The bell does not toll for thee

Here again i come to muse ...the sight yesterday was heartwarming, complete strangers that otherwise amble by in sweet ignorance on other days were seen hugging each other in joy , thunderous clapping, almost rhythmic, was heard from the cafeteria as the runs to win dropped serially from 10 to 4, united in victory , divided in apathy ..such were the goings on at the workplace as collective eyeballs were glued to the most mouthwatering face off between India and Australia yet on TV live from Ahmedabad. The mass fervor triggered off when the National Anthem played out at the beginning of the match.It unfolded many times over through the course of the match in a sudden cry, a quicker pulse or a skipped beat . How startling the camaraderie , how wondrous the joy when mundane boundaries of designations, roles , teams and processes were forgotten in the name of one binding force - INDIA .I had the strangest feeling that the mass hysteria generated magnetic vibes which somehow managed to pass through in a supernatural sphere to the boys in uniform prompting them to perform .

Cut to today, after the initial euphoria , little else is different. It is business as usual. What is with the short lived patriotism i ask ,why do we cheer in an inane cricket match , display all the misplaced fervor and passion and then inch back along life like nothing happened?Why do our collective heartbeats skip as we wait for the ball to cross the boundary or that bat to swing or for that "NOT OUT " sign to emerge and then merrily sleepwalk through all the other national maladies afflicting our lives?Why do we not cry hoarse at the roads that never get built or the ones that do and crumble almost instantly?or the water supplies that run out before summer barely arrives ?Why do we not question where our tax money goes while the Hasan Alis of the world hoard their black crores?Why do  we watch in horror as scams after scams tumble out like skeletons in the closet one minute and then as tardily switch to the entertainment channels?Why do we let a frivolous few control our lives at large and not take charge of  issues that beckon us ourselves?Why , in our minds , are we so disconnected with each other ? Why don't the deaths of our soldiers or our policemen affect us? Why don't the rampant rapes and murders of women in our country spur us?

Surely , when John Donne wrote this, he didn't mean us .

No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee.

No , my dears , he didn't mean you and me , no other man's death outside our family diminishes us. We don't think of each other as part of one country, forget the continent .No, we are not involved in mankind and no you don't think that when the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.