August 15th , 2011

Shocked, dismayed, hurt, bruised, slapped and embarrassed by the recent undercurrents of political shame and Sporting debacle, we Indians went on with our national duties on this 15th Aug – unfurled the national flag across cities, flew kites and enjoyed the respite from the Monday morning blues. A usual affair at my home .Ensuing from the intensity of zeal owing to the importance of the day, celebrations had the same vigour as every year. Glad that this time my father was around who drove the atmosphere of celebrations in a traditionally sublime way – needless to say he was up before I was, conducted the pooja, hoisted the flag with a delightful exuberance and treated us to traditional Indian delicacy – the Jalebi. All these years my family has had a fixed agenda on 26th Jan and 15th Aug. An important role is played by the television which helps us know who lies what (oops.. who says what) . With series of special programs stuffed with war songs of immaculate packaging and of course the Gandhis and Bhagat Singhs all day on the movie channels, it makes a full day. Though, dad stuck to his routine of listening to the PM speech , I gave it a miss. I could not pay attention with the same glimmer of hope that he has to listen to a speech that would never materialize or would only showcase the rosy side of a battered nation. What is a speech without conviction anyways? – a compendium of simple statements. I thought of delving into the details but the well detailed media makes that redundant. The media has already (in Santosh Desai’s words) “blurred the lines between conjecture, rumor, opinion and news making it difficult for us to get a sense of what is really happening ‘out there’. And it does so with such uniform intensity that it becomes difficult to tell the trivial from the important”. To conclude, I would just like to wish that we grow more mature as a nation, a little more tough with the pursuit of our resolves and tonnes of more care toward the underprivileged.

Rahul