mar 29, 2008
the story goes that rahul nehru (originally raoul maino) is 'discovering india' by traveling in comfort to some villages in orissa etc. he, i am told, was astonished to realize that there was a) poverty, b) starvation, c) disease, d) death. he had not been aware of these things, as he is a bubble-boy. (i guess this makes him exactly like the buddha -- and yeah, his indian name is that of the buddha's son -- so i propose he be called the buddha from now on).
here is, however, what actually went on in the background: christist machinations. why are we not surprised?
http://pseudosecularism.blogspot.com/2008/03/what-was-rahuls-mid-night-mission-with.html
also, this 'discovering india' business has been milked by at least four generations of the nehru dynasty. it's getting a little stale. below is what the great writer o v vijayan said about jawaharlal and *his* discovery [sic], which resulted in the book 'discovery of india', which should be classified under 'fiction'. as it is about as accurate about indian history as the jesus hoax is about roman history. reminds me of what somebody said about barbara crossette's utterings about india: "this is the last book you should read about india. if you know anything about india, you will realize it's completely wrong. if you know nothing about india, you will learn nothing about india from this book."
from my old column on jawaharlal (http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/sep/16rajeev.htm), quoting o v vijayan in "the path of the prophet"
My cherished people, he said, his voice dulled by thirst: I am nobody, I am merely one who has worn the vestments of the king of the starving. I claimed to have discovered India, but all I saw was, like Narcissus, my own aged face in the flowing mirror of the Ganga. Ganga, mother, daughter, sister, lover, why did you not cover up the wrinkles on my face? My god, I did not discover anything, other than myself; and other than the throne I built for my daughter and my grandson. My god, forgive me, a revolution cannot exist without self-glorification; the glimpses of world history that I have seen frighten me.
4 comments:
I must reject your recommendation for renaming the white-son to that greatest of all men - I propose we stick with Kingini Kuttan. Yes it is Malyalam and may need publicity for it become popular idiom. However, it is more fitting - surely you owe Kerala that much!
Rahul is going to be a very formidable foe for Nationalists for a number of reasons:
1. He has age on his side
2. He's good looking and presents a very ELM friendly persona (i can imagine several ELM women finding him sexually attractive too).
We need a more robust and nuanced response to manage this one. Like it or not, its almost certain that he will become PM at some time or the other.
The question is what fact-plus-rhetoric solution is required to keep that period the shortest?
Rahul Nehru, Raoul Nehru, Raoul Maino are better names.
ghostwriter, you're right. can't insult the sakyamuni too much. arvind, emphasizing the nehru part is good. after all, they didn't call it the babar-humayun-akbar-shahjehan-... dynasty, did they? it's the nehru dynasty, not the nehru-ghandy-vadhera-... dynasty.
agworld, i do hope he doesn't become PM. he's good-looking? with that "lights-on, nobody-home" look? ELM women would want to sleep with him because he's a white guy, that's a different matter.
as for a nuanced response, i can think of a few, but what did you have in mind?
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