Sometimes I wonder if India, Bharat and Hindustan are different countries. India the name which gives us a recognition of a developing country. A country of which every other nation is envious of and a country which according to experts is soon going to be the world's largest economy. The country of a rich history, culture and people.

But is this my country? Am I an Indian, Hindustani or Bhartiya?

I really don't know. Perhaps that's the biggest irony. I don't know the name of my country. I still remember my days when I was a child. I learnt it in the books that Hindustan is my country and that I am proud of it. But what am I proud of? I never asked. Perhaps it was so obvious that no one even bothered to tell me. I learnt it by heart. I still remember the day when in my school I was punished because I could not tell 5 famous things about my country. Perhaps I never saw something of which I should be proud of.

I did not know if I should be proud of the broken roads and dark streets or if I should be proud of big Bungalows of ministers and doctors. I did not know if I should be proud of my country being a developing country or a country with one of the lowest literacy rates. And when I learnt that my country is also called India, I was confused. Have we divided yet another state and named it India or is it a new country altogether, perhaps yet another partition. But when people told me that it is still the same country, I was so happy.

This time I knew why I was happy. I was happy because I was proud of my country. India, the country of Himalayas, Tajmahal and Lalquila. But then suddenly I heard that people in the western states want themselves to be called as tribal and in the eastern as scheduled castes. But I always heard the caste system was never in India but in Hindustan. And then somebody told me that India is also called Bharat.
A country where the politicians not only contest elections but also play cricket. But why cricket and why not other sports. Cricket, because it is a game of gentlemen and apart from the 11 gentlemen, only our politicians have the right to claim themselves as gentlemen. After all, they are our leaders, we elected them. Of the people, by the people and for the people, as mentioned in the Preamble to the Constituion of India.I hope everyone knows this. It seems that everyone in my country is busy. Somebody is busy finalizing the president, some in selecting the coach and the others in deciding what to decide.

That means everyone is employed here. But then, why is unemployment one of the biggest problems of my country. Well perhaps because our leaders are still preparing the pitch. And even after sxity years of preparation one never knows if the weather will allow the match to take place. Well let's hope for the best. I love cricket.

I want my country to be great and we can make it great. Different names do not make any difference but what matters most is the people, the culture and the feeling of being an Indian, Hindustani or Bhartiya. I dream of the day when I will stop a child on the roadside and will ask him to explain why he is proud of his country. And I am sure that it will not be a difficult task for him as he will not have to remember anything which he learnt by heart, but will only have to look around.