/**Staying away from Mother and Motherland (Fatherland for Some) is always painful. But then people say "if its so painful who told you to stay away for them?" . Yes, the question is perplexing, yet after thinking over it a lot I don't have any answers....**/
15 August in India is no less than any religious festival. Many things are marked with regular Clichés
like screening of 2-3 patriotic movies, Flag hoisting, playing patriotic songs, Sweets... etc.
School days: As with most of the non-nerdy kids I hated going to school. 15 Aug for me was a happy day, even if it meant going to school at 7am, cause the thought of not having classes was simply mesmerizing for me. We were made to stand in the queues according to our "Houses" (Red, Green,Blue and Yellow). The prefects, monitors and teachers would get busy maintaining the discipline. All the patriotic old Hindi songs would go on in the background. This was different since my school was a Catholic English School and Hindi was supposed to be a strict NO-NO (Except in Hindi Class). Songs would start from 6am on loudspeakers. Few of the songs are really classics.
"Aao baccho tumhe dikhayen....Vande Mataram!"
"Hum Layen hai Tufan se kashti......"
"De di Azadi hamen bina...."
"Chodo Kal ki Baatein.....Hum Hindustani"
"Mere Desh ki dharti...."
"Apni azadi ko hum...."
My personal favorite was or rather is "Aye mere pyaare Watan..." From the 1966 Black and White film KABULIWALA. Sometimes it does bring me to tears.
Coming back to school, The Father (Principal) of the school would give a short speech on the importance of the day and finally hoisting of the Flag by him. The flag hoisting would go along with the national anthem "Jana Gana Mana" which we would repeat even without understanding its real meaning in Bengali. And just after the flag hoisting all would shout "Bharat Mata ki....Jai.....Bharat Mata ki....Jai" ..."Vande Mataram...Vande mataram ". All of us by now would be desperate to get the packet of balloons and sweets distributed by the school. Then we would go to some of my classmates house or would walk back home carefree. Childhood living is indeed easy to do.
My Father was at that time in government service. He held head positions for many institutions.It was weird for me to see him dressed in white uniform with "Gandhi Cap". He used to hoist flag at his institution. At that time only government institutions had a right to hoist flags.
Independence Day afternoons used to be filled with Patriotic movies. Richard Attenborough's Gandhi, A film made by non-Indian with Indian actors, is the most common movie. Congress party that has ruled India for almost 50 years owns the state media Doordarshan (DD).It uses this movie for their own propaganda. Indian freedom struggle is sadly attributed to a single person - Gandhi. This is visible in our daily lives, on our currency. The extremist movement was and is always suppressed.
Many other movies like the crazy Manoj Kumar movies like Purab aur Paschim , Clerk used to also be regularly played. Bearing this torture is what makes us real Indians. Added to these movies attack of the ultimate B-grade movie which is strangely popular was : Tiranga. Nana Patekar along with old Rajkumar is what made this movie so lethal. Rajkumar's green velvet shirt still haunts me. Who can forget the great villain - "Pralaynath Genda swami".
Recent gems like those starring Sunny Paaji are also sometimes shown!
Away From Home: Being away from home in far away countries makes one 52% more patriotic than usual! This day reminds me of my school days, when times were simpler, wants were lesser! Being in US in the IT field (mostly dominated by Indians) makes me feel home sometimes but "Home is home". I am daily hooked to news papers like The Times of India to stay in touch with what is happening in India! I observe many things. I see how our journalistic standards are falling day by day. All I see is some sort of rightist propaganda! Things that are happening now makes my blood boil ! The British rule has come to India again! We need to rise! And Rise we will!
15 August in India is no less than any religious festival. Many things are marked with regular Clichés
like screening of 2-3 patriotic movies, Flag hoisting, playing patriotic songs, Sweets... etc.
School days: As with most of the non-nerdy kids I hated going to school. 15 Aug for me was a happy day, even if it meant going to school at 7am, cause the thought of not having classes was simply mesmerizing for me. We were made to stand in the queues according to our "Houses" (Red, Green,Blue and Yellow). The prefects, monitors and teachers would get busy maintaining the discipline. All the patriotic old Hindi songs would go on in the background. This was different since my school was a Catholic English School and Hindi was supposed to be a strict NO-NO (Except in Hindi Class). Songs would start from 6am on loudspeakers. Few of the songs are really classics.
"Aao baccho tumhe dikhayen....Vande Mataram!""Hum Layen hai Tufan se kashti......"
"De di Azadi hamen bina...."
"Chodo Kal ki Baatein.....Hum Hindustani"
"Mere Desh ki dharti...."
"Apni azadi ko hum...."
My personal favorite was or rather is "Aye mere pyaare Watan..." From the 1966 Black and White film KABULIWALA. Sometimes it does bring me to tears.
Coming back to school, The Father (Principal) of the school would give a short speech on the importance of the day and finally hoisting of the Flag by him. The flag hoisting would go along with the national anthem "Jana Gana Mana" which we would repeat even without understanding its real meaning in Bengali. And just after the flag hoisting all would shout "Bharat Mata ki....Jai.....Bharat Mata ki....Jai" ..."Vande Mataram...Vande mataram ". All of us by now would be desperate to get the packet of balloons and sweets distributed by the school. Then we would go to some of my classmates house or would walk back home carefree. Childhood living is indeed easy to do.
My Father was at that time in government service. He held head positions for many institutions.It was weird for me to see him dressed in white uniform with "Gandhi Cap". He used to hoist flag at his institution. At that time only government institutions had a right to hoist flags.Independence Day afternoons used to be filled with Patriotic movies. Richard Attenborough's Gandhi, A film made by non-Indian with Indian actors, is the most common movie. Congress party that has ruled India for almost 50 years owns the state media Doordarshan (DD).It uses this movie for their own propaganda. Indian freedom struggle is sadly attributed to a single person - Gandhi. This is visible in our daily lives, on our currency. The extremist movement was and is always suppressed.
Many other movies like the crazy Manoj Kumar movies like Purab aur Paschim , Clerk used to also be regularly played. Bearing this torture is what makes us real Indians. Added to these movies attack of the ultimate B-grade movie which is strangely popular was : Tiranga. Nana Patekar along with old Rajkumar is what made this movie so lethal. Rajkumar's green velvet shirt still haunts me. Who can forget the great villain - "Pralaynath Genda swami".
Recent gems like those starring Sunny Paaji are also sometimes shown!
Away From Home: Being away from home in far away countries makes one 52% more patriotic than usual! This day reminds me of my school days, when times were simpler, wants were lesser! Being in US in the IT field (mostly dominated by Indians) makes me feel home sometimes but "Home is home". I am daily hooked to news papers like The Times of India to stay in touch with what is happening in India! I observe many things. I see how our journalistic standards are falling day by day. All I see is some sort of rightist propaganda! Things that are happening now makes my blood boil ! The British rule has come to India again! We need to rise! And Rise we will!
