Should we be proud?

India- a country with diverse topography and unmatched natural beauty from the tall snow pecked peak of Himalayas to the multicoloured grains of sand of Kanyakumari- we are blessed with it all.

So should be proud of our our country? So proud that we yell it from the mountain tops? Proud of our nationality, as Indians we should be ecstatic with the way our country runs, patting our government on their backs? 

Yet, we youngsters- the moment someone takes the name of the Indian government; we snicker and roll our eyes with the look that says it all? This-country-has-no-hope. Yes, the government is corrupted, I mean it's politics. If it's ain't dirty- it ain't politics. But yet, I am ashamed of the way things are running in the this country. From our own capital so lovingly nicknamed- 'the rape capital'. I mean just imagine, your country's own capital; shine and pride is the most unsafe place for girls, and for I am one doesn't really create a good image for my future safety. From the sexual assaults to the thousands of pending molesting and rape casing on the our every own chosen delegates, this country has seen it all. To top it off; the outstanding behaviour of our Raj Sabha regarding the long awaited Telangana and Andhra issue. Ripping papers, tearing documents and flipping it in the air in anger like some Bollywood movie, stripping down to their boxer holding slogans for their beliefs, snatching and hitting each other and blatantly disrupting the sitting of the house in front of our Prime Minister and the other respectable members of the house. Isn't that just lovely? I mean our kids are sure to get some anger management issues classes from our prime and shine? 

Not to mention even our own very NRI's sitting in other countries, look down upon their own homeland- singing praises of the respective countries they now reside in? I was watching the debate hour with Arnav Goswami during the Devyani humiliation case, when I was flabbergasted to hear the views of our very own flesh and blood deriding their homeland and judging us to over-reacting over a small matter? The nerve of such people! Are they aware of the national uproar of their fellow people? The humiliation we had to go through? Sitting in their "high chairs" judging us with like we're always the one to blame, Indians the fools? 

Not like our Indians are any less! Demanding states, fighting against each other like little children? Our very own Indo  Pakistan war with the naxalites. Don't even get me started on the elections. It's the blind leading the blind. The illiterate people's innocence is taken advantage off by our forever greedy and foolish politicians. 

All you hear in your house is our elders just blaming the government, shaking their heads in disappointed muttering that "Nothing can be done with this country." Yet, refusing to vote to some decent chaps to make this country's democracy just a little less hopeless, talk about double standards. 

When I see the mass gathering during Nirbhaya's case, the opening of the T-2, the general Lokpal Bill, our master blaster- Sachin Tendulkar, Ghandhiji, Mother Teresa, Jhamsedji Tata; our India is a homeland of all these great people which gives me the tiny hope that's left in my heart  and I cling to it with both arms that maybe, just maybe my generation can knock some sense into the administration of this country and show the world why India's the largest democracy in the world! Show them what we got. Cause if we ain't got hope; we ain't got nothing left to fight for. So my advise? Instead of warming the chair, go vote! Baby steps, right? It's a start. :) 

Passion over mind?

Passion. The most candid of human desires, the most over hyped of emotions according to me. Passion is what drives people out of their comfort zones- daring themselves to try and and get out their this zone. I've always been told do what you're passionate about, follow your dreams. But why is almost is it so hard to follow your passion? To follow what you want. After all 'the heart wants what it wants.' As teenagers- we are never out of options for careers options, but what we want? It's a totally different matter. Suppose you have always wanted to be one of those food critics you see on those TLC channels or those world travelers, I mean getting paid to eat and travel the world? What more could anybody ever want? But is it a safe option? I mean what would your mom or Dadi say if that next door Mrs Mehta asked them what their precious grandson or daughter is doing? Imagine the horror! No degree, no doctoral or engineering certificate adorning the house walls. Or dreaming of being an Acapella singer or a ventriloquist? Or starting a band and strumming it around with your homeboys. Even asking your parents or subtly suggesting these options as an occupations can lead to a dreaded silence hangs in the house for almost a month, the tensions always palpable, to last a lifetime.

There are always people who have attained success in their lives because of their passions, but as teens- you can't help but feel as if these are one is gazillion cases where destiny and luck matters. And god forbid you base your arguments of such examples in your never ending debates of self conflict. You're bound to feel like just screaming on top of your lungs till the words dry out.'Why is being a teenager so hard?"We're too young to do half the things in our life's but old enough to make decisions which we have to stick to for the rest of our life.

The moment us teens even utter the words- life is so stressful. The sardonic laughs of the adults will resonate in your ears. "You? Seriously what pressure do you guys even have apart from studying?" Ah well, what I would like to say to such adults is- maybe in your times- you people had a less luxurious life and I know you've all worked hard to get where you are, but that doesn't mean  us teenagers or "kids" don't know what pressure is. Times have change drastically. Try being a teenager trying to find your limelight against the billions of other kids, who are just as clever and talented or maybe more than you can ever be. With the completion rising higher the the Burj Khalifa , keeping your head above  water gets harder every goddamn passing moment and with the added task of not succumbing to drugs or other things and in some unfortunate cases of being bullied, if that's not hard or too pressuring at our tender age, I don't know what is! 

Going behind passion is like choosing between Johnny Depp or Leonardo DiCaprio, both extremely tempting to chose but at the end of the day- the Oscars only can go to one. I don't know if I'll take journalism; my passion as a career or engineering; my life long dream as a career.  Maybe in life I won't take either for all I know, but we can't base our plans on maybes and ifs and one in a million cases. Just try and write our own destiny without trying to screw up and spice up our life's by taking risks and indulging into our passions every once in a while in sake of all sanity.

Ps- I know, I'm a month late- but hey- it's now or never. Happy new year to all my readers :) sorry for the late updates. The crazy schedule of a science student 🙈