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Three legged race horse.....

Imagine a racing event with pure breeds lining the gates, impatient to get off the blocks, neighing to show off the power and in their midst a horse which looks impressive has pedigree but somehow it seems to have one of its legs tied and that too by the jockey. If at the end of the race the three legged horse ends up second will you as the owner of the horse rue the fact, that it did not win the race and retire it to the stables or untie the leg, get the jockey on your knees give him a sound thrashing as one would give an errant kid, put him back in the saddles and promise the jockey a repeat hiding, if he did anything more than move an inch in the opposite way during the race.

Think again what you would do, why should it be any different when the horse in question being India, the jockey our esteemed politicos and the race, the race to create a livable future for all and live up the ideals enshrined in the constitution.
A growth rate of 9% over the past years, trillion$ club, outflow from the country on par with the inflow of investment revenue. Anyone would be led to believe the government is leading a revolution and so it should seem considering it is being led by a globally recognized fiscal expert. Time to think again, industry having to cope with multitude of restrictions, power woes leading to almost 20% off times, infrastructure which would make a martian proud, accountability and responsibility by the bureaucracy woeful and the Indian mindset of “chalta hai, what to do its karma” aiding in underutilization of potential.

Why is it that we blame the nuts and the bolts on the politicians, why are they our favorite target practice. Good politicians do exist, who are not corrupt, who think for the betterment of the society. Then why is it that only the bad lot get highlighted. No one talks about a politician leading a campaign for social justice errrrr not the reservations, I meant equality not inequality. Why do we not cover politician setting up schools and not engineering/medical colleges. Why do we not cover politicians talking about growth and opportunity of employment through empowerment at election rallies rather than free power and free jobs for anyone who bothers to turn up to hear the poor fellow. Is there such a kind in the first place or we have seen the last of those kind go extinct along with a multitude of visionary journalists, teachers and such during the period since the 80’s.

Corruption is anathema to growth, any thing which is corrupt will corrupt the surroundings. Corruption is like a skunk in the rose bed. We know the rose bed is untainted and fragrant and looks gorgeous but the skunk will make the whole experience nauseous. This is what a few corrupt in the political class do to the image of the political class in the Indian consciences. We know there exist good thoughts and visionary amongst the people who fill up the benches, but when faced with people who do not think twice before bribing or getting bribed for crossing over parties on which they have won to a party which they poured scorn on during elections., people who will kill to win, people who will sell their souls and passports, people who think nothing of denigrating the sanctity of the hallowed precincts of the parliament by hurling footwear at each other what is there for the common folks to think of them. Even if they deserve the benefit of doubt, the doubts are just growing longer and longer over the period regarding, if these people really deserve to be put in posts which carry such high levels of responsibility and commitment needed of them.

We get to hear that we deserve the kind we ourselves are, we chose people so we deserve them. I refuse to buy that argument. Even if I buy a 1 rupee toffee I am entitled to redress and reimbursement if the toffee is defective so why is it that I am denied something of the kind when we vote in a government. A case in point being we are stuck with the mother of all inefficient governments as of today, even Nero will turn in his grave as someone has just stolen his thunder and the adage of Nero fiddled when Rome burnt to “Someone wanted Mumbai to be shanghai when farmers couldn’t afford the ticket and chose to end their journeys” kind. The power crisis has hit the roof and I am writing this in the light of the laptop screen, something which settles scores with my earlier generation which studied by the lamp light. So who says it’s the 21’st century, its still middle ages in here.

The best are supposed to rise to the top, the best filtered out from the chaff for a job, the best should survive and win a race. Think, if the winning a race was bribing your completion to race slow or you getting a handicap of starting of a few feet from the finish line or better still hiring muscle power to stop the completion from even taking off while you stutter and splutter to the finish, is that a fair finish, does the winner deserve the win in the case. Is that a race or a mockery of the people putting faith in the race to decide the best.

In all aspects of life eventually the chaff gets shorn off, the rivers cut through the stones, diamonds are sorted from glass then why should politics be any different. It is high time the ruling class needs to realize the impatience that is growing against them from the common folk. We live in a democracy and Indians always have been pragmatic when it comes to deciding their own fate. We also have a high level of adjustment factor but if and when we have been tested by internal or external forces the backlash has been severe enough. We threw out the kings when we had enough of them, we threw out the British, French and the Portuguese when they got a bit more intrusive than just playing rulers. The present day novae rulers, the political class needs to remember that they serve the constitution and their duty is first and foremost towards the country and not onto themselves. They need to get their act together and fast, India is in no mood to compromise and compromise it wont. We have a destiny to fulfill, a vision to succeed, a path to greatness great not in wealth or power great as in all living souls being happy and taken care of. It is utopian but then like the mirror is for showing the true face, the mirror is also for imagining the ideal us. The mirror speaks to us in multitudes of images, the past, the present, the future.

Speaking of the mirror throwing up many images just imagine the future, if we have the right people in the right places working for the betterment of the country, the growth will not be slave to a select few. It has the potential to be all encompassing and benefit the multitudes from the lowest of the income groups to the high fliers, from the small scale industries to the Indian multinationals. From the farmers owning share crops to huge landowners. The growth will be an pan Indian growth, if only we have the right people. If only we could untie the legs of the horse and spank the jockey back to his senses. If….

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