The Republic Sentiment

I woke up later than usual today, the day being a bank holiday, the 26th of January. I checked my cellfone to find seven text messages, all wishing me a 'Happy Republic Day', each with its own dose of patriotism. With a yawn, I washed my face, and checked Facebook to find similar updates, with catchy quotes and tags in patriotic photo uploads and whatnnot. I turned on the TV and switched to DD to see the parade of our 61st Republic day.


The 'Amar Jawan Jyoti' event in the presence of the defence chiefs was being aired live from India Gate. It was followed by march-past of the soldiers, and a display of tanks, missiles, radars, etc. all confirming the military strength of our country. Later, there was a colourful depiction of the rich and varied culture of India, where regional and cultural diversity were the forerunners. The show tried to capture the multitude of ethnicities woven together in a united India. Also worth noting were the bike show and the aerial histrionics. The chief guest, Indonesian President, Yudhoyono was surely amazed at the India that he saw, his wife clicking her camera at everything exciting. I sat in my chair, looking lost, wondering where this India been so long.

A personal message to President Yudhoyono: "This ain't even a quarter of the show that we see everyday, Sir. You missed quite a lot. Actually most of it. They showed you different parts of the country. Did they show the circumstances in which they live there? They showed you hard-working farmers making their bread, er, roti. Did they talk to you about farmer suicides? Did they even talk about the inflated prices of daily commodities? So many politicians present at the event. I bet one of them must've told you how they keep law and order in their pockets. You saw capable scientists and engineers with their equipments under display. But do you know most of them work in the private sector coz the government pays them nuts? There were a lot of tanks, fighter-jets, etc on display. But they never told you that many of them were made from rusted and corrugated parts imported from Russia. You were told that Indians were honest, hardworking people. But are you aware of the corruption and scams that take place at all levels of the system, every other day? Delhi looked so beautiful and serene today. But did you look beneath its outer layer, at the rampant crimes, traffic, pollution, and corruption in this capital city? The army people looked so smart and polite today. But they ain't so polite when they are wiping off innocent civilians in Kashmir. You missed a lot, Sir. What you saw was a movie, and we are really good at making 'em, so you better trust me on that one."

I know all this sounds very accusing and these facts might sound far-fetched. I wont blame you. We Indians have a habit of avoiding the truth. We all know things, but we choose to remain silent. We think these things do not really concern us, but actually they do. Yet we remain mum. But that is exactly where the problem begins. The government is not to blame, we are to blame, coz we choose them after all. Every problem on the face of the country is our fault, in an indirect fashion though. I do not intend to provide solutions, but we know there are solutions. As a Zen proverb says, "The answer is in the question itself".

We have an impeccable law system, we only need to implement it properly. We have a strong political frame, just not the right politicians to run the country. We have highly skilled doctors and engineers, just need good packages to recruit them. A majority of people are poor and deprived, yet we see so much wealth around. This is due to imroper diversification of money. There are welfare schemes to help the needy, but not a proper force to make it available to them. In short the country is completely out of control. The British were better at handling us, for we have made such a mess, and no one's ready to clean it up. So its time we looked beyond the tricolour, the songs and the catchy captions this Republic Day. Its time to find the answers to the numerous problems that surround us. 'I' cannot do it, 'you' cannot do it, but 'we' know 'we' can do it. So lets set our country straight. It wont happen easily. It might take many many years to reach there. But there is that possibility. I wrote this post to bring my thoughts to words and change my attitude towards all this. If it makes even one person think, I'll consider it a success. Forgive me if you are offended by anything I say, but I wont say "nothing personal" coz it is personal. Don't mistake me as a critic, I'm not. Just a concerned citizen. Jai Hind.