Dedications

Another Independence Day gone by, and as always the same old boring routine of a PM unfurling the national flag and making another false promissory speech, and so is it in all the states where the CM and the governor show their ugly faces to the public, and theatrical salutations are done to the flag. After all the melodramatic love for the national, flags are strewn on the streets. Most like like me see it is another holiday to chill out, but jeez this time Independence Day fell on a Sunday…….Ohhhhhhh Gawd.

Got me pondering what Independence are we celebrating? I see it as more of dependence. Dependence on US for our IT exports; dependence on Russia for our defense; dependence on US for technology; to the extent India which was once self dependent and sufficient in food now needs to import.

Our intellectual work force would even squirm into a rat hole of an opportunity to make it to greener pastures; our kids pride in getting educated abroad; we shamelessly copy story lines from movies; speaking English becomes a status symbol. When are we going to get Independent from all this dependence? There is no doubt English is a language of Commerce and should be taught as a primary language, but definitely not at the cost of it being projected as superior to any other Indian language. For that matter why is Hindi a national language of India? Why can’t it be just English and the state language? Why are we not independent from this dictation of politicians, of who speaks what? Come to think of it if India really had to be associated with a national language it should have been Sanskrit and not Hindi.

Cultural dependence is another area where we are ashamed of our cultural dressing, I am not saying we not start moving around wearing dhotis, but can we patronize Indian brands. Does a pair of jeans need to be a Wrangler or a Lee? Do our suits need to be Armani? Do our watches need to be Cartier, Mont Blanc, or a Tag?

Our food habits which is now dictated by MacDonalds, Kellogs, Barista, etc. We are so dependent on these that we even tend to forget we have our own cuisine. Does a coffee need to be a Barista or a Café Coffee Day? All the examples are not cited as we start boycotting these products (would be great if we did), but can we patronize Indian products and avoid dependence on foreign goods.

Then on the other hand when will we get independence from our politicians and police who are supposed to protect us and does the complete reverse. When can we depend on them? Why is that our education more of number game and not a vocational based education, where talent can be groomed earlier? For that matter when will every child have the right to an education? When can the common man feel he has a voice and not just the media who uses it only for commercial purposes?

Why should a Bombay aim to be a Shangai or a Calcutta strive to be a London? No doubt these are hollow speeches made by our politicians and that’s it. Why can’t we not have our own identity and the world tries to emulate us. Surat could be transfigured after a plague, but do we need another plague or another revolution to gain independence from this dependence?

Never understood the mechanism of how this monster called inflation worked, and neither would my understanding curb the rising prices of food, leave aside bring it down. Verbosity from the political machinery was always churning out a load of ‘Bull Shit’. Wished it was at least Bull Shit, so it would manure crops and bring food prices down, but these politicians can’t even churn that out. Sometimes I wonder the amount of money our politicians ingest, even a small fraction was put back into the country would suffice to feed the deprived segment of society.

Our honorable Home Minister PC Chindambaram has got the ‘foot in his mouth disease’. His latest take of price rise is due to the way Indian economy is growing. Wished the sardar who had flung a shoe on him had not missed this idiot’s head. Maybe it would have driven some sense, as if this is the price we pay for our economy booming, then what would we pay if it was the reverse. Wish he could take his title as Home Minister literally, and see the millions of homes where the kitchen flames are rarely burning.

Sharad Pawar our Agriculture Minister has requested to be relived from his responsibilities as he is over burdened. Over burdened with what? Overburdened is the common that is carrying the burden of price rise and compromising on the quality of food and the quantity. The way our Agriculture is booming is in his physical size he must be referring to the over burden of his weight with the zillions he has siphoned over the years he has been in politics. Wished the guy had some balls to solve the issue, guess since he does not have any, he chose to be associated with cricket, some balls to show for a change.

With all the inflation wonder from where the money comes for Common Wealth Games being planned? Then with all the corruption scandals surfacing of the Common Wealth it is so obvious that it is Games by the Politicians to commonly share the wealth. Besides cricket our nation has not been able to do much in the sporting arena. Then if there are individuals who win glory for the nation in shooting, boxing or tennis, they are not given due share of respect or credit. So much of cricket, is pumped into the brains of the common man that many don’t know that there are other games besides it, or maybe they know that there are not many other games India can win.

Then there is the shameless bunch from the film fraternity who will do anything to stay in the limelight, and show that their movies care. So if a movie like 3 idiots becomes a box office hit, we have reputed institutions like IIT who feel that the movie has a message and you will have Amir Khan going around dishing advise to SSC students how to tackle stress and failure. Now comes the movie named Peepli Live which makes a mockery of farmer suicides and if that movie succeeds we would be pumped by the media with hype how inflation drives farmers to suicide.

The Home Minister is seriously concerned in the increase of ‘honor killings’ in the country and how it should be dealt with severely. Mr. Minister, can we for a change tackle problem of food prices seriously, before the nation kills idiots like you in the next election. For a change it would be an ‘honor killing’ that the common man would take pride off, or think of it seriously, it would be killing politicians who have no honor.