Thoughts of a Pessimist

Yes, you got it right !! I’m probably a pessimist. That’s the reason which makes me more disturbed when I see 40 % of Mumbai’s population living in slums rather than being fascinated by Worli-Bandra Sea Link. And probably that’s why I’m less bemused by slogans like ‘India Shining, Grand success of IPL, Technology Boon, mammoth growth in GDP,etc.’ cos I know that within same period, India gained 100 million poor people, the Maoists grew stronger & the tiger slid towards extinction.

May be my cynical attitude always takes me to the darker aspects of India’s success story which my fellow Indian brothers don’t care to observe. The GDP growth of 8% excites me lesser when I see that India is still ranked 128^th in Per Capita Income chart of the world or rather say it when 77% population is surviving on less than Rs. 20 a day.

Fortune magazine may be screaming loud about the growing number of millionaires in India, but the fact that 90% of India’s wealth is in deep pockets of less than 10% fellows stands as a more truthful and clearer statement to me. Politicians, media and bureaucrats as always, chose to grin ostensibly, explaining how India is now a part of 12 biggest nations’ club and how India is shining. I too at times want to sink in this ‘feel good’ feeling but then my pessimism shivers me back to think.

What has happened to the middle class Indian today?? After witnessing everything that is going wrong, he prefers to sit back and watch Rakhi Sawant’s swyamvar or bribes some official to extend his house’ s boundary illegally.

Few people kill a woman by throwing stones assuming that she’s a daayan (witch) and she’ll engulf whole village. On the other hand there are people who spend their whole day worrying & discussing ‘who’s going to win Dance-India-Dance’. If anyone is still left, he’ll kill his whole time watching cricket.

We’re happy having a tv or mobile phone in hand but don’t care about improving sanitary conditions of the surroundings. Today in India, out of 52 crore people who go in open for attending nature call, 5 crore are the ones carrying mobile phones.

Why have we become so insensitive today? Why the meaning of India has ceased to exist only within the boundary walls of our respective homes?

Why do we call oursellves civilized and patriotic when we don’t care about the killing of our neighbor and his innocent children only because he belongs to some different religion???

Why an olympic gold medallist or IPL winner is showered with crores of award money from govt. within weeks even though a rape victim or flood victim has to wait decades for a meagre compensation???

Why nobody raised a voice on the sky rocketing of fuel & food commodities, people committing suicide due to hunger even when 3 lakh tonnes of grains, enough to feed 20% population for a whole year, was rotting in the government stores due to lack of storage place???

Why we chose to look the other side when instead of trying to satiate the poor kid’s hunger, our agriculture minister became more interested in Cricket and ICC’s chief position???

Why we were more busy in exploring our new IPhones and Blackberrys when Telecom Minister is exposed in a Rs.80,000 crore scam??

Why it doesn’t matter to us when a pizza is delivered within 30 minutes but an ambulance never does??

Why the fruits of freedom are supposed to enjoy only in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore when dissent has become a deadly disease & stone throwing protestors in Kashmir are met with a murderous hail of bullets??

Why people waste hundreds of litres of milk on statues of Rajnikanth when farmers are commiting suicide when unable to feed their children 2 rotis a day???

Why people are dying to see a semi-naked Mallika Sherawat in cities when only few hundred kilometers away khap-panchayats, female feticides and honor killings in the guise of religious outrage is being witnessed day after day??

Even after 64 years of Independence , what kind of freedom is this? What is different today in India which was absent in British regime?? Fair skinned autocracy has changed into brown skinned administration, that’s it?? Then why is there so much fuss about this supposed independence?

May be we were never suppose to break free if we’re like this. May be it is in our genes to work under a strict master else we go haywire.

If the meaning of freedom is to spit & pee anywhere one wants, kill anyone in the name of religious sentiment, cause damage to nation’s property like railway & transport in the name of protest & agitation or molest women on Valentine’s Day in the name of Indian culture then I’m sorry mates…I beg to differ…I can’t assimilate to this ideology…….This freedom is unfit for Indians.

May be we’re better off as slaves. May be we do need to be put under such strict discipline that we don’t dare to mess with other’s pride, wealth, honor or affairs. If we aren’t moved by over neighbors agony only because he doesn’t belong to our caste, religion or culture then we’re are worse off than animals. If this is our reality then India may be great, but indeed, there is nothing remotely great about Indians.

And even though the thinkers of society can shamelessly proclaim that ‘All is Well’ , there is one pessimist Indian lying somewhere in some corner of the country, whose voice doesn’t matter, is yet to be impressed.