Teenagers have often hijacked this column to pour out their love woes and I have become an unlicensed quack doling out prescriptions. Well, don’t you think it’s time that changed a little bit? I still get tonnes of mails from teens who have broken off, fought with, or lost out in love.
To them I say, “Friends, currently I have nothing new on the shelf. Just refer to old articles of this column. You might find something useful there that helps address your predicament. I will shortly put this column out as a blog, which you can keep on your desktop or phone. But even there please remember — there is a lot more to life than fighting and patching up with boyfriends and girlfriends. Learn to avoid others’ mistakes and live your life to the fullest. Now that’s something to be excited about. Best wishes.”
However, the most exciting cross-currents that we are facing these days has been about a different kind of teen love — the love of a teenager towards his country. Anna Hazare’s victory is also teen India’s victory. It happened also because hundreds of thousands of teenagers appeared everywhere — in every small and big city — and supported the cause. I know that you too, dear reader, gave it your wholehearted support, even if you are not a teenager or didn’t come out and talk about the issue. I simply know you felt deeply about it in your heart. Just in case you didn’t notice what that lump in the throat, the moist eyes, that fluttering pulse was all about, allow me to tell you. That emotion was pure love. Purer than what you ever felt for your boyfriend or girlfriend, and even though you felt it only for a few seconds, its power was so great that it humbled a government and buckled its knees.
We are living in hard, indifferent times. It’s time you started loving your country as much as you love your BF or GF. For far too long, our national slogan has been “every man for himself”. We have degenerated into a society where you can buy anything if you have cash — from a pilot’s licence to a medical degree. Almost everything is up for sale except our integrity, which, of course, we had sold off a long time ago.
Love for the nation is a wonderful glow every teen should feel more and more often. It is an emotion so grand, so beautiful that it can add to, flow with and surpass any other kind of love and shine like a warm glowing lamp in all our hearts. I felt this love everywhere when I visited Japan. They are such a strong country — the Japanese can withstand a hundred tsunamis — simply because they love their nation. They will do anything to protect it, build it, and cherish it. That love defines them, qualifies them, and exalts them.
No nation is great by itself. It becomes great due to the love its citizens shower upon it. This is the love that was allowed to die in your parents’ generation, my generation. Either we stopped caring or stopped expressing our feelings. Either way, India suffered and degenerated.
You teenagers don’t have to repeat our mistakes, but learn from them. Our indifference turned India into a weak and corrupt nation, which is now at the mercy of its rapacious rulers and bureaucracy. You guys can change that.
Judging by the way we won in Jantar Mantar last week, I guess we will together change all that pretty soon.
The author is a film director