VaiduS World

Once again I am here with a story and this time, the theme is patriotism. So, shall we start? 🙂

***

Riya: Wow! Your next posting is Kashmir… awesome yaar. Look! I and muma-papa are coming there for our next vacation. Make sure, you give us some of your precious time, ok?

Ritwik: Hey! Don’t get excited. I just got the news. It will take time. And by the way, do you or mom-dad ever needs my permission to visit my place? Idiot! But yes, I can’t promise you about my time or your visit to Kashmir. It depends on a lot of things. After all, I am posted in a high alert area and not exactly in the city. So, I am not sure.

Riya: Oh cmon bhai! You can take out some time for your own family.

Ritwik: Yes, I can and for that we have leaves. And if you remember, I have already availed it. Anyways, you won’t understand so leave it. I’ll try my best to call you all and spend more time with you people.

Riya: What do you mean I won’t understand. Of course, I do. I am also working.

Ritwik: Yeah, right! You are working for yourself and I am working for our country. I have some responsibilities towards our nation. And always remember, we are guarding the borders so that you civilians can sleep well and work for MNCs. You earn money for yourself but we earn money against our lives. Our life is dedicated to the nation first and we are proud of it.

***

The above story is a fictitious conversation between a soldier and his sister. It ends with the soldier’s remarks and feeling of patriotism towards his nation. But most of the times, these remarks come from the people who don’t serve defense ministry.

We all agree with this defense person in the above conversation. We need them badly to keep ourselves safe and protected. But don’t they need us?

Civilians and defense people share a lovely bond. And I have personally seen people saying that defense people are the ONLY one who love their country unconditionally. You know what? The people making such statements on our defense people are true. But they miss out one important thing. Defense people are not the ‘ONLY’ one doing it. Every Indian working in or outside the country showers their love to the country. How? Well, let me explain this by sharing a few examples of different professionals.

Patriotism Is Not Meant For Only Indian Soldiers!

Doctors

Every doctor, be it a physician, a surgeon, child specialist, gynecologist, psychiatrists etc. helps his/her patients to recover from their illness. But have you ever seen a doctor making a statement, ‘Hey you lucky champ! You should be proud of doctors because they save people. You know we are the only one serving the nation in a true sense.’ No, right?

We don’t expect these kinds of remarks from them. In fact, it’s a proven fact that patients are more open and comfortable to those doctors who are humble and treat them with care. So, does this mean that they are not serving the nation?

Engineers

We all use metros and railways. We cannot deny the fact that engineers heavily contribute to the growth of these transports. It is the expertise of these engineers who take care of the technical know-how of Indian railways and the most used public transport, metros. But where do these engineers reside?

I haven’t met any engineer serving Indian railways saying, ‘Girl! You should be proud of the engineers of Indian railways. Afterall, we are the ones who do our jobs well so that you can visit your family, enjoy vacations, reach your office on time to earn your bread, or even see your parents when they are not well.’ Did you find any of the engineers making such statements?

Pilots

Do you love vacations? I do. We all use flights to reach our vacation destinations on time. After all, we are busy people and get short weekends for vacations. 🙁

Anyways! A few years of ago, I visited Srinagar with my family. It was such an amazing experience to visit this heaven on earth. It was my first flight experience and to my surprise, this pilot didn’t meet me once else I would have thanked him for making me land safely. I was with my whole family you know. What if he has not made a safe landing. Gosh! My whole family would have gone for a vacation to a real heaven. By the way, did you ever thank the pilot taking you to your destination safely? No? Awww…

Marketing Professionals

You know I am quite active on social media. I love to remain connected with my friends, colleagues, and family. And then one day, I came across this Facebook advertisement with a hashtag, #ShareTheLoad by Ariel.

This advertisement made me realize how my mother brought me up… how she never complained about those dirty socks and school dress… how she used to run after me every evening with a glass of milk… how she cooked the meals and never complained when I demanded Maggie at the time of dinner.

Thank you so much Ariel’s marketing team for running this campaign on social media. It made me fall for my mother all over again. I finally realized her never ending 24 hours job. And the best part was, she never expected anything.

***

So, these are a few examples of the professions that contribute in our lives in one way or the other. They helped the nation through their profession. But the question of a relationship between a defense person and a civilian is still unanswered. To answer this, I will share my own example.

I am an entrepreneur and blogger. I give a certain percentage of my income to the central government as income tax, which is used for the benefit of my nation. A certain percentage of this collected tax is used in defining defense budget every year. As per the report of Times Of India, the defense budget was nearly hiked by 10% this year. In fact, the highest jump was in the pension expenses. This budget is also used for providing food supplies and daily facilities to the soldiers.

I am not good in understanding the budget and finance allocations of the country but I understand one thing very well. The soldiers who are guarding the borders of my country keeping their family priorities aside deserve a certain portion of my income.

I am not giving any favors to them. In fact, it is my duty towards these soldiers… towards my nation. They risk their life for the whole nation and believe me, it needs guts to stay away from the family for the country. I understand my responsibility towards my soldiers and the nation. But I will surely not take this statement that I am earning for myself and only soldiers are working for the country. I will not let anyone point-out my feelings or patriotism. I am equally patriotic like a soldier. If needed, I can give away my life too for my country.

If soldiers show the courage to face the bullets then I also support them. What if I am not a public servant? It’s similar to a relationship between a child and a mother (who is a housewife). Housewives don’t earn but she works 24 hours a day. And most of us (including the child and husband of that lady), forgets her contribution in making a home. So, all of us are working for the country. Land doesn’t make a country, we make! Soldiers are guarding us not the land.

Patriotism is not meant only for soldiers. It is a feeling that resides in every heart. Even an NRI who works in other countries gives money to its family, residing in India and contributes to the country’s growth. After all, that person is intentionally or unintentionally brings money to the nation, which is somehow used for its growth and protection.

So, in short, let’s stop defining and restricting patriotism. It is a much wider term and a feeling. We all are patriotic and we all contribute in the nation. When our soldiers die we collectively mourn because we lose one beautiful soul who stood by us. We love them, so they do.

And none of us needs to prove our patriotism or our feelings. Not me at least… I have explained enough in this blog. 🙂

If you agree with my opinion depicted above, you may love some more. Click here to see some more bold one. 🙂