Today is Independence day - I had to drop my kid to school, for he had to attend independence day celebrations at his school. Reluctantly I woke up early in the morning by 7.00 to drop my kid to school. On the way, I had reflections of thoughts; myself going to school in my childhood to attend these celebrations.
Are these mere celebrations? Do we really feel proud of calling ourselves Indians? Do we have anything after 66 years to be proud of?
This day is a day to reflect back - retrospect.
We have a great past. It is the land of spirituality. It is land of great sages, sadhus, saints and gyanis.
It immediately reminded me of great poet's words - "India does not mean just a piece of land, It is about people." Are we proud of ourselves and what we are today? Am I proud of being Indian?
We are the world champions in cricket. Indian cricket has never been as good as the current team. Looking around our neighbors, I immediately realize we have a great Armed forces which has a great tradition of respecting democracy. We do have a great constitution and democracy. We have a great media which is doing a great job. We have a great industry of film making: Bollywood - which entertains people. This is all I could reflect on the way to school. There could be a some more to add to this list of achievements in 66 years.
The sad part is - our list of failures overshadow the long list of achievements.
Our politicians are a sad story. After 66 years we have lost almost all leader who could direct the nation selflessly. Gone are the leaders and their values like Mr Gandhiji, Nehru, Sardar Vallabhai patel, Subhas Chandra Bose for whom the country comes first and then the politics. (Well you may or may not agree with the leaders I named here. But you would have your list of leaders who would have inspired you.) All these leaders and their principles are almost vanished; No leader is inspirational; No leader is worth our ears to hear, mind to think, hearts to follow. This is a great loss. Years to come we just have to live on Mr Gandhiji name as world leader. 1 Billion Indians cannot produce a world leader to whom the whole worlds looks up to.
Why blame politicians. They too are one of us. They are representation of what we are. We the people of India, have failed the country. We are largely divided. We have to many tags or hats with which we are born. We are born into a religion, region, community, language. These tags have grown bigger day by day as we grew. The one tag called Indian is almost become smaller and smaller day by day. It is almost non-existent. We suddenly dust this tag a day before Independence day.
We can be easily separated with any of the tags or hats that we wear. Our selfish leader's one speech would raise our passions to a great levels. Today, We are more divided than united. We feel proud of the hats we wear. It is no more stylish to wear the tag of India. The hat of India is old fashioned and outdated. We have hundred differences, but we still blame the politicians for all the mess we got into.
We do have a great right. - Right to vote and elect our leaders. We do miss use it. We don't know how to use it. We don't know how to distinguish person who can represent us in an municipality, an assembly, or in Parliament.
We vote those who wear a similar hats. Our reasons to elect a leader are flimsy. We get inspired by free-bees or great speeches. We don't take a minute before we vote a person. We don't know why we vote him. Do we have an understanding of how and what a leader should be? What we should expect from our leaders? Are we in a position to judge our leaders - Their actions?
A municipality needs a local community leaders who understands the local problems. Here electing by seeing a similar hat would not harm much. A state assembly should have regional leaders. He should be able to think of good about his region and understand the problems, similarities and difficulties in his region. A parliament should have national leaders who are selflessly think about our country. Nation should come first to him- Not region, Not religion, Not language. Its India which should come first. He should always be wearing Indian Hat and be proud of what he wears. Need be, He should be able to take decisions hard and against his own region, religion or language for overall good of nation. Are we matured enough to recognize such leaders? Are we able to understand their actions?
We elect community leaders to Parliament. The parliament has more regional leaders than national leaders. More leaders bargain for good of their region than country. Country is almost lost in their deeds, as their actions are always towards re-election and please his/her constituency.
Having lost in these thoughts, I realized my son's school celebrations are over. He came out smiling and greeting his friends. Its time to take him home.
In half hour wait, before picking my son, I could retrospect one thing that is not really going well for our country. There could be many.
With all good and bad, strengths and weakness, I feel proud of being an Indian. We still have to learn a lot. We still have a long way to go.
On this day of a year, I am proud of that hat I wear- Indian pagadi. With proud and respect, I wear this hat. I am proud of being an Indian no matter what.
