Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Samuel Johnson was wrong.  Far from being scoundrels, we, the Indian patriots, are an exceptionally sensitive lot.  “As sensitive as the toilet seat,” I can hear the antinational prigs snicker.  The fact is that we care for Mother India.  We care for the Gau Mata.  That’s why we don’t tolerate the likes of Ramya, former MP and actress, who dare to say that “Pakistan is not hell.”  Tell me, how can a former Member of Parliament, make such a statement when she ought to know that the cause of all our problems is Pakistan?  Earlier that other actor’s wife said she felt insecure to live in India.  We told her to go to Pakistan along with her Muslim husband.  And now we have slapped a sedition charge on Ramya.  We are patriots, not scoundrels.  Our national sensitivity is offended when anyone says that Pakistan is not hell.  Our national pride is founded on the premise that Pakistan is our hell. For light to shine, there has ...

“A world full of patriots may be a world full of strife,” wrote Bertrand Russell in his book Why Men Fight .  Patriotism assumes that one’s own country is superior to others.  Patriotism is like religion, Russell goes on to say.  Apart from the sense of superiority, it is also founded on a sense of self-righteousness.  The patriot believes that his country possesses the ultimate truths.  There are a few bloggers who have shot to prominence in the last few months – after nationalism became a pet theme in India – who vindicate Russell’s arguments.  There is no truth outside the Gita, there is no epic greater than the Mahabharata, and there is no greater religion than the Hindu dharma, according to these blogger-patriots. My primary opposition to patriotism is precisely the blinkered vision on which it is founded.  It prevents one from seeing the bigger picture.  It withholds one from admiring what is good in other countries.  How terr...

Those who can afford it are leaving India.  According to a report by New World Wealth published in today’s Times of India , 4000 Indian millionaires chose to leave the country in 2015 and settle down elsewhere.  They are rich enough to abandon nationalism and embrace internationalism.  Source: TCN Cartoon The godman is missing from the cartoon because he is an internationalist! Nationalism is for those who can’t afford internationalism.  Those who can’t afford to leave the country will have to accept the laws and regulations about what to eat, what to speak, what to wear, etc from certain groups of people who have the support of the ruling party at the centre.  The report says that France witnessed the highest outflow and the reason is the religious tension in the country.  Other European countries such as Germany, Belgium, Sweden and UK are likely to face the problem of emigration because of religious reasons.  Perhaps, religion is the...

Source: The Hindu Patriotism has reasons to surge in me. I live in a country whose supreme leader requires even more security than the supreme leader of the world’s superpower.  My country has a leader who matters.  Matters so much that no citizen can approach him within a radius of 3 km.  “Anyone who enters within 3 kilometre of the cordoned-off area around Lal Quila will be shot.”  On the Independence Day of my country. My leader is not just a Very Important Person, he is beyond scales of importance.  I have now reasons to be a proud citizen of my country.    The other day, another important leader of my country drew a parallel that also surged the patriotism in me.  He compared my country to Germany where all citizens are Germans and America where all citizens are Americans.  Similarly, he argued, all citizens of India should be “Hindus”.  Why not Indians?  Because, in his terminology India is Hindustan.  Ne...