Sunday, August 15, 2010

August 15th

                     A nation represents the collective soul of the Individuals who are it's Citizens & the State in which a nation is..is a reflection of the attitude that it's people have towards themselves & each other.

Why am I writing this post today?

Because...

It's August the 15th again---- The significance of the day---- It's The Indian Independence Day. What am I going to do for this occasion... I'll probably go to my hospital do the duty  while feeling a little pissed that It's Sunday this 15th Aug & I have been robbed of one of my 11 precious gazetted holiday (to be honest with the kind of work schedule I have the right to crib on loosing my holiday).

And No, I won't go ahead & buy the national flag (which kids go about selling on every traffic signal around this time in India) & wave it around or tweet facts about the greatness of India the nation or add a Patriotic status to my long line of FB status messages or listen to patriotic songs or sit back and discuss how everything starting from public administration to living conditions to law & order is on the down hill & curse the government & politicians for the rotten condition of Nation.

Why?? Here's the reason ---

I don't think how does it help..if we wear patriotism on our sleeves on one day, while shirking away from our responsibilities & duties as a citizen day in & day out. Where is the patriotism when we forget basic civic manners like forming queues, not spitting or peeing in public, respecting women & elderly people, obeying traffic laws, keeping our environment clean, judicious use of energy?

What good can come out of waving a plastic tricolor..which has been made & is being sold by children (who are the future of this nation) in factories when they should have been in schools, happily fed in families.

Should I feel proud to know
that I live in a country where still families throw away newborn girl child or worse kill a still unborn child 'cuz they want sons or wives are burnt for dowry or subjected to domestic violence ?

Where people are killed for marrying against the wishes of their family & these killings are termed Honor killings.

Where people discriminate against fellow human beings on caste, religion, region, discriminate enough to kill.

Where citizens are Indians on 15th Aug/ 26th Jan/ 2nd Oct & for the rest of the year they beat each other up for being North Indians, South Indians, Maharashtrians, Kashmiris, Maoists, Communists the list is unending.

Where citizens spend  more time finding innovative ways of by passing laws, evading taxes & using that money for bribes.

Where cricketers, actors & pseudo celebrities roll in luxury & soldiers, teachers, scientists & farmers are left unthanked for.

Where news is about earning TRP's rather than reporting facts.

Where elected representatives of the country fight tooth & nails with each other in the Parliament, spend more time staging walk outs & getting the house adjourned than discussing the problems of nation, spend crores in making statues & parks while millions die of mal-nourishment & hunger, where nothing lies above petty politics & earning the vote bank.

Where We The People elect Such leaders to rule us, what right do we have to crib?

The purpose of this post is not to criticize a nation that is the biggest democracy in the world over flowing with talent unlimited.. I fully realize that some of the things that I have mentioned above are rampant in every society..but then ours is the nation which stands on the premise of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The whole world is a single family)

               The purpose of this post is merely to show ourselves the mirror..to remind ourselves that --

The change will not happen by sitting in our homes, worrying about our comforts, refusing to accept reality as it is & waiting for someone else to come & clean our own backyard..To make the change happen we will have to shirk off our laziness, clean our minds & then pick up our brooms& clean up our backyards.

Let us be responsible people everyday of our life & celebrate patriotism everyday rather than make a hue & cry of it for a couple of days a year.

                                   Remember, The wall lies within your own mind.

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