It has been 60 years to independence, feels like we celebrated the 50th just last year. How time flies and still how we manage to stay at the exact place where we were 10 years before.
All that India shining and stuff, god knows how many people actually benefited form it, how many people it actually represents. I could start off by giving a big list of all the fantastic things the country stands for. But I won’t. Instead I’ll tell you what I find wrong with it. Okay,don’t worry, I am not going the pollution and population way.
Also, don’t get me wrong, of course I love my country as almost each one of you loves yours. I swell with pride when the national anthem plays, I nod silently when people dish out the things that India has and others don’t. But it is high time guys, start realizing the fact that not everything we have is good.
We call ourselves a democracy, but does it mean burning the effigies of Richard Gere just because he gave Shilpa Shetty a peck on the cheek, or banning a movie like ‘Parzania’ just because it shows some people the bitter truth?
Ah yes, One more thing, Idol worship. Why don’t we just stop and think that maybe, Sanjay Dutt IS guilty after all. So what if he was charged guilty 14 years ago, so were the other bomb blast victims. Just because he played the role of a gandhian in a movie does not wash away all his sins. Maybe if it was one of your family members who died in the bomb blasts, you wouldn’t have felt the same. You would be the first one to say that the sentence should have been longer.
Whenever we say Independence, there is one thing that always comes with it, the Partition. The carnage, the blood shed. Hindu-muslims, the very people who lived happily with each other were mad enough to shed each others blood. Nothing has changed today. We still fight over religion; we still shed blood over it. Maybe if we had enough fucking brains to realize that it is just a ploy by the politicians, or the work of idle devil minds, and that fighting is not going to prove anything or make anything better.
I am not saying protests are wrong. Protests like the one that got justice for Jessica Lall are the ones we should advocate. We as a country, united , can make a difference.
Also I don’t suggest going the Gandhi way every time. I am not ‘Turn the other cheek’ around type. But I am not with violence either. But frankly, when the professor from a college was insulted and his face blackened for molesting some of his girl students, I felt good. I don’t know whether it was good or bad, but he certainly deserved it.
All said and done, I know I am not making a difference to the way the country is working. Damn it I have voted only once. Not finding a suitable candidate to vote is not an excuse, I know. Maybe when I actually take one step towards making India a better place, I will repost this with more additions and conviction.
Till then, Switch on the television, let’s watch the Independence Day parade instead…
Happy Independence day !!!
(Independence day is on 15th by the way)
Vi, I can sympathise with your thoughts and feelings. I don’t know much about Indian society, but I can find parallels with just about everything you’ve said!
Sadly people still have a huge capacity for self delusion… we’re all guilty of it at times, and often choose to believe things that in our heart of hearts we know not to be true, but we quite deliberately choose to think a certain way, simply because it’s easier, or more convenient. It seems that the mob mentality seems to exacerbate this, often aided by the mass media I think. If I just think back to some of the recent high profile “trials”, the likes of OJ Simpson, Michael Jackson, to name a couple that spring to mind, I find it incredible that people appeared to have made up their minds before the trials had even begun.
Few people seem to have the ability to recognise this in themself and others,
LikeLike
India has two million gods, and worships them all. In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire.
Mark Twain
LikeLike
Jason: So true, and also I think people are always itching to do something or voice their opinion about something and going the opposite way is always exciting.
Hover: But the same religions are a cause of conflicts. What if everyone followed the same religion, things would have been so much simple
LikeLike
Catholics and Protestants hold the same belief in the same supreme being yet they’ve been killing each other for nearly five hundred years. Keep religion out of politics, they don’t belong together.
I’ve got another quote though:
“The only alternative to coexistence is codestruction. ”
Jawaharlal Nehru
I’ve been looking for the quote that said India would collapse without British rule. I think it’s quite funny considering the aniversary tomorrow.
LikeLike
Well maybe at that time, considering the colonized structure of the country the quote could have been closer to the truth, but as they say, ‘You learn to swim when pushed in the water’. We’ve managed, and managed well enough, isn’t it?
LikeLike
I think India has done swimmingly actually. Much better without British rule.
LikeLike
Happy Independence Day to you to Violet! Hope you had a great day – is it a day off in India? Hope you made the most of it, anyway!
LikeLike
Hey CM, you were gone for sooo long.
Yes, we had an off and I kind of enjoyed it, but that’s another blog story 🙂
LikeLike
Sorry! I was away from the ‘puter.
That sounds like a good story let’s hear it! Blog away!
LikeLike
Violet! Where have you gone?!
LikeLike
It’s quiet round here…! 😉
LikeLike
Hehe, I know CM. I am so sorry; I am not able to take time out to post anything. But this weekend, for sure.
LikeLike
Yay!
LikeLike