I have been blogging (on & off) for a while now. Yeah ! I know -- its been more 'off' than 'on' :) but then what I am trying to say is that I've been a part of the blog world since August 2006. It started off as an 'IN' thing to do back then and then slowly turned into my way of putting down thoughts that I didn't really talk about (Don't ask me why cause I Don't know).
All this while have have never really cared about who was reading my blog or what it meant to them. I was aware that my wife read it every now and then & my Cousin's wife always asked me if I had posted something new...but that was all the viewership I was aware of and honestly the only two I actually took feedback or questions from. So I was pleasantly surprised when "Fighter Jet" Left a comment on my last post.
Now....... under any other circumstances, I would have ignored his query....But this one is about my country and therefore I believe it requisites an answer. He asked, "why are you proud to be an Indian?"
My fundamentals on Patriotism go way back to my school days where I participated in declamation contest and started my speech with a quote from a poem by Sir Walter Scott
Breathes there the man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said,
"This is my own, my native land!"
I don't remember anything else about that day, not even which class I was in or how well (or badly) I might have been with the rest of the speech. But this Quote has always been stuck in my head.
I believe that when it comes to the law of averages we Indians beat most other people as Happy people. (This is not a data driven analytical response but a heartfelt belief).
India is a 'Land of Hope & Survival' no matter what comes our way, we get on with life (sooner or later).
India is a "Land of Jugad" - Got something difficult or impossible - give it to us, we'll find a way of getting it done (that we use the same skill to bypass the law is a different story altogether). We find a way to do or get done what we want. We are also very 'adjusting' which is why 'kindly adjust' is a colloquial term in most Indian Languages.
Moreover, I believe being proud ot be an Indian is my way of saying I love my country. Yes we have flaws - who doesn't ? We have bad politicians - which country doesn't? We have some BAD people around - So what ?
We even have a LOT of GOOD People(including Politicians), Things & Places in our Country - They just don't make VERY Interesting or marketable News or Blog Posts :)
I will end this post with another Quote by Theodore Roosevelt:
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiently or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else."
