From the India Today archives (1997) | What does it mean to be an Indian? Nation’s icons share their thoughts

(NOTE: This article was published in the INDIA TODAY edition dated August 18, 1997)

INDIA TODAY presents frank, unguarded thoughts of some of the best-known personalities of the nation who make up the fabric of India. They are the voices of India, a reflection of who we are, how far we have come and how far we still need to go.

AMITABH BACHCHAN

All-time icon of Indian cinema

I am quite confident that at some point in the lives of even this present generation there will be an inner desire to want to know more—looking beyond being young and free and happy, or saying, “So what? Who cares? We are this generation.” And when that happens, you needn’t necessarily be in India. My son went to study abroad at a very young age. Whenever he wrote to us, he wrote in English, but signed in Hindi—Abhishek. It was the only Hindi he knew at that time. After a couple of years, he came back and said, “I want my flag.” I said, “Why?” He said, “I want to put it up in my room.” It is just that after a while you want your own identity. If I had to make a film about the last 50 years of India, the story would start off in a small town, Allahabad, where I was born, and trace the travel of this individual from a lower middle-class family, making his way up in this modern, upbeat, fast-moving Mumbai.

KAIFI AZMI

Urdu poet, diehard socialist

We sacrificed so much for our Independence. Today we need to sacrifice more to save it. Because it is harder to keep Independence in the right direction than to protect it. Fundamentalism, Hindu or Muslim, is the obstacle in our progress. All plans are stopped because of one cow or one masjid. This is the Hindustan of today. I was born in enslaved Hindustan, I am living in Independent Hindustan and I will die in a socialist Hindustan. This is not a dream. My life and poetry are tied to this. I am still walking on the same path and will die on it one day.

SACHIN TENDULKAR

Global cricket icon

It’s very hard to explain what sacrifice is and what we do. It happens spontaneously; you realise this particular guy is not playing for himself, it just happens. You start thinking about the team and not yourself. When you grow up in your country, the culture is automatically there within you. You don’t need to go to any special kind of classes to learn how to love your country. Nobody needs to learn this. It should be within you.

MOHAMMAD AZHARUDDIN

Former captain, Indian cricket team

When you’re playing for the country, there is no caste, creed and religion. Sports has nothing like that. You have to go out there and play for your country. And I am very hopeful that one day cricket will bring India and Pakistan together. They should come together because we share so much. The same sort of family attachment; people there are also the same. I’ve never thought of settling down in Pakistan. You can’t leave your country and go because once you are born here, you are so into the country. You can’t just say, “No, I don’t want to stay here.” I have to stay in India. I am an Indian. That’s the bottom line and nobody can change that.

(The article was published in the INDIA TODAY edition dated August 18, 1997)

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