Republic Day

Republic Day

It is the occasion of Republic Day. I wake up & check my WhatsApp messages, which are full of "Happy Republic Day" wishes. Facebook is also loaded with Republic Day pictures, and looking at all the uploads, i upload one too!

As i sit to sip down some morning tea, I can hear faint "mere desh ki dharti" in the background somewhere. The news paper has a nice tricolor picture & the building next to me hoists the national flag. Some adjacent building has a puja. The overall atmosphere is quite beaming.

As i get up for a bath, i look around. The home is in a mess. My mom hasn't been around for the last two days, & hence you can imagine the situation. I decide to take matters in my hand & start cleaning up the entire house. While this cleaning process, I think about the cleanliness of India. & thinking that makes me also think about various other things that we need to do ASAP.

Our roles in celebrating Republic Day aren't restricted to just uploading tricolor pictures or playing patriotic songs. Our roles also comprise of making India even better, with each passing day.

Following are, I feel, the things which we, as Indians, should adopt and try to implant in our day to day lives.

1. Cleanliness- We should all make an effort to keep India clean. & by clean India, I do not mean only banging the "Swaccha Bharat" slogan or taking on streets over one Sunday in two months. By cleanliness I mean we should all make serious yet simple efforts to keep our surrounding clean. Try to not throw away wrappers on the road, don't put waste out of the waste bins on the streets, don't litter the trains with waste, keep the public toilets clean after use and so on. Just take care of your own acts, & everyone will.

2. Environment- We need to take care of our environment. Don't kill wild beings. Don't pollute the environment with noise. Try to minimize the use of vehicles for small distances. Do not print unless extremely necessary. Plant tress- but not a random tree at on any public road- take care to see that it does not effect the localites and also that it will be taken care of.

3. Water- We should all stop wasting water. We have been facing water cuts since the first day the rains stopped. & its still long before the rains come again. But yet, we have been wasting water. Don't overuse the available water just because you have it. Try to minimize the use. Try to stop the wastage.

4. Intolerance - I feel ashamed to put this, but yes, we Indians definitely have turned intolerant towards everything. & we are dumb enough to call ourselves tolerant while protesting for a film because an actor called us intolerant. People, we do not need to raise bandwagons over every statement and every act, which isn't even remotely near to the issues that actually matter. If you want to be hyper over things, be over issues that concern the general public - which we have enough.

5. Supporting the 'isms'- I feel any 'ism' over an extent is wrong. Be it caste-ism, religion-ism, feminism, & any more. You feel strongly for your caste- sure, support it- but don't try to show the other castes in the worst light. You think religion is the key thing to stick by- go ahead- but don't be ready to kill anybody who expressed otherwise. You call yourself feminist- sure, but don't bank on it. Know the fine line between extrem'ism' and support.

6. Respect: We all need to start respecting our fellow people a bit more. From the neighbors to the sweepers; and from the celebrities to the common man. And especially learn to respect the Women in our society a lot more. Always, when you give respect, you earn respect!

7. Health and Fitness- We all need to take care of our health. We all need to be fitter. These days when I look around, I find so many obese people. No longer can 4 people fit onto the benches in  local trains. I see so many people falling sick the very moment they go into the rain or travel in hot sun for a day. We just do not care about our health & figures. We need to understand the importance of being fit and also need to realize that running to the hospital and getting one million tests done isn't required every time. Just like the slogan "Padhega India, tabhi toh badhega India", I feel equally important is " Fit rahega India, tabhi toh badhega India".

So this 67th Republic Day, lets all swear to eradicate the negatives and adopt the positives. Let us try to make India the way our Constitution makers had dreamt of. Let us, for once, make India proud of her Indians.

Happy Republic Day! 

Jai Hind!