Fire of the city lights

There’s this strange term ‘hope’ we come across every day. From the hope of getting good marks to that of getting into a certain well known course to living the life to the fullest and to the hope of getting just one more minute to live, hope is all encompassing. We all want to get into that utopia where what all we want is to let go; to lose everything to the omnipotent. Hope is the energy to some and a way of life to others but it remains an integral part of each individual’s life.

In these cruel times however, hope has a different definition. For a Mumbaikar, it’s the prospect of reaching home safely, for a Kashmiri, it’s the prayer to not to lose a loved one, for a child in the tribal village of Bastar, it’s the chance to complete his high school and for a female foetus it’s the wish to make its way out of the womb. “These are desperate times my men”, Churchill would say but our premier doesn’t even have the courage to admit the wrongdoings, the sole reason according to him – coalition politics. The other parties in the domain would not refrain from the use of allegations on matters ranging from CWG scam to the 2G spectrum to black money but when it comes to anti-terrorist policies India as a nation is united.

Since independence Doordarshan and the Prasar Bharti Network have glorified India’s oneness with the slogans of “Unity in diversity”. What they fail to understand is that Indians are united from heart and soul; it’s the pity politics that plays the not so pretty part. George Bernard Shaw once said,” If the government robs Peter to give it to Paul, it would definitely have Paul’s vote”. I’d like to add to that “if the government robs none and does good for both Peter and Paul, it might have both the votes or might even end up with none.” So what these parties do is to basically polarise one side so that they can actually have those “Pauls”.

Even in the wake of such a barbaric terrorist attack, these parties find pleasure in vote-bank politics. One side accuses the Muslim fundamentalists while the other charges Hindu fascists. Like every damn thing they divided in our country, they want to classify the terrorists as – Hindus and Muslims. Divide and rule didn’t end with the British; it actually made a headlong start. Reservation was the first step. They divided us on the basis of castes, created economic imbalance to divide us on the basis of money. They never wanted a India free of ‘regional’ or ‘religional’ prejudices, because India and Indians with a complete freedom of thoughts would mean a death knell to the convention and the rise of development.

My heart goes out to all those who lost their loved ones but this is one time our politicians looked beyond politics. Hope is still the thing that keeps us all going in a nation that promises a lot more but I can just “hope” that gone is the fear and the dawn is near....