On Being a Hindustani

ON INTEGRAL CULTURE

I am often mistaken to be a Parsi. Its the surname – 'Doctor'. Many a times I play along and claim to be so. Its not that I lie. I consider myself to embibe many qualities of being 'Parsi'. This stems from my premise that I was born a Hindustani.

As a true Hindustani I accept all of my cultural legacy. Within me are all of the sub-cultures which constitutes my whole. From the Moon-people of the Narmada; the basic ecological interdependence and the spiritual. From the Aryans, the Sun-people; I inherit their ability to conceptualise Reality. The Greek, Central Asian, Mongol, Buddhism, Islam, Sufi and Persian and British influences all mingle to a ‘Sangam’ where the streams amalgate to create a greater whole. They merge their identities into a more encompassing group life – the culture called Hindustani. The Hindustani accepts the diversity of the past and embodies them into his/her cultural identity. S/he sheds the prejudice of his/her forefathers in favour of a love for all and making all of the Culture, his/her very own. Then there is no need for cultural integration – there is a need only for harmony and balance within the internal cultural identity. There is no Hindu, no Muslim, only Hindustani.

I write as a voice of the present post- independence generation which had inherited the Indian citizenship and with that, the legal umbrella of the Constitution to recognise my natural rights as Man. My natural rights to my Culture, evolved from the time of the Harrapan civilisation and upto the influx with English is my birthright. My cultural identity is product of all that is. My cultural identity is embededd in social and cultural history and not religious fundamentalism. Globalisation with a liberal education leads me to claim an identity which is not composite or integrated but INTEGRAL. The future is towards the evolution of Man as a global cultural being.

Iqbal writes:

There must be some reason why our existence could not be wiped out

Although the wheel of time has been inimical to us for centuries.

The generation preceding me, in the academia and intelligentia have a bias based on their non-liberal education and they advocate National Integration through composite culture, and that Stabilised Pluralism is the only way for stability. But 50 years have lapsed since the birth of this nation ( not its independence) and we the present generation stake our claim to our historic cultural legacy filtered out by the Constitution.

The trend towards a society of a Hindutava majority with tolerance for Muslims who must ‘behave’ is not acceptable to me. For within me, there is not only a Hindu, but also a Muslim, Christian, Sikh… I am a production of a culmination – a Hindustani. I aspire for the sublime through Hindustani Culture. I am multi-lingual, non-regional, spiritual and a theosophist, tempered by science and technology.

The great walk from Composite culture to an Integral culture has begun- inspite of the distortions brought about by India's power elites, its developmental dynamics, federal polity, or democratic politics.

Changing realities require that a new Constitution be drafted - to be a mission statement and a vision statement to lead India through the next 50 years. Otherwise the State may disintegrate into anarchist state- republics.

Y.B. Chavan sums it in his article ‘Need for new Indianess” ,

“The very concept of our modern united India is based on certain new values. I think the political unit of India, in a society which is multi-lingual, multi religious, multi regional and multi-racial can only be based on certain new values. These are values based on some sort of a new Indianness and Indian citizenship.”