Into that heaven...

Heaven of Freedom
by Rabindranath Tagore

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee to ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.

I learnt to sing this poem/song when i was in the 4th standard. It was only 5 or 6 years later that i realised what it meant, it's context and deeper meaning, given the period of time during which it was written.

Now, sometimes, this poem jumps forth from the depths of my conscious mind, as i read the news from India. I was thinking again a few days back about how i'm now and "NRI", and what it means. I'm looking at my country from the outside, and it gives me a genuine opportunity to put things in perspective. Notice i dont use the word "compare", because that is not what i intend to do. Sometimes i read, hear and discuss things that are happening in India, and i wonder if this is the way things should be, or if this is the way things were envisioned 60 years ago?

For the answer, read the poem again.

I'm going to write about a few serious things, in the future. Things i say may not go down too well with everyone who reads. But there are so many things in this world that don't belong, but they exist nevertheless.

First up... Gautam Prasad and his impersonation of Baapu.