Nothing is Written

Life's Lessons - Joseph Mattappally

August 15th, it is Independence Day for Indians. This is still another opportunity for the Indians to ask themselves, ‘what could we be, in spite of the enormous freedom we got?’ The living condition of majority of Indians has not improved greatly; financial alienation, racial discrimination and religious indifferences still haunt them. Indian youth seems to have lost all hopes of a regenerated India. Politicians, religionists and corporate giants have drilled the boat from all sides. 

I remember a touching scene from the film ‘Lawrence of Arabia’. It depicts the glorious return of the hero through a burning desert carrying a human being who everybody thought is destined to die. It was at a situation at which crossing the Nedfud desert was considered impossible even for fire birds that Lawrence the hero turned back to rescue Gasim who had fallen from the horse and got seriously injured. Lawrence and his men were on an expedition to Turkey. Seeing Lawrence returning with Gasim, still alive, the Sheriff comments, "Truly, for some men nothing is written, unless they write it." In a land in which each one is born into a religion and where the clergy of all sects are united in propagating that it is they and the Almighty that decides everything, how can there be Lawrences? 

Once, a group of tiny frogs arranged a running competition. Their goal was to reach the top of a very high tower. A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants... Honestly, no-one in the crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower. They continued shouting "Oh, too difficult, too difficult!" As they all expected, one by one the frogs began to give up. Still there was one tiny frog who did not….and finally, it became the only one to reach atop the tower. All the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it? A contestant asked the winner frog how he could do that. It turned out...the winner was fully deaf. 

If India wants to emerge into a model, there is still a chance; a generation that believes in itself and grows deaf at least to politicians and false religionists and believe in a poverty free, caste free and corruption free India should replace the present. 

Independence Day Greetings to all.  

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