The following is the comment that I got via a email in response the post And so it ended – The year was 1931, by Sukhwinder singh, I could not reply to the question he has asked so I put it up as a post , so that my dear readers can reply to this please .. Thank you.
“Hello Bikramjit
I have been following your blog for almost more than a year now. This is the first time I have written to you. The reason is that Often while reading some of your posts I have gone through the comments section just following your post. The recent post on Bhagat singh had about 60 odd comments till the time I was writing this email and other than a few people many have not even answered the question you have asked.
Dont you think this is the attitude of the indian population in reality, No one has time to read about such people who are dead, who cares for them. They are DEAD END OF. I also went back to see a post where you had put a picture of a Women’s butt so many replied there. Here you have written about a person who has helped us to get our freedom, Thats it, Dont you think this is the mentality of indian people the BUTT is more inviting than reading about someone who is the reason why every indian now breathes in free air. Has a country to call his own…
A butt got more, than a post that talks of patriotism.
To answer you questions ..
jisme na nijh gaurav na nijh desh ka abhiman hai woh nar nahin hai mritak hai nira Passu ke samaan hai..
You can see for yourself how much ABHIMAN an indian has in his own country , Sidhu is right on an average each indian is nothing but DEAD an ANIMAL
When will the time come when we will all stand up together and do something , or have we gotten so shameless that we are not dreading the day when we will also reach where these martyrs are now looking down upon us, what will we say to them when they ask us “IS this why they gave their lives”.. HOW – WHAT will we say to them ….
Yes we have become shameless.. YOU ARE WRONG BIKRAM, to say that we will also reach where these martyrs are , NO SIR these martyrs are somewhere , a special place where Waheguru is taking care of them, WE will never be there as we have made our nation a hell hole.. and so to HELL we all shall go ..
When will the time come when indians will start to think that Time has come to re-sow the guns in our fields.. as the little Bhagat singh did .. That will never come sir.. as indians are too biased the moment one person thinks of sowing a gun in the field they will grass you , so they are in the good books of the authorities. or worse still use that Gun to kill you so they can take over what you own.
Not just the netas majority of the indians also wake up on 23rd to know someone was hanged, majority say WHO BHAGAT SINGH and I doubt if anyone remember Sukhdev or Rajguru.. if people dont know about Bhagat singh what all will they know of the other two Desh bhagats.
14th february went by, majority of us celebrated it as the day of love, but there was history made on this day especially for us indians, let me ask a question how many can remember what it was that happened , this day years back.. and please no googling.. no shame in accepting if you dont know, I did not know about it myself sadly, But I wont forget it again that is for sure
I am sorry here Bikram, But reading your replies to the comments I think you have got it wrong, the judgement was delivered on 7 October 1930, sentencing Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru to death by hanging. This judgement was of 300-pages saying that Bhagat Singh’s participation in the Saunders’ murder was the most serious and important fact proved against him and it was fully established by evidence.
On 14th february mercy appeal was filed before Irwin. An appeal was also sent to “desh ka sitara, Gandhi” by prisoners to intervene, Irvin had recorded the following lines on this
“While returning Gandhiji asked me if he could talk about the case of Bhagat Singh, because newspapers had come out with the news of his slated hanging on March 24th. It would be a very unfortunate day because on that day the new president of the Congress had to reach Karachi and there would be a lot of hot discussion. I explained to him that I had given a very careful thought to it but I did not find any basis to convince myself to commute the sentence. It appeared he found my reasoning weighty.”
This also adds to the conspiracy or the Truth how much Gandhi helped, Gandhi was more bothered of the karachi congress session which was to be held on 24th march the original day of hanging of the revolutionaries. No wonder he was shown black flags and boo’ed off in that session, He had no answer to the questions posed by the young indians.
We are a group who organise a Akhand Path on the Death anniverasy of Shaheed Bhagat singh, Shaheed Sukhdev and Shaheed Rajguru each year on 23rd march, It would be a pleasure if on your visits you could come over , We also have similar Paths for other revolutionaries.
I hope and wish more indians know about them. Hopefully with the likes of you who are very active in the blog world more and more people will know about the revolutionaries. I liked your post on the Slut walk you are right people have nothing better to do then go on these rally’s when the people who actually go through the pain still dont know what it was all about, Where were all these people on the black day in history of India did any of them even remember that the Freedom they have to go on such rally’s is all because of young revolutionaries who gave their life for the air of freedom ?
Inquilab zindabad…
Regards
Sukhwinder Singh.
Me and My Random Thoughts 
Sukhwinder Singh pretty much has hit the nail on the head with his email. All the points he has made are in agreement to views of many including mine.
I commented earlier that there is a dangerous ‘comfort zone’ that exists in India. I have never been to India but I have studied with other students from there, so you can imagine I have had deep discussion on India and South Asia. This zone, is where those decision makers sit and feel comfortable. What goes on around the country is of no concern to people within this zone.
