Yeh jo des hai mera!

"Yeh jo Des hai tera

Swades hai tera

Tujhe hai pukara

Yeh woh Bandhan hai

Jo kabhi toot nahi sakta"

- Javed Akhtar (Swades)

The other day some of my friends and me were watching India Vs Sri Lanka T20 WC on ESPN when the Indian National Anthem was played before the match started. It was an automatic reaction, when all of us sprang up from our respective bean bags and chairs to full attention. Something we were taught when we stepped into play school. The first thing every Indian is taught- irrespective of whether he is muslim, christian, jewish, sikh, parsi, buddhist, zoroastrian or hindu. We all stood in attention with our hands glued to our sides mouthing "Jana Gana Mana". And I am sure all my friends had goosebumps like I did. If you're Indian, then you know what I am talking about. The Indian squad was singing and it was like, how they say in Hindi - "Garv se chatti phool jana" - it was that moment for them. Playing for your country with millions of people praying for you and sitting in front of the television/radio, watching/listening to each and every word the commentator utters - the feeling must be overwhelming for sure. And that's the reason, irrespective of how they do, I have never cursed the Indian cricket team. It takes guts to go out there and play for your country. Every team has its good days and bad ones. And really bad ones. And they need us more when they are going through a rough patch. So this blog post of mine is the result of that moment of being and feeling a part of a beautiful land called India. Bharat. Hindustan.

My roomie and I were cleaning the kitchen once and talking about India and its diversities. We were talking about this one settlement in Coorg - North Coorg to be specific, near madikeri. It's about a hundred houses on a hillock with families that are hindu, muslim and christian. Its almost awesome to see how they live in such peaceful co-existence with one another. On a Sunday morning, you see christian kids dressed in their Sunday best, making their way to the Church, the muslim kids playing after their homework is done - the boys with the beautiful white sacred caps on their heads and the girls with their foreheads covered, and the hindu kids with a red tikka on their foreheads. I find this picture just beautiful. I am in fact at a loss for words to describe how perfect it looks to me. And apart from these differences in their attire, they all look the same to me. All the boys have devilish smiles on their faces, the girls hold hands and go around picking flowers and wild berries, carrying water from the water pumps and screaming at the boys throwing stones at them and every time they do something to irritate them. I do not find a difference in them at all. And neither are they made conscious of the fact that their friends believe in a different God. Then when does that feeling creep in to them? When do start to dis-trust each other? When jeeps with fanatic extremists from different religions go around holding a micro phone and a loudspeaker, screaming at the top their lungs about the virtues of following a particular religion? Or is it true that hundred thousand new channels project an untrue picture to keep the TRPs going? I guess it is - because for 22 years of my life, I have seen that settlement in Coorg remain exactly the same. Nothing has changed and I have every reason to believe that nothing ever will.

That is my India. And those are my Indians. Indians who cheer for one cricket team and one Dhoni and one Sachin. Indians for whom fights are between a Tandoori chicken and Hyderabadi Biryani, between Sachin/Saurav/Rahul and stuff like that which constitute our everyday life. My India, which until now believes in 'Unity in Diversity' - something you find written on schools walls everywhere. Indian who stood up and clapped when the Indian Womens Hockey team won the WC in 'Chak De' and Shah had tears in his eyes. Indian with pride in our nation. India that until now believes in Gandhi Ji's ideals and his love for all religions. India that might sometimes cry but will always have hands that reach out to wipe those tears. In the peace march after the Mumbai attacks in 2008, I didn't recognize a hindu and a muslim in the crowd. All I saw were Indians everywhere. With so much happening all over the country and the world, it's heartening to see such faith in goodness and human values. it feels awesome to trust someone just because he/she is a good humanbeing irrespective of what religion they follow. It feels great to see that I am not the only Indian who thinks like this.

So for all the terrorism that surrounds us, it's beautiful to see Banwari Lal hugging Salim Chacha on Eid and Salim Chacha eating a ladoo on Diwali. I love to see Shah Rukh Khan,a muslim being the heartthrob of millions in a country predominantly hindu.

Does it make a difference if he is Raj or Rizwan?

The best part is - everyone I know will say No.