Let us maintain honour of national flag
T-shirts, ‘dupattas’, toys in tri-colour of our national flag are seen in shops as 15th August approaches. Shopkeepers keep such things to sell their stock and buyers also buy for children out of love. Does using such clothes and things show our real patriotism? In fact, things coloured like national flags are used anyhow, they get spoilt which is in a way abuse of national flags. At some places, cakes are baked in tri-colour and cut on this occasion. It is most shameful for Indians that cakes are made and cut in tri-colour; when for the honour of which our revolutionaries sacrificed their life and fought for protection of national flag. National flag is not a toy but it is a symbol of our national anthem and sacrifices made by our revolutionaries. Every Indian should protect national flag even more than his life. Do we become true patriots by colouring our cheeks with tri-colour? Certainly not ! Let us therefore, take care this year and see to it that our national flag is not insulted in any manner and let us be true patriotic citizens.
Manasi Joshi
Two Great Events
On August 15 every year, we Catholics celebrate two great significant and related events. One is the Assumption of Our Blessed Virgin Mary and the other is Independence Day. The reason as to why these two events are related is because they are both about freedom. Independence Day is celebrated as freedom from foreign rule and domination to self-rule and governance of our country and the feast of the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother Mary may be seen as freedom from this limited and incomplete life to a bliss of eternal and perpetual life. There is indeed a happy coincidence to celebrate our Independence Day on the feast day of the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother Mary. It is to our Blessed Mother that we dedicate our country as she is our patron saint.
Jubel D’Cruz
Imran Khan worrying about demography-change in Jammu-Kashmir
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, a total failure to solve internal problems of Pakistan, is exhibiting his big concern on removal of irrelevant portions of Article 370 and 35A of Indian constitution by the Indian Parliament just to divert attention of Pakistani people from their internal problems. Now he has expressed worry on likely change in demography in Jammu-Kashmir state of India. He should first answer about minority Hindus in Pakistan having been reduced now to even less than two-percent from fifteen-percent at time of independence.
I recall once having asked the then Pakistan High Commissioner in India at a media-conclave at Hotel Oberoi (New Delhi) about whereabouts of Kashmiri Pandits in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. His totally unbelievable reply was that there were no Kashmiri Pandits in that part of PoK at time of independence.
Madhu Agrawal
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
