Live the present

Let us begin at the beginning – not with India as the 'core' but rather with the periphery, which will decide the outcome of the Southasian dream. Unless this is done, the dream could well list towards turning into the nightmare of akhand bharat. The idea of Southasia is most palpable not at the manmade political borders, but at the fuzzy natural frontiers. Reach the Khyber Pass, cross the Brahmaputra or ride the waves in a catamaran off the eastern coast of Sri Lanka, and you will never again question that what lies beyond is a different universe, where dwell people very different from 'us'. Southasians are obviously not Chinese, Arabs or Malays, nor are they Uzbeks, Persians or Kazakhs. A 'Londonstani' in Brickfields is reduced to being a 'Paki' or a 'Bangladeshi'. What does it matter to the white skinheads that the poor bugger may be a 'multiple-gods-fearing Hindoo'?

If the world without recognises us as a different species, do we have a choice to live and die otherwise? For heaven's sake, and for those who inhabit Southasia, we need to stop chasing the mirage of 'regional economic cooperation' mirage, and stop being content with what we have – the 'shared heritage, warts and all'. We need to never forget that the much-touted cultural inheritance is actually a very mixed bag, one that not all Southasians share or are even enthusiastic about. Let us honestly admit that Southasians suffer from a kind of multiple-personality disorder. The head is split, and heart forever aching – curse those fragmented memories and fractured perceptions of national interest. No, globalisation has not changed a thing.