Happy Happy Birthday India!
Finally a day to rejoice to remember what it means to
be utterly butterly free in this amazing incredible country. Please no moaning
and groaning about what all is wrong and be the eternal pessimist and a Dukhi
Atman. Just feel good stories if you please. My school kids, made small flags,
and one innovative girl made a bird and like a twig the flag was in the beak.
When asked on what else, Face Book the holy grail of
our lives, I got lot of positive answers and a greater number of likes. The
answers were many but all of them focus on India being a diverse country and the
fact that it totally is in sync as one. We hear horror stories and we are upset
about roads, development and the roti kapda makan spiel. But the week before the Independence Day, the
entire nation is in the grip of patriotism. And, whatever way to wear the flag,
but to have it displayed as the newest identity – the display picture window
aka DP. The statuses are all about saare jahan se acha and we all speak as one.
The best part of the whole scenario, I feel are the NRI’s who all have a part
of mera India in them, sitting millions of miles away, who have carved their
identity abroad but still yearn for ‘home’.
A top cardiologist in NY says’
What's
NOT to like? Hain??? Prose AND poetry in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.
Music classical AND filmy. Movies parallel and commercial. The varied
topography of hills Valleys Rivers deserts forests. The varied culinary feasts.
The history, art and otherwise. The melting pot of religion or perhaps the
boiling cauldron that gave birth to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and
sanctuary to Zoroastrian and Parsis and Jews . . . Mera Bharat Mahan. Yan
perhaps mera nahin perhaps tera Bharat Mahan…
In fact ,
on this happy birthday of my desh , the recurring theme with a lot of my
friends is the fact that we have so many different and yummilicious cuisines, nowhere in the
world does one find such a vast and varied food choice .
The
greatness of India is that we all survive in this diversity , individual ,
unique but so distinctly the same, comforting and one in a country that is marked with contrasts starting from
topography , to language, to food, to religion and mannerisms. But , something clicks
in this country of mine where one passion of cricket makes us crazy fans all
rooting, praying in 28 languages to score that last sixer!
Yes, we
have our faults , we have our failings but this one ki chidiya still attracts
and beguiles, enraptures the world even if you might put it down. The only
thing we can do after hitting rock bottom is to go upwards and reach the zenith
in the sky . As, they say hope sustains life and what ever better example in a
pulsating, vibrant 1.2 billion strong country .
Jai
Bharat.
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