This is my view on India today.
We all say India is the next superpower. We say India is a developing nation. We say India is advancing in all fields. We say, with an able government, India will prosper. We think we have an able government. But yet we blame the bad deeds
on the government. But do we ever think that India will prosper because of able, proud citizens of India. I am going to start small, end big.
on the government. But do we ever think that India will prosper because of able, proud citizens of India. I am going to start small, end big.
When we walk on the road, we scrunch our noses at the stink but do we do anything about it. No. We just add to the mess. The reason why I bring up littering as a cause for us not being a superpower is that only if we have responsible citizens can we prosper. If we can’t find trash cans and are too lazy to even stuff it in our pocket, and just dump it out on our Motherland, who feeds us, who lets us live on her majestic body, what responsibility do we show.
At home, we constantly review ourselves on the news. We buy and read newspapers and know the status of our country. Then why are we still ignorant of the stifled cries of India to stop. To stop and think of our actions. To slow down and not do everything at once. To take heed in every action, for, the wrong one might lead to her downfall. In the mornings, we sip our coffees and read our newspapers. We read of murders, rapes and mistakes. How many of us know one good thing we have learnt from our newspapers. Trust no one and certainly not today’s media. We watch and have a good laugh over Arnab Goswami gloating over a spokesperson due to his/her party’s mistake. Little do we notice how much good they have done. Why? The media knows that we don’t care. But we should.
Our ancestors have done so much to get India free. I do not talk of Gandhiji or Nehru. I speak of those who have sacrificed their lives for their motherland. Those brave heroes whose names are unknown. If we can remember Kasab’s name, why can’t we say the same of the policemen who fought him and brought him down. We have to move forward but for that it is necessary to take a step back. Think of our unsung heroes. We sing praise of Gandhiji but why don’t we that of those ‘normal’ citizens who also fought our battles. We know who led the Dandi March but do we know the men, women and children who died en route? What of our great grandparents who were, I am sure, against the British. We stress upon learning History in school but how many of us know the true History of our great nation.
Our scientifically advanced ancestors knew of gravity centuries before Newton, blood workings a millennium before Harvey and all about our Earth decades before Galileo. We were the first to discover all this along with the proofs of the Earth was round, rotated and revolved. We knew that gravity pulled on us. We knew how our hearts pumped blood. We made paper years before the Chinese. We knew what science struggled to find for centuries. But why do we get no credit? It’s because we care only of the product not of the maker.
India was the wealthiest country in the world before the British plundered us. We sold rubies like vegetables, in carts, on streets. The Kohinoor diamond was the apples of our eyes before it was stolen, right beneath our eyes. Nothing of what our kings have made is ours. The famous peacock throne, the Kohinoor, the red rubies, all gone. Plundered. Stolen. Looted.
Our Hindu mythology is rich and true. We wear ash on our foreheads. It has been proven that maximum heat collects there and so to release the heat, we add a bit of ash. Our sacred fires, fuelled by cow dung and sticks, release smoke which helps cleanse our eyes and skin. Satellite images show that there is a bridge connecting Sri Lanka and India, underwater, as shown in the Ramayana. Rama used a flying device to carry Sita away, which, as per the scriptures and drawings, will fly and is aerodynamically sound. The ‘dash avatar’ or the ten avatars of Vishnu, are a perfect depiction of Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Do we know of Panini, the father of Sanskrit? The British certainly do and they revere him. Almost every school teaches Sanskrit and they know it to be the most perfect language. What of us? How many of us take interest in our sacred language? The language which NASA now uses to program their crafts and the language of the Bhagavad Gita. Why are we not proud of our country’s language? Why are we ignorant to learning it while we are ready to learn French or Computers?
Why must Gandhiji be the father of our nation when there are a million other people who fought against the British? I can name about twenty famous ones and most of you can too. But why must we not also know the others. The fact that Gandhiji must be the head is a wrong notion. One must either name none or all. When all those Hindus were killed and raped in the Great Calcutta Killing, gave their lives for us to live fine, why must Gandhiji, who went through no such torture, be the father of our nation. Gandhiji went through self-inflicted torture for the benefit of Pakistan when they requested resources immediately after the partition. India was already going through turmoil and Gandhiji fasted to ensure that Pakistan be safe. He paid no respect to those who underwent pain and injury and shed their blood upon India and what was he doing? Gandhiji was busy getting Pakistan more land and resources. Were it not for Sardar Vallabhai Patel’s bravery, we would all be living in a different country.
India today is not a very different scenario. We are still searching for freedom from terrorism, from the grips of advancement and technology. Weren’t we doing all right before the British colonized us? We were rich and wanted. Now, we are struggling to keep the rupee below sixty worth of American dollars. We are sinking and we’re sinking fast. So what life boats do we have? I say we stop development temporarily. Did it not take years for the US to develop? Will it harm to pause, to reflect upon what has already been done what has to be done next? A delay of a year will not affect our nation in the long run. We need to regroup and cleanse our country of corruption first. Then comes the question of whether the government is enough to do this. The simple answer, avoiding debate, is no, it is not.
It is not only the work of the government to set sail. They simply have to keep us afloat. We have to surge forward with the masses to set our boat to sail along the river of development and bring it into the ocean of the developed. We can start small. Why is china able to boom when they have an even higher population? Because we buy their products, not our own. If we can stop buying products manufactured elsewhere and stick to Indian goods, it will be a huge boost to the economy and so we can afford a better boat. Boycotting international goods and companies will give the boat the power start it needs and last but not the least, by being proud of being Indian and accepting the forthcoming challenges, we can stay on course and be ready for a smooth sail.
So how many of us are ready to accept what we are up against and ready to help keep the Motherland which feeds us, nurtures us, and even give us freedom to trash her, afloat and let her set sailing? How many of us are ready to join hands with each other and tackle the next obstacle head on? How many of us are proud of our ancestry and regain strength from them? How many of us want to be called the children of India and make our Mother proud? How you want your future children to live, it’s up to you. Will they live in the trench of India or the newest Superpower called India?
Jai Hind!
