Greetings to the Republic

I am no longer an Indian national. This morning, we participated in the flag-hoisting ceremony in the condo we recently moved into in Mumbai. People milled around, children fought and played alternately, women greeted each other. There were so many people dressed in national colours, or at least wearing some personal item with the national colours on it - a scarf, a dupatta, a simple pin. Given that a large number of the denizens in the condo are returning residents of the United States, could this be one of the new ideas imported into India from the United States? Patriotism is worn on your sleeve in the United States. People are visibly proud of their republic, and they do not hesitate to proclaim their loyalties. A flag in the yard, a wind shield sticker, a flag draped over the torso. Is this a good thing?

Then a suitably inept mistress of ceremonies announced that the flag would be hoisted by the senior-most citizen in the condo. The security detail mustered up a salute, and the national anthem was sung. I joined in the singing, and I was conscious that I had not sung the anthem of the land of my birth for close to twenty years. My mind went back to the day I stood with my wife in the Westminster City Council Hall and took an oath of loyalty to the Queen. I wondered if I was committing an act of betrayal. To what? This is the land of my birth, everything I am is because of what I learnt here, and how can a simple oath of loyalty abolish all of that?

We need to be proud of this Republic. I was drawn to the phrase 'the idea of India'. Someone - I think it was Nehru - who said that the world needed the idea of India to succeed. How true it was in 1947, and how true it is today.