Extracts from Punjabee(1906)
“ When people have developed the symptoms of title hunting & seeking favours at the hands of others, one may apprehend that an almost fatal malady of the body- social & political is indicated. ‘But what can be wrong with it’ – exclaim the morbid cells, ‘it is nothing but human nature; we merely encourage the flow of the milk of human kindness by coaxing the benevolent givers with flattery, which is nothing but a virtue or else how could it help the wheels of society to run so smoothly.’ Away with you, ye whited sepulchers full of rotting corruption, ye who are at once the symptoms & disease of the national organism. Ye are the symptoms of a want of a want of self-reliance & strength, morbid parasitic cells which develop mean selfishness, want to thrive by favoritism, or to dote on the empty baubles of titles & official recognition. Away with you, for we want to build a strong & self reliant nation, with solid merit & righteousness that shall not be brought off with meaningless letters or humiliating berths or ill-gotten gains which tarry this side of the grave. Away with you, for you are poisoning the atmosphere & the foul stench is once more becoming intolerable to our senses. The healthier cells are reviving & asserting themselves & the healthy fluid of public opinion, in which they can generate, bath in, & thrive on. The time is not far when ye shall be pitied or scorned, when the recipient of titles shall be scorned, when the recipients of titles shall be condoled with- not congratulated- when people will ask no favours even if honest labour yields no livelihood... Of course there are few honorable exceptions among the title-holders who have not cringed or hunted for these baubles. ..”