JAN 26 IN A FAR AWAY LAND
Jan 26, 2013. Indian embassy residence, Bucharest, Romania. Snowy morning, 10 AM sharp, the bundle was rising high on the pole, as the other end of the rope was being pulled down by the Diplomat. The bundle sitting on top of the pole- two gentle flicks by the Diplomat- the knot on the bundle was undone. That, the moment, the bundle on the top transformed to being The Magnificent Indian Tricolour, pouring down blossoms. With no one having the necessity to instruct anything about the national anthem the crowd gathered had already began the singing.. "JANA GANA MANA".. not realising the moment, some, like me took an attentive posture immediately and joined the mass. I would rate this flag hoisting, the best ever I have attended to. I, never in my life have given a thought to myself that I would be attending a Republic Day celebration in a land almost 8850 kms away from my hometown.
Me trying to take some pictures of the Tricolour, did not notice the crowd swiftly moving into the Embassy residence. I thought the celebration was over. Curious to know what was gonna happen inside, I joined the last part of the crowd. The main hall of the residence was full, with the Diplomat on the podium ready to deliver the speech on behalf of the (Hon'ble) President of India, Shri.Pranab Mukherjee. Behind the podium was located a big portrait of "smiling" (I would rather say "laughing") Gandhi(ji). On the either sides of Mr.Gandhi, pictures of Mr.Pranab Mukherjee and Dr.Manmohan singh were placed. They all three were smiling or laughing at the crowd for some reason. "No offence to no one"... I just meant the pictures were depicted that way. As soon as the choir was done with singing "Saare jahan se achaa", the Diplomat began reading the address note (speech) by the President. It was quite a long one. I was listening to the speech. If not the whole of it, some areas of the speech sounded obviously ironical to me. One such example is "India did not win freedom from the British in order to deny freedom to Indians". Well I don't want to talk too much on that, then I may have to go behind the bars for just expressing my opinion.!!
Nothing much other than the flag hoisting and the speech was happening. Only good thing happened was that I happened to meet a lot of Indians. Had a few good acquaintances, nevertheless, had some bad experiences too. I hate it when any Indian asks me "Where are you from?" after me telling him that I don't speak Hindi. It is very unfortunate, 63 years have passed since the first drafted constitution was set to place, yet many Indians think that India has a national language. One more time if I encounter such a guy, I wouldn't know if I have to criticize his ignorance or sympathize his arrogance. I strongly believe this chauvinism lead intolerance is a real threat to national integrity and thus to be uprooted at any cost.
End of the day, I am here, thinking hard to write more. But only in vain. Republic Day was not celebrated but conducted.
