I LOVE MY INDIA

I love my India
I sit in the general compartment of a train to go to a nearby town. Six persons sit on the seat of three, and six others stand in front. It’s hard to breathe and nature is not allowed to call you as some lucky persons always capture the toilets, the only space available with less human density. I see youngsters and elder men, using the filthiest language , with their teeth red chewing pan masala. I watch policemen and coolies distributing seats by taking/extorting money. You don’t need to die to go to hell. Most Indians travel like this!

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I love my India.
I go to visit my grandparents who live in a town, a sub urban town. The bus takes five hours to complete a journey of sixty kilometers, courtesy shining India roads. Being well off, my grandparents have all appliances which add luxury to your life like TV and fridge. But average electricity supply is around eight hours. I think about the growth rate of our infrastructure. Nearly eighty percent India live at such places, and worse !

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I love my India.
I read the morning newspaper and find the decision of a court case I have been following since years, a boy, son of an IAS officer threw acid on the face of a girl. The court and police, after struggling hard discover that evidence is not sufficient to punish the boy. In the meantime, the boy has completed a professional course and is doing a job. The girl’s father has spent his entire savings in her treatment and the court case. The girl is nearly OK, only lost her one eye and has incurable injuries on her face. The girl loses the case and I lose hope. This the fate of most cases !

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I love my India
Nearly after sixty years of independence, our politicians unanimously discover that they need to do ‘social justice’. They reserve half the seats for backward castes. They turn deaf towards an issue called academic excellence or merit. Providing assistance at primary level and allowing them to run along with other classes does not attract votes so they hand over the crutches of reservation, first at graduation level, then at post graduation level and then in job. Students fight but most of us know what shall be the fate of their struggle !

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What is India, the one growing at eight percent or one waiting to get drinking water, India seeing the software boom, posh molls or India where farmers commit suicides and Sati is glorified. What is India, an emerging superpower, or one doomed by politicians. Till you decide, I will keep on saying I love my India.