Occasional Patriotism!

Happy independence day to one and all who woke up early for flag hosting or who enjoyed late noon bath after a long twelve hours of sleep! Sometimes I wonder with the way other countries like USA or China celebrate their independence day. Perhaps Chinese are afraid of the after effects if they just sleep and don’t celebrate their national day. The citizens of USA are just too proud of their freedom and development. On the other way I have heard Japanese have only one way to celebrate and they do it throughout the year. These countries are too developed and if we see our little friend and weaker too, Africa, they have a sharp memory and hence they remember all the sacrifices made by their countrymen for the precious independence.

Actually I don’t blame people! It’s really independence for them if they get a holiday from the scolding of their boss, crying of children, complains from wife and a little break from this running life. I remember when I was a child, I used to go for flag hosting in my residency where only ten heads used to turn up. But the thing I hated the most was we used to have to go to each and every flat knocking their doors to distribute sweets. And yes I live in a safest place in the country where I can host our tricolour every day, no one will stop me. But still people don’t bother. My friends from other states have horrible stories to tell, like once a bomb blast happened in a school in Assam just after they hosted the flag killing the most innocent school children and also our bright future. I want to tell those cowards that we have such patriotic moments only twice in a year which hurt their ‘separate country’ emotions. Aren’t they afraid of such ‘sleep loving’ people if they get their own country and celebrate flag hosting?

I studied a lot about our freedom fight from my History textbooks in school. I never figured out what actually changed when ‘Angrez’ (British) came to India and one day started to rule us. Most of us were ruled by Mughals or Nizam before or at most some were pretending to be safe under their king’s umbrella. Except Shivaji maharaj came like a wave and defined freedom. But his followers, the Peshvas failed for a reason or two. So the British rule wasn’t anything new for the Hindustani people except for the language and their skin colour until these Englishmen started running behind us with a stick or horsewhip. Some couldn’t resist the torture and started a movement. The queen of Zansi created a successful example for future movements. One of my role models Vir Savarkar named it a freedom fight and we all know the rest.

I enjoyed every bit of it. The whole history in textbooks is full of patriotic doses which are enough for a life. Still I stuck at finding motive behind this. The torture was increased only when we started to protest. But as I grew up I have realized that all the violent, non-violent movements were dedicated towards only one motive and that is freedom for their children, in our words some peaceful sleep on the Independence day. And they have succeeded in it.

For some dignity for this freedom we got I request all the fellow Indians to wake up, not from their dreamful sleep to go for a flag hosting. If you feel the responsibility and want to enjoy watching waving tricolour then you should attend these gatherings and have some goose bumps. But you should wake up and take part in activities in interest of the development of this country which will bind us together. Some benefits have come with this freedom which should be taken as our responsibilities. Like we have elections in the pipeline, if everyone give their responsible vote to a right candidate then such things will be more than enough to keep the patriotism alive in us. On this memorable day of Independence I take this opportunity to take an oath to become a responsible Indian and to increase the frequency of fortuitous Patriotism in me.

Book Review: The Bestseller She Wrote by Ravi Subramanian

About the story: It starts with whining about Indian authors and their lack of expertise in giving the realistic feel to the plots. 9 of the 10 English literature readers will agree to that, actually all those will agree who have read at least one of the foreign authors. So the story starts with a high note that this is going to be different from regular Indian romantic drama which later turns into a Bollywood thriller. But aghast! It is the same old story and I moved forward with saying 'Not again'. The only reason I went further as the book had come for the review, else I would have left it after first fifty pages or so.

Aditya Kapoor, main character who is a leading Indian fictional writer and a banker at the same time was giving a talk at his Alma mater at the start of the book and where he meets the arrogant but wannabe writer, Shreya who currently studying in her first year of MBA course. The story is more than typical, where a great Indian thriller writer gets into an intimate relationship with a young wanna be writer, IIMB graduate and soon to be his junior at work. One more thing will say you again and again to drop the book is the character is loosely based on Mr Chetan Bhagat, IIM graduate, successful banker and the very famous author. First half is nothing but the masala romance with girlfriend and walking on the rope while managing the marriage and love life.

But I have to agree that the book gets a little better in the second half. A series of events happen which at least led me to complete the book to know the ending, though it was very much obvious. But I got involved to know where the series of events leading the author's life and how he will reach to the obvious ending. The style in which sometimes the author explains some obvious things and give some explanations for why the specific thing is happening in the plot is too obvious and it makes the read more boring. In the halfway, wife of the main character, Aditya Kapoor gets injected with an Ebola virus and you will really wonder why even this thing was added in the book as its not giving any add on to the story. And even more surprising is that she comes to life by defeating the virus which would have never happened this easily in reality. And if you judge the plot and the series of events planted in, even some severe curable diseases like Tuberculosis, or even an accident would
have done the job. But Ebola seems too fake there. Anyways as per typical Bollywood plot, first you will start loving the Shreya's character and would pray for some twist so that Aditya would leave his wife and would come to her. But then plot goes further and puts Shreya's character into the negative role and you can easily guess what's going to happen at the end!

My Review: There are just too many negatives. Aditya's character is loosely based on Chetan Bhagat which kills the expectations at the start itself. I had heard so much of the other books by Ravi Subramanian, but I am really disappointed with this one which makes me unsure of giving the other ones a try. Indian readers are fed up of the plots having IITs, IIMs, their half baked love stories and their success and failures. Chetan Bhagat has written enough on those subjects, which had received by the readers very well as they were very cheesy and crispy for the first time to read. But now we really need something different from Indian authors, especially authors like Ravi Subramanian.

Rating: 2/5

Note: I am reviewing ‘The Bestseller She Wrote’ by Ravi Subramanian as a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!