Pride

i know this topic is "Passe" but still I cannot help wonder, does any one's heart still trill and the mind sing at the call of the bugle, to the strains of the 'Jana Gana Mana'?

This topic is hardly open for an everyday discussion but it is just that I have been reading a book based in the 1900s, set during WW2, and this has made me dwell on the subject of Nationality, Pride in ones country and what belonging to a Nation, any Nation, means to us, if it does mean anything at all,

Throughout my childhood days, early in the wee hours of days like the 15th of Aug, and the 26th of Jan, I woke up to the mellifluous Lata Mangeshkar, via the public address system, sounding like a soulful prayer, singing compositions of patriotism, penned by immortals, the lyrics of those songs still etched firmly in memory. I also remember standing, squinting against the sun, in starched uniforms, in rows, erect, proud, the Tricolor flapping in the breeze, waiting for the public march-past that always was a part of these celebrations, to begin.

I have memories of the Kargil war, brought home to us, thanks to satellite TV, in a real, and somewhat surreal manner, those clothes and fund collecting drives,long treks with sometimes very little but our soothed National pride, to show, at the end of a very long day,,,all a part of trying to belong, to be a part of what was taking place so far away, on those hilly, snow-clad peaks and valleys.

I remember standing transfixed at the India Gate, looking at the names of those who died, martyrs, sacrificing their yesterdays for our todays,,and I refuse that it was just another day at the office for any of those brave souls.

I also believe, that night long ago, in 1947, there were countless unseen faces amidst the thronging, joyous crowds, their eyes filled with tears of success, countless mothers with laps emptied, widows with their budding dreams forever swathed in white, yet all with their heads held just that little bit higher, for it was on the ruins of their lives a Nation stood, new-born, full of possibilities, full of promise.

When Rehman and Lata came together to give us a refurbished 'Vande Mataram', ans Bala gave us the accompanying sweeping visuals, every rustic face in the video, seemed radiant with love for the country, good actors? I do not think so,,,

I was here for this years Independence day, and what a welcome change it was indeed, to see the Tricolor unfurling from every imaginable place, and a few unimaginable ones at that, cycle rickshaws and a few proud BMWs to, all sporting a different sized one, Assam seems to have forgotten the joys associated with the day, and this year gave new meaning to the day for me.

I remember my mom, a school teacher, always stopping and standing still, no matter where she happened to be, whenever she heard the National Anthem, and she heard it every morning, as their school used to sing it at the morning assembly, every day, so on the days she was late, she would hear it midway to school, and halting, would resume her journey once it was over, I also stand up to the Anthem, no matter where it happens to be played, and no matter what I happen to be doing at the time.not because I have to, but because I want to, makes me feel like I have done my tiny bit, for this country of ours which deserves much more, so much more.

JAI HIND.

(Please forgive the typos, I cannot edit this post.)