Think of remote Africa. You see people dressed in leaves and bark, faces painted, huge earrings and nose rings, dancing around a big fire under a million stars. Where do you see yourself in that picture? Well, as a tourist (assuming the tribe isn't hostile to you), you're sitting with stars in your eyes, watching utterly fascinated, clicking away random pics on your high resolution Nikon cam. Do you want to run screaming into their midst and teach them how to be "civilized"? Nope. Do you want to go back home and brag about your latest holiday on Facebook? VERY MUCH.
To think of it, yes, it's weird that there are people on this planet who have no idea what electricity is, don't speak English and will most definitely grunt and shoo you away if you talk to them about religion. That doesn't mean you need to scare them at gun-point and get them to become like you. They do have a life, thank you very much. They've been fending for themselves quite well for many centuries now, without your help. They have a way of living, which, whether you want to acknowledge or not, is called a "Civilization" (Yup, that's a capital C)!
What you should do as someone who has been taught the bill of Human Rights in high school is- Admire their culture, respect their diversity, and mind your own business. Unless you want to take the Mother Teresa route, believe me, I have every intention of accusing you of being a greedy pig.
So, is that what a white man was? A greedy little pig? Hard to say, actually. There is this whole notion of "the white man's burden" to consider. Whether they were genuinely concerned about the less advanced way of life that other people led, or whether they just used it as an excuse to fire-brand yet another country on the world map is extremely arguable. But what I will do now, is dissect this slippery frog and try to see it for real.
You get hung up on the idea of finding gold and you sail in all sorts of unknown seas. You finally hit land and you find people who think you have come from heaven (Lucky man, Chris Columbus!). You take advantage of them because they have absolutely no clue what you are up to. Then, you write to your beloved King saying "Oooh! These people are God-less! Let's give them ours!". Grrr! Hang on, boy, I thought you got there to TRADE. What is with this compulsion to turn everyone like you??
Shobana ma'am had a brilliant explanation for that. Even in college, you are expected to be a particular kind of person to be in the "in gang". Ultimately, the tallest, longest legged, flamboyant chick becomes your walking bible. So true! But there are still those of us who like to be ourselves, Jimmy Choos be damned! There is a beauty in being your own, unique self; and we'll all be really great together with our many different talents making our space colourful... In theory. Try saying that when you're doing your CIA 3? CHAOS. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" "My method is clearly the best, you moron!"
You'll never hear the end of it.
It is the law of nature (the second law of thermodynamics, to be precise) that everything in the universe becomes more and more disorderly. Obviously, if you have more number of opinions, more ways of life, there will be more disorder. Diversity may be beautiful, but then again... Uniformity can be very peaceful, too. What would you call a Mahendra Singh Dhoni type of guy marching with the buzz cut army guys on Republic Day? An eye-sore.
Fine. So, let's all be the same. What does that involve? Whose way of life do we follow? Who is right? Which is best? Can we all go back to our respective caves now? Please??
Again, Shobana ma'am has a brilliant explanation. The British were here, right? They brought us the railway, right? When they were gone, we ditched the concept of having a million little kingdoms and wrote ourselves a democratic constitution, right? And we're still wearing our pretty saris and dancing the Bharatanatyam. We'll save the whole how-we-struggled-for-our-independence story for later and just say- we still have us, we also have them. Cool.
Then again, I wonder, just because someone says "Ok, let's try your way", what makes you take advantage of it and rule over them? Fine, let's call it human tendency. But does that mean we'll never get to learn from other people for the fear of being the scorpion under their dirty slipper? Why the hell is this so complicated? What is wrong?
Nothing is wrong. In fact, every little thing that different groups of people do is right. It is HOW you do it, which makes all the difference. No matter how much we try, we will never be the same. We are meant to be diverse. Whether you want to look at the diversity of our flaws or diversity of our strengths is what makes the world an ugly or a beautiful place.
To think of it, yes, it's weird that there are people on this planet who have no idea what electricity is, don't speak English and will most definitely grunt and shoo you away if you talk to them about religion. That doesn't mean you need to scare them at gun-point and get them to become like you. They do have a life, thank you very much. They've been fending for themselves quite well for many centuries now, without your help. They have a way of living, which, whether you want to acknowledge or not, is called a "Civilization" (Yup, that's a capital C)!
What you should do as someone who has been taught the bill of Human Rights in high school is- Admire their culture, respect their diversity, and mind your own business. Unless you want to take the Mother Teresa route, believe me, I have every intention of accusing you of being a greedy pig.
So, is that what a white man was? A greedy little pig? Hard to say, actually. There is this whole notion of "the white man's burden" to consider. Whether they were genuinely concerned about the less advanced way of life that other people led, or whether they just used it as an excuse to fire-brand yet another country on the world map is extremely arguable. But what I will do now, is dissect this slippery frog and try to see it for real.
You get hung up on the idea of finding gold and you sail in all sorts of unknown seas. You finally hit land and you find people who think you have come from heaven (Lucky man, Chris Columbus!). You take advantage of them because they have absolutely no clue what you are up to. Then, you write to your beloved King saying "Oooh! These people are God-less! Let's give them ours!". Grrr! Hang on, boy, I thought you got there to TRADE. What is with this compulsion to turn everyone like you??
Shobana ma'am had a brilliant explanation for that. Even in college, you are expected to be a particular kind of person to be in the "in gang". Ultimately, the tallest, longest legged, flamboyant chick becomes your walking bible. So true! But there are still those of us who like to be ourselves, Jimmy Choos be damned! There is a beauty in being your own, unique self; and we'll all be really great together with our many different talents making our space colourful... In theory. Try saying that when you're doing your CIA 3? CHAOS. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" "My method is clearly the best, you moron!"
You'll never hear the end of it.
It is the law of nature (the second law of thermodynamics, to be precise) that everything in the universe becomes more and more disorderly. Obviously, if you have more number of opinions, more ways of life, there will be more disorder. Diversity may be beautiful, but then again... Uniformity can be very peaceful, too. What would you call a Mahendra Singh Dhoni type of guy marching with the buzz cut army guys on Republic Day? An eye-sore.
Fine. So, let's all be the same. What does that involve? Whose way of life do we follow? Who is right? Which is best? Can we all go back to our respective caves now? Please??
Again, Shobana ma'am has a brilliant explanation. The British were here, right? They brought us the railway, right? When they were gone, we ditched the concept of having a million little kingdoms and wrote ourselves a democratic constitution, right? And we're still wearing our pretty saris and dancing the Bharatanatyam. We'll save the whole how-we-struggled-for-our-independence story for later and just say- we still have us, we also have them. Cool.
Then again, I wonder, just because someone says "Ok, let's try your way", what makes you take advantage of it and rule over them? Fine, let's call it human tendency. But does that mean we'll never get to learn from other people for the fear of being the scorpion under their dirty slipper? Why the hell is this so complicated? What is wrong?
Nothing is wrong. In fact, every little thing that different groups of people do is right. It is HOW you do it, which makes all the difference. No matter how much we try, we will never be the same. We are meant to be diverse. Whether you want to look at the diversity of our flaws or diversity of our strengths is what makes the world an ugly or a beautiful place.
Well analysed. Again, I like the way you have compared it to present day.
ReplyDeleteWho is to decide what is right and wrong? I see a lot many value judgments throughout which I like not.
A thumbs up to your title and the first paragraph - evokes beautiful visual imagery! :)
i was a little worried that it may not have been clear enough. Doesn't it sound messy? I was simultaneously worrying about hari's assignment! Anyway, thank you so much :)
ReplyDelete