Think about it – if these decision makers, influential business people, etc are comfortable where they are and in what they do – then why would they want to compromise this?
I mentioned this before, and I’m echoing it here for the same of this post – a social change is required.
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When it was required, the whole country arose to support the freedom movement in whatever way they can. And this can very well happen again.
If you think that the nation is a hell hole and cannot see anything positive happening around you, I can only say that you are selectively looking only at those things that you want to see and you are closing your eyes at everything else.
Instead of trying to whip emotional frenzy, try to think about something constructive you can do (and others can do) to improve things and share it will all of us. And stop insulting the nation on the basis of the littlest facts available with you.
Destination Infinity
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That butt post getting more comments than the last post of yours doesn’t certify that Indians are not patriotic. Wrong assumption.
By the way, while we talk ill about ‘shameless Indians’ who’ve forgotten their heroes, how many people can you recollect who sat down with their kids and taught them stories about these heroes just the way they were taught about other things? So far as schools are concerned, kids are only taught there to mug up every book and puke it all on exam sheets, so they never know about them. Then these kids grow up and the only knowledge they have about these heroes is through films and such other things. I don’t blame those parents either, because even they weren’t taught about them when they were kids.
I don’t know about others, but I would refrain from commenting on a post where I don’t have enough knowledge about the topic, rather I would read it all, read the comments and try to gain more knowledge about it through books, other blogs etc., if I want to know about this topic.
Coming back to that butt post, that was a fun post, isn’t it? You asked a question and wanted others to answer the question you asked. Answering there did not require any knowledge about history so even those who wouldn’t otherwise comment also comment. Doesn’t this make sense?
I am not shameless and I am not unpatriotic. I love my nation and its people. Yes we have flaws, so what? No-one’s perfect. I don’t know what you think about my comment but that’s what I feel.
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I don’t have much to add…but that butt attitude is there everywhere not just in India, If not spouting gushy gushy words in response to a topic on freedom fighters, makes one unpatriotic, so be it.
I believe it not possible for every to be a hero on a national scale, but respecting their sacrifices can be done at indv levels…when u don’t pay bribes, when u help in whatever little way you can to help the deprived, when u stand for rights of the victim or even your rights. When u don’t incite hatred or discriminate among citizens on the basis of religion, caste, colour, region, language or nationality. When ur friends are not based on what benefit they give u, when u don’t aspire to reach the stars while stamping on all the ones in ur way….that would be the best way to celebrate our freedom. We are a nation which hasn’t invaded other countries without case in 5000 yrs of history, the propagators of universal brotherhood, tolerance, a spirit of agreeing to disagree and discussion. if we could concentrate less on greed and do away with dividing ourselves into various categories before the imp “Indian ” or the most imp “Human” tag…we would be a happier nation/world.
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All comments and justifications respected.
Before I tackle the issue around India as a nation, let’s first ask ourselves how many of us spend any amount of time researching over our history, it’s successes and downfalls. If you look across all faiths, they are mostly struggling to engage the youth of today to understand and realise their history, so they can better shape themselves for the future. Yes it’s true in today’s environment, a majority of web audiences like to read “crap” as opposed to meaningful articles and stories, this is the society we live in. A few weeks back someone commented that if the Germans had won the war, then the UK would be a German speaking nation. I replied by saying if the Chote Sahibzade hadn’t laid down their lives at such tender ages, then today there would be no Sikhi.
Education starts at home, you cannot force people to stand up and listen, there is something inside that needs to trigger that process. One hopes that with all the messages flying about on Twitter, FB and all other social media about Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana that this may awaken a small percentage of the Sikhi nation to learn about our history and heritage.
However there are lots of people around the world doing lots of campaigns and demonstrations, 1984 still burns fresh in our hearts, there are still pleas that need addressing from those poor women in the Widow Colanies who lost loved ones.
On the question of India – well that’s a nation which never had our best interest at heart to be honest and I don’t mean to offend anyone who is living in India, I have relatives there and visited the country last month. However, what does it say about a country where as a Sikh getting married, you have to first sign up and adhere to the “Hindu Marriage Act”? Yes there are a lot of happy and comfortable Sikhs in India, they fall into two categories – 1) the Super Rich who will remain “hidden” and wouldn’t risk their illegal wealth to help a just cause or come into the limelight, these groups are too busy making piles of money. I am not saying there is anything wrong with making money, but don’t become puppets 2) The upcoming middle class who wouldn’t want anything to disturb their movement up the ladder.
Not sure how far this goes in addressing Paji’s comment.
Sat Sri Akhal!
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hmm don’t know why people mix one stuff with the other. This is like comparing a comedy movie with a serious art movie. Why?? The context is wrong. So I don’t think there is any straightforward answer to this comment.
