Thursday, February 7, 2008

Off Respect and of National Symbols

At long last I am back posting something on my blog. Has been a long three four months without blogging. Last month I was in India and yeah, half the time I was wondering and surprised at the sea change that Chennai has undergone. Other than that when I was watching the television too, one particular thing that came to notice was the attitude of the current generation - the GEN Y as they want to be called :). Coming to the point, I was watching WE THE PEOPLE on NDTV and the subject for discussion on that particular episode was regarding our country's National symbols and the respect we show for these symbols. There was this young female speaking her mind stating that when she had been to a movie at a theater recently, she did not stand up when the National Anthem was being played at the end of the movie. Well I thought WTF! Out of curiosity I continued watching her ramblings and this is what she said to the exact word. "The respect that we show, if it is true to our heart and if it is honest enough, they why should we demonstrate it by standing up for the anthem?" I was like, hold on dear lady, and just thinking, whatever is happening to developed India. My argument is, in case an elder comes into a room, and if an individual is studying, as a mark of respect we do stand up. Another particular case is consider a funeral ceremony. In a funeral ceremony once the coffin is buried, as a symbol of respect to the deceased, we stay silent and mourn. How would it look like if we say that "I DO RESPECT THE DECEASED, BUT I AM NOT GOING TO STAY SILENT. INSTEAD I WILL BE LAUGHING AND MAKING MERRY IN FRONT OF THE COFFIN AFTER BURIAL." As stupid as it sounds, this is how the female speaking on that particular show sounded to me. I am sorry however lazy an individual is, if there is this national symbol, I believe that the individual should respect the symbol whenever he/she encounters it. So much for the development back home!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Welcome back Jitho.... Looking forward to see more posts on the Sea of change u saw back in India and abt the Gen Y too

aRoOL said...

welcum back...ennadaa thidirunnu patriotism adhigam agirichu...hehe...my question to tht gurl wud be...if ur respect is honest and true...then why the **** are you lazy or shy to show it to people by standing for the song...tht implies tht ur respect is fake....enna sollurey...

viswajith.k.n said...

Phoenix: Thx for the comments...

Arul: That is my point here, when u have the patience to sit thru 3 hrs of a movie, y not stand for a minute of a national anthem?

Filarial said...

dei I am not sure that I totally agree with you- somehow it comes across as misplaced nationalist sentiments--

in many cultures--"I DO RESPECT THE DECEASED, BUT I AM NOT GOING TO STAY SILENT. INSTEAD I WILL BE LAUGHING AND MAKING MERRY IN FRONT OF THE COFFIN AFTER BURIAL."" laughing and making merry is promoted as death is not seen as something to be sorrowful about- in fact hindu philosophy itself promotes that ....

With my grandfather I do not stand up when he comes into the room or show physical means of respect - he did not brung me up like that--- which does not mean that I do not respect him or because of my informal treatment does he feel that I am being disrespectful in that cause he knows what I think and feel rather than what I show--

She is trying to make a similar point -- she is better than hundreds of people who stand in attention to the national anthem without knowing its true meaning or what it signifies..

viswajith.k.n said...

Ille...what you point out is a specific case...When you speak with your grandfather, the way you speak shows that you do respect him. How do you show some respect to a National Anthem? Ever looked at the way in which some of the Europeans (during the soccer games) or some of the amroos here, act when their National Anthem is played? Palms on their chests etc etc...not that am comparing...but atleast it shows that the individual has some kinda passion towards the song and towards the country...the same cannot be said about the lady that I talked about in my blog

Macadamia The Nut said...

You know, I kind of understand what that female may have meant. Respect should come from the heart and not from meaningless gestures. Some people get up when an elder enters the room, and the minute he/she leaves they bitch about him/her. Don't married women who wear a 3-kilo mangalsutra comit adultry? There's no point in meaningless outward shows of respect if it doesn't begin in the heart.
As for dancing in front of a grave, that is not a part of the 'respect' discussion. That should have a seperate category called "lunatics and their ways"

Viswajith said...

@ Macademia
I reiterate the same thing...if she does indeed have respect in her heart as u say, wots the problem in just showing it?