they like, or pursue any hobby or interest. Many students also feel that many of the courses taught to them are irrelevant, & that they have little freedom in choosing their courses (i.e. very few electives).
In the case of ES, for example, most students feel that there is no point doing the course, while I would say that the course is necessary but is being taught very wrongly. I mean, you cannot talk about ‘Environmental Ethics’ or ‘Environment & Society’ or the development of the human race & its relationship with the environment through the ages (that too, in a manner befitting school students) in front of 300 students who have come in with a mindset that this course is being imposed upon them, & expect no negative reactions. And then the prof tells us that we should behave like mature college students, not school kids. If they expect mature behaviour, maybe they should deal with the course as college professors, not school teachers.
That is not to say that all is bad with the course. There are certain thought-provoking points made, but they are very few & get lost in the general cacophony that prevails. Also, this being a ‘technical institution’, the students have a general repulsion towards humanities & social sciences courses. For example, a friend once said that ‘these courses are so painful.. there is no definite conclusion to any discussion.. only a lot of opinions.. physics or elec courses at least have something definite to talk about..’
I would say two things about this. Firstly, the point of social sciences is to deal with human nature in its various forms, so obviously, it cannot be as ‘definite’ as the natural sciences or engineering. Secondly, I believe that such courses become interesting when discussion is encouraged (& that is another problem with ES.. it is finally just a monologue, with no one even listening).
Anyway, I have some work now, & this post has also become quite long. Farewell, readers.
