"What's in a name?

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Clearly our parliamentarians do not believe in Shakespeare's credo or else they would not have spent yesterday debating over whether "First War of Indian Independence" is a misnomer. Debates ensued during the celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of the 1857 War (/Uprising/Revolt/Mutiny/Rebellion), over whether it it was correct to call it the first, given that it was preceded by the Anglo-Sikh War of 1845.

Sikh MPs from Haryana and Punjab have taken strong exception to this slight, whether intended or not. Meanwhile a few other strong contenders for the title of First War of Indian Independence have emerged like Veerapandiya Kattabomman and Tipu Sultan's wars against the British.

With our parliamentarians busy discussing such lofty issues, it falls upon us humble babus to truly run our nation ragged.

I know this makes my previous post sound eerily prophetic. In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that I thought the debates would be about whether it should be called a war or whether it should be considered "Indian". My naivete at underestimating the creativity of our parliamentarians stands exposed.

(Image Source: Asian Age)