Seeger Master System

A few months ago we had some minor celebration or other at work. We feasted on so-called strawberry cake (no actual strawberries were harmed in the making of this cake) and then everyone started singing a song. After about three seconds I said “hang on, isn’t that We Shall Overcome, classic of the American civil rights movement and all-purpose earnest,-stirring-but-essentially-meaningless protest song?”

It turns out that every Indian child is taught Hum Honge Kamyaab, the Hindi translation of We Shall Overcome, as a staple diet of primary education here: not only that, but through it they understand its origin, its context, its purpose. And thinking back to primary school, we all remember the songs we were taught, long after the other stuff we learnt has disappeared through the smoke rings of our minds. Which leads one to conclude that your average Indian probably knows more about protest in general, and the civil rights movement in particular, than your average Brit.

I was reminded of this by the hilariously preposterous last hour of My Name Is Khan, the latest blockbuster vehicle for Bollywood gigastar Shah Rukh Khan. MNIK, as it’s universally known here, caused a right rumpus when it was released after SRK, as he’s universally known here, mentioned something about Pakistan that was less belligerent than ‘let’s just nuke em’. Our local nutters brigade (see two posts ago for more on them) didn’t take kindly to this and tried to stop the film being released. They gave up after about 24 hours, as there’s only so long that you can hang around outside a cinema burning effigies and threatening the manager with unspecified acts of violence before you get bored and want to go home for tiffin.

In MNIK, SRK’s character is meandering in a slough of despond until he realises that the song being sung in a black church in Georgia is the same one he was taught at school. They bond through music and, within about half an hour or so, he’s been commended by President Obama, there’s no more racism in America, and all is well with the world. It’s complete bobbins, of course, but as a not-too-subtle political message in India it’s probably worthwhile bobbins.

Next week: a treatise on the fundamental role in Indian culture of The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round.