इस देश का क्या नहीं हो सकता

"इस देश का कुछ नहीं हो सकता।" Mr. X sighed, folding the newspaper and slurping his extra sweet masala chai. You would say that Mr. X is a person with expertise in India's socioeconomic or political matters, given his firm declaration regarding India's bleak future.  But, actually,  Mr.X is a symbol for a group of people, who love to deliver this punchline after reading the newspaper every morning.  Who exactly are these people?

These are the people who comment on the mounds of garbage on the roads and themselves chuck the waste of their house on the neighboring lane. These are the people who point at the lack of stringent rules in the country and themselves ride their bikes without wearing a helmet.  These are the people who leave no stone unturned while speaking about the heights of corruption in India and themselves slip a 500 rupee note to the policeman, to escape being arrested upon breaking traffic rules. These are the people who name Indian mentality as "backward" and themselves do not invite widows for the naming ceremonies of their children.  These are the people who are extremely well behaved in foreign countries and themselves drink and drive upon arriving in India.  

These are the passive citizens if India,  who sadly form a major chunk of the population of our country. These citizens have all the time in the world to criticize the rate of development of the nation but are way too busy to, well, actually ACT, to contribute towards the development of the nation.  These citizens talk and talk and talk about the shortcomings of the government and say, " मेरे हाथ में होता तो मैं क्या कुछ नहीं कर सकता।" But to them I would like to ask, do you need to be associated with the government to do something good for the country? The government can make laws and seek for their implementation,  but ultimately it is you who decide to adhere to them. The government cannot knock the door of all the houses and coax its members to follow the rules,  but you very well can, if not of all the houses, then at least of the ones in your locality.  

It is you who can ask Aunty ji to dump her household waste in the dustbin just across the street, instead of littering the road. It is you who can follow the traffic  rules first and then ask Bunty to wear a helmet or a seat belt while driving and train him in identifying colors so that the next time the traffic lights turn RED, he knows that he is supposed to STOP. It is you who can ask Miss Sophisticated to come off her high horse and first clean the stables of narrow mindedness situated in her mind. It is you who can ask Bob to shut his mouth when he compares India to the Disciplined Foreign Countries and ask him to be SELF DISCIPLINED in India too, so that this  comparison does not occur again. 

Folks,  we are a country with the population of more than 1 billion ( 9 zeroes,  just imagine!). If all the Passive citizens decide to turn into Active citizens and do their bit of work everyday, then, 

"सच में, इस देश का क्या नहीं हो सकता!"

Thank you for reading this blog and I'm open to your feedback ( please mention your name along with your feedback). We'll meet again soon with a next blog.

Bbye

Until next time