The true Indian of today

After independence everyone would have been thinking that India would become a better place to live in. It undoubtedly has risen up to the expectations when it comes to progress of thoughts, education, standard of living, eradication of Polio, etc... Even Mahatma Gandhi wouldn't have thought what the current generation would be like the way we are seeing today. The change of government or officials has certainly brought a positive effect in the present day scenario, but what is inbred cannot be changed so easily. It takes an entire youth generation to bring about the revolution. But.... not everyone is as educated as they seem to be. Merely working in an MNC or being educated high class Indians will not suffice to define a true Indian. Even those who are fighting wars and protecting the country cannot be true Indians if they do not know how to maintain cleanliness around. 

So do you want to meet real Indian of today?? You must be curious by now to know what a true Indian implies in today's scenario. Here's your answer which has been given by "The Great Indian." 

I stay in Bangalore, which is considered close to a metropolitan city seeing the kind of population growth and also development. The place where I stay is one of the so called posh areas of the city. For me, India is progressing to a change and I can see 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' happening as planned. I visited Varanasi recently. That is when I realized that I was blinded to the real state of affairs happening in other cities. I was missing out on looking at the masses. I wasn't considering places where it comprises of majority of daily wage earning labourers. There was so much more that could have been done, but it would take an entire youth generation residing in those places to create a change. The old school thoughts prevailing there in majority needed a drastic change. A politician couldn't do much as much as the youth of today. There were funny instances in Varanasi. (Considered to be the holy city of India) No doubt it has maintained its tag from ages when it was called Benaras. 

Cleanliness was visible, but in a weird way. Every lane we passed by in Varanasi to reach any temple or a ghat we could find cows and dogs more than people. Those poor animals were not tamed and left astray to roam free. They do not know what to litter and what not to. I wanted to have an authentic street food in Varanasi. We had breakfast, which comprised of Kachori, sabzi and jalebi. The taste was out of the world but after eating, the question arose in my mind, “Where is the dustbin? Where should I throw this leaf plate?" I looked around. I could see a dog and a cow waiting with eager eyes so that they could clean up the leftover food from the leaves and then the cows would also munch away the leaf plate. Poor animals were living only on such food there. I asked the shopkeeper, " Bhaiyya, kahan fekna hai ?" ( Where should I throw the plate?)

He replied pointing at a place where everyone had dumped the leaf plates, "Wahin bahar phenk deejiye, gayyiya kha legi ." ( Just throw it outside the shop there, the cow will eat it. )

I asked in retaliation, " Dustbin kyun nahi rakha ?" ( Why didn't you keep a dustbin ?)

He replied with a very silly smile, " Areyy.. gayyiya ko khana nahi milta.. Yahi uska khana hai.. Sab saaf ho jayega." ( The cow doesn't get proper fodder or food. This is its food. Everything will be cleaned once it eats this away.)

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. At last I had to throw my plate near the cow. The moment it saw me putting it down, it lunged towards the leaf plates. It licked only the left over part of the sabzi and kachori, looked around for a while and left the plates. Even the cow didn't feel like eating the plates. Alas!! The plates were lying around scattered in one corner only for the dogs to come and smell and take them dragging to some place. In this way a trail of used plates was seen in that lane. I felt embarrassed for being a part of such filth but I was helpless. There was no dustbin visible in any remote corner also.

I was considering myself educated and was thinking I could bring about a change. After seeing the situation, I just felt that if a reform has to come, it has to come from those older generations who still are not able to adapt to changes. It is the youth of the city who have to bring about the change.