I won't make any excuses for not writing. It's not that I don't like to write. Believe me, I do. I admit I am no natural like some of my friends, but I can string a few words together which sometimes actually make sense. And it's not like that I haven't had anything to write about. In fact there's been a plenty of stuff. A new city, new friends and of course the first job. With all this come new adventures. Add to that family functions, which seem to be the flavour of the season, I have had enough on my palette. In fact if you need any convincing, all you need to do is to have a look at my itinerary beginning last week November: Mumbai, Baroda, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Delhi, Jaipur!
But right now I am not going to write about any of these. I am living a very satisfying life, trying to maintain a balance between work, pleasure and working for social causes. Amongst all this, I have somehow not been able to process the state of things as they stand around me. Let's look at it this way. Congress-NCP have been just voted back to power for the 3rd straight time. And just a day after the first news story i read in the morning reeks of government apathy. As two departments were busy playing turf wars and writing each other letters for the past 2years, a highly avoidable mishap claimed the lives of 2 and injured 11 others.
The rule of majority that our forefathers had envisioned has clearly failed. There are candidates in the newly elected Maharashtra Assembly who polled as few as 11% of the votes in their constituency. Couple this with the abysmal record of governance over the last 10 years and I am forced to wonder as to where are we headed? From where I see it, the pathetic rule is going to continue for the next 5 years. There will more accidents, possible even another 26/11. But nothing would really change, for in our country there is no way voters can call back the elected representatives.
A trend, that is disturbing to say the least, has emerged from these latest elections. It's the growth of MNS's influence. Shiv Sena had needed 6 years to get its first MLA. MNS has 12 after just 3 years of its inception. With Bal Thackeray's health declining steadily it would come as no surprise as MNS establishes a hold over the Marathi vote. Unless Uddhav improves dramatically, it seriously is a question of 'when' and not 'if'.
More than the apathy of the political class or for that matter the rise of another extremist outfit, it's the feeling of indifference that I sense in myself and indeed many like myself that discomforts me the most. Something would have to change. Otherwise all the promise of this century being India's century would remain just that; a dream. Gandhi had said, 'Be the change you want to see in the world'. I guess it's time we took notice.
