Today
we celebrated our 65th Republic day. Like every year, I switched on
the television to watch the parade. It never
fails to give me a sense of pride to watch our armed forces salute their
Supreme Commander- the President of India! My eyes fill up when I see respects
being paid at the “Amar Jawan Jyoti” and I absolutely love the tableaus from
the various states depicting various facets of our culture!
I
have been seeing these celebrations for over four decades now but I never tire
of it! It has a strange nostalgia value for me. I associate it with the cold
winters and foggy mornings of Calcutta when I used to go with my father to the
Red Road to watch the Parade. I have never been to Raj Path but ever since the
advent of television I have always watched the parade there, taking in the
little tidbits of information about the various regiments as they march past.
I
sang along as familiar tunes “Sare Jahan
se acchha” “ Kadam Kadama badhaye ja”
were being played by the bands . Finally, as the national anthem
began to be played, I automatically stood up! I was in my living room with my daughter.
She seemed surprised. I had to tell her “ It is the national anthem playing” .
Her logic- “ But it is only on TV”. I had the
feeling that she was rather embarrassed with all this display of what she
considers my “patriotism”. Needless to
say, I am embarrassed by the lack of pride and a certain nonchalance that I see
in in her generation when it comes to the nation!
I
remember a neighbor in Calcutta narrating to us the story of the Chittagong armory
raid of 1930. All of us listened spell
bound and I could feel goose pimples as the story hit its climax. Though his
narrative abilities were not very great, we somehow felt that we were there and
we had watched it happen. There was a movie made on this event a few years ago.
But it was a miserable flop! I guess that is a pretty accurate indicator about
what the present generation feels about our history. Yet, we seem to remember
and re live rather unpleasant parts of our
history like the communal riots during partition!
While
not denying the fact that the India of today is at a completely different
development milestone when compared to where she was during my growing up
years, I still feel that the absence of pride in ones nation is inexcusable. And
it is not just pride in the country that is missing but there is also a certain
lack of knowledge about it that pains me. This is particularly ironic in these days of Google and Wikipedia! For many children in their Xth standard the major Iron
and Steel plants, the Multipurpose projects across the country are just
information to be memorized and regurgitated. The Southern kids struggle with
words like Sundargarh and Jharia while the northern kids might be struggling
with names like Vishveshwariah ! These
are not places that mean anything to them. For many who may be in schools affiliated
to the state board these may not even be places on a map because for them their
history and geography education begins and ends with their state!
I
think over the years there are a few things that have made the country
insignificant in the minds of the current generation. The first reason being a
certain lopsided focus of school education which has relegated history and geography
as insignificant subjects! This is really sad because it is these subjects that
help a child develop knowledge and pride in the country. The second reason I would say are
parents. Most parents today of my
generation are not really bothered about the country. Those who have not
physically abandoned it already by migrating to other countries spend their
time telling their kids that they should study well and “go abroad” – the
message being “ there is no future here for you” ! I find this later attitude
difficult to understand because India today is actually the “place to be in”
!!! And the other reason being a certain narrowing of focus where each state is unable
to think beyond its boundaries. This is particularly true of states like Tamil
Nadu which refuse to integrate with the rest of the country in spirit using the excuse of
its Dravidian identity to keep itself distinct failing to understand that in
India we have both a Unitary and Federal system of government. The leaders of
these states assume such a larger than life status that the President of India
or the Prime Minister pales in comparison! People living in these states have
more knowledge about the United States than about the neighboring states. Their
aspiration is to join the IT sector and go for “off site” ( or is it “on site”
?) jobs in the US or Europe, live in
ghetto like situations mingling with only those from their respective states.
I
remember my father telling me “ Yes, life is difficult here but it is up to us
to make it better. Running away from the country is not going to solve its
problems”. He had been offered an opportunity when he had graduated as an
engineer to go to Canada. However he wanted to stay on and participate in what
he calls “nation building”. It took him
far away from his state but he always maintains that the entire country is his
home. It was this feeling that he instilled in us and we have felt similarly..
loving every place in this country that we have lived in! Every language was
our language and every culture was ours. We have never felt chauvinistic about “our
language” or “our culture”!!
As
a widely traveled Indian of my generation,
I can tell you this, there is nothing like living in a country like ours. We
may have our problems but we are also
free in expressing our dissatisfaction with the system openly without the fear
of persecution. Democratic systems are still operational in our country. Our
mighty armed forces have never tried to take over the reins of governance. The
Judiciary still commands respect and there is complete freedom of press. The
citizens have the right to protest and question and in many cases answers have
also been forthcoming. We have eradicated polio from our land and literacy
rates of women are on the rise. We do not have to depend on food aid from any
external sources. We have also perfected rocket science! And all of this we
have done in just over six decades! Isn’t
it something to be proud of ?
