Independence Day tête-à-tête (overheard)

(WHY INDIANS SHOULD BE PROUD OF INDIA)
Son
(in complete sync with his generation, sways his bust to rock music, loves to watch Hollywood flicks, chills out on coke and munches fast food. And just like any other boy savors a dream to work for rich Uncle Sam leaving the cradle of Mother India as soon as he is able to walk on his feet.)

Father
( in complete sync with his generation, ridicules politicians, points out the persistent inflation, complains about corruption but does not want to leave his homeland for his ancestral roots are buried in the freedom struggle.)

One day getting fed up of glancing everyday at pessimistically drawn caricatures of India by native as well as international reports and comparing Indian with the ostentatious west the boy asked his father that "Why Indians are proud of India".

Son: Is it because we have been slaves to the Britishers for more than 200 years?

Father: No son, absolutely not! It is because that very mighty British raj went to its knees in front of a frail Indian who didn’t fire a single shot and never allowed any other Indian to.



Boy: Ok dad you tell me should we be proud of an army that was found half in the snowy beds of Kargil while the enemy meticulously captured strategic mountain peaks?

Father: Well son we should be proud of the fact that even death could not coax them to cross the Line of Control retaining every inch of their motherland without putting a single foot on the enemy’s territory.



Son: But father what about the brain drain. Does that still allow you share pride with your fellow Indians.

Father: Yes son, we admit that Indians leave their country to settle abroad but we take pride from the fact that every year roughly 25,000 Indian I.T. professionals settled abroad have opted to return to India to work in adverse conditions leaving material comforts and superior infrastructure without a tinge of regret.



Son: What about the bumpy roads with potholes glaring back shamelessly revealing the endemic nature of corruption each year by the unforgiving erratic rainfalls.

Father: That is very true my son, but allow those potholes to trip you
and letting you fall , there would always be more than one hand making you
stand on your feet back again.



Son: c'mon dad your generation thinks from the heart not from the mind
which has the power to dream big.

Father: It's the heart my son that pumps blood into the mind giving it
the power to dream.