Mera Bharat... Mahan..

I shouldn't be cribbing about the things I don't like in my country.. the country I live in, the one that is my motherland.. A country that I love so much, but I cannot help it. I cannot keep it in any longer.

To be frank, after having lived 4 whole years in Singapore, I'm finding it slightly hard to adjust to the Indian way of life all over again. It's true that life here is more luxurious and comfortable because of the lower cost of living, and that I'm living with my parents, my family; but there are so many other things that happen that make me wonder.. WHY are we putting up with all this? WHY are we accepting this way of life? Is it because people here haven't experienced a life that can be orderly and by the rules, or is it because that have just gotten too used to it (that's the answer I get from my parents), or is it because we all know that even if we want things to change, we can't do anything alone.. not anytime soon atleast.. it's true that if you want to see a change in the world, you need to start it.. but when you do that here, you feel like an idiot. I stop at a red light, even though it's night and the roads are empty.. but several cars whiz past me.. How am I supposed to react?

Talking about cars and traffic lights, I can write a few hundred pages on how people just don't seem to have any common sense, concern for others, or for others' ears and for the environment (sound pollution), and sometimes I wonder, for their lives as well. Here are a few scenarios that I'm sure everybody has experienced and probably gotten used to, but I still have to write about it. One - The guy walking in the middle of the road knows that you're driving towards him, but his pace just does not change. He looks at you, turns away and continues walking as if you're supposed to slow down and make sure you don't hit him. And if you do, you're at fault.. you're the one with a vehicle right? Yup, so it's you. Two - Why does the vehicle on the leftmost lane(?) decide to turn into a street on the right, everytime?? Three - Lanes. Really? No more comments. Four - You're at a traffic signal and there's a car in front of you and a dozen behind you. The instant the signal turns green, the last car in the line starts to honk. Yeah, like you would stand there on purpose if the car in front you had moved. You like to waste time. Five - Talking about honking, normal honks are still okay, there's this partcicular type pa-pe-pa-pe-pa in a sing song way that gets onto my nerves. Anything but a normal beep should be banned. Six - Taxi drivers just don't care. The traffic's increasing by the minute, and when cheaper cars like Nano hit the road, I wonder how it's going to be manageable. Even if they start making flyovers, each one takes almost 3 years for completion and during that time, that road is jammed beyond control. Anyway, enough about the traffic. And I don't want to get started on the condition of the roads and different departments (water, electricity, phone) digging them, turn by turn. (Why they can't co-ordinate, I don't know).

I had gone to the BSNL office with a complaint about our landline. The lady at the counter immediately put in our number in the system and in a couple of seconds she had the complete call history and the relevant details. To be frank, I was a little surprised at the fact that everything was computerized and done in a matter of seconds. I guess I was assuming a long wait and a few calls here and there before I got my answer. Is that my perception of how things work in India? Actually, everything does work that way. I see my parents experiencing that everyday. 'It'll be done tomorrow' has become the punch line for mostly everyone, most government officers included, and that too only after persistent calling. And even though they're paid, you're supposed to pay them. When I question my parents, they say that's how it works. You can forget about getting your job done if not.

There are laws in this country.. but they aren't strict. Hence people take the easy way out and choose not to follow them. You might get caught once in a way, but there's always the 100 rupee note you can discreetly put into the officer's hands when you shake it. Even if the officer is an honest one and registers a case against you, it will take years for it to actually get a hearing in the court. Some cases get their hearing dates after the person is dead and gone. No rules.. No followers.. Corruption.. Bribery.. How can a country progress like this? I think it all boils down to illiteracy. With 30 crore Indians still illiterate, there isn't much that can be done.. If only every state was like Kerala. But it's not like the literate people are doing everything right. Even the most intelligent people sometimes lack basic common sense.Politicians are busy making false promises, getting votes, rising to power and trying to retain the power. Hence they don't find the time to actually do something for the benefit of the country. Even if they do, it all seems so short term. They don't look at the future.

Every thing seems like it's a chaos to me. And it also looks like people don't care. They're used to it. They experience it, crib about it and then carry on with their lives. I do it too. I don't have any other choice.. I'm voicing my opinions here, but other than that what else can I do? I will only be wasting my time writing letters to the officials that might go unread.. or meeting them to express my concerns when it might just come out of the other ear.. Even the educated and intelligent people cannot do anything about the state of affairs.Some say that that's the excitement of living here.. else it just gets too monotonous, organized and boring (I've heard people say that about life in Singapore), but seriously, is this the kind of excitement we're looking for?

When people talk about brain drain and how intelligent people just go away to America and other countries, I don't blame them. I used to, not anymore. The pay packet might be higher and you might progress more quickly abroad, but I don't think that's the only reason people choose to leave the country. I don't know when things will change here.. but I hope they do, and soon.. I don't know who our messiah is going to be.. I just hope something is done before things go out of hand. (If that's not happened already).