Mother India

We always use the term “Mother India” to represent our country, India. When we think of Mother we claim that our country is filled with unending love and will sacrifice everything for our happiness. For all of us who have been blessed with a mother, we know that she is more than that. We know that a mother is someone who will tell you that you are wrong when you are. She is probably the only one who has taken authority to screech at you in front of your friends. She is the one who wields power over you no matter how old you get, no matter how independent you get. She is the one who can smack you and be thanked for it, rather than be ridiculed or jailed for it.

A mother is someone who can improvise the imperfections in the perfect too. So what if Mother India really existed? What if there existed that one lady who selflessly wanted our well being and who knew how to get the best out of India.

Well firstly Mother India would teach all of her children to stop bickering over stupid things like that person eats beef and that person does not. She would say, “As long as they are not forcing you to eat it, zip it! Let them eat whatever they want to eat. Let them live however they want to live. Let them dress however they want to dress and for heavens sake let them just be! You are your own person, what someone who lives kilometers away from you does should be the least of your concerns!”

Then, she would teach her children to not comment over everything anyone says. She would teach that it is bad, very bad to back answer people. So if someone said something to contradict you, first she would throw the most used comment, “The dogs are barking, let them bark. Then she would explain that when someone disagrees with you, they are disagreeing with your idea and not with your personality. Take it in your stride, just consider what they are saying, if what they are saying is not relevant at all and is merely a product of boiling human emotions then you do not need to glorify such a waste of a comment by acknowledging it and if what they are saying makes some intellectual sense, then prove them right and wrong by your actions. Basically, at the end of the day it is important to remember that freedom of speech is a fundamental right but the compulsion to listen is not a fundamental duty. So toughen up and stop carrying your heart up your sleeve.”

If Mother India actually existed she would spend most of her time disciplining her charges. Teaching them that battles create larger problems than they solve, the moment that she would teach this to one set of children another set will break out in to a fight. Separating them and explaining to them that a bundle of sticks is much stronger than a single stick would grey her hair, but she would not give up, because she is a mother and mother’s never give up on their children just as children never stop respecting their mothers.

Mother India would teach her rather emotional charges that their uniqueness does not come from their birth place, it comes from their hearts. Their uniqueness stems from their thinking and their action. She would teach her children that the fact that they are her, India’s children is a mere fact, but what they are or what they will be is a reality. It is reality that enhances facts. It is their responsibility to respect and forever treasure their roots, but if there is no shoot, no fruits and no leaves the roots are useless. She would help her charges understand that their origin, whatever it be is merely a part of their existence, whether they like it or not whereas their reality, what they become is a representation of their entire existence and they are the only ones who have sole monopoly over what they represent.

I believe that my country and its citizens (which includes me) are going through our adolescence, we are confused and thus angry. It is at such a stage that a mother’s gentle yet firm touch is most required although it is also the stage at which a mother’s presence is least appreciated. I sincerely hope that the love that we harbor for our country manifests itself in to that mother who lends the child enough strength and knowledge to deliver himself from the shallow yet troublesome waters of adolescence to the calm yet mysterious waters of adulthood!

P.S. There is another reason that I really wish that Mother India would have actually existed. If she did, then I could actually hug my beautiful country!