India Shining


December 29th, 2:25 am a young girl died in a Singapore hospital. Her family by her bedside the doctors says he died peacefully. She had spent 13 days battling for her life and undergoing various procedures and treatments. Through it all she kept asking to live. Eventually though she breathed her last. She breathed her last not realising that she had stirred a country out of its apathy. She breathed her last not realising the kind of emotions her story had evoked in the country and the capital. She breathed her last not knowing that the prime minister and politicians themselves would receive her body on its arrival back in India. She breathed her last now knowing that a police constable had given his life to try and bring peace in the situation that followed her story. She breathed her last not realising 10 delhi metro stations and the whole of central Delhi would have to be shutdown just contain the scenes that developed after her horror story. She probably struggled with feeling used and abused and as she battled and finally lost she probably did so feeling alone and dirty in the midst of a nation right outside the doors that was “standing with her”. She went to the end not understanding the impact or worth of her life.

It’s a sad story and as I reflect on it my thoughts go to the poor man struggling to find warmth under a flyover in Delhi. He watches as his own life ebbs away within just because he didn’t have a sweater or a jacket. I think of the young prostitute struggling with AIDS and knowing that in the midst of a world making resolutions her being alive tomorrow is something she doubts and sometimes doesn’t even hope for or want. I think of the elderly woman sitting alone in a home for the elderly. She is sitting there, far removed from family, children or grandchildren because they have schedules that have no place or use for her anymore. As they come towards “breathing their last” they do so not realising how much their life is worth. Sadly they live in a society that forgets, that undervalues and that moves on.

India shining… unfortunately the stairwell to India shining is lined with these – the forgotten, un-forgiven, undervalued, marginalised, poor, hungry and ignored lives. Let’s hope 2013 is a year that wakes us up from our own apathy and blindness.

Comments

Unknown said…
Beautifully written and very true. Thank you Sandeep.
August 26, 2013 at 8:41 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Gamer’s Guide to Spiritual Warfare (Even If You’re Not a Gamer)

Image
  Disclaimer: Please bear with the opening two paragraphs of this blog. You can judge me for it if you like. But I will get to the point and I hope you will be blessed and encouraged.   I am not much of a gamer. I would occasionally go through a season of playing football or basketball on the PS. But I would not really call myself a gamer. I prefer board games. But, about two years ago my son introduced me to a game he was playing that he thought I would like. I thought I would give it a go as a means to maybe spend more time with him and enter a part of his world. To my surprise, he was right! I really enjoyed the game. For those who might care, its an open world survival game on the computer. What that basically means is that you have a character, and you explore an open world. You fight off wild animals and enemies that are out to kill you. You forage for food and you collect materials to build a base and armour and weapons with. As you progress through the levels of t...
Read more

Questions In A Season Of Pain

Image
There are certain things we all go through. If you are reading this, then we share the common experience of being born and being alive. Our lives after that might look very different from each other. But there are still some common experiences we share. Pain is one of them. The degrees might vary as well as the details and circumstances. But we all experience pain in some form or the other. It does not matter if you are someone who is obediently walking with God or if you are someone who has decided this whole “God thing” is not really a thing. Pain comes at us anyway. In those seasons of pain, our hearts and minds begin to ask questions. This is a human and natural reaction and there is nothing wrong with it. The Bible encourages us to come to God with our questions and be real before Him.  What I would like us to think about is the kind of questions we ask, and how helpful they are. This is not a write up pretending to be a recipe of how to ask questions and make your pain easier...
Read more

Daughters, dances, divinity and devotion.

Image
  My teenage daughter loves to dance. Ever since a very young age, she has watched videos of different kinds of dancers and then tried to imitate their steps. She was teaching herself and doing a very good job of it. Seeing her passion for dance, we enrolled her in dance classes. Enrolling her in these classes didn’t just mean she learned to dance; it also meant we were invited to watch her perform at shows that the dance school organises. Recently, we went to their Christmas performance. As I expected, it had lights, smoke machines, and a good sound system. The performances themselves were many in number. Some were tap dances, some ballet; some were street style, and others were jazz. Some were performed by children as young as seven or eight years old, while others featured older, grey-haired (I am being kind here) adults dancing as well. It was a loud, smoky, and artistic evening, divided into two sections with a 15-minute interval. My daughter’s dances were in the second half o...
Read more