Give A Thought

I was coming by bus to Rangayana. I was thinking to write to write an article. I saw a 76 years old man who was travelling along with me. He was talking to himself very loudly. I felt very unusual about him. He was well educated and he was speaking English in British accent. I came to know that he was an actor and a freedom fighter. He was talking about movies and freedom struggle. No one was interested in his talks but my ears caught attention when he spoke about freedom. That was the moment I decided that I will write about Independent India in my article.

As we all know Independence Day is celebrated on August 15th. Are we really independent? ya may be, but for the namesake. If the question is somewhat like this, Are we free from slavery? Are we free from foreign rule. Then the answer will be yes, but even this is for the namesake. We are still dependent on other countries for many things we are not independent country we are trying to be independent country. There is a lot of difference between freedom and independence.

India is a democratic country, of the people, by the people and for the people. Still we are slaves under corrupt politicians and bureaucracy. Common man or middle class man is not at all bothered about his country, for him its just a living place. We talk about politics, religion, social upliftment and other service motto topics only when there is any get-together or parties.

Youth are busy finding their own destiny without any clue about India's destiny. Only few are really working towards India's future. You can call it as patriotism or service motto without any expectations but believing in revolution and renaissance.

I was shocked when I heard and saw few instances like in some private schools and colleges Independence day was celebrated on 14th of August and on 15th it was declared as holiday. We should not forget that Pakistan celebrates its Independence day on 14th of August. Are they celebrating Pakistan's Independence day by hoisting Indian flag? Few educational institutions who are responsible to educate pupils about our country doing this shameless job. I am really very proud to know that in government schools Independence day is celebrated on 15th of August. That is really fantastic job. Government schools may lack in providing the proper academic education but they are really doing a great job by filling proper information and education into the minds of budding futures of India. I think Indian history should be the major aspect in our education system. We really lack knowledge about it. Rather than working for the the future of India, at least we can gain knowledge about Indian history and respect it.

These days Independence day has become another national holiday, but few of my friends who work in BPO's and other outsourcing companies work on Independence day, and they have holiday for America's Independence day. Even though its seems funny. If you think consciously they are doing a very good job. They are working on a national holiday that too on Independence day and serving Indian economy. Where most of the people enjoy or waste time sitting in front of television watching patriotic movies and enjoying snacks. We celebrate Ganesha festival throughout India and other regional festivals and other regional socio-political festivals like Kannada Rajyotsava in Karnataka. I am not against them nor against their respect and concern towards it. This is where the regional criticism occurs. Rather than bifurcating regionally or religiously we can be unite and work towards the future of India.

We are least bothered to celebrate Indian Independence day, we are so busy on the Independence day or Republic day that we don't have time to stand for our national anthem and respect it for at least 52 seconds. "Unity in Diversity" is lost long ago. Now the saying should be. "No Unity Only Diversity" Alas this is India, and what will be the future of India?

There are many issues for the lack of development of India and I am not here to enhance or emphasize it, When root itself is corrupt then we cannot expect the tree to be strong.

An Embarrassing Story

My mother showed me a marriage invitation of a known far relatives' who is also a friend of mine and asked me to attend. His name is Mahendra but his face was erased from my memories. I was very much curious to know who that guy was.

Usually I don't attend any marriages (relatives unless they are very close to me), and finally I decided to attend the marriage to recollect my memories. I had a very vague idea about Mahendra's family. He is a close relative of my cousin who is very more close to me.

I went to marriage which was on 19th October 2008, and once I saw him, my curiosity was ended there. Actually, I had met him in one of my cousin's marriage 6 years ago.

I went to the stage to greet him. I was posing for a snap, then suddenly my eyes caught interest on a beautiful face. In fact, I know her, I had met her in the same marriage where I got to know Mahendra 6 years ago. I gave a smile as soon as our eyes caught for a fraction of a second but I think she didn't notice me at first instance.

