Unity or otherwise?

Since today is Independence day, of which we all Indians are so proud of, I thought I would take up such a topic which has been bothering me since a long time. We all believe that the greatness of our nation comes due to the unity in diversity and why not. Today many of my friends sent me the following SMS –

28 states!

7 union territories!

1618 languages!

6400 castes!

6 religions!

6 ethnic groups!

29 major festivals!

All in 1 country – INDIA, Proud to be an INDIAN.

I mean yes, these facts are worth being proud of, but are we missing something? The only thing we miss, according to me is Unity. Everywhere in the country discrimination is rampant. Discrimination of caste, religion, region and so on. Only on a few days we Indians come together to say we are one. These days include a few festivals, Independence Day, Republic day and those days when our country has to face dire hardships like terrorist attacks and the vengeance of nature like the flash floods in Leh. We have got to grow up.

I sometimes feel that even though we are in the 21^st century when all the nations of the world albeit a few are just looking for means to establish themselves in the race for progress and uniting against terrorism, we remain where we were. Fighting amongst ourselves. Fighting for separate states, fighting for water from rivers, fighting for establishing our regional language as the state language.

This reminds me of two incidents.

Number one - A few weeks back I and a few of my friends had gone on sightseeing tour of Karnataka. This was one experience that made me think – a lot. The moment we got down from our train, we felt like complete aliens in an alien land. Not a single signboard or a banner was in a language we could understand. Unfortunately none of us could read Kannada. We searched high and low for English or Hindi signs on buses but our effort was in vain. Even the people who looked like locals couldn’t understand what we were trying to ask them. Ultimately we decided that from then on we were going to ask only cops or people who looked as if they were from other states for directions. I am not trying to curse or abuse the state and people of Karnataka, but this made us realize that people coming to Maharashtra, i.e. my birthplace, which I used to think was a really great state till that point , were also feeling the same thing if they didn’t know the language Marathi. Especially after some political parties in Maharashtra want the same thing to be done there too – every signboard and billboard in Marathi, taking oath in assembly in Marathi, all official documents in Marathi or else they will beat up people, publicly. I want to know why we are trying to divide a country which was already divided years ago in small states based on language? The only language which I feel is important is the language of humanity.

This showed me how we discriminate between our own brothers and sisters on basis of language.

Number two - Recently, my uncle, Dr.Anant Mahale, who has come down to India to settle here after spending almost 30 years in the United States of America had to go through a horrid experience. Already , being used to the work culture in the US, he is getting frustrated with the government offices and their type of work here in India. He tries to avoid going there as far as possible. Settled in Pune currently, he had to go for some work to a government office and this he did. What happened was a thing which he must have never imagined in his wildest dreams. He was dressed in a formal half pant and a t- shirt and u can expect this from a person who, till recently was a prominent NRI. A clerk sitting in the office, kept staring at him for a long time before telling my uncle, and that also not in a too friendly or polite way, “ U are insulting me by wearing shorts in my office”. My uncle asked him in what way had he insulted him? But instead of replying, the clerk asked my uncle to leave the office . Can u imagine how insulting this must have been. While telling this to me, my uncle was still shocked that this can happen in his own land of birth, told me on phone and i quote – “ Sanket, I, who was never discriminated based on my religion, my race or my skin colour in the US, in my 30 years of stay there, was discriminated on basis of my attire in my own country, the land of Mahatma Gandhi, who got us independence in only a loincloth! Is this common here or was i an exception?” To this I had no answer.

If we can’t respect our own countrymen, why would other nations respect us? Why would all the NRI’s who have gone abroad, return to their homeland with a feeling of pride for their country? These are few of the many questions we need to ask ourselves and all of our countrymen as well.