I Am the Walrus
August 30, 2008 | Filed Under Point of View, beatles, confessions, life's answers
When we woke up in the early 1950s we had a dream. A dream of shaping India into a beautiful country once again. But when we focus on trying to make it better, we forget about the demons that we house.
We did most things right but we ignored the demons. The demons came back strongly and today we are back in turmoil. We have constantly been manipulated by political parties for THEIR power struggle. What is it about wanting to rule the country that makes them do vicious things? What have they become?
Gandhi failed to see these demons. It was probably his biggest failure. Even Batman of Dark Knight failed to see these demons.
These demons build in a false sense of patriotism within us. This patriotism is sometimes of the country and sometimes of religion. They look into history books and pick out topics and point to us about some gross injustice that has happened ages ago. We can’t then think. Our sanity is lost and we are ready to die or kill. They have been extremely successful over the years.
Every day we build relationships, with friends and people around us. So much of effort goes in making this relationship happy and meaningful. You begin to start accepting the culture differences, in fact even valuing them. The foods they cook, the clothes they wear. The add so much value. But then we forget all that… as soon as an old grave is dug out. We become monsters.
Are we just trying to be politically correct then. Do we still feel that it is ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ and the twain shall never meet? Are we just tolerating each other?
India as a democracy let’s you think and practice what you want to. But why does a rightist philosophy have to mean that we only care about people of our religion? Isn’t Hinduism or Islam in its truest principle as socialist as it can get? Why do the communist parties believe that if we don’t all progress together we must not progress at all. A lazy communist and a religious fanatic are almost in the same league I would say. It’s just a question of which side of the river they are born on.
And yet, today… there are many people amongst us who see these demons. Who fight them everyday. It’s a silent revolution of sorts. Their numbers are not very large and their thoughts and ideas are too simple for people to take seriously. They do not carry flags or have agendas. They do not sport beards or rudrakshs, or even if they do, it does not characterize them. The change they are looking to bring will not happen overnight, it might not happen ever. They may get disillusioned and retract in their shell. They are after all humans. Yes they are humans and they never forget that.
I was talking earlier about ‘Us’ & ‘Them’ thing. A very interesting incident happened to me recently. I was in a rickshaw. And the rickshaw driver was wearing a skull cap, it was easy to say he was muslim. Though there was no way for him to know I was one too. I stirred up a conversation with him and asked him if there was something like the Mohammedali road food extravanza that happens during Ramzan in Pune, during Ramzan. He started telling me about where I would get these things. And then guilelessly he said that there you will find more people like ‘you’ than people like ‘us’. It was fun to talk to another muslim like i was a hindu. We still had great conversation.
I have never been a Hindu or a Muslim in the sense the world views them. But I am both. I am also a socialist. I love the agnostics and even the antheists. Communism has its own charm for me. And it should be noted that being Muslim, I have subscribed to everyone from Adam to Noah to Moses to Jesus to Mohammed. Of course I am an Indian, a Maharashtrian, a Bombaiya, a Punekar. I can go on for days not eating onion, garlic, potato, or killing cockroaches. I am complete believer of peace and non-violence.
I do not believe these are exclusive clubs. For me everyone is ‘Us’ but strangely the way life has played out, most people will categorize me as ‘Them’. Not everyone though.
Here’s something interesting -
From wikipedia - Lennon composed this song by combining three songs he had been working on. When he learned that a teacher at his old primary school was having his students analyse Beatles’ lyrics, he added a verse of nonsense words.
If the teacher comes to me, I will be able to tell him what the song exactly means. Here’s a snippet from the lyrics….
I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
…….I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.
I am the walrus, goo goo g’joob.
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4 Responses to “I Am the Walrus”
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Gandhi failed to see these demons. It was probably his biggest failure. Even Batman of Dark Knight failed to see these demons.
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If you want to point at hopeless political parties which cash in on manipulating uninformed voters, Gandhi did see them. Gandhi was a proponent of postcolonial anarchy. It was the congress party who sidelined him for anarchy wasn’t a practical solution. Thanks to an immature democracy, we have parties like BJP and SP deteriorating the country.
extremely successful over the years.
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Isn’t Hinduism or Islam in its truest principle as socialist as it can get?
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The simplest and most direct answer would be no. Islam is violent and Hinduism is unjust. If one wishes to read the books of these religions with a conviction that they are ‘all good for all times’ then they are a biased reader. The art of interpretation of the sacred texts has been developed by all religious schools. It’s called Poorva-mimansa for Hinduism and Tasfir in Islam. If one follows these interpretations, the Qoran is simply horrifying. The socially decisive texts of Hinduism (manusmriti and puranas, not the vedas and upanishadas) appear as unjust and brahminical.
If one wishes to interpret the books the way they wish to interpret them, denying the true nature of the books, I have nothing to say.
(Anon, why are you keeping your identity secret? I am not sure you will read this now, but anyway, here it is…)
Post-colonial anarchy is it? Interesting, where can I read up about it? May be he did see the demons, that reassures my faith in him even more.
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As for one wishing to interpret books the way they want to… well very frankly if we are only twisted in the head then we can see it as violent texts. Also the texts I am referring to are on Koran and Gita, as they are the texts I have read completely. The bits of Bible, I read, also still makes me feel the same. If I adhere to a document which tells me what meaning to take from it, I am attaching more importance to the that the original texts themselves. If I am deluding myself, then everyone else is equally deluding themselves. Why is their delusion better than mine?
But I accept the rightist philosophies have managed to create a better delusion than I have.
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Thank you for the comment, I believe we are on the same side of the river.
As for Gandhi, you can get the achieves of Young India in which he extensively published.
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I’d certainly agree on the delusion part. When you say everyone, I assume you mean everyone religious. I’d agree there too
Hello!
I agree with what Anon said about Gandhi. But I also agree with you. What Gandhi probably didn’t realize was that those close to him, especially Pandit Nehru, would completely turn away from him during the framing of the constitution and after independence. Nehru’s the real father of the nation, Gandhi is only the father of the Directive Principles of State Policy, which are not likely to become law anytime soon. Gandhi knew what should be, he just didn’t get a chance to find a way to make it happen when everyone else is trying to do what they think is easier to do. Sometimes I think Gandhi’s idea of how the world should be is really one of the easiest things to start and sustain, if only people could understand that.