The death of promise....

This week the nation watched with baited breath as a man held back death...fought for his life incessantly as a warrior thrown into a losing battle. Pramod Mahajan died this week and with him another bright star of the country's future passed into oblivion.
Inspite of the many allegations and controversies that the man was neck-deep in, one could hardly miss the fact that this was one of the most progressive and confident faces of a dying institution....the Indian political system. Here was a man who came closest to representing the dreams and aspirations of the youth of the nation.

I still remember the first time I saw the words flash across the screen of my television set: "India Shining". They said it was a bogus claim...that India was never shining, but groaning under the burdens of poverty and destitution....Mr. Mahajan was accused of hurting the sentiments of the languishing millions by claiming that India was shining.

Well I do not know what the facts on the ground were at that point in time, but I can certainly speak for myself....I know what India Shining did to me......
India Shining instilled in me confidence and pride of living in a nation that was on the move...I knew there were people left behind, but I also knew that they would be taken along subsequently;we had embarked ont the journey of a thousand miles...we had moved forward on the path of progress confidently and with belief in the abilities of a great nation that would decide its destiny by making a tryst with technology.

But apparently there were people who felt otherwise...there were people who felt that India should take a step back and go back to its old self where there was no disparity.....because everybody was conveniently poor. Well, in the end it was these people that had their way....it was they that decided that India was not shining.....but they kept missing the woods for the trees, thinking there was no fire because there were only sparks that flew around...no flames. So they doused whatever sparks had been there.
For me, Mr.Mahajan was a hero....he was a man with promise....promise for a better future....a future which envisioned a developed India, a technologically advanced and confident India or as he said....a shining India.