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I think that some postings can be more controversial than others, more sombre, more whatever and so a lot of people do not feel comfortable adding what they truly believe, whereas a blog about something jovial always hits the right note, so offering a for instance on these two categories is just absurd. If someone wishes to write their thoughts about the given theme or simply reply to a question that is offered to them then that is absolutely alright, but I find that people steer around certain subjects for fear of adding the wrong thing, or that their interpretation will be taken in a different light, however, everyone can have fun on a joke posting without worrying about it. I think that people that follow your Space are very passionate about the subjects matter that you choose, especially when topics are added about India but if not many followers of your blog comment on those subjects it doesn’t mean that they do not care about it. Well that is what I think anyway…
Have a fine rest of evening Bikram…
Androgoth
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I think the comparison for the number of comments between two entirely different subjects can not lead to a general statement. So it doesnt really mean that those who didnt make comments for the latter post are not patriotic! Reasons may be various,as stated by others above.
Coming to patriotism, remembering history is important but not dwelling in the past. Those great souls came to this earth with a mission so as the rest of the humans who I believe have a mission to complete.Mere remembering and garlanding statues serve no purpose.Bringing in the passion for one’s country as shown by those great souls, in to this present day life to take our country further is the key to evolve. Instead of just talking, taking small steps is most important like these guys have done.www.theuglyindian.com
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The post was not about whether or not we are patriotic unless we remember our heroes who gave their lives so that we may live free, but what we are doing with the freedom and if we have our priorities right. The most important thing today is that we as a nation have become too self centred and so do not give a damn about what is happening around us. As long as the periphery to which we want to limit ourselves is good and perfect, we are happy, which is why we agonise about small issues that might be trivial and ignoring bigger ones which will sooner than later impact us. In short, we don’t want to take a stand on anything, preferring to wait and watch and of course complain. No, Sukhwinder, I will not be able to meet our brave sons in the eye if at all I am fortunate to go where they are.
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Interesting.
We have one cliched excuse: the stress of our present lives- So we give attention to things that interest us/ bring a smile to our lips/ tickles the devil self, etc etc more.. rather than morose things such as death anniversaries of freedom fighters. We sincerely acknowledge their contribution in our being born in an independent nation, but the story ends at that.
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The letter is as thought provoking as your post Biky and yes, we all especially including me tend to read the racey topics first than of such crucial issues…I wish things were different but that’s how modern life with its insecurities and fears and restlessness has made us all-we look for escape routes all the time to forget about the troubles!
I really wish it were different.
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I know , thats whay i let everyone else reply to it .. 🙂 Thank you
How are you .. long time no seee 🙂
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this is a nice way of getting way with not replying a long comment by someone 😛 😛 just kidding!
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🙂 I know. I did not know what to say
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i am not too sure but i agree with what Anita says, there’s no straight answer to this comment.
Although Sukhwinder’s inputs are definitely thought provoking but the comparison made is incorrect.
The truth he presented in this comment comes as a tight slap on every indian’s face for neglecting our freedom history!
Kudos to Sukhwinder for such a comment!
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I m not going to defend anybody by saying that what Sukhwinder has said is wrong coz he is right in everything that he has said…I admire hime for having the courage to speak the truth which we can’t. He has hit the nail right on the head. Its unfortunate though that we don’t feel the way ppl like Bhagat Singh did for our country…somewhere we have just given up and feel that nothing can be done.
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Patriotism is not a vegetable that can be bought from the market, it is an emotion that one must feel from with in. A BUTT post getting a fewer more comments than a post on Bhagat Singh does not prove anything about the patriotic levels each one of us have. Just because, someone liked the BUTT post does not make him/her less Indian.
I have always found it easier to gun at the audience and ask them if we were doing enough than figuring it out myself whether I am doing enough. Sad story of many of us. We love to ask questions, but we seldom have an answer to it.
Mind you, there are people who know these great heroes and many more, they have read about them, they blog about them, they talk about them, they site examples of them and there are people who read such articles or blogs or like such status updates on the social networking sites. And of course, there are people who do not do such things but who am I to call them unpatriotic? Do you know, people do not even care to remember how many of our soldiers were killed in Kargil. They don’t even remember its anniversary!! We are a nation who requires a jolt to express our patriotism. Expressing our emotions to a BUTT comes very easily to us than expressing our gratitude to the heroes. But that is okay, that is how we are. In 1965 war with Pakistan, when our army was posted near the borders of Pakistan, the villagers used to cook food for them. Kargil: people donated money towards the kargil cause, a newly wedded girl gave away all her jewellry to the kargil cause..she probably may not go like random posts written on war heroes today, but that is what she did.
We are not unpatriotic people, we are just very tired and very stressed out and thus find solace in a BUTT post.
And Bikram, there is no Indian here, its just you and me…if you know what i mean.
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