The Idea of India

I wonder what India is ?

Is it a country, or a nation a belief or just a dream?

Surprising but true an Indian is a rare find in the sea of Punajb ,Sindh, Gujrat, Maratha. You will have to spend several sleepless nights to find one. And you will find him in strange places: in the meadows of Shamshabari Kashmir, In the wilderness of Barail in Nagaland- Manipur Border and in Abhujmad questioning his conscious about being an Indian.

We must accept we are a fragmented breed. It is the desire for self preservation which lead us to the marriage of convenience with the idea of India. The idea of India which we manipulate to suite our self interest.

Before we envision One India the Idea of India needs to be crystallised.
India is an abstract. It is a symphony of variance. An outcome of a prolonged amalgamation of divergence. It is an ethos of tolerance. It is a religion of belief.
India, is a quest for amity, a journey towards eternal fraternity.

India emerged at the battlefields of Kalinga, when Samrat Ashoka tormented by the loss of human lives espoused " Dharmvijay." It was his vision which amplified the path enlightened by Sakyamuni Siddhart. It was this persona of India which dazzled the great minds.

So when Zalauddin Mohammad Akbar, envisioned Din E Lahi he carried the idea forward adding the shades of Islam. Mahatma Gandhi favourite bhajan composed by the 15th century poet-saint Narsinh Mehta paraphrases and Indian beautifully:-

वैष्णव जन तो तेने कहिये , जे पीर पराई जाने रे
पर दुक्खे उपकार करे तोये , मन अभिमान न आने रे
सकल लोक मान सहने वन्दे , निंदा न करे केनी रे
वाच -काच्च -मन निश्चल राखे , धन धन जननी तेनी रे
सम -दृष्टी ने तृष्णा त्यागी , परस्त्री जेने मात रे
इहवा थके , असत्य न बोले , पर -धन नवा झाले हाथ रे
मोह -माया व्यापे नहीं जेने , दृढ वैराग्य जेना मनमा रे
राम -नाम शु ताले लागी , सकल तीरथ तेना तन्मा रे
वाना लोभी ने कपट रहित छे , काम क्रोध निवार्य रे
भने नरसैय्यो तेनु दर्शन करता , कुल एकोतेर तरय रे