India: A memoir

Being proud of your nation comes naturally for Indians since there is so much to be proud of. I am a twenty one year old proud Indian who, since a kid, wanted to make India greater. In history classes the stories of Tippu Sultan, Rani Lakshmi Bhai and King Ashoka gave me dreams of becoming a fighter for the country. To say the least I was enthralled and excited about India and to think that I will be like them when I grow up.

Finally I am an adult now. But my dreams no longer revolve around wanting to fight for the country, to destroy the enemies but rather protect myself from the country. It is indeed disheartening to think or say that someone needs protection from his/her own country. Being a woman with free spirit, now I always have to make sure that whatever I do don’t offend anyone or is provoking any man with less self-control, or I could end up getting killed or raped. Our constitution states that India is a secular, democratic, socialist, republican country. But the truth is that it exists only in words and not in action. The pride of India was its “Unity in Diversity”, but it seldom exist now. Our Government is more focused on teaching hatred towards each other in terms or gender, caste, class and what not. They are using the same war technique used by British “Divide and rule”. So education and governing system are not the only things we have adapted from British.

The tragedy of the nation does not constrain itself to any particular class or part of the nation. If North India has the story of Nirbhaya (Delhi Rape Case) and BJP politicians stripping the woman in public sphere, South India has Jisha (Kerala Rape Case), solar issue and politicians living out of the blood of the people. The worst part is the rapists are apparently teaching moral to the citizens of India and either live a paradise-like-life in prison or are released to a better life in the expense of Government. And the politicians are more interested in creating discrimination and fighting against each other than governing the nation, protecting its rights and bringing it up as a developed nation. To think about it, even though we have reached great heights as a nation we are still considered a developing nation and whom should we blame for that? It appears as if India is for the corrupt, of the corrupt and by the corrupt.

On account of the events happening in India, I got to say that from being a patriotic citizen of India I am looking for a country to live and die peacefully and with dignity. Everyone is busy accusing “India” for the tragic events taking place in India. But I would say, India need not feel embarrassed but the Indians should. Because we made India the epitome of evil that it is today and the change should also start from us!