Being an Indian

I won't be talking about those big issues prevalent in our country, like how we should be a responsible citizen or report corruption or fighting terrorism or must vote to select better government. No. All this we acknowledge very well already.

There are many other things that we do or we love to do or is actually attached with our destiny being an Indian.

First and foremost thing that creeps into my brain is Cricket. Earlier less number of us were interested in it when we just had test cricket. Number of cricket fans increased with the commencement of One Day Internationals. My mother tells me stories related to 1983 world cup. She would recognise every player who used to play cricket when she was young like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev etc. It won't be an exaggeration if I say that I've got an inclination towards Cricket from my Mom and not dad, "breaking the stereotype".

We Indians, many of us, are born cricket fans. This was about interest. Apart from this you must have heard about Indo-Pak cricket matches and the crowd gathered there? There was a girl in my class when I was in School, she used to crib a lot about Cricket, "What's so special in it?", "Why my brother is crazy about it?" No doubt she was unaware even about the terms related with the game. But the very next day of an India-Pakistan match she was the one who talked the most about it, "Being an Indian".

From the very childhood one won't be knowing the name of the genius who got the Nobel for Chemistry but would be knowing very well about his cricket team and its glorious victories over other nations' teams, "Being an Indian".

The next thing worth noticing is out immense love for Movies. Number of movies a year is directly proportional to the number of languages we have in our country. Telugu, Bangla, Kannad, Marathi, I mean, what not?

We breathe in movies and their songs.

People accuse Bollywood of copying ideas from Hollywood and South Indian movies but "being an Indian" they are the ones who strive to watch the first day first show of that movie starring big names from Bollywood.

Admit it or not, a movie in your mother tongue if put in properly, influences your brain more effectively. And the craze for a movie star is well-known here. What not people do to just get a glance of their favourite actors. Abuse SRK once on twitter and you will be abused back ten times by his "fans" (I have tried this several times).

What to talk about fun and enjoyment! Everybody does it. But here, people have their own ways of doing it, "Being an Indian".

Youngsters find relief from their day-to-day activities by partying, movies, outings etc whereas you must have seen women chilling out by gossiping about every second issue around them or even shopping and spilling money over every silly thing. No, of course they do it responsibly as well, but this is their stress-buster many-a-times.

Aged lot of people find enjoyment playing with their grand children which give them immense pleasure that cannot be replaced by those materialistic luxuries of life. They just want importance, solace and love. (Well, this factor must be common all across the world).

"Being an Indian", we are always up for whole lot advices and concern for our neighbours or our relatives even when they don't want it. Look at the extra sweetness!

What to say about marriages! here we spend all our belongings marrying our children because that's the most important task in parents' life. Being an Indian they do every bit to select a perfect groom/bride for their kids and marry them off gifting them the second half of their lives. Attend a wedding ceremony here and you'll get to know us, care,  love, affection, respect in us in a better way.

And last but not the least "our culture".

We love integrating our culture, "Being an Indian".  Heard about Bengali Roshogulla, Agra ke Pede, Rajasthani Daal Baati, marathi Vada Paao, Gujarati Dhokla, South Indian Rasam and many more? You will find these food items in the entire country and loved by all of us. Same goes for Clothing. Even versions overlap.

We are so closely integrated and proud to be an Indian "being an Indian".

I had a dream last night

I had a dream last night. And to my exclaim I was the main lead of my movie like dream. I was never this much idealistic. But then I think somewhere in my sub-conscious mind I possess an idealistic character. The dream goes as follows.

I was with my friends in a car going somewhere. Suddenly I saw a boy (may be 6-7 years old) in his school uniform with his Dad, may be going back to his house after the school was over. He instantly threw his little flag, The National Flag of my country and many other Tricolour stuffs on the roadside. May be it was a few days after 15th August Independence Day. I don't know what happened to me, what lit inside me that I at once ran to the child and tried "preaching" him that "you should not do like that. Don't you know its our National Flag? Why did you bought all this if you wanted to insult it like this?" And so on.. But then I realised he was just a kid, how will he know the importance of the Tricolour if his parents and elders around him are not interested. Then I started picking up all those things lying on the road. After picking up half of the things I looked up to find that nobody was listening to me. He just left with his Father. That was a heart breaking moment. Even his Father was not interested. Then I looked at my friends and they were smiling, I don't know "on me" or "for my good deed". As soon as finished picking up all those things I found a little hand coming towards me. It was another boy, 5-6 years elder than the previous one. He touched my hand and said "Didi, It doesn't matter. Nobody is looking at you and nobody is learning from you." At that moment I wanted to scold and slap him. But his "innocent smile" and the word "Didi" caught hold of my anger as I kept silent. But then looking at my face he was like, "Didi, I promise I won't ever dare throw my National flag here and there. I will always follow what you taught me today".

These words were magical for me.

That's it. I woke up.

I have always wanted to rise from these worldly possessions and do something for all. But for now I succeeded in just a dream. And then I also realised that I want to be big at heart and inspire people for good, which of course can be done without coming into power as Arvind Kejriwal is doing with his Aam Aadmi Party. I don't have any idea whether he'll succeed or not because I've heard a lot of bashing and people calling them jokers etc.

Okay it happens most of the time that I start writing on a topic and automatically switch to other hot discussions linking the two.

Moral of my story is (what I conclude) "start from the roots of your country, i.e., these little kids, transform them and you'll be able to secure India's future. Then think of going further ahead!"

Its still extremely tough!

Age of consent - 16 or 18 years?

That's my question.
Do you all agree to the age of consent as 16 years?
Do you want your children to even think of having consensual sexual relationship at the age of 16?
To be precise, we have age of marriage as 18 years for girls and 21 years for boys. We would not want our sons and daughters to establish sexual relationship at the age of 16 before getting married at the age of 18, isn't it?

This matter can be looked upon in various ways.

This decision may lead to an increased health hazards in females if they start conceiving at the age of 16 years as some of them may take it as their right to do so.

Ethical issue also arise here for some sections of our society. They may think that its not morally correct to establish physical relationship at this age (or precisely before marriage).

Its not an appropriate age (16 years) for someone to bear the responsibility of taking a decision whether she should establish relationship with someone or not.

People of 16 years of age are considered Adolescents according to Piaget's theory of cognitive development (and many other psychological theories). And adolescents have a habit of "trying things" which they have never done specially when they are stopped to do certain things. Then the "age of consent" would be an additional weapon for them to specially search about it and try it, now, legally.

I just got one argument in favor of it.

Even though a girl forms sexual relationship with a boy by her own will then too it may happen that girl's parents allege the boy of rape on their daughter which is utterly invalid but still the opposite side has no proof of it. This law may help in this regard.

This article is based on purely my views. Any critique is invited.