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.

Unity in Diversity

‘India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters’! I have chanted this line every day in school; I hated to call all the girls my sisters though. I always get surprised when I travel in a bus or train and watch people having contrast nature and different religion or community, speaking different languages share same environment under a roof called India. When foreigners come to visit India, they must be returning with a question in mind that “was it really one country?”! And everyone get their answer when they watch every state presenting itself on 15^th August and 26^th January.

But various incidents over the years disturb me and force me to think that are we really bound together? Sometimes Karnataka denies water to Tamilnadu and TN denies sharing electricity with other states at the same time. Once Punjab tried to get separated but we successfully stopped them. Now that hidden ghost is showing its head again. North-east people don’t understand why they are living in India and rest of the India don’t bother to understand north-east people. Kashmir is creating their own options and we are not letting them to choose any. Telangana wants to part their ways from Andhra Pradesh. And if government of India allow them then there will be a long queue asking to divide states. Some people are simply sending away people from other states because of their peers’ nature.

Then also we show togetherness in many incidents. We celebrate our festivals together. Here I have my own point of view on this. The smell of Indian soil fills the love for our country. Every small part of India has its own features. And hence many of us travel hundreds of miles in vacations just to taste the beauty of India. We cheer for Indian cricket team forgetting the differences within us. Our neighbor countries which certainly plan attacks on us help to unite us. We exchange our food and enjoy the variety every day. We share our art forms like dance, plays and songs. We stand together and protest against wrong decisions taken by our government. We make patriotic songs and films and send them to Oscars to show them our unity. Hence I want to shout and tell the entire world that ‘We are one’!