I am Proud to be an Indian

63 years of Independence, with India soaring high on the charts: from pollution to population, from poverty to inaccessibility to political leaders, from starvation to reservation. And we proudly say that “I am proud to be an Indian”. 63 yrs, many definitions changed, even the meaning of Independence day, from being a big festive occasion to a mere holiday which we curse if it falls on weekends. The journey which is as follows:
63 yrs earlier, we were proud to be Indian for wanting to live in this country, now for the highest brain drain rate.
Then for veergaddi, now for rajgaddi.
Then against partition, now for corruption.
Then against colonialism, now for regionalism.
Then for non-violence for uniting the country, now violence for dividing the country into states.
Then for “Atithi devo bhava”, now for laathis against the people from a different state.
Then for its revolutions, now for its 50% reservations.
Then for satisfied Indians, n now for it’s complaining Citizens.
We have seen many lacunas in the current system, with every right thing being in the wrong place. For instance, the money being at IPL instead of BPL (Below Poverty Line). The selection into government jobs on the basis of reservation than on education. The food supply on the basis of location than on total income of a family. Water being wasted at one place with people dying out of thirst at another. 24X7 electricity at one place and hardly 4 hours of street light at another.
There are many things that money and power has done wrong. But then too we are proud to be an Indian, because some things never change. We still are a country where family is given utmost importance. We still are a country where children are asked to memorize mathematics tables till 25, even when they have calculators so that we can make their minds sharper. We still are a country where we touch our teacher’s feet on Teachers Day. We still are a country where people from different religion freely live and talk to each other. We still are proud to be a country which had Aryabhatta and invented zero. We still are a country who believes in Ahimsa even though we have the third largest standing military in the world.
Yes, I am proud to be an Indian, not for the negatives listed above. But for trying even if there is the leanest hope to succeed. We are the ones who protest when any Jessica Lal is brutally killed. We are the ones who stand back again, the next day of being shot without mercy on the lanes of Mumbai. We are the ones who have their soldiers having sleepless nights fighting terrorists and nature at -4 degree Celsius. We are the ones who keep fighting in the name of religion, but if the country faces a difficult situation, fight back being united. We are the ones who have given the world the brains (scientists, businessmen, etc.) that have given a new direction to the human race. We are the ones who have “Unity in Diversity”, in its culture, in its flora and fauna, in its landscape, in its languages, in its clothing and attire and what not. Yes I am proud to be an Indian.

Life..... a contrast

Contrasts – Whenever I look around I feel something around me is not exactly behaving as to how it should be. It came in my mind this way. The other day when I started writing out my mind, I was pissed off with the fact that I had my mind boggling over a hundreds of thoughts. I almost heard all of it shouting loud within me claiming it to be the one I should start with. I got irritated and tried closing my mind so that it is emptied of all the thoughts. And suddenly I got something new and better in it. I kept thinking:
You block your mind to allow thoughts to come in. (I blocked it so that nothing comes in. I didn’t expect a solution).
You block your mind to allow thoughts to come in!!
You block your mind to allow thoughts to come in!!!!
How can something so erratic bring in peace? Sometimes I wonder as to how can things look so different when it actually needs to convey something else. And alas it conveys what it wants to. These happenings might sound weird for an onlooker but I am really amused by the way it exudes its concealed beauty. ..
Sometimes you feel like being perfectly the opposites at the same time.
Look into yourself, your mind is perplexed and you need it to be in peace. But for that peace within you, you feel like yelling out loud.
Sometimes you actually need to escape the suffocation within you, but for that you confine yourself to closed spaces.
You walk in the crowd for searching your own self.
You go on a fast drive so that you can analyze your life in a slower pace.
You want to talk to people expecting them to just listen to you.
You listen to loud music hoping that it would nullify the frustration within you.
You run away from people to ward off loneliness.
You want to hate some person but end up loving him always.
You start from your home to fight with someone, but end up caressing the person.
My father once said that if you want strength then you need to have troubles because these troubles are the ones that make you strong. This again: You need strength to ward off troubles but you get it when you are full of troubles… 
That’s why I said Life is a simple and stupid web of contrasts. You want something you’ll have to undergo the pain and frustration within you to get it. And when you get it you are the happiest person in this world… but just for a second. You see someone else with something else and you need it. So ultimately it depends on what you want? The coconut shelled life which is hard to crack but has lots of tenderness inside. Or you would need a spongy life where your leg dips and you trip at every step of yours.

ME, WE and THEM

As ME walks through the path of life, there are always two voices swirling around ME. The worst part is: both are contradictory. Basically it is WE (modern extremes) against THEM (traditional extremes) convincing ME as to what is right and what not. On a flat terrain, the mortal combat is between generations dying to prove its superiority. And now the fight begins:

WE say live in the moment and THEY say think of the future.

WE say bikes are cooler and THEY say scooters are safer.

WE say rush is good and THEY say hush is better.

WE say “I have seen the present” and THEY say “past (experience) matters”.

WE say money is master and THEY say it ruins you faster.

WE say think of yourself and THEY say think of ourselves.

WE say be practical and THEY say be philosophical.

WE say principles change according to positions and THEY say principles gives rise to positions.

WE say “I can make a change” and THEY say one person never matters.

WE say technology makes life easier and THEY say it makes life messier.

WE say comfort brings happiness and THEY say it brings in you laziness.

WE say the culture we follow is the best and THEY say nowadays culture is lost.

WE say we have no time and THEY say you have to find time.

In all these confusion ME is perplexed and keeps wondering as to why he cannot have the best of both the worlds but there lies a divide in front of him. One which would make him a dude, as he is scared of becoming a dud. Second which would gain him respect in every aspect. ME close his eyes in despair still having the unanswered questions in his empty hands and then walks by on and on and on…….

Yet ME has to decide what to choose? WE, THEM or a perfect blend of both.