MY Country! Oh my Country!

The heart overfloweth with patriotism the week leading up to15th August. Note the word week. That’s usually how long the overflowing lasts. And that’s usually because that’s how long it takes to extort various denominations outta the hapless members of the para…(neighbourhood for the Obangalis and uninitiated). And believe it or not people give. The purses, which are usually padlocked and chained to the waist, are thrown open to the supplicating palms, which then take off to spend the week inebriated because their country has survived 60 years of dirty politics, hypocrisy and countrymen who are increasingly indifferent to the plight of their fellow beings or for that matter, the country itself. Those same padlocks are double checked when the aged shivering mendicant asks for a rupee to ease his dreary existence.

The zenith is reached when the DAY finally arrives. My inbox was flooded with JAI HINDS! And “mera bharat mahan” kinda smses. ( not a single one received a reply..those who spent their money uselessly, read the blog, u will realise the reason for being ignored). I mean come on. Do u know that after India was granted independence, Winston Churchill said, “India will fall back quite rapidly through the centuries, into the barbarisms and privations of the Middle Ages.” Oh stop shaking your head …the man had an inkling about what was goin to happen. Yes ok agreed that the Middle Ages barb was a bit exaggerated, but the general idea isn’t quite off the mark. Where have we developed? We live in the 21^st century, yet parents kill off their children when they marry outside their castes, or elope. Honour killing. Honour???what is honourable about a parent killing his own child? And then how can u hold ur head up high and be proud about it???? 21^st century, 60 years of independence and we live to see the day when processions are carried out, and effigies are burnt because Richard Gere kissed Shipa Shettys botoxed cheek. I am sure that the bharatiya naaris who condemned the act were wishing to be in her place anyway. What’s so Jai about the Hind pray tell? Ye ye its all ok to be leading a blinkered life and thinking that one belongs to an increasingly developed society and a country that is goin places. Once I say these things in public I am usually bombarded with glares accompanied by examples of the Hind being very Jai-worthy. Like shopping malls. Nuclear pacts. I pods. Designer clothes. Restaurants where the bill for one meal is enough to feed a small family for a week. Lingo with the word dude in various shades of pronunciation.. The list drags on. But tell me something. What does a farmer care when he is told that India’s economy is considered to be booming? He doesn’t give a b(l)ooming damn. Not when his mind is preoccupied with thoughts of how to procure his next meal. When the country is celebrating its 60 years of independence does one stand and consider that absolutely nothing has been done for the development of the country’s poor? That the majority of its population lives in doubt as to whether they will be able to eat one meal ? what is there to celebrate when you walk out of a designer store carrying a shirt that costs 2000 bucks because of the word Prada stitched into the label, and u walk past/step over the destitute child who is lying on the footpath simply because he has no energy to stand up? And our politicians…our leaders…yeah ..sure…watch a parliament in session.

A country where a girl is married to a tree because of her unlucky star signs, where women are burnt to death for producing a girl child, where politicians, leaders of our country behave like 6 year old brats denied their right to a particular toy? where people just stand and watch while a man lies dying on the road. Or while a woman is being molested. Our culture has become one where it is perfectly admissible to walk past/stand and stare at, a crime against fellow humanity…

There was once such a place. Where the people were true to themselves and each other. Where lies and liars were regarded with contempt. And where the poor were given alms voluntarily because people feared the wrath of their creator if they mistreated a fellow human being. All the vestiges of a past glory are slowly fading into the mist. As if they are voluntarily retreating from a future that is predominantly bleak and riddled by vice. Where there is no scope for integrity. Oh there is just too much to denounce. So forget it. I’ll rant on in my head. Lead the life u are leading now. Enjoy your “free country”. The Day of Judgment draws nigh. Beware it.