India, Dec. 29 -- I love the national anthem. You do not question it. You stand up, straighten your back, look noble and sing it with more enthusiasm than talent. I have sung it in school halls, dusty grounds, wedding receptions, and once on our Independence Day in Austria.

Patriotic pride, yes. Spiritual experience, no.

Which is why I was puzzled when a choir in Mumbai began a Christmas carol service with the national anthem.

It felt like starting a birthday party by showing your passport. Perfectly valid, but slightly odd.

My faith and my nationality have always lived peacefully in separate rooms of my heart, occasionally nodding at each other but never competing for attention. So why the need to announce it so loudly? We are Indian...