Thoughts: Being Optimistic, Happy, Healthy and Hopeful (stressing more on the Hopeful)

I am very optimistic and excited of the dream that is “India”. It is agreed by most that the India of 2000 is much better than the India of 1980 and the India of 2020 will definitely be much better than the India of 2000. We will have fewer people poorer, more people with access to primary education and clean drinking water etc. etc. ………. the question is how fast will this change come about and what can we do to accelerate the process? This issue is well debated (many times over) and has many answers but the point I am trying to underscore is that I am optimistic and excited (not at all cynical like many others J whom I talk to about my plans) and I feel that is very important in what I am attempting to do. Negativity & pessimism cannot lead to anything productive.

I am not starting this journey because “we are not going anywhere” and “things will never change” or due to some recent events when “our Government did nothing”. I am doing so because we are running fast and I feel I can contribute in helping us run even faster. I dreamt of this profession (like how others dream about being an astronaut or pilot), feel I will be good at it and hence I will go for it, the current circumstances are only incidental.

If I need to put a mission statement on what I want to achieve by attempting to join public life, I would say it would be to leave more people “happy, healthy and hopeful”. I would still be OK if people were not happy and healthy – but people need to be hopeful. Everyone needs to feel that if they work hard today they will have a better tomorrow, opportunities will be more forthcoming for their children and future generations.

I know my efforts today, will translate into better life tomorrow, but (just to give an example) does my domestic help at home feel the same way. She is toiling in someone else’s house all her life so that she can educate her daughter in the village, hoping that she will not need to work as domestic help (the way her mother did) but will have a salaried job, be it of a typist, secretary, accountant etc. She in turn will be able to live with her children who in turn will have even more opportunities in life. Many people in India live and die by this hope ……. But are these hopes realized?

This is exactly what we need to ensure ……. That people know they have a better tomorrow and because of that belief they put their best into today. It is not too much to ask and if it does not get realized for every citizen of our country it is a failing and we need to do something about it.

I do not see an immediate transformation but would like to see more and more people coming in the “hopeful with hopes relalised” bracket over the years. At least I am hopeful of contributing in some way.