Mera Bharat Mahan!! We see this mainly on the back of trucks. But is it true?

What’s so great about India? With all the dust, mosquitoes and flies and over 70 per cent of our population suffering from malnutrition and illiteracy, who would ever consider that India was great?

            India is a country of over a hundred languages, cultures and tradition, and thousand philosophies and theologies. It is also a hotchpotch of mismanaged, miss-coordinated and misused people. Even our leaders don’t leave us much to be proud of ----one corruption scandal after another surface in our newspapers almost every other day.

            I would beg to differ. Despite all this India is still the most fabulous, enchanting, and noble nation in the world. India is the country which has never stepped over its borders to invade another nation’s territory. India is the largest democracy in the world. India is self-sufficient in food, fuel and defence.

            India is the country, which, with a simple strategy, defeated a billion dollar US spy satellite sneaking over skies. India is the country which seduced an American president to its gates and is the country from whom the US, Germany and U.K are importing thousands of skilled software engineers. India is the country projected to be the world’s next SUPERPOWER.

            India was the country that created the ingenious game of CHESS originally knows by the name of GYAANA BAAZI; it was also the country that invented MICROSURGERY. It was the country that discovered the FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPT REQUIRED FOR COMPUTER PROGRAMMING – THE ZERO – which is used in binary system (and is also the basis of the decimal system). India was also the country that created SANSKRIT – the language that FORBES magazine nominated as the most computer compatible language in the world. Through SANSKRIT, India bestowed Europe with all its language--- Latin, Greek, French, German, and English ---without which Plato, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Emerson, Voltaire or James Joyce couldn’t have written any of their masterpieces.

            India is the nation which bequeathed to the world AYURVEDIC medicines and YOGIC exercises which have proven immensely useful in the management of stress and anxiety, and the treatment of disease without which millions abroad working in giant companies such as IBM, GM and MICROSOFT would be unable to cope with the stresses and pressures of their jobs.

            India is the country that gave birth to the great MAHATMA GANDHI about whom ALBERT EINSTEIN said, “Generations to come will scare believe that such a one as this ever walked upon this earth.” India is the only nation whose soldiers bury invading enemy soldiers killed in battle with full respect, tributes and in accordance with religious belief of the enemy nation. India is the only land that is host to every religion in the world and every inspiration in the world.

            Said US historian WILLS DURANT, “India was the motherland of our race…of the ideals embodied in Christianity…of self-government and democracy. In many ways, mother India is the mother of us all.” Said US poet and journalist J.MILLER, “In those ancient days, even China had not worked it all out practically, and even Egypt inherited much of its sacred knowledge from India, subsequently to pass it on Greece and then Europe still sunk in sleep. India held the palm of civilization and soon spread it all around her.”

            Despite all this it is pity that many Indians feel proud of their country only when it is praised by people in the west. These Indians lack faith not in the nation but in themselves. The simple reason behind this is a dire lack of knowledge. Enlightenment makes us proud; ignorance makes us inferior. All that Indians lack is the will to believe in themselves and the courage to assert their own potential and capacities. The glory of India is eternal. Let every Indian arise like the morning sun to proudly spread and uphold India’s goodness, culture and wisdom