I Am NO Patriot...

I am a little surprised at the things that are happening in the country today. Controversies are like a dime a dozen. All of us have established a set of people that we end up blaming for whatever we aren't okay with. And life goes on.

In such political instability, I often ask myself questions regarding patriotism. Am I a patriot? I really don't think so. Please hear me out before you chew my head off for this statement.

If we agree that Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Netaji were patriots, then we must accept that you and I are not. Our times are different from theirs and so are our motivations.

I wake up every morning and the first thing I do is worry about my day. I think about how to get through the various struggles that come up due to my work. I worry about my salary, my bills, due dates, taxes and providing for my household.

What I don't worry about is whether Aamir Khan’s statement is justified or not. I don't worry about whether my neighbour is a Hindu or a Muslim. Hell, I don't even care about whether India takes over Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir or forfeits it. I don't care about which party is in power. Because these things don't help me earn my daily bread.

And I bet most people, normal people don't give a shit about trivial matters like Aamir Khan’s wife’s take on “intolerance”. But, my friend Faizal who is employed by a reputed hospital as a nurse cares when he has difficulty finding an apartment on rent because of his name. He worries about how people around him perceive him because of his religious belief. For him, this discrimination is a pressing matter.

The real problem is very simple. It is the discrepancy between what we believe, what we convey and what we endorse. Add to this mix, information overload and you get an amazingly screwed up public psyche. For instance, my colleague Ashish who was born in 1988 has been convinced by the social media articles that the Mahatma was the worst thing to happen to India. The Mahatma died in 1948, by the way. Just saying that people today, thanks to the misleading propaganda that is so abundantly accessible on social media, feel qualified to judge people like Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru.

Lets look at what people believe. Even though we are an extremely tech savvy country, it's surprisingly how ignorant the general public really is. We are willing to believe just about anything we are told. A shining example of this is the success of Patanjali products. Another example that comes to mind is Narendra Modi’s Acche Din campaign. Or those pictures of Gods that do the rounds on FB and Whatsapp that promise to bring you good luck if you share them in 10 groups.

Anyway, not all of it is about misguidance. We also have to factor in people’s innate stupidity. All forms of bias and discrimination are an example of that. And it is not confined solely to our country. But we take it to a whole different level. We discriminate among religions. We discriminate based on colour, caste, occupations, sects, sexuality and any other classification criteria we might find.

Well, I could go on and on about this and nothing would change. I am just an ordinary guy who is fed up of all the crap around him. I know I can't change anything because let's face it, I am nobody. All I can do is control what I endorse or project. I don’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd. Nor do I feel the need to harbour indignation for matters as insignificant as some celebrities’ wife’s point of view. That's why I don't share political propaganda on social media and I try my best to steer away from heated political/ religious debate. I neither have time nor the luxury to worry about such “national” issues.

The real issues are different from the ones everyone is obsessing about. Issues like poverty, education and employment. And even talking or fighting about those is futile. Because there’s just too many of us around. So many that we’ll never ever agree on any one thing and get it implemented. And we are all fickle minded as hell. People we worship today, we’ll shun tomorrow. So, what's the point in endorsing something when we are so easily swayed towards another?

So, yeah. I am no patriot. And I don’t need to be the kind of patriots who’d burn someone’s home in the name of God or country. What I am is dependable, a guy who provides for his kin. As my grand father used to say: “You aren’t truly a man till you don't start providing for a family.” I think everything else is just crap.