1. Each time I hear any version of "Maa Telugu Thalliki", the State Anthem of Andhra Pradesh, including the version from Shekhar Kammula's movie Leader, I have goosebumps and I am moved to my core. Every time. What an amazing country this is!
2. Every region of this country and every sub-region has its own unique identity which it has fought hard to keep alive. And sadly, is forced to continue to fight to protect it from those who can't stand the fact that this civilization is still alive and is offering resistance.
3. I have lived in undivided Andhra Pradesh,Tamizh Naad, Bengal and Delhi. The sheer diversity, d richness of each place, their histories (especially of the last 1200 years), the impact of their histories on their psyches as societies and as individuals are not difficult to miss
4. I have lived in Delhi for close to a decade and its appetite for aggression continues to surprise me. And then I realise-this part of the country has been drenched and bathed in blood so often that it must have had an impact on the ppl who live here and their collective memory
5. For all its flaws and the constant Delhi-bashing, I love this city. How can I not? Barring the occasional jokes about one's dark complexion, which really doesn't come from malice, this is a city which offers opportunities in plenty. Perhaps because it is the national capital.
6. A senior in the legal profession once told me that anyone who is willing to work hard, in any profession, is bound to succeed in Delhi because all the blood that has been spilt here has charged this place. Plus ppl don't give Delhi enough credit for its cosmopolitan outlook.
7. I can't claim to know about d realities of other professions,but as far as d legal profession is concerned,Delhi is certainly as open as it can get for a first-generation legal practitioner with no connections whatsoever and who doesn't come from an affluent background.
8. Do not judge Delhi by the insufferable attitudes of Lutyens Delhi. That lot is completely cut off from and looks down upon those who are not mentally or socially or politically part of the Lutyens cabal. Delhi is much more than this elitist bunch.
9. Despite the Lutyens cabal constantly berating Hindus and Hinduism, the average Delhiite Hindu still practises her/his faith with fervour and without an inferiority complex which Lutyens Delhi tries its best to drill into her/him.
10. Go to d Hanuman Mandir in CP or d Ram Mandir on Lodhi Road or d Shirdi Baba Mandir on Lodhi Road or d Kalka Devi Mandir & u will find Hindus from all walks of life jostling to have Darshan and to get prashad. They don't give a damn about the views of the Lutyens cabal.
11. It is not the logic of the smart English-speaking "Indic intellectual" which scares the Lutyens cabal nor is she/he their target. Their target is the average Hindu, who responds in the language she/he understands best - faith. Silent, unshakeable faith.
12. Rootedness scares Lutyens Delhi because they themselves are rootless, which they try to wear as a badge of honour and pass off their ignorance about this country's roots as the views of a rational group of Liberal intellectuals, when in fact they are just wannabe angrez.
13. Whichever part of d country we may come from,not only should we know our roots,we must also embrace our karmabhoomis and learn about them as much as we know about our native places. Only then we will see the common recurring theme, the leitmotif that makes this country one.
14. Given the long history of this country, we are bound to have made quite a few mistakes along the way. The Lutyens cabal wants u to focus exclusively on the mistakes and lose all sense of cultural pride. The Indic approach is to cherish the good and learn from the mistakes.
