WELL DONE, SAYAK SEN!

Sayak Sen, you have done a wonderful job in bringing once more the issue of the Netaji disappearance case centre-stage despite fleeting calumny cast on you by inconsequential detractors. Public memory is, indeed, short and any matter, if allowed to rest for long, tends to peter out, to prevent which its periodic highlighting is pertinent, even imperative, for the fulfilment of the cause it represents, and this is the psychological basis of that all-encompassing phenomenon in our lives called advertisement which in effect is communication as well.

I am moved by your commitment at such an early age to such a momentous cause and only wish that you may hereon go from strength to strength, for it is the youth alone who can successfully carry the charge from one generation to the next to bring about eventually a rightful closure to this epic episode of Indian history. It is, therefore, meet that you equip yourself with as much knowledge as you can muster about this entire saga of the mysterious disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose from your readings and from interaction with your knowledgeable seniors in ‘Mission Netaji’ that you may ably hold yourself in any interview, debate or discussion where your best wit will be called for. Rest assured, if your progress be in the right direction with you developing a single-minded focus on the issue at hand, you will be frequently summoned by media houses for airing your views and even penning your considered thoughts on the matter, for, with this RTI enquiry, you have been thrown into the limelight which you may either shy away from as an encroachment into your private space --- which I hope not, for it will be rather uncharacteristic of you --- or which you may utilise as a platform for furthering the cause of the hero whose blessings are surely on you and will persist ever after. But the prime requisite remains --- preparation. Preparation in terms of data feed into your consciousness for the right defence when challenged in debate, as well as word feed into your vocabulary for effective expression thereof. Else, like many a hero of the hour, your fleeting fame --- not that you seek it --- will flit by you like the summer breeze which you may with pleasure feel for the while but which will neither be held captive nor will it persist beyond the appointed hour, bound by the cyclical flow of seasons as it is. So is it with the fleeting fame of mortal man --- 'Fame ... That last infirmity of noble mind'.  

Seeing so much of callous youth all around, debilitated in character and depleted in strength with a careless convergence towards the consumerist culture concomitantly, one feels a deal disheartened when so much in our fledgling nation is at stake, prime among which is the resolving of this disappearance issue of Netaji upon which hinges the whole of the future narration of Indian history and prominent parts of world history related to the issue as well. But when a young man like you comes along as the crusader for the cause, one witnesses in him the harbinger of hope for the future and one is able to reset one’s perspectives on nation-building which ought to be at any rate the objective of every sincere citizen. And it is this that belies all cynicism and lends value to an affirmative stance in life which in the fullness of time will bear rich dividends for the nation when collective action is undertaken inspired by such lustrous leads provided by young men like you, Sayak. And you in turn, thus, enthuse other young people to take up cudgels for the cause, helping to build up, thereby, the fire of idealism that will consume all that is dross and gross in the current consumerist culture that masquerades as civilised living where enjoyment is the watchword and renunciation, service and sacrifice, attributes that have long been crucified at the scaffold of sensory survival.   

The mantle has been passed unto you, dear young man, by your venerable seniors. Now live up to expectations and keep raising the bar of excellence that you may do yeoman’s service to the cause and make yourself and each one of us proud, us, your countless admirers and well-wishers, who but wholeheartedly pour forth their cheer-force and benediction unto you who are immersed in the thick of things.

Last, but not least by any chance, is my humble verbal adulation of all members of ‘Mission Netaji’ for their tireless efforts in bringing home Netaji from ‘forgotten state’ to being one with our dreams and actions, our hopes and aspirations, our delights and despairs and with that burning desire that we will with his blessings resurrect the truth about his destiny post 18 August, 1945, and undo the seven decade long oblivion which he has been cast into. Vande Mataram! Jai Hind!

P.S. : May humility adorn your attainments and vanity, far recede from sight, lest the slur of pride pervert your course and lead you astray from the royal avenue of resurrection of the hero unto the alleyway of a worse alienation! May the force of history be your guardian in this epic encounter with the perfidies of the times!