Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, born in the aristocratic Nehru family, studied in the best schools, colleges and universities of the UK. Brilliant statesman, having a wonderful political background, mastered in mass mentalities [as clearly observed from his speeches] and a keen and fearless follower of the Satyagraha movement. Everything hints at a brilliant personality, with an alert brain.
When India was freed, there was religion-biased horror all over the northern India. Sikhs, Bengalis, Muslims and Hindus; all were responsible for the mobs, the gory processions, the riots, the rapes, and every other horrible thing that could exist on the earth. Lord Mountbatten surrendered the reigns of the country into the hands of Pt Nehru, as the then acting Prime Minister of India.
As the acting PM, he was responsible to act against the then-happening atrocities. Can one imagine how the Prime Minister of India was battling the religion hatred? One might imagine the deployment of sentries and armies, or the unified forces like some recent Black Cats fighting with their superloaded guns and ammunition, gas, and a curfew for some months constantly. Right there?
Am so simply sorry to say, but this very highly capable Prime Minister of India was having a mere laathi [a wooden stick, about 5 feet long and an inch thick] in his hand, and trying to battle the mob outside the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Thankfully, Lord Mountbatten saw him over his window and did the necessary steps as the post-independence Governor General of India [he did have exercising powers, with the PM's consent till September 1948].
Now, any Indian would rightfully regard this as national shame. To some extent, so do I. But have we ever pondered the exact reasons behind Pt Nehru's loss of personality [as is the term used in psychology] ??
I thought about it. And somehow, I felt the PM's modus operandi, though shameful or wrong, could still be justified.
Nehru was born in a family of politicians, congressmen. They were all the moderates, trying to secure Indian Independence via constitutional and peaceful means. Nehru was brought up to fight for the nation. All through his life, Nehru was a wonderful leader when it came to independence. But all he did in his entire life was to fight, fight and fight alone. He knew how to diplomatically attend conferences and take things in stride. He knew how to influence peasants and locallers to fight for motherland. He knew how to defend himself. But never did in his life did he know how to rule the land. He, nor the other leaders [except people like Krishna Menon and Sardar Patel] had any idea about ruling their land.
When a common middle class man would enter the gates of a magnificent 5starred hotel, he would be awestruck by the hugeness and beauty of the structure. The very man who would be the aggressive family head of a family would bleat like a sheep, atleast till he gets used to the magnificence of the structure. Psychology terms this as personality loss. Nehru too, was dumbstruck at the magnificence of the huge India, running from the mighty Himalayas to the mighty Indian ocean. This beautiful motherland of his, having more than 250 dialects, 140 religions and sects, over millions of people, and ridden with epidemics [at that time] now was free. But how could he or the others, who had spent most of their lives in jail and provocating people, know how to administer and establish law and order in an impossibly chaotic country? The sole answer was,
Personality loss.
Now we keep ranting that we must learnt from history. Do we practise it indeed? the lesson to be learnt here, is that we spend our lives hoping for a better tomorrow.
Hope is of course, the perfect sediment. But, are we really prepared to bear the happiness of the bright future? We keep saying to ourselves that a brilliant tomorrow shall come, when we all shall be happy. We drive ourselves with the hope of that day. We drive ourselves in the struggle of achieving success.
But how many of us really enjoy the spur of that moment? That middle class man would go to the Hyatt in a local train or maximum, a taxi. He would rant to all the people around that he's going to the Hyatt. But what happens when he actually does enter it? Whoosh. The man goes blank. Take another example. That of Abhinav Bindra or Sherpa Tensing Norgay. They both knew their aim, and worked as hard as they could to gain what they wanted. Bindra got the Olympic gold, and Norgay conquered the Everest. And both of their reactions on their success?
"It was an empty feeling. Till I reached the summit, all I knew was I needed to go up there. But when I reached there, I don't know whether I was happy or sad. I just did not know what to do. It was as if there was vacuum in my stomach." And just like Nehru, it was neither of their fault.
It so happens in life that we patiently fight or hold on for a cause. We work towards it with full dedication. Our today may be low and lee, but we still learn to smile in the hope of our fruit. We all know God isn't so bad, and somewhere deep down we also know He shall help us. The time factor is the only bothering we bear. But most of us just plan and act till there. We never plan as to what to do on getting to your goal. We never be that confident in ourselves and plan our reactions mentally putting ourselves in a happier module.
Think about being successful. Plan your day, but also plan out your tomorrow. Be happy, yet composed when you achieve something; but also keep a higher goal in life.
As I said, God isn't bad and he'll mail your fruit right away. But be sure you remain the same person, or parcel shall get delivered to some other person !
Be yourself, and be sure of that !
