Wednesday 25 January 2012

I want back my childhood India

I was a toddler when we became a republic. I don’t remember what India was then (in 1950), but I have grown with that. I remember the good old days; these were undoubtedly very happy days. Generally we say that every dark cloud has a silver lining. The dark realities have a possible bright future. In my young days it was all bright and there was apparently no scope for the any silver lining, rather there was no need for any. Everything was good and in order. 

The first dark lining to bright cloud was sensed by me on Nov 1st 1956 when Nehru reorganized the states on linguistic basis. That was first attack on unity of India. I ignored this dark lining and compromised with new realities. In 1962 China attacked India and it was a shock for a teenager like me. I have been following Nehru’s policies of Panchsheel, very often we had raised the slogans of Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai (हिंदी चीनी भाई भाई)  and felt so humiliated with Chinese invasion, our ill preparedness and poor foreign policies. The cloud now had a larger dark lining. After Nehru’s death it was little bright again with great soul like Lal Bahadur Shastri as PM. His death again enlarged the dark lining. Then the era of Gandhis and coalitions started and the cloud was getting darker. The brightness was getting engulfed.  And today I hardly see any bright spot in this dark cloud.

Lack of discipline, corruption, erosion in values, low levels of morality coupled with economic turmoil and parallel economy are suffocating. During my school and college days we dare not ride the cycle double-seat or go out in the evening without light. I still have the old kerosene lamp that I used for my cycle. More than the fear of police our conscious did not allow use to break the law. Even in eighties when I had a scooter, I did not take both my sons at one time on scooter as it was illegal and is still illegal. Today we see a family of five riding a bike. I feel sad to see a person flushed with money driving BMW, Honda or Audi, showing complete disregard to the traffic lights. He may be rich but a bankrupt on basic social responsibilities. There is no difference between him and some ill-mannered, ill-educated unscrupulous rickshaw-wall. Both are bankrupt for basic discipline. Today one can show total disregards to rules and no one bothers. Sad, isn’t it?

In the past people were hesitant to offer bribes. Mostly the person who gets the offer would feel offended. Today one may get offended if bribe is not offered. The value systems that we had have just disappeared and new western norms are finding roots. Morality has taken a big blow. No one raises eyebrow at the vulgarities in the society or when someone hurting or even killing a person. There are no deterrent punishments. One can commit crime, take pride in it and roam around freely. Justice is delayed, at times denied. Corruption has not spared this system too.  

Relations between different communities were clean and healthy. There was no appeasement of any community and there were no terrorist, but there is a drastic change now. Today if a Hindu pronounces himself as a Hindu then many politicians feels that the secular fabric of India is under threat. There is ugly competition between the politicians to appease different communities and to shield the culprits. Today there is not only a dark cloud but also darkness.

On economic front we were very happy. The small little one paisa had a value. It had a buying power. We did face the era of shortages and ill effects of Nehruvian socialism, but we still were very happy. There was no inflation and US dollar was just four and half rupees. Gold was affordable and so was silver. Food was cheap too. This abundance reflected on attitudes and behavior of the public and society. However all this disappeared under the shadow of the cloud that got darker each passing day.

Today I feel that we should have ministers like C D Deshmukh, Sardar Patel, Justice Chagla, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. I want well educated cultured persons in politics and as ministers. The criminals and illiterates should not represent the masses. Leaders have to be well educated, irrespective of their political ideologies. Gandhi and Sawarkar both had studied law. Nehru and Tilak both were well educated. Education makes the difference.

I want India of my childhood. I want India where there were no fights on linguistic basis. I want that India where we valued discipline and the demon of corruption did not exist. I want back my India where one feared law and refrained from committing crime. I want that India where the money has value and good buying power (inflation taken into account). Can this dark cloud now have a silver lining? Can there be a reversal?  Can history repeat? Can I get back India of my childhood?