Musings on Independence Day...

It's Independence Day!!! As every year, patriotic songs, inspiring speeches and advertisements are doing their rounds in the media and are once again for a few moments at least, filling us with patriotism..eh..hopefully. In my case, especially the songs, take me back to my school days when I used to cross my heart and sing at the top of my lungs, ever so passionately and proudly of  the glory of my country.

Perhaps it is my school that instilled it in me, after all we were a mini sample of the country itself. We hailed from different parts of the country and we all brought in our own cultures to school. I grew up seeing the undying spirit of people in the Defense, even when some of them had lost their loved ones for the country. May be that's why boundaries of regions, languages, religions etc. never bothered us, in fact we never even noticed them! We shared our cultures and savored the cocktail that it created. Almost like our tummies after the lunch hour, that would be full with bits of food from different parts of the country.

That was the gist of my story of how I fell in love with our very own Bharat Maa. Everyone out there would have such a story to tell, a story of how they began to love their nation. As kids we all must have held those tiny flags, pinned it on to our uniforms and proudly sang "Sare Jahan Se Acha" (Better than the whole world) without a trace of doubt. But today we seem to have lost that spirit. We shy away from singing Sare Jahan Se Acha because deep down we as adults know that it isn't true any more. It seems that today the world has much better places than India.

"What is found here may be found elsewhere.What is not found here will not be found elsewhere." 
--The opening lines of Mahabharata

When I bumped into this line while surfing the book in a library, I was taken aback by the truth in those words, a truth that I noticed as a child, in the gifts that nature has sumptuously blessed us with. Our country is perhaps the only country with almost all kinds of lands. We have hot deserts, foggy hills and snow covered mountains, fertile plains, rich and dense rain forests, long coastlines and what not! There is a popular post running around on social media, one that shows us exact replicas of exotic places of the world that can be found in our very own country! Here, I got the link for you in case you missed it--

http://www.scoopwhoop.com/news/india-abroad/

Any Tom or Harry would agree with that opening line of Mahabharata after taking a look at that link. And "Nature" is just One aspect at the tip of an iceberg!

When I look at places like Dubai (Yep that's where I 'currently' stay) I marvel at the thought that they have created such a beautiful world for themselves on nothing but barren desert. I can not help but imagine how much we could do with diverse landscapes like ours!

Many of the Best brains in the world are Indians. If all those were put to use for the betterment of India, our nation would scale greater heights.

The culture, history and traditions that we boast about without a second thought every time when someone asks about India is conveniently being forgotten by us. Today non-Indians know of our cultural wealth more than us. They love, respect and learn it with all their heart. Take the very basis of human civilization- Language. The mother of all languages was born in India. It was ours. Yet how many of us care about it now? Whether you go to Hawaii, Cambridge or Harvard you find so many students enrolled in, to learn Sanskrit. Even Trinity College Dublin has a seat for Sanskrit! There are schools and universities in the UK where the language is thriving and the kids say its their favorite subject! 

A report in NDTV about that--  http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/sanskrit-thriving-in-uk-schools-34267

 It was my favorite too back in school :( I so so so wish to take up a course when I am back in India because as Sanskrit enthusiasts elsewhere say- "It gives you access to a vast and liberating literature. It can describe all aspects of human life from the most abstract philosophical to the latest scientific discoveries, hinting at further developments." 

Upcoming fields of Science like Noetic Science are turning to our Vedas and our other scriptures for resources and answers. All our modern sciences seem to slowly turn back and accept the Vedic Sciences. I shudder at the thought that at this rate we might end up losing all the wealth that we had and all the world out there would bask in its glory :'( Aren't we being the biggest fools and the biggest losers here?

We are one of the earliest civilizations in the world. To remind us of its meaning, here goes what Google has to say- It is the stage of human social development and organization that is considered most advanced. Yet how civilized are we now? Littering, peeing in public, spitting, scribbling on anything from toilets to historical monuments- so much for being "Civilized". Its not that we cannot behave well. My fellow Indians here and in other countries are in their bestest of behavior. But India in our own eyes is inferior and perhaps that's why she deserves to be abused and dirtied by her own children. In India sab chalta hai. Oh! By the way, I was shocked and ashamed to see that some Indians have proudly scribbled their names on tourist places even here! 

Place-Jebel Al Jais, Ras Al Khaima

 Even about the position of women in India, originally we were always taught to give them equal statute as men. Vedic literature praises the birth of a daughter in these words: "A girl also should be brought up and educated with great effort and care." (Mahanirvana Tantra); and "All forms of knowledge are aspects of Thee; and all women throughout the world are Thy forms." (Devi Mahatmya) And yet, physical & mental abuse, ruthless murder and rape are unnervingly rampant.

I am not here to say that all that we do now are wrong and bad nor to say that we are lagging in all fields. There still are many things about India that cheer us up--

1. India recorded peak production of milk at 132.43 million tonnes (MT) in 2012-13, becoming the top milk producer globally, the pre-budget Economic Survey 2014
2.The Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite system is one of the largest constellations of remote sensing satellites in operation in the world today.
3. We are as on 2014 the world's third largest producer of wheat.
4. India is expected to be the world's largest rice exporters in 2013-14 for the 3rd consecutive year according to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture)


That's just to name a few.

All that I want to say today, as India celebrates her 68th year of Independence is--

I wish all of us take pride in our nation and nationality. I wish that each one of us will stop saying, 'India mein sab chalta hai'& give India the highest of our regards. Let us treat her with love and respect. I wish that we all may serve her and work for her betterment from all our hearts. 

I wish, from the bottom of my heart that she retrieves her glory.

As for me, I really look forward to going back to her when I am ready and do something special and significant for her in my own way. Insha Allah! That's always been my biggest dream :)

"Freedom isn't to do whatever you want to do, it's to do what you ought to do" -- Rick Santorum

All the very best India :)

Jai Hind!