| Poems |
| Short Stories |
| Long Stories |
| One Act Plays |
| Long Plays |
| Non-fictional Works |
| Humour |
|
|
|
“Free” India |
| -Vipul Chandra |
| Freedom is what our great
leaders of the later half of twentieth century got for us, Indians, through
a long struggle and lot of personal sacrifices. Now after more than 50
years, we have really invented the literal meanings of freedom and
democracy; that as a society we should collectively flout the rules, because
we are living in a “free” democracy. The dichotomy however, is that whenever an individual wants to go against the set norms of “social good behavior” or against the known laws of nature, then he should be ridiculed upon. This is true, even when this individual has not broken any laws! However if this ‘errant’ individual is recognized by a foreign organization to have made a significant achievement or a possible contribution to mankind or society, then he is a front page news in all Indian dailies. The question is that why does it take a NASA to discover a Hirachand Ratan Manek, when he might have had the solution to India’s biggest problem – starvation due to poverty? Now, NASA will use his skills of fasting, and not needing food for long
periods of time. In this process NASA would make further advancement in
their space research and India will be left another generation behind. But
whose fault is it? Certainly not Hirachand’s! Our Hindu Mythology is full of stories of sages and worshippers praying
for years without food or water. But a person, in our own times, was not
taken seriously when he said that he had conquered hunger. Coming back to our collective freedom – has anybody not noticed the filth
and trash in all the big markets of big metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai
and Kolkata? At any hour of the day they are strewn with plastics, papers,
slush, mud and garbage. Indian has such a big population of un-employed
people who would do anything to make a living. Why can’t they be employed to
just keep the cities clean? If the authorities do not have money for giving wages which is a highly
disputable statement in itself, they can still arrange for some form of
garbage dumpsters to be installed in the cities. And then government can
impose fines for anybody littering, and not making use of these dumpsters.
But the authorities just choose to shut their eyes in denial. Only when, WHO
says that Plague has hit India, would they start a “cleanliness drive”. Also, we have the politicians “empowered”, by their voters, to demolish,
deface or cause ecological dangers to our historical monuments, without any
regard for public opinion on such acts. Again it takes IMF, World Bank and
UNESCO to remind the “free” Indians, that they are causing an irreparable
loss to their own heritage. So what is the difference between governance in India and that of the
Taliban? Thankfully that Indian Government is still “elected” by the people
of India, and that Indian Government still heeds to the advice of foreign
agencies. What would India have been but for its continuing foreign domination of the last 250 years and more? |
|
|