Dear Fellow Countrymen

True patriotism is not found in the hotheads who vandalize property and beat people up for not standing up to the national anthem. Nor in the suit-wearing intellectuals shouting to the camera at the top of their lungs. Nor in the ones who watch pornography while sitting in the parliament.

No, it is in the cow-herder who paints the tricolor on his cattle’s horns. The farmer who features the same on the concrete pickets bordering his land. The volunteer who works in an office on weekdays — and decorates center dividers on the weekends. The sweeper lady who dresses nicely on Republic Day. The elderly and disabled who stand in line during demonetization and elections. The shy girl who dreams and fights for an Olympic medal.

For every misguided youth who yells ‘भारत तेरे टुकड़े होंगे’ — there are more than a million truck drivers painting ‘मेरा भारत महान’ on the one object that earns their bread and butter. As long as such people exist, no one can even lay a finger on this place and its culture.

There is a bloody good reason why Indians are not overtly concerned about ‘Radical Islamic Terrorism’ despite more Muslims living here than all of Pakistan, while Europe and USA get paranoid about a few refugees.

We are an entire civilization, and not just a piece of land.