On the occasion of India's 65th Independence Day, I was automatically guided to watching patriotic movies, changing my profile page on FB to the Indian tri-colour and so on. I couldn’t quite figure out from where I had this sudden surge of patriotism. I remember going to school during this very holiday, eating sweets, saluting the flag and coming back home, never really knowing why we observed this every year. Independence Day was long time ago! What’s gone is gone- right? WRONG! It took me 25 years and a trip to London to figure this out.
There is an incredible void about living in a foreign country. That feeling of alienation cannot quite be justified in words. ‘Home is where the heart is’, ‘there is no place like home’ and so many other well known quotes about home I am sure we are all well versed with. However, we never think of home as our country. That only happens (I hope) when you leave your country for another, like in my case. I need not write about the countless jawans that continue to risk their lives for us, the freedom fighters who actually got us this misused independence and so on.
What does it mean for me to be an Indian? In London, I am just another face in the crowd. There is nothing more to it than that. However, the realisation sinks in when you start mingling with people from other nationalities. The difference in culture, appearance, the changes in attitude, the respect, and the honour- it’s prevalent in every country and not just India. Yet one look at you and they know where you come from. Why do you think that is? As one of the oldest civilization known to mankind, India has been credited with so many things that have somehow been conveniently dusted under the carpet by our fellow countrymen.
As an Indian in a foreign land I have seen my fellow countrymen degrade India’s image via the blame game. “India is corrupt because of the politicians, India is crowded and filthy, and there is shortage of this and scarcity of that”. That’s human nature- I get that. However, what I don’t get is that these people are bad mouthing the country when there are hundreds and thousands of trivia that could portray India in a completely different light! There is no ownership for the problems anywhere. Educated people do not venture into politics, hand the leash to the uneducated ruffians in the society and then sit back and blame them. They are themselves a part of the crowd and they are the very same people complaining about it! As India fights against corruption on this day of Independence, we are all guilty of sitting at home and not getting out on the streets for a just cause and supporting the RTI activists. “But, we do not take to the streets, we are educated people”. What use is all this education when you are blinded by the naiveté of the veil that obscures your judgement?
We are well behaved in the foreign country due to fear of prosecution, but behave like hooligans- the minute we land in India. This year and a half long sojourn of mine in London has led me to realise that there is much more to India than meets the eye. People have under-estimated its ability in the past and will continue to do so. The resilience of the Indian economy was evident during the recent recession which has left Uncle Sam down on its knees, the crumbling European periphery countries inevitably to follow, along with many other less fortunate countries than India.
True, I am just another face in the crowd in London. However, I am also the face of India in London, as are my compatriots in different parts of the world. As a citizen of your country, you should take pride in it. Why talk about the negative aspects and deprive the country of its achievements when you could very well talk about so many positive things? Mass tagging happens almost everywhere, you cannot really stop people from branding you based on prejudice but you sure can impress the hell out of them. Don’t just take pride in being an Indian, show them that you belong. Jai Hind!
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