Serving one's Motherland
is just not about going to war or making laws! There are indeed a million other
ways one can prove to be worthy to a nation that gave us an identity, a sense
of space and a place to belong.
I have always believed in
a borderless world, where people did not make maps and mark territories. I
strongly opposed theories of nationalism and those that even remotely suggested
the same. But one experience however changed the way I perceived the world, my
immediate surroundings.
It was a pleasant Sunday morning.
My family had planned a short excursion out of the city. It was meant to be a
day affair. Though the morning was pleasant with its smell of freshness and
tranquility, it was quite cold. It was one of those typical winter mornings
pleading to kiss the cold a gentle goodbye and yearn for the soft caress of the
spring.
I was well warmed up with
the layers of my attire, quite pleased with myself for having won the morning’s
battle with the cold. The morning took off as smoothly as anticipated. The
genuine laughter and chirps made the heart warmer than usual.
I found myself getting
lost in the family chatter and it that was very fulfilling to my being.
It was a drive of about a
couple of hours from the city Gurgaon, where we resided. The journey too was
filled with light-hearted revelry that added more lustre to the travel.
This trip was not
entirely a leisure affair. It also contained in it religious overtones. We were
travelling to this place called ‘Brijghat’ that lies on the banks of the
Ganges.
Being from a family of
nurtured Hinduism, visiting the Ganges was indeed a religious affair. My mother
yearned to visit the river and offer her prayers to Goddess Ganga.
To be perfectly honest, I
am not a religious person. I am certainly not a follower of Atheism, I do
believe in a perpetual form of energy that commands the universe, yet I would
not like to give this energy names and a hierarchy.
For me, this excursion
purely meant some time away from the bustling city life and a mundane lifestyle
that had gotten too trite to endure. This was the time that I could devote to
the company of the two most important entities of my life viz. my family and
Mother Nature.
We reached our
destination. The sun had reluctantly begun to make his appearance and our spirits begged him
to stay on. I was at the same place about 5 years ago. It seemed more ill kept
after the years of gap. The place was very dirty with piles of waste gathered
around as a welcome décor to the visitors. I didn’t really admit it until I saw
the Ganges Herself.
Though a beauty she is,
but had lost her charms. The Ganges to me resembled a ‘once beautiful woman’
exploited by the world’s evil, yet continuing to flow, fulfilling her duties
due to the ‘pressures’ of the world!
There was a sense of Pity
and Pride to the intense emotion I shared with Her. I almost heard her beckon
to me. To talk to Her, in order to indulge in another woman’s company, that the
bosom of a woman is so much in need of. But, alas! I couldn’t indulge in the
amusements of lady-gossip with the Ganges, since my mother wasn’t too keen on
us getting into the cold water.
We had a nice boat ride
that included numerous photo-sessions and prayers. After we safely trod the
banks again, did I witness something phenomenal?
I saw people fighting to
come close to us, bellies filled with mal-nutrition with a hope in their burning
eyes to put out some of its fire! There were so many of them, young, old,
blind, crippled, beautiful, tired…..
There was one thing
common to all of them. Desperation. The dynamism of their pain was exasperating.
This was the moment when the seeds of nationalism were sown in me. I felt that,
a part of me was suffering too. I could just not empathize with their predicament,
but my heart bled. I knew now that that part of me belonged to someone, purely,
unalloyed. I belonged to my Motherland, I belonged to India!
If I have been blessed
with all the comfort and luxuries of life, I ought to work towards bettering
the people who shared this great country with me, the least to give them a
piece of my beautiful life.
I had a spark of
revelation. If I couldn’t better my immediate environs, the land that fed me
and spelled ‘comfort’ for me, then this existence of mine would be just like
the loads of trash that welcomed me to the Ganges.
Now I belong to my
country, I belong to Her, India!
