Shadows of Past

Set in the sands of time
I find the shadows of past
The shadows which follow me
And help me when I am lost

The shadows encourage me
To move ahead in life
They tell me not to stop
They tell me to always strive

I feel that they guide me
I feel their total support
I feel that they want me to achieve
My life’s most important goal

Had it not been for these shadows
I would have been lost
In the jungle of urbanity
I also would have a cost

But I thank the shadows for saving me
And opening my eyes to a world
Where there is the beauty of wisdom
And every word is a pearl

I am here because I listened
I listened and learned from past
I did not bury the shadows
That lingered on from my past!!!

The Brain Drain

Working as an education counselor for one of the more reputed education agents in Ludhiana, I came across numerous people who just wanted a way out of the country. It hardly mattered to them which country they went to or how they would survive in a totally unknown country they were visiting for the first time. All they wanted was to be able to reach some country which was not named India. Interacting with these people, I often felt why are the so crazy about going to a land where they are not sure of getting a square meal a day, while they can live their lives lavishly in their own homes, without doing anything for the rest of their lives. Do they realize that they will be working ten times harder to earn what they spend as pocket money? But then how can you explain these things to someone who is intoxicated by something that he has not really experienced. For such people anything outside India is really great and worth dying for.

And that is not where the story ends. People desperate to set a foot outside India at any cost even took to drastic measures like faking marriages with friends and even relatives, which later I came to know was called paper marriage. Some youngsters even forced their parents to take loan or even sell the small piece of land, that was the only means of livelihood for the entire family, to arrange for the money to get out there….somewhere! And parents blinded by the love for their children, obliged them without knowing whether the apple of their eyes would return to them or not. My heart often went out for such parents and I was also angered by what they allowed their children to do to them.

Now on reaching their dream destinations, what do you suppose these people did? Most of them applied for a license to drive a cab or work at a bar or a petrol pump. So, all this hue and cry was for doing a menial job in a land unknown to them so that they could earn in dollars. But they forget one thing; the money earned in dollars is also spent in terms of dollars. I mean you have to eat, drink, provide for housing and shelter as well as clothing and that you have to do in dollars. But then, stubborn people who cannot say a complete sentence in unbroken English, and want to go to Aus, UK, USA, Canada etc to start a new life, will not understand this.

There was another horrifying aspect that was revealed to me during my job. People were assured by their friends residing in various countries that they would take them in when they arrived but when they actually went there, they were left stranded at the airports with no place to go. Now imagine a boy from a village has been told by his friend that he would be there at the airport when his flight lands, but upon arrival, nobody is there. He waits for his friend sure that he will come, but to no avail. He then calls him up but he is not answering the phone. So the boy is now really worried and he does not have any place to go and has little money in his pocket as he was quite sure his friend would come. This is not an isolated case. There have been quite a few incidents like this and the worst case scenarios have been when people who go on the basis of paper marriage have been left by their partners to fend for themselves. How much lower will the youth of this country go just to earn a few more bucks?

Now before you get me wrong, I am not against people, going abroad and earning. Absolutely not! If you have a required skill set and the caliber you should definitely go ahead and take up any good opportunity that comes your way. But please do no use unscrupulous means to move out and end up doing jobs that you would not have taken even if you had been starving in your homeland. If you are ready to work hard outside of India, then why not help in the growth of your own country. I understand and agree with you that there are many hassles that you might have to face here, but believe me it is not a cakewalk elsewhere also. Plus if we are not there to change our systems, then the country can never progress. It has been a proven fact, that if the youth of a country has the power and the will, they can change the face of that country. But if the youth of this country are leaving to make some other nation prosperous, then God knows what is in hold for the future of India!

होली

आयो फाल्गुन का यह शुभ दिन
बरसे रंग सब और,
अपने अपने घर आँगन को
तुम महकाओ कुछ और

लाल, गुलाबी नीले पीले
रंगों की है धूम
आज भुला कर सब बातौः को
मस्ती मैं तू झूम

पिचकारी मैं भर लो पानी
मुह मैं गुजिया डालो
भांग का रंग च्डाँना न पर
मत करना यह भूल

इस उत्सव को यूँ मनाओ
दुश्मन को भी गले लगाओ
सब संग हस लो सब संग गा लो
रंग भिरंगी धूम मचाओ