India: A Dream Or Reality?

A country which is kaleidoscopic and is a melting pot of a melange of cultures & religions, it is also a melee of vibrant & jarring colours with the opposites thrown in to be fused for mutual existence; is this what we perceive India to be or something more? Subjugated time and again to Europeans we have never really gained independence from our fascination of foreigners. Even after 60 years of independence we find ourselves being ruled by another European turned Indian. Yet the fascinating aspect of India remains in her stubborn and enamouring will to remain traditional and rustic in her heart while she dons a westernized look for progress. Little are we realising that we are losing our age old traditions and cultures in our desperate attempt to westernize ourselves while trying to hold onto our originality.
It is fascinating to see our country through the eyes of an outsider, who finds everything about this place as charming as we find it disgusting. From the dusty roads, overwhelming poverty, chaotic traffic to the multitudinous population indigenous of India is equally surprising to every outsider as it has become the routine for we Indians. But the true beauty of India lies in her countryside where life is untouched by modern technology so as to prevent corruption of the aesthetic beauty. The vastness of this beauty visible throughout the subcontinent is breath taking; to watch the sunrise at Kanyakumari as it casts a golden glow over the placid waters of the confluence is equal to the austere beauty of the border areas of Jammu & Kashmir. The vast and multifarious dimensions of this country is not fathomable by the human mind, but one can only stand back and gape in awe at the overwhelming beauty bestowed by Mother Nature.

Is India Really Shinning?

Patriotism is at its apogee with Independence Day just round the corner and Im sure it will be at the rock bottom the very next day. Everybody seems to be cashing in on the effect in every possible way; we have street urchins selling flags at the cross roads which we as dutiful citizens purchase but on the day after I Day these very patriotically purchased flags are found in dustbins or on roads to be trampled and run over by cars. A patriotic film like Rang De Basanti increased the patriotic emotions in the new generation, but as every noble emotion pertaining to this generation it was unfortunately short lived. After the honeymoon effect of every patriotic film we revert back to our apathetic attitude indigenous of almost every Indian.
Every morning we are greeted by the news of a crisis taking place in some part of the country. If it really was the case of 'India Shinning at 60' we wouldn't be facing a parliamentary crisis over a nuclear deal and an equally ignorant attitude of the youth towards this issue.
Is India really shinning when:

• after two days of incessant rains, the two major metropolis were water logged. With one having faced a similar situation in the last two years, the civic authorities did nothing to improve the drainage system.
• every city is bursting at its seams due to the multitudinous population and traffic yet nothing is done to improve the conditions inspite of constant complaints.
• a parliamentary crisis takes place, accompanied by the usual Indian political drama of the PM threatening to quit prior to the 60th I Day.
• morality and logic have no place in the lives of urban youth whereas ignorance and illogic rule their lives.
• a coalition party president is given more importance than the PM and President.
• most politicians say something then either apologize or retract their statement.
• key witnesses of high profile cases simply drop dead or the ones living turn hostile.
• offsprings of eminent personalities and politicians get away with man slaughter.
• we need Bollywood flicks to inspire us into action for a noble cause and the effect is short lived.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, there are many questions left unasked and countless others unanswered, one is left wondering if this is the case of 'India Shinning' then what would it have been like otherwise?

Silent In Ruins

If pro is the opposite of con, then is congress the opposite of progress? This city is a personified and justified answer to the above question. Being in absolute shambles all you can see is rubble around from torn down buildings and construction work left midway, this place resembles a large town rather than a city. Is this India Shinning At 60 where we need a convicted criminal to teach us about Gandhigiri? How can you call it the glorious years of India when majority of the population who being fickle-minded, are ready to idolize a goon, an idolism which borders on fanaticism and at the very next moment will turn vindictive if an iota of negativity is found in him. What do you call this country democratic, capitalist or socialist where the rich get away with anything from embezzlement of funds to manslaughter? On the other hand the less privileged are left to languish in the miseries of their wrong doings. Why doesn’t a single news channel air the clippings of the ’93 blasts where hundreds lost their lives while countless others were maimed? Instead of proclaiming what could have happened we might as well be shown the hard reality. Makes me wonder if there would have been a common man in place of the actor would there have been a similar public response? The answer is obvious and stares at me hard in the face, there would not have been such an outpour of mass sympathy. This outpour of sympathy and support is nothing but a case of psychosis.
Moving closer home the administrative offices in educational institutions are no better, where a person has to pay an exorbitant amount to extract his/her original certificates from the cabinets of these very offices. A student is charged for every piece of paper collected from the office with the added bonus of absolute insolent behavior from the office staff. The teaching staff refuses to take up any responsibility whatsoever and their only concern is the completion of the syllabus irrespective of whether the students have grasped the concept or not. If this is the quality of education imparted to the present generation it is not surprising as to where our generation is heading.
They say what you sow, you reap. Well if this is what we are sowing today which has lost all touch with reality, realization of the meaning of life and ultimately morality I can only but imagine what we are going to reap.