'We are the hollow men
we are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rat's feet on broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without color,
Paralyzed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us - if at all - not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men'
(T.S. Elliot – Hollow Men)
We may choose to interpret T. S. Elliot’s poem in whichever way we may fancy but there is no denying that we are growing more and more hollow with our chant of being a secular country. It’s time we as individuals and a civil society introspect and ponder where this chant has taken us.
To my mind the word ‘secular’ has been blown way out of proportion from what the word actually connotes. While I was penning (keyboarding!) this piece I thought why not look up a dictionary (online) and get the various interpretations of the word. Here’s what I found:
sec·u·lar (s k y -l r)
adj.
1. Worldly rather than spiritual.
2. Not specifically relating to religion or to a religious body: secular music.
3. Relating to or advocating secularism.
4. Not bound by monastic restrictions, especially not belonging to a religious order. Used of the clergy.
5. Occurring or observed once in an age or century.
6. Lasting from century to century. n.
1. A member of the secular clergy.
2. A layperson.
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Secular
\Sec"u*lar\, n.
1. (Eccl.) A secular ecclesiastic, or one not bound by monastic rules. -Burke.
2. (Eccl.) A church official whose functions are confined to the vocal department of the choir – Busby.
3. A layman, as distinguished from a clergyman.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Secular
\Sec"u*lar\, a. [OE. secular, seculer. L. saecularis, fr. saeculum a race, generation, age, the times, the world; perhaps akin to E. soul: cf. F. s['e]culier.]
1. Coming or observed once in an age or a century.
The secular year was kept but once a century. -Addison.
2. Pertaining to an age, or the progress of ages, or to a long period of time; accomplished in a long progress of time; as, secular inequality; the secular refrigeration of the globe.
3. Of or pertaining to this present world, or to things not spiritual or holy; relating to temporal as distinguished from eternal interests; not immediately or primarily respecting the soul, but the body; worldly.
New foes arise, Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains. -Milton.
4. (Eccl.) Not regular; not bound by monastic vows or rules; not confined to a monastery, or subject to the rules of a religious community; as, a secular priest.
He tried to enforce a stricter discipline and greater regard for morals, both in the religious orders and the secular clergy. - Prescett.
5. Belonging to the laity; lay; not clerical.
I speak of folk in secular estate. - Chaucer.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
My! My! My! What have we here! This is not what we were made to believe, were we? We are not supposed to have any religion, we are nerds remember! Lets do some hairsplitting on this word (God protect the exalted souls of M/s Nehru and Indira from this, Oh! how my heart bleeds!)
First lets take Chaucer’s interpretation. Here’s my case: All Indians, except all Pandits, Mullahs, Priests, etc, are secular since we are not part of the laity. Solution: Let’s boot the guys who are not secular (read the direct messengers of God) out of the country to achieve a pure secular fabric.
If we are to interpret Prescett’s or Milton’s view, all Hindus are not secular. (Read no regular visits to the temple, nor are we bound by monastic vows or rules; nor confined within a monastery) Solution: Since we are already bursting at the seams either we go to some other planet or declare India a non-secular country
Addision is the best. Have we not observed secularism in the last century? Let’s give it up!
Do I hear laments such as “Look what’s happening to the secular fabric of my country” or better still “Here is a hardcore RSS/Shiv Sena follower. What’s it with the young people of today?” I don’t care if I am labeled a part of a ‘vanar sena’ but I shall not be lead to believe that the word ‘secular’ which appears in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution was included for any other reason but to reap the dividends of the vote bank by a certain Mrs. G, whose father if we choose to remember chose to divide the country rather than give up his intransigence over the Prime Ministerial chair.
