Before I get to it, I’ve gotta admit that the whole of last week, I couldn’t stop wondering who the hell is Barney’s bride going to be after all. I mean after season 6 ended with Nora and 7 opened with a Stinson- Robin tango, I was a little confused. What happened to ‘I only have ONE RULE…Never do a sexy tango with your ex’? (Unless she’s HOT). And since a friend of mine found out that ‘How I met your mother’ now has confirmation for another 3 seasons, it’s gonna be a really long and annoying wait until we finally get to met Mrs. Ted Mosby. But hell, Paris Hilton does seem to mind, as our media are busy ranting on her. The delicate fussy blonde that she is, she ‘cutely’ demanded that people take her seriously coz she considers herself to be a serious business woman. Aha, no wonder the Sensex shot up like 400 points.
So as the roller coaster ride the country was on all through September comes to a halt, I couldn’t help but notice the transformation in the psyche of today’s Aam Admi. A majority who not so long ago, gloated about having a one of a kind intellectual prime minister with a vision, is now using Dr. Manmohan Singh for target practice as it fires all the bottled up grief via issues the opposition so willingly bring up. As for us -India’s youth, like a Mexican wave, a sense of urgency and contradictory unrest surged through the every dude and dudette whose opinions added a whole new perspective to the likes of Anna’s campaign that left the government aghast. With every recent RTI launched, every small issue blown wide open via the media and as the ‘Youth’ sector ups the ante, are we turning to the dark side in our quest to better the system? Now I’m not against change, in fact I support the fact that we finally have the guts to stand up and fight the wrongs in our country. But even though the recent string of events have worked for us, aren’t we over doing it with the whole Anti-Government sentiment that is rampant in India’s majority today? Are we slowly becoming hypocrites?
Firstly, I’d like to make myself very clear. I’m not saying that the Government has a clean slate nor am I saying they’re outright hoodlums that we are recently portraying our various ministers to be. That may sound diplomatic, but cmon go with it, it’s politics. We expect them to come through all the time despite all the serious allegations we blatantly impose on them. Most people and our ‘esteemed’ Opposition leaders play the ‘democracy card’ slyly trying to elude the crux of what a democracy really means. I won’t quote laws from the Constitution coz honestly I know none (accurately) and neither do most of the billion people I call my countrymen. For a year that started rather well (mine did not…reasons don’t matter) all it took was a rainy August, a senior citizen in a ‘topi’ and a 15 day fast and we overlooked almost 5 years of progress. For the sadistic critics who might sulk when I say ‘progress’, how should I put this delicately, ‘a finger out of a fist’ to you all. We underline the lows and forget the highs, it’s the way of the world, I know that, but can we for a moment stop worrying about our bucket list of things we need to get done and take a minute off and think about say the man running the show…Dr. Manmohan Singh. The guy cuts through a by-pass surgery and is back in office the next week signing some major deal that probably might have panned out good for the country. At a time when America hit rock bottom, our economy sailed through and the government’s strong economic policies are still keeping the boat steady. But no, we still have a land scam to complain about…?
Things are getting so out of hand, that we aren’t even cutting India’s magnum opus-‘The Indian Cricket Team’ any slack. They won us ‘the Cup that matters’ this April and by the time we lost the first Test match against England, we wanted their heads. Speaking of sports, we reached an all time low when we finally admitted how hypocritical we actually are when the brave heroes of the Indian Hockey Team were crowned Asia’s champions. The epic battle between the IHF and Hockey India raged on while the sport bore the brunt, as usual. Against this heart wrenching back drop, our boys got us home. And what was proposed in their honor, a humiliating 25,000 bucks. I’m guessing that’s how much a cricketer spends a day on tour. Not to mention Sachin Tendulkar and the essence of hypocrisy. As he moved into his new dream home earlier this week, I can’t help but wonder what exactly was on his mind in England; a win or that infamous century, Bresnan eluded him off? Earlier this month, Messi fever hit the country and suddenly football fanatics came out of hiding in anticipation of the first international friendly we’ve ever hosted. The hype and excitement gripped sponsors all over and somewhere in a little Football Federation office was the ‘THUD’ of a dusty box file with documents of India’s soccer woes opening. O no, let’s blame the government…or better still, fast…?
Next up, the youth. In India, getting into the IITs is dream only a few privileged students see coming true; I kinda went crazy myself preparing for the JEE. IITians are smart, there’s no denying that, but they can be real douche bags at times. Most of them are really sore losers that just can’t accept defeat at anything, willingly. Things seemed hunky dory when Mr. Kapil Sibal defended the premier institutes and even proposed another outlook with getting the IITs to teach medicine. But just last week I read about the bitter disgust the students at IIT-Bombay felt when the same minister thought of scrapping the entrance test better known as the IIT-JEE; so much so that they boycotted their classes last Friday. ‘If we had to go through with it, so should the students that follow’- that seemed to be the line of thought of the…should I say ‘mature’ IIT-B breed. Facebook soon had an anti-Kapil Sibal page that show cased rather retarded recommendations from a few more disgruntled selfish nerds. Getting a darn BE degree at a reputed college at the cost of your humane side that doesn’t hesitate to bring a person down? ...No thanks.
O hey, it’s not like the non IIT students are any saints. The world deems us to be a rebellious lot that has no definitive objective. And most of the times we prove them right. A government that has opened heaps of horizons with educational reforms at the school and university levels, they have made us the ‘Indian Student’ a force to reckon with. We pretend to be sloshed booze guzzlers when we crib about the legal drinking age being raised but the lousy truth is that a vast majority of college students can’t even down a pint of beer. It’s not the restrictions on alcohol that bothers us, it’s just that the liberties we enjoy today has made us so thick skinned that we’ve forgotten what it means to do what we’re told. Look back at the past couple of years, we can stand up for a right cause and we have. Today the youth is empowered more than ever as we initiate change, steer growth and do our bit. Young MLAs run cities and youth MPs fight for our rights while we just go through a day at college. The government has given us a rope, we don’t mind yanking at it but when they get a lil stringy with us, all hell breaks loose.
With the recent buzz around the proceedings over the 2G scam, the Opposition is having a field day churning out charges against the Government. The other day, I was in a local train. Amid the sweaty men brushing against each other and the whiffs of sticky damp armpits (eww…yea I feel the same way typing it too), two men were having a conversation about how Sonia Gandhi isn’t a true Indian. I mean cmon, were in 2011 people. It’s that exact school of thought that’s slowing the country down. Since the day I was born till date, when you say Sonia Gandhi to me, all that comes to my head, is a really strong determined lady in a saree doing a namatse over her head to a crowd of people and delivering a powerful speech, one that’s soaked with what we refer to as Indian-ness. She is the master mind behind the Congress that has largely benefitted India. What more does that woman need to do?
All in all, India is changing. In the words of the great visionary, Ali G (west zide iz de bezt) lets all keep it real. We are soaring to huge highs and hitting unimaginable lows, all in our bid to…I’d say be happy, but honestly, our bid to make more money. All through this article I often referred to the myself and the people I was offending (LOL) as ‘WE’; and that way I’m trying not to be hypocritical at least to you, my fellow reader, my fellow Indian, my brother or sister…ah cancel out sister…
The government isn’t against us and if we really want to make a difference, let’s start my keeping in mind the ups before we criticize the downs coz at the end of the day they’re human and hey, we elected em. Let’s not be hypocrites and curse them just to clear our marred conscience, instead let’s stand by them and help the government make India a better place. I still believe in the government of today…Will you?
Thanks a lot Bharath
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