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Here is the statement First let me state categorically that neither I, nor my wife Kiran, have any intention of leaving the country. We never did, and nor would we like to in the future. Anyone implying the opposite has either not seen my interview or is deliberately trying to distort what I have said. India is my country, I love it, I feel fortunate for being born here, and this is where I am staying.
Secondly, I stand by everything that I have said in my interview.
To all those people who are calling me anti-national, I would like to say that I am proud to be Indian, and I do not need anyone’s permission nor endorsement for that.
To all the people shouting obscenities at me for speaking my heart out, it saddens me to say you are only proving my point.
To all the people who have stood by me, thank you. We have to protect what this beautiful and unique country of ours really stands for. We have to protect its integrity, diversity, inclusiveness, its many languages, its culture, its history, its tolerance, it’s concept of ekantavada, it’s love, sensitivity and its emotional strength.
I would like to end my statement with a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, it’s a prayer really:
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 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 action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
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ಎರಡು ದಿನಗಳಿಂದ ಈ ವಿಷಯ ಇಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಧೂಳೆಬ್ಬಿಸಿರುವಾಗ ಈ ಹೇಳಿಕೆಗೆ ಯಾವ ಕಾಮೆಂಟುಗಳೂ ಇಲ್ಲದಿರುವುದು ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯಕರ.
Amir Khan has every right (protected by our constitution) to say what he wants to say so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. And I don’t think he has said anything hurtful. One is free to migrate anywhere (I am not saying anything against his remark here) provided other countries accept you. My personal view is that the whole world is ours and nationalities are just myths, perhaps necessary myths at this stage of human history. Nationalities, religions, ideologiis, professions, languages and such other contingencies both unite and disrupt human societies. We all know this–I mean most people. A little bit of rationality will help us.
We should also do our best to settle conflicts rather than aggravate them and it should begin from us.
Unfortunately, today there is no place on earth that is socially safe, free and totally conducive to human progress. Where will Amir Khan go and make a name?
It is not just the minorities who are facing discrimination in our country. I myself have faced many a humiliating situation and dreamed for a place of peace, safety, equality and freedom. But then I also know that everyone, including me, has a role to play in the creation of such a society. For such a society is human-made and not pre-given. There is no glory in going to a ready-made ideal place, but there is some happiness in bringing about some improvement, albeit a miniscule, in one’s own immediate reality. If you are an educationist, teach better and teach others to teach better, if you are a physician, do your job better and be a role-model for others, and so on. (Let us not forget that Amir Khan has done superb in his own chosen field of acting.) Make your environment, your neighbourhood a better place to live. Better people than me have said all this and more. I am only thinking along.
All said and done, let me reiterate: I support Amir Khan on what he has said here–in doing so, I am only standing by what I think is right and truthful.
We should leave this behind and start doing something creative.
K.V.Tirumalesh
Is ‘where ‘ in Tagore’s poem an interrogatory word?!!
ಎಷ್ಟು ವಿಶಾಲವಾಗಿ
ತೋಳು ಚಾಚಿದರೂ
ಕೂಳು ತಿನ್ನುವಾಗ
ಒಂದು ಅಂಗ್ಯೆ ಮಡಚಿ
ಹಿಡಿಸುವಷ್ಟು ಪುಟ್ಟ
ತುತ್ತಾಗಲೇ ಬೇಕು
ಒಂದೇ ತರಹವಿರದ
ಆ ಐದು ಬೆರಳುಗಳೇ
ಬಾಗಿದಾಗ ಸಮವಾಗಿ
ಬಾಚಿ ನಿನಗೆ ತಿನ್ನಿಸಬೇಕು
ನಿನ್ನ ತುಟಿಗಳಿಗೆ ತಾಗಿದ
ಮುಸುರೆಯನ್ನು ತೆಗೆಯಬೇಕು
ಯಾವ ಹೊತ್ತಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಎಲ್ಲಿದ್ದವು
ಎಂಬ ವಿನಾಕಾರಣದ ಆತಂಕಕ್ಕೆ
ಬಲಿಯಾಗಿ ಬೆರಳುಗಳನ್ನು
ಬಹಿಷ್ಕರಿಸಿ ಚಮಚಗಳನ್ನು (ಚಾ)
ಒರಣವಾಗಿರಿಸಿ ಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದೆಯ
ಇತ್ತೀಚಿನ ನಿನ್ನ ಸಂಗ್ರಹದಲ್ಲಿ
ಬೆಳ್ಳಿಯ ತಟ್ಟೆ ಯು
ಚಿನ್ನದ ಲೋಟವೂ
ಸೇರಿಕೊಂಡಿದೆ ಚಮಚವೊಂದಕ್ಕೆ
ಹರಳಿನ ಕಿರೀಟವೂ ಇದೆ
ಆದರು ಕಲೆಸುವ ಪ್ರಕ್ರಿಯೆಯಲ್ಲಿ
ರುಚಿಯ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ
ಬೆರಳುಗಳ ಪಾತ್ರ ಹಿರಿದು
ಅದರಲ್ಲೂ ನೆನಪಿದ್ದರೆ
ತಾಯ ಬೆರಳುಗಳನ್ನು ಹುಡುಕು
ಋಣವಿದ್ದರೆ ಅದು ಅಷ್ಟು
ಕಷ್ಟ ಸಾಧ್ಯವೂ ಅಲ್ಲ ,.,.,.
…. ರಾಘವೇಂದ್ರ ಹೆಗಡೆಕರ …..