Jai Jai Jai Jai Hey!

Follow @Honeysangha

At my age, one has had the run in with life. And the conclusion is that eventually and ultimately, it is the age old values that endure. Beneath all the bluff and the bugle, it is the family, the friends and a certain integrity of purpose that hold up the framework.


Take the family. We chafe at the little rituals, the seemingly cumbersome traditions, the abiding routine but they serve to keep people connected. I have often wondered and marveled at India's family oriented culture.

There was this couple I would overtake every morning on my way to the Lodhi Gardens for the morning run. The lady carried a little basket and her husband used his height to reach for flowers growing high up on the shrubs along the road. Puja flowers, undoubtedly.


I have always enjoyed the sight of young families on two wheelers, togged out in all their ceremonial glitter,on way to or from a festive family occasion, no doubt. The picnicking clans at the India Gate lawns, the farewell and welcome scenes at the Indira Gandhi airport, the charged groups at Parent Teacher meets in school, the bands trooping into religious venues and the family drama at hospitals and wedding halls....it is these ordinary celeberating or grieving Indians that keep the nation going despite the scams, the cricket losses and the Lok Pal tableau.

On this Independence day, I am in awe, not of any political leader, or sports star or a Bollywood talent. My salute is reserved for the unsung, unknown and unheralded humdrum Indian couples, the Uncles and Aunties, who work through their lifetime to raise decent families, who stay faithful to each other through thick and thin, who place the interest of their units foremost. It is these blocks of law abiding, god-fearing and aspiration filled communities that the country draws her steam from. It is their thrift, their dreams, their inherent stability that keeps the nation chugging up the growth graph. 


They are independent India's social, emotional and moral capital. Jai hey!