India

It was 29th Aug, 1989 when I bawled out on this planet. From that day only, a stamp of being an Indian was embedded in my nature. Times passed by, India continued to be responsible for quite a lot of my actions.

The early childhood had in me immense love for my motherland. Every time Tiranga flashed on the Doordarshan, it would give me goosebumps. I unconsciously stood up in attention position and rejoiced while singing our national anthem in full volume. There was a song called ‘Mile sur mera tumhara’ telecasted every now and then on my small Salora black and white TV which had many maestros of music singing for the peace in the nation, of which I never ever got bored off. Every year I would wait for the Republic Day to see the nation’s power showcased during the shows. Every duels and quarrels with friends faded away at the time of any cricket match, when we used to dance together every time Sachin hit fours and sixes. Films like Roja and Border stirred my soul from within. A TV serial called ‘Yug’ referring to the Indian Freedom Struggle was telecasted on DD-Metro and each and every show brought immense patriotic fervour in me. I could not even hear a wrong word against my country. I remember a fight I had with a friend of mine when he said, “I hate this country.” That was the time India was the driving force for my life.

As I grew older(as well as more mature and more sensible, as they say) that early enthusiasm was lost on the way. Being an Indian didn’t bring that pride that it used to bring. India has been lost in the dust of the cricket grounds of my childhood. When elders asked me, “What do you want to do?” I replied, “I want to graduate from the IITs and settle in US.” Time had reached when there was not a single thing that I liked about my country. The pollution pinched me hard, I hated walking on roads that had spits of betel on it and I felt all the mythology as mere rubbish, all the politicians as gamblers and somewhere felt that the world outside India as much more beautiful. Before every cricket match, yet another loss was what consistently hit my mind. I began thinking twice before standing for our national anthem, and in school at the time of national anthem I used to do lips-ing as if some playback singer was singing the anthem for me. I remained asleep on 26th January as it was nothing more than a holiday for me. Indians looked more superstitious and narrow-minded than ever before and I wanted desperately wanted to run out of this country. The only thing which I liked about India was Aishwarya Rai (who also broke my heart by marrying the guy who does “chiki-chaka-chaka-jung-jung” for motorocker).

The maturity that came with the ageing childhood had caused the loss of the vigour for my country, but at the same time brought a new side of the country (this was the phase when real sensibility came in me). The country with so many colours, traditions and rituals, and every tradition having a heritage as well as history of its own; became fascinating for this matured soul. The beliefs of people here on the idols of Rama and Krishna who they have never seen, different sects of people living in the same area with harmony and unison, the innocence of the villagers, the perseverance of farmers, the bliss of sages, the melody of Indian music, the happiness on the face of every child, the marvellous brain of India and creativity of artisans suddenly became visible. My indifference to India faded as soon as I saw it being a conglomeration of every beautiful thing here on earth. The same things which I despised became strikingly beautiful for me. The stamp that was laid on me at the time of birth showed its essence then. Life changes its course, maybe I will leave this country one day, but that does not lower my respect for this nation that has provided me a heritage to be proud of and many beautiful people to enrich my life.

We say we don’t love this country, we criticize the system, we point out flaws but in all of these we don’t see what feelings we have that has made them to criticize it. I mean to say that Why don’t we criticise Somalia or Ethiopia? It’s because we don’t care about them. But for India, we care. We know that we are responsible for the condition of our country and we can bring a change ourselves. We want our country to be the best; we want it to be a superpower, to be developed, to win all the cricket matches it plays and to surpass every nation with its values and beliefs intact. We are, in one way or another, linked to the nation. After seeing the English movies and the kind of language they use, a sudden pride pops up amongst us because we are more civilised, we are more respectful to our parents and more cultured. We must be proud to be born in such a country where the people have discovered all the arts and sciences at a time when the guys and gals of the rest of the world were killing animals for their flesh to make their underpants!