India at 60

Ofcourse Independence day came and went...and like most Indians I slept through the "midnight hour" and woke up to watch our erudite PM wax eloquent about the plans he has for our country.... now my friends always consider me to be extra patriotic and little over the top with the India stuff... and while I believe I am much less of that now I have few things that make me really proud of my country... and I know many wont agree with this... but heck! we are a nation of 1 billion people.... so here goes my list of things I am proud of India at 60

a) I am proud of the country's educational system - yessss I know it lacks a lot of child specific development oriented courses blah blah blah but I think for a developing country to achieve so much in terms of just education is a marvel.... I see Africans and Arabs coming and studying in India... and I geniunely believe Indian education system equips an Indian to go out and face the world with confidence...

b) I am proud of the fact that India has one of the strongest IT industry in the world...

c) I am proud of the fact that in the last 15 years our country has progressed so much economically... Indian are just more prosperous and raring to go....

d) I am proud of the leaders that India has produced... especially people like Nehru, Sardar Patel (his RSS leanings notwithstanding), Ambedkar, Sarojini Naidu, Indira Gandhi (albeit minus her evil doings).... I am especially proud of Nehru's emphasis on self reliance as the theme for India .... and I truly believe that it is the foundation of industrialisation coupled with the education system that has enabled Indians to make a mark for themselves...

e) I am proud of our beaurocrats... Before you jump please let me explain... one of the courses I did at LSE was the difference between Indian economic development and the south east asian countries....and one of the fundamental reasons why India didnt crash like they did was because we had a very well educated, aware and intelligent set of people sitting at the helm of affairs in Delhi.... we developed but at our own pace..... if not for them we would have become another failed story

f) I am proud of my democracy.... I take it for granted.... I love it that we can make it work despite our population and our differences...

g) I am proud of press in India.... they may have their bad points but they are there to check governments and the evil in society...

h) I am proud of the diversity in my country... I love the fact that there are so many people to meet, so many different cuisines, so many different dress styles, so many different places to go to...

Even as I write this I am aware of the various things that are wrong in my country.... but somebody needs to remember that surviving as a democracy is in itself an achievement.... lets remember that for one day at least....