Rise and Shine

`Since knowledge is but sorrow's spy,
'Twere better not to know.'
Ignorance is bliss. It couldn’t be any more relevant as it is today. We Indians have lived a life under the shadow of monsters like epidemics, illiteracy, natural calamities and the list goes on. All these problems were visible when they were attacking us. We learnt to fight against them , we succeeded to some extent but we never got used to them. They did not become part of our daily life.

One parasite which we could not detect in time was corruption. When did it become part of a normal man’s life , we could not know. We were completely unaware that we were so used to a type of pollution that would cause a very specific type of cancer in the whole system that runs this country. By the time we realized it, it was already too late.

If you meet a cancer patient on the last stage of his disease, you would see the helplessness in his eyes, in his words , in his actions and worse in the actions of people who are around him. At this point only thing which keeps us attached, interested and fighting against the disease is “hope”.

India is sick with the cancer of corruption. We all know that. Carcinogens like corrupt bureaucrats, politicians, agents and lobbyists are everywhere. If you talk about medicine you would know that only way to cure cancer is to get rid of the part which is affected and stay away from carcinogens.

In a country like India where people are just so unaware, uneducated and so dependent on system, it becomes even more difficult a task to actually do something about the problem. The idea of change is so frightening that even the people who are going to get benefitted do not take the step towards reforms.

The fear that the system can not be changed , is somehow reasonable. One should realize that replacing the whole system in one step is just impossible but a step has to be taken to start reforming the system. Anna Hazare’s movement is the hope that we have, all we can do is support for a bit of the change. It won’t promise a clean system the very next day. Just like medicine works, it would start cleansing the system slowly and one day we can hope to have a corruption free society.

Any medication is useless without restraint. A continuous effort would be required from all, including Anna’s team and all the citizens of this great nation to keep the system free of corruption. It is going to be a very difficult journey but now that we have taken first step we need courage. We need “Hope” and we must have “faith”.

In multiple organ failure scenario, one needs to find out the root cause. Then the attempt to restore health is made. We have got our root cause i.e. Corruption. Let’s get rid of it and then restoration of health would be a matter of time. I am sure there are many problems in this country and I bet that all of them can be solved once the menace of corruption is tackled with.

One can not solve all the problems using one medicine. Unfortunately there is no panacea for a country’s problems. Now that we have lived with thousands of problems for hundreds of years we can live with some of them for some more years. When one problem will be resolved there will be way , there will be energy , there will be passion to head towards the other. So Ms. Arundhati Roy , when you come out of your hole and start shouting for other problems, I beg you to keep you piehole shut for a few days. We need to fight together against one problem at a time. Any distraction would be hazardous. You have your own cause ? Please wait, your turn would come. If you can not participate, then at least do not divert attention neither do you try to get any attention right now. Because, believe me, if you play with our minds right now , you would be kicked so hard that you wont find any ground. This goes for every money hungry politician across the country.

We were used to corruption, we did not know. When Thomas Gray coined this phrase
Ignorance is bliss” he did not know how relevant it would be for us. But we have lived lives completely ignorant about these blood sucking bugs in our system. Unfortunately for those bugs we are aware now. India is on the streets and time is not far before we would change this world.
Rise and Shine !!