Happy 58th India!

Today is August 15, 2005. India regained independence from England 58 years ago.She was 21 years old when I was born - a country trying to reassert her identity in a world that had changed in myriad ways since she was last a name to be reckoned with.
It's been a long and torturous climb and while she slips and regresses from time to time, she has proved herself fairly doughty and with a never say die attitude.
Yes, there are many issues still remaining to be ironed out, not the least of which is corruption and apathy. There's the ever present specter of a larger than life population explosion. Of fratricide, infanticide,misogyny and a host of other ills.
Yet, I prefer to look at the glass as half full- we have a ways to go...but I have full faith in the fact that we will one day, sooner than we think, become the best of what we can be.The very fact that we have a President who is not a career politician is beautiful. The man is a symbol of the times and for all you non Indians who talk about this being a purely Hindu nation, I say to you- bugger off. We have a Sikh Prime Minister and a Muslim President. The 3 biggest movie stars are Muslim. The reigning heads of Corporate India comprise Jains, Parsis,Christians and Hindus. Yes, there are dipshits who attempt to subvert it all- aided ably by those morons in politics...yet, we persevere.
Yes, we are a nuclear state- so is Pakistan. That doesn't make this a hotspot for tourists and visitors- we happen to live the same lives as millions and billions of others on this planet.We go to work, play, laugh, procreate ( and how!) and manage to do it all without being awakened every morning to color coded alert levels. Life is a mix of the volatile and serene- give me one place on this planet that is not.
We are not perfect- far from it- but we are not the hellhole of poverty, miasma, and religious fundamentalism we are made out to be. If there is one thing I'd like to change about my country, it's the wish that all of us- all Indians, everywhere, need to feel proprietary about our land- not in terms of fighting or warmongering but as Proud Indians.That feeling of pride despite our many faults is what we lack....at the end of the day, we look at what we dont have and not what we do.
Where else would you find so many diverse peoples, cultures and languages- each with a fully rounded script, well documented historicity and it's own grammar and literary wealth?
Where else would you find a marriage between religions that differ in everything but the fundamental truths? This is a land of assimilation, adaptability and absolute regeneration.
Go visit my land- look at it the way you would New York or London or Beijing- not with the veil of bias but as a denizen of a world that breathes the same air. Accept that every place is but a mirror of the human state- it's a mix of the good , the ill, the sublime and the ridiculous.
Say it with pride- I'm an Indian and I'm bloody proud of it.
We are the worlds largest democracy- atleast we know how to count our votes and ballots- and it's a democracy that routinely appears to fail but at the end of the day will pass muster. 5000 years of civilization dont go down just like that.
If Columbus the idiot hadn't made the error of going right where he should have gone left, we wouldnt have to type in EastIndian on every job/ credit/home/school/ application- what the hell is East Indian anyway? Yet, we as the programmers who actually type in that code, are unable to change perceptions.
Maybe it's time we did. Maybe today, as I walk down New York's canyons, I'll finally meet another Indian and we'll hail each other with a "Happy 15th August!" and listen to some Desh being played by Amjad Ali Khan.
Happy Birthday India- may your 59th be the beginning of another glorious 60 years of freedom and democracy.