The rainbow effect

With individuals coming out of their shells and the opening up of global opportunities, a patriot no longer needs to be rooted in his country of origin. The reach and impact of a global individual or corporation is far greater, bringing common benefit.


‘We are the world’

When Beatle John Lennon sang Imagine — exalting an imaginary world without borders — the inspiration might have come from his own difficulties with the US immigration authorities. But this is the story of most of those even today who yearn to break free of the ‘one country, one loyalty’ syndrome that defines a ‘citizen.’ How relevant is the notion of patriotism in a globalised world where you can call any country your home, adopt any culture or language as yours and work out of London or San Francisco,Paris or Berlin, despite being born and brought up in perhaps Madurai, in Tamil Nadu or vice versa? The routine personal conversation starter with strangers,‘Where do you come from’ no longer evokes a simple answer. Nor does the question,‘What do you do’ elicit a one-liner.We are all multinational individuals,wherever we are located, whatever we do, eat, sing, chant or whoever our life partner is and whatever our faith is.

Each one of us is a moving, living ‘eco-system’ of ideas and aspirations, and we thrive best in a world where freedom of movement facilitates inter-disciplinary research, international economics and inter-cultural exchanges. In a rainbow world,monochromatic perspectives are passe. When one looks at the canvas of human history,we see that the world of borders, nationalities, visas and passports are relatively new concepts invented by political administrators whose worldview is restricted by the jobs they do.However, with the strides we’ve made in communication and transport, and with all the cutting edge work being done across old and new disciplines, these divisions seem inconsequential, even obstacleridden, to those who see the world as a seamless whole,much like the upanishadic declaration, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — that the world is one family. An ancient Tamil verse puts it more poetically: Yaadum oore,Yaavarum keleer — All towns are my towns, / Hark, listen to the truth of this.

This verse,written by astronomer-philosopher Kaniyan Poongundran,is part of the Purananooru, a Tamil Sangam period classic that declares the universality of all peoples.This verse has been adopted by the United Nations as part of its universal declaration,a telling reminder to those of us still ensnared by feelings of guilt and remorse at having sought a future in yonder lands, far away from the ‘mother’country. But the earth has always been viewed as the quintessential mother, the Gaia who nurtures all living beings everywhere.Then why discriminate between the different parts of the same mother? If no man is an island, it is also true that no knowledge can be nurtured in isolation because strait-jacketing of subjects and disciplines is no longer possible. There is so much of inter-weaving between disciplines that most experts agree that the future of research lies in inter-disciplinary collaborative studies that not only straddle subjects but also geographies,cultures and peoples.

Freedom of movement is a given no matter where you are from or what you choose to do. To return to John Lennon — in 1973, he and his partner Yoko Ono floated the conceptual country of Nutopia from New York City, an imaginary country that had people but no land, no boundaries, no passports and which followed cosmic laws. Perhaps the ancient universities of Taxila and Nalanda were modelled on a similar concept to nurture students for a globalised, unfettered world where seekers of knowledge could learn and grow, unhindered by artificial constructs.And the model is making a comeback in universities across the globe, in keeping with our harking back to a more cosmic and inclusive perspective of life, discarding all that is parochial and divisive.


‘Birds know no borders’

Should borders define our destiny? If everyone thought that way, we wouldn’t ever have benefitted from cutting edge medical research that resulted in vaccines, antibiotics, bypass surgeries, transplants and grafts.So, just as we welcomed multinational drug companies who set up shop in India, let us be equally proud of Indian drug companies that contributed to arresting the spread of the Aids virus in Africa by making affordable medications.

Let’s graciously share our ancient pranayama breathing techniques, yoga asanas and ayurveda without getting into pointless and draining debates about intellectual property rights. We lost no time in denouncing the brain drain that began in the ’60s, but the technology innovated by these same ‘brains’ in Silicon Valley came back to revolutionise the way we communicate and run businesses in our motherland. Would these youngsters have achieved what they did if it hadn’t been for the opportunities they sought out in technologically advanced nations? Let’s not then label the Nadellas, Pichais, and Bhatias as being unpatriotic,for we have benefitted equally from their work, companies and products. People might have flocked to the Gulf in the ’70s and ’80s, but did they not remit huge amounts to their families back home? Several globe-trotting celebrities now live in one nation, are married to people from yet another country,and still win accolades for their motherland.Tennis ace Sania Mirza moved out of India when she married Shoaib Malik, setting up home in Dubai.Yet that did not stop her from playing for India in global tournaments and national matches.

Similarly,Vishwanathan Anand might live in Spain, but he continues to do India proud as a chess whiz. Patriotism is nether laudable,nor limiting. If birds and bees have no boundaries,why should we? Don’t we breathe the same air, and live with the same consequences of global warming? It’s time we stopped thinking of ourselves as disparate Americans, British, Indians,Pakistanis,Japanese and others, when the One Truth is that we are all global citizens, part of one family. It isn’t uncommon now to have Koreans and Taiwanese for neighbours in Chennai, Noida or Delhi. Katrina Kaif is a British national,but it is in India that she has won over millions of hearts.Tollywood plays generous host to actors from East Europe.Indian cinema laboratory processes are now part of Hollywood blockbusters.

The biggest blockbuster of all, though,is the way Indic spirituality has enchanted people worldwide. If a Paramhansa Yogananda took off to America to spread yoga’s message and philosophy, creating a wide following and setting up ashrams, India is now benefitting from a reverse flow of the same. Ananda Village of California now has branches in India. Art of Living’s Sudarshan Kriya and Isha Foundation’s inner engineering are global buzzwords as are India’s yoga and ayurveda. Germany’s homoeopathy has takers all over just as Japan’s Zen Buddhism has captured hearts across cultures. L Ron Hubbard’s Scientology is making waves in Southeast Asia. Long after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation and Pandit Ravi Shankar’s music became popular, India’s spiritual ambassadors continue to spread the message of holistic, simple living and high thinking, with no thought of crossing the kala paani or offending orthodoxy.More power to a borderless world! ■