I was reading http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6433367.stm article in BBC about India topping the Asian billionaire list with 36 billionaires. 2nd in line is Japan with 24. I could not help but feel proud about this achievement. I think it definitely gives you a kick to see fellow Indians at the top (even though people like Lakshmi Mittal made it big outside India). It might provide the drive for us in our own lives to be like them. But I also could not help think about all those people who are still below the poverty line in India (of course it is much worse in some other countries around the world mainly sub Saharan Africa).
On one side India is booming and on the other it is still entrenched in all types of orthodoxies and superstitions. In fact it is in a way promoting these things through the television channels. In the name of entertainment and culture, India has only Bollywood (Mumbai Film Industry) to boast about. Even the news channels now discuss at length about movies and TV serials and its famous personalities. India produces enough food to feed everyone but has enough bureaucracy to fritter it away. It has awesome tourist places but has no roads to approach them. There is no doubt in my mind that India is full of contradictions.
Where is the India of thinkers, intellectuals, statesman, engineers and mathematicians? There is no point just basking in the past glory. President Abdul Kalam has high hopes from a country of 1 billion people. India has to provide the platform for everyone and should recognize the latent talent and should groom it properly at the right time and not just take the credit when someone makes it big own his or her own. I hope our President’s dream of India 2020 comes true where it has a well-rounded development, which does not leave anyone behind where everyone has avenues to become a billionaire where everyone dreams big. I would like to sign off with that hope.
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