The Day, to be remembered always.....
Are we diverted too much by movies and TV programmes on our national Independence Day on Aug-15th?
I feel so.....
Why??
Today Aug 9th-2005, is the 40th anniversary of Modern Singapore. The day, when it was delinked from Malaysia. Every year the celebrations used to be grand and no need to tell about this special year, being the completion of 4 decades.
The height of it will be the evening parade - near the Parliament. Everytime, those who view the Parade personally or thru TV, definitely wonder about the extravagance and the co-ordination. The above pic is another piece of a dedicated team. The no. '40' is nothing but made of flags, between two big blocks. You can double click, if you want more clarity.
In between all this extravagance and patriotism, a particular aspect needs a highlight.The Flags which are tied in front of the flats/houses/shops are either being distributed by the local town councils or bought by the residents themselves. When they receive it freely from the councils (like I got this year), some residents tie it very neatly in front of their units and some don't.
Display of national flags everywhere during the last few weeks before the ND, definitely creates the required atmosphere.
I personally feel, that inculcation of patriotism thru this small step has a positive effect on the younger generation who were not part of the intial years of nation building. (Eventhough, some people think otherwise - that it cannot be forced). In today's MTV culture, when the modern youth is fully occupied with so many entertainments, instilling the idea of belonging to a nation is very very important.
I'm afraid that this inculcation is definitely missing back home, where adequate importance of the pains and struggles of our yesteryear leaders are not stressed. If the importance is stressed thru Govt. machinery, other than thru movies, I would be glad.
160th post
I feel so.....
Why??
Today Aug 9th-2005, is the 40th anniversary of Modern Singapore. The day, when it was delinked from Malaysia. Every year the celebrations used to be grand and no need to tell about this special year, being the completion of 4 decades.The height of it will be the evening parade - near the Parliament. Everytime, those who view the Parade personally or thru TV, definitely wonder about the extravagance and the co-ordination. The above pic is another piece of a dedicated team. The no. '40' is nothing but made of flags, between two big blocks. You can double click, if you want more clarity.
In between all this extravagance and patriotism, a particular aspect needs a highlight.The Flags which are tied in front of the flats/houses/shops are either being distributed by the local town councils or bought by the residents themselves. When they receive it freely from the councils (like I got this year), some residents tie it very neatly in front of their units and some don't.
Display of national flags everywhere during the last few weeks before the ND, definitely creates the required atmosphere.I personally feel, that inculcation of patriotism thru this small step has a positive effect on the younger generation who were not part of the intial years of nation building. (Eventhough, some people think otherwise - that it cannot be forced). In today's MTV culture, when the modern youth is fully occupied with so many entertainments, instilling the idea of belonging to a nation is very very important.
I'm afraid that this inculcation is definitely missing back home, where adequate importance of the pains and struggles of our yesteryear leaders are not stressed. If the importance is stressed thru Govt. machinery, other than thru movies, I would be glad.
160th post
posted by Ram C at 3:58 PM
11 Comments:
we are still stuck up with hoisting a flag in the morning, and eating the "muttaais"...and watching TV shows all day...
but then, for India, thats ok !
hmmm partially true, but i remember when we were in school each one of us would buy one flag(small paper one), fix it on a cycle and roam around. Cars - Autos - taxi - people all around would have sense of festivity. Watching the parade early in the morning -- isn't it similar to what u are seeing in Singapore.
And now that India has removed the stringent rule of not having the Indian Flag - it is going to get better.
U are the 2nd person after Anniyan to compare India to Singapore ;)
ya, pains of great leaders are not stressed in india. but that does not make an indian a less patriot than his counterparts in other nations.
truly, when i read this blog, i felt sad that an indian is writing abt singapore national day. but the thought seemed childish. atlast, evrything is driven by where u stay. that influences us much.
indians are no less in showing patriotism, be it the humble rickshawwala or a rich business man, they show their patriotism in unique way. when some calamity or another hits our nation we see how funds from various parts of our country gets accumulated. inspite of the fact that affected people no longer want all those clothes and grains, heaps of those stuff only show how patriotic we indians are and responsible we feel. thus it does inculcate that feeling which u were talking about.
Happy Nationl Day guys. Dont forget, India, Malaysia, Singapore celebrates national days this month...hope im getting the India part right, izzit national day in august or republic day?
Keerthi.. thx for sharing your thoughts.
Aatma.. i was trying to mention certain positive factors which India can emulate. that's all.
GP.. yes, India's national day is on 15th Aug
FB
Thanks for your detailed comments.. I believe you are mistaken with the post title "The day, to be remembered ...". That doesn't mean, that Aug-9th is the day to be remembered. As a whole, I am talking about a National day, irrespective of the country. If it has misreprsented, let me corrct it here in this explntn.
As you said, many Indians come forward in times of crisis and helping, showing their patriotism towards their counterparts. But, I still wanted the govt. machinery to promote certain things. That is my wish, thru this post.
I was simply trying to pull out some positive factors from other places/countries and wish our nation can emulate them. Would like to reiterate that the aim of this post is not to tarnish any of the patriotic gestures of my fellow Indians. Hope you get it.
True. It is missing back home :(
But i remember during the golden jubilee I-day, there was a lot of such patriotic displays, and lots of people made huuge money tapping those.
I am with you on this.
About 20 yrs back, when I was in primary school, our school used to celebrate I-Day & R-Day in a big way. Attendance to those days were compulsory and there used to be a sense of pride in participating in the events. That was in Kumbakonam.
When I moved to Chennai, I noticed that many of the schools including mine did not have much space to gather all the students at one point. Only teachers were required to come to the school for flag hoisting.
In the later years, special programmes in TV, 'sirappu' oliyum oliyum etc started to dominate that the current day school generation treat that as one another holiday, like how we treat "Bank Holidays" in England. Thats indeed sad!
valid point Ram
As someone said namma orula pandikai agattum or national day makkale tv munnal okkara vaikkadhan nenaipangale thavira indhamadiri edhanachum seyvangala ?
true ram,that patriotic feeling is missing from our country,esp the youth..but on the positive side there are guys like u who feel proud 2 be an indian..i wish all nri's were like u..
we can learn a lot from singapore..remember the stadium scene in anniyan?
very true
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