15th August and I view the newspaper for that one happy piece that will give a feel good factor ... nada. Surf the channels and the same story.
The man on the street, the kids selling flags, the flags on cars and houses and the flag hoisting ceremonies big and small - these bring the feel good back in me. My chest swell with pride and I sit down to take a look at our dear Bharat Mata - bruised and battered by many - her own as well as her enemies, yet smiling and ever forgiving, walking along slowly with her children head held high. She knows when to reach out and give a pat here, a pat there that serves to boost flagging morale, quell disappointment and "always" gives birth to a new and stronger resolve to defeat every setback.
Yes, if someone said India is Incredible, it is. If someone said India is Shining - it is. While we laugh at this from time to time, when Bharat Mata pats you on the back you see the incredible and you realize there is a shine. And there is a small part which is waiting for you to clean up and make visible.
I am not too good at history, so I shall dwell only on today, and maybe make a few statements about the future. Since I work in the security domain please excuse me if I don't move around much in what I say.
Today is a day of celebration, but how can we ? There are 18 naval personnel trapped in a burning submarine and we pray for their safety, while expecting the worst. Five jawans were killed a couple of weeks earlier by terrorists and enemy soldiers. Prices of food, gas, housing is going through the roof and there is no respite.
A freedom fighter, Khudiram Bose, was to be given a 21 round salute on the occasion of his death anniversary and the guns did not work! What a shame - first the guns were blamed and then the bullets.
So what if we have guns which don't fire, bullet proof vests which do not stop bullets, MIG aircraft which crash and kill every month.
So what if we have more than 59 organizations that are to secure us from cyber attacks and no one has heard anything from them. Or that people are still being trained to understand the IT Act which was enacted 13 years ago. Or that the cyber security policy is all policy and control. Lakhs of crores are being spent on giving different numbers to every citizen and connecting every government establishment but no one is hiring ! There is a freeze on hiring but there is no freeze on making God like statements about capacity and capability development.
Oh meri Maa - so many aches and pains I carry but I shall overcome. Hum hongey kaamyaab.
Yes, inspite of all the above, inspite of the incursions by our neighbours, inspite of having only 600 cyber security professionals in the country, inspite of living with unprotected Critical Infrastructure, inspite of all the inspites.....
Thank you Bharat Maa for my land of birth and life - can you please show some magic which will change us from being mango people to real people. Can you please send some national spirit that will make the corrupt feel ashamed of their actions rather than the honest feeling ashamed of the banana republic we are morphing into.
Ok Maa, this is enough, I do not want to be a pain in the butt and steal the celebration from today. I want us to wave the flag and stand with pride for our nation while the national anthem plays out. Pride for our resilience, in our diversity, our history, the do-or-die success of our entrepreneurs, the uniformed forces who walk into near-death situations daily, the supreme court's baton and so much more.
Thanks again and again... Namaskaar and Jai Hind.
Labels: dinesh, dinesh bareja, dinesh o bareja, Independence day, india