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We, the people... . for change
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We need to stop thinking in terms of "we'' and "them''. We need to do our bit for the society to usher in meaningful change. We need to do it ourselves, not leave it to "them''. ANJANA RAJAN tells us a thing or two about the world popul ated by people like us... .
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Eminent citizens of the country join hands to bridge the communal divide. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar.
"You have got to be taught to hate and fear/ You've got to be taught from year to year/ It's got to be drummed into your dear little ear/ You've got to be carefully taught/ You've got to be taught before it's too late/ Before you are six, or seven or eight/ To hate all the people your relatives hate/ You've got to be carefully taught....''
THESE LINES are from a song I learnt in a primary school civil rights project. We didn't need to be told it was in an ironic vein. There was more, but this much has remained with me all these years. I can't remember who the author was, yet I don't feel any hesitation on the grounds of copyright violation, because the message of the song is so important for us today, that I feel sure the author would not have minded.
Over five decades since India's independence, we in Delhi and around have seen that some things changed rapidly and some remained the same. What has remained the same, it seems, is the availability of a huge lumpen population that can be manipulated with vile results by unscrupulous politicians. Another thing that has not changed is the existence of the great silent majority, which in its way is just as vile as a violent mob. It is a silent majority that has had its dear little ears drummed with a stereotyped view of security and become a population of automatons.
It is easy to be armchair analysts and deride the selfishness of politicians, who seem to have no idea they are supposed to be serving the nation. It is also easy to discern that sweeping illiteracy, unemployment and shocking social inequalities are among the causes that nurture lumpenism. But easiest of all, is to decide that we can do nothing to change a situation that has only intensified over the past 55 years.
Certainly, some things can be done at an individual level, which when multiplied, have a domino effect on the population. It is the people that make up a nation. The power of social reformers stems from the millions of individuals who listen carefully and decide to follow in their footsteps.
What can ordinary people do, who do not have the will power, wisdom or tenacity of Mahatmas and Gurus? We can stop passing on our prejudices. Perhaps one practical step could be to drop our caste names. We can also name our children so that their caste and religion are not discernable. When filling in official forms, we could write ``Indian'' in the caste column and ``humanity'' in the space for religion.
Schools could ensure that children learn about different religions and communities by interacting with their schoolmates from those communities or jointly conducting research. We need to provide access to books other than those that form part of the school curriculum, if only because textbooks, with their load of syllabi to cover, cannot always be sensitive and detailed. We could thus avoid the seeds of division that are laid when tiny tots memorise lessons like ``Sikhs worship in a gurdwara. Christians worship in a church,'' etc.
We should also emulate some good examples of countries or organisations handling turbulent issues. In the U.K., for instance, school children learn about different religions. The history and special features associated with each are discussed and described at a level comprehensible to 10-year-olds. In American cities like New York and Boston, where race relations in the 1960s were at a low ebb and the population resided in different pockets -- like the ghettoism for which Ahmedabad suffered in the recent riots -- the Government introduced compulsory bussing of students from their neighbourhood to schools in far-off areas. The entire Government school system was revamped so that the neighbourhood schools could no longer solely cater to the educational needs of the children in the vicinity. This scheme ensured that students of different races studied together and shed their inhibitions. The move was fiercely opposed by ordinary citizens at first, but later became an established feature.
Some schools in Europe conduct an annual Students' United Nations, a popular project for secondary classes, in which groups of students select countries to read up on and represent. Issues are discussed and resolutions passed just as at the actual UN General Assembly. The entire exercise is extremely enjoyable and educational for the students. As for the United Nations, an organisation that was born out of the devastation of World War-II, it has -- for all its faults, and sometimes annoying lack of teeth when it comes to avoiding conflict -- some traditions worth emulating too. One of these is for representatives of member nations to eschew the use of the word ``my'' when mentioning their own country, or even its proper name. Instead, they use the phrase ``a country that I know well.''
In themselves, such steps may not solve the world's race relations, but they are surely doing their bit to place tolerance on a higher level than bigotry and to fight the common enemy, ignorance. These examples are not intended as direct recommendations, but as inspiring ideas. We have enough problems with our city school buses without going in for a whole new compulsory bussing policy, but surely in our school system there are many educationists who care about the quality of education being imparted to students, and who have the imagination to think up suitable ways in which the virtues of tolerance and patriotism can be inculcated in the children of India today in an entertaining and unobtrusive manner?
Creative events with a special focus on the Indian situation would help in spreading awareness and, if allowed to play a major role, we might not so frequently hear remarks such as ``I don't understand Madrasi,'' or ``Aren't all North Indians Punjabi?'' Of course, Parliament quizzes and Students' Parliaments do take place, and plenty of policies exist on paper, but the real potential of young people to do some freethinking, unencumbered by prejudices of various kinds, has not been exploited.
Prejudice, admittedly, seems to be a key emotion in the Indian psyche. India may have staunchly supported Nelson Mandela, and be the land of Mahatma Gandhi, but we are conditioned to think in terms of ``us'' and ``them.'' This syndrome does not merely pop up between any two or more religious groups, castes, languages or regions. It is there when, as a society, we are complacent that our children go to school, but our domestic help's do not; when we accept that the best kind of child-centred education can only be provided by the most expensive schools; when we admit that standing in the endless queues for medical services at Government hospitals is a nightmare, and manage to get private treatment, but let the fact that many may die while on the queue lie easy on our conscience; when we are too busy or too tired to stand up against the corruption taking place every day around us, because the route that corruption takes to actually harm us individually, is too circuitous to figure out. The syndrome tells us, ``we'' are just doing our best in a tough world. The responsibility is ``theirs.'' Or, when some third party, ``they'' are the sufferers, then ``we'' are just too far away or too powerless to help out.
None of these examples is unconnected to that of underlying prejudice and violence in our society. It is time we, as individuals, shook ourselves free from our stupor and began to look for concrete ways in which we can make a difference. To be a catalyst for change, one need not be in a position of official power. As members of the web of society, we wield plenty of influence. We only need the will to observe ourselves and others, to be able to turn all our collective energies towards positive development.
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