Pihu is 8 years old. She loves to draw. Her drawing teacher has told her that at first, she should make a sketch of what she is trying to paint. Then, fill the sketch with colors. She is too careful to let her colors cross the boundary of the sketch. Just like her father who is too careful to let her bougainvillea cross the fence of their home. Just like the armed soldiers who do not let Pihu’s brother come near the wired boundary if his kites cross it floating in the wind.
Like Pihu, we all have our own boundaries that we are not allowed to cross without permission. Most of these boundaries are man-made. It can be some school routine, or social norms, or even some superstitious beliefs. Then, is boundary a negative word? Should we stand together to break all these boundaries? Is it the ultimate way that will lead us to our desired freedom? No. We can not generalize boundaries like that.
Some boundaries are necessary. The boundary of time for instance. It is both man-made and nature-made. The primary concept of time is coming from the concept of day and night. A few centuries ago, time was measured by the angles that the rays of the sun used to create. Gradually, time became the most powerful boundary that we are bound to abide by. It made our life more discipline.
The boundaries or the borders of countries were of course created by humans. However, here too, nature has played the predominant role. The first concept of countries and their boundaries evolved from the boundaries of nature. India and China were divided by the Himalayas. Surrounded by waters, it was an inevitable fate for Sri Lanka to be a different country. If you look closely at those country-borders that were created by men, nature has played an important role there too. The climate of Pakistan is very different from the climate of India. Though, there are exceptions, like Bangladesh, where religion and culture became the key factor for partition.
However, nature does not follow these rules of partition. It has no religion, no language. It flows like a river- from one country to another. The water remains the same, the tendency of writing and rewriting the history of mankind remains the same. We call it by different names, somewhere it is the Ganga, somewhere it is the Padma. We, the humans, also have a river within. Somewhere we are known as ‘Indian’, somewhere ‘Chinese’ or ‘English’. But, we carry the same red blood, same love for our brothers, same rules of following the borders, and same urge of breaking the boundaries!
