Being India

Pic from Google images   

For months I’ve been raking my brain as to what I can write about a country so diverse,
so different, so unique, so mismatched and yet so imperfectly perfect. I didn’t know
where to begin or where to end….well I still don’t! But as clichéd as it may sound I cant
help but begin by saying “I Love India” and “I Love being Indian”.
  When I say that I obviously do not choose to ignore/forget the rather apparent
weaknesses or what I’d like to call the delta’s of our beloved country. Here is minuscule
sketch of what we Indians are like, focusing on the few apparent key drivers that defines
our being and mostly what we could be and where we can get with just a little bit of
effort.
  India is a state of contradictions .We’ve seen it, experienced it and most importantly have
started living with it. When I think about India today
• I think of poverty where citizens are deprived of the very naked necessities of
Food, Clothing and Shelter and at the same time not forgetting the increasing day-
to-day spends by middle class India which is presently lubricating our consumer
driven economy.
• I think about Indian MNC’s scouting for foreign counterparts for mergers,
acquisitions, JV’s etc etc & at the same time I also see small corporations/
enterprises struggling to survive due to inefficient policies, lack of funds,
politicization of bureaucracy and lacking govt. support.
• I think about rising sports stars (minus cricket) attaining super stardom and finally
getting the appreciation/recognition they truly deserve. At the same time my heart
yearns for doing something about the thousands others who have given up passion
to look for something more “lucrative” and the ones who are struggling to truly
get by.
• I am depressed with the kind of media coverage which I see or read in the papers
where objectivism is invisible, news is synonymous to entertainment and every
trivial mole hill is blow out to a mountain .But at the same time I cannot thank
them enough for the responsibility they have taken while handling few of the past
important events .(Jessica Lal, quota system for e.g.)
• I think of corrupt, selfish politicians who have made it a habit to misguide/mislead
common folks into their talk, into their motives and into their lives. At the same

Pic from Google Images

time I think about ordinary citizens, people like you and me doing extraordinary
deeds, giving all they’ve got and doing what ever little they can to make this a
better place for you and me to live in.
• I think of men, women who place religion above everything, surrendering public
security just for the common good of a particular clan, clique or mob. But I can’t
forget our mighty soldiers, our civil servants who have put their own lives on hold
just so that you and I can sleep in peace every night.
• I feel delighted to belong to the country which produces so many doctors, so
many engineers etc.But I cant help but question why a country like ours lack
inventions, innovations ,discoveries and most importantly great leaders.

  I bet every Indian has placed themselves in atleast few of the above contradictions.
But what actually have we done about it? We take pride in boasting that we have the
largest democracy in the world. How many times have we actually exercised it? How
many times have we realized that we are immensely lucky to be born in a state where
you have the right to voice your opinion and know that it’ll be heard? How many
times have you acknowledged the abundance resources around us and actually tried to
protect it? How many times have you sit down and thought about making a difference
to the country which has given so much to us? How many times have we utilized our
freedom/independence we get every single day in the way we should have?
  I don’t know! I really don’t…Because we are so busy trying to think/talk/walk better
then the others, comparing ourselves to the Chinese, the Americans and everyone
one we can think of, finding faults in the policies, bureaucrats, politicians etc. when
we ourselves cant think of the last time we’ve voted let alone joining any of these
services, leaving no stone unturned in cursing the increasing population not realizing
that this could turn around to be our greatest strength, getting terribly comfortable
in our air conditioned offices and fat pay checks where we don’t remotely make an
attempt to try to do something on our own or dare to dream beyond our regular 9-
6 jobs ,bragging about secularism when you cant even think of marrying someone
outside your own caste/creed/religion ,nagging about dirty roads especially when it
takes tones of effort for us to stop the car/bike and drop the ice cream cup in a bin
and most regularly and constantly fighting with each other like banana republicans,
trying to manipulate the system to suite our selfish need.
  So if you think of it, we are almost entirely responsible for the fate of our country.
Well our grandparents and parents are responsible for things happening today and we
most undoubtedly will be for India’s tomorrow. So fellow citizens we better realize
that we are at this exciting juncture of “India Rising” where every step you take,
every move you make and every dream that breaks count.

After all you are not stuck in the traffic jam, you ARE the traffic jam!!