a possible diagnosis of what ails us
sometimes when i think about the country i begin to think that we just are not realising our potential in so many fields..i am sure you have all felt that way sometimes.... a country of more than a billion people with such a large percentage of youth should be doing so much more than just becoming an IT hub for the world and answering calls by (often retarded..if you were to believe chetan bhaghat at least) Americans....
now let's get this clear... i am neither experienced enough nor in any other way even remotely qualified to be able to produce a list of measures that must be taken.. but surely, there do exist sufficient number of such people in the country? what then is stopping us from achieving what is ours only if we want it enough?
so much for rhetoric.
it seems to me that an overwhelming cynicism has conquered us at some time in the past... a cynicism towards government, towards progress, towards idealism, righteousness, life in itself..
this cynicism has in turn bred a defeatist attitude .... and blinded the people of a great nation to a magnificent destiny that had been so well set up by its past, and led them off course....
at the root of all evil plaguing this country lies this cynicism... well-educated young proven leaders are cynical of politics and are content with limiting their role in goverment to airing their critical views in light-hearted social conversations ,the unscrupulous taxpayer confronts his conscience with a these-frauds-are-going-to-eat-it-all-up-anyway-might-as well-keep-it-to-myself-attitude, the same indian man who spits out his paan(not to mention unmentionables) on our streets becomes quite the perfect gentleman when transferred to another place... logic being it is not going to make a difference on our streets when there are thousand others who will anyway go ahead and spit there....
well one is astonished that the majority people do not realise that this attitude takes us no where... change must begin from the self... because if everyone thinks that wrong becomes less wrong when everyone else does it then wrong no longer has a moral implication to it.... and is reduced to a popular classification.... which, i must emphasise , is philosophically a shame.... for what is morally right is not necesarily, and in fact in some cases rarely, popularly right.
this road only leads to stagnation if not degeneration.
surprisingly the attitude is more dominant among the educated classes....and some even consign themselves to lifelong cynicism because they consider it a safeguard to protect themselves from their acquired notion of the world which, if i may add, is extremely distorted. the uneducated masses at least have an optimism that springs from their innocence.... essentially their ability to hope is preserved by their ignorance...and the schools and universities that should produce zestful young men and women ready to go out and conquer the world seem to be instead producing people eminently content with the ordinary, people happy to just sit around and earn a living....
this attitude has blended into our people so much that the only evidence that it is not an integral part of the indian mindset comes from our glorious past....a lone source of hope that it may be rooted out....this past, unfortunately, though remembered, is being remembered in ways other than one feels its architects would have wanted...and our nostalgia for the past has led some among us to denounce progress in itself and embrace stagnation as a means to go back through the ages and recreate the days of yore.... which does great injustice to the dynamism that seems to have existed so prominently in those days, as pandit nehru points out in his moving account of indian history, the 'discovery of india'.
this attitude then is what i believe is stopping the youth of this country from breaking the shackles and surging ahead to a great future. a mindset full of hope, vitality and zest is essential to dynamism and progress.
visionaries are men who think about achieving success instead of about avoiding defeat.
there can be no visionaries without hope and where every man is a visionary, none shall stop that place from becoming a paradise.
hoping to have contributed even if only in a small way
dinesh jayaraman
whoa i just read this whole thing again..
like,sheesh...i must actually be getting serious!... :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
25 comments:
HI
It was super! Really good... I hope that atleast people start thinking after reading this.
Hmm..
Nice blog. Neat and clear. But i still dont understand, i fail realize what you really caught up to.
The cynicism that you talk about breaking exists in you as well i guess.
You actualy made me look up the dictionary for wat cynicism meant in the true sense..!
And im afraid to say this, but weren't you being cynical when at the end you put it lik.."sheesh.. i must actualy be gettin serious"..!
It looked to me like you were worried that a set of morons out there are gona be mocking your patriotism and that you had to write something to make it up to them and that you wrote the stuff becuz you had to fill in your blog to keep it goin..!.. Avoid that
Qtherwise it was a great article. And i guess i hav nothing to say against it really.
There's only once solution to the stagnation and cynicism existing i guess. Moral aducation. And by moral education i dont mean teaching a child to be good and sincere, but teaching a child about what the India he sees is n wat India can look like if he wishes to look at it that way..!
I believe nothing can be done to the people of India now. No one can stop people from spitting or pissing in the roads. What can be done is to the growing future generation.
