May I have the pleasure to welcome you to ‘Incredible India’- Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high. The historic tryst with destiny and dreams that ‘they’ saw turned into a diamond on 15th August, 2007. This is perhaps the best of times. A time when we have created history as the prospective superpower, the deterrent nuclear power, the Information Technology and outsourcing giant, the business and knowledge processing factory of the world and not to mention the hackneyed protestations about being the largest democracy et al. The head really stands high when you discover how Munna Bhai and ‘Gandhigiri’ take the nation by storm and actually make a difference to the Indian psyche. Fear vanishes from the mind when you see the united ‘blue billion’ stand up and cheer for our eleven tigers as the nation roars out the war cry !
These are the times when the groves of Academe in the country are making news across the globe and churning out think tanks who power global corporations. Where knowledge is free is not exactly the condition especially when the education in the country is still a challenge in many areas and an admission to premier institutions comes along with a rider called reservation.
Where the world has not been broken into fragments by narrow domestic walls might just be a Utopian concept as the war on terror has now transcended into words which come close to ‘conceit’ and ‘communalism’. The vitriolic activity of hostile neighbours, operations of twenty odd terror groups in the country, a million strong military, battalions of paramilitary, the ubiquitous man in khakis and a hung House over the ‘nuclear deal with the US’ creates a quagmire. This is the battle to defend the walls that define our existence and to prevent the creation of walls within the nation. It is the urge to sweat more during peace and bleed less during the war.
Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2006 ranks India a lowly 70th position alongside Ghana and Senegal with a CPI score of 3.3 out of 10 on a scale where 0 is highly corrupt and 10 is highly clean. Where words come out from the depths of truth. Any bells ringing?
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection. This is just not the land of ‘lots of people and lots of culture.’ These are the times when the Bachchans and Rais find place in the wax museums of London and New York. These are times when an Indian lady walks away with the Booker prize and this doesn’t necessarily have to make the front page headlines. Not to forget that this is the land that gave NASA two women who manned space. While we waste time drawing gibes and guffaws about the state of Bihar, we have just failed to realize that a girl from the same place –Rena Golden – is now the senior vice president of CNN international.
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit. These are still the times when setting up a ‘people’ car’ factory in Bengal involves bloodshed, bandhs and anarchy. These are unfortunately the times when our teens know more about the shenanigans of our Bollywood heroes and less about the four real life heroes in the Kargil war whose undaunted courage under fire won them Param Vir Chakra gallantry awards. These are still the days when caste and creed decide our political leaders and life partners.
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action. We have come a long way and the zeal to ‘to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield’ goes on. As we stand at the ‘portals of change’ ready to face the rigour and the juggernaut ride of inexorable competition in the near future, it is imperative for each one of us to recognize ‘that this is the hour that produces the man.’
The India 2020 concept is more than a journey of thousand miles and we have to take the right steps.
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
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