A muted cheer

It is good to see a people rising to claim and then win a right to choose their leader. We hope this choice leads to positive change in their way of life and those of their children. This land has been a great cradle of civilization - here is to a new beginning that rings in an uncensored exchange of new learnings and free thought. We also hope that they inspire their neighbours to ask the same questions of their rulers, and demand answers until they get reasonable ones. An idea whose time has come easily brushes aside any contrarian views, and it is inspiring to see the exuberance of youth as the juggernaut moves. Good Show - Egypt.

Yet as I see these winning images and cheer for the moment, the deserted roads of Srinagar appear to ask difficult questions. If there was a similar attempt by the majority population in that part of the world to change who they are governed by, as an Indian citizen would I be celebrating with same cheer? Wouldn't some of the compelling arguments for overthrowing Mubarak apply in the case of Kashmir as well? A long rein of governing a people by clever wording in an accession treaty, with the powerful side choosing not to honour some of its own commitments. The little matter of a plebiscite, or fulfilling the basic needs of human development and free assembly. You could argue state elections are a testament to a functioning democracy. But who are we to judge if that is what people want? Try selling that to the young man on the streets of Sri Nagar who is stopped on his way to college just because he sports a beard. Or consider that Hitler was truly elected by popular vote in a democracy - it is a minor detail that the he was running on the Nazi party ticket. If the people of Kashmir do no want to be governed by New Delhi, it would be no different than the inspirational assertion of self determination in Cairo. How should a "patriot" in Washington DC or Tel Aviv react to a similar protest on the streets of Gaza against the occupation.

So how am I really reacting? With the years, the mind appears to have developed a strange reluctance to arrive at binary answers. Taking a side invariably boxes me in as the details unravel and the motivations of kings and their subjects are revealed. Would have loved be a lot more vocal and convincing when I cheered for the new dawn in Cairo, but I love my country too much. Maybe that love is too exclusive, and I should be "Imagining" a world without countries. Just maybe.