The Harp Of India

Why hang'st thou lonely on yon withered bough?

Unstrung for ever, must thou there remain;

Thy music once was sweet -- who hears it now?

Thus opined Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, about our motherland India. He meant that India was under the cruel cluthches of the British Empire and it needed independence. But today, as I see things around me, I cannot help but quote the same lines for I feel the music of India has again gone bitter.

After Independence, it was assumed the responsibility of young Indians to try and ameliorise the society and raise the living standards of the country. Coming from poor quantitative statistics, our national capital ranks a meagre 150 in the quality of living standards, citywise, which is something more than a shame especially when cities like capital of Senegal also beating it. And do we do anything about it? We shrug and leave it all to government.

For every endeavor like Bharat Uday Mission or Paritrana, theres a multi-crore scam in the national parliament. For every rupee collected at the crossroads by students to help poor and destitute, there's a crore being spent on a superstar shedding clothes at the closing ceremony of Commonwealth Games.

Now, the blame is not all on the government. The private sector isnt anything good. From banks to universities, everyone is equally unreliable. While there are banks, both public and private-owned, which pester customers with strikes and moratoriums, universities have found it necessary to follow suit. Students of an institute which was closed down unceremoniously are now pursuing a separate degree at our institute, thanks to some professors. There has also been an uproar lately about an institute hiking up its achievements to lure more students to pay fee to it. They give in to cheap tactics like a free laptop, foreign trip and what not!

Ok, if this has exhausted you, lets introspect! How focussed are we towards our country? How many of us have made atleast one genuine attempt to better the society. Leave alone making an attempt, how many of us refrained from making fun of persons who are sincerely patriotic? People want to earn in dollars and are crazy about the US. At the canteen today, I overheard a couple of juniors talking about the interview of a stripper (ya, you read it right!) whose show Prince Henry has watched. Now, what to say?! I was startled and disappointed, more because the guy was not disappointed that there was an interview of the stripper, but he was excited at the prospect of being a stripper who happened to perform in front of Henry. Amen!

I come back to room and I learn that there has been some tension due to stone-pelting in Bangalore, because a once-Super Star septuagenarian actor had passed away. Thats heights of going crazy!

Isnt this time to sit back, think and realise that we have been whiling away our time and have failed miserably in realising India as a nation. We have been doing India a gross injustice in return to what it has given us. All we are concerned is about heavy pay-packets and luxurious lives. We never talk of paying back. Leave alone the macro scale, coming to smaller things, to an institute where you have spent the best four years of your life, not many people have an idea or vision to pay it back once they settle in their lives. This probably may change when they realise what they would be missing once they are out of this place, but do we expect the same for a country? Do we expect everyone to go out of it and then realise its importance? Can't we do anything to make our society and in that same process ourselves better?

Probably, it is time for each one of us to say:
Harp of my country, let me strike the strain!

The Harp of India is a sonnet by Derozio