Mera Bharat Mahaan

The last two weeks has been a roller-coaster ride for "the world's largest democracy".

You might have caught glimpses of the 'debate', which had all the makings of a prime-time soap opera series; with friends turning foes, men going hysterical with rage, a grand old man trying to maintain peace and women enthusiastically beating down on the desks (instead of their chests as portrayed in serials being churned out by the dozen by the Ekta Kapoor production house).

One could easily focus primarily on the negative aspect of our democracy that was brought to light during the course of the show. I would much rather choose to dwell on the positive aspects that I took from the experience. Somewhere in the middle of all the chaos, I felt that all hope was not lost and that the future of Indian politics may not be as bleak as I had earlier thought it to be. There were a few 'leaders' who stood out based on the content of their respective speeches.

I have to admit I did not understand Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav's speech entirely at first. It was simply amazing to watch the entire house listening to his every word and laughing along with him instead of interrupting his every word. A glance at the newspapers the next morning showed me that even though his speech was quite humorous, he managed to counter-attack every single point that had been brought up by the Opposition. For an Opposition who seems extremely eager to oppose a motion for the sake of opposing it, it was a pleasure to see them actually listening to someone else's point of view for a change!

The Prime Minister showed that he was a man of his word. He seems to have proved yet again why I have always thought of him as a politician with a difference. He isn't getting any younger but he sure is getting bolder with his speeches! I don't think that the Opposition realized it at the time but they were only making it easier for the man to make a much bigger impact on the nation with his speech by not allowing him to speak.

However I think the highlight of the proceedings were the speeches of Omar Abdullah and Rahul Gandhi. They both seemed extremely sincere, passionate about the issue at hand and the choice of words in both cases was almost impeccable. Some people likened Mr.Gandhi's speech to that of a school head-boy. I think his point about it being "time for India to start thinking like an emerging super-power by taking into consideration how we may impact the world and now how the world may impact us" may be slightly premature but definitely the attitude for the future. But if he hoped for the speech to be inspiring and thought-provoking, I have to say he did a pretty good job out of it :D

And after all this drama had unfolded, terrorists decided to strike in both Bangalore and Ahmedabad. As if we needed any more excitement in our lives. These people have sick minds. It shakes you up especially when they strike close to home. But life goes on. The Indian spirit has proved that it can take a lot of beating time and time again, only to spring back with renewed vigour. We've seen it with Mumbai and Udaipur. Life goes back to normal eventually because you can't really put your life on hold just because of these trouble-makers. You can only hope that the next time they strike, not many innocent lives are lost in the process.

Made In India

What does it mean to be an Indian? People seem to make their own definitions. At times it's beyond my level of understanding though. At some point in our lives, the way we perceive things such as patriotism, religion & God has a profound influence on our personality. These words divide human beings into collective groups of people. The whole purpose of religion and spirituality seems to be defeated.

You might be wondering what exactly it is I’m trying to get at. I started thinking about this when I was watching the news the other day. Sonia Gandhi was being described as a foreigner (as usual) in a particular interview. The fact that she's been in India for most of her adult life is of no consequence. The fact that both of her children have been raised as Indians means absolutely nothing. People are blinded by the fact that she wasn't born in India and can't seem to see beyond that.

I don’t think that just because someone may not have been born in India particularly disqualifies them from being Indian. Mother Teresa may have been born elsewhere but she’s one person who there is not much dispute over. We’re more than proud to declare her as one of our own. We still puff up with pride when names such as Lakshmi Mittal, Kalpana Chawla or Bobby Jindal are brought up in conversation. They're 'Indian' and look where they've reached. But people of Indian origin, even those who have been born and 'brought up' in the US, will always be considered as immigrants by the Americans. Does that mean we follow a similar policy when it comes to foreign people living in our lands?

