Oh darling !!! Yeh Hai India ...

No, I am not here to vent my ire on the termite ridden, spineless, shameless politicos of India. Barkha, Rajdeep, Arnab, Prannoy has been doing a phenomenal job at it. I am not here to bash the Terrorists as the words, sentiments that I hold for them cannot be expressed in civilized language. I guess someone the other day held a placard at Gateway of India which sort of explained my sentiments

Mr. Terrorist, I am alive..What more can you do?
Mr. Politican, I am alive,
Despite you
I am Alive
I am Mumbaikar
(In my case) .. I am Indian

I am not here to ridicule personalities, intelligence, coast guard etc etc.

I am certainly indebted to the bravado exhibited by our forces and police forces even though our system did try its level best to foil every step that we took towards glory.

I am not here to do any of this. I have been watching news non stop since Wednesday night and seething ……seething at myself. Seething at my ecosystem, seething at our cowardice, non committal “Chalta Hai” mindset, seething at our impotency which has not once but many a times have been the subject of pure “Khilwaad” for forces across border, seething at the way we have continued to accept sheer brainless slobs take political decisions on our behalf, I am seething at no one but myself….What is my contribution to all this that gives me any right to be angry with Manmohan Singh, L K Advani, Narendra Modi, R R Patil, etc. I am responsible for them to be there …I have handed the keys to my house and the responsibility of my safety, to them and now what right do I have to whine, cry, crib against them when I don’t want to come out of the cushy confines of my world to the dirty, pothole ridden roads, porous borders, Female Anopheles ridden environment to complain. Sub chalta hai…. !!! And I let it that way ……my friend …so when time comes I have to pay for my ignorance, my indifference, my callousness !!

Today I wont complain about India. Today I wont put India down compared to the lush green environ of Umrica. Because India isn’t at fault. Its me who is. Its me who dreams of that utopian landscape that I see and salivate while watching the western flicks, yet do nothing to make a similar world for myself.

Thing is “We the people” do not know the real meaning of two critical words – “PRIDE” and “OWNERSHIP”. Hence, at every juncture when we need these two words within us we tend to just look at the other person’s plate and complain about what we don’t have. We will cry hoarse that “my house is bad”, “My roads are pathetic”, “My city is lousiest”, etc etc but seldom do we think “How can I make this a better place?”.

Last few days, what hurt me the most is I chose to accept everything that happened. Of course the calamity wasn’t in my hands, but the aftermath certainly is. Isnt it my right to ask for a safe world? I pay taxes, I vote and then I am not getting anything in return. If this was a deal with a DTH operator and some channels weren’t being beamed into my house I would ravage the last drop of blood from the operator and would demand my money back. So is this different? Why am I still paying taxes? That sort of money if I invest in private security aren’t they going to give me a better chance to live more? Then why give it to this Government, for which the only benefit I get is a Form 16 certifying me as a responsible taxpayer in this country. I don’t get a statement saying where my money has gone? How much of it has been invested in infrastructure, how much in welfare, how much in secutiry etc. Yet I am blissfully clueless and elated at that.

Why do I go and keep voting these Moronic monsters whose entire purpose of existence is to suck people dry of their wealth, peace, sanity and stay happy. Why do we take so much care in choosing companies with the best future plans, leadership team etc when it comes to choosing our jobs and when it comes to something as critical as our country we are just going with “Anti Incumbency Factor”

We salivate and are wide eyed looking at the phenomenon called Barrack Obama, who makes it reality for the age old suppressed clan of African Americans by starting from a garage and making it to the White House because …”Yes He Can”….. Whats stopping me to go out there and put my limited education at use.

Are honesty, discipline, dedication, determination… simply part of English Vocabulory …not virtues that we follow anymore? Why cant we the people seek these qualities when we entrust our beloved country into someones hands.

Are these people – Modi, Mayavati, Laloo, Advani, Shivraj Patil, RR PAtil, Vilasrao, Paswan etc. the best that we have for business. Why cant a Ratan Tata be the prime minister? (I am just throwing a name for the sake of my argument). He has the basic understanding of people. He connects with Rural and Urban India well, he has been leading one of the biggest business houses employing a vast population, his group has always doen business with a lot of transparency and ethics, so why do we not throw up leaders of that stature who will have the desire, capability, knowledge, intellect, courage and composure to make us feel proud of our country.

Don’t let the government take Vilasrao out and unleash another impotent figure of Shushil Kumar Shinde on us ……with us not even saying anything about it? Don’t go out there in the next elections thinking Congress has been ineffective so lets vote for BJP. As someone pointed out in a talk show yesterday that Congress was purely unlucky to have been in power during these testing times…. Too bad. Even if BJP would have been in power nothing substantial would have taken place. All these political parties have one agenda …. That’s self prosperity !! I must admire the single minded focus they have on that one point.

So why I am I here writing this today…!!! I don’t know. Because I have let myself down, not once but everytime I have seen India getting raped and helpless at the hands of some gun totting external forces. My cowardice and indifference will kill me one day ….. and I will still be searching for people whom I can hold responsible for that.

Today, I am clear about one thing, I am proud of India, I am proud of my land, I am proud of being born here, and I know if I want then I can make it a wonderful place. Critical factor is “I”. Its time to join all the “I”s and bring in that “CHANGE”….. !!!

Yes “We” Can…… Oh Darling …yeh hai India !!!