Saturday, July 14, 2007

Love your nation not for what it is......but despite what it is!!!


Well this being my first post I m a bit nervous if I will be able to match up to the standards of CnC…but anyways I will try to do my best!!!! And so here it begins….

I would like to start with a recent experience of mine which has had a profound impact on my thoughts and my feelings. Last week I was just back from a trip to Dubai (now don't think that just like any foreign return guy I would start bragging about it…..but yes I will talk a gr8 deal about it as I ve noticed several points during this visit which made me think deeply.) I tried to enjoy every moment of my stay there but always there were constant nagging thoughts in my head which kept pestering and annoying me. When ever I saw a sky scrapper there it pinched me that there are hardly any comparable buildings in the whole of our country, the lush green road sides and parks made me wonder how they could maintain them at temperatures soaring past 40 degrees on a daily basis when our own parks and city gardens are in a pitiable condition despite abundance of water, how is it that in a matter of 3 years they have built the tallest building in the world and are well on their way to building buidings as high as a kilometer and a mile(refer burj dubai and al burj on wiki)when we are struggling to build something even one quarter that high, the quality and cleanliness of the rods there made my head hang in shame when I compared them with our own roads back home, how is it that despite the depletion of its oil resources(oil now contributes only abt 3% to its GDP) the economy of UAE is still booming, and the fact that UAE has shown such tremendous economic growth without charging a penny of income tax(or sales tax) from its residents made me wonder where all the taxpayers money of our country is going, how is it that Dubai international airport can manage a landing and take off every half a minute when we are struggling with to provide even basic amenities at our international airports.(when I landed at Ahemedabad Int'l airport it was a total chaos. There were no basics facilities like trollies, the toilets were horrible, there was no AC we were sweating at 4 in the morn though it was raining out side, the conveyor for luggage was spoiled. all this made our exit very difficult and my parents, both about 60years had to literally run for the fear of missing our domestic flight to chennai)

Such stark contrasts made me realize how far behind we still are in very many aspects even in comparison to countries like the UAE and I thought that I will never be able to love my country again and was worried that I might even develop aversion to it. But when I landed back home I was surprised to note that I in fact felt very happy to be back. Not that I missed some one here (because my whole family was with me) but I really did miss my country. Yes our country has several defects and is very very backward in some respects but despite everything it still is our own country, our very own homeland (mathru bhoomi). (Though polluted) it has given us air to breath,(though contaminated ) it has given us food to eat, (in spite of high levels of pesticides and germs) it has given us water (And pepsi) to drink, (though lowly paid than abroad) it has given us lively hood to raise our families. how can u ever hate u r own country. I ask of everyone that would you dare hate your mother if God forbid one day she gets mutilated in say an accident. I think that our mother land is mutilated by some selfish people who ve hampered her from exhibiting her full potential for their own gains and the onus is on all of us to love and take care of her(ya I know I m sounding too boolywood or even tollywoodish but this is how I really feel). I m not telling that India is the best country(or mera bharat mahan!!!) in the world because I know that it is not but let this not deter us from showing our love to her.
and now I wonder that when a selfish boy like me (I always as a child dreamt of becoming an American citizen) could feel this way how can our politicians and bureaucrats who have sworn their lives in the service of this country hate her so much that they often commit despicable acts of crime which bring shame upon the entire nation???i guess like all my other questions I will never find answer even for this question of mine!!!!!!

1 comment:

Si_Lee said...

hey ADIT ..welcome..I guess I read your post after publishing mine on corruption and i think in a rather askansic way,I have answered your questions of "how can they?"
the answer is simple "we realise but are not strong enough to control our desires..leave the politicians out,the roads will be clean if people want them to be..have u always thrown an empty chips packet in the dustbin..If yes then you have my salute, else u are the source of your own questions "