Two news items on the same day.
1. Sarkozy and Merkel came together today to pay homage to World War I heroes.
France and Germany who were on opp sides in the War, now come together, and are a vital chunk of the EU.
A couple of days back Germany celebrated 20 years of the breaking of the Berlin War.
2. Indonesia accuses Malaysia of stealing its language, its culture, its food, and turning them into more successful commercial interests. The irony is that they were all one nation and part of the Khmer empire for 6 centuries.
On one hand, the world celebrates the removal of borders, while on the other another lot talks about creating new borders, where none existed.
Closer to home,Kashmir wants to be independent, Vidarbha wants to separate itself from Mahrashtra, Belgaum wants to be free of both Karnataka and Maharashtra. Karnataka and Kerala dispute over Kasargod.
Orissa has disputed bordes with all its neighbours, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, West Bengal and Andhra.
Himachal and Uttarakhand are locked over Dehradun, Ironically these are the states I go to, to find my peace.
While Singapore to begin with never wanted to be a separate nation. It strove to be a part of a bigger nation Malaysia, which rejected its appeal. (You may say look how successful Singapore is today, but being a small country has limited defence).
I can think of very few exceptional examples where nations/races have tried to come together.
Are humans separatists by nature? In the struggle to have our own identity, do we forget the shelter that could be achieved by being under one umbrella? Are we just territorial like other animals?
