I don’t think I can express my feelings for youth any better in words to what Howard M. Jones has said once.

Youth, what exactly does it mean? Some one said it once that the youth of a nation are the trustees of posterity and prosperity of that nation. And I think no one can deny that. One thing that is common in each and every developed or the leading countries of the world is the power of their youth, disregard of their race, color and sex. Youth population plays a big role in development of a country and that is why the two predictions for the next superpower are the worlds most populated countries, India and China. The reason behind this is simple, the youth power that these countries posses. Neither I have enough knowledge nor the privileges to talk about China. But If we talk about India, out of 1-billion population, 700 million are under 35years of age(means youth), which is almost 3 times the total population of America. Now you can understand why people think that India could be the next superpower.

We have almost three times more youth power than America but still we are in the list of developing countries. We are still way behind than many other countries who have less youth power but even then they are developed and we are developing, Why?

Imagine a tiger in the the circus who has the power and even courage to rebel and to rule the whole forest but he dances on the fingers of his master, condition of Indian youths are no better than this tiger. Pardon me if you find it offensive but this is harsh and ugly truth about Indian youth. I am not trying to give a lecture on patriotism or trying to teach you something. I am just doing my duties towards my country and if you do not agree with me, please feel free to criticize.

The reason I compared Indian youth with the circus tiger is because of the resemblance in both of them. We know, we have power to rule, we know we have courage to rebel but still those cultural police and some selfish  and greedy “Vintage Politicians” are making us dance on their fingers.  They make us fight and kill each other, they use us to win some elections or get some benefits.

I was watching some news few months back. It was about a protest in Iran, which I’ll call a rebel. It was about removing monopoly of a politician and acting against votes counting which they think was misrepresented in front of people. This event changed my opinion about the conditions in Iran and about their youths. Most of us think that in Muslim countries, usually people don’t have freedom of speech and expression, may be they don’t but what they do have is courage to rebel. During this protest, thousands of people in-spite of their race, color and sex came to roads and rebelled against the government.  College girls, boys, workers, businessmen, house wives and even kids were on the roads. They faced heavy and brutal army and police actions, some of them got injured, some of them lost their lives but they fought and are still fighting.

On the other hand, here in India, some cheap and hired teenagers go and beat the girls in night clubs and parks and all we do is watch news. Some of us complained against it and wish that someone will do something, some of us just watch and enjoy it, some of us who have courage to rebel go and protest but when they look back, they find themselves alone and week. And that is the reason that those animals are still outside, those who can even kill their own sisters and mothers for money. They don’t represent us, then who gave them the right to do this and if they did this then it is our duty to put them back in jails but all we do is watch news and wish that someone would do something.

In a country of 40 million youth, few people who call themselves cultural police rule us. A greedy politician rule us, who can even sell us to get some more money. In a country of 40 million youth, we don’t have even a few young to rebel against these, we don’t have few young leaders who can lead us. If some thugs, murderer, thieves or uneducated “Vintage Politicians” who doesn’t even know the definition of patriotism, who thinks politics is a business. If they can lead the country then why can’t we, the Youth, lead this country?

Why can’t we rebel when some politician misuse his power and slaps a citizen who probably voted for him, why can’t we rebel when some dirty politicians try to make us fight on the name of religion just to get some votes, why can’t we rebel when some politician spend billions of tax money to put his/her statues on the name of minority, why can’t we rebel?

Because we, the Youth are busy watching news and hoping that someone should do something.

Everyday, every moment we feel proud; proud to be an Indian, proud to be a part of this hollyland. No matter where we are and how we are, when it comes to our country, we all stand together.

India is the best. Our nation is far better than any other country and will be the next superpower in 10 years.

I hear these statements almost everyday either from a politician or from an actor and sometimes even from myself. We feel so proud when we say it, well let me ask you something, what do we feel proud of?

Take your time to think and then let me know atleast 5 good reasons, why you feel proud to be an Indian. When I asked the same question from myself, I came up with a pretty impressive list like most of you might have come up with.

After I came to America, it took me less than a month to find out and at-least 3 years to convince myself that we actually don’t have much to feel proud of. Even if we do, the list of reasons for getting
ashamed of being an Indian is far greater than list of being proud. I know its hard to believe for a true indian.You might be getting angry at me or may be thinking that I am one of those so called “Indian foreigners”, who goes to a foreign country and who starts to think and talk anti-Indian just to get fit into the western culture. People who laughs with others while talking about India, thinks that India is not good for living, there is no electricity and way too much corruption and poverty.

I am not saying you shouldn’t be angry at me for feeling ashamed of being an Indian. That shows the love for your country and I respect your hate towards me, which reflects your patriotism.

But if I admire your hate towards me, why did I change my attitude towards my country? why do I feel ashamed of being an Indian sometimes?If so, what’s the difference between me and those so called “Indian foreigners”.

As a matter of fact, there is a reason for this and definitely there is a clear difference between me and the “Indian foreigners”. The difference is the love, the belief and the honor that I have for my country, regardless of feeling ashamed of being a citizen of this country.

That’s why I am here and that’s why I created this page. I don’t want to be one of them who just complaints about corruption, terrorism, poverty and many other things( that if I start writing, this page will be out of space).However, when it comes to do something, we point at others and try to defend ourself by saying “why should I care, its not about me”.

No, I don’t want to be a part of them and I know neither do you. All we need is a little bit of strentgh and courage to build a new India, an India which you truely feel proud of.

Yadav