Patriots Unite: My Flag My India Event Report

We were pleasantly surprised to meet Sarath Kumar at the curtain raiser of Rotary’s My Flag My India event. Actor Arjun has always been the first choice to preside over any event that promotes patriotism. And that’s not just because he made two movies titled Jai Hind, but also because he’s a self-proclaimed nationalist born on August 15. But then, Wikipedia was kind enough to remind us that Sarath Kumar has also acted in a movie called I Love India, besides the fact that he is a patriotic politician. While we continued contemplating, the anchor crisply explained that Sarath Kumar, as the president of Nadigar Sangam, represented all Tamil actors that afternoon.

On December 7, about 50,000 people will form the world’s largest human Indian flag to enter the Guinness World Records at the My Flag My India event. When ISAK Nazar, Governor, Rotary District 3230, walked us through all the grand arrangements that have been made for the event, Sarath Kumar went to the microphone. While other dignitaries delivered their speeches, we saw Sarath Kumar keenly listening and taking notes. But Nazar barely left any point untouched for Sarathkumar. “I wanted to share some trivia about our flag. However Nazar has spoken about everything,” sighed a disappointed Sarath Kumar.

The last few weeks seemed to have made the actor wary of the media. He explained all his statements. “I’m very patriotic. Now, my dear media friends, don’t ask me if other actors are not patriotic,” grinned Sarath Kumar. “We will send a note to all actors requesting them to participate in My Flag My India. As soon as I finish my speech, the press would pose questions like, ‘Would Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan participate too?’ We will write to everybody. Whoever is interested will attend.”

The audience chuckled.

The organisers then played a few clips of celebrities from Tamil cinema talking about the initiative. Remarking on the video, Sarath Kumar said sternly, “Actors shouldn’t stop with giving bytes. They should support socially conscious events like these by actually being there.” The video featured Arya, Sundar C, Devi Sri Prasad, Jiiva, and… erm…Vishal.

Visit My Flag My India to know more details about the event.