India is independent; to whom?

How much meaning and truth there exists when we ‘celebrate’ the Independence of India (or India- Pak partition with an odd time zone assignment) every August 15th?

Unlike the exaggerated terror of the colonial era, which we learn in Indian history classes, it wasn’t all that bad in British India. The golden age of Carnatic music, the Anglo- Mysore, Anglo-Maratha war, and the Thanjavur famine were from the same era.

British India contributed a precious collection to the fine arts, Music, Literature, Movies, etc. They’re still alive in the culture. Such as ‘omanathinkal kidavo’ by Irayimman Thampi(1782–1856), ‘Endaro Mahanubhavulu’ by Thyagarajaswamikal(1767–1847), Swathi Thirunaal(1813–1846) compositions, C V Ramanpillai’s(1858–1922) Marthandavarma are few to name.

'Endaro Mahanubhavulu', a part from Pallavi [picture source]

‘Puddukotta Durbar’ by Raja ravivarma

In the ‘Puddukotta Durbar’ painting by Raja ravivarma(1848–1906) from the late 19th century, you can see how much peace and friendliness existed between the Indian princely states and foreign authorities. His paintings in general are delicate and peaceful. He made copies (lithographs) and distributed them among the public, to encourage fine art.

In 1856, ‘Hindu widow marriage’ was published, written by Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar(1820–1891), A Sanskrit Scholar and an intellectual. He criticized the Hindu practices on Widows. In the 1870s  Bankim Chandra Chatarjee(1838–1894) wrote ‘Bande Mataram’.

Rabindranath Tagore(1861–1941) wrote ‘Amader choto nodi’ in the same year the great Indian Famine began, and a year after the formation of the Indian National Congress, to raise the voice of the natives in the British parliament. In March 1930, Gandhi(1869–1948) began his protest against the British monopoly on salt. In July 1930, Tagore and Einstein had a long conversation on the ‘nature of reality.

nature of reality

A year later, Prem Chand(1880–1936) published ‘Gaban’. The theme of the novel was the falling moral values of lower-middle-class youth in British India. In 1936, he published ‘Godaan’ portraying the socio-economic poverty, and exploitation of the poor.

In 1930, C V Raman(1888–1870) received his Nobel prize for the Raman effect; Raman spectroscopy is still widely used.  SN Bose(1894–1974) and Bosons, multi-talented JC Bose(1858–1937), with his Radio waves and plant science. Srinivasa Ramanujan(1887–1920) and his infinite series were other prominent scientists and/or mathematicians.

There were more than 150 Bollywood movies released just in 1947.

Social distress distinguishes between socio-economic classes in a society. It affects you, based on who you are. While there were famine, wars, battles, murders, bomb blasts, poverty etc in colonial India, there also were art and music evenings, friendly gatherings with the British officials, movies, education, and research.

We claim India is independent and has been democratic since 1947. But to whom India is independent? Who would convince the meaning of liberty, and democracy to a starving farmer? Would they even listen?

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Footnote:

'Freedom of expression’ can be said to exist when you criticize your authority and still feel safe. And that's when an independent state truly exists.

‘Freedom of expression' is a fundamental aspect of democracy. How safe do you feel after criticizing your authority? Let it be the regional political parties, institutions, ministers and government, etc.

We should normalize saying Indian authoritarianism/Indian demagogue than just fooling oneself and others by saying 'Indian democracy'. Literally, it (didn’t and) doesn't exist. Having a mathematics book doesn't make you a mathematician. Likewise, having a democratic constitution doesn't make a nation democratic by default. It needs understanding, effort, knowledge, awareness, and so on... The longer we push the facts away, the more people suffer; the ones from the lower-middle-economic class.

If you are privileged, regardless of before or after the Colonial era, as long as you choose to stay away from the public affair, you could still have gone to movies, concerts, plays, excursions with friends and family, build fancy summer cottages, engage in relaxing conversations, etc just like now, in this 2021.

None of the above-mentioned artists/intellectuals/musicians/writers were a victim of social distress, unlike the lower-middle-class.