Skip to main content

Are Heroes Dead?



A question that has been haunting me for quite some time is whether heroism is as dead as the dodo especially in India. Heroes died quite a while ago in literature. Writers replaced them with ‘protagonists’. Protagonists are entitled to their peccadillos while heroes are not expected to have even a toe of clay. Not only Caesar but even his wife should be above suspicion.
 
Gauri Lankesh
Heroes must possess certain qualities. They must be brave, first of all. Gauri Lankesh was brave enough to question the atrocities of the mighty and the powerful. She paid for her bravery with her life. She couldn’t have been braver than that, of course. There have been others too like her: M M Kalburgi, for example; killed again for the same crime. A few like Sanjiv Bhatt IPS will spend their lifetime in prison.
 
Sanjiv Bhatt
Bravery is not enough to make heroes, however. Villains are brave too. Heroes are guided by an exemplary moral code in their personal life. They have very clear ideas about what is right and what is wrong, and they do what they believe is right irrespective of the consequences. Arundhati Roy is a hero by this criterion as well as the above one. She has displayed a tremendous lot of courage too.

Readiness to sacrifice their own personal interests for the sake of the greater good is another vital quality of heroes. Self-sacrifice has become outdated, it looks like.

I was gladdened by the news report that 49 eminent personalities of India have written an open letter to PM Modi expressing their anguish about the various evils that are swallowing the country these days. Even though heroes have vanished apparently, we have some intellectuals still left with us. Thank heavens for that.

Our leaders know, however, that intellectuals are as innocuous as the lily of a day that is fairer far in May. They may be brave enough to write an open letter sitting in the security of their posh homes or offices.  They may even possess a fairly remarkable morality. But self-sacrifice? As long as that is missing, bravery and morality will only limp and lisp.

When the British Empire decided to give independence to India, Winston Churchill made a very uncomfortable prediction that the enormous landmass called India with its infinite diversity would ‘fall back into the barbarism and privations of the Middle Ages.’ The monster of communalism which ravaged most parts of North India for months that preceded and followed 15 August 1947 proved Churchill right. More than seven decades after that prediction and what ensued it, the monster continues to rule India. The country does not even have protagonists to resist that monster, let alone heroes.

Comments

  1. Rajeev MoothedathJuly 25, 2019 at 10:06 AM

    Nicely written post with lot of home truths.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anita SabatJuly 26, 2019 at 2:13 PM

    Another group has written to PM countering the previous group.
    Everyone is entitled to their own views.
    There's no doubt that our nation needs heroes. May we all be a hero and work for our nation. Every country is as good as its citizens.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJuly 26, 2019 at 3:52 PM

      If anyone justfies the evils that are corroding the nation's soul, I'm appalled. It's not at all about difference of view, it's about what's right and what's wrong.

      Every country is also as good as its leaders.

      Delete
  3. Jyotirmoy SarkarJuly 26, 2019 at 8:42 PM

    Actually i have lots to say in this concern but am confused from where should i start and where to end????
    Its good to know about what's right and whats wrong and the truth is there are so many wrong and illegal activities are going on in front of our eyes, if someone thinks(with due respect to those who raised their voices)she/he alone can make a change then its their illogical thoughts, we should know the power against whom we are raising our voices and should realize whether we have the capabilities to face the negative consequences, until a crowd raise the voice no change is going to take place.
    The intensity of instability and insecurity gives fruitful results of any self-sacrifice, otherwise all are just a news for the public.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJuly 26, 2019 at 9:02 PM

      Support of people is essential for any movement, any vision, to be successful. Unfortunately in our country some religious sentiments have captured all that support. We have been taken to the Middle Ages.

      Delete
    2. Jyotirmoy SarkarJuly 27, 2019 at 10:51 AM

      Totally agree with you, religion is in too much hype than its needed, people have started using it as a weapon not for self-realization.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In this Wonderland

I didn’t write anything in the last few days. Nor did I feel any urge to write. I don’t know if this lack of interest to write is what’s called writer’s block. Or is it simple disenchantment with whatever is happening around me? We’re living in a time that offers much, too much, to writers. The whole world looks like a complex plot for a gigantic epic. The line between truth and fiction has disappeared. Mass murders have become no-news. Animals get more compassion than fellow human beings. Even their excreta are venerated! Folk tales are presented as scientific truths while scientific truths are sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. When the young generation in Nepal set fire to their Parliament and Supreme Court buildings, they were making an unmistakable statement: that they are sick of their political leaders and their systems. Is there any country whose leaders don’t sicken their citizens? I’m just wondering. Maybe, there are good leaders still left in a few coun...
12 comments
Read more

Death as a Sculptor

Book Discussion An Introductory Note : This is not a book review but a reflection on one of the many themes in The Infatuations , novel by Javier Marias. If you have any intention of reading the novel, please be forewarned that this post contains spoilers. For my review of the book, without spoilers, read an earlier post: The Infatuations (2013). D eath can reshape the reality for the survivors of the departed. For example, a man’s death can entirely alter the lives of his surviving family members: his wife and children, particularly. That sounds like a cliché. Javier Marias’ novel, The Infatuations , shows us that death can alter a lot more; it can reshape meanings, relationships, and even morality of the people affected by the death. Miguel Deverne is killed by an abnormal man right in the beginning of the novel. It seems like an accidental killing. But it isn’t. There are more people than the apparently insane killer involved in the crime and there are motives which are di...
7 comments
Read more

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
47 comments
Read more

When Cricket Becomes War

Illustration by Copilot Designer Why did India agree to play Pakistan at all if the animosity runs so deep that Indian players could not even extend the customary handshake: a simple ritual that embodies the very essence of sportsmanship? Cricket is not war, in the first place. When a nation turns a game into a war, it does not defeat its rival; it only wages war on its own culture, poisoning its acclaimed greatness. India which claims to be Viswaguru , the world’s Guru, is degenerating itself day after day with mounting hatred against everyone who is not Hindu. How can we forget what India did to a young cricket player named Mohammed Siraj , especially in this context? In the recent test series against England, India achieved an unexpected draw because of Siraj. 1113 balls and 23 wickets. He was instrumental in India’s series-levelling victory in the final Test at the Oval and was declared the Player of the Match. But India did not celebrate him. Instead, it mocked him for his o...
6 comments
Read more

Whose Rama?

Book Review Title: Whose Rama? [Malayalam] Author: T S Syamkumar Publisher: D C Books, Kerala Pages: 352 Rama may be an incarnation of God Vishnu, but is he as noble a man [ Maryada Purushottam ] as he is projected to be by certain sections of Hindus? This is the theme of Dr Syamkumar’s book, written in Malayalam. There is no English translation available yet. Rama is a creation of the Brahmins, asserts the author of this book. The Ramayana upholds the unjust caste system created by Brahmins for their own wellbeing. Everyone else exists for the sake of the Brahmin wellbeing. If the Kshatriyas are given the role of rulers, it is only because the Brahmins need such men to fight and die for them. Valmiki’s Rama too upheld that unjust system merely because that was his Kshatriya-dharma, allotted by the Brahmins. One of the many evils that Valmiki’s Rama perpetrates heartlessly is the killing of Shambuka, a boy who belonged to a low caste but chose to become an ascetic. The...
8 comments
Read more