My Bone Marrow Hankers For India

After acquiring almost a decade long work experience, I decided to move on in life. It was then that I filled in the application to be accepted as an immigrant in Canada. Canada accepts immigrants under different categories.

I applied under skilled worker category and was accepted. In fact, to my utter surprise, I was granted Visa to move to Canada in less than a year. I had heard, right when I was at the beginning of my application process that the whole process would take upto three to four years but when the Visa came through in less than one year, I was really excited.

When I came to Canada, the only family I knew lived in Toronto. My cousins, Mr Kaul, were gracious enough to be my hosts in that period. It was a very turbulent first year, given the fact that I was struggling against odds to find a foot hold in the industry of my choice.

Amongst the many challenges an immigrant faces is adjusting to new culture and new environment. Millions of people have moved across boundaries in search of better life and opportunities. UN report on this type of economic movement of people indicates that upto 200 million people are presently living in countries other than the one they were originally born in. Hence, statistically speaking I was not the first one or the only one to have endeavoured to undertake this journey.

As I look back on almost the decade long existence in Canada, one thing that has constantly tugged at my heart strings is the memory of India. Both, India and Canada have given me a lot in life. They have enriched my existence in many myriad ways and I am indebted to them both for allowing me to grow as a person.

India, as it is today, with its million mutinies( my apologies to Naipaul), still exerts a strong ephermal pull. And I feel for it much more strongly, than I did when I was a child and young adult. With upper middle class Indians having a knot of vipers( Balzac, would this be appropriate?), in place of hearts, the pain of marginalized millions gets compounded when I look at the billion opportunities being wasted by 300 odd families that have more or less divided India into personal fiefdoms. These 300 odd families have a vested interest in keeping people poor, uneducated, divided and at each other's throats in order to grab the lion's share of resources.

And yet, inspite of its utter hopelessness, I am enamoured of India. Would the civilization which contiues to worship the gods it has worshipped for five thousand years, change its course and allow its citizens to be full participants in realization of their own potential? Or would Indians have to wait for another five thousand years?