It's been a while yet again since the last time i took up writing. None the less, i am back home and it might be one of those real drivers behind this post. Let's not dwell, let's just picture this right up.
It was 12th of July, an exhausted soul, more for waking up at 5:00 AM to get on the flight to Kolkata and eventually running through a day full of events - yes events, that would involve tackling the weather in Kolkata (i am not so strong on my bones to boast of it) and then to hear an onslaught of offers, made at my cousin brother's place about them willing to get me married. How insane is that, isn't it? For anyone of you who think that marriage is an institution, you definitely would want to believe that not everyone deserves a chance to qualify and not be pushed. Haven't we been directed to do everything in our lives from the day we were born? To give us the direction in which they wanted us to sail if not them choosing it directly? I am sure there are many of you unfortunate ones out there - who have always had to bear with the inability to make a decision and were given an answer that you without a qualm, accepted.
Nah, but this ain't about cribbing about my personal life like i always do over this white sheet of "virtual paper". It's more so about what happened when i finally got on the train from Ranaghat to head towards Sealdah. So picture this, at the Ranaghat station, where this train originated from, i reach around 5 mins before the train was scheduled to depart. I see that the train is already filled with people. If i was a super computer with super sensing AI technology, then i think i would count it up to about 30000 people inside that god damn train. Nah, not that i guarantee you of the number - i didn't proclaim of a six sigma, i may have added a little bias of frustration into it. So i finally manage to get a seat after traversing through the multiple compartments where people stood by the doors to allude me from believing that there was indeed some empty benches made of wood for me. I eventually find one to rest my ass. And here we go, all of a sudden the thought of the "India Shining" glitters bright in my head and i start picturing reality right in front of my eyes. I see people mostly dark in complexion because of the excessive global warming struggle side to side to find a place. Then in comes a bunch of what my mom taught me to call them - "Hawkers", bringing down national market right into your laps. I see people of the age of mid 40s, selling 6 apples at the cost of 10 bucks - I thought we don't even get 6 panipuris for that price in Bangalore? Then in comes this guy selling "chanachur", i ask for one. I take out a 5 bucks note and hand it over to him, and i look outside the window. This man calls me and hands me back 2 rupees as change. I was like - really? Are you sure, you aren't mistaken? I mean i can't blame myself for the price i pay for a cup of tea in Bangalore - that too when i have to actually reach out to the CCD or the Barista instead of them coming to me.
All of a sudden i start to picture on what this 3 rupees could mean to this guy and eventually with all the costs and energy he puts up in selling it at 45 - is it what we really called, India Shining? Is it something that i have or rather we have closed our eye lids for? I am sure this person, doesn't make more than 200 bucks a day of profit for working up his ass like none of us do for that amount of money we get paid - neither he has a respect of telling people about what he does. He is this street monger, really fighting a battle to live this life. Like really? Like really at 45? Then i see these guys sitting next to me, with linen pants and again sweaty as if they are put into a furnace, looking at me like i am some survivor from the mars. O c'mon, i am no different, yes for sure i earn probably a respectful but you should see my life man - i don't save no money. I gulp a peg of whiskey and i pay 700 bucks for it. Then the next moment, i see this tea guy, i buy a cup of tea from him for 3 bucks. Does it quench my thirst? Sure it does, do i feel any different? No i don't. Do i observe all these and think India is not really shining and that i have probably missed a point in my life - Yes i do feel that way.
On my journey to Alipurduar that same night inside Kanchan Kanya express, a person as coveted as a chartered accountant (not accounting it to my disbelief) makes a very valid point about politics in India. He said, that none of them want the masses to get educated because education makes a person think independently. Maybe ruling won't be an option if we really wanted people to be educated. If they were probably educated, then that man working up his ass for that 200 bucks will end up spending his energy into something that would give him more money and more "respect". But then this is how we are dead stricken behind our legacy and yet proclaim of a progressive nation. Neither we move beyond that margin, neither maybe we want to. Now do you have an answer to "India Shining"? Or do we attribute it to the 700 bucks worth of Jack Daniels with Coke?
