I’m really lucky to be born in India. To say even more, I’m lucky to be born in a wonderful family & lucky to be in a circle of good friends. But am I really “proud” to be an Indian? I don’t know.
Did you know that to this day, we praise the English in our National Anthem (even though Tagore refuted the claims, it is a fact)?
Patriotism (at least in India) is hypocritical. We fight for sharing water between states. We get insulted if someone talks bad about our native. To this day, a vehicle with Karnataka registration is treated badly in Tamil Nadu. I’ve faced this myself. Tell me something, do you “own” your city/state/country? When you are fighting for sharing “natural” resources, why don’t you compete for development?
Yes, there should be an “All-India Nation Development Competition”. I propose an annual competition between the states to develop in all possible fields (literacy level, electricity, roads, etc.) and the winner will be awarded. However, I’m afraid that these states will instead compete in bribing the Central Government to announce themselves as the winner. This, sadly, is the state of our country.
I noticed today that people were selling flags on the streets and traffic signals. Why only today? Does your sudden feeling of patriotism only last from 00:00 to 23:59 hrs of 15th August? Why aren’t the flags sold like this almost everyday? Patriotism needs to be instilled on an occasional basis. People paint their faces with the tri-color for 15th August and start cribbing the Government and the faulty roads the very next day. Remember that Independence Day is not a festival (which has an expiration date). I don’t like comparing with others, but in the USA, you can walk-in to almost any store and buy their flags in all forms and sizes every single day. If that’s the case, then imagine how 4th of July would look like!
I don’t understand this, “I am ready to put my life on line for my country” feeling. Why do you want to kill yourself for virtual borders? If you really want to contribute something for your country, then please do so with a sane mind and a heart still beating. Many have died for causes which didn’t even yield the desired results.
I hate IPL for splitting our people and creating hatred towards other cities. Although it looks like we all are joking, but I’ve seen some serious fights over petty issues. For starters, check out the banned Virgin Mobile ads made for IPL.
How many of you leapt upon the opportunity to call “Sunita Williams” an Indian and take credit with collars up, walking proudly on the streets when she became an astronaut? She’s NOT Indian. Kalpana Chawla also did whatever she could in India. When she found out that she could grow in her career in the USA, she flew. As simple as that. What you see is Brain Drain. What I see is that she went from one part of the world to another part. This is what animals do. They migrate. Remember that we are also animals.
Similarly, athletes, businessmen also prove their skills because of the resources available surrounding them. Many do their Bachelors in India and Masters abroad. Why? Go retrospect. You must be proud of Indian education too, I guess.
Why are we celebrating getting our own country back? They went home because there was nothing left to take from us.
However, let’s not indulge in the past. The present is good and the future is challenging. I prefer to look beyond the boundaries. I look at people as humans and not citizens of a certain country. I feel that patriotism is a wrong feeling. It makes you arrogant. It makes you biased towards a certain country, the leaders and their decisions. We have one world. Let’s consume the resources and lead a healthy life.
Olympics, for me, is to see the limit of athletes. How far can they go to win. How much strength and stamina they have. But all I could observe was wall posts with how much Gold, Silver & Bronze medals India has bagged and sometimes compared with other countries. WHY? YOU DON’T EVEN OWN THE MEDAL.
Stop taking credit. Stop blaming. Stop reacting and start acting.
To answer my question whether I’m proud to be an Indian, I would say that I have no answer. Because it’s not a valid question for me. Since I don’t see borders, there are no countries. How can I be proud of something which doesn’t exist? I didn’t choose to be born as Indian. I happened to take birth at a place which belonged within the borders of India (as recognized by others). I see people as people. There are good people and there are bad people. All over the globe. One fine day, the Government will sign some documents and we might have China under our sleeves. Does that make it a part of India? Will your patriotism involve China too? If you say yes, then your patriotism feeling lies on a piece of paper. You are like, “As long as the states are part of our country, I’ll give my life for them.” This might sound a bit funny, but think about it.
I’ve driven through borders between states and cities. The board would read, “Thank you for visiting us” and immediately there will be another board saying, “Welcome to “. It will always bring a smile on my face. You put a board and the place becomes yours? I understand that it is done for organizing and splitting development tasks between different Government of the states. But that also appears to be like the lines we used to draw on our school’s classroom desks when we were playing with toys as kids. If you even lay a finger on my side, I’ll chop it off.
My knowledge belongs to the world. I’ll work where I get opportunity, recognition, good lifestyle & enough money to feed myself, my family and occasionally treat my friends.