WHAT IS INDIA?

By:WILLIAM DAVID RABINDRAN

It is not Tagore, Tulsidas, or Tilak that make India India for me…

It is not the Stock Exchange, or Infotech or Reliance that make India India for me…

It is the little girl who sells me a rainspattered daily with her smile

It is the Gulmohar tree aflame in audacious bloom outside my window

It is a melodic old Hindi film song blaring unsteadily on a mike

It is these that make India India for me…


It is not the morning Times of India that makes India India for me…

It is not a heaving cricket match that makes India India for me…

It is being the world's largest democracy

It is the Republic day parade

The soldier who is ready to lay his life down at a moment's notice for his country

It is these that make India India for me…



It is not the charismatic Khans of Bollywood that make India India for me…

It is not Kathak, Bharatanatyam or Odissi that make India India for me…

It is not the tiger or the peacock or the elephant that make India India for me…

It is the burst of sweetness of a golden mango on my tongue

It is a Kanjeevaram sari draped like a song

It is a crimson bindi, the intricate henna, and the shadowed night-like kohl

It is these that make India India for me…



It is not the resplendent Taj, the regal Red Fort, the evocative Khajuraho

That make India India for me…

It is not the glitz and the sway of the metros that make India India for me…

It is the ready harvest beckoning in the field

It is the expressways, the tractors and the factories

It is the gentle passage of the seasons that make up the year

It is these that make India India for me…



It is not Ashoka, or Akbar that make India India for me…

It is not Lagaan or AR Rahman that make India India for me…

It is not the churches of the Goa, or the Golden Temple

The Dargha of Ajmer Sharif, the Stupas of Sanchi or

the Kashi Vishwanath Temple that make India India for me…

It is the towering Himalayas, the accepting Ganges

It is the lamps of Diwali and the happy colours of Holi

It is the heat and the dust

It is the tradition and the dynamism, the diversity and the similarity

It is these that make India India for me…



Yes…

It is the thousands of dialects we speak, but only one language.

the many Gods we worship, but only one religion.

The trains that might derail, the buses that might stall, the roads that might clog

Yet we reach our destination.

And despite the daily grind of living we keep our dreams,

And our humour.



Yes…

It is the acceptance of the uncountable multitudes

The strength in the unity that always surfaces

The spirit that overcomes every obstacle

The feeling that I completely belong.

It is the proud Tricolour flattering in the breeze…

It is these that make India India for me…