Patriotic

Amruta Doke

SYBA, 2022-2023

"I wonder what kind of a patriot am I.

I wonder if watching films of utter cruelty shown by the British makes me more of one.

I wonder if hearing the martyrs' haunted cries of torture in the middle of the night makes my blood run purer. 

I wonder if being sidestepped by the whites when I'm abroad makes my heart long more for the 'poverty-stricken' land I call home.

I wonder if being mocked for my 'Indian' accent makes me lose all fancy I ever had for Oxford. 

I wonder if my determination to make English more familiar than my mother tongue leaves me without any trace of an identity at all.

What kind of a patriot does that make me?"