FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2011
Of RTE, BMWs and Lamborghinis by Punam Khaira Sidhu
You haven’t written for a long time”, says my mother. I am an inspirational writer and I need to feel to write. I write when something moves me with joy, hope or despair, and of late like all the other “aam aadmis” in this country I’ve just been too shell-shocked with scam after scam hitting our collective conscience. It’s a crisis of faith; no one is sure who to believe in anymore.
The bureaucrats and politicians were always the black sheep but we believed in the judiciary, we believed in the Press, and we believed in some corporate houses whose pristine reputations of ethical conduct had been built up over decades. As the entire North Western Region faced the onslaught of a cold foggy winter, I was dwelling in this numbed state of unfeeling inertia.
And then in the New Year I was jerked out of my somnolence by an incident at the traffic lights. There we stood waiting for the lights to turn from red to amber. The rush of women and children hiking their wares congregated towards the waiting vehicles. Soon there was a bright-eyed youngster, tapping on my window, selling maps for his school fees. What about the Right to Education (RTE) and free and compulsory education, I wondered.
“Buy a map, God will bless you”, he intoned. And then, more hopefully, “Buy, God will bless you with a good husband”. He continued in the same vein, all the while watching my expressions and gauging my reactions carefully —“Buy please, God bless your children”, and then looking at the squat sarkari Ambassador he tried again, “buy please, God will bless you with a big car”. That certainly hit the right vein and catching the gleam in my eyes he quickly realised it too. So the blessings for a big car rained thick and fast and — soon he was blessing me with a Mercedes-S Class no less, and then half question-half blessing a BMW-7 series, ya phir Lamborghini? That was what got me out of my numbness.
I couldn’t help being awed by the potential of the Indian dream as I’m sure are CEOs like Michael Bassermann, Helmut Panke and Stefan Winkelmann and others buying into the India story. The Cassandras can take a hike — look at the brand awareness coupled with the size of the market that this country constitutes: A population of 1 billion of whom 80 per cent are bright young things like my BMW boy. And this is even before the RTE has even been implemented. Let education empower these youngsters and fuel their drive to strive ahead and the only way this country can go is up and ahead.
As long as we have these resources in place, all we need is to keep the faith and be vigilant and draw inspiration from men of conscience like J Gopikrishna who broke the 2G scam. Suddenly I’m filled with the warmth and cheer of the holiday season and the infinite blessings of a wonderful New Year.
The bureaucrats and politicians were always the black sheep but we believed in the judiciary, we believed in the Press, and we believed in some corporate houses whose pristine reputations of ethical conduct had been built up over decades. As the entire North Western Region faced the onslaught of a cold foggy winter, I was dwelling in this numbed state of unfeeling inertia.
And then in the New Year I was jerked out of my somnolence by an incident at the traffic lights. There we stood waiting for the lights to turn from red to amber. The rush of women and children hiking their wares congregated towards the waiting vehicles. Soon there was a bright-eyed youngster, tapping on my window, selling maps for his school fees. What about the Right to Education (RTE) and free and compulsory education, I wondered.
“Buy a map, God will bless you”, he intoned. And then, more hopefully, “Buy, God will bless you with a good husband”. He continued in the same vein, all the while watching my expressions and gauging my reactions carefully —“Buy please, God bless your children”, and then looking at the squat sarkari Ambassador he tried again, “buy please, God will bless you with a big car”. That certainly hit the right vein and catching the gleam in my eyes he quickly realised it too. So the blessings for a big car rained thick and fast and — soon he was blessing me with a Mercedes-S Class no less, and then half question-half blessing a BMW-7 series, ya phir Lamborghini? That was what got me out of my numbness.
I couldn’t help being awed by the potential of the Indian dream as I’m sure are CEOs like Michael Bassermann, Helmut Panke and Stefan Winkelmann and others buying into the India story. The Cassandras can take a hike — look at the brand awareness coupled with the size of the market that this country constitutes: A population of 1 billion of whom 80 per cent are bright young things like my BMW boy. And this is even before the RTE has even been implemented. Let education empower these youngsters and fuel their drive to strive ahead and the only way this country can go is up and ahead.
As long as we have these resources in place, all we need is to keep the faith and be vigilant and draw inspiration from men of conscience like J Gopikrishna who broke the 2G scam. Suddenly I’m filled with the warmth and cheer of the holiday season and the infinite blessings of a wonderful New Year.
