15 th August, 1947.

In winters it is pretty easy to find ragged beggars lying beside the street, battling the cold. You watch them and pity them and move ahead, leaving the wretched poor man on his own. You go for shopping and stop by at a local restaurant for a snack. A small child comes up and hands you a glass of water. Some of us sadly contemplate whether the child should be at school, or working in a restaurant. While we are thinking about this, food is served and even before we are aware of it, we are out of the place, probably returning home or finishing the last of our shopping. You are standing by your father, who is visiting a government office for some work. He takes out a 100 rupee note from his pocket, gives it to another man, who happily accepts it and when you are getting out of the building your father seems to be extremely happy about something. You glance at him and obliges you by saying "chalta hai.!".

Such instances have often been quoted in the mundane essays on the moral degradation of Indian society and the current state of our country. The essays primarily target the lack of compassion, low sense of morality and the greed for fame and money that has become an inherent part of our civilization. But nothing so far has stressed specifically on the failures of our forefathers and its consequences on our lives. India currently faces its worst ever crisis situation after independence. We don' t realize the magnitude of the problem yet, but soon we will see how 60 years of carelessness affects the lives of the 100 million people in the country. Economic crunch, security crisis, parochialism, caste based politics, corruption, religious intolerance, low level of technological research, poor infrastructure, famished farmers and a failed leadership are few of the many problems that we face today. To cut a long story short, today all of us individually and as a country stand at the most critical juncture of our lives. The next five years of our lives will not only determine our future but also the future of our country. Our reaction to the sorry state of affairs that has been plaguing our lives for so long, would ultimately decide the fate of this country.

A country which has the potential to become really great, has lost its direction. More than three generations of indifference towards malpractices has led to today. Our parents and their parents and their parents too, all had a sole motive in life. They wanted their children and grandchildren to live a happy and LUXURIOUS life and so engrossed had they been in fulfilling this motive that they almost forgot about the country. No one cared/cares about who represents them in the Parliament, as long as he/she belongs to the same caste. Bribes are ok if it serves their purpose, but its bad when its shown on TV. India has bred a complete generation of hypocrites, who have torn the country and its future into tiny shreds. But my question is "Why should we pay for your mistakes? If you lost your pride as an Indian, does that mean that I too have to be selfish like you? Even if you were naive and immature, why do expect us to be the same?". Their actions have snowballed into a huge mass if ice rolling down speedily towards us. An action needs to be taken and that too, quickly.

The future is not as bleak as it appears today, but to make sure that India starts moving in the right direction, corrective measuers have to be taken. We need to rise above our individual differences and identify our goals clearly. If we want India to be developed by 2020, well, we have to work towards it. It is not just a single person from amongst us who has to stand up and take responsibility, everyone has to be a part of it. We have to understand how small individual actions affect the larger mass. A sense of responsibility not only towards yourself but also towards the person sitting beside you is extremely important. All of us are blessed with a sense of right and wrong, and its time that we start using it too. You who reads this, hold the key to the future of our country, just make sure that you open the correct door...


Thank you.