A day from the past again…

26.01.2020

Happy Republic Day India!

One of my fondest memories of my childhood is waking up on 26-th January and sitting in front of the TV to watch the republic day parade. It was a day all my pride about being an Indian came to the fore. I watched the different armed vehicles go past, the different battalions march past, the floats from different states trying to outdo themselves — and felt happy that I am an Indian. This year, I heard that Kerala was denied a slot to put up a float. I used to always look out for Kerala’s float irrespective of which state I lived in. I felt more happiness when I saw it more than the ones of the state where I used to live – Tamil Nadu or Karnataka.

This is also the first Indian political holiday after I became a German – I now celebrate it as an Overseas Citizen of India.

In the shelf where the flags of the countries were kept, I searched for the flag of India. I could not find it in the area reserved for each country – perhaps it is one of the generic shelves with “I” though all the ones there were yellow in colour.

Part 2

When reading Life of Pi, I had a jarring moment early in the book.

“Our good old nation was just seven years old as a republic when it became bigger by a small territory. Pondicherry entered the Union of India on November 1, 1954.” – not seven years old as a republic, screamed my mind – just four.

It is a good time to read Life of Pi – the move, the journey by a container ship… The book asks multiple questions – some of the highlighted parts as I was reading:

– I still cannot understand how he could abandon me so
unceremoniously, without any sort of goodbye, without looking back even once

– To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.

– All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive

– Animals that escape go from the known into the unknown – and if there is one thing an animal hates above all else, it is the unknown. Escaping animals usually hide in the very first place they find that gives them a sense of security and they are dangerous only to those who happen to get between them and their reckoned safe spot.

– …escaped zoo animals are not dangerous absconding criminals but simply wide creatures seeking to fit in

– Why do people move? What makes them uproot and leave everything they’ve known for a great unknown beyond the horizon?

– People move because of the wear and tear of anxiety….

– Anyway, I have nothing to go home to in Pondicherry

It talks of a family fleeing the imminent dictatorship of Indira Gandhi during emergency. What a time in history to read “takeover was smoothly enforced”.

Part 3

Today, Ri will launch a handwritten letter, in a used glass bottle. I missed the event as I caught up on sleep – a bad back had kept me awake all night last night.

I have moved to handling two books simultaneously. “The real business of Blockchain” (after two fiction books that kept me completely glued, I wanted something that would be a difficult read – my expectations were met) and “The twice born – life and death on the Ganges” (an audio book).