Some Indians are only discovering their identity now

Oct 28, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

The Freddie Kissoon’s Column (Oct. 26) seeks a response from Swami Aksharananda, but permit me to make a few comments. Freddie’s answer to the “assault on” and “contempt” for things Indian is found in his last paragraph confession. In a Freudian twist, he symbolises Macaulay’s vision of the “Indian in blood and colour but English in taste, in opinion, in morals and in intellect”.
Only in recent times has Freddie become Indian, but like others suffer from a serious inferiority complex and who in private exults in this identity but with shame. In minibuses, hire cars, and taxis operated by Indians with majority Indian passengers mostly/only non-Indian music is played. Those who request Indian music are often ridiculed by these Indian conductors and drivers. Even the “dulahin” goes to the “dulaha’s” house after the wedding with a dress, having shed the sari, accompanied by Spanish, “Spanglish” and Creole music, among others hard to distinguish.
The self-contempt is pervasive but like in India, there is a self-examination that is painful and embarrassing. But the renewal is here, as evidenced partly by Freddie’s questionings. He may yet discover that he is a Charvaka Hindu, but Hindu, nonetheless.
And yes, Freddie is wrong about Narendra Modi. He is obviously a victim (again!) of the military-industrial-Abrahamic complex that sees India as consumers of western products, not as exporters of these products to the West (oh it’s alright to export experts, as CNN notes!). India is seen as the last bastion of the ‘pagan’ world, which must be subdued and saved. The last brigade of the Anglo-Indian empire (especially in media, academia like JNU, diplomacy) knows that its time is near and that Modi represents the new assertive Indian untying the knots of Macaulay. That Muslims are joining Modi does not sit well with the complex and so the victimhood drama is in overdrive.
That Freddie has begun to untie the knots is a welcome move. The freedom can only be yours alone. Safe journey. Thank you.

Yours truly,
P. Lall

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