With the recent discussions about playing the National Anthem mandatorily in Cinema Halls, a simple question arises, ‘Can listening to and singing along the National Anthem increase patriotism?’ There is no doubt about the fact that everyone feels the surge of patriotism and tingling in their hearts for their nation after watching the short video that plays along with the national anthem. Or simply standing with 50 odd unknown people in a theatre and singing the same song and knowing that we belong to the same place makes our hearts go wild with happiness and should “Jai Hind!” (There are a few exceptions to this, some people get annoyed of the disturbance, which is fair too)
But what happens when the National Anthem gets over and you watch the movie, which ends up erasing all the emotions you felt for those fleeting moments and you come out, pushing each other, cutting into lines, probably spitting on your way out or checking out the girl walking ahead of you while she gets uncomfortable?
In one of my previous articles, I wrote about the effects of ‘should’, how it is the source of creating herd-mentality and how it affects the youth. The problem in this case as well, is the fact that even though it is a good effort, it might not necessarily be that effective, only because they’re not actually ‘doing’ anything to make patriotism a part of themselves. They stand, respect the National Anthem, sing along, excitedly shout “Jai Hind”, feel proud and then sit back down to watch something that is most of the times, completely unrelated.
Patriotism is something that cannot be pushed off on someone; it’s a feeling that should be nurtured. India- Pakistan cricket matches, the current wars, Independence Days and Republic Days are where people seem to suddenly turn into the most patriotic beings on the face of the earth; which later turns into nothing but a front-page news article the next day. The immense reformation our nation is going through right now is also what is bringing people together. Whether it is a good change or a bad change is not for me to say, but it’s a change nonetheless. Changing circumstances bring people together, they need each other to adjust with it and they realize that they need to be a team for it to be easy on everyone.
And while the step of mandatorily playing the national anthem in theaters has been taken for the general public, mostly to increase their feeling of patriotism, the courts (who work directly for the smooth functioning of the nation) don’t have to sing it right before the start of the proceedings. Don’t we need patriotism there? Does no one have to be aware of our nation in a court?
A more effective solution to this would be to involve the youth in the functioning, to help them take initiative, to encourage their ideas. It doesn’t matter whether the ideas are logical or not, but a new perspective a fresher idea and a more creative solution is what keeps any system going. Creating awareness and creating opportunities for the public to do something about it is what will make people feel like they’re involved in something bigger than themselves.
You can’t be forced to love something; it is either an acquired taste or a carefully nurtured feeling. Mandating Patriotism seems to make people fight against it, it is increasing the unrest amongst people because they don’t like being told what to do. Going against the whole purpose, aren’t we? The whole nation needs to be handled the way a teacher would handle a classroom full of bratty students, give them responsibility, make them do something for the class, make them wholly responsible for one person’s mistake, create situations where they would stand up for each other and not against. And then, one day, they will stand up together and sing the song that binds them closer together.
