Eroding Patriotism
I have been trying to dig through my memory archives to get something positive out there for the Independence Day. I thought of ID parades, school quizzes, special lunches and red fort speeches. Then a question struck me - my memories are so heavily front loaded towards my childhood. I have given up on nationalism and its friend jingoism long time ago, but is my patriotism eroding as well?
My earliest memory of Independence memory is a colourful one. There was a Kirana store that was a stone’s throw away from my home. Painted in blue and white, the store had two big “trading windows”. I always picked the one closest to my home, even though I could barely get my head high enough to be noticed by the shopkeeper. I ran little errands for my home that would occasionally get me an Alpenliebe.
So on the occasion of Independence Day, I bought myself a tiny rectangular Indian flag from the Kirana store. The shopkeeper sold it to me with a big smile, probably happy to have played his part in the making of a desh-bakth. The flag was made of paper and I pinned it on top of my uniform’s shirt pocket (We did not have those cool Tiranga-in-India-map wala metallic badges or special Independence day offers. Exploiting patriotism for profits was a weaker game back then). Wearing the tiny Tiranga on a neatly pressed school uniform, I hopped on to my school auto-rickshaw. Even the auto uncle had adorned his auto with those plastic flags that you can grip in your hand and wave.
Once in school, the teachers had us stand in straight lines for the flag hoisting ceremony (Straights lines of sort I should say, because the lines usually had necks craning to the left and right). Flag hoisting was when the mood really set in. While the head mistress unfurled the flag clumsily and the PT teacher rushed to offer an helping hand, I looked up at the awe-inspiring flag fluttering in all its glory. As the national anthem set in, the rose petals sort of started drifting in slow motion and my hairs rose. Goosebumps! Watching the flag flutter while the national anthem played, I experienced a new emotion I had not experienced previously. Speeches followed, sweets were distributed, flags were waved for Vande Mataram and Ishq Tera Tadapave was also danced to.
This experience of awe, inspiration and pride in the celebrations had been a constant in my school years all along. But these celebrations started dwindling after school. There were points when August 15, was treated as a long weekend. Now it is not even a long weekend for me anymore. The only Tirangas I see are Whatsapp gore so poorly made that make it look like it was done in the early 00s. Peppermints, the sweet that was distributed after flag hoisting is now in my hand soap. The patriotic speeches and songs have been replaced by opportunistic new movie trailers and song releases.
But does this all amount to an eroding patriotism? Is not celebrating an Independence Day actively an indicator of that? These questions will keep plaguing me. But, I felt something when Abhinandan was shot down and I felt something when Galwan Valley happened. And probably that’s where I should find my answers. Sometimes it takes a flag to unfurl and other times it takes something more. Less of the latter, hopefully.
