Skip to main content

A Tribute

When I talk to people, various subjects come up and eventually the things we talk about change. And I guess, that must be the case with most of us.

A few days back, I had a talk to someone who is one of the most important people and also the one I look up to and admire. He's the one who has been there through my thick and thins and helped me whenever I needed help.

The day was the last day of the Ganesh fesitval and the joy of Ganesh immersion surrounded all around us. All but me. Behind the truth that festivals like this bind the people together lies a fact about what effects it has on the environment. But, what disappoints me the most is the fact that in the country of 1 billion people and 63 crore literates, why can't we stand up for what we feel. There are millions in the country and probably tens around us who know and have a strong opinion that things shouldn't be the way they are and yet, they do nothing about it. Why do we always try to be one of the crowd and not the one whom the crowd would follow? Why are our opinions and decisions so frail that they can be mould by anyone who wants to?

I asked him these question that day. And I got my answers to quench the thirst of the years I had been wondering about them.

He just said and everything began falling into perspective:
"Life will give us all the choices, but, what we choose will decide our destiny."

You can choose to be a either Bill Gates (Microsoft co-founder) or Steve Jobs (Apple Inc. co-founder) and wish to change the way people live, you can choose to be Barack Obama (President of U. S. of A.) or Nelson Mandela (the first black President of South Africa) and change the way people perceive politics and remove the age-old beliefs about it, you can be a terrorist or a gangster and create fear in the minds of people about the nature of humanity on the whole. But, in the end, whatever you choose will decide your destiny.

So true! We want to be one of the crowd and never initiate change. We want to sit back and cry foul at the system, but, we won't get into it and change it. We want all the happiness in the world, but, we don't mind spreading tears in the eyes of someone else in the making.

And here's the answer to my question. If we need change, if we want change, we should change! We should shed the belief of what I can do and rather believe with the fact that only I can do. We can't have everyone on our side in the battle of change. There will be cynics, critics and those who follow these blindly who will oppose us, but, if we lose the courage to fight for what we think is correct, it won't probably ever change.

So, in fact, the onus finally falls onto us. Are we going to lead the change or flow with the change. The choice is yours...

Signing off... Hoping to see you soon...
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

May The Light Shine.

I have respected the need for 'Freedom of Speech' ever since I first understood what it meant, sometime during a Civics class in school. It is the necessity for a society to grow. Ideas and opinions need to flow from one side of the table to the other. As a proponent of free speech, this freedom is something I take very personally and seriously. But, today, almost 18 months after one of the most hallmark decisions taken by the Indian electorate, I wonder if such a freedom exists anymore. It does exist in the Constitution, technically, but on the ground? I'm skeptical. A democracy like ours is very complex for me to explain, but a few things that I believe are underlying to the very fabric of our country are the need for rules and laws that are common to everybody. That all people, all religions, all languages must be treated equally. Yes, the Constitution of India doesn't recognize a national religion or national language. Hinduism isn't the national religion...
2 comments
Read more

Individuality.

Until a couple of years ago, my short temper was one of my biggest regrets and an understood weakness. A lot of times when I got angry over a difference of opinion, my mother would share with me a metaphor: "When the 5 fingers on our hands are different, why do we expect others in the world to be just like us?" That, or the daily recitation of the Indian National Pledge in school that reminded me how India's diversity is its strength and pride, instilled in me the value of every person's individuality, and the respect for the same. For quite a while now, I have seen people (and Indians in particular) struggle with their identities. Especially since a single opinion you have can come to define your identity among a group of people. Support a particular political outfit, and you get branded with a name that is supposed to be an insult. Support a particular idea, and the you will be labelled with an associated leader and interrogated about their mistakes. A lot of th...
2 comments
Read more

A Bit Too Grown-Up... A Bit Too Early?

Note from the blogger: Please, please, please try not being judgemental about me and anything about me from what you read here. It's purely a result of my numerous thoughts. It's always been something I have wondered about... When's the time when you can finally call someone a grown up? When you can finally say that someone is mature enough to take care of himself and how his life is lead? When's that independence, that freedom conferred to him? When can he realize for himself that he can? That he will? Sometimes... The whole concept of English education too, bewilders me. More so because, it uproots the so-called hard-core Indian culture, its tradition and values from the minds of students like me who give themselves the freedom to have contrary views or be cynics to it. May be that's how we are or the way the double-standard of education has left us with... Either ways, it's the way it is... I know most of our parents haven't studied in English medi...
20 comments
Read more