Paint it Yellow!

Im not very patriotic. In fact Im not patriotic at all. That is fair to say. As much as I hate making these posts entirely personal, the above is best explained if we get a tad below the skin - so to speak.

So far as I understand it, patriotism stems from a love of one's nation. The emotion buried within [some] people that propels them to want to do something for one's country, for the land that you live in and that is essentially what classifies you as a certain...[type?] of person.

I was born in Australia. Ive lived here for almost 23 years now. That equals to half a lifetime provided I die at about 46. That must be the average life expectancy in some country somewhere, Im sure.

My mothers of Indian descent and we speak Hindi and a hybrid language I refer to as Hinglish. Combination of Hindi nouns and English verbs. Yes, interesting language that is. Other than that Ive taken a strong liking of sanskrit since I was younger, there's something about the way the words flow and sound so incredibly noble as the word rolls of your tongue. Difficult to explain until you've understood the nounce of each word. Regardless, we're talking patriotism now.

Paint it Yellow! [The exclamation is required] Or Rang De Basanti, is a film about five kids at Delhi University who realise the true meaning of patriotism when a British journalist comes into their carefree existence.

To begin with, there are several complications to this story from the onset, apart from my overthinking nature, it seemed to me the second time that I saw this, that it was a tad distasteful to have a Britisher have to remind Indians [the same lot who were ruled by them] of their heritage and the sacrifice many made for a free India.

Particularly as the freedom fighters our British Sue is interested in are Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad etc, who were all fighting for freedom from the British Raj. The third time I saw this film, I rethought this point of view. Since then, Ive come to realise that it doesn't so much matter who causes the realisation to occur to so much as that the realisation actually occurs. 

My second bone of contention with the film is that the conclusion of the protagonists and the film: the death of them seems to be sending out the wrong message. Sure, they go from a 'who-gives-a-damn' attitude to, 'no-nation-is-perfect, each of us has to help make it so' with an incredibly convincing ride, and there is absolutely no preaching, or no one, myself included could have sat through it. However the fact that they die post changing their attitudes and focus, to me seemed a collosal waste. 

I wish they had lived. In retrospect I can see why they choose to kill off the main characters. With their death you see just how foggy the law enforcement system can be sometimes. Through their death, thousands of students and youth receieve a strong message [in the film and outside] that for a society or nation to change, the people, their mindsets must first demonstrate change. But still, I wish they had lived.

Im still not patriotic. Im not sure where my allegiance lies in all honesty. I love the atmosphere of Australia, sure. I appreciate the fact that we have so much freedom, that I as an Australian citizen have so many freedoms that people in other nations don't. I can be grateful for everything I recieve in this country: education, a degree of equality and many human rights. I love that because of my mum I'll always have ties to a place like India, where the culture is so seeped within tradition and ritual that I couldn't escape it if I tried. Im glad that because of this hybridity [technical term] I'll always be different, not quite part of one, but never entirely the other.

But it also means I come with this sense of non-belonging. I don't fit into either culture entirely. Not just me, but so many people from my generation will find themselves in similar predicaments. We won't ever belong to just one nation, one place or one ethnicity. Which is perhaps what our world needs. More universality, more internationality. 

Anywho. My opinion, Paint It Yellow is awesome. There's something of every college kid in those characters. The aimlessness, ambiguity we all carry. Not always knowing where your going, but getting to tomorrow is the aim. Rushing towards deadlines with uncompleted work and extending the prolonged doom. And then, suddenly, there's a boom! A Crash! Someone, something comes along and makes you think.