Articulating India: Why and How

Blowing in the wind.

- Brian Mendonca

When I was asked to speak at the Independence day celebrations I chose as a theme, 'Articulating India: Why and How.' Students need to feel connected to India, invested in it to bring positive change. 

I took along a sheaf of clippings which I felt would bolster me if I became tongue-tied. But looking at the young eager faces I felt a positive energy hovering over the room. I told them how privileged I felt to be addressing students of literature. I said because they read literature they have a responsibility to the nation. What have the writers said in the past? 

If India has to be articulated it has to be understood first. With so many versions of India in social media we have arrived at the phenomenon of 'post-Truth.' Post-truth is believing in something on the basis of emotion or belief, rather than objective facts. We ourselves are complicit in twisting the truth when we photoshop a person who was not present in the photo. Milan Kundera showed how it was done when Clementis is deleted from the photo when he becomes inconvenient.*

How can we articulate India?

1. Choose your idiom of expression: Decide to voice your opinions. Chisel your language by writing in various spaces like the department newsletter or for the newspapers. Create your own blog or compose and sing your songs.
 

2. Harness social media: Intervening in social media when the forwards are malicious is one way to start. Make your voice heard. Don't be part of the herd. 

3. Convey with conviction: Do not be afraid of speaking out against ideas that are hurting the country. In the recent 'Award Wapsi' issue 'the state must see its association with a writer as a privilege.'

4. Read works in translation: To speak about the difficulties of the people of India one has to read Bhasha or regional literatures. Good translations exist. 

5. Develop a national outlook. Do not be confined to the space you live in. Be interested in what is happening elsewhere as well. How does an incident in India affect you?

6. Get out of your comfort zone: Ask yourself, 'How have I made a difference today?'

We ended the session by jamming up with a student and playing Bob Dylan's song Blowing in the wind (1963). It was followed by everyone singing Hum Honge Kamyaab.

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*The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1980). Pic of Josli and me, courtesy Tanvi Bambolkar. Government College, Quepem, Goa. 12th August 2023. Updated 13/8/23.