Some say the hour produces the 'Hero'. The era creates the legend. Something of that sort perhaps happened to the generation that peaked to its creative and productive best in the 1950s & '60s in India (some of my friends, US citizens, with strong faith in the US's founding principles too agree about the US on this).
Be it art, political leadership, scientific benchmarks, entertainment, music, agriculture or any possible field. Something stirred the country that led to the creation of a generation that either brought out the best in particular fields or laid the strong foundations for the future.
Of course, I'm sure people will disagree with me and say that every generation has its heroes, who edify that values and aesthetic sensitivities of that era. I am none to disagree. In fact, I would strongly agree with it.
But what would distinguish other eras from the 50s & 60s (+ or - 3 years, so say from 1947 to 1973), is the sheer fecundity of these years in producing the best of the genus and the very fact that so many of the high-fliers and pioneers (in almost every field) together peaked during the years.
The primary reason, as I have understood, is the uprooting of the British from the country. Suppressed for centuries, the creative and productive energies of a people was let loose in 1947.
1947 itself was, for instance, some kind of “Khul Ja Sim Sim” for Indian cinema. As India awoke in 1947, its tinsel dreams too got a providential thrust that year with the likes of Raj Kapoor, MGR, Lata Mangeshkar, Uttam Kumar and Dilip Kumar either making their debut or finally finding limelight with their first hit.
We all know what these folks went on to do in the next 20-30 years. For details visit http://taarezameenpar-pullaratimes.blogspot.com/
This, of course, is merely a glimpse of an area I am familiar with. However, such stories are not few in other areas.
C Subramaniam, Nehru, Homi Bhabha, Periyar, the Godse brothers, Shastri, Gen Thimayya, Manekshaw, Sukumar Sen, J R D Tata, M S Subbalakshmi, M S Swaminathan, Verghese Kurien, Kushwant Singh, Kuldeep Nayyar, R K Lakshman, R K Narayan, M F Hussein, Vikram Sarabhai, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ramu Karyat… the list is simply endless.
None of these names can be replaced. Each has had a profound and lasting impact on India.
Of course, many will say that India is yet to peak. It is on its way there. I dare not disagree.
However, as much as I agree with it, I also feel the progress – if at all -- we are yet to see in the country would not be as “personality-driven” or “leadership-driven” as it was during the ’50 & ’60s. It would be more a macro-level change, brought about less by pioneering efforts and more by an interplay of economics, technological advance (bedrock of which was laid in my favourite era I believe) and political environment.
What was it, other than the newfound political freedom, that created wave after wave of talent in the country during those years and since then?
Like they say, they don’t make like them anymore!
Be it art, political leadership, scientific benchmarks, entertainment, music, agriculture or any possible field. Something stirred the country that led to the creation of a generation that either brought out the best in particular fields or laid the strong foundations for the future.
Of course, I'm sure people will disagree with me and say that every generation has its heroes, who edify that values and aesthetic sensitivities of that era. I am none to disagree. In fact, I would strongly agree with it.
But what would distinguish other eras from the 50s & 60s (+ or - 3 years, so say from 1947 to 1973), is the sheer fecundity of these years in producing the best of the genus and the very fact that so many of the high-fliers and pioneers (in almost every field) together peaked during the years.
The primary reason, as I have understood, is the uprooting of the British from the country. Suppressed for centuries, the creative and productive energies of a people was let loose in 1947.
1947 itself was, for instance, some kind of “Khul Ja Sim Sim” for Indian cinema. As India awoke in 1947, its tinsel dreams too got a providential thrust that year with the likes of Raj Kapoor, MGR, Lata Mangeshkar, Uttam Kumar and Dilip Kumar either making their debut or finally finding limelight with their first hit.
We all know what these folks went on to do in the next 20-30 years. For details visit http://taarezameenpar-pullaratimes.blogspot.com/
This, of course, is merely a glimpse of an area I am familiar with. However, such stories are not few in other areas.
C Subramaniam, Nehru, Homi Bhabha, Periyar, the Godse brothers, Shastri, Gen Thimayya, Manekshaw, Sukumar Sen, J R D Tata, M S Subbalakshmi, M S Swaminathan, Verghese Kurien, Kushwant Singh, Kuldeep Nayyar, R K Lakshman, R K Narayan, M F Hussein, Vikram Sarabhai, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ramu Karyat… the list is simply endless.
None of these names can be replaced. Each has had a profound and lasting impact on India.
Of course, many will say that India is yet to peak. It is on its way there. I dare not disagree.
However, as much as I agree with it, I also feel the progress – if at all -- we are yet to see in the country would not be as “personality-driven” or “leadership-driven” as it was during the ’50 & ’60s. It would be more a macro-level change, brought about less by pioneering efforts and more by an interplay of economics, technological advance (bedrock of which was laid in my favourite era I believe) and political environment.
What was it, other than the newfound political freedom, that created wave after wave of talent in the country during those years and since then?
Like they say, they don’t make like them anymore!
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