A TALK ABOUT INDIANNESS

Har Prasad Sharma

You are Indian by birth.

Your hair is trimmed in English style,

You strut with tie and collars on

When Dr. S. Radhakrishan

Ever put on an Indian attire to prove this fact to the hilt

That he was an Indian to the very marrow of his bones

In fact you don’t want to show that you are an Indian,

You take pride in losing your self-identity of Indianness

You speak a mixed language in conversation

As if you don’t have your mother tongue to speak,

Thus you have no command over any language.

You turn your nose at Indian food,

And enjoy non-vegetarian dishes

With fork and spoon bursting with pride.

History of Ramakrishna is false in your eyes-

Only a cock and bull story.

You don’t know the names of

Swami Vivekanand and Swami Ramtirth

Who were the salt of the earth.

You suppress Indian talents consumed with envy

And force them to settle abroad

Where their worth is understood:

Dr.Mulkraj Anand, Khushwant Singh, R.K.Narayan,

Sir Naipaul and Dr. Hargovind Khurana

Were brought to light by England and America

Of whom Indian papers made high-flown praise

That they were Indian Jewels.

You hate your own countrymen

And ever create stumbling-block

To check the wheel of their progress.

You leave no stone unturned to impair

The image of this country.

Hence your soul is untouched by Indianness.

Are you really an Indian?

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