Are these mere celebrations? Do we really feel proud of calling ourselves Indians? Do we have anything after 66 years to be proud of?
This day is a day to reflect back - retrospect.
We have a great past. It is the land of spirituality. It is land of great sages, sadhus, saints and gyanis.
It immediately reminded me of great poet's words - "India does not mean just a piece of land, It is about people." Are we proud of ourselves and what we are today? Am I proud of being Indian?
We are the world champions in cricket. Indian cricket has never been as good as the current team. Looking around our neighbors, I immediately realize we have a great Armed forces which has a great tradition of respecting democracy. We do have a great constitution and democracy. We have a great media which is doing a great job. We have a great industry of film making: Bollywood - which entertains people. This is all I could reflect on the way to school. There could be a some more to add to this list of achievements in 66 years.
The sad part is - our list of failures overshadow the long list of achievements.
Our politicians are a sad story. After 66 years we have lost almost all leader who could direct the nation selflessly. Gone are the leaders and their values like Mr Gandhiji, Nehru, Sardar Vallabhai patel, Subhas Chandra Bose for whom the country comes first and then the politics. (Well you may or may not agree with the leaders I named here. But you would have your list of leaders who would have inspired you.) All these leaders and their principles are almost vanished; No leader is inspirational; No leader is worth our ears to hear, mind to think, hearts to follow. This is a great loss. Years to come we just have to live on Mr Gandhiji name as world leader. 1 Billion Indians cannot produce a world leader to whom the whole worlds looks up to.
Why blame politicians. They too are one of us. They are representation of what we are. We the people of India, have failed the country. We are largely divided. We have to many tags or hats with which we are born. We are born into a religion, region, community, language. These tags have grown bigger day by day as we grew. The one tag called Indian is almost become smaller and smaller day by day. It is almost non-existent. We suddenly dust this tag a day before Independence day.
We can be easily separated with any of the tags or hats that we wear. Our selfish leader's one speech would raise our passions to a great levels. Today, We are more divided than united. We feel proud of the hats we wear. It is no more stylish to wear the tag of India. The hat of India is old fashioned and outdated. We have hundred differences, but we still blame the politicians for all the mess we got into.
We do have a great right. - Right to vote and elect our leaders. We do miss use it. We don't know how to use it. We don't know how to distinguish person who can represent us in an municipality, an assembly, or in Parliament.
We vote those who wear a similar hats. Our reasons to elect a leader are flimsy. We get inspired by free-bees or great speeches. We don't take a minute before we vote a person. We don't know why we vote him. Do we have an understanding of how and what a leader should be? What we should expect from our leaders? Are we in a position to judge our leaders - Their actions?
A municipality needs a local community leaders who understands the local problems. Here electing by seeing a similar hat would not harm much. A state assembly should have regional leaders. He should be able to think of good about his region and understand the problems, similarities and difficulties in his region. A parliament should have national leaders who are selflessly think about our country. Nation should come first to him- Not region, Not religion, Not language. Its India which should come first. He should always be wearing Indian Hat and be proud of what he wears. Need be, He should be able to take decisions hard and against his own region, religion or language for overall good of nation. Are we matured enough to recognize such leaders? Are we able to understand their actions?
We elect community leaders to Parliament. The parliament has more regional leaders than national leaders. More leaders bargain for good of their region than country. Country is almost lost in their deeds, as their actions are always towards re-election and please his/her constituency.
Having lost in these thoughts, I realized my son's school celebrations are over. He came out smiling and greeting his friends. Its time to take him home.
In half hour wait, before picking my son, I could retrospect one thing that is not really going well for our country. There could be many.
With all good and bad, strengths and weakness, I feel proud of being an Indian. We still have to learn a lot. We still have a long way to go.
On this day of a year, I am proud of that hat I wear- Indian pagadi. With proud and respect, I wear this hat. I am proud of being an Indian no matter what.
2 comments:
A real introspection of a patriot. But I hope we have a true leader in Shri Narendra Modi who may turn India upside down if given a chance within short time. Let's give him a chance.
I do see a chance in Modi to rebuild. He did well for his state. Will he do well for the country is a question. (Do we stick to state politics or promote one who can possibly build the nation.) I strongly agree that we should think as an Indian first.
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