MINDSCAPE OF A MODERN INDIAN …

February fled fast and March marched by in no time making way for the month of fools, April. It was a pleasant Sunday when I was reclining by my pillow on the deewan sofa in seclusion when an impromptu and irrational thought crept into my mind from nowhere. They say “Empty mind is a devils workshop”. But this time around it had to be the exception rather than the rule. The thought that submerged my mind to the depth was simple yet a question of paramount significance that any Indian would or should have encountered at least once, if present in him/her are scarce shades of patriotism if not Jingoism.Dont get me wrong the question was not “WHAT HAVE I DONE FOR MY COUNTRY?” or “WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW FOR THE COUNTRY? “ type of shit that manifests post viewing a movie of the genre of “Swades, Border or Lakshya” accompanied by hilly goose bumps piercing top wards underneath the terrain of skin.

“SHOULD I BE PROUD OF BEING AN INDIAN?” is the question that precisely struck me. Before dwelling on my thoughts let us anticipate the response of a few citizens. Perfunctorily 9 out of 10 Indians would sound stereotyped and obvious, with their answers being a heavy ‘YES ’as if their ‘NO’ would redirect the monsoons outside the country or as if Sachin Tendulkar would abruptly retire from international cricket. The point I am trying to make is our indifference towards the hard core practical reality while still sailing afloat in the sinking waters of past Indian greatness. Whenever a kid in school writes an essay about India he would mention inevitably the greatness of ancestral India and infact very less or nothing about the present state. He would go on to proudly mention the diversity, languages, religions, cultures that thrives harmoniously in the country with his lungs swollen and chest broadened. I would be extremely happy to see one kid or a student writing on the present state of affairs. But sadly to mention not many would do that.

When I thought of the present state India, thoughts and facts in multitude fled past my mind in no time. The heap of thoughts accumulated in my mind was so huge that if I started penning down my mind then the web would run out of memory space for the first time ever in its history. In technical terms a “Memory Crunch” could have manifested. Being an Engineer by profession and an aspiring MBA biz kid I embarked on a simple algorithm which would help me sort out the mess in my mind. Although I am not gifted with the best memory power I could faintly remember a few lines of the PREAMBLE to the CONSTITUTION of India that stated India to be a “SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC …..” So my thoughts about modern day India were aligned to these 4 powerful yet shunned words.

Sovereign means highest in power or superior to all others. India is a sovereign province. Placing India along side the word sovereign today paralyses the very definition of sovereignty. India’s geographical position says it all. With its arch rival Pakistan on the one side launching and masterminding attacks, infiltrating insurgents into our country, to the assertive and the powerful communist regime of China on the other side straying into Arunachal Pradesh and fortifying its presence in the so called COK(China occupied Kashmir) have placed the sovereignty of India in jeopardy. India having pursued a neutral policy with its international counterparts since long should contemplate a radical shift in foreign policy where actions are matched with actions and words with words. Last to mention but the gravest of all is the internal security landscape. With the naxal menace kissing more than 10 states and rebellious groups like ULFA, Naga rebels, Indian Mujhaideen gaining prominence to the latest discovery of saffron terrorism India’s sovereignty is at stake like never before.

Constitution pledges India to be a socialist country. Common ownership is central to socialism. Had Karl Marx (Father of Socialism) been alive today he would have sued India for including the word “Socialist” in its constitution and would have fought till his last breath to replace ‘socialist’ with ‘capitalist’ in the preamble. India along with a fleet of other nations has transitioned itself into a predominantly capitalistic economy. The widening cleavage between INDIA (rich) and BHARAT (poor) is an apt testament to this fact. India has more than 50 billionaires and cements its place among the top 5 countries hosting the most number of billionaires. India’s GDP is growing @ 8% per annum and is among the fastest growing economies in the world albeit a major chunk of its population is below the poverty line and starving to death. The lay man implication of socialism “Summation of the income earned by the entire nation divided by the total number of inhabitants” if implemented can potentially multiply the average per capita income by at least a factor of 10.Imagine the up gradation of living standards that could follow.

India is a secular nation. Secularism is what stifles me and the entire youngistan of not being adhered to, albeit claimed to be flowing in the blood stream of every Indian. From the Gujarat riots and Ayodhya Babri Masjid/Ram Mandir demolition where the Hindus and the Muslims are at loggerheads with each other since more than half a century now to the recent Kandhamal Orissa riots involving the Christians and the Hindu echoes the true non-secular face behind the secular mask of Bharat.We are fed heavy doses of religious tolerance ever since we walk into a kindergarten. We are preached to believe and demonstrate “Unity in Diversity” in schools and colleges regularly only to return home and switch on the TV sets to witness riots, clashes, brutal murders and such non secular instances hovering in air 24 x 7 on the news channels. If rated on a scale of 1 to 10 India Inc would obtain a meager 3.Cocksure!!!

Democracy reminds me of India being the largest democracy owing to its burgeoning population and special thanks to China for going the communist way or else u know what. As is the strength of the population, so is the magnitude (Number) of the problems and impediments to growth. Population proliferation being one among them is followed by a never ending list of vicious phenomenon like corruption, red tape, unemployment, malnutrition and IMR (Infant mortality rate), defunct governance, inadequate infrastructure, violence, scarcely educated goons turned politicians etc to mention a few. India being one among the most successful democracies in the modern world has to do a lot of introspection and thinking to carve out action plans to mitigate the aforementioned evils only to see Indian shinning 30 years down the line when it is expected to become the most populous country in the world.

So being contended with what we are as a nation or strive to be the NUMERO UNO is the open question?