Remember, even terrorists are born out of 10 year olds and not 40 year olds becuz only a young mind can be tamed..!
Last but not the least. Remembering wat the father of our nation always said and something which i truly believe in..
-Be the change you wish to see in the world..!
@marshall
yeah you're right...though it was not the patriotism that i was trying to disown but the seriousness or something...
will avoid it ..thanks.
@marshall
believe me you made me really think why i did that...thanks again.
Good article!! Reminds me of 'Lage Raho Munnabhai'(Duh!?) Keep blogging =))
well... the thing that plagues us even today is the lack of a good govt.... free of corruption, and focussed only on development... heard manmohan is a workalcoholic... but its the people around him that are playing spoilsport....
and very few brilliant people take up the cause of this country....
well i dunno wat happened to lok paritran.... the party is having lots of internal probs i guess
well.. everyone does talk abt the things goin on in the country... no one is ready to take the challenge up... so will u jd take up this task of leading our country into the golden era..?....
if yes.... then ill shall be the first member of the to-be-formed implementation plan or any new party.......
nice article... by the way
@sajjadh
maybe i will do something ....no kidding... but i will touch upon some other issues that crop up when a guy wants to get working in one of my future posts..
what you said in the comment was again something i had mentioned in the post.. people just sit and talk about it... but i probably wasn't fair.. it is quite hard to take the initiative even if you are willing for certain reasons..
on a lighter note(comes with free enhanced lightness if you have read my first post),why me da? why can't it be you who starts the party?
Duh..! If u thought it was that easy to form political parties, then u got it all wrong(the lok paritan being a standing example).. It requires sometin called a capital and a capital wich doesn't go in lakhs but runs into a few dozen crores.. And if u were wondering how thosepolitical parties were able to manage, hah, its all thanks to the middle class toiler who toils his way to paying taxes..! And moreover, if every teenager who wanted to see a change in his country would have to end up forming a party, then it just wouldn't work the right way..!
A change doesn't mean u having to form a party..!.. A change can come from the smallest of ur deeds..
Coming down more to the level of the common mindset, hom many times has it been that u probably hesitated to give the policeman a bribe(under various circumstances, the most common one being driving without a licence)cuz u thought it was wrong giving a bribe..?
How many times have u thought about the upliftment of the beggars when u saw one in the streets..? Im sure u never would have been sweet enuff to go and address issues of national development to the beggar and tell him why he should stop begging..!
How many times have u put urself forth the lingo wich went all thru ur schooling "Each one, teach one", when u saw a child labourer..? Did u ever have the courage to go and instill ideas of the need for education to him..?
Hmm.. Truly said..!!
"Why so much cynicism..?"
Im just getting to realize the truth in ur words..!
@marshall
enlightening...blindingly...thank you sir for relieving us of our ignorant fancies of starting a party on the 300 bucks i have saved from my pocket money and in the process imparting to us all valuable words of wisdom that i am sure will stand us all in good stead in all our future endeavours.o... the very thought of what could have happened if we had not been halted from getting it all wrong by your wisening up of us...!!
thank you once again sir for your kind words of wisdom and for enlightening us to the ways of the world.
alrite then wise guy,this is a comment on your comment. excessive use of rhetoric is a cheap tool, as it intends to convey a prior knowledge of the answer, usually in the negative, and is therefore not only presumptuous and but is also, very significantly for us, cynical(!..just doesn't let us forget it , tat one)of others while intending to convey the opposite impression of oneself(when used in the manner in which your distinguished self has so kindly demonstrated).. avoid it...
and surely you don't think of the rest of us what your comment seems to indicate you do? don't even ask, sure as hell, i am pissed off.. and i don't care if you intended to sound that obnoxious or not..fact is, it was. i must add though that i'd rather be poor at communicating than hold an opinion that all the rest of the worlds are young innocents who must be educated with my huge collected-over-18-years-of-life experience, and i can only hope , for your sake, that you agree.
in all humility
me
@marshall
oh i just read your whole comment again and realised..
my previous comment did miss out on mentioning a few notable phrases from yours.. which however for the preservation of some semblance of dignity i will leave to the reader of these to identify for himself/herself.
Hmm..
It probably doesn't make a difference, but i do realize that i had been very offensive with my previous comment though it was not meant to be that harsh.. I meant wat i said but i do understand that i should have put it forth in a nobler way.. and i sincerely apologize for its rhetorical nature..! (The spur of the moment and the rush of adrenaline sure can play havocs with the diplomatic soul)..
