This is my last post on Pass the Roti, so I thought I'd leave with a bang :)

Independence Day(s) for Pakistan and India are over, and I am thankful for that. I am glad that everyone took one day off out of the year to unfurl their flags, sing and dance in the praise of their nation, and listen to the Prime Minister's speeches. Every year when Independence Day rolls around, journalists, writers, the opinion makers, and other members of the intelligentsia and elite will exhume national "heroes." They will solemnly showcase pearls of wisdom which spilled out of Nehru, Jinnah, and Gandhi's mouths: Nehru saw India as an ancient palimpsest, blah blah blah. Jinnah wanted an secular state where religion didn't matter, even though Pakistan was consciously constructed on a particular religion- a contradiction, if there ever was one. Mohandas Gandhi was the Mahatma, and Mahatamaji's dream and Pandit Nehru's prescient words should come true, especially since 60 years have passed, yada yada yada. How many times do we have to hear about India's Tryst With Destiny? Citizens are expected to ponder these words of wisdom, rub their chins, and say, "Wah wah! Too true!" The next day, everything can go back to normal. Pakistanis can resume taking over masjids, blowing each other up, unleashing a suppressive and deadly military campaign on people who demand an equal share, and abduct Hindu girls and force them to convert to Islam. Indians can return to massacring its own citizens and let the complicit politicians enjoy total impunity, kidnapping women who marry outside of the "community," force Christians to convert to Hinduism, and crooked badmaashes can carry on with their corruption and naatak. Both can pick up their axes again to destroy religious sites to symbolize the triumph of one religion over the other, fundamentalists can go back indoctrinating folks, the poor on both sides of the border can go back to the streets pavements to sleep after the fireworks are over, millions of refugees can return to their camps to languish there, and human trafficking on a large, global scale can restart its wheels. But look on the radioactively bright side- both have nuclear bombs which are national / honor. Who says Pakistan can't Zindabad and Mera Bharat isn't Mahan?

There's a project in motion. Marx said that religion was the opiate of the masses, but nationalism and the reverence of sanctified, immortalized, and romanticized historical heroes who are completely uprooted and divorced from their political, social, economic, and temporal context can be like a drug too. Their messages are like mantras that are listened to and repeated- without very little meaning. Keep bringing back folks from 60 years ago and shove them under the faces of the people today, so that they forget that their current politicians- who should be beholden and accountable to citizens- need to shape up and do something for the people. Every year, politicians tell millions (and in India's case, a billion) of people what they already know: poverty sucks, and we need to fix it. They say it as if somehow the poor can be participant in the remedy to alleviate poverty. And I'm sure that when some citizens hear these same old repetitive messages, they think, "Tell us something that's new."

I-Day has different meanings for us here in the diaspora, but the patriotism is no less. It may be an occasion to be around massive numbers of brown people, slip into your salwaar kameez, watch "cultural shows," eat lots of samosas with chutney, and take part in the "Desi Idol" contest. It's also a manifestation of being there and not; we are not in India, but in America, but we are Indian in absentia. And there are displays of what I call "hyphenated nationalisms:" We are proud to be American, but we are also proud to be "Indian." Of course, this is always done uncritically- we are celebrating "where we come from" by buying tri-color flags, t-shirts with the Indian subcontinent emblazoned on, and eating lots of Desi food. What can you expect when nationalisms become consumable?

This I-Day (and every other I-Day the world over, including the American one* as well), I was repulsed by the blatant demonstrations of flags, grandiose declarations about how great Pakistan and India are, and "how far we've come along." Yes, the majority of our people are poor, are illiterate, and the subject of gross human rights violations. The shackles of poverty, violence, and oppression still hold the majority of our citizens down, but we are free! Free from what? And even good intentioned, rational people see Independence Day as a good excuse to chuck critical thinking, logic, and rationality out the window- it's I-Day, so uncritical thinking is all game. Some folks get very defensive at the slightest criticism and hurl hysterical insults. Is this what "pop patriotism," as Shivam Vij commented on All Things Pakistan, is all about? Have people used their flags to blindfold themselves so they can't see anything? There is so much fervent self stroking, frantic re-assurance, and blind patriotism that I can't help but ask: Are we all going through a major identity crisis?

Others might say that I-Day is an occasion for feeling a sense of brother/sisterhood, contemplating about our past(s), present(s), and future(s), and reinforcing our "immagined communities." Here is what I think about this claim:

If Independence Day is for reflecting on our state of affairs, recognizing where we come from, feeling a sense of community with our fellow men/women, resuscitating hope, dreaming collective dreams, looking for solutions to fix our problems, and striving for the future, then I-Day should be everyday. Independence Day should not be something superficial, vacuous, mind numbing, and something akin to an annual collective masturbation, where everyone is excited and stimulated right up to the climax, and once that release is achieved, everyone can fall into a long, peaceful post-coital nap for the rest of the year.

Rather than setting aside an independence day which symbolize struggles which have been "won," we need to realize that the day we celebrate a national "victory," we have already lost. Nobody hands you freedom, equality, justice, and representation on a silver platter. You have to fight for it- everyday. You don't have one big major victory, and then that's it; you are to enjoy the fruits of your success without any interference or other battles. There will be battles everyday, and you must fight everyday.

The day we fossilize a past leader and celebrate "Independence Day," that is the day we are not free and we have been subjugated to history. When we are repeating the words of another who is long dead as if it were a mantra, we have stopped speaking and we no longer have thoughts and words of our own.

The day we set aside a designated occasion to celebrate triumphs, grieve our sorrows, and reflect on who and where we were, who and where we are, and who and where we will be, that is the day we have become a stagnant, stale, and inert society. We have stopped living, breathing, and thinking.

People shouldn't be reflecting, contemplating, and pondering once year. They shouldn't think that the final, ultimate battle was won in 1947. They should be thinking about now and...making history for those in the future.

And these thoughts apply to everyone all over the world.

*The 4th of July in America essentially means to me: a day off work, and an excuse to drink all the laal paani I want.