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Monday, August 15, 2022

Jai Hind. Fears and tributes

I am a patriot, but alas, I never learnt to be a nationalist. 

You can look up what I have always thought of and prayed for India in earlier blogposts, such as My IndiaMy mother is sixty and Free India is sixty five today.

This Independence Day, maybe simply because I am older and much more weary, I stay gloomily, apprehensively quiet.

To turn to more cheerful things, look up this new documentary on one of my lifetime heroes, James Herriot. I shall be delighted if that leads some readers to pick up one or two of his wonderful books...  

2 comments:

Subhanjan Sengupta said...

Dear Sir,

Thank you very much for the link to the James Herriot Story. I have been very frustrated with something at workplace for the past few days. This documentary cheered me up.

Thank you for sharing the three earlier blog articles. They are short, but powerful. One can see that from the list of comments that the articles triggered.

Best wishes,
Subhanjan

Rajdeep said...


Sir,

I cannot comment on the first part of your post as perhaps I am neither. In my humble personal opinion, the concepts of nationhood and citizenship are grossly outdated and unscientific, although they do make mainly economic sense. I consider myself an earthling, a mere human being / global citizen, although I understand that anything akin to a global passport or citizenship is very unlikely to happen in the next century. So, for the present, we do need to identify ourselves with particular nations depending on our various circumstances, experiences, and personal feelings and attachments.

Regarding James Herriot, thank you for sharing this wonderful documentary. I enjoyed watching it. We had a couple of his books at home, and I remember that you had lent me several more that I enjoyed reading very much. One of my top students, aspires to be a vet, and loves Herriot's stories as well. Herriot's hometown is a lovely place, as I am sure you already know from your vast knowledge and experience of travelling in the West. I too hope that many of your readers feel inspired to pick up Herriot's books.