Happy Independence Day ??????

Good Afternoon, Its the fifteenth of August, and in India we like to call it our Independence Day. 


I woke up today to the familiar tune of 'Ai mere vatan ke logo.......' playing at full volume from the neighboring building. "What the hell, what's all this racket about?," I thought aloud. I picked up my cell and found three new messages; my friends and colleagues have wished me  'Happy Independence Day'. That explained why Lataji was singing at the top of her voice outside my window. "Cool its independence day man, don't have to go to office. But isn't it Sunday too?" The thought of missing out on an additional holiday, drained me off all enthusiasm. I flopped down back on the pillow. "No, No, think positive, think positive", I said to myself. With renewed sense of vigor, I got out of bed; did a quick round of push ups just to reassure myself that I am in the best of positive spirits. I tried to think of all the good things around me. I looked out of the window, it was sunny outside, a welcome change from the rainy weather prevailing. It filled me with a lot of energy. I said to my self Happy Independence Day; thought I felt a little proud too.


I picked up the newspaper; it said," PM takes charge of games, Clips Kalm... ". That bullshit about the commonwealth games scam, that's hot cake right now. Pakistan grapples with flood situation, aids hard to come by. UN estimates only 18 percent of required aid sanctioned by the world community. People don't want to aid a country that has been eaten hollow by the bug of corruption, a country that supports the viruses of terrorism and militancy, a country torn apart by power factions within the polity. Blah blah blah. 
Its feels good to be on this side of the border at times like this. 


India is moving forward with great strides towards being an economic superpower. We boast our own unique currency symbol. We boast of 'desi' corporates being at the top of the Forbes' List, some of the richest in the world. We have high rise buildings, we have metros and metropolitans, shopping centres and urban haats. We have Tatas and Birlas, the Ambanis and the Mittals. We have sophisticated missiles and rockets; we have nuclear weapons. We have malls at every little town, malls at every corner of all major cities. People have finance, they are buying, they are happy. We are free to go to retail outlets, sift through all exhibits, choose what we please, buy it with credit cards and be happy. Globalisation is the order of the day. There are no exclusive items called 'phoren maal' anymore. Everything is available at your doorstep. Just type what you want, space, and your address and send it to a 5 digit number, you'll have it delivered to your home. Life has become so easy. There is so much money all around, everyone in the city is running after money, in one form or the other. We need money, a lot of it;  money for branded clothes, money to buy branded jewelery, for a car that symbolises our status. Money is practically in and behind everything we do. Yes, we can afford some of the luxuries that we have always wanted to. If this is not independence what is?


But why not spare a moment and take a peek at the other side of the coin? After 63 years of so called independence, 25 percent of our population lives below the poverty level. Out of the remaining 75 percent, a big chunk of the population do not have enough money to obtain the BPL certification. Do we really know or even care to know how they bear the burden of each day of their lives? The number of farmers committing suicide out of abject poverty and credit burden have run into lakhs in the last decade. Do we bother? Not at all, what's the big deal? 'chalta hain, yaar'. We talk of digital divide as a major problem in our country. What about the economic divide, man? 60 percent of the country's population does not give a shit about digital divide. They have other pressing problems on their priority list. There are still people in India who work their butts off for daily wages of a meager 15-20 rupees, while corporates go on building 30 storey residential palaces with rooftop helipads, or gifting out jumbo-jets. What about those unfortunate people? Have we ever given them a sincere thought? Are they Independent?


A few months back I used to get my vegetables from local vendors in the market area.One evening a new outlet sprang up. It was one of the 'fresh' outlets from a big corporate house.After that day slowly but steadily, the number of local vendors dwindled till finally they disappeared from the area. Well no one can complain, it's evolutionary rule. 'Survival of the Fittest'. You have money you are welcome, if u don't, get lost. Middle class people like myself feel privileged to buy their vegetables from posh, air conditioned outlets, where all choices and requirements are catered to at the same place. It saves our time too. Starting from vegetables to Chinese Diwali crackers, we like to buy everything from these fashionable retail outlets. But what about those poor villagers and artisans whose livelihood we jeopardized, do we ever think about them? Will they ever be independent?


When I was a kid,, my father used to give me a 1 rupee coin every Sunday to have 'jhal-muri'. I used to look forward eagerly to it. It was like a small weekly ceremony for me. But nowadays, I often see knee high kids waving 100 rupee currency notes in front of stores asking for 'toklates'. Isn't it too early to ingrain the culture of consumerism into the  child. What are we trying to do, create a society of buyers, a posterity of insensitive, stupid consumers? I don't really understand where we are heading from here, its all so confusing sometimes. Are we really Independent? Aren't we bound by the shackles of our ever increasing pseudo-needs?  Whatever it maybe, it must be a very pleasing site for Uncle Sam. I am eagerly waiting for this cycle to end, surely a revolution is just beneath the horizon. Till then, fellow consumers, be happy and keep on chanting..............Happy Independence Day.