India of my dreams

When I watched Gadar, I wondered that this happened just 50 years ago. Later on when I read Taslima Nasreen's Lajja, the same feeling gripped me with the only difference being that time was catching up. And yesterday it did actually caught up when I read "Gujarat bleeds". Not the prettiest of the sites to see violence wrestling the headlines from Budget, the single most important event in the Financial Calendar of a poor country like India which dreams of...huh!

To be honest, on that unfortunate day, Dec 6, we kids celebrated by first making a model of a Masjid with a few bricks and then grounding it with our feet. All the turmoil was so exciting to us; more so because our exams were postponed...But we were kids then...I was in standard VI.

Now when I read about these attacks on Sabarmati Express and the knee-jerk actions to the same... Wearing a t-shirt which says 'proudly Indian' a I write; I actually feel ashamed of myself and my country.

When will we accept that we are one of the poorest nations which even after 50 years of independence can't rise above the petty matters of Mandal and Mandir. We call ourselves the largest democracy....but we are yet to discover one. We thought by framing the most comprehensive constitution to give equal voting rights to every citizen, we have achieved democracy. Little did we realise that its spirit lies in enforcing them; and we have failed miserably in this. All we have succeeded is in silencing the Khairnars and Sheshans who tried to provide some credibility to our system.

And we just can't blame it upon the system - our typical psyche to pass on the buck on to others. As the citizens of the country, what has been our contribution? We are no better than the RK Laxman's dumb 'common man' who sees everything, but does nothing. Patriotism isn't about cheering for India (rather Indian team) in an India-Pakistan match...it's not just a feeling; it's a responsibility to our country, to our society.

We are very quick to criticize brain drain, but do we ever realize what kind of future do these young brains have here? If we can't provide them with the opportunities, infrastructure and work environment then we have no right to point the finger on them. And what have the rest of us achieved by staying back here?

We blamed it on the English then, but whom do we blame now? Politicians? But who are they? How do they manage to emerge out of all the stinking scandals? Jayalalithas and Sukhrams get reelected even after they have been exposed. Things will not change much if we continue to vote on the basis or caste and religion...