The flag flying full mast on Independence Day, to the full-throated singing of our national anthem, ensures the further reinforcement the concept of freedom as an externalized concept. Eloquent speeches induce elevating thoughts in puffed up chests full of hollow cheer. It is emphasized that we are “free” today due to those valiant martyrs who laid their lives so that our nation could live. But, is that all what “freedom” is all about?
Being “free” is a personal prerogative. It is imperative that for the sake of freedom – and hence, not only, in body and mind, but more importantly, in behaviour, we must clarify our attitudes towards our nation. We may insist that we are a patriotic lot, yet our patriotism is reflected more often in our emotions during cricket matches than in our day-to-day actions as law abiding citizens. We can easily rattle off the problems but fail to be part of the solutions. The strewn garbage and disorderly traffic are just two parameters to judging patriotism. Once somebody remarked that we treat our country as “our father’s property”… I intervened to disagree, “we treat it as somebody else’s father’s property!”
Once at an interaction with a former foreign services officer, nobody was asking him any questions, so I set the ball rolling by asking, “How do you project the image of India to the foreigners?” If I were asked the same question, I would have waxed eloquently about our great heritage, history, culture, etc. etc. But his answer was an eye-opener… He said, “We project India as the land of the white revolution (milk), green revolution (agriculture), telecom revolution….”
We depend on the dimension of a distant past to justify our pride in our nation… But if we connect to the real achievements that are going on, then we will feel genuine pride in connecting to the present dimension developed by Baba Amte, Anna Hazare, Nasima Hurzuk, Kiran Bedi, P Sainath and so many others. Further on we need to identify our role in scripting the future dimensions of India 2020 as articulated by Kalam.
May every Indian be a role model for others as a sincere citizen, as an enterprising entrepreneur, as a sensitive and responsive human being, and as a leader who leads by example. On every surface we walk… to every person we meet… in every situation we encounter… may we develop new dimensions in our role in nation building!
Love for our country should never be an occasional intention…
India will be best served when we “develop new dimensions”!
Regards
Pravin
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