Cogito, ergo sum

I asked this question to many friends. To most...it was just another holiday and they were celebrating the reason behind it. One of the witty sarcastic types said "Our nation is going to dogs and I'm celebrating coz even after being gang-raped for over 60 years, it's still surviving!" After such an answer, she was the last I asked this question to.

I looked for the definition of the word and this is what thesaurus has to say..."The capacity to manage one's own affairs, make one's own judgments, and provide for oneself: self-determination, self-reliance, self-sufficiency. See dependence/independence" Politically we indeed are independent. Is that all there is to it?

Last year on Independence day I went to Chak de India. I vividly remember the scene where Shahrukh Khan says something about being happy to see a foreigner hoist an Indian flag brought in a very big cheer from the audience. That was an act of patriotism....being proud of Indian Flag flying high in the air. But is our patriotism limited to situations like these and supporting the Indian criket team..... where we have nothing at stake but feel proud to to see the glory (albeit artificial)? When was the last time we saw a selfless deed by anyone in the interest of the nation? Let's get down to basics. How many of us would have paid taxes voluntarily had TDS not been imposed? Honestly I wouldn't. I would rather keep that money in my own pocket than give it to the govt. treasury where it will land up in some corrupt minister's pocket. This is what our patriotism has boiled down to...selfishness at all levels!

Looking around for comparing how well India as a country has developed since Independence, I realised that most of the world was in the same state of affairs in 1947. The cinders from WW-II which ended in late 1945 had just cooled off. Japan, Russia, China and most of Europe was completely devastated. Incidently Korea also got liberated on 15th August 1947. Visonary leaders turned around their individual countries to make sure that their ppl had the best of the world and live life comfortably. The communist Chinese or the democratic Koreans or the Europeans, and others, irrespective of the political stand have implemented and brought about positive changes in the interest of their countries. Today they have overcome the tragedies of the past and are marching ahead in terms of their economy, development in general and std of living. But have we? Yes we have. We are marching towards being the most populated country from the II most as of today. Our leaders have a vision too....more on the lines of how to siphon out the public money into their pockets.

My granny who's one of the pre-independence kids always used to say and still does that India was a better place to live in, under the British rule. I always have despised her statement. But practically it might have been true. After all I have not seen India under the EICL. For the British, their presence here was purely a business investment. Profitability was the key to success and they did the best they could in that effect. Obviously, the profits coming out of Indian economy went to the Queen. From what I understand from granny, public administration/bureaucracy was very efficient. Crime and corruption was non-existent...as opposed to an exclusive fraternity of criminals who are members of our ministry today. The irony is that even under the british rule, most of the administrative staff were Indians, but controlled by Britons. Today it is completely Indians. Then where's the difference? India got independent! Ppl were at liberty to behave as they fancied. Nobody to question their actions. Had it been for the brits, ppl in our ministry like .....I don't wanna quote names would have been skinned alive!! Anything against the interest of the their investment called India was nipped at the bud. Any questions or opposition raised was dealt with severly....that's against one's independence.

Today we have the independence. Everybody has the liberty to pose questions to the authorities. But that would be like a fart in the wind. Neither does anybody listen nor does anybody care....fart all you want. You are independent.

I sometimes wonder what would India be like had it not been for the British rule? I really cannot paint this picture. We would probably have been divided into a zillion kingdoms, each fighting with its neighbor to conquer it. Our economy could have been comparable with some south african country. The British did exploit our country and ppl, but they did good things too. They brought individual pieces of the country together, inadvertently induced unity anomg the ppl, established the railroads, got electricity, technology, education, established trade through out the world and more importantly.....left behind English language. All of these were to make their lives easier. But these worked to our advantage and today we are reaping the fruits, creating identities based on them.

61 years ago we had just one enemy...British! Very easy to distinguish. But today our own ppl have become our enemies which complicates things to a large extent. A favourite example of mine is Dear Mr. Devegowda. He was fondly called 'ಮಣ್ಣಿನ ಮಗ' meaning son of the soil. Only later did people realised that the word was literal. He was a son of the soil alright! He owned a majority of the soil in and around Bangalore. A humble 'farmer' contending to be a minster in the interest of the farmers had more farmland between Bangalore and Mysore than all the farmers put together in those parts. While many farmers' were forced to surrender land for infrastucture projects, this gentleman could not be budged. He has single handedly put a stop to or delayed numerous projects when he was in power or otherwise. I remember seeing media clips of him sitting on the road ear marked for NICE corridor with a towel on his head refusing to surrender the small portion of land and enjoying the media attention. Talk of being shameless and proud!

I can go on and on quoting examples. But what's the use? The others are no better. They are more proffessional scammers and their loot goes unnoticed. Honor among thieves is very difficult to find. Unless a Robin hood pops up among our leaders who is a criminal but for a cause, I don't see the situation changing any time soon. Are there no capable people at all who can bring in a revolution? I'm sure there are.... Bringing them to autonomous power is the real challenge.

Plagued by corruption, bureaucracy, political blasphemy, living with an impending danger of terrorism and crime, I wonder... is the common man of India the victim of their own Independence?!?

All said and done, I'm a proud Indian. I'm proud to be a part of it. I'm glad that we got Independent. But I'm not happy about the state of affairs that our country is in. I dream of a day where one could compare our country with most others and say we are better! I hope down the lane in my old age, I don't end up saying India as it was in my youth was better than it is now. I hope I see better days before my time runs out. I hope......

Happy Independence day!

Cheers!