Re: Bharat Ratna Ghalib

(this is a post in reply to Mr Markanday Katju's article today in the Indian Express)


“Hui muddat ki Ghalib mar gaya par yaad aata hai.......wo har ik baat par kehna,ki yun hota to kya hota”

One can associate , quite dramatically though, this couplet to be one of Ghalib's last. But instead ,these lines convey intense speculation, and experimentation, that Ghalib applied in cross examining this world.

Mr Katju, today, in his article in The Indian Express expressed his strong will for Ghalib to be awarded the Bharat Ratna. And in his strong(rather rude) critique ,lashed out his anger at sportsmen(read Sachin) and film stars(read Amitabh), for whom there is a popular support for conferring the Bharat Ratna.

His point of view, sadly, reflects the rigid attitude that he possesses. He, through his statement, is in stark contrast with the views of Ghalib and Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay whom he so avidly supports to confer the accolade , posthumously. Ghalib, other than his poetic expertise , is known for his flexibility of thoughts,and his open defiance to type caste customs. Mr katju, sadly, offers , none of such views to the readers.

To keep it simple, he opposes the support that Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan have for receiving the award, calling it a mockery of the award itself. He, however, failed to keep the following points in mind during his rhetoric.:-


1. Cricket is the pulse of India, and Sachin Tendulkar, for the past 20 years , has relentlessly worked to keep this pulse running. He came to the cricketing world at the age of 16, and his battling in this area still , at 38. So for more than half of his life time, he has been represented as the face of India, and he still strives enough to keep that face untainted. One of his greatest contributions has been the self belief that he has imparted to the nation's youth. Coming from humble backgrounds, and working his way out with enormous labor, he has proved to the nation that anything can be achieved provided there is perseverance and determination. One has to observe his demeanor to know how saintly he is, and a look at his statistic will prove his sheer artistry in the cricketing field.

2. Cinema is an interface through which people, irrespective of class , color, ethnicity , interact with each other. Amitabh Bachchan , it will be apt to say, has been the face of this platform from our country. A person ,or rather a combination of sheer artistry, pure gentleness, and unwavering dignity. He has been there at the helm of the film industry for the past 40 years, have been doing diverse kind of roles, and more importantly, at the age of 70, excelling in them. On seeing him act, cinema does not seem to be some blitzkrieg action, but an art form , in which you need talent to perform, and values to succeed. It is a well known fact that through his life, he has been portraying the common Indian citizen, be it the angry young man of the 70’s or a truthful principal of a college in 2011, with sheer perfection

India ,in 2011-2012, is an evolving country. Its not that Ghalib, or Sharat Chandra, are forgotten heroes, , they deserve an honorable place in the archival aisles of our history, but to rule out sportsmen and film stars, when it come to performing artistic, national and scientific service, is totally wrong. Tendulkar and Bachcan , collectively ,for the past 4 decades, have tirelessly labored to keep the baton of India at the top.When the country is at its lowest ebb in the context of corruption and terrorism ,they are the faces that have kept the head of our nation high. Today, sports, and performing arts are an important indicator of our national prosperity. And the two great persons , criticized so vehemently by Katju, have excelled in these fields , thus doing a commendable national service


In the end I cannot sum it up better than by admitting that yes, Ghalib and Sharat Chandra have a right to get the nation's highest Accolade, but awarding it to sporting legends, and cine-artists, will not be a mockery, but a celebration of , the modern and resurrected India and its heroes .