I stand in awe of the British. Could we Indians ever have conceived Vijay Chowk an expanse of over 1000 ft, or the north and south blocks or even the GT road or the bulwark of the Indian Railways. The answer is a big No. Look at all cities built by the Indian Maharajahs or the Nawabs and compare them with cities built by the British. Congested lanes, houses packed like sardines, inadequate civic infrastructure and a mess is what generally symbolizes our own creation.
I shudder to think what would have been the state of affairs had the British not entered India. Yes, it is a fact that they also drained our country of precious resources and wealth, but left to us we would also have plundered and wasted the same, of that I am sure.
A glance at the everyday's newspaper tells everything. There are negative reports encompassing every single sphere of our activities. There are serious shortcomings in every single sector of our nation, especially those where the sarkari tantra is in the leading situation.
If everything is bad, does'nt the answer lie elsewhere. Perhaps it lies in our inability to govern ourselves well. This is the disease and everything else is a symptom. But unfortunately, like a wayside quack, we keep ourselves forever busy trying to treat the symptom, without having even the foggiest idea of the root cause.
I am convinced that when we got independence, we were like a five year old who has been let free by the parents. The child would definitely run amok and ruin his or her life. Same has been our story as a nation. An immature and uneducated society was permitted to govern itself, and look where we are.
Is there no salvation? Is there no hope? The answer is a big NO. There is hope provided we are able to throw up the right kind of leadership that is able to lead the five year old (that we still are) through the ups and downs of life to mature into a human being that one can be proud of.
Will the nation ever get such a leadership? Only time will tell.
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