LovegoodLuna writes...

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

$20 million APPLES?

Read this slow and with emphasis on each word - $20 million worth APPLES? Really?

Well, since the creation of the planet, apples have been a constant source of trouble for the mankind but I never expected them to be a trouble of $20 million!

Today, while in discussion with someone, I was told that our country imported apples worth $20 million in the past year.

I am no expert on the subject matter but there is something I know for sure - India produces apples and that too quite a many varieties of them. Even if there was some decrease in the quantity of apples produced in the last year, but that doesn’t mean that we need to import them! Like for people wit their own vegetable gardens, do they buy the vegetables from the market when they grow them? Yes at times you get only 2 potatoes when you expected or needed 4 but that is when you need to act smart and wait a little and not just rush and buy more.

Apples have been very important to all humans.. For all I know, apple was the very reason for the bringing of the human species… apple was the thing to put Snow White to eternal sleep… Red Riding Hood carried apples for her grandmother when the wolf followed her... apple was the symbol between linking a vampire to human… but are apples this important that people cant live without these?

I simply mean that if people don’t eat apples one season, would anything change on Earth?

I mean, you wont believe that I don’t have much problem with the $20 million but most of my concern is APPLES! The money doesn’t concern me because common that is a good thing when you spend on food to feed the people but it should be a kind of food that the population cant live without. And not APPLES.

All this money would have been so useful had it been spent on to improve or enhance something in our own country rather than paying for import… I mean just imagine this money, if hadnt been used for import, could have been the very reason for increasing the value of rupee in the international market; atleast by some means.

But NO! We needed APPLES!

I don’t get a simple thing - less apples means that the price of apples will rise. Which further means that only the selected fortunate section of the society will be able to buy and eat them… Now if you buy apples from import for $20 million and with rupee degrading so much, how much will a dozen of these imported apples would cost? And how exactly will an ordinary person buy it?

As a result, all these apples will probably be kept in cold storage to be fed to us (again) in the next(upcoming) apple season!

A remedy that I could see is rationing the resources. Apples for all I know are never a necessity! And if they are given to people in rationed quantity, I am sure it wont hurt anyone. And why just apples? Rationing on a number of items will itself give a little stability to the economy.

But if you really ask me, I am totally speechless on the topic and befuddled about what exactly are the policy makers of this country are thinking… All I can really do is to urge them to see the real potential of this country and use that potential for the upliftment of the country and of its people than of a few selected people.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy 66th Independence Day to each and every citizen of India.

As we enter the 67th year of freedom, I glance and see what a long way we have come. Foremost, we shall never forget the dignitaries to whom we own this freedom to - not only the great named leaders whose names make to each history book but rather the thousands of soldiers and countrymen who sacrificed their wealth, property, lives and even the lives of their loved ones to give us this safe land.

Its not that I am not thankful enough to idols namely Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Bhagat Singh, Rani Laxmi Bai and several others, but they were in the true sense the ideas which moved the nation; there were several other like them who were able to move only a smaller mass but they did their best to ward off even the last of the Britishers.

Well, this aint any article to remind anyone of the Indian Independence war or any such thing.

Let me make this very clear, no matter how much ever I love my country and love its freedom, I cant deny that Britishers were definitely one of the good things that happened to the progress of this country. No offence to anyone, but yes they were the ones who got the Railway tracks, which we now so proudly call the largest Railway Network of the world! They got Industrialization and so many things more.

On this really great occasion, I feel pleased but at the same time I really don’t understand why do we feel this patriotism only twice every year? Why only each and every Indian gets this feelings only on National Holidays? Is it because on National Holidays it is off and we don’t have anything better to do? Or is this because on National Holidays we get Holidays?

Whatever it is, this country is really huge and the feeling is even bigger…

India, it is not a country, not just a country. It is a mixture of thousands of people from different diverse backgrounds, who are as different from each other as much as they can be but are in perfect harmony. India is the place where we have Ramazan as grand as Navratri or Christmas and Guru purab are equally auspicious.

It is a land mass that treats everyone equally regardless of what you earn, what is your age or from where you belong to… it is the place that has given me and everyone I love, food and shelter, no matter how much we have criticized it… it is one mother that has only given and never expected anything in return.

I am an Indian and I am very proud of it. And not just proud, but Indian is not a word that defines the Nationality in my passport, Indian is my description.

Indian defines what a person I am… Indian defines that I belong to a land which has a history of producing great scholars… Indian defines the feeling when you land on moon and all you can say is - 'saare jahaan se accha hindustan hamara'… Indian is the values that no matter how much you earn, you still bow low to touch the feet of your elders.

And the list has not even started… it is as huge as it possibly can be. So, back to where I started, how can the entire thing can be wrapped up in just one or two days?

I love my country… and with every day that passes and I live another day on this great land, I cant help but thank God that I was born as a daughter to this country. I don’t care where I land up tomorrow or whatever will become of me, my greatest achievement will only be that I was born here and my greatest ambition or dream in life is that one day people should just look at me with some respect and adoration and say 'She's from India…' … Unlike thousands others, my sole dream is to make my country proud.

And the love and respect I have in my heart for this country, well, it grows every second. Everytime I check, I am more and more in love with the country… Everytime I breathe or eat (for that matter), the debt grows more on me, but it is one thing to take debt as a bank loan and another to treat it like investment where I need to return a lot to the country.

To people not belonging to India, I am no way saying any other country is disgraceful… actually each and every country in itself is so great, that no one, especially like me, can ever bring any disgrace to it. Moreover, a country is made up of its people… and no people in any country are bad. Its just that the people are good enough and some rulers arent… But we can maybe discuss about that later…

Back to the point, if you were to ask me, there is nothing in life greater than my country… its just like my family, in a bigger sense.

But what is happening to this country? Are all the hurdles faced to bring this freedom, being justified? Is freedom only freedom from another's rule?

Freedom is when the society is free of constraints (of any form) to progress… Freedom is when there is no disparity among people; when we all are not jealous but can work collectively in harmony.

And that is the only time that I am waiting for my country to have…

Moreover, freedom can never be won from a single war… it’s a continuous effort… a never ending challenge… which if lost, will make us dominated and everytime we win it against an enemy, we will rise in the world as a better and stronger community.

I don’t wish to lecture anyone about it but rather consider this as a request to anyone and everyone reading it to remember who we are and what responsibilities we have towards this country. All of must be aware enough and enlightened enough to distinguish the right from the collective right. And only when all of us contribute our bit, then we shall get the freedom in real sense.

Sometimes I ponder how different the people have become? Where is the fraternity lost? Why are we all so devoid of human values and the morals we are known for? Common guys, high time! Success and money are very luring but even they will never be able to buy you good friends. Help others so that you get help when you require… care for people who care for you… spread love and not hatred!