The dream of a better India

I live in a country that is growing too fast for comfort for the previous generation. It is also growing too slow for the present generation. I live in India, a country where in if you look closely, all you will find is segregation: caste, economic status, the urban-rural divide for a start. 


'Entreprenuership' is the new buzzword in the country with most young fresh graduates opting for a course in management degree to give shape to their budding ideas and dreams of making it big in India Inc. and outside. The sky-high inflation, or the RBI's i-can't-breathe tight monetary policies are little deterrent to the winged dreams of our nation's youth. 


It is true that we have come a long way since 1993, but I think we still have a long way to go. The private sector is quite lucky (well, almost) that it doesn't employ the pervasive bureaucracy that our once-socialist government did. However, it still has to jump through multiple hoops to get things done. There still is a ringmaster. The whole world is calling upon on our nation for a second wave of major reforms. There are still many conditions on companies investing in India. Some sectors are out of reach! Retail, for example, is not available for FDI. Why? Because local players would find it tough to compete and survive in the market? How long are we going to be afraid of competition and live in our own tiny little shells, no matter how good and safe we feel about it? Isn't this denying the consumers of better products and service? 


Ours is not a country with radical thoughts. We are growth-oriented. It is important that this is visible in every policy that is introduced in this country. There has been a lot of talk about corruption in our country. Mr. Hazare, with the noblest of thoughts took up the gargantuan challenge of bringing back the money stashed abroad and setting up a parallel government to control the government. While it may have been done with the best intentions at heart, as a nation, we must think of the repercussions such actions would have on the economy. Injecting that amount of cash into an economy already reeling with inflation might make matters worse. You may rubbish this thought calling me too naive, perhaps.


Also, having a parallel government may not be the sustainable way going forward. Who elected the 'corrupt' leaders again and again to their posts? Us! Democracy is a power we have. Lets us use it. We are not ignorant any more. We have electronic media. Twitter messages reach people faster than earthquakes. Let us put the communications/technology to good use and change the way the world looks at us. Today, India is considered an economic force to reckon with and yet,  when foreigners visit us, they take 'black and white' images of slums for the 'real' India.


Instead of having a self-proclaimed set of 'clean' people on top of the government, wouldn't it be more prudent that the people elect better leaders?After all, we got ourselves into this mess. Let us get ourselves out of it. In my state, when an IAS officer formed a political party and spoke pure sense in the State Assembly, he received minimum support. People wanted to bring their own 'peddanna' (big brother) to power. And then, when the power goes out, the roads are water-logged, farmers commit suicides, we blame the government. We are not a part of monarchy and dynastic rule. People must earn the right, trust and respect to be a part of the government. They are not born with it. The right to vote is not merely a right. It is a power vested in the common man to determine his fate, and in turn, his country's.


The generation X, as we are called, knows how the world outside works. We also know what exactly we want. Our taxes are among the highest in the world. Our fuel rates are among the highest in the world. It is only appropriate for us then, to raise our voice and ask why we do not have better, if not the same as the western, living conditions. When these questions fall on deaf ears, it results in the much publicised brain-drain. Who is to blame? It is difficult to answer this. 


The answer to our national problem of restrained growth is multi-pronged. First of all, as humans, we must have a conscience and feel responsible for our own actions. It must prick when the clerk at the local RTO okays the registration of an unsafe truck by accepting a bribe. This has to happen at the individual level. Of course, it would appear next to impossible that such a change ever happens, if it does. Only collective effort will result in any noticeable growth or change in the way we or other perceive of our nation. 


As always, let us hold on to hope and continue to do our best! Vande Maataram!

Memoirs now, memoirs forever

The monsoon of 2011 has been a turbulent season. Well, not so much with the amount of rains lashing the beautiful landscape of southern part of Karnataka, but with me in particular. It has been a little over six months since I got back from the Promised Land. Promises that were made were kept truthfully. I should have asked for more. Rookie mistake I suppose.

As Varuna sprinkles our holy land with blessings and the rain clouds glide over the mighty Western Ghats and sweep the rugged plains of the Deccan Plateau, I cannot help but reflect over the happenings in the last half year or so. I got what I wanted. What I wanted was to be back in India and here I am. But, I am confused: as confused as a monkey with a coconut. (No offence monkeys, in case one of you is reading this. To humans, no pun intended) I know I’ve got something good, I just don’t know what to do with it, yet. However, with the passing clouds overhead and the occasional peep the Sun is stealing, it seems indeed that the ‘dark cloud’ is moving on.

While it may seem grossly brazen, allow me to change the subject to something more with a human touch. As an undergraduate student, I always dreamt of wearing formal clothes, donning shiny shoes and having formal dinner conversations while sipping champagne. Some of these came true. I also couldn’t wait to get out of my parents’ house and live an ‘independent’ life. Many ideas, if not all, around me seemed imposing, anachronistic and plainly meaningless. It has been 40 months since and I now stand corrected. Before you opine, let me agree with you that writing about family bonds would be merely epitomizing what comes naturally to most of us. However, what I wish to express is much beyond that.

The idea of an independent life is rather convoluted. Man cannot be independent. Acceptance is the basic need of a human being and in desiring that, he must shed the charade of calling himself independent. Owing to certain incidents with me and people around me, I have come to realize the importance of a family. I also realize that money is an important, if not vital, requirement of our lives. Once when my colleague equated, what she called the ‘greed’ of money with vice, I felt violated and amused at the same time. Lets not talk about that or my best bud Bruce, aka Karthik, wouldn’t be pleased. If his words are to be believed, when the topic is money, I turn into a monster, with red slits for eyes and fire for breath and drooling greed all over the place. I’m lucky I don’t believe him.

To continue what I started, today, I crave to spend a few days with my family. So, recently when I bumped into an opportunity to spend some time at home, I called my dad pronto and planned a road trip. A little father and son time on the country roads. 13 hours on the never ending spectacular SH17 of Karnataka and NH7 between Bangalore and Hyderabad (I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I drive slow). That is definitely something that I’m looking forward to and without a doubt, something that I will cherish my whole life. The last time I was on this road, the emotions were mixed. It was my first major drive in India and also, I was driving away from home after a 9-day stay. The drive back to Hyderabad in August is especially close to my heart for multiple reasons. Firstly, it will be dad and I, and then, its the drive that leads me straight home, and lastly, I get to spend some time at home after the long and arduous journey.

The degree to which I am excited or desperate about spending time at home surprises me mildly. This wasn’t how it was even during the initial days, when as a ground rule, kids miss home the first time they get out. The scariest part is even these once-in-a-coupla-months meetings are not forever. I have only just started realizing the importance of things around me and while I was under the banyan tree with a halo around my head, it struck me I was a quarter-century old and I’d better get my act together if I wanted something done the way I want it to be done.

I always thought breaking away from the monotonous is wonderful and yet extremely difficult given the comfort zone we develop around it. However, I have been lucky in getting an opportunity to work with a colleague who came, saw, and went soaring after his dreams belittling my already restricted ideas. And that moment set my dreams free. Aaah, the dreams! Aren’t they the best! Dreams that you see in sleep aren’t real, but the dreams that don’t let you sleep at night are the real deal.