It was a historic day for India today. The entire nation saw hope in Narendra Modi and bestowed an enormous responsibility onto him. After 30 yrs, a single political party got voted into majority to govern the world’s largest democracy. The News Channels and political analysts were busy discussing what his priorities should be - development, corruption free governance, infrastructure, stability and so on….. a small incidence that happened with me this morning, however, is a testimony to what I believe is the biggest challenge our nation faces today……

That of a Dual Personality…….

It was the morning of today, 16^th May 2014. The results of the elections had started pouring in. It was already clear that the NDA would surely form the next Government with Narendra Modi being a Prime Minister. After watching the election analysis for several hours since early morning, I finally started for office.  I was in the euphoria of the results when this happened with me.

It was 10:30 AM. I was standing at the busy Saki Naka junction. It appeared less crowded than usual. The signal had turned red. While I was waiting for the signal to turn green, I saw these two ladies sweeping the road. They were possibly from the BMC. Both in their very late 50s. Amidst scorching heat, the two ladies were doing a decent job. One would sweep the road with a broom; the other would collect the garbage into a bin. I was only watching their well coordinated effort when a driver of a Cab distracted me. He was around 50 feet away. The guy had the audacity to spit a big stream of “Paan” on a road that the two ladies cleaned 30 seconds earlier.

Seeing this, I just lost it. I steered my way to him, got off my vehicle and got him out as well. I shouted like hell on him, on the road, amidst a packed traffic. I don’t even remember what all I would have said to him in “pure” Hindi. I couldn’t just take it. I felt so badly for the two wonderful ladies, slogging their sweat out on one of the most polluted junctions in Mumbai. The cab driver possibly realized his mistake and started apologizing. “Saahab. Galti ho gayee. Phirse nahi hoga”. I asked him to come out and apologise to the two ladies. Which, he did. He apologized with folded hands to both the ladies.

I am not sure what the two ladies thought of this though. Their reaction was bit strange. In fact, there was no reaction. This puzzled me. While I was thinking about it, I realized the signal had long turned Green and this episode had created a traffic jam. Surprisingly, the people around had understood the gravity of the situation and did not resort to their right to honk.

I realized I had it enough and turned towards my vehicle. That’s when the elder of the two ladies put a gentle hand on my back and said “Beta, janedo. Poori zindagi rasta saaf karne mein chali gayee. Ye log nahi sudharenge”. (Leave it. Entire life went sweeping roads. These people won’t change). Let me tell you. I can’t forget that touch on my back…. And to my soul. Those few words almost summarized the old lady’s plight. Her frustration. Her life. That also explained the reaction (or the lack of it) the ladies had to this incidence.

It remained with me throughout the day as BJP emerged even more victorious. Amidst BJP leaders claiming “Victory of Democracy”, it left me thinking, is this a real victory of democracy? Is anything going to change for the old lady with the new government? Will she get the right to very bare minimum respect in the society? Will the attitude and social sense of people in general improve?

Should we blame the Cab driver? Yes. But for all you know, he would spit in front of his own house. Because he possibly would stay in a 10x10 shanty over a reclaimed gutter. Spitting on road doesn’t mean anything to him.

The real issue is much bigger. It’s the dual personality of our nation. On one hand we have a “Shining India”. Big malls. International brands. Sky Scrapers. Booming economy. IT super power. Flourishing jobs. Stock Market on fire. Billionaire club. Management Graduates. Corporate Culture….uffffff…… and we also have a “Shanty India” that develops (??) inside the shanties of Kurla. An India that struggles to make the ends meet. One that is poor. Who sleeps on streets. Under the flyovers. Where education is a distant dream. An India, that is still under the clutches of age-old believes – of casts, religion, gender and job. India, where a cabbie drives for 14 hrs a day to just make the ends meet and feels worried how he would feed his family because of reduced business on an election day. Civic sense becomes his last priority. I am not justifying what he did this morning. But there is a perspective here that we need to understand.

Unless we bridge this gap between the two personalities of this nation, we are bound to witness issues like these in our society. Crime, thefts, alcohol, drugs, domestic violence and many more to a large extend find their roots in this social/economic diversity.

I hope the Modi government realizes that they have the mandate from both of these persona to reduce the gap between the two as much as possible. That will happen through inclusive growth, equal opportunities, job creation and economic & industrial development. However, apart from the government, it is our responsibility for being blessed to be part of “Shining India” to help our counterparts from the other half to come out and join our party.