Patriotism is the devotion
Of the soldier in the front
Patriotism is the integrity
Of the citizens upfront.
Patriotism seeps through
An honest hardworking man
Patriotism is the respect
For every human
Patriotism is the devotion
Towards your people and nation
Patriotism unites generation
It is the fight against discrimination
I woke one day
Got ready for the play
It was a day of exam,
for which I studied,
Spelling Chanakya’s chant.
Father said, keep your mind cool,
I said to my fingers, save me today,
You wisest fool!
When I finally saw the paper,
My worries started growing, skyscraper!
I tried to think, I tried to sail,
But soon I became,
From alpha to beta male.
I was surrounded by darkest sunshine
But my worries, still refused to decline.
The paper was clearly, misunderstood.
But my fingers said, I could.
Somehow I manage
To finish the paper.
But It was the work of my fingers,
And only work of my maker
Later that evening,
I strummed my guitar,
And my fingers moved
Like a smooth car.
Life is like a bitter truth
You do something crazy, Something good.
In the morning
I was like a living dead,
Later with my guitar,
My fingers played with my divine head.
We often say very proudly that our country is a perfect example of, “Unity in Diversity”; but is it really in true sense? Look around, we are so divided among ourselves. We so often see people fighting over religion , we see forced conversions as if there are separate Gods for all of us. These groups or politicians or leaders take advantage of the common man for their own vested interests. We can go on with this, criticizing others but the real change will only come when we will change ourselves.
We have forgotten our roots. We call ourselves , “Bharat Vasi”. Do we know the meaning of it? And if we know, are we following it? No, Of course not!
Our founding forefathers had laid the foundation of this country with great wisdom. The name of our country “Bharat” is derived from Sanskrit, meaning the place where the people are devoted to light ( wisdom) as against darkness. It seems very odd, we are not at all following it. The holy book ” Bhagvada Gita”,not at all talks about religion; it talks about the way of life, The Karmic life. It talks about the eternal quest of knowledge about humanity, compassion, love, Karma and spirituality. It is very strange that this country, whose fabric had been knitted with sacrifice , compassion, wisdom; see its citizens fighting over religion and for their selfish desires.
In this cruel world, where some people have forgotten humanity and are murdering innocent people and not even leaving children in the name of God, has really forced us to search that element of humanity , that element of wisdom inside us which is beyond religion. We have forgotten that wisdom. Yes I dream of that day when this country will embrace its past again and will move ahead in the future with that wisdom which had given birth to this great nation. I dream for my country in the words of Tagore-
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
The Perceptions Square 