V.D. Savarkar - the underrated Freedom Fighter, Litterateur and Seer - A Tribute on his 133rd Birth Anniversary

I was party to a discussion on India's Freedom Struggle during my Post Graduation at IMT Ghaziabad. Various topics, events, persons were being discussed when I brought up Savarkar. A few were clueless and one of them said, "I have heard about him, he is the same guy who ran away when the British caught him". Being brought up and educated in the state of Maharashtra where Savakar is considered an institution, a shraddha-sthaan,  I was bound to get hurt and offended by the statement. But more than that I felt sorry for this group's ignorance about Savarkar. I was in front of a group most of whom had no knowledge on Savarkar, while a few were misinformed about him. I would not blame them for this, considering that I would have been equally ignorant had I been raised anywhere else. I explained the Saga of the Marseilles Leap in 1910 which mesmerized the group. However, what still hurts is that most of my countrymen are still unaware or misinformed on this Hero of our Independence. May be because of the conscious efforts to wipe his work off history. And we all know who is to be blamed for this.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar iss considered as the leader of the Indian revolutionaries who fought Britishers with weapons in parallel to the non-violent movements led by Gandhi. Savarkar had set his goal of the nation's freedom from British Raj at a very early age when he got to know of the hanging of Chapekar Brothers. He was influenced by Lokamanya Tilak's literature but was arguably against the mildness of his approach towards freedom. The formation of Abhinav Bharat, foundation of India House in London with the help of  Shyamji Krishna Varma, the arrest in London followed by the escape attempt in France, the life sentence in Andaman are some of the highlights of Savarkar's work as a freedom fighter.

Fondly known as Tatyarao, he was more than just a freedom fighter. His books like Hinduttva, Hindu Pad Paadshahi, novels like Kale Paani, Moplyanche Band, autobiography - Majhi Janmathep are till date considered the most enriching pieces in Marathi literature. Plays like Sanyastha Khadga, Ushhap, Uttarkriya establish his finesse as a playwright. The complex verses in Kamla Kavya written during his life sentence at Andaman were beyond Marathi Poetic Grammar and were later classified under Vainayak Vrutta in his honor. He was fluent in many languages including Gurumukhi and Bangla. Savarkar was an atheist and did not believe in rituals. He was a proposer of Rashtravaad over Dharmavaad (nationalism over religion). To most people's ignorance, his book Hinduttva is not based on Hinduism. As per him Hinduttva is a way of life which is being practiced in the entire of Indian Subcontinent. But political vultures on both sides dragged the book under religion for appeasement and political mileage. None of the so called learned people would have read it before categorizing/criticizing it.

Savarkar was a socialist who was against the caste system. Post the completion of his prison sentence, he led various social movements seeking equal rights for downtrodden. When he met Gandhi, he proposed abolition of caste system, but the latter believed that the social balance would fall if caste system is abolished. The rest is known to all on how caste system continues in the roots of our societies and how it eats up the development. The dialogue in the play Sanyastha Khadga "25 years or 2500 years, the weapons will continue to rule the world" confirms him as a seer given the current state of affairs. The world so far has always been unfair to seers and philosophers. This places him is the league of Socrates, Copernicus, Saint Tukaram and many more. Post independence, he was held as a political prisoner as a co-accused in Gandhi murder and was later acquitted. The nation thus did a great dishonor to all his thankless services and hardships he took for the betterment of society.

Recently I was discussing with a cousin who is 10 years younger to me and studies in Goa. To my surprise, she has never been taught the Indian Struggle for Independence in the subject of History. It is beyond logic why governments in this country want our children to know about people who ruled India (the Mughal Emperors and their era) rather than those who freed India. There are countries who have cherished heroes like Lenin, Joseph Mazzini and prospered on their legends and here we are trying to keep our future generations aloof from personalities like Savarkar who were the building blocks of Indian society in the century gone by. As they truly say, 'Till the time a lion writes, every story will glorify the hunter'. Unfortunately, Savarkar was the hero we had but the hero we did not deserve.


PS - Savarkar has a separate space in Marathi literature called Savarkar Vangmay. It would not be possible to cover his works and persona in a small blog. The intent of this blog is to make people aware of his existence. The readers are requested to read or surf about Savarkar to explore more based on interest.

There's always a next time

A car commercial used to play on TV in my childhood which showed a father picking up a son from school. The son tells his father with a sorry face about his results in the exam. The father silently drives the car listening. The son anticipates a scolding but at the end of a long drive, the father says - "It's OK son! There's always a next time". The line feels so hopeful and motivating. It almost acts as an energizer during any setback in my life. I remember my father quoting the line from this commercial on most instances of turbulence in my studies. The unfortunate fact is that this simple hopeful funda to tackle failures in life is not known to many and the ignorance leads them to the dreadful act of a suicide.

The idea of a suicide disturbs me. The mental set-up of a person attempting a suicide is beyond my comprehension. The person might think that life is out of control and cannot be brought on track by any measures. However, one's life has a lot of aspects and avenues and it is highly unlikely that all those aspects or avenues are in turmoil which lead the person to the 'crime'. Yes, I will categorically mention it as a crime without an ounce of sympathy for the person who commits it. A person who selfishly takes own life without a consideration about the people connected to the life just doesn't deserve sympathy. It's high time our society stops making heroes out of people committing suicides if we want to send a pro-life message to entire humanity.

The example in the commercial is not an exaggeration since kids always have a tension about the examination results owing to the expectation from traditional Indian parents and their fond comparison with Sharma ji ka ladka. I remember the stressful environment during the 10th/12th results which is a result of the unnecessary norms governing our society. And not all kids are fortunate to have parents like the one in commercial, so they succumb to this pressure. As another example, specifically in an Indian context, a daughter is fed with the thoughts that husband's family is everything and once married off, she should leave the family only once dead. This actually removes the parental support for a daughter who has lived all her life looking towards her parents. And there are many more reasons like failure in love, family's opposition to marriage, failed business.

All these adversities in one's life call for a strong support system which needs to be provided by the family. The lack of such a support system leads to extreme steps like suicide. The parents thus become accomplice in this crime. In my view, suicidal tendencies arise more due to improper parenting than psychological disorders. The upbringing of a child sets the stage for attitude and behavior of an individual. The parents are thus required to support the children in their failures more than to rejoice in their success.

Afterall we beat a million sperms to be born not just to give away the life defeated. Fighting back and surviving failures is itself a win. The value of life has to be imbibed in the minds of our children. It's time we do away with the famous line from Batman - 'You either die a hero or live long enough to be called a villain'. In stead we need to learn from Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones that the person who survives is the one who wins. Life is beautiful, and one should make the most of it.