Happy Independence Day 2013

The 50th Anniversary of " I have a dream" speech given by Martin Luther King, iconic Civil Rights leader of American is fast approaching. He gave his famous speech " I have a Dream when a man will be judged not by the color of his skin but by content of his character." He went on further " I have a dream when on the Red Hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and former slave owners will be able to seat down together in tables of brotherhood". Martin Luther King never saw his dream come true during his life time but a few decades down the road most of them were. His idol Mahatma Gandhi who incidentally like him fell to an assassin's bullets dreamt of RAM RAJYA ( the mythical golden age eons ago) in India. Since our "Tryst with Destiny" moment lots of water has flowed down river Ganga. Not sure how far are we from his RAM RAJYA it wont be an exaggeration to say we now live in ROME RAJYA (The kingdom of Rome). Though a great nation by basics things of late have turned acidic, too sour for our comfort. The current affairs of our nation can aptly be described by these few lines lifted from the Odia song LE NAVEENA from 1981. (Naveena here depicts the typical down to earth Odia. No relationship to the person bearing the same name at the helm of affairs today as he was nowhere in the picture). A stanza from that popular song goes as 

 LE NAVEENA TIKE PACHAKU ANA,
HATHE BAADI DHARI THIA BAPUJI NANA,
BAPUHI BUDHA RA AAKHI RE LUHA,
TA RAMA JAIJE AAJI YAMA RA BHAYA
( O Naveena, just look behind.
Bapuji, the poor old man is standing with stick in his hand.
The old man's eyes are filled with tears.
Yama, the God of death has filled his dream land with fear.

Incidentally these lyrics were penned in 1981 during my childhood days when lot of things were arguably a lot better. Since then we have seen sea changes but these words still stand vindicated. 32 years later I am not so young  but I too have a dream. The dream of a strong, united and free India, free from all our present maladies. Though a die hard optimist I realize that this dream might never come true in my lifetime. Similar to Dr. King's dream coming true in a substantial and tangible way in America I do hope my dreams come true, even years down the road. Happy Birthday to my motherland.