Hypernationalism:Give me a break

Are we prepared to be global citizens?Have we truly evolved as a tolerant society? The answer to these questions unfortunately is, not really.

A few days ago, one Mr. Narayana Murthy decides to play the instrumental version of our revered National Anthem when Dr. Kalam visits him in Mysore. He is made to apologize for disrespecting it. He is labeled "unpatriotic".Is that called for?

The media and our "patriotic" politicians are viewing the whole national anthem episode in the wrong light. The rendition of national anthem in the presence of foreigners would have embarrassed them indeed as Mr. Murthy clarified.Picture yourself in say, the US of A, with natives singing their national anthem with a hand on their hearts, would not you feel out of place?Atleast I would. Plus , I would not know how not to offend others or their anthem in any way .For instance, Some of the foreigners in Infosys, Mysore might not have known that we stand in the attention position while singing the national anthem.

Had any of them failed to give our national anthem the due respect, it would have fueled a debate of another sort and Mr. Murthy would certainly not have liked any disrespect of the "Jana Gana Mana".

During international sports events, only the instrumental version of the winning country's national anthem is played for the same reason.Mr. Murthy may not make the best president but calling him unpatriotic is not fair to this son of the soil. Only a person of flawless character and limitless strength of mind could have reached where he is today from his modest background.Only a person who holds his country in the highest esteem can make foreigners want to join Infosys in the first place.

Sachin Tendulkar, is being condemned for reportedly cutting a tricolour cake. Isn't cake cutting an integral part of celebration? It is just a manifestation of joy. Dont we all cut cakes on our birthdays with our names written on it? Then why this furore over a non-issue?Sachin has given 18 years of his life to the country.He has done nothing wrong and even if he has, do heroes have to be perfect?

Then we have the Richard Gere- Shilpa Shetty controversy. Kudos to the so-called moral police for creating a mountain out of a molehill once again.Nobody seems to notice why Richard has come all the way to India. He is here to help spread AIDS awareness among capital's truckers. This contorversy has hogged the limelight while the cause has taken a backseat, proving India media is still a lost teenager and has not matured yet.

Nobody has the right to invade celebrities' private space at all. Where does the moral police go when a woman's modesty is outraged? We never saw them take to the streets when so many children were brutally killed in Nithari. Doesn't that hurt national sentiment?We should stop creating 'much ado about nothing'. Let's show to the world that India has truly come of age and is ready to play in the global arena. The media should also understand that promoting such controversies is doing us no good and is earning them a bad name world wide.