My Country and I

              This woman I have grown to be misses the old me, to be more accurate the younger me. The girl who narrows her eyes with an irritable look on hearing the activities of our troublesome neighbouring nation, The young heart that beat zealously for a cricket or tennis team, An ignorant mind that listed all the ministers and chief ministers as the saviours and greats of our incredible nation in every debate, essay or speech, A trusting soul that found excuses for every celebrity who chose to reveal their mistakes or philanthropies before every movie premier, A little girl who believed those people that made mistakes, made it unintentionally, A staunch secularist who found every religious leader righteous and dreamt of being a true politician with a social goal.

             As a woman now the only patriotic me that is left is the one who revolts at the sight of the farces played out daily by our politicians. The woman who opens the newspaper everyday with lots of trepidation, sourness and an unpleasant jitter as to what bad thing has surfaced in our economical, political or social front. The woman who watched the 26/11 horror unfold on television with mounting fear and then dejectedly switched off her television after three hours with a deep sad distaste in her mouth for journalistic freedom gone awry!

                Economically we have all the scams to degrade us. ‘PRIDE NO MORE’. Socially we tolerate the rapes and discrimination that disgusts us! ‘DIGNITY NO MORE’! Politically we are juggled by the dramas and gimmicks of the warring fronts. ‘UNITY NO MORE’! Here in I did not add the religious front purposely as I truly veto that the very word ‘religion’ or let us say ‘religions’ that stood for India’s uniqueness is no more a separate entity in our nation. It has been cocktailed and mock tailed with business, politics, power and play and is being trampled on the streets. I am sincerely scared to say ‘Faith no more’. So Faith waits at my door, reluctant to leave the reluctant me who can’t raise a hand to say goodbye.

               I was urging my ‘10’ year old to read newspaper until a while ago, But now I have firmly decided to curtail him from reading newspapers until he is fifteen or more. His young worlds and Tinkles are enough to keep him educated and the extra knowledge he needs to know about the ‘Indian’ and ‘world’ arenas can go filtered through his parents, teachers and monthly school quiz booklets. Such is the state of my nation.

              Until I reread Swami Vivekananda’s life history and his love for India after a ten year sabbatical I didn’t know how I used to love India so much. His words are a revelation of the confidence and love one really holds deep within the self. The India of his dream and the India that stood the ravages of time can never be ignored by any of us. I love her, I watch the news for her and read the newspaper to try and sincerely understand which of these people we chose to be our leaders are really true to her, to know how my fellow brothers and sisters are faring and to whisper a prayer for those in distress.

            The minute I hear my son singing ‘Jana Gana Mana’, our National Anthem a massive emotion of both pride and deep sorrow engulfs me. This is proof in itself that the patriotic fire still rages underneath this scorn for the race for power and money. The patriotic fervour once lit never fades away. We just need to delve into the unfathomable depths we have pushed it into and acknowledge its existence and act on our principles as a dutiful citizen of our nation. This fire, as the great Nightingale of India put forth, will act as a guiding light to light many more in the young hearts everyone of us mothers nurture with love and care. As they say in India, every mother feeds her child with not just food and love, but patriotism too.   To conclude, my motherly duty is to light the lamp of patriotism with duty, a sincerity and a promise to our nation too in my children’s mind to help them be a part of a more lovelier India in future. Is that so hard friends? Yes it is in today’s world, friends what with our little angels who need to see to believe, need to understand to follow. But they will, with love they will understand. Persevere, for a country’s future is their future too.