I am a Proud Indian.. Are u one????

The evening was pleasant and I had just woken up. Since I had to cook, I decided to get into the kitchen. Here in Sweden, people do not talk much. Though they are very friendly and gay people, they do not make much noise. kitchen is the only place where I meet at least one or two of my corridor mates, but it is impossible to cook when there is no one to chit chat with. So I plugged in my ear phones of my ipod n pressed the play button. The first song was from fashion, n I liked it. It kept going for 5 minutes and I was busy chopping onions. Soon a very familiar music started off. It was our national anthem. I dint want to change it, cos I missed the great song so much. All the memories of India sprang in to my brain. I was in attention. There were tear drops in my eyes. I dint have time to think about the embarrassment. I just let the great feeling fill inside me. I felt really great. There was a collage of things that occupied my mind and I realised that it was not my family that I missed. But it was my country. The land of ultimate freedom, the land of diversity. The moonsoon, the smell of the soil, the dust, the food, everything. I missed everything.

Now let me get back to something that had happened a few weeks back. I was having a nice conversation with one of ma Swedish corridor mates and he was too inquisitive about India. To be honest, it would not be incorrect to say that I ran short of words or It could be that I dint know where to start from. Seeing my excitement and the glow (it is not that I had some florescent dye on ma face)on my face, He said “I think you are in love with Inida” and I dint deny it, cos its true. N he asked me why. The reason was obvious, India is my country; but according to me I don’t think I need a reason to love my own country. He also asked me “why are you so proud of being an Indian; I think India does not have much infrastructure and India has lot of poverty”. I knew, all what he knew about India was that we have 40% of the people under poverty line (A picture of India that slumdog millionaire has left in their minds) and there are innumerable number of diseases and epidemics spread like crazy and that we are the second most populous country in the world. I was a little furious at him because, he might have never even thought that India has the fourth biggest army, its one of the fastest growing economies in the world, we have indigenous weaponry and nuclear facilities. We are one among the eight countries to have nuclear submarines and our nuclear fecilities are far better that many in the league. Our ISRO is world renowned, we have multiple use satellite lounch vehicles and we have commercialised space technology. To add to the credit, like our anscristors invented “SHOONYA” or Zero, our own ISRO has discovered water on moon’s surface. Our IITs and IIMs and our school system of education is on par with or better than that of many western countries. So I told him, we do have infrastructure in India, but not found extensively like in Sweden and that the completion in India is very high. The young India that world see today had to rise from the ashes to make what it is today. But how India has evolved from the pre independent days is worth being proud of. Besides all the challenges (of poverty, terrorism, threats from neighbouring countries) we could still bring about a synchronised development. I do not deny that things could have been better, but things could have been worse too. (For example - look at our beloved brother country pakisthan or Myanmar). His next question was “ Then why are you here in Sweden”. “I am here to learn the latest technology and to take it to India, so as to contribute effectively to its growth and development”. I have the same vision as most of the other Indians who are abroad. And I salute every one of them who has renounced well paid jobs in the US and other countries so as to help our country develop.

Well after reading this blog, many might think am an emotional drama king. I don’t care about it. Its alright to let your emotions out ones in a while. And there might be a hundred Indians who feel “ what the hell! India is a rotten place, it has nothing to offer me’ (you rather say- I am useless, I rather blame it on my country). So dear buddies, It is high time you realise these facts and walk with ya head held high. We are second to none and be proud of this nation which has not changed under any pressure, let it be domestic or international. All great civilizations have changes under tremendous pressure. Greek, Egyptian and the Iranian civilization succumbed to the pressure. But our great country, besides the multi dimensional invasions, remain the same and we have evolved for the betterment by not compromising our identity. Be a proud Indian.

“Mera Bharath Mahan”

Jai Hind!!!