ally of India in countering the reintegration attempts by the North Pakistanidiplomats, and finally, following the integration of Bangladesh into the USI, and confirmation of the 6th permanent seat of the United Nations for the representatives of the USI to sit on, Sindh and Baluchisthan finally became parts of USI, partly completing the immensity of the once-existent land of Aryavrat.
But how could she even expect him to understand all these? After all, he didn't have to see the mutilated body of his father in a coffin brought back, wrapped by the national flag, the hard-earned flag of India, or as they call her now, the USI. Having been raised in a family of scientists privileged enough to have access to the joyous side of life, Tejas was totally ignorant of such feelings of patriotism. And now, adding to his already ultra-scientific mindset, as if it wasntenough, his post-doctoral thesis on neurological model of human emotions got quite a bit of recognition, puffing him evenmore with pride and self-satisfaction.
“Look here, dear. I'm not going to cancel my schedule for the day, and nor do I have to tell you, now a mature man, Dr. Tejas, how to plan yours. If you feel like coming, please do so. Or else, go and enjoy your vacation there amid the high mountains, where I sincerely believe you'll still feel elated without me”.
Damn it! The mind of women is so complicated that the recently revamped theory of everything can hardly be anything to analyze or even attempt to analyze it. Sultrily, Tejas replied “Okay, so guess I've already fixed my day here. Go to the grounds, and enjoy the ceremony. I'd rather tarry here alone, because loneliness is the ultimate reality of life, to quote the Bhatwat Geeta. You come alone, and you go alone, as they say”.
“Well well, now suddenly we've turned to religion, Mr. Atheist! No problem, enjoy your day however you may, I'm leaving”.
“Fine!”
“Yeah, fine!”.
Neena emptied her mug of coffee and dashed out of the room, barely pausing a second to let the automated door close itself. “Ok, so let's see, I'm alone, with nothing but a heartless robot mimicing all sorts of terrible human emotions, a shitty AI that just knows how to brutally wake me up from the very heart of the REM phase of my sleep, and a whole, boring day with nothing to do other than swatting flies. Hey Pinky?”
“Yes Sir?”
“Bring me a can of coke, and a nice book to read”.
Giggling again, Pinky replied “But there's no tag 'nice' to categorize your book collection, Sir”. Hysteric, Tejas thought. Someday that pink trashbot would have to be thrown outside. “Get your speech and intuition recognitions upgraded, how many times will I have to tell you? Fine, fetch me that can of coke alone”. “As you wish, Sir”, Pinky hastily departed. Listening to the sound of her motor-powered wheeled-feet carrying her away, Tejas suddenly asked himself a question.
“Hm, looks like we're all machines, underneath. But what is it that makes us different from these robots? Well, emotions can all be explained with logical models, and the properly application of design stance to examine them. But what of these machines? Why do they still lack them, and are being programmed to mathematically simulate them? Andhow is it that we do have actual emotions, often powerfully structing our line of thinking and even our lives? Hm , why don't machines have nations of their own, flags of their own? What makes us different from machines, when both follow the same laws of physics and chemistry? What's so special about human psychology?” Tejas started getting immsersedinto his thoughts.
---------------------------------X-----------------X----------------------------
“It's quite crowded here”, Neena thought as she drove her way into the central heartlands of New Calcutta City. The bustling metropolis has been decorated with soft, halogen lights powered by mammoth Hydrogen fusion cores beyond the Ganges, and they're truly outshining the sun, speaking literally. High-rising towers are everywhere, with large, 3-dimensional advertisements getting displayed on them and changing themselves sequencially from time to time. A 3D holographic flag of USI seems to be hanging from midair, and it it's making quite a show. Children are playfully taking as many shots as they can using their in-googles. It's sometimes difficult to imagine how the people of 2010s used to spend their days before the advent of these miraculous devices, fetching you almost anything you want digitally from Internet 3. While Neena isn't much of a geek, it's still difficult to imagine a life with something so old as Internet 1. And ARPANET and even the days befoe that! Oh, they were just horrible!
