Page 290 - Communication Processes Volume 3 Communication Culture and Confrontation

Resisting Colonial Modernity 265

Thus, it becomes clear that Surdas’ arguments against industrialism
are moral, not economic. He does not say that the modern industry will
destroy the crafts and small industries, which would render millions of
people jobless, an argument advanced by Gandhi. In fact, Surdas argues
in the opposite direction. Even if the factory provides employment,
even if it brings prosperity to the village, it is undesirable because it
will destroy the traditional moral fabric of the community. In effect,
it will cause even more havoc; it will displace the villagers from their
homes, making them rootless and prone to vices. For Surdas, as also
for his creator, the demonic essence of the factory lies in its relentless
expansion that will subjugate and displace people from their ancestral
abodes and will tear apart the base on which centuries of traditional
social and moral order rests.
The divide between the moral and the material is further reinforced
by the method of Surdas’ struggle. He abhors violence and considers
life a sport where victory and defeat both come as a matter of course.
Struggle against injustice is a moral imperative irrespective of the
consequences. Therefore, winning or losing should not lead to
euphoria or despair. This philosophy is reflected in his life. When he is
congratulated by Sophia for winning back his land, he replies: ‘[T]his
is not the policy of the sportsmen. They don’t laugh at the losers.’ He
adds further saying, ‘[M]y job is to struggle for justice’ (ibid.: 116).
Later, when he finally loses his land, he refuses to despair: ‘Victory
and defeat are essential to life. I may win sometimes and lose at other
times. Why worry about it? Earlier I won against the mighty, and today
I’ve lost. This all happens in a game’ (ibid.: 301).
His tenacity and irrepressible spirit are reflected when his house is
burnt by an angry and jealous villager. Surdas’ nephew, Mithua, asks
him where they were going to live now:

Surdas: We’ll build another home.
Mithua: And if someone burns it down again?
Surdas: We’ll build yet another.
Mithua: And if that is also burnt down?
Surdas: We’ll build yet another one.
Mithua: If someone burns it down a thousand times?
Surdas: Then we’ll also build it a thousand times. Children have a
special interest in numbers.
Mithua asks yet again: And if someone burns it down ten million
times?