Hello and welcome to 'Whose Crime is it Anyway!?', the Indian Game show where everything's made up and the lives don't matter.
Please welcome our stars for today
1.The Indian Politician
2.The Indian citizen
3.The NRI
4.The Indian social worker
5.The Indian media
6.The Indian "culture"
All that is missing is savvy marketing and a commercial break, this is what India currently is in a nutshell.India recently turned 61, and in most cultures would be recognized to have become sensible and developed a sense of maturity.Alas, our proud motherland infamously is not party to the matured civilizations lot.
For those who are still wondering what brought on this sudden outburst, its days and days of reading what can only be termed as crap in the online edition of India's most popular newspaper.
I left my country about three years ago, and ironically, feel I am closer to it than ever before.I left my country at a time when it was spiraling upward both on technological and financial grounds,when youngsters were finally becoming politically aware, when there were age old shackles being broken and new bonds forged, heralding a change in outlook and range of thinking, and gave me some sort of hope that after all these years post independence, we might finally be able to see some light.
That was then. Three long years have passed, I and my many worlds have agreed to change, but sadly, my country hasn't. All those burgeoning promises of change have gotten buried under bureaucracy,dwindling values, broken promises and a general clueless attitude towards administration.The government has managed to disappoint me yet again...they made a mess of handling the situation, while my beloved Bombay was getting attacked.The follow up was pathetic and tough action, nowhere to be seen. As usual our government chose to play the "protect me" role and ran whimpering and sniveling to Uncle Sam.Our intelligence, which has been celebrated on the global platform, is sadly a joke when it comes to national security.Our politicians, though generating illusions of a matured administration, are still debating about the same issues..the ones that do not matter at all. But I guess the biggest disappointment for me has been the youth of India.
I am aware I might be a traitor to my kin as I say this.But the youth in India, with reference to what I saw then I visited my country last year, and what I perceive through the eyes of the media, can be best described as lost.The progress of a nation is a double-edged sword, one can cut through life long shackles, or lose our most valuable assets.And though I bow to those who have chosen the former path, I see throngs of crowds on the latter.The very fact that I still see cases of acid attacks, dowry deaths, female infanticide, date rape, agro-based suicides in the news leaves me in severe doubt as to where we are headed as a nation.We are spiraling no doubt, but I feel its in the downward direction. I see more apathy toward the state of the nation and the administrative woes, than ever before. I see more unnecessary emphasis on Page 3 parties, Bollywood and the intricacies of "who's doing what..or rather..who". As we progress through the 21st century, I see more women succumbing to social pressure and domestic autocracies instead of fighting against them. As we compete on a global platform, I see shitty issues like dress codes for women and soap operas being debated over.
Without hope, or agenda, I'd like to throw some questions into the void:
1. Will the government ever stop being a a coward and take stringent action on the terrorism in the country?
2. Will smart women stop attaining dual degrees, only to sit at home and be domesticated?
3. Will our politicians ever stop using, women's dress codes and the support of traditional values to enforce so called Indian culture on a mass mindset?
4. Will high profile politicians like Rahul Gandhi stop bringing poor villagers into the limelight only to break their promises and someone's lifelong hopes forever?
5. Will the media stop covering crap infotainment and cover some real news for a change? (Please check out http://stupidindiatv.blogspot.com/ to know what I talk about..and it's only the tip of the iceberg)
6. Will someone out there please realize, that there are sports besides cricket, at which we suck on a global playing field, and should probably try to embrace and encourage those?
7. Will kids ever be kids again?
8. Will the youth ever be sensible enough to say yes to health, education and a fulfilling life instead of just drugs parties and fornication?
9. Will women of this nation ever stop being subservient and fight against the horrors they face?
10.Will we ever discuss some real issues facing the nation before the election at least?
11. Will we ever stop using our history as support and move on to finally being an advanced nation?
12. Can we stop this slow but steady loss of sense in everyday Indian life?
13. Will we ever be able to see past castes, reservations, quotas and vote bank politics and give education a chance?
14. Will we ever be so sensible as to take the good from other cultures, instead of the worst traits?
15. Will we ever be so sensible as to be tolerant of other cultures, thus enriching our own?
And finally...
We are a democracy..but are we really independent?
So..whose crime is it anyway? The corrupt politicians? The clueless and apathetic youth? The money minded commercially oriented media?The NRI who chooses to free himself of these questions?The Indian citizen who acknowledges these questions and chooses to brush them under the carpet?Bollywood and its overrated importance?Our system..or US?
I possibly do not know the answers, but I have the inclination to find out. I take that as a positive starting note...and at a microscopic level, I am going to change the role I play in this vicious cycle. Someone has wisely said that change is not momentary, it is everlasting, slow,persistent and the only thing constant in this world.
I'll be starting with changing my newspaper...
Be the change you want to see in the world.
-Mahatma Gandhi
