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…
