India Shining .....and How !!!!!!

                    During our course through life, we come across a time when we are at the crossroads. A time when we need to make a decision. A time when we need to look back and ahead at the same time and make a decision that would transform how the world around us perceives our identity. Let me put it this way. It is the time when we need to make a transition, from the old to the new. The Indian civic and social set up has arrived at the cross road today. We, as a society, are at that juncture of time, when we need to evolve and change with the changing times and the global scenarios around. What ails the Indian society ??
                     If you ask me, it is our attitude. It was the attitude that transformed the so called Superpowers from developing to Developed nations. It was their attitude towards the change. The way they braced the change is the way they went global with their ideas and concepts. India as a social structure lacks that attitude. If someone tries to foster a change, he is either subdued or outdone by the forces that work towards negating the change. It is our indifference towards what is happening around us that is at the root of this evil.Have we not grown sick and tired of the double standards rooted in our Indian civic and social set-up. 
                  Until it bothers us, we don't give a damn about any issue, and then when it strikes us, our conscience takes a beating. We hit back with such vengeance that it is unparalleled and then looking back at it after a period of time it seems utterly hysterical. Reactive is the word that comes to my mind, when I ponder over the decisions we take as a human being and jointly as a society. The past few years have seen turmoil, which has just gone un-noticed as the forces behind it have silenced the voices being raised against them. 
                   The media, did not find good enough TRP material in highlighting these causes. Nor did any political party wish to garner vote bank politics by dirtying thier hands in this mess. This did not matter to them as it was not the common man, "the aam aadmi" who was cribbing for this.
                    Flexibility. That is another shortcoming that ails our progress. We might be considered one of the most accepting and welcoming of all social structures around the world, but we definitely are not amongst even the least flexible ones. Let me not forget the recourse we take when the social evils are pointed out. Whenever someone tries to highlight something worthwhile, which he/she likened in some other nations social structure, we shrug it off. 
                   How many a times, have we not aped the western culture blindly, but when it comes to adopting the core values of that culture, we quote our holy scriptures and our rich cultural history and find solace by resorting to finding faults with the same very culture we ape blatantly. Simply put, we are not flexible at all.The social evils are so deeply rooted within our mental strata that we do not even try to question their existence. 
                  Ask yourself a question. When was the last time you thought the why and how of our social norms. Why was the norm formulated, who formulated it, what was the social structure like, when it was formulated and lastly, is it good enough to be followed even today. There are so many examples before us but we just tend to turn a blind eye until we are a risk of losing our identity.
                Pragmatic look at Intercaste marriages, Political interference in the Judiciary, Crimes against women and children, Narcotics, Consensual sex with co-workers, Child Labour, Sexual Favours, Teenage pregnancies, Racial Abuse, Regional discrimination, Khap Panchayats, Fatwas, Honour Killings. Dacoity, Fraud, Regional Fundamentalism, political impasse, Scandals, Scams, Forgery.  You name it, we have been through it. Not even a single segment of our Developing society is spared. 
                 With the turn of the millenium, we heard of a phenomenon - India Shining. Is this how India was supposed to shine. Ten years down the lane, let us take a look back and answer this for ourselves. Is India really Shining ?? Do we have the reasons enough for the world to look onto us for leading the change and the path of growth. Damn, we don't. I am fully aware of the counter allegations that would be fired at me after writing this piece. People might even hurl brick bats saying, that I do not have the audacity to question this state of affairs. 
                   I have no qualms as an individual in accepting that I have done nothing to bring about a change but for all the doubting Thomases', I just do not have answers like the whole lot of you who woke up from your slumber after reading this. We already are ten years too late in lending our support to make India Shine. Let us not start the infighting again, and work together towards achieving what we had promised a decade ago.


Somehow the patriot in me never dies. JAI HIND !!!

REFLECTIONS...

Do you remember the day when we first met, 
Once upon a time, long long ago?
Do you still recollect, how our glances
Collided and struck at our hearts?
And when you came near me that day,
You stopped abruptly and stood still,
As though you were arrested by
Some unseen forces, and could not move.
Have you ever thought of, how you
Came there and the words you
Spurted out, enticing me into you.

We did not talk at all, as our lips were feeling
Too shy to open up, to express the thrill and rapture.
Then your friends might have silently asked
You the reason, for such a silence.
We kept on clasping our hopes and desires
Close to our bosom, and more quandaries heaped up.
How long we have to wait and reminisce?
How long we have to remain suppressing 
Our visions to fruition now?