goosebumps
[upon re reading this, i realised that the thoughts i put here are half baked and not conclusive enough to make a strong argument.. nevertheless.... ]
Every time i hear the national anthem, i have goosebumps. the patriotic feeling that strong. I don't quite understand this, cause I feel the notion of nation to be quite artificial. Physical borders really don't make much sense where physical resources alone no longer are the only things of consequence. Distances have been dissolved in this electronic age. I might be friends to people anywhere in the world, and we might bond over music and hatred than over national patriotism. (hmm.. so is nationalism just another vehicle for channeling hatred (accelerated competitiveness).. cuz being humans, we need to hate something..don't we?)
We are global citizens, all our actions affect each other. As such, besides sports and some strategic geographical areas, there is no other avenue where notion of nation makes sense.
Elsewhere somewhere, I have talked of the possible nation states having had formed if the history had taken different turn, and the reactions there of. Lets play futures for a while.. (disclaimer: i am really bad with history here.. so my assumptions might be completely wrong. i am not doing my homework before writing this.. the point though is, if the situation would have been different and if we had been citizen of some imagined nation... if that possibility is so palpably relevant, why should the notion of nation be of consequent to our being at all?)
what if the 1857 mutiny had had been a success. what if we had been independent then. But then would India be the same India as now. Wouldn't instead there would have been small nation formations and resurgence of kingdoms. We would have had 7-8 (or more.... or less :P) nations with different geographies. Think! you with your friends who join together to sing the anthem, could have been now separated by nationality.
What if, the hindutva force that got a little stronger towards independence, had had its way.. how would the nation have had shaped up. There are numerous IFs like these, but sadly i am not qualified enough to explore them.
The point is, if we understand these possibilities, that India is really an imagined entity that we concurred upon, that India is just one possibility among many, then us holding on to this imagined notion for our identity is counter productive, misleading even.
May be, my goosebumps are not as much a reflection of my patriotism, but a manifestation of my agreeing with my identity. The concept of 'belongingness'. The globalisation is still notional afterall, i havent been out of India yet anyways. It gives me a strong enough an anchor to my identity which is hard for me to create myself.
Every time i hear the national anthem, i have goosebumps. the patriotic feeling that strong. I don't quite understand this, cause I feel the notion of nation to be quite artificial. Physical borders really don't make much sense where physical resources alone no longer are the only things of consequence. Distances have been dissolved in this electronic age. I might be friends to people anywhere in the world, and we might bond over music and hatred than over national patriotism. (hmm.. so is nationalism just another vehicle for channeling hatred (accelerated competitiveness).. cuz being humans, we need to hate something..don't we?)
We are global citizens, all our actions affect each other. As such, besides sports and some strategic geographical areas, there is no other avenue where notion of nation makes sense.
Elsewhere somewhere, I have talked of the possible nation states having had formed if the history had taken different turn, and the reactions there of. Lets play futures for a while.. (disclaimer: i am really bad with history here.. so my assumptions might be completely wrong. i am not doing my homework before writing this.. the point though is, if the situation would have been different and if we had been citizen of some imagined nation... if that possibility is so palpably relevant, why should the notion of nation be of consequent to our being at all?)
what if the 1857 mutiny had had been a success. what if we had been independent then. But then would India be the same India as now. Wouldn't instead there would have been small nation formations and resurgence of kingdoms. We would have had 7-8 (or more.... or less :P) nations with different geographies. Think! you with your friends who join together to sing the anthem, could have been now separated by nationality.
What if, the hindutva force that got a little stronger towards independence, had had its way.. how would the nation have had shaped up. There are numerous IFs like these, but sadly i am not qualified enough to explore them.
The point is, if we understand these possibilities, that India is really an imagined entity that we concurred upon, that India is just one possibility among many, then us holding on to this imagined notion for our identity is counter productive, misleading even.
May be, my goosebumps are not as much a reflection of my patriotism, but a manifestation of my agreeing with my identity. The concept of 'belongingness'. The globalisation is still notional afterall, i havent been out of India yet anyways. It gives me a strong enough an anchor to my identity which is hard for me to create myself.
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