Thursday, April 17, 2014

Being Citizen

I usually take note on Google Keep but thought will share this.



People fighting about who to vote for everywhere and I see is no one wants to vote for congress, well fine I dont blame you. There are for AAP and for BJP people. I did vote today and it was not easy but I guess little bit of design process helped me in solving the issue. As I have said this lot of times earlier that design is not about finding the solution it is about finding the right problem and then solving it. I guess most of people would agree to that.

Now look at India's current situation. A country filled with corrupt people(not just politicians) and still no where close to be a developed nation. Economy not growing, and no body wants to stay in India, forget the people who want to come from outside. We feel proud bout "indian origin" people doing great deal all over the world. I dont see it as a reason to be proud. I feel ashamed that our country has lost the great talent and people are working to develop other countries rather than their own. But I dont blame them. They definitely do not have the resources and support in India what they would have there, but I feel bad for India to have such talent and then just lose it because we could not give them the opportunity what they deserve. This is just one of the many scenarios which we see around us. Why is it that almost 70% of my friends going out to do the post graduation? Why is it that 90% of the people I know would like to work out of the country? This is the state of India as I see today.

I am very much for experimentation and trying new solutions to a problem, given the problems found are right. "yeh chor hai, Woh chor hai, Isko jail me dalo, usko jail me dalo, Isko challenge karo Usko challenge karo. Humari mange poori karo" this is what I see one of the party doing on the other side I see people saying that voting for one party shall bring end to free thinking and riots will happen and people will die. If you look at it carefully and logically we all know why riots happen. Mostly it is a political issue to show the other party down, by spreading this fear amongst people what the parties do is not anything to help the country but actually make it happen. It's like inception, they plant the idea in your head. This leads to riots, not just one person. So I totally discard the fear of having riots in the country because of a political party. (On other hand I also understand what being secular is. There is a huge difference between being secular and promoting minorities. Using secularism to get votes buy striking fear amongst people saying you will die if you dont vote for us is shit, I dont think that is being secular). So a quick recap, we have angry people and a guy(not saying a party) with a plan.

What do angry people do? They yell either peacefully or they get violent, when they calm down they carry on. That is the problem I see in AAP. They are angry and they want to take the charge, but they dont know what to do when they get the chance. If you tell me giving away free water and electricity is the solution to a developed India, I will think of you as a fool. We all know why brands give their products for free, it is to lure people to buy shit. Giving countries wealth(talking of essentials like electricity and water) for free is not a solution to long term problems. It will give rise to even more problems in future when we run out of these resources. What will angry people do then? they will yell at earth to give more resources or they will talk about change once again. Giving free resources is not the solution, building dams and using the talent in india to develop alternative energy on the other hand could be a better solution. This is where the other other party BJP or I might say Mr. Modi comes into picture.
I have not travelled much in Gujarat but just been to the villages(not cities) near Maharashtra border for research. I was trying to cope with my motion sickness(where even a tiny pothole feels like a valley) on the roads of Maharashtra and we then entered the state of Gujarat. Suddenly the roads are good and by good I dont mean no potholes but also there are lanes and signage all over. The change would be obvious to even a blind man. It was not just the roads but even the surrounding suddenly changes and everything was so much greener and pleasant that I even forgot about the motion sickness within minutes of entering Gujarat. I have also interacted with lot of people from Gujarat and I have seen them talk about things. They are passionate and they are proud to belong to that state. They dont care if they say hall or hole, They are just proud to be from Gujarat. I know for a fact that the girls there during navratri travel late nights alone, without being worried about creeps following. That is what a government has done in a state and wants to implement the same in the country.
So we have one party who is not sure of what they will do, which came to Delhi and quit in 49 days after realising that they can also try to get some seats in general election if they dont have to worry about Delhi. Their claim to fame is giving free water, half prices for electricity and a CM who slept on street(can you imagine if a PM keeps sleeping on street because no one listen to him?) and on the other side there is this party/person who has a plan and has shown what he is capable of (even the dollar prices go down just when they declare him as a PM candidate)

After looking at things from these viewpoints it was not much difficult to vote. I like the concept of AAP and giving the power to people but I think this is not the time to do that. If it would have been last elections or maybe next elections my choice would have been different but this time I could not let my country take a "chance". All of this I thought till the time I pressed that blue coloured button on that EVM and a red arrow lit up making a really loud sound.

I am not going to ask you to vote for any particular party but this is for those who get carried away with masses and dont think of the possible consequences.  You people are wise enough, dont be angry just be calm, think all options through and then vote. Be nervous while you vote, I was trembling when the person in the election booth put that ink on my finger(I actually had to place it on the desk as I didnt want to spoil the instagram picture of my finger) I could feel that the entire country's future is dependant on my finger tip. That is the power of the biggest democracy in the world. Once I(also noticed for everyone else) was out of the voting centre I had a smile on my face and this sense of pride. This is how patriotism feels in new age democracy, a vote that matters.

Though am done, if you have not given your vote and still have an option to do so then make sure you think it through and look at what you want your country to be after 5 years from now. Then vote. Above all, DO VOTE.

- Citizen of India