NEHRU- ‘THE VARIETY AND UNITY
OF
INDIA’
Jawaharlal
Nehru in his book ,’Discovery Of India’ writes the following in the section
titled, ’The Variety and Unity Of India’:
“ All of us , I suppose
have varying pictures of our native land and no two persons will think exactly alike .When I think of
India ,I think of many things ;of broad fields dotted with innumerable small
villages ;of towns and cities I have visited ;of the magic of the rainy season
which pours life into the dry parched -up land and converts it suddenly into a
glistening expanse of beauty and greenery , of great rivers and flowing waters
; of the Khyber Pass in all its bleak surroundings ; of the Southern tip of
India ; of people ,individually and in the mass; and, above all of the
Himalayas, snow capped ,or some mountain valley in Kashmir in the spring,
covered with new flowers ,and with a brook bubbling and gurgling through it. We
make and preserve the pictures of our choice , and so I have chosen this
mountain background rather than the more normal picture of a hot , subtropical
country. Both would be correct, for India stretches from the tropics right up
to the temperate regions , from near the equator to the cold heart of Asia.”
Now ;how
much of the leader and the person could be ascertained from his writing. The
very start of the paragraph shows his inclusive and diverse world when he says that all of us have varying picture of our native land and
that no two persons would think alike.
Then he describes his picture of India and it is complex and wide. He talks of
villages because he had been to many villages campaigning for Congress for 1937
elections. He talks of rains as he liked the rainy season and in fact had visited Mumbai once only to observe the monsoons! He talks of villages because he had
visited rural India not only during his initial years in United Province but
later as the primary leader of his party. He talks of people both ‘individually’
and in ‘masses’ for he had addressed numerous meetings and was always in eye
contact with the ‘masses’ who were his source of energy and inspiration and who were the foundation of the movement and
who loved him. And then he talks of Kashmir which was dear to him and he had been
there visiting many times and though liberal and democrat had always wanted the
valley portion of Kashmir in India for its beauty and uniqueness and where from
his ancestors had arrived in to the plains! It is a mixed picture even though he picks the picture
of Kashmir as his choice. He is never definitive;
always weighing all sides and views . Accommodative and restless ,concerned of
the opinion of others as he says that even though he had chosen the snow-capped
Kashmir the ’picture’ of others would be
as right( Both would be correct) because India stretches from tropics to
temperate to cold .Such was Nehru!
‘
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