The 2 day Patriotism Syndrome

Today, my office looked vibrant and colorful with saffron color balloons all over. We will have white balloons tomorrow and green ones the day after and I expect tri color balloons on Friday. An exciting week ahead !

It hurts me when I see the “2 day patriotism syndrome" we Indians (including myself) exhibit. We do everything possible to express patriotism and celebrate Jan 26 & Aug 15. We Indians choose note to bother about the country on the rest 363 days a year. We use tri color flags in our vehicles, wear clothes to resemble the tricolor, have tri color decorations, eat pastry with tri-color cream, eat tiranga paratha, draw the India map in tri color in all possible street locations, conduct/take part in rangoli competitions, listen to patriotic songs etc.

But we don’t care about our fellow citizens ( about 175 million Indians living in slums), we never like to stand in a que or follow any kind of discipline, we never drive sensibly on the roads, we like to jump red signals, we don’t follow lane discipline, we don’t treat our elders with respect ( we love to abandon them. India got more than 2000 registered old age homes), we don’t give enough care to our children or even love children (India ranks 2nd in child labour behind Africa and is home to the world’s largest population of street children, estimated at 18 million). We are hardly bothered about the environment. We litter all around – street, road, movie halls, shopping malls &, even worship places. We love to use plastic bags and tamper with the ecosystem. For us, individual convenience is more important than anything else. We won’t understand the importance of preserving our natural resources (water, forest etc), we love to waste them rather. Still we assume and pretend that we are very patriotic and exhibit patriotism on 2 days every year. (Interestingly, our heart beats for the country when a cricket match is telecasted in TV. But we are quick to abuse and throw stones at the team if they lose the match.)

Why can’t we love our country by the way we live here and let our fellow citizens live ? Why can’t we take care of the country, as we take care of our home? Why don’t we treat the fellow country men like our relatives ?

Can we think of bringing in a small difference to this nation with our actions this 15th August onwards ? Can we decide to follow lane discipline while driving ? Can we cut down on the number of printouts we take everyday ? Can we reduce the usage of tissue by one piece a day ? Can we provide 1 meal for a senior citizen in an year ? Can we do anything to reduce the no.of child labourers in this country ? Are we all incapable of doing any one ( or the countless other stuff we can do that I haven’t listed) of the above ? If not, let us take the escape root of celebrating Independence day and Republic day every year without fail. Let us explore innovative means of doing so. Jai hind!



Disclaimer : I do not intend to criticize the initiatives taken by my HR dept in any manner by referring to the office decorations. I am thankful to them, as this has given me the spark to write. This blog is a reflection of my thoughts on how Indians in general treat this country.