State of the Nation - Part-1

Where is the state of the nation headed to? We are the largest democracy in the world. We are also close to most populated county in the world. We have the most number of religions in the world, yet live in the fear of having riots on the basis of religions, intra-religious sects, one state versus the other. We have the largest railway network in the world, but we also have the biggest number of train accidents or near misses. We have some of the best airlines in the world, but we also the maximum air traffic congestion at major airports. We boast of having the largest software industry in the world, yet we are still content in doing back-end jobs for the western world. We produce the bst engineers in the worls, but only a fraction of them stay & work in this country.We have the largest road network in the world but probably majority of them qualifies as the most sub-standard quality. We boast of the best medical facilties in the region, yet, still unaffordable to the poor. We have one of the largest & best armies in the world, but probably the ranks have the least morale. We have one of the most beautiful places in the country in the world, ranging from the hills to the ocean to the desert to historical monuments to planned cities to a couple of beautiful villages. We have some the best traditions in the form of arts, literature & dance forms, but slowly approaching their respective last stages in their life cycle. We have one of the most talented people in bureacracy but they are also the most corrupt. Yet we take pride in all the points.

The way we project ourselves to the world or to our own people, is only through the positive glass angle. And yes, we shoud definitely show our country in positive light in front of foreigners, but to our own people, we also need to show them reality. The negative aspects and their consequences are equally important to act on to remain progressive. But our political leaders remain elusive to this fact. Our politicians are like an ostrich. When they see trouble, they close their eyes and hide their heads underground assuming the threat is no longer there as it cannot be seen. Our politicians are also scared. They fear of losing their seats, they fear of losing their money-making machine (the govt), fear of losing power, fear of having to "earn" money. Bureaucracy and politicians are 2 sides of the same coin. so while the country is run by these highly qualified professionals ( I doubt the calibre of those coming though the reserved quota), theor strings are controlled by the politicians. So , no respite to the common man.

But our common man or the "aam aadmi" are equally to blame for the current state of the nation. While we, the so-called educated urban midlle-class & above discuss the state of the country through our narrow vision of sight, thinking the country is only what we see in the urban India we ignore the majority of the population living in rural areas, still un-educated, distanced from development, technology and more importantly "modern" & "intellectual" thinking of people like us. Though urbanisation of rural areas are on a fast-track, but urbanisation of people are not.

Of National Holidays and Extended Weekend Breaks-1

I recall my school days Calcutta, when National Holidays would rekindle patriotism and remind us of our country's Great Freedom Struggle. Namely, Netaji's Birthday, Republic Day, Independence Day, Gandhiji's Birthday, Pandit Nehru's Birthday. There was a time when each of these holidays reminded us of the hardships our country has faced to get Independence. I remember, when I used to listen to patriotic songs, watch patriotic movies and also have "adda" sessions with friends brushing our "Independence Quotient" (IQ). And the same continued, with equal vigour for a couple of more years till my engineering days in Bangalore. By the time I pursued my MBA in Bombay, these feelings had started to die down and I started entering my corporate life.

However, over the years, I've realized that these National Holidays have just been reduced to a normal holiday. Working for nearly decade now, I look forward to these "days" as just an extension of my weekly offs - Saturday or Sunday, with special interest to identify how many such "days" fall on a Fri or Mon, to plan out an extended long weekend break in & around Mumbai and now Delhi-NCR. Most of the times, I fail to recall the occasion for the holiday, except of course the Independence Day, due to visibility of the occasion on various news channels.

Netaji's Birthday has been completely forgotten in other parts of the country, except in Bengal. Gandhiji has been more or less forgotten by us, thanks to the Congress Party, as for them its only the Gandhi Parivaar, who have contributed in the freedom struggle, half the people, if questioned do not understand the complete meaning of the Republic which we celebrate on the 26th of Jan, etc, etc.

Do I feel sad about this change in perception of viewing these "Days"? Does this make me less patriotic? Do we need to move on and not remind ourselves of "pre-independence" days? Do we still need to celebrate these days? Do we need to bring back "life" to these days? Do we need to bring back life to the other freedom fighters? As of now, I'm not very clear and maybe in a couple of weeks or months, I'll engage my thoughts come out with some vision & clarity of thought. Till then I guess I'll enjoy the National Holidays as Extended Weekend Breaks!