Children’s Day

In India, its [[wp>Children's_day]] today, to celebrate the birthday of Pandit [[wp>Jawaharlal_Nehru]]. It not a big deal for me, but since I haven’t written anything here in a while, I thought I should start with something concrete. When we were in school, Children’s day was just a little more fun than any other normal day. The usual stories about Chacha Nehru and his fondness for children; the usual snap of him cuddling with tiger cubs and little girls sticking a red rose on his pocket.

I would have rather had them tell me about Nehru’s deep and profound knowledge; his depth and breadth in all subjects; about the letters he wrote to his daughter from jail; about the great things he did for India like the steel plants and the IITs; about the visionary that he was. These things can make an impact on an impressionable mind, such as we had when we were kids.

Sometimes I’m amazed, even ashamed at how little I know about India and its founding fathers. Which is why, my project for this December’s vacation is to read Discovery of India and Glimpses of World History, both by Nehru.