When a child is born, with him is born infinite possibilities, right from being a fighter pilot to a superstar. The aspirations of the parents and family give it a direction of "go ahead child" or make the child choose among different directions of "my way or the highway". The traditions and norms ask the child to conform to perceptions of "look at her and learn" and his desires ask him to break the norm and do "what feels right". A child outgrows his adolescence and lives like a responsible adult in a nation that allows him to live his path. In his struggles the child achieves his dreams through a route filled with failures. Hopefully he dies content.
Even before I was moving from the adolescent phase, I was coming to know that in our nation birth mattered more than deeds. That was different from what I learnt from my childhood stories of the Upanishads, Ramayana and Mahabharata. The story of Raja Bharat of our land Aaryavrat adopting a son to be the next king because he found none of his nine sons capable of being a ruler, was scrupulously hidden. What was repeatedly told to me was that Yudhisthira was the rightful heir to the throne being the eldest because his father was the rightful king. I was starting to feel comfortable with nepotism and deeply uncomfortable with lack of meritocracy. Our family was becoming smaller and smaller still was I expected to dream. In me somewhere hope was dimming like the profits of a yesteryear corporate.
Today, when we got the election results in four states were declared, I felt alive with hope. Two trends are becoming clear:
Even before I was moving from the adolescent phase, I was coming to know that in our nation birth mattered more than deeds. That was different from what I learnt from my childhood stories of the Upanishads, Ramayana and Mahabharata. The story of Raja Bharat of our land Aaryavrat adopting a son to be the next king because he found none of his nine sons capable of being a ruler, was scrupulously hidden. What was repeatedly told to me was that Yudhisthira was the rightful heir to the throne being the eldest because his father was the rightful king. I was starting to feel comfortable with nepotism and deeply uncomfortable with lack of meritocracy. Our family was becoming smaller and smaller still was I expected to dream. In me somewhere hope was dimming like the profits of a yesteryear corporate.
Today, when we got the election results in four states were declared, I felt alive with hope. Two trends are becoming clear:
- The right to the throne (if there is anything like that) does not belong to the bachcha of the raja or the family cooks and drivers
- The regional and multiple "shadow-lines" based groupism disappearing to give way to growth
I am not a man of politics but a man who thinks and believes. I believe that the good part is that unlike what I grew up observing, the future is uncertain. We seem to have found some happiness back as the flame of hope is becoming stronger in the winds of change. I feel our children can live their dreams and I think we too have the chance of dying content, maybe attain nirvana. That humming sound you faintly feel in your head is the Aarambh of Indian awakening.
