How do you define patriotism? Is it only the courage shown
by our soldiers in the face of enemy fires? The mental stability that sees them
through inhuman conditions they face throughout the year in the highest battlefield
on earth, scorching deserts and inhabitable forests… forced to live on
creatures that would make a civilian puke, forced to live away from their
beloved for months together. What motivates them to take up these tasks I suppose.
Today, I was reading an article in the paper which had
stories of soldiers and civilians who had seen action during the Indo – China war.
I wonder what I would have done if faced with a similar situation. I wonder if I
would ever face such a situation. The paper ran stories of how soldiers
survived excess of 15 days without food, surrounded by the enemy… stories of
how entire battalions fought to the last bullet rather than retreat to safety.
I wonder what goes on through the mind of a soldier when he
realizes that there is no escape and that he has to hold the line as long as he
can. I wonder if he ever realizes this fact until a bullet hits him. I guess
the officers would know and this makes their last moments even tougher. Being a
civilian all that I can do is contemplate on the ifs and buts. But I do wonder,
if it is really patriotism that drives our brave, or is it the sense of duty,
the sense of not to let down the person standing next to you that runs paramount in their mind. I guess it must be the latter that would be a more powerful
motivator. The sense that there is no one else to do the job that leads them to
do brave deeds of which bards sing songs as long as life exists. But is this
the only way to be patriotic?
How can we, as civilians, be patriotic? Supporting
the Indian cricket team by getting drunk in a pub and screaming at the top of
our voices, sitting on the window of our sports car with the Indian flag and
getting our hand chopped off by a bus coming in the opposite direction would be
a start I guess (exaggeration of some memories). Criticizing the government for
the waste of public wealth and holding personal discussions on how this land
will never improve and cursing your fate of belonging to such a corrupt society
and then, voting the same government back to power, would take you to the next
level of intellectual masturbators. Finally, throwing the bundle of plastic
bags into the nearby road early in the morning, spitting and peeing wherever
you please, jaywalking through busy roads and blaming the accidents as the sole
responsibility of the rash drunken drivers would make you the ideal patriot.
You can go a step further by filming a gang rape on a public
place and uploading it in the social media and broadcasting on national television
in the name of investigative journalism and being the ‘responsible citizen’ who
helped nab the ‘culprits’. Wanna be the model citizen? On your way from office
have a couple of pegs, buy some petrol, go home, beat up your wife for not
giving the second installment of the demanded dowry and for giving birth to a
girl, tie them up together and burn them. Though we have lesser model and
responsible citizens, in a way we all are intellectual masturbators and ideal
patriots.
If you are thinking that I am going to suggest ways out of
this, sorry you are mistaken. As for me, I am just going to go by doing my business,
pay my taxes… Floyd, travel and trek my way to an early grave if Providence be
so kind. Yes, I am going to do NOTHING. You have no idea how productive it can
be. As the saying goes, most of the harm that came to this world was done by
people who wanted to do something good.
And for those whose blood
‘boiled’, or such similar superlatives, and are thinking of joining the Civil
Services, please don’t. If you do, you can watch all of the above, every single
day, smile, sign and be on your way. If you are lucky, the government might
even give you an allowance for toilet paper so that you can wipe off their mess
and their ass after they are done (apologies for the unplesantaries and
offensive language, if you found any).
I envy the soldiers for choosing the easy way out. Dying
once is preferable to dying every single day is what I mean.
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