Independence….

August 15 - Independence day.

30 States, 1618 languages, 6400 castes, 6 religions, 29 major festivals and one country. We always are proud to say that we are an Indian. It’s a great feeling to remember the sacrifices of our Armed forces, freedom fighters on this day.

Have you ever thought about this……..

Right from our school days we have been singing Jana Gana Mana or Vande Mataram but do we know the exact meaning of these two songs?

The Jana Gana Mana was composed by Shri Rabindranath Tagore and first sung at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress on December 27th, 1911. It was adopted as the National Anthem of India on 24th January, 1950 by the Constituent Assembly. The first stanza (out of five stanzas) of the song forms the National Anthem.

” Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka Jaya He
Bharat Bhagya Vidhata
Punjab Sindh Gujarat Maratha
Dravida Utkala Banga
Vindhya Himachal Yamuna Ganga
Ucchala Jaladhi Taranga
Tubh Shubha Name Jage
Tubh Shubha Ashisha Mange
Gahe Tubh Jaya Gata
Jan Gan Mangaldayak Jay He
Bharat Bhagya Vidhata
Jaye He ! Jaye He ! Jaye He !
Jaye,Jaye,Jaye,Jaye He “

Translation of our national anthem in English:

Thou are the ruler of the minds of all people, dispenser of India’s destiny.The name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind, Gujarat and Maratha. Of the Dravid and Orissa and Bengal. It Echoes in the hills of Vindhyas and Himalayas, mingles in the music of Yamuna and Ganga and is chanted by the waves of the Indian Sea. They pray for your blessing and sing thy praise. The salvation of all peaople is thy hand, thou dispenser of India’s destiny. Victory, Victory, Victory to thee.

Next our National Song that is Vande Mataram…..

Vande Mataram was written by Bakimchandra Chatterjee in his novel Anandamath in 1882. This song became the mantra of the freedom struggle. Countless freedom fighters went to their gallows shouting Vande Mataram.

 Vande Mataram
Sujalam, suphalam,
malayja shitalam,
Shasyashyamalam
Mataram!
Vande Mataram!
Shubhrajyotna
pulakitayaminim
Phullakusumita drumadala
shobhinim
Suhasinim sumadhura
bhashinim,
Sukhadam varadam,
Mataram!
Vande Matram!

English Translation of Vande Matram (By Aurobindo Ghosh)

Mother, I bow to thee!  
Rich with thy hurrying streams,  
bright with orchard gleams,  
Cool with thy winds of delight,  
Dark fields waving Mother of might,  
Mother free.    

Glory of moonlight dreams,  
Over thy branches and lordly streams,    
Clad in thy blossoming trees,  
Mother, giver of ease  
Laughing low and sweet!  
Mother I kiss thy feet,  
Speaker sweet and low!  
Mother, to thee I bow. 

There are lots more to know …
http://www.indianchild.com/national_anthem.htm 

JaiHind !!!!

What do you think?

India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Thanks to globalization, industrialization, liberalization, IT revolution or whatever term you want to associate this with!!! It has also increased the cultural diffusion in India – that is spreading of multiculturalism - the desire to consume and enjoy foreign products and ideas, adopt new technology and practices, and participate in a “world culture”.
What was once a prohibited attire has now become the latest trend in our streets. What we used to speak fluently has now become a foreign language for us. What was once our staple diet has now become second to Pizzas, burgers etc. All these changes are good or bad depending on your perception.

Talking about perception, our thinking towards drinking has also changed in recent times. Drinking alcohol more often than not has or had negative connotations in India. One would usually hate people who gets drunk badly. We call them drunkards and not drinkers. But this attitude is fast changing.

Researching about this topic in Wikipedia, I came across these different types of drinking:
1) Binge drinking : It refers to drinking alcohol solely for the purpose of intoxication
2) Social drinking : It refers to casual collateral drinking, usually without the intent to get drunk.
3) Session drinking : It refers to drinking in large quantities over a single period of time, or session, without the intention of getting heavily intoxicated.
Binge drinking always exists in India but what is more worrying is the increased instances of social drinking. Recent surveys showed that the sale/consumption of alcohol has increased rapidly in recent times. This attributes to the increasing number of social drinkers in India.

Think of this familiar situation. You wouldnt have tasted alcohol in your life. You go to a party and your colleague offers you a glass of wine. You hesitate a lot and finallly you have it. You start drinking thereafter in most of the parties you attend. This is very fine until it is within limits. But reality is that this social drinking would normally turn into binge drinking (Finally you may even get addicted to alcoholism). Usually young people are more prone to this. Although few doses of alcohol doesnt affect you much but addiction to it definitely affects the central nervous system and impairs the region of brain controlling behaviour, emotions etc.

Whatever may be the case, always follow your values. Your value system refers to how you organize your ethical or ideological values. Its your moral code of conduct. If your value system says that drinking alcohol is bad, then dont never or ever think of drinking alcohol.

Now that you have finished reading, what do you think???
Does increased acceptance to social drinking harmful to the society?????