Republic day Thoughts

Republic Day Thoughts

Musings of a Common Man about the issues confronting the Nation

We claim to be the largest democracy of the world. But power is concentrated in the hands of a few politicians. Posts are filled by nomination and not by election. Is this we call Democracy?
Socialism is in books only. India is having the largest number of Billionaires but people living below the poverty line are also among the largest in India. Gap between rich and poor, haves and have-nots, mighty and weak etc are increasing day by day.
Our forefathers dreamed an India of self-reliance, self-governance and growth coupled with social justice. Today we are dependent on multinationals even for cool drinks and potato wafers.
Concept of Equality before law is a myth even today. Popular perception that Law is like a cobweb is more relevant today. Consideration is given less to truth and justice and more to money and power.
Crime rates are increasing at alarming rate. As per agency reports only 6% of accused are convicted in India
Even after 60 years of independence, colonial mentality is still in our blood. Our younger generation are blind followers of western culture.
The virus of casteism, communalism and partisan politics have become part of our blood so that if the Father of the Nation comes out of the heavenly abode and contest an election anywhere in India as an independent candidate, he will definitely loose the deposit money.
India is perhaps the only country where people demand to be notified as “backward community” despite their social and economic status.
We never follow good qualities of foreigners like punctuality, discipline, respect for rule of law etc
We do or pretend to do work at late night instead of early morning forgetting the fact that early morning is conducive period for intellectual work.
People feel proud of being ignorant. “I don’t know even how to……..”.
Our educational system is in shambles. While it produces Engineers, Doctors, Scientists, Managers, Accountants, etc. it has miserably failed to produce good human beings and good Indian citizens.
Though our communication facilities have improved leaps and bounds, we have become less and less communicative on the personal front. Relations have been commercialised.
In today’s world everything is sponsored. We hire people to clap, to laugh & also to cry during tragedy.
Quality has gone down in all fields (Quality of Humans, Quality of Consumer Goods, Quality of Service etc.) Through we have won awards, rewards, medals recognitions, ISI & ISO Certificates, actual quality has come down in many spheres.
Our politicians and bureaucrats are experts in finding simple solutions for complex problems. Eg; Excluding MPs and MLAs from the purview of Prevention of Corruption Act, exclude manufactures and traders from the purview of Prevention of Adulteration Act, changing colour of Red line buses to Blue line buses etc.
Our moral fabric has gone down to such an extent that law breakers are treated as Heroes and brave and law abiders are branded as fools and idiots.
Indian culture, art and literature are the best in the world. However, we forget our own culture and feel not at all proud of our great civilization.
No other country is having such rich natural resources coupled with human resources as available in India. Still we are far behind in development and projects boost in economy merely based on seesawing market forces.
We have become more and more materialistic. Amassing wealth has become the sole aim of life. Health, happiness and peace is eluding to the rich people also.
India has a large verity of food items. A month long Indian food festival can be conducted without repeating a single item. Still we go after foreign food having few varieties.
We give bravery awards to those who saved their kith and kin. It should be given more often to those who saved a lot of strangers risking their life without any selfish motive.
We are not only reluctant to unearth and nurture talent, but we often try to suppress and strangulate it. We recognise people only when they get international awards or recognitions be it Satyatit Ray, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Arundhati Roy or E Sreedharan
We are averse to do physical labour. Physical labour considered as taboo to white collar people. Consequently youngersters are easily prone to diseases.
Defence Awards given to high-ranking officials only. Award should be given for exemplary work irrespective of the cadre/rank.
Man is measured by money and position instead of knowledge and wisdom.
Virtues like Honesty, Integrity, Morality, Love, Compassion, Respect etc. have been confined to dictionary.
Though almost everybody is using computer, very few have understood, adopted and imbibed the fundamentals of computer like being logic, rationale, unbiased, impartial etc.
We have human rights organisations, but NHRC etc. very often take up the case of criminals and anti social elements that have large support base. Who will protect the interest of Common Man?
Sanskrit is one of the richest languages in the world. However, today we have more Sanskrit scholars in Germany and France than in India.
Ayurveda is one of the finest systems of Medicine emphasising on the revolutionary principle of “keeping healthy than treating disease”. However, it is not given due recognition. On the contrary we import slow poison (Allopathic Medicines) worth 45000 crore yearly
We pay to foreigners many times more than what we pay to an Indian for the same job. We induct foreign coaches who are failures in their own country by paying fabulous fees, whereas his Indian counterpart gets peanuts
Our mentality has become very narrow. Central Ministers, who are expected to see the interest of the whole country, are pampering the vested interests of their constituency / community/ regional party.
If we travel through the length and breadth of India, we will not find an Indian. We will find only Madrasis, Punjabis, Bengalis Biharis or Brahmins, Banias, Chamars etc. On the other hand we will find Chinese in China and Americans in U S A.
We spent lot of money on the security of self-proclaimed patriots fearful of death and who want only others (common people) to become martyrs.
Politicians who claim to be Messiahs of the poor spend crores of rupees on their birthday parties.
Many of us get sadistic pleasure in creating problems for others. If you cannot help at least do not create hurdles, if you cannot motivate do not de motivate, if you cannot love, at least don’t hate
We still have decades or centuries old laws. Ambiguity is the hallmark of Indian legal system. Large number of cases pending in our courts is mainly due to our cumbersome, ambiguous and voluminous laws.
A country which is having the largest number of laws, lawlessness is also on the highest
Sycophants and flatterers rule the corridors of power. Even highly qualified peoples are becoming puppets in the hands of their bosses.
India is perhaps the only country where inefficiency, lethargy, non performance etc are rewarded
We are hypocrites. Everybody is so busy that they have no time to even wish. The same people spend hours together in watching cricket matches and mega serials
Many of the Government Employees including those occupying high positions show loyalty to their bosses assuming the role of a domestic servant instead of public servant and conveniently forgetting the fact they are paid from the national exchequer. At least those with balanced mind and who can stand without crutches, should be loyal towards the organisation and nation rather than to their bosses who are also public servants.
People should be loved and things should be used. We do the reverse.
We still suffer from brain drain: the cream of India goes abroad to prove their worth. Many Indian scientists and technocrats left the country not because of greed for money but due to non-recognition or rather insult, harassment and humiliation in their own country.
We worship more reel heroes than real heroes.
Education is not for gaining knowledge but for earning money.
Creating records requires extra ordinary talent and effort. However, in India records in petty things are bought and sold. For example: making 5 lakh Ladoos. Anybody having money can break the record by making one ladoo more
We use inappropriate terms eg; “Public School” to describe private schools, “Un-parliamentary” for obscene words while what is heard in the Parliament are worse than obscene.
We eulogise the corrupt and the crooked and scandalise the unselfish and the patriotic.
Salary of many Government/Public Sector employees are more than their counterparts in multi national companies, if we calculate the hourly pay based on actual hours of worthy input (Instead of hours attended)
According to ancient Indian concept, Good things happen in the morning and Bad things late at night. Still we prefer to do “Kumbhkaran Seva” in the morning and sit late into the night to attend dance parties.

The points mentioned above are only indicative and not exhaustive. Where are we heading for? Let us make a self introspection to make this country a better place to live in. Heaven and Hell are created with the same material. Choice is ours.




E.M.ADITHYAN
25th January, 2009
Elangalloor Mana
Edapal, Kerala-679576