Know your National Anthem and Song!

This blog was long pending from me. It is pending from the time I saw 2 women happily yapping away when the national anthem was played during the IPL match. They were caught on camera and they waved a big hi!

Yesterday, I saw this video shared on a website named scoopwhoop and was outraged. These girls and boys on the video were asked to sing our national song “VandeMataram” and they were not able to. They blinked and bluffed, few went a step ahead and made a mockery out of it. Then proudly accepted, “Sorry yaar, I don’t  know” really? You don’t know?  Sad part is, they were not ashamed a bit to accept this. Then I saw another video where a set of people from a different city in India were asked about Delhi politics. One of the questions were, “Who do you think is a better candidate for India? Arvind Kejriwal or Indira Gandhi” Almost all of them answered Indira Gandhi. Few decided to add up to my awe and asked, “Who is Arvind Kejriwal?” OK, now you don’t know who is Arvind Kejriwal  fine but can’t you even recognize that the lady is dead!! I am really worried about the state of my country because we don’t know what’s going in the country, we don’t bother to know the current affairs, we don’t know to respect our national anthem, we don’t know to sing our national song and then finally we want ghost leaders.

I spoke about this to my friends, and I read the comments on the video where these citizens of India were not aware of the national song. I saw comments that said, “I guess it is ok. I mean national song hi to hai. If you don’t know it is not a crime” Well, it is not a crime but isn’t that a matter of dignity to our nation? The citizens of India cannot sing their own national song; they don’t know the meaning of their national anthem. Guess what? They are not ashamed of it a bit! When I was in school, we had a short version of our national anthem because 52 secs is really very precious and you cannot afford losing it. I remember singing the short version of the national anthem and rushing back to the classes. If only, schools realize the importance of this and insist upon each student getting it right. We don’t have to face this embarrassing situation now or at least face a situation where we don’t even know that we should be embarrassed and are being made the laughing stock.

Unfortunately, we have learnt to compromise many things in life. Sometimes, we compromise our life itself for others to be happy or for the fear of taking risks. But there are few things that should never be compromised. We cannot compromise on knowing the national anthem, stepping over the national flag when it is lying on road, how many of us know that the national flag should not touch the ground? I was shocked when someone I knew told me it is just a flag. No! It is not just a flag! It is the pride of your nation and you cannot stamp it. It cannot stay on the hoist after 6 PM. You have to give the respect it deserves. We don’t compromise over our self respect, do we? But somehow we cannot get the basic facts of the national flag right. This is the sad state of my country. Please, take some time out to know about your nation, flag and the national anthem.

It is NOT OK to not know your national anthem or song!

It is NOT OK to step on your national flag or let it lie on the ground!

It is NOT OK to talk when the national anthem is being played.

Finally it is NOT funny that you don’t know these!

If you really think your country is worth it. Please go to this link and learn the national song. It is only 1.27 Mins long. If you already know it, thank you!