Patriotism is in the air!

It’s that time of the year when speakers and radios blare patriotic songs, school kids line up and salute our great tiranga, vendors on streets go from selling cheap knockoffs of fidget spinners to selling Indian flags and, of course, the Prime Minister of India gives a glorious speech at the Red Fort in New Delhi.

There was something he said this time that struck a chord and brought out a flood of emotions. He compared the current times with the freedom struggle of 1947 and said we need to create a ‘New India’ that is more honest, responsible and hard-working. He said, “We need the same determination as we did in the five years between 1942 and 1947. It is with that passion that we need to take India forward.”

That was a clear message aimed at the younger India, which was sitting in front of him, cross-legged with their curious eyes.

“The 1st of January 2018 is no ordinary year,” said Modi, “Those born in the 21st century will turn 18 starting January 18. I welcome you all to your adulthood. You will play a crucial role in shaping a grand India.”

Speaking as a professional 90s kid and a true-blue privileged millennial, I have a few things to say about that: Our idea of patriotism and our idea of India is quite different from the older generation.

I was giving a talk last weekend on making Parliament more accessible for young people. There were some 40-odd people my age listening to my borderline, insane rant about India in general. The theme of the talk was right up my alley because I have made it my life-goal of sorts to explain laws in a way that my 18-year-old sister would understand. So that she and her friends can have an opinion on them, hopefully debate about it and probably come up with ways to make Parliament better. To make our laws better. To make our society better. To make India better.

The talk was laden with stories about Parliament. The constant underlying message was that the system is broken, we need to expose every little lacunae in it and put it on a garnished platter before this young India. Before those little people our Prime Minister also addressed.

At the end of the talk, one person meekly raised his hand and said, “While your talk was funny & insightful, you ended up making me lose hope in our Parliament. Are you saying that there is nothing good about it? That there is no hope left?” I was sort of taken aback by the question.

I immediately thought: By pointing out multiple flaws in our democratic set-up incessantly, I’m not exactly making this ‘New India’ look very attractive, am I?

Probably. But there is a reason why.

My parents’ generation, the older folks I encounter, often keep complaining about how the younger generation is irresponsible and flaky. There is some derision that comes towards us ‘young Indians’ for being selfish and ignoring the plight of others who are less privileged. We’re criticised for ignoring the struggles our elders went through to bring our country to where it is today. We’re dissed for not acknowledging the privilege we have today.

“These Millennials I tell you,” is an often heard refrain accompanied by an inevitable eyeroll. “They only want to Netflix and chill.”

Sure, we are privileged and there is no denying that. But are we irresponsible?

We have grown up in front of computer screens and our mobile phones have kind of turned into an extra limb on our bodies. We only know about the freedom struggle through books we’ve read and content we’ve consumed online. Our parents, on the other hand, had heard firsthand stories from their parents. The stories our grandparents’ narrated dripped with emotions as they recounted wounds of the Independence struggle. Wounds that were still fresh back then.

My generation, unfortunately, had no such luck. We only heard second-hand tales devoid of that emotion of having actually experienced a mind-altering event of massive proportions that led to the formation of the biggest and most complex democracy in the world. We do not identify with how hard it must’ve been back in 1947 to overthrow a tyrannical British rule. We don’t know how it feels to sacrifice everything and create an Independent India.

It’s not like we don’t want to empathise, it’s because we just won’t be able to.

For us, the Independence struggle is all history. It is something our social studies teachers narrated to us in a matter-of-fact way with the singular objective of making us memorise it all so that we can pass an exam. The only patriotic thing we were required to do was sing the National Anthem every weekday during the morning assembly, sing Vande Mataram on Fridays and attend the Independence Day and Republic day functions to salute our flag twice a year. Patriotism was turned into a symbolic, almost mechanical, routine, year on year throughout our childhood.

Which, in turn, makes it easy for us to now look at flaws in the concept of India. A concept our forefathers had so lovingly envisioned. It’s easy for us to question it all devoid of any real emotion.

We, the younger lot, want to shun the ‘Old India’ and usher in a ‘New India’. It would be an India that can become the bestest country in the entire observable universe until we discover intelligent life on other planets. Probably, 30 years from now, our Independence Day will be celebrated by hosting barbecues, dandia events and picnics. It would become more of a celebration rather than a sombre reminder of the sacrifices our forefathers made to make the idea of India a reality. Our kids would be dancing around under the moonlit sky, gyrating to EDM songs while we watch them and say, “Ugh. Kids these days.”

But I just want to say outright on this historic day of August 15, 2017, if we do all that it does not mean that we love our country any less. It’s just that our idea of patriotism is radically different.

We celebrate India. We love India in ways you would find hard to understand. We are fond of the explosion of colours and the quirky-ness we encounter every step we take. We smack our lips really hard, really impolitely, when we taste a 100 different versions of Pani-puri (Puchka? Pani Batasha? Golgappa?). We are amused by the insanity of it all and are quite alright with confidently talking about it.

We point out the flaws we see so that we can work out ways to fix them too. Our job, as the new citizens of this glorious country, is to make things better. Our job is to usher in the ‘New India’ of our Prime Minister’s dreams.

But we are going to do it our way. We will criticise the idea of old India so that we can bring in a new one. For a New India to emerge, we don’t have to destroy the old one, we just have to spot the weaknesses in its foundations.

Happy Independence Day India, you 70-year-old insane nation!

We love you and we’re going to work hard to make you better!

Now let’s dance!

The author can be contacted on Twitter @Memeghnad.

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