The Indian Dream

The Indian Dream

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This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 3; the third edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

This one was really tough for me! (even though I voted for this title) ..I will need to call in the cavalry on this one. My cavalry usually is of half a dozen specialists. Who have specialized in doing absolutely nothing! They arrive, kid around a little and start discussing "The Indian dream".
   One said, " who better to know about the Indian dream than the Common Indian Man."
     n I was like.....
     Who is this common man?
Someone said ;
   Doctors? (Are u kidding me? take a visit to a hospital u'll see they are anything but ""  common "  )
   Lawyers? (gimme a break ! lawyers, common ? haven’t u learned anything from those lawyer jokes ? )
   Bus/Auto/taxi-wallahs ? (yeah right and all those bloggers writing their heart out against their 'tactics' must be the 'bad guys')
   Students? (lols! have u seen students agitating? ..they are force to be reckoned with)
   Govt servants?(really that’s the best you can come up with?)
   how about politicians then ?(lols! gimme a 'second' break, a few more minutes and someone might declare God as "  common "  ) .
   Anyone else got some idea??
 
   This discussion lasted nearly an hour and then our over-developed procrastinate instincts took over. We as usual gulped down everything in the fridge, playing 'nirvana' at high volume. Meanwhile my other natural instinct played in for a nap in the most awkward of times.
   Here i am sleeping like a 19 year old drunk baby and I see a light (was this the long awaited divine realization to an atheist?) ..
   i see a old aged man coming towards me.. he had a not-ironed shirt tucked into some old fashioned jeans, Thick glasses and simple sandals on
  

   Me- hallelujah! God
   He- God! God! , where is god? (nearly shaken)
   Me- U aren’t God?
   He- No! I am the common man!
   Me- COMMON MAN! Didn’t expect u here
   He- No one expects me anywhere :(
   Me- since you are here! can I ask u a favor?
   He- sure
   Me- can u give me an insight on the Indian Dream, I got this blog post to finish for this contest.
   He- what's a blog?
   Me- it’s a.....blah blah blah!
   He- my ears hurt! Leave it ...asks whatever u wants to!
   Me- k lets start! Who are u?
   He- I am the common man. I am one, I am many. I see all but none sees me. I am the crowd, yet so alone. I am strength, yet so weak. I am speed yet so slow...
   Me- ok ok OH! COMMON ONE...Enough with the philosophical mumbo jumbo, let’s get to the business.
   He- U asked! U should be more discreet in your question.
   Me- "discreet" big word for u, don’t u think! Very well
   1. What do u think about "education" in the Indian dream?
   He- Education, hmmmm.. my daughter just got into college. She is doing engineering, she worked her heart out for IIT but couldn’t get in, they didn’t have enough seats for people like us. And I didn’t have enough money to get her into some other hi-fi college. Still 50,000 Rs/- per semester i have to pay. I should have listened to my uncle about aborting the girl child. But no I had to be all modern and literate.
   Me- Good thing you didn’t listen to your uncle!
   He- Me too, but sometimes I wonder if after all this effort she put in, what if her in-laws don’t allow her to work. It’s the tradition in our community that women do the house work and men work outside
   Me- why? women are as good as men in every field!
   He- I don’t live in a metro you see! we have a joint family in a small town so we have to go by the traditions.
   Me- oh! .... Speaking of working!
   2. What about "employment" in the Indian dream?
   He- My son just got a job in a multinational company. He did his MBA last year but couldn’t get a job due to recession, times have changed for us now. He sends some money back. Along with my income its more than enough for us to meet our expenses.
   Me- Good for him! Your son married?
   He- No, but we are looking for a suitable girl for him.
   Me- shouldn’t he be the one looking?
   He- I told you about our family, he will probably go for some big city girl out of our community and this is not allowed in our family. We marry where our elders want us to marry.
   Me- talk about old fashioned! So what about you? Any plans for the future?
   He- you get old enough to marry boy, you will know what I mean,
   Leave it. I retire this year from my job! I worked there for 32 years. I have found a nice plot in my area and I want to make a house of my own on it.
   Me- I thought u lived with a joint family.
   He- yes I do, but i pay rent to my uncle, it gets too crowded there sometimes. It’s not like i don’t enjoy there, we celebrate holi, diwali together. A few months ago my cousin’s daughter got married so we all chipped in for help. But a man deserves his privacy. there is always some argument or the other. You won't believe the kind of opposition i got when i decided my daughter would go to college.
   Me- And that was a very good decision you made!
   So all this corruption that i heard you have to bear is it all true??
   He- Its not so bad, once you get the hang of it. Let me tell you a secret work does get done without bribery too. But you need patience, not Gandhiji's patience because that might run out i am talking about common man's patience. This man i know got his retirement money after 11 years of court case.
   Me- ohk! Tell me one thing...all this fuss about India changing.. Is this all true?
   He-Yes its true, I have been taking that same road to work for all these years and potholes seem to be friendlier now. But i did visit Delhi after 15 years and my god has it changed all i see are roads, roads n more roads, I don’t know what they did to all those trees but they really out did themselves on roads. It took me 2 hours to find my relative's place. Though his house didn’t seem to have changed much.
   Me- K... Are you a political person?
   He- Not really, I remember this instance when i took my revenge at a politician. This guy offered me money to vote for a politician, I accepted the money and voted for the other guy. The politician won anyway ... but at least I don’t have blood on my hands..
 
   Wake up! Wake up! Sleepy head you have been dozing off for hours now, this girl has called like dozen times...New girlfriend? ... We got Milan vs. Zurich (btw Milan lost 1-0) in a few minutes and what about your blog post?
 
   "Where is that guy?”, I said . Who? "you must have been dreaming".
   Maybe I was!, You won’t believe who i saw!.....God? .... no, the common man. Oh! .. What did he say? Usual stuff about how life is a bitch..... Did you got something interesting for you blog?
   Not really! He was all sad n grumpy and stuff like all those old guys; my daughter this, my son this... Not one word about the policies of the govt, about Gandhism, religious tolerance, etc.

(Maybe, thats all that common man dreams about... Interesting!!!) 

  No chance ......  I think i need to Google something about the Indian dream.

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