A PROJECT

ON

I AM PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN

DON BOSCO SCHOOL

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY

MISS. SHIKHA GURMEET SINGH SANDHU

CLASS 8
I am an Indian and what am I proud of? What if I were to list five points? umm....,

*India's diversity in flora and fauna (just a while before it reads only flora)
*Cultural differences (toooooooo many really)
*Tourism spots??(I must have visited ,what, five or six of them?...the foreigners know them
better!)
*Growing Economy (growing since God knows when?:S)
*Indian Cricket! (the real pride of the Indians)

Something we have been writing since decades in essays?

India is perhaps the world's largest developing country. I don't know when we shall be classified
as a developed one. When one compares India to the United States of America or the United
Kingdom or russia, it will always remain developing, I fear. It is because Indians that can make a
difference are not in India. India is severely lacking in a strong backbone comprised of
accomplised, educated and hard working citizens, who are now living abroad in one of those
developed countries. I am aware that India has its own priced possessions (Reliance,
Tata, Raymond, HCL, Maruti Udyog etc.). Even so, we are yet to walk away with a
victory in the International RACE. The fact that India is a developing country does
not lie in just that. We are recognised for being the world's largest population,
behold, we even topped the list of countries with largest murder count this year and
we are a hotspot for terrorist activities. With such drawbacks, a weak government
(that announces rise in prices of almost every commodity. Good heavens, my
parents cannot stop cribbing about that!) running the world's largest democracy
and a lethargic police force (Aarushi's case and several others prove just how
ineficient and incompetent they can be), what can an Indian expect? Wouldn't
Indians rather choose to live a much more comfortable life that marks lesser danger
(reminder: Mumbai blasts 1993, Western Railway bombings 2006 etc.) and earns
them better money for the same amount of work done?

India is the world's largest, oldest, continuous civilization. India never invaded any country in
her last 10000 years of history. India is the world's largest democracy.Varanasi, also known as
Benares, was called "the ancient city" when Lord. Buddha visited it in 500 B.C.E, and is the
oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today. India invented the Number System. Zero
was invented by Aryabhatta. The World's first university was established inT a k s h a s h ila in
700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The
University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of
ancient India in the field of education. Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages.
Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July
1987. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of
medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful
place in our civilization.Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of
development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early
17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth. The art of NAVIGATION
was bornin the river Sindhu 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the
Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'. Bhaskaracharya
calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer
Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.

The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is
known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the
European mathematicians. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic
equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the
Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53)
with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used
number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12). IEEE has proved what has been a century old
suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was
Prof. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in
Saurashtra. According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called
Sudarshana was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.
Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600
years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans,
cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery.
Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used.
Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics
and immunity is also found in many texts. When many cultures were only nomadic forest
dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus
Valley Civilization). The four religions born in India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and
Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population. The place value system, the decimal
system was developed in India in 100 BC. India is one of the few countries in the World, which
gained independence without violence. India has the second largest pool of Scientists and
Engineers in the World. India is the largest English speaking nation in the world. India is the
only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer indigenously.

A simple act indeed, but it brings home to our minds every morning the idea of devotion for this
motherland as the sublimated devotion to the Divine Mother. This training has gone so deep that
even in ordinary day-to-day affairs we often come across a flash of that realisation. When a child
at play tramples on the ground, the mother says, "Do not kick the Mother Earth, dear child." Or if
a nail is driven into the earth wantonly, she says, "Oh, no! Dear child, Mother will be pained. "
An ordinary farmer, too, before applying the plough to the soil, prays for a pardon. Such is our
living tradition.

Never, never has our land been dead inanimate matter, but always the living divine mother to all
her children-the lowliest and the greatest.

Swami Vivekananda, when about to leave England for Bharat, was asked what he thought of his
motherland after having visited the luxuriant countries of the West like America and England.
He said, "Bharat, I loved before. But now every particle of dust in Bharat is extremely holy. It
has become a place of pilgrimage for me."
There is one more touching instance of Swamiji when he returned to our motherland after his
triumphant tour of the West. A vast assembly of our countrymen eagerly awaited to offer a
hero’s welcome to him. When the Swamiji alighted from the ship and stepped on the Southern
shores, a thunderous ovation greeted him. However, the people were amazed to see Swamiji
prostrating on the ground and showering his body with the dust of the soil. To the surprised
query of some one, Swamiji explained: "My body has been so long in the materialistic countries
of the West and hence has become contaminated. I am therefore purifying myself with the dust
of this holy soil."

And his guru Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa once severely admonished a person who was going
to Ganga to wash himself after answering nature’s call. He said, "How unbecoming of you to
pollute the divine waters of Ganga-Gangavari brahmavari-with your dirt!"

Such has been the living realisation of the glorious motherhood of our land inculcated by her
great sons, which has permeated into all strata of our people.

She has been, in fact, the central theme of our national life all through. She has nourished us as
the mother with her soil, air and water and all the various necessary objects for our sustenance
and happiness. Like a father she has arranged protection to us through impregnable Himalayas in
the north, and mountain ranges like Aravali, Vindhya and Sahyadri interspersed all over the
country that afforded our freedom-fighters protection and shelter in the past. And she has acted
as our spiritual preceptor too in her capacity as Dharmabhoomi and Mokshabhoomi.

Verily, our motherland has been a mother, a father and a teacher-mata, pita and guru – all rolled
in to one.