Punjabi, North Indian or a Complete Indian ??

“Congrats Ravi,”a friend not belonging to Punjab came and patted on my shoulder. Confused I rewinded my history of that day and day before not to find any such single achievement for which I should have been congrated.
“For what,”muddled I asked.
“You guys won the gold medal,”he disclosed.
“you guys??? Gold? What do you mean?,” I have never ever won even a single bronze,so was completely at sea
“Abhinav Bindra won the gold at Olympics,he belongs to your Punjab.Isn’t it,” he clarified.
I felt like shouting but kept mum.The day passed and the episode ended.

“Congrats Agni,”another friend not belonging to Punjab came and patted on my shoulder while I was working on one of my blog posts.
It was kind of Déjà vu !!
“Now for what,”I asked
“your Pugilist Akhil defeated the world champion in boxing and Sushil Kumar won the bronze in wrestling,”he shamelessly uttered,
It was getting tougher for me to withstand these compliments anymore(I am a choleric type person) but again I didn’t counter.But these two incidents made me wonder about my identity !!

Who am I? A Punjabi, a North Indian or an Indian?

When mallu P.T.Usha represents in Olympics,doesn’t she represent India? When Mumbaikar Sachin Tendulkar hits a century,doesn’t that score add to India’s total tally? When Tamilian Mahesh Bhupati hits an ace in Davis cup,isn’t it India that wins? When Bengali Rabindranath tagore is awarded Noble prize,isn’t it India that feels that honor?When Bihari Kautilya is talked of and saluted for his vision and intellect,isn’t it entire India that is esteemed.

Then why am I singled out as a Punjabi? Why shouldn’t I congrat these guys of my team(those friends were my teammates in my project) for the Olympics medals and why am I made to solely cherish these victories?

Offended I contemplating these thoughts left the office in the evening. It was raining heavily and Auto-people spiral their fares 3-4 times during such odd-weathers,saying that it’s their business time. It’s unimaginable to ride a bus in a metropolis because riding a bus would mean to stand on a feet for the entire trip of 10-12 km.

So I rather chose to take the lift from any 2-wheeler.

“Where are you going sir,”I asked a person on bike,around 40-45 years in age who was waiting at the traffic signal
“Where are you from,”he furiously asked.
“God why everyone is asking me my identity,”I thought
“Punjab,”I humbly replied.
“Then what are you doing in my state,”he hurled
“You go back to your state and ask there for the lift,”he bluntly and shamelessly told

It was my 3rd time since morning when I was being told that I am not an Indian but a Punjabi, that I don’t belong to India and that there’s nothing called India, so I couldn’t refrain anymore

“Who in the hell are you to tell me to go back to my state,”I shouted
“Who are you? You bastard,” I was completely mal-treating him now. Enough was enough. I needed the decision.
“This is my state.How dare you told me to go from here.This land doesn’t belong to your father. It’s as much mine as it’s yours,”I made it very clear to him.
“I can come anywhere,go anywhere,stay anywhere in India,I haven’t to take license from anyone to go anywhere in India,” I said.

I was furious, but I wanted to cry as well,to weep but as I am a male and as males don’t cry in public,so I didn’t(but I am not a male chauvinist)

It was raining heavily but I had the volcanic lava boiling deep down at heart. I wanted to slap him,but as I had attended my company’s soft-skills training the same day,so under the stupor of that soft-skill thing,I didn’t.

Reached home at night to switch on the TV to find Vijender Kumar reserving the bronze by reaching the Semi-finals. I knew now what I had to do in office the next day.

“Congrats Lakshmi,”I told one of my teammate,the same boy who was the first to wish me the previous day
“For what,”came the reply.
“you guys won another bronze,”I replied,winked and moved to next cubicle
“Congrats Madhu,”I felicitated the other guy.
“What for, man??” this was his turn to be bemused
“You won another bronze in boxing,” I said
“Now your tally of medals in Olympics is 3.I am ecstatic and blissful.Let’s celebrate,”I kept talking and then came back to my cubicle

Both of them had understood that what I implied by this deed. Embarrassed,ashamed and ignominious, they came to my cubicle.

“Ravi,sorry for yesterday,” they said. They seemed really sorry for their deed.
“Thanks man. We didn’t even realize our misdeed,” Madhu said.
“It’s ok. You realized it, this makes my day,” I replied
“We don’t need Punjab or Haryana or Kashmir or tamilnadu or Bengal or
Assam or Karnataka, we need India. We are better off being Indians,”they said unequivocally. Now I was a happy being.

It is 12 midnight while I am writing this blog,I have just returned from Firangi paani(a funky pub of bangalore) where we 3 along with 3 others from some other states had had a treat to celebrate the Olympic medals of 3 Indians, rather than those of any Punjabis or Haryanvis or Maharashtriyans or of any other state.