INDIA - my INDIA....

yesterday i had quite an extrodinary adventure... i journeyed to India - the real India. all my life i was dreaming about this journey and i finally made it yesterday. i went to a village "arkapalli", mehaboobnagar district, andhra pradesh, india. a village around 60 - 70km from hyderabad. 10km from a very busy road, that can be covered only in a 7-seater auto. what i found there was quite unexpected.

life there is still how it was ages back. i dont know how many of them are aware that what i am doing right now is even possible at all. medical relief is still given out of a doc's home, with medicines that are stocked on a small table. scholl is still some place children ought to go to... but there is absolutely no compulsion what so ever. the one important reason to send the kiddos to school happens to be the mid-day meal, the "guddu(egg)" being highlighted days. a village which has cell-phones but works by the great clock in the sky, and the day ends at 5-6pm when the sun goes to bed.

i had gone there along with some classmates. one of them studied in that village. one day last week we were all wondering what is it that we can do for the world around us. all we had now was time and education. then that guy got up and told us about his village. the village which has both primary and high schools but where students never know what they are actually studying for. where students didnt know what they is there to be learnt and known out there in the world.
for the first time i yesterday i understood why there were reservations for the backward people in my country. i never thought i would sit and urge a person eligible for reservation to make use of it. i did it yesterady and simultaneously made a mental not to know more about reservations. yes i do support reservations now. i know that they are being mis-used just as any other previlage given to a population which has some educated and illeterate people. people unaware of their rights will never be able to use them. people who dont know what is due to them will never be able to make use of all the special offers the government wishes to hand out to them in a sliver platter.

i learnt a lot yesterday... i now understand what the faults in democracy are. i understand what poverty is.i understand that sitting at home safe and sound we can never really comment on the any issues... not reservation, not policies. i understand that INDIA is shining only in the cities and the known world. but inside there is just darkness... a darkness none of these politicians have been able to banish. i understand what is that i really have in life. i appreciate what i have and i know that somehow it is all mine with a responsibility. i cant help but feel that what ever that i have is of no consequence unless i am able to add a smile in this world. knowledge is power!!! that was the motto of my house group at school. how i appreciate that now!!! it is just this little thing that seems to hold half my country back...

where there is no awareness, no knowledge, no understanding... when there is no real fire within you how do you excell??? there has to be something that drives everyone. for us here it has always been very easy. especially so when everything is at hand. when it isnt and there is nothin pushing you forward where will the revolution start??? we are not starting a revolution... we are just spreading some of the light we have in our lives. we are lighting some more lamps to make sure INDIA will keep shining!!!