यूनान ओ मिस्र ओ रोमा सब मिट गए जहाँ से
अब तक मगर है बाकि नामोनिशां हमारा
कुछ बात है के हस्ती मिटती नहीं हमारी
सदियों रहा है दुश्मन दौरेजमान हमारा
जय हिन्द
Today is 15th august. India got independence this day. Today, here at Lovely Professional University I have been witnessing an unusual vigor in students here. People are relatively more excited today. People are making noise, running here and there. And to intoxicate the atmosphere even more, the weather today is cold and rainy; that smell of moist sand and the cold wind make this 15 August celebrations even more irresistible. One of the best things at this college is that students here are not that ignorant and definitely they are displaying their happiness over Independence Day. But some of the students are displaying their displeasure over the present state of the nation too. One of my students in the class asked me for what should we be proud of this nation? He was from Chhattisgarh, and I could't say much. But my dear friends, i do have to say something.
This is 21st century going on. Just 66 years after Independence, we are here. earlier to that, India had been ruled by Britain for almost 2 centuries. Britain started its conquest since 1757. Dada Bhai Naoroji, the Grand Old Man of India stated the lose of 200-300 pounds of revenue to Britain in his book "Poverty and Un-british Rule in India". And before the British Rule, that is at the time of medieval history, India's GDP is said to be 30% of the world's GDP.
We all know, the only thing that motivates the west to conquer or to win is just the treasure, खजाना। They wanted short-cut to the riches. And that is why, the stories of sea voyages and finding the hidden treasure like Pirates of Caribbean (which is a regular theme of the hollywood movies) had been glorified. It's in their culture, that somebody leaves the nation and comes back with huge treasures. Even the ship of Johnny Depp was named EIC (East India Company).
Now, one thing more, the West is always inspired by the Greeks and the Roman Empires. There had been only one interaction with the West and the Indian Civilization in the history before the advent of Britain to India. And that is, at the time of Alexander, that is, the time of Chanakya and Chandargupta. Near about 327BC. There was a writer named, Magasthene, with Alexander. He came along with Alexander's army, and wrote a book about India, i.e. INDICA. And yes, my nation got the name India from the British people only. It was the book Indica that was behind this name, that India got famous. Magasthene had written many extraordinary things about India. Like the Honesty of the Indians, Education system, the Governance at that time, etc etc. And yes, definitely, he wrote about the riches. He wrote that this is the only place in the world where he had not seen any kind of slavery! This Book made an impression and a perception in the minds of western people. Moreover, the great Alexander's army could not win over Chandargupta (who is not written anywhere as Great Chandargupta, only person in world who defied Alexander and defeated him too). Seleucas Nicator, the successor of Alexander and great Greek army got defeated. This became a reason for the better perception of this more or less hidden nation for the Western minds. India became a subject of curiosity for west psyche.
And only when Europe rose, the race of colonization and the competition of conquering started, the thought of conquering India, the land of riches, occurred first time to the minds of European leaders. The Greed was so much that they did not want to conquer just another land or just another nation. It was only the nation India that the European Voyagers were searching for. And definitely not for spices. Columbus left for India, Vasco Da Gama searched the nation. The unfortunate Columbus, went into the wrong direction, America was discovered. And hence the names like Red Indians etc. Red Indian is an offensive term for a native North American. In North America, the term is now considered a racial slur. The use of the term Indian for the natives of the Americas originated with Christopher Columbus, who mistakenly believed that the Antilles were the islands of the Indian Ocean, known to Europeans as the Indies. Though Columbus's mistake was soon recognized, the name stuck, and for centuries the native people of the Americas were called Indians. Then West Indies. Lastly, VasoDaGama, the Italian voyager, found the right place. INDIA was found. And now what, the route to India was discovered. Race started.
From Wikipedia
The first European power to arrive in India was the army of Alexander the Great in 327–326 BC. The satraps he established in the north west of the subcontinent quickly crumbled after he left. Later, trade was carried between Indian states and the Roman Empire by Roman sailors who reached India via the Red Sea and Arabian Sea, but the Romans never sought trading settlements or territory in India. The spice trade between India and Europe was one of the main types of trade in the world economy and was the main catalyst for the period of European exploration.[1][2] The search for the wealth and prosperity of India led to the accidental "discovery" of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492. Only a few years later, near the end of the 15th century, Portuguese sailor Vasco da Gama became the first European to re-establish direct trade links with India since Roman times by being the first to arrive by circumnavigating Africa (1497–1499). Having arrived in Calicut, which by then was one of the major trading ports of the eastern world,[3] he obtained permission to trade in the city from Saamoothiri Rajah. Trading rivalries brought other European powers to India. The Netherlands, England, France, and Denmark established trading posts in India in the early 17th century.
They came here for money, they took the money.
Coming back to the present. The nation India was the best, the richest, most knowledgeable. It is said that the nation India is the cradle of all civilizations. Still the credit is never given to India. India taught Buddhism to the world. It is the birth place for 4 world's major religions and a genuine home to 2 other major world religions, but still the credit is not given back. India is the country where 85% population is Hindu, but still India is secular, and never, almost never fanatic. India taught them numeric, Ayurveda, yoga, meditation, but again where's the credit, where's the gratification. We will get them all.
Those western people know our greatness, but we yet have not discovered. And they never tell us.
India was the Best
India is the Best
India will be the Best
