“Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.” Ok. Stop. Now.
This is not your typical Independence Day article about India Shining and how it’s become the IT hub, and the entire world is coming to India and all that jazz. No. It’s not. If you want any of that, my blog is not the place to be. You can leave right now. Go! Go read some very pro-Government newspaper which talks about India. So yeah, Go!
If you are reading this, then I am assuming that you came here to read a 20 almost 21 year old’s view of India. As someone who grew up in the Globalization, Privatization and Liberalization era, I can safely say I have seen India change, and my, what a change it was. But, is it what we really need?
I am sure you remember my earlier post about Prof.Smith saying India’s a country of contrasts. After 21 years of living here, I can say its true. It’s been 64 years from the day of the above mentioned great speech, and even now when I order food from DMD, or go to eat in Cool Palace it’s a little boy, I am sure who is very much under the age of 14 comes to deliver food or serve me food. Irony, ain’t it? Considering that I live in a Law School “A premier educational Institution”.
When my car stops at a Traffic signal there’s little boy painted silver like a Gandhi Statue comes begging. Yes, dressed like that same Father of Our Nation, who went around fasting so that the British give us Freedom. Irony, again.
What exactly does the phrase ‘developing nation’, mean? How long has India been developing? What is developing? Is having maids to clean your house and paying them a pittance development? Is abusing your driver development? I dunno.
Child Marriage was abolished before independence, but a recent article I read in the National Geographic tells me the story of a little girl who was married off in Rajasthan. Yep, in Osiyan town, two hours from where I live, two hours from the Premier Educational Institute which is training lawyers to be the protectors of Human Rights!
My college like other institutions of its ilk had a little ceremony to commemorate the occasion today, what are the three top reasons for people attending the function:
1.
My Friends singing.
2. I ll get free food.
3. I might win Best Dressed.
Yep. True Story. I am not saying that there weren’t people who actually went out of patriotic feeling, but this was the general observation.
64 years on, buildings have become taller, the rich have become richer, politicians have become more corrupt, the poor have become poorer, there’s McDonalds and KFC now to prove that we are becoming like the West, obesity is on the rise, reading and writing are almost on the verge of being things from the past, we have phones to call our friends in New York/Sydney/London, but we don’t have the time to talk to our own neighbors, we are consuming more alcohol, so I guess we are ‘developing’. I hate to say it still, this is soo ironic. I am not too sure that this is the India that Nehru imagined when he was making the above speech.
India man, its not full of contrasts, as much as it is full of ironic semblances of its glorious past.
I wrote about what I see through my 21 year old eye. Not the truth, just what I feel.
Happy Independence Day.
1 comment:
nice post! :) Premier legal institution training lawyers to be protectors of human rights? A large part of the irony of the whole situation is that we're more trained to help large corporations make money more easily. What a noble profession.
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