Introduction

India, my country and my motherland. I am sure that there are many of us who are proud of being Indians and of belonging to one of the most amazing countries in the world. We are proud of our culture and civilization and of the ideals that have long embellished our history with glittering examples of sacrifice, hospitalitily, brotherhood and tolerance.

Yet, as a people, we struggle to identify ourselves with the amazing amount of diversity that India has raised on its land over the eons. We have our limitations that tell us what is acceptable and what should be rejected. In many cases, our pride is tempered by the various wrongs that happen around us and in our country. We get drawn into endless debates on the ills that beset India and how others need to take responsibility and ownership in order to overcome these challenges. Our contribution towards improving the country ends up as mere lip-service and often does not progress beyond that.

From Mandal commission to corruption, from poverty to politics, from olympics to cricket, from bureaucracy to population explosion - we are surrounded by many negatives around us, which slowly but steadily eat away into our sense of national pride and make us philosophical in our assessment - "Does India have any future!"?

This blog is the attempt of one ordinary Indian to discover how he can make a difference. It is a question that can only be answered if each and everyone of us introspect in our hearts and contribute our own experiences, ideas and examples - which can collectively light up the spark of imagination in the rest of us and allow us to find out own paths towards helping grow India.

My simple question in this blog is for every Indian to think about and answer:

"What can I do as an individual, in my own small way, to contribute back to my motherland?"

For a moment, let me stop worrying about how everyone else needs to behave and how others need to improve - let me look only at myself and find out whether my HEART BEATS FOR INDIA!!? If it indeed does beat for India, what is its message? I am looking for every conscientious Indian to spend a few minutes and express your responses - so that others can read through them and find inspiration, ideas, challenges and encouragement to start finding their own answers and solutions.

No idea is too small, no suggestion is worthless. In our own individual capacities, we all have some or the other way of contributing back to our country. If we willingly share our ideas with others, it will ensure that we will grow the ideas and use them in another form or technique.

Can we all JUST DO IT FOR INDIA?

Just-do-it-for-INDIA

When India achieved it's independence in 1947, it was the birth of of the largest democracy in the world. Today Indians belong to a free and independent country which is governed as per the choice of its citizens. It is indeed a brilliant example to the entire world at large - how a population of over 1.1 Billion citizens chooses to exercise its democratic rights and can decide who has the right to govern the nation.

In a way this is a dream come true for the freedom fighters who fought with their sweat and blood for the cause of freedom. Many of them happily sacrificed their lives to achieve this freedom for all of us. They were not going to partake in any of the fruits of their labour, but they yet insisted in planting the tree and nurturing it with their own blood. Can we ever repay their debt in any way? Can we ever understand the spirit of patriotism that coursed through their veins and emboldened them to sacrifice everything that they had towards a great cause? If these freedom fighters were within us today, would they have been proud of what they would see?

Has the dream of our national heroes been fully realised yet?

On closer inspection, we can identify certain issues in the way that India exists today - problems, which if left unattended, would escalate into big disasters. Every nation in the world has its fair share of issues and even India can get away with a few - what needs to be evaluated though is exactly what these problems are and what can be done about them.

Over the next few articles, we will try to understand the state of our country from various perspectives and identify the top few issues that need to be dealt with firmly and quickly. We will also attempt to calculate the impact that these issues are causing our country and how we as citizens can - rather must contribute to resolving these issues.

In doing so, the base question will remain the same - we are not trying to imitate most other Indians who insist on having an opinion about India and nothing more. We are striving to identify areas of improvement in a constructive and practical manner i.e. along with the problems we are also going to evaluate what you and I (as individuals) can do to help, in any way whatsoever.

As Mahatma Gandhi wisely reflected "What is true of the individual will be to-morrow true of the whole nation if individuals will but refuse to lose heart and hope."

It is now upto each one of us to ponder and reflect on what, where, how, how much, when, who and why we need to contribute our bit towards the improvement of our great motherland!!