Honoring the Indian Independence day, it is with pride I write this note, that I was born in a land that showed the world what is non violence.
Albert Einstein on Gandhi: Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.
Come what may, people say many words against the Mahatma, I for one believe that he was a rebel of sorts and he was responsible for a movement that even the greatest of believers in Jesus have not had success implementing `show thy other cheek'. Gandhi was the best bet India ever had and he did a fantastic job in leading the nation into one piece against the empire which had never won a war against a new strategy Non Violence.
India's greatest asset is in her spiritual prowess, today not many recognize that.
I want to conclude this emotional note with Ghokale's words to Gandhi from that movie released in '82. "India has many men with too much wealth it is their privilege to nourish the efforts of the few who can raise India from servitude and apathy."
I sincerely hope India's wealthy start implementing what Ghokale wished!
Today been to Children's School. While saluting the Falg and singing The National Anthem, the first thing came to my mind was " when did i hear our National Anthem last"? That was on Republic Day. Except for the National Days or in some Government functions we dont hear National Anthem. Earlier, in every gathering including movie hosues the National Anthem was played. We should make it mandatory that any gathering, Official, Religious, Political or business where more than say 50 gather, National Anthem should be sung.( i remeber that there is a legislation prescribing the group size to 20) We should make it mandatory.
This is possible only when the people in any gathering learn to respect The Anthem. The main reason for stopping it in movie halls is because people would start moving out even while it was still playing, it is better not to have it than not to respect it. In gulf countries their national anthem is played at the begining of the movie & anyone who is not standing up (including expats) is liable to punishment. Definitely we do not want to teach our people the value by 'forcing' them into it. RegardsShobha
Interestingly, I was just at the Landmark quiz, where they played the national anthem in the beginning (they make a big deal of holding it on 15th August every year in Chennai). They played the Rahman version, with all the various singers playing bits. At the end of it, the host, Navin Jaykumar (always a bit of a joker on stage) threatened everyone that he'd make them sing it next time, "because some of you have probably forgotten a couple of words in the middle"...
Which is all a very long-winded day of saying, at the end of it, Happy Independence Day to all, and Happy Birthday to the Republic! ;-)
Shash
On Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 9:20 PM, Shobha Ramakrishnan