It was yet another afternoon, when we started off on an office sponsored tour. It was lazy Hyderabad Friday afternoon, which saved us from the hectic traffic from Hi-tech city to Birla Planetarium. The occasion was to take Ashirvad (A bridge school) kids to the planetarium and the science museum. When we landed near the planetarium, we met around 150 kids, all lined up in lines. At the first glance, it was a reminiscence of past. Most of the kids were not-so-luck to get into a proper education or schooling. CHORD (an NGO) had set up this school, and QUALCOMM engaged in some volunteering activities with them.
During those 3-4 hours of interaction with the kids, it opened up few Pandora’s Box in my thought process. It’s not that I didn’t know about those realities, but again and again, facing them, and reminding of the present scenario, was an awakening from the temporary slumber under “India rising”. Among all these 7-14 year kids, few were bright. But many of them may not posses the standard of their schooling academic credentials. I had requested my colleague, who organized the quiz, to ask the kids to speak on any topic for a minute/half in English or Telugu, to win a prize. To my friend’s delight, who thought they mat not be able to, none of them could talk on Gandhi or any other topic. Also, some of the answers to “Who is the President of India” were “Jagan, Rosaiah, YSR etc.”
Same day, when we were returning, saw a bunch of affluent family members, guiding other kids, a similar purpose. Who might be studying in the “international schools” with A/C class room, and horse riding being a part of the syllabus. Nothing unfair indeed, however, it just brings the idea of Bharat and India!
The so called Bhart Vs India, might be a creation of the few journalist or intelligence (may be), yet they create a perceivable barrier, to read this line and create a whole set of pictures that depict them. As that TOI “Lead India” campaign once said, India was a resurgent force, and Bharat a laid back, half slept behemoth! And a poem from Gulzar, the great Hindi poet, rightly penned those perceptions.
I think all the progress we see is off course real, however, feel saddened, how far have we gone from the time, when Vivekananda once pronounced, “If millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold everymen a traitor, who has been educated by their own means, gives not heed to them”. After more than a century, from that moment, it feels, we had not proceed further!
These urban and middle class comments were there a century back, few decades back, and these will be there centuries later. But how can we change these, newly formed concept of Bharat and India – a ever significant question mark. Time may change, if I can take few classes, in my off hours for these kids, the gap may reduce if 100s of my friends do something else in their off hours, if our actions will speak for the sadness we feel, and more Bharatiya will abandon Indain-ness to serve Bharat, I hope, my next generation may see a better Bharat, and a more resurgent India!
