The title of our blog is, undoubtedly, provocative. No, it is not unconscious. It is a conscious and conscientious choice on my part. Am I referring to the terrible sufferings he had to face as a patriot fighting for the independence of our country? Indeed I am. The British did treat him most cruelly.
Our blog, however, is more interested in the sadism of the posthumous treatment he unfairly continues to suffer. Let us look at a few issues in our small little blog. Ah, yes, the notorious letters for pardon! Whenever I read about this crazy argument, I find it a pathetic PJ!
As I stated in the blog yesterday, we all are determined by our contexts. Language as 'text' is much more drafted by the 'con-texts'. The language in which such petitions get written is known as officialese. This version of a language, the 'register', changes at a pace slower than a snail's. It has its own set formulae.
In other words, anybody who wrote such 'mercy' petitions then, would have to write in the same "I beg to" variety. It was not Savarkar's idiolect, his personal choice. It was the standard officialese usage then One can quote hundreds of such usages by any number of other stalwarts then. To hurl it at Savarkar is not only ignorant in a silly way but also sadistic, especially because it savagely divides the contemporary society in to warring camps.
Yet another such sadism Savarkar consistently faces is quoting him partially, yet again out of con-text. Obviously, such an unfair treatment is vicious. Personally, my strong gut feeling is that ideologues of any variety would not have read a word from the original text(s) to deal intelligently, forget creatively, with the concepts involved.
High-pitched bellowing requires no brains. Rather, these days, lung power is not necessary either as we do have sensitive gadgets. It is a different tale altogether that their users are insensitivity personified. Why blast a thinker without actually reading his stellar contribution? That indeed is sadistic!
I would even go a step further, and argue that any historical figure would have inconsistencies in her/his writings/positions when we analyse them in hindsight. It is always easy to blame retrospectively. Many children are unfairly unjust to their loving, hard-working parents in a similar vein, forgetting conveniently that the kind souls did their bestest in the given contexts.
We, the comfort-guzzling children of that tough freedom struggle, are horribly sadistic to Savarkar in a similar fashion. Not only did he suffer agonies during his incarceration, but he also wrote intelligently on many issues. His ideas are more rational than any new-fangled hi-fi modernity. Reading him actually, without dislocating him out of his times, would be the real tribute to him!
Pratima@Empty vessels make the most noise!
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