My day started with our prime minister's flamboyant, futuristic exhortations. A pledge, towards a self reliant and a progressive India. 15th August 2007 had dawned. India was 60 ! Reasons enough to celebrate and ponder about our past, present and future.
A vision for India , to lead the world. A nation, under whose sky, every tear from every eye , as Mahatma once said, would be wiped. An India, whose caged spirit would roam free and script new tales of human social development. A nation, which has by and large conquered the basic problems of illiteracy, health, sanitation and unemployment; where barriers of caste and region no longer sway the masses; a place of peace, tranquility and brotherhood; a torchbearer of the world for realising the vedic goal of " Vasudev Kutumbakam" . With all these dreams , amidst the singing of jana gana mana, for a while, i was catapulted into the future; where a billion people or may be more were cherishing nature's choicest gifts and had discovered solutions to their problems.
Dreams are dreams . I was shaken out of these holy thoughts , by someone patting my thigh. I realized that it was a small child. My auto rickshaw had stopped at the traffic signal. I realized the place was Rashtrapati Bhawan. And on those plush and beautiful roads of Rajpath, with Indian tricolour fluttering high, here was a boy , in tattered clothes, barely aged 6, selling the very tricolour, symbolic of his freedom and fundamental rights, to the seemingly well off segment of the society, for making his ends meet. Why not ? He has been guaranteed - democracy , freedom , liberty, equality of opportunity, social justice and above all the right to live.
His eyes spoke , there was no future in them , no hope whatsoever. Every moment was a struggle to live , a battle against odds. Sixty years after Independence, " Brand India" fetched him Rs 30 a day. Within a span of hours , i had experienced the elite optimism and the ground realities. The irony is that, while the world is going gaga about the emergence of India as a major super power, its discussing our strides in IT , services , our SEZ's and our space research capabilities, we ourselves are talking about corruption, daily problems of power and water shortage, poor hospitals, roads , public amenities , blaming politicians , cribbing electronic media.
What is the real face of India , what is the reality is perhaps a very complex question. This nation has shades of hope and despair .
( to be continued .......... )
A vision for India , to lead the world. A nation, under whose sky, every tear from every eye , as Mahatma once said, would be wiped. An India, whose caged spirit would roam free and script new tales of human social development. A nation, which has by and large conquered the basic problems of illiteracy, health, sanitation and unemployment; where barriers of caste and region no longer sway the masses; a place of peace, tranquility and brotherhood; a torchbearer of the world for realising the vedic goal of " Vasudev Kutumbakam" . With all these dreams , amidst the singing of jana gana mana, for a while, i was catapulted into the future; where a billion people or may be more were cherishing nature's choicest gifts and had discovered solutions to their problems.
Dreams are dreams . I was shaken out of these holy thoughts , by someone patting my thigh. I realized that it was a small child. My auto rickshaw had stopped at the traffic signal. I realized the place was Rashtrapati Bhawan. And on those plush and beautiful roads of Rajpath, with Indian tricolour fluttering high, here was a boy , in tattered clothes, barely aged 6, selling the very tricolour, symbolic of his freedom and fundamental rights, to the seemingly well off segment of the society, for making his ends meet. Why not ? He has been guaranteed - democracy , freedom , liberty, equality of opportunity, social justice and above all the right to live.
His eyes spoke , there was no future in them , no hope whatsoever. Every moment was a struggle to live , a battle against odds. Sixty years after Independence, " Brand India" fetched him Rs 30 a day. Within a span of hours , i had experienced the elite optimism and the ground realities. The irony is that, while the world is going gaga about the emergence of India as a major super power, its discussing our strides in IT , services , our SEZ's and our space research capabilities, we ourselves are talking about corruption, daily problems of power and water shortage, poor hospitals, roads , public amenities , blaming politicians , cribbing electronic media.
What is the real face of India , what is the reality is perhaps a very complex question. This nation has shades of hope and despair .
( to be continued .......... )
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