I have a grandmother who was born in Germany. She spent the first 10 years of her life there before she had to be smuggled out of the country by boat in an attempt to escape the clutches of Nazi Germany. She met my grandfather in England and has been in India since 1949. India provided her a sense of stability and calm which she had never experienced before. She’s been here for well over 3/4th of her life; India is her ‘home’. If you ask me, she’s as Indian as any other person here. But some people think otherwise. They still consider her an outsider. That’s when it just doesn’t make sense to me anymore. Agreed, my grandmother’s never tried running for public office but I really don’t get why people get so excitable about Sonia Gandhi’s Italian roots. They almost start hyper-ventilating at the thought.

What is supposed to set us from other animals and why we claim to be 'intelligent' beings is the fact that our brains are capable of something simple called 'logic'. It seems to be an increasingly rare commodity these days.

Affirmation

I normally shy away from topics such as religion and personal belief. I doubt that will change any time soon but it doesn't mean that I won't clarify my stand (however vague it may seem to others) from time to time. Half of the hesitation comes about because I'm scared to find out deep dark notions lodged in my friends’ brains. What if I don't particularly like what I find out?

But today I decided to throw caution to the wind. As a new acquaintance told me, it is better you think of it this way; during those conversations you might learn things about the person that might give you a new perspective on life, change your outlook or attitude! The truth is the real nature of people comes out in such debates and that could prove to be a good thing as well as bad.

What I’m going to end up saying here has probably already been said before. I’m not your typical religious person. I’m a first-class case of neither-here-nor-there. I’m a strong believer in the freedom of expression as long as it not used to bring down or disgrace a particular person or community. I dislike extremes.

I believe in karma; what you give is what you get. Things might go astray but they will eventually work out someday (some way or the other). I’d like to think that there’s someone watching over me. It gives me a sense of comfort when things don’t work out the way I would have liked them to. I’m not a fan of thoughts being forced down your throat. But that doesn’t mean to say that I’m not open to other opinions. I just might not agree with them.

If only the more subtle forms of religion dominated the world, it would surely be a better place. To the vast majority of atheists in the world, religion is associated with the fundamentalists; the likes of Osama bin Laden or Hitler. They are/were all too influential and everyone in the modern world will have to deal with the likes of them at some point in their lives. Not a single religion I can think of is devoid of fundamentalists. Sad but true.

I refuse to believe that religion is the cause of all evil on this earth. Blind faith and misinterpretation-maybe. The existence of God will continue to debated upon for centuries to come. That is if we don’t manage to bring upon our own destruction prematurely with all our antics to make this world a better place to live in, thereby destroying it in the process. For the time being, I am happy to take comfort in the unknown. Even science has its limits in this regard. There are some things that even the greatest scientists this world has ever produced haven’t been able to understand. What would happen to all the fun if we had all the answers anyway?

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
I hope one day you'll join us
And the world will live as one." --- John Lennon

Imagine

In the rubble of the Sichuan earthquake, came hoards of horrific pictures; one piled up upon the another, until they nearly numbed the viewer. Children were buried in their collapsed schools and many others orphaned. But no other images affected me as deeply as those of grieving parents who because of China's one-child policy, would have lost their only children.

In the wake of the quake, Beijing says that couples who have lost their only child will be permitted to have another one. But the relaxation of this policy should extend further beyond the recent disaster. True, the one-child policy has succeeded in it's original aims. It has slashed China's birth rate drastically, multiplied the country's economic growth and brought more women into the workforce.

But as you dig a little deeper, the severe side effects become more obvious. China faces a demographic nightmare. Its rapidly aging population could suffer a major labor shortage in the next few decades. It will have millions of elderly people with few kids and an ill equipped social and medical infrastructure to care for them.

I somehow can't imagine a government telling me that I can't have more than one kid or forcing me to get rid of a new, additional baby. I guess that's one side effect of growing up in India - anything goes and to be more precise..the more the merrier :D And as each year goes by, I take greater comfort from having a sibling.

I think the time has come for the one-child policy to be phased out. The Sichuan quake and its grieving families could just be the catalyst. If appropriate steps are taken now, at a time when the state has a vast reserve of wealth, the future of China may not be as catastrophic as the Sichuan quake.