A hearty 66th birthday greeting to Mera Bharath Mahan! While we celebrate our independence and the great people who help us attain and remain free, I suspect my patriotism is leaking off. I still get Goosebumps listening to Vande mataram but lately I am considering patriotism more like a religion and even drawing parallels with racism. Still I am not over my patriotic feelings towards India and I take this moment to recall the top 5 patriotic actions from my life.
1. Learning the national anthem and the national pledge was one of my foremost patriotic acts. I can still recite the anthem and the pledge without referring. Try to recite the national pledge without help!
2. Religiously following “The Sword of Tipu Sultan” in Doordarshan.
3. Watching the final of 2003 cricket world cup despite having an exam the next day.
4. Regularly reading the newspaper during the Kargil war.
5. Last but not the least, watching Roja over and over again in DD. I still remember the hair on my hand standing in attention when Aravind Swamy rolls on the burning tricolor flag.
PS: Samuel Johnson once said, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”