Thanks for making me realize anyways.. I sure wil remember to avoid that the next time..
But yes i still think the same.. It doesn't matter ur 18 or ur 88, Its the maturity that counts.. And i truly believe that everyone out here does hav a maturity level far superior to that of the common man even though we stand to be 18(me bein 17 still) becuz in this regard experience is influenced by education(something lacking in over 50% of our adult population).. We're actualy discussin issues of national concern and i do think that we're all mature enuff to understand the evils prevailing in our society And i do hope that not one but everyone of us is able to bring about a change..
And again i still do believe that forming a political party cant help as much as condemning corruption in all its forms can.. Maybe my ideas dont sync with the common thought-process here but remember, we all got one common desire.. A desire to see a better India..
I'd sure be happy if everyone here gave it a try.. It doesn't cost much to make an effort to educate a beggar not to beg or teach a labourer about nationalistic ideas..
I kno its far too optimistic for me to think this way, but i do think there ain't any other solution.. I did make an effort once or twice(with those beggars seen in the all so familiar DAV school bus stop) and as a matter of fact, i got snubbed by them.. I sure would call myself a failure in this regard(as i watch them beg haplessly, in all their glory..!) I couldn't stop one, but i still would do the same if they tried begging to me..!.. I may be sounding lik a big kid.. But maybe if everyone of us made an effort the beggar would sure get to realize things..!.. The dreams of paradise in our country is something we all mutually see.. Just hope everyone gives a hand to its making..!
[P.S:NOT TRYIN TO BE THE WISE GUY ;)]..!
Neways.. Thats it i guess.. And sorry again for my (near to profane) language in my last comment..!!
glad you realise the mistake
Tumbled on your blog on the way... and yeah there was something different [on an IITians] blog here :)
Had not read anything serious these days..(che.. i have stopped my Hindu marathons now-a-days and no ndtv 24*7)
Its easy to say
"change must begin from the self"
but what do we actually do to change ourselves is the thing that finally matters...
Most people get the zeal and sudden burst of patriotism (after watching RDB or Lage raho munna bhai ) but that dies down much faster than an exponential curve... sustaining the spirit is whats lagging in us...
It needs lot more than the so called "Education" we get to develop the will power required.
"surprisingly the attitude is more dominant among the educated classes"
What's so surprising about it? How does it matter to a man in A/c room sitting on a comp and drawing salary in lakhs?
How does it affect to those who move around on A\c cars, shopping around in the city malls...??
If someone is affected by the Govt and its policies its the common man , the middle class, the peasants,small shop keepers and hamalis. Finally its they who worry about it.
Don't we see it in IIT itself ?? how many of us really think about the country...? Least bothered about what is happening around... Building giant wall of false pride around us...
How many of us realize the fact that we are getting zillion facilities at the cost of millions of taxpayers...?
"Machan enough da..." is the response...and thats the reality. Harsh to face...
while u think of change from the self.... how many people can u think will change....its just like i like my country...im patriotic.... so i change...thats another kind of selfishness...
@marshall....
sorry i forgot to follow this thread...
startin a party may not be a dream...
iitians will be earnin in crores tom
and im sure we can find more businessmen in making... so if we can pool in the resources a party can be started..... of course its not possible immediately... its a really long time plan after we all get settled....
a mass movement is needed
but i think the country will change
but slowly and steadily
we have politicians like rahul gandhi, scindia and others.... they are really good i guess....
dayanidhi maran is also good tho
he is a bit corrupt.. tho he did more good than bad...
the above post is mine...dint mention my name sorry
sajjadh
I hate to defer u sajjadh but it stil is a dream I believe. Im happy we hav youngsters comin forward to atleast wishing to make a party(hoping for a change).
The general elections in 2004 saw the BJP squandering 250 crores just on tv advertising(which was later banned by the election commission). The total election campaign budget was never (actualy)disclosed but im sure it would've been some whoopingly big figure.
Not demoralising you buddy becuz the constitution says dat all an individual needs to stand for elections is a bank-balance of Rs. 5000/-. But im sure everyone knows how stupid the law in itself is. But anyways, i appreciate ur ideals and am in full support of you(as everyone here is) cuz everyone wants wants to see a different India.
And (ahem) I just went through Ramya's comment and (am afraid) i got lost mid-way.
