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Because this is the continent most spat upon by the rest of the world; most raped of its resources in sweat and half-caste children and rubber vines and minerals; the continent most manipulated by superpowers playing fledgling governments as pawns in attempts to win ideological shares in the political stock market; the continent most forgotten except for a shake of the head and the muttered comment, ‘those Africans are always fighting wars over nothing,’ as civilized man savors news of atrocities along with his morning blend of Ethiopian Harrar with sinfully satisfactory reproach and pity.
Because here, along with typhoid and war and toxic beetles and suffocating rains and parched deserts you have: the passion of a life struggled for and won in the breathtaking beauty of moist trees and shared laughter and vibrant skies.
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‘History’ tells me my heritage came from the ‘Sub’ continent – a ‘third world’ country, a ‘developing’ nation, a ‘colonised’ land – So what is history? – For me, just anther arrogant Eurocentric term … I learned only about Russian, European and American history in my school syllabus – India, Pakistan, Africa – these places were full of people whose history did not matter – the enslaved, the inferior.
The Indian Prime Minister – Vajpayee – proudly announc[ed] the testing of 3 nuclear bombs on Indian soil […] in 1998. In 1945, two years before the Independence of India, Oppenheimer, creator of the atomic bomb, witnessed the first test of his creation. Afterwards he quoted from the ‘Bhagavad Gita’ – the Hindu ‘Bible’ – in condemnation of his own creation […] He quotes Vishnu saying ‘Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds’ as he breaks down in tears.
The western creator of the bomb condemning it in the name of Hinduism, the Hindu prime minister testing it in the name of what? Progress? […]
My identity and my history are defined only by myself – beyond politics, beyond nationality, beyond religion and beyond skin.
- Nitin Sawhney. Back cover of ‘Beyond Skin’ album (1999).
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