On Independence Day 2015, Senior Student Council Member Karthika R. reflects on what being an Indian means to her !

“I’m proud to be an Indian.” How often have you heard that phrase in the media?
More importantly, how often have YOU said it, and meant it?
India is such a beautiful country. We know this. Why don’t we celebrate it?
The media is filled with cynics. We have millions below the poverty line, the rupee value is down, our roads are dirty, our women are unsafe. They want to bring a change. How will they bring a change with plain criticism?
A change cannot come from the government alone. It needs to come from the people. The media, with its power and influence, can be a source of motivation to all people. 
Why broadcast death when you can popularize events like people of conflicting religions standing up for each other?
Why talk about India-Pakistan rivalry when we can talk about how beautiful Kashmir is?
We were the world’s only source of diamonds till 1896. We now export software to 90 countries, chess was invented in India, the Kabaddi team has won all world cups and in our last 1, 00,000 years of history, we have never invaded another country. 
India has seen many era after era blooming on her soil in her 5000 year old cultural history. Each era has left its traces. From the Harappa’s to the Maurya’s,  Gupta’s to the Sultan’s, and the Mughals to the English, India saw a drastic change in each era. Cultures intermingled and led to the emergence of a new India in every century, influenced by all yet retaining its old identity. 
Some very important mathematical concepts like algebra, trigonometry and calculus originated in India. It was in India that the first ever university in the world was built in Takshila in 700 BC. During that time, the university hosted 10,500 students all studying more than 60 different subjects. 
We have the second fastest growing economy in the world. We are the largest democracy in the world. The census of 1961 listed 1652 languages and dialects. It is again only in India that people profess in all the major religions of the world. We find here followers of Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Zoroastrianism.

Max Muller, a German-born philologist and orientalist once said, “If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered over the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions of some of them which well deserve the attention even of those who have studied Plato and Kant, I should point to India.’’

We are one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world. Unity in diversity has been our motto and we have held onto it for so very long. It was not always rainbows and sunshine, trying to get religious battles and the caste systems to fade, but we have managed to sail through every storm with the least possible collateral damage. Indians are peaceful, heartwarming people and I cannot emphasize enough on how beautiful a fact that is. 
As we celebrate our 69^th independence day, we should think about how proud it makes us to have smoothly sailed through 69years of freedom from being drastically exploited. 
Aren’t you proud to be an Indian? I am