Why
is not “cool” to be patriotic? Why is joining the armed forces not seen as an
interesting career option? I was proud today to see so many girls and women
marching along with the men and saluting the President! Isn’t it an indicator
of the options that are opening up for all? Is a salary the only thing that is important?
How about the pride that comes with wearing a uniform and protecting your
country? How many Indians know that during the Republic Day Parade while the
entire armed forces salute the President, it is the President who salutes those
who have won the Param Veer Chakra?
( Wishing all my Fellow Citizens a Happy Republic Day)
Patriotism as I understand is love for one’s country. It cannot be imposed from outside. The love should be natural and developed since young age for its heritage, values and achievements. As you have said rightly these are to be taught in school as history and geography that is kept free from bias.
ReplyDeleteWe feel proud if an Indian gets international recognition or wields great power and position in the international forum or the country or its citizens wins medals in world tournaments. We don’t at the same time feel happy when we see poverty and squalor, cunning and deception, crime and violence, neglecting a sizable population based on gender and a politics that is devoid of values but driven only by money. We are sad there is absence of genuine federation and when fissiparous tendencies raise their heads. We feel angry when a sizable population is poor, illiterate and sick living in abject conditions.
Clichés have no meaning for a man or woman in the cold going hungry without a meal. An empty stomach cannot harbor high values. We are like amla bound together in a bag of sack cloth where gender, religion, language and caste divide and where opportunities for growth are restricted. North Indians do not know much of South and Southerners feel alienated sometimes and refuse to feel at ease with North. Each state is an island.. The political power is not equally distributed amongst the regions with some having larger say..
While these cannot justify lack of patriotism or love for motherland, greater cohesion and harmony need to be built on tripod of equality, dignity and opportunity
Even I do not feel proud anymore... I just feel lack of energy.. and about IT sector it is going on-site and people are so enthused about it.. Some claims they will have better standard of living once they go abroad...
ReplyDeleteCannot disagree with you. However where we are plummeting is in the erosion of values.Any panacea to reverse the attitude?
ReplyDelete@ KP, unless we appreciate our diversity and look beyond our little island we would remain rocks and islands. The trouble with most of us is that we want to run away from a problem and not try to solve it. !!
ReplyDelete@ Anil I would say, that is the answer!! Try and solve the problem.
@ Simple girl a "better standard of living" is a very relative concept!
I did enjoy the parade and the beating of the retreat in youtube.
ReplyDeleteNow I am talking about beating of the retreat. The music and the military show off is great and enjoyable. But I question the tradition. It is the 16th Century British tradition to recall the patrolling units to their castle.
I am sorry to ask. Do we still cling on to the British tradition? Why can't we come with something our own? My thoughts wander here. Is it because we "got" or "received" independence from the British? I think we should have kicked the British out of our soil just like the Americans did. Then we would have our own tradition.
I just remembered your post on some police officer’s secretary asking everyone to stand up when he left the office for lunch. It is also a Freaking British tradition. When the saab (aka sob) comes, everyone stands up.
Truly loved reading this post and your question: Why is not “cool” to be patriotic? How about the pride that comes with wearing a uniform and protecting your country? How many Indians know that during the Republic Day Parade while the entire armed forces salute the President, it is the President who salutes those who have won the Param Veer Chakra? I really found your words thought provoking.
ReplyDelete@SG the British are very much a part of our history whether we like it or not. I am sure even earlier during the Gupta or Maurya dynasty there would have been similar traditions with regard to the military procedures. Paying respects to the dead heroes is part of all cultures. It is the least we can do ! Kicking the British out of our soil from India was as easy as it might have been in America. If you remember history our first war of Independence was in 1857 ( you may recall reading as the Sepoy mutiny but our children read it as the first war of independence). However it could not succeed because we were a very fragmented country with different cultures, principalities etc and there was no unified leader. Infact India as an entity did not exist in those days. It was only after Mahatma Gandhi came in to the struggle that there was a unified effort in this regard. The history of America is only a few centuries old. It is a country of decedents of colonies from other western nations driven out by poverty from their own countries. They did not have the challenges we had in terms of feudal structures ( India was feudal even before the British or the Moghuls). People were settlers and they grabbed what they could. So it is not a correct comparison. But I think it might be a good idea to compare our country with our neighbor who got independence just a day earlier than we did They are still struggling to hold on to democracy while we, despite all odds are surging ahead. Government systems and procedures have been changed but it is the way they are implemented ( like our bad experience with the SP's PRO) that probably have not changed. But I laud the armed forces for making that change. As I had mentioned there were considerable number of women at the parade- leading it and saluting the President! I cannot imagine many countries in this region where women have done this. Infact the United States of America is yet to have a woman President!
ReplyDelete@ Swapna thanks. I wish we could have proper answers to those questions and not squirm when we hear some of them :)
ReplyDeleteinteresting post
ReplyDelete