@mmpandit Sir isn't it possible that we do not have any choice. It's actually devi Maa and shiv ji and bhairav baba who choose us to do sadhna. I mean many strotras uesd kept gupta in old times but if a soul comes to know things and follow them just by feeling of heart it must be her wish.
I was fascinated by the idea of migrating abroad when I was in middle school. I had heard so many “wow” stories about the sons and daughters of my father’s colleagues who had gone overseas.
I wrote the SAT way back in 2003. Got multiple admits, including NUS and NTU. Everything was ready for me to migrate.
But I also got admission to CEG, then among the best engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu. And I did the unthinkable. I chose Mechanical Engineering at CEG over NUS/NTU.
Dad went wild!
At the end of my undergraduate years, I had two choices: GRE or CAT. Dad wanted me to take the GRE and leave India at the earliest. I chose CAT. I stayed back.
I eventually started a venture in one of India's most heavily regulated industries.
And the regulators nearly killed my venture thrice. Closing down MSE. Slashing commissions at their whims and fancies. Arbitrarily increasing net-worth requirements and questioning the very viability of my business.
There were moments when I wondered whether staying back had been a mistake. The system certainly gave me enough reasons to feel that way.
Yet, by God's grace, I survived. Seventeen years of running a company in India.
And despite everything, I still love this country. I don't entirely know why.
Perhaps it is the mananimmathi I experience when I travel through her countryside. Perhaps it is the atma tripti her temples give me. Perhaps it is the inexplicable happiness I feel in Malnad, in my Pandya desam, or in my beloved Travancore whenever I set foot on that soil and walk its paths.
Priceless. Absolutely priceless.
Look at where India was in the 1960s and 1970s and where she is today. She has come a long way.
From confiscatory 97% marginal income-tax rates to a much lower peak rate today. From a hopelessly Fabian socialist model to a mixed economy. From waiting endlessly for a Bajaj Chetak to being able to buy a Toyota in minutes. From waiting years for a telephone connection to becoming one of the world's cheapest mobile-data markets. From mud roads to expressways. From extreme poverty — remember Kamal Haasan eating an apple that had fallen into a gutter in Varumayin Niram Sivappu — to Shimla apples being available even in village markets.
India has travelled an extraordinary distance.
Of course, she could have done much better. She could have become another Singapore in terms of civic infrastructure, public services and urban planning. We have squandered decades and opportunities. There is no denying that.
But she remains India.
I take comfort in how far she has travelled despite decades of socialist policies and political mismanagement, rather than spending every waking moment complaining about everything that is wrong with her.
I can criticise India. I can demand better governance, better infrastructure and better public services. I can be frustrated with her bureaucracy and regulations.
But my affection for her runs deeper than my frustrations.
And perhaps that is what people who constantly compare India with the West fail to understand. A country is not merely the quality of its roads, the efficiency of its bureaucracy or the size of its paycheques. There is also a sense of belonging, a civilisational connection and a peace of mind that cannot be measured on a spreadsheet.
I would rather be a small soul in a country I love than spend my life as an indentured servant in a soulless system.
I had my opportunities to leave. I chose to stay.
Seventeen years later, with all the scars, setbacks and struggles, I still feel it was worth it.
She is far from perfect. But she is mine. She will never ditch me. She will not ask for a VISA to accommodate me as she has soul and I am her son.
And that makes all the difference.
@bookmarkdiaries If I were a movie director I would make the biopic after retirement named The MODIfication and play this statement in background of trailer.
@bagha_mamu Give them 5 day's working week just don't give Saturday Sunday holiday. Saturday Sunday should be working banking day and Monday Tuesday should be holiday. So every other working class customer can avail service on holidays.
@tttttttt3337@bheekamkurmi27 Couldn't clear NEET. Too bad now cope with ruining patients life by prescribing steroids and antibiotics without studying.
@justshailendra भाई तेरे पे जब से सेबी वालों ने नोटिस निकाला तबसे मोदी जी के पीछे पड़ गया है और खुद को बार बार ज्योतिष के नाम पर खुद को झूटी तस्सली देता रहता है
@DrAditya2935 Indian dehat don't have cerebral capacity to understand this mathematics. And govt which brings these changes will never be able to win ever again. 2024 was almost lost by bjp because opposition spread the lie about ending of reservation if Modi gets 400 seats.
@DrAditya2935 It's not expectations reality mismatch. It's the hard work outcome mismatch. In any other field same amount of hard work Will pay you more. Also for lots of first generation doctors it is hard to explain reality of this Grand dream sold by society to their parents and themselves.
@karthik2k2 Fully private healthcare. With no control of any councilor corporator ward panch type people. Let The public know value of knowledge and medicines. Medical education portion can be public funded with mendtory bonds as optional but management of hospitals should be fully private.
@Doctor_Gargi The server for biometric verification was time bound and stopped working after last entry time. How are you so dumb even if it was a rich candidate the server would not work after that specific time. And I am saying again responsible for leak should be encounterd.
@Doctor_Gargi So do you think all other candidates who reached inside ontime was rich or high cast. It's may be reason this to specific case but not a generalized phenomenon. Poors who are serious reaches early cause they know they have to rely on public transport. Rich can afford being late