It was 12th of July, an exhausted soul, more for waking up at 5:00 AM to get on the flight to Kolkata and eventually running through a day full of events - yes events, that would involve tackling the weather in Kolkata (i am not so strong on my bones to boast of it) and then to hear an onslaught of offers, made at my cousin brother's place about them willing to get me married. How insane is that, isn't it? For anyone of you who think that marriage is an institution, you definitely would want to believe that not everyone deserves a chance to qualify and not be pushed. Haven't we been directed to do everything in our lives from the day we were born? To give us the direction in which they wanted us to sail if not them choosing it directly? I am sure there are many of you unfortunate ones out there - who have always had to bear with the inability to make a decision and were given an answer that you without a qualm, accepted.
Nah, but this ain't about cribbing about my personal life like i always do over this white sheet of "virtual paper". It's more so about what happened when i finally got on the train from Ranaghat to head towards Sealdah. So picture this, at the Ranaghat station, where this train originated from, i reach around 5 mins before the train was scheduled to depart. I see that the train is already filled with people. If i was a super computer with super sensing AI technology, then i think i would count it up to about 30000 people inside that god damn train. Nah, not that i guarantee you of the number - i didn't proclaim of a six sigma, i may have added a little bias of frustration into it. So i finally manage to get a seat after traversing through the multiple compartments where people stood by the doors to allude me from believing that there was indeed some empty benches made of wood for me. I eventually find one to rest my ass. And here we go, all of a sudden the thought of the "India Shining" glitters bright in my head and i start picturing reality right in front of my eyes. I see people mostly dark in complexion because of the excessive global warming struggle side to side to find a place. Then in comes a bunch of what my mom taught me to call them - "Hawkers", bringing down national market right into your laps. I see people of the age of mid 40s, selling 6 apples at the cost of 10 bucks - I thought we don't even get 6 panipuris for that price in Bangalore? Then in comes this guy selling "chanachur", i ask for one. I take out a 5 bucks note and hand it over to him, and i look outside the window. This man calls me and hands me back 2 rupees as change. I was like - really? Are you sure, you aren't mistaken? I mean i can't blame myself for the price i pay for a cup of tea in Bangalore - that too when i have to actually reach out to the CCD or the Barista instead of them coming to me.
All of a sudden i start to picture on what this 3 rupees could mean to this guy and eventually with all the costs and energy he puts up in selling it at 45 - is it what we really called, India Shining? Is it something that i have or rather we have closed our eye lids for? I am sure this person, doesn't make more than 200 bucks a day of profit for working up his ass like none of us do for that amount of money we get paid - neither he has a respect of telling people about what he does. He is this street monger, really fighting a battle to live this life. Like really? Like really at 45? Then i see these guys sitting next to me, with linen pants and again sweaty as if they are put into a furnace, looking at me like i am some survivor from the mars. O c'mon, i am no different, yes for sure i earn probably a respectful but you should see my life man - i don't save no money. I gulp a peg of whiskey and i pay 700 bucks for it. Then the next moment, i see this tea guy, i buy a cup of tea from him for 3 bucks. Does it quench my thirst? Sure it does, do i feel any different? No i don't. Do i observe all these and think India is not really shining and that i have probably missed a point in my life - Yes i do feel that way.
On my journey to Alipurduar that same night inside Kanchan Kanya express, a person as coveted as a chartered accountant (not accounting it to my disbelief) makes a very valid point about politics in India. He said, that none of them want the masses to get educated because education makes a person think independently. Maybe ruling won't be an option if we really wanted people to be educated. If they were probably educated, then that man working up his ass for that 200 bucks will end up spending his energy into something that would give him more money and more "respect". But then this is how we are dead stricken behind our legacy and yet proclaim of a progressive nation. Neither we move beyond that margin, neither maybe we want to. Now do you have an answer to "India Shining"? Or do we attribute it to the 700 bucks worth of Jack Daniels with Coke?
