Today we had a Republic Day event in our residential complex. I had taken a printout of the national pledge in Hindi (when in school we said the pledge out loud everyday, so it is still in my head after about 35+ years of leaving school).
I asked some of the older teenagers if one of them would read it out loud for all to follow. Each one said "Oh no - not I". Fighting shy of doing this is bad enough. But I was really shocked when one of them - a Hindi speaking boy (the family speaks Hindi at home) said "I cannot read the pledge in Hindi".
What goes wrong with our systems? Why are we not able to put in some feeling of pride in youngsters when it comes to doing something on these patriotic occasions. Have we gone wrong somewhere? When in school, it was a matter of pride if we were chosen to sing a patriotic song or read out a pledge / speech.
Finally one of the teens volunteered and did a good job. They have it in them. But.... something goes wrong. And we need to find out and tackle it
