Friday, August 13, 2010

64th Independence Day of India

We have 64th Independence Day of India on this Sunday. Now, I know that while it all yay and yippie; has anyone stopped for a second and wondered what it means, if at all it does.

What has this bought for us? And even more importantly, what have we done for India?

True, we have been able to do a lot of things that people were not able to do earlier; like listen music and watch movies on video iPods, talk on blackberries, wear fine French tailored suits, drive German cars with American/Nigerian friends, get high on vodka and run over migrant laborers, more variety of STDs and so on.

India has developed a lot over the years. But, more to the point, it has developed split personalities. On one side is the personality which everyone endorses; the ‘India Shining’ persona. Heads of various leading companies across the globe have been quoted as looking forward to India becoming a beacon in the global landscape (Read some here). Global consultancy firms have been ranking India high in various performance parameters (read some here and here).

On the other side of the spectrum is the India that nobody wants to talk about. The India which is barely able to cover four square meals of the day. The India which tried to host commonwealth games and is, seemingly, failing at that. The India which has a plethora of corrupt politicians like Kalmadi, Lalu, Behenji, just to name a few. The India in which spawn of rich tycoons go scot free even after killing a dozen people while a common man is killed in fake encounters and jailed for having sneezed. The India where the vigilante army MNS and Bajrang Dal think that it is their moral duty to curb the right to every free expression there is.

Kind of makes me wonder, which India is celebrating its independence day!!!

Image Courtesy: nehasinha.wordpress.com

7 comments:

  1. With all due respect,i would have mailed you this but i was unable to find your email address.All i want to say is that you should have read the disclaimer on my website and which would have answered your comment.

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  2. 60 years back it was said 'the youth of India will make country proud'. But it proved to be farce. The same youth has brought corruption, nepotism , hatred, caste divide in to the country.

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  3. @WJ: My comment is on your site in the same section

    @SR sir(I assume): Thats true sir, no doubt, but are they the only ones responsible or is the culprit the values that have been instilled in them by their elders? In some part, the youth has indeed made India proud of its saplings but in some others, the less said the better it is.

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  4. @Aashish Sood reply to your comment in the same section.

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  5. Independence day is losing it s significance with gen Y - just saw a facebook status message saying he hated this years ID because it was on a Sunday - he wanted it on Monday so that he could go out and party have a long weekend. !

    Well composed post Aashish.

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  6. Anonymous8/18/2011

    Hi, good to see your blog & your interest in the nation, politics & issues like corruption. I had been to Freedom Park, Bangalore to support the Anna Hazare team recently. I have shared my experience on my blog http://puneet3210.blogspot.com/2011/08/anna-hazare-freedom-park-bangalore.html . Do have a look. The same is shared on IndiBlogger also at http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=72809 :) Puneet

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