From: sadhal@alhena.usc.edu (Sati Sadhal)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: Does 14th August means NOTHING to us INDIANS?
Date: 18 Aug 1992 13:17:43 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: alhena.usc.edu

In article <1992Aug18.152742.26565@ncrcae.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM> i000@iss700.Columbia.NCR.COM () writes:
>Re: DOES 14th AUGUST MEAN NOTHING TO US INDIANS?
>
>
>
>
>   As our co-netter had posted,Does 14th August mean nothing to us?
>I feel that we better reorient our thought process towards PAKISTAN. Does 
>a nation lose its claim on its territorial parts that try to sperate for 
>time being?
>
>
>   Today Pakistan could be different political entity. But what about its 
>HISTORICAL links with BHARAT? We should always treat PAK as a misguided 
>brother who has lost his links of relationships with his family in the past 
>few centuries.
>
>   Right from the ages of Ramayana our links have been established with IRAN, 
>AFGHANISTAN, BANGLADESH, NEPAL, CEYLON, THAILAND etc. Can these be severed

[good stuff deleted]......

I am looking forward to the day when we would jointly
celebrate the occasion of August 14/15. Out here in 
the Western world, we often observe the respective
independence days with concerts, melas, and other
forms of celebration. We ought to be able to 
organize a joint function for the independence
of the subcontinent. I would like to see the
respective community leaders of persons of Indian,
Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan origins to
at least attempt to organize a joint function. 

This also brings up the subject raised by 
Mr. Tariq Sardar (to which I could not respond 
earlier). He questions whether Pakistan has
anything in common with the Arabs or the Iranians,
other than religion. There can also be serious
disagreements on religious commonality. The true
identity of Pakistanis lies with the subcontinent. 
Even upon proclaiming Urdu as the national language,
they are `discovering' that this is really an Indian
language. 

I once met a Pakistani who was totally stunned that
I could `speak Urdu.' I politely informed him that 
I was speaking Hindustani but anybody who speaks
Hindustani should understand some Urdu. I told him
that Indian movie industry was flooded with Urdu
movies and the music circles always promoted Urdu
gazals and qavwalis. The whole discussion was an 
enlightenment for him. I believe that this person
was an exception to the norm with regard to his
knowledge about what is common between India and 
Pakistan.  

As it has been pointed out, Indians and Pakistanis
speak the same language, eat the same food (with
the exception of beef and pork), sing to the
same tunes of Nur Jahan, Mohammed Rafi, Shamshad
Begum, Lata Mangeshkar, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, etc. 
In classical music, we often see Indian and Pakistani
artists performing jointly and shunning any political
separation. 

If religion is what really separates us, it is time for 
us to mature. Such childish behavior will assure our
mutual destruction. It is time to view the broader
culture of the subcontinent use that as a basis if
identity. 

                          ------- Satwindar Singh Sadhal