Vande Mataram

Vande Mataram (meaning 'I bow to thee, Mother'). Only two words and yet the strength of patriotic feeling they bring in us, Indians, is abysmal. Years ago these very two words gave countless Indians the courage to come forward and show their resistance towards the mighty British Empire.

Today, August 15th of 2008, marks India seeing her 61st year of being independent from the clutches of British. On this day, numorous tri-colour flags will flutter in the breeze all over the country making every Indian proud. But apart being proud, like many of my comrades, I too am sad. Sad to see that India is still struggling to become a "developed" nation while countries like Japan out of their sheer vision and determination became one of the fastest growing countries from absolutely nothing.

India has a long way to go for Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam's vision to get realized, when she has to face battles from within and outside. Inflation, poverty, corruption, illiteracy, high population growth rate, indisciplined mindset, are all trying to burn out the Indian fervour. British for their benefit introduced the "divide and rule" policy, but the wounds caused by that are still raw even after these 61 years. These wounds are not allowed to heal by the very same people who pledge to serve our motherland. They want to throw dust in the eyes of the common man making him blind to hide their filthy motives. According to me, allowing the mushrooming of these numerous political parties is one of the gravest mistakes that India did post-Independence.

I pray that we do not forget those lessons learnt from the journey of our country which once stood the richest and the most powerful, being forced to yield under the colonization of British. (It has been estimated that the total amount of wealth that the British plundered from India had reached £1 Billion by 1901.) Today I fear that we may not be realizing the impending danger, when the superpower is looming over us. Let our country not become a puppet in their hands as what is happening with our neighbouring country. The whole world is watching us. If we once again don't understand the cleverly disguised traps and proceed ourselves to make a series of wrong moves? Checkmate!