Tryst with Destiny

Jawaharlal Nehru delivered on the night of 14th August, one of the greatest speeches of the 20th Century. I have heard parts of this many times, as they had been played on the old Doordharshan TV.

As i read it again today, i am touched by one of the architects of the Indian polity. And also saddened as we endeavour to squander it away. A nation that developed its constitution, by adopting from the many around the world, choosing the very best from each, and aptly suited to us, now seems to be  consumed in a downward spiral. Pitting relgion, caste, gender and everything possible to divide the people. And instead of aspiring for higher levels of individual freedom and a superior inclusive society, we are taking away rights, considered basic civil and or human rights.

Below is the text of the speech i was able to get from the www.

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her success and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?

Freedom and power bring responsibility. The responsibility rests upon this Assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom we have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now. Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now.

That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we may fulfil the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.

And so we have to labour and to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagine that it can live apart Peace has been said to be indivisible; so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this One World that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.

To the people of India, whose representatives we are, we make an appeal to join us with faith and confidence in this great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill-will or blaming others. We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell.

The appointed day has come—the day appointed by destiny—and India stands forth again, after long slumber and struggle, awake, vital, free and independent. The past clings on to us still in some measure and we have to do much before we redeem the pledges we have so often taken. Yet the turning-point is past, and history begins anew for us, the history which we shall live and act and others will write about.

It is a fateful moment for us in India, for all Asia and for the world. A new star rises, the star of freedom in the East, a new hope comes into being, a vision long cherished materializes. May the star never set and that hope never be betrayed!

We rejoice in that freedom, even though clouds surround us, and many of our people are sorrow-stricken and difficult problems encompass us. But freedom brings responsibilities and burdens and we have to face them in the spirit of a free and disciplined people.

On this day our first thoughts go to the architect of this freedom, the Father of our Nation, who, embodying the old spirit of India, held aloft the torch of freedom and lighted up the darkness that surrounded us. We have often been unworthy followers of his and have strayed from his message, but not only we but succeeding generations will remember this message and bear the imprint in their hearts of this great son of India, magnificent in his faith and strength and courage and humility. We shall never allow that torch of freedom to be blown out, however high the wind or stormy the tempest.

Our next thoughts must be of the unknown volunteers and soldiers of freedom who, without praise or reward, have served India even unto death.

We think also of our brothers and sisters who have been cut off from us by political boundaries and who unhappily cannot share at present in the freedom that has come. They are of us and will remain of us whatever may happen, and we shall be sharers in their good [or] ill fortune alike.

The future beckons to us. Whither do we go and what shall be our endeavour? To bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.

We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be. We are citizens of a great country on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.

To the nations and peoples of the world we send greetings and pledge ourselves to cooperate with them in furthering peace, freedom and democracy.

And to India, our much-loved motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent homage and we bind ourselves afresh to her service.

Wonder if we will be able to live upto the ideals expounded here. I know many are trying. We probably need to try harder.

Jimikki Kammal

While the song was released a few months back, i heard it first only a few weeks ago. And then the movie came out recently, in time for Onam. As soon as i had heard it the first time, the catchy tune stuck in my head.
But now this has become an internet sensation, kind of like the Kolaveri song. It all started, i think, with a group of girls putting out their dance version in youtube around the time the movie came out. And since then, there has been many a copycat version, original out-do version, yet another unique attempt version etc.

Well, its all over. And with it, the song is refusing to get off my head. I tried my bit to get others go crazy over this, 'cause why keep the hurt to yourself. Joy or madness or pain, it gets better if you share it with friends. So if you havent seen it yet. Then here it is again!

How to kill Innovation

Ever since i met my first Mac Book back in 2005, i have been in love with it. Probably even before. I had always been a lover of the Unix OS. And when i had to switch to the windows platform for business needs, i knew i am going to hate every moment of it. And i did.

Anyway, once acquainted with my Mac, i also began to appreciate small nuances made by Apple, and soon was sucked into the "Reality Distortion Field" created by Steve Jobs. But seriously, you have to hand it to him and his team. He clearly defined the concept of innovation, different from invention. There was no need to create some radical new widget if you can drastically improve the functioning of an existing one, or think of how to reuse it for a different purpose. Come on, explain to your kids, that you carried a Sony Walkman (which had a 60 minute or 90 minute playtime), or a CD player and had to constantly carry all the tapes and CDs to play the many different songs.

How do you kill innovation? Education. Well, you would think that education is the one that powers innovation in an inquisitive mind. Well, think again! Today, education is the one that actually kills of any inquisitive spirit left in your kids. And then when the kids come back from school, we the parents do the rest, kill off any effort to find support.

I am not very different. I try to be. But the fear of doing something radical, and failing is so intense and overpowering that if there is any purport left, it is easily suffocated into submission. But try i must. Try we must. Our kids deserve better.

Question. Everything and Anything. Reason Why!