A long time ago in a special place called her mind, Mira hid a chest with a heart full of questions, all unanswered. Since she was little, she had been seeing people acting extremely patriotic on Independence Day and Republic Day. She had gotten used to them giving motivational speeches and creating inspirational art on these occasions but once the curtains of those days were shut, they’d go back to square one, i.e. loving their life more than their country. Hence, she always thought this superficial patriotism was the only love that was in the hearts of the citizens for their country. She always wondered what was so special about living in a country that had so many problems such as poverty, pollution, crime etc. She too, wanted to hop on the ‘Study and Settle Abroad’ train.
One day, Mira’s parents died in a car accident. She was broken and grief-stricken. She had to go and live in the village with her grandparents. As a child of the city she was sure that she could never adjust in a rural area and her dreams of going abroad seemed impossible now. Her grandparents were very loving and they gave her all the comforts possible. One day, during dinner, she told them about her dream to go abroad. When asked why, she replied, “This country is not worth wasting my time and life for. People living here couldn’t go to a better place due to multiple reasons and hence, they are stuck here. All this patriotism is just drama.” They heard her quietly and nodded as she went to bed.
Next day, when she was going to her new school with her grandfather, he showed her the huge temple near the river and said, “People from many countries come to worship here. They come here once a year to get away from their stressful life and attain some peace. Look at those fields behind the temple. Crops are being grown here in the old and natural way without any chemicals, which is now called organic food and so, we have been exporting these edibles abroad. There are barely any refrigerators and air conditioners in this village and solar panels are being fitted in many houses. Internet connectivity is getting better but it is switched off in the night to avoid too much absorption of radiation. Foreigners come here to shoot documentaries and for tourism. Children and adults here don’t suffer from any serious illnesses and herbal medicines are used to treat all ailments.”
Mira was trying to absorb and understand all that she could see and hear, when suddenly her grandfather asked her if she knew what and who were responsible for this metamorphosis of their village. Her puzzled face showed that she had no clue. He said, “A couple who grew up here and went abroad to study on scholarships, came back, got married and settled in the city to make more money just so that they could transform their village, which was like a mother to them, into a place with all the facilities. This would ensure that no one would have to go abroad and live like a foreigner in another country for a better life. By gifting your motherland the true essence of independence by stopping her children from being torn away from her and giving them a free and better life here itself is real patriotism. True patriots silently work towards their goals and these two were none other than your parents. Do you still question the patriotism of the people of this country?
Vizzmaya is a wanderer in the land of stories and an explorer in the sea of poetry. She is 10 years old but her life’s experiences make her writing age faster but gracefully. She is awaiting for the release of not just her first book but all her 7 e-books via Amazon by the end of November, titled- Vizzmaya’s wonderland (parts 1 to 7) which contain poems, stories, write-ups and jingles. She hopes they add positive energy to the lives of everyone who reads them and is passed on to others for their betterment.
Vizzmaya Jalal, a Class 5 student of St. Francis ICSE school, Mumbai, is a poetess, a writer, an aromatherapist, a herbalist, a classical singer, a classical dancer, a keyboard player, a basketball and chess player and a linguist who speaks 9 languages. She is an iron girl who sees her bedridden mother medically suffer like hell each day and yet inspires and motivates her to fly higher with the help of my maternal grandfather’s positive energy and take others along with her beyond the clouds of earthly problems and pain to a peaceful place where spirituality and science live together in harmony; thus staying true to her name, Vizzmaya which means wonderment.