Patriotism will remain till you are fond of your nation: Pandit Rajeev Taranath
Globally acclaimed as a leading exponent of Sarod, a scholar, and thinker, 84-year-old Pandit Rajeev Taranath, was extremely down to earth and affectionate during an interview with DC at his home in Saraswathipuram. He had fond memories of his father, a freedom fighter, and acclaimed musician, and spoke of his influence on him. Speaking on what freedom meant to him, Pandit Taranath said: “More people have education now. In my boyhood the only people you met on the road were people who belonged to educated families. We now have a democratic government, very good traditions started by great people like Jawaharlal Nehru and B.R. Ambedkar. But there is a general lowering of standards. There is no equitable distribution of wealth. The poor remain poor. We haven’t progressed socially. There is certain bitterness, you belong to one caste and blame the other caste. But one need not feel bad about it, the moment you are aware, you will try to improve. That is what gives me optimism. Freedom is good, because when the British were here, there were certain things we could not even try to do. But what is done is very less.” Excerpts from the interview.
Q&A Pandit Rajeev Taranath, Exponent of Sarod
Your father was a freedom fighter. What does this freedom means to you? How do you generally carry forward the spirit of freedom?
I was young, 14-15 when we got Independence. The freedom movement at that time was all about enthusiasm, excitement sometimes sad when I heard about police brutality. A boy slightly older to me, son of a poor man who owned a tonga, was shot by the police, because he tried to raise the Indian flag at National College in Bengaluru, Freedom was close to my heart because, my father was a freedom fighter, he wore Khadi. There was a time when Khadi was in such demand that the Khadi shops wanted you to give them khadi thread which you had spun, and in exchange, they would give you khadi cloth and some money. I was particularly influenced by Jawaharlal Nehru, his thinking personality and speeches. After independence he came three times to Bengaluru. In 1952, when Kengal Hanumanthaiah was the Chief Minister, Indira Gandhi was with her father and he spoke standing on the huge terrace of a cricket pavilion at Central College Bengaluru. It started raining and Hanumanthaiah and Indira wanted him to go under a shelter but he said, “No, my people are getting drenched, why should I have shelter, I am fine,” And he spoke for one and a half hours in that rain. He talked about Upanishads, knowledge, the great culture of India and so on. In many ways freedom for me, is not only getting freedom from the British but about basic freedom where there is no exploitation or there is minimum exploitation. Freedom for good health, good food and education is fine but what about poverty, and our caste and communal prejudices which come in the way?. Also women are still not free. Fathers make their daughters study, but they work as long as their parents haven’t found a bridegroom or you have not collected enough money to pay him. Once that is settled, she goes out, gets married. So where is freedom?
Which were the best qualities of your father who was an icon?
He had some sort of influence on Gandhiji. He was a good musician, knew languages, a good cricketer, a distinguished physician specialised in Ayurveda, Allopathy and Unani. He didn’t send me to school, he and my mother were extraordinary people, they handled my education at home as they felt I would remain fresh and not get tired of the routine at school. I learnt music, languages, yoga. My studies used to begin at 5 in the morning. Father was generous. I remember a young woman falling at his feet, and saying, “I am pregnant,what will I say if people ask who the father of the child is? Please help me have an abortion at your hospital”. Father told her, “Tell people that I am the father (Ashte enu, Pandit Taranath adar thande antha helri), we will have the delivery at our hospital and teach you how to take care of the child. If you
do not want the child, we will take care of it.” There is this wretched attitude towards pregnant women (unmarried or widows). Fathers beat them up, curse them. Where is the human warmth, the large heartedness?
Compared to 1947, aren’t we less barbaric, more tolerant now?
We are not tolerant. In India in 2002, a pogrom happened in Gujarat, a general massacre, in Ahmedabad alone, two to three thousand people were killed and the police refused to lodge FIRs. When the victims went to the police, the cops laughed at them. If that can happen in modern India, how can I assure myself that we are a tolerant society? We have a long way to go...
Do you think we killed the spirit of the freedom struggle because of our over enthusiasm in rewriting history books?
We haven’t done much. We haven’t progressed socially. When we go abroad, we get a general feeling that it is a better culture. Socially they are superior, they are not saints, there is injustice, poverty, but there is an effort to better things. A black man is the most powerful man in the world- Barack Obama. Where is our black man? If we find one, we make him a president or make a statue of him. They are not allowed to enter temples, we won’t dine together. How meaningful is this freedom?
Many people now prefer liberal thought, modern ideas to patriotism. Do you think, the spirit of patriotism will continue in future?
Patriotism will remain as long as you are fond of your nation. Even though I am critical of India, I feel different on August 15. It is easy to love, difficult to hate, we as human beings are like this.
