Today, on 15th Aug 2007, we celebrated our 60th independence day.
We spent 60 years in the making..the making of India as we see today. Lot of people gave their sweat and blood to make it. Millions of people toil every day to keep it alive, to move it forward, to get it going. At the same time there are thousands of people who keep trying..relentlessly…to drag it backward. They keep on planning how to make their ill conceived intentions successful.
These 60 years have been a great ride. We have accomplished quite a lot. Today india is the largest democracy in the world and the seventh largest economy – facing right in the eyes of all nations. India is a nuclear power. India is an IT Outsourcing hub. We are one of the best talent factories in the world. We have our roots in almost every country of the world – east, west, north or south – you can see indians doing something good(?) everywhere.
We have won the world cups -(not this year, ofcourse). We have won oscars (not recently). We have won Gold medals in Olympics (dont remember the last year though). There are so many things that we have done…but i am not sure why dont we keep at it. May be we just dont feel like it….after we have done it once and shown the world we can do it.
There are some more achievements, worth mentioning. Mumbai is one of the world’s biggest economic hub, Indias largest city, with richest people living in, and with the biggest slumps in Dharavi. The number of people who own cars in this city increases every day, and so does the number of people who sleep on the footpath.
We have Metro running in Delhi – world class train, world class service – with third class behaviour from people. People in Delhi have 1% manners and 99% attitude.
As a country, we have grown so much. We have big malls, thousands of multiplexes, hundreds of entertainment parks. Also, we have thousands of villages that do not have electricity supplied for days.
Every year thousands of youngsters go abroad for higher study. There are hundreds of thousands of boys and girls who dont know what school is, and their youth is spend working to serve their basic needs – Food, Health, Clothes…and if possible Shelter.
We have all global brands available in India now – Nike, Taghuer, Reebok, Adidas, Apple, Lacoster…and we have many people walking shoeless on the streets.
We have all that is good. We do have all that is bad. Our girls can walk safely in the streets of bombay at any time of the day or night. The same girl can not go out on a street in Delhi after 8 PM. Our kids can play all that they want, while the other kids work to make ends meet.
Where are we headed? We have completed 60 years of independence. Are we there yet? How long will it take before people start caring about others. How long before we bridge the gap between poor and rich. How many more years before we become really Independent?
I think it takes a little effort from each and everyone. from You, and Me. We have to take action, or we will keep on celebrating our independence without being totally free.
Today, it may be “Hindustaan hamara“…but we have to make it “saare jahan se accha hindustaan hamaraa”.
thoughts well written.could feel the heart in the words.
Economic disaprity is a much wider problem.I couldn’t read a single article any where associated with independence day without the mention of this.
So now more of us are aware of the problem and we sympathise with it.But to turn that to empathy,None in the new generation with the so called moral and ethics learned from our great traditions could not share the fruit we got.
You mentioned the problem,But solution is what is needed…Eachone doing there part…vague..we need concrete steps and leaders who atually care for the poor.
There are individual contributions and effort happening here and there.But what we need is a leadership to galvanise it in to actions..
Keep up the good thoughts and actions