Dharmadhwaja

Dharmadhvaja (धर्मध्वज).—1. adj. one who displays the flag of virtue, a hypocrite.

 A historical event! We got back our freedom! Freedom from colonial mindset! A triumph after 500 years of wait!

So what do these quotes refer to? Well, you all know what happened yesterday on Jan 22nd 2024. "The" temple has been consecrated - fulfilling the promise the incumbent government and prime minister. (Funny the only minister we could see was the prime minister and RSS chief. The rest were absent!) So entire nation - the visible and vocal one - is celebrating with pomp and fervor.

In far away Bangalore, in this upscale apartment complex, there have been pheris (parades)- not the saath phere type, but the orange type. There are recitation of holy books, distribution of akshata - holy rice grains etc. 

So is the case in smaller towns in Karnataka. In our hometown, people have distributed forms along with akshata - requesting devotees to say 108 hymns of Lord Sri Ram. 

And as far as television is concerned, those men and women are in festive mode. Oho, dekho Ram Lalla aya. Look who brought him. Don't forget who stopped him from coming all these years. Look at the devout supreme leader - who is not eating, nor drinking water - and is fasting   with coconut water, sleeping on floor. Dhanya ho mahaprabhu, dhanya ho. 

But the pakhandi me thinks - will our little children be able to study in this temple, or the youth be able to have an employment, or us - the senior citizens will get hospitals here. Mandir to hazaro hain - aur ghar ghar me mandir bhi hain - we Hindus have a room for God, or at least a stand for God. Schools and hospitals (functioning ones) are not so omnipresent. Industries are needed - how long should we depend on China for anything and everything. You have heard about ASER survey saying that the literacy of children has taken a big hit due to pandemic and their reading  abilities have decreased to pre-2012 levels.  And the problems like Manipur, wrestlers' protest, declining rupee value, increasing petrol rates etc. are so persistent that, nobody talks about them any more.

And yesterday I thought- thank God. From tomorrow, my ears will have some rest and my eyes can see other important events happening around the country - like what Rahul is doing wrong and what else is Nehru's fault. 

But knowing dear Navikas and Arnabs, the echoes of the wonderful event may take some time to subside.