Lalit Anjum
“Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true kingdom for each one of us; and true progress is to know more, and be more, and to do more”- Oscar Wilde In the last several decades of post-independent India, our society has undergone gradual transformation. New found freedom has made people free to decide their own fate. Now they feel empowered in realizing their renewed ambitions. Rising level of aspirations is seen as a hallmark for social development. But catering to the rising aspirations of large section of our society is proving to be an arduous task. Not a single day passes by without any protests and demonstrations against the government by the citizenry of this country for their unfulfilled hopes and unmet aspirations.
Democracy being a boon for a progressive nation like India also comes with its own limitations. In a democratic society we take majoritarian view as a representation for each and every section of society. However share of minority and other largely unrepresented groups are often overlooked.
Today in era of Information Technology, every member of our society is empowered. Growing awareness among masses has increased their ambitions and has sky-rocketed their aspirations too which in turn has led to comprehend their perceptions about existing social environment.
We are witnessing a sea change in our surroundings. In early times person who was happy to be carpenter in traditional economic setup, now wishes to own home furnishing business. Similarly a village cobbler no longer wishes his next generation to work in their traditional work sphere. He wants them to move into privileged professions. This transition in our society is due to several reasons. Foremost of them is the increasing demand for certain services or elite status of certain professions in our society. This outlook was mainly shaped by feudal and colonial subjugation which allocated crème de la crème status to certain jobs in our society which kept them in power. We inherited their legacy and often wore our professions on our sleeve. This mental inclination fomented during colonial era adored a uniformed officer as a symbol of authority than any other non-uniformed dutiful professional. We inherited a thankless attitude towards people doing menial tasks and often took their jobs and actions for granted. However increasing awareness has given strength and voice to this unheard section of society. It has given wings to their aspirations for the life of equality and dignity.
Earlier people were deprived of several things in life and were kept aloof of several essentialities.
Growing awareness and education level has liberated them. Large section of society which was underprivileged, now aspires for ownership rights. We are witnessing a significant boost in morale of this neo-liberated class of society. Market economy has successfully created a heavily hallucinated society. Materialist attitude has set in. Materialism is the new theology. Increasing population with disposable income has created a never ending demand for commercial products and services. Personal happiness is being exclusively linked to ownership and proprietorship of more and more worldly pleasures. Our civilization is changing continuously with drastic turnover of events.
On one hand, more and more people are stepping into the higher income groups and on the other hand several others are fighting for survival. Competition for existence is getting fierce as never before.
Humane behavior is undergoing a gradual shift. Nowadays more people are leading an isolated life. Human compassion, feelings of empathy and act of sympathy are diminishing. Moral values in our personal lives are also dwindling. People are losing on happy living. Creating a balanced living and cheerful lives is emerging as a distant goal. Artificial societal parameters are cunningly created so as to subjugate and manage the mindset of public at large. For instance, a particular fashion trend, the targeted branding of items and directed market research are the hot tools in the hands of corporate capitalist powers to gain from the deliberate manipulation of the public at large. Manipulating the collective behavior of the public to meet the vested interests and earning profits is rampart. We are unknowingly falling into their trap for loot. Collective moral principles prevalent in our society are on decline. Any misleading and provocative advertisement is deliberately published to evoke communal sentiments and engineer the public outcry. This renders large section of people prone to manipulation and creates an explosive civil war like situation. In Hollywood flick viz “The Italian Job”, the protagonist and his team utilizes the latest computer software to hack into the Traffic Control to direct the truck with Gold consignment which antagonist is trying to relocate. Unable to see what actually is happening on ground, antagonist’s gold laden truck vanishes in the thin air. Now, who was actually controlling the traffic movement? Where the gold-laden truck has gone? The theft occurred right under his nose. Similarly today people are caught in the horns of dilemma and deliberate confusion is prevailing in the society. This selected blindness renders us unable to observe the whole picture which in turn benefits the few.
Frequency of daily happenings and world events is very quick. There is no time left for introspection of any actions and occurrences. We are unquestionably compelled to follow the crowd, hence developing a crowd-mentality. We are often kept under false-crisis like conditions engineered solely to test our survival mode. Whether it is shortage of essential food items viz, onions & pulses or it is time tested economic embargo or Arab-Syrian crisis. People continue to search for means to stay alive and thrive somehow amongst these crisis and emergency situations in their struggle for existence.
These circumstances owe their birth to the unmanaged and unequal economic growth model.
Ambition overshooting contentment creates over-zealousness and greed. Contentment lacking ambition can result in apathy or laziness. Balancing ambition and satisfaction is need of an hour.
Despite financially well off why few seem to be satiated and satisfied with their lives? Because sooner or later they find them struggling again with higher ambitions and enhanced aspirations. Therefore changing times are bringing with it the changed aspirations. These desires and aspirations vary with every age group. What satisfied 10-years old twenty years back then, hardly interests him today.
Intense demand for better future is showing an increasing trend. Confronting this rising demand in our society is proving to be a difficult thing to handle. It is like a dormant volcano likely to erupt at any time. If care is not taken while planning meticulously and to the satisfaction of every section of society, the day is not far when same dormant volcano will erupt and cause havoc leading to far reaching adverse ramification for our existence and survival. However present political dispensation in India enjoying strong and powerful mandate from people of this country seems to be a silver lining in the dark cloud. Implementation of progressive policies for social welfare are not only destined to meet the existing aspirations of the people but encourage rest of us to dream big and dream higher to take this country forward to the top position it commands at the global stage. Therefore the secret lies in working smartly till we succeed in our goals. In the words of A.P.J.Abdul Kalam “Dream is not that which you see while sleeping it is something that does not let you sleep”. “Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached”-Katha Upanishad.
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