Many a times there is National Anthem playing at different places, but how many of us actually stand to pay our due respects for the country’s national Anthem. We have heard the same tune numerous times during our school morning assemblies. Still, it invokes the same feeling of patriotism. Recently I was watching a patriotic movie on the cable TV where on the screen, played a montage of shots from the Siachen glacier. A soldier was struggling to make a flag mast stand against a chilly wind. Soldiers were climbing steep mountains slopes to keep a watch on the enemy. Every face, in the cruel cold weather of the area had a little smile on it. Nevertheless, to see the men, who suffer in such weather conditions, in order to protect our country, in order to protect us, one cannot remain aloof and ignorant about the zeal called patriotism.
When people do stand up for the National Anthem and here I am talking not in the schools in the prayer or in the club on Independence Day but at odd places and odd hours, other people laugh at them. The people who laugh are no illiterates but somehow they feel embarrass. There were times when all the theatres used to play the national anthem after every movie on the orders of the government. However, nobody used to be in a mood to stay in the hall for a minute more after the movie had ended. Seeing such a disrespect of the anthem, government withdrew its orders.
According to our constitution, national anthem can be played at the end or the beginning of a public gathering of any played, the audience is supposed to stand erect, with the hands fisted at both the sides, and the head should be held high. Moreover, silence should be maintained, if not singing along. Any deviation this will amount to the disrespect to the national anthem.
We the post independence generation, were born in a free country. We have been brought up in an environment where we take freedom for granted. Patriotism is supposed as an outdated issue. We have had to struggle only against certain social vices and not for the right of living. We do not even remember that the freedom of speech and expression which we thoroughly enjoy today has also been fought for Patriotism is considered a non-issue today, and that is where our country lags behind.
People are often heard complaining and comparing our country to its western counterparts. Brain drain phenomenon has been on a rise forever, what people do not understand is that they cause the things complained incessantly by them, too. The ‘don’t care’ attitude people chose to follow isn’t going to lead them anywhere. This is not any time for sit ting back, cursing and shrugging shoulders. This is a time for picking up the pieces, to contribute and make for a better India, for the day and tomorrow. A nation is as its citizens are. Or at least, they can be expected to show some respect and gratitude to the country they were born in.