Waiting On The World To Change
Exactly two years ago, I decided to suck it up and start writing a personal blog. So, happy birthday blahberandthelike :)
Exactly three years ago, however, India faced the first of what were the most torturous four days that I can think of, in my lifetime. 26/11. I can’t even call it a terrorist attack because it was more than just one attack. And every moment that you felt it would end, it just went on for longer.
26/11/2009 marked one year since the attack. I remember sitting at home, alone the entire day. I was watching the news. And the tears never stopped. Feeling helpless, I wanted to do something. I wanted to say something. But as a 16 year old girl, I really didn’t have options. Except to may be study really really hard and someday work within the system and impact change. That day, it felt like too long a wait. All I could think of was to write. To write how I felt and in some way, let some people know that I probably felt the same way as them.
Cynics possibly view candle light vigils/marches and stuff like writing and reading about such things a very superficial effort. Perhaps, equal to a non effort. Because you may get the candle sales up and you may show that you feel a certain way (like a lot of others do too) and that places like India Gate are an apt background to that picture but you are not effecting change. It’s a concrete representation but it’s not a concrete effort leading somewhere. Because you can read as many books, articles, etc. and write wherever and whatever you feel but it’s close to inaction. It’s all symbolic. Which isn’t bad but you need to back it up with action. I’ll agree, I am a partial cynic but then I am a partial romantic too.
It’s not like I think my writing on a blog, which isn’t even read by many people to begin with, will help bring a change. But I believe symbolic things like celebrating or commemorating an anniversary of a good or bad event is a step. A lot of people treat birthdays or anniversaries of other things like just another day and wonder why some people make a huge deal out of it to begin with. I respect their opinion. But for me, I'll tell you why they're important. We've enough reasons to not celebrate or commemorate things in life or be happy about certain things [I am not suggesting we need to be happy about what happened 3 years ago, but anniversaries in general, for instance, my blog turning two]. You and I both know we come across more bad news than good ones every day. It's easier to see the negatives too. But what I feel is that, every year, be it your birthday or a significant event that doesn't bring back good memories, celebrate it or respect that it happened and take what you can from it. Because when it comes to marking events like 26/11, you acknowledge that it happened and pledge that on your part, you don't want to see another one. You make sure that the people who lost their lives and the reasons for which they did, haven't been forgotten.
In the last three years, there hasn’t been significant progress. Political will sure seems to be standing, not just in the way but also, still. And forget terrorism and non-state actors from other countries, India has seen State actors behave in an anti-state manner. The garbage from within the country is honestly overwhelming. ‘Scams’ - possibly the most used word in headlines over the last year.
In class 11, during a History class - actually, this was right after 26/11. That year, we had a lot of communal disturbance in Orissa - civil unrest, riots against the Christians in Kandhamal. During that History class, we discussed priorities. Do we first clean up the mess within the country caused by our citizens or do we make India safe from outsiders? What if you make India impregnable and it takes such a long time to get there that you realise you no longer have one India but Indias? At another level, by the time you work on getting your act as a country together, outsiders and really evil people treat it as their holiday home? Of course, solutions to these can’t possibly be reached at in a classroom discussion. But maybe roots for a better/different future could be formed in classrooms. And maybe, generation by generation, we get our scene as a country sorted while the government with a suitable (not for them but for India) political will works within the international framework.
This is an idealist proposition. It’s like this stupid, romantic desire I had, of becoming a teacher of History in school. Have you ever wondered if a lot of children didn’t like History because their teachers taught it in a boring way? So my plan was to become a History teacher and probably teach middle-school history and maybe some of them will go on to like it and will probably pursue it or a humanities course later. And maybe we’ll have relatively more children opting for humanities than now...
Borrowing lyrics from John Mayer :
Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change
It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change
Exactly three years ago, however, India faced the first of what were the most torturous four days that I can think of, in my lifetime. 26/11. I can’t even call it a terrorist attack because it was more than just one attack. And every moment that you felt it would end, it just went on for longer.
26/11/2009 marked one year since the attack. I remember sitting at home, alone the entire day. I was watching the news. And the tears never stopped. Feeling helpless, I wanted to do something. I wanted to say something. But as a 16 year old girl, I really didn’t have options. Except to may be study really really hard and someday work within the system and impact change. That day, it felt like too long a wait. All I could think of was to write. To write how I felt and in some way, let some people know that I probably felt the same way as them.
Cynics possibly view candle light vigils/marches and stuff like writing and reading about such things a very superficial effort. Perhaps, equal to a non effort. Because you may get the candle sales up and you may show that you feel a certain way (like a lot of others do too) and that places like India Gate are an apt background to that picture but you are not effecting change. It’s a concrete representation but it’s not a concrete effort leading somewhere. Because you can read as many books, articles, etc. and write wherever and whatever you feel but it’s close to inaction. It’s all symbolic. Which isn’t bad but you need to back it up with action. I’ll agree, I am a partial cynic but then I am a partial romantic too.
It’s not like I think my writing on a blog, which isn’t even read by many people to begin with, will help bring a change. But I believe symbolic things like celebrating or commemorating an anniversary of a good or bad event is a step. A lot of people treat birthdays or anniversaries of other things like just another day and wonder why some people make a huge deal out of it to begin with. I respect their opinion. But for me, I'll tell you why they're important. We've enough reasons to not celebrate or commemorate things in life or be happy about certain things [I am not suggesting we need to be happy about what happened 3 years ago, but anniversaries in general, for instance, my blog turning two]. You and I both know we come across more bad news than good ones every day. It's easier to see the negatives too. But what I feel is that, every year, be it your birthday or a significant event that doesn't bring back good memories, celebrate it or respect that it happened and take what you can from it. Because when it comes to marking events like 26/11, you acknowledge that it happened and pledge that on your part, you don't want to see another one. You make sure that the people who lost their lives and the reasons for which they did, haven't been forgotten.
In the last three years, there hasn’t been significant progress. Political will sure seems to be standing, not just in the way but also, still. And forget terrorism and non-state actors from other countries, India has seen State actors behave in an anti-state manner. The garbage from within the country is honestly overwhelming. ‘Scams’ - possibly the most used word in headlines over the last year.
In class 11, during a History class - actually, this was right after 26/11. That year, we had a lot of communal disturbance in Orissa - civil unrest, riots against the Christians in Kandhamal. During that History class, we discussed priorities. Do we first clean up the mess within the country caused by our citizens or do we make India safe from outsiders? What if you make India impregnable and it takes such a long time to get there that you realise you no longer have one India but Indias? At another level, by the time you work on getting your act as a country together, outsiders and really evil people treat it as their holiday home? Of course, solutions to these can’t possibly be reached at in a classroom discussion. But maybe roots for a better/different future could be formed in classrooms. And maybe, generation by generation, we get our scene as a country sorted while the government with a suitable (not for them but for India) political will works within the international framework.
This is an idealist proposition. It’s like this stupid, romantic desire I had, of becoming a teacher of History in school. Have you ever wondered if a lot of children didn’t like History because their teachers taught it in a boring way? So my plan was to become a History teacher and probably teach middle-school history and maybe some of them will go on to like it and will probably pursue it or a humanities course later. And maybe we’ll have relatively more children opting for humanities than now...
Borrowing lyrics from John Mayer :
Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change
It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change
Comments
A refreshing one.
Butthe conclusion remains unchanged : It came. It saw. it conquered.
All in all, a nice piece. :)
P.S. - See, whatte difference your birthday which had on me.