This is going to come out sounding very bitter and sardonic and if I do offend any patriotic 'I worship the soil we walk on types', I'm least bothered. While we've so far been looking at the world from behind rose-tinted glasses, it's time that (some of us) take them off and actually look. A few years back, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam wrote a book titled Vision 2020 and said that by 2020 India will become one of the super-powers, and will even surpass US. Nearly a decade has passed since he said that, and our quest towards achieving that status has progressed very marginally, if it has progressed at all. While we believe we're living in a place that has offered us all that it could in its capacity, little do we realize that this 'capacity' has not yet been defined. And it probably never will.
Going back in time, there was the biggest debacle that nearly shook the flimsy foundation that this world is constructed upon. The world wars. It was the impact of the second World War (following the Treaty of Versailles signed by a defeated Germany) that dropped the biggest bomb. Back then, India was still under the mercy of the British, fighting for freedom, fighting for peace, with Gandhiji advocating non-violence and ahimsa, which is evident from the very fact that he touted tolerance in an open letter addressed to Adolf Hitler. Several other Indian leaders and politicians expressed concern over the rise of Fascism and Nazism and supported the British cause, as opposed to taking the neutral stance that they had always chosen, until then.
Either way, India was unscathed by the impact of the World War, which left the entire globe restless and panic-stricken. The fight for freedom continued, using the tools of peace and non-violence. And then, freedom was granted. Gandhiji and the other preachers of peace and non-violence were assassinated. The turmoil began. When the British evacuated India after stripping it of its wealth, penury prevailed. Post Gandhian era, India even broke its ethical code of non-violence (surprise!) by entering into war with Pakistan.
The newly constituted British-free government strived to elevate the downtrodden by implementing poverty-alleviation programs, employment schemes, and even including reservations for the backward classes in most education institutions.
The plight improved. But marginally.
Because, despite the initiatives taken to bring about the change, the very desire to be a part of a new and better environment does not exist. People dont want to study or work. Education is a burden. They'd much rather live. Just exist and then leave the earth. Then there are the class of people who want to enjoy opulence without working for it. They find illicit ways of making fast and good money, and they are the quittessential elements of corruption, dishonesty. And then, there are the middle-class people, who pinch pennies, acquire a respectable degree and earn a respectable salary at a 9-5 job. They're happy. They're able to afford meals and a roof over their head. It ends there.
The desire to bring about a change is lost under a flurry of selfishness, avarice and yes, even fear. Fear that if they speak out, they will be condemned to a life of fear, a life similiar to the famous writer, Taslima Nasreen, who even now fears to touch the Pakistan soil lest they chop off her head.
So the quest to continues, but in vain. Those who give up hope, gladly leave the country to serve a foreign land, whilst we continue to grapple with the basic task of shoving food down our throats.
Japan, is a classic example of a country that has strived to progress over the years. After combatting poverty and unemployment, they have started to see the better side of the world, whilst the Indian hyprocrites continue to brag about how their "rich culture and heritage" (ahem--We're somewhere at the top in AIDS, and we have politicians who follow bigamy and sometimes, god forbid, even polyogamy) compensates for the lack of overall development.
I hope I am not brutally slain for this post. Peace, all.