You think Its easy to say "change must begin fron da self".
Most ppl(rather often) get patriotic after watching movies of sacrifice to da country
It need more than just EDUCATION.
Hmm.. What according to you is the solution to this problem then?
@ramya
you have a point when you say it isn't really surprising the educated man doesnt often think of it... but your comment has raised questions from marshall that i'd like to pose too... let's see you take them..
:)
@ abc
You were better off not revealing your identity having made comments like that, esp if you are still considering going into politics ...
@everyone
ok, ok, a little bit of humour doesnt hurt now does it?!
haha.. yaa rite , especially after having commented about dravidian politics where the media is all so biased with every party having its own media company hailing praises(about their leaders) and cursing opposition powers 24/7. ;)
I said "so called" education.
According to me, What we are is a collective influence. It depends on how we grow, with whom, what we read, saw and heard when we shaped our ideals.
The solution is hard to get. Because the problem is not a set of coupled differential equations that is solvable. Neither can we have a program that can solve it for us.
It should evolve. The solution is the "individual".Target when young and can be moulded .
I believe-
"Education is the manifestation of what is already within man"
"We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act."
-Swami Vivekananda.
When it comes to the question of patriotism, politics etc.,
How many of us realize that fighters like Raj guru, Bhagat singh to mention a few started off when they were younger than what we are. They did make a lot of difference.
The real fact is we want to play safe.
Fair enuff.. Fully accepted. But why do i feel like you're so much so confused.
Maybe you should go back and read the whole article all over again including the previous comments posted over here becuz that's all dat we've been tryin to get thru all da while.
In your previous comment you said "Its easy to say change must begin from da self" and in this comment you seem to be talkin about nottin else but "change of one's self". I'm glad you atleast accept that change must begin from the self.
Nothing comes easy (does it). I don really kno if you're in the IIT but to all those IITians, it didn come
off easy gettin in there. There will come difficulties while striving against this system. But does that mean we stop dreaming, we stop aspiring, we stop thinking of a change. Its high time we really put off this pessimism existing so much so in ourselves.
And as you said, "The Individual Target". I do believe you're young enough[;)]. Keeping that in mind I'd be happy if you would change and stop playing safe. And again, having said that, i do kno its easier said than done, but wats da harm in trying when its for the better. And everyone here knows what facts are. What we really are looking for is solutions. And(putting it in your words) true it isn't as simple as solving problems relating to the "so-called" education. But that doesn't mean there ain't solutions at all. I'm an optimist of high standards and i'd consider the blog entry a success if it was able to bring about a change in an individual or two reading this.
And while i say that(im an optimist) i sure kno the obvious questions that are gona come up
-- Why in the world do i then think that its impossible to form a party and fight.?
Well, that's becuz i want to go by the righteous path. And i don't think we can ever build up the resources of such
humongous levels without adopting corrupt measures.
And with all due respect, i do consider all those souls(it would be a shame on my part to single out names of individuals) who sacrificed their lives for our counrty great. But i'd also like to say that its time we get going n stop brooding(taking pride) in our past and rather take them as inspirations to bring about nationalistic thoughts in ourselves(as rightly pointed out by Ramya).
And ending it in the most basic, most self-invoking and most simple message of Swami Vivekananda which i believe is basic, yet strong and stirring at a high-level.
"Arise awake and stop not till the goal is reached."
great goin people.. i def agree with u all
@marshall
Er.... sorry but i don't see any confusion may be because its me who wrote it.
Let me make it clear.
Whenever the topic of the situation of the nation and the need for a change comes up every one starts and ends with blah...blah..."Change must begin from one self" blah...blah..And it "ENDS" there.
What I am trying to convey here is lets stop "saying" and start changing.
And yeah I am an IITian.[ And getting in here itself wasn't my aim.It was one of the ways to reach my aim. :)]
And i do agree with your point on new party.
According to me its a "nicest try" [:P] to change the entire government system in here. There are zillion ways by which we can make difference and in a much effective way.
@Dinesh
Thanks Dinesh for the post!!
@ramya
Guess dat was put across in a much simpler and straight manner than your other posts(finally). Fully agree with you tho. :)
@ramya, marshall and all the rest
my pleasure.. in fact i was just gonna express my thanks to all of you, 'cause as the blogger there is nothing better than to see an active response... and to know that the post was not in vain.
well ,that's my part done then... the rest of you can work out the detail.
[;)]
Post a Comment