Open Letter from a Dying India

Good day, or maybe not,

Remember the time when auto fares were affordable even by the commonest of citizens and radios were more about communication than music? What happened then? Today, there are more trolls and memes on India than the few sane people who are actually doing something for the country in order to keep it going. So, are we, as a country still alive or merely alive as individuals? Just as each individual makes the society in a country, so does the country mould an individual accordingly. Only, in India, we’re just a bunch of contradictions and due to the diversity in our individualities and our cultures, there really can be no generalization.

Letter pen

It’s funny to see how on one hand, a person writes, “No Urination” on a wall, and on the other hand, a person would urinate in the same place without paying the mentioned fine. Also when a person rides on the wrong side of the road, he is still confident enough to fight for it, regardless. Absolutely ironic, isn’t it? So, what is really dying?
sad manIs it just the individuals, the culture, the traditions, the people, the society or the country geographically? I’d say, all of it, right from the individuals who have become the biggest hypocrites and have no shame to even admit it at times, to the culture that takes the journey from being illogical to disrespectful. The people are changing and dying faster due to the varied necessities of survival because it’s not just about eating, drinking and sleeping under a roof anymore.

Our need for survival has changed from craving for basic necessities to blurring the line between our wants and needs today.Where parents are supposed to be the best teachers are now complaining about their own children to their teachers and making parenthood just a part time job. So, yet again how are we dying really? From the hype of feminism, blurring the line between the former and female chauvinism, where are our thoughts going? Why are we becoming illogical by the second and why aren’t we questioning the wrong governance when we are perfectly able to rationalize and differentiate between what is right or wrong? Why are we taking pictures of accidents and disasters instead of just going out there and helping? There are a million questions that not only make us think, but provoke some to just ignore as well. Maybe we aren’t dying at all, or maybe this is our way of developing. But development is always forward, isn’t it? How did India become Rank 1 in Human Trafficking today? Is our responsibility just about paying bills and unnecessarily working hard without demanding our right for equal pay or an increment for our hard work? Where is our country heading really?

Today new cars with cooler features are advertised and roads are getting wider and the traffic is still not controlled. Architects and engineers are cutting down thousands of trees just to make more houses with advertisements that include open space and greenery. Moreover, people are getting fooled every minute with a new advertisement that shows a little emotional side to an irrelevant brand. Women are not more than objects to help improve sales of the products apparently and unfortunately the audience seems to like it all. Where films used to be more about plots and sensible songs and action, now it’s just all about sex and breasts and so called ‘item numbers’, which eventually results in three year olds dancing to the same senseless sexist songs and entertain parents.

Certainly, our country is dying. There is no Bhagat Singh, Kamala Das, Mahasweta Devi or even Dr. Bharat Ratna Ambedkar anymore. Unfortunately, there’s only Chetan Bhagat, Jayalalitha, Salman Khan, Kapil Sharma and Sunny Leone today. That’s pretty much it. The search for talent has become just a pay game with auto-tune apps and unnecessarily overrated dance and mindless reality shows.

Politics doesn’t just stick to the parliament today, because it’s come down to schools and colleges too. Reading has become a joke after the technology has advanced to an extent where education is a cake walk. Perhaps the Education System has gone from bad to worse with the height of insensitivity reaching an extent to only marks and ranks that are supposed to matter in a student’s life. Not to forget, the suicide rates due to varied pressures and the people affected by mental illnesses have both shot to the sky in India and what are we as citizens doing? We continue to body shame, laugh at people who don’t know English and continue to act dumb by repeating the same mistakes and breaking rules. We are dying, as a country, as human beings of empathy, affiliation and compassion. We are dying, not because our population is increasing to heights but because we are no longer pro-social.

We are no longer able to rationalize and negotiate with the governance of our very own country. Where on one hand, men are taught to worship our ‘Mother India’ (Bharat Maata), on the other they are encouraged to disrespect women to the utmost limits, by facing ignorance from their families. We are dying, not just as a nation, but as a culture where castes and religions are still valued over basic human emotion and passion. We are dying, indeed and soon, there will be no India if we don’t open our eyes and ears to be aware of what we Indians are capable of.

We don’t just have rapists and male chauvinists in our country we have people like Saina Nehwal, Satya Nadella, Indra Noori, Sundar Pichai, Narayan Murthy, Karnam Malleswari and you. This country has you that can save it from dying, so don’t underestimate yourself only because you are one person. India is dying but it won’t if you, we, us, do something about it not only to save the country but the recognition, the respect, the passion, so when we represent our country, people don’t need to identify us as rapists. Save the country before we all drown in our iniquities and regrets about having done something.

Yours Sincerely,
A smothered Indian citizen

By: Sonia David

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