I went to have my lunch but she was in my mind all the time. I went to flashback immediately. My mind sat in a time machine and switched the rewind button of my life.

I do not remember the exact date or month but I am sure it was in 2002. I was doing my first year degree.

I had been to my cousin's marriage, usually we celebrate our marriage ceremony for three days first day is varapooje, second day is dhaare and the third day is sathyanarayana pooja. I think I am going out of the story, fine I will come back to the main story.

I went to marriage on the first day (6 years ago). I saw a girl who was very cute. She made friendship with my sister and got introduced herself to me through my sister. Actually, I know that I am not that attractive by nature but I do not know what made her to get attracted to me, I think that's my attitude. I had long hairs, I was fond of wearing T-shirts, jeans and I had a pointed zip shoes which is called as hunters, my usual dress code was like that. She used to tell me that I am her Hrithik Roshan, please do not laugh on this as it was very much true for her.

We spoke for a long time that evening, gossiped for hours, had food together and she was not at all ready to leave me. I had a very fair idea that she was very much interested in me but did not speak about this. Next day, I went to the marriage and she proposed me, which was not much shocking as it was understood. I was thinking whether to accept it or not as I was single at that time [even now ;-) ] but took some time to think.

A guy came to me and spoke to me. He told me that he had a crush on her and was thinking of having a serious relationship with her but she was more interested in me. When I came to know this, I felt pity for him as he was a very nice guy so I decided not to accept her proposal for him and started ignoring her. She was very adamant and was not ready to give up at any cost. I do not know what made her to do so as we were knowing each other only for few hours. I think her problem was her age as she was in her teens which made her to behave like that. But I was very firm in my decision and I did not accept her proposal, I felt very bad as I broke her heart but I was helpless as I had to sacrifice her for him. She cried a lot but I was firm on my decision. When that guy came to know about this, he told me to accept her proposal as he wanted her to be happy and he was ready to give her up for me. That situation moved me a lot and made me more strong to stand firm on my decision. Everything ended up in an abrupt manner as she left to her place on the third day of the marriage. But she was very much disappointed and I think she was very much angry on me. As the time passed by my memory lost its data about this story, so I will come back to my main story.

By that time I finished my lunch, my mind again took a ride to the present. I just turned back and saw that she was sitting behind me for lunch.

I decided that I will talk to her, so I was waiting for her to finish her lunch. Usually in every marriage ceremonies, I just go there to have food and move on but since I was attracted to her and was very much keen to talk to her, I was thinking about staying back for some more time passing time talking to my mother till I get a right time to meet her and my mother was very much suspicious about as to why I am staying back for such long time but I made some excuses to stay back lying to her that I had to pick a friend and was waiting for his call.

Finally, she came after her lunch. I saw her and smiled at her with lots of enthusiasm but she ignored me. I was about to approach her but met the same guy who was in love with her from past 6 years and I was shocked to know that he still loves her. I got a call so I just took a leave from him and came out to attend it. At that time, she came out to wave her relatives who were leaving. Seeing her coming out, I was so excited that I held the call to say HI as she came walking towards me, we were like face to face, I called her by her name but to my shock she didn't respond, she just passed me without even looking at me, I tried once again calling her, in fact, I called her with loud voice but still no response. Everybody around me was staring at me, but she walked out as if she did not hear anything. I was very much embarrassed and totally dumbstruck by her behavior, Man that moment was horrible. I do not know what made her ignore me. I think I got what I did to her 6 years back, but I know my reason to ignore her was genuine.

I cannot digest when someone ignores me that too when its a girl and in public, God damn!!! it was a horrible situation. I went back inside, took leave from my parents and left the place. Outside when I was starting my bike, she was standing near the gate and was staring at me, but I just ignored her and went away without noticing her.

I do not know what made her to behave like that but one thing is for sure that this situation will haunt me for sometimes. I went to a tea stall to calm myself. Within no time my embarrassment was in the air in the form of smoke and my frustration was cooled with a chilled soft drink.