Friday 20 April 2012

The Other Side of My Motherland




 26th March 2012, was perhaps the most anticipated day for many 12th graders in the country. For this was the last day of our treacherous Board Examinations! The exams had after a long wait finally came to an end. At this joyous moment, my friends and I decided to watch a movie together.

It was past eleven when we bid farewell. I began my long walk home with nostalgia for company. It is not often that I’m out in the roads and what I witnessed was also not what something I watch often.
It was a dismal sight; homeless people settling down by the roadside. They included children younger than me but the majority were ‘Senior Citizens’.

Yes, they were senior. But, were they ‘citizens’ in the true sense of the term? If I’m not wrong, the Constitution gives its citizens the right to shelter and the right to live with human dignity. These people without the above mentioned rights are only senior and not citizens.
For the past 14 years, I have been pledging, “India is My Country. All Indians are my Brothers and Sisters...” But these brothers and sisters were always by the roadside. It is only that I comfortably ignored their existence.

Poor people, in a country where crores are shelled out on various policies, this unfortunate lot has to manage with miserable ones and twos.

What I’m writing here is not a well- kept secret. This phenomenon has always existed. Our brothers and sisters always had sky as their roof. I seek answers on their behalf. Don’t they have the right to live with dignity? Isn’t it the District Administration’s responsibility to rehabilitate them and give them an opportunity to live under a roof?
I do not know what practical difficulty stops them from doing their duty. There is a need for creative solutions. But one thing is certain; a day should come when this scenario should cease to exist. As of now, that day is not even in the distant future.

If I sleep in the streets, my mother would cry. Mother India’s children are sleeping in the streets; can we (the better off children) wipe our Mother’s tears?

I understand that this forum stands for change but I am still in search of a practical alternative to promote as to how I can bring change to my lesser blessed countrymen. Till then it is my wish that each Indian must wake up to this hard – hitting Reality.

Karthik Narayan


@KarthikNarayan1 on Twitter

 Email Id: karthik_legendkiller@yahoo.co.in



The writer is an 18 year old ordinary boy!






3 comments:

  1. Karthik, I can totally relate with you. We're all looking for alternatives. I'd like to share a simple fact with you at this juncture: 'Strength is in Unity'. If your heart can feel the pain of others then it implies that you have it in you to work for their better tomorrow. Once intelligent and pure hearted youth like yourself come together, it'll be a much better picture.

    Keep it up. God Bless. :)

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  2. Good one man . Totally agree !

    ReplyDelete