Anupam- The Dreamer

Recently, I saw a video where an American suddenly stopped his car in the US on spotting an Indian couple. He confronts them by saying “India is so incredible! Why you just don’t stay in India? Why do you have to come to America?” The Indian man answers with a smile- “To explore world”, to which American man quipps- “No, we don’t want you here! You gotta go home! Get the f*** out of my country. You niggers!” and speeds away. The question here is not just of a deep-seated racial prejudice or of hate mongering, rather this raises larger questions about human values- respecting the dignity of fellow human beings and whether patriotism towards one’s own country has to be necessarily translated into hating other citizens in order to prove your love and loyalty towards your own country!

Patriotism, in simple terms, means one’s love and loyalty towards one’s own motherland. And there is absolutely no problem in that understanding. Afterall, it has been said in our own scriptures too that- जननी जन्मभूमिश्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसी which means “The mother and the motherland are superior even to heaven.” Also, we have grown up hearing the famous lines of great poet Gayaprasad Shukla ji:

जो भरा नहीं है भावों से,

बहती जिसमें रस-धार नहीं।

वह हृदय नहीं है पत्थर है,

जिसमें स्वदेश का प्यार नहीं॥

Indeed, one cannot be NOT indebted to one’s own motherland, which has given us everything- from food, shelter, clothing, our livelihood, our identity, etc. This love translates into our desire to give something back to our country and our people. Though we all acknowledge that this debt cannot be repaid even by sacrificing own lives, yet it does not dampen the zeal with which the patriots “feel” for their country. So far so good. But the problem starts when this love towards one’s own nation, its culture, heritage etc. starts to subvert the love of other people towards their own motherland.

Does subversion of other’s patriotism is the only pre-condition for our own patriotism to survive and thrive? If that be so, then I am afraid but our patriotism in that case is very very shallow! It is not a win-lose condition rather it should be a win-win situation, where there should be tolerance towards people from other nations to respect and love their own country, as we do to ours! Patriotism doesn’t demand hatred towards humanity to prosper! Infact, there cannot be a true patriot who is not a true human being first!

Even in situation of wars, where two or more nations are fighting against each other, we have read or heard about instances where the soldiers from other nations are treated with dignity and respect on being captured or surrender. Till the time, the enemy soldier was fighting against your country, it was your duty to defend your nation even it that entails killing him. But, as soon as he is not fighting or has lost, then the situation changes– now it is this situation that determines how great a winning nation is or how great its own patriots are. There should be no personal grudge against the enemies, as he was merely performing his duty. That does not make him any less human than us. After the wars, there is age-old practice in the great kingdoms and great nations, where they return the body of the fallen soldiers with respect and dignity to the enemy nation. Even when there is no claimant to the body, then it is buried/burnt with honour. At that point of time, there are no friends or foes, only humans. And humans deserve atleast this much respect from fellow human beings. This makes me reminisce the beautiful song at the end of Border movie (check that out if you don’t remember).

Therefore, I find no conflict, whatsoever, between patriotism and humanity! Patriotism promotes humanity among all people, and humanity in turn strengthens patriotism by promoting harmonious living among all people who love their own motherland. There always has to be some give and take among all people. You cannot expect to always take from the society and never give back something! Whenever one wants to only take from the society- it promotes hatred and ill-will and patriotism will always be a competitor to humanity. But whenever one also wants to give back something to the society- then patriotism and humanity will become inseparable and harmonious and there will be peace. If you look closely, the basic undercurrent running in both these streams is essentially the same!

Till next time….