Not always one feels that one is witnessing history in making. But I do feel today that way on 18 September 2014 as four million plus Scottish voters have been voting in referendum for independence of Scotland from the United Kingdom of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The voting would have closed by 10.00 p.m. probably before I finish typing this blog post.
I thought of writing this post late evening reading these entries in a diary of a Hiranand Karamchand Makhijani. Let me put entries first and then give the context.
" 20 April 1947: What will happen? What will become of Sindh? Will there be a massacre in our beloved Sindhri also? What is my duty? Can I go away? I am unwell as it is. But leaving will be an act of cowardice. How can I leave my home at this precarious point in time?" (Bhavnani, p.7)
Hiranand Makhijani was 46 years old Hindu Sindhi journalist who lived in Sindh which was until 14 August 1947 part of undivided India. Hiranand was a staunch Gandhian and freedom fighter according to Nandita Bhavnani from whose fascinating book The Making of Exile the above entry and following couple are taken. Hiranand's dilemma continues in build up to the decision about partition of India and his fear of becoming a foreigner in his own land as he writes below.
"10 May 1947: If there is an attack, what should I do? All my life I have preached the sermon of non-violence. How will I raise my hand against another? How do I face the religious lunatics? If I cannot respond with violent means, then with non-violence, will I be able to throw myself in front of the mob? I cannot find this courage within myself.
What will happen to the women? How will I be able to bear it if anyone is attacked in front of me? How will be able to stop them." (Bhavnani, p.7)
The above entry sends shiver down my spine because I know that exactly during the same period when Hiranand was writing the above entries my maternal and paternal grand fathers were in Sindh and they were Hindus just like Hiranand. It was their ancestral land as was Hiranand's. What trauma and pain would those days must have been to be living in fear and anxiety pending the decision about future of their land separating from India. The decision was made soon in early June as Hiranand notes in his diary.
"6 June 1947: Sindh has settled down. The causes of conflict have been removed but I have been separated from India! Have I become alien to India? I simply cannot believe it, that this has happened with one stroke of the pen! How can I become an alien in my own country? The threads of my life are tied up with my motherland! How can I break them? The ideals of my life are linked with the freedom of India. Now how can I say that India is no longer my country? No matter what the laws says, I will continue to consider myself an Indian, I will live as an Indian." (Bhavnani, p.7)
Hiranand's dilemmas and pain must have been shared by tens of thousands of Hindu Sindhis. I never got chance to discuss in great detail with my paternal grand father who passed away in 1991 about how he decided to leave Sindh and bring his family to India after the partition. My grandfather was a peace loving and quiet tall handsome man who toiled hard to provide for his family who was put up in one of the many refugee camps that were set up in India. Having been born in one such refugee camps as I came of age I always wondered why were Hindu Sindhis, who left their cultural, economic and natural heritage in search of security, called refugees in India when effectively what they did was, as Hiranand notes becoming 'alien in my own country'. They chose to remain in India by moving to what was India after partition. The power of 'one stroke of pen', drew boundaries and a new territory was born along with it were two identities Indians and Pakistanis.
Boundaries are thin lines on maps. The land remains same but a humanly drawn line divides it into nations and countries. Today's summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi was overshadowed by another line drawn exactly 100 years ago in 1914 by Sir Henry McMahon, the then foreign secretary of the British ruled India who negotiated that with the Tibet, which was independent at that time. The McMahon Line, as it is now known, is still an unresolved issue between two countries trying to strengthen their economic ties for mutual benefit.
My drafting of this blog has taken me past closing of the voting in Scotland. Whether tomorrow, that is 19 September 2014 morning, Scots will still be Brits also or only Scots, the referendum results in next few hours will decide, but witnessing we are history in making. A palmist would tell the believing individual what the lines in one's hands tell about individual's future but the lines drawn on maps create territories. Territories and therefore, nations, are fictional realities if you listen to Dr. Yuval Noah Harari in his extraordinary bold historical analysis in A Brief History of Mankind. Dr. Harari, a very interesting narrator of history in different way, claims that nations like race, god and many other constructs invented by human kind are fictional reality and the human beings, homo sapiens in Dr. Harari's words, can be persuaded by fictional realities to act and react. Territories define identities and everything that goes with it. Even if we grant identity is 'fictional reality' but the damage or benefits it bestows can be real. Imagine the difference in possible quality of life for someone born as US citizen compared to being born in Somalia. Or being borne in the British Royal Family and being borne to a slum dwelling pauper in Mumbai. The difference will not be fictional reality whatever Dr. Harari may say about mundane needs of life born in human imagination.
