The Year that was….

Its curtains for 2010, and when I look back at the achievements of the year, I don’t know which glasses to see through – the positive or the negative glasses. To avoid the confusion, I decided to put on my bifocals!

The good things about the year were that we did well in sports. India has started collecting medals and we have started showing up in the medals tally! India has come out of the shadows of being a single-sport (read Cricket) nation, and has started flexing muscles, literally, in other sports too. We seem to have done well in the international arena, where we are standing tall and all by ourselves. We have done away with the crutches of the developed nations and are a nation to reckon with and the visits by the premiers of six developed nations, is a testimony to that.

The list of bad things can go on, what with the second half being the year of scam-stars and fraudsters. When the sportsmen brought us laurels, the officials made sure, that the country hangs its head in utter shame. When technology was trying to show its potential, the serpent of corruption raised its venomous hood. When the system was trying to shelter its war-widows, the powers-that-be tried to take it away from them, in a crass display of cheap greed. Mangroves are making way for airports; Social workers are made to suffer humiliation by a few wanton justice-keepers, politicians are stooping to cheap gimmickry called funeral-politics, brazen outburst, and what have you.

As a nation we are today a combination of manav and danav. Some are epitomes of humanity and we can still some living examples of them, but unfortunately we can also see the danav’s in their full nakedness. It is said this is prakriti, nature, a blend of both. Life is all about striking a balance. But as a law-abiding citizen, the layman seems to be having law against it, and the upholders of law, seem to have made a slave out of the blind-folded lady. So what should the mere mortals like you and me do? Wait for Lord Vishnu to don the Kalki avatar or be one himself/herself? What if Lord Vishnu is in his cosmic slumber?

Rise O ordinary Indian! Speak your mind, and take action for yourself. Vishnu will come when he has to, but you do your bit. Vote for the right candidate, speak out in forums, stop paying bribes, teach true values to our children, raise your voice against child-labour, stop female infanticide and vulgar displays of misplaced honour……. The list can go on. But that’s not the point.

The point is with so much to do, how much is each one of us willing to do? How far are we willing to traverse naked-foot that extra mile? It is said – that god helps them who help themselves, and that is the truth behind the delay in Vishnu’s Kalki avatar. We have not done enough for Him to feel that we have done our bit. If as a nation we resolve to do our bit, we might not even need Kalki, the danav’s, asura’s, and the rakshasha’s of our nation will meet their end anyways. This is the time for the might of the mortal. So wake up O Indian and take your rightful place in the limelight. Don’t let any botched hand take away this right of yours. If we do our bit, I am sure as the noted lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi has said – ‘Woh subaah kabhi to aayegi, ….’

With this optimism, which is the hallmark of every Indian, I wish all my readers a very happy New Year and may 2011, bring the much needed dawn in the resurgent India!

This has been my 100th article in this Blog, and I would like to thank each and every one of you who have been following my Blog! Have a great 2011!