Friday 8 March 2013

Our country for everyone


Mass are always fascinating things.A good map of one`s own country never fails to quicken one`s heart beat.seeing it is like hearing the national anthem or catching a glimpse of the flag fluttering from a proud most-head."where can one get this map?I have often been asked.
"Try the government bookshop on janpath."
I went there once,but drew a blank.this sort of map should be on sale in every bookshop.I have had many conversations like these.and i was reminded of them when,wandering round connaught place bookshops lost fortnight.i saw a little which read"school Atlas"-A blue letters on a chocolate-brown surface.I picked up the book,excited by it.it was printed beautifully.The colours and the lattering and the layout were all of the very first order.Now i described the Atlas-book,In atlas excellent idea on the part of those who planned the atlas os to devote three pages to the maps of our neighbouring countries-ceylon,nepal,burma,china,Afghanistan and pakistan.This is followed up by another feature deserving congratulations-A two page spread which is called"The great himalaya"showing the entire region from the salt Ranges in west pakistan to the Trijunction(point where india,china and burma meet) in the east.
This is the kind of map that should be in every school and every family.The survey of india`s motto is :Asefu Himachalam" and the atlas should be found in every place between the sea in the south and the mighty mountains in the north.a good atlas has of late become unbuyable;some foreign atlases have rightly not been allowed to be sold in the country because they either shows kashmir as a"territory under dispute" or magnanimously give parts of kashmir to pakistan.
let now we talk of emotinal integration.we say the people of one region should know more about the people of another.A sure way of achieving this is through the wise use of the song,the flag and the map.the young boy bending over and peering into a map travels in his imagination all over the country.
If he is from satara(A place in mumbai region)he hops to shimla(himachal pradesh).each lad in his mind does what sankaracharya did a thousand years ago,physically  touch the four corners of the country.that gives him a feeling that all the land was his,all parts of it.he will bathe in all the rivers,climb all the hills,see the waterfalls,swim in all the beaches,roll in the meadows,wonder in the forests,ride the elephants of assam,frolic with the lions of gir and pluck the flowers beside the dal lake(kashmir).
Finally i want to say to that A good atlas is,a present that boys treasure most and intelligent elders know it.

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