You and I in this beautiful world.

Weeks have gone by and we are still talking about Mumbai 26/11, Manglore, Saffron, etc. And our political leaders are back to their old agenda of drawing comunal and religious lines just before the elections.

What saddens me is too see the reactions of people in that Haryana town who praise the policeman who dragged the girl by her hair and God knows what other phisical abuse she was subjected to. What saddens me is to see the lack strong reaction when a girl commits suicide due to harassment from the so called moral police.

But lets face it. And as i mentioned in me previous blog, it is reality.

We have debates on news channels where thinkers have time and again criticised the political parties, the law, the police and any other element in the society that is ideally set up to safeguard the people. But really one has to face it. These are changing times.

We are a nation of a billion plus people with hundreds of groups with their own kind of like minded people.We are after all a democracy. Sometimes i feel we should really change the name of our country to "United states of India". Becuase thats what we aspire to be.

A lot of work needs to be done. If you believe and are scared whenever you hear the cliche "we are aping the west", hear this. Its natural for a species to go after comforts and in these times, the comforts are present in the west. It must'av been the exact oppposite say 2000 years ago?

Ok. So you want all the comforts in life... Work harder and expect less. I agree with some of our top bolloywood actors. Worship your work and work hard. This huge country has to go a long way before getting tagged as a 'developed nation'. But i do say, we have done very good for ourselves.. 50+ years of independence and we have done very well. Want to compare with the US ? They gained their independence what 200 years ago?

These are times that demand hard work and dedication. Dear software colleagues and others in corporate sectors, you can go down in history as the ones who built the modern India.. in a real sense.

The police to common man ration is pathetic. Doctor to people ratio is pathetic. Patients to hospital beds ration is pathetic. I can carry on with more examples.

Technology can be put to use so effectively. Policing such a lot of people is not really an easy task. Network the whole country. Just the way the farmer in the village can check wholesale prices, can he/she not video-conference with the Commissioner of police? What we people in the IT world do is include the manager in the CC when important and debatable things are discussed or decisions are taken. Why can't we have something like that for the police force? Surely you can't believe everyone in power - police, politicians, doctors, you and I are all irresponsible.

Each of us has a role to play. What we need to learn to demand is action from politicians.

It all comes down to personal satisfaction and overall satisfaction of life of a society, a country as a whole. Shed the insecurity that you need to only protect your own identity, family , loved ones. Open your heart and accept differences. You and I are not going to be attacked by the Mughals or the British or barbarians for Timbaktoo. Learn to keep your surronings also clean. Learn to obey rules and challenge them when they really don't make sense.

Make the essential services lucrative. Give more incentives to the NGOs, there is lot more that can be done.

And if you are still stuck up contemplating issues like should we celebrate Valentine's day or not or blame the youth for "degrading" the "Indian" culture. Understand this. Parents play a huge role in educating the young. As parents learn to watch for signs where your childeren are indulging in excesses. Talk to them. Listen to them. If you can do this simple task and take up the responsibility of good, sane parenting, I don't believe you would ever have to worry about our culture getting destroyed.

Learn to appreciate the smaller joys of life. If you can do this, I'm sure we as a nation will figure much higher in the "Happiness index"! You cannot have everything for your self and certainly not in the short span of your life time. Accept that.

Duniya meri jaan, changing times requires, more hard work, responsibility, accountability and more tolerance for just matters.