August 16, 2011

A Declaration


The tube delivers its share of images and words, facts and figures; and in the process I get the news that Anna Hazare has been arrested. It does not have the slightest effect on me, this is India I say, shit happens. So, mechanically almost out of habit I try to make sense of all thats going on, seperate the colors, name the patterns and suddenly it dawns to me. The singlemost utility of the whole IAC movement is that, we now seem to care. We, the people now realize the full extent of democracy, the spirit of Athens. The members of the society who have the Right to Vote do not merely vote, moreover the levy of this right carries with it a burden. It is the duty too of these same People towards the future and themselves to be a vanguard of the Nation against her own people.
As I sat at my window watching the rain, trying to capture the beauty of the falling droplets in the flourecent light, I am reminded of a purticular text; of which I may quote not from the liberty of memory but the binds of pages:
"...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any form of government becomes dstructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation in such principles and organising its powers in such form, as to them most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security..."
The text is called the "The Declatation of Independence" signed, more than two centuries ago and even today it stirs the most stagnant of waters. Its not in the knowledge of the lone droplet, the Idea of rain but in its nature only does water descends to our aid. Such is the analogy in a Man, we are oblivious of the Idea of a revolution for we are Individuals. But if we lie to ourselves and shirk, our duties and responsibilities for the alternatives of Ignorance and Indifference, bewarned its cost is the steepest. Governments fail only beacuse the People have failed; when the people fail to be vigilant, to demand justice, to care for the fellow being; only then do the Govenments breed Pestilence, Injustice and Indifference. Our true criminal is not the Parliament, it is yourself. Let this realization be the core of our awakenings and amends.
It is my sincere hope that after reading this prose, you may stir from your sleep and shed the sloth that lays heavily over your intelligence. It is truly never too late to be sorry and effect repair. Choose your sides. Choose wisely.
Amen.