I thought of writing this post late evening reading these entries in a diary of a Hiranand Karamchand Makhijani. Let me put entries first and then give the context.
" 20 April 1947: What will happen? What will become of Sindh? Will there be a massacre in our beloved Sindhri also? What is my duty? Can I go away? I am unwell as it is. But leaving will be an act of cowardice. How can I leave my home at this precarious point in time?" (Bhavnani, p.7)
Hiranand Makhijani was 46 years old Hindu Sindhi journalist who lived in Sindh which was until 14 August 1947 part of undivided India. Hiranand was a staunch Gandhian and freedom fighter according to Nandita Bhavnani from whose fascinating book The Making of Exile the above entry and following couple are taken. Hiranand's dilemma continues in build up to the decision about partition of India and his fear of becoming a foreigner in his own land as he writes below.
"10 May 1947: If there is an attack, what should I do? All my life I have preached the sermon of non-violence. How will I raise my hand against another? How do I face the religious lunatics? If I cannot respond with violent means, then with non-violence, will I be able to throw myself in front of the mob? I cannot find this courage within myself.
What will happen to the women? How will I be able to bear it if anyone is attacked in front of me? How will be able to stop them." (Bhavnani, p.7)
The above entry sends shiver down my spine because I know that exactly during the same period when Hiranand was writing the above entries my maternal and paternal grand fathers were in Sindh and they were Hindus just like Hiranand. It was their ancestral land as was Hiranand's. What trauma and pain would those days must have been to be living in fear and anxiety pending the decision about future of their land separating from India. The decision was made soon in early June as Hiranand notes in his diary.
"6 June 1947: Sindh has settled down. The causes of conflict have been removed but I have been separated from India! Have I become alien to India? I simply cannot believe it, that this has happened with one stroke of the pen! How can I become an alien in my own country? The threads of my life are tied up with my motherland! How can I break them? The ideals of my life are linked with the freedom of India. Now how can I say that India is no longer my country? No matter what the laws says, I will continue to consider myself an Indian, I will live as an Indian." (Bhavnani, p.7)
Hiranand's dilemmas and pain must have been shared by tens of thousands of Hindu Sindhis. I never got chance to discuss in great detail with my paternal grand father who passed away in 1991 about how he decided to leave Sindh and bring his family to India after the partition. My grandfather was a peace loving and quiet tall handsome man who toiled hard to provide for his family who was put up in one of the many refugee camps that were set up in India. Having been born in one such refugee camps as I came of age I always wondered why were Hindu Sindhis, who left their cultural, economic and natural heritage in search of security, called refugees in India when effectively what they did was, as Hiranand notes becoming 'alien in my own country'. They chose to remain in India by moving to what was India after partition. The power of 'one stroke of pen', drew boundaries and a new territory was born along with it were two identities Indians and Pakistanis.
Boundaries are thin lines on maps. The land remains same but a humanly drawn line divides it into nations and countries. Today's summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi was overshadowed by another line drawn exactly 100 years ago in 1914 by Sir Henry McMahon, the then foreign secretary of the British ruled India who negotiated that with the Tibet, which was independent at that time. The McMahon Line, as it is now known, is still an unresolved issue between two countries trying to strengthen their economic ties for mutual benefit.
My drafting of this blog has taken me past closing of the voting in Scotland. Whether tomorrow, that is 19 September 2014 morning, Scots will still be Brits also or only Scots, the referendum results in next few hours will decide, but witnessing we are history in making. A palmist would tell the believing individual what the lines in one's hands tell about individual's future but the lines drawn on maps create territories. Territories and therefore, nations, are fictional realities if you listen to Dr. Yuval Noah Harari in his extraordinary bold historical analysis in A Brief History of Mankind. Dr. Harari, a very interesting narrator of history in different way, claims that nations like race, god and many other constructs invented by human kind are fictional reality and the human beings, homo sapiens in Dr. Harari's words, can be persuaded by fictional realities to act and react. Territories define identities and everything that goes with it. Even if we grant identity is 'fictional reality' but the damage or benefits it bestows can be real. Imagine the difference in possible quality of life for someone born as US citizen compared to being born in Somalia. Or being borne in the British Royal Family and being borne to a slum dwelling pauper in Mumbai. The difference will not be fictional reality whatever Dr. Harari may say about mundane needs of life born in human imagination.
