Politics Divides Culture Unites : Reference India and Pakistan
The British ruled India for 200 years. The burden of world war was ery huge on British Economy. Soon they realized that they can no longer rule the Indian Sub Continent, so they encouraged fringe elements in the two large religious faction, Hindus and Muslims, to demand separate country based on the religious identity. they knew that once divided into two parts based on religion, these newly emerged nations will always look towards Britain for help and thus their dominance will be continued. With this firm thought, they gave independence to the region in 1947, two countries emerged - Pakistan, the dream of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and like minded Muslims - homeland for Muslims and India though Hindu majority region but preferred to remain a secular nation.
The rulers of Pakistan, right from beginning, followed the model of an Islamic nation tried to find its role model in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, the religious zealots overpowered all spheres of life, cinema, music and other fine arts took the back seat.
On the other hand, in India, the liberals resisted to extreme fringe elements, with the result to large extant free expression , popular cinema, music and other fine arts flourished. yet is true that from last two three years the religious fringe elements tried to take the center stage by making creative expression more sanskari, reviewing the history, but the liberal values are still by and large strong.
Politicians in Pakistan tried to isolated and insulated their subjects and followed conservative path. Hatred towards India has been a part of their overall policy, they focus to keep enmity towards India alive through a number of unsuccessful military endeavors, political propaganda and creating a curtain wall, they feel that this is the only way to intact their identity. Hawks in India also want to create that kind of fervor.
But the fact remains that the cultural bonding is so strong that iron curtains and 70 year's isolation has not been able to create divide not only in older but also in the younger generation. I am right now in America and by the way I yesterday tried to search Indian marriage songs on internet. I was greatly surprised to see so many video clips of Pakistani Marriage, Mehndi and Walima function emerged in the search results. When I started opening the videos, the result compelled me to think with a very different perspective. The songs played or performed by the enthusiastic bride's or bridegroom's family members and friends were based on the popular numbers of Bollywood. If the songs would be before the 1947, it would probably not be a surprise for me but the popular numbers were as new as from the year 2016 and 2017 bollywood movies like Tujhko bana ke le jayenge Badri kee dulhaniya, Kala Chashma, Kar gayi Chul, Hua hai Aaj pehli Baar, Nashe See Chadh Gayi, and I could see in the videos that older generation was equally enjoying the acts. no burkas or abhyas when the young one performing, it was almost in the same way as we see in the marriage functions in India. This is the situation, when in the name of Islam most of the cinemas are closed, and what ever remained functional can not show the Indian movies. But thanks to YouTube and other internet medium that the young generation in Pakistan has access to Indian entertainment and they have great craze for Indian films, music.
This has also compelled me to pose question - when European nations can live in peace and harmony with their neighboring countries, why not we the Indian, Pakistani and Bagladeshi. The fact is, the day, this iron curtain will be lifted / eased out, the artificial division will melt down. In fact, I see here in US that Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis live in close harmony with each other.
There is a famous restaurant 'Nan N Curry' here in Seattle, USA run by a Pakistani but patronised by local Indian community. The scenario is no different in other cities across US and Europe.
The Pakistani and Indians abroad share the similar food, drinks and ethnic dresses, the language is also almost common.
The common cultural roots and heritage can not be erased by erasing the facts from the historical books, adopting more extreme religious practices or fighting ideological or military wars. But the wasted interests of religious zealots, politicians and military leadership of Pakistan will never allow inter mingling of youth of the two countries. This is hard reality.
The rulers of Pakistan, right from beginning, followed the model of an Islamic nation tried to find its role model in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, the religious zealots overpowered all spheres of life, cinema, music and other fine arts took the back seat.
On the other hand, in India, the liberals resisted to extreme fringe elements, with the result to large extant free expression , popular cinema, music and other fine arts flourished. yet is true that from last two three years the religious fringe elements tried to take the center stage by making creative expression more sanskari, reviewing the history, but the liberal values are still by and large strong.
Politicians in Pakistan tried to isolated and insulated their subjects and followed conservative path. Hatred towards India has been a part of their overall policy, they focus to keep enmity towards India alive through a number of unsuccessful military endeavors, political propaganda and creating a curtain wall, they feel that this is the only way to intact their identity. Hawks in India also want to create that kind of fervor.
But the fact remains that the cultural bonding is so strong that iron curtains and 70 year's isolation has not been able to create divide not only in older but also in the younger generation. I am right now in America and by the way I yesterday tried to search Indian marriage songs on internet. I was greatly surprised to see so many video clips of Pakistani Marriage, Mehndi and Walima function emerged in the search results. When I started opening the videos, the result compelled me to think with a very different perspective. The songs played or performed by the enthusiastic bride's or bridegroom's family members and friends were based on the popular numbers of Bollywood. If the songs would be before the 1947, it would probably not be a surprise for me but the popular numbers were as new as from the year 2016 and 2017 bollywood movies like Tujhko bana ke le jayenge Badri kee dulhaniya, Kala Chashma, Kar gayi Chul, Hua hai Aaj pehli Baar, Nashe See Chadh Gayi, and I could see in the videos that older generation was equally enjoying the acts. no burkas or abhyas when the young one performing, it was almost in the same way as we see in the marriage functions in India. This is the situation, when in the name of Islam most of the cinemas are closed, and what ever remained functional can not show the Indian movies. But thanks to YouTube and other internet medium that the young generation in Pakistan has access to Indian entertainment and they have great craze for Indian films, music.
This has also compelled me to pose question - when European nations can live in peace and harmony with their neighboring countries, why not we the Indian, Pakistani and Bagladeshi. The fact is, the day, this iron curtain will be lifted / eased out, the artificial division will melt down. In fact, I see here in US that Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis live in close harmony with each other.
There is a famous restaurant 'Nan N Curry' here in Seattle, USA run by a Pakistani but patronised by local Indian community. The scenario is no different in other cities across US and Europe.
The Pakistani and Indians abroad share the similar food, drinks and ethnic dresses, the language is also almost common.
The common cultural roots and heritage can not be erased by erasing the facts from the historical books, adopting more extreme religious practices or fighting ideological or military wars. But the wasted interests of religious zealots, politicians and military leadership of Pakistan will never allow inter mingling of youth of the two countries. This is hard reality.
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