Are we really proud of being INDIAN???

Why is it so that we tend to get this patriotic feeling only twice in the year, once on 26^th January and once on 15^th of August? I guess that too is mainly because of the fact that the media, be it print media or electronic media makes a lot of hullabaloo about it by showcasing special shows and documentaries on patriotism and greatness of Indian nation. Otherwise we spend the entire year cursing and cribbing about our nation by comparing it with the more developed western nations. And those people who have been to those countries continuously lament by giving instances like, that particular country is so damn clean that even if you throw a banana waste anywhere other than in the dustbin, you ought to pay a very heavy fine, but if we see the case of our great Indian nation, people make it a point to throw there waste everywhere but in the dustbin. Agreed it is not acceptable and people should take some responsibility for the society and the nation, but ever wondered if somebody slips and meets with an accident by the virtue of that banana waste on the street, dozens of strangers come to your rescue selflessly, which is in total contrast to you being on your own in a similar situation in any of the those tidy developed country. Yes it’s a fact, and that’s makes our country so different, and that’s how you identify with that feeling of being Indian, so cared and so loved! Similarly we have this habit of cribbing that the standard of movies being made in Hollywood is much higher and technological advanced in comparison to the ones being made in India, there is no denying this fact too, that those movies are notches up when we talk of quality and technology and we have to do a lot of catching up, but what is painful is whenever we happen to make a really good movie, be it Lagaan, be it Slum dog Millionaire or be it Swades, which are being appreciated worldwide for its excellent showcasing of Indian culture, we are the ones who eventually end up criticizing them by cribbing that those movies portrayed poverty, illiteracy slavery to Englishmen etc etc, I am not arguing that just because of these few movies we are at par with the ones being made elsewhere, but at least we should respect and feel proud about our creations too, after all all the Indians are individually and collectively the ambassadors of Indian culture and its values and we should feel proud about being a part of these success stories. Similarly there have always been instances, where our players who represent our nation in various sports, when they travel abroad are subjected to racial discrimination and abuses just because for those countrymen, our sportsmen belong to a third world nation, their talent, their skills all go for a toss, but on the contrary just think, how do we treat any foreign contingent coming in India for any sporting or for any activity, we treat them we all the love, care and affection irrespective of the ill-treatment we might have received in their homeland, this is because we follow the principle of ‘Atithi Devo Bhav’ (guest is god). And this particular treatment is unique in itself and makes our country stand apart, we should all be proud about this inherent quality in all of us. There can be many such examples which one can actually make us realize these things and compel us to feel proud about ourselves and our nation. But the fact is we don’t need any particular dates or occasions to feel proud about our nation and our Indianness, we should feel proud about our nation, its legacy and its values all the time. Though we need to constantly strive for improvement but it should never be at the expense of weakening of our strengths or with a feeling of dejection or belittlement. Because at the end of it we don’t always need to win an Olympic gold or climb Mount Everest to make our nation feel proud, we can be ourselves and just follow our inherent values wholeheartedly to feel proud about ourselves, our nation and our Indianess.

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