Today, on the 70th birthday of my homeland, I reread Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s evocative speech, delivered just before India gained independence from oppressive British rule. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when …
Continue reading “Freedom at midnight: Indian independence came at a high cost”
It’s too bad “Midnight’s Children” was a bust at the box office. I’m thinking that Deepa Mehta was perhaps the wrong director to give us the celluloid depiction of Salman Rushdie’s terrific book, which won the Booker Prize in 1981. The protagonist and narrator of Rushdie’s story, Saleem Sinai, is born at the exact moment when …
On the Fourth of July, I ask you: Should African-Americans celebrate this day? They were slaves when the Declaration of Independence was crafted. Should Native Americans celebrate this day? The white man obliterated them from their lands. Or perhaps the right question to ask is: How should people of color celebrate American independence? The answer …
A difficult agreement created Pakistan 63 years ago. The “land of the pure” was partitioned off from India and both nations became independent — Pakistan on August 14, 1947 and India a day later. Though it split India apart, we were finally free. No more British Empire. No more second-class citizenry. That’s why today should …
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