Jai Hind ! and a feast in Apapa
Hearing even a snatch of our National Anthem brings up a lump in my throat. Always. Unfailingly. It wasn't always so. Though the walls of my father's house displayed pictures of Gandhiji and Nehru, and the library was stuffed with books relating to nationalism, i don't remember being too patriotic as a youngster. While in school (in the 60s-70s), one always thought of the National Anthem as one more oppressive school routine to be endured everyday after the morning assembly. Moreover, since we were only taught to sing it and not explained the meaning, the bengali words seemed like just a bunch of geographical names strung together. There wasn't the teeniest stirring of spirit as the Jaya-hey sounded off. Besides school, one other place where it had to be endured was in cinema theatres. We stood in attention alright ; accompanying parents made sure of that ! But mind would be either on the celluloid fantasies just witnessed or the promised ice-cream tre...