Why we love India

I am not a religious person but I do connect with God. So I tend to believe that I am a spiritual person. During these festivities of Ganesh Utsav, I really did not participate in any of the celebrations. But this Monday, when I saw the Visarjan ceremony, I had a weird feeling, a sense of loss. I did not celebrate, but I would miss all the celebrations which were happening all around.

I often wonder why we love India! I mean look at the roads, look at the education system, look at the competition for few seats, look at the politicizing of each and every issue, look at the frame to frame copy of foreign movies, look at the social and economic gap, look at the disturbance on Border areas (and not only Kashmir), look at disturbing instances of violence in the name of caste and religion, look at career opportunities (or the lack of it), look at increasing crime, look at eve-teasing; Why do we love India? Then I thought, may be this is it. May be because we have so many gods, castes , religion and festivals. May be because we know how to celebrate together. May be we know how really one should celebrate. It just gets on you. Even if you ignore it, can you really stay away from it? If you are a Bengali in Maharashtra or a Keralite in Kolkata—you would still celebrate Durga Puja!

Add to that the recent victory of India in Twenty20 World Cup. I still believe that nothing bonds us better than Cricket! We still have different festivals but Cricket is undoubtedly the common thread that joins us all together. Look at me, I am not really a Cricket person but this game is so infectitious that you cannot ignore it for long, and definitely not an India-Pakistan match for sure. So, there I was watching the Grand Finale of Twenty20 World Cup. Well, I am sure all of you must have heard the bang of the chocolate bombs after we won the match, no matter which part of the country you were in!