Simon Says

Watching the Cricket World Cup finals, was a first for me. I have never been much of a cricket fan but this year was different.

There was a sense of anticipation, a feeling that something great was about to happen. The excitement was palpable. Every time a run would be made, the crowd (not only the one on the screen but the one around me) would roar in joy.

As Dhoni shot the winning sixer the spectators erupted in ecstasy. I knew I was witnessing history. This was the first Cricket world cup I had seen India win (the last cup, I was too young to understand anything) and I was proud, so proud that I thought my heart would explode.

The people were screaming, yelling and cheering themselves hoarse. Each yell louder than the other, each decibel like a declaration of patriotism. Fire crackers were going off.....

Groups of young men roared up and down the streets on their bikes waving flags,hollering their love for India. It seemed every single person was shouting out their love for the country.

What we did not know then, was that we were going to witness history again, very soon, the very next week itself.

A quiet, simple, Marathi manoos, Kishen Baburao Hazare, better known as Anna took on the government of India and went on an indefinite hunger strike.

His empty stomach shook the conscience of the nation. He reminded us of Gandhi. This man made people walk out of their schools, homes and air conditioned offices and make a statement against corruption.

Hoards of people converged and meetings, demonstrations and candlelight marches were held not just in Delhi but all over the country.

Mumbaikars did their bit and organized candlelight vigils at Juhu and The Gateway of India. The Motormen of Mumbai pledged their support. But some of the suburbs were silent. We were witnessing history again for the second time this month and the same crowds were conspicuous by their absence. Their silence was deafening.

Where were the patriots? Those who had shouted out their Desh-Prem at the top of their lungs. Wasn’t this fight against corruption, a patriotic struggle too?

Wasn't this movement a unifying attack against the sickness that was eating into India's flesh?

Was their patriotism only limited to cheering for their country at a game or taking pot shots at neighboring countries?

We have to realize, just applauding and cheering for our Cricket team at a game is not patriotism.

The real patriot is the one who decides that he or she will no longer aid and abet corruption or any such evil that hurts our country, in any manner.

The real patriot is the one who pledges his support for activists like Anna Hazare and their cause.

The real patriot is one who embraces the values of Gandhi instead of mocking his teachings and his followers.

Gandhism is neither out dated nor dead. Anna’s victory just proved that.

If you love your country, you must do your bit against this evil of corruption. Look at yourself in the mirror and swear that no matter how hard it is, you will not support this sickness at any level. Make a promise to yourself that you will not buy even movie tickets in black.

Don’t pay bribes to anyone, no matter what the consequences.....

Report anyone who asks for one, because even if you don't indulge in corruption, but remain quiet when others do, you are giving your tacit consent and are as guilty as they are

. Remember - 'All that is needed for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing' (Edmund Burke)

Anna and his supporters have managed to make history without shedding a single drop of blood, without burning down a single bus and without throwing a single stone. People who ridicule Gandhians and non-violence must rrealize that it is the only way to bring about the change our nation needs.

No amount of bandhs could have achieved what this soft spoken Maharashtrian's starvation and his peaceful supporters have.

Political parties should take note of this and change their modus-operandi to peaceful movements and hunger strikes instead of indulging in threats, violence and vandalism.

If you love India, stand up for India and be counted. Support patriots like Anna and stem the rot in this system that is destroying our beautiful Nation.

I studied this poem as a child and it moves me as much now, as it did then.

(Thank you Mrs Pamela Sinha,for this!)

Written by the same poet and patriot who penned our national anthem, these words say it all.

Where the mind is without fear

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

- Rabindranath Tagore