By Pratap Naik, SG

“WHERE the mind is without fear…” is a powerful and inspirational poem written by Nobel poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore originally in Bengali and published in 1910 in his winning poetry collection titled “Gitanjali.” And then he himself translated it into English and published it in 1912. The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913 was awarded to him for his sensitivity and creativity.
He wrote the now famous poem while India was still under British rule. People were eagerly awaiting independence from foreign rule. His poem is a prayer to the Almighty for a nation free from fear, fragmentation, narrow mindedness and falsehood. This was his dream and vision for our motherland India.
But where have we reached in recent years? We are living in fear, lawlessness, uncertainty, living as caged birds who have forgotten to fly high in the sky. As a country we have lost integrity, morality and sensitivity towards others, especially towards young girls and women. Our past glory is only enshrined in the history books!
Who will restore India so that it lives up to the great vision of Rabindranath Tagore? Mere peace rallies, prayers for peace, fasting, doing charity to victims, issuing press releases, words of sympathy, shouting slogans are not sufficient. We must come out of our comfort zones. We cannot and should not be mute spectators. We have to enter the playground and play a prophetic role through the powerful weapons of non-violence, peaceful actions, and non-cooperation to ego- filled autocrats. We have to stand in solidarity with the oppressed citizens and save our country from lawlessness and anarchy.
The silence of the majority, irrespective of their religion and region, could be interpreted as they are partners in the degradation of our country. We cannot trust our leaders who remained dumb all these years and are now opening their mouth because of disturbing videos in circulation.
The entire world has become a global village. Hence, there are no “internal matters” restricted to any country including India. Wherever there is violence, war, injustice, in any part of our planet, it should become our concern and we must raise our voice without fear. India is our homeland. It is our utmost sacred duty and obligation to save it.
As a sovereign democratic republic, we have to secure justice, liberty, equality, dignity and fraternity to all the citizens of our country. In this context the poem of Rabindranath Tagore gives us the courage and inspiration to play our dynamic role.
“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”
Now is the hour to rise from our slumber and put into practice the vision of Rabindranath Tagore before our country is doomed to extremism, fundamentalism, fanaticism and exclusivism.