3Ps...

That title could mean anything...during my college days in Calcutta, they meant "prem,politics & porashona" (strictly in that order: prem meaning 'love' & 'porashona' meaning studies in Bengali!). During my PhD days in California,I write them to mean "patriotism, politics, parties"(not sure about the order that is and/or the order that should be). Confused?
Circa July4,2008: Hundreds and thousands of people gather in different big cities of the United States to enjoy fireworks,parades, baseball games and celebrate a very special day: the American Independence Day. In the capital city this is further accompanied by live concerts and playing the national anthem in front of the US Congress building where people gather in scores waving the American flag. From Detroit to New York to Florida to San Francisco-it's celebrations time everywhere.And one will be surprised by the number of people who actually come out of their homes, not only to use the national holiday as a day for visiting museums, relatives and amusement parks but also to take part in these festivities, as proud Americans wearing t-shirts/caps that have the emblem of the national flag. And as they gather in one place, you can overhear snippets of conversations about what is going on in Iraq, what should be the next health policy legislation, what should we do about climate change so on so forth-bunch of aware,opinionated,vocal and passionate Americans. It's clear as you hear them whether a person talking is a Democrat or a Republican. Seldom will you come across someone who does not have a view and who is 'independent'. This is fascinating to me!
It suddenly dawns upon me, what is the American Independence all about?Who is it that they got their independence from? Not surprisingly the British who had were the most prominent colonizers in the 1700s. But how many of us living in the US right now really know the details of how America won its independence, how severe were the wars, who were the main freedom fighters so to say,how long did the wars continue etc, without immediately doing a wiki search on it? I bet very few or I could be wrong-does not matter. What matters is they are proud of their country irrespective of what had happened in the past.
Circa Aug15, any year: It's the Indian Independence Day. The PM delivers a speech in the capital city of Delhi, hoists the flag and it's telecast all over the country. How many Indians living in India on that day actually listen to his speech? Maybe the media should do a survey but I would not quote a very optimistic number. I remember 15 Aug newspapers would always be in big volumes coz with every passing year, there's always more to write about the past. They write long provocative articles about the great freedom fighters, the 200 years of oppression, the current 'shining' India and the glorious future. But other than these, what exactly happens in the other big cities of the country? How do we celebrate our Independence Day? Well, it's a national holiday and so we Indians get a day off and hence we......enjoy in our own ways!!
(Surprisingly, a wiki search on July 4 vs Aug 15 yields striking results in terms of the length of things to write about-- in utter contrast to the duration of time for which these 2 countries were under the British colonial rule!!!)
However, if we Indians, were so oppressed for as long as two centuries and if our forefathers gave their lives to win the so coveted freedom and when tons of movies have been made and songs have been written to commemorate this huge event..then why is it that a country of millions of people does not celebrate this most special day with pomp and grandeur, not just in Delhi but EVERYWHERE? If we can have fashion weeks like Paris and Milan and rock concerts inviting Michael Jackson and Bryan Adams and if we can use the images of Mahatma Gandhi in every possible way to glorify our dear country, then why on earth can't we spend money to enjoy this special day with extravagant festivities with flags and the national anthem and blatantly express our pride?
Coz we just don't care enough!
Despite having one of the most brutal and violent freedom struggles in the entire world, we have taken this freedom so much for granted that it does not matter to us anymore.
It may sound silly when I say why we don't celebrate-intellectuals with a lot more 'depth' will say just by celebrating you can't show the love for your country! Well my question to them is, forget what I said but how exactly are we at all showing our love for the country, not just on Aug 15 but on any given day of any given year?
By renaming our major cities in native languages so that they don't have 'foreign' influence in their names? By killing people in the name of 'demand for regional autonomy' as in the North-East? By demolishing mosques to build temples and temples to build mosques? By burning the priests of a church? By instigating riots/strikes at the drop of a hat whenever some demand of some party somewhere is not fulfilled? And I could go on....
When I see hundreds of Americans standing together singing the national anthem to remember their own freedom struggle I think, why have I not ever seen hundreds of Indians do the same thing except for school functions or a few national concerts and shows where it's more a ritual rather than a matter of pride?
Maybe on that particular day, celebrating our independence, standing altogether in one place does count. Maybe holding the flag in our hands and once again listening to Nehru's famous speech does help. To remind us forgetful Indians, what we were, what we are, how we have come this far, what was the extent of sacrifice involved, what we owe to our country and what we should do to move forward---together as one whole....as one entity...Indians.

Maybe there's reason why America today is still world's most powerful nation-despite being perhaps the most disliked country elsewhere. They care less about what others think about them and more about what they think about themselves. They love their country, are proud of it and do not feel ashamed to show that pride to the rest of the world. They criticize bad leaders and glorify the good ones. On their independence day I have seen and felt the expression of patriotism-in every possible way; have seldom seen that back home. They have politics and they have parties-they have problems too and tons of it; but they belong to a nation which values patriotism. Why don't we ever hear a certain state of the US, say Louisiana or Michigan or whichever, in today's new millennium, protest for autonomy? They have diversities too-ethnic,religious and cultural and most importantly in skin color. Yet they coexist-as the most successful nation; as a nation that draws people from all over the world.
We have the largest democracy in the world and a multi party system.
Surprisingly, most young Indians today when asked can't say which party they belong to or which party they support!!! They are mostly 'independent' coz very few people have an idea what each of the zillions of parties we have, stands for! Hence, young, educated middle class Indians often refrain from voting coz we don't know who to vote for! We have opinions and views but after a point of time we don't express it coz we feel hopeless! So we all leave the country for the 'land of opportunity' and feel very patriotic for India from thousands of miles way. We have Indian cultural festivals in the US where we invite Indian celebrities and heck, we even listen to the PM's Independence Day speech on youtube.com !! We even harbor dreams of some day going back to India and do 'something' for the country. And my bet is, as NRIs we will perhaps do more coz from the distance, patriotism genuinely sprouts when you are amongst people from so many different nationalities. So I would at least hope for that.