Identity

Cable TV came to Baroda in early to mid nineties. So I basically grew up watching Doordarshan. The state decided what I watched on TV, what I read in my text books and what should be shown in the movies. So I like everybody felt proud to be an Indian, proud of India's diversity, culture, religions, mountains, rivers, valleys, languages, food etc etc. The usual bad guys against India in movies and some TV series were either the British (read Tom Alter) and Pakistanis (How could I forget Mogambo here?). Every Independence Day I like most Indians felt proud for the years of struggle against the British and believed strongly that Indian independence was a good thing.
Did we ever think that we have been brainwashed into believing all this by a nation whose survival depends on such a belief. How else could it send people on a battle front to die for India. Recently Kashmir has seen a lot of unrest and it would be difficult to find a single person who shared this concept of India with me. For a Kashmiri he/she is a Kashmiri first (read Muslim first) and then anything else. I often ask myself whether their belief in a Kashmiri identity is in any way different from my concept of an Indian identity. What I mean is that Kashmir for most part of history was at least one nation, while India never was. Taking a step further, it would not be unfair to say that India, before it came into existence on 15 August 1947, had never existed as a single entity. It would not be wrong to say that there existed nations within what is now India and they were fiercly nationalist and fought against each other. Now the Indian government has made us believe that the concept of India is nobler, better, but do we ever question that whether it actually is? I can already see myself as being branded as an anti-national.
I had read in a book there was only one way of creating a completely fair society. Get a group of people to design it, such that the people know that after they have designed the system they will die and and will be reborn. What they don't know is which section of the society they will be reborn in. This will ensure that they create favourable conditions for every section of the society. I am an Indian and understand that Kashmir is important for the concept of India and support the government in its policies there. But what if I was a Kashmiri living under the shadow of the gun, under the fear that I could be the next victim? Would I still want India to exert its control over Kashmir?
It is not for Indians to realise but for Kashmiris to understand that in this clash of identities India is a stronger power and that it is impossible for Kashmiris to exert their concept of nationhood. But for that every Kashmiri has to let bygones be bygones and look at the situation objectively. Every Kashmiri has to realise that Kashmiriyat is similar to Indianism, just a concept in our minds. India has never asked Kashmiris to give up their identity. It actually gives them special rights under the constitution. Every person has an identity and if we keep segregating people, at one extreme end we could have each individual representing one country. It is not difficult to find things that make Kashmiris similar to the rest of India. Start from there and make the most of what the world order has to offer. True freedom is to break away from these predefined concepts and to be able to determine ones own identity.