This Sunday morning had some peculiarities when I bring in other days into perspective. The first thing I noted was , I had my eyes wide open at 6 in the morning; I was having a stroll with my friend when I should be craving for warmth under my blanket. It would be hard to pick up another such day from the scrap of my memory when I was this unfortunate (Not that I was with my friend, but I was out of bed). Other than this trivial personal mini anecdote, the day was important as my country celebrated her 64th anniversary as a free state.
The Independence day had always given me reasons for joy at various phases of my life. During my school days, I never missed the session at school on this particular day. It was the thrill of getting a flag badge along with the sweets, once the programme was over, that enthralled me. All vehicles had the tricolours hung on them. I knew Prime Minister delivers a speech on that day, but I could never follow it since it always appeared boring and the words "development" and "harmony" were repetitive. Once I was at my college, Independence day meant I can either sleep at home or can watch a movie without having to sacrifice the attendance. The Prime Minister's speech was not even in my minds. I mean how many times can your ears buy a mere verbal distinction.
In the current phase, I am a pessimistic citizen who believes that nothing can be right. Some one rightly quoted," Everyone wants change, but none brings it by themselves". I am a pseudo well wisher of this nation who believes in a radical transformation of our administration system for the good, but prefer to find a seat in the audience. This sunday morning, I was no different. I knew there will be loads of talks on hopes and aspirations and future and finally by the end of the day, we remain where we are.
There is a KG school in my neighbourhood and the day's celebration was on with small kids dancing and singing. I thought this would be interesting and so, had my ears open to the activities running there. Thanks to my laziness , I preferred to 'stay and listen' rather than 'go and watch'. It was the turn of a boy to speak on Independence day. He began his speech in a loud voice which was blend with innocence. He kept speaking whatever he had memorised last night. I expected it to be another well polished set of un-perceived sentences from him. I could never have blamed him for that since he was too young to know what he was speaking.
My prejudiced perspective was jolted when I heard him say, "We need to save our country from terrorism". Even though he might not be knowing, what he meant, the statement had its impact on the audience including me. There are many things that hit my head when I heard that child throw out those bunch of words. The first thing was that I realised, how terrorism had become a part of our life that even a four year old kid mentions it. During my kindergarten days, the only "ism" I knew was mannerism, " Dont bite your nails, speak politely to people and bla bla..". But for current budding generation, there are more important terms and hard realities to catch up with, that what I learned during my kindergarten days are what they imbibe in nappy days.
Fifteen years back, our problems were mostly monotonic, we had to bring down poverty levels, stabilise the economy and bring in decent job opportunities for the youth; almost all of them were financial concerns. Now we have variants and sub variants of issues so vast and vivid that one sentence for each of them would make a good essay. We have to root out terrorism, sort out naxalism, dig out corruption and the list goes on...These thoughts kept poking me and all of a sudden, I had an interest to know what Prime Minister had to offer on this Independence day. As expected, he touched up on almost all issues and had all important aspects covered. Later, many pseudo socialists and self proclaimed hypocrite social reformers blasted PM's speech for lacking the punch, most importantly it was sad to know that they were not bothered about the content and purpose. He was indirectly termed as a mere glorified consultant. But contrary to them; more importantly, contrary to my preconceived notion; I felt, his words had a vision. I felt we, as a nation have become more vigilant, atleast more focused on resolving issues. There seems to be purpose in the air rather than just beating around the bush. I feel myself as a witness of an evident transformation, this nation and its leaders undergoing, from an Utopian-altruistic and pseudo-visioned verbal acrobatics to a more focused and pragmatic propaganda for the good. I feel atleast this time around, we are dealing things with a purpose. And to all those who have seriously criticised (through social networks especially) PM for his non-animated speech , I wonder if they expected a Bushesque melodrama at Redfort. I feel those things look better in movies. We are not the people who needs to be motivated. We have had enough of goosebumps, what we need is action and I hope the administration will keep its word.
I am no more damn pessimistic. I strongly believe we can pick ourselves up from the filth of problems and we are already on the process. Ultimately, when a 60+ Prime Minister and a 5- kid of one nation share the same wavelength on a national issue, I am sure, the future is not bleak...