Neena's thoughts came to a sudden pause as she heard a loud, humming sound. Looking at the sky, she discovered that the flight show has already began, with the Gangotri Air Command's eastern division now rocking the skies with sparking tricoloured smoke. Even better than that holographic projection, Neena thought.
A voice echoed from somewhere above the floating, jet-powered platform specially built for the occasion. “Citizens of New Calcutta, fellow countrymen, it's a great honour to be addressing you all at the onset of this prestiegious occasion. As you all know, I am not a very good speaker, and so I don't want to ruin your mood by elongating my speech as much as I can. This bright day marks the 100th anniversary of the independence of India from the tyranny and oppression of British imperialism...”. Looks like Minister Prava Banerjee has already ascended to speak. Tough lady, winning her way forthe third time to lead the Banga Sabha. And indeed, she knows, as the head of the provincial government, how to get the attention of the national parliament there in Indraprashtha.
“Hey Neena!”. Neena startled, isn't that Tejas? Looks like the guy has made his way here too, as a last resort to try dragging her onto that HSL coach.
“Hey Neena! Here!”. Oh! Not again! Wishing she could just disappear using one of those invisibility jackets from downtown, Neena turned. Looks like the guy has changed his plan. But again, what is this? Tejas is holding a glowing halogen flag of USI! Shit! “They're for the kids, you moron! Look at your age!”.
“Hey, patriotism has no age, and I'm a proud citizen of my country”.
“Look who's talking! Changed your mind so easily, doctor?”.
“Naah, it just apppeared to me, that even though feelings are products of underlying neurological phenomena, it doesn't make them any less valuable. Why didn't this come to my mind? In fact, without these nationalistic feelings toward our nation, could our ancestors even have dreamt of this day, when we, their descendents will be celebrating the 100thbirthday of our country?”.
“It's not borthday, you moron, it's called 100th anniversary of independence!”.
“Whatever. In a way India was born today a hundred years ago. From the ashes of a country that saw tyranny and oppression and hardship and poverty, a great nation emerged to lead us all to glory and triumph. Now I understand why you guys refer to USI as our mother at times”.
Neena just couldn't believe her own years. Can this be even true? The man Who didn't display a single feeling of respect towards the motherland has suddenly turned into such a nation-lover now? Can this really be happening? “What caused the sudden transformation? Are you drunk or what?”.
“No my dear, this is the magic of this moment, this auspicious moment. You see, I suddenly had had a revealation, or a sort of conclusion, you may say. Technically, we are not so much different from robots. They have their positronic cores powering their behaviour, while we rely on a bit more complicated structure of our brains. But there's one fundamental difference, they were created by us, while we were created by nature. The unexplained mysteries of nature often veiltruth from us, and possibly life is one of those mysteries which can never be resolved properly. Maybe with science we can explain its course, even its very chemical structuring, but simply understanding something doesn't make it worthless. And...”
“And?” Neena asked, struggling hard to keep her elated mood hid
den from her Fiancee.
“Well, I didn't want to sit there lazily at my apartment, no matter how cozy it may be. That's the primary reason”.
“Ha ha, who's the liar now?”.
“Well, happy Independence day, Neena, my dear”.
“Happy Independence day to you too, Doc”. Neena hugged Tejas firmly, finally turning her gaze once again towards the platform. Lines of The Indian national anthem were being sung, and the melodious harmony in their rhythm appeared to be too beautiful to be true.
“Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,
Dispenser of India's destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind,
Gujarat and Maratha,
Of the Dravida and Orissa and Bengal”
Even the birds stopped their flights and perched on the branches of surrounding trees. Even the most insolent child had stopped, somewhat mesmerized by this amazing feeling of joy, this devotion, this love one feels towards the motherland, the uniter of a billion hearts, the glorious nation. The sky was lit with smiling lights of