A Brief History of the Nation

Once upon a time, there existed a great Nation, called Bharat.

The nation came under many invasions throughout the history. But somehow the idea of a single great nation persisted.

Most of the people in this great nation lived on Agriculture or Livestock. They seemed to care little about who ruled them. As long as the rains kept coming, they were happy.

Most recently, the nation was part of the British Empire. The British started to change the natural ecology of the nation. Who knows whether it was for good or bad? For the first time, the lives of the farmers got impacted by things other than rain, drought etc.

There is no evidence that life in general was any worse under the British than what it would otherwise have been. Most of the folks who could read or write became servants of the British. Most of the folks who could fight and curse became soldiers for the British. The rest mostly carried on. Life as usual.

But some folks didn't like it. Not one bit. Some intellectuals allege that this new sense of nationalism was ironically imported by the British themselves, for the peoples of India never had any sense of history, nor romantic nationalism. The Great Indian Freedom Struggle took its roots.

The Freedom Struggle so called didn't really see any violent uprising, contrary to popular belief. After 1857, it was mostly a garden variety movement, restricted to urban areas (except for a few stray incidents of terrorism). As a matter of fact it waxed and waned, much like seasonal fever. But there was a twist to the tale. A new God had arrived.

As soon as it became evident that under the new God there was no significant risk to life or limb, people started joining the struggle in hordes.

Meanwhile, a great war was looming over the European skies.

The British were becoming weakened. America emerged as the new world power. India got its vaunted freedom, finally. It was claimed that our freedom fighters won our nation back from imperialists. Most people were confused at this point. Needless to say when finally Nehru signed the constitution, few people had anything to say about it. Most people joined the new nation with little idea of what they were getting into. They merely got swept by the historical tides.

For a new Nation which claimed to be non-aligned and peace-loving, India showed an incredible amount of aggression in quickly acquiring the remaining nation states. Great hardships happened, the partition happened too. But these were quickly forgotten. India also waged wars with all its neighbors.

No sooner than the constitution had been written and committed, some people realized that they were shortchanged. Some people found an opportunity for a shakedown. The author of the constitution himself pushed for a scheme which was incorporated into the consitution via the first amendment. Over the ages this would come to be known as the reservations or the quotas.

Life was good. Well, for some people anyway.

We had 13 channels of, well, Krishi Darshan and Prime Minister's message to choose from.

Life for the farmers hadn't changed much. Only, they had a few new hobbies added to their daily lives, such as getting loaded up onto trucks to be driven to city centers to participate in rallies and bandhs. To protest against something which they are not quite sure of.

They say all these have a real meaning despite the appearence of a savage dance of uncivilized people. But then again I am not an intellectual. I just bring the message to the masses. A tiny blip on the radar of history, soon to be forgotten.

Who knows, maybe it will all work someday.