Do We Respect Our Icons?

Do we really give respect to our national icons - I want to ask this to all our Politicians and Babus, if they are done with their salary hike drama and free to answer. In fact it is my mistake that I am asking this question to a set of highly incompetent and lazy potbellies to begin with. As the past examples and the latest tantrum thrown at Viswanathan Anand yesterday should have provided the answer - we don't respect anything, let alone the national icons or any of that nonsense.

Our whole bureaucratic system seems to be a combination of Red Tapes, White Lies and Greenhorn jokers. Or else how can one explain the jibes of our HRD ministry when it asked a person of the caliber and stature of Vishy Anand to provide documents to prove that he is an Indian. Let me assure you - Anand could be more Indian and patriotic than all of those babus and politicians put together. One would definitely get bewildered and run out of words to explain his frustration on this whole, not so required and unnecessary drama that unfolded yesterday afternoon. More than anyone I feel pity on the babu who asked Vishy to prove his nationality. Either he didn't applied his brain or doesn't have a brain to apply, to begin with.

The person who dedicated all his life for the nation and made sure that he brings a smile and sense of pride to Indians like you and me, every time he played is humiliated in his own country. A person who always represented India with the tricolour promptly tucked beside him, every time he is at the table has to prove to which country he belongs. All this for what ? He was supposed to be bestowed with a honorary degree (which he never asked) yesterday evening. Now coming back to the protocol - should it be the job of the dean of the university or the HRD ministry to figure out? Does the British University asked for the clearance from the queen before honouring Manmohan Sing with a Ph.d? Or does they seek clearance from the then government when they honoured Satyojit Ray with a honorary degree back in 1978?

Why everything in India have to go to the table of some idiotic babu sitting in his Delhi office in the name of some useless red tape? Where was the same government and their red tapes when they were running after a mindless artist who ditched India and promptly taken up citizenship of some other country? Our home minister even went to the extent of assuring to withdraw all cases pending against that joker and begged him to comeback to India. But when it comes to Vishy Anand, the poor chap has to fax his passport copies to prove, he is an Indian. Thousands of Bangladeshi refuges can come here and be welcomed with housing schemes, ration cards and voter cards also. But Vishy has to prove how Indian he is as he doesn't constitute a vote bank. Isn't it bizarre? Should I call this a sorry state of affairs or an early sign of our able sarkar for all of us to seriously think about a religion change?

Honestly the king of chess who can count on his fingertips; how many times he was been check mated in the game is comprehensibly check mated by our dirty bureaucracy and red tapes. Wasn't our babus aware of the fact that Anand denied a one million dollar offer from Spanish government to play for Spain, instead he went on to represent India in the world championship? When the same babus who would sell of our country in exchange of that million dollar are questioning the Indian-ness of Anand. It is only an irony and humiliation not only to Anand but all of us Indians.

In fact this this not the first time. Few days back a man like Leander Paes (who won 12 grad-slams for India) has to write letters to ITA to release his much deserved dues. We force a person like Dhanraj Pillay (perhaps the best forward world hockey has ever seen) to cry in front of the camera and vow not to let his son play our national game ever. We allow our war heroes to rot on the streets of Delhi and force them to return their gallantry awards in protest. So in the same scheme of things, Anand's insult is just another feather in our already bedazzling cap.

I apologise to Vishy for this behaviour of our babus. Hell with these jokers, when you know there are a billion plus people who adore and love you. A billion plus people are never in dilemma regarding your nationality. An idiocy of few buffoons shouldn't be generalised as the whole of India knows who are the true sons of the soil and yes you don't have to wave your passport for that. Hope we won't repeat this ever.