Page 9 - Seniors Today

Increased mobility and the ability to Where knowledge is free.
choose your place of residence naturally In to that heaven of freedom, my father,
puts yourself before your country. And I Let my country awake!”
fear that these NRI types are a little less - Rabindranath Tagore
patriotic than their Indian cousins. In fact
the young tend to view the country more
negatively than the older generations and
that would also mean that they are less
proud of India. There is a lot of comparison
between life where they are and life back
home. It could also be that there is a shift
in what matters to young people and what
they perceive as patriotism. It is possible
that the younger generation and the
NRIs may still care about the well-being But all this notwithstanding we have
of India and the policies related to the survived as a democracy. We have
country’s stability. Even though they may progressed hugely in terms of technology.
not associate it with patriotism. For a lot Indians are wealthy and a force to reckon
of NRIs, the ‘Indianness’ ends with Hindi with. As I look at the India of 2022 with
movies and Indian food. Economics takes its myriad achievements in the spectrum
priority over patriotism. of fields, the progress this country has
Social media is a strong vehicle made and the success of many ventures
for spreading hatred. The British that we have embarked upon it’s a proud
systematically created a mechanism feeling. The common feature in making
to divide the Hindus and the Muslims, these ventures successful is that individual
pit them against each other. A district minds with independent thinking came
magistrate in the pre-Independence era together to create a common ground for
encouraged a Hindu-Muslim riot and a a common purpose. When individual
Kotwal who successfully created these freedom is respected each individual
situations was probably rewarded for his contributes according to his ability, every
actions. Today, hate has gone mainstream. endeavour will be a success. Only when
The religious divide has deepened, the we can exercise our free will we can be
distrust has deepened, the buck stops with successful as human beings and that is
the political executive in a parliamentary when Rabindranath Tagore’s dream will
democracy. Reopening old wounds will come true.
only inflict new hurt. It’s the British and
their leaders like Winston Churchill and
Reginal Dyer who perpetuated the worst
crimes against India, systematically
looted the country, encouraged communal
conflicts and divided the nation.
“Where the mind is without fear
And the head is held high,

SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #38 | AUGUST 2022 9