India - Its time to change

When my 7 yr old nephew said, ‘I hate India’, my first reaction was shock, second was sadness & third was introspection. He really got me thinking. Till then I had heard many people around me complain about India’s poor infrastructure, education system, corruption, pollution, lack of opportunities, disregard for public property etc. but they are all adults and I do understand that as we grow older, we become a bit jaded. But what would make a 7 year old make such a strong statement? If I remember correctly, at that age we did not care about how bad the traffic jams were or how polluted our cities were.

But today’s kids are much more exposed to information. We should not underestimate them. My nephew has traveled to USA & Europe and so if he makes a comparison, I cannot discredit him immediately. I want him to love this country as much as I do but when he asks me why it is not as beautiful as Europe or as organized as the USA, I have no answer. It just makes me realize that times have changed. No matter how much ever worse India gets, our generation will always love it because we have grown up with an emotional bonding but today’s kids are different. They are more practical than emotional and so if in the future, India wants to remain the youngest country and keep its young & educated ones at home, we must change.

And come to think of it, what is wrong with it? We ape the western culture but all we have taken from it are the bad habits – excessive fast food, television, addiction etc. We have learnt to drive, bribed and got a license, bought expensive cars but we have forgotten to demand good roads to drive them. We do not think twice before bribing or breaking the law. How many people actually know which side to overtake from or when to not honk? Have we learnt to give the ‘right of way’ like the Americans? Look at our cities and towns. Do we have tree-lined streets? Do we have good quality playgrounds & parks? Do we even have pavements where people can walk? Do we have garbage free residential areas? Do we have good traffic-jam, pot-hole & beggar free roads? Do we have good public transport? Can we relax during peak hours? Then how do we say ‘India shining’?

Most 7-15 year old kids I know today want to study and live abroad when they grow up. Think India think. How to keep them at home? How to make them fall in love with this wonderful country again? How difficult can it be to have good & safe roads, better infrastructure, tax and education system? After all, it’s not rocket science. Come let us all work together to make India a better place. A place which is clean organized and cultured – ‘ekdum imported jaisa’ in Munnabhai’s language. Let us take the best of the western world, combine it with our culture and get the best of the East & the West. Then not only Indian but all the kids of this world will say ‘I love India’. Vande Materam. Jai Hind.

Mehr

Dosti, mohobbat, Dhoop, apnepan ki Mehr thi…
Tab Zindagi mere saath hasti thi…
Subah uthte hi labon pe muskaan aati thi…
Raat ko sote bhi labon pe muskaan hoti thi…
Maa ka aanchal, doston ka saath aur aap ke mohobbat saath thi…
Lagta tha ki zindagi ke har Mehr mere saat thi…

Kyu lutt gaya woh zamana?
Kyu lutt gayi woh Mehr?
Kyu aasuon chalakte hain muskaan ki jagah?
Kyu Maa ka aanchal durr hai ?
Shaayad meri dost ki tumhe zyada zaroorat thi…
Shaayad mere pyaar ki unhe zyada zaroorat hai…

Ab bas intezaar hai…
Ki kab maut ki Mehr hogi mujhpe…

The importance of saying ‘Good bye’

If I have learnt one thing from life, it is that there are no guarantees in life and ‘Permanent’is the most over rated word. It hurts so much when a friend or a relative goes away suddenly without saying goodbye so I thought I should say ‘Good bye’ in advance because kya pata ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’.

So today I want to say ‘Good bye’ to everyone I know. First and foremost to the two people who brought me to this world. My parents. I love you mom-dad and where ever I am and how ever I am I shall always love you the most. Thanks for being such wonderful people and loving me the most in the world. Then I want to say ‘Good bye’ to my family : uncles, aunts, grand-parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews. Thanks for being a part of my life. I shall love you all forever. Thanks for sharing and caring.

Then I need to say ‘Good-bye’ to all my friends – the ones that I played with in Kinder Garden, the ones I played with on the street, the ones I spent time with in school & college, the ones with whom I went ‘boys watching’ on ring road, ate pani-puri with and shared secrets, talked all night on the terrace, made bhel at 2am, the ones who teased me, made me laugh and made life good. Good-bye my friends.

I also want to say ‘Good-bye’ to all those people who touched my life in some or the other way. Teachers, guides, mentors, soul-mates – Good bye. Last but not the least I want to say Good-bye to my most favorite city in the world – Rajkot. My soul lives in Rajkot and so where-ever I am, my soul is always there.

“Rahein na rahein hum…
Meheka karenge…
Bann ke kali, bann ke sabaa,
Raahein wafaa mein…”