August: Anthem: Aspiration

Patriotism fills the air as India celebrates its freedom with the tune of Jana Gana Mana.

The controversy surrounding the origin of Jana Gana Mana resurfaces, despite Tagore’s clarification.

Come August and we hear the anthem practiced in various institutions. The feeling of patriotism is filling one and all.

This gets us into the imagination of national flags, patriotic songs and other ways of celebrating the ceremony of attaining our much-struggled freedom.

In the center of all these events is the very familiar tune and words of our national anthem Jana Gana Mana.

And so do the controversies related to it. Time and again arguments have sparked, putting forth the statement that it was written in admiration of George 5, the king of England who happened to be the only king who visited this then colony of Britishers.

The deceased Indian leader Kalyan Singh had raised this issue in 2015 digging out the same doubt about the creation of this five paragraph song.

He was not just the sole public figure but was supported by a former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju. He too is remembered for saying the analogous statement.

The song is written in Sanskritised bengali. It mentions and hails the regions and races of those times. The song too has to face the sarcasm for this.

The geography of India has gone through several changes with the formation of new states with time.

The letter of Tagore he wrote to his editor Pulin Bihari Sen in November 1937, very well describes that he was asked to write a song in honor of George 5 by an East Indian Company official on his arrival.

In return he wrote of India’s God of Destiny (Bhagya Vidhata) who has held the sails of India, through storms and calm weathers.

The official who enacted as the intermediary of the whole incident too understood what the song was about. This letter even after getting public stays ignored by malicious minds desiring to make unmindful chaos.

Now when the Olympic fever is high, every Indian heart is wishing to hear the tune Jana Gana Mana on an international podium.

There’s no private glory in moments as these but a feeling that cannot be put accurately into words.