It's that time of the year when every Indian, all over the world, stops to think about his/her nation. It makes you crib or praise or go emotional over your country, but it does extract a response from you. We will see a lot of that today, in newspapers, blogs, facebook, twitter and everywhere in the air. Many will talk about the beautiful diversity and culture, democratic society, economic prosperity where as few will point out to the Maoist struggle, the muddle surrounding Commonwealth Games, the Kashmir turmoil, inflation, the sorry state of affairs of farmers and so on. Both valid and both demonstrating that even if your disdain list may be longer, some where you know it is because of that sense of belonging. The sense of belonging that unites the poor farmer of Peepli and an investment banker in New York.
I don't have a crib list today as it is almost a daily activity. I represent the majority of Indians who can go on and on about the sorry state of affairs but don't have the courage to get out of their cosy lives and change things. Patriotism is something we have read about in our history classes, not something we have experienced. Sorry guys but rooting for India in a cricket match or getting agitated when one cribs about India do not count as patriotism. The true madness of the word is only understood by those who fought for Independence and for those who guard our country borders. Today, I am just trying to understand the genesis of one of the biggest problems facing our nation, corruption.
Were Indians always corrupt? What is it that gave birth to this baby which has now become a giant threatening to engulf our country? I am no expert, but I have a feeling it all started in 70s when mindless restrictions where put in place to promote socialism (which sounded more like capitalism for politicians). Because all it did was encourage corruption, establish a net of smugglers and made all politicians and bureaucrats rich and fat. It is no wonder that the era of liberalization has almost ended the smugglers' empire that was so deeply entrenched in the 70s and 80s. Another reason could be that because of the numerous restrictions, the only way one could get rich was making his hand dirty.
Ever noticed the difference between underworld stories of 70s and 90s? Stories of 70s represented the Don as the messiah of poor. The guy who fought the rulers to provide for the poor. Take the case of characters played by Amitabh Bachachan in Deewar (and numerous other movies, he almost made a career out of such anti hero roles), Vinod Khanna in Dayavaan and very recently, Ajay Devagan in Once upon a time in Mumbai which is set in 70s. They were depicted as Dons with heart of gold, helping the poor and fighting the administration. And take the example of recent gangster movies like Satya, Company, though they demonstrate the humane side of someone from underworld, they don’t glorify their intentions nor represent them as gold hearted lions.
So while we enjoy the dividends of the decisions taken by our leaders pre 1947, we also pay the price of their decisions post 1947. 50 years down the line, our children could write a similar blog and talk about how little we did and how much more we could have done in giving India independence from corruption. We have the right tools. An independent judiciary (with all its pros and cons), a Right to Information Act, a free media, an empowering democracy, economic prosperity. Now, it depends on us what we want our future generation to write about us when India celebrates the century of this historic day.
I don't have a crib list today as it is almost a daily activity. I represent the majority of Indians who can go on and on about the sorry state of affairs but don't have the courage to get out of their cosy lives and change things. Patriotism is something we have read about in our history classes, not something we have experienced. Sorry guys but rooting for India in a cricket match or getting agitated when one cribs about India do not count as patriotism. The true madness of the word is only understood by those who fought for Independence and for those who guard our country borders. Today, I am just trying to understand the genesis of one of the biggest problems facing our nation, corruption.
Were Indians always corrupt? What is it that gave birth to this baby which has now become a giant threatening to engulf our country? I am no expert, but I have a feeling it all started in 70s when mindless restrictions where put in place to promote socialism (which sounded more like capitalism for politicians). Because all it did was encourage corruption, establish a net of smugglers and made all politicians and bureaucrats rich and fat. It is no wonder that the era of liberalization has almost ended the smugglers' empire that was so deeply entrenched in the 70s and 80s. Another reason could be that because of the numerous restrictions, the only way one could get rich was making his hand dirty.
Ever noticed the difference between underworld stories of 70s and 90s? Stories of 70s represented the Don as the messiah of poor. The guy who fought the rulers to provide for the poor. Take the case of characters played by Amitabh Bachachan in Deewar (and numerous other movies, he almost made a career out of such anti hero roles), Vinod Khanna in Dayavaan and very recently, Ajay Devagan in Once upon a time in Mumbai which is set in 70s. They were depicted as Dons with heart of gold, helping the poor and fighting the administration. And take the example of recent gangster movies like Satya, Company, though they demonstrate the humane side of someone from underworld, they don’t glorify their intentions nor represent them as gold hearted lions.
So while we enjoy the dividends of the decisions taken by our leaders pre 1947, we also pay the price of their decisions post 1947. 50 years down the line, our children could write a similar blog and talk about how little we did and how much more we could have done in giving India independence from corruption. We have the right tools. An independent judiciary (with all its pros and cons), a Right to Information Act, a free media, an empowering democracy, economic prosperity. Now, it depends on us what we want our future generation to write about us when India celebrates the century of this historic day.
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