Flag = Patriotism, national pride, true something etcetera.
I think the more we confuse words with inventive expectations unrelated to their original interpretation or intent, the less likely India will make headway as a nation.
While a logo, or a certain geometrical arrangement of shapes and colours, represents a country's uniqueness in the roster of other such combinations on the world stage, these patterns are mere understanding, or placeholders, or shortcuts to convey the impression of something that is much more complex, interesting, and bigger in scope where the representation or proxy is needed.
And even inside the border, feeling one with an assortment of parts of a country, culture, and language that are largely just an accommodation of our imagination, we do indeed look for a crutch.
But after the festive theme has elapsed, these items will end up jamming landfills, sewers, and rivers, not to mention strewn across thoroughfares, where most people will either step on them or find them as just another irritating inconvenience.
At this point, a little thinking, which has become an extremely difficult exercise these days, will reveal that the core component of national unity is to realise that we are a small cog in a big machine. If we do our part right, chances are the whole hulk of metal won't come screaming down. Even highfalutin concepts eventually come down to mundane realizations, which unfortunately aren't all that glamorous and require work and personal sacrifice. But here we can't turn to the leaders for precedent, or at least for honourable ones.
And it is only after we depart from the flimflam that we realise that the ministers are really pulling fluffy wool over our eyes. We should recognise that encouraging a few rituals infested with ulterior motives and tribal fanfare is really just a deceptive diversion. And it doesn't alleviate any of the existential anxieties that come with living in a poor and extremely corrupt country that, thanks to the minister and alliance, is plunging headlong into a one-way abyss.
And this is what should worry us when the flag-fluttering euphoria subsides, and we find ourselves none the better.
It's fascinating how many of the tricks that politicians play are as old as the earliest civilizations. Yet, the sad part of our education system is that it doesn't teach us how to be more rational, or where our blind spots are, our cognitive biases. The majority fall, time and again, for the same lies, pretenses, and superficial amity, where there's nothing but a hollow shell of deception.
We flutter flags but don't think, don't ask the hard questions. This nation could be one of the best countries in the world, but it's not. We are still a poor, underdeveloped, and extremely corrupt country, no matter how high we flutter the flags or its size. The realisations are strange and the contradictions are sad.
