When narrow interests reign supreme
In an interview that appears on this website, India’s new High Commissioner to New Zealand, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, has a pertinent word of advice for the Indian community here: work together for the common cause and eschew the all-too-common fissiparous tendency to plough lone furrows based on narrow interests.
There is no denying the fact that India is a land of great variety, an ancient, continuous civilisation that has embraced and assimilated all religions and cultures despite preserving the age old individual identities of communities testified by the subtle variations in cultural practices even within a given region.
This has led to a multiplicity of Indian organisations everywhere including in New Zealand that are built primarily on the basis of religious beliefs, language, cultural practices and region – which in itself is an excellent thing. This is because it helps preserve cultural identities especially for the benefit of the younger generation growing up in a different, faraway country. Every region and community within it celebrates every festival a little differently – and that’s exactly what makes India’s culture so variegated.
Despite all these differences subtle and stark, what binds all of India’s myriad communities together is the hard-to-define notion of “Indian-ness”, the most tangible form being India’s nationhood and national identity – at least officially since 1947. This, indisputably, is one factor that binds all Indians together, even if they live in another country and have embraced another citizenship.
It is therefore hard to justify why Indian communities living in different countries should have a multiplicity of functions in celebrating India’s national days.
I recall an incident a few years ago when I was visiting a small Pacific Island country. I happened to be there on August 15, India’s Independence Day, which fell toward a weekend. There was a tiny Indian community living there at that time: just seven families – all expatriate professionals from different parts of India. I was amazed to learn that despite this small community, there were two Indian Independence Day functions on that weekend!
My probing revealed that this was because the whole group could not agree on what ought to be on the menu: while some wanted a non-vegetarian menu with alcohol, the other wanted to keep it vegetarian (but was OK with alcohol). So, even in that tiny country in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, seven Indian families could not agree on a single function, having two instead.
Most of the conversation at the two functions, therefore, centered on why there were two functions, much to the complete puzzlement of the locals (I, for one, was quite embarrassed attempting to explain it away to the locals I knew).
Auckland, of course, has far more than seven people of Indian origin, so it comes as no surprise that there is more than one Indian Independence Day and Republic Day function in the city, more often than not.
Typically, later this month, there will be two Republic Day functions to celebrate India’s 60 years as a republic.
What can possibly justify the Indian community from a single city to host two national day functions – and vie with each other for inviting the same VIPs? What impression would the leadership of a host country get when its highest offices receive two invitations for the same national day function from two organisations from the same city?
The only reason for such duplicity would be putting narrow personal interests, not to mention egos, above the common interest of celebrating a national event and projecting an image of oneness – exactly as it happened in the case of the Pacific Island country with seven Indian families.
It is good to see that the High Commissioner has taken cognizance of this and made it a point to speak his mind. It is time Indian organisations work together for the greater good. Coming together to celebrate a combined, single national day function would be a great beginning. Would Auckland’s Indian organisations rise to the occasion and celebrate a single Independence Day, come August 15?
In an interview that appears on this website, India’s new High Commissioner to New Zealand, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, has a pertinent word of advice for the Indian community here: work together for the common cause and eschew the all-too-common fissiparous tendency to plough lone furrows based on...
In an interview that appears on this website, India’s new High Commissioner to New Zealand, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, has a pertinent word of advice for the Indian community here: work together for the common cause and eschew the all-too-common fissiparous tendency to plough lone furrows based on narrow interests.
There is no denying the fact that India is a land of great variety, an ancient, continuous civilisation that has embraced and assimilated all religions and cultures despite preserving the age old individual identities of communities testified by the subtle variations in cultural practices even within a given region.
This has led to a multiplicity of Indian organisations everywhere including in New Zealand that are built primarily on the basis of religious beliefs, language, cultural practices and region – which in itself is an excellent thing. This is because it helps preserve cultural identities especially for the benefit of the younger generation growing up in a different, faraway country. Every region and community within it celebrates every festival a little differently – and that’s exactly what makes India’s culture so variegated.
Despite all these differences subtle and stark, what binds all of India’s myriad communities together is the hard-to-define notion of “Indian-ness”, the most tangible form being India’s nationhood and national identity – at least officially since 1947. This, indisputably, is one factor that binds all Indians together, even if they live in another country and have embraced another citizenship.
It is therefore hard to justify why Indian communities living in different countries should have a multiplicity of functions in celebrating India’s national days.
I recall an incident a few years ago when I was visiting a small Pacific Island country. I happened to be there on August 15, India’s Independence Day, which fell toward a weekend. There was a tiny Indian community living there at that time: just seven families – all expatriate professionals from different parts of India. I was amazed to learn that despite this small community, there were two Indian Independence Day functions on that weekend!
My probing revealed that this was because the whole group could not agree on what ought to be on the menu: while some wanted a non-vegetarian menu with alcohol, the other wanted to keep it vegetarian (but was OK with alcohol). So, even in that tiny country in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, seven Indian families could not agree on a single function, having two instead.
Most of the conversation at the two functions, therefore, centered on why there were two functions, much to the complete puzzlement of the locals (I, for one, was quite embarrassed attempting to explain it away to the locals I knew).
Auckland, of course, has far more than seven people of Indian origin, so it comes as no surprise that there is more than one Indian Independence Day and Republic Day function in the city, more often than not.
Typically, later this month, there will be two Republic Day functions to celebrate India’s 60 years as a republic.
What can possibly justify the Indian community from a single city to host two national day functions – and vie with each other for inviting the same VIPs? What impression would the leadership of a host country get when its highest offices receive two invitations for the same national day function from two organisations from the same city?
The only reason for such duplicity would be putting narrow personal interests, not to mention egos, above the common interest of celebrating a national event and projecting an image of oneness – exactly as it happened in the case of the Pacific Island country with seven Indian families.
It is good to see that the High Commissioner has taken cognizance of this and made it a point to speak his mind. It is time Indian organisations work together for the greater good. Coming together to celebrate a combined, single national day function would be a great beginning. Would Auckland’s Indian organisations rise to the occasion and celebrate a single Independence Day, come August 15?
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