जयतु भारतम् - On the Eve of Independence Day 2016

Many say 'IT' is the land of crime! Many say 'IT is the land of corruption! Many say 'IT' is the land of rape.......but I say 'IT' is my JANMABHOOMI, my motherland, MOTHER INDIA, which I shall for ever be proud of!

Today on the eve of the 70th Independence Day of India, I want to express myself on what I think of my motherland. And please bear with me! It's going to be a very very very long article (because I think you can't express love for anything, especially your county in words) and so I've decided to split the whole article into 3 parts...... and hopefully I can touch all hearts of us Indians! :) All of the topics in the first article will be in small paragraphs with quick write ups... It'll be better if I just stick to this for now and later add up to this.... so for today it'll be just 1 article on India in extreme brief, the second one on Indian religions (I'll concentrate more on Hinduism, just a small note on the other religions I know to the best of my knowledge) and the third on the festivals. Later I'll add on tourism, food, history, traditions and more :)

And of course a special article on Languages!

Yours patriotically for today,

Soups.... :)



जननी जनमभूमिश्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसि ||

"Mother and Motherland are greater than heaven."



My motherland INDIA! I always think of what I had done in my previous birth that I had the honour of being born in India to Indian parents.



LAND OF BHAARATA BHOOMI

The first thing anybody can think of when you say the word India, especially to an Indian is the Landscape....... this is what I can visualise of BHAARATA MAATA (why say Mother India when you can feel more patriotic talking in a language belonging to your Nation).....The tall and young Himalayas are the crown to her; her body is made up of different kind of lands, be it plains, plateaus, mountains, deserts, fertile land, infertile land, forests and many more; the rivers and oceans make her clothes and her radiance is that of her happiness to see how her children love her and try their best to protect her and her honour.



CULTURES OF BHAARATA BHOOMI

(One can't experience this even in a lifetime, we need 100s of lifetimes to live through everything)

Be it a village, town, district or city, everyone can see various kinds of cultures. Villages are known for their folk elements while cities are known for the aesthetic ideas. It is only in India that there are so many festivals, so many religions, so many kinds of people, so many kinds of clothing, varieties in food and many more....



RELIGIONS OF BHAARATA BHOOMI

Who can actually think that India which is the second largest populated country of the world is a home to so many people of different walks of life! Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and so many more....... all under one roof! And the best part is all of this contributes to proving that our country is really a land of Unity-In-Diversity.



PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT WALKS OF LIFE IN BHAARATA BHOOMI

There are so many people who work in different places and contribute to development of that particular field. Let's start from the basic jobs...there are many who clean toilets, who sweep roads, clean homes, clear garbage, labourers, vegetable and fruit and flower vendors, street vendors, shop owners, engineers, architects, doctors, teachers, police officers, defence forces, manufacturers, company CEO's, economists, mathematicians, authors, artists, educationalists, social activists, students, actors, politicians and a long list of work that can be seen done in India.



FOOD OF BHAARATA BHOOMI

India is known for its wide variety of food items. I don't think food is in this large a number in any other nation in the world. Though there are quite a lot of South East Asian Countries which are also pretty similar to India, I honestly think they don't have as much as India in terms of food.

Indians' concept of diet is completely balanced and brings the body into equilibrium and keeps health in a good condition....



PLACES OF VISIT IN BHAARATA BHOOMI

Each state in India has some tourist attraction or the other in various regions. Be it the Taj Mahal, Gir forests, Hampi, Wayanad, North Eastern States, Tirupati, Charminar, Goa's Churches, Shirdi Sai Mandir, Rudraprayag or Jaipur, all these places have some historical or mythological significance behind their existence. There are some places which are still unexplored.



LANGUAGES OF BHAARATA BHOOMI

I really don't know how many dialects are there under every main language spoken in India. All the way starting from Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu in the south, Marathi, Konkani, Tulu, Gujarati in the west, Oriya and Bengali in the East, and primarily Hindi in the north and northwest, with many dialects, there are just so many ways of communication in India. Not to forget the mother of all Languages, SANSKRIT which is now being taught everywhere and is trying to be revived among Indians as much as possible.



HISTORY OF BHAARATA BHOOMI

I don't really know where history of India starts from. As of what I know, Aryans occupied India (at that time which included Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh) and then on there were kings who ruled lands with great wisdom and just decisions and finally the land of Bhaarata got invaded by the British, later freed by our valorous freedom fighters to this Day that we all fondly and proudly remember as our Independence Day (AUGUST 15th).



FESTIVALS OF BHAARATA BHOOMI

There is no end to the number of festivals celebrated in India. Ganesh Chaturthi, Ramzan, Lohri, Christmas, Buddha Jayanti, Mahavir Jayanti or Hamaspathmaidyem Gahanbar are some of the festivals known. But other than these, even small celebrations of life are festivals for Indians.



There is more to write but I can't write just a few words per topic and leave it for I will feel incomplete.... there is more to come!



Here's wishing all you lovely readers a very Happy Independence Day and celebrate being an Indian!!!!!!

For those who want to brighten up their spirits of Patriotism, here are two links below which are YouTube links to 2 beautiful songs that touched my heart!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrPmeCersnA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CTMEvnSJPI



Hope You like them :)

See you soon with the next article on Religions of India which I shall be posting tomorrow :)



भारत मातरं वन्दे सदा |

अहं भारतीया, जीवनम् मम भारत कल्याणाय समर्पितम् ||

जयतु भारतम्, जयतु संस्कृतं ||



(Translating my own words in Sanskrit, "I salute Mother India Always! I am an Indian and I shall offer my life for the betterment of the country! Victory be to India, Victory be to Sanskrit)