(This was published in Ama Odisha E-Magazine April 2010 Edition)
Am I an Odia first? Or am I an Indian first? Or a Human first? How should I address myself? Whom should I call my Mother -- whom do I really belong to – Odisha or India or Mother Earth? What is my mother tongue – is it Odia? Or is it Hindi? Or is it what the Mother Nature speaks (that we aren’t listening to)? Whom should I consider my kith and kin – the people with whom I have grown up with or the people of the land where I was born and brought up? Do the people of Bengal or Andhra Pradesh fail to qualify to be called my kith and kin, because they happen to be from other states speaking somewhat different languages? In the same context, do the people of the neighbouring Bangladesh or Pakistan or those from the distant Australia also fail to be called my kith and kin? Because their skin colours and cultures are different from mine! Had I not been born in Odisha and born somewhere far away in some other region, would I have lost my right to be called the “son of this land”? While calling ourselves “the sons/daughters of the land”, why do we attach so much significance to some state or some region or some country, instead of referring to Mother Earth as our motherland? Why are we so obsessed with boundaries and borders? Why are we so obsessed with some particular geographical regions?
Why do we tend to divide ourselves on the slightest pretext – race, culture, language, religion, caste, and sometimes gender? Can we dissever the amount of sunlight we receive or the air we breathe in, on the basis of our statehood or nationality? Can we have a piece of the moon or of the stars twinkling in the sky, or of the sky itself, just as we are fighting for our share of land or of water flowing along two states or two nations? We fight among ourselves in the name of motherland, but can a mother really be happy being tugged and ripped apart by her own body parts?? This is not to create any controversy or any debate .... but then, I have never really believed in the boundaries. Because boundary or bound, in a way, means “a limitation or restriction”! I do love my Odisha, I love being called a “son of the soil”, I feel emotionally overwhelmed when I hear “Bande Utkala Janani”, evoking such strong feelings of pride and love for Odisha. I love and adore my India even more, I feel equally overwhelmed when I hear "Vande Mataram" and "Jana Gana Mana"; or when the Tricolour is unfurled. I feel exultantly proud and joyful when my compatriots are sought after around the world, or are felicitated for their achievements; or when foreign nationals abroad greet us with folded hands saying "Namaskar!", following our customs. But I feel more attached to this world as a whole, this earth as a whole… more than to any area bounded by some fence or LOC! An undivided borderless world, a one nation world with no boundaries at all, everyone getting the same and equal rights, with only one religion – that of LOVE , and everyone living together in bonhomie and peace – that’s what I aspire to belong to. Can’t that ever be possible? Can’t we ever transcend all these divisions that exist today? Or am I being too much philosophical, too much impractical, conjuring up flimsy day-dreams?
I am not sure, whether I am going right or wrong here, I am no great patriot nor am I a great nature lover... neither am I questioning the thoughts of all those eminent luminaries who have penned down so many heart-felt poems and lines on motherland. I am only confused about the area which I could claim to be my motherland --- whether some 1,55,820 sq. kms. (Odisha) or some 3.28 million sq. kms. (India) or some 510 million sq. kms. (Earth)! Why do we keep grumbling about “this is mine and that is yours!”? Take the case of a Bangladeshi toddler born at some refugee camp in Orissa – whom does he/she really belong to – Odisha (the state where he/she was born), India (the country where his/her parents have taken shelter at) or Bangladesh (where perhaps his/her roots are)? If he/she grows up in Odisha, goes on to marry a localite and truly imbibes all odia traditions and culture and passes them onto his/her kids as well, will he/she still be accepted as Odia by the so called culture guardians? Perhaps, no…… If he/she goes back to Bangladesh, will he/she be really accepted there? Again, perhaps the answer will be a “no”! Then which is the place where he/she can claim to be called the “son/daughter of the land”? Why do we have to put forth conditions for accepting someone into our family? Why does a few hundred (or thousand) kms. (to this side or that side) make such a difference to us? Why does it make such a huge difference if it’s “The Quran” or “The Bible” instead of “The Gita” (or the other way around)? Do our souls, after death, go to different Heavens based on our regional origins? Are there separate Heavens for Odias and Bengalis or for Indians and Pakistanis or for Hindus and Christians or likewise? Are there lines demarcated in Heaven as well, like we have carved here on Earth?
When we cut down trees for our need of timber or for agricultural land, don’t we disturb the natural habitat of the animals or birds living on those trees? Aren’t we invading their rightful homeland? Aren’t we displacing them from their rightful abodes? When I go onto build a house of my own, in my possessed land, why can’t I avoid having the trees cut down to make up the area for my building? Why do I have to disturb someone’s habitat, who, though being speechless creatures, perhaps would have been living there even before me and so should have the same rights as me? Why can’t we take out a way to co-exist in the same piece of land? Doesn’t the piece of land (and so the tree) belong to the creatures living there, as much as to me? Or is it because they don’t have the same origins as me, don’t speak the same language as me, don’t have any particular religion as such, that disqualifies them to be called the habitants of the place? Or is it that the non-human lives are not to be considered living at all?
Most of us humans have perhaps got ourselves programmed in such a way as to take the shortest, the most convenient way out, which would suit our needs more than anyone else’s. So perhaps I may not think twice before cutting down those trees to build up my house – the speechless creatures on those trees be left on God’s mercy!
But when people from other states, in search of better job opportunities, land up at our states, we start feeling suffocated and threatened, fearing that they will snatch away our destined jobs, will eventually settle down here, and in due course of time, will build up their own community outnumbering us and eventually will displace us. Perhaps due to this simmering tension and fear, we won’t accept them even if they belong to the same country (once again, the human convenience factor). As years will pass on, this simmering tension would have taken the face of a full-fledged demand for rights or may be a Separate State! A few fanatics, calling themselves to be the rightful “sons of the soil” will suggest kicking them out in the first place. But will that be right? Will that be just?? Can’t we be more humane? Can’t we co-exist peacefully without doubting one another’s intentions? Can’t we try being like “sugar” (which when added to a glass of milk, gets dissolved easily and makes it sweeter) instead of behaving like “vinegar” (which when added to that glass of milk, will only curdle it and make it sour!!)? At present, we need visas to visit a foreign country, but if this discord continues, the day is not far off when one would need visas to visit even a neighbouring state!
It may seem a day-dream, far removed from reality but I still believe and am waiting for that borderless, unified world – “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” – (with hatred and fear having given way to love, peace and harmony, not just between fellow humans but also between all the creatures) -- to become a reality. I hope I am not being too preachy with fanciful dreams!
Ending with the words of John Lennon –
“Imagine there are no countries,
It isn't hard to do…
Nothing to kill or die for,
And no religion too…
Imagine all the people,
Sharing all the world…"
