In the wake of the Supreme Court judges verdict that it’s not necessary to stand up for the “National Anthem”……I have a few questions :
Why do we still need to address the “officials” concerned as ” Your Honour”, My Lord”, ” His Excellency”, ” Hon’ble”…..and so on? Why not do away with this British era custom and ‘ritual’?
Can we also do away with the “stand up” custom in:-
** Students in schools need not stand up when teachers/ HM/ Principal enters the class.
** Employees in companies need not stand up when the top bosses come to meet them.
** Even in the police and army, cops and soldiers need not stand and salute too, when their bosses (commissioners, chiefs and commanders) come to meet them.
** When the Speaker enters the Parliament, MPs need not stand up; (Rather the Speaker can enter the House by saying: Baith jayeeye….baith jayeeye !! that means please sit!)
** Last but not the least….in the courtrooms, no one need to stand up when the judge enters and so on and so forth.
After all “they” say …you need not wear patriotism on your sleeves!! (Whatever that means)!
Similarly….why “show off” respect, regard, honour…..by “standing up” in the aforesaid instances?
Just have your respect and honour for your teachers, bosses, officials, VIPs, in your heart and mind! Enough, right?
Now, why ever play the National Anthem in the cinema halls? Stop this custom immediately.
Now on a serious note, I have two valid points to make.
When you can spend hours “online” to book your cinema tickets, minutes or hours in the queue to purchase the cinema tickets in the premises, spend minutes to have your oversized packet of popcorn at an exorbitant price, even wait for minutes in the toilet for your turn to come (during the interval) to relieve yourself, can you not stand up for just 52 seconds when the National Anthem is being played? I am not asking you to show off or enforcing “patriotism”. Can’t we have a sense of pride for the Anthem and the Nation? Wish the Supreme Court had stressed these points and set a precedent.
Secondly, it’s time to highlight that the Supreme Court is spending times on matters that are not mostly relevant to them. Many petitions filed on frivolous grounds and for publicity must be summarily rejected. Priority should be to dispose off and settle crores of cases pending for decades and years. Our judicial system too needs a total revamp.
PS: Now, I don’t ‘ expect a “standing” ovation for this write up …hhmm. !!
Krishna Kumar
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
