To move on

I’m reading this book – Beyond Closed Doors – detailing the wheeling-dealing between Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt during the WW-II that led to much of the inequity that happened during and in its aftermath. The main focus of the book is the villainy perpetrated by Stalin – of how he outshines Hitler as the greatest of the genocidal psychopaths of that era (including Mao in this line up).

 

The main thing that struck me – in the aftermath of the Mumbai blasts – is a quote from a Red Army Tatar soldier (the Tatars were at the receiving end of one of Stalin’s brutal purges) – “We have a great ability to endure and to forgive”.

 

It almost sounds as he is proud of this. And this is the same thing one hears of Mumbaikars and Indians in general – “we get on with things”.

 

And I’m not sure this is such a trait to be proud of. It reflects an fundamental inability to see that the joke is on you. An inability to learn and adapt and grow. This “business as usual” attitude is an indication of a moral and intellectual weakness. Because to do things – to change – to fight – “to take up arms against a sea of troubles and in so doing end them” requires courage and effort. To forgive and forget – is just laziness. It is akin to that time when - I was living in Bangalore – that someone broke into our flat early one morning and stole all our shoes. I woke up a roommate who was sleeping and informed him of this . His response – without even fully  wakening “acha ? theek hain – aaj shaam jaa kar naye jutey kharidengey”. And I agreed with him. We could even be bothered to be bothered. Shameful.