Past Tense; Future Imperfect

So, it’s an end to a year that threatened to do away with the planet altogether. If the Mayans had forced us to believe that everything would end in a jiffy, what actually ended was the cricket god’s ODI outing – though not many bothered. India, in the meantime, was out on the street protesting the end of a life mangled by vultures in men’s clothing.

Magnanimity is Mother Earth’s trait. She too seems to have thrown prophesies to the wind so that the sinners would be forced to live, and die, here. The year, however, saw such beliefs too die, when one man, ‘revered’ for the most sinful deeds, lived happily and died happily. Another one experienced the noose sans any pain.

Pain came only to those who lived in the midst of all these sinners. Sinners were many - right from the ones who swallowed billions in the name of serving the people who voted them to power, to those who promised to make the aam admi live in a corrupt-free nation. And, all of them had the guts to tread over the billion heads that bowed before them in anticipation of a happy existence.

Pain also came to many who spent months together to see the Supreme Leader utter something – at least something! Pain also came unto all those who saw the betas and the jamais call the shots even when the nation was on the verge of sinking.

Even as the New Year gets set to dawn, pain threatens to ride the crust when massacre specialists in development messiah’s garb promise to lead the nation to paradise.

Heaven or hell, pain continues to rule. Mediocre leaders, more mediocre subjects and even more mediocre hopes tend to take the nation to a much more mediocre existence when the New Year waits to bloom. Marauders of sane minds get ready to climb on to the nation’s treasury to make a killing.

Year 2013 isn’t going to be any different. There isn’t absolutely any hope out there, whatsoever. But, we as a nation would spend time on social media channels scribbling down the most inane of thoughts. We will continue to bow before monsters that act as monks. We have grown to be a nation that would accept anything lying down and make fun of ourselves on Facebook.

We, as a nation, would topple the life of the farmer who gave us our daily bread, so that Wal-Mart and others of its ilk rob us of our daily bread. We, as a nation, would spend our lives singing eulogies to those who garrotte us.

We would build 14-storey buildings to live in, but will not, just because the Vaasthu practitioner says no. We would continue to gun down tigers in their habitat claiming ownership of the land they actually own. We would make contributions from our hard earned money to build temples and mosques.

We would throw our kitchen waste on to the neighbours’ backyards just to prove we don’t care. We would continue to shout slogans so that the most criminal of beings get to rule over us again.

We would also go gaga over children born to celebrities and make them look like young super stars. We would tweet, re-tweet and write loads about them so that we feel blessed to have them in our midst.

We would, but, never feed a hungry man on the street. We would never do our bit to see children go to school, at least to have a morsel served for lunch. We would also never try and help the miserable old farmer out there live. Never would we think a minute about the days when the frail old man fed us, after fighting continuous battles against the weather, machinery and the babus.

As 2012 gets going into oblivion, we are the only ones that would refuse to change. We are like this, as we excel in seeing mediocre men and women rule our minds, existence and all that we are. 2013, do we have a tear in store for you too? Or, should we expect something new this New Year?