Flutter A Visual Narrative by Ananya Singh
Flutter
A Visual Narrative by Ananya Singh
Thank you Alison, for your humor, enthusiam and faith.
One. Awake
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 the 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 actionInto that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. –Guru Rabindranath Tagore National Poet, Freedom Fighter
While the Charkha spun khadi, “the livery of our freedom.” India was plucked from two sides.
Soon, Colonial India shrunk to Independent India.
Emerging as an effect of complex causes, India’s identity was to be reimagined.
India up till then existed as a civilization, a colony, an infant born in blood.
Parts were snipped and stitched from the constitutions’ of other countries and henceforth, began the arduous task of concocting a rulebook, collocating the founding principles of the law of the land.
The Constituent assembly embodied people’s allegiance. “Objective Resolution” moved by Nehru served as a roadmap, enshrining the aspirations and values of Constitution making.
The drafting committee, presented a detailed draft constitution, they published it for public discussion and amendments were proposed. As many as 284 members deliberated, discussed and debated. To establish a government that would fulfil the many promises held before the people of India.
The people of India now were Interdependent and Independent.
On January 26, 1950, the Indian Government adopted Sarnath as the national emblem of India, & India was reborn as a democracy.
The Nascent republic ceased as an assembly, metamorphosing into the Provisional Parliament of India.
Two. Spirit
“We the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic and to secure all of its citizens: JUSTICE, social, economic and political LIBERTY, of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and opportunity; And to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation; In our constituent assembly, this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this constitution. -The Preamble of India
Sovereign. Supreme or independence, internal and external. Power emanating from the people with the political system accountable and responsible to the people.
Socialist. Absence of discrimination on the grounds only of caste, color, creed, sex, religion or language. Equal status, equal opportunities, equal wealth. Equal.
Secular. Freely worship, Freely propagate any or no religion or faith.
Democratic. “One man one vote�. Government is directly elected by the people and makes laws for the people.
Republic. Head of state is elected directly or indirectly, for a fixed tenure.
Three. People
Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education. -Franklin D. Roosevelt
Our principal once said to us, “This is a guided democracy”.
All students participated equally— either directly or indirectly through elected representatives—in the proposal, development, and creation of laws. The seed of democracy had been ingrained in my mind ever since schooling began.
“Cultivation of mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence.� Ambedkar wished for political democracy to be transposed into social democracy. He believed there should not be glaring inequalities in society, that is, privilege for one class; to insure moral order.
August was Election time. It began with reading manifestos, the candidates who were standing would make promises to their classmates. And our conscience was tested.
Then came the tough decision of voting. Each student of the class had the choice to vote for six people who they felt were responsible. It was a secret ballot and every vote had equal weight. We would go back home with inked index fingers.
Objectively the votes were tallied, and every class had six representatives who along with taking responsibilities for all, would further decide who the General Secretary of the school was going to be.
Campaigning was an exciting time. Faces were painted, banners hung, and badges were clipped on shirts. For three days during lunchtime all of us would bang and clang our tiffin boxes. The entire school would be full of energy, with candidates along with their supporters making sure their voices were heard.
The representatives of every class would then vote for the General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary, who further on would decide who would comprise the Executive body. The delegates were in charge of specific portfolios and performed the tasks, taking decisions for the students of the school.
In spite of the fact that we had a set of leaders, school ingrained the belief of plateaus and not peaks in me. Everyone got an equal chance to participate. There was no concept of first, second or third, there was a bar, and those who cruised through were given merit.
A democracy isn’t always unbiased though, many times it erupts in protests. Some like the Jallianwala Bagh massacre are silent that turned violent.
Others are violent that succumb to the silent. In class Eight, we revolted against our Maths teacher by throwing paper planes at her. Quite obviously, we were suspended. The only way we got by was because we paid the brunt as a class, a community.
“We the people� emphasizes upon the concept of popular sovereignty as laid down by J.J.Rousseau. All the power emanates from the people and the political system will be accountable and responsible to the people.
Living in a social institution like ours, we need a set of rules to navigate through the system we have constructed for ourselves. Democracy is the connoisseur of order within the chaos that we are immersed in.
Part One Democracy