It’s that time of the year again when the country called India gets tricolored all over. The ‘Tiranga’ waivers in the sky and we inhale tunes of great yesteryears with every breath we take in. The pride, the connection and the respect gets instilled and drips in every action of we. The television channels, the radio stations, the magazines, the newspapers all get dipped in the emotions of patriotism.
But I don’t.
Yes it’s true, that I am not a patriot because I don’t.
I don’t get angry when my neighbor is murdered because she married the one she loved; instead go in hidings in fear of being found as a witness. I don’t try to wipe the tears of a naked hungry child on the road, who is the future of our nation, instead I shoo him away of his being dirty. I don’t bother about littering the roads of my mother nation, I like to crib that she doesn’t shine the way the country of my dreams does. I don’t save a pregnant lady from dying due to malnutrition and lack of medical supervision, but check instead if she can pay my fee for the same. I don’t help those who go out and out to teach the one’s who didn’t have the luxury to be taught, instead I prefer going for a movie on the same issue. I don’t try to be a part of the prestigious defense authorities who enable us call our nation as ours. I don’t play the games I like to watch, but I do get furious when others don’t play the way we want them to. I don’t oblige traffic rules, as I prefer practicing the skills of my favorite video game on roads too. I don’t stop the mob from destroying public property, because a truck hit a bus, instead I join them in their destructive anger. I don’t discourage people from participating in ‘Bandhs’ when my country is still healing from the wounds of economic jolt and people are dying of hunger as they need wages to buy food. I don’t say ‘I won’t’ when someone seeks bribery from me, as I need to get my work done anyhow. I don’t stop my family from taking bribes, as that adds to my bank balance. I don’t vote, as voting booths are not air conditioned and queues are too long. I don’t give my candidature in elections as I have heard that my country’s politics is too dirty to step in. I don’t care to use or respect any of the provided tools of constitution to make my country as I would wish it to be.
And so I am not a patriot, but I am not a hypocrite either.
