Nomdeplume

After a favorable review in the papers, the film Rang De Basanti turned out to be rather filmy or rather should I say Hindi filmy. There have been various films in the recent past trying to kindle the patriotic fervor in the youth, who in recent times are just like leaves tossed around in the wind. The common thread in these films is the message to the youth that future of India is in their hands, it’s for them to realize the same and take up their responsibility. Fair message one should say considering the way our youth skitter through their lives without any contributions to the society they live.

The statement these films have been making is for the youth to take up politics as a panacea to solve the problems faced. This is where all these films have got it wrong. The films seem to always favor the top-down approach i.e. put the right people that govern us and then we will be able to solve all our problems. Well, the line of though is typical of Indian mindset where we expect a messiah to solve our problems with one swipe of his magic wand. What we forget is that our politicians of today are hyperbolic version of the average Indian. He is just a representation of the values an average Indian holds in his life. An average Indian bends rules, lies, cheats and does so many illegal things at a minuscule level in his daily life. It’s just that a politician does the same things at his own minuscule level. So the top-down approach is sure to fail because a few good people can never change the world because their actions would never be understood for them to be successful.

So, how do we tackle this problem? There is no magic wand or there is no elixir that would make our nation great. Its about doing small things right, as they say in sports, its about doing the basics right. What is the basics of a great nation, it’s the values that each individual follows. Each of us knows what are the good values, but somewhere in between the hectic life and our selfishness we have pushed our values to our backseat. We need to get them back; we need to show our kids, our children some right values. Why do you think our president Dr. Abdul Kalam stresses in interacting with kids, because he knows that that is where he can inculcate change and that is where he can sow the seeds for a brighter and vibrant nation. I think we need to take a leaf out of his book and then each of us practices the same in every small way. We need to teach kids independent thinking, appreciation of their surroundings and preservation of the same, good manners, good habits, right spirit in competition, choosing the right path even though its hard, etc. While we preach our kids these values we need to practice those values we preach and also harden their resolve to do things the right way even though they might be able to succeed easily and faster taking the other path. Also we need to throw out of the window our old beliefs that pull us backward and use techniques and methodology that are in tune with our times.

Keshav was confused, he had received a call benny saying ‘we want you to be a permanent player in the team’. ‘I will talk to you in person’ was the words that keshav could verbalize. Keshav always believed in communicating decisions in person and he despised people who would convey their decisions through mail or phone. Keshav was twisting and turning and finding hard to slumber. His mind was taking him again through the past months.

“Benny cheta, I might be going to banglore for my future studies” kehsav had said to the coach when they were strolling last evening after their usual practice session. Keshav could sense a feeling of shock and disappointment in the face of his coach.

Keshav, was a high flier. He always was interested in learning new things. He had a close circle of buddies who played the game. He and his chums started playing for their school team together. His friends were like the anchored line thrown as support. But over a period of time his friends one by one had started moving to banglore.

Keshav had studied in banglore for a brief period of time when his father was transferred to work there. Though the banglore school was hep and voguish, he missed his buddies in his old school. So when he was back after a year he was euphoric to be back. But when his friends started moving to banglore he was in a predicament whether to join them. He resisted the idea of moving till his last friend moved to banglore. After that he started contemplating the idea of moving to banglore. Meanwhile he had started playing with the Benny’s local club team practice. Playing with the team gave him the digression from the sadness of the departure of his friends.

Keshav one day played as a replacement for injured player at the last minute against one of the district level teams. Keshav was inspirational in his play and helped benny’s team with the match. Benny was deeply impressed with keshav and started playing him in every match that followed. Though keshav played along where ever benny wanted to play he was never interested in playing full time for benny’s club. Sometimes keshav wanted to say that his interest in playing was only a interim respite for his loneliness away from his friends. But he did not do so because he was having a good time playing and did not want to lose it. But one day when keshav popped the question to benny whether he had any plans for him, benny had replied in the negative, So keshav went ahead and made arrangement to move to banglore with his friends.
Keshav could hardly sleep that night. Next day he went to school as usual, but he avoided seeing benny. He could not decide what to do. After a few days been met keshav at the college canteen and they talked, but keshav finally said that his staying here would not work out and its was too late to revert the decision. Benny was disappointed , but benny still wished keshav good luck and walked towards the practice area where his members of the club were playing.