Patriotism

The moment I saw the mail from Pradeep, asking to write about my own view on “Patriotism”,for this independence day, I felt it is one easy topic to write on, as this was something I have been hearing, reading, discussing from childhood., But when I actually started to write, that was when I realized it is not as easy as I initially thought off. I started my thought process, and gradually my mind was filled with a lot of perceptions, definitions,and sayings about patriotism, mostly fed by what I read and heard in past.

As they say, too much of choice is a curse rather than a blessing, my mind was unable to actually sort out this maze to arrive at a single definition of “Patritiosm”,which would amalgamate all these thoughts into one. It was then; I decided to resort to my old fired, which always helped me in such fixes, my Heart. That’s when I decided let my heart do the work, rather than my mind slugging out with its huge database. My Heart prompted me to think why I would consider myself to be a Patriot. One tough question, my mind had a tough time, answering this, but it decided to take the practical approach for this. That was when I thought of what it would have been if I was living in the Pre independence era. The scenes of freedom struggle, the portraits of the great freedom fighters, etched in my memory, flashed, and as it always happens, I had Goosebumps.

This made me question myself, what is it that they did, that even after more than 60 years the thought of them itself, provides such great experience and inspiration. Well, people say they were patriots, but why?

No matter what their ideology was, either the Non violence, or a violent retribution, they did something which has its repercussions still experienced to this day. They fought for Freedom of their mother land, for their fellow country men, and dedicated their lives to this cause. So I felt, that was patriotism, fighting for your mother land, I tried to imply it to the present age, what should I fight for and against whom, there are not any despotic lords ruling my nation, no foreign rule, wait wait!!!! There are despotic people ruling my country, might not be the fair skinned, but my own country men, There are foreign intruders, might not be the British and French, but the terrorists, and the internal sectarian’s equivalent to them,trying to run riot in my nation. Well, that is when I felt it is against these that I need to fight against, that is what I need to do as a patriot at this age.

The meaning of patriotism seemed clear, I understood what I was supposed to do, but my mind, as always had a doubt, how do I do it? How do I fight against all these evils, I am not as big as them, nor many of my country men,. So I decided to give it a re thought, as of how to do it, and as was the case earlier, decided to

draw inspiration from the Post independence era, that was when two two things came to my mind, the Non violence moment & thanks to an forgotten poem by Lord Tennyson, a separate class of peoples, not he Freedom fighters, but Businessman, and other civil servants.

The Nonviolence moment, reminded me of the need for unity. I remember what my dad said, helping me in one of my initial speeches “United we stand divided we fall”. A small group of British traders were able to become rulers of India because of the divisions among the Indian kings and Emperors, but a movement consisting of common people, and led by a common man, was able to defeat the Mighty British Empire.

That made it clear; it is the Unity which would define the Course of my Nation.

The second thought was of the Businessmen, and civil servants, like Jemshedgi Tata, G.S.Birla, the great businessmen, who have pioneered the industrial revolution in India, and Major General Cariappa, Krishnaswamy and other Military leaders and Diplomats, who led India in the formative years. They never took part in the direct Freedom struggle, but laid the foundation on which the Post Independence India was able to survive and keep its freedom intact.

Now The definition of Patriotism seems to be a bit clear to my view, I felt relieved of finally able to truly understand something, which I thought I know earlier, but never actually did not.

Patriotism for me was defined by to parameters, firstly love all the country men, be unified with every one and have the feeling of One India. and secondly, it is always no needed for you to fight the evils directly, you can do them by doing your own responsibility as a citizen correctly, which would pave the way for a Greater India. And as Adam smith believed in the Invisible Hand running the economy, I need to now believe in the Invisible hand which would join all the efforts of my responsible country men., towards what we call development.

Now this said, its my motivation now to be a responsible citizen, and influence my fellow country men, with my personal example. Tough task, but the motivation provided by all the great men, would be enough to give me the strength to do it.