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I first heard our national anthem, Jana Gana Mana..., when I was enrolled in Father's High School at Muthukur. I was 8 then and was very scared of joining what was called the School Assembly where Father presided standing on one side of the national flag (the other side was occupied by our student SPL).
After the unwilling flag was duly hoisted at length, a student was called to the podium by name and he went forward and sang a prayer song in Telugu...one of 3 approved ones. And then some six or seven students were called up one by one by their names read out by the SPL and they were serially caned by Father for whatever mischief was reported against them by their Class Teachers the day before. They took their punishment lightly...they must have been habitual offenders seeking publicity in front of the half a dozen giggling girls.
After this ceremony was over, Father gave a sort of speech which I couldn't hear (there were no mikes) because I was in the First Form at the end of the assemblage. Father was a fluent writer of chaste English prose although he never wrote anything but office memos and postcards. But I could see that he was not a fluent speaker...he hummed and hawed haltingly. This prejudice of mine was confirmed by my mom when she was once invited to the School Anniversary in which Father had to speak on the very many achievements of his school during the past year.
Prasada Rao told us that it was an insult to us, Andhras, that our lovely language finds no mention in our anthem. On the other hand, the Pakistani Sindhi does. So he wanted it to be altered to:
He asked us to sing it thus in the next day's Assembly. But of course, Father would have none of it, and perhaps gave a 'charge memo' to Prasada Rao.
Much water has flowed (or flown) since then. The state of Andhra was formed and soon, Telengana was merged into it, apparently unwillingly, and the unholy concoction became Andhra Pradesh. And now there is a distinct possibility that the two would soon get unstuck and Hyderabad, where I live in, is going to be the capital of Telengana. So I suggest that our National Anthem should be re-modified to remove the cussed Andhras from any mention in it, thus:
I am sorry that 'Dravida' has to be obliterated to keep the changes minimal and rhythm intact. I myself belong to the subcaste of "Tummagunta Dravidas" but, as you know, I am known to be very self-effacing.
Somehow or other, though I keep reluctantly standing whenever our National Anthem is sung, I never mumble the words...I feel too shy. And I was afraid it was a criminal offense and I could be jailed for it. But Wiki reassures me that there is no such danger:
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I first heard our national anthem, Jana Gana Mana..., when I was enrolled in Father's High School at Muthukur. I was 8 then and was very scared of joining what was called the School Assembly where Father presided standing on one side of the national flag (the other side was occupied by our student SPL).
After the unwilling flag was duly hoisted at length, a student was called to the podium by name and he went forward and sang a prayer song in Telugu...one of 3 approved ones. And then some six or seven students were called up one by one by their names read out by the SPL and they were serially caned by Father for whatever mischief was reported against them by their Class Teachers the day before. They took their punishment lightly...they must have been habitual offenders seeking publicity in front of the half a dozen giggling girls.
After this ceremony was over, Father gave a sort of speech which I couldn't hear (there were no mikes) because I was in the First Form at the end of the assemblage. Father was a fluent writer of chaste English prose although he never wrote anything but office memos and postcards. But I could see that he was not a fluent speaker...he hummed and hawed haltingly. This prejudice of mine was confirmed by my mom when she was once invited to the School Anniversary in which Father had to speak on the very many achievements of his school during the past year.
Suddenly Father fell silent and everyone of my seniors joined singing this Jana Gana Mana before dispersing to their classrooms. Since I have no musical ear I couldn't quite appreciate its music, and the lyrics made no sense to me for all of 3 years...it was a ritual in which everyone in the school participated.
A couple of years later one afternoon when we were all relaxing in our home during the winter vacation, we saw our SPL huffing and puffing in front of our gate heading half a dozen other senior school kids. They were all carrying lathi-sticks and were in their underpants and sandow banians. I got scared and hid myself in our bedroom peeping through its window. I saw Father go out to talk to the students and, after a few minutes, the crowd dispersed.
I asked Father what the revolt was all about and he told us that Potti Sri Ramulu died in Nellore just then after 50 odd days of hunger strike, fasting for the creation of Andhra as a separate state from the Madras Presidency...apparently the wily Tamils were long sucking the blood of Andhras. And our SPL and his chamchas were suitably inflamed by the deadly passion and wanted Father's permission to go to Nellore (12 miles away) and impose a Bandh in the town.
Then on, for about a year, all of us considered it proper for us to be inflamed. The first thing our geography teacher, Prasada Rao, did was to change our National Anthem to undo the injustice that Tagore did us. The original anthem read, and still reads,
"...Punjaba Sindhu Gujerata Maratha
Dravida Utkala Vanga..."
Prasada Rao told us that it was an insult to us, Andhras, that our lovely language finds no mention in our anthem. On the other hand, the Pakistani Sindhi does. So he wanted it to be altered to:
"...Punjaba Andhra Gujerata Maratha
Dravida Utkala Vanga..."
He asked us to sing it thus in the next day's Assembly. But of course, Father would have none of it, and perhaps gave a 'charge memo' to Prasada Rao.
Much water has flowed (or flown) since then. The state of Andhra was formed and soon, Telengana was merged into it, apparently unwillingly, and the unholy concoction became Andhra Pradesh. And now there is a distinct possibility that the two would soon get unstuck and Hyderabad, where I live in, is going to be the capital of Telengana. So I suggest that our National Anthem should be re-modified to remove the cussed Andhras from any mention in it, thus:
"...Punjaba Sindhu Gujerata Maratha
Utkala Vanga Telanga..."
I am sorry that 'Dravida' has to be obliterated to keep the changes minimal and rhythm intact. I myself belong to the subcaste of "Tummagunta Dravidas" but, as you know, I am known to be very self-effacing.
Somehow or other, though I keep reluctantly standing whenever our National Anthem is sung, I never mumble the words...I feel too shy. And I was afraid it was a criminal offense and I could be jailed for it. But Wiki reassures me that there is no such danger:
Supreme Court observed in its ruling[16]
"There is no provision of law which obliges anyone to sing the National
Anthem nor is it disrespectful to the National Anthem if a person who
stands up respectfully when the National Anthem is sung does not join
the singing. Proper respect is shown to the National Anthem by standing
up when the National Anthem is sung. It will not be right to say that
disrespect is shown by not joining in the singing. Standing up
respectfully when the National Anthem is sung but not singing oneself
clearly does not either prevent the singing of the National Anthem or
cause disturbance to an assembly engaged in such singing so as to
constitute the offence mentioned in s. 3 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act".
I wonder what if everyone follows me...absolute standing silence!
Bravo Supreme Court!!!
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3 comments:
I would prefer "Telanga Utkala Banga" instead, since it would maintain the analytic continuity.
.. the previous line could be
"..Punjaba Rajbhoom Gujerata Maratha"
pratik
How can we modify someone's creation, sir ? At best, we can think of some different poem for National Anthem, if 'Jana Gana' is creating a feelings of left out in some region.
I think you should get rid of this penchant for "flown' (even in parenthesis) !
Think what our late beloved English professor uncle would have said about it !!un
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