On some days, while commuting to my home, I look over the streets of Dehradun from the corner seat of my shared auto. Dehradun is a would-be smart city of Uttarakhand but it has a number of children who are still engaged in rag-picking.
This makes me question whether India’s future is really bright.
Sorry, but I can’t see it. Let’s try and foresee India’s future.
The future is here! People are picking up garbage from the streets that have not been thrown inside the dustbins. The future is engaged in begging, in selling pyjama tape, balloons, diyas (during Diwali). The future is standing near an ice-cream parlour, looking exasperated and hungry as others have fun with their kulfis in the scorching summer heat.
This vision of the future gives me little hope. Is this the dream we are weaving into reality? Disease, poverty, unemployment, terrorism, social exclusion, disasters – these are the various ills standing in the way of our country’s and our own individual development. And I mean development in a true sense, not in the sense of wanting to see our nation top a chart or a list – the kind of development that ensures every citizen with a sense of security.
What do I mean by security? For example, I don’t feel secure until I have a proper work plan for the day. If by chance someone interrupts my decision-making process, I start losing my mental peace and my day ends in frustration. This results in the workload increasing the next day.
I know most among you must be thinking how something like that can make an individual feel insecure. But yes my friends, it’s true and that is a basic reason why I feel sick so many times for it may be affecting my mental health. So, isn’t my mental health important for me or people near me? People near me also have to suffer when I feel frustrated due to my behaviour. I might end up losing relationships with friends/colleagues/ family/boyfriend etc.
But has anyone ever thought of that how one can create a secure environment for others?
Yes, this is what we need. We need to understand others better than we understand ourselves.
Understanding one’s basic cause of unhappiness and insecurity is important; understanding their thought process is important. We need to create and environment where people can easily exercise their rights without having to remind people of the Constitution. We need to make sure that children who are collecting plastics from dustbins are given a right to education.
It’s time to think about what kind of legacy we want to leave for India.