Who am I?

In recently concluded Indian Idol contest both finalists Prashant Tamang and Amit Paul became countrywide heartthrobs. It was good that they were from long neglected north-eastern part of India. With this event the whole region came into limelight and made people in those regions happy and contented. Although it is quite possible that these guys made it to the finals as part Government of India's "Look East" policy let us discount that and discuss the issues concerning this gala event.

Prashant a Nepali by origin from Darjeeling had fan base in Darjeeling, Indian Police Force and Nepalese origin people in India. Amit a Bengali speaking singer from Meghalaya had fan base in Meghalaya, Bengali and Khasi communities elsewhere. Astute Politicians in the respective regions supported them in Public and even had PCO’s setup in their constituency to enable people to vote for their regional heroes. Soon after Prashant’s coronation as the Indian Idol there were clashes in Meghalaya and Silguri, WB. Fans of the respective singers fought pitched battles and destroyed public property all in the name of loyalty to their idol/regions.

It is unfortunate that we had to witness Parochialism. It is obvious that Prashant and Amit made it to finals for reasons beyond their singing abilities. Media and Mobile companies made crores of rupees not because of people's interest in singing competition but interest in ensuring their local boy win the competition. In this rat race to grab TRP ratings and SMS earnings it seems making money is the sole aim for these companies. One cannot entirely blame companies, as it is people who nurture them. Indian Idol was meant to be a talent hunt to find fresh talents from remote parts of India. However it has exposed one of the biggest problems we currently face in India. There is an Identity crisis. People identify themselves with their caste, religion and region. Even educated youth when it comes to marriage want to marry spouses from their own caste, religion. People fight over sharing of water between two states. They fight over their religious notions. It is this lack of national identity that makes country vulnerable. World's sole superpower for over 5000 years has been relegated to third world country in last few centuries. It is this lack of common Identity that led to invasions from Persians, Macedonians, Greeks, Scythians, Parthians, Tajiks, Turks, Central asian hordes, Portuguese, Dutch, French and finally British. Had Ambhi, King of Taxila not sided with Alexander in Battle of Hydaspes , had Jaichandra and other Rajput kings supported Prithviraj in Battle of Tarain, had Mir Jafar not defected to British in Battle of Plassey , India would have been different country. One can commend that India has remained culturally intact after all these invasions and has come up with truly diversified culture by incorporating other cultures in the mainstream. One must also repent at lessons not being learnt all the while.It is the lack of unity which makes us vulnerable. We all clap, whistle when SRK talks about country first in his pep talk to Chak De girls but when it comes to our life’s we don’t implement it. We still have apprehensions about other religions, about other castes, while we slammed Jade Goody and championed for the cause of a victim Shilpa Shetty. Hypocrisy is that we are racists to the core and like to call a South Indian "Madrasi", a northeast guy "Chinki". A SC/ST is still frowned upon and warrior caste people still chest thump about their ancestor's valour in battles. It is OK to feel nice about our pedigree or region but totally unacceptable to have wet dreams that ours is the best.

We all are Indians first and unless we break these centuries’ old shackles of caste ism, religious fundamentalism and regionalism it is difficult to reclaim past glory.