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Growing with the country: 4 Midnight’s Children share their views on India’s journey

Four Midnight’s Children share their views on India’s journey, narrate if the four corners they represent are now integrated into the mainstream, and spell out their ideas for a better future

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‘Kashmir is a Rishi Waer - land of saints’

When India woke up to the new dawn of freedom on August 15, 1947, Jammu and Kashmir was going through a political churning. Seventy years down the line, poet and satirist Zareef Ahmad Zareef says that politics has become an industry in the country.

“The Hindus and Muslims of undivided India were dedicated nationalists, who compelled the British to quit India. It was the sincerity of the leadership, who renounced their government jobs, and joined the freedom movement that forced them to leave,” says Zareef, who was born in 1943. “It was devotion then.”

Kashmir, according to him, is a civilization in itself, and not a sub-civilization or sub-nationality. “Like Bharat Mata, we have Mauj Kashir (Mother Kashmir). Akbar snatched it in 1587 because of sectarian clashes, but before the Mughals came, Kashmir was an independent country; it was a tehzeeb (culture). The Mughals ruled us for 176 years, Pathans ruled us for 66 years, Sikhs ruled us for 28 years, and the Dogras ruled us for 103 years,” he says.


Zareef says Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah took an emotional decision to accede to India, when Maharaja Hari Singh wanted to remain independent and have friendly relationship with both dominions.

“Even Hari Singh said we will have a standstill agreement and not merge with India. The accession was on three conditions — foreign affairs, communication and defence,” he says.

Even 70 years later, Zareef says  some Kashmiris have not integrated with India — physiologically, emotionally and physically. “We are only Indians at the time of concessions. Take Farooq Abdullah for instance, who, after losing power, says they are not stone-pelters but those fighting for azadi,” he says.

Kashmiris, according to him, are proponents of ‘Kashiryat’ and not ‘Kashmiryat’, which is laced with politics. “Kashmir is a Rishi Waer (a land of saints). We were Hindus for 4,000 years, Buddhists for 1,200 years and have been Muslims for 700 years. We adopt a bit from every religion in our daily lives. We have inherited taher (yellow rice) and tasbi (prayer beads) from Buddhists; bells from Hindus. We have never integrated with India or Pakistan. We can be friends with both because we have a Sufi mijaz (mindset),” he says.

Zareef’s biggest regret is a lack of leadership and direction in Kashmir. “Be it on the social front, religious front or political front, we could not have a united leadership,” he rues.

He has a message for Delhi: “Let them open the cross-border roads and allow free movement for 10 years initially. Let them release political prisoners, who have been languishing in jails for decades, to build reconciliation. Let there be free people-to-people contact for 10 years. We are not extremists. Justice must be done.”

—As told to Ishfaq-ul-Hassan 

Northeast too yearns to be part of mainstream

I have very vague memories of India becoming independent. But in the 1950s, in Arunachal’s Pasighat, where I have lived all my life, we could slowly see what freedom looks like,” says Olom Perme, who was born in 1942. “Earlier people were always scared of the British Raj. As children, we were always taught to not ask questions. Post Independence, people started asserting their rights. It was good to see people sell their produce instead of just giving it away to their masters.”


Perme says that while technology has bridged gaps, the Northeast is yet to be integrated into the rest of the country. “Our issues never become part of mainstream political discourse. We have bad roads; every evening there are power cuts. These issues become big in Delhi and Mumbai,” he says.

Perme, a farmer,  says the country has seen a boom in the IT sector, and education opportunities have widened. “But here in Arunachal, our children have to go a distance even to reach a medical college,” he says. “I would advise politicians to think about developing remote places too. We don’t get flights to transport an ailing patient, but politicians land their chartered planes in the same place. This irony should stop.”

—As told to Ankita Bhatkande 

‘Much progress made, still miles to go in West’

In the late 1980s, a minute of an international call would cost about Rs 500. Now people are even talking about what they cook and what they eat. People share so much on WhatsApp,” says Shardaben Patel, born in 1947 in Gujarat’s Rajkot. 

The most notable change for Patel, in 70 years, has been the way people communicate and travel. She also feels that communal riots stopped after Narendra Modi became the chief minister of Gujarat. “Earlier, there used to be frequent riots. You could not travel to certain areas in the city. Now this is all past,” says the homemaker, with a sigh of relief.


Patel’s father, Kurjibhai, was a Gandhian and educated both his daughters. “Education provided us with skills necessary in daily lives. All girls in our school were all-rounders. If fact, these schools became the favourite hunting ground for those seeking brides,” she tells DNA.

Patel has lived in Ahmedabad for 47 years and feels that the city is fairly integrated into the national mainstream. She, however, feels that villages have not yet reaped the benefits of democracy and freedom. “Earlier, people from all walks of life lived in villages,” she says. “Now only those engaged in farming live there. The ones who migrated brought amenities to villages. However, many hamlets, especially those in tribal areas, have been neglected.

People there should have the same opportunities as other urban citizens.”

Although she believes that politicians do not listen to the common man, she suggests that more efforts need to be made to educate and empower women. “The government should create more jobs, improve government hospitals, where the underprivileged come for treatment, and build better infrastructure. After the recent rains, roads are full of potholes,” she laments.

—As told to Keyur Dhandeo

‘Focus on core issues will take South ahead’

The country has become more intolerant and mobocracy is on the rise, says Dr CS Rex Sargunam, former director of Chennai’s Institute of Child Health.

“South India was always relatively better than North India when it came to tolerance and communal harmony,” he says. “But things are changing for worse in the South as well. Vigilantism and moral policing have raised their ugly heads in Karnataka. Fringe groups halting the release of movies has become rampant in Tamil Nadu, even though these movies have been cleared by the Censor board.” 


Dr Sargunam was born in November 1945 in the country’s Southern-most tip in Kanyakumari district. He has served in government hospitals across Tamil Nadu for 35 years. “There is no justification for the government promoting mobocracy and targeting Dalits and Muslims,” he says. “The feeling of integration has become a casualty with the rise of mobocracy. All citizens of the country should feel secure, irrespective of their faith, caste and economic condition.” According to him, the country took a wrong turn when the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992 and after the Gujarat carnage in 2002. If the two violent incidents had not happened, the country would have been much better and peaceful.

The current scenario is hampering the country’s development as it brings non-issues to the centre stage, he says. Core issues such as eradication of poverty, unemployment and increasing farm debt take a back seat. 

Seventy years after Independence, Sargunam feels that the country has integrated physically, but not emotionally. “Some people in Tamil Nadu continue to feel alienated on certain issues, like the supply of water from the Cauvery to the state. In spite of the Supreme Court order, Karnataka refuses to enforce it and lacks the spirit of give and take. The Centre has also failed to implement the Cauvery Tribunal order to set up the Cauvery Management Board,” he says.

—As told to G Jagannath 

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