Europe of Asia
India, the Europe of Asia.
Europe is a mixture of different countries, each with its own different culture, language and history. The Great Roman Empire was the last big unified state dominating all over Europe. But since then, all of the states are divided into nations, each fighting over trivial
matters, which led to the great two wars. So we have nations ranging from Spain, France, Belgium all the way to Russia.
Now, compare Europe with India. We had a very similar type of system, with hundreds of princely states all bickering over with petty wars. Every once in a while, a central authority used to get created, like the Gupta's or the Mauyran's, but never dominating over the whole country. Then there were the Moguls and finally the British. Perhaps, the British were the only ones who had some sort of control over entire old India ranging from Pakistan to Burma.
We still have states divided on basis of languages. Each state is like a nation within itself. It is amazing how we all get together. Of course, regionalism still exists. But imagine the scenario after independence if each of the state was declared a different country. So, Maharashtra, AP, TN, Kerala and all different countries. With no central authority whatsoever, chaos would have
reigned. Here, we must recognize the efforts of the great Sardar Vallabhai Patel who effectively tackled many outstanding issues and merged all the states into one big undivided India.
Democracy has survived for more than 50 years and perhaps no other system will unite such diverse people under a single country.
Perhaps after another century, India will gelled into one big homogeneous mass. The process has already started... The challenge is to gel into the nation while still preserving our individual cultural identities.
Europe is a mixture of different countries, each with its own different culture, language and history. The Great Roman Empire was the last big unified state dominating all over Europe. But since then, all of the states are divided into nations, each fighting over trivial
matters, which led to the great two wars. So we have nations ranging from Spain, France, Belgium all the way to Russia.
Now, compare Europe with India. We had a very similar type of system, with hundreds of princely states all bickering over with petty wars. Every once in a while, a central authority used to get created, like the Gupta's or the Mauyran's, but never dominating over the whole country. Then there were the Moguls and finally the British. Perhaps, the British were the only ones who had some sort of control over entire old India ranging from Pakistan to Burma.
We still have states divided on basis of languages. Each state is like a nation within itself. It is amazing how we all get together. Of course, regionalism still exists. But imagine the scenario after independence if each of the state was declared a different country. So, Maharashtra, AP, TN, Kerala and all different countries. With no central authority whatsoever, chaos would have
reigned. Here, we must recognize the efforts of the great Sardar Vallabhai Patel who effectively tackled many outstanding issues and merged all the states into one big undivided India.
Democracy has survived for more than 50 years and perhaps no other system will unite such diverse people under a single country.
Perhaps after another century, India will gelled into one big homogeneous mass. The process has already started... The challenge is to gel into the nation while still preserving our individual cultural identities.
posted by Devendra at 9:47 AM
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