A day for ever.

"Bharat Mata ki. Jai"..."Bharat Mata ki.. Jai"..."Bharat Mata ki.... JAI"...that was the closing call of an independence day celebration in an apartment house in a place far off from India. the moment was one i will never be able to forget. at about 10:00 AM, one friend of mine sends across a mail to all the residents of the apartment, offering a poll. the issue: well!!! 'are you ready for an Independence Day celebration at our place??' and at 7:30 pm, we gathered together at the reception waiting lounge. we were a bunch of about 35 patriotic (or so i think we are...) Indians. initially, it appeared to be a bad response for celebrating a country of a billion people., but people gradually pitched in. at about 8:00 pm IST (not the Standard one, but the Stretched one ;) ) we could see " जननी जन्मभूमिश्च स्वर्गादापी गरीयसी " that your mother, and motherland are greater than heaven, particularly, when you are away from home. never ever in my life, had i heard a bunch of the new-age people in chorus for something. but, here, for a change, it happened. every one had his/her head held high when there was one voice in the room where we sang in perfect synchronization. there was never a time after my school days, that i heard "THE ANTHEM" being sung with such precision. it was more like a military band singing it. and as everything was coming to a close, there were a few drops of water that rolled down. for the first time in ages, i had felt for my Nation. nothing was a great pomp or show, but everyone's eyes gleamed with a passion for their country. it was a true national celabration. patriotism, it seems is more evident when you are away from your homeland.
i was back to my school days, when we had chocolates that we were given after the National Anthem. and not to forget, we did celebrate the day in a big way, and distributed chocolates... eating foreign chocolates to celebrate a national occation is not any offence. is it?? ;)
Jai Hind...