Re-Inventing the Soul of India

I am a worried man and I ask any man on the street, “How goes everything with your life?”- The answer is invariably- “I am a worried man”! That explains the state of affairs, in our State- India, which marks the 64^th anniversary of its freedom from the Colonial Masters. Not everyone though agrees with the statement- ‘we are a free country’. The nation is enchained by the plagues of poverty, unemployment, inflation, price rise, violence, fundamentalism; and top up with terrorism and corruption in every walk of public life. One tends to feel a sense of distress and disappointment and conclude- our country is a disaster!

I am not a ‘prophet of doom’, nor am I a revolutionary. Our country has seen many of them and witnessed scores of revolutions. Anna Hazare is the latest one to make our imaginations soar high with a glimmer of hope. The doctor (Hazare) has diagnosed India’s malady: the symptom is poverty, the cause- corruption at political and bureaucratic level and the cure- a strong Ombudsman- Jan Lokpal Bill! The question is will Team Anna and his million-army of fans make India free again? Is this the ‘second Independence struggle’ making India: a corruption-free country, which was once the abode of noble kings and holy monks generating ancient civilizations and renowned world religions? Who can free me if I want to remain in the muck!

We may bask in the glory of our rich past, forgetting the torments of today and the thought of tomorrow. We may even take our seats on the gallery and cheer the team or criticise it on the sidelines. But the point is will I face the problem of today and the prospect of tomorrow? Will I leave the luxury of gallery and be part of the battle in the field? That’s a choice each citizen of the country should make as our country is on the cross roads of history. Otherwise, neither Lokpal nor Jan Lokpal nor any other ombudsman is ever going to pull us out of the mess that we are in at the moment.

It is a moment for soul-searching, looking inward and digging deep into the resources that we possess. That we need to be rooted in our spiritualism: the eternal virtues of honesty, integrity, self-respect...they have to come alive. The mind of a monk, the soul of a sage, the peace of a peasant at work has to be reborn in us. Each citizen needs to be a ‘mahatma’. No amount of coercion and even vigilance from outside is going to liberate us, if we do not want to be liberated. Shall we resolve to get out of the muck! Let this Independence Day be a clarion call for each citizen to re-invent the soul of India!

Shravan Kumar (Anand), MJ II Yr, NISCORT