My dear Motherland,
Never I imagined that one day I will be writing to you with
my heart and soul. Whenever I lived abroad leaving you for years and lived
thousands of mile away, I used to long for your embrace and felt the pain of
separation. The moment my plane touches the Chennai airport, I felt like
kissing your soil that gave me the
dignity of life and identity of being an
Indian.
Yes…among the races
and regions, whites and blacks, poor and rich queuing up in front of
immigration officers abroad – from Hong Kong to Holland, from Singapore to
Syria , from Alexandria to Amsterdam, I felt proud to show my dark blue passport bearing our national emblem of three lions of Ashoka Pillar.. That
moment of my own Indian identity was
truly exhilarating and exuberant . Today every immigration officer looks
at me with amazing respect that I am
your son, the son of a great intellectual country who gave birth to
lakhs of youth propelling the world economy in all spheres of life . Most of
the world airports are dotted with young
Indians criss crossing the crowds of passengers with their
laptops and mobile phones . Mother .. me and all Indians especially the
youth are indebted to you for
bringing us up with civilised
social culture and harmonious human heritage
.
Today I am back in your arms , breathing the fresh air of
freedom and fraternity . The lush green
paddy fields of my village bordered with the
swinging palm and coconut trees, the sound of the pump sets and its
gushing stream of water, the singing birds perched on the power transmission
lines carrying the electricity to all the villages around, prove to me you are
healthy and growing with confidence . I could feel the beats of hope in your
heart and see the rays of optimism in our future.
Today I recollect my loving mother who showed the same hope
and optimism when I was born in a government hospital at Coimbatore city. Seeing the entire
hospital decorated with colourful lights and balloons, she was excited that the
hospital was celebrating her son’s birthday but when the duty nurse informed
her that the decoration was to celebrate
India’s first republic day , she got bit disappointed . But she felt happy that the entire country would be
celebrating the birthday of her son every year. Yes I was born on 26th
January 1950. May be that coincidence might have given me the resolve that I
should live as an Indian and die as an Indian.
Dear Motherland…
While my mother taught me the values of compassion with the society, my father
taught me the values of nationalism and true patriotism. He used to narrate the stories of our freedom
struggle and the life of our great leaders from Mahatma Gandhi to Maulana Abul
Kalam Azad.
Mother, I always
cherish my childhood days playing in your villages – Puthuppatti and
Ponnamaravathy – of Tamilnadu where I used to swim in temple tank and played “
Kittippul “ under the shades of tamarind and the palm trees. These villages never had
electricity nor any bus transport then. When the first bus entered our village all
the children ran in amusement and took a free ride . That was the India I was
born. Today I am proud that my
motherland has world class highways , Metro & Mono rails, and all the luxury vehicles of the world along
with high quality state transport buses connecting all the villages and towns. Mother, You are the soul and spirit for me to rest and relax.
In 1970s as an engineering college student ,when I had the
opportunity to visit the temples of modern India- from the Steel Plants of
Bhilai and Durgapur to the Power Plants at Bakra Nangal and Hiracut, from the
Heavy Engineering plants at Ranchi to BHEL Haridwar, I could witness the
glimpses of the emerging industrialised
motherland and as young engineers we all
dreamt that one day our India would become the most powerful industrialised country. Today, with
the boom in Information technology and software development , I am happy that
the dream is materialising in my own life time.
Yes , my dear motherland, I could feel that sometimes you are very sad
and your eyes are moist with pain. Once you shared with me the causes of that
pain…. the growing trend of the caste and communal animosity, the regional and
religious hatred, the sufferings of downtrodden and the poor, the gender
inequality , the suppression of your daughters and their rights … Do not worry
, my dear motherland… this is the passing phase and we shall overcome soon.
You are safe by the devotion and dedication of our great
soldiers safeguarding you both on the land borders and on the sea. The lakhs of
army personnel, Navy and air force soldiers are dedicating their lives to you.
The Tamil poet Kavi Bharathi sang “ Muppathu kodi muhamudaiyal, sinthanai
onrudaiyal.. “ My motherland ..you may
have 30 crores faces ( the population of
India in 1930s ) but your thought and goal are one and one alone …
The great Gurudev Rabintharanath Tagore also sang in his famous
poem “ Amar Deshes Mati “
You
have become blended in my body,
You
have united with my heart and soul,
That
verdant, tender form of yours is imprinted forever in my heart of heart
My dear Motherland ..
Let
your face smile always with happiness and joy with 130 crores hearts praying
for your strength and unity .
Jai Hind
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