JOIN USI sing the national anthem with gusto. And even offer to lead the singing, whenever it is safe to do so. There is a reason for it. I am a failed singer. I used to fancy myself, in my innocent days, a singing talent. My very first attempt to sing in public disabused me of my illusion in this regard.
The only song I feel free to sing, given my lamentable dearth of musical talent, is “Jana Gana Mana” This is absolutely the only song in our history of which, the victims of your singing, expect no tune or talent on your part. You can sing it from any podium at the top of your voice and get away with, as your victims could tell you, “with murder”.
So, I am a votary and I have no problem with the anthem being played in cinema halls in principle.
There is a second reason, besides my indifferent musical talent, for my partiality to the anthem. That goes back a few decades. I chose Hindi as my second language. I was happily proficient in Malayalam and deeply desirous of choosing it as second language in my undergraduate days. But my patriotic mother willed otherwise. “Hindi,” she counselled, “is our national language. Son, you must opt for it.” I did.
I was at sea right away. Couldn’t make head or tail of the grammar. The gender-based case endings foxed me. I could never make out if pen, table, book etc, were male or female. There were a million similar perplexities, besides. After a few valiant efforts I gave up. I began to neglect Hindi, like all else in my batch.
But we had to pass a university examination. A way was found. We learned “Gana Gana Mana…” by rote and reproduced it, verbatim, on the script. Irrespective of the questions, the answers were only copies of the anthem, repeated as many times as there were questions.
All of us passed. And I topped the list in my district, scoring a whopping 65% in 1970, when marks were supposed to mean something! I nurse that undying sense of gratitude.
So, should the anthem be played in cinema hall? Of course, it should be. But I am left still with one practical problem, which might as well be stated.
Let us assume that everyone rises to his or her feet and stands when the anthem is played, being obliged to do so.
Does standing per se be token “respect”? I am afraid, it is possible to stand in a way that secretes resentment, vexation, or even disrespect. Who is going to decide if the way this citizen stands is patriotic or not? Who will certify if the way I stand is respectful or not?
I will not be surprised if tomorrow a new breed of national anthem vigilantes springs up and roams at will in cinema halls terrorising hapless citizens. It does not take any specialised sense of history to see the link between regulations and violence, just as there is a link between rules and corruption.
It is not only likely but almost certain that many – in fact, a vast majority - could stand “disrespect” to the anthem out of sheer ignorance. Because of my personal fondness for the anthem, I watch attentively how people stand when it is sung. I can vouch that not even 1% of our citizenry know how to stand appropriately for the duration of the anthem.
I suggest a couple of simple exercises. Just watch our netas, when the anthem is sung, and see how they stand. Then come to your own conclusions on: (a) if they know how stand for the anthem and (b) if such standing as many of them casually and awkwardly undertake is expressive of respect or clumsy disrespect.
Second, conduct a random survey among citizens –take the most educated among them- and find out how many out of, say, a hundred know how to stand for the anthem. You will be, I dare say, in for a shock.
‘Anti-national’
What is the need – one may ask at risk of being branded anti-national – to order people to “show” respect to the national anthem? The answer is simple. The need to have recourse to force means only one thing: we are unsure if we have done enough as a country to imbue our national flag and anthem with emotional richness and patriotic resonance. We have to force citizens to “show" respect only because we are worried that they don’t feel it towards these symbols.
I find it hard to believe that anyone can be ordered into respecting anything. Citizens can be ordered into hypocrisy, though, which can only breed resentment. Given the logic of human nature, people are sure to resent everything thrust upon them.
Coercion vitiates respect and replaces it with insincere, if not slavish, obedience. Nobody is going to be told, in all likelihood, why they should stand, much less how they should. People will only know that they “have to” stand. In matters of sentiment, this is not a happy state.
But resenting the anthem or the flag is not an option. What we need to do is to create a national climate in which these symbols acquire a positive and resonant significance for all citizens. We must render respect towards national symbols spontaneous and effortless. We need to become a country healed and united. We are miles away from that happy state. A dream of our unity is, after all, embedded in the Anthem. The saving of all people waits in thy hand,Thou dispenser of India's destiny. Victory forever.
(The writer is former principal, St Stephen’s College, Delhi)