We're not tenacious, we're cowards

We call ourselves a democracy. We complain when the water doesn't come. We complain when there is no electricity. We complain when the incumbent chief minister is convicted in a disproportionate assets case. We complain if she isn't. Yet, at times when democracy really breaks down and there is a law and order situation in the state, we are asked to keep quiet. "Why bring trouble upon yourself?", they say. Are they concerned? Yes. Are they rightfully concerned? Yes. Yet I find it unjust. I find it wrong that for a country like ours - one that is so used to complaining about its politicians, one which puts politicians among the least trustworthy of occupations and the police and judiciary on a little higher pedestal, we must cower before random acts of mob violence. Who are these people burning buses and tearing down public property? People who have benefited from her reign? Maybe, maybe not. But if this is what democracy has come to mean in India, why do we need a democracy? A democracy which grants us freedom of speech when it deems fit and removes that freedom when we feel like screaming, is no true democracy. They say freedom is a convenient lie. I think that's true. What are we free from? What are we really free to do? Am I free to express my opinion whenever I want to? The constitution says I am. But does that mean I am? This democracy of hypocrisy has been prevalent for 67 years now. What have we learned in all this time? We have learned when to keep quiet. We have learned how to survive shut up in cocoons in a country too cruel to let people unfurl their wings. Will this ever change? Do we need a messiah of sorts to pick up the country from the dumps it is in now and kick start a whole new era of true democracy? Or am I to remain optimistic that renaissance will come? For now, I'm just busy playing FIFA 13.

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