RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST
Today i finished reading the RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST it’s an amazing book
a book which often echoed my own sentiments and thoughts that i have on the
various conflicts that surround us it also gives a view as how a Pakistani views
the way we handled the attack on our parliament was the build-up of the army
and the jingoism that surrounded it was necessary its gives a very poignant
picture of all these things and for such a thin book just 180 pages it leaves you
with many thoughts.
It also makes you pause and think on where are we heading in
terms of our personal lives on what is important and what is not this mad rush
for so called professional achievement
that has permeated the whole fabric of our society is this whole system of
looking at life through the mirror of
what degree you got what salary you draw and to measure life through the size
of your apartment or the cost of your car is this not something that we have borrowed
from the west is this not all very American
in its thought and is all this
right do we need to look at life and ourselves
through the prism of how the we see world looks at us would we as an individual or a country be successful only
when we get a pat on the back from an American
when he will say that yes you have arrived
Lets delve a bit deeper into that and look at where we are
we as civilization were at a much higher trajectory than the west it like been
there done that our civilization after achieving all the material wealth and
power turned inwards and we got concept and thoughts like non violence , the
onept of karma and rebirth and various other standards which elude the western society today the west is today where we were thousands of years
back and they are now looking at spiritual advancement because they can’t seem
to satisfied with what they have achieved as society
It’s not that their achievements are not remarkable they are
America is the mightiest and the most prosperous country in the world but are
they the most respected i guess not do
they care for their poor and sick i guess not they may earn big salaries in rupee
terms but still half of their population lives in wretched conditions they have
not been able to eliminate poverty and unemployment
instead they have pushed the standard of living to such a cost that an average American
is in perpetual debt throughout his life
a reality that you are seeing being replicate in India with professionals
living in metros and even in tier 2
cities in India living in perpetual
state of debt throughout their lives
The American way of life with no job guarantees and constant
pressure on life for achieving the sales target month on month or getting the
pink slip has come here to stay and i don’t know whether how much that now adds
to nations collective mental stress or is it even good for the company financial
health but yes it’s here to stay.
Lets delve deeper and look at the issue of violence we as a nation fought our freedom struggle through
non violence Gandhi was more of saint than a freedom fighter the struggle was led on by the strength of will
and soul than by force how did this
happen why did the violent methods did not appeal to us as nation and Gandhi was
able to unite the entire nation the answer lies in the way we are bought up and
out values we are by upbringing taught about non violence and karma and that
the path that we take but if look the western
world violence is way of life arms are sold openly and used openly their history is filled with bloodshed and
lack of empathy for the human life would you even imagine a Hitler being born
and bought up and allowed to run a country and kill millions of people in gas
chambers never on Indian soil but
happened just several decades ago in the western world .
That’s why America once it achieved the military supereioty
it has embarked on interfering in everyone lives they interfered everywhere
from Vietnam to Korea from the Arab world to Sudan their hands reached
everywhere and it was all done for money for power and in their wake they left behind
destroyed countries and bruised civilizations who wanted revenge 9/11 came
after generations of people in Afghanistan were destroyed by the Americans ins
and their way of life.
It’s not that the average American is different from an average
Indian or a Afghani it just that they are egged on by this sense of grandeur
and mightiness that has been instilled in them they also realize that their leaders
have led them on leaders like George bush and his invasion of Iraq on flimsy grounds
is well known to Americans and that’s why they have elected BARAK OBAMA as their
new leader someone who is not jingoistic who is not ready to kill on the slightest
provocation 9 /11 made the Americans introspect and their new crop of leaders are
direct result of it .
So to look at the western world and say that how strong and
prosperous they are but have they achieved anything by this are they a happy
nation and what can we learn from them and not repeat the mistakes that they
have committed i think the best lesson
that can be learned is to have respect and empathy for every human being to be more inwardly looking than outwardly to understand
that making money is not the sole purpose of life may be we are not enlightened
enough to understand that why we human beings are on this planet but at least
our forefathers tried to find the answers to that and now collectively we have
abandoned that pursuit we have instead on building on to that knowledge ignored
it and looked at west and their inconsequential achievements it’s time to change
our point of view .
It’s not to say that
we don’t have any shortcomings yes a nation we have not been able to provide
our citizens with opportunities with hope with basics of life we have killed
innovation and entrepreneurship and that’s
why an average Indian looks at western world and admires it because even the
basic infrastructure has not been provided in India forget India the entire subcontinent
you look at America their greatest strength
lies in innovation and allowing individuals to grow that is what we have to achieve
here and yes we have to preserve what we have in terms of our collective
civilization heritage
