Are we worshipping the wrong idols?

Every country has a person or few whose work, skill, service or the very presence used to be idol of the nation. They are often canonized apart from being respected and honored. As far as the Asian and African countries are concerned, many of the years of its history tell the story of invasion from the West. At that juncture, the countries annexed by the British badly needed somebody to lead them for the cause of freedom, the inevitable emotion that locates mind in a zone of mirth and comfort. As did many, and they turned out to be the father of the respective nation for the insiders and the icon of the nation for the outsiders.





If the scenario in India is analyzed, we would observe the only person who deserves to be the icon of the country is the late Gandhiji whose very name is a substitute for humility, fraternity and simple living. Half a century has passed since India won the independence and a thought on how the present generation chooses the icon of the country would be interesting.


Somebody may say the bollywood film stars reflect the identity of the country.
The truth is that most of them remain stars since the industry has been commercialized and the importance of being an actor by its literary meaning has been eroded on the course of money making efforts. If we analyze the national award winning actors’ list, we would find that only few of the so-called stars deserve the country’s supreme honour in this field.


The icons are obviously linked to the politics of the country by all means. When we talk about the icon of the youth the first name that comes to mind may be of Rahul Gandhi. People often like him because he is handsome, born to the congress family, and may become the prime minister of the country within 10 years. The simple reason the poorest and the uneducated citizen of the country loves him may be the appended word ‘Gandhi’ in place of surname. They are not concerned whether he has done an admirable service for the nation, a remarkable event that reminds his love for the common man of the country or an incident that tells his toil for the welfare of the poor in the country. In fact there is nothing to that credit. Whatever he has done so far is to uplift the party in the areas where it is hibernating and to join the youth of the country to his party by the virtues possessed by him.


The people who are often forgotten doesn’t have any complaints for not being the icons of the country because they are not greedy and the service they offer doesn’t come out of the ravenousness of fame but from the bottom of the heart.


{to be continued}