India @ 77

Its the eve of Independence Day, and as has been a fairly long-standing tradition, time for an all things India blogpost (2023 edition)

The 77th year in modern India’s life was an interesting one. Political events in the immediate neighborhood have reaffirmed that for all the flaws, things could have been far worse, if not for the vision of our founding fathers!

The Chandrayaan landed on the Moon. Truly a monumental achievement!

There was the biggest Indian festival – the general elections. The results of the long-drawn campaign were a bit chaotic - those who won seem unhappy, while those who continue to be in the Opposition seem the happier lot. After 10 years, there is a Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The slightly unexpected outcome has also resulted in even the media becoming less of a cheerleader and a bit more unbiased!

Meanwhile, the nuance from any public debate still continues to be completely missing. There are two sides on any issue. Either it is a slugfest or it will be one outraging, other completely silent. And almost always split on the same political line. The echo chambers are becoming deafening. Only characteristic common is the hypocrisy. 

Also, we are becoming more and more immune. An illegal hoarding collapse, train accidents, manmade "natural" disasters, horrific crimes - we pause and we move on.

There was also a random narrative of  the official name of the country being changed to a name which is also the official name! A true case of much ado about nothing.

The economy continues to give mixed signals – the stock markets continue to rise and rise, while the on-ground picture doesn’t look that rosy.

The biggest nuisance – the phone call scammers. Electricity bill scam, fake couriers, customs, number disconnection threats, video callers, kyc… the list seems to be just going on and on. It just seems to be turning into a case of when you will fall in the trap of the cyber thugs! Keep navigating this minefield and pray that you do not randomly click a malicious link.

Climate change is becoming more and more real. The actions to combat it are simply not enough. The same monsoom season has seen both excess in many parts and a dry spell in the other. Flash floods, landslides, shifting seasons are becoming the new normal.

On the sporting front – the Men’s cricket team finally broke their trophy drought with a T20 World Cup victory, while a home ODI World Cup just slipped away. 

The Olympics are done, lots of folks bemoaning the low rankings (it’s a quadrennial rant) while never even bothering to find out what happens in the interim. The fact that the second highest medals tally seems an underperformance shows that the so called sleeping global sports giant has slowly started to stir (it will still take some more time to be fully awake). 

One sport which has grown leaps and bounds has been Chess – Gukesh becoming a Challenger and Praggnandha finishing runners-up show that finally Indian chess is moving out of the mighty Vishwanathan Anand era.

On that optimistic note, closing out this post. 

Jai Hind!