I hate it when anyone sends me mail which imply that minorities are not patriotic. The last few years have seen a growing acceptance of such a perception and media is adding fuel to the bonfire.
I get offended at it. Not only because I belong to a minority community, but because I know that I love my country more than I love myself and there is no justification to such biased reports.
I studied in KVs. I am a true-blue KV product and I have never met with any discrimination in my school based on religion, caste, state or anything. We had in our class children belonging to various states - children who had been brought up in places as far as J&K and Assam, studying at the same school in Payyanur, a small town in Kannur district. The Ezhimala Naval Academy was being constructed nearby, and we all took great pride in the fact that it was to be the biggest in Asia once it would be commissioned. Our teachers were patriotic, very, very patriotic and we easily came under their influence. My greatest feat at school was that I studied the 'Jhansi ki Rani' poem - all six pages of it byheart. I loved the poem. Even now, when I read the 'Voh khoon kaho kis mathlab ka...", I feel the flow of adrenaline, same as when I had read it years ago. I admired our national leaders, the kings and the emperors of yore. Ashoka and Akbar both command my respect. I am as much indebted to Mughal empire as the Maurya empire for our culture.
Why is there suddenly a change? Why do I fear alienation in my own country? Why are people being killed in the name of religion? Is belonging to a particular religion the only criterion of deciding how much you love your country? Why does everyone stress the fact that the PM belongs to a minority community? that the former President was also a member of the minority community? Does that, thinking rationally, make any difference?
Why should we be forced to live in the eternal fear of the 'other'? Isn't the other same as us? The same aspirations, same hopes, same fears? Why isolate them because they call God by another name?
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