This post was originally scheduled for 26th January.
Jai Hind repeated Chinipie and Sugarbun after me. But what is a republic day mom. On being told that it's the day when the Constitution of India had come into effect. Like the american Constitution? On an affirmative, she gets excited and goes on to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. After being duly applauded, she goes on Does your country has a Pledge as well?
Sounds shocking, isn't it? The first time I had heard it, I had taken quite a number of days to stand on my two wobbly feet again w/o any fear of fainting. I had thanked God for providing me with super-strong and healthy cardiovascular muscles to have been able to endure such blows to my very Indian Mom Heart. It was the summers of 2012 and the London Olympics had started. An exception had been made and the girls were allowed to stay up until late night to watch he beautiful opening ceremony. They had enjoyed every bit of the nurses dance, the Harry Potter, Mary Poppins, James Bond and the Queen. Later, when the parade had commenced, they had watched in awe as each country's sportspersons had held their flag, their cauldron and were in their traditional attire. After sometime, Chinipie had asked,
"when's our country coming, mumma?"
Without giving it much thought, the mom had said,
"we are on 'G' right now. Since it's alphateically, after H will come I and only then India's team will come."
Without missing a snap, she had said,
"That's your country. When's my country coming? "
As mom was checking that her feet were still planted on earth and that her heart was still where it should have been, albeit a bit broken, she realized that Chinipie was still speaking,
"It should have been in the beginning as America starts with 'A'."
" yes momma. america starts with A." Sugarbun had chimed in.
After having gathered those little pieces of her heart, mom had gathered her wits too and replied,
"Actually the full name isUnited States of America. So you will have to wait until the letter 'U' " and being a mom, she had made them recite theor alphabet.
Seemingly unaware of mom's plight, they had soon jumped up seeing the tricolor on the tv screen,
"Look mumma! That's your country's flag. I really like the yellow saree the girls are wearing. But what's that yellow thing on the boys' head? Yeah! Go India Go! Mommy that's your country! I am so excited"
Though, with a bleeding heart, momma took consolation in the fact that at least the apple of her eyes knew the tricolor flag and were actually cheering for her country, India.
It did take a while to sink in but now momma has learnt to take a pride when her wittle darlings come back from school and insist to know more about 'your country and your culture'. Mommy is proud that she is teaching her kids to keep an open and learning mind and appreciate each nation's culture, regard the differences and most importantly to salute the FLAG of each country. Seeing the US flag on their playroom floor once, she had asked them to pick it up and had gently told them, that we should make sure that we never trample the flag with our feet. Incidentally, there was a guest, who had quipped, "so what. It's not India's flag." Mom had tried to control her temper over such an insensitive remark and made sure her girls would not listen to any such nonsense and learn to be a part of this whole global community, we call the world with all the due respect. After all, there's some truth in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.
What would you do? Not all of us are raising our kids in our beloved India. How do you think we should raise responsible, respectful and yet not confused children?
I do need some help here coz I face scenarios when I have guests at home who quite insensibly remark on the number of Indian flags at my home vs the American. It takes me to muster all self-control not to remind them that I have never seen any Indian flag at their home and gently diverge the topic from there. I am really proud the way I am raising my kids. They speak, though not very fluently, and undstand Hindi. They know much about the Indian national symbols as well as the American ones. So when people remark that my kids have an American accent, I all but smile, rather than saying, "they don't. We are the ones with accent." Or " what wud u think ur kids are going to speak when they grow up." There are times, when i stop myself from asking such people, " really? and what do you think your culture is? or what culture you are raising your kid in?" Have you ever faced such situations? How do you handle those?
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