India Shining. . . .

Suddenly everyone is falling in love with her. . . .

Few say she has finally awakened. . .
and few say she is young at 60. . .

yes I am talking about our counrty, our motherland, and we. . .the people. . .

Brand India. . ."
it's all over the place.
People look us with respect now. .
The once lowly placed country has now joined the elite club. . .
and is clambering it's way up to the top of the heap.
Suddenly our population has turned out to a bane. The elephant has now decided to show that "size does matter". For the first time, our employment rate is more than the growth of population rate. And believe me all this is much beyond the stale BPO story.

Acquisitions and mergers are here. . .
MNC's are parking their money here. . .
FDIs are flowing in. . .
the GDP is rising. . .
"India Shinning" has really shown it's true colors.
And we all are happy because we have the money. . .

Even the NRIs suddenly seem to feel nostalgic and are returning. . . .welcome strangers!!
"meri desh ki dharti" is the new theme.
Everyone knows the lolly is here.
Personal ambition is driving most of the present change and will continue to do so.
Greed is Good!

Not only economic changes but there is lot more. Lifestyles are changing, people are changing, women are changing. . .
And Bollywood! yeah it has also undergone a drastic change. . .
(Thanks to mallika Sherawat and co)
Now we love to pay hundred bucks to the cooled coffee which was once served hot at a very minimal price.

but few things still remain the old. . .
The society still frowns as women wear less and less and as the youth get "westernized" . . .
But bridegrooms still prefer virgins; and husband's still prefer their wives to cook and raise kids along with their job.
Still "kundalis" are probed into before marriage and girls are checked if they are "manglik" or not. . .
Cricket is still our first love. . .
Khans still rule the bollywood and Fridays are still the same: First day First shows!
And still the "K-Serials" run their millionth episode. .
And most importantly. . .
Whatever changes or not. .
but our "dear" politicians are still the same. . . .And so are their promises!!!

And you can argue to me that we still have thousands of issues and problems. . .
poverty, illiteracy. . .
the rich are getting richer and the poor ever poorer. . .
Human relations are changing. . .
Social networking: people are willing to talk hours with a person thousands of miles away but they don't know the guy next door!
I know we have still a long way to go. . .
The journey has just started, and we are already late. . .
but. . .
let's be happy that we have started atleast now.
Yes! it is the time to put on our dancing shoes!



Happy Republic Day

The Revolution. . . . .

She is everywhere.

You find her at the coffee bars sipping hookah; at the discos and at the shopping malls.
The call centers, the IT industry, the service sector. . .
She is an engineer, she is a doctor, she is a lawyer. . . .
She also plays tennis and lifts weights. . .
She is the face of the big screen and the queen of the small. . . .
And she also is the president of a billion plus population. . .

She is the New Women.

A bit different from her elder sister of the past who was always guilty of ambitions, desires. . .
Her life started and ended in the four walls.
Family, Husband, Kids, In-laws. . . .

The nineties were the break through. . .
We saw the most beautiful her; the Ms.World, Ms.Universe and she ruled a zillion hearts . . . .

But the new millennium saw a different her. . .

"Liberation" . . .Few termed it
But I say revolution is the correct term. . .
As there is still few more steps for the final liberation. .

She is equipped with multi tasking and dons multiple roles. . .
She is a wife, a daughter-in-law, a mom but. . . .
most importantly, she is herself. She knows what she wants, what are her desires are and what she hates.

But still she is termed as "unethical" and "abominable".

Anyway, when was she spared of criticism. . .
when Indira Gandhi decided to step in her father's shoes, the whole world was skeptical. . .
but we all know what the out come was. .

But the question is, is she missing out something, is she paying a price for her newly attained freedom?
And the answer we all know. . .yes!
She is not accepted completely. . .
She might be successful at her work, but her real success is measured as how good she is as a wife, as a mother, how good are her kids, does she respects her in-laws. . .
Burdens, Bondage. . .
When will she escape?

I remember one of my friend telling me, if she had to picture the new woman then she would paint her racing shoulder to shoulder with a man, the difference being she has heavy chains to drag along with her, while the man moves freely. The race never seem to end if she moves ahead; and she is condemned for entering the already lost race if the man moves ahead. . .

Still few things never seem to change, she still fights against dowry deaths, rapes and murders.
Most of them are still denied education. We still don't realize that they are after all half of the population.

But the million dollar question is. . . . .
Is her new achieved freedom at the cost of the men's loss?
Is the years old prophecy of a man's world seeming to end?

.................................

PS: Thanks to Deepika Sharma (Amalgam) for helping me finish this work.