India celebrated its 61st Independence Day yesterday. I decided to jog my memory on this great occasion.

18 years ago, I reached the USA for my first stint there. As an Indian, I was almost immediately taken aback by the pride that Americans displayed for their country. The national flag was everywhere including on undergarments!

I observed, with a great deal of incomprehensibility, that when the national anthem was played, Americans placed their hand over their heart. I could even see tears forming in some of their eyes. Wow!

Flashback 29 years ago, while in grade school, we used to take the pledge everyday and sing the national anthem on special days. Teachers used to drill into us nationalistic messages, stories during I-day/R-day events as well as throughout the year.

However, for a 12 year old kid, things got very confusing due to what happened outside the school. There was no pride visible at all. More confusing was the fact that being an Indian meant that we will be scoffed at. Reams of advice was hurled at India – control your population, stop corruption, keep your streets clean, be proud or whatever else caught the fancy of the advisors.

In those days, at the end of a play or a movie, they used to play the national anthem. A shocking thing used to happen – almost everyone would walk out while the anthem was playing to go to their parking spot early or whatever. Myself and my dad (used to work in the Military Engineering Service) used to be amongst the few who were left standing (no pun intended). [Later the government wisely passed a law to stop the national anthem from being played during such occasions].

For me, this was all enough to completely smother the small flickering flame called Indian pride burning in me.

Fast forward to the last 2.5 years that I have been back here. I-days are big – people sport wrist bands and head bands with the tricolor. Many Indians are almost jingoistic. I went to a meeting with a couple of political leaders in it last year. This time when the national anthem was played i was pleasantly surprised to see a few people having their hands placed on their heart!

What changed?