Narayana Murthy, Tendulkar, the National Anthem and the National Flag
- Collin Remegius Noronha

The Indian National Anthem and the National Flag are symbols of our nation that every Indian should be proud of. People certainly should not be allowed to wear clothing of any sort with the Tri Colour being the design. Sachin cut a cake that was the colour of the National Flag. Who said he meant offence? And why should any sane person take it as an offence? A person of his stature would not intentionally do something to tarnish his image in the minds of the Indian people. Ever asked yourself why people cut cakes? People cut cakes to celebrate something. Sachin certainly cut a cake celebrating something and believed that probably having the cake coloured in the National Flag’s colours was his way of paying tribute to the country as a whole and making the nation a part of his celebration. Why make a pointless news story of it? The point here is that the time put into making a news story on it has no brought him down on the popularity list one bit. He still stands where he is and will for a long time to come. He still will be a role model to hundreds of people nationwide. The rules say that the National Flag shall not be draped on the hood, back, top or sides of any vehicle. But it seems to be fine for Narain Karthikeyan to have elements of the flag on his F1 helmet. Coming to the National Anthem and Mr. Narayana Murthy, it is nothing short of SHOCK that a person of Mr. Murthy’s stature could actually consider playing only the instrumental of our National Anthem because his Foreign guests probably felt embarrassed. I think it can be safely said that neither Mr. Murthy nor had his guests ever heard some versions of our National Anthem performed by some of the finest musicians and singers of our fair land. There are some versions of our national anthem that could actually stir patriotism in even the numbest of Indian hearts. It is not just the music, not just the words, but actually the confluence of both these components of the Anthem that makes it as wonderful, beautiful and worthy of honor as it is. Would any other nation’s citizen consider playing just an instrumental version of the their National Anthem if Mr. Murthy felt embarrassed listening to it? CERTAINLY NOT, and Mr. Murthy of all people should come to terms with this fact. What he could have probably done, is given his guests a small print showing them translation of the words in the anthem. This is the last thing that one would expect from someone so highly regarded among Indian Citizens, someone of such stature in the global business arena, a person who is actually the inspiration for thousands and a person whose name is actually recommended for the post of The President of India for crying out loud…!