"Vande Mataram"

The recent row and cacophony over a diktat by a Muslim cleric/association is absolutely misplaced.

In the first place associating recital of the national song or even anthem with patriotism is ill conceived and silly notion. It tantamount to trespassing into the area of fundamental right and once freedom .If singing the national song or anthem is the yardstick to measure the intensity of patriotic fervor can we ipso facto accept the honesty and integrity in deeds and words of our ministers who undertake oath of office.? They swear by the constitution and some even further, upon God! And their subsequent conduct is best forgotten. Trivial instructions and legal enforcements to recite the national anthem have been overthrown in countries more liberal and at the same time with patriotic mindset that exceeds the average Indian.

On the whole the hue and cry over this fatwa is misplaced.

But looking from an impassioned perspective the song vande mataram- which literally means “mother I bow before thee” is a beautiful verse and has immense emotion and godliness about it. Here, mother can be God, biological mother or Mother Nature. And what is evil, blasphemous, and wrong about bowing to ,as a sign of respect to ones mother? We have been taught in childhood to cultivate respect and reverence for ones parents and teacher. It has been“matha, peetha, guru deivam (God)”, in that order. And Mother is considered as the God whom you can see, feel, be loved and know in flesh and blood. As because the existence of God in the conventional sense has or has not been proved, not yet.

The discordant part is that scriptures are taken into literally and the spirit and essence they behold is ignored or not noticed. Hence all these irresponsible statements and trouble!

If only ones heart has ones country in the forefront can one be at peace with ones god. And singing a song that reveres ones mother is not in any way sacrilegious to the spirit of ones faith and to God himself. The truth might be there cannot be God without the existence of a mother!

The Inevitable

I can remember well when I look back that till about five years ago the obituary column in the Malayalam Manorama news paper was the least glanced. But now the page has become imperative and unavoidable. I involuntarily, perhaps upon auto-suggestion, go through the photos that are inlaid of people who wandered way. In case I stumble upon familiar faces!

I mention this because, increasingly over the past years, the consciousness of the inevitability is always in the mind. There cannot be any days when I have not thought, “How many more miles to walk?" It is not paranoia, but consciousness of the brittleness of life itself.” Young man, rejoice in thy youth (Anonymous), and how true it is!

Rewinding to twenty-five years when the nights were longer than the days back in Ernakulam in BOSBIG, I am certain that neither I nor the rest of the folks have seldom thought about old age, death, or the unknown bend around the corner.

But then why now?

An answer would be those twenty-five years of life since, have chastened one's consciousness... The hubris and audacity of youth have been vanquished by the harsh realities of life. 

Today in an informal discussion with the Asst General Manager of my bank, he was expressing his anguish over the demise of his little sister, who died of cancer a few days ago. He lamented that it was unfair that she, the youngest, should succumb before the elders in her clan. I suggested that perhaps death does not discriminate. He, I thought, nodded but was not quite convinced at the impudence of fate and life.

So then, life has to move on, sometimes ebbing gently and at times tumultuously, but the brittleness of life has always to be remembered.

Though the poet sang for it, is it worth asking for another chance? This world no longer sees the gentle sparkle of the moonlight, nor does the eternal dew shower like pristine white plumes, nor is it enchanting anymore.

God made a stupid decision—he created man !