india shining

"Ye daagh-daagh ujaala,
Ye shab guzeeda seher;
Vo jiska intezaar tha humko,
Ye vo seher to nahi !
Vo jiski aarzoo laeker chale thhe yaar
Ke mil jayegi kahin na kahin
Falak ke dasht mein
Taaron ki aakhri manzil..."

These lines from the pen of the immortal, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, held good a few years back. Now I see the sun overcoming the cloud. I see the silver lining. I see my India coming out of the age-old cloud of poverty, misery, of the apartheid attitude of the West for my India. Hey ! India is shining.

Its said when winds move, leaves do shake; and now we all can hear the leaves rustle: for the winds of hope, the winds of optimism, the winds of India are here. And are here to stay.

I'm trying to visualise my India, the world favourite contendor for the permanent membership of the UN, twenty years from now. The image is bright. Nah,its luminous ! Makes my eyes swell-up with pride and honour to be a son of India.

To project future, you have to be well-acquainted with the present. And to hear that my Mother India holds 44% of the world outsourcing market, gives me a kick. And then, to add to it, I hear that we are the world favourite investment hub today ! The FII inflow is soaring everyday like the skyscrapers of Mumbai !

I have also learnt that if you want to project a country's position twenty or thirty years from now, go and have a look at its energy-security policy. And to look at the OVL(ONGC Videsh Limited), gives me some more kicks ! Who could have forseen, for that matter, even dreamt, of an Indian agency taking stakes in foreign fields, and that too, in the field of oil-extraction ! And then to look at the mammoth size of the Indian IT Industry, yes ,gives me some more kicks !

But then, getting a bit more rational and cutting the flame of optimism slightly, I see two moths, trying to block my vision of a developed India. The first moth is called "Unemployment" and the second moth calls itself, "Communal Disharmony". My economic sense tells me that the first moth will be killed by an insecticide called "Development"; but the second moth gives me shivers ! When the world is touching moons and stars, we are digging earth ! Not for oil; but to decide, whether the disputed land in Ayodhya should be given to Ram or to Rahim !!

But then again, the sun of optimism over-comes the cloud and burns away all my fears. And I see my India, sitting in the UN Security Council, as a permanent member, and issuing a veto against another US proposal of yet another war against yet another innocent country !

And I see the word "INDIA", etched on the sun, way above the moons and stars, as if daring the world : CATCH ME IF YOU CAN !!!