Being A Patriot

“My Monsoon”: The Story of A Soldier’s Wife

Outside I see autumn leaving,

And the sound of twirling leaves

Calling me,

The nature wants me changed,

But avoiding it and ignoring-

Here I stay and here I sleep.

And I make it annoyed,

Because I look at it-

Through the open door

Smelling the spring wind.

And well with no efforts,

I lay there-

Buried deep in the grey winter shawl.

For others, I remain dead,

But I want my hope to be there,

Because it’s the way I am-

Wanting this weather to be changed for me.

I wait for the monsoon fragrance,

As it will make me alive,

Because the footsteps in the dark wet clay-

Is the only hope-

And only evidence-

When I’ll not lie but run to my kitchen;

When he will come

And eat the sweet dish that I’ve prepared-

And say,

“I missed you.”

Then I’ll sleep and not die,

Talking to his breaths telling me all the lies,

And I’ll accept them,

As my heart is not like him

And I can’t share my love-

Like he does.

But his love,

Oh! His painful love!

When gets him victory at the war

And allows us all to sleep;

He still does not know-

His love does not do that to me…

He still does not know-

I’m killing my dreams…

I have always been a family person. And the thought never came to me that I should join the defence service. I was a little kid when I used to say that I would become an IAS officer, but obviously I didn’t want to study much and so I lost my interest. (Look, I took medical field! Ha!) Then I did some research on becoming a medical doctor for military (inspired from Dr. John Watson) and I realized just a day later that I would rather listen to their stories and bring them to the world than be a doctor for them. The point is, like millions of people in this country I wanted to do something for my nation but didn’t realize that I already am doing it.

It is good that due to internet, due to people being ‘bold’ enough to speak out, we have understood the value of the Jawans. Now we know that Indian Military is the second largest active military ranked at fourth position in the world rankings and our Navy and Air Force stand at seventh and fourth ranks. But is it helping the Jawans actually or is it just a debatable topic for us? The real meaning of being a nationalist is lost somewhere between doing something for the nation and only speaking up that India is a poor country.

In the largest growing economy of the world, we’re happy to be born and being a part of the most diverse nation. But aren’t we the ones who feel patriotic when there’s an attack on us due to terrorists or when our force attack them or when our cricket team wins? Believe it or not, but can you think how dumb you actually sound when you tweet about what the Sarkar and the Armed Forces should do? I mean, honestly, you’re an unemployed person and you have a brain like the size of a pea and you keep advising people around you and on social media! There are so many people suggesting their unappreciated views by sitting in front of an equally idiot box. Yes, you should share your words, your views; please share your happiness and share how proud you feel by our force, but stop faking the patriotism. Stop changing the meaning of this beautiful word.

I write about this because I’ve been the Arnab Goswami of my What’s App group. I’ve been there when I invited people to ‘discuss’ about the current sensations and then have made their mouths shut. (Nowadays, I mostly avoid ‘discussions’ because I hate losing and I hate it when people don’t have enough points to prove themselves, but only a loud voice. Nowadays, I don’t debate because I accept what the situations at the national level can be and I should not imagine those horrible things for someone else while I am staying calmly lied over my bed.)

And look at the people nowadays. They are talking about these big things and then shifting to Canada. They are sharing their unwanted opinions about why nation needs their guidance by preparing for IELTS to move to Australia. They say ‘India has no opportunities and I want to earn more’ by coming back to India for a royal wedding by the money they have earned in the USA. Excuse me, being a patriot enough to stay here providing my service to this nation, I’m having an opinion about you, more valuable than yours about this nation, that you should rather stay there singing ‘Vande Mataram’ and not transferring your dollars to Indian rupees please, because if you have more money to make then we have more milestones to get, and for that you’re not invited to this country. I’m not saying you should not go outside in the foreign countries; please go, and have some great work done for the name of our country, but coming back and forth exchanging money affects the Indian economy. If you’re staying there being a citizen, you’re already doing great for this country, probably better than us that you decrease the population and on the other hand making us all proud doing some great work.

At the end, I don’t know the scale of patriotism, but I’m improving day by day, and so are people around me. The great thing is that before any TV news we get to know about our situations because you all share them on social media sincerely supporting one another. I’m seeing the change as we’re constantly improvising the system. Even though people are unemployed, they are educated and that’s how we grow. Even for the sake of social media, when you donate some amount to people affected by calamities, when you donate some amount to our martyrs’ family, you’re making this country proud. (1. You can always influence your parents and the people for the funding if you’re not independent. 2. Donation is a noble deed when one hand donates and the other doesn’t know.)

I’m grateful for the teachers, who have been educating the future generations since ages; the doctors who are suturing the wounds of this nation; the lawyers and judges who are bettering the justice system day by day; the students who are confident enough to present their ideas before this country’s hopes; the engineers who are building the future; the citizens and all service providers who make India proud; and the warriors who are exposed to the battles outside and inside to protect this nation and to make this nation dream for higher.

Movie Time:

Rang De Basanti (2006) dialogue