The Preamble as envisaged by our founding fathers read:
“We the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign Democratic Republic and to secure to all its citizens: Justice (social, economic and political); Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; Equality of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity of the Nation; in our constituent assembly this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution”
Mrs. G, had the words ‘socialist, secular’ and ‘the integrity’, added to the Constitution (Preamble) by the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976. Thus the preamble now reads:
"We the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and to secure to all its citizens: Justice (social, economic and political); Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; Equality of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation; in our constituent assembly this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution”
Now Mrs. G, being the consummate stage actor that she was, couldn’t just add the word ‘secular’, could she? So she goes ahead and throws in a few more words and in the process manages to get the Russians to dance (we are a socialist country!). But the serendipity lies in the fact that she got the line ‘the unity of the country’ changed to ‘the unity and integrity of the country’ since the word ‘secular’ precisely undo’s that.
An object case of how to throw wool over the public’s eyes on one’s own intentions can be found in the “Statement of Objects and Reasons appended to the Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Bill, 1976 (Bill No. 91 of 1976) which was enacted as THE CONSTITUTION (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976” from which I quote ‘in verbatim’ the following points:
“2. The democratic institutions provided in the Constitution are basically sound and the path for progress does not lie in denigrating any of these institutions. However, there could be no denial that these institutions have been subjected to considerable stresses and strains and that vested interests have been trying to promote their selfish ends to the great detriment of public good.”
“3. It is, therefore, proposed to amend the Constitution to spell out expressly the high ideals of socialism, secularism and the integrity of the nation, to make the directive principles more comprehensive and give them precedence over those fundamental rights which have been allowed to be relied upon to frustrate socio-economic reforms for implementing the directive principles. It is also proposed to specify the fundamental duties of the citizens and make special provisions for dealing with anti-national activities, whether by individuals or associations.”
"This information is downloaded from the website of Ministry of Law and Justice (Legislative Department)"
Its time we ponder and let go of the baggage of history that we carry on our individual shoulders (we do not feel the weight thanks to our education system!) and stop doing a cause and effect jig every time some event takes place. For instance ‘the Mumbai blasts took place because of Gujarat riots which in turn took place due to the Godhra carnage which in turn took place due to the Mumbai riots (‘99) which in turn took place due to the Mumbai blasts (earlier one) which (thanks for your patience) in turn took place due to the Babri Masjid demolition which in turn...”
The United States is not a secular country, is it? But pray tell me why don’t the Christians butcher the Jews who in turn could butcher the Hindu and Muslim communities that reside there. The reason is simple; the political masters were and are not out to devour the country, no matter to what age and time they belong to.
This has had a cascading effect on the various self-promoted conscience keepers of the nation. You can find them everywhere, blaring from your television sets or writing tomes on how the ‘secular fabric is being torn to shreds’ etc. I have both Muslim and Christian friends, as most of you would, but does the fact that they belong to a different religion make me him or her any different? I think not, though our political masters would make us believe. Thus you would have a certain well known Muslim poet in Bollywood, while commenting on the Mumbai blasts on national television, lamenting the fact that ‘while Muslims constitute 12% of the population their numbers within the government sector is just 3%’ and so … If this is the yardstick by which you decide whether India is a secular country, well, the less said the better.
While there is no denying that Hinduism is the majority religion in India, which my ‘self-promoted conscience keeper’ friends would rather die of embarrassment than admit, does that mean we tell people of all the other religions to pack their bags and make a move! No, but we learn to live together (which we did very well before) while respecting each others beliefs without melting out special treatment to any one religion or grouping in particular.
The need of the hour is to recognize that:
A. There are poor people in this country irrespective of what religion or community they come from. A poor Hindu would have the same daily turmoil as would a poor Muslim, so why promote one at the cost of the other
B. Education, health and employment is still a major challenge. Address that
C. Empower people economically and you would have solved a majority of the problems
If I were to do a few things to right the wrongs I would:
I. Replace the current reservation system, one that is based on caste, religion, community etc with a simple one that takes into account income levels, thus hypothetically, all people with a monthly income of Rs. 500 or below are eligible for special benefits
II. Make schooling free for people below a certain income level irrespective of anything
III. Provide state help to poor students to access learning resources (Good teachers, books etc) and compete
Give a level playing ground and then see if ‘the unity and integrity’ of the nation, so loftily pronounced by Mrs. G., is protected.
