75th FACE-OFF WITH DESTINY

Our country plunged into celebrating Independence for the 75th time and does so with a high degree of consternation and incertitude. With a hand on the heart, no one can say with total confidence that we are out of the dark and deep woods. Despite that, it still happens to be our PLATINUM JUBILEE !! Are the properties of this noble metal reflected in our national character? Are we a stable society resistant to tarnishing? Are we malleable and flexible? Today we should weigh ourselves against the nobility of this metal. Not on a scale but scrutinized without hyperbole to see if we deserve to be plumed with Platinum!

Its silver-white colour signifies maturity and experience. Are we really mature and experienced enough to shed our baggage of the past and move forward as one? Where is the maturity when our political parties fight like Gamecocks amid the biggest simultaneous challenges in our history? Can we be called experienced when we let the Hydraheaded Monster of Disease, Low nutrition, Foreign Invaders, illiteracy, Crashed Economy and deepening internal Strife cry havoc and roam our streets? Like Platinum, are we resistant to tarnish? How can that be true when every man on the street knows that Billions of Dollars sitting in foreign banks are still being snatched from the toil of millions? Like this Noble Metal, are we stable, malleable and flexible? The biggest anchor for stability is economic wellbeing. We have only promised to disappoint again and again. "Garibi Hatao" slogan in the early 1970's attracted millions of hopeful and aspiring votes. Today, 50 years later, we have the world's highest numbers living in abject poverty.

Are we not set in stone as far as our biases of caste, religion, language and region are conc e r n e d ? Aren't all s t a t e s f a l l i n g over each other to enact laws banning workers from other states, as if they were from the Enemy Territory? Lastly, Platinum is the best Catalyst for controlling pollution! Despite the government's relentless Swach Bharat campaign, you will rarely find a single immaculate street. Despite strict guidelines on Traffic, you will find scores defying death. Despite the multitude of food inspectors across the country, you hear of thousands of novel ways to contaminate milk, medicines, sweetmeats, ghee, alcohol, soft drinks, etc. With 280 crore hands, we could pick up every shred of rubbish from our streets in barely a week's effort.

Can't we pass this litmus test of true Nationalism? Writing lofty words on social media is not even worth the bytes they consume! Stop lurching from being Geopolitical Experts to Biotechnologists, to Social Engineers, to Arms experts. Just move out of those armchairs and pick up those pieces of rubbish you step over each day! That will be a game-changing beginning towards forging into Platinum form! This transfor med environment will surely become an inspiration for us Indians to work together to overcome the other challenges looming large! Let's stop switching between roads of pessimism and optimism. Let's take the narrow and straight and cash in on our greatest talents and the world's hardest working people. We are the youngest country with more youth in their peak working ages than the combined populations of North America and Europe.