Was the Jana Gana Man written in praise of King George V ?

Was the Jana Gana Man written in praise of King George V ? 

(Note: It is not my ontention to blame anyone or ask/ suggest  that the Jana Gana Mana be replaced.) 

There is sometimes a debate around our Indian National Anthem, the Jana Gana Mana . Some people say that Tagore wrote it in praise of King George V of Britain on the occasion of the King's visit to India in Dec, 1911 , the event which is known in history as the Delhi Durbar , and for the which the Gateway of India was erected at Mumbai.

Now I have sung the Jana Gana from childhood and I love the song, but there seems to be some truth in argument that it was written as a song of praise for King George V , rather than as praise for the land that later became India. The lyric was written in 1911 and thus neatly coincides with the Delhi Durbar event. If we look at the words themselves , they read

Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,
Dispenser of India's destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sindhu, Gujarat and Maratha,
Of the Dravida, Utkala and Bengal;
It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas,
mingles in the music of Yamuna and Ganga and is
chanted by the waves of the Indian Ocean.
They pray for thy blessings and sing thy praise.
The saving of all people waits in thy hand,
Thou dispenser of India's destiny.
Victory, victory, victory to thee.

The reference to a person (of power) , is rather obvious. “Thou Art” cannot be construed to be Indian nationhood / India /People of India. It must also be remembered that all literary references to India , even in pre-indepencence times are for “Mother India/ Bharat Maata”, and this is not seen in the Jana Gana Man.

Finally take a look at the geographical areas mentioned . They are Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, Maratha, Dravid (Tamil Nadu) Utkal (Odisha) Banga, Vindhya (MP) , Himachal, Yamuna Ganga (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar) . How and why did Tagore miss JnK, Rajasthan (then known as Rajputana) , Karantaka (then Mysore ) and Kerala ? Now if one looks at the Map of Indian British Empire in 1910, we find that these areas were Independent nations which were under the alliance / political protection of the British but were not considered British territory. ( see Map of India 1910 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/British_Indian_Empire_1909_Imperial_Gazetteer_of_India.jpg

Rural washing machines and Urban Haircuts

Rural Washing Machines

Some weeks back, in early October, I drove to Mysore from Bangalore. . Unfortunately it was the day that the farmers in Mandya/ Ramanagar were agitating over the Kaveri water dispute with Tamil Nadu. The Bangalore Mysore road was in-accessible after Ramanagar and the police folk diverted us to a Malavalli to reach Mysore. It took an extra two hours (with a few barricaded points) and some bad roads but we reached in one piece.

The agricultural prosperity of the area around Ramanagara/ Malavalli is amazing. The greenery is breathtaking. No wonder the farmers are so agitated over a reduction in the supply of water for irrigation.

The other thing I noticed as we drove through small hamlets, settlements and villages is that a lot (probably most) of the womenfolk wash clothes by hand. I am sure it takes a considerable amount of time and energy. Wonder why the washing machine guys haven’t reached there? The basic models don’t cost much and if a few families joined together they could afford a washing machine. A social (and marketing) revolution is crying to happen. I even thought of writing a short story on this.

Haircut (W)  Vs Haircut(M)

My haircut used to cost Rs 40/- till a couple of months back and now it is Rs 50/-. The barber I go to is admittedly not high-end, but the place is closeby and it’s clean. In contrast a woman’s haircut in Bangalore costs at least 250/-. I have often wondered why there should be so much difference. Someone mentioned a supply-demand situation is responsible, but there are two reasons why this is not correct. Firstly the demand for women’s haircut in Bangalore or any other city in India is about 10 percent of the demand for men’s haircuts. So the demand cannot be pushing up the cost. Secondly there are no barriers to entry of new players and the investment is not high. So a supply constraint is also not the cause for the price difference.

On more thinking, I came to the conclusion that it is a brand thing. For some reason in India a man’s haircut is considered to be a utility whereas a woman’s haircut is fashion.

Anyone else can shed some light on this? And just for the record, women’s haircuts cost   more (usually twice or more) also in USA, Canada, UK and Switzerland.

Nationality ; Indian. Caste : English Medium

Nationality ; Indian. Caste : English Medium


I have long felt that in India , the ability to speak and communicate in English is not just another skill; it is also the membership to a superior caste. And then I saw an article in a newspaper a few months back that confirmed my thinking. It said that a sociological survey in Mumbai found that the percentage of inter-caste marriages where both partners spoke English was three times that of inter-caste marriages where only one partner spoke English. So here is a ray of hope that the caste system is not as immutable as it previously was and can indeed be overcome.

As kids , one of the way we described students from many other schools was” HMT”… which was not an abbreviation for the HMT watches already a household name in the 60’s and 70’s. HMT stood for “Hindi Medium Types”, a kind of a dismissive description for children who went to schools that were not ‘English medium”. This was the beginning of a brand new modern post-independence caste, but we had yet to see its full might. In subsequent years we have all seen innumerable and sometimes funny matrimonial advertisements for “convent educated” brides, (sometimes “convented” is the word used) . So here the new caste was invading matrimonial boundaries. We also saw new schools claiming to be “100 percent English medium”. This is rather like the Gurukuls of the olden days where admission was reserved only for Brahmins.

And now the sociological study from Mumbai; to me it confirms that the “English Medium” caste has arrived and is firmly in place.

While, for an Indian, being able to communicate in English is undoubtedly of tremendously great advantage, I have a feeling its not a completely unmixed blessing. To my mind, the English speaking Indians need to be aware of the following:

• We should not be dismissive of those Indians who cannot speak English. This is one reason why the English speaking Indian middle class can never understand the power of leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav , Mayawati or Karunanidhi. Remember that in India the number of people who speak English is still less than 200 million. The remaining 800 million plus Indians speak a language other than English.
• The dominance of world politics for the last 200 or so years, first by great Britain and now by the USA, has made our own views too anglo-centric and narrow. We think the French and Italians are funny, because the English and Americans have told us that they are funny. We need to step out of this blind-spot and absorb good ideas and wisdom from other cultures.

Endpiece: have you noticed that a fairly noticeable number of profiles on networking/ friendship sites place a premium on “command over English” as a desirable quality for potential friends/ mates . So I asked some of my friends: would you like to make friends with a very nice man ..educated, good-looking, courteous, but one who did not know any English ? The answers varied from long hmmms and haws to a clear NO !! 

Lord Rama and Krishna would have remained friendless in this world !