My celebrations double on 26th January

A sense of pride engulfed  me when I heard and saw the young Indians of my housing complex perform to patriotic songs. By default, on the national festivals we get to hear patriotic songs and dances everywhere and so today was no exception. But  today when an young Indian(13)  sang all the 14(?) verses of 'Jana Gana mana', The Indian in me swelled with pride and most of us got goosebumps.( our constitution has adapted only 4 paras(?))

Any other day, I would'nt perhaps have  given much thought and would have gone around with my routine, but today the songs and its content really reminded me,  What a beautiful country we belong to!


A small change in geographical terrain brings in a change in culture, language(dialect), customs, cuisine and traditions. Starting from Kashmir to Tamilnadu, we are a country blessed with the ability to absorb other influences and yet  hold our own.

In its historical past,  many rulers have invaded,  plundered  and ruled us and yet we have retained our Indianness. Much erosion has happened, but only at the surface. Inspite of so many religions coming from abroad , the culture of our soil has remained deep rooted and our soul untouched. We have made amazing technological and scientific advances without falling in culture. My knowledge of Indian history tells me that neither have we invaded or destroyed  any culture or country. 

With a rich cultural heritage and science based traditions sometimes it is  sad when many of our own country men don't take pride in our culture, values and heritage. Every country has a culture and I respect other cultures too but it hurts when after a few foreign visits or a few years of stay as NRI in some foreign land, our own people degrade their own fellow men by saying 'Indians are like that only'.


Reminds of the pledge we took in our school and our moral responsibility towards it,
                  "I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage
                                      I shall always strive to be worthy of it"

I once read Mark Twain's quote on India in a magazine some years ago and I had written them in my diary. I googled to find that quote and it landed on a page, where many history makers  had beautiful things to say about our country. Here are the quotes,

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
-Albert Einstein



If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions, I should point to India.
- Max Mueller (German scholar)



Mark Twain said: India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only. 


French scholar Romain Rolland said: If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India. 




The land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendour and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of hundred nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of traditions, whose yesterday's bear date with the modering antiquities for the rest of nations-the one sole country under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable interest for alien prince and alien peasant, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the world combined.
- Mark Twain



When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous.
- Albert Einstein

India - The land of Vedas, the remarkable works contain not only religious ideas for a perfect life, but also facts which science has proved true. Electricity, radium, electronics, airship, all were known to the seers who founded the Vedas.
- Wheeler Wilcox (American poet)

We are proud Indians. Aren't we?


BTW, I mentioned double celebrations in my title. Yes, my family celebrates another  occasion today. Today, 13 years ago my son was born  and I had to record this since he is turning into a teen today.


My love for him -   I can't encompass them in words. But his naughtiness, presence and application of mind,  his maturity, his sense of humour and they way he charms me with his intelligence, the way he  irritates me by dodging and finds excuses not to study   can always be put in words and that could make this post a lengthier one and you would'nt have time for that.