Basis for a State

I am reading The Indus Sage (i am sure you would know this by now, but for those of us who dont ...) these days. So, for the next few days, you can expect more on the subject. One issue the book raises is that Indus (modern day Pakistan, the geography around the Indus river, and its tributaries), and India have always been two distinct civilizations. By and large, i agree with the hypothesis, but there are areas of the argument which Mr. Ahsan raises, which i cant get myself to agree with.

First of all, i am not too comfortable with the idea of defining a civilization based on geographical characteristics alone. While historically, we have talked about the Indus Valley civilization, and most ancient civilizations flourished around sources of water, the scenario today doesnt necessarily seem to be the same. The importance of having big cities close to rivers is not as much of importance today as it was in ancient ages. This is not to undermine the importance of water sources, but this is taking into consideration the way human civilization has evolved over the last few millenia.

As such, i am more comfortable with defining a civilization culturally rather than based on proximity to geographical characteristics by themselves. This, to my mind, is a definition which tends to be far more robust. This doesnt really tend to go down well with the modern definition of Pakistan, but then a lot of other things dont either.

1. I get the feeling that the entire idea of the Indus civilization is related to Islam. Historically, it may not have been, since the region was primarily Hindu and Buddhist over a period of time, but since the advent of Islam, the identity seems to be more and derived, and even more so since the creation of Pakistan, the identity of Pakistan seems to be have been defined even more based on Islam if Mohajirs are people who reverted to their Indus heritage, even if they find their home and roots in the Gangetic plains. Having said that, i do agree with Mr. Ahsan that Islam is not the defining characteristic of the Indus civilization. More about this in point 3.

2. If the civilization is going to be defined based on geographical characteristics, then the logic holds true, but if it is not, then the entire argument of declaring Kashmir an inseparable part of the Indus civilization loses its entire foundation. For, culturally, Kashimir can in no way found to be congruous to the Punjabi or Sindhi. Besides, if we are to define a civilization based purely on geographical characteristics, then maybe Tibet should also be a part of Indus, since the Indus river originates there. This doesnt stand to reason.

3. None of these considerations (except religion), can define the true nature of Indus, considering East Pakistan being a part of Pakistan. But, this by itself proves that religion is not the founding stone of the Indus of today, given that if it were, the centrifugal force which created Bangladesh would not have existed.

In a nutshell, i agree with Mr. Ahsan that the culture and civilization of Indus is distinct from an Indian civilization. I just dont agree with too many of the conclusions he seems to draw from this fact.

Something I Am Reading

These days i am reading a book ... The Indus Saga ... From Patliputra to Partition, by Aitzaz Ahsan. The book is a well written, well thought out story about the civilization of what today is Pakistan. Nice book ... Though, there are a few things i wanted to write about ...

Firstly, the Gurdaspur Kathiawad line ... Mr. Ahsan makes the argument that this is the line which divides two different civilizations. While i do agree that culturally, the Gangetic plain is quite distinct from the Indus civilization, i think the line that Mr. Ahsan has drawn comes more from a sense of current political geography rather than anything more concrete. For instance, this line traces quite well the Radcliffe Award. Is this just a coincidence? Probably not. Which would suggest that the positioning of this divide is more than scholarly debate.

Another thing that stands out ... the creation of Pakistan. While the civilization of the Indus region is distinct from the larger Indian civilization, the fact remains ... the creation of Pakistan was not a civilizational consequence. Nor was it a religious consequence of the deep divide between the Hindu and Muslim populations of the subcontinent. If it was a religious consequence, Mohammad Ali Jinnah wouldnt have declared Pakistan as being a secular state, where the religion a person professes to would not come in the way of how the nation treats him. Which leaves one aspect ... the political aspect. This goes to suggest that the creation of Pakistan was purely a political move, and shouldnt be seen as anything else. That this is backed by civilizational differences probably doesnt bear on the debate.

Another thing which i dont quite agree with ... that the Mohajir is an Indus person reverting to his roots. How does a Mohajir, who may come from Lucknow become an Indus person? How does he lay a claim to the history of Indus, that is larger than that of a Punjabi Hindu, or Sikh, who hails from the Punjab, whose Father might have called Lahore or Rawalpindi home? This argument suggests an Islamic connection to the civilization of Pakistan, which is definitely not the thesis of the book.

IPL ...

Quite a bit ... havent written even once about IPL. Though, we are watching the matches daily. And today was a nailbiting finish ... Delhi Daredevils beating Royal Challengers Bangalore. Rahul Dravid got it right ... one big over and they would have made it. But, quite good captaincy from Virendra Sehwag, i must say. The guts to bring on his strike bowler (Glenn McGrath) in the middle of the innings ... saving his over for the last ... quite interesting. Apart from Gautam Gambhir's innings (they could call him anything except Gouti, couldnt they?), Shikhar Dhawan seems to be a very good bat.

Talking about the new names, most of the established ones havent really clicked as yet. Dada (our very own Moshai ...) seems to heave a sigh of relief when he gets out, the biggest name (you guessed ... Tendulkar) hasnt had the chance to play, Dhoni has played a few knocks, but one expects more from him than he has done, as is also the scene with Yuvraj. The team to note ... Rajasthan Royals ... no big names ... but, sheer captaincy, and Shane Warne is showing he can lead the team to more than a few victories.

Watch this space ...

Nostalgia ... In an Unknown City

I know ... this sounds like an oxymoron ... but, its something i experienced ...

The festival of Baisakhi is celebrated on the 14th of April ... And, this is an occassion to visit the city of the Guru ... Amritsar! Add to this the fact that the weekend was a 3 day weekend, we went for a visit to the lovely city. And, believe you me (or, if you dont believe me, see this picture) ... The Golden Temple ... is a sight to behold. And, a place of Eternal Peace. The waiting in the queue ... Mattha tekkna at the Guru's feet ... Something which is an experience of Peace! Something i would like to do again ... and again!

I have still not told you wh I was feeling nostalgic about the city I had never visited before. The first one ... My grandparents got married in this city. Both my grandfather and my grandmother passed on to another life almost 2 years ago ... the memories, of course, still remain. And, the city of Amritsar was a living reminder ... and, a thought that maybe I should have gone there earlier. Much earlier. Another experience ... collecting the Prasad ... the smell, the look, and taste ... Probably the only time i have ever been to a Gurudwara was with my grandmother. That, too, was as a child. And, then, whatever the Kadha that the Bhai ji gave to my grandmother, only little bits were available to the rest of the family, and the rest was for me. The smell of the Prasad brought back memories ... smells of times when, as a child, i would eagerly look forward to going to the Gurudwara with my grandmother on weekends (weekdays, school was too early as it is ...), mattha tekna, and then waiting for the Prasad ... probably the only reason i went to the Gurudwara. Of course, now i dont think it was the only reason (considering that i would get it even if i didnt go). Which means the reason was more ... And, this reason was something which peeped through the mists of time, to show me the thread of memories, the thread which lingers, no matter how time might try to erase it. The thread which reminded me of going to the Gurudwara, and the smell which took me back almost 30 years.

Another thought ... my friend, Pavan got us a ringside view for the retreat ceremony at Wagha ... The ceremony itself is an experience which one must have ... but, i am not talking about that. There is a point during the flag-lowering when the flags of India and Pakistan are right next to each other ... which gave me the feeling ... so near, and yet so far! But, i am not talking about that either. What i am talking about is that sitting at Wagha, we are closer to Lahore than to Amritsar ... Lahore ... Another city which brings back memories from the mists ... Memories not of something i have seen, but more of things i have heard ... tales of Lahore. A Lahore where Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs lived together ... a city they all called home. A city which was called the Paris of the Orient. A city referred to as "The City of Sin and Splendour" (a collection of stories about Lahore, edited by Bapsi Sidhwa). A city, which lives on in my mind's eye, a picture etched, albeit dated, but a beautiful pitcure at that. A picture of the Lahore before it became a place out of bounds for lakhs of people who knew no other city other than Lahore. Looking at the road at Wagha ... the road leading to Lahore ... brought back these memories. Of course, the real Lahore of today may not have much to resemble the memories i carry (memories which i saw through my grandfather's words), but definitely a city which attracts me. Definitely a city which i would like to see ... though, on second thoughts ... maybe not? It is better to travel hopefully than to ... On other thoughts, a city i should have visited maybe 10 years ago.

As i have written before ...

The Secret

I am these days reading a book ... The Secret ... The essence of the book is very interesting ... That what we are seeing in our life, are things which we have called to us, which we have attracted to us by persistent thought. Interesting ...

Though, to begin with, this can be quite a daunting thought. When we do realize that what we are is due to our thought patterns, that lays the responsibility for our wellbeing on ourselves. This can be a daunting thought to a lot of people. To me, too. But, thinking about it deeply ... One can see where this is coming from. One acts according to ones thought petterns, and like begets like, and ... Something which i would recommend to everyone, to read.

Particular State of Reality ...

This might sound like a cliched one, and quite a few would think I am jumping to conclusions ... Take this as science fiction ... Maybe it is, but then, maybe it isnt ... I came across this article which talks in a simple way about parallel universes. Quite an interesting read ...

Now, I am not the types who has Quantum Mechanics equations for Breakfast ... Which is why this article kind of was readable ... Especially the last part ...

According to quantum mechanics, unobserved particles are described by "wave functions" representing a set of multiple "probable" states. When an observer makes a measurement, the particle then settles down into one of these multiple options.

Hmmmmm ... What this implies in simpler language (one which even I can understand ...), is that there are multiple probable current states of things. So, if I am sitting, thats only one possible state ... Another could be that I am jogging (horror of horrors!), or having a vacation by the beach at Gopalpur! :-) Or, maybe at Banaras! OK ... So, I got that pic from an Australian website, but then, Australia is the flavour of the winter, while Banaras is the eternal flavour!

But, we wander ... The point is, what I can conclude from here ... Does this mean there is nothing unique about reality? That what we see is only one possible state? That there are, simultaneously, other states which occur from the same event. The implication ... everything is transient. Everything an illusion! You catch an electron today, it has an "up" spin, you catch it tomorrow, it has a "down"spin ... So, wheres the guy spinning? Hmmmmm ... Interesting!

Parallel Universes ...

This is an interesting one ... More and people are coming up with the idea that there are, pribably, a number of parallel universes, which are replicating each other. They are telling us, that just as I am writing this at this moment, similarly my replica (alter-ego) is also writing something on similar lines ... or, just as you are reading this, your alter-ego is doing the same. The ToI ran a story on this ... Wikipedia has a number of entries on parallel universes.

Not going into the Mathematics of Many World Interpretations (MWI) for the simple reason that I couldnt understand any of them ... One statement caught my eye ... since every possible outcome to every event defines or exists in its own history or world.

From me understanding of the English language, this sounds like this ... the outcome of an event exists in the event itself. Which means that here we have scientific proof of the "reap as you sow" saying. The only thing that makes me uncomfortable about this is the assumed linear cause-effect relationship. While linear relationships gel well with the western world-view, i believe they are quite contrary to the eastern world-view ... to us, the world is more a cycle, a web of things and events, rather than a straight line. I am not quite sure how this pans out, so you can expect more on this to follow ...

In the meantime, interesting to note ... something which was considered absurd science fiction less than a century back, is now mainstream science, with scientists talking about the possibility ... Which is why I would say ... Lets keep an open mind ...