WHY I AM AFRAID

There is fear that makes you bolt when something tries to pounce on you, this is healthy fear, it might or might not save your life, but at least it makes you do something. And then there is fear that numbs you, that takes away the will to live, that incapacitates you from deep within and obliterates even the faintest thought of defense. It is said that the cobra hypnotizes its prey with the power of its eyes. The prey can not move and is overpowered easily and devoured.

This fear is lethal.

I feel so when I think about India and its governments. Surprised? Well let me tell you I am not afraid of the machinery of the government in the land. It is as incompetent and weak as any in the world, perhaps more so. Straddled with a strange form of democracy, there are limits it can go to, to hurt people physically. No I am not afraid “of” it. I am afraid “for” it. This is the land where giants walked. Where philosophy formed the common discourse of the people, this is the land which made Louis Bromfield (is the name correct I wonder) remark that compared to an Indian face even the best European faces look lifeless. The statement is not about physical beauty. It’s about the deep sensitivity of the Indian soul (If I may use an old expression like this)

This very sensitivity makes it very fragile and easily breakable. It has also a strange sponge like quality. It absorbs everything, even the most diverse of outlooks at the same time. Its psyche is weirdly pliable. It is broad in its outlook. Any thing can be fashioned with it. The demon as well as the god man, equally surfaces in it. It has been through unbelievable experiences over the centuries, and it has seen it all. It is tired at heart. It would become anything out of sheer boredom.

Strong races and people had always overrun the land. Porus, Prithvi Raj, and Tipu Sultan (great Kings) could not defeat these with immense armies at their disposal. It shows a propensity for surrender among the people. It is not physical capability that is lacking. It is mental energy that is absent.

When I think of brutal and ruthless people who are out there in the world with powerful tools to do anything to anyone’s mind I shudder at my heart thinking of the fate of this race.

This is what makes me afraid. Unimaginable atrocities are being done to people who are of a stronger turn of mind. When reading about the stories of the Hi-tech mental torture I often wonder whether my people would ever withstand them or not. Probably they would not.

This thought numbs me. I hope that such a day may never arise!