Kalam badi ya talwar?

Of all my memories of school, the Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) days are the best. We used to participate in debates, elocution, poetry recitations for days together, and then the grand culmination of all that used to be the prize distribution ceremony. True to form, I always did well in debates(I have a thing about arguing, ask my dad!) One topic that was always present was “Is the pen mightier than the sword?” or “Kalam badi ya talwar?” I always took the side of the kalam, and always lost to the talwar in the finals, because there were some pretty argumentative, and persuasive people for the talwar!

For me, any battle won by brute force was not great enough. It was the battle of wits that excited me. Growing up, and becoming wiser has changed that of course. Thinking about this conundrum now, I have a feeling that in the grand scheme of things the talwar wins as much, if not more, as the kalam.

The winner of wars is always the country with the strongest military. Countries that have a small military are at the mercy of the ones with a larger one. Rogue countries that display extraordinary technological prowess are always feared by the world. Don’t make them angry, or they will throw that nuclear bomb on you! But, countries that have superior technological advancement also rule the world. In fact, for a long time, the USA ruled because it was a good mix of talwar as well as the kalam.

Conventional wisdom seems to take the side of the talwar. Jiski lathi usiki bhains(although I doubt if many of us really fight for a bhains these days) defines what happens in the real world often. But then, we are told while growing up, keloge kuudoge tho honge kharab, padhoge likhoge tho honge nawab. Nowhere does this kahawat mention what happens if you peeto everyone around you!

Tho batao, kalam badi ya talwar?

The winner of wars is always the country with the strongest military. Countries that have a small military are at the mercy of the ones with a larger one. Rogue countries that display extraordinary technological prowess are always feared by the world. Don’t make them angry, or they will throw that nuclear bomb on you! But, countries that have superior technological advancement also rule the world. In fact, for a long time, the USA ruled because it was a good mix of talwar as well as the kalam.

Conventional wisdom seems to vacillate between the kalam and the talwar. Jiski lathi usiki bhains(although I doubt if many of us really fight for a bhains these days) defines what happens in the real world often. But then, we are told while growing up, keloge kuudoge tho honge kharab, padhoge likhoge tho honge nawab. Nowhere does this kahawat mention what happens if you peeto everyone around you!

With this tiny bit of information on hand, there is little that can be generalized to include everything that happens in this world as kalam wins or the talwar wins. So I would say, kalam, with a healthy mix of talwar is the killer combination!

Tho batao, kalam badi ya talwar?

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