User talk:Nikhiljoshi2007

''' Why ‘India’? Why not ‘Bharat’?

--Nikhil Joshi

We citizens of a great nation live our life breath by breath breathing oxygen, eating variety of food, having sound sleep, running on roads with our day-to-day busy schedules and talking about many many many things, which perhaps we don’t have much concern with. Then what concerns….? What matters in your life…? Is it enough for you that you are being addressed respectfully as Mr./Ms./Mrs.XYZ? Suppose you are Mr.X and somebody is calling you again and again as Mr.Y, would you mind it or not? Of course you would. Am I right? Though the name given to you is not a question of your choice, you were not asked to choose one in your infant age but it belongs to you or you belong to it not only till the end of your breathing but also after that when you are no more than a fixed photograph in a frame hanging on a wall along with your name written on it. So now do you think, do you feel this ‘name’ matters a lot in your life? I know your answer to this question is surely ‘yes’.

Now let me come to the point. If you are that much conscious in case of name then why don’t you spend a little time to think about the name of our nation? Yes, what’s it….? India….? Is that your answer? Please just get ready to pay much more attention and not to digest the term-‘India’. We believe that we believe in our culture very much. If it is so, how could you tolerate if somebody changes the name of your mother! Years and years back Britishers ruled on our nation; rather they ruled on us, on our psychological self, on our inner being? Never say-I’m an Indian or I’m from India. Say it loudly-I ‘m a Bhartiya or I’m from Bharat. Yes ‘Bharat’ was the actual name of our nation. Centuries back it was ‘Bharat’and ‘Bharat’ was considered as the gem of the world.

Let me ask you few more questions. What do you call ‘America and Americans’ in English, Hindi, Gujarati, Telugu, Tamil, German, Spanish, French or any other language of the world? What do you call ‘Africa and Africans’, ‘Russia and Russians’, ‘Shri Lanka and Shri Lankans’? There are endless examples like these. Does it stir your mind, your heart, your being? ‘Bharat’ is the only name of a nation, which turns out as ‘India’ in English. Are we that much poor that we even cannot maintain glory of name of our mother, our motherland? The biggest poverty is that our government itself is called as ‘Government of India’!!!

Bharat was and is the jewel of the world. We have progressed a lot but in this blind race of progress perhaps we have even forgotten that somebody has changed the name of our mother. Instead of fighting to this situation, we have adopted that new name knowingly or unknowingly. Now it’s the responsibility of ours to carry the can on our shoulders and to give a fight on this issue. Let’s make it ‘Bharat’ again. Do support each other holding hands in hands tight together to become real Bhartiya.

There are few more things, which we must start considering in the same way. How do you pronounce the name ‘Michael’? yes you did it the way they do it. We don’t say ‘Mi-cha-el’. If you don’t say it like this then how can you tolerate others speaking about your Lord Ram as ‘Rama’, Ganesh as ‘Ganesha’, Shiv as ‘Shiva’ Ramayan as ‘Ramayana’, Mahabharat as ‘Mahabharata’…..!?!?!? Don’t speak like this and don’t let others speak. Just forget about rules of language if it attacks on our names. Get up and get ready to be aware and to create awareness among others before our ‘Mahabharat’ turns out to be called as ‘Metroindia’.

Being a Bhartiya, this must be your first and foremost concern of your life. Beware of such blind follow up which spoils the logo of your identity, your name itself. Go global, think globally but without leaving your local being.

--NIKHIL JOSHI

(Chief editor, ‘E-Patra’-an online magazine of GCET Language Club) Bold text'''