Sadly, our patriotism wakes up twice a year, one being the 15th of August and the other the 26th of Jan. Maybe it's the psychological effect of the flag being hoisted or unfurled, the national anthem being sung, or patriotic speeches being said!
But after a few days have passed, we go back to the business of deriding and pulling down our country.
Our political leaders have learned by now how to stir up that patriotism, it is not by being proud of our country’s achievements, but by making us react and overreact to anything said against their religious ideology. They, I believe are acting like people who have been driven to the wall, or into a world ghetto.
They shout and react because of their insecurity.
We are not proud of our country, yet we scream and shout when anyone points out that we have nothing to be proud of.
I see this in the treatment we get abroad; whatever we may say in India, we are looked down on abroad: We may scream we are the IT nation of the world; we may shout about the call centre where our youth have learned to talk like the Brits, but otherwise we have hardly much to be proud about except our scammers, who scam the world..
If we were proud of ourselves, we would look at each other with pride in our eyes, but there's no pride: I watch my Indians abroad, in Europe and America, there are thousands of them, and do you know what they do when they pass another Indian? They put down their eyes and pass the other person.
Both don't want to acknowledge that they are Indian.
Why?
Because compared to the rest of the world, they feel there's nothing to be proud of in acknowledging their Indianness.
The only thing we are proud of is the past: 'Famous warrior!" “Famous Civilization”
If the past could make the present relevant then Greece and Rome would still be the top countries in the world, but they are not.
To be relevant today, you need to make the present something we can be proud about.
We watch the politicians as they name airports and stations after some warrior or politician from the past, but are there any heroes today?
None.
Year after year housing colonies send messages through watchmen and mali, "Please come down for the flag hoisting!"
Very few come, mostly committee members.
When we can't hoist our flag with pride, will we ever be proud to call ourselves Indians?"
Never, till we are proud of our country!
So let’s move from a people who have little to be proud of to becoming a people who worked to make our nation great, not yesterday, but today..!
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