The Face of Blasphemy

The face of blasphemy is not the devil nor a demon nor any thing creepy crawly that gives you the heebie-jeebies in the night. It is not a firebrand orator nor a sexual deviant nor a rabid insurgent. No. The face of blasphemy is not something so blatantly hideous. It is much more insidious than that. It is shielded behind glinting spectacles and immaculate blue turbans, or crisply starched sober saris, or heavily bearded and mustachioed fair faces. It lurks behind rousing oratory and white cotton saris, dalit beginnings and statue worship, aging fingers and moth-bitten scripts, glittering raths and jingoistic moorings. It shrieks with delight when assemblies are disrupted; it cackles with abandon when bills bite the dust; it gloats and gloats and gloats as the gears grind to a total stop with the populace crushed between them. Welcome to the madhouse. Here’s the end of the world, this blasphemous altar of greed, avarice and faithlessness. Here’s to the system.

A cynic I have become, but not by choice. I dreamed as others dreamed when we returned a unified mandate after so long. I proudly brandished that still wet ink on my finger as a badge of honour, as a testament to the fact that I had fought the good fight and played my own miniscule part in bringing back hope and belief in the country. This was the heralded new dawn when we march out boldly onto the global stage and showcase the sheer power, talent and might that dwell within our shores. We were going to take the bull by the horns, break the shackles of colonial submissiveness and roar out loud like the fierce tigers that we are. The world was supposed to quake in awe as we strode across its length and breadth like colossi. This was our promised land. This was our destiny. And this was what they took from us. The mandate, our mandate, became a mockery as Delhi became a ludicrous parody of democracy. Bills weren't passed, policies weren't implemented; heck even a single day wouldn't pass without some uproar or the other in the legislative houses. The logjam only worsened as the regional satraps ran riot and the technocrat lost whatever little spine he had left. Maybe the 123 Agreement had taken too much out of him. How else can you explain this indecisiveness when the nation stands at the cusp of greatness! The Golden Bird, poised to take flight, still teetering at the edge; a sorry image, a sorry figure, and a very sorry state of affairs.

I just rant and rave though. I don't have a solution. I don't think anyone has a solution right now. All politicians have the same smarmy faces and the same smarmy smiles that make you reach inside your pocket and hold on tight to your wallet. I am generalizing too much. I agree. There will be a few gems here and there in all this gunk. But there is just too much damn gunk! It has gotten to the point that I open the tabloid section first before going to the headlines. It doesn't do my early morning self any good to see yet another face bang in the center of the page with some astronomical amount running across in bold typeface below it. I'd much rather read about vapid starlets and their inconsequential fifteen minutes of fame.

I don't know what triggered this harangue. Nothing specific that I can put a finger on. I guess there was just too much pent-up frustration. To see a bold price hike recanted so blatantly at the whims of coalition dharma is just so demoralizing. A single policy decision can't be carried out without some idiot pulling the chain and bringing the entire machinery down to a grinding halt. GDP growth is screwed, investments are screwed and infrastructure was anyway screwed. Everyone knows we are the growth engine the world is looking towards. We are going to be the biggest economy in another 40 years. Experts don't doubt that at all. But I don't think along such lengthy timelines. I just look back to that ink-blot on my finger and I really hate where I am right now. This is definitely not what I signed up for. I want fire and thunder, heavens rumbling and earths shaking, throbbing pulsations and electrifying palpitations. I want vision, drive, dream, conviction. I want someone, something, anything to believe in. I want my birthright as a proud son of the greatest nation on this planet!

Like I said, I don't have any solutions. I hope someone somewhere has them.