so one would wonder why our petty personal problems seem so huge when the entire world is undergoing such an upheaval.. when ppl in egypt and iran and tunisia and libya are fighting for their right to live as citizens with basic political rights, and politicians in pakistan are getting shot for speaking against enforcement of misinterpreted fundamentalism, and the Indian state is reeling from scandal after scandal... we're stuck in our own petty dramas..
its strange really.. today i gave a chaiwalla a talking to for employing kids to wash glasses and stuff, and told the kids to go to the nearest available govt. school, and yet the discussion initiated among friends wasn't about the child labour, it was about the 'cute' guy i was standing around sipping chai with...
there are hundreds of things happening in the world that we seem to utterly ignore.. like a fly buzzing in teh background, a sound heard but ignored, brushed aside to accomodate the loud fanfare of the 'personal'.
was watching a report by Barkha Dutt on NDTV yesterday.. she's currently in Libya travelling through the country and sending reports about the conditions there.. and the report featured several young people who have taken over the functions of the border police and are guarding their towns and their people from the loyalist forces supporting gaddafi. Egypt was also driven largely by the young educated people protesting against the stagnant economy and oppressive political class. Tunisia saw the same demographic challenging a long entrenched government. its like a wave of rebellions.. and yes i use the word knowing full well that the rest of teh world is using teh term 'Revolution' for what is happening in these countries.. only time will tell if these uprisings will lead to concrete steps towards freedom and democracy or whether they woud lead to the creation of an even more opressive regime... however.. i digress.. my point essentially was that almost everyone i see around me here in Delhi lacks the kind of gut and drive and passion that is visible on the streets in these countries. we seem to be so busy in our own humdrum lives that the rampant corruption and shocking scandals involving every possible entity with power elicits at most a cynical 'This is India". makes me wonder where this country really is going.
ah well.. hopefully... teh world ends in 2012 and we wont need to worry about the 'future'.
its strange really.. today i gave a chaiwalla a talking to for employing kids to wash glasses and stuff, and told the kids to go to the nearest available govt. school, and yet the discussion initiated among friends wasn't about the child labour, it was about the 'cute' guy i was standing around sipping chai with...
there are hundreds of things happening in the world that we seem to utterly ignore.. like a fly buzzing in teh background, a sound heard but ignored, brushed aside to accomodate the loud fanfare of the 'personal'.
was watching a report by Barkha Dutt on NDTV yesterday.. she's currently in Libya travelling through the country and sending reports about the conditions there.. and the report featured several young people who have taken over the functions of the border police and are guarding their towns and their people from the loyalist forces supporting gaddafi. Egypt was also driven largely by the young educated people protesting against the stagnant economy and oppressive political class. Tunisia saw the same demographic challenging a long entrenched government. its like a wave of rebellions.. and yes i use the word knowing full well that the rest of teh world is using teh term 'Revolution' for what is happening in these countries.. only time will tell if these uprisings will lead to concrete steps towards freedom and democracy or whether they woud lead to the creation of an even more opressive regime... however.. i digress.. my point essentially was that almost everyone i see around me here in Delhi lacks the kind of gut and drive and passion that is visible on the streets in these countries. we seem to be so busy in our own humdrum lives that the rampant corruption and shocking scandals involving every possible entity with power elicits at most a cynical 'This is India". makes me wonder where this country really is going.
ah well.. hopefully... teh world ends in 2012 and we wont need to worry about the 'future'.
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