Utopia

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow
domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the
dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought
and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

-- Rabindranath Tagore

This extract is from the poem Gitanjali which was published in the year 1910. India’s first Nobel Laureate had dreamt that his motherland would be the ideal state once it attains independence from the British. I'm glad he died in 1941 prior to our country's independence for had he lived for another twenty years, he would have died a heart broken man. Far from his dreams, our country is moving in exactly the opposite direction. Most of us have even forgotten the meaning of Utopia and the only time we think of Rabindranath Tagore would be when we sing the National Anthem. Again I wonder as to how many of us know that the said Anthem was penned by this great poet. So much can be said about our patriotism and respect for the dreams of our founding fathers.

I have been a keen follower of politics especially what is practiced in our country. Even while in college, I used to keep track of the political happenings in the national and state levels through the print media. (TV broadcast was yet to come.) It always bothered me that the socialist state envisioned by our first prime minister was in no way close to becoming a reality. Far from an egalitarian society we were moving into a bipartisan society were the rich were getting richer and the poor poorer. Later, our move to Capitalism and open markets only helped to create the largest middle class in the world. The burgeoning consumerism became a heavy burden on the lower middle class and the poor. When I see the opulent life styles of our rich, it puts to shame even those of the Kings. Where else in the world would a city be home to a 27 storey private residence of an industrial family as well as to the world’s largest slum?
As for our politicians, the less said the better. Their only aim in becoming a politician is to fill up their coffers. They totally forget how and why they came to power. Not one of them is accessible to the common man who voted them to power. The other day I happened to read about the Iranian President and his life style. Much as I may not agree with many of the happenings in Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad really stood out as a sincere leader whose sole purpose was only to serve his country.
What made me write this article are the ridiculous headlines that don our newspapers these days. With the fifteenth General elections just a month away, our politicians are all out to woo the electorate. The promises they make would really make one think as to whether we are living in India or in a foreign land. The bounties promised are innumerable. One has to only wish for something and the next moment that is announced by one of the political parties. Just this morning I read in one of the newspapers that the farmers were being promised 12 hours of free electricity. Does this mean that they were given less number of hours of electricity earlier or were not given any electricity? When you read between the lines you will realize that the true beneficiaries of this scheme would be the rich landlords who enroll themselves as farmers to enjoy the government subsidies. The poor farmer still remains poor what with all his holdings in the clutches of the loan sharks!! The plight of the farmers in most parts of India is very pathetic what with the maximum number of debt related suicides happening in their circles. There has been a steep increase in this number in the last couple of years. I wonder if electricity is the answer to these suicides. The politicians are not interested to go to root of any problem nor do they have any intention of solving them. They only want to make these feel good statements which they conveniently forget once the elections are over. They along with the public know for sure that what decides the election is the money power. They make sure that they are loaded with money when they go to the face the electorate. To think that a couple of hundred rupees given to the members of the vote bank is what decides the future of our country is sad as it is appalling.
As a kid when I read this poem, I was truly filled with a sense of patriotism and thought that I would be living in an ideal state. Now Utopia is a mirage we see in the newspapers and the electronic media during election campaigning. So much for the great minds that sacrificed, struggled and gave up their lives so that we could attain Swaraj and live with our heads held high. Wonder when a Messiah will be born!!!