The Stimulus

This morning , I was seriously involved in reading my novel while going in the bus to office, when a guy boarded is half way through, and sat beside me. He and his friends in the back seat immediately got off into a conversation. They discussed everything from cricket to cars, facebook and twitter. I tried hard not to eavesdrop, but they were too close and loud for me not to hear them. I wish I didn?t. This guy who boarded the bus started talking about highway conditions in the country, and how he had faced difficulties while driving on a particular national highway, and then started comparing it with some highways/interstates in an another country, which he experienced when he was apparently onsite. It was very annoying listening to him rant about the state of affairs in our country, and how others have a better planning. A certain remark made by him, when he said, ?People in our country are useless?, and a similar comment about the system.

Usually, I do not take any remark/snigger/comment against my country, or its system, for I firmly believe it is the people who make the system and the country, and only when they bring about a change, things don?t happen.

Another similar incidence where my patriotism was stimulated today was when one of the guys commented on a public forum in office, about a certain tweet by a celebrity, which looked down upon the country and made fun of a few things like for eg how an ambulance/police reach later than a pizza. I was sure it was lifted off from a poor joke, but what was startling to see was that the guy who posted this made his own remark, saying, ?so very true?. There was this senior manager who gave a slapstick reply to that thread, and everyone was applauding the way he had presented facts as a reply.

Something inside me felt good, that there is this sense of love for the country, which is inherit in every individual. The only problem is that some choose to ignore it when they move to a comfort zone, and some exhibit it even when they have a sword hanging over their head. And then I thought of this quote, which seemed so apt

Patriotism is as fierce as a fever, pitiless as the grave, blind as a stone and as irrational as a headless hen. - Ambrose Bierce

Continuing with the weeklong theme of colours from the Indian tricolor.