Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The India i see...

I had this topic in my mind for quite some time now, and have been thinking of getting down to write about it. Am talking about the heading. Now i was lying there in my bed now - am at home u see and eating my mom's delicacies and getting fatter - and some words came into my head and i thought yes i have to write it some day. Then the next thought was- Why not now?... I cannot get any more free than this. So here i am.

Anyways lets get down to the point. What do i see then??... I see an India where my hometown gets converted to an island after as early as 6 O' clock because the police cant protect the roads connecting the town to the nearby cities from the naxalites, I see a college which is said to be one of the best in the country, but which survives not because of it being so, but because of the perseverance of a few of the faculty and a lot of students with loads of bureaucracy, I hear of relatives rejecting marriage proposals because the bride side cant spend enough on the marriage, I see an India where a farmer works thro' the year so that he can add to the meager income that he gets from his toil in the fields even though the food prices are going thro the roof, I see an education system that is failing to cope up with the aspirations of the country, and a political scene that we all wish could be better.

But along with this i also see friends and youngsters running organisations like Pratigya and Center for Civil Society that gives us hope for a better future and a place for new leaders and ideas to emerge. I also see my next door uncle buying a computer for his 8 year old on Dhanteras, I see happily married couples whose love did not matter whether they were from Delhi or Maharashtra or Jharkhand or Haryana.... I see DINK families enjoying their life and planning for their future, and i see a working mom running thro' her life with a smile on her face, I see my mom struggling to type a reply mail to her daughter-in-law in Hinglish but smiling with every word that she gets right. I see a friend looking to go abroad but who doesn't want to miss a wedding, I see 7 telecom companies in a place where there are no roads after 6... :-) ...

In fact I see an India that's so full of potential, and an India that's slowly but surely realising it. Yes i am disillusioned with my India, but i am still hopeful. Hopeful because even though the daily papers splash loads of heart shattering news across their front pages everyday, the special good news editions that run on national holidays are getting fatter year on year. I have hope because i am surviving in today's India in spite of being pessimistic. I have hope because someone has very rightly said that pessimism is a luxury for the good times. I have hope because i am a pessimist but still find reasons to smile.