A successful lunar expedition, a mind boggling nuclear deal, genesis of a nation oozing with confidence and enthusiasm---our India. A nation without proper toilets, no clean drinking water or food, a nation of illiterates, superstitions, famine and foeticide---our Bharat. Yes, India has been split wide open. We have India, we have Bharat, with both sides pretending the other does not exist.
While with Chandrayaan-1, India attempts to kiss the moon, Bharat is held back by the gravitational pulls of some of its past it should have shed by now but alas it is reluctant to do so. India talks of globalisation and e-commerce. Highly advanced arms and ammunitions, nuclear power resources, state of art roadways and railways. Bharat pleads for drinking water and minimum wages that can keep its millions above the poverty line. India boasts of dollar billionaires and shining technology talent that developed nations are so keen to lure away, while Bharat is still struggling to give its children a minimum basic education and healthcare to ensure that they do not die from malaria or malnutrition.
While Indian women win beauty pageants against the brightest and most glamorous in the world, the women of Bharat never see the light of the day thanks to rampant female foeticide. India brags about its immense talent pool of doctors, engineers, artists and Bharat is booed down by its greedy, selfish politicians.
What is worse than the divide is the fact that it grows every day. Even as more and more Indians buy cars, laptops, cellular phones, luxurious items, the people of Bharat are finding it increasingly difficult to find themselves even the humblest jobs. They are ready to build roads or clean public toilets but even these jobs are difficult to get. It is a miracle that the two nations co-exist within the same geographical boundaries without a civil war.
But the truth is that India cannot exist without Bharat. Bharat provides India its lifeline, its workforce. If you hurt Bharat, India dies!
Anything said in defence of Bharat angers India. We live in the same country and yet refuse to see each other's point of view. India complains about inadequate parking space. Bharat does not even have pavements to walk on. For India, hawkers are a nuisance. For Bharat it is just another means of livelihood. The same words mean different things to Bharat and India.
It is not easy to bridge the two cultures. Bharat will pursue its own agonising destiny. India will continue to grow and flourish and prosper, despite its callousness. It will continue to hire cheap labour from Bharat to slog for them and provide them essential services. Yet it will bitch about growing slums and increasing crime, not realising that they are as responsible for them. But the truth is India, despite its enormous wealth, can never realise its true potential unless it involves Bharat in its future.
Bharat must give up its rancour. It must look at the future with hope, not look back in anger. India must learn to realise that it cannot wish away Bharat and hope to survive on its arrogance and riches. In their coming together lies the future of this great country.
And a day would come with no Bharat, no India, just ONE united, gigantic, prosperous, beautiful nation. Our nation, our motherland.
Waiting for that day…..
