Republic Day Special......

It was nine in the morning when my cell beeped. I squinted my eyes against the innocuous thin bar of light slipping through the folds of the curtain. Messages wishing me a happy republic day were flowing in from different corners of the country where my friends were scattered. It wasn’t until I boarded the bus and was on my way back to college that a very afflicting sight caught my eyes and made my insides churn. Two kids sitting in the middle of a field with a “lota” by their side. Earlier that morning I heard my sister talking on the phone with one of her clients about installing a jacuzzi in their new bathroom!!!! I was vexed and now there was no anchor to my disarrayed thoughts. The images flashed back into my mind. The things which I often ignore to avoid the dismaying thoughts like these which challenge my sanity are yet again hovering over. Lol....


I don’t know whether I should be proud to be an Indian, overlook what I just saw and celebrate our Republic Day as I had planned earlier today...Go out with friends in the evening, listen to some patriotic songs or......well I don't know anymore ??? Earlier this morning the messages urged me to celebrate our Republic Day glorifying India as the nation “united in its diversity.” Then why do I still find people fighting to create their own states? Why are there bomb blasts and threats all around? Why do people of different communities thirst of each other’s bloodshed when there are riots?

Should I be proud that half of my country’s population doesn’t even have a loo to attend to their nature’s call leave aside a bathroom!!!! Whereas when I turn around the scenario takes a 360 degree turn. There are people who not only have bathrooms the size of my bedroom or that poor kid’s entire house but they also have shower cubicles, bathtubs, Jacuzzis, TV and fridges!!!! Who keeps a fridge in a bathroom!!!! Some glutton he must be!!!!! I turn around again and see a small child leaning and rummaging through the garbage bin in hope of finding a morsel of food to pacify the growls of his hungered stomach. And there again I find people partying hard all night long on booze and shishas.

I know many of you would disagree and may even excoriate me for being so skeptical but how can I be proud when we still introduce ourselves as Punjabis, Marathis, Bengalis first and as an Indian later. How can I be proud when every other community demands for a country of their own and are trying to cut apart my country’s arms and limbs??? How can I be proud when I see that in this era of technological advancement we still marry off frogs in hope of rain? How can I be proud when I find that women are burnt alive by their in-laws because of dowry? How can I be proud when I find that the people whom we had chosen to represent and serve us are fighting like cats and dogs defaming the thousand years old culture of ours?

Like a mother who loves her children and forgives their misdemeanours no matter how it breaks her heart, I love my country too. Because despite its short-comings............it is MINE.