We, the not-so-great citizens of a great nation.

"Mr.Indian" is an enthusiastic patriot, so say his acquaintances and he himself. Yes, a patriot. Not that he has immense love for his country or that he can sacrifice anything for it, but he does have his own reasons for declaring in front of everyone "I am the reflection of a true patriotic Indian personified". Wanna know his 'reasons' (and the interesting paradoxes involved too, that make his patriotism more ironical than anything!) ? Here we go..... so Mr.Indian proudly claims that he loves his country :

Coz he gets mesmerized listening to patriotic songs (and yawns and chats with the people around during the national anthem. Wonder if he even bothers to give a short sigh of relief to that sofa he's sitting on, to stand for a few minutes while the anthem is being played.)

Coz he considers his country-land, his bharat maata, while his own maata (mother) lies much ignored in an unknown corner of the house that she and her husband built for their only son with much toil and sweat, like a lifetime ago. She knows well, she is nothing but a 'burden' for her son now. Afterall, it takes him & his family so much effort to look after the ailing woman! An added effort for his wife to make two extra chapatis, even as the rest of the family feasts upon yummy Dominoes' pizzas and soft drinks. An extra effort to hand over a glass of plain water when she asks for it, if ever she does, after overcoming the fear of being scolded or abused by her son-turned-'responsible man' and his wife, who the old lady once welcomed to the house, in the loveliest manner possible.

Coz he hates the whites, the angrez, as he calls them. "In firangion ne hamare desh ko barbaad karne ki koshish ki thi!", says he, very aggressively, in a yet another 'passionate' discussion with office mates, during their working hours. While at the same time accepting 'tokens of affection' in cash and kind, from under the table. Sure Mr.Indian, who can talk about desh ki barbaadi better than you!

Coz he has no respect for the foreign tourists here, no matter how much revenue they bring to "his India's" coffers. And hence he has nothing to say to that taxi driver who misbehaves shamelessly with the white lady, right in front his eyes or to the street vendor overcharging an American tourist. They 'deserve it', he claims. Though he himself longs for the day when his son will be taken in by a big international company after passing out of the country's most reputed institution where the government is spending lakhs of money annually on him and other students like him, in hope of getting well trained professionals who'd strive to take the nation's progress to another level, who'll put in their very best to help turn this hitherto 'developing', but much deserving to be counted in one of the best, country into a developed one. But no, this is not what he wants for his son. He wants him to be enslaved day and night by the countries these "firangi" tourists come from. Good going Mr.Indian. Way to go!

Coz he is powerful with words and can leave anybody behind in calling every politician a blood sucking scoundrel and the government a total failure. Even as he doesn't let go of even an hour of his holiday nap on an election day. Voting? Poora desh pada hai karne ko!! Mr.Indian, aap desh mein nahi hain kya? 

Coz he hates English and the fact that it is increasingly gaining importance due to globalization. That he doesn't know it at all, is a different matter altogether. He just loathes it, loathes the language that is training his son to be an internationally viable professional. Err...what were we talking about? Patriotism, yeah right!

Coz he wants every Indian to progress, so that the nation can also progress with them, well atleast he says so. Even as his daughter is not allowed to study further. Tum ladki ho! Zyada pair bahar nikalne ki zaroorat nahi hai! Ladka banne ki koshish mat karo. Mr.Indian, 'every Indian' means only boys? Even if girls prove to be much more capable and competitive professionals? Or should we know by seeing people like you, why women still are NOT equal to men, in our country? No, please don't make big speeches, we all know the truth, women are NOT equal to men here, not yet and its high time we accept this so that something can be done about it! 'Coz unless we admit something is wrong, how can we set it right? But no, with a major chunk of the people comprising of "Mr.Indians", how can we think of 'every Indian' rising high.

Coz he loves India's cultural and regional diversity, knows and respects the fact that we are known world-over for our 'unity in diversity' and that we are one secular country. (And looks at every Muslim with devil looks as if saying to himself- "all of them are terrorists!!")

So, that was "Mr.Indian", a real Indian? A true nation lover? A passionate patriot? Or, just a hypocrite? We all know what the truth is. And how many such "Mr.Indians" do you think exist in our society today? Any answer? Well, I have one and that answer is- MANY. I'll tell you why I feel so, but before that I have something to ask you.

1. Have you at any time made a statement like "Is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta!"?
2. Have you ever felt unlucky for having taken birth here?
3. Have you at any time said to yourself with a deep sigh "Kaash mai wahan hota!" ?
4. Have you ever publicly criticized every little or not so little thing going amiss in any corner of this country?

If your answer to any of these questions is a 'yes', I'm afraid, you too are one "Mr.Indian". Maybe you do not make fake claims of being a proud Indian, of being ready to do anything for your country, but you are just as big a hypocrite, as him. How?

Ask yourself, who makes a nation? What makes a huge piece of land walled by imaginary man-made boundaries, a 'nation'? It is, the people. India is, whatever it is, because of the way 'we', its citizens, are. Since ages we've been hearing, "be the change you want", "don't just criticize, do something about it", but unless we love our country, respect our nationality, as it is, how can we go about doing anything for the country? You make an effort for someone, only when you really love that person, why at all can this not be true for our relationship with our motherland? For a change, can't we just bring ourselves to understand that there's absolutely no nation as perfect as we want it to be. You know why? Coz WE ourselves, the people who constitute a nation, aren't perfect! We have our vices and our virtues. And it's when our vices superpower our virtues, that we go on the path of wrong, and our country on the path we don't want it to take. 

Honestly, there is no great effort you need to put in to be a genuine patriot, to show that you really love your country and are proud to be an Indian, to feel "Mera Bharat Mahan". All that you need to do is be an "Indian" and not a "Mr.Indian", just go on fulfilling your every responsibility most righteously- your responsibility as a son, as a father, as a husband, as an employee, as a civilized citizen, as a human being and so on. 

'WE'...

If there is anything at all bad about India, it is 'we'. Think over it, the corruption, the deceit, the discrimination, the violence and other multifarious factors we curse India for, who actually have injected them into our soil? No points for guessing, it is 'we'! 'We' build the nation the way it is, either 'we' have to change ourselves, if we truly want to make our nation at par with the best or else we have the least right to declare "is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta", coz in that case we are being no less than "Mr.Indian" and we have already seen, how respectful a country-man he makes for. Talking more directly, if 'we' are the defaulters, 'we' are the ones 'jinka kuch nahi ho sakta', 'we' are the ones who don't deserve to have taken birth in this legendary soil. Bad Indians make India bad. 

I hope and wish I've been able to express myself completely. We need to learn to accept our shortcomings gracefully but also be proud of our strengths. Need I mention what they are? The worth of relationships, family, humanity, emotions and so on, these are the endowments we have been inheriting since time eternal, from the very roots of our huge, ever-flourishing tree of love, values and cultural richness. It is only when 'we' let go off these, that we move on the downwards going curve in the graph of growth and so does our nation. 


Sure a lot needs to be done for India, and who'll do that? 'We'! But before that, we have to become real INDIANS and not the hypocritic "Mr.INDIANS", if we really want to get the nation of our dreams and aspirations. 


Believe it or not, we have every potential to achieve what 'they' (the other nations we might tend to fantasize to be in) have, but what 'we' have HERE, 'they' can never even understand its worth, let alone achieve it! Afterall, kuch bhi kaho yaar, mera Bharat hai mahaan.


P.S: As to why the main protagonist is called as "Mr.Indian" here, well, HAIL SARCASM!! ;)