Patriotism

Originally written Mar-2002 for Infosys Bulletin Board

Patriotism is the conviction that a country is the greatest just because YOU were born in it.

Are we really so self-conceited?

Why does the statement "I love my county" or "I love my city" need a "because"?

Why do we always get defensive whenever anyone criticizes our country or our city and start on a series of justifications?

Why can't we separate out the two statements - "I love India" and "India is great" and realize that there need not be correlation between the two.

I love India because this is my country, good, bad or ugly. I don't care about the good, bad, ugly part while deciding whether to love India or not (anyway this decision is not a conscious one). Of course, I care about the good, bad, ugly part of it as a part of loving India, because what I love, I care about.

Then why do I need to prove that India is the greatest to every Tom, Dick and Harry on this earth? Or is it that somewhere, I need such proofs myself?

Actually, the care that I talked about above can be brought about only by a correct realization of the good, bad, ugly aspects of my object of love, not by any sort of defensiveness.

I happen to be fortunate enough to be a native of Bihar, because it gives me a much better perspective on the separation between goodness and liking. Goodness is a physical state, it is a fact, the fact may not be apparent, but it is still an objective reality. Liking is a feeling, and I don't need it to be objective at all. There are so many bad things about Bihar, which everyone knows and the media keeps on highlighting. Yet, I love Bihar. There are so many good things also, perhaps hidden, perhaps in small pockets. But even if these good things were not there, I would still love Bihar. Whatever, it is still mine, and hence I love it. Period. Earlier, I used to start justifying about my state, now I don't. I realized that I don't need your approval of my state to love my state. Simple really, isn't it.

I love Bangalore. Because its the place I stay. Because there is something called my home which is in Bangalore. Does that mean I think it is the best in everything? Of course not. I am one of the so-called "bangalore-cribbers". If I call something in India bad, does it mean I love India any lesser? One cribs about only what one cares about, isn't it?