Independence Day blues

Its that time again...the day when my inbox would be flooded by forwards from well meaning guys...forwards which would strive to remind me that some Indian is a CEO of one of biggest corporation in the world (its funny how in these forwards CEO's come first in the bulleted list and the guys due to whom the forwards are possible come at the very end and almost as an afterthought) and how we should feel proud of the land we live in.

Its really irritating. I have come to believe that patriotism for a country is just basic fundamentalism and is the root for many of our prejudices. But personal ideology aside, what gets my goat is the fact that people want to heap the patriotism on you. Patriotism, in the sense we understand should be felt and not be shown. There are people who do that for which I respect them, even if I don't believe in what they believe.

And I have also realized one more thing. The more blindingly patriotic a guy, the more ignorant and the more narrow minded he is (by ignorant I don't mean anything akin to illiterate but more with regard to lack of original thoughts) The people who will not entertain criticism on certain days (like on independence day) are the ones shouting themselves hoarse with flags on the streets (remove the tricolour and put up saffron and you would see a mob).

One more irritating thing is that the celebrations seem no different than on the day of a cricket match. Somewhere we seem to have blurred the difference.

One more amusing thing about this day is the sudden change in the songs playing. Right now I have Lata Mangeshwar singing the 1962 war song ("Zara yaad karo qurbani") in various hostel rooms. A song which would seem so out of place on any other day suddenly seem to be the "in-thing". By evening tomorrow, of course we would have the usual songs back.

So I guess what it boils down to is that there is not much difference between a Valentine's day and the independence day. Both are of the moment and both have rituals that make sense then, on that particular day (like carrying around flowers and paper tricolours). Its then, all about being 'into the moment' as they say and being 'fashionable'..like buying the paper flag. So, why should we cringe when I make the comparison; maybe only because we have been taught that patriotism is a noble passion.

But think about it. And observe the activity around you on this day. Is there any difference?

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