Patriotism and me

by Saima

There were times when I often wished I was born in the pre-independence era, so I could also do my bit for India. While in my school, I was extremely keen on joining Army, and actually get a chance to go fight in a war. Sadly that did not happen, as my mother was strictly against it. The reason she gave was that since her own brother i.e. my Mama was in the Army, it was enough for the whole family, and for many generations to come. (I too gave up the idea on getting to know I will have to study science for that!! )
Anyways, since a young age, I wanted to so something fruitful in life. And i started pretty early too 🙂 I remember being in class 5 and me and the twin decided to open a small school for the kids. We roped in two of the juniors at school and persuaded them to get a small blackboard, while we arranged for copies/pencils etc. Then began the arduous task of persuading the parents and the kids to join us. I remember we went to various chai-wallas, press-waalis, kaam waali bai, to convince them to send their kids to us so they could learn basic English and Maths.
When finally we had around 7-10 kids in our ‘school’ we started teaching them albeit in a haphazard manner. We were kids teaching other kids. Well, it did not turn out to be a successful ‘venture’, as most of the kids stopped coming after 10 days, even after we tried to lure them by chocolates. 😦
Well, atleast i tried 😀
Lately, I have been intending to open a school, for the poor kids. I know it will be a difficult task considering the fact that I will soon start working, nevertheless, it’ll be a dream which has to come true. This would be my way of showing patriotism.

We often tend to get so self-absorbed that we forget to look around us. We forget that as responsible and educated citizens we should give back to the society in one way or the other. Small small things make hell of a difference. Things like not wasting water, or switching of electricity when not in use matter a lot. Most of us do realise this but many don’t care much. If each one of us takes responsibility to do one thing for the society in week, be it planting a tree, or teaching the maid’s kid some basic mathematical calculation, or trying to conserve the electricity, the world would be a much better place.