Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Few cases of nationalism | nationality ...

1. Mr. A was born in Comilla, Bangladesh in 1950s. He is a hindu. He ran away to Tripura, India during the 1971 war. He didnt get a job. He travelled to London in the late 1970s and started doing odd jobs like dish washing at Indian restos, etc. Finally, he was successful and now has his own small business (kirane ka dukaan) in Birmingham. 

2. Mr. B was born in Bihar, India in the 1890s. He belonged to a backward community. Some rich colonial entrepreneurs approached him and he travelled to West Indies as a labourer. Now his 4th generation lives in the island group of nations. They do not know what caste is. 

3. Mr. C was born in Afghanistan in the 1960s. During the war on terrorism his home was destroyed. He crossed over to Pakistan and now is a daily wage labourer. 

4. Mr. D was born to a rich Hindu family in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He survived the war, the communal cleansing and still has a government job in the Bangladesh government. After his engineering course, his son moved to Australia in the early 2000s. He is settled there. 

5. Mr. E was born in Sylhet, Bangladesh in the 1950s. He was a poor Hindu. He struggled through his studies. But had to drop out due to war. He came to Tura, Meghalaya. Somehow completed a vocational course and got a decent paying job. Thus, me married late and his daughter was born in Tura, Megalaya and now works and lives in Delhi. 

6. Mr. F was born as a Chakma in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh in 1940s. Post-partition his family had to run away from their native home to India. They were sheltered in a camp in Arunachal Pradesh which eventually became their home. Now the Arunachali locals want them to get their own home somewhere but not in Arunachal. Mr. F's third generation is living now. And they do not have a citizenship of any country. 

7. Mr. G was born in , Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in the 1920s. He was an Indian Civil Service officer in the British admin at Dhaka. During partition he chose to keep his job and stay in Dhaka. Now his 4th generation lives in Dhaka. His great-grandchildren have formed a rock band which covers bollywood songs. They have a huge fanbase all over India on their Youtube channel. 

8. Mr. H was born in Britian in the 18th century. He killed a rich landlord for some unknown reason and also raped his daughter. He was deported to Australia as a punishment. His 7th generation now lives in Australia as a corporate business house. 

9. Mr. I was born in the countryside in London in the 1890s. He was a peasant. But his son studied Law and went to Cape Town, South Africa to practice. His family made Law as their business and fought against the aperthied regime even though they were whites. Now they live in Cape Town.

10. Mr. J was born in Lahore in the 1940s to a wealthy sikh peasant family. His brother was killed during the partition riots. He moved with his family initially to Amritsar and then to West Delhi. In the 1984 riots, his son was travelling from Ludhiana to Delhi in his own car. It was burnt along with him inside. Mr. J died due to the shock. His younger son along with his whole family moved to Canada in the 1990s. Now they live there and have no property in the sub-continent.

Some of these are true stories while some are inspired from true stories. I gave the background detail that was needed for this narrative. 

Since we are watching the biggest show of the Commonwealth, I am just confused which team should these above mentioned people support. 

Cricket, a colonial sport, reminds the world of a good, bad and ugly common past.

PS: Dear Historians, I might be factually wrong in some details. Either point them out or ignore. Pointing them out will improve